Davis Cup Final Rosters.

The Davis Cup Final scheduled for December 4-6 will showcase the defending champions Spain against a solid Czech Republic team.  The matches will be played in Spain on the red clay.  The rosters are near set for the final.  Barring injury this should be what the teams look like:

The Spanish team will feature the return of Rafael Nadal to Davis Cup competition off of his recent injuries.
Nadal will be playing singles along with David Ferrer.  Ferrer name isn't written in stone though.  He has been dealing with a lingering hamstring injury that has forced him to retire from his own tournament and pull out of the last Masters Series event.  If Ferrer cannot compete look for Tommy Robredo or Juan Carlos Ferrero to take his spot.  The doubles team will feature the clean-cut Feliciano Lopez and Caroline Wozniacki's favorite ATP player Fernando Verdasco.  One more scenario that could happen if David Ferrer cannot play is Verdasco being bumped to singles and either Robredo or Ferrero playing doubles.  Probably Robredo.
As of today the team is:
Rafael Nadal
David Ferrer
Fernando Verdasco and Feliciano Lopez playing doubles.

The Czech Republic team is more set in stone.   Czech coach Jaroslav Navratil has said he will stick with the same team that beat Croatia in the semifinals.
The team will be:
Radek Stepanek
Tomas Berdych
Jan Hajek and Lukas Dlouhy playing doubles.

Mid Week News and Notes.

With no tournaments being played this week, things are a little slow in the world of tennis.  But I did find a couple of things worth noting:

Updating the suspensions of Yanina Wickmayer and Xavier Malisse:  Both players have made official appeals to the Court of Arbitration of Sport to overturn their 1 year bans for missing drug tests.... The Ruling will come within 4 months.

Before the appeals became official Xavier Malisse was saying he might not be able to afford to appeal.  Citing not enough money to go through the process...Well it looks like he scraped together enough pennies to be able to appeal.  He has also gone on record as to saying that if he loses the appeal he will retire.  To be honest I didn't know he even was around anymore.  He didn't win more than a handful of  matches all year long.  Hell win or lose, he should just pack it in and call it a day.

Here is the Official Rule that they broke:  Under the World Anti-Doping Agency's rules, elite athletes must be available for out-of-competition testing for  one hour a day, 365 days a year.  They must give 3 months notice of where they will be so they can be tested.

The United States Tennis Association recently conducted a survey recently and more Americans are playing tennis.

The results of the survey showed that 30.1 million Americans played tennis this year.  Up 12% from last year and 25% from 6 years ago.  Hispanics showed the biggest increase at 32%.  African-Americans were 2nd with a 19% increase.  There was 7.1 million newcomers to the game, a 19.5% increase.

You can thank the last 2 Wimbledon finals.  The epic Nadal-Federer final in 2008 which in many people's oppinions is the "greatest match of all-time".  Or the Roddick-Federer final of this season that saw Federer winning 16-14 in the 5th set.

It seems that possible the Williams sisters are having a small "Tiger Woods" affect on the game of tennis.  Atleast that is how I see it with the higher number of blacks taking up tennis.  Looks like the sport is growing in America........temporarily.  Just like soccer was booming after the 94 world cup held here in the U.S.  This growth will be short lived.  There are no American stars beyond the Williams sisters and Andy Roddick.  All three of them are getting older and probably nearing the end of their primes if not have past their primes.  Venus definetly looks past hers. This boom of tennis in America will soon fade, just like the hopes of any American male winning a Grand Slam in the near future.

Final Women's Rankings For 2009.

The 2009 season is over for the WTA.  So I just wanted to put my year end rankings and the Official World Rankings up just for comparison. 

My rankings go from year to year.  Like in 2010 everyone will begin with 0 points.  Which is totally opposite for the Official rankings where it is a cumulative progression throughout the years and points are dropped off after one year to the day.  So basically if you accumulate a bunch of points by winning Wimbledon in 2009, come next year at Wimbledon them points will fall off.... and so on throughout the year.  So when you hear the term "points to defend" or "defending (insert number here) points."   So you better duplicate or do better than what you did the year before in order to keep all them points....yes, its confusing.   Thus another reason why mine is better.

My Top 15
1. Serena Williams (USA) 130

2. Dinara Safina (RUS) 128
3. Caroline Wozniacki (DEN) 122
4. Elena Dementieva (RUS) 113
5. Victoria Azarenka (BLR) 105
6. Svetlana Kuznetsova (RUS) 103
7. Jelena Jankovic (SRB) 97
8. Venus Williams (USA) 91
9. Agnieszka Radwanska (POL) 88
10. Flavia Pennetta (ITA) 86
11. Vera Zvonareva (RUS) 81
12. Marion Bartoli (FRA) 80
13. Samantha Stosur (AUS) 70
14, Na Li (CHN) 69
15. Daniela Hantuchova (SVK) 67

Official WTA World Rankings
1. Serena Williams (USA)
2. Dinara Safina (RUS)
3. Svetlana Kuznetsova (RUS)
4. Caroline Wozniacki (DEN)
5. Elena Dementieva (RUS)
6. Venus Williams (USA)
7. Victoria Azarenka (BLR)
8. Jelena Jankovic (SRB)
9. Vera Zvonareva (RUS)
10. Agnieszka Radwanska (POL)
11. Marion Bartoli (FRA)
12. Flavia Pennetta (ITA)
13. Samantha Stosur (AUS)
14. Maria Sharapova (RUS)
15. Na Li (CHN)

A few slight differences, but both are fairly similar.  I do not have Sharapova in my top 15.  The layoff from the injury definetly hurt her more in my rankings than in the WTA's.  Justine Henin and Kim Clijsters will definetly be making the top 15 next year.  Also a healthy Sharapova should make a run to the top 5.

Djokovic Takes BNP Paribas Masters Title.

Novak Djokovic for the 2nd week in a row claimed an ATP title.  This time it was the last Masters Series event in Paris, France.  Djokovic had to defeat Gael "Monchichi" Monfils in the final.

The first set was all Djokovic.  Steamrolling to an easy 6-2 set.  The final looked like it was going to go quick.  Monfils to his credit hung tough and squeaked out the 2nd set 7-5.  The 3rd set the momentum was back with Djokovic, racing out to a 4-2 lead and serving to put the match out of reach.  Monfils once again hung tough and the Frenchman fed off the home crowd to pull back even in the match at 6-6.  It just wasn't enough though.  Djokovic took control of the tiebreak to win the match 6-2, 5-7, 7-6.  Djokovic looks to be on a hot streak right now.  He's definetly one to watch at the World Tour Finals in London.

Friday's Paris Masters Update and News.

The semifinals of the BNP Paribas Masters in Paris, France are set.  But the early round upsets were the story in the early part of the week.  Roger Federer lost to journeman French player Julien Benneteau in the 2nd round, and Andy Murray lost to up and down Czech Radek Stepanek in the 3rd round.  The 2nd round also saw the end of the road for Marat Safin.  It was his final match.

Getting on to the semifinals.  After the defeats of Federer and Murray that side of the bracket was up for grabs.  Gael "Monchichi" Monfils and Radek Stepanek claimed the two surprising spots, while Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal expectedly moved through to the semifinals as well.

The matchups look like this:

Gael Monfils  vs.  Radek Stepanek    PICK:  Monfils

Novak Djokovic  vs.  Rafael Nadal   PICK:  Nadal

I like the way Djokovic has been playing, but he sure has been playing a lot of tennis of late.  Good tennis.  I think he'll tire out a little bit and Nadal will take advantage...The Monfils-Stepanek is harder to predict.  Both players are inconsistent.  Monfils has more talent, but is more of a headcase and can "mail in" a match at any time.  Oh well, hes at home in France so I'll say he'll win.  Either way the winner of Nadal-Djokovic is taking this tournament.

Next weeks ATP World Tour Finals field is set.  These 8 players will play for the year end championship in London, England:

1. Roger Federer

2. Rafael Nadal

3. Novak Djokovic

4. Andy Murray

5. Andy Roddick

6. Juan Martin Del Potro

7. Nikolay Davydenko

8. Fernando Verdasco

9th ranked Vera Zvonareva who is often injured had arthroscopic ankle surgery to remove some scar tissue.  The time table for her to be back on the court playing is about 4-5 weeks.  This won't jeopardize her start to next season, but it could be a factor in her offseason conditioning.  The Australian Open is played daily in scorching heat and normally it comes down to a survival of the fittest in the later rounds....I'll call it right now.  Look for Zvonareva to be an early round casualty come next January.  The fitness needed to contend just won't be there.

Agassi "Haters" Coming Out of the Woodwork.

Andre Agassi's revelation of using meth and basically getting away with it isn't really news anymore, but the surprising reactions are.  Players whether current or retired are voicing their displeasure about Andre and how he lied to the ATP to avoid being suspended from tennis.  I figured there would be some people giving a comment, but I never figured how much venom and how pissed off people became after Agassi's admittions.  To me meth use isn't a big deal, well it is, but its not the same as saying he used drugs to help his tennis career.  If anything doing meth would probably hurt more than help, so the way players are taking this so serious and getting bent out of shape over it is kind of a surprise to me.

The newly retired Marat Safin came out and said that Agassi should give his tennis titles, money, and grand slam championships back.  Adding "If he is as fair play as he says he is, he has to go to the end."  Safin said. "You know the ATP has a bank account and he can give the money back if he wants."  Well thats all fine and dandy Marat, but all of his money and titles were not earned while he was on meth.  Marat how many times did you show up at a tournament not giving a shit, and just mailed in a match or two?  People around the world paid hard earned money to see you play, because you were great.  But there were times I'm sure you didn't really care win or lose and didn't give it your best effort.  So when the day you decide to give them people back their money because they saw you half-ass and plow through another match uninspired, that will be the day Andre should give back his money as well.

Sergi Bruguera.  Sergi who?  Exactly.  Well Bruguera isn't a total nobody.  He was a player from Spain who was a clay court specialist and managed to win the French Open a couple of times in the mid 90's.  Bruguera also lost to Agassi in the 1996 Olympic final in Atlanta.  After hearing about Agassi, Bruguera's headband got a little tighter and whined "He should be stripped of the medal if it is true that he doped and lied about it."  Bruguera continued his tantrum "I feel swindled and robbed.  And not only in that game, but in all other important matches we ever played"  Also adding this tidbit "I would be delighted if they decide to give it to me." talking about the gold medal.  Get real Sergi.  You won a total of 1 tournament that wasn't on clay.  This guy was a one-trick pony.  He was good on one surface and was a contender for about 2 months of the season.  After that he was above average at best.  Now 13 years later hes trying to figure out a way to get the gold medal away from Agassi.  Now who is trying to be the swindler, Sergi?  Just accept what happened and go back into obscurity.  Go coach up some kids in Spain, or hell coach some Americans on how to play on the "red stuff".  Because you and me both know none of them have a clue.  Or go and hustle some old codgers on the public courts in Barcelona.  Seems like you would be good at hustling.

The great Boris Becker one of the most dynamic, gritty and hard working players ever, and also probably in the top 3 of my all time favorites also had to add his two cents to the Agassi saga.  Boris a guy known for evading the tax man, getting caught banging a waitress in a restaurant closet which led to her getting pregnant.  Also known for allegedly hitting his wife, and the guy who titled his autobiography "Player" (how fitting).  AND THIS GUY IS SHOCKED BY AGASSI!?!?!?  Boris never went as far as saying to give back his titles, but just voiced his surprise by how honest and revealing Agassi was about his secrets he had been keeping.  Boris surprised by honesty?  Now that is the real shocker.

Women's tennis legend Martina Navratilova compared Agassi to MLB pitcher Roger Clemens.  But a couple days ago retracted the comparison saying Clemens did performance enhancers while Agassi did not do enhancers so the comparison wasn't accurate.  Although she did make an interesting point "Andre lied and got away with it," Navratilova said.  "You can't correct that now.  Do you take away a title he wouldn't have won if he had been suspended? He beat some people when he should of been suspended."  Which is interesting in that she is right.  He should have been suspended.  I don't think Andre Agassi 12-13 years later should be penalized for something the ATP let slide by.  With her power Martina should look into pointing fingers at the ATP and get answers from them.  It could only help the sport of tennis, in that nothing like this happens again.

A few current players gave their opinions as well.  Roger Federe the greatest player to ever play said "It was a shock when I heard the news."  Going on to say "I'm disappointed and I hope there are no more such cases in the future.  The sport must stay clean."  I totally agree Rog, totally agree.

Rafael Nadal questioned more of the timing of it all.  "Why is he saying this now that he has retired?  It damages the sport, it makes no sense.  I'm  the first one who wants to make sure tennis is clean." 

American D-bag Andy Roddick called Andre Agassi "my idol" and also saying "I'll judge him on how he has changed the world for the better."

I find it refreshing that the two best players in the world currently are more worried about their sport staying "clean" and not having controversies like this happen again.  Really, in how many other sports do their elite care about the good of the game over their own personal gains?  Thats how I am looking at this.  Seems like in "American sports" the individual players are more worried about doing whatever it takes to be the best and if it means taking illegal drugs, so be it.  It might be a cultural thing.  Or maybe Federer and Nadal know they are the elite and they don't want anyone who is enhancing through drugs to knock them off their perch.  Now I don't really believe that is the case, but it is another view.  But the one great thing about tennis is if you are caught doing any type of drug you are pretty much screwed.  They don't do the ole few game suspension.  No warnings.  You are done for a year if not more.  That is how it should be with all sports.  International sports are like that.  I know FIFA doesn't mess around as far as suspensions in soccer. 

Through all this drama the sport of tennis will be better.  The ATP isn't going to let things slide anymore.  They cannot.  There is no other option.  They have lost almost as much credibility as Agassi, if not more through all of this.  Look for them to crack the whip even harder than ever.  Do you hear that Richard Gasquet?

It all comes down to if meth is a performance enhancer.  Sure it is an "upper", but in the game of tennis you don't necessarily want to be "up" all the time.  You need to be cool under pressure and have focus.  If you are in a 5th set and have a 2nd serve in a tight match at Wimbledon I'm sure you don't want your hands fidgeting.  You need to be under control, lower your heartbeat and be focused.  So what Agassi did was wrong, and the lying about it made it way worse, but he didn't earn all his glorious moments BECAUSE OF METH.  Its that simple.

If meth was a performance enhancer all the kids in trailer parks and their parents would be dunking a basketball right now.  Hick towns with football teams like Ogemaw Heights would be dominant each and every year.  Ahh just think of all the athletic glory the "rednecks" with meth labs in their trailers could have.  Instead of grabbing a racket and pretending to be Andre Agassi, they can take a snort and be just like Andre...."Image is everything."

Marat Safin's Career Has Concluded.

The fire-breathing, racket smashing, tennis career ofRussian Marat Safin is over.  The end came today in the Paris Masters when Juan Martin Del Potro defeated Safin 6-4, 5-7, 6-4 in their 2nd round matchup.

The loss signaled an end to a 12 year run as one of the best tennis players in the world.  Over his 12 years of playing on the ATP tour Marat won 2 majors, the 2000 U.S. Open, where he beat legendary Pete Sampras for the title, and the 2005 Australian Open in which he beat then #1 ranked Lleyton Hewitt for the championship in Hewitt's home country.  Safin also made it to 2 other Australian Open finals, losing both times.  He also has 5 Masters Series titles, and 15 singles titles.  A definite hall of fame career.

What I will remember about Marat Safin are his charasmatic swagger he brought to the court.  The guy was a true entertainer in an era where there are a lot of vanilla players on tour.  With almost every match you would see a combination of things.  He didn't always bring his A game, hell he may not bring his B game a lot, but he would be fun to watch.  You never know what you would get.  The kind gentle fun loving side like when he once hit a ball off a lady net judge just to come over and give her a kiss on the cheek.

Or the evil that was also engraved in his soul.  The racket smashing, grouchy, who would yell and scream at both himself, lines judges and chair umpires.  Not crossing the line though.  He rarely if ever used profanity in his tirades, nor did he threaten anyone, unlike some unclassy pieces of trash.

One of my favorite times he got all pissed off at a lines person and chair umpire when the chair ump overruled a call just for Marat to challenge it and be right according to the replay system.  His classic quote of "he can just sit back smoking a cigar with two chicks"? was excellent.  Maybe it was the Russian player complaining to the French chair ump in American slang.  Just another side of Marat Safin.

Then there was the "I don't give a shit" fun side to Marat Safin.  I came across this clip where it was probably the worst use of the challenge system in the short history that tennis has used it.  He knew it wasn't out, but motioned for a challenge anyways and sealed it with a wink.


The guy was interesting to follow.  He could play great amazing tennis in which he did many times and that led him to the pinnacle of the sport being ranked #1 for a short time.  But with his success many of the tennis journalists say that Marat Safin wasted much of his talent.  They think he should of been greater than what he was.  I guess I can agree with that.  He did have the talent to win probably 5-6-7 slams over his career, but what held him back is his want to do it.  But having knee problems didn't help his motivation.  Some of his knee problems were serious enough to make him miss extended playing time and Grand Slam tournaments.  But with or without injuries Marat went to the beat of his own drum.  And that is probably what made him beloved by millions around the world.  He was different.

Different enough that I remember a few years ago Safin was playing in a tournament, i'm not sure which.  But normally in the "players box" there are reserved seats for the players coach, family, or whoever else. Normally about 8 seats or so.  Well all I remember is the cameras and the commentators pointing out that in Marat's players box his coach, agent, family or anyone else weren't to be found.  Instead there was 6 good looking blonde girls sitting in there cheering him on.  I remember laughing my ass off at that.  Or this year Marat showing up at a tournament with a black eye.  He allegedly got the black eye when he got into a fight back home in Russia outside of a bar.

He was just Marat.  Known for saying what was on his mind and doing things his way.  Not always the right way, but the guy just didn't care.  How can you not respect that?

So I'll miss Marat Safin.  Mainly because I like a little humor and some off the wall craziness he supplied to what could be a long day of tennis.  I'm sure there are many ladies who will miss him more.  Safin is known for being one of the most handsome guys to ever play tennis. (yeah, I don't get it, but I'm not supposed to).  Just ask Tracy Austin who was just gushing over Marat at the 2008 U.S. Open after a ceremony for past champions.  It seemed Tracy was quite moist and the New York humidity wasn't to blame... So Marat you never did that to me, but I'll always look back and remember the fun you brought to tennis.

BNP Paribas Masters Preview.

The BNP Paribas Masters event in Paris, France is the last Masters Series event of the year.  A few players are trying to set themselves up for the final spots in the year-end championships in London.  This tournament will also feature the last time Fabrice Santoro and Marat Safin take the court.  UPDATE:  James Blake defeated Santoro in the first round.  The "Magician" is done.  Its still a possiblility "The Magician" will be back for the Australian Open in January.  Also it seems like a lot of people don't believe Safin will stay retired, but in all reality he's checked out mentally years ago.  So he should just call it quits.

All the big names are playing this week:  Federer, Nadal, Djokovic, Murray, Del Potro, Davydenko, Verdasco, Tsonga, Soderling, Gonzalez, Cilic, Simon, and so on.  The only 2 players that I noticed not present are Andy Roddick and David Ferrer who are out with boo-boos. 

My early prediction is Murray over Nadal in the final.

Bali, Valencia, Basel, and Fed Cup Results.

The Tournament of Champions concluded today in Bali, Indonesia.  Arevane Rezai defeated fellow Frenchwoman Marion Bartoli in the final.  Bartoli in typical French fashion put up the "white flag" after the first set and retired citing a quad strain.  The match score was 7-5, 0-0 (retired).

Court-rust was not a factor for Andy Murray who was coming off an injury and away from competition for 6 weeks mowed down Russian Mikhail Youzhny 6-3,6-2 to win the Valencia Open 500 in Valencia, Spain.  The layoff looks like it might of actually recharged Murray and is now focused on next weeks Paris Masters and year end championships in London.

Roger Federer's domination of the Swiss Indoor in Basel, Switzerland is over.  I think for once I actually predicted the final and winner correctly when Novak Djokovic upset Roger Federer  6-4, 4-6, 6-2.  Djokovic frustrated the defending champion throughout the match with his strong play.  Federer who was having a "bad day at the office" showed his frustrations by chirping at the chair umpire between games.  Djokovic has now won 3 tournaments this season, and this is his 2nd title in the last 4 weeks.

Italy has claimed their 2nd Fed Cup title in the past 4 years defeating the United States 4-0.  Yesterday Italy took a commanding 2-0 lead and entering today needed just 1 match victory out of  3 scheduled.  Flavia Pennetta clinched the victory by beating Melanie Oudin in todays first match.  The Italians showed even more dominance by winning the meaningless doubles match, and the last singles match of Francesca Schiavone-Alexa Glatch wasn't even played.

United States and Italy face off in Fed Cup Final.

The Fed Cup is the equivalent to the mens Davis Cup.  Its a international tournament where players compete for their country.  The final is being played on clay courts in Italy.

Team Italy:
Flavia Pennetta
Francesca Schiavone (no relation to wrestling announcer Tony... or maybe there is)
and doubles team of Sara Errani and Roberta Vinci.

Team USA:
Melanie Oudin
Alexa Glatch
and doubles team of Vania King and Liezel Huber.
(Serena Williams was scheduled to compete, but she thought being a corporate whore and going on a book tour was more important.  Who knew Serena Williams and Kate Gosselin were so much alike?)

The Italian team is known for being a tight-knit group who support eachother by going to eachothers matches when at tournaments together.  Could you imagine the Williams sisters supporting the likes of anyone other than themselves? Yeah, me neither.  So with the cohesiveness and pretty much better talent I don't see the Italians losing.  The only strength on paper for the U.S is in doubles.  Huber and King are the better doubles team.  Oudin may shock and win a singles match.  Glatch has no shot of beating either Pennetta or Schiavone.  I like the Italians to win the Fed Cup with either a 4-1 or 3-2 score.

Match Schedule:
Saturday-
Alexa Glatch   vs.  Flavia Pennetta
Melanie Oudin  vs.  Francesca Schiavone
Sunday-
Alexa Glatch  vs.  Francesca Schiavone
Melanie Oudin  vs.  Flavia Pennetta
Liezel Huber and Vania King  vs.  Sara Errani and Roberta Vinci.