Too good, Kolya D. Just too freaking good. Must qualify for WTF with that win.

Please win it all tomorrow.

Upd. Oh, and Nadal? Please tear Lopez apart. Show no mercy, okay? Thanks.

Send this clown home!  Tear him up! AJMO!

Upd. Boo Monfils! Boo on you!

I love you man, but stop embarrassing yourself. First, if at 30 y.o and after 13 years of pro life you're still getting fooled by that, than you're a tool who deserves no better. Second, I distinctly remember someone taking a mto at RG '04, just as Starace was about to serve for the match. And against Hewitt in the AO '05 final - to get leg massage, of all things? Now who might that have been? Errm... let me remember... you!Everybody does that, just,,, stfu for chrissakes.

On the other hand, was pretty interesting to know at last why he had a spit with Roddick at the Athenes Olympics - because of the schedule, it turned out. I was mildly disappointed tbh hoped for somehing more epic.

On the third hand, DelPo's fall season is really shaping up in the footsteps of Nole's '07 fall season, only with an injury on top of that. No wonder the stands were empty - why would fans go to a tournament if every top player who takes the court just fucking retires?

Nole started his match playing short to Fabio's forehand like a moron, but let's chalk it up for not knowing what the guy's up to. Then lifted up his return game, blasted Fabio's candy-ass. Fabio's really too pretty, almost indecently so.

andyroddick i just dont think it makes sense that we have a year as long as we do, and then people act shocked when injuries play a part

Andy Roddick wrote that on twitter this morning. Five hours later he retired from his match against Stan the Man with knee injury - that's what I call self-jinx (or would that be a self-fulfilling prophesy?) par excellence. Poor A-Rod, tennis's been fucking him sideways since that Wimbly final.

On a separate creepy note, Wawa now has two wins over Andy, both by retirement.

Gulbis returned to his usual stellar form, losing to Fognini on hard in the 1st rd in straights. Cilic also went out in the 1st rd - to Berdych.

Yes, I know for a fact that there are people out there who don't like Jo-Wilfried Tsonga. I'm even friends with some of them. It still doesn't make sense to me though - I mean how can you not like the awesomeness and fun that is Jo-Wi? It's just unnatural.


Jo-Wi won Tokyo over Youzhny in a dominating fashion - that will help him immencely in the race to Barklay's, but I don't know about his Shanghai chances now - he will be playing for the 3rd week in a row. Good luck anyway.

Looks like play in Beijing is suspended for rain. I'm heading out with Monkey boy - Nole will have to find his way without me.

Soderling sucks!!!

I really wanted him to win this tournament . Although my first choice was Safin. But Safin sucks too!!!!

c) Someone on MTF, on Sod-Nole thread: that cracked me up for some reason. Then I tried to format this entry and hit "ctrl+b" and got taken to a google search with keywords "Soderling sucks". That cracked me up even more.

Yes, my life is a glum, cheerless place.

Well, that was a pretty good day, tennis-wise. A great day, actually - all the matches exactly in the way I wanted. First Misha beat Lleyton in an awesome 3-setter (funny how long it's been since Misha was any good at all - two years almost?). It's great to see him playing well, if only for a short while - he's truly spectacular when on song.

Nole strategically kicked Sod's behind, nice and smooth, doing all the right things.

Woodshed, meet Rafael Nadal. Rafael Nadal, this is woodshed, please feel at home. Marin was undoubtedly on fire, and I think that Nadal's hopeless moonballing made him look even better than he truly was. Rafa has this effect on hard hitters sometimes.

And Jo took care of Monfils in the most efficient manner. So tomorrow I have two finals where I honestly don't care who wins: of course, I'm pulling slightly for Nole and Misha (cause it's no fun otherwise), but won't be bothered in the slightest if either didn't win. Good times.

And because I'm in continious awe of Jo's magnificient hair, here we go:
( find ten differences )</div>
Okay, so Jo will have to grow his hair just a little more to compete, but still... bravo.

(Incidentially, the second photo was taken in China 4 yrs ago).</b></b>

You see that Nadal's started winning points suddenly? You understand what that means? That means that the 2nd set will be a dogfight. Get your ass  in gear and your 1st serves in. Thanks.

Yeah.
 


Expected result, okay - still thanks Marat, for two great matches, and a lot of fine play in this one. You can't really beat Nadal without a forehand, can you? Noone can.

 

( Still a god though )
And he got a bottle as a parting gift.

In other news Nole beat the future of tennis for the 5th time in a row - not nearly as vomit-indusing as their USO encounter, but almost as strange, and played almost to the same tune: win the first set in a dogfight, go away in the 2nd, come back to win the match. Nole's showing more willingness to go dtl though which is kinda encouraging. Still way too many doublefaults though.

His Toadness next, he's playing some mean ball this week - loved the way he's absolutely shredded Boredo. Not a guarantee, this, despite 3-0 h2h.

( looking devastatingly handsome though )
Okay, not the best angle, but I like this picture.

As someone on MTF pointed out, Verdasco is the Blake of the new generation - handsome, massive forehand, tons of athleticism, all-or-nothing game, mental issues and tennis IQ and competitive spirit of an average grapefruit. The only difference is that 'Dasco's a lefty and two-handed on the bh side. Expect him to show up with shaved head and a headband any time now.

On the other hand, believe or not, that OTHER Beijing semifinal still gives me nightmares - that was tough to take, ladies and gents, tough to take and I don't care for a repeat any time soon. Ergo, Nadal must lose before the final. Ajde, Marin.

Looks like Ernie's trying to grow some scruff - probably in an attempt to look more manly. It ain't working, Ernie - you're still looking like you're fresh out of kindergarten. And doublefaulting on set-points will not win you matches against top10 opponents. Tsonga was there for the taking, jesus.

( I can't decide who's more adorable )Opinions?

 

I think you have to appoint two positions now: the #1, and the real #1. They could flip a coin as to who's gonna be which in the beginning of each weak. A lot of problems solved.

Think about that: Serena won the match that gave her the #1 ranking, and lost her next. Now, I don't mean to say that she lost to Petrova intentionally, or didn't give a crap - she usually doesn't let it to get into the 3rd set tiebreak, if she intends to tank (and it was a pretty good match, btw, Petrova's dress notwithstanding. Indeed, speed of some of those rallies surely beat anything that Youzhny-Simon had to offer), but it was kinda symbolic, wasn't it? Both of them want that #1 spot, and both lack that crucial something - whether it's talent and self-belief, or consistency.

( Now to the subject of Petrova's dress )

Also Marat got one back over Gonzo, after losing six in a row. And he played good - I kept waiting for thecustomary 2nd set drop-off, but it never came. Next Nadal, and the buck stops here (and i think, without verifying it on the atptennis, that they've only played once... which is really pretty bizarre). Nadal was really piss-poor for 2 matches in a row, but yeah... next match's Marat's last in Beijing.




( They seemed to have quite a time out there however. Gonzo was just arsing around sometimes )
ETA: as an offside note, and in case someone on my f-list didn't know that alseady: I really hate Gilles Simon. I mean really freaking hate him. Hate him, hate him, hate him, hate him. HATE.

Just so you know.