Horse-Flogging... In The Metaphorical Sense

The Aussie boys finished sixth in junior Davis Cup, beating Hungary but losing to Sweden. Still, this whole week has been nothing to sneeze at. Maverick Banes, James Duckworth and Jarryd Chaplin can all be justifiably proud of what they have achieved. You wait. I don't know if any of them is a future #1, but they're going to grow up great. I'm not exactly sure when I started flogging this horse, but I seem to have started at some point, and so I'm going to stick with it. Australian tennis is going to great... in a while. Just not now.

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Though one thing that I did find troubling is that we either didn't send a team to junior Fed Cup or we didn't qualify. The boys are doing all right - what about the girls? We do have a few good juniors - Jess Moore won her first match in a senior Grand Slam this year - but none under sixteen, apparently. Where are the girls? Though it is well within the realms of possibility that there simply are none - we are a small country, after all. And look at today's generation. We aren't exactly a powerhouse of Australian tennis.

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That said, Sam Stosur was just in a final. Unfortunately, she went down to Maria Kirilenko, but it's a pretty decent achievement anyhow. She's never won a WTA singles title - Stosur, that is - but she's shown she's got the capability. Here's hoping she can go one further sometime in the near future - and get a few more doubles Slams under her belt as well!

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And speaking of winners, how about that Jo-W? Vengeance is sweet! Take that one, Novak! I was praying for someone to beat him this week after that whole Marko incident, and Jo-W did me proud. It was his first ATP title, and I think it's great that he beat Djokovic to do it. Monsieur Tsonga is serving notice. He's back - and he's back bigtime. I would love to see him make a good run at the Aussie Open next year - though obviously, with my proclivities, I want Federer to win it. Jo-W is just such an exciting player to watch. He's explosive, and he's fun, and he's not a complete dickhead, like certain Djokovics I could mention. Here's hoping that the rest of his year is shiny!

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(On the Djokovic subject, how long do you think it'll be before Novak gets his other little brother a wildcard? Spew.)

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Roddick and Jankovic round out our winners this week, taking titles in Japan. I confess I was hoping for Sela to come through with the goods, but Roddick did give a whole stack of his prize money to charity, which earned him extra brownie points. Still, he should have played the Olympics. There is another horse I'm going to flog for as long as it has legs to stand. (How 'bout that metaphor, eh?)

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Today's Results

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Thailand Open (Bangkok)

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Jo-Wilfried Tsonga def. Novak Djokovic, 7-6 (7-4) 6-4

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China Open (Beijing)

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Men's Draw

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Andy Roddick def. Dudi Sela, 6-4 6-7 (6-8) 6-3

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Women's Draw

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Jelena Jankovic def. Svetlana Kuznetsova, 6-3 6-2

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Hansol Korea Open (Seoul)

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Maria Kirilenko def. Samantha Stosur, 2-6 6-1 6-4