Posted: September 5th, 2010 | Author: thedoublebagel | Filed under: ATP, ATP: Andy Murray, ATP: David Ferrer, ATP: David Nalbandian, ATP: Feliciano Lopez, ATP: Fernando Verdasco, ATP: Gilles Simon, ATP: John Isner, ATP: Mikhail Youzhny, ATP: Nicolas Almagro, ATP: Rafael Nadal, ATP: Sam Querrey, ATP: Stanislas Wawrinka, ATP: Tommy Robredo, ATP: US Open | No Comments »
Crazy day! My pick to win the men’s title, Andy Murray, was sent home in the third round by Stanislas Wawrinka. Some great matches on the women’s side; Venus Williams and Shahar Peer played a tight 2-setter and Elena Dementieva and Samantha Stosur played the best match on the women’s side so far this tournament.
After winning the first set in his match against Stan, Muzz played very passively and got very down on himself. Per usual. I don’t think anyone can explain why he does it but everyone can see that it needs to stop for him to be able to break through and win a slam.
Lena D and Sam played a great match where they both held and saved match points. This match started a little before 11pm and went late into the night, last call for alcohol late. Lena had 4 chances to win but was not able to convert any of them. Sam had 2 and won it on #2 in the 3rd set tiebreak after Lena sent a forehand long. Towards the end of the match, it was clear that Sam was mentally stronger and that got her the W.
Day 7 results:
Kim Clijsters [2] def. Ana Ivanovic 6-2, 6-1
Venus Williams [3] def. Shahar Peer [16] 7-6(3), 6-3
Samantha Stosur [5] def. Elena Dementieva [12] 6-3, 2-6, 7-6(2)
Francesca Schiavone [6] def. Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova [20] 6-3, 6-0
Rafael Nadal [1] def. Gilles Simon 6-4, 6-4, 6-2
Stanislas Wawrinka [25] def. Andy Murray [4] 6-7(3), 7-6(4), 6-3, 6-3
Fernando Verdasco [8] def. David Nalbandian [31] 6-2, 3-6, 6-3, 6-2
David Ferrer [10] def. Daniel Gimeno-Traver 7-6(2), 6-2, 6-2
Mikhail Youzhny [12] def. John Isner [18] 6-4, 6-7(7), 7-6(5), 6-4
Sam Querrey [20] def. Nicolas Almagro [14] 6-3, 6-4, 6-4
Feliciano Lopez [23] def. Sergiy Stakhovsky 6-3, 4-0 retired
Tommy Robredo def. Michael Llodra 3-6, 7-6(6), 6-4, 2-1 retired
Image via Getty
Posted: September 5th, 2010 | Author: izzieraine | Filed under: ATP, ATP: Andy Murray, ATP: Ernests Gulbis, ATP: Fernando Verdasco, ATP: Gilles Simon, ATP: Jeremy Chardy, ATP: Nikolay Davydenko, ATP: Novak Djokovic, ATP: Rafael Nadal, ATP: Robin Soderling, ATP: Ryan Harrison, ATP: US Open, WTA, WTA: Agnieszka Radwanska, WTA: Andrea Petkovic, WTA: Maria Kirilenko, WTA: Maria Sharapova, WTA: US Open, WTA: Venus Williams, WTA: Victoria Azarenka | No Comments »
My friend, Izzie, who runs Ace Advantage was at The US Open for a few days. I asked her to share what it’s like at The Open and she was very generous to recount her entire experience there.
As a favor to Maria (I’m just kidding, I’m honored to be asked), I’ll be sharing some of my photos and experiences from my week at the US Open. I attended two days before the tournament started and three days during it.
I have been coming to the US Open for 5 years-since I was 12. But I’d never experienced the awesomeness that is the week before. My goal was simple-to see players practicing and perhaps catch a qualifying match. On Friday, August 28th, I went to the grounds with my mom. Firstly, American Express had the players practice schedule posted…and as a huge Sharapova fan, I was ecstatic to see her schedule for Practice Court 1 at 1:00 pm.
With time to kill before that, I headed over to Louis Armstrong, where Novak was. He was hitting with Gulbis and having some fun, ‘challenging’ calls and whatnot. I got his autograph and moved on, getting to the courts where Maria would be. Maria walked onto the court while Sveta and Dina were hitting together- they laughed about something all together and Maria started hitting. I noticed Maria biting her nails and laughed to myself. Luckily, I had made friends with Eddie, the security guard, earlier and was fortunate enough to have him bring my tennis ball to Maria to sign. She looked over when handed the ball and smiled a little- I could have died.
An hour or so after Maria practiced, Rafa was on Practice Court 5 (god, I wish Maria practiced there). But first, I met up with Courtney (aka @FortyDeuceTwits). We chatted and then I was off to Rafa. I had a nice spot, right next to where he was sitting. Muzz was hanging out too. Rafa signed my ball at the end of his practice through the fence (I was holding his hands, bandaged knuckles and all!). I ended my day watching Feli/Sam Q practice for a bit.
On Sunday I was on the grounds very shortly, but got Vika’s autograph and watched her practice with KBond. Vika was hitting beautifully-it’s a shame she got that concussion. Throughout her practice she threw the racket a few times, but afterwards was all smiles.
The first day I attended the US Open was Tuesday, for the day and night session. I started off watching Chardy/Gulbis. After a set, I moved on, caught Kiri practicing for a bit and then Maria (again). She was, as usual, on Practice Court 1. They had barricaded the place I was taking pictures at previously, so I was forced to shoot from very far away (I am getting a telephoto lens for next year!). Nando was on the court closest to me while Maria was practicing, too. After this, I went back to Chardy/Gulbis, where I saw Gulbis lose.
Next up was Yanina’s practice which I stayed at until I went to watch Vika practice. I got Vika’s autograph again (for my brother) and took a few pictures of Soderling (instead of trying to make my way through the mob). Later, I watched Nando briefly, struggling against Fognini.
My dad and I decided to head over to Novak/Troicki where the fifth set was starting. Novak’s comment about sleeping with his girlfriend had everyone laughing. Maria was out shortly after this. I was anxious but my dad was with me, so I kept cool. Until she lost the first set. I swear, everyone around me thought I was nuts. I was screaming “davai!” “come on!” “let’s go!” and talking to her like she could hear me. But she pulled through in three sets after nearly killing me. My adrenaline was so high after the match that I couldn’t eat. That night, the night session started close to 8 pm, where Rafa pulled through a long match and Caro a short one. We were at Ashe until 1 am!
On Thursday, I made my way to Flushing with two of my friends who had never been to the US Open. I brought them to Yanina’s match, in which we sat next to her coach and team. They were cheering loudly, and I was cheering with them. My friends wanted her autograph, so we all got her signature after a good match.
We then headed over to the Gasquet/Davydenko match. I told them that Gasquet was going to win (called it!). We stayed for a set but it was miserably hot in the sun at Grandstand so we left and headed to watch Kiri. When Kiri lost the first and was down 4-2 in the second, we all started to get nervous. I had been shouting ”davai” the whole match and we were all clapping quite loudly (Kiri definitely did a glance over to us). I even spotted Igor looking nervous in the stands. Kiri, however, made an awesome comeback.
During Kiri’s long match, I left twice to catch Maria on the practice courts while my friends held my seat. I knew Maria would be practicing, it was 2 hours before her scheduled 7 pm match. Maria was hitting with Michael Joyce, but soon after I got there, she made her way over to Martina Navratilova. Martina and her talked for a bit, laughed, and soon went to play. Martina was hitting lefty serves to Maria (which I slowly realized was to prepare for Benesova that night). After practicing, Maria came out to sign autographs- much to the crowd’s pleasure after Venus left them cold. I was trying to get a picture but my 5’1″ self had some difficulties.
During this time, I also got my pictures with Gilles, who was doing a signing at the ATP booth. Then, my friends and I went to Petko/Bethanie in the second set. I was rooting for Petko but we couldn’t stay long. Plus, Maria was starting in 10 minutes. We went to the food court where I listened to Maria through my American Express radio (not on the screen thanks to James Blake). I left the US Open knowing she was up 6-1 and doing fairly well.
Going on Friday with my dad seemed like a bummer-we were supposed to get hit by Hurricane Earl. We went to watch Ryan Harrison and 4 sets in, the rain began. We left the court (Harrison lost after blowing 3 MPs) and went over to Verdasco instead. I only stayed there briefly because Aga/Kiri were playing doubles against Oudin/Hampton. I think I was the only one on the crowd not rooting for the Americans. Aga got pissed about a line call and Kiri couldn’t keep a straight face while she yelled at the umpire. I left there a set in and watched Ana for a game or two.
I would definitely call my week a successful one. Tennis in New York is always great, even in the heat. I was covered in sweat everyday, but I enjoyed every second of it. I am psyched to bring my experience of the practice courts and everything else to the USO next year.
Posted: September 5th, 2010 | Author: thedoublebagel | Filed under: ATP, ATP: Andy Murray, ATP: Gilles Simon, ATP: Rafael Nadal, ATP: Stanislas Wawrinka, ATP: US Open, WTA, WTA: Ana Ivanovic, WTA: Elena Dementieva, WTA: Kim Clijsters, WTA: Samantha Stosur, WTA: US Open | No Comments »
Day 7 is PACKED! The women start their R16 of action while the men finish off some exciting 3rd round matches.
- Ana Ivanovic vs Kim Clijsters [2]
Ana’s been playing extremely well lately while Kim’s been showing okay form. I’m expecting to be transported to 2008.
- Rafael Nadal [1] vs Gilles Simon
New dad, Gilles, has more things in his mind right now than tennis and you can’t blame him. I like both guys but I think Rafa’s focus and drive to win this major will help him win this match easily.
- Samantha Stosur [5] vs Elena Dementieva [12]
This is a tough one to call. I like Lena D’s chances a little bit better because she has more experience in this surface and more specifically, this major. You can’t discount Sam’s incredible year but she’s always struggled in NYC.
- Andy Murray [4] vs Stanislas Wawrinka [25]
Go, Muzz! I love both guys but let’s be real, Stan’s not looking to win this title this year.
Complete Day 7 schedule here.
Image via Getty
Posted: September 2nd, 2010 | Author: thedoublebagel | Filed under: ATP, ATP: Andy Murray, ATP: Fernando Verdasco, ATP: US Open, WTA, WTA: Elena Dementieva, WTA: Maria Sharapova, WTA: US Open, WTA: Victoria Azarenka | No Comments »
My friend, Jacey, is in New York to stalk Sharapova catch some US Open action. She’s been sending me some photos from around the grounds. There’s really nothing like attending a tournament. You get to see and experience so many awesome things like Murphy Jensen screaming, “yeah… come on, baby!” during Vika’s first round match. Creepy.
Jacey was also at Ana’s match (vs Makarova) and snapped a photo of her celebrating the win. And spied someone.
Here are some of Victoria Azarenka, Elena Dementieva and Fernando Verdasco practicing on Tuesday.
Also from Tuesday, Andy Murray and Maria Sharapova. It made for very *squee* worthy photos. Who else is tempted to make a slideshow out of this- complete with cheesy background music? Just me? Oh. Fanfic? No? Damnit.
Stalking Sharapova
All images by Jacey. Please credit!
Posted: September 1st, 2010 | Author: thedoublebagel | Filed under: ATP, ATP: Andy Murray, ATP: Andy Roddick, ATP: Gael Monfils, ATP: Gilles Simon, ATP: Igor Andreev, ATP: Janko Tipsarevic, ATP: Tomas Berdych, ATP: US Open, WTA, WTA: Ana Ivanovic, WTA: Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, WTA: Gisela Dulko, WTA: Jie Zheng, WTA: Kim Clijsters, WTA: Sania Mirza, WTA: US Open, WTA: Venus Williams, WTA: Victoria Azarenka | No Comments »
I won’t be around my TV and computer much for Day 3. *boo face* The OOP offers a lot of potential tasty matches and it should be another fun day. Two of my faves, Andy Murray and Tomas Berydch, will play their opening round matches. Gael Monfils will do some tricks for everyone again. Ana Ivanovic, Venus Williams, Andy Roddick, Kim Clijsters and Victoria Azarenka are all scheduled to play.
Look out for these for me. Or for you. Whatever works.
- Ana Ivanovic vs Jie Zheng [21]
Oh, boy. Zheng’s always and forever a tricky customer. Nothing’s going to be easy in this match for either baller. Play your hearts out, kids.
- Janko Tipsarevic vs Andy Roddick [9]
Will the whining end here? Will it? Goodness, let’s hope so. Get ‘em, Andrew!
- Gisela Dulko vs Victoria Azarenka [9]
Vika looked a little shaky in her opening round match and Gisela likes to pull out upsets on big stages. This should be fun.
- Michael Llodra vs Tomas Berdych [7]
How can you not watch Berd play his first match? Llodra’s another one of those players who you’d want to stay away from early on in a tournament. Berd should be fine but it won’t be a cake walk.
- Gael Monfils [17] vs Igor Andreev
See Gael fly. Casual tennis fans really like him for his crazy shot making and acrobatics on court but it makes me cringe. Sure, it makes for great entertainment but OMGED, why hurt yourself on purpose?! I haven’t seen Igor play since his injury but he’s always been a solid player and is capable of beating the top guys on a good day.
- Anastasia Palyuchenkova [20] vs Sania Mirza
This looks interesting. Who knows if it’ll actually be.
- Gilles Simon vs Donald Young
For the love of tennis, win this Gilles.
Complete Day 3 schedule here.
Image via Getty
Posted: August 18th, 2010 | Author: thedoublebagel | Filed under: ATP: Andy Murray, Offcourt | No Comments »
Andy Murray is featured in the September issue of US Vogue. He was photographed by Mario Testino (awesomest fashion photographer ever) and looks mighty fine in the photos.
We all know Anna Wintour loves tennis. She’s Roger Federer’s biggest fan, no? This is the second straight year that she featured a tennis player in Vogue’s biggest issue. RF had a 2-page spread last year.
Images via Vogue.com
Posted: August 16th, 2010 | Author: thedoublebagel | Filed under: ATP, ATP: Andy Murray, ATP: Roger Federer, ATP: Trophy Case, WTA, WTA: Kim Clijsters, WTA: Maria Sharapova, WTA: Trophy Case | No Comments »
Kim Clijsters defeated Maria Sharapova in the finals of the Western & Southern Financial Group Women’s Open in Mason, OH, 3-6, 7-6(4), 6-2, to win her third title of the year and 38th of her career.
Kim had a sloppy start to the match and had to fight off 3 match points in the second set. The match was delayed due to rain and during that short break, Kim found her game and rallied in the second set tiebreak to force a decider. She steamrolled Maria, who caught a foot injury, in the third.
Andy Murray defeated Roger Federer in the finals of the Rogers Cup in Toronto, Canada, 7-5, 7-5, to win his first title of the year.
Muzz had an impressive week in Toronto. En route to the title, he defeated Gael Monfils, a surging David Nalbandian and the top two players in the world, Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer. He played aggressive tennis throughout the entire tournament and looked a lot like the Andy Murray we saw in Melbourne early this year. I think I smell another trip to the finals in NYC, I hope he makes it one better this year!
Images via Getty
Posted: August 2nd, 2010 | Author: thedoublebagel | Filed under: ATP, ATP: Andy Murray, ATP: Juan Carlos Ferrero, ATP: Nicolas Almagro, ATP: Richard Gasquet, ATP: Sam Querrey, ATP: Trophy Case, WTA, WTA: Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, WTA: Elena Vesnina, WTA: Maria Sharapova, WTA: Trophy Case, WTA: Victoria Azarenka | No Comments »
Sam Querrey won his fourth ATP tour title of the year at the Farmers Classic in Los Angeles, CA after he defeated Andy Murray in the finals, 5-7, 7-6 (2), 6-3. SamQ came back from match point down in the second set, won the tiebreak easily and was a million times steadier than Muzz in the third.
This is SamQ’s second straight title in Los Angeles and sixth of his career.
We took some photos of him during his semifinal match against Janko Tipsarevic last Saturday.
Victoria Azarenka won her first SEWTA tour title of the year and fourth of her career at the Bank Of The West Classic in Stanford, CA. She defeated Maria Sharapova in the finals, 6-4, 6-1. The first set was packed with high quality tennis where both women hit the shit out of the ball and painted the lines. The second set was a different story, Vika ran over Masha and easily won it and the championship. Happy 21st birthday, girl!
Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova defeated Elena Vesnina in the finals of the Istanbul Cup in Turkey, 5-7, 7-5, 6-4, to win her second SEWTA tour title of the year and of her career. Pavs was down 5-7, 0-4 in that final before rallying back to take the title.
Nicolas Almagro defeated Richard Gasquet in the finals of the Allianz Suisse Open Gstaad in Switzerland, 7-5, 6-1, to win his second ATP tour title of the year and seventh of his career. Something to note, all of Nico’s 7 titles are on clay.
Juan Carlos Ferrero won his third ATP tour title this year at the Studena Croatia Open in Umag after he defeated Potito Starace in the finals, 6-4, 6-4. This is his 15th career title.
These Spanish boys really love the red clay.
Trophy images via Getty
Posted: July 30th, 2010 | Author: thedoublebagel | Filed under: ATP, ATP: Andy Murray | No Comments »
These boys were on hand last night at the Farmers Classic to cheer their boy, Andy Murray, on.
Muzz faced a surprisingly tough opponent, Tim Smyczek, who took the second set from him. Muzz couldn’t buy a good serve towards the end of that second while Tim played some inspired tennis that was sparked by the crowd. In the third, Muzz finally found some decent serves and decided to be more aggressive and hit through the ball. He called for the trainer while leading 5-2 and about to serve out the match.
“It was the top of my hips, lower back. I was getting treated (after the match) for general stiffness.”
via GoToTennis
Nothing serious. Muzz closed out the match at 6-2. I can’t wait to see more of him tonight against Alejandro Falla!
For Tim, it was a good run in LA and hopefully he can build on it. He is a little cutie who I wouldn’t mind seeing more of.
Image via Getty
Posted: July 2nd, 2010 | Author: thedoublebagel | Filed under: ATP, ATP: Andy Murray, ATP: Novak Djokovic, ATP: Rafael Nadal, ATP: Tomas Berdych, ATP: Wimbledon, WTA, WTA: Serena Williams, WTA: Vera Zvonareva, WTA: Wimbledon | 1 Comment »
Day 10 was the women’s semifinal. Favorites to come through, Serena Williams and Vera Zvonareva, did and so it was a weird day for the women’s side at Wimbledon.
Serena was still her usual SW19-10 self. Although low on the ace count, she still served huge and over powered her opponent for most of the match. You know, it was a Serena match.
Vera’s back to her old winning-form self. Oh, what non-injury does to you. *sigh* She’s always been a solid Top 10 player, was in the Top 5 for a while but suffered a few injuries that set her back for the past year or so. Vera being in the finals of a major isn’t really the surprise rather it’s being in the finals of a major that’s played on grass. She hasn’t done well on this surface lately (1 grass title, Birmingham in 2006) to even be mentioned as a “sleeper” in the tournament but she’s snuck in there and beat Kim Clijsters, who was one of the favorites, along the way. The draw opened up for her when Venus Williams was taken out, she took that opportunity and viola! Welcome to your first major final, please do not get your ass handed to you.
Day 10 results:
Serena Williams (1) def. Petra Kvitova 7-6 (7-5), 6-2
Vera Zvonareva (21) def. Tsvetana Pironkova 3-6, 6-3, 6-2
Day 11 was the men’s semifinal. I wish we could have a 4-way tie but I see how that cannot work out. We had 2 men that are major title holders, 1 that’s an almost major title holder and a Tomas Berdych. Of course my heart went out to the ones who haven’t tasted the glory yet. I’m happy to see atleast one of them made it through and gets a shot at glory. And Rafael Nadal.
Berd’s groundies are fucking ridiculous. Excuse my language (it’s not French) but there’s no other way of putting it. He really hit his spots today and looked very comfortable for most of the match- a little nervy closing out the second set and in that TB. There was a point in the match where Berd hit a forehand pick-up winner from the baseline. That kind where you use all wrist? Yeah, that blew my mind. Among other things. It was that kind of day for Berd. It’s been that kind of few months actually and I’m so happy for him.
Rafa won a well-fought victory against Britain’s great hope. I didn’t see the entire match but from what I caught and read, both players played very well but it was Rafa who was more solid on the important points. On a close match, that’s where you want to give your heart, mind and body to.
Q. What about Andy, you said to him after the match that he could win a major.
RAFAEL NADAL: I wished him best of luck for the rest of the season, and sorry for today. I know it was an important match for him I think because he play at home, and this is a chance for him to win probably the most important title for him win here at home in Wimbledon.
Just I felt sorry for him because he’s a very nice person, very good person. I am sure he gonna win a Grand Slam very soon, because when you have final in US Open, final in Australia, semifinals here this year and the last year, you are there all the time. So one day you win. I am sure he gonna win. He deserve to win.
I’m sure Muzz will win a major soon too.
Day 11 results:
Rafael Nadal (2) def. Andy Murray (4) 6-4, 7-6 (8-6), 6-4
Tomas Berdych (12) def. Novak Djokovic (3) 6-3, 7-6 (11-9), 6-3
Images via Getty
