In the blink of an eye

Posted by BESS: I promise to stop whining. Sometime. Hopefully soon. But before I do, allow me to just complain about how... in the blink of an eye... the bottom half of my women's bracket was decimated.

DECIMATED.

Last night I was feeling pretty cocky about that half of the women's bracket. Easily my best showing so far this tournament, with 27 of 32 correct predictions. The amount of yellow highlighter (how I track my correct picks) on that page made my tennis-loving heart swell with pride. I daresay it put a little spring in my step.

And then today happened.

• Wickmayer retired in the second set of her match. I had her through to the quarters.

• Cibulkova fell to Falconi. I had Cibulkova through to the quarters, as well.

• Bartoli fell to my girl Christina McHale. I mean, good for Christina, but I had taken Bartoli to the semis!! Oy vey.
  

• And Venus withdrew from the tournament. I had only predicted one more win for her, but still.

Sharapova is just about my only hope in this half of the women's bracket. And she's up next.
Maria, no pressure, but... this all rests on your recently rehabbed shoulder(s).

Perhaps I should start a rosary.

In other humbling news, I'm in 7,186th place in the online men's bracket challenge.
One year I ended in the top 100! So this is just A+ patheticness on display.

In his luxury box up in heaven, my grandfather is preparing to quietly disown me.

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...

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." :-)

What a day!

It's a shame the Best Day in Tennis falls on a Monday. (At least for those of you required to work full-time during the summer.) The Wimbledon action was terrific today! So much so that Prince William and Kate Middleton initiated a standing ovation.

My heartiest applause wasn't for British hope, Andy Murray, but rather for Marion Bartoli AND Serena Williams. (Yes, I said 'Serena.' She may not be a gracious sportswoman, but she's a gritty fighter, and I can't help but admire that.) "Definitely not our best day," said Serena's sister, Venus, who (SPOILER) lost in straight sets today, just like her little sister. However, and particularly in Serena's match against Bartoli, the level of play was incredibly high. Tons of power, tons of amazing angles. So fun to watch! Bartoli was amped up the whole match, like a female version of Nadal. And, to her credit, Serena was determined and focused the whole way through, despite clearly not being in top condition. The match was dramatic, intense and impressive -- everything a Grand Slam tennis match should be.

Unfortunately, I missed Wozniacki-Cibulkova. The score indicates that it was a tough fight, too. Anybody see any part of that match?

Speaking of (typically) tough fighters, Nadal lost some favor with me today. Near the end of the first set against Del Potro, and with the score 6-6 and the momentum clearly on his opponent's side, Nadal took an injury timeout. That's not my complaint. My complaint is that Nadal got up from his chair and raced around like crazy during the subsequent tiebreak, which he won, with no evidence of any sort of injury or even a tweak. He then (SPOILER) went on to win the match in four sets, again with no evidence whatsoever of an injury. Nadal was/is the better player, but it was a shame to see such a clear display of gamesmanship from him. He's always been a class act, so let's hope this was just an isolated incident and not the start of a pattern.

Praise on the men's side? Props to Tomic, who played brilliantly against Malisse -- at least in the single service game I was able to catch on ESPN. And a special shout-out to Minnesota native, Mardy Fish, the (SPOILER) lone American standing in either draw. All of us in the Midwest (even Bess, I would venture to guess) are cheering for you.

On to the quarters!

Bartoli rolls on

I was able to see one match this morning before work, and it was a great one. Serena Williams and Marion Bartoli. Serena amid her triumphant return to tennis. Bartoli trying to beat Serena for the first time. Both heavy-hitters. Both coached by their fathers.

In the previous round, the quirky Bartoli was actually so stressed out that she ordered her parents (remember, that means she's also ordering her coach) out of the stadium. They beat a hasty retreat (and really didn't seem fazed by it), and she won. Today, no such theatrics.

Bartoli turned in a gutsy performance. Impressive and entertaining. And Serena just never seemed to find her game. Perhaps it was the heat--hotter by 25 degrees or so than any day last week--or maybe it was fatigue after not playing match-after-match for so many months. Or maybe it was just a bad day at the office.

Regardless, Serena's back, and she should be in even greater form by the U.S. Open. But for now... she's out of Wimbledon.

The debate has been on about how good/bad a Wimbledon win for Serena would have been for women's tennis. Some weren't too concerned. Others said it would expose a true lack of depth in the women's field--if someone who was, in her own words, near death last year and out of the sport for 11 months returned and won it all.

I tend to agree with that sentiment. We've seen a rusty Serena win a title before. But this would have been different. I think it would have been a real indictment of just how little competition Serena really has.

So I'm happy with Bartoli's win. Serena still doesn't have much competition, but she does have some.

As for the rest of the matches, I haven't seen them yet. Fingers crossed for Nadal. I think it's going to be a tricky one. Here's hoping Kate and Wills, in the Royal Box, are pulling for Spain over Argentina. If not, I will be writing a letter to the Queen Mum.