The Count of Monte Carlo

This clay season just got real.

I must admit, as a Nole fan, I was already writing off 2013's Euro-clay season as loss. Nadal took home two titles (including a thorough beatdown of his primary whipping boy, David Ferrer) and lost just one match in his comeback tour on South American/Mexican clay, not to mention winning Indian Wells, his first hard court title since 2010. It was pretty much a given that Rafa would sweep through April and May without any sort of hiccup.

Fast forward through a very combative final and we are back in 2011 all over again. Djokovic really took it to Nadal at his "favorite tournament." Yeah, it would be my favorite, too, had I won there EIGHT TIMES IN A ROW.

Anyway, now that the road to Roland Garros is not yet a foregone conclusion, let's try to make sense of what could go down as we get closer to the season's second Grand Slam.

Barcelona: now this is a foregone conclusion. Nadal has won the trophy here the last seven times he's entered. His half of the draw contains a few threatening players like Berdych, Raonic, and Dimitrov, but they are all in Berdych's quarter. However, his confidence may be shaken after his dustup with Nole in Monaco, so maybe, possibly Ferrer has a chance to sneak one in? Yeah, I don't think so either.

Madrid: Fed is defending his title here, but we are back to red this time around. The blue clay of 2012 was much more grass-like than anything else, so I don't think he'll be as lucky this year. Both Nadal and Djokovic have major points to gain here and I'm sure Andy will have worked on his clay court abilities to be a factor. It all depends on how the draw shakes up. Nadal could meet one of the other Big 4 in the quarters.

Rome: the final tune up will be a good one. Nadal ran through Djokovic in the final here last year, but look for Nole to try to exact some revenge here. Much like Madrid, it comes down to where Nadal is placed in the draw.

SO, with all that being said, WHO YA GOT? Can Nole bring back the magic of his 2011 RG tune-ups? Will Roger or Andy make any noise these coming weeks? Most importantly (in my opinion, will Rafa get a protected ranking at Roland Garros? The French Open is closing in on us really quick and I have a rekindled excitement for it! Today, we saw an excellent preview of a potential final round matchup. Or semifinal. Or quarterfinal. Please give Nadal the fourth seed...

Go Williams

Dear Venus and Serena,

I have been seriously following tennis for only about 30 months, but you were two of the very first names I recognized on either tour. I was there at the 1999 U.S. Open, watching both of you play an early-round doubles match. My family and I cheered you guys on at Court 17 and waited hopefully to catch a glimpse of you as you exited the grounds with your father. My mom yelled "I love you, Venus!" and you waved at her. It was really exciting.

Even more so was the history you two have made throughout the years while being African-American and from the 'hood in a sport made for the rich and privileged, battling racism and jealousy of the general public and fellow peers, and climbing back from personal and professional low points to inspired new levels. Most inspirational of all is that you did it together.

As I watched your documentary, I relived the achievements and the disappointments, the triumphs and the tribulations, and wondered to myself how do they keep going at it? Surely the training, the travel, the stress, something has to be irksome about this harsh profession now that they're both on the other side of 30. How can they ignore all of that?

I've learned that it boils down to love; love of tennis and each other. And it shows every match I see either of you play. I saw it on Saturday in your 24th head-to-head meeting, and again while watching old YouTube clips of you girls when the two of you took the world by storm, and yet again while watching your documentary.

Tennis is a harsh sport. You work so hard to get to your peak, but that period of dominance rarely lasts. So it makes me happy to hear that even if you're both too old and washed up for singles, you will keep playing doubles until kingdom come (or until you don't medal at the Olympics, whichever's first). Thank you, Venus and Serena, for lasting in a sport that has such a short lifespan. You're the reason I love tennis and the reason I am blogging today. Keep fighting out there. As always, I'll be rooting for you.

Lots of love and appreciation,

SholznBowlz

Bringing Down the Haus

As if this draw weren't blown open enough already to begin with, Tommy Haas unseated Novak Djokovic last night for the last quarterfinal berth at Key Biscayne. Nole wasn't anywhere close to his best, but it's not like Tommy was trying to leave the door too open for him to mount much of a comeback either, a la Dominika Cibulkova against Serena earlier in this tournament.

The resident tour veteran was lights out, especially in the first set, hitting incredible passing shots and utilizing the slice and his aesthetically appealing one-handed backhand down the line to throw Djokovic for a loop. Let's all remember that our favorite German in 34 YEARS OLD. (It's about 82 in tennis years, according to my own brand of math where I choose random numbers.)

Here are other reasons to be obsessed with Grandpa Tommy:

• He's beaten the Top 2 players in the world on their respective favorite surfaces in the last 8 months
• He's in the Top 20 ATP rankings for the first time since May 2010; the first time he reached that milestone was in February of 1999(!)
• He wears a lavender shirt with a backwards baby blue baseball cap and hot pink wristbands

Kudos for pulling off the look though.

If those three reasons (particularly the last one) weren't age-defying enough, I'll never be able to convince you of Haas' resurgence. Here's to hoping he goes all the way to win his second ever Masters title, first since 2001 in Stuttgart, now an ATP 250 event. Damn, he's old.

Leave some love for Tommy by commenting on that sweet backhand, or his shirt, or his abs, or whatever. In the meantime, be mesmerized by Haas' oscillating rankings history.

(Update: one step closer for Tommy! He pummeled Gilles Simon earlier tonight to reach the semis.)

Timber

Returning Serve Lesson #1: looking up helps

"Why do Americans suck at tennis?"

I posed this question to my friends last week in the early goings of the Isner-Hewitt match. And while none of them follow tennis nearly as obsessively as I do, they knew that American tennis is no longer what it once was. Gone are the yesteryears of Sampras breaking records and Agassi's badassery and blonde locks. Gone even is Andy Roddick, the big-mouthed kid brother of the aforementioned legends. Yeah, we gave him a lot of well-deserved crap, but until this year, he was the only one carrying any sort of Grand Slam for the U.S. on the ATP.

Roddick departed suddenly-ish, but we were already hopping on the bandwagon of another American stud. His name was John Isner. Big John, Mr. 70-68, was supposed to proudly take the torch of passed down by Sampras and the like and lead us into the promised land (and by promised land I mean someone's trophy cabinet). He was surging at this point in 2012: finalist at Indian Wells, Davis Cup hero (on clay!), and recent addition to the Top 10 and the "player-none-of-the-Big-Four-want-to-face" list. Unfortunately, Johnny took that glowing torch into a wet, dark cave and farted on it.

The end of his 2012 season was quite the letdown. A disappointing result at Roland Garros, first-round loss at Wimby, and a lackluster, second-week-less U.S. Open have all bled into 2013 where he is now 6-6 with losses against the always-hard-to-take-down Eduardo-Roger Vasselin and Dennis Istomin (note: they are not always hard to take down).

We are now faced with the reality of having no American men in the Top 20 of the ATP rankings since...ever. Our new guy at the head of the pack is Sam Querrey, who owns only one title of ATP 500 calibur. Sam might be better in the return game and is a little harder to break down in rallies, but he's not particularly "threatening" to the guys in the ATP penthouse. Sam did just get engaged, however, and Janko Tipsarevic said it has improved his game tremendously. Still, can we honestly rely on that Serbian magic? Americans hate marriage! And Janko hasn't been playing all that well so far this year...

We're doomed.

Joking aside, it's time we figure this out or men's tennis will be done for in the United States. Yes, more and more countries are participating in the sport, but something about our dedication to developing talent has been surpassed by our European competitors. Is it that America doesn't care about tennis all that much? Is tennis too expensive of an outlet for families and their kids? Is it too socially taxing for young athletes to want to participate in it? Tennis is quite a lonely sport and that doesn't lend well to our culture, whereas other cultures have a strong sense of family where a player can thrive being surrounded by their team of supporters constantly.

Digging a little too deep there, but clearly the problem is multifaceted and won't be figured out overnight. What do you think of our substandard men's game in America? Minor dip? Major issue? Leave a comment for your thoughts, especially if you have any semblance of a solution. Miami up next for both circuits! Quick turnaround for everyone, don't know if I'm ready!

Happy Holidays!

Good ol' Saint Novak.

A very merry World Tennis Day to all!

Although I just found out such a day existed last week and only remembered it after roaming around the web this afternoon, 'twas a joyous and exciting 24 hours to be a fan of this beautiful sport.

Kudos to all the players getting involved in those lighthearted matches to spread tennis joy around the world.

Fortunately or unfortunately, the goofing off ends here. March is upon us, which means it is U.S. hard court season! Two combined events, loaded draws, and several thousand points and dollars to be awarded. Who's gonna reap the bulk of those benefits? Let's find out by taking a quick look back at an unusually busy February.

Doha: Serena is back at #1, but Vika had the last laugh in their final round match. Serena holds a big lead in their H-to-H record, but Vika has always played her tough and seems to be making more inroads each successive faceoff. Don't be surprised if Azarenka gets back to the top spot by year's end (Serena has a TON of points to defend this summer).

Dubai: Kvitova got back on track with this Premier title. The draw was trimmed down after the Doha finalists withdrew, but hats off to getting the job done. Now that she's pulled off playing well for two matches in a row, is it no longer wishful thinking that she could do it for consecutive tournaments? We'll see, but we do know she has all the weaponry to dominate.

ATP 500s: Federer is stunned at Rotterdam and Dubai. He can't seem to hold MPs anymore. The door is open for Murray, who was absent for the entire month, to leapfrog him in the rankings. Djokovic wins Dubai, undefeated in 2013. Nole's on a serious roll, 18 straight matches to be exact. Is a repeat of 2011 in store? He seems unstoppable at the moment, especially on hard courts. Nadal blows away David Ferrer in Acapulco. The scoreline may be ho-hum, but Rafa has only just started playing tournaments and is only going to get more comfortable out on court. The only question is will he play Indian Wells and/or Miami? WE STILL DON'T KNOW. It's not like IW begins in two days or anything...

I don't know about you, but I am so excited for Indian Wells and Miami because: a) combined events are easy to follow both men and women, and b) they are both in my country's time zone. Those of you who feverishly followed the Australian Open like I did feel me...

Leave a comment to discuss the happenings of February or to look forward to March. Should be another exciting month!

Remember When February Was Supposed To Be Dull?

I was really looking forward to my month off from blogging as tennis is usually quite dull, still suffering from the post-Aussie Open hangover. Foiled again by Nadal!

That's right Nadal made his return last week from a seven-month hiatus at Viña del Mar, an ATP 250 tourney, on his beloved clay surface in both singles and doubles with Juan Monaco, and things were going quite smoothly until he ran into the stalwart grinder we all recognize as Horacio Zeballos. And while I will neither confirm nor deny that I knew of Zeballos' existence on tour until a few days ago, I'm quite shocked he managed to spoil the King of Clay's welcome back party.

Nadal looked quite good in his matches leading up to the final (although he did say he was still experiencing minor knee pains during the event) and I really couldn't tell you what happened to him against Zeballos, but I yelled in surprise when I saw this picture on Twitter:

Don't get used to this image.

Nadal and Pico ended up losing in the doubles finals as well. All in all, I'm sure Rafa is both encouraged and disappointed by this week, but it seems like mostly good news. We'll see whether he gears himself up for the spring U.S. hard court Masters or save himself for the Euro-clay season. Best of luck, Rafa! We've all missed you...well, all except Andy Murray.

Any thoughts on Nadal's season to come? Will he keep up with his Big 4 brethren? Doha is up for the ladies with the #1 ranking up for grabs yet again! Sure to be another exciting week. In February, of all months. Who knew?

(edit: almost forgot, Rafa's Welcome Back Tour rolls on this week at São Paulo where he'll once again be in the singles and doubles draw (with David Nalbandian)! Be sure to keep tabs!)

Jetlagged

I can confidently say that my body clock has reset to Eastern Standard Time (six days later).

What an Australian Open! ...Okay, it was actually a little anticlimactic. Dare I say Oz was disappointing? Here are a couple of things that made the Happy Slam such a downer:

All flower, no power (or accuracy).

The matchups we were all waiting to see were lackluster or didn't even happen. We all marked Maria Sharapova's third-round clash with Venus Williams on our calendar and were hopeful for an intense, albeit noisy, match since Venus looked almost as good as MaSha through her first two opponents...DUD. MaSha crushed Venus, yet celebrated like she won a thrilling three-set final. I was left with my mouth hanging open in shock because it was such a one-way street.

That wasn't the only one. Serena and MaSha were on a collision course to meet in the finals, but back spasms and Li Na put the respective breaks on their near flawless Oz Open runs. Even Nole vs. Andy was a little hard to watch. The one match that actually lived up to it's billing was Andy vs. Rog in the second men's semis. Most of the others were not up to par.

Another bummer was the crazy number of injuries. Serena rolled her ankle before her first set was over and was laboring throughout her shortened second week, Sloane Stephens had three or four straight opponents take medical timeouts, Andy Murray seemed to slow down a step in the third set of the finals because of those unsightly blisters, and the whole Vika shenanigan made injuries the talk of the tournament. Depressing.

Leave a comment if you think there were even lamer things about this year's Australian Open or if you feel like it wasn't that bad of a Grand Slam at all! Here's to hoping the season goes up from here. Congratulations to Novak Djokovic and Victoria Azarenka for defending their titles! Davis Cup is already upon us. Good luck to Jim Courier and the USA squad!