I can count about 10 people clapping for Sod after his victory. This dude knows how to turn the crowd against him for sure. Total opposite of old man Fed.

Well done RR sorry Lleyton so close yet so far. Go and rest your body and get ready for the USO.

thanks carnap!

lol robin refuses to kiss the crowd's butt!

BP Kimmy...go for it!

So Sod-Rod it is

Congrats to Robin and his fans, good win for him. I see there was not a lot of love between Robin and Hewitt as Sod was celebrating each of the last points won especially some of his aces with a lot of emphasis and his arms held.

sod's friend: That he refuses to kiss the crowd's butt only endears him to me more.

rafa 2010,

robin did nothing to turn the crowd against him.

he just beat their favorite, that's all.

LOVE Fed's Wilson ad where he's the sports psych. "Time's up!"

carnap, after to finish every point Muzz takes looong time, slow motion, he *looks* sooo tired

John: OK, whatever.

carnap you got that right! he is a self-assured warrior, doesn't need any stupid cuddling!

Well I hope Mono-Rod can destroy the tennis villain Sod. ha ha. Actually on the 2nd thought Mono-Rod represents greater danger on my project than evil Sod since I can see Mono-Rod beating Djoker & Muzz and giving some problem to Rafa on the Cincy fast court. So I don't know whom to cheer for.

Kimmy breaks! 4-3 in the third set. Kimmy to serve

Congrats to Robin, Come on Bethanie.

15-40 for Kim as Bethanie smash sails wide after coming to net behind BH
30-40 Bethanie BH winner
40-40 Kim FH wide
A-40 Kim nets FH
40-40 Bethanie nets FH
40-A Kim gets to drop shot and hit CC which Bethanie nets BH
40-40 Kim nets FH return
40-A Bethanie BH long
Kim breaks as Bethanie half volley did not reach net as Kim hit BH low

Kim to serve 4-6,6-4,4-3

carnap yeah, whatever

carnap +100 on Robin and the crowd.

sod'sfriend

Hello, did you see the same match? That wild and weird celebrations over aces and the winner in the last game to rub it into Hewitt were the problems, Way over the top than even Hewitt's C'mons.

carnap:

i think le sod does better when he keeps to himself, instead of trying to please others (players, crowds, whoever).

I love the fact that Sod's is tennis villian especially when he grins and he shows his dimples. Truly evil.

A hold for Kimmy at 5-3...woohoo

Kim consolidates at love as Bethanie BH sails wide. Bethanie to serve 6-4,4-6,3-5

If Roddick has mono I cheer for Muzz and for Rafa!!!

I see ESPN2 is supposed to have coverage from 12-4 and then 7-9. That leaves Fed out! I'm out of luck unless my internet speed somehow increases overnight!

Once upon a time there was a man so wise he forgot everything he knew then remembered it. His fleece was not white as snow but you might say it was beige as...uh...beige. All the townspeople gathered round to watch the sun go down as he annoyed them with hideous tales of conquests won and lost. As the mood grew tense a man was heard to say , " Verily why dost thouest insist upon besmirching what may? " Our hero replied, " Sitteth down and shutteth up you knave for the answer cometh soon from over yonder. " The townspeople then used the man as fuel for a weenie-roast and a good time was had by all. The end.

Kim's game is starting to come down to earth, I see the Open, wide open. Starting to have problems with her serve in this match and in the match against Sharapova. This is a good thing because I'm not a Kim fan.

T guess the win might of meant a lot to Robin as he usually doesn't celebrate like that even against Nadal anymore. He seems to be a little more contained. Maybe Lleyton has a winning record over him and he hasn't a win against him in a while.

sod's friend: Let's hope he never gets suckered in by the shallowness of the crowd.

Angel: His independence grates on some people...tough. He's always courteous, doesn't cheat, doesn't bully. Three high marks IMHO.

Well, back on tomorrow, I suppose.

Rafa 2010 Cincy champ project: 20% complete.

rafa 2010,

everybody responds to crowd boos differently. le sod dared them after they repeatedly cheered on hewitt, even when he (robin) won great points.

so why not shove their faces in his shizz once he wins?

the crowd'll come around in time. if not, oh well, they can shove their praise!

40-40 Kim FH winner
A-40 Kim FH return wide as Bethanie came to net behind serve
40-40 Kim FH winner
40-A Bethanie BH long after Kim came to net behind FH
5/13 BP for Kim
Kim wins the match as she hit FH passing shot for winner after Bethanie came to net behind serve

Kim Clijsters defeated Bethanie Mattek-Sands 4-6,6-4,6-3

Congrats Kimmy!

Still chuckling at Ezekiel's "...sitteth down and shutteth up..." You sure can spin a story; it was shades of Mary/Lamb, Elton John, and Frankenstein. Horrifying, yet amusing, genetic cocktail.

EzeMell @ 9:19
You were busted long ago

34-29 Kim 32-44 Bethanie W/UFEs

Kim wins in the end. That was harder than it had to be but a win is a win.

Tomorrow looks great on paper and at least I'll be able to see some of it if not my fave.

carnap agree. He has grown up a lot over the last couple of years and it is nice to see. I think some people might even consider him to be aloof which is something that I can relate to.

The thing that surprises me is that he is well spoken, fairly articulate and quite funny. I always got the impression that he be rather quiet, glad I was wrong.

Somebody had to bring some culture to this dump......

Dump rhymes with ...

I admit nothing; which becomes me.......

Angel: Well, yeah, unless he says, "No yoking." : )

Off to read my book which I highly recommend to any historians in the group: "Master of the Senate" by Robert Caro...LBJ bio. It's actually the third in a series of books on LBJ by Caro, and he's penning the fourth book as I type. He's a pretty old geezer, so I hope he doesn't croak before finishing it.

"that" not "which"

carnap: i agree that le sod should not allow himself to be suckered by the crowd. he almost lost his focus at one point - i'm glad he didn't. it should be a big boost for him to have prevailed tonight.

Indeed, sod's friend. G'night

Any streams for JZ/Rezai? Would love to watch this one!

G'night carnap, pleasant reading.

surf angel,

thanks for ack'ing le sod's good persona. you hear him speak, and you know he's sweet (and kind) at heart - he's a big "baby," really, but a warrior, nonetheless.

g'nite carnap! sleep tight, and dont let the bugs bite ;0!

Some days nothing becomes me either. Must toodle

Rafa 2010, I agree with tou
Tomoeeow good matches. I bet for Rafa, Roger, Murray, Nalby

sod's friend anytime. I guess I am attracted to people who are left of centre or are not the most popular. I find them a lot more interesting. Although I am a sucker for blue eyes and a great smile.

ationette agree on the women's match but as I am at work it doesn't make much difference to me. I might be able to watch the replay when I get home.

postscript: Yeah though I walk thru the shade in the valley of death I will not be denied my rightful place on The Price Is Right where that dishwasher has my name written on it. And yet once acquired I will exchange it for a spanner with which to slap my woe be gone stepmother Sally. Seeking shelter from the elements I will decompose and then dematerialise forthwith and hence be said to have been , " done with it. " Be not depressed my multitudes for I have merely assumed another form from which to infiltrate your innocent minds which seek to whack a fuzzy, green ball. All is relative and that ain't all. (author's note....derivative, forced--not as good as the first one.)

Hahaha, *you* *tomorrow* it happens to me when I'm writing too fast

Now I watching Nadal-Dent

funny you, surf angel. you forgot to mention those dimples, too!

antoinette, girlfriend, how you been? still thinking about my "small" picolo? just checking ;)

I know he is a warrior as I saw him fighting in a tough five setter in the davis cup context against David Nalbandian in Parque Roca with obviously the whole stadium against him ...

By the way against who is Sod playing tomorrow?

Roddick v Soderling at 7pm tomorrow

linex, i think he plays a-rod. should be fun.

@ sod's friend....huh?

So are you telling me that our very own correspondent, Miz Jackie DIDN'T ask Fed about the Truth or Dare Gillette ad? I am soooooooo disappointed!

Well Fed got through nice and easy and in brief, which MAY stand him in good stead going forward.

antoinette,

u forgot already?

Andy is not very sharp nowadays so it could be a good opportunity for Sod. Gulbis Murray

Thursday Order of Play:

WTA: Montreal at 11 AM - Azarenka vs Li and Benesova vs Bartoli scheduled
ATP: Cincinnati at Noon on Center Court - Gulbis vs Murray(LIVE on ESPN2) to be followed by Nadal vs Benneteau(LIVE on ESPN2) ending with Federer vs Kohlschreiber
ATP: Cincinnati at Noon on Grandstand - Fish vs Gasquet to be followed by Nalbandian vs Djokovic ending with Baghdatis vs Berdych
WTA: Montreal at 1 PM on Court Central - Radwanska vs Kuznetsova to be followed by Clijsters vs Kanepi
WTA: Montreal at 1 PM on Banque Nationale - Szavay vs Zvonareva to be followed by Rezai or Zheng vs Dementieva
ATP: Cincinnati at 7 PM on Center Court - Soderling vs Roddick(LIVE on ESPN2)
WTA: Montreal at 7 PM - Pennetta vs Wozniacki to be followed by Schiavone vs Safina
ATP: Cincinnati at 7 PM on Grandstand - Ferrer vs Davydenko

CL,

Fed was asked in today's presser according to this tweet:

MiguelSeabra

#Federer was asked about Gillete ad @Cincinatti & said they don't want him to say if it's real or not. Means it's fake: http://bit.ly/a6BEGA

JZ down a break to glamourpuss and there are no streams......rats

"So are you telling me that our very own correspondent, Miz Jackie DIDN'T ask Fed about the Truth or Dare Gillette ad? I am soooooooo disappointed!"

exactly. i hope someone puts it to hi straight, cause i think that thing is a hoax. do-able, but too risky, and no rputable company (wilson/gillete/whoever) would put someone (guy with the bottle on his head) at such risk. doesn't make sense.

Sorry my post went through unintentionally i wanted to say that the murray gulbis match could be very interesting in case gulbis decides to hit the ball inside the court. In fact there are many good matches tomorrow with the exception of Fed and Rafa who should both cruise. FEd has a better draw than rafa until the semis this time. I wonder if the Nalbi and Nole match will be tight or not, I guess it will depend on David's serve, if he serves well the match could be tight but if that is not the case Nole could cruise to victory.

Dent looks *The Incredible Hulks*

Ladyjulia: No, as I was saying yesterday, if they say if it's fake or not that ends the debate therefore putting an end to all the attention Gillette is getting. It's a marketing ploy. Gillette is looking to sell razors.

Q. Can I ask you about a serve that you didn’t make tonight, but that’s obviously being talked about a lot on the Internet. Is that for real?

ROGER FEDERER: Oh, that thing? Yeah. Well, there’s a lot of the debate at the moment, you know. You know how it is with magicians. They don’t tell how their tricks work, you know. (Smiling.)
I don’t do it that much, but, yeah, it was shot in one piece and it was – the guy took a chance. (Smiling.) It worked out. I’m happy.

ladyjulia,

thatks for the q and a. i have no doubt that roger can hit a bottle from a distance, but why put it on a man's head, instead of, say, on a table? why such risk? (huy could lose his eye/s, you know?

lady j- THANKS!

I still think it was fake -- good camera and computer work! :)

So Miguel Sebra strikes again! In the inaccuracy department. He and Fed need to compare notes more carefully. Either that or I am totally confused which is certainly possible as I am very tired.

if the choice is between it was real and Federer is blatantly lying in a press conference, I'll have to go with the former...

sod's friend,

I think Fed can't help being risky with a tennis ball and racquet in his hand. Some kind of disorder, no doubt.

He lives dangerously enough on court...trying to hit outer edges of the line at the most important point...but what I didn't know was that he is just as risky even off the court as long as he has a racquet and a ball.

His confidence is unreal...and I don't know if William Tell was real...but I doubt if William Tell could do what he is known in a designer suit.

Fed's demeanour is so relaxed that he might as well been eating pasta...instead of trying to hit a 80 mph (I assume its about that speed but don't know really) serve inches past a guy's eye.

But yeah...the risk part of the story is unexplained...did the guy sign a waiver. Who does Fed practice this on? Mirka? Whose nose has he broken in getting this right?

Its dangerous, no doubt. I am glad I am not Alex.

There;s mor from presser:

Q. Back to the video for a second, have you ever done anything like that before, knocked something off somebody’s head?
ROGER FEDERER: Um, well, I had to do it before so I knew I could do it, otherwise it was risky for him, right?
But no — what was the – what did you mean exactly?

Q. Knocking the thing off the guy’s head.
ROGER FEDERER: Yeah, it worked out. I’ve done it before.

Q. So it was definitely real?
ROGER FEDERER: Not saying that. A magician doesn’t tell how his tricks work, so… (Laughter.)

ok, good people, time to catch some zzzz's...

antoinette, picolo says good night to you, too. he says he's fine (not mad), he's not small, he's just giddy to see you - lol.

Ohh my little Battler is back on serve....go Jay Zee, such a pity I can't see this match.

Ruth - it is certainly possible, but I don't think Fed would flat out lie. If he had just said the first part, about magicians not giving up thir secrets, I would agree that was a hint that it might have been 'digitally enhanced.' But going on to say, "....yeah, it was shot in one piece, .....i'm glad it worked out...." - well that seems to indicate that it is real. Trust me, I'm not saying Fed is perfect, but he is both too honest, and too shrewd to come out and purposely mis-lead people, especially his fans....not for the sake of an advertising campaign.

My take is that the 'set-up' was fake...that the Gillette people had either seen or heard about Roger's ability to do this little trick, so they found a volunteer/stuntman, and staged that little chat with Fed. But the actual shots were real. As someone pointed out, he is not serving full out, and his control is much greater with lower velocity.

could it be that the shot was real but the distance was an illusion? Meaning he did do what we saw in the video but from close enough t hat it wasn't risky? Or perhaps at a much slower pace than what it looked like in the video? That may explain the apparent contradiction in the above statements

TMF and CL,

What do u make of his other statements? What's the trick? Either u hit it or u don't?

P&G (owner of Gilette) is a huge company w/ lawyers out the wazoo. Waiver or no waiver, there's no way in hell they would let Fed fire a serve at someone's head. Not after the year they've had with their other major spokesman, Tiger. Why would they even take that risk? Makes much more sense for them to fake it and sit back and enjoy the ensuing publicity.

@ sod's friend, I think you and your picolo must have me confused with some other antoinette.

ladyjulia - great minds and all that...:) see my "hypothesis" above...

@ ladyjulia,

+1000 what you say about roger living precarious when it comes to a tennis ball and a racquet.

common sense tells me, though, that even with a waiver, gillete and roger would not take someone's eyes so lightly. imagine the guilt he (you/me) must feel if he missed the bottle and hit that unique body part which gives light to our whole body? yikes, goosebumps all over me just writing this!

TMF and CL,

you might want to see this slow motion video of Fed's shot at 1.26 part to 2.04 part. Its awesome!

And u imght want to mute and watch it...

http://www.youtube.com/user/Meepo91

@ antoinette,

ok whatever you say~. peace.

precariously.

sblily - well, like Fed said, he had to do it before to know that he could could do it. (Positively Rumsfeldian!) Fed has lots of money. If had hurt someone HE could have been sued for lots of dough. Maybe TMFunk is right...maybe the digital 'enhancement' was in making a pretty slow ball seem fast. 'Cause Fed is a goof, but I really don't think he would be comfortable mis-leading people. Corporations do it all the time of course. I guess we will never know for sure until someone wearing a catcher's helmet and mask agrees to let him try it again in front of a lot of witnesses. Arthur Ashe kids day anyone?

ladyjulia - thanks, that was cool. :)

sod's friend,

He says its a trick...maybe the ball isn't that fast? He's talking about how wrong Hawkeye is...Hawkeye uses cameras to detemine the speed and spin of ball to calculate the trajectory of the ball (and show whether its out or in).

Maybe that is his point? Maybe he isn't taking a risk at all.

sod's friend, no problem.

Still trying to find a stream for Jay Z/ Rezai, I suppose I should just give up huh?

CL - *puts on lawyer cap for a moment* It doesn't matter how many times Fed was able to do it. The possibility that he could miss when it mattered is enough. Just not worth the risk. It would be a public relations nightmare, and to what end? Especially when you can create the same effect by doing a safer shot + putting your special effects team to work.

I also don't put too much stock in Fed's presser answers on this topic. He's a pitchman and a dork, so of course he's gonna get a kick out of it and play along. And I don't feel misled or think he's a lying S.O.B. for doing it. *shrugs*

possible, ladyj.

now the zzzzs are really charging up at my eyes, which kinda makes me feel goofy, so...

"i don't always drink beer, but when i do, i like dos equis." i am the world's most interesting man, living precarious playing squash and all. my mom even has a tattoo on a secret place of her's that says "son."

you laughing yet, ladyj?!

LOL LOL LOL - all the way to my bed!

see y'all l8r.

lady j - thanks for the slo-mo. I think it was zenggi who said that it looked to her like Fed actually just grazed the bottle with the first shot and hit it square on the second. Because why do it twice otherwise?

Obviously we now need to seen out a posse to find the other person or people whose head(s) Fed had knocked a bottle off of.

The video is a fake imo...way too risky to be real.

I see that Jie Zheng dropped the first set to lame lady, think that is my cue to go to bed.

G'nite folks.

I'm off as well. 'night y'all!

Great short Youtube of Rafa and Roger goofily laughing together. What the heck are they laughing about?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gt0qcPsh-Zg

I have always thought Satan would have dimples by the way- so it fits that baby punter has them. ;p I don't mind Soderling and sometimes root for him- but he can on occasion rub me the wrong way.

sblily - maybe he didn't ask? I mean, suppose, just for the sake of argument that NOTHING was staged. And Fed was just there to shoot a commercial and afterwards, this guy Alex asks him something about Hawkeye and Fed sez, basically, 'let me show you' and unless there is an on set lawyer with EXTREMELY good reflexes to throw himself between Fed and Alex, in less than a minutes, its all over. Sine die. ;-)