Talking Tomic

Ah, yet another day when I have pretty much nothing to talk about but Davis Cup. In Grand Slams, you get Boring Sunday, where there is no tennis at all, but in Davis Cup that gets stretched out for nearly a whole week. It is very tiresome.

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I suppose I could talk about women's tennis... well done Dinara Safina for making it into the quarter finals of the Tier I event in Tokyo! Wouldn't it be nice to see Dinara add to her swag of Tier I titles? I must say, though, the scheduling is a bit rough - somehow I don't think too many of the men on tour would be too pleased if they had to play a Masters Series event only a week after a Slam. Why should the girls have to do it? Not to mention that in the interim was Fed Cup - if they want to make Fed Cup more prestigious, they are going to have to schedule at a time when all the top players aren't absolutely buggered. Take Safina, for example - she didn't play Fed Cup because of tiredness, and although it didn't hurt her country because there are so many excellent Russian women players, imagine if she'd been playing for Australia. We'd have been screwed.

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...and that leads us back to Davis Cup. Tennis Australia is saying today that Bernard Tomic's form is looking pretty good, which is heartening, because I would dearly love to see him make his debut, as I have probably said about nine hundred times. Mostly I would just love to see him play... it'd probably be his first televised match, albeit at two in the morning. Why must Chile be in such an inconvenient time zone? He is so talented, though, and if he can keep his temper in check, he is going to be something else... and it would be nice if he could, you know, bring that talent forward to now for a bit and win us a rubber or two. He is the youngest player ever to win a junior boys' Slam, and if he plays, he'll be the youngest player ever to represent Australia in Davis Cup... and if he wins, definitely the youngest player ever to win!

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Brydan Klein is apparently looking good too, though I must confess he hasn't really convinced me to jump on his bandwagon... I know he won the boys' Australian Open last year, just like Tomic did this year, and sure he's going to be good, but he hasn't (as yet) shown me the extraordinary ability that Tomic clearly has. Nonetheless, if Klein can make it onto the squad, that will be pretty special... I'd love to see both the young guys make it on!

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Yes, actually, that's my squad pick - Guccione, Luczak, Tomic and Klein. However, I am not in Chile training with them and Smeets, Ball and Groth... Fitzy and Killer know best!

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Today's Results

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Toray Pan Pacific Open (Tokyo)

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Dinara Safina def. Dominika Cibulkova, 6-3 6-4

Svetlana Kuznetsova def. Li Na, 6-2 1-6 6-3

Nadia Petrova def. Aravane Rezai, 7-5 6-2

Virginie Razzano def. Ai Sugiyama, 6-3 6-2

Katarina Srebotnik def. Caroline Wozniacki, 6-1 6-2

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TOE Life Ceramics Guangzhou International Women's Open (Guangzhou)

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Jill Craybas def. Olga Govortsova, 6-2 7-5

Karin Knapp def. Mariya Koryttseva, 6-4 6-4

Vera Zvonareva def. Anastasia Rodionova, 6-1 6-2

Peng Shuai def. Mara Santangelo, 6-4 6-2

Tamira Paszek def. Lee Ye-Ra, 6-0 6-4

Camille Pin def. Chen Yanchong, 6-2 6-3