Forty Deuce

Daddy's Girl.

 

Just a reminder that the Bank of the West Classic is posting presser clips on their Facebook page.  You can see longer clips of this stuff there.

Anyway, more on Sam's presser after the jump:

Ball Kids Loves Corgis.

The ball kids here at Stanford really take their jobs seriously.  But that doesn't mean they don't notice what goes on on-court.  Chris Oddo interviewed some ball kids this week.  His results kind of surprised me. 

I guess Ana wasn't here long enough to make an impression.  She *always* wins these things.

Saturday OOPs

Stanford:

Stadium (from 12.00hrs)
1. Samantha Stosur vs. Victoria Azarenka
2. Azarenka/Kirilenko vs. Chan/Zheng (after suitable rest)
3. Agnieszka Radwanska vs. Maria Sharapova (NB 19.30hrs)
4. Borwell/Kops-Jones vs. Davenport/Huber

Los Angeles:

STRAUS STADIUM (2:00pm start)

[2] Sam Querrey (USA) vs. [6] Janko Tipsarevic (SRB)

[1] Bob Bryan (USA) / Mike Bryan (USA) vs. [4] Rohan Bopanna (IND)/Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi (PAK) 

[1] [WC] Andy Murray (GBR) vs. [4] Feliciano Lopez (7:30pm start)

Eric Butorac(USA)/ Jean-Julien Rojer(AHO) vs. Ross Hutchins(GBR)/ Jordan Kerr(GBR)

Crushin' It.

 

Marissa and I spent a good 45 minutes debating an interesting question:  Who's the "better" competitor: Serena or Masha.  We both agreed that they were far and away the best two (we struggled to come up with a "top five") but in the end, we were at an impasse, primarily because we each defined "better competitor" differently.  For my money, I say Maria, primarily because I think that if you put her in a parking lot and made her play a playground match for $5, she would still kill herself for it.  Marissa's point (oversimplified for the purposes of this point) was that if you had to pick a player who could find a way to win while not playing their best, you have to go with Serena.  I think we both agreed with each other's propositions, but we disagreed over which was "better".  Either way, it helped us get through what was a frigid night in Stanford as we watched what was, we debated, one of the best WTA matches of the year.

It obviously wasn't a perfect match.  Both players struggled with their serves.  But once the ball was in play it was ridiculously heavy, hard hitting, with both players showing that they could track down balls and get them back with angle and interest.  It was a fun match to watch and I was really happy to see my Twitter feed blow up with complimentary things to say about both players.  Remember, this was only Elena's second match since retiring in RG and only Maria's third match since losing to Serena at Wimbledon.  Given the circumstances, this was a high-quality match that was worthy of a final.

In the end it was Masha on top, as I expected.  Elena played great off the ground but her serve, as always, was too bit a liability to overcome.  Masha always had a shot at breaking, taking advantage of short serves and absolutely pummeling some returns.  After the match she said it took her a while to warm up and swing through the ball.  Could have fooled me.  She seemed to take a hack every chance she got.  The quote that kept running through my head was from Spinal Tap: "But it goes to 11."

It wasn't until we got back to the press room and started reading the blogger coverage of the match that we learned that there was some controversy surrounding the ESPN court mics picking up some coaching from Mike.  I guess they overheard him in the box telling Maria to serve to Demmy's backhand.  I haven't seen the ESPN coverage yet so I can't really comment but for me personally, at the end of the day, I don't really care.  I don't have a problem with on-court coaching and I don't have a problem with sideline coaching either.  If it means we get more high quality matches, so be it.  But I'm sure people disagree.

But a great win for Masha, who picks up her first Top 40 win and Top 10 win of the season.  To me she's virtually booked herself into the final as she's facing Aga in the semis, a match I expect her to win easily. She's playing and competing well and she can only get better. 

Watch out, world.  She's back and she's relevant again.

So At Least We Know The Dress Isn't Cursed.

A nice win for Sam today over a very tough Wicky.  I'm bummed to hear that the match wasn't broadcast anywhere (despite the fact that TC/ESPN covered the other three matches) so you'll have to excuse me if my coverage is a bit skewed Sam's way.  I mean, sure, I'm a bit biased but nobody was able to watch this match.  So here's the skinny.

One thing you have to get used to if you watch a Sam match is the lack of rhythm.  As I said to Marissa, a Sam-Noob, if you will, Sam's matches are men's matches from 15 years ago.  The holder generally holds and the the points are pretty damn short.  That's mainly due to Sam's style: her serve allows her to hold easily and then on return games, she tries to crush returns, which either works (third set!) or it doesn't (uh...second set).  It's what I would imagine A-Rod's game would be if he actually hit through his forehand.

 

"Auuuuuuuuuuuugh!" [/katie]

The first set was fairly straightforward.  Both players were holding easily and Wicky finally blinked, giving Sam the break she needed to take the set.  Sam played a pretty bad second set, though that was attributable to Wicky, who served well through the match and was able to play enough defense to get Sam into some rallies.  Sam's forehand and backhand slice were pretty atrocious through this set.  Hence, 6-3 to Wicky.

I wasn't sure what to expect in the third set.  Wicks was getting all fired up and shit, screaming and fistpumping, and Sam was visibly frustrated, slamming a ball into the ground after she was broken.  But midway through the third set Wicks got really tentative.  I never understand underdog players getting tentative in tight moments.  You have nothing to lose.  Go down swinging!

 

Barefoot Dave is my new favorite thing.

But no, she wasn't hitting through the ball and started leaving the balls short, giving Sam the opportunity to clock some forehands and find her groove again.  From there she was able to cruise to a 6-3 third set.  It was a good test for Sam, and Chris and I found ourselves debating whether or not she can be considered "clutch".  I think we both agreed "not so much...yet", but she's made a hell of a lot of progress from being the woman who was pretty famous for choking with third set leads.

"Yup.  That's my girl."

Sam seemed pretty pleased with the win.  Team Stosur was all smiles on the track as Sam cooled down:

 

Holding court with her carnie hands.

Clips of the match after the jump:

Well That Wasn't Very Nice.

Aga done gone and beat her former and future dubs partner not just in straight sets but dishing a bagel in the second.  I didn't see the match, as I had to go see a girl about a serve, but there were some occasional roars from center court so assume there were some pretty "crafty" shots coming off that Babolat racquet.

And so Aga is in the semifinals at Stanford and will return to the top 10 on Monday.  It's just what she does.

She did have some interesting stuff to say in her presser about why the era of teenage phenoms may be over:

Sam Tracker 5000. Seriously, There Needs To Be An App For This.

Steph was on the grounds today which meant I could hide out in the media center and get some shit done while she acted as my eyes and ears on the ground.  As soon as I got the "Sam's practicing!" I literally threw my camera in my bag and ran out of the media center.  Proof.

 

For whatever reason, and I'm assuming/hoping it's for her Facebook page, Simmone brought a camera to the practice courts and was snapping totes random pictures while Sam was warming up. 

Here she is spitting water.  Spitters are quitters, Sam.

 

movingrightalong.

Long torso, short legs, red hair: Corgi.

My sniper training is coming along really well.  Thanks for asking.

Dude.  Now *that* is a laid back wrist.  No Wrist Assist needed here.

Practice videos after the jump.

Awwww Shit. CAT FIGHT!!! (not really)

After that first set, which Mono won 6-3, it looked like she was going to run away with it.  She was painting lines, hitting hard and flat, and building a 3-0 lead in the second set.  But Vika picked up her game, started returning better, and was able to carry that form through to take the match.

But the real story was in their pressers, which I missed because, as Matt Cronin pointed out, I was hell bent on not missing a point of Sam's match.  Thankfully I got the audio from the WTA.

It basically involved the issue of grunting, obviously spurred on by Vika's incessant thing she does.  Seriously, you can hear her from across the grounds, even during practice:

Marion's thoughts:

"Yeah of course it's difficult to play against those kind of players.  I think it's fine to grunt sometimes when you make an effort but sometimes it's just so loud, you know, it's hard to focus on your side of the net.

For sure, if you have a Azarenka/Sharapova match you better come with some earplugs.  I try not to be that annoying but I played her before in Eastbourne in this year and in the first game of the match everyone was laughing about it so it was quite disturbing as well.  But I think she's done that since childhood and it's just something that every time she plays tennis she's doing it even on practice.  So it's not something we can change, I guess, about her.

Larcher de Brito when she was playing was is even louder than her.  That was really disturbing because her grunting would continue even when the ball was coming on your side....I don't think Victoria is not that bothering.

You kind of get used it, honestly.  It's kind of disturbing for the first 10 or 15 minutes but after you get used to it."

Of course, Vika would get asked about it too:

"Yeah, well, a lot of things can distract people, like doing this [imitates Bartoli's wrist waggle] when you serve can also be distracting.  But I don't pay attention.  But that's the way I play....  With me, the grunt is always there - in practice and in play. Ever since I was a kid, I was pretty weak and I needed that extra power. 

There are some players that like to fake injuries and think they're dying out there but then the point starts they are running for every ball.  But it's part of the game.  You try to win however you can."

And in a moment of levity, Vika ranks her grunting:

"I don't know.  I think I'm top 10? [laughter]"

Even Sam, somehow, got pulled into this:

To be honest during matches I don't notice it too much against opponents.  I've played her in the past, and some of the other...known...grunters. [laughter]  When I'm playing against them I don't notice it.  But when I watching TV or on the sidelines, of course I notice it.

Hopefully it'll be the same tomorrow [laughter].  I mean, I'm not stupid.  I know who's loud and who's not, but it doesn't really bother me. 

There are little mannerisms that certain players have that annoy you more than others.  But that's part of the game.  I'm sure that most of the time they're not doing it to try to put the other player off.  It's just part of their routine or whatever they do.  Maybe some days you're looking for outside things to annoy you as well.  Maybe you're not playing well that day so it's annoying you that day more than others.

It's all much ado about nothing.  And again, the comments are going to rile up different fan bases.  But just remember that these comments were in response to questions.  They weren't brought up sua sponte from the players, who, to their credit, all answered pretty honestly here.  It shouldn't be held against them.

I'll say what I've always said: If you seriously think you lost a match or your opponent had an edge because you got annoyed about a grunt (and I exclude Burrito in this because I do think her prolonged grunt is a problem from a technical standpoint) then, well, yeah, you should have lost.  You can't use it as an excuse.

Incidentally, Mono picks a Stosur/Sharapova final.  And Vika doesn't drink beer. 

Forty Deuce: Brought To You By Evian.

MaKiri and Aga are taking the court as Quarterfinal Friday kicks off here in sunny ol' Stanford.  The weather here, barring that first super chilly night, has been perfect. I haven't even needed a heavy sweatshirt at night.  Then again, I run warm.  Some might say "I'm hotter than you."

Fuck!  Did I just make a Jacob joke?

• I got the grounds at around noon and missed Sam practicing in the morning.  The woman is an early bird which is why it would never work out between us.  It was for the best.  I've been so in her jock our cycles are syncing up. 
• It was a less than stellar day for Shahar.  She dropped her singles match to MaKiri in straight sets and then lost her dubs match to Vika/MaKiri later in the afternoon.  She was peeeesed by the end of the super-tiebreak, letting out a huge scream and pounding a ball high in the sky. 
• Govortsova has a bigger serve than I remember.  Also, do all Belarussians have the same body type?  Because if you didn't know any better, you could easily mistake Vika for Olga from behind.
• I got some good Twitter questions for MaKiri, but totally flubbed them because for whatever reason, I reverted into deposition mode.  Short leading questions with quick follow-ups to nail down factual details before the witness can think about it.  I really really hate my lawyer training.
• Vika was a bit snippy on court and I can't think she's currying much favor with the ball kids.  In case you were unaware, she only takes the balls from the left.  And yes, she will pause for a good 20 seconds between points just waiting for the balls to get to that ball kid.  The poor young ball kid standing on the right was utterly confused.  "Give to her, give to her."  He just stared back blankly. 
• Believe gave a great presser and I was glad that I stuck around for it.  She's your typical American teenager and she's willing to talk about anything.  I don't get the sense that she's been through a lot of media training.  I was also surprised as to how adeptly she spoke of the technical and tactical aspects of the game.  All that said, I suspect her pressers are much more entertaining when she loses than when she wins.  She's probably all sunshine and believing when she wins. 
• No matter how many times I attend a tournament I always get a bit shell-shocked around the quarterfinals.  For the past five days I've been most excited about running around the grounds, watching practice sessions, seeing players on the track, etc.  But each day ticks by the field gets smaller and smaller.  The practice courts get quieter and players leave town.  But as that happens, the actual matches being played get more interesting.  I have to actively switch my mentality to leave the practice courts alone and settle into the live tennis.  It takes effort.
• I was watching Ana practice when a volunteer sidled up to me and started gushing over her.  Apparently he accompanied her to her hospital visit and said she was one of the nicest people he had ever met and that she chatted with him quite a bit in the car.  "Hold old is she?" "Uh, 22?  "REALLY??? [pause] Does she have a boyfriend?" "Yeah. He's a golfer.  Adam Scott.  Australian." "Oh.  Is he here?" "No, he's probably...golfing somewhere." "Free game."  "Good luck with that."
• Mono, once again, gives good presser.  She's game to talk about anything and everything.  Today's presser: Why she loves New York, the depth of the WTA tour, why she puts Venus at #2, and what she thinks of Caro, Vika, and Aga.
• I've been getting a lot of messages about why there was no live stream until Friday.  I guess I assume the answer is obvious but here we go: TV rights are a big deal for tournaments and the tour and if you allow early streams then it dilutes the value of the rights you're selling.  For the USO series, which is handled by TC and ESPN, the tournaments are very good about locking down their feeds so as to not allow hackers to access the feed and post it to Justin TV or U Stream or whatever.  But if the tournaments provide an international feed they're hosed.  That shit gets hacked every damn time. 
• Met TC reporter Cari Champion today.  She was just as annoyingly gorgeous in person, if not more so, than on TV and, to my frustration, hilarious.  Told her that I fall asleep with TC on and a lot of times I'll wake up hearing her voice.  Thankfully she wasn't creeped out by that.  She's here with a TC team covering the US Open National Playoffs, which is an open tournament for men and women to compete for a wildcard into the USO qualifying.  Pretty great, as the playoff makes it truly "Open".  Met up with her again in the evening.  We just sat around, drank spring water, and talked about the weather and the geopolitical implications of the BP spill.  Really whole some stuff. 

So now we get the quarterfinals.  Aga has just bageled MaKiri to book her spot in the semis.  So much for my darkhorse pick.  She'll play the winner of Masha/Elena.  Mono and Vika will be taking the court soon.  Thankfully I was able to catch Sam during practice today.  She looked great.

But what do I know.

Yeah, She Has That Effect.

The boys of all ages love them some Ana.  These kids picked out flowers while waiting for Ana to leave the tournament site and kept throwing out challenges to each other.  "If I get her to kiss me, you owe me $20!"  Well they didn't get a kiss, but they did get a hug and a smile.

 

#1 or #65, the kid is popular.  You can understand why *most* tournaments would want her around.  Without even asking I've heard a number of people rave about how great she was during her hospital visit, how much the journos love talking to her, and photographers love shooting her.  She's always been hounded as she leaves the site for pictures and autographs, too.

But seriously, those kids picking the flowers?  Too cute.

Pic This: I Mean, Really?

Friday OOPs

Stanford:

Stadium (from 12.00hrs)
1. Maria Kirilenko vs. Agnieszka Radwanska
2. Marion Bartoli vs. Victoria Azarenka (NB 14.00hrs)
3. Samantha Stosur vs. Yanina Wickmayer
4. Maria Sharapova vs. Elena Dementieva (NB 20.00hrs)
5. Craybas/Gullickson vs. Chan/Zheng

Los Angeles:

STRAUS STADIUM 12:00 noon start
Rainer Schuettler (GER) vs. [2] Sam Querrey (USA)
[6] Janko Tipsarevic (SRB) vs. [3] Marcos Baghdatis (CYP)
[4] Feliciano Lopez vs. [WC] James Blake
 
7:30pm start
[1] [WC] Andy Murray (GBR) vs.Alejandro Falla (COL)
Eric Butorac(USA)/ Jean-Julien Rojer(AHO) vs. [2] Robert Lindstedt (SWE)/ Horia Tecau (ROU)

Here I Go Again On My Own.

Another tournament, another early round loss for Ana.  This one was more respectable though, not that anyone will believe it.  People will look at this scoreline and just chalk it up to Ana's slump.  Sure, yeah, I mean, a little.  But let's give credit where it's due.  Mono played great.  She was absolutely crushing the ball, putting Ana on the defensive early and, when Ana did get into an offensive position, forcing Ana to hit the extra ball.  

After the match Ana said that Mono was hitting harder and deeper and serving better than in their three prior matches.  She also cited the court and conditions, saying that the court was playing fast and the ball was moving much more quickly than she expected.  She felt she was a "little bit late" on her shots.  And from a spectator's perspective that's exactly what it looked like.

Still, it's tough to watch.  This match, much like most of Ana's matches these days, turned on 3-5 points.  But Ana tacitly admitted after the match that the big points are all about confidence and she's working on removing the doubt that she has on those point to allow her to play freely.  She still feels more sure of her shots than she did, say, two months ago.  But it's a work in progress.

Just to reiterate, Ana didn't play poorly here. This wasn't one of those shambolic performances that force you back to the drawing board.  She got plain beat while playing about a B game.  There are a lot of positives to take away from this tournament and I for one have been really encouraged by what I've seen.  She's off to San Diego next week and lucky for her, I won't be there to fuck up her draw.

Because seriously, her draw was fucked up. 

Believe It. Or Not.

It could have been an intriguing match.  What it turned out to be was a tense affair that eventually saw Vika roll past Believe in straight sets.  Vika's looked really solid off the ground this week.  She has also been quintessential Vika, bossing the ball kids around and bitching and moaning about god knows what.  Whatever works, I guess.  Everyone's got a schtick.

But afterwards she was all smiles:

 

 

As for Mels, she gave a pretty entertaining presser.  She's an 18 year-old bubbly American teen who is well aware of the pressure and expectations placed on here in the States.  She's coming from playing in Europe where there was no one in her pressers, to the States, where she's the center of attention and every journo wants to ask her about expectations and pressure.  And you can tell from watching the presser that she gets it.  She's not blocking out all the chatter, though, even if she tried she'd probably fail. 

But the upshot of her presser was that she reiterated that all these expectations are based off of ONE tournament.  While she doesn't think her run to the USO was a fluke, she also thinks it's a bit ridiculous that American fans, based off that one tournament, expect her to win all the time.  It was clear that she's a bit annoyed by it.  The kid is trying her best to keep perspective but she has to answer the questions all the time and deal with the crowd's reaction when she loses.  Besides, this is only her second year on the tour.  Cut the kid some slack.

Speaking of which she gave a pretty entertaining answer when asked whether she enjoys the crowd support she gets in the States:

“Yes and no. It’s kind of annoying sometimes when people are like ‘Pull it together Melanie,’ and they yell at me kind of.  Really? You get down here and play. I know they mean it in a good way, like to say ‘C’mon’ Melanie,’ but you don’t have to say ‘Pull it together,’ like ‘Get your energy up’ That’s what some lady was telling me.”

To be clear, she didn't come across as ungrateful.  She came across as being honest about.  And let's face it, she's right.  I mean, who yells that shit at tournaments?  Root for someone and be positive.  Don't fucking schill advice.  Believe me, they didn't ask you.

As for her game, it was pretty clear watching her against CanWoz and Vika that the kid needs a serve.  Right now she's JJ with a touch more power but less consistency.  She's going to have a tough time holding serve.

Believe It. Or Not.

It could have been an intriguing match.  What it turned out to be was a tense affair that eventually saw Vika roll past Believe in straight sets.  Vika's looked really solid off the ground this week.  She has also been quintessential Vika, bossing the ball kids around and bitching and moaning about god knows what.  Whatever works, I guess.  Everyone's got a schtick.

But afterwards she was all smiles:

 

 

As for Mels, she gave a pretty entertaining presser.  She's an 18 year-old bubbly American teen who is well aware of the pressure and expectations placed on here in the States.  She's coming from playing in Europe where there was no one in her pressers, to the States, where she's the center of attention and every journo wants to ask her about expectations and pressure.  And you can tell from watching the presser that she gets it.  She's not blocking out all the chatter, though, even if she tried she'd probably fail. 

But the upshot of her presser was that she reiterated that all these expectations are based off of ONE tournament.  While she doesn't think her run to the USO was a fluke, she also thinks it's a bit ridiculous that American fans, based off that one tournament, expect her to win all the time.  It was clear that she's a bit annoyed by it.  The kid is trying her best to keep perspective but she has to answer the questions all the time and deal with the crowd's reaction when she loses.  Besides, this is only her second year on the tour.  Cut the kid some slack.

Speaking of which she gave a pretty entertaining answer when asked whether she enjoys the crowd support she gets in the States:

“Yes and no. It’s kind of annoying sometimes when people are like ‘Pull it together Melanie,’ and they yell at me kind of.  Really? You get down here and play. I know they mean it in a good way, like to say ‘C’mon’ Melanie,’ but you don’t have to say ‘Pull it together,’ like ‘Get your energy up’ That’s what some lady was telling me.”

To be clear, she didn't come across as ungrateful.  She came across as being honest about.  And let's face it, she's right.  I mean, who yells that shit at tournaments?  Root for someone and be positive.  Don't fucking schill advice.  Believe me, they didn't ask you.

As for her game, it was pretty clear watching her against CanWoz and Vika that the kid needs a serve.  Right now she's JJ with a touch more power but less consistency.  She's going to have a tough time holding serve.

Aw. You're Nice.

MaKiri has always been a pleasant mystery to me.  She seems shy, quiet, and somewhat guarded.  But you can never really get a solid reading on foreign players because sometimes it's just a language issue.  So to my pleasant surprise, her presser was quite pleasant.  She was smiling, laughing here and there, and she's one of those players who makes eye contact with you when she answers your question.  Ana and Sam also do that.  I wonder if that's an introvert thing.  I'm the same way.  I don't actually enjoy interacting with people but when I do, I'm right there, making eye contact and engaging you. 

Per multiple requests via Twitter, I asked MaKiri about her current doubles partnership with Vika.  She said that Aga didn't want to play doubles at Stanford so she teamed up with Vika.  They'll play here and in Cincinnati and then she'll reunite with Aga in Montreal and the US Open.

Until then, she'll be playing Aga in her quarterfinal match on Friday.  That should be an intriguing match, though I'm not exactly going to bust my ass down to Stanford to catch it.  I picked MaKiri as my dark horse to get out of this 1/8.  If she wins she'll play the winner of Masha/Elena.

Go on with your bad self, Lil' Mash.

Are We Having Fun Yet?

Business-like win over Govortsova.  Not much to say other than the fact that Maria dealt with Govortsova's serve, which was fairly big, well.  The kid looks good.  Not super-high form but I think she's playing better with each match. 

 

I'm loving the always-clenched fist.  It's kind of my new favorite thing.

As for her presser...nothing much to report. 

She'll face Elena in Friday's night match.

Hump Day.

Everyone knows Wednesday's are the worst.  They're right in the middle of the week and the one day that's furthest from the weekend.  Today was no different at Stanford.  It was a fairly straightforward day, with a little added drama thanks to Lena and Kimiko.  But really, it was a quiet one.  All the seeds came through without too much trouble and as the field gets smaller, the practice courts aren't the buzzing hotbed of activity they were over the weekend.

• Despite all my seemingly extroverted rambling on the interwebz, I'm a pretty solitary person.  I prefer to watch my sports, particularly when it's a game or match that really matters to me, alone.  But there are moments that remind me that watching tennis with a group of like-minded, knowledgeable, funny people, can make the experience exponentially better.  Yesterday was one of those times.  Nick from Tennis Served Fresh and Chris (The Fan Child), who is here for On The Baseline were fantastic viewing companions.  I watched both Sam's and Lena's matches with them and you know you're in good company when you're gasping, laughing, and ruefully shaking your head to the same shots. 
• Kimiko looked gutted in her presser.  It made me sad.
• An odd tidbit from the Lena match.  Kimiko was serving in the second set when she hit a first serve that was clearly out, but there was no call.  Elena hit it for a winner.  Everyone was left staring at each other.  Umpire Romero had no clue, either, which must have caused Lynn Welch, who was surely watching from the sidelines, to throw a Gatorade cooler and punch the wall.  Romero then called for an "umpire's challenge", requesting Hawk-Eye to review the call.  I've only seen that done one other time (rather recently, in fact.  Someone help me out here).  The ball was CLEARLY out by more than a few inches.  It was a call that no chair umpire should miss.  But Romero seemed to compound her mistake by then calling for a second serve.  Am I wrong here?  Shouldn't that be a let and the point replayed?  I suppose if Kimiko called for the challenge, which she could have done, and the ball was called long, she would be granted a second serve.  But maybe my understanding of the rules is off here.  It still doesn't excuse the horrible non-call from the chair.  A good minute had passed before Kimiko was able to serve again.
• Interestingly, Elena came in to the press area immediately after her match, sweaty and everything.  She was still luminous and spoke highly of Kimiko.  She also recounted her first tour win, which here at Stanford against Venus.  I've said it before and I'll say it again, she's all class.
• I watched some Bethanie/Shaughnessy/Kleybs/Peer dubs.  Really fun match to watch and I'm always surprised as to how much I enjoy watching doubles live.  Bethanie was rocking some black knee highs this time, black shorts, and a black and white striped tank with hot pink trim.  And of course, she rocked it.  I love Bethanie.  She owns everything about her and she's a fiery competitor.  She's here with her hubby, Justin.
• Saw Shazza practice in the morning.  She's all business now that the tournament's begun. 
• Debated point during her match: Who's got a stronger base: Elena, Sveta, or Sam?
• Forgot to relay this Sam anecdote from Tuesday: Sam was shagging balls during her practice and someone from the stands yelled "Go Sam!" REALLY loudly.  You would have thought someone fired a shotgun next to her ear based on her reaction.  She searched the crowd and finally yelled "Thanks!"  I laughed.  DON'T SCARE HER!
• I caught a bit of Ana's practice before I had to run back to the media center to do the podcast for TSF.  Marissa (@sblily) and I joked that her bandaid was a sign of solidarity for Serena.  "It's like an AIDS ribbon!"
• A few of you asked how crowded Sam's autograph session was.  From what I can see it was well-attended, and the 6:30 signing time (right when the day session lets out and the night session starts in) probably helped.  But Sam's been quite popular among the folks on the grounds, particularly the kids.  She didn't get the vocal crowd support during her match with Snooki, but I suspect that's more because of the partisan American/Underdog support.  But she's been getting a lot of oohs and ahhs during her practice sessions.  That power will do that.  Oh, and she's been fantastic off-court also.  She's really wearing the top seed/top five tag well.
• I was circling the grounds when I saw a tall woman walking away from the grounds, exiting the player lounge.  I couldn't see her face but I recognize that white headband anywhere.  Yup, Dinara's still here and she was heading to the gym across the street.
• During Sam's presser an email popped up from someone in the media center.  "Dare you to ask 'Are those guns legal in California?" Don't fucking tempt me...
• One additional thought on Ana: In addition to her side to side agility she has been much improved on her ability to get low on her two handed backhand.  If you remember her form from AO08 and RG08, she had no problem almost getting her knee to the ground when hitting her backhand and still leaning into the ball.  Over the past year and half, she hasn't been doing that, instead reaching for the ball instead of getting parallel and driving off her back foot.  So props on the increased strength, Team AI.
• The new Nike kit that Vika and Snooki are wearing is haaaaaaaahrible.  I can never tell if Vika just isn't as fit as I think she is or if Nike is hosing her with their crap.  I mean, ruffles?  Pink?  We get it, they're women.  

That's the report from Wednesday.  Excited Ana tonight.  Ana's got a 3-0 H2H against Marion but they haven't played since her title run in Linz in 2008.  It'll be another tough flat hitter.  Her newfound agility is going to get tested.  No result out of this match would surprise me. 

But the match that everyone in the media center is buzzing about is Vika vs. Believe.  Vika's got a .702 winning percentage on hard courts, which is 6th best among active players.  I think that's stat is a little misleading.  It has to have been accumulated during the first half of the season, from Australia through Miami.  Vika's shown a clear tendency to peter off towards the end of the season.  And Believe?  Well...she believes.  So look out for that one.

Ok, MaKiri's just taken the first set over Shahar 6-4.  Going to go roam the grounds. 

Pic This: Everything You Need To Know About Sam Stosur In Three Pictures.

 

Guns.

Smile.

And the silent screams.  Oh, the silent screams.

"Well, She Should Be On The Supreme Court."

I had the pleasure of meeting up with Nick McCarvel of Tennis Served Fresh today.  TSF was one of the first tennis blogs I started reading so I was happy to find that the people behind it are as advertised: hilarious, witty, and super knowledgable about this little yellow fuzzy ball sport we all know and love. 

I will forever be in his debt for finding this.  We bonded over our love of Lynn:

For when you can't afford to be comfortably numb, Comfortably Lynn.

Follow Nick and TSF on Twitter (@nmccarves, @TSFTennis) and check out TSF if you haven't already.  We even did a podcast with my media center bestie, Chris Oddo.  You can download it here.

Veteran's Day

It was clear after the four straight breaks to start the match that this one wasn't going to be all that predictable.  By the middle of the first set Kimiko was in the zone, hitting flat and hard with her "ping pong" shots (Elena's words, not mine) and getting to the net when she could.  It was inspired stuff.  By the second set Lena had made the necessary adjustments.  This was the first time the two had met and it Elena some time to implement a game plan that involved getting the ball deep.  Kimiko was getting quite a bit of pop on any ball that she could lean into.  Kimiko raced out to a 2-0 lead before Elena reeled off four straight games and eventually took the set. 

The third set would see two players go on streaks of good and bad, with Elena building a 3-0 lead and Kimiko clawing back to 2-3.  From there it was a battle of grit and will, as each had chances to break.  But they would trade holds until Elena served it out.

The match ended on a bit of a sour note.  Elena hit a ball that looked out, no call was made, Kimiko hit it, looked at the line judge, and Elena hit a winner.  Kimiko looked up and pleaded to the umpire for a challenge, but to no avail.  GSM, ED.  In her post-match presser with Japanese media she looked gutted.  She had clearly had a good cry in the locker room.  She fought like a champ until the end.  Her technique let her down but her intensity and competitive fire was there.  The new generation of WTAers could learn a lot of her.

As for Elena, it wasn't a bad match considering it was her first match since Roland Garros.  She was strong off the baseline, the serve looked ok (not great, but ok) and her movement was good.  She'll probably play Shazza in the quarterfinals if Shaz beats Govortsova tomorrow.  That match will be a good test for both, though I tap Maria to come on top.  She's going to feast on on Lena's serve.

Thursday OOPs

Stanford:

STADIUM start 12:00 noon

[6] S Peer (ISR) vs M Kirilenko (RUS)
Not Before 1:30 PM
M Oudin (USA) vs [8] [WC] V Azarenka (BLR)
Not Before 2:30 PM
[5] M Sharapova (RUS) vs O Govortsova (BLR)
V Azarenka (BLR) / M Kirilenko (RUS) vs [3] A Kleybanova (RUS) / S Peer (ISR)
Not Before 7:00 PM
[4] M Bartoli (FRA) vs [WC] A Ivanovic (SRB)
Followed by DOUBLES MATCH TO BE ANNOUNCED

COURT 6 start 11:00 am
S Borwell (GBR) / R Kops-Jones (USA) vs L Osterloh (USA) / R Zalameda (USA)

Los Angeles:

STRAUS STADIUM

 

12:00 noon start

[4] Feliciano Lopez (ESP) vs Dudi Sela (ISR)
Alejandro Falla (COL) vs [5] Erenests Gulbis (LAT)
[WC] James Blake (USA) vs Benjamin Becker (GER)
 

7:00pm start

[1] [WC] Andy Murray (GBR) vs [Q] Tim Smyczek (USA)
[1] Bob Bryan (USA) / Mike Bryan (USA) or Mardy Fish (USA) / Mark Knowles (BAH) vs Ernests Gulbis (LAT) / Dmitry Tursunov (RUS)
 

GRANDSTAND

 

4:00pm start

Feliciano Lopez (ESP) / Janko Tipsarevic (SRB) vs Ross Hutchins (GBR) / Jordan Kerr (AUS)

The Maria Sharapova Show.

Hey Sally.

A bit late with my Tuesday recap.  This week, I've somehow developed the same bad habit I had as a lawyer: I forget to eat.  So I stopped at a neighborhood 24 hour diner (Sparky's!), wolfed down a patty melt and two Newcastles in, like, 30 minutes, and crashed out for the night.  The rest was *much* needed after going off 2-3 hours of sleep for the prior three days.  I've just powered down two slices of pizza and I'm watching the shambolic break-fest that is Kimiko vs. Lena.  Oh wait...hold... on...Kimiko gets the first hold of the night at 3-2.

But enough about me.  Let's talk about me. 

• I missed me some Mono/Harkleroad action, which was a bit of a bummer.  I really wanted to introduce myself to my good friend Chuck.  Perhaps the universe was intervening.  Wisely.
• But when I arrived on the grounds my AnaDar was once again confirmed, as she was practicing.  Hard.  Only three people were watching her and that includes me.  It's like Indian Wells 08 all over again.
• Swung by the media center to pick up my ticket and caught the end of the Mono presser.  She enjoys fishing and shopping and once caught a large salmon.  But don't worry, you guys.  Mono's a lover, not a fighter.  She releases the horribly traumatized salmon back into the water to tell his harrowing tale.  WITH BOTH HANDS.
• I finally settled in for some live tennis after hearing that Dani had taken the first set over Shahar with a bagel.  Oooh!  I'll get to see Dani kick ass!  Awesome.  Yeah. That didn't happen.  The crowd was pretty firmly pro-Shahar, though my section was pro-Dani. 
• Bless the volunteers here at Stanford, but this tournament, at times, is very reminiscent of Indian Wells.  I can't tell you how many times I get stopped and have to show my media badge and ticket to get around the grounds.  They even know my name by now and still force me to flash my badge and wait as they make sure that it gets me into that specific area.  I'm a lawyer.  I love rules, too.  BUT COME ON.
• The lack of alcohol at the tourney makes me long for Tracey.  I would be lying if I said I didn't think about the old water bottle trick.  Not that I'd really be drinking.  Last time I drank at a tournament I broke my $500 camera and was hungover for days.  But, you know, I like options.
• After Dani lost it was off to roam the grounds.  I had a nice chat with Rachel again, who is volunteering at the tournament every night.  The poor girl had to do scorekeeping for the Ana/Dinara session, which was the coldest night of the tournament so far.  Shivering like a mofo does not help you keep track of forehands and backhands.  But her keen eye caught Kimiko as she was walking by us and she got a nice pic.  Kimiko's a doll and her smile lit up an already beautiful day in Stanford.
• From there it was practice watching time.  Masha, Jay Z, and Mels were all warming up. While Maria's practices can be pretty funny early in a tournament, once she gets down to business it's all...well...business.  Bored, I left to watch the second set of MaKiri/Lucic.  That was a bit of trip.  I'm always taken aback by MaKiri's grunt.  It's so loud.  As for Lucic, check her out if she's at a tournament.  She's quite the emotional character on the court and not in a bad way (thought she lost).  More in an entertaining way.
• Watched me some Sam practice.  She's just such...a jock.  Everything about her.  The way she hops and skips between drills, the business-like nature of her sessions, the bouts of frustration.  It's fun to watch.  Towards the end of the practice David's calf started cramping.  I couldn't make out the beginning of the conversation but as Sam started quietly making her way back to the baseline she turned and yelled "I think you're deficient!"  Which...in any context, is funny.  Anywho, she was pretty playful during her practice session, pretending to thwap Simmone with a ball at one point.  Maybe having her pops around helps.
• Then it was on to the match of the day: Masha vs. Jay-Z.  The ladies put on a great show of clutch hitting and intensity.  By the middle of the match you really felt like the crowd didn't know who they wanted to win.
• Back to the warm confines media center for Masha's presser.  I wasn't planning to stick around for the outcome of the Mels/CanWoz match, especially when it looked like CanWoz would run away with the second set.  And then, at 5-1, Mels BELIEVED.  And those of us left in the media center started paying attention.  And she started crawling back.  When she forced a third I finally had to go out to Center.  After watching 3 games I came back inside.  It was not scintillating tennis.  But the crowd, or what was left it, was clearly helping Believe believe.  She eventually closed it out in three and stayed on court past midnight to sign every autograph.  Good kid.  But I don't enjoy watching her strike a ball.

Well look at that.  Kimiko just took the first set 63.  I guess I should check this out.  I don't know.  I really want to see a Masha/Lena quarterfinal.

Talk back soon,

Felicity.

Welcome Back.

Sam took care of business in her first match since Wimbledon, first match as a top five player, first match as a top seed, beating Christina "Snooki" McHale 1 and 5.  She cruised through the first set before Snooki (she's from Jersey and her on-court fashions are...questionable) amped up her game and started playing more aggressively.  Sam continued to hold serve but had to save six break points, four in the last game when she tried to serve for it and found herself down 0-40. 

Her forehand left her quite a bit in that second set and she's tried to employ a low and short slice backhand that she's been working on in practice, but with no success.  But it was still a fairly easy win and the good news, if you're a Sam fan, is that she didn't get broken in the match.  The serve is still wickity-wickity-wickty-whack.

 

That's right.  That shoulder pays the bills, Dave.

Stinky feet!

I do enjoy Sam's pressers.  She's just so direct about everything.  "Does it feel any different being ranked in the top five?" "Well....it's good. [pause]  I like it. (laughter)"  And really, she was laughing because we were laughing.

Match clips after the jump.

Pic This: Dani. Running. Alone.

After her first round lost to Shahar.

 

And nobody cares but me.

Don't worry, Dani.  Katie's loving arms are waiting for you 500 miles south of Palo Alto.

Ok. Who Tranq'd Her?

It was a solid revenge win for Masha over Jay-Z last night.  She was absolutely solid off the ground and served well for one and a half sets before getting the tossing yips towards the end of the second, giving away some DFs to give Jay-Z some hope.  It was really powerful and impressive hitting from both ladies.  And credit to Jay-Z for fighting to the end.  I really thought she was going to force a third set.  But she definitely earned the respect from the record-breaking crowd (it was the largest session attendance for the tourney).  They gave her a hearty ovation as she left the court.  It really is amazing how someone so small can compete and compete well with these big hitters. 

After the match the media center was packed as we waited for Masha's presser.  Typically, the presser's take place about 30-45 minutes after the match.  Masha strode in at about 9:40pm, pink recovery drink and black Cole Haan bag in tow.  Overall it was a fairly straightforward presser, though I was surprised at her...huh...what's the best word here....  Well, put it this way, after she left I turned to Chris and said all I could think during the presser was that she was either drunk or on quaaludes.  I really can't explain it any other way. 

[Note: I wrote that immediately after her presser.  Having now relistened to the audio I take a bit of it back.  I think she was just tired and kind of over it.  But her tone and drawl really was quaaludey.  Kind of like how Ana's speed talking is a bit cokey.]

She was quite dismissive of her loss to Jay-Z in Indian Wells, ruefully shaking her head, "That was a really scratchy match.  I wasn't playing very good there."  She talked a bit about expectations, her match against Serena, and the physicality of the sport.

"If you really think about it it's so dumb.  You have a grip in your hand, strings in the racquet, and this yellow fuzzy ball and you're hitting it since four years old.  It's ridiculous. (laughter) It's dumb if you think about it.  But it's what we do.  And there's you're hitting thousands and thousands of balls from such a young age.  And you're running and not only are you playing tennis but you're doing so many other things in order to get your body to where you want it be and right.  I've done everything.  I've been a gymnast, a boxer, I was so many things in order to help me to be stronger to be more flexible to get me to where I wanted to be in tennis."

That was actually her response to someone trying to compare golf to tennis.  She doesn't put golf in the same ballpark as tennis, let alone the same universe.

All it all, it was fun to sit in a Masha presser.  She definitely commands the room and despite the fact that she's only a few months older than Ana, she looks and acts like a world weary soldier.  Just to be clear, the presser wasn't bad.  It simply was unexpected.  But that's probably more on me than her.

Presser clips after the jump:

Glad I'm Not The Only One.

That's right.  Warm up that hammer.

While watching Sam practice this evening I met a young woman who had flown down from Seattle for a wedding and extended her stay for the week in order to watch Sam try to win the tournament.  A dedicated fan, indeed.

This was her first time seeing Sam live and her excitement was contagious.  As Sam whipped forehand after forehand and smashed serve after serve, my Seattle friend just got giddier and giddier.  There's just nothing like seeing Sam hit in person.  It looks like nothing else on the women's tour.

When did David Taylor get all ripped and hot?  Very very confusing.

Papa Stosur in the house.  He was being adorable, shagging balls and whatnot.  Every once in a while Sam would gesture for a ball and yell "Pop!" which would startle him and he'd drop, like, three balls.  Corgi tendencies run in the fam. 

 

More practice vids after the jump.

Better In Black and White.

Having sat through only a few pressers and interviews now, it's become abundantly clear to me that some players are better live and some are better in print.  Mono and Ana?  Waaaaaaay better live.  I find myself transcribing their interviews and finding that the tone of their interviews just doesn't translate when you simply put their words on paper.  The silences, the gestures, the tone of voice, and moments of laughter you can't really transcribe.

And then there are those who are better in black and white.  Vika absolutely falls into this category.  I sat through her presser today (and even got a question in!) and what struck me was her lack of enthusiasm.  I'm not asking her to do a song and dance for me, nor am I asking her to giggle her way through her answers.  But she's clearly been through media training and her answers, for the most part, were stoic, defensive, monotone, and...well...unfeeling.  Robotic is the word that comes to mind.

And I don't mean like Short Circuit.   That fucking robot was charming as hell.

She did perk up when I asked her about Twitter:

Q: Victoria, you were one of the early adopters of Twitter among the players.  How have you found that?  Have you enjoyed being able to communicate with your fans directly?

A: Oh yeah, definitely.  Yeah, it's fun.  You give a direct message to them all right away.  I try to answer as much as I can to different fans and it's always nice to read the good luck wishes and best wishes and everything they write to me.  It's pretty amazing.  And I think it's also good for fans to see what you're doing.  They see a different part of you, your personality more, and I think it's exciting.

She went back home to Belarus after Wimbledon to see her family.  She talked a bit about her injuries during the clay court season and says she hurt her knee on a bad fall while practicing with Kim in Eastbourne.

On Justine:

"I think Justine has so much variety in her game.  To me, she has the style like a guy.  She plays like a guy."

And on Ernie (hee):

"Yeah, I like to watch his game.  I think he has huge potential.  I think he's extremely talented and I think he can be one of the future top 10 for sure.  Well, not for sure.  But I hope he can be."

The more you know.

Get Ready For The Greatest Tennis Shot You Have Ever Seen.

Or...not.

Given the fact that she's not scheduled to play until Thursday night and has two days off, Ana was busting her ass in practice today, doing a bunch of agility and conditioning drills with Heinz and Marija, as someone, who I think is her brother Milos, looked on.  She seriously looked like she was going to puke.

"Milos?  Is that you?"

She also had a random bandaid on her shin.  Shaving accident?  Guitar Hero injury?  Stepped on glass in a restaurant?  All good guesses, really.

Between the puking and the bandaiding, it's no surprise that she went to the hospital after practice.

More proof of improved fitness after the jump.

6-0 Leads + Fistpumps + Come Ons = Kryptonite.

Dani, Dani, Dani.  She drops a bagel on Shahar in the first set only to lose the next two 64 63.  I missed the first set but by the time I settled into my seat this matchup was playing out exactly as you would expect.  Which was sad if you're a Dani fan.

Despite a strapped right thigh, Shahar was moving very well, playing some good defense that forced Dani to either go for too much and miss, or drop a ball short that she could put away.  The defense wore Dani out and she was visibly frustrated when she called her coach down to the court between the second and third set.  Shahar had the support of the crowd and was throwing fist pumps and "come ons" like there was no tomorrow. 

If she had squeaked her shoes this would have been really eerie.

Video clip of the last game after the jump.

I Am Ok With This.

Thanks for the memories, Miles.

Hello...(hopefully)... KILLER!

I haven't had a whole bunch of time to digest the information but my gut reaction is this:  It's weird timing given the fact that the USO, Andy's favorite Slam, is in less than two months.  But if he indeed is able to land Killer, I am super intrigued as to how that will play out.  Killer's laid back personality and positive energy would be great and maybe Andy's finally ready to listen to someone tell him he needs to be more aggressive.

So I'm cautiously happy if this pans out.

Dinara Safina: Physical Comedian.

Practicing yesterday before her match.

And speaking of comedy...

Pic This: Goddamit, Scott.

Photobomb.

Pic This: Forecep Porn.

NSFW!  Avert your eyes!

Tuesday Tunes

"Mommy, You Said The F Word!"

Davs was on the practice courts yesterday with Liezel and let me just say, the woman can still hit the smack out of the ball.  That said, she's going to need to work on her dubs skillz:

It was a fun practice to watch. Minus the ear piercing musings of one Liezel Huber.

You're Weird, But I Like You.

No seriously.  That's how I feel about Krazy Kleybs.  I don't get it, but somehow, it works for me.

And according to Chris Oddo, she's quite the character.

Tuesday OOPs

Stanford:

Stadium (from 11.00hrs)
1. Marion Bartoli vs. Ashley Harkleroad
2. Shahar Peer vs. Daniela Hantuchova
3. Ayumi Morita vs. Victoria Azarenka
4. Chan Yung-Jan vs. Yanina Wickmayer
5. Maria Sharapova vs. Zheng Jie (NB 19.00hrs)
6. Melanie Oudin vs. Aleksandra Wozniak

Court 6 (from 11.00hrs)
1. Raymond/Stubbs vs. Borwell/Kops-Jones
2. Christina McHale vs. Chang Kai-Chen (NB 12.00hrs)
3. Olga Savchuk vs. Jill Craybas
4. Maria Kirilenko vs. Mirjana Lucic
5. Govortsova/Kudryavtseva vs. Perry/Scheepers

Los Angeles:

Straus Stadium:

12:00 PM
Kristof Vliegen (BEL) vs [WC] Ryan Sweeting (USA)
[Q] Ilija Bozoljac vs Robby Ginepri (USA)
Not Before 4:00 PM
Leonardo Mayer (ARG) vs [WC] James Blake (USA)

Not Before 7:30 PM
[WC] James Blake (USA) / Sam Querrey (USA) vs Feliciano Lopez (ESP) / Janko Tipsarevic (SRB)
Benjamin Becker (GER) vs [LL] Lucky Loser

Grandstand start 12:00 noon
[SE] Kevin Anderson (RSA) vs Illya Marchenko (UKR)
[Q] Steve Johnson (USA) vs [Q] Somdev Devvarman (IND)
Karol Beck (SVK) vs Alejandro Falla (COL)
[Q] Tim Smyczek (USA) vs T Gabashvili (RUS)
Ross Hutchins (GBR) / Jordan Kerr (AUS) vs [3] Martin Damm (CZE) / Michael Kohlmann (GER)

Spoiler Alert: There's Giggling.

Lots of fun little bits in Ana's presser, which I'll have to transcribe at a later time.  For now, here are some clips:

On Heinz, Steffi, hitting the gym after Wimbledon, and her low ranking.


On Montreal and Dinara.

Pajama Party!

Another great day at Stanford, even if the temps did dip when the sun went down.  It's really hard to tweet on an iPhone when your hands are shaking uncontrollably.

• It was the first official day of the tournament.  I know this because the media center was humming.  Significantly more crowded and lots of chatter. 
• Pulled into the parking lot right as Stubbsy was parking her car 20 feet from me.  She was walking to the courts with Lisa Raymond.  They totes jaywalked.
• Watched 45 minutes of Aga's match.  That was about all I could take.
• Ana's attempts at trash-talking are as threatening as you'd think they'd be.  She was returning serves against Heinz, who was clearly puff-balling them into the box.  Exasperated, she finally issued a challenge: "Come on.  Hit one."  The crowd oohed and laughed at the challenge.  Heinz reached back and smashed a scorcher.  Into the bottom of the net.  He tried again.  Missed.  Tried again.  Missed.  He missed, like 7 straight serves.  Finally, Ana, with a wry smile, taunted him. "Is that all you got?"  Again, the 20 person peanut gallery laughed.  Ana, of course, giggled.  Heinz continued to miss.  "I'll give you 10 push-ups if you get this one in."  Nope.  Miss.  She finally stepped off the court and gestured for him to serve.  He fired one into the box.  "Oh, so when I'm standing there it's a problem?"  She stood back in.  He missed.  Ana?  You're pretty.  It's distracting, even to old men like Heinz.  Needless to say, it was not a productive return session.  Thankfully, Kleybs pulled a Heinz in their match so returning wasn't really a big deal.
• Watched Melanie Oudin hit for a while.  Ok, like 5 minutes.  But it wasn't particular compelling.
• I actually spent most of the day watching live tennis matches, as I had missed quite a few practice sessions in the morning.  The weather has cooled a bit so it was perfectly pleasant to sit out in the sun.
• Zeljko clearly hasn't learned a thing.  After Domi's match, which she won fairly easily, he had her back out on the practice courts hitting some intense drills for over an hour.  The dude definitely has a philosophy.
• Liezel's voice will curl your blood.
• I've always wondered how Lindsay and Liezel are buddies.  Their personalities just don't seem to mesh.  It seems to me that Lindsay would find Liezel kind of dorky and ridiculous and not in a cute and endearing way.  Well, I got to see a bit of that today.  Lindsay hit an ace that *barely* ticked the net.  Liezel called a let.  "Oh, come on.  Technicality!"  "Ok, fine fine fine.  It was an ace."  "Liezel.  I was kidding."  Not sure the tone comes across but I laughed.
• Stanford is a "dry" campus.  Learn something new every day.
• Funny sight: Dinara, Ana, and Zeljko, on the practice courts, side by side by side.  According to @sblily, Team Domi was actually on the center court when Dinara took the court next to them.  They proceeded to move to the furthest court down.  Ana, being the aloof kid that she is, took the middle court.
• Once again, Vika reminded me how great her hands are at the net.  She absolutely carried her team to the decisive win over Dani/Wicky.  MaKiri just had to stand there and look pretty.  Watch out, world.  Wait until Vika figures out how to get to the net.  She'll terminate 9/10 of those points.  Really impressive touch.
• Masha held an autograph session and the line was looooooong.
• It is *very* difficult to watch your favorite players play and not be able to cheer for them.  As those who have attended tennis matches with me know, I'm a yeller.  Obnoxiously so.  But with that media pass around my neck, that would be pretty damn inappropriate.  So I sat.  Quietly.  Sitting on my hands.
• Ok, I wasn't completely quiet.  As @sblily knows, I was totally muttering under my breath the entire time.  But no clapping, no come ons, no davis, and no ajdes.  It was painful.
• Got to sit in my first presser and of course it would be for Ana.  She was as advertised.  I've seen enough of her pressers to know what to expect.  It did indeed feel like you were sitting in on a therapy session.  I didn't ask any questions but that's mainly because the one I was most curious about (her thoughts on the wildcard sitch) was taken care of.  No pressers from Dinara or Kimiko.  It was quite late.  Instead, the WTA went into the locker room to get some quotes from them and then circulated those.  Helpful.
• Oh, and I saw Brandi Chastain.  That was pretty cool.  If it's possible, she's fitter now than she was when she ripped off her shirt in 1999.  She was hitting with Bethanie for a media event.

Looking forward to tomorrow's OOP.

Kimiko-Tan Strikes Again.

AUUUUUUUUUGH.  You're awesome, but AUUUUUUUUUUUUGH.

 

Hmmm...how to sum up this match?  Kimiko was up 2-0 in the first set but Dinara was able to win it 64.  When Kimiko served for the second set, Dinara broke her to force a tiebreak.  Which she lost.  7-0.  The third set was tight early on before Kimiko went on an absolute tear, painting lines, firing aces, and basically breaking Dinara's spirit.  There would be no crying out to the heavens, cracking of racquets, or screaming into hands.  

There was, however, when appropriate, a hell of a lot of vamosing.  Which was pretty funny and thoroughly confusing to the crowd.

Call it zen, call it resigned.  From perspective it was more uncertainty than anything else.  Uncertainty about her game and uncertainty regarding how to do with Kimiko's game.  Dinara's serve was pretty atrocious.  But apart from that, this was a good quality tennis match.  Extremely entertaining rallies and fight from both players.  Mucho credit to Kimiko, obvs.  She didn't wilt and she brought the fight to Dinara.

But don't worry about our little Coconut.  She seemed ok after the match:

"It was my first match back from injury, so I am pretty positive and will keep working hard and try to improve day by day.  My back feels fine and that is the most important thing for me and I will continue working hard."

Honestly, between all the positive third-party reports (from Elena and Ana) about Dinara's current state of mental health and that quote, I think Dinara fans should be on the positive tip. 

Onwards to San Diego, where her cardboard twin awaits.

Video clips of the match after the jump.

Pic This: Let's Go Unicorn Watching!

Aw.  Look at Dinara showing she cares.  All bitch-facing and shit. 

Though, to be honest, @sblily and I couldn't decide whether or not they were concerned for Ana or utterly confused by Kleybs.  I mean, the head jerking, the sweating in 55 degree weather, the ponytail wringing (yes, it happened).  There are a lot of questions, very few answers.

 

Even Jay-Z, the Ana Ivanovic of China, snuck a peek.

LET'S ALL BE FRIENDS!

Apocalypse Now.

 

I wonder if that's Phil.

Anyways...

A noticeably fitter, and yes, if we're going to abandon "the code", thinner AI actually won a match.  And not only did she win it, she won it fairly easily without collapsing.  This was, to say the least, surprising.  As anyone who has had to Livescore Ana's matches over the past year knows, she's a wee bit prone to building a lead only to let it, and the match, slip away. 

And Ana's not as delusional as she's sometimes accused of being.  She's well-aware of her propensity to implode:

"I've been working still very hard and trying to get back and it seemed the harder I tried the further it was getting away from me.  So just try to relax and try to be in the moment and not think too much about the result because also during my matches I almost like I'd find myself leading and then losing in the end.  Just sort of, once I start to relax and I thought I'm playing well and I thought "Oh my God," you know, "I can win and maybe I can get far" but then the train of thought just goes and before I know it I'm off the court and lost."

Which is why when the crowd started to shuffle out when Ana was up a break in the second, @sblily said, "Where is everyone going?  They know this is an Ana match, right?"  Word up, homie.

But she served fairly well in streaks and was able to weather the early storm, when Kleybs looked like she couldn't miss.  This match was error-strewn, no doubt.  But there were moments of brilliant, heavy hitting by both ladies.

In the end, the star of the show was Ana's rediscovered fitness and agility.  I distinctly remember a point early in the first set wherein Kleybs was yanking Ana all over the court, and Ana got back five or six balls that very easily could have been winners.  Kleybs eventually won the point, but she literally had to hit six winners to do so.  The momentum shifted a bit on that point, as Kleybs found herself going for too much and, more often than not, missing.  To put it simply, Ana totally JJ'd Kleybs.  I can honestly say that I haven't seen her move that well since RG08.

"I think the biggest difference was in my fitness.  Because I really felt that I was getting to every ball and I managed to maintain the rallies and I didn't have to pull the trigger too early and that kind of put me at ease in the tough rallies and I managed to stay strong."

"I think there were a lot of ups and downs with my fitness.  And I have a new fitness coach after, since Wimbledon, and I've been working a lot on fast footwork drills and that reflects a lot in my game.  That's something that I've been lacking and just being strong off both sides, in the corners, which I was lacking a little bit at Wimbledon.  So I think that plays a big part in my game and also confidence-wise. 

After her presser, Ana stopped by Matt Cronin's desk and had a quick chat.  She says her team is joking about how fit she's getting, busting out of her sleeves, if you will.  Ana the Hulk?  Just leave the purple shorts at home, please.

 

So a solid win for Ana with a little help from Kleybs.  It's all fine and dandy but the kid's gotta back it up.  She'll play the winner of Mono/Harkleroad.  *snort*.

Some clips of the match after the jump.

I'm Really Sorry, China.

So I was informed yesterday that not only did I go and guarantee a first round exit for Ana, I also pulled the chip that put Jay-Z up against Masha.  I clearly was in a state of PTSD.  I have no recollection of this.  But upon further reflection I do recall making a "Of course. I pull the Asian one." joke under my breath.  

Despite my personal excitement to see this rematch of Indian Wells, it's a damn shame that it's a first rounder.  I mean, we have two qualifiers playing each other in one match and yet after tomorrow, Stanford will lose either Masha or Jie.  Considering the large Asian population in San Francisco, San Jose, and the Silicon Valley, either loss will be tough for the tournament.  Jay-Z has been a pretty big attraction all weekend and there's even Chinese press here covering the tournament.

So once again.  I fucked up.

LiezelPort? DavenBer?

Lindsay's finally here.  She's playing dubs with Liezel.  

Here's the dubs draw in case you're interested.

Believe it.

Rad.

"Watch out.  I'm going to rip this 40mph forehand right in front of you."

Spent 45 minutes watching Aga implodes against Carly Scheepers.  She was up 5-1 in the first, had multiple set points and we now find ourselves going to a third set.

 

She's really stoked.

Required Reading

• Panic at the Disco?  Fed's hired Pete's old coach, Paul Annacone, on a trial basis.
• Dude.  Caroline.  I have one word for you: Separates.
• Between the tweeting at Kim Kardashian to the tweeting of shirtless pictures of himself, I'm officially pulling out of the Fernando Verdasco game.  Gross.
• Chris Oddo, aka The Fan Child, is blogging for On The Baseline this week.  He's been my partner in crime in the media center and his posts are well worth reading.
• Masha's USO kit.  I'd prefer it was *Sally* Draperish.
• Brodie, for no apparent reason other than boredom, decided to investigate the many complexies of hard courts.  It's worth a read.
• Nole opened up some courts in Serbia and donated a million bucks to the organization.  WHAT A PRICK!!!

She's Aliiiiiiiiiiiiiive!

 

You over your hangover yet?

Apparently there are other tournaments this week other than Stanford.  Who knew!  But Franny and PetKo are in Istanbul so I'll be keeping an eye out.

Got a tournament that requires players to dress up in unflattering traditional fashions? 

Petkorazzi's your girl.

(Pics from Yahoo, here and here.)

Pic This: Sports Marketing 101.

"Hey, do you want to go to the Bank of the West Classic?"

"Nah.  It looks horrible.  Let's just go to Cheesecake Factory instead."

"Hey, do you want to go to the Bank of the West Classic?"

"HAIL FUCKIN' YEAH! That shit looks like Disneyland got rolled up in cotton candy, smothered in glitter,  and stuffed up a unicorn's ass!"

"Riiiiiiiight.  I'll get tickets."

She Sucks At This Kind of Tennis, Too.

You'd think she'd be good at this, what with her man hands and all. You'd be wrong. Added bonus, she's speaking Serbian. I think.