You know after hearing BG comments today I can see why he has been so successful as a coach. It was funny to me how many times PMac disagreed with him about what Andre should and would do. Does PMac know that BG used to be his coach and probably knows his patterns more than he does.

Nadal's fist pumps annoy me too. I love his enthusiam, but there comes a point where it is a bit distracting, and can be construed as a bit of gamesmanship on his part. It really isn't much different than Hewitt. The bouncing around before the match is obnoxious and disrepectful to his opponent. I know many feel that Roddick can exhibit some questionable behavior, but it is rarely directed at his opponent. It's usually to the chair and linespeople. Even then, if he has a legitimate gripe, it is fair. Hopefully he will grow out of it.

Nadal reminds me of when the Williams sisters first came on the scene. Much like the sisters, Nadal just intimidates with his speed and athleticism. His opponents seem shocked that their shots are coming back.

Nadal did fist pump even more than normal today but I do think that was largely in part because winning a hard court tournament is really, really important for him. Since all of his other titles have been on clay, quite a few have been painting him as only a "dirtballer" or one-court specialist. FO winners lately have been rather stigmitized in parts of the tennis community for being one-court wonders. He did fist pump more than ususal today but I think that it was in part because of the importance of the match for him.

And as for using the fist pumps for gamesmanship purposes, I don't think he does it as such. There are videos of him as a 13 or 14 year old practicing and he was doing the vamos thing. And those will likely calm down with time. As for the jogging at the net, he is a actually a very quirky guy on court (sock pats, undie tugs, making sure his water bottles are always lined up) and I think that the jostling at the net and sprinting out are part of his rountine as well when he gets locked in to the zone on the court. I know I may be sounding like a raging Rafa defender here, but I do think he is a good kid and is not a jerk as person even if maybe he could temper the fist pumps.

And as for Hewitt vs. Nadal's behavior on court, a big difference is that Nadal doesn't treat the linespeople and umps the way that Hewitt does. (I don't mind Hewitt's come ons as much as others do btw). Hewitt says that a black linesperson is favoring Blake because both are black, repeatedly screams and even makes gestures at a lineswoman at the Aussie Open, and calls an ump at the Davis Cup a poof. I think such incidents have also contribute to the perception of Lleyton.

I really wish they had shown the trophy ceremony from Montreal, but I understand why they didn't since the ladies match was underway. (Yea Kim! Please, please win the USO.)

US Open Series TV Ratings Up. From Tennis Week:



ESPN added a match to the schedule today. In addition to showing the Federer/Blake match at 11pm, they will also be showing the Roddick/Melzer match at 1pm. I have a feeling the ratings played a large part in that.

Regarding the Hewitt "c'mon's" and the Nadal fist-pumping -- I think the major difference is that Nadal's fist-pumping happens at more appropriate times than Hewitt's "c'mons". Just speaking in general, Nadal will usually pump his fist after he's made an incredible winning shot after being run all over the court or after doing something equally incredible, kind of as a means to pump himself up to remain at that level, whereas Hewitt's been known to "c'mon" after his opponents miss incredibly easy shots or just dump returns into the net. Which I think is just plain ol' assy behavior.

I am so happy to see that ratings have risen. It is neat to see the good ratings that Mary P got.

I do think that one thing that is helping ratings is that this year- you know every Sunday you will see a final. I have to think that this regularity of Sunday = tennis final is good for establishing tennis viewing habits.

It seems that his actions were not taken that well by Agassi. Of course Agassi was losing at the time and was probably very frustrated, but you don't usually see Agassi lose his temper like he did yesterday. So I think his actions, whether intentionally or not, do get under the skin of his opponents. I don't mind guys trying to pump themselves up, but when it become excessive, I don't really like it. I don't necessarily think that he does it to rattle his opponents but I think it has the same effect intentionally or not.

I agree. I've tired of the fist pumps, but I see absolutely nothing wrong with the sprinting and such.


LOL! Clijsters is so not going to win the Open. She'll win the US Open Series and double her quarterfinalist prize money.


Agreed. It's exciting to see that the US Open Series experiment seems to be working!

The thing that Agassi was bitching about was the time between points and not the fist pumping. And I actually have a bone to pick with Agassi in this regard (even though I love him).

Players (serving and receiving) have 20 seconds between points. Nadal was using those seconds. When Agassi was complaining about it to Lars Graf (the chair ump), Nadal actually used just about 15 seconds. That's why when he was complaining to Lars, the ump said "You have 20 seconds between points." Agassi later said that he was frustrated because Nadal was not playing at his pace. But if one player tries to speed up the time between points to use to his adavantage, the other player does not have to fall for that. They do have the 20 seconds. So I don't really know why Andre was complaining. And Nadal was actually not adding anything new to his time between points. He did the same thing that he does between points for different circumstances in the match. Towel grab, sock check, etc. - as I said earlier Rafa is a bit quirky (I think he actually could have touches of OCD) and was just doing his stuff. It was actually imo smart and mature play by Nadal. A lot of young players tend to overly speed up between points, and that does not really allow them to gather their heads. PMac et. al were saying yesterday how Nadal is mature on the courts between the ears, and I do think that the not rushing in a panic is part of that.

To me, Agassi would not have argued unless something had been bothering him the whole match. I agree that the specific point that he made was silly as Nadal was not taking any extra time during that point that he didn't the entire match. Agassi seems pretty fair, so for him to argue anything, makes me feel that Nadal was just really getting under his skin. Of course, this could all be because he was losing and was his attempt to lash out. I'm not saying that Nadal is doing any of this purposefully, but it still has the same effect. Agassi, being the veteran player he is, should probably know better, but I guess we're all human sometimes.



As much as I would like to think that the ratings are the most important factor, I think that ESPN will show Roddick matches at all costs. If say this were a Safin or Hewitt match, I don't think we would be seeing tennis at 11pm. Let the fawning begin early.

Carlos Moya will be chatting on ESPN today at 4:30pm ET.

I think Andre arguing had everything to do with feeling that the specific point he was playing was the most crucial one of entire match, and that it hinged on his being able to take advantage of having just tired Bam Bam out in the previous point. Andre was feeling such pressure from Nadal that he needed one point so desperately that he acted out of character. I forget now if it was the first break Bam Bam got in the set or the second, but Andre had just won that incredible point where Nadal got totally pooped, and Andre was dying to take advantage of him for one of the few times in the match. Nadal was smart enough to make sure it didn't happen. Smart, Bam Bam. Very smart.

Nadal is so good natured that his fist pumping doesn't bother me at all.

I think that is one aspect of Nadal's mental toughness that the commentators keep refering to. A lot of players rush when they feel frazzled or pressured instead of taking the allocated time between points (which as Chesty said you are allowed to do) to towel off and focus. Roger is also good at not rushing, although instead of the Nadal sock tug Federer does his hair adjust. My high school coach is always telling us that we don't need to rush from point to point.

Another way that Nadal is pretty mentally tough is that he rarely lets bad line calls get to him. Yesterday there was that really bad line call (or was it overrule?) and after Nadal said his quick protest he just focused on the next point. Although I like them as well, I do think that Safin or Roddick would likely argue longer and possibly let the line call get to them for a wee bit.

Speaking of Safin, I am so happy that he and Roger will be on my tv this week. It has been too long. At least I'm hoping they will be showing some Safin this week

With every passing moment he gets TV coverage I think Nadal gets more and more ugly. From the stupid capris to the fugly stringy Cousin It Hair, he just looks terrible!

Aww, I hope this thread doesn't turn into another Nadal bash-fest. There is enough of that on other tennis forums. By the way, I think although Nadal does not look his best by any means while he is playing, he can look really quite cute when he is off the court or relaxed. He has a sweet smile.

Since the tennis ratings seem to be up this summer for ESPN, I am really hoping that the ratings for the US Open will go up as well. I wonder having it on a different network (USA) will disrupt any momentum that tennis may be building ratings wise. I hope not because I think that USA actually does better grand slam coverage than ESPN.

Kiss My Grits, I'll bet this is mostly backlash because the coverage has been so positive and the reaction to him has been so positive, there's inevitably going to be some backlashy feeling. And it's not as if everyone is going to love a player. But I suspect Bam Bam would come out a winner on this board if all votes were tallied. As would most players except perhaps Hewitt. Maybe even Roddick has snuck above 50 % with his charming display at Wimbledon.

Marat is back!!!! Such a hottie even with the strange facial hair.

Now that Nadal has lost, was that one win on hard court his only ever win and how does it impact on the standings ? Does he have a shot at number one?

Also, I was reading in one of the NYC papers that the US Open ticket takers are thinking of striking. Wow.
More Open posters are up on the subway lines. I had to laugh because most of the pics look like they are from last year's Open. Except for Federer's --thankfully, it's one of him with the haircut.
If you like Andy Roddick, you can behold a huge building size Izod ad of him on 495 in Queens.

I sincerely doubt that will be his only win on hard court. Just like Andy Roddick the week before, expending so much energy to win a title cost him the next match. If anything, I think the loss might help him.

He should still have a shot at #1. Since Federer won the Open while Nadal lost early (second round to Roddick IIRC), Nadal will almost surely tighten the gap. If something unlikely happens (like Federer losing, particularly early), Rafa would have an excellent chance to be #1.

FWIW, despite that loss last year, I don't like Roddick's chances against Nadal at all. He'd have to have an outstanding day serving, because Nadal is far superior once the ball is in play.

I seriously doubt it will be his only title on hard court as well. Nadal still needs to work on flattening some of his shots on hard court but has begun to do that and I think will continue get better in that regard. Moreover, he needs to use his improving backhand more offensively. He has already shown how much he has improved on the faster hard courts vs. last year. He lost yesterday to Tomas Berdych, a 19 year old Czech with a ton of talent who just needs to get his mental side stronger (I was so frustrated at him during Wimbledon this year when he just seemed to give up.). There has been buzz about him as a future top-10 for a while. He was the fellow who beat Federer at the Olympics last year and has been a bit inconsistent since then but who is starting to (finally!) string together a series of wins. From accounts of the match, it was a really exciting, well-fought match (with some errors that came with nerves) and a great atmosphere. Hopefully they will show glimpses of it on tv. I fear that Tomas may be too pooped from the effort though to win today.

Speaking of another teenager, I was happy to see that Gael Monfils won today (and quite easily). I was able to see some of his matches during Masters Monte Carlo and Wimbledon and he is fun to watch. Neat character with interesting movement, plus a serve that is very similar to Roddick. Would love for ESPN to show some of him during this tourney. Have any of you seen him before and what are your thoughts?

Looking forward to Roddick/JCF- a rematch of the USO 2003 final. Hopefully they will talk about Ferrero a bit and it won’t be a complete Andy love-fest from P-Mac. I feel bad for JCF, because his form is really getting much better now but because he isn’t seeded yet for most tournaments he gets really tough opponents early. So although I like Andy, I’m rooting for JCF because I want him to get seeding for the USO and avoid having to play yet another top, tough player early.

Hee hee. There were a couple of funny moments after the Federer/Keifer match today.
* After match point, you could hear Brad in the background saying "He's such a weird guy." I have to think that he was talking about Keifer.
* During his interview with Brad, Federer described Ollie Rouchus as a "cute player." Heee.

Cliff and Brad did a smart thing. Brad was saying how much Andy Murray reminds him of Miloslav Mecir. Since Mecir is not a player that casual fans would know, Cliff asked Brad why he used to like Mecir and how Andy Murray was similar. Well done. Brad really is so much better at the sidelines. He goes more into detail about the specifics of the player's game style.

I am suprised that people totally cleared out after Federer. I would think that people would be interested in Safin/Murray.

Definitely. I kinda like Brad when he brings the funny. FWIW, while I've always liked Kiefer's style of play, WTF is up with those chains?

ETA something even funnier:

Cliff and Brad are talking about Murray and Safin for a while.
Cliff: You going to join us, Patrick, or are you just going to stand around?
P-Mac: Well, you guys are doing fine... I'm just enjoying my drink up here; I'm perfectly happy.

So were we, P-Mac. So were we.

Before Marat's previous match, Brad said that his opponent (Jan Henrych-sp?) was a "poor man's *insert obscure Czech player's name here*" This comment was met by silence as PMac and Cliff tried to process just who the f*ck Brad was talking about. I can only imagine them mouthing "WTF" to each other. Then one of them was like "Umm...Brad...a poor man's who?"

He reminded me of a colt, all gangly legs. I always wondered how he would do when someone got him polished up a bit and he got in more control of his body.

On a different note, the way Nalby is playing of late the only time I expect to see him is during the coverge of the next round of Davis Cup play.

Did anyone else see the Roddick/JCF match last night? It was such high-quality tennis the first two sets (no breaks of serve), especially from JCF's end of the court. At one point he had 21 winners and only 3 unforced errors. His first serve percentage was in the 80s for quite a while.

I was impressed by both of them. I am not the biggest Roddick fan (mainly due to the hype from P-Mac) but I thought he handled himself well last night. I think I like him more now that P-Mac isn't spouting his Roddick-worship constantly. And since I always cheer for the underdog, now that Roddick's had some early exits I have more sympathy for him. He used a (perceived) bad call late in the second set to get the crowd back into it and pump himself up, and then he was dominant in the third.

JCF: I have to admit a negative bias towards him since I saw him at the Houston Masters Cup a few years ago and I felt like he tanked his matches and was generally pissy all week. But last night he stayed absolutely calm. It was great to see him playing so well again and seemingly wanting to be on the court. Too bad he didn't win because he played flawless tennis for 2 sets. I hope he'll continue to make his comeback - BG predicts top 10 by the end of the year, for what it's worth.

Are you talking about the overrule? JCF did hit it in and the fellow in the chair was right to overrule the initial out call. I saw the live stream through Star Sports (which is the British/Euro coverage) and when Roddick was yelling to the guy in the chair that he was “terrible” for the overrule, the Brit announcer said “No Andy, you’re terrible.” Snap! The announcers generally liked Andy though (as do I) but I did have to agree with them on calling him out on that moment. It was kind of funny. That announcer (can’t remember his name) does tend to bring the snark. But overall, Andy was well-behaved. The teams that call for Star Sports are the same ones who cover Master’s tournies on The Tennis Channel, for those who are interested.

JCF was playing so darn well for the first two sets (his serving stats were nuts) but the air was out of his ties in his third. And Andy’s confidence was just building.



Please let this be one of Gilbert’s predictions that is correct.

I am longing for a glimpse of the Gael/Mikhael match but I think ESPN will just show the Hewitt and Roddick matches this afternoon. And what is up with Hewitt’s gawdawful Pat Cash checkered headband? He needs to sign another clothing sponsorship now (he is not with anyone now) because he is not doing to well in the fashion department on his own.

I watched the first two sets of the JCF-Roddick match and was pretty enthralled. I heard Brad say the quote above with the qualifier "If JCF keeps playing at this level, he's back in the top ten." Does anyone else remember which it was?

I thought Roddick showed some of his old ugliness over the line calls last night. Although, having watched a fair amount of the coverage, it seems that the line calls have been unusually poor this tournament. And I didn't see the call in the first set that really pissed him off in the first place. Did that one go against him unfairly? Because obviously the overrule in the 2nd set was absolutely the correct call.

And I finally realized who it is Roddick reminds me of: Roger Clemens. Seriously. He could be his younger brother. And they're both Texans. (For whatever that's worth.)

French pronounciation question: Does anyone know for sure how Monfils pronounces his last name? The announcers pronounce it the French "mon" - "fee". But if it were the two words "mon fils", which if I remember correctly is "my son", it's pronouned "mon fees", sounding the "s". First off, am I remembering my French language correctly, and secondly, is this how Monfils actually pronounces his name?

Cliffy just said they're going to it at the conclusion of the first Hewitt/Ancic set (very soon).

They just explained that on the telecast. I was only half-listening, but I think it was a deal with his coach. He took it off because he wasn't playing well.

It was nice to see JCF playing well.


One of the announcers (BG?) pronounces it with the S while the other two don't.

Brad definitely qualified his statement about JCF being in the top ten.

Cliffy is the one who is pronouncing it as "Mon fees" in the match they are currently showing parts of on ESPN2. Given that the other two are Americans, and given the fact that Americans are so lazy about learning foreign languages, (this is definitely a generalization, as I speak a couple of different languages and I'm not trying to smear all my fellow citizens with an unfair characterization) I'm going with Cliff on this one. (Although, I just heard Cliff say his name without the s-sound, as well.)

I'm just thrilled to finally get to watch Monfils. He really looks like a basketball player--really "long" *channelling Jay Bilas*. He kind of reminds me of former UConn-, current Charlotte Bobcat-star Emeka Okafor, although there are definite differences in their appearances. I think it's their physical builds that are so similar, although there's also a slight facial resemblance.

What I'm liking about Monfils so far is that he doesn't try to power-hit ever single shot, although he certainly seems to have the power. In fact, it seems like he's using a lot of spin. From the TV angle, it looks like a lot of his balls are going out, but they drop right in time after time. Boy's gonna hurt himself trying to slide on the hardcourts, though.

I don't mind Hewitt's "come ons" or fist pumps. The only things I don't like about him are the racial & homophobic comments. As a competitor, I have a lot of respect for the guy. I maintain that his intensity is directly related to his style of play--a style dictated by his physical make-up (not very tall, etc.). He can't give in because his success is directly tied to him staying on his toes at all times. Now, if he'd cut out the bigoted comments, I could get behind the guy. I love any athlete who has to work his ass off, does so, and succeeds because of it. Even the bigoted comments could be understood (though not excused) if he was younger, if English weren't his first language or if they were a one-time thing. That's the only reason that Hingis' statements about Mauresmo didn't bother me as much as they normally would: she was a dumb 19-year-old speaking a foreign language who said something dumb with a camera in her face. Also, I never heard her repeat it. Her comments later about the Williams girls getting endorsements partially based on their race was not PC, but it was partially true. Hewitt has made this such an MO that I've read that even Aussies have problems with him.

(Major note here: I am not, not, not saying the Williams girls got where they are because they are black. What I do believe is that the tennis establishment uses them to try to cover for the legacy of racism in the sport, and they often get treated with kidgloves by the American tennis media on behavioral issues because of it--and because of their nationality, as Jennifer Capriati has shown. That is not their fault and does not diminish their earned accomplishments, however.)

I've only heard him say it without the S (including today). P-Mac is the one who is using it.

ETA I'm behind (watching on TiVo) and I just heard Cliffy use the S for the first time. They're all confused. Maybe they should interview him and get the definitive answer.

In the brief glances we saw of Monfils last year (winning 3 junior slams), he struck me as being similar to Venus without any of her natural grace. He seems to have become more comfortable with his body, but he still has quite a few moments where he looks awkward. I guess another example would be Ivo Karlovic. Game-wise, the comparison to Roddick definitely has some weight. To his credit, his backhand is already better.

That's great. Yes, that is exactly the call I'm talking about (the "perceived" one). I find Andy is wrong a lot on the calls he thinks he's been robbed on. I too missed the call in the first set that evidently was pretty bad.

The screaming at the chair ump that he's "terrible" is the kind of petulant behavior that keeps me from cheering for Andy. But Andy sure seemed to be able to use the incident to turn the match around.

And, sorry, yes, BG qualified the "top ten" prediction regarding JCF, and mentioned that the top 5 right now is pretty hard to crack with Federer, Nadal, Hewitt, Safin & Roddick. Last night Juan Carlos seemed to be playing in that tennis "zone" that we keep hearing about! I hope he can keep it up because he really has a beautiful game.

What is up with some of these outfits they put the players in though. Remember Andy's hypnotic shirts that cause vomit? Thank God he left Reebok, so I could start watching him play again without getting motion sick.

What's interesting is that Roddick doesn't complain about the calls that go against with which he should have legitimate gripes. I find that to be true about a lot of players.

I heard Cliff say "Mon-fee" several times. It was driving me crazy.

About Hewitt:



What happened with Hewitt, when did he make racail and homophobic statements? I haven't heard about this before.

I was thinking the same thing when they were mentioning Roddick's switch from Reebok to La Coste. Remember the outfit he had on at the USO that looked like a subway map. Really just hideous, the players look so much better in simpler clothes.



It's been driving me crazy that they keep using two pronunciations for Monfils name. Even if it is wrong, I'd rather they pick just one instead of what they are doing now. I agree that some are a bit lazy in learning pronuciations, but I do sympathize. In one of Jon Wertheim's addressed this in one of his columns. He used an example of French commentators who mispronounced names like An-dee Ro-Deek or Vee-noose Vee-yums. So, I think this is an international problem and not just an American one.

The racial comments were pretty ugly and pretty infamous. This occurred during the USO 2002 when Hewitt was playing James Blake. One of the linesmen was black. It was a pretty tight, well fought match. Hewitt got mad at some of the line calls and then went off a rampage. IIRC, Hewitt started screaming that he wanted the black linesman removed. He said that he was getting unfair calls and then said something along the lines of “you look at him [pointing to Blake] and look at him [pointing to the linesman] and you tell me what the similarity is.” Basically saying that the linesman was favoring Blake because of their respective skin colors. The crowd was not happy at all and the incident could have been a lot bigger if James Blake did not act with such class in the press after the incident.

And there have been some rumblings in the Argentine press about one reason why the Argentines tend to have chips on their shoulders concerning Hewitt may stem from that allegedly he used to say some not so nice things about the South Americans (as South Americans) when they were all playing juniors. Don’t know the whole story (or if it is accurate) about that since I have just seen one or two semi-translated articles and read things by Argentine posters in other forums.


As for using a homophobic slur, during the Davis Cup tie against Australia this year, Hewitt had his knickers in a twist about a line call that he thought was wrong. He went to the ref and referred to the umpire as “that poof,” which in Aussie speak = “that f##.”

Hewitt can go in terrible tantrums in regards to the linespeople, etc. He was just awful to one lineslady this past Aussie Open during the final and even the Aussie crowd seemed to have some rumbling about it. He can go overboard and be very aggressive in his complaints, and I think someone this year (was it Dent at Wimbledon?) said that Hewitt likes to bully the linespeople/umps so they will call in his favor.

He can be a nice guy during the courtside chats after the matches (was nice with Brad today, for example). He gave nice speeches after the semi/final matches that I saw live at the 2004 Masters Cup in Houston. And I don’t have problems with his “Come Awwwns” and lawnmowers. It is his behavior such as what I listed in the above paragraphs that can annoy me. Do wish that he would cut it out because, like chomskyite, I love that he is such a fighter on court.



True. When listening to Radio Wimbledon or watching the Brit/Euro coverage for Master's, I have had to giggle at how bad some of the British announcers can be at pronoucing names from Spain and Latin America.

Roger looks like he is getting his form back today. Looked really good against Rochus, who put up a good fight. Sometimes I really wonder how good Oli Rochus would have been if he was not so short (he is 5'5") - I think he would be top 10. At one of the tourneys they had a questionare for the players where they asked the payers what their childhood wishes were. Oli's response: to be taller. Awwww.

You could tell that Roger was fond of Rochus in his interview with Brad. A lot of the commentators talk about what a nice, warm person Roger is and I really saw that during that interview.

Am very annoyed that they are now just showing a repeat of the Roddick match from today instead of the the tightly fought Luis Horna/Jose Acasuso match. For shallow reasons, show Acasuso please, I think he is pretty cute.

Chesty LaRue thanks for posting this:



I had no idea this had happened. My respect for Hewitt just went down a couple of notches.

Watched my first Cincinnati match tonight. How much weight has Roger Federer lost? He looks so smoking! Is it just me? He can take a month off whenever he wants if he is going to come back and my the TV screen sweat. Whew. OK, I'm calmed down now.

P.S. "Hi" everyone.

No, it is not just you. I thought he looked pretty hot today and quite sexy during the interview. And since we rarely see him sweat I thought that added to the sexiness as well. One aspect of Roger's looks that I think is really underated it his skin. He has lovely, smooth tanned skin.

BG and his fist-pumps after the interviews are cracking me up. Especially with the players like Feds and Hewitt who don't know what he's doing at first.

Is it me, or does there seem to be some tension between Cliffy and Brad sometimes? Actually, it seems like Cliff is annoyed with Brad a lot of the time.

Even though P-Mac bugs me at times, I love his enthusiasm for the game. It was on full display during the Fed/Rochus match.

More on the doubles controversy. Wayne Black (father of Bob and Mike) writes an open letter to the president of the ATP. Apparently, there are people in Cincy wearing t-shirts that say, "Doubles - Yes, ATP - No".

Here's another good article from Inside Tennis on the issue.

Argh! I was about to call Ginepri over Safin before the forums died. Oh well.

I don't think Cliff is annoyed by Brad. Then again, I like it when the three of them disagree.

No, it's not just you. I've noticed that, too. Cliff can't stand it when Brad contradicts him. And it seems like Cliff goes out of his way to try to make Brad look stupid. I think he has issues with Brad's unpolished demeanor and unfamiliar catch phrases. I think it's refreshing, actually. And I think the players take to his informal interview style...especially once they get used to the fist bump (is that what it's called? I'm a girl, lol.). Hewitt looked really awkward with the fist bump the other day, but I think Federer's on it now. lol

I absolutely the comments early in the match about whether Youhzny has a one-handed or two-handed backhand. I definitely remember when he used to hit it with both hands; I'm glad he stopped. Anyway, after Cliff gave a rather insightful response (P-Mac agrees with me), we saw that he clearly hits it with one hand. Cliff was absolutely shocked that Brad would ask such a dumb question. Obviously, Brad was embarrassed. Now that was hilarious!

Ginepri is playing really well. Roddick seems to be fighting his way through matches, which is nice to see. Does anyone think the Americans can prevent yet another Federer/Hewitt beatdown? No, didn't think so.

Kiss My Grits said:



I agree. I have a hard time explaining to people why I think he's so hot because they just don't see it from his facial expressions while he's playing. lol

I love the way he dresses. Not many men can pull of the white pirate pants look. And that BODY!

But let me stop. ;-)

The only improvement I'd make is to cut that hair. It's awful. Plus, that way we could see more of that sweet smile. He needs to take a cue from Federer. His looks improved exponentially when he chopped off his dog ears.

Well, well, well. I'm almost scared to listen to the Hewitt/Roddick match. P-Mac will be unbearable... at least until tomorrow. Congratulations, Andy!

Ditto, Distant Sun, but I'm glad Andy finally got one against Hewitt. Makes me all proud

Blech. I try to like Roddick when I watch him, I really do, but I just can't. He seems like an okay guy off the court and I like his sarcastic interviews but on the court I simply cannot.stand.him. I only watched a little bit of the match but what I did watch exemplifies why I like Hewitt and dislike Roddick. Hewitt comes up with an incredible passing shot on Roddick's serve. Roddick is down 0-30. He then aces three times in a row and gets out of it. Obviously, Roddick has other weapons besides his serve but his serve is the backbone of his game and it's horribly boring, IMO. I'd rather watch Hewitt, Safin, Federer, or Nadal any day. Today was the same as watching Andy during some of his other Cincy matches- Ferrero (who I love) makes some spectacular plays and loses. Youzney (spelling?) gets some good shots in and loses. The constant aceing gets quite dull after awhile.

On one hand, it was nice to see Roddick so happy for finally beating Hewitt. On the other hand, that type of celebration with the puffing of the chest out, red face, and screaming is exactly what I associate with the Ugly American.

I know I'm one of the only ones, but I like Hewitt. I try and ignore his bad moments when I watch him because I find his game really enjoyable. He seemed calmer in this match from what I saw (he made a few really good shots and there were no "C'mons!"). Plus, for the first time, I thought he looked really cute (backwards baseball cap and wedding ring on a necklace).

Go Fed.

Hewitt got married already? Damn, I am out of the loop. Busybuzz your post pretty much sums up what I dislike about Roddick as well. I think he relies too much on his serve, and watching a player ace serve after serve just interesting.

Roddick finally Hewitt, after going 0-5 or 1-5 against him, so he must be excited. Does anybody think he has a realistic chance of beating Federer tomorrow? I don't think Federer is playing is best tennis just yet. Of course Federer is 21-0 (DAMN!) in finals.

My prediction: Federer in 2 sets, one of which will be a tiebreak.

I dunno, I guess everyone is entitled to their opinion, but that type of celebration is exactly what I tend to associate with Nadal or Hewitt who are definitely not American.

I thought Roddick played a good match. I'm more of a Safin fan myself, but I thought he changed it up well during the match and had some nice approaches and beautiful finesse shots rather than the straight power you usually see from him. Yes, his serve has pulled him out of many a tight spot, but I find it hard to fault a guy for developing such a powerful weapon.

Anyway, if Roddick keeps it up, it should be a good match against Roddick, but he's got to really put it together if he's got any hope of getting Federer on the run.