A F%^& YEAH Weekend

There are so many people I want to say F%^& YEAH about today, but first, I have to blow your mind with the last installment of my Cherbourg coverage. It was not good times today - my main man Mahut lost both in the singles final and in the doubles final. But let's take a moment and go, hey, actually, the fact that you were in both of these finals is pretty damn shiny! Then let's holler F^&* YEAH.

My loudest, unconditional and most heartfelt F^&* YEAH, however, has to go out to Jelena Dokic. Lady, you rocked my freaking socks today. How many players are there who can go for eight years without a title and still have the heart to come back? Dokic is a player who has had an awful lot of bad luck in her career - more, I think, than just about anyone else. But one thing she does not lack, especially in this post-Damir world, is heart. And she demonstrated this not just in winning the Kuala Lumpur final, but the way she won it - she was literally a few points from defeat in the second set breaker. She could have gone down tamely in straights, and everyone would have been like, oh well, well done Lucie, what a great week for Jelena.

But no. Jelena Dokic is not having any of that nonsense. She clawed her way out of that breaker and then she pounced. She was a total third set tiger and that got her the trophy. And I don't think it's controversial to say that Jelena has one of the best smiles in tennis. F^&* YEAH JELENA DOKIC!

And then there is Davis Cup.

The Indian boys weren't able to keep the momentum going - they went down 4-1 to Serbia in the end - but I think they deserve a F^&* YEAH anyway, because they have played awesomely this weekend. So too does Jeremy Chardy, who went from not winning a single ATP match all year to being France's Davis Cup hero. I'm not normally a massive Chardy fan, but that kind of heroism (especially from someone stuck so deep in such a big rut) deserves a F^&* YEAH.

But the biggest Davis Cup F^&* YEAH goes to Kazakhstan in general and Andrey Golubev in particular.

I haven't talked much about Andrey this year - largely because his results haven't been that great. (But don't worry, I haven't dumped him for Mahut. I can love them both.) But this match was a powerful reminder of why I love him so much. If he plays well, he is capable not just of beating anyone, but of freaking demolishing them. Doesn't matter where, doesn't matter when, doesn't matter who. If Andrey Golubev has his eye in, he will make you hurt.

Just ask Tomas Berdych.

The Czech crowd were totally stunned. Who was this surprise ranga beating their main man? Berdych was their guaranteed pointmaker for the weekend! He was supposed to win both his singles matches in a snap of his fingers, and just hope that one of the others could pick up another point somewhere. It was supposed to be easy.

But Andrey Golubev was not on board with this idea at all. And four sets later, Tomas Berdych limped off the court, pulverised and broken. And then Mikhail Kukushkin went out there and made history against Jan Hajek.

This was Kazakhstan's first ever appearance in the World Group. If they can continue turning in these kinds of performances, they are going to be a force to be reckoned with. And I, for one, think that deserves a F%^& YEAH.

More on the Greatness of Golubev

So my beloved Andrey Golubev did not win. He fell at the very last hurdle - and literally, it was the very last - against Mikhail Youzhny. Damn you, third set tiebreaker!

But seriously, can we just reflect momentarily on how incredibly awesome this kid is? Like, seriously, he is the up and comer of the year for me. Can anyone think of anyone else who has made a comparable rankings jump? He was outside the top hundred when I spotted him playing Hopman Cup back in January, when he flipped the switch and became Awesome Andrey.

You know what he's ranked now? #33. Thirty freaking three. That is some jump.

I'm sad he didn't manage to scrape over the line against Headbanger, but a week where you beat Robin Soderling and David Ferrer in back to back matches? That's a good week for anyone, let alone some guy that was ranked outside of the top hundred not that long ago.

Make no mistake, Andrey Golubev is going places. And with what he can do... I don't think there are many players who will be able to stand in his way.

Andrey Time

It's time to talk about Andrey. And by talk, I mean gush.

I told you this kid was awesome! I told you that he was on the way up! And I was right!

Is this an upset of Soderling I see before me, belonging to Andrey? Why yes, it is. The Golubev freight train is picking up steam and it is powering onwards and upwards. Not only has he upset Soderling in convincing straights, but now Ferrer? Kid just doesn't know his place, and I love it.

The first time I ever really watched Golubev play, I was on a plane from Melbourne to Perth. I was flying there for a couple of days of the Hopman Cup, and I was watching one of the night ties on that little plane TV. It was Russia vs Kazakhstan, and Igor Andreev was taking on some kid called Andrey Golubev. Who is this kid?

I found out soon enough, when Golubev prevented Andreev from hitting a single winner for a set and a half. He was a demolition machine that week - that kid is something else. The Hopman Cup is a good place to capture the much-coveted attention of Jodi, and he did it in spades.

It could have just been a good week. But no, ever since he won his first title a couple of months ago, Andrey has been 100% solid awesome. He's improved his ranking by about 70 places since the beginning of the year, and now he's in the finals of Kuala Lumpur, it's only going to go up.

And trust me, if the kid can beat Soderling and Ferrer back to back, he can totally take Youzhny. Watch out, Headbanger!

Kolya Fading Away

Oh, Davydenko. It seems like only yesterday you were the next big thing.

I've talked a lot about how losing to Federer at the Australian Open broke Andy Murray, and how it's in doubt now that he'll ever win a Slam, even though everyone seems convinced it'll happen. But what hasn't got a lot of air time - and has been much more pronounced than the Murray situation - is the way that Federer broke Davydenko.

We all remember the match. One and a half sets in, Kolya had points to make it a double break in the second, moving towards a two sets to love lead. And then someone flipped a switch and Roger won about twelve games in a row and it was all over, red rover - the whole Kolya adventure. All those victories that he'd scored over Federer in the last couple of months somehow became meaningless. His short lived gig as Mr Personality faded into the back of everyone's memory. And Kolya himself faded away.

The Kolya of that time, pre-quarters in Australia, would not be losing in the second round of Kuala Lumpur to Igor 'where have I been?' Andreev. That Kolya would be pretty much a dead cert for the final and no one would have stood in the way. That Kolya was a wall, capable of beating anyone, any time, any place, if he put his mind to it. Even the man that had made him his bunny, Roger Federer.

But then Federer turned a match around in a single point and that wall came crumbling down.

Davydenko is a strong enough player to come back from that defeat. One of the reasons he's been in the top ten for so long is not his game, but his consistency, which is a largely mental thing. You don't do that being weak. But since that time, we haven't seen much of Kolya. And unless he can pull himself together and do something even faintly resembling what he did in the latter part of last year, he's in danger of fading into the background permanently.

And Kolya, we don't want that. Pull yourself together. Because tennis isn't quite finished with you yet.

Ending With A Whimper

Oh, Tokyo. You redeemed yourself with a respectable final, and then the final was a sham. Tokyo, Tokyo, Tokyo.

How very sad that Sharapova/Jankovic - which could have been a totally excellent match - ended in a retirement. I bet the tournament organisers - and Sharapova, come to think of it - are pretty mad with Jankovic. I'm pretty sure that this wasn't the way MaSha wanted to win her first tournament back.

But win she did - and let's talk about this for a minute. It's not quite Kim Clijsters winning the US Open, but to win a big tournament like Tokyo on the comeback is pretty sweet. Though it would have been sweeter if the draw had put up slightly more of a fight... but still. Well done, MaSha.

And in Tokyo - Gilles Simon is in the final! When was the last time we saw that? He's been the top ten's non entity for so long now, the seed you could count on to be upset, and now here he is in the final. He'll face Troicki, who surprised Tsonga. And then in Kuala Lumpur, we have #1 vs #2 - Davydenko vs Verdasco. Now there's some tournament organisers who can be very content...


Today's Results

PTT Pattaya Open (Bangkok)

Viktor Troicki def. Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, 1-6 6-2 6-3
Gilles Simon def. Jurgen Melzer, 6-4 7-6 (7-3)


Proton Malaysian Open (Kuala Lumpur)

Nikolay Davydenko def. Robin Soderling, 1-6 7-6 (7-1) 6-2
Fernando Verdasco def. Fernando Gonzalez, 6-4 7-5


Toray Pan Pacific Open (Tokyo)

Maria Sharapova def. Jelena Jankovic, 5-2 retired