Forty Deuce

Pic This: Weekend Wrap-Up

 
Self-referential stereotyping: ur doin it rite.

Hmm... someone spent her time out of tennis taking some modern dance.

Come on, Kim, it hasn't been that long.  Use that thing you're holding, not your foot.

Brisbane Draw: Before...

... and after.  Whoops.

"Hmmm.  No, the sign in for Awkward Couple of the Week isn't closed yet."

Agnes, don't think you're off the hook here, but what the hell is Timea wearing?

And, because they're so special they deserve their own category [cue circus music]...

 
I wish I'd watched this.  Does she even have to crouch down when he serves?

 
"Look in my eyes! ... if you can tilt your head back that far."

LOL indeed, Melanie.  L.O.L.

Who'd Nadia Piss Off?

First she has to play (and lose to) Masha approximately 700,000 times in the first 6 months of Masha's injury comeback, and now she has to play Justine (to whom she lost in an exhibition in Cairo a couple of weeks ago) in JuJu's first tournament back after her retirement extended sabbatical.

Kim, OTOH, drew Tathiana Garbin, so...

... let's get this party started!

Draw

Top Seeds: Kim, Nads, Ana, Dani

Potential Quarterfinals: Kim v. A-Woz, Dani v. Benesova, Ana v. Kleybs, Nads v. Czink

Potentially Interesting First Round Matches: Molik v. Makarova, Kleybs v. Pavs, Dokic v. Ivanovic, Henin v. Petrova

Interesting Questions: How will the comebacks of Molik and JuJu go?  What kind of shape are Jelena D. and Ana in?  Will Kleybs stick ice cubes up her cooch?

Pic This: Remember Her?

Kim and Jada pose for You! Magazine.

 

She looks great.

Leftovers

In addition to Moscow, the ATP and WTA each have one more tournament going on this week.  Including possibly my favourite-named tournament of the entire year, the "If Stockholm Open".

Stockholm (ATP 250)

 

Draw 

Top Four Seeds: Soderling, Tommy H., Mosquito, Juan Monaco

Potential Quarterfinals: Soderling/Boris Becker, Mosquito/Andreas Beck, Juan Monaco/Alberto Montanes, Tommy H./Feli

Potentially Interesting Early Matches: Mosquito/Marcos (1R), Feli/Ernie (1R), Jarkko/Gregor Dmitrov (1R), Juan Monaco/Pim Pim (2R)

Big Question: If Stockholm, then...

Luxembourg (WTA International)

 

Draw

Top Four Seeds: Caro, Kim, AMG, Dani

Potential Quarterfinals: Caro/KBond, Kim/Sabine, AMG/Yanina, Dani/CSN

Potentially Interesting Early Matches: Caro/Melanie (1R), Sabine/Benesova (1R), Petra/Patty (1R), Yanina/Alize (2R), CSN/Shahar (2R), Kim/Winner of Petra v. Patty

Big Questions: Why, why, why is Caro playing here??  If Kim wins, will she go to Bali?  Is Luxembourg for real?

Kim Clijsters Is A Conniving Media Whore

Or so some would say.  James LaRosa tweeted this article this morning, which kinda makes me feel bad for Justine:

Sports editorials largely hailed the return of “the greatest Belgium athlete in history” when she announced her return after a 16-month self-imposed retirement.

But just days later the novelty of having two top level players back on the circuit has waned as newspapers ganged up en masse on Henin, comparing her unfavourably to Clijsters.

French-speaking Henin from southern Wallonia suffers from an image problem in her country while the nation has been gripped by Clijsters-mania since Dutch-speaking Kim Clijsters returned after three years off to have a baby to win the US Open.

The French language ‘Le Soir’ slammed the “incredible media circus” surrounding Henin’s return. A poll on the newspaper’s website found that 91 percent of those questioned estimated that the press had “made too much” of Henin over the past week.

It really does remind me a bit of how the Serbian media treat Ana and JJ and the need for media and fans to constantly pit them against each other. 

You know, it's pretty awesome that for a small country you've produced two great players (ok, fine, "good" players in Serbia's case).  And I have news for you: You *can* be fans of *both*.

No really!  Try it!

Kim Pulls a Serena. But Like, More Successfully.

So Kim held a presser yesterday to announce that she's going to play a "limited" schedule next year.  I didn't know these are the things pressers were made of, but whatever.  I mean, are we going to have press conferences for every tooth Jada loses?  I sure hope so. 

She'll play all the Slams, plus the Premier mandatories (IW, Miami, Madrid, Beijing), two Premier 5s (Montreal and Cincy) and a few warm up tournaments along the way, like Brisbane.  I'm sure she'll try and play Eastbourne or S'Hertogenbosch as well to warm up for Wimbly. 

Because Kim's not a Top 10 player (which is determined by rankings immediately after the YEC), the Top 10 rules in the Roadmap don't apply to her.  She doesn't even have to play the mandatories if she doesn't want to.  So she can pretty much shape her schedule as she pleases without any penalties, unless she's deemed a "Marquee" player, in which case she has to play 2 Premier $700ks (Eastbourne, for example, counts as a $700k).  And, as we discussed in the podcast, I think there's something to be said about her decision to "under-commit" and revise her schedule as she goes along, committing to additional tournaments as needed.

So this is all fine and dandy now.  But what happens in 2011 when, presumably, Kim is a top 10 player?  I wonder if she'll increase her commitments or still tell the WTA to fuck itself. 

Winning = Shaving

Kimmy returned to her hometown of Bree last week to celebrate her win.  

And apparently winning a Grand Slam is all it takes to get your husband to shave his beard.  They look like the hippiest of hippies to ever hippie as a couple.

And Brian's not the only one who had to shave.

Pic This: Homecoming King and Queen

I want one!

 

Huh.  That trophy looks different in the light.

 

Kimmy rocking her Mommy Traveler chic look. 

2 seconds after this was taken Justine pulled a Natalie from Love Actually.

Yeah, it brought a tear.

An Antidote

Nice USO wrap-up from Steve Tignor.  I particularly liked his take on Elf and Kim:

The woman sitting next to me, who was coming from somewhere else, said, “Did you see del Potro?”

“Yes, I saw him.”

“I liked to watch him when he won,” she said, and put her hands over her face to imitate his emotional reaction after the final point. She had hit it: That was why I wanted to see more tennis, to see that emotion and relief that only a player who has won his first major can conjure. It doesn’t happen all that often nowadays, which only made the last moments of yesterday’s final that much more exhilarating. Thanks for sharing it with us, DP.

...

While I’m surprised she beat both Williams sisters and went all the way so soon, I knew she would bounce back with no trouble. As with Jennifer Capriati in her comeback at the start of the decade, if you can hit big and through the court on the women’s tour, you always have a chance. Kim can do that, and she can move with a gymnast’s sure-footedness—she seemed to enjoy scaling the wall to get to her husband after the final as much as anything she did on court. More important, she put a smile back on the face of women’s tennis a day after Serena had scowled her way out of the tournament. The trophy ceremony was a love fest and a big welcome back for a favorite of everyone involved in the sport. Her daughter danced, Mary Jo gave her a hug, and the guy crying next to her husband was John Dolan, a WTA pr guy who has had more than his fill of pro egos, but who couldn’t help but become a friend of Kim’s. Would she have beaten Serena anyway? It’s not a lock, given Williams’ history of returns from the dead. But Clijsters deserved the win anyway. You should get something for not dropping an f-bomb at a line judge, shouldn’t you?

Nice.

Curling? Not Sexy? Surely You Jest.

As was discussed extensively during yesterday's podcast, I'm still waiting on the post on "Champagne Kim's" win by Pete Bodo.  But in the meantime: His post on Kimmy' retirement, four years ago.

When I first saw Clijsters, I groaned. I thought: very good athlete, excellent movement for a girl so thickly built, a game with roughly the same degree of sex appeal as curling, but without the wacky bits that make curling fun to watch for 30 seconds. She might have moved me off my position if she had showed some heart and drive, won me over with her competitive character, but as time went on it became apparent to me that she was one of the least inspired players I've ever watched.

So...you're saying you're not a fan.  Got it.

It's so perplexing.  I would hope that the good people of FD know that any ire I direct towards a player is completely in jest and really, for comedic storytelling purposes only.  I mean, what's the fun of a narrative without a villain, right?

But this post isn't trying to be funny.  It isn't poking fun.  It's just plain mean and unnecessarily judgmental.  Kim clearly, at some point in her career, must have taken a shit on Pete's head.  That's the only explanation for this level of disdain.  I wasn't even a Kim fan back in the day and I found it really uncomfortable to read.

It reeks of a guy who's been rejected by a girl and goes around telling everyone she was borderline retarded. 

Pic This: USO Final Wrap Up

And so another USO in the books.  And the last chapter of this one was nothing but rainbows.

 

Acid trip rainbows.

 

Swear to God.  I'm gonna steal that kid.

 

It must be love.

Wheeeee!

For now.

 

Good girl.

 

I am taller than you.

Jailbreak!

 

Jesus.  Way too fucking cute.

 

Car!

 

Kids playing at the club in Tandil where DelPo used to play.  It's no swimming pool, but it'll do.

"My Trophyface, m-my Trophyface..."

Pic This: Jada's Still Got Her Game Face On

Kimmi cleans up well.  The glow from that trophy's gotta help.

It's cool, Jada.  It's over.  Relax!

That's going to make an awesome pacifier.

 

Awesome.

Fairytale In New York

Wow.  It happened.

Back when Kim was about to start her comeback I think I came out and pretty well said that anyone on the Kimmy bandwagon was crazy.  There was no way that she was going to be able to compete with these girls who hit harder, were stronger, were fitter, than the competition 4 years ago.

To quote Pam Shriver, "Boy, I have never been more happy to be wrong."

A lot is going to be said about what this means.  Fuck it.  You know what this means?  It means that Kim Clijsters went through a tough draw, beat both Williamses, used her awesome forehand and movement to break down her opponents and win her second Slam.  She's won 14 straight matches at the US Open.  This is a hell of an achievement from a women that everyone thought at some point was too nice to win *a* Slam, let alone two.  She was heady, competitive, and mature.  She deserves this and no one should take that away from her.  Put the asterisks away, assholes. 

Not that Kim's going to care.  She's got that bundle of awesome to come home to. 

Shit the pants, Jada.  You and your Mama earned it.

As for Caro, she acquitted herself well.  She didn't roll over for Kim and she has a lot to be proud of.  It still trips me out that she's the first out of that young set to get to Slam final.  I thought she handled the occasion well.  She could have easily pulled an Ana RG 07 and wigged out on that grand stage but she didn't.  Loved the beaming smiles from Papa and Mama Wozniacki, too.  They raised themselves a good multilingual one.

I'm really glad that these two women put a nice feel-good Coda on thi s tournament, which could have easily been marred by all the insanity of the past two weeks.  Great sportsmanship and respect between these two likeable players.

Awww.

Melty.

Moving On...

Sometimes it's not always about Serena, despite what she says sometimes.  While she took center stage for all the wrong reasons last night, let's not forget that Kim played a fantastic match and by all accounts she deserved to win.  She earned that first set racquet smash from Serena by just playing steady, hitting the lines and deep, and tracking down everything to make Serena hit one more shot.  She deserved this and it's a shame that she didn't get her chance to celebrate.

Meanwhile, on a near empty court, Sunshiney Boots earned her way into her first Slam final by beating Yanni 3 and 3.  Many congrats to her. 

As it is, it'll be a shock if Kim can't break down Boots' game tomorrow.  But either way, fantastic runs by both ladies.

Air Quotes: Lost In All This.

"I think Kim played a wonderful match, and I think I played good, too.  I think I could have played better, and I actually feel like I can go home and I can actually do better, which I'm really excited about. There's someone out there that makes me want to go home and makes me want to work out and makes me want to run and do better. I can't wait to do that.''

What. The. Hell.

So...I've been away from the computer all day and I'm not entirely sure I understand what the hell happened today.  Clearly no one told Gonzo that his match was on today and he barely showed up in the 30 minutes it took him to lose 4 straight points in the tiebreak and get bageled in the third.  

And then this: Serving at 15-30, 5-6 in the second, Serena apparently foot faults on second serve to go 15-40.  She berates the linejudge, waving her racquet at her and saying, apparently, "I will shove this ball down your fucking throat".  The umpire summons the linejudge to talk about what happened, and as a result, gives Serena her second unsportsmanlike conduct warning, which leads to a point penalty.  On match point.

Jigga what?  It's unclear whether Serena foot faulted.  As for the point penalty for what she said, I don't know.  I just don't think in a tight significant match like this an umpire should issue a point penalty on match point.  I totally think Serena was out of line, and I think it was more the gesturing with the racquet, rather than the actual words that were said, that got her in trouble.  This is where umpire discretion comes in.  This wasn't, as far as I know, a mandatory warning, a la busting a racquet.  This is the soccer equivalent to not calling a penalty in the box during overtime unless it's an absolutely egregious foul.

Of course, I haven't seen the match yet so this isn't based on much.  Would love to hear your thoughts in the comments.

"I feel it in my fingers, I feel it in my toes..."

I've never understood these pictures.  I assume no one is holding a gun to your head.  So why, of all places, do you choose to sit there during a rain delay?

Surely a bored photographer.  

What was this, his senior thesis for Trite Stock Photography 101?

We have a naked statue like this in the Castro.  Except that it's not a statue and he's not playing tennis.

Really?  They really thought play would resume today?

Sweet.

Get the man an iPhone.

Pic This: Book 'Em, Danno.

 

Please don't get ass-raped by Fed.  Not sure I could take another one of those.

Weird.  My boyfriend has that distant look in his eyes when I give him a handjob, too.

*whispers*

That's not Sanowa, Richard.

Fairly certain my abs would snap in two attempting this.

 

You know, it's a good thing that my blog is way classier than Perez Hilton's, because I could MS Paint a pretty awesome lollipop there.

Creepy Stalker Roaming The USO Grounds

Love All made time out of her busy Alias The Musical understudy schedule to roam the hallowed grounds of the BJKERJLCMAKNTC on Sunday.  Given the grounds pass and a camera, of course she made a beeline for Conchita Martinez.

 

Seriously, dude?

 

Goth Bols and Seppi checking out Fiona's fine breeder hips.

 

Oh come on.  Like you need me to identify that arm.

Mom On A Mission

Bring. It.

Kim demolishes Nails 62 64 and books her spot in the semis. 

Week 2 should be interesting, folks.

For Real.

Ok.  You got me Kim.

Fantastic win for Kimmy today, as she bageled Venus in the first and then rebounded from getting bageled in the second to take the match 64 in the third.  So America is denied its chance to see another glorious Williams v. Williams "real final" match.  Boo hoo.

It would be awesome if Kim could take out the Williams clan.  But she's gotta deal with Nails first, who took out Viko Killer Tranny in straights..  And that is never an easy task.

The Vagina Monologues

Even after Kim dropped the first set 75, was there really any doubt that she'd pull this off against Mono?

 

And after Kimmy won the second set 61, was there really any doubt that Mono would call a MTO for what looked like a broken vagina?  Ok, yes, that picture doesn't capture it.  But when she was lying on the ground and the trainer was palpating, it looked like a broken vagina, or at least a vaginal sprain.  And as I said on Twitter, I don't know the specifics of Mono's anatomy so I'm going to stick with broken vagina.

So Far So Good...

Kimmy's through with a solid performance, taking out Kutozova, 1 and 1.

And Sammy Stones survived a small Japanese bullet, to survive 64 46 64 over Ai.  That was just way too much stress.

Vika, MaKiri, Tranny, and A-Rad also won easily, with none of them dropping more than 3 games in their matches.

Pic This: Nice

Apparently the two practiced together as well. 

"Shady's back, tell a friend..."

 

Well the evening in Toronto kicked up with an insane thunderstorm/tornado that pretty much foreshadow the things to come.  Luckily everyone was ok (well, not everyone -- there was one fatality) and they had enough Shamewows (TM Sodapop) to clean up the court and resume play.

 

Bepa was all out of sorts during her match with Pova.  Clearly her right ankle was bothering her again.  She couldn't push off on her serve (serving 4 DFs in a game to give away the break, for example) and she couldn't mover particularly well.  Which of course meant she spent much of the match on the verge of tears.  Masha's level would drop in the second and Bepa somehow found herself up a break.  But she dropped the tiebreak and that's all she wrote. I agree with Carrie's assessment: She looks like someone who came back too early from injury.  It's pretty tough to watch.

 

Meanwhile, JJ's found her confidence, her fighting spirit, and more importantly, her game.  At least that's all I assume because there were zero streams for her highly anticipated (at least by about 30 of us) match against Kim.  Kim blitzed her in the first set 61, dropped the second, and then the fun seemed to begin.  JJ was able to claw back from 3-5 down to take the final set 75.  Even though I was rooting for Kim (yeah, I'm starting to believe) this is a great win for JJ.  I'm really hoping for a JJ/Serena final with JJ taking the title.  

Leave it to the Glitter Queen to complete fuck up everyone's analysis for the USO.

And As Pinky and the Brain Do Every Week, They Fail.

One day after Venus fell in straight sets to K-Bond, well, all fucking hell breaks lose.  Dinara, the Oracle that she is, foreshadowed her loss to Rezai last week during her post-match interview with Rezai.  What seemed like a random funny would prove creepily true as Rezai took her out in three sets.  The highlight/lowlight of the match?  Zeljko deciding he had had enough and leaving the court for good in the third set.  Oh, and somehow, Dina would still get a coaching violation from the chair.  It's always something with the Coconut.

The next big name to fall on Wednesday was Flavia, who played like crap apparently in her loss to The Gypsy.  Then Caro, who is officially in a slump going into the USO, lost to the always dangerous Jay Z in straight sets.  

The Kimpossible Comeback Train chugs on in Toronto, as Kim scored her most impressive victory so far, taking out Vika 75 46 61.  

Yet another three set loss from Vika who just seems to go away or get dominated in third sets.  Very peculiar from a kid, though I might not like her, seems to have a great competitive streak and be in good shape.  I went back to check her results since Madrid:

• Lost to JJ in Cincy 75 76(4)
• Lost to Pova in Cincy 67(4) 64 62 
• Lost to Serena at Wimby 62 63 
• Lost to Dina at RG 16 64 62 
• Lost to Szavay at Madrid 46 62 62

Peculiar, no?  I really don't know what happens to her in those three setters.

So how else to cap off a spectacularly craptastic day then to watch Ana play solidly (in fact, play *well*) for a set and a half to Lucie, only come back to see that she's been blown off the court in three sets.  I mean, honestly, a loss to Lucie isn't something to lose that much sleep over.  The woman has weapons and from what I can tell, even in the first set, she was on, swinging freely and hitting crazy angles.  Hopefully Ana can take something positive from her early level of play.  I wonder if she'll take a WC into New Haven.  She really really should and I'm sure they'll have a bunch of players withdraw (Sam and Flavs, for example).

Singles – Second Round
Aravane Rezai (FRA) d. (1) Dinara Safina (RUS) 36 62 64
(2) Serena Williams (USA) d. (Q) Yaroslava Shvedova (KAZ) 63 62
(4) Elena Dementieva (RUS) d. Ai Sugiyama (JPN) 63 62
(5) Jelena Jankovic (SRB) d. Patty Schnyder (SUI) 75 64
(7) Vera Zvonareva (RUS) d. (Q) Roberta Vinci (ITA) 63 63
Zheng Jie (CHN) d. (8) Caroline Wozniacki (DEN) 75 63
(WC) Kim Clijsters (BEL) d. (9) Victoria Azarenka (BLR) 75 46 61
(Q) Lucie Safarova (CZE) d. (11) Ana Ivanovic (SRB) 36 75 63
Virginie Razzano (FRA) d. (12) Flavia Pennetta (ITA) 63 61
(14) Agnieszka Radwanska (POL) d. Agnes Szavay (HUN) 61 61
Alisa Kleybanova (RUS) d. (16) Dominika Cibulkova (SVK) 61 46 76(4)
Alona Bondarenko (UKR) d. (Q) Alla Kudryavtseva (RUS) 63 60
Maria Sharapova (RUS) d. Sybille Bammer (AUT) 63 76(5)
Shahar Peer (ISR) d. Francesca Schiavone (ITA) 76(2) 64

Doubles – Second Round
(1) Black/Huber (ZIM/USA) d. Kirilenko/Vesnina (RUS/RUS) 64 75
(4) Hantuchova/Sugiyama (SVK/JPN) d. A.Radwanska/Wozniacki (POL/DEN) 64 62
Amanmuradova/Kudryavtseva (UZB/RUS) d. (5) Hsieh/Peng (TPE/CHN) 46 76(2) 105
(6) Llagostera Vives/Martínez Sánchez (ESP/ESP) d. (WC) Kuznetsova/Mauresmo (RUS/FRA) 63 60
Kleybanova/Makarova (RUS/RUS) d. Jans/Rosolska (POL/POL) 76(5) 63

Doubles – First Round
Benesova/Zahlavova Strycova (CZE/CZE) d. Dulko/Peer (ARG/ISR) 61 46 100
Hradecka/Voskoboeva (CZE/KAZ) d. Bondarenko/Bondarenko (UKR/UKR) 61 46 108

Pic This: And Dinara Loses Yet Another Friend...

"Yeah, kid, whatever.  See you in New York, choker."

Kim's Comeback Hits A Speedbump.

And her name is Coconut.

Quite a performance by Dina today in a match that, let's face it, a lot of us Dina fans were prepared to watch her lose and get yelled at by Z.  But it didn't happen.  Sure Kim had her chances, breaking early in each set and actually having a 2-0 lead in the first (before Dina would reel off the next 6 games) and a 4-1 lead in the second.

But Dina showed off that newfound "mental fortitude" and "speed" (snicker!) to claw her way back into the match and take in straight sets, 62 75.

I really felt that Kim held her own against Dinara, though at the end of the day she couldn't handle Dina's pace.  But if she shakes off that rust and these two meet again either next week or in NYC,  we could have a real match on our hands.

You Scheming Little Belgian, You

Ok, so with this whole Kim Clijsters comeback thing I've felt like a bit of bitch.  I'm just not as excited as a lot of people are and one some level, I kind of don't care.  Great, she's back.  But let's see her play.

But then I read stuff like this and I'm reminded that I'm not that bad.  Because I don't come up with stuff like this:

And as much as some of us like Clijsters, I don't think we ought to get overly sentimental about her return to the game. Look at it this way: While Clijsters took her break, most of the other women of her generation on the WTA Tour kept doing the heavy lifting, and the punishments thereby incurred (see "S" for Sharapova). Clijsters is now returning at age 26, and while taking a long break from the game is always risky, it also has a variety of upsides (I'm sure Rafael Nadal fans have been making those cost-gain flow charts for weeks now), including the fact that she's got fewer miles on her clock than her main rivals.

Is it a mere coincidence that Clijsters is making her return exactly when it's obvious that Sharapova is beat up, the Williams sisters are increasingly erratic, Amelie Mauresmo is working her way out of the picture, and Henin is presently no factor in the game? Perhaps. But I suggest that there might have been some shrewd calculation involved here, too. I don't think there's anything wrong with that, either. All is fair in love, war and tennis. But let's not get carried away and pretend that Clijsters is like one of those old, punch-drunk tomato cans, climbing back into the ring one more time in some doomed, hopeless underdog's Quixotic quest. She did what she had to do - that is, quit - for reasons of her own, and she's coming  back for reasons of her own.

So that's my rant, Part II, and it plays into my long-time feeling that Clijsters is not exactly the happy-go-lucky girl next door, upon whom most everyone has bestowed that most anodyne of accolades "She's so. ..  nice." My feeling is that she always traded heavily on her niceness, and has expertly done so with this retirement narrative. She's a clever girl, that Kimmy, which is different from being merely nice, even if the two do intersect here and there.

Kim Clijsters is a conniving little Eve, y'all.  You heard it here first.

Air Quotes: Inspiring Conquerors Everywhere

Q. You could face the world No. 1, Dinara Safina next. Have you put any thought into your next match and what it might be like to face her?

KIM CLIJSTERS: Dinara, like I said a few days ago in I think my first press conference here, I think she’s had the biggest impact on me when I was off, when I was not playing. I think I saw her obviously a few years ago, and I played her a couple times, I think.

She was also a girl who could hit the ball really well and had a good serve, but wasn’t the best mover out there and wasn’t the fittest girl. To look at her now, you can tell she’s in really good shape and that she’s worked on a lot of things, and also mentally I think she’s improved a lot.

Those were, I think — she was the biggest — to me, she had — yeah, I noticed her change the most out of any other player out there. It’s going to be tough. I mean, she’s had very consistent results.

And, yeah, I think she was always a girl who could hit the ball really deep and mix it up a little bit, good serve, comes in, good volleys. The movement was lacking, and now that she’s fitter and has lost some weight, I think that has helped her a lot, I think, on this part that was missing in the past.

Kimpossible Is Nothing.

So who would have guessed that Kim would be in the tournament longer than Serena and Venus?  Her draw sure has helped, as she's faced a bunch of headcasey, beat up ladies (Kuz is coming off a bum foot that forced her out of LA).  But having now been able to see her form, I will say that I'm getting closer to the bandwagon.  I'm not on the Brad Gilbert "She'll be in the top 5 in 9 months" bandwagon, but more in the "Oh boy, I really don't want her playing any of my favorites any time soon" bandwagon.

Oh shit.  That's gonna happen.  Kimmy will play Dina tomorrow, in what I believe, is her first true test.  Kim leads their H2H 6-1, though Dina won their last meeting in Rome in 2006.  Dina has experience ending storybook runs though.  She took out Snot Rocket at the AO.  Here's hoping that Coconut brings her game and we get a fun match.  I'll be interested to see how Kim handles the pace and whether Dina will get rattled by her fine retrieving. 

Oh god.  I think I'm gonna vomit.

That's Two...

Kimmy put another notch on her belt, beating perrenial WTA punching bag Peppermint Patty, 62 75.  Looks like a solid match from Kim, serving at 65% with 4 aces and 2 DFs.  Yes, that is the extent of my match analysis.  What more can you really glean from livescore?

Here's Boyfriend's take on the Clijster Comeback, among other things.

Mono-Free

And thus, the comeback officially begins.


Kimmy dumped the 12th seeded Mono, 64 63.

A fantastic win for Kim and this has to give her a boost of confidence.  That said, come on, it's was against the always inconsistent Mono, who's never been able to really follow up a good run at a tourney.  Someone mentioned that she served 25% in the first set.  That's not going to cut it. 

But Kim still brought and she still notched the win.  Mucho props. 

But don't count me on the bandwagon just yet.