Forty Deuce

More Pics: They're cute. Nuff said.

You know it was only a matter of time before pictures came of Ana and Rafa on their way to lunch in Mallorca.  Is Rafa preparing to return serve there?  Is Ana avoiding walking on the sidewalk cracks?  These are the questions I need answered.

Again, the official position of Forty Deuce is that this is completely innocent and absolutely nothing is going on between these two.  They're just friends.

Who are becoming friendlier by the day. 

Just kidding.  I'll stop now.  No I won't.  If they ever hooked up they would have the most perfectly tanned, OCD, babies. Ok, now I'll stop.

Here are the rest:

 

Pictures courtesy of AI's Fan Forum and Tennis Forum.

USOS Tournament Update -- 7/25

So who had a Simon v. Kiefer semifinal in their bracket?  Simon beat Roddick-killer Marin Cilic today and the freshly shorn German tore James Blake a new one, blasting him 61 62.  On the other side of the draw, the side we shall now refer to as "the side that has players you actually know", Andy Murray finally beat Nole in straight sets and Rafa and Dickie Gasket played an extremely entertaining first set, which the Frenchman was able to pull out in a 14-12 tiebreak, and then Rafa reminded everyone of why he is almost impossible to beat on any surface.  The tireless and ruthless bull took the next two sets 62 61, setting up a fun Wimbledon rematch with Murray.

As for the Ladies of LA, today pretty much went according to plan.  Jelena Jankovic continued her march to #1 by beating Nadia Petrova, but she didn't look great doing it.  Her movement looks fine but her game was off.  The match was broadcast on ESPN2, and I cringed every time I thought of a new tennis fan tuning into the match and hearing that they were watching the potential new world #1.   

Aside from JJ, Dinara Safina played a near flawless match in her 62 61 drubbing of Azarenka.  Those two will play tomorrow and I put my money on Baby Beluga to stop JJ's run and keep her good friend Ana's ranking at #1.  The other semifinal will see Flavia "Screw you Carlos" Pennetta vs. Bethanie "YouTube" Mattek.  Pennetta gutted out a win over Bammer and Mattek showed Meng the door.  I'm going with Bethanie to make it to her first tour final.

Lastly, top seeded Maria Kirilenko fell to Sara Errani in Potoroz.  But in happy news, Caroline Wozniaki destroyed Vera Dushevina 60 61 in 53 minutes.  Ski Boots has lost only 8 games in the entire tournament.  She'll face Errani in tomorrow's semifinal for a shot at her first final.

Can someone digitally remove Gimelstob from my memory?

Thanks to the Wall Street Journal the world can now get a glimpse of the USTA ads for the US Open Series that were supposed to feature Justin Gimelstob.  Another example of technology saving your ass.

Montreal Draw Out: It's nice to be #1

The Montreal draw has been released.  You can see it here.

Ana Ivanovic has a cake quarter through to the semis and any loss before then will be a HUGE disappointment.  There are no flat heavy hitters in her group so she should be able to blast through.  The other seeds in her quarter are Schiavone, Azarenka, and Zvonereva.

On the bottom half of Ana's draw are Kuznetsova and Safina.  Kuzzie withdrew from LA last week citing a leg injury so she may not be 100%.  I would put my money on Baby Beluga, though it will be tough to have back-to-back quality results (she's still in the semis at LA).

On the other side we have Maria and JJ's quarter.  Maria by far has the toughest quarter, as she's drawn all the big hitters with mental issues.  Bartoli, Vaidisova, Kleybanova, and the resurgent Bethanie Mattek are all there. In fact, Maria's first match could be against Mattek, and I would not be surprised if she suffered a Federer-type result.  To add to the crazy, A-Chak is also in that quarter of the draw.

JJ's quarter isn't too interesting until she gets to a potential quarterfinal match with Elena D.  Jankovic leads their head-to-head 4-3, but Lena D. always scares me. 

My picks:

Semis: AI vs. Safina, Mattek vs. Dementieva
Final: AI vs. Dementieva
Winner: Dementieva (I hate typing it, but she absolutely OWNS Ana)

Venus out of Montreal.

Too bad.  It would have been cool to have all three Slam winners at the tournament.

Pack your bags, we're going to Cincinatti!

The Screaming Scotsman took out my boy Nole today in Toronto.  Andy's movement was impeccable.  He was like a little jackrabbit out there.  Nole on the other hand looked rusty.  Not as rusty as Roger looked on Wednesday, but his volleying wasn't great, his serve not as powerful, and his forehand seemed weaker than usual.  Ah well, on to Cincy.

But back to Murray, his run at Wimbledon and his performance tonight have really caused me to sit up and take notice of him.  Everyone knows how much talent he has but his head seemed to always get the better of him.  But now it appears as though his game is starting to come together and I must say, he's a fun guy to watch.  Much like Rafa, some of his gets are just astounding, especially for such a big guy.

Here's hoping Rafa wins his quarterfinal and we get a Rafa/Murray semi tomorrow.  That'll be fun.

"Bow, bow, bow, another one bites the dust."

   

What to say, what to say.  A-Rod lost to Marin Cilic 64 46 64.  Thus ends his Toronto run.

Unlike Fed, Andy actually had a crapload of time to return to the states and begin practicing for his hard court campaign.  I watched the first set of the match and Andy just doesn't look impressive.  He looks like he's hitting the ball hard because of all the movement and effort that he expends, but then you realize that his groundstrokes aren't going to hurt anyone.  His only hope in winning matches these days is to serve lights out.  That's how he beat Fed in Miami earlier this year.  When he serves 20+ aces in a match, he's a top 5 player.  When he doesn't, he's top 20 at best. 

Well, he'll have some more time to hit the practice courts before Cincinnati.  But so far, an ominous start to his quest for the U.S. Open.

Air Quotes: Roger's Cup no more.

"Not today. Ask me another day. Please don't kill me with questions like this."

                            -- Roger Federer, in response to a question about Justine Henin's retirement                               after his loss to Gilles Simon.

USOS Tournament Update: 7/23

Alrighty then.  Well obviously the big news is that Fed got dumped out by Gilles Simon.  Who?  Yes, Gilles Simon, the Jelena Jankovic of the ATP.

But besides Fed, there weren't too many huge surprises today, just disappointments.  Gonzo, Verdasco, Youzny, Berdych, Safin, and Robredo are out of Toronto.  I'm very sad about Marat.  He's just a joy to look at.

On the women's side, Vaidisova, Schnyder, Cibulkova, and Mirza are out of LA.  None of that results are all that surprising as Vaidisova lost to the resurgent Bethanie Mattek, Cibulkova lost to the hot Kudrayavtseva, and Schnyder lost to Stanford semifinalist Ai Sugiyama.  Cibulkova's loss to Yeng was slightly surprising, though we have yet to see what Cibulkova can do on the hardcourts.

As for Fed, what can we say.  Simon is hot for sure, having won his first North American title in Indy last week.  But the reality is that I do believe that the "Fed is slumping" talk can officially begin.  His AO loss was really close and he claims to have been recovering from mono.  Ok, I give him that.  His loss at Indian Wells and Miami to Mardy Fish (!) and Roddick could be seen as flukey.  Both were playing out of their minds and at least with respect to Roddick, that match came down to a few points that could have gone either way.  Since then, he was owned by Rafa through the clay court season.  No shame in that.  Wimbledon was ridiculously competitive and that final could have gone either way.  So he hasn't lost by much. 

But this loss to Simon, a clay court specialist, at Toronto in the second round?  This is rather shocking.  I've been willing to give Fed a break through much of the season, but this loss is huge.  Simon has no serve and no kill shot.  Fed simply missed forehand after forehand and he was, as he admits, "cold". 

That's fine, but seriously, if I were TMF, I would have gone into Toronto will the sole intent of quieting the whispers.  There is no way I would have come in "rusty", "cold", or "flat".  Because I would have known that the only way of shutting everyone up would be to win the tournament.  So his excuse is lame and unacceptable.

Moving on, tomorrow's notable matches in Toronto and LA:

• Soderling vs. Djokovic
• Murray vs. Wawrinka
• Cilic vs. Roddick
• Ferrer vs. Gasquet
• Andreev vs. Nadal
• Petrova vs. Zvonereva
• Kudrayavtseva vs. Safina

Air Quotes: "Or something with the body of an egret with the head of a meerkat."

"In order to overhear what your doubles opponents are whispering during their hushed discussions, you'd have to have the eyesight of a hawk and the hearing of a bat, which would make for a very strange creature indeed."

--  as heard on Radio Wimbledon

Much love to anyone who can identify the quote from the subject line.

An open letter to Nicole Vaidisova.

Dear Nicole,

I defended you.  I publicly told everyone who reads this blog (so four people) that I thought you were going to turn things around make a run to the finals of LA.  I said all this despite all the evidence that you have provided us over the past year that you are, in fact, a complete and utter shit show.

Thank you for completely destroying any tennis credibility I had going into today by crashing out to Bethanie Mattek 64 60.  Screw you and all the ungodly talent that you're letting go to waste. 

Sincerely,
C Note

More pics: Ana's Mallorcan Holiday

Some stalkerazzi pictures of Ana Ivanovic's hanging out with her boys (Dad, brother Milos, physio Scotty Byrnes, and her pop) in Mallorca.  As you can see, the best tan in the WTA don't come easy.  It's hard work, baby.

Can we get more pictures of Ana's brother, Milos, please?  He's a cutie.  Also, Sven needs to get out more.  Yeesh!

And yes, she did spend some time practicing while there.  Apparently her hitting partner was Rafa's best friend, Tomou Salva.

You can see more pictures here.  Much thanks to the AI Forums for the head's up.

USOS Tournament Update: 7/22

Other than Nole's creamsicle Adidas costume, nothing too surprising today.  Nole and A-Rod are through in Toronto, and Vaidisova, A-Chak, and Petrova are through in LA.  The only "upset" of the day was Dani "My foot is clearly not 100%" Hantuchova's loss to Olga "I didn't shed a tear when Ana sprained her ankle against me in Dubai" Govortsova. 

Game on tomorrow though.  Matches of note:

• Jankovic v. King
• Safina v. Peng
• Mattek v. Vaidisova
• Safin v. Querrey (to be completed because of today's rain delay)
• Davydenko v. Haas
• Nadal v. Levine
• Federer v. Simon

Forbes Top Female Athletes: G-L-A-M-O-R-O-U-S

Forbes released their list of top 10 female athletes and 5 of the top 10 are tennis players (the other five being 4 golfers and a race car driver -- guess who?).

1. Maria Sharapova -- $26M
2. Serena Williams -- $14M
3. Venus Williams -- $13M
4. Justine Henin -- $12.5M
5. Michelle Wie -- $12M
6. Annika Sorenstam -- $11M
7. Lorena Ochoa -- $10M
8. Danica Patrick -- $7M
9. Ana Ivanovic -- $6.5M
10. Paula Creamer -- $6M

I don't think Forbes is including Ana Ivanovic's recent deal with Rolex and I'm sure after this year she'll shoot up the ranks.  But it is shocking that Masha, at number one, makes over two times what Serena, at number 2, makes.  She is damn marketable.

Air Quotes: Lost in Translation

"My husband gives me a good warm-up every time."

-- Zheng Jie, when asked who her best hitting partners were

Serena withdraws from LA.

Duh.

When asked for comment, Jelena Jankovic reacted thusly:

 

Seriously, did JJ spend her off-time paying off all her competitors?  Ana decides not to defend LA, Maria doesn't bother playing a tournament that's taking place right down the street from her house, and Venus, Serena, and Kuzzie all withdraw.  An odd turn of events, don't you think?

So #1 is there for the taking for the #2 Serb.  Can she sack up and take it?  We'll know soon.

Apparently Zheng Jie is playing for USC.

Tip of the cap to Nike once again, who never fail to treat their athletes with the fashion respect they deserve.

Pics of a few players' Olympic duds.  You can also see Federer's classy get up at Down The Line.

Masha (USA...I Mean RUS)

Zheng Jie (CHN)

Yan Zi (CHN)

Adidas on the other hand looks like they're going to just saddle all of their players in boring black and white:

Does anyone know what the rules are exactly as to what the athletes can wear in Beijing?  I presume that Ana Ivanovic isn't going to get stuck wearing Kappa gear (Serbia's team sponsor) but is it like Fed Cup where the athletes must wear either their country's colors or the country has to be prominently displayed on their uniform?

Fed was a raver? Who knew?

Just for kicks, some pictures of ATP players when they were kids.  I'll post some of the ladies in a few days.

#1: The Mighty Fed

#2: Rafa

#3: Nole

Others:

James Blake

Andy

LIl' Fish

Andre

Le Monf

Air Quotes: I love the British.

"[The singles competition] is tapering into a climax, [but] you can't really taper into a climax, which is really why I should be unemployed."

-- Radio broadcaster Eleanor Preston during Wimbledon.

USOS Tournament Update: 7/21

Boo.  Gulbis, Tipsarevic, Ancic, and Mathieu are out of Toronto.  Keothavong, Dulko, Rezai, and Kleybanova are out of LA.

In other tournament news, Serena says she plans to play through the pain in LA.  I don't understand her logic here.  Does she want the points?  Does she want hard court practice?  Does she want to sabotage her chances of winning a medal in Beijing?

"I've been playing a lot of tennis, that's basically what it is, a lot of use," she said Monday. "I haven't had enough time to train the way I normally do off-court because I'm playing a lot."

Soooo....maybe you should play less?  I'm not a doctor but I play one on TV.  What do I know?

This is SO not going to work.

Today kicked off the first day of a two month long restriction on car use in Beijing in preparation for the Olympics.  Basically residents can only use their cars on alternate days depending on whether their license plate ends in an odd or even number.  In addition, buildings and factories are being ordered to cut their emissions by 30%. 

I don't know where the tennis venue is situated but if you thought Nole's breathing problems were an issue in Australia, you ain't seen nothing yet.  Just think about all those players who rely on their fitness to win them matches (Rafa, JJ, Ferrer).  How is the pollution going to impact them?

As reported by NBC:

Despite architecturally adventurous venues and $40 billion spent on improving infrastructure, China's greatest challenge has been keeping the city's air clean for the world's greatest athletes participating in the Aug. 8-24 games. Instead of blue skies, Beijing's skyline is normally shrouded with a thick gray haze.

Already, many competitors are choosing to train away from Beijing, and International Olympic Committee President Jacques Rogge has said outdoor endurance events lasting more than an hour will be postponed if air quality if poor.

The world's greatest distance runner, Haile Gebrselassie of Ethiopia, has decided not to run the marathon event because the city's pollution irritates his breathing.

Experts say the city cleanup measures could still go wrong because unpredictable winds might blow pollution into Beijing, or the lack of wind - common in August - could enable local pollution to build up.

This Olympics is going to be a shit show, folks.  China is in for a rude awakening when all the world descends on this typically secreted and shrouded country.  The Olympics is supposed to be the culmination of the best that sport has to offer, but when the venues and the organization can't get it together, what's the point?  You're setting the athletes up for failure.

Already I have heard anecdotal accounts from some of my friends who are based in and around China that Western journalists are being kicked out of the country, and curfews have been put in place in the major hot beds of social activity.  An unexpected algae outbreak has made the lake where the sailing competition was to be held unnavigable for boats and thousands of people have been working at the lake to manually extract the algae (and let's not talk about the environmental impact of these harvesting efforts).  Legitimate questions over media freedom still linger, political activists are being detained by the government, and migrant workers are being forced from there homes and out of the city.  They've even implemented an "Etiquette Campaign", which tells people they need to form an orderly queue, shower, and probably not spit too much.

Buckle up, folks.  It's going to be a bumpy ride.

Buff and otherwise attached dudes love Ana.

Jeez, Ana gets around!  On the heels of her Mallorcan holiday with Rafa (not really, but kinda), Ana was back in Serbia today for a ceremony for Serbia's Olympic athletes. 

Three observations:

1. She cut her hair and it looks cute.
2. She seems to have gone on a headband shopping spree while in Spain.
3. She's totally getting hit on by that ripped dude to her left.

Who is the smirky no-neck guy?  That's Serbian waterpolo player Aleksandar Sapic.  According to Wikipedia:

In 2005, Šapić married Ivana Šljukić his girlfriend of few years, and the widow of slain mobster Sredoje Šljukić.

His wife is the widow of a slain mobster?  Stay away, Ana.  Stay away.

Bartoli confuses "lack of fitness" with "mono".

On the heels of admitting that she cried endlessly after TMF lost to Rafa at Wimbly, now Marion Bartoli is saying that she was suffering from mono from January through Roland Garros. 

Riiiiight.

I saw Bartoli practicing at Indian Wells in March, and if she had mono she definitely wasn't acting like it.  She was doing all that weird "fitness" crap with her Dad in the dead heat for hours on the practice courts.  If you're body is breaking down because you're being overworked or because you lack fitness, that's not mono, honey.  Don't insult the Federers and the Ancics of the world who actually had to fight through that debilitating disease.

"And I'm back in the game."

The ITF announced today that Amelie Mauresmo will replace Mary Pierce and play singles at the Olympics.  Good for MoMo I guess, though she's not really a threat to any of the top players.

Just kidding.  So Mary Pierce withdrew, was replaced by MoMo, who withdrew, who was replaced by Pauline Parmentier.

Nothing to see here, move along.

I will never understand people.

In an exclusive interview with Vogue, Chris Evert admits that she and new hubby Greg Norman totally cheated on their significant others with each other.  Obviously that's why they each divorced their respective spouses to be with each other.

I could give two flips that they both "embarked on an illicit romantic relationship".  But seriously?  WHO BROADCASTS THIS FACT TO THE WORLD?  I don't know, call me closed-minded but it doesn't make their relationship sound more romantic to me.  And publicly admitting it was so unnecessary.

All that being said, Chrissy is looking GOOD.  The Shark?  Not so much.  He creeps me out.