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Oz has come and gone but I didn’t want to forget about Joker’s victory over Tsonga to win the title. Tsonga has all the tools. Now comes the hard part: dealing with sudden fame, learning about consistency, figuring out how to use all those tools to win matches, and staying healthy. To be fair we […]
January 31, 2008
Alona and Kateryna Bondarenko won the 2008 Australian Open Women’s Doubles Title. The Bondarenko Sisters–sound like they ought to be 40s era showgirls, entertaining the troops or something. Kateryna is more well known, having hovered inside the top fifty singles rankings for the last few years. Although she and older sister Alona have been around […]
January 31, 2008
Sun and Nenad defeated Indians Mahesh Bupathi and Sania Mirza to win the mixed doubles title. This is a little bit of an upset since Mahesh has been ranked number 1 in doubles and has several grand slam titles under his belt, while Mirza is a top 20 singles player. Sun is one of a […]
January 31, 2008
FOX Sport Science found a stupid guy to be a Crotch Test Dummy for a tennis ball shot out of a ball machine… into his gonads, at over 50 mph. No, seriously.
January 29, 2008
The 2008 Australian Open is over and Dodo was unusually quiet, for two reasons. First, no one paid for him to fly his sorry ass to Oz. Second, he is writing a book with Pete Sampras. Yes, I’ve known about it for a while now. It will be interesting to see how it turns out. […]
January 26, 2008
Sharapova beat Ivanovic in a 705, 6-3 final that featured more uninspired play. Women’s tennis is rotten right now. They haven’t had a compelling major final in two years. The error-riddled matches occasionally take dramatic turns, but those are brought about by the psychological weaknesses of stars who can’t close out matches, along with the […]
January 25, 2008
I can’t vouch for much of the tennis since I gave up on Ivanovic after she was down a set and a break. I had to sleep sometime! Apparently, while I was counting sheep Ivanovic clawed her way back into a match that Legs was completely in control of. In fact, Legs won that first […]
January 25, 2008
This brief video shows Tsonga’s Samprasian tendencies. His instinct is to follow huge groundstrokes into the net. This aggression is important against Nadal. In fact, last year Sampras said he didn’t understand why Roger stayed at the baseline during his clashes with Nadal, since the way to neutralize him was to blast him off the […]
January 24, 2008
Speaking of bloody awful things, that first semi between Sharapova and Jankovic was horrendous. I feel for Jankovic with her “injury” (she’s injured every match but so far has made up for it with her giggly on-court charm). Sharapova didn’t dominate this match because of her play, it was all Jankovic playing bad. This was […]
January 24, 2008
Good to see that famous old sense of humor again. So far tonight, Shriver said the tournament director was going to keep the roof closed “to keep my hair from frizzing out.” She blamed him for retaliating against her for something she said 15 years ago when he was an umpire. Earlier she interviewed the […]
January 24, 2008
The picture quality isn’t the best, but watch his court coverage. It’s amazing. What’s he doing now? Coaching in the US and China. Fishing. Attending seminary part-time. According to Wikipedia, hitting 400 yard drives in golf.
January 24, 2008
Photo: Legs, the original. Michael Chang was elected to the Tennis Hall of Fame in Newport, RI, today. Chang is the youngest male to win a grand slam tournament. He was just 17 and a few months when he triumphed at the French Open after an inspiring two weeks of tennis. That wasn’t the apex […]
January 24, 2008
It’s Jelena v. Maria followed by Daniela v. Ana. A name ending in A is popular now, no?
January 24, 2008
Photo: Ana Ivanovic Sounds like a joke about a bar, but it is nice to see new blood in the women’s semifinals. The Serbs of course are part of the story I’ve been writing for two years (that the media has now picked up on, duh) of the five fantastic Serbs who are shaking tennis […]
January 24, 2008
For not using the old “I was injured” excuse to explain their losses to the two higher-ranked Serbs, Ivanovic and Jankovic. Venus and Serena both lost in a similar fashion, going down a bit meekly in two sets. Carillo and McEnroe pointed out that these younger women play games that are similar to the Williams […]
January 22, 2008
I almost forgot to post about Radek Stepanek and Nicole Vaidisova applying for a marriage license in Bradenton, Florida, where they both train. (Hat tip: Tennis Info Blog). Nicole was on ESPN last week denying it in a half-assed, giggly way. When I saw it I thought “oh shit, how stupid are you.” All I […]
January 22, 2008
Jelena Jankovic beat Serena in straight sets. If Serena is injured, that’s a shame because she played well over her first four matches. Now, the AP’s article says that Jankovic reached the semifinals of a grand slam “for only the third time.” Only? She’s 22. I’d say three semis is a pretty good start to […]
January 22, 2008
Lleyton Hewitt’s ex-coach, Roger Rasheed, is in a tiny bit of hot water after playing a slo-mo of Venus’ butt and commenting that it looked pretty good. I can’t argue with that, can you? Rasheed’s comment may be a tad to the inappropriate side of things, but not by much. Women commentators (and men) make […]
January 22, 2008
Above: James meets an Aussie snake. James Blake has turned a huge corner in his career, in three important steps. Step 1. Win a five-set match. Players don’t make their reputations by playing great in New Haven. They are made during grand slams and Davis Cup, where the stakes are highest and the matches are […]
January 22, 2008
Nike made a fairly big deal out of Serena’s new thigh-covering spandex bike pants, yet no one noted that we’ve seen this before, with Agassi. You can attribute that to Aggasi dumping Nike for Adidas a few years ago, after Nike refused to give Agassi money for his charity. Nike. Still dumb after all these […]
January 22, 2008
I see we’ve settled into a fairly typical women’s match, circa 2008: Deuce, deuce, deuce. Error, error, error. Grunt, scream, grunt, scream, grunt, scream. Real injury? Fake injury? Real injury? Fake injury. Drama.
January 22, 2008
Ok I was skeptical of this whole Tsonga looks like Ali line of reporting. I’ve only caught a few points on tv, and his ATP profile pic is not very Ali-like. The photo above is from his junior US Open win in 2003. He sure looks like Cassius Clay to us at Counter-punch. I remember […]
January 22, 2008
The petit French feline Sophia, CYCLOPS’ best friend, wanted to make sure we didn’t forget about French success Down Under. It’s been a glorious tournament for French tennis, with 29 players starting the tournament and several making it to the fourth round. With the exception of Amelie Mauresmo, the players have made their mark. French […]
January 22, 2008
Oh, it’s on now. After Chris Fowler pointed out that Serena isn’t limping and hasn’t called the trainer, Shriver said Serena needs to get fired up, since that’s what players do when they have “niggling” injuries in the QF of a slam. True dat. The folks over at Black Tennis Pro’s are going to be […]
January 22, 2008
That’s what ESPN’s Pam Shriver is reporting from courtside. Apparently a quad strain that they worked on in the morning. The question is whether Serena is injured, or is she injured? With the Williams and Henin, you never really know. But Serena fights hard out there and depending on the nature of the injury, she […]
January 20, 2008
(Photo by Scott Beale / Laughing Squid Some rights reserved.) “My coach is from Australia. He lived in Melbourne. So he’s here with his wife and his parents and their friends. It’s kind of nice, they can show me around. It’s just a nice city. I’m not a big sightseer. And sometimes when you go […]
January 20, 2008
“Shut up!” –Andy Roddick to German fans. “Do you need to be a second-grade dropout to be an umpire? Stay in school kids or else you’ll end up an umpire!” “You’re an idiot.” “You need to do your job! Do you have ears connected to your head? You can’t hear him yelling?” –Roddick to chair […]
January 20, 2008
“I have honestly never been like in a happier state than what I am now. I’m always happy and smiling. I think because I have kind of made it all about me, I put Serena as A, and A is first.” –Serena Williams As annoying as Serena can be, right now she might be the […]
January 19, 2008
(Above: Dwarf Rockers Mini-Kiss) Five years ago ESPN was in a dismal state with its tennis coverage. I can always find things to nitpick but their efforts (on the tv side only) have vastly improved since the network got expanded rights to the AO, French and Wimbledon. This year they added Bud Collins to the […]
January 18, 2008
When I first started following tennis all those many years ago, part of its appeal was that it was an international game that taught me a lot about geopolitical issues. Boris Becker, for example, burst onto the scene in 1984 at an interesting time in German (then West German) history. It seems like ancient history […]
January 18, 2008
Legendary Australian Margaret Court has publicly admonished Tennis Australia for their dismal failure to produce anything resembling a championship-level women’s tennis player for twenty-five years. She offered to work with Alicia Molik. The 26 year-old went crashing out of the tournament to the Czech upstart Nicole Vaisadova – 18. Longtime readers of mine might remember […]
January 16, 2008
I’m taking heavy fire from CYCLOPS over my comments about Marat Safin being a jackass. CYCLOPS loves them some Marat, especially the Russian Blue half. Tortured Tatar geniuses stick together.
January 16, 2008
I told you will give credit when it is due. Over at ESPN.com, Bodo wrote a short post about legendary tennis coach Robert Landsdorp and his ties to second round opponents Lindsay Davenport and Maria Sharapova. Landsdorp also schooled Tracy Austin and Pete Sampras on their groundstrokes. Of the four players, Sharapova is the odd […]
January 16, 2008
Bodo’s Tennis Mag blog was pure drivel today. His aim was to pen a few paragraphs about all the men in action on Day 2. His writing was supposed to be clever and witty but the jokes were flat. It was like this: Michael Russel – Co-Journeyman of the Century with Paul Goldstein (hey, where […]
January 15, 2008
Big John Isner v. Fabrice Santoro. One is 6’7, American, power tennis. The other is French, stylish, crafty and has all the mental tricks in the book. Just ask James Blake and Roger Federer. Le Magician is so creative and retains incredible foot-speed for the oldest guy out there. If Isner serves Fabrice off the court […]
January 15, 2008
American Amer Delic (left) won his first round and got a studio interview with ESPN. The Bosnian-born Delic moved to the US when he was 14 and played college tennis for Illinois. Don’t worry Pat Buchanan, Delic speaks English better than your average redneck and does it without an accent. Also, he ain’t ugly. Lindsay […]
January 15, 2008
Great exchange earlier between Mary Carillo and Mary Jo Fernandez during the Sveta Kuznetsova match. Noting that Sveta is ranked #2, Carillo asked Mary Jo if she thought the Russian was ready to win her second grand slam title. “No.” said Mary Jo F. Well played, MJF. This blog, minus the Russian Blue half of […]
January 15, 2008
Bud Collins is back on television, six months after being unceremoniously dumped by NBC. ESPN wisely brought Bud on board and he got more screen time on the tournament’s first day than he got in years with NBC. Bud’s opening salvo was that it was good to see Serena Williams, although there’s less of her […]
January 13, 2008
Chris Clarey over at IHT has a wish list for tennis in 2008. He hopes Maria Sharapova has a healthy shoulder. Clarey says Sharapova’s intensity trumps her screaching and grunting, albeit “barely”. I don’t know Chris, I still have to watch the Shrieky-one with the volume off. If Sharapova gets through to the second round […]
January 13, 2008
Image: Free Digital Photos When the Australian Open switched from being an end of season/Christmas affair to kicking off the tennis calendar, it quickly became the New Year’s Resolution of Slams. Tennis’ notoriously short off season hardly gives the players time to take a breath, let alone time to fine tune their games and physical […]
January 13, 2008
During the next month I’ll be introducing a few regular features here at Counter-Punch. The first one is (B)dodo Droppings. Peter Bodo is a longtime writer for Tennis Magazine. A few years ago he started a blog over at Tennis.com, which he uses mostly to discuss his political views, including how they manifest themselves in […]
January 13, 2008
Serena has posted a new poem on her website. And it’s about Serena’s favorite subject. “Me me me me me me…….” An excerpt: I love to actI love to play tennisI love to designI dream of people watching me holding up my third Wimbledon trophyI dream of people watching me on the big screen in […]
January 11, 2008
The dynamic duo known as CYCLOPS will be calling the lines around here. BUDDHA Likes: Russian Tennis. Dislikes: Everything else. SHADOW Likes: Catnip-laced tennis balls. Dislikes: Mean people and dogs.
January 11, 2008
Although the tennis doping and betting scandals contributed to the genesis of this blog, it was Serena Williams’ official website that finally pushed me over the edge. Serena’s blog is full of fascinating discourses on bad relationships and tips for leading a better life. You see, Serena read a book last fall that changed her […]
January 11, 2008
I have toyed with becoming a blogger for a couple of years now. But two things always stopped me. First, I saw how narcissistic most blogs are and I resolved not to join the community of navel-gazers gabbing about their breakfast cereal. I’m self-centered enough as it is – I don’t need a blog to […]
Passing Shots 
January 31, 2008
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