Forty Deuce

Halloween Laughs

Well it's Halloween, I live in the Castro, and it's also Critical Mass.  Just so I can get this off my chest: I FUCKING HATE CRITICAL MASS.  I'm sorry, but it's not anarchy, you're not protesting anything, and you're not making any statement.  Idiots.

Anyway, because of this odd perfect storm of chaos, I'm stuck at home on a Friday night.  Which led me to stumble upon this, which made me laugh hysterically.  I don't know if it's actually funny or if I'm just punchy from cabin fever. 

The impressions are just spot on.  Venus (2.31), Serena (4.39), Ana (3.37), JJ (5.00), Rafa (1.56)...awesome.

When Big Mo Says Roll Tape, YOU ROLL TAPE.

I've been thinking about this for a while:  Who is my favorite umpire? 

On the women's side it's definitely Allison Lang, primarily because her soothing British voice has narrated many of my favorite matches.  And because she has the cojones to make calls from the chair and even call a challenge on herself (yup, that was her during the USO Women's Final).  Lynn Welch is also very good, but I give thed edge to Lang because of the voice.

Kader Nouni is a very close #2.  I love his voice but he doesn't seem to make much of an effort to control the matches from the chair.

But on the men's s it's been pretty wide open.  Until today.  Ladies and Gentlemen, I give you, Mohamed Laylani, cutie patootie, distinguished gentleman, man of good humor and class, and umpire extraodinaire.

Mo had himself quite a day today.  During the Roddick's serve today in a tight third set, Andy served a ball at game point that was called out.  He challlenged the call.  Mo radioed up to the Hawkeye booth to roll tape, but get this.  The Hawkeye operator refuses because by his count, Roddick has no more challenges remaining.  Mo's like "Uh, I'm keeping track of it down here and you're wrong, he has oen challenge remaining."  But the Hawkeye tech simply refuses to take his word for it.  Mo calls the guys over and explains the situation, and both of them agree that Andy has a challenge left.  Mo tells the tech that not only is he wrong, but the players both agree that the challenge should go forward.  The frickin' operator still refuses!  He is literally holding the challenge hostage.  Mo has to call the tournament referee over, explain the situation, and event then it takes about 5 minutes to convince the tech to roll tape.  The tech finally does, and of course, the ball is in and Roddick gets the game.

But through it all, Mo handled it with class, fairness, and a smily.  I kinda love him.

Jo Wins, Commodus Out.

It must be Halloween because I simply do not understand what is going on today.

In the final match of a very weird day, A-Rod and Jo played a fairly high quality, very tight match.  I was actually really impressed by the level of Andy's play in the first set.  He served well and was absolutely solid.  And then in the second and third he got a little timid and became somewhat predictable.  That and a little controversy (I'll get to that in a separate post), was enough to give Jo the win, despite the fact that he wasn't playing at his best. 

And with that, Commodus is out of the Race to Shanghai.  Curiously, Blah is still in, and if he can beat Jo tomorrow, he'll book his ticket.  How weird is that?  Commodus out.  Jo out.  Blah in.

Does.  Not.  Compute.

UPDATED: Can I Get Some Crackers With That Cheese?

So I guess JJ has a documentary film coming out in Serbia called "Jelena's World", wherein the cameras followed her around for a while to capture what exactly a tennis player's life looks like behind the scenes.  It looks amazingly cheesetastic.

Besides.  Haven't we seen this movie before?  It was a less dramatic version.  Oh yeah, it was the Eurosport documentary that followed Baby E around at this year's Berlin tournament (the same tournament that seems to be the site of JJ's movie).

UPDATED:

Apparently the film will drop on November 12 in Belgrade.  Here are some more screencaps:

 

 

 

So is it a documentary or is it a film?  Because if it's a documentary she shouldn't be acting or putting together scenes for the director.  I'm just saying.

Augh! So Far, Halloween Sucks.

WTF?  Fed withdraws against Blah.  Rafa retires against Kolya.  And Nalby beats Muzzah in STRAIGHT SETS?   This is ridiculous.

Something smacks of a conspiracy theory here.  Nole, Fed, Rafa, and Andy, all out of the tournament in 24 hours?  I don't know if there's a sports equivalent to price-fixing, but alert the regulatory agencies.  This all smells fishy.

So if Jo beats Andy (who knows what's going tho happen), then the three of the final fourt players will all be in the hunt for Shanghai and the possibility of Crazy Train AND Commodus NOT qualifying is actually pretty good.  The winner of the Blake/Tsonga match would qualify for Shanghai, and Nalby would qualify if he then won the whole thing, which is entirely possible.

So for the Elf/Commodus fans out there, you better be rooting for a Kolya/A-Rod final.  Ew.

UPDATE: Monkey See, Monkey Do.

Lame.  Rafa just retired against Kolya after losing the first set 61.  Looks to be a problem with his right thigh.

UPDATED:  More on Rafa's injury

Nadal had received a lengthy massage treatment on his right thigh at 4-1 down to try and loosen the muscles around his right knee but was unable to start the second set.

"When I push with the right leg all the time the knee wasn't there, the knee is going down," Nadal said. "I felt a sharp, acute pain."

The Spaniard felt nagging knee pains earlier this week, and it got worse Friday morning.

"Today when I woke up I felt it a lot. I try to practice but still feel it," Nadal said. "Later I went the doctor and the doctor gave me some anti-inflammatories."

Nadal said he has never had a similar injury and that he needs further tests before he decides whether to play the season-ending Masters Cup, which begins Nov. 9 in Shanghai.

"We are going to have the tests and everything," Nadal said. "Hopefully it's going to be fine for Shanghai, but you never know."

UPDATE: Fed Withdraws From Paris

Lower back pan, apparently.  This means Blah moves on the the semifinals, and is even closer to qualifying for Shanghai.  Augh.  Someone please beat him.

UPDATE: More on Fed's back:

Federer, meanwhile, pulled out shortly before his quarterfinal against James Blake because of a stiff back, but said he didn't have a serious injury.

Nadal said Federer told him he was hurt as they met in the player's lounge just before he came on to face Davydenko.

"My back has been stiff for the last couple of days and I woke up this morning and it did not respond to the treatment I had last night," Federer said on his Web site. "As a precaution and because I would be unable to play at 100 percent tonight, I have unfortunately had to take the difficult decision not to play."

"Usually the back is something that takes a few days and it's better again," Federer said. "I'm confident and I'm positive that hopefully it's going to get better in the next few days."

Paris: Friday OOP

 
Wrapping up the evening action in Paris, Rafa and Kolya had surprisingly easy wins over dangerous opponents.  Rafa beat LaMonf 3 and 2 and Kolya destroyed Big Berd, 1 and 1.

So here is tomorrow's quarterfinal action:

Muzzah v. Fat Dave (14.00hrs)
Rafa v. Kolya
Blah v. Fed (19.45hrs)
A Rod v. Jo Willy

You've got the collision of two of the hottest players on tour (not looks-wise, mind you), Rafa's attempt to avenge his Miami loss to Kolya, Fed's attempt to avenge his Olympics loss to Blah, and, in what I think is the most interesting match of the day, two players trying to find some resurgent form, A-Rod and Jo. 

Given Jo's limping around in his match against Nole, I have to give the edge to Andy.

As for the Race to Shanghai it's pretty simple.  Blah and Jo need to make the final to clinch a spot, and Fat Dave has to win the tournament.

Peter Bodo Weighs In On Masha

I love Pete.  I just want to drink scotch with him, get life advice from him, and end the night with a hug.

Was that creepy? That was creepy.

Drumroll, Please...

The draw for the YEC will be held at 1:30pm local time on Sunday.  The fun thing is that all eight players will be there.  Awk-ward.

Whatever.  They'll all probably have bags under their eyes from staying up all night at the pajama party.

In Defense of Jelena

 
It's interesting to see all the WTAers rush to the defense of JJ now that the year is winding down.  You have to understand the impulse to do so.  How else do you justify what has appeared to be, at times, a completely chaotic, drawn out, unnecessarily dramatic year full of sound and fury and, quite possibly in the grand scheme of things, signifying nothing? 

But who else should stand atop the wreckage than the most completely chaotic, drawn out, unnecessarily dramatic WTAer of them all.

Here's a nice article over at ESPN.com with quotage from Larry Scott, Carillo, Bollitieri (biased much?), and Shriver.  I don't dispute much of what's in the article since it's primarily focused on the computer rankings, how you get points, and what JJ has done to get them.  And you can't dispute the fact that making the quarterfinals in 19 of 21 tournaments is a pretty remarkable stat.  But it is noticable that Carillo and Shriver are carefully choosing their words wisely when discussing JJ, which is wise, because if you don't, you end up saying ridiculous things like this: 

"There's no one in the locker room that questions whether she deserves to be No. 1."

You mean like no on in the locker room has a problem with the new Roadmap?  Methinks Mr. Scott needs to devote some money to polling, as opposed to speaking for players he clearly hasn't spoken to.

As a side note, I think it's really funny that tennis people feel free to air out dirty laundry, like it's no big deal.  I mean, did Bollitieri REALLY need to tell the world that Masha, who was two years younger, scared the shit out of JJ when they were at the academy together?

Also, the pic of JJ that ESPN chose, was...not great.

Paris Update: Down Goes Nole

Well there's a break in the action over in Paris, so here's your quick roundup of this morning's action.

Jo Willy pulled off the non-shocking upset of the day, taking out Nole in three sets, 64 16 63.  A nice win for Jo, as he stays in the running for one of the final two spots in Shanghai. 

I always love the sportsmanship from these two. 

As for Nole, I'm not all surprised.  The kid just doesn't have the fitness to get through a full ATP season AND added pressure.  I hope he has a good showing in Shanghai and at least makes the semis.  But I'm not holding my breath.  I get the sense that he just wants this season to be done with, for people to start being so negative about him, and get a clean slate in January.

As for our good friend Commodus, it's now a waiting game to see if his season is over, as A-Rod took him out, 63 75.  A very nice win for Andy, who now clinches the #6 spot to Shanghai.  Gilly is going to have to sit and wait to see what Jo and Blah to here in the tournament.

Speaking of Blah, he won over our Techno Queen (PEHK), 64 64.  So his hopes for Shanghai are still alive.  Nalby DEE-STROYED the Crazy Train (64 60), who will also have to sit in the green room with Gilly and wait out his Shanghai fate.

And in boring news, Fed and Muzzah won.

Still on tap for the evening, Rafa/La Monf and Kolya/Big Berd.

He Kinda Cheated, But The Win Is Well Deserved.

Here's the WTA's Challenge Your Hero winner.  For those who recall, this was part of a promotion they did where they provided clips of your favorite players playing, and you could edit it in any way you wanted so you could "Challenge Your Hero."  The winner is quite deserving.  Though, as a caveat, he did use footage of Ana in Montreal, and she was suffering with her thumb injury then.  My dog could have beaten her.  But still.

Have fun in Doha, Dude!

Pic This: Yup, That's How I Dress When I Hit My Tennis Club, Too.

A-Rod the Subject of Dueling Scribes

So I've already weighed in on my thoughts on A-Rod.  In short, I think he's an underachiever who has never taken that extra step to fully exploit his potential. 

Sandra Harwitt over at ESPN.com, disagrees.  She thinks he's an overachiever:

It could be said that if it weren't for Roger Federer, Andy Roddick could be displaying at least three Grand Slam trophies at home instead of being a guy with only one major victory.

So what?

Why does the No. 7 Roddick get a bum rap when he has proved to be a hard-working, dedicated player who readily accepts challenges? Certainly, his curriculum vitae is plumped up by 26 career titles -- a figure that includes the 2003 U.S. Open title, three additional Grand Slam final appearances, a leadership medal for guiding the U.S. to the 2007 Davis Cup title -- and he is likely to finish the year in the top 10 for the seventh consecutive year.

It should be noted that all three times he lost in Grand Slam finals -- 2004 and '05 Wimbledon, '06 U.S. Open -- he lost to then-world No. 1 Roger Federer, a guy dangerously close, as in one title away, from equaling Pete Sampras' Grand Slam title record of 14.

But Matt Cronin over at TennisReporters.net, disagrees with his good buddy Sandra:

Speaking Of Roddick, that was some defense of his career that my friend Sandy Harwitt wrote on ESPN. Ginger Roddick must have dropped a large pair of rose-colored sunglasses by Sandy's Boca Raton pool on her way to the foundation offices. Here's one of my favorite lines: "The fact that some pundits around the game take a look at Roddick at 27 and declare him disappointing is considered ludicrous by more compassionate souls." Ludicrous? Here's an emotionless comparison: Before Federer (BC is you like) Pete Sampras was considered the greatest ever by many, and still is by some. Sampras won 14 Slams, but during his era, two of his main rivals, Andre Agassi and Jim Courier, still managed to win eight and four majors respectively. Roddick has only won one and was not stopped in every Slam he played since winning the '03 US Open by Federer. In fact, early this year, the Aussie Open final featured Novak Djokovic and Tsonga. Do you remember who Roddick lost to? Kohlschreiber, who as far as I can see, is not Boris Becker in the making. I'm a big fan of Sandy's both personally and professionally, but how in the world can she compare Roddick to David Wheaton? Roddick is twice the player he was. Let's not lower Roddick's bar too quickly. He still has room to improve

This is what we lawyers call "ownage".  I do see Harwitt's point, but it's a fluffy one.  You can believe it if you want to believe it.  But the facts remain unchanged.  Fed didn't stop him everytime.  It's not a Rafa/Fed/French Open situation, where we really can say the guy would have had multiple calendar Slams if not for that pesky little dirtballer.  There's of course an argument to be made, given Andy's record against him, that Fed would have stopped him eventually, but that seems kind of weak and full of speculation.

I don't really know where I'm going with this.  I just thought it was interesting.

Sveta Arrives Early To Help Dinara Set Up

Sveta's in charge of music for the pajama party.  I have a feeling she's just going to put "99 Problems" on loop for the whole night. 

Air Quotes: Shriver on 2009

"Venus will be the favorite again next year to win Wimbledon, but then where else is she going to sneak in?  Maybe the US Open, because I can't see her winning either Australian or the French. Serena is the best bet and maybe her time at the French is over, but at the other three, if she enters them healthy and is a reasonable frame of mind, she'll be at least the co-favorite if not the favorite. A lot depends on how Sharapova comes back because she should be good for winning one Slam a year, too. It looks the injury will come and go, just like her serve and toss, but when it clicks in, she's can best player. Ivanovic looks like she went through the typical first Slam win, followed by a big slump. She might be like Maria was after she won her first Slam at 2004 Wimbledon – following it up with mediocre year. And then you have the stayers, like Jankovic, who plays her 20-25 tournaments, reaches her semis, finals and gets some titles. She'll just plod along and rack up the points. It's been a year of bizarre twists and turns and a little intrigue. In some way it's been absolutely fascinating, but some have been frustrated with whether anyone can actually take No. 1 and embrace it."

-- Pam Shriver, on the uncertainty and unpredictability of the 2009 WTA season (subscription required).  Other interesting thoughts from Pammy going into the YECs:

• She thinks JJ and Lena D will each win a Slam in the next 18 months
• She thinks that regardless of what happens at the YECs, 2008 will be remembered not as the year of a dominant #1 emerging, but as the year that a dominant #1 retired;
• She believes JJ is a deserving #1;
• She wonders if Serena's tank is empty after it took 9 months of hard work to win the US Open;
• She hopes that the YECs being held in not-so-woman friendly Doha will inspire the local women.

Paris: Thursday OOP

Awww, yeah.  Now we're talking.  If I could take the day off from work I would. 

Center Court
JMDP v. Fat Dave (11.00hrs)
A Rod v. Commodus
Jo Willy v. Nole
Tuxedo Mask v. Fed
Rafa v. LaMonf (19.45hrs)
Big Berd v. Kolya

Court 1
PEHK v. Blah (14.00hrs)
Muzzah v. Tabasco

Still Alive For Shanghai

Blah and Jo had to fight for it and Gilly got a lot of help today from new BFF PEHK.  The result?  All three are still in the running for those final two spots to Shanghai.  Blah and Jo had rough three setters but came through, while Gilly won his in straight sets over Andreev and also benefitted from PEHK's "upset" of Daveed (really?  3 and 2?) and Big Berd's win over Stan (3 and 5).  Both Stan and Daveed are now out of the running for Shanghai and since Daveed was the one chomping at Gilly's heels, he's sure looking good to secure that last spot.  But a huge result by Blah or Jo could derail him.

As for the big boys, everyone's a winner!  Rafa destroyed Serra, 2 and 4, and Murray sent Querrey California packing, 2 and 4.  And Roger?  He was tested but in the end he outlasted this fucker:

Other results:
[6] N Davydenko (RUS) d [Q] I Ljubicic (CRO) 76(5) 75
[8] D Nalbandian (ARG) d N Kiefer (GER) 76(5) 63
M Cilic (CRO) d [Q] M Granollers (ESP) 64 76(2)

Wait, What? A Marquee List?

Another really informative post by Kamakshi Tandon at ESPN.com on the Roadmap.  Two things that are new to me:

7. Marquee list

The allocation of top-six players to premier events will be determined not by ranking but by a newly created marquee list, although the format is still under discussion. According to Allaster, it could be based simply on tournament directors' ratings of the players' marquee values, or go the opposite way and be based only on year-end rankings.

The tour's current Gold and Silver exemption lists, which are a hybrid of marquee value and rankings, will no longer be in use.

I'll be honest, I didn't know there was some form of this "marquee list" already in existence.  The whole concept of it is interesting though.  I mean, it is really any shock who the players with the most marquee value are?  But it seems kind of cold to put that on paper.

9. Fewer byes

For the moment, byes have been removed at midlevel events such as Sydney, Stuttgart and Stanford, which often attract a number of top players. That means the top four players would have to win five matches rather than four to win the tournament. For them, four of these events without byes would involve the same number of matches as winning five events with byes. That effectively would wipe out the gains of having to play 16 events next year rather than this year's 17.

Currently, there are no byes at the mandatory events in Madrid and Beijing, which require winning six matches to win the tournament. However, Allaster says that byes may be introduced at these events because they are during the week after premier five events in Rome and Tokyo, respectively. Without byes, top players would face the prospect of having to play 11 matches in two weeks.

So this gives some context to Sven and Serena's concerns, which I wrote about the other day.  If you remove byes from some of the smaller "Tier II" tourneys, then you can't sell this idea that the players are playing less.  They're still cramming the same number of matches into a shorter time frame. 

Eleven matches in 14 days?  Uh, that's the reward for being really good at my job?  More work?  Yeah, that doesn't fly in the real world, and it definitely won't fly with the pajama clad ladies of the WTA.

Air Quotes: I Can't Tell If They Love Radek, Or Hate Him.

Robbie Koenig and Jason Goodall, the commentators for the Paris Masters Cup, have had quite a go at Radek this week, more so than normal because Nikki is actually in attendance.  It's been hilarious:

Jason: Nicole Vaidisova. Radek's fiance. His second fiance in as many years.
Robbie: He used to be engaged to Martina Hingis.
Jason: He upgraded to a newer model. Wish we could all be so lucky.

Robbie: Shouldn't she be out on the WTA tour? Is she injured or...?
Jason: She's in love, mate! It’s hard to believe, when you look at Radek.

Jason: She is very much in love with Radek Stepanek, make of that what you will. They always say beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

Jason: He may be tired after yesterday's match. Not getting any younger at 29. But you know what they say, you are only as young as the woman you are feeling.

Sania Schills Sprite

Man, this girl must move major product.  Hope her wrist heals so that she can actually display the talent to back up all these endorsements.

Tidbits from My Boyfriend's Mailbag

This week, from Jon Wertheim's Mailbag:

How do you think the end of year championships will shake out?
-- Greg Beyer, Naugatuck, CT

• Still another earmark of his professionalism, Roger Federer always seems to have a bit more left in the proverbial tank when the Masters Cup rolls around. Maybe it's all that Net-jetting. As was the case at Wimbledon, I think you have to call him the favorite until someone else proves otherwise. As for the women, you're better off picking the stock market. At this point in the year, with a banged up and mentally exhausted field playing on an indoor court in a far-flung locale, no result would surprise me.

Not a question but an observation. It was at the Stuttgart tournament when Jankovic's coach was timing Venus' serve. It strikes me as being quite funny since it appears Jankovic looks over at her coach/box before challenging a call, which I thought was not suppose to be the case.
-- Susan, Boston

• A few of you have mentioned that. It strikes me as more than a little bush league. And of all players, Venus Williams is probably the single most sporting out there. She doesn't even like to challenge line calls; you really think she's milking the clock on purpose? Insofar as this was an attempt to "get inside the head" of Venus, I suspect it had the opposite effect. When a coach does something like this, is he not in effect saying, "I'm not sure you can beat her outright; so I'm resorting to the dark arts?"

What's the back story on Feliciano Lopez that might have prompted this comment from one of the Tennis Channel commentators at the finish of Lopez' victory over Wawrinka in Madrid: Lopez excelling in front of a celebrity crowd that he will feel came to watch him -- and only him."
-- FP, Nashville

• I'm responding to hearsay, but I'm sure this was an innocent comment, simply alluding to the fact that Lopez is from Madrid, the tournament's host city. I'm sure it has nothing -- not a thing -- to do with the fact that Lopez is alleged to make Narcissus himself look modest, a man who will singlehandedly wear out the reflective surface of the locker room mirrors. Seriously, there seems to be an interesting dynamic among some of the Spanish players. There's apparently the urban, pretty boy camp (Verdasco and Lopez) and the more rural, rugged camp (Ferrer, Nadal, Almagro.) Nadal is good friends with Lopez, but calls him "Galactico," a reference to the Real Madrid soccer "superstars" but also a gentle knock on his disco-lizard, appearance-conscious persona.

How Soon People Forget.

Geez, you win one Tier II tournament in a resort town in Austria and next thing you know, three months of criticism, mocking, and write-offs just *poofs* disappears.

FromTom Perotta at ESPN.com:

The fall tennis season is much maligned and for good reason: Players are usually banged up this time of year, and the tournaments lack prestige compared to the majors. For someone like Ivanovic, though, the fall season can provide an escape from the spotlight and a chance to rebuild both strokes and confidence. This can pay dividends -- just ask Amelie Mauresmo. In the fall of 2005, a struggling Mauresmo lost two consecutive first-round matches in Moscow and Zurich, the latter by the score of 6-2, 6-0 to Katarina Srebotnik. A few weeks later, she won a small tournament in Philadelphia and then won t he season-ending championships. Mauresmo knew her best days were ahead of her.

"I was feeling very strong in my game, and my confidence was very high," Mauresmo said in an interview earlier this year. "Definitely I was feeling like a dominant player."

Mauresmo won the Australian Open, her first major title, in early 2006 and followed it up with a victory at Wimbledon (she also regained the No. 1 ranking). Without those titles in late 2005, she said, she wouldn't have been ready for such success.

Mauresmo was a late bloomer, not uncommon for a crafty player who often charges the net and wins points with tactics rather than an onslaught of bludgeoned balls. Ivanovic doesn't have Mauresmo's quickness or agility, but she, too, is more tactician than basher. As Groeneveld said, Ivanovic, who will celebrate her 21st birthday next week, needs time to mature, both physically (she's much more fit than she once was) and mentally. She isn't going to win slugfests. She isn't going to win with speed and defense. Variety is her best weapon, but it's a weapon that takes years to master. If Linz is any indication, she is once again moving in the right direction.

Can I just say that I LOVE that she's not being described as a ball basher anymore?

Yet Even More on the Roadmap

Kamakshi Tandon (who I flove) has another great article over at ESPN.com on the WTA Roadmap.  She summarizes things quite nicely:

But although the Roadmap hasn't managed to create a revolution in those respects, in other ways it represents a significant evolution in the structure of the tour. Top players will now have the majority of their schedule decided for them, and there will be a far larger gulf in the quality of fields between big and small tournaments. In effect, the cream is being skimmed for an elite tour within the tour, with a diluted, milky version left below.

The tour also is bringing in a form of revenue sharing linked to prize money increases and increasing correlation with the ATP tour -- nearly half of next year's tournaments are combined or back-to-back men's and women's events. There also is a geographic shift, with more big Asian events than before.

In a nutshell, top players are giving up flexibility in return for more prize money and a neater calendar. Tournaments are investing more into their events in return for the promise of more stars to sell tickets. Fans will get the opportunity to see the big names clash more often but less chance to see them in their own backyard.

So basically they're trying to create a YEC throughout the year, with the top 10-ers constantly playing each other in major tourneys.  Obviously this doesn't suck.  But the thought of not being able to see big names in small tourneys like Linz, Stanford, etc.  That's kind of a bummer.

Pajama Party! Pajama Party! Pajama Party!

Apparently We're Not the Only Ones Who Miss Masha

Absolutely hilarious. Roger is such a dork.

More From Russia, With Love

More pics from that little Russian Tea Party/Funeral/Graduation/Wedding thingy:

First thought:  Did Dinara dye her hair darker?  Cuz girl is looking GOOD, and I think it's the hair.  And the confidence.  Well, more her hard core inappropriate secret crush on her coach.  It's definitely something.

Second thought:  I think it's great how the Russians seem to get along so well.  I mean, that's the case in other countries too, but it's more surprising for the Russian ladies because they're all at the top of the game.  It's easy to be buddies when you're not really fighting for the same thing and running into each other all the time.  But for Dina, Lena, Sveta, Chakky, etc., it's kind of cool.

Third thought:  Marat is looking all kinds of prep school tasty.  Yum.

(Pics from Tennis Forum)

Dinara's In Doha

She's probably there early to plan the pajama party. 

Paris: Wednesday's OOP

And now the fun begins:

Court Central
Colin Farrell Kiefer vs. Fat Dave (11.00hrs)
Igor v. Commodus
Rafa v. Serra
Tsonga v. Radek
General Sod v. Fed (19.45hrs)
Muzzah v. Querrey California

Court 1
Granollers v. Tuxedo Mask (11.00hrs)
Daveed v. PEHK
Lubey v. Kolya
Stan v. Big Berd
Goth Bols v. Blah

ATP Guarantees There Will Never Be a Slamless #1

Interesting article in the Globe and Mail about the radical changes to the ATP's ranking system next year. 

Some tennis fans have heard that ATP Tour officials have decided to rename the eight elite Masters Series tournaments (including the men's Rogers Cup) the "Masters 1000" events beginning in 2009.

To justify having the "1000" in the name, the number of ranking points awarded to the winner of Masters Series tournaments is being doubled from 500 to 1,000. In order to retain the ratio with Grand Slam winners points, those will also double - from 1,000 to 2,000 points. Everyone assumed this seemingly straightforward doubling of points would take place throughout the whole system, from the mega-bucks Grand Slams right down to the lowly, entry-level $10,000 Futures tournaments.

But that is not the case. While the winners of the Grand Slams and Masters Series events will receive twice as many points, after that there is a big drop-off. For example, the finalist at a Grand Slam this year received 700 points, which should be 1,400 if it was doubled. But the finalists next year will get 1,200, only an 85 per cent increase.

The percentages go down from there. A player who reaches the round of 16 will receive 200 points next year, just a 20 per cent increase over the 160 he got in 2008. Similarly, percentage gains are also lower in the ATP 500 and ATP 250 level events.

As I've already confessed, I don't know the intricacies of the ATP ranking system, but conceptually it's the same as the WTA system.  So my initial response to this whole scheme is that it's kinda nuts but there is merit to it.  So basically what I'm saying is I don't know what my reaction is right now.

Gay or French? You Make The Call

I've seen this before but it was just uploaded to YouTube a few days ago.  And now, for your viewing pleasure....

Commodus:

Kind of a Boring Day.

Meh.  Kind of a snoozer in Bercy today.  Not that there wasn't any quality tennis, or anything.  A Rod played REALLY well to dust FeLo, 63 64.  Crazy Train kept on truckin', as he fed Mario a bagel.  At least the kid is eating something.

The only fun thing is that Nole donned his Halloween mask before his match against Dima, which he won when Dima retired in the second with a right shoulder injury:

A Rod played REALLY well to dust FeLo, 63 64.  Crazy Train kept on truckin', as he fed Mario a bagel.  At least the kid is eating something.

LaMonf ousted Safin-killer Juan Monaco, 64 64.  And PEHK did his best Terrell Owens impersonation (he knows you can step outside the lines, right?) and beat Youzhny, 61 64.

Oh yeah.  This fucker won (seriously, is he not the face of pure evil?)
 
Here are the rest of your scores:
T Robredo (ESP) vs [15] F Verdasco (ESP) (in progress)
R Stepanek (CZE) d M Gicquel (FRA) 64 36 64
[Q] I Ljubicic (CRO) d [Q] V Troicki (SRB) 63 64
[LL] F Serra (FRA) d [LL] G Canas (ARG) 46 75 63

Dear Hackers: You Cannot Stop Them. You Can Only Hope To Contain Them

I presume all the hacking is in response to the JJ/Ana press action over the past week.  That explains the timing, at least to me. 

Ana in Belgrade:

Dear Ana:  Outfit = Cute!  Hair + Makeup = Not so much.  Also, that kid is more adorable than Baby E.

Meanwhile, the #1 Serbian (gosh, that's hard for me to type) was in town shooting a commercial:

And meeting fans:

(Pics from Tennis Forum)

Pic This: Not-So-Reservoir Dogs

 

ReRe and Blah To Rep U.S. at Hopman Cup

Not a bad team, actually.  ReRe better watch her head though.  Those errant Blah forehands are bound to hit her at some point.

"Behold I do not give lectures or a little charity, When I give I give myself. "

Fed must be reading Leaves of Grass during his off time.  The Mighty One has decided to reward us all and give us, the world, the gift that is his game by committing to Switzerland's Davis Cup tie against the U.S.  The tie will be held in the U.S., right before Indian Wells.

And now for the understatement of the year, by Sandra Perez, the Swiss Team spokesperson, "That increases our chances.''

Ya think?

Ana's Site Hacked Too?

Looks like something is going on with Baby E's website, which is "Temporarily Unavailable".  Maybe they're just doing some security upgrades, but commenter tennisetviola said her rss feeder says it''s been hacked.

Is all this because AI and JJ haven't said anything about their stance re Kosovo?  Because Nole's site seems perfectly fine.  Or are the hackers just at my beck and call.

Here's an experiment: Hey hackers, go hack Kohlschreiber's site!  Good luck.  I'm sure you'll just get distracted by the retardedly awesome techno music.

Will 2009 Be Worm Free?

Remember Nicole Vaidisova?  Remember when she used to not be the disappointing result-less joke of a player that she is now?  Yeah, I don't remember that either.  Which is why it was nice to be reminded.

I'm pretty hard to Nikki V, I admit it.  And a lot of it stems from the perception that she doesn't care about her drop in quality.  Players would kill for a tenth of her firepower.  But I liked the compare and contrast the Tennis.com article did with Nikki and JJ.  The same could be said of Nikki and Ana, both 20 years old, both big hitters, both showing a lot of promise in the 2006 season.  But ever since Ana beat Nikki in the Wimbly quarters in 2007, their careers have gone in opposite directions.  The comforting thing to keep in mind is that they're both still young.

I'm not ready to write Nikki off yet.  Let's' see what she does in 2009.

Dudes. Seriously. I DID NOT Do This.

JJ's official site was apparently hacked by some Albanian/Kosovo hackers.  That sucks.

Heavy is the head that wears the tiara.

Hint to the hackers:  More people visit Ana's site. You probably should be hacking that one.

Flashback: Hot Shots

In February 2007, Tennis.com profiled a number of players that they tagged as "The Future of Tennis."  It's interesting to see what they said then and compare that to where the players are now:

Rafa Nadal
Ana Ivanovic
Novak Djokovic
Andy Murray
Jelena Jankovic
Tomas Berdych
Gael Monfils
Nicole Vaidisova
Richard Gasquet
Marcos Baghdatis

"Hey Now, Hey Now, Don't Dream It's Over."

CrazySexyLostHIsCool lost listlessly today to Juan Monaco, 60 76.  And now he's all confused and thinking that he needs to hide his hotness from the world permanently.  From ESPN.com:

"I need to think everything through. I have no pressure and I have nothing to prove or show. I just want to be comfortable with my decision, whatever I will take."

"I need to sit down and relax and just enjoy my life without any tennis [for] a couple of months and then I will see," Safin said. "If I feel like I want to continue to play, I will. If not, it will be over."

"I've been struggling throughout my career with injuries left and right," said Safin, who is ranked 31st. "It's a little bit uncomfortable to find yourself in the top 10 for many years and to find yourself ranked 70 and 30 and 50 ... It's not really a comfortable position."

Sounds like I should now nickname him CrazySexyLostAllFormsOfRationalThoughtOrBehavior. 

No, Marat.  C Note says no.  I refuse to accept your resignation.  Return to work and let's pretend we never spoke.

2009 WTA Promotional Video. At Least In Larry Scott's (and most dudes everywhere) Dreams

Not really.  But apropos of yesterday's discussion. Also, I've been addicted to this Metro Station song for like, 3 months now.

Paris: Monday OOP

Some interesting matches lined up for tomorrow.  Safin/Monaco, Ginepri/Berdych, Ancic/Schuettler, and the marquee first rounder, Tipsy/FeLo.

Center Court
M Cilic (CRO) vs A Seppi (ITA) (11.00hrs)
M Baghdatis (CYP) vs S Querrey (USA)
M Safin (RUS) vs [Q] J Monaco (ARG)
P Mathieu (FRA) vs I Andreev (RUS) (19.45hrs)
J Tipsarevic (SRB) vs F Lopez (ESP)

Court 1
N Kiefer (GER) vs I Karlovic (CRO) (11.00hrs)
[Q] R Ginepri (USA) vs T Berdych (CZE)
[Q] S Bolelli (ITA) vs J Nieminen (FIN)
M Ancic (CRO) vs R Schuettler (GER)

More Roadmap Rumblings: Sven, Serena, and JJ Weigh In

From the same Tennis article I referenced before:

The new calendar reduces the number tournament Top 10 players must enter per season from 13 to 10, not including the four majors.  Players are required to enter Indian Wells, Miami, Madrid, and Beijing, and si other Premier-level events.  The off-season, now seven weeks, will be eight weks, and perhaps nine or 10 if a player doesn't qualify for the season-ending championships or play in the Fed Cup final.  There's also a longer greak between Wimbledon and the first tournament of the North American hard-court season (three weeks compared to one this year). 

To compel the game's top talent to play the most important events, the tour has adjusted the ranking system so its Premier-level tournaments are weighted more heavily.  And if the players miss the top events, they will no longer be allowed to substitute points earned at smaller tournaments; instead a zero will be factored into their ranking.  The tour can also suspend players if they skip and tournament and don't agree to help promote the event.

The WTA hopes the schedule will reduce injuries and improve business, as guaranteeing more stars at larger events will attract more fans and bring in more money.  Yet Groeneveld and others worr that the best women will ahve to play additional tournaments to maintain their rankings.  "With the season shortening, they're putting a lot more pressure on [the top players] physically and mentally," Groeneveld says.

Serena Williams agrees.  "I don't think the new schedule limits anything, really," she says.  "The season ends sooner, but you play more faster."

Larry Scott, the tour's CEO, says players who commit to the most important events and do well at them will find that the new season helps them in the long run.  "If players wind up feeling burnt out or playing to much, it will be because they chose to play extra events," he says. "It won't be because the system forces it, that's for sure."

Jelena Jankovic, who played 97 singles matches in 2007, without, she says, so much as breaking a nail, doesn't worry too much about the schedule.  "It's the way you prepare and the way your body is," she says.  "You can't expect taht just because you play less tournaments you are going to be healthy."

From Sven's Mouth To God's Ears

Tennis magazine has an interesting feature this month entitled "Help Wanted: Champion," which outlines the difficult spot the WTA now finds itself in as no one has stepped up this year to take the torch from Justine.  It's actually a really interesting article and I encourage you to pick it up if you can.

Here's an excert on the WTA's need for a rivalry, the best one they have going for them, and the status of both Baby E and Pova:

If Scott has any luck, a rivalry will be at the center of the story.  Ivanovic vs. Sharapova would do just fine.  One is a tall Siberian blonde, the other a Serbian brunette; one has a killer instinct and sometimes comes off as cold, the other smiles and speaks cheerfully after the worst of losses; one belts ground stroke after ground stroke, the other has surprising variety and touch.  When they met in the Australian Open final this year, Sharapova avenged a semifinals loss to Ivanovic at last year's French Open and on her first title in Melbourne.  Ivanovic responded by winning the French Open, the only major Sharapova has yet to win.  At Wimbledon, it should have been game on.  By the third round, both of them were gone.  By the end of July, both of them were injured.

The biggest concern for tour watchers is Sharapova's shoulder.  "The question is, Will she ever be healthy?" says her former coach Nick Bollittieri.  "Once you get that shoulder injury, then you're going to start changing the serve motion."

The cysts in Ivanovic's thumb are, for now, less worrisome.  The question for her is, Does she have the drive of a true No. 1?  Sven Groeneveld, a coach for Adidas who spends much of his time with Ivanovic, in collaboration with fitness coach Scott Byrnes, believes she does.

Groeneveld has coached Monica Seles, Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario, and Mary Pierce, but he won't compare the 21-year-old (actually, she's only 20, Tennis, get your facts straight) Ivanovic to them.  Ivanovic, he says, has more in common with another talented player with whom Groeneveld once worked.

"She reminds me of Roger Federer more than any other girl that I've worked with," he says.  He ticks off attributes: eager, a quick study, natural hands at the net, a competitor's hert, a feel for the court's dimensions and angles.  When Groeneveld hears talk that Ivanovic is too nice to win major after major, he points to Federer and Stefan Edberg and dismisses the idea as "baloney."  Groeneveld doesn't predict Federeresque success for Ivanovic, yet he sees her as a champion in time. "She's not even close to maximizing her potential," he says.  "She needs another two years.  Before, she was training, but not as a priority."

Ivanovic's failure to build on her French Open title and No. 1 ranking in June caused others to doubt her.  Groeneveld sees it more as too much, too soon.  "I thought Justine was going to be around for at least another two or three years," he says of Ivanovic's rise to No. 1 soon after Henin's retirement.  "Ana will need a little more time to develop into a player who can handle that."

I love Sven.  He's so great and level headed.  And I like that he keeps saying to the press (and ostensibly to Ana) that she's still 2 years out.  That as much as she has achieved, she's not even close to there yet.  That gives me comfort because if she's taking it to heart then she'll deal with the disappointments (like the last four months) with the proper perspective.

Baby E vs. Bepa: Match Highlights

You it's going to be a bad day when Ana's cracking her backhand like this.

Let The Battle For Year End #2-5 Commence

All credit to the crack mathematicians over at Tennis Forum for this.  Here is the breakdown on year-end points depending on performance at the YECs:

players           YEC result
        4th   3rd   SF   RU   WON

D SAFINA    3817  3897  4047  4237  4462
S WILLIAMS   3786  3866  4016  4206  4431
E DEMENTIEVA  3503  3583  3733  3923  4148
A IVANOVIC   3457  3537  3687  3877  4102

Pic This: More From Celebration Sunday

 

From Paris to Shanghai

A day late but here you go:  The Paris Draw.  The draw is fairly balanced, but with Reeshie's withdrawal it really paves the way for Fed.  But the story isn't so much who will win the tourney, though my money is on Muzzah and Fed.  To me, the story is the Race to Shanghai and who will take the final qualifying spots.  Yet to secure spots: A-Rod, JMDP, Gilly, and  Ferrer.

Rafa's Quarter:  He's got Marat, LaMonf, Big Berd, and Kolya.  It shouldn't be too tough, but if Big Berd starts serving lights out and doesn't give Rafa a chance to break, that'll be a tough match.

Muzzah's Quarter:  Andy's having a Dinara like last quarter of the season so can you really not pick him to come out of his quarter?  There are some tough potential matchups with Dr. Ivo, Crazy Train, and Fat Dave.

Nole's Quarter: This is the one's a mine field, with A-Rod, Gilly, and Jo-Willy, not to mention some sleepers like Janko, FeLo, and Radek.  I'm still going to go with Nole here.  He's rested and I have to think he's hungry.  If he's not then he's not the guy I thought he was.  I think Gilly and Jo are tired, so I give an outside chance to A-Rod to make it out of here too.

Fed's Quarter:  Easy peasy lemon squeezy.  He's got The Evil One, which could be tricky given how well he's played indorrs, but past that I don't see anyone even coming close to challenging him.  He's got all the slumpers: Ferrer, Blah, Reeshie before he withdrew and now will be replaced by a Lucky Loser.

I don't know, this one is a bit of a crapshoot.  But I think I'm going to go for Muzzah again.

Race to Shanghai Update: Commodus and Daveed Duke It Out

From Men's Tennis Forums, here's a profile of what the players in mathematical contention need to do to secure a spot in Shanghai:

LOOKING GOOD:

(+31) Andy Roddick (USA): PARIS - 99.9% assured of his place, whatever he does...would need 3 contenders behind him to advance to the SF stage, and most likely 1 of them appear in the final. Not likely...
(+16) Juan Martin Del Potro (ARG): PARIS - in a reasonable position...Ferrer & co. must reach at least the QF to overtake him, should he lose in R2; losing in R3/QF would force the bar up to a SF.
(+3) Gilles Simon (FRA): PARIS - mustn't fall earlier than Ferrer, AND hope that anyone behind him doesn't have a great week (SF or beyond, depending on the situation).
....................

IN CONTENTION:

(-3) David Ferrer (ESP): PARIS - Must out-perform Simon by 1 round / Del Potro by 2 rounds (prior to QF stage), AND hope that anyone behind him doesn't go on the rampage. If he were to fall in R3, Blake would need a SF; if Ferrer goes further, Blake & co. would need final/title win (depending on the player's points total).
....................

NEEDING A MIRACLE:

(-31) James Blake (USA): PARIS - must reach the SF...if Simon reaches R3/Ferrer reaches QF, he must reach the final, and if either reaches the SF, he must win the title, hoping that Simon isn't in the final.
(-40) Stanislas Wawrinka (SUI): PARIS - must reach the SF...if Simon or Ferrer reach R3, he must reach the final, and if either reaches SF, he must win the title, hoping that neither is in the final.
(-51) Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (FRA): PARIS - must reach the final...if Simon or Ferrer reach QF, he must win the title.
(-57) Fernando Gonzalez (CHI): OUT
(-66) David Nalbandian (ARG): PARIS - must reach the final...if Simon or Ferrer reach R3, he must win the title.
(-73) Fernando Verdasco (ESP): PARIS - must win Paris, and hope that Simon and Ferrer don't make SF, and anyone else behind Simon and Ferrer doesn't make the final/win the title (depending on the player's points total).
(-77) Gael Monfils (FRA): PARIS - must win Paris, and hope that Simon doesn't make QF, Ferrer doesn't make SF, and anyone else behind Simon and Ferrer doesn't make the final/win the title (depending on the player's points total).
(-83) Robin Soderling (SWE): PARIS - must win Paris, and hope that Simon and Ferrer don't make QF, and anyone else behind Simon and Ferrer doesn't make the final/win the title (depending on the player's points total).
(-87) Nicolas Almagro (ESP): OUT
(-99) Igor Andreev (RUS): PARIS - must win Paris, but, more importantly, must pray that Simon and Ferrer lose their openers, and anyone else behind Simon and Ferrer doesn't make SF/final/win the title (depending on the player's points total).