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.

Ugh...

I wake up this morning thinking I would see hundreds of orgasmic tweets from tennis journos covering Vika vs. Serena that would make me feel as if I were watching the match unfold live, but Azarenka was forced to withdraw due to a bad pedicure, not even joking! Apparently she suffered a toe infection that causes her pain, pain that she endured for the early rounds of Brisbane, but it would be too steep of a hill to climb against Mount Serena. Way to blueball us, Vika...

Still, Pavlyuchenkova can hit the hard, so we can hope for something at least slightly competitive in the final.

The ATP Brisbane is still rockin' though! Young gun Grigor Dimitrov has blasted through to the semis in a very impressive tournament run so far. "Baby Federer" is finally showing his potential over a stretch longer than a single match (or rather a single point). He's even rumored to be dating Maria Sharapova! Respect, Grigor.

And when did Nikolay Davydenko decide to make a reappearance?? He whipped #1 seed David Ferrer in the Doha semis and is ready for a finals showdown with Richard Gasquet. Between Davy and Pav, it's been a Russian Revival this week!

What do you think of these developments? Azarenka should be ready to go for Melbourne, but will lack of big time matchplay hurt her? Can Baby Federer show off his repertoire in a major? Is this just a flash-in-the-pan for the machinelike Russian? Leave a comment to discuss. Australian Open draw out in seven days!

R.E.S.P.E.C.T.

Serena Williams. Sloane Stephens. You just knew these two racquet-swinging divas would bring the drama a la these two superstars.

And as much as all of the American tennis contingent continue to hail her as the heir apparent to Serena's throne, I don't think anyone thought Sloane would put up as much of a fight in her first bout against her mentor like she did today. But Serena is still Serena, she upped her game when it mattered most and it was the difference in this match.

Sloane would not exit Brisbane without a quote, however! Here's clip of what she had to say in a changeover after Serena shouted her signature "COME ON":

You can tell Sloane is being very sarcastic (she and Serena are actually good friends), but it's still very encouraging to see her make light of her opponent across the net who's only won 15 Grand Slams and is 51-2 since last March. I am extremely impressed with her attitude, not to mention her serve and forehand, and I think American women's tennis has shining star on the rise.

And she's so darn cute! How can you resist those pearly whites and those dimples? But points deducted for using catch phrases from First Take.

Other Brisbane news: lookout! Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova is back from the dead! With two consecutive Top 10 victories over Petra Kvitova and Angelique Kerber, AP is looking to improve on her weak 2012 season which she reached just one final. She faces Ukrainian Lucky Loser Lesia Tsurenko in the semis.

Respect the Queen of Soul, unless she's wearing this hat.

What say you? Is Sloane the real deal? Overrated? Discuss!

In closing, hats adorned with ginormous bows are never a good idea.