Sweet Ball Striking!

AMS Toronto

2006-08-08T23:35:00.000-05:00

If it isn't obvious enough our entire team is pretty damn lazy and is working a ton, except for Drysdale, that son bitch. Anyway I just felt like giving some input on the latest Masters Series tournament in Toronto, a tournament that finally includes the top two players in the world. That being said, from what i've seen Nadal is looking damn good and I really think he has a solid shot at making the final in the US Open. Nadal may need to steer clear of one James Blake in order to do this, but I feel like they will not meet or Nadal will take Blake down. Not to discredit Blake but Nadal has this knack for not getting down on himself or his game in any situation, whether he has a winning record (against Federer) or a losing record (against Blake). Federer was apparently looking good today as well, serving 14 aces in only 2 sets. This may not be a milestone for someone like Ivo Karlovic but Federer is not usually known for banging out such a large number of aces, it was nice to hear about. Who knows when someone will find some time and post again, until then I hope somebody reads this so that our site doesn't completely go to shit.

Sincerely, Mary Joe

Where's 1 and 2?

2006-07-29T14:29:00.000-05:00

During the exciting "road trip" known as the US Open Series two things, or people, are missing. These people/players are none other than Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer, of whom are scheduled to play only 2 USO Series events as far as I know. I'm going to go out on a limb and inform everyone that I love both players but wtf? Just because they don't need the extra prize money that is offered because of the series doesn't mean they shouldn't play, if they are featured in the shitty commercials maybe they should also play a bigger role in the tournaments. You would think that Federer might like to play more in the series as well seeing ast he man has not lost on American soil in quite some time. You might also think that since Nadal has been beaten on hardcourts this year by both James Blake, who also beat him down last year at the USO, and Carlos Moya, he would want to improve and get some solid practice and confidence on the hardcourts. Apparently this does not matter much to either player, as they are both taking huge breaks from competition until the Masters Series tournaments in Toronto and Cincinatti respectively. Of course it must also be mentioned that they deserve a solid break after each guy made the finals of both Roland Garros and Wimbledon. I guess what i'm trying to say is that I would be a lot more into this shitty ass road trip, aka the US Open Series, if at least one of the two best players in the world were in more of the tournaments. No matter what happens i'm looking forward to seeing both of them in Toronto and I am definitley rooting for Gonzales in the most current tournament, the Countrywide Classic in Los Angeles.

Forehand

2006-07-12T17:43:00.000-05:00

Yes, the picture is completely and utterly inappropriate. This is why I chose it $:-)

Alllllllleeeeeeeeez!!!!

2006-07-09T11:50:00.000-05:00

If you don't know already Roger Federer has just captured his 4th consecutive Wimbledon championship, his 48th consecutive grass court win, his 2nd win over Rafael Nadal, and his 8th overall grand slam title. In my opinion this particular match displayed why Federer is the champion that he has become, not because he won, but how he won. As an avid Federer fan I have seen nearly all of his matches, whether they are crappy quality, he loses, wins, etc. The point is that I have seen him play his best tennis on all different surfaces and the tennis he played today in the final was not his best tennis. Sampras did it numerous times, winning big matches on big stages despite not performing at the top of your game. Federer had a little slip in the second and third sets but still managed to pull out his 4th Wimbledon title.

Although it is quite a milestone for Federer to pass the halfway mark to Sampras' 14 grand slams, credit must also be given to the other finalist Rafael Nadal. We have already heard so much about it, the fact that everyone doubted Nadal and didn't think he would make anywhere on grass. Nobody believed he could do it, he proved them wrong, blah blah blah. People who thought he would do well can rub it in all they want the fact of the matter is that most of us don't care, Nadal has proven himself on grass and it is good for him and good for the sport. After getting steamrolled in the first set Nadal pushed Federer to the limit in the second, at one point even serving for the set before he faultered and Federer took advantage. Nadal then proceeded to do the unthinkable and steal a set from the reigning champion, so much credit must be given to Nadal for hanging in there and not throwing in the towel as many others do vs. Federer (cough, Roddick, cough). Finally I have to point out something I love about Nadal and something that Federer will never have on him, his fight and his will to give everything in a match. As seen in the French Open final Federer pretty much sucked and played with "no balls" as Mats Wilander pointed out. It's not like he does that all the time but Federer does slip up under pressure at certain moments during certain matches. On the other hand Nadal is always guaranteed to play a great match and never give up hope. He could be down a bagel set and still go for winners and play with conviction, Nadal simply never seems down or depressed in any match. I found it unbelievable that although he was down 2 sets to 0 against the world number one and 3 time champion Nadal was still pounding backhand winners and playing in a positive matter.

So comes the end to a fairly high quality Wimbledon and a final that blew the French Open final out of the water, believe it or not i'm not just saying that because Federer won. No hard feelings about that crappy prediction eh Drysdale <:-)

Wimbledon Final: Rafa vs. Roger

2006-07-07T23:46:00.000-05:00

This year's Wimbledon final is a repeat of the Roland Garros final that took place about a month ago, except this time the final is played on grass. The final pits the two best players in the world against each other, as many of the big finals this year have turned out. Of course these two players are Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal, Nadal has a distinct edge against Federer and has won the last 5 of their total 7 meetings, Nadal also won their last meeting on the big stage at Roland Garros. Everyone expected Federer to make it to the final round, although I'm not sure anyone expected him to do it in the fashion he did. Federer has yet to drop a set in this year's Wimbledon and has played utterly dominant tennis in his last 6 matches, the question is can he keep this performance going? On the other side of the draw no one expected Nadal to even make it to the quarterfinals. Many spectators, including myself, claimed that Nadal would not even have an appearance in the 4th round. Little did we all know that Nadal can play pretty damn well on the grass despite having a fairly lucky draw.

No matter what happens I can't think of anyone who would not be excited to see this final because again, like at Roland Garros, there is a lot at stake for each player. Roger Federer bids to win his 4th consecutive Wimbledon title and his 8th grand slam title, putting him more than half way to Sampras' record 14 slams. Federer also wishes to keep his grass court winning streak alive, he now owns the record for most consecutive grass court victories once possessed by none other than Bjorn Borg. Nadal desperately wants to win a title on grass, especially the big one at Wimbledon. He has stated that this is the tournament he wants to win now, he has an undeniable will to be the best at all surfaces and to keep improving no matter who he plays or what he plays on. Nadal already has proven everyone wrong, but I think he wants to push the limit by winning and allowing all naysayers to see what he is capable of on the grass.

Time will only tell and this blockbuster final takes place Sunday at some time in the morning, any tennis fan of any sort should be watching. Below are our predictions as to how the match will play out.

Mary Joe: I am as surprised as anyone to see that Rafael Nadal is in the final of Wimbledon this year and I must give credit where it is due, Nadal does have a decent grass court game even if he had a somewhat easy draw. That being said I know that Federer has this in the bag, he has won three times in a row and is desperate to record a second win over the Spaniard. A final note before the score is that although I am picking Federer to win I believe that Nadal wants the title more than Federer does. Roger Federer defeats Rafael Nadal 6-4, 6-3, 6-2.

PMac: I didn't expect Nadal to make it to the final, but I did think he would do decently and not just because of his easy draw. Nadal has the skill to challenge most players on grass, he's proven that already. Although Nadal's grass game has developed well, he still doesn't have the game to take Federer out on Sunday. I'm expecting Federer to win in straight sets; he's looked strong throughout the tournament and I can see him winning his fourth title at Wimbledon without dropping a set. The random score: 7-5, 6-4, 6-4.

Drysdale: Wow, I can't believe the disrespect that you two are giving to Nadal. I mean even if you think that Federer is going to win, at least think that Nadal is going to take at least one set. Frankly, I think that the only person who has the slightest chance against Federer at Wimbledon is Nadal. I also think that Federer has a mental problem with Nadal, and I know that Nadal has a favorable record vs Federer (5-0 over the last few matches). Granted, that was mostly on clay but I believe that at least one of those was on a hard court. Everyone knows that Nadal can beat Federer; on clay or other surfaces, it was always just a problem of if Nadal could get to the final to get a shot at him. Well, he's accomplished that this year (maybe through some luck of the draw) and I think that Nadal is going to take Federer. Prior to the tourney, the "classy" Federer said that Nadal didn't stand a chance in this year's Wimbledon. I think that Nadal is going to make him eat his words. I predict a Nadal victory. 6-4, 6-7 (5), 6-3, 6-4. (sorry bout the score prediction before, I wrote it at like 4:30 AM).

Sharapova Sucks

2006-07-04T20:01:00.000-05:00

Yeah, the title comes right out and says it, I think Sharapova sucks. I cannot say that she is bad at tennis, because she is not, but I dislike her because of her Hewitt like attitude on court and her incredibly loud and unnecessary grunting. Back in the day when I was fortunate enough to visit the US Open I saw a younger Sharapova and I must admit I became a fan of hers because of her good looks and of course also her good looks. Maria may not have been the force she is today back then, but she was also not as painful to watch as she is now. Maybe I am wrong and she hasn't changed but I feel that the success she has had has caused her to become the annoying and somewhat hated player she is today. If it weren't for her self cheering in Spanish, a language she surely is not fluent in, or her decibel topping screams I may still like to watch her for her excellent tennis and her decent looks. For the record I say she has decent looks now because when a girl exhibits that kind of attitude and manner on court she becomes less attractive, although still nowhere near Mauresmo status.

In the quarterfinal match played today against Elena Dementieva, Sharapova annihilated her Russian compatriot in straight sets. Dementieva felt that Sharapova may have been pushing the limits with her excessive grunting yet she did not speak up about it because she is a good sport. It does seem like she would be making an excuse to complain about grunting when she is down by a set and a break, but I think that a complaint may have been appropriate and other players should do the same. Some may say that the Williams sisters grunt loud as well, the thing is they just aren't as annoying and bitchy as Sharapova is so most people let it slide. Basically Sharapova needs to shut the hell up, and someone also needs to taker her out of the tournament because I am sick of hearing her deafening grunting and her cries of Vamos!

Below is the solution to the Sharapova noise problem, yeah I know the score doesn't make sense but that's not the point.

Nadal On Grass?

2006-07-03T12:53:00.000-05:00

It's been said many times before, Nadal isn't a solid grass court player. In fact it's been said that Nadal is horrible on grass which may be true. He wasn't expected to get to the fourth round, but now that he has, is it time to rethink Nadal's skills on grass? With the top seeds falling out of Wimbledon at such a quick rate, can Nadal make it to the finals? Will Nadal's dream of winning at Wimbledon be achieved sooner than thought possible? Will I keep asking retarded questions?

More to come. By the way, I am sorry for the lack of postings. I have too many weak excuses I could use to explain myself.

Toys 'R' Us,
PMac.

Sorry, I just can't resist...

2006-06-30T18:43:00.000-05:00

In a shocking upset today at Wimbledon, Argentina's David Nalbandian suffered a straight set loss to the #28 seed Fernando Verdasco of Spain, 6-7(9), 6-7(9), 2-6. Nalbandian just never seemed to be into the match. He began the day by complaining about the time of the match. In the World Cup, Argentina was playing Germany during the match and he wanted to watch it. Perhaps that was why his game was so hapless. On that note, the Argentine soccer team ended up losing to Germany in a shootout 4-2. It was a sad day for Argentina, and I just can't resist: Don't cry for me Argentina.

All I can say is....holy crap, wtf?

2006-06-28T16:54:00.000-05:00

Bethanie Maittek played Venus Williams today and Miss Williams won 6-1, 6-0. But that's not the issue here. The issue here is, what the hell was Miss Maittek wearing? It was some weirdass, 70's, Austin Powers type, British get up. It was strange and disturbing, and not suitable for younger viewers (well it wasn't revealing or anything it was pretty creepy). This crappy weird fashion by the women on tour has got to stop. It should have been nipped in the bud when Serena came out in her catsuit a few years back. But no, we had to let that one go and look what's happened. It's ridiculous. Where does the madness stop?

Federer in Impressive Form

2006-06-27T10:43:00.000-05:00

When Federer strode onto Centre Court today to resume his match with Richard Gasquet nobody could guess how he felt about a rain delay and about a young Frenchman who took him to a close 3 set match in Halle weeks ago. Apparently Federer had only one thing on his mind, that was to utterly dismantle Gasquet in a performance that seemed as some dub it "scary". Today Federer hit 35 winners to only 13 errors, he struck 5 aces to 1 double fault, and he converted 5 out of 7 break point opportunities. Federer resumed the match at 6-3, 1-2 and proceeded to take 5 games in a row to seal the second set and put himself up 2 sets to none. After basically running through the second set Federer closed Gasquet out in impressive fashion with a final score of 6-3, 6-2, 6-2 to book himself a spot in the second round against British hope Tim Henman. Henman can only hope that he doesn't see what Federer has done to Gasquet because after the way Roger dismissed the 20 year old Henman simply has no chance of winning. I think it is quite unfortunate as well that Henman had to play the defending champion in only the second round, personally I enjoy watching one of the few serve and volleyers left in the game as we know it.

To put it simply, I think an article from the wimbledon website said it best:

To judge by Federer's tuts of irritation on the rare occasions that he committed the sin of an error, you might have thought he was having a bad match. If this was a bad match, then everyone in Federer's half of the draw should vacate the SW19 premises immediately for their own safety.

One more note is that Federer has successfully taken Bjorn Borg's record of consecutive grass court wins and now sits at 42 in a row. Federer has said himself that this mark is great, he owns another part of tennis history now, but the next match and the tournament are of more importance to him at the moment. More to come as matches are completed.

P.S. - Credit to the official wimbledon website for that picture, check out his sick blazer eh?

Wimbledon Day 1

2006-06-26T18:05:00.000-05:00

Unforunately, today at Wimbledon not even one match was completed because of the constant rain that seems to plague the All England club. The first and feature match of the day between France's Richard Gasquet and the reigning Wimbledon champ was stopped at 6-3, 1-2 on serve and with Federer up a set. This match will be resumed tomorrow after Justine Henin-Hardenne finished her match with Meng Yuan. It is a question to whether or not play will even resume tomorrow, as rain is supposed to be scattered throughout the day in England. If the weather stays calm the day will be chock full of matches featuring the ending to Federer's first round clash along with other postponed matches such as Hingis and Clijsters. Also, Rafael Nadal, Andre Agassi, Tim Henman, Andy Roddick, Marat Safin, and David Nalbandian will be in action among others.

Until tomorrow, pray for sun!

Roddick Match

2006-06-22T08:25:00.000-05:00

This is just a sweet video that we found a while back of Roddick playing against a big white block aka pong. Enjoy the biggest win of Roddick's career, just kidding of course.

DGWT?

2006-06-19T00:09:00.000-05:00

My colleague, PMac, and I recently had a discussion about Serena Williams and her lack of care for tennis despite her obvious immense talent for the sport. PMac argued that she should have to right to be a complete idiot and throw away what could be a chance to become the greatest female tennis player to ever set foot on a court. I argued that Chris Evert, who wrote Serena a "get your shit together" letter, was correct to tell Serena to consider coming back to tennis and putting her extracurricular activities on hold. I feel that Serena should use her talent and not waste it because no matter what the sport I think that given that kind of gift the person should be obligated to take advantage of it. Their are obvious reasons to be for and against the comeback of one of women's tennis' greats but one thing is for sure, women's tennis is not exactly interesting to watch. Not that it was incredibly entertaining before, but when you had Serena Williams blasting the ball and playing such excellent tennis it was at least a little fun to watch. Just for the record I am going to say that I agree with PMac and it is Serena's choice, although a retarded choice, to not play tennis and to try and promote her "clothing lines" and "acting career". To sort of stray from the point I must say that one thing would make women's tennis truly amazing and just as entertaining as the men's game, this of course is DGWT. DGWT needs no more explaining as it is below the text you are currently probably not reading, because you see the pictures below. To wrap this shit up I hope everyone out there has a good day and thinks about what i'm saying, we should try and make this happen!

Special thanks to Adriana Lima and Gisele Bundchen for being so freaking hot.

Federer Wins 4th Halle Title

2006-06-18T17:46:00.000-05:00

For the first time in his career Roger Federer has won an ATP tournament four times in a row after defeating Tomas Berdych in the Halle final 6-0, 6-7(5), 6-2. Federer seemed to have cleaned up his game quite a bit after struggling in his path to the final, he saved 4 match points on his way to the championship. Although Federer did have a chance to serve out the match for a 6-0, 6-3 victory he kept his composure after losing the second set and went on to secure the win and his 41st consecutive match won on grass. This mark of 41 straight matches ties the open era record that Bjorn Borg held, and will surely be surpassed come time for Wimbledon. Probably the most interesting thing I read about this tournament was a comment made by Tomas Berdych after the final when he was asked about Federer's chances at Wimbledon.

Can anyone beat Federer at Wimbledon?: "I don't think so, unless something really happens, he's sick or injured. No."

Also, Lleyton Hewitt stopped his drought of tournament wins when he won the Stella Artois final against James Blake. In a seemingly one sided match Hewitt took Blake out with a score of 6-4, 6-4. This has to give Hewitt a ton of confidence coming into Wimbledon, showing that he has what it takes to still compete at the top of the men's game. Hewitt may actually be a force at Wimbledon if he can manage to carry this confidence into the All England Club come next week. I think that the only disappointment from Hewitt's performance in Queens was his loss of a set to Rafael Nadal, a player that Hewitt should surely dominate on the grass. Lucky for Hewitt, Nadal was forced to retire and didn't even have a chance to win the match; lucky for Nadal, he didn't have much of a shot at Wimbledon anyway so it's a good time to get injured so to speak.

We may or may not cover tournaments this week, we will post sometime though so don't get your panties in a bunch ;-).

Grass Update

2006-06-16T13:08:00.000-05:00

As we all know Roger Federer is playing in the Gerry Weber Open this week. Looking a bit precarious, the tournament favorite made to the quarterfinals beating Rohan Bopanna (a qualifier) and Richard Gasquet with a total of 3 tie-breaks played. Although, his slow start was not much of a surprise as he usually gains momentum as tournaments progress. Friday's quarterfinal match against Olivier Rochus was one of Federer's real tests on grass. This is the first time he's looked vulnerable on the surface he dominates with a streak of 39 wins. Federer defeated Rochus in three tie-breaks 6-7(2), 7-6(9), 7-6(5). Federer had to fight off four match points to somehow pull this win out of his ass. He will now play Tommy Haas for the fourth time this year in the semifinals. Also moving on is Tomas Berdych who has a strong chance of making it to the finals.

Here's a quick update on what's happening at Queens Club: Blake and Roddick will play a semifinal match while Henman and Hewitt will play a semifinal match on the other side of the draw. Hewitt advanced when Nadal retired after splitting sets with Hewitt 3-6, 6-3. Nadal retired with a shoulder problem. More news later.

By the way, this is our 100th post! \o/

Toys 'R' Us,
PMac.

Dark Horses at Wimbledon

2006-06-13T22:39:00.000-05:00

I don't really like the term "dark horse" but it is a good way to get the point across. For those who don't know, a dark horse is a player in a tournament that is not expected to go all the way but has a chance at moving deep into the tournament. This year's Wimbledon has the obvious favorite, Roger Federer, but it also has its share of guys who have the potential to meet Federer in the final. You choose.

Grass Court Season?

2006-06-12T23:54:00.000-05:00

Yes, now that Roland Garros is finished the tennis world will switch over to a surface that seems to be the polar opposite of the red dirt. This surface is none other than grass, something that no player grows up playing on and most players only play on a few times per year. The 2006 grass court season brings about a few good questions regarding a few good players, well a few good players and one biatch. The biggest question this year has to be will Roger Federer rebound from a tough loss to Rafael Nadal in the French Open final. Since it is Federer we have to give it to him and make him the easy favorite for Wimbledon this year, but a man can only take so much and after getting beat down by the Spaniard for a fifth straight time Federer may be vulnerable mentally.

Another question partaining to the two time Roland Garros champion Nadal is can he win big on a surface other than clay? I would say that many fans have mixed feelings about this topic, some saying that Nadal can adjust to the hard court style but may lack the talents required in order to succeed on the grass. Of course Nadal has already proven himself several times on hardcourts, winning last year's AMS Toronto and AMS Madrid titles and this year's Dubai title, all on hard courts. Despite his tournament win's Nadal has yet to become a threat for the majors that take place on faster surfaces, his best showing being a semifinal run at last year's Australian Open. Quite possibly the fastest surface of all is grass, a surface that Nadal is the least comfortable on. Personally I think that if Nadal has a good run at Wimbledon it will not be this year, but his work ethic and desire to win big on the lawns of Wimbledon are very respectable and may definitely lead to his success in England in the future.

Many American fans may be asking themselves when they will get another grand slam champion, with Andy Roddick losing early in the past few majors and with the only other American hopeful being James Blake. Most tennis fans know that Roddick has seen his fair share of success in England, making it to the last 2 finals before being sent home by 3 time winner Roger Federer. This year is a big test for Roddick, he has performed so poorly in the past few months and is in need of a decent run at Wimbledon if he wishes to stay inside the top 10. After dominating the sport behind Federer, the former world number 1 and current world number 5 has yet to win a tournament this year and seems to be struggling to compete with the new members of the ATP elite. That all being said I firmly believe that Americans are going to look to James Blake to make it far in this year's Wimbledon. Blake has had a great year and despite losing early in Roland Garros he managed to take down a clay court specialist Nicolas Almagro before being defeated at the hands of Gael Monfils. I think Blake has a solid shot at this year's Wimbledon because he is such a great all around player, he has the big serve and even bigger forehand that suits the faster grass court surface. Blake is also in possession of an underrated one handed backhand that he has improved upon so much leading into this breakout season.

One last point that I will make is the beauty of the short interval between Roland Garros and Wimbledon. Although it puts the players at somewhat of a disadvantage, I am pretty pumped that there is so much tennis in such a short amount of time. Much more coming in the near future.

Nadal Takes Federer in a...Shocker?

2006-06-12T00:39:00.000-05:00

This Sunday’s match had it all…the hype, the drama, the intrigue, and the top two seeds. It had all the makings for a great match. As the match wore on however, one aspect became increasingly apparent…this was not by any means a great match. At times it struggled to even resemble a decent match. This lack of luster mainly occurred in the first two sets, when each player easily took a set at 6-1. I could have slept through the first two sets and not missed anything particularly spectacular. The sets were riddled with errors, especially by Federer who couldn’t seem to get a grasp on his backhand; a shot that would plague him throughout the match.

There was however, a bit of drama in the second set when a linesperson made an incorrect call. Federer was serving early in the set at 40-0 and both men were on serve. Nadal hit a ball deep to the center of the baseline. It was ruled out. Federer, being a good sport, walked up to the mark and pointed out to the umpire that the ball had actually landed in. The point was replayed. Nadal won the replayed point and suddenly went on a tear, winning the next few points and surprisingly taking the game. Somehow, this extra breath of life lifted Nadal enough for him to win the game and easily roll on to win the set. In my eyes, this was the turning point of the match. Nadal came into his own and Federer never seemed to get his groove back.

After the second set, the match actually began to become fairly interesting. Nadal’s serve was really humming. He was unbreakable from the beginning of the second set and through the third. Both men seemed to have elevated their play. Federer cut down on the errors and began playing more cleanly. Despite his efforts, Nadal was able to grind out the third set and take it 6-4.

The third set began and it appeared that Nadal was on cruise control. He continued his relentless shot making, and seemed to be unstoppable while serving. He managed to get an early break on Federer, and Federer almost seemed like he had given up all hope of winning the championship. Eventually, through dominant service games, Nadal put himself in the position to serve for the match at 5-4. Nadal started the game off by losing the first point and appeared to be tightening up with a second straight Roland Garros championship in his crosshairs. Nadal uncharacteristically struggled to make first serves throughout this game, and Federer began to display some hope and belief. At a crucial point, Federer hit a shot that clipped the net and died on the court before Nadal could reach it (somehow Federer always seems to get these during important points; see: first Wimbledon final vs. Roddick). Needless to say, Federer went on to win the game and held his serve to make the set 6-5. Nadal regained his composure and served to get to a tiebreaker. Nadal then went on another tear, grinding it out and attacking Federer’s inconsistent backhand to take the tiebreak 7-4, thus cementing himself a second straight Roland Garros championship.

Vamos Rafa! For some reason most people were picking Federer to beat you. Apparently they overlooked the 59 match win streak on clay, the 5-1 record vs. Federer; having won every clay match against him, and the fact that you won Roland Garros last year. Well congratulations Rafael Nadal, you’ve cemented yourself as the best active clay court player and perhaps eventually the best ever.

Cliffy

French Open Final

2006-06-10T12:07:00.000-05:00

As most of you know, this year's Roland Garros final will be played tomorrow and will pit the world number one Roger Federer against number two Rafael Nadal. This match up has been predicted and analyzed since before the tournament even began and it should be a good one as both players appear to be in excellent form. Just like the latest issue of Tennis Magazine stated, most fans have to ask themselves a question about the Federer/Nadal rivalry, Whose side are you on? I side with Federer and PMac is a non-biased guy I suppose. Either way, many fans will choose one of these spectacular talents over the other. Each fan has their various reasons for choosing either player but ultimately it is just a personal thing and which player is better over all is pretty hard to prove. Nadal has obviously shown better results on clay (he is now at a record setting 59 match win streak), and has beaten Federer in their last 4 meetings, but Federer has won more titles on more different surfaces. Federer also holds 7 grand slam titles, among many other records that he holds, but many may bring the completely reasonable argument that Nadal is still only 20 years old and has yet to reach that stage in his tennis career. No matter what happens, only one man will win the title tomorrow, and both men have great opportunities to be fulfilled if they can pull out a victory.

The tennis world has been talking about it a lot lately, the fact that if Federer manages to subdue Nadal tomorrow he will have won 4 grand slams in row. This will complete his career slam and make the chances of winning "the grand slam" much more feasible. Of course by "the grand slam" I mean winning all 4 grand slam titles within one calendar year. Winning the French Open will make it much easier to complete because of Federer's incredible chances to repeat his Wimbledon title, coupled with his almost equally good chances to win the 2006 U.S. Open. One more thing to bring attention to is the streak of grand slam victories that Federer will break if he can win tomorrow's final. This streak is held by none other than Rod Laver, who won the grand slam twice in his career, and will most likely be shattered by Federer if he beats Nadal tomorrow.

On the other hand, if Nadal can overcome Federer he will have kept his clay court win streak alive at a solid 60 wins. I feel that Federer is the only man capable of challenging Nadal on clay and if Nadal can beat Federer tomorrow his win streak will have no where to go but up. Nadal also wants to defend his title, after winning Roland Garros on his first attempt i'm pretty sure that Nadal wants to keep his unbeaten record and level his French Open career record at a stunning 14-0. Besides these obvious goals that are on the line Nadal, like any other player, realizes how big the grand slams are in tennis and just what it means to win one. Sure, Nadal already has one Roland Garros title under his belt, but he still knows what it would mean for him to repeat this victory and gain his second grand slam.

Here are our predictions for tomorrow's final.

Mary Joe: To keep it simple I just have to say that Nadal is obviously the heavy favorite and the undisputed king of clay. Nadal has beaten Federer in all of their clay court battles and has even beaten him once on the hardcourts of Dubai. This being said, I feel that Federer wants this title a lot and has been figuring out exactly what he needs to do to overcome the "raging bull" from Spain. I'm going to pick the world number 1 in a tight 5 set match; 4-6, 6-3, 5-7, 7-5, 8-6.

PMac: I am not exactly a big Nadal fan (you heard it from me, Safin is my favorite) but I'd like to see Nadal win the French for a second time in a row just to take that clay streak even further. That being said, I don't exactly know what his chances of winning tomorrow are. One of Federer's skills is to adapt to another player's talents, especially another player he has lost to. Well so far Federer has lost to Nadal five times as you know, and each time he has been closer to winning. This match maybe the one that ends Nadal's clay streak. Federer has a lot more to prove tomorrow, so I'll have to pick Federer to take the trophy in 5 sets. I'll be picking the scores in random as usual, 7-5, 4-6, 5-7, 6-3,7-5. *I hope I am damn wrong about my prediction.

Vamos Rafa,
PMac.

Drysdale: I want Federer to win tomorrow, but I think that Nadal is going to win. Nadal has a 59 match win streak on clay, he's the quintessential claycourt grinder with loads of spin on his shots, and his record vs. Federer is 5-1; beating him on clay every time they've played. And although Nadal is the defending champ, I actually think that there's more pressure on Federer to win this championship, and recieve his first Roland Garros title. My pick is Nadal in 4 sets: 6-4, 5-7, 7-5, 7-6 (4).

Roland Garros: Round 6

2006-06-09T18:19:00.000-05:00

To bring everyone up to date, that is if they are not watching, the predictions from even before Roland Garros begun came true. These predictions being that the final would be between Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer. In today's first feature match Roger Federer withstood an onslaught of shotmaking by Nalbandian to eventually win because of Nalbandian's retirement due to a stomach strain. I feel that Federer would have won the match either way, he was down 3-6, 0-3 before he produced some of his signature shotmaking to level the match at one set a piece. The key to the match seemed to be after Federer had broke even in the second set 3-3, Nalbandian hit a decent drop shot and then proceeded to lob Federer. Little did Daveed know that Federer would some how run around this lob and scoop a forehand passing shot down the line while turning around at the same time. Not only did he have to hit the shot while turning around, the ball was literally inches off of the court, after this unbelievable display of athleticism Federer seemed to be in complete control of the match. After leveling the match at 3-6, 6-4 Federer sprinted to a 5-2 lead in the third set before Nalbandian was forced to retire.

In the second match of the day Rafael Nadal strolled into the French Open finals defeating Ivan Ljubicic in straight sets fairly easily. Lube had his chances and I believe that he could have made this match closer and harder for Nadal if it weren't for his press conference earlier that day. In this press conference Lube was downplaying Nadal's clay court winning streak, which now sits at 59 I think, and he was also claiming that he would be the one to dethrone Nadal and stop his streak. This kind of cocky trash talk only results in losses as karma will always kick your ass in the end; whether Nadal knew about the conference or not i'm sure he wasn't going to let his streak end at the hands of Lube.

Predictions and commentary for the men's final will be posted later.

Hot or not?

2006-06-08T22:59:00.000-05:00

Yesterday's featured matches were the all Belgian semifinal and the all "ova" semifinal. The first semifinal was between Belgians Justine Henin-Hardenne and Kim Clijsters, Henin-Hardenne being last year's French Open champion and Clijsters being quite homely. As most fans and commentators alike expected Henin-Hardenne took the match fairly easily, dismissing Clijsters in straight sets with some sweet ball striking. Chances are that Henin-Hardenne will repeat last year's result and take the Roland Garros title for the third time in her career. The other semifinal matchup was between the "ova" players, Svetlana Kuznetsova and Nicole Vaidisova. This matchup could have gone either way, personally I was rooting for Vaidisova, but in the end the higher ranked Russian won with little trouble. Kuznetsova may be a great tennis player and all but she is not a pleasure to look at, especially with her new haircut. On the other hand, Vaidisova has a lot of potential and may become the next Kournikova/Sharapova. Again, like Sharapova, Vaidisova actually has talent on the court along with some pretty stunning good looks; both Sharapova and Vaidisova have won multiple singles titles while Kournikova failed to get one. All in all I look forward to seeing more of Vaidisova because she seems to be becoming more attractive every day.

Coverage of today's men's semifinals to be posted later.

Lube? Dank? Probably Not

2006-06-06T12:50:00.000-05:00

It's funny how the French Open is almost complete and Ljubicic (Lube) has yet to play on Chatrier, center court. So far not much has been said about either Lube or Davydenko (Dank). Both these players are solid top ten performers, yet not a word has been said about them since the beginning of the FO. Of course they're not exactly the favorites coming into this tournament, although neither of them are horrible clay court players. This has been proven by the fact that both players have advanced to the quarter finals. Of course, Dank was defeated by Nalbandian today 6-3 6-3 2-6 6-4. Lube still is the favorite over Benneteau to advance to the semis. Based on their solid game play you'd think there would be more said about these players, and more coverage on TV. But the question is why haven't they received more coverage?

Although Dank has no charisma and he is not particularly good looking, he is still entertaining to watch, as he can hit amazing shots. It's almost the same case with Lube, although Lube does have a little more personality. So why exactly is it that these players aren't followed much? I think I may have the answers. It's because both players are balding. Other than Agassi, Lube or Dank, how many other balding players do you know of? Agassi was more popular when he wasn't balding and at his peak. Although Dank and Lube have had the misfortune of peaking at a point where they both have had minimal amounts of hair. So the point I'm trying to make is, if you want to be a popular balding tennis player buy a wig or something.

Anyway, we will have coverage of Nadal's match against Djokovic tomorrow.

P.S. Did anyone see that point in the Dank v. Nalbandian match when Dank hit Nalbandian with a volley?

Hewitt: Not a Complete Asshole

2006-06-05T12:18:00.000-05:00

Today PMac and I had the fortune of watching Rafael Nadal play his fourth round match against none other than Lleyton Hewitt, the man notoriously known for being a huge douchebag. It came to my attention half way through the match that Hewitt was not acting like a complete jackass. His whining, c'mons, staring at his box, and making strange gestures were all absent. I thought to myself, wtf is going on here? Hewitt was playing a normal match, giving it all he had but not in a manner that made him look like a jackass. We eventually figured that this transformation is due to the fact that many players on the tour dislike Hewitt's on court behavior and Hewitt knows that they think he is kind of a dick. One player Juan Ignacio Chela (the ugly mofo) actually spat at Hewitt during a match in last year's Australian Open. Bottom line I guess is that we can lay off Hewitt a bit because he has cleaned up his act and also actually put on a fairly impressive performance in his match against Nadal.

Nadal took the first set easily, striking winners from all parts of the court and pushing Hewitt back with his immense topspin. Everything looked to be going well for Nadal until in the second set Hewitt started to comeback and contest Nadal's shots. Hewitt fought and scrapped his way through the set to take it 7-5, leveling the match at one set a piece. I feel like Hewitt also had his chances in the second set, but the champion in Nadal prevailed once again with an array of amazing shots that helped him seal a spot in the quarterfinals of this year's FO, 6-2, 5-7, 6-4, 6-2.

Other results from today are Ljubicic's win over Hidalgo, Novak Djokovic's upset of French hope Gael Monfils, Hingis' triumph over Peer, and lastly Julien Benetteu's win over Alberto Martin who was forced to retire due to injury.

Tomorrow should provide some quality matches with Roger Federer facing off with the tired Mario Ancic (Fred Macchio), and Daveeed Nalbandian playing Nikolay Davydenko. When the matches are complete we will provide some commentary and what not, until tomorrow.

Post once again brought to you by Mary Joe <:-).

Third Round Complete

2006-06-04T01:14:00.000-05:00

Basically the third round has been completed, with most of the big matches being completed and only a couple matches that are left to be finished later today. Some of the matches that were left unfinished were the Blake/Monfils match and the Ljubicic/Monaco match. Hopefully we will all see coverage of the results of these matches today, along with some other action from the world's best tennis player and other tennis hacks as well. Obviously I was talking about Roger Federer who will be in action today against the talented young Czech Tomas Berdych. I feel that this match could either be quite one sided, with Federer taking it easily, but it could also be a tight affair if Berdych manages to find the form I believe he may stretch Federer to 4 sets.

To quickly sum up today's matches, I was most surprised with Rafael Nadal's performance against the Frenchman Paul Henri Mathieu. I was almost certain that Nadal would utterly annihilate Mathieu and not give him much of a chance to get in the match, I was mistaken. Mathieu fought well throughout the match, using the crowd to get himself going and also taking the match to 4 fairly tight sets. After seeing Federer struggle to close out Nicolas Massu yesterday I have to say I was kind of hoping that Nadal would have a rough match. This encounter with Mathieu ensures that Nadal and Federer are in a way on the same page physically and mentally, having both made it through tougher third round matches than they would have liked.

More to be posted tomorrow.

P.S. - This post has been brought to you by Mary Joe, from PMac's house, don't get any funny ideas Drysdale ;-).

Good chances for Blake.

2006-06-02T13:57:00.000-05:00

Day six of the French Open has resulted in a huge upset with James Blake demolishing Nicolas Almagro 6-7(5) 6-2 6-4 6-4. It was quite a surprise due to the fact that Almagro is a very talented clay court player, and we all know how Blake is on clay (2-3 this year, not very good). Almagro has proven to be very moody in previous tournaments, Marat Safin even refused to shake his hand after Almagro defeated him in Valencia; a tournament Almagro would later go on and win. Almagro clearly lost composure in his match against Blake. After losing the third set Almagro had somewhat of a fit. Blake now has a chance to move quite far in the draw as he will face Monfils next. Assuming he moves on he will be matched up with either Haas or Djokovic.

The third round will be completed tomorrow with a few good matches lined up. Nadal will have more of a challenging third round match with Paul-Henri Mathieu, "the dominator" Hrbaty should have a good chance against "the lawn mower" Hewitt, Lube will face Monaco, Tommy Haas will play Novak Djokovic, and as previously mentioned, Blake will play Monfils in what could possibly be a very good match.

More to come of course.

Eye Dropaaa,
PMac.

Roland Garros: Round 2

2006-05-31T18:40:00.000-05:00

The second round is halfway completed and the results are so far as expected. World number 1 Roger Federer has progressed easily into the third round after beating down Alejandro Falla. It seemed as though Federer was a bit upset after not playing so well in his first round encounter with the qualifier Diego Hartfield. Federer appeared to be rushing through the match, although in a successful manner, and ended the match with a positive differential (49 winners). On the women's side Sharapova easily moved through as well, defeating Iveta Benesova; Amelie Mauresmo (Manresmo) also made it into the third round.

The crazy ass German Nicolas Kiefer won a close second round match against a random French guy known as Marc Gicquel. The match lasted almost 5 hours and the final set took more than an hour and a half to complete before Kiefer took it 11-9. In a somewhat upsetting story, especially for the French, Richard Gasquet took a fall to David Nalbandian 6-2, 3-6, 7-5, 6-0. Although Gasquet looked pretty sharp in the second set he failed to maintain his composure and lost a flat out embarrassing 4th set with a bagel. Other players that moved into the third round were Nicolas Massu (who will play Federer next), Gaston Gaudio, Juan Carlos Ferrero, Mario Ancic, and Carlos Moya.

Interesting matches will be on tomorrow with the last male Americans left in the draw playing. Kevin Kim will face Rafael Nadal, and James Blake will be pitted against Nicolas Almagro. Unfortunately for any American fans, these two men are almost certainly going to lose due to the fact that both Nadal and Almagro are damn good clay court specialists. Other players that might be fun to watch include Ivo Karlovic, Tommy Haas, Gael Monfils, and Fernando Gonzalez. For anyone who did not see or just doesn't know, Ivo Karlovic is the size of a tree and somehow managed to serve 26 aces in his first round match yesterday.

More to come tomorrow, B.

Tournament Predictions: Roland Garros

2006-05-27T15:03:00.000-05:00

Today the SBS team will make predictions for the winner of this year's French Open. It is an extremely tough decision but we will try and guess the winner, the team member or members to predict correctly will get a date with Mary Joe.

Mary Joe: This year's French Open is pretty much a race between two men, Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal. Although odds favor Nadal, he did win last year, Federer has been right on track when it comes to deciphering the Spaniard's style of play. In previous clay court matches between the two Nadal has been dominating Federer so to speak, but in the past few weeks Federer has come closer and closer to attaining a victory against Nadal on clay. Their last match in Rome was the closest Federer has came to defeating the clay court champion, he held 2 match points and seemed to be taking control of the match in the deciding sets before Nadal slammed the door on him. All of this being said I feel that Federer wants this title just a tad more than Nadal does, I am picking Roger Federer to win this year's Roland Garros in a tight final.

Drysdale: This is one of the easiset predictions I'll have to make all year. Nadal Nadal Nadal. He's going to take it. Of course it will end up being Nadal and Federer in the final, and of course Nadal will take him once again. Nadal has beaten Federer 5 times already. He's never lost to him on clay and he's even beat him on hard courts. Nadal plays a safer, more defensive style of play than Federer, which is optimal for clay. They only possibly way that Federer takes this tournament instead of Nadal is if Nadal gets injured. I actually think that Nadal should be seeded 1 and Federer 2, because Nadal is 2 overall and is the defending champ, but it's France, so what do you expect? Nadal is the favorite in the tournament and is the best clay court player in the world. Therefore there is no reason for him not to win the tourney once again.

PMac Drysdale, that has to be the dumbest thing you've said on this blog so far. What difference does it make whether Nadal is ranked number 1 or number 2 in Roland Garros, and what does the location of the tournament have anything to do with it? Federer and Nadal will undoubtably make it to the finals, but the final itself will not be as predictable. May I ask you, Drysdale, if you managed to watch the Monte-Carlo final? Or even more recent, if you've seen the final in Rome between Federer and Nadal where Federer had two championship points? Well this final will be as close or even closer than the final in Rome. I will have to pick Nadal to win the tournament, although if Federer wins I will not be the least surprised.

P.S. Drysdale you're an old washed up cracka.

We haven't posted this week, but don't worry.. we were just taking a break, we'll be back with full coverage of the French Open.

Roland Garros 2006

2006-05-21T17:50:00.000-05:00

Another simple question. Who will be crowned the 2006 Roland Garros champion?

Robredooooooo!

2006-05-21T11:40:00.000-05:00

Robredo showed why he deserves to be in the top ten today by annihilating Radek Stephanek 6-1, 6-3, 6-3 to win in Hamburg. After this win, Robredo will move up to #7 in the world. Since Federer and Nadal both withdrew from the tournament, Robredo was destined to take the title after a weak showing in Rome. Aside from being my pick to win in Hamburg and being on my fantasy team, Robredo's progress in the tournament was worth following because of his blog at ATPtennis.com. I believe this is the first time one of the ATP's current bloggers has won an tournament. Don't let Robredo's total French guy look put you off though, Robredo's blog is a decent read.

P.S. Yeah Hingis.. in yo face Drysdale.

Pictures from ESPN.com

Toys 'R' Us,
PMac.

Fred Savage?

2006-05-19T17:56:00.000-05:00

Yeah, Ancic is a pimp.

I don't know if anyone else sees it, but I think that Mario Ancic looks like Fred Savage (from the Wonder Years show). This may be random as all hell but I felt that it had to be said. Ancic has made it to the semifinals in Hamburg after a great showing in Roma last week. I think that Ancic's matches are especially impressive because he seems to always be in such a bad situation, down a set and a break usually, but he still pulls through. In today's quarterfinal matchup vs. Davydenko Ancic seemed to be on his way out of the tournament down, like I said before, a set and a break. The staggering odds didn't effect Ancic at all though as he managed to take that set 7-6 before ultimately taking down the balding Davydenko 5-7, 7-6, 6-3. Something about Ancic is just fun to watch, he doesn't complain and doesn't give up, Ancic also has a pretty good looking all around game. Something that must also be said is that I think Dank was getting rattled a bit when Ancic kept getting netcords on some pretty big points. This kind of luck in such a tense situation makes it seem as though Ancic was destined to win the match. Overall I now believe Ancic will win Hamburg because my previous pick, Fernando Gonzales, was taken down much earlier than expected. On a more random note, I can't wait to see this year's Wimbledon where Fred Savage should do very well and Federer should win.

Hamburg - Round 1 Part 2

2006-05-16T13:22:00.000-05:00

Yeah, I know it's a small picture but wtf is up with Kiefer's shirt?

Today in Hamburg Fernando Gonzales and Gaston Gaudio both made it through to the second round. Gaudio was stretched to 3 sets while Gonzales produced some pretty incredible shots to dismiss Dmitry Tursunov in straight sets. Gonzales looked pretty good today and I am going to have to pick him to reach the final on his half of the draw. In an interesting match between two teenagers, Andrew Murray (ugly British mofo) defeated Gael Monfils in straight sets to book himself a spot in the second round. Murray may be ugly but did look to be in pretty good shape during his first round match. In a surprise upset Tommy Haas was taken down by Robin Soderling due to an injury, Haas was forced to retire at 2-6, 1-2 in the match. Ginepri was wasted by Grosjean, who could have predicted that one, and Rusedski suffered a first round loss after doing so well in Roma.

This tournament seems pretty wide open and it is very difficult for me to pick a winner, without Nadal and Federer in it who knows what will happen. Like I said before, Gonzales looks to be in good form and I am picking him for the bottom half of the draw. On the other side I am going to have to go out on a limb and pick Ferrero to reach the final. Will post up news and shite tomorrow.

p.s. - Mary Joe is looking for a mate.

Hamburg Masters Series

2006-05-15T11:48:00.000-05:00

Barely a day has passed since the end of the AMS Roma tournament, but that won't stop the next big tournament from happening. So far in Hamburg some big news has already been recorded with James Blake posting a 3 set win over Carlos Moya and the withdrawal of both Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer from this year's tournament. Nadal, yesterday's winner, and Federer, last year's Hamburg winner, both appear to feel some of the effects from their close 5 set encounter sunday and both also want to be as fresh as possible for Roland Garros. The new top seeds are Ivan Ljubicic and Nikolay Davydenko. It is obvious that the tournament will not be the same without Federer and Nadal, but with Lube, Dank, Gasquet, Blake and Monfils it should still be quite interesting. Some may notice that I have not even mentioned the so called clay court specialist Guillermo Coria, this is because Coria is currently sucking some serious scrote on "his best surface". I know that Coria is damn good on clay and that he is at least top 5 in the world on the surface, we will all see this week if he can get his damn act together and compile a few wins in Hamburg. One last note is that I am really struggling to find any decent pictures out there, Maria Kirilenko is about the only female tennis player to look good while playing tennis. If anyone out there knows some attractive WTA players that I should cover the suggestions are more than welcome.

Nay Dall Ties Streak

2006-05-14T12:41:00.000-05:00

Nadal now leads Federer 5-1 in their head to head meetings.

In one hell of a final, Rafael Nadal defeated Roger Federer in the AMS Roma tournament 6-7, 7-6(5), 6-4, 2-6, 7-6(5). This match marks Nadal's 4th title of the year, and his second straight Masters Series shield, both of the Masters titles have came on clay. Another story to Nadal's final win is the record that he has tied for the longest clay court winning streak in the open era. Nadal now sits at 53 consecutive victories, tied only with Guillermo Vilas. As almost anyone can see, Nadal will easily break this record as all he needs is one more match win and the AMS Hamburg tournament is right around the corner.

To get back to the match, Nadal was too much today for the world number one, saving 2 match points in order to seal his 53rd match win. This obviously means that Federer had his chances, 2 of them at that. These points came in the fifth set when Nadal had served a double fault to put him down 0-30, not long after that Nadal found himself at 15-40 facing down 2 championship points. Somehow the Spaniard survived the pressure and fought off the points to eventually take the match. This is easily the closest Federer has ever came to defeating Nadal on clay, and may be a slight omen as to what will happen when it comes time for the French Open.

Some interesting stats for the match are that Federer actually won more points than Nadal did, 179 to Nadal's 174. Federer converted 4 of 11 break points to Nadal's 3 of 9, he also served 10 aces and 0 double faults to Nadal's 4 aces and 1 double fault. Nadal did dominate serve, serving at 85% to Federer's 62%. None of the stats matter much though because Nadal was simply too good today when it came time to play the big points.

Next up will be Hamburg, more information on that tournament in the not distant future.

Safin Mad

2006-05-10T16:31:00.000-05:00

Что трахающийся Вы думали Safin? Как мог Вы терять тому распутнику матери. Трахните мужчину, трахнитесь! Вы должны были разбить другую ракетку. Вы должны были разбить другую ракетку на голове того ублюдка.

That's a little message I wrote to Safin. Good thing he'll never read it, because I don't know Russian and I used a translator. Anyway, all you need to know is that Safin lost his match today losing 0-6, 7-6(6), 7-6(3) to Hidalgo. Crazy Russian. By the way, "трахнитесь" means fuck.

Picture from ESPN.com

Toys 'R' Us,
PMac.

Rome: Round 1 Part II

2006-05-09T19:35:00.000-05:00

OK, so I thought yesterday was weird, well today was almost the same as yesterday. Two more top clay court specialists are out of the draw. Gaston Gaudio is out of the tournament as is Guillermo Coria who was taken basically crushed 3-6, 2-6 by Hidalgo, a qualifier. Coria was a finalist here last year, so he should take a big dip in the rankings at the end of the week. Coria has had similar results in recent tournaments and if he doesn't do something about his weak serve, we may not see him again for a while. He's bound to disappear off the rankings at this rate.

Two other surprises came from Andy Roddick and Robby Ginepri who managed to win their first round matches. Just a fluke or are Americans getting better at clay? Probably just a fluke. Of course, Nadal moves on to the second round after beating Moya, but that's no surprise.

Picture from ESPN.com

Toys 'R' Us,
PMac

Rome: Round 1

2006-05-08T17:53:00.000-05:00

The first round of the Internazionali d'Italia (we're just gonna call it Rome from now on) was very surprising. Well I can't claim that yet because half of the first round matches have not been played yet. But the ones that have been played have had surprising results. Ivan Ljubicic was taken out today by Dominik Hrbaty. Ljubicic has a strong record against Hrbaty, even on clay, but he still managed to be upset by Hrbaty in three sets losing 5-7, 7-6(4), 6-4. Two other upsets were clay court specialists, Tommy Rebredo taken out by Greg Rusedski 5-7, 6-3, 6-4 and David Ferrer who was beat down by Jose Acasuso 7-5, 6-0. Of course Federer cruised by his first round match, beating the ugly mofo Chela 6-2, 6-1.

Nadal is favorite to win this tournament, he will play Carlos Moya in the first round. Nadal should have no problem getting past Moya who has beaten him this year in another first round match. But Nadal will prove over and over in this tournament why he's the king of clay. I doubt he'll be dethroned anytime soon.

Here's the draw for Roma.

Picture from ESPN.com

Toys 'R' Us,
PMac.

Americans in Roma!?!?

2006-05-06T15:35:00.000-05:00

<---The winner of our poll!

Recently the lazy ass people running the Masters Series Roma tournament have posted the 2006 draw. The most amazing thing I see is that there are 3 Americans in the draw, thats right I am speaking the truth. Andy Roddick, James Blake, and Robby Ginepri will all be playing in this years AMS Roma; sure, they probably won't make it past the 3rd round but it's the fact that they have the balls to show up that counts. With these men in the draw it can be assured that we see/hear about some quality bitching from Roddick, some decent play from Blake, and some moonball action from Ginepri.

Seeing the rest of the field really makes me wish that this tournament was broadcasted in my hometown. Nearly all of the top ten will be present in this tournament, with Federer and Nadal leading the way. Also in the draw are heavy hitters David Nalbandian, Guillermo Coria, Ivan Ljubicic, Nikolay Davydenko, Gaston Gaudio, and Tommy Robredo. Obviously there are many more competitors but these are the guys that I feel will do well and deserve to be talked about.

After analyzing the draw I can conclude that Federer should have a pretty clear passage to the final round, while Nadal has a tricky first round match. Earlier this year Nadal lost to fellow Spaniard Carlos Moya, the same man who he will face in the first round in Roma. I think that Nadal will pull his head out of his ass and actually beat Moya this time, but who knows, anything is possible. Gaudio may also pose a small threat to Nadal, but I really doubt that he will come away with a win against the world number 2.

Although Coria is a clay court specialist, and on the same side of the draw as Federer, I don't think that he will beat him. I may have said it before but whatever I'll say it again. In my opinion Roger Federer is very underrated on clay (his "worst" surface) despite the fact that he shows consistent results on clay and has beaten the best clay courters out there on a daily basis. Federer has won some big titles on clay, AMS Hamburg, and managed to beat Coria three on the surface; Coria is arguably one of the best clay court players in the game.

To end this post I am going to pick Rafael Nadal once again as the champion, Federer will make it to the finals, but he will also fall short because he won't be playing his best tennis.

How Roddick Plays Tennis

2006-05-04T18:00:00.000-05:00

Here's a short instructional video on how to play tennis like Andy Roddick. After watching this video you can instantly bust out onto the courts and hit like Roddick. Don't expect to beat anyone though. Warning, this video is really stupid and gay.

Toys 'R' Us,
PMac.

WTA Players Poll

2006-05-03T22:56:00.000-05:00

The question is who's hot and who looks like an F'n man. Select your answer below, if necessary, which it will be, make the picture larger to get a better idea of what each player looks like. Sorry, these pictures are also not always accurate.

Chat With James Blake

2006-05-02T09:12:00.000-05:00

James Blake is going to have a chat today at 4:15 PM EST on ESPN.com. It should be interesting and I'm gonna join it just incase something funny happens. Like the last ESPN chat with Andy Roddick when some kid told Andy he sucked and will never win another tournament again. Classic.

Anyway, here's the link.

Toys 'R' Us,
PMac.

AMS Rome Preview

2006-05-01T20:03:00.000-05:00

I know that it may be a little bit early, but I'm looking forward to the next big tournament which will be starting in a few days on May 6. This tournament is none other than the Masters Series Roma, which will naturally take place in Rome, Italy. Again the surface will be on clay which means a couple things, many random clay court specialists and a lack of American players in the draw.
In this tournament I am going to have to pick Roger Federer as the winner, although Nadal has a commanding grip on the claycourt season I am having some faith that Federer will bring his "A game" and find a way to win. Hopefully Richard Gasquet will also be in action, he was not able to play the AMS Monte Carlo because of an injury. Gasquet is always fun to watch after he had his breakout year in 2005; the other French teen Gael Monfils should also produce some good tennis if he is able to play.
We will provide more stats and coverage of this one after they announce the draw.

2006 ATP Stats

2006-04-30T15:26:00.000-05:00

Although the year is not yet half way over, there have already been some quite interesting statistics as shown in the ATP by the numbers PDF file. Some of the standout stats are obviously with Federer and Nadal, Federer who has 4 titles already this year and Nadal who now has 3 titles. Although with 1 less title, and titles of lesser importance compared to Federer's victories, Nadal has more variety. Nadal has won a hardcourt tournament in Dubai and also 2 clay court tournaments in Monte Carlo and Barcelona. Federer's big victories came in this year's AO, Indian Wells, and Miami.

I also found it funny that when comparing entire countries of players in the titles/finals category Federer leads Switzerland as a one man team, with 4 titles and 2 finals. Switzerland is tied with Spain, although Spain has had help from 3 men, Nadal, Moya, and Almagro. Sadly, the United States is a mere 3 titles and 1 final despite the many decent American players; Andy Roddick, James Blake, Mardy Fish, Taylor Dent, Vincent Spadea, and maybe even old man Agassi. Most of the U.S. players aren't that great, but simply prospects that never really lived up to their expectations.

Although Nadal is on clay now, meaning that his win streak will soon become gigantic, Federer holds the top 2 win streaks of the year. This is just crazy because he had these streaks both at different times even though the year is like I said earlier, relatively young. I was not surprised but I still found it interesting that both of Federer's match win streaks, 17 and 16 straight matches, have been stopped by Rafael Nadal.

One last impressive stat is Federer's ranking points, earlier in the year he beat his own record of the most ranking points ever attained. The current record is now set by Roger Federer on January 30, he held an enormous 7,275 points in the ATP computer ranking system. As of now I believe that Federer is sitting at 7,160; he is still more than 2,000 points ahead of the world number 2 and reigning clay court champion Rafael Nadal. Nadal wins a ton of titles, some even on hard courts, but his lack of ranking points stems to his poor performance in the bigger hardcourt events such as the AO, Miami, Wimbledon, U.S. Open, etc. To Nadal's credit he has improved vastly on hard courts, and I am still picking him for Roland Garros in late May.

Nasty

2006-04-30T12:40:00.000-05:00

I just saw this and I had to post it up. Andy Murray puking gatorade.

Nadal Wins, Once Again

2006-04-30T12:18:00.000-05:00

Nadal increased his clay court win streak to 47 straight wins, by winning his 12th straight final. Nadal seemingly crushed Robredo 6-4, 6-4, 6-0 to win the Open SEAT 2006 and that ginormous trophey, good god. Since I could not watch the match, my commentaries won't be any better than this article:

Rafael Nadal celebrated the Open SEAT 2006 title Sunday by eclipsing a tennis great with his 47th consecutive victory on clay.

He surpassed Bjorn Borg as owner of the second longest clay-court winning streak in Open Era history with his 6-4, 6-4, 6-0 win over compatriot Tommy Robredo, placing him only six wins within Guillermo Vilas's all-time record of 53 consecutive matches won.

In the circuit's first all-countryman final this year, Robredo proved a fitting challenger as the 2004 Barcelona champion who powered his way into the 2006 title match with ease and confidence.

For the first two sets of the match, Robredo succeeded in holding his own against the World No. 2. He held Nadal to a break in each; however, his failure to make good of his own three opportunities put Nadal within a set of hoisting the Trofeo Conde de GodÃ³ for a second straight year.

The reigning champion needed the minimum six games in the third set to close out the title win, denying Robredo's numerous game points to record the victory in Sunday's best-of-five final in two hours and 20 minutes.

Nadal once again proved his invicibility and dominance not only on clay, but in title matches. He won his 12th straight final since April 2005, and improved to a perfect 11-0 in clay court finals. Additionally, he put himself just one title within matching Bjorn Borg's teenage record of 16 titles won.

The fourth consecutive Spanish winner in Barcelona, Nadal became the first player to capture back-to-back titles at the event since Thomas Muster a decade ago.

Robredo, who celebrates his 24th birthday Monday, was attempting to win his third career title.

From Open SEAT's official site.
Picture from ESPN.com

Toys 'R' Us,
PMac.

Nadal Hoists Trophy

2006-04-27T21:45:00.000-05:00

Rafael Nadal hoists his trophy won at Monte Carlo. Naturally, it's a Chevy Monte Carlo.

Nadal Update

2006-04-27T21:10:00.000-05:00

Rafael Nadal is tearing shite up so I'm gonna dedicate this whole post to him. Nadal is currently playing in the Open SEAT 2006 tournament at Barcelona. He's setup to dismantle Jarkko Nieminen in the quarterfinals tomorrow. Nadal pretty much already has the trophy in his hands, there's no one left who really has a chance to beat him; not that there was to begin with. Nadal was recently named the European player of the year for 2005 by the ATP's European tournament directors. Of course, Federer was chosen to receive that title the previous two years, but since Nadal won 7 tournaments in Europe last year they really couldn't give it to anyone else.

I have a lot of crap to write about, so sorry about not posting much over the past few days, exams were getting in the way. Anyway, there's more to come.

Picture from Open SEAT's website.

Toys 'R' Us,
PMac.

Nadal vs. Federer

2006-04-24T14:40:00.000-05:00

As most of you know Rafael Nadal is now leading Roger Federer 4-1 in their head to head meetings. I know that many people are asking the same questions as I am, one of them being, why can Roger not figure out this young Spanish prodigy? I am not trying to discredit Nadal, he is a great player and will become a legend with time, but if Federer can figure out every other player, what is his struggle with Nadal?

Maybe it's something about the Spaniard's heavy topspin and his unbeatable will that is causing Federer to have doubt, or maybe Nadal is just better than Federer. Although results show that Nadal owns Federer, personally I have a hard time believing that Nadal is simply better than him. Federer has been utterly dominant once again this season, beating every single player that comes in his way (except Nadal), while Rafael Nadal has suffered 3 losses and seems to still struggle on the hardcourts at times.

After much thought I have developed a question that is posed to every tennis fan out there, something that must be asked because of recent and past results. Can Rafael Nadal surpass Roger Federer in the rankings and become the number 1 tennis player in the world? It is obviously too soon to tell, but try and think of it this way, if Nadal can beat the best player in the world doesn't that make him, in a sense, the best? If Nadal can beat Federer on a consistent basis it seems to me that it is only a matter of time before Nadal's success on the hardcourts arrives and arrives quickly.

I am a huge fan of both Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer, but most viewers know that I am a bit biased towards the Swiss. I have come to terms with the fact that Nadal seems to "have Federer's number" and that for some reason the world number 1 cannot figure out the puzzle that is Rafael Nadal. One thing is for sure, Federer will not give up and we will all see who is the king of clay when it is time for the French Open.

Just a couple more things, yeah I know Kournikova doesn't play anymore and she has nothing to do with Federer and Nadal, the question is, does anyone care? Also this picture is brought to you by the Masters Series TV website.

Regards, Mary Joe

Nadal Wins at Monte-Carlo

2006-04-23T13:50:00.001-05:00

Roger Federer seemingly walked right by his opponents this week to reach the finals with Rafael Nadal at Monte-Carlo. The road to the final was an easy one, although the final match would prove to be a different matter. Nadal, who is currently the best clay court player, was looking to increase his win/loss ratio with Federer. Nadal has the only wins against Federer this year, beating him at Dubai and now Monte-Carlo. Nadal now has a 4-1 winning record against Federer, beating him in the last three meetings.

Nadal took the match in 3 hours and 49 minutes at 6-2, 6-7(2), 6-3, 7-6(5). Federer seemed to gain momentum in the last set after being down two breaks. He was able to force a tie breaker in what seemed to be a last effort to force a five set match. But Nadal showed everyone why he is the king of clay with some amazing shots that were worthy of a fist pump. Nadal's clay court record is now at 42 straight wins which he will undoubtedly increase at Barcelona, the next tournament, where he is the top seed.

More to come later.

Image borrowed once again from ESPN.com

Vaaaamooos,
PMac.

Federer vs. Nadal Predictions

2006-04-23T00:16:00.000-05:00

Predictions will be a bit brief this time, our appologies if this offends any of our viewers.

Mary Joe: I believe that Nadal will win the match with a score of 4-6, 6-3, 7-5, 6-4. Although I really want Federer to win, I feel that Nadal is the best clay court player in the business and cannot be touched. Even Federer cannot surpass Nadal on clay and in their head to head meetings Nadal has even beaten Federer on one of his better surfaces, hardcourts.

PMac: Well.. I think Federer will take it because he's gotta take it. Damn right. Ok so the score will be... 6-4, 5-7, 6-3, 6-0.

Federer's Funhouse

2006-04-22T19:00:00.000-05:00

In case you have not seen it, this is a clip of Federer's Funhouse. Hopefully the funhouse will be updated soon because there has been a ton of SBS by Federer in the Monte Carlo tournament.

Monte-Carlo Finals

2006-04-22T12:08:00.000-05:00

Federer and Nadal have both reached the finals in what might be one of the best finals all year. Nadal defeated Gaston Gaudio 5-7, 6-1, 6-1 and Federer beat down Fernando Gonzalez 6-2, 6-4 in their semifinals matches to reach the finals. This will be Federer's 12th consecutive finals and he will be looking to prolong many of his record streaks with a win over Nadal. Of course, Federer has only one loss this year and that loss was to Nadal who is now on his best surface. This will definitely be an up hill battle for Federer, although he has looked very strong throughout this tournament. We'll just have to wait and see. The final match will be best of five sets and it will be held tomorrow at 8:30 ET.

We may post our Brad Gilbert-esque predictions later today, so stay tuned.

Picture "borrowed" from ESPN.com

Toys 'R' Us,
PMac.

Monte Carlo 3rd Round

2006-04-20T11:48:00.000-05:00

In another impressive victory Roger Federer flew into the quarterfinals of this year's Monte Carlo tournament. With him in the quarters are tournament favorite Rafael Nadal and Ivan Ljubicic after they each recorded easy wins over Kristof Vliegen and Gilles Simon respectively. In a surprise upset Daveeed Nalbandian (Spenski) was taken out in three sets by Spain's Tommy Robredo. Gaston Gaudio and David Ferrer are also into the third round, Ferrer will be taking on the world number 1 in his quarterfinal match. More will come as the rest of the third round is completed.

Picture of Coria pooping his pants borrowed from ESPN.com.

Hello!

2006-04-19T09:51:00.000-05:00

Shnikeys!---------------->

I couldn't wait until later to post because I took a nap and woke up to see that Roger Federer had steamrolled Alberto Martin 6-0, 6-1. It seems as though Federer was a little embarrassed after letting a qualifier take a set off of him so he felt the need to annihilate his next opponent. In a completely one sided match Federer dismantled Martin in only 45 minutes, losing only one game in his second round victory.

Also into the third round are Rafael Nadal, who apparently had a seemingly easy match although I did not actually get to see it, David Nalbandian, and Guillermo Coria also made it to the third round. Nalbandian and Coria both had tough matches, Coria barely escaped his after being down 1-6, 0-5 before he took the match 1-6, 7-6(6), 6-4. Ivan Ljubicic is also into the third round after posting a win over Florent Serra.

After the day is done I am most impressed with Federer and Coria after their third round matches. Nadal won as well, but not in the fashion of these players. Federer was playing near perfect tennis, hitting winners from all parts of the court and challenging Martin's forehand with his "weaker" side, the backhand obviously. Coria showed some real mental toughness when he came back to win even after being down by so much, taking 6 straight games is never easy, especially if you need 5 of them just to stay in the match.

Tomorrow looks good as well, with all of the seeds in action for the fourth round of the AMS Monte Carlo.

P.S. - Maria Kirilenko is unbelievably attractive.

WTF Safin...

2006-04-18T14:43:00.000-05:00

Yeah, so the picture is not related to the post. Golovin is still hot and is also doing a split.

More first round matches took place today with Rafael Nadal and Guillermo Coria both recording impressive wins, both also in straight sets. Nadal looked to be too much for his opponent Arnaud Clement and took the match with only 2 breaks of serve 6-4, 6-4. Coria seemed to have no trouble running his opponent, Mikhail Youzhny, around. After a solid first set Coria ran away with the match fairly easily 6-3, 6-1. Although it may not surprise many, Marat Safin has taken an early exit from this years AMS Monte Carlo after getting beat down by Paul Henri-Mathieu 6-0, 7-5; pretty embarrassing, I know. Ljubicic also got himself a spot in the second round after taking down Russian Igor Andreev in three sets.

After looking through the draw after round one has been completed I feel that Federer will come out on top in his half, while the other half will be between Coria, Nalbandian, and obviously Nadal. It should be interesting to see if Federer is even tested in his half as I do not really see anyone who would be able to challenge him. The "Nadal" side of the draw should produce some pretty quality tennis as well with some heavy hitters still in the second round. Wednesday's lineup will be featuring Federer, Nadal, Nalbandian, and Coria among others.

Hello, this is PMac, I would just like to put in a quick word. Damn you Davydenko. Damn you for ruining my fantasy team you bastard. With Davydenko out, the bottom half of the draw is pretty much open with the only seed being Gonzalez. I can't say I couldn't see that coming.

Monte Carlo 1st Round

2006-04-17T14:07:00.000-05:00

Today in the first round of the AMS Monte Carlo top seeds Roger Federer and Daveeeed Nalbandian both advanced to the second round. While Federer did drop a set to a relatively unknown player, he came out swinging in his first clay court match of the year. Federer raced through the first set, lost the second, and then found his form once again to outlast Novak Djokovic 6-3, 2-6, 6-3. On the opposite side of the draw, Nalbandian was simply too much for Xavier Malisse taking the match fairly easily 6-4, 6-4. Tomorrow the heavy favorite Rafael Nadal will be in action against Frenchman Arnaud Clement; but don't look for these matches on cable television in the US because they don't get covered, yeah it sucks balls eh.

Here's a link to the Monte-Carlo draw PDF style.

Picture from the official Monte Carlo website.

Haaaaaaaas!

2006-04-16T13:10:00.000-05:00

Here's a quick update on the two tournaments we were loosely following.

Nicolas Almagro wins the IV Open de Tenis Comunidad Valenciana, 6-2, 6-3 over Giles Simon.

Mardy Fish will play some dude named Jurgen Melzer in the Houston final later today. I think we can all assume who will win that one.

Tommy Haas had to retire in his semifinal match against Mardy Fish because of a wrist injury.

It's obviously unfortunate that Haas had to retire in a tournament that he was bound to win. But it's even more unfortunate that Haas may not be able play in Monte-Carlo, which starts tomorrow. Haas claimed:

At the beginning of the match against Andy, I felt a little tightness in there. But it totally went away, so I didn't think about it much. Then sure enough this morning, it was pretty tight again and didn't go away unfortunately throughout the day. I'm having trouble just holding the racquet. I'm a guy who holds it a little tighter than others sometimes.

So it's not clear yet whether he'll play in Monte-Carlo or not but it seems that his wrist just needs a little rest. More updates later.

EDIT: Haas won't be playing in Monte-Carlo. Mardy Fish beat Melzer. Lame.

Picture from Tennis Rulz.

PMac.

AMS Monte Carlo Update

2006-04-15T11:31:00.000-05:00

The Masters Series Monte Carlo tournament is set to begin Monday and should be a very interesting event that will give us all an idea of how this clay court season is going to go. The top seed, like always, is Roger Federer. On the bottom half of the draw, Rafael Nadal is taking the second seed. This means that Nadal and Federer could only meet in the finals. Unfortunately Richard Gasquet (the man who beat Federer in Monte Carlo last year) is out of this tournament.
Federer seems to have a pretty clear cut path to the finals, but you never really know; winning three masters series titles in a row is quite a feat. He will take on a qualifier in the first round and the "tough" match he will play should be against Tommy Haas (Haaaaas!) in the third round. Federer also has Lube among others on his side of the draw, but none of these players should pose a threat to him on clay.
Nadal will see Arnaud Clement in the first round, Clement actually beat Nadal two months ago and also won the tournament. I believe that Nadal should be in pretty good form and will tear Clement apart in their fourth meeting. The only challenging match I see for Nadal is obviously Federer in the final, but before that he might meet up with Guillermo Coria in the quarters. Coria has been taken down by Nadal in two finals last year and he should be wanting to avenge those losses.
I am still picking Nay Dall to win it all, by the way.

Federer Slows Doooown

2006-04-12T18:49:00.000-05:00

Just in case someone didn't see it yet; it's a cool movie and worth viewing multiple times.

Federer's Fun House,
PMac.

Houston Update

2006-04-12T18:16:00.000-05:00

If you've visited ATPtennis.com recently, you'd see the headline / picture presented above on their main page. I just thought I'd point it out because I think it's quite funny that Roddick advancing to the second round was headline worthy news.

Other than Roddick moving on to the second round, the only thing more surprising at Houston was the upset of James Blake (the second seed in this tournament) by Antony Dupuis (a qualifier) 7-6(2), 3-6, 6-1. Everything else seems to be proceeding quite routinely, so we'll have one or two more updates later.

Toys 'R' Us,
PMac.

Roddick is a Fairy

2006-04-11T23:13:00.000-05:00

Everyone knows that Roddick sucks on clay, but to his credit, so do 99% of American players. In a completely unrelated topic, the next big tournament, an ATP Masters Series event, is the Masters Monte Carlo. This one should prove to be very interesting, with a pretty deep field and the two top seeds in action. I am obviously a huge Federer fan, but nobody can deny that Nadal will be the heavy favorite to defend his title in Monaco. It is hard to count Federer out of any tournament, but I am going to have to side with Nadal for once when I say that I don't think Federer can beat Nadal on clay.

This brings up the debate of who is really the better player, Nadal or Federer. There is no real answer, the only thing that can be used as actual proof is that Federer owns more titles, match wins, and grand slams. Some say that this is due to the fact that Nadal is so young, which it mostly is, but does Nadal even have what it takes to win a slam other than the French Open? Federer dominates on all surfaces and this allows him a good chance at winning 3 out of the 4 slams every year. Nadal is an obvious favorite for Roland Garros, but it is rare to see him past even the 4th round in Wimbledon or the U.S. championships. Only time will tell and don't get me wrong, I love Nadal's game and have great respect for his attitude on the court. However I will have to agree with Sampras when he said that Nadal will most likely not ever accomplish what Federer will, or has.

All of this being said, my pick for the Masters Monte Carlo is Rafael Nadal. Although I do not believe that Nadal "has Federer's number" I can look at some pretty substantial evidence that Nadal will beat Federer on clay. Nadal beat Federer in Dubai on a hard court, Nadal is better on clay court, therefore Nadal will beat him in Monte Carlo.

Vamos!

Mmm.. Clay Court Season.

2006-04-10T16:12:00.000-05:00

Well, clay court season has officially started. There are two ATP International Series tournaments going on this week. The U.S. Men's Clay Court Championship in Houston and the IV Open de Tenis Comunidad Valenciana in Valencia. This is all very exciting except for the fact that neither of the tournaments will feature many clay court specialists nor will Nadal and Federer be a part of any of these tournaments. But don't be disappointed, there are a few decent players in both tournaments, such as Davydenko and um.. Blake yeah and ehm.. oh and Baghdatis and uh.. Haaaaaaaaaaaas! Yeah and a few others not worth mentioning.

Anyway you can check out the draws for yourself presented below PDF style.

Houston draw.
Valencia draw.

We will be posting one or two updates on the tournaments this week so stay tuned.

Toys 'R' Us,
PMac.

Why Jim? Why?

2006-04-10T00:37:00.000-05:00

I was searching the internet for a post I was going to do for SBS and I stumbled across I picture that rocked the very foundation of my world. I have three words for the reader: Jim Courier's mug shot. Jim Courier got arrested. Jim freaking Courier. Why Jim? Why? You were my idol. Well not really, but still...it's funked up. Apparently it was for running a red light while drunk. He must have been really damn drunk because he's smiling in that picture. Who the hell smiles in their mug shot? I guess Courier and alcohol just don't mix.

Oh my..

2006-04-09T14:51:00.000-05:00

Is anyone else disturbed by these pictures of Svetlana Kuznetsova? Ten bucks says Drysdale would get with that. ;)

Picture from ESPN.com

Like a whale,
PMac.

USTA Regulation 3V.1.C.1337

2006-04-07T18:36:00.000-05:00

It is like a swift kick to the balls, a visual raping, or just not entertaining in the slightest. What am I talking about you ask, and who is to blame? The culprit is none other than the moonball.

In my opinion, a new rule should be created to make professional tennis, or tennis in general, more enjoyable to play and watch. This rule will completely eliminate the "moonball", for those of you who do not know exactly what a moonball is I will provide a brief definition.

Moon-ball (moon-bôl)
noun.
1. A ball that, in tennis, is hit higher than 12 feet above the net and is not a lob. Moonballs remain in the court
and are not a defensive or offensive shot, they are hit as a "change of pace" shot.

My fellow commentator PMac and I were discussing the moonballs that Ginepri hit yesterday when he played Sampras and how these moonballs affected us. Personally, I would rather spoon out my eyeballs than have to watch moonballs in a professional tennis match. Also, just to clarify my allegations, this is not the first time Ginepri has hit these moonballs, the moonball is something that can be found within Ginepri's "arsenal of shots".

As shown in the illustration above, thanks to the lovely Mary Joe (me), the moonball is hit well above the average shot hit by top pros like Blake, Spenski, Lube, Federer, etc. The moonball is hit even higher than Nadal's average shots, which are acceptable because they have shitloads of topspin and are badass. Unless you are in an extremely defensive position, and have no other options, the moonball should never be hit. I think that my good friend PMac will agree that if a moonball is hit in a professional match, the player who committed this moonball should be forced to concede the match.

I think that we can all agree that the moonball is a shot that should be erased from the game of tennis forever. Nobody wants to see these ugly and ineffective shots, that is why I submit that we try and get them banned forever.

P.S. - I <3 Boobies

Sampras vs. Ginepri. The Results.

2006-04-07T13:54:00.000-05:00

Alright, I swear this is our last post on the subject, but people want to know what happened. Sampras ended up getting worked around the court losing to Ginepri 6-3, 7-6(10). The match was slow and I'm not just talking about the clay court. Sampras was sluggish for many reasons (age, fitness, etc..) and Ginepri was hitting his trademark moon balls. The match wasn't exactly riveting. Don't get me wrong though, it was great to see Sampras play. I won't give all the details away because you can still watch the match at usta.com as it is archived.

Just a warning, the commentators are morons and the camera angles were pretty lame.

Toys 'R' Us,
PMac.

Sampras vs. Ginepri. The Showdown. The Predictions.

2006-04-06T01:02:00.000-05:00

Here are the SBS team's predictions for the Pete Sampras vs. Robby Ginepri exhibition match to be played later today.

Drysdale: This is a bit of a tough one. If it was two years ago, before Sampras retired, or anytime in his playing days for that matter, Sampras would be an obvious lock. I'm leaning towards Ginepri because he's been playing and is in playing shape, but it's just so hard to bet against the champ. Overall I want Sampras to win but I'm going to have to go with Ginepri taking the match 5-7, 6-4, 6-3. Ginepri's just in better shape. Sampras is still the man though.

PMac: Too easy, Sampras. Enough said. 6-0, 6-0.

Toys 'R' Us,
PMac.

Mary Joe: I am going to have to see PMac's double bagel and raise him a pair of breadsticks. Sampras wins it, 6-1, 6-1.

Reeeeeeshard

2006-04-06T00:15:00.000-05:00

Damn, Gasquet is lucky!

Something that we haven't really done, but might get into, is profiling players that we like or dislike or whatever. This week I found myself watching some old matches from last year and I stumbled across one of Richard Gasquet playing in the Monte Carlo tournamnet, which is also coming up in a little under 2 weeks.

Gasquet has a ton of talent, and should make it inside the top ten if he can have a successful clay court season in 2006. Gasquet is native to France and posesses, in my opinion, the best one-handed backhand in mens tennis. He enjoyed a breakout year in 2005 and looks to improve on that in 2006. In many ways Gasquet resembles Nadal, both young and both craving to be at the top of the game. The only difference is that Nadal is at the top of the game, while Gasquet still struggles at times and suffers early exits in tournaments where he is expected to do well.

I feel like Gasquet could afford to toughen up mentally and not get down on himself during matches where he is not playing his best. Most people had never heard of Richard Gasquet until last year where he began to play at such a high level, I, on the other hand knew of him for different reasons. In a match that was played during last year's U.S. Open, Gasquet threw his racket in anger, some people may ask, what's the big deal? The big deal was when he threw his racket it struck a linesman in the face and caused him to be thrown out of the tournament. After this incident, there was no way I expected to hear of Gasquet again, but it just so happens that I was wrong.

Hopefully Reeeshard will be playing in the Masters Series Monte Carlo, beginning April 15, until then we can just imagine how bad it would hurt to get nailed in the grill with a tennis racket.

P.S. - Because it is not obvious enough I guess, I must state that Gasquet hit the linesman in the face on accident and has since cleaned up his act a lot. The same cannot be said for Sharapova's calls of vamos (she is Russian), Kiefer's hissy fits (he is really weird), or Roddick's bitching about calls (he sucks).

Pete Sampras vs. Robby Ginepri

2006-04-05T09:20:00.000-05:00

Yeah that's right, I said Pete Sampras. Sampras will be making his return to the court tomorrow as he will play (totally waste) Robby Ginepri in an exhibition match at the River Oaks International in Houston, TX. The match will be webcast starting at 8:15 PM ET. If you decide to be a fool and miss the match, you will be able to download it later so don't get your panties in a bunch.

Anyway, like I previously stated, the match will be webcast at www.usta.com tomorrow at 8:15 PM ET, so check it out.

Toys 'R' Us,
PMac.

Federer and Agassi aren't afraid of heights.

2006-04-04T15:11:00.000-05:00

Here's some classic video of Andre Agassi and Roger Federer playing on the highest tennis court on earth, in Dubai.

By the way, we will be cutting back posting until clay court season officially starts for no apparent reason. Probably because we're lazy. Don't worry though we have plenty of material and we will post just about every other day.

Toys 'R' Us,
PMac.

Does Federer get any betterer?

2006-04-03T11:34:00.000-05:00

Yeah Federer is an awesome tennis player, but now the guy is just making everyone else look like losers. Federer is now a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador, which means he will be helping the poor children of Africa and other areas. Props to him for his new title/job and for making everyone else feel inadequate in comparison.

Toys 'R' Us,
PMac.

Play of the Month

2006-04-03T11:12:00.000-05:00

If you didn't already know, ATPtennis.com has a contest to choose this month's play of the week. There are some amazing plays, but I think Paradorn (The Monk) Srichaphan's amazing point should win it. You can check the other plays out at the Mercedes-Benz Play of the Week website. Only thing is you have to register to vote. It's all good though.

The Dropaaa,
PMac.

Federer is too much for Lube

2006-04-02T14:02:00.000-05:00

In a very tight match, as the score says, Federer simply did not play his best against Ivan Ljubicic. However, like the champions do, he still managed to find a way to win the match 7-6(5), 7-6(4), 7-6(6) (the first time Federer has won a match in 3 tiebreakers). Although he won the match with a lucky netcourt*, Federer showed he has what it takes to continue dominating the ATP tour.

In an ugly first set Federer managed to keep Ljubicic at bay, barely winning the tiebreaker and outperforming Ljubicic at clutch times. In the second set he won his first 12 points on serve, and held strong until the end of the set where he lost the tiebreaker. In the third, the set could have gone to either player, Lube raising his game and hitting out more often, which caused Federer to do the same. Ljubicic served extremely well during the match and hit just shy of 20 aces against the world number one, but Federer was once again too much for the Croat.

I hate to have to complain further about the television scheduling conflicts, but CBS pissed me off today earlier in the match. For some reason they felt compelled to show live coverage of the story about a woman who was held hostage in Germany and is not back in the United States. It is good for her to be back on American soil, but for God's sake show the match. They played this news bullshit for about 25 minutes before returning to the match. A big "F you" to CBS.

The next tournament for Roger is the Masters Series Monte Carlo, held in Monaco. This tournament will be starting April 17 and if Federer can win it will be 3 for 3 in masters titles this year, something that has not been done for who knows how long. We will most likely post on this tournament next with smaller posts in between, peace out bitches.

*We are not really sure which is correct, netcourt or netcord. One thing I am sure of though is that netcord sounds like a skunk taking a shit.

Nasdaq-100 Open Final

2006-04-01T20:53:00.000-05:00

In today's match predictions, we are looking at the final of the Nasdaq-100 Open between heavyweight Ivan Ljubicic and the world number 1 Roger Federer. A match that should definitely be entertaining will be played tomorrow at 12:00 PM eastern time. Last year's champion was obviously Roger Federer, who defeated Rafael Nadal in a tough 5 setter. Our match predictions follow.

Mary Joe: I am not going to lie, I don't really have much to say about this match besides the fact that Federer will take it. The match will continue Federer's incredible win streak in the United States and seal his second Indian Wells - Nasdaq Open double. My prediction is obviously Federer on top 7-5, 6-4, 6-3. I love cooter.

PMac: Well, the last time Federer and Lube met up was in the quarter-finals of the PLO, and that wasn't much of a match. Lube went down pretty hard (2-6, 3-6) with Federer easily out playing him. Not to discredit Lube, he has beaten Federer before but not in the past 3 years. Based on prior results, I'll have to go with score of 6-4, 3-6, 6-2, 7-5 with Federer winning. The exact score is a little random, but I want to see Lube take at least one set. This should be a decent match.. I hope.

Drysdale: I'm going to use simple logic to make my prediction:
1) Anyone who plays Federer on a hard court will lose;
2) Lube is playing Federer on a hard court;
3) Therefore Lube will Lose (1, 2, Modus Ponens).

Score: 7-6 (3), 6-3, 4-6, 6-1

Gotcha, Bitch!

2006-04-01T14:01:00.000-05:00

In a final of epic proportions, JK, LOL, Svetlana Kuznetsova showed Sharapova what a real woman tennis player is. Hitting winners all over the place, while Sharapova hit tons of errors, Kuznetsova took the match 6-4, 6-3. Kuznetsova had Maria on the ropes from the very start, and fortunately did not let her into the match ever. I am not really a fan of either player, but it made me happy to see Sharapova, and her wacked out dad, go down and lose.

Also, I feel the need to point out that Mary Carillo (the retarded commentator), seemed to be egging Sharapova on. It's a damn good thing Sharapova couldn't hear her because I might have gone crazy. Carillo said that Sharapova should have raised her game, something that you can't argue, but she then said that Sharapova should raise her game by grunting louder. WTF is this crap? If you need to be loud and obnoxious to raise your game, you may as well just fist F your asshole. Mary Carillo should retire from commentating, and Sharapova should quit being a bitch and also quiet down. Check out this authentic picture below.

# 1 Ljubicic Recommended Brand

2006-04-01T03:24:00.000-05:00

Ljubicic lube. C'mon, we were all thinking it.

Can Sharapova pull the stick out of her ass?

2006-03-31T23:54:00.000-05:00

Again, the answer is most likely no. In a women's semi-final match yesterday, Tatiana Golovin of France (hot, hot, hot), took on Maria "bitch" Sharapova of Russia (shut the fuck up please). I will not go into much detail because I am running out of room, but the match went something like this. Sharapova dominated and gave herself a total of 4 match points in the second set, she did not convert and Golovin stretched the match to 3 sets. In the third set, which could have gone either way, Golovin was forced wide and sprained her ankle, our regards to Tatiana, who will not be reading this but oh well. Golovin was in pain and knew she would have to retire, this knowledge forced tears out of her eyes.

While Golovin is on the ground, hurting emotionally and physically, that bitch Sharapova is on the other side of the court bouncing up and down trying to pump herself up. Sharapova looked over to the see Golovin crying and had the most serious look on her face, a gameface if you will. Is Maria just cold hearted and a true bitch, or did she not realize that she was undoubtedly going to win the match. I feel like no one could be that retarded, and Sharapova really is a straight up biatch, what the hell is wrong with her. Hopefully Tatiana will get well soon, and Sharapova will get hit by a fuckin car (just kidding that was going too far). More on the women's final tomorrow.

Can anyone beat Roger Federer?

2006-03-31T23:37:00.000-05:00

No, they can not. Roger Federer kept his win streak alive today, defeating David Ferrer in the battler of the "erererererers". The win streak that Federer is currently riding is his win streak in the United States, which compiles to something like 47 in a row. Most people knew from the start that Ferrer just doesn't have enough pace on his shots to challenge Federer, his game is tailor made to Federer's game. Federer came out strong, taking the first set so fast I missed it, literally, because I was eating dinner and coming back to my room. Ferrer gave Roger a scare in the second set when he went up a break, 3 games to 0. However, like he usually does, Federer quickly composed himself and took the set and the match 6-1, 6-3. There was some spectacular shot-making in this match, one backhand pass that Federer hit caused me to lose bowel control, seriously though.

The next match up for Federer is obviously the final, in which he will take on Ivan Ljubicic. Although Federer annihilated Lube in their last meeting, Indian Wells quarterfinals, I think that Lube will give a much better match Sunday. We will provide predictions for the final tomorrow.

Federer Defeats Blake Yet Again

2006-03-30T20:41:00.000-05:00

Roger Federer has just defeated James Blake 7-6(2), 6-4 to move on to the semi-finals of the NASDAQ-100. It was a tough contest between Blake and Federer, but like he usually does Federer came through in the clutch. There was some SBS on both sides, with some damn nice points, but Federer took advantage when he was presented the opportunity and came out on top. Federer will play David Ferrer in what might be the most confusing match of the year. Ferrer is an extremely good counterpuncher, but as past matches have shown (Hewitt) counterpunching does very little against the mighty Roger Federer. The world number one should take this match fairly easily. Ferrerererr vs. Federererereerrerer..er. Good luck with that one Drysdale.

Toys 'R' Us,
PMac.

Federer vs. Blake Predictions

2006-03-29T23:28:00.000-05:00

As my good friend PMac stated in an earlier post, we will now be making predictions on the bigger matches. This time the match will feature the in form American, James Blake, going against the best player on the planet, Roger Federer.

Mary Joe: We all saw what happened to Blake a couple weeks back, he got dominated and demoralized by the world number 1. I feel like Blake wants to show the fans that he has more to offer, to make this match a tough one for Federer. I am about 100.2% sure that Federer will take the match, the score will look something like 6-4, 6-3 in Federer's favor; chances are that I will be way off. Another note, although most people know, Federer is also a good guy, the best ball striker (BBS), has a girlfriend who does his work for him, and although this might go with BBS, he has freaking 7 grand slam titles at the age of 24. I don't need to say any more.

PMac: While I wouldn't say that I'm a member of the J-Block, I consider myself to be a slight Blake fan. What's not to like about the guy? He's definitely a clean ball striker (CBS), he has a hot girlfriend, and he's just a nice guy. So yeah, I was disappointed in Blake's performance in the PLO final. I knew he wasn't going to beat Federer, but I wanted to see a closer match, and it seems that Blake felt the same way. So I think Blake is going to step it up a little this time around; I'm predicting a 4-6, 6-3, 6-2 match with Federer winning. I have to give it to Federer, based on previous results and total random guessing.

Toys 'R' Us,
PMac.

Drysdale: The last time these two played, Blake was leading 4-1 and was on serve before he broke down and got dismantled by Federer. It was a combination of a breakdown from Blake and of Federer varying his game. Frankly, I think that Blake is one of the extremely few players on the tour who has the possibility of beating Federer. This time I think that Blake is going to be a lot more relaxed. He knows that if he just keeps his playing up at a high level, he has a chance of winning. I'm going to go out on a limb here, Blake is ready to play Federer this time, it's not a final (where Federer especially shines), Blake knows that he has a chance, and wants revenge, therefore I'm going to pick Blake as a winner in a tight match: 7-6, 3-6, 7-5. If worst comes to worst, I'll just come back after the match and change this post :-p.

Mary Joe Wants Some of That

2006-03-29T21:47:00.000-05:00

mmmmm, Golovin
Earlier this week I posted about the loss of pretty much the only hot girl in the Nasdaq-100 draw, Maria Kirilenko. I was wrong! There remains one gorgeous lady in the tournament, her name is Tatiana Golovin. Golovin made it through to the semifinals, her best result this year I think, and is determined to stay extremely attractive for at least one more match. I would like to take some time now to thank the lord for this beautiful woman, that makes watching women's tennis a little more bearable. HAAAAAS!

NASDAQ-100 Update

2006-03-29T19:41:00.000-05:00

Alright, here's a quick update for all you suckas who weren't paying attention. Currently, only Ivan Ljubicic (Lube) has moved on to the semi-finals with a 7-6(4), 6-3 win over Agustin Calleri, who really didn't have much of a chance against Lube. But he stuck with it in the first set. Proud of him, sort of. Anyway Lube will either meet up with Mario Ancic or David Nalbandian who are set to play soon, very soon. It should be a damn good match if fate has its way and Nalbandian and Lube meet up in the semis.

On the other side of the draw, Andy Roddick will be playing David Ferrer. Don't count Ferrer out though, like every other player, he has a chance of beating Roddick. If you're in the mood to see a bitch-fest, watch the match after 3:00 PM on ESPN2 tomorrow. That is if ESPN2 decides that women's basketball isn't as exciting as tennis and shows the friggen match. Finally Roger Federer and James Blake will be playing at 7:00 PM tomorrow. Hopefully Blake won't tank this time around, I'm crossing my fingers.

You can check out the draw here, or you can see it PDF style over there on the side bar. -->

Picture "borrowed" from Tennis Reporters.

Toys 'R' Us,
PMac.

Where are Venus and Serena?

2006-03-28T23:15:00.000-05:00

Over the last few tournaments neither one of the Williams sisters have played. They're letting B's like Hingis take over the tour. They need to get back and open up a can of American Whupass. Their recent disappearance prompted me to create a picture. See if you can find them. No one else seems to be able to.

By the way, if you find waldo, wtf is he doing? It looks like he's about to club the shit outta that guy from the seventies and his mother. (oh and if it's too small just click the image)

Henman should switch to the WTA.

2006-03-28T17:04:00.000-05:00

Alright so this should be old news but I need to bring it up again. Tim Henman lost in the third round of the Nasdaq-100 to some qualifier named Simon Greul. Now you may just think, what's special about that? Well if you remember, I claimed Henman should just go home after beating Safin. But I was wrong and Henman proved everyone wrong by breaking his eight match losing streak with Hewitt. Anyway, back to the match with Greul; Henman was up 7 games to love during the beginning of the match, yet he still managed to lose it 0-6, 6-1, 7-5. How the hell does that happen?! If you manage to beat Marat Safin and Lleyton Hewitt in a matter of days, you would thing that you'd also be able to get by Simon Greul.

This is probably the most embarrassing thing to happen to Henman other then almost having to wear a skirt. And this brings me to my final point. Henman would probably have more success in the WTA tour, and he already has the credentials, know what I mean?

Toys 'R' Us,
PMac.

Federer Dismantles Haas

2006-03-27T20:13:00.000-05:00

First of all, to all the guys that thought Haas could win, take that you suckas. Second of all, that match was definitely a message sent from Federer to the players, the fans, and especially Haas. Federer came out strong, hitting 3 winners out of the first 4 points. He kept it going, taking Haas down 6 games to only 1 in the first set; Federer was clearly upset that Haas came so close in Australia. His domination over Haas and sheer shot making in this match are signs that this tournament is in the bag, we never really know, but Federer rarely disappoints. It's safe to say that Roger Federer has passed this test, more like a quiz, called Tommy (I need to quit bitching) Haas.

One last note. Even though my prediction and PMac's prediction were both wrong, Drysdale still loses because he didn't even post a prediction. The guy is no where to be seen, probably trying to get all over Mary Carillo's arse, that sick bast.

Yuri Sharapov is Out of His Damn Mind

2006-03-27T16:17:00.000-05:00

Why did Sharapova have to beat Kirilenko? That steroid using, loud as hell, 6 foot 2, bitch had to take out the hottest girl in tennis today in 3 sets. I don't really care much about women's tennis, but if they are going to show it, at least have the good looking ones. Oh well though, I guess what I am really trying to say is Maria Kirilenko is hot. She is really hot, so hot that I should stop talking about her before I bust a... nevermind.

Anyway, Maria's father, Yuri Sharapov is totally crazy. The guy needs to take a chill pill. No justification behind this, just take it as it is.

Haas vs. Federer Predictions

2006-03-26T21:53:00.000-05:00

Alright, so we're gonna do something new; we're going to predict some match out comes just for fun and to prove who is the man, or woman in Drysdale's case. JK Drysdale don't get your panties in a bunch.

PMac: My prediction is Federer winning (obviously) 6-4, 6-2. Haas has been playing decently the past tournaments and he crushed that guy Horna, so I'd have to give him a few games here and there. But since Haas is getting cocky I think Federer is gonna have to bitch slap him on the court backhand down the line style.

Toys 'R' Us,
PMac.

Mary Joe: Haas needs to get his tongue out of his own ass. The question about Haas is, why is he being such a douche this year? Attacking Jim Courier and then stating that he can beat the best player in the world, he must be tripping on acid. Even Federer, although he can undoubtedly beat 99.9% of all tennis players, is never cocky before a match. Federer gives credit where it is due and never comes out cocky, although he has every right to be. I will have to go with 6-3, 6-3 in Federer's favor.

EDIT: I forgot to mention that the Haas vs. Federer match will be played tomorrow at 7:00 PM ET.

Brad Gilbert is an idiot.

2006-03-26T19:08:00.000-05:00

OK, so we've posted about Brad Gilbert before so I'll make this short. Brad Gilbert has to be the dumbest commentator on TV. He says the dumbest things all in an attempt to sound 'hip', yet little does he know he's a friggen moron. He couldn't even pronounce Svetlana Kuznetsova's name correctly. He's a TV commentator, shouldn't he at least know how to read? It's not pronounced Kunetsova you retard. Anyway good thing Drysdale was there to keep Gilbert in check. We <3 you Drysdale.

Picture stolen from Brad Gilert's website.

Toys 'R' Us,
PMac.

Test For Federer

2006-03-26T14:54:00.000-05:00

Tomorrow, the feature match will be between Germany's Tommy Haas (Haaaaaas!) and Switzerland's own Roger Federer. I feel like this may be the only test Federer faces, because he had such a difficult time putting Haas away in the Australian Open, and because Federer actually lost a match to Haas earlier this year. Although the Kooyong Classic match up did not count towards the rankings, Haas defeated Federer none the less.

If Federer can make it through Haas, I firmly believe he will take the Nasdaq title for the second year in a row. Blake also lies in Federer's path, but after last week's performance I do not think Blake poses that much of a threat to the best tennis player in the world. There are some dangerous opponents on the other side of the draw, but they will have to make it to the final to see Federer.

One thing that I do know for sure is that nothing is certain and anything can happen, I am just going on straight up knowledge that Federer is the man to beat and also the safest bet in almost any tournament.

Oh and one more thing, Haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaas!

Damn, Blake is lucky

2006-03-25T18:57:00.000-05:00

In other news, James Blake has an unbelievably hot girlfriend. He may have gotten beat down by Federer in the PLO final, but i am sure that he got some special treatment after that match. Federer will beat Blake every time, but Jennifer Scholle (Blake's woman) will beat Mirka (Federer's chick) every time as well. Her picture is posted to the right.

Damn you Blake!

Credit to beyondhollywood.com for having this incredible picture.

Brought to you by Mary Joe.

Henman actually beats Hewitt

2006-03-25T18:22:00.000-05:00

Yeah, I was wrong. In a previous post I claimed that Henman should pack his shit up and go back home. But Henman actually defeated Hewitt 7-6(5) 6-3 in the second round of the NASDAQ-100. This is the first time Henman has ever beat Hewitt, maybe Henman's testicles have finally descended?

Either way, there will be some damn good matches on tomorrow including, Berdych vs Nalbandian, Davydenko vs Baghdatis, Ljubicic vs Volandri, and Kiefer vs Gonzalez.

Toys 'R' Us,
PMac.

The Fed Effect

2006-03-25T18:02:00.000-05:00

Recent matches from the Nasdaq-100 Open go something like this. Federer somehow lost a set to Clement before dominating him in the third set, Hewitt has lost to Tim Henman, Clijsters lost to Jill Craybas (does anyone really care?), and Blake completely dominated some random dude that should have at least gotten one game, double bagel status.

With Nadal and Safin out of the tournament, Federer has almost nothing to worry about. Although he looked a little sketchy in the second set, the "Fed Effect" was in full force when it came time for the decider set. Speaking of the Fed Effect, for those of you who didn't watch Federer's second round match, it was that moron Brad Gilbert who coined yet another terrible phrase. In the first set Gilbert (who is rumored to be legally retarded) claimed that the Fed Effect was in full effect, what the hell is this man talking about.

During this match both Gilbert and Mary Carillo were saying some damn stupid shit. I believe that our friend Cliff Drysdale was mere moments away from taking his own life at times because he just couldn't take it anymore. Gilbert was quoted saying that he believes Federer is the favorite in the French Open, is it just me or is this so retarded that Gilbert should be castrated to prevent his reproduction. Someone should ask Gilbert a couple questions like who won the French Open last year, and who currently the best clay court player around? If you don't know, Nay Dall is the best clay court player right now, he won pretty much every clay court tournament he entered last year. Pretty much, I don't want to imagine any more little Gilberts running around tell me that the Fed Effect is in effect, effect, effect, effect.

The challenge system was also being used today, and the most shocking part of it was that Federer was actually wrong in one of his challenges. Although he nailed the first challenge, he was a couple millimeters off with the second. At least Federer was close though, his opponent did not even make one correct challenge. Clement was wrong on all 3 challenges he used, one of the misused challenges was on a serve that Federer struck (the serve barely even touched the inside of the line). My first impression of the new line calling stuff is that Clement is an idiot, and the challenge system is actually very fast and efficient.

Year of the Moya

2006-03-24T18:46:00.000-05:00

Well it's always Carlos Moya's year, but so far he is having a decent year with a 13-4 record. Moya's year just got better as he defeated his protege Rafael Nadal 2-6 6-1 6-1 in the second round of the NASDAQ-100. Numbers can't accurately describe a match but it seems that Nadal tanked after a strong first set. This may be good for Nadal as he claims he will now have plenty of time to rest for the clay court season.

With Nadal out of the NASDAQ-100, Mary Joe is claiming that Federer will easily take the tournament. I may have to agree with her.

From VamosRafael.com

Toys 'R' Us,
PMac.

Henman Beats Down Safin

2006-03-24T13:04:00.000-05:00

We haven't posted much on the NASDAQ-100 Open because neither of us have watched any of it as of yet since ESPN won't be starting coverage until Sunday. Well anyway, here's a little update. Everything seems to be progressing rather routinely except for one match. Marat Safin, my hero, was beat down by Tim Henman 6-3 6-3 in the first round! Ahgh, Safin what the hell are you doing out there?

Although Henman just beat Safin to advance to the second round, he should start packing right now as he will play Hewitt next. Henman has an 0-8 record against Hewitt and almost no chance of advancing, unless by ridiculous luck Hewitt gets run over by a lawn mower.

The full NASDAQ-100 draw PDF style.

Toys 'R' Us,
PMac.

Snot Rocket!!

2006-03-24T12:15:00.000-05:00

You may have noticed that we've mentioned Andre Agassi's snot rockets numerous times already. Well now we're actually going to post about it.

Andre Agassi, for some reason, needs to blow a snot rocket onto the court in almost every game. Does he have a stuffy nose or something? Hasn't he ever heard of Sudafed? Well anyway, we'll allow it since it's funny and it's slightly less disgusting compared to Juan Ignacio Chela.

Toys 'R' Us,
PMac.

Rafael Nadal's Workout Routine

2006-03-24T02:07:00.000-05:00

The Real Ultimate Tennis Baby

2006-03-23T21:53:00.000-05:00

My colleague Mary Joe apparantly believes that the ultimate tennis baby would be the offspring of Roger Federer and Martina Hingis. My friends, this couldn't be farther from the truth. the ultimate tennis baby would, or may already be the baby of Andre Agassi and Steffi Graff.

First off, Federer only dates whales (Mirka), and therefore would be unavailable to reproduce with Martina Hingis. Now, let's look a the numbers. Roger Federer: 7 grand slam singles titles. Andre Aggassi 8 grand slam singles titles. Martina Hingis: 5 grand slam singles titles. Steffi Graf: 22 grand slam singles titles. Federer/Hingis = 12 titles. Agassi/Graf = 30 titles.

Still don't believe me? We all saw Agassi and Graf's kid kick Taylor Dent's ass on the tennis court. Wait my bad...who doesn't kick Taylor Dent's ass? Either way, the ultimate tennis baby would clearly be the product of Graf and Agassi, not Federer and Hingis. Hingis brings down the gene pool. Just remember, Federer may be betterer, but Hingis is a dingus. My above image depicts the truth. Nuff' said.

Good Day,

Cliff Drysdale

Did it just get sexy in here?

2006-03-23T01:40:00.000-05:00

I, Cliff Drysdale have officially joined the SBS tennis team. I look forward to working with PMac and especially the lovely Mary Joe.

Old News

2006-03-23T00:18:00.000-05:00

Dominik Hrbaty's flaming gay shirt is old news, but it is still as gay as ever. For the people who did not see this atrocity, there is a picture below for all to behold. Nobody really knows why he would do such a thing, or why a company would make a shirt that is so blatantly homosexual.

As most tennis fans know, Lleyton Hewitt is a complete asshole, a pansy ass bitch asshole at that. He cheers for himself too much and is usually not that much fun to watch. Other players on tour do not like the way he acts on court either. Juan Ignacio Chela actually spat at Hewitt during last years Australian Open, after he lost the match in 4 sets. Just for the record, Chela beat down Hewitt at this years AO, and Chela is probably the ugliest mofo on the ATP tour.

Before I get off topic, I brought Hewitt up because even Hewitt had the right to bash Hrbaty's awful shirt. He was quoted last year, after defeating Hrbaty (who was wearing the shirt), saying that "I just couldn't lose to a bloke wearing a shirt like that."

I am not a Hewitt fan by any means, but he was 100% right in this statement. Hrbaty has stopped wearing the shirt by now, hopefully for good.

P.S. - People who pop their collars should die a horrible death and rot in hell while having to wear Hrbaty's shirt.

Originally posted by Mary Joe, accidentally deleted by me.

Federer/Hewitt SBS!

2006-03-22T19:05:00.002-05:00

Here is some video of an amazing 45 shot rally between Federer and Hewitt from 2005's PLO. More to come later, naturally.

Vaaamos!

2006-03-22T01:23:00.000-05:00

OK, for the spectator's sake, Nadal should either stop picking his ass or get a new pair of shorts. It's still funny though, in that gross kind of way.

You have to give Nay Dall a little credit though, he wears the gayest looking clam digger pants ever, but somehow people do not make fun of him. Johnny Mac himself even sported the pants during a doubles match last year. How the hell can you wear these things and not want to kick your own ass, the world may never know.

Next time I'll complain about Hrbaty's pink shirt (the one with the holes), and Agassi's snot rockets. Stay tuned.

If you can have any pro player's forehand whose would you pick?
	Roger Federer
	Maria Sharapova
	Rafael Nadal
	Andy Roddick
	Ivan Ljubicic
	Amelie Mauresmo

Which of these men will make the best run at this year's Wimbledon title?
	Mario Ancic
	Ivan Ljubicic
	Rafael Nadal
	James Blake
	Andre Agassi
	Marcos Baghdatis

Who will most likely take the 2006 French Open?
	Richard Gasquet
	Guillermo Coria
	Gaston Gaudio
	Rafael Nadal
	Roger Federer
	David Nalbandian
	Cliff Drysdale

Who is currently the hottest WTA player?
	Maria Sharapova
	Daniela Hantuchova
	Elena Dementieva
	Ana Ivanovic
	Maria Kirilenko
	Tatiana Golovin
	Amelie Mauresmo