I hate when Dave is right

Posted by Bess: I was on the phone with tech support yesterday (i.e. Dave - I was having trouble registering for our online Racquet Bracket). And I revealed to him my picks to win it all at the 2012 Australian Open.

On the women's side, I picked Sam Stosur. Not because I'm a huge fan, but because she's playing in her home country so it would be great fun for her to win there. And also because I feel like Serena's ridiculous antics overshadowed Sam's 2011 U.S. Open win. So I felt Stosur deserved a diva-free win she could savor.

"I picked Stosur," I said, expecting Dave to be somewhat supportive of that choice. After all, it's an atypical choice for me and he's actually more of a Stosur fan.

His blunt response? "No. She's going to choke." Harsh!

But then, uh, she did. Stosur just lost in straight sets in the first round to Sorana Cirstea.

And so things are, indeed, underway Down Under. Also underway? The increasing odds that Dave will beat me in at least the women's bracket. This irks me.

I have to give myself a little credit, though. On the men's side (where I've picked Fed to win it all--another atypical pick for me), yesterday's big first round drama was Bernard Tomic coming from two sets down to beat the #22 seed Fernando Verdasco. And I had called that upset! It's one of the few picks I remember actually agonizing over. Well worth my time, it turns out.

Had I factored in Verdasco's crazy ensemble, the choice might have been easier. See for yourself...


Seriously, Fernando? Seriously, Adidas? It's no wonder he lost. He probably couldn't even hear himself think.

A few other notable take-aways from the precious little action I've actually witnessed (or read about) so far:

• Funny that on the women's side everyone was touting the first round matchup of Sharapova/Dulko, which turned out to be almost a complete shut out by Maria. I could get behind a Sharapova slam!
  
• Nadal is injured!? Mon dieu! Something's wrong with his knee(s). I must look into this more to see how serious it is. Stay tuned. He did, however, win his first round match.
  
• Djokovic cruised through his first round match. Not unexpected. At all. But when people start tossing around the "he looks as good as he did last year" sentiments, you have to get worried (if you're me and one of your predictions for 2012 was that he couldn't maintain that level of play.)
  
• I tweeted yesterday that play was underway and that Victoria Azarenka was a) still shrieking and b) wearing shorts. Kind of digging the outfit!
  
• Former tennis champ Lindsey Davenport and her husband welcomed their third child today. According to Lindsey, all three of their kids have been born while a grand slam tournament was being played. I think Lindsey should hold off naming her new daughter until the 2012 AO champ is crowned. Then she can name her after whoever ends up winning. It could be touted as an added incentive for the women: Your very own living, breathing namesake! Seems better than any "bonus prize money."
  
• In case you're unaware, one of the courts at the Australian Open is named after Australian tennis champ Margaret Court. A few weeks ago there was an uproar about some homophobic remarks Margaret recently made. There were murmurs of a fan protest--would fans drape the arena in rainbow flags? Or a player protest--would any player refuse to play in Margaret Court Arena?
  
  So far, I haven't heard about much in the way of protests. But CNN/SI writer Jon Wertheim is staging his own form of civil disobedience by consistently renaming Margaret Court Arena in his Tweets. So far it's been "Degeneres Arena" and "Cynthia Nixon Arena." It makes me laugh, and I also applaud the subtle form of protest/not letting us forget. Well done, Jon. Keep it up.
  

And with that, I'm going to return to watching tennis. We'll see how long I can last.
I flamed out early last night... in a way that would seem very familiar to Verdasco and Stosur.