9.25.2007 - Huge win for the US over a depleted Swedish squad. I was a bit surprised that Mats didn’t elect to play the tie on clay. Russia wins its 14th straight tie at home with a very versatile group: Safin, Davydenko, Andreev, Youzny, and Tursunov are five guys that can get the job done on any surface. It should be an incredible final and from what I’ve heard it sounds like Portland is going to get the nod as the host site. It was nice to see Tim Henman go out at winner in Great Britain’s tie against Croatia. It was not the typical Wimbledon atmosphere and the weather was much better than it was during the fortnight this summer. The Brits will find out their fate in a few days when the 2008 first round draw comes out. It’s hard to believe that they haven’t won a world group tie since the early 1980’s….Big props to Lindsay Davenport for going 8-1 in her first two singles tournaments since retiring a year ago. I’d say winning a tournament and a semifinal showing was a good testing of the waters….Junior is gearing up for a five week indoor tour of Metz, Moscow, Madrid St Petersburg, and Paris.
10.3.2007 - Junior got through a three setter against Tipsarevic and plays Llodra on Thursday. This is my first trip here, but I can tell you that the Metz stadium is a small hall about 45 minutes from Luxemburg….Ladies, Ladies, Ladies--They’ve got 8 of the top 10 in Germany this week for the Porsche Grand Prix. Serena hasn’t played the event since 1999 and dished out a doubled bagel in her first match. The field is so strong that Mauresmo/Dementieva is a first round match and Marion Bartoli who is ranked 11th was unseeded. Something seems off-- Kutzy is seeded second and Serena is the 7th seed, what up with that? It's nice to see a women’s event sporting the attendance of the top players like an ATP Master Series events… I’m glad to see Portland will be the host for the Davis Cup final. Lets hope the Versus network airs the Davis Cup rubbers live so tennis fans don’t have to follow it on the internet.
10.5.2007 - Andy is getting his game together and had a nice win today over Jo-Willy Tsonga. Tomorrow he has a first time semifinal showdown against Willy Canas and will have his work cut out for him. It’s hard to believe that this is junior’s first semifinal since Miami last March….The Kuzetnator shocked me and took out Serena in straights, I sold her short earlier in the week, I guess sometimes my gut feeling come up short….From the first time I saw her hit I knew Tatiana had serious talent and I’m going to go out on a limb and predict that she drives off the court on Sunday in a brand new Porsche. Her game translates well indoors, she can hit her forehand big and hide her weaknesses…High praise to Dr. Ivo for joining the 1,000 aces in a season club. He joins Roddick, Goran, and Pete as only the fourth guy to accomplish this feat. So far this season he has been averaging over 20 aces per match. Once this guy learns how to handle his nerves and improve his return game he’ll be in the top 10.
10.10.2007 - Junior had a good week in Metz and got a few solid W’s under his belt, but he let one get away in the final. Andy let his foot off the gas and gave Robredo a chance and Tommy took it…Tatiana also let one slip away - was up a set and 2-1 against Henin, she must have been thinking about how sweet it would be to drive off in that Porsche….We’re in Moscow this week and it’s really cold here. Man this place has really changed in the 14 years since I’ve been here. Back in the early nineties there was no traffic and all of the cars were pretty beat up. Now the traffic is brutal and the cars are solid. What should have been an eight minute car ride took me an hour and forty minutes…Junior plays the talented Russian Evgeny Korolev in tomorrow’s feature night match. I’m off now to grab some vittles with my old buddy Yevgeny Kafelnikov….
10.16.2007 - didn’t go that well for junior but this week in Madrid he’s played the best two matches since first injuring his wrist. He smoked Stepanek on Monday and tonight he took care of business against Chela in less than an hour. If Ralph beats Baghdatis tomorrow then we’ll get a rematch of their Australian Open 4th round encounter. Having to play Ralph in Spain will be a huge measuring stick for the kid. There’s a lot at stake this week in Madrid--there are only 17 points separating the number 7 position from the number 14 position in the race…. Dr Ivo has improved more than any player I’ve seen this year. He’s putting it all together and it aint easy to beat a guy that averages two aces per game. How the mighty have fallen on the women’s tour. Last year Sharapova finished the year as the number two player and Mauresmo was the world number three. Now they are both in serious danger of not qualifying for the year end championships. Big popcorn match tomorrow in Zurich tomorrow between Golovin and Ivanovic.
10.23.2007 -Junior had his chances last week but he let Nadal get off the hook, kind of like their match earlier in the year at the Australian Open. Now we’re back in Russia this week at the St Petersburg Open….How about David Nalbadian hammering the world No. 2 Rafael Nadal 6-1, 6-2, then he takes out world No. 3 Novak Djokovic in a straight semifinal, but the real shocker was coming back to beat Club Fed after nearly getting bageled in the first set. Nalbandian may have had a dismal year reaching only one quarterfinal this season, but you got to give him credit where credit is due…I didn’t think I’d be saying this at the start of the year, but Justine has become a one horse show on the WTA tour. She’s put up Federer like number this year and raised the bar so high that she’s forcing the rest of the girls to get better.
10.27.2007 - Junior plays his best tennis --bar none-- indoors. It’s been a crazy week in St Pete and my guy has put out two Russian hopes on the way to reaching the final here. Andy was really luck to get through Tursunov yesterday. Dmitry had a load of break points that he didn’t convert and Andy made the most of his going 2 for 3 on BP opportunities. Tonight’s match against Youzhny was even nuttier. Andy was down in the second set 2-5 love 30 and clawed his way back into the match. On his match point Youzhny ripped a backhand that junior somehow got his racquet on, the ball floated and looked like it was going long, Youzhny put both arms up in celebration, but it landed the baseline and Youzhny missed the forehand. These are the kind of points that Andy wasn’t winning when he first made his comeback. Junior is making a 4th quarter rally and is still in the running to qualify for Shanghai…Food for thought Davydenko was fined for lack of ``best effort'' in his 1-6, 7-5, 6-1 loss Thursday to Cilic. It looked like a weird situation out there. Reminds me of what my old coach Chivy used to say “If you go to the park enough times you’ll see something you’ve never seen before.
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.
