Happy Holidays everyone!  The following is from Yoav Saarony, a PTR and Traveling Coach who has worked with many young Americans, such as Kellen Damico and Madison Brengle.  It’s long, but it makes up for my lack of posting over the past week, thanks again Yoav! (more…)

Pretty much nothing has happened the last few days, so I’ll just provide everyone with some links to peruse over the weekend:

February Fed Cup Site vs. Germany has been announced.

James Martin’s thoughts on the future of Federer.

TennisWeek Interview with 15 year old Australian, Bernard Tomic.

Jon Wertheim hands out his 2007 Awards.

Some updated news from Tennis.com’s Newsticker, which is not updated enough but still has some interesting tidbits.

In the world of “I could really care less, but maybe you do,” Venus Williams earned a Fashion Degree. 

I may have linked this YouTube clip before, but it is really pretty incredible stuff from Gael Monfils.

There is literally next to nothing going on tennis news-wise, so I thought I would take the opportunity to bore you with some of my thoughts on the year that was in tennis.  In all seriousness, I guarantee you will enjoy this post; and I don’t mean the kind of guarantee Anthony Smith provided when he told the world the Steelers would beat the Patriots this past weekend.  No no, unlike him I promise to deliver.  And word of warning, I also guarantee this could end up being somewhat longwinded.  Sorry, read it in two parts if you have to.

- 2007 was not exactly a banner year for tennis - between the gambling and drug related news there was certainly plenty of negativity directed towards our beloved sport this year.  I’ve shared my thoughts on all this before, and I’d rather have this post be more positive, so I’ll say one last thing about this stuff.  I think there needs to be a gag order placed upon everyone involved, with the exception of officials.  All this assumptions being made by people like John McEnroe, who last week said he is fearful the mafia is connected with the gambling issues, is not helping anything.  Obviously I’m overdoing it a bit with a gag order, since I’m a pretty big believer in freedom of speech, but it’s just to drive home the point.  Seriously, when such a respected and well known personality like McEnroe says that, what good is it actually doing?  All it accomplishes is turning more people off with regards to tennis, and possibly putting a bulls-eye on Mac’s back.  Let the officials handle it and see what they are able to come up with through their investigations, then comment if you like. (more…)

Here are some links for your enjoyment on this fine Thursday afternoon:

Roddick not done with memorable moments quite yet, according to Peter Bodo.

ESPN.com features a few tennis players in it’s NEXT article. (You have to scroll a bit)

Latest Jon Wetheim mailbag.  Along with his Davis Cup observations.

When normal arguments don’t work, there is always reverse psychology.

Finally, some tennis gifts for the holidays.

Edit: I added this picture of the Bryans with a bunch of screaming GSTT clients in the background with their lime green Bryan’s Bunch T-Shirts.  Thanks Amber & Tiffany

Photo: Taken by Nifer Knight

First off I should apologize for my lack of blogging.  Between Thanksgiving, getting everything ready for our trip to Portland, the trip to Portland itself, and then flying from flooding on one coast to a snowstorm on the other, I simply didn’t have the time.   Secondly, congrats and thanks to the city of Portland and the Memorial Coliseum, who I thought for the most part did a wonderful job of hosting the finals (besides closing down concession stands before the matches were over).  It is not easy to pull off an event of this magnitude under normal circumstances, but a city usually doesn’t even know it is going to host a Davis Cup Tie until about 6 weeks before the event itself, making it even harder.  Lastly, and most importantly, congratulations to the 2007 U.S. Davis Cup Team of Andy Roddick, James Blake, the Bryan Brothers and Pat McEnroe.  These guys have stuck together over the past few years after some real tough defeats, and managed to destroy the defending champs from Russia to capture the first U.S. Davis Cup Title since 1995.  Now, some random thoughts from my weekend in Portland:

- Despite what you might think of Andy Roddick, he is pretty much the man.  He destroyed Tursonov (who had beaten Roddick 17-15 in the 5th and deciding rubber of last year’s Semi’s) after barely competing over the past couple months.  Why did he not compete and try to win ranking points and money over the past couple months?  So he could be as close to 100% as possible for this past weekend, because winning the Davis Cup was as important to him as anything else, and the same cannot be said for many of his fellow top 10 players. 

- Some of the lineup moves Tarpischev made were suspect.  You win or lose with your best, right?  I guess one could make the argument that starting Youhzny and Tursonov ahead of Davydenko in singles was the right decision.  Even though Davydenko is #4 in the world, he has certainly not played quality tennis since the US Open, and is probably playing more like the 4th best player in his country right now.  What I really don’t understand is using Andreev and Davydenko as a doubles team.  Everyone in the world who follows tennis, and most who don’t, knew the Bryans would have little trouble dispatching two baseliners, even if they do have monster returns.  And please, spare me the whole “but it was close for a little while” or “two guys playing back could’ve really messed with the Bryans,” because both arguments are absurd.  The Bryan’s were NEVER going to lose that match.

-I know some people were slightly disappointed that the Bryan’s won on Saturday, making Sunday more or less pointless.  But, a sweep also meant that each player on the US team had a direct hand in winning the final tie.  Considering each member’s dedication over the past few years, it was definitely a nice way to cap things off.

-Let’s not forget about James Blake either.  His win over Youhzny to give the US a commanding 2-0 lead was not exactly a surprise, but at the same time I think a lot of us watching felt like pre 2004 Boston Red Sox fans.  Meaning, things were looking good, but we were on the edges of our seats waiting for the other shoe to drop.  Then on Sunday against Tursonov, Blake got off to a slow start (possibly because the match was somewhat meaningless, but probably because he was hungover) but watching him reel off those two last sets was a nice way to cap off what was definitely a redeeming tie for Blake.

- Portland seems like an awesome city, but it would’ve been nicer had I seen the sun. 

Also wanted to thank Barry MacKay and Leif Shiras for their terrific insight.  I’ll be back tomorrow or Friday with some other random news and links, for now go here to see the press conference transcripts, some of which are pretty entertaining.  Especially the USA one from day 3, notice all the interjections Roddick has - who wants to bet he had the most pre-conference champagne?