Tennis in the Ten. Let's all get our sticks back out.

[oleada]

I hope Justine wins Wimbledon. Justine!
Kim can win a slam, too
Serena looked great yesterday, though.

[Megi]

The result of the day (from Auckland):

A Clement (FRA) d [2] D Ferrer (ESP) 75 64

[Loves_Shizuka]

Is Arnaud still hawwwt?! Not seen him for a while...

Safina got trashed by Dementieva in Sydney; got a feeling a big fall might come Dinara's way soon.

[judgejudy27]

Is Arnaud still hawwwt?! Not seen him for a while...

Safina got trashed by Dementieva in Sydney; got a feeling a big fall might come Dinara's way soon.

Honestly I never was a Safina fan. She will go down in history as the biggest joke #1 ever. If she takes a big fall, well I cant say I would be dissapointed or miss her much. She was only at the top in the first place because of the huge hole at the top of the womens game created by Clijsters and Henin retirements, Sharapova's injury problems, many of the other top players underperforming and other issues, and the dearth of rising talent or rising talent gone badly awry (eg- Vaidisova). Her being ranked #1 was a huge accident more or less. I think she will go down as one of the biggest overachievers even if she never wins a slam as I expect. For her to hold #1 for almost a whole year with so many more talented players than her, even with the briefly weak womens field, and reach 3 slam finals and an Olympic final with her skills and game, she went well beyond what her potential was if anything IMHO. Of the current field I think Henin, Clijsters, Serena, Sharapova, Venus, Kuznetsova, Dementieva, Jankovic, Ivanovic, Wozniacki, Azarenka, are all better players than she is, or atleast they should be if they are playing the way they should be able to.

[Coco]

Um, Safina is coming back from a serious back injury. Gloaters hold your horses just a bit.

[BigB08822]

I don't get all the Safina hate. It was especially funny to read the list of her accomplishments as if she was lucky to have them. The funny part was how the list kept going on and was full of a lot of big things. Anyone can get lucky in a tournament, maybe even hit a hot streak and do well in 2 tournaments, but luck doesn't get you to multiple Slam finals, Olympic finals and allow you so long as the #1 player not to mention all the winning she did outside of the 4 (ONLY 4, THERE ARE MORE TOURNAMENTS YOU KNOW?!) Slams. She can't help who retired or was injured/not playing their best. The fact is she did well enough to grab #1 and hold onto it for so long, anyone could have come along to take it from her and they didn't.

[oleada]

I don't get all the Safina hate. It was especially funny to read the list of her accomplishments as if she was lucky to have them. The funny part was how the list kept going on and was full of a lot of big things. Anyone can get lucky in a tournament, maybe even hit a hot streak and do well in 2 tournaments, but luck doesn't get you to multiple Slam finals, Olympic finals and allow you so long as the #1 player not to mention all the winning she did outside of the 4 (ONLY 4, THERE ARE MORE TOURNAMENTS YOU KNOW?!) Slams. She can't help who retired or was injured/not playing their best. The fact is she did well enough to grab #1 and hold onto it for so long, anyone could have come along to take it from her and they didn't.

Co-signed.

[Loves_Shizuka]

Where's the hating?! All she's achieved she's earned and worked hard for; that still being said, I KNOW she's coming back from injury, she's been struggling for a while, has a lot of points of defend, and there are many around her in better form (namely the big return of the Belgians) SO I believe it's going to be difficult for her to match her achievements from the same time last year. Is all. I'm not sitting here rubbing my palms together with glee, forcasting the great fall of the Safina.

[Braulio]

Honestly I never was a Safina fan. She will go down in history as the biggest joke #1 ever. If she takes a big fall, well I cant say I would be dissapointed or miss her much. She was only at the top in the first place because of the huge hole at the top of the womens game created by Clijsters and Henin retirements, Sharapova's injury problems, many of the other top players underperforming and other issues, and the dearth of rising talent or rising talent gone badly awry (eg- Vaidisova). Her being ranked #1 was a huge accident more or less. I think she will go down as one of the biggest overachievers even if she never wins a slam as I expect.

[Beefcake]

Sampras isn't too happy with the sophomoric potshots Agassi's book takes at him.

Agassi made a statement that Sampras "sounds more robotic than" a parrot.

"I envy Pete's dullness. I wish I could emulate his spectacular lack of inspiration, and his peculiar lack of need for inspiration," Agassi wrote.

Agassi told of betting coach Brad Gilbert about how much Sampras tipped a parking valet. They asked the valet, who said $1.

"We could not be more different, Pete and I," Agassi wrote.

Sampras won't debate that.

[Beefcake]

I love the semifinalists at the Sydney tourstop!

Dickie Gasket v. Julian Benneteau and x 2 'nuff said!

Mardy Fish v. Baggy ... Baghdatis is of course hella fun on the court, and Mardy's serve & volley, chip & charge power game is full of power, fun and errors.

Gasquet is only 23!? Boy seems to have been around forever.

Speaking of hottie Frenchmen, where is heck is FSU's "Brings The Sexy" King, Paul Henri? Our boy hasn't been seen since last fall. Hope he's not injured ... well, he'd almost have to be wouldn't he to have not made an 0TEN appearance yet?

[BigB08822]

I apologize, I didn't mean everyone here was hating on Safina. I post and read at another message board dedicated to just tennis and it is a running theme. So when I read what judgejudgy said I just responded without explaining where I was coming from.

[CaptCrunch]

P H Mathieu is injured and will miss the Aussie Open. Not sure what is wrong with him.

Did anyone notice that Alexandra Stevenson lost in the first rd of qualifying? Not a surprise. Last year she didn't win one single qualifying match. She's 29 now. Some dreams die hard I guess. Since she reunited with her father (Julius Erving) 2 years ago I assume he must be footing the bills for her tennis now.

[oleada]

I apologize, I didn't mean everyone here was hating on Safina. I post and read at another message board dedicated to just tennis and it is a running theme. So when I read what judgejudgy said I just responded without explaining where I was coming from.

It just seems that people (commentators, tennis writers, people on tennis message boards) love to rag on her so much that it gets really old I know what you mean.

As for Mathieu, he is injured and missing the AO

[oleada]

The men's draw is on!

Roger/Novak/Davydenko/Soderling in first half, Roddick/Murray/Nadal/Del Potro in the other

The stream was down for the women's draw but apparently it's Henin/Dementieva in round 2!

Williams & Sharapova in the same half; Safina, Henin & Clijsters in the opposite half. I think Venus and Maria are in the same quarter.

[Beefcake]

Serena's got to love having the bloodbath on the "other" side of the draw for the first time in a while!

MEN'S QF IF SEEDS CAME TRUE:

Federer-Davydenko
Watch out for Mr. Burns, Roger! Boy's got your number

Djokovic-Soderling
Another surprise Swede victory in Oz?

Del Potro-Roddick
So is Del Porny injured or not? Either way, it's a good draw for A-Rod, as he seems fit and usually excels at AO.

Murray-Nadal
Not sure what to make of this one. Rafa's game is killing his body, but it doesn't mean he won't kick azz in between cripples.

[oleada]

whoops double post

[oleada]

Apparently, Sharapova is in the bottom half now too Faces Safina in the 4R. Who knows what's going on...

Clijsters/Henin/Dementieva quarter is pretty crazy, though.

Venus better be on from day 1 because she got Lucie Safarova in R1, who is always dangerous.

Battle of the Wozzies again in r1. Glamour match is obviously Kirilenko/Sharapova

As for the men, the top half seems stronger to me than the bottom, seeds-wise. Davydenko/Federer/Djokovic all really excel in hard courts.

[Beefcake]

Venus better be on from day 1 because she got Lucie Safarova in R1, who is always dangerous.

I'll call that one right now. Lucie wins. Venus barely scraped through the early rounds last year with lighter competition. How is it that Miss Safarova is a "dangerous" floater at Slams? Shouldn't she be consistently seeded?

[Beefcake]

Draws are up on the site now. The Henin/Dementieva/Clijsters quarter is KILLER! Also has Petrova, Kuznetsova, Pennetta and a gaggle of other Russians.

Meanwhile, Serena's just got Azarenka in her quarter to worry about, then ... well, really, I don't see anyone in Venus' quarter troubling a by-then rolling Serena Williams.

Over on the men's side ...

Rafa lands in the forest ... would have Stilt 1 and Stilt 2 - Isner and Karlovic - in consecutive matches. (3rd and 4th rounds). Eh, not gonna happen. Isner may make it to R3, but Karlovic will be felled by the Worm or the Fish. But, really, not a Murderer's Row of a draw for Nadal (Uncle Toni still working his draw magic!). We'll see how his limbs hold up.