Close, but no cigar.

In one of the best matches of the tournament, Maria and Serena probably should have ordered to double up on ball changes, as they both came out ripping the cover off the ball.

Masha is back. She was going to need to come out fearless. Check. She was going to have to work the big forehand. Check. She was going to have to stay away from key double faults. Not so check. Make no mistake, Serena played amazingly, but Masha essentially gave the match away at key points. A double fault at 9-all in the first set tiebreak gave Serena a set point, which she took with an ace. Maria also double faulted twice in a row on her serve in the second set at 15-all, gifting two break points. Champions don’t waste those oppurtunities. That was the match.

Not that Serena didn’t play well. She saved several set points in the first set tiebreak, was destroying second serves, and moving incredibly well. Even if those double faults didn’t happen, she still likely would have found a way to win. It’s just too bad it went down the way it did.

Serena gets Nails next round, who crushed A-Rad and has been quietly having a fantastic grass season. She beat Maria in the Birmingham final, so in theory she should give Serena a test. Expect a fight.

1. It is Possible to Have a Rainless Week: Insanity. Gorgeous, rainless weather all week long. Smooth as can be. The weather for the week isn’t bad, and it’s clear and warm for Monday, most importantly.

2. Grass is Still Grass: Dick had some good points. For as much talk as there has been in the past years about how Wimbledon is slowing down, it’s been pretty damn fast the past two years. Last year was incredibly hot. This year has been hot and dry. Dry meaning that most of the courts have had the shit kicked out of them and we’re only a week in.

3. The Sisters Are Slammin’: Serena has yet to drop serve, and Venus is looking as dangerous as ever. Both have the serves working, both are simply overpowering and destroying their opponents. So far. Still, they remain the ones to beat at Wimbley.

4. Fedal Looking Shakey: Fed had to come back from 2 sets down, Rafa has had to come back from 2-1 sets down… twice. Fed also dropped another set. They’ve been far from automatic. While Fed seems to have gotten his stuff together, both Fed and Rafa remain on upset watch for the rest of the tournament.

5. The Andys Aren’t: Dick hasn’t been automatic, but he’s comfortable and confident. Muzz has been automatic. The two remain bigger favourites, in my eye, than Fedal.

6. The British Press Are Paying Attention Now: So England lost. They even gave themselves about 24 hours to get their asses back to write silly thing about how Muzz is letting everyone down. Fun.

7. It’s Anyone’s Tournament: There was a weird vibe, I thought, coming into Wimbledon. A vibe that just about anything could happen. Maybe it was Fed’s quiet collapse in the quarters to Sod, maybe it was the Sam/Franny final. But with Fed, Rafa, and Dick all dropping sets, and so many huge names left on the women’s side, it’s still anyone’s tournament heading into the second week.

8. We Won’t Ever See That Again: The adjective bank is empty. Thanks Isnut. That was [insert large adjective here].

9. Sunday Off Isn’t Always So Bad: It always kind of annoys me. I specifically remember being in such a manic state for Wimbledon, and the day off left me like a crack addict going cold turkey. This year, I’ve been working more, and they only give me tennis for half my weekend. Pssh. Luckily I lucked out and got Monday off. And what a Monday it is. Everyone plays. Masha/Serena. Kim/JuJu. Sam/Muzz. Nole/Lleyton. Bring it on.

10. No More No Names: It might be an all Williams final, but there won’t be any Sam/Franny madness this slam. Masha, Kim and JuJu are all still hanging around. Hell, so is Caro. Expect two big names in the women’s final, whoever it is.

If there’s one thing for certain on the women’s side, heading into the second week, it’s that Serena is the player to beat. Period.

She’s exploded out of the gate in all three matches, and today was the same against Domi, where she won 6-0, 7-5. While she was upset with her play in the second set, there wasn’t much reason to be. She has yet to drop serve all tournament, and the forehand is looking explosive.

Up next is Masha on Monday, who still isn’t fully consistent, especially with the low balls, but is absolutely ripping the cover off the ball. She seems pretty content with clobbering her opponent into oblivion. A strategy that obviously won’t work on Monday, but there is going to be some seriously hard hitting, high quality tennis in what is surely one of the big matches next week.

Someone had to win. Cruel, unfair… yes. But eventually the longest tennis match ever was going to end.

I’ve got to say, these guys looked incredibly fresh coming out of the gates, considering. Were this the start of any other match, I would have been a bit curious, but both had their serves working, and both definitely had all the pieces clicking. Perhaps it’s most fitting that the match came to end in one of the cruelest ways to be broken: after wasting an opportunity.

Fast forward to 68-68. An error from Tree, and a massive forehand winner from Mahut at the centre of the court gives him 0-30. The crowd starts getting louder. Tree takes his time. There’s a serious buzz in the air. Tree then promptly steps to the line to fire his 112th ace. A 135mp/h shot down the tee. Some players rarely serve around that speed, let alone entering the eleventh hour of a match.

Another unreturnable, and more big serving get Tree those precious four points in a row to hold. 68-69. That means a changeover, silly!

And so Mahut was forced to sit down and think about the wasted opportunity. And that’s when the match entered it’s metaphorical and literal eleventh hour.

It was going to be a mental lapse, it had to be. For Mahut, it was a botched drop shot at 15-15 that would have been a winner even if it was the worst drop shot he had ever played. Tree was badly out of position behind the baseline and falling over. Instead he rushed it, and plopped it into the net. A massive winner from Tree gave him match point, and he didn’t waste it, firing a cross-court winner past Mahut at the net.

“The guy is an absolute warrior. It stinks someone had to lose. To be able to share this day with him was an absolute honor.”

Warm fuzzies. I’ve always been a Tree fan, I think it’s pretty obvious in my writing (and Twitter feed). He just seems like a solid, likable guy. I also like his game. He’s a big server, sure, but there’s other aspects to his game. He’s also able to do one of my most favourite of things, in smacking a huge serve that’s returned halfway, and then stepping up and hammering it for a forehand winner.

Does he have a chance for the rest of the tournament? Who knows. He’s been holding serve for more than 80 games in a row now.

Q. John and Mahut are in an incredible marathon. You had your marathon last year. What happens when you get deep into a fifth set and it just goes on and on? Do you go to a different place? Is it harder to focus?

ANDY RODDICK: I played a couple. Obviously last year, Davis Cup with Tursunov, the El Aynaoui match way back when.
It’s so important to stay there mentally, especially on grass. You know, you got to harp on those first points of every service game, try to get that. Love‑15, 15‑30, that starts becoming dicey. So they’re doing a pretty good job of putting themselves in good position as far as serving with a lead.
Beyond that, you know, you always kind of try to convince yourself it’s only going to be another 10 or 15 minutes, even if you might not believe it at the time.

Q. What’s given you that better attitude on grass than you had earlier?
KIM CLIJSTERS: I don’t know. I think probably the biggest difference that I can think of is in the past, uhm, obviously I was probably playing the French Open, you know, about two weeks before or a week before I was starting on grass. And I think the adjustment was something that took me a little bit longer. By the time that I felt that I was, you know, feeling comfortable on clay, you know, we were moving on to different surface, grass. I think maybe it took me a little bit longer.
I think now, not being in Paris, was frustrating, but I think maybe it’s helped me to adjust a little bit faster on grass.

Q. Having that in mind, do you think it does make some sense to have a fifth set tiebreak like the US Open?
ROGER FEDERER: I think it’s perfect the way it is. It’s unfortunate these guys are going to be a little bit tired tomorrow and the next day and the next week and the next month. I’ve been following this as closely as I could. I walked on court at about 11 All in the fifth. They’re still going. This is absolutely amazing, yeah.
I mean, in a way, I wish I was them, in some ways I wish I wasn’t them. So this is a very special match. I hope somehow this is going to end. I don’t know. They’ll be fresh again tomorrow, I guess. If they have to come back, it’s unbelievable. I don’t know what to say.

Q. Kim says she likes being at Wimbledon because you can set up a family home and go around.
JUSTINE HENIN: Yeah. Yeah, I love. But I see this differently than in the past. I don’t know. It’s like I really open my eyes now. In the past, after the French, usually I’ve played well at the French, and emotionally I was coming here with a lot of pressure. I was No. 1 also at that time.
Now I see really things differently. I mean, I’ve played on Court No. 2. I thought it’s beautiful court and a lot of things have changed. But the atmosphere is just fantastic. You really feel the passion of the game.
It’s true, being at home, that gives something different. At the middle of the season, that’s what you need because it’s already a few tournaments behind you. It’s good that you feel, yeah, with my family also. My sister arrived today, so it’s a nice feeling.

So said a commentator. No kidding.

Move over sexy doctor visit. You too, guy who had to win 24-22 just to qualify. Wait… bloody hell, that’s the same guy!

Here’s the breakdown. The longest match in history. The fifth set outlasted the longest match ever just by itself. No match had ever gone to the 7th hour mark, this one is two minutes away from the 10th. 59-59.

Both shattered the aces record, which was previously 78 by Ivo. Tree had 98, Mahut 94. In fact, in that Davis Cup match where Ivo had 78, even if you combined his aces with Steps’ 18, they’re still 2 short of Tree from today. Tree had over 200 combined unreturnable serves. It was like when McGuire and Sosa both shattered the home runs record together. Something was seriously messed up. (I’m not implying that these guys are on steroids!)

And it’s not done.

I watched some snippets of it tonight, and it’s absolutely hilarious to listen to the commentary. At 37-38, they noted “every step seems an effort”, referring to Isner (it actually kind of reminded me of Delpo at the beginning of a match, but whatever). 20 games later at 48-49 they noted that Isner clearly had more strength left. Most people have referred to them as zombies by the end of the set, and that’s probably the best description. I can’t even imagine doing one thing for seven hours without really having anyone to talk to, let alone playing tennis for that long and having to concentrate, keep moving, and all that fun stuff.

By the end of it, both looked beyond drained. Exhausted. Brain dead. Only Sven knows what was going through their head as they stepped up to the challenge of holding serve for the 50th some odd time. “Alright, first serves. Just gotta hold here. Keep ‘em in. Is it bedtime yet?… Focus!”

Extra props have to be given to Mahut, who played catch-up for 7 hours today. Think about that. 59 times he had to hold serve to stay in the match. 59 times he held.

And so this first round match that started Tuesday will continue on Thursday, at Court 18. I hope they don’t break the scoreboard again.

“There is something seriously bad with him right now”

Yeah, his beard.

Heyo!

The rumour mill is on the run, and apparently Feli was overheard saying this to an ATP official. What’s the problem? Can’t decide on which of six women to go with? Or that no matter how unattractive you try to make yourself, you still get more girls than the rest of the ATP combined?

OK, I kid. I ripped on Fer for the whole “Caro cheek grab” (well that sounds weird…) incident. And let’s be honest, none of us really knew what was going on in that conversation (or possibly don’t want to know). Regardless, there’s gotta be something seriously wrong to lost to Foghat on grass in the first round.

Q. In your own mind, was this the start of the defense of your title, the title you couldn’t defend last year?
RAFAEL NADAL: I don’t have to defend nothing, no one point. All the points are in positive for me in this tournament. I go day to day. For me was a very good victory today. Was difficult opponent, I think. And, sure, next round it will be very difficult against very dangerous serve like Robir Haase.
I don’t feel like a defense of the title. Roger has to defend that. I have the chance to defend 2008. I didn’t play for the knee. So that’s the sport. Right now I gonna try my best.

Q. Physically, how are you at this point?
JAMES BLAKE: The knee is not great. If it doesn’t get better soon, I’m not sure how much longer I want to play in pain.
I’m doing my best. We’re doing everything we can. It’s just getting pretty frustrating. We’re trying everything, so hopefully soon we’ll find the solution and make it so it’s better.

Q. Is that as good as you’ve felt since Melbourne?
ANDY MURRAY: I don’t know. I felt I was definitely in the right frame of mind for the match. You know, I felt when I went behind, I mean, it’s not the best start, but I felt calm, you know. Just, you know, found a way to get myself back into the match.
So I wouldn’t say it’s the best that I’ve felt since Melbourne, but it’s a good start.
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There was a lot of talk around Sam heading into this Wimbledon. How would she do? Sure, that kick serve won’t work too well, but what about the power and the consistency? It’s the WTA, who knows?! Hell, I had my doubts, hence leaving her off my seedings.

But I don’t think anyone saw her losing to the 2009 Freefaller.

She who could do nothing wrong lost to she who could do nothing right. Lately, anyway. I guess that’s how tennis works. 6-4, 6-4 for Kaia Kanepi. It must be the white. A superhero can’t be told what their costume will be. Besides, white is so bland, and impossible to sneak around in. Pssh, Wimbledon. What do you know?

This also means that both Roland Garros finalists are out in the first round of Wimbledon. I’m not sure the last time the two finalists of a grand slam turned around and lost in the first round of the next one, but considering Serena has never lost in the first round of a slam, I’m guessing it’s been a long, long time.

Burrito bagel? That actually sounds kind of interesting.

Unlike some top seeds, Serena wasn’t much interested in wasting time, with a doubles match to play later on in the day. She devoured Burrito whole, 6-0, 6-4. She still hasn’t lost in the first round of a slam. Ever. The good news for the rest of the field is that Burrito has toned down the dying cat sounds. The bad news is that Serena is looking killer, so far.

Who’s that sexy cat? Rafa back in Wimby whites. It feels so right. Yeah, he won in straight sets too, and looks like he hasn’t lost the beat on grass. Nom.