Federer schmederer, how did you do with the SHOWGIRLS, McGrogan!!! (Hi everyone. . .)

"scantily-clad women sipping drinks on the strip"

....well, geez, I mean come on now, McGrogan, cough it up, ol boy.:)

I wasn't online yesterday so I have to congratulate my boy Roger today. So happy for him to win his 50th title and win the US Open series. For the first time, he did well at both Canada and Cincy. I know how much blowing that Montreal final must have hurt him but I give him tons of credit for 'grinding' it out and winning. (btw...great 'grinding' post at ESPN, Pete - I totally agree).

It's easy to win when you are playing well, but the trick is to win consistently when you are not at your best. Roger did that this week. The heat, humidity, and very fast surface played havoc with most players this week but Roger was the last-man-standing and that was cool to see.

Both Hewitt and Blake played very well this week (Hewitt played well at both tournaments but ran up against Roger both times) and it was nice to see. I hope both play well in NY.

Cincy was the one 2007 tournament where Roger could gain ATP points and I'm thrilled he did just that! Good going, Roger!

DO CASE

Hats off to Codepoke, a computer programmer with a flair for writing more than if-then-else/do-while statements. I quite enjoyed your tennis recaps. You managed to to add enough surrounding details to allow the picture to form in 3-d, not the flat screen stuff you might expect from a debugger. While I cannot request that you "give up the day job," I can say that you have more prose left to give. Keep it up.

ENDCASE

Chapeaus aside for AllyR as well. Our intrepid undercover reporter was candid and unashamed in her "stalking" exploits. The elevator story was priceless: I would have loved to see the father's face, forced to accept his son's autograph story, but the thought of that elevator lurching to a grudgingly obedient stop, after seeing your hand shoot out to smash the "Rafa" button...

And yes, by all means, look up, fool, look up, into those deep Mallorcan eyes. Watch keenly as those lips form the word "Perfect", describing not only the inked page, but also your not-exactly-serendipitous encounter. Now, focus on that last little nuance, touching but one of those massive guns, just briefly, but just long enough to let the King-of-Clay's electricity pass through a thin perspiry screen, and into you.

Now go, sit where he sat. Silly? Not at all. Not when you think of trying to repeat it (as one often does, when one thinks of the things one SHOULD HAVE done-hindsight and all that...). Because you (or anyone who's read your account) can book the same hotel next year, lobby-squat during the same midnight hours, ride the same elevator (and with enough cash/persuasion, with the same family), and yet never create the same experience. Heisenberg lives!

I cannot end this missive without repeating a recurring sentiment:
All of the mainstream reporters, TV chatters and analysts simply cannot keep pace (or substance) with the ever growing number of people using blackberries, laptops and cell phones to deliver in-depth stories, anecdotes and relevant trivia (not an oxymoron).

Here, this past week, instead of Jenson's jive and Meeka Buckam's blather, we've enjoyed Codepoke's odyssey and AllyR's ulterior adventures. Looking back, this year only, we've had excellent field reports from Rosangel, Todd and in Charge, Ed M., among many others. We even have a couple of resident statisticians, a lawyer or two (or three), several poets, former players functioning as technical advisors, historians (Nancy J), more than a few color commentators; and for the Andy Rooney/Nancy Giles irony spots, we have Liron.

You simply cannot get the entire tennis story without coming here.

ks

Pete:

Welcome back. I trust you will be sharing some special moments from your holiday, yes?

ks

Hello Mr. Bodo,

I have a question that might ot of context but you may know the answer to it. Do you remember last year, the week prior to the us open? there was a Nike event held in 54th st. and Lexington Ave. here in NYC where Federer and Nadal showed up to play in the middle of Manhattan. Do you know if there will be another event like that with those 2 in it? and if so, when and where?

thanks for your answer,

PS. I know there will be an event held in Grand Central on Aug. 24th but I still don't know who will be there. Last year it was Ginepri, Nadal and Roddick for Babolat. Also Matina navratilova was signing books or autographs.

Creig Bryan,
How right you are on getting the entire tennis story from TW. Also, match call is better from TW than listening to the experts on TV.

Sam,

SAM, WHERE ARE YOU???

Your dream has come true -- Annacone is available for the Fed! See Marie J's post at 6:38 a.m. on yesterday's crisis thread. She provides a link to the TimesOnline. Henman is calling it quits.

My country's Prime Minister mentioned Federer in his National Day speech. It was nothing big, just a passing mention; he was talking about being the best and people right at the top.

"In sports, if you watch golf, you'd want to watch Tiger Woods; in tennis, you would want to see Roger Federer."

Hello snapcrackleandpopsicle! Ahem, Fed no need coach.:)

CM: Federer can gain ATP points at Paris Indoor (Bercy) if he chooses to play there. It's the last Masters Series event, and it was hammered by withdrawals last year. Federer would be coming off Madrid and Basel, with YEC Shanghai to follow with a week's break.

It will be interesting if Nadal is making a run at the no 1 slot - Nadal can also pick up points at Paris.

creig bryan: heehee, you is funny dere with your cobaling.

***CM: Federer can gain ATP points at Paris Indoor (Bercy) if he chooses to play there.***

I know that Andrew. I was talking about tournaments that he actually played in last year. Cincy was the only tournament that he did not make the final in last year. From now on, he can only protect points unless (as you say) he plays a tournament that he did not play in last year like Paris.

DMS: just last week you were off of lala land...I see your'e back up there again....tsk tsk...for the upteenth time the Fed needs a coach...TFB's so flaky...yeesh ;)

Beckham,
Congrats to Fed for winning his 50th tournament and we all can give Fed his 2.4 million dollar check and his 4th USO trophy but the following below is what I said on Saturday after watching the Fed/Hewitt match:

"Now, Beckham has been saying this for months now and after today's match, here goes:
Did Tony Roche spend too much time while coaching Fed on his backhand and coming into net? His FH was making errors on a regular basis and it seems like counterpunchers do give Fed problems and Fed's patience wears thin. Now, Fed needs a coach that will tell him to be a little more patiemnce against counter punchers and work on getting his FH back as the most dominant shot in tennis."

hi ed! you are too cute for words. :)
loved your monday net post --- as usual! and feel slightly put off for you in coming up empty handed on your betting adventures in the ultimate betting mecca of the world :)

Pete: Loved your "grinding" post on ESPN. Fed's ability in that area really gets overlooked. But IMO it's as impressive as his talent.

tangi: Haven't been on the blog much since Saturday - will check out marie's post shortly.

Beckham: :)

Hi everyone,

Carrying over from a previous thread, I thought I'd de-lurk once more since I'm just back from Cincinnati where I watched both semi-finals and the finals. I haven’t had a chance to read all of the posts yet (AllyR’s elevator story?) so I hope I’m not repeating previous info.

Because of our late arrival on Friday night, we missed Saturday’s practices. We went right to Center Court for the Federer/Hewitt match, and it didn’t disappoint. I don’t know what else I can add about the match. We saw some great, on-the-edge-of- your-seat tennis, some highlight reel shots from Roger, the amazing Hewitt fight, and a Roger victory. All we could ask for. The evening semi was fun but uneventful. I was cheering for Davydenko, not because I don’t like Blake but because Kolya needed some love in that stadium against JB. A more competitive match would have been fun, but we were still on a high from the afternoon semi.

There was no practice schedule posted for Sunday but thanks to Tari’s advice, we looked for Roger to practice around 2.5 hours before his match. Sure enough, he practiced at 1:30 on Court 2, just before the doubles final started. There were about 100 or so people in attendance to watch Roger practice with Patrick McEnroe. I know Roger practices with a lot of different hitting partners, but does anyone know if he’s hit with PMac before? I couldn’t help wondering if James Blake would appreciate his Davis Cup coach hitting with the competition before the final. :) Anyway, Roger was quite serious and focused during practice, and seeing him practice up close was quite impressive. He walked off the practice court quickly without signing autographs, but he did give a fan the 3 practice balls he carried off court. He definitely looked like he was in the zone, which I hoped would bode well for his performance later.

From there, it was on to the doubles final, a good match even if the Bryans’ loss did disappoint much of the crowd. Erlich and Ram were very excited about their victory, but not inappropriately so. During the trophy ceremony, however, one of them apologized for being so excited, saying that it was their first Masters series title and felt almost like a Grand Slam victory to them. Nice to see. The crowd was really into the match, so I guess it paid off to have it before the singles final this year.

After the singles final, PMac conducted a long courtside interview with Roger. (Did they broadcast that here on CBS?) After the interview, Roger hung around the court for about 20 minutes or so signing autographs, heading first directly to those with the Swiss flags/colors. (I heard someone remark as we left the court “Note to self: If you want Roger’s autograph, bring the Swiss flag.”) My son just missed getting his autograph, but that’s OK. We’ll have something to shoot for next time.

Overall, it was a fantastic weekend for us. After the disappointment of not seeing either Roger (my favorite) or Rafa (my son’s fave) at Cincy last year, we were so excited to see Roger win and so thrilled to see the amazing Fed/Hewitt semi on Saturday. Seeing that match live was the highlight of the trip for me. If you haven’t had a chance to see live tennis, I’d recommend it. Like most other sports, it’s so much more fun live than on TV. Of course, you have to get lucky to see your favorite play and play well, and we were so glad we did this weekend.

Welcome back, Pete! Cute post, Ed. :)

Sigh there isn't much not to like about Roger but do ya think he could say not show up at the US open? When one guy wins almost (and notice I said almost) everything then it gets a little boring at least in bygone days we had a little more competition i.e. when the likes of Pete and McEnroe were around (sorry feeling a bit nostalgic today)...

A hearty high-five to low chicago. Great report. Did you notice anything else during the Fed's practice session? Perhaps some spectator small talk, or something...

ks

Great report - especially regarding the doubles final, which we didn't get in Israel. Nice to know Andyoni were excited.

Or,
Seems like all your favs won yesterday - Fed in singles and Erlich/Ram in doubles. Congrats to them. Erlich/Ram is now in New Haven to try to win 2 tournaments in a row. I am surprised Erlich/Ram have not won this year until Cincy.

it's nice to hear from many posters or long time lurkers having fun at tournaments, and sharing their elevators experiences as well as on court viewings with us !

Jhurwi—
Thanks for the report from New Haven (last Cincy blog); you’ve whetted my appetite. I generally get down there (I’m only ½ hour away). Since I went to Montreal this year, I’ve been uncertain about whether I’d do NH (and USO), as well. But it is a great opportunity to see some tennis up close, with a pretty decent field. Last year I went on the spur of the moment when I heard Blake and Rafa would be practicing together, but I got there too late. I wonder if Rafa will show this year? They always seem to attract a lot of Spanish speaking players (and fans). And Olly Rochus is always a treat. Who knows, maybe Donald Young will have his coming out party or Mario will have his coming back party this year!

Ruth—
I doubt Serena will be on scene. It was just a marriage of convenience. I expect her to be at the USO, however. Even if she has to rely on her one-hand slice, she could make the quarters, and then, who knows? I was looking forward to reports of Richard’s bike trips around New Haven, though.

Creig, the practice court was very quiet. Is that unusual? There were a few murmurs in the crowd each of the two times Roger lifted his shirt up to wipe his face off and there was a round of applause at the end of the session. Otherwise, the only person I heard talking was PMac, who would apologize occasionally for a mis-hit.

Great report, low Chicago. Yes, they did broadcast the PMac post match interview w/Fed. The match was over so quickly that CBS was desperate to fill time - they showed the Blake interview as well. As to Roger practicing with PMac, CBS even had a little snippet of tape of the 2 of them on the practice court. PMac said how impressed he was that Roger came all by himself...no big entourage or anything. Apparently earlier in the week Fed hit with some highschool kid because he didn't want ask Mirka again and he couldn't find anyone else to hit with, lol. Imagine that kid's face when he saw who he was hitting with.

I second that Anacone motion as Fed coach, but first it has to be official that Tim is actually retiring.

***Kate wrote: When one guy wins almost (and notice I said almost) everything then it gets a little boring***

I don't really know how you can say that this year. Nadal has won 6 titles, Roger 5, Djokovic 4, and a few players at 2. Doesn't sound like Roger is winning 'almost' everything to me. Many of these matches (between all these guys) has been quite competitive. I don't find tennis boring at all.

Great report low-chicago! I'm sooooo glad you and your son had such a wonderful time. I was there last year and of course missed my boy Roger. But as I've stated before, I saw pretty much everyone else and it was great. I hope everyone gets to go to a live professional tennis tournament sometime. It really is awesome. Actually, I think any sport live is great - even ones I don't particularly watch normally.

CL, I'll have to go back and watch the interview on DVR. Thanks.

I can't believe Roger couldn't find someone to hit with. Wow.

It was funny when PMac said how much fun he had but Rog didn't ask him for any advise. That Fed simply showed up, picked up his own balls - like anyone else out for a hit - except tuning up for a finals -

As to Anacone, he does seem like the type more than Cahill and as Fed and Tim H have been friends on the tour I wouldn't be suprised if it were a possibility it had been discussed in some form.

good morning!
Ed , as always, great stuff. and glad you survived Lost Wages intact.
Pete - welcome back - we missed you, but Rosangel has done a great job here , in your absence.
low chicago - glad you delurked to share your day with us. Now keep it up.
have to go find the Maria S story mentioned on the other thread now - shame on Adam for the kiss and tell stuff - what a creep

for samantha:

http://www.tennis-x.com/story/2007-08-20/h.php

Justine Henin on Roger Federer: "There's nothing I don't like in his game, but I like the person most of all. I had the occasion to have lunch with him once and he has an exceptional air about him. He's very intelligent. To be at that level for a long time, you have to be intelligent and serene and calm. And he does everything while remaining very natural and unpretentious."...

Also the most telling bit of information came when on two different days Mirka really wasn't into hitting with him - once too hot and once was vague. Both times he went to the tournament and asked if they knew anyone to hit with.

I can just hear Mirka - really Rodger - you need to find another guy to play tennis with if you insist on hitting when it is so hot.

CM, Andrew:

Federer can play in Paris ATP (max 500 points) and not play
Basel that he won last year (max 250 points). This will not
be a major change in terms of schedule, I guess. The question
is will Fed withdraw from his home tournament?

So, no idea about when and where the Nike event to be held in NYC in this week prior to the Open in which both Federer and Nadal more than likely be?

I think the more proper and less confusing way to see the rankings situation with the men is the Race standings, and if it where to end today, Nadal would be world number 1

1st Nadal, R. 982
2nd Federer, R. 971
3rd Djokovic, N. 662


Just mentioning that in case, but the gap closed a lot this week

And also, Federer dismissed the "we shouldnt have masters-series" back to back theme with his performance this week to back up last week. Heck, I give Andy Roddick, the only thing I give him, full respect for doing the double four years ago. Anyway, big up to Henin as well, that was a terrific match so I know Samantha's happy and I have to put her as the "favorite" in the mess that is the women's side right now

And Donald Young scoring his first win, yes! Next up for him, Nikola "I be $5G" on that guy", so it will be his first match aganist a top five opponent (the Djokovic match form the Open last year doesn't count cause Yung Joc wasn't in the Top 10 yet)

Thanks, Ed.

And your WTA hero also had the best shoes of the week. Hands down.

Swiss Maestro, they could be at Macys at Herald Square or 34th street or the same location they had last year, which has slipped my mind.

I don't much care about the Race rankings until the last quarter of the year...until then, it doesn't mean much. The ATP ranking is what counts.

At the end of the year, the Race becomes fun as a few guys fight it out to make the Top 8. And of course, by the end of the year, the two rankings should be in sync anyway.

Swiss Maestro, Jerell...They were at the GoldSmith Golf and Tennis store on 54th between Lex and 3rd. I just past there and there is no sign of preparation. Seems like last year at this time they were very busy getting up those huge posters of Roger and Rafa.

***I think the more proper and less confusing way to see the rankings situation with the men is the Race standings, and if it where to end today, Nadal would be world number 1

1st Nadal, R. 982
2nd Federer, R. 971
3rd Djokovic, N. 662 ***
_____________________

Actually no. If it were to end today, Roger would be #1 since his world ranking is based on the ATP points. The Race points indicate who would be Year-End #1. Right now the two are not the same, but by the end of the year, the Race leader and the ATP #1 should be the same.

kad1, i bet fed will skip paris again, unless his ranking requires it... and last year i read somewhere in the internet that he had a 3 year agreement to play in bâle, which ends i think in 2009...
i doubt to see him any soon at paris bercy...

Message to Snoo Foo - continued from sunday thread
I know you are not interested in the guy - but for your fellow tribe members, you could have made the ultimate sacrifice . Come on, Feli was offering himself up - couldn't you have thrown yourself into his open arms and taken a dang picture to show the rest of us?

I was watching the match yesterday and trying to listen to Carillo when she was talking about what kind of player James Blake wants to be. I wound up missing the rest of her comments; does anyone know what in the hail she was trying to say?

kad1: it's a really interesting question. Last year, I thought Federer would honor his commitment to Paris Indoor, and was genuinely surprised when he withdrew. I would be stunned if he withdrew from Basel - the local goodwill he's had by playing there means a lot, I think.

Federer so far this year has played one fewer tournaments (-Doha, -Halle, + Hamburg) and 17 fewer matches (51 vs 68) (partly more early losses, first round byes, one less tournament).

So, it could be that the cumulative wear and tear of 2007 is less than the cumulative effect of 2006 by the time Basel/Paris rolls around, even if Federer is again making the finals of tournaments in the latter stages of the year.

todd-i try to turn carillo out as much as possible, but what i think she was trying to say is that will james continue to be content just being a shotmaker, or does he want to work on being a more thoughtful player in order to achieve more consistent results.

Ed: I'm a big Blake fan, and I agree 100% with your pick of Roger for this week's hero award. The Yan selection is also right on target.

low chicago: Thanks for your report. I hope that I'll be able to see the Erlich/Ram team in action at the USO next week. Needless to say, neither TV nor the ATP feed showed us the doubles final.

BTW Until I read your comment, I was wondering if Roger (based on his own words) and I were the only ones who thought that there was something surprising/odd about PMac, the US Davis Cup captain, warming up TMF before his match with Blake -- unless I missed someone else's comment here.

Re Roger and Rafa in New York: I doubt if they are appearing at any public events, or it would have been publicized by now. Nike certainly made a big deal out of it last year! Also, no Rafa sightings in New Haven this year, even though he was out of Cincinnati early in the tournament again.

CM,

I met that if it was solely based on this year's performance and this years alone, despite the fact that Fed has two Grand Slams, Nadal has earned more points overall for 2007 alone.

And plus, I like the Race because it truely shows who has played well this year (or in any single year). It is a farce sometimes to look at the rankings because up until this week, James Blake for this year was only was not a top 10 player. In fact, even after this result, he is 13th overall in the race, which is a more honest indication of where he is as of this year than the 52 week rankings.

Plus, trying to figure out how many points this player will lose or win week in and week out gets annoying.

Of course the ATP rankings count, but say if a casual fan sees today's rnakings and see that Blake is now number 6 in the world, they would think that Blake is having a solid year, where that is far from a vallid statement.

What could be more scientific then shrinking the sample size?

The ATP race points (which start from zero at the beginning of each year) are pretty weird as an indicator till the end of the season because of the way the season is structured. By and large, we have the following (with overlap):

Jan - Mar: hardcourt season, part I (+ some clay stuff in Feb)
Mar - Jun: clay court season
Jun - Jul: grass court season
Jul - Oct: hardcourt season, part II (+ some clay tournaments)
Oct - Nov: indoors (+ some hardcourt) season

A clay court expert with a reasonable hardcourt showing (is there such a guy now? :-)) will have a clear advantage in the early part of the year, front-loading his points.

>>And plus, I like the Race because it truely shows who has played well this year (or in any single year).

Well, it's a combination of playing well, plus playing in more tournaments. Nadal has played in (I believe) 3 more tournaments than Federer so far this year, and he has 11 more points. Is that an indication that he has been the true No. 1 this year? Hhhmmm.

One thing I like about the ATP ranking is that it limits the number of countable tournaments, so you can't pad your ranking by playing a Davydenko-type of schedule.

I pretty much find the ATP Race useless to look at until after the U.S. Open. I think the ATP got it right when it downgraded the status of the Race, so that it's no longer shown on the home page of their website. A couple of years ago, when Safin won the AO, the prominence of the ATP Race list seemed to suggest that he was No. 1.

***low chicago: Thanks for your report. I hope that I'll be able to see the Erlich/Ram team in action at the USO next week. Needless to say, neither TV nor the ATP feed showed us the doubles final. ***
______________________

The Tennis Channel showed the Cincy doubles final twice yesterday.

baxter5, thanks. Thinking about that "shotmaker" comment as it relates to both Roddick and Blake, I think you could make the argument that Roddick has in fact restrained his shotmaking tendencies, added some consistency and variety to his game, yet is still struggling to break through to that next level.

Blake doesn't seem all that interested in that career path, and is more about hitting those thrilling shots that make you want to play tennis (a great return, a winning shot down the line, a running forehand winner) and which take your breath away, but don't always win you a lot of tournaments.

In terms of really trying to clarify the difference, I think the ATP didn't do that bad of a job, but they could have worked it a little better.

Still, its not that complicated as say Wertheim and maybe others feel through about it. And yup, they downgraded it because they were tired of people saying it casued total confusion.

You make a good point Luz about that, but remember, that would still make Nadal number one. However, being "number one" and being the best player of course are two completely different things. Martina Hingis and Lindsay Davenport will definitely tell you they agree with that statement because though they ended up number 1 at years end at the beginning of the decade, it was clear evidence that Venus Williams was the best player (and then Serena later)

I get what you are saying Jerell. But as kad1 pointed out...it is misleading as well because of how the season is laid out. Because the clay season is early...Rafa tends to do very well and have a ton of Race points in the beginning of the year.

For example, if you look at the 2nd half of 2006 (points-wise), I don't think Rafa was even in the Top 5.

All the Race shows is how you have done so far this year. No one expects Blake to do well during the clay season. We're now entering the best season for Blake and Roddick. So we would expect them to rise in the Race during this time. Everyone expects Rafa to do well in the clay season, so of course the Race points indicate that.

The ATP ranking is a much better indicator of someone's true ranking because it incorporates all the GS and all the surfaces.

If you used the Race points to determine who is #1 at any point in time, then Ljubicic would have been #1 earlier this year, with Malisse as #2. 'Nuf said.

In terms of Blake, it's just this simple:

He is not versatile enough and consistent enough to poise Fed a change like Nadal and now Yung Joc. He can't capitalize on the massive moments and he puts himself in such a hole with silly errors and sometimes just downright stupid play. You just knew that before this match was going to happen that it would occure that way (and it made it more laughable with Patrick McEnroe saying "Blake had a hitter's chance" before the first commercial break).

Plus, depsite having great speed, Blake for all his talents plays horrible defense. I let others elaborate on that point.

After Blake beat Davydenko, P-Mac actually went on record and picked Blake to beat Federer for the title. I found it interesting that P-Mac totally down-played that prediction during the Finals broadcast...only saying that Blake had a fighting chance. Maybe he felt differently after warming up Roger, ha!

anonymous, who said I use it at any time, especially at the beginning of the year where you could be #1 in the race, don't be ridiculous.

CM, I use the rankings over the race of course, but I'm just saying that it shows whose been up to par and has the most points for this calendar year alone.

And to be honest, its not schewed for the clay courters at the beginning of the year. Anybody can win on a given day, you still have to win matches. When Nadal won the French and had the big points gap (in the Race), it just wasn't the clay performances but also the hard court results at the Aus Open and the Indian Wells-Miami double that showed that he, in terms of an overall resume, at that point he was having the best year of anybody.

Now, as the year has progressed, for this year alone, Fed has closed the game in terms of who has had the best year in terms of this year, but we all know at the moment who is the better player and that is of course the great Swiss.

Ruth--
PMac could always defend his action by saying he hoped to find a Fed flaw to reveal to James.

Swiss Maestro, it could be at Macys at Herald Square or 34th street or the same location they had last year which has slipped my mind.

I dont know where that old comment came back from

>>anonymous, who said I use it at any time, especially at the beginning of the year where you could be #1 in the race, don't be ridiculous.

But then, at what point of the calendar year would you consider it "un-ridiculous" to use it? Or would you determine that based on who is sitting atop the ATP race, and whether you would like the result or not? (IMO, it's ridiculous to use the ATP Race as a gauge of No. 1 at any point of the year until the very end, when it converges with the ATP Entry system.)

Jerell,

thanks for the into. I work at 57th between 5th and Madison and took a walk during lunch time around 54th and Lex and I did not see anything (posters or advertisiement). Could it be that this year is where you suggested aboive? (Macy's Herald Square in 34th st?). Thanks for your info too Ahead 3.

Also, Nicolas Kiefer and Agustin Calleri will be at the tennis store in 53rd st. between Madison and Park this coming friday at 2 pm in case anyone wants to go.

Some guys like to hit out and some like to defend and some are more balanced. I believe it is very difficult to play a game that is contrary to one's nature at any level.

I generally agreed with the point about Blake - that he feels he plays best when he is agressive, going for his shots before the other guy can. MC made the point - duh - when it works but can it work for anyone over the course of a long match. PMac was fairly clear about how he felt, when he responded he was just repeating - as in as Blake's DC coach he had tried to teach more when to go for it.

I also found the point about Blake's different success against Rafa and Fed in that Blake got more high kicking balls and more chances to go for mid court winners to hit through Rafa taking away his ability to hang around a point.

Fed leaving him less to go for with greater variety to mess up the flow for Blake and defending a few big shots. The other point being Rafa gave Blake more serves he could attack.

The very things that Fed does to hurt Blake play better against Rafa as Fed goes for fewer outright flat winners allowing Rafa to play more and not attacking Rafa's second serve like Blake.

Demonstrates the notion of games matching up or not quite well.

Jerell: sorry you find the ATP rankings, with the change from week to week as tournament results from the prior year are replaced by this year's results, annoying.

Not sure that having Blake as no 6 is a "farce," though. The rankings tell us that that's where he deserves to be based on the last 12 months. He played pretty well in the last 4.5 months of 2006, and if he does so again in 2007, more power to him.

Even if we look at Race points alone, there's a group of 10 players within +/- 15 points of Blake, from Robredo (9-277) to Hewitt (18-249). Blake got to Shanghai in 2006 by being 8th on the list, jumping to 5th by year end on the back of good results in China.

So it's not obvious to me that his 2007 ranking miscasts his standing relative to his peers.

Andrew: Diplomacy is your strong suit.

ks

i agree with mariej re fed´s schedule. IF his number one ranking is very safe before paris bercy (and maybe even that much that it looks very promising to keep it all the way to IW08) you won´t see fed in paris. and i expect it to be this way.
he has almost never played there and it clearly is not part of his "holy" schedule. when has fed the last time added tourneys to his schedule he didn´t play for years?
and he won´t skip basel. it is his home tourney. home not only switzerland but basel!
it is like nadal skipping barcelona, not gonna happen (except when injured).
additionally basel "expects" to see more of fed cause he was unlucky in the last years. often injured during the basel time.
so skipping basel to play paris? no. chance. at all.
playing both? unlikely in my opinion. only if he feels pressured for no.1 (unlikely at that time)

TT makes some very valid points, as always. Fed gave Blake very few second serves, and Blake did as well as he could when he got one.

I also thought Blake struggled at net, blowing some easy shots. Still, his retrieving capabilities are admirable, but learning when to turn it on and when to play a neutral ball are still matters he is working through. I'd like to see him play a defensive or neutral ball more consistently, and deeper (particularly on his backhand side).

I really don't put that much emphasis on the "Race" rankings yet. (never really did even when Roger was leading last year and the year before)... They don't use the Race to seed players, or to say who truly is #1 in the world...I just use it as a guide as to who will make the year-end. Right now even #1 and #2 isn't up for grab because both Roger and Nadal has already clinched spots for the year-end. I think having 2 "rankings" actually kind of confuse people, but I see golf is doing the same things with their Fedex ranking...it's just that normally the #1 player in the world (like Tiger) is also leading both tournaments. Now if Roger had the same amount of tournaments that Nadal has - I don't think that would be a problem. But it's a good debate.

I also think some folks are making too much of a deal out of P-Mac warming up Roger to play Blake (who is on his Davis Cup team). Him warming up Roger wasn't going to hurt Blake. If P-Mac hadn't done it - someone else would have. Now if Roger had tried to pry P-Mac for 'secrets' as to how to win against Blake - that's different. But just to warm up a person? I don't see the problem...

Remember (I think) Mici's old rock-scissors-paper analogy to compare Federer, Blake and Nadal? I knew that this matchup would be old hat for Federer UNLESS he came out sluggish and Blake came out with both guns blazing. Even then, you have to keep that up for two sets, and since the odds of quickly steamrolling even a sluggish Fed are not that great... well.

Not saying nobody can do it, but even I couldn't think that Blake was going to. I was awfully surprised by P-Mac.

Oops, JR, I accidentally responded to what you said at 12:06 pm on this thread re Serena minus the two-handed BH at 1:46 pm on the 8/19 Crisis Center thread which is still open. Definitely not a crisis, but I just wanted to explain.

It will be interesting to see what she decides to do, I suppose that a week's additional healing time could be enough to make her ready for the USO.

There was an excellent point where Federer smartly used Blake's speed against him. Yet again, Federer yanked Blake to the forehand side, Blake spit up a midcourt ball , changed direction quickly and started sprinting to the backhand side, since by now, Blake had read Fed's yo-yo pattern. This time Federer drilled a ball straight down the middle, right at a sprinting Blake, who hadn't planned on stopping yet, ran into the ball and hit into the net. "Too good" ensues.

as to ATP race points vs entry ranking. I think around this time of the year the race points are an interesting indicator to see who might make it to no 1 and who might make it into the Masters Cup. What we see is that Nadal needs better results than Federer in the coming tournaments to take the No one spot. Entry rankings, however are to some extent misleading about the true position as there are eight players who have points from last year's Masters Cup which they may not get a chance to defend i.e. they have points from one additional tournament compared to other players that compete for one of the 8 spots. I think Blake is a good example here - take away his 400 points from Shanghai last year
and he would be ranked as No 10 instead of No 6.

I liked it when Blake took the pace off, hitting mid-court backhand bunnies, until Fed attempted a winner that went just a drop long. When Blake tried it again, Fed corrected and stopped Blake dead in his tracks.

I truly hope Serena arrives to play USO even if she has to hit those most powerful slices I've ever seen. lol
Thank god Venus is fine atleast, isn't she? She's supposed to even have some kind of form on her right? She still has some of the Wimbledon form.

AS to the reports on Tim Henman's possible retirement there is some up-to-date information on the Wimbledon hompage

http://www.wimbledon.org/tennisnews/article_A18004821187626851A.html

Temes,
The Williams Sisters will be there to give it their all. Serena is trying for only the 2nd time to play all of the Slams in a calendar year.

IF Serena shows up - she better be in shape. All this time off the court - she should have been trying to get in the best physical shape possible. That thumb injury couldn't have kept her out of the gym. So I hope she doesn't show up out-of-shape for this tournament because there is no excuse - and Serena's my girl!

*** also think some folks are making too much of a deal out of P-Mac warming up Roger to play Blake (who is on his Davis Cup team). Him warming up Roger wasn't going to hurt Blake. If P-Mac hadn't done it - someone else would have. Now if Roger had tried to pry P-Mac for 'secrets' as to how to win against Blake - that's different. But just to warm up a person? I don't see the problem...***
__________________________

I agree FoT...what is the big deal? Roger needed someone to warm up with and P-Mac was available. How does that in any way harm his duties as DC captain? And how does that in any way somehow sleight James? It doesn't.

It will be interesting to hear what Henman has to say. In his case, it truly does seem to be that his body is giving out sooner than his mind. I think if he had his way, he would definitely play longer. Of course, in some cases like Borg, it is definitely the mental side that caused his quitting, not the physical.

Thanks to everyone who has given tournament reports in the comments in the past few days - AllyR (and the elevator), Snoo Foo, jhurwi and now low chicago. Much valued.

Hey all, many thanks for all your prayers and expressions of sympathy during the passing of Hurricane Dean. My family and myself are safe and suffered no damage during the passing of Hurricane Dean. We are safe and are at home right now. Unfortunately for my family in Jamaica (where I am from originally) they were not so successful and they have suffered losses (material thank God) and I guess they will recover eventually. Thank you again all Tribe Members for the outpouring of love and support. And to my make my day even better I see that Yummy Prince Fed won Cincinnatti. Yaaay. Go Yummy Prince Fed.

Yummy Prince Fed/Karen,
Glad to hear that all of your family is OK considering the circumstances. As you know now, Fed will be playing for 2.4 million dollars beginning next Monday.

Great news, Karen. So glad you could let us know that everyone close to you is OK, thank God. :)

CM: Thanks for telling me about the doubles final on TTC (which I have). I'll see if they repeat it again, as they often do, and I'll try to remember always to check there first before "abandoning all hope.":)

Oh yes it's so exciting USO is already next week! Then my life can turn into nothing but tennis for two weeks as always during Slams. I stay up all night glued to the tv screen and school and all of my other "affairs" can go straight to hell! Jihaa! lol

Yummy Prince Fed/Karen
So glad to hear that you and your family are safe. As a person who lived many years in New Orleans, although I was no longer a resident by the time Katrina hit, I have been through numerous hurricane seasons and I know how terrifying and devastating they can be.

On this same thought - has anyone heard from Jamaican girl ? I hope she was not harmed by the storm.

Ruth - the TTC is replaying the doubles - or at least they were about 30 minutes ago-
I wish I had known you were looking - I did not see your post until just a few minutes ago !

Hurricanes are bad. Really bad. My sympathies Karen. Sheesh. All we have here in Finland are little trombs every now and then. Listing other dangers, a bear attack.

FoT and CM: I admit that I have not read every single comment on the TW site, but I must correct your saying that "some folk" are making too much about PMac's warming up Fed. It's just low chicago and I -- and Fed himself -- who have made any comment about it. So, our being such a tiny minority, it can't be important, can it? LOL

BTW Did you hear Roger himself say, in his post-match interview that he was surprised that PMac, being US DC captain, would agree to warm him up for a Blaske match...or did you miss that..or are you including him in the "some folk" who are making too much of it?

Ruth - I heard Roger say that he was surprised about Pmac agreeing in his post match interview- so it certainly occurred to him as well .

Federer was just joking...Big deal, does anyone really believe that a warm up hit is a slight against Blake or P-Mac's davis cup. As he said it was a privlege and by looking at P-Mac, he needs all the exercise opportunities he can get.

Samantha, thought of you when I saw this...

Justine Henin on Roger Federer: "There's nothing I don't like in his game, but I like the person most of all. I had the occasion to have lunch with him once and he has an exceptional air about him. He's very intelligent. To be at that level for a long time, you have to be intelligent and serene and calm. And he does everything while remaining very natural and unpretentious."...

Thanks, Beth. :)

YPF/Karen - so glad you hear you made it through unscathed. Sorry about your family in Jamaica, but they'll lucky, as material possessions are by far the easiest to replace. Good luck to them, and welcome back!

Tim,
I guess Roger and Justine converse in french when they see each other.That should be so cute....lol