mmmmmmmMax Mirnyi

He lost to Soderling but he's still yummmmmmmmmmmy.

I wish The Tennis Channel was a premium channel so I could just pay for it.

Did you guys read the feature about instant replay in this month's Tennis magazine? Basically, it seems to rehash the entire conversation we had here after the U.S. Open.

I find it shocking that he would get engaged to this actress after only four months. Especially since he was with Kim for four years and aside from the obvious tennis, probably shares much more. Wonder what the over/under for this relationship will be.

Little late chiming in on this comment, but Serena has some serious junk in the trunk. Those shorts that she wore during the Sharapova match made her rear look J Lo-esque. How have I never noticed this before?

Really? Wow. That is a hard ass to miss. J Lo. has nothing on her. I saw a picture on Fametracker with Serena in a thong. I was left speechless for the rest of the night.

Amen, sister.

According to my TiVo, E! is going to air the Serving For Tsunami Relief event. I've forgotten the date, but it is not this week--I think it is next week.

Not that I don't already support Davis Cup but quick, run and grab Tennis magazine and tell me who is televising the March match:

Oh My Goodness! This line from the ESPN article (where I went to see if I could find schedule times) scares me a bit:

Hi, just got this via e-mail from USTA - confirming Andre's playing....

http://www.usta.com/ustanews/fullstory.sps?iNewsid=148994

ESPN covered the Davis Cup match with Spain, so I'm guessing it will be them. I actually purchased tickets for Davis Cup last month so I'm going to get a little added treat!

I am more than surprised. Makes me think he is in the twilight of his career cause Pete started playing Davis Cup again in his last year. Or am I making that up? I don't think I am.

I believe it'll be ESPN and I am positive they will air it now that Andre is in it.

On another note, who is the top doubles team now if the Bryans are 2? Is it Woodbridge and whomever again? I haven't looked but the Bryans haven't won a Slam since the French maybe? And I am pretty sure they didn't win year-end but again, I could be making this stuff up.

Pete definitely played in his last year on tour, because I actually got to go to one of the ties. I must say I was so happy to actually get to see Pete play. I remember very distinctly seeing him so is scissor kick overhead while playing. I was just so in awe of seeing his power and athleticism in person.

If this is indeed Agassi's last year I gotta get to one of the tour event's featuring him. It would be a shame never to get to see him play in person. The Davis Cup team looks very strong now that Agassi is on board. Roddick is solid and the Bryan brothers haven't lost a match yet. I just hope that the later rounds end up in the US or Agassi will probably take a pass.

I just looked it up, and Wayne Black/Kevin Ullyett are ranked #1 in the Doubles Race, but Mark Knowles and Daniel Nestor are #1 in the entry ranking (the Bryan brothers are #6 in the entry ranking).

That Tsunami Relief event is being aired (from tape, obviously) on E! on Feb. 17th--I think at 10pm.

Cool.

There is also a video highlight on the ATP site. I know there are a lot of Roddick haters on this board, but there is a hilarious part where Andy is singing & dancing to Anna K on the court.

Davis Cup will be aired on ESPN2 according to this article.

Has anyone watched VH1's 40 Scariest Hair Moments (or something like that)?

My guy was number 25. The schtick states that Andre went from a mullet to a shaved head at the behest of She Who Will Not Be Named. Frank deCaro had a funny line, "If you were married to Andre, if you were married to anyone and they had a mullet, wouldn't you tell them to get rid of it?"

The ATP website reports that The Tennis Channel will be airing the Tsunami Relief event for 24 hours, which seems weird but ... OK.

So I'm watching my tape of the SAP semi-final, melzer/saulnier and Fox Sports has elected not to show the ongoing set score or match score, but rather only the score of the game being played. Its so annoying that they think you shouldn't see the total score except for when they go to and come back from commerical.

I don't recall Fox showing only the quarter score for football, why tennis?

Did anyone catch "Sports Hottest Couples" on ESPN2 last night? They used past and present couples and tennis won for most people from one sport (although they counted both men and women and tennis was the only sport with both sexes--except soccer which had Mia Hamm with Nomar and Beckham with Posh) but Roddick and Mandy Moore beat Andre and Steffi which isn't right.

This was an email from The Tennis Channel, which I still don't have but love to hear about:

Reminder: Davis Cup, Friday at 4 p.m. on the Deuce. Andre set to play. Go here for story.

Well, tomorrow I'm off to Davis Cup.. USA vs Croatia. I understand that the Jensen brothers and Brad Gilbert may all be roving reporters for ESPN during the match , god help us all!!!

It was great to see tennis live again after such a long drought but ... bummer that USA lost in the opening match. And too bad it's not airing live today, at least as far as I can tell.

Is it me being overly patriotic or was Ljubicic pretty ungracious? OK, just me then.

I don't think I could get used to the rowdy crowds at Davis Cup. Will be interested to hear from khyber about how things went.

And the utter glee that Brad Gilbert was barely veiling when Darren Cahill got a warning from the referee was so very obnoxious.

The crowd was pretty quiet for most of the time. There was once or twice in the Roddick/Ancic match that people leapt to their feet cheering, but that was the exception not the rule. The Croats definitely were more into cheering and flag waving that the Americans.

A lot of Croats were wearing these T-shirts that mentioned that Croats invented the necktie. I can't wait to see what country steps up to take credit for inventing jockstraps or tampons.

Also, Brad Gilbert touched my pen. This guy siting by me went all fangirly over Gilbert and went to shake his hand and get his autograph when he was hanging out talking to Justin Gimelstob. Trouble was he didn't have a pen and neither did his girlfriend so he asked me if I had a pen. Thus...... my pen being touched by Brad. I think I will have a plexiglass holder made for it to preserve his essence.

The Blimp, Yeah!!

Both Ivan and Andre really know how to construct a point. You can almost see them thinking several shots in advance. More often than not, it seems that both Mario and Andy just swing for the fence and hope for the best.

I was suprised at how much power Ivan was getting off of his backhand. Significant.

I think the ticket scalpers took a bath. Plenty of empty seats. I'm curious about attendance on Saturday or Sunday being better.

Luke Jensen is in desperate need of a haircut and you can identify Cliff Drysdale from far away based on his posture. I may bring binoculars so I can cleary see him and Johnny Mac in the broadcast booth.

Roddick/Ljubicic is on ESPN Classic live right now.

I didn't see this since I was actually at the match but I understand that as ESPN was showing the doubles (delayed airing) that the scroll on the bottom of the screen showed the results!! Great job ESPN.

Just a reminder, but ESPN2 is starting their coverage of the PacLife Open this Sunday.

I noticed that Serena/Venus aren't entered in this week's event. Are they still boycotting the event?

Probably so. I wonder if the WTA does the same thing that the ATP does? What I mean is, based on what I've read, the top players are required to play in the Masters Events unless they have a legit injury or something like that, otherwise they get fined. I wonder if that applies to the Tier 1 events on the WTA?

From Jon Wertheim regarding this:

Thank you, LT!

And what was the story with the Williams sisters and Indian Wells? (I know this is old news, but if it's not intolerably boring to retell it, I would be a most interested reader.)

A couple of years ago at Indian Wells, Venus & Serena were on the same side of the draw in opposite quarters, which meant they'd meet each other in the semifinals at least. Well, TV and newspapers had been hyping the potential match real hard. My guess is because IIRC, they hadn't played each other in a while and Venus was ranked number one at the time I believe.

Well, they both make it to the semifinals, but, with like minutes till they were supposed to walk out on court, Venus pulled out of the match citing an injury. When it was announced over the PA system that Venus pulled out, the crowd started booing. The commentators in the booth started to really wonder if the rumors of the 2 of them fixing their matches against each other ahead of time were true or if Venus was told to default so Serena could get the ranking points to improve her ranking.

So, we get to the Saturday final. As Venus and Richard are making their way to the players box, all of a sudden the crowd starts booing. Later on, Richard would claim that somone shouted racial slurs at him. Throughout the match, the crowd was almost totally anti-Serena, cheering her unforced errors and such. Kim Clijsters really had a chance to win that match for sure. Somehow, Serena was able to overcome the crowd and win.

After that debacle, Venus and Serena said they would never play at Indian Wells again.

Wow.

Thanks, Jer2002.

You know, this is an enormous generalization, but I feel like the Williams era in tennis history has been such an incredible bummer emotionally. I used to think it was mostly because it was so painful for the two sisters to play each other, especially in those big finals. But I think the quality that upsets me so much about their whole period is more upsetting and all-pervasive than that. And I don't think it's fucking racism. I think it's their fucking father. I think his egomania or narcissism or whatever the fuck is wrong with him has seeped into every aspect of the public life of these sisters and basically poisoned all of it IMO, and thereby has poisoned women's tennis for like the last ten years by God! I just want them and their whole pathology to go away. And then I want Justin H-H or the US Open Champion (whose name I'm forgetting) or somebody new (hey, how about an African-American girl from the ghetto who doesn't have a psychotic parent!) to come along and kick Shriekapova's ass and her ugly game to the curb.

Then maybe I could start to think about the women's game with a lighter heart.

Sorry for the rant. But I do appreciate your bringing me up to speed, Jer2002.

I might get in trouble for saying this, but I think Richard Williams, though annoying, is not half as bad as the other tennis parents out there. He's been fairly quiet in the last few years, and I think most of the stuff that comes out of his mouth is blown out of proportion. I personally feel there are some powerful people that resent him because he did things his way, didn't do as he was told, and in the end he was mostly right. Yeah, he can be an idiot. Most definitely. But I don't think the tennis father phenomenon is a Williams-only affair. Unfortunately, it's a lot more pervasive than that.

On the other hand you have Oracene, who seems grounded, cool, calm and collected. But people don't focus on her though she's actually at the sisters' side more often than Richard. I guess she's not "news".

Federer is on my TV screen and kicking ass right now and I'm one happy woman.

Richard Williams is definitely out there, but when there are parents like Jim Pierce, Damir Dokic, and even Papa Sharapova, he is relatively tame by comparison. He's said some outrageous things in the past, but nothing malicious, just silly and dumb. I've noticed that he has slipped into the background lately, I wonder if Venus and Serena had anything to do with that.

I know full well there have been other really sicko tennis parents. Far sicker than RW. (Papa Sharapova scares me to death. I would totally not want to see him in a dark alley.) And Oracene/Brandy seems really cool.

However, I'm talking about my own general all over feeling of downer/bummer. And I think it's due to his domination of his daughters. My impression of Richard is that he is all about himiself 24/7 and that he is a really poisonous person, however many positive things he may have done for his family. You see, I think that he does good things for his family in order to reflect well on himself, basically. My impression is that dealing with the Williams sisters is really difficult because although they both seem to be essentially really nice, the whole family dynamic is so toxic and the boundaries so non-existent, that I'll bet dealing with them at any length would become very difficult and ultimately off-putting. It makes it hard to love them, even just as a fan, at least for me (even though they are both by nature basically loveable as all hell). It's like loving one of them is loving an appendage of a creation made expressly to reflect glory on Richard Williams. And that bums me out.

I'm trying to think of concrete things that have made me think so badly of RW. Here's one I remember from early on. In the very early articles about Venus, long before she made her pro debut, when she was just becoming a sensation, I remember him being quoted again and again saying that great as Venus was, his younger daughter was going to be the better player. I mean, they were both children when he was quoted saying this. And I think that was a rotten thing to say to Venus, especially since we now see that Serena obviously was/is the more physically gifted and the less complicated emotionally. Did 12-year old Venus really need to hear her father telling the whole world that he thought it was a fait accompli that Serena was going to be better? Even if he was being Coach Williams at that point, I think it was rotten.

And more recently he's been quoted saying less than supportive things about Venus and her game. Right now I can't be detailed about what he said. But I really hated reading it.

And I've just hated when he's drawn so much attention to himself during major tournaments. I've felt he's hurt his daughters when he's done that. To say nothing of when he got involved in big controversies during major tournaments. Definitely not helping his daughters there.

And those are the things that make me think he's all about RW all the time. And that makes me sad. And that's why even when his amazing daughters do well it makes me kind of sad. And that's why I wish they would go away. Because women's tennis is still all about Serena, Russian women or no.

One of the best examples of it being all about RW is RW's behavior after Venus won Wimbledon one year. RW was dancing on the top of the guest box, holding up his signs and generally making an ass of himself. Way to take the spotlight away from your daughter who, you know, actually won the thing. Ass.

I remember watching that, but I was so flabbergasted by his behavior that I don't remember what the announcers said about it.

Harry24, I could not agree with you more. I remember reading the article in Tennis Magazine where they had the photo of Venus practicing in Compton and they talked about the Bloods (or Crips, I cannot remember which ones) guarding the courts so she could practice. Then Richard started in on Serena being better and then the beads and everything else and ugh. Toxic is definitely the word.

Hey, ESPN2? When you have 30 minutes in your coverage left over, try showing some tennis from this year's tournament. If the viewer couldn't remember if Andre or Roger won the semi from last year, the fact that Roger is defending his title this year might have given it away.

I know! [/Monica] WTF was that?!! I had taped Roger's match and after it was over had started to fast forward to see what they would have to fill out the rest of the two hour time period. And there's Roger with his old pony tail. And ... WTF? He's playing Agassi? Okay, they just said there are 96 players in the fucking tournament and they couldn't find one match from this year to show? Good grief. [/Charlie Brown.]

The earlier coverage had been on the Tennis Channel and the deal probably precluded them from showing it.

I remember when he said his daughters would some day be number 1 & 2 in the world. I'm sure many people that was silly or dumb, but it turned out to be true.

I remember him doing that at a much lesser tournament that Fox or ESPN covered, but not at Wimbledon. Are you sure he was dancing on the guest box at the Big W?

Yes, he was dancing like an idiot after the Wimbledon final. He was holding up a sign that said that this was Venus' party and something else I can't remember.

The thing is that a lot of people remember those things. But, he's a much lesser presence right now (and has been quite graceful in a few instances- Wimbledon '04 comes to mind) yet people still use him as an excuse to bash the sisters. Not that Harry's doing that, mind you.

Just FYI, Serena will be "punk'd" next week on the MTV show.

From the previews, this what i gathered:

Serena is in the parking lot of a grocery store. Next to her SUV, some lady is having a disagreement with her 10-year-old kid. The kid has somehow managed to lock his mother outside of the car and drives off in the car. Serena sees this and says "i can't believe that he would do that". The mother and Serena take off in Serena's SUV to chase the boy.

Now onto today's ESPN2's coverage, i realize that it's ratings and all but seriously, running Sharapova's boring blowout of Safina while James Blake was playing (and leading) No. 17 Gonzalez is beyond stupid.

Also, Guga has split with his coach Larri Passos

And rerunning it as well! Ugh.

Is it really because of The Tennis Channel? Do they only buy the rights to a couple of the matches? I'd hoped for any recap of the day's matches, and even Cliffy sounded a bit embarrassed to say they were going to repeat the earlier programming.

Would have LOVED to see more of the Blake-Gonzalez.

It said, It's Venus' party and no one is invited! That same year he jumped out of the stands and did a stupid dance with Venus after she won the US Open. He's never really done that with Serena though. When she won the US Open in '99 alll he did was pat her and the back and say, "You did good, Kid."

Today's coverage was ok. I guess I didn't mind it cause I like Sharapova. They didn't need to repeat it at night though, I agree. The Agassi match TV wise was so boring.

From Wertheim's column this week. More of the same...

Let's not make it personal. It gets ugly went you do that.

I remember reading in John McEnroe's book that most tennis parents are pretty tough. Although yeah, Richard Williams is annoying.

Wasnt Andre Agassi's father a bit of a hardass too?

Yes, Mike Agassi was a bit of a challenge from all accounts. To get a great insight into tennis parents on the WTA tour, read Wertheim's "Venus Envy", which is an account of the 2000 WTA season (I might have the year wrong) but he talks a lot about the parenting on the tour. It's a great read.

Interesting that ESPN didn't bother to show the Kim/Conchita game live and instead went with the Agassi/Coria tape. I was looking forward to getting to see Kim again....

Castallack, do you know any of the details of the Tennis Channel's deal with ESPN on the broadcasts from here on out? Or do you know where one can find them?

Boy, Agassi looked amazing against Corea, at least at the beginning. I switched to something else for a reason I can't even remember now. Then I forgot about the tennis and switched back and the match was over! I couldn't believe it.

Did anyone catch the end of the Kuznetsova-Dementieva match. It was great tennis. Dementieva is just the most extraordinary competitor. They only showed the end of the match because it was still going on when ESPN started broadcasting. What's Dementieva's record against the rest of the women still in the field? Does anyone know? I'm beginning to become a fan of hers because of her guts and her smooth style.

REALLY IMPORTANT QUESTION: Has Roger cut his hair since the initial fantastic hair cut? It's getting pretty shaggy and heading back toward the old look. I think he's impossibly, dangerously, outrageously hot whatever his hair is doing. I'm just interested if anyone has been monitoring his, uh, follicles.

Roger and Ljubicic (sp?) tonight. After the enormous Davis Cup triumph will Ljubicic be even more pumped or will he be drained?

I've found Cliff D to be babbling more in the broadcasts. In the Federer-Muller match at one point he mentioned right in a row Fed buying his girlfriend some jewelry for their anniversary, Fed carrying the flag at the Olympics and then ... oh, I forget, but it was some other factoid, as if all three were going to add up to some interesting comment. But then ... nothing. That it was it. Just three completely unconnected and basically uninteresting sentences. Cliff, honey, I love you and I love hearing you talk just to hear your accent if nothing else. But when it gets to this point, just put a sock in it and watch the match.

I don't know the details, I've just observed that each keeps to its own days of broadcast and you'll never see a TTC match on ESPN or vice versa.

You can check each's website for their broadcast schedule.

Well, if I could have managed to bestir my pathetic brain to figure out that there would be a website and then force my fingers to type the letters T-E-N-N-I-S-C-H-A-N-N-E-L-.-C-O-M I would have seen that The Tennis Channel carried Roger's match with Ljubicic last night!! Damn!

I had already learned that it is available on Time-Warner Cable in NYC, and you can order channels for a day or two so I could have done that. But did I think of it. (Pause) No. I did not. ARGH.

Oh, come on, that's too much to expect of any human! But I'm in NYC and it's the best $4 a month I spend.

Castallack, just for consistency's sake, I feel I have to pipe in with "brag, brag, brag!" ;-)

You know we all live vicariously through you (or at least, your TV.)