Thursday's Order of Play

Those of you keeping track know that I have yet to post my picks for Wednesday's matches. I already made them, just need to write them up. They'll be postdated when I do get around to posting them.

And now, my picks for Thursday's eight Round of 16 matches.

CENTER COURT
Matches Start At: 4:00 PM

Michael BERRER (GER) vs Gael MONFILS (FRA) [9]

I am pretty sure Monfils makes it through this one unscathed. I want him to make the quarters so I'll get to see him--I was watching Roddick during his first round, and will likely be watching Spadea during this one.

My pick: Gael Monfils

Michael RUSSELL (USA) [16] vs Tommy HAAS (GER) [2]

You know your tournament is plagued with withdrawals when...
...Michael Russell is a seed. Tommy in two easy ones.

My pick: Tommy Haas

Not Before 7:00 PM
Andy RODDICK (USA) [1] vs Radek STEPANEK (CZE) [15]

Roddick-Radek should be a fun match. Stepanek just won the US Open Series tournament in Los Angeles, so he's riding a nice win streak. Tough draw for both of them. I pick Andy, but this could easily be his toughest match of the tournament.

My pick: Andy Roddick

Robin HAASE (NED) vs Marat SAFIN (RUS) [3]

Marat was a total mess for much of his first round match, but his opponent simply wasn't good enough to beat him. Same here.

My pick: Marat Safin

GRANDSTAND
Matches Start At: 4:00 PM

Vincent SPADEA (USA) [12] vs Ivo KARLOVIC (CRO) [7]

Watching Spadea yesterday, I was kind of amazed at how few weapons he has. He did manage to break Moodie's serve, which bodes well for him here. That being said, Ivo should take this one, with at least one tiebreaker in there.

My pick: Ivo Karlovic

John ISNER (USA) [WC] vs Wayne ODESNIK (USA) [Q]

Isner has become the talk of the tournament, beating Henman as well as the overrated Benjamin Becker. Odesnik had a very nice, scrappy win over Del Potro. It's a great opportunity for both of them to make their first ATP quarterfinal. Isner has way more weapons, so I give him the edge.

My pick: John Isner

ITF Women's Circuit:
Julie DITTY (USA) vs Kristina BRANDI (PUR)

ITF Women's Circuit:
Christina FUSANO (USA)/Alexa GLATCH (USA) vs Maria MOKH (USA)/Alexandra MUELLER (USA)

COURT 1
Matches Start At: 4:00 PM

Thomas JOHANSSON (SWE) vs Paul CAPDEVILLE (CHI)

Why these matches are on Court 1 is beyond me--why is a grand slam champion on a smaller court than Julie Ditty? Johansson may take a bit to adapt to Capdeville's turf here on the side courts, but he should pull through.

My pick: Thomas Johansson

Julien BENNETEAU (FRA) [11] vs Hyung-Taik LEE (KOR) [5]

Julien Benneteau thoroughly outclassed Kei Nishikori in their second round encounter--he's playing phenomenally well. I think he should be able to get through H-T in straight sets.

My pick: Julien Benneteau

Chris HAGGARD (RSA)/Ivo KARLOVIC (CRO) vs Martin DAMM (CZE)/Leander PAES (IND)

ITF Women's Circuit:
Melinda CZINK (HUN)/Lindsay LEE-WATERS (USA) vs Alina JIDKOVA (RUS)/Olga SAVCHUK (UKR)

Yesterday's record: 6 for 10. (My worst to date.)

Overall record: 31 for 44.

Wednesday's Order of Play

CENTER COURT
Matches Start At: 4:00 PM

Paul GOLDSTEIN (USA) vs Radek STEPANEK (CZE) [15]

Local favorite should have no chance in this match--Martina Hingis's fiance, fresh off a title in Los Angeles, should blow through him.

My pick: Radek Stepanek

Not Before 5:00 PM
Arnaud CLEMENT (FRA) [4] vs Thomas JOHANSSON (SWE)

Clement beat some awfully nice players on his way to the LMTC title last year, without so much as dropping a set. He seems to like it here. Additionally, Johansson didn't look super stellar against Giraldo.

My pick: Arnaud Clement

Not Before 7:00 PM
Bob BRYAN (USA)/Mike BRYAN (USA) [1] vs Paul GOLDSTEIN (USA)/Tripp PHILLIPS (USA)

Alejandro FALLA (COL) vs Tommy HAAS (GER)[2] [WC]

Haas should be able to put out Alejandro's Falla (remember our pronunciation lesson)?

My pick: Tommy Haas

GRANDSTAND
Matches Start At: 4:00 PM

Vincent SPADEA (USA) [12] vs Wesley MOODIE (RSA)

Vince Spadea is easily the most ridiculous player on the ATP tour. With his aspiring rap career and his rhinestone studded hats, it's a wonder he's ranked as high as he is. Yet he finds a way to win matches, and is a very fun player to watch. Moodie made the quarters here last year. But I know when he's in that locker room, and Vince says "Spadea ain't afraid a ya," Moodie will be left listless for the rest of the match.

My pick: Vince Spadea

Mardy FISH (USA) [6] vs Michael BERRER (GER)

Many were expecting Mardy Fish to withdraw from the tournament, with an injury he sustained in Indianapolis. He hasn't yet. I pick Fish, unless he has to retire or give a walkover.

My pick: Mardy Fish

Michael RUSSELL (USA) [16] vs Wesley WHITEHOUSE (RSA) [Q]

Michael Russell is the American who makes the best transition to clay. He wears Under Armour sleeveless shirts. That's all I know about him, but it's enough to make me think that he'll impeach Wesley.

My pick: Michael Russell

Paul HANLEY (AUS)/Kevin ULLYETT (RSA) [3] vs Mahesh BHUPATHI (IND)/Tim HENMAN (GBR)

COURT 1
Matches Start At: 4:00 PM

Evgeny KOROLEV (RUS) vs Ivo KARLOVIC (CRO) [7]

Ivo should tower over young Evgeny. Might not be pretty, this one. Not that Ivo's ever particularly pretty.

My pick: Ivo Karlovic

Benjamin BECKER (GER) [8] vs John ISNER (USA) [WC]

Becker is the top seed in by far the weakest eighth of the draw. I like Isner's chances here a lot, if he can muster the intensity he did on stadium court against Becker on the outskirts of the tournament.

My pick: John Isner

After suitable rest:
Scott LIPSKY (USA)/David MARTIN (USA) vs Benjamin BECKER (GER)/Igor KUNITSYN (RUS)

COURT 2
Matches Start At: 4:00 PM

Wayne ODESNIK (USA) [Q]vs Juan Martin DEL POTRO (ARG) [10]

What Odesnik is still doing here I don't know. Finish him, Juan Martin.

My pick: Juan Martin Del Potro

Julien BENNETEAU (FRA) [11] vs Kei NISHIKORI (JPN)

Nishikori looked pretty solid against Gabashvili, whose stock is rising. Benneteau's stock seems to be falling. I like Nishikori in the upset. He could easily go on to beat Lee in the quarters as well.

My pick: Kei Nishikori

ITF Women's Circuit:
Melinda CZINK (HUN)/Lindsay LEE-WATERS (USA) vs Svetlana Krivencheva (BUL)/Petra RAMPRE (SLO)

Yesterday's record: 9 for 13

Overall record: 25 for 34

Very respectable.

Head Case

Following Roddick vs. Zib on court is Jan Hernych vs. Marat Safin. Safin, who was unseeded at last year’s LMTC, is the #3 seed this year. He’s playing Jan Hernych, who I only know from Tennis Elbow, and occasionally briefly confusing him with Berdych, a much better Czech player.

Marat Safin [3] vs. Jan Hernych

• This match is super streaky. First two games go to Safin, then two to Hernych, then four to Safin as he takes the set 6-2. This is what you expect from Safin, by far the biggest head case in the game. A two-time grand slam champion, he’s the last player to have beaten Roger Federer at a hard court grand slam, yet often plays so badly that he leaves his opponent with no choice but to win.


• Safin headcasing it up in the second set. Up a break at 2-1, he plays horrendously and is broken back.


• The crowd is very pro-Safin. Unlike some sports where the crowd is inclined to root for the underdog, fans at many tennis events seem to pull for the favorite. This may well be that since most have tickets for future sessions, they wish to see better players make it deep into the tournament in the hopes of ensuring better matches in the later rounds.


• Safin breaks a racquet at 2-5, then is broken himself as Hernych takes the second set 6-2.


• I find those computerized races on jumbotrons offensive to my sense of entertainability. I am not going to cheer for a participating tennis ball in a predetermined cartoon race. I don’t mind when the racers are actually in the venue, like the Milwaukee Brewers sausages.


• Marat goes up 5-2 in the third, but goes down 15-40 on his serve. Is he about to re-head case?Four deuces later, Safin hangs on to win, 6-2, 2-6, 6-2.

Enter Roddick

In large part because he pulled out of last year’s LMTC with an injury of some sort, I’ve never seen Andy Roddick play in person before, although I’ve seen him dozens of times on TV. His first match at this year’s tournament, against Tomas Zib, should be an easy one. I’m tempted to go watch Klizan vs. Monfils on the grandstand instead, but I decide to watch Roddick. On the off chance that he loses tonight, I don’t want to have not seen him.

Andy Roddick [1] vs Tomas Zib

• The announcer says “Tomas Zib” to a small smattering of applause, and Zib walks out on court. The announcer then proudly exclaims: “Andy Roddick!,” but nothing happens. Andy is nowhere to be seen. The announcer says “Andy Roddick!” again, and still nothing. A third “Andy Roddick” is followed by “he’ll be out in a second!,” then a “here comes Andy!”. Four minutes later Andy walks onto the court, to big applause.
• Andy’s shirt isn’t one solid color! This has to be a first for Lacoste, if I recall correctly.
• Andy serves in the upper 140’s.
• Andy faced a couple of break points at 5-4 in the first, but staves and wins the first 6-4.
• Andy complains about the flash photography, asking the chair umpire to tell people to stop. I don’t consider this Tiger Woods-esque prissiness, because a flash has to be a lot more distracting than the mere sound of a camera clicking. Tiger is such a diva, it really bugs me.
• Andy is cruising along in the second, will be over quickly.
• Andy wins 6-4, 6-2.
• 17 aces for Andy, very nice.

Tuesday - The New Kid on the Block

Kei Nishikori vs. Teimuraz Gabashvili

There aren't a lot of people filling the four rows of bleachers on Court 2, but the ones who are there don't seem to be people who just stumbled upon the match. Almost everyone watching Nishikori vs. Gabashvili is wearing their credentials around their neck, meaning that they are a player, coach, or family member of a player. Clearly there is buzz about Nishikori, and they're here to see what all the hype is about.

Most notable of these people is Gael Monfils and his coach and hitting partner, who I recognize from their practice court yesterday. Gael is getting pretty into it. And by it, I mean his iPod. Gael is splitting the earbuds of an iPod with his hitting partner, doing very emphatic dances that involve bulging his eyes and moving his neck around. He is next on the Grandstand court after Kunitsyn vs. Lee (which is on now), and he seems pretty relaxed. He's playing Martin Klizan, who I saw watching Henman. Gael definitely is the more relaxed looking of the two.

Nishikori, who doesn't seem to mind being mostly ignored by Monfils, is doing very well for himself. He hits the ball extremely hard for someone his size, attacking almost all the time. I suspect his strings must be very loosely strung, as he is very shrimpy looking to be generating all that power. I'm generally impressed.

Gael leaves at 6-5, Nishikori. I leave after Kei wins the first set tiebreak 7-2. As I'm leaving, Hyung-Taik Lee loses his first set tiebreak to Kunitsyn. As Lee is the #5 seed, that would be a pretty sizeable upset. I make my way to Goldstein/Dev Varman. I had heard that Dev Varman was busing people in from Charlottesville (he plays for UVA) for the match, so I'm going to this one for the crowd as much as anything else. Since Goldstein is from very nearby Rockville, Md., it should be interesting to see who has more support.

Tuesday - Come On, Tim!

As it turned out, the match of the day was the first one. I arrived at 2-2 in the first set.

John Isner [WC] vs. Tim Henman (Entered at 2-2)

• Isner comes to net a lot. I'm not entirely sure why, as he's not all that good at net. Being 6'9'', he's pretty tough to pass, but he still dumps a lot of balls into the net.
• Isner is winning a lot of free points on serve. That's what you do when you're 6'9''
• Did I mention he's 6'9''? Isner is ENORMOUS.
• Henman breaks at 4-4, and will serve for the set.
• Very sloppy serving follows the break. Henman goes down 0-40, but then wins five straight points to take the first set. That's gotta be tough for Isner.
• Isner hits his second serves in the 120s. That's way faster than many players hit their first serves.
• At 5-4, Isner breaks for the second set. His box is happy about this, which I suppose isn't all that surprising.
• Isner got a wild card only after Fernando Gonzalez withdrew at the last second. He's certainly made the decision look wise already.
• This match is reminding me a lot of Henman's first round match last year against Phillip King, who is perhaps best known for being Vania's brother. King pushed Henman deep into the third, then finally lost, with Henman's experience in big matches being the deciding factor. This one will almost certainly wrap up the same way.
• Isner's racquet strings are hot pink. I guess no one is going to give him any crap for that, being that he's 6'9''.
• Is that Jamie Murray sitting in Henman's box? I didn't think the Murrays and Henman liked each other very much. Or maybe its just that good-for-nothing brother of Jamie's who causes the trouble.
• At 4-5, 15-40, Henman hits two aces to fend off double match point.
• The crowd is almost 100% pro-Henman, myself included. I have a friend coming in from out of town tomorrow who has a poster of Henman on his wall, so I'd like for Tim to hang around a while.
• Martin Klizan sits down in an open seat in front of me, with his racquet bag and coaches in tow. I take a picture of the back of his head.
• Tiebreak: Isner hits an ace at 140 on his first serve of the breaker.
• Tim nets an easy, short forehand at 3-3 for a minibreak to Isner. Is that going to be enough?
• Yes. Tim loses the breaker 7-4, giving Isner the biggest match of his life. Even if Isner considers some NCAA match bigger than this one, this one is clearly bigger, as it's the one I was at.
• Tim gives sort of a half-wave as he leaves.
• There was a BBC headline yesterday that said something like "Henman Gets Good Draw in Washington." So much for that.

I may come back to Goldstein-Dev Varman later, but matches have been slow to get on the stadium court. For now I'll check out some of Nishikori.

Tuesday's Order of Play

I still got most of my picks right yesterday, if only barely.

CENTER COURT

4:00 pm
John Isner (USA) [WC] vs Tim Henman (GBR)

Tim Henman has an incredibly soft draw in this tournament, easily in the softest eighth of the bracket. Isner is apparently 6'9'', but Our Man Tim should be able to see him out with his far superior. Then he'll beat Benjamin Becker, then whoever comes out of the Del Potro section. But I'm getting ahead of myself.

My pick: Tim Henman

Not Before 5:00 PM
Paul Goldstein (USA) vs Somdev Dev Varman (IND) [Q]

After making his way through qualifying as I predicted, Somdev gets a pretty nice draw in local favorite Paul Goldstein. As noted earlier, there are three V's in Somdev's name, which should be good for three wins. This will be the third and final win for him at this tournament.

My pick: Somdev Dev Varman

Not Before 7:00 PM
[1] Andy Roddick (USA) vs Tomas Zib (CZE)

You can pretty much pencil Andy into the semis, and easily into the final if he doesn't run into Karlovic in the semis. This really is his tournament to lose in many respects. No pressure, Andy.

My pick: Andy Roddick

Jan Hernych (CZE) vs [3] Marat Safin (RUS)

Which Marat Safin will show up to Washington? The last person to beat Federer at a slam who isn't named Nadal? Or the one who moons the crowd during matches and gets angry with himself every point? Let's hope it's a little of both. His year was better than last, as he came into last year's tournament unseeded. Even if Marat is off against Hernych, he should come through.

My pick: Marat Safin

GRANDSTAND

4:00 pm
Ryan Sweeting (USA) [WC] vs Wesley Moodie (RSA)

Moodie managed to make a nice run here, beating Querrey in the first round and losing to Safin in the quarters. He eats wild cards like Sweeting for breakfast. I mean that only half-jokingly, as Moodie is a pretty frightening looking guy.

My pick: Wesley Moodie

Igor Kunitsyn (RUS) vs [5] Hyung-Taik Lee (KOR)

I don't know a whole lot about Lee, but I hear he's been doing big things lately. Good enough for me.

My pick: Hyung-Taik Lee

Martin Klizan (SVK) [WC] vs [9] Gael Monfils (FRA)

This battle of junior champions could be the upset special of the day. I sincerely hope not, as I want to see Monfils hang around for a while. I think he'll get Klizan here, but he's almost as inconsistant as Safin.

My pick: Gael Monfils

Somdev Dev Varman (IND) / John Isner (USA) [WC] vs [2] M Damm (CZE) / L Paes (IND)

COURT 1

4:00 pm
Jiri Vanek (CZE) vs Wesley Whitehouse (RSA) [Q]

I know absolutely nothing consequential about either of these players. Vanek?

My pick: Jiri Vanek

Adrian Garcia (CHI) vs Wayne Odesnik (USA) [Q]

Garcia is the only player who is automatically entered into the main draw whom I'd never heard of before. That's gotta be music to Wayne's ears.

My pick: Wayne Odesnik

Paul Capdeville (CHI) vs [13] Amer Delic (USA)

Capdeville benefited from the meltdown of one Yugoslav yesterday, but will lightning strike twice? Amer Delic is arguably the weakest seed in the tournament (either him or Llodra), so I could easily see Capdeville taking this one. That being said, Bozoljac was way better than Capdeville, and I have no reason to think that he'll be able to beat a seed barring another meltdown.

My pick: Amer Delic

[3] Paul Hanley (AUS) / Kevin Ullyett (ZIM) vs Jeff Coetzee (RSA) / Rogier Wassen (NED)

COURT 2

4:00 pm
Michael Berrer (GER) vs George Bastl (SUI) [Q]

Michael Berrer is supposedly the player to watch in his part of the rankings. I'll be watching Henman during this match, though.

My pick: Michael Berrer

Teimuraz Gabashvili (RUS) vs Kei Nishikori (JPN)

Nishikori just made the quarterfinals of Indianapolis, at the age of seventeen. He's in a pretty nice section of the draw, and could make the quarters again if things fall his way.

My pick: Kei Nishikori

Marcelo Melo (BRA) / Andre Sa (BRA) vs Chris Haggard (RSA) / Ivo Karlovic (CRO)

[14] Michael Llodra (FRA) vs Robin Haase (NED)

I can't go around saying that Llodra and Delic are the two weakest seeds without having one of them lose. Nothing personal, Michael.

My pick: Robin Haase

Yesterday's record: 6 for 9

Overall record: 16 for 21

My Photos from Monday

These are my some of photos from Monday. Click on the photo to see it in higher resolution.

Giraldo serving to Johansson. I'm pretty happy with this picture, as it's rare to get the ball in flight in a picture.

Eighteen-year-old Martin Klizan, who looks even younger in person.

Capdeville serving. This is just before the lights got turned on. Note how it's not dark in the slightest.

That's not the sun--that's one of the four sets of lights shining down on the court. Bozoljac did have a point--there was no need for that much additional lighting, given how bright it still was.

This is the best picture I could covertly get of a tournament supervisor of some sort evaluating the line judges. It had columns for bad calls and promptness of call, and things like that.

The valiant trainer rushing to Bozoljac's side, only to tell him to suck it up and get back out there.

Bozoljac the Bozo setting up to hit his backwards. Doesn't it look like he's about to peg it at us?

Bozoljac the Bozo hitting his backwards serve.

The very cordial Capdeville-Bozoljac post-match meeting at the net. I suppose Capdeville had no real reason to be angry at Bozoljac, as Bozoljac went out of his way to hand him the match.

Elena Baltacha. I didn't stay long enough to get a better picture.

Karlovic practicing. Please take note of his enormity.

Monfils on the practice courts, joking around, very relaxed.

Andy on his phone after our Venus/Spirlea-esque encounter

Either Mokh or Mueller's very ugly shirt.

Falla serving.

Kendrick serving.

This is a ticket I found on the ground that shows the three (or maybe four) faces of the Legg Mason Tennis Classic promotional material: Safin, Roddick, and the Bryans. My tickets are ugly TicketMaster computer-printed things.

Monday - Making My Way Out

I watch Monfils practice for a little while. He and his hitting partner and his coach are all laughing and playing around, and generally seem to be having a grand ol’ time. If there’s one thing Monfils has on the rest of the ATP, it’s goofiness.

Practicing on the court across from Monfils is Croatia’s Ivo Karlovic, who, as I had always known, is gargantuanly tall. Karlovic is 6’10’’, and to make things even scarier, is playing the best tennis of his career. His ranking is near it’s all-time high at 41, and he is the #7 seed in the tournament.

Ivo doesn’t have a large crowd watching him, but his size could never go unnoticed. As I was leaving, I heard one of the ballkids saying to another: “Hey, go stand next to that guy!”

So I decide to make my way toward the Korolev-Mello match on the grandstand. As I am walking, I am looking back at the pictures I have taken on my digital camera during the day, deleting some, smiling at others, when I bump into somebody. I don’t really see who it is, other than that they’re a little taller than me, have a baseball cap pulled low over their eyes, and are talking on a cell phone. We both mutter “oh, sorry” and keep moving.

I turn around, see who it is, and think to myself: “Andy Roddick really should watch where he’s going.”

As I am waiting to get to the stands for Korolev-Mello, I see a point or two of the Mokh & Mueller women’s doubles team, and am blown away by how ugly either Mokh or Mueller’s purple tie-dye top is.

For some reason, I then decide to go sit on the other side of the grandstand. As I’m traversing behind the court, Mello gets very angry (ironic, no?) and smashes a ball over the fence and off the outside of the stadium, ricocheting and landing right in front of me. I quickly grab it and put it in my pocket. I figure that since I’m outside the court, I’m under no obligation to return the ball, as they make most spectators do. While rationalizing this to myself, I sit down outside the fence and watch some of the match from behind the court. It’s a great angle—low, and with no head-turning required. Korolev breaks the point after the ball is smashed away by Mello, then holds to take the set.

Korolev then breaks, then Mello breaks. I start wondering how many breaks there were in the first set, and how either of them will stand a chance against Karlovic in the next round, with serves as fragile as theirs appear to be. I decide I don’t have the energy for this, and then decide to leave, as there’s not any matches left on the order of play that I find too enticing. Besides that, I have a poker game with friends to get to.

As I’m leaving, I see that Grosjean just won the first set 7-6 over Kunitsyn. How that match could be going so slowly, I do not understand, as they were supposed to get on right after Giraldo-Johansson, which ended a couple posts ago.

Monday - The Undercard

So after I make my way off the Bozoljac vs. Capdeville court (lingering for a few moments just in case Bozoljac does anything else crazy), and head over to see Elena Baltacha, one of the few names in the draw of the women’s challenger which is concurrent with the LMTC that I’m at all familiar with.

A lot of ink has been spilled about Elena, as she was the top British female player for a couple years, and the British media makes up a large percentage of the English writers on tennis. I had seen Elena play Jennifer Capriati at Wimbledon a few years back (more than once as the match was re-aired due to rain delays), and was pretty impressed, as she managed to battle to 6-4, 6-4 against Capriati, who was at the top of her game then. Elena had also made a nice run at the Australian Open in 2005, beating Katarina Srebotnik on her way to the third round. Elena was also memorable for wearing glasses during her matches.

The draw for the women’s tournament seemed a lot stronger last year, as Severine Bremond (in her first tournament after making it to the quarterfinals of Wimbledon), Camille Pin, Nicole Pratt, Tamarine Tanasugarn, and Tzipora Obziler (the eventual champion). I’m surprised that the entry list is weaker this year, as the purse was sweetened from $50,000 to $75,000. It would be absolutely phenomenal if Washington was made into a shared ATP/WTA event, but it’s not something I’m going to hold my breath for, as I don’t think the FitzGerald Tennis Center has the facilities to run two large tournaments at once.

Anyway, Elena is playing doubles, and the name of her partner, Story Tweedie-Yates, is about the most exciting thing going on during the match. I generally don’t like watching doubles all that much, and doubles between four women ranked outside the top 200 is even less appealing. On top of that, Elena isn’t wearing her glasses anymore, which is like Tina Turner performing in a floor-length skirt.

I start looking for a reason to leave, and find it in Gaël Monfils, who is practicing on a nearby court. I go watch him instead.

Monday - Tortured Souls (Bozoljac vs. Capdeville)

The only disadvantage I’ve come up with when it comes to comparing the seats I have this year to the seats I had last year is that they’re not as close to the grandstand, court 1 and Court 2 as last year’s were, as this year’s seats are on the north end of the stadium.

So I haul ass over to Court 1 to see Bozoljac vs. Capdeville, and am disappointed to see that the first set has just ended, with Bozoljac taking it 6-3. I later surmised that the reason the first set had already ended was due to an abrupt ending to the Hernych vs. Healey match which preceded it on court, as Healey retired due to an injury.

The players are walking back onto court for the second set just as I arrive, so I am unable to make my way to a seat until the next change over. I turn around to see a little of the match on the grandstand court, between eighteen-year-old wild card Martin Klizan and Greece’s Konstantinos Economidis. Klizan had won the first set 6-3. I am immediately struck by how young Klizan looks. He apparently just turned eighteen, yet looks a solid five years younger than I am (I’m twenty). Yet here he is, withstanding the power of the 6’6’’, twenty-nine-year-old Economidis.

I turn back around to watch some more of Bozoljac-Capdeville from behind the rope. Capdeville is on the nearer side of the court, wearing an appallingly orange outfit. He is struggling to hold as Bozoljac’s groundstrokes, and dropshots have him running every which way. It should be over quickly, I presume, as Bozoljac is clearly the better player. Capdeville is scraping, playing decent defense to get him a hold. At 1-0, the rope opens up and I find a seat in the second row, right near the net.

Ilia Bozoljac vs. Paul Capdeville (Bozoljac leads 6-4, 2-1)

• I’m watching Capdeville struggle to get to just about every Bozoljac shot, and the term “tortured soul” keeps popping into my mind for some reason. This kid (he’s twenty-four) has likely spent his entire life working towards being a professional tennis player, and he frankly doesn’t have enough skill to ever get him into the top fifty. It’s gotta be frustrating.
• Bozoljac is holding easily, and Capdeville is struggling, yet managing to hold. One break and he’s toast.
• Serving at 2-2, Bozoljac begins to complain to the chair umpire about the overhead lights pointing down at the stadium. There are four poles of floodlights which have now switched on, and are now glaring down upon the court. It’s only about 6:30 pm, and the sun is still far above the tree line—there is absolutely no need for the lights. It may be like a baseball game that starts in the late afternoon, where they have the lights on from the start so that the players eyes can adjust to the new lighting gradually and seamlessly.
• Bozoljac is broken, and sits down, still barking at the chair.
• It is noted by several in the crowd that Bozoljac is complaining in perfect English. I remark to those around me that probably grew up in Florida, like so many Eastern European players. They take this comment as a sign that I am some sort of Bozoljac expert and start asking me other questions about his career, to which, of course, I have no answers.
• Bozoljac summons the tournament supervisor, via the chair’s walkie-talkie, to ask him to shut off the lights. I can’t hear most of what is said, but the lights don’t get turned off. Bozoljac is still fuming, getting totally thrown off his game. The only time I can remember seeing anything like this was during the first round of the 2006 Australian Open, during Zvonareva vs. Hingis, when Zvonareva asked that the band playing outside the stadium be told to stop. That seemed like a far easier request to execute than Bozoljac’s. Zvonareva was also crying when she asked, which probably helped her cause.
• A nice round of applause breaks out on the court behind us for “Game, set, match—Klizan.”
• Bozoljac has gone absolutely nuts. Serving at 3-5, down set point at 30-40, he asks Capdeville if he’s ready. He walks to the far corner of the base line, right next to the doubles alley, then turns with his toward the crowd to serve, with his serving arm closer to the court than his other arm (it is always the other way around). He looks as if he is about to peg the crowd with the serve, but then does some sort of backwards serve that goes into the net. The crowd murmurs a general feeling of “what the hell was that?” Bozoljac then stands the correct way and hits his second serve at about 125 MPH, for a second serve ace that catches Capdeville completely off-guard.
• Bozoljac then loses the deuce point and sets up to do the backwards serve yet again. Again it goes into the net. This time, however, his cannon-like second serve is out, and he loses the set. Capdeville looks generally peeved but still happy to win the set, while Bozoljac looks like a mischievous child, or perhaps someone who forgot to take their meds.
• Fans are leaving Court 1 in protest of Bozoljac’s behavior, saying things like “what a jerk!” Personally, I love a good train wreck in a tennis match. These are the sort of fireworks you just don’t get to see in any other sport. I wonder how Bozoljac is going to bounce back in the second set?
• During the first game of the third, Bozoljac starts grunting. This wouldn’t be especially noteworthy, except that he’s grunting not when he hits the ball, but when Capdeville does.
• Even during this meltdown, Bozoljac’s backhand is phenomenal. If he can avoid the asylum, he should have a nice career ahead of him.
• Bozoljac smashes then throws his racquet into the fence. He receives a point penalty, which gives the game to Capdeville. Perhaps Bozoljac was the real tortured soul here.
  Capdeville breaks for 2-0. Bozoljac then immediately sits down and asks for the trainer, even though it’s not time for a changeover. The umpire tells him to get back up, as Capdeville has to serve. Bozoljac complains that he “can’t even hold [his] racquet,” and refuses to get up.
• Capdeville then decides to take advantage, by serving into the open court while Bozoljac is still seated. Funnily enough, Capdeville misses two straight serves into the open court, which would make a double fault. Capdeville then goes and sits down in his chair.
• The trainer comes out, and tells Bozoljac that he can’t help him yet, that they’ve changed the rule, and to get back out there. It’s the meanest behavior I’ve ever seen from a trainer. Then again, I haven’t seen the trainers do much but wrap ankles.
• There’s a woman next to me who keeps cheering “Vamo Paul!” She says that she was from the same tennis club as Capdeville back in Chile. It's a nice distraction from all this.
• I get confused. I had thought (although I hadn’t paid close attention) that Bozoljac had been playing lefty, yet he wins the first point after he walks back while playing right-handed, even though it is his right hand that appears to hurt. I’m very confused.
• 3-0 Capdeville. During the changeover, the scoreboard says that it’s 3-2 Grosjean leading Kunitsyn on the stadium court. How have they only finished five games, when they were supposed to follow Giraldo-Johansson?
• Bozoljac is serving righty too. Maybe I was mistaken. Capdeville breaks, rolling to 4-0. Bozoljac is playing very half-assedly.
• The winner gets Amer Delic in the next round, a very nice draw. One of the few nice things about a forty-eight player draw is that you always know who the winner of a first round match will play in the next round.
• Now Bozoljac is playing lefty (again?). Is he totally ambidextrous? Has he been switching back and forth? I’m pretty lost.
• Down set point at 0-5, 0-40 in the third, Bozoljac again goes for the backwards serving. It goes in this time, spinning wildly, and Capdeville hits his return long. Bozoljac wins another point serving normally from the deuce-side, then backwards serves twice into the net at 30-40 to give Capdeville the match.
• They shake hands very amiably given the circumstances of the match. Bozoljac remains on the court for a while to get more treatment from the trainer and to complain to the char umpire some more.

I leave, to go see Elena Baltacha play doubles.

Monday - Giraldo vs. Johansson (Continued)

My summary of Sunday’s events was pretty long and unwieldy, so I’m going to break Monday’s rehashing into more palatable morsels.

Santiago Giraldo vs. Thomas Johansson (I got to the stadium at 6-6 in the first set, 3-3 in the tiebreak)

• After a set point on return each goes unconverted, Johansson gets a minibreak and closes out the breaker 9-7.
• The Giraldo forehand can get silly vicious. If he can hit the ball when it’s over net height (~3.5 feet), then he can come over top of it and flatten it out like almost no one I’ve ever seen. Johansson really needs to slice his shots lower, and more toward the Giraldo backhand.
• No matter how good his forehand can be, his serve and backhand are pretty sizeable Achilles. (That was the plural form or Achilles, which is spelled the same, for those wondering). Johansson breaks back.
• Giraldo breaks right back, and is fired up to do so.
• They took the radar serve MPH off the court for some reason before this match. Was it bad for Giraldo’s self-esteem?
• I hear that Andy Roddick and Tommy Haas are practicing on the courts right behind my seat. Giraldo is taking a bathroom break, so I make my way out of the stadium quickly to have a look. I can barely see Roddick, as the crowd in front of his court is about five people deep. Haas is more visible, but is on the far side of the court, and is wearing that same lime green color he wore at the Australian Open in 2006, so he’s very hard to look at. With nothing watchable, I scamper back to my seat.
• Giraldo hikes up his shorts before every point. I’m sure he’d be more comfortable in a pair of McEnroeish short shorts, if that were socially permissible.
• Giraldo starts grunting at 5-5 in the second, which doesn’t do anything more than push the set to another tiebreak, which was pretty inevitable.
• Giraldo is playing a very grouchy tiebreak, going down 1-4 quickly.
• Giraldo gets a time violation warning, then seems reinvigorated, charging back to win the breaker 7-5. I hope this third set is not going to make me miss any of Bozoljac vs. Capdeville...
• After the set, the radar display is brought back onto the court. I wonder what that was all about.
• Johansson breaks for 2-4, then Giraldo breaks right back and holds for 4-4. Giraldo is always breaks back quickly.
• At 5-4, Johansson breaks again, and in so doing wins the match, leaving Giraldo no opportunity to break back quickly.

Now let me make my way hastily to Bozoljac vs. Capdeville, to see if great names really do mean great tennis.

Monday's Order of Play

For my predictions today, please note that I’m only prognosticating on the men’s singles draw. Life is complicated enough without having to predict doubles or women’s tennis.

CENTER COURT
Matches Start At: 4:00 PM

To Finish 5-6
Santiago GIRALDO (COL) vs Thomas JOHANSSON (SWE)

I picked Johansson yesterday, but if Giraldo learned to serve overnight, Johansson could be in serious trouble. Despite that prospect, I'm gonna stick with my Swede.

My pick: Thomas Johansson

Igor KUNITSYN (RUS) vs Sebastien GROSJEAN (FRA)

Grosjean's career is in quite the tailspin. When he lost his first match here last year, it was a pretty big upset. This year, there should be nary a blink.

My pick: Igor Kunitsyn

Not Before 7:00 PM

Mahesh BHUPATHI (IND)/Tim HENMAN (GBR) vs Hyung-Taik LEE (KOR)/Michael RUSSELL (USA)

No prediction, but those are some seriously random pairings. Come on, Tim!

Alejandro FALLA (COL) vs Robert KENDRICK (USA)

Kendrick put a serious scare into Nadal a couple years back at Wimbledon, pushing him to five sets. Falla, to my knowledge, has done no such thing.

My pick: Robert Kendrick

GRANDSTAND
Matches Start At: 4:00 PM

Final round Qualifying:
Andre SA (BRA) vs Somdev DEV VARMAN (IND)

I'm frustrated with this match for not having finished yet, at no fault of it's own. I do wonder why it's on the grandstand and not Court 1, seeing that it is a qualifying match. I'm staying with my boy Somdev, who I picked yesterday.

My pick: Somdev Dev Varman

Konstantinos ECONOMIDIS (GRE) vs Martin KLIZAN (SVK) [WC]

Martin Klizan got the rare wild card given to a non-American player who isn't particularly well known. I have to think his luck runs out here.

My pick: Konstantinos Economidis

Evgeny KOROLEV (RUS) vs Ricardo MELLO (BRA)

I picked Korolev yesterday, and I'm sticking with it.

My pick: Evgeny Korolev

Jordan KERR (AUS)/Jim THOMAS (USA) vs Jonathan ERLICH (ISR)/Andy RAM (ISR)

COURT 1
Matches Start At: 4:00 PM

Nathan HEALEY (AUS) vs Jan HERNYCH (CZE)

I played Hernych recently in Tennis Elbow, and his electronic likeness put up a pretty good fight. Here's hoping the real Hernych does the same.

My pick: Jan Hernych

Ilia BOZOLJAC (SRB) vs Paul CAPDEVILLE (CHI)

This match easily takes the cake for having the two snazziest surnames. I really like how "Capdeville" sounds like "Coupe DeVille," and I really like everything about the name "Ilia Bozoljac." I'm banking on a theory that Serbs are better on hard courts than South Americans.

My Pick: Ilia Bozoljac

Wesley MOODIE (RSA)/Todd PERRY (AUS) vs Eric BUTORAC (USA)/Jamie MURRAY (GBR)

Alex BOGDANOVIC (GBR) vs Robin HAASE (NED)

I'll take...Haase? I'm thinking that Bogdanovic's ranking is only as high as it is because of wild cards he's gotten into Wimbledon.

My Pick: Robin Haase

Of the seven matches scheduled for yesterday, only four of them were completed. Of those four, I correctly predicted the outcome of three of them, continuing my good form.

Yesterday’s record: 3 for 4

Overall record: 10 for 12

Monday - Nightcap

After poker a few hours later, I get home and see that the Henman-Bhupathi vs. Lee-Russell doubles match is still going on in the stadium, which means that a whole ‘nother match, Kendrick vs. Falla, hasn’t even started yet. Realizing that since I went alone to the first part of the session I have an unscanned ticket, I impulsively decide to drive over to the complex to see another match.

I get to the complex and park on the grass lots nearby, which I hadn’t done before. The field is almost entirely empty—I consider doing doughnuts or something, but quickly realize I have no idea how to. I make a note to acquaint myself with some bad influences who are good behind the wheel.

A small crowd is leaving as the doubles match just ended, and I walk in without having my ticket or bag looked at.

I easily get a seat in the third row, right behind where Kendrick is warming up. There are definitely less than two hundred people in attendance.



Robert Kendrick vs. Alejandro Falla

• It’s only the third game or so, and Kendrick has already hit the ball behind Falla several times, leaving Falla skidding and falling all over the place. Does the wittle South American miss his wittle cway courts?
• Kendrick breaks right away, and just seems far more comfortable. He’s serving and volleying often, which is fun to watch.
• Spoke too soon—facing break point, Kendrick double faults.
• The service and base line judges are sitting on the east side of the court, whereas I had previously seen them on the west. I wonder if it’s because it’s a night match?
  Kendrick has already given the chair umpire several balls he’s deemed dead, only four games into the match.
• Falla breaks again, to go up 3-2, winning three straight games including two breaks.
• Falla has hitten a couple of serves that have landed near the base line.
• Kendrick breaks.
• As much as I’d like a job where people applauded when I did something well or merely tried hard, I think the groans and “ugh”’s when I made mistakes would be pretty demoralizing.
• Kendrick wins three straight of his own, including two breaks. Streak much?
• First set Kendrick, 6-3, as he holds.
• Even though I’ve seen his name before in many a draw, I have never heard Falla’s name said out loud before, and am surprised (though I shouldn’t be) to hear it pronounced “Fi-ya.” Also, Capdeville was “Cap-de-vee-ya.”
• There’s a pair of Spanish speaking men behind me who keep saying “Vamo Alej,” which sounds like something that would be said on the border of France and Spain, Haiti and the Dominican Republic, or perhaps by some unforeseen lovechild of Rafael Nadal and Justine Henin.
• Kendricks, left wristband, right wristband, and head band are three different colors. It’s bugging me.
• Yet another dead ball that Kendrick has given to the chair umpire somehow makes its way back into play. Kendrick gets annoyed, and sends the ball into the upper deck.
  Falla reels off three straight games, including two breaks (a pattern is emerging here…) to take the second set 6-2.
• Kendrick up an early break in the third to 2-0, but Falla eventually levels for 4-4.
  At 5-5, Falla fends off two break points, and goes up 6-5. He then breaks Kendrick for the match.
• After losing match point, Kendrick smashes his racquet. He then sits down and pulls another racquet out of his bag and tries to break it. He does not succeed. It’s one of the few times in the night that a player is not able to break twice in a row.

On my way out of the complex, I see a laminated sheet hanging on the practice court fence saying which players have reserved which time slots to practice. As the slots have all passed, I decide to rip it down to keep as a souvenir. I’ll try to scan it if I can get my scanner working—it’s kind of interesting.

Topaz's Photos from Sunday

A fellow TalkAboutTennis.com contributor, Topaz, has been kind enough to share her photos from the Legg Mason Tennis Classic with me for this blog. Here are a couple of hers from Sunday:

This is the Giraldo/Johansson coin toss that Giraldo won. He then elected to receive, perhaps foreshadowing his weak serve.

The grounds crew squeegeeing the courts in a very nautilus-esque fashion. This is from after I left today, although I saw them do this technique last year.

Thank you for these great pictures, Topaz!

My Photos from Sunday

I brought a digital camera to the tournament today, and took a few pictures. That is, after all, what one does with a camera. If you click on the images you can see them in higher resolution.

The dot shows our seats from last year. These year's are way better, although those really weren't too bad at all.

Kim set to return the Zib serve.

Kim service motion (part one).

Kim service motion (part two).

Kim service motion (part three).

The chair umpire for Zib vs. Kim.

The Zib vs. Kim scoreboard was very efficient in its use of the letter magnets.

The faceless Giraldo profile. (6'1'', 157??? That sounds awfully malnourished.)


Johansson service motion (part one).


Johansson service motion (part two).

Johansson service motion (part three).


Giraldo prepares to serve to Johansson.


Johansson returns the Giraldo serve.


Stadium Court soaked.


The crowds try to wait out the rain delay under an awning.

Sunday at the LMTC

After getting back from my friend’s birthday party at around 11 a.m., my dad and I got ready to go to a day of wonderful main draw action at the William H.G. FitzGerald Tennis Center. I filled my bag to bring with plastic bottles of club soda (my drink of choice), my camera, and a spiral notebook to take notes on the events for posterity.

Our ticket package only gives us parking passes for the lot near the stadium for Monday through Thursday (I have no idea why), so we parked in the satellite lot to take a shuttle to the stadium. But we could only find one ticket, so we drove back to our house (like a mile away) to look for it. 15 minutes or so of fruitless searching later, I checked back into the car and found that the ticket had just fallen between the seats. It happens.

We parked at the nature center at Rock Creek Park for the shuttle to the tennis complex again. The shuttle took a while to depart—we found out after about fifteen minutes that it was waiting for the other shuttle to get to the parking lot before it took off.

Once we got there, we redeemed our vouchers for our Andy Roddick seat cushion that came with our tickets. It was very thick (about two inches or so), and lacked any pictures of Andy Roddick or anything like that, which is probably wise as one does not often do self promotion by encouraging others to sit on his face. At least not in most business ventures…

Since I saw that the first main draw match on the order of play, Tomas Zib vs. Kevin Kim, was already on court, I raced straight to the stadium entrance without perusing any of the sponsor tents on the way in. When I was at the entrance it was 4-2 Zib. At the first changeover, when I got the correct aisle (the seats are numbered by aisle, not section in the lower level), and just found a seat and sat down.

I pulled out my notebook, and jotted down the following notes during the rest of the day:

Tomas Zib vs. Kevin Kim (Entered at 4-2 Zib)

• These are some very short names in this match. Whoever’s job it was to put up the letters that spell the names on the scoreboard caught a break with Zib vs. Kim. Then again, maybe it just barely made up for the preceding match, which was Amritraj vs. Whitehouse.
• Zib is an unbelievably unclean ball striker. Most every shot comes off his racquet as if it was mishit. Compared to a ball striker like a Roger Federer or a Lindsay Davenport, Zib is a mess.
• More ragging on Zib: he is horribly uncharismatic. He’s always got a sour look on his puss, and just skulks around the court. Maybe getting broken back got to him, but he was real mopey. And I have very little patience for mopey athletes, especially when they’re not losing.
• More on Zib: I’ve never before seen the logo of Zib’s clothing sponsor. It’s a kangaroo. Or maybe it’s just souvenir apparel from the Australian Open, like that Australian Open souvenir hat that Nikolay Davydenko wore before he had a clothing sponsor.
• Zib races out to 4-0 in the tiebreak very easily. At 5-1 Zib a little girl screams out “Come on, Kevin!” With its silence the crowd clearly shouts “don’t get your hopes up, dahlin’.” Three points later the crowd is validated and the girl crestfallen, as Zib wraps up the breaker 7-2 to take the first set.
• The announcer encourages everyone to go get an autograph at the players booth from…Paul Goldstein? I can’t imagine the line’s around the block for that one, to say the least.
• Kim plays the first game of the second set really well, while Zib continues to look all sourpuss. Kim will win the set easily.
• I just checked the draw and realized that the winner faces Andy Roddick in the next round. Good luck with that, whichever of you.
• Lots of distant thunder in the second set. I wonder, what’s the rule is on that? Does there have to be visible lightning? I know at my high school play was always suspended for thunder. The conference was extra-sensitive about it after a lacrosse player from a rival school got hit by lightning and killed about twelve years ago.
• It is so hot and muggy. I am sweating so much, and have already downed a 20 oz. bottle of club soda. I remember an odd stat from last year’s tournament—through the twenty or so matches I saw, I never once had to go to the bathroom. I was always so dehydrated that I never had to. I did use the bathroom right after the finals, almost more out of curiosity than anything else. I was underwhelmed.
• Zib should get credit for pouting his way to 4-4, all the while seemingly get outplayed.
• Out of nowhere, Kim has a horrendous serve game and is broken. Zib to serve for the match.
• Kim backhand into the net gives Zib the match, 7-6, 6-4.
• Zib ends the match by reminding me why I didn’t like him: after Kim’s shot hits the net and the match ends, Zib waits for the ball girl on the back wall to give him a towel before walking to the net, leaving Kim hanging at the net. Kim shakes the chair’s hand and makes it over to Zib while he’s still toweling off. So classless, so rude. Have fun against Roddick, you ass.
• Zib does sign autographs for the kids on his way out, leaving me a little more ambiguous on his character, but not really. I find that to make sports interesting when I don’t really know the players, I have to be very judgmental, and find a reason to like or dislike them on whims. So Zib stays on my bad list, and karma should hit him hard in the next round, in the form of a Roddick 150 MPH serve.

While waiting for the next match (Santiago Giraldo of Colombia vs. Thomas Johansson of Sweden), I took a few notes on the reorganization of the sessions at this year’s tournament, and why it’s awful.

Instead of having a day and night session in the pre-quarterfinal rounds this year, the tournament is having one session that starts at 4 p.m. If this is meant to accommodate people’s jobs, I understand their intent, but it makes it very fan unfriendly in a multitude of other ways. This is mostly because of the tournaments no re-entry policy (more on this later), which doesn’t allow for spectators to leave and re-enter, presumably so the same ticket can’t be shared by more than one person. It makes it impossible for people to come and go from the tournament, even in the case of rain. During last year’s tournament, rain came early in the first set of Blake v. Safin. Since it showed no signs of slowing, I went home, which is only a couple miles away for me. Yet once play resumed two hours later, I was unable to return. It’s very fan unfriendly. Why the tournament doesn’t want people coming back to watch more tennis, to buy more food and souvenirs, I really do not know.

That’s all I have to say about that, for now.

My only other complaint at this point was about the seat number, which was pretty hard to find. The ushers also didn’t know where are seats were, which wasn’t encouraging. Eventually we found our real seats, about three rows into a covered set of bleachers, shade that will certainly come in handy during the week.

I made a special note to watch them put the names on the scoreboards this year, something I had always missed them doing last year. I was surprised to see that the letter tiles are magnetic, something I hadn’t considered. I suppose I take the power of magnetism for granted sometimes. It’s all the more intriguing that the name I see getting put up is J-O-H-A-N-S-S-O-N, who, unlike Kim or Zib, is a Grand Slam champion, winning the 2002 Australian Open.

Santiago Giraldo vs. Thomas Johansson

• The two players walk onto the court without any sort of announcement or fanfare. The fans barely seem to realize they’re on the court until they reach their chairs. Once the crowd realizes their appearance, there is quite a nice smattering of applause.
• There is no picture of Santiago on file, so a picture of Johansson is pitted against a file photo of a racquet on the video screens. You think someone could have snapped a picture with a camera phone before the match at the very least. Or used Google Images, or something.
• Giraldo is 19, thirteen years Johansson’s junior.
• The Johansson bio delivered by the announcer omits his Australian Open win. Does he not want to raise expectations for Johansson’s play in this match?
• Giraldo’s bio features a butchering of the host city of a challenger won by Santiago—Bogota, Colombia. The announcer says it as if it sounds like “pagoda,” when it should sound more like "Yo-Yo Ma,"
• Giraldo wins the toss and elects to receive—interesting.
• I am struck by how much slower the ball is going in warm-ups than it was in the Zib-Kim match. I realize this is dumb, but it’s striking nonetheless.
• First point: wow, Giraldo is just crushing the ball. He hits it so hard and so flat. He hits a beautiful forehand winner up the line. After the lethargic warm-up I can’t imagine Johansson was prepared for that. Johansson steadies and holds.
• Giraldo’s serves are slowwwww. His first serve comes in at around 108, his second in the mid-seventies. That’s a slow WTA serve. Now I see why he wanted to return. He holds all the same.
• Giraldo’s shock absorber keeps popping off his racquet, and he keeps having to retrieve it from the ball kids. I think he’s only using it on his return, which is interesting.
• For someone so solid off the ground, Giraldo’s serve is utterly horrendous; have I found a male Dementieva?
• A commercial of Rafael Nadal struggling to parallel park a bus is barely comprehensible for the crowd. Nadal’s English is getting better, but he still needs subtitles.
• There’s a lot of ambient grunting from the practice courts behind the stadium. It’s practice, people, keep it down over there.
• Routine holds to 2-2, then Johansson fights back from 0-40 5o hold.
• Giraldo gets some awesome angles off his forehand in these rallies—watch out for this kid, I predict big things. Then again, I thought Kim would win that set.
• I wonder how they picked these three main draw matches to be the ones played today? It seems relatively random, although they all exclude seeds and qualifiers, and are from the top half of the draw. But so do a handful of other matches, so I’m not certain.
• Giraldo is absolutely teeing off on any ball that gets above his navel or so. He breaks Johansson’s serve. On break point, Johansson challenges a serve call that was nowhere near being questionable. Very wishful thinking.
• This may be unfair, but the ball kids seem to have very little idea what their supposed to be doing. They are letting the ball roll around the court without scampering out for it like they should until the chair tells them to. One ball kid had to be told to back up after she was standing several yards in front of her position on the back wall.
• To add salt to the wounds I just inflicted on the ball kids, I think their uniforms look pretty bad this year. It’s just t-shirts with enormous K-Swiss logos. They look very cheap. But that’s not their fault.
• Serving at 4-3, having just been broken, Giraldo looks very tired (already?), and is broken. As they say, it could be getting late early for Giraldo.
• The chair umpire scolds Giraldo for something related to his shock absorber continually bouncing off. It’s reminiscent of the bead-spills the Williams sisters used to have back in the day.
• Johansson pulls off a topspin-less lob. That’s my signature shot!
• Giraldo checks a mark on a would-be ace then successfully overturns the call with an electronic challenge. He then proceeds to dump his return into the net on Johansson’s second serve.
• During the changeover with Johansson leading 6-5, it starts to rain, beginning to rain hard very quickly. Fans scamper to cover. Play is suspended, and the players leave the court.
• My dad and I back up to our seats under the cover, but the rain starts blowing under the cover due to the pretty significant winds.

After waiting about twenty minutes, it’s pretty clear that the rains aren’t going anywhere. With the promise of plenty of tennis later in the week, we leave, in part to. We left in part to make it home in time for the two US Open Series finals on television—San Diego’s Chakvetadze vs. Mirza, and Indianapolis’s Dancevic v. Tursunov.

As it turns out, both those finals were pretty lackluster straight set affairs. Even so, the move to leave was the right one, as play is later called for the day, with nary another point being played. We feel vindicated, and probably drier than others. It still irks me that even if play had resumed three hours of rain delay, we would not have been able to reenter. Perhaps they would have bent the rules, but I can’t count on that.

Tomorrow promises to be a fuller slate of matches, starting at four o’clock. I’ll be there, notebook in hand.

Sunday's Order of Play

I did wonderfully in my predictions yesterday, getting 7 of 8 correct. I’ve set the bar way too high…

STADIUM
Matches Start At: 10:00 AM

Final Round of Qualifying:
Prakash AMRITRAJ (IND) [4] vs Wesley WHITEHOUSE (RSA) [7]

Whitehouse to continue his landmark play in Washington, DC.

My pick: Wesley Whitehouse

Not Before 12:00 Noon
Main Draw Singles:
Tomas ZIB (CZE) vs Kevin KIM (USA)

In a battle of three-letter last names (with five-letter first names to boot), I like Kevin Kim. He should have the crowd on his side, and I'm more familiar with his name, even if I've never seen him play before.

I have seen Tomas Zib play before. I watched most of his match against Mardy Fish last year (another match featuring five-letter first names and one-syllable surnames with "i" as the only vowel) and he lost. I don't have especially high regard for Fish's game, so losing to him is something I don't have much patience for.

My pick: Kevin Kim

Main Draw Singles:
Santiago GIRALDO (COL) vs Thomas JOHANSSON (SWE)

Thomas Johansson is easily one of the two flukiest grand slam champions of the millennium. He won the 2002 Australian Open, a result he never backed up with any strong play to speak of. Regardless of what he did outside the 2002 Australian Open, he will forever be a grand slam champion. That fact alone should be enough to get him through the first round

My pick: Thomas Johansson

Main Draw Singles:
Evgeny KOROLEV (RUS) vs Ricardo MELLO (BRA)

Evgeny Korolev's win over James Blake in Las Vegas resulted in much confusion with the new round-robin format, and led to a controversy with the new format that took it out of use. If it wasn't for Evgeny, Legg Mason would likely be stuck with round-robin as well. For that, I owe him a pick

My pick: Evgeny Korolev

GRANDSTAND
Matches Start At: 10:00 AM

Final round Qualifying:
George BASTL (SUI) [3] vs Nathan THOMPSON (USA)

I checked--George Bastl's big doing at Wimbledon some years back was beating Pete Sampras. No small potatoes there.

My pick: George Bastl

Final round Qualifying:
Wayne ODESNIK (USA) [1] vs Cecil MAMIIT (PHI) [8]

Odesnik is a higher seed, so he should win. I have no deeper insight than that, but why complicate things?

My pick: Wayne Odesnik

Final round Qualifying:
Andre SA (BRA) [2] vs Somdev DEV VARMAN (IND)

Somdev got his first V in the first round, and by my count, he still has two left in his name, and therefore, two left in the tournament.

My pick: Somdev Dev Varman

Yesterday's Record: 7 for 8

Overall Record: 7 for 8

Saturday's Order of Play

As insignificant as they may wind up being, I’m going to refrain from making my main draw predictions until the qualifiers are set. I will, however, make my predictions for the matches today, which consist of eight first round qualifying matches. This is going to be the only session of the tournament I won’t be attending (I hope), as I’m going to a friend’s birthday party.

These are entirely unresearched.

CENTER COURT

Matches Start At: 10:00 AM

George BASTL (SUI) [3] vs Fritz WOLMARANS (RSA)

I remember George Bastl doing big things at Wimbledon a few years back. What exactly I don’t remember, but it was big.
My pick: George Bastl

Prakash AMRITRAJ (IND) [4] vs Treat HUEY (USA)

Amritraj’s father Vijay was a pretty decent player, and was also in a James Bond movie (Octopussy), which wins him big points with me.

Treat (pronounced Trett) Huey played high school tennis for St. Stephen’s/St. Agnes, a school in our conference. He was a year older than me, and went on to play for UVA. He was by far the best in the conference during his time there, not surprisingly, as no one else has gone on to play any pro events that I know of. He was always very fun to watch. He would hit serves that would spin way over the heads of his opponents. It was awesome to watch

That being said,
My Pick: Prakash Amritraj

Wayne ODESNIK (USA) [1] vs Jan-Michael GAMBILL (USA)

Oh Jan-Michael. How the not-so mighty have fallen. He was in the James Blake generation of American hopefuls, but as far as I can remember, never did anything all that good. I saw part of one of his matches once at the US Open (I believe he was on court after Hingis/Dechy in 1998 if anyone wants to look it up), but I remember him getting blown out and us finding another match.

He is done and done. I know nothing about Odesnik, but he’s not Gambill, so I think he’s going to win.
My pick: Wayne Odesnik

Somdev DEV VARMAN (IND) vs Kamil CAPKOVIC (SVK) [5]

I know absolutely nothing about either of these players. But Kamil is kind of a girly name, and I don’t see how anyone with that many V’s in his name could be anything but victorious.

My Pick: Somdev Dev Varman

GRANDSTAND

Matches Start At: 10:00 AM

Nathan THOMPSON (USA) vs Karan RASTOGI (IND) [6]

Again, I know nothing about either of these players. Again, Karan is kind of a girly name, so I’ll pick against him and go with the American who will likely have the crowd on his side.

My Pick: Nathan Thompson

Tyler CLEVELAND (USA) vs Wesley WHITEHOUSE (RSA) [7]

I’ve heard of Wesley Whitehouse (his presidential name makes him more memorable, I suppose), but I don’t know anything about him. It’s DC, so Whitehouse should feel right at home.

My Pick: Wesley Whitehouse

Marcus FUGATE (USA) vs Cecil MAMIIT (PHI) [8]

Once again, I know nothing about either of these players. The only athlete I’ve ever heard of named Cecil is Cecil Fielder, and he doesn’t seem like he’d be able to cover the court very well. Therefore, I will pick against his namesake as well.

My Pick: Marcus Fugate

Andre SA (BRA) [2] vs Luka GREGORC (SLO)

Because of his short name, Andre Sa has been on my radar for a while. He used to be on an alliterative doubles team with fellow Brazilian Flavio Saretta. I just wish he’d play mixed doubles with Meilen Tu sometime so that they could set a near unbeatable record for shortest pair of names.

My Pick: Andre Sa

The Neighborhood

The William H.G. FitzGerald Tennis Center is in the Carter Barron section of Rock Creek Park, on 16th Street NW in Washington, DC. It’s at the eastern edge of Rock Creek Park, a national park that bisects the nation’s capital into eastern and western halves. The surrounding area to the east of 16th Street is completely residential. 16th Street itself is lined with churches and other places of worship for just about every denomination of every religion known to man.

The area immediately around the tennis complex, Carter Barron, is made up primarily of recreational space. There’s also an amphitheatre a block or two south of the tennis center which hosts on Shakespeare performances in the summer months. There are sprawling fields used primarily for soccer, with a few backstops indicating that baseball is (or was) played as well. The soccer fields are used by youth leagues on Saturdays, and for pick-up games made up primarily of Hispanic men on weeknights.

My sister and I both played soccer at Carter Barron in our grade school days. The fields are in the shadow of the tennis stadium, which stands alone in its height at the southern ends of the field. Often times during my sister’s games I’d wander over to the tennis center and walk around the perimeter of the stadium, peeking in through the gates at the entrances, imagining myself playing there someday, my name written in the movie theatre marquee-style letters on the scoreboard.

It could be said that the tennis center sits on the line dividing the city not only geographically, but culturally as well. The neighborhoods on either side of 16th Street tend to be completely separate. The street is somewhat of a demarcation of class and race lines in the city as well, with the more affluent, whiter areas lying west of the park. Some even contend that the conservationists who sought to protect Rock Creek Park when it was becoming a national park were financed by real estate developers in the richer areas, who sought to protect property values by isolating those neighborhoods from the poorer parts of the city. Put another way, the tennis nets aren’t necessarily the only things dividing people in the area.

Growing Up with the Legg Mason Tennis Classic

One of the many advantages of growing up in a city like Washington, DC is the professional sports. The Redskins, Wizards (née Bullets), Capitals, and Orioles (and now Nationals) allowed me to see some of the great athletes of the 1990s in person. From Roger Clemens to Michael Jordan, from Wayne Gretzky to Brett Favre, I got to see some pretty amazing sports.

While plenty of American cities have several professional sports franchises, very few have hosted professional tennis tournaments. Fewer still have hosted an event that’s remained in the city for close to forty years, as Washington has. Washington’s tennis tournament was the second professional tennis tournament in the United States, preceded only by the U.S. Open. The tournament was held in Washington at the insistance of Arthur Ashe, who trained in Washington often.

Not knowing any of this history, I happily accompanied my dad to a session or two of the Legg Mason Tennis Classic every year in the mid-1990s. We would usually go to a couple of the quarterfinals during the Friday day session, as my dad could get Fridays off of work.

Andre Agassi and Michael Chang were the big draws at the tournament back then, and both of them won the tournament a handful of times. Agassi was always the fan favorite, and rewarded those fans by playing the tournament for fifteen consecutive years, from 1990 to 2004. I remember being disappointed that Pete Sampras never played in Washington, even though he was born in the District. Why Pete never showed was never officially explained, although Andre’s lurking had to have been a repellant.

In 1996, I won a radio call-in trivia contest where the prize was tickets to a Legg Mason session of my choice. Happy to take advantage of the situation, I chose tickets to the final session, for the singles final. In that match, Michael Chang beat Wayne Ferreira 6-2, 6-4. I remember it being a pretty good match, and I remember being mesmerized by how much Wayne’s surname looked like “Ferrari.”

That would be the last time we went to the Legg Mason for some time. We started deferring our tennis experience until later in the calendar, when we would drive up the Jersey Turnpike, hop on a PATH train, then a 1 train, then a 7 train, disembarking at Flushing Meadows. The Open felt so much more important than the Legg Mason ever did, as all the big names were always there. The women being there as well was also a big plus. We went to the middle weekend of the Open in 1998 and 1999, seeing (among other matches) Rios d. Kroslak, Seles d. Sugiyama, Hingis d. Dechy, and Novotna d. Spirlea (the year after the Spirlea bump incident, which made for a very pro-Novotna crowd).

We then decided to just go up for Super Saturday (Men’s Semis and Women’s Finals) in 2000 (Safin d. Martin, Sampras d. Hewitt, V. Williams d. Davenport) 2001 (Hewitt d. Kafelnikov, Sampras d. Safin, V. Williams d. S. Williams) and 2002 (Sampras d. Schalken, Agassi d. Hewitt, S. Williams d. V. Williams). I also saw the men’s final in 2001, in which Hewitt thrashed Sampras. Perhaps what was most notable about these matches was that none of them was very close. The only match that wasn’t won in straight sets was Agassi’s victory over Hewitt, in which Hewitt managed to eke out the third before Agassi closed it out in four.

For a variety of reasons which I don’t honestly remember, we didn’t go up to the open for the next few years, nor did we go to Legg Mason. I watched plenty of tennis on television, but none in person. With the NHL lockout of 2004-2005, I shifted my sports loyalties more firmly to tennis. Last year, 2006, was the first time after that that I was in town for the tournament since my full-blown immersion into tennis following. I went to all but one session, and loved every second of it. I’ll go into my time at the 2006 tournament in nauseating detail in my next entry.