Views From the Baseline

This is Absurd!

2007-10-27T20:53:00.000-04:00

"Nikolay Davydenko, already at the center of a betting investigation, was fined $2,000 for lack of effort a loss at the St. Petersburg Open.

The ATP said Friday the fourth-ranked Russian was fined for lack of "best effort" in his 1-6, 7-5, 6-1 loss Thursday to Marin Cilic."

.......................Read the Rest by Clicking Here................

My Thoughts: The man plays darn near every single tournament on the schedule. He's tired for Pete's Sake. Why didn't anyone fine Nadal when he lost that final set to Federer before the French Open by not winning a single game? Are you telling me that was Nadal's best effort? To lose every single game in a set? On Clay? His favorite surface? I'm thinking Andy Murray's controversial comments might not be too far off the mark.

Deja Vu

2007-07-07T18:41:00.000-04:00

Well, tomorrow's Wimbledon final is the same as last year's: Federer vs Nadal. Hopefully, the result will be different from last year and Nadal will win. I plan on recording the match just in case. It will be sad though. Last year I remember being at mom and dad's house with Phoebe watching the first set. This year, Phoebe has passed away and I have two new puppies to take to mom and dad's house.

Wimbledon so far...

2007-07-06T19:05:00.000-04:00

Every time I turn the tv on to watch Wimbledon, it's women's tennis. And unfortunately, it's the same daggone match. Serena Williams vs whoever. I think there's a conspiracy afoot.

Anyway, I read today on the internet that Marion Bartoli defeated world #1 Justine Henin. I'm not a fan of the French, but during the French Open, Martina Navratilova criticized Bartoli's weight, so I was glad to hear that Bartoli will be in the final of Wimbledon. The article I read also said she saw Pierce Brosnan in the stands and decided that she wanted to play better. That was a cute anecdote.

A lot of grumblings about how the wimbledon people are scheduling the matches due to the rain. Considering I kept seeing the same people over and over, I might have to agree. Serena, Venus, and Andy Roddick. Hmmm.... coincidence that they are all Americans?

Grass Court Season

2007-06-16T20:12:00.000-04:00

I'm watching Andy Roddick in his semi-final match at what used to be called "the queen's club" and is still referred to as "queens" even though it now has some fancy name. Not an Andy Roddick fan, but over on the Golf Channel they are probably sucking up to Tiger Woods and I can't stand that so Andy is a better alternative. At least I'm not watching "America's Got Talent".

Over But Not

2007-06-07T19:41:00.000-04:00

Well, the French Open is just about over for me. I've got the Moya V Nadal match on dvd to watch later, saw the highlights last night on the tennis channel. Not too interested in the rest of the men's tournament. Not really interested in the women's final, but would like to see Ivanovic win. She seems to be the least diva-ish of all of semi-finalists.

Moya vs Nadal

2007-06-04T20:41:00.000-04:00

Well, I wanted to see them play and now I'll get my chance. They will meet in the quarterfinals at the French Open. They are wearing the same colors this week so it will be a good match to watch from a fashion standpoint.

Jonas Bjorkman was wearing Mikhail Youzhny's clothes today. Why is it I never noticed that tennis players wore the same clothes back in the 1990's when I was watching tennis before? Could it be because they didn't all wear the same designs? Or could it be that the designs were so faint that all the clothes looked the same? Except for Agassi's of course. You could always pick him out of a crowd back then.

French Open Observation

2007-06-03T19:49:00.000-04:00

Another Fashion Faux Pas: Tommy Robredo and Filippo Volandri wear the same outfit. And they played each other. Please, can't this stop? Clothing manufacturers - get more creative. Give these people their own designs.

After a Week

2007-06-02T17:51:00.001-04:00

The French Open has been going on for a week now. Why do the American men even bother showing up? If they aren't going to learn how to play on clay and prepare for the French Open, and obviously they don't, then they should just skip it. Let some players who might not otherwise get into the tournament play.

Now I Know What I've Been Missing

2007-05-28T12:46:00.001-04:00

For the first time, I'm able to watch the first week of the French Open. Usually, I only get to see it when NBC airs it during the second week. Well, I watched yesterday and today and unfortunately, it seems like I've only seen three matches: Venus Williams', Serena Williams', and Justine Henin's. I know there are rain delays, but couldn't the tennis channel and ESPN show some interviews, or doubles matches from last year, or something other than the same match over and over again? And why didn't they show Marat Safin's match over and over again? I swear I was never more happy to see Roger Federer than today when his match started.

It Finally Happened

2007-05-20T10:56:00.000-04:00

Well, Federer finally beat Nadal on clay today. But it makes me suspicious. Nadal took the first set rather easily. Then he dropped the next two, with no games won by Nadal in the final set. How can the King of Clay not win one single game in a set? This is what makes me suspicious. I think the match was fixed. I do believe Federer has improved on clay and that he is capable of winning against Nadal. But, the way it was done, I don't believe it. Nadal can't suddenly be that bad after being so good for these last few weeks.

Anyway, that's over now. Whoever that woman was who spoke during the award ceremony - the crowd in attendance didn't seem to like her. And they let everyone talk. I thought for sure they were going to let the custodians who clean the bathrooms talk before presenting the trophy.

Nadal V. Federer (again)

2007-05-19T15:40:00.000-04:00

Well, Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer will meet again tomorrow in another final. Both reached the finals after winning competitive three set matches. I was hoping to see Nadal and Moya in the final. That would have been interesting since they are good friends. This final is sort of a downer since they've played each other so often. Hopefully, Nadal will continue his win streak though.

Quarterfinals-Hamburg

2007-05-18T18:18:00.000-04:00

Spaniards everywhere today. David Ferrer finally took a set from Federer, a positive move for him. Rafael Nadal moved on to the semis in straight sets. Carlos Moya advanced in a three set win and Lleyton Hewitt moved on to the semis as well. So the semis will be Federer-Moya and Nadal-Hewitt.

Views on Today's Matches at Hamburg

2007-05-17T18:58:00.000-04:00

Carlos Moya and James Blake committed a fashion faux pas by wearing the same outfit today to their match. Moya looked hotter in it. You'd think Nike would prevent things like that from happening. Moya beat Blake in three sets.

Rafael Nadal continued his winning streak on clay by defeating Andreev, the last man to beat him on clay.

And what might be considered an upset: Lleyton Hewitt beat Nikolay Davydenko.

Andy Murray

2007-05-15T10:41:00.000-04:00

I don't like Andy Murray that much, given his behavior on the court and all the cussing/yelling he does and such, but it was sad to hear that he injured his wrist and had to retire from his match today in Germany. I've learned that he gets injured a lot and it must be really frustrating to get healed up only to get injured again. I really hope he gets it all figured out and gets back on track. He's so young that it would be a shame for him to not have a really good run at a successful tennis career.

Nadal Wins Again

2007-05-13T13:15:00.000-04:00

Well, I've used that post title before. Nadal beat Gozalez in straight sets today to win the Rome title for the third time.

If I had only known.....

2007-05-12T18:52:00.000-04:00

If I had only known I would actually predict something and it would come true, I woudn't have wasted the power on picking the finalists of the Rome tournament. I would have bought lottery tickets. But alas, I did say that it looked like Nadal and Gonzalez for the final and that will be the match-up tomorrow. Should be exciting and I think Nadal might actually see the end of the streak.

Rome

2007-05-11T21:22:00.000-04:00

Nadal is into the semi-finals and Federer is out. Fillipo Volandri and Nikolay Davydenko are also into the semi-finals, with Davydenko meeting Nadal and Volandri playing either Fernando Gonzalez or Juan Ignacio Chela. I'm not good at predictions, but I think it's reasonable to think that we might see a Nadal-Gonzalez final.

Nadal Beats Federer in Half Clay/Half Grass Match

2007-05-02T18:22:00.000-04:00

Canadian Press

Published: Wednesday, May 02, 2007

PALMA DE MALLORCA, Balearic Islands (AP) - In the end, Roger Federer's favourite surface cost him on Wednesday.

Two-time French Open champion Rafael Nadal beat Federer 7-5, 4-6, 7-6 (10) in an exhibition match on a half-grass, half-clay court when Federer couldn't reach Nadal's forehand as it took an awkward bounce across the green side of the court. "The ball bounced badly and it cost both of us," Federer said.

The four-time Wimbledon champion was leading 4-1 in the tiebreak before Nadal rallied. After the Spaniard double-faulted while leading 6-5, the world's two best players traded match points before Nadal hit three of the final four winners from the clay side in front of a sellout crowd of about 7,000.

"We're used to playing long, hard games with a lot of tension involved," Federer said. "So it's fun to play on this half-grass, half-clay surface."

Nadal came into the match with a record 72 straight wins on clay, while Federer hasn't lost on grass in four years - a 48-match run that includes four straight Wimbledon titles.

The grass caused some awkward bounces, especially as the match progressed. But both players showed little difficulty in switching surfaces, as they changed shoes at changeovers.

Aside from holding the homecourt advantage, Nadal may have held a slight edge on the clay surface after the grounds crew was forced on Wednesday morning to rip up and re-lay the grass court, which required US$1.63 million and 19 days to prepare.

************** click here for the rest of the story ******************

Nadal Wins Again

2007-04-29T15:22:00.000-04:00

Rafael Nadal continued his win streak with a straight sets win over Guillermo Canas to pick up another trophy in Barcelona. I watched parts of the match, recorded the whole thing. I'll watch the entire match now that I know how it ends. It will be good to watch while I'm working out on the treadmill.

The streak continues

2007-04-29T05:59:00.000-04:00

Rafael Nadal has now won 71 straight matches on clay. He's in the finals of the Barcelona event, a tournament he's won for the last two years. He will be facing Guillermo Canas in the finals. I checked the head-to-head stats on atptennis.com and Nadal leads 2-0. But those matches were played in 2005, so you can't really use that statistic as a predictor of the result of the match today.

Marking Time

2007-04-25T18:20:00.000-04:00

Time will fly a little more enjoyably now. I ordered and received the 2007 Rafael Nadal calendar. Many good pictures of the King of Clay. I just have to find somewhere to hang it up.

One Of These Days I Won't be Afraid To Watch

2007-04-22T12:24:00.000-04:00

I taped the Finals of the Monte Carlo event because I just couldn't sit there and watch it live. Rafael Nadal beat Roger Federer in straight sets. I will watch it on the re-air now that I know how it ends and I'll probably tape it again since the first time, I didn't set it to tape long enough and I didn't get the last game recorded. This will be a good thing for me to watch when I'm on the treadmill.

Monte Carlo

2007-04-21T18:59:00.000-04:00

I got to see the second set of the Rafael Nadal semifinal this morning. I was afraid to watch it though. I missed the first set and he played really well, winning 6-0. But then when I started watching it, Berdych started playing better and Nadal made a few more unforced errors. I thought I was jinxing him, as I tend to do when watching golf and tennis. But luckily, that seems to just be my imagination because Nadal continued to play well enough to win the semifinal. I haven't heard the results of the Federer semi final, but I'm assuming he won today too and will play Nadal in the final.

Fed Cup

2007-04-21T05:28:00.000-04:00

The USA is competing in the first round of Fed Cup today. Their opponents are the Belgians. The top ranked Belgians, Henin and Clijsters, aren't playing so there will be some unfamiliar faces to watch today. Here's a link to a good all-around article about it.

Home Today, Some Tennis Watched

2007-04-20T18:37:00.000-04:00

I got to watch some of the Quarterfinals of the Monte Carlo event. I saw Berdych, Soderling, Federer, Gasquet. I didn't see Nadal. I was on the go today taking mom to lunch, visiting my puppies at the seller's house. I don't think I'm going to get to see him on the rebroadcast tonight. I think he will be on after my bedtime. I just checked google news and see that Nadal made it into the semifinals. So, maybe I will see him play tomorrow? Who knows.

Monte Carlo

2007-04-18T19:32:00.000-04:00

I've been lucky enough to figure out when the Tennis Channel is airing the coverage of the Monte Carlo event. This morning I saw a bit of Fernando Gonzalez and this evening I saw Rafael Nadal.

I could have watched more of the Nadal match tonight against Chela, but I was putting together a doggie gate I got in the mail and then I took the dogs out for a walk and found one of my two cats dead. She had been sick for a long time and she was a farm cat so it wasn't expected that she'd live forever. The average life span of a farm cat here is about 2 year. After that, they either run off or disappear or get killed. So, I called mom to tell her to have dad come up and bury the cat.

Screwed By Blogger

2007-04-18T19:02:00.000-04:00

Monday night everything was fine. I could post on my blogs and life was good. Tuesday after work, I discovered that the not so fine folks at Blogger had migrated all my blogs to what they call ‘new blogger’, supposedly a better form of blogger that offers new features. Well, I tried to log into blogger using my blogger username and password - nothing. Tried logging into new blogger with my google account name and password - again nothing. I was redirected to the blogger help site. What kind of help did I get? Canned how to articles that did nothing but lead me around in circles. Then I clicked on every option available to try to contact an actual employee of blogger, but it took me over an hour to find a form to complete to submit to them. And it wasn’t a ‘report a problem’ form. I went to the google help group and found that many, many others were suffering from the same problem I had. Did google employees help us? One employee posted the same canned answer that we found at blogger help. And he said ‘if this doesn’t work then contact us directly at (insert website). This kind of thing may be best solved on an individual basis.” Well, when you click on that website link, it takes you back to the page where I clicked everything I could to try to find a ‘help me’ form to fill out. After all this, I posted my own comment on the google help group website detailing every step I had taken. I wrote everything down and did it three or four times so I know what I tried and what I didn’t. To date no google tech support person has responded to anyone on that forum that has the same problem I did. Finally, some other blogger supplied the answer and it involved tinkering with the address of a link that blogger supplies us when we ask to retrieve our passwords. Basically, that link that we got when we asked to retrieve our passwords was reading our usernames as Case Sensitive, but when Blogger tried to find our accounts, it was not reading our usernames as Case Sensitive so it wouldn’t recognize us. That is a programming problem that blogger and google tech support are just too lazy to fix. So, instead, they let their customers flounder in frustration.

Bottom line: Blogger/Google Tech support is not serving the customers. They would rather spend their time making money in corporate mergers and stock options, lying to investors by saying that Google is a good company that provides valuable goods and services to the public when in actuality they ignore the customers and do not service their products to the satisfaction of the end users. Or, they are goofing off in a lax workplace in which productivity is not emphasized, but playing with toys is. Word to investors - if the tech support won’t help the people the company serves, then the company doesn’t care about you either. Sell your stock and invest your money in money market accounts or IRAs or Certificates of Deposit. You’d be better off.

Final Results

2007-04-15T17:47:00.000-04:00

Ivo Karlovic beat Mariano Zabaleta in straight sets at the US Men's Clay Court Championships.

The Bryan Brothers were playing Knowles and Nestor a while ago on the Tennis Channel, but I've been switching between LPGA and PGA golf and haven't been able to watch any of their play.

US Men's Clay Court Championships

2007-04-15T05:32:00.000-04:00

I watched the second semifinal last night which featured James Blake vs Mariano Zabaleta from Argentina. It was a good match that ended in a straight sets win for Zabaleta, who had to qualify to play in the tournament after coming back from injuries and surgeries in the last couple of years.

So in the final you will see Zabaleta and the Croatian Karlovic. That airs today at 1:30pm eastern on the Tennis Channel.

Clay, but Not

2007-04-14T20:32:00.000-04:00

They are saying on the Tennis Channel that the surface at the US Men's Clay Court Championships is a soft surface but not quite clay. And that they are using a ball that makes the game faster than a traditional clay court experience. What's the point in playing this tournament as a lead up to the French Open if it's not playing like a clay court?

US Men's Clay Court Championships

2007-04-14T18:07:00.000-04:00

I saw the first set of the semifinal match between Ivo Karlovic and Albert Montanes today. Karlovic advanced to the finals. It was nice to see a Spaniard play today.

Carlos Moya

2007-04-13T20:24:00.000-04:00

I just saw the No Strings episode with Carlos Moya. He's got a cute little doggie and he puts it in a playpen. It looked like an English Bulldog. I may have to consider that as an option for my puppies, but I'm hoping they catch on to the puppy pad training really quickly. I'm going to follow the "Housebreak Your Dog in 7 Days" method as detailed by author Shirlee Kalstone. Hopefully, it will work as quickly on 7 week old puppies as the book says it works on a 16 week ond puppy. I plan to have a total of about 17 days straight to follow the 7 days method. I'll have 9 straight days off from work, then Mom and Dad will come up to follow the schedule for 5 days, then I'll have three days off to continue the training. After that, they will be shut up in my bathroom while I'm at work. There is one modification I'm making to Kalstone's program - I plan to get up in the middle of the night to let the puppies out of the crate and put them on the puppy pads to give them a chance to pee. They can't hold it for 7 straight hours at 7 weeks old.

French Open Redux

2007-04-11T16:53:00.000-04:00

Last night the Tennis Channel had French Open highlights shows on. I got to see some players that aren't around anymore.

It's still a little early to be promoting the French Open though.

Davis Cup: Spain VS USA, Final Matches

2007-04-08T17:35:00.000-04:00

Tommy Robredo won his match against one of the Bryan Brothers, but Lopez lost his match against Blake. Lopez started off really slow, but got into the second set and took it to a tiebreak.

The Spanish team seems to be a young one. I get the impression that they will improve over time.

I was very glad to have these two matches to watch today. It was either this or the Masters golf tournament and that tournament has been horrible to watch this week. No one had any good rounds the first three days. It was so depressing.

Right now, I'm watching a documentary about the Dead Sea rather than the golf tournament.

Davis Cup: Spain VS USA, Doubles Match

2007-04-08T05:39:00.000-04:00

It was Lopez and Verdasco vs the Bryan Brothers. I knew there was a very good reason why I keep saying I want to move to Spain. The views there (aka the really handsome guys) must be really nice. LOL. I wonder if the Spanish Tennis Federation folks have a calendar for sale featuring all these guys.

The tennis was pretty good. I like watching doubles, but they need better camera angles because some of those shots I completely didn't see.

I don't see why all the countries don't focus on doubles the way they do pairs figure skating. The Bryan Brothers need a lot more big time endorsements so they can bring even more attention to doubles.

Davis Cup: Spain VS USA

2007-04-07T16:52:00.000-04:00

Well, I was very naughty last night. I fell asleep during the James Blake-Tommy Robredo match. I'll comment on what I saw of it: Once in a while Robredo would come up with great shots that would make you think "wow". He doesn't look like a player who could have a lot of success on the court, but he's had a lot of success. Sneaky Good is what they call that. I think Blake won the match last night though.

Djokovic Wins Sony Ericsson Title

2007-04-01T16:19:00.000-04:00

After listening to his acceptance speech, I think Novak Djokovic is a bigger Guillermo Canas fan than I am. It was really great to see two players so nice to each other and so gracious in their speeches.

The match itself seemed a lot tougher than what the score reflected, especially the second set which included a 20 minute game that featured something like 8 or 9 deuces.

Djokovic knows how to endear himself to the crowds. He gave away everything, hats, wristbands, rackets, and to top it off, he walked around shirtless there after the match, a sure way to gain the support of the female fans.

If You Haven't Noticed....

2007-03-31T18:55:00.000-04:00

I'm not a big fan of women's tennis. I did watch the final of the Sony Ericsson Open, well, the first two sets. I haven't really ever been a fan of women's tennis, although I did name my dog after Steffi Graf. My Steffi, a chihuahua mix breed, is now 15 years old.

By the way, Serena Williams won the match over Justine Henin today.

Into the Final

2007-03-30T22:00:00.000-04:00

Guillermo Canas made it into the final with a win over Ivan Ljubicic. The first set of the match was really, really good. Canas always seems to get to the ball.

Has anyone else noticed that Roger Federer was wearing the same colors as the ball boys and girls? At least the shirt was the same color. I wonder if the players think it's weird or if they have a superstition about that.

Sony Ericsson Open

2007-03-29T20:19:00.000-04:00

I've been watching this a lot this week and I've unfortunately missed my chance to see Rafael Nadal. I did see some highlights tonight on ESPN2, but I would have really liked to have seen his match against del Potro.

Tonight they are showing the quarterfinal match of Tommy Robredo vs Guillermo Canas. This should be a really good match. Canas has beaten Federer twice now. I wonder just how far he will go in this tournament.

I do have a comment about the spectators - why is it so hard for them to sit still until the changeover? They are always moving around and basically being really rude to the players.

An Introduction

2007-03-29T20:15:00.000-04:00

Hi there. I created this blog because I've been watching a lot of tennis this week and I've been writing about it too much on my other sports blog, Even Par Round. I don't play tennis, but I've watched it off and on since the late 1980's. I missed a lot but I've also seen some of the best matches too. Not in person. I haven't been to any pro tennis matches. But tv is great. Who do I like in tennis? Right now I'm fond of the players from Spain and South America. It helps that I'm a big fan of the Spanish Pro Golfers too. Hopefully, I will maintain this interest in tennis and I'll be able to post a lot to this blog. The Tennis Channel will help me there.