June/July Tennis Catch Up

I got lazy blogging about the rest of the French Open and Wimbledon...

So Rafa won both tournaments on the men's side, upping his grand slam count to 8 and putting him safely on top of the rankings. Roger, on the other hand, lost in the quarterfinals of both tournaments, sending his ranking spiraling down to a tragic #3 (tragic for Roger's standards, anyway.) While I don't think this is the end of Roger winning grand slam tournaments, I do think that he'll have a very hard time getting the #1 ranking back, given that he's turning 29 next month (that's old in tennis years), and the rest of the top 5 are all 25 years old and younger.

Good thing Roger's already won the French Open as well 15 other grand slam titles before, so this doesn't feel like we're watching the decline of a career of a should've, would've, could've been has-been. It's like a glory lap for the all-time champ. Although Roger probably has more plans than turning the next few years into a glory lap, seeing that he's hired Paul Annacone, as his new part-time coach. Annacone coached Pete Sampras from 1995 to 2001, during which Pete won 8 grand slam titles. He also worked with Tim Henman, another serve and volleyer, after coaching Pete. So it looks like Roger is looking to beef up his serve and volley game by hiring Annacone the same way that he was looking to beef up his clay-court game by hiring Jose Higueras a couple of years ago.

As for Rafa, he's regained his French Open crown from Roger, and added another Wimbledon title after some convincing wins over Andy Murray and Tomas Berdych in the semifinal and final, respectively. The next milestone for him is the US Open, the only grand slam that he has yet to win. Rafa's never reached the final at the US Open because he usually gets overpowered on hardcourts, or his body is usually not in its best state after the grueling US spring/clay season where he plays a lot of matches. A factor that swings in his favor is that there hasn't been much reports about any injuries (especially on his knees.)

Anyway, we had a first-time grand slam champion in last year's US Open, so if Roger and Rafa can't sort their stuff out by August, we might get another one this year.

On the women's side, Serena won her 4th Wimbledon title, and her 13th grand slam title overall, over surprise finalist Vera Zvonareva. Actually, the semifinal line-up on the women's side was filled with surprises, after Bulgarian Tsvetana Pironkova upset Venus in the quarterfinals and up-and-coming Czech Petra Kvitova beat the just-as-young but higher-ranked Caroline Wozniacki and Victoria Azarenka.

The best moments of Wimbledon for me though would have to be 1) Federer's 1st round match against Colombian Alejandro Falla, where Roger had to claw his way back after losing the first two sets and then going down a break in the 3rd set to win in 5 sets (6-0 in the fifth) to avoid the biggest upset in Wimbledon history, and 2) the epic, historic, record-breaking 11-hour first round match between American John Isner and Frenchman Nicolas Mahut. The quality of play really wasn't as high as any of the matches in the later stages of the tournament, they were basically just trading aces and service winners... But they were doing it for 11 HOURS! That's a 6–4, 3–6, 6–7(9–7), 7–6(7–3), 70–68 scoreline! That's like 3 marathons! The sheer determination and will to win (not to mention the stamina and athleticism) displayed by both players just to survive the 11 hour match was just amazing to watch.

On to the US Open!

Roger's 15 Trophies

So here's a sure sign that I've been too busy/sick the past few weeks: Roger Federer won his 15th Grand Slam and 6th Wimbledon, and ascends back to the #1 ranking, and I wasn't able to write anything about it.

So to catch up, here's a great tribute video made by the ATP Website (and of course, they use Sigur Ros's Hoppipolla for the background music.)



Ladies and Gentlemen, 2 weeks late (but that's just how I roll), your Wimbledon 2009 Champions:
Gentlemen
Roger Federer (SUI) def. Andy Roddick (USA), in an epic 5-7, 7-6(8-6), 7-6(7-5), 3-6, 16-14,

Ladies
Serena Williams (USA) def. Venus Williams (USA), 7-6(7-3), 6-2, Serena wins her 11th Grand Slam title and 3rd Wimbledon after surviving a match point against Elena Dementieva in the semifinals (eventually winning in the longest Women's semifinal match in Wimbledon history, 6-7(4-7), 7-5, 8-6)

Men's Doubles
Daniel Nestor (CAN) / Nenad Zimonjic (SRB) def. Bob Bryan (USA) / Mike Bryan (USA), 7-6(9-7), 6-7 (3-7), 7-6(7-3), 6-3

Women's Doubles
Serena Williams (USA) / Venus Williams (USA) def. Samantha Stosur (AUS) / Rennae Stubbs (AUS), 7-6(7-4), 6-4

Mixed Doubles
Mark Knowles (BAH) / Anna-Lena Groenefeld (GER) def. Leander Paes (IND) / Cara Black (ZIM), 7-5, 6-3

Juniors, Boys
Andrey Kuznetsov (RUS) def. Jordan Cox (USA), 4-6, 6-2, 6-2

Juniors, Girls
Nopparan Lertcheewakarn (THA) def. Kristina Mladenovic (FRA), 3-6, 6-3, 6-1

That was a great Wimbledon, especially towards the end when we saw that Federer-Roddick final and the Serena-Elena semifinal.

Now it's time for the US hardcourt season, where will see Rafael Nadal return to action on the men's side. And we'll also see how brand-new father Roger Federer comes back to the court, after his wife Mirka gave birth to twin girls Myla and Charlene (Congrats Roger and Mirka!)

On the women's side, will see if Venus and Serena can build on their Wimbledon success or if Elena or current #1 Dinara can win their first Grand Slam title at the US Open. The next few months should be fun.

Before the Finals @SW19

So the women's final is set, with the Williams sisters again facing each other, after beating their Russian opponents in contrasting manners. Defending Champ (and 5-time Wimbledon champion) Venus decimated supposed world #1 (and Marat Safin's little sister) Dinara Safina, 6-1, 6-0, while younger sister (and 2-time Wimbledon Champ) Serena struggled, and even had to save a match point against #4 (and Olympic Champion) Elena Dementieva in the longest women's semifinal match in Wimbledon, 6-7, 7-5, 8-6. I was rooting for Elena but was still surprised that she was able to give Serena, who played so well against #8 Victoria Azarenka in the quarters, a huge scare. Too bad Elena lost in the end, but hopefully this match helps her confidence for the rest of the year.

Venus has been playing great the whole tournament though, and I think she should take her 6th Wimbledon over Serena in the Ladies' Final tomorrow.

On the men's side, Roger Federer has just beaten a resurgent Tommy Haas in the semis and goes on for a record-breaking 15th Grand Slam title on Sunday's final against an Andy. Right now, I'm watching Andy Murray and Andy Roddick battle each other in the second semifinal for the chance to be beaten by Federer in the final.

No matter who he faces in the final, I think Roger has a great chance of winning his 6th Wimbledon crown. He's been playing well and with a lot of confidence the whole tournament against quality opponents. Whoever wins between the two Andy's today needs to really lift their level of play if they want to win their first Wimbledon. (edit: The American Andy just beat the Brit Andy, 6-4, 4-6, 7-6, 7-6. Roddick goes on to play his 3rd Wimbledon final. He lost his first two to Federer. Murray on the other hand, loses the chance to be the first homeboy to win Wimbledon in 70-something years.)

So, just like what I said before the French Open final last month: Be The Legend, Federer!

Oh wait, he already is. :-)


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Now playing: James Morrison - Man in the Mirror (Napster Live Acoustic Session)
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The Big W, Week 2

The first week of Wimbledon has ended and now we've got the final 16 players remaining on the men's and ladies' draw.

The big upset on the men's side was Argentine 5th seed JMDP (that's Juan Martin Del Potro) losing to oldster and former #1 player (before the era of Federer) Lleyton Hewitt in the second round. Hewitt is also a one-time Wimbledon champ (again, before the era of Federer), so while it shouldn't be a huge shock, I expected more from JMDP, who plays well on the fast hard court surfaces. I guess he hasn't figured out how to play on grass yet. Also going out early are:

• Russian #14 seed Marat Safin, who is making his final Wimbledon appearance this year after he lost to American qualifier Jesse Levine
• #9 JWT (Jo-Wilfried Tsonga), who lost to Croatian ace machine Ivo Karlovic
• #10 Gonzo (Fernando Gonzales), who lost to another former #1, pre-Federer, Juan Carlos Ferrero (or as I'd like to call him: Juanqui) (Great result for JCF, who has fallen even further in the rankings than Hewitt)
  
• #12 Nikolay Davydenko, who lost to big-hitting Czech Tomas Berdych, in a not-so-huge-upset.
• Croat youngster Marin Cilic lost in an epic match (10-8 in the fifth set) to Tommy Haas, but I was expecting Tommy to get to the semifinals here, so I wasn't that surprised of the result even if Cilic, at #11, was the higher ranked player.
  

A few years ago, it would've been easy to predict that most of the upsets would come from the men's side, because the higher-ranked ladies would usually just breeze through the first few rounds without breaking a sweat... But that's not the case anymore. Whether it's because the depth of competition among the women has improved or because the top women are just much more vulnerable to playing badly these days is hard to say (I'd say it's a mixture of both...) If anything, at least the upsets make the women's draw a bit more unpredictable.

The big upsets on the women's side are the losses of French Open champ Svetlana Kuznetsova and former #1 Jelena Jankovic. Sveta Kuz lost in straight sets to 19 year-old German Sabine Lisicki, who is ranked #41, while the Serbian JJ lost to 17 year-old American Melanie Oudin. Oudin is currently ranked 124, so she had to go through the qualifying stage before getting into the main draw. She won 3 matches in the qualies, and 2 more matches in the main draw before beating JJ, so this has been a great tournament for her.

Other players who lost early were:

• #7 Vera Zvonareva, who had to pull out because of an injury
  
• #12 and former finalist Marion Bartoli of France
• #14 and recent French Open semifinalist Dominika Cibulkova of Slovakia
• #15 Flavia Pennetta of Italy, who lost to former #1 and 2006 Wimbledon Champion Amelie Mauresmo, in a slight upset
• and #16 and last year's surprise semifinalist Jie Zheng of China, who lost to my awesome girlfriend Daniela Hantuchova. Daniela is back in the 4th round of Wimbledon after she defeated her doubles partner Ai Sugiyama last Friday. Woohoo! She'll be facing #2 Serena Williams in the round of 16. That's gonna be a tough match for sure.
  
• Maria Sharapova, seeded #24 here thanks to the Wimbledon seeding committee's power to give out random seedings to players they like, lost to unseeded Gisela Dulko (who's actually ranked higher than her.) Shazza was seeded by the Wimbledon powers that be despite being ranking #60, having played only 2 tournaments this year because of a shoulder injury, and having not gone past the 4th round of Wimbledon in the past two years. Yup, I'm pretty sure looks counted in the "formula" for figuring out the player seeding.

Can't wait for the second week action to start!



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Now playing: Bjork - Human Behavior
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The Big W

Wimbledon is on the TV right now... (at last, a Grand Slam tournament that my cable provider covers!)

Earlier, I caught the the Roger Federer-Yen Hsun Lu 1st round match, and Fed played a good match there, showing some flashes of genius especially in the 3rd set. Rafael Nadal isn't defending his title here because of an injury (tendinitis on both his knees), but just because Rafa's not playing this year doesn't mean it's gonna be smooth sailing for Roger. The main contender (in fact, the only main contender) to Roger winning his 6th Wimbledon and a 15th Grand Slam title is local hope Andy Murray. After winning his first grass court title at The Queen's Club last week, Murray has Britain all hyped up, as he might finally end the drought of British champions in Wimbledon since Fred Perry last won in 1936.

I think the final will be between Murray and Federer, and while I want Federer to win #15 in two weeks' time, I wouldn't mind seeing Murray win against Federer, as long as he challenges Fed the way Rafa did in last year's epic final.

On the women's side, Venus and Serena are the obvious choices for the final, since every other top player is either coming from injury (Sharapova), or are having trouble finding their form (the Serbians), or are just generally chokers (the rest of the Russians.) On the other hand, Caroline Wozniacki and Victoria Azarenka are two young players who could sneak through the semis. I've been waiting for these two to have their Grand Slam breakthroughs first at the Aussie Open last January, and at the French Open earlier this month, but that hasn't happened yet. Maybe they're just waiting for Wimbledon to come around, nothing like making the big splash at the most prestigious tournament in tennis after all.

Caroline just won her first grass court title over the weekend, and she has won Wimbledon before (albeit as a junior), so she know her way around the grass. Vika on the other hand, essentially has the same power game as Sharapova, and that power game is bound to bring her success on the grass, just like it has for Masha. Unless she goes the way of Nicole Vaidisova...

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I just came back from Gumaca over the weekend, to attend my grandmother's (on my mother's side) funeral. She suffered a mild stroke a week before, then suffered another one last Friday. The second stroke took her. Before going to Gumaca, I have to admit that I was feeling really numb. I wasn't sure how to react, so I started writing a blog post (that I won't be publishing), about the sad things that happen in life, and how I generally deal with them. I just had such a hard time articulating how I felt at that time, and I thought writing about it would calm me down and help me understand what was going on.

Once we got to Gumaca however, I started to feel much better. There's just something about being in my hometown that grounds me. And when we got to my grandparents' barrio, the mood at the wake was actually very good. The whole family was in good spirits, and my aunt was even telling us some funny things that happened while they were at the hospital, in between the days of my grandmother's two strokes. That's when I realized the wake was there to celebrate my grandmother's well-lived life. And in a way, it made accepting the facts easier.

Side note: One thing that bothered me though, was the gambling that was going on at the wake. I guess gambling is traditionally part of wakes especially in the province, but man... when I die, I DO NOT WANT PEOPLE GAMBLING at my funeral. I guess that would be one of my dying wishes (also: no cheesy dramatic ballads on the procession to my final resting place.)


Our Inay was 83, lived a very humble life, and I'm nothing but proud to be one of her many grandchildren.


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Now playing: Dave Matthews Band - The Space Between
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Wimbledon Update

It's been a great Wimbledon so far, with lots of surprises and tight matches.

Especially on the ladies' side if the tournament, where the top 4 players in the world have all lost. This is the first time in the Open Era (in ~40 years) that all top 4 seeds in the women's side failed to reach the Quarterfinals stage. Maria Sharapova was the first one to lose (I talked about it on this post), then world number 1 Ana Ivanovic of Serbia followed shortly, losing in the 3rd round to Jie Zheng of China, who is currently ranked #133. But then again, maybe Ana should just be thankful that she actually made the 3rd round. She barely survived in her previous match, beating Natalie Dechy 6-7, 7-6, 10-8, saving two match points against her along the way. As for Zheng, she won her next two matches and is now in the singles quarterfinals of a Grand Slam for the first time in her career (she has won two Grand Slams before though, in doubles.)

And then earlier today, the #2 and #4 seeds, Jelena Jankovic and Svetlana Kuznetsova both lost in the 4th round, to Thai Tamarine Tanasugarn and Pole Agnieszka Radwanska. But even though the top 4 players are gone, it's not like Wimbledon has ran out of WTA stars. The Williams sisters, who have 6 Wimbledon titles between them, are both in the quarters and could easily meet in the finals. I wonder what Justine Henin is thinking about this lineup.

The QF line-up:
Jie Zheng (CHN) vs Nicole Vaidisova (CZE)
(Nicole was a quarterfinalist last year too, she's been having a bad year so far (there was a point where she lost 6 straight matches), but it looks like Wimbledon has revived her)
Agnieszka Rawanska (POL) vs Serena Williams (USA)
(Aga Rad has been having a great year so far, her ranking is now up to #11, but Serena has 8 Grand Slam titles)
Elena Dementieva (RUS) vs Nadia Petrova (RUS)
(What would a Grand Slam be without the pre-requisite All-Russian quarterfinal match? Elena isn't exactly a grass-court expert, and Petrova has fallen from the #3 to #18 in the rankings... But they both outlasted all the other Russians.)
Tamarine Tanasugarn (THA) vs Venus Williams (USA)
(This is the Thai 32 year-old's first grand slam quarterfinal. Venus is a 4-time Wimbledon Champ. Mismatch? Or huge chance for an upset?)


On the Men's side, only three of the top 10 players are left, led by the two best players in the world, Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal. The other top ten player is the uber-talented Richard (Reeshard!) Gasquet of France. And right now, Reeshard is still playing his 4th round match, which he could very well lose to local boy Andy Murray, the #1 Brit and #11 in the world. Which is a pity because Reeshard is one of my favorite players. His backhand is poetry in motion to watch.

It's looking to be a Fed-Nadal final for the 3rd straight year, although I wouldn't count out the winner of the Gasquet-Murray match to snatch Nadal's spot up there.

The QF line-up:
The Master Federer (SUI) vs Super Mario Ancic (CRO)
(Ancic was the last player to beat Fed at Wimbledon, in 2002 when Ancic was 18 year old. It might be difficult for Mario to repeat that win though, since his 4th round match lasted for 3 hours and 49 minutes, going 13-11 in the fifth set.)
Marat Safin (RUS) vs Feliciano Lopez (ESP)
(Safin followed up his win against #3 Djokovic with two more wins to book a quarterfinal spot. This is his first appearance at a Grand Slam quarterfinal since winning the Australian Open in 2005)
Rainer Schuettler (GER) vs Arnaud Clement (FRA)
(These two surprise quarter finalists are the oldest men left (Rainer is 32, Arnaud is 30.) The other thing they have in common is that their best Grand Slam performance was reaching the final of the Australian Open (Clement in 2001, Schuettler in 2003). The other, other thing they have in common is that they both lost to Andre Agassi easily on those Aussie Open finals.)
Rafael Nadal (ESP) vs the winner of the Gasquet/Murray match
(Nadal is trying to be the first man since Bjorn Borg in the 80's to win back to back French and Wimbledon titles. Gasquet and Murray are now in the 5th set of their match, Gasquet won the first 2 sets but Murray came back to win the next 2 sets)



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Surprises at Wimbledon

The biggest one? No matches have been delayed yet because of rain.

So Wimbledon started last Monday, and we're just at the 2nd round and two big contenders are already out and packing their bags. #3 Novak Djokovic was beaten in straight sets by former #1 and 2-time Grand Slam champ Marat Safin last Wednesday, then #3 Maria Sharapova was beaten earlier by 154th ranked Alla Kudryavtseva of Russia. On paper, Masha shouldn't have lost to AK, but man, she was playing awful tennis a while ago... She could barely hit the ball in or past the net. To think that I thought she would be winning her 2nd Wimbledon this year. Meh.

Djokovic's lost was also still a bit of a surprise, despite Safin's credentials. Safin hasn't been playing well the past few years. His last tournament win was at the Australian Open, where he beat Federer in a classic 5-set semifinal match. Since then, his form has waned, and his rankings has gone down to #75. But against Djokovic, he played like the Marat was in the top 10 and actually won tournaments. I hope he keeps this kind of tennis going, because he and Federer are the most talented tennis players out there, imo, and I want to see Marat slugging it out with the Big 3, damn it!


So more Wimbledon for the next one and a half weeks. It's been great so far, and I hope it doesn't rain.


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Now playing: Travis - Why Does It Always Rain on Me?
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How Wimbledon sucked this year

So how exactly has Wimbledon sucked this year?

Basically the same way it has sucked every year really: by having so much rain delays you'll almost feel like you were watching Transformers, except it was the version without all the special effects and Megan Fox.

Still, Wimbledon has produced some interesting matches and eye-popping results, with three more important matches to go. The Ladies finals between 3-time former champ Venus Williams and 18th seeded Marion Bartoli of France seems like it will be a washout, with an easy win for Venus pretty much in the bag. The 22-year old Bartoli has never reached a quarterfinal of a Grand Slam before this year's Wimbledon, and her she has never been ranked higher than 17. But she has been playing great tennis on the grass the past month, having reached the semis of grass-court tournaments in Birmingham and Eastbourne. She also had to beat world #3 Jelena Jankovic in the fourth round and #1 Justine Henin in the semifinals after losing the first set both times. I didn't even think Marion had a chance of taking a set from Justine, but here she is in the finals (and goes to show what I know about predicting score lines), and if she brings her Monica Seles-like game to Venus, the finals might not be much of a washout after all.

Venus on the other hand, played champion-level tennis in shaming Maria Sharapova in straight sets, then repeated the performance against #5 Svetlana Kuznetsova, and again versus #6 Ana Ivanovic of Serbia in the semis. Back in 2005, she surprised everyone by coming out of nowhere, beating then #2 Sharapova and #1 Davenport to win it all. This year, she is ranked even lower (#31) but threatens to nail her 4th Wimbledon crown later today.

The men's semifinal matches have yet to start, owing to the poor weather. But the line-up is complete, with 4-time champ Roger Federer leading the way followed by three of the best new balls in tennis today. World #2 and King of Clay Rafael Nadal had to struggle in his matches against Russian Mikhail Youzhny and big-serving Swede Robin Soderling, but his easy win against Tomas Berdych (who routinely beats him on hard courts) has soldified his chances of reaching the finals for the second straight year. Add to that the fact that his next opponent, #5 Novak Djokovic of Serbia, had to struggle to beat Marcos Baghdatis of Cyprus in a match that lasted 5 freaking hours. This will be Novak's second grand slam semifinal appearance after his semis run in last month's French Open. Completing the men's semifinal lineup is underachieving Frenchman Richard Gasquet. 21 year-old Gasquet was touted as a prodigy ever since he was 9 years old, and he has showed great potential in the past years, even beating Roger Federer in 2005 (one of only 4 players to d so that year). But the pressure of turning his potential to winning matches probably got to him, as he has never made it past the quarterfinals of a Grand Slam, and has never entered the top 10 rankings in his career. But all that changed this week. With his 5-set win over Andy Roddick in the quarterfinals coming back from 2-0 sets down (4-6, 4-6, 7-6, 7-6, 8-6), Gasquet reaches his first Grand Slam semifinal and will break into the top 10 rankings come next week. About time for Gasquet, who owns Federer-like talents!

Lots of Wimbledon action later. Hopefully London doesn't get pwned by the rain again.