Horsin' Around

Boooooriiiiiiing. Even they look bored by their own victories.

Here I was thinking we would have an exciting weekend of tennis full of surprise titlists, but we were thwarted by the usual suspects.

Serena winning the WTA Premier in Brisbane. Andy, Aga, Li Na, Tipsy, Gasquet winning the smaller events in their respective tours. I thought Dimitrov had a real shot against an out-of-form Murray, but it wasn't meant to be. There was one small upset with Spain winning the Hopman Cup over Serbia! One out of seven ain't bad...

This week am hopeful...nay, EXPECTING a dark horse to triumph! The fields the week before the commencement of a Slam are much more manageable for second-tier players, and those preceding the Australian Open this year continue that trend (except WTA Sydney, which is somehow a Premier event, but that's a complaint for another paragraph...).

I will take advantage of one of the four weeks out of the year when you can make what would normally be a dark horse pick and have a decent chance of being right! 

Sloane Stephens is obviously my choice for the Hobart title. She's going in with a lot of momentum and confidence. Benoit Paire is a good pick for Auckland. He's talented and is coming off a doubles title in Chennai. Dare I believe in Bernie Tomic once again? His road to redemption has been very encouraging in this early part of the season going 3-0 in his singles matches in Perth, including a huge win against Novak Djokovic. Hopefully he can keep his focus for an entire week to bag the ATP Sydney title.

I would pick a second-tier player for the WTA Sydney tourney, but the first SEVEN SEEDS are in the Top 10. Picking a dark horse would be silly.

Seriously, WTA, what is with the Premier events a week before Slams?? This happens at New Haven, too. Encourage these girls to focus on the real prize instead of a relatively unimportant tournament. Notice how out of those seven Top 10-ers, NONE are in the Big Three. Tells you what's on the minds of the 2012 Grand Slam winners. That's right, a GRAND SLAM. </rant>

Who wants to challenge these picks? Anyone think an even darker horse will raise a trophy? Anyone brave enough to go chalk (a risky pick in itself considering the abundance of dangerous floaters)? Leave a comment to make a bold selection or bash the WTA schedulers.