London: WTF Semis

The top 4 players in the world squared off in the O2 Arena in London.


These two boys trained in the physical and mentally grinding Spanish style sure do love each other.

Ahndee Muurrey played the aggressive tennis that we know he's capable of, and had the match on his racket until he played two loose drop shots on his serve early in the 3rd set to let Rafa back in the match.

Mandy this is why you need to show no mercy when you have a short ball from Rafa. Rip a forehand instead of going for too much drop shit. Because eventually he'll wrong foot you and you could hurt yourself slamming on the brakes.

Then again maybe the reasons Mandy can't win the big matches are his facial expressions.

TMF was in full Jedi mode playing fantastic defense to frustrate Nole to a 61 64 victory. Fed has not dropped a set in London.



Frankly Nole didn't look mentally sharp and seemed to miss that extra bit of determination to dig out a win. My guess is that he was looking at a once-in-a-lifetime chance to win the Davis Cup at home in Serbia.

On Sunday, whose box does Maradona choose to sit in?

Oh, BTW, I'm cheering for Barca in El Classico tomorrow to beat Real Madrid with two most hated men in soccer: the Special One and Ronaldo (sorry Rafa). For you philistines about soccer, it's the biggest rivalry match in Spain's premier league.

London: WTF ... Cheesy Rock Star Entrances

As the season winds up, the World Tour Finals in London need to hype up the matches by introducing the players with cheesy rock star entrances.

You can almost hear Rafa saying "What's happening here? Why do they make me walk through this smoke?"

TMF is looking pretty sultry here.

The Djoker is a man of the people making fun of his eye troubles from the previous night.

Sod looks awkward.

Ferru is trying to enjoy his chance to hang out in the pantheon.

Chin up, Murray, you're playing in front of your home crowd.

At least your terrier Maggie enjoys the media attention.

Remembrances of the Fall Indoor Season 2010

Sorry for the radio silence over the last month and a half. My excuse is that I've been busy with a job transition. As Rafa's Knees tweeted over a month ago, the fall indoor season is anti-climatic as the pros are clearly looking forward to the off-season. A collage of images start blurring one into another as the season winds down.

In yet another apparent shock to the credibility of the WTA, a new slamless world #1 was crowned: Caro.

Lots of people hate on her game, and her lack of big time results this year (not even a finals appearance in the Slams). While I prefer the all court tennis of Henin and Federer, I respect the counterpunching grinding tennis that Caro plays. It's very difficult to sustain a rally for 20+ strokes without missing, and getting balls back with just enough interest to make them miss. If you haven't tried to do this yourself, it's very easy to sit on a couch and call that "pushing." At any rate, Caro has the mental strength and willingness to improve her game that she will win a Slam one day. Yeah, I know ReeRee has merely won AO and Wimbly out of the 6 tournaments she played, but as the Woody Allen said, part of life is showing up. It's a professional tennis player's job to stay healthy so that they can compete. ReeRee hasn't done that and she knows she should. Lots of people think Caro is like Lady JaJa because of her lack of apparent weapons. However, like Tigs I think she's a lot more like the Rafinator who celebrates every victory like he had just won Wimbledon.

Rafa took home a measly title in Tokyo and was ousted in Bangkok and Beijing but after his stellar three Slam year he can be allowed a mediocre Fall season (by his standards).

On the other hand, the Greatest Shanker of All Time has been closeted. Jedi Fed his best game at this time of the year, getting to the semis of Paris, the finals of Shanghai, and winning Stockholm & Basel. But, clearly, winning in front of his two cute daughters in his hometown tournament was the most emotionally significant for him. If the Logo is an emotional basket case when he wins a Slam for a significant record (exhibit: the tears streaming down his cheek at Roland Garros 2009), can you imagine the blubbering speech he'll give when his daughters are old enough to walk out on court when he wins his next Slam?



Muzzard, of course, won Shanghai by beating Federer. Kudos to him for executing the game plan of forcing Fed to try to win with his backhand. The moment of the trophy ceremony has to be win the MC calls out Muzz for not smiling (4:09). Such a bright and cheery lad!



But the absolute highlight of the fall tennis season, by far, is the debut of Andy Murray's dog, Maggie, on twitter. That cute thang tweeted after Andy's victory:

Can't decide if the weird blue thing or the rolex is a better chew toy for me.

Of course, when you're the beloved of a tennis superstar, life just gets too stressful sometimes watching him run down a lot of balls.

Beijing 2010 Preview

It's been quiet here since the US Open, and now with the season ending, the pros are no longer preparing for Grand Slams (so don't be surprised if ReeRee doesn't come back until next year).

That said, the top men and women are trying to collect ranking points to qualify for the year end championships in Asia. The men and ladies are together in Beijing to play at the site of the 2008 Olympics.



Site: here

Draw: women's singles and women's singles


Men's top seeds: Nole, Muzz, Sod, Play Station

It's a coin flip at this point of the season. Nole had a great run at the US Open. Muzz had a great hard court season, but had a disappointing US Open loss to Wawa. Sod can always bash his way through folks. Play Station looks like he's still finding his game after a wrist injury kept him out from Indian Wells to Wimbledon, and I would be surprised if he made it past Nando in the 2nd round.



Women's top seeds: Caro, Bepa, Lady JaJa, Sam

The big news is that Caro only needs to win two matches in order to become the world #1 due to ReeRee's strike injuries keeping her off the tour. This is emminently likely as here potential opponents are Errani/Peng and then Flavs/Kvitova/Kanepri/Pavs. If Caro becomes the world #1, then she joins Lady JaJa and Dina as women who have been #1 without winning a slam. While her game is similar to Lady JaJa (beat your opponent by consistency), she has the mental game to eventually win a slam as she never gives up, applies a strategy and is constantly trying to improve (e.g. her serve this year). I hope she takes over the world #1, so that the obvious retort to ReeRee doing this is that you can't play 6 tournaments in the year and expect to stay #1.



That said, I'd like Nails to win to give the Chinese something to go bananas about.

US Open 2010: Champions

Caro showed that her game still needs development to win a slam as Bepa was able to keep her off balance with variety.

Vee's power and athleticism was not enough to overcome her inconsistency or Kimpressive's defensive.

Bepa felt like hiding after getting manhandled by Kimpressive.

The Mum Train paraded Jada out for another year.

Head Banger came out flat, and could only sustain the intensity he knew he needed to beat the Rafinator for only one game.

Federror struggled with his forehand and first serve, and could not convert two MPs on the Djoker's serve.

When you face the wall that is called the Rafinator, you'd crack your rackets too.

Rafa took him the trophy to bite, and join the rarefied air of men who have won a Career Slam in singles (Federer, Agassi, Laver, Perry, Budge, Emerson). Like Rafa did, let's hold off on GOAT debates and just enjoy the moment.

Courtesy of Forty Deuce, here's the trophy ceremony which was interrupted by ESPN2's rush to get to football.

US Open 2010: Fedal Salivations

C'mon, if you're a tennis fan, admit that you've been think about this for a week: these two dorks could face off again. Yeah, Rafa has to beat Nando and then Misha/Wawa. Rogi has to beat the Djoker. But it looks extremely likely given their form. Rafa has been cranking the MPHs on his serve, getting them up to 130s (and more importantly the free points). He has not been broken in the entire tournament. Fed is headed toward hitting the most aces in the tournament; he has currently clocked 74 aces, which is two behind the current leader Tree.



They are clearly like laughing together.

They like hugging each other.

They conspire to wear the same kinds of clothes at media appearances.

They like goofing off on a tennis court

Rogi has even tried to steal Rafa's forehand.



And the 21 matches they've played over the years have been a magic carpet ride for the fans of the game.

The only places they've been able to play each other in the last two years have been Madrid. Rogi, are you working on your espanol?

They did play each other Down Under on hard courts even longer ago. A good friend is always there to console you even when they don't have to, no?

Even in their ceremonial pics, you wonder if they're about to bust out laughing.

Here's their last hard court match.



May you meet each other next Sunday and give us an epic.

US Open 2010: Spanish Shots of the Day

And I must emphasize Spanish shots of the day.

Nando comes back from two sets down to take out compatriot Daveed in the tiebreaker with this epic shot.



Rafa continues his quest to do everything Rogi can do.



This, of course, sets up a rematch of this great match from AO 2009.

US Open 2010: Labor Day Weekend

On Saturday, I was on the grounds of the US Open catching a bunch of the matches. I'll post on this later even though it will be anti-climatic. I spent the rest of the weekend recovering from watching several hours of live tennis (and I did sneak out to hit some balls myself).

Swiss precision triumphed in the form of Ewok.

The triumph made a Scotsman surly, and edged him closer to the dreaded category: best player never to have won a slam (yet).

The best WTA player never to have won a slam was in tears, because she couldn't convert 4 match points, on her own serve which is sadly the weakest part of her game.

The shyest player in the WTA showed real heart in fighting off those match points, even though she was a break down in the third to come back and win it in a run away tiebreaker.

In the battle of glamazons from Nike and Adidas, Shrieka couldn't hit the ball hard enough (and into the court).

A shriek did knock down Caro when she couldn't run down a lob in one of her few forays to the net.

The jinx showed up in the player's box of TMF.

Alas, Jurgen, the tennis gods just didn't give you enough.

Methinks, TMF worked super hard after Wimbledon on his defense and speed. It shows.

US Open 2010: Anything You Can Do I Can Do Better

For those old enough to remember Mia Hamm, she did a great Nike commercial with Michael Jordan, based on this classic jazz standard.



Watch Franny do it better



We already know Fed can do it again.

Watch the Magician school Fed. It's a bummer he retired. No wonder Feddy felt like he had to add a shot to his repetoire.

US Open 2010 Fashion Grades (Women)

The ladies have always gotten to do more then the men with their kits, but the women I know who hit balls want to look good.

Stella McCartney has finally hit the spot with Sunshine by actually designing something that fits her body. The shorter dress accentuates her legs, and the simpler lines complement her figure. And they actually depart from monochrome.

Grade: A

Shrieka's dresses continue to accent her skinny figure. I don't think the collars work. But kudos for Nike for the colors: retro with anthracite and rattan.

Grade: A-

The night dress is a variation of the day dress but ink with black and solar flare. This color combination doesn't provide enough contrast to be as interesting as the day dress. Can't you tell that underneath all that fierceness is a real goofball?

Grade: B+

Since ReeRee is injured, Vika gets to wear the dress that ReeRee would have worn. Nike seems not to care whether or not Vika wears the "night" dress during the day. Since she fainted in the middle of her second round match and had to be taken off in a wheel chair, one wonders whether she should have worn the day dress. The poor thing must be disappointed after having a great summer.

Grade: A-



It's a pity that we won't get to see the day dress on someone live.

Grade: A-

Good Nails was around for one set, crushing returns; and then Bad Nails showed up to spray balls in the last two sets of her first rounder. We won't get to see her functional kit long enough.

Grade: B

Adidas has taken a step up by allowing Ms. Fistpumps to use 4 colors: white, black, purple and pink.

Grade: B

Adidas steps out on a limb and puts Courage in purple. It actually works better on the ladies than their attempt to do so with Nando earlier this year.

Grade: B

Anta must think Lady JaJa secretly wants to wear an Adidas kit. It's a pity that it's been so hot and humid that she can't look glamorous sweating up a storm.

Grade: B

Vee continues to blur the line between a nightie and a tennis dress with her shiny black lace dress. At least she isn't flashing flesh-colored knickers.

Grade: B+

Vee goes unconventional with her day kit: it looks perfect for going to the beach. Just for creativity

Grade: A-

Sam's LaCoste whites are professional as the Hammer should be.

Grade: B+

The purple version of the same kit works even better. See how hard it is to tweak a design.

Grade: A-

Is Mum Train's Fila kit camouflauge? The diagonal stripes against the blue work.

Grade: A-