Tennis Chatter

F. Dancevic (Canada) defeated A. Roddick today, 6-4, 7-6, in the semifinals of the Indianapolis Tennis Championships. Roddick only served 47% first serves and looked somewhat flat during his match. Afterwards he said:

“I didn’t have much to give out there,”

“I wish I had a reason for you. I don’t know why. I wasn’t feeling that well.”

This loss poses the question if Roddick has lost it. He hasn’t had great results so far this year, getting destroyed this year by Federer at the Australian Open, losing in the first round of the French Open, and losing to Gasquet in quarterfinals of Wimbledon after getting up 2 sets to none. Sure, he had a tight win over N. Mahut at Queens and made it to semifinals of the Australian, but he is far from winning the second grand slam he covets. And he isn’t getting any younger either. Roddick will be 25 this August and soon will have to start competing more with up and coming stars like Murray, Gasquet, Djokovic, Baghdatis, and (of course) Nadal. In addition Federer will always be around. I see this US Open Series as a crucial time for Roddick. Currently I think he has what it takes to best everyone but Federer on hard courts (when he’s not having terrible losses to unseeded Canadian players), but not for much longer. However, the question is: Is he mentally in it? This article suggests that Roddick is still brewing over his Wimbledon loss. What do you think? Do you think Roddick has what it takes to post good results at the US Open? I understand that he has little chance of beating Federer, but right now it looks like it’d be a practical walkover for Federer.

The United States Open series (at least the men’s side) kicked off last week with the Countrywide Classic tournament held in LA. The series is a six week long “hardcourt” season of tennis held prior to the US Open grand slam tournament. It was first organized in 2004 to promote tennis in the United States. This week features the Indianapolis Tennis Championships (men) and Bank of the West Classic (women). The full schedule can be found here. The series also features two ATP Masters Events (commonly known as Cincinnati Masters and Canada Masters) and two WTA Tier I Events (Acura Classic and Canada Masters). The US Open series is significant, because it is the warm-up season for the US Open and the winner of the series gets their prize money at the US Open doubled. In 2004, Lindsay Davenport became the first (and only) player to get her $1.1 million for winning the US Open doubled. The $2.2 million she received was the highest pay-out ever in women’s sports. Last year Andy Roddick won the series for the men, and Ana Ivanovic for the women.

The US Open Series gets more coverage than any other tennis season in America. According to its website, the series will get:

More than 100 hours of live, national TV coverage on ESPN2, NBC and CBS (see schedule, page 17), including back-to-back live tournament finals on Sunday. In addition, there will be more than 100 hours of additional US Open Series coverage on The Tennis Channel.

To read the entire US Open preview from its website, click here.

To see the television schedule, click here.

The current men’s standings are as follows: (no standings for the women yet)

1. Radek Stepanek (CZE) 50
2. James Blake (USA) 35
3. Nicolas Kiefer (GER) 22
Hyung-Taik Lee (KOR) 22
5. Michael Berrer (GER) 12
Zack Fleishman (USA) 12
Marat Safin (RUS) 12
Vincent Spadea (USA) 12

In the next few days expect more coverage of the US Open series, and some previews for both the ATP and WTA hard court season.

Nadal wins sixth title

Rafael Nadal won his sixth title of the year, taking down Stanislas Wawrinka 6-4, 7-5, in the Stuttgart Cup final. With this he is 93 out of 94 on clay since April 2005. His only loss came this year to Roger Federer at Hamburg.

Springfield Lasers attempt to go undefeated

With a win tonight over the Sacramento Capitals, the Springfield Lasers would be only the second WTT team to go undefeated for an entire season. They’ve had several tough matches, yet they’ve pulled through all of them thanks to great results by their female players (Tamarine Tanasugarn is the top ranked female player in the league), and some timely wins by their men’s singles player: Martin Verkerk.

Blake, Roddick drop in ATP rankings

Both James Blake and Andy Roddick dropped in ATP rankings this week. Roddick didn’t play last week, and Blake was upset in the Countrywide Classic final by Radek Stepanek 7-6, 5-7, 6-2. Here are this week’s top ten rankings:

1. (1) Roger Federer, Switzerland, 7,290 points;

2. (2) Rafael Nadal, Spain, 5,455;

3. (3) Novak Djokovic, Serbia, 3,245;

4. (5) Nikolay Davydenko, Russia, 3,175;

5. (4) Andy Roddick, United States, 3,130;

Click here!

6. (6) Fernando Gonzalez, Chile, 2,770;

7. (7) Tommy Robredo, Spain, 2,085;

8. (8) Richard Gasquet, France, 2,085;

9. (11) Tommy Haas, Germany, 2,035;

10. (9) James Blake, United States, 1,995. - Sapa-dpa

Countrywide Classic

James Blake is through to the semifinals of the Countrywide Classic in LA. His opponent is Hyung-Taik Lee. On the other side of the bracket is Radek Stepanek vs. Nicolas Kiefer. I look for Kiefer and Blake to win semifinals, and Blake to win in finals. Blake has had a little of an off year in 2007, but the Countrywide Classic is played on hardcourt, Blake’s best surface.

Mercedes Cup

Nadal looks poised to win another title this week at the Mercedes Open. He is in semifinals, set to play Feliciano Lopez. The Mercedes Open is played on clay, giving Nadal a huge advantage. On the other side of the draw is Juan Ignacio Chela vs. Stanislas Wawrinka. I don’t see either of them giving Nadal much trouble, should he beat Lopez and play one of them in finals.

On a side note, I’m not quite sure why Nadal is playing a clay court tournament. I would think he would be trying to play as many hardcourt tournaments as possible to prepare for the US Open (even though there is still plenty of time before the Open).

Emerson: “Federer not the G.O.A.T.”

Ok…maybe I am exaggerating a little bit with the title, but Roy Emerson came awfully close to saying that Federer can’t be considered the greatest of all time until he wins the French Open. Emerson, who has won 12 grand slams, expects the Swiss to overcome his record AND Pete Sampras’s (of 14) before he retires. Despite this, he said that Federer will always have lots of doubters, unless he bags the much eluded clay major before his career is over.

“I think there will be a lot of tennis purists who would say that unless Federer can win the French then he’s not a complete player, because he hasn’t won the one on clay yet,”

“Personally I thought his big chance of winning the French was this year, especially after he finally managed to beat Nadal on clay just before in Hamburg.”

“It’s clear though that Federer is awfully good,” Emerson added.

Does someone who has been as dominant as Federer deserve to simply known as “awfully good” whenever he retires? Of course not. I can see a simple way to fix this. Nadal-just let up a little bit next year. Try not to return EVERY ball. Let Federer have his piece of the French pie. Seriously though, wouldn’t everything become easier to decide if Federer just stepped up his game for one final, and took the title he covets so much? Then we could lay to rest this “G.O.A.T.” debate. At least until Nadal retires with 25 majors. All of them won in Paris.

Davenport prepares a comeback

Lindsay Davenport is prepared to return to professional tennis. She “unofficially” retired last December when she stated that she couldn’t imagine coming back to tennis after the birth of her child (born June 10). Despite this she announced yesterday that she planned to enter the Pilot Pen to play doubles with Lisa Raymond.

Rodionova disqualified from Cincinnati Open

Anastasia Rodionova defaulted her match Tuesday, when she hit a tennis ball at a group of fans. With her disqualification Angelique Kerber won the match 4-6, 6-4, 1-0. Rodionova was “shocked” at the chair umpire’s decision, stating that:

“I still don’t understand why they defaulted me. I’m really upset. I’ve never seen in my life anyone defaulted in this situation. I had no warning. I didn’t hit the ball at anybody. I didn’t swear at anybody. I didn’t throw my racket.”

She is only the second player ever on the WTA tour to default a match.

After their appearence in the Wimbledon final, R. Nadal and R. Federer were the first two players to qualify for the year end Masters Cup held in Shanghai. The Masters Cup is a end of the year tournament, comprised of the top eight players in the world. The players compete in a two section round robin form of a tournament. The top two players from each section then advance to play a player from the other section in semifinals. It is a way to directly compare all of the top eight players, as they will being facing off against other top eight players in three to five matches. Roger Federer should be a clear favorite heading into the tournament as it is on a faster hard court surface. In addition he won the event in 2003, 2004, and 2006. He was the runner-up to David Nalbanian in 2005.

With their Wimbledon finals appearence the Bryan Brothers qualified to the Masters Cup in doubles.

Last night I made it out to a World Team Tennis match between the Kansas City Explorers and the Springfield Lasers. Both teams were 6-0 (the only undefeated WTT teams). I marked this match on my calendar in-particular, because the number one doubles team in the world, Bob and Mike Bryan, were playing for the Kansas City Explorers. They have five men’s doubles grand slam titles together as a team and recently appeared in the Wimbledon men’s doubles final. In WTT tennis matches there are five sets, each set being played as a different event (men’s and women’s singles, men’s and women’s doubles, and mixed doubles). The Lasers were the home team and therefore decided the order of match-play. They decided to take a probable loss early, and play men’s doubles first (hoping for a come-from behind victory).

The men’s doubles match was the Bryan Brothers against Martin Verkerk and Glenn Weiner. If the name Martin Verkerk sounds familiar, it is. Verkerk was the 2003 French Open runner-up. I didn’t realize that a former grand slam finalist was playing for the Lasers until they announced each players’ accomplishments before the match. The men’s doubles set began with Verkerk holding his serve relatively easily. He’s 6-5 and can really bring heat. It looked like Verkerk and Weiner could hold with the brothers until a few games in, when it became obvious that it was impossible to break Mike and Bob. The brothers are 6-3 and 6-4 and pack big serves, and excellent net play. The score was tied 1-1, and it was Weiner’s turn to serve. He won his game, but looked unsteady at times-lacking the ability to win free points off his serve, and looking more vulnerable to being overpowered on the ground than Verkerk. The set progressed along holds, until it was Weiner’s turn to serve again. He showed himself to be the weak link, allowing himself to be broken. The brother’s held their serve relatively easily, and won the set 5-3.

Bryan Brothers

The next event was men’s singles. M. Verkerk played Dusan Vemic. Verkerk started off hot, showing why he made such a fantastic run at the French Open. He broke Vemic and held his serve to bring the score to 2-0 in his favor. During Vemic’s second service game, Verkeck once again jumped out to a lead going up 15-40 (I believe). At this point the explorers substituted Bob Bryan for Vemic. Although the Bryans are known for doubles, Bob is very good at singles too, winning a national championship for Stanford in 1998. I believe Bryan won a point to bring the score to 30-40, but then Verkerk took control. Bryan made his way to the net, hitting an approach shot to Verkerk’s left. Verkerk replied with a running backhand right down-the-line for a pass. He held his serve to make the score 4-0. Bryan held his serve next, making the score 4-1. The Explorers then substituted Mike Bryan in for Bob, hoping the fresh legs would be able to break Verkerk. However, this turned out to be futile, because, once again, Verkerk held serve. The final score of the set was 5-1 Since WTT matches are scored by overall game count, not just who won the most sets, this was a big boost for the Lasers. Verkerk looked good all set long, showing a big serve, solid net play, and an excellent one-handed backhand. It’s no wonder the Lasers are undefeated with his guy playing for them.

Martin Verkerk

The third set was mixed doubles. Mike Bryan and Jarmila Gajdosova of the Explorers faced off against Verkerk (again) and Andreea Vanc of the Lasers. This was a bad match-up for the Lasers, because they were facing Mike Bryan (great doubles player) and Gajdosova (has a very powerful serve and ground strokes). On the other hand, Vanc’s serve looked rather weak and it showed. She was broken easily, and the Lasers went down 5-2 in this set. Having a big serve is important for females in mixed doubles, because the men will be able to tee-off on a weak one.

Gajdosova played Tamarine Tanasugarn of the Lasers in women’s singles. Tanasugarn impressed me greatly as she is only 5-5 and was able to deal with Gajdosova’s power. Tanasugarn broke Gajdosova early, and was able to run her around, hitting winners and playing great defense. Eventually Gajdosova started playing rather inconsistent, hitting unforced errors on important points. The Lasers won this set 5-3.

The final set was female doubles. This set pitted Tanasugarn and Vanc of the Lasers against Gajdosova and Corina Morariu of the Explorers. Once again the Lasers appeared to be more consistent and Vanc’s serve was not as much of a weakness as it was in mixed doubles. The Lasers eventually won this set and the match.

Overall the match showed why WTT tennis is such a unique experience. There were substitutions, on-court coaching, lots of cheering, and constant arguments with the chair umpire. At one point one of the Bryan Brothers jokingly grabbed their bag and stood up to leave, eliciting a laugh from the fans. Neither teams showed much negativity, apart from Gajdosova, who broke her racket after her inconsistent play and took a ball from a ball girl, only to hit it at the wall behind her in frustration. Once again I would recommend WTT for anyone looking to see some fun, engaging tennis. You might even have the opportunity to watch some pros play, depending on which match you watch. Look to my post here to see where teams are located and which pros are playing.

Here are the links to some photos I took:

Bryan Brothers:
Picture 1
Picture 2
Picture 3
Picture 4
Picture 5
Picture 6
Picture 7
Picture 8
Picture 9
Picture 10
Picture 11
Picture 12
Picture 13
Picture 14
Picture 15
Picture 16
Picture 17
Picture 18
Picture 19
Picture 20
Picture 21
Picture 22
Picture 23

Martin Verkerk
Picture 1
Picture 2
Picture 3

Pete Sampras is to be inducted into the tennis hall of fame tomorrow. Sampras is largely considered to be one of the greatest tennis players ever (definitely top two or three), holding the record for the most grand slam titles at 14. His only shortcoming was his inability to win the French Open. He won seven Wimbledons, five US Opens, and two Australian Opens. In addition he led the US to a Davis Cup title in 1995, with wins over Chesnokov and Kafelnikov. What makes those Davis Cup wins even greater, were that they were on clay (the Russians designed the courts to not suit Sampras’s game).

Sampras’s greatness is enlarged by the competition he had. He played at a time when tennis was extremely deep and he still had amazing results. He played against Andre Agassi, John McEnroe (near the end of McEnroe’s career), Jim Courier, Boris Becker, Goran Ivanišević, Patrick Rafter, Michael Chang, Carlos Moya (in his prime), Ivan Lendl, Stefan Edberg, and Gustavo Kuerten.

Sampras is considered to possibly have had the best serve ever. He combined raw power (130+ MPH) with amazing accuracy. In addition he was able to hit different spins from the same motion. Finally he had a great ability to hit aces with his second serve on big points. Sampras also was one of the last true serve and volley players. He wasn’t as natural at the net as some (Patrick Rafter), but his net play was deadly thanks to his serve. If he didn’t ace his oppenent, the return was usually weak enough to put away. Sampras also had a fantastic forehand.

Sampras was a cool headed, quiet competitor in the game of tennis. He respected the sport and its fans and never had on court outbursts (McEnroe) or off court controversies (young Agassi). Some believe this made him uninteresting. This may be true, but its hard to find a problem with his respect for the game. He stepped up in big matches, and had a way of playing best-when it matter the most. He was 14-4 in grand slam finals.

Here are some of Sampras’s greatest moments on court:

Sampras defeating McEnroe as a 19 year old in the semifinal of the US Open:

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

Part 5

Trademark Sampras “slam” dunk overhead

Great point against Agassi in the 1995 US Open

Highlights from a match against Rafter where Sampras played outstanding

With Wimbledon over, professional tennis falls into a little bit of a lull until the US Open series. If you’re looking for an interesting tennis experience this summer, then I’d like to suggest World Team Tennis. World Team Tennis provides a unique and fun filled atmosphere for the entire family. The matches are generally short (but not too short) and provide the spectators the opportunity to see singles, doubles, and mixed doubles all in the same evening. The players are traditionally players who are on the edge of breaking into the pro tour, (or middle aged players past their prime). In addition, many pros or retired pros guest play in these exhibition style matches. Some of the players playing this year are Anna Kournikova, Venus and Serena Williams, Maria Sharapova, Bob and Mike Bryan, Pete Sampras, and John McEnroe. There are teams located in Boston; Kansas City; Springfield, MO; Washington DC; Newport Beach,;St. Louis; Philadelphia; Mamaroneck, NY; Schenectady, NY; Houston; and Wilmington, DE.

To see a complete list of players competing (and sechedules) go to : http://ww3.wtt.com/

and click on Pro League and then Schedule and Results.

Roger Federer defeated Rafael Nadal this Sunday to win his fifth title in a row, matching the record of Bjorn Borg. The final itself, was extremely entertaining, going five sets, before Federer came out victourious, 7-6, 4-6, 7-6, 2-6, 6-2. The commentators were continually stating that this was a match for the ages, and it is one of the greatest matches in the history of the tournament. They are wrong. Although the match wasn’t a disappointment, and was extremely competitive, neither player was at their best (especially Federer). Nadal played very good, hitting amazing passing shots and great winners, but missed some shots that he usually makes. Federer on the other hand, seemed like he was playing NOT to lose, instead of to win. His shots lacked depth and he failed to move Nadal around much. He continually pushed Nadal’s service games to 40-30, but then would just let Nadal win an easy game point. I felt he lacked his usually explosive ground game. The proof of that is his winners line. He hit 65 winners, but 24 of those were service winners. He only hit 41 winners off his ground strokes, to 34 unforced errors. Not bad, but not Federer. However he was able to dig deep, and play a very good fifth set to win the match.

The women’s final was much less competitive. Venus Williams defeated Marion Bartoli 6-4, 6-1. Bartoli hit a paltry 7 winners to William’s 29. This was Venus’s fourth Wimbledon title, showing she still can compete at a level higher than most WTA players.

Wimbledon also gave some insight into the future of men’s tennis. Djokovic, Gasquet, Berdych, Nadal, and Bagdatis are all young players who had great showings. I’d say the Djokovic, Gasquet, and (of course) Nadal are the ones to watch the most in the future. They all have strong games that can succeed on most surfaces.

On the subject of surfaces, they all seem to be getting more and more similar. The grass this year at Wimbledon was even slower than it was last year, a far cry from the grass of the 90s. During the Djokovic and Hewitt match, there were 40 shot rallies that looked like they belonged on clay. The commentators (McEnroe especially) even commented on the speed of the court several times.

Finally, I heard a lot of criticism directed toward the tournament this year. A lot people (and a few players) were complaining about the tradition, and how there was no play on Sunday. It would of made it easier on a lot of players if matches would have been played on the middle Sunday.

Federer at the champion’s dinner

Williams at the champion’s dinner

The big headlines of the day are Gasquet besting Roddick in five sets, and Henin falling to M. Bartoli. Roddick jumped out to a two set lead and got up a break in the third, but then Gasquet got rolling. Gasquet won the third and fourth sets in tiebreaks and ended up winning the fifth set 8-6. The final score was 4-6, 4-6, 7-6, 7-6, 8-6. Gasquet hit 29 unforced errors to 93 winners! He plays Federer tomorrow, and Federer should have a big advantage in terms of rest. The results on the other side of the men’s bracket were:

N. Djokovic over M. Baghdatis 7-6, 7-6, 6-7, 3-6, 7-5.

Nadal over T. Berdych 7-6, 6-4, 6-2.

I addition Henin fell to Bartoli 6-1, 5-7, 1-6. Bartoli will face Venus Williams in finals.

Venus Williams rolled through quarterfinals today, beating S. Kuznetsova 6-3, 6-4. She played well at the net, winning 11 out of 12 chances. However, she looked a little vulnerable off her second serve (winning 43% of her points off of it) and tightened up a little in the second set, allowing herself to be broken. She held on for the win however, and will face French Open finalist A. Ivanovic in semifinals. Ivanovic defeated N. Vaidisova in quarterfinals, hitting 21 unforced errors to Vaidisova’s 39. I expect Venus to win and advance to finals, with J. Henin defeating M. Bartoli on the other-side of the bracket.

Men’s quarterfinal brackets are complete, after finishing all remaining fourth round matches today. Berdych took care of J. Bjorkman 6-4, 6-0, 6-7, 6-0. He hit 48 winners, to 35 unforced errors. In addition, he hit 15 aces. Nadal won another tough five-setter, this time against M. Youzhny 4-6, 3-6, 6-1, 6-2, 6-2. Youzhny had Nadal in the first two sets, until Nadal settled down and hit 57 winners, to only 18 unforced errors. I expect Berdych to beat Nadal in quarterfinals with his powerful ground strokes and big serving.

Djokovic won a great match against Hewitt, 7-6, 7-6, 4-6, 7-6. This win shows how clutch Djokovic can be, fighting off many set points for Hewitt, and winning three tiebreakers. Despite this, he needs to cut down on his 49 unforced errors. His oppenent in semifinals will be Bagdatis. Bagdatis defeated Davydenko 7-6, 7-6, 6-3. I expect Djokovic to win this match-up.

It’s important to note that this side of the draw is extremely young. Berdych, Nadal, Djokovic, and Bagdatis are all extremely young. If you add Gasquet (on the other side of the draw), you see a very bright future for tennis (American tennis on the other hand…not so much).

Federer’s match against Ferrero was delayed at 5-5 in the first set due to rain. I think Federer wins this match in three sets.

Roddick and Gasquet’s match didn’t get on court due to rain. Roddick is the conventional pick (he is consistently good on grass). But I give Gasquet a great chance.

J. Henin defeated a hobbled Serena Williams (calf injury) to advance to Wimbledon semifinals today. She won 6-4, 3-6, 6-3. Henin was up two breaks in the third set, but hit two double faults to allow Serena to take one back. However, Henin held on to win the third set. Henin played pretty good at the net, converting 15 out of 22 chances. However, she was a little shaky on serve, double faulting seven times and only serving 50% off her first serve. She will face M. Bartoli in semifinals after the Frenchwomen beat M. Krajicek in quarterfinals 3-6, 6-3, 6-2. Bartoli played consistently, hitting only 10 unforced errors, to Krajicek’s 31.

Venus Williams advanced to quarterfinals with a win over second seed M. Sharapova. Venus won in convincing fashion, 6-1, 6-3. She dominated every aspect of the match, winning 77 points, to Maria’s 51. Sharapova looked vulnerable off of her second serve, only winning the point 39% of the time. Venus will play S. Kuznetsova in quarterfinals.

On the men’s side of the draw Andy Roddick advanced to quarterfinals with a 6-2, 7-5, 7-6 win over P. Mathieu. Roddick’s serve was on, serving 73% first serves, with 19 aces. He also limited himself to 13 unforced errors with 29 winners. He will need to that kind of performance in quarterfinals, as he will face his biggest test yet, Richard Gasquet. In his fourth round match, Gasquet defeated fellow Frenchman, J. Tsonga, 6-4, 6-3, 6-4. He showed great consistency, with only 11 unforced errors to 23 winners. Gasquet continued his solid net play, winning 20 of 26 approaches. This is his first quarterfinal appearance in a Grand Slam, and I believe he has what it takes to beat Roddick. He actually is holding his serve better this tournament than Roddick is. He had a few hiccups this match, being broken twice in the first set, but if he comes out firingin quarters, he could pose a threat to Roddick.

N. Djokovic finished his match against N. Kiefer. In the end, Keifer’s 56 enforced errors did him in, losing 6-7, 7-6, 2-6, 6-7. Djokovic plays former champion L. Hewitt in the round of 16.

R. Nadal completed his marathon match with R. Soderling today. Nadal finished on top, winning 6-4, 6-4, 6-7, 4-6, 7-5. This match was rather icy, as Soderling annoyed Nadal, by imitating his messing-with-his-shorts routine he does in between points. In addition, Nadal was displeased when Soderling didn’t apologize for winning a net cord point (as is customary). As a result, the two didn’t linger at the handshake. Nadal has another big test next round against M. Youzhny. Nadal had words for the Wimbledon committee after his multi-day match saying:

“I don’t understand why we don’t play on Sunday when the weather was OK,”

“It was so much better than yesterday, Monday and today too. I don’t understand why they cancelled yesterday, when at 8.10pm the sunshine is here for one hour so we can play.

“I don’t understand why we are going to the courts to play for (only) 15 minutes, and they know because they have the (information).

“That’s very tough for the players. They don’t think very much about the players here, maybe.”

Guess what happened today at Wimbledon? More rain delays. In fact the rain delays have forced Nadal’s match against Soderling to be suspended (I believe) eight times, becoming the only match in the history of tennis to last over a year. The score in that match is 6-4, 6-4, 6-7, 4-6, 4-4. As for complete matches, Ferrero advanced to quarterfinals, where he will face Federer, by winning 7-5, 6-3, 7-6 over J. Tipsarevic. Ferrero hit a great ratio of 37 winners to only 11 unforced errors. He’s going to need that kind of performance (or better) to even compete with Federer. In addition L. Hewitt (a former champion) defeated G. Canas 6-4, 3-6, 6-3, 6-4.

Ferrero:

There were several large upsets in the Women’s side of the draw. Defending champion, A. Mauresmo, went down 6-7, 6-4, 1-6 to Vaidisova. Mauresmo hit 13 aces to only one by N. Vaidisova, but was hurt by her 14 double faults. In addition, Mauresmo hit more unforced errors than winners. J. Jankovic lost 6-3, 5-7, 3-6 to Frenchwomen M. Bartoli. The usually consistent Serbian was uncharacteristically erratic, hitting 31 unforced errors. Once Venus and Sharapova finish their rain suspended match, the women’s quarterfinal bracket will be complete. You can see it so far here: link.

It was brought to my attention earlier today that my comments about Bud Collins may have been misinterpreted when I got this comment from Aaress (of Onthebaseline.com):

Thanks for the link Tim.

Although Collins did spend his time writing mostly about mainstream players for NBC, one does have to wonder if he wrote about them for MSNBC because that was what MSNBC wanted?

Hopefully with the changes, NBC will bring in someone with as magnetic a personality as Collins - and someone comparable to his tennis expertise.

Aaress brings up a good point that, although Bud Collins spent the majority of his time writing about and covering only well known tennis players, it may of not of been his choice. I’m sure NBC dictates what and who gets coverage (as it affects their ratings, etc). What we do know is that NBC fired an institution yesterday, that was recognized by tennis fans and non-tennis fans alike. I disagree with a lot of what Collins had to say at times, but recognized his knowledge of the history of the sport. In fact, when you look to his top five men’s players of all time (link), his list includes Bill Tilden from the 1920s. What other commentator would give you that historical insight? Perhaps Collin’s best days of commentating were behind him, but we should remember his dedication to the sport and the interesting view he could always provide (and his interesting fashion choices). Instead of him, NBC probably will hire some new commentator, who neither provides extensive in-depth coverage (that has been lacking), or Collin’s personality.