Tuesday Links

February 9th, 2010

This is kind of a random month for tennis…lots going on, and nothing going on all at the same time. There are a few ATP and WTA events pretty much every week, but none of them are really of much interest, and unless you have the Tennis Channel, nothing is covered. So with that in mind, I’ll keep it to mostly links today. However before I get to those, let’s hear it for the USA Fed Cup team! An incredibly inexperienced USA team consisting of teen sensation Melanie Oudin and the ever underachieving Bethanie Mattek-Sands defeated France (in France) 4-1. The France team was highlighted by Alize Cornet, who is the most accomplished player by far amongst the two teams; however it should be noted she is now 0-8 in Fed Cup play. No matter what though, great feat by the USA team, who is now slated for their first home tie after four straight away ties, in the semifinals against Russia this April.

- Fed Cup site news story.

- Shameless plug – for those on facebook, become a fan of the GSTT page. Or for you tweeters, check us out here.

- ESPN article on why we bother to question the GOAT.

- Apparently, Pistol Pete can still serve.

- “Best of 5” feature from Jon Wertheim.

- As well as his latest mailbag.

- Peter Bodo, on a little bit of everything.

- Learn all about one of the best non-profit companies around.

Australian Open Wrap Up

February 1st, 2010

Well, after all that, two weeks of amazing tennis, upsets, heartbreak, 5 set thrillers, and more…the favorites won across the board.  Not only did Federer and S. Williams win the singles, but the Williams sisters and Bryan brothers won the doubles.  While it might sound a bit anti-climactic, the final results should not take away from what was otherwise one of the more memorable Australian Open in years.  Here are some of my highlights and some other links:

- Great line from Murray post final (a final in which he played like a 15 year old), “I can cry like Roger…It’s just a shame I can’t play like him.”

- Despite my negative comments on WTA tennis recently, it was amazing to watch Henin make a run at the finals, and make Serena play a tremendous match to win the title.  At one point, towards end of second set and beginning of third, Henin looked as good as ever.  If she gets to the point where she can maintain that level of play, look for her at the final weekend of just about every event this year.

- The third set tiebreaker in the Mens final was immense…I wish Murray could have played that well throughout, as most of the time the final was a bit lackluster.

- Pretty much every point between Tsonga and Almagro.  Those two guys hit the ball all out on pretty much every shot, and it makes for some of the most entertaining tennis around.

- The Chinese Revolution (not referring to the one by Mao a few decades ago).  Having two Chinese women make the semis of a slam is groundbreaking.  Some of the commentators predicted a Chinese slam champion within a decade…I’d say lower it to five years.

- Some of the more ridiculous shots, ever.

- 5 Things Learned, from Bodo. And from Wertheim.

- Best & Worst, from ESPN

Australian Open Finals Preview

January 29th, 2010

So, we are down to the finals for Men and Women, and three of the four competitors are not surprising in any way. No one is batting an eye at Federer, Murray, or Williams. Justine Henin, on the other hand, is a bit of a surprise; and although Henin has claimed to be shocked at making the finals, many avid tennis fans are not nearly as overwhelmed by her run down under. A couple weeks ago, I wondered aloud whether or not Henin making the finals of a warm up event spoke highly of her, or poorly of women’s tennis. Well now that she has made the finals of the first slam of the year, I’ve made my decision…it’s both, without a doubt.

But, all things being honest, it’s more of the latter.  Short of the Williams sisters (when they decide to try), and flashes of brilliance by other top ten players, the WTA is a wreck right now.  With very few exceptions, every top name plays the exact same style of boring tennis (ie – hit the ball as hard as you can and wait for an unforced error).  In the V. Williams vs. Li quarterfinal match, which many will point to as the match of the tourney since it was so close, there was a combined 126 unforced errors, to go with 54 total winners.  In the five set epic between Tsonga and Almagro, 87 unforced errors paired with 123 winners.  It’s not rocket science.

That being said, the Williams vs Henin matchup is an incredibly intriguing one, and if for some reason I’m awake, I will most certainly watch it.  If this were a straight up match, I’d put the odds heavily in Serena’s favor.  However, given that Serena has spent WAY more time on court that Henin (by the way, congrats to Venus & Serena for winning the dubs), not to mention Henin has won three straight slam matches against Serena, I’d say the odds are pretty even.  I’m rooting for Henin.

I’m so excited for the Men’s final, I’m contemplating going to bed after dinner Saturday night, and setting the alarm for 3:30am.  Most likely, instead I will go to sleep around 3:30 am and check the score on espn.com when I wake up.  I have considered all four possibilities (close win for either player, relative blowout for either player), but honestly, nothing would really shock me.  Murray always seems to play well against Federer, but Roger is Roger.  On top of that, both have lots to prove.  Murray still has yet to win a slam, and Federer is out to show that he isn’t just coasting at this point (and if you don’t thing Federer remembers his tears at last year’s final, you are wrong). I’ll go with Federer, in a tight 4 setter.  Enjoy!

Midweek Links

January 27th, 2010

Down to the final 4 for the first Grand Slam down under…it’s hard to imagine Henin and Serena not facing each other in the finals.  As for the men, Murray vs. Federer is certainly more likely, but would anyone honestly be surprised if it was Cilic vs. Tsonga?  Didn’t think so. Don’t forget, Tsonga has been a finalist here before, and Cilic beat Murray at the US Open in an easy straight set match.

Tom Perotta’s Semi-Final preview.

US Fed Cup team taking after Davis Cup team and going with the youth.

Williams sisters choose Super Bowl, instead of representing their country in Fed Cup. Don’t get me started.

ESPN.com preview of the Semis.

This is not the way Nadal wanted to start his 2010 campaign.

Great piece by Ravi Ubha on the Federer Davydenk match.

Two Chinese semi-finalists has the country celebrating.

Midway Australian Open Report

January 22nd, 2010

So I’ll admit, I haven’t been able to watch that much tennis this week, as it is the first week of a new semester and the time difference is quit annoying.  As a result, I missed out on what have probably been the two best matches of the tournament so far (Gasquet-Youhzny, Blake-del Potro), and simply don’t have a solid grasp on the flavor of the tournament so far.  But alas, I’ll write about what I know:

- Seems like the Men’s side is having fewer upsets than in years past.  Being the first Slam of the year, with only a couple of weeks of warmups leading up to it, the Australian usually has its fair shrae of major upsets.  The top stars have show a bit more vulnerability early on than normal, but for the most part they are all getting through.

- For the time being, James Blake is playing tennis worthy of a top 15 player in the world.  I watched him dismantle Arnaud Clement, a type of player who last year Blake struggled against, and then he took del Potro to the brink.  American’s should be pulling for Blake to make it back into the thick of things.

- Speaking of Americans, I did watch as much of the Isner-Monfils match as ESPN allowed me to last night.  Isner, who looked like he was about to die against Sorensen (an Irishman, who knew!), came out with a huge service game to upset the 12th seeded Frenchman.  Seriously, if his match against Sorensen had gone to a 4th set, no way was he getting out alive.  Isner is for real…not only can he serve, but he can rally with everyone now, definitely a possible top 20 guy by the end of the year.

- Everyone’s favorite Belgian, Kim Clisters, got absolutely throttled last night by Nadia Petrova.  How does a woman who won the last grand slam win ONE GAME against a woman notoriously known for choking?  Any readers can feel free to leave a comment if they watched the match and have any insight.

- We will have an all Belgian matchup, although not the one people were looking forward to.  Henin will face 20 year old Yanina Wickmayer, who, despite being 16th in the world, was forced to qualify for the event due to doping allegations.

- Update on predictions made earlier this month: My two picks for Oz are still alive (Roddick and Kuznetsova), while the President still has Murray, but lost out on his female pick when Clisters took one on the chin.