Forty Deuce

"He Knows When All The New Collections Are Coming Out."

There's a reason Igor's snagged MaKiri. He's awesome. Also, was Kolya changing his oil before his sit down interview? Distracting.

Moskau, Moskau!

The biggie for this week is Kremlin Cup; an ATP 250 for the men and a Premier for the women.  Since it's the week before Doha, most of the top women are giving Moscow a miss.  Never mind that, though, because the four women still in contention for the last spot/alternate status at YEC are all playing.  Davai!

ATP

Nads did the draw.  This is a picture of her immediately after she drew Safin/Davydenko for the first round.  Heh.

 

Yeah, well done, Nads.  So, I suppose we can expect Marat to exit stage right from his last Kremlin Cup relatively early.  Although he did beat Kolya there last year.  Anyway...

Draw

Top Four Seeds: Kolya, Victor Hanescu, Misha, Igor Andreev

Potential Quarterfinals: Kolya/Martin Vassallo Arguello, Igor/Janko, Misha/Fabrice, Hanescu/Pablo Cuevas

Potential Interesting Early Matches: Kolya/Marat (1R)

Interesting Story Lines: Will Igor Andreev repeat as "Mr. Fair Play"?  Will Marat actually give a shit? 

WTA

 

Draw

Top Four Seeds: Vera, JJ, Aga, Flavs

Potential Quarterfinals: Vera/Nads, JJ/Lena V, Aga/Franny, Flavs/Dominika

Potential Interesting Early Matches: CanWoz/Errani (1R), Flavs/Agnes (1R), JJ/Shvedova (1R), Vera/Pavs (2R), Aga/Winner of CanWoz v. Errani (2R), Franny/Sorana (2R), Flavs/Dushevina (2R), JJ/Lucie (2R)

Interesting Story Line: 4 players. 3 YEC spots.  Bring.  It.  On.

Apparently Tim Tebow Plays Tennis Now.

This is Jesse Witten. 

He took out Igor in straight sets, throwing in a second set bagel for good measure.  His highest career ranking is #298 in 2007.  Obviously this is the biggest upset of the tournament so far.

I simply refuse to believe he is actually a tennis player.

Held Back.

I almost think it's kinda cruel to have this tourney right before the USO.  No one's paying attention, really.  It's almost like these kids got held back and had to take summer school or something. 

On the other hand, it's easy money if you can get it, as the field isn't particularly strong and the top players aren't particularly focused.  So congrats to Igor, FeVer, and Sam for making the semis. 

As for the ladies, Caro exacted revenge over Razzano, whose black magic powers were all used up across the pond.  Vesnina took out Chakky and Flavs is in the semis after beating Rybarikova.  If Flavs wins the whole thing she'll be the USO Series champion.  So that's something to look forward to.

Pic This: "I'm like a bird, I wanna fly away..."

And The Hits Just Keep On Coming...

Talk about a guy who can't catch a break. 

He was forced to retire in his match against Bellucci with a left ankle injury.  That makes it 492 times he's had to retire from a match with an acute injury.  Ok, maybe not that many but I left my abacus at home.

Igor's now the only seed remaining in the Gstaad field after he beat Jeremy fairly easily, 63 63.

Friday Scores:
[3] I Andreev (RUS) d [5] J Chardy (FRA) 63 63
[Q] T Bellucci (BRA) d [6] N Kiefer (GER) 36 10 ret. - (left ankle)
A Beck (GER) d V Crivoi (ROU) 64 76(5)
M Daniel (BRA) d F Serra (FRA) 64 76(1)

If It's Any Consolation, Your Girlfriend? WAY Hotter.

I've never really been able to explain my Igor love.  Is it that he looks like Billy Zabka?  His adorable service set position?  The fact that his favorite book is The Master and Margarita?  Yes, yes, and yes.

So while Tommy has the feel good story on his side, I'm super bummed Igor bowed out so easily.  He's got a huge serve, moves well, but in the end I guess his game is too much of a clay court game to really work on grass.  He just doesn't hit flat enough.

So congratulations, Tommy.  Two straight Slam quarterfinals.  Not bad for an old fogey.  You seem like a nice enough guy, but I just can't get onboard when I see pics like this:

Uh...unnecessary, dude.

Pic This: Ultimate Miscellany (ATP Edition)

Not that creepy out of context, maybe, but imagine Maximo Gonzalez sitting just like this, unblinking, for an entire changeover.  Because that's what he did.

Britain's Got Talent.

Love.  The Bullring just looks like the coolest place to camp out for a day.

Is there any better combination in tennis than good sports photographers and Gael Monfils?  92%.

Where there is a 92%, there must be an 8%.  In this case... Igor's hair, lending itself to general dorkitude.

Tennis as Art: The Scream

Heh.  Mutt and Jeff.

Sadness.  Still cute, though.

Freaky.

More IW Stalkerazzi Footage

I'm starting to feel like I'm the Perez Hilton/TMZ of Indian Wells.  That makes me very very sad.  Oh well.

More random video from around the grounds this week:


Hint to Dina: Kuzzie will totally be friends with you if you would stop noshing for a second and say hello. It's the little things, girl.

>br> Rafa getting swarmed by fans after his win over Elf yesterday. He proceeded to hit the practice courts for some more reps. I guess he wanted to burn off those cookies.


Vika goes down 2-5 against Bepa.


Cahill and Mats hitting with Ski Boots. Gotta love the idiots behind me who thought he was Lleyton Hewitt.


MaKiri watching Igor beat Jo.


Marat says goodbye to Indian Wells.


Match point.

Pic This: Did The Flowbee Just Hit Russia?

 

The Chokemeister.

Main Entry:

¹choke

Pronunciation:

\ˈchōk\

Function:

verb

Definition:
            Fifth set.  Serving to stay in the match at 40-love.  And you lose. 64 64 75 63 64.

Congrats to Mr. MaKiri.  Your long flowing locks must give you strength:

Jesus, Is it THAT difficult to hit a tennis ball?

They're hitting yellow hollow balls that weigh 2 ounces, not chopping wood.

Dude, that is veintastic, Igor.  Ew.

 

Johnny Fails to Put Him In a Body Bag. Crazy Fed Lives To Fight Again.

What is up with this new Crazy Fed.  He scares me.

Igor "Johnny Zabka" Andreev pushed Fed to the brink today, 67(5) 76(5) 63 36 63.  Don't let the scoreboard fool you.  It was way tighter than that.  Johnny had multiple chances to break Fed throughout the match and just couldn't cash in.  But let's give a round of applause to Johnny because he has had an outstanding hard court season.  All I know is that MaKiri better be ready to give Daddy a little lovin' tonight.  At least Johnny beats Fed on that front.

I haven't seen the match yet but word is that this was as pissed off as anyone has seen Crazy Fed.  I don't know if I like the new edgy Fed or if I prefer the calm and serene one:

Can we start calling him Disco Roger? 

"Sweep the leg!"

It finally dawned on me last night while watching the Stepanek/Andreev match, who Igor Andreev, aka "Mr. Kirilenko" reminds me of:  The Zabka.

Come on.  Totally, right?  Now, whenever I watch any of his matches I'm just going to have the urge to randomly yell out "Come on!  Put him in a body bag, YEAHHHHH!"