A love letter to Maria (and Alexandra)

Sharapova after a tough win.

POSTED BY DAVE: My Australian Open is complete, thanks to a gutsy second round match between Maria Sharapova and Alexandra Panova. Sharapova pulled off a victory, by coming back from way down in the third set -- and also by holding off two match points near the end. This is why I love tennis! Thank you, Maria, and thank you, as well, Alexandra.

Both of these women played such high-caliber tennis, including on crucial points. It truly is a shame, especially for Panova, that there couldn't be two winners. I have a hard time imagining that the final will be as exciting or close as this match was. However, if it is, and if Sharapova is in the mix, my money is on her. (But that should come as no surprise to Bess.)

Who else will earn aces from me in the second round? Read on.

Women

• Excited about the Keys/Dellacqua match-up! Should be high-intensity, and, I hope, high-drama.
• Excited about Wozniacki/Azarenka, too. For obvious reasons.
• Koukalova has the best shot in her quarter of the draw, now that Ivanovic has made an early exit. Expecting good things from her in 2R.
• Would love to see all of the American women move forward to 3R. I'm especially pulling for Venus, my sentimental favorite, and McHale, who I believe will ultimately make it to at least the round of 16.

Men

• Really liking the looks of Nieminen, Karlovic and Wawrinka. Something tells me all three will breeze through to 3R.
• Looking forward to Young-Raonic. Hoping for a highly athletic and extremely close match.
• My sentimental favorite is Hewitt. Wasn't his biggest fan years ago, and, to be honest, wasn't really a fan, at all. But, I've enjoyed watching him the past few years, and admire how well he is playing at this late stage in his career. I also like how he carries himself now in interviews -- mature, gracious, grateful.

BESS REPLIES: Despite a barrage of texts from Dave (barrage = seven), I slept through that third set of Sharapova/Panova. Drat! Clearly I missed a(nother) great Maria comeback. Just when all hope is lost, Maria wills it back into existence. Congrats to Maria!

A few aces and faults from me:

Aces

Dave had to complete his brackets on
(wait for it...) paper! Hence my abacus joke.
Also, please note that the purple eggplant is our
chosen emoji to signify goodness/happiness.
Not sure why.

• Baghdatis won again! In the process, he took out the 20th seed, David Goffin. Nice work, Marcos.
• An ace to Andy Murray's barber. The closer-cropped cut is a definite plus.
• At the risk of self-promotion and conceit, I'm going to give myself an ace for my 50 correct predictions in the first round of the ATP bracket challenge. Pretty sure that's one of my best first rounds ever. Feelin' pretty good... for the time being. 
• Upcoming matches I'm excited to see:
• Looking forward to seeing Rafa in action again tonight to make sure that first round performance wasn't a fluke. Yes, I'm still reining in my optimism a bit. Protective measures and whatnot.
• Tomorrow night there's a host of U.S. women in action - looking forward to seeing all of them. And while I appreciate the up-and-coming among them, I'm rooting for Venus most of all (sadly she would have to beat American Lauren Davis to advance... )
• Tomorrow's Jerzy Janowicz/Gael Monfils match could make for an entertaining highlight reel.

Faults

• Sorry to burst Dave's bubble and totally bummed to report that Christina McHale already lost her second round match. That 12-10 third set victory in the first round may have taken too much out of her.
• An XL, rosy-hued fault to that Pepto Bismal pink Nike dress worn by so. many. women. in round one. More on that in a subsequent post, but I am not a fan.
• A definite fault to me for snoozing while Maria willed herself to win her second round match. If only I could channel her sheer will and dogged determination into staying awake. As it is, I'm just channeling #tired. And it's only day three! Fault, fault, fault.

TENNIS FANS: Who are you keeping your eyes on, during 2R?

'It's gonna be OK.'

POSTED BY BESS: Day three of Wimbledon 2013 was a doozy, to put it mildly.  Mary Joe Fernandez called it Wacky Wednesday. The Twitterverse dubbed it #Wimbleweird.

• Seven withdrawals, many due to slips and falls on the grass, including a few top talents. Azarenka, Tsonga, Cilic, Isner, Darcis (STEVE! The guy who beat Nadal), Stepanek. Who am I forgetting? Wild. 
• Seven former number ones took the court; all lost.
• #3 seed Maria Sharapova lost to #133 in the world. 
• And late in the evening (at least when I finally got to watch it), #3 seed, 7-time and defending Wimbledon champion Roger Federer lost to #116 in the world, breaking his streak of making it at least as far as the quarterfinals in 36 consecutive majors. A NINE-year record.

I mean.

It was crazy.

Players voiced their incredulity. Commentators struggled to make sense of it. But in the wee hours of this morning, as I watched the Federer post-match press conference, the voice of a tennis legend, yes perhaps the GOAT, put it all in perspective.

When asked how his fans should feel after watching his incredible quarterfinal streak broken, Federer quickly replied (and I paraphrase because it was late and I wasn't taking notes), "It's gonna be OK. I'm gonna be OK."

Yes. It will be OK. And hopefully order can be restored to the All England Club today.

But it *was* a bit insane.  And yes, wacky. Weird.
Wonderfully so.

After all, it's Wimbledon. It doesn't get bigger than this.

In the midst of all the shocking withdrawals/defeats, a whole host of lesser known players had banner days they'll remember forever--for all the right reasons. If you missed Dustin Brown (who?) beating former Wimbledon champion Lleyton Hewitt, you missed a talented, entertaining, gutsy player make the most of the best opportunity his chosen sport has presented to date.

Brown was brought to tears on court after winning. And soon after, he delivered a compelling and poised post-match interview in which it was clear just how much this meant to him. Just great stuff.

Will he be a factor in this tournament or any in the future? Too soon to tell.  But the possibility is there.

And either way, it'll be OK.

It's all over Down Under

Posted by BESS: Several days, by which I mean nights, have passed, and the 2013 Aussie Open is now complete.  I missed talking about a lot of matches, and I also missed a lot of matches.

I did, however, see a good portion of the Murray/Federer five-set semi-final. Was really rooting for Fed in that one. But, alas.

I did NOT see the MTO heard 'round the world... Azarenka's questionable medical time out right after choking away five match points in her semi-final against Sloane Stephens.  After leaving the court and seemingly regrouping, Aza went on to win the match and lose just about any support she might have had. The fans, the media, commentators, other players, the Twitterverse... everyone was in an uproar.

By all accounts it was a rough two days for Azarenka, preparing for the final while dealing with the fallout of that questionable sportsmanship. So tension was high as she and Li Na took the court for the women's championship. What then transpired was riveting TV. 

Three sets complete with a heavily partisan crowd (seemingly all supporting Li), strong play, two medical time outs (unquestionably legit) by Li for rolling her ankle--one combined with slamming her head on the court and being assessed for a concussion, a 10-minute break for Australia Day fireworks outside the stadium, and frequent shots of Aza's box where LMFAO's Redfoo, her friend/perhaps boyfriend, wore a neon, leopard print ensemble with a T-shirt proclaiming "Get your grunt on."

In a word (or three), it was bizarre and unexpected and entertaining, and I enjoyed every moment of it. Until the very end, when Azarenka won.

It marked one of the oddest winning moments I can remember in a grand slam final. She won, and the crowd barely reacted. Here she is, your women's champion, and... tepid applause at best. Reluctant.

Her celebration was, to her credit, muted. She sobbed heavily into her towel, then jogged over to celebrate with her team--getting reassurance from them more than anything else.

So Aza leaves Melbourne with another trophy, and Li Na leaves with a kabillion more fans (conservative estimate.) She's a clearly improved player, and her unending popularity stems as much from her impressive play as for her humorous candor during every single interview. Simply charming.

Well done, Li Na. Hoping the rest of 2013 is just a little bit better than this tournament ended up for you.
 
As for the men's final. Well, I was frankly bored by Murray/Djokovic. And tired. So I took a break after the first two sets (which they split) and then just couldn't be bothered. Something like 28 straight games without a break of serve? Oy.

It was a final between two players I don't really care for, so I wasn't so much rooting for someone as I was rooting against the Djoker. And when it seemed he had taken control of the match, my heart wasn't in it. Especially at 5 a.m.

I'll just say that it wasn't the best match from either of them. And had Murray not played a tough five-set semi just the day before, the result might have been much different.

I did see the end and the trophy presentation (had to wake up for Andre!). The upside: Djokovic didn't rip his shirt off while staggering around court screaming like the Hulk. So there's that.

Also, perhaps my second-favorite tweet from the tournament: SI/CNN/Tennis Channel's Jon Wertheim's random observation and stellar verb usage last night:  "Murray really sausaged his body into his clothes this event."  Hahaha. Nice. (And true.)

Housekeeping
So... it's been fun. But I've missed Dave arguing with me over my dislike of Djokovic or Venus's fashion choices. Perhaps when the French Open rolls around Dave won't find himself quite so busy/sick/out of the country (a bad combination as far as blogging goes.)

I look forward to putting the "mixed" and the "doubles" back into Mixed Doubles.

For those keeping score, both Dave and I picked DelPotro and Sharapova as singles' champions. So clearly, we failed.  Better luck next time, Juan Martin and Maria. Also, Dave and me.

Until Paris... (and, God willing, Rafa...) A bientot!

Oy vey, Maria

Posted by Dave: With apologies to Franz Schubert, Maria was far more "Oy vey" than "Ave" in the women's final. Sharapova was solid the first two games and then, well, she wasn't solid. At all.

Props to Azarenka, though, who played a controlled, confident and ultimately more aggressive match. In short, Az played like a champion.

The thing with Maria is you can tell when she's going to lose, right? Her winning trademark is walking away from the service line, with her back to her opponent, in between points. You can usually tell by her eyes if she's in the zone. She also usually makes a small gesture, hard to describe, as she turns back to the service line. A little moment of pumping herself up that tells the world that it's game on. Last night, I don't think I saw that little moment even once.

The grunting by both women didn't bother me much. The relatively poor job of line calls didn't bother me much, either. What really bummed me out was to have such a great tournament up until this point, only to have such a lackluster final. Let's hope for much, much more on the terre battue at Roland-Garros.

(c) 2012 Getty Images

Action + Fashion

Posted by Bess: So it's been a fun two days at the 2012 AO.

Two nights ago I got to watch:

• Sharapova pull out a tough win from a set down. Gutsy! Good for her.


• Hewitt take a set off of Djokovic. Say what you will about Hewitt, but anyone who takes a set off the Djoker these days deserves a little bit of praise. It was the first set he'd lost this tournament.

And last night I got to see:

• Azarenka defeat Radwanska. I don't have a lot of stake in either player, but I was rooting for Azarenka. I developed an appreciation of Radwanska as well, though. An entertaining match with an inexplicable second set.



• A tough match between Clijsters and Wozniacki. The final few games of this match reminded me of all the reasons I love Clijsters as a player (not just as a person.) I'm so happy for her. And happy I was awake to see some of it!



• A terrific performance by Nadal, coming from a set down to beat Berdych in four. The end of that match reminded me of all the reasons I love Nadal as a player. It was a great reminder of the days in which he seemed invincible. Several of those "gets" were just incredible. Such fun to watch.

What I didn't see was Federer beating Del Potro handily (a disappointing performance by JMDP for sure.)

That sets up a Federer-Nadal semifinal. Must see TV. Another four-alarm match for me. Can't wait!

The Sharapova and Clijsters wins also creates a dilemma in terms of who I truly root for from here on out. I want them both to win!

But, finally, let's end on a light-hearted note. A round-up of fashion photo galleries.

• Sports Illustrated's look at some of the AO fashion.
  
  


• Beyond the Baseline's fashion hits at the 2012 AO.
  
  


• Beyond the Baseline's fashion misses at the 2012 AO.

What can I say... fashion's part of the fun.

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.

Bracket update #1

Posted by BESS: So sorry Dave is not feeling well, but he picked a good night to go to bed early. Both Wozniacki and Djokovic rolled over their opponents in very quick fashion. And that was all she wrote, as far as the evening's broadcast went.

Unsure what to do with the rest of the evening (I mean, tennis was over by 9:30! The night is still young!), I will update you on the bracketology.

Round one goes to Bess. :-)

Here are the deets:

Bess
Men: 44
Women: 47
Total: 91

Dave
Men: 43
Women: 44
Total: 87

While I bemoaned the decimation of the lower half of my women's bracket last night, I am totally rocking the top half. Hopefully I can keep it up.

And in the online bracket challenge, I have made great progress overnight.

• In the women's competition, there are 7,641 entrants. Yesterday I ranked 5,887th. Today I'm... 2,068th! Talk about leapfrogging over the competition. And if Azarenka defeats Serena, as I have predicted, my stock will soar in this competition. Come on, Victoria!
• I've also moved up in the men's competition, although not as impressively. There are 11,008 entrants. Yesterday I ranked 7,186th. Today I'm 6,013th. Positive progress. I'll take it.
  

On an unrelated note, shout out to the lower-ranked American women making a statement at the Open... Sloane Stephens, Vania King and Christina McHale are all still in it. I had predicted as much for Stephens and King. Should have had more faith in the Jersey Girl, as well.

There's always next year!

One final note. For those of you who read the blog/comments last night and heard Dave and I raving about Maria's attire, you can learn more about the inspiration behind it in this video (the night dress is featured at the 1:14 mark.) Tried to find a decent shot of her in it, but they're all too action-y. Darn tennis. Getting in the way of the glamour shots.

Semis

Posted by BESS: Quite frankly, I'm pissed at ESPN2.

While I applaud them for the hours and hours of uninterrupted coverage they've given to Wimbledon, what is UP with their deal with NBC this week? There are certain matches ESPN2 contractually cannot air, because they're going to air on NBC. But TWICE now, after saying, "we can't show you this match," they've then revealed the final results of the embargoed matches before they even began airing on NBC.

So hugely frustrating to me. Because twice now, after avoiding all media all day so as not to learn the results, the recorded ESPN2 broadcast has spoiled an NBC match.

This is why I should really be in charge.

• If I were NBC and paying, presumably, a large amount of money to air a match before anyone else airs it (even though it's tape-delayed--another huge miscarriage of justice I will likely rant about at another time) I would darn well put in my contract that ESPN2 can't reveal the score.

• And if I were ESPN2, the least I would do is give true fans a spoiler alert before flashing up the picture of the two people who have made it into the finals. Common decency, people. And sports scores are your trade! Have some respect.
  

I have, however, recovered quite well from that little set-back. And I have now watched both of the women's semi-final matches.

Dave summed it all up rather nicely.

• Azarenka/Kvitova was boring. And they were styled so similarly that I kept getting confused as to who was who. Annnd... my gal Azarenka lost.
• The outcome of the Sharapova/Lisicki match worked for me, but it was another bad showing for women's tennis. I'm happy for Maria, but she was simply the better of two sub-par performances today. A shame.

So if the "semi" in semi-final is there to indicate matches that are semi-boring, semi-disappointing and semi-watchable... then these matches lived up to the billing! Kudos to you, WTA!

I'm looking ahead to tomorrow with cautious optimism that the men are going to bring the drama. Vamos! Allez! Let's go, old chap! (Insert Serbian rallying cry here!)

Zzzzzzz

Posted by DAVE: Wake me up when this Azarenka/Kvitova semi is finished. It's a yawner with a capital Y, which I guess means I should refer to it as a Yawner. Anyway, even Navratilova, who is in the stands next to Sir Richard Branson of all people (random!) looks bored. And why does ESPN keep switching to a shot of an empty chair in the players' box? Whose chair is that? Who has abandoned his/her player? Wake up, Enberg, dish up some insightful commentary already!

I'm having a good laugh at Mary Joe Fernandez (who I've always adored, and who I had the chance to meet in person at the 2004 Family Circle Cup, and, yes, if you're curious, she's every bit as nice and gracious as you'd expect her to be, given her on-court demeanor and broadcast personality) talking down Azarenka for having more consistency than power and questioning whether she has what it takes to win a Grand Slam singles title. "Hello, pot? This is kettle. You're black. And should still be beating yourself up for losing three (three!) Slam finals, circa 1990-1993."

The only excitement in this Azarenka/Kvitova match so far has been the fire alarm that began sounding at 40-0, Kvitova serving and up a break (or was it two breaks?) early in the first set. Hilarious, yet sad, to me that they let play continue before making certain it was a false alarm and ensuring the many fans in attendance were safe. Apparently, the British are more rabid about their tennis than I am.

What's kept me entertained, so far, is that the crowd is making noises, at times, that sound so close to those of the armless digital fans within Wii Sports Tennis. You know what I mean .... whoooooooa .... aaaaaaah ... etc. (Check out this match!) If you're curious, this may be because Kvitova's average net clearance is five inches less than Azarenka's. Now you KNOW it's a boring match when they're talking about a statistic like that.

C'mon, ladies, give us some drama and prove that women's tennis can be just as exciting without Venus and Serena. Please.

Fed up, indeed

Posted by DAVE: My week isn't going at all as planned. (See earlier post titled "Fed up?") Clearly Federer feels the same. He looked fine -- not great, but fine -- today at the start of the Tsonga match. Comfortably in command. Then Tsonga just sort of slowly and solidly took hold. Was age a factor? Conditioning? Who knows. Fed was relatively upbeat in the press conference afterward, when asked about his chances at adding to his record total of Slams. Guess I'll remain optimistic, too.

Thought Fish had a chance today against Nadal. I was wrong. Again. [shrug]

Looking ahead, I couldn't care less who wins between Murray and Nadal. I'm certain Rafa will win, especially if the match stretches to four or five sets. Then again, Rafa's ankle "injury" may come into play, particularly if the score gets tight like it did against Del Potro in the quarters. LOL (I'm cracking myself up at Bess' expense!)

My money is still on a Djokovic/Nadal final, with Djokovic coming out on top.

The women? Er, I mean ... the ladies? I'm now thinking it will be Azarenka/Sharapova in the finals, with Maria rising to the occasion. She's playing solid, and, let's face it, the competition isn't anywhere near as tough as it could have been. This seems like Sharapova's golden chance to reclaim Wimbledon glory.

Then again, nothing is going as planned this week. Why should this coming weekend be any different? Maybe Murray and Kvitova will surprise us all ...

Women's quarters

Friends, I'm old.

At least that's how I felt last night when I fell asleep from sheer tennis-induced exhaustion during the last, rain-delayed women's quarterfinal match.

But here's what I took away from the action:

My two women pulled through!

• Sharapova looked commanding in her defeat of teeny, tiny, little Cibulkova (wow, she looked short out there.) Given the difficult time Cibulkova had given Wozniacki, I expected more from her, but she was outplayed from start to finish. Also, Sharapova looked fantastic--great serving and clean hitting. Go, Maria!


• And though I fell asleep during the match, Azarenka reportedly played really well in her win over Paszek.

Azarenka and Sharapova are my two picks for the final, and they're the favorites in their respective semi-finals. Let's all prepare now for the incessant talking about how it will be the loudest final in history. And on that note, woe are we if the roof is closed. ;-)

In the other two quarterfinal matches, Kvitova beat Pironkova. And Lisicki defeated a dimished Bartoli. I missed the last set of the Lisicki/Bartoli match. And while I'm glad Bartoli extended it to three sets., from what I saw she just couldn't maintain the level at which she played against Serena. A pity.

So it's on for tomorrow: Sharapova v. Lisicki and Azarenka v. Kvitova. No surprises, please, ladies. (I'm looking at you, Maria.)

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

As for the men's quarterfinals... I saw some of the early morning action today, but have been cut off ever since. Fingers crossed the events are unfolding in a favorable (for me) kind of way.

More on that later...

Fourth round bracketology

I'm still in the lead, but Dave did slightly better than me in this round, so he's gaining.

Current standings...

Bess
Men: 88/120
Women: 70/120
Total: 158/240

Dave
Men: 75/120
Women: 67/120
Total: 142/240

w00t!

As far as I know, all four of my picks for the men's and women's finals are still in the mix--at least they were when I left the house this morning.

Fingers crossed both Sharapova and Azarenka make it through today.

What a day, indeed

Dave said it best and first. It was a fantastic day at the AELTC. And it sucks to have to work on The Best Day in Tennis. Here's my take on it all...

The first observation is that my friend Vernon either made my day or took two years off my life. I have yet to decide if I will thank him or demand those two years back.

You see, aside from the Serena/Bartoli match, and a few other random results from early this morning, I was avoiding all tennis news until I could get home and watch the recorded coverage.

So I was mostly avoiding the Internet, Facebook, Twitter and email. And cringing every time someone at work started a conversation. (Actual dialogue today with my co-worker...

• Derek: Can I ask you a question?
  
• Bess (panicked): Not if it has anything to do with tennis! Don't tell me anything! I don't want to know!
  
• Derek: Uh, it's a work question. I have no idea what's going on with tennis.

Welcome to my life... And, sorry Derek.)

But I slipped at one point and checked Facebook and saw that Vernon had mentioned "three big losses" at Wimbledon. Not knowing what Vernon would consider a "big" loss, I assumed one loss would be Serena's. And I feared at least one other would be Nadal or Federer.

I arrived home on edge. I did not want Nadal to lose. I'm watching coverage and see Venus lose. (Did that qualify as "big," I wondered?) I see Wozniacki lose and don't consider that big news in the least! So I'm waiting for the other shoes to drop.

Djokovic wins.
Murray wins.
Eventually Federer wins.
And I'm left watching the entire Nadal/Del Potro match BELIEVING that Nadal would lose.

So imagine my surprise and great delight when he won! I totally didn't see it coming. And it made my night. Still, I'm not sure my blood pressure needed the hours-long scare.

I assume the "three big losses" were considered to be Serena, Venus and Wozniacki. I had seen the first, wasn't completely surprised about the second, and just rolled my eyes in exasperation at the third. (Mary Carillo made some great points about Woz needing to take some time off to actually, you know, improve her game.)

Regardless... my boy was safe.

Now that I've fully conveyed that drama, on to the results:

• So happy for Fish, Tsonga and Bartoli! But sad for my bracket.

• Sad for Venus. But happy for my bracket.

• So happy for Sharapova, Azarenka, Nadal, Federer AND my bracket!

And just happy overall for tennis. A wonderful display of the talent, entertainment and heart that make this sport so compelling.

On the Nadal injury/non-injury issue that Dave raised, I agree the incident seemed suspect. But I just have such a hard time believing Nadal would pull something like that. I know Dave will accuse me of bias here, and maybe I'm deluded. But I don't get the sense that Rafa ever feels such desperation in his matches--especially in a first set. He's the ultimate competitor, fighting every point as if it's the last. Gamesmanship to delay a first set tie-breaker? It seems very anti-thefiberofhisbeing.

Still... who really knows?

The whole incident definitely left its mark on the match. Del Potro was not happy. And the crowd was totally taken out of it for a while, trying to figure out what had happened and who they now should--or shouldn't--root for. Del Potro's later injury and subsequent medical time out/treatment and return to superb play probably smoothed things over a bit. And at the handshake at the net, Del Potro practically wrapped his arm around Rafa. All appeared to be forgiven.

But was it forgotten?

I have yet to see what was said in the press conferences. I hope there's no accusatory hurling of phrases like "bird flu." :-)

I'm looking ahead to Week 2, too

As some of you may know, Wimbledon is unique in that there are no matches played on the middle Sunday. So today is a quiet day.

Frankly, I'm happy for the reprieve. Gives us time to rest and regroup a bit before the so-called Best Day in Tennis ^{(R) (TM) (SM) (C)}! It's earned that moniker because after a day off on Sunday, all 16 players left in the men's and women's draws will play on the same day. Tremendous!

Here's who I'm especially interested in seeing:

• Nadal v. Del Potro - Delpo's on his way back after a long-healing injury. But aside from Federer, Nadal and Djokovic, he's the only male player to win a major since early 2005(!). In other words, he's no slouch. So it should be a good match.

• Fish v. Berdych - I picked Berdych to win this one, because I think he may overpower Fish, but Mardy's been playing some pretty impressive tennis, so we. shall. see. I wouldn't mind Fish proving me wrong.

• Ferrer v. Tsonga - Ferrer has been playing great, and Jo-Wili is a little unpredictable, but he's an entertaining player with great heart. He showed off his sportsmanship this week (here and here), as well, so I'm all in with Tsonga. (Even though I picked Ferrer to beat him.)

• Tomic v. Malisse - I picked Soderling to beat Tomic in the previous round, so I've got nothing riding on this one, but Tomic is a true up-and-comer, as Dave said. I'm interested in seeing how deep a run he can make. On an unrelated and unimportant note, I wish his first name began with an A, so I could refer to him as Atomic. What were his parents thinking?

And as for the women:

• Sharapova v. Peng - I've taken Sharapova all the way to the title so I'm interested in every match she plays! She should get through this one, but Peng, who I know nothing about, is seeded 20th, so it's not like it's a walk in the park.

• Lisicki v. Cetkovska - If the hard-hitting and impressive, yet somehow never-before-noticed-by-me, Lisicki wins this, she'll most likely take on Serena in the quarterfinals. And as successful as Serena has been so far, it would be good to see her up against another power server.

• Azarenka v. Petrova - I've got Azarenka through to the final, so I'm hoping she beats Petrova. Not sure what Petrova's been up to lately (I didn't pick her past the second round) so I'm unsure what to expect.

• Venus v. Pironkova - Not only did Pironkova take Venus out at last year's Wimbledon, she also took her out of the 2006 Australian Open. So Venus is likely going to come out guns blazing, in her own Venus-like way, which may mean she seems lethargic at first and then turns the power up when it really matters. This is as far as I've taken Venus in the draw, because I thought she'd be playing Zvonareva (who lost last round after hurting her ankle). So... while my heart roots for Venus to get some redemption, my bracket roots for Venus to lose.

Oh! And before we go - here are the bracket standings after the third round:

Bess
Men: 84/112
Women: 68/112
Total: 152/224

Dave
Men: 70/112
Women: 65/112
Total: 135/224

The pressure's definitely on as far as the women are concerned.

Looking ahead to Week 2 ...

Some matches I'd love to see happen this week are Nadal and Fish in the quarters, and Azarenka and Venus in the semi's. Why? Partially because they'd be intriguing match-ups of players who compete with tremendous heart. But mostly because they'd keep my hopes alive, in terms of beating Bess this Grand Slam. (I'm saying this based on pure speculation that I've taken Fish and Azarenka, and maybe even Venus, farther into their respective draws than Bess has.)

How about Australian teenager Bernard Tomic taking on Xavier Malisse, who's 30 years old, in the round of 16? I'm ashamed to admit I know nothing about Tomic. It's always fun, though, seeing a young gun take on a veteran at Wimbledon. And I trust the Aussies will be even more loud and raucous than usual. Plus, if Tomic wins his way into the quarters, maybe we can all officially put Leyton Hewitt in the past, where he belongs. I'm sure Kim Clijsters would appreciate that.