Australian Open 2011: Practice Again

For those of us up in colder climes of the Northern Hemisphere, nothing can make us feel more envious than seeing balls getting smacked in Oz.

Sharpie christens Rod Laver Arena to work on her forehand.



Here's JuJu Bear playing practice points.



A shirtless Nando posing for the ladies.



Lawnmower getting advice from Ivan Lendl.



Le Monf looking serious



Finally more Masha (can't she work on her defensive skills?)



ADDITION: Woger Federror working on his serve and playing practice points

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 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-

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.

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

Wimbledon 2010: Manic Monday

One of the consequences of Wimbledon taking the middle Sunday off is that all the 4th round matches took place on Monday, which makes for lots of great tennis.

The Greatest Forehand Shanker was kidnapped by aliens and replaced by TMF who returned beautifully and put on practice match against Melzer (63 62 63)

Belgian text-buddies promised to meet each other for the biggest exho since BJK beat Bobby Riggs in the Battle of the Sexes. Mum Train's chance of winning a Wimbly before she has another kid were kept alive and JuJu has another year to work on her serve (26 62 63).

Ears were split at Centre Court by Shrieka and ReeRee. Unfortunately for fans of rose petal dresses, Shrieka double faulted in the tie breaker to set up set point to gift the match to ReeRee (76 [9] 64).

Vee her sister also hung in there to win a tight straight setter over Groth (64 76[5]).

The Djoker overcame an "illness" to do his Incredible Hulk impression to overcome Rusty (75 64 36 64)

ARod played not to lose and lost to Asia's best tennis player, Rendy Lu (46 76[3] 76[4] 67[5] 97). Oh, BTW, his interview is a gem where he takes stupid media questions apart.

Nails kept enough balls in play to hit Aggie off the court (63 62).

So did Petra Kvitova to Aggie's best friend, Caro, who really needs to learn to win matches without on court coaching (62 60).

Lady JaJa had to retire with a lower back injury against Bepa (61 30).

In other news,

• Rafa steamrolled Mathieu (64 62 62)


• Sod hung in there against Ferru (62 57 62 36 75)


• Ali danced after triumphing over Benneteau his compatriot (61 46 63 61)


• Samurai couldn't hit through Muzz (75 63 64)


• Big Berd triumphed over Brand (46 76[1] 75 63)
  
• The Hamster lost to Pironkova (64 64)


• Kanepri cruised over Zakopalova (62 64)

Birmingham, Halle and Queen's Champions 2010

In the battle of the ball bashers, Nails triumphed over Shrieka (7-5 6-1) to take home her third WTA trophy of her career. The Chinese tennis star earns a spot in the top ten again after a solid clay court season. Last year she beat Maria in the semis but lost in the finals to Magdalena Rybarikova.

Last year I made the mistake of being so happy when I beat Maria I forgot I had another match. And now I’m so excited if I had another match I’d probably lose that too.

Reminder to Nails: you are playing a tournament tomorrow in Eastbourne.

The Greatest Shanker of All Time fulfilled the first of his appearance obligations for the rest of his career in Halle and ended his win streak of 15 to Rusty (3-6, 7-6 [4],
6-4)

In the last several years, Fed's record on grass is 76-2 with his only other loss being the epic classic match against Rafa in 2008. But it's no exaggeration that with losses in the Spring to Bags, Big Berd, Gulby, Montanes, Sod and Rusty, Fed's confidence is not where it should be going into Wimbly.

Samurai owes Fish dinner, triumphing at Queen's (7-6 [3] 7-5). He becomes the first ATP pro to win on three surfaces in 2010. He's won tourneys on hard (Memphis) and on clay (Belgrade).

Roland Garros 2010: Middle Sunday

Caro wore down Flavs with her usual brand of Golden Retriever tennis (7-6 [4] 6-7 [5] 6-2)

She'll face another Italian: Franny, who frustrated MaKiri by keeping a billion balls in play (6-4 6-4)

JuJu survived Shrieka's ice stare and fireballs to play Sam for a place in the quarters to take the 3rd set after play was suspended last night (6-2 3-6 6-3).

BTW, Tigs noticed Masha's new tic. Instead of combing her hair before she serves, she clenches her fist before she receives serve.


Demy had a relatively easy match over Scheepers (6-1 6-3).

She'll face Nads who demonstrated improved defence to "upset" Vee (6-4 6-3).

In the battle of big fast guys who are supposed to be the future, Sod handed a beatdown to Cilic (6-4 6-4 6-2).

Sod will try to get his first official career win over the Greatest Shanker of All Time, who beat his friend and compatriot Wawa (6-3 7-6 [5] 6-2)

Big Berd feasted on Muzzard who has not had a great clay court season.

He'll face Head Banger who advanced due to the retirement of Jo Willy because of a hip injury.