Serena and Gasquet will know their fate's soon.

The outburst heard around the tennis world will soon be over....finally.  Expected in the next two weeks,  Serena Williams will finally get a ruling on if there will be further fines or suspensions on her U.S. Open tirade she performed at a lines judge.  Hopefully she will be gone for the Australian Open.  I don't know if I could go through 2 more weeks of ESPN commentators nursing off her tits and licking her ass like they are known to do.

Full time douchebag, and part time tennis player, Richard Gasquet who is more famous for earlier this year being suspended for having traces of cocaine in his system.  He had previously said that he was in a Miami, Florida night club and was kissing a girl who had traces of coke on her lips.  No word on if it was that skank Lindsay Lohan.  So he was suspended for a year, but after about 9 weeks he was reinstated after the ATP thought his excuse was good enough.  Seems like with the revelation of Agassi doing meth and the ATP letting it go and Gasquet doing coke off some whore's ass, and also letting it go, it seemed to be a trend the ATP is quite lenient....Well not so fast.  The World Anti-Doping Agency and International Tennis Federation have asked the Court of Arbitration for Sport in Switzerland to ban him for 1 to 2 more years.... A verdict on Gasquet's partying future is expected by the end of the year.

Friday Tournament Update.

The Tournament of Champions in Bali, Indonesia had a monkey wrench thrown into their plans.  Yanina Wickmayer who was suspended for a year yesterday pulled out before her match today.  Vera Dushevina of Russia took her place and won.  Wickmayer said she will appeal her suspension, but did not say anything else on the matter.

The Semifinals have been set:

Group A winner Marion Bartoli will face the lady I thought had no chance, and Group C winner Kimiko Date-Krumm in the first semifinal.

The other semifinal will feature Group B winner Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez and Group D winner Arevane Rezai.

I like a all French final of Bartoli and Rezai, with Bartoli taking the title.

I went 2-2 in my quarterfinal picks.  Which wouldn't of won me anything including respect for my tennis knowledge.  The semifinals are:

Roger Federer  vs.  Marco Chiudinelli

Radek Stepanek  vs.  Novak Djokovic

Look for Federer and Djokovic to both win easily, and Djokovic like I had predicted at the beginning of the week to spoil things for "The Rog" in his home country.

I'll toot my own horn with my picks for the quarters of the Valencia Open 500.  I went 4 for 4 including my upset special of Youzhny over Gilles Simon.

Here are the semifinal matchups:

Andy Murray  vs.  Fernando Verdasco

Mikhail Youzhny  vs.  Nikolay Davydenko.

Sticking with my pre tournament predictions I'll stick with a Verdasco - Davydenko final with Verdasco keeping the trophy in Spain.

Friday News and Notes

Serena Williams has broken the WTA record for prize money earned in one year.  Serena earned a little more than 6.5 million in 2009.  She beat the old mark of slightly less than 5.5 million that Justine Henin made in 2007.  Serena's career prize money is now at a record of 28.5 million dollars.

Is Maria Sharapova gobbling down on L.A. Lakers guard Sasha Vujacic's banana?  The rumor is the two are dating and that they were seen "cuddling" together at a recent U2 concert.  Sharapova has been linked to being boned by Andy Roddick, Novak Djokovic, Adam Levine of Maroon 5, and Charlie Ebersol the son of NBC sports dictator Dick Ebersol.  Looks like there is a trend here.  If you are douchebag, odds are you have a good chance of banging the American who claims to be Russian. 

Long hair bad, short hair good?  That is what Spanish tennis player Feliciano Lopez wonders.  Lopez was a top 25 player entering this year, but now is barely scraping to stay in the top 50 due to his terrible play and pathetic all-around year on the court.  Although in recent tournaments it seems Lopez who I thought was afflicted with the "curse of Verdasco's weiner", has been playing well.  The difference is Lopez decided to cut his hair.  Maybe that was the root of all his troubles.  "I was losing so much that I just had to do something about it.  I didn't know what else, so I cut my hair.  All of a sudden I started to win, so I don't want to change a thing now." said Feliciano recently.  Now maybe he'll go with one of them lame "faux-hawks" and go back to being shitty again.

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2 More Players Suspended For Missed Drug Tests.

Tonight two players from Belgium have been suspended from playing for a year each.  Xavier Malisse and Yanina Wickmayer also have been fined 1,000 euros along with their suspensions.

Wickmayer who has been on the rise.  She is currently ranked #18 in the world and was a semifinalist at this years U.S. Open to go along with a tour win.  She is being punished for failing to report her whereabouts to drug testers on 3 different occasions.  Wickmayer's excuse was that the password she was given didn't work in the system log-in.

Malisse the #95 ranked male in the world is being punished for similar reasons.  He twice did not report his whereabouts and he also skipped a drug test that he was scheduled to take during the French Open qualifying.  Instead of showing up for qualifying he decided to stay in the United States and not report.  Malisse also blamed his on a lack of internet access at hotels and tournaments.  Saying that it made it almost impossible to record his whereabouts.

Both suspensions are immediate.   Wickmayer who is scheduled to play at the Tournament of Champions in Bali on Friday will be pulled from the event.  Both players are expected to appeal the rulings.  So I guess it is possible that if an appeal is filed Wickmayer could still be playing on Friday.

I just want to call bullshit on their excuses.  Now I'm sure these players have agents, or managers or coaches or someone who has a telephone or computer.  Like in Wickmayer's case, if you are having a problem logging in call them up.  Drop them an email detailing your troubles.  I would think that if it happened once you would think its time to contact someone to tell of the problem, and not let it go 2 more times.  Thats just assanine.  If she is innocent its a sad situation, but being that ignorant and not having anyone call or try to handle it another way is dumb, and almost deserve the penalty....Now Xavier Malisse says that he couldn't even find internet access at hotels and tournaments.  Hell I know of dives that have free wi-fi.  Hes playing in fairly top of the line ATP tournaments and he can't find a laptop or computer at a hotel or at a venue to get ahold of anyone?  He can't call who he has to contact?  Its fairly simple.  The guy is guilty.  Malisse is #95 in the world and falling.  Put a fork in him.  His career is done.  If he does come back in a year maybe his sweet ponytail will be longer, and his beard looking all tough. Now that would be awesome.

With all the excuses and possibilities that something could of been possibly wrong, and there are chances both players are telling the truth.  As of now the only guaranteed fact I believe in all this is they are plain and simply both dumbasses.

Thursday Middle of the Week Tournament Updates.

Round-Robin play continues at the Tournament of Champions in Bali, Indonesia.  The round-robin play concludes on Friday and I will have an update tomorrow on who advanced to the semifinals.  As of right now Arevane Rezai of France has won Group D, but the matches on Friday will determine who advances from groups A,B, and C.  I'll have more info come tomorrow.

The quarterfinals are set for the Davidoff Swiss Indoors Basel tournament in Basel, Switzerland.  Some early upsets claimed #3 seed Fernando Gonzalez, #7 James Blake, and #8 seed Philipp Kohlschreiber.  James Blake losing isn't much of a surprise, since he rarely wins anymore.  Looks like the new coach isn't any better than the old.

Quarterfinalist matchups for Friday:

#1 Roger Federer  vs.  Evgeny Korolev     My Pick:  Federer

Richard Gasquet  vs.  Marco Chiudinelli     My Pick:  Gasquet

Radek Stepanek  vs.  Marin Cilic               My Pick:  Cilic

Stanislas Wawrinka  vs.  Novak Djokovic  My Pick:  Djokovic

Co-owners David Ferrer and Juan Carlos Ferrero like I said will not be even within sniffing distance of the final.  Well maybe to hand out a check to the winner, but thats as close they will come to being the champion of the Valencia Open 500.  Ferrero lost in the first round Pablo Cuevas of Uruguay.  Pablo who? C'mon dude you need to look better in your own tournament.  You can't go out and lose to a bum.  David Ferrer did a little better.  He won his first round match defeating Nicolas Almagro in a tough first round match.  It seemed like it might have been too tough.  Today he withdrew from the tournament with a bad hamstring.  I guess David and Juan Carlos can now focus on being owners counting the money they are making by NOT playing.

Quarterfinal matchups for Friday:

Andy Murray  vs.  Albert Montanes               My Pick:  Murray

Fernando Verdasco  vs.  Tommy Robredo     My Pick:  Verdasco

Gilles Simon  vs.  Mikhail Youzhny                 My Pick:  Youzhny in an upset

Juan Monaco  vs.  Nikolay Davydenko          My Pick: Davydenko

Dinara Safina hopes to play in Australian Open

Last week at the Sony Ericsson WTA championships in Doha, Dinara Safina retired tearfully from her 1st match against Jelena Jankovic.  The match was only 1-1 in the first set, but she couldn't take the pain any longer.  "I did everything possible to play here," she said. "As I was chasing this #1 (ranking), I was fighting with my body."  She went on to talk about that one of her discs in her lower back was "starting to fracture", and that she has been dealing with the pain for over 3 months.

Safina faces 6 weeks of rest followed by a long rehabilitation process that could put being able to play in the Australian Open in serious jeopardy.

"When I speak with the doctors, it doesn't sound good." Dinara said.  "Its possible I may have to skip it."  So with her ailment and advice she has gotten from the doctors it seems like its highly unlikely she'll be ready to play come January.  But it hasn't stopped Safina from entering the tournament in Brisbane, Australia at the beginning of January.  If Dinara does make it to the warmup tournament in Brisbane she will join a strong field featuring Justine Henin, Kim Clijsters, and Ana Ivanovic.

French Open moving from Roland Garros?

The French Tennis Federation is considering moving the French Open from Roland Garros if an expansion project does not get approved and started within the next year.

The project has been agreed on, and an architect has been chosen.  But now the Paris City Council seems to be getting cold feet on the matter.  29.26 million will do that to you.  The whole tiff about this project which will put a retractable roof over a new center court for the 2013 or 2014 French Open.  The renovationis set to cost 177 million with 29.26 million coming from each the French Government and the Paris City Council.

"It seems that the mayor's entourage has become more hostile to our project -- which was not the case when we launched it,"..."Add to that the residents' opposition and we are now forced to look for other options, including that of leaving the premises."  said Gilbert Ysern the FTF director general.

Basically this is all a bunch of pushing and shoving for leverage.  There are threats to leave, which are probably just idle and intended into scaring the Paris City Council into caving in and ponying up their end of the money.  Where would the French Open go?  There is too much tradition, and such a great venue for it to pick up and leave over this in my opinion.  Eventually the money will be forked over, probably reluctantly, but in the end all will be good and Roland Garros will be having a new center court with a retractable roof.

Oink Oink Oink Tommy Haas has Swine Flu.

Germany's top ranked mens tennis player Tommy Haas who is #17 in the world is improving after being diagnosed with swine flu.

"I did a test because I suspected I had swine flu.  The test was positive." said Haas.  "Of course it was a shock for me".

Tommy Haas pulled out of the tournament in Stockholm, Sweden last month after becoming ill.  At first he thought it was just the normal flu, but had himself tested anyways when he wasn't improving much.  He pulled out of this weeks Swiss Indoor tournament in Basel, and is not expected to play in next weeks Masters Series event in Paris.

Probably was listening to Shakira making out with Chad.  Thats how he contracted "the swine" along with God knows what else.... Scoliosis?

The Davidooff Swiss Indoors Basel event in Basel, Switzerland is a ATP 500 event.  Which is a tournament that is slightly more prestigious and worth more points than a common tour event which is normally a 250 event, but not as big as a Masters Series event which is normally worth 1000 ranking points to the winner.

Some key players who will be in Basel are the #1 seed Roger Federer, James Blake, Fernando Gonzalez, Novak Djokovic, Marin Cilic, Radek Stepanek, Stanislas Wawrinka, and Phillipp Kohlschreiber.

I will make a prediction that has about 1% chance of being right.  Federer over Djokovic in the final.

The Valencia Open 500 in Valencia, Spain is actually owned by two players who are playing this week.  Friends and fellow Spaniards David Ferrer, and Juan Carlos Ferrero are co-owners of this event. 

Valencia features the return of Andy Murray to action.  Also in the field are Nikolay Davydenko, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, Fernando Verdasco, Gilles Simon, Gael Monfils, as well as the above mentioned Ferrer and Ferrero.

Ferrer and Ferrero won't even get close enough to sniff the finals.  I like Verdasco to beat Davydenko in the final.

Some of the women who did not qualify for the year end WTA Sony Ericsson championships are playing in the Commonwealth Bank Tournament of Champions.  Its an event featuring players who won tournaments throughout the season.  The first round is 4 groups of 3 that features a round robin format.  The winners of each group advance to the final 4 and the semifinals and final are single elimination.

The field is filled with basically jobbers who got lucky and won a tournament somehow.  Players involved are Marion Bartoli, Shahar Peer, Magdalena Rybarikova, Yanina Wickmayer, Anabel Medina Garrigues, Kimiko Date-Krumm, Samantha Stosur, Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez, Agnes Szavay, Sabine Lisicki, Melinda Czink (whoa a Dow Tennis classic in Midland alumnus), and Arevane Rezai....Basically a bunch of players who strike fear in none of the top players. Good for them though to make it this far.

I like Samantha Stosur to come out the winner of this.  But you could pick anyone of these ladies and you couldn't go wrong.. well with the exception of Kimiko Date-Krumm.  The #101 ranked player has no shot.

Serena defeats Venus for Sony Ericsson Championship in Doha.

Serena Williams defeated sister Venus to win the year-end championships held in Doha, Qatar.  With the win Serena retakes the #1 ranking from Dinara Safina and gets a fat check for $1,550,000.  Yes, thats 1.55 million for one week of work on the tennis court.  Serena who went 3-0 in her round robin grouping advanced to the semifinals where she beat Caroline Wozniacki, and then had to face and beat her sister for a second time this week to take the championship 6-2, 7-6.

Going into the quarterfinals of the Grand Prix de Tennis de Lyon in Lyon, France Ivan Ljubicic was the only player of the 8 who was not French.  He managed to beat them all off and take the tournament victory by beating Michael Llodra 7-5, 6-3 in the final.  This was Ljubicic's first tournament win in over 2 years.

Ukrainian qualifyer Sergiy Stakhovsky won the St. Petersburg Open in St. Petersburg, Russia.  He had to fight off a couple match points to defeat Horacio Zeballos of Argentina 2-6, 7-6, 7-6.

Home countryman Jurgen Melzer beat #1 seed Marin Cilic 6-4, 6-3 to win the Bank Austria Tennis Trophy in Vienna, Austria.