buck rules (a.k.a my son).
7.4.2007 - There was finally play - I'm not sure if I believe it myself. There was a mixed bag in the williams family, as I predicted Venus Williams took Sharapova to the woodshed, as venus shook aside her early struggles in the tournament and stepped up big time. That is the third time that sharapova has been smoked by one of the williams sisters this year. Justine Henin swatted aside Serena, not sure it was 100% serena but theres no love loss between the two. I will be shocked if justine henin, aka sparky, is not holding up the cup on saturday, wishful thinking on my part to end on time to complete her career grand slam. On the men's side Ralph, after 4 days and umpteen rain delays, he finishes off his 5-set epic battle with soderling. If the rain does hold out, the guys on the back side will have to play 4 matches in 4 days. If anyone can do it though, its Nadal (he's probably asking can I play more matches?) 2 mens quarterfinals tomorrow, Club Fed, after his 6 day vacation, against JCF. And Roddick against Dicky gasquet. I say club fed in 4, maybe a little bit rusty, and roddick in straights. Look for venus to keep her winning ways going, I'm feeling like a venus - henin final. Buck says to check out Graeme Dyce aka dice man in the juniors, the next scottish hope. Have a happy 4th of July -late.
7.6.2007 - What a day for the French. Marion Bartoli pulls off the stunner and beats Henin, ending her dream of winning all 4 slam finals. And Venus just continues her domination by beating Ivanovic. This final represents the 2 lowest ranked females in Wimbledon history, at 18 and 31. Im predicting Venus in a tight 3 setter to win her 4th career Wimbledon title.On the men's side, what a brilliant day of tennis. What a shock, there were no interuptions of play. Ralph takes care of business and puts Berdych away in 3 and club Fed somewhat struggled for him and beat JCF aka the mosquito in 4. In the afternoon the 2 epic men's matches, Djokovic squeaked by Baghdatis in 5 sets and 5 hours and has spent over 9 hours on court in the last 2 days, that is a monster effort. This earns him a shot at Ralph. In the last match of the day, Dicky Gasquet gets off the canvas, at 6-4 6-4 4-2 he didn't even have a break point, but turned around the match with some unbelievable shot making to win 8-6 in the fifth, for surely the biggest win of his career. For the 12 o'clock men's matchup, Gasquet vs. Fed with 16 hours rest - that's too much to ask for, fed in 3. Djokovic, has to be worn out from his epic battles, Ralph in straights. And we're still looking, in my mind, for Ralph to pull of the first double since Borg in 1980. On the west coast, the only way to see the live men's tennis is watch it on the computer, which is pretty weak.
7.7.2007 - Big props to Venus Williams for claiming her sixth slam after many people had written her off. She was two points from bowing out in the first round and was pushed to the brink when Akiko Morigami served for the match in their third round battle. From that match on I thought she played better than the Venus of 2005, dominating Maria Sharapova in the round of 16 and then cruising all the way to her fourth Wimbledon title. Her effort the last two weeks kind of reminded me of what Andre did at the French in 1999.A Federer and Nadal final feels right, but what doesn’t feel right is Gasquet and Djokovic having to play their first Wimbledon semifinals without a days rest. They should have scheduled the men’s final for Monday. It’s only fitting that Bjorn Borg will be on hand, as he was the last guy to win both the French and Wimbledon in the same year and the last guy to win five consecutive Wimbledon titles. This is also the first time that for two years running we’ve had the same two guys in the finals of Wimbledon and the French. I’m predicting Ralph to achieve this rare double feat in four sets.People keep complaining about the state of American tennis but we’ve got two American’s in the junior finals (Donald Young and Madison Brengle), the Bryan Bros reaching the doubles final and Venus, nothing wrong with that.
7.8.2007 - Man what an epic final! To be honest I thought Ralph played the better match, but Fed won it by serving his way out of jail...It reminded a lot of Pete and Andre’s matches where many times I thought Andre played better but Pete walked away with the W, like their 2001 US Open quarterfinal clash where neither guy lost his serve. Who would have thought that after his first service game of the match, Nadal would not be broken or even face a break point until he lost his serve twice nearing the finish line? He was on the threshold of the biggest win of his career in the fifth set when he played so tough to set up four break point opportunities. He got to 15-40 with Federer serving at 1-1 and Fed saved the first break point with a great first serve. Again at two all Nadal had Federer on his heels 15-40 but failed to put a second serve return into play. Federer then nailed a service winner and went on to hold for 3-2 and put the pedal down. Full props to Fed, but I’m a little bummed for Ralph. He had to play so much tennis with out rest leading up to the final, which makes it all the more amazing that his standard was so high. In the end this is great for the game and I’m so pumped to play tennis that even with a banged up toe I’m going to go out and hit with Zach.
7.10.2007 - Big props to my buddy Jamie Murray, who’s been busy on the British celebrity tour for the last two days for becoming the first Brit to win a Wimbledon title since Jeremy Bates and Jo Durie 20 years ago in 1987. I’d also like to give a shout out to Donald Young for winning the junior event. I’m going to keep a close eye on Madison Brengle who lost in the girl’s junior final. Too bad the Bryan Bro’s were not able to defend their title. Props to ESPN classic for showing the men’s final again last night, the second time through I still thought Nadal was going to win the match.I’ll be watching The Tennis Channel on Saturday to see Pete Sampras’ induction to the tennis hall of fame. It seems strange that a 36 year old guy is going into the hall. Pete beating his all time rival Andre Agassi in the 2002 US Open final is what you call going out on top.
7.20.2007 - I had no idea before today that Vinny had a 5 match win streak against James going into the match, so you know Blake had to feel real good about winning in straights. How about Fleishman knocking out top seed Gonzo in the first round. I'm predicting a Blake/Stepanek final.Were going down to Nicks this weekend for six days of grueling workouts in a sticky 96 degrees. Sometimes getting injured is a character builder and it helps a player develop patience. Andy's lucky - Paradorn, X-man, Kiefer and Fish were all out a lot longer when they had wrist injuries. We should count our blessings that junior has only missed 10 weeks.
7.22.2007 - Big props to Austrian Werner Eschauer who is making a run to become the oldest first-time ATP title winner in more than two years after reaching the final of the Dutch Open. This guy is a 33 year old journeyman who had never before reached a tour level semifinal in 13 years on the tour. This is nice story about perserverance. We mainly only talk about the top players, but this is guy who still believes after years of grinding on the challenger circuit.
