Comeback, Comedown

One of my favourite, favourite players ever - primarily due to his mad blogging skillz and the fact that he is a really funny dude - is Dmitry Tursunov.

Now, Dima's been off the scene for a while - I assume he's been injured, though I couldn't tell you exactly what the nature of that injury was. But he came back! A little while ago! He used his protected ranking to get into the main draws of Roland Garros and Wimbledon, where he recorded two first round losses - understandable, when you are on the comeback from a year or more out of the game.

But today, in Washington, Dima had a win. And that makes me very happy indeed.

And he didn't just beat some nobody or some punk kid either. It was a tight match, but Dima took out Teimuraz Gabashvili, who has played some very good Roddick-beating tennis of late. I mean, he's not exactly Federer or Nadal, but this is a really, really excellent result for Mr Tursunov. Tennis needs characters like Dima, and man is that guy a character.

Another guy who is a real character in tennis but who is playing appallingly and reaping according results is James Blake. If Dima is the good news story of Washington, Blake is the bad, because there seems to be no end to his woes. I literally cannot remember the last time he won a match - and that's saying something, because I can usually keep track of stuff like that. But Blake is in a downward spiral for sure. He lost to Ryan Sweeting, who is - correct me if I'm wrong - an American junior.

When results like this are not a one off but the norm, there is a problem ahoy, sailor.