A lovely lazy Saturday morning. I actually wish I could say I was hungover. Then I'd have an better excuse than normal to lie on the couch under a blanket and watch tennis all day.
Nice run by Dani into the Round of 16. I hope she's happy.
Yes, you have long limbs. We get it.
The magic Comp Kit runs out of gas. But a fantastic run for MaKiri.
Flying Jo.
10% pasta, 90% win.
Before yesterday, none of the top 10 had dropped a set. Leave it to Muzz and Rafa to be the rebels. Rafa took the first set over Colin with a bagel, only to drop the next one and close the match out in four. I hear it was a pretty uneven match from Rafa, but again, I'm from Oakland so I'll just say it: Just win, baby.
Earlier in the day Muzz had a similar experience, winning the first over Capdeville in dominant fashion, before dropping the second and closing out the next two sets. Credit to Capdeville for picking up his game in the second set. But Andy made the necessary adjustments. Good boys.
Some dudes have a tendency for the dramatic. They just refuse to get it done quickly and cleanly. They want the stage and the refuse to leave it. These are those dudes.
These boys all had a 5 set workout today and in JCF and Marin's cases, they had to come back from 2 sets down to seal the win.
Congrats to Taylor, Nico, and Nico.
Love that they rocked their old wood/composite racquets.
Have I ever mentioned I've always had a crush on Jimmy? He's so dapper.
Is Italy the new Serbia? No, it's not. Just sounded like a cool thing to say.
Is there any player that looks more in-form than Flavia? After dishing out a double bagel in her last match, she double 'sticked CanWoz today. I always think it's so interesting that Flavs loves the clay but is able to translate the shot making and point construction skills to the hard courts with success. Let that be a lesson to all.
But then came the big upset of the day as Tranny ousted #8 seed and FD fave Viko in three sets, taking the third 6-2. Heck of an effort by Tranny. You are boss.
I haven't seen the match yet so feel free to weigh in in the comments. Did Viko play like crap? Did Tranny take it too her? Who outgrunted who? Did Viko get woozy? On a scale of 10 to 10, how much of a bitch was Viko being?
I have to say though, in all seriousness (well, 5% seriousness), what happened to Viko? She came roaring out of the gates, taking Brisbane, almost beating Serena in AO, beating Dina at IW, and beating Serena for the Miami title. At that point, I think we all began to accept that, whether we like it or not, Viko was going to make a run this year and she was going to break through. That hasn't really happened though, and even though her losses have been to quality opponents (Dina at RG, Serena at SW19, Maria in LA, JJ in Cincy, and Kim in Toronto), her second half progress has been disappointing. I wonder how much of it is a fitness issue. Maybe her first full year of being a legitimate contender has taken its toll.
It'll be interesting to see what happens the rest of the year. Given all the buzz around her during the first four months of the season, wouldn't it be weird if she didn't qualify for Doha?
Poor Sabine. After her promising run at Wimbledon she's been riddled with injuries. Now she gone and rolled her ankle during her second round match against Rodionova.
The kicker? She rolled it on the last point of her match, which she lost 75 in the third.
Not even Lynn Welch's awesomeness could fix this one.
Get well, kiddo.
Melanie Oudin's shoes ushered in a crazy day four at the USO.
What is up with the obsession with Hubba Bubba?
Hubba Hubba.
Not so much.
The forgotten but adorable Swisser. You go on with your winky self, Chuds.
Mmmm...drumstick.
I have stared at this picture for 5 minutes now. I literally have nothing interesting or funny to say. So goes my relationship with Tommy Boredo.
Seriously. Sandwiches are your friend, Andy.
Blue Steel.
The Cone made her triumphant return by losing to Jay-Z after taking the first set 61. It was pretty cool. I miss Alize, if only because win or lose, her match pictures are so...French.
My favorite one after the jump.
Between her presser and her diary entry, it sounds like she's finally accepting what's going on. Good for her.
It's no secret that this is the most difficult time of my career so far. Losing in the first round of the US Open hurt a great deal, I can tell you that.
I feel mentally exhausted. This season has been very difficult in terms of my health and form: even though I'm in great shape in terms of my stamina and speed, I've been picking up so many small injuries. Just when I felt like I was close to getting back into my rhythm, I would feel pain in a new place, and then I'd feel like I'm starting all over again.
It's obviously affected my confidence and I've overanalysed it too, and let if affect me far too much - not just the injuries, but my desire to get back to the top.
I feel like I haven't had a proper break in such a long time. Now I think the best thing to do is to take a week or two off, to totally switch off from tennis, and come back refreshed for my next tournament, which is in Tokyo at the end of the month.
After that I will play in Beijing: they're two big tournaments, so there is still a lot to play for. It would be great to end the season on a high, going into next year.
Thanks a lot for all your messages of suport. It has been very touching to read them in the past couple of days. At the same time, I would like you all to know that I am fine! Of course, I am very disappointed, but I am really optimistic for the future too!
If you haven't yet I encourage you to watch the partial video from her presser. Just go to the USO website, Audio & Video, Press Conferences, and select September 1. One of the many things I love about Ana is how thoughtful she is at pressers and how she takes the questions seriously. It's like a therapy session.
I still refuse to believe this guy is a professional tennis player.
But he's making the most out of this USO, beating Maximo Gonzalez in four sets and advancing to the third round. It's pretty amazing to think what wins like this mean to a low-ranked player. Not only did Tebow beet his first ATP player on Monday, but with his win today, he's already earned more than $50,000 for the tournament, which is over twice what he's made all year. Good on ya, Tebow's schluffy, harrier, and way less hot older brother!
For more on Jesse Witten, check out Pete Bodo's profile on him.
You should have shed that bad menstrual mojo, JJ. A blood red dress? She looked like a tampon.
Which actually might be appropriate because she was looking not-so-fresh in her three set loss to Shvedova. What is in the water in NYC and more importantly, since when did Ashe become the graveyard court? Back-to-back upsets that sent the USO Series Champion and the USO Series #3 finisher out of the tournament.
UPDATE: Doug Robson reports from his Twitter account that JJ's maternal grandmother passed away last night. And now I feel like a dick.
Ok, someone needs to ask that Competition kit to pee into a cup.
And get that thigh wrap tested, too. Apparently it has special upset powers.
Congrats to young Melanie Oudin for pulling off the upset of the tournament by coming back from a set down to take out USO Series champ and tourney semi-favorite Elena D, 57 64 63.
I mean, holy crap, you guys? Can we stick a nail through the "Elena will win a Slam eventually" idea once and for all? Credit to Oudin. Kid gritted her teeth through a thigh injury that brought her to tears on court. But Elena? Oudin has NO WEAPONS. She can't hit you off the court. Sure, she can kind of run things down, but she's not that mobile.
What the hell happened here? Can't wait to watch it when I get home.
Second verse, same as the first.
Drops the first in a tight breaker, only to come back and take the next two sets over Barrios. I'm assuming that she played like shit again, because if you watch ESPN that's pretty much all you know about her. Anyway, good on the kid for fighting and surviving. Unlike some people....
She's like a famous porn star or something.
Darth Fed took the court first tonight, the first time the men have kicked off the USO night session in 22 years. It was, I'm sure, beautiful tennis and he won in straight sets. To Simon Greul's credit, he fought hard and gave Fed a bit of a challenge, pushing him to 75 75 in the last two sets. So good on Greul.
Serena rolled in the chaser, finishing off Ivanovic Slayer (though really, who isn't one these days) Melinda Czink, 61 61. So all is right in the world as the two #1s cruised.
"You know, it's a matter of being consistent at some point. Unfortunately or fortunately for you guys you have something to write about. She's more consistent than Serena throughout a period of one year. What else can I say? Or you change the ranking system. You just put the Grand Slams really, really high, like many, many points, like ten times more than the other tournaments which are still huge tournaments: Miami, Indian Wells. Those are huge tournaments. Then, okay, you put these tournaments in really back, way, way back, and then you say, Okay, Serena is number 1. Well, I mean, what can I do? What can I say? I saw that Dinara made the statement saying, 'Guys, I'm not making the ranking system. I'm sorry.' She almost has to apologize that she's number 1 now. Give her a break."
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.
Well...shit.
All credit to Vania. She played really really well and took the game to Sam, daring her to be more aggressive and take it. And Sam just couldn't step up. This match reminded me a lot of Ana's match last night, where K-Bond just ran everything down and refused to miss, and Ana just kept waiting for her to miss. And just like last night, when Sam did try to play aggressively and pop her forehand, she simply couldn't execute. Too many unforced errors and a lot of confusion as to why her serve wasn't winning her any free points.
Hard to say what was up with Sam these past two matches (and even three matches if you include Toronto). Ever since her layoff after LA she was never able to get the rhythm on her serve. And so goes the serve, so goes Sam. If she can't rely on her serve to start the point in her favor, then she's fucked. She's not a great mover and playing defense ain't gonna cut it. This was definitely not the Sam that I oohed and ahhed at in LA.
And so C Note's stable continues to dwindle. Why do I choose the players that I do? Why???
One down.
A pretty thorough dusting of Reeshie, who looked all out of sorts. But a nice quick match for Rafa to test the knees and get used to the fast conditions of Ashe without expending too much energy.
Fine by me. Fine. By. Me.
From his post-match presser:
Well, everybody is hard on her why she's No. 1. You have this contest issue, is she a real No. 1 or not? You open the page, she made eight double faults, 43 unforced errors. She struggled, almost lost to 18 years old.
Who cares? I mean, she's No. 1 in the world. I have to protect my sister. The poor girl, she's trying her best. She's doing really well. She gets the attention, but not the kind of attention that a person deserves, especially when you're No. 1 in the world.
Everybody is giving her hard time about, Are you really No. 1 in the world? Yes, yes, she's really No. 1 in the world. Go check on the ranking. She didn't do the ranking.
Apparently there is some guy who made the ranking. On this ranking, she's No. 1 in the world. Serena, she didn't say even though she won two Grand Slams this year, she's No. 2. Sorry, but that's the way. Deal with that.
I'm just personally, I'm really like, I have to protect her. I feel like she deserve a little bit more than what she's getting right now. I think she's playing you can't imagine how crazy she is about sport. I don't think there is one person in the world who is more professional than her. Everybody is like hitting on her and giving her a hard time about this, how many, what happened to this serve, what happened this, what happened with that? Leave her alone. Give her a little bit less questions. So it's just all to you guys. Make her happy. That's it.
Nice win for CanWoz at the expense of Momo. 64 60? What happened, Amelie?
Nails did what she does, bitchslapping the ever annoying Burrito, 61 63. Nice to see Nails back in form after her injury. Keep it up, China!
And finally, in Badassery news, Flavia double-bageled Sania and Bepa came back from dropping the first set to Chakky to double 'sticking her. Kudos, ladies.
Practicing together yesterday.
I don't know what they're watching but Marat looks ready to start whacking off.
16 64 63 64
And so Marat said goodbye to New York amidst a standing O, in yet another match that encapsulates his career. Such early promise, only to whither away in disappointment and loss.
Throughout his career I'm sure many of us have uttered some form of "Oh, Marat. I wish I knew how to quit you." Thankfully, with mercy, he's quitting us. North America's going to miss you immensely, Maratski.
We will be here with legs wide open if you ever choose to return.
Take note, Boots.
MaKiri sheds the weight of expectation and the 30lbs of unnecessary fabric to advance to the third round by beating #12 seed A-Rad, 64 26 64.
Holy what?
Loved this quote from Masha from her post-match presser:
The amazing thing when I look back to being that young is I really didn't care who anybody was. I don't know. I certainly didn't watch a lot of TV. I actually didn't watch much tennis on TV. That's why when people ask me who was my hero growing up, I never really had one. I don't know why. I don't know if it was because I didn't get to watch so much on TV.
But I remember many big names coming to the academy and practicing. I wasn't overwhelmed by them. I admired them. I always wanted to watch them practice. But I wasn't sitting there with my mouth open and saying, Oh, my goodness, I want to be that person one day.
From this day on, when people tell me, like a girl or little boy comes up to me, say, We're so inspired by you, I want to be just like you. I always say, No, you want to be better than I am. You always want to be better. By no means am I perfect.
I think that's from when I was very young, I never thought anybody was perfect. I admired Hingis' quickness and the way she thought on the court, but I certainly didn't think she was perfect at everything. So I don't know.
I don't care if the kid wins the whole thing or not. I just don't want her losing because then there would be no more awesome pressers. And the kid gives good presser.
Q. How did you feel when you looked over at your coach at times in the match presumably for support, and he had very negative body language?
DINARA SAFINA: Well, I guess I had to think what I'm doing wrong that he's so negative. (laughter.)Q. Do you respond more to a negative approach or a positive?
DINARA SAFINA: We'll skip this answer....
Q. You've talked about it being a dream of yours for a long time to be the No. 1 player in the world, which you are, and also a dream to win a Grand Slam. What did you think about both of those things as this match was maybe, say, in the second set?
DINARA SAFINA: Well, if I would lose a match, it would be I lost to myself, you know. It's me, myself, and I playing on the court. (laughter.)...
Q. Some other players and your countrywomen, Svetlana or Myskina have won Grand Slams, but not achieved as much as you have in the rankings. How do you rationalize that, or how do you feel about that, that discrepancy?
DINARA SAFINA: Well, I mean, Sveta was No. 2 in the world, and last year was also No. 2 in the world. They were close to get to No. 1.
I don't know. Now that I'm No. 1, I want a Grand Slam. There is no doubt for me. Like this is what is missing for me. I would like to win.
But I don't want to say like it has to happen. I know that I will work until the end of my career hard. When it's going to happen, I don't know. But I'm sure it will happen, because I've been very close to winning. I been in the three finals, so just one step. Sooner or later, I will have to make it....
Q. A lot of observers say that sometimes when a player has a really tough scare, when she's almost out of the tournament, sometimes that helps the player go on. Do you think that could be the case in this tournament?
DINARA SAFINA: I would take it like this, yeah. (laughter.)
Because in the French Open, I won all the matches 6 Love, 61. Did it help? Not really. So I mean, definitely it happens like this, like you pull the match somehow, like God knows. Like, I mean, God knows how I pulled it out. Not me. (laughter.)...
Q. Do you have any advice from your brother inside your head?
DINARA SAFINA: No. Sometimes it's not easy to understand him. (laughter.)
Just a reminder. Sam and Elena are the US Open series champs. On the men's side, Muzz and DelPo finished second and third, respectively, and for the ladies Flavs and JJ finished second and third. All six are now in the running for bonus money depending on how well they do in NYC.
Let's see if they can cash in.
Q. Are you curious how the fans would welcome you this year after what happened last year?
NOVAK DJOKOVIC: Well, look, I mean, this is past. What happened last year, the way I get it, to be honest, was like, I don't know, a fight with a girlfriend. Just a little fight with a girlfriend. These things happen. It was something that everybody can learn from it.
I always felt like at home here. I played so well last three years. I see no reason for me thinking about something that happened already.
So today was great. I just hope that the fans will behave nice, you know, in the next rounds.Q. You're such a fun loving guy. You have a lot of personality. You became a fan favorite because of that. Did that have any effect on how you act or hold yourself anymore?
NOVAK DJOKOVIC: You mean?Q. How you carry yourself.
NOVAK DJOKOVIC: Well, I think every individual, every tennis player, is different. You can't compare me to somebody else. This is the way I am. This is my personality. I am trying to enjoy what I do on and off the court as much as I can, do some things, like impersonations, which a lot of people liked, and I was very glad for that.
They were asking actually today, the small kids when I was signing autographs, When are you going to do more impersonations? I just came to see that.
Well, I'm here a little bit to play tennis.
No, I don't care for that, just impersonations.
Okay. Maybe I'll think about it.
It's a rough night for a few of us. After Day 2 Snot Rocket, Ana, Tipsy, Stan, FeLo, Pavs, Lucie, Agnes, U-Rad, Igor, Mama Bammer, Ai, Goth Bols, and Dima are out.
So let's look for some happiness, shall we? A few of my favorite things after the jump:
Continue reading ""When the dog bites, when the bee stings, when I'm feeling sad..."" »
After the devastating loss to K-Bond, Ana came out and gave her most honest presser to date.
Read it after the jump.
Aww...Tax does her best Michael Jackson impression.
Ooga Chakka Ooga Chakka Ooga Chakka...
Focus on your tennis and stop practicing making out with your girlfriend, Tomas.
You know what, dude? You deserve to lose if you're going to wear those sunglasses.
The new Glitter Queen?
At first I thought the dress looked crap. But upon further reflection I like it. Still don't love the headband, but if it means she's bringing glitter back, so be it.
Oh, and she destroyed Pironkova, 63 60.
Awesome.
What's there to say that hasn't already been said about Ana's game. Toss, serve, confidence, fishcakes. There's no shame in losing to K Bond, who beat Venus a few weeks ago. But this loss hurts because Ana played like crap AND she got outgutted by K Bond. Her lack of confidence manifested itself by Ana junkballing and K Bond, who was hobbling on one leg, dictating and cracking short balls. Somehow, despite being 4-1 down in the third, Ana fought her way back to force a tiebreak where she held a match point. But by the time Ana finally realized that she had to take her game to K Bond and play aggressively, it was too late. She had zero confidence in her forehand. It was appropriate that the match ended on a sitting forehand into the net.
The sad thing is that I was chatting with a friend during the match and she kept apologizing for how stressful and horrible it must be to sit through the match. My response: "Oh, don't worry. I'm used to it."
An easy walk in the park for Nole today, as he took out Lubey in easy straight sets as Jelena looked on. Either Lubey needs to retire or something physical was up with him today. He played horribly and looked like he was just happy to collect his $19k check for showing up. Really embarrassing performance.
Over on Armstrong, JJ looked like her 2008 self, dominating Vinci in a 2 and 3 win. No pictures of Mladjan, but you know he had that same dumb look on his face.
It's always something with you. It can never be easy.
Dina struggled against Rogowska, an Australian teen who's never faced a top 30 player and whose biggest win was over MaKiri. All credit to Rogowska for showing glimpses of promise, but really, this was about Dina's inability to get out of her head and just play the game. She played like absolute crap and couldn't get three consecutive shots in to save her life. And really, if she was playing anyone other than Rogowska today, she probably would have lost. Rogowska just didn't have the fitness or the tactics to stick with her.
After the match ESPN ripped on Mr. Cranky Pants, blaming him for not providing her any positive support when she needs it. Uh...and this is news how?
So Kimmy returns to the tour and all of the sudden the Belgians think they're relevant again.
Kristen Flipkins took out Snot Rocket yesterday and now Wickmayer sends The Gypsy packing in straight sets, 4 and 3.
I've been struggling for a while with coming up with a good nickname for Sorana. But I think I'm settling on The Coon. That eye makeup just kills me. She won in straight sets 1 and 3.
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.
Caro won with a second set bagel. That's great. But so far so blah on the fashion front. She debuted her pale colored Stella frock and it looks like a Project Runway dress that's been Auf Wiedersehened. It just hangs there like 30 lbs of extra fabric. No good.
Night session tennis at the USO. There's nothing like it. And by that I mean, I generally never watch it. It always showcases players I don't generally care for, the crowd kind of bugs, and I don't know, I just don't dig it. But one thing is certain: There's almost always drama.
And drama there was as Venus found herself hobbled and two points from getting bounced by Vera Dushevina.
Three games into the match Venus called the trainer to address what looked like a patella tendon issue in her left knee. After a 10 minute delay play resumed. To be clear, it didn't *really* look like the knee was hindering her that much. After some top notch investigative reporting from Pimmy, we've learned that she's been hobbled by the bum knee for as much as 6 weeks. Take note of that inside information, bookies.
As for Vera D, she didn't play great but she somehow found herself a set up after a pretty phenomenal backhand flick pass to seal the tiebreak. After some back and forth in the second, she was serving at deuce, two points from her biggest win ever. But Venus stepped up and would reel off the next 5 games and eventually close it out, winning 67(5) 75 63. All credit to the NY crowd for giving Vera a nice cheer as she left the court.
It was a gutsy performance from Venus. But this should pretty much put a death knell in all this "The Williams Sisters are the favorites" talk. Serena is the favorite. Venus will be lucky to get past the quarters. Of course now that I've said that she'll probably make it to the semis by just hitting out and serving big.
As for the boys, who didn't take the court until around 11pm, there was blood, tumbles, and Phau. Andy's ear started bleeding at some point (probably from the Rob Thomas performance earlier in the night) and Andy got pissed about having to have it treated. Apparently the ball kids can't handle any towels that have blood on them. You'd think Andy would understand that but he seemed really peeved.
Day 1 is on its way into the books.
And except for a few moments of stress, it was pretty snoozy.
Fed won easily, though Devon Britton, the young American, showed some stuff to be excited about.
Makiri won easily in her new Adidas Competition gear.
Hmm...maybe it *was* the clothes.
Don't tell Aga, but that ain't a checkmark on her kit.
I guess it's not a monogram, but....
Serena's through in just over an hour over a hobbled Alexa Glatch, 64 61.
And yes, she pimped her book which drops tomorrow during her on-court interview.
