No More. Shut Up. Yes, You, Bernard.

Day 2 of the December Showdown, and the attention is all off court rather than on - focused on Bernard Tomic, who pulled out because of illness and now is reportedly practicing somewhere in Queensland, confident of getting one of Tennis Australia's wildcards into the main draw.

I'm a little torn here. Most of me wants to prove the little f^&*er wrong and yell DON'T GIVE HIM A WILDCARD, TENNIS AUSTRALIA! NO NO NO NO NO! But then the other part of me is like... don't give him any more attention. Do we really need another Bernard Tomic scandal? Card him in, shut him up, and for heaven's sake, don't put him on Rod Laver Arena at night when I could be watching a real player.

So let's not talk about him. Let's talk about actual tennis instead.

Dokic and Molik both came through, which is to be expected. So did Rogowska and Ferguson and the other minor challengers - except for Isabella Holland, who was put in her place by Monika Wejnert. I didn't see the match, but I've followed Wejnert for a few years now, and it would totally tickle me pink if she got the wildcard!

In the dudes, Luczak is through - of course - as are Ebden and Jones and Groth (husband of Jarka) - but in a bit of a surprise, John Millman went down to James Duckworth, who is a real up and comer, and in a MASSIVE surprise, Carsten Ball went down to Adam Feeney. The men's tournament is, I believe, knock out, which means Ball cannot get this wildcard. I would not be surprised if he got A wildcard - he's done his Davis Cup duty pretty well - but this is a bad loss for him. I don't know if there were any extenuating circumstances, but he must be pretty down on himself...

No Repeat Performances

Well, we're not having a repeat of last year's final at the Medibank International. Chris Guccione is through on the strength of a really quite excellent performance against perennial underachiever Tomas Berdych, but Dmitry Tursunov is out. He didn't exactly get bundled out, but he went down in a tight two-setter to Richard Gasquet, who is looking better than I've seen him for a while. It's going to be interesting to see how that one works out for him.

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On the men's side, it was a good day for Australia - both Gooch and Hewitt are through. That Hewitt match was really good to watch - no matter what one might think of his personality, he's dynamic on court, and you have to admire his chutzpah. Julien Benneteau should be fiercely disappointed to lose that one. Another loser was Radek Stepanek, who did retire, yes, but who was being pummelled by Jeremy Chardy (a Star!) when he called it quits. He cites illness... I have my doubts. Mostly because I don't like him. Which is a fair enough reason. But good on Jeremy!

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Speaking of Stars, Ernests Gulbis is looking pretty decent over in Auckland over a good three-set win over Marcel Granollers, who is no slouch - he has a title to his name, and you don't get that by being a schlep. However, Ernests is going up against the #1 seed today, Juan Martin del Potro... can he upset two #1 seeds in consecutive tournaments? I like to think he can - here's hoping he does!

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And how dangerous is Dinara Safina looking over on the women's side? I wouldn't want to come up against her anytime soon. After pounding on Cirstea yesterday, she turned Vera Dushevina into mincemeat. (Ironically, Cirstea and Dushevina are doubles partners. They can share their woes together.)

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Meanwhile, more wildcards for the Aussie Open have been announced, and I have to say that I like their choices. Discretionary wildcards have been handed to Bernard Tomic, Sam Groth, Brydan Klein and Carsten Ball in the men's, and Monica Wejnert, Isabella Holland, Olivia Rogoswka and Jessica Moore in the women's. All young guns, all with potential. My goal is for one of these eight to win a match - actually, make it ten, we'll include Colin Ebelthite and Jelena Dokic, who won the playoffs. I have a particular feeling about Isabella Holland... she might just make good!

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Today's Results

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Medibank International (Sydney)

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Men's Draw

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Chris Guccione def. Tomas Berdych, 6-3 6-4

Janko Tipsarevic def. Mardy Fish, 6-4 3-6 6-4

Paul-Henri Mathieu def. Andreas Seppi, 6-2 2-6 6-3

Lleyton Hewitt def. Julien Benneteau, 5-7 6-2 6-4

Jeremy Chardy def. Radek Stepanek, 6-4 3-0 retired

Richard Gasquet def. Dmitry Tursunov, 7-6 (7-4) 6-4

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Women's Draw

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Serena Williams def. Sara Errani, 6-1 6-2

Dinara Safina def. Vera Dushevina, 6-3 6-0

Elena Dementieva def. Jarmila Gajdosova, 6-2 6-4

Svetlana Kuznetsova def. Kaia Kanepi, 6-2 2-6 7-6 (7-3)

Agnieszka Radwanska def. Daniela Hantuchova, 6-3 7-5

Caroline Wozniacki def. Melanie South, 6-2 6-0

Alizé Cornet def. Alisa Kleybanova, 7-6 (7-5) 6-1

Ai Sugiyama def. Anabel Medina Garrigues, 2-6 6-1 6-2

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Heineken Open (Auckland)

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Philipp Kohlschreiber def. Dominik Hrbaty, 6-1 6-2

John Isner def. Albert Montanes, 7-6 (7-4) 7-5

Juan Monaco def. Victor Hanescu, 6-3 6-4

Gilles Muller def. Florent Serra, 6-3 6-4

Yen-Hsun Lu def. Steve Darcis, 7-6 (7-5) 6-2

Ernests Gulbis def. Marcel Granollers, 6-4 6-7 (5-7) 6-1

Bobby Reynolds def. Oscar Hernandez, 7-6 (7-4) 5-7 6-2

Marc Gicquel def. Agustin Calleri, 3-6 6-4 6-4

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Moorilla Hobart International (Hobart)

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Magdalena Rybarikova def. Flavia Pennetta, 7-5 6-3

Gisela Dulko def. Zheng Jie, 6-3 6-3

Petra Kvitova def. Alona Bondarenko, 6-2 6-1

Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova def. Carla Suárez Navarro, 6-4 6-1

Iveta Benesova def. Mara Santangelo, 6-3 6-1

Virginie Razzano def. Anne Keothavong, 4-6 6-0 7-5

Melinda Czink def. Urszula Radwanska, 4-2 retired

Tsvetana Pironkova def. Olga Govortsova, 6-1 6-2

Wild Wild Cards

The wildcard action continues apace, with two more wildcards being awarded to Aussie girls for tournaments this summer: we have Casey Dellacqua carded into Sydney (which is hardly a surprise - actually, I'm surprised that she didn't make it in on her own recognisance. The field must be mighty.) And then we have little-known but recently-impressive Olivia Rogowska making her WTA debut in the Moorilla Hobart International.

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I've said enough about Casey over the last year for her to need no introduction, and doubtlessly I'll say more over the course of the Hopman Cup (which starts on Saturday! Finally, tennis!) but she's a beautiful little player, and I'd love to see her make a big run in Sydney. 'Nough said.

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But Olivia Rogowska... I've never seen her play, but I like the sound of her a lot. She won the very competitive Sorrento International - that was a Pro circuit tournament, yeah, but it was worth $25,000! Man, if you're good at tennis, you must make some pretty sweet dollars. Anyway, she's hardly going to win the Hobart tournament, but it's just so nice to see we have some good female players coming up. Rogowska and Jess Moore both should do well at Hobart - again, my goal is for one of them to win a match. And then with Isabella Holland and Monica Wejnert in Brisbane, I think we can be pretty proud of our girls. It'd be nice if we could have a good run in the juniors at the Aussie Open. The world better watch out for them - perhaps Monica Wejnert especially.

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And today, on Tennis From The Backseat, we are debuting a new segment. I went and played tennis with my brother Josh yesterday, who is twelve and an excellent player, and he smashed me with his topspin (his words, not mine.) He also spent a long time correcting my technique (and lack thereof) and his advice was so sound I thought it deserved a little segment of its own. So here today, I present the first of Jumping 'J-Mac' Josh's Tennis Tips:

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Josh's Tennis Tips

Focus: Forehand

Today's Tip: Gripping A Racquet

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To grip a tennis racquet you will need to create a 'V' shape with your thumb and pointer finger on the top side of the grip. You place your hand at the 'butt' (bottom of the grip) to get the most power in your shots and to reach the ball quicker. This is to prevent any injury in your wrists, forearm, biceps and triceps.

All I Want In January

Only a few days to go now till the Hopman Cup! It's starting a little later this year - it actually started in December last year, if I recall correctly - but I'm sure it's going to be worth the wait. If nothing else, it will hopefully take Australia's collective sporting mind off the current dismal situation in the cricket...
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I'm hoping that Australia's tennis summer will be bigger and better than ever before. January is the best sporting month of the year anyway, and tennis is obviously the best of it. With any luck, we'll see some of the classic matches of the year here right at the beginning - and with any luck, it's all going to come up Jodi.
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What would I like to see? I have two big requests (and a multitude of smaller ones.) #1, I want Roger Federer to regain his Australian Open crown. Let's face it, it's his. It looks weird when someone else holds up the Norman Brookes Challenge Cup. And I want him, as is tradition, to face some totally random opponent in the final. I'd love for one of my Stars to be the Marcos/Gonzo/Jo-W and make the big run. Ernests Gulbis would be ideal, or maybe Marin Cilic, or even Kei Nishikori. Of course, this is all contingent on them being in Rafa's side of the draw... of course a Rafa/Roger showdown would be nice to watch, but the Aussie Open just isn't that type of tournament for me. Rafa/Roger belongs at Roland Garros and Wimbledon. The Aussie and the US is for Roger/Random.
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My second request? That would be Marat Safin and Dinara Safina winning the Hopman Cup. They're effectively the top seeds now - the USA are officially the top seeds, but with Serena out, they're not really. Meghann Shaughnessy is hardly a top echelon replacement (not that she's substandard or anything, but she ain't no Serena.) This could be exactly what Marat needs to get himself back on track - a tournament won with his in-form sister. Australia's been good to him before - and hey, who wouldn't want a diamond encrusted tennis ball on their mantlepiece?
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A good run from Marat at the Aussie Open is another request of mine - I'm gunning for round of sixteen/quarter final. An early loss and crash and burn from Djokovic is not compulsory, but would be nice. I want Monica Wejnert and Isabella Holland to do themselves proud in Brisbane, and Jess Moore to do the same in Hobart. I want Bernard Tomic to have a good summer and take another junior crown. I'd like some classic matches - remember Federer/Safin in '05? I want my Stars to do well. I want Dinara Safina to win the Australian Open and Dmitry Tursunov to defend his Sydney crown.
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But most of all, I just want there to be good tennis - and for Australia not to be too busy watching the cricket to pay attention.

Bella and Miss Monica Make The Cut

I think the organisers of Brisbane have made a very wise decision in allocating their last two wildcards for the women's draw. I am quite excited about it, actually - the wildcards are going to Monica Wejnert and Isabella Holland.

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Neither girls have played a WTA senior event before, but I think they could really go well. Sure, they're both only sixteen, but they've both been so impressive lately. Isabella Holland has been impressive for a while, but Monica Wejnert has really been a standout over the last month. That semi-final of the wildcard playoff when Wejnert defeated Holland could have easily been the final. Sure, Dokic eventually ended up winning the wildcard, but for me, Wejnert/Holland was the real final.

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So do these girls have a chance? In future years, I would not be surprised at all if we were talking a whole lot about Wejnert and Holland. But this year... I would be shocked and awed if they won, but not shocked if they made it a round or two. Both of them are eminently capable of pulling an upset or a couple. I would actually love to see one of them play Ivanovic in the first round. Not only would that give them an idea of where they stand currently against one of the top women in the game, but I think one of them might actually be able to win. Julie Coin, anyone?

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One thing that would be a bit sad is if Wejnert and Holland had to play each other in the first round, but I will be very, very, very happy if one of them makes it to the second round. They may only be sixteen now, but I will not be a bit surprised if these girls are very, very good in the future.

The Marvellous Miss Monica

And so we have our finalists in the December showdown. In the men, we have Davis Cup representative Sam 'Scary' Groth against Colin Ebelthite, and in the women, we have young gun Monica Wejnert against old gun Jelena Dokic.

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Groth obviously came through a harder match today than Ebelthite - he beat Joe Sirianni, who won this event last year, and he's had victories over Robert Smeets and Carsten Ball this tournament as well. But you can't knock out Colin. He had that victory against Luczak yesterday - and the milkshake man had to be the favourite - as well as over Tomic (not to be underestimated). He 'only' beat Marinko Matosevic today, but he is totally capable of pulling this one out...

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I have to say that I'm pulling for Sam, though. He might stand a better chance of winning a round or two in the actual Open - he could scare his opponents with his eyebrows.

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And man, am I jumping on the Monica Wejnert train! Jelena Dokic is not one of Australia's better liked sporting personalities, but it's not for that reason I'm pulling against her - I just really, really like what Wejnert is bringing. She beat Isabella Holland today, and I really think Isabella has serious talent... so what will happen? Dokic winning would have the element of a fairy tale, I guess... but just how good is Miss Monica? Wejnert definitely beat the more quality opponent today - no detriment to Emelyn Starr, but she's not on the same level as Holland - and Wejnert beat Dokic earlier this week. AND she's only sixteen. I thought she was eighteen, but nope. Sixteen.

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So, Miss Monica... bring it!

Colin Cruises

Whoa! How 'bout that Colin Ebelthite? Not only is he miraculously healthy, ending Bernard Tomic's chances of a wildcard into the Aussie Open main draw, but now he's knocked out the dude that had to be the odds on favourite, good ol' Mr Milkshake.

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Now that's one that I bet Luczak didn't see coming. It'd be so easy to underestimate someone like Ebelthite - because, seriously, who is he? I hope Pete can find some other way of getting into the main draw, because he's probably a better chance in the long run than Ebelthite, but nonetheless - good job, Colin!

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The other semi-finalists in this wildcard showdown are Sam 'Scary Eyebrows' Groth, Joe Sirianni and surprise packet Marinko Matosevic, who took out Carsten Ball in a bit of a surprising one. Sirianni won the wildcard last year and you have to like his chances again, but wouldn't it be great to see Matosevic, who plays pretty much exclusively on the Pro circuit, come through and grab that card? He is the underdog - so I feel obliged to go for him. No hard feelings, Joe, Colin, Scary. But go Marinko!

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In the women, Jelena Dokic is through, as is Isabella Holland, who is going to meet Monica Wejnert - and what a cracker of a match that could be! That is well worthy of being the final, and I cannot pick it. My tip is that the winner of that match will win the tournament. I don't think Dokic will have a problem beating Emelyn Starr, who is the surprise semi-finalist, but I think she'll succumb to either Holland or Wejnert.

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That said, wouldn't it be something if young Emelyn got the wildcard...?

Some Scary Stuff

Okay, so Sam Groth? Scary looking guy. All right player - he's through to the quarter finals of the December Showdon - but seriously, that guy has one scary mug. Have you seen those eyebrows? They are totally bristling and bushy and frightening.

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Speaking of frightening - brief digression - I am frightened by the name of Bec and Lleyton's new kid. On what planet did they think it was a smart idea to name their kid Cruz? To start with, they are the least Spanish family ever, and secondly, why did they copy la famille de Beckham? That's just un-smart. Not a fan.

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Back to the December Showdown. Peter Luczak is through to the quarters - nice one, Mr Milkshake! - as is Colin Ebelthite. However, he is all injured and stuff, so if he doesn't pass his fitness test, then Bernard Tomic gets his spot... which would suck for Colin, but it'd be probably be more exciting from a tennis perspective to see Bernard play, harsh as that might seem. Bernard went down to Joe Sirianni today pretty easily... but maybe he can up the ante?

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And Jelena Dokic looks like she's through, and Monica Wejnert, and Isabella Holland. So the women are going to be intriguing as well...

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.

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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.

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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.

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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...

Playing the Playoff

No, the tennis ain't quite over yet - we have the big Australian playoff starting tomorrow. Playing the playoff (can you say that?) are the winners of the under-18 championships, Marija Mirkovic and Brendan McKenzie. I was a bit sad to see Mirkovic beat Isabella Holland for the spot, but then she got in anyway, so that's all right. And Brendan McKenzie - I like what I am hearing about this kid.

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Let's start with the girls - top seed is Jess Moore, whom one would imagine would find some way or another into the draw whether she does well here or not, what with making the final of the girls' event last year and getting to the second round of the senior event. Another notables (ie. people I have heard of) include Monique Adamczak and Sophie Ferguson, but the really interesting one to watch is going to be Jelena Dokic, she who used to be #4 but who laboured under the shadow of the Damir. She's playing a sixteen year old from Queensland in her first match, and you'd want to hope she could win that one... otherwise I think we could safely say it was curtains for Jelena.

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The men is very interesting - particularly the match between the aforementioned Brendan McKenzie and Peter Luczak. That one could be seriously interesting. Previously, I'd have gone with Mr Milkshake every time, but this Brendan kid is looking seriously dangerous, if one can see that without ever seeing him play. His opponent for the final also made the cut to play the playoff (Dane Propoggia), and McKenzie rolled him 6-2 6-0 or something, so that's making a point. That'll be an intriguing match.

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Bernard Tomic against Colin Ebelthite will also be interesting - Ebelthite may not have the talent of Tomic, but he certainly has some maturity (you'd want to hope - he's 24!) There are some good names in the draw: Joe Sirianni is there, Robert Smeets, Carsten Ball, Sam Groth, Brydan Klein... actually, bar Guccione, the entire Australian Davis Cup team is in this playoff.

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That is frightening.

Future Future Stars

We move our coverage this week to the Optus Under18 Championships in Melbourne, the age group from whence come a great many of our rising stars. Because they are rising. Oh yes they are. Australian tennis will be great again, mark my words.

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Unfortunately, because they are rising stars, I don't know much about a lot of them. Except Bernard Tomic... but he is the king of the rising stars. What I am hoping for out of the under18 championships this week is to discover a future (or more than one) Star of the Future, if that makes sense.

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So who did we have in action today...? Dane Propoggia had a great win. He reached the quarters of junior Wimbledon this year - he could be my next Ernests. Mark Verryth is a promising looking young gun. But I think my favourite might be Brendan McKenzie - if I can legitimately say that without ever having seen him play. All the match reports I've read are making me think he could be very dangerous indeed when he grows up...

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And in the girls, can you go past Isabella Holland? She totally owned her match today - 6-0 6-1. We haven't had a really good female player since Molik and Dokic. I would love to see young Bella Holland get up there - her and Jess Moore and Sally Peers are doing the nation proud with junior Fed cup and stuff! Unfortunately Monica Wejnert, who we talked about a while ago, went down today, but we cannot have quite everything...

Matters of National Importance

We talked a bit about Davis Cup the other day - so let's talk about Fed Cup. Isn't it incredible that a country can have its top three players be unavailable and STILL be the favourites to win? I'm talking Russia against Spain. Sharapova's out injured, Safina and Dementieva are absolutely exhausted, and still the Russians have got a great team. Svetlana Kuznetsova is their big gun, and they're also playing Vera Zvonareva, Elena Vesnina and Ekaterina Makarova. And there's even more depth if they wanted it: Nadia Petrova, Anna Chakvetadze, Alisa Kleybanova, Alla Kudryavtseva, and even the rookie Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, who has a couple of junior Slams under her belt. Isn't that incredible, how one country can have so many options?

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I wonder what would happen if our top three women dropped out for Fed Cup. At the moment, that's Casey Dellacqua, Sam Stosur and Alicia Molik - now she's retired, that'd bump up the next player, which would be Jessica Moore. So even if Jess Moore played, that means our Fed Cup team would consist of her, Jelena Dokic, Monique Adamczak and Sophie Ferguson. Next player down is Christina Wheeler. I'd play the young guns instead - Isabella Holland and Sally Peers and co. Somehow, I think we would get our collective arse kicked, but at least we'd be doing something different.

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Pretty much like in Davis Cup, actually.

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There was a nice article on the Tennis Australia website the other day about Sam Groth, who is one of those rookies playing on the Davis Cup team I'd never heard of. Apparently he had his first ever ATP win in July in Nottingham over Jamie Baker. Slightly more impressive, I thought, was the fact that he beat Janko Tipsarevic in qualifying. So he is capable of playing above his rank, it seems... not that it looks like it'll help much. I'd guess the only chance he'll get to play singles is in a dead rubber. John Fitzgerald would be a fool not to play Guccione and Luczak in the first rubbers. I'm guessing Chile will play Gonzalez and Massu... Luczak is a good claycourter and he did beat Stan Wawrinka that time in Davis Cup and Guccione has that monster serve, so there's some small possibility we might win a rubber or two... but I wouldn't bet on much.

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Look at me. I pretend to be all unconcerned about nationality in tennis, and here I am agonising over Davis Cup and Fed Cup. Oh well. I suppose they are a bit special.

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Today's Results

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BCR Open Romania (Bucharest)

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Richard Gasquet def. Teimuraz Gabashvili, 6-7 (6-8) 6-1 6-1

Gilles Simon def. Florent Serra, 6-2 6-3

Carlos Moya def. Guillermo Garcia-Lopez, 5-7 6-3 6-4

Jose Acasuso def. Ivan Navarro, 6-4 6-4

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Commonwealth Bank Tennis Classic (Bali)

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Daniela Hantuchova def. Chan Yung-Jan, 7-6 (7-4) 4-6 6-2

Patty Schnyder def. Marta Domachowska, 6-2 6-2

Tamira Paszek def. Flavia Pennetta, 4-6 6-0 6-2

Nadia Petrova def. Francesca Schiavone, 6-4 6-3