Forty Deuce

The Thing Is, I'm Not Sure People At The Club Would Even Get It.

 
Yes. You would look like a total douche on the tennis court. But really.  Would you care?  This bag is all kinds of awesome.  But you know what would make it awesomer?  If you drew some tears onto that silhouette.  92%.

It's the Wilson Grand Slam Limited Edition Super 6 bag.  Pay an inordinate amount of money to carry your one racquet, can of balls, and bottle of water here.

Gobble Gobble, Time To Wobble

Well it's Thanksgiving here in the States, the day in which Americans gather around a roasted bird and pretend to forget that in exchange for the generous hospitality the indigenous peoples occupying this great land offered, white settlers gave them disease, war, subjugation, and casinos.  So you know, win-win!

Putting all that aside, it is the day where we gather around the table with people we may or may not like and give thanks for the blessings bestowed upon us.  This year I'm spending it in NYC with my sister and it looks like I'll be attending a very Felicityesque T-Day with a bunch of NYC transplants.  I'm genuinely looking forward to it.  Well, the mulled wine at the very least.

All this is a roundabout introduction to my list of the 10 Tennis Related Things I'm Thankful For:

10.  JJ -- Shocker, right?  But seriously, I'm thankful for JJ.  She keeps it fun and interesting.  After all, who else would we talk about if she wasn't around?  The girl gives good quote, hilarious picture, and non-stop glitter-infused drama.  To that, I raise my glass of Aqua Viva water.

9.  My Wilson KFactor kTour Racquet -- Sigh.  It was love at first strike with this puppy, which I got about 8 months ago.  I resisted it for so long because it was Lindsay and Justine's racquet of choice, two players I didn't like that much.  But I demoed Masha's Prince 03 White, Ana's Yonex RQiS 1, Nole's Wilson kBlade, and even JJ's Prince Speedport White and couldn't find one I loved.  At my wits end I finally demoed the kTour, and it was absolutely perfect.  For anyone who's interested, try it out with Wilson Sensation strings at 57 lbs.  It's just a pure and clean hit.

8.  The First Half of 2008 -- It was fun while it lasted.  My girls (Masha/Ana) and boys (Rafa/Nole) were winning, they were looking good, and my life as a tennis fan was all rainbows and handbags.  And then we all stepped on the grass of Wimbledon and it all (well, almost all) went to shit. 

7.  Crazy Eyez Fed -- I love this guy.  He needs to come back, ASAP.

6.  Crazy Russians -- What is it about the home of Stalin, Rasputin, and Vodka that it keeps rolling out the crazies?  Hmmm...I think I may have answered my own question.  Between CrazySexLostHisCool and his  potty mouth of a baby sister, Casper The Melting Ghost, Underachieving Kuz, NoServe McGee, Angry A-Chak, and of course, their greatest export, Maria "Fuck The French" Pova, they really keep things interesting.

5.  New Pretty Faces -- Hot Crazy Elf Train, Gilly, Jo, and Ernie.  Not only are they new cute boys to fawn over, but they actually have game and are exciting to watch.  Sometimes God does give with both hands.

4.  Davis Cup -- Sure, maybe this is inflated given the events of the past week, but still.  Even if Spain hadn't won the Cup in the manner in which they did, Davis Cup was awesome this year.  And looking forward to next year it can only get better, what with TMF agreeing to grace us with his presence.  So for all the HoYay! awesomeness that Davis Cup brings on a quarterly basis, I bring thanks.  Now, if only the ladies took Fed Cup as seriously. 

3.  Rafa -- Sure, I love my Nole, but Rafa's ridiculous 2008 drew me back into men's tennis.  I love his fight, his competitive spirit, his strut, his ADD, his humility and grace, and his perfectly bulbous ass. 

2. Baby E -- Come on, this one's obvious, right?  She single-handedly brought me back into tennis, as it had been a long time since I had a WTA player that I genuinely rooted for.  She's a breath of fresh air in the diva world of the WTA.  And on this day of overeating let us never forget: She's a nerdy fat girl stuck in a hot body. 

1.  You guys -- I really didn't know what to expect when I started this blog in July.  It all came down to the fact that I had all these stupid and immature tennis thoughts running in my head all the time that it was distracting.  So I started the site just to get these ideas "on paper" so I could move on.  I never expected a an international coaltion of like-minded tennis fans, who love the sport and the players but don't put them on a pedestal, would come together to create the rad community that we have going here.  Seriously, you guys make me check my own site on a quarter of an hour basis to keep up with your hilarious comments and insights.  So on the serious, with no sense of cynicism or or irony intended, thanks.

Alrighty, off to get drunk now.  If you see a drunken Asian girl stumbling the streets of Spanish Harlem, steer clear.  I can't promise the turkey is staying down.

Anna Leaving Adidas?!?!

Chakvetadze, people.  Chakvetadze.  Why?  Which Anna did you think I was talking about?

Sports Business Journal is reporting that A-Chak is leaving Adidas and heading over to Fila.  So she's going from being the #2 Russian for Adidas (Dinara) to the #2 Russian for Fila (Kuz).  A nice signing for Fila, as they needed an "Ana" to Kuz's "Justine".  Let's face it, Kuz ain't exactly modeling any clothes out there.

Baby's got a brand new bag.

You know that saying "If it ain't broke, don't fix it?"  Yeah, well Team Ivanovic clearly realized something was broken and has decided to do a mass overhaul.  New racquet, new bag.  What next?  She's going to wear caps instead of visors?  Play in flip flops?  Wear tuxedo themed courtwear?  I can't wait to find out.

The new bag is very cool though.  But I'm going to miss that blue monstrosity, partly because it seemed so iconic.

Heh.  She looks she's going to school in that one.

But I'm more disappointed because that's the bag I have and now and to prove my commitment to AI, I HAVE to guy buy the new one.  Because the only way to show the world your support for an athlete is to buy the shit they endorse.  That's the American way.

 

I have a confession to make. I love towels.

So, random piece of trivia about me.  I love tournament towels.  I don't know why, I just do.  But I'm also very superstitious about them and I only buy them if my favorite players make the finals.  It's a good luck thing and so far it's worked.  I have an Australian Open 08 towel (Nole, Maria and Ana) and a RG 08 towel (Ana).  I couldn't find a towel at Indian Wells so I bought Ana's racquet an hour before the match.  Again, it worked.

So here are the US Open towels for this year.  They're so bland looking but if Baby Elephant (yes, we're back to Elephant) makes the semis (which will be a miracle) I will have to buy one.

Is it really necessary to make one towel for boys and one for girls?  AO doesn't do that but all the other slams do.  I'm sure it's just a marketing thing but can we stop with the pink?  It's kind of lame.

But are we actually going to ever see her carry it onto court?

Prince is releasing a new line of tennis bags.  While this normally wouldn't be news, I have to say, I LOVE THE NEW BAGS, especially the one above which is from Maria Sharapova's line.  I don't think I'll be ditching my Yonex bag anytime soon (gotta show my love for AI), but I had thought about getting the Sharapova bag when it was initially released in gold and black.  But I love this new black and white color combo.

See the rest of the Prince line over at Tennis Served Fresh.