Upping the Awesome Level

Well, well, well, Vika Azarenka seems to be pulling herself together. And so does Maria Sharapova. I am going to be very interested to see how this final tomorrow turns out.

Both of these ladies have been spectacularly disappointing this year - more so Vika, really, as MaSha sort of does still have that injury comeback thing going for her, I suppose. Both ladies have incredible amounts of potential - slam winning, I would argue. (In MaSha's case, this isn't even an argument - it's a fact). And so it's nice to see them back on track.

I'm definitely not Victoria Azarenka's biggest fan, but she really did bring something to the game. She has a particularly brand of fierce emotional tennis that is somewhere between compelling and disturbing. When she redlines her game, I think just about anyone would be hard pressed to beat her - Serena Williams from the Australian Open 2009 would agree with me on this one. But she hasn't found that redline so far this year.

Until now.

I'm annoyed she took out Sam Stosur, obviously, but I want the US Open to be interesting, damn it, and that means having as many of the top ladies in form as possible. And so if Vika and MaSha can bring their best games to the table, I say bring it and bring it HARD. Let's see how much awesome we can get in place come September.

Kazakhstani Wonderkids

Kazakhstan really knows what they're about with the players they're purchasing. I think it's a little weird that they actually have to buy their tennis players, but whoever's picking them out has a damn good eye.

Yaroslava Shvedova. She's pretty awesome. Just made Slam quarters. Win #1 to the Kazakhstani tennis buyers. Andrey Golubev. Just won his first title. Win #2. Evgeny Korolev. Definitely, I would argue, on his way up. A bit early to call, but I'm going to say win #3.

And now some other Kazakhstani tennis player, of whom I have never heard, has gone and beat Mikhail Youzhny in Gstaad. Yuri Schukin knocked out the top seed in three sets. Now that is a bit all right.

I know nothing about Schukin and so I can't actually say anything about the match or anything, you know, of substance. But I'm beginning to think that whoever is picking out players for Kazakhstan has a SERIOUSLY good eye - and while it's inevitable they'll get some duds, just look at their current stable. And maybe Yuri Schukin is the next Kazakhstani wonderkid.

Oh, and the top three seeds got knocked out in Umag. On the same day. Davydenko got beaten two and one. Now there's someone who needs to lift his game.

Bobbing To The Surface

A name that is popping up with increasing regularity, I am finding, is Kevin Anderson. Has anyone else noticed this? This boy from South Africa is still under the radar, but he's a little less under, if that makes any sense.

The first time I encountered Anderson - encounters, she says, like she's actually met the guy - was in Miami a couple of years ago, where he put out Djokovic in a real stunner. He then proceeded to do pretty much fat nothing for a couple of years, but if someone is going to put a top guy, even if nothing ends up coming of it, you know there is some serious talent going on there.

He's playing Querrey as we speak, and they've split sets. Now, we must remember that Querrey won the US Open series last year, so this is no mean feat. I couldn't tell you exactly where, but I know I've seen his name popping up a lot this year. Has anyone else noticed this? Or am I just having flashbacks? Or is it because he's South African and there was that whole World Cup thing?

Anyways.

A name that is definitely NOT popping up is Simone Bolelli. Well, I suppose it is popping up, but not in a good way. It's in the losing-in-the-first-round way. And if that keeps happening, well... soon it will be in the qualifying way.

Yet More Andrey

So I'm pretty sure when I was all 'blah blah Brad Gilbert' yesterday, I probably should have been talking about Darren Cahill instead. Oops. My bad. But my main point still stands - ain't nothing wrong with Murray's game. Is all in Murray's mind. And he needs a coach who is good at that stuff, n'est-ce pas?

Anyway.

My boy Andrey Golubev lost in Gstaad, but considering he did win Hamburg the week before, I think I can give him a pass on this one. Did you know he jumped about fifty ranking spots and is now in the thirties? That is something fierce, yo. If he plays his cards right, he can totally be seeded at the US Open. Now wouldn't that be something!

But you know what he has to do if he wants to be taken seriously?

Stop playing on freaking clay when the claycourt season is over and it's all about the US. And you too, Nikolay Davydenko - are you listening?

I've ranted about this ad nauseam, so I won't go on about it again - but I mean, come ON, guys. What is the point of playing on clay at this time of the year? I just do not get it - not one little bit!

Oh, and in closing this post of randomness, I would like to give a shout out to my new fave doubles team. Janko Tipsarevic and Feli Lopez, please play doubles together for always, just for the Twitter fun times. You guys are made of pure awesome, covered in a luscious awesome sauce!

Coaching Carousel

It's a coaching merry-go-round! No sooner has the Roginator picked up Paul Annacone to add to his mighty team, but Andy Murray dumps Miles MacLagan, whom he's been with for, like, a thousand years. And I don't know if this is certain or anything, but it sounds like he's about to take up with Brad Gilbert.

I can't decide if Gilbert will be a really great fit for Muzz or a terrible one. I suppose it all depends on whether or not Gilbert believes Murray's game really is 'winning ugly'.

I think Murray could definitely use a change. He's been in a funk since Australia - ain't no one can deny that - and a fresh perspective could re-enliven him. It's exactly the same principle as Federer. Something's not quite right, so bring in a pair of fresh eyes. And I think Murray could really benefit from the mental side of the 'winning ugly' principles - you don't have to be smart or pretty about it if that's not working, you just have to get it done.

And at the end of the day, there's a LOT of players that go through a Brad Gilbert stage.

But what I'd be leery of is someone actually messing with Murray's game. That junkball thing he does is so effective when his head's in the game and he's pretty much got everything down all over the court - you could finesse and you could tweak, but if Gilbert went all Todd Martin/Novak Djokovic on Murray I think we could see some serious badnesses.

In short, Murray doesn't need someone messing with his game. He needs someone to straighten out his mind. Is Gilbert the man for the job? Is he, indeed, the man Murray has hired? Let's wait and see.

The Great Game of Wait and See

So Paul Annacone, huh.

Everyone seems to have a lot to say about this whole - rather sudden - development, and I feel a bit left out, because I don't really have too much of an opinion.

I never really followed Sampras that much - I was too young - and so I can't really make any grandiose sweeping statements on how Annacone affected Pete's career or anything. Basically all I've got against that aspect of the story is that Sampras = pretty good, so Annacone must have a little something something going on.

But Federer is such a different player.

What I do know is this - Federer's at his lowest rank in a number of years. Something is clearly not working for him - whether it's the niggling injury he seems to be carrying or whether he's just in a funk. The best way to change things up and make a difference? Change something around you. So regardless of who Annacone is, I think this is a good move from Roger's perspective - even just psychologically. Things around him are different, and so he is different. I just hope Severin doesn't get too offended.

As to how the partnership will work out...? I have no grandiose predictions. I don't know enough. All I can say is this: wait and see.

Amazing Andrey

Everything I said yesterday about Andrey Golubev I want to say again. But more.

I knew you could do it, Andrey! Who was it that picked you out at the beginning of the year and said 'watch this kid'? It might have been a bunch of people, but one of them was me. This obviously shows tremendous foresight and insight and other kinds of -sight on my behalf.

But enough on how awesome I am. Let's talk about how awesome you are!

Clearly more kids should train on courts that have no room behind the baseline, because I think that has given you some really excellent habits - like the way you take the ball ridiculously early. And I mean ridiculously - when you're on fire, Andrey, and you're hitting the lines, there's just no way to compete with that. You have the capacity to outplay just about anyone, if you have your day. You're just that kind of guy.

I am so, so proud of you for winning your first title. Don't feel that you have to be this year's Juan Martin del Potro and win four on the trot or anything... but if you did that, I wouldn't be miffed. Just keep on winning matches, Andrey. Keep on hitting the lines. Keep on taking the ball early and making everyone really, really scared of you. Because you know what, Andrey? You have the potential to be something else entirely.