Not The Usual Suspects

by Savannah

It'll be Tomas Berdych against Andy Roddick in the Sony Ericsson Open men's final.

Roddick made the best of his soft draw and is the fresher of the two coming into the Final.

I think it's safe to say that no one expected Berdych to be anywhere near the semi finals let alone be in the final. It's good to see someone who beat a top player follow up on that win.

It should be an interesting match.

End Note

I find it absolutely amazing that admitted HGH importer Wayne Odesnik is playing in Houston next week. Someone should've had the cojones to just say no.

The Celestial Body vs The Saint

by Savannah

Venus Williams will face Kim Clijsters in the Sony Ericsson Open Women's Final on Saturday.

Venus defeated a totally discombobulated Marion Bartoli in straight sets. Marion never let herself relax into the match and Venus, serving well, ran with the match.

Clijsters had a more difficult road. It was not pretty. Clijsters had 63 unforced errors while Henin had 44. Henin had 19 winners compared to Clijsters 37.

During Venus match commentator Lindsay Davenport cited statistics that show Venus is 6-5 against Kim. She's also 7-2 against Henin.
Both women have energetic fan bases. It should be a wild one in Key Biscayne tomorrow.

This and That 3/25/2010

by Savannah

So how did the IMG, uh, WTA wild cards do?

Carla Suárez Navarro (ESP) d. (WC) Anastasia Pivovarova (RUS) 61 76(3)
Melinda Czink (HUN) d. (WC) Arantxa Rus (NED) 36 61 76(6)
(WC) Justine Henin (BEL) d. Jill Craybas (USA) 62 62
(Q) Tsvetana Pironkova (BUL) d. (WC) Heather Watson (GBR) 64 62
[WC] P Martic (CRO) d [18] A Rezai (FRA) 75 57 64
[27] A Szavay (HUN) d [WC] A Molik (AUS) 60 60

Just to be fair lets look at the ATP wild card results.

[WC] D Nalbandian (ARG) d L Kubot (POL) 63 62
J Blake (USA) d [WC] F Krajinovic (SRB) 67(6) 64 64
M Llodra (FRA) d [WC] R Harrison (USA) 62 62
J Chardy (FRA) d [WC] M Ancic (CRO) 64 64
Juan Ignacio Chela def. (WC) Lorenzi 6-4 3-6 7-6 (3)
Carlos Moya withdrew due to injury and was replaced by lucky loser Marcos Daniel of Brazil.

Davis Cup

The war of words continues in British tennis circles. Andy Murray is reported by Tennis.com to have made the following statement.

Andy Murray says that former Davis Cup captain John Lloyd’s criticism of his Davis Cup participation was unwarranted.

Lloyd stepped down from the captaincy last week following five successive defeats, saying about Murray, "Call me old-fashioned, but when is it a convenience, and not a privilege, to play for your country?"

Murray argued he should be given credit for playing against Poland last year right after the US Open, even though he was suffering from a wrist injury.

"I can understand to a certain extent that everyone would like me to play in the Davis Cup because obviously we've got a better chance of winning,” Murray said. "But I played through the [Poland] match when I was injured and it set me back probably double the amount of time that it would have done if I hadn't played.

"No one talks about that side when you're playing through matches when you're hurt and it sets you back and then you drop ranking points. I don't see John coming out and having a go at [Roger] Federer or Rafa [Nadal] or [Andy] Roddick or whoever, the guys that don't play Davis Cup all of the time either. There are some guys that play very, very few matches that are a lot better players than me."

I hate to inform Mr. Murray that of the three men he mentions Andy Roddick has played Davis Cup every year he's been able to. This is the first year he's not played a tie. Rafael Nadal has also been available to play and traveled with the team when he wasn't able to play.

It's my understanding that Murray has taken a leading role in choosing who will be the next DC captain for Britain and that his personal dislike of Greg Rusedski has eliminated him from consideration. I guess he doesn't think that the object of his scorn should call him on his ish.

In other Davis Cup news it's been announced that the tie between Serbia and Croatia will be played in the city of Split in Croatia. This has worried Serbian Davis Cup captain Bogdan Obradovic to express concern about security. Niki Pilic, a native of Split and team advisor to Serbia will not make the trip.

The French Open

There is a lot of chatter about the possibliity of the French Open moving from the hallowed ground of Roland Garros to one of four sites including one near EuroDisney and the other near Versailles. Whether this is a bargaining ploy or something serious remains to be seen.

A Look Back and A Glance Forward

by Savannah

Jelena Jankovic poses with her winners trophy in Indian Wells.

Ivan Ljubicic won the mens final at Indian Wells.

I don't think anyone could've predicted the singles winners of this tournament, the first part of tennis' "March Madness" to steal a phrase. Jelena Jankovic had not been playing well coming into this event and while no one would've been surprised at her making the quarters making the final and then winning it all was not something anyone thought would happen. Even taking the court I got the feeling that many thought Caroline Wozniacki would find a way to beat Jelena. But JJ wasn't having it. She played agressively and brilliantly in the first set and while things devolved a little in the second she fought off Wozniacki and held on for the win.

As for Ivan Ljubicic he wasn't on anyone's radar. Ivan turned 31 Saturday and his recent play had been lackluster at best. Instead he's the one to have made it through and got to hold up the Baccarat crystal trophy.

The Fifth Slam

The tennis world's attention has now turned to Miami, or more properly Key Biscayne, an island across from Miami. You go from the dry desert air to the heavy humidity of Southern Florida with the attendant change in playing conditions.

Serena Williams and Juan Martin del Potro have withdrawn, both due to lingering injuries. They join Dinara Safina, Nikolay Davydenko, Lleyton Hewitt, Maria Sharapova, Tommy Haas and Jose Acasuso all of whom are out with either surgery or injury.

As I mentioned before there was a lot of surprise that no Americans got WC's on the women's side. Ryan Harrison managed to sneak on on the men's side. The qualifying draw is out and up and coming juniors like Sloane Stephens are there. It remains to be seen how the players granted WC's into the main draw acquit themselves.

The Main Draws for both men and women come out tomorrow.

Miami is the last hard court tournament of the United States spring swing. After this the men of the ATP and the women of the WTA get to play in the dirt.

A Sad Note

Guillermo Canas will announce his retirement in Miami. It goes without saying that he was robbed of what looked to be a promising career by an idiotic ruling by the drug testing hierarchy, a ruling that let Greg Rusedski, who committed the exact same offense, to get by without even a slap on the wrist while Canas was suspended.

He has begun a career in coaching. I wish him well.

News and Views 3/17/2010

by Savannah

HAPPY ST PATRICK'S DAY TO ALL!!!

WTA Quarter Final Match-Up's

[5] Agnieszka Radwanska vs. [4] Elena Dementieva
[18] Zheng Jie vs. [2] Caroline Wozniacki
[23] Alisa Kleybanova vs [6] Jelena Jankovic
[28] Maria Jose Martinez-Sanchez vs [8] Samantha Stosur

So... Do You Think This Guy Has A Right To Be This Happy?

Too bad the commentators forgot the adage about not counting chickens before they're hatched.

By the way who did Robbie Koenig offend to get paired with the Slob doing commentary?

Bienvenidos a Miami

There were some raised eyebrows, mine among them, about who was selected to receive a WC into the WTA tournament in Miami.

Justine Henin

Anastasia Pivovarova

Arantxa Rus

Jelena Dokic

Michelle Larcher de Brito

Ajla Tomljanovic

Petra Martic

Heather Watson

You're right. Not one American was given a WC. Last I checked this tournament is still on the US mainland. As a tennis head friend of mine said it seems that the organization that "Owns" this event made sure all of it's girls got in. After all IMG is everything no?

I haven't seen the Qualifying Draw yet but I'm sure that's where all the promising Americans are.

Winner of the "What Not To Wear Award" - WTA
Aravane Rezai

Runner Up: Jelena Jankovic

Honorable Mention: Caroline Wozniacki

A lot of people picked JJ's dress right off the bat but unless someone can prove otherwise I think Aravane's outfit takes the cake. From what I can see of the fabric it's just not something I'd wear on a tennis court (or anywhere for that matter).

JJ's dress is not that bad. It's just that you can't see it because of the color. I also wonder why JJ feels the need to wear an outfit with a padded bra. Doesn't she have boobies?

The only reason Caroline Wozniacki's outfit didn't win is because in my mind it's a given that whatever Stella McCartney designs for tennis wear is going to suck big time. I didn't like the scribble on that outfit Venus Williams wore last year and I like it less here. The color isn't good for Caroline's skin tone and it makes her look matronly. The only reason I don't say Stella made it all on her last name is because I pass her Madison Avenue store at least once a week on my way home and she does have some cute stuff in the window from time to time. She just has no concept of what a tennis player needs to project on court.

Best Dressed - WTA

Maria Sharapova has finally learned what is best for her. She is long and tall and while some may feel she needs a "feminine" look on court - lots of ruffles and flourishes - she looks best when she keeps it simple. This was a great outfit on her.

Zheng Jie is small. She is short in stature and very fit. Some may be surprised but it is very hard for a woman built like her to find clothes that suit her. This outfit does it all. It allows her to move and has just enough fabric in the skirt to give it a flair but not envelop her in it.

Of course there are awards to be given for the men's side. There are the shorts of course, and the outfit another player wore that made me keep looking for the "ready to rumble" guy and the cut man. That's all I'm going to say for now.

End Notes

Carla Suarez Navarro and Alisa Kleybanova played to an almost empty stadium last night. Judging from the way the Twitter gang cleared out there weren't many people watching on line either but that could be because only TennisTV showed the match. I tried to watch it but I fell asleep during the third set. Tennis Channel has been showing the women's late night match as a lead in to their daily coverage of late, something else they're doing right.
I have to say I was surprised that the organizers didn't have fans who stayed come down from the upper level to fill in the seats around the court. That is what they do in New York when matches run late and the crowd has thinned out in Ashe. Then again maybe they did.

Has the Andre Agassi "I'm Sorry But He Won't Call" tour ended yet? I'm not watching the vid, especially after one of the tennis media big wigs asked the rhetorical question "How can you stay mad at this guy?" It's that attitude that allowed Agassi to get away with skipping drug tests and being on meth.

By the way Pete Sampras issued a statement. Speaking to the Los Angeles Times he said the following:

"Mostly, this just bums me out," Sampras told the newspaper. "It makes our relationship uncomfortable now... It saddens me.

"We've done this before, the imitating each other. He usually just sticks out his tongue at me.

By the way no more shout out's from this space. I mention that Vera Zvonareva is the only woman who is fighting in her matches and bam, she's gone.

I'll end with one of my favorite Irish Blessing's

May the road rise to meet you,

May the wind be always at your back,

May the sun shine warm upon your face,

May the rains fall soft upon your fields,

And, until we meet again,

May God hold you in the hollow of His hand.

Idle Chit Chat 3/28/08

by Savannah

Television coverage of the Sony Ericsson Miami Open a.k.a. The Fifth Slam starts Saturday March 29. Actual play started Wednesday March 26. There was qualifying play before that. No need complaining about qualifying play not being televised because it is understandable. Tennis is a “niche” market at best as far as television is concerned. Besides there’s pre season baseball for the true American fan. Forget the dubious quality of the games. It’s the American pass time. Who cares about a bunch of non golden players trying to fight their way into the main draw of a major tennis tournament anyway?

But Main Draw play started Wednesday. There were players and matches that the Grand Poobah’s of sports television feel are unwatchable but whom tennisheads would love to see. A couple of matches I would like to have seen come to mind. The first pitted Tamira Paszek of Austria against Alize Cornet of France. These are two up and coming stars in the women’s game. Both have had spotty results but have also shown flashes of what can be called great potential. Who cares? No television for this match.

Another interesting up and comer on the ladies side is Michelle Larcher de Brito of Portugal. She’s all of fifteen. She had a much more experienced player choke against her. Staying with the women there was also Coco Vandeweghe of the United States going up against Sabine Lisicki of Germany. But again who cares? A bunch of foreigners some would say and one who has not been deemed golden as of yet. Who wants to see them?

The story on the men’s side is different. There are several stories in fact. The first involves the granting of wild cards. These are the special invites that allow a lower ranked player direct entry into the main draw of a major, or not so major, and for an event like this they’re coveted. Donald Young, who has been having good results as of late, was not granted a wild card and found himself qualifying. What some say should have been his wild card went to Gustavo Kuertin of Brazil, a perennial fan favorite and someone the presumed fan base of the Miami area would want to see.

Fans found out that Gustavo has to manually adjust his hip into place every now and then, something he discussed after his first round loss. Donald went out in the first qualie round, something that didn’t surprise me. Donald is young (no pun intended) and tennisheads will have time to see him mature into the good player many think he will be. There is not enough time left for fans to see Gustavo the reasoning goes hence he got the wild card. Before taking sides in this remember that the SEO is an IMG event. Donald is repped by Octagon now. Doesn’t that make it all simpler folks?

Marat Safin, another great fan favorite (well maybe more among the female tennisheads than the male ones but I digress) has not had a good showing all year. His woes continued. Should he hang up his sneakers? Should he go see a sports shrink? Should he swallow his pride and play a Challenger or two or three? These are decisions for Mr. Safin to make. Fans will speculate. I’m just sayin’.

Gael Monfils has apparently decided to come back to the courts and did so with a very nice, and totally unexpected by this fan, win over American John Isner. Guess all that adulation for Ti-Ali got Gael thinking about what should have been. I know he’s had injury issues so don’t beat me up. I just think he’s always underperformed. Maybe now it’ll be different.

There’s a report out that Roger Federer will be undergoing further tests for the “glandular fever” that’s plagued him so far this year. Glandular fever? There is no separate category for it on WebMD

But back to the lack of television coverage. Shouldn’t a perk of being a subscriber to ATP Masters Series Television be early round coverage? I can understand the usual live streaming sites being shut out of the early rounds but I don’t understand why AMS TV, a paid service, is shut out as well. Just asking the question.

The BBC is reporting that Nikolay Davydenko will be cleared of all match fixing allegations. The relevant paragraph is this one:

...And that may prompt retributive action from the 27-year-old, with Immenga saying: "We're certainly looking at it. The whole inquiry has been a farce."

I love British understatement don't you?

Pics and More Pics

With no television coverage pictures have become the only way to see what’s going on. Here are some of the more interesting ones.

The following pictures are Courtesy of the 2008 Sony Ericsson Open

David Ferrer as mixologist













Nikolay Davydenko mans a toll booth













Sabine Lisickiand Tamira Paszek












Players Party Pics

Jelena and her cell phone(s)

Juan-Martin cut his hair

Maria and Camilla put in an appearance

Feli and his lady love

Nicole looking very mature

Andy looking fresh out the box

Venus and her white bra. Maybe she forgot about the flashbulb effect?

Artistic Flourishes
Shadow and light play continue


Mario Ancic by Matthew Stockman

Filippo Volandri by Al Bello

WTA Miami - Gift Wrapped for Justine?

The women's draw. Everyone but an ill Amelie Mauresmo is showing up. In the past I've accused the WTA/IMG Powers That Be of assuring their darling Maria Sharapova has an easy ride at least to the quarters while pitting anyone who could threaten her against each other along the way.

But things haven't been going the way TPTB have anticipated so far this year. Pam Shriver would say that Maria has the "yips". There's no need to rehash what happened in Melbourne. If Maria's serving woes haven't been cured she's in for a rough time.



There is also no need to go over the inevitable appearance of Venus Williams and Serena Williams in the same part of the draw. Some are arguing that it's the lack of play and their ranking that has set this situation up yet again. I would call bullshit but I've done that so many times anything I would say sounds boring and repetitive.



But this draw is funny. All of the power and finesse, all of the big babes, are in the top half of the draw.
Hingis. Ivanovic. Serena Williams. Venus Williams. Shahar Peer.Kuznetsova. Vaidisova. Schnyder.
Even the up and comers are in this part of the draw. Kirilenko. Bondarenko. Schiavone.
Garbin. Dulko. Bartoli(Yes Bartoli gets a mention.)

So who's in the bottom half with Justine, the new number one?




Let's see. There's Vania King, new to the tour and who's been thrown under the Henin steam roller before. Li, who had a good run at the Pacific Life Open but is in a quarter with Molik and Srebotnik. Golovin and Chakvetadze are primed to face each other. Clijsters would face Stosur and if Kim was more match fit I'd pick her easily. She's admitted she's focused on her wedding. I think she'll beat Stosur but it'll be a tough match. Petrova and Safina, the reigning Queens of the Headcases are here. Jelena is here as well and could face either Chakvetadze or Golovin. Henin could face either Hantuchova or Zvonareva. Also here are Pennetta, Morigami, Poutchkova and Morigami. For once I don't think Sharapova has an easy way through the draw. They may have used the seeding from March 5 but the draw looks like it's based on the current rankings.




Singles Main Draw - WTA

(1)Maria Sharapova (RUS) v BYE
Yung-Jan Chan (TPE) v Nuria Llagostera Vives (ESP)
Venus Williams (USA) v Yuliana Fedak (UKR)
(29)Maria Kirilenko (RUS) v BYE

Sharapova vs Venus - If her serving woes continue Venus will prevail



(23)Lucie Safarova (CZE) v BYE
Emilie Loit (FRA) v Sybille Bammer (AUT)
Elena Likhovtseva (RUS) v Q
(13)Serena Williams (USA) v BYE

Safarova vs Serena - Serena

(11)Patty Schnyder (SUI) v BYE
Kaia Kanepi (EST) v Tsvetana Pironkova (BUL)
Nicole Pratt (AUS) v Q
(21)Marion Bartoli (FRA) v BYE

Schnyder vs Bartoli - Schnyder



(26)Anabel Medina Garrigues (ESP) v BYE
Eva Birnerova (CZE) v Viktoria Azarenka (BLR)
Michaella Krajicek (NED) v (wc)Anna Tatishvili (GEO)
(8)Nicole Vaidisova (CZE) v BYE

Tatishvili vs Vaidisova – Vaidisova who will come out of this section.
It won't matter who comes out of the other part.

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

(3)Svetlana Kuznetsova (RUS) v BYE
Aiko Nakamura (JPN) v Q
Jelena Kostanic Tosic (CRO) v Q
(28)Alona Bondarenko (UKR) v BYE

Kuznetsova may not have a lock here. She just played a final. I just don’t see anyone strong enough to beat her unless she beats herself. Pick ‘em

(19)Francesca Schiavone (ITA) v BYE
Eleni Daniilidou (GRE) v Q
Catalina Castano (COL) v Q
(14)Shahar Peer (ISR) v BYE

Should be Peer vs Schiavone depending on who the qualifiers are. I like Peer but this is another pick’em section.

(12)Ana Ivanovic (SRB) v BYE
(wc)Dominika Cibulkova (SVK) v Q
Ashley Harkleroad (USA) v (wc)Lauren Albanese (USA)
(24)Tathiana Garbin (ITA) v BYE



Ivanovic has had a lot of hype and it’s time for her to put up or shut up. She should dominate this section, emphasis on should.

(27)Jie Zheng (CHN) v BYE
Agnieszka Radwanska (POL) v Shenay Perry (USA)
Gisela Dulko (ARG) v Q
(5)Martina Hingis (SUI) v BYE

Hingis will take Dulko. Radwanska should take Perry and have a fight with Zheng. It won’t matter. Hingis should prevail.

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

(7)Jelena Jankovic (SRB) v BYE
Elena Vesnina (RUS) v Shuai Peng (CHN)
Jill Craybas (USA) v Roberta Vinci (ITA)
(32)Mara Santangelo (ITA) v BYE

Jelena vs Peng
Craybas vs Santangelo



Jelena

(17)Tatiana Golovin (FRA) v BYE
(wc)Iroda Tulyagonova (UZB) v Q
Vasilisa Bardina (RUS) v (wc)Sanja Ancic (CRO)
(9)Anna Chakvetadze (RUS) v BYE



Very interesting part of the draw. I’ve been reading about Tulyagonova for awhile now and people think highly of her. I don’t think she’s played much recently. Golovin should win against her. It should be AnnaC vs Tatiana. Pick ‘em

(15)Na Li (CHN) v BYE
Alicia Molik (AUS) v Q
Alina Jidkova (RUS) v (wc)Petra Martic (CRO)
(20)Katarina Srebotnik (SLO) v BYE

Pick ‘em

(25)Samantha Stosur (AUS) v BYE
Olga Poutchkova (RUS) v Q
Akiko Morigami (JPN) v (wc)Aleksandra Wozniak (CAN)
(4)Kim Clijsters (BEL) v BYE

I’d like to see Poutchkova over Stosur but I don’t think that’s going to happen. Clijsters should have an easy time. Stosur vs Clijsters - Clijsters should win here.
=============

(6)Nadia Petrova (RUS) v BYE
Camille Pin (FRA) v Nathalie Dechy (FRA)
Aravane Rezai (FRA) v Q
(30)Severine Bremond (FRA) v BYE

If Petrova shows up there’s no one in this section that can harm her.

(22)Ai Sugiyama (JPN) v BYE
Maria Elena Camerin (ITA) v Anastasia Yakimova (BLR)
Laura Granville (USA) v Lourdes Dominguez Lino (ESP)
(10)Dinara Safina (RUS) v BYE

Pick ‘em

(16)Daniela Hantuchova (SVK) v BYE
Meghann Shaughnessy (USA) v (wc)Michelle Larcher De Brito (POR)
Meilen Tu (USA) v Romina Oprandi (ITA)
(18)Vera Zvonareva (RUS) v BYE

Hantuchova vs Zvonareva – Pick ‘em

(31)Martina Muller (GER) v BYE
Flavia Pennetta (ITA) v Virginie Razzano (FRA)
Vania King (USA) v Tiantian Sun (CHN)
(2)Justine Henin (BEL) v BYE



Poor Vania. Even if she gets past Sun she’s got Henin waiting for her. Pennetta should be waiting for Henin. A well rested Henin. Justine.