[Diane Dees]

Two of my four favorites are still in. Amelie went out yesterday, and Patty went out this morning. It's also nice to see Flavia Pennetta get to the quarterfinal round. I think that--on the women's side--the title is really up for grabs. I didn't give Venus much of a chance coming in, but now she is definitely a contender, as is Serena--as always. Dementieva has her best chance ever. Safina is physically exhausted, and therefore vulnerable; Jankovic is always exhausted these days.

I think the men's title is more up for grabs that it might appear. The big 3 are top contenders, but you have to keep your eyes on Roddick, Murray and Del Potro.

We go home tomorrow morning, which means I'll miss half a day's coverage, damn it, and there is a chance our cable service won't be restored by then. I'll probably just live at the restaurants down the street who have satellite TV.

Djokovic is playing Robredo--who has suddenly returned to his old level of play--right now. This could go to five sets, I think.
http://womenwhoserve.blogspot.com

JJ Express Roll On!
and Go Dinara!

[Cally Conan-Davies]

YAY Diane!!

Are you home safe yet? I've lost track of your time. I hope your family, cats and all, survived the journey, and that you haven't missed any exciting slam-moments!

I, unfortunately, have not seen a single ball. Nothing is shown on tv here, and I don't have pay tv. Maybe a 20sec verbal report at the end of the sport section on the nightly news. So, I have been relying exclusively on YOUR blog, as well as the Official web site, keeping my eye on each point as the slam-trakker scoreboard lights up, and where I now see Federer is in DEEP TROUBLE. 5th set just starting. Oh no - and I have to go to work now!

SO tell me more! What've been the highlight/s, news, gossip, form etc. Has it been a special tournament so far?? Who has surprised? Who has disappointed? Is it hot?

Have a great evening - do I remember rightly - does Jankovitch play a quarter final tonight??

Best, Cally

[Diane Dees]

Cally, Roger hit a very important shot to get a break, and it was so significant, that I think everything changed for him mentally. It was just what he needed, not just for this match, but for the entire tournament. As I write this, he is up 4-1 in the 5th.

Yes, JJ is playing now. As I write this, she is up 4-1 in the first.

Thanks for reading my blog, and I'm not sure if I know anything interesting that I haven't put in there. Something interesting on the men's side, though: Tomorrow, Del Potro plays Murray, and ever since Rome, they have not been friends, so that could be interesting.

Oh--here's something: The major women's tennis Internet forum has a poll, and the last time I looked, "Venus in 2" had way more votes than any other option for the all-Williams quarterfinal.

Because of her physical exhaustion, I think Safina is a bit vulnerable to Pennetta, and if Safina does win, she may be quite vulnerable to whichever Williams sister she has to play. Everyone is vulnerable to Dementieva.

We are still in Birmingham. We had planned to go back tomorrow, but now we have decided--for a variety of reasons (one of them having to do with tennis)--to wait until early Thursday morning. The cats are fine; actually, they rather like hotel life. I'll put up a photo album when we get back.

I've lost a week of work, so my only project when I get back is to figure out--if our cable service has not been restored--how to watch the Open. There are restaurants nearby with satellite, so that's an option. Our house is on the same grid as the local hospital, so we believe our power has been restored.

(JJ has won the first set, 6-1. Roger is up 4-2 in the 5th, and it's kind of crazy right now.)

[Chris Childers]

Today is the first day I've gotten to watch tennis since the French (I know, I know, I missed a little bit of grass in there somewhere, and a certain final people keep talking about for some reason, apparently it was pretty good), so I watched the fifth set of Djokovic & then most of the Federer match, and here a little bit of Roddick at the end. My question is this. During Djokovic-Robredo -- which by the way I was surprised that Novak won, given his body language, his fatigue and pain etc. in the fifth. The critical moment was not so much because Robredo fell by the way, it was the whole turnaround of that point, the first or second point in his service game I think, & Robredo had it won with a beautiful inside-out forehand that clipped the one line, following which he had a winner down the other, but the forehand was called out, and the call was over-ruled, rightly, so Robredo had to play the point again, and that's when Djokovic smoked the backhand return, Robredo fell, got rattled, and the wheels came off long enough for Novak to take the break and walk away -- anyway, during that match, somebody (Jim Courier?) said that Federer has been playing with mono the whole season, not just during the Australian. He suggested that it was a pretty remarkable thing to make a grand slam semi and two finals while suffering from a debilitating illness. So was Fed sick longer than he admitted, or is he still sick? Whatever the case, he played a relatively unremarkable match today, and only won because Andreev's level dropped in that 5th set and he started making more unforced errors. I do wish though that Roger were in better form, not just because I like him, but also because there's just nothing like watching Federer in full flow.

I'm excited about Fish / Nadal, I know Rafa's been in a tree lately but Mardy's tough on the hard stuff, he'll have good fan support and can really slap you out of your rhythm. Conventional wisdom tells me he's got a great chance.

& what's up with Dementieva? She's just firing on all cylinders all of a sudden? I'll look at your blog.

Chris

Oh, and I've always wondered: sometimes American commentators vacillate between pronouncing DementiEva and DeMENtia-va, though the former has been far more common of late. My guess, though I don't know any Russian, is that the stress is really on the second syllable, and that it should be DeMENti-e-va, except Americans can't say three unstressed syllables in a row, so if we put the stress on MEN we have to say Dementia, and then she sounds like a batty old woman when she is in fact a svelte Russian blonde with legs lean as helicopter blades. Does anybody actually know anything? (I might prefer it if no one does, and then I can just believe my theory.)



[This message has been edited by Chris Childers (edited September 02, 2008).]

[Diane Dees]

If Courier said that, Chris, he probably did not speak what he really meant. As far as I know, Fed was not playing with mono the whole season. In fact, I'm sure of that; I've heard Roger talk about it more than once. I think what Courier probably meant was that he was playing with the effects of mono, which would include lack of strength training, maybe some muscle atrophy, etc.

Now, on to other matters...I think that Roger's terrible time with Andreev is exactly what the doctor ordered. He had to work hard and he prevailed--for whatever reason. Afterwards, he looked so happy, and I think we're about to have a big confidence boost. I hope so!

I want to say Fish is on a roll, but that sounds like a sandwich--but you know what I mean. I think he might give Rafa some trouble, too, especially with his net play.

I can answer all of your Dementieva questions, Chris. Elena finally broke away from mother long enough to go to an academy for a while. While she was there, the instructors fixed her serve.

What most people don't remember is that years ago, her serve was fine. Then she had a shoulder injury, and she had trouble with the ball toss. Someone--I think Pam Shriver--theorizes that by the time she was well, she had done a strange ball toss for so long that she couldn't break the habit.

This is a sound theory. Anyway, she then began serving beautifully during practice, but not during matches--nerves. Now, however, she is doing extremely well with her serve, which makes her very dangerous, since she is such a great defensive player. (A related note--Jankovic has significantly improved her first serve, a badly needed improvement.)

The proper pronunciation of Elena's name is indeed de-MENT-ya-vuh. American commentators are way too lazy and ignorant and nationalistic to give a damn about how to pronounce a Russian person's name.

[Diane Dees]

So did anyone see it? Venus and Serena? Wow!!

[Chris Childers]

What happened? Serena just wanted it more, no? If Venus *really* wanted to win, don't you think she would have gotten at least one of those, what was it, 15 set points? But the level was unbelievable. Great, great stuff.

[Chris Childers]

Predictions now? I have no business calling the women's tournament, since I haven't seen much of Safina or Dementieva since they suddenly became major powers, and am not sure how much I'll get to see tomorrow, honestly. But Serena looked amazing last night, and I'm going to have to imagine that Safina won't be able to handle her if she plays that well again; whereas Jankovic strikes me (sorry!) as a perennial semi-finalist. My random guess: Serena will beat Dementieva in the final in three sets, two of them lopsided, one close.

The men are more stable and hence, predictable. Though I didn't get to watch much of Novak this evening, Andy has been playing great and Djokovic handled him pretty convincingly. Fed meanwhile has been shaky, needing two tiebreakers to pull out a tight three-set win over the qualifier Muller. Djokovic beats Fed in three. On the other side, Nadal will have too much for Murray, though it will be scrappy and could go the distance. Djokovic, finally, will win the tournament, since he's a superior hard court player to Nadal.

As usual, I hope I'm completely wrong, & that Jankovic wins her first title on the women's side, and Fed scores #13 over Rafa, getting a little Wimbledon revenge. But I'm not optimistic.

Chris

[Cally Conan-Davies]

I can't believe I'm missing all this.

Please keep posting, Chris and Diane. If I can't see the Open site, I have no way of knowing what's going on, except here. I'm so sad to have missed what sounds like a breathtakingly good Williams' match.

Cally

[Diane Dees]

I really don't know what happened to Venus, but she has yet to acknowledge that she choked like a building fire victim. Serena was magnificent.

I don't do many predictions after a certain point; it makes me feel too crazy. I'm with you in what I want, Chris--for JJ and Fed to both pull it out. But...

Matt Cronin, in his pre-match analysis, said--in so many words--that there really isn't any difference at this point, ability-wise, between Safina and Serena, but that Serena will prevail because she is in New York. Serena is certainly poised to win, but I have seen her have letdowns after big wins before, and if she has one today, Safina won't be afraid to clean up.

As for JJ, she can do it, but being the walking wounded takes it toll. If Dementieva's new-found confidence stays intact, she'll go to the final. If there is a crack in it and she pulls her old tricks, it's JJ's.

I think Federer will beat Murray, but I'm not so sure Djokovic will beat Nadal. I think Nadal is stronger in the head, and after last night, he's going to have the entire New York crowd behind him.