[dOotsiez]

And this is news to me, but apparently Rafa is sporting SHORT SLEEVES! I miss his trademark sleeveless! lol. And also, Andy Murray is playing well despite the stomach virus? I'm so behind in the tennis world because I had no clue Andy Murray was so high up in the ranks! I don't know why it's such a shocker, I mean, he was in the finals at the USO for goodness' sake! (Ashamed to admit in this forum of tennis lovers, but I've only been keeping tabs of the GS tournys... Er... ehehehe)

You really are behind, tsk tsk
Murray became No 4 in the world after the US Open, and Nike finally persuaded Rafa to wear sleeves just before the Australian Open. Apparently, the company and his team thinks he needs to "man up". Personally I don't know what they're talking about. The guy looks like he lives on testosterone.

This might sound strange, but has anyone SEEN the men's doubles draw? HOLY MOSES......if Federer/Allegro gets past Bryan/Bryan first round, they face Nadal/Lopez. I think Allegro and Lopez should just walk off the court and let Fed and Rafa battle it out. Aside from that, Tsonga's playing doubles with Ancic, Gasquet with Wawrinka, del Potro with Nalbandian. Half a dozen of the top players are all playing doubles, did I miss something?

Gotta feel for the Bryans though - I don't think Federer/Allegro was what they had in mind when they saw that they drew a wildcard. LOL.

EDIT// WOOHOO! I topped a page. Pictures to celebrate!

who's your daddy?

[wonderbang]

who's your daddy?

Damn Roger...you have abnormal tennis AND reproductive skills? The pregnancy news just got out!


As for the doubles, I'm guessing the current economic recession isn't just affecting us normal people....even tennis stars have to pick up a second job.

[leftys_rock]

^Dunno if it'll help that much anyways since honestly speaking doubles doesn't pay that much compared to singles. xD

[dOotsiez]

^ LOL perhaps the ATP got all their top seeds together in a concerted effort to promote doubles tennis. Or perhaps all these guys have their eyes on Wimbledon and want to fine tune their volleys before the clay season. Who knows, but it's plain weird.

Urgh and I'm sick and tired of ranting on about women's tennis. But honestly - Dementieva, JJ, and Kuznetsova all out in their respective first matches. This is not just pathetic, it's friggin tragic.

[leftys_rock]

^Ugh, as if the state of the WTA couldn't be worse. I will be QUITE depressed if Safina becomes #1 in the world so hopefully somebody can stop her. (sorry to those of you who like her, but I just CAN'T see her as the #1 in the world with her game and attitude, although both have become much better within the last year)

[loveprint]

^
*Raises hand*

So Rog is playing Karlovic tomorrow around 10am Syd time? Eh, hope he does okay. I know I say this a lot, but I'm thiiiis close to being capped so I have to avoid downloading and livestreaming so I can't watch his match. Boo. But that means I also missed his last match against Gicquel. Did anybody watch that? How was he? His last match was at AO so I'm interested to know how he's holding up.

[dOotsiez]

^ Well you must then engage in a fascinating exercise I call "scoreboard-watching", LOL.

I watched the match against Gicquel. It was actually not as close a match as the scoreline would suggest, Federer served well and I don't think Gicquel even got to a deuce on Federer's serve the entire match, let alone a break point. Other than that, the forehand wasn't really working, but it didn't affect him that much. He volleyed well, moved well. Gicquel had a massive serve which was why the scoreline seemed quite close.

Lefty - I agree with you about Safina. She's a bag of neurosis, that girl. I like the Williamses so I hope Serena stays where she is, she's not defending a whole lot for the clay season, which helps. I don't know about Jelena Jankovic these days though, she seems to have freaked out about her own success. Let's hope Maria makes a good return, and girls like Wozniacki and Azarenka step up to save the WTA from complete decapitation.

[loveprint]

^
That is so not fun, though. Kind of have to imagine what play would look like, ey? Though, I remember following Rog's match against Tipsarevic last year at the AO through live scores even though it was on TV cause I think it was broadcast about.. half a minute late on TV and it really frustrated me. xD

Another day of high first serve points won for Fed. 94%. The match against Gicquel was around that percentage too, if I remember correctly. I totally forgot about Rog's match today, even after mentioning it last night. Eh. =_=;;

Yup, even though I'm a Safina fan, I'm happy for Serena to stay up there.

[dOotsiez]

^ yeah the service percentage and percentage of points won on serve were both fantastic. I can't figure out whether it's Karlovic and Gicquel both being a very bad returners or Federer serving extremely well. I suppose we'll know when Federer plays Gonzalez.

Geez what a draw he's got. Gonzalez for the R16, and then possibly Verdasco for the QF and Murray for the SF. Kinda wish Djokovic was in his half now.

[souslesun]

^ So how was Federer yesterday? Aside from his serving working for him? Forehand, backhand, net play? It's kind of frustrating to watch him these days. I've been looking at his clips from youtube and I feel like he's missing a lot of shots he used to be able to easily make? He's against Gonzo who he usually has no trouble against right? I remember he beat him at the 07 AO. The dude doesn't even have a coach, but I seriously wish he'd invest in one...

I caught the Murray-Mathieu match and he played well. I'm really shocked at how well he's playing. He got bulkier too. I remember thinking he wouldn't last because of how skinny I thought he was. O___O I love his backhand. HAHA XD Although my mom & dad hate him because he reminds them of the Hulk... lol. My parents are die-hard Roger Federer fans.

Unfortunately, I haven't been keeping up with the women's side of things.... heh...

You really are behind, tsk tsk
Murray became No 4 in the world after the US Open, and Nike finally persuaded Rafa to wear sleeves just before the Australian Open. Apparently, the company and his team thinks he needs to "man up". Personally I don't know what they're talking about. The guy looks like he lives on testosterone.

He needs to man up??!! AHAHAHAHAHAHAH. OMG that's the funniest thing I've ever heard. I agree with you. He does look like he lives on testoterone. LOL my gosh, that's hilarious. Rafa looks better in his sleeveless. I do not like the short sleeves AT ALL. >__<

[dOotsiez]

^ Even Federer says that he doesn't know if his forehand's working yet, simply because he hasn't had to use it much. When he's gotten into a rally against Karlovic or Gicquel, he's usually won the point, but that's more because those two players are both serve dominant, and don't rally much anyway. I suppose we should know what his baseline game is like after the match against Gonzo, but he's been volleying well this tournament.

I agree with you about the sleeves - Rafa is "Rafa" in sleeveless. I don't know why they felt the need to change a look he's trademarked. And I like your parents, they have good taste!

[wonderbang]

What's in the water in Serbia? Suddenly all of their players are falling like flies!

[dOotsiez]

^ I know huh? This time last year, they looked like the new "Russia" of tennis. One fatal weakness - mindlessness.

EDIT// Woohoo! Federer won in 3.

[wonderbang]

I thought China was the new "Russia"......oh wait, that's only on one side....

I watched a clip of an interview with Jie Zheng on why China can't produce top ATP players. Her response, simple and tactful, "they're not big enough." LOL

Anyways, no Williams, no Sharapova, Serbians are gone......seems like the women's side is a circus side act this week. Miaaaaami!

[souslesun]

What's happening with the Serbian players?

I love Jie Zheng after I saw her in Wimbledon last year! She's so adorable! I love her little preparation thing she does whenever she receives serves. haha. She also for some odd reason reminds me of Justine Henin, but my mom says no way. And it's true, I haven't seen any really "big" Chinese players. =T I wish Korea had some good players, but alas, we're stuck with Kim Hyung Taek who isn't even that great, imo... But my parents still root for him anyway. The best Asian male player we have right now is Nishikori, who I haven't even gotten to see in action... I only know of him b/c I heard he beat James Blake in some tournament, and I'm a big softie for James. lol! My fave American next to Andre Agassi! Sigh... Nobody has the charisma Andre had. I'm not too big on Pete Sampras - he was boring, imo. Although he did have a great serve-volley game.

Ugh, and as much as I do like Andy Murray, I'm so "eh" when players win because of their opponents giving up. But, I heard it was because of some injury, so oh wells. Djokovic won today with two tiebreaks! Damn, didn't know Wawrinka was capable of that! haha.

OH! And I was surfing youtube for some Roger Federer and here's a pretty awesome one. Although it skips through a lot. I think this is the best I've seen Andy Roddick play against Roger aside from the 2004 Wimbledon final. Roger had some pretty sweet OMG points here too. Well, for me anyway ^___^;;
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GGK3L5dDsq8

Damn, tennis is addicting. I never really kept up with the Masters tournaments or any of that hoo hah, but one random day of me turning on the tennis channel, and I'm hooked! lol. You guys in here make interesting commentary too. HAHA XD Don't mind me! Hehehe ^^;

[derailedSy]

http://sourceradix.com/m/20090318.html

[habitatsyY]

http://sourceradix.com/m/20090318.html

[leftys_rock]

I like Nishikori a lot, a pity he gets sick or injured too often. Although I think even if he was healthy most of the time it would be tough for him to make an impact since he's not that big of a player.

Hm, Federer seemed a bit spotty with his game with what it seemed from the score? Maybe somebody could correct me tho.

[souslesun]

OMFG. The Rafa-Nalbandian match is major nerve-wracking! ugh! Nalbandian's serves are just not working at all! He was winning 5-3 in the 2nd, and had so many chances to close out the match! They ended up going to a TB that Rafa won. Jeez, this is crazy!

[dOotsiez]

lefty - I thought Fed was okay, he played a really loose game at 65 in the second set, but aside from that, he was never seriously threatened. The serve was terrible though. He's been so spotty with the serve this year, which is uncharacteristic of him. Perhaps the back was worse than he let on.

Safina lost to Azarenka! Woohoo!! I quite like Victoria, she reminds me of a junior Sharapova.

Man, Nalbandian is the biggest imploder of all time. How the HELL did he lose that match?! I left it at 63 53 Nalbandian thinking that it was all but over, and turned on my computer an hour later to discover that Nadal had won. w.t.f? *bangs head*