Caroline Wozniacki wins New Haven (again)

Wozniacki and Verdasco ruled in New Haven. Does this mean Wozniacki peaked too early again like Wimbledon? Good meaningless run for Vesnina though.

Fish is out already but Donald Young qualified. Dokic should be good for at least one round even with her messed up head. Lisicki probably still has a sore serving shoulder.

Bet the ATP are cheering for Nadal to kick Gasquet out of the tournament for daring to have his trumped-up drug conviction overturned. This is the time to play Rafa though...

US Open 2009 - The slacker’s guide to who might win

Men:

It’s Federer, all Federer. He’s been doing it all (except beating his nemesis Rafa) since we wrote him off and is expected to win here for the umpteenth time. And as long as he doesn’t have to play Nadal he probably will.

Fed’s Quarter
Seeds: Hewitt, Blake, Robredo, Soderling, Davydenko, Querrey
Players to watch: Young, Schuettler, Starace
Winner: Federer

Djokovic’s Quarter
Seeds: Andreev, Kohlschreiber, Roddick, Hanescu, Haas, Verdasco, Stepanek
Players to watch: Ljubicic, Ball, Bolelli, Tipsarevic, Tursunov, Isner
Winner: Roddick

Nadal’s Quarter
Seeds: Tsonga, Berdych, Monfils, Gonzalez, Ferrer
Players to watch: Nieminen, Fognini, Luczak, Ram, Chardy, Darcis, Kiefer, Gasquet Winner: Nadal

Murray’s Quarter
Seeds: Del Potro, Fish, Simon, Cilic, Karlovic, Ferrero, Wawrinka
Players to watch:, Santoro, Melzer, Guccione, Safin, Petzschner, Lopez, Gulbis
Winner: Murray
Final: Federer vs Murray

Winner: Roger Federer

Women:

Can comeback girl Sharapova Clijsters take it all? Are Azarenka and Wozniacki ready to step up to the big time? Does Serena really only care about Majors? Will Elena master her serve? None of these and more may be answered, although let’s assume the wipeout trio Safina, Ivanovic and Jankovic all lose before the quarters.

Safinas’s Quarter
Seeds: Kleybanova, Schynder, Ivanovic, Lisicki, Alona Bondarenko, Jankovic
Players to watch: Rogowska, Urszula Radwanska, Rus, Groth, Wickmayer, Rodionova, Rezai
Winner: Lisicki

Dementieva’s Quarter
Seeds: Sharapova, Zheng, Petrova, Wozniacki, Cirstea, Kuznetsova
Players to watch: Pin, Hercog, Oudin, Cornet, Adamczak, Coin, Bremond, Peer, Goerges
Winner: Wozniacki

Venus Williams’s Quarter
Seeds: Azarenka, Schiavone, Li Na, Agnieszka Radwanska, Bartoli
Players to watch: Voegele, Olaru, Larcher de Brito, Johansson, Kirilenko, Clijsters, Dokic, Rybarikova, Benesova
Winner: Azarenka

Serena Williams’ Quarter
Seeds: Zvonareva, Vesnina, Mauresmo, Pennetta, Stosur, Hantuchova, Bammer
Players to watch: Chakvetadze, Malek, Mirza, Sugiyama, Glatch
Winner: Serena Williams

Final: Wozniacki vs Serena Williams

Winner: Serena Williams

Rafa and Serena in New York

Bartoli retired allowing Rybarikova through. Presumably one of those retirements where you could continue if you didn’t have a big tournament to play next week and this match is turning out to be a bit tougher than I expected.

Davydenko booted the wiz, Melzer is in a QF? Querrey rolled, Verdasco must be anxiously wondering when he can leave for New York, since he’s not ranking points obsessed like Davy.

Can anyone stop a Woz Kuz final? I’m looking at you Flavia..., Vesnina took the shine off Stosur’s recent success, Radwanska the Greater retired because she couldn’t win in two sets (see Bartoli above).

Vaidisova lost yesterday in qualifying as expected. So did Vandeweghe (thrashed), Ferguson (as usual), Vorcova (close), Moore (pathetic), Albanese (tried for one set), Bovina (Meusburger so hot right now), Diyas (brave), Fedak (ouch) and Hofmanova (just hype?)

Men to lose include Dancevic, Clement, Mahut and the other Minar. Amazingly Donald Young did win, but there are still two rounds to go...

Double Bagel for Wozniacki

Cibulkova’s out of the US Open with a right rib injury which allows Diyas into qualifying. Sharapova’s telling everyone she won’t win – won’t she look silly when she does… The tournament director looked at properly seeding Sharapova and Clijsters then decided not to. Apparently tradition is more important then common sense.

Caroline Wozniacki warmed up with a double bagel, then credited boxing with her improved play. Cornet at least tried before losing to Stosur, Mauresmo thrashed Bondarenko the Greater, Pennetta likewise Olaru (not a good day for Romanians). Molik lost in dubs.

Davydenko saw off Kendrick, Fish is struggling, Verdasco strolled and Robredo took an early shower.

Another rumour of Henin doing a Clijsters.

Magdalena Rybarikova won a match

The women (and men) are playing in New Haven. No one’s really excited with the Open next week. Just take a win or two and get out before you go too deep. The Woz and the Kuz headline and Cibulkova was too afraid of the awesome consistency of Cornet that she turned and fled (right rib injury). Cornet gets to lose to Stosur now instead. Oh and Rybarikova won a match.

The men’s tournament is nicely denuded of interest, Baghdatis lost apparently. Anyone important gets the first round off. Wait, Petzschner is important?

Minar’s on speed. This apparently isn’t allowed though for a performance enhancing drug it doesn’t seem to have helped his game much. I’m sure he picked it up kissing some girl in a nightclub though.

US Open women seeds pictorially.

US Open women’s qualifying draw.

Video: Nike for Rafa

Elena the (almost) Great

Elena the (almost) great beat up Sharapova to peak too early and prepare for her usual major meltdown. Still it must feel good to dispatch both Serena and Moody Maria even if no one will ever remember it and she’d easily trade it for a shot at real tennis glory ala the elusive major.

Fed showed the Djoker he’s still a pretender and eased predictions about Murray’s inevitable procession to major winner. Federer’s the defending champion in New York remember... and has been so for quite a while. A bit of respect please. No? Well maybe a few baby jokes then, but that’s all.

Courtside coaching, or an exercise in public humiliation?

Dokic to return (again)

Sharapova beat Bepa, the Bondarenko’s both lost, Elena struggled against Peer, Rezai lost, Jankovic beat Clijsters and Serena restored some family honour.

Qualifier Guccione’s good run ends, Hewitt beat Querrey and will play Fed, the Djoker beat Chardy, Murray slew the worm, Davy managed to lose to Simon and Nadal gets to test his knee against Berdych.

US Open WCs go to Clijsters (of course), Mladenovic (French swap), Rogowska (Aussie swap), King (why?), Glatch (why not), Cecil (who?), Brodsky (er..), McHale (fair enough).

Vandeweghe and Muhammad have to settle for qualifying WCs as does Brit Robson.

Jelena Dokic’s finally kicked mononucleosis and will play the Open cold.

Jelena Jankovic beat Patty Schnyder

Sharapova beat Bammer, young guns Cibulkova and Wozniacki exited together, the Bondarenko’s keep winning, Ivanovic hasn’t got a clue, Bepa and Elena cruised, Pennetta crashed, Jankovic won and Clijsters and Serena eased through.

Qualifier Guccione beat Tsonga, Hewitt won, Roddick did a Blake and crashed, is Roddick in trouble or Querrey improving that much? Fed won, Safin got wormed, Chardy won, Murray cruised, Davy won and Nadal plays a couple of tiebreaks.

Sharapova’s back

Sharapova’s back and Petrova must hate to see her name in the draw, Cibulkova avoided Cornet’s fate, Bondarenko the Lesser took down a sloppy Venus, Rybarikova lost to a flaky Ivanovic, Dani managed to lose two tiebreaks, Zheng beat Vesnina, Pennetta eased through against Kirilenko who had to qualify, Azarenka and Clijsters cruised.

Verdasco flopped, Guccione rewarded himself for his qualifying effort by winning against Kohlschreiber -Tsonga next though..., Hewitt beat Soderling, Blake crashed (again), Bolelli lost, Gonzo retired, Simon took three, Ferrer beat Cilic and Isner beat Haas.

Inside tennis Buzz: Nikolay Davydenko - “I will never win a major.” Justin Gimelstob tweeted that “FYI, Sam Querrey’s mom is hot.” while Serena Tweeted: “I am the worst player. And I suck big time.”…

Video: Caroline Wozniacki and Ana Ivanovic play in the street
nb. Ana won 7-3

Ivanovic and Wozniacki stop traffic in Toronto

Egyptian born local qualifier Heidi el Tabakh lost two tiebreakers to Stosur. Cornet lost to Rezai as expected, Bondarenko the Lesser won the battle of the qualifiers with Wickmayer and big sis Alona took down Bartoli who may be slumping hard. Benesova lost, Chaky lost and Schiavone dumped Mauresmo.

Cilic won, Stepanek advanced, Kiefer lost, Karlovic won the battle of the talls with Monfils, Ljubicic continued on from qualifying, WC Safin beat WC Ginepri and Simon took care of the other WC Odesnik.

Rafa’s happy to be number 3 – “3 is a very good number too”. Hmm 1 or 2 are better though. Get some anger Rafa. They took your spot!

Video: Novak Djokovic singing on the Bryan Brothers record

Murray makes number two

Andy Murray beat Del Potro to win Montreal and leapfrog Rafa into second spot. Tough play from the Scot and he must be looking good for New York, especially as rivals Fed and Jet Boy are faltering (or slowly building momentum, depending on how you look at it).

In the battle of the chokers and undeserved number ones, everyone’s former favourite whipping girl Jankovic beat current whipping girl Safina to win a title no one cared about since golden comeback girl Clijsters lost and the Williams sisters dialled in their increasingly typical non-major performance. Oh and Sharapova sat out. Good win to Jelena I guess. Now we do it all again in Toronto, but with Sharapova.

Heidi el Tabakh beat Mirza to qualify for Toronto - good for the Egyptian born local. It’s a pity Stosur will pummel her into submission. Kirilenko, Rybarikova, Safarova and Wickmayer also qualified but Radwanska the Lesser and Rodionova failed at the last hurdle.

Cornet vs Rezai tonight. Last chance for Alize to turn around her year? It's the boys’ turn to play in Cincinnati, assuming Fed and Nadal bomb out again, what chance a Murray Djokovic final? Tsonga? Tsonga who?

Hola Toro!

Rafael Nadal actually had to play a proper match – the creaky one may have won but impressed few with his level of play. Del Potro will be more of a test. Love the shirt though.

Roddick out-toughed Verdasco which is not so easy, Del Potro beat Hanescu in three, Djokovic and Murray cruised, King Kolya eased past Gonzo, Fed beat copycat Wawrinka and Tsonga managed another win.

It’s mother’s day in Cincinnati as mama Bammer upends Serena and mama Clijsters rolls on, where’s Lindsay?

Pennetta the threata took out Venus yet again and will face the (dare-we-say) re-focussed Hantuchova who overcame Zvonareva in her usual three sets way – including being bagelled in the middle. Who’d be a Dani fan? Ok, most of us...

Elena the (almost) great downed Cirstea – so much promise, but just look at Elena to see what happens if you don’t eventually breakthrough. Jankovic may be back in contention – silly dress and all, the Woz barely had to show up and Safina drew the unlucky straw and has to play Kim next.

Kim!

Clijsters for the title in a comeback dream run? Jankovic ended Kirilenko’s remote chance for happiness, Azarenka punished Chakvetadze, the new hardcourts Pennetta rolled, Bepa won, the Woz beat Wozniack, Queen of the Three Setters Hantuchova eased over Bondarenko the Greater, Is Czink having a good run or is Ivanovic just crap? Radwanska the Elder got bagelled by Bammer and Cirstea, Serena and Elena all triumphed easily.

Verdasco thrashed Mayer, Tsonga’s now back? Robredo can’t play tiebreakers, Ferrero’s on a hot streak, Roddick will be more troubled by Verdasco than Andreev, Simon got another win? Haas gave up against Gonzo? And Nadal was aided by Ferrer’s retirement.

Now it’s Mary Pierce’s turn for a comeback.

Fed’s in the pink

Federer struggled over the 487th ranked WC, Davy and Murray rolled, Hewitt crashed (to a qualifier named Juan Carlos Ferrero), Djokovic took his time and Isner won.

Safina dropped a set to Vinci, Qualifier Wickmayer took down Schiavone, Bondarenko the Greater crushed Petrova, Cibulkova provided one of those appalling scorelines where you wonder if all the hype was misplaced, Dani took to defending her Queen of the Three Setters title with glee, Kirilenko made good use of her wildcard and Szavay beat Radwanska the Lesser. Last tournament was a Radwanska sisters celebration, will it be the Bondarenko sisters this time? Though both Williams still lurk.

Sveta looks hot.

Video: Brisbane gets excited about Andy Roddick

Novak Djokovic forgot his clothes again

Simon won, Mayer won, Tursunov retired, Safin had to explain again why he’s leaving, Wawrinka beat Kiefer and did his fan squad make the trip to Canada to watch Querrey lose?

Kim Clijsters is back, CSN floundered, Cornet is in a real slump, Benesova lost, Rybarikova can’t win anything since her title breakthrough – though she has been injured..., Chakvetadze beat Vesnina and Ivanovic took her usual time.

Tennis friendships on tour.

Fed follows Rafa’s lead in going pink. I don’t think he quite gets it though...

Video: Dementieva and Clijsters playing mini tennis inside a fountain

The Federer family

Stosur trounced Cirstea, Pennetta showed Sharapova the door and the LA tournament is now officially starless. Del Potro and Roddick did their bit to ensure interest in Washington.

Roger Federer

Roger Federer has 15 Major titles



Roger Federer married Mirka Vavrinec



Roger Federer shirtless in Miami



Roger Federer practising in Melbourne 2008



Roger Federer and Serena Williams at a party



Roger Federer screams in triumph



Federer and Wawrinka celebrate winning Olympic Gold



Roger Federer marching in the Olympic Games Opening Ceremony

Switzerland's Roger Federer has now won a record fifteen majors and retaken the number one spot from nemesis Rafael Nadal, albeit while the other is injured. Recently married and now the proud parent of twin girls Myla and Charlene, at 27 years old he is in good form and looking to defend his US Open crown.

Maria Sharapova’s headband

Meeting Beckham didn’t help Wozniacki as she was booted from Los Angeles by good friend Cirstea. Stosur rolled Ivanovic, the Radwanska sisters are both advancing through the tournaments like the Williams sisters should be, Pennetta bounced Petrova, Bepa’s in the QF and Safina qualified for some tournament in Doha.

Slamin’ Sharapova took out pretender Azarenka and now Bondarenko (the Greater). It must be the headband.

Baghdatis won, Lopez won, Soderling won, Haas beat Ferrero, De Chaunac upended Tursunov, Karlovic ended Devvarman’s run and Hewitt lost to Del Potro.

Good to see all of the wildcards got double bagelled in the first round of the $50K Astana in Kazakhstan.

Magdalena Rybarikova on the WTA site.

Caroline Wozniacki meets David Beckham

Hantuchova lost to Safins, Zheng dumped Vesnina, Stosur beat Kirilenko, Chakvetadze continued her comeback, the Radwanska sisters both had good wins and Wickmayer won too.

Hewitt won, Berdych beat Ernie, Del Potro won, Karlovic beat Schuettler and Fish lost.

Alica Molik to play singles in a $25K in Darwin in September on her comeback trail that will likely see her concentrating on doubles.

Fed likes it smooth.

The Samurai apologise to Haas. Not another beer summit...

Ana Ivanovic won in Los Angeles

Ivanovic had a win, Zvonareva squeaked past Peng, Lisicki won, Hantuchova took her usual time against Oudin, Radwanska the Lesser thrashed Coin, Kirilenko managed a win and Stosur won easily.

De Chaunac won, Isner won, Ginepri lost, Cilic lost and Haas won.

Agnieszka Radwańska and Caroline Wozniacki are still very good friends.

Fernando Verdasco in Hola! magazine

Bartoli won her grudge match with Jankovic and then beat up Venus for the title. Good win for Stosur against Serena but she couldn’t go the distance. Davydenko titles again two weeks in a row. It’s a good field for Los Angeles, it would be better if any of the Williams sisters were playing.

Safarova won in LA, Bondarenko the Greater took her usual three, WC King hit Bammer, Chaky had a win, Vesnina thrashed Szavay showing the benefits of an extended (no clay) break. Stosur moved up to take the absent Bartoli’s spot and Oudin gets the LL. Wickmayer destroyed Vaidisova.

Another WC for Donald Young, thank you very much said Lleyton Hewitt.

Ashley Harkleroad to return.

Video: War and Peace, Gone with the Wind and er Twilight