Yes, I have already set an alarm so I don't miss this one. Nole tends to do okay against those big and big-serving guys, especially on this surface.

And then I'll wake up to watch Ljubicic for the third consecutive morning, before settling in with Euro qualifiers.

wow!!!

"Admit it, wouldn't you have expected Davydenko to be in the Top 10 list in some serve or (more likely) return related category?"

Pete: No. These stats are for 2010. Given that Davydenko has hardly played this year due to injury and when he has entered a tournament with the exception of Doha and AO he has played poorly. So, I'm not surprised he's not on the list.

tennis.com in general always says that murray is the best returner. now its djokovic... so who is it? seriously though!

Saturday Order of Play:

ATP: Tokyo at 11 PM(Friday) - Stepanek vs Monfils followed by Nadal vs Troicki(LIVE on Tennis Channel)
ATP: Beijing at 1 AM - Djokovic vs Isner
WTA: Beijing at 3 AM - Li vs Zvonareva followed by Wozniacki vs Peer
ATP: Beijing at 7:30 AM - Ferrer vs Ljubicic

Surprised that Vetmama has not let TW know the following happened:

MATOSEVIC, Marinko AUS d [2] YOUNG, Donald USA 62 63

Murray is not the best any anything except running.

To everyone who thanked me for the Monfils/Roddick match calls, you're very welcome ; )

Just thought I'd post this link to the highlights so everyone would see what I was "ooh-ahhing" about:

http://tinyurl.com/25yeny3

There's this particular point at the start of the third set that has to be the point of the tournament. Incredible defense by Monfils.

I really think Nole is going to handle John. He's match-ready and playing for points with a lot of confidence. Is the China Open surface as fast as Tokyo? I wonder how the big guy will move around such a quick court. We know Nole can scramble.

Really pulling for Nole to take this title again. I think he's a fitting #2 and seeing him and Rafa at the top seems appropriate right now.

That's no disrespect to Roger because ranking doesn't really mean anything at this stage when it comes to him. He's already far above all of that.

Rafa and Nole are a good representation of the "now" generation.

Well Roger needs "hair extensions" ASAP

I would love a 6:3 6:2 sore....For Nole of course....I would love to see the coo-customer Isner panic and start double faulting....for the sake of tennis, of course!

Imjimmy Rafa's inside out forehand to me has been his "signature shot"

His preparation is excellent.Hard to read.I agree he needs to use that shot more.I am over a bit the cross court f/hand.Players are waiting for it and its getting a bit too readable for me.

I have seen the "inside out f/hand" on the clay where its just not returnable.

Nice article about tennis. Interview of Gavin Rossdale.

http://tinyurl.com/2vtwwjw

Tarnished Rafa Fan- Is that you, AM?

Roger needs hair extensions ?? Surely he is not losing his hair ?

Who's playing in Linz along with Serena guys?anybody knows about the draw?thanks in advance!

lollipop hmmm everyone has a 'evil twin" dont they? lol!

if you hold 5 (not 6) times while breaking your opponent 1 out of 5 times you win the set 6 - 4

Deuce Club up soon ... "Tarnished Rafa fan," you better be there. :)

I think that if Isner is wise, he'l throw almost as many bombs right at Djokovic's chest as whe will at the far lines. Djokovic is nothing if not flexible--a human gumby who literally snatches balls out of the air just before they smack against the backdrop. But aim it right at him, and as agile as he is, he's still got to find a way to make something good out of it. And that's no easy task, when you're falling on your backside.

And, if Isner can get to 30 on a handful of Djokovic's serves, and is willing to take a few early cracks at the ball or throw in the occasional chip-and-charge, he should be able to pressure Djokovic into more unforced errors than he's accustomed to, which ultimatley may erode his confidence.

No matter how you slice it, though, Isner's overarching strategy must be to disombobulate Djokovic, keep him on his heels with big shots, and keep the points so short that Djokovic never find his rhythm or settles in.

I think Djokovic's great percentage of break points converted says as much about his mentality as it says about his return game. While Lord knows Djokovic can be emotionally shaky, his break point record means that he doesn't lay off the gas pedal when he senses that he has the upper hand; he's not a guy to let opportunity slip away easily. Of course, on his own serve in the next game he can hit one errant shot that'll send his arms flailing in despair and his strokes torpedoing into the stands, but, hey, that's part of his charm...

Aube,
Daniela, Petra, Dominika and Jarmila are some of the players playing Linz. Agnieszka was scheduled to play before she had to quit for 2010 due to stress fracture in her foot.

Jackie

You need to post duece club soon as friends are on thier way over for drinks and then we are off to dinner!

Wish that it was on a different night as I am never home on Fri.
Had a fun lunch with Ruth today and am so glad that she is now here in my neighborhood.

Sorry, Diane! Busy day today and I'm just working at a snail's pace ...

If you don't make it today, stop by later? I always check in during the weekend.

Jackie

You're forgiven!

night people i'm tired, my scalp hurts, i did a serena to my head today, i look good though!!! lol...
vamos rafa!!!!!!!!!!!!
adje nole!!!!!!!!!!

Thanks MA,those are good players to grind with for SERENA...hopefully she'll get a couple of wins!!!

Diane - fellow winner on the court - glad that you and Ruth had a great lunch , and have a chance to become closer
you two may just become the Southern version of me and Jenn !

ALMOST DONE...

'tapping foot at Jackie "
waiting

:)
luv ya Jax !

HAHA, love you, too, Beth. I hope I don't disappoint.

beth! *waves madly*

we're all set for IW! tickets booked, hotel room booked, life is good! just a few short months away.... :)

Hey JB! Are you planning to attend Houston and/or Newport tournaments next year by chance?

YOU GUYS, DON'T LEAVE! DC up in, like, 10 minutes.

ah so everyone is here!

Hi all :)

Serena's official announcement and statement for return at Linz:
http://www.sonyericssonwtatour.com/news/20101008/serena-returns-to-action-in-linz_2256076_2179150

"Over the past many weeks I have been rehabbing my injury as best I could," Williams said in a statement. "While I was making great progress my doctor advised me that I was not fully healed and not yet ready to play. Just this week I thankfully received full clearance to play again and I'm excited to announce that I will be playing the Generali Ladies Linz this coming week, and assuming I stay healthy the year-end WTA Championships in Doha and Fed Cup. I'm excited to be back and want to thank my fans for their continued support.""

Arun! i owe you an email. :(

I don't think I'll go to houston; I always think I'll get to newport, but its right after wimby, and I've usually taken time off the previous weeks, and end up working the full week of newport.

sigh. work continues to interfer with my tennis life. :(

wait - are you thinking of roadtripping?

newport looks like it would be fun, it is after all, on grass. :)

houston would be more of a trek, that's for sure!

Thanks, jb.
I want to attend at least one of those tournaments next year. Most probably I will.

silly jax, stop talking at us and keep focused! :))))

jb!!!! waves back
yay ! for IW
so glad you are coming back
Susan , too ?

Hmm. That's not a bad idea actually. I can drive to Newport.

Isner is toast

"you two may just become the Southern version of me and Jenn !"

That's a real possibility, beth, and, like you, Diane will have to be the playa (tennis, this) in this duo! She had a fantastic win yesterday, and we had a terrific lunch today -- good food (including mini-desserts which all restaurants should offer IMHO)and good conversation. We did limit ourselves to one drink so that Glenn wouldn't have to come and drive us to our separate abodes. :-)

yep beth - susan too! we do like our tennis in the desert. :) there till tues, thinking about red eye back on tues nite. we'll see... :)

oof. am just pooped tonite, been out most of the week, and then up till a riddikulus hour watching RAndy and Monfils. (Monfils is an eyesore, just sayin'...)

arun, just keep me posted on the potential newport roadtrip, 'kay?!

er - i know i'm being lazy, but does anyone know when nole / isner will go on? contemplating a nap so i can watch it...

Ruth - that 's great . So glad you had fun
and exercised good judgment , too
smart ladies :)

I heard that Diane won her match yesterday , too - so we both had good weeks on the court
I hope it can continue

DEUCE CLUB POSTED. Thanks for your patience, guys.

Now to find a photo...

great news that Susan is coming , too
her husband is one understanding man
course , I guess he does come on some of these tennis adventures
I don't think he came to the desert though
This year , we need to make it to the Cliff House for dinner as a group
it is really good food
I am leaving Wednesday morning - at least that is my plan ,

and yes - Monfils and his new bizarro hairdo/ headband has been discussed around these parts

I will, jb.

beth - i'd like to go to cliff house again, we made it there later in the week, when the tennis died down a bit. it was very good, though we terrorized the manager trying to find a good bottle of vino. the wine guy was off for the nite, and the poor manager was doing his best, lol! but it was ok, at least we did final settle on one. (or 2, now that i think of it...)

oops. OT. off to DC whilst I'm still awake.

Good luck Izzy! It would be your biggest win rankings wise.

Thanks for the write up Pete. Love John, hopeing for great career for him. Watching Atlanta this summer, I believe Cliff Drysdale was breaking down Izzy's serve showing how he could easy get to 150+ mph serves with work.

I figured people would be here for the match Pete has written about - guess I'm still looking. Isner lucked out by starting the match with a break of Nole's serve. But now it's 3-all.

He's kinda crap at net; Novak just has to draw him in and then dole out one of his laser passers.

Nadal and Troicki played a great match... I'm a big Nadal fan but this was not his match to win... Troicki played the best match of his life and plainly outplayed Nadal...and got screwed by idiot linesmen... what's up with Japanese lack of precision??? it also made me see the monkey in Nadal...
he's very sensitive otherwise... this was not the match that would make his late season renaissance valid...
this was beyond ugly for him... don't care for Troicki much over the season ... but for me... he won that match...
this was just stupid.... congrats troicki for playing lights out... you won!

Djoker made "short" work of the Pillsbury Dough-giant. Isner is nothing more than a serve. He may move better and have better groundies than Karlovic, but at the end of the day he and Querrey are nothing more than a pale, poor facsimile of Sampras's big serve game with little else after it.

Well, I did see 6:2 in the second set....and a shade of panic on Isner's face, YIPEEEEEE!

Isner is nothing but serve and thats it. He may win lower tier event tournaments but he will never win a tier 1 masters let along a slam. Why do you think that match in Wimbledon went so long? Its because his return game sucks. Isner is another Todd Martin only a little taller, hovering in the top 20s maybe make a quarter in a slam but never going to amount to anything but perhaps being a tv commentator. Just ask Justin Gimelstob...

Or maybe it is that Nole is just too good for Isner? Novak is going to win Beijing and then he'll dominate the end of the season like he did last year, he is in that great form again, i can see it.

And Bodo, that 6-2 second set just about answered your overhype of Isner.

Although I am an American, Isner is not the next big thing for American tennis.

Big, yes. Grand Slam, no.

I do not understand why Americans tennis players and somehow, American media is bent on hyping Isner and Querry in having chances with the group of Nadal, Djok and Murray when they could have easily should be concentrating on making a name for themselves easily by beating a more vulnerable, aging Roger Federer.

Start with Roger, before you move on to the caliber of Nadal. That is how you slowly ease your way in into the rankings.

Against Djok? Against Nadal?

This is what is wrong with the international group of young players. They do not go for the OLD, AGING players like Roger, Davy, etc. when realistically, they have more chances at winning there than taking on powerhouses like Nadal. These other young players are just ... slow.

I don't think the "American Media" overhype Isner and Querrey. They almost always say they have to play their very best to upset the top stars. There is nothing wrong with supporting the home countries players. Personally I hope Sam and John use the rest of the season to cement their standings. Then come the off season work hard on their games to make it to the top 10 by then end of 2011.

Lol, I set an alarm so I wouldn't miss this one too. I agree, I think Nole does well against those big guys.