Just because you couldn't see it...

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.

Double duty in New Haven.

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!

Status update: Pilot Pen and my face

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!

Cincy/Toronto mini-wrap ups

Mini-wrap ups...sounds more like a snack than a post.

I'm finally starting to get back in the saddle here again. I have to say, whoever came up with this 'you need to get your wisdom teeth removed' thing...I'd like to smack them...hard! Friday and Saturday were very painful days indeed, and I'm still swollen up like you wouldn't believe. I have, however, mastered chewing with my front teeth...making me feel like a rabbit. It also slightly worries me, as I know that isn't what your front teeth are for! Oh well...someday, maybe my face will feel the same again.

Enough about me...I did rouse myself from the vapors of Vicodin to catch some tennis.

Not unexpectedly, Federer came out on top in Cincy. It really did seem to be his title one most of the other seeds fell away. But, while it goes without saying that some of his earlier round play was scratchy, Fed knows when it is time to gear up, clean up the UE, and close down a match. Still, Hewitt just about snuck that semi-final out. And I have to admit it, I was totally rooting for the upset. After 10 straight losses, seeing Hewitt come out on top would have been an incredible moment in tennis. And he just about did it...after finally getting to that final set tie-break, though, it seemed like the Aussie just ran out of gas, and Fed went into gear. Still, a very good week for Hewitt, and chances are good, draw permitting, for him to get far in the Open.

James Blake also deserves some recognition. You have to figure, just making the final would be a great accomplishment after his scratchy play so far this year. Against Querry and Davydenko, Blake had moments of pure brilliance. As always, though, with his game, the line between brilliance and confusion is a very fine one. Great to watch when he is on, but almost painful when he isn't. I was very impressed, particularly, with his second set shut-down of Davydenko.

Now to the ladies...we had the final we wanted. Yet another drag 'em down shoot-out between Jelena Jankovic and Justin Henin. With the exception of their meeting in this year's French Open, all of their other matches (I believe) have all gone to three sets. Two of them that I can recall right now, featured a huge lead by Jankovic in the final set only to be put down by a Henin comeback. Was today that day that Jankovic would finally prevail?

Well, no, but what a match! Great shotmaking, long rallies, and just some real great, gutsy tennis. It featured the WTA's best 1HBH against it's best 2HBH. And while Jankovic once again came out on the short end, I don't think anyone can doubt that she gave it everything she had, heart, head, and soul. The glaring weakness is Jankovic's serve!!! Oh, I would hate to see her go down the path of Dementieva! With such hard hitting groundstrokes, it makes no sense that her serve would be so weak.

Speaking of weak serves...Davydenko was serving like an old lady in his match against Blake! Some of his first serves were in the 80s. WHAT?!? Did he always serve like this?

Or is this just another 'flavor' of player...the Dementieva, Jankovic, Daydenko...the great groundstrokes and movement, but the weak serve that they start off having to compensate for? You can't beat the Federers and Henins if you are behind before you've even hit the first shot!

I will not be returning to the court for my own tennis endeavors for a few days...I need the fluid to leave my face! I can't imagine running around and hitting things right now...just thinking about it hurts!

Now we have just that little Pilot Penn tournament, and then finally! The Big One! The Open will be here!

Snoring through Cincy...

Is it just me, or is anyone else losing interest? That's what happens, I guess, when all the young guns go out early.

Andy Roddick was added to the body count today, losing to Spaniard David Ferrer. (Those sneaky Spaniards!) Again, I can't feel all that surprised. What are Roddick's two weapons? Serve and forehand. Well, you know what? He isn't the only one out there with a big serve and forehand, and the rest of his game is still...STILL!...lacking. That leaves the door open for a sneaky Spaniard to grind out a tiebreak, get a break, and then before you know it, it is game, set, match. Until (if?) Roddick ever develops other parts of his game, to the level of the other players, then he will continue losing matches to top 10, sometimes top 20, players.

There is good news, though. Same Querry is through, actually making it further through the draw than Roddick, with a victory over Juan Monaco. Hewitt defeated a sullen Melzer who faded in the extreme conditions, and just kind of seemed a bit whiny in the bit of the match that ESPN deemed to show us. Other winners today were Moya (three tough sets over JMdPotro), Federer (pushed by Baghdatis), Blake (in an impressive straight sets win over JCFerrero), and a surprise in the doubles...the Serbian team of Djokovic/Zimonjic beat #2 sees Bjorkman/Mirnyi in a third set tiebreak. Veerrrrryy interesting!

Oh, and Davydenko won, too.

Only possibly unexpected result for the women would be Razzano's win over Peer, though Peer has been kind of in a slump lately. I hope she shakes it off by the Open.

I will more than likely not be posting again until Sunday. Tomorrow morning the wisdom teeth come out, and my mom is visiting. I will try to catch some matches and jot down some thoughts for a nice, big post Sunday evening. Provided I'm not still on painkillers. Though, posting while on painkillers just may be more entertaining!

Scintillating Cincy!

Wow, what a day. If I was a seeded player and my name wasn't Roger Federer, I would have been afraid to step on the courts today.

Probably the most shocking upset of the day was Carlos Moya's straight set defeat of last week's champion Novak Djokovic. Hey, that's part of the beauty of tennis, right? Last week's champion can be this week's chump. Not that Nole is a chump, he's not. Anyway, I didn't think this was that huge of a surprise. Last week Nole did what no man has done before...beat Roddick, Rafa, and Roger. In consecutive days. He is also still a youngster. I think he may have been more mentally spent than physically spent, but I think both things were a factor today. And, it wasn't as if he was playing Donald Young (*zing*). Carlos Moya, even at his 'advanced' age, can still play, and has been playing well this whole season. He is a Spaniard who knows his way around hard courts, especially at Cincy where he has previously captured the title. A surprise, yes...but not a huge one.

Next up on the shock-o-meter (I'm feeling flippant tonight, can you tell?) was Juan Monaco's defeat of Rafael Nadal. Well, defeat is pushing it. Nadal retired in the second set with dizziness and pain in the forearm (TE?). Obviously, with the US Open on the near horizon, he isn't going to chance anything. This is the time of year where Nadal has traditionally struggled, and we are seeing something similar again this go 'round. Hard courts are not his best surface, though he has proven, more than once, than he is a threat on every surface.

A greater curiosity to me is this...Nadal's game is a physical one. He throws his body around those courts, literally sacrificing his body at times. He is obviously fit, nobody would question that. But how long can he go on playing such a physical game before the body breaks down? And it will break down. I have no doubt of that. Nadal is smart, though, and has surrounded himself with smart people. He has shown he can make adjustments to his game, especially for grass. Will he make those adjustments when he starts having more injuries? Maybe I am a naysayer, but regardless of how big his 'guns' are, I just don't think he can go on like this for years and years.

Young Sam Querry provided one of our upsets today, with a three set win over #13 seed Russian Mikhail Youzhny. I was disappointed, I like Youzhny, and I wanted a chance to see him play. But definitely a good result for Sam. And it will help keep all those 'American tennis is up the river without a paddle' media stories at bay.

James Blake joined him in that effort with a straight set win over Nicholas 'I like to throw raquets' Keifer. This was a good win for James, as Keifer plays well on hardcourts and can be dangerous in the draw. And when he doesn't play well, he'll just throw something at you. (Obviously, I have never forgiven his trangression against Grosjean last year. Total lack of class.)

Mario Ancic departed the tournament today as well. Maybe not an upset, but it is sad to see him go after finally getting him back on the tour. Logically of course, it will take him some time to get back into form after being gone for so long. He lost to Jurgen Melzer. Melzer is dating Nicole Vaidisova, who is out with mono, which is what Mario had! Oh what tangled webs we weave!

Not an upset in my mind, but he was a seed...Ivan Ljubicic continues to play poorly, and lost to Nicholas Almagro. This made me happy...I don't like Ivan, and I really like Almagro. I don't expect him to get too far unless the spectators start throwing red clay on the courts, but a good win nonetheless.

And finally, JCFerrero took out a lackluster Fernando Gonzalez. Oh Gonzo!?! What happened to the guy we saw in Australia, who just would not make a mistake? Such a great start to the season...one has to wonder if there is something going on that we are just not privy to? Of course, JCF is not a bad hard court player at all. He pushed Federer to three sets here last year, and has shown up in the USOpen finals. He's another one of those sneaky Spaniards!

The carnage was not limited to the men today, as the already depleted WTA field in Toronto took more hits when defending champion and LA winner Ana Ivanovic lost in straight sets to Zi Yan. See above, what I wrote about Nole, but take out the part where you defeated the #3, #2, and #1. Hmmm, a troubling result, but a sign that she is probably not quite ready, mentally, to win a slam. Though, I would love to proven wrong...I love her! You can't not love her. Have you seen her smile?!? She's just too cute!

The women also lost Dementieva, Safarova (Man, what happened to her? Earlier in the year she defeated Henin, and now she's going out in the second round?), and Chakvatedze, who retired with the illness that started sweeping the WTA tour last week in LA. I haven't seen the draw, but I know Henin and Bartoli are still in there...maybe we'll get a rematch of the Wimbledon semi-final?

TTC just got done showing Zi Yan defeated Ana. Yan uses a double handed forehand, a la Monica Seles, and that is always fun to watch. She is also...IN SHAPE! Look out for the Chinese players in the Olympics! They are going to be a force to reckon with!

But there is good news!!! The men's US Open Wild Cards were announced today, and the committee very smartly awarded one to Wayne 'the Train' Odesnik!!! Yay! (Thanks to all the TTW posters who gave me the heads up!) Let's hope he gets a good draw and can advance a few rounds and pick up some ranking points! As expected, a WC was also given to Legg Mason golden boy John Isner. Scoville Jenkins got a WC into qualifying...I hope he makes it through. I still remember seeing him play Nadal at the Open two years ago (I think?)...I liked watching him, and think he deserves more of a 'buzz' than Donald Young.

And, I can think of no better way to wrap up this post than to provide a link to a fellow fanatic's page. Much was made of the men's fashion show in Montreal last week, in particular Novak Djokovic's channeling of John Travolta. Evidently, after the show was over, Nole challenged James Blake to bet him (Nole) to go back out in just his briefs. He wanted some company, though, and Italian player Adriano Biasella was accomodating. And here they are...the pictures.

Cincy update

I think I jinxed Andy Murray. He went down without much of a fight to Marcos Baghdatis. I'm happy to see Baghdatis through, though, he is always a fun player to watch.

As for the Americans, Andy Roddick and James Blake were through pretty easily, as well as newcomer Sam Querry, who is also teaming up in doubles with Jamie Murray's discarded partner, Eric Butorac. They've already lost, but I thought it was an interesting pairing.

Another interesting doubles pairing is that of John Isner and American journeyman, Amer Delic. It is good to see the young player get as much experience on the 'big' court as possible. There were playing, but it appears that rain has halted play for now, and probably until tomorrow. [Edited to add: They did resume play, and the Americans won in two tight sets.]

Tomorrow, however, we are at the mercy of ESPN, and won't get to see as many matches as we do with the international feed on TTC. I'm going to miss Doug Adler and his fury at the players when they don't play smart! It makes me giggle!

Other notable upsets today were Disco Tommy Robredo (bowing out to Jarkko Nieminen) and Guillermo Canas. I guess Canas hasn't been able to find that 'magic' that saw him defeat Roger Federer not once, but twice, on hardcourts earlier this year. He lost to another up and comer, Juan Martin del Potro, who had to go through qualifying to get into the main draw. I'm not sure if this is an 'upset' per say, but we also lost Tommy Haas today. He had a tough opponent in Mario Ancic, who looks to be finally regaining his form after being out with mono for so many months. That matched kind of sucked, because I like both players and wanted them both to win, but that isn't how it works.

And, no, no Wayne this week. I don't think he is ranked high enough to get into the qualies for this one, though he did last week. Let's hope he is off somewhere, winning matches and gaining ranking points!

Cincy: Early Rounds

Another Masters Series kicked off this week for the ATP tour. After Novak Djokovic's tremendous run last week, all eyes are on him to see if he can do it...again.

Roger Federer got knocked out here last year by the brooding Scot, Andy Murray, but that is unlikely to happen again this year. Murray's current form, what will his multitude of injuries, is pretty...bad.

I read an interesting interview with Marat Safin earlier today. Basically, he stated the him and his new coach have zeroed in on what they want to fix, and that he (Safin) is not worried by his...bad...play of late, as he is looking much further into the future for results, I guess after him and his coach 'fix' certain elements of his game. It is a shame to see him in this shape, as he is so capable of so much more. Or is he? Maybe his time, like that of Roddick, Henman, Hewitt, and others, is just over.

This tournament also sees the return of 6'9" John Isner to the tour, as he received a WC into Cincy. Unfortunately, his fairy tale run of DC will not be repeated, as he has already lost in the first round to Spaniard David Ferrer. It was a straight sets win, with the first set...yup, you guessed, a tiebreak!

Also of note, Indy champion Dmitry Tursunov is already out in the first round, same as last week. He has such a monster game, it would be great to see him work on some consistency week to week. Like Safin, you never know what to expect. Maybe it is a Russian thing.

And one of my favorites, Jonas Bjorkman, is also out of the singles in the first round. Actually, this is good, because when he does well in singles, the doubles suffers, and let's face it, that is where he belongs. We haven't seen much out of him and Max so far this year, so maybe they'll make some noise this week.

All for now...I need to go check the order of play to see what juicy matches are coming up!

A good day for Serbian tennis.

'Serbian tennis'. Now that's a phrase that, until this year, didn't come up a lot. But with the trio of Ana Ivanovic (a winner today in LA), Jelena Jankovic (Ana's semi-final victim), and Novak Djokovic the phrase is becoming more and more common.

Djokovic followed up his semi-final upset of Nadal with another, even bigger upset over world #1 and contender for Greatest Tennis Player of All Time, Roger Federer. It didn't come easy. Nole stormed out to a 2-0 lead in the first set, but to nobody's surprise Roger broke back. The impossible happened when Roger was serving for the first set 6-5, 40-0; and got broken by the Djoker! The mental fortitude to do that against Federer speaks volumes to how Nole has matured as a player. He then stormed through the first set tie-break 7-2.

The second set was vintage Roger Federer. He took two breaks to beat Nole back down 6-2 and to force a third and deciding third set.

The third set started exactly the same as the first, with the Djoker taking an early break from Roger. At this point, I fell asleep. I don't know, I guess I was tired, and my couch sure is comfy. Would you believe I woke up with the players in a third set tiebreak? That's right, I woke up in time to see the last two points of the match, with Djokovic once again prevailing in a tiebreak to win the title.

This is huge. This is massive. Somebody other than Federer or Nadal won a Masters Series Title!!! And he didn't get any help from anyone else...Djokovic beat Roddick, Rafa, and Roger on the way to the title. Nobody has done that, beating #3, #2, and #1, since the days of Boris Becker. And now, Nole is #3.

With his sights on #1. Look out Roger, you and Rafa have some company!

Montreal semis

Yeah, we all pretty much knew Federer would get past Stepanek, but at least he got a test in the first set.

But the match I was waiting for, Nadal/Djokovic, did not disappoint. What a GREAT match! I didn't think it was possible, but Djokovic out-Nadaled...Nadal! Plus, he was able to exploit Nadal's relatively weak serve (for hardcourts), and a break in each set got him the win and a date with Federer tomorrow. Nadal also had 8 break points, and he couldn't convert any of them. That is VERY unusual.

But, this is very good for men's tennis. We need another face in the mix, someone who can step up and threaten the stranglehold that Federer and Nadal have on the rest of the entire men's tour.

Montreal Quarterfinals

As expected, Federer advanced, beating Hewitt, but at least not beating him to death with bagels. Hewitt played well, just not as good as Federer.

Later we got to watch Roddick play Djokovic for their first meeting ever. As expected, it was a tight contest, with Djokovic coming out on top 7-6, 6-4. Roddick played well, just not as good as Djokovic.

I can't imagine how frustrating it must be for those players...to play well, to know that they played well, and to still be losing.(For them, bowing out in the quarters is losing. For others, that would be winning.) Federer has owned Roddick for the past few years, and now these younger players are coming out of the woodwork, and passing him (as well as Hewitt). And they both work hard, but maybe they have just 'topped out' as far as they can go? What do you do in that situation?

Me? I would keep playing...keep collecting my quarter-final checks and keep playing the game I love. And you never now, you might sneak in the back door someday when the Federers, Nadals, and Djokovics are having a bad day. Of course, that is easy to say from my seat...it might be different if I were in their shoes.

I'm staying up to watch Sharapova play Dementieva in the last LA quarterfinal. I'm pulling for Elena to come out with the upset. I'm so, so tired of Sharapova and her shrieking, and her ugly game.

The train has come to a stop.

But hopefully, only temporarily. Wayne Odesnik's run at the Montreal Masters ended to today with a three set loss to Canada's own Frank Dancevic. Still, a strong showing from him, especially since he had to fight it out through qualifying first. It would be nice to see him gain enough points so that he can gain direct entry into events.

A lot of young players are making their names known this summer...Isner, Dancevic, Odesnik (at least in my mind), Querry, Haase...it is nice to see some fresh faces out there that shake up the draws from time to time. That is one of the things that can make tennis so exciting, when the unexpected happens, when the person who is supposed to win loses to a relative unknown.

Montreal: Wayne 'the train' Odesnik

One of the players that caught my attention this past week at Legg Mason was Wayne Odesnik. I first watched him in a second round match against Argentinean Juan Martin del Potro. I like del Potro, and was excited about seeing him play in person. I was actually watching a different match (Isner vs. Becker) when the scoreboard flashed the scores on a changeover and I saw del Potro was in trouble. I scooted over to the court to watch, and was instantly won over by Odesnik.

In the world of tennis, he is considered a small guy - 5'11". He is a lefty. But what impressed me the most was how hard he worked for every single point and how never gave up. After losing the first set to del Potro, Odesnik won the second in a tiebreak (I think it was something like 12-10, but not sure). He just kept on going, not getting down if he missed shot, and just looked like he was having the time of his life. He got a break of serve in the third set, and on his first match point he running for a drop shot and ended up doing a perfect slide almost into the bleachers. There are baseball players who can't slide that well, and he was doing this on a hard court! He missed the shott, but he bounced right back up, walked it off, and closed out the match.

He eventually became one of John Isner's victims, and is the one opponent that nobody talks about. When they talk about Isner, they talk about how he beat Henman, Haas, Becker, and Monfils...all these top players! And, oh yeah, Odesnik. But of all those players, Odesnik gave him the hardest test in three tiebreak sets with NO breaks of serve!!! He is almost a foot shorter, but he held his serve every time against the 6'9" Isner. He had the crowd against him (except for me and a few other people) but just kept going and would not give up. Above all else, I admire that in a tennis player. It is easier for people like Isner, who has such a physcial advantage, to develop big serves and weapons on the court. But I would rather root for the Michael Changs, the Andre Agassis, the Wayne Odesniks...who have to work so much harder to get the same results. It shows just how much more they want it and how much work they are willing to put in to get the results.

Odesnik turned pro a few years ago, and is still young at 21. He has had success on the challenger level, but usually has to go through qualifying to get into the bigger events. He was the #1 seed in qualifying at Legg Mason, and didn't lose a match until the three set thriller with Isner in the third round.

At Montreal this week, he also had to fight through qualifying. His reward? A first round date with #11 seed Ivan Ljubicic, the Croat with the big serve and big game, but an underachiever at bigger events, most notably grand slams. And tonight, David and Goliath played out once again, just like in DC, and this time, David wore the giant down. Odesnik just defeated Ljubicic 6-3, 4-6, 7-6. The fighter makes it through another round.

His opponent in the second round is being decided as I type this. Canadian Frank Dancevic, who got some attention by beating Andy Roddick two weeks ago, is serving for the first set against...you guessed it...Juan Martin del Potro. Dancevic and Odesnik have met once, with Dancevic winning. With his win last week, Odesnik pulled the head to head with del Potro even at 1-1. Either way, I think Odesnik will have a battle in front of him.

But that is what he does best.