Mallorca: Where The Bloody Hell Are You?

I wish someone wouldpay me 8 million dollars to be the face of tourism for my hometown. Man, life is sweet being a tennis player.

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Rafa Nadal has just made a massive 8 million dollar deal to be the face of Mallorca and tourism for that part of Spain. I could totally be the face of NSW. Hell, I'd be a better face of Australia than Lara 'where the bloody hell are you?' Bingle. Lucky Rafa. I pretty much have nothing else to say about that.

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Tennis starts tomorrow on New Year's Day in Abu Dhabi, with that awesome exo that everyone who's anyone is playing. It seems a very early start to the year, but there you have it. So I'm pretty much hanging out for that, and have nothing better to say than that.

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Here's Jumpin' Josh's second tip!

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Josh's Tennis Tips

Focus: Forehand

Today's Tip: Wrists and Elbows

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It is important that you do not let your wrists go floppy: you should have straight, tight wrists to guide the ball easily. If you do not maintain a tight wrist, your shots can curve and go anywhere off the court and not where you have tried to place it. The same goes for elbow and forearm: keep it straight out and do not attempt to bend it. (Note: you may have to bend your elbow on serves, volleys and spin shots.)

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.

Hitting The Streets

So, after writing yesterday about how tennis is in no way Australia's favourite sport, I thought I would hit the streets, so to speak, and see what the public has to say. Well, the public is a bit of a stretch - my two subjects here are my brother Josh, who is twelve and a 'sport freak' and my sister Hayley, who is eighteen and a self-described 'non-sporter.'

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Josh says:

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"No, [tennis is not Australia's favourite sport] yet. It can be, if we get other people... We'd make them interested in the sport... we'd give them a tennis racquet and they'd go 'cool, this is cool!' I got interested in tennis because my friends were playing and Mum ordered me to play - she said, 'Jack and Alexander and all those guys are playing, so why don't you play?' So I went along on Mondays and got hot chips and after that we play tennis and now I do that every Monday."

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Josh, it must be noted, is twelve and not very articulate, but he is interested in tennis - in fact, he's a bit of an idiot savant. He hasn't had a lot of training, but he regularly wins his Saturday competitions. He is, I think, an example of an Australian who is genuinely interested in tennis. His favourite player is Roger Federer (taking after me there) but he plays tennis more like Rafa - he's left-handed and loves topspin. Josh also claims he hits the ball hard like Rafa, but the jury is still out. I'll believe it when I see it. (He just saw this and said, 'I'll play you and I'll smash you! Wanna see my topspin? You just wanna get smashed, don't you? You're just asking for it!')

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Hayley says:

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"Hell no [tennis is not Australia's favourite sport.] It isn't, because - everyone thinks it's all right, no one hates tennis - no one thinks it's a boring sport like golf or cricket and all that terrible... it's instantly entertaining, but no one's into tennis... all of Australia's not INTO tennis. [Dramatic hand gesture.] I enjoyed the tennis when Jodi took me to the final. I'm not into sport at all, but tennis is the one sport I can go and see and enjoy. I don't understand sport, but tennis is fine, because it's simple and enjoyable. There aren't many hardcore tennis fanatics like there are for other sports, though."

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Glowing endorsement for tennis there from Hayley - tennis is fine, but it's no one's favourite (except hers, clearly - my influence, perhaps?) And that really is Australia's view on sport. Tennis is fine enough, but it doesn't really rock many people's socks. So is that enough to get it named Australia's favourite sport?

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Me, Hayley and Josh are in accordance. NO.