Sabbatical

As you might have noticed, I have no time this week to even post scores. I'll be back in full swing for Monte-Carlo.

Talk about the beginning of the clay court season as you wish. Share a good link or two.

Hope everyone is enjoying spring.

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FRIDAY, APRIL 9, 2010 at 9:45 PM

You know it's bad when I misspell the title of a post. Have mercy...

Champions For Chile

It was a busy weekend. Didn't keep Andy Roddick from participating in his friend Fernando González's fund raising event to help the earthquake victims in Chile. Gustavo Kuerten and Jim Courier joined them. I'm not sure the event got much coverage, but then again, I was planting all weekend.

Remembering How To Win

Getty

Andy Roddick of the United States holds up the trophy after defeating Tomas Berdych of the Czech Republic 7-5, 6-4 to win the men's final of the 2010 Sony Ericsson Open at Crandon Park Tennis Center on April 4, 2010 in Key Biscayne, Florida.

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It's been a long time coming.

Of course I have a lot more to say about this victory. I just don't have time at the moment to say it. For now, I'll let the man's face speak for itself.

Miami Men's Final Open Thread

Is Tomas Berdych ready to win another Masters shield, his first one outdoors? Can Andy Roddick remember how to win again? Who needs victory the most?

It better be a barn burner.

I Coulda Had A V8

Reuters


Belgium's Kim Clijsters hoists the women's championship trophy after defeating Venus Williams of the U.S. at the Sony Ericsson Open tennis tournament in Key Biscayne, Florida April 3, 2010.

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Been a long, warm, sunny, but most of all productive day, planting, planting, planting so I only have two things to say.

1. I hope the men's final is better, though I can't imagine it could be anywhere near as awful as that mess we saw today.

2. Two years running, a Williams sister limps into the final and all her opponent has to do is keep the ball in play to win the title. Yawn.

Miami: Cringe.

Perhaps the only valuable observation after the debacle that was this final came from Serena on her twitter feed.

serenajwilliams @venuseswilliams is such a champ if I were playing I would have cracked 5 rackets by now!!Wow she's to be admired and I can learn from her!!

She had been following Venus’s matches courtside all week long – I almost wish she did crack something from the sidelines.

Venus was taped up quite heavily – though how much that had to do with what transpired on court remains up for debate – my own feeling is it was simply one of those days.

It’s not as if this just crept up on us either: I barely managed to suppress the urge to cringe when I kept hearing of how her match against Bartoli was amongst her best performances of the week. Really?

Set two certainly, but it seems to me there were very many apparent holes in Venus’s game during the opener and that Bartoli played it with such a telling lack of conviction, it somehow seemed apt when she served four double faults in a single game.

Clijsters d. Williams 6-2 6-1

Kimmie deserves full credit for seeing things through against a struggling opponent, a win that will see her enter the top ten on Monday. Congratulations – it was only a matter of time.

Though I hope you’ll understand why I can’t claim to have seen her either “crush” or “thrash” Venus – it seems to me V already did that to herself.

Oh there'll be cringing alright.

(Photo: Reuters)

Quote For The Day

"Well, I think I started the match playing pretty well in the beginning. Later I had the match, well, under control in the first set with my serve. Later in the second set Andy was serving well. No, I didn't have a lot of chances on the return. He play very aggressive game and started to play more aggressive in the game where he did me the break. It was a change, and it was surprise for me." --Rafael Nadal

It was a (welcome) surprise for me, too. Like him or not, men's tennis is simply more interesting when Andy is playing well.