Sunday, September 2, 2012

My trips to the US Open in Pictures

I was on the grounds for Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday the first week. I was also on the grounds Wednesday and Thursday of qualies week. Enjoy. 



Pictures from the Men's matches and practice around the grounds the first week. 


Pictures from Ladies matches and practice around the grounds the first week.

Men's and Ladies practices from Qualies week

Thursday, August 30, 2012

Being there: An Ending sprouts an ascendancy?

I wanted to be there but this morning when I walked up to the box office I never intended to buy an Ashe ticket but the attendant told me it was just a dollar more than I grounds pass, I went for it. It turned out to be one of the best dollars I have ever spent. Laura Robson def. Kim Clijsters 7-6 7-6 in the second round to end Kim's career at her best event. Here are my videos from up in the clouds of Ashe. Not a bad first match there which seems to be its own ecosystem separate from the rest of the hustle and bustle of the grounds. Apologies for the shaky video from the clouds.

Kim serving to stay in the match the first time.

Kim serving to take it to the second set tiebreaker.

Second set tiebreaker

Match Point 


Sunday, August 26, 2012

Olympians do baseball

They have all arrived back home and the popular activity this week seems to be throwing out first pitches at baseball games.












Even a former Olympian got in on the action.





















Video of Aly talking during the game. 



Swimmer Breeja Larson throws first pitch at Diamondbacks game


Olympic gold medalists Carli Lloyd, Heather Mitts, Susan Francia and Jordan Burroughs throw out the ceremonial first pitch.








Saturday, August 25, 2012

USO 12: Practice Videos

I was on the US Open grounds on Wednesday and Thursday checking out some practices here are the short little videos. Sorry for the quality but this is the best my camera can do. 


Serena practicing on Wednesday. 



Andy Murray and Stan Wawrinka practicing on Grandstand Wednesday

Laura Robson practicing on Thursday. 


Kim Clijsters practicing on Grandstand Thursday.

Vika Azerenka on Armstrong Thursday.

Maria Sharapova does overheads on Armstrong Thursday. She was practicing with Dani Hantuchova


Sugarpova High

My US Open festivities began Monday with a trip to Henri Bendel's for some Sugarpova. The store was packed and the entire front of the store was all the different types of candies.
Justin Gimblestob was there as the host. 

I love the window and her dress was lovely.


More pictures under the cut. 

Tuesday, July 24, 2012

The Torch comes to SW19

The torch relay came through the All England club today. Andy Murray and Venus Williams had the honor of carrying the torch around the grounds.


The BBC torch cam did not actually show when Andy got his torch lit but then the cameras did catch up with him.

pic from Neil Harman's twitter

Maggie wasn't too pleased with torch cam.











But once Andy got on to Centre Court it was all smiles and the feed was back!


He then made the short way to Henman Hill where Venus was waiting for him.

Venus then took the torch from Henman Hill off the grounds of the All England Club. 


Some gems from the BBC Torch Cam live text

"I don't want it to catch my hair", says the next torchbearer Venus Williams as she accepts the flame from Andy." 
Good thing it didn't Venus! "

Here comes Andy. Looking fit and strong as he runs up that hill. Can he swap the gold of his torch for a gold in the tennis at London 2012? Let's hope so."
You Brits have a way with words. No?

Maggie and Rusty inspected the torch as it was brought home as a souvenir of the lovely sunny day. 




The draw for the tennis event is Thursday at 11 am London time.

Friday, July 20, 2012

Olympic Mugshots


So with the Olympic Opening Ceremonies 9 days away the gold mine of Olympic head shots on the London 2012 site makes you think "What are they in for?" rather than "What sport do they compete in?". Here are some of the best or the worst.

Gools
          
      Wicky looks thrilled to be rocking the side ponytail.



    Just Petra or Petrafied 


The tennis players were not alone however... 

      
Misty May-Treanor: 2 time Beach Volleyball Gold Medalist

The Gymnasts:

   
Lauren Mitchell Australia's greatest
gymnastics medal hopeful. 
Gabby Douglas. Just remember her name.

Swimmers too.... 

Looking kinda rough Michael.
Not the bubbly Missy Franklin that you will see on the decks

This just looks awkwardly not proportional Ryan. 

How did they do that?

This was Centre Court twelve days ago....





This is Centre Court today.... 



Also Rafa and Petko are out of the Olympics and going on vacation together. But not really thanks to their knees and ankles. Get well soon you two the tennis misses you both.

Thursday, April 26, 2012

Dear Clay,




Sometimes we have to be firm with the things we love. You need to stop being mean to the ankles of tennis players.  They have a very limited time to slide around and have fun without their ankles bending in ways they should not bend. (the names link to videos of the injuries) First with Pico & Julien in Monte Carlo and now to poor just returned Petko. I don't want to see anymore sad faces. I hope they all get better soon and kick your butt. Slide responsible everybody.

A fan


Here is what Vika has to say about todays match:


Good News is that Pico posted a video of him hitting yesterday:


Tuesday, April 24, 2012

Ocho


Eight straight years hold a lot of great moments but as I searched through youtube these were my favorites. I ranked them in the order of my favorites. How do you rank them?

1. 2010: This was about as dominating a title run as there is and to think that it was just the begining. Also the reaction to winning gets me every time. 




2. 2012: The ace on match point was a great exclamation to one of Rafa's more impressive single match serving performances.





3. This is the semi finals between Rafa and Richie Gasquet both still teenagers in 2005. Rafa came from a set down to move on to the final but check out some of these rallies.



4- 2003: A 16 year old Rafa and his short shorts upsets fellow Spaniard reigning Roland Garros Champion and his future Davis Cup Captain in his first trip to Monte Carlo.



5- 2005: Trophy Ceremony  The first one. 


6- 2008 final: The third final between Rafa and Roger in as many years.





7- 2006: Rafa's first Monte Carlo title defense and the first clay court final between Rafa and Roger.


8- 2007: The three-peat

Thursday, April 19, 2012

Thundering Tennis

So the weather in Monte Carlo was surely frightful with numerous rain delays through out the day and when Rafa finally arrived on court he did it to thunder literally.



Reminded me of last years Wimbledon Quarterfinals under the roof between Sabine Lisicki and Marion Bartoli.



Whose reaction do you like better.

Wednesday, April 18, 2012

The Next Hundred Days


There are now 100 days till the London Olympics. In those days will be two Grand Slams and all the Olympic trials its going to be an exciting next few months. There were many festivities including Today show appearances and a Times Square event.

The NBC Olympics site has been revamped and it has been announced that there will be live streaming of every event that has camera access. Including 5 courts of tennis and all 4 gymnastic apparatus.

100 Days Out
Hopefuls share their stories.
Meet Missy Franklin
Olympic Schedule
10 things to watch for in London






The last time the Olympics were in London it was 1948.


Laura Robson talks about her favorite Olympic sports.



Olympic Athletes Hub



London will be ready on time and on budget




Olympic Fashion! (That polo is awesome!)

Tuesday, April 17, 2012

New Surface. New Dos

A top 5 player on each tour has debuted a new hair do just before their 25 birthdays which some could say might be a sort of quarter life crisis. Maria Sharapova has gone short with her blonde locks. While Andy Murray has buzzed his hair down almost to the skull. Which do you think is more extreme change?

Wondering if she will stick with her trusty visor or switch to a headband? We should find out next week since she is scheduled to play in Stuttgart. 

UPDATE: Thanks to @theslicetweets who found this that WE HAVE ALL BEEN PUNKED BY POVA! I feel played. 

The by Muzz Buzz will debut 2nd after 10:30 am Tuesday on Court Central in Monte Carlo. 

Do you think the new do's will make for more aero dynamic sliding? 

(Pics from Maria's facebook and Yahoo)

Monday, April 9, 2012

Clay Time!

I love clay season it means spring time after watching hardcourts since forever and the tease of summer for us Northern hemisphere folks during the Australian swing the clay seems like a shock to the senses. The colors are deeper with the contrast of the red clay and white lines, the destination locations of Monte Carlo, Rome, Barcelona, Madrid and Paris, the ball bounces higher, the shots are more creative, the sliding.

This week the ladies are on the clay of Barcelona 2010 Roland Garros Champion Schiavone and 2011 Stuttgart Champion Goerges as the top seeds. While the men are in Casablanca Top Seed is Mayer and 2 seed is Dolgopolov and Houston Fish and Isner are the top seeds and their results this week could see them swapping spots as the top American.

(There is also the E-Books [Caro Open] that is on indoor hard courts this week with Woz, JJ, Robson, Kerber and Barthel in the field. )
It's the little things that make it more fun....
The views...


Clay being tossed around.




Sliding





Although I am not looking forward to this fiasco. 


The first winner of the clay season was Serena Williams won on the green clay of Charleston last weekend. 



Friday, April 6, 2012

Feeling it

The Venus Monologues? 
Got something in your nose Delpo.
Two and a half matches. NBD. 
Hug it out. Get better Sabine.
Captain Swag. USA and France tied 1-1 in Monte Carlo. 


Monday, March 26, 2012

Highlight Reel

Grigor uses all his assets to play defense in his first top 10 win.


This was nice to see.



Rafa has a nice reply to this volley.

Friday, March 23, 2012

Passing Shots: Olympics

Visa Commercials:

Nastia Liukin:

Michael Phelps:

Li Na:

Pacific Rim Gymnastics:

Senior Event Finals:

Charlotte Sullivan from Christchurch New Zealand only 13 years old. She is too young to be at the Olympics or World Championships for a few years still but looking forward to hopefully seeing her there in the future. Listen to Team New Zealand's story here.

Roster announced for USWNT games in Japan

April 1 at  6:30 a.m. ET vs Japan
April 3 at 7 a.m. ET vs Brazil
Both games will be live on ESPN2 and ESPN3

Torch Bearers and Olympic Kits



What Andy Murray will be wearing at the Olympics.  I think it would look better with more red in the shorts or possibly just red shorts all together. 



Oh Wells

The final weekend of Indian Wells had surprises, weather,  drama along the way. Let us start with the ladies in the semifinals Vika went through to the final relaitivly comfortably. The match for the other spot in the final was not without drama as one Australian Open final rematch that of the 2008 final gave way to another Aussie Open rematch. When Ana Ivanovic had to retire within the first two games of the second set against Maria Sharapova with a hip injury. The final was the top two seeds which had not happened on the WTA in over four years. Maria had few answers to Vika's game as the number one went to 23-0 winning her first Indian Wells singles title.


While the ladies final lived up to its seeding, one of the more unexpected twists of the weekend was that the men did not, as the third seeded Federer faced the eleventh seeded Isner. Isner defeated the number one seed in three sets closing it out in a third set tiebreaker. Then after an almost four hour rain delay, the second semi final got under way between Federer and Nadal. This match was frankly a mess of conditons in that Roger dealt with way more than Rafa. Actually, at times it seemed like Rafa wasn't even dealing with the conditions. He was just trying to play his normal patterns against Roger in which, like their matched on the indoor low bouncing courts, he left the ball in Roger's strike zone where Roger barely missed. By the time Rafa realized that he needed to hit through the court, he was already down a double break with Roger serving for the match. In that game, down 5-2, Rafa hit through the court to break then hold for 5-4.  The game in which Roger closed out the match had to be one of the more bizarre service games I had ever seen after getting the score to 30-All. Rafa nets a forehand into the middle of the net to give Roger match point. Then the sky opens up for which causes about a five minute delay after the delay Roger hit an ace and it was over. In the final the first set was decided in a tight tiebreaker which Roger won he them broke John's serve early in the second set to win in straights. So what do I think we learned from here Roger has not gone any where having only lost two matches since the US Open to Rafa and John who he beat this weekend. Welcome to the top ten John hope you can stay a while and that even after a month and a half off Rafa was really not as rusty as I thought he would be except for his tactical errors in the semifinals where he just did not adjust his game to the conditions before it was too late and Roger took advantage.

It was that kind of day for Big John. 

Then came the men's doubles final was something I really looked forward too. After not being able to see the doubles at all I was very excited that Rafa and Marc Lopez had advanced to the finally supposed to be televised but eventually shown on espn3 doubles final against John and Sam Querrey. Marc was the star of this show with his awesome doubles skills. Rafa and Marc won the first set breaking Sam's serve a few times. It was a fun match with lots of great rallies that saw Rafa and Marc win in straight sets closing it out in a second set tiebreaker. It was a bummer to see John lose in two finals on the same day but he put in three great performances against the top three players over two days and came out of it with one win and a spot in the top ten. As for Rafa it was the first final he had won since Roland Garros last year and the first title he had one on a hard court since Tokyo 2010. It might just be doubles but I think it matters and when you see the look on his face and how he was holding on to that trophy it looked like it mattered a whole lot to me.