Dick played a strong, smart (*gasp*) match against T-Berd to take his first Masters title since 2006 (Cincy… other weird fact, he’s never made a Masters final outside of North America). A long time coming for Andy, who has been rock solid the past two tournaments are really deserved one, beating Rafa and Fed-killer Big Berd.

Dick said after the match that he knew he needed a different plan against Berd, and that slicing was the way to go. It worked, as he broke in both sets (the first game of the second) and then could hammer away with the serve to take the match. Good call dude. Oh, and this happened.

Also, this happened:

Heh heh.

Hats (and hairpieces) off for the Wrinkley Old Knob Head, who became the oldest debut winner of a Masters tournament yesterday, at 31 years and 2 days. 31! And it’s not like he had a great draw and took oppurtunity of it, he took out Nole, Rafa, and Dick. He also becomes the first Croat to win this tournament. Another important stat: 4 tiebreaks played, 4 tiebreaks won. You can’t hope to beat top players if you can’t take them out in the big tiebreaks (case in point, Baggy) and Ljubs just plain outserved Dick yesterday to take it.

Simply put, it’s just fun. Sure, you can be pissed at the fact that he took out such glory as Pico, Nole, and Rafa, but at some point you just have to tip the hat (or walking stick). Good job old man. Go buy yourself a nice reclining chair.

“If I have to play the match of my life with doubles, I’d pick him as a partner.” – Wrinkley Old Knob Head on Rafa.

Good call, old man. Because Rafa has one tough noggin’… right? Go figure, Mr. Clean took Rafa out in a third set tiebreak, when you’d figure Rafa would be automatic. Rafa?

‘I was more nervous than passive, because I never had to arrive to this tiebreak.’ At 6-1 ‘I was destroyed mentally*’ – Rafa

Rafa… destroyed mentally? Hmm. Sounds like a brother is out of match play. It HAS been over a month. So how odd is it that Rafa might actually need the play more for the mental side than the physical side? Because the dude is moving well, and hitting shots.

But let’s just throw our hats off to Old Man Ljubs for a second. A player who was as high as number 3 four years ago… and turned 31 two days ago. THIRTY ONE. That wrinkley knob head is old in tennis terms, y’all (does he not look way fuckin’ older or what?) He’s used his experience and sensibility to make brilliant and smart shots all week long. God damn old man.

This goofball beat Sod (thanks for avenging Muzz!) in three needless sets, after being up a break and giving away two in the second set. Really, the guy is on fire with the serve, for the most part, and without Fed in the way, he’s made the final losing only one set on the way. So the new age, big server vs. the creative walking stick. Probably not what the tournament organizers were expecting, but… gooooood.

OK, OK, fine. Sod had been on fire all week. He might even beat Dick in the semis. And Muzz was absolutely USELESS. You break Sod while he’s serving for the set, then lose in the tiebreak? Why am I even bothering?

In other words, Sod has proven that last year was not a fluke. In fact, it might have been just the beginning. Run for your lives.

Not much else to say for the men. Wrinkley Knob Head took out Pico, Rafa just lost the second set to him, and Dick won 97% of his first serve points against T-Rob, which was messy business. Seriously Rafa, get this together.

Nando’s got the mojo going, with his first win over a top 10 player in forever, since AO 09 over Muzz, and losing his last 15. He got the break late in the third set against Dick and closed it out.

I’ve got to say, from the little I’ve seen of Dick this year, he seems a bit too content to just try to pull Ivos, in other words serve huge, hope for errors on return games to break, and otherwise take sets in tiebreaks, which is NOT how he was playing last year.

Still, mad props for Nando, who has been pretty solid this year and will need wins like this to get confidence and start putting the pressure on the top 10 and specifically the top 5.

Oh, and Boss slaughtered in Brazil, dropping a game in the final. And he got that trophy, which looks like it might have been left in the oven for a little too long.

Ah yes, the classic Marin post title.

According to unofficial MTR consultant AKA my roommate, and lover of all things Dick, Marin came out serving huge… however he was getting under 50% of his first serves in. But it didn’t much matter, cause Dick couldn’t deal with them, and he was winning nearly every point on his first serve. Andy also had some arm problems going on, and according to him his bottom two fingers were numb most of the match, giving him obvious problems. Still, the guy fought back to win the third and fourth set, which is mighty impressive.

Dick commented in his post-match presser that Marin really dictated play, much like Delpo or Agassi used to, by planting himself in the middle and just directing traffic. In other words, he conserves energy while his opponent is forced to work extra hard and keep up with that smokin’ backhand of his.

Personally, I have to take the time to give mad props to Marin. Sure, Elf and Dick were injured and maybe not on top of their game (apparently that’s the case with everyone these days…) but he outlasted them both and is playing solid tennis. I didn’t think that Marin would the ability to be a top 10 guy, but with that serve and growing consistency he may be dominating on hard courts a whole lot sooner than later.

Dick took on The Deli Lopez and needed an incredibly long four set beast of a match. Where has this Feli been the past six months? And in which trunk did he bury that old one?

After a solid first set win, I honestly didn’t think Feli could pull it out, but it really is nice to see him playing that well. The backhand was solid and he hit a ridiculous 101 winners in the loss.

Dick’s game is looking rather curious. His serve has been generally mild but he HAS busted out the bombs when he needed them. His fitness is definitely solid and he looks comfortable out there. And he really does have a solid chance to make the semis, as he has Gonzo next and then possibly Elf or Marin, both possible victories. Hmm. I have nothing else to say. Keep an eye out, folks. (ESPN will do it for you anyway.)

The United Arab Emirates has said they will rather ironically (considering what’s been going on in Auckland and the original ridiculousness) be granting Shahar a visa to get in to the country to play Dubai, home of the recently opened world’s biggest phallic symbol. And even more ironically, Captain Phallus himself, Dick, will be playing now too. No news on whether or not Venus will be getting another award.

Dude, I know Lacoste had to send you all new clothes and all that, and they look good on you, really. But the price tag thing is still stuck in that fancy hat of yours. I know its not your normal old, gross, sweat stained one… but come on man!

This post serves two purposes: one, to wrap up his year, and two, to yes, acknowledge that he won’t actually be in London. Its kind of too bad, to be honest, he’s had a great year. The point of these is to wrap up the top players year, and I might do a Sod one if I get time/am interested. Dick’s year can probably be summed up in one interesting stat. His record against Fed, Elf, and Rafa? 0-7.

Tournaments Won in 2009: Regions Morgan Keegan Championships
Year End Ranking Points: 4410

The Land of Oz and American Hard Stuff

Dick’s season got off to a solid start, taking out Monf in the semis of Qatar before falling to Muzz in three in the finals. He then went to Australia, tore up T-Rob, forced defending champ Nole to retire after taking the second and third set, and was then ripped in half by Fed in the semis, in straights. As the top seed in San Jose, he fell to Steps (I mean wut?) in the final, in three sets. He then turned around and got revenge the next week in Memphis, where yes, he beat The Sex in the finals, this time in straights. He had a convincing win over Nole in the quarters of Miami, but then fell to Rafa in straights in the semis. And then of course was Miami, with the classic ACE HIS ASS quarter final loss to Fed.

Gettin’ Dirty

Figure this out: Dick played more matches at Wimbledon than he did on clay. Something tells me he might prefer grass to clay… hmm. Only Madrid and the French, quarterfinal loss to Fed (re-occurring theme) and a “you’re not good enough to be that cocky… but you still beat my sorry ass in straight sets” loss to Monf in the fourth round of the French, which is actually a pretty solid result for him.

High On Grass

Or you know, low on grass… first Queens, where he retired to Blah in the semis at 4-4. Then of course came Wimbledon. Many people actually don’t remember his tight 5 set win (6-4 in the fifth) over fellow flat serving, hat wearing, fist-pumping whitey the Rusty Lawnmower, which was actually a really entertaining match, from what I saw. Of course he then took out home favourite Muzz in a really tight and entertaining match (even if it wasn’t the outcome I or everyone in the stands wanted). And then yes, 16-14 to Fed, in the longest fifth set of a final in Wimbley history.

Hard For America

Andy’s year is pretty sparse after Wimbledon, with a crazy third set tiebreak loss to Elf in the Washington final (I was in Toronto, definitely need to watch the final set of this match over Christmas, methinks) and then again to a hard fighting Elf in Montreal, after basically losing his shit in the third set (and beating Fer and Nole in previous rounds). Then the really weird shit. An opening round loss to Sammy Q in Cincinnati (two tiebreak sets) and then of course the absolutely ridonkulous loss to big man Tree in the third round of the USO, where he was seen as a serious contender.

Asia and Beyond

Yeah, not much Asia, and not much beyond. He fell to Kubot in the first round of Beijing, retired in his first match in Shanghai, and hasn’t played since, due to a left knee injury, which despite all his complaining about the length of the season and the injuries it induces RIGHT before hand, seems pretty legit. This is his 7th time in a row qualifying for the WTFs, by the way, an event which he has never wo.