The Woes Of Being Feli

WILDCARD FOR MAHUT WILDCARD FOR MAHUT WILDCARD FOR MAHUT #wildcardformahut. Yep, that's still happening. Wildcards are due to be announced Tuesday, so get aboard the bandwagon for one last push!

The bandwagon was largely pushed by other people yesterday, as I was incommunicado while taking my younger brother to the Medibank International. It was his first time at an international tennis tournament - though he is, like his sister, a big fan (and unlike his sister, an excellent player) - and the tournament did not disappoint. We were lucky enough to be treated to the entire three hours and twenty minutes of the epic clash between Juan Martin del Potro and Feliciano Lopez.

I really, really feel for Feli Lopez. You come into a tournament, you're seeded, you hope to start off easy, with a qualifier maybe, and hey - you get drawn against a guy ranked #259! Awesome! But oh... hey. You look at his name. Juan Martin del Potro.

Bugger.

And then you play really well! I'm serious, you play REALLY well. The crowd's not especially behind you or anything - there's not many of them anyway, and most of them are supporting your opponent - so this one is all you. Your opponent is directing a few wide into the tramlines - he doesn't seem to have his timing quite right yet - and you are pouncing. You are playing awesome stuff.

But he is a world class player, even if he is a bit down on his luck, and he's sticking with you. All right, you think, I'll just hang on and do it in the tie break. And you do it! You take that first set breaker and then - guess what? You keep playing awesome! But he keeps sticking with you, so you're like, fine, another breaker, I've done this before.

And you bring up match point! ...and he saves it. And you two play an absolutely electrifying tie break. And he gets it.

And then you get to the breaker AGAIN. No one can pick a winner. But he gets you. After a long, LONG time, he gets you. He gets the glory. And what do you get? Upset in the first round. A seeded player, beaten by #259 in the world.

It must suck to be Feli right now.

But seriously, this was an awesome match. You will be hard pressed to watch a better tie break than the one that was played in the second set. It was a small crowd on Ken Rosewall Arena, but I think everyone was pretty fully engaged in that match. It was exciting stuff!

My brother and I also caught the twenty seconds it took for Li Na to beat Anastasia Rodionova (seriously, that was... quick), Stosur/Wickmayer, and some of Ebden and Luczak playing doubles, and all in all, it was a fantastic day - and I was very glad there was no movement on the #wildcardformahut front while I was away! But seriously, it was worth it just for that second set tie break between Lopez and del Potro. That was some tennis right there.

Oh Hi, Captain Obvious

It is absolutely KILLING me that the best match of the women's side so far is all tied up at one set all at the suspension of play. I want to know what happens, damn it!

Henin/Sharapova may not be one of the most immediately obvious of the WTA rivalries, but I think it is certainly one of the most compelling. I will never forget that three hour match they played at the year ending championships a few years back, where Henin got through - or that absolute beatdown MaSha put on JuJu at the AO early the next year. Even when neither is on top of their game, they both play totally watchable tennis when they play each other.

And, I confess, I'm sort of hoping they wear each other out and make Sam Stosur's path that little bit easier... look at me, all parochial. Who woulda thunk.

The winners: Rafa Nadal. Duh. He is putting the beatdown on anyone who so much as looks at him sideways. I know clay isn't Lleyton Hewitt's best surface, but Rafa put him down like a rabid dog. Scary stuff.

A beatdown was also issued by, surprisingly, Jurgen Melzer. Totes did not expect him to beat Ferrer, mostly because I had completely forgotten he existed. I'm pretty sure this is the Djokovic quarter, which means Melzer has a good a chance as any of winning it. Go the Jurgenator.

And from the women, let's talk Sam Stosur, who had a sweetly routine win over Anastasia Pivovarova. And let's also talk Daniela Hantuchova, whom I also always forget about, who triumphed unexpectedly against Yanina Wickmayer. Great stuff from both ladies.

The losers: David Ferrer. Big time. He had what was basically a clear path to the quarters, and he screwed it up and screwed it up good. Like, a screw up of an epic degree. I understand that Jurgen Melzer was playing awesome tennis, but straights, Ferru? Really?

And I have to put Yanina Wickmayer in here as well. I know DaniHani is massively talented, but hello, Yanina, so are you. I guess she's just come off elbow surgery, so I shouldn't be too harsh on her, but I totally thought she was a dark horse for this section of the draw. And I don't like being proven wrong.

Oh look, Captain Obvious has just paid us a visit? You know who was a big-ass loser today at Roland Garros? Andy Roddick. I know he was maybe sick and he doesn't exactly love clay, but he should at least have been able to take a set off Gabashvili. At least.

The disappointments: Juan Carlos Ferrero. I totally picked him to come through his section of the draw, and he did not do me proud, to say the least. You can beat Novak Djokovic is breathing a lot easier (allergies aside) now that the two Spaniards are out of his section. JCF totally had more in him than this.

And Alisa Kleybanova? WTF? I've seen Yaroslava Shvedova play live and she's got some serious game going on, but I thought Alisa would have been able to outclub her. Obviously I was wrong. Well done Slava, I guess.

Oh, and Captain Obvious has just informed me Marion Bartoli should be in here. I guess I never really pay enough attention to her (except to comment on her weird-ass shots) to notice when she loses.

The scraped-in-by-the-skin-of-teeth: Greetings, Nadia Petrova. I am so glad Nadz took out this match, not just because I like her (which I do) but because someone had to kill that damn gold dress. Nadz is super talented and totally deserves this fourth round run. I hope she can make it even further!

And oh hi, Robby Ginepri. I was very disappointed that your opponent JCF lost, but you totally deserved this win. Who woulda thunk you would be the good news story for American mens' tennis from this tournament? Certainly not me.

One to watch: Teimuraz Gabashvili. I know Roddick was not that well and doesn't like clay, but straights, dude? You've got a little sumthin' sumthin' going on if you can pull that one off. This could be his breakthrough tournament (even though it feels like he's been round for a million years...)

However Many Ice Baths...

So we're finally all caught up on second round matches, and it's third round all the way. What is going to be interesting is how this disruption in play affects people. I definitely think it could come into play in the WTA. The ATP... I think it will be more pronounced, purely because it will affect some people and not others. I don't think Rafa, for example, will be bothered at all - if he can come through that match with Verdasco at the AO last year and still win the final, then he'll be OK. Your Andy Murrays, however...? As many ice baths as he takes, I think it's going to be a dicey thing. Opinions?

But without further ado...

The winners: Roger Federer. He had the funhouse open for business against Julian Reister. That second set, which took eighteen minutes... can anyone remember a quicker set? I can't.

Rafa Nadal also. Obviously.

Oleksandr Dolgopolov Jr. Not just because he beat last year's semi finalist Fernando Gonzalez, but because he has one of the best names ever, no exception.

And over in the ladies, you have to go with Serena, who pulverised Julia Goerges. MariKiri, as well, who beat last year's champion Sveta. But I think my fave might beat Chanelle Scheepers, who beat Akgul Amanmuradova. She's into the third round and she has an awesome surname. What more do I need?

The losers: Sveta. Big time. I won't pretend I didn't expect her to lose early on (actually, first round, which is why she's not in the disappointments column) but it's always sad when a defending champ goes out early. I know she hasn't been in form, but I freaking love Sveta when she plays awesome, and I was sort of hoping that she had played herself back into form against Petkovic. But no such luck. And there's a reason MariKiri is in the winners column. I think she just beat Dulko for Upset Queen of the Year.

And it may be a little unfair, but for lack of someone else, I have to mention Fernando Gonzalez. I know he hasn't played in, like, forever, but who is Oleksandr Dolgopolov Jr? (Apart from someone with an awesome name?) He can do better.

The disappointments: I'm not going to go with actual losers here, because there were precious few major upsets yesterday (maybe due to rain), but I have to go with people who went the distance unnecessarily. Yanina Wickmayer, for one - I thought she should be able to put away Sybille Bammer relatively easily, but it was not the case. I have big hopes for Yanina, so hopefully she will do better in future.

And I did not think I would be mentioning his name here, but Robin Soderling. He set himself an impossibly high bar in his first two matches by absolutely annihilating his opponents, so I'm raising my eyebrows at the lack of annihilation. Four sets, Yoker? Really? (Yeah, I know, it's not major. But I'm struggling here.)

The scraped-in-by-skin-of-teeth: So maybe it wasn't really skin of teeth, but I want to talk about it, so I will. I never expected Sam Stosur to have so much first set trouble with Rossana de los Rios. She cleaned her up good in the final two sets, but I was scared there for a bit. Well done, Sam, but don't scare me like that again, please. You are my special favourite, after all.

One to watch: Julian Reister. I don't think he's going to be anything epic, but he played some great forehands against the Federmeister, and I think he really might be a bit of something on the Challenger circuit. There, he could really make some waves.

Dinara Gets Krummed

I don't think there's a whole lot more that can be said about Day 3 other than Dinara, Dinara, Dinara. What a compellingly disappointing performance. I don't know whether the break up with Zeljko has been a good thing or not, but Gaston Etlis needs to get Dinara to a sports psych, stat. I've seen a lot of tennis matches in my time - I've seen your Grosjeans and your Gasquets - and that is one of the single chokiest performances I have ever seen.


The winners: Well, Kimiko Date Krumm, obviously. When you're just about forty and playing on one leg and you beat a former world #1, you've got a little sumthin' sumthin' going on.


Other women that I thought were major winners were Maria Sharapova, who has continued her good form from Strasbourg; Justine (obviously); Anastasia Rodionova, who won her first ever Slam match, and Jarmila Groth ('cause she's Australian). However, I thought the winniest winner among the women yesterday was probably Yanina Wickmayer. She's in that year-after-the-breakthrough phase, but I think people ought to watch out for Yanina. She's got quite a nice draw and she could potentially go a long way.


Over in the boys, I thought David Ferrer and Lleyton Hewitt were probably the best performers over all. (Note: I am judging Rafa by a completely different standard. He was obviously the best player yesterday, but by his own admission, it was not his bestest match ever, even though he won comfortably.)


The losers: Dinara Safina. Obviously. She's going to plummet down the rankings Ivanovic-style here, and it's not going to be pretty. A change is clearly what she needs and she has that in the form of Gaston Etlis - I just hope it begins to pay dividends for her. And that she can fix that mess of a serve. It's crazy.


For the dudes, though we lost players like Juan Monaco and Eduardo Schwank, who are good dirtballers, disappointment of the day was clearly Sam Querrey. He really shouldn't be losing to Ginepri, and he knows it - he left Paris in a fit of pique, leaving his doubles partner in the lurch. And he quit Twitter. Not really impressed with Samurai right now.


The disappointments: I think Rafa was a little disappointed in himself, but it would be totally unfair to place him in this category, so I won't.


I do have to put Carla Suarez Navarro here, because I had hoped for a lot from her. I know she's injured so it isn't her fault, but it is disappointing. She's a lovely clay player with a beautiful backhand. Now she and Martinez Sanchez are both out, I think only Medina Garrigues is flying the flag for the Spanish ladies.


Eduardo Schwank was also disappointing. He's got some moves on clay and he went out to a dude I have never heard of (Blaz Kavcic), retiring in the fourth set when down two sets to one. Didn't see the match so I couldn't even tell you what his injury was, but this is a disappointing result for him.


The-scraped-in-by-skin-of-teeth: Why, hello, Andy Roddick. He looked very nonchalant in his five set win over Jarkko Nieminen and he came perilously close to being bundled out. He hasn't played a match on red clay all season so I'm not surprised he's rusty - and let's face it, Roland Garros is not the tournament closest to his heart. That one is coming up in a few weeks.


Horacio Zeballos, also. He only just made it through 8-6 in the fifth over some dude I have never heard of.


One to watch: Gianni Mina. He may have been routed by the raging bull yesterday, but Mina's going to grow up into something a bit cool. I would not be surprised if he surpasses his doppelganger Gael Monfils...

A Few Moments Too Late

So it finally happened, and not a moment too soon - Wayne Odesnik has been suspended for two years for drugs.

I say 'not a moment too soon' - in reality, it was several moments too late. More than several. A LOT. The minute Odesnik picked up his racquet in Houston, it was too late. I know there's innocent till proven guilty and all that, but the fact is that he had pleaded guilty already in front of a Brisbane court to possession of eight vials of human growth hormone. Use your brain.

With this debacle and then the whole thing with Yanina Wickmayer and Xavier Malisse last year, which would have put serious dents in both their careers when they effectively did nothing, I think the drug rules of our sport might need to be looked at. I'm not sure how much is ITF specific and how much of it comes through WADA, but when Yanina Wickmayer can get suspended for a dodgy password and someone in possession of vast amounts of a banned substance can still play, there is something going on.

But let us just be satisfied now that things are as they should be. Odesnik should not be allowed to play and now he is not. Drugs in sport are an abomination and punishment should be strict (but not, as in the case of the Belgians, stupid).

Bad Luck for Belgium

For many years, Roland Garros was considered the domain of Justine Henin. It was her country. Then she went and retired and Roland Garros became anyone's Slam - Ivanovic and Kuznetsova have been the interim winners. But now she's back...

...or is she?

JuJu has a broken finger, and it seems to me like that is something which could seriously hamper her chances at Roland Garros. That is not the kind of injury you really want to be carrying. I really hope that she can get it all healed up by then, because I really want to see what kind of assault on the title JuJu can launch, but...

And then Kim Clijsters is injured too. Fed Cup has not been kind to Belgium this weekend. I understand Kim could be out for six weeks, which seriously damages, if not totally wipes out, her title challenge at the French, which she has never won. It's beginning to look like Belgium's best hope for the crown this time will not be their comeback queens but rather Yanina Wickmayer.

I don't have much to say on this subject other than this is spectacularly bad luck for Belgium and I hope they both get better. Because Roland Garros is better with these two in it.

Dope

So, doping rules. What's up with them? Because sure as hell am not understanding them.

How is it than when Richard Gasquet was caught having cocaine in his blood - a drug that probably would not enhance his performance at all, however illegal it might be - he was tossed out of the sport until his name had been cleared... but when Wayne Odesnik gets caught with eight vials of human growth hormone, which is definitely a performance enhancing drug, he... plays Houston?

I'm guessing it has something to do with possession vs it actually being in your bloodstream, but come on. Look at the great debacle of Yanina Wickmayer and Xavier Malisse, who were out in the cold for ages. The way I see it, the offenses of Wickmayer, Malisse and Gasquet combined - and, you know what, throw Hingis in there for good measure - are nothing compared to what Odesnik is guilty of here. What Odesnik has done is a serious, serious offence in a clean sport.

So how is it that he's not suspended? If Wickmayer and co are guilty until proven innocent, what's up with the Odesnik ruling?

I have no doubt that if/when Odesnik gets convicted or sentenced or whatever they call it, he will be out on his arse. Andy Roddick said he should be thrown out of tennis and I agree wholeheartedly - and I think a whole lot of the tennis world does too. I don't understand why he is allowed to play at the moment, but the fact stands that he should not be playing. And that's something he should have realised himself. Just because you can play doesn't mean you should.

I bet things are real chilly in the locker room for Odesnik right now...

To Do A Wozniacki

This is a big league women's tournament. It may be traditionally sans Williamses, but we can agree on this, n'cest pas? Indian Wells is a big frigging deal.

And this is anyone's tournament.

Let's look not at who is in, but who is out. Kuznetsova. Azarenka. Sharapova. Henin. Clijsters. Think of a big name in tennis - she's probably goneski. This makes this one of the most open tournaments in forever, and there's a real chance that some total random could come through and win the whole thing. There are a few names left - Jankovic, Wozniacki, Zvonareva - but then there a whole bunch of that second tier down who have the most massive chance in forever to walk off with a massive title. I'm talking Kleybanova. I'm talking Stosur. I'm talking Wickmayer and Martinez Sanchez. This tournament is one of the biggest chances in ages for someone to really announce themselves on the women's tour.

When the big names in men's tennis go out, I find it disappointing. In women's tennis, we're in a place where I find it exciting. We're in a place where someone could do what Wozniacki did at the US Open and make the best of a bad situation , or, alternatively, a place where someone could massively step up to the plate. You might be able to tell that I am massively in favour of Option B. Specifically, I am in favour of Samantha Stosur running away with the entire thing, but it's going to be interesting either way. Fun times.

Meanwhile, over in the dudes, the big names pretty much survived, but they did it differently. Rafael Nadal was in total cruise control mode in his victory over Mario Ancic. Novak Djokovic came within three points of losing to Philipp Kohlschreiber.

Will the real #2 please stand up?

Bad Luck for Lady J

So if I were Jelena Jankovic, I would be in a massive snit right now.

I've been pretty critical of JJ in the past, but she really brought it all to the table in Fed Cup at the weekend. She played some stellar matches to beat first Alisa Kleybanova and then, more tellingly, Svetlana Kuznetsova. And, if we are to believe her website, she came within a hair's breadth of pulling out injured and yet she played and won anyway. Quality work for Lady J.

Ana Ivanovic, on the other hand, has no such excuse. She isn't exactly match tired, given as she managed to win a grand total of a set at this year's Australian Open. She isn't injured, as far as anyone's aware. All she seems to do is lope around on golf courses with Adam Scott, though I presume, she, like, trains and stuff. And she contributed absolutely nothing to the Serbian team on the weekend. She got steamrolled by both Kuznetsova and Kleybanova before dragging Jankovic down with her in the doubles. Who else is on the Serbian team? Couldn't Jankovic have played with a different partner?

It is such a shame, because the Serbian Fed Cup team should be, by all rights, awesome. How did the Ana who won Roland Garros in 2008 and reached the final year before turn into this pale shadow of what she was? What exactly went wrong?

Sigh. Alas for them.

You know who I was impressed with, though? (Apart from Lady J, obviously?) Yanina Wickmayer. Belgium could be such a force in Fed Cup this year if they get Kim and Justine back in the side - or even just one of them, because Yanina is seriously awesome. I really like her chances of breaking into the top ten this year. She has some moves. That match she played against Agnesizka Radwanska has to be the match of the weekend. And Kirsten Flipkens definitely did not disappoint either. Imagine Kim, Justine, Yanina and Flipper making up a Fed Cup team. Now that would be sweet.

Something else that could also be sweet is the Russia/USA match up in the next round. What we should be seeing is some combination of Safina/Dementieva/Kuznetsova/Zvonareva/Sharapova taking on the Williams sisters. What I suspect we'll see is Melanie Oudin vs Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, but I can hope...

Godzilla Is A Forehand

Oh, Dinara. Whenever I think you're getting back to something halfway decent, you go and get injured. It's great for MariKiri to get through to the quarters and all, but it's sad that Safina's finals defence had to end with her limping off the court.

Take care of her, Zeljko.

Match of the day yesterday surely has to go to Roddick and Gonzalez, though Henin and Wickmayer come in a close second. Let's talk Belgians, before I get off the subject of women's tennis altogether. I'm very glad Henin won this match, but Wickmayer is swiftly rising up the ranks of the players I like. She's got serious game, but I think her biggest asset is her intensity. She may have dropped off a touch in the third set, but that was coupled with a lift from Henin so obvious it must have been very discouraging indeed. She's made the US semis and now a fourth round here. I wouldn't be surprised to see her go even deeper at Roland Garros. I think her aggressive game would suit clay very well.

The queen of Roland Garros, Justine, was incredibly impressive. I don't know what's in the water in Belgium, but how do they produce these incredible comebacks from women that have been out of the game for such substantial periods of time? JuJu surely has to be one of the favourites to take the title now - but to get the final eight in itself is absolutely massive!

...though I'm sure she'll be measuring herself against the Clijsters yardstick, which is very demanding.

Also through to the quarters is Petrova, who is looking very, very dangerous - she'll face Henin next in a rematch of their Brisbane first round encounter. Petrova will be wanting to turn it around and she'll have the advantage of having played Henin recently, so I think that match is going to be a blockbuster to watch! The other quarter will be MariKiri vs Zheng Jie... so no matter what happens there, we're getting an unseeded surprise semi finalist!

Over to the boys, and we've set up a blockbuster quarter final with Nadal and Murray - though Roddick and Cilic has the potential to be epic as well. I forgot about del Potro/Cilic when I dubbed Roddick/Gonzalez match of the day before, because Delpo/MMC could definitely claim that title. Both these matches went to five sets and both totally could have gone either way - I was convinced that Gonzalez was going to beat Roddick in four, because he was completely zoning throughout the second, third, and most of the fourth sets. But then Roddick lifted his game right where it mattered, deep in the fourth, and after a handful of set points, managed to clinch it. Gonzo was never the same afterwards - he folded pretty badly in the fifth.

It was an interesting match, watching Larry Stefanki's two most recent prodigies going at each other. Roddick's serve frustrating Gonzo, but not as much as Gonzo's forehand bothered A-Rod. Seriously, that thing is Godzilla. It's terrifying. It could destroy Tokyo with one well placed swipe. And it really is the reason that Gonzo's been around so long, because pre-Stefanki, it was really all he had. Stefanki has certainly developed him into a more complete player - he's five times the player he was before - but the destructive power of the forehand... whoa.

But it's to be seen no more this tournament, with Roddick the victor. I actually think he has a real shot at making the final, even though his draw appears sort of nightmarish - at least he doesn't have to make it through JMDP now. Though, to tell the truth, JMDP, injured as he is, might have been an easier task than Marin Cilic, for whom this quarter final has definitely come at the right time in his career. He's shown a real maturity in his game this tournament, wearing down both Bernard 'whinger' Tomic and JMDP in five, and it'll be interesting to see how he plays Roddick now.

Whichever of these dudes win, I reckon they have a shot against the winner of Nadal/Murray. Nadal, by his own admission, is not feeling especially confident, and if Roddick or Cilic zone, I think they are very capable of wearing down Murray, especially if Rafa's been running him around the court for hours. But whatever happens, Rafa/Muzz should be an epic match - and I think it's the last time we'll see them play in the quarters for a loooooooooooong time...

Jodi's Epic Tennis Adventure 2.8 - Why Tennis Needs Gossip Girl

Well, it is the final day of my epic tennis adventure... something which I would like to forget, because I have loved every second of it. If only I could be a professional tennis writer instead of a public servant. I would give anything for that to be a reality. So if any professional tennis writers need an apprentice... call me.

I write this from my hotel room, watching Rafa Nadal take out a ballboy on TV in his not-so-secret desire to be a soccer player. I tried to get tickets to this match but, alas, failed... oh well. I have seen both Rafa and Kohli live before and I suppose it is someone else's turn now! Though on this match - this is sort of live-blogging, I guess - Philipp Kohlschreiber would be awesome if he could only convert break points. And Rafa needs to stop doing those Gael Monfils splits. I've never seen him do them before this tournament - noticed it when I saw him play Luczak on Monday - and it seriously cannot be good for him. I mean, he must know how often Gael gets injured. And it's not like his legs have been stunningly healthy of late either.

But enough of what I am watching on TV (that way I can pretend that Clijsters' loss to Petrova NEVER HAPPENED). More on what I did today.

I opened the day watching Caroline Wozniacki practice for a bit, before settling in with some lunch and a glass of wine to catch a bit of Safina on the big screen - who, despite playing on the big arenas, is flying totally under the radar, and I think it is doing her the world of good. Sure, she hasn't faced any major tests yet... but remember the US Open. She got taken all the way by Olivia Rogowska and then lost to Petra Kvitova. She's into the round of sixteen without dropping a set, and that is very respectable. I still wouldn't pick her to win the tournament or anything, but I don't think she's going to embarass herself. Which is new and exciting for her, much as I hate to admit it.

I saw some of her practice yesterday, and she and Zeljko are as in each others' faces as they ever have been. There was a shaking of the racquet under Zeljko's nose and a whole lot of shouting. It is relationships like these that make it clear to me just how badly tennis needs a Gossip Girl style blog. 'Spotted: D and Z, passion on court, passion off court'.

Yes, I have this pet theory that Dinara and Zeljko are having an affair. Yes, I am very aware I am miles off base.

And tennis totally needs an insider to start this blog IMMEDIATELY. A player would be ideal, but a coach, a physio... actually, you know who would be great? A masseuse. They must hear about the woes of all the players. 'Rumour has it that Marcos is Karolina's new Sprem'. 'Is MariKiri angling for a proposal from Bigor?'

This needs to happen. If only someone would pay for me to travel on the tour around the world, I'd be completely happy to do it myself...

But back to tales of What I Did Today. After catching some Dinara and then some Justine, I headed off to Court 16 for Roger's 1pm practice sesh. I am now the owner of not one but two signed caps, one RF cap, one RG cap. RG was courtesy of Tuesday, RF today, and yes, in case you're wondering, Roger is very pretty close up. ('Spotted: swooning fans at Roger practice session, Mirka somehow completely unthreatened'... okay, maybe that's not newsworthy.)

After I had finished hyperventilating, I headed to Margaret Court Arena for a couple of afternoon matches. I caught the last set and a half of Wickmayer/Errani, and despite it being a WTA match and thus error-strewn, it was very entertaining. Both these players are aggressive wheeler-dealers, and that is always good to watch. There were some absolutely exquisite winners from both ladies, and I enjoyed it a lot. Wickmayer won in the end - she'll face Justine Henin in the next round - and she is looking very good. This will be a very interesting battle of the Belgians, mark my words.

After this match, I sat through all four sets of Isner/Monfils. I confess, I kind of understand what the big deal is about Monfils and why people like him, but he leaves me cold. Maybe it's because his coach, Roger Rasheed, is such an enormous douchecanoe. Maybe it's because he's always injured and I forget about him a lot. But I am just not in Camp Gael.

And then John Isner played at Hopman Cup, and that generally endears me to players a lot. As I discussed with Dootsiez afterwards, big servers usually = totally boring, but Isner has some real game to match his serve, especially in the volley area. This was a totally great match... albeit bittersweet, because it was the last match of my Australian Open adventure.

Every year my tennis tour gets longer and longer. I took in four major cities this year - Perth, Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne. Will I do it all again next year? You bet your bottom dollar. Will it be even bigger and better? YES YES YES... if I can afford it!

Sydney Also Gets Wild

More wildcard news - from Sydney this time, where Casey Dellacqua has been given a wildcard into the Medibank International. She's the second card recipient to be announced after Justine Henin, and it's not exactly surprising - much as I would wish that some of the younger kids would be given opportunities, their time will come. This is a good leg up for Casey on her comeback - and I guess she's lucky coming back around the Australian swing, because she'd find it tough to get this wealth of cards otherwise.

You just wait. You can bet your bottom dollar that the other women's card for Sydney will go to Alicia Molik, the second she expresses any desire to play the event... though she's playing Hobart, now that I think of it, so we'll see someone a little different. You've got to think it will be Olivia Rogowska - though she might get pipped at the post by Yanina Wickmayer, if the tournament director in Sydney is a big softie. Though if I were Rogowska and that was the case, I'd be pissed off. Rogowska definitely deserves a card somewhere, and with Justine Henin sucking up all these wildcards, a lot of her opportunities have disappeared.

But now that I think of it, Rogowska might have been carded into Hobart as well, which means she's out of Sydney, being as they are on the same week. That opens the door for someone like Monika Wejnert or Shannon Golds. That could be fun.

It's the last day before tennis starts - it's New Year's Day here, though not quite in Abu Dhabi yet, where things will kick off with the annual cashcow exo. Bring it on! I am totally sick of the off season.

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...

Computer Problems =/= Crystal Meth

Let's get the actual tennis out of the way for starters. Just about everything came up Swiss in Basel overnight - Novak Djokovic took out Stan Wawrinka, but it's smooth sailing for one Mr R Federer, who made short work of Evgeny Korolev, and for his bestie Marco Chiudinelli the Resurgent, who also made short work of Richard Gasquet. Eminently satisfactory. It looks on track to be a Federer/Djokovic final and that would be pretty fun to watch... though not as fun as watching two childhood mates battle it out! I'm sure a lot of Swiss folks would love to see Roger vs Marco.

Everything fell the way it was supposed to in Valencia, pretty much - Gilles Simon was the only one who fell that, seedtastically speaking, probably shouldn't have, but he was playing Mikhail Youzhny, who has been made of awesome of late, so that's hardly surprising. Murray, Kolya and Nando all live to fight another day. Fun times, fun times.

And Bali is still as WTF? as ever - except for one thing. Vera Dushevina has been brought in as an alternate to replace Yanina Wickmayer. Why? Because the Flemish Doping Authority has banned her for one year, effective immediately. Same with her countryman Malisse.

I confess that the Malisse ban doesn't bother me as much - not because his circumstances were any more or less dodgy or anything, but because he's getting on and the better part of his career is definitely behind him. But Yanina Wickmayer? Title-winning, US Open semifinalist teenager Yanina Wickmayer? This could derail her whole career.

And the reason for the ban? She failed to report her whereabouts for testing three times over eighteen months. She claims this is due to a dodgy password, and technology being what it is, I see no reason why she shouldn't be believed. There's not a whiff of drugs about the girl. And three times over eighteen months? I could understand her getting a warning, or a slap on the wrist, or even a fine - but a one year ban is much, much too harsh. A one month ban, maybe, if you were being really mean - it'd rule her out of Bali but she'd be back by the Aussie Open. But this is frankly ridiculous.

The case of Malisse is also ridiculous - I can't remember what his offence was, but it was something else stupidly minor - but it doesn't tug at my heartstrings the way Yanina's does. She seriously has her whole career ahead of her, and this is not going to help. One can't help but think that is the backlash to the Agassi thing (about which I still have not been able to bring myself to write) and if it is, then that is stupid, reactive and unfair. Just because Yanina Wickmayer had computer problems doesn't mean she was off doing crystal meth somewhere.

Both Wickmayer and Malisse are planning to appeal, and I seriously hope these rubbish bans get overturned. Sure, drugs in sport is a big issue. However, tennis - whatever Andre Agassi might write - is pretty clean now. The biggest scandal we've had of late has been Richard Gasquet, and his poison of choice was cocaine, which isn't exactly performance enhancing. And he got off with, in the end, a slap on the wrist. If Wickmayer and Malisse's bans get upheld when they weren't guilty of anything more than being a bit cavalier with reporting, with no evidence they were actually doing drugs at the this time, then that is absolutely stupid. Slap on the wrist, tell them they were naughty and not to do it again - but you can't destroy someone's career over a password that didn't work.


Today's Results

Valencia Open 500 (Valencia)

Andy Murray def. Albert Montanes, 6-4 6-2
Nikolay Davydenko def. Guillermo Garcia Lopez, 6-4 7-6 (7-3)
Fernando Verdasco def. Tommy Robredo, 6-3 6-2
Mikhail Youzhny def. Gilles Simon, 6-4 6-4


Davidoff Swiss Indoors Basel (Basel)

Roger Federer def. Evgeny Korolev, 6-3 6-2
Novak Djokovic def. Stanislas Wawrinka, 3-6 7-6 (7-5) 6-2
Marco Chiudinelli def. Richard Gasquet, 6-1 6-3
Radek Stepanek def. Marin Cilic, 4-6 6-3 6-3


Commonwealth Bank Tournament of Champions (Bali)

Marion Bartoli def. Shahar Peer, 6-3 6-2
Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez def. Samantha Stosur, 7-6 (7-4) 7-5
Vera Dushevina def. Anabel Medina Garrigues, 2-6 6-1 7-5
Sabine Lisicki def. Melinda Czink, 6-2 6-7 (1-7) 6-4

Sam Slams It

She did it! She finally did it! After an awesomely fantastic breakthrough year, Sam Stosur has finally won her first title.

Now that makes me happy.

Sure, Osaka's not the most massive title in the history of the world, but it's all Sam's now. She really was overdue for this and I can't think of anyone else who deserves it more. Well done, Slammin' Sammy! May this be the beginning of a veritable flood of titles and general awesomeness!

I was also very pleased with the result of Linz, which saw US Open surprise package Yanina Wickmayer take out the title, beating Petra Kvitova in the final. She's got a whole lot of talent - and an awesome story, as we recall from those pressers in New York - and it's good to see her follow up her great run there with a bang. Looks like we might just have a Belgian trifecta at the beginning of next year - I doubt Wickmayer's going to lie down and let Clijsters and Henin take all the glory!

And then we have Kolya, Mr Cellophane himself. He played absolutely wonderfully to take out the Rafinator and there ain't much more to say than that. Is this the start of a Nalbandian-esque run? I don't know. It doesn't matter, really. But I am very glad that Kolya has another one of those glass shields to add to his Miami trophy. A dude as consistent as him deserves some pay off every once in a while. So awesome work, Kolya!


Today's Results

Shanghai ATP Masters 1000 (Shanghai)

Nikolay Davydenko def. Rafael Nadal, 7-6 (7-3) 6-3


Generali Ladies Linz (Linz)

Yanina Wickmayer def. Petra Kvitova, 6-3 6-4


HP Open (Osaka)

Samantha Stosur def. Francesca Schiavone, 7-5 6-1

Brouhaha

Whoa.

I'm not that old, but I've been following tennis for a very significant portion of my life and I have never, ever, EVER seen anything like this.

The scene: Kim Clijsters vs Serena Williams. Clijsters up a set and leading 6-5 in the second. Williams serving. 15-30.

First serve - fault.

Second serve - foot fault.

Whether or not it actually was a foot fault is debatable, but Serena certainly didn't think it was. She marched to within six feet of the linesperson, started waving her racquet and saying something incomprehensible, very, very mad. Which is understandable, given as it was sort of an important point and all.

Up gets the linesperson and reports what was said to the umpire.

Out comes the tournament referee.

A conference. With shouting.

Serena Williams is defaulted. Kim Clijsters is through to the final.

I have never, ever, ever seen anything like it.

I don't know if it was a 'hey, you threatened to kill the linesperson' (which is what the linesperson reported) or a simple point penalty (Serena received a racquet abuse warning earlier in the match) which came at the worst possible time. But this was terrible. It was a shocking example of behaviour from Serena and a bizarre end to the match, and you know who I feel sorry for? Kim Clijsters. She had two match points and chances are she would have converted on one of them anyway, but this is not the way she wanted to win this match. This is not the way at all.

I'll be interested to see how this plays out in the media and what Serena has to say. I understand that she was angry but her behaviour was genuinely terrible and I think she should be extremely ashamed. I don't know if she deserved to lose the match because of it but if it was a point penalty I support it 100%. If that is the case, Serena will reap what she has sown.

One thing is certain, though. We are going to have a totally random winner of this US Open. Kim Clijsters, the comeback queen and Belgian sweetheart - will this brouhaha affect her? How will the crowd respond to her? And she'll be facing Danish teenager Caroline Wozniacki, who cut down Yanina Wickmayer three and three... will her defensive wall be enough to penetrate the defenses of Kim Possible.

But one thing is certain. Not one person in the world could have predicted today's events. Not even close.


Today's Results

US Open (Flushing Meadows)

Men's Draw

Rafael Nadal def. Fernando Gonzalez, 7-6 (7-4) 7-6 (7-2) 6-0


Women's Draw

Kim Clijsters def. Serena Williams, 6-4 7-5
Caroline Wozniacki def. Yanina Wickmayer, 6-3 6-3

Brava Belgium!

If there is one nation on the earth that is tennis-happy right now, it has to be Belgium.

Once upon a time it was pretty normal for Belgium to have two women in the semis of a major, but ever since the retirements, one year apart, of Clijsters and Henin, Belgium has been pretty much reliant on the Rochus brothers and Kristof Vliegen for its tennis jollies... which means it really hasn't been that merry. But would you look at this now - here we are again. Two Belgian women in the final four of a major.

Kim Clijsters is no stranger to the semis, though she hasn't been here for a while, what with that whole baby/retirement thing she had going on. This has got to be the best comeback I've ever seen - I can't think of one better. Martina Hingis, eat your heart out. You've got to think that whoever wins the clash between her and Serena will win the tournament... and you'd pretty much put your money on Serena, but if anyone can give her a run for her money, then it's Kim. She took out one Williams sister. If Serena blinks, you can bet Kim'll pounce.

But I wanted to focus a little more on the other Belgian woman in the semis, someone you don't really hear much about - Yanina Wickmayer. She's come through the draw very quietly, making the best of a quarter that was pretty much totally deseeded by the second round and definitely by the third, and although she hasn't been pulling major upsets, it's because she hasn't had the chance yet. She had a great win over Kateryna Bondarenko today, who was coming off a double bagel, and will go on to face the winner of Oudin/Wozniacki in the semis. Either opponent, you would think, is a winnable match. That side of the draw is so wide open it is not even funny.

Yanina gave a lovely press conference the other day where we got to hear a bit of her life story, and I have to say, her dad sounds like the best tennis dad ever. Her mother died when she was young and Yanina wanted to play tennis, and so her dad packed up their life and let her. Not because he was pressuring her - but because he wanted to make her happy. How lovely is that? Good on you, Mr Wickmayer, and good on you, Yanina, for making it to your first Slam semi final. If we were to see you in the final, then you know what? I think I'd pull for you.

But in conclusion - brava, Belgium. You have two fine ladies in the semis - I hope you are very proud!


Today's Results

US Open (Flushing Meadows)

Men's Draw

Novak Djokovic def. Fernando Verdasco, 7-6 (7-2) 1-6 7-5 6-2


Women's Draw

Yanina Wickmayer def. Kateryna Bondarenko, 7-5 6-4

Russian Kryptonite

All of Russia must be cursing Melanie Oudin. This is the fourth Russian in a row she's taken out - and I bet she's praying for Svetlana Kuznetsova to come up with the goods against Caroline Wozniacki to make it Russian #5. Unfortunately she can't play Russians ALL the way to the final... but she can get a good way there.

Anyway, we've talked a lot about the seeds in the women's draw falling, but we haven't talked much about the players that have got through, with a few notable exceptions, like Clijsters and Oudin - and Serena, I suppose, the only one of the top five seeds to remain in the draw. Everyone's talking about how it could be a final between two unseeded players, but two players that haven't received much attention are the two seeds who are facing off tonight - Svetlana Kuznetsova and Caroline Wozniacki. Both are ranked within the top ten and you've got to think that whichever one of them comes out on top tonight will make the final, whatever Melanie Oudin has to say about that.

It's pretty rare for two players of this calibre to get swept under the carpet, but it's happened. Caro shares the teen queen crown with Victoria Azarenka, and though she's underperformed at the Slams thus far, she's got some serious game. And Svetlana Kuznetsova won Roland Garros this year. How did we forget about these two?

I know Oudin is the fairy tale, but I'm calling it. Either Sveta or Caro will make the final, where they will play Serena. Le prediction de Jodi d'official, excuse my franglaise.

And a shout out to two other players in the quarters, one of whom will be in the semis. I don't think Yanina Wickmayer vs Kateryna Bondarenko is quite the match that the tournament organisers would have been hoping for, but big kudos to both of these girls for making it this far. Awesome work.

And speaking of awesome work - Roger Federer's into the quarters. Again. He looked brilliant beating Tommy Robredo - I'm hoping his third round match against Lleyton Hewitt was his token yippy match and it's all smooth sailing from here on in. It'd be great if he won and Clijsters won on the women's side - victories for the parental units!


Today's Results

US Open (Flushing Meadows)

Men's Draw

Roger Federer def. Tommy Robredo, 7-5 6-2 6-2
Fernando Verdasco def. John Isner, 4-6 6-4 6-4 6-4
Robin Soderling def. Nikolay Davydenko, 7-5 3-6 6-2 retired


Women's Draw

Kateryna Bondarenko def. Gisela Dulko, 6-0 6-0
Melanie Oudin def. Nadia Petrova, 1-6 7-6 (7-2) 6-3
Yanina Wickmayer def. Petra Kvitova, 4-6 6-4 7-5

Wimbledictions (For The Ladies)

Wimbledon starts tomorrow! How quickly it has crept up on us! And I, for one, am totally excited - this media saturation it's got going on is totally infectious! So without further ado: we've done our Wimbledictions for the menfolks, let's do it for the ladies:

*

The top quarter is the Safina quarter, and I get the feeling she would rather not have been seeded first. The seeding committee was extraordinarily kind to both her and her brother, but I think she'd rather have been seeded a little lower and tried to fly under the radar a bit, after the pressure cooker that was Paris. She could run into Szavay in the third round and that could be a tough one for her if she's feeling under pressure - here's hoping that she's settled a bit.

*

She lost in the semis of s'Hertogenbosch, and what was most remarkable about that tournament was that the omnipresent Zeljko was away for a lot of it as his daughter was sick (I think) so she was flying blind. To me, this might have been the best possible thing for her. To not have his face in her box must have been hard, but after those stares that she was delivering during the Roland Garros final I think it's good for her not to have him around sometimes. Here's hoping she delivers at the big W.

*

But I'm going to pick teen queen Caro Wozniacki to come through this side. She was impressive in Eastbourne and I see no reason why she can't back it up. All the way to the semis with her, I think - though I'll be cheering for Dinara. I can't help myself.

*

The second quarter belongs to Venus. Sure, she's performed pretty rubbish in both Australia and France, but she's a different creature on the grass. I would have made her the top seed and I know I'm not the only one. There is very little doubt in my mind that she will win this quarter, provided she is fully fit. She has both the Serbian girls in here but I don't see either of them pulling a threat - strangely enough, because I never find myself saying this, I think her biggest threats are the Aussie girls. Stosur and Dokic are both in this quarter and they've both performed on the big stage this year. I wouldn't be surprised to see one of them go deep at all. But I don't see anyone coming through Venus.

*

The third quarter is probably the most open, and I'm having real trouble picking a semi finalist here. I'm tempted to go with Dominika Cibulkova, because I'm not seeing Dementieva or Zvonareva having a big impact, unless Zvonareva has really come back off injury firing on all cylinders. This is really anyone's quarter.

*

So I'm going to go with someone random. I'm going to pick Yanina Wickmayer, who made the final in s'Hertogenbosch, where she went down to tiny Tammy Tanasugarn. She's proven she can play on grass and she's in form, which is more than anyone else has done. But I would like to point out that I am not confident here, and that anyone of the 32 players in this quarter is a potential winner.

*

Last quarter = Serena. I don't have any doubts there. Azarenka, Sharapova and Pavlyuchenkova are possible challengers - this is definitely the strongest quarter, in my opinion, but if Serena's firing, I don't see anyone coming through her. End of story.

*

So that makes:

*

Semis: Venus Williams vs. Caroline Wozniacki, Serena Williams vs. Yanina Wickmayer

Final: Venus Williams vs. Serena Williams

Winner: Miss Williams

*

Yeah, I can't pick which Williams I think will win. I'm leaning towards Venus, but you'd be a fool to ever count Serena out...

*

Until tomorrow! Until WIMBLEDON!