Victoria Azarenka collapsed on court and couldn’t finish her second round match against Gisela Dulko. Vika fell during her warm-up for the match and I am going to assume it was a hard fall yet still took the court to play. Early on, you could already tell she wasn’t feeling well.
“I was warming up in the gym prior to my match against Gisela Dulko, when I fell while running a sprint. I fell forward and hit my arm and head. I was checked by the medical team before I went on court, and they were courtside for monitoring. I felt worse as the match went on, having a headache and feeling dizzy. I also started having trouble seeing and felt weak before I fell. I was taken to the hospital for some medical tests and have been diagnosed with a mild concussion.”
Vika has since been released from the hospital and reports say, well Caro said, she’s better.
Tomas Berdych and Andy Roddick were both upset today. Berd was ousted by Michael Llodra in their opening round match while Andy was out hit (anyone can out hit Andy these days) by Janko Tipsarevic in their second round match.
Notable wins and losses:
Michael Llodra def. Tomas Berdych [7] 7-6(3), 6-4, 6-4
Janko Tipsarevic def. Andy Roddick [9] 3-6, 7-5, 6-3, 7-6(4)
Ana Ivanovic def. Jie Zheng [21] 6-3, 6-0
Virginie Razzano def. Marion Bartoli [13] 7-5, 6-4
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.
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
Rich from Down The Line! endured some rain and John McEnroe at the Nike Primetime Knockout Event on Wednesday which featured Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, Serena Williams, Maria Sharapova and Victoria Azarenka.
Rich sure loves to party, goes on for a 3rd straight night of tennis debauchery at the BNP Paribas Taste of Tennis on Thursday with the biggest ballers in the world and the world’s top chefs.
Erwin from Tennis Served Freshwas at the Ralph Lauren and Venus Williams legends clinic also on Thursday.
CHANCE YEH/PatrickMcMullan.com
Masha stepped out with the boyfriend and took pictures? I’m telling you, it’s one big party in NYC. I don’t think any of the bloggersTSF’s Erwin was at the Interview + Cole Haan + Maria Sharapova (+ The Selby) event and fall collection launch. The event also raised some money to benefit Common Cents.
You’ve been the best, Wimbledon ’10. Just the best.
Here’s a big thank you…
For stopping the tennis world with Roger Federer/Alejandro Falla and Novak Djokovic/Olivier Rochus on opening day. I wish I read more into your hints that this was going to be a crazy year.
For showing me that Maria Sharapova can win the big ones again.
For alerting the fans of Venus Williams, Andy Roddick and Roger Federer that their clocks are ticking and maybe it’s time to find other players to learn to love. It doesn’t necessarily mean right away but sooner than later. Harsh but true. I wouldn’t want you any other way.
For leading Tomas Berdych back home- at the top with the big boys.
For maintaining the balance between crazy and reality by, in spite of the explosion this fortnight, still having both World Number 1s win the Championships.
And most of all, thank you for making me fall in love with tennis all over again. It’s been seven years but you made me feel like the best has yet to come and all of us are really only getting started!
Ah, yes. Of course they both lose on the same day. When the world decides it hates you on one particular day, it really makes you feel it.
In Andy Roddick’s own words, he played like “crap” in his return games. He’s letting himself off too easily. He actually played shit return games in the entire 5-set match against Yen-Hsun Lu. To Lu’s credit, he hung in there with Andy when he couldn’t even sniff a break point on Andy’s serve and was definitely more aggressive on most of the points during the tiebreaks.
Maria Sharapova, on the other hand, didn’t play like crap or shit. Far from it. She played some of her best tennis since her return from surgery. She served huge and cracked returns against the best server on the women’s tour. Maria had her chances but was unable to step up and take them. On set point on her own racket in that first set tiebreak, a forehand error cost her big time. Then, a double fault to go down set point cost her the first set. Those mistakes you cannot afford against a champion like Serena Williams. Maria got broken early in the second set and Serena never looked back. Yes, Serena is still the serving machine of the tournament.
Right, Masha. Her name is Masha.
In other news, Kim Clijsters started slow against Justine Henin but found her form early in the second set and was able to get past Justine in 3 sets.
Petra Kvitova, Tsvetana Pironkova and Kaia Kanepi are still in the tournament somehow. Leave it to the WTA to always have surprise quater- or semi- finalists.
Day 7 results:
Serena Williams (1) def. Maria Sharapova (16) 7-6 (11-9), 6-4
Venus Williams (2) def. Jarmila Groth 6-4, 7-6 (7-5)
Petra Kvitova def. Caroline Wozniacki (3) 6-2, 6-0
Vera Zvonareva (21) def. Jelena Jankovic (4) 6-1, 3-0 retired
Na Li (9) def. Agnieszka Radwanska (7) 6-3, 6-2
Kim Clijsters (8) def. Justine Henin (17) 2-6, 6-2, 6-3
Tsvetana Pironkova def. Marion Bartoli (11) 6-4, 6-4
Kaia Kanepi def. Klara Zakopalova 6-2, 6-4
Roger Federer (1) def. Jurgen Melzer (16) 6-3, 6-2, 6-3
Rafael Nadal (2) def. Paul-Henri Mathieu 6-4, 6-2, 6-2
There’s going to be blood and tears. Let’s get real, Serena would like to see Maria bleed to death in their Round of 16 match. Hence, the tears from me.
The second Monday at Wimbledon is single-handedly the best Monday in tennis. All R16 matches will be played and it is always wild. Sometimes the rain makes it wild but forecast says the matches will be the ones taking all the attention this year.
Day 5 was surprisingly routine for the seeds and expected winners. No upsets. How disappointing, Wimbledon.
Then, at the 11th hour, Victor Hanescu threw down spit on some spectators. I also heard he intentionally foot faulted 100 times (okay, 4) to lose a game and then quit. Well, he had an injury but that’d make it less juicy. BUT HE THREW DOWN SPIT ON PEOPLE.
Thanks for saving the day, Vic. Now, go away. See a therapist or something to fix youself. Or you know, hang out with Crazy Dani.
John Isner lost his second round match today. Nothing surprising there. The guy could barely walk.
Notable wins and losses: 2nd Round Thiemo De Bakker def. John Isner (23) 6-0, 6-3, 6-2
3rd Round Venus Williams (2) def. Alisa Kleybanova (26) 6-4, 6-2
Jelena Jankovic (4) def. Alona Bondarenko (28) 6-0, 6-3
Kim Clijsters (8) def. Maria Kirilenko (27) 6-3, 6-3
Vera Zvonareva (21) def. Yanina Wickmayer (15) 6-4, 6-2
Roger Federer (1) def. Arnaud Clement 6-2, 6-4, 6-2
Novak Djokovic (3) def. Albert Montanes (28) 6-1, 6-4, 6-4
Andy Roddick (5) def. Philipp Kohlschreiber (29) 7-5, 6-7 (5-7), 6-3, 6-3
Tomas Berdych (12) def. Denis Istomin 6-7 (1-7), 7-6 (7-5), 6-7 (8-10), 6-3, 6-4
Lleyton Hewitt (15) def. Gael Monfils (21) 6-3, 7-6 (11-9), 6-4
Daniel Brands def. Victor Hanescu (31) 6-7 (7-9), 6-7 (3-7), 7-6 (9-7), 6-3, 3-0
The first four days totally wiped me out! I think it’s wiped out the entire tennis nation. Why stop now, Wimbledon? I don’t expect another 70-68 5th set but a good amount of drama will most likely unfold.
Upset specials and eye candies:
Justine Henin [17] vs Nadia Petrova [12] Third round match of the tournament? Remember Australia earlier this year? That was fun. I hope Nadia brings the same game during the match and give herself opportunities. Justine hasn’t looked too convincing in her first two rounds.
Gael Monfils [21] vs Lleyton Hewitt [15] It will be wild. I hope the shot-making will be as well.
Alisa Kleybanova [26] vs Venus Williams [2] Despite her crazy forehand, Kleybs is always a tough opponent. Vee has looked just as commanding out there as her sister but I think she’ll be tested during this match. That’s always good in the first week anyway.
Philipp Kohlschreiber [29] vs Andy Roddick [5] Philipp won their last meeting in Australia 2 years ago. Andy will look to avenge that loss (6-8 in the 5th). Get em, Andy!
Kim Clijsters [8] vs Maria Kirilenko [27] We all know Kiri’s thing this year is to take out a big name at a major. Watch your back, Kimmie.
