Forty Deuce

I Hope You Kept The Receipt.

Who *are* you?  I mean, really.  You are an unrecognizable shell of your former self.  This is not a good thing.  Because JJ, for all the crap I give you, this game is better when you're good.  When you're strutting your stuff, sliding, splitting, smiling, and literally and figuratively wearing glitter.  But I just don't understand you right now.  I mean, credit to A-Bond -- she played pretty well.  But to lose in straight sets 2 and 3?  I'm shocked.

Afterwards, JJ chalked it up to a bad day at the office.  Maybe.

What. Is. That. Serve? 

Whatever it is, she needs to wrap it back up and return it.  It's horrible.  I don't see how the technical and changes have created any additional power.  Instead, she couldn't buy a first serve to save herself.  It was sad to watch.  Oh, and while she's at the Target Return Counter, I hope she still has the receipt for Ricardo.  Because seriously, I don't know what he's selling but she shouldn't be buying it. 

Sure, this could be a work in progress.  Maybe the serve just isn't ripe yet.  But like I said, it wasn't just that it was inconsistent.  I didn't see *any* additional power or effectiveness even when it went in.  

Anyway, I hope you figure things out and figure them out quickly. 

Uh...Fed Cup, anyone?  I guess I have 2 weeks to get some Xanax. 

Now if only I knew someone who had a stash....

Pic This: AO Day 4

I mean, really, Aga?  REALLY?

BOOBIES!!!

Who has two thumbs and is adorable?  THIS GUY.

Oh, Daveed.  You try so hard.

Robbie!

Boys and their balls.  Quite a theme so far.

Totally climbing my list. 

"So you come here and you ask me for a favor..."

Yes, Nole.  As a matter of fact I do have tickets to the gun show.

Sunshine in the house.  If she wins a Slam...good Lord the sponsorship blitz...

You and me both, dude.

Ring and a track jacket?  Shabby chic, indeed.

Um, ok.

Someone's looking woooz....

Oh, nevermind.

"I Gotta Stop Watching This Match."

Happy New Year from the FD Podcast Team.  This week, we talk about our random Australian Open observations so far, you get to hear Victoria and my hearts break as we both were watching Ana's match while podcasting, and for some reason JJ's nose job comes up.  Again.

And Christina, Victoria, and I start planning our trip to San Diego, wherein we will meet up with Tracy and  take pictures of Liberated Dinara all around the city.  Starting at a lifeguard tower.  Baywatch Dina never looked so pumped.

FD Podcast #13: New Sensation

What Are You Talking About? I Love Him More Now.

From DonkeyGrooming: Remind again why I love Fer so much? This is embarassing.

No, Not You Too, Chiuds

Interesting stuff from Ravi Ubha, who's not known to be a sensationalist (unlike *some* tennis reporters out there):

The heat, which prompted Djokovic to retire in last year's quarterfinal against Roddick, visibly got to him. Sinking into his chair at a changeover in the middle of the third set, Djokovic panted as he asked for an ice towel.

Chiudinelli was less bothered by the warmth, and a cynic would suggest he resorted to gamesmanship in an effort to keep Djokovic in the heat for as long as possible. Although Chiudinelli and Federer remain close, no love is lost between the latter and Djokovic.

At the end of the third set, Chiudinelli took his time leaving the court for a toilet break. Upon his return, he wasted a few more seconds changing his shirt. Getting back to the baseline to return serve, he offered no apology.

Chiudinelli's career has been impacted by serious knee and shoulder injuries, and he sported a strapping below his left knee. Down 3-0 in the third set, he took an injury timeout for an ailing right foot when Djokovic had game point, not waiting for a changeover. In the first point back, Djokovic double-faulted.

Djokovic later broke his shoes midgame but played on. He then apologized for taking an extended break during the changeover, new shoes in tow.

"I said to him, 'If that ever happens again, you have to call a timeout, you are in an unplayable situation,'" Martin said. "He said, 'No, that's not how I want to do it.'"

I didn't see this part of the match so I didn't know there was any drama.  Oh, well.  Onward and upward, Nole.  And you should really check with Sergio Tacchini about making shoes for you.  Clearly the Adidas ones don't do you well.

Bernard Tomic, Ladies and Gentlemen.

In case you missed it, Little Boo Boo whined after his 2:00am loss to Marin that he lost because it was way past his bedtime.  He's convinced that had the match been played during the day (as he "requested"), he would have won. 

You'd think that after the little baby got some rest he'd see clearly that he's an idiot.  You'd be wrong.

Looks like the ITF and Tennis Australia are looking at fining him for his comments, which I think is dumb but I guess you have to use any means necessary to get through to this whiny little piss ant.  Hint to Craig Tiley: *whispers* he didn't learn anything...

Q. Today's discussion has been about what you said rather than how you played, which seems a shame. Do you feel like you kind of learned a lesson as far as just being a little bit more careful in your post‑match comments?

BERNARD TOMIC: No, not really. Haven't learned anything. What's there to learn? I just finished the match and I said a thing that I was probably ‑‑ what was I supposed to say? It was 2:00 in the morning.

No, hopefully next schedule will be during the day when I play.

Q. When you say, What's to learn, some of the comments have been that it's poor sportsmanship to look for an excuse for your loss. So you used the scheduling for an excuse. Do you agree that's poor sportsmanship?

BERNARD TOMIC: No, had I played during the day it would have been totally different. Like I said, after the match, I said what I said. I was a few points away from winning, and I got a little bit upset about that.

AO Day 5: OOP

A packed day full of some intriguing matches.  Here's hoping Dinara shows some mercy, DelPo gets through in straights, Kleybs gives Justine a tough 3 setter but loses, Rafa tightens up his game, and MaKiri rolls on. 

Rod Laver Arena 11:00 Start Time
1. Women's Singles - 3rd Round
Elena Baltacha (GBR) v. Dinara Safina (RUS)[2]
2. Men's Singles - 3rd Round
Andy Roddick (USA)[7] v. Feliciano Lopez (ESP)
3. Men's Singles - 3rd Round
Florian Mayer (GER) v. Juan Martin Del Potro (ARG)[4]
Rod Laver Arena 19:00 Start Time
1. Men's Singles - 3rd Round
Philipp Kohlschreiber (GER)[27] v. Rafael Nadal (ESP)[2]
2. Women's Singles - 3rd Round
Angelique Kerber (GER) v. Svetlana Kuznetsova (RUS)[3]

Hisense Arena 11:00 Start Time
1. Women's Singles - 3rd Round
Jelena Jankovic (SRB)[8] v. Alona Bondarenko (UKR)[31]
Not Before:12:30
2. Women's Singles - 3rd Round
Justine Henin (BEL) v. Alisa Kleybanova (RUS)[27]
3. Men's Singles - 3rd Round
Andy Murray (GBR)[5] v. Florent Serra (FRA)
Hisense Arena 19:00 Start Time
1. Women's Singles - 3rd Round
Kim Clijsters (BEL)[15] v. Nadia Petrova (RUS)[19]
2. Men's Singles - 3rd Round
Ivo Karlovic (CRO) v. Ivan Ljubicic (CRO)[24]

Margaret Court Arena 11:00 Start Time
1. Men's Doubles - 2nd Round
Rameez Junaid (AUS) v. Philipp Marx (GER)
Peter Luczak (AUS) Igor Zelenay (SVK)
Not Before:12:30
2. Women's Singles - 3rd Round
Sara Errani (ITA) v. Yanina Wickmayer (BEL)
3. Men's Singles - 3rd Round
John Isner (USA)[33] v. Gael Monfils (FRA)[12]
4. Men's Singles - 3rd Round
Marin Cilic (CRO)[14] v. Stanislas Wawrinka (SUI)[19]
Not Before:19:00
5. Men's Doubles - 2nd Round
Bob Bryan (USA)[1] v. Rik De Voest (RSA)
Mike Bryan (USA)[1] Scott Lipsky (USA)


Show Court 2 11:00 Start Time
1. Women's Doubles - 2nd Round
Lisa Raymond (USA)[6] v. Julie Coin (FRA)
Rennae Stubbs (AUS)[6] Marie-Eve Pelletier (CAN)
2. Men's Singles - 3rd Round
Evgeny Korolev (KAZ) v. Fernando Gonzalez (CHI)[11]
3. Women's Doubles - 2nd Round
T.B.D. v. Venus Williams (USA)[2]
Serena Williams (USA)[2]
4. Men's Doubles - 2nd Round
Simone Bolelli (ITA) v. T.B.D.
Andreas Seppi (ITA)

Show Court 3 11:00 Start Time
1. Men's Doubles - 2nd Round
Marcel Granollers (ESP)[8] v. Johan Brunstrom (SWE)
Tommy Robredo (ESP)[8] Jean-Julien Rojer (AHO)
Not Before:12:30
2. Women's Singles - 3rd Round
Maria Kirilenko (RUS) v. Roberta Vinci (ITA)
3. Women's Singles - 3rd Round
Jie Zheng (CHN) v. Marion Bartoli (FRA)[11]
4. Women's Doubles - 2nd Round
T.B.D. v. T.B.D.

Court 6 11:00 Start Time
1. Women's Doubles - 2nd Round
Cara Black (ZIM)[1] v. Carly Gullickson (USA)
Liezel Huber (USA)[1] Vladimira Uhlirova (CZE)
2. Mixed Doubles - 1st Round
Alicia Molik (AUS) v. Elena Vesnina (RUS)[8]
Matthew Ebden (AUS) Andy Ram (ISR)[8]
3. Mixed Doubles - 1st Round
Cara Black (ZIM)[1] v. Sophie Ferguson (AUS)
Leander Paes (IND)[1] Carsten Ball (AUS)
4. Women's Doubles - 1st Round
Casey Dellacqua (AUS) v. Alla Kudryavtseva (RUS)[11]
Marina Erakovic (NZL) Ekaterina Makarova (RUS)[11]
5. Mixed Doubles - 1st Round
Jarmila Groth (AUS) v. Nuria Llagostera Vives (ESP)[4]
Samuel Groth (AUS) Michal Mertinak (SVK)[4]

Court 7 11:00 Start Time
1. Men's Doubles - 2nd Round
Eric Butorac (USA) v. Mariusz Fyrstenberg (POL)[7]
Rajeev Ram (USA) Marcin Matkowski (POL)[7]
Not Before:12:30
2. Women's Doubles - 2nd Round
T.B.D. v. Sally Peers (AUS)
Laura Robson (GBR)
3. Women's Doubles - 2nd Round
T.B.D. v. Sarah Borwell (GBR)
Raquel Kops-Jones (USA)
4. Women's Doubles - 2nd Round
T.B.D. v. Andrea Hlavackova (CZE)
Lucie Hradecka (CZE)

Court 8 11:00 Start Time
1. Women's Doubles - 2nd Round
Klaudia Jans (POL) v. Su-Wei Hsieh (TPE)[4]
Alicja Rosolska (POL) Shuai Peng (CHN)[4]
2. Men's Doubles - 2nd Round
Simon Aspelin (SWE)[11] v. Prakash Amritraj (IND)
Paul Hanley (AUS)[11] Somdev Devvarman (IND)
3. Women's Doubles - 2nd Round
T.B.D. v. Timea Bacsinszky (SUI)
Tathiana Garbin (ITA)
4. Men's Doubles - 2nd Round
Albert Montanes (ESP) v. Daniel Nestor (CAN)[2]
Martin Vassallo Arguello (ARG) Nenad Zimonjic (SRB)[2]

Court 18 11:00 Start Time
1. Men's Doubles - 2nd Round
Fabio Fognini (ITA) v. Jurgen Melzer (AUT)[17]
Potito Starace (ITA) Philipp Petzschner (GER)[17]
Not Before:12:30
2. Women's Doubles - 2nd Round
Nuria Llagostera Vives (ESP)[3] v. T.B.D.
Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez (ESP)[3]
3. Men's Doubles - 2nd Round
Lukasz Kubot (POL)[5] v. T.B.D.
Oliver Marach (AUT)[5]

Boom Boom Fizzle.

The top seeds are rolling, and that's a good thing.  Or so they tell me.

Auf Wiedersehen.

Singles - Second Round
(1) Serena Williams (USA) d. Petra Kvitova (CZE) 62 61
(4) Caroline Wozniacki (DEN) d. Julia Goerges (GER) 63 61
(6) Venus Williams (USA) d. Sybille Bammer (AUT) 62 75
(7) Victoria Azarenka (BLR) d. Stefanie Voegele (SUI) 64 60
(9) Vera Zvonareva (RUS) d. Iveta Benesova (CZE) 60 63
(10) Agnieszka Radwanska (POL) d. Alla Kudryavtseva (RUS) 60 62
(13) Samantha Stosur (AUS) d. Kristina Barrois (GER) 75 63
(16) Li Na (CHN) d. Agnes Szavay (HUN) 36 75 62
(17) Francesca Schiavone (ITA) d. Julie Coin (FRA) 63 64
Gisela Dulko (ARG) d. (20) Ana Ivanovic (SRB) 67(6) 75 64
Alberta Brianti (ITA) d. (21) Sabine Lisicki (GER) 26 64 64
(22) Daniela Hantuchova (SVK) d. (Q) Sofia Arvidsson (SWE) 64 61
(29) Shahar Peer (ISR) d. Tsvetana Pironkova (BUL) 61 64
(32) Carla Suárez Navarro (ESP) d. Andrea Petkovic (GER) 61 64
Tathiana Garbin (ITA) d. Yaroslava Shvedova (KAZ) 67(5) 62 60

Doubles - First Round
Dushevina/Rodionova (RUS/AUS) d. (5) Petrova/Stosur (RUS/AUS) 36 64 61
(7) Kleybanova/Schiavone (RUS/ITA) d. Brianti/U.Radwanska (ITA/POL) 46 75 76(3)
(9) Vesnina/Zheng (RUS/CHN) d. Cornet/Fichman (FRA/CAN) 75 63
(10) Mirza/Ruano Pascual (IND/ESP) d. (WC) Basuki/Date Krumm (INA/JPN) 64 62
(12) Chuang/Peschke (TPE/CZE) d. Senoglu/Shvedova (TUR/KAZ) 60 75
(13) Dulko/Pennetta (ARG/ITA) d. Bondarenko/Bondarenko (UKR/UKR) 64 26 63
(14) Groenefeld/King (GER/USA) d. (WC) Golds/Mirkovic (AUS/AUS) 60 61
(15) Kirilenko/A.Radwanska (RUS/POL) d. Cirstea/Pavlyuchenkova (ROU/RUS) 60 67(4) 62
(16) Benesova/Zahlavova Strycova (CZE/CZE) d. Errani/Suárez Navarro (ITA/ESP) 62 61
Azarenka/Kuznetsova (BLR/RUS) d. Kanepi/Woehr (EST/GER) 76(5) 64
Olaru/Savchuk (ROU/UKR) d. Amanmuradova/Tanasugarn (UZB/THA) 46 61 62
Peer/Voskoboeva (ISR/KAZ) d. Rybarikova/Voracova (SVK/CZE) 62 75
Szavay/Vinci (HUN/ITA) d. Govortsova/Poutchek (BLR/BLR) 75 64
Jankovic/Perry (SRB/USA) d. Cibulkova/Krajicek (SVK/NED) 61 64
Czink/Grandin (HUN/RSA) d. Lisicki/Rezai (GER/FRA) 63 62
Razzano/Wickmayer (FRA/BEL) d. Kondratieva/Sevastova (RUS/LAT) 75 36 62
Gullickson/Uhlirova (USA/CZE) d. Dulgheru/Gallovits (ROU/ROU) 63 36 63
Borwell/Kops-Jones (GBR/USA) d. Hercog/Martic (SLO/CRO) 64 76(3)
Baltacha/Dekmeijere (GBR/LAT) d. Safarova/Wozniak (CZE/CAN) 75 62
(WC) Peers/Robson (AUS/GBR) d. Craybas/Spears (USA/USA) 63 75

You Keep Me Hangin' On.

Why do you insist on leaving tournaments before I get to see you?  Is it to keep me wanting more? 

It's working.

Singles - Second Round
[1] R Federer (SUI) d V Hanescu (ROU) 62 63 62
[3] N Djokovic(SRB) d M Chiudinelli (SUI) 36 61 61 63
[6] N Davydenko(RUS) d [Q] I Marchenko (UKR) 63 63 60
[9] F Verdasco (ESP) d [Q] I Sergeyev (UKR) 61 62 62 
[10] J Tsonga (FRA) d T Dent (USA) 64 63 63
M Baghdatis (CYP) d [17] D Ferrer (ESP) 46 36 76(4) 63 61
[18] T Haas (GER) d J Tipsarevic (SRB) 46 64 63 16 63
[20] M Youzhny (RUS) d J Hajek (CZE) 62 61 61
[22] L Hewitt (AUS) d [Q] D Young (USA) 76(3) 64 61
[26] N Almagro (ESP) d B Becker (GER) 64 62 36 46 63
[30] J Monaco (ARG) d M Llodra (FRA) 36 36 76(5) 61 63
[31] A Montanes (ESP) d S Robert (FRA) 46 67(3) 62 63 62
A Falla (COL) d M Granollers (ESP) 64 61 63
L Kubot (POL) d S Giraldo (COL) 64 36 63 61
[Q] S Koubek (AUT) d [Q] I Dodig (CRO) 76(4) 61 62
D Istomin (UZB) d M Berrer (GER) 75 63 64
  
Doubles - First Round
[3] L Dlouhy (CZE) / L Paes (IND) d L Friedl (CZE) / D Skoch (CZE) 63 61
M Kohlmann (GER) / J Nieminen (FIN) d [4] M Bhupathi (IND) / M Mirnyi (BLR) 64 64
F Gonzalez (CHI) / I Ljubicic (CRO) d [6] F Cermak (CZE) / M Mertinak (SVK) 63 76(7)
I Karlovic (CRO) / D Vemic (SRB) d [9] C Kas (GER) / D Norman (BEL) 64 36 64
[11] S Aspelin (SWE) / P Hanley (AUS) d M Daniel (BRA) / D Koellerer (AUT) 61 62
J Benneteau (FRA) / S Darcis (BEL) d [13] M Llodra (FRA) / A Ram (ISR) 75 36 75
[14] M Damm (CZE) / F Polasek (SVK) d [WC] M Matosevic (AUS) / B Tomic (AUS) 62 61
J Isner (USA) / S Querrey (USA) d J Coetzee (RSA) / R Wassen (NED) 64 61
C Ball (AUS) / S Huss (AUS) d B Becker (GER) / F Mayer (GER) 76(6) 76(3)
E Butorac (USA) / R Ram (USA) d T Bellucci (BRA) / A Sa (BRA) 63 64
I Andreev (RUS) / E Korolev (KAZ) d S Stakhovsky (UKR) / M Zverev(GER) 61 76(6)
F Lopez (ESP) / R Schuettler (GER) d F Gil (POR) / K Vliegen(BEL) 63 62
F Fognini (ITA) / P Starace (ITA) d J Chardy (FRA) / M Gicquel (FRA) 51 ret. (Chardy - wrist)
S Bolelli (ITA) / A Seppi (ITA) d L Lacko (SVK) / M Russell(USA) 64 62
I Kunitsyn (RUS) / D Sela (ISR) d M Chiudinelli (SUI) / V Troicki (SRB) 64 62

The Boy Who Would Be King

Prince William in da house, y'all. HRH was in Australia for a three-day visit.  So he stopped in to watch a bit of tennis last night.  His reward?  Half a set of Fed dominance and Casey Dellaqua vs. Karolina Sprem.  Uh, nice work, Tennis Australia.

Is it weird that I'm shocked these two have never met?  You'd think it would have happened at Wimbledon.

No, Serena, taking a picture with a Prince does not make you a princess.

Love the lady in the background.  That would *totally* be my Mom.

"You and your mother.  You're both the same." 

I always feel a twinge of sadness everytime I see him.

"Let's see here, what do we have on tap tonight..."

"Sprem?  Really?  This is what you've brought me to?  Really?"

Mar-cos Baghda-tis! *clap clap clap clap clap*

There is no unbridled joy like Baggy-Joy.

Yet another epic five setter from Baggy, who came from two sets and a break down to beat Daveed, 46 36 76(4) 63 61.  Both players cramped through the match (brain and legs), but you have to love the new cramping rule, which has played quite a role in a number of matches. 

Fun fact: Baggy gets Lleyton next.  Wanna guess if that one's going to be the second night match on Laver?  Anyone want to wager whether it finishes after 2am? 

 

I Want To Give Matt A Hug.

Another great piece on Ana by Matt Cronin.  And I 100% agree with this:

However, we need to get one thing clear here: anyone who thinks that Ivanovic’s runs to the French Open title, or the Aussie Open final, or to the Wimbledon semis were a fluke, does not pay attention to women’s tennis. Yes, it can be argued that she might not have achieved No. 1 had Justine Henin not retired back in May of 2008, but the mentally toasted Henin wasn’t going to win that Roland Garros anyway, otherwise she would have played. The youthful and carefree Ivanovic that won the crown came back from a break down in third set in the semifinals to best her ultimate in-country rival Jelena Jankovic for the No. 1 ranking, and then beat the skirt off Dinara Safina in the final. Both those foes were playing standout ball at the time. Ivanovic could have folded at the tournament, but she didn’t, because deep down inside, she’s a tigress and she does the weapons to play with anyone when she’s in a good headspace.

However, she hasn’t been right since the 2008 US Open, which is two years and four months ago. She’s a smart and delightful person to be around, perhaps one of the most naturally intelligent players I’ve ever met, which is saying something given what great minds Steffi Graf, Martina Hingis and Sveta Kuznetsova have. Thinking is not her problem, playing without fear and trusting her shots is.

She needs to relax more and find a peaceful place she can go to when chaos rains down on court. I’m not convinced she’ll get there before she retires, but I’m not counting her out either.

For better and for worse, WORD.

I Haz a Sad.

Here we go again.  Sadly, this is getting easier.  Well, I mean for me, obviously.

In what could have, once again, been a nice turnaround match for Ana, she battled, fought, showed glimpses of her old form and...lost to Dulko.  I know I say this about a lot of her losses, but this one's gonna sting for bit.

Down 4-1 in the first, Ana would fight back (with a little help from Gisela) to take the set 76.  The second set would be another battle, which Dulko took.  And in the final set, Ana, perturbed by a number of close calls Carolyn Kremer refused to overrule, went on a bit of a walkabout, falling behind 5-1.  But she fought back to get back on serve at 4-5, saving match points along the way. 

Coming out from the changeover to serve to even the match, Ana threw in two double faults, went down 0-40, saved three match points to get to deuce, only to lose the game and thus the match.  In short, the match was a microcosm of her career over the past year.  Fits and starts, streaks and slumps, hope and, ultimately, failure.  

Afterwards, the press tried to go all Dr. Melfi on Ana.  She obliged:

Q. Seems like it's been the same story: you fight, try to improve, and you get in these matches and you're falling a little bit short.

ANA IVANOVIC: Yeah, I mean, it's a process. You know, it's hard. It hurts, I must say. For sure it will. But it's a process.

I think I just have to be patient. It will take some time. I do feel better on the court. I'm playing much better. I feel like my old self. There are still some areas that are not there for me to rely on when ‑‑ moments I need them the most. Some matches it's there, some not.

I just have to sort of keep my head up and try to improve, work. There are things I'm working on. Serve is a big part of that progress. I feel it's been going well at times, but it's just not consistent like I would like it to be.

It just might just take some time, and I have to accept that, although it's hard.

Q. In some of the key moments, it seems like you're lacking confidence.

ANA IVANOVIC: Yeah, I was actually talking with my coach just before. What happens is that, you know, I start well and I play good, and then, you know, because I have no expectation, I just go out there to enjoy.

Then I think I can play like this all the time. Then I get tense and I start making mistakes because I want to play like that. Then I just want to go back to playing normal.

I just have to get rid of that a little bit and just try to play, yeah, consistent all the time. It might not be at the highest level, but just build on it.

Q. If someone asked you about your game in 2008 and 2010, what would you say? Why were you No. 1 and playing French Open final, and now second round out?

ANA IVANOVIC: I think it's expectations from myself that I put. And actually, I think I'm striking the ball better now than I did in 2008 or any previous years. Also, you know, my movement is getting there. Last year my fitness was really lacking, and now I'm putting things in place.

It will take some time for it. Considering tennis, I mean, I'm playing much better than I was. It's just that expectation that sometimes I put on myself, and it's very overwhelming.

And then I use so much energy. And then when it counts the most, I'm behind. So I just have to find that balance, I guess.

Q. Are you able to play from instinct, or are you thinking too much on court?

ANA IVANOVIC: That's a big part of my game. I think when I actually let go of, you know, emotions, what I have to do, that's when I play my best. That's when instincts overtake a lot. I have to work on it. That's something I'll always struggle with.

Q. You said the ball toss is a problem for you. What is the difficulty for you?

ANA IVANOVIC: I think what happens when my ball toss gets away from me, it's when I rush a little bit. When I'm excited, when I want to keep going, I want a good serve, and then I rush and I just don't take time. That's when it happens. It just gets away from me because I hold the ball so tight instead of just relaxing.

Yeah, it's something I'm working on.

So buckle up, Baby K fans, and refill that Xanax prescription.  It's going to be another long one.  I'm still hopeful.  I'm willing to be patient on this one. 

Pic This: Oh, It's *That* Kind of Rave

Don't you have a match you should be practicing for, Techno?

Super creepy.

Deutschland, Deutschland, JA JA JA!

Air Quotes: Aw, Come On, Irina. Give Him Some Babies.

Another gem from Kolya.  And the press is catching on.

Q. Would you love to write a book? Because you're an interesting figure, a great character.

NIKOLAY DAVYDENKO: Write a book? You mean a humor book? Tennis book? Action book? I don't know.

Q. Whatever.

NIKOLAY DAVYDENKO: No, no, no. Maybe. Really, I don't know. I still play tennis. I don't know what I can do after if I continue tennis really. It's interesting.

I would like to go in business, but I don't want to lose my money also in the business. That's different decision and difficult what I can do.

Q. Why are you always talking about money every time?

NIKOLAY DAVYDENKO: Because we are Russian (smiling.) Russian always talking about money. And you know all Russian can get only cash, not like you guys, only credit cards also. But not always getting money.

In tennis, for us, it's most important winning and titles to get, you know. Because we have not so long career. Like if we play 10 years, in 10 years if you win some tournaments, you can tell your kids what you did.

Because, you know, if my kids asking, Papa, why you not working? What you doing now? I need to explain what I did, how was my life was before. That's was different situation. Not like normal people, you know, working and get to some job, and then kids can say in school about what's parents doing.

That's what's in my position is different now.

Q. Are you a vodka drinker?

NIKOLAY DAVYDENKO: Yes.

Q. Is that where you get your strength from?

NIKOLAY DAVYDENKO: No, I don't drink really. I don't drink so much because, you see, I'm skinny. I mix only. Sometimes I drink clear vodka, sometimes mixed with Red Bull. Little bit get power in night club or disco.

Because if I drink only vodka I go sleep straight. That's what's something change.

Q. If you retire and you explain to your children why you're not working anymore...

NIKOLAY DAVYDENKO: It's interesting. We're not talking about tennis. We're talking about my life. This is my first experience like this in the press (laughter.)

Q. If you explain that you don't have a Grand Slam victory in a tournament, would you be happy?

NIKOLAY DAVYDENKO: I think so, yes. I just explain what I did, you know. It's not only think about Grand Slam. I did my job. I did my, you know, tennis career. Some guys didn't win anything, you know.

But also you can explain something. He beat somebody, you know, in top 10, or winning some great matches. I can explain I have now 20 titles. That's what's was I can explain Davis Cup win. That's something I can and something I can explain my kids. I hope I can. I hope I can have kids also in the futures. We'll see.

Q. Would you want to have them so they can still see you play?

NIKOLAY DAVYDENKO: Yes. No. Yes and no. Really, I would like have kids now, like Federer already two have, or Hewitt. You know, we have the same age. But my wife don't want to, you know, stay at home. She travel with me now.

At least now is important time. Now I'm top 10. She scared about if I start to, with kids, lose tennis and go down, stray. That's was because I start to miss and I want to go home. I don't want to practicing. That's what's is different.

Maybe for me is better for me be with my wife at this time, no kids. If I be out of top 10, maybe for sure. You know, for sure. But yet is difficult decision to be top 10 and something change.

But I like it maybe.

Q. She thinks you can win the tournament, your wife?

NIKOLAY DAVYDENKO: She think always I can win everything. But not everything I can win.

Q. You said your wife says she thinks you can win every tournament you enter.

NIKOLAY DAVYDENKO: That's because she's my wife.

Pic This: So, Nole Won...

I knew I liked the day kit better.

Mad World

Donnie Darko and The Usual Suspects? 

Augh!  You charm me again, you hot misogynist d-bag!

Pic This: AO Day 3

Sigh.

Maybe if she was doing an awesome 80's dance I could get on board with her.  Alas.

Chakky???

Well, two out of three ain't bad.

This is Croatia's Antonio Veic.  He was adorable in his loss to Gael.

Oh, Bepa.  You are such a classy bada...

...AHHHHHHHH!!!! WHAT THE FUCK????

Igor.  Lucky dude.


TALL.

Right back at ya.

Please tell me he came up with a hot dog.

He's married.  No. 

I thought you were putting "The Bachelorette" on hold for now.

Hey, one-armed Feli is back!

This was on a changeover.  No one stops Aunt Pimmy.

Except Uncle Jack.

Team Adidas Needs A Tailor, Apparently.

(click to enlarge)

AO Day 4: OOP

Hard to follow-up the fun schedule of Day 3 but maybe that's a good thing.  Some of us need some rest.  Looking forward to Marco/Daveed, Jo/Taylor, Ana/Gisela, Janko/Tommy, and Agnes/Nails. 

Rod Laver Arena 11:00 Start Time

Novak Djokovic (SRB)[3] v. Marco Chiudinelli (SUI)
Kristina Barrois (GER) v. Samantha Stosur (AUS)[13]
Lleyton Hewitt (AUS)[22] v. Donald Young (USA)

Rod Laver Arena 19:00 Start Time
Roger Federer (SUI)[1] v. Victor Hanescu (ROU)
Karolina Sprem (CRO) v. Casey Dellacqua (AUS)

Hisense Arena 11:00 Start Time
Marcos Baghdatis (CYP) v. David Ferrer (ESP)[17]
Sybille Bammer (AUT) v. Venus Williams (USA)[6]
Serena Williams (USA)[1] v. Petra Kvitova (CZE)
Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (FRA)[10] v. Taylor Dent (USA)

Margaret Court Arena 11:00 Start Time
Gisela Dulko (ARG) v. Ana Ivanovic (SRB)[20]
Not Before:12:30
Caroline Wozniacki (DEN)[4] v. Julia Goerges (GER)
Janko Tipsarevic (SRB) v. Tommy Haas (GER)[18]
Women's Doubles - 1st Round
Vera Dushevina (RUS) v. Nadia Petrova (RUS)[5]
Anastasia Rodionova (AUS) Samantha Stosur (AUS)[5]
Not Before:19:00
Fernando Verdasco (ESP)[9] v. Ivan Sergeyev (UKR)

Show Court 2 11:00 Start Time
Illya Marchenko (UKR) v. Nikolay Davydenko (RUS)[6]
Stefanie Voegele (SUI) v. Victoria Azarenka (BLR)[7]
Daniela Hantuchova (SVK)[22] v. Sofia Arvidsson (SWE)
Women's Doubles - 1st Round
Kaia Kanepi (EST) v. Victoria Azarenka (BLR)
Jasmin Woehr (GER) Svetlana Kuznetsova (RUS)

Show Court 3 11:00 Start Time
Agnieszka Radwanska (POL)[10] v. Alla Kudryavtseva (RUS)
Agnes Szavay (HUN) v. Na Li (CHN)[16]
Mikhail Youzhny (RUS)[20] v. Jan Hajek (CZE)
Stephane Robert (FRA) v. Albert Montanes (ESP)[31]

Court 5 11:00 Start Time
1. Women's Doubles - 1st Round
Sally Peers (AUS) v. Jill Craybas (USA)
Laura Robson (GBR) Abigail Spears (USA)
2. Men's Doubles - 1st Round
Jeff Coetzee (RSA) v. John Isner (USA)
Rogier Wassen (NED) Sam Querrey (USA)
3. Women's Doubles - 1st Round
Gisela Dulko (ARG)[13] v. Alona Bondarenko (UKR)
Flavia Pennetta (ITA)[13] Kateryna Bondarenko (UKR)
4. Women's Doubles - 1st Round
Akgul Amanmuradova (UZB) v. Ioana Raluca Olaru (ROU)
Tamarine Tanasugarn (THA) Olga Savchuk (UKR)

Court 6 11:00 Start Time
Juan Monaco (ARG)[30] v. Michael Llodra (FRA)
Sabine Lisicki (GER)[21] v. Alberta Brianti (ITA)
Men's Doubles - 1st Round
Marinko Matosevic (AUS) v. Martin Damm (CZE)[14]
Bernard Tomic (AUS) Filip Polasek (SVK)[14]
Women's Doubles - 1st Round
Alberta Brianti (ITA) v. Alisa Kleybanova (RUS)[7]
Urszula Radwanska (POL) Francesca Schiavone (ITA)[7]

Court 7 11:00 Start Time
1. Women's Doubles - 1st Round
Elena Baltacha (GBR) v. Lucie Safarova (CZE)
Liga Dekmeijere (LAT) Aleksandra Wozniak (CAN)
2. Men's Singles - 2nd Round
Alejandro Falla (COL) v. Marcel Granollers (ESP)
3. Men's Singles - 2nd Round
Lukasz Kubot (POL) v. Santiago Giraldo (COL)
4. Men's Doubles - 1st Round
Benjamin Becker (GER) v. Carsten Ball (AUS)
Florian Mayer (GER) Stephen Huss (AUS)

Court 8 11:00 Start Time
Nicolas Almagro (ESP)[26] v. Benjamin Becker (GER)
Julie Coin (FRA) v. Francesca Schiavone (ITA)[17]
Women's Doubles - 1st Round
Sorana Cirstea (ROU) v. Maria Kirilenko (RUS)[15]
Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (RUS) Agnieszka Radwanska (POL)[15]
Women's Doubles - 1st Round
Sania Mirza (IND)[10] v. Yayuk Basuki (INA)
Virginia Ruano Pascual (ESP)[10] Kimiko Date Krumm (JPN)

Court 10 11:00 Start Time
Men's Doubles - 1st Round
Eric Butorac (USA) v. Thomaz Bellucci (BRA)
Rajeev Ram (USA) Andre Sa (BRA)
Not Before:12:30
Andrea Petkovic (GER) v. Carla Suarez Navarro (ESP)[32]
Women's Doubles - 1st Round
Shannon Golds (AUS) v. Anna-Lena Groenefeld (GER)[14]
Marija Mirkovic (AUS) Vania King (USA)[14]
Women's Doubles - 1st Round
Iveta Benesova (CZE)[16] v. Sara Errani (ITA)
Barbora Zahlavova Strycova (CZE)[16] Carla Suarez Navarro (ESP)

Court 11 11:00 Start Time
1. Men's Doubles - 1st Round
Sergiy Stakhovsky (UKR) v. Igor Andreev (RUS)
Mischa Zverev (GER) Evgeny Korolev (KAZ)
2. Men's Doubles - 1st Round
Feliciano Lopez (ESP) v. Frederico Gil (POR)
Rainer Schuettler (GER) Kristof Vliegen (BEL)
3. Men's Doubles - 1st Round
Fabio Fognini (ITA) v. Jeremy Chardy (FRA)
Potito Starace (ITA) Marc Gicquel (FRA)
4. Women's Doubles - 1st Round
Agnes Szavay (HUN) v. Olga Govortsova (BLR)
Roberta Vinci (ITA) Tatiana Poutchek (BLR)
5. Women's Doubles - 1st Round
Sabine Lisicki (GER) v. Melinda Czink (HUN)
Aravane Rezai (FRA) Natalie Grandin (RSA)

Court 13 11:00 Start Time
Women's Doubles - 1st Round
Polona Hercog (SLO) v. Sarah Borwell (GBR)
Petra Martic (CRO) Raquel Kops-Jones (USA)
Not Before:12:30
Tathiana Garbin (ITA) v. Yaroslava Shvedova (KAZ)
Stefan Koubek (AUT) v. Ivan Dodig (CRO)
Women's Doubles - 1st Round
Chia-Jung Chuang (TPE)[12] v. Ipek Senoglu (TUR)
Kveta Peschke (CZE)[12] Yaroslava Shvedova (KAZ)

Court 14 11:00 Start Time
1. Men's Doubles - 1st Round
Simon Aspelin (SWE)[11] v. Marcos Daniel (BRA)
Paul Hanley (AUS)[11] Daniel Koellerer (AUT)
2. Men's Doubles - 1st Round
Simone Bolelli (ITA) v. Lukas Lacko (SVK)
Andreas Seppi (ITA) Michael Russell (USA)
3. Women's Doubles - 1st Round
Maria Kondratieva (RUS) v. Virginie Razzano (FRA)
Anastasija Sevastova (LAT) Yanina Wickmayer (BEL)
4. Women's Doubles - 1st Round
Alize Cornet (FRA) v. Elena Vesnina (RUS)[9]
Sharon Fichman (CAN) Jie Zheng (CHN)[9]

Court 18 11:00 Start Time
Michael Berrer (GER) v. Denis Istomin (UZB)
Vera Zvonareva (RUS)[9] v. Iveta Benesova (CZE)
Women's Doubles - 1st Round
Jelena Jankovic (SRB) v. Dominika Cibulkova (SVK)
Shenay Perry (USA) Michaella Krajicek (NED)
Men's Doubles - 1st Round
Igor Kunitsyn (RUS) v. Marco Chiudinelli (SUI)
Dudi Sela (ISR) Viktor Troicki (SRB)

Court 19 11:00 Start Time
1. Men's Doubles - 1st Round
Leos Friedl (CZE) v. Lukas Dlouhy (CZE)[3]
David Skoch (CZE) Leander Paes (IND)[3]
2. Men's Doubles - 1st Round
Fernando Gonzalez (CHI) v. Frantisek Cermak (CZE)[6]
Ivan Ljubicic (CRO) Michal Mertinak (SVK)[6]
3. Men's Doubles - 1st Round
Mahesh Bhupathi (IND)[4] v. Michael Kohlmann (GER)
Max Mirnyi (BLR)[4] Jarkko Nieminen (FIN)
4. Men's Doubles - 1st Round
Michael Llodra (FRA)[13] v. Julien Benneteau (FRA)
Andy Ram (ISR)[13] Steve Darcis (BEL)

Court 21 11:00 Start Time
1. Women's Doubles - 1st Round
Alexandra Dulgheru (ROU) v. Carly Gullickson (USA)
Edina Gallovits (ROU) Vladimira Uhlirova (CZE)
2. Women's Singles - 2nd Round
Tsvetana Pironkova (BUL) v. Shahar Peer (ISR)[29]
3. Men's Doubles - 1st Round
Ivo Karlovic (CRO) v. Christopher Kas (GER)[9]
Dusan Vemic (SRB) Dick Norman (BEL)[9]
4. Women's Doubles - 1st Round
Shahar Peer (ISR) v. Magdalena Rybarikova (SVK)
Galina Voskoboeva (KAZ) Renata Voracova (CZE

The Pacifier

The kid is a schmuck but he pushed Marin around for a good three hours before finally losing in five sets.  I don't know why I have such high hopes every time I tune in to watch this kid.  Maybe because he looks like Coco and I'm so obviously on Team Coco.  But no more.  I think he's officially put me off.  He walks around the court like he owns it, like he deserves to be there.  His sense of entitlement is palpable.  Newsflash:  You haven't won shit.  Get over yourself.

Via con Dios.  You'll either be the next Andy Murray or the next Donald Young.  Either way, I won't be a fan.  You're a bit of a prick.

Anyway, results-wise, it was a chill day on the sausage side.  Let's see how much juice is left in the lanky legs of Elf and Marin, though.

Men's Singles - Second Round
[2] R Nadal (ESP) d L Lacko (SVK) 62 62 62
[4] J del Potro (ARG) d J Blake (USA) 64 67(3) 57 63 108
[5] A Murray (GBR) d M Gicquel (FRA) 61 64 63
[7] A Roddick (USA) d T Bellucci (BRA) 63 64 64
[11] F Gonzalez (CHI) d [LL] M Ilhan (TUR) 63 64 75
[12] G Monfils (FRA) d A Veic (CRO) 64 64 64
[14] M Cilic (CRO) vs [WC] B Tomic (AUS) 76(6) 36 64 62 64
[19] S Wawrinka (SUI) d I Kunitsyn (RUS) 63 62 62
E Korolev (KAZ) d [21] T Berdych (CZE) 64 64 75
[24] I Ljubicic (CRO) d A Golubev (KAZ) 63 36 62 63
[27] P Kohlschreiber (GER) d W Odesnik (USA) 64 36 63 62
F Mayer (GER) d [29] V Troicki (SRB) 46 64 76(2) 61
[33] J Isner (USA) d [Q] L Sorensen (IRL) 63 76(4) 75
F Lopez (ESP) d R Schuettler (GER) 63 26 63 62
F Serra (FRA) d J Nieminen (FIN) 36 64 57 76(4) 75 - Saved 2 M.P.
I Karlovic (CRO) d J Benneteau (FRA) 26 61 63 63

Men's Doubles - First Round
[1] B Bryan (USA) / M Bryan (USA) d M Berrer (GER) / S Greul (GER) 64 75
[2] D Nestor (CAN) / N Zimonjic (SRB) d [WC] S Groth (AUS) / J Kubler (AUS) 76(5) 63
[5] L Kubot (POL) / O Marach (AUT) d J Chela (ARG) / D Gimeno-Traver (ESP) 67(1) 63 61
[7] M Fyrstenberg (POL) / M Matkowski (POL) d R Hutchins (GBR) / J Kerr (AUS) 64 26 76(4)
[8] M Granollers (ESP) / T Robredo (ESP) d [WC] M Ebden (AUS) / B Klein (AUS) 62 64
A Clement (FRA) / J Erlich (ISR) d [10] J Knowle (AUT) / R Lindstedt (SWE) 67(3) 64 64
A Montanes (ESP) / M Vassallo Arguello (ARG) d J Acasuso (ARG) / S Prieto (ARG) 64 64
L Mayer (ARG) / H Zeballos (ARG) d [12] M Melo (BRA) / B Soares (BRA) 76(3) 64
[WC] R Junaid (AUS) / P Luczak (AUS) d [15] J Levinsky (CZE) / T Parrott (USA) 46 76(5) 62
[17] J Melzer (AUT) / P Petzschner (GER) d M Lopez (ESP) / A Ventura (ESP) 64 61
C Fleming (GBR) / K Skupski (GBR) d Y Lu (TPE) / J Tipsarevic (SRB) 75 64
L Arnold Ker (ARG) / H Tecau (ROU) d W Moodie (RSA) / M Youzhny (RUS) 46 76(4) 75
[WC] P Amritraj (IND) / S Devvarman (IND) d J Cerretani (USA) / T Rettenmaier (USA) 57 64 75
J Brunstrom (SWE) / J Rojer (AHO) d [Alt.] A Falla (COL) / S Giraldo (COL) 62 63
[WC] K Hensel (AUS) / G Jones (AUS) d [Alt] P Lorenzi (ITA) / C Rochus (BEL) 76(3) 36 76(2)
R De Voest (RSA) / S Lipsky (USA) d R Bopanna (IND) / A Qureshi (PAK) 46 61 76(6)
P Marx (GER) / I Zelenay (SVK) d [WC] N Lindahl (AUS) / M Reid (AUS) 63 64

This Week, On The L Word...

A few mild upsets on the day, but otherwise it was a pretty quiet day on the women's side.

The top seeds came through (I choose to ignore that whole Justine thing) without much trouble, with Caro, Vika, and Bepa finally playing their first round matches.  No word on what Caro and Vika did to celebrate their wins, but I'm sure we'll hear about it on Twitter.  It probably involved milkshakes and pillows.  

And Dani won!  Thank god.

Singles - Second Round
(2) Dinara Safina (RUS) d. Barbora Zahlavova Strycova (CZE) 63 64
(3) Svetlana Kuznetsova (RUS) d. Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (RUS) 62 62
(WC) Justine Henin (BEL) d. (5) Elena Dementieva (RUS) 75 76(6)
(8) Jelena Jankovic (SRB) d. Katie O'Brien (GBR) 62 62
(11) Marion Bartoli (FRA) d. Sandra Zahlavova (CZE) 64 64
(Q) Yanina Wickmayer (BEL) d. (12) Flavia Pennetta (ITA) 76(2) 61
(15) Kim Clijsters (BEL) d. Tamarine Tanasugarn (THA) 63 63
(19) Nadia Petrova (RUS) d. Kaia Kanepi (EST) 64 64
Zheng Jie (CHN) d. (24) María José Martínez Sánchez (ESP) 26 62 63
(Q) Angelique Kerber (GER) d. (26) Aravane Rezai (FRA) 62 63
(27) Alisa Kleybanova (RUS) d. Sorana Cirstea (ROU) 64 63
Elena Baltacha (GBR) d. (30) Kateryna Bondarenko (UKR) 62 75
(31) Alona Bondarenko (UKR) d. Polona Hercog (SLO) 64 75
Sara Errani (ITA) d. Ekaterina Makarova (RUS) 62 63
Maria Kirilenko (RUS) d. (Q) Yvonne Meusburger (AUT) 63 61
Roberta Vinci (ITA) d. Vania King (USA) 76(7) 75

Singles - First Round
(4) Caroline Wozniacki (DEN) d. Aleksandra Wozniak (CAN) 64 62
(7) Victoria Azarenka (BLR) d. (WC) Stéphanie Cohen-Aloro (FRA) 62 60
(9) Vera Zvonareva (RUS) d. Kristina Kucova (SVK) 62 60
(16) Li Na (CHN) d. Marina Erakovic (NZL) 62 60
(22) Daniela Hantuchova (SVK) d. Viktoriya Kutuzova (UKR) 36 61 75
Tathiana Garbin (ITA) d. (28) Elena Vesnina (RUS) 76(5) 64
(29) Shahar Peer (ISR) d. Lucie Hradecka (CZE) 67(5) 62 61
Agnes Szavay (HUN) d. Stéphanie Dubois (CAN) 63 62
Iveta Benesova (CZE) d. Chang Kai-Chen (TPE) 75 62
Yaroslava Shvedova (KAZ) d. Kimiko Date Krumm (JPN) 64 62
Stefanie Voegele (SUI) d. Melinda Czink (HUN) 75 67(5) 97
Julia Goerges (GER) d. Tamira Paszek (AUT) 60 36 63
Tsvetana Pironkova (BUL) d. Galina Voskoboeva (KAZ) 64 64
(Q) Sofia Arvidsson (SWE) d. (WC) Jarmila Groth (AUS) 62 46 64

Doubles - First Round
(1) Black/Huber (ZIM/USA) d. Malek/Petkovic (GER/GER) 64 64
(2) Williams/Williams (USA/USA) d. (WC) Ferguson/Moore (AUS/AUS) 61 61
(3) Llagostera Vives/Martínez Sánchez (ESP/ESP) d. Dokic/Kvitova (AUS/CZE) 75 60
(4) Hsieh/Peng (TPE/CHN) d. Goerges/Parra Santonja (GER/ESP) 63 64
(6) Raymond/Stubbs (USA/AUS) d. Koryttseva/Kustova (UKR/BLR) 64 61
(8) Mattek-Sands/Yan (USA/CHN) d. Flipkens/Oudin (BEL/USA) 63 62
Jans/Rosolska (POL/POL) d. Molik/Shaughnessy (AUS/USA) 26 75 64
Hlavackova/Hradecka (CZE/CZE) d. Chakvetadze/Paszek (RUS/AUT) 64 63
Chan/Niculescu (TPE/ROU) d. (WC) Adamczak/Kriz (AUS/AUS) 63 61
Bacsinszky/Garbin (SUI/ITA) d. Medina Garrigues/Wozniacki (ESP/DEN) 64 64
Coin/Pelletier (FRA/CAN) d. (WC) Groth/Rogowska (AUS/AUS) 63 75

There Is No Justice. Only Justine.

7-5, 7-6(6)

Justine and Elena, for 2 hours and 55 minutes, put on, according to some, THE GREATEST WOMEN'S MATCH OF THE LAST 5 YEARS IF NOT OF ALL TIME.  To me, it was a good WTA match, with high drama, that Justine won.  There was tremendous shotmaking by both players, shows of guts and courage to battle back, and a lot of nerves and stupidity that created the drama.  Like I said, a good WTA match.  But Henin/Pova at SEC 07 it was not.  It wasn't even Serena/Lena SW19 09.

Justine was impressive in her net play.  She approached the net around 40 times and won a crap load of points there.  She's clearly getting ready for Wimbledon.  But the other part of her game that she'll need for Wimbledon is her serve, and that wasn't there.  She struggled mightily with her toss and with her serve generally, throwing in 4 DFs in her first service game alone.  Her inability to serve out a game kept Lena in the match.  The frightening thing is that if she was serving well, this would have been a 63 63 win.  

Perhaps the most impressive thing about Justine's performance was her focus and intensity.  It never wavered.  She always looked like she believed (even when she was looking at Carlos for coaching advice -- which he gave) and in the end, that's what won her the match.  Well, that and Carlos' coaching advice from the stands.  Which was plentiful.

All that said, still can't stand her, don't enjoy watching her play, and really, if I didn't have to write about her for the rest of the year, I could care two shits about her.

 

As for Lena, I am, for the second time in six months, gutted for her.  She played almost as well as she could have.  She didn't serve as well as she did in Sydney, which to me indicated she was feeling the pressure.  But she stood toe to toe with Justine once the rallies started and gave her a run for her money.  This was such a tough second round draw for her and, though it sounds weird to say, she didn't deserve it.  I'm slowly, ever so slowly, coming around to the idea of wanting Lena to get that Slam before she retires.  Hell, Jana Novotna has a Slam.  Lena deserves one, too.

Too bad it won't be this one.

Ball Breaker

Yes, honey.  Your balls are big.  Proven.

Elfie had to gut out a five set 10-8 in the fifth win over an inspired James (64 67(3) 57 63 108).  Both players were hobbling by the end of it, with James suffering from a knee tweak early in the match and then an arm/shoulder injury towards the end.  As for Elf, he suffered a rib/back tweak towards the end and he looked completely exhausted.  Or maybe that's just how his face looks all the time.  Probably that.

But in the end it was his superior (and obscene) shot-making and, get this, *defense*, that won this match.  Elf looked like Nole out there at times, running down everything and desperately getting balls back until he finally got something he could hit.  It was impressive.

Confession: I actually feel bad for James.  I really do.  See?  I didn't even use his nickname.  Because at least for this post he deserves better than that.  He played as well as I've seen him play in years.  His forehand was off the chain.  James didn't give this match away.  DelPo won it. 

Which I suppose makes it worse for James.  For all the questions about his career he actually brought his A game and played the best he possibly could.  He pushed the world #4 and reigning USO champion to five full sets.  And he lost.  Maybe that's the reality check he needs.

This is a match worth watching.  So if you Tivo'd it, at least watch the last set.  Some remarkable stuff from both players.

Rule Brittania

You're cute.

 

Not a shabby tournament for the Red Coats so far.  Yes, Katie O'Brien experienced a beatdown at the hands of JJ (I doubt she'll be hoping to play JJ ever again), but props to Elena Baltacha, who took out K-Bond 62 75 to make the third round.  Unfortunately she'll run into the svelte tank that is Dina in the next round.

And my boyfriend destroyed Marc Giquel.  So I'm happy. 

I Miss You Already.

Wickmayer d. Pennetta 76(2) 61.

Don't worry, Flavs.  You're still awesomer than her by a factor of 700,000%.

 

Kleybanova d. Cirstea 64 63.

Ditto for you, Sorana.

Shvedova d. Date Krumm 64 62.

Here's the thing.  When I grow up, I want to be you, Kimiko. 

Not so much you, Yaroslava.

 

Kerber d. Rezai 62 63.

I will miss your badassery as well, Aravane.

Kuznetsova d. Pavlyuchenkova 62 62.

And you.  You and your chubby cheeks I'll miss most of all.

Czechin' Out.

Yay, Evgeny!  He pulled off quite the upset, beating Tomas in straights, 64 64 75. 

Welcome to the third round, kid.  That new Kazakhstani citizenship is really fitting you.

Wha happen?

Pic This: AO Day 2

Sorry for the delay.  Apparently yesterday's matches took too much out of me, as I fell asleep at 9am and woke up at 7pm.  That was...not my intention.  That said, I'm clearly on AO time, so bring it on, Melbourne.

Bagels give you wings!

'Stick and bagel?  Please, Aga, don't hurt 'em.

Um...I'm leaving this one alone.

Dude?  WHY ARE YOU SO ANGRY?!?!?!?!

Taking a page from MaKiri's book, if you can't beat 'em, seduce 'em. 

Except...well...he's not MaKiri.  So...opposite result.

Ricardo was fired up, y'all.  And it was *hilarious*.

"Please Lord, don't smite me!"

Vagina hugs!

"Young man, I am not amused by your antics."

Boo, Sam.

Phew, Sam.


Gavroche!

 

Hush little baby, don't say a word,
Misha's gonna buy you a mockingbird.
And if that mockingbird don't sing,
MISHA'S GOING TO TEAR OFF IT'S HEAD AND PISS IN ITS SKULL.
YOU MESSED WITH THE WRONG MARINE!!!

But What About Menstral Cramps?

In case you missed it, there are new rules regarding medical time-outs for on-court cramping, which could come into play if Melbourne decides to actually have a summer during this fortnight.  Tom Tebbutt has a good write up here.  The upshot is that you can no longer call an MTO for simple cramping.  If the trainer comes out and determines it's just cramping, they can rub you down during the changeover, but you don't get an MTO.

I think this is totally fair.  I hate how the MTO was used to punish players who actually the hard yards in and had superior fitness and conditioning levels.  I love DelPo, but I hate hate hate that he calls MTOs for rubdowns.

Pic This: Much Deserved

Before watching Igor break hearts against Fed, MaKiri got some spa time.

 Everyone needs some R&R.  Love how the cucumbers are all cock-eyed.

Enjoy it, girl.

Air Quotes: JJ The Not-Intimidator

 

Q. Looking to your next match, you either have pretty highly ranked seed or Niculescu, who beat you at Wimbledon.

KATIE O'BRIEN: I'm just looking forward to it, whoever it is. Probably will be Jankovic. It's something I really look forward to. Niculescu, I've have problems with her in the past. I'm actually hoping it's Jankovic.

AO Day 3: OOP

 

Some really great matches on tap for today but the gem of the day is Justine vs. Lena, which will be the first night match on Laver.  I honestly don't know where I come down on this prediction wise, but I'm pretty sure I will never root harder for Lena than I will tomorrow.

Other good ones: Pavs/Kuz, Wick/Flavs, Blah/Elf, Sorana/Kleybs, and Tomas/Evgeny.

The full OOP after the jump.

Welcome to 2010, Bitches

The nice thing about a new year is that you get to wipe the slate clean and start anew.  Such was the case for players like Baby K, who has already made progress by not getting bounced in the first round of a Slam.  YAY!  

The bad thing about a new year is that you have to wipe the slate clean and start anew.  So it goes for The Gypsey, Domi, and Melanie, all of whom were unable to build on their 2009 success, bouncing out in the first round.

And then there are those who have it the worst.  They get to live out one of my favorite Death Cab lyrics:

So this is the New Year.  I don't feel any different.

Sorry, kid.  Don't know what to tell you.

(1) Serena Williams (USA) d. Urszula Radwanska (POL) 62 61
(6) Venus Williams (USA) d. Lucie Safarova (CZE) 62 62
(8) Jelena Jankovic (SRB) d. Monica Niculescu (ROU) 64 60
(10) Agnieszka Radwanska (POL) d. Tatjana Malek (GER) 61 60
(11) Marion Bartoli (FRA) d. Rossana de los Ríos (PAR) 64 61
(13) Samantha Stosur (AUS) d. (Q) Han Xinyun (CHN) 61 36 62
(17) Francesca Schiavone (ITA) d. Alizé Cornet (FRA) 06 75 60
Ekaterina Makarova (RUS) d. (18) Virginie Razzano (FRA) 62 63
(19) Nadia Petrova (RUS) d. Edina Gallovits (ROU) 63 64
(20) Ana Ivanovic (SRB) d. (Q) Shenay Perry (USA) 62 63
(21) Sabine Lisicki (GER) d. Petra Martic (CRO) 61 64
Vania King (USA) d. (23) Dominika Cibulkova (SVK) 63 67(5) 75
Karolina Sprem (CRO) d. (25) Anabel Medina Garrigues (ESP) 63 62
(26) Aravane Rezai (FRA) d. Sania Mirza (IND) 64 62
(31) Alona Bondarenko (UKR) d. (Q) Kathrin Woerle (GER) 62 62
(32) Carla Suárez Navarro (ESP) d. Ayumi Morita (JPN) 75 64
Gisela Dulko (ARG) d. (Q) Zuzana Kucova (SVK) 60 57 75
Sorana Cirstea (ROU) d. (WC) Olivia Rogowska (AUS) 63 26 62
Sara Errani (ITA) d. Klara Zakopalova (CZE) 62 76(5)
Andrea Petkovic (GER) d. (Q) Renata Voracova (CZE) 62 64
Sybille Bammer (AUT) d. Arantxa Parra Santonja (ESP) 63 62
Kaia Kanepi (EST) d. Chan Yung-Jan (TPE) 76(4) 62
Roberta Vinci (ITA) d. Anna-Lena Groenefeld (GER) 75 64
Barbora Zahlavova Strycova (CZE) d. (Q) Regina Kulikova (RUS) 76(5) 67(10) 63
Polona Hercog (SLO) d. (Q) Yuliana Fedak (UKR) 64 60
Alberta Brianti (ITA) d. Varvara Lepchenko (USA) 60 36 61
Julie Coin (FRA) d. (WC) Alicia Molik (AUS) 36 76(4) 63
Petra Kvitova (CZE) d. Jill Craybas (USA) 61 75
Kristina Barrois (GER) d. Akgul Amanmuradova (UZB) 60 76(6)
Katie O'Brien (GBR) d. Patricia Mayr (AUT) 63 63
Alla Kudryavtseva (RUS) d. Melanie Oudin (USA) 26 75 75
Sandra Zahlavova (CZE) d. (WC) Coco Vandeweghe (USA) 60 61
Tamarine Tanasugarn (THA) d. (WC) Sesil Karatantcheva (KAZ) 61 76(0)
(Q) Angelique Kerber (GER) d. Olga Govortsova (BLR) 63 63
(WC) Casey Dellacqua (AUS) d. Anastasiya Yakimova (BLR) 62 36 64

Boys Lose Too, You Guys.

A day after the Ladies carried all the "upset" headlines, it was the guys' turns to churn out the head scratching results.  The biggest upset was obviously Sods going out to Granola.  But how about Mr. Hopman falling in straight sets, 4 2 and 2?  Or JCF losing to a qualifer, getting 'sticked twice in the process?  Or Jeremy getting bageled?  Odd stuff.

As for the remaining top guys, it was pretty much business as usual for everyone except Fer, who needed four sets to beat Carsten Ball in a really tight match.  I'm going to assume that, much like Nole in 2009, Fer is having to adjust to the use of new equipment: the one size too large sail that is his Adidas shirt.

In the night match of the day (that's...a weird phrase) Richard (or "Ricardo" if you're Mary Carillo) and Misha gave us another epic 5 setter that saw lots of cramping and tremendous shot making.  Seriously, if you like one-handed backhands, this match was a clinic.  Both players were cramping towards the end, particularly Misha, but Ricardo's cramps really set in towards the end of the fifth, allowing Misha to reel off 3 straight games for the win.

And so Ricardo suffers another heartbreaking five-set loss in a Slam when he was two sets up (last year against Gonzo and Wimby 08 against Muzz).  So rough.

[1] R Federer (SUI) d I Andreev (RUS) 46 62 76(2) 60
[3] N Djokovic (SRB) d D Gimeno-Traver (ESP) 75 63 62
[6] N Davydenko (RUS) d [Q] D Kindlmann (GER) 61 60 63
M Granollers (ESP) d [8] R Soderling (SWE) 57 26 64 64 62
[9] F Verdasco (ESP) d [WC] C Ball (AUS) 67(4) 76(1) 75 62
[10] J Tsonga (FRA) d S Stakhovsky (UKR) 63 64 64
[12] G Monfils (FRA) d [Q] M Ebden (AUS) 64 64 64
[14] M Cilic (CRO) d F Santoro (FRA) 75 75 63
S Giraldo (COL) d [16] T Robredo (ESP) 64 62 62
[17] D Ferrer (ESP) d F Gil (POR) 60 60 20 ret. (left knee)
[18] T Haas (GER) d S Greul (GER) 67(5) 64 62 61
[19] S Wawrinka (SUI) d G Garcia-Lopez (ESP) 63 63 62
[20] M Youzhny (RUS) d R Gasquet (FRA) 76(9) 46 76(2) 76(4) 64 
[21] T Berdych (CZE) d R Haase (NED) 60 63 63
[22] L Hewitt (AUS) d [Q] R Hocevar (BRA) 61 62 63
[Q] I Dodig (CRO) d [23] J Ferrero (ESP) 26 16 64 61 61
R Schuettler (GER) d [25] S Querrey (USA) 63 26 64 63
[26] N Almagro (ESP) d X Malisse (BEL) 76(12) 64 26 46 86
[27] P Kohlschreiber (GER) d H Zeballos (ARG) 61 75 61
F Serra (FRA) d [28] J Melzer (AUT) 61 67(3) 64 46 63
[29] V Troicki (SRB) d N Lapentti (ECU) 46 63 61 63
[30] J Monaco (ARG) d E Gulbis (LAT) 63 76(5) 61
[31] A Montanes (ESP) d O Hernandez (ESP) 76(5) 22 ret. (lower back)
D Istomin (UZB) d [32] J Chardy (FRA) 62 62 60
[33] J Isner (USA) d A Seppi (ITA) 63 63 36 57 64
M Baghdatis (CYP) d P Lorenzi (ITA) 62 64 64
J Nieminen (FIN) d N Lindahl (AUS) 62 75 64
M Chiudinelli (SUI) d [WC] M Matosevic (AUS) 76(7) 76(3) 46 63
[Q] A Veic (CRO) D Koellerer (AUT) 64 36 67(3) 61 64
M Berrer (GER) d K Vliegen (BEL) 61 62 61
J Benneteau (FRA) d [Q] D Guez (FRA) 06 64 76(4) 76(2)
V Hanescu (ROU) d J Chela (ARG) 64 63 76(2)
S Robert (FRA) d P Starace (ITA) 63 76(2) 76(4)
J Blake (USA) d A Clement (FRA) 75 75 62
[LL] M Ilhan (TUR) d [WC] S Grosjean (FRA) 64 63 75
[Q] I Marchenko (UKR) d C Moya (ESP) 76(2) 75 63
T Dent (USA) d F Fognini (ITA) 61 63 63
I Kunitsyn (RUS) d J Acasuso (ARG) 61 26 64 62
L Lacko (SVK) d L Mayer (ARG) 64 64 60
B Becker (GER) d [Q] G Zemlja (SLO) 76(5) 75 75
T Bellucci (BRA) d T Gabashvili (RUS) 63 75 46 64
L Kubot (POL) d M Zverev (GER) 63 63 63
A Falla (COL) d M Daniel (BRA) 75 63 61
[Q] D Young (USA) d C Rochus (BEL) 16 75 62 64
E Korolev (KAZ) d D Brands (GER) 62 75 75
J Hajek (CZE) d R Ginepri (USA) 76(2) 75 61
J Tipsarevic (SRB) d [WC] R Harrison (USA) 62 64 76(3)
[Q] I Sergeyev (UKR) d D Sela (ISR) 63 76(3) 46 76(8)
S Koubek (AUT) d R Ram (USA) 46 63 57 61 63
F Lopez (ESP) d P Cuevas (URU) 61 64 75
M Gicquel (FRA) d S Bolelli (ITA) 76(2) 76(3) 63
M Llodra (FRA) d M Vassallo Arguello (ARG) 63 75 64
[Q] L Sorensen (IRL) d Y Lu (TPE) 64 36 62 61

He Looked Good. He Just Didn't *Look* Good.

I don't love Novak's night kit (who puts shiny appliques on the thighs?  Sergio Tacchini, that's who), but that doesn't matter.  I thought he played really well last night in his straight set win.  Once he made some adjustments to deal with the hard hitting Gimeno-Traver, he was en fuego.  Got to the net quite a bit (Coach Todd was in attendance) and showed some remarkable hitting off his forehand side.  He also showed some nice fired-up-calmness during the tight moments of the first set.  No dejected Nole this time.

You know what a Nole win means, right?  Shirtlessish pics for DonkeyGrooming:

 

Ajde!

Air Quotes: One Night In Kolya

The Kolya train is building steam.  He dropped only four games in his first round win today. 

He would continue his domination off-court.

Q. You are one of the favorites of the tournament. How do you deal with this? This year many players like Nadal or Murray thought Davydenko can win.

NIKOLAY DAVYDENKO: Oh, really? Surprising, you know, these guys start to talking about me, because maybe now. Before, if nobody talking, then nobody scare. Now it's everyone scare. That's what's is start to talking about me and favorites and everything.

But it's interesting feeling. Now I feel like I can beat everyone. That's was these guys now, you know, something feel different. Before no because I know I can win, but mostly I losing against these guys. But now I can beat everyone. It's good feeling.

...

Q. Do you enjoy scaring people?

NIKOLAY DAVYDENKO: Enjoy which people?

Q. Scaring everybody that you're scaring now.

NIKOLAY DAVYDENKO: Oh, you mean... Yes, why not? Really, you know, if somebody scare of me, if I go on the court, it's very good. You know, then I have more confidence. If I don't feel by self good, I know everybody scare play against me, and I still have something, you know, feel I can win this match.

Q. This is a new feeling then?

NIKOLAY DAVYDENKO: Why new feeling? I have always the same feeling, but now little bit better. Little better feeling.

...

Q. Your win in the Masters, what has it changed for you?

NIKOLAY DAVYDENKO: Really nothing. Just I won $1 million. It's okay. Nothing special (laughter.)

Q. What did you do with all this money? Did you buy a house in Russia?

NIKOLAY DAVYDENKO: Not yet. Not yet. Some invest money. You know, if you win money, you need to make more money. That's what's I try to do. Not only with tennis make money. Something else. Some business also to do. Because with tennis you can't do this so much money.

That's was is very important after tennis what you can do and how you invest your money in what you do after.

Q. Did you buy something for your wife?

NIKOLAY DAVYDENKO: Look, if I buy everything to my wife, how I can invest money?

...

Q. Do you notice anything about yourself, that you're playing better, anything that is better now?

NIKOLAY DAVYDENKO: ...I want to be fast. I want to running fast. Like Del Potro tell me now I am like PlayStation 3 in London. Now I try to come level PlayStation 4, to be faster and faster.

...

Q. Since you won the Masters, are you more recognized in the street? Do you sign more autographs?

NIKOLAY DAVYDENKO: I hope not. Then is not so many like say celebrity guys. I am not Paris Hilton. I don't want to be like this. I don't want to be like Nadal, Federer. These guys I never see by breakfast. They stay in the room and take room service.

For me better go downstairs, you know, take breakfast, or dinner to go somewhere, not to be so much famous.

Shhhhhhhhhhhhh!

 

Oh, Igor.  It just hurted so much to watch.   

 

Igor gives Roger good matches.  But just like at USO08, he just couldn't convert the big points when he needed to.  Roger doesn't give you many looks.  And so it goes.  Igor played amazingly and found himself with set points to go up 2 sets to 1 and just...choked.  Hard.   Roger destroyed him in the tiebreak and the fourth set was a somewhat merciful kill.  Matt Cronin said he saw Igor in tears walking out of the locker room.

From Igor's presser:

Q. Yesterday your friend Miss Kirilenko said you had urged her to make a loud noise to enter the year. She said she did that and now it was your turn.

IGOR ANDREEV: She put too much pressure on me. (Laughter.) Like after she win the match she said, Okay, now it's your turn. No, I was happy she won yesterday. She won because ‑‑ not only because she won, but she played very good match. Very good tennis.

He's such a good boyfriend.  Love him.

 

So Roger's got a pretty clean walk to the QF where hopefully he'll face Kolya.  And not surprisingly, the ESPN crew, for whatever reason, refused to give Kolya a shot in that match.  I swear, do they even watch tennis?

Granola!

 

Marcel Granollers, ranked #118, scored the biggest upset so far on the men's side, with five set come from behind win to oust #8 seed, and general asshole of the highest order, Robin Soderling.  

 

 Good fucking riddance, you pissy piece of shit.  I have not been seduced by your supposed "charms".

Now that I have that off my chest, tough loss for Sods.  A lot of people, including me, are looking at his first half performance this year to see if he's the real deal, or just a flash in the pan.  He a great opportunity to pick up a shitload of points, too, which would give him some rankings insurance heading into RG.  This was such a lost opportunity for him.  This was the weak part of the draw.

Which of course makes my happy dance that much happier.

And of course, how about a shout out to Vania, who took out Domi in three sets. She came back from 1-5 in the third set.  Then again, she also served for the match in the second.  But a win is a win and more importantly, a Domi loss is a Domi loss.  

 

Happy Happy Joy Joy
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2010 Serbs: Drama Free (I Hope)

 

So far it's been a great day for Serbia with everyone advancing and Nole still to play. 

 

Ana kicked off the day with a tighter than the score would indicate 62 63 win over JJ's doubles partner (huh?) Shanay Perry.  The toss is still wonky unfortunately, but the rest of her game at least looked ok.  She was cracking quite a few forehands that made me smile.  She'll probably play Gisela in the next round.

 

JJ had a relatively easy go with a 64 60 win over Niculescu.  She'll play Katie O'Brien next.

 

As for the boys, Vikto beat Lapentti in straights and Janko is two sets and a break up on young American Ryan Harrison.  

Let's go Serbs!

While Trying To Avoid Watching Igor Self-Destuct...

  

I played around with the Jersey Shore Nickname Generator.  

• Roger: The Prince of Paramus
• Rafa: Orange Juice
• Nole: The Tricep
• Muzz: A-Train
• A-Rod: Snickers
• Kolya: Juice Springsteen
• Jo: J-Tan
• Fernando: DJ Douchebag
• Marat: The Hands Team
• Serena: The Ashley Simpson of Cape May
• Dina: Pookie
• Masha: The Rack
• Flavs: The Back End
• Sveta: The Tantrum

That was fun.  I'm totally using Juice Springsteen from now on.

Air Quotes: I'll Miss Your Pressers Most of All

Q. Was it a lack of match practice? You needed a few more matches perhaps to sharpen up?

MARIA SHARAPOVA: I mean, I don't really know what 'match practice' has to do with being up 4‑2, 15‑40 and not making a second serve return, so...

...

Q. How would you describe your sense of confidence right now?

MARIA SHARAPOVA: Uhm, well, I'm leaving on Monday of the first week, so that explains a lot.

...

Q. Where is your level of disappointment, or do you just chalk it up, It's first round of a Grand Slam, that can happen first round of a slam?

MARIA SHARAPOVA: I mean, I could be disappointed or I could just take it as it is and just go back on the court and just keep working.

I choose option two (smiling).

Q. Why didn't you play any tournaments before?

MARIA SHARAPOVA: I never do. It's worked before.

Q. So do you go on and start thinking about Paris now?

MARIA SHARAPOVA: About Paris?

Q. About Paris.

MARIA SHARAPOVA: Not yet. Are you saying I'm going to go on a clay court right now (smiling)? Wishful thinking.

UPDATED: AO10: Tuesday OOP

Get your Powerade.  It's gonna be a long one.  Some great matches lined up but if it were me, I'd try and jack my way into Hisense or set up camp at Court 6.

Rod Laver Arena
11:00 Start Women's Singles - 1st Round
Xinyun Han(CHN) vs. Samantha Stosur(AUS)[13]
Women's Singles - 1st Round
Serena Williams(USA)[1] vs. Urszula Radwanska(POL)
Men's Singles - 1st Round
Roger Federer(SUI)[1] vs. Igor Andreev(RUS)

19:00 Start Men's Singles - 1st Round
Lleyton Hewitt(AUS)[22] vs. Ricardo Hocevar(BRA)
Women's Singles - 1st Round
Julie Coin(FRA) vs. Alicia Molik(AUS)

Hisense Arena
11:00 Start Men's Singles - 1st Round
Fernando Verdasco(ESP)[9] vs. Carsten Ball(AUS)
Women's Singles - 1st Round
Caroline Wozniacki(DEN)[4] vs. Aleksandra Wozniak(CAN)
Women's Singles - 1st Round
Lucie Safarova(CZE) vs. Venus Williams(USA)[6]
Men's Singles - 1st Round
Novak Djokovic(SRB)[3] vs. Daniel Gimeno-Traver(ESP)

Margaret Court Arena
11:00 Start Women's Singles - 1st Round
Jelena Jankovic(SRB)[8] vs. Monica Niculescu(ROU)
Women's Singles - 1st Round
Anastasiya Yakimova(BLR) vs. Casey Dellacqua(AUS)
Men's Singles - 1st Round
Jo-Wilfried Tsonga(FRA)[10] vs. Sergiy Stakhovsky(UKR)
Women's Singles - 1st Round
Stephanie Cohen-Aloro(FRA) vs. Victoria Azarenka(BLR)[7]

Not Before:19:00
Men's Singles - 1st Round
Mikhail Youzhny(RUS)[20] vs. Richard Gasquet(FRA)

Show Court 2
11:00 Start Women's Singles - 1st Round
Shenay Perry(USA) vs. Ana Ivanovic(SRB)[20]
Men's Singles - 1st Round
Dieter Kindlmann(GER) vs. Nikolay Davydenko(RUS)[6]
Women's Singles - 1st Round
Jarmila Groth(AUS) vs. Sofia Arvidsson(SWE)
Men's Singles - 1st Round
Marcel Granollers(ESP) vs. Robin Soderling(SWE)[8]
Women's Singles - 1st Round
Agnieszka Radwanska(POL)[10] vs. Tatjana Malek(GER)

Show Court 3
11:00 Start Women's Singles - 1st Round
Rossana De Los Rios(PAR) vs. Marion Bartoli(FRA)[11]
Women's Singles - 1st Round
Daniela Hantuchova(SVK)[22] vs. Viktoriya Kutuzova(UKR)
Men's Singles - 1st Round
Paolo Lorenzi(ITA) vs. Marcos Baghdatis(CYP)
Women's Singles - 1st Round
Marina Erakovic(NZL) vs. Na Li(CHN)[16]
Men's Singles - 1st Round
Marinko Matosevic(AUS) vs. Marco Chiudinelli(SUI)

Court 5
11:00 Start Women's Singles - 1st Round
Olga Govortsova(BLR) vs. Angelique Kerber(GER)
Women's Singles - 1st Round
Yuliana Fedak(UKR) vs. Polona Hercog(SLO)
Women's Singles - 1st Round
Elena Vesnina(RUS)[28] vs. Tathiana Garbin(ITA)
Men's Singles - 1st Round
Stephane Robert(FRA) vs. Potito Starace(ITA)
Men's Singles - 1st Round
Denis Istomin(UZB) vs. Jeremy Chardy(FRA)[32]

Court 6
11:00 Start Women's Singles - 1st Round
Aravane Rezai(FRA)[26] vs. Sania Mirza(IND)
Men's Singles - 1st Round
Juan Monaco(ARG)[30] vs. Ernests Gulbis(LAT)
Men's Singles - 1st Round
Juan Ignacio Chela(ARG) vs. Victor Hanescu(ROU)
Women's Singles - 1st Round
Melanie Oudin(USA) vs. Alla Kudryavtseva(RUS)
Women's Singles - 1st Round
Alize Cornet(FRA) vs. Francesca Schiavone(ITA)[17]

Court 7
11:00 Start Men's Singles - 1st Round
Tomas Berdych(CZE)[21] vs. Robin Haase(NED)
Women's Singles - 1st Round
Yung-Jan Chan(TPE) vs. Kaia Kanepi(EST)
Men's Singles - 1st Round
Simon Greul(GER) vs. Tommy Haas(GER)[18]
Men's Singles - 1st Round
Carlos Moya(ESP) vs. Illya Marchenko(UKR)
Women's Singles - 1st Round
Varvara Lepchenko(USA) vs. Alberta Brianti(ITA)

Court 8
11:00 Start Women's Singles - 1st Round
Virginie Razzano(FRA)[18] vs. Ekaterina Makarova(RUS)
Women's Singles - 1st Round
Kimiko Date Krumm(JPN) vs. Yaroslava Shvedova(KAZ)
Women's Singles - 1st Round
Ayumi Morita(JPN) vs. Carla Suarez Navarro(ESP)[32]
Men's Singles - 1st Round
Frederico Gil(POR) vs. David Ferrer(ESP)[17]
Men's Singles - 1st Round
Fabio Fognini(ITA) vs. Taylor Dent(USA)

Court 10
11:00 Start Women's Singles - 1st Round
Klara Zakopalova(CZE) vs. Sara Errani(ITA)
Women's Singles - 1st Round
Kristina Barrois(GER) vs. Akgul Amanmuradova(UZB)
Women's Singles - 1st Round
Tamira Paszek(AUT) vs. Julia Goerges(GER)
Men's Singles - 1st Round
Alejandro Falla(COL) vs. Marcos Daniel(BRA)
Men's Singles - 1st Round
Christophe Rochus(BEL) vs. Donald Young(USA)

Court 11
11:00 Start Men's Singles - 1st Round
Daniel Brands(GER) vs. Evgeny Korolev(KAZ)
Women's Singles - 1st Round
Kai-Chen Chang(TPE) vs. Iveta Benesova(CZE)
Women's Singles - 1st Round
Anabel Medina Garrigues(ESP)[25] vs. Karolina Sprem(CRO)
Men's Singles - 1st Round
Benjamin Becker(GER) vs. Grega Zemlja(SLO)
Women's Singles - 1st Round
Arantxa Parra Santonja(ESP) vs. Sybille Bammer(AUT)

Court 13
11:00 Start Women's Singles - 1st Round
Edina Gallovits(ROU) vs. Nadia Petrova(RUS)[19]
Men's Singles - 1st Round
Santiago Giraldo(COL) vs. Tommy Robredo(ESP)[16]
Men's Singles - 1st Round
Ivan Dodig(CRO) vs. Juan Carlos Ferrero(ESP)[23]
Women's Singles - 1st Round
Sabine Lisicki(GER)[21] vs. Petra Martic(CRO)
Women's Singles - 1st Round
Stephanie Dubois(CAN) vs. Agnes Szavay(HUN)

Court 14
11:00 Start Men's Singles - 1st Round
Louk Sorensen(IRL) vs. Yen-Hsun Lu(TPE)
Men's Singles - 1st Round
Lukasz Kubot(POL) vs. Mischa Zverev(GER)
Women's Singles - 1st Round
Renata Voracova(CZE) vs. Andrea Petkovic(GER)
Women's Singles - 1st Round
Galina Voskoboeva(KAZ) vs. Tsvetana Pironkova(BUL)
Men's Singles - 1st Round
Oscar Hernandez(ESP) vs. Albert Montanes(ESP)[31]

Court 15
11:00 Start Women's Singles - 1st Round
Patricia Mayr(AUT) vs. Katie O'Brien(GBR)
Men's Singles - 1st Round
Rainer Schuettler(GER) vs. Sam Querrey(USA)[25]
Women's Singles - 1st Round
Zuzana Kucova(SVK) vs. Gisela Dulko(ARG)
Men's Singles - 1st Round
Kristof Vliegen(BEL) vs. Michael Berrer(GER)

Court 18
11:00 Start Men's Singles - 1st Round
John Isner(USA)[33] vs. Andreas Seppi(ITA)
Women's Singles - 1st Round
Kathrin Woerle(GER) vs. Alona Bondarenko(UKR)[31]
Men's Singles - 1st Round
Ryan Harrison(USA) vs. Janko Tipsarevic(SRB)
Women's Singles - 1st Round
Vera Zvonareva(RUS)[9] vs. Kristina Kucova(SVK)
Women's Singles - 1st Round
Stefanie Voegele(SUI) vs. Melinda Czink(HUN)

Court 19
11:00 Start Men's Singles - 1st Round
Ivan Sergeyev(UKR) vs. Dudi Sela(ISR)
Women's Singles - 1st Round
Lucie Hradecka(CZE) vs. Shahar Peer(ISR)[29]
Men's Singles - 1st Round
Rajeev Ram(USA) vs. Stefan Koubek(AUT)
Men's Singles - 1st Round
Nicolas Almagro(ESP)[26] vs. Xavier Malisse(BEL)

Court 21
11:00 Start Women's Singles - 1st Round
Coco Vandeweghe(USA) vs. Sandra Zahlavova(CZE)
Men's Singles - 1st Round
Feliciano Lopez(ESP) vs. Pablo Cuevas(URU)
Men's Singles - 1st Round
Martin Vassallo Arguello(ARG) vs. Michael Llodra(FRA)
Women's Singles - 1st Round
Petra Kvitova(CZE) vs. Jill Craybas(USA)
Men's Singles - 1st Round
Jan Hajek(CZE) vs. Robby Ginepri(USA)

UPDATED:  Whoops.  Looks like the OOP was updated.  See the revised OOP here.

Pic This: AO Day 1

And so the Slam season begins under a cloud of showers, upsets, and...well, a third thing that would appropriately complete that sentence.

Dina kicked it off as the first player into the second round.  Apparently she didn't play that great, though I think a 64 64 win over a Rybarikova, a player who won tourneys last year, ain't bad. 

Also she looks great, so...sure, why not?

 

Aw, what a cute ball boy.

I'm not looking forward to watching Justine matches in HD. 

The sores.  My GOD the sores.

"Hey, you."

Oh, Chakky.  Why do the tennis gods hate you so much?

Well that would explain why you look like idiots.*

 

No no no, Sveta.  The exo is over.  Please start playing actual matches.

Halt.  Hammerzeit.

 

Wait...which one is nicknamed "Elf"?

Mmmmmovingrightalong.

Heh.  Never gets old.

Even seagulls like a good magic show.

Awes.

Only someone on PED could jump that high.

Kidding.

GO AWAY.

AO10: Monday Results

Other than Maria crashing out, it was pretty much business as usual on Day 1.  Quite a few matches need to be completed/played on Tuesday.

Rafa looked a bit rusty, but the mantra of the day for many of the top players was "a win is a win."  Win and move on, rust or no.  Poor Chakky pulled Flavia in the first and got dumped in three sets.  And Ivo came back to exact some Davis Cup revenge by ousting Radek in 5.  Speaking of ousting, 11 fans were kicked off the grounds for crap behavior, many of them being Ivo fans.  Apparently those exist.

(2) Dinara Safina (RUS) d. Magdalena Rybarikova (SVK) 64 64
(3) Svetlana Kuznetsova (RUS) d. Anastasia Rodionova (AUS) 61 62
(5) Elena Dementieva (RUS) d. Vera Dushevina (RUS) 62 61
(12) Flavia Pennetta (ITA) d. Anna Chakvetadze (RUS) 63 36 62
Maria Kirilenko (RUS) d. (14) Maria Sharapova (RUS) 76(4) 36 64
(15) Kim Clijsters (BEL) d. (Q) Valérie Tétreault (CAN) 60 64
(24) María José Martínez Sánchez (ESP) d. Evgeniya Rodina (RUS) 60 60
(27) Alisa Kleybanova (RUS) d. Jelena Dokic (AUS) 61 75
(30) Kateryna Bondarenko (UKR) d. Ioana Raluca Olaru (ROU) 62 76(6)
Zheng Jie (CHN) d. Peng Shuai (CHN) 06 61 62
Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (RUS) d. Anastasija Sevastova (LAT) 62 64
Elena Baltacha (GBR) d. Pauline Parmentier (FRA) 64 36 75
(Q) Yanina Wickmayer (BEL) d. Alexandra Dulgheru (ROU) 16 75 108
(Q) Yvonne Meusburger (AUT) d. Timea Bacsinszky (SUI) 64 46 62
(WC) Justine Henin (BEL) d. Kirsten Flipkens (BEL) 64 63

[2] R Nadal (ESP) d P Luczak (AUS) 76(0) 61 64
[4] J del Potro (ARG) d M Russell (USA) 64 64 36 62
[5] A Murray (GBR) d [Q] K Anderson (RSA) 61 61 62
[7] A Roddick (USA) d T de Bakker (NED) 61 64 64
[11] F Gonzalez (CHI) d O Rochus (BEL) 63 64 36 61 
I Karlovic (CRO) d [13] R Stepanek (CZE) 26 76(5) 64 36 64
[24] I Ljubicic (CRO) d [WC] J Kubler (AUS) 61 62 62
[WC] B Tomic (AUS) d [Q] G Rufin (FRA) 63 64 64
W Odesnik (USA) d [Q] B Kavcic (SLO) 46 61 64 62
[WC] A Golubev (KAZ) d M Fish (USA) 62 16 63 63 
F Mayer (GER) d P Petzschner (GER) 06 26 64 62 62

So...Maria Won.

Who's named Maria, is Russian, graces the covers of magazines, leaves the boys gawking, has an awesome fist pump and determination, and gutted out a really impressive win today?

Bad. Ass.

That's right.  The Shrieky One has been silenced.  If Shazam wasn't one of my favorite players I'd be 132% excited and happy for MaKiri.  As it is, I'm kinda bummed but I am totally 99% excited for Lil' Mash.  She's been plagued with injuries over the past two years (not significant ones, but niggling ones that were enough to keep her from 100%) but she's still be a solid top 40 player.  Nice to see her get some recognition for something other than her looks.  

Tough tough loss for Masha and for more importantly (not really) her fans.  Maria didn't play any warmup tournaments other than the HK exo, so this was our first chance to see her play.  I for one was really excited about her chances down under, and specifically looking forward to her potential quarterfinal match against Dina.  Oh well.  Uh...at her shoulder should be in good shape for Indian Wells, right?

"I'm in your second round, drinking your Smurf juice.  Or dress dye.  Or cap dye.  Or bag dye.  Whatever.  It's yours and I'm drinking it, friend."

Good girl.

XOXOXO

So much amazing, I don't even know where to begin. 

The fact that the event raised money and awareness for Haiti is enough of a reason to love it.  But the kids actually brought the laughs on a consistent basis and made, what is essentially, porn for tennis fans.  If you turn up the sound and close your eyes, it really does sound like porn.  Not that, you know, I did that.  I'm in an airport for God's sake.

Baseball vs. Soccer, with Australia not sure what hell is going on.

"Right?  The chain mail totally feels like fabric!"

I guess Sergio Tacchini doesn't make cups.

I love how Kim's looking at him like a bemused mom. 

"Oh, Novak."

Whoa, whoa, whoa, Rafa.  I said it was "porn for tennis fans."  Not actual porn.

Dear Serena: Your threats?  So noted.

If you were to pair up the two least threatening people on the ATP/WTA tours and pair them for a gropefest, well...you could do worse.  Somehow Kim makes it look...clinical. 

Since Roger organized this thing, I can't say anything snarky.  So...

Roger did pushups during the exo.

Hee.  HeeHee.

I pretty much love this entire seven minutes.  I especially love Rafa's beleagured and obedient "Si" after Roger says "Vamos, Rafa."  He's such a good kid.

Oh, Andy.

But if you want the awesomeness of this exo summarized in one shot...

Pic This: Cheer Up, Kid.

It is 8:30am at Narita.  I am horribly cranky.  Not even my bright yellow RRRRAFA shirt can lift my spirits.  I have a six hour layover and I just witnessed the abomination that is the Japanese version of the McMuffin.  Also, my Mom is passed out on a cushion in the middle of the airport and I think she may be snoring.  I can hear her from at least 30 feet away.

And then, to top it all off, I see nary a sports bar in the airport and I see that play will likely be delayed on the outer courts due to rain that may come down throughout the day and into the evening.

So all I'm saying is that I'm completely discombobulated right now.

Thankfully I have these pics to remind me that everything is right with the world.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!! YOU MISSED!!!  BWAHAHAHAHA!!!!

Because I'm 8 years old.

So...the abs look...healthy.

Aw.  You're pretty.  

Line up, boys.

Michaella Krajicek: Destroyer of Dreams, Murderer of Baby Baby Elephants.

Boo.

In case you didn't notice, Masha's wearing black.  Oh!  New racquet/paintjob!

Why does Andy have Old-Man-Body?  Weird.

*Snarf*

They're totes cute. 

These two would have totally fit in at Woodstock.  The real one.  Not the horror that was Rapefest 99.

 

I'm always perplexed when I see athletes wearing the standard issue iPod headphones.  Those things don't stay put during vigorous exercise.  I mean, come on, Masha.  Go buy the awesome Gaga headphones.  Live a little.

I DON'T CARE!  I LOVE HIM!

Yay!  Dork!Masha's in Melbourne.

Aaaaaand Mirka pulls back into the WAG lead.  But only by a bubble.

Nole debuted his Sergio Tacchini and his bed hair.  The kit is...Sergio Tacchini.  Looks fine on him but nothing special or memorable.  One comment about his hair.  This is the second year in a row he's shown up with his longer "I don't give a fuck, I'm just being casual" look. 

But last time I checked, this hair hoisted trophies.

What up, Green Lantern?  Where's Kato?

Oh, here he is.

You went full retard, man.  Never go full retard.

AO10: Monday OOP

Finally, the day has come. 

And by "finally", I mean "HOLYSHITTHATWASWAYTOOFUCKINGQUICK!!!"

I'll be in the air heading back to SFO for most of this action.  But I can't want to jump back into everything.  This vacation has been awesome.  But I'm ready to get back to "work".

All I will say is this: Make it happen, Flipkens.

Rod Laver Arena
11:00 Start Women’s Singles – 1st Round
Maria Sharapova(RUS)[14] vs. Maria Kirilenko(RUS)
Women’s Singles – 1st Round
Kim Clijsters(BEL)[15] vs. Valerie Tetreault(CAN)
Men’s Singles – 1st Round
Andy Murray(GBR)[5] vs. Kevin Anderson(RSA)

Rod Laver Arena
19:00 Start Men’s Singles – 1st Round
Peter Luczak(AUS) vs. Rafael Nadal(ESP)[2]
Women’s Singles – 1st Round
Jelena Dokic(AUS) vs. Alisa Kleybanova(RUS)[27]

Hisense Arena
11:00 Start Women’s Singles – 1st Round
Magdalena Rybarikova(SVK) vs. Dinara Safina(RUS)[2]
Men’s Singles – 1st Round
Andy Roddick(USA)[7] vs. Thiemo de Bakker(NED)
Men’s Singles – 1st Round
Michael Russell(USA) vs. Juan Martin Del Potro(ARG)[4]
Women’s Singles – 1st Round
Kirsten Flipkens(BEL) vs. Justine Henin(BEL)

Margaret Court Arena
11:00 Start Women’s Singles – 1st Round
Yanina Wickmayer(BEL) vs. Alexandra Dulgheru(ROU)
Men’s Singles – 1st Round
Guillaume Rufin(FRA) vs. Bernard Tomic(AUS)
Women’s Singles – 1st Round
Elena Dementieva(RUS)[5] vs. Vera Dushevina(RUS)
Women’s Singles – 1st Round
Jelena Jankovic(SRB)[8] vs. Monica Niculescu(ROU)
Not Before:19:30
Men’s Singles – 1st Round
Matthew Ebden(AUS) vs. Gael Monfils(FRA)[12]

Show Court 2
11:00 Start Men’s Singles – 1st Round
Olivier Rochus(BEL) vs. Fernando Gonzalez(CHI)[11]
Women’s Singles – 1st Round
Anastasia Rodionova(AUS) vs. Svetlana Kuznetsova(RUS)[3]
Men’s Singles – 1st Round
Jarkko Nieminen(FIN) vs. Nick Lindahl(AUS)
Women’s Singles – 1st Round
Rossana De Los Rios(PAR) vs. Marion Bartoli(FRA)[11]

Show Court 3
11:00 Start Men’s Singles – 1st Round
Jason Kubler(AUS) vs. Ivan Ljubicic(CRO)[24]
Women’s Singles – 1st Round
Anna Chakvetadze(RUS) vs. Flavia Pennetta(ITA)[12]
Men’s Singles – 1st Round
Marin Cilic(CRO)[14] vs. Fabrice Santoro(FRA)
Women’s Singles – 1st Round
Sorana Cirstea(ROU) vs. Olivia Rogowska(AUS)

Court 5
11:00 Start Men’s Singles – 1st Round
Blaz Kavcic(SLO) vs. Wayne Odesnik(USA)
Men’s Singles – 1st Round
Julien Benneteau(FRA) vs. David Guez(FRA)
Women’s Singles – 1st Round
Olga Govortsova(BLR) vs. Angelique Kerber(GER)

Court 6
11:00 Start Men’s Singles – 1st Round
Radek Stepanek(CZE)[13] vs. Ivo Karlovic(CRO)
Women’s Singles – 1st Round
Sesil Karatantcheva(KAZ) vs. Tamarine Tanasugarn(THA)
Women’s Singles – 1st Round
Aravane Rezai(FRA)[26] vs. Sania Mirza(IND)
Not Before:17:00
Men’s Singles – 1st Round
James Blake(USA) vs. Arnaud Clement(FRA)

Court 7
11:00 Start Women’s Singles – 1st Round
Pauline Parmentier(FRA) vs. Elena Baltacha(GBR)
Men’s Singles – 1st Round
Sebastien Grosjean(FRA) vs. Marsel Ilhan(TUR)
Women’s Singles – 1st Round
Edina Gallovits(ROU) vs. Nadia Petrova(RUS)[19]
Not Before:17:00
Men’s Singles – 1st Round
John Isner(USA)[33] vs. Andreas Seppi(ITA)

Court 8
11:00 Start Women’s Singles – 1st Round
Jie Zheng(CHN) vs. Shuai Peng(CHN)
Men’s Singles – 1st Round
Mardy Fish(USA) vs. Andrey Golubev(KAZ)
Men’s Singles – 1st Round
Rainer Schuettler(GER) vs. Sam Querrey(USA)[25]
Women’s Singles – 1st Round
Virginie Razzano(FRA)[18] vs. Ekaterina Makarova(RUS)

Court 10
11:00 Start Women’s Singles – 1st Round
Yvonne Meusburger(AUT) vs. Timea Bacsinszky(SUI)
Men’s Singles – 1st Round
Igor Kunitsyn(RUS) vs. Jose Acasuso(ARG)
Women’s Singles – 1st Round
Patricia Mayr(AUT) vs. Katie O’brien(GBR)
Men’s Singles – 1st Round
Lukas Lacko(SVK) vs. Leonardo Mayer(ARG)

Court 11
1:00 Start Women’s Singles – 1st Round
Barbora Zahlavova Strycova(CZE) vs. Regina Kulikova(RUS)
Women’s Singles – 1st Round
Anna-Lena Groenefeld(GER) vs. Roberta Vinci(ITA)
Men’s Singles – 1st Round
Daniel Brands(GER) vs. Evgeny Korolev(KAZ)
Men’s Singles – 1st Round
Louk Sorensen(IRL) vs. Yen-Hsun Lu(TPE)

Court 13
11:00 Start Men’s Singles – 1st Round
Philipp Petzschner(GER) vs. Florian Mayer(GER)
Women’s Singles – 1st Round
Vania King(USA) vs. Dominika Cibulkova(SVK)[23]
Men’s Singles – 1st Round
Feliciano Lopez(ESP) vs. Pablo Cuevas(URU)
Women’s Singles – 1st Round
Klara Zakopalova(CZE) vs. Sara Errani(ITA)

Court 14
11:00 Start Men’s Singles – 1st Round
Teimuraz Gabashvili(RUS) vs. Thomaz Bellucci(BRA)
Women’s Singles – 1st Round
Yuliana Fedak(UKR) vs. Polona Hercog(SLO)
Men’s Singles – 1st Round
Daniel Koellerer(AUT) vs. Antonio Veic(CRO)

Court 18
11:00 Start Women’s Singles – 1st Round
Kateryna Bondarenko(UKR)[30] vs. Ioana Raluca Olaru(ROU)
Men’s Singles – 1st Round
Philipp Kohlschreiber(GER)[27] vs. Horacio Zeballos(ARG)
Women’s Singles – 1st Round
Kathrin Woerle(GER) vs. Alona Bondarenko(UKR)[31]
Men’s Singles – 1st Round
Tomas Berdych(CZE)[21] vs. Robin Haase(NED)

Court 19
11:00 Start Men’s Singles – 1st Round
Viktor Troicki(SRB)[29] vs. Nicolas Lapentti(ECU)
Men’s Singles – 1st Round
Guillermo Garcia-Lopez(ESP) vs. Stanislas Wawrinka(SUI)[19]
Women’s Singles – 1st Round
Yung-Jan Chan(TPE) vs. Kaia Kanepi(EST)
Women’s Singles – 1st Round
Coco Vandeweghe(USA) vs. Sandra Zahlavova(CZE)

Court 21
11:00 Start Women’s Singles – 1st Round
Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova(RUS) vs. Anastasija Sevastova(LAT)
Women’s Singles – 1st Round
Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez(ESP)[24] vs. Evgeniya Rodina(RUS)
Men’s Singles – 1st Round
Marc Gicquel(FRA) vs. Simone Bolelli(ITA)
Men’s Singles – 1st Round
Florent Serra(FRA) vs. Jurgen Melzer(AUT)[28]

Stacey Allaster's Pet Project Go To

I have this mental image of her at a SEWTA board meeting taking questions about the business value of on-court coaching, and just hitting play on one of the myriad videos of the Best Little Dysfunctional Couple In Tennis:

Original Video - More videos at TinyPic

The commentators not being able to stand it anymore and dissolving into giggles halfway through really makes it. 

It's Official... (UPDATE)

She's in.

After a tough first round match (nerves? anger? both?), Yanina dropped a total of one game to officially qualify for the AO main draw.  She (and the other qualifiers) will be slotted into the draw Saturday night, Australia time (so... basically, in a couple of hours).  Seeds who could play a qualifier early include Sam, Ana, Kim and A-Bond (1r) and CSN, Ana (again), Dani, Flavs, Aravane, A-Bond (again), Masha and Dinara (2r).

UPDATE: Yanina has, indeed, been slotted into Sveta's quarter.  She's on track to play Flavia in the second round.  I would just like to say that (a) I totally called it and (b) wow, that quarter is a Slam unto itself. I'd be okay if we just pretended that was the whole draw.