[slima]

Have fun.

Good luck to Kuznetsov!

jj

[alexosnasos2]

WELL, unless it rains around here- my man and I WILL get to see some live tennis over the next few days, no matter what.

Last year, we found out too late that there is a Challenger tournament played every year close to our home, in Winnetka, Illinois. We shall be there this year.....not making that mistake again. Qualifying is tomorrow (assuming that it doesn't rain here, too), and we're gonna go as often as we can during the next week.

Granted, it ain't gonna be Federer/Nadal.....but, names I've heard of who are supposed to play include Kendrick, Scoville Jenkins, Kuznetsov (TOLD you she was really a boy), Alex "former Mr. Ashley Harkleroad" Bogomolov, Jr., Zack Fleishman, Paul Goldstein, Bobby Reynolds, etc., etc. And, Sam Querrey apparently won the thing last year. We are totally geeked about this- although of course I shall carry my Venus Upset Stomach with me to this tournament.
'Tis always a grand time in the TAT Tennis Nerd Universe.

P.S.- Of course I'll be sure to hand out my Scotty business cards to the Boys of the ATP. Gotta always be on the lookout to drum up business for my stable of strumpets.

[alexosnasos2]

Nelslus is frankly shocked that you all are so hung up on this silly Wimbledon tournament- WHA-EVAH- when baby nelslus and nelslus have been attending the latest and MUCH more relevant Winnetka Challenger tournament.

Just a few tidbits:

*Most importantly, there have been two players that nelslus has seen so far that send nelslus' naughty bits heart atwitter- Slovakian Luka Gregorc and American Todd Paul. BABIES GOT BACK. Serve them up on a nelslus platter for a nelslus FEAST if of course nelslus were single, of course, nelslus sez.

*As there was much rain on Sunday, we had to see some matches indoors. Which, as nice as the tennis complex is in Winnetka, gave me the feeling of watching a zoo filled with tennis players. A bunch of us tennis nerds were watching these indoor matches behind glass pretty much- almost no sound except for one court where you could hear the ball. Mind you, this now qualifies this post as "You Know You're A Tennis Fan...."

*It's so sad seeing some names who had to try to QUALIFY for this tournament. Example I have heard of- 32 year old Cecil Mamiit (ranked as high as 72, in 1999) and eternal-qualifier Phillip Simmonds.

*Players who dropped out thanks to Wimbledon apparently were Kevin Anderson and Bobby Reynolds.

*Players in the main draw include VINCE FREAKIN' SPADEA (we saw him briefly practicing- beyond-goofy cap-and-clothes and all that- and expect to see him play in a match tonight), Robert Kendrick, Amer Delic, Rajeev Ram, Brendan Evans, Frederic Niemeyer and Scoville Jenkins.

*If you really want some fascinating psychological battles- GET thee to a challenger tournament, if you ever get the chance. You'll see players who pretty much have all of the skills- EXCEPT they're lacking when to use these skills, or they appear to be focused on maintaining their current status but not getting to the next level, or there is just ONE glaring weakness.....

To use the examples of the aforementioned gentlemen (and note that, to qualify, players had to play two matches on Sunday, and then win another match on Monday just to qualify- only four qualifying slots available)- Todd Paul has a lot of skills- but only one option on the backhand- slice, slice, slice, slice. SHHHHEEEEESH. We still got to see him save match points against Michael McClune- mostly out of sheer guts and desire. McClune was the better player almost all of this match- but, Paul just hung in there- and, to be fair, he was using the not-exactly-multidimensional-backhand effectively at the end. (All ultimately for naught- lost in the final round of qualifying to Phillip Simmonds 1 & 2.)

Re: Mr. Gregorc- who according to the ITF site BTW has had fairly recent respectable losses to the likes of Davydenko, Hewitt and Mad Max (and of course otherwise has had mucho losses and some wins in the challenger fields)- in his second round qualifying match against Russian-born American (if we heard this right- again, we were behind freakin' glass) Nikita Kryvonos, he managed to serve SIX DOUBLE FAULTS IN ONE GAME. AND. HELD. (He ended up winning this match 6-4, 6-7 (4), 6-3, and then apparently qualifed on Monday (didn't see this) 6 & 3.)

*The player we saw in qualifying who impressed us the most was Dane Martin Pedersen. He was hitting the HELL out of the ball, both sides. Of course, he ended up not qualifying.

*Last night, in main draw matches, we saw the end of Ryan Sweeting destroying Stoppini 2 & 2, and the complete match of second seed Japanese player 24 year old Go Soeda beating American Wild Card Ryan Preston 4 & 5.

Note that Go (did nelslus resist the urge to share thousands upon veritable thousands of comic masterpieces involving the term "Go" with baby nelslus last night? WHY, no, nelslus did NOT resist this temptation, thank you SO much for asking ) is currently ranked 124th- and did apparently try to qualify for Wimbledon- winning one match. (Thus, his appearance in Winnetka.) He's won quite a bit on the challenger tour lately- and done Davis Cup for Japan and all. But- with what we saw- it's just hard to see him going much further. I mean- I respect the hell out of anyone ranked 124 in the world. But, he just let the currently-unranked (with a career high of 1,004 back in April of 2007) hang in there over and over again. Pretty much won just keeping the ball in play a bit more- in a match that was so boring it would have made Conchita vs. Amanda blush. I mean, solid baseline play, with of course no clue of what to do the few times Preston drew him to the net (which would have been a great play more often.)

*That's it for now.

[AmfitNom]

Sounds like you'll have a bunch of fun!!!

[Finkevannon]

That's so awesome, nelslus. I wish there were challengers around here. I hope you have fun, and if you ever get the opportunity to snap a revealing picture of Cecil Mamiit, I shouldn't have to tell you how much brighter that would make munchin's day

[KhJOHbTM]

Didn't Paul Goldstein retire?

[Bill-Watson]

Didn't Paul Goldstein retire?

Only from relevance.

[Les Allen]

I misread this thread. I thought it said "Live tennis...in Wawrinka."

Enjoy Nelslus!

[electmobile]

Only from relevance.

Do you REALLY want to go there with a fave like yours?

[Guaranano]

Thanks for the recap. Can't wait to read more!

[Bill-Watson]

Do you REALLY want to go there with a fave like yours?

[alexosnasos2]

Didn't Paul Goldstein retire?

I re-started this thread from when I first posted about this tournament in 2007, bea. So, the post re: when Paul Goldstein was playin' is dated 6/30/07. Ya silly goose.

[Relsenlilky]

Thanks for sharing this tourney, nelslus. A part of the tour we don't often hear about.

[Glanteeignile]

What happened to Spadea tonight, Nelslus? I see by the score that he had to retire giving the match to Rajeev Ram -- (I have it listed in Challenger thread).

[alexosnasos2]

SO, to recap the latest....

First match we got to see was Ain't Afraid of Ya Spadea vs. Rajeev Ram (interestingly enough, you all should know that, in a strange bit of serendipity, Rajeem Ram is also nelslus' porn name.) According to the ITF site, since the beginning of February, Rajeev has won a whopping one singles match- beating Purav Raja (contrary to popular opinion, Purav Raja is most definitely NOT a porn name of nelslus') at the New Delhi Challenger. So, of course, Rajeev takes Vince out 6-3, 5-0 (ret.)

It's funny- when I first saw Vince was in this draw, so help me, I told my man, WATCH this man tank. Don't think Winnetka is exactly huge in Vince's plans. That if he played against anyone who put up any kind of a fight, he wouldn't try all that hard. Ya think I MIGHT have been on to something here?!?!? As you might imagine, the ending of the match was bizarre. He first calls for a trainer down 5-0 in the second- and then, before we all knew it, he then instead shook Rajeev's hand, and that was that. Apparently, those who live in Winnetka are over-all just TOO TOO, to do anything as vile & uncouth as boo. But, 'twas a pathetic display. To be fair, looking up Vince's record as of late- he does currently have a bizarre series of results. SO- if he is genuinely injured, I take this all back (SOMEWHAT)....but, it all just stunk of a tank to me. And ya can't just finish off the match for cryin' out loud, Vince? In case any of us gets info on Vince's health status, feel free to post.

We thoroughly enjoyed Rajeev's game BTW. Very fluid, graceful, big serve, solid off both sides, with a GORGEOUS one-handed backhand (that probably WOULD be fairly easy to pick on- but, it was beautiful to watch here.) AND- hold onto your hats, kids- but this is an ATP player who.....drum roll......actually serves and volleys. AND should be doing so. He has a real solid volley.

We're probably all nerdy enough to already know without my pointing this out, that he's a genuinely solid doubles player. Current ranking in doubles= 44 (singles BTW= 278.) He made the quarters in doubles last year at Wimbledon with Levy after qualifying and has won a ton of lesser doubles tournaments. Tried qualifying at Wimbledon in singles- lost first round in qualies. Played doubles this year at Wimbledon with Bobby Reynolds (with whom he's won these tons of usually challenger tournaments), beat Delic and Evans (both of whom of course are in Winnetka) in the first round and lost to Nestor and Zimo 6-1, 7-6 (6), 2-6, 7-6 (1). Really hope he can at least continue to excel in doubles.

The second and last evening match that we saw were the Brian & Dann "NOT the Bryans, and most definitely NOT twins" Battistone brothers who beat Kryvonos & McClune 3 & 3. Brian is 28, and Dann is 31. Started slowly, then played good doubles. AND they both played with those freaky new two-handled racquets. Don't remember if this all has come up in TAT already? In case- as their success (and Brian's jump serve- he's also a ton taller than Dann) has apparently made them You Tube-able- here's some video on them: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BzNr90XZ05A&NR=1 Not sure if the jump serve is worth all THAT- but, they played well.

What made this all the more stunning is, in the middle of the match, all of a sudden there was this REAL loud noise. At first, most of us thought it was fireworks- but, when I turned around, I could see a ton of leaves falling. Turns out that out-of-the-blue, a HUGE tree branch just broke off and fell. Amazingly, no one was hurt. And, as this was near one of the parking areas- it was also amazing that no car or anything else was damaged (they had a VIP tent that had a bunch of leaves and branch remnants on the top is the most that happened.) TRULY a freaky moment- trust me, this was a HUGE branch- enough size for a regular tree- and, as you can imagine, it took a second or two to start the match up again- folks ran out at first to check if anyone or any property was hurt. Thank goodness no one was hurt.

I must also add that, after some bizarre occurrences with some Winnetka folks last year- and acknowledging that there is STILL some REAL loony in-bred Stepford Wives/Alien 2/Children of the Corn/Ordinary People vibe that ya get in Winnetka (or pretty much in your average hoity-toity suburban area)- so far, folks have been very nice this year. Talked up a couple of local women and had a blast.

P.S. Poor Munchin- they finally posted the qualifying results, and apparently Cecil Mamiit dropped out before his first qualie match against Wild Card Qualifying Contestant Joe "Master" (tee-hee) Bates. BUT- My Baby Luka won his first match in the main draw- and trust me, my friends, Luka "PLEASE turn around AGAIN, Luka, PLEASE!!!!! YUMMMM" Gregorc is WAY enough fantasy for all of our sick and twisted naughty bits minds.

[alexosnasos2]

What happened to Spadea tonight, Nelslus? I see by the score that he had to retire giving the match to Rajeev Ram -- (I have it listed in Challenger thread).

Patience, patience.....SEE, now ya know what we know.

BTW- each day watching Wimbledon Live for hours (and note that this has involved nelslus taking his unwashed self down to our second floor when our apartment internet has conked out) and THEN going to see live Winnetka tennis for hours is ALMOST too much tennis even for nelslus.

That is.....ALMOST.

[WepKeyday]

I know you don't encounter this problem with your inflatable significant other, but if you intend to refer to a human as "baby," you should call said human by his real name, which is Luka not Lukas


On a less irrelevant note, thanks a bunch for the report, I love stuff like this.

[alexosnasos2]

I know you don't encounter this problem with your inflatable significant other, but if you intend to refer to a human as "baby," you should call said human by his real name, which is Luka not Lukas


On a less irrelevant note, thanks a bunch for the report, I love stuff like this.

YIKES! Correction made. Fortunately, in my fantasy life nelslus kept Luka so busy (and for that matter content) that he didn't have time nor the inclination to bother to correct nelslus on gettin' his name wrong. Note that nelslus is SURE hopin' that this thread gets buried WAY before my inflatable significant other goes back on TAT the US Open Pools.

[Glanteeignile]

Huge thanks from me too, Nelslus - love reports like this. My next question was going to be about Rajeev, thanks for answering in advance!!! He and Bobby gave Nestor/Zimonjic quite a battle at Wimby before losing and heading home to Winnetka - LOL.

So, I gather that Vince did not noticeably limp off the court -- --
what a character.

[alexosnasos2]

Huge thanks from me too, Nelslus - love reports like this. My next question was going to be about Rajeev, thanks for answering in advance!!! He and Bobby gave Nestor/Zimonjic quite a battle at Wimby before losing and heading home to Winnetka - LOL.

So, I gather that Vince did not noticeably limp off the court -- --
what a character.

Gotta admit- we wuz chattin' away at that point. I know that Vince remained in his seat as Rajeev was getting ready to leave. Then, I frankly stopped noticing Vince. So, if there wuz a limp- I didn't look to see one way or the other.