The last time I stayed up late watching a tennis match-up was when the 25-year-old James Blake battled 35-year-old seasoned vet Andre Aggassi in the 2005 U.S. Open. That match was a classic, with the two battling back-and-forth well into the night, with Agassi defeating Blake well after midnight had passed.

This morning, I find myself up at 4 in the a.m. watching two of the best young stars in tennis duke it out for the 2008 Austrailian Open title.

With the old seasoned veterans out, only the young bucks of the game remain.

The Tiger Woods of tennis, Roger Federer, was knocked out courtesy of 20-year-old Novak Djokovic. The Phil Mickelson (please forgive my golf references) of the sport, Rafael Nadal, was knocked out courtesy of 22-year-old fellow Frenchman, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga.

This will be the first time in three years that the winner of a Grand Slam title will be someone other than Federer or Nadal.

The finale is exciting so far and as you know, I am rooting hard for Mr. Tsonga, the young ARod (think: Seattle) of tennis. The great part about rooting for him is his pops, sitting front row, is fired up like crazy. This is already proving to be an insta-classic, and as I type, Tsonga — the one who looks like Muhammad Ali — just took the first set at 6-4.

So as everyone on the East Coast is either sleeping or doing naughty things, I will tune in to the great match-up of the best young stars of tennis. I’d drop off updates as the match continues, but of course no one is awake to read them.

If a tree falls in the woods, does it make a sound?

UPDATE:

Djokavic defeated my boy Tsonga to capture the 2008 Austrailian Open title.

The match was hard-fought on both ends, but Djokavic found a way to hold off Tsonga’s late rally to win in 4 sets. Check the set-by-set stats.

The crowd seemed to be pulling for Tsonga the entire match, motivating Djokavic to play with an added fire. Even in his postgame speech, Djocavic pointed out the crowd’s bias — “And I know the crowd wanted him to win more. It’s alright, I still love you guys, don’t worry.”

During the match the crowd got very into it, jawing to Djokavic for his elongated serve routine and for what seemed like a cockiness air he had around him after some points. The crowd jawed at Djokavic and Djocavic jawed back, unshaken by the imbalance of support.

Both players have great futures ahead of them. Tsonga is a raw talent, with a strong forehand and a sneaky drop shot that has the potential to shock plenty of greats. He could use work on his backhand and on getting the most out of his first serves. Djokavic is disciplined as hell, with excellent control on his shots, even deep into matches. He is young at 20, but he’s been a pro since he was 16, so he has plenty of experience.

Like plenty of his opponents, I hate Djokavic’s serve routine. He bounces the ball anywhere from 10-20 times before he serves, which prompted Tsonga to complain a few times, and the crowd started to harass him as the match went on.

All in all, the match was great to watch. They both have bright futures, and this classic match was as great as advertised. Three hours of an all-out slugfest completed, the player who looked like Muhammad Ali fell in defeat. But I have a good feeling we will be seeing plenty of Ali’s clone, Tsonga, as well as Djokavic, for plenty of years to come.