Davis Cup Roundup

So, I haven’t written in a few days. It’s tough to write about tennis when the season starts to slow down. This week, there are tournaments in Metz and Bucharest and a few even smaller tournaments in all kinds of places. However, there has been some exciting tennis since the end of the US Open. It’s come to us in the form of Davis Cup.

There’s been a lot of debate recently about the Davis Cup format. Personally, I love the idea of having a national tournament for tennis. But, I also think it’s kind of silly to interrupt the regular tennis season four times a year for just a weekend and ship everyone off to countries around the world. The reason I like the national approach is because it brings a team aspect to our individual sport. We so often watch the triumphs of a few select players. In the case of Davis Cup, we actually get to see players supporting each other instead of competing against each other (within the teams at least.) It’s also great to see the pride that players take in playing for their country.

In 2007, DC stalwarts Andy Roddick, James Blake, and the Bryan Brothers led the US team to victory on home turf for the first time since 1995. This year, my team wasn’t playing for the title, but for the chance to try again next year. The US was in real danger of losing its place in the World Group this weekend. The 2010 squad included only one member of the victorious 2007 team, Mardy Fish, who didn’t even get to play that year. This weekend was all about Fish, who almost single handedly helped us keep our spot in the world group, winning two five set singles matches as well as a doubles match with John Isner. The guy practically won the whole tie for us, considering he won 3 of the 4 rubbers they actually played and Colombia won the other won. Due to rain, the organizers opted to skip the 5^th, dead rubber. So we know Fishy saved the day, he was briefly helped out by John Isner, poor Sam Querrey lost his only rubber, but who got left out of our four man team? 18 year old Ryan Harrison, who was making his Davis Cup debut. Had the dead rubber been played, I’m fairly certain Patrick McEnroe would’ve given Harrison the chance to play because there would’ve been no consequences. I can’t predict the future, but hopefully Harrison gets his shot at DC glory one day. While the squad may no longer consist of the successful DC players we’re used to, the US team looks strong (and really really tall.) I can’t wait for next year’s draw.

I have to talk about the US at least a little, but let’s move on to the teams that actually matter, the semifinalists. Argentina met France (in France) and the Czech Republic faced Serbia (in Serbia.) In the case of the French, it seemed like they could do no wrong and the Argentines could do nothing right. Even missing their main man, Jo Wilfried Tsonga, the squad, consisting of Gael Monfils, Michael Llodra, Gilles Simon, and Arnaud Clement, crushed Argentina, winning all five rubbers. The US had Mardy Fish, well France had Michael Llodra, a generally unsung hero. Llodra won the first singles match to give the French a 1-0 lead as well as the decisive third rubber doubles with Arnaud Clement. Monfils somehow managed to reign in the theatrics (at least a little) and defeat David Nalbandian. Simon and Clement continued the rout by winning both dead rubbers. France’s team looks incredibly strong and has an excellent chance of taking home the trophy for the first time since 2001. Poor Argentina has never won Davis Cup and they’ll have to wait until next year for their next chance.

On the other side of Europe, Serbia was hosting the Czech Republic in their Davis Cup semifinal tie. Novak Djokovic, the number 2 player in the world, is clearly a huge asset to the Serbian team. However, because of the rain in New York, Djokovic had to stay in NYC to play the US Open final on Monday, which meant he returned to Serbia just in time to play in this crucial tie. Djokovic was sick on the first day of Davis Cup play and the captain opted to substitute Troicki against Stepanek. Troicki lost in four sets, putting the Serbs one rubber behind the Czechs. Every tie had its hero this week and Serbia’s was surprisingly not Novak Djokovic. It was Janko Tipsarevic, who often surprises me with his brilliance. Tisparevic evened the tie on the first day by taking out Tomas Berdych, pretty impressive. You would think having the number 1 doubles player in the world and the number 2 singles player in the world team up for a doubles match would yield impressive results. It failed almost as miserably as the world 1 and 2 singles players teaming up in Toronto. Djokovic and Zimonjic lost pretty convincingly in four sets. Now Serbia was down 2-1. They would have to win both of Sundays singles matches to salvage the tie. First up, Djokovic managed to take down Tomas Berdych in four sets, tying everything up at 2-2. It all came down to Tipsarevic to beat Radek Stepanek in the final rubber. Tipsarevic came through with flying colors, winning in three sets and bageling Stepanek in the first. The Serbs went wild after making it to their very first Davis Cup final.

I’ll probably write an extensive preview in December before the final, but I’m tipping the French to win.

In the World Group playoffs, Austria edged out Israel, Germany demolished South Africa, Sweden won over Italy, India came back to defeat Brazil (really impressive play by the Indians,) Belgium beat Australia (which was missing Lleyton Hewitt after he injured his wrist in doubles,) Kazakhstan won 5-0 over a Federerless Switzerland (still confused,) and Romania beat Ecuador.

A Saturday at the US Open

Even though Nadal was able to take care of Istomin in 3 sets, it was still about 1am when I finally got back to my hotel. I knew Saturday was going to be a very long day of tennis viewing so I decided to head to bed…oh wiat, that’s what I should’ve done. What I actually did was take my netbook down to the ultramodern, very dark hotel lobby to use the free wifi so I could post some new material to the blog. See, I love you guys more than sleep. Plus, I’d already written everything out long hand so I just had to type it all up. Finally I was all done and went back to room and passed out on the very comfy bed.

I planned to get an early start on Saturday, but I realized that I could sacrifice an hour of tennis for an hour of sleep considering I’d be there all day. I arrived on site around noon and took another walk around. They charge you $4 for a schedule of play, so I wrote it all down before hand and brought it with me. This way, I wouldn’t miss any of the action on the outer courts. The grounds are quite spread out so there could be great matches happening without your knowledge.

While on my way around the grounds, I happened upon Feliciano Lopez and Gilles Simon in the middle of practicing on an outer court, not the fenced off practice courts. This meant it had bleachers and the fence was only about 3 feet tall, providing an unobstructed view. I’ve seen them both before, but it’s always a treat, so I stuck around to watch. Eventually Michael Llodra showed up with his practice partner and the four of them shared the court. These three are all great to watch, so I decided actual match play could wait. I had a real front row seat as I was standing at the gate. The gate was open and at some point a ball rolled right to my feet. It came right to me, so I’m pretty sure that means I get to keep it right? It may have been a grey area, but I discreetly bent down and pocketed the ball. Later, Llodra wiffed a ball over the short fence and a man tossed it back for him. Mikey responded with a heavily accented, “Thank you BRO.” Yes, Michael Llodra said bro. It made my day. At some point, Simon’s coach stopped to close the gate I was standing at, explaining that he hoped the wind would die down. I’m not sure how that’s an explanation for closing the gate or why he felt the need to explain anything to me, but he was very nice. Maybe he’s starting to recognize me or he was confused by the fact that I spent an hour standing at the side of the court, playing with my blackberry (I was a little twitter happy this weekend.) FYI, I really don’t try to follow any specific players, I just happen to see some players way more often than others.

Anyway, Llodra finished up practicing first and walked off court completely unbothered by any of the fans. I can’t stress enough that you should be watching this guy. He’s incredibly entertaining and has a great old school serve and volley game. Plus, he’s an absolute sweetheart with fans. Gilles and Feli finished up a little bit later and I got Feli to sign my stolen ball. Thierry Tulasne, Gilles’ coach, passed out all of the practice balls to kids watching from the opposite side of the court. I love when players/coaches think to do something like that. It means absolutely nothing to the player, but is a nice treat for the fans.

Next up, I stopped in to check out the real practice courts. There’s only one side that has a fence you can see through, which means that anytime there’s someone remotely famous practicing, it’s impossible to see. It turns out the large crowd had gathered to watch Rafa/Fernando practice on the nearest court. I took a couple photos when I got reasonably close, but I’m not a big enough Rafa fan to brave that mess for very long. Vera Zvonareva and coach Sergey Demekhine were also out practicing, as was David Ferrer and Nicolas Almagro. Bethanie Mattek Sands had taken up the court vacated by Gilles and Feli. I had no interest in that so I decided to grab some lunch before the match I was waiting for: Robredo/Granollers vs. Reynolds/Ram.

I had a quick lunch and headed over to Court 4. The match hadn’t started yet, so I hang around to watch a little Sam Querrey practice on the court next door. He was practicing with a kid, possibly someone from the junior circuit. I arrived just as things were wrapping up. Sam walked off court and a kid asked him for his hat, which Sam happily handed over and signed. Sam hung around for a good 10 or 15 minutes extra signing autographs and taking pictures with fans. He didn’t act like he was in a rush and he’s super polite. I took a picture for some siblings and was rewarded with one of my own. I’m 5’7” and was wearing 3” or 4” heels. Sam is still about a head taller. The guy is a giant. Anyway, now I’ve seen Sam practice twice and I have to say I love the way he interacts with fans. It’s a real shame he’s out after a heartbreaking five setter with Stanislas Wawrinka. I wish him all the best. Also, Sam, if you ever happen to read this, and you are looking for a new intern, I am available. I am looking for a job and believe I would be quite capable. No joke.

So back to Court 4 for Tommy. It’s a small outer court and most people aren’t very interested in doubles so there was plenty of space. Reynolds/Ram are both American so there were probably more people watching than had Tommy and Marcel been playing some other team. So remember when I said that I don’t specifically follow anyone, I guess this was a small deviation from that. I’m a big fan of Tommy Robredo. He’s my favorite of all the Spanish players, including Rafa. It’s definitely a non-majority opinion, but I just find something really adorable about him. So, I embedded myself deep in the Spanish camp, right behind Tommy’s coach, Milene Rigue, and next to Marcos Rollan. Marcos appears to be the stats guy. He spent the whole match pouring over a draw sheet and listening to his radio, filling in all the scores, etc. He also seemed to be keeping track of how many players each country had remaining and a few other odds and ends. I can neither confirm nor deny whether Milene is Tommy’s girlfriend. Her badge said Player Guest: Tommy Robredo. I’ve since done some digging in an effort to bring you guys the most accurate information I can. It appears Milene is a Brazilian model. I couldn’t find anything to connect her to Tommy. I’ve given you the name, so you guys can do the extra stalking if you wish.

Anyway, it was a good idea for me to chill out with the Spaniards because I was definitely the only other person in the stands cheering for Tommy and Marcel. It was a very pro-American crowd. However, Robredo/Granollers won comfortably in two. A lot of people were confused, forgetting that the doubles is best of three with the super breaker instead of best of five.

So I had successfully cheered Tommy to the win and walked off towards the Grandstand in hopes of getting a seat before Melzer/Ferrero. I walked past Melanie Oudin practicing for her mixed doubles match. I took a few photos so I had some, but then kept going.

So, while I was in my happy Tommy bubble, Mardy Fish was battling it out on Louis Armstrong with Arnaud Clement, in what would be a five set match. Armstrong was actually full to capacity and they stopped letting people in so the Grandstand was extra busy. I waited in line for about 20 minutes and was hoping for a good seat. I couldn’t find anything in the first couple of rows, so I decided to be a little crafty. For those of you who don’t know, the Grandstand and Louis Armstrong Stadium are connected. Just walk around the left side of the Grandstand and you’re in Armstrong. The very bottom section of Armstrong is reserved for ticket holders, but the rest is first come first serve for grounds pass admission. I got extremely lucky and found a single seat in the front row of the non-reserved section for the fifth set of Fish/Clement. Fifth sets are always exciting and an American in a fifth set always provides some great crowd involvement. Fish finally put it away. In his on court interview, Mary Jo asked him about that night’s match between Djokovic and Blake. Fish responded that while Novak was a “friend,” James was a “best friend” and he would be cheering a little harder for James to win, providing us with a sickeningly sweet ending to the match. Unfortunately, Nole would go on to decimate poor James and proceed to take out Fish in the 4^th round. I took over 300 photos this weekend and have no idea how I ended up with so many pics of Mardy Fish. If you check out photobucket, I look like a total stalker, but have no explanation. I think I was just so excited to score such a good seat.

By the time Armstrong was emptying out, it was already about 6:15pm and the Grandstand was pretty much full. I decided to take some more shopping time to see if I couldn’t reach the $150 mark before the night session started. I honestly believe half of the reason I was drawn to tennis was the adorable outfits, so I headed over to the Nike store and bought myself one of Masha’s practice skirts. I would’ve splurged on a dress, but I would look absolutely ridiculous playing tennis as poorly as I do in Masha’s purple night outfit. As not to completely monopolize your time, I am going to split this up and post my night time experience separately.

Overall, a very positive experience on Saturday of Labor Day weekend. The site was busy, but not unbearable. I got to see a lot of tennis and some practices up close and personal which is pretty much what I love about smaller tournaments, so getting to do it at the US Open was even better. For anyone considering a trip to the USO next year, I would recommend attending during the first week and buying grounds passes. They don’t kick you out at 6pm so you can continue to watch any of the matches that are running late on the outer courts and if you want you can watch the Ashe matches on the big screen. The grounds passes are cheaper and a much better value than any of the seats in Ashe. However, if you’ve never gone to a night session, I would suggest doing it once just for the atmosphere. If you can, splurge a little and get a reasonably good seat. Sitting in the rafters just isn’t worth it unless you get them for free, or $25 like I did.

Finally, if you'd like to see all 300 of my pictures from this weekend, they are available at http://s966.photobucket.com/albums/ae146/lubinskya/US%20Open%202010/

Everyone Loves a Cinderella Story

Last year we had Melanie Oudin. She was 17, kind of green and beating some of the best players on tour to make it to the quarterfinals of the US Open. America fell in love. This year, she crashed out in the second round and is now ranked below Bethanie Mattek Sands, not exactly what we were all hoping for.

When the Williams sisters retire, there will be a huge void of American women in tennis. We're all waiting for some fresh faced junior to be the next Serena, just as we've been waiting for the new Andy Roddick for quite some time. For Americans, there's no better time to peek then at the US Open, and this year we've already had a couple could-be Cinderella stories.

It's the women's third round and the only American women left in the draw are Venus Williams and Beatrice 'Trice' Capra. I'm guessing pre-USO you hadn't ever heard the name Beatrice Capra. Don't worry, neither had I, but sure enough she's through to the third round. Will she be this year's Melanie Oudin (I hate that everyone's comparing them, btw)? Oudin beat Maria Sharapova in her dream run last year, and that's exactly what Trice will have to do to continue on to round number 4. Do I think she can do it? short answer, no. I don't know much about Trice, but I do know that Maria Sharapova is not the same player she was this time last year. Last year, Maria could barely get a first serve in to save her life (or career as it were.) This year, she's one of, if not the favorite to win the title. Oh, how times change. I watched Maria's match on TV on Thursday night and she looked great (and I don't just mean the dress.) If you've read my USO preview, you know Maria is my pick to go all the way. Take that for what you will, I also said Andy Roddick would make it to the semifinals, but maybe that was just my wishful thinking. Look for Capra to make a statement sometime next year. For now, she'll fall to Sharapova in two and fade back into oblivion.

18 year old Ryan Harrison beat Ivan Ljubicic in the first round. The media had a field day. Could he be America's great hope for the future of men's tennis? What about Sam Querrey? John Isner? Mardy Fish even? Not to mention that we still have a top 10 player named Andy Roddick. Nope, America's big thing is the 200 something ranked Ryan Harrison (who has only won one match in a Grand Slam, this one) instead of the rest of these players floating around the top 20. Did ESPN really think Ryan had a better shot than the rest of these guys? Come on. I actually wrote this post before his match, so here was how the rest went...

The kid's cute, I'll give him that, but I'm going to need to see some more results before I stick him on my list of future contenders. He plays his second round match against Sergiy Stakhovsky, who's fresh off his Pilot Pen title. I'm going to have to take Sergiy in this one, sorry Ryan.

Alright, so I was right, Sergiy won. What I did not predict was some awesome fight from Ryan Harrison, playing a tie-breaker in the fifth. For a guy who's only won one Grand Slam match in his life, that's pretty good. Maybe he is the next big thing. Who knows.

If you're looking for American men with a shot of making it to week 2, keep an eye on Sam Querrey, Mardy Fish, and surprisingly John Isner. Sam hasn't been able to do much at the Masters and Slams, but the guy's a beast at the smaller events. He's got a killer forehand and is due to make a run sometime soon. Unfortunately, he'll face Murray in the fourth round, a repeat of this year's Wimbledon. There's always next year, Sam.

So, let's talk Mardy Fish for a sec. We all know he's lost weight. Was it 30 lbs? Seriously, the tennis media can't get enough of this story and I kind of don't blame them. Talk about a Cinderella story. This aging underachiever does a 180 when he realizes he's running out of time and becomes a real threat. I think this is a much better story than the youngsters. Everyone wants to believe it's never too late to live your dream. Mardy's been dealt a dream draw, and if he can make if past an ailing Djokovic (let's hope they get a steamy day match), I like his chances of making the semifinals at Flushing Meadows for the first time. He would probably get Federer in the semis. You'll remember that these guys played a tight final in Cincinnati just a couple of weeks ago. Could Mardy Fish actually make the final of a Grand Slam? Could he win? Far fetched, but nothing's impossible. Yes, I know I'm getting way ahead of myself here, but I'm a tennis writer. It's what we do.

Finally, John Isner rounds out this talented trio. Everyone was convinced Isner would pull out of the draw due to the serious ankle injury he suffered in Cincinnati. Apparently we all forgot that this is the marathon man. He is not a mere human. Somehow he rehabbed the ankle in time to play his first round on Wednesday. I expected him to come up lame, but he actually looks really good. Best of luck to John this week. I just hope he doesn't push it too hard and end up with a more severe injury.

A Weekend of Tweets

I know a lot of people still don't like to use twitter. I was very reluctant to join, but it's become an excellent source of information about tennis players. I've got some followers now, but not nearly as many as read A Change of Ends. I think some of my observations from this weekend are amusing, so the following post is simply an exact recap of what I posted on twitter this weekend, so please don't pay attention to some of the misspellings, etc. Twitter isn't exactly conducive to proper grammar.

Is anyone watching Rafa do the draw? He is so fidgety! 5:27 PM Aug 6th via web
Very limited internet. Here are some fun facts from today. 6:50 PM Aug 7th via web

Rafa and Nole did practice together this morning. It was a mob scene. Sadly, I deided to stay away from the madness. 6:50 PM Aug 7th via web

Fed practiced on a court that is very difficult for spectators to see. It was still mobbed. He snuck out the back entrance at the end. 1,281,217,899,000.00 via web

FYI, Federer practiced with Robin Soderling. 1,281,217,916,000.00 via web

Spent a full hour watching sam Querrey practiced. He seems like a really nice guy. Fun fact: he hit the gym this morning with his trainer at around 10:30. 1,281,217,981,000.00 via web

I'm in love with Tommy Robredo. He's adorable. 1,281,217,997,000.00 via web

Just saw Gulbis and Davydenko chatting in the lobby before going their separate ways. 1,281,218,027,000.00 via web

I consistently end up in the evelator alone with Julien Benneteau and never actually say anything to him. I wonder if he'll start to notice. 1,281,218,067,000.00 via web

just saw Stan and Peter Lundgren jovially walking through the lobby. Those guys look happy! 1,281,219,141,000.00 via web

Stan and I are now work out buddies. He just doesn't know it. Looks like he and Peter are getting along great. Lots of laughing. 1,281,228,582,000.00 via web

Michael Llodra cleans up nice. Just saw him on his way to dinner. 1,281,228,598,000.00 via web

Feliciano Lopez is here, just saw him checking into the hotel. Had an urge to follow the bellhop up to his room, but resisted. 1,281,228,647,000.00 via web

Monfils is out with his crew. Looks like he could take some fashion advice from Llodra. 1,281,229,201,000.00 via web

Tomorrow's Legg Mason final will feature Baghdatis and Nalbandian. My money's on Nalbanian. He's been on fire this week. 1,281,229,399,000.00 via web

Robin Soderling just looked at me funny. Weird, cause I wasn't even staring at him or anything. 1,281,229,785,000.00 via web

Soderling is in the lobby with finace, Jenni, and Robert Lindstedt, the Swedish doubles player. 1,281,229,837,000.00 via web

Victor Hanescu looks kind of surly, but quite tall in person. 1,281,230,343,000.00 via web

Davydenko just walked by with a woman I assume is his wife. She was wearing a very sparkly shirt with Bugs Bunny on it. 1,281,230,503,000.00 via web

Richard Gasquet and coach just came back. I shared an elevator with them earlier today. 1,281,230,604,000.00 via web

Alright, I've got to go get some dinner myself, but I'll try get some juicy updates later. 1,281,230,745,000.00 via web

@MTFadout I'll do my best to find Ernie tomrorow. So far, I've only seen him off site, I'll try to hit up a practice tomorrow. 1,281,239,321,000.00 via web in reply to MTFadout

some incredibly androdgenous tennis player i don't recognize with the skinniest gf i've ever seen just walked in. No idea who it could be. 1,281,240,749,000.00 via web

Breakfast time in toronto! 1,281,278,047,000.00 via web

Saw Ernie sitting alone in the lobby waiting for transport. Didn't stop to bother him though.. It looked like he had a rough night. 1,281,278,082,000.00 via web

Mr androgenous was at breakfast this morning with twiggy, but I still have no idea who he is. 1,281,278,114,000.00 via web

Almost didn't notice Gilles. He seems to be breakfasting with mom and dad. How cute! Coach and son are also here. Man, that kid is lucky! 1,281,278,157,000.00 via web

Gael and Gilles had a nice catch up when they saw each other. 1,281,278,185,000.00 via web

Feli was eating alone for a while, but was eventually joined by some guy. Where was Ferenando? I thought they were inseperable. 1,281,278,244,000.00 via web

Fun Fact: Feli wears a Yankee's baseball cap with his initials embroidered in the side. 1,281,278,291,000.00 via web

Mrs Davydenko was wearing the same flashy Bugs Bunny shirt to breakfast, but no sighting of hubby. 1,281,278,355,000.00 via web

I think I used to underestimate the attractiveness of Gilles Simon. He is adorable. I love that he's here with his parents. 1,281,278,405,000.00 via web

Almost forgot, saw Robin Soderling in the gym this morning cycling. 1,281,278,477,000.00 via web

I think something about me creeps Sod out. I was just walking by the door and all of the sudden he turned around and looked at me. 1,281,278,526,000.00 via web

It's a little rainy today, so hopefully we can get in some tennis. I've got to check out fo the hotel at 12 and my flight's not til 9. 1,281,278,570,000.00 via web

Also, it is Mr. Federer's 29th birthday. So birthday wishes for Roger this morning. 1,281,279,016,000.00 via web

just got a photo with Gilles, taken by the lovely gf of Julien Benneteau. 1,281,281,713,000.00 via web

someone's coach just said hello to me in French. I wonder who it is. 1,281,281,852,000.00 via web

Mystery solved. It was one of Monfils' team. 1,281,282,264,000.00 via web

still trying to figure out who mr. androgenous is. 1,281,282,280,000.00 via web

Also, Julien Benneteau's gf was sitting next to me waiting for her car and he is super pretty. 1,281,282,384,000.00 via web

You know you go to too many of these things when you start to recognize the coaches. 1,281,282,474,000.00 via web

Unfortunately the rain cut my day at the tennis short, as in I didn't see any before I had to leave the site. Oh well, sitting in the lobby. 1,281,299,748,000.00 via web

Nikolay is right in front of me with his ipad about 24 hours ago via web

what's up with WAGS and Bugs Bunny? Andrey Golubev's gf was only wearing a Bugs Bunny t-shirt, allbeit less flashy. about 24 hours ago via web

*** This should have read "Andrey Golubev's gf was ALSO wearing a Bugs Bunny t-shirt." Let me be clear, she was also wearing pants.

@RagingBitch You solved my mystery. It was indeed Dolgopolov. about 24 hours ago via web in reply to RagingBitch

Querrey's coach is all over the place. Looks like he's on his way to the gym. about 23 hours ago via web

hoping for some fun sightings before I have to leave for the airport. about 23 hours ago via web

Forgot to mention earlier. A player was actually squeegeeing his own court. Just as it was looking pretty good, it rained again. about 23 hours ago via web

If they let me watch up close, I would've helped squeegee. about 23 hours ago via web

Gonzo is in the house. Very blue tape of his calf. about 23 hours ago via web

now it's super sunny. I hate you toronto. Why couldn't you have been sunny this morning? about 23 hours ago via web

the WAGS are almost as easy to spot as the players. They're all tall, thin, and gorgeous. Well, not all, but most. about 23 hours ago via web

The lobby in the hotel is very dark. It both hurts my eyes and makes me feel creepier than usual. about 23 hours ago via web

So Canada and America Are Actually Different?

Ok, so I think I've officially started this post 10 times in my attempt to be witty; however, the exhaustion has set in and I'm pretty sure that my attempts at humor have only been funny to me. I think I'll just keep it simple and give you guys a general recap of my weekend. I'm also planning to follow this post with a timeline of tweets from Saturday and Sunday for those of you who don't have twitter. Those have my more off-the-cuff comments and probably read as an interesting stream of consciousness. I flew out late Friday night and landed in Toronto around 10:30pm. Theoretically I knew I would have to clear immigration to get into Canada, but I really thought this would be an easy walk through job. Nope. I got grilled by the gate agent. Apparently a young woman, spending a weekend in Toronto, to watch a tennis tournament, alone is very suspicious behavior. FYI, I'm not sure I could look less threatening. Anyway, I finally made it through and I was on my way.

I stayed at the Hilton Toronto, with the majority of the players, excluding the Top 3. A special thanks to the hotel for my free upgrade to a junior suite. The Hilton was lovely, but a bit of a letdown after my amazing stay at the W last weekend. The hotel was fairly unimportant anyway. Saturday, I left for the tournament around noon. It was a long trip on the metro/bus, but not too difficult. Plus tournament tickets for the weekend were free, which was awesome. The weather Saturday was nice, alternating between a little bit chilly and warm, but no rain. When I arrived at the site, I did a lap of the grounds to get my bearings. Toronto is nice and posts a board of who's practicing where at what time. This is super convenient for picking out your favorites, but also means that when Federer/Nadal/Djokovic/Murray are practicing, fans camp out in those seats from like 10am onwards. It so happened that Nadal was practicing with Djokovic when I got there, but there was no chance I was going near that mob scene. The crowd must have been at least 20 people deep on any side. Plus, there were plenty of great players out practicing and I'd rather be up close. I spent some time checking out Youzhny's practice before moving on to Belucci/Gonzalez practice. I decided to check out the next court and was pleasantly surprised to find Davydenko and Monfils. Nikolay Davydenko is so unassuming in person. He's currently ranked sixth in the world, but you would never look at him on the street and guess he was a tennis player. Monfils is always a good laugh, so I stuck around for a little while to watch. I kept wandering and eventually ran into Sam Querrey's court.

The Rexall Center is pretty good for watching practice sessions, as each court has bleachers, so you can actually see. I spent the full hour watching Sam. He looked pretty relaxed and his coach was quick to provide tips. I didn't recognize his practice partner (it could've been someone he brought for this purpose or a less well known player.) Sam's coach was very clear about how the practice partner should hit the ball over to Sam's side to practice certain shots. All in all, it looked like both guys were having fun out there. The fence on the bleachers side of the court is probably only 3 feet high, so small children kept running over during water breaks asking Sam to sign various items. He was very accommodating, considering the interruptions. It was a great session for me because I could clearly hear everything said on court, and it was all in English. There was one long rally in particular that got very exciting and Sam ended it with a beautifully executed drop shot. The crowd applauded and Sam bashfully held up his racket in acknowledgement. In general, he seemed very down to Earth and was very nice to his fans. He still says "You're Welcome" when people thank him. I really appreciate those qualities in a player and will definitely seek him out next time. In terms of tennis, he's got a wicked forehand and hit several shots that made his opponent smile in defeat. He also had a couple of not so great moments, mostly at the net. It looked like his coach was encouraging Sam to practice volleys. His shots were so powerful that they often sailed straight over the baseline.

I took a quick breather by the retail tents and ended up with a new pair of Marc Jacobs sunglasses. I'm not quite sure how this happened. All I remember are the words $50 gift card and I was sold. All the tournaments I've been to have had retail tents. Most of them sell tennis gear and equipment, which makes sense. Tennis fans are likely to buy a new kit or bag if they see it on their favorite player. Some of them are just plain weird. See my post of Rotterdam. There was a meat tent. Toronto had all the regulars as well as sunglasses, some kind of pain relief spray, and cameras. All of these kind of made sense. I checked out the price of the glasses I bought this morning at work, and it looks like I actually got quite a good deal. I digress...

Benneteau and de Bakker were up next on Sam's recently vacated court. I've seen them both several times so I moved on. I walked through Gasquet's practice and took a few photos. When I came back out to check the practice schedule, there was a giant crowd by the connected practice courts. At the tournament, there are several outer courts that are used as stand alone practice courts, but there is also a series of four courts all in a row that have seating on two ends and fencing on the other sides. Sure enough the giant crowd was trying to watch Roger. Every surface imaginable was being sat on or stood on and people were doing anything they could think of to get a look. He was on one of the middle courts, quite far from most of the spectators. I adore Roger Federer. I'm fairly certain he's the reason I love tennis, so I definitely wanted a few pictures. There was no way I was getting close to the front of the mob, so I blindly held me camera above my head and started shooting. Luckily he was nice enough to wear a bright pink shirt that day, so even though the photos are blurry and far away, you can still pick him out. The truly unfortunate part of this mob, was that I had no chance of seeing Tommy Robredo. I don't know why, but since seeing him in Rotterdam, I have had some serious love for Mr. Robredo. He was practicing on the court next to Roger. Had he been on one of the stand alone courts, I'm sure I would've gotten the intimate experience I was looking for because everyone would've still been huddled around Fed. So, I decided it was time for a some fries and a beer. Fun fact about Canada, you can give them US money almost anywhere, but they will give you back Canadian money, which is completely useless outside of Canada. I finished up and started walking back in the direction of the mob. After scoping out the grounds, I knew that the connected practice courts had a side entrance and after seeing the crowd, thought it likely that Roger would choose that route out. He did. His fans were pissed. However, my lovely Tommy braved the crowd (although I don't think anyone even bothered with him.) As he was passing me by, I held out my little book of autographs and a sharpie. He just kept walking, but because he is such a nice guy, he turned around and walked back over to sign it.

It was late afternoon by this point and I decided it was time to call it a day. I made my way back to the hotel decided to hit the gym. I was pleasantly surprised to find Stanislas Wawrinka and Peter Lundgren in the middle of a workout. I got a good chuckle from watching them while I was on the elliptical. Stan was trying to help Peter workout by trying a series of different style crunches. It wasn't going that well. He was laughing pretty hard by the end. Finally, Peter left Stan to his own workout. Stan proceeded to play with his Ipod for a good 15 minutes before he started running. I was actively trying not to be a creeper and finished my own workout in a timely manner.

I sat in the lobby for a while to use the wifi and posts all of my tweets for the day. I had more and more to say as I sat and watched players go by. Other than that, I had a relatively tennis free night and headed out for dinner.

I woke up pretty early on Sunday and decided my best tennis player sightings would probably occur at breakfast, so I headed over to Tundra for the buffet. I saw Gulbis sitting outside on the restaurant waiting for his car. He didn't look so good. I'm guessing he had a late night on Saturday. The food in the restaurant was mediocre, but I did see Gilles Simon, Gael Monfils, Michael Llodra, a lonely Feliciano Lopez, and Alexandr Dolgopolov. I decided not to leave for the tournament until noon because it looked like rain, so I sat in the lobby next to the tournament table and continued to update twitter. Julien Benneteau's girlfriend sat down right next to me to wait for her car to the site. I desperately wanted to make friends, but wasn't quite sure how to go about that. Before I could hatch a game plan, Gilles Simon and co. showed up and Julien's girl got to chatting with Gilles and his coach. They were just waiting for a car, so, when I caught a lull in the conversation, I stood up and asked if we could take a photo. Gilles was really nice about it and Julien's girlfriend volunteered to take the picture.

It was finally time for me to check out and head over to the tournament. Unfortunately, it had rained quite heavily and all of the courts were soaked when I got there. The practice board had been updated and Federer and Nadal were set to take adjacent courts on the connected practice courts. Who could pass up the opportunity to see them practicing at the same time? So, I decided to camp out in one of the seats in hopes that the tournament staff would be out to dry the courts soon. About a half an hour into waiting (I wasn't the only one, all the seats were full and there were plenty of people standing,) Ross Hutchins and his coach came out onto one of the courts to survey the damage. There were giant puddles. There was no way that they were going to be able to play like that. So, the coach popped out the side entrance to look for some help. All he got from the staff were two squeegees. All of the dryers and staff were being used to dry the match courts as the qualifying matches needed to be completed. So, as tons of people watched, Ross proceeded to squeegee his own court (noticeably absent was any help from doubles partner Andy.) It was hard, tiring work, and frankly wasn't going so well. A while later, Andy Murray walked out on court. The squeegee man, aka "Ross," had done a pretty good job, but not quite enough to dry the whole court. Murray squelched around for a while debating whether to practice, but the fates sealed it when it started to rain all over again. Poor squeegee guy. Murray walked off the opposite end of the court and stopped to sign some balls/t-shirts/etc. However, the crowd on my side was not pleased. One woman yelled, "Andy, we've been waiting for 3 hours, why did you go over there?" A small child started repeatedly yelling "Murray, you suck" quite loudly as it started to rain harder and Andy jogged off court. It was mid afternoon and I decided to cut my losses and return to the hotel. Of course, my luck is pretty horrendous and the sun came out a few hours later, but I had to catch a flight back to Boston.

As you can tell, day 2 didn't work out so well, but overall it was a good trip. I would definitely go back to Toronto for the Rogers Cup next year. The tournament is very spectator friendly and the practice courts are accessible which is one of my big measures of how much I like a tournament. Even though the Rexall Center is part of York University, it is absolutely massive. I don't know anything about Canadian colleges, but I can't imagine there's a tennis match outside of Rogers Cup that could fill the Center Court arena.

It looks like it will be a while before I can get to another live event. I was hoping to drive out to Cincinnati for finals weekend, but I will be setting up my new apartment in St. Louis instead. I still have high hopes for making it to the US Open, so I will keep you all posted.

Rained Out

Hi everyone. I'm exhausted from my trip back from Toronto, so I haven't had time to come up with some interesting posts yet; however, I wanted to leave you guys with something good, so I put up my photos from this weekend. I'm sorry I couldn't get more, but all the early practices were rained out today and then I had to go back to the hotel. While there were plenty of player sightings in the hotel itself, I had to stick to my 10ft rule. I also haven't had the chance to tag them yet, so you'll have to try to figure out who's who yourself. Think of it as a game. FYI, that pink blur is Roger Federer. There were so many people at his practice that I just had to hold my camera above my head and hope that I ended up with a picture of him. That's why they kind of suck. Anyway, more updates to come. You can basically see a play by play of my weekend on my twitter account, but I will post something similar here soon. Have a great night everyone and enjoy the photos!

http://s966.photobucket.com/albums/ae146/lubinskya/Rogers%20Cup%20Toronto/

An Unlucky Night for Americans in the Capital City

At the beginning of last night, there were sixteen men still in contention for the DC title. Four of them were American. Three of our guys had excellent chances of not only winning their matches, but going all the way at the tournament. Andy Roddick was the second seed and has wont he tournament 3 times before. John Isner recently made the final of the Atlanta tournament and was vaulted into stardom after winning the longest match in history at Wimbledon earlier this year. He lost the Atlanta final to man-of-the-moment, Mardy Fish, who was on an 11 match winning streak after taking home the title at both Newport and Atlanta and beating Viktor Troicki in his first match at Legg Mason. I think you all know where this is going. Today there are eight guys left and not a single one is American. Roddick lost to Gilles Simon, John Isner to Xavier Malisse, Mardy Fish to Marin Cilic, and qualifier Ryan Sweeting lost to Fernando Verdasco. This was all compounded by the second round loss of LA champion, Sam Querrey, who fell to Janko Tipsarevic.

Isner lost to Malisse in a third set tie breaker. This result was surprising considering Isner's consistency with breakers. Although it seems John may be facing some concerns over a shoulder injury, which caused him to pull out of doubles with Sam Querrey. Sweeting's defeat was no surprise. In terms of Mardy Fish, there's been a lot of hype lately. I saw him win the title in Newport a few weeks ago and the guy is clearly in the best shape of his life. He may have been ousted by Marin Cilic last night, but no matter, he's already won two title this summer alone. He deserves a little break anyway.

The big surprise of the night was Any Roddick's loss to Gilles Simon. I think Andy Roddick's always a bit of a favorite at Legg Mason. He's won the tournament 3 times and made the final last year before losing to Juan Martin del Potro, the eventual US Open champ. So, it's surprising that he lost, period, particularly in just his second match. The even bigger surprise was the winner, Gilles Simon, who has recently returned to the tour after battling a knee injury that kept him out for most of the clay season. Had this been early 2009, this defeat would not have been all that shocking. Gilles Simon was ranked 6th in the world and Andy Roddick hadn't yet reached the most heartbreaking Wimbledon final I've seen. For Gilles, I think a solid performane in Washington would help bring some of the old confidence back into his game. He's only 25, so he could clearly get back up there with the top players. I'm thinking probably the top 20. He's not a huge guy, only 5'11", so I'm not sure I'm convinced we'll be seeing him back in the top 10 real soon. Tennis has a whole has recently shifted to a new species of giants and I think it's going to keep getting more difficult for the normal sized players to compete at the highest level. I really like Gilles so hopefully his comeback goes as planned and we'll see some good results at the US Open.

My big concern out of this mass exodus of Americans is for Andy Roddick. According to Brad Gilbert's twitter, Andy will fall out of the top 10 after this loss. this will be a big blow to Andy's confidence going into the rest of the hardcourt warm ups for the US Open. Roddick will be 28 in a few weeks and is fast approaching a time where he will need a miracle to win another Grand Slam. If you've read the archives, you'll know that this is not a critique of Roddick. I am a huge fan of Andy and want nothing more than to see him win one of the big four. Andy did win the Miami Masters this year and made the final at Indian Wells so hopefully the rest of the return to hardcourts will go well for him, starting this week in Toronto.

Speaking of Andy Roddick, whoever is sending him nasty tweets needs to stop. I'm tired of hearing players are quitting twitter because people are being mean to them. I understand not everyone is a fan, but it is just stupid to tell a celebrity you don't like them. No one cares. Again, you can follow me on twitter by clicking the "Follow Me" button on the right hand side of the page. I'll try to keep it updated this weekend while watching the quallies in Toronto, but no guarantees as roaming charges on my blackberry may be a bit pricey from Canada.