Thought Dump 4/17 : Monte Carlo, Fed Cup

• When Rafa failed to serve out the match in the second set the Tennis Channel commentators seemed to fall back on the "here we go again he is lacking confidence". It could totally be seen as that since he had a point to go up 4-love earlier in the set. Then Rafa started the game to stay in the set with a double fault before saving a set point he ended up losing the set he once lead by a double break. It would have been great for the match to have been shorter and such. How Rafa started the third set with a break and then digging out of several 0-30 service game deficits and saving a break point. Which do you think would build confidence better closing a match out simply or falling behind and then coming back to close it out how you intended to in the first place. 
• The past two matches seem like Rafa is channeling his inner Claypova with the epic struggles.
• Narrative would say that who ever wins tomorrows Rafa/Novak match would be the "early favorite" for Roland Garros but it won't. 
• Rafa is still building up his confidence. Novak seems unstoppable. This makes me seem like Rafa has "less" to lose than Novak. 
• Twitter is a important part of my tennis viewing experience. Yet this morning I found myself watching from Monte Carlo without also following along on twitter. Usually this happens during early clay season when there is not much to follow such as Charleston or Monte Carlo. It is refreshing to watch a match without the white noise that twitter sometimes becomes when there is only one or two matches happening at the given time. 
• I have been looking forward to this Fed Cup weekend since the match ups have been set. 
• Kivitova/Mladenovic has the ability to be a great match between two hard hitters. There is the question mark of if Petra will be rusty after the time she has taken off or if it will have refreshed her. Petra will also have the home Fed Cup crowd which she is known to thrive in front of and that did not phase Kiki in Italy. Hopefully this is a good kick off for Petra as she heads into her most succcesful part of the season that has just been expanded. 
• Germany/Russia
• Captian Rittner has thrown a curve ball by not calling on Petkovic or newly crowned Charleston champion Kerber in Sochi. Instead the match ups for the first day will be Goreges/Kuznetsova and Pavlyuchenkova Lisicki. These two matches could be glorious examples of hard hitting clay court tennis or beautiful disasters and a two rubbers to zero lead for either team would not suprise me. Most likely is a 1-1 tie going into Sunday with  all to play for. 
• Aga vs Hingis in SINGLES. Also Bacinszky returns for her first match since losing to Serena in Indian Wells in the Poland/Switzerland World Group Playoff. 
• Serena vs Camila Giorgi. On Clay. In Italy. 
• Laura hitting forehands!

  Happy Friday 👀 ps It's a sweatband (not tape) on my wrist.

  A video posted by Laura Robson (@laurarobson5) on Apr 17, 2015 at 8:15am PDT

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

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

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Olympic Fashion! (That polo is awesome!)

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Fed Cup Fun!

It's time for the first Fed Cup action of the year and the ladies look to be enjoying it. While the bulk of the action takes place this weekend but Great Britain is already off to a winning start in Europe/Africa Group 1. 

Laura Robson, Heather Watson & Judy Murray during doubles against Portugal.

Team GB answer twitter questions. 

Venus is part of the team that will take on Belarus in World Group II action.

Sam Stosur is all smiles in Switzerland for Australia's World Group II tie. 

Germany take on the defending champion Czech Republic in Stuttgart. (On Indoor hard, why did you pick this surface. To crush my dreams.)

Petra is also really good at footie tennis indoors. 

Of course you would Liezel. Serena on the other hand looks disappointed she doesn't have an Eli jersey.  

Maria Sharapova is in Russia to play the World Group tie against Spain in Moscow.  

Doubles Fun

Doubles is one of my favorite parts of Slams is doubles some of the pairing are dreams come true, while others leave you scratching you head in confusion. Here are my teams to watch.                                                                                            

Women's:


Shuai Peng CHN and Francesca Schiavone ITA: What a random pair.

Vania King USA andYaroslava Shvedova KAZ (3) : The three seeds seemed like a random pairing until the won Wimbledon & the US Open back in 2010
Gisela Dulko ARG and Flavia Pennetta ITA: The four seeds are the defending champs and both were knocked out of singles in the first round
Ashleigh Barty AUS and Laura Robson GBR : Really looking forward to this pairing of two Jr. Wimbledon Champions.  Another righty and lefty pair.

Men's:

Ryan Harrison USA and Ryan Sweeting USA: Ryan Squared

Julien Benneteau FRA and Nicolas Mahut FRA: Lacoste Twins

Marc Lopez ESP and David Marrero ESP: Always hope Marc does well.

What I noticed: Day 1

• Vika lost the first game of her match she didn't lose another to open up play on Rod Laver Arena against Heather Watson.
• Fernando "the highlighter" Verdasco shirt was bright the match was one of few highlights as he lost the plot being up 2 sets to love to lose to Tomic. 
• John Isner looks cute in a Lacoste polo. 
• It was French Open Champions Day on Hisense as Na Li, Fran Schiavone and Rafa Nadal all came away straight set winners. 
• Things I didn't watch I wish I did. Dimtrov vs Chardy, Pico Monaco. Both matches went five sets, Dimtrov won. Pico lost.
• The Jr. Wimbledon Champions Robson and Barty both lost their first round matches in straight sets. 
• Flavia Pennetta is the highest seed to lose on day one. 
• Remember when Andy Murray injured himself in his sleep. Well it seems Rafa has one upped him by "having the worst pain ever" in his knee sitting down. The full story sound so bizarre. 
• Fed got asked if he would coach the Twins at tennis if they played. His response was cute he said Mirka would do it. He won in striaght sets. 

What I Am Watching.

With the OOP released here are the matches I am planning on watching on day 1. The first day of a Slam is always my favorite so much to watch wish I had a second set of eyes.


Rod Laver Arena 11 am:

Match 1: Women's Singles - 1st Round
Victoria Azarenka(BLR)[3] vs. Heather Watson(GBR)

Match 2: Men's Singles - 1st Round
 Bernard Tomic(AUS) vs. Fernando Verdasco(ESP)[22]

Match 3: Women's Singles - 1st Round
 Kim Clijsters(BEL)[11] vs. Maria Joao Koehler(POR)

Hisense Arena 11 am:

Match 3: Women's Singles - 1st Round
 Francesca Schiavone(ITA)[10] vs. Laura Pous-Tio(ESP)

Match 4: Men's Singles - 1st Round
 Alex Kuznetsov(USA) vs. Rafael Nadal(ESP)[2]


Margaret Court Arena 11 am

Match 4: Women's Singles - 1st Round
Laura Robson(GBR) vs. Jelena Jankovic(SRB)[13]

Show Court 2 11 am

Match 4: Women's Singles - 1st Round
Ashleigh Barty(AUS) vs. Anna Tatishvili(GEO)

Court 6 11am

Match 2: Men's Singles - 1st Round
Philipp Kohlschreiber(GER) vs. Juan Monaco(ARG)[25]


Other matches of interest that won't be watchable from 11 am.


Court 7: Match 2: Women's Singles - 1st Round
Polona Hercog(SLO) vs. Julia Goerges(GER)[22]

Court 8: Match 3: Men's Singles - 1st Round
Jeremy Chardy(FRA) vs. Grigor Dimitrov(BUL)

Court 15: Match 1 Men's Singles - 1st Round
Leonardo Mayer(ARG) vs. Feliciano Lopez(ESP)[18]


Court 19: Match 3: Women's Singles - 1st Round
Lucie Safarova(CZE)[24] vs. Christina McHale(USA)

Passing Shots

Get well soon Robin. Miss you dimples darkening quarters of the draw. 

• The draw was made for the Australian Open.  Women's & Men's
• Azerenka defeats Li for Sydney title.
• Laura Robson and James Ward advance to the final round of qualifying. 
•  Jarkko Niemin will play Julien Benneteau  for the men's title in Sydney. 
• McDonald's and the Olympics extend their partnership. 
• "Samania" grips Australia.

Passing Shots

• Bettors Beware there will be crack downs during the Olympics. 
• To be able to qualify for 6 Olympics as a gymnast is nothing short of remarkable. 
• Azerenka will meet Li for the Sydney title. 
• Brits Robson, Broady and Ward advance in qualifications in Melbourne. 
• Janet Evans and Ian Thorpe are still on the comeback trail with hopes to qualify for London.
• How Gymnasts qualified to the Olympics. It is bordering on rocket science. 
• Who qualified at the gymnastics test event. 

Passing Shots

• Andrea Petkovic withdrew from the Australian Open with a stress fracture in her lower back. She posted on her facebook

 "Dear Petkorazzis. I am very sorry to tell you that I had to withdraw from the Australian Open with a lower back stress fracture. I'll recover now to have what you can literally call a comeback!" 

•  Wozniacki loses in Sydney. 
• USA Gymnastics will name Olympic team at Olympic Trials. This is a change of practice from team choseing procedure over the last decade. 
• Canada has qualified a full Women's Gymnastics Team at the test event.
• Spanish seeds advance in Auckland. 
• Laura Robson will face Mel Oudin in the first round of Australian Open qualifications. Here is the full draw.  
• The US Womens National Soccer team is completely at training camp after Solo, Wambach and Coach Sundhage arrived after attending the FIFA Awards. 

Quotable

“It’s always better to qualify. I’ve been lucky enough to get wildcards into Wimbledon for the last few years, but hopefully I won’t need one this year, and I’m going to play qualifying here (at the Australian Open) and hopefully I’ll do well,”

Laura Robson as she hopes to qualify for her second straight Major.

Passing Shots

Laura Robson wants you to watch the Australian Open qualifying tournament starts Jan. 10. 

• Federer gives Tsonga a walk-over in the semifinals of Doha with a back issue. Monfils upsets Nadal for a spot in the final as well. 
• Clijsters retires from her semifinal in Brisbane with a hip injury against Hantuchova. While Kanepi continues her solid run upsetting Schiavone for a spot in the final.  
• Pennetta and Zheng are to meet in the Auckland final. Flavia will also be in the doubles final with Julia Goerges. 
• More ticket sale issues for London organizers. Ticket resale had to be suspended today. 
• The Roland Garros facebook wants you to play Guess Who. 

Tweets of the Year

Laura while watching the Australian Open Quarterfinals between Rafa and David Ferrer.

Serena announces she got her boot off in mid-Febuary.

If you haven't seen this video from after the Armada advanced to the Davis Cup Semis. You should.

I hope this is still on. 

Rain Delay fun: WTA/ATPers plan a Karaoke event.

WTA Wish List: Part 1

The Germans: As a group I hope they win the Fed Cup.

Sabine Lisicki: Her year end ranking was 15 after a semifinal run at Wimbledon and titles in Birmingham and Dallas. She has minimal points to defend until the American hard court season this spring losing in the round of 16 of Auckland and falling in qualifying for the Australian Open last year. Would like to see her reach the top ten and the second week at the Slams. Most important is for her to stay healthy after battling injuries.

Andrea Petkovic: After a 2011 that landed her in the top ten she should hope to start the year strong to back up her Australian accomplishments of a year ago which included making the final in Brisbane losing to Kvitova. Then following it up with a quarter final appearance at the Australian Open upsetting Sharapova in the fourth round before losing to eventual finalist Li Na. I expect her to live up to her seeding in bigger events and possibly win two or more smaller events. 

Julia Goerges: To call Julia's 2011 to be a roller coaster would be putting it lightly. After a relatively slow start of the year she really hit the peak of her season on the Clay defeating Wozniack in the finals of Stuttgart for her only title and reaching the semi-finals in Madrid. But she then failed to make a semi final until her last event in Luxembourg. Ranked at 21 to end the year, breaking into the top 20 and becoming more constant. 


And a Brit:

Laura Robson: Last year started with a lot of promise as she was to play Hopman Cup with Andy Murray then attempt to qualify for the Australian Open. But after suffering a leg/hip injury that sidelined her for two months during Hopman Cup the start of her season was put on hold. Upon her return to the ITF circuit but once again suffered a injury that needed a three week recovery time. So her season really began on the grass of 's-Hertogenbosch and Wimbledon. She next took on the American hard courts where she qualified for the US Open. My wishes for Laura is that she is doesn't suffer anymore injuries so that she can gain a constancy to break the top-100 by mid year.