Wild About the Wildcards

Discretionary wildcards for the Australian Open have just been announced! I held off writing for today until they had been, due to having not much else to say.

There aren't any epically huge surprises. As we know, the playoff winners were Casey Dellacqua and Nick Lindahl, so they're in. Discretionaries in the women go to Alicia Molik and Olivia Rogowska. Gee, I am surprised there. There's still one more to be announced - presumably closer to the date - which I am really hoping goes to Monika Wejnert. But I don't think it will surprise anyone that Molik and Rogowska get these cards. Rogowska is definitely the player that deserves it most, based on her play over the last year. And if Tennis Australia is going to refuse a name like Molik...

Over to the men, and we have cards for Bernard Tomic (my brother saw me write this, and said 'yeah! he rules!' then told me I had to write it down, so I did), Carsten Ball and Jason Kubler. I had completely forgotten about the existence of Carsten Ball, but he did do pretty well on the ATP tour - he made a final at tour level and must have been pretty close to making main draw anyway. (But why didn't he play the playoff? Lame.)

I would have thought for sure that the remaining wildcard would go to Brydan Klein, but I am totally delighted about the fact that it went to Jason Kubler. Kubler is sixteen and one of the nation's brightest stars - I understand he was a bit of a junior Davis Cup hero. Great work on this one, Craig Tiley - really awesome choice! I think this'll probably be Kubler's first tour level match, and what better place for it to come than at the Open.

There is also one more male wildcard to be handed out closer to the date. I think it'll probably go to Brydan Klein, but I would love to see it go to Greg Jones. His play at the December Showdown totally merits it.

At Your Discretion

So... um...

The December Showdown is over. Lindahl and Dellacqua are through to the main draw of the Australian Open.

So what am I going to talk about now? December is a useless month, honestly. Do the players reeeeeeeally need an off season? Doesn't anyone ever think of the bloggers?

I shall have to do the best I can with what little I have, I suppose (less than two weeks until Abu Dhabi! THANK GOD.) So let's talk discretionary wildcards. The playoff may be over, but Tennis Australia has still got a few cards left to give out. I don't know how many are reserved for the reciprocal arrangements we have with the US and France, but I think (read: I read somewhere) that Tennis Oz has three wildcards leftover for the girls and four for the men. Or maybe the other way round.

So who do you card in?

Let's start with the boys. Tomic is a gimme, if you ask me. He played a night match on Rod Laver Arena last year and he's one of Australia's best hopes for the future. There is a wildcard with Bernard's name on it somewhere, mark my word. Peter Luczak will, I think, make it in my virtue of his ranking, so we don't need to worry about him. Chris Guccione is a possibility, but if he didn't play the play off, then maybe he's injured or something. Same with Marinko Matosevic.

That's a good criterion, actually - if you didn't play the play off, you obviously don't care. This leaves us with Tomic and two others. I think Tennis Australia will probably give on to Brydan Klein, though I don't think I would (mostly on the grounds that there was that sledging thing that one time and I'm not down with that). And maybe Greg Jones. Though I would give one to James Duckworth, because I think he's awesome.

Over to the girls, and you've got to pick Rogowska and Molik straight off. I'd be very surprised if they didn't carded in - Molik especially. If I were Craig Tiley, I'd also be giving a card to Yanina Wickmayer, even though she isn't Australian, but it looks like he's already said no. So if we;re just going off girls that played the playoff, I'd be looking in the direction of Wejnert and Peers. They definitely have something to offer.

The actual Open aside, I'll be looking to see who gets carded into the subsidiary events - your Brisbanes and Hobarts and Sydneys. We could get a good view of some interesting young talent...

Coming Clean on Klein

I think it's safe to say that Brydan Klein will not be winning the play-off wildcard from the December showdown - not only has he now been beaten by James Duckworth, Kaden Hensel (of whom I have never heard) owned him today. A lot of things will need to go his way if he wants to progress through...

Klein is a player that I think is a bit overhyped. He's very talented, yes, and he did win the AO juniors a couple of years back, but I think that was more of a fluke than anything else, to tell the truth. He's served on Davis Cup occasionally, but I've seen him play a couple of times now and I haven't really been impressed with what I saw... and that whole sledging incident didn't really endear him to me, either. So if Klein is one of the bright stars of the future of Australian tennis, I think we're in trouble.

Someone who is a bright star, Bernard Tomic, also got beaten, which surprised me, I confess. He went down to Matthew Ebden, who isn't a slouch, but he isn't a star, either. I hope Tomic progresses through to the next round, I really do... it would be a big shame to see him fizzle in this intranational playoff.

I am, however, on the James Duckworth bandwagon. That kid is great.

In the women, Olivia Rogowska looks out for the count as well - which is a shame. Dellacqua and Molik are still all a-g-go, though, as is my little favourite Monika Wejnert... I'm cheering for you, Monika!

Slamming Down in December

The annual December showdown has started again at Melbourne Park. Nominally, this is the playoff for wildcards for the Australian Open, but I personally like to think of it as 'the thing that keeps Jodi amused in December'. There's precious little else going on and it's always kind of cool to see the up and coming Australian kids...

...though not so up-and-coming in some cases, especially in the women's draw, where we have Alicia Molik and Casey Dellacqua vying for spots. Molik played to her seed today and made short work of Victoria's Jade Hopper, but Dellacqua - who is, somehow, unseeded... colour me WTFed - pulled an upset and beat the top seed, Olivia Rogowska. Now, I think very highly of Rogowska, but I wasn't exactly shocked. There is something serious whack with the seeding system for this tournament if former top 100 player Dellacqua is unseeded.

It'll be interesting to see who comes away with the wildcard out of the girls... I think it's round robin, so Olivia Rogowska is in there, and I'd seriously be keeping my eye on her. When you consider that Jelena Dokic won this playoff last year and then went on to win through to the quarters, this isn't a crapulent tournament by any means. If Molik and Dellacqua ever play, that is also going to be a hell of a battle. Sally Peers, Marija Mirkovic and Isabella Holland are all players to keep your eye on - same with Jess Moore - but the one I'm really looking out for is Monika Wejnert. That girl has game with a capital G.

The women provide more intrigue this year, I think, but the boys are pretty cool too - if Bernard Tomic doesn't win the wildcard, I'll be a bit surprised, but there's going to be some competition. He won his match easily today, but top seed Brydan Klein had no such luck - he lost to handy-dandy up-and-comer James Duckworth, who is definitely one to keep your eye on. Other players to watch include Greg Jones and Matthew Ebden - Tomic is only the fourth seed, wow. How did that happen? He's preceded by Klein, Nick Lindahl and Jones - but if he doesn't win, colour me shocked.

The Looch is Loose

Victory!

*

Sorry, this is a bit of an overreaction, but Peter Luczak won a tour level match - something I can't remember him doing all year! Victory!

*

I really like Peter. He's a genuine nice guy and I think he's had a bit of bad luck with injuries and stuff. He's never going to be a top ten player - he doesn't have that level of talent - but he works hard, and it shows. He's a total trooper, and I have cred for that. And he gets results on clay - how rare is that for an Aussie?

*

He may not be a worldbeater, but he's a genuinely lovely guy, and I think it's great for tennis in Australia that we have him. You can never have too many nice guys in sport, and with the badness of rugby league seemingly infecting Aussie tennis via Brydan Klein and his racial sledging case, I think we need people like Peter.

*

He beat Alberto Martin in his match, and beat him handily as well - and Martin is a wily old fox, which makes the win even better. And after coming up through qualies - I'm very pleased. The Looch is loose - how far can he go in this tournament? Good on you, Mr Milkshake. Good on you.

*

*

Today's Results

*

Catella Swedish Open (Bastad)

*

Juan Monaco def. Maximo Gonzalez, 7-6 (7-4) 3-6 6-1

Kristof Vliegen def. Marcel Granollers, 7-6 (7-3) 6-4

Guillermo Canas def. Grigor Dimitrov, 6-3 7-6 (7-2)

Daniel Koellerer def. Steve Darcis, 1-6 6-3 6-4

Potito Starace def. Julien Benneteau, 7-6 (7-5) 6-3

Peter Luczak def. Alberto Martin, 6-2 6-2

Bjorn Phau def. Daniel Berta, 6-3 6-2

*

*

Mercedes Cup (Stuttgart)

*

Gilles Simon def. Philipp Petzschner, 6-3 6-4

Nicolas Kiefer def. Tomas Berdych, 6-3 6-3

Philipp Kohlschreiber def. Diego Junqueira, 6-3 6-2

Fabio Fognini def. Fabrice Santoro, 5-7 7-6 (7-3) 6-1

Jeremy Chardy def. Jose Acasuso, 6-2 7-6 (7-4)

Alexandre Sidorenko def. Daniel Munoz-De La Nava, 7-6 (7-3) 1-6 6-2

Rainer Schuettler def. Ivo Minar, 2-6 7-6 (7-2) 6-4

Simon Greul def. Andreas Beck, 7-6 (7-4) 7-6 (7-5)

Oscar Hernandez def. Janko Tipsarevic, 6-4 6-4

Mischa Zverev def. Guillermo Garcia-Lopez, 6-2 6-4

*

*

ECM Prague Open (Prague)

*

Iveta Benesova def. Karolina Pliskova, 6-7 (5-7) 6-1 6-3

Kateryna Bondarenko def. Alona Bondarenko, 6-1 6-3

Timea Bacsinszky def. Magdalena Rybarikova, 6-2 7-6 (7-5)

Lucie Hradecka def. Ksenia Pervak, 6-3 6-2

Petra Kvitova def. Anna Lapushchenkova, 6-1 6-0

Kristina Barrois def. Ioana Raluca Olaru, 5-6 6-1 7-5

Monica Niculescu def. Katie O'Brien, 6-3 6-2

Polona Hercog def. Klara Zakopalova, 7-5 6-4

Stefanie Voegele def. Petra Martic, 3-6 6-4 6-3

Alla Kudryavtseva def. Nicole Vaidisova, 7-5 6-2

Karolina Sprem def. Tatjana Malek, 6-3 6-2

Zarina Diyas def. Kristina Mladenovic, 6-4 6-1

*

*

Internazionali Femminili di Tennis di Palermo (Palermo)

*

Flavia Pennetta def. Arantxa Parra Santonja, 6-2 6-3

Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez def. Alize Cornet, 6-2 6-2

Sara Errani def. Mariya Koryttseva, 6-4 6-4

Ekaterina Makarova def. Jill Craybas, 6-3 6-1

Anna-Lena Groenefeld def. Gisela Dulko, 6-4 6-1

Yaroslava Shvedova def. Nathalie Vierin, 6-3 6-2

Tathiana Garbin def. Edina Gallovits, 6-4 7-5

Patricia Mayr def. Olga Savchuk, 6-4 6-4

Nuria Llagostera Vives def. Masa Zec Peskiric, 3-6 6-4 6-2

Arantxa Rus def. Anna Floris, 7-6 (7-3) 6-4

Banned

I woke up this morning to the news that Australian tennis player Brydan Klein has been banned for six months for a racial slur.

*

To which I have nothing to say but this: good.

*

There is no excuse for that kind of behaviour in sport - and it's something we hear so rarely in tennis. Tennis has to be one of the most well-behaved sports, on the whole (this is the impression I get, anyway). It's a sport of gentlemen and ladies - not in the oh let's go and dance at a ball sort of way, but in a polite, respectful way. Look at who we have at the top - Roger and Rafa, who are both some of the most lovely guys you'll ever meet.

*

Which is why incidents like the Brydan Klein one are so shocking. And I'm surprised he only got six months, really - this isn't the kind of thing we want in our sport. I have to say - I'm ashamed that someone from my country is responsible for this kind of thing. Because it is not cool, it is not on and it does not belong in tennis.

*

*

Today's Results

*

Campbell's Hall of Fame Tennis Championships (Newport)

*

Sergiy Stakhovsky def. Frank Dancevic, 7-6 (11-9) 2-6 7-5

Olivier Rochus def. Alexander Peya, 6-2 4-6 6-4

Fabrice Santoro def. Flavio Cipolla, 6-3 7-5

Kevin Kim def. Sebastien Grosjean, 4-6 6-3 retired

Rajeev Ram def. Alejandro Falla, 6-4 7-5

*

*

Collector Swedish Open Women (Bastad)

*

Caroline Wozniacki def. Maria Kirilenko, 7-5 7-6 (7-4)

Gisela Dulko def. Dominika Cibulkova, 6-7 (5-7) 6-3 7-6 (8-6)

Flavia Pennetta def. Alla Kudryavtseva, 6-4 6-2

Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez def. Carla Suarez Navarro, 4-6 6-3 6-0

*

*

GDF Suez Grand Prix (Budapest)

*

Patty Schnyder def. Maria Elena Camerin, 6-3 6-2

Agnes Szavay def. Tathiana Garbin, 7-6 (7-2) 5-7 7-5

Alisa Kleybanova def. Kateryna Bondarenko, 4-6 6-4 6-4

Timea Bacsinszky def. Patricia Mayr, 0-6 6-3 6-4

Making The Best

Australia doesn't have the world's best Davis Cup team. No arguments there. There's a reason we're not in the World Group at the moment - we just aren't competing at the right level yet. But my God, I think we make the best of what we've got.

*

Team Captain John 'Fitzy' Fitzgerald has just named the lineup for our tie against Thailand - Lleyton Hewitt is going to open up the singles, with Brydan Klein to follow, then Chris Guccione and Carsten Ball are going to play in the doubles. I'm not an expert, but this seems like the best possible decision he could have made, if you ask me - the best possible deployment of resources.

*

Guccione is the higher ranked singles player, sure, but he is a long-term underachiever, so I think Fitzy has definitely made the right choice putting Klein in. Not only is Klein pretty hot right now - he's won two Challengers and got to a semi - I think this will be pretty big for his confidence in the future. He opens up against Danai Udomchoke, the current Thai #1, and I think Klein will have his number. There is something to be said about playing and winning for one's country - look at Nando Verdasco! If Klein performs well here, I think it could be a great springboard into the rest of his career.

*

Normally Lleyton Hewitt would have to double up and play doubles (Fitzy hailed him as the greatest Davis Cup servant of his generation, and though we all know that I don't really bat for the Lleyton team, I'm hardpressed to prove him wrong), but Guccione and Ball have had a lot of success as a pairing, including that memorable five-set win over the Chileans. Added to which, they'll be fresh. So often, only two or three players on a Davis Cup team actually play. I'm liking the four way deployment of the Aussie boys here. Nice one, Fitzy!

*

*

Today's Results

*

Monterrey Open (Monterrey)

*

Zheng Jie def. Melinda Czink, 6-3 6-4

Gisela Dulko def. Mariya Koryttseva, 6-2 6-4

Lucie Safarova def. Maria Kirilenko, 6-4 4-1 retired

Li Na def. Petra Cetkovska, 6-3 6-4

Not Pictured

I saw something on Sunrise (Australian breakfast TV, for those of you not in the know) this morning that really demonstrated how much Australia cares about tennis. On the newsbar down the bottom, the following story flashed up: 'Lleyton Hewitt, Chris Guccione, Carsten Ball and Bryan Klein arrive in Bangkok for Davis Cup.'

*

I'm sorry, but I've never heard of an Australian tennis player called 'Bryan' Klein.

*

You see, this is indicative of how little awareness the average Aussie has of tennis. I bet hardly anyone even noticed. If they'd spelled a cricket player's name wrong, even a relatively minor one - Phil Jaques, for example - you can bet EVERYONE would notice, and I'm sure there'd be admonishing emails to the channel. But how many people do you think have noticed that Brydan Klein has been misnamed? The show's been on for about two hours now and no one seems to have picked it up...

*

Sigh. I guess it is a little bit of a dream, hoping that tennis suddenly becomes huge in Australia. Playing it is big, but because we have no top players right now, there is very little knowledge of what's going on on a larger scale, except when the Aussie Open is on. I have a dream wherein the French Open is on free-to-air television. Unfortunately, this isn't looking likely.

*

*

Today's Results

*

Delray Beach International Tennis Championships (Delray Beach)

*

Mardy Fish def. Evgeny Korolev, 7-5 6-3

Sending A Message

Well, I'm sure Djokovic/Ferrer was not exactly the final that the Dubai tournament organisers were hoping for - it is definitely a poor bastard cousin of Federer/Nadal, which they seemed all set for until a few weeks ago - but it could have been a lot worse for them. And, though I might have pulling for Ferrer, at least their big guy pulled it out and won the tournament for them. But it's going to be very interesting to see what happens with Dubai next year, after the whole Shahar Peer debacle... we saw one political pull-out here this year in the form of Roddick (massive kudos) - but will we see more next year, when players have more time to consider their schedule?

*

Guess those appearance fees will have to be jacked up even higher...

*

But my real interest at the moment isn't in Dubai - or even Acapulco or Delray Beach. No, it's all about the Maccabi Men's Challenger in East Bentleigh, where a very interesting final has been set up, after Marinko Matosevic blew right past Colin Ebelthite and Bernard Tomic ground it out in straights over Brydan Klein.

*

The latter result is probably the most interesting, considering that Davis Cup is coming up. Both Klein and Tomic were on the squad (though did not make the actual team) in Chile last year. Both made it to the second round at the Australian Open this year. But Klein got the call up ahead of Tomic. This is probably purely because he's a bit older, and also he's had some really good results in Challengers lately (remember how he just won two in a row?) but I bet Bernard is a little irritated. I would not be surprised at all if he wanted to prove something with this match, to send a message - a message something along the lines of, 'hey, yeah, remember me? Don't forget me next time, bitches.'

*

So it's going to be a good final tomorrow. You've got to pick Tomic on talent - and also because I know virtually nothing about Matosevic except that he has the same birthday as Roger Federer - but you never know what's going to happen in tennis, and that's the beauty of it.

*

*

Today's Results

*

Barclays Dubai Tennis Championships (Dubai)

*

Novak Djokovic def. David Ferrer, 7-5 6-3

*

*

Abierto Mexicano Telcel (Acapulco)

*

Nicolas Almagro def. Martin Vassallo Arguello, 6-4 6-4

Gael Monfils def. Jose Acasuso, 6-3 6-4

*

*

Delray Beach International Tennis Championships (Delray Beach)

*

Mardy Fish def. Florent Serra, 7-6 (7-2) 7-6 (7-4)

Evgeny Korolev def. Guillermo Garcia-Lopez, 6-2 6-2

Boys Light Up

There's tennis going on all over the world right now - in Dubai, in Acapulco, in Delray Beach - but there's another tournament going on that no one's really going to write about, and it's in my own country, so I think that makes it my duty.

*

That, of course, would be the Maccabi Men's Challenger in East Bentleigh. It may only be a Challenger, but I think it offers some signs of hope for the future - how often do you see four Aussie blokes in the semis of a tournament, even one of the satellites? Sure, it is on home soil, but I'm not sure how much I believe in the home court advantage in tennis... it's not like cricket or football or anything like that, where you can legitimately know the way a stadium plays better than your opposition. So, good on you, Aussie boys - it's going to be an Aussie holding up the trophy for sure!

*

The four we have to choose from are Colin Ebelthite (winner of the December Showdown), Marinko Matosevic (who shares a birthday with Roger Federer), Brydan Klein (newest member of the Davis Cup team) and Bernard Tomic (boy wonder). Ebelthite and Matosevic are one semi, then the blockbuster, one would imagine, would be Klein and Tomic in the other, Australian Open junior champs from '07 and '08 going head to head. That should be an absolute corker.

*

Who do I want to win? Well, to tell the truth, I don't much mind. It'd be good to see Klein go well so he has a big lead-in to Davis Cup next week... Ebelthite's been round for a while and could use some love... I don't know a whole lot about Matosevic but he's definitely on the up and up... and I always pull for Tomic, as you all know. But it's just so great to see Aussie boys doing so well, even if it is 'just' a Challenger. Tennis drought my foot. We've got some good boys - and even if they aren't #1, they doesn't mean we can't still be very proud of them.

*

*

Today's Results

*

Barclays Dubai Tennis Championships (Dubai)

*

Novak Djokovic def. Gilles Simon, 3-6 7-5 7-5

David Ferrer def. Richard Gasquet, 6-2 6-2

*

*

Abierto Mexicano Telcel (Acapulco)

*

Men's Draw

*

Gael Monfils def. Leonardo Mayer, 6-3 6-7 (4-7) 4-1 retired

Jose Acasuso def. Tommy Robredo, 7-5 6-2

Nicolas Almagro def. Daniel Gimeno-Traver, 6-2 7-6 (7-2)

Martin Vassallo Arguello def. Daniel Koellerer, 6-3 7-6 (8-6)

*

*

Women's Draw

*

Flavia Pennetta def. Iveta Benesova, 6-3 6-3

*

*

Delray Beach International Tennis Championships (Delray Beach)

*

Jeremy Chardy def. Marcos Baghdatis, 7-6 (9-7) 7-6 (7-3)

Christophe Rochus def. Stefan Koubek, 6-3 7-6 (8-6)

*

*

PS. Another gratuitous spruik for my other blog, The Black Valentine's Day Manifesto - http://blackvalentinemanifesto.wordpress.com. It has nothing to do with tennis - it's more about ... well, being 23 and living in Canberra, I suppose. So if you've ever wondered what I do when I'm not writing Tennis From The Backseat or crying over Roger Federer matches (a question which I'm sure has kept you awake at night) please check it out!

Snubbing Mr Milkshake

The Aussie Davis Cup team for the first round this year has just been announced, and we're looking at something pretty different to what we saw last time. Remember Chile, where we had that awesome young team, and we had a good seven people on the squad? Looks like they're not repeating that one this year. Our team is Lleyton Hewitt, Chris Guccione, Carsten Ball and Brydan Klein.

*

Not a bad team, as far as they go, but I think there's one major snub in there - the guy that's been forgotten all year, ever since he lost in he play-off at the December Showdown. And it is such a shame, because he has played fabulously in Davis Cup just about every time he played. Where is Peter Luczak? I would have put you in, Mr Milkshake. I don't know if I would have played you, but you'd have been in the squad.

*

And Bernard Tomic would have been in the squad as well. He's proven he can pull the upset on the senior scene - Potito Starace, anyone? - so why not give him another shot? Carsten Ball is, in my mind, a bit expendable - he's there for doubles, surely? Actually, that's a thought - where are our doubles specialists? Why is Paul Hanley not on the squad?

*

And who is going to be the new coach? Darren 'Killer' Cahill has just stood down. I'm sad. I'm certainly not as impressed as I was with the awesome young squad last time... but then I am not the Davis Cup captain. I am impressed with the decision to put Brydan Klein in, however - with his recent results, he deserves it!

*

*

Today's Results

*

Regions Morgan Keenans Championships (Memphis)

*

Men's Draw

*

Mardy Fish def. Yen-Hsun Lu, 6-1 7-5

Robby Ginepri def. Simon Greul, 6-4 6-4

Philipp Petzschner def. Jarkko Nieminen, 6-3 6-4

*

*

Women's Draw

*

Lucie Safarova def. Vania King, 7-6 (7-1) 6-3

Sabine Lisicki def. Stéphanie Foretz, 6-2 6-4

*

*

Copa Telmex (Buenos Aires)

*

Juan Carlos Ferrero def. Marcel Granollers, 6-7 (7-8) 6-0 6-3

Franco Ferreiro def. Pablo Cuevas, 6-2 6-4

*

*

Open 13 (Marseilles)

*

Feliciano Lopez def. Dmitry Tursunov, 7-6 (7-4) 7-6 (7-1)

Mikhail Youzhny def. Andreas Seppi, 7-6 (7-2) 6-3

Novak Djokovic def. Jeremy Chardy, 7-6 (7-4) 6-4

Paul-Henri Mathieu def. Gael Monfils, 4-6 6-4 7-5

Jo-Wilfried Tsonga def. Andrey Golubev, 7-6 (7-5) 6-2

Michael Llodra def. Rik de Voest, 7-6 (7-2) 6-1

Georg Bastl def. Marc Gicquel, 6-4 6-3

*

*

Barclays Dubai Tennis Championships (Dubai)

*

Serena Williams def. Zheng Jie, 6-4 6-2

Kaia Kanepi def. Jelena Jankovic, 6-2 7-5

Elena Dementieva def. Anabel Medina Garrigues, 6-1 6-3

Vera Zvonareva def. Marion Bartoli, 5-2 retired

Venus Williams def. Alizé Cornet, 6-3 6-2

Ana Ivanovic def. Camille Pin, 6-2 7-6 (7-5)

Elena Vesnina def. Dominika Cibulkova, 4-6 6-1 4-0 retired

Virginie Razzano def. Daniela Hantuchova, 6-2 1-6 6-2

*

*

Copa Sony Ericsson Colsanitas (Bogota)

*

Edina Gallovits def. Klara Zakopalova, 6-3 6-4

Ioana Raluca Olaru def. Maret Ani, 6-4 6-2

The Curious Case of the Dangerous Worm

Whoa. The Worm seems to have it all going on at the moment. He may not have made such a good showing at the Aussie Open, getting crushed four, love and love by Nando Verdasco, but he's been doing well in the subsidiary tournaments. A title in Brisbane and now one in San Jose - defeating two hometown boys, Roddick in the semis and Fish in the final, along the way.

*

What is it with the Worm? I've watched him play a number of times and I still can't quite figure out what makes him such a dangerous player. Because he is a dangerous player, as his results will attest - but watching him play, I cannot tell what facet of his game is the one that makes him dangerous. Does he leech off the spirits of his WTA-girlfriends, both of whom have become rubbish since they dated him? Or has he been defeating people with the power of his picnic-blanket shirt? Maybe I will never know.

*

Some good results overnight for a) one of my favourite players, Dmitry Tursunov, who won his opener in Marseille (correct me if I'm wrong, but has he won this title before?) and b) an Aussie, Chris Guccione, who qualified for Memphis and then won his first round match, knocking off local Vince Spadea. I'm perpetually disappointed in Guccione so it's nice to have a bit of a change!

*

Though speaking of Aussies I am not currently disappointed in, Brydan Klein has made it two from two on the satellite circuit this year - he won a Challenger event last week, and this year has walked away with a Futures title from Mildura. Useful rankings points - watch this space!

*

And, because I was too busy writing about how wonderful Rafa is yesterday, I forgot to give a proper shout out to one of my Stars, who had a great week. Thomaz Bellucci lost a close match in the final of Costa do Sauipe to Tommy Robredo - a great showing. As a result, he's jumped twenty places in the rankings. Nice on, Thomaz!

*

Now when is Ernests Gulbis going to reach a final, hmm? (No pressure, Ernests.)

*

Oh, and nice work to Ana Ivanovic for conquering an Aussie Open demon and beating Alisa Kleybanova. Still a long way to go, but it's nice to see her taking it a step at a time.

*

*

Today's Results

*

SAP Open (San Jose)

*

Radek Stepanek def. Mardy Fish, 3-6 6-4 6-2

*

*

Regions Morgan Keenan Championships (Memphis)

*

Men's Draw

*

Chris Guccione def. Vince Spadea, 7-6 (7-1) 7-6 (7-5)

*

*

Women's Draw

*

Lucie Safarova def. Melanie South, 6-2 6-2

Sabine Lisicki def. Ekaterina Bychkova, 6-3 6-3

Michaella Krajicek def. Alla Kudryavtseva, 6-1 6-4

Pauline Parmentier def. Julie Coin, 7-6 (8-6) 4-6 6-1

Stéphanie Cohen-Aloro def. Alexa Glatch, 6-3 6-3

Vania King def. Alexandra Stevenson, 6-2 7-6 (7-5)

Michelle Larcher de Brito def. Sofia Arvidsson, 6-2 6-0

*

*

Copa Telmex (Buenos Aires)

*

Brian Dabul def. Nicolas Devilder, 5-7 7-5 6-4

Juan Ignacio Chela def. Alberto Martin, 6-3 6-2

*

*

Open 13 (Marseille)

*

Dmitry Tursunov def. Teimuraz Gabashvili, 3-6 6-2 6-2

Jan Hernych def. Kristof Vliegen, 6-3 3-6 6-4

*

*

Barclays Dubai Tennis Championships (Dubai)

*

Elena Vesnina def. Svetlana Kuznetsova, 6-4 3-6 6-0

Ana Ivanovic def. Alisa Kleybanova, 7-5 6-4

Urszula Radwanska def. Agnieszka Radwanska, 6-4 6-3

Alizé Cornet def. Anna-Lena Groenefeld, 6-4 6-1

Marion Bartoli def. Ai Sugiyama, 6-0 4-6 7-6 (8-6)

Dominika Cibulkova def. Sorana Cirstea, 6-4 6-2

Anabel Medina Garrigues def. Andreja Klepac, 6-3 6-1

Ayumi Morita def. Anna Chakvetadze, 7-5 6-2

Alona Bondarenko def. Olga Govortsova, 6-4 6-3

Francesca Schiavone def. Casey Dellacqua, 6-1 6-1

Daniela Hantuchova def. Stefanie Voegele, 7-5 6-2

Samantha Stosur def. Magdalena Rybarikova, 6-4 6-3

Monica Niculescu def. Peng Shuai, 3-6 7-5 6-2

Virginie Razzano def. Kateryna Bondarenko, 7-5 6-2

Camille Pin def. Agnes Szavay, 2-6 6-2 6-3

Sania Mirza def. Ekaterina Makarova, 7-5 6-2

*

*

Copa Sony Ericsson Colsanitas (Bogota)

*

Edina Gallovits def. Barbora Zahlavova Strycova, 6-2 6-2

Petra Cetkovska def. Sandra Zahlavova, 7-5 6-2

Boys From Oz

Doesn’t take long for the boss to get back on the horse, does it? Only ten days or so after his big win at the Aussie Open, he’s off in Rotterdam beating Bolelli and Dimitrov. Admittedly he’s looking a lot scratchier than he was in Melbourne, but no one can keep that level up. Not even the Rafabot.
*
The Aussies, unlike Rafa, are not doing so well. We seem to have sorted out our problem with the Aussie girls – I think we’re looking pretty good with our Dokic/Stosur/Dellacqua assortment – but the boys? Um… Guccione and Hewitt both crashed out in San Jose pretty early. Hewitt has been a champion, but is, let’s face it, on the way out. He’s never going to get back into the top ten. And Guccione is just never going to that good, when it comes down to it. And that’s just the way it is.
*
This is why when it comes to men’s tennis in Oz, we have to look to the future, because it looks a bit better. I don’t think anyone would gainsay the talent of Bernard Tomic (though they might gainsay the demeanour of his father… Damir mk. 2). And how about Brydan Klein? We should talk about him for a minute, because unlike our current ATP-level boys, he’s doing quite well. He won a Challenger title in Tassie last week, and now he’s defending his title at a Futures event in Mildura. I don’t think he has the raw ability of Tomic – Tomic could be a #1 player one day, and I doubt Klein will ever get that far – but he could be a bit of all right. That’s for sure.
*
And I’d just like to finish with a shout-out to one of my Stars, who is holding his own pretty well this week. Check out Thomaz Bellucci, playing in Costa do Sauipe in his home country of Brazil. Could this be a breakout week for him?
*
*
Today’s Results
*
ABN AMRO World Tennis Tournament (Rotterdam)
*
Rafael Nadal def. Grigor Dimitrov, 7-5 3-6 6-2

Andy Murray def. Andreas Seppi, 7-6 (7-4) 7-5

Mario Ancic def. Gilles Simon, 6-4 3-6 6-3

Gael Monfils def. Michael Llodra, 6-4 6-4

Marc Gicquel def. Paul-Henri Mathieu, 6-4 6-3
*
*
Brasil Open (Costa do Sauipe)
*
Nicolas Almagro def. Martin Vassallo Arguello (ARG) 64 64

Tommy Robredo def. Fabio Fognini (ITA) 62 62

Jose Acasuso def. Pablo Cuevas (URU) 63 62

Frederico Gil def. Marcel Granollers (ESP) 75 36 63

Eduardo Schwank def. Rui Machado (POR) 26 76(4) 76(6)

Juan Carlos Ferrero def. Brian Dabul (ARG) 61 62

Thomaz Bellucci def. Lukasz Kubot (POL) 57 64 64

Alberto Martin def. Nicolas Devilder (FRA) 62 76(4)
*
*
SAP Open (San Jose)
*
Radek Stepanek def. Chris Guccione, 6-2 7-6 (7-1)

Tommy Haas def. Christophe Rochus, 6-2 7-5
Juan Martin Del Potro def. Andrea Stoppini, 7-6 (7-5) 7-6 (7-5)

James Blake def. Vince Spadea, 6-3 6-4

Sam Querrey def. Marcos Baghdatis, 6-3 5-7 7-6 (7-5)

John Isner def. Ramon Delgado, 7-6 (11-9) 6-4
*
*
Open GDF SUEZ (Paris)
*
Serena Williams def. Karolina Sprem, 6-1 6-2

Jelena Jankovic def. Li Na, 6-0 3-6 6-2

Elena Dementieva def. Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, 6-4 6-2

Alizé Cornet def. Daniela Hantuchova, 1-6 6-4 6-2

Amélie Mauresmo def. Monica Niculescu, 6-1 6-2
*
*
PTT Pattaya Open (Pattaya City)
*
Vera Zvonareva def. Yaroslava Shvedova, 6-4 6-4

Caroline Wozniacki def. Ksenia Pervak, 6-7 (4-7) 6-2 3-0 retired

Tamarine Tanasugarn def. Neuza Silva, 6-3 6-2

Shahar Peer def. Yuliya Beygelzimer, 6-4 6-1

Magdalena Rybarikova def. Ivana Lisjak, 6-4 2-6 6-2

Sania Mirza def. Vitalia Diatchenko, 6-4 6-0

December Showdown

The 'December Showdown,' as Tennis Australia have labelled the Open wildcard playoff, has yielded some very interesting results over the first couple of days. It's done in round robin format, which I don't normally like, but for the purposes of this tournament I think it's all right... and the results, for those who know who these Aussie players are, have been very intriguing.

*

Let's start with the group containing Colin Ebelthite, Joe Sirianni, Bernard Tomic and Dane Propoggia. Propoggia is pretty much out of the running, but any of the others could pull a win here. Sirianni is currently in the lead, but his match against Tomic will be a very interesting one. Tomic is sixteen, Sirianni is thirty-three... veteran versus rookie. Sirianni has beaten both Ebelthite and Propoggia, whereas Tomic beat Propoggia, but went down to Ebelthite in a third set breaker - it looked like an absolute nailbiter. Sirianni won the wildcard into the event last year, so he has good history here... I totally don't even know who I'm going for.

*

Mr Milkshake - Peter Luczak - has got to be the odds-on favourite, and he's been cruising along quite happily, claiming the not inconsiderable scalps of Brendan McKenzie and Brydan Klein. The names might not mean much outside Australia yet, but these boys have got potential... particularly McKenzie, in my humble opinion. Klein has made the final of the boy's Aussie Open and has served on Davis Cup, so he's no slouch either. Sam Groth and Carsten Ball, who have also served Davis Cup time, also had wins yesterday.

*

In the women, the big story is Monica Wejnert, eighteen years old, victor over Jelena Dokic. Even if she does nothing else in her career, that is a scalp and a half. Dokic has been in the top five in the world. She may be far fallen, but still - I am liking the look of Miss Monica. Australia needs more women players, especially in the wake left by Molik. We have Stosur and Dellacqua... and the wind whistling through the empty spots behind them. Monica Wejnert and Isabella Holland in particular are looking veeeeeery good...

Hotel Sorrento

Pete Sampras. Cedric Pioline. Could be epic. Here's hoping it is. I'd like to see Pioline avenge his Slam losses, but I'm backing Pistol Pete on this one. Just a feeling.

*

Anyway, we're not talking about Pete and le Ced today. No, it's back to local homegrown Aussie tennis and what is apparently the last Pro circuit event of the year, the tournie in Sorrento. Quality tournament, they say... but that doesn't mean people will have heard of most of the guys. Ah, Aussie tennis.

*

What is disturbing me is that at least half of Australia's Davis Cup team is playing this tournament - a tournament on a circuit so low I hadn't even heard of its existence until a few months ago. Top seed and hot favourite is Brydan Klein, then second seed is Sam Groth. Marinko Matosevic defeated Bernard Tomic today, who retired after what one presumes was an injury and hopes wasn't a temper tantrum... I've heard he's prone. There's our Davis Cup team, pretty much. Oh dear.

*

That said, here's hoping Brydan or Sam can win this one... though I'm liking the form of our old man Andrew Coelho, who pulled that good win the other week in Perth. Maybe he can join team Davis Cup next year when we play our (next) relegation tie?

*

...remember when we used to win Davis Cup?

*

Bernard will save us. HE MUST!

No Brouhaha In Doha

What an anti-climactic day in Doha. I was all set for a massive Serena/Elena showdown, with the winner to get to the semis - and because Doha is, like, an important tournament and stuff, you'd think people'd be raring to get into the semis.

*

But no. Serena is all like, 'oh, I'm injured,' so Dementieva got through to the semis just like that. JUST LIKE THAT. Grrrr. Of course, she still played a match, which she won - it was tight, but I bet Nadia Petrova was glad to get some court time after coming all that way to be an alternate. It just irritates me so much. This season-ending championship has not been the big event I was hoping for. There has been no brouhaha in Doha. It is not a scream, but a whimper - and that's really, really depressing. Here's hoping the men manage a bit more in Shanghai next week - though what's with the final only being three sets now? That is LAMETASTIC.

*

The real story has been Vera Zvonareva. She totally looked like the weak link of the eight, but she's gone 3-0, beating Kuznetsova, Ivanovic and now Jankovic. (Speaking of Ivanovic, she is also in my bad books - retiring because of 'illness?' She looked fine when she was eating birthday cake the other day. Maybe she and Nando Verdasco are too busy for something as trivial as the year-ending championships. Grrr.) If Vera goes on to win the championship, I think that would be fabulous. Actually, I'm going for her now. She's the underdog, and as an Australian, I think I am programmed to go for them. It's practically part of our constitution.

*

In fact, let's talk Australian tennis - specifically, Bernard Tomic and Brydan Klein. There's an article on the Tennis Australia website which says that they've both added the Mildura Grand Tennis International (a pro tour event) to their calendars, which is pretty cool for Mildura folks, I guess. What really caught me about the article is that they call Tomic the 'best sixteen-year old tennis player in the world.' And still people say that Australian tennis is looking bleak. Added to that, Brydan Klein won the junior Aussie Open in 2007, so he's not exactly a slouch either, and some of the Aussie junior girls won the 2007 World Junior Championships. So I don't get the no-hopers. Australian tennis is going to have a renaissance - just not this second.

*

*

Today's Results

*

Sony Ericsson Championships 2008 (Doha)

*

White Group

*

Vera Zvonareva def. Jelena Jankovic, 2-6 6-3 6-4

Agnieszka Radwanska def. Svetlana Kuznetsova, 6-2 7-5

*

*

Maroon Group

*

Elena Dementieva def. Nadia Petrova, 6-4 4-6 6-4

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.

*

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.

*

...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!

*

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!

*

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!

*

*

Today's Results

*

Toray Pan Pacific Open (Tokyo)

*

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

*

*

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

*

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

Invisible Men

Well, here we are again. Another Slam is over, and we've entered the monotony of one of those weeks where no one especially important is playing... when the big story of the day is that Nicolas Almagro and Paul-Henri Mathieu got beaten, you know it's a schlep tournament week. Not that schlep tournaments can't have their moments - every Star of the Future starts off playing them - but they are exceptionally dull after the big excitement of a Slam, especially one won by Federer.

*

And besides, Ernests Gulbis has already lost, so what am I supposed to talk about?

*

But there is one thing that saves us from the boredom, and that is Davis Cup. I've read a lot about the strange selection by the American team, but I'm going to be patriotic for once and talk about the Australian team. I believed I advised them a while ago to play Bernard Tomic, as we're going to lose anyway and it'd be good to blood him on the world stage... and they almost listened. He's part of a six-man squad going to Chile, but he's one of the alternates, along with Brydan Klein. The team proper consists of Chris Guccione, Peter Luczak, Sam Groth and Carsten Ball.

*

Now, I don't know about anyone else, but I'd never heard of Carsten Ball before the US Open, where he had a wildcard, and I've never heard of Sam Groth. Not to say that they're not good players, but I have absolutely no idea who they are. Where did they pop up from? Obviously I know about Tomic, because he's Australia's best junior, and I've heard of Brydan Klein as well - I think he made the junior final of the Australian Open last year or the year before - but never these other two. And they're the ones on the team proper. Go figure. Not that I'm saying I know better than John Fitzgerald, because I don't. It's just a bit bizarre, I guess... here's me thinking I knew nearly everything there was to know about Australian tennis! Nice to be proved wrong, I guess... nice to think we have more depth than I thought!

*

This is a really young team, which I think is really exciting... and will probably also play to our advantage, because the Chileans probably won't have heard of them either. That said, the Chileans will still eat them alive, especially because they're playing at home on clay, which is definitely not Australia's best surface... but I suppose we did once beat Switzerland on clay at home (Federer wasn't playing, obviously.) Still, Fernando Gonzalez is spearheading their team, and he could probably beat the entire Australian team at once. I suppose Gooch and Mr. Milkshake will be our singles players... though if it gets to dead rubbers, which is highly likely, I'd like to see Fitzy play some young guys.

*

Like I said, the youngness of the team is exciting... but you have to spare a thought for players like Joe Sirianni and Robert Smeets. They must be feeling really snubbed right about now. Poor dudes.

*

*

Today's Results

*

BCR Open Romania (Bucharest)

*

Gilles Simon def. Albert Montanes, 6-3 6-4

Guillermo Garcia-Lopez def. Nicolas Almagro, 6-4 7-5

Carlos Moya def. Pablo Andujar, 6-3 7-6 (8-6)

Florent Serra def. Potito Starace, 7-5 0-6 6-4

Ivan Navarro def. Paul-Henri Mathieu, 6-4 6-7 (5-7) 6-3

*

*

Commonwealth Bank Tennis Classic (Bali)

*

Daniela Hantuchova def. Olga Savchuk, 6-1 7-5

Patty Schnyder def. Yuan Meng, 6-2 7-5

Francesca Schiavone def. Akgul Amanmuradova, 6-3 6-2

Marta Domachowska def. Jill Craybas, 6-3 6-7 (5-7) 6-4