What is My Game? Muzz, Sodemort, Djoker and Ljubs

Head presents a new series of commercials: What is My Game?

Wobin Sodermort says his game is classical just like his Prestige stick.



But we all know it's pretty simple: see ball, hit ball (as hard as possible).

The Djoker claims running every down ball and accelerating aggressively into his shots like the Speed is his game.



But we all know it's about flirting with the ladies: Caro, Ana, Petko, etc.

Old Man Ljubs claims to like extreme spin and power, but he's anything but that.



Muzz loves to surprise people with the variety of strokes from his Radical.



Yawn! Such a bore!

Australian Open 2011: Semifinals Picks

For the women, I'm calling

1. Nails d. Caro because Nails does everything Caro does but better. She just needs to keep her head together, and all signs point to that


2. Kim d. Bepa because Kim can handle the big moments better and batten down the hatches despite a leg strain


3. Your Aussie Open 2011 Women's Single Champion: Nails! Because it would be awesome for 1.3 billion Chinese

1. Mandy d. Ferru: It's a hard court, it's not in England, and Mandy is playing calmer.


2. Fed d. Djoker: The last time the Djoker beat Fed, the Annacone effect hadn't fully taken, and Fed was looking too far ahead to playing Rafa the next day. He won't make that mistake again.


3. Your Aussie Open 2011 Men's Single Champion: Fed for the 17th time! And we'll see the him try to chase The Mighty Babes across Rod Laver Arena, and he'll turn into a blubbering dorkball that we all know that he is

Australian Open 2011: Mandy Figures out ADog

The hopes of Britain's first major winner in 150,000 years continued as Mandy made it past a tricky opponent in ADog (76 63 67 [3] 63).



I must say I went to bed in the 3rd set, convinced that Mandy had the match in the bag as ADog was brain farting too much. But all credit to Mr. Pony Tail for making one last go at making Mandy earn it.

While I'm sure Mandy would have loved the challenge of beating Rafa, he won't be taking his match against Ferru lightly. His head to head with Ferru is 2-3 with all of his wins coming on hard court and all of his losses on clay. Mandy will have to earn it, but is surely the favorite.

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: 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 Prognostications

The final act of the professional tennis season climaxes at US Open, the Loud Slam. Why the Loud Slam? As one observer put it, it rightfully claims all the cliches about New York.

The Open, on the other hand, is brash New York: all that concrete and hardcourts and loud music pumped into Ashe Stadium between games and the hot dogs and beer, and the late nights. The tournament that never sleeps. They’re both wonderful events in different ways, with Wimbledon more like a classical music festival and and the Open more like a state fair.

While Wimbledon's lawns mute the sound of the ball as it bounces, the asphalt in Flushing Meadow amplifies it and concrete stands amplify the crack of the ball as it collides with the strings and the courts. While Wimbledon mutes commercialism, the US Open embraces it to the max. While the Australian Open crowds are known for their laid back and happy feel, the crowds at the US Open are what you expect New Yorkers to be like: intense and rowdy. It embraces all the cliches of American culture: the surface is on fast hard court (Deco Turf II) which favors aggressive play, strokes that hit through the ball, and big serves.

Of course, crowds have a good reason to cheer when they see shots like this:



Tournament Site: here

Draws: men's singles and women's singles

Unfortunately due to wrist injury, Delpo won't be able to defend his title.

Add ReeRee, Allez Bitch, Ali and Tommy Haas to the injury list.

With the form that Mum Train has been showing over the summer, she has a good chance of parading Jada around Arthur Ashe Stadium again.

Men

1st Quarter: When Rafa won at Roland Garros, practically the first words out of his mouth was that he wanted to win the US Open to complete a career slam. A lot has been said about why Rafa has had a tougher time at the US Open, but observing Rafa's game in the last year, he's been making the adjustments necessary to make it more likely that he'll win. His serve has more pop; he's flattening out his forehand more (more windshield wipers over the reverses); he's approaching the net more.

Rafa should like his draw. Assuming he gets past Gabashvilli and Istomin, he could face Kohli in the 3rd round, who gave him a close match in Toronto but then faded away. He could then face either Feli or Mr. Clean who have beaten Rafa this year (Queens and Indian Wells). However, beating Rafa in a 5-setter is a different proposition, even if it is on a fast surface.

Many of the dangerous players are in the opposite side of Rafa's quarter. Nando and Daveed are the highest seeds due to their great results during the clay season, but could definitely have the games to do well on hard courts. Curls and Fat Dave are the sleepers, and could do some serious damage.

In the end, Rafa looks to be well rested, and hungry to win the US Open, even if he could have done better in Cincy and Toronto. I would expect him to shape up his serve and backhand even if a few guys give him a scare on his path to the semis.

Lurker: Fat Dave, Curls

Semifinalist: Rafa

2nd Quarter: Muzz appears to have gotten out of the funk that began after he lost to Fed in Oz. After appearing in the Wimbly semifinal, he fired his coach Miles MacLagan, and has been relying upon his mum in the coaches box. More importantly, he seems to have taken to heart the constant advice that he needs to play more aggressively in order to win a slam. In Toronto he showed great form. Aggressive tennis a la Muzzard means hitting his forehand with more authority to either angle his opponents off court or to put them away on short balls by flattening it out. When he gets his first serve in, he can get free points. His backhand will always be a dangerous weapon. And his excellent movement means he will always be able to get back more balls than his opponent, and he has always been capable of putting himself in better court position.

He could face either Samurai in the 4th round, who wouldn't commit seppuku in the finals at UCLA or Nico, who has done better on clay than asphalt. I would expect Samurai to make a break through to challenge Muzz. In the bottom half of Muzz' quarter, Big Berd will have to hit great passing shots to get past Llodra in the first round. I wouldn't expect him to have to deal with Tree, whose ankle ligament injury looks serious. Head Banger or X-Man could block Big Berd's trip into the quarters.

In the end, Muzz is playing with lots of confidence. I doubt Big Berd's ball bashing will be able to overcome Muzz's defense.

Lurker: Samurai, X Man

Semifinalist: Muzz

3rd Quarter: Big questions hang over the Djoker's game this year: his serve lost consistency in the spring when Todd Martin unwisely tried to change it, and more importantly, his asthma/breathing problems have a tendency to flare up during tight matches. He's an easy target, but probably not in the first round as he plays fellow countrymen (and skit co-conspirator) Troicki. However he faces dangerous challenges in Bags or Fish. Even if he gets to the 4th round, he could be challenged by Play Station who is finding his form after a long injury layoff or ARod who beat him in Cincy. The cooler weather in New York won't drain the Djoker, but guys this year know that he's eminently beatable.

Lurker: Fish, Anderson

Semifinalist: ARod


4th Quarter: Despite winning his 16th major in January, Fed comes in with doubters, because of the relatively subpar performance (for his standards) at Roland Garros and Wimbledon. Making the quarters of a major only to have big tall guys like Big Berd and Sod hit him out of the tournament doesn't cut it for Fed. He could face either Sod or Cilic in the quarters. Cilic has disappointed since Oz. However Sod has had a great year, beating Fed at Roland Garros to eventually make the finals, and appeared in the quarters at Wimbly.

Fed has a fairly easy path to the quarters, where he might face Rusty in the 3rd round and Melzer in the 4th. Although Rusty beat Fed in Halle, Fed has been Rusty's albatross through out his career. And Fed didn't have any trouble handling Melzer in their first meeting in Wimbly. If Fed meets Sod, I wouldn't expect Fed to show any mercy.

Lurker: Rusty

Semifinalist: Fed

Semifinals: Muzz d. Rafa, Fed d. ARod

Finals: Fed d. Muzz

Women

1st Quarter: Caro is the surprise top seed. For all the criticism fired at her game (absence of a put away forehand and net game), she's mentally tougher than many peers in her generation, and constructs points better than the typical WTA ball basher. Life can't be easy for her as she could be hit off the court by Masha or Rezai to even make the the 4th round.

Even if she gets past them, then Nails would be her most dangerous opponent, beating Caro twice this year. On the hand, Nails could hit herself out of the tourney. Sveta is looking to get her game back together, but faces match up problems against MaKiri. Caro is capable of handling either of those two.

Lurker: Rezai, MaKiri

Semifinalist: Nails

2nd Quarter: Lady JaJa spent her junior years training at the Bollitieri Academy and should feel comfortable on the asphalt of New York. Her best showing was a finals appearance in 2008, but overall her best surface is clay as she has made the semis of Roland Garros thrice. This summer has not been her greatest on hard courts. Whoopie is looking to defend her semifinal showing here, but has been lacking consistency this year.

Aggie has been consistent, but doesn't really have the weapons to challenge the big hitters who hit a run of consistency in the majors. Bepa is having a great year, making the finals of Wimbly and Montreal. As long as she keeps her head together, a semifinal appearance is hers for the taking.

Lurkers: Kanepri, Nads

Semifinalist: Bepa

3rd Quarter: At 30, Vee comes in as one of the oldest top seeds amongst the ladies. With her power and speed, she is always a dangerous ball basher to get past. Unfortunately her forehand and serve tend to disappear sometimes because she drops her head, and she tries to blast her way out of a slump. Not only that she faces Pironkova who flummoxed her at Wimbly. Flavs seems to have found her game but doesn't really have the power to beat Vee. Neither does Shahar.

In the top half of this quarter, Franny is tired of living off the afterglow of winning Roland Garros, but it remains to be seen if she will break out of the pattern of getting beaten early in a tourney. Vika, on the other hand, looks to be fully recovered from the injuries that plagued her through the clay/grass season. Not only that she is playing better defense and moving better. She's due for a breakout that was hinted at when she almost beat ReeRee in Oz earlier this year.

Lurker: Pironkova, Flavs

Semifinalist: Vika


4th Quarter: Mum Train has had her best results in New York winning it twice. Can she do it third time? All her victories this year have been on hard courts (Brisbane, Miami and Cincy). As long as she doesn't over rush her pacing through a match, she has the right combo of power and defense to deserve to be called one of the favorites. Mono might block her path to the final, but doesn't have a serve that is not attackable.

Sam has never done well in the US Open. Part of the reason is that the surface softens the bounce of her kick serve, taking away one of her key weapons. Not only that, she's not the greatest mover and lacks the time to run around her backhand. LenaD on the other hand has always been a great mover with legs like a tree trunk, and doesn't need to cover up her backhand as a weakness. While some think she's in the sunset of her career, she looks ready to make a deep run making the semis (as we speak) of New Haven. In the end, Kim is a similar player to Lena D but with a better serve.

Lurker: Dina

Semifinalist: Mum Train

Semifinals: Mum Train d. Vika, Bepa d. Nails

Finals: Mum Train d. Bepa

Defense Wins Cincy and Toronto

This happened in Toronto as Muzz surprised Fed with a more aggressive game that he needs to play in order to win a slam. Specifically Muzz showed a forehand that was either a putaway for short balls or a forcing shot (e.g. the angled inside out shot). The score was closer than it should have been (75 75) as Fed recovered in both sets from being a break down only to give the service break back to Muzz. If anything would prevent him from winning the USO, his second serve is still too easy to attack.

Mum Train recovered from a poor start and saved 3 championship points to prevail over Shrieka [2-6, 7-6 (4), 6-2]. Shrieka started to feel pain in her left heel toward the end of the second set, and it clearly hampered her ability to push off as it worsened in the 3rd set.

Oz Redux in Canada

In a replay of their AO semifinal, Muzz succeeded in hitting through Rafa (6-3 6-4). A typical point was that Rafa would hit to Muzz's forehand. Muzz would hit a reverse FH that angled Rafa off the court to his backhand. Rafa would try to hit a sharper angle back with topspin back, but Muzz is so fast he'd run it down and take the control of the point with a flatter forehand. Muzz presents a different problem to Rafa than, say, Fed, because when Muzz takes control of a point he's such a great retriever and such a great defensive player he's not likely to miss. Plus Rafa's heavy topspin FH to Muzz's backhand doesn't bother Muzz.

The Greatest Shanker of All Time eked out a victory to set up a redux of his Oz Open Final. He admitted that he got ahead a bit too quickly against the Djoker (6-1, 3-6, 7-5). The Djoker settled down from trying to outbash Rafa, cleaned up his game and almost used his forehand to angle Fed out of the tournament. Kudos to Fed for clutch play in the 3rd set.

Cincy and Montreal 2010

The ladies and the men swap locations. The men are in the sauna that's called Cincinnati, and the ladies go north of the border to Montreal.

Cincinnati

Up north in Canada, all of the top 4 made it to the semifinals. Last year the same suspects made it to the semis in humid Cincy instead of Montreal. So look for someone beside the top 4 to upset of them. Rafa is looking to fine tune his form on hard court to complete his coveted career slam. From his match against Muzz, Rafa needs to serve better and cut down on his backhand errors. This year he's been doing an outstanding job of hitting the flatter windshield wiper forehand to supplement his better known reverse forehand. With Rafa's determination, he can never be counted out. Fed's coaching experiment with Annacone is off to a great start as he beat Berdych the type of player who has given him trouble this past year (big tall ballbasher) and the Djoker to reascend to #2. Annacone looks like he is making Federer drive more returns, and risk using his topspin backhand to open up the court (sharp CC or down the line). If Fed can do that consistently, watch out for the return of Darth Federer! Muzz is going without a fulltime coach, and relying upon the advice of his hitting partner (Danny Valerdu) and his mum. It looks like Muzz has figured out what it means for him to be more aggressive: hit a spin forehand to angle his opponents off the court early in the point. Then use his speed & movement off either wing to hit another shot on the rise to put his opponents in an even worse position to set up a flat forehand into the open court. Out of the top 4 guys, the Djoker looks the most vulnerable to an upset, as his opponents know that if you force him to stay out there long enough, his fitness problems will tip him toward mental collapse.


Tourney Site: here

Draw: here

Seeds: Rafa, Djoker, Fed, Muzz, Sod, Playstation, Big Berd, Nando

Montreal

Lady JaJa is officially the #1 seed, but for any WTA pro not surnamed Williams, that's no sure thing. The buzz is around Shrieka and Mum Train who met in the finals in Cincy. One reason for the hard court prowess is that they can hit through the court, preventing counterpunchers like Lady JaJa, Caro, Aggie and Franny from extending points past their shot tolerance. While Bepa does play a counterpuncher's style, her results at Wimbledon show that she can murder the ball when she wants. Nails always tries to murder the ball but can't find the court (a bit too often).

Tourney Site: here

Draw: here

Seeds: Lady JaJa, Caro, Lena D, Mum Train, Franny, Aggie, Bepa, Nails

Toronto and Cincy 2010: Let the Games Begin

Even though the US Open series has already started (Washington DC, San Diego, Atlanta, Stanford, LA), most of the top 10 don't start to play until the more important Masters/Premier tourneys begin (and extend their summer vacations). Now shit gets real. The men have a Masters 1000 in Canada; the ladies play in Cincy. Looking back a year, what a difference a year makes?

Toronto

Delpo won't be around to defend his points from making the finals last year due to a wrist injury. Muzz hasn't won a tournament this year (after winning 6 last year), and failed to convert championship points against Samurai in LA. While Muzz has parted ways with his coach in hopes of improving so that he can start winning slams, it's not exactly clear what he wants to change. Does he want to improve at chasing balls? What about a forehand with more punch? It's not exactly clear whether he can defend his title here?

Recall that Fed had Tsonga on the ropes last year but failed to close it out in an epic collapse. While Anacone will be in Fed's coach box this week, it remains to be seen whether Fed can pull out of his slump. If pattern holds, Fed won't be in match shape until next week in Cinncinati. Or we might be surprised to see Anacone make Fed try different patterns to take control of points.

Rafa has had a stellar clay/grass season, and is hungry to win the US Open to complete a career slam. And this year he's managing his schedule to rest his knees to peak at the US Open. If I recall correctly, he's planning to skip one of the Master's 1000s (i.e. Cincinnati) to give himself more rest for his knees. Even with a less strenuous schedule, Rafa's heavy topspin strokes and preference for sliding won't be quite the advantage he's accustomed to on fast hard courts like Deco Turf (see here for the difference a hard court can make). Then again, he did make the semis of Indian Wells and Miami. So it would be no surprise of Rafa continued his domination of the tour.

Tourney Site: here

Draw: here

Seeds: Rafa, Fed, Nole, Muzz, Playstation, Sod, ARod, Nando

Injuries: Delpo (wrist), Ali (knee), Dr. Ivo (ankle), Gonzo (calf), Rusty (calf)

Oh, by the way, this odd couple is playing doubles.

Cincinnati

With the WTA, you never know who will come out on top on a given week. Dinara is coming back from back injury and is lucky to win consecutive matches these days. I'll go out on a limb and bet that she won't be in the final. Lady JaJa rolled her ankle back in Portoroz, Slovenia and claimed (again) that it hobbled her last week against Kleybs. Caro was at one point in the year the world #2 but frankly hasn't shown that she can be a consistent Slam contender because of her weaker forehand (and yes I count her movement as a weapon). While Sam has a heavy serve and forehand, her movement is bit suspect on faster hard courts where she can't hit a lot of runaround forehands. Franny has a high seed due to her magical (and career-climaxing) win at Roland Garros, but this may not be relevant to predicting her playing well this week in Cincy. Finally, Bepa is coming off an excellent run to the finals in SW19, where she had the misfortune of playing Serena en fuego. It will be fun to see which Bepa will show up: the racket smasher or the steady smart counterpuncher. Likewise with Nails we get a Heckyll-Jyde schtick. She can either be the cleanest ball striker you've ever see, painting the lines, or nail the ball into the alleys.

Tourney Site: here

Draw: here

Seeds: Lady JaJa, Caro, LenaD, Mum Train, Franny, Bepa, Nails

Injuries: Vee (knee), ReeRee (foot), Allez Bitch (elbow), Sam (arm)

Stanford & UCLA 2010

After a long hot summer vacation, the US Open series begins to ramp up. Unless you consider any of the following news.

• ReeRee goes on the injured list with an injured foot and will miss most of the summer and (conveniently) get back in time to play the US Open


• JuJu probably won't be back from her elbow injury until Beijing after the US Open


• Rafa is a total Spanish football fanboy, and cheered for the Barca the La Liga all-stars in their victory in the World Cup over the Dutch


• GOAT Brain vacationed in Corsica with the Mighty Babes


• ARod shaved his hair


• The Worm got married to Nicole Vaidisova


• Tennis Canada declined to give a wild card to NaturAna for Montreal, and it all might be for the best.


• Some idiotic tennis journalists think ReeRee is the female GOAT despite the fact that she has not yet won more majors than Evert, Navratilova, Graf and Court


• Davis Cup quarterfinals happened: Serbia beat Croatia and will host the Czechs for the semis. Argentina beat Russia, and will travel to France who beat a clearly distracted Spanish team.

Almost none of these items have anything to do with a professional going out and smacking some balls to win a match. Hence the long silence of this blog.


The ladies are in Stanford for the Bank of the West Classic. The guys are at UCLA for the Farmer's Classic. Yes, Pac-10 universities have a fetish with medieval-looking buildings (I'm an alumni of one). Yes, it's a vain attempt to imitate the Ivy Leagues who are also fashioning a simulacra of European universities like Oxbridge. No, the boys and girls won't be playing in a vintage stadia.

Stanford

Given Shrieka's form this past spring, can she elevate it during the USA hard court season? Is she due for a run? Can Sam be a superhero on hard courts as well as clay? Can Hamster defend her title? It's the WTA. It's anyone's guess who will win this tourney.

Tourney Site: here

Draw: here

Seeds: Sam, Aggie, Hamster, Shahar, Whoopie, Shrieka, Bepa and JZ

Last year, this dramatic trauma happened to the delight of some.



It scarred the blonde Bolletieri alumna so much that she decided to sign up for dubs with Whoopie this year to work on her volleys. Unfortunately since neither of them have a top 10 ranking, they weren't allowed a doubles wild card but they'll try again.

UCLA

Nole has dropped out for personal reasons and is replaced by Muzz who must be looking for any reason to get out of Florida's summer humidity. Will Muzz show an ability to take control of points? Or has Gulbis recovered from his injury enough to hit through him? Will Samurai's supporters lift him to victory for a repeat of his win in his home town? Can Blah resuscitate his career?

Tourney Site: here

Draw: here

Seeds: Muzz, Samurai, Blah, Bags, Gulbis, Feli