We've only just begun

... and already I'm having trouble leaving for work in the morning thanks to breakfast at Wimbledon with my good friends Chris Fowler, Brad Gilbert and now Chris Evert as well. Oh, and this morning Rafa was also invited. Pretty entertaining guest list.

I'm trying to avoid some of the updates during the day, which is tough, but I haven't had anyone pop over the wall yet saying, "Did you hear what happened at Wimbledon today?" so I'm guessing Rafa didn't lose to the American I had never heard of.

I did complete my brackets last night, and although I didn't know Tipsarevic was hurt (Dave is always up on this stuff), I didn't pick him to win the first round against Karlovic. So here's hoping he's really hurt. For the sake of my draw. Not that I wish injury on anyone. How un-Dostoyevskyesque that would be!*

Unsurprisingly, I have chosen Rafa on the men's side. For the women, I went with Sharapova. I made that pick before I knew the oddsmakers favored Sharapova, so I guess it's not as "out there" as I thought it was at the time. Oh well.

Here's my one unsolicited comment on Dave's pick of Djokovic to win because "he deserves it." I say what the Djoker deserves from his "stunning first half of the season" is pretty much what he's gotten--a stunning first half of the season. End of story. It was impressive and noteworthy and interesting. And it ended with a loss at the French. All credit to him for that amazing string of wins, but I have moved on.

Here's the deal. I have admiration for him. But I have very little love for him after some of his behavior the past few years. What with the ripping off of the shirt after wins. With the fist pounding of his heart. With the parents saying classless (and clueless) things about "the king" being dead when Djokovic first beat Federer. With Djoker's on-court war of words with Roddick at the U.S. Open. (The Djoker may have a had a point there, but he handled it so poorly.) With the family wearing his image on their T-shirts every single day. It's alllllllllll a little too egocentric for me.

Perhaps he has matured. I've seen glimmers of hope that some of that behavior is behind him. I just found it all very unattractive. And it's going to take me time to get past it.

So I'm willing to concede that he's had a phenomenal 6-7 months. But I'm doling out admiration sparingly until I can gauge where his sportsmanship is these days.

The fact that he seems to be pretty friendly with Rafa now does bode well for him, I'll tell you that. :-)


*I don't know if that's true or not, because I really am not up on my Dostoyevsky.