Anyone like Tennis?

well, sleeping can be tiring...

Egads!
Here's a slide show of the match from The Guardian: http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/gallery/2012/jan/29/rafael-nadal-novak-djokovic-pictures?intcmp=239

Ah, good (from my view) - Rafa Nadal won the Monte Carlo Open for the eighth time -
http://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/rafael-nadal-finally-beats-novak-djokovic-to-win-8th-straight-monte-carlo-masters-title/2012/04/22/gIQAkJcsZT_story.html



Guess his knee made it through all right.

Good for Nadal, but it was a really sloppy match for Djokovic. He hit so many backhand unforced errors that I was surprised Nadal ever bothered to hit to his forehand. I guess we've been spoiled by all the great finals over the last few years.

Serena has returned and is right now, IMO, clearly the woman to beat.

She just crushed the on-paper number one woman - Azarenka - in the Madrid Open.

http://msn.foxsports.com/tennis/story/Serena-Williams-routs-Victoria-Azarenka-to-win-Madrid-Open-051312

Yaay! Glad to see it.
What happened with Federer and Byrdich (sp?)

And then the aftermath of the Blue Clay questioning, yet to come. Seems a debacle but I bet they figure out how to fix it.

It seems like over the last decade, the way to show you are worthy of the number one title is to compete with Serena. Capriati, Henin, the young Sharapova, Clisters can all say they had a time where they could go head to head with Williams and have a chance of walking off with the hardware. Azarenka has had a great season, won four titles including the Australian Open and put together a great first half of the season (this is only her third loss in 2012) but the story for both her and the resurgent Sharapova is unless you can compete with Williams, there will be an asterisk by your name when people talk about your number one ranking.

Off to the Italian Open. Both Williams sisters into the fourth round with Venus dispatching Stosur in a nice win, Sharapova and Kvitova still playing but several other seeds on the women's side are gone and Azarenka retired with a shoulder injury. The men's seeds are pretty much cruising.

Thanks for the heads up, I'll check it out.

ROME -- Serena Williams withdrew from the Italian Open with a lower back injury shortly before she was scheduled to meet French Open champion Li Na in the semifinals on Saturday.

Serena has played 10 matches in the last 3 months. She has won 17 straight. I think she's getting ready for Wimbledon, and I'm glad she pulled out to rest her back.

Ouch.

A lot of people were hoping she would lose or pull out so she would be well rested for the French next week. Azarenka pulled a similar move, winning one match and then withdrawing. Apparently there is some sort of penalty if you miss a big event entirely so she played one match and then quit to protect her ranking. Probably not a bad move on Serena's part. The men's side is looking pretty interesting. Nadal gets by Ferrer pretty easily and Djokovic is a set up on Federer. These guys are not going to pull out to rest.

Though Federer had been thinking of not participating leading up to the tournament..

He gets to rest now - lost in two although he made the last set a good fight.

Ah, well. (dagnabbit)


On Serena, at least it isn't her foot.

Nadal pulled it off in the Italian Open Final vs Djokovic! I'm glad; not a big fan of either, but really have never been a fan of Djokovic.

I like Nadal and Federer but have not gotten to be a fan of Djokovic. Am working on it, since I don't really have any good reason to dislike him.

I like Djokovic more for his personality than his tennis. His tennis is really all or nothing - either he is brillant going for ridulous shots and making them or he's making unforced errors. Nadal is my least favorite of the big three, but his win here was deserved and he's back to number 2.

The Sharapova-Li match was a mess. Li is up a set and 4-0 and losses 8 straight games? Still, a resurgent Sharapova and Li showing some promise before the French makes for good story lines.

Women's tennis has sort of gotten to me with all the vocalizations. I haven't been around tennis courts for a while - do ordinary female players mimic all this, ah, yelping?

edit to change that to 'haven't'.

It's mostly the big two, Azarenka and Sharapova although everyone gunts somewhat. Those two clearly do it as an intimidation factor and not just part of exhaling while striking the ball. The men do it also but their lower voices make it much less painful on the ears.