Double fault!

POSTED BY DAVE: Giving myself a double-fault. 

1. First, for missing the deadline to complete my Australian Open brackets online. 
2. And secondly, for...well, just look at this mess on the women's side. And that's only half of the draw!

And how are *your* brackets going?

I'd taken Ivanovic to the quarters, and Lisicki to the semis. And Jankovic, Pavlyuchenkova and Watson to the round of 16. All of them have already been eliminated.

(sigh)

Oh, and I've got Stosur taking out Serena in the semis. Riiiiiight.

Curious how Bess is doing.

BESS REPLIES: Yes, the women's brackets are in shambles with so many of the top seeds going out early. I'm not sure how anyone will win that bracket challenge. But someone undoubtedly will, and it won't be me. Alas. The fame, the fortune. All that will have to wait.

Seeing Dave's paper brackets makes me nostalgic for grand slams past. I like the ritual of crossing out the losers and highlighting the winners - a great visual for how I'm doing in each side of the draw. (But man, filling it out online is so much faster!)

I took a gander at my online brackets just now. Here are my biggest faults so far:

• I took Petkovic to the round of 16, but she's out.
• I took Ivanovic to the round of 16, but she's out.
• I took Kerber to the round of 16, but she's out.

I give myself an ace, however, for my men's bracket, which is currently ranked #162 out of 7,873. I'm in the top 2 percent, baby! But there's plenty of tennis yet to be played... Ample time for me to tumble to the bottom of the scoreboard, as per youzh(ny).

TENNIS FANS: Who do you think is going to win the whole thing? And by that we mean who will win the bracket competition between Bess and Dave!?

A speed round of aces and faults

POSTED BY BESS: We've been having so much fun with our rejuvenated blog, discussing magazine covers, speedboat tennis, logos and coffee drinks--all somehow related to tennis. But Dave has wisely reminded me that we need to cover some of the, you know, actual action from the Aussie Open.

So here's a quick speed round of aces and faults from the coverage I have seen so far:

Photo: Jason Lockett/Tennis Australia

Aces:

• Nadal is back! And somewhat surprisingly in fine form in his first round win. The shorts are shorter, the shirt is pinker and the accessories are day-glo-ier than ever. I've missed you, Rafa.
• Props to Christina McHale for tossing her cookies several times on court, yet managing to pull out a win deep in the third set (12-10). You've gotta love this Jersey Girl!
• Kudos to the young Aussie men, Kyrgios and Kokkinakis for winning your first round matches and, especially in the case of Kokkinakis, getting the stadium rocking into the wee hours (well, the hours were "wee" for me, at least...) And that backward somersault/neckstand thing? Pure joy. (Kokkinakis did say he'd work on his celebration for future wins.)
• Thank God they changed that Melbourne ad from last year. Remember that "I wanna know..." line that was unrelentingly drilled into our brains 24/7? Perhaps this new ad will get just as old in a few days, but I credit the Melbourne marketing team for at least trying to preserve our sanity.

Faults:

• Ivanovic's loss was disappointing and dispiriting. I just don't understand what's going on there. She must be so frustrated. (As is my bracket.)



Photo: Ben Solomon/Tennis Australia

• I was excited to hear about the special pre-night session ceremony honoring the recently retired Li Na... only to find out they weren't showing it on TV. Li Na with a microphone is never to be missed! So it's a FAULT for ESPN2 not to show it live. (But a definite ACE to Li Na who announced she and husband/comedic punching bag Dennis will become parents this summer! Sign that baby up for tennis lessons and a Twitter account, tout de suite.)

DAVE'S TAKE: Haven't seen much coverage yet; I'll blame that on a date with Benedict Cumberbatch last night. I mean, a night out to see his movie 'The Imitation Game' (which I highly recommend, btw). Regardless, here are my thoughts, thus far:

Aces:

Marcos Baghdatis,
2015 Australian Open player photo

• There have already been more than a half-dozen, five-set matches on the men's side -- including a win by Bess' former favorite, Marcos Baghdatis, 6-4 in the fifth over Teymuraz Gabashvili, of Russia. (Bess dumped Marcos for Rafa a few years ago*.) Fun to have such close matches this early on in the tournament!
• My eye is on Ivo Karlovic, of Croatia, this tournament. I am wishing now that I had taken him farther in my draw.
• Love that Genie Bouchard and Maria Sharapova sailed through their first-round matches. A good omen for both, I hope. (And pray.)
• The fact that there are/were women named Storm and Oceane playing in the opening round. Australian Storm Sanders lost, but, dang it, you gotta love her first name!

Faults:

• Too many women's seeds are already out! Ivanovic, Pavlyuchenkova, Lisicki, Kuznetsova, Suarez Navarro, Vesnina, Kerber. What? My draw is a disaster. 
• I'm an idiot for having made plans last night, on the first night of televised play.

TENNIS FANS: First-round action will be finishing soon. What's your take on the tournament so far? Which players have caught your eye? Who deserves an ace or a fault? Tell us!

* Bess clarifies: I did not dump Marcos! He just hasn't been around as much for me to obsess over. I heart you, Marcos!

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!)

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...

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.

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.