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Tennis - June 2009

Urg...

June 28th 2009 06:17
I hate writing this post, but I seem to have no choice.

I will be gone for the next three days because of college orientation, so I won't be able to do any detailed coverage until the 2nd. Believe you me, I will write like crazy once the second comes around. I think I'll be able to do one post every day for three or four days, and I'll find something to write about.

For now, I got some quick picks before bedtime (which is a hearty 2:30AM btw DX )

Quarterfinals:

-Lleyton Hewitt (Stepanek was looking good, but I think Hewitt will go out with a bang this year. I predict he wins in 4).

-Roddick wins in 3. Like Berdych can break his serve. Who the hell are you kidding?

-Murray in 3 also. This guy is a powerhouse. I think he'll make finals.

-Gilles Simon over Ferrero since I love Gonzo (Fernando Gonzalez) and I wanna see the guy who took him down BURN. Plus Gilles Simon is my second favorite frenchman. He plays so well for a werewolf...

-Andreev over Haas just because I think eventually Haas is going to get tired. Eventually..... This would be a close 5 setter in my opinion if both guys bring their respective game.

-Djoko in 3. Like there's any question about this.

-This next one is hard. I like Verdasco, but Karlovic has been, well, ace. His ground strokes are better than I've ever seen them, and when you serve more aces than Andy Roddick, I'm not sure you need them...I think this will end in 3 or 4 with a couple tiebreaks. It's a bit too hard to tell. To be honest, I want to say Verdasco in 4 with 3 tiebreaks, but that's a bit hopeful.

-AHAHAHAHHHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHHAH A. Raise your hand if you think Soderling will beat Federer. In my room, at 2:15AM, I see exactly no hands. FedEXPRESS will take this in three. Like I said before, grass helps the legend, and hurts the usurper. All that aside, I quite like Soderling, but like the Cardinals in this year's Superbowl, no matter how much I like the little guy, the technically sound, and simply better team will win. (although I heard Mirka's a bit sick, so she might not watch the match...coincidence? I THINK NOT!)

Seriously though, Federer's got a great semi against Djoko set up, and a nice final against Murray (like USO last year) to take it all.

Peace out, see you guys on the second.

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Wimbledon, Day 4 Summary

June 26th 2009 01:34
Womens:

Not much to say here. The main story is the early loss of Sharapova to Dulko. I think Dulko is a great player and I remember watching her during AO (it doesn't hurt that IMO she's one of the best looking female players after Sharapova and Ivanovic).

Start bowing and making shrines in your closets to Victoria Azarenka.

Really Long Link

After reviewing the stats, the conclusion is a bit odd, but a couple of games probably went to deuce. I wasn't awake for this (since I'm in NY right now, and 5 hours behind England. I love tennis, but not enough to wake up at 7AM. That's ridiculous), but I heard about it all day. This victory, the famed bicycle, is almost unprecedented in recent times. The only ass-whupping even close to this that I remember was Federer's loss in the French to Nadal (big surprise), when everyone thought there was going to be an epic match (2008: 6-1, 6-3. 6-0).

Mens:

Great matches here today (and yesterday). Hewitt beat one of his huge fans, Juan Martin Del Potro, which was a shock to everyone except Del Potro who genuinely seemed happy that Hewitt was in top form again. It's hard to do that after losing in straight sets, but it shows a lot of class on Del Potro's side, which I never noticed before (not like I was looking...).

Davydenko moves through again, and I think this will propel him into the top 10 again. I've always liked this guy and his work ethic. He hits very well and is a great player to watch. Hopefully he can do well on this surface. he plays Berdych next who'll be a tough opponent, but I think beatable.

Roddick seemingly easily moved past Kunitsyn after regaining his gameplan after a dismal 3rd set. He had a couple of important points that he muffed, but walked away with the match. I think he's pretty much a lock for the 4th Round.

Murray will definitely trounce Troicki, but right under those two is an extremely interesting match up. Underdog Jesse Levine, an American who is ranked pretty low (relatively) is played Stanislas Wawrinka who managed to be seeded tenth after sneaking (not really) into the top ten last year. Jesse had a great match today, which I regrettably couldn't watch in full, but just knowing that he destroyed Cuevas in the fifth makes me feel warm inside. Hopefully qualifying and playing such a long match won't affect his performance. I think he'll walk away with the win in this one.

Gonzo and Simon have a great match set up for later this week, but the bottom of this half of the draw will be relatively boring.

Starting from the bottom (Click here for draw), Federer and Soderling are probably going to play again, and to be honest, Soderling's game will get weaker and Fed's will be stronger just because of the surface they're playing on. This one is completely gone for Soderling. There is no way he'll beat Federer on grass.

I'm definitely watching Tsonga kick Ivo's ass. I just wanna see one or two return winners and some spirit from the Frenchman. I'm not a fan of Karlovic at all, so I hope he loses to Tsonga. Tsonga and Verdasco could have a very good match, and let's face it, there's no way Verdasco will lose against any of his countrymen other than Rafa, and even then, he puts up more of a fight than Federer has before (look at aforementioned French Final 2008).

Djoko and Fish will be a great match, but whoever wins (probably Djokovic), will definitely destroy Sela or Robredo. Djokovic's game is looking really good right now, and I think he'll go to the Semis. After his first round, I wasn't so sure, but he seemed to find his footing in the second and played his game well.

I hope Seppi goes far and proves that Blake doesn't suck. Otherwise, it'll kind of be like when the Magic lost in the Finals against the Lakers. Me, being a Celtics fan, was horrified and was rooting for the team that beat me since then I could at least say that we lost against the best team out there. If Seppi wins more, Blake can at least have that after going to the Finals in Aegon (Semis really, but technically Finals).

Doubles



j/k, no one watches those guys....


On a more serious note, I'm switching blogs over to tennis5.com. I'll make a new post sometime there marking it.
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New Author!

June 26th 2009 01:12
Hey guys,

Using the proper Orble.com methods, I've successfully completed my hostile takeover of this blogspacesitething (not sure what to call it).

It's totally mine now. If you want to contact the old author, please look specifically for his info since I am now the new owner.

Some notes:

1) I'm living in the US. The old author is an Aussie. We have different slang and focuses in our blogs. While he posted routinely about Australian Tennis, you'll see me do a very similar thing with US Tennis.

2) Even though I live in the US, I'll still cover all pro tennis, since I am a true aficionado, and still love players that aren't American (Tsonga, Federer, Borg just to name a few).

3) In addition to covering new tennis and summarizing that, I'll also post about random things (like the one handed versus two handed backhands, history of tennis, sponsorship, new racquets/technology, serve styles, and more like my post on the greatest of all time). If you have a question or want me to write about something, just ask anywhere on this site, I check everything and do at least 2 hours of research on most subjects I write about. I'll include good links for you to look at so you don't get crappy information, and I write about everything Tennis.

4) Also, this blog will be color coded. Right now, it's Grass Green since it's Wimbledon right now. Once Hard court season starts, I'll change it again and announce it.

5) I hope you guys like this site now that I have it. "See ya on the flipside" (Boondock Saints)
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Wimbledon, Day 2 Summary

June 24th 2009 03:05
**Men's Singles Draw

Today's play was fun, while yesterday's was nearly horrific/expected


[ Click here to read more ]
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Greatest of all Time?

June 20th 2009 06:29
Honestly, I'm a bit sick of this question, because really, there are so many answers, and there isn't really a way to define "greatness". We can obviously say that there is HUGE doubt now, since Federer secured his 14th. What does this mean for the rest? I'm not so sure...

The way I see it, there are lots of niches inside of the tennis world, and like team sports, such as football, which tends to classify players by position (i.e. Tom Brady is the highest scoring quarterback, Randy Moss has the best single season TD receptions, Emmett Smith is one of the best Running Backs of all time), I see Tennis as not a sport in which someone can be the best of all time, but the best of an era, or the best at a certain skill


[ Click here to read more ]
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This year's French Open

June 17th 2009 03:12
Why Nadal Lost

No one can really answer this question, but to put it simply, he lost his mojo on clay. Tennis, a game primarily decided by match-ups (as opposed to team sports like football and basketball), depends totally on the fact that your skills are going to work against your opponent


[ Click here to read more ]
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Opening Post

June 16th 2009 04:58
Hi everyone (or no one),

This is my first post on this blog. On it, you will find articles about current happenings in the tennis world, my own personal commentary, as well as articles that are posted in response to requests by the readers (ask about anything tennis related, and I promise I'll answer


[ Click here to read more ]
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