[alexosnasos2]

WELL, baby nelslus and I made it out to Winnetka today for some of the first day's qualifying matches. What we found that was interesting is that the qualifying field is not nearly as international as has been true the last couple of years that we have been going- a lot of Asian players played qualifying last year, for example. Also- thanks to Wimbledon, we won't be seeing Jessie Levine (still celebrating getting to the third round, we suspect) and Prakash (son of Vijay) Amitraj, who's still in the Wimbledon doubles. Hopefully, we will get to see Wimbledon qualifiers Michael Yani and the extremely yummy (at least he better still be yummy) "My Name Is" Luka ("I Live On The Second Floor....") Gregorc- as they are listed in the main draw. AND- Isner, Donald Young (- shouldn't have to still be showing up to joints like Winnetka, Donald), Rajeev Ram, Spadea (....zzzz.....), Scoville Jenkins, Warburg and Okun (amongst others) are all listed in the main draw.

The level of tennis we saw was far better than what we've been used to seeing during qualifying matches. This was particularly impressive, as there was a nasty and REAL unpredictable wind throughout the matches that we saw. The wind was WONDERFUL for spectators since it was a hot day here- but, not so much fun for the players. Plus, it's been common for fairly Tailgate-tourny-level players to somehow find their way into Wild Cards for the Winnetka qualifying draws in the past. Probably true this year, too....maybe we just got lucky. In any case, as for what we saw today (all second round qualifying matches- seeds and Edelfsen got first round byes):

Niemeyer (top seed in the qualifying draw) d. Edelfsen 4-6, 7-6(8), 6-4. We saw the last two sets of this match. From what we saw, it was a very even match- albeit, Edelfsen was mostly the better player throughout the match, as Niemeyer was really struggling with the wind- and his being a Mr. Grumpypants. Edelfsen had two match points in the second set tiebreaker- but just got too tentative both times- a recurring theme for him with just about all big points. Edelfsen then played his worst two points in these two sets to get broken from 30-all to lose the match.

Czerwinski d. Rubin (8th seed in the qualifying draw- albeit he's listed as being ranked 961) (HEY, this IS Winnetka, folks) 6-1, 7-6(3). We saw most of the second set. Czerwinski just has a lovely game- very nice one handed backhand, good volley and serve- and not a bad looker. A WAY better player than you'd expect for someone whose highest ranking listed in the ITF site is 1133.....in November of 2007. (We're such geeks that we can't wait to run home and get on the computer to look up some of these scrubs every year. ) Probably should have been an easier score for Czerwinski- but, he was down a break at first in the second set, so at least he took it in straights. Played a terrific tiebreaker, except for the first two points after going up 6-1 in the tiebreaker- which were just REAL nervous errors. Then, served an ace, and that was that. It must also be noted that Michael Rubin is the rare human who would give Jessie a truly rare chance to feel like a giant (OH, YES, nelslus WENT there )- WHAT a shrimpy.

Fruttero d. Matsui (4th seed in the qualifying draw), 6-1, 3-6, 6-3. We saw the last two sets- after Matsui took a LONG potty break after the first set. Matsui was, ahem, very AN-o-mated throughout the second set. Just put a TON of energy into EVERYTHING, good and bad. Grunts and noises while hitting and/or getting to every shot, barking out encouragements after winners or self-deprication after losing points. And quite the potty-mouth. Lots of REAL borderline gamemanship there. Then, in the third set- while Matsui maintained his momentum to be up 3-1 in the third, which included two REAL long games- he suddenly completely ran out of steam. Maybe was on and off ill in the match- which would explain the long potty break? Probably it had the most to do with that he expends WAY too much energy on EVERYTHING- and how many times can we see this with players- especially those who keep underachieving in their careers? (See Jenkins, Scoville and Gimelstob, Justin )

Fruttero on the other hand, while he, for example, could get upset at times like all players- was consistently a gentleman on the court. What a concept- thanking the ball kids every time they did anything for him. (A ton of ball kids swarmed him for autographs after the match- go figure.) His attitude is the opposite of his game- very, VERY hit and miss. Can just wack the hell out of the ball- which works the best for him when it stays in the court. Not the best volleyer out there to say the least- BUT, I admired that he just kept coming.

AND, folks- even with a little bit of facial bad skin/acne (I think? Didn't get THAT close) (DAMN it) issues and not quite enough junk in the trunk for nelslus- WHAT A BABE! REALLY nice face- and, let's just say that Mr. Fruttero has worked the weight room with that upper body, BABY!!!!! To the extreme that, admittedly, Mr. Fruttero even has a bit of man-boobs. Which nelslus found unexpectedly and disturbingly to be erotic. (Be fair now. Trust me, kids, after you've been monogamous for over 14 years and counting, your, ahem, perspective just changes. Your random 22- 55 year old Walgreen's checkout guy- or, oh, heck, an Archie comic- might just give ya wood.)

As I've noted in past years- qualifying matches in these challenger tournaments just continue to be fascinating psychologically. The differences between players ranked 300- 1,133 can look REAL miniscule. And, what causes some to then have breakthroughs, while 98%+ never do.....

WELL, enough. I'll post more- if, frankly, I'm in the mood to do so the rest of this week.