Topaz's Tennis Blog

Should I be more worried?

2011-01-11T20:51:00.002-05:00

I've lost my last 3 matches. Usually, this sends me into a flurry of clinics, lessons, and self-deprecating soul searching.

But, not this time.

See, I played really well in all 3 matches. I served well, played extremely clean, volleyed well, and damn, even hit a few winners. I'm moving better than I ever have before, and haven't really even been nervous.

So, even though I've lost, I'm not really worried.

Should I be?

It could be that I just don't have time to be worried. My psych class started yesterday, I'm still working that darn full time job, I'm attempting to stick to a training program and at least one run a week, and I've got 3 entrance exams to prep for...maybe worrying about the matches just isn't high enough on the list?

But there is that small nagging voice...hell, if I'm playing this well, and still losing, what is it that I have to do?

I'm not sure I care...as long as I get to keep playing.

Perhaps...

2011-01-09T12:52:00.004-05:00

I shall blog again?

Ironic, reading that last post in July. The worst was yet to come, but yes, still standing.

Always was one of my favorite songs!

Little of this, little of that...

2010-07-22T21:41:00.002-04:00

Oh, look, a post.

So, I decided to undelete my blog. May still change my mind. Life has been pretty rough lately, but I'm a trooper, and I make it out okay in the end...every time so far, right?

Finishing up my last prereq for nursing school. Still going to teach one more year, probably, though, as I need to figure out a way to actually support myself while in school. I'm hoping the Navy Reserves will be lending a hand, but more on that to come.

A few trips coming up, too, during my only two weeks in August when I don't have school or...school. Going to Cincinnati and Florida, and probably the homestead at some point as well.

Wow....

2009-10-10T20:33:00.003-04:00

Has it really been a whole month? Well, things here are kind of crazy, it could easily have been longer than a month...

So, I like lists, so here is an update, in list format:

*Three exams down so far, two 95s and one 97. I think I have a good format for studying pretty much down pat. I honestly had to relearn how to do this, since I didn't study much in music school (didn't really need to) and most of my 'coursework' was performing.
*School...is bleak but good at the same time. Budget cuts will more than likely change my job in some way next year, but I think I don't have to worry about actually *having* a job. Having a plan 'B' for my career is actually affecting my teaching in a positive way. Also having a positive impact is not having over 500 students every week, thanks to finally getting an itinerant (who, I have a feeling, will be cut next year). Guess I need to enjoy it while I can!
*Taking a bit of a break from leagues at the moment, at least until the big move is out of the way.
*Oh yeah, I'm moving! Out of the high rise, into a townhouse, and I will have roommates. Not exactly my cup of tea, but in this situation, I think it will work fine, and the price is RIGHT. The landlord is even adding The Tennis Channel to her cable line up for me!
*Moving is also giving me a chance to look at a lot of things and think 'do I really need this'? So, major purging is underway, and it feels good!
*I did not run the ATM due to a sudden and painful bout of IT band syndrome again (last time I had it was the last time I trained for this race!). I have since discovered the beauty of the foam roller though, and so far, it is doing the trick!
*Food is going okay, I actually dropped a bit of weight really fast in the first week or so of school, and put it right back on when I started succumbing to the temptations of candy and treats constantly in the faculty room. Need to get back on track, but still, I'm pleased with the progress I've made...and it would be just the 'icing on the cake' to finally drop the last bit of weight and be at a good fighting weight next spring for USTA season.

One down...countless more to go.

2009-09-09T19:04:00.003-04:00

Wow, that title could apply to a lot of things.

It was meant to refer to my first exam in my journey to becoming a nurse. I took my first exam in Human Biology today, and received a 95 (A). Sounds great right? Should have been a 100!!! Why? Well, I didn't make stupid mistakes (which I did do on the practice exam and the quizzes), but I fell prey to deliberately tricky questions. Oh well...still, pretty darn good, and I'll take it! Especially after a long work day that included reading a whole bunch of IEPs (which, oddly enough, were not on my exam!).

It could also refer to the countless school days to come. I'm exhausted. I feel like I've been hit by a truck. But I'm getting through, I guess...no other option, right?

Onward and upward.

Back to School, Day 1!

2009-08-25T21:56:00.008-04:00

Only, not as the teacher, this time as the student!

Monday morning I dutifully logged into our class site, and was a bit taken aback by the long list of assignments for week 1! Whoa! But, I almost gleefully dug in, made a list (because that is what I do best)...and got cracking!

Basically, we need to do chapter 1 in 3 of 4 of our books, and a couple other things (such as an intro letter and some online exercises). I got all the reading one yesterday, and now I'm working through the study guide and workbork. Then I will do the exercises and online stuff, and then hopefully be ready to do the quiz. I think this will be a good sequence, only I want to make sure I schedule the chapter reading for the weekends, so I'm trying to work a bit ahead this week. The course is self-paced, so I can completely work ahead if I can manage it. It would be nice to get it done early in case I can manage a trip to FL in early December.

The first chapter covers levels/structure of organisms, and all the vocabulary for anatomy...all the parts, sections, and directions. Whoo! I'm doing ok, but I am getting more wrong than I would like in the workbook...most of the time I'm just not working or reading carefully enough. It is a lot of memorization, but I figure I gotta get this down as then it will be used in the subsequent chapters.

There are a few others in my class that are taking the class as a prereq for A&P, too, just like me.

I also went into school today to work in my classroom. I got most of the heavy lifting done...moving instruments back in and moving the big stuff out of storage. It was just a few hours, but it gave me the head start I wanted.

I also talked to enough other people to know that my decision to move out of teaching is the right one for me. I only wish I could make it happen sooner.

Now, some pictures!

Sunday night I met up with my friend Janet for a quick drink. She is a tennis buddy, a fellow runner, and also a nurse! I wanted to pick her brain a bit, and then, of course, we always end up talking about men. I thought my hair looked good, so I took a few pictures.

It is also getting insanely long!

This is last night's dinner. Vegetarian chili (the Eating Right brand from Safeway) over romaine with some light shredded cheese, and some corn on the cob on the side (microwaved!).

It was very good, but the chili was too hot/spicy for me. I'm a whimp! I had some Tazo 'refresh' iced tea that helped quench the fire, though.

As 'back to school/the teacher edition' looms, I'm concerned about how to get my healthy meals reproduced at school. Since I went in today, I tried to see how well some things would travel/pack. I do have a microwave and a mini-fridge in my office, so I should be good to go!

Last night I put some oats, milk, yogurt, and vanilla whey in the fridge. I added blueberries (and flax after the picture) this morning.

Then I added some other snacks...raw almonds, sunflower seeds, and an apple.

It worked perfectly! For breakfast I had my current favorite egg white French toast with bananas, and then a Larabar.

When I came home, though, I was *hangry* (hungry + hangry, borrowed from a better blogger than me!)...I made a wrap with chicken, hummus and veggies, and then made some cucumber/onion/tomato bites!

And then I was still eating! LOL I guess all the lifting and carrying made me hungry? I had some popcorn and some peanut butter, too. Then I headed out to hit with Michelle, and just had some Trader Joe's Ohs with milk to tide me over until morning. I find if I actually go to bed hungry, I will dream about food. Sad, but true!

Good eats and good reads. Hopefully.

2009-08-23T12:10:00.007-04:00

I finally have all of my books assembled for my class! Here they are!

The 'chemistry for biology students' book is really well put together, I think. I've worked through the first four chapters already, and it is slowly coming back. The book is set up more like a work book than a text book, and I feel like it is a more meaningful type of instruction.

Here are the books I picked up from Flames9 on the Allnurses board:

The Kaplan math review book was supposed to help me get ready for the math entrance exam (hoping to score high enough so that I do not have to take a math class)...but the book really sucks. I *hate* how it explains things...seems to make things more complicated than it has to be. And, I'm no math genius, but I found two errors already. Math for me, just needs to be simple...show me how to do that problem. That's it. That's all I want.

The egg white French toast idea really took flight this morning! I had my oats/yogurt combo early, before heading out to clinic, then came back and had a Larabar, did upper body work, and then...the French Toast (egg whites only with cinnamon using Ezekiel bread) topped with bananas that I threw in the pan a bit to get them a bit mushy and carmelizd...OMG!!! It was wonderful!

We have a winnah!

From last night...my Big Salad (/Seinfeld reference):

Now it is time for Fed/Djokovic, then LenaD vs. Shriekapova. Go Lena!!!

Whew! What a morning!

2009-08-21T14:27:00.004-04:00

Started off the morning with a great idea, if I may say so myself!

Instead of my usual egg sandwich, I dipped the bread in the egg white/egg combo, and made french toast!

Fabulous! I topped one with cinnamon, and the other with Trader Joe's superfruit jam. I will be doing that again. Added a peach with cinnamon, and before I left for my errands enjoyed the Lemon Larabar.

My first errand was to pick up the last book needed for my Human Biology class at NOVA's Alexandria Campus. I have driven through the campus billions of times, usually to bypass rt. 7 traffic to get to Van Dorn ST. This is the first time I actually stopped, parked the car, and got out! I found the bookstore pretty easily and was helped by two marvelous people there. Props to Tony!

Then I headed to Office Max to get some 'back to school' items. LOL I'm such a dork, but I love it! I picked up a few binders, some cheap filler paper, a 2010 planner (cute and small and will fit in my purse), and a USB drive. I also spent some time playing with the laptops and netbooks. I have my eye on a few models of Toshiba netbooks that I may ask for come holiday time...I'm thinking it would be nice to have for the next semester (my class is online now).

Then groceries at Trader Joe's and Safeway. The guy at the bakery at Safeway gave me a free chocolate chip cookie! Score! And the guy behind me in the checkout line complimented my tan. LOL Seriously? I haven't even showered yet, just wearing shorts and a tank...I must be giving off some wierd vibes today or something!

Oh hey there!

2009-08-20T21:10:00.004-04:00

Yeah, see, this is one of the reasons I hesitate to list my blog onBlogher, because I tend to go walkabout on posting.

But I do have some news.

We shall do the 'bad' news first.

Played my first singles match in the new LTL singles league. I lost 5-7, 1-6. This, after failing to serve out the first set at 5-4. Mentally, in the second set, I don't think I recovered from that disappointment.

The Bad
*Well, duh, not serving out the first set when I put myself in position to do so.
*Fading and not being as aggressive in the second set. Yeah, it was a billion degrees, but we were both playing in the same conditions.
*Not doing enough with my returns in the second set. Seriously, I hit them right back to her. Unacceptable.

The Good
*Improved serving. Even hit one ace. No doubles.
*Basically, the first set. I was stepping into my shots, and even coming to net. I'm still too hesitant when I do that, though, and it puts me just a step behind and makes the volley awfully tough (and I made lots of errors on finishing volleys).
*Footwork/movement in the first set. I pushed...*hard*. Maybe I used up my gas? I've been out in the heat a lot lately, and it drains you like you wouldn't believe. I don't know how the pros do it.

Thanks to Ian at Essential Tennis,, I have four new quickness drills. He almost killed me with them last Monday, but really, it was a *good* pain! Never got as close to puking before in my life, but it really drove something home...

I'm not working hard enough.

Which, honestly, is a bit of a bitter pill for me to swallow. ME??? Not working hard enough?

Yes. And, not doing the work the right way. I should feel exhausted and spent at the end of a practice...if I don't, I'm not working hard enough. I took that with me into WED clinic, and worked up a sweat that I haven't had in a long time in there. And boy, was I happy to be done! I need to do that, every time. I also need to do that on the quickness drills, and *push*. For some reason, there is something in me holding back. Maybe when I finally break through that, I will find the success in my matches that I am looking for.

*************

In other news....

I WON!

On a lark, I entered a giveaway (I think I found it through Cranky Fitness, but it might have been one of the other foodie blogs found on my list, but I won the $100 grocery card giveaway by The Juice!. The giveaway's theme was swap meets and parties, and the idea is that you would use your gift card to buy food for your swap party. Well, I live in a tiny one bedroom apartment in a building with no parking, so I contacted The People In Charge, and they said I could still have it if I didn't throw the party! Cool beans!

Now I gotta go play the lottery!

Though, it did get me thinking...wouldn't it be cool to have a tennis swap party? Where tennis peeps brought all that stuff they don't want/like, and swapped it for something someone else wanted to get rid of? Hmmm, I think the idea has merit!

************

I have all but one of my books for Human Biology (my prerequisite for my A&P prerequisite), and I plan to go pick that up tomorrow, along with getting my student ID.

Then another 6.5 combo match. I'm 0-2 in 6.5, and 2-0 in 7.5. I'm obviously better being the weaker player than the leader on the team.

Peachy keen?

2009-08-01T17:11:00.006-04:00

I had my last peach this morning...nuked it with cinnamon first, then added yogurt, oatmeal, milk, whey, and blueberries. It was yummy!

Then I was off to clinic. For some reason, I'm really enjoying this Saturday morning, outdoor clinic a bit more than my others. I'm just a sub, though, so I can't rely on it. Just always seems to be a nice group, nice weather, and good drills. My frustration continues, as it seems I continue to work hard, do things right, and still loooooose. I'm tired of losing.

After clinic I scarfed a Lara bar (my favorite, cashew nut) and a banana and headed over to Kenmore MS to meet up with some TWMAC peeps. We had some fun!

We're a motley crew...

I also had a Peanut Butter balance bar (given to me by X) since I was still hungry while playing. We had planned to go out to eat or to the Asian Festival in Reston after playing, but we were all so tired, sweaty, gross, and bloated with water that instead, we just sat around talking a bit before going home.

I came home, showered, talked with mom on the phone (grandmother is home from hospital and actually doing ok for now, and my mom --->>> "Are you SURE about this nursing thing?" LOL), and ate my eggs, toast, strawberries, half of a banana I had in the fridge, and some edamame. And I'm still hungry! Planning some Trader Joe's mushroom risotto tonight, with some broccoli, and possibly more zucchini.

Need to get more peaches!

Two new foods!

2009-07-31T20:04:00.007-04:00

For me, anyway!

I started my day with a peach. I chopped it up, put some cinnamon on it, and nuked it in the microwave. DELICIOUS! And...yes, the first time I've actually eaten a *real* peach (not peach flavored something else). Oh well, better late than never, right?

I followed with my usual egg whites and toast. Then I headed out to play B. Toward the end of the match my tummy was not growling...it was SNARLING! :) I had a Lara Bar and then headed to Trader Joe's. I went to the Old Town location for the first time. I was going to get oatmeal, and came back with a few more things!

I made some oatmeal with greek yogurt, skim milk, half a banana, whey protein, flax, and some blueberries. Verrrrry good!

And for dinner tonight was my second new food. Now, I've eaten this food before, but never ever prepared it myself. A zucchini! I peeled it to make noodles, and sauteed it with olive oil, red onion, and a red pepper.

It smelled great, and then I topped it with my leftover (and the last of) my mahi-mahi:

Unbelievable! It was sooo good! My initial plan was to eat the 'noodles' raw, but then I felt like sautee-ing (how the heck do you spell that?). I have one more left, so maybe I'll do that one raw for lunch someday.

I had an apple (also nuked with cinnamon) for dessert, and I am stuffed! And a bit worried about all the fruit I've had today! LOL Not usually a problem with me. I hope I can continue these healthier, more creative eating ideas into the school year!

Playing B...

2009-07-31T17:56:00.002-04:00

B is a fellow teacher, which means, like me, she has some time to play during the day for two months. A few summers ago, we started meeting up regularly to play, and she never lost to me...until last summer. B is super fast...almost deceivingly so...so while you're sitting there admiring your winner, she runs it down, gets it back, and you're so flustered that you make a mistake! She is also capable of putting the ball away herself, but most of the time, because she is so consistent, she doesn't need to.

We've already played once this summer, when I was in some severe back pain, and somehow I squeaked out a 4-6, 6-4, 10-8 win. B is really good at hitting a high, deep looper, and when I loop it back, she'll take my looper off of the bounce and hit a short, flat, low shot that I can barely get to. The first time we played, because of my back, I didn't even *try* to get to them.

We played again today, and even though I was moving better and playing better, I lost! GRRR! I lost 1-6, 6-7. Predictably, it took me an entire set to warm up. I also switched racquets (and thus, strings) for the second set. I think I may be due for restringing. Using cheap PSGD is great on the pocketbook, but I'm starting to wonder if it loses tension too quickly. I launched a lot of stuff way out of the court today. Yikes! Still trying to 'fix' the serve. When I get it right, it is great. The problem is...I only get it right maybe 30 percent of the time!!!

I also play a higher risk game than B, and I'm wondering if I should be doing that at this point...instead, maybe I should be working on becoming more consistent myself. Yeah, I have great put-aways, but if I can't keep the ball in play long enough to get that put away shot, then I don't get to win many points with it. As usual, I'm pretty sure the problem lies with my feet as well as my head. Must get the feet in position, and musts keep head down through the shot. Even B could see me pop out of my shots sometimes.

We're playing again Tuesday morning! I'm trying to not worry too much about winning/losing, and instead work on the things that I need work on...my weaknesses. So, before we play, I will try to come up with 3 weaknesses that will be my focus for that match, and stick to working on them during the match no matter what the score!

***************

Tomorrow is full of tennis! First clinic, then meeting up with some TWMAC folks to hit, and then heading to the Asian festival all nice and sweaty and gross! :)

Food, glorious food!

2009-07-30T13:07:00.009-04:00

Props if you can name the musical the blog title is from!

So, as I sit there with no access to my kitchen or bathroom (workers are finally patching the holes left from the water damage from the fire), I thought I would throw up some of the pictures of the food I've been shoveling down my piehole the last two days. Good thing about no access to my kitchen...I'm right on target for today!

********

I think I've perfected my peanut butter banana oatmeal in the morning! And, again, I love that it seems to keep me a bit fuller than my fruit, egg whites, and toast.

Two variations of the afore-mentioned egg whites (sometimes with an actual egg with yolk thrown in), toast (Ezekiel sprouted grain) and fruit. Sometimes I throw in baby spinach with the eggs, and you can probably tell from the picture!

Since I made my broccoli slaw for a tennis party not too long ago, I had some leftover ingredients, and used them up. I actually usually have broccoli slaw on hand as a staple, but not so much the raisins, dressing (poppyseed), or bacon bits.

Bananas, Lara Bars, and apples help me recover from my tennis clinics!

Sweet potato fries! I ate the whole package!!! (tossed with olive oil and seasonings before baking)

Last night's dinner...mahi mahi, brown rice, broccoli (tossed with red wine vinegar):

Miscellany...Trader Joe's Ohs, my favorite peanut butter...

So far today I've had my PBB oatmeal, a lara bar (apple pie), and an actual apple. No pictures...my place is a mess! Yikes!

Quickie...or not...

2009-07-29T23:22:00.004-04:00

Played two clinics today after two days off from tennis...and actually felt rusty. My serve is a complete mess right now, because we are taking it apart in the hopes to put it back together correctly and better than ever.

I am so broke though, that I put my clinics on my credit card, which barely had enough credit left on it. I've been thinking a lot about more ways to save money, especially with this whole 'going back to school' thing, and this is what I've come up with so far:

1. New cell phone plan. I pay $70 a month, and I barely use it. I have a bunch of functions I don't use...all I need are texting and actual phone usage. I have AT&T, and might go in and talk to them about changing my plan (I'm not on a contract right now), or I might jump to Verizon. Any thoughts?

2. Get car paid off before nursing school. This would reallllly be a good idea, and if I could get a few payments ahead, I should be able to get this done.

3. No new tennis clothes. Seriously...I have a ton, and even though I got most of them on ebay cheaply, I really don't need anymore.

4. If I have to, I'll cancel the cable. It will suck, but honestly, I may be too busy to notice. I have my internet, home phone, and cable all bundled up with Comcast, and the bill is a big one. I watch my TV during the summer, but honestly...during the school year, I rarely turn it on.

5. Groceries...I'm actually pretty good here, but I think I could improve even more.

6. Be more choosy about matches...I have no qualms paying for clinics, but I tend to play a lot of matches (more than I need to I think), and each one costs money. I'd love to cut back to just one match a week.

7. The thing that hurts me the most is my CC debt, and it is big enough that I don't have any hope or prayer of having them paid off anytime soon. But I can *not* use them so it doesn't get any worse. Also, I have paid of the Macy's card, which leaves just my Victoria's Secret card left as a 'small' CC. I think I'm close to paying that one off, too.

These were my musings during my walk yesterday. I also did CF's High Step Training in the morning, and almost passed out...that is one heck of a workout (five cycles of high impact/plyo cardio followed by legs and then another body part). I had thought after a day of rest that I would rock the workout, and I did well, but I had to take a breather.

I've been eating like a horse, too...at least 2000 calories a day, which puts me 500 over my goal for each day. The problem here is that I'm not sure how much I'm burning, so I'm not sure how much to eat to get my deficit for the day. I would love to get a heart monitor to help out, but as you guessed, it isn't in the budget. I think I will just have to figure it out using trial and error, but I can't help think that I'm eating way too much right now and it is going to show up real soon. Yikes!

I've taken a bunch of food pictures, too, and I may throw them up tomorrow. This quickie has turned into a 'longie'.

The Day of Rest/Back to School

2009-07-27T20:32:00.003-04:00

So, as promised (and especially needed even more after a disasterous clinic yesterday morning), today was a day of rest. I ran some errands, worked on the never-ending kitchen project and worked on some school stuff (not for the school I teach but the school I will be taking...more later).

And, I feel like a horrible sloth!

Part of that reason is that yesterday I was insanely hungry for the entire day and pretty much ate anything that wasn't bolted down. Calorie counting went out the window. Most likely, a result of over training for so long, Saturday's marathon tennis in the heat, and some good old healthy PMS.

Problem is that today I'm still hungry...but I did manage a pretty clean eating day (even if it was higher in calories than I would have liked).

I did try to go for a walk, but even that was stymied by a freak cloud that rained over my area from about 6:30 until the sun set. Can't go walking in the dark around here...nope, wouldn't be prudent.

So, tomorrow I have a double workout planned...strength training in the morning (Cathe Friederich's High Step Training) and a jog in the evening. Or, I may try to convince Sup to come out and hit with me in the afternoon...though I still think I should give myself one more day off from tennis.

**************

One of my errands this morning was to finally conquer the butterflies in my stomach and go into the NOVA Medical building for advising (or really, pre-advising). I think I figured out all I could from watching the information session (twice) and scouring the online resources. I needed a human, and I thought in-person would be best, since then I could also get a lay of the land.

I found the building with no trouble (in nearby Springfield) and was happy to find the parking gates wide open. I found Student Services easily too, but was met with a pretty frosty woman at the desk. She kept repeating 'How can I help you' and 'What are your questions', but I was pretty sure she wasn't an advisor and counseling didn't happen in the hallway and within earshot of everyone around you. A nearby guy (who appeared to be in charge) came over and directed me to the sign in sheet. Much better, thank you. Odd woman at that desk. Whatever.

A short wait later, I had my questions answered by a career counselor. Basically, many of my prerequisites and even some of the general education courses for nursing will be taken care of by my Bachelor's degree. The bad news is that I have to take a bio prerequisite for the bio prerequisite! I'm actually fine with that, though, because while I pretty much could jump right into A&P without having had bio for 15 years, I think I'm better off taking another course to refresh myself and 'ease' in, so to speak. That will put me a bit further back for actually applying and entering the nursing program, but I can take a few other things and get them out of the way while I wait...and save more money (and give my mom more time to sell the house). One in the accelerated program, you knock it out pretty quickly, in four consecutive semesters including summers. Rock on.

So, this fall, I have registered and already paid (god help me I'm so broke now) for Human Biology (4 credits) that I will be taking online (I thought it my best option since it wasn't a lab course) and Orientation to Health Care (1 credit) that I will take on the Med campus on Monday nights, but only for 8 weeks. The Human Biology course will then allow me to take Health Science I in the spring, which is a pretty intense lab course which will take up 6 hours a week. But then I can take Health Sciences II over the summer (footloose and fancy free), and then all my pre-reqs are done and I can start working on the general education courses (psychology, medical terminology, and general pharmacology)...which sets me up for a spring or summer of 2011 start date for nursing school. Again, I think I'd rather do it this way and have a bit more time to get my ducks in a row.

More opportunities to play (and win!) the lottery between now and then, too!

You might ask, where does tennis fit in? Well, obviously I'm going to have to cut back, but that may not be a bad thing. I'm guarding my Wednesday nights (Sup's clinic) with my life right now, and as long as he continues to teach Sunday mornings, I'm good. The place to cut back is the amount of matches I play...and again, that might be a good thing.

*whew*

So, meanwhile, I'm giddy like a...schoolgirl! Ha! I'm such a nerd...I want to go get my books and get started already!!!

Also...

2009-07-24T23:27:00.002-04:00

Funniest moment of hitting tonight...JRK and his new best friend say hello to the camera!

More foooood....

2009-07-24T23:16:00.006-04:00

Kept up with this for today, just because I felt like being creative.

After my fabulous oatmeal, I did some work on the computer and then did Jari Love's Ripped 1000. It always gets me pretty well soaked. I like that it is a blend of cardio (high impact/plyo cardio) and weights. My breakfast was more calories than I usually eat, and I wasn't hungry again until after I worked out (which is very unusual for me).

But afterward, the hunger came roaring back!

So, I had a nice fruit/hummus/mini pita plate!

And a new flavor of Lara Bar (chocolate coconut):

I did laundry and puttered around, took a shower and then got ready to play some tennis with the TWMAC boys. Before I left, I snacked on Ezekiel bread with greek yogurt and Trader Joe's superfruit spread:

I actually had two of those, and then also snacked on a South Beach bar while playing.

We headed to Dogfish afterward, and I had my obligatory calamari and salad (opted for the chicken, shrimp, and bacon salad).

And...that's a lot of food. I know I worked out twice, but other than that...not so much going on. Hmmm, maybe this picture blogging thing will be helpful. I always do struggle during the summer with my weight (I usually gain) just because I'm not moving around as much as when I'm teaching. Hmmm...I may do this for maybe a week and see what changes I can implement. I do track my calories at Calorie Count, but I have no idea what the calamari and salad come to, plus I have no idea how much I burn doing my workouts and/or tennis. Hmmm.....

Hmmmmmm........

Ok, off to bed...more tennis in the morning, then I think I'm actually going to skip Sunday clinic and take a few days off! My back and knees need it!

I warned you...

2009-07-24T09:28:00.003-04:00

I warned you that I would blog about anything, not just tennis and training, right?

This morning's breakfast is inspired by reading the blogs The Fitnessista and The Healthy Tipping Point, where our fearless bloggers post and describe the wonderful (and usually vegetarian, organic, and/or vegan) meals and snacks they have throughout the day. The Fitnessista, in particular, often also posts raw meals, and it is amazing what wonderful looking (and hopefully also tasting) food that can be created.

So, I present to you, my breakfast!

I shall call it Peanut Butter Banana Oatmeal!

1/2 C oatmeal (organic stuff from Trader Joes)
1/4 C organic fat free milk
1/4 C greek yogurt
1 T Trader Joe's Valencia peanut butter (all natural and has flax seed added...my favorite PB of the moment)
1 medium banana
a sprinkle of flax meal

It was good, and also was *perfect* for my macros...50/25/25. My goal is always 40/30/30, but it really hurts to get below 50 for my carbs. Probably because I'm still playing and working out so much.

Which brings me to this...I haven't had a rest day since the day I drove down to VA districts, over two weeks ago. Over train much? This is a problem with me, and I can't seem to take a day off in fear of...gaining weight. There, maybe if I type it out, I will see how stupid that is! That being said, I plan to weight train this morning, maybe play some tennis tonight, and then have clinics lined up over the weekend. Ha. I was supposed to be going to the beach, and planned to leave my racquets here (thereby forcing the time off) but those plans fell through. So, a new goal will be: At least ONE rest day per week, ideally TWO when I'm also getting in a lot of lifting!

Uh, so that means Monday will be a rest day. We'll see how I do.

Had great lesson with Sup yesterday, working on adding power to both my groundies and serve. My back is *finally* feeling better. Played B on Tuesday morning, and barely scraped out a win at 4-6, 6-4, 10-8. Combo league is starting up and I have found myself on three teams. Whoops! And I plan to go into walk-in advising at NOVA today so I start my nursing prerequisites properly. I actually applied to college, for the fourth time, last night online. LOL. I felt quite giddy afterward, which just reinforces that I'm headed in the right direction (though my life will probably suck for a few years, but I must stay focused on the light at the end of the tunnel!).

Flex League Match #1

2009-07-17T09:58:00.002-04:00

I know I haven't updated my experience at districts, yet, but it is coming. As always, it was a great experience.

But first, I wanted to write about my very first flex league singles match that I played yesterday morning.

Flex league is new to this area, and you can sign up for singles or doubles. I signed up for singles in order to get more match experience way back in early May I believe. The idea is that you get a group of people, and it is up to you to arrange and play the matches with a set period of time. I started off with the best of intentions, but it became clear that, between work and league teams, I had no time to play these matches! Plus, at the time, it was raining a LOT. So, I decided to hold off until the season ended since I would also be out of school by then. This got pushed back a bit by districts, but now I have plenty of time.

So, I set off yesterday to play a woman I've played twice last year, once in doubles and once in singles (in the consolation round of a tournament). I beat her both times. As I drove to the school where we had arranged to play, though, I could tell I just wasn't in the mood. A bit burnt out, perhaps, after districts? Oh well, it was a very hot and humid morning...at least I'd get some exercise, right?

And I sure did! C made it clear that she was taking the match pretty seriously (which is fine, it is my own fault for having a piss poor attitude at the start) and, as a tricky left, she came out of the gates really well. As usual, I had trouble finding the court on my groundstrokes. C got out to a 4-1 lead in no time.

But then I settled a bit, warmed up a bit, and started to move better. I closed to 4-5, but she was able to hang on to take the first set. One thing she does very well is hit a deep, high ball to my BH side...I usually couldn't get it back because I wouldn't take it on the rise...I'd back up, it would spin over my head, and end up in the fence before it came back down! Sheesh! If I did get, she was up at the net ready to knock down the easy volley. Smart playing.

And, for some reason, she stopped doing that in the second set. My errors decreased, her's increased, and I was up 4-1! Now, of course, she starts creeping back, and I start missing, as my back started letting me know that it was very unhappy that I was playing again. Ugh. I just can't move the right way when my back is like this. I did hold on to take the second set 6-4. It was a bit funny...I was concentrating on so many other things, I didn't realize the set was over until she told me!

We were supposed to play a full 3rd set, but I knew I didn't have enough water or patience from my back to make it. I think she felt the same way, so we agreed to play a 10 point tiebreak instead, and enter the score 7-5 in favor of whoever won the tiebreak.

I think I should have played the 3rd set.

Because I SUCK at tiebreaks. I really, really do. I'm not sure if I tighten up, thinking 'I gotta win this'! Or, do I relax, thinking 'whew, got it to the tiebreak'. Either way, whatever I'm doing is not working. C took the tiebreak 10-2. And my steak of horrible tiebreaks continue.

So, since this is my 'off season'...there are definitely things to work on:
Serve - must get rid of the fry pan. Seriously, I'm starting to have nightmares about this now.
Return - need to be more aggressive, if not with pace, then with placement. I want to be able to use the return to set something up, or at least stay neutral, instead of sailing it out. I do that way too much.
Movement - Tennis is played with your feet. When my shots are going out or landing short, it is my feet that are to blame.

No tennis today, probably, though the TWMAC guys are trying to meet up later today...I think we're going to get rained out. Tomorrow morning is clinic (provided it doesn't rain), and Sunday morning is clinic, followed by my indoor team's party. The party we'll just be playing social dubs. I'm thinking I'm not giving my back the rest it needs.

All systems go!

2009-07-08T22:02:00.002-04:00

The hard work and practicing is done. Racquets are re-strung. Packing has *started* (not finished quite yet), but this will more than likely be the last post before I return from districts.

Still haven't heard anything from our captain, so hopefully the rumor mill is false and she will be playing for us! Tomorrow is a drive down/relax day, and S (from my last post) will be riding along with me. I want to have a nice, relaxing evening and a good night's sleep!

Then, Friday we have two of our three round robin matches. We play at 10:30am and 6:30pm, which is really nice. We have time in between the matches to take a trip back to the hotel for a quick swim/shower/change of clothes/nap. I found, after I played S yesterday, that when I got home I zonked out a bit (from the heat), but then got back up and felt pretty good. We'll see if I need it Friday or not.

Saturday morning we have our third match, again at 10:30am. Then, it will depend on how well we did. If we win our round robin, it is on to the final round, which is two more matches (I think both on Sunday, not sure!). If not, we head back home Saturday.

Then...then...leagues will be over (unless we actually win the whole thing, which is unlikely...not because we're not good, but there are *lots* of good teams down there and a ton of matches to get through...odds are against you)...and I'm not sure what I'll do.

One idea so far...I'm thinking of backing off of the tennis for a bit and concentrating on some really strict and clean eating to try to drop some more weight. My idea is two eat hardcore clean for at least a week, then maintenance calories for a week, then hard core again for two weeks, a week at maintenance, etc etc etc. Or, maybe a whole month of hardcore (though I doubt I would make it), and then two weeks off. Something cyclical like that...because while I'm not gaining with how I'm eating right now (which is GREAT), I'm also not losing. So, clean it up even more, and not go nutso with the workouts...focus on diet. We'll see if I have the willpower for it!

Friends don't let friends...play each other in singles!

2009-07-07T22:28:00.002-04:00

Today, in preparation for playing singles at districts this weekend, one of the other singles players on my team (S) and I met up to play a practice match.

On paper, she should win. She has a far better record than me, and has taken some scalps along the way (KZ being one of them). She, I suppose, could be classified as a 'pusher', though I don't like the negative connotations that go with that label. To me, consistency is gold, and something that I still consistently...lack. Like me, she is a teacher, only her medium is PE, and she can run everything down, return it into the court, and do it for hours. Her only weaknesses is that she doesn't hit with much pace (this could also be a strength at 3.5 since generating our own pace while keeping the ball in the court always proves to be a singular challenge), she has a weak serve (see 'no pace'), and she will not hit winners...on purpose. Her short dinks sometimes end up being winners, but I'm not sure if she means for them to end up that way or not. And lastly, she is quite uncomfortable at net, so bringing her up on purpose is a good strategy (if you can execute it!).

So, again, since I was denied my chance to play 'the diamond' and practice coming in, I was excited to try it out today.

It was a tight first set, with S edging me out 6-4. I was having trouble, like I usually do, returning her soft serve...I kept launching it out. I also wasn't coming up enough...when I did, I usually won the part. I still don't always pick the right time to do it, but that's why we're practicing, right?

Second set, I noticed some patterns in her baseline play (notably that she always tries to pass me cross court from her backhand), she really didn't like if I got some slice on my serve, and I was able to come in A LOT more, which put pressure on her. She tried coming in herself, but made errors and then gave up on it. I was also more patient, I think, and waited for my moments to hit a winner, and my most successful shot was my FH down the line. On returns, since they were so soft and slow, I set up like a regular groundstroke to hit them, and focused on placement and setting up the point rather than trying to hit a winner. Ironically enough, lots of times this resulted in a winner!

We still played long games, but this time I seemed to have the edge, and I took the second set 6-2. Like during regular league play, we don't play a full 3rd set at districts...instead we do the 'champion's 10 point tiebreak', so that is what we did today. After a few long rallies, I raced out to an 8-1 lead. Again, I showed that I get too lazy and/or sloppy when I'm ahead, and it wasn't until it was 8-6 that I finally won the next two points and won the match.

I'm not too 'gloaty', though, since I know I play better (and more relaxed) when it doesn't 'count' for anything. She was peeved, though, I could tell. She is a very friendly, though competitive person, and I think she expected me to hit enough errors that she would win easily. I can't blame her...that is my M.O. But maybe, just maybe...I'm starting to change that.

Tomorrow is packing and clinic at night. Maybe some light workout in the morning. Thursday we head down (possibly without our own captain, as S told me that the rumor is she decided to play with another team of her's that is also headed down to districts. Not. Cool. IMO. I don't care how shorthanded *they* are...she's *our* captain!!!).

I hope to remember to take the camera so I will have some pictures to go along with match write ups from districts!

I'm excited, because I played well and I executed a game plan! When I lost the first set, I adjusted instead of just doing the same thing over and over again.

WTL...thy name is drama!

2009-07-05T18:27:00.003-04:00

Oh, yesterday was a fun one!

First of all, WTL (Washington Tennis League) was a bit crazy, IMO, to schedule matches on the 4th of July. At Hains Point. During the parade! Though, we were lucky in that our team was scheduled to play at 9:30am. Well, I had thought that was lucky...it proved to be unlucky for others.

Fortunately, we had enough players in town for me to put together a decent line-up, with me at #2 singles and all excited about my new singles game plan (diamond drill! New serve! Coming in to net!). I left *really* early, not because I was worried about traffic (I395 was one route that didn't suffer from road closures due to the parade) but because I was worried about parking. I was thinking Hains Point would be a great place to park if you're coming in for the parade at 11:30!

But again, I was wayyy early, and even got a prime spot in the lot, right in front of the courts! Lucky!

Not so lucky was KO, who was coming in from Ashburn, and didn't stop to think or check the road closures. She got stuck twice, but finally got there with plenty of time to spare (mostly because she left at 7am for a 9:30am match!).

Eventually we all gathered except for RMcE, who ended up a bit stuck herself since she was coming from the city. I had her at #1 singles, so I switched her to #2 just in case she didn't make it in time (in accordance with the default rules).

While all of this was happening, CB comes up and tells me her team just got handed an entire *match* default by their opponents. Now, they are one of the teams in contention to win the league, and to get five courts without having to play is huge! And, well, kinda sucky for the other teams, but whatever...I went along my way.

The bell rings, we walk onto the courts, and our opponents were nowhere to be found! Lol! I sent everyone to their courts, and RMcE ran on just in time (we have 15 minutes before a default is declared), and finally the opponents trickle in. The captain finds me and tells me that they are defaulting #3 doubles (oh, poor KO was on #3 doubles...all that driving, and her opponents don't show!) and that #1 singles (my opponent) is on her way.

Only, she never showed up. I was generous, too...I stayed on the court for 20 minutes. So, right off the bat, we got two courts in a default. I grabbed Katy and Dawn and headed over to practice with CB's team, who is just hitting with themselves and practicing since their opponents threw in the towel for the day. The captain, who I know in passing from both DC and NOVA leagues, was very friendly and inviting. She is also the captain that I'm scheduling our make-up courts with, and she has been quite fair and accommodating. We ended up playing some doubles with another gal who was there early for her 11am match. It was fun!

When the whistle blew, I noticed all three of our active courts were still playing. Hmmm...I was thinking we would have won by now! Well, it turns out that all three courts were very, very close. Two of them went to sudden death points. Of those two, we won one and lost one (poor RMcE double faulted on her's...I hate the sudden death point!)...and we won on games on the other court. So we won 4-1. We're trucking right along, having fun, playing tennis, and doing well.

Another top team was there, ready to start their match, and having a shit storm about the match default, as it put the team that received it pretty much out of reach (at least for us, but there are two teams already out of our reach). I get it, I really do...but what are you going to do? I seriously doubt, for one moment, that if one of these other teams had gotten that default, that they wouldn't have gladly accepted it and skipped away into the sunset!

Well, later in the day (before I hit the pool), I got a call from one of these captains. They wanted to (and have since) filed a grievance against the team that defaulted. *sigh* Thing is, again, I get it. The league winner should not be decided by defaults. However, I don't know the defaulting captain or her team. I don't know the circumstances under which she decided to throw the entire match. Not cool, I know, but having a match on July 4 is tricky (and she has a small roster to being with). I got lucky with my team.

Word on the street, though, is that the defaulting captain actually had four players on site, and she didn't play them. Four players can give you three courts (singles, singles, and doubles), which is enough to win a team match. This is the thing that I really am more concerned about...if they were there, why didn't they play?

So, two other teams are really up in arms about this. They want me to sign onto the grievance and keep saying it hurts us, but it really doesn't. We already played the defaulting team, and swept all the courts. We lost to both of the 'complaining' teams, and have already lost two courts to the 'lucky' team. It is statistically impossible, even if we win every single court we have left to play, to win. However, if we win some more courts off of the 'lucky' team, it will benefit the 'complaining' teams. And that right there, I think, is the only reason they want my support.

And, to a point, they do have my support. It shouldn't be decided this way. But there is only so far I'm going to go with grievances and such...I just want to play tennis. I honestly don't think the 'lucky' team's captain arranged anything with the 'defaulting' team...and if they did, well, I think it is sad that they feel they have to do that. And as far as the 'complaining' teams...I find it ironic that they are shouting so loud, when both of them have some suspiciously rated singles players on their teams.

*sigh*

I just want to play tennis.

Rest

2009-07-03T23:26:00.002-04:00

Today was a day of rest...at least from tennis and working out. From here until Thursday, I have tennis every day in the hope that I'll figure something out in time for districts. Ha! Though, truth be told, I have a DC match tomorrow (I'm playing #2 singles), and I'm looking forward to working on the things that CB and CR worked on with me.

Spent the day gallivanting around with RevJ, who is here on leave. Yay for leave! Hope to see him again before he goes back to the ME and I head down to districts. Also need to keep in touch with him better while he is over there...I realized today how much I miss talking to him.

Preparations

2009-07-02T21:34:00.002-04:00

Preparations are being made for districts, including what I hope is a bit of a (positive) change in philosophy in my singles games. Never thought tennis was that deep, did you?

Yesterday, when all the plans for a team practice fell apart, I was still itching to play. So, I grabbed my stuff and drove on over to 'Bertha'. Bertha is the name given to a little, out of the way hitting wall that I've found. It is usually completely deserted, but evidently not forgotten, as I was pleased to find that the area has been fenced in since my last visit (yay...no more chasing balls into the storm drain!).

It is real easy to hit against a wall and actually do more harm than good. I tried very hard to make sure I was focusing on two things -> my contact with the ball and my feet. I soon realized that I was just hitting as hard as I could, and stopped myself. I forced myself to just hit 'solid' and not necessarily with a lot of pace. I got into a good rhythm, especially on my BH side. My FH loop is still too big most of the time, causing my contact to be late.

But all in all, a good practice session. I was supposed to play in the make-up match for Tennacity, but it got called due to 'oh jeez, this match doesn't matter anyway and will just get rained out again'-itis.

This morning I met up with CB to hit. We were supposed to have a foursome and play doubles, but she and I were the only two there, so after a bit of a chat, we hit singles for about an hour and a half. And...I think I had a bit of a breakthrough. CB plays both singles and doubles, and is a *smart* player (something I still lack). After a bit, she pulled me aside and said 'Look, when you have me stretched out, why in the world aren't you coming in?'. She even very graciously demonstrated by running *me* corner to corner, coming in, and gently placing a volley where I had no hope of ever getting it.

So then I did it...by stretching her out to her weaker side (BH)...and OMG! Easy, easy points! She is good enough to also give me alots of different kinds of balls, and it was a great practice. Again, I found that I can control the ball and place it when I'm not trying to hit the tar out of it.

After this, I moseyed down the road for a pick-up lesson with CR (who is trying to whoo me into being a regular student). We worked on returns, which was great. She had me change my positioning slighty, and we worked on taking a weak serve down the line to set up the point aggressively. Again, we have found that I'm not turning my shoulders and taking my racquet waaaay back too far, especially on that FH side. She wants me to take the loop out completely, but I'd rather just work on shortening up the loop. I like the loop!

Then we did the diamond drill, which was a great singles drill. She marked out a diamond on the court with some cones. I was to hit the ball outside of the diamond. Doing that made my opponent (one of CR's camp helpers...good college player) run like mad, get out of position, and usually hit an error. If not an error, than a weak reply. Again...hello...it wasn't about pace. I really got the hang of it after seeing the visual reminder of the cones.

CR teaches one of my opponents from the season (MS), and suggested that we share a lesson. Now, *this* was more like it. Since I lost my Monday shared lesson, I've really missed the more individual attention and the opportunity to hit regularly with another 3.5 (or better) woman. So, she called up MS and she thought it was a good idea, too, and it looks like I have my Monday night tennis back, just with a different partner and instructor. I still have my Skyline clinics, too, and hopefully pick-up lessons with Sup. Sup and CR complement each other perfectly...I can almost finish CR's sentences because I've heard the same thing come out of Sup's mouth! So, I feel like working with both won't mess me up.

Except, I'm keeping my loop! Just need to compact it!

Then I was off to clean up and drive into FFX to a charity that I found that took all my books I was getting rid of! Yay!

Then, back into Arlington for some tennis with some TTW boys. We hit at TJ Middle School, and I liked it much better than Wakefield. A nicer setting, and more 'structure' on the court...meaning the other people were nice and had much better etiquette on the other courts. We played some doubles and were just hitting around when the skies opened up. It actually felt good, as the rain was a bit cold.

And now, as I look over my schedule, I realize we leave on Thursday for districts, and I have tennis scheduled Sat (DC match), Sun (clinic), Mon (shared lesson), Tues (Susie), and Wed (clinic). So, no tennis for me tomorrow! It might just be time to hit the pool and see what I can do about my hideous tan lines!

Hobbling toward the finish line...

2009-06-28T15:23:00.003-04:00

This morning, Tennacity beat All that Racquet. Barely. Thus, qualifying the team to go to VA districts. And when I say barely, I mean *barely*. We split courts, and actually split sets. So it came down to a total game count, and we edged them out 45 to 43 (I think...something like that). I say 'we', but I didn't play today...I headed over after clinic as I was supposed to practice. Only one other person showed up to practice, and after hitting for an hour, we watched the match wrap up.

I'm happy we're going, of course, but I only played twice for this team, both times at doubles, and lost both times (albeit in close matches). We have one more match to go, and I'm scheduled for singles, but I feel like I haven't contributed to the team going at all. OH well, I should just shut up, go, and have a blast. Which really, is the plan anyway.

Just have to keep my ankle from falling apart before then. I have switched to taping as I feel it is more effective than my ASO brace (it gets the support right where I need it to be), but it causes me to go through tape unbelievable fast.

I also have a conflict on one day of districts with our final DC match. Depending on how NOVA indoor playoffs shake down, we might be short, and though my original plan was to drive back to play the DC match, now that I've seen when we would play (10am and 6:30pm on Friday), that is no longer looking like an appealing idea.

Marching on...

2009-06-27T19:04:00.002-04:00

I played much, MUCH better in my singles match last night. Still lost though, but against a strong opponent (a 3.5 who plays up at 4.0 and has taken out a 4.0 in a singles match)...she won 7-5, 3-2 (timed). I was serving 5-6 in the first set to get to a tiebreak, and I blinked. That's where my lack of confidence and experience come back to bite me in the arse!

Today, I hadn't planned on playing for the DC team, but a sudden injury meant that I was going into the line-up. I shuffled that sucker around about 10 times, consulted with team members, and ended up playing doubles with D at #2. And...we lost, 2 and 3 against two of my indoor teammates. *sigh* D wins all her indoor matches, and maybe it is just a matter of her needing to play more outside (and on clay) but when she is paired with me, she doesn't play her best. Not even close. And, I'm saying this as someone who self-admittedly is weak in doubles. But I was poaching and being aggressive at net. She stands and *stays* all the way back at the service line and tries to dig things out at her feet. Not an offensive position at all. And she was hitting a lot of groundies way long, too. Honestly, I don't see her play like this with others, and it may be time to end the tennis partnership as we just aren't 'gelling' the way we used to. If I'm the steady one on the doubles team, then we're in trouble!

The serve held up great again, and I actually can't wait to get back out onto court and practice it some more. The BH...oh, low and behold...I have a BH again. I know I'm still swinging late on the FH, but I'm confident I will get that back on track, too. You know, just in time for the end of the season!

So, another USTA update:

Lucky Stars
We had the bad luck of facing some really strong teams at the end of the season, and ended up getting pushed out of a playoff position. Still, we ended 12-10, and we are looking forward to doing even better next year. Such a great team...I'm very lucky (no pun intended!) to be there!

Select Auto
We had a bad loss today. It isn't going to help us, but we aren't out of the running quite yet. We have our make-up match starting to get played (court by court) this week, and then two more matches. Our singles players went down today, and those are two courts we usually claim. K got beaten by a sandbagger, no doubt in my mind. Not sure how this gal has avoided a DQ, but you don't beat KZ 0 and 2 and then try to pass yourself off as anything but a sandbagger. I hope she enjoys 4.0 next year (where she belongs!).

So, it might cost us, but we are not a team put together like that...we don't play those games. We follow the rules and go out and play our best.

Tennacity
With two more matches left, a win at one of them will mean a trip to districts. *crossing fingers*

Wrapped up the day with some strength training. I'm slowly starting to feel better, and have kept food in/down for over a whole day now! Not sure what was up...maybe just had something that realllly didn't agree with me. Onward and upward.

Zzzzzzz

2009-06-25T23:28:00.002-04:00

The first week off after school is always tricky. Suddenly your routine, which pretty much rules your life for 10 months...is gone. Out the window. *kapowy*

Most of the time, I welcome this with open arms, and many mornings sleeping in. However, this year (or this week), I haven't had that same transition. I knew, by the end of the school year, that between teaching 500+ kids every week plus my tennis and workout schedule that I had built up a fair amount of fatigue. I expected to sleep like a rock for 3 days straight.

That just hasn't happened, even though I'm still *tired* and wanting it to happen. Hitting with Sup today, he said he's noticed, between lessons and clinics, that I'm tired. And not tired in 'oh, I overslept this morning', more as in fatigue. I need about a week off, I think, from lifting, from training, and from tennis. Only now, it looks very likely that my outdoor team is headed to districts, and there will be no tennis break until after that, at the very least.

Anyway, Sup rightly predicted that I would once again conk out this afternoon, and sure enough, I feel asleep in the middle of the day and just woke back up at 9pm. So, totally farked up now. But I'm a bit concerned, too, though luckily with being on break, I think I will be able to rectify this, and ignore the little voice telling me I need to go do a billion weighted step ups *rightnow*!!! Um, yeah, we'll see how that goes.

I usually put on weight on the summer, too, just because I'm moving around less. This week, I've dropped about 3 lbs! Mostly because, I can't keep anything in or down. So far so good with that today, but that combined with the fatigue does have me a bit concerned. Hopefully, once I get adjusted a bit more, this will all fall into place on its own? *crossing fingers*

Worked on some good stuff in my lesson today (which happened after a pretty pathetic plea for help after my last pathetic loss...3rd in a row now). Turns out my contact point on both sides has gotten later and later, and taken the weight and depth out of my shots. Sup also fed me some junk balls, as that seems to be one of my achilles. And we wrapped up by taking another look at my serve, which we both know is deficient, but we tried something new today with tucking in my right elbow (think the trophy position) and that seemed to help with the pronation. So, definitely something good to work on and get that serve beefed up.

********************

Sharapova got ousted from Wimby yesterday, and honestly, 'good riddance' is all I have to say. In all the recent press about shrieking, I find her's to be one of the most offensive...mostly because she does NOT do it in practice. It is ridiculous to watch one of her matches anymore. Sad to say, too, as I was looking forward to her comeback after her surgery to spice up and mix up the women's tour, but she is clearly not what she was...and louder than ever.

Little Melanie Oudin is trucking quietly along, keeping some hope alive (with Jesse Levine) for a future in American tennis.

Insanity.

2009-06-24T22:59:00.002-04:00

It is often said that the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and over again, and expecting a different result.

I am pretty sure I'm insane.

I lost ugly tonight. 1 and 1. Took an hour and fifteen minutes, and I could only manage 2 games. My opponent had some junk, but not so much that I don't think I should have been able to handle it. I'm just...so confused. And a bit lost. I have these beautiful, technically sound strokes, yet I can't seem to win a match with them. I keep losing to people with ugly strokes, bad footwork, and lotsa junk...but you know what...they win and I lose. And, I know I'm supposed to focus on getting better and not 'resort' to junk to win, but there is only so much losing I can take!

I get to do it all over on Friday for the last match of the season.

I have this wonderful physical game, and no mental game to match it at all.

*banging head on desk*

So, do I go out there and do the same thing *again* (INSANE), or do I bring the junk?

At least my team keeps winning. Yay for L and some strong doubles players!

To add insult to injury, I tweaked the ankle yet again when I came down awkwardly while jumping up trying to get a lob. Missed the shot, and farked up the ankle again.

*primal scream*

Hill sprints

2009-06-23T22:11:00.002-04:00

Now that I'm on summer vacation, I have no excuse for not training properly and often. Yesterday was circuit training courtesy of Cathe Friedrich's High Step Training. Think you can't get a kick-ass workout at home from a DVD? Well, think again. The workout is five 'cycles' that start off with a high intensity and impact cardio 'blast', followed with legs and then a different other body part for each of the five sections. I love that it has a ton of variety, the cardio blasts kick butt, and it has a ton of step ups, which are my favorite leg exercise.

So today, taking in consideration that I have a match tomorrow, I didn't want to do any weight work. So, I took off to the nearby running trails, and did four hill sprint repeats (not sure exactly what to call it). I actually did a .75 mile warm-up jog, then spring up the hill (a pretty moderate hill, but still...uphill!), then jog down around to the bottom of the hill. Rinse, repeat for four total times, then I jogged the .75 again and jogged home (which involved a very large hill).

I tried to keep the concept of 'striding' when I did the sprints, to really get the impact and push-off into it. I love running, but I'm trying to make my running more effective for my tennis, as well. I think, though, that there is actually too much recovery in between the sprints, so next time I will modify the distance in between to allow less 'recovery'. I might also do five instead of four.

Tomorrow is a singles match, but not until the evening, so I'm going to try to get out and hit during the day against the wall and maybe take some serves. After pondering with Sup a bit, it is pretty much agreed upon that my serve...sucks. Major overall will be coming soon!

****************

Of course, I've also been enjoying watching Wimbledon. I was sad to see Jelena Dokic out in the first round. I do think a Williams sister will be holding the Venus Rosewater dish at the end of the fortnight, but I think Stosur, Wozniacki, and Azarenka could make some noise.

****************

Also went to the eye doctor today. Predictably both eyes have worsened, though my left more than my right. They are both equally bad now, instead of one being worse than the other. The doc is a bit mystified, as usually (by my age) the nearsightedness slows down and stabilizes. Mine just keeps getting worse. I'm an excellent candidate for Lasik, but totally can not afford it.

Oh well, at least I have a valid excuse for my mishits!!!

The good out of all of this is that I finally picked out new glasses. They are purple!!!! :) And half-off, which, of course, is a tune I like to sing.

*****************

Ex-TTWer Julieta brought the USTA Public Parks tournament to my attention. Not only does it fit into my schedule, but I happen to have an old friend living in nearby Columbia, SC (the tourny is in Lexington SC). Hmmmm....

If I only had a brain.

2009-06-21T20:48:00.002-04:00

Or, maybe a lobotomy would be the way to go.

No other explanation for the crap tennis I played today. Lost 3 and 1. My opponent was very good, but not so good that I shouldn't have been able to do better. Predictably, after losing a tight first set (in which I blew many chances but also had an interesting line call go against me on my game point) I went into insane mode in second set...thinking 'I must be more aggressive!'.

Which is fine and all, only more aggressive for me right now translates into...I can't keep the damn ball in the courts. And I got frustrated, and she could tell, and totally moved in for the kill. Kudos to my opponent, she played a smart, smart game...and again, my mind is my biggest enemy.

Along with my serve.

And my backhand.

FML.

The USTA update

2009-06-21T14:49:00.002-04:00

Lucky Stars
I have played almost every match for my indoor NOVA team, and all of them at singles save one doubles match. I felt a bit like a fish out of water for that doubles match, though it was competitive (a loss at 3 and 4), and I had a great partner (shoutout to Esther!). Two of the singles matches I won were against 3.0s playing up, and I beat them handily. I had a few close losses that I feel I should have won, but my nerves and lack of smart choices during tiebreaks did me in! All in all, I have played quite a few different types and styles of players, and I've learned a lot! I will refrain from mentioning the style that gives me the most trouble for right now...never know who lurks!

Select Auto Imports
I know, not the most glamorous name for a tennis team, but hey, we're sponsored! We're hoping that one day we'll all get free BMW's out of this deal! Good thing we aren't holding our collective breath on that, though.

Though I'm not listed as the official captain, I actually captain this team, with some help from our former captain, L (who just needed a break from captaining for personal reasons) and F, another teammate. We're doing really well, great in fact. If we keep it up, there just might be a trip to sectionals in August. Too early to tell for sure, as we have four more matches to go, and two of those matches are against tough teams.

This team is a blast though. We're doing great, and we are not put together to be 'one of those teams'...we did not specifically select and woo people in order to get to post season. We just go out, play, have fun, and are a very nice group of ladies.

I have played both singles and doubles for this team. Since we lost one of our singles players, I have filled in at singles, and I'm starting to feel more 'at home' with singles than doubles. And I'm totally okay with that.

Tennacity
Oh, the outdoor league where it all began. I actually didn't think I was going to be playing when the season got started. I hadn't heard a peep from the captain, but I had told her 'no hard feelings' if there was no room for me. Well, turned out there was room, as she is trying to get as big a roster as possible so, in case of a trip to Districts, we aren't left short of people.

Districts is a good possibility here, though not a lock yet. There are only two other teams in this league, but they are both populated by some really good, strong players. In fact, the only two matches I've played for Tennacity (both doubles) I've lost. I don't think there is room for me at singles, though I wish there were!

**********

All in all, I'm learning a lot this season. Definitely won't get bumped up, but definitely won't get bumped down either. The season has left me with some very clear things to work on.
1. Footwork. My god, will I never be fast? I lost almost 30 lbs during the 'off season', and I'm STILL SLOW.
2. Still would like to lose 15-20 more lbs...will do nothing but help those joints! And, my apparent sloth-like speed.
3. That certain type of ball I have trouble with...more here later!

Indoor has three more matches, in fact, I'll be leaving for one in about 45 minutes. DC has four more, outdoor has two, though I don't think I'll be scheduled for them (as I already played my two matches).

Decided...

2009-06-21T14:48:00.002-04:00

I'll keep it here, and talk about what I want, whether or not it has to do with tennis or not. Not that anyone is reading, so I suppose almost no chance of complaints! Excellent!

Resurrection?

2009-06-20T14:35:00.002-04:00

So, summer break is here, and I'm giving thought to posting and writing again. However, I am not sure if I want to just stick to tennis or also branch out into the training articles and methods I've been researching as well as life in general. Basically, I'm going to write about whatever I want and feel like...but I can not decide whether or not to do it here or create a new blog. I know you are on the edge of your seats, waiting to find out...

No Reston Open

2009-04-25T17:12:00.002-04:00

Oh, also came to a decision not to play the Reston Open and play for my DC team again. I already paid for that ass whooping.

I'll concentrate more on the NTRP tournaments that happen later on.

WTL, match #1

2009-04-25T17:10:00.000-04:00

Things I learned today while captaining my first DC match:
*leaving early is good
*always check with the opposing team for defaults before handing your line-up in at the desk
*don't play like a 2.5!!!

So, today started off really great. Needless to say, after 3 13 and 1/2 hour workdays, I was pretty exhausted last night and went to bed at 10:30pm. I woke up feeling pretty good nice and early. I puttered around a bit, then got ready for the match. My plan was to go out and hit against a wall before heading to the site.

However, when I got to the car, I noticed that the tennis balls my co-captain had given me were all hard court balls, and none of the were clay court balls (we were scheduled on the clay today). I wasn't sure if this was going to be a problem or not, but since it was so early, I decided to run to Sports Authority, pick up some clay court balls, then head to the site and warm up on the wall there.

And that ended up being a good plan for several reason. First, I also got to pick up a new tank to be embroidered with my indoor team's name. I got a bra, too, but I'm not going to have that embroidered. And, it gave me a large head start on match time so that the 45 minutes I spent in traffic on the f*cking bridge didn't actually make me late, just not insanely early.

And, what a surprise to walk into the bubble to go to the ladies room, and as I walk out I thought I heard someone say 'Hey Topaz'. I looked back for a moment, but I wasn't sure I heard correctly. I went back in later to put on my ankle brace and sure enough, fellow TTWMACer Zapvor was manning the desk!!! Sorry about blowing you off the first time Zappy!

Ok, this is where things get tricky. We were about 10 minutes to match time, and 2 women were stuck on the bridge. They were supposed to be on #2 and #3 dubs. So, just in case they didn't make it in time, I did a last minute switch so I would have a full court at #2, and if we had to default, it would be on #3. Then I handed in the line-up. Then I checked with the opposing captain to give her the court assignments (as we were home team), and found out that they were defaulting #2 singles.

I begged, I pleaded, but there was no way to get that line-up back and put my #2 singles in for #3 dubs. Damm*t!!!

It ended up being ok, though, as everyone made it just in the nick of time, and the running they did to get there from their cars made for a nice warmup.

Now, my partner and I, who I LOVE playing with, were on court #1 doubles. We had a tight, tight first set, came back from 1-4 down to win it 7-5. We were both playing very tight, but I was doing okay. I had a rough time serving, as my toss was right in the sun, but no doubles. And eventually, the sun moved, and I was ok.

However.

The second set was quite possibly the worst set of tennis that I have EVER played in my life. I am NOT exaggerating here. I think I should have at least tried playing lefthanded. We were down 0-5, with me serving, when somehow I managed to hit a few winners. We were locked in a tight game at 1-5 when we ran out of time. We lost on games.

I almost want to laugh, because seriously...I was playing *that bad*. Horrible. Part of me is thinking 'well, at least you got that out of your system', but there is a tiny part that is really, really worried.

It is all in my head, too. I'm well aware that I'm a basketcase. I'm working on it. But it was so scary to suddenly just not have *anything* working. I'm so embarrassed, and I feel I need to buy my partner a car in order to make up for my horrible playing. She was tight, too, but she didn't go away for a whole set like I did. UGH!

I have to give a big shout out to Alice, though...for calling and helping me put my head on straight! Alice, it means more than you! You rock!

So, the good news is that #1 dubs was the only court we lost, and all my other players had a really easy time of it. Ok, next time, I'm on court #3!!!!!!!!

Fed Cup: USA vs. Czech Republic

2009-04-25T08:06:00.002-04:00

The US is in action today, led by Betthanie Mattek-Sands. The rest of the squad includes doubles specialist Liezel Huber, with youngsters Melanie Oudin (the heroine of the first round tie earlier this year) and Alexa Glatch.

They are facing the Czech Republic: Iveta Benesova, Petr Kvitova, Lucie Safarova, and their own doubles specialist in Kveta Peschke.

They are playing on indoor hard courts, which is good for the US gals, but was more likely chosed to highlight the hard hitting of the Czech squad. The Czech squad also features three lefties in Benesova, Kvitova and Safarova.

I think this has the potential to have some really great matches. The Czechs have more experienced players by far, but I wouldn't count out the US gals. Should be fun to watch.

First singles tie is underway with Mattek-Sands vs. Kvitova (kTour vs. kTour!). Then Glatch will be making her debut against Benesova.

Tomorrows singles are scheduled as Kvitova vs. Glatch and Mattek-Sands vs. Benesova with the doubles featuring Benesova/Peschke vs. Huber/Mattek-Sands. Depending on today's results, though, I think this has the potential to change a lot.

Mattek-Sands looks like she's in great shape...best I've ever seen her.

*******************

The other tie is Russia vs. Italy, and Italy is already up 1-0 when Pennetta pretty easily beat Anna Chakvetadze 4 and 0. Wonder if Tarpischev will regret not putting current women's #1 Dinara Safina on the squad?

*******************

More details at FedCup

Remember me?

2009-04-25T08:03:00.002-04:00

Yup, still here, and on the verge on the new USTA season. Up this season is:
*captaining and playing a 3.5 women's DC team
*playing a designated singles spot on a 3.5 NOVA indoor team
*playing on a 3.5 NOVA outdoor team - I think, haven't heard from the captain in ages!

I'm hoping to not have a repeat of last year's miserable season. Though, I did receive the 2008 Mid-Atlantic Yearbook yesterday, and it turns out that last year's tournaments landed me tied at #5 for 3.5 women's singles. I guess that is what happens when not very many people show up to play tournaments!

Speaking of tournaments, the Reston Open is next weekend. I'm leaning toward signing up (need to decide by tomorrow night) just the hell of it. There aren't many other Opens close by that would be easy to play. Never mind the fact that I don't belong in an Open anyway!

NTRP update

2008-12-01T20:49:00.000-05:00

Somehow, I manage to stay 3.5, avoiding the bump-down to 3.0. I imagine it is by the barest skin of my teeth.

Interestingly enough, quite a few people who beat me (especially in mixed) got bumped up.

I lost my Benchmark designation, but I'm totally fine with that.

May blog through next season...might not. Haven't decided yet.

Skyline Dubs

2008-07-19T22:45:00.003-04:00

Played in the final at my club tournament tonight. I was subbing for another player who didn't want to drive down for what was more than likely a beat down by some juniors, but hey, I'm always up for a beat down, so I volunteered to take her place.

And you know what, we didn't win, but we did *much* better. In particular, I hit some *insane* forehands when rallying with these girls. The strategy for this match was to actually play more 'singables'...with crosscourt rallies dominating the play. Eventually these girls would overhit, and their ability to hit winners also kept us back from the net.

It was 8-3, but 6 of those games went to deuce. It was actually a very fun and well played match. I don't feel badly about how I played at all. Served well, too...I was actually serving at 2-7 and didn't crack!

My reward...a runner-up trophy.

NTRP Summary

2008-07-07T22:43:00.001-04:00

Things that worked.
*My serve, though I need to remember to be more aggressive on that first serve!
*Fitness. Five matches in three days, and I'm okay! In fact, in that last match, I think I got better as I went.

Things that need to be improved.
*Footwork. I think this is the #1 thing that causes me to be so inconsistent. I'm not where I need to be to hit the shot I want (namely, deep and with spin). I hit way too many short balls, which are rarely punished by my opponents, but it will not get me to the next level.
*Consistency/Patience. This is more of a mental thing. I think I'm finally starting to understand...especially when I noticed that the winners I did hit were not the hardest shots I hit, but the ones with the best placement (and usually, spin).
*Strategy. I was able to find and exploit the weaknesses of some of my opponents, but it is taking me way to long (usually an entire set) to do so! If I come in, I also need to have a strong overhead for those lobs.

Questions for the peanut gallery.
1. Would you have played the consolation round, even if it meant possibly losing to a lower rated player? Because that happened to me today. Honestly, I'm a 3.5 in doubles for sure, but not necessarily in singles, where I would put myself as a 3.25! As always, there sure were a lot of 'no shows' in the consolation draw. Do some just figure 'screw it' if they don't get a shot at the 'real' final?
2. Anybody like to share any ideas/strategies for dealing with opponents that are in love with their drop shots? Honestly, I'd never seen so many until this weekend, and two of my opponents used them A LOT. If you get to it, what do you do with it?
3. How do you deal with bad line calls? In that last match, there were a few, though I never questioned. I didn't want to get distracted by that, and in the end that is exactly what happened. I'm not necessarily someone who plays better when they are angry and upset, but in retrospect I'm wondering if I should have said something or not?

VA/MAS NTRP, Part 3B

2008-07-07T22:41:00.000-04:00

Sunday, part 2.

One of the women giving me a 'scouting report' was actually another one of the players in the 3.5 draw who knew my opponent. I had met her the day before, as she was the losing half of the four hour singles match that I mentioned previously. The 3.5 main draw final was going on the same time as us, so she asked if I was okay with here staying and watching my match as well as that one. I was actually delighted. In my first match, my opponent had about 8 people rooting and clapping for her, and I had zero. Made me jealous! Xisbum did come and watch a bit of my match with the Texan, though...and it sounds silly, but I think I play better when I have a 'friend's box'!

Anyway, the scouting report was that she had some really funky and junky strokes, especially on the backhand side. R told me to try to hit high balls to that BH and to hit with some power so she couldn't junk me to death.

That scouting report was dead-on, and then some. My opponent, J, also had some bizarre slice spinny serve that literally landed about two inches past the net. *shaking head* It was all I could do to get it back, and then she'd lob me. And the drop shots! Aiy, aiy, aiy!!! She'd drop shot my serves! MY SERVES. At one point, I said out loud 'You've got to be kidding me.' If I got to the drop shot and returned it without hitting an error then she'd lob me...I was so far in I never had a shot at running down the lob (though I tried!).

Absolutely disgusted, I lost the first set 1-6.

So, once again, I played around with my serve. She only would drop shot me on her BH, so I either went into her FH or hard into her BH. Finally, it started to work. I also starting getting to those drop shots and placing them for either a winner, or something she couldn't hit a lob off of. And then, she stopped hitting them. In a rally, if I stayed patient, more often than not I could draw her into an error. I was down 2-4 at one point, but got it back to 4 all. Broke her for 5-4. Served it out to win the second set 6-4.

*sigh*

My game plan had actually *worked*!!! My fellow player on the side, along with some other players, were watching, and I got applause after winning the second set! Kinda cool!

Because this was consolation, we played a 10 point match tiebreak in lieu of a 3rd set. I got a quick mini-break, and held onto it until 6-5. Then I went on a bit of a roll, and got it to 9-6! And then she went on a roll, and we got to 9-all. I win the next point, 10-9. Rally. Short ball, I attack, come in, she hits a short lob...I put it away. She calls out. I was pretty sure that it was in, but I didn't question and didn't argue. It was her baseline, and I wasn't sure enough to question.

Well, not sure enough until I saw one of the spectators get immediately up and run over to the official to get her to come and watch. Oh man! So, that told me right there...she hooked me, and hooked me bad. Okay, okay...settle down, right? Nope. She took the next two point, and won 12-10.

So. I could rant and complain about the hooked call. The woman who got the ref told me afterward that not only was my ball in, it was evidently way in. Instead of getting hung up on that, I'm trying to focus more on the fact that I failed to put away the match several points ago...it should have never gotten to 10-9 to being with.

So, all in all...a good experience. I got a lot of tennis in, and played four vastly different opponents. And I'm left with some very clear things to work on...(continued...)

VA/MAS NTRP, Part 3A

2008-07-07T22:40:00.000-04:00

Sunday, part 1.

The plan for Sunday was consolation semi at 9am, doubles at 10:30am (with adequate rest), and if I made it through, consolation final at noon. Whew!

When I arrived at the site the organizers told me that my partner had indeed called, and we had to default the doubles match. Sucks, but what are you going to do? Her baby was sick, and she was needed elsewhere! Plus, we are playing a club round robin tournament Wednesday, so we'll get a second chance there.

My singles opponent was tiny...but a firecracker! I had my usual slow start, during which I noticed that my opponent liked pace, hit with some nice pace herself, did not 'dink' or dropshot, and had great topspin off of her FH. She had a weak one handed backhand, though, so the plan was to play and serve into that as much as possible. If I gave her anything even resembling a short ball on her FH side, she put it away. I got down 1-3, but hung in there and starting finding my own strokes. I finally evened it at 4-all, then 5-all, and then I finally got up 6-5. I had to start going for more on my serve as well...hitting it a bit flatter and shorter in the box seemed to produce more weak returns or a return error. In the end, that made the difference as I served it out 7-5.

Second set...would she melt down, keep fighting, or would I have the second set melt-down? Well, this time it would be her. I finally started grooving on my ground strokes, making less errors, actually being patient, kept going for that first serve, and won the second set 6-1. She also hit a lot more errors, and after the match she admitted to not feeling very well. It was quite hot, and I do think it bothered her, especially toward the end. Chalk one up for me in the fitness column...at least compared to her!

I had a bit of break before the consolation final, during which I was approached by my previous opponent and two of her friends, who informed me that they were pulling for me and gave me a bit of a scouting report on my opponent. *laughing* They were dead on, too. I also almost got the win in the final because my opponent, J, didn't know she got to play again. I mentioned it to her, and she said 'I'm glad you said something, I was getting ready to leave!' Oh well, I wanted the match...I wanted to get a win the proper way!

VA/MAS NTRP, Part 2

2008-07-07T22:39:00.000-04:00

Saturday

I spent 10 hours at the tournament site Saturday. Hey man, at least I got my money's worth, right?

The plan for Saturday was a doubles match at 10:45 and then a consolation singles match in the afternoon. My doubles partner and I had planned to meet at 10am to warm up for our match. This is the same person I partnered with the previous year at 3.0 doubles and we won!

At 10:30 she rolled in, having overslept. Turned out to not be a problem, as we were going to have to wait...all the courts were taken, and because of the four hour singles match, things got a bit backed up. They had an indoor bubble though, and we were able to go in there to warm-up and hit a few balls.

Only three teams signed up for 3.5 doubles, so we were put into a round robin. I knew three out of our four opponents, and both of the women we were to play for this match. One of them had been my teammate this previous season on one of my teams.

We ended up playing this match in the bubble since that singles match just wasn't ending. My partner was very happy with this, but I would have preferred to play outdoors, as I think that would have given us an advantage against our opponents.

The match got underway, and it was a frustrating one, no doubt. My partner, who hits very hard all the time, was missing just a bit on her groundstrokes, neither of us could seem to hit a decent return, and our opponents completely took our net game away from us. We lost 3 and 3. It was one of those matches where afterward, we looked at each other and kind of scratched our heads! One of our opponents had one of the most hideous service motions that I've ever seen...and still we couldn't seem to capitalize. I suppose, once our net game was taken away, we didn't have a plan B. Neither one of us has the patience and consistency to lob for days on end.

Ah well, disappointing for sure, but we had one more match the next day. My partner left, and I found out that my opponent for consolation singles had scratched. Instead of just doing one match, that actually advanced me in the singles bracket!

There was another woman, a singles player who had just lost her second round, that was willing to stick around and take the place of my scratched opponent. She was visiting from Texas, where she is a 3.5 who also plays 4.0. She was a great player, and blew me out the first set 1-6. I dug in, and managed to make a match of the second set, but still lost 4-6. She seemed to get to everything, and possessed a very effective drop shot. So my plan in that second set was to take away that drop shot by moving her around...and it almost worked. It was a fun match though, and I was very grateful for her for sticking around and playing.

As we suspected, the organizers couldn't get Tennislink to substitute her as my opponent, so we chalked the match up to a 'fun' match, and I still advanced in the consolation draw.

At this point, I had planned to watch fellow TTW'er Xisbum's doubles match, but one of the clerks at the desk asked me to hit with him! Lol! I was tired, but they are so nice there that it is hard to say no. So I said okay, but only one set and in the bubble (which also allowed me to watch Xisbum's match which was on the neighboring court).

I won this set 6-2 (or 6-3, can't remember!). Of course, when it doesn't count, I hit so much better! This tells us, gentle readers, that Topaz is also a headcase. It was a positive way to end the day though, and I felt like I got some good practice in.

I got to watch the final set of Xisbum's match, which was a close one, but unfortunately, this was just not the tournament for TTWers!

After this, I had to negotiate with the organizers a bit...as I was scheduled to play both singles and doubles at 9am the next day! Funny computer!!! They decided to do the singles first and move the doubles to 10:30. I would have preferred it the other way around, but I didn't want to be too pushy. These were seriously nice people and I didn't want to be a pest...it was just the consolation round after all...if it were main draw, I wouldn't have worried.

I called my partner on the way home to inform her of the change, and she said her youngest was sick with a fever...if he didn't get better, it didn't look like she'd be able to come out for the doubles match.

VA/MAS NTRP tournament, part 1

2008-07-07T22:37:00.002-04:00

Last year, I participated in a very well-organized tournament about an hour from where I live.

This past weekend, I just got done playing this tournament for the second year, this time as a 3.5 playing in both the singles and doubles divisions. I was pleasantly surprised to see that the draw had more than 3 people in it (unlike my last NTRP tournament!).

A bit of background...I'm trying to transition to singles after three seasons of mostly doubles. I just spent my first season at 3.5, and it is an understatement to say that it did not go how I had planned. *eyebrow*

Friday night.
I started my singles matches Friday evening against a woman that I could find nothing about...she was not in Tennislink in leagues or tournaments. So I had no idea what to expect. There were a few first round singles matches going on that evening for both men and women, and as we were gathered while the ref told us some basic rules, you could totally tell that people were 'sizing' each other up. My opponent was taller and stockier than me...but I was expecting someone with no tournament and league experience, so I was hoping to have the advantage in that respect.

I was so wrong.

I lost 1-6, 2-6. My game plan these days is pretty simple...keep it in the court, go corner to corner, stay patient, and attack the short ball. Well, let me tell you, that is hard to do when you're getting blasted off of the court. She overpowered me and just never seemed to miss. I had a bit of success bringing her in...the only thing she seemed a bit uncomfortable with was volleying, but more often than not I didn't get that far in the point to exploit it. She had a great serve, which didn't give me trouble (I blocked it back), but it also put me in the defensive right off the get go.

An easy way to sum up this match would be to say...she controlled everything. I made her work for it...I managed to keep her out there for an hour and a half, and it was hot...but I couldn't find a way into the match at all.

Later I found out that she had been a pretty successful high school player and this was her first competition back. Her coach is a player that I met at a tournament about a month ago, and he told me that he expected her to win the whole thing and end up with a 4.0 rating. He also took no credit for her game...said she pretty much came to him with strong strokes on both sides, good movement, and a great serve.

After me, she took apart the #1 seed 1 and 0. She then took out a player that beat me earlier this summer in three sets, which put her in the final. Incredibly enough, she lost the final in three sets to a woman who had a four hour first round match! As you may have guessed, that woman was a backboard. She just never missed.

And I have to wonder...how to get to be a backboard?

The draw was big enough that the organizers decided to have a consolation draw, so I did have that to look forward to the next day.

(continued...)

For Jonas...

2008-05-31T08:00:00.004-04:00

My dear, so nice of you to comment on such an old post...but Gulbis is indeed from Latvia.

Gulbis

Whoops!

2008-05-11T21:58:00.002-04:00

Ok, so the whole 'resurrect the blog' idea hasn't exactly taken flight. Not that anyone is reading right? *eyebrow* Anyhoo...I'm thinking that this may be a summer break blog only. Unless, of course, I get a new job, one that doesn't give me summers off, but does give me adequate time to go to the bathroom and eat lunch every day. That would be nice.

Dinara Safina needs at least a quick mention though, for her fabulous play of the week, upsetting Justine Henin AND Serena Williams ON CLAY, and then taking the title in Berlin. She showed some great mental strength in some tough matches...maybe she should give big bro a lesson?

This was also a bad week in the ATP, as a clay court title was won by someone NOT Federer or Nadal. Nadal fell victim to the nastiest blister ever in existence on someone's foot, and Fed was fallen by the 'worm' Radek Stepanek in two tiebreak sets. Nicole Vaidisova was in his player's box, giving more life to the rumor of their relationship, but she didn't look all that enthralled to be there. I don't know, if I'm rooting on my sweetie, or even just a friend, I usually show a bit of emotion. Though, seeing Mirka do a pretty good ice queen imitation this week as well...maybe that is what they do?

The title was taken by Djokovic, who battled the *other* Swiss (Stan the Man!) in the final. He was pushed to three sets, but again, he capitalizes where others have fallen. He's also gaining on Nadal and, given Nadal's usual let-down in the latter part of the season, looks a good bet to overtake him by year's end.

Unless, of course, Nadal has moved to #1 by then.

Either way, the next two slams should be very interesting. There is no denying that Fed is in slump, whether caused by mono or not makes no difference. And Nadal is vulnerable on hardcourts, though he also doesn't have much to defend either. If he's in good shape, he could move up.

Ok, so, just a few quick thoughts.

*************

As for my own game, we are just getting into the swing of the USTA season. I'm on 3 teams, and also eyeing more tournaments this summer. It is 'go' time! :)

Coming out of hibernation.

2008-04-14T12:05:00.001-04:00

At least, I hope to. Life gets in the way sometimes. However, with the USTA season just about upon me, I'm thinking my musings about my own game will go here, with the occasional blog from a tournament.

Speaking of which, I have many tasty pictures and videos from three days spent at the Sony Ericsson tournament a few weeks ago. If I get my act together, I will post them.

If.

That may be a big 'if'!

A weekend to remember!

2008-01-20T11:48:00.001-05:00

And it isn't even over! Or, is it? Wait, add four hours, change pm/am...ok, yes, at least in Australia, the weekend is over.

And for once, we are thankful for the rain and smart Aussie planning. The first grand slam to have not just one, but two covered stadium courts, a rainy day in Oz means we still get tennis. And this time, we got LOTS of tennis. Enough that you were afraid to go to sleep, because you may miss something. You will be able to tell a die hard tennis fan by the circles under their eyes but the smile on their face.

Now that I'm caught up on my sleep, I thought I'd catch up on my thoughts here.

The upset bug started with Australia's own Casey Dellacqua. Once highly criticized for her lack of fitness, she broke through upsetting 2006 champ Amelie Mauresmo. It isn't so much a surprise that Mauresmo went down, but who it was that took her out. The shots of Dellacqua's family in the stands, crying, is heartbreaking. Momo's certain decline, at least to me, is also heartbreaking. Her best tennis is behind her.

ESPN took no prisoners in their coverage of some of the American brats...uh, uh, I mean men. Highlights of Mardy Fish acting like a crybaby, and Andy Roddick arguing with the chair ump (saying something along the lines of 'stay in school kids, you don't want to end up a chair ump') and making himself look like a total heel. Way to go boys. They both lost, Roddick going down to German Philip Kohlschreiber. Really, Andy has two things, his serve and his forehand, and the thing is...everyone else that and *more* these days. It isn't enough. He will continue to decline. Plus, his personality loses him fans every time he opens his mouth. I was disgusted by the on court antics of both Fish, but especially Roddick.

So, some minor ripplings started things off. I say minor, because really, I wasn't too surprised to see Roddick go out. Anybody with a good ground game is going to trouble him, and Kohly has more than just a 'good' ground game. Fish's tournament, even with a first week loss, was not bad for him.

The ripples soon became waves.

Another American, a less bratty and more honorable version, James Blake, found himself in a lot of trouble real fast. Down two sets to Grosjean and down breaks in the third, it seemed as if we were witnessing another Blake meltdown where he goes quietly into the night. But suddenly, as if someone literally put a sparkler in his arse, Blake came alive, and once again defeated the five set monkey on his back. Good going James! He remains as the last American man in the draw, though props to Spadea for lasting as long as he did, going out in the third round to Ferrer.

The waves continued to rise.

It is safe to say that it is becoming just as hard to be a Gonzo fan as it is a Safin fan. After his utterly spectacular display in Oz last year, it is has been nothing short of a roller coaster ride. The hungry up and comers don't care who you are or where you've been. They just want to win, and Gonzo became victim to the young Marin Cilic. Last year's finalist, gone before the second week!

But what of the other finalist from last year? Well, before we check in on him, the women were having a rocky time of their own.

ARad caused a storm of her own in last year's USOpen when she dispatched defending champion Maria Sharapova. I guess she was eager to prove it wasn't a fluke, as she took out #2 seed Sveta Kuznetsova!!!! Holy crap! Not to be outdone, perennial 'pretty girl but not a big game' Maria Kirilenko decided to cause some waves that didn't revolve around her face, clothes, or body when she took out Anna Chakvetadze, the #5 seed.

And then started what everyone thought was going to be a mundane match for #1 seed Roger Federer against the forgotten Serb Janko Tipsarevic, who is sometimes better known for his tattoos, piercings, and being one of the few players to wear glasses as they play. He quietly goes about his matches, and cuts a dark, serious, and intelligent figure on court.

He was ready for the storm. He had a plan. He was not afraid. The waves reach their peak!

Tipsy stretched Fed to 10-8 in the fifth, the longest Fed has ever been taking in five sets, and the earliest he has been in trouble in a major EVER. He did by never backing down and not being intimidated. He had the belief. He troubled Fed with hard, flat serves, and a blazing inside out FH. Fed allowed him in by not being quite on with his timing, especially in the beginning of the match, and also by not taking advantage of BP. It seemed as if Fed got a little lazy, thinking that every match, unless it is against Nadal, would be a walk in the park. Tipsy took him by surprise, and nearly took him out IN THE FIRST WEEK. Oh what a match! One of those that you were happy to be watching, when you hear the amazement even in the voice of the announcers...if only there wasn't that darn time difference.

I watched up until the third, but have the whole thing on DVR, and I've watched the replay. And, as much as I love Fed, oh how I wish Tipsy had come through. I hope he takes a lot from this and starts becoming a threat on the tour.

And if you thought it was over, you were sorely mistaken.

Meanwhile, a few people were actually making their way quietly through the draw. AnaIvo, Djoko, Serena, Venus, Masha, Petrova, and Henin all were through, and Caroline Wozniaki and Marta Domachowska took advantage of their opportunities to advance as well. Nice to see some new names in the second week.

The night session in Oz was supposed to start at 7:30 (their time). But, because of the Fed/Tipsy match, it started late. Venus took out Sania Mirza pretty routinely, and then, just before midnight, Marcos Baghdatis and Aussie Lleyton Hewitt took to the court. And you knew that sleep was not going to be yours quite just yet.

I had a few hours, between 3am and 7am, before I got up to go to my tennis lesson. Baggy/Hewitt were just getting started!! I went to my lesson, caught some of the match at the club, then came home, caught a bit more, fell asleep for a few games at in the beginning of the fifth, and then woke up for the end. And I'm *so* glad I saw it. The emotions and fight these guys displayed was just unbelievable. When Hewitt finally came through in the end, and he dropped to the court...oh my. These two players shared a warm embrace afterward, so nice to see, especially after the bratty antics of the Americans, and both left the court in tears. It was heart wrenching to see, and still gets me on the numerous replays.

A few hours later, play was to start again! Yes! A tennis fans' best day, by far!

A few more men went down, with Kohlschrieber's run being ended by the Fin, Jarkko Neiminen, but the bigger news was JWTsonga, who after taking out another brat, Brit/Scot Andy Murray, in the first round continued to take out seeds by defeating his doubles partner, good friend, and French hopeful Reeeechard Gasquet. Tsonga may have taken time to develop his game, but it seems to be in fine form now!

Nalbandian seems to have spent his off season...sleeping? He went down without a whimper to JCFerrero, who is always a threat on hard courts. And so, Fed breathed another sign of relief.

Hey, remember that Nadal guy? Yeah, he is still in the tourny, and got handed an easy last match when PHMathieu retired with an injury.

Also, in the time I started writing this and the tennis has come full circle, local gal (if you can call New South Wales local) Casey Dellacqua has been ousted by Jelena Jankovic, but takes a success slam experience with her.

Some women's quarters are lining up nicely...Henin/Sharapova (rematch time!) and Jankovic/S. Williams are making me salivate. I hope we see good tennis prevail!

And, in the match that makes tongue twisters giddy with glee, Ferrero will meet Ferrer.

Whew! All for now!

Teasers...

2008-01-12T09:05:00.000-05:00

The prodigal daughter returneth. Or something like that.

My excitement over the start of a new tennis season and our first calendar grand slam has brought me back...like a phoenix rising from the ashes! Or something like that.

My initial thoughts...

*Lindsay! So great to have her back, and seemingly enjoying the game of tennis more than she did pre-Jagger. Looks like he is already pretty comfortable with the hardware, too.

Lindsay will more than likely meet Sharapova in the 2nd round of Oz. *sigh* Not ideal. It all depends on whether or not Maria has taken her strong YEC showing and built upon it, or reverted back to the shaky play she exhibited during most of the '07 season. My heart says Lindsay, my head says Sharapova. I hope my head is wrong.

*Some great tennis has already taken place in the first few weeks of the new year. Justine and Sveta have already thrown down in Sydney, with Justine coming out on top in three. Sveta has beaten Justine on clay, and I think she could threaten her from time to time...she is certainly closer to it than anyone else.

*Vaidisova has come out strong, with what looks like better movement and fitness than she's ever had. Hopefully her mental game has also strengthened, and there will no more losing matches that she she had won until her head got in the way. And yeah, I know she is supposedly engaged to Radek. I don't really have anything to say about that. *shrug*

*In addition to retiring, Hingis has now been banned for two years. I remain skeptical. Why? Because her hair test completely exonerated her! Because the tests traveled overseas before being in a lab. And, because I simply don't want to believe it either.

*Nadal is coming in to the new season with injuries already, as is the Djoker. How can anyone possible bet against Fed? Maybe just because it has to end sometime, right? Right?

*Maybe Nalby will help keep things interesting on the men's side.

I won't go into the draw and seeds for Oz, because quite frankly, it has already been done, and nobody does it better, in my opinion, than Wertheim.

Here is his men's seed report: The Mighty Men.

And his women's seed report: The Wonder Women.

Saving the best for last.

2007-11-11T22:15:00.000-05:00

Wow, just wow. I know I'm not a huge Sharapova fan, but after that final...she gets props. Major props. Both players put everything out there on the court, and both showed moments of brilliance as well as nervous humanity.

In the end, the #1 came through, with Justine winning 5-7, 7-5, 6-3 in the longest three set YEC final ever.

While the rest that Sharapova took before this tournament allowed her to come in fresh and play at her best, it also seemed to be her undoing as far as match fitness for the final. At 3-all in the third, Maria's fatigue was visible, and the doubles faults, while not a huge problem, starting to creep in at really bad times - such as break point. But, she is to be commended...I mean, seriously, I don't think there are many players who, match fit or not, wouldn't have gotten tired during that battle. In the end, Justine just had a bit more in the tank, and more control on her strokes.

I am so happy to see the women's season end this way, especially with the criticism that it sometimes very richly deserves. These two women were both winners today!

**************

The men have gotten underway, but because they are in Shanghai, and VS is not covering this event, I have trouble even keeping up with the scores. So far, Nadal has beaten Gasquet (not a surprise), and Ferrer defeated Djoko (this IS a surprise, at least to me).

TTC is at least showing us the doubles, which, unlike the women's double YEC, follows the same round robin format. I knew that Knowles/Nestor were breaking up, but Mark Knowles revealed even more break-ups during his commentary. Among the carnage is Bjorkman/Mirnyi, Hanley/Ullyett, Vizner/Dlouhy, Paes/Damm...hmm, I think that is all of them. Basically, the only ones staying together are the Bryan Brothers, the Israelis, and Aspelin/Knowle. The Bryans must love seeing all the shake-up...it gives them even more of an advantage over the other teams!

**************

My own tennis is going well. I may be looking at a racquet change. Whether or not this is done in time for Florida remains a financial issue, and honestly, I'm a little wary at changing my stick less than a month before the tourny. Even if it isn't the best for me, it is what I've been using for over a year now.

The Final.

2007-11-11T10:34:00.000-05:00

As expected, it will come down to Henin vs. Sharapova.

I actually got a chance to watch some of the semis from yesterday. My thoughts:

Henin vs. AnaIvo - As expected, Henin won, but this time, AnaIvo made her work a bit harder for it. This was a far cry from the beatdown Justine put on Ana in the French final. The marathon game in the first set when Ana had five break point opportunities, yet Henin still came through spoke volumes. Justine finds a way. However, she needs to also find her first serve, or Maria will feed off of it just like Ana did. On a hard court, I think it may only be a matter of time before AnaIvo starts to dominate...though I felt she had a few too many UE yesterday, but at least she was going for her shots and not holding back. A great effort from the youngster, and not a bad way to end the year.

Chakie vs. Sharapova - This was almost embarrassing. Well, for Chakie, it *was* embarrassing. She had never beaten Masha going into this, so I guess we shouldn't have expected anything different yesterday. Masha smacked her down pretty hard. During the match, the commentators mentioned that Maria hadn't started serving again until a week before the tournament. Maybe that is all she needed...a good long rest to heal the shoulder, as well as the mind.

This, of course, gives us the expected final (well, not expected at the beginning, but expected once everyone saw how well Maria was playing) of Henin vs. Sharapova. Will Justine once again find a way? Or will Maria's serve, return, and firepower be too much for the smaller (but not weaker) Belgium?

******************

The doubles final was decided today, with #1 seeds Black/Huber taking on the team of Ai Sugiyama and Katerina Srebotnik. Black/Huber had to take out Pestchke/Stubbs to get this far, and that was quite the match. As to be expected, it featured a long argument by Rennae Stubbs with the chair, who finally put Stubbsy in her place. That semi, as well as today's final, was decided by the 10 point super tiebreak, and Black/Huber showed why they have been one of the dominate teams this year...in a tiebreak, every point counts, and they stayed steady to win both and take home the title. It was especially sweet for Cara Black, who had many times been a runner-up at YEC, but never won until today.

Samantha Stosur is recovering from Lyme disease, so that is why we were missing Raymond/Stosur. Here's to hoping she makes a full recovery and is back in the *swing* of things in time for the events in her home country!

The final four!

2007-11-09T21:46:00.000-05:00

Hmmm. So, Sharapova demolished AnaIvo today. That didn't make me happy. They were both already into the semis, but this determined who they would play.

So, tomorrow, the semis are:

Henin vs. AnaIvo - Ummm, I love AnaIvo, but Justine will win. The only question will be by how much.

Shriekapova vs. Chakie - If Sharapova continues the form she has had in this tournament, which has been surprising to say the least, she will win. You can never count Chakie completely out though.

But the bets are that our final will be Henin vs. Sharapova. And Henin will win.

Enough!

2007-11-07T20:47:00.001-05:00

Enough! I've had enough! No more! No more having to listen to Serena Williams TRASH TALK her opponents, declare herself fit and ready and the winner, and then watch her pathetically limp through a set to retire because of HER KNEES!! That's right, her perfectly fit and ready KNEES were taped up like a mummy! Ridiculous. How can she even dare utter the words she did leading up to this tournament?!? What kind of delusional world is she living in? She is becoming a laughing stock and a joke of women's tennis.

Enough. I'm done with her. I don't care if she wins every major from here until the end of time. She had me, then she lost me, then she slowly won me back, and now I'm done.

*deep breath*

So, let's recap some other news from today, shall we?

Well, the matchup between Jelena and Justine didn't live up to most of their previous matches. Henin goes through 6-2, 6-2. Honestly, there is nobody who is going to threaten this woman. When Serena retired, Justine qualified for the semis.

Next up was Chakie and Serena. I had actually picked Serena. Chakie took the first set 6-4, then Serena retired. She will be replaced in the draw by Marion Bartoli, who unfortunately has to assume Serena's record.

AnaIvo and Dani battled it out next. After rolling through the first set, AnaIvo took the second in a thrilling tiebreak (11-9 I think?). Dani has lost two matches now, and will not advance. Still, she played well, and hopefully will take some momentum into next year.

****************

Tomorrow's matchups:

The Kuz vs. Masha - I pick the Kuz. 'Nuff said.
Henin vs. Maid Marion - Haha! Justine is *totally* going to be after revenge for Wimby. Lookout Marion!
Jankovic vs. Chakie - Hmmmm. Gut instinct says to pick Jankovic. However, will another loss to Henin take the wind out of her sails? Or, will she look at it as 'Ok, I got that out of the way, now it is time to steamroll?' Should be interesting!

2 out of 3 isn't bad!

2007-11-06T21:41:00.001-05:00

I got two of the my three picks for today correct.

The first one was the easiest:

Henin blasted through Chakie in the first set, and though the Chakster gave a mighty effort in the second, Henin won in a second set tiebreak.

For me, the next result was actually a surprise, as I didn't see Masha match-fit enough to come through:

Sharapova came through two tight sets over Hanuchova. And, by her outfit, planned to celebrate with an afternoon of either golf or sailing...I'm not sure which.

Beame me up! AnaIvo won a tightly contested match with the Kuz (*just* like I had predicted!) 7-5 in the third set. She is sporting the new Star Trek line from Adidas:

Seriously, what are they thinking over there?!? I know they can't use the three strips thing all down the side anymore, but this is getting ridiculous!

Oh, and happy birthday to AnaIvo! She celebrated her 20th on court after her win!

****************

Next up tomorrow:

Henin vs. Jankovic - Oh dear. Of course, it promises to be a great match, but this is starting to look like Fed vs. Roddick. I see Henin pulling through with a very tight score.
Serena vs. Chakie - Hmm. This is a toughie. I fear that Serena's power may be just too much for the Chakster, and I'm not sure how she will react after losing that tiebreak with Henin today. I hate to say it, but I see Serena winning here (and if I'm wrong, I'll be happy!).
Ivanovic vs. Hantuchova - AnaIvo will win.

***************

The word on the street is that Nalby will NOT go to Shanghai just to sit around as the alternate. So, he is staying put, and moles say that Robredo is on the plane heading to the far east. Too bad.

Oh! And...

2007-11-05T21:58:00.000-05:00

Lindsay won another tournament this weekend, the Bell Challenge in Quebec City. A tier III I believe, but still...it would be great to have her permanently back in the mix!

I'm Baaaaack! (WTA YEC)

2007-11-05T21:31:00.001-05:00

Hey, everyone needs a hiatus sometime, right?

I knew this may happen, school plus tennis plus a new-found addiction (I'm in therapy, it's ok!) to msn chat have resulted in my poor tennis blog being left behind. But with the YEC right around the corner, I thought this would be as good a time as any to pop back on the scene.

This week kicks off the WTA's YEC in Madrid (ahhh, Madrid!). The eight qualifiers are (not in order, by the way):

Justine Henin - duh
Svetlana Kuznetsova - strong season, but still lacking that breakout win
Jelena Jankovic - great season, but Henin owns her
Ana Ivanovic - another great season, Henin owns her as well
Serena Williams - pretty shaky going into this YEC, but is already trash talking. Oh, and Henin owns her, too!
Maria Sharapova - even more shaky going into YEC than Williams. I'm wondering why she is even bothering to show up. Ivanovic, Williams, Henin all own her. Maria only got in when Venus withdrew, so she needs to send the sister a thank card, in my opinion.
Anna Chakvetadze - if she can control her emotions on court, she just may pull of a surprise or two.
Daniela Hanutchova - Dani played some of her best tennis to squeeze into the 8th spot, and if she can keep that going, she's got a shot. An outside one, but still...it is there.

They are divided into the following groups:
Yellow Group
Henin
Jankovic
Williams
Chakvetadze

Red Group
Kuznetsova
Ivanovic
Sharapova
Hantuchova

Horrendously lopsided. The yellow group is screwed, really. The only question that remains to be answered is who will advance other than Henin. I'm hoping Jelena. The red group would favor Sharapova, if she had actually played a match sometime in the recent past. I'm picking Kuz and Ivanovic, but I would love to see Dani come out of there, too. Really, I'm ok with anyone either than Serena or Maria going through to the semis. For some reason, I've had it with both of them.

Play kicks off tomorrow with the yellow group:
Henin vs. Chakie (Henin)
Sharapova vs. Hantuchova (go Dani!)
Kuz vs. Ivanovic (hmmm, I see AnaIvo coming through this one, but I think it will be the most tightly contested of the three matches).

*****************

The men's YEC had a lot of last minute drama, with the final spot being decided in the later rounds of Paris.

The eight:
Roger Federer - duh
Rafael Nadal - duh, but he fell off during the end of the season again. If he ever wants to overtake Roger than he needs to figure out a way to have a consistently strong season.
Novak Djokovic - the Djoker will make things interesting and fun!
Nikolay Davydenko - certainly not in form, mentally or physically. First, the gambling speculations, and now he has been fined *twice* for not trying? This will be a tough tournament for him.
Andy Roddick - Didn't show up for the last two Masters Series, and qualified while sitting at home. We all know all that Andy really cares about is Davis Cup right now, so why not withdrawal so that someone else (NALBANDIAN!!) can have the spot? Some speculate that he doesn't deserve the spot, and while my knee-jerk reaction is to agree, you can't argue with the race. Nalby didn't show up until a bit too late, and Andy had consistent results. Still, if his heart isn't in it, then I hope he does withdrawal.
David Ferrer - depending on which group he is in, Ferrer can definitely cause some damage.
Fernando Gonzalez - oh Gonzo. Still searching for that form that saw him threw to the Aussie final. I love him, but I don't see him getting out of his group.
Richard Gasquet - Reeeechard squeaked in at the last minute in Paris when Baggy lost. Such a beautiful game, I would love to him put together some wins.

Missing, of course, is last year's finalist James Blake. Unfortunately, we may have already seen the best he has to offer...and I do say this with regret.

************

Doubles will come later. Suffice to say, Sam Stosur is sick, so the current champs will not be able to defend their title.

First 4.0 match

2007-10-04T23:20:00.000-04:00

Only it wasn't. Haha. Everyone plays up in fall/winter league, and while it may say 4.0, most of the players are 3.5s. Except for me, I'm a 3.0.

I started the night off by going to what I thought was my clinic. Turned out two people didn't show, so I had to play some singles with Diana. I knew she'd be looking for revenge after I finally beat her on my third try, but it wasn't going to happen tonight. Only one set, but I took it 7-5...same score as last time.

Then I high-tailed it up to Herndon for Under the Radar's first match. Robin and I were teamed up again, on court #3. Our opponents were both 3.5s, and they blew us away the first set, 6-0. Robin and I were a bit shocked and confused, but upped our net game, and I served out the second set at love for 6-3. In lieu of a third set tiebreak, we play a 10 point super tiebreaker. Robin and I came out strong, but had some kind of let down, and ended up losing the tiebreak and the match 10-5. It was almost like we had to remember how this whole doubles thing goes again...it has been awhile!

Funny...Robin was telling me about a tournament in Reston that she won a few weeks back...and how she got a silver plate and will have her name inscribed on a silver bowl. Yup, turns out she won the women's doubles Simon Cup. Evidently, one of our opponents tonight is also a RA member. Jeesh, they're everywhere!!!

Just because you couldn't see it...

2007-09-30T20:06:00.001-04:00

Doesn't mean it didn't happen.

There was actually a lot of tennis action this week, though you only got to see a sliver of it, and that was only if you are one of the lucky ones with TTC.

First up, the ladies.

Maria Kirilenko followed up last week's title run with another final appearance, and kudos to her for testing Venus and taking her to three sets, but in the end Venus prevailed 6-3, 1-6, 6-4. According to media reports, it was an ugly match with a lot of double faults. Oh, and this was in Korea...the Korean Open, where if you win, they like to dress you up.

I just have...no words.

In China, the Guangzhou International Women's final pitted Tzipi Obziler (the 'old' Israeli) against Virginie Razzano. Razzano took this easily, 6-0, 6-3. Too bad...I kind of wanted to see Tzipi win it. I'll never forget watching some of her matches at Legg Mason a few years ago...she was fun to watch, especially when she got mad!

Zipping over to the Fortis Championships gave us a final that featured some more well known ladies. #2 seed Ana Ivanovic took on #4 seed Daniela Hantuchova. I got to see a bit of Hantu's semi against Marion Bartoli...she was very dominant. At least, that's what I could see when I wasn't cringing away from the screen because I can NOT stand watching Bartoli serve. It would have been nice to see Dani win something other than Indian Wells, but not today. AnaIvo captured the title 3-6, 6-4, 6-4. I have this recorded, but haven't watched it yet. But here are some fun pics:

AnaIvo's magic!

Ana with the trophy...which is interesting, to say the least.

Ana also sewed up a trip to Madrid for the year end championships when she advanced to the semis here...this puts her in with Justine, Jankovic, and Kuznetsova. Four more spots are still up for grabs.

The boys played, too!

Richie (Reeeeechard!) Gasquet was able to hold off any mental breakdowns long enough to capture the Kingfisher Airlines Open (whaaaa?) over Ollie Rochus, 6-3, 6-4.

Over in Thailand (aka the tournament where nobody showed up...proving that the boys are just as capable of ruining a tournament as the women are) Dmitry Tursunov easily defeated Benjamin Becker 6-2, 6-1.

This is important...because this was a hard court. With a Russian. A Russian who took the US out of the Davis Cup last year, and a Russian that will be on the team traveling to the US this year for the final. Look for Tursunov to play a pivotal part in this final.

Dima:

By the way, I will take a moment to exhibit my profound disappointment that the final will be Portland. PORTLAND??? I could have *driven* to Winston-Salem, but I guess now I can just save my tennis monies for something else...like maybe the Open next year!

HMPH!!!

Oh, and looks like Sunday will be update here on the good old blog. Extra posts may pop in if need be, but I will always try to update on Sundays.

**********************

Not much going on with my own game right now...it was a quiet week. I didn't have a lesson because my court time was given away to a HS. I'm a bit perturbed by that. Carol wants to move me to Wednesday nights, but that is the *only* night I'm not already playing at Skyline...I want a night off to run, especially with some races coming up. I'd honestly rather double tennis on some other night, doing a lesson and then clinic. My singles flight starts this week as well, so it will be good to get some regular singles practice going.

WTA: Off in Asia...

2007-09-23T19:51:00.000-04:00

The women were in action again, too, with comeback mum Lindsay Davenport leading the way. This week she wasn't destined for the final, but made a deep run at the China Open before falling to Jelena Jankovic in the semis. Jelena got a bit of revenge for Bali, but needs to learn not to hit balls at her opponents between points, or Lindsay just might take her down out in the parking lot after the match!

Jelena followed that win up by choking the final away against....Agnes Szavay! She hasn't gone away! Jelena won the first set, and was up 5-1 in the second, which she eventually lost 7-5, and then went on to lose the final set. Hey, at least I feel better about my game when I see the pros do this.

Szavay was once again well dressed in that halter top that I love:

I tried like mad to make an avatar out of this, but just couldn't get the size right, and ended up making a nice one of Momo holding the Venus Rosewater dish. By the way, Momo played this week in China as well...but was defeated by Peng Shuai if I remember correctly (too lazy to go back and check now).

Also winning this week was Maria Kirilenko in India:

She had the easiest time this weekend, winning 6-0, 6-2. Nice to see her playing well finally! The doubles winners in India were Vania King and Alla Kudrysomethingorother (aka the girl who almost beat Venus in the first round of Wimby). Nice result for Vania, and that will help with Fed Cup doubles duty.

Tatiana Golovin also won this week, defeating Srebotnik in three sets in the Slovenia Open.

Davis Cup semis

2007-09-23T19:30:00.000-04:00

The blazing Roddick serve carried US hopes this weekend, as the US beat Sweden 4-1 in the Davis Cup semi. Predictably, Roddick opened during the first rubber and won, surviving three tight sets against Joachim Johannsen. Thomas Johannson was up next, against perennial Davis Cup choker, James Blake. I love James, but not in Davis Cup. Blake went down in four sets. This pattern has repeated itself just too many times, and with a bench made up of talent such as Querry and Isner, if I were Pmac, I'd start thinking real hard about some substitutions.

Luckily, it didn't come down to that as the Bryan Bros. played an outstanding doubles match to win the second point for the US. They faced Jonas (Jonas!!!) and Simon Aspelin, who was part of the team that took out the Bryans in the US Open this year. This could have been trouble for the US, but the Bryans exhibited some just unbelievable tennis. Jonas and Simon didn't play badly at all...but they were just no match for the twins.

So, again, everything going according to script. US up 2-1 heading into the final day, and Roddick is once again in the position of 'closer'. The tie was on his racquet, and even a Swedish substitution couldn't throw him off. Jonas again put up a good fight, and I think it was a good choice to put him in instead of TJ (who got throttled by ARod at the Open...not a good matchup for TJ). Jonas is one of the best returners in tennis...but after three sets, it was the US team that was celebrating.

Finally! A Davis Cup final IN THE UNITED STATES!!! Russia helped us out here by winning 3-2 over Germany. I was *sorely* disappointed by Germany's decision to not play Haas in the fourth rubber after the Germans pulled off a stunning doubles victory to pull ahead 2-1. With Andreev on clay lurking in the fifth rubber, that was a *bad* decision. And it cost them. Youhzny and Andreev pulled through...especially Andreev, who won both of his singles rubbers this weekend.

The site for the final will be announced later this week, with Winston-Salem and Portland supposedly the two citites left in the running. There are some rumors that San Diego is still being considered as well, but some places are reporting that SD is out. If WS is chosen, I'm going to try my damnest to go...not too far away!!! And seriously, when would I get another chance to go to a DC final?!?

It won't be easy, even though it is going to be in the US. Roddick is not sure bet to win, depending on who he faces...though I like his chances against most Russians, but Tursunov, Youhzny, even Andreev could sneak by him. And Blake...oh, we can't count on Blake against ANYONE!!! I wish we could, but he just isn't a DC player...he gets way too nervous, and nothing he has tried is working. Depending on who Russia brings, I think Querry could do some damage, especially on a fast surface. So, Blake is not favored, Andy is pretty well favored, and the Bryans heavily favored...unfortunately, the doubles only counts for one point.

***********

Other notable news in DC...

*Even the mighty Fed could not save the Swiss, as they fell 2-3 to Radek Stepanek and the Czechs. Unfortunately, Stan was *not* the man this weekend...he lost both of his singles rubbers, and Fed and his buddy Yves lost in doubles.

*Serbia advanced to the World Group with a win over Australia. Serbia has a deep team, led by Nole, filled out by Janko, and includes a doubles specialist in Nenad. Look for them to make a run next year!

*Tim Henman played his final match on the grass as he helped Britain defeat Croatia (who was without Luby). Good-bye Tim, we'll miss you!

Henman and daughter Rosie:

*Israel, led by Dudi Sela and Erlich and Ram, are back into the World Group as well, with a stunning victory over Chile. Gonzo and Massu must be crushed!

*Hyung-Taik Lee led Korea back into the World Group...yay!

*Other victories included Romania over Japan, Peru over Belarus (and the Beast), and Austria over Brazil (and Guga).

So, I wonder how much tickets are going to be? *smile* That's what they made credit cards for, right?!

Big Fat Update...

2007-09-22T12:02:00.001-04:00

Not quite yet! I'm working on it! Too much going on right now...more Lindsay news, and Davis Cup galore.

But this post shall be about me. *smile*

I just had a kickass lesson. One of those lessons where you feel yourself make a breakthrough, the lightbulb goes off, and you think to yourself...oh yes, I can go far with this, yes I can.

Unfortunately, my tournament schedule got shot to pieces. I *thought* I was playing a mixed tourny this weekend, and a women's tourny (doubles and singles) in two weeks. The club tournament got nixed because of a conflict with Nationals, and the Reston Association won't let me play in their little tourny because they are incapable of proofreading and may just be a bit snobby.

But there will be other tournaments.

The most exciting point of my lesson, though, probably came when Carol mentioned to me that she wants to teach me to teach...tennis!!! Could Topaz the tennis blogger someday become Topaz the Tennis Pro?! Who knows? We shall see how serious she is about this, and whether I can swing whatever she has in mind. It would be, of course, to work with beginners and kids, but still...I think it would be pretty neat!

So, let's see what all I've got going on here...my new 3.0 team, Barracudas, is not playing fall league, but I will continue to clinic with them on Saturdays once and a while. I will be playing fall league with Spinmasters, who are playing up at 4.0. It sounds like a big leap, but it really isn't, since they will be considered a 3.5 team once they get back from Nationals. In fall league, everyone plays up anyway, so all the other 3.5 teams will be up at 4.0 as well. The 4.0 teams...play 4.5. Yes, it is whacked, but the coordinator never seems to care. I told my old indoor team, Breakpoint, that I would sub for them at 3.0, but I'm not committed to that team. I have clinic for my outdoor team, still subbing in a 3.0/3.5 clinic, and private lessons with Carol...*whew*!!! I'm tired just typing all of this! I also keep going back and forth on whether or not to play mixed, but since I WILL NOT play 6.0 mixed, and I haven't really tried too hard to find a 7.0 team...I may just pass until January.

Lindsay wins! What does it mean?

2007-09-16T19:55:00.000-04:00

It took three sets, and it wasn't the best tennis in the world, but Lindsay dominated the third set to claim the title in Bali (her second) in her first singles tournament on the tour since leaving to have little Jagger.

Now, the question is...what does this mean for the WTA tour?

This is my speculation. Lindsay beat two strong and active players in Jankovic and Hantuchova. I believe that she will be a factor in anything that she enters, but I remain skeptical that she will be able to hang with the top group.

But then again, what is the top group?

The rankings here are misleading, in my opinion. Henin is in a tier all by herself right now. #2 is Sveta. Huge difference there...one that was obvious for the whole world to see in the US Open final. I do not believe Sveta is the second best player in the world.

My top group would be Henin, Venus, and *maybe* Jankovic. I see Jelena as more of the top of the second tier, but she has had great, competitive matches with Venus and Justine this year. She needs a break through, though, much like her compatriot AnaIvo.

Second tier would be occupied by Sharapova (until she fixes that shoulder and serve, she will not be top tier...period), Serena, AnaIvo, Sveta.

I think Lindsay can hang with that second tier. I do not think she will threaten the top. But I do sincerely hope that she is enjoying herself and tennis again. She just didn't look happy that last year, and it was painful to watch.

Lindsay will be playing the China Open this week, and has a nice draw. She will face a qualifier in the first round. Another player making her return this week in China is Amelie Mauresmo. Yay! We need her back...nerves and all. Again...it will remain to be seen if she returns to the top tier, or hangs out in the second tier...my guess is second tier. But to me, she has nothing left to prove.

Quick Bali update...

2007-09-15T07:43:00.001-04:00

Lindsay and Daniela both won their semis, and will meet in the final.

FedCup update...Franny and AnnaWiththeBraid are duking it out in a third set. Franny is dangerous in Fed Cup.

Lindsay marches on...

2007-09-14T20:40:00.000-04:00

Unbelievably, Lindsay advanced to a meet-up with Jelena Jankovic in Bali...and won. It took three sets, but she just defeated the number 3 player in the world.

She had some help. Evidently, Jankovic came unglued in the third set. She was quite upset at the chair umpire, and it once again affected her game. She *must* find a way to stop letting this happen. You're the number one seed, at a tier III in Bali (dodging earthquakes and tsunami)...you need to find a way to keep it together.

Credit to Lindsay for not letting her opponent's self destruction derail her...she stayed cool, played high percentage tennis, and got the job done. I'm not ready to say 'She's back' just quite yet. When Hingis came back she enjoyed a lot of wins over top players...mostly because they hadn't seen her before and didn't know her game. Now they pretty much own her. It won't be the same pattern for Lindsay, but while I'm very happy with this result, I'm just being cautious. I'd love to see her have some good success on the tour, though.

Her next opponent is Sara Errani. On the other side lurks Hantuchova, with whom she has a good H2H record. Similar games, with Davenport with the technique edge, and Hantuchova with the movement edge.

They withdrew from the doubles draw, however. Too bad, I think it would have been neat to see them meet each other in the final, and also be in the final as a team in doubles.

**************

This weekend also features the Fed Cup final between Russia and Italy in Moscow. The Italians are huge underdogs, but don't underestimate them! They were huge underdogs last year to Belgium, and came through...albeit with a bit of help from Justine. The Italians will fight, and they have heart and passion. Francesca Schiavone leads the way as the highest ranked Italian, backed up by Mara Santangelo and Flavia Pennetta. If they were on clay, I'd think they would have a better chance with both Pennetta and Schiavone on their team, but the tie will take place on an indoor hard court. The Russians are leading with Kuznetsova, Chakie, and Petrova. One of their practice partners - Maria Sharapova. I *love* the fact that Tarpishev is making her earn her spot...especially after she's let them down so many times before. Furthermore, I think she is about as Russian as my pinkie. But if Tursunov can play, I guess she can, too.

**************

I had a good playing week...beating someone in singles on Thursday night that I had never defeated before...with a very painful foot to boot. I thought I had two tournies coming up, but I'm now down to one, as the club director turned the women's tournament into a men's tournament. Which really sucks. They have men's tournament all through the summer...I think it is the gals' turn!

Lindsay watch...

2007-09-12T21:47:00.000-04:00

Lindsay Davenport is very carefully dipping her toe back into the competitive waters this week in Bali, a tier III event. She is playing doubles with Daniela Hantuchova (that's a tall team!) and is playing singles for the first time since Shangai last year. She won her first match against Eleni Daniilidou convincingly at 6-2, 6-2, at one point reeling off 20 points in a row. Daniilidou is no slouch, either. Next up for her is Julie Ditty, an American that she should destroy pretty easily. That would set up a likely showdown with the #1 seed, Jelena Jankovic.

And what I wouldn't give to be able to see that match! It will be Lindsay's first true test and a good indicator of how far this 'comeback' will go. She is 31, after all, and fitness and movement were never her strong points. But the technique is flawless. It at least gives the WTA tour a shot in the arm after all the criticism leveled during and after the Open.

Interestingly enough, Jon Wertheim countered that criticism by pointing out that there were plenty of close and competitive women's matches...they just weren't the matches scheduled and shown on primetime. He raises a good point...often the best matches of any tournament are those players relegated to the outer courts. Yet another reason to visit the Open in person next year...I won't be at the mercy of any producer who thinks they know what I want to see.

Lindsay and Daniela are also still alive in the doubles draw after winning their first two matches.

Lindsay has also come under some scrutiny because she is returning so fast after the birth of her son. Many people have accused her of 'abandoning' her child. Those people should do a bit of research...all accounts have reported Jagger courtside while she practices and trains, and it isn't just her job to raise her child, she is married after all. It really surprised me to see so many people assume that she was being selfish and irresponsible. She isn't dead...she had a kid! And she's fulfilling all the roles in her life with the help and support of the other person responsible for the kid. If you ask me, that is how is should work all the time!

To my dear readers...

2007-09-10T22:02:00.001-04:00

All three of you! Hi! *waving*

No, I'm not leaving.

Sorry.

Daily posts will probably not happen anymore though, especially on nights when I don't get home until 9pm (like tonight!), but at least I get home so late because I'm playing tennis!

I'm not sure if I'm going to stick to some schedule, or just post when I feel the need. We do have two ATP and one WTA event happening this week, highlighted by Lindsay Davenport's return to singles (and she's teamed up with Hantuchova to play doubles...they already won their first match over a wilcard Turkish team). So, there is stuff to talk about, I'm just not sure how to fit the blogging into the schedule yet.

Or, feel free to leave suggestions in the comments if you like...

Thanks!

US Open: The finale.

2007-09-09T20:35:00.000-04:00

It is over. One more Grand Slam wrapped up and put away to bed. But while the GS season is over, we do still have some exciting Davis and Fed come play coming up, as well as a few Masters tournies and of course, the year end championships.

The man in black came through once more. Nole had his chances, over and over again, he had leads, he had breaks, he had break chances...and every time he was denied by our champion. It was a good match to watch though, and even though it finished in straight sets, you can't get too much tighter than 7-6, 7-6, 6-4. Nole served notice, though, that he belongs in the same breath as Roger and Rafa. Maybe even inching ahead of Rafa? Maybe so, especially since, for the second straight year, Rafa has kind of disappeared during the summer hard court season. Nobody questions his dominance on clay, but that is only one of three surfaces.

Our champion, Roger Federer, the man in black, Darth Roger:

Rog and Nole before the match...I really liked this picture:

And our runner-up, in what is arguably his break-out year:

Some other thoughts:
*Sharapova was in the Djoker's box. Hmmm. However, she was not donning the Adidas YOC shirt that the rest of the box decided to sport today...which I thought was totally cool by the way.

And yes, the rumors have already started.

*The first time they showed Mirka she was chewing...oh great, more ammunition for the people who pick on her weight. Then the next time, she was checking her watch...maybe hoping Rog would wrap it up soon? Then, finally, she was cheering him on. One thing though...with all the money she and Rog have, and with how much they 'hang out' with all these top designers...I can't stand the clothes she wears. Really strange stuff, and the top she had on today was not good at all.

*Mary Carillo sounded like she was sick and/or congested. She sounded like a man!

*We all know about the Djoker's habit of bouncing the ball a bazillion times before serving, especially under pressure. But against Roger he seemed to rein it in...do you think he was afraid of ticking off his opponent and then suffering the wrath?

There was other tennis and champions crowned today:

Women's doubles winners Dinara Safina and Natalie Dechy with runner-ups Yung-Jan Chan and Chia-Jung Chuang:

The juniors wrapped up today as well. From left to right we have girl's runner-up Urszula Radwanska, girl's champion Kristina Kurcova, boy's champion Ricardis Berankis, and boy's runner-up Jerzy Janowicz. The countries they represent are Poland, Slovakia, Lithuania, and Poland, respectively. Think the Bloc is catching up? I think so.

And that's a wrap.

************************

Only it is not a wrap. Because this blog is also about *my* tennis game, and well, there is no off season for me! Though if there were, the next few months might be considered one, just because I'm not playing the fall women's season. I do, however, have two tournaments coming up in the next month, and the MCM10k at the end of October. My foot has been feeling much better...it still hurts from time to time, but I ran four miles today with nary a hint of pain, and very little afterward. I just wish I knew what it was that was making it better, so I'd make sure I keep doing it. Buying new shoes for school may have helped, plus all the various inserts I've been experimenting with. Who knows?

Carol has struck the same deal with me that Greg did, that if I organize and run an evening singles flight I will get another year of free membership dues. That would take care of me up through April of 2009! Sweet!

And I took my first clinic with my new women's indoor team on Saturday morning. It was a long morning of tennis, as I had my lesson with Carol at 9am, then I stuck around and hit serves for a while, then buzzed down to Springfield for the clinic at 11am. The women were all quite a bit older than me, except for Susan (who I knew and met during outdoor season), who is maybe only a few years older. So yeah, youngest on the team again. But that is fine, because I'm there to play singles, and while these ladies definitely have skills (some wicked slice from this one woman, it was insane!) they aren't about to run back and forth a lot. Me and Susan are the new singles players.

Now, my plan will be fine as long as I don't get moved up. Two months ago I was dying to get moved up to 3.5, but since I play up anyway, the master plan is to play 3.0 singles and 3.5 doubles. If I do get moved up, I could appeal down, but I'd be eating crow, as I was very vocal about my displeasure regarding some players who did that last season. Oh well, it would be the first time I ate it!

US Open: Women's final

2007-09-09T10:57:00.001-04:00

Yup, still no surprises. Henin routed Kuznetsova 6-1, 6-3. *yawn* Now, on one hand, JH has been pretty amazing the whole tournament. She did not lose a set in two weeks, and went through two Williams sisters (although only tested to the limit by one of them). But she has admitted to not being a huge fan of playing in NY, where it is loud and raucous. While serving for the match, some jerk in the audience shouted out during her toss. She caught it, with an annoyed look on her face, and then was so unnerved that she threw in two double faults in a row. To the crowd's credit, they were so silent for the next few points that is was eerie. And I'm sure the idiot who called out was probably hung and quartered by his fellow fans nearby (or at least he should have been). I'm all for cheering and stuff, but like I said, this was loud, disruptive, and during her toss. Not cool.

I actually think the players are a bit too uptight about the fans...they are, after all, the ones who paid the money to watch. The players should be good enough to serve if a few people are moving around. Sometimes 90 seconds isn't enough time to find your seat along with a few hundred other people.

But I digress.

Yes, all credit to Henin for staying focused when she very well could have come unglued. Speaking of unglued...Sveta pretty much played like crap. I think, by the end of the first set, she had something like five times the UE on her FH than winners. That is poor. She just didn't have anything to hurt Justine with, and then couldn't stop the Henin ball from steamrolling her. Everything Kuztie does, Justine does better. Kind of like Roddick and Federer. Roddick is good, but just not on the same level. Sveta was not on the same level as JH. You could see the visible disappointment on her face afterward...she looked crushed. Well, she had been crushed. She will rise to #2 in the rankings on Monday, but last night the gulf between #1 and the future #2 looked like way more than just one spot in the rankings.

Our champion:

Today we will see Fed and Nole square off. I think anyone with half a brain is picking Fed, though hopefully Nole will make it a match. Yeah, Nole beat him in Montreal, but that was not a GS and not a best of five. Plus, Nole has been a bit twitchy in his last few matches. I think he will do well, but for now, he will still be relegated to runner-up. But hey, if you're Roger's runner-up, things aren't that bad, are they?

A cool picture of Fed that I found, just as a teaser:

US Open: Men's semis

2007-09-08T18:28:00.001-04:00

Yeah, no surprises here. Djoko and Fed both advanced in straight sets over Ferrer and Davydenko, respectively.

Djoko had a slow start, called the trainer when he was up a set and a break (he was feeling sick and/or not breathing well?), he was bothered by the crowd that normally he so loves to entertain, but still won in three. He did his normal strip tease after the match, and now we know where he gets it...his dad also stripped off his shirt and threw it into the crowd. Those crazy Serbs!!!

The Fed/Davy match had more breaks than a women's match! But since Davy couldn't hold his own serve, you bet you could count on Fed to hold his when it really mattered, and he did. He just has that extra gear he kicks into when he needs it.

I expect Fed to come out on top tomorrow, especially since Djoko was so twitchy today, but I do hope for a good quality match.

Because I fear we won't see one tonight in the women's final. They are probably already etching JH's name on the trophy. No offense to Sveta, but I just don't see her suddenly getting it together mentally enough to beat the queen.

US Open: Women's semis, Men's doubles final

2007-09-07T22:16:00.000-04:00

Again, I missed most of today's action, but I've skimmed through what I had recorded. First up, men's doubles.

The final was contested betwen Dlouhy/Vizner anad Aspelin/Knowle. Aspelin and Knowle, who took out the Bryan Brothers and Ram/Erlich, were teaming up for the very first time at the Open. I find that utterly amazing! How can this 'hodge-podge' team beat such established partnerships? I wish we could have seen some of the earlier matches, but you've heard me comment on the upsets as they happened...they just kept falling until the final was played between two teams that were never under consideration or even on the radar. This, as they say, is why they actually play the matches!

Some of the commentators mentioned the current break ups and shifting around of teams during this match. It was reported during the French Open that Knowles/Nestor were breaking up...a change initiated by Nestor so he could team up with Nenad Zimonjic, who was partnering with Fabrice Santoro at the time. But then, they won the French! They stayed together for Wimby, and then I never heard anything again. I even wrote into Jon Wertheim to ask what he knew, but he never answered. As a matter of fact, he's never answered any of the questions I've written in! *hmph* Ok, anyway, it turns out they will stay together for the end-of-year championships, but then they are done. I'm not sure if Nestor is still going with Zimonjic or not. But I did like how one of commentators compared all the moving around to an episode of Desparate Housewives. Though, for Knowles and Nestor to break up...man, that's big. They were in each others' weddings for crying out loud?!? I think they mentioned Hanley and Ullyett to break up, too, but I'm not sure if I'm remembering correctly, and I didn't write it down, so don't go to the bank on that one.

Did I mention that Aspelin/Knowle won?

The first women's semi pitted youngster Anna Chakvetadze against 2004 US Open champion Svetlana Kuznetsova. I had picked Chakie to win. I was wrong. I was also forewarned that this was an ugly, ugly match. And it was indeed. Chakie took the first set and then seemed to suddenly remember where she was and that if she kept playing well (and Kutzie kept donating points) that she would be in the final. That was it, she was undone. Kutzie won the next two sets at 6-1. Hopefully, the next time we see a youngster in a big moment, they will rise to the occasion, instead of folding like we saw from Chakie today, and from AnaIvo at the French final. I do not put Marion Bartoli's Wimby final in that category, because I think she did fight back the nerves and believed that she could win it right up until she didn't.

This match was widely regarded as a stinker, and Peter Bodo even posted about it here. He took offense at not only the tennis, but also Sveta's visible struggles with fitness in her appearance. One wonders, with how well she moves now, how much better she would move if she could lean out a bit. But again, not everyone is 'blessed' with the lankiness of Sharapova or Hantuchova, a body type that is aesthically more pleasing to many people, but not without drawbacks in the movement department as well.

Mary Carillo and Mary Jo Fernandez were commentating in the booth for this match, which I thought was interesting since they rarely put them together. I guess because the women were playing the put the girls in the booth. Whatever. I like each one individually, especially MC, but I don't think they play against each other very well. MC had a slight gaffe when she said A-Rad was still alive in the girl's singles. I gasped, as I knew that she wasn't even entered!!! MC quickly realized her mistake and corrected herself...it is U-Rad, the little sister and #2 seed, who is still alive in the juniors. I knew that already, and I'm not paid anything to know it and I don't have a research department. *sigh* Some people get all the best jobs!

MJF ticked me off a bit when, after it became clear that both girls were choking something fierce, she said that there isn't anything to be done in that situation. Bullshit. It is a freakin' Grand Slam semi-final!!! You pull yourself together and start remembering all the time, practice, blood, sweat, and tears you have put in to get where you are and start playing some tennis! I don't care if it is easier said than done, but I'm willing to get Chakie got more money to lose today than I make in a year, and at that level, you *have* to be able to pull it together. Unless, of course, the entire tour is riddled with headcases and chokers. Oh...wait a minute...

Some days it is real hard to defend the WTA tour, as much as I am a fan.

The 'winner':

The second semi, Venus Williams and Justine Henin, was being touted as the 'de-facto' final. Which is kind of funny, because until JH beat Serena, *that* match was being called the 'de-facto' final. Did they not think the reigning Wimby champ would make it this far? They should have, especially after seeing how she started the tournament. But hey, understandably, Venus's wheels can come off anytime, but JH can also be stricken with 'fatigue' and 'tummy-ache' at any time as well.

At least this appears to have been a quality match. I've watched a bit, but I already know JH won 7-6, 6-4. When I got home I had turned on the TV and saw that they were still playing (well after my DVR had quit) and it was 5-3 in the second. I don't know what the difference was that made the match for JH, but regardless, Venus had a great tournament and set a good example for little sis to follow, though I doubt Serena would make the effort or even see the need for her to do so. Rumor has it she is pregnant (Serena). God help us...I hope it is just a rumor. The thought of her being a parent is completely frightening.

I think, when she smiles, that JH is actually pretty:

She is to meet Kuznetsova in the final tomorrow. She is going to win.

While all this was going on, Djokovic decided to take a visit into the city and get some culture. A trip to a rehearsal at the Met apparently ended up with him trying out a few notes on stage. Evidently, he shouldn't give up tennis anytime soon.

How can anyone not love this guy? He is a great player, will probably still get much better, and such a great personality. Let's hope he sticks around for a good, long time.

Update...

2007-09-06T22:00:00.000-04:00

Djoko in, Moya out. Still a good showing from Moya, the 'old man' of the draw. Wonder how long he'll stick around? Interesting to note that the last Spaniard standing is Ferrer, and then Moya. Not Nadal!

US Open: Day 5,308....

2007-09-06T21:43:00.000-04:00

I have no idea what day we're on...11, 12? Somewhere around there.

The further a tournament progresses, I always end up with a difficult paradox. On one hand, it is getting more exciting because only the best are left. On the other hand, there aren't as many matches to watch or read up on or follow. And that is kind of sad.

The Open crowned its first champions today in mixed doubles. The Belarussian team of The Beast (Max Mirnyi) and Victoria Azarenka took the mixed doubles crown over Leander Paes and Megan Shaugnessey. Hey, if nothing else, there was at least one American in a final! I wonder if Belarus will be a force at the Hopman Cup early next year?

Here they are, today's champions:

The earlier men's quarter saw David Ferrer continue his recent hot streak by eliminating Argentinean Juan Ignacio Chela. It was apparently a pretty routine, straight sets affair...didn't hear much about the match, and I couldn't watch it because of that whole job thing.

Ferrer, who can *almost* get away with the white socks and black shoes combo:

The last spot is still being decided between the Djoker and Carlos Moya. So far Moya is putting up a valiant fight, but he is falling just short...down two sets and a break. I think everyone is pretty much penciling in a Nole/Ferrer semi. And maybe even a Fed/Nole final, which will be interesting to see after Montreal. I don't think the result will be the same, what with this being a GS and Fed being...Fed.

Moya

Nole

And, of course, the women will square off in their respective semis tomorrow. I still don't know who to pick in the Venus/Justine semi, but I'm going to go ahead with Chakie of Kutzie in the other one...with Anna making her first GS final.

While I was sleeping...

2007-09-06T06:30:00.000-04:00

Actually, I did manage to stay awake for what seemed to be the best parts of this match...the first two sets. Give credit to Andy, I think he gave it his all. I don't understand his strategy against Fed though...it seems he always wants to take him to a tiebreak, but Fed always wins the tiebreaks. Andy doesn't have the ground game to outrally Fed or even break him, so why always go for the tiebreak? Granted, it might be his best (and only?) shot, but Fed demonstrated just how good he is at those tiebreaks in the first two sets. Third set looked more like what we're used to seeing, with Fed wrapping it up with a bow at 6-2. Andy, no matter how much heart he puts into it, just doesn't have the variety to beat Fed. I don't think he ever will at this point, either.

But again, hats off to Andy for once again relishing a match-up with the best of the best, and giving it his all:

Fed was quoted afterward as saying, "It was a tough match and he was serving out of a tree," said Federer. "But I came through in the end. It was a beautiful night." A beautiful night of only 18 unforced errors...this guy is just unbelieveable.

US Open: Day 10 - I hate my job.

2007-09-05T21:13:00.000-04:00

Ok, actually I don't hate my job, but I do hate that I can't tell you anything about the men's matches that happened today, other than who won, and really, you probably already knew that, right?

Davydenko defeated my boy Tommy in three. Oh Tommy...what happened? You needed me there, didn't you, and I let you down? Actually, from what my TTW peeps have posted, it wasn't that great of a match to watch. I didn't record it (getting short on space on the DVR), so again, Google might be a better friend than me right now.

Instead I offer you...the winner:

Two women's quarters took place today, and the upsets were nowhere to be seen. Sveta took control over Szavay (who is still to be commended for her great play of the recent weeks as well as her fabulous fashion sense) and Chakvetadze took out Peer, which was a bit of a surprise for me. I like both players, but it would have been nice to see Peer make a breakthrough here...instead, the 'breakthrough' will go to Chakie, who needs one, as well.

Our winners:

Sveta and Chakie will meet each other, and Henin will meet the winner of the Venus and Jelena, which is happening right now. To make up for my earlier absence, I give you my play by play thoughts on this match! (Whether you want it, or not!)

Our valiant warriors:

1st set
*J breaks V to open, very unexpected
*J being aggressive, coming to net, very good game plan
*V has lots of FH errors already, maybe getting a real coach and some better technique would help?
*V not attacking and being out rallied by J
*J breaks V again to bring it to 4-1
*V breaks back and holds, J up 4-3
*J keeps the ball deep and in the corners, good patience, however using a slice FH not a good idea against V, holds for 5-3
*V holds, 4-5
*J serving for set, V starts rocketing back returns and showing us great athleticism, at 40-30 J sends V line to line, draws the error
Jelena wins first set 6-3

Second Set
*J again breaks V in first game
*V turns on the aggression, comes into net A LOT! Starts smoking second serve returns, cleaning the lines, and even some great saves by J can't old off V
*What V is doing now is what Serena couldn't manage last night, adjusting and raising her game. Maybe big sis needs to hold a clinic for little sis?
*V serves for set at 5-1, J looking dejected.
*V's FH is finally working again, and though J brings it back to deuce, V holds on for second set, 6-1.

Third Set
*After all those breaks, they both manage to hold serve for the whole set! Unbelievable!
*V has some GREAT net play, and it is making a big difference. Great adjustment to get herself back in this match.
*J has hit some great lobs in this match, and the fourth one happens in the third set. Not a surprise that they came from her BH side.
*V showing great footwork, you can hear the tiny adjustment steps (are you watching Serena?)
*Some great smiles after points from J, so nice to see!
*God, love J's down the line BH! She's a drama queen, but a fun one, love it!
*V saves a BP with a big FH save!
*Another FH error from V helps J hold
*at 4-5 V is serving to stay in match and delivers 4 huge serves to give her easy put aways and a 40-0 game. That is what you call stepping up! 5-all!
*V has the FH swinging volley down, again, please teach Serena
*V still has some huge, ugly FH errors, but she is going for it!
*J holds!
*V holds! J does a split!
*V serving on her AD, great pass by J
*V serving again on her AD, J's BH just barely out
*Third set tiebreak!

Third set tiebreak
*J sends a BH long, V 1-0
*missed the point, I was typing, J won it, so 1-1
*V firing deep FHs, J's FH goes long, V up 2-1
*J sends another FH long, V up 3-1
*J sends yet another FH long, V up 4-1 (is J tired? She doesn't usually hit so many UFE?)
*long point, J's FH goes into net, V up 5-1!
*V hits a deep FH, up 5-2
*V hits FH long, up 5-3
*great swinging FH volley by V, up 6-3
*bad BH miss by V, up 6-4
*V serving for match, first serve in net!
*second serve in, another swinging FH volley and it is game, set, match, Venus Williams! Her first time into the semis in five years!

Great post match interviews by both ladies. Jelena disappointed, but still smiling...great to see a player with some perspective on the whole thing (are you listening Serena?), maybe because she still knows that even though she lost the match, she doesn't have bombs dropping on her head anymore, and that is a very, very good thing.

Next up for Venus...Justine. This should be another great match, but unless V cleans up that FH, I think Justine will take it. The de-facto final? Might be.

Much has already been written about Serena's disgusting behavior after her loss to Justine yesterday. I don't have anything to add that hasn't already been said, other than add my belief (to many others) that if Justine had been in Australia, Serena wouldn't have won. And did she show up for her sister tonight? Nope. What a brat. And she has the nerve to bring up the fine for missing the presser? Whatever...kids are starving and living in poverty all over the world, and here is this brat who has MILLIONS acting like a complete baby. I'm pretty sure I won't be able to conjure up any kind of support for Serena ever again.

Fed and Rod up next. I'm not planning on staying up and watching it. Sorry, but I'm exhausted from these late nights, and I'm pretty sure I know what is going to happen. Maybe I'll wake up and be surprised...who knows.

Other tidbits...
*Szavay is still alive in doubles! She plays tomorrow morning against the #5 seeds.
*Speaking of #5 seeds, we lost them in the men's doubles draw...Hanley/Ullyett out. Who the hell is going to be left to win this thing?
*Peschke/Stubbs are still in, and looking real good at this point. Dechy/Safina take out #3 seeds Sugiyama/Srebotnik. Umm, who the hell is going to be left to win this thing???? I'm rooting for Szavay (watch, now she'll lose tomorrow!)
*U-Rad, A-Rad's little sis, won her second round girl's singles match!
*Tomorrow's mixed doubles final features Shaugnessey/Paes against Azarenka/Mirnyi. Go Leander!
*Jimmy Arias played Todd Martin in the Men's Champions singles today...he lost, but I still love Jimmy! I would love to see and hear him commentating more, though...he is much better than some of the yahoos we've got now.

All for now my fellow tennis freaks! Tomorrow will be tough, I won't be home until 9pm...guess I will set the DVR for Djoko/Moya...definitely don't want to miss that one!

While I was sleeping...

2007-09-05T06:21:00.000-04:00

Ferrer did what many knew he was capable of doing, and knocked out Nadal in four sets last night. I didn't see much of it at all...too bad. The score line indicates at least three sets of good tennis. In checking the scores this morning, I saw a picture of Nadal sitting on the court, and thought that was a bad sign...I was right. How much did knee-gate factor in? I'm not sure...going to have to read up a bit.

I did read a few post match comments from Serena, and she predictably refused to give Henin credit for raising her game and plowing through the second set of their highly anticipated match. When is she going to learn that doing that makes her look like a sullen little baby?

Check Serena for a pulse...

2007-09-04T21:55:00.000-04:00

She's about to go down...hard. And it seems like she doesn't care all that much. Does Justine own her? Is she in Serena's head?

Oh man, triple match point for Justine.

Now, THAT was a return. Still double match point.

That return went into the net. *shaking head*

Justine takes it, 7-6, 6-1. Serena...pwned.

That was kind of ugly in the end. I'm no Serena fan, but that match sucked. And it begs the question, if Justine had been in Melbourne, would Serena have won? Right now, I think not.

Nadal is up next, against Ferrer. It isn't going to be easy, especially if his knees really are sore. The next chapter in Nadal Knee-gate.

US Open: Day 9 - Doubles Troubles

2007-09-04T21:33:00.000-04:00

Alright, what the H*LL is going on with the doubles teams? Today we lost not just the Bryan brothers, but also Knowles and Nestor! What in the world is going on? I throw my hands up in disbelief and confusion!!!

Some more quality five setters occured today, not that I actually got see any of them. My county frowns upon teachers live streaming tennis matches while they are supposed to be teaching, and rightfully so. Just, the timing kind of sucks, can't we start school *after* the Open? I mean really, is that too much to ask?

Anyway, back to the five setters. Chela today said "No Stan, you are not the man. I am the man." by eliminating Wawrinka (not just Fed's practice partner anymore). I was hoping Stan would come through and holding on to the slim chance of an all-Swiss final, 'cause they make good cheese and watches. Ok, actually, I'm not even sure that would be possible, I'd have to check the draw, but I was still hoping Stan would pull it out. Not this time.

Moya and Gulbis (who is the singular representation of Latvian tennis) duked it out in five sets as well. Moya, the veteran, came through, and I'm sad to say that I haven't had a chance to actually see Gulbis play. They either haven't shown his matches while I've been watching, or they've shown him while I haven't been watching. I've heard fabulous, great things...maybe he'll come to Legg Mason next year? I mean, c'mon, Latvia isn't *that* far away? If what I've been hearing is true, we will all get many more chances to see this youngster play. And once again, I have to give a shout out to Starlite for bringing Gulbis to my attention way before he started making any headlines. The girl knows her tennis!

Nole took to the court today, along with Juan Monaco and a whole entourage of trainers. This is was a GREAT match! We pretty much knew it was going to be close, and Monaco did push it to four sets. They were all close but Nole took it in the end. This kid is really mentally making great strides, not to mention his tennis!

One interesting thing happened, though, that you don't regularly see...during the third set tiebreak Monaco lost a point because a ball fell out of his shorts pocket. Because it was the second time it happened, he did lose a point (first time is just a warning, and according to the commentators, happened earlier in the match). He was wearing the YOC Adidas shorts, so guys...beware if you chose these shorts. Don't lose your balls. *smile*

Szavay is also playing women's doubles, and is into the semis! What with everyone else being eliminated, someone has to be left to play! If she doesn't make the single's final, we might see her in doubles! (Well, 'see' depends on the damn networks.)

Boy, I'm grouchy tonight.

Right now, Justine is a set and a break up on Serena. I found myself, during the first set, rooting for Serena. It is hard to believe, but I think she is freezing up. She looks tight. She doesn't look like she actually believes that she can beat Justine. She isn't stepping into returns and ripping them. She isn't serving all that great either. She did get back a break in the first set, but then lost in the tiebreak. I don't know...something about her is just off. I'm hoping, just for the sake of the match and the hype and the people poured into the stadium to watch her, that Serena decides to turn it on. Soon.

And, she needs to work on her footwork. Next to Justine, it is really obvious that she isn't moving her feet enough. One of the reasons Justine can hit so big, even though being so small, is that great footwork.

There was a 'C'mon'...is she waking up? Is it too little too late?

Meanwhile, today's heroes:

So much for the hair gel...

2007-09-03T23:11:00.000-04:00

Feli gave it a good go, but Fed takes it in four.

Next up, Roddick. Vamos Feli! Good effort!

Day 8: The day James, Tommy, and my pro almost kill me.

2007-09-03T21:41:00.001-04:00

Match of the tournament. James Blake vs. Tommy Haas. Un-freaking-believable. It is this match that made me decide that next year, come hell or high water, I will be at the US Open, at least for the holiday weekend. I don't care if I have to go alone. I will be there!

Anyway, back to the match.

Two shot makers, who, thanks to some mental fragility on both parts, saw massive momentum shifts. But Tommy was the one who, after losing the first set, really woke up, found some energy, and just raised his game to an unbelievable level. It gives you a glimpse of what might have been if Tommy hadn't of been so plagued with injuries throughout his career. He was just playing on a whole different level for the fourth set during which he handed Blake a bagel (just in case he was getting hungry!).

The fifth set was classic. Serving at 4-5 Haas saved TWO match points. That means Blake lost TWO match points. Ugh!!! Once in the tiebreak, just looking at James' face...I felt like he was in trouble. The ending was anti-climatic, with the last two points both being challenged. Haas wrapped it up with an ace that just clipped the line. His smile was as wide as James' disappointment. You could tell during his on court interview with Mary Joe that he really wanted to tell her to leave him alone...but he is way too nice for that. Oh, my heart ached for him. It sucks that someone had to lose this match, but Haas was the better player today.

Today's warriors:

On the women's side, things got back to normal a bit, with many of the 'upset' teenagers bowing out. The notable exception was Agnes Szavay, who took out Kimmie Killer Julia Vakulenko (Mary Joe confirmed for me today that Vakulenko was indeed the last player to beat Kimmie, speculating that the lose finally sealed the deal on the early retirement). Szavay also wins best dressed for the tourny:

Classy, yet unique, yet totally appropriate. Last week it had a ring in the middle of the twist, but I think I like it better without the hardware.

Shahar Peer is taking full advantage of being in the 'weaker' half of the draw...first by taking care of Vaidisova, and today dispatching A-Rad, who did everyone the courtesy of beating Shriekapova. A-Rad's Adidas dress confirmed that she does not have a clothing sponsor, since she was in Nike yesterday. Hopefully she's gotten someone's attention, and that will be taken care of after her run through this tournament.

Chakvetadze easily took care of the last Austrian standing, Tamira Paszek, and Sveta dispatched Victoria Azarenka, who really did seem overwhelmed during this match. Who will be the one in the final? Sveta? Anna? Aggie? Peer? I would say Chakie right now, if pressed, but I think they all have a chance.

The women's doubles draw is an absolute mess now, as Raymond and Stosur LOST today...to Mirza/Mattek. Yes...Mattek. Of the horrible outfits. Maybe all the lame distracted Raymond and Stosur...but man, this was their's for the taking!!!! Umm, go Sugiyama? Who's left at this point? I have to go check...all the serious contenders are gone.

Roddick got an easy pass to his quarterfinal when Tomas Berdych retired in the second set. It was reported that Andy then went out and practiced for another hour, since he didn't really get a lot of play in today. It remains to be seen if that will help him (keep him fresher) or hurt (lack of competitive match play). Everyone is assuming that Fed will come through, and I think he is just going to spank Andy one more time. Andy hasn't really had any wins over any top players in a loooooong time, and knocking off Fed is going to be too much to ask.

Assuming Fed wins. Unbelievably, he lost the first set to Feliciano Lopez, who must have put on his super strength hair gel tonight for this match. Right now he is playing out of his mind...let's see if he can keep it up, because we all know that Rog is not going to panic or choke.

Davydenko also advanced today, taking out the Korean Lee. He will face Haas, and I hope Haas mops up the court with him! Gooo Tommmy!

Tomorrow night...Serena vs. Justine, round 3. The other women's matches aren't being played tomorrow...odd scheduling decision, but whatever. I may have to get some special beverages for this match.

*****************

As for my game, the forehand was reallyl grooving nicely tonight in clinic. My pro decided he was going to try to kill me and the other girl tonight...and I'm exhausted. Just beat! This is usually my 'easier' clinic, but not tonight. But hey, a good workout never hurt, and now I will be ready to get a good night's sleep for the first day of school tomorrow. But I can't decide what to wear!!! :)

Day 7: A good day to have a grounds pass.

2007-09-03T08:41:00.000-04:00

The action at Ashe today was pretty straightforward, but it was on the outer courts where you would have found a couple of five-setters and a few upsets yesterday.

Starting with this guy:

This is Ernests Gulbis. Never heard of him? That's ok, I hadn't either until TTW member Starlite requested some pictures of him from people actually going to the open. He is from Latvia. He just turned 19 on August 30. He is currently ranked 88, but has been as high as 79. And last night, he took out #8 seed Tommy Robredo. In straight sets. Now, Disco Tommy has been struggling of late, but this is still a pretty big upset. These guys also provided entertainment well into the night as they didn't even take the court until around 11pm. And they were scheduled as part of the day session!

The delay was in part to the many five set matches that took place on the men's side yesterday. David Ferrer took five to defeat David Nalbandian; Chela won in five over Ljubicic (who still can't find GS success), and Stan the Man Wawrinka took five sets to dismiss American Robby Ginepri, who, despite the loss, seems to have finally found his tennis again. And I don't know what they have in the water in Switzerland, but Wawrinka's backhand, just like Roger's, is a thing of absolute beauty.

There are a lot of Spanish and Latin American players still in the men's draw...proving that those players have made the adjustments needed to play on hardcourts as well as they do on clay. Now, if the Americans could only do the same thing and transfer their hardcourt knowledge to clay! Anyway, two countrymen battled over what was Hewitt's spot in the draw, with Juan Monaco edging out Augustin Calleri. Nadal's knees looked pretty good as he took out Tsonga, who just seemed content to have made it to the third round. Djokovic defeatead Juan Martin del Potro in a night match that was...kinda dull. Both night matches on Ashe, featuring Henin and Djoko, held no surprises.

Oh, and there is one more five setter I'm forgetting! Carlos Moya continues his stellar season and play with a five set win over Philip Kohlschreiber of Germany. The old man can still play!

The highly anticipated match-ups of V. Williams/AnaIvo and S. Williams/Maid Marion ended up being a cake-walk for the sisters. I was surprised, and more than a little disappointed. We had the French Open runner-up and the Wimbledon runner-up fold like day old sandwiches. They didn't believe, so they lost and lost pretty quickly.

The seeds in men's doubles are falling as fast as they did on Saturday in the women's draw. Melo/Sa defeated Bjorkman/Mirnyi (what is up with them this year?), and Aspelin/Knowle took out the last team to beat the Bryans, Erlich/Ram. I would pencil in a Bryan/Bryan and Knowles/Nestor final, but I'm almost afraid to!

The women's doubles were not completely without upsets either. Molik/Santangelo are out. Stubbs/Peschke are hanging on, though, and took three sets to defeat Hantuchova/Hingis. With the #1 seeds out, I would say it is for Raymond/Stosur to win or lose, but there are still a few teams lurking about that could give them trouble.

The juniors also got underway yesterday, and A-Rad's little sister, Urszula, is the #2 seed in the girl's singles draw. Look out Williams...there may be a new sister act in town!

Day 6: A good day to be a teenager.

2007-09-02T10:20:00.000-04:00

Alright, got to start with the big news. Defending champion and #2 seed Maria Sharapova was ousted in three sets by Polish teenager Aggie (yeah, I'm not even going to try how to remember spelling her first name) Radwanska. Radwanska, interestingly enough, doesn't appear to have a clothing sponser. She was all decked out in Nike, but the top was last year's and her visor said 'US Open'. It just goes to show that all the endorsements in the world don't matter a lick when you're out on the court (got that Maria? Now, go practice that serve and find a real coach.) Maria threw in 12 double faults, and Radwanska caught a bit of fired for moving in really close to the service line for Maria's second serves. I'm not sure why some people (Jim Courier) had such a problem with that...it is perfectly legal, you can stand as far in as you want. Most pros don't because their opponents are bombing away with their serves, but Maria was clearly not doing that yesterday. And, AnaIvo did the same thing to her in their French Open semi, and it worked really well there too (though AnaIvo wasn't criticized for it like Aggie). If Maria gets so unnerved by her opponents moving so far in for her second serve she needs to do one of either two things...#1 - Stop playing professional tennis or #2 - Get her head and serve together once and for all. To Maria's credit, in her post match interview, she said that she had no excuses for her performance and was very gracious to her opponent.

It is almost like the 'next generation' of teenagers got together and made a pact to take out a whole bunch of seeds yesterday. Schnyder was taken out in a third set tiebreaker by Tamira Paszek. Petrova received so much on court treatment that they should have relocated the match to an ER, and lost to New Haven's Hungarian darling, Agnes Szavay. After winning the first set, Martina Hingis won only ONE game in the last two sets and got obliterated by Viktoria Azarenka. Maria Kirilenko, a cute youngster herself, found herself on the short end against Kimmie Killer Julia Vakulenko. So who did win who was seeded? Kuznetsova and Chatvetadze, both strong bets to make it out of that bottom half of the draw now. But wouldn't it be cool to see someone else, like Szavay, come through? Like I mentioned before, Jon Wertheim picked Szavay all the way through to the semis...doesn't look so crazy now, does it?

But there was still one more match from that half of the draw to be decided last night: Peer vs. Vaidisova. Two seeded players going at it to keep their hopes alive in a very open draw.

This was the best women's match of the evening session so far. Highly competitive and some really good tennis. In the first set Vaidisova, in her first tourny since collapsing mentally against AnaIvo at Wimbledon, came out really strong, winning three straight games before Peer could blink. But Peer is scrappy, and never gives up. Down 1-4, she won the next 6 games to take the first set. Nicole hit way too many errors in that first set, and her FH, when she gets it in, is great. But too often, she sprays it all over the place. Are these young ball bashing women never taught any control? Anyway, it was clear from the get go who was the aggressor (Vaidisova) and who was defending (Peer). The thing is, Peer is a really good defender, and from the commentators discussions, it became clear that Peer and her camp are working on turning her into a more aggressive player.

The second set started out exactly like the first...with Vaidisova up 3-0 really quickly. But again, Peer climbed back in, but this time, Nicole cleaned up her errors and hung on to win the set 6-3. Peer was effectively using a low backhand slice against Nicole, but may have started using it too much and spending too much time playing defense.

The third set was not as streaky. Peer got a break and was serving for the match when she went back to defense, and let Nicole break her right back. Peer needs to learn to go out and take the match, don't wait for someone to hand it to you. They evened it all the way up to a third set tiebreak, in which Vaidisova just donated a few too many points, and Peer took it 7-5. Vaidisova has a beautiful forehand, but she's got to learn to control it. That and her mental game, which is pretty widely known as immensely fragile by now. Temper, temper!

One the guy's side, today was the day of the widely anticipated Federer/Isner match up. True to form the first set went to a tiebreak, and unbelievable, Isner won it! Roger pulled out his champion's play, though, and pressed down ever so slightly on the accelerator and that was it for the rest of the match. Roger wins in four. But Isner acquitted himself well...somehow, this guy just doesn't get nervous! Yes, yes, he still has things to work on, but he took a set, something that other players either have never done, or haven't done in a real long time. When Isner gets more solid on the rest of his game to back up that serve and can last five sets, look out.

This was a fun picture:

The men's night match featured Stefan Koubek (who?) and James Blake. You want to know a bit about Koubek? Well, he is Austrian. I think he is 30 or 31, so in tennisland, an 'old' guy. He is short. He is....a lefty, caucasian, really blonde version of...James Blake!!! Only on speed. This guy came out ready to play. He is as fast as James, and the match up pitted his FH against James' BH. Not good for James. They split the first two sets, and I drifted off to sleep somewhere in the third. This morning I find out that James won in four sets, and it looked like Koubek faded a bit in that fourth set. But man...this was entertaining to watch.

And, there were lots of service breaks. Both of these guys were good returners. But when there are lots of service breaks in a women's match, they get called mentally weak. *sigh* The double standards, they drive me crazy, yes they do. There is, and always has been, just as many mental head cases and chokers on the men's tour as there are on the women's tour. Got it? GOOD!

But a great day of tennis was had, and today looks to be just as fun, only maybe with less upsets on the women's side. But today, either AnaIvo or Venus will be dismissed from the tournament, which is a tragic shame, because both should be going futher and not meeting so early in a GS. So Venus, get your damn ranking up already, would you? Ok, thanks!

Mourning update...

2007-09-01T09:00:00.000-04:00

Pun intended.

One of my dark horse picks to go deep in the tournament, Lleyton Hewitt, was outsted by Calleri (WTF?) last night. I hope Hewitt doesn't let this disappointing loss keep him from a working on a late career mini-comeback. Would love to see him cause some damage at the Aussie Open and the resulting fan craziness that would surely follow.

US Open: Day 5 - Good-bye Tim.

2007-08-31T22:26:00.001-04:00

For me, an even bigger story today than Nadal's Knee-gate was the conclusion of Tiger Tim's fabulous tennis career. As he played his second round match against Tsonga, you could often see a bit of a smile, a smirk almost, on Tim's mouth. Almost as if he knew a big secret that he wasn't letting the rest of us in on. And maybe he did. In his on court interview after the match, he expressed no regret (he shouldn't) and spoke with the conviction of a man who knew he was making the right decision at the right time. Plus, he sounded very excited about playing his final Davis Cup in a few weeks, on none other than the Wimbledon grass. We'll miss you Tim.

Nadal is playing as I write this (as is Hewitt), so I will save him and his knees for last.

The women's draw is finally starting to get a bit more interesting...I may start to salivate soon. Serena and Jelena were both pushed today (Jelena to three), but both came through, relying heavily on their experience. Ahsha Rolle's fairy tale came to an end today at the hands of Dinara Safina. Also leaving us today were Safarova (Beaten by Bartoli, hmm, what happened to her? She was beating Henin earlier this year! Lucie, I mean here, not Bartoli) and Dementieva (who got obliterated by Moms Sybille Bammer). Now that a few rounds are out of the way, the match-ups are getting good. Serena and Maid Marion. Venus and AnaIvo! Oh My! <---insert Dick Enberg voice

Some doubles news real quick...the #1 seeds on the women's side (Black/Huber) are OUT! They were beaten today by Maria Elena Camerin and Gisela Dulko! What?!? Hingis and Hantuchova are continuing their successful (so far) partnership, and teenage boys everywhere are rejoicing. Men's Wimby champs, Clement and Llodra, were beaten by Americans Kuznetsov/Levine. Jesse Levine was the kid that Fed flew out to Dubai to practice with him. I guess some of it rubbed off...either that, or maybe the US should start focusing on churning out doubles teams. Another American team, Justin Gimelstob/Amer Delic took out Booty and Stretch, as well! What's going on?!? One interesting pairing I just noticed today in mixed is that of Sania Mirza and Mahesh Bhupathi. They beat a formidable team in Elena Likhotseva and Daniel Nestor. I think they have a good shot at the title.

Ok, back to the men.

It is with much sorry that I announce that Wayne Odesnik's train has finally pulled into the station. He went down to #20 seed, Juan Ignacio Chela, in straight sets. Still! A good showing for Wayne, and let's hope he doesn't have to stay in Isner's shadow much longer.

A pretty big upset occurred when Philip Kohlshreiber took out #11 seed and last year's semifinalist, Mikhail Youzhzny. Poop. That sucks. Mardy Fish lost a tough five setter to Disco Tommy, and Nole just barely survived his five setter against Radek Stepanek. I wish this had been a night match so I could have seen it...I bet it was great. This match also receives today's Insane Score Award. Nole won 6-7, 7-6, 5-7, 7-5, 7-6. WHAT?!? That's sick!

Hey, guess who else is out? That's right! Everyone's favorite basketcase...Marat Safin. He lost to the suddenly hot Swiss (who isn't named Federer) Wawrinka. Whatever. Safin is done. Maybe he should have had the surgery instead of rehabbing the knee the old fasioned way. He has never been the same, and he never will be. A shame.

A nice surprise win for American Robbie Ginepri! He beat Gabasvili convincingly in three sets. Other winners today include Gulbis (the Latvian wonder!), Ljubicic (remember him?), Nalbandian (remember him?), del Potro (looking very strong and dominant), and Moya (awwww!).

Now, as I wrote this, both Tipsarevic and Nadal took treatment. (I think Nadal did, Tipsy is still in his chair.) The condition of Nadal's knees has been the focus of much discussion and a more than a few arguments (TTW) today. This is my take:

*Nadal played right after Wimby. On clay. Stupid.
*Nadal has made the necessary adjustments to his game to suit a surface not familiar to him...that being grass. He's been quite successful. Why won't he make those same adjustments so that he can play on hard courts without so much wear and tear? Is it that it will be too much of a change? Flatten out the strokes a bit? Finish at the net? I know hard courts are harder on the body. But if a player refuses to change a game that also contributes to tearing up his body, who is more to blame? The surface? Or the player? Here's a hint for the answer...which one of those two has a brain?
*Yes, JohnnyMac, the tape does help. I had tendinitis in my left knee from running. Taping helps. So does...rest.
*In the argument of surfaces...yes, clay is easier on the joints. It isn't necessarily easier on the body as a whole, because the points are longer. It balances out, and again, in the end run, it is up to the player to make the adjustments necessary for each particular surface. If Nadal does not, he will go the way of Guga. Remember him?

Anyway...Nadal is going to win this match. Tipsy, as much as I like him, is being outplayed, and also struggling with knee problems.

EDIT: I love it when I'm right! *smile* Nadal won, Tipsy retired. And it was his ribs he was getting treatment for, not his knee. Nadal marches on, and Knee-gate continues!

Tomorrow is the big-matchup! Federer vs. Isner! I won't be home, so I'm setting the DVR, and I better get it on there! I might have to erase some other matches to make room...but I will do my best. I may be home by then...I have a 'back to school' shopping date! More than likely, I will run out of money before the match begins!

The Morning Update: Blake vs. Santoro

2007-08-31T06:08:00.000-04:00

I tried my best to stay awake, but drifted off somewhere around 4-3 in the last set. I have to say, when that fifth set started, I thought Blake looked like he believed...that he believed that this time, he would be the one to prevail in five sets. A few games later, the conviction was not as strong, but it still seemed like he had an edge over Santoro, especially when the Frenchman started playing the 'trainer trick'.

And, I want it never, ever to be said, that only the women play these games. The men are just as practiced at gamesmanship as say, Mary Pierce. And, if you're not breaking the rules, then all is fair. If a rule needs to be changed, then the players can work on that. If the rules aren't being enforced, who is at greater fault...the player or the chair ump who is not doing their job?

But again, props to James for pulling this through, 6-4, in the fifth. This should be a huge confidence builder.

Will this be Santoro's last open? The game of tennis would mourn his retirement, as there is nobody else who plays like him.

Go Wayne...

2007-08-30T22:11:00.000-04:00

Keep the train going...Wayne is facing off against Juan Ignacio Chela tomorrow morning at 11am on court 11.

*sending good tennis vibes*

Atatu/Old School sent along this great article:

Weston's Odesnik Enjoying His Summer

US Open: Day 4 - Wonder Woman?

2007-08-30T21:33:00.000-04:00

Is it better to be known for your bizarre fashion sense on the court rather than your game? I wonder if she puts as much effort into her game that she does her...outfits. One on hand, I'm all for it, it is a free country and you can wear what you want. On the other hand, it makes me cringe, mostly because it draws the wrong type of attention to the women's side of the sport. How can women players be taken seriously when they look like this? And, still, on one more hand, I cringe because IT LOOKS BAD!!! Most women try to draw attention away from that chub on the hip...but many tennis players (not just Mattek) sit their skirts just below that bit of chub, making it look so much worse than it actually is.

Another busy day at the Open! Mattek lost, by the way, and the only reason it is of any notice is because we won't get to see what other horrendous outfit she'll pull on next. (Oh, and if you are going to say it is 'Wonder Woman' inspired, then it better have a gold bustier and a blue skirt with stars on it. Don't insult us Wonder Woman fans!)

Donald Young's good play got a bit of luck today as well, when his second round opponent, Richard Gasquet, withdrew and handed Donald a free pass to the third round. Gasquet, yet another French headcase (and I love them all, by the way), evidently had a fever and was ill. Along the same lines, Andy Roddick got a 'get out of jail free' card when his opponent, Jose Acasuso, retired after snatching the first set from Roddick. To be fair, Roddick won the next two sets handily, and was more than in control of the match.

One of the hardest working guys on the court, Korean Hyung-Taik Lee, took out #14 seed Guillermo Canas (guess he won't be facing down Federer again anytime soon). A great win for Lee! Feliciano Lopez, always dangerous on hard courts, battled Igor Andreev for five sets before prevailing. Winning in four sets, and today's winner of the Insane Score Award, was former Grand Slam champ Thomas Johanssen over Arnaud Clement, 6-4, 7-6, 6-7, 7-6.

Andrew Murray answered a few more questions today by outlasting Jonas Bjorkman (Jonas!!! I love Jonas!) in five sets. Murray's fitness has always been in doubt, along with his ability to win a tough five set match. Well, it may not have been that tough...it was five sets, but the fifth was 6-1. Maybe a better indicator will be how he plays his next match.

As for the Germans, Tommy Haas has been quietly making his way through the draw, like he normally does, while Nicholas Kiefer's comeback was brought to a halt today.

There's some big news on the doubles side. Damm/Paes are OUT!!! Oh, Leander...NOOOOO! They lost in three sets (guess the US Open decided best in five in doubles was stupid...good call) to Benneteau/Mahut! WHAT?!? BAD LOSS!!!

John Isner played dubs with Scott Oudsema, but they were taken out by another all American team...some guys by the name of Bryan brothers? Maybe you've heard of them?

And Justine Gimelstob's US Open isn't quite done yet...he is playing mixed with Ashley Harkelroad, and they won their first match. I imagine he is probably playing men's dubs, too, but I'm too lazy to look it up right now. ----> Yes, he is...playing with Amer Delic.

Jelena Jankovic turned down Jamie Murray's request to play mixed because she said she wanted to conentrate on singles. Which is fine. But she had time to team up with Severine Bremond to play women's dubs. Interesting. They got killed on the court though, so Jelena will have plenty more time for singles.

Lots of youngsters made their way through the women's draw today...Radwanska ended Razzano's strong playing streak, Azarenka advanced, as did Szavay and Vakulenko. Remember these names...they are, IMO, the future of women's tennis.

The women did lose two seeds today when #22 Schiavone lost to Tamira Paszek (another youngster with solid results) and #22 Srebotnik lost to none other than Maria Kirilenko, who is finally proving that she does more than look pretty on court.

Right now, the 'Magician' Fabrice Santoro is taking on the J-Block. Oh, and he's playing against James Blake. Blake won the first set, but Santoro is up 5-2 in the second. Santoro is just the kind of player that can give Blake lots and lots of problems. Blake's 'A' game will more than likely not be too effective against the crafty Frenchman. The problem is that Blake has no 'B' game. Santoro has enough game to run through the whole alphabet! I'm recording this one, because we may not see Santoro again at the Open, and he is just too much fun to watch. Honestly, I believe that Blake will pull this out, but he is going to have to work really hard for it. I do think there is a chance that Blake will fall apart though, giving Santoro the huge upset. A big question mark surrounding this match is fitness...mental and physical. Santoro can last five sets mentally, but can he physically? Blake can last physically, but he has NEVER won a five setter...so it is in his best interests not to let it go that far. Oh, JMac just got done saying...Blake is 0-9 in five setters. It will be fun to see how this pans out!

*************

Just a bit about me...I played GREAT in clinic tonight!!! What must I do to play that way in a match? Looks like the Frenchies aren't the only mental cases on the block, hunh?

Nadal's Knees

2007-08-29T21:14:00.000-04:00

Whoa...Jim Courier just reported that Nadal almost didn't play his match today because he had laser surgery on his knees! But, because he had so much family coming, that he went ahead and played.

Smart? I don't think so. Why would he chance an even more serious injury? His ranking is not in jeopardy. He'll have other chances...but not if he blows out his knees.

US Open: Day 3

2007-08-29T20:29:00.001-04:00

Hats off to Tiger Tim Henman today, as he pulled through his first round match, one in which he was a pretty big underdog, against the Californian Russian Dmitry Tursunov. This is a good win for Henman.

Another big match on the men's side today was the highly anticipated first round match-up of mental case Marat Safin and up and comer Frank Dancevic. This match also gets my Insane Score Award, with Safin coming through in three sets at 7-5, 7-6, 7-6. I was wishing I had TV today, so I could have watched this match.

Also winning today, but also raising some doubts, was Rafael Nadal. He won his match against WC Alun Jones, but he dropped a set in doing so. He also received treatment on court for his knees. This is not a problem you want during a hard court event. Johnny Mac reported on USA that Nadal looked 'wobbily' and had trouble stopping. I think Nadal must be waiting to slide, and the slide doesn't come on a hard court. He is going to have a tough road ahead of him.

That brings us to Fernando Gonzalez. Amazing at the Aussi, and pretty much absent since. He dropped his first two sets to Gabashvili before fighting back, only to lose in the fith and final set. *shaking head* What is going on in his camp?!?

A mini-upset - Korolev is out, losing in five sets to none other than Stanislaw Wawrinka, who continues his strong recent hard court play. Other winners on the men's side today include Disco Tommy, Youzhny, Moya (whoot!), Ginepri (who handed out a bagel), Tsonga (hopefully we'll get a glimpse), Tipsarevic (hopefully we'll get much more than a glimpse!), Fish (looking strong), and none other than Latvian Ernests Gulbis, who took out a seeded player in Italian Potito Starace.

Federer is yet to play, and Isner is up a set and a break. A third round match-up between the two is looming, and will be much anticipated by most hard core tennis fans. We don't expect Isner to win, but it will be interesting to see how he handles The Serve.

No major upsets occurred (so far) on the women's side. Serena is currently on court, having a tough first set with Maria Elena Camerin (a fiesty Italian, I like her), but is now up a break in the second set. Something of note, though..Asha Rolle made good on her first round upset of Golovin by defeated Knapp in three sets to go into the third round. Definitely the best results we've seen from her...ever.

Some of the double are finally taking to the court today, and I noticed some interesting match-ups while perusing the schedule. In mixed, Wimbledon champ Jamie Murray is teaming with Leizel Huber, one of the best doubles players on the women side. No offense to Jelena, but this is a step up for Jamie. I expect them to go far. Natalie Dechy and Andy Ram are teaming up again, and they thrashed the team of Maria Kirilenko and Igor Andreev, 6-1, 6-0.

Women's doubles includes, of course, the top teams (Black/Huber, Raymond/Stosur) but also winning today was the team of Daniela Hantuchova and Martina Hingis. Since Daniela is out, and Martina will probably not get too deep...maybe these guys could pull a doubles upset? They are both strong doubles players with quite a few doubles GS titles between them. They will be a team to keep an eye on.

*********

My own play continues to slump. The change of grip on my forehand is making a difference, but it isn't there in match play yet. It could also be that for this league, which doesn't count toward ratings, is just not a priority for me right now. I goof off in matches, and don't concentrate or focus. I almost feel like I'd rather forego the matches for now to work on improving/changing things in my game. I'm giving serious thought to skipping the next short season (the fall season that will go October to December and includes some mixed play) and doing just that...working on the game and the technique problems that I know I have.

US Open: Day 2 - The train is pulling into the station!!!

2007-08-28T18:47:00.001-04:00

Yup, that's right, Wayne 'the train' Odesnik advanced to the second round of the US Open with a FIVE set win over Danai Udomchoke and a score of 7-6 in the fifth set (what with the US Open being the only grand slame that allows a fifth set tiebreak). Odesnik's next opponent will be Juan Ignacio Chela, and again, I think he's got a chance. Go Wayne!

Today's Insane Score Award also goes to a men's match, that of Arnaud Clement and Ivo Karlovic. This is the match that I, along with many others, dubbed David vs. Goliath. You know what happens in that story, right? David wins. And he did today, as well, but it took a lot of hard work. Clement wins 7-6(5), 6-4, 4-6, 6-7(6), 7-6(2).

Amer Delic lost in straights to Lleyton Hewitt. This was not unexpected, but Peter Bodo has a nice article up on his site about the 'fall' of Delic. Good reading - Should I Stay or Should I Go".

Other winners today included Djokovic, Xavier Malisse (hey, where's he been?), qualifier Pavel, and the 'magician' Fabrice Santoro. James Blake advanced, but not without being tested 7-6, 6-3, 7-6 by American grinder Michael Russell. Stepanek is in a tough match as I type this.

Who didn't win today? Well, Sam Querry. A disappointing loss in straights to Koubek. Somewhat unexpected after a strong hardcourt summer, but this may point to possible improvements that need to be made on his mental game.

The ladies side suffered its loss of a high seed today when #9 Daniela Hantuchova lost in three sets to Julia Vakulenko (who was one of the last people to beat Kim Clijsters before her retirement). Daniela...well, see above comment about mental improvements.

Some question marks surrounded Nicole Vaidisova's return after a lengthy absence from the tour with mono. She had an easy win today, but the questions will remain until she faces stiffer competition. A possible quarter with Sharapova may loom in the future.

Sania Mirza backed up some solid summer hard court play with a tough three set win ove Kai Kanepi. Also winning today were Virginie Razzano (continuing to play some of her best tennis this summer), Victoria Azarenka (the promising junior is slowly but surely making progress in both singles and doubles), and Pauline Parmentier (a qualifier who is now into the second round).

I know there's plenty of matches still going on or yet to be played tonight, but I have a late match, and then must be off to bed. School night!

US Open: Day 1

2007-08-27T22:05:00.000-04:00

So, this is going to be a bit tricky, because I can't stay up and watch the later matches. I'm not ignoring them, but if something big goes down while I'm sleeping, I won't know until the morning. Hey, what can I say? It is a school night!

But there is plenty to talk about so far today. As I type this, Serena is dusting off her game and polishing off the first set against Angelique Kerber. The match followed a pretty routine win by Venus.

I'll stick with the women first, because there isn't as much to talk about right now. The opening rounds tend to be...uh...boring? Lots of roadkill, with the occasional good match.

One score that did surprise me was Marion Bartoli's easy victory over young American Alexa Glatch...6-1, 6-1. I thought Alexa would be more of a battle, but it wasn't to be. The Most Insane Score award goes to moody Russian Vera Zvonareva. She beat Jidkova 6-0, 6-7, 6-0. Uh, what happened in the second set Vera? I hope there weren't tears involved!

There was one big upset on the women's side. Asha Rolle, a 22 year old American, defeated #17 seed Tatiana Golovin in three sets. Good for American tennis? Yes. Good for women's tennis? No. Rolle's visibly not in shape, and almost makes Bartoli look svelte. What does this say about the WTA tour? How can these women, who are obviously not in athlete's shape, get so far? Is it just that they are in shape, and just not blessed with the right type of body? Is it luck? Who knows...but I don't see Rolle getting too much further in the draw, especially since she is in the loaded up half of the draw. Golovin is prone to mental lapses...maybe this match was one of them.

Now for the men. Andy Murray came out strong today, winning his first match in three routine sets. I correctly predicted a good match between Lee and Hrbaty, and they battled it out for five sets before Lee prevailed (yay!). Benjamin Becker was dismissed from the tournament in five sets as well.

The battle of the sneaky Spaniards did not go how I expected. JCFerrero, the #21 seed, was taken out by Lopez. Another Spaniard, Verdasco, dismissed the #22 seed, Mathieu. Maybe Mathieu was still 'hung over' from New Haven and his tough loss to Blake? The young Belgian, Steve Darcis, did manage a set over my boy Tommy, but was sent off in four sets by the veteran. Rapping Vince Spadea will have more time to work on his rhyming since he is out as well.

Three really big things on the men's side. First, John Isner, after dropping the first to #26 seed Jarkko Nieminen, came back to win in four sets. His first grand slam match, and he pulls through. Gotta love the mental game of this guy. Next up for his is qualifier Rik deVoest of South Africa. I like Izzy's chances, and if he gets through that one, he will more than likely meet the man, Roger himself, in the third round. Second big thing...Donald Young got another ATP tour win, and his first grand slam win in four sets. He will meet Richard Gasquet next. Logic would say to go with Gasquet, but Gasquet rarely follows logic. That will be interesting to see. And finally, a big upset occured when The Beast, Max Mirnyi, serve-and-volleyed his way past #18 Marcos Baghdatis. Oh Marcos! He's got way too good of a game to let this happen, but if he's isn't going to put in the work, then he better get used to going home while the party is just getting started.

Serena up a break in the second...I think I can go to bed and not worry about missing anything groundbreaking. But seriously, Serena, for the love of all that is good and holy...TAKE THE DAMN BOW OFF OF YOUR DRESS!!! Great dress...stupid, dippy bow. We know you have thunder thighs, we love you anyway.

Ouch!

2007-08-26T16:25:00.000-04:00

Roddick gets no love in an article in the Washington Post.

Yesterday's Hope is Today's Has-Been

US Open: First Round Matches to Watch

2007-08-26T11:58:00.000-04:00

I approached this post by looking at the draw and saying to myself "If I were at the Open, which matches would interest me? Which ones would I try to go see?"

Here they are, in no particular order:

Men
Federer vs. Jenkins - Any chance to see Fed live would be cool, plus I'm an armchair fan of Scoville Jenkins. At least the kid will end up laying on Ashe for his only match, right?
Ferrero vs. Lopez - A battle of sneaky Spaniards...that particular breed that can play well on hardcourts as well as clay.
Karolovic vs. Clement - David and Goliath...worth mentioning just for the size discrepancy.
Gimelstob vs. Roddick - Just like at Wimbledon, Gimel will play his last US Open match against Roddick. Roddick doesn't seem to like him much, and Justin doesn't seem to care. I think this will be entertaining, though, and both of them should be diving onto the hardcourt at least a few times.
Kiefer vs. Spadea - If Spadea plays well, this will be a good match. Kiefer has played well since coming back on tour. The Rapper vs. The Racquet Thrower.
Murray vs. Cuevas - Notable only because it will be a chance to see if Murray's wrist is in shape or not. Cuevas is a qualifier.
Hrbaty vs. Lee - Should be a good quality match, a baseline throwdown.
Haas vs. Darcis - The veteran vs. the new kid. My money is on the veteran, but Darcis has a chance.
Mirnyi vs. Baghdatis - Marcos should win, but may be an interesting match anyway.
Ancic vs. Djokovic - Oh Mario. What a horrible draw!!! Nole should win, but hopefully Mario can make it hard for him.
Wawrinka vs. Korolev - Wawrinka played well in New Haven, but nobody else was really there. A good match.
Tursunov vs. Henman - Bad draw for Henman. This will more than likely be his last US Open match, but Tursunov is capable of giving it away as well. I saw them play each other at Legg Mason in '06, and Tursunov won in straight sets.
Dancevic vs. Safin - Duh.
Tipsarevic vs. Sweeting - The forgotten Serb vs. the American brat. But my real reason? Janko is hot.
Odesnik vs. Udomchoke - DUH!!! GO WAYNE!!!

Women
Schiavone vs. Dechy - Equal to a Tier II or III final.
Vaidisova vs. Kudryavtseva - Notable to see how Vaidisova is playing. Kudryavtseva almost took out Venus in the early rounds of Wimby, so this could be a potential upset. One to keep an eye on.
Mattek vs. Brengle - A battle of Americans, and I would want to at least pop in to see what Bethany is wearing.
Loit vs. Razzano - A battle of Frenchies, plus Loit has a tricky game, and Razzano has played well as of late.
Srebotnik vs. Molik - It sucks that we'll have to lose one of these players in the first round.
King vs. Shaughnessy - More Americans, this time the youngster vs. the veteran.
Dulko vs. A. Bondarenko - Two players that have had close to break out years. Should be a decent match. Dulko just won the tourny at Forest Hills.
Bartoli vs. Glatch - What shape, mentally and physically, will the Wimby finalist be in? Glatch could take advantage here, if she doesn't get overwhelmed (and I don't think she will).

Lots to watch!!! Unfortunately, it will be my first day back at school and I'll more than likely be stuck in meetings all day. *insert frowny face*

US Open: The Qualifiers

2007-08-26T11:47:00.000-04:00

Qualifiers are tough. They come into a tournament having already played a tournament just for the honor of playing in...the tournament! The are match tough in the first round, when other, more highly ranked players are sometimes scratchy. They can be looked at as an easy opponent, but many have made that mistake and fallen.

I will be looking at a few notable names (to me, anyway) in each draw. If you want a complete list, the US Open web page will provide it.

The Men:
Alexander Waske - I saw this German play doubles last year. I liked his game and try to follow his name whenever I see it pop up in draws
Steve Darcis - Like Dancevic in Indy, Darcis made a name for himself by going through qualifying all the way to the final of a tournament. From Belgium, he left most people going...'who'? EDIT: My bad...Dancevic was the last main draw acceptance into Indy, he didn't have to go through qualifying. Still, an impressive run and some strong, entertaining tennis. Good catch, Atown!
Scoville Jenkins - One of those American hopefuls, but we haven't heard much from him lately. He tends to be outshadowed by the Donald Young hype and game. Unfortunately, he opens against Federer.
Paul Capdeville
Andrei Pavel
Rainer Schuettler - Hey! That was a surprise...a blast from the past.
Rik DeVoest
Dudi Sela
Bjorn Phau - Opens against a strong opponent in Moya.
Frank Dancevic - Saved him for last...he got stuck in qualifying because his ranking was too low at the time everything is decided. It is good to see him get through, since his current ranking probably would have been enough to get him direct acceptance into the main draw. He has Safin first. I can't decide who this is worse for...Safin or Dancevic. Honestly, I pick the youngster to go through, relegating Safin to yet another disappointing loss.

The Ladies:
Kira Nagy - Notable only because she will be Venus' first round opponent.
Emmanuelle Gagliardi - Hanging around.
Tsvetana Pironkova - When I saw VW would be playing a qualifier, and I saw Pironkova had made it through, I really hoped they would be drawn against each other in a re-match of the Aussie first round that saw Venus' early exit. Not to be, though, as Pironkova will be playing Olga Poutchkova.
Sandra Kloesel - Veteran German will face the newest sensation, Agnes Szavay, in the first round. There are question marks surrounding Szavay...will she be rested enough after New Haven? How is the back?
Alina Jidkova
Tatiana Perebiynis
Zi Yan - Again makes it through qualifying...could cause some minor waves if she keeps playing the way she did earlier this summer. She opens against Bychkova, and I pick Yan to make it through.

Writing off Pilot Pen...

2007-08-26T11:43:00.000-04:00

Let's just get this out of the way first, shall we?

Everything went almost as expected. Blake over Fish. Bhupathi/Zimonjic over those other guys. Kuznetsova over Szavay...but with an asterisk! Szavay WON the first set, and retired in the second set trailing 0-3. She had been saying for the last few matches that she was exhausted having come through qualifying all the way to the final. Let's hope she has something left for NY. Kuznetsova finally wins a final that she makes an appearance in, but it came with the retirements of her quarter, semi and final round opponents. It says that she is fit, yes, but that was never in doubt. It is her mental fitness that was the question, and I don't think she has been tested or proven anything in this tournament, regardless of 'winning' it.

The big upset came in women's doubles...#1 seeds Black/Huber were defeated by Mirza/Santangelo. Very surprising!

Pilot Pen...a cute little tourny placed in the worst possible place EVER in the schedule.

Now, on to bigger and better things!

New Haven Update

2007-08-24T22:54:00.000-04:00

Most of the finals are set, with Blake and Mathieu battling it out right now for a place in the men's final.

EDIT: Blake just prevailed over Mathieu in a third set tie-break, setting up an All-American men's final. US Open series organizers are probably drooling over this, but the timing, and maybe legitimacy, is still in question.

The women's final will feature Kuznetsova, who won after Dementieva retired in the third set after a grueling first two sets. She will play a new face...qualifier Agnes Szavay. I don't know much about her, so I looked up a bit of info: She is Hungarian, currently ranked #41 in the world, owns WTA and ITF singles and doubles titles, but has never been past the second round of a grand slam. As I mentioned in a previous post, Jon Wertheim picked her to come out of the bottom half of the US Open draw, so evidently people are liking what they see in her play. I won't be able to watch the match tomorrow, but will be recording it for later.

The men's doubles pits one of my favorites, Bhupathi, who is partnering Zimonjic for this tournament (hmmm, that could be a strong team!) against Fyrstenberg/Matkowski. Women's doubles is Black/Huber vs. Mirza/Santangelo.

***********

My personal losing streak continued tonight, with a 6-1, 6-3 loss in 6.5 combo play. I just don't know what is going on...my forehand has completely left me, and while I'm playing strong at the net, I'm not putting the volleys away, which is just giving my opponents another chance. All topspin on my forehand side was non-existent tonight...things were sailing waaaay long. *sigh* Maybe all the lessons aren't worth it...everyone has their own way of teaching, and now I'm just all mixed up and confused because I've taken from so many different pros. Not by choice, by the way...they all have a nasty habit of getting fired.

*sigh*

And, oh yeah...me!

2007-08-23T21:47:00.000-04:00

Today was my first day back on the courts, at Carol's clinic, in a week! I have never, ever gone that long without playing. Well, not since I got back into it a few years ago.

And, man, I know Carol and I are working on my forehand, but it was almost like I didn't know how to hold the racquet tonight! So I went back to my old way of slapping forehands and way too much wrist stuff going on, and she got mad!!! Aiy! At least my backhands were still good. We did a down the line backhand drill that is my favorite.

I stayed afterward to play a set of singles with Diana. Diana is hopeless in clinc, but put her in a singles match, and she is a whole new player. She beat me previously 6-3. Tonight she got me 6-2, but the games were closer. But, I had a lot of trouble keeping that stupid ball in the court! Argh! But I like playing her, she is a smart player, and it is good practice.

I had hoped that the week off would help the plantar fasciitis in my foot, but oddly enough, it hurt the entire week, even though I didn't run or play tennis spent a whole lot of time on my butt. So, if rest doesn't help it, I don't know what will. After playing tonight, it is very sore, but I haven't iced it like I usually do. *sigh* I guess I will just keep trying different types of shoes and inserts, and maybe finally go to the doctor. It has been 10 months of pain in my left foot now, and nothing I've done seems to help.

I have three matches in the next two days...back into the fire I go!

Double duty in New Haven.

2007-08-23T21:17:00.001-04:00

Because of the backlog of matches caused by rain, the men of the Pilot Pen had to pull double duty today.

James Blake started off his day with Calleri, and was triple match point down when he seemed to wake up and think "Hey, that's right, I'm playing tennis!" He came back and won the match 6-1 in the third set! Unbelievable come-back, but if he starts off his matches that flat, he will run into an opponent that won't melt like Calleri did under the pressure of the J-Block.

At one point of the match, Blake seemed to believe that Calleri's coaching camp was doing more than the usual amount of coaching from the stands. He mentioned something to the chair ump (Fergus Murphy, I believe), at which point Calleri took offense, and for the rest of the match there were barbs going back and forth between Blake and Calleri. Blake's habit of calling out 'Too good' at some of Calleri's winners only seemed to infuriate the Argentine even more. After the match, Calleri walked off to boos while Blake was still trying to talk to him. Made for an unusual match, especially since it was involving Blake, who is widely considered one of the nicest guys on tour.

Blake then set up an evening match with Verdasco, and I had thought this might be a tough test, but he was through in two easy straight sets.

One has to wonder, though, if he is going to be able to keep up this play through the Open. Is it better to play a tournament the week before, or to be in NY adjusting to the courts and preparing for the big one? Time will tell.

Stan the Man continued his solid play by dispatching #2 seed Disco Tommy Robredo. This may not seem as great of a result as it does on paper...Disco Tommy has been slumping pretty hard lately. I bet if he cut his hair...

Anyway, Stan then later went down to none other than Mardy Fish! Fish joins Blake and Dr. Ivo in the semis. The last semi berth is being decided as I write this.

Today also saw #1 Davydenko go out to Gilles Simon. He confessed to feeling tired. Tired? Did Donald Young actually wear him out? This is another player that I believe would have been better served to skip this week before the Open. But Davydenko is the Jankovic of the men's tour...playing tourny after tourny after tourny. He could use a bit of her personality, though.

The insane score of the day today goes to Mardy Fish's defeat of Jose Acasuso - 6-7, 6-3, 6-0. He went from losing the first set, to delivering a bagel. I didn't see it though, so I don't know if it was result of Fish's great play, or Acasuso melting down. Or both.

I did get to watch Bartoli vs. Dementieva today, and wow. What a bizarre match. Maid Marion came storming out 4-0. But Elena often plays her best tennis when she is behind, and slowly but surely she worked her way back, winning the next 6 games and the first set. The score was much closer than it should have been. Bartoli was visibly winded and taking very long breaks between every single point. I have two big problems with this...#1 - Um, hello chair ump? Time violations happening all over the place...how about enforcing a rule here or there? That is, presumably, what they are paid to do, right? #2 - Dementieva very graciously allowed her the time, instead of stepping up on her service games and making her play. Too nice to win the big ones, Elena!!!

Between sets Elena left the court to change clothes (as she very often does, this is not a new habit), so Dr. Bartoli, Marion's dad and coach, came down and talked to her. Or, at her, I should say. We heard it all on TV, and while it was all in French, I now know how to say backhand in French. He talked, and talked, and talked...Marion sat there with her face in her towel not even looking at her dady/coach. She didn't say a word, but I'm not sure she would have been able to get a word in if she tried! When Dr. Dad/Coach was done, he left...still without her saying a word. Fearless Pam Shriver (I love this woman, by the way) later caught him in the stands and Dr. Dad did say that Marion was very tired and still feeling the effects of the bug that caused her to retire in Toronto last week (she caught the bug that was going around the WTA tour).

As all this was happnening, and they kept showing Marion with her face half covered in her towel...I felt really sorry for her. She is the butt of so many jokes because of her weight, but is obviously so talented. I don't know...she just seemed really young there for a moment, and so, so tired.

Dementieva did go on to win the match, but I don't remember the score of the second set. Here's to hoping that Bartoli gets some much needed rest in the next few days.

Now, the only serve that drives me more crazy thatn Elena's is...Marion's!!! Oh. My. God. Would someone PLEASE give her a service motion??? I couldn't watch it after the first set, it was giving me fits!

Elena's win sets up a Russian semi between her and Sveta, while the other semi will feature young upstart Agnes Szavay against tour veteran and tricky Greek Eleni Daniilidou. Szavay has been turning heads, and Jon Wertheim picked her as an Open semi-finalist based on the draw in his women's seed report!!! Now, that is going out on a limb!!!

Other big news on the tennis scenes today included the not too surprising news that, after the upcoming Davis Cup tie, Brit Tim Henman will be hanging up the racquet. Awww Tim...even knowing it was coming doesn't mean it still isn't sad news. I'm glad that I've been able to see him play three different times at Legg Mason.

Oh, and Shriekapova unveiled her US Open dress today. *yawn* No wonder so many people don't take the women's games seriously...they are playing in rinestones! With huge earrings! What. Ever. I like the dress, but I wouldn't play tennis in it!

Rain, rain....it went away.

2007-08-22T20:53:00.000-04:00

And behold...tennis was played.

Winner of the Insane Score award today goes to the men's singles match of Juan Martin del Potro (jeez, he needs a shorter name if I'm going to talk about him so much) and Gilles Simon. Simon won the match 7-6, 6-7, 7-5! Now, that was either a really boring or really great match to watch.

Men's singles action also saw the exit of our favorite rapper, Vince Spadea, in three sets, and Gael Monfils continued to be consistently inconsistent...losing to Fed's buddy Stan Wawrinka.

Women's singles saw some upsets, though, because of the waterdowned draw, is anything really going to be shocking? Losers today included #2 seed Hantuchova, #7 Bammer, and Mirza.

Lindsay and Lisa gave it a good effort, but ultimately lost in their first round doubles match to #1 seeds Black/Huber. They did take them to a third set tiebreak, so it wasn't a blow out, but it is a shame that Lindsay only gets one match in her comeback tourny.

There was an odd result on the men's doubles today. #2 seeds and Cincy winners Erlich and Ramm lost....to WC Alex Kuznetsov and Ryan Sweeting? What? Think they decided they wanted a break? It really looks like that...because that is a team that Erlich/Ramm should have beaten asleep with one hand tied behind their backs.

The USOpen singles draws came out today. The biggest news? Well, the top draw of the women's singles features Henin, both Williams, Jankovic, and Ivanovic. Sharapova pretty much has the entire bottom half of the draw to herself. I was going to have a Super-Saturday party, but now I'm thinking I won't bother, as the women's final has a good chance of being a snoozer (unless, of course, Shriekapova is in it, which is not a given considering her continuing shoulder problems). If Serena Williams and Henin meet in the quarters (and they might), then that may be a de-facto final right there, depending on what the Serbs are up to. Very disappointing!!!

The men's makes more sense, and there is a chance that Fed and John Isner may meet up in the third round. Wayne Odesnik has Thai player Danai Udomchoke...I think he's got a chance to get to the second round!!!

New Haven, we have a problem.

2007-08-21T21:42:00.000-04:00

That problem would be one that not much can be done about...that of Mother Nature. Rain washed out play today at New Haven, possibly causing a pickle for organizers since Pilot Pen backs right up against the US Open. Players are NOT going to want to play more than one match in a day, and if that happens (and I think it will have to, but I'm not sure) it will be interesting to track the pattern of withdrawals. No offense against New Haven, but the big party is in New York. Some matches are finally getting played as I type this, but still, not a good day.

The one match that is finished is the rematch of America's answer to Ivo Karlovic, John Isner, against German Benjamin Becker. Isner took out Becker in a third set tiebreak (what else) in Legg Mason this summer, but figured him out much easier this time around, wrapping up a 6-3, 6-4 win. James Black is up a set and a break against Arnaud Clement as I type this.

Today was also supposed to be the first day of men's and women's qualifying play, but it appears that was rained out as well. Some interesting (at least to me) names in the men's draw include #1 seed Frank Dancevic (who was one of the many youngsters making a name for himself on the hardcourts this summer), #2 seed Robin Haase (he's gotten some quality wins this summer as well), Scoville Jenkins, Kevin Kim, Paul Capdeville, and Wesley Moodie among many, many others. The women's side includes the Chinese player Zi Yan (who made a nice singles breakthrough last week in Toronto), and Kristina Brandi (whose play I really enjoyed watching in DC). Let's hope at least a few, if not all, of those names make it through to the main draw. For these players, the tournament is the week before the tournament, and to make it to the big party is success in and of itself. Thinking of that helps to keep the whole show in perspective.

Notice how I keep referring to the US Open as the party or the show? I didn't plan it that way, just came out that way. I think it is appropriate. Each of the grand slams has its own personality, and if any of them are 'the big show' or 'the big party' it is definitely New York.

Someday, I will go. Someday, I want to go to all of them, but I will start with NY, as it is closest. This year, unfortunately, is not that year.

Swelling is almost completely gone...yay!

Status update: Pilot Pen and my face

2007-08-20T19:40:00.000-04:00

Face = still swollen. No update.

But the Pilot Pen...hmmm, some interesting early results already.

Probably the first notable thing to come out of New Haven so far is that Donald Young has finally, at last, won an ATP match, winning in three against American journeyman Amer Delic. Next up...Davydenko! I don't know whether to laugh or cry.

Mario Ancic went through qualifying, perhaps saving a 'protected ranking' for some other tournament. He made it into the main draw, but lost in the first round to Fed's buddy, Wawrinka. Still, nice to see him out playing again, and I hope his form rebounds soon (and he doesn't suffer the same fate of Aussie Alicia Molik, who never regained her level of play after being off of the tour with an extended illness.)

My man Vince!!! He came through the first round, beating Evegeny Korolev in three sets. Knowing Vince's playing style and seeing the scoreline, that was probably a really good match. Good win for Spadea!

Mardy Fish won a match, actually taking out the tournament's #7 seed, Volandri, with a bagel in the third set. Interesting...but I wouldn't get too excited. Fish just never has seemed willing to put in the work to really take advantage of his talents and also seems to be content just kind of floating around the middle tier of players.

No real big news on the women's side, no big upsets. I did take a look at the doubles draw, though, since this is Lindsay Davenport's comeback tournament. She and Lisa Raymond received a WC into the doubles draw, and will face #1 seeds Black/Huber in their first match. That sucks. There is a chance they could pull off the upset, but not much of one...Black and Huber are just too strong. It is a shame Lindsay won't get more time on court, but we'll see her in Bali, and, according to Raymond's WTA blog, Lindsay will be coming back full time next year. She's always been one of my favorite players, but I couldn't stand seeing her mope around on court and defeat herself. Maybe motherhood will give her more joy in her playing, and help change her on court attitude into one of a much more positive nature? Let's hope so! Either way...welcome back Lindsay!

Topaz's Tennis Blog

Should I be more worried?

Perhaps...

Little of this, little of that...

Wow....

One down...countless more to go.

Back to School, Day 1!

Good eats and good reads. Hopefully.

Whew! What a morning!

Oh hey there!

Peachy keen?

Two new foods!

Playing B...

Food, glorious food!

Quickie...or not...

The Day of Rest/Back to School

Also...

More foooood....

I warned you...

Flex League Match #1

All systems go!

Friends don't let friends...play each other in singles!

WTL...thy name is *drama*!

Rest

Preparations

Hobbling toward the finish line...

Marching on...

Zzzzzzz

Insanity.

Hill sprints

If I only had a brain.

The USTA update

Decided...

Resurrection?

No Reston Open

WTL, match #1

Fed Cup: USA vs. Czech Republic

Remember me?

NTRP update

Skyline Dubs

NTRP Summary

VA/MAS NTRP, Part 3B

VA/MAS NTRP, Part 3A

VA/MAS NTRP, Part 2

VA/MAS NTRP tournament, part 1

For Jonas...

Whoops!

Coming out of hibernation.

A weekend to remember!

Teasers...

Saving the best for last.

The Final.

The final four!

Enough!

2 out of 3 isn't bad!

Oh! And...

I'm Baaaaack! (WTA YEC)

First 4.0 match

Just because you couldn't see it...

WTA: Off in Asia...

Davis Cup semis

Big Fat Update...

Lindsay wins! What does it mean?

Quick Bali update...

Lindsay marches on...

Lindsay watch...

To my dear readers...

US Open: The finale.

US Open: Women's final

US Open: Men's semis

US Open: Women's semis, Men's doubles final

Update...

US Open: Day 5,308....

While I was sleeping...

US Open: Day 10 - I hate my job.

While I was sleeping...

Check Serena for a pulse...

US Open: Day 9 - Doubles Troubles

So much for the hair gel...

Day 8: The day James, Tommy, and my pro almost kill me.

WTL...thy name is drama!