Men's professional tennis is taking a dump on me.  I decided to hang out on a limb and pick the men's winner of the US Open this year.  I was pretty confident that some of my picks would come through.  I had a couple upsets selected and then some of the tried and true favorites - Nadal, Federer etc.  I went so far as to pick the Indianapolis Tennis Championship's winner, Gilles Simon.

Well, I obviously need to start taking tennis lessons or watching is more closely on television.

My original predictions for the quarters:

Nadal, Blake, Simon, Lopez, Roddick, Moya, Tursunov and Federer

Of my choices, the only men still left in the tournament are Nadal, Roddick and Federer.

I knew I should have picked a man named Fish for the "tournament of my life" award.  Mardy is coming off some injuries and hasn't played a ton of tennis this summer.  It is nice to see him do well in the biggest tennis event all year.  Too bad he had to beat my man Blake.

Andy is now being coached by Patrick McEnroe.  I met Patrick this summer as was very impressed.  He is now charged with developing the young elite players for the USTA.  He should do well in that role.  Hopefully he can get Andy's tennis game back on track.

General observations from the Open (and now totally unqualified eye): Federer doesn't look strong, Monfils is a breadth of fresh air and Del Porto is proving his summer wasn't all luck.

 

    First off, if you didn't watch the Roddick/Santoro match last night, you really missed something special. Let's just say that both backwalls in Arthur Ashe Stadium took a beating.Roddick easily defeated The Magician in straight sets 6-2 6-2 6-2. Santoro is one of the craftiest professional tennis players around, but was unable to withstand a constant barrage of Roddick serves.

 Lindsay Davenport was also impressive as she defeated Alisa Kleybanova 7-5 6-3. Lindsay did a noce job in foiling Kleybanova's game stategy, which was to hit every..single..shot.. at Davenport as hard as possible. Linsday moves on to meet 12th seed Marion Bartoli in the third round.

 Other notable results from day 3

 Novak Djokovic advances to the third round with a win over Arnaud Clement in straight sets. Novak rolled his left ankle pretty good, but with the help of a professional tennis trainer and 90 feet of athletic tape, he was able to finish the match. Keep an eye on this as the week progresses.

Nikolay Davydenko won in straight sets over Israeli Dudi Sela 6-3 6-3 6-3.

Robby Ginepri beat fellow American Amer Delic. Wild Card Sam Warburg defeated Janko Tipsarevic, who retired in the 2nd set.Dmitri Tursonov beat Eduardo Schwank in 4 sets. This happened somewhere in the middle of them seeing who could smash the most racquets on court

Jelena Jankovic outlasted Sofia Arvidsson to advance to the third round. Jankovic looked shaky at best. Elena Dementieva advanced over Pauline Parmentier 6-2 6-1.

Patty Schnyder, Caroline Wozniaki, and 3 seed Svetlana Kuznetsova were also winners.

Complete men's and women's day 3 results here.

Notable matches on tap for today

Men

Juan Martin Del Potro vs. Thomaz Belluci
David Nalbandian vs.Andrey Golubev
Andy Murray vs. Michael Llodra
Stanislas Wawrinka vs. Wayne Odesnik (currently 5-5 2nd set with Wawrinka taking the first set)
Sam Querrey vs. Nicolas Devilder
Ivo Karlovic vs. Florent Serra
Gael Monfils vs. Evgeny Korolev

Women

Dinara Safina def. Roberta Vinci 6-4 6-3
Venus Williams vs. Rossana De Los Rios
Ana Ivanovic vs. Julie Coin

Tonight's primetime action-coming to you live from the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center

Serena Williams vs. Elena Vesnia

Rafa Nadal vs. Ryler De Heart

    
    In day one action at the US Open, James Blake survived a scare from American Donald Young before finally winning in 5 sets 6-1 3-6 6-1 4-6 6-4. Blake definitely looked fatigued after a great run at the Olympics, but took adavantage of 2 overturned calls in the final set to regain his momentum and close out the match. Young showed signs that's he learning how to become a professional tennis player, but an overturned call followed by a double-fault on serve at 4-4 in the fifth set helped seal the deal for Blake.

 Rafael Nadal advanced to the second round with a victory over Bjorn Phau 7-6(4) 6-3 7-6(4). Rafa admitted to being tired and a little off his game, but was able to hold off his opponent nonetheless. Rafa at 70% or so is still a nightmare for anyone, although Phau deserves some credit for keeping it close throughout the three sets.

 It will be interesting to see what impact the Olympics will have on the players who participated, especially since two of the marquis Olympians in the men's draw definitely were not at their best yesterday. Roger Federer holds court at Artur Ashe Stadium tonight, so we'll see if he's shaken off the jetlag yet.

Other notable day 1 winners from the men's draw were David Ferrer, Juan Martin Del Potro, Andy Murray,Gael Monfils, Gilles Simon, David Nalbandian. Get complete day 1 results here.

Top seeds in action today at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center:
Roger Federer vs. Maximo Gonzalez
Tommy Robredo vs. Mischa Zverev
Tomas Berdych vs. Sam Querrey
Richard Gasquet vs. Tommy Haas

    Haas and Querrey are the underdog in their respective matches, but don't be suprised if one or both survive to see the second round. Querrey's game is defintely suited for the hard court and Haas has a Safin-esque way of playing lights-out in big matches. Haas has also made the quarterfinals in New York in three of the past four years.

Yes, the granddaddy of them all begins today in Flushing Meadow.  The US Open takes center stage in the tennis world.  I would argue that it is the premier Men's Professional Tennis Tournament in the world.

We love to watch how 'our' tennis players from the Indianapolis Tennis Championships go on to do in NY. 

I decided to go out on a limb and choose by quarterfinalists for this year's US Open.

Here goes:

Nadal
Blake
Simon
Lopez
Roddick
Moya
Tursunov
Federer

Nobody would blame me for choosing Nadal and Federer.  I think 99% of the population would pick one of them to win the whole thing.  Blake had a great Olympics and is playing well on the hardcourts.  An Indy favorite, Andy Roddick should also do well.  Going out further on a limb, I'm going to choose none other than Gilles Simon to make the finals.

As all Fridays go we will now give recognition to a proud supporter of the 2008 Indianapolis Tennis Championships Presented by Lilly. Without support from partners such as the USTA Midwest Section we would not be able to put on a world class mens professional tennis event in Indy every summer. So thank you USTA Midwest and we look forward to the exciting partnership in years to come.

Men's and Women's Wild Cards were announced yesterday for the US Open, which begins on monday at the USTA Billie Jean King national Tennis Center. They are:

Men

Amer Delic (USA)
Brendan Evans (USA)
Scoville Jenkins (USA)
Austin Krajicek (USA)
Jesse Levine (USA)
Sam Warburg (USA)
Carsten Ball(Australia)
Laurent Recouderc (France)

More info here

Women

Gail Brodsky (USA)
Jamea Jackson (USA)
Asia Muhammad (USA)
Melanie Oudin (USA)
Ahsha Rolle (USA)
CoCo Vandeweghe (USA)
Severine Bremond (France)
In addition, a yet-to-be-determined Australian player will receive a direct entry into the main draw.

More info here



Good luck to them all as they compete against the very best that professional tennis has to offer.

Novak being Novak in New York...PRICELESS!

The lighter side of mens professional tennis.

An Olympic Gold Medal and a #1 ranking on the world...not a bad week at all.

Way to go Rafa...You're King of the World!

Final results from Beijing:

 Men's Tennis Singles
 
Gold Medal match
Nadal (ESP) def. Gonzalez (CHI) 6-3 7-6(2) 6-3

Bronze Medal match
Djokovic (SRB) def. Blake (USA) 6-3 7-6(4)

 Men's Tennis Doubles

Gold medal match
Federer/Wawrinka (SUI)   6 6 6(4) 6
Aspelin/Johannson(SWE) 3 4 7    3

Bronze medal match
Bryan/Bryan (USA)    3 6 6
Clement/Llodra (FRA) 6 3 4

 Women's Tennis Singles

Gold medal match
Dementieva (RUS) def. Safina (RUS) 3-9 7-5 6-3

Bronze medal match
Zvonareva (RUS) def. Na (CHN) 6-0 7-5

 Women's Tennis Doubles

Gold medal match
Williams/Williams (USA)  6 6
Garrigues/Virginia (ESP)  2 0

Bronze medal match
Zi/Jie (CHN)                              6 6
Bondarenko/Bondarenko (UKR)  2 2

And there you have it...Congratulations to the winners for doing their Countries proud.

In other tennis news:

 Juan Martin Del Potro makes it four for the year as he takes the title at the Legg Mason Classic in Washington DC. His win over Viktor Troicki gives him some serious momentum heading into New York.Del Potro also moved into the #15 spot in the ATP Men's rankings.

 Pilot Pen Tennis takes center stage in New Haven this week.The final stop before New York for the Olympus US Open Series always puts on a great show with some of the best in both Men's and Women's pro tennis.

 
And on deck....The US Open.We at The Juice are getting geared up for our favorite of all the Grand Slams as we speak.Can Federer make it five? Can Nadal or Djokovic make it one? Will Jerry Seinfeld be there? Man, I hope so...he's funny.

Here are your Beijing Day 7 Results

    Women's Tennis Singles
 Safina (RUS) def. Jankovic (SRB) 6-2 5-7 6-3
 
    Men's Tennis Singles
 Nadal (ESP) def. Djokovic (SRB) 6-4 1-6 6-4
 Gonzalez (CHI) def. Blake (USA) 4-6 7-5 11-9

 
     A great week of tennis is set to conclude this weekend in Beijing with both the men's and women's gold medal matches. As is true for both the ATP and WTA tours, the Olympics has seen the most consistent and disciplined players advance through the event. 
     Rafael Nadal and Dinara Safina serve as prime examples of this this. While both are highly emotional and energetic players, they're also extrmemely consistent in their approach to each and every match. Neither player gives much, if anything, away to their opponents. Rafael is playing the best tennis of his young career and is the posterboy for proper fitness and mental toughness. Safina is quickly positioning herself for a run at #1 in the WTA rankings with her unique blend of athleticism and mental savvy. 
 
     It was sad, at least for us here at The Juice, to see Roger Federer lose in his bid for his maiden olympic Medal. However, his loss paved the way for the most pleasant of suprises, that being James Blake's journey into the medal round. Blake fell in three sets to Fernando Gonzalez today in semifinal action, but his Beijing performance just might be the perfect boost of confidence that James needs to turn his season around.  

 Unfortunately, the Olympics wouldn't be the Olympics without a little controversy. For Blake, such controversy appeared in the form of a ball that was called out, but apparently knicked Gonzalez' racquet first.

From nbcolympics.com:

 "The incident that upset Blake occurred with Gonzalez serving at 8-9 in the final set. On the first point, Blake hit a backhand passing shot long but contended the ball ticked Gonzalez's racket before landing, as TV replays confirmed.

 Blake appealed in vain to the chair umpire, and said Gonzalez should have conceded the point. Blake went on to lose the game to make it 9-all.

 "Playing in the Olympics, in what's supposed to be considered a gentleman's sport, that's a time to call it on yourself," Blake said. "Fernando looked me square in the eye and didn't call it."

 Gonzalez said he was uncertain whether the ball hit his racket.
 
 "I didn't feel anything," Gonzalez said. "I mean, it's just one point. There is an umpire. If I'm 100 percent sure about it, I mean, I will give it. But I'm not sure."

     It's an unfortunate end to a great run for James, although he had failed to capitalize on three match point chances at the time of the botched call. However..I'm dissapointed by Gonzalez' statement that "..it's just one point". For Blake, that one point was match point. 
     
    Funny how the weight of a single point is so skewed depending on which side of the net you're standing.
     
    Anyway, I can't wait to see how James fares at the US Open. I've seen James do some pretty amazing things on a tennis court (Ed. note: see 2006 final vs. Roddick in Indianapolis. One of the best professional tennis matches I've ever seen). He's an amazing athlete. Hopefully, he can leave this incident behind him in Beijing.

James Blake rolls past Federer in Beijing!
Be sure to watch James keep the American tennis hopes of gold alive at the 2008 Olympics.





Tennis  .  Community  .  Charity

While watching the Olympics late last night, I started pondering who are the most conditioned athletes?  Michael Phelps will certainly go down as the most decorated Olympian of all time.  In watching him swim so fast and so effortlessly, you know he is superbly conditioned.  He also is mentally tough.  I watched beach volleyball, and yes they are great athletes but superb conditioning and mental toughness?  I'm not so sure.  The gymnasts - well I certainly couldn't perform those type of vaults, flips and landings.  I watched one girl land with a bum ankle and asked my husband, how in the heck could she do that with bad ankle.  His comment was that it was only one landing.  She can suck it up and then she is done performing.  One and done.

That brings me back to the tennis athlete.  I've watched my fair share of tennis stars at the Indianapolis Tennis Championships, US Open and other ATP events and I'm still amazed at the type of athletes these guys have to be. The matches can be long, you have no coach, breaks are limited and don't last but more than a minute or so, the surface changes, the conditions can be difficult.

For a Roger Federer or Rafael Nadal to be tops in the game, they have to be able to master very different playing surfaces and compete in sometimes difficult conditions.  At the Indianapolis Tennis Championships this year, the court surfaces reached temperatures in excess of 110 degrees.  It was hot out there.  Those guys chased down balls, served, hit the ball as hard as they could for sometimes two hours or more.  They got several breaks, for a minute or two and no coaching.  They had no teammates cheering them on or sharing the load.  They were out there by themselves competing against their opponent, the elements and sometimes the crowd.  Talk about mental toughness.  I walked out on the tennis court and couldn't wait to get back into the air conditioning and my bottle of Evian water.

So here is the stumper - name me a sport which only involves one athlete who competes for upwards of two hours without coaching or any support staff.  No timeouts, no prolonged breaks, no coasting - just all out hustle, determination and athleticsm.

Ticket scalpers must really be getting sophisticated in the 21st Century as scalpers storm the streets of Beijing. While managing the box office for a Men’s Professional Tennis tournament I have come across numerous ticket scalpers. None of which that I've run into (thrown off our site) have ever struck me as being very bright. Ticket Scalpers normally remind me of a bum begging for their last meal. In order to be a scalper in Beijing would you have to deal with the following: how do these scalpers communicate with the fans from various countries...? Are there translators for scalpers? Do the Scalpers except traveling checks or Yen only? How about Visa, it is the only card excepted at the Olympics? Please let me know your thoughts on ticket scalping at the Olympics and which event you would pay the most to watch?

A side note: James Blake a quarter-finalist at Indy and Gilles Simon the 2008 Indianapolis Tennis championships Presented by Lilly Champion have both made it to the 3rd Round at the Beijing Olympics. The two will be competing against each other for a shot at a gold medal. Good luck Guys!

I wanted to give you all an update on an exciting event coming up this fall! In our efforts to promote healthy active lifestyles in the Hoosier state, we will be visiting two schools and a tennis club this fall to educate our citizens on living healthier, active lifestyles. We are in the process of securing a player from the ATP to join us on this exciting venture through the state of Indiana. Stay tuned for the location we are visiting, it may be you!!!

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