Round 1 - Don't Count Your Chickens Before They Hatch

by Savannah

There were two big stories at the 2010 US Open on Wednesday. One involved the sickening sight of Victoria Azarenka, seen above during the hit and giggle on NYC's Pier 54 sponsored by Nike, staggering and collapsing to the concrete during her match against Gisela Dulko. I think everyone has seen the pictures by now so there's no need to show her in her distress today. What happened? Officially Victoria fell and hit her head during her prematch warmups and that is the reason the medics were standing by and able to attend to her so quickly.

All kinds of rumors were being posted on Twitter and elsewhere about what had happened. Victoria, seen above with boyfriend Sergei Bubka Jr, was taken to an unspecified hospital and it seemed hours before the USTA issued a statement that basically said "mind your damn business" to the public. With all the bullshit that's been in the tennis press regarding the obvious injury Serena Williams suffered it's going to be interesting to see if these pillars of the tennis world keep up with the story. The falling accident was mentioned on air after Victoria was taken off court in a wheelchair. It turned out to be what Victoria's official statement said was the cause of her collapse.

You could almost hear the sigh of relief from officials of the USTA since the fall means they don't have to review their heat policy for the US Open, tradionally held in the hottest and most humid time of the year in New York. It's ironic that Victoria's collapse occured the day after Patrick McEnroe and crew were asking if something should be done about the start times for the Open on extremely hot and humid days. They talked about everything from later starting times to earlier starting times. They were not kidding around.
As it stands Victoria is still shown on today's Order of Play. She is supposed to be playing doubles with Dinara Safina.

I hope that the people on her team convince her to give the walkover. A concussion is nothing to play with.

Serena Williams and Andy Roddick are known to be very good friends. Still I wonder what she was thinking as Andy showed his ass last night berating a lines woman over a foot fault call and having her replaced? Or what about his abuse of chair umpire Enric Molina? What about the fanboy happy talk coming from the commentators that basically excused the boorish behavior of the top American male player? Oh, and what about the continuous conversation held between Andy and coach Larry Stefanki? Any warnings about illegal coaching? Guess. By the way Andy was called for foot faults a total of three times. I'm just saying.

German/Jamaican Dustin Brown will play Andy Murray in the next round. I look forward to seeing him play. If Murray has done his due diligence and prayed to the tennis gods it should be a night match. Not looking for a win for Dustin just hoping he represents himself well.

I don't know if Cliff Drysdale and whoever the woman was in the booth with him yesterday calling Venus Williams match against Canadian qualifier Rebecca Marino could've cheered any harder for Marino to prevail. Fans of Venus always worry when she plays an unknown for the first time and for the first set Marino stood toe to toe with Venus forcing a tiebreak.

I'm happy to report that Venus wasn't having any of it yesterday. Venus abandoned her serene persona and got down and dirty fighting Marino in the trenches and reveling in it. Faced with Venus in full flight and fight Marino was banished to the wilderness with Venus in hot pursuit. Afterwards Venus said that Marino showed her how it feels to play herself. Great match for Venus.

Ryan Harrison, an eighteen year old from Shreveport Louisiana defeated veteran Ivan Ljubicic yesterday. Already the "changing of the guard" articles are flying. It was obvious to anyone watching the match the Ljubicic was bothered by the heat and he said as much during his presser. Harrison is 6'1" tall and weighs 175 pounds. He will play Sergiy Stakhovsky next.

What Not To Wear

Maria Sharapova has taken a step back with this dress. I don't get the collar. I don't get all the buttons. I don't like the color.

Venus Williams, seen in both her day and night kits above, gets a big meh. As someone said yesterday Serena has gone for the conservative look on court as she matures (The dress worn by Victoria Azarenka was designed for Serena) Venus seems to have found her inner wild child. Women mature at their own pace and in their own way so I'm giving Venus a pass.

Has there ever been a more boring tennis kit? Kim Clijsters outfit defines the word dowdy. I don't expect to see her in a skin tight corset style outfit but there has to be a happy medium between slut and grandmother. I'm old and I wouldn't wear this on court.

Vera Zvonareva's K-Swiss outfit comes to mind. Vera, seen above in the NY Times photo essay, looks trim, modern and ready to play tennis without looking twice her age or ready to go out on the stroll.

Speaking of the stroll Stella McCartney went from "what the fuck" to "huh?" in sixty seconds. Yards and yards of fabric have been replaced by the tightest "dress" known to god or man. Caroline Wozniacki kept tugging at the tunic - it's too short and tight to be a dress and the slightest movement had her butt on display. The men seem to like it though.

There is no getting around it. Nadia Petrova wins hands down for the worst tennis dress ever. This is the only image I've been able to find, a screen cap posted by a fan who probably couldn't believe his/her eyes either. Yes Nadia is boxy. Yes she is not easy to design for. I just want to know how they let her walk out on court in this.

Still with fashion I have to mention Donald Young. Someone commented on his beautifully shaped eyebrows. The person said they were beautifully plucked. Since it's usually waxing or threading these days one must assume that Donald had one of those procedures done. And with that I'm ending this post.