Random News
Gasquet and Nadal both retired mid-match in Cincinnati, to Hewitt & Monaco, respectively. Montreal Champion Novak Djokovic, who received praises in my last blog entry (and my guess is others’ as well), fell to Moya 6-4, 6-1. I’m sure Djokovic was exhausted, and I didn’t actually see the match, but this sounds like a tank job to me, at least in the second set.
Nadal losing was terrific news for two Americans – James Blake and Sam Querrey. Querrey, who upset 13th seeded Youhzny now gets to face Juan Monaco instead of Nadal; and Blake will get the winner of that match in the quarters if he can pull out a win tonight against Juan Carlos Ferrero, no easy task. The news is not as good for Andy Roddick, who has three other seeds (Ferrer, Berdych & Davydeno) in his quarter of the draw. The happiest of all could be Roger Federer, who could get challenged by Baghdatis, but assuming he moves through his quarter will have either Moya, Meltzer or Hewitt in the semis, instead of Djokovic.
***Edit: Looks like I was right about the lack of good news for Andy Roddick, because 30 minutes after originally posting this, he fell to Ferrer 7-6 (4), 6-4.
Fellow Serb Ana Ivanovic fell to Yan Zi in the second round in Toronto. Ivanovic was probably as tired as Djokovic, after winning Los Angeles last week. However, after winning this tournament in Montreal last year, her ranking could suffer some.
The following received Wild Cards to the US Open – John Isner, Donald Young, Alex Kuznetzov, Jesse Levine, Ryan Sweeting, Wayne Odesnik, Michael McClune & Australian Alun Jones.
Apparently Martina Hingis has risen from her year or so long daze, and she has parted ways with Radek Stepanek. In related news, I am single.
Some links for your perusal (because these people probably write better than I do):
Tignor’s observations on Isner & Querrey.
Some information regarding the USTA’s Tribute to Althea Gibson.
Mauresmo explains why she pulled out of the US Open.
Time Magazine had 10 Questions for Rafael Nadal.
If you are going to the US Open, don’t forget your American Express Card.
August 17th, 2007 at 8:50 pm
Djoke may have been tired, but he didn’t tank. I saw the match. He was just comprehensively beaten. (He played doubles in Cincy until today, afterall). 20-year-olds, if they’re in shape, ought not be tired from playing 5 best-of-three matches and only dropping a set. I’ve always been of the opinion that unless you become injured during a match, if you take the court, you’re in shape to play a match/event.
Ana seems to have had a brain cramp when planning her schedule after Wimbledon. Why play a Tier II a week before having to defend your first Tier I title?
Don’t underestimate your writing. It’s clear and concise. I should be so lucky.