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!?

It's elementary, my dear (Heather) Watson ...

... that neither Bess nor I are swept up in the hype about Serena's comeback. She didn't get a mention in either one of our initial posts to this blog. (Hooray!) I'm sure Serena will do great and all. She always does (annoying). And I suppose she could win, despite being fully Slam-ready. And, regardless, she probably won't threaten to shove a ball down a linesperson's throat at this Slam, and that will be good for everyone, especially young children interested in the sport. But I still don't care. Haven't missed her self-absorbed swagger one bit.

Now Venus' comeback? That's another story. Can't wait to see her back in action at AELTC.

And who's Heather Watson, you ask? British dark horse. Gotta love the name.

As usual, my hopes are with Sharapova. Admire her fight. And her game looked to be back on track at Roland Garros. Could she win it all? We'll see. I like to think of myself as an optimist, but I'm being more of a realist with age. So there's every chance she'll go out to Chakvetadze in the first round. Stranger things have happened at Wimbledon.

Typically, I like to root for Jankovic and King, as well, even though their results have been so erratic. The match that really tears me apart, though, is Oudin and Ivanovic, both of whom are overdue for a return to Slam glory. This time around, maybe?

And when did Patty Schnyder retire?! Totally missed that news. Oh well. [shrug]

The men? Djokovic. (Deal with it, Bess.) Federer. (All hail!) Roddick. (A guy can dream.) Haas. (Hey, why not?) And Nishikori, because his name is fun to say. And because ESPN-UK called him a "starlet." But mostly because he'd knock Hewitt out first round. And that's something Bess and I could both celebrate. You, too?