I just tuned in to the Muller-Roddick match (I just typed "shirt" instead of match. Damn, I can't get Bam-Bam's shirt off my mind!). Has anyone mentioned anything about the status of his foot? The one he injured at the end of his Cincinnati loss to Roger? I haven't seen or heard it mentioned yet.

ETA: I just read on the NYT Tennis Forum that James Blake has a BETTER LOOKING older brother who plays in tennis' minor leagues. Oh, my!

No chance. He's fought his way back up the rankings into the top 32 after falling a hell of a lot lower than that during he whole nandrolone debacle. He's doing better now than he has for years, Britain's Davis Cup team now relies on him after Henman retired from the competition, and he's probably about to become Britain's number 1 thanks to all the points Henman's going to lose. He's not going anywhere for a while yet.

I dont know why...but God help me I think I've developed a crush on Andy Murray. Shudder. I mean at least I'm in the same age range but...

Scrawny, pale, redheads with jacked up teeth and cramps. Yep, thats apparently my type.

And I love Henman,he doesnt suck, hes just had a really bad year, which is sad because he had a really good year last year.

I've only seen in photos but from what I've seen, I don't like it. It's too tight and looks like one of this skin tight suits that swimmers wear to help them swim.

About Justin's blog over on SI:

So he lost today, does that mean no more blog?

Also, did they show any of the match w/MmmmMirnyi? How many "m's" is it again, girls?



And you wonder why he looked so tired and threw up on court today.

ETA: Am I the only person who does not get the U.S. Open tennis coverage on CBS on Labor Day? My local CBS affilliate airs the Labor Day Telethon all day each year and I have complained and complained to no avail.

Oh, Juneboy, that's awful. Does Eurosport show any of the Open on streaming TV?

If I was at Arthur Ashe Stadium tonight, I would've started rooting for Gilles Muller The Minute "Andy's Mojo" was seated in what I think is the player's box. Question: Did AmEx pay the USTA for the rights to commercialize the seating at AAS? Or did they just have to pay Andy? /bitter rant

Juneboy: You use as many "m's" as you need to when spelling mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmMax Mirnyi's name. *sigh* I love me some mmmmmmmmmMax. Bring on The Beast.

I don't remember Ted annoying me this much last year but he's really ratcheting it up there this year. For the record, I believe it is Yo-ah-keem Yo-hahn-suhn NOT Yo-keem but WTFE.

And as far as missing ESPN, I am missing Mary Carillo, Mary Joe Fernandez more than PeeMac. Tracy Austin is killing me.

The only older brother I've seen is definitely not better looking. He looks like a bloated James before the haircut.


The problem with Haas's shirt was that it was sleeveless. Obviously, they changed their minds in the last few years. Speaking of which, I wonder why Tommy wears sleeves now.

Johnny Mac said, "I've seen [Roddick] with his shirt off and he seems to be cut very well." Yeah, I concede. It looks like Andy's worked even harder than I thought. Good for him. He'll have even more time to work on it if he loses tonight.

That's not as bad as a story shown on CBS. It was about the Russian tennis players and the idiot reporter pronounced Sharapova's name as Cha-rope-pava. I almost died laughing. Isn't she the No. 1 seeded player? One of the most highly paid female athletes on the planet? And they can not pronounce her name? Geez.

Even if he ends up losing this match, Gilles Muller's performace tonight has solidified my growing fandom of him. I really liked his game during LA (where I forgave him for beating Rafa at Wimbly) and he seems like a nice, kind of goofy fellow from a couple of interviews that I have read. His hitting partner and girlfriend were cuties. I know that he was a top-ranked junior (won the junior title at Wimbledon) and it seems like his game is getting together now. Agree with J Mac- Tough first round draw for Andy R.


Andy may be giving Nalbandian a run for sweatiest on tour.

I'm actually going to feel really bad for Andy if he loses today.. I mean its his birthday. Yeah I know, I'm totally soft...But its his birthday.

Thanks, AgentX, for the info on RDS. I'll check it out sometime.

It's definitely not just you, starr00 -- that's the first thing I thought when I saw him, and every time I've seen him since. A tanned and beefier Schillinger, but the resemblance is very much there.

Eye of the beholder, I guess. I saw them play doubles once, and James is definitely the hunkier of the two. By a good distance. (Oops, looks as though Distant Sun has beat me to it on this one, but it seems we're in agreement.)

Me too. Big time. This is the first time I can recall seeing the USA Network (?) broadcasting the Open. Clearly, I've missed something. Was this a turf war of some sort? Seems like quite a coup.

I've never seen so many players wear so much yellow in a tennis tournament in my life.

I think we talked about this months back, but that's actually closer to the correct pronunciation. It should be Shuh-RA-puh-vuh. The last two syllables have a schwa and the third-to-last one gets the accent (like Kuz-NET-suh-vuh and Hahn-TU-kuh-vuh). To their credit, the commentators seemed to have a handle on Karatancheva's name.

Yes, I know Sharapova prefers the Americanized version. Imagine that.


Actually, they've had it for a long time.

Word on the yellow, though. Blue and yellow seem to be the colors of the hour.

OMG. Is Muller going to wake up in the middle of the night with a crazy-eyed Andy holding a pillow over his head mumbling "But I won the Series... I won the Series..." now?

I feel bad for Roddick though. 1st round? to someone whos ranked in the 60s (although he played great, should be ranked much higher)? On his birthday? Ouch.

Wow... just wow... Roddick got spanked.

I blame Mojo.

Saw the Murray-Pavel match today, complete with Pavel getting PISSED at the chair ump. That crowd at the Grandstand was crazy, I don't understand why they supported Pavel after he argued a (correct) out call.

Gilles Muller? Well done, beating Andy Roddick by playing like Andy Roddick.

At least Roddick gets double prize money. Now he can afford to pay all those bills Mojo ran up. Hee!

OK, that was mean. I'd feel bad for him even if it weren't his birthday. I really do think he's a good guy. Did you see the look on his face when he realized he hit Muller?

Boy, the draw sure opened up for Muller, Ginepri, Gasquet, Haas, and Lopez. With Coria as the high seed, it looks like one of those guy will be in the semis.

Wow....I'm in shock. I never saw this one coming. I mean of all of the places for Roddick to get taken out in the first round the US Open is the last place I would have thought. I can not believe it.

McEnroe sounds like he's about to cry. USA Network is so screwed. Roddick was their golden boy and the production crew is probably going to be driven to drink tonight. Now if Sharapova loses we might have to call off the whole tournament. The men's draw is basically over for the media...I mean Roddick is their everything.

I like Roddick and am kind of upset he lost but Muller played so much better tonight and while USA must think it's the end of the world, I think it might be a good thing. Maybe now it will force them to focus their attention on some of the other lesser known players; most likely now though it will just be more Agassi and NAY-dal shoved down out throat.

McEnroe is cracking me up. I seriously would not be surprised if he is tearing up in the booth. Robinson is trying to hype up the other American players; He's saying Robby Ginepri is playing the best tennis of his career and Scoville Jenkins is another young guy to watch. This is actually turning out to be kind of amusing. We're not going to hear the end of Roddick losing for the end of the week though. I bet they'll harp on it at least 5 times a day.

Hee. Its like their screaming to the viewers "No! Dont leave! We have lots of Americans! Look Blake! Hes pretty.... and Agassi! Everyone loves Andre... and Jenkins...hes so young and hopeful, and Ginepris doing real good... <Weep> Oh God!!!! Why couldnt this happen at Australia! Why GOOOOOOOODDDDD!"

I can only imagine if this had been ESPN airing the U.S. Open Coverage. They would have absolutely died. PMac is probably sitting in a bathroom shitting himself.

Happy Birthday Andy...Sorry, I just had to.

Naw, PMac has Nadal... dude if BamBam gets knocked we better organize like a suicide watch or something, though...

It's like a law to never show a second of a mmmmmMax match--when they went to every other court to show what was going on and STILL skipped Louis Armstrong? That was weird.

I realized during the second set tiebreak of the Muller/Roddick match that I think I actually am a Roddick fan. It snuck up on me, and I still cannot accept it. I think it is the biting of the towel and the fact that I think he really is a good guy (of course the really fit body has absolutely nothing to do with it). I really like Muller, and his after-match comments were really well-thought out, but I'm really feeling it for Andy. Even more than CBS (who I think is crying more than USA over the loss) I think AmEx is plotzing. Mojo jokes are going to run rampant tomorrow.


Another notch in the "okay, he's a good guy" belt. But Andy? Time to rehire BG.


Yup. And I think the fact that he thought Muller could win helped me like Roddick as well. PMac would have spent the entire match telling us how Andy was going to come back.

btw Ted: Andre Agassi losing in the first round in 1991. That was one of those shocks you were looking for.

I wouldn't quite say that- Agassi is the most popular/beloved tennis player in the world right now I believe. And Nadal is getting great buzz for a foreign player on US soil - and gets crazy coverage in other parts of the world (if by media you meant global media). He even gets filmed going to the airport on Eurosport Also- if Blake progresses deep I bet the US and British media will be all over that story. I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that if Blake gets past the third round and plays the way he has the past few weeks- he could actaully make it to the semis- or maybe even the finals. Granted neither Nadal or Blake will likely warrant the same amount of interest in the US as Andy R- but I do think that they could (or imo rather should) generate some good media interest.

I do feel bad for Andy and really do think that he's a good guy and great for the sport. But I do think that Muller just played fantastic tonight. Although Ted and JMac did give him some props- I thought he deserved more. Just some greatly crafted points, lovely net play, hitting the lines, etc. A wonderful performance.

Hopefully this is begun for more for Giles Muller, who seems like a good guy, and a decent player, but more likely than not, he's the next Jaime Yzaga.

(And yes, I spent ten minutes Googling to remember that name.)

I don't think that was the player's box (it didn't appear to be a corner) but what the hell were random extras from the commercial doing there as well? Mardy looked quite out of place.

I thought they were pretty fair with their comments. JMac seemed thoroughly impressed with him. Muller just completely outplayed Roddick. Roddick's backhand is just such a liability, it not only isn't a weapon, but it is a weak shot.



Based on talent he won't be. He has had some impressive wins in the past and if he plays like he did tonight he will move up quickly.

I wonder what Brad Gilbert is thinking now?

I agree, but I also think they didn't talk enough about why he isn't ranked higher. He was playing brilliantly, but there were quite a few boneheaded shots here and there. I've only seen him a few times, but I suspect those stupid shots occur more frequently than they did tonight. At times it seemed like he was aiming for the line every single shot. Gonzalez and Mathieu come to mind.

It's true that P-Mac loves Nadal, but he has to be reeling over this loss. You just know he feels worse than Roddick. I'd like to take this time to reiterate my opinion that Ginepri and Blake would make a formidable Davis Cup team.

What will be interesting is if Ginepri and Blake make some sort of run this US Open (and how funny is it that Ginepri and Muller are playing doubles?) and PMac still goes with Roddick. Not that Roddick wouldn't deserve it--he is a loyal Davis Cup participant and should be rewarded for that--but tongues would wag.

Muller played out of his head tonight. Match of his life. Beyond his normal self. He just hit this zone and from then on I knew Andy would lose. I mean I knew this would be a tough match, and was worried for Andy. But no one would have predicted that Muller would have like over 60 winners in three sets and hit the lines as often and as consistently as he did. It's really hard to win when you're playing someone who is playing the best match of their life and well beyond themselves.

Don't get me wrong. He's a good, solid, dangerous player who is very talented. But this? Unexpected to say the least.

What I noticed and kept screaming at my tv was that in the first set, Andy's slice one hand backhand was giving Muller all sorts of trouble because it sits so low and at 6'5" he was having difficulty getting to the ball. Then Andy gets broken. I think I can count on one hand how many times Andy used the one-hand slice backhand after that. Virtually everything was the two-hander which wasn't troubling Muller in the least. Also, Andy's serve was just off. Sure he came through in some big points to save brakers, but when he needed it his first serve betrayed him. And then, at that point, Muller was in such a groove that when he DID hit a first serve, Muller whacked it up the line for a winner.

Oh, I don't know. In Roddick's defense, he made the Wimbledon final, the Australian semis, and he has more titles this year than the two of them put together. He'd be a complete lock on a surface other than clay, but realistically he's a lock anyway. Then again, it will be very interesting if Agassi agrees to play.

I agree. I still think that Roddick is a great player (except on clay) and really- would have had at least one Wimbledon title if it wasn't for Federer.

The commentators have repeatedly mentioned how nice and genial Federer is as a person. I thought that this little snippet from an article on the ESPN website about his match today kind of showed that.




So cute! He does always watch the screens at tournaments.

Aww man, I love that.


Heh, you copied before I edited my post. I agree, Roddick does deserve any spot he wants on the Davis Cup team, but I still think people will question the decision based on his 2005 year, how poorly the US has done in Davis Cup recently and how bizarrely in love PMac is with Roddick.

Yeah, I'm faster than Nadal, Federer, and Hewitt! Hee.

I missed Davenport's match. Any comments on Gimelstob's blog?

I immediately went over to check (the answer as of right now is no, btw--guess that spanking by the Beast [oh, that sounds rude] is keeping him from his computer) and SI went with the obvious headline "Bad Mojo." C'mon, that one is way too easy.

Anyone watch the Davenport vs Li match?

All I know is that Davenport beat Li 6-4 6-4

not bad for Na Li...for a player who just sprained her ankle in her previous tournament.


I kind of don't understand how the draw is selected.

Na Li is ranked 39th. Sure she is unseeded, but why is she playing a number 2 seed right in the first round?

It's random. The names are picked out of a hat/cup.

Look what Gimelstob wrote in his blog on Monday:

It's almost like he called it.

I actually feel really bad for Roddick. I think his problems are more of the mental variety, I think losing to Federer all the time (and to Hewitt usually) is really getting to him. He kind of reminds me of Martina Hingis and problems with the Williams sisters. I think he really is at a crossroads, he has lost some matches that he shouldn't have. He really needs to buckle down and come up with a game plan.

And working on that backhand and return of serve will help tremondously. Since it seems that a lot of players have figured out that his backhand is just incredibly weak and his return game leaves a lot to be desired.

Boo, USA picked the wrong match for Match of The Day coverage. I wanted to see Andy bite the dust again, damnit!

I have such bad memory when it comes to the young players. I didn't see the Monfils-Djokovic match, but after reading about the controversy I looked up Gael on the ATP site...oh, that kid! I remember watching his Wimbledon match against Mario Ancic and thinking how weird it was to see the babyfaced Ancic playing against someone actually looked younger than him. Too bad about what happened. What a crappy thing for that other kid to do.

For the ten of us out there without cable, what were the announcers saying during the Roddick loss? Were they making excuses, bad mojo jokes, or what?
I stayed up late for the CBS Late Night Open, so sad that the Roddick part was followed by his car commercial. I feel bad for the USTA, they loss half their pretty.

Rarely has JMac been reduced to virtual silence, but last night's match between Muller and Roddick certainly did the trick.

I think it's easy to claim that Roddick didn't have his A game, but part of the reason he didn't play well was a direct result of Muller's steady and unflustered performance. He never seemed intimidated even when he was down a break in the first set.



Despite their disappointment with Roddick's performance, JMac and Ted should have been more complimentary of Muller. Maybe this match was simply a fluke; then again, we might have just witnessed the beginning of a very good career. The young man deserved more credit for a well-played match. I was happy to see the NY crowd give him such a warm ovation at the end. I also noticed many of them stuck around to hear the post-match interview.

Every website I have went to today - the "mojo" mentions are running rampant.

This article on ESPN talks about how Andy's loss will affect AmEx.

I don't think Gilbert has anything to do with this. Andy was having problems with his game long before he fired BG. And I don't think bringing him back would help Andy at all. Especially since the reason he dumped BG (according to the NY Times) was b/c of personality conflicts. What Andy needs is a sports pyschologist. Something mental is going on with him and I really hope he works it out. Plus his backhand sucks.

As far as Davis Cup, Andy is still the #1 American player and is still ranked in the top 5. Plus he has a very strong commitment to DC. He deserves to go and I really don't think that any other American player would argue that.

I would love to see Robby and James go far in the draw. Muller is adorable though. How funny is it that he plays Robby next but is playing with him in doubles today!

Thanks USA for showing Murray puking on the court. That was lovely. The crowd reaction was hilarious though.

Do you think the USTA wished they had placed the Ginepri/Muller doubles match on a bigger sidecourt than #14? That is a small one.

Also, poor Venus. . .she doesn't even know what court she will be playing on.

That was some sight. He really let it go, I think I saw his shoe fly out of his mouth. That whole match was full of drama, what with Pavel cursing out the chair ump for that overrule (another thing which came out on the air . . .somebody at USA scrambled to pot down the volume after he dropped the F-bomb). It was said by someone earlier, but I also couldn't understand why the crowdreacted so badly when the ump gave him a 1 point penalty . . . especially since since the overrule was actually correct.

Poor Scoville Jenkins. Last year he gets Roddick in the first round, this year he gets Nadal in the second round. He can't catch a break.

I agree with you for the most part. I think what worked with BG was the back-to-basics/play-to-your-strenghts approach. BG got him to rely on his serve and forehand, which was a good thing. However, Brad (among others) has been making very good comments while calling the matches. The guy's smart enough to figure out something.

Part of me thinks Mary Carillo should be his coach, because she has summed up his problems better than anyone. Andy's court positioning is terrible. Someone needs to explain to him that he can't be a baseliner in today's game when his backhand (while improved) is such a liability. He stands so far back on the returns that he's practically begging his opponent to take control of the point. That's a great strategy if you're as fast and consistent as Nadal or Hewitt, but not so much for Andy. I also agree that he needs to work the slice backhand even more than he does now. Did he serve into Muller's body once that whole match?

Thanks for this. I could not figure out what East Village hipster wannabe's were doing with Mardy.

So now we should get to see some lesser known names on the big court. I'm going tonight and am looking forward to seeing Nadal play Scoville Jenkins, one of my favorites after last year's match with Roddick. And he's got my favorite tennis name after Potito Starace.

I agree on Blake's brother. If he was the one in the family box at the Pilot Pen, he's not in the same league as James. He kind of reminds me of Bart's separated twin in that Simpsons' Halloween episode. Still, I wish James would grow his hair back that way.

USA must be praying Agassi doesn't lose to Karlovic.

Has she ever coached? She strikes me as someone to have the personality for it.

Why does everyone (the announcers, etc) compare Roddick to Sampress? He's clearly the new Agassi. He plays like Agassi and has the same difficulty winning slams like Agassi.

I know! I mean James is and always will be hot, but I want dreads!