Thanks for the update Steve...and I'm like you - WHERE IS THE TENNIS!!!! Just because the grand slams are over doesn't mean the TV stations have to stop broadcasting tennis! Look at golf! We get a tournament every week. (and they wonder why golf is more popular in the US than tennis!)...we see it every freaking week!
I wonder why all the cable companies, satalite companies, etc., broadcast the 'Golf Channel' but you have to use a magnifying glass to find who carries the "Tennis Channel"? I remember when ESPN first started a lot of folks didnt get that station.... Now it's a household name. Maybe I can dream of the coming years when "The Tennis Channel" will become another ESPN and actually broadcast live tennis year-round...
OK...got that off my chest...
PS Don't forget to visit Roger Federer's blog on the ATP.com site from Toyoko since that will probably be all the 'tennis' we'll get to see/hear about from that tournament!
Posted by richie
10/02/2006 at 01:33 PM
Steve - Out here in the hinterlands we can never get enough tennis. Thanks for this latest update on matches and tennis news that sometimes finds its way to the very small print on the last page of out local newspaper when they need some filler material. I was glad to see Blake win - he has alway seemed to be just about to reach his potential and then takes a tough loss. The last part of your blog was interesting - this is news that never gets this far out. Alex Corretja was always a favorite of mine until he decided to play longer than he should have.
Posted by chloe02
10/02/2006 at 02:13 PM
Hi Steve - great news about Blake's performance in Bangkok. Although the final was a let down (to this Ljubicic fan, anyway), JB was impressive against Maratski especially keeping his cool when the big Russian lost the plot in the second set. So it looks likes there will be 2 Americans in the YEC, Shanghai and all those commentators will have to stop wringing their hands and stop writing 'US tennis is dead' articles.
Posted by Jennifer
10/02/2006 at 02:46 PM
Awesome that James Blake beat Ljubicic in the Thailand final. We now have two American men in the top ten and ready to qualify for YEC. Andy and James are representing.
Time to put the American-tennis-is-dead focus on the women where we have no top ten players for the first time. Ever.
Posted by Miguel Seabra
10/02/2006 at 09:23 PM
Bondarenko spent all her nerves in a tortuous semifinal, Steve -- that's why she didn't have any left!
Posted by Eck
10/04/2006 at 01:52 PM
Thanks for that American pecking order of the moment. That was very cool.
I saw Ryan Sweeting at DC tournament in August; he killed Gimelstob. Was that result an aberration in your opinion, Steve?
Is Sweeting for real?
Posted by Steve
10/04/2006 at 06:01 PM
Eck, this was my assessment of sweeting from a post i did at the open this year:
"Ryan Sweeting vs. Olivier Rochus
I started by getting a glimpse of the young American bad boy, Sweeting, a college player who was recently involved in a DUI incident. Sweeting looks like the prototypical U.S. player: tall and thin, with a backwards hat, a gun for a serve, and a two-handed backhand that limits his range. I was most impressed with his forehand, which he hits with more control and topspin than most other young players. He can create severe angles with it both crosscourt and inside-out. He won two sets from the always-solid Rochus yesterday before getting hurt in the fifth. Verdict: A pleasant surprise."
Posted by Eck
10/05/2006 at 10:27 AM
Thanks, Steve. I guess I could have done the legwork to find your blurb on Sweeting. I'll be more proactive next time.
Interesting about the DUI- I thought the kid was younger, for one thing. Pleasant truly describes the surprise when one finds a possible contender among the American men.
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