Heard Around

by Savannah

Another racist incident in the ATP

American player Ryan Sweeting (above), who has been trying to make his way into the top 100 was fined $1,500.00 American by the ATP for berating the chair umpire after he over ruled a line call. Marc Weber reports the following:

An irate Sweeting, the former junior U.S. Open champion, was issued a warning for verbal abuse after calling the umpire "a f------ kite," as was reported by the umpire following the match.
(...)
"We received the code violation from the chair umpire and he provided me with a written report of what he heard, and I've fined Mr. Sweeting for his actions," said ATP supervisor Keith Crossland.
(...)
Crossland did confirm that statements have been taken from other officials and people within earshot of the rant. At least one heard a different word -- one that is derogatory towards Jews.

People have been doing yeoman's work in bringing more attention to Junior Tennis and it seems that while there are a great many players who are deserving of the attention some of the on court antics and attitudes that young players are bringing to the tennis court are disturbing to say the least.

Despite her talent Victoria Azarenka is one of the worst offenders in this regard. She seems not to understand the role of the chair umpire at all. Her outburst in Brisbane is what keeps me from being a whole hearted supporter of her.

Unfortunately Brydan Klein's recent outburst came as no surprise to me. Bernard Tomic is another one who could use some courses in on court etiquette.

It seems that the juniors coming onto the main tour are legends in their own minds and are having trouble realizing that behavior that may be sanctioned by their tennis organizations is not what is expected on either Main Tour.

Sweeting, who has had past problems due to his off court behavior is not a kid though. He's 22. He obviously wants to become a "player" in the slang sense of the word, in American tennis circles. It's going to be interesting to see how the American tennis media reports on this situation.

Live Streaming

There is tremendous interest in the match between Marion Bartoli and Kim Clijsters scheduled to take place Monday evening in Cincinnati. Unfortunately TennisTV and ESPN2 won't pick up the coverage of the event until later in the week. It's quite interesting then that Kim's website is touting it's "live" coverage of the match.

Now live can mean many things. I know on Eurosport they will tout "live" coverage and what you get is scoreboard watching. I guess we'll all be checking out Kim Clijsters site to see if we will indeed be able to see the match live. That is with a live stream. What would tennis fans do without them since TPTB seem to think we only care about quarterfinal, semifinal, and final matches. Getting to those matches is half the fun.

Los Angeles and the WTA

Flavia Pennetta was faced with the same situation Urszula Radwanska faced the night before. The woman across the net couldn't get her serves in to save her life as the saying goes yet the "stah" was still expected to run over her prone body and make the final. It seems that Flavia decided she had nothing to lose and went out to win the match. Flavia is looking to be the first Italian woman to be ranked in the top ten and knew that winning matches you're supposed to lose is part of the deal if she's to breathe that rarefied air. Flavia was seeded number 10 in LA and is ranked 14 in the official rankings. Her opponent is ranked #61.

It's funny about American commentators. Every visit from the "stah's" coach was treated as if Zeus was descending from Mount Olympus. Visit's from Flavia's coach were treated as comedic interludes. Yet it was the "comedic interludes" that ended up prevailing. Those of us sitting at home can say Flavia should've won it in two but we're sitting at home probably stuffing our faces with something while the players are actually playing. She won it in three sets. She won. I had turned the sound off by then so I didn't hear how the commentators handled the "unexpected" loss of #61 to #14.

Flavia will meet Samantha Stosur of Australia in today's final. There are people who bought tickets and they'll be there. I bet there will be a lot of commentary about empty seats today since the "Stah" isn't playing. Not much was said when she was playing and the empty seats outnumbered behinds. If you can see the match ignore that nonsense. Both women have a lot to prove with this final. It's the kind of match the WTA should be looking to promote. Right.

By the way the Stah's shoulder was taped last night. Kinda. It wasn't the support tape you usually see but I'm no expert on that sort of thing. I have to repeat that the double faulting problem existed before the shoulder issue. The shoulder issue was supposed to be resolved and the double faulting was to go away. Is it her ball toss? Is it the mechanics of her serve? Or is it something else?

Tennis In the Fountains

Beautiful pictures of Elena Dementieva and Kim Clijsters during their exhibition in Cincy yesterday. It sounded like a weird idea but looks like it was a lot of fun.

Tennis Chit Chat

by Savannah

I'm posting this about 10:30p East Coast USA time. I want to make sure my hypothesis holds. The above picture is from a day match during the WTA LA Women's Championship. There are a lot of empty seats. I can hear you all saying it's a day match in the hot sun. The fans must surely be on the grounds chowing down or browsing. Except that the stands look exactly the same at night. The face of the WTA, the Golden Girl, Maria Sharapova, has been playing in a near empty stadium as well. As one wit quipped there are ten people there for day matches and fifteen at night. Another fan made the statement that if Sharapova can't put butts in the seats the WTA has no chance of building the sport in Los Angeles.

Except that the empty seats have become the rule not the exception. During majors and combined events fans routinely head for the ATP match regardless of who is playing while the WTA matches are played in echo chambers. This is despite the fact that there are a lot of new players creating a buzz among fans.

The talk about more combined events has amped up again especially in light of this article posted online by the Globe & Mail regarding Tennis Canada's plans for the 2011 Rogers Cup.

Dramatic change is coming to Canada's premier tennis events in 2011, a year that will see the end of three decades of the men and women playing in separate weeks in the two cities.
(...)
Tennis Canada, mainly because of increased international pressure for more combined men's and women's tournaments, is going to have to squeeze its two marquee events into the same week. As a consequence, it has come up with what it is grandly calling the world's first ‘virtually-combined' tournament. The virtual refers to the melding of two events into one through the medium of television to produce images looking for all the world like those already coming from existing major men's and women's mixed tournaments in Miami and Madrid.

With its Stade Uniprix at Jarry Park in Montreal and Rexall Centre at York University in Toronto, Tennis Canada was not about to have the men and women play a customary combined event in one city. Both cities have been shown too much support for the events to be passed over every two years.

With Cincinnati securing the coveted date two weeks before the U.S. Open for its new mixed event in 2011, Canadian officials opted not to continue with two separate weeks if it meant stretching one of their tournaments back to four weeks before Flushing Meadows. That would have weakened player fields because it is too early for European players, the dominant force in tennis today, to come over to North America. So, Tennis Canada latched onto a date three weeks before the U.S. Open and hatched the idea of a ‘virtually-combined' tournament.
(...)
Tennis Canada officials are not eager to publicize it, but the men's tournament is significantly more marketable and popular than the women's. That is partly because of the greater strength of the men's fields from top to bottom, and partly because the men have proved much more dependable than the women in recent years at delivering the top stars for the Canadian events.

By splitting the draws, a men/women balance would be guaranteed in both cities every year, ending the underlying sense that the city featuring the men is getting the superior product. Montreal tournament director Eugene Lapierre is gung ho on the idea. “It would bring another dimension,” he said. “We'll have a winner in each place. It's like two 32-player draws.”

Whatever the distribution of players between cities, the image of one event, via television, will be reinforced whenever possible.

Please click the link above for the full article.

It's just my very humble opinion but the only ones who would allegedly benefit from this are the WTA head honchos and the players who will get to play in front of what I assume the bigwigs feel will be larger audiences. I use the word allegedly because as has been noted in this space if given the choice fans head to the ATP match. Unless one or both of those Williams Women are playing. While neither is the promotional face of the WTA in many fans minds they are the WTA, something no amount of magazine covers or cute dogs has been able to overcome.

Samantha Stosur
Both Venus Williams and Serena Williams are approaching the time in their careers where, much like Pete Sampras did as he got older, they're rightly focusing on the majors and not every single tour event. This will extend their careers and enhance their already shining legacy.

The burden is on the shoulders of the WTA to come up with a marketing plan for the tour and not just one player. I've said this a zillion times and will keep saying it until something is done to rectify the horrible situation that exists now. The WTA, by hitching it's star to the ATP, is not solving it's problems. Instead it's making them worse. The women's tour doesn't seem to know how to market Dinara Safina, the current number one, let alone Victoria Azarenka or Sorana Cirstea and doesn't seem to be interested in marketing the likes of Melanie Oudin or Sloane Stephens. Instead all the talk is about the girls in the 14-16 age group and younger, many of whom may not be able to transition to the pro tour. If they can't market the Safina's and Azarenka's of the world what the hell are they going to do with someone like Noppawan Lertcheewakarn who has eclipsed her fellow junior Laura Robson?


It's been interesting listening to the commentators struggle to put a positive spin on the abysmal level of tennis coming out of Los Angeles this week. When the star player has more double faults than aces what can be said? They say that the match last night between Maria Sharapova and Urszula Radwanska was only two hours long. It was the second time I've watched Radwanska the younger play. It's not as if Sharapova's game plan is a mystery. It's not as if what an opponent has to do to throw her off her game. U-Rad just seemed not to have the will to push her opponent out of her comfort zone. That was a quarter final match. Once it was finished I was ready to turn in for the night.

I'll just close this out by saying that the ATP event in Washington DC, Legg Mason, has had to cope with sell out crowds. I'm just saying.

End Note

My Twitter account is frelled. I may have to open a new one if the problems don't clear up soon.

Re the Crowd in Los Angeles: There are more people but the empty seats still outnumber them.

Thoughts on the Maria Sharapova vs Flavia Pennetta semi final in Los Angeles

The seeding held. Flavia, the number 10 seed, defeated the number 61 ranked player. There is nothing else to say.

Montreal Masters - The Draw and Other News

by Savannah


Christopher Clarey posted the following on the NYTimes online sports site about the Federer family's first trip to a tennis tournament.

“I was obviously only going to do this if everything was safe and good,” Federer said Friday morning in his first interview since he won Wimbledon last month. “Mirka went through a check yesterday. The babies have been at the hospital for 10 days, and everything is perfect. So we’re doing it. Big family. Big trip. On the bandwagon. I’m really excited to see how we’re going to manage it.”

For most of the world’s new parents, the idea of taking infant twins on a long-haul journey in their third week of life would not be cause for rejoicing. Not with the baby carriers, economy-class seating and dread-filled seatmates to manage.

But Federer, for all his down-to-earth appeal, does enjoy his privileges. Although he often crosses oceans on commercial airplanes, Friday’s transatlantic flight was made in private jet with a baby nurse on board to help Mirka and Roger negotiate the trip and the jet-lagged nights to come.

“That’s a big help,” Federer said. “But Mirka is really hands-on. It’s great to have the help, but I think it’s all been working well since we came home for three or four days. Mirka doesn’t mind getting up in the night, doesn’t mind feeding the babies at whatever time, changing the nappies. For her, if she can’t do it, it’s like she’s missing out on something.”

Federer has done his best not to miss much himself. With impeccable Swiss timing, Mirka gave birth in the fallow tennis stretch between Wimbledon, where Federer broke the record for Grand Slam singles victories, and the United States Open, where he will be trying to win his sixth straight men’s singles title.

“We didn’t completely just aim for a certain window, so for it to happen during this period of time, we got lucky,” Federer said of the twins’ arrival date. “Because I was scared. You know how it is. After Week 25, you never know when a baby can come, so at the beginning of the French Open, I was thinking that, ‘We have to get through two Grand Slams, and Mirka has to be there. We’re not in Switzerland. It could happen anytime really.’ ”

The Federers found out Mirka was pregnant in January during a tournament in Doha, Qatar, and learned that she was expecting twins after a doctor’s appointment in the middle of the Australian Open later that month. Federer said he was thrilled at the prospect but uncertain what such momentous news might do to his tennis game.

In his next match, he overwhelmed Juan Martin del Potro of Argentina, 6-3, 6-0, 6-0, in the quarterfinals. “It was like, O.K., seems like it’s not affecting me,” Federer said, with a laugh. “That was a good start. It gave me confidence.”

The interview took place in a chic Asian-fusion restaurant in a hotel near his apartment here, where you could see cows grazing nearby. He also has a home in the Swiss Alps, in Lenzerheide, and another residence in Dubai where he frequently trains. Many factors have contributed to Federer’s midseason resurgence: a healthy back, Rafael Nadal’s struggles and perhaps the slight increase in mobility that came when Federer dropped nearly 10 pounds from March to May. But he has not ruled out the possibility that having Mirka’s impending delivery occupy his thoughts did not in some way help him, too.

“The thing is I really thought it was going to do the opposite effect,” he said. “That I was going to be feeling under pressure, because I’d be feeling like I better win some more Slams before the babies came, and then apparently it’s so hard to win Slams.”

“Maybe there was just this little extra at 30-all or at 30-40 against Tommy Haas at the French Open,” he said. “And maybe all those little things come into play, because so many things are happening, and in tennis, defeat and victory are so close to each other. Sometimes those little things can give you a little lift without you knowing it.”

Federer publicly announced Mirka’s pregnancy at the Indian Wells tournament in March, but he decided, on medical advice, not to mention at first that they were expecting twins, although they did inform family and close friends.

“The next thing you know, I’m seven months through the year and at the end, nobody’s really asking me questions about if it’s twins or not,” Federer said. “And then I said, ‘All right, I’ll just play along until the very, very end.’ ”

Which meant that through the many interviews and news conferences in Paris and London, Federer continued to refer to the impending arrival of “the baby” and, as if out of habit, lapsed into the singular on occasion on Friday, too.

“I had to really battle myself,” he said. “I had a couple where I said, we’re really excited to have some babies, and I was thinking, ‘Is that already giving it away?’ ”’

But after delivery by caesarean section, the tennis world has its latest set of identical twins to go with Bob and Mike Bryan of the United States.

“I was thinking that they’re going to be playing tricks on us like crazy,” Federer said of his daughters. “But they don’t look the same at the moment. I thought right away I wouldn’t be able to tell the difference, but you know, one is a bit lighter than the other one, so it’s not automatically the same right away. I can tell them apart very easily now, and Mirka, too.”

Federer said he spent nearly three weeks at the hospital, sleeping in the same room with Mirka, who was checked in early, and later sleeping in the same room with Mirka and the twins. He still found time last week to practice for six straight days near the hospital with the Austrian player Stefan Koubek.

“I was sometimes very tired, don’t know if it was more from practice or from not getting the sleep you usually get,” he said.

Very nice piece that answers a lot of questions. It was not as revealing as one that was posted on a French language web site in Quebec that told what the tournament was asked to do in order to accommodate the family. It was posted last night on Twitter before today's announcement that Roger Federer would play.

Federer is undecided. But if the No. 1 worldwide choses not to come you can't blame Eugène Lapierre and the Montreal organization.
RueFrontenac.com learned that Lapierre had responded to the request to find a pediatrician on call 24 hours for the Federer twins born on July 24.
This favor was granted to the man who made history at Wimbledon by winning a 15th major title. In addition luxurious homes were offered to the family and more ...
A champion both in and outside court he is not one to make demands on promoters or
tournaments, let alone the public. But the new father has changed.
Obviously Lapierre found that pediatric care to reassure Mirka, the mother of twins. "I know Roger wants to come play in Montreal. His agent (Tony Godsic) said he worked hard in training and that his level of play is up, "said Lapierre, who sleeps with his cell phone so as not to not miss
a from Switzerland.

For the original French click the link. The translation was done by Google and cleaned up by me so please excuse any grammatical errors made.

The Montreal Draw

[1] FEDERER, Roger SUI vs BYE
KUNITSYN, Igor RUS vs WC NIEMEYER, Frederic CAN
WAWRINKA, Stanislas SUI vs KIEFER, Nicolas GER
[16] STEPANEK, Radek CZE vs Q/SE

[9]SIMON, Gilles FRA vs WC DANCEVIC, Frank CAN
SELA, Dudi ISR vs Q/SE
SCHUETTLER, Rainer GER vs SERRA, Florent FRA
[7] TSONGA, Jo-Wilfried FRA vs BYE

[3] MURRAY, Andy GBR vs BYE
LU, Yen-Hsun TPE vs CHARDY, Jeremy FRA
HEWITT, Lleyton AUS vs Q/SE
[13] MONFILS, Gael FRA vs SAFIN, Marat RUS

[11] GONZALEZ, Fernando CHI vs BERDYCH, Tomas CZE
HAAS, Tommy GER vs KARLOVIC, Ivo CRO
GARCIA-LOPEZ, Guillermo ESP vs MATHIEU, Paul-Henri FRA
[8] DAVYDENKO, Nikolay RUS vs BYE

===========================

[5] RODDICK, Andy USA vs BYE
TURSUNOV, Dmitry RUS vs ANDREEV, Igor RUS
MAYER, Leonardo ARG vs ZVEREV, Mischa GER
[10] VERDASCO, Fernando ESP vs LOPEZ, Feliciano ESP

[14] CRO CILIC, Marin vs YOUZHNY, Mikhail RUS
Q/SE vs Q/SE
WC POLANSKY, Peter CAN vs WC AGOSTINELLI, Bruno CAN
[4] DJOKOVIC, Novak SRB vs BYE

[6] DEL POTRO, Juan Martin vs BYE
Q/SE vs Q/SE
HANESCU, Victor ROU vs MELZER, Jurgen AUT
[12] SODERLING, Robin vs KOHLSCHREIBER, Philipp GER

[15] ROBREDO, Tommy ESP vs Q/SE
PETZSCHNER, Philipp GER vs QUERREY, Sam USA
TROICKI, Viktor SRB vs FERRER, David ESP
[2] ESP NADAL, Rafael vs BYE

The Los Angeles Women's Tennis Championships

Zheng Jie defeated number one ranked Dinara Safina in three sets 7-5, 4-6, 6-4. Zheng, when on, can beat anyone. Zheng faces Samantha Stosur today.

Some feel that the way is now clear for Maria Sharapova to win. We'll see.

This afternoon Sabine Lisicki announced on Twitter that she has withdrawn from Cincinnati. This comes after she retired from her match in Los Angeles with an injury.

@ Sabinelisicki I pulled out of Cincinnati. Flying back home to Florida tomorrow. Hope it will get better soon.

This man was spotted practicing on the courts in Montreal.

Seen Around

by Savannah

The Entrance to the Carlyle Hotel on Manhattan's Upper East Side

I have an appointment this afternoon so I wasn't going to blog. Blogging is a curious thing. Sometimes you get an itch to blog and you say to yourself there's nothing really going on that needs my unique commentary or perspective. Then you say what the hell let me see what's going on. Serendipity makes you go to Twitter first because, well, you know that's where all the juicy stuff is.

As you scroll down you see a series of retweets between people you like and you search for the original. When you find it it's as if you've wandered into some alternate universe.

I get called out a lot for calling the man ranked at the top of the ATP heap The Monogram. I dare someone to call me out after viewing the pictures that accompany the article. For those who call him the Ego King, well, seems you're justified.

Without further ado here's the article from the New York Observer on the Roger Federer Suite.

Federer's Carlyle Court

The only bad thing about New York’s monstrously plush and gargantuan real estate is that it tends to land in such unworthy hands. So it's a relief that a two-bedroom suite on the 16th floor of the Carlyle belongs to someone David Foster Wallace once described as "both flesh and, somehow, light."

The Roger Federer Suite, which costs $3,075 per night, is where the celestial champ has stayed during the U.S. Open since 2007, and he'll rest his head on its custom R. F.-monogrammed pillows again later this month. A very nice woman who’s connected to Rosewood Hotels, which owns the Carlyle, agreed to give The Observer a rare look inside last week. "We need to update," she said at the front door, where an introductory plaque says Mr. Federer has won 13 grand slams (June’s French Open was No. 14 and July’s Wimbledon was No. 15).

On the plus side, the suite has a sleek little kitchen with a 24-bottle mini-bar and an espresso machine; a long living room with a white orchid, a gargantuan quasi-Picasso, two giant shiny black vases, a giant antique-mirrored disc that looks vaguely cocainey and a book on Jacques Helleu; two hefty closets in the foyer, where there's also a horn-handled metallic tray; and a master bedroom with a leopard-print rug, four mirrored bedposts and a comfy-looking tub. (As it happens, the apartment was designed by a musical theater actor named J. Cameron Barnett.)

Mr. Federer apparently prefers the suite’s second bedroom, which comes with bottles of water and a plate of chocolates. "Some say this one has better feng shui," a housekeeping manager explained as he put on the matching R. F. pillowcases. The bed is firm, but not too firm. His bathroom, coated in black marble and horizontal bands of gold trim, comes with products like Kiehl’s Crème de Corps ("Beta-Carotene gives natural deep yellow color"), and there’s a bench in the shower! "It’s cool," our guide explained, "very relaxing."

The living room (with its white orchid, gargantuan quasi-Picasso and giant shiny black vases), was designed by a musical theater actor named J. Cameron Barnett, whose résumé's skills section lists interior decoration only after "hip-hop dance, knowledge of German, cheerleading jumps, drag."

Mr. Federer prefers the second bedroom, actually. Perhaps he's not into this one's mirrored bedposts and leopard-print rug?

The bathroom in what's technically the master bedroom has a tub, but this one only has a shower--and a shower bench. "It’s cool," our guide explained, "very relaxing."

Sadly, Mr. Federer's monogrammed pillowcases are only used by the man himself, though a Carlyle housekeeping manager (and an assistant) agreed to show us what they look like.

All of the captioning comes from the article itself. I should mention I use Kiehls products. They're very good.

Sunday's Stars

by Savannah

Bank of the West Classic

Marion Bartoli reminded tennis fans why so many were expecting so much of her. With surgeon like precision Bartoli dismantled Venus Williams the way Venus had dismantled her previous opponents. Sure Venus forced a third set but she was never really in the match. It was as if Bartoli took her by surprise with her off kilter approach to play. In the end Marion deservedly won.

The Williams sisters didn't come away empty handed though. They won the doubles crown, their first outside of a slam in a long, long time.

Umag

Nikolay Davydenko is letting more than just his personality show these days. He totally dismantled Juan Carlos Ferrero in Croatia winning the final in straight sets. It was a masterful performance by Davydenko who didn't let Juan Carlos into the match to win his second title in as many weeks.
F Cermak and M Mertinak won the Doubles.

Gstaad

Thomaz Bellucci of Brazil won his first main tour tournament defeating Andreas Beck. Congratulations to Thomaz.
M. Chiudinelli and M. Lammer won the Doubles

Los Angeles

The third time was the charm for Sam Querrey. He defeated fellow Californian Carsten Ball in three sets. Ball, who plays Davis Cup for Australia lives in California and the two have known each other for some time. This was Querrey's third final in a row.
Bob Bryan and Mike Bryan won the Doubles.

Istanbul

Vera Dushevina won the Istanbul title.
Lucie Hradecka and Renata Voracova won the Doubles.

Seen and Heard Around

by Savannah

So, who else watched Venus absolutely own Dementieva today? It was a pretty thorough ass whupping.

Frequent poster sG made the above comment and I don't think there's much more to say. I mean Venus didn't let Elena breathe imposing her will from the opening shot of the match until it's merciful end. Elena did manage to hold serve once hence the 6-0, 6-1 score. If that's how Venus is doing her second set walkabouts these days the tour had better look out.

I expected a knock down drag out three set match that Venus would win in the end. I didn't expect ownage. I didn't expect Elena to look like a newbie on the court with no answers for what Venus was throwing at her. None. Elena didn't have a chance to unleash her powerful ground strokes and when she did Venus went "nuh-uh, not havin' it", and that was that.

Venus opponent in the final will be none other than recently slimmed down Marion Bartoli. Marion has stated that she would do anything to replay her Wimbledon Final match. Here's her chance, on a hardcourt in the United States.

The player pictured above was expected to make an appearance in the men's final in Los Angeles. He showed a lot of fire and passion during the match. Too bad it wasn't on the court. If he'd shown the same fire there as he did towards his box maybe he would've beaten Sam Querrey.

I'm not quite sure how Sam got to the Final, I find it difficult to watch him play let alone take him seriously but here he is in his third straight final. He's playing a guy named Carsten Ball. Ball is from Australia and as far as I know this is his first main tour final. He hasn't used racial slurs against opponents, stormed off the court in a fit of pique, or engaged in any of the usual shenanigans Aussie players are known for. Someone will win the match.

By the way these are not drunken frat boys who wandered into the stands. These are the "Sam"urai. American tennis marketers seem to have a thing about a bunch of drunks cheering on American players. Remember the late and unlamented "J" Block? The"Sam"urai were so bad that the chair had to tell the to shut up the other night. Let's hope these guys go the way of the "J" block and quickly.

Former Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice has been showing up at tennis matches lately. She was at Stanford yesterday. She used to work there.

I've been focusing on the US Open Series but there is a nice little match that will take place in Europe today.

Nikolay Davydenko will face Juan Carlos Ferrero at Umag. Both men have been playing very well of late and it should be a beautiful clay court match between two veteran players.

I don't favor either man. In my opinion the match should go the distance but then again opinions are like anal apertures. Everyone has one.

The other clay court final features two newbies, Andreas Beck(above) and Thomaz Bellucci. They're playing for the trophy at Gstaad.

I've seen Brazilian Bellucci play and remember that he has a nice game. I've never seen Beck play.

Draw-capades

The women play in Los Angeles next week. This is the draw. Some are already whining about Maria Sharapova having to face Victoria Azarenka if she gets past Jarmila Groth who is playing the role of sacrificial lamb in this little drama. Trust me the US Open draw will not have someone like Azarenka anywhere near the Golden Child. By the way if that match does end up taking place bring your ear plugs.

(1) SAFINA, Dinara RUS vs BYE
LISICKI, Sabine GER vs HANTUCHOVA, Daniela SVK
SZAVAY, Agnes HUN vs VESNINA, Elena RUS
QUALIFIER vs (14) ZHENG, Jie CHN

(9) BARTOLI, Marion FRA vs NICULESCU, Monica ROU
QUALIFIER vs KIRILENKO, Maria RUS
(WC) KING, Vania USA vs BAMMER, Sybille AUT
BYE vs (6) IVANOVIC, Ana SRB

(4) WOZNIACKI, Caroline DEN vs BYE
CIRSTEA, Sorana ROU vs (WC) LARCHER DE BRITO, Michelle POR
CZINK, Melinda HUN vs MAKAROVA, Ekaterina RUS
QUALIFIER vs (13) STOSUR, Samantha AUS

(11) RAZZANO, Virginie FRA vs CHAKVETADZE, Anna RUS
KLEYBANOVA, Alisa RUS vs KUDRYAVTSEVA, Alla RUS
QUALIFIER vs SUGIYAMA, Ai JPN
BYE vs (8) RADWANSKA, Agnieszka POL
----------------------------------------------------

(7) CIBULKOVA, Dominika SVK vs BYE
RADWANSKA, Urszula POL vs COIN, Julie FRA
WOZNIAK, Aleksandra CAN vs MATTEK-SANDS, Bethanie USA
MORITA, Ayumi JPN vs (12) LI, Na CHN

(15) KANEPI, Kaia EST vs SAFAROVA, Lucie CZE
SHAUGHNESSY, Meghann USA vs BONDARENKO, Alona UKR
SHARAPOVA, Maria RUS vs GROTH, Jarmila SVK
BYE vs (3) AZARENKA, Victoria BLR

(5) PETROVA, Nadia vs BYE
PEER, Shahar ISR vs QUALIFIER
GARBIN, Tathiana ITA vs (WC) VANDEWEGHE, Coco USA
QUALIFIER vs (10) PENNETTA, Flavia ITA

(16) SCHIAVONE, Francesca vs QUALIFIER
WICKMAYER, Yanina BEL vs VAIDISOVA, Nicole CZE
QUALIFIER vs PENG, Shuai CHN
BYE vs (2) ZVONAREVA, Vera RUS

Too bad Sabine Lisicki vs Daniela Hantuchova is taking place so early. I've made a vow never to watch Daniella play again unless I've had a sleepless night. If Lisicki lets Dani set the pace she's a goner. Agnes Szavay could be a dangerous opponent in Safina's section. I'm surprised that Ana Ivanovic is seeded high enough to get a Bye. Then again Nicole Vaidisova is in the main draw.

Tennis Chit Chat

by Savannah

Seen Around

Maria Sharapova beat the crap out of Nadia Petrova so she was going to give Venus Williams a run for her money and possibly make the semi finals at Stanford according to the hype. What is so vexing about tennis media and they hype they regurgitate is that so much of it is driven by the folks who are paid to, well, hype certain players. No real reportage is being done so if you're someone who checks into the goings on in tennis from time to time you may have thought that Venus was going to come on court sweating about her chances against Maria.

If however you are a tennishead and follow the goings on of tennis for yourself and don't rely on the various bloggers, columnists or announcers for your information you knew that Maria beating Nadia was not news. Not that Nadia doesn't have the ability to beat Maria, that is not the story. The story is that Nadia for some reason goes on walkabout when she plays Maria rolling over and playing dead whenever they play. Honest reporting would've been that Maria pwns Nadia and that her big match would be against Venus Williams who was last seen kicking the stuffing out of Dinara Safina at the Wimbledon semi finals. Yeah there were some WTT losses but are those for real?

Long time fans of Venus know when she comes ready to play. She usually has something resembling a recently deceased furry creature on her head, no make up and no bling. She was premiering a new dress last night and I guess she felt that was enough glamming up for this critical match.

During the match she didn't crack a smile. Her play was simply jaw dropping at times. After demolishing her opponent in the first set Venus chased a laser return from Maria that was past her before she could react. Venus calmly let loose a serve that froze her opponent where she stood and that was all she wrote. Venus took the match 2&2. The talking heads talked about the "new" Sharapova serve that to this observer looks remarkably like the old one to me. They talked about her shoulder and how when she put on a long sleeved shirt over her dress it was done to keep the shoulder warm but in the end it was just so much blah, blah, blah. Sharapova is still double faulting all over the place and many of her shots end up outside the court.

There is a lot of talk about Sharapova being fit for the US Open. She declared herself 100% before Stanford began. Oh, wait, the talking heads meant match fit. My bad. Let's see how many qualifiers and lower ranked players, not to mention the aforementioned Nadia Petrova, are put in her way. There are players like Victoria Azarenka and Caroline Wozniacki who are not afraid of Maria. They'll be nowhere near her. Wait and see.

There was another player who stunk up the joint at Stanford yesterday. Her name was Serena Williams. Serena wandered onto the court as if she were new to center court play and then played like it. Samantha Stosur played her ass off in what for her was a revenge match but she didn't give Serena anything she shouldn't have been able to handle.

The day before Pam Shriver interviewed Richard Williams and asked him how his daughter was playing. He said "not well". People should listen to Richard Williams.

Draw Issues

Hey, this time I'm not a lone voice crying in the wilderness. All of a sudden there are questions popping up about the Legg Mason draw and how if the seeds hold the third round matches would stack up. I saw the draw and wasn't struck by anything unusual but some fans are questioning why #1 will play #16, #2 will play #15, #3 will play #14 and so on. The odds of that happening are apparently 1 in 576.

Accept as a given that "they" want Andy Roddick to make the final. Who do they want to see across the net from him? Tommy Haas? Haas is treated by the American's as one of their own despite the fact that he plays Davis Cup for Germany. Let's just say I don't see a cupcake draw for anyone.

This and That

• Speaking of Haas I did see the "Battle of the Hotties" last night. In case you weren't paying attention that is how they were hyping the Marat Safin vs Haas match last night. Cliff Drysdale said he did an informal poll and that many of the women he asked preferred Haas over Safin. I don't believe it but hey I wasn't there for them to ask. Haas should be someone I drool over but for some reason he leaves me cold. He beat Marat last night by the way.

• Reports are that the Monogram is hitting with Stefan Koubek.
• Who is this Sam Querrey they're hyping as being top ten material? Have you seen him play?
• So someone decided Donald Young needed to be seen playing by more than his family and gave him a WC in Legg Mason. His first round match is against Lleyton Hewitt. I'm just saying.
• Let's define a "young" player. Wozniacki is a young player. Azarenka is a young player. Melanie Oudin, Sloane Stephens and Madison Keys are young players. Twenty three year old Dinara Safina is not a young player.

So now the WTA is relying on the natural bitchiness of women to sell its product now? Yes women are naturally bitchy towards each other. Throw in the competitive nature of female athletes and you've got a "Bitches Brew" to use the title of the late Miles Davis seminal work. Pit Jelena Jankovic against, say Marion Bartoli and all you need is the traditional hair braiding and the proverbial jar of vaseline. Those looking for the Slapdown at Stanford were kind of disappointed though as Marion proved she wasn't just talking shit when she said she always beats Jelena. It's almost as if Marion knows how to get under Jelena's skin and appear to be the innocent in the entire affair. Anytime it looked as if Jelena was getting some momentum Marion would call on her coach or leave the court for what is becoming the traditional beginning of the third set bathroom break.

At any rate Marion won and she'll face Samantha Stosur today. Venus is first up playing Elena Dementieva who has more than a serve in her repertoire.