Forty Deuce

Monogram vs. Falcon Face. HALP!

It was a clinical dismantling by Roger today over Stan.  I mean after a week of Stan strutting around like a badass baby-momma-leaver, he comes out and bends over to his Swiss handler.  There's a reason why you're in the shadow, Stan.  It's because you choose to stay there.  It was just a pathetic performance by Stan.  Not that I care.

With Fed booking his place into the semis it was up to Nole to hold up his end of the deal and seal up half of the dream final four (Moose and Rafa play tomorrow).  Seal it up he did.  He was devastating in the first set over Tomas, racing to a 6-1 lead before finding himself 1-4 down in the second.  A bad contact (DUDE. GET LASIK) seemed to be distracting him a bit and Tomas picked up his game.  But after the roof closed because of some light drizzle (it's remarkable to me that they can play *while* the roof is closing) Nole turned it up, fought back to 4-4 and forced a tiebreak, which he clinched 7-5.  Five fist pounds to the chest, a Serbian salute, and windmill fist-pump later (yes, he totes stuck the landing) he was off to the races, finishing up the third set, 6-2.  It was a fantastic performance.  Tomas just couldn't get much done despite Lucie's crystal blue orbs urging him on.

I'm talking about her eyes, by the way.  I wasn't implying I knew what color her boobs were.

And so we get Fed vs. Nole in the semis.  Nole's last three Slam performances?  Quarters, semis, runner-up.  Hmmm...I ain't no physicist but if I were to graph that out....

So yeah, Fed in four.  Because that's the way the universe works. 

(Pics: Getty)

Pic This: Ding Dong.

Someone on Twitter said that Davis Cup pwns all other tournaments in pictorial awesomeness. 

I have to agree.

Pensive Tomas.

Sluuuuuuuuuuurrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrp.

Davis Cup Hoss.

Cheerleader Nole.

This week on Broadway: Guy Forget as Monsieur Thenardier!

Oh, Stanley.  Sadz.

Daddy shaved!

Spongebob is a Sod fan.  This explains...so much.

*Everyone's* obsessed with what's between his legs.

Meh.  Not so much.

Misha? Like...Fo Real???

I fell asleep before the fourth set of the Misha/Stan match.  Apparently I just really needed a nap.  Imagine my surprise when I woke up three hours later to see that Rafa and Fernando were playing for a chance to play Misha in the semis.  Like, whoa, dude!

 

I was totally shocked.  I thought Stan had this in the bag.  He was serving well and playing really smart in the super-windy conditions.  But it sounds like the toll of his last two tough matches (4 setter over Moose, 5 setter over SamQ) finally set in.  Sam got both his legs taped and was just a step too slow by the end.

 

But congrats to Misha.  Right back at ya, baby.

So...Nice Weather, Huh?

I'm not sure what's up with the tennis journos in London right now but they need to seriously step up their game.  I mean, these are the elite athletes in, what most would argue, the most prestigious tennis tournament in the world.  They're trying their hardest and I would suggest you do the same.

I know the World Cup is a big deal and I love any chance I get to laugh at France's general ineptitude, but I really could give two shits what Mono's thoughts are on the matter, or Gael's, especially in light of the fact that YOU DIDN'T ASK ONE QUESTION ABOUT THE MATCH OR THE TOURNAMENT.  And why are you spending 90% of Kolya's presser asking him about Davis Cup when he just came back from two sets down?  I mean, Stan just got ousted from the tournament and this is what you came up with?

Look, if you don't want to interview them then just don't.  But don't make them come into the press room for this crap and then pat yourselves on the back as though you've done your job for the day. 

Step it up, guys!

Pic This: Au Revoir.

 

And so another RG comes to a close.  All in all, it was an odd tournament that had some unexpected twists and turns that ended in two memorable feel good moments that made you happy and proud to be a tennis fan.  You can't ask for more than that.

 

Autograph request fail.  Or win.  I'm actually not sure.

 

Come to Mama.  I'll make it all better.

 

Hey, does anyone have 3-Across?

It's all fun and games until Rafa doesn't show up.

 

I'm happy to see you too, Andy.  At ease.

Church of the Poison Mind

And, finally, we come to Chennai.  Which is running this befuddling banner on its official website:

Somehow, the idea of Robin Soderling giving a sermon is completely hilarious.

Draw
Top Seeds: Sod, Marin, Stan, Janko

Potential Quarterfinals: Sod/Dudi Sela, Stan/Michael Berrer, Janko/Rajeev Ram, Marin/Simon Greul

Potentially Interesting First Round Matches: Sod/Robby Ginepri, Janko/Carlos Moya, Marin/Igor Kunitsyn

Interesting Questions: What kind of shape is Carlos Moya in?  Will Sod dominate this tournament as much as it looks like he should on paper?

Stanley The Married Manley

Congrats to Stanley, who looked amazingly cool as he married his beautiful girlfriend, Ilham Vuilloud in a small private ceremony in Lausanne, Switzerland.

I have to say, that dress is awesome.  She looks great.  And I love the open collar on Stan.

Walking Wounded

Two more retirements in Shanghai.  Seriously, this is getting ridiculous.

 

Is it me, or does the trainer working on Stan look kind of like Marin Cilic?  I was super confused for a second.  I guess I'm never really surprised when Monfils retires; he plays a game that seems to me unnecessarily physical.  It's just begging for an injury of some kind.  In any case, there really have been an awful lot of injury retirements in Shanghai.  A little worrying, when you consider that there's still a long way to go in the ATP season.

In other news, the Sod beat Jo-Willy in what looks like a surprisingly unchallenging match.  Then again, it doesn't seem all that surprising.   Oh, and Feli won again.  Wha?

Singles - Third Round
[1] R Nadal (ESP) d [14] T Robredo (ESP) 61 64 
[2] N Djokovic (SRB) d [Q] R Schuettler (GER) 64 62
[9] R Soderling (SWE) d [5] J Tsonga (FRA) 63 63
[8] G Simon (FRA) d T Berdych (CZE) 63 64
[6] N Davydenko (RUS) d [10] F Gonzalez (CHI) 63 75
I Ljubicic (CRO) d [11] G Monfils (FRA) 62 30 ret. (back)
[13] R Stepanek (CZE) d S Wawrinka (SUI) 36 76(5) 42 ret. (abdominal strain)
F Lopez (ESP) d J Melzer (AUT) 57 76(3) 61

You Blockhead.

JCF is just tearing up the joint.  He took out Gael The Marat Slayer And Dasher Of Hopes And Dreams, in straight sets, 63 76(7).  Good on you.

A-Rod is back from DC and bounced Igor, 61 76(3).  Eat. A. Sandwich.  Or FOUR.

And Mischa The Giant Killer (literally) followed up his big upset of Marin to take down Halpert 67(8) 61 63.  Impressive stuff from the forgotten Russian.  Well, not really "the" forgotten Russian.  There are lots of them, I guess.

And some Charlie Brown impersonator bolted past the barricades and won a couple of sets.  Security!

Singles - Second Round
[5] A Roddick (USA) d I Andreev (RUS) 61 76(3)
[6] J Del Potro (ARG) d [Q] J Hernych (CZE) 62 75
[7] J Tsonga (FRA) d R Schuettler (GER) 46 63 64
[9] G Simon (FRA) d [Q] A Falla (COL) 46 62 62
[10] F Verdasco (ESP) d L Mayer (ARG) 61 61
[Q] J Ferrero (ESP) d [13] G Monfils (FRA)  63 76(7)
P Petzschner (GER) d [15] T Robredo (ESP) 76(3) 76(4)
M Youzhny (RUS) d J Isner (USA) 67(8) 61 63
V Hanescu (ROU) d P Kohlschreiber (GER) 63 46 75
S Wawrinka (SUI) d [LL] A Golubev (KAZ) 75 64

Doubles - Second Round
L Dlouhy (CZE) / P Petzschner (GER) d [4] B Soares (BRA) / K Ullyett (ZIM) 64 63

Doubles - First Round
[WC] F Dancevic (CAN) / P Duclos (CAN) d N Davydenko (RUS) / I Kunitsyn (RUS) 75 57 14-12
F Lopez (ESP) / F Verdasco (ESP) d S Aspelin (SWE) / P Hanley (AUS) 63 67(1) 10-6
R Lindstedt (SWE) / M Melo (BRA) d T Parrott (USA) / F Polasek (SVK) 63 76(4)

"He's Such a Copycat."

A few of you have written inquiring as to when the next installment of the Forty Deuce podcast would be up.  Here's the deal: It is SUPER awkward to do a podcast by yourself.  And with my partner in crime (heh), Love All, off at an undisclosed location for much of this year, I've had to shelve the podcasts.  Unfortunately my dog has very little to say about tennis.

But you can't say that I don't listen so here's the next installment, wherein I've roped in Forty Deuce regulars Sodapop, Carrie, and Victoria, to talk about everything from my general apathy towards Ana's losses, illegal immigration, and Stan's second fiddle, to how badly the WTA marketing department has failed, our love for tennis umpires, and the intimate details contained in Sodapop's diary.  You'll have to excuse any technical issues.  I'm still trying to master it all.  But I'll get it all worked out and I can promise your tech savvy and topically focused p-casts in the future.

I'm warning you, it's a long one and very WTA heavy.  Perfect for sitting in traffic while you're on your way to wherever you don't want to be.

Download Here.

Not The Man

Top seeded Stanley fell to the Brazillian Schnoz, 64 64 in Gstaad.  Sucky week for Stan as he dropped out of the top 20 on Monday. 

Singles - Second Round
[Q] T Bellucci (BRA) d [1] S Wawrinka (SUI) 64 64
F Serra (FRA) d [4] V Hanescu (ROU) 64 ret. (upset stomach)
[6] N Kiefer (GER) d I Navarro (ESP) 63 67(3) 62
M Daniel (BRA) d J Benneteau (FRA) 63 76(8)

Doubles - Quarter-finals
[1] J Levinsky (CZE) / F Polasek (SVK) d N Kiefer (GER) / M Youzhny (RUS) 63 76(3)

Raise It.

So...I think that roof is going to work out pretty well. 

I couldn't watch the zamazing Stan/Muzz match, but I was listening on Radio Wimbledon and the crowd sounded awesome.  Gave me chills.  The atmosphere was absolutely electric.

Stan played so well.  But in the end Muzz's quality won out with the help of the support of an entire nation.  And for all who think he's the Big Blue of Tennis, kid got pretty emotional after he won.  Word on the street (read, cbox) is that he cried a little bit. 

But a hearty salute to Stanley the Manley, who played his guts out and pushed Muzz to the brink.  Stan is one of those players who I always frazzle over when I see him in my fave's part of the draw.  That backhand is a thing of beauty.

Pic This: Cloudy With a Chance of HoYay

Nom nom nom.

I understand, Jo.  It's overwhelming me a bit, too.

Sad face x 1000.  Poor Jelena.

Smiling, watching the match, relaxed even though her man's in trouble, not on the Blackberry... I dunno, pregnancy agrees with Mirka.  Not to mention, her hair looks fantastic.

Coolness.

I dunno, the size differential cracked me up.  Come on, Serena's not that tall.  What are VRP's stats, is she 4'11" and 70 pounds?

How great umpires are born.

Yahoo tells me this was at RG today and I'm going to choose to believe them, because puppehs are awesome.

And, finally, by popular request...

LOLZ.  That is all.

Just Did It.

 
I'm digging both NIke kits.  Rafa's is subversive in its own way and Fed in light blue with the orange trim actually makes him look fresh and not like the old fogey that he is. 

See?  I can be complimentary.

Stan survived a 5 setter over Devilder.  Nice job, Stanley.

3.5 Americans won on clay!

Masha came back from a set down to eventually win fairly easily.  Serve and dress notwithstanding she was looking really good off both sides. Lateral movement looked good and she's still able to whack the ball into the corners and find some angles.  But she's faced with the same questions Ana is: Can she hold serve against the bigger hitters?

And Venus "gave away" the second set to Bethanie before pulling out the three set win.  Tough luck for Bethanie, who looked like she was struggling with a right wrist problem during the match.


And is Alexa Glatch the real deal?  Again, it's not that she's beating top 30 players, she's demolishing them.  Benesova, Kvitova, and now Flavia, 1 and 1.  Where'd this kid come from?


Jay Z won and K-Bond is the only Bond left in the draw as she took out Peppermint Patty.


One match didn't finish.  Vera D and Caro are locked at a set a piece before the match was suspended for darkness.  Come on, Caro.

(A)KO

Poor Anne.

She really didn't play badly, certainly nowhere near the level where you'd expect someone to get double bagelled. An awful lot of those games went to 30-30 or deuce, sometimes multiple deuces. She had a great clay season coming into Roland Garros and even with an unlucky draw, deserved better than that. After all, Dina's had problems with players a lot worse than AKO.

But Dinara was just on a mission today. It wasn't her best performance by any means, but she did the most important thing-- she played the big points big. In the middle of the second set, AKO was up 40-0 on her own serve and the crowd went wild-- but a few minutes later, Dinara had heartlessly broken her once again. Sad for Anne, who really played well enough to win a few games, but an important start for Dinara, proving to herself that she can hold it together and decimate an in-form player.

In other news, Kleybs is out; Aravane's in; Kolya's through; Rafa is serving for the second set in a surprisingly close match (!!!) with a guy Justin Gimelstob assures us has "played a lot of Challengers"; The Burrito got bagelled in the first set by Melanie South; Stan's just into a 5th set against Devilder, and Venus is at a set all (!!!) with Bethanie Mattek, but up a break in the 3rd. The most stunning news from that match, of course, is that Bethanie is not the worst dressed player on the court.

Pic This: Who Put a 6-Year-Old in Charge of the Doubles Draw?

Gael and Stan put in an appearance at EuroDisney to play an exhibition match.  From the look on Stan's face, I'm not sure this is what they were expecting.

Pic This: Poetry In Motion. And Muzz.

Gorgeous pictures coming out of Madrid today.  Looks like the "real" photogs have finally landed.

Damn you Marat for losing early.

The Falcon Swoops In

Guess who's back?

The kid deserves to do a jig.

Nole came back from a set down to beat Stan in three and make his second straight Masters final, and third Masters final of the year.  He's has played well this tourney and took advantage of his half of the draw completely collapsing after Roger got bounced.  He's still having a few mental lapses during matches (a seemingly Serbian curse) but his movement and his groundstrokes have been solid.  Here's hoping the serve starts grooving in time for RG.

And much love for Stanley.  A heck of a run for him.

Spaniard, Swiss, Serb, and Brit.

Did Roger switch to Lacoste?  I'm so confused.

Here are your final four in Monte Carlo.  Andy and Rafa survived their double days and will face each other.  Muzz has got to be emotionally and physically drained after his tight 1 and half matches.  But it'll be fun to see how he matches up to Rafa on clay. 

And in the other semifinal it'll be Nole and Stanley.  Stanley always plays Nole tough so that'll be a fun one as well.  Nole's looking awfully comfy on the clay, no?

Tomorrow's OOP:

COURT CENTRAL start 11:30 am
[1] B Bryan (USA) / M Bryan (USA) vs [3] L Dlouhy (CZE) / L Paes (IND)
Not Before 1:30 PM
[3] N Djokovic (SRB) vs [13] S Wawrinka (SUI)
[1] R Nadal (ESP) vs [4] A Murray (GBR)
N Djokovic (SRB) / V Troicki (SRB) vs [2] D Nestor (CAN) / N Zimonjic (SRB)

Wet 'n Wild

Rain poured down today in Monte Carlo but apparently it couldn't delay the inevitable.  For me, a non-Fed fan, there are certain things I can count on.  One of those things used to be that I didn't have to pay attention to one half of the bracket because I could count on Fed, much to my chagrin, of blitzing his way into the finals.  With his recent, uh, troubles, I downgraded that to ok, you don't have to pay attention until the semis.  But here we are, heading into the quarterfinals of Monte Carlo and Fed is gone.

Maybe it's my weird perspective as a non-Fed Fan that I just don't see what all the hoopla is over the loss.  Fed's worst surface, four days after he got married, against a guy who has only been improving the last month and considers clay his best surface.  Chalk it up to a surprising, but not shocking result.  Said the always adorable Stanley, "I am a bit embarrassed to celebrate it."

 

Anyway, enjoy the honeymoon in Monte Carlo, Vavrinecs.  I hear there's some wonderful shopping.

Respect.

That was one hell of a showing by the Swiss #2.  He pushed Rafa to two tiebreakers but in the end, Rafa is Rafa, and as the ATP commentators noted, "he's just an animal".  But seriously, Stan was awesome.  So much to take away from this match.  As for Rafa, well they say you always get a bit of a scare in the early rounds.  Here's hoping this was it.

With Rafa's win closing out the night session, it looks like we have all of the 7 of the top 8 seeds going into the quarterfinals.  And really, the #7 seed that was beat was Gilly, who was beat by Jo.  So it's not like the quality of the field took a hit.  All this is to say, game on.

ATP Main Draw Singles - Fourth Round

[1] R Nadal (ESP) d [16] S Wawrinka (SUI) 76(2) 76(4)
[2] R Federer (SUI) d [Q] T Dent (USA) 63 62
[3] N Djokovic (SRB) d [21] T Berdych (CZE) 63 62
[4] A Murray (GBR) d V Troicki (SRB) 61 60
[5] A Roddick (USA) d [9] G Monfils (FRA) 76(2) 64
[6] J Del Potro (ARG) d [11] D Ferrer (ESP) 63 62
[10] J Tsonga (FRA) d [7] G Simon (FRA) 67(4) 63 62
[8] F Verdasco (ESP) d [18] R Stepanek (CZE) 62 62

WTA Main Draw Singles - Quarterfinals

[8] S Kuznetsova (RUS) d [13] C Wozniacki (DEN) 64 67(5) 61
[11] V Azarenka (BLR) d S Stosur (AUS) 61 60

ATP Main Draw Doubles - Second Round

F Cermak (CZE) / M Mertinak (SVK) d [4] L Dlouhy (CZE) / L Paes (IND) 63 63
M Mirnyi (BLR) / A Ram (ISR) d [7] J Coetzee (RSA) / W Moodie (RSA) 76(4) 36 10-8
A Fisher (AUS) / S Huss (AUS) d T Parrott (USA) / F Polasek (SVK) 76(3) 76(4)
R Hutchins (GBR) / J Kerr (AUS) d M Damm (CZE) / R Lindstedt (SWE) 63 63

WTA Main Draw Doubles - Second Round

[2] A Medina Garrigues (ESP) / V Ruano Pascual (ESP) d G Dulko (ARG) / S Peer (ISR) 64 63
[3] K Peschke (CZE) / L Raymond (USA) d V Dushevina (RUS) / Y Shvedova (KAZ) 67(5) 64 10-8
[6] N Llagostera Vives (ESP) / M Martinez Sanchez (ESP) d B Mattek-Sands (USA) / N Petrova (RUS) 75 64
R Kops-Jones (USA) / A Spears (USA) d A Bondarenko (UKR) / K Bondarenko (UKR) 64 64

Deja Vu.

Watching Nole/Stan. Saw the same match last year. Sent via BlackBerry by AT&T

Stanley The Manley

Hee.  Hee.  HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA.

Take that all you haters who thought the Stripes would cruise through this tie to a 5-0 win.  Stan beat Blah 36 64 63 76(3).  A-Rod took his match over Chiudinelli in easy straight sets so it's 1-1 going into tomorrow's doubles tie.

Can Stan summon some Swiss Doubles Magic to beat the BryBros?  Here's hop!ing.

Kooyong Roundup

Fed took his "kid brother" behind the shed handing him a 1 and 3 loss. 


Too bad, Stan.  But your Lacoste gear looked nice!

In the third place match, Fer notched another confidence building win, beating Gonzo 64 63.  I really hope Fer doesn't burn out, but his performances over the past two weeks are really encouraging.  Come on, Fer!  Second week (but please lose to Andy Murray)!

Stan To Lacoste?

Looks like Stanley has ditched the three stripes and moved to the Classy Croc.  I hope he can show off the classy side of Lacoste, as opposed to A-Rod's trucker hats and curtain shirts.

Roger and Fer Keep Rolling

This is the first year I've watched the Kooyong exo and all I have one question:

Who WOULDN'T want to play Kooyong?  I mean, you get some good competition, it's in Melbourne so you don't have to travel, you can get used to conditions, and you're guaranteed some matches.  It seems like such a great exo in advance of AO.

In today's matches, Fed beat DB Chuck, Fer beat Tuxedo Mask, and Stan beat Baggy.  Lubey is playing Gonzo right now.  Incidentally, Sven was sitting in Fer's box.  No Ana sighting though.  I'm super curious to see how Fer fares against Roger if they play each other.

The Boys Try To Stay Warm In Kooyong

What a fun little group they've collected in for Kooyong.  I wish Rafa was there instead of Douchey but you can't always get what you want.  FLOVE me some Marin though.  Huzzah!


FERNANDO!  NO!  DO NOT LISTEN TO DOUCHEBAG CHUCK.  DO NOT TALK TO HIM, DO NOT LET HIS DBness INFLUENCE YOU.  STAY AWAY.


You too, Gonzo.  Earmuffs.


Aw...there's that double chin that I love. 


"I'm the best, blah blah blah.  Always will be, blah blah blah.  Even if I lose, I win, blah blah blah.  Just do it."
 

Pic This: Not-So-Reservoir Dogs

 

Stan Gets Shanghai'd, and Not In a Good Way.

Well, Stan pretty much guaranteed he'll be watching the Year End Championships from his comfy home in Switzerland.  No Shanghai Stan this year.  He failed to capitalize on two match points, eventually losing in three sets to Benji Becker.  Stanley's countryman, Chiudinelli, pushed FeLo hard, but in the end he wasn't able to get the job done, with FeLo winning 76(5) 76(7).

Over in Russia, St. Petersburg was not kind to its Russian Sons today, as the three Russians in play didn't just lose, they lost big.  Tursonov, Koralev, and Moscow champ and Cholera sufferer Kunytsyn all lost, none of them winning more than 2 games in any set.

Here are the rest of the scores for the day (seriously you guys?  Three tournaments is just too much to cover in a week.  I'm already tired).

Basel:
[Q] B Becker (GER) d [5] S Wawrinka (SUI) 36 76(5) 76(5)
[6] I Andreev (RUS) d J Melzer (AUT) 76(5) 75
[8] M Fish (USA) d A Calleri (ARG) 76(5) 62
F Lopez (ESP) d [WC] M Chiudinelli (SUI) 76(5) 76(7)

St. Petersburg:
D Hrbaty (SVK) d [6] D Tursunov (RUS) 61 61
V Hanescu (ROU) d E Korolev (RUS) 61 62
R Schuettler (GER) d I Kunitsyn (RUS) 62 63

Lyon:
[5] T Robredo (ESP) d M Llodra (FRA) 64 63
J Ferrero (ESP) d S Querrey (USA) 63 75
J Benneteau (FRA) d A Clement (FRA) 63 62
S Darcis (BEL) d [WC] R Stepanek (CZE) 64 36 63
[WC] J Ouanna (FRA) d I Ljubicic (CRO) 67(2) 76(5) 64

And here's your OOP for Tuesday:

Basel

Center Court (13.00)
Goth Bols vs. Big Berd
Montanes vs. Fat Dave
Bastl vs. JMDP
Fed vs. Reynolds
Acasuso vs. Bohli

Court 2
Beck vs. Devilder
Gremelmayr vs. PEHK
Hernandez vs. Dlouhy

St. Petersburg:

Center Court (15.00)
Chardy vs. Ancic
Navarro vs. Youzhny
Guccione vs. Kolya
Garcia-Lopez vs. Ernie Linguine

Court 1
Elgin vs. Volandri
Tabasco vs. Tabashvili
Tipsy vs. Potato Starch

Court 2
Tuxedo Mask vs. Kukushkin
Lejnieks vs. Kudryavtsev
Zverev vs. Serra

Lyon:

Center Court (12.00)
Santoro vs. Fognini
Giraldo vs. Reeshard
A-Rod vs. Mahut
Gicquel vs. Jo-Willy
Ginepri vs. Grosjean

Court 1
Lapentti vs. Dr. Ivo
Guez vs. Seppi

Boo. Stan and Gilly out.

Stan sure isn't helping his Shanghai chances, is he?  He last to a qualifier in his first round match, 67(5) 62 76(5).  He's still got three tournaments to accumulate points but this was a misstep for sure.

Gilly Simon's chances of making Shanghai also too a hit as he got Schwanked, 46 75 76(5).  Thank you Mary Carillo for giving us "Schwanked".  A fantastic contribution to the tennis nickname world.

Other Vienna results (yay, Ernests!):
[2] F Gonzalez (CHI) d S Bolelli (ITA) 46 76(2) 62
P Kohlschreiber (GER) d M Gicquel (FRA) 62 62
R Stepanek (CZE) d [Q] P Snobel (CZE) 64 62
E Gulbis (LAT) d F Volandri (ITA) 62 63
S Giraldo (COL) d [WC] S Koubek (AUT) 61 62
J Melzer (AUT) d I Ljubicic (CRO) 76(3) 63

Pic This: Yeah, you're right. Tennis doesn't belong in the Olympics.

In response to Jon Wertheim and Steve Tignor, and all the other idiots (you know who you are):

 

 

Next stop, City Hall!

Roger and Stan have won the gold medal in men's doubles.  They also win the gold for most hilarious, dorky, slightly gay celebration:

Seriously.  Their foreplay needs more imagination.   Is Fed role playing?  "I'll be the medic, you be the wounded soldier."

Congratulations to both but in particular Roger.  He needed this, he wanted this, and he appreciated this:

Gosh darn it!  I think Losing-all-the-time-Fed has worn down my animosity and now I actually want him to win (at least get to SFs, not titles necessarily).  It's a weird, strange, unfamiliar feeling that makes me feel like less of a person (if that's possible).

In the bronze medal match, the Brothers Bryan beat Clement/Llodra.  Suck on that, France!

Olympic Doubles: The Shawshank Redemption

A lot of the big tennis stars who crashed out early are still in Beijing looking for some hardware, but more so, redemption.

The best story (and pictorially, the most awkward)?  The rise of Fedrerinka, the tasty Swiss pairing of Stan the Man and The Mighty Fed.  They've made the gold medal match by dispatching, on the same day, the chest bumping Bryan Brothers and the other favorite duo, the tempestuous Indians, Paes/Bhupati.

They're pretty excited about it:

It's been an odd feel good story, as we've been able to see Fed loosen up and and actually smile and have fun on the court.  Let's face it, the guy deserves an Olympic medal and I'm glad he's going to get one.

On the Ladies side, the Sisters Williams beat the Sisters Bonderenkos today in three sets, propelling them into the gold medal match.  Good on them.

Pic This: I hope Fed bought him a drink first. Be a gentleman.