WIMBLEDON: The Roof Works, Y'all. And The Brits Were Happy.

Andy and Stan battled their guts out in a 5 sets thriller tonight in the first ever night match at Wimbledon, with the roof closed.

Andy showed some nerves throughout the match and had trouble fighting breakpoints left and right. Stan's one handed beauty of a backhand was clicking on the right gears, and his footwork was fantastic. But Andy just slightly edged out in the competition and a break in the final set at 5-3 saved him. His Mom Judy Murray showed a rare burst of excess emotions and jumped up and down after that break. Stan nets a forehand, and Andy sank to his knees for the close win.

The problem with Stan is that he's got a world class game but he can't bring it out often enough. Oh, but he brought it out tonight alright. Much, much props to both players. It mustn't have been easy being on that court tonight. Andy with the hope/pressure of the 15,000 people inside the center court and thousands more outside on the Murray Mound Henman Hill Murray Mound oh god whatever you wanna call it, and Stan the interloper who must have felt quite alone right then.

Andy being Andy, there was much racquet slapping and punching, snarls, growls, shouts and arguments with himself and even the grass. Stan being Swiss kept his composure and did not even once look intimidated by the crowd's support of Andy.

I think the humidity factor with the roof closed bothered Andy a little. He looked a little tired, a little uncomfortable. But what you gonna do, eh? Here's hoping he can bring out his A game in the next match against Juan Carlos Fererro who defeated Cuteness Gilles Simon to get to the quarters.

Btw? Found out a little superstitious habit of Ginge today. After he wins a point he will ask for the same ball. Aww. And he looks to his mom for mental support between points. Awwwww. Okay enough. GO GINGE!

MONTE CARLO: Saturday's OOP

[1] B Bryan (USA) / M Bryan (USA) vs [3] L Dlouhy (CZE) / L Paes (IND)
Not Before 1:30 PM
[3] N Djokovic (SRB) vs [13] S Wawrinka (SUI)
[1] R Nadal (ESP) vs [4] A Murray (GBR)
N Djokovic (SRB) / V Troicki (SRB) vs [2] D Nestor (CAN) / N Zimonjic (SRB)

If I'm not mistaken, if Smurfy and Ginge both wins, Ginge will move up to #3 in rankings. If both loses, he still moves up to #3. But if Ginge loses - and I'm just throwing this out there, not saying he really will -  and Nole doesn't, everyone's staying where they are for now.

And yes people, BryBros is still in MC, so no, they're probably not attending Roddick's wedding. Yes I know, gasp and all that, but maybe, just maybe, a Masters title is more important to them than listening to Elton John and eating barbeque? Just sayin'.

Ginge vs Rafa is always fun, even when Rafa's hobbling on one leg ala Rotterdam. Nole vs Roger's BFF, bring it on. Both are playing great so far. I can't wait til tomorrow! *rubs hands in glee*

MONTE CARLO: Rafa Served Bagel To Go 4th

Rafa won 63, 60 over Nicolas Lapentti.



I missed the first set because I converted the time wrongly, but from what I have heard he was not playing too good, but not bad either. Yes I know, cryptic. Basically the scoreline did not reflect the match. The first set was a breakfest, but the second, from what I've seen, is so-so.



The thing about Rafa that I have noticed is that when he goes against players that say, has skills amounting to 4 on the richter scale, he brings out a 4 himself, maybe a 4.5. But when he's facing Federer or Ginge or Nole, he brings out the big guns, 11 on the richter scale. Have I confused you enough for the day? Good.

Other results so far during this crazy day:

[4] A Murray (GBR) d [Q] F Fognini (ITA) 76(11) 64
[8] N Davydenko (RUS) d [12] D Nalbandian (ARG) 64 57 63
[WC] I Ljubicic (CRO) d S Bolelli (ITA) 75 76(2)

Oh Ginge, I wish I could quit you.

Ginge had a thriller tie break yesterday against Clown (Fognini), and there was F-bombs all over the court. It was kinda awesome actually. The second set, Foggy was up 3-1 before I gave Ginge the second kiss of life in 2 days (bothersome man) and he won it 64.



Who was surprised that Roger lost? No, not me. Wawa played great against Rafa in Miami and Roger has a wonky back and his decision to play was very rushed and reeks of lack of preparation, and dare I say, a little panic that Ginge/Nole will be inching closer to his ranking? I personally don't think Roger needs to care where he is in the ranks, but he does sound like a man who cares. He also didn't seem quite surprised to lose, if we read his presser. I think I'm quite happy with that, that the loss doesn't bother him too much. He needs to gas it up during slams and nothing else for all I care. Get that number 14, Roger.

BTW, if I may, he's looking DILF hot here.


Right now Nandole is in a 3 setter. 62, 46, 42 for Smurfy. I'm kinda liking him more since he found his head (worst pun ever) at Miami.

After Nandole finishes, Beck vs Wawa will commence, and then we'll get our second fix of Rafa. He's going against Ljubicic who beat Beau Bolelli earlier. Ginge is going against Kolya right after that. Just working out the schedule is wearing me out. But everyone's playing quite well.

A great quote from a friend:

Stella: The guys know this is a great opportunity to make the final with Roger out. They really want that runner up plate.

SEO MIAMI: Roger's BFF Made Rafa WORK!

Sounds like I missed a hell of a match. From Twitter observations, apparently the linespeople were terrible (as they have been quite a few times this week), Stan had a great strategy, and Rafa was making a lot of mistakes. But he did counter that with a lot of great shots. He won the match 76(2), 76(4).

Watch this:



That was some inspired lob. I really have to download the match somewhere. Hey, not as if we have Tivo here in the third world!

I guess in pictures the match would be like this:

One more time:

Potro is up next for Rafa. I don't see that match being anything but boring, but who knows right? Maybe Potro will finally show up to a match against one of the top 3 (or 4 or 5) with some cojones.

video via GOTOTENNIS