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Post by admin on Oct 13, 2007 19:08:40 GMT
Didn't see anything of the match, but nice after-comments from Venus:
"She played really well, she was eager," said the world number eight. "I made a lot of errors, a lot of mistakes. She did a good job of staying in the match.
"I wasn't surprised by her, she's capable of playing well."
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Post by amarathe on Oct 13, 2007 19:15:49 GMT
I didn't see the match either, but presumably Venus is tired from playing 3 straight weeks in 3 different countries. That's a lot of tennis for her.
Serena beat Kuznetsova after losing to her last week, and she has to be a heavy favorite in the final against Dementieva. She's also signed up for Zurich next week, so it really looks like the Williams sisters are commited to playing more tennis.
The WTA championships are pretty much set. Hantuchova or Bartoli would have to win Zurich to have any chance of qualifying and that seems almost impossible with the Zurich draw (Henin is in Hantuchova's quarter).
In other Zurich news, Jankovic is playing after flying back from Bangkok. Anyone want to bet that after she loses, she complains about being tired?
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Post by falafaclese on Oct 13, 2007 21:19:54 GMT
I don't know what's wrong with her, but if she really wants to push it this close to the YEC's that's on her. That is one tough draw no matter which section you're in.
As for Venus, I hope she rests up enough to make a good showing at the YEC's, becasue these last two losses have been a little troubling.
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Post by eatshootleave on Oct 14, 2007 6:58:49 GMT
I think all the jet lag is killing Jankovic's brain cells. I know she's supposed to be a smart girl, but there's not really much evidence of it in this schedule.  I mean, I can understand wanting to play a tournament like Zurich, but one would think that the week after you played yourself into a Thai hospital, you'd take a bit of a break. I guess she'll get one after she loses to Vaidisova. |
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Post by harry24 on Oct 14, 2007 16:58:26 GMT
Man, typically brutal men's draw in the Madrid Masters: first round matches include: Safin/Karlovic, Lopez/Volandri, Wawrinka/Kiefer, Andreev/Monaco, Santoro/Almagro, Clement/Nalbandian and Murray/Stepanek!
Then projected second round matches include: Nadal/Baghdatis, Canas/Tursonov, Blake/Ancic, Moya/Ferrero, Verdasco/Djokovic, plus big name winners of the first round above playing even bigger names.
Anyone have any word on how dear Rafa is doing? Chesty? Anyone?
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Post by whyistherumgone on Oct 14, 2007 17:57:59 GMT
Anyone have any word on how dear Rafa is doing? Chesty? Anyone? He's been training in Madrid for the past few days. But hard to know exactly how he's doing until he plays a match. He says his knees feel much better, and I am certain they do after a month and a half of rest. From all the interviews I have read, he seems very realistic in his hopes for Madrid, knows that it will be very tough when he hasn't played a match in 1 1/2 months. He's going to play his first singles match on Wednesday. So before that he'll play a doubles match with Feliciano Lopez on Tuesday, to test out his knee(s) in a match and to knock some of that rust off. |
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Post by harry24 on Oct 14, 2007 19:55:33 GMT
Thanks for the Rafa info, why. Where did you get it, if you don't mind my asking?
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Post by whyistherumgone on Oct 14, 2007 20:01:43 GMT
Thanks for the Rafa info, why. Where did you get it, if you don't mind my asking? As a matter of fact, I do mind. LOL. Just kidding. ;D I get most of my info from vamosbrigade.com. The forum, more specifically. Which you have to be a member to read, I believe. Good stuff there. The articles where this stuff is found is almost always in Spanish, and some of the members there are nice enough to take the time to translate. |
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Post by falafaclese on Oct 15, 2007 0:46:56 GMT
Great match by Elena today. Her consistency is amazing. It's too bad her ranking dropped because of her injury, but at least she'll be back up into the top 10. Serena looked really out of sorts out there.
ETA: Sharapova just dropped out of Zurich and Linz citing her continuing shoulder problem. So she's done for the year unless she plays in Quebec City, or the YEC. She won both of those tournaments last year, so she's going to be losing a lot of ranking points as well.
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Post by harry24 on Oct 15, 2007 4:39:24 GMT
I'm just watching a replay of the ladies Kremlin Cup final and am shocked how many empty seats there are, with a huge star like Serena and a Russian woman in the final. Anyone know what the deal is there?
And thanks for sharing, why. :-)
Oh, and I keep forgetting to ask: what was the other recent Venus loss? I read about the most recent one in...was it Thailand? But what was the earlier one? (I checked her website, but couldn't find anything about it.)
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Post by printwhoreatwork on Oct 15, 2007 5:09:55 GMT
Aloha guys, checking in from another PC and my password eludes me at the moment. Anyway, Monaco/Andreev as a first-round match in Madrid is awesome, the quality in that matchup could've been a final at Umag, Kitzbuhel or any other first tier clay tourney. Monaco should win this match but Andreev will make him work for it.
Safin should beat Karlovic and if he doesn't, he should just give up on tennis altogether and take up a new career as my cabana boy. Wawrinka/Kiefer is a toss-up, and Feliciano will send Filippo Volandri home in a hurry.
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Post by falafaclese on Oct 15, 2007 11:08:21 GMT
She lost to Virginie Razzano in the Tokyo final 4-6 7-6(7) 6-4.
ETA: I can't believe how easily Murray beat Stepanek (6-4, 6-1) I was expecting that to be a battle the way Stepanek has been playing since he came back from injury a few months ago.
It was also good to see Robbie Ginepri playing well. When I first became aware of him, I didn't like him much, because he tends to come off as kind of flat when he interviews, but I've grown to like watching him play, and he's been struggling over the past year and a half or so. Unfortunately for him, he's got Federer in the 2nd round.
Also, for anyone who has the ATPMastersTV service on their pc, or is interested in getting it, they're offering the year subscription at a $20 discount right now. If you have the money to spend I would definitely recommend it. This year they have been offering feeds from two different courts at once at most of the Masters tournaments. I've been getting it for the past 2 years, and I love it.
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Post by amarathe on Oct 15, 2007 15:23:15 GMT
She's not on the entry list for Linz or Quebec, so it should be two weeks off until Madrid. If she loses early at Zurich, I fully expect her to take a wildcard into Linz. Playing Quebec would just be ridiculous, but still I wouldn't be surprised if Jankovic did fly over to Canada.
The ATP Master TV service is extremely tempting, but I'd never get any work done if I could watch live tennis on my computer. Watching Federer/Canas would be really fun, though.
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Post by falafaclese on Oct 15, 2007 16:42:23 GMT
Why, whatever do you mean? I would never, NEVER watch tennis while sitting at my desk at work and halfheartedly doing paperwork at about half the normal pace! NEVER I say!
Is anybody buying this?
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Post by printwhoreatwork on Oct 15, 2007 19:53:30 GMT
I've been two for two in predictions today (Monaco and F-Lo), it's days like these I wish I was a punter instead of a working stiff.
Also, Fernando Verdasco needs to be ranked higher.
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