Forty Deuce

FD 2011 Year in Review: February

February always seems like dead month, right? I mean, everyone's still trying to recover from the sleep deprivation of the Aussie Open, and the tournaments are in the Middle East, where we're forced to watch the best tennis players in the world play in front of near-empty stadiums.

BUT. There was actually a crazy amount of crazy that happened this past February. I KNOW! I FORGOT TOO!

• One last look at the Australian Open.
• This stuff only (always?) happens to JJ. 
• As I left for Hobart for Fed Cup, I stopped to reflect on my first credentialed stint at a Slam.
• Cheerleading Masha, self-destructing Sam, and Kim with champagne down her pants? It must be Fed Cup. It must be love.
• Watching the Australia vs. Italy tie in Hobart. So much fun.
• You'll be missed, Stubbsy.
• Grease to the curb.
• ZOMG I FORGOT ABOUT THIS. Hev drills Woz in the face.
• MOOOOOOOOOMES.
• Bepa introduces the slow burn flip out. "You can't see the ball but now you can speak Russian?"
• Milos Raonic won a tournament in the States, so we did what we always do to Canadians: stereotype them HARD.
• Chakky noooooooooooooo! And in all seriousness, noooooooo.
• My annual conniption fit in Dubai.
• I think this kid loves Sasha more than Masha does. UhhhhhhhhDORABLE.
• Milos beat Fernando again and it became pretty clear that TGO ("The Gelled One") reaaaaaaally wanted to beat the crap out of him.
• Oh man. Iskorazzi. ISKORAZZI. That was fun. Until it got real.
• Petko was really dominating Twitter.
• Wet Rafa. 
• Caro grabbed on to #1 and didn't let go. 
• Kolya. Irina. Bathrobes. GO!
• WHERE'S YO HAIR?!?!?
• No really, WHERE IT AT???
• Mario Ancic bid us a sexy adieu.
• Hitler was not pleased to hear Andy Murray lost.
• Is it just me or does Kader look high in this clip?
• HAHAHAHAHA. Pwnd.
• Justine fessed up to some stuff maybe. And yet, once again, Game, Set, Match, Willliams.
• Nole 2.0 came, saw, and conquered.
• I tapped the world #1 to win and then Bepa comes through and flashes her baby blues in Dubai.
• Delpo was stoked to win a title in Delray Beach, and Daveed and Gisela wore hats.

Solid February, February. You did well for yourself. Perfectly respectable.

NOW BRING ON THE INDIAN WELLS...

FD 2011 Year In Review: January

Hey guys. Told you I didn't shut this sucker down. To be honest, between the travelling and Beyond The Baseline, I just haven't had a whole lot of extra time to sit down and write for FD. #humblebrag

BUT ANYWAY.

Since the year is winding down, now seems as good a time as any to jump back into the comfy confines of the Forty Deuce world and slowly get things going again. I do want to write more over here as the 2012 season kicks off.

And so here we go with the annual Forty Deuce Year In Review segment, where I get all pompous and link to things that I wrote over the past year. I get accused of being a narcissist a lot. Might as well own it.

So January. The month of my birth and the first month of my year-long trek around the globe to attend as many tournaments as I could. For those keeping tabs, I think I finished at 22 tournaments. So basically I tied Caroline. Sucks. I was really hoping to beat her.

Hopman Cup

• Hey, remember Josh? Sigh. Me too. 
• The best part of this picture? Grease and Leather. But seriously, the Hopman Cup ball looked hilarious.
• I braved the heat and got to watch Nole and Andy practice together in Perth. It was lovely.
• My first stint in the Burswood Dome. It was stifly. 
• Serbian Ken and Barbie. Again, and again, and again. So obviously I let my impeccable imagination run wild.
• I kept an eye on Ana's box. You know, for reporting purposes only. 
• I was introduced to Mlad the Impaler.
• #wildcardforMahut. He's so great.
• Hopman Cup got less fun real fast.
• Masha lost to Greta Arn. 
• Petko signaled a change.
• Duuuuuudes. Remember the flooding?

Sydney

• From Perth it was on to Sydney. 
• My first Delpo press conference. He was just too adorable.
• Feli's thighs made it to Sydney.
• Sergey!
• Carnage in Sydney.
• I do love this picture of Sam.
• Bojangles makes a splash in the face of some WeatherVane crazy.
• Nails overcame a 0-5 hole in the first set to beat Kim in Sydney.
• Meanwhile, the boys showed up rested and smiley in Kooyong.

Australian Open

• The Seven Stages of Draw Day.
• My first day at the Australian Open ever. It was stressful but fun.
• I got to do a one-on-one interview with Ana. :)
• Blink and you'll miss it: Dinara on court.
• Before doing this recap I completely forgot that Greasy was a thing.
• Masha had a faux stalker and everyone freaked out unnecessarily.
• Rally For Relief was amaaaaaaazing.
• Oy. I forgot about that hair, Fernando.
• Sania took a set off Justine.
• Hisense kinda sucked.
• Feel free to spend the off-season learning the Stosur chants I picked up in Melbourne. They're fun.
• This pic is still ovary-melty.
• Which was more painful? The dress or the psoas?
• I love losers. What can I say? It's a curse.
• Still in the running for caption of the year.
• Frank and Sveta fight to the death.
• SoranaWatch 2011.
• Masha and Sveta lose their matches, but not their senses of humor.
• Caroline officially begins her quest to be the most entertaining person in tennis. Or something. I was cool with it. But I wasn't cool with this.
• Alize Cornet. Legend.
• Sam Stosur: Soft lips haver.
• Svetlana Kuznetsova: Justin Henin beater.
• Gools became a thing.
• The Aussie Open went weird.
• Venus had to retire. And then Justine abruptly retired.
• Happy Birthday, Robbo. Thanks for ambushing the live blog.
• Good press conference.
• Petra beat Sam. Movingrightalong.
• Aga. Ninja. Natch.
• My tortured relationship with Bernard Tomic continues.
• This was, by far, the saddest moment I experienced in a press room. Somber.
• Nails nailed it. Over and over and over again.
• The WTA actually kind of sorted itself out.
• Oracene kinda lashes out at Justine, misses and hits Kim.
• Stubbsy bid farewell.
• Penguin walking, with the Murrays.
• Introducing Novak 2.0.
• Aww...Daveed!
• Major Breakthrough. Mama Major Breakthrough.
• Quote of the year?
• Novak and Andy met in the final and I stressed out.
• Congrats to Kim and Nole. Good on ya.
• For the first time in history, the WTA had ten different countries represented in the Top 10.
• A roundup of the Aussie Open Pic This posts. My favorite posts. Here, here, and here.

In other words, GOOD JANUARY. Very happy with how that all played out. Australia treated me and my liver very very well. I'm already itching to get back there in 2012. My tummy is a rumblin' for some dumplings.