The first matches of this years U.S. Open is about 2 and a half days away, and I should be excited. I am excited, but my pessimistic nature has me dwelling on how bad ESPN will mess up the television coverage. I keep finding myself wanting for USA network to have the rights to the Open once again. I know with ESPN at the helm all I am going to hear about is the Williams sisters, Andy Roddick, Maria Sharapova, Rafa, and Roger for the most part. With a slight mixing of Dinara, Kuz, the Serbs, and Andy Murray. After that the remaining 250 players don't really matter.
I can see it now. Tennis being pre-empted by a Brett Favre, or Michael Vick press conference just to announce that they had a good day of practice. Or having a 5 set, 5 hour long match between Jose Acasuso and Victor Hanescu, two relative unknowns to the casual audience not being shown so that ESPN can reshow Roger Federer or Andy Roddick tooling a qualifier in the first round on tape delay. ESPN has become oh too known for their botched tennis programming, and how they would rather show 4 retired has-beens breaking down Serena's "cat suit" rather than show a dramatic conclusion to a live tennis match between to unknowns. I guess 2 guys or busting ass for 5 hours and the match coming down to a net-cord bounce isn't as exciting as a skin tight leotard on a she-male. I should of known better. After all Jerry Springer has been on for almost 2 decades and these are the viewers they cater to all for the sake of ratings.
I've already heard that ESPN will begin coverage at 1 p.m. daily. USA would come on when the first matches were to be played at 11a.m. So there is 2 less hours ESPN has cut out. Yeah, I know, Skip Bayless getting into a pissing match with Jemele Hill is more important and needs to be shown. Totally understandable. My bad....... ugh, this is gonna suck.
I promise to not let ESPN get me down, for this is the last major until next January. So let me take a look at the mens draw.
The favorite to repeat for the 6th straight time has to be Roger Federer. He has been playing well on hardcourts this summer. Although he has shown chinks in the armor with his meltdown against Jo-Willie Tsonga and squeaking by with a victory over David Ferrer. A match Ferrer had control of and let it slip through his grasp. So this isn't the same "Rog" who is used to dominating everyone. He has some weaknesses and more and more players are becoming aware of them.
Rafa's knees and and match rust are a question. Is he fit enough to go 5 sets. Odds are he probably is, since he is one of if not the fittest player on the ATP tour. Djokovic has the game on hardcourts to win the U.S. Open, but his mental fitness as well as his physical fitness when it comes to a long grueling match are a question. Roddick is playing well and will have the fans in his corner, but he's still Andy Roddick and thats another word for "just not good enough". Juan Martin Del Potro isn't fit enough to go five. He can breeze through a win, but when it comes to guts and determination he is weak. He's young and still learning the ropes. Del Potro will be the owner of a Grand Slam trophy more sooner than later though. The main threat to overtake Roger Federer in Flushing Meadows is Scotland's Andy Murray. Murray has the physical and mental toughness to win against anyone with any type of game. He has all the tools to impove on being last year's runner-up and win it this year. Of late Murray's serve has been inconsistent and he needs to do some tweaking to get it back in form for a late push to win a grand slam for the first time. Seeing how everything shapes up and works itself out will be fun for the next 2 weeks. Maybe there will be an unknown like Tsonga in Australia last year. or Soderling in the French this year and a new surprise star will be born.
Moving to the women's side. Serena Williams is everyone's favorite at the moment. Serena seems to play her best on the biggest of stages. And defending her title seems more likely than not, especially if she is on her game. Williams' biggest challengers will be 2 Russians by the name of Elena Dementieva and Dinara Safina, and a Serb Jelena Jankovic. All 3 girls have holes in their games, but do have enough to compete and possibly beat anyone in the world. Safina's struggles are all mental. She needs to get over the multiple collapses in finals of grand slam events. If she can get over that hurdle she may be unstoppable. Dementieva has the ground strokes to blow anyone off the court, but her serve leaves a lot to be desired. If her first serve isn't working an elite player can pick apart her second serve and make it a long day for Elena. Jankovic has been playing well in the U.S. Open "tune-up" events and she seems to be getting back to her old form of last year when she reached being ranked No. 1 in the world. Her movement and defense is her strength. She will get back any ball hit at her, and make her opponent work for every point. Jelena will not over-power anyone, and she can become rattled mentally, but when everything is clicking she can beat anyone making her a worthy contender to win her first grand slam.
Some other players who may make some noise are Maria Sharapova, who isn't fully back from a "bum" shoulder, but is improving every week and will make some noise. Look for her and Venus to both make it to about the round of 16 or quarterfinals and bow out. Ana Ivanovic is really struggling right now and will make it to probably the 3rd round and be defeated. Ana is ripe for an upset. Even when she was doing well she was always upset prone at the U.S. Open. This year's French Champion Svetlana Kuznetsova is between Maria and Venus and Ana Ivanovic. I see "The Kuz" losing in probably the 4th round, if not earlier. A couple up and comers who are making noise are Italy's Flavia Pennetta who has been doing tremendous work this summer on the hardcourts as well as Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark. The only downside is that Wozniacki has the "curse of Verdasco" working against her. Just ask Ivanovic about this dreaded curse. ::wink::. With the comeback of Kim Clijsters and Sam Stosur playing well the women's side is wide open. Anyone can be upset, and anyone can get hot and make a run at the last Grand Slam of the year. Serena is in the drivers seat, but there are a dozen or so girls who are ready to kick her out. Right, Akgul Amanmuradova?
Hopefully ESPN won't totally sour my excitement for the seasons last major, and I can enjoy watching the Williams' sisters lose with a smile on my face. Knowing my luck, just the opposite will happen.
coming Sunday Evening, and everyday through the U.S. Open breakdowns of the following days matches and recaps and opinions of the previous days events and results.
Friday, August 28, 2009
Tuesday, June 23, 2009
Day 1 of Wimbledon
Nothing really ground-breaking happened today. I guess the biggest upset of the day was Andreas Seppi giving the boot to James Blake in straight sets. Other than that the day didn't have too many upsets.
"The Rog" started off shaky and hit form in the 2nd set to easily dispatch Lu of Chinese Taipei. Djokovic struggled with Julien Benneteau, losing the first set, then deciding to turn it up a notch and run Benneteau ragged resulting in him gimping his knee near the end of the match. Feliciano Lopez fell victim to a guy who lost in qualifying, but benefitted from Rafa pulling out at the last minute. Karol Beck beat Lopez 8-6 in the 5th to move on to the 2nd round. I'm not all that surprised by this result. I actually predicted a Beck victory. Lopez hasn't accomplished dog shit in the past year. He had a good run last year in Wimbledon, but since then he has been terrible. His ranking is going to fall like a stone after not being able to defend the points he got for his Wimbledon success of last year. "Nutjob" Janko Tipsarevic actually won a match and didn't puss out half way through, which was a shocker. Look for him to stub his toe or get stung by a bee and have to quit in his next match.... The rest of the mens matches pretty much went as predicted.
On the women's side Maria Sha-RAP-ova looked good in some chick named Kutuzova. I'm not familiar with her, so i don't know how much weight to put in beating this chump. Serena Williams smoked some goofy looking Portuguese girl. Alize Cornet did not finish her match, but the highlight for me was watching her whine to the chair umpire then the tournament director hoping to stop play due to darkness. They told her "one more game" and she started to cry while sitting during the changeover. She went out for the next game and while on the baseline waiting to receive serve she was wiping her eyes and still crying....Its not that dark out Alize, quit your crying. Just an example of her fragile mental state. I think she has been drinking the same kool-aid of Feliciano Lopez, they both have been playing shitty of late. Hopefully she can pull off the victory in the daylight. It will be tough down 4-2 in the 3rd.... Geezer American Jill Craybas advanced today to the 2nd round.....One of the upsets of the day was ::Pirate voice:: Aiiiiiiiiiiiiiii Sugiyama beating the 21st seed Patty Schnyder........ Midland "jobber" Stephanie Foretz was beaten by Gisela Dulko...... Alexandra Wozniak in true Canadian fashion rolled over and layed down for Francesca Schiavone......Peer and Petrova both won today and will meet in the 2nd round. That should be a battle between two tennis hotties. lol
All in all a pretty mellow day. No really huge upsets, no huge turn of events. I missed seeing if "The Rog" brought back his Wimbledon cartigan or cardigan. whatever. Both suck.
ESPN's coverage actually wasn't bad. Coming on at 7a.m. and showing live tennis for most of the day. Darren Cahill seems like a pretty cool dude, and a good announcer. The one confusing thing was Suzy Kolber was in studio. I have no idea wtf that is all about. She can barely say some of the players names. I guess they brought her in just so Bud Collins can drool all over her like fellow geezer Joe Namath. Pam Shriver was whining like the old cunt she is about something. I don't recall what she was pissing and moaning about, but i do remember thinking to myself "shut up bitch".
The one thing that pissed me off was in the early part of ESPN's coverage their score graphic was all jacked up. I couldn't see any of it. All i could see was EPPI and 30 I guess Seppi had 30, but other than that i had no clue what the score was. Also covering the Sharapova match and showing the finish live, then 3 hours later making sure to show you the whole 2nd set instead of some live tennis to finish out the day. There wasn't really any great matches going on, and it was pretty much the matches that didn't finish due to darkness, but LIVE TENNIS beats taped tennis already shown once any day of the week.
A lot more matches coming tomorrow featuring future legends Nicole Vaidisova and David Ferrer. :P
"The Rog" started off shaky and hit form in the 2nd set to easily dispatch Lu of Chinese Taipei. Djokovic struggled with Julien Benneteau, losing the first set, then deciding to turn it up a notch and run Benneteau ragged resulting in him gimping his knee near the end of the match. Feliciano Lopez fell victim to a guy who lost in qualifying, but benefitted from Rafa pulling out at the last minute. Karol Beck beat Lopez 8-6 in the 5th to move on to the 2nd round. I'm not all that surprised by this result. I actually predicted a Beck victory. Lopez hasn't accomplished dog shit in the past year. He had a good run last year in Wimbledon, but since then he has been terrible. His ranking is going to fall like a stone after not being able to defend the points he got for his Wimbledon success of last year. "Nutjob" Janko Tipsarevic actually won a match and didn't puss out half way through, which was a shocker. Look for him to stub his toe or get stung by a bee and have to quit in his next match.... The rest of the mens matches pretty much went as predicted.
On the women's side Maria Sha-RAP-ova looked good in some chick named Kutuzova. I'm not familiar with her, so i don't know how much weight to put in beating this chump. Serena Williams smoked some goofy looking Portuguese girl. Alize Cornet did not finish her match, but the highlight for me was watching her whine to the chair umpire then the tournament director hoping to stop play due to darkness. They told her "one more game" and she started to cry while sitting during the changeover. She went out for the next game and while on the baseline waiting to receive serve she was wiping her eyes and still crying....Its not that dark out Alize, quit your crying. Just an example of her fragile mental state. I think she has been drinking the same kool-aid of Feliciano Lopez, they both have been playing shitty of late. Hopefully she can pull off the victory in the daylight. It will be tough down 4-2 in the 3rd.... Geezer American Jill Craybas advanced today to the 2nd round.....One of the upsets of the day was ::Pirate voice:: Aiiiiiiiiiiiiiii Sugiyama beating the 21st seed Patty Schnyder........ Midland "jobber" Stephanie Foretz was beaten by Gisela Dulko...... Alexandra Wozniak in true Canadian fashion rolled over and layed down for Francesca Schiavone......Peer and Petrova both won today and will meet in the 2nd round. That should be a battle between two tennis hotties. lol
All in all a pretty mellow day. No really huge upsets, no huge turn of events. I missed seeing if "The Rog" brought back his Wimbledon cartigan or cardigan. whatever. Both suck.
ESPN's coverage actually wasn't bad. Coming on at 7a.m. and showing live tennis for most of the day. Darren Cahill seems like a pretty cool dude, and a good announcer. The one confusing thing was Suzy Kolber was in studio. I have no idea wtf that is all about. She can barely say some of the players names. I guess they brought her in just so Bud Collins can drool all over her like fellow geezer Joe Namath. Pam Shriver was whining like the old cunt she is about something. I don't recall what she was pissing and moaning about, but i do remember thinking to myself "shut up bitch".
The one thing that pissed me off was in the early part of ESPN's coverage their score graphic was all jacked up. I couldn't see any of it. All i could see was EPPI and 30 I guess Seppi had 30, but other than that i had no clue what the score was. Also covering the Sharapova match and showing the finish live, then 3 hours later making sure to show you the whole 2nd set instead of some live tennis to finish out the day. There wasn't really any great matches going on, and it was pretty much the matches that didn't finish due to darkness, but LIVE TENNIS beats taped tennis already shown once any day of the week.
A lot more matches coming tomorrow featuring future legends Nicole Vaidisova and David Ferrer. :P
Saturday, June 6, 2009
My Top 10 Womens players following Roland Garros.
I keep a running tally, or a power ranking system for a hobby to stay on top of the happenings in the world of tennis.
The Point system works like this:
Its simple. Each match win in a Grand Slam tournament is worth 3 points. The Final is worth 5 points instead of 3. For example: Kuznetsova won 23 points for the entire tournament.
Each "bigger" tournament. Such as Masters Series Events are worth 2 points for each match victory. The Final is worth 3 instead of 2.
Any smaller tournament win is worth 1 point with the Final being worth 2.
After each Grand Slam Event I will post the Top 10 players according to my oh so awesome system.
Top 10 Womens Players
1. Dinara Safina
2. Victoria Azarenka
3. Svetlana Kuznetsova
4. Caroline Wozniacki
5. Elena Dementieva
6. Serena Williams
7. Jelena Jankovic
8. Venus Williams
8. Vera Zvonareva
10. Ana Ivanovic
The Point system works like this:
Its simple. Each match win in a Grand Slam tournament is worth 3 points. The Final is worth 5 points instead of 3. For example: Kuznetsova won 23 points for the entire tournament.
Each "bigger" tournament. Such as Masters Series Events are worth 2 points for each match victory. The Final is worth 3 instead of 2.
Any smaller tournament win is worth 1 point with the Final being worth 2.
After each Grand Slam Event I will post the Top 10 players according to my oh so awesome system.
Top 10 Womens Players
1. Dinara Safina
2. Victoria Azarenka
3. Svetlana Kuznetsova
4. Caroline Wozniacki
5. Elena Dementieva
6. Serena Williams
7. Jelena Jankovic
8. Venus Williams
8. Vera Zvonareva
10. Ana Ivanovic
Safina overcome by "The Kuz" and emotion in Roland Garros Final loss.
Down 4-2 in the 3rd set of the French Open Final, Dinara Safina looked to her coach and screamed "Why am I such a chicken, Why am I such a choker!?!" This outburst was the sound of the last nail being pounded into Safina's chances at finally winning a Grand Slam Final. She ended up losing to fellow Russian Svetlana Kuznetsova 6-4, 6-2.
Going into this mornings match I wanted Svetlana to win. Just so she could get the well deserved respect she deserves. "Kuzie" has been on the WTA for what seems like forever, but come to find out she is only 23 years old. In the past 4-5 years she has always been a consistent winner and a top 10, if not top 5 player. What seems to elude her is the respect and media attention that she deserves for being one of the top tennis players in the world over the past half-decade. When you hear womens tennis you think of a few last names. Sharapova, Williams, Ivanovic, Jankovic, Bychkova, Dushevina, and Weinerova. Haha maybe not the last 3, but they are personal favorites of mine.....Getting back on track now. You don't often hear of Svetlana Kuznetsova when being talked about the great womens tennis players of today. Yet without much fanfare or television coverage she consistently wins. I guess in order to be put on TV you must be pretty, or have some type of controversy or drama following you to be worthy of any mention of being "important". People who excel and put their all into their craft and each match they play being outshined by what new outfits Sharapova and the Williams sisters are wearing for this season. The American coverage is already pathetic enough, but this makes it even worse. I'll save this rant for another day. Its just sad, but it was good to see two players who only care about tennis finally getting a little attention for the blood, sweat, and tears they have put into being where they are today.
Kuznetsova has always been a player I liked to follow. I think it may be because she seems to be the ultimate underdog. She's a very good player, but not considered great, because she often comes up short in the big profile matches of Grand Slam events. I guess instead of "coming up short", it could better be described as "choking". There have been multiple times where she would be up in a match and looking to serve out the match for a victory over a higher profile player, just to have it all fall apart and lose in dramatic fashion. After seeing it happen once, you would think "no way could this happen again", just to see it not only happen again, but happen in a even more tragic way. Its almost become a habit for Svetlana to crash and burn when on the verge of victory. When most players after a few of these terrible defeats would pack their bags and fall to lower depths that only Nicole Vaidisova would know about, or even quit the game entirely. The Kuz, would just pack up her bags, go to the practice courts and begin the long hours of plugging away. In hopes next time would be different.
That next time was today. Last years Roland Garros runner-up Dinara Safina the number 1 player in the world was the challenger. Safina focused on finally getting the "never won a major" monkey off her back. Out to prove that she is deserving of the reigning queen of tennis. With all the pressure put on her by outsiders and mostly by herself Safina was beatin by the Kuz, and the moment.
The match in itself wasn't the most dramatic, or prettiest I have ever seen. A 6-4, 6-2 match normally isn't. Kuznetsova played with aggression, making Safina move and run and earn each point she got. Svetlana finally started to find some holes and take control of the match late in the first set. With each point lost Dinara became more and more upset with herself. Looking to her coach for any type of comforting gesture, letting out screams, and flailing her racket in the air after mis-hits. The pressure of the moment and the steady consistent play of The Kuz was taking their toll. It was in a way sad to see. I wanted Kuznetsova to win, because of her past experiences of failing and her past tummy pouch she used to sport. Everybody loves a underdog. But late in the match, I almost began to want Safina to make a comeback and make it an interesting match. Seeing someone who works so hard like Dinara Safina and wants to win so much fail isn't the easiest thing to watch. All this girl wants to do is play tennis and win. Seeing the best player in the world degrade herself and just fold under pressure is something I didn't like watching. Well atleast not to her. If it was some arrogant bitch like Sharapova, or the Williams sisters i'd be loving every second of it. Dinara Safina and Svetlana Kuznetsova aren't the types to degrade competition after beating them. They treat their opponents with respect and more importantly the game of tennis with respect.
The final point of the match was a double-fault by Safina to give Kuznetsova the 2009 Roland Garros Championship. There wasn't a huge celebration by Svetlana. There was no rolling around in the clay, fist pumping, yelling and screaming. She simply put one hand up in the air in triumph, made the sign of the cross and walked over and shook hand, followed by kisses on the cheek by the competitors. Kuznetsova knows what its like to be on the losing side of these battles. She knows probably better than anyone how Safina was feeling at that moment. Looking across the net after seeing that 2nd serve go into the net, was probably like looking into a mirror. So she took the classy, graceful approach, and acted like she was expected to win, even though 2 weeks ago nobody would of dreamed she would of been even close.
So Svetlana, congratulations on an improbable run the past 2 weeks and a great victory. Enjoy it now, because i'm sure in a couple of weeks Sharapova's new "Wimbledon dress" will be more important to everyone than your Roland Garros Championship.
Going into this mornings match I wanted Svetlana to win. Just so she could get the well deserved respect she deserves. "Kuzie" has been on the WTA for what seems like forever, but come to find out she is only 23 years old. In the past 4-5 years she has always been a consistent winner and a top 10, if not top 5 player. What seems to elude her is the respect and media attention that she deserves for being one of the top tennis players in the world over the past half-decade. When you hear womens tennis you think of a few last names. Sharapova, Williams, Ivanovic, Jankovic, Bychkova, Dushevina, and Weinerova. Haha maybe not the last 3, but they are personal favorites of mine.....Getting back on track now. You don't often hear of Svetlana Kuznetsova when being talked about the great womens tennis players of today. Yet without much fanfare or television coverage she consistently wins. I guess in order to be put on TV you must be pretty, or have some type of controversy or drama following you to be worthy of any mention of being "important". People who excel and put their all into their craft and each match they play being outshined by what new outfits Sharapova and the Williams sisters are wearing for this season. The American coverage is already pathetic enough, but this makes it even worse. I'll save this rant for another day. Its just sad, but it was good to see two players who only care about tennis finally getting a little attention for the blood, sweat, and tears they have put into being where they are today.
Kuznetsova has always been a player I liked to follow. I think it may be because she seems to be the ultimate underdog. She's a very good player, but not considered great, because she often comes up short in the big profile matches of Grand Slam events. I guess instead of "coming up short", it could better be described as "choking". There have been multiple times where she would be up in a match and looking to serve out the match for a victory over a higher profile player, just to have it all fall apart and lose in dramatic fashion. After seeing it happen once, you would think "no way could this happen again", just to see it not only happen again, but happen in a even more tragic way. Its almost become a habit for Svetlana to crash and burn when on the verge of victory. When most players after a few of these terrible defeats would pack their bags and fall to lower depths that only Nicole Vaidisova would know about, or even quit the game entirely. The Kuz, would just pack up her bags, go to the practice courts and begin the long hours of plugging away. In hopes next time would be different.
That next time was today. Last years Roland Garros runner-up Dinara Safina the number 1 player in the world was the challenger. Safina focused on finally getting the "never won a major" monkey off her back. Out to prove that she is deserving of the reigning queen of tennis. With all the pressure put on her by outsiders and mostly by herself Safina was beatin by the Kuz, and the moment.
The match in itself wasn't the most dramatic, or prettiest I have ever seen. A 6-4, 6-2 match normally isn't. Kuznetsova played with aggression, making Safina move and run and earn each point she got. Svetlana finally started to find some holes and take control of the match late in the first set. With each point lost Dinara became more and more upset with herself. Looking to her coach for any type of comforting gesture, letting out screams, and flailing her racket in the air after mis-hits. The pressure of the moment and the steady consistent play of The Kuz was taking their toll. It was in a way sad to see. I wanted Kuznetsova to win, because of her past experiences of failing and her past tummy pouch she used to sport. Everybody loves a underdog. But late in the match, I almost began to want Safina to make a comeback and make it an interesting match. Seeing someone who works so hard like Dinara Safina and wants to win so much fail isn't the easiest thing to watch. All this girl wants to do is play tennis and win. Seeing the best player in the world degrade herself and just fold under pressure is something I didn't like watching. Well atleast not to her. If it was some arrogant bitch like Sharapova, or the Williams sisters i'd be loving every second of it. Dinara Safina and Svetlana Kuznetsova aren't the types to degrade competition after beating them. They treat their opponents with respect and more importantly the game of tennis with respect.
The final point of the match was a double-fault by Safina to give Kuznetsova the 2009 Roland Garros Championship. There wasn't a huge celebration by Svetlana. There was no rolling around in the clay, fist pumping, yelling and screaming. She simply put one hand up in the air in triumph, made the sign of the cross and walked over and shook hand, followed by kisses on the cheek by the competitors. Kuznetsova knows what its like to be on the losing side of these battles. She knows probably better than anyone how Safina was feeling at that moment. Looking across the net after seeing that 2nd serve go into the net, was probably like looking into a mirror. So she took the classy, graceful approach, and acted like she was expected to win, even though 2 weeks ago nobody would of dreamed she would of been even close.
So Svetlana, congratulations on an improbable run the past 2 weeks and a great victory. Enjoy it now, because i'm sure in a couple of weeks Sharapova's new "Wimbledon dress" will be more important to everyone than your Roland Garros Championship.
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