10.29.2007 - Huge win for junior yesterday! To quote my boy Chris Fowler “He took Verdasco to the woodshed.” Andy’s still got a sniff at qualifying for the Masters Cup and with the St Pete title in he’s moved to within three points of Tommy Haas, currently No. 8 in the race to Shanghai. My guy has a tough draw this week in Paris. If he gets past the winner of Nieminen/Monaco he’s most likely got Djockovic in the next round….Big props to Daniela Hantuchova for taking out Patty Schnyder in Linz to qualify for the WTA year-end championships, she said it was a dream coming true for her. Maria clinched the final spot in Madrid when Venus withdrew because of dizzy spells, I hope Maria can get healthy by then.
10.31.2007 - Last week in St. Pete the kid and I were having dinner and he asked me if I’d ever had an accident in a tournament car. It’s amazing how if you talk about something it often comes to fruition. Yesterday we were driving back to the hotel in the pouring rain and brutal traffic. Our driver had to stop quickly and this guy comes barreling into us from behind. He was only going like 20 mphs but it made a loud noise. It’s a good thing we were in big Mercedes SUV. Those Mercedes are built to take a hit, the guy who hit us was in a little Puego that got totaled…Junior got through a tough scrap today against Shark Nieminem. Most of the guys who are contending for the final spots in Shangai are still in the draw. It’s amazing with all the tennis that he missed this year that he’s still in contention. Last year at this time he was burnt out and now he’s still fresh. Andy is going to have his work cut out for against Fabrice Santoro. Who would have predicted that the cagey 34 year old veteran would knock off Roddick and Djockovic in consecutive weeks?
11.7.2007 - It looks like its Justine against the field in Madrid. At the start of the year I knew she’d be in the mix but I didn’t expect her to have a Federer-esq season. And what a tough first match for Jankovic, having to play her nemesis Henin, who she now has 0-9 record against. She looked tired and outgunned in her straight set loss today; I used to get that feeling sometimes when I walked out on the court against Lendl. I’m recommending that Jelena play about eight less tournaments next year. Serena retired with a left knee injury after losing the first set 6-4 against Anna “Chak full o nuts” tadze. I don’t see her being fit to play Justine tomorrow. The number one priority for the Williams sisters is to get healthy for 2008…The men’s pairings came out today with Fed, Davydenko, Roddick, and Gonzo in the red group and Ralph, Djokovic, Ferrer, and Gasquet making up the gold group. I saw that Mike Bryan pulled the ripcord on Shanghai with a sore elbow, sounds like a sensible decision with the Davis Cup final around the corner.
11.8.2007 - It seems that crazy things occur in fours in tennis and I’m not impressed.1. Betting Scandal.2. Martina Hingis’s Cocaine Scandal.3. Alleged Tommy Haas food poisoning incident in Moscow.4. Former LTA coach Claire Lyte is found guilty sexual activity with a child. I’m a positive guy so I going to stick with what’s going well in the game today. It was great to see Sharapova advance to the semifinals of the Sony Ericsson Championships. She’s struggled the entire season with injuries, so it’s been nice to see her competing so well this week in Madrid and I hope it carries over to 2008….I bet the fellas in Shanghai are glad to see that Nalbadian is not going as an alternate, as he did in 2005 when he won the event beating Fed in a five set final. I have two big questions on my mind for next week will Davydenko have shaken his serving yips and can anybody stop Fed?
11.11.2007 - Big props to ESPN for showing the men’s singles matches live and no props to VS for showing the women’s semis and final on tape delay. Tennis Channel also deserves respect for showing the Masters doubles…Sparky rallied past Maria in what turned out to be the longest three-set final in the WTA year end championships history. Following her semifinal loss to Bartoli at Wimbledon, Henin finished the year with 25 straight wins, the longest streak since Venus won 35 in a row in 2000. The record is 38 by Steffi, who started her streak after losing in the 1989 French Open final. Anytime you can be mentioned in the same sentence as Steffi, you’ve done something special. Sparky gets my 2007 game ball for her outstanding effort this season. Kudos to Maria for being the only one to take a set off Henin this week and ending her season on a high note…Dicky Gasquet put in a good effort taking the opening set off of Ralph in the Masters. There was a bit of a shocker in the other men’s match today with Ferrer taking out Djockovic. The joker had a long year and has come into Shanghai running on fumes…Italian Alessio Di Mauro gets my turkey award for being the first player to get busted under the ATP's new anti-corruption rules. Hopefully this will put the fear of god into any player stupid enough to gamble on tennis matches.
11.13.2007 - Huge props to David Ferrer for beating Ralph and again showing why he’s the most improved player on the ATP tour this year. The guy plays great defense, but it’s his improved offense that has vaulted him from being a top twenty five player to where he is today. This guy is a real workhorse, he gets up punches the time clock, puts his hard hat on and gets the job done. If you would have told me two years ago that he would be in the top five I would have said no way. It just goes to show you that you can’t measure heart. Who would have thought that Club Fed would have to win his next two round robin matches to make the semifinals of the Masters Cup? I’m predicting the Roddick and Federer advance from the Red group and that Nadal and Ferrer advance from the Gold group.
