Keep up, would you?

The first day of a slam. It’s all so exciting and you make plans that it’s going to be such a fun and relaxed day of tennis-watching. Two hours go by and suddenly everything is happening at the same time, you can’t keep up and it is now super stressful. We fumble with our keyboards trying to flip streams because Twitter said a good match is going on at Court 18. What if it ends up becoming an epic? No one wants to miss out on an epic. *fumble* *fumble* *bufferiiiiiiing…* “Goddamnit!” Also, World No. 547 is leading the 12th seed over on MCA. “Wait, he was but not anymore? Is my stream delayed?” No. 22 is getting routined over at 4. Your sometimes favorite is in a deciding set against some dangerous floater. There’s an upset alert on Hise… RaaaaaaaaaahIlovetennis!

I tried to absorb as much as I could on Day 1 of the Australian Open. I tried so hard that my brain was starting to tap out before the day session ended then nodded off 2 games into the Hewitt-Tipsarvic match. WEAK. In no particular order, here’s what I remember most about the first day:

• You don’t engage in a long rally with a “rusty” Maria Sharapova because she’ll come alive.
• Venus Williams is looking sharp early on and is on course to meet Sharapova in the 3rd round.
• Sam Stosur won her first match of the year! Phew.
• Agree with Andy Roddick, Novak Djokovic is still good at tennis.
• Patrick McEnroe’s seemingly ridiculous prediction almost came true. That’s what you get for laughing, tennis world. And me, too.
• Grigor Dimitrov flames out to veteran, Julian Benneteau. Kid still has a lot of work to do on the tennis court. *winkyfaceemoji*
• What happened, Juan Monaco? And who is Andrey Kuznetsov?
• Sad we won’t be seeing more of Mona Barthel’s wide array of outfits.
• Ana Ivanovic scored a good win over Melinda Czink.
• Yung-Jan Chan def Daniela Hantuchova 6-1, 1-6, 6-1. Yeeeaaaap, this is Dani’s life these days.

I’m sure I’m forgetting a few notable matches/results because I don’t think this is even 1/4 of the Day 1 happenings. Aaah! Let’s do it again!

Image © Getty Images

Kerber, Hantuchova win titles

REUTERS/Gonzalo Fuentes

Angelique Kerber won her first ever WTA Tour title at the Open GDF Suez tournament in Paris, France. Quite a week for the German as she defeated the top 2 seeds, Maria Sharapova and Marion Bartoli, on her way to bagging the title.

After this win, Kerbz rises to 22 in the world, a career-high for her. Germany is becoming a force to be reckoned with on the WTA Tour with 4 players inside the Top 25.

PORNCHAI KITTIWONGSAKUL/AFP/Getty Images

Daniela Hantuchova successfully defended her PTT Pattaya Open title in Thailand after she defeated Maria Kirilenko in the finals. While watching said finals, I noticed that Dani’s got some hardcore (and rowdy) fans out in Thailand. Are they the reason why she seems to find her best tennis out there? If so, they should travel with her.

This is Dani’s 5th WTA Tour title.

Australian Open 2011: Day 1 wrap

A few seeds were sent home on Day 1. Sam Querrey [18], Nikolay Davydenko [23], Aravane Rezai [17] and Daniela Hantuchova [28] all lost their opening round matches.

There were also a few close calls. Gael Monfils [12] was down 2 sets and a few breaks in the third set to Thiemo de Bakker. Unfortunately, Thiemo suffered some groin and brain issues and could not close out the match. Justine Henin [11] came up against Sania Mirza‘s forehand which was on fire in the first two sets. Justine had to fight to the death in the second set to level the match then, as expected, Sania went away in the third.

We all called the Yanina Wickmayer [21] and Jarka Groth match to be close and hard fought and it lived up to the hype. I wish they had screamed expletives at each other but a few death stares courtesy of Wicky almost made up for the lack of verbal abuse.

Notable Day 1 results:

Gael Monfils [12] def. Thiemo De Bakker 6-7 (5), 2-6, 7-5, 6-2, 6-1
Lukasz Kubot def. Sam Querrey [18] 5-7, 6-2, 3-6, 6-1, 8-6
Adrian Mannarino def. Ryan Harrison 6-4, 6-3, 6-4
Robin Haase def. Carlos Berlocq 6-4, 6-3, 7-6 (5)
Florian Mayer def. Nikolay Davydenko [23] 6-3, 4-6, 7-6 (4), 6-4

Caroline Wozniacki [1] def. Gisela Dulko 6-3, 6-4
Francesca Schiavone [6] def. Arantxa Parra Santonja 6-7 (4), 6-2, 6-4
Maria Sharapova [14] def. Tamarine Tanasugarn 6-1, 6-3
Barbora Zahlavova Strycova def. Aravane Rezai [17] 6-0, 3-6, 7-5
Regina Kulikova def. Daniela Hantuchova [28] 7-6 (3), 3-6, 9-7
Yanina Wickmayer [21] def. Jarmila Groth 6-3, 2-6, 6-4
Justine Henin [11] def. Sania Mirza 5-7, 6-3, 6-1

Complete Day 1 results here.

Image via Australian Open

US Open 2010: Day 5 preview

I tried to make something out of ‘hurricane’ and ‘Ana’ or ‘Ivanovic’ but my brain’s not feeling very creative tonight. The weather forecast says New York might be hit by Hurricane Earl tomorrow/later and according to weather.com there’s a 60% chance of precipitation during the day. Funzies! We might not see play but if we do it’ll be from these tops guns; Kim Clijsters, Venus Williams, Andy Murray, Elena Dementieva, Ana Ivanovic and Rafael Nadal.

Image via Getty

US Open 2010: Day 1 wrap

I’m not going to lie, Day 1 at the US Open was a little boring. This is what happens when Day 1 of the slam prior was ridiculous, you expect a little too much. It’s supposed to be a good thing that there weren’t any upsets. Roger Federer, Andy Roddick, Nikolay Davydenko, Venus Williams, Ana Ivanovic (!) and Elena Dementieva all breezed through their opening round matches.

The match I looked forward to the most was the Daniela Hantuchova and Dinara Safina slugfest. Ah, yes, it was painful to watch but I’m a masochist- aren’t all WTA fans? Daniela showed more consistency throughout the match that eventually lead to the victory. Dinara also imploded a little bit but that’s nothing new. I’m not Dinara’s biggest fan but I just really want this, whatever this is, to end and for her to start winning again. The back injury did not seem to be an issue today. Break my heart like it’s Roland Garros 2008 again, Dinara.

Tracked the final game of that match and it went a little something like this: Danka FH error 0-15, Dina winner at net 0-30, Dina dumps BH into the net 15-30, Dina FH winner + roar 15-40, Dina return error (really!?) 30-40, Danka attacks Dina’s BH draws error deuce, ACE?! MP, Danka takes it 3 & 4. That’s basically how the entire match looked like except more deuces and roaring and puta!

Gael Monfils, Robin Soderling and Samantha Stosur narrowly escaped first round exits.

Notable wins and losses:
Samantha Stosur [5] def. Elena Vesnina 3-6, 7-6(2), 6-1
Victoria Azarenka [10] def. Monica Niculescu 6-0, 5-7, 6-1
Ana Ivanovic def. Ekaterina Makarova 6-3, 6-2

Robin Soderling [5] def. Andreas Haider-Maurer 7-5, 6-3, 6-7(2), 5-7, 6-4
Gael Monfils [17] def. Robert Kendrick 3-6, 6-3, 6-4, 6-7(5), 6-4
Richard Gasquet def. Simon Greul 6-3, 6-4, 6-2

Complete Day 1 results here.

Image via Getty

US Open 2010: Day 1 preview

I can’t believe it’s already time for the last major of the year. It feels like Indian Wells was only a few weeks ago! But taking a second to really look back, it’s been a long season and a long summer. Just ask Caro.

I’m always very giddy the day before a Grand Slam starts. I’ve been grinning like an idiot all day and people at dinner got weirded out by it. Whatever, I don’t care about them because for the next two weeks I’m going to lose sleep, drink lots of beer, go through my entire pantry and glue myself to the TV and computer. That’s fucking living!

Day 1 starts in less than 12 hours and it’s packed with big names. Roger Federer, Venus Williams, Kim Clijsters, Andy Roddick and Michal Przysiezny are all scheduled to play.

Matches to look out for:

• Daniela Hantuchova [24] vs Dinara Safina
  We all know both Dinara and Daniela are having a rough year. Dinara’s dealing with a nagging back injury while Danks is unable to put wins together consistently. It’s cruel that they both have to face each other in the first round. Dinara won their last meeting in New Haven a few days ago so she’ll carry a bit of confidence going into this match-up. But it’ll still be tough for Dinara because she’s Dinara. I feel like it could go either way. (Saying it could go “either way” is so duhhh but seriously, I have no clue!)
• Samantha Stosur [5] vs Elena Vesnina
  Lena V is having a good summer with a run to the finals in Istanbul, a good run in Cincinnati and that epicness in New Haven. I really like this girl and I flipped off the tennis gods for allowing her to draw Sam in the first round in New York.
• Ana Ivanovic vs Ekaterina Makarova
  All eyes will be on Ana and her foot.
• Jurgen Melzer [13] vs Dmitry Tursunov
  Who doesn’t want to see Dima in action?
• Michelle Larcher de Brito vs Sania Mirza
  May or may not be interesting. I’m keeping my eye on it.
• Janko Tipsarevic vs Olivier Rochus
  I don’t watch too many Oli matches but he seems to be one of those players who can give anyone trouble. Nothing will surprise me in this match.

Complete Day 1 schedule here.

Wimbledon 2010: Day 4 wrap

Superhumans!

These men stopped the world on it’s tracks and made it watch tennis for 2 days. No, maybe not just tennis but watch them defy whatever you knew a professional athlete or a human being was capable of doing. They shattered the record books and pushed their minds and bodies to extreme extremes. The will to win from both guys was inspiring to watch. Up to the last ball that was struck, no one gave in.

There were other things that went around the grounds at Wimbledon today. The Queen watched Andy Murray win his second round match over Jarkko Nieminen. She also watched both these guys awkwardly bow to her… twice. It was the cutest thing ever!

Rafael Nadal was pushed to a 5-set match by Robin Haase. It was a great effort from Robin but unfortunately, a knee injury hampered his movement in the fourth set and Rafa picked up his game and won the last two sets easily

Notable wins and losses:
First Round
John Isner (23) def. Nicolas Mahut 6-4, 3-6, 6-7 (7-9), 7-6 (7-3), 70-68

Complete Day 4 results here.

Images via Getty