Nadal .v. Verdasco US Open 2010 - Ladies Love Cool Fernando

Hey - it's RR here again -

Help me People! P is not blogging. Why? She has been hanging out on Tennis-X and commenting a lot, and it's sapping her creative juices! They are sapping her creative juices and turning them into creative syrup, to pour on their own pancakes, by boiling them and adding sugar!!! It's terrible. I feel the crushing burden of having to blog, all on my own... carrying a giant, crushing weight, like I was pushing a giant stone Blog up a hill, only to have it roll down and have to do it again, day in, day out...

I'm trying to make her feel bad - can you tell? Mind you, she is having a lot of fun on Tennis-X...

HEY! We were there! Last night, for Woz-Cibulkova and then Federer-Soderling. First time I saw Fed live. He was like a god. And I am not a generally drooling Fed fan. But even from er like 100 rows up, he just had this aura. Soderling, a big strong fella and great player, did not have that aura.

It was pretty much womp, womp. Anyway we had fun. Good company. $300 spent on sweaters because it was freezing! I was a little surprised that Soderling went down so easy. I had high hopes. Anyway, despite 2 straight set matches it was still 1 AM when we got home...

Tonight we are watching Nadal-Verdasco. Had tickets but, too tired! Also, 9AM meeting tomorrow. Sigh.

P says they call Verdasco "hot sauce" on Tennis-X. She is trying to get them to adopt "Ladies' Choice". I suggested "LL Cool F".

By the way, we bought Cheesewad a shirt in Toronto, and it turns out to be Nadal's nighttime shirt! Cool!

Rockytoad and I got to see Nadal and Gonzo almost COURTSIDE last year - incidentally with tickets from the same folks we skipped out on tonight. But tonight, the seats were high in the bleachers. By the way, it's still fun up there...

Anyway, enough for now. So far Verdasco is punching through the considerable wind better than Nadal. I am kinda surprised. I thought spin was good in the wind? Who knows. Oh wait just noticed they are back on serve! More later... my hard-earned cash is on Rafa, what can I say.

RR out - for now.

Rogers Cup Pix - and Forgive Me I Drove 350 Miles Today

RR Here -

Here come some pictures from our last day at the Rogers Cup - yesterday. The commentary is gonna be a little thin and spacey - long drive home. Fried. Vodka. Fried vodka? Mmm... that would be good.

For starters, here's Murray, on a practice court. The little guys got his autograph. He's nicened up since the days when he cursed out ball kids in Binghamton... BTW that's his doubles partner

being ignored whilst like, kneeling at his feet. Prince Andy. Actually he was very nice with the signing etc.

This next one is Youzhny - as noted, P and the little guys rode with him in the elevator, and he was at this sort of hidey t

able at breakfast. I like Youzhny. I use his racket, because of him, and Gasquet.

Here he is winding up his forehand, but it's his beautiful one-hand backhand that I like. This is from the match he lost, but we later figured out he's still in the doubles. Go Youzhny!

And this is of course David, whilst crushing Tommy Robredo. We just saw him crush Soderling in the 3rd as well. YEAH! BTW Cheesewad took all these shots. We are going to get him a better cam

era for his next birthday - he's good!

Next up is Max Mirnyi. We didn't even know he was still around?? He looks fierce here, but really he was really nice. Also, huge and really impressive. He was practicing with someone (his coach?), and he'd serve, and his coach wouldn't even try to return it, just feed a fake return, because, his serve is like a giant thunderbolt from heaven. (We just watched "Clash of the Titans"). Also, I have a bunch of Belarusan buddies these days, so - check it out Max Mirnyi!

Last of all, the ladies' choice - Fernando Verdasco. I always think, "Fernandoo", as some French lady called him the first time I went to Toronto. This was from the Chardy match P has already blogged on. He hung tough and won that first set, and we had to go. I am surprised he lost, he looked like the big guy beating up on skinny-ass Chardy. Tennis is weird, and that's why it's fun. Who the hell knows? Anyway, Fernando is still the ladies choice.

All right, I'm done. One more vodka, and lights out.

RR out

Verdasco defeats Karlovic

It's shitty outside, so what better thing to do than watch tennis? Why, nothing better.

Verdasco took the first set off of Karlovic. I have seen Karlovic play up close on a back court in Canada and it amazes me anyone can ever return his serve. But people can. Oooh, Verdasco is up a break here.

My brain hurts today. I'm not hungover-I know that is hard to believe, but I did drink some cheap shit last night, although not a lot of it, but still, the cheap shit can give you head pain, so maybe the booze is part of the problem--but for sure my cats did not let me sleep this morning. So, I didn't get my ten hours which I need to feel my very best. One of my cats- the one pictured here by the name of Rafa--attacks the other. Rafa thinks his sister is prey. Like she's some oversized mouse. So he was all over her this morning and you have to get up and get involved so he doesn't, like, eat her. I bet the real Rafa doesn't try to eat his sister. I wish my Rafa took more after the real one. They both have a little goofy boy vibe, that I will say.

Verdasco has 5/3 here. Can he do it? Can he serve it out. He's two points away. He seems quite calm, which is awesome because he can get pretty mental. He's a Madrileno (put a little thingy over the n in your mind), so I really want him to do well here. I love Madrid. Did I tell you that? I was just there last March. He did it! I wonder if he's going to go make love to his supermodel contingency or if he saves it up during tournaments the way Vince Spadea does and writes about in his book, Breakpoint, which is a great read, by the way. I highly recommend it.

I'm going to lie down now. More soon.

Yours Truly,

Paula

Verdasco v. Nadal

The energy between these two is quite hostile. The looks? Nadal accusing him of getting coached? Now, I've seen these two be pretty civil on the court. I'm thinking of this time Verdasco had to retire. I can't remember the tournament (I watch too much tennis). And they was a nice handshake and discussion at the net. That said, at the Canada Open every year, Verdasco is not hanging with Ferrer, Lopez and Nadal. I've even seen Almagro with them, but never Verdasco. I used to think it was a Madrid v. Barcelona thing. I do think that may have something to do with it. Verdasco is a Madrileno and the rest are Catalans, I think. Ferrer might be Valencian, but that is much much closer to Barcelona than Madrid, and their language is closer to Catalan. But I'm just guessing.

I love this tennis, though. I find the hostility sort of exciting. I also find Nadal and Verdasco really exciting to watch. I love these guys.

More soon.

I am 3/3 in the furth and beleive it or not- I have to leave soon, to drive upstate, and play tennis at Total Tennis for the whole weekend. I think I will not see this end of this til later. Sigh. But man, what a nice afternoon. I could watch this match over and over again, all day long for, like, years.

Yours Truly,
Paula

Rick Rock Was Wrong

But a double bagel? That was painful. I sort of looked away. Del Potro did not have his moment. He is still young. He will mature. He will only get better.

But Verdasco??!!!! I am breatheless with joy to see him in the semis. I hope he can keep his form. I like the little bit where he talks about self belief and going to Vegas and training with Reyes gave him this new mental outlook (I think he was always fit and he may be fitter. ) But still. The power of THE MIND.

Everyone was whinging about Djokovic retiring. Like they did about Monfils retiring. I think- I would much rather have someone retire than barf, shit themself, pass out or die. I also get confused when they ALWAYS (sometimes it makes sense) put fitness and ability to withstand heat together. With Nole, it just can't be the truth. So now they do this whole "didn't hydrate enough" and honestly, that is probably not true either. What is true is that some people feel extremely badly in very hot weather. Because people are different. Some people see black spots, their hearing can go wierd on them, they can feel like they can't move well and want to lie down. I say, let those fuckers go lied down! I just really don't have a problem with that. Other people want to see people barf first. I have two kids so I have seen enough barf. NO to the BARF!

Nadal is going to win. That is my NEW prediction. But- this is the Aussie Open- so there has to be at least one random person in the final. So, maybe Verdasco? Maybe Roddick? I guess one of the two has to make it to the final. Because if it is Nadal/Fed, it just won't feel like the Aussie Open.

Yours Truly,
Paula

Verdasco Defeats Murray!!

Oh MY GOD! What a great win for my man, Fernanado!!!! I am so happy for him. Now he just needs to come on over and party. The quarterfinals!!! I'm in love.

I'm not sure what I think about Killer Cahill complaining about Monfils' retiring. I guess he's done it a lot? I didn't know that about him. I love Monfils but maybe he is a bit young still, like, young in the head? Give him time. That's what I say. I just am happy because I have Simon winning the whole thing. And you know what? The way Nadal beat Gonzo? I think I am wrong that Simon is going to win the whole thing. I really made that pick to be all "no way, that's nuts" and then- what if I had been right? Sometimes, it's fun to be risky. Now, I am not one of those persons who jabs a knife between my fingers real fast- bam, bam bam- you know, until something bad happens? But I did pick Simon.

Also? I stayed up until 2am watching tennis last night. I feel like crap today. But! It was fun.

Serena moves on. It was a shame that Azarenka got sick. But man, she looked really ill. That is a retirement you have to support. Serena was great, and very kind. I liked that a lot. (Remember when Maria Sharapova got booed off a court for totally ignoring- turning her back- on a very badly injured Tatiana Golovin? I was on my couch booing.) Suarez Navarro moves on. Leni moves on. "And on and on and on..."(that's a quote from a song by the Blake Babies called "On".

Yours Truly,
Paula