ok i take it back....Caro getting treatment courtside......it musta happened during the point....

Scandinavian gamesmanship?

Andrew, does blathering alone about the Magic-Cavs later tonite count as mildly OT convo?

Btw, question about the rules...if the ball touches your body and goes over the net, that's illegal? Even if it misses your racquet and the only touch is body?

Have they suspended play? It's been so long! even for a MTO

Oh goody gumdrops. NBC bragging that they will be showing Rafa and Maria matches tomorrow...at 2PM my time so on delay which means no "live" coverage on TV. Thanks NBC.

Oh well. Vamos and all that. :)

LOL Andrew- I have loved your spellings of Kohlcantspellhisname. Good stuff. :)

I like this Sorana girl. She is one of my to watch up and comers.

manuelsantanafan, I'm somewhat surprised by your geo Q. No, Romania isn't in Scandinavia. It never was.

Aww that shot of Andre crying when he won the FO!
Finally they're continuing play

Tomorrow's Davy-Verdasco is mouth watering. Davy is the most unappreciated underrated player. Like 'em both. A missiles and Groundies festival tomorrow with these two.

My picks:
Davy in 5
Cilic in 4
Dina in straights (at least a bagel)
Pinker Stinker in straights (one very tough set, one bagel)
Azarenka in 3

They hold onto the footage, then slice'n dice it. Pfft NBC!

Way to ice your buddy over in court1,

2 match points at 15-40 for Sorana as she hit BH passing shot for the winner
Sorana wins the match as Caroline FH sails long

Sorana Cirstea defeated (A-6)Caroline Wozniacki 7-6(3),7-5

Caro is out :-( Samantha'll be so sad.

play resumes.....and Cirstea uses the forehand dropshot backhand pass strategy again.......and MP for cirstea.....and a forehand wide gives cirstea the match....looks like Caro repayed JJ that favour!!LOL.....hard luck caro..especially with the back....but she didnt take her chances when it counted.....Congrats to cirstea.....greta win...and great fight in both sets.......

Pspace, I think the only legit way to hit the ball is with the racquet head, so I'd say no.

Someone asked on the last thread if you could test positive for cocaine from kissing...yes, if the person you are kissing has recently applied cocaine to their gums as some users do.

The Vikings conquered Romania during a Mediterranean expedition in the 700s. So Romania was a Viking territory for a while, but perhaps not now.

Reason I'm curious is that it goes to whether Caro is still Scandinavia's No. 1.

Also should add that the ball needs to be hit with the racquet in your hand. Getting to the ball by throwing the racquet doesn't count.

i wonder if Baby Fed fessed up to Rafa that that's what happened, he could kiss someone and not even know they had done it, and boom, he tests positive... ridiculous rule

Twas a good day. Pretty much everybody I was rooting for won. Except Lena.

Jacko,
Caroline is going to be upset as she lead comfortably in the first set and a chance to serve it out but failed. Then with a chance to serve for a decider, she lost serve again.

And we won't get JJ-Caro. A true pity. :)

Tim: I was thinking that is where Rafa's comment came from. Would also make sense with Richard's story and testing negative with his hair sample.

hey who's in England, anyone watching the Susan Boyle finale?? tell all...

Well, manuelsantanafan, didn't realize you were thinking in terms of the historical sense. :) Gotcha.

"Reason I'm curious is that it goes to whether Caro is still Scandinavia's No. 1."

Brilliant, manuelsantanafan. :)

I guess if Raf talked to him, they would discuss what happenend, right? sounds like it to me, i dont see Rafa kinda of conjecturing on this kind of thing on his own...

Sherlock,
Sorana is a nice looking lady also. She lost her first 6 matches before winning her first match at Marbella.

Pspace - to answer your question - crap was an exaggeration - those two sets were good. But there is a momentum and rhythm to the way the top guys go through a tourney and to me personally, it felt like Nole had lost that rhythm at the USO after showing signs in the early stages. Even if Fed had a tough match today, you could see FEd improve from the Acasuso match - same with Rafa and the way he is building up. Nole had that in AO 08 and USO 07 but I haven't seen that since in a grand slam - he gets to the latter rounds because he is good. He troubles the big guys when he gets there because he is that good but the momentum just didn't seem to be there. And the rest of the match showed that.

MA...like i sed...she didnt take her chances...and became inconsistent in the business ends of both sets....and when it counted
Cirstea raised her game when it mattered.....and injury or not...was the better player today.....

Yeah, Lock. That could've been the Match of the Century, at least here on TW.

Is the British got talent finale tonight?

Regarding whether the ball hitting a player and not the racket and bouncing over the net.

The hit player loses the point unless the ball hits him/her flush in the nose. Apparently, tennis rulesmakers give an allowance for pain experienced under these circumstances.

Back to work. Go Orlando.

Tim: Agreed. I also think that if Richard had knowingly done cocaine and then been called for testing, he would have said "woops-not available". I mean that would give him one stirke in the 3 strikes your out for missing a test but wouldn't that be worth it? Or am I missing something (very likely).

Tim
True about Rafa not conjecturing...but it is totally not Rafa style to make comments like this. He is very dignified that way - all his antics are only on the court. Off court he never utters anything remotely controversial. Net, net, it seems as they talked Rafa actually heard some version of what he was conjecturing. Scary thought...we all should watch out who we kiss from now onwards...

it should be on as we speak, right? its 9 30 in London, cmon somone, do a match call of Mlle. Boyle, such drama!

"Sorana is a nice looking lady also"

Indeed, MA. :) I saw a few games on a stream before it died. Good stuff out there. And the tennis was good too. :)

He he, NP. :)

This Martinez Sanchez has a really nice game. She hit a forehand slice winner a few points ago. Beautiful.

""but a fit Verdasco has about as much chance of taking out Nadal, if he's playing well as PHM did today. And Murray lurks in Nadal's half as well ""

Exactly . Both Verdasco and Murray are the worse matchups for Nadal among the top 10 players(Maybe Tsonga too). Of course it could be easy for Rafa if he faces Davydenko and Gonzales - but that's unlikely.

""I genuinely preferred to see Djokovic on Federer's side of the draw than Murray""

Makes sense. Murray's a worse matchup for Fed (than Nole is).

well i dont think u can drug test everyone u kiss now can you?

really to lose two years of your career for nonnsense like this is criminal...

cmon Fed has had great success with DJoker, I always prefer him to Murray at this point, the draw was fine with me...even better now of course :)

Ros, turn on your TV and do a match call for Britain's Got talent!!

ehm...BGT is finished the performances....results in an hour...Boyle was really impressive...she sang Les Mis again...and was even better....but all the acts were really amazing tonite..........
but i think based on performance tonite....the top 3 will be Holly Steel, Diversity and Susan......as they were the ones i saw got standing ovations from the three judges.....and they were my faves too.................and i think susan will win...simply for all the stuff that has happened this week.....

I think rafa just provided reeshie with his defense. sounds like it could have gone that way. he might have spent the whole night with a girl who was using without using himself and voila he gets nailed upside the head. too bad.

Masha: on a break point for martinez sanchez, serena hit her (m-s was at net). the ball hit her arm, deflected off her racket and landed back over the net! serena saw that the ball hit her and thought the point should be hers. martinez wouldn't admit it hit her and the ump didn't ask her if it hit her and awarded the GAME to martinez. Does that make any sense? on replay it was indisputable that the ball hit martinez arm.

Susan Boyle !!!!! aaaarrrrrrrrrrggggghhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!
if I see that womans face one more time I'm gonna die. put an album out already!
ok she can sing !!!!!!...they are treating her like a sideshow attraction
"Hurry ,hurry, hurry, Step right up , see the ugly girl sing!"
sheesh!

Tim,
You got the Novak result correct from 2 weeks ago saying that he was going to be flat after the Rafael result.

Tim and others
Regardless, Fed was untouchable in GS with both Novak and Murray. On the other hand, it was Murray who stopped Rafa at last year USO. I know I know this is clay, still...I think Murray can do his *thing* - hanging back putting balls back in play and wait for the other guy to make errors. Rafa's medicine back to him.

Jacko! awesome, so she sang the Dream song? safe bet i guess... so now what the public votes? if so, im sure she will win, she deserves it, the 12 year old can WAIT lol

YF, and she's got a very poor taste.

Whew - - well interesting day. I accidentally saw the score after the 1st set w/ PHM up 6/4 and I could definitely feel the heel of Beckhams' bus Crazy Bus conductor boots on my backside.

It was too nice an afternoon to stay under the bed though, so I planted my annuals. Plant/check score/plant/check score/plant/check score....very soothing...at least the planting part and after a while even the check score part. Especially big sigh of relief from me that Fed got through.

What happened to the Djoker? So totally not expecting THAT particular Spanish Inquisition.

Gotta go back and read comments...I'll bet Fed fans were freaked...I know this one was..

thanks Master Ace, i used to play I know the feeling of losing like that, its deflating and emotionally, hard to recover when youre fighting another tough match... Djoker better plan his schedule better, he's not Rafa..

I see Rafa is up 3rd on Chatrier tomorrow. Crap, that means embargo until NBC goes on the air. Will be begging for feeds most likely. *not imagining that Soderling can make a dent in Rafa. No overnight frazzling for me!

Commises to Caro and Caro fans. Those late matches are unfair.

Fanola: I don't think hanging back and waiting for Rafa to make errors is a good plan. Murray really hasn't done anything great on clay yet. We will see though. One match at a time. ;)

agree yellow fuzzy...Susan is very talented....and they all want to focus on her being ugly......i think she has a greta voice......and i like her for that....but i also like her cos she really exposed how superficial society has become...believing that someone has to be "pretty" to be talented...and is still exposing it cos eveyone is hyping over her cos she has talent AND is not attractive.........i love her cos she has a style of voice that i really love...she sang two songs from two of my fav musicals (cats and les mis)....and she just has a really likeable personality......is that not enough???.....some people think otherwise....

yellow its gonna mellow out now with boyle, i will buy her CD though, love her voice and its pretty cool and inspiring in our jaded world to see someone bloom like that...

Rafadoc: are you in the PDT zone???

fangorina: Yah, NBC is not my friend right now. Will be coming here to see if anyone has a stream. I am not frazzling either. Rafa is looking really good.

fangoirina: I am in the Central Time zone. It is 2:39 PM here right now.

*fangorina...sorry about the mispell.

NP
yeah where does she get her clothes Lane Bryant (Lame Bryant)
and eyebrow pluck would work wonders

actually I have never seen her from the neck down...

Rafadoc: see you here then tommorow. We will both be jonesing for streams. I HATE NBC!

I find the Susan Boyle thing sad really. We are so obsessed with surface beauty that an "ugly" girl having talent is earth-shattering news. And didn't we go through this with Paul Potts already? Or do we have to go through the ugly member of every gender of every species?

Totally annoyed by the Susan Boyle hype.

Tim.....everyone except for the dancers and Holly Steel performed stuff they had performed before.....cos they perform the piece they will perform at the royal variety in the final.....and they usually do it in their first audition too..........last years winner performed his semifinal piece in the final...............
Perez hilton called her unoriginal for doing that on twitter.....i decided to put the queen in his place....

Hmmm, can you actually get enough cocaine in your system to fail a drug test from kissing somebody? If that's the case, why doesn't everyone who tests positive simply say they were making out with somebody the night before ; )

*mispell? wtf? Maybe a nap for me, no?

Eh, YF, that's not the kind of taste I had in mind.

It's interesting that so many players( in the last 16) haven't lost a set yet : Roddick, Cilic, Verdasco, Elf, Gonzo, Hanescu :)

deeps....paul potts didnt even get the reaction she got at her initial audition...everyone wanted paul to do well....while everyone tawt susan wud be awful....even i tawt she wud be bad at first...but as she talked more....i wanted her to do well...and she has!!LOL.....it seems people think that women have to be "pretty" to be talented....moreso than males..........
and i really like that susan has stayed herself throughout the competition and not tried to change to be sumone everyone thinks she shud be....

Well nothing in Tennis is Ever a Given like I said?

Phil K. congrats great win over Novak? gee in straight sets too.

Andy Roddick well done

My Aussie Girl Sam Stosur also with a upset,Way To Go Girl?

Good Morning/Evening Everyone,

papo, 'everyone' being Hingis and Gasquet, right? lol i can see them kissing the wrong person lol

Papo, IMR, there was only trace amounts of cocaine in Reeshard's test. I dunno about the kissing explanation, but I'd prolly buy an accidental ingestion. He needs to be careful about these things, but I do hope they give him a reduced suspension...may till the USO or something like that would be fair imo. Two years is just ridiculous.

Hi AM: I thought about you when I saw Sam won. :)

Just looked up - Wozniacki played 49 matches this season. She is the leader in this category by significant margin. No wonder her back gave up.

Yeah, imjimmy, I don't know which one is more stunning: Nole's breakdown or Roddick's very good possibility to be in the 2nd week of RG.

imjimmy, don't forget Pinky ;-).

lol Jacko, didnt Paul Potts also sing the same song in the final? seems to be the thing to do, who can blame her for playing it safe? i would melt in a puddle under that pressure!

Tim
she's been blooming for the last 30 years...hasan't she been singing somewhat professionally for years ?....it is a totally scripted ugly duckling story, to build interest.
how many seasons will people keep watching if every contestant is a tattooed, purple haired Christina Aguilera clone , caterwauling for an hour?

Yup, understood Annie. Something similar happened in a match between Blake and Gonzalez at the olympics. Blake's shot barely touched Fernando's racket and landed out. Fernando would not admit that. Blake was pretty disgusted and made a big deal about it in the press later.

Pspace: 2 years is soooooo wrong for trace amounts that may have been ingested unknowingly. Hope they are fair about it.

Tim yes they did....but its not playing safe....its how the show works.....they perform what they will do in the royal variety performance if they win...in the final
and most people audition with their royal variety piece anyways....hence it being repeated....soem change though....but generally the performances they give in the final is so much better than their previous performances....

By the way Phil you just stuffed up my SP picks big time,just saying?

So Serena got sick during the 3rd set.
I'm hoping that'll explain some of the breaks.

There was an $8 million heist in Paris last night, maybe one of them moseyed into RG for some tennis afterwards.

Imjimmy,

Rafa? Or he doesn't count cause he's been patchy? LOL
Sorry I couldn't resist ;-)

Pretty happy that Gonzalez is first up because ESPN deportes will start coverage early and since no other South American is playing they should be showing Rafa's match without interruption

Well, I like Gasquet and I also hope his suspension is significantly reduced, or better yet that he can prove his innocense.

NP, I agreed with Steve's take before RG that Roddick's game is actually pretty decent on clay. He is insanely patient in constructing points, has an excellent slice, and the only things holding him back from really pushing it...are the lack of a huge fh, and good volleying skills. Roddick is not just a big serve...he's a good player. The match against Monfils should be fun, but will prolly be a tad too passive from both guys.

Yellow Fuzzy....she's only sang in local competitions and choirs apparently....and she tried to make it big by making a demo tape and sending it to record companies.....guess why she was rejected???......her appearance.....

More on the SW-MJMS controversy, the umpire says MJMS said it didn't happen.

"Serena said she asked the umpire to ask Martinez Sanchez if the ball had hit her arm or her racket.

"I said, did you ask her? He said, Well, she's saying that it didn't happen. I looked at her dead in the eye," the 2002 French Open champion said.

"I said, Why? Just be honest if the ball hit you or not. I mean, Hello. It totally hit her. She looked down, and I just have no respect for anybody who can't play a professional game and just be really professional out here."

Annoyed with the call, Williams went on to level the contest and her opponent eventually ran out of steam, bowing out after two hours 11 minutes on the first match point.

Martinez Sanchez said the ball did not touch her body.

"Well, I put the racket, and the ball, it was in, so it goes point for me," the Spaniard told a news conference."

http://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/tennis/2460531/Serena-Williams-labels-opponent-a-cheat

Sunday Order of Play

Chatrier:
Gonzalez vs Hanescu
Safina vs Rezai
Nadal vs Soderling(NBC)
Sharapova vs Li(NBC)

Lenglen:
Szavay vs Cibulkova
Murray vs Cilic
Azarenka vs Ivanovic
Davydenko vs Verdasco

Court 1:
WTA: Yan/Zheng vs Stosur/Stubbs
ATP: DeVoest/Fisher vs B Bryan/M Bryan
WTA: Mattek-Sands/Petrova vs S Williams/V Williams
ATP: Acasuso/Gonzalez vs Bhupathi/Knowles

Court 2:
WTA: A Radwanska/U Radwanska vs Peschke/Raymond
ATP: Nestor/Zimonjic vs Kas/Wassen
ATP: M Lopez/Robredo vs Kohlmann/Waske
Mixed: Vesnina/Nestor vs Dechy/Ram
Mixed: Parmentier/Gicquel vs Sugiyama/Sa

If you are a doubles fan, tomorrow should be a good day.

Rafadoc I was around for that match and Roddicks,my lap top which is on Wirless was losing connection,so I shut it down for a while.I am up the coast so I havent got my proper connection going.

Jacko, I would disagree about Paul Potts. The Paul Potts thing was nobody expected him to do well either till he started singing. You could see the eyerolls when he said opera. They just played it up more with Susan Boyle by showing the clips of the audience members eyerolling when she was doing her cheeky thing.

My point though is that Susan Boyle is getting so much notice because she is not that conventionally attractive. If she had been, she could have had the same talent and she wouldn't have been hyped up as much. And that I find incredibly sad.

deeps
I am with you...enough with the Susan Boyle hype machine

AM: I missed Sam's but saw part of Andy's match. Hope your connection works for Rafa tomorrow!

NP: I would go with Nole's breakdown. Roddick isn't so bad on clay. He just happens to run into Fed. I've seen A-Rod using his kicker serve well in his matches, so I'd think that he should be able to overcome Gael. The JMDP-Tsonga match could be very interesting. Anyway,the draw could shape out to be a gimme for Fed with Haas,A-Rod, JMDP until the Final.

BTW..I'm still gutted with Nole's loss. A 3rd rd straight set beat-down is rough. I hope you're right about Nole's potential in the long term.

why is anyone surprised Roddick is in the 4th round, looking at his draw? Youre telling me he should lose to any of these players on ANY surface??? i dont get what the fuss is about...

Whoa! Haas up for Fed...did not see that coming. Well, two beautiful 1hbh going at it. Should be fun.

Pspace, I actually agree with Steve. Was just being cheeky. You know I want A-Rod to do well.

Pspace and Tfactor: he he.. Pinky and the brain is kinda obvious, so left him out intentionally :)
If he loses a set before the SF, it'll be big news I'm sure.

keep us posted Jacko! I really want a happy ending for Boyle, we need feel good stories these days...

the next 'feel good' story of course is Fed beating the odds and winning the French, tears all around! I bet even Uncle TOni would cry if Fed won the French..

imjimmy, see above. :) Let's see how Nole fares in SW19 and then we can start talking.

Tim Look you are aware Americans and Clay usually dont go together? Come on? well except for Chris Evert,Jim Courier and Agassi.

Imjimmy,
Btw do you really think Murray can beat Rafa over 5 sets on clay?
Interesting to see a couple of posts here to that effect.
I am big fan of Murray but to me he's been hanging by a thread in this tournament but of course anything can happen, as Nole's defeat proved today.