Might as well say first.

first...btw murray is going to surge throught the barclays

Juan Martin to play Queens:

http://tinyurl.com/ykbpgpa

All matches to be LIVE on Tennis Channel except the final, which ESPN2 will have. Times listed are USA EST

Sunday Order of Play
Nestor/Zimonjic vs Fyrstenberg/Matkowski at 7:30 AM
Andy Murray vs Juan Martin Del Potro at 9:15 AM
Bhupathi/Knowles vs Cermak/Mertinak at 2 PM
Roger Federer vs Fernando Verdasco at 3:45 PM

Monday Order of Play
B Bryan/M Bryan vs Mirnyi/Ram at 7:30 AM
Rafael Nadal vs Robin Soderling at 9:15 AM
Dlouhy/Paes vs Kubot/Marach at 2 PM
Novak Djokovic vs Nikolay Davydenko at 3:45 PM

Tuesday Order of Play - Time to be determined
Roger Federer vs Andy Murray or Juan Martin Del Potro
Fernando Verdasco vs Andy Murray or Juan Martin Del Potro
Nestor/Zimonjic vs Bhupathi/Knowles or Cermak/Mertinak
Fyrstenberg/Matkowski vs Bhupathi/Knowles or Cermak/Mertinak

Wednesday Order of Play - Time to be determined
Rafael Nadal vs Novak Djokovic or Nikolay Davydenko
Robin Soderling vs Novak Djokovic or Nikolay Davydenko
B Bryan/M Bryan vs Dlouhy/Paes or Kubot/Marach
Mirnyi/Ram vs Dlouhy/Paes or Kubot/Marach

Thursday Order of Play - Time to be determined
Andy Murray vs Roger Federer or Fernando Verdasco
Juan Martin Del Potro vs Roger Federer or Fernando Verdasco
Bhupathi/Knowles vs Nestor/Zimonjic or Fyrstenberg/Matkowski
Cermak/Mertinak vs Nestor/Zimonjic or Fyrstenberg/Matkowski

Friday Order of Play - Time to be determined
Novak Djokovic vs Rafael Nadal or Robin Soderling
Nikolay Davydenko vs Rafael Nadal or Robin Soderling
Dlouhy/Paes vs B Bryan/M Bryan or Mirnyi/Ram
Kubot/Marach vs B Bryan/M Bryan or Mirnyi/Ram

Tennistv.com will show all doubles matches for free and for 24.95 you can stream all the singles matches

Here is the link telling us about doubles:

http://tinyurl.com/ykgsyuc

Semifinals
Afternoon session - 7:30 AM for doubles and 9:15 AM for singles
Evening session - 2 PM for doubles and 3:45 PM for singles

Finals
Doubles to be played at 7:30 AM
Singles to be played at 9:30 AM *

* ESPN2 will be on the air at 8 AM with semifinal highlights before the live final

have a great weekend pete! supposed to be georgous around here - should be the same for you too i would think!

London's Podcast is now available on the home page.

I can not access it from the day job as streaming is banned. Will have to wait until later.

Morning, all. Good hunting, Pete.

Not sure if I should own up to this, what with one of the richest YEC fields about to take to the courts in a long while (going to miss Roddick, though).

But am I the only tennis blog enthusiast who's just, a bit, a smidgeon, ready for the season to be over? (And yes, I know there's Davis Cup after this)?

I know the tour season is one of our dead horses here at TW. With Doha and Fed Cup well behind us, I just feel this is something the WTA does way better than the ATP.

It feels very wrong that there's barely a month or so between the end of the season and the start of the Australian Open. We do have lives of our own, even though it may not seem like it at times here. :-)

Andrew,
Yes, the WTA got it right about ending the season on 11/7/09 but I like the ATP schedule ending their season right now. In my Ace rankings, the least amount of matches plated to date is Roddick's 63 and for the WTA,other than Clijsters, the number is Zvonareva's 47. Roddick got injured as the fall season started and Zvonareva missed significant time during the soft surface season.

Podcast up with Pete on homepage

Hey, everyone. :)

LOL @ your Manchester United comment on the old thread, VC.

That's nice news about del Potro, Master Ace. :)

deer season?? you're hunting?? yuck!!!

shame on you Pete, shooting helpless beautiful animals is not a sport it's a perversion. too bad you don't work on your backhand instead of killing harmless creatures.

Andrew, I feel the same way. I feel that fatigue will have a major role in the WTF. It would be interesting if it were to be played when players are not fatigued. And if was played like a grad slam (5 set matches with players getting a day of rest in between the matches).

Which is perhaps why I do not bother to post as much. I am all tennised out. Is it over yet?

Andrew, good question. I feel a bit of your pain. Maybe even a smidgeon. :) Love that word, btw.

I struggled to be overly interested in the last few tournaments, but I find myself pretty excited about the WTF. I think when it's FINALLY the last one, it makes it easier to gear up, knowing a break is coming.

No one ever seems to care when people kill poor defenseless plants. They can't even run away.

Morning all.

First set of pics of the fellas dressed up in suits from London. There's a lot of hilarity here

http://www.life.com/search/?type=images&q0=Tennis&page=1

greenhopper,
What's with the lean forward pose? Looks like an all-boys prep school yearbook.

I can't work out if I'm ready for the season to be over or not...probably depends on my mood at any given moment. I usually miss some things about it, and not others.

The off season is a nice opportunity to recharge a bit, though. :) And to have fun - even discussing tennis - without all the frazzle and high stakes and stuff.

"No one ever seems to care when people kill poor defenseless plants. They can't even run away."

Mulch is murder!

Well, I feel killing animals (particularly hunting for pleasure) is worse than killing plants, but I'm a vegetarian, so I'm biased.

Thanks, greenhopper. :)

*loves Rafa in a suit* even when it doesn't fit properly, LOL.

BlueDog - *waves* - I lived with someone at university who wouldn't eat anything that she thought might have a soul, which included plants of various types. Made life a bit difficult sometimes.

"LOL @ your Manchester United comment on the old thread, VC."

Hi jewell! My team only ever performs in the first half of the season before the inevitable collapse, so I have to make the most of it, you know. ;-)

LMAO, BlueDog!

GH - Thanks for pics! They all look so bright and shiny and, well...earnest. Like "School Ties," tennis edition. Even though I'm a little bummed that RAndy had to withdraw, it's fun to see some new faces in the lineup.

Agree w/ the general feeling of "meh"-surrounding the WTF, even though I can't quite work out why =I= would be tired when I'm not even playing. LOL

*makes resolution to devote the woefully short tennis off-season to strengthening couch-sitting and scrolling muscles*

"Well, I feel killing animals (particularly hunting for pleasure) is worse than killing plants, but I'm a vegetarian, so I'm biased."

Hmm. I'm not a vegetarian, but if I were it'd be on ecological grounds rather than moral. As such, hunting seems better to me than buying factory-farmed meat from the store.

[Actually, even on moral grounds, hunting seems better. At least the hunted animal has known some freedom.]

lol, jewell-

Guess she ate a lot of stone soup. How did she test for the presence of a soul?

I confess, I don't hunt, but it strikes me as more forthright than buying a hamburger, with regard to the killing involved. I don't yell at old ladies pulling carrots from their garden either.

Oh yea, tennis. I'm quite looking forward to WTF, and I'll be in tennis withdrawal as soon as DC is over, so from a purely shelfish point of view I feel the season is too short.

Thanks for the pictures greenie. Geeze Delpo- smile a little. You have your new choppers- no need to always be an Eeyore. Good call on him signing up for Queen’s though.

lol, tesq. I think they're auditioning for the next Twilight movie.

Grant- not going to get into a long hunting arguement with you- but I have to say that I loathe the idea of canned hunts. These are not about meat- they are about importing animials just to kill them in fun.

And some farm animals are raised in more humane ways than others- you just have to look for the labels. So farmed animals are not always treated better than hunted animals.

^^^^

Ooops- meant to say that farmed animals are not always treated worse than hunted animals. :)

"shelfish point of view", I swear I'm not a scallop! Should be 'selfish'.

Grant, this is getting scary :-)

I don't get bored of tennis. ever. thanks for those pics 'hopper. they do look like prep school boys.

If you read pete's post carefully you will see that 'his freezer is empty.' he hunts deer for the venison. As a meat eater, I hate to think about where my steaks come from. lots of guilt.

anybody here listened to the podcast yet?

Which team, VC? Can't remember...sorry. :(

I don't think she was that rational about it, BlueDog. :)

I don't mind hunting for food, but I am slightly less keen on hunting purely for pleasure, or trophy-collecting, or stuff like that.

In a way I guess it's almost more ethical to hunt your own food rather than buy it, too.

Do shelfish have a soul? :)

I find it hilarious that this tournament is being referred to as "WTF". People must realize that in chat shorthand WTF means "What The F___" right?

Annie-Yes,it was the weirdest predictions,ever,especially from Bodo.

MA-pls listen to the podcast ASAP,Bodo surprises everyone by his choice of winner,and so does James Martin too.

Hilarious and outrageous Picks!!!Hope they don't "come true" :-((

"Do shelfish have a soul? :)"

Yes, and it's quite tasty with butter!

Hi there Sherlock! Someone called you Shir(e)lock yesterday, and I thought perhaps you were a hobbit.

"I don't mind hunting for food, but I am slightly less keen on hunting purely for pleasure, or trophy-collecting, or stuff like that." -agree!

"not going to get into a long hunting arguement with you- but I have to say that I loathe the idea of canned hunts. These are not about meat- they are about importing animials just to kill them in fun."

I doubt it'll be a long argument - I'm not terribly passionate about the subject, being primarily a humanist and therefore not terribly concerned with animal rights, but also having never hunted in my life. I grew up in an area where deer and game birds were plentiful, and knew lots of people who hunted, but it never really seemed like something I'd enjoy.

*Do shelfish have a soul? :)
*

That reminds me of when Kramer asked in an episode of Seinfeld- "Do chickens have a sense of humor? If so, I don't think I will eat them anymore."

Jason- I think they do. :) Steve's blog title - WTF is Happening gave me a giggle.

jason: oh we surely know what WTF means. i spelled it out once, calling it the whatthefuck tournament and it got through. hmmm let's see if it does now. I'm going to listen to the podcast. want to know the predictions.

Well then- Grant...sorry to bore you with my opinion. :p

Annie- Thanks for taking away my innocence :-(

Grant : Fair enough. I'd personally never hunt, but I'm not going to try and impose my opinion on anyone either.

jewell : Arsenal. :-)

"Yes, and it's quite tasty with butter!"

LOL. :)

Hmmm, Lock of the Shire was a certain ring to it. Wink, wink. :)

Go Meat!!!!

An apt term for Murray's game: 'Vulture Tennis'. Unable to control play or win on his own with his weak groundstrokes and non-existent second serve, he just keeps batting back blooper after blooper in hopes that his opponent will make errors and self-destruct.

I think the rest of the field is catching on to this vulture strategy. 8 of the other top 10 have the power to knock him out if they can control their UFE's. If Fed, Del Potro, and even Verdasco play anywhere near their potential, Murray will go 0-3 or at best 1-2, and out of the WTF quickly. Yet another major Tournament flop.

It's amazing how many journalist "experts" (including some at TW), keep falling for this Murray shell game and picking him. How many more times do they need to get burned? He has already fallen from #2 to #4 since August. Expect him to be #5 or #6 in not too long.

Tennis will continue to be ruled by eagles like Federer, Djokovic, Nadal and Del Potro (Grand Slam winners all), not by a slamless vulture.

Federer is just expressing the honest truth in his devastating criticism of Murray's game, for which he rightly has little respect.

haha, strange choices indeed. and i think all three guys will be wrong. :)

aww sorry BlueDog. didn't mean to be a potty mouth.

Yeah, it's a wonder Murray even continues on the tour, considering he has no chance. :)

*joining Sblily in strengthening the scrolling muscles*

Well- it is good to know that if this tennis thing doesn't work out Murray can look into a career as a carny - since he is good at those confidence trick games. :)

Sherlock - LOL. Careful, though. You don't want to overtrain your scrolling muscles in the offseason and end up like JJ -- stronger, but slower and less confident in your (scrolling) game.

Can I join the scroll-muscle-strengthening club too, please? I need some serious training and practice. :)

Let's try to take the positive. At least Nadal has been elevated to "eagle" status.

LOL, Sblily. Excellent point. I might soon be stealing Jewell's massages at the club. :)

lol, BlueDog and sblily(Wheeeee!).

*Interrupts teaching Murray how to play Three Card Monte*

Scrolling is like running for me. Whenever I fall off of the training wagon I need to really work up my endurance again.

*Interrupts teaching Murray how to play Three Card Monte*

Scrolling is like running for me. Whenever I fall off of the training wagon I need to really work up my endurance again.

Sherlock: "Do shelfish have a soul? :)"

In shallow shoals, English soles have souls.

But shellfish hide their souls (if they have them) in an elaborate shell game. Patterning after an certain British tennis player, who hides the non-existent soul of his tennis (FH) in his own elaborate shell game.

Great point, BlueDog. LOL. I wonder how that happened? Rafa an eagle?

So much flair, so little use. Are you French, Tigress?

And I thought you were a gentleman, Sherlock. ;-)

Tigress- I think you may have missed this growing up.

http://tinyurl.com/cgae35

Sherlock/BlueDog - Don't get excited. Rafa was probably only included among the eagles in a nod to his rapidly (sigh) thinning hair, not out of respect for his game.

Anyway, I like BlueDog's "take the positive" idea...perhaps we should be taking increased bashing as a compliment to Murray. :)

sblily- that was my thought too. :( It is too bad that Rogaine is on the banned substance list. But he could get hair plugs a'la Jeremy Piven. I see nothing wrong with men getting hair plugs. Hey- as one who is considering a boob job after I have kids- who am I to judge.

sblily: is rafa really losing his hair? i honestly havent noticed.

I enjoyed listening to the podcast, Pete.

I do wish you guys were more clear/informed regarding the number 1 point situation, especially when discussing DC and Rafa's potential points, because in no situation would DC change anything. (Rafa can only get 40 points max) That info had been published all over the net ever since Paris ended.

lol, sblily!

If his grandfather on his mother's side is bald then it's possible but otherwise all the nadal men have great heads of hair. what a pity. He needs to read andre's book to learn what NOT to do.

Annie - Rafa's center part is getting wider. *sniffles*

Annie- I think his Uncle Rafael- who he is named after- actually has thinning hair. Cursed namesakedness!

Speaking of, I was shocked by recent pictures of Prince William.

why would rogaine be on the banned substance list? it's a high blood pressure medicine. i don't know how well it works either.

TIGRESS: THANK YOU!!!

ITs wild if Murray truly believes that he can beat 7 of the world's top players in a 3/5 set format, By simply having less unforced errors. I read someone in the other post say "Murray is the best brain in the business" and that "he has the most accurate shot" if any of this were true, He would be hitting baselines with forehands, not service lines.

I believe he can become what people are already proclaiming him as if he adds a ton of offense to his game. People proclaim him as some tennis genius because he likes to hit with slice more than most players aside from Roger. But he doesnt use his slice to draw a weak ball to hit for a winner.

Federer has every bit of right to say what he said, its true. The Match is in his hands. If hes hitting his shots, Murray will be running back and forth netting balls. Winners prefers to win or lose by their sword, not have their fate in someone else's hands

Tigress, I think Murray is not going 0-3, not even 1-2. He is there to stay at the very least to the semis, and probably to the final. He has rested, the 3-set format suits him (so we are not in front of a "regular major tournament" to be flopped), and he is one of the few best on indoor hard. It is true that sometimes (at least for me) it is difficult to see how he wins his matches, but the fact is he does. Once and again. Against the best (he is the only one with winning H2H against all the rest in his group!). He calls it "playing smart", and at least you have to give to him that his changing paces and spins drives his opponents nuts.
Besides, del Potro seems not to be 100% at the moment, and Murray has also always beaten Verdasco (except for that famous Oz semi, where whe was sick and even so made it to the 5th); I'd expect Verdasco to beat only delPo (if he is not physically fine) and maybe Federer (if his serve is not clicking), but not Murray.
Well, anything can happen, but this is what I see.
As for the British media with him, I don't have to stand them (fortunately), but I probably agree with you they must be pathetic.

william is going bald? ack!

Annie,
Not going, he already is. He has no shame in his game though. He's still young, rich, and royal.

It's a good thing that Rogaine is considered a performance enhancing drug. Imagine if all the players tried to out do each other with massive thick heads of hair. Remember Jmac with his fro? Imagine that x20.

I think Charles might've gone bald early too.

*adores Mary Poppins*

Was Jeelbair Murray's first coach outside of his family? That would explain his passive, waiting for the opponent to err, default mode of play. He's improved his 1st serve by a lot with Miles. I don't know, the team is probably working up something for him, but why change the winning formula eh?

*Remember Jmac with his fro? Imagine that x20.*

I have already seen that. DelPo with long hair.

http://tinyurl.com/yljpvrg

That boy has soooo much hair.

greenhopper, thanks for the link to the pics. I'd seen a handful of them on the ATP site, but more of the guys in suits = very happy Peg. :-)

*wanders off to look up recent Prince William pics*

"And I thought you were a gentleman, Sherlock."

It's all for show, Jewell. :)

Thanks for the clip, Bluedog. Not at all did i miss it as a child or later. "Spoonful of Sugar" is one of my two favorite songs from the film. Along with "Feed the Birds".

And I thought that calling Rafa a tennis eagle (which he undoubtedly is, tho maybe a wounded eagle at present) would be some nice sugar to help the bitter medicine about Murray go down more easily.

But you all are apparently under the mistaken idea that i dislike all things Rafa, and you won't accept compliments. Clearly not true from the sum of my posts over the years. But I am conflicted. Which seems to be frowned on here.

I tend to feel that Murray retreats to being passive - when he's in his best form, he seems more aggressive - although he is not and probably won't ever be as directly aggressive as some players.

He does put different things on his shots, too, for me.

I do think he has yet to find the ideal balance between aggression and passivity though.

Tigress, you used to say that Nadal was your second favourite player, and that you would root for him against anyone not named Federer. How's that as at now? Just for my overall understanding of your posts...

Did someone mention Mary Poppins? she was soo cool,I read there was to be a stage version.Gee I wonder if they would accept a mature Mary? ok Sherlock there is no need for your reply

Good Mordning Everyone

ok I jusr ctreated a new word "mordning" meant morning

Give me a break,we are still in heat wave conditions for the weekend Sigh

AA Yes der to me,Disco is Tommy lol!

Kwaku, I can understand that.
I am not the biggest Nadal fan either. Ive always been a Sampras guy. But you do have to give Rafa his just due, he wins, and he wins in convincingly in a respectable fashion. When he wins, its because he won, not because the other guy lost.

Jewell For a start I would hate to play Murray,I would be so frustrated.The variety of shots he can send to you,also I love the pace he gets off the ball,he too can change direction.

Well my hubby is a big,big,Sampras fan as well.He has seen Pete play live at Wimby and the US OPEN.He has never seen the likes of a player like Rafa,he said to me he is a Alien,who can get get two different type of spin on One ball.He also has seen many great clay players,watched Borg play live and said to him Rafa is far above any clay player he as seen to date.

"I do wish you guys were more clear/informed regarding the number 1 point situation, especially when discussing DC and Rafa's potential points, because in no situation would DC change anything."

Couldn't agree more. These guys are supposed to be the elite of tennis journalism and they seem incapable of doing the primary school arithmetic required to understand the points situation.

Second, and more seriously, there in NO journalism here. These guys are just batting around the same speculations from the same limited information as us. Doesn't anyone do interviews anymore? Why don't they know about the surface at London? Presumably, the TD would know; why not ask him? Is Del Potro fit? Ring him and ask? That's what journalism is about, not factless windbagging.

Perhaps Murray is one of those players you have to watch live to really appreciate. But then I think I'd be blown away by pretty much any of these guys if I watched them live. Sometimes, it's just hard to enjoy a certain style of play, certainly I doubt I'll ever be a die-hard Murray fan with his current gameplan.

But, hey, the good thing about tennis is, it invariably rewards offense (in some form or the other) over defense over the long run, so Murray is going to have to find the right balance to get the really big prizes.

Agree, AM. Which is one way of forcing an outcome, no?

I think Murray has lovely touch, too.

Out for the evening. Bye, everyone. :)

Jewell Another thing comes to mind with Murray,he is a master of disguise as well.,

Holy hell I just want to know what kind of ball is coming to me thats all lol!

""imjimmy : No evidence, just going by what I read here (see Aussiemarg's post at 6:56). If it's the same speed as old Shanghai, no complaints from me. ""

VC: There's nothing definitive on the courts at all. The court is only being laid today. I don't think it will have enough of the rubber sand/synthetic top layer to slow the ball down. I expect it to be as fast as the other indoor courts. So, I'll be surprised if it is as slow as Shanghai. Anyway, indoor tennis always seems to be faster bcoz of the absence of weather elements.

On a related note, at Queens all the practice courts for the players were laid this week. The color of all the courts is blue. I think the court at the O2 arena could also be blue since that is the color of the corporate sponsor's logo.

I'm having some difficulty in getting my posts to appear today.

*popping back in for a sec to share my glee*

For his other three fans here, Robin vs. tie:
http://twitpic.com/q81wq

*really going to work now*

Do you think as Fans we get so wrapped up in our fav player we cant appreciate other players as well

Someitmes I think that is the case.

Rafa is a incredible athlete,the amount of spin is breath taking.You have to watch him Live to appreciate him.Cause on tv it is Lost.Also his hand racquet speed is footwork is just amazing

When I watched him in practice he just blew me away