Balls to the wall coverage of the ATP tour
If there is one thing we have learned this grass season, it’s that being a line judge is dangerous business. Thankfully, this time it was purely accidental. And since she’s okay, it’s rather funny too.
And how sweet was Jo checking to make sure she was okay. I know many a girl who would take a ball to the face to get Jo’s attention…
The ATP celebrated the kick-off of the World Tour Finals in style with their ‘A Night With The Stars’ gala. Though from the pics, it looks more like it was the Bar Mitzvah party none of them ever had. Damn, all they were missing were some glow-in-the-dark necklaces and the Electric Slide! All the typical stereotypes were there: the nerdy-cool couple, Nole and Jelena. Loving the hipster glasses and side-braid, girl. No really, I do. #NERDS4LIFE
There was the a$$hole who thinks he’s hotter than he actually is, who broke your friend’s heart because he’s a d****e, and then has the NERVE to bring some new slutty girl from the next district over (she doesn’t even GO to this school).
There was the couple decided to wear coordinating outfits…of grey. Love the shoes, but what Muppet had to die to make that dress!
And tell me that this pair did not come from a time warp from 1995! I swear I have a stack of photos where I look exactly like this. I mean, the HAIR! The black pantyhose! Takes me back…of course none of the guys who danced with me were quite as good looking as Rafa. Ah well…
(Pics via Getty Images)
The ATP asked Blake, Fish, Hewitt, and Isner to share their memories of 9/11 in honor of the upcoming 10 year anniversary of the tragedy. I think this was meant to be poignant, but really it just made me feel old. Hewitt had just won the US Open? Isner was still in high school?! Yes, I know, I clearly missed the point here…
(Video via ATP World Tour)
Mardy Fish defeated Rafael Nadal for the very first time, winning 6-3, 6-4 yesterday in Cincinnati. Despite losing their previous 6 meetings, Fish was able to finally come through with the win. Sure, Rafa was not playing his best (how many times did we have to hear about his bandaged fingers he burnt on a plate in a restaurant?!), but all credit to Mardy for playing really well.
How did Fish celebrate his win? How else: HUGS! Got to give #1 some love. Either that, or he is striking a “tough” and “street” pose a la an old Backstreet Boys video
So yeah…going with the self love interpretation. But not to worry, he had love to give to Rafa too. Got to be gracious in victory too!
Love thyself…and then love thy neighbor. That’s totally how that saying goes, right? Well, at least in tennis it does.
Mardy also clinched the US Open Series. He will get a $1 million bonus if he goes on to win the US Open. No one in men’s tennis has ever accomplished that, but I guess there can be a first for everything. At least he gets a nifty trophy to celebrate the amazing summer he has had.
Though on side note, can we talk about the shirt? “GOGOGO! Tubes”? Who…what…what the hell does that mean? He knows he is going to be photographed in that thing, is he sending secret messages through his shirts now? So many questions…
Anyhoo, congrats to Mardy. He takes on Murray today in the semifinals. Fish has a 4-3 record over Muzz and he has won their last three meetings. Although Andy has played well this week, got to think Mardy has the momentum going into this match and defeat Murray. This may be Fish’s best chance yet to win a Masters title. We’ll have to wait and see if he can finally do it.
(Pics via Getty & AP)
I don’t think that Gimelstob’s new tennis show “World of Tennis” is meant to be funny, but every time the camera pans to Justin, it’s like it’s straight from an awesome sketch show. Unintentional comedy gold
You have got the snide leer down pat, Justin. Zach Galfinakis would be proud.
The top American and Wimbledon quarterfinalist gets his own KSwiss commercial. Very cool, Mardy, and well-deserved. (And so much better than the Gael “Big Shot” one!)
(Video via KSwiss)
Mardy Fish notched one of his best wins to date, taking out last year’s finalist Tomas Berdych 7-6(5), 6-4, 6-4 to reach the quarterfinals at Wimbledon for the first time. It was a surprisingly one-sided affair in their first meeting, with Fish dominating his service games, hitting 22 aces and winning 91% of his first service points. Not only is this Mardy best showing ever at Wimbledon, but the American number one will also reach at least a career high of #8 in the rankings next week.
Fish takes on Rafael Nadal next (guess you can’t escape playing Fish after all, huh Rafa? Heh…), who he is 0-5 against. While that might seem like a dire statistic, this is one of Mardy’s best surfaces, his play has been solid the whole tournament (he has held serve for 64 out of 65 games), and Nadal is not 100% healthy. Despite having to play the World #1, this could be his best chance of getting to the semis.
But no matter what happens in the quarters, you have got to give it up for what the 29 year old has accomplished this year. Mardy may not be 100% comfortable being in the spotlight (you get the feeling he would rather have bestie Roddick shoulder that burden), but he better get used to the attention. Whether he likes it or not, as the last American left at Wimbledon, all eyes will be on him.
(Pic via Getty Images)
The best part about grass season? It’s hard to top the epic dives the players do in a last dash attempt to save a point. Here’s a look back at the best dives from the first week of Wimbledon 2011. And like any good diving competition, they will be scored on a scale of 1-10.
Andy Roddick: 8.5 Lovely form in the air, but might held to be facing the right way. Ah, who cares, he has legs like a goddess, err, god.
Conor Niland: 4 On the ground before he even struck the ball. Perhaps he should work on not finishing too early
Tomas Berdych: 2 Complete fail. What a shocker. Moving on…
Benoit Paire: 7 Bonus points from the judges for creativity; he may not be able to fly to the ball in time, but dammit, his racquet is going to hit that ball!
Mardy Fish: 9 Beautiful form in the air, lovely technique with the racquet. Would have got a 10, but have no idea if he actually made the shot. Ah, well. Good job, Mardy!
(Pics via Getty Images)
Turns out that we might not suck on clay after all. Coming fresh from the all-American doubles non-final in Rome, Fish, Isner, and Querrey jetted off to the Power Horse World Team Cup in Dusseldorf. The guys took on Sweden today in the Round Robin Red Group. Isner had his easiest win in what seems like forever, defeating Lindell 6-4, 6-1. Yes, you read that correctly. No tie breaks, and he broke his opponent’s serve twice (twice!) in the second set! Last time John got a bagel? Australian Open when he beat Stepanek 4-6, 6-4, 6-2, 6-1. Hopefully Isner can string a few more of these easy wins together. Ha! I crack myself up sometimes.
Next Querrey took on Soderling. I was ready to see a blood bath, but Sam played amazingly well for the first set and a half. He served well, he moved around the court even better. And even when his level of play dropped towards the end, he kept fighting. When he got broken in the final set, he actually broke Sod back to force a tie break. So while he did not get the win (and based on how he was playing for most of the match, he SHOULD have) it was very encouraging to see him play well. Maybe this year his Roland Garros will not completely suck?
Then Fish and Isner toughed out a tight doubles match against Aspelin/Lindstedt, 4-6, 7-6(5), 10-4 to defeat Sweden 2-1. The boys take on Kazakhstan tomorrow. Golubev might given Fish some problems, but I expect another win for team USA. I’m more worried about when we play Argentina…I’m watching you, Pico!
Oh, and on a sidenote, welcome back to the top ten, Mardy. Let’s hope you stay there a little longer this time.
(Pic via Racquet Required)
Much has been made about the dire state of American tennis lately. If I had a nickel for every article that shows up in my google reader about how much we are not as good as we used to be, we have no grand slam contenders, etc., I could buy a diet coke from my office’s vending machine (not great riches, no, but how many people actually write about tennis in major publications?).
First of all, we have 8 guys in the top 100, 4 of whom are in the top 40. 2 of whom are just outside of the top 10 and could very well rise higher as soon the tour moves to grass and hardcourts. Speaking of which…
Second of all, it is clay season. We are never good on clay. Any one expecting solid results on the dirt is incredibly unrealistic, especially with our current roster. Sure, sometimes we have a player win a random clay tournament here and there (Hi Ryan Sweeting!). But the guys were have now? Not going to happen all that much.
Third, although doubles is the ugly step-child of tennis, we are winning matches there. The Bryans clinched their 71st title last week and pretty much are the GOAT of doubles teams. Quisner also have been doing well. Just today they 3rd seed Bhupathi/Paes 6-3, 3-6, 10-5! Even Fish/Roddick beat Berdych/Dlouhy 19-17 in the super tie break!.
And Mardy “Rodney Dangerfield of Tennis” Fish is also still alive in the singles in Rome, with really solid wins over Ljubicic and Giraldo. I do not understand why he does not get more respect from people. Turning his career around and surging to the top of American tennis is a major achievement that should be applauded, not used as evidence of our decline. I have complained about this before and will not rehash it here, but come on, people!
Of course, the naysayers will not stop until someone wins a (singles) slam. And no, the US does not have a player on Djokovic’s level. But who does (yes, Serbia, but that’s not my point)? We should appreciate and cheer for the players that we do have. Commend their accomplishments instead of jeering their failures. Who knows where some positive reinforcement could get us? All I know for sure is that it is a hell of a lot more enjoyable as a tennis fan to support our guys rathen than bring them down.
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