For those who follow me on Twitter, you’ve seen that I’ve had a whole lot of homework (read: complaining) to do. The majority of it is done, however, save for exams at the end of April. Which means I have tons of time to blog and not feel guilty! Heyo! So I should be back until the next time I have way too much homework. So like, November.

Watched the Caro match last night, really solid win, A-Rad is a player who she SHOULD beat. Also have go give props to the JZ/Caro match the other night, which was one of the most high quality WTA matches I’ve seen all year. JZ’s backhand was on fire, and the whole thing was just a total war. Regardless, Caro looks like she’s trimmed down a bit, put on some muscle, and it’s starting to pay off. Glad she’s not turning into JJ from last year. Speaking of which…

JJ has really proven herself this week, in my eyes. I didn’t see her matches against Kleybs or Superhero Sam, but both those players looked on their games (especially Sam, who hadn’t dropped a set all tournament) but JJ took both of them out. So word to that woman. Hard to save the favourite in the final is, really. JJ has beaten much tougher opponents… but Caro is looking hella determined. Regardless, great tournament for both.

It was business as usual for the ladies yesterday… or perhaps business as unusual, as pretty well everyone who should have won yesterday did so. Caro, probably for the first time this year, looked like her old self, really hitting the ball, spreading Kiri out, and hitting some big serves (she went for an ace down the line on the ad court at one point and just missed wide, it was weird) and threw a bagel and 3 at Kiri. Ouch. Maybe now that Nails is out of her way, she’s believing. She’ll take on Nads next.

Birthday girl Aravane took out Franny, and Lena, A-Rad (bagel and ‘sticking Dulkbag), Mono and Molik all won.

Yesterday’s biggest “Performance Of The Day… Brought to you by Balls To The Wall©” is from the lil’ scrapper, JZ, who continues to prove that no opponent is too big (or too tall) for her this year. Taking out Masha in three (ridiculously long) sets, she sets up a fourth round meeting with Alicia Molik. So basically, she should be top 5 in the early WTA YEC race by the end of the tourney, if she isn’t already.

Sucks for Masha though, who apparently was feeling more right elbow pain, just as in USO, and she’s not exactly one to make excuses. It might explain her TEN THOUSAND (read 14) double faults, and just one ace. At one point, break point, she took extra long on a second serve, and proceeded to flop it into the net. Something was definitely up. I’d say the bottom half’s remaining 8 has shaped up quite nicely, overall.

The MRI results are in. One of those babies is broken. I’m thinking you probably shouldn’t have played this tournament, and waited for the results. Because that doesn’t look very kind to either of your wrists.

Kolya is out up to 3 months, and is getting a soft cast put on. Probably missing the whole clay season. Again. Freaking crap. Get well, Playstation.

Hell of a match (read: first set) by The Cyprus Tourism Board and Clementine, who shelled out an absolute war of attrition first set that took nearly an hour and a half. At 5-all they reached some 9 or 10 deuces, went to deuce at 5-6, and Baggy finally took the damn thing in the tiebreak at 9-7 (saving many set points on the way). Wowza. Not surprisingly, Arnaud kinda called it a day after that. Still, mad props to Baggy’s focus, who at 6-6 in the tiebreak, had an Arnaud serve get called out only to be overruled by the chair as an ace. He came back and fired an ace and an unreturnable serve, and then got the mini-break and the set. He’s moving great and is looking really in shape.

He gets rewarded by getting Fed next round. Regardless, I’d expect it to at least be competitive, and who really knows where Fed’s at after the whole sticky lung thing.

…On my beach at night.

Wow Marin, just wow. Doesn’t like Indian Wells hospitality? Misses his real coach? Tired from Davis Cup? Just simply doesn’t give a fuck?

Marin won one point in the first set tiebreak against GarLo, and then proceeded to not give a rat’s ass in the second set… quite honestly the worst lack of effort by a top 10 player that I’ve seen in a long time. I don’t know what the final unforced error count was for him in that set, but the number is probably too big for this blog.

I’d be tempted to say “oh, he’s tired from Davis Cup”… but it’s a WEEK later. He’s played a lot this year, no doubt, but dude, you’re a top 10 player, this is Indian Wells, a Masters tournament, this is what you get up in the morning for. Sad times.

This goofball also managed to eat a Fish bagel in the second set. Unless it’s salmon, whole grain, and cheese, sounds disgusting at best. Apparently Fish was arguing with Mo, however, and once you tip the Scales of Mo against you, there’s really not a whole lot you can do. Nole tossed a 2 (to go with his first set ‘stick) in the third and took it home. Good boy.

Nothing else too crazy for the dudes really, other than Gilles losing, which is unfortunately not too surprising these days. Poor guy. Rafa of course made a solid return, which is good. OOP today is far from delicious (or even as good as yesterday) however, the possible wind and drama might get the better of some players, so definitely keep a look out. Most of the interesting matches are on the ladies’ side (Caro/Kiri!). Can check the OOP here.

There’s been calls to “take a break”. To spend more time on the practice court. To get more match play in. To try crystal meth. Everything under the sun including taking a trip to the end of the rainbow has been suggested for poor Ana, and now perhaps the most crazy thing has happened, something no one figured would happen.

She’s out of the top 50. And she’s cool with it. In fact, she’s confident. Yeah, you read that all right. My main suggestion was getting a full time coach, and I think she got one just in time. Last year was a year of pain… minus Indian Wells, where she made the final, and got most of her ranking points from. A second round loss this time around means there isn’t a whole lot left lying around. Perhaps this pic best sums it up best. Ana, still being invited to players parties and big time events… yet is now somehow magically ranked lower than a struggling Sorana Banana. Oh dear.

Yet she remains confident and upbeat about her game. Good. Because now that you’re out of the top 50, you’ve seriously got shit to prove now. Here’s hoping she DOES take an Andre route, maybe not as low as the ITF stuff, but some International events, work on the ranking, and work on beating players that she can and should beat.

According to @donkeygrooming Sven (is the nicest guy ever, go figure) and was really sad about Ana. There, there Omniscient One. You have done all you can.

This also happened. The shit? A 3 sets loss to CSN, and 1-6 in the third none the less. Apparently Kuz tried to break her racquet at the end, and failed. How Marcos of you. Seriously, she never gets this angry. It must be the wind… that, or there’s something in the wind. There’s drama all around the grounds.

Official Site: Here
Main Draw: Men and Women
Probable ATP Quarters: Fed/Dick, Muzz/Sod, Rafa/Kolya, Nole/Marin
Probable WTA Quarters: Kuz/JJ, Superhero/Vika, A-Rad/Lena, Caro/Nails

Who the hell knows with this draw, really. Kuz gets Kim, A-Rad gets Justine, Caro hasn’t been able to figure out Nails… though Nails also gets Masha. It’s really just a mess. The only two you can really look at and figure have a decent draw are Lena and Vika. But you already have your tennis pool teams, so it’s not like you need any advice at this point. Have fun people.

In my opinion, the Fed/Dick and Nole/Marin quarters are very likely to happen. Nole and Marin especially have really quite incredibly easy draws when compared to other players.

I’m not really feeling Sod or Kolya right now, however. Sod, we’ll see. Kolya with his wrist injury… I actually think an upset to Ernie could be possible, he’s looked great at the beginning of the year and is confident. We’ll see. Rafa has been moving well apparently, and he’s got a title to defend, so he should be determined as ever.

I’m pegging Fed/Muzz and Rafa/Nole semis with Muzz over Nole in the final. But who the hell am I?

For those few avid readers that I have (I still don’t get how I’m getting hits after not posting for about a zillion days) I figured I’d offer up an update. First off, I’ve been sick for the past several days (wah wah woe is me) which is one of the reasons I haven’t posted much. Mostly, however, I’m in the middle of the magical period for a student where all hell breaks lose, and seemingly everyone is saying “I have seven things in two weeks and I have no idea how I’m going to get them all done.” Ah, fun times. This hilarious hell continues on for the next two weeks for me, which coincides perfectly with Indian Wells. Perfectly you ask? Ah yes.

Go read Forty Deuce. I’m likely not introducing you to the brilliance that is C Note, however, it must be noted that the coverage of IW last year absolutely killed it. There’s few things that get tennis nerds more excited than visiting a big tournament and watching their faves play. We’re like kids in a candy store on Christmas while hopped up on crack. Yeah, all at the same time. It’s kickass.

So not only should I not be trying to blog because of all the work I have, I should also not be trying to blog because the FD Queen is where it’s going to be at for IW, folks. Realistically, I’m still going to catch some action (I cried tears of joy watching such high quality tennis of Nole/Tree on Sunday) but unless I have the time and something half-intelligent or funny to say, I won’t bother saying it. Oh, and I’ll have a “The Week (And A Half) Ahead” post tonight since both draws will be out. As of next Friday, I have basically nothing left save for exams though, and then I’ll be blogging the living shit out of everything. Have a fun IW everyone!

Here he is to save the day! You might have been wondering (or not) how exactly Nalby has been doing after he pulled out of Buenos Aires after looking decently impressive and getting around the court quite well. Turns out he’s actually good to go for some ballin’ D Cup action and will likely be used in doubles and in a Sunday singles rubber.

This actually adds a whole new dimension to the tie. If the Argies throw Mayer against the non-Sod Swede, they could end Friday 1-1. If they were to win the doubles, they could then throw him to the wolves (AKA Sod) and use Nalby to finish things against the Swedish no-name. However, if the Argies are 1-2 going into Sunday, they’ll likely need to throw Nalby against Sod… hmm. This shit could get interesting. Damn you Sod!

JJ dropped out in the opening round of Monterrey to some human being by the name of Anastasija Sevastova in 3 sets. Ana fans can at least be hopeful, with her new coach and all that, and even though she can’t toss a ball, I’m pretty sure she could beat the 72nd ranked player in the world (pretty sure.) These girls really need to figure out what the hell is going on. JJ is far from the automatic player she used to be.

And in other saddening news, Sorana Banana was dumped out by Errani 2 and 3 and has won one match on tour all year. Girl, it’s March. Sigh.