Australian Open 2011: Rally for Relief

If you haven't been following the news lately, you should know that the floods in Queensland are just apocalyptic. Over 200,000 people have been affected, and the flood has touched an area over the size of France and Germany combined.




Yes, a week ago in Brisbane a tournament was being played, and now this.

Roger Federer announced today on his Facebook account that they will have the Rally Relief exho on Sunday at 3pm to help raise funds for those affected by the floods. It is expected that Rafael Nadal, Kim Clijsters, Novak Djokovic, Sam Stosur, Lleyton Hewitt, Andy Roddick and Pat Rafter will also participate.

Last year, a similar crew participated in the "Hit for Haiti" which was full of light-hearted fun.

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 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-

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

Roland Garros 2010: Women's Final

Franny played freely with nothing to lose and served out of her mind to take the
Coupe Suzanne Lenglen back to her home of Milan (6-4 7-6 [2]). Franny played clutch by approaching the net to come up with the goods at key moments. As expected Sam served well except at key moments where it seemed she let up just a moment. She never seemed to relax and was broken in two of her service games facing triple break points. Franny is obviously late in her career (age 29) and this is realistically her only chance to win a major.

	Stosur	Schiavone
Unforced Errors	28	19
Winners	25	26
1st Serve %	42/65 (65%)	46/71 (65%)
Aces	3	6
DF	1	1
1st Serve % Pts Won	30/42 (71%)	35/46 (76%)
2nd Serve % Pts Won	13/22 (59%)	15/24 (63%)
Break Points Won	1/2 (50%)	2/7 (29%)
Net Approaches	11/18 (61%)	14/15 (93%)
Total Receiving Points Won	21/71 (30%)	22/65 (34%)
Total Service Points Won	43/65 (66%)	50/71 (70%)
Total Points Won	64/136 (47%)	72/136 (53%)

It was pretty obvious from Sam's concession speech that she was holding back tears. No, I don't think she choked either. Hopefully she can take away positives from this as she obviously has the game to come back and win a Major on another try.

Roland Garros 2010: Women's Semifinals

The finalists are surprising. Stosur was one to watch out for but had to beat Allez Bitch, ReeRee and Lady JaJa. Franny was not really on the radar screen of most.



Kudos to Franny who outplayed (ever so slightly) a gimpy Demy in the 1st and only set (7-6[3] retire). I thin toward the end of the set she made the adjustment to hit heavier topsin shots so that she played excellent defense as Demy kept trying to break down her one-handed backhand. A real bummer for Lena who has been always been the bridesmaid at a Slam, but never the bride. The injury to her left calf that she sustained in her earlier rounds caught up to her and she might miss Wimbledon.

	Schiavone	Dementieva
Unforced Errors	12	24
Winners	12	15
1st Serve %	60%	71%
Aces	1	2
DF	2	4
1st Serve % Pts Won	20/27 (74%)	23/35 (66%)
2nd Serve % Pts Won	7/18 (39%)	5/14 (36%)
Break Points Won	1/4 (25%)	1/1 (100%)
Net Approaches	8/10 (80%)	6/7 (86%)
Total Receiving Points Won	19/45 (42%)	14/43 (33%)
Total Service Points Won	29/43 (67%)	26/45 (58%)
Total Points Won	48/94 (51%)	46/94 (49%)

Noting spectacular from the statistics side, as would be expected from a set that goes to a tiebreaker.



I was not entirely surprised that Sam terminated Lady JaJa (6-1 6-2). Yeah, that kick serve and heavy topspin FH does wonders on clay. WTA, take notice! When your second serve is a weapon, you really have nothing to fear.

	Stosur	Jankovic
Unforced Errors	16	22
Winners	18	9
1st Serve %	61%	74%
Aces	7	2
DF	4	1
1st Serve % Pts Won	25/31 (81%)	13/24 (38%)
2nd Serve % Pts Won	8/16 (50%)	7/11 (60%)
Break Points Won	5/10 (50%)	1/5 (20%)
Net Approaches	4/6 (80%)	4/6 (67%)
Total Receiving Points Won	26/46 (57%)	18/51 (35%)
Total Service Points Won	33/51 (65%)	20/46 (43%)
Total Points Won	59/97 (60%)	38/97 (40%)

From the stats it is pretty obvious that Sam was all over JaJa's first serve. It's a pretty good bet that in most of the points, Sam took immediate control.

Sam has been playing very consistent and steady clay-court tennis, and plays better offense than Franny. Tactically, Sam should adjust to attack Franny's FH with an inside-in FH or BH DTL. Franny will need to hope that her high bouncing topspin shots or BH slices can frustrate Sam. But none of that from Henin really frustrated her. From the way Sam has been playing, I think the Coupe Suzanne Lenglen is on her racquet.

Roland Garros 2010: The Queen of Clay Has Fallen!

Sam broke Allez Bitch's streak of 24 consecutive wins at Roland Garros (2-6 6-1 6-4). While I thought that Allez Bitch had an excellent chance to win the French Open, I didn't think she was the overwhelming favorite. Tennis is a game of probabilities, and even champions who are supposed to win can lose. She had a couple things against her: a dodgy/inconsistent serve and a draw from hell. Sam was one of those obstacles she had to but could not surmount. All credit to Sam, as she played her game. JuJu praised Sam's game yesterday.

She has beautiful qualities on clay because she plays kind of a man’s tennis. I mean, she has very heavy balls. She is a very powerful girl.

The keys to the match, in my opinion, were whether Sam could maintain her nerves when she got ahead. After JuJu handed Sam a service break at 2-1 with a double fault, Sam had the match on her racquet but gifted the break back with two double faults. Sam finally made a crucial hold at 3-4, and then broke JuJu's service game.

How did Sam get the momentum? From what I saw, Sam had a more reliable 2nd serve that would keep her ahead in the points, and Sam's fearhand was doing a better job of dictating play especially out of an inside-out shot to the backhand. In the 3rd set, JuJu kept trying to thread the needle of getting the ball into Sam's weaker BH but refused to go for the BH DTL (or inside-in FH) when Sam was so clearly favoring her FH in ad crosscourt exchanges.

	Henin	Stosur
Unforced Errors	29	33
Winners	14	26
1st Serve %	56%	54%
Aces	4	2
DF	7	7
1st Serve % Pts Won	32/45 (71%)	29/44 (66%)
2nd Serve % Pts Won	14/29 (48%)	21/30 (70%)
Break Points Won	3/7 (43%)	4/6 (67%)
Net Approaches	6/8 (75%)	15/19 (79%)
Total Receiving Points Won	31/81 (38%)	35/81 (43%)
Total Service Points Won	46/81 (57%)	50/81 (62%)
Total Points Won	77/162 (47%)	85/162 (52%)

From the stats, there is no question that Sam was the better player. Sam was able to use her forehand to get to net more frequently and effectively, and was able to defend her second serve more effectively. Hopefully, this will give JuJu some time to work on her 2nd serve.

Sam will face ReeRee to play for a place in the semis. On clay, Sam has a better chance since it will be harder for ReeRee to overpower her opponents. Sam will have to maintain her nerves against ReeRee's gamesmanship. And she should since she has the firepower to keep up.

Stuttgart & Rome Champions 2010

It looked like it was going to be a tight one. JuJu shifted up an extra gear that Sam didn't have to win the 1st tournament of her 2nd career, bringing home a silver Porsche (6-4 2-6 6-1).

	Stosur	Henin
Aces	2	4
DF	2	4
1st Serve %	55%	65%
1st Serve % Pts Won	30/42 (71%)	37/52 (71%)
2nd Serve % Pts Won	16/34 (47%)	14/28 (50%)
Break Points Won	2/5 (40%)	4/10 (40%)
Total Service Points Won	46/76 (61%)	51/80 (64%)
Total Points Won	75/156 (48%)	81/156 (52%)

Keys to the match: Henin had a high first serve percentage and did a better job of returning her opponent's 2nd serve.



The point at 5:52 (15-0 at 1-0 on JuJu's serve) was probably the momentum decider. Sam had control of the point off a floater on her ad side. But instead of going for a DTL winner, Sam went for the safer CC shot, hoping to wrong foot JuJu, but JuJu responded with a sharp angled BH winner.

On the men's side in Rome there were one two rain delays before the Clay Monster marched over Daveed 5 and 2. Looking at the stats, it's surprising that the game score was close as it was. Daveed never really took advantage of attacking Rafa's second serve. How many more trophies will he bite?



I'm just going to suggest this because no one has thought of this already. Maybe that kid from Mallorca is the favorite to win at Roland Garros.

	Nadal	Ferrer
Aces	3	1
DF	0	5
1st Serve %	80%	72%
1st Serve % Pts Won	34/44 (77%)	36/58 (62%)
2nd Serve % Pts Won	7/11 (64%)	9/23 (39%)
Unforced Errors	17	30
Winners	24	15
Break Points Won	3/13 (23%)	0/1 (0%)
Total Service Points Won	41/55 (75%)	45/81 (56%)
Total Points Won	77/136 (57%)	59/136 (43%)

Pretty obvious from the stats, that Daveed never got into Rafa's service games and never had a chance.



Even here, Daveed made four great gets (a FH squash shot, a slice off a drop shot, a behind the back shot, and a chicken volley) but still lost the point.

Monte Carlo: Return of the King of Clay

King Rafa asserted his supremacy in force, baking a bagel and a breadstick for compatriot Nando. Rafa hasn't bit a trophy since Rome of last year. Despite whispers about his vulnerability the last few months, this comes as no surprise to those who have been watching his form the last few weeks.



His dominance was so utter that Nando had to thank God to win a point.



In WTA news, Sam overpower Casper with a bagel and three to become the muscled queen of HarTru for the second singles trophy of her career in Charleston. After winning 9 consecutive games, Casper had to take her frustrations out.