In the Autumn of 1995 I was 14 years old, and two tremendous things happened in the world of sports - 1. the Boston Red Sox won their last AL East Division title and 2. the USA won the Davis Cup. Now, twelve long years later, both could happen again. Baseball is not the point of this blog, so I won’t delve into that subject, but a three game lead with four left to play should result in the Yankees finally relinquishing the AL East crown. The other matter could be a little more complicated, and will be decided the first weekend of December at the Memorial Coliseum in Porland, Oregon. (more…)

After one day of singles, the US and Sweden are tied at one match a piece. The Andy Roddick/Joachim Johansson match went about as expected, with about two points that went longer than four shots. The two players have big enough serves as it is, and certainly don’t need a carpet surface to enhance their serving abilities. However that is what Swedish Captain Mats Wilander thought would be best, and to be honest it worked for him on the first day. I don’t really think anyone expected Joachim to beat Roddick, but he gave himself a chance by forcing tiebreakers in the first two sets, before finally getting broken once in the third. Final score was 7-6 (4), 7-6 (3), 6-3 in Roddick’s favor. Roddick also had 30 aces (to Johansson’s 23), or put in other terms, 27 more aces than I have served up in the last decade. (more…)

Note: I’m writing from my laptop in Sweden, and everyone reading should know that my “D” and “E” keys are stuck together.  I will do my best to edit everything, but if you ever see something along “thedse” lines, deal with it.
Earlier today the draw for this weekends USA-Sweden Davis Cup Tie was announced, here is the order if play: (more…)

I’m getting ready to get on a plane to Gothenburg tomorrow for the Davis Cup Semifinals between the United States and Sweden, for updated match information you can click here.  The US team will feature current stalwarts Andy Roddick, James Blake, and the Bryan brothers.  Opposing them will be Jonas Bjorkman, Thomas Johanssen, Joachim Johanssen, and Simon Aspelin.  Looks good for us on paper, but we will see.  I’ll have a full preview later in the week, once I’m settled in Gothenburg.  For today here are some links with tennis news from the weekend:

Momma Davenport’s comeback is ahead of schedule.

Russia, after defeating the US in Stowe, VT a couple months back (much to Nifer Knight’s dismay), took home their 3rd Fed Cup.

My personal favorite player of all time is considering retirement.

Fernando Gonzalez, who seems to have fallen off the map since his run to the Australian Open finals, won a singles title for the first time in two years.

Gimelstob on early retirement.

Ana Ivanovic is aiming higher than being just a top 10 player.

If you missed part I, just scroll down a bit to read that. 

- Did you watch the Women’s Semifinals?  I did.  And it was pretty awful.  The Williams-Henin match was bad tennis in terms of technique and the amount of unforced errors, but at least it had some drama.  The Kuznetsova-Chakvatadze match may have been the worst semifinal match I’ve ever witnessed.  They combined for 31 winners and 81 unforced errors, which is staggering.  Here’s the difference between the Men and the Women, after Federer beat Davydenko in their Semi, the early report was that it was an ugly match, and neither played well.  I tend to agree, both players were definitely not 100% there, but they combined for 74 winners and 63 unforced errors, far better quality than the Women. (more…)