DramatistDreamer

Oh, you mean Thomas "Go along, to get along" Hogstedt? Okay, perhaps that was uncalled for but something about him makes me feel as though he is perfectly fine with acceeding to the player's demands and he's fine with a short term/no strings attached agreement.

This split was in the stars for weeks now. I think Annacone is used to working with players who probably exude more desire. He probably pushed harder than she was willing to go. Maybe I'm reading her wrong, but Sloane comes across as someone who seems pleased to put in the same level of effort because it was yielding Quarters at Major tournaments and when she would reach the second week of a GS tournament, it had the effect of drowning out all the voices that asked why she had never won a regular tour level tournament. Now making the 2nd week of a Major tournament is no longer a given, so there is less backup against the naysayers now. I find it ridiculous that someone with Sloane's talent has never even won a WTA Tour level tournament. There is definitely something going on there. People say Sloane is laid back-- so was Lindsey Davenport, so is Venus Williams (in a way) but I never doubted their desire to win titles and Majors. Perhaps she should play some doubles like many successful singles players have. It seems to be yielding benefits for her boyfriend Jack Sock who seems to be posting improved results in his singles play. But she needs to realize that the years go faster than she can imagine and she needs to step it into a higher gear.

No disrespect to Jr. but Stefan has it goin' on in all kinds of ways! He has aged Well. Must be the salmon.

Fabio Fognini is at it again but this time, he's behavior seems to be getting worse: http://espn.go.com/tennis/story/_/id/11226757/fabio-fognini-apologizes-ethnic-slur-match

Yup he got married on my B-day. They both owe me gifts now for sharing my special born day.

Why does Elizabeth Hasselback even care enough to throw a fit (LOL)?

I got a glimpse of the Body Issue. Apparently some people are complaining that while the photographs of the male athletes show them engaged in their sport in action, most of the women are doing stationary poses. Most of the buzz online seems to be about this Fielder person...a baseball player, I think. Venus got one of the covers of the Magazine, there were 6 different covers, I think. I think this photo is much better than the first one posted, the first one had a weird angle. Roger Rasheed (Dimitrov's coach) must be going out of his mind at her cover. I remember a few years ago at OZ, he got in some hot water for uttering some very excited comments about how much he liked her derriere...while doing commentary for Australian TV! I think I've seen that photo of Fabio, quite some time ago. Surprisingly, there are quite a bit of those types of unclothed photos of tennis players out there. I think Verdasco, Tsonga both have photos similar to the kind presented in the Body Issue.

I didn't mention Kournikova because the behavior the media exhibited toward her was not adoration, it was LUST as evidenced by the way ESPN's 'reporters' followed hordes of teenage boys who tracked Kournikova's every move at tournaments, practically tittering as if they were hormonal teenage boys themselves. Lust by proxy, I call it. I can remember one such report set to music-- 'I Know What Boys Like' and asking another tennis fan '...what the heck does this have to do with tennis??'. At the very least, they never tried to say Kournikova was technically superior to anyone as they tried to do when Sharapova played Serena at the '05 Australian Open when Serena, on the verge of losing, staged a comeback and beat Sharapova on her way to the title. In fact, the media was pretty much done with Kournikova by the time she was barely legal. Kournikova had not won a singles title at a WTA sanctioned event, and although she had won major doubles titles, the media could not justify its Lolita-like focus on her bra (which sports bra company she was a spokewoman for) or which Russian hockey player, 10-15 years her senior she was supposedly married to- because her singles career had fizzled. Anna, no fool, took every opportunity to use that lustful eye and capitalize off of it (perhaps she knew that career shortening injury would be soon at hand?) The media was already focusing on Olympic silver medallist, Elena Dementieva and looking for the next Kournikova who could win majors... ...I guess they've found what passes for that version. I wouldn't call that adoration.

I only read about this today and have no idea whether this is what led to that perception: Apparently, some are accusing Bouchard of luring Nick Saviano away from British player Laura Robson. Robson and Bouchard were friends and it was said that Robson introduced Saviano to Bouchard and subsequently Bouchard and Robson then shared Saviano until Bouchard asked Saviano to travel with her for coaching duties and apparently, it was 'bye bye Laura'. I'm not a believer that sharing coaches among WTA players who may eventually be competitors is a good idea anyway but given the fact that Bouchard and Robson are no longer friends, it makes me wonder just how much of a 'heads up' Robson got before she and Saviano parted ways. Also, there were some Sharapova-like quotes about not having much use for friendships on tour that has not endeared Bouchard to many. The comments about her acting entitled-- I haven't been following Bouchard that closely, so I don't know much about that. The French certainly seem to like her and the British appear to as well. There does seem to be something in the U.S. media that leans toward blondes as evidenced by ESPN's adoration of all things Maria Sharapova but it's only for a certain type of blonde, it seems. I never saw that level of fawning over say, Svetlana Kuznetsova, for example nor Mary Pierce. And even though Kvitova just won, I doubt we'll see it for her either.

Bouchard is getting clobbered. What a predictable match. Yawn. Maybe she'll wake up but I think by then Kvitova will have the Venus Rosewater dish. I think I'm going to get ready for my workout.

So sad that Vicki Duval has been diagnosed with Hodgkins lymphoma! She's been through so much already in her young life but she's proven how strong she is already. She was biopsied before going through qualifying for Wimbledon and despite her diagnosis, decided to play! Amazing the amount of focus she had to even get to Round Two of the Main Draw after winning 3 Rounds of Qualifying! Wishing her all the best for a full recovery back to strong health. I saw someone post something that I thought was kinda cute...he said something like Vicki's going to beat this disease in straight sets! With that kind of strength and resolve, I believe it too.

I thought Venus vs. Kvitova was a high quality match, although I could've done with Petra's banshee wail. I do agree that the U.S. ratings will probably very low on the Women's side. I think ESPN has a lot more problems than who is or isn't in the Finals. For instance, their commentary is terrible except for Cliff Drysdale, Darren Cahill and occasionally Brad Gilbert when he's not giving everyone those stupid nicknames. ESPN3 offers a break from them, mercifully. I get the World Feed which gives a variety of International commentators. Hearing them, I have come to realize just how bad ESPN's terrestrial channel is with tennis. I don't expect anything from the U.S Men, they're worse than the U.S. women. Harrison doesn't even rate, Isner bores me, Jack Sock...who? I think I'm paying more attention to the guys in the Junior ranks like Francis Tiafoe... frankly they look more promising than the current crop of U.S. Men. Maybe I'm spiteful, but I was glad when Masha got bounced. I also knew Angelique would get bounced soon after. Wimbledon is not what it used to be though, not even the grass is what it used to be.

Already? Have they really become that desperate already?

I thought I saw Nathan Purdee (Y&R, OLTL) sneak by on the Red Carpet.

Well, I will never have to wonder whether Berdych wears boxers or briefs. I'm glad I never signed onto Facebook, there are a lot of awful people hanging out on there...

Not bad for a week's work, eh?

Congratulations to Coco Vandeweghe and Madison Keys, who each won their first WTA tournament today! Hopefully just the beginning.

ATWT certainly could've made use of Rick Ryan, especially in the final decade or so--he could've caused all kinds of trouble for Barbara, Paul and Emily, who he seemed to have had a thing for when the character was last in Oakdale. And though I hated Hunt Block as Craig (I know others must be tired of me reiterating this but I cannot stress that enough! ), I think that Block would have been much better suited to play Rick Ryan. He could've even used his nickname for her (Barbar) and been involved in schemes to extract money from her and everybody else in town, and he still could've been as thick as thieves with Carly.

These presentation trophies are humongous! I saw a picture of Federer with his presentation trophy and his looked tremendous as well. Dimitrov was very magnanimous in giving his racquets to the man who gave him a wildcard into the tournament and to a lady in a wheelchair who was sitting courtside. Very nice moments. I did also feel for Feliciano Lopez though. At one point, he had the match within his reach and it slipped away.

Oh yes, I remember the great Wimblegeddon of 2013. I also remember the animated video done by those Taiwanese animators. Does anyone else remember this? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kFRdSgqjEYI&src_vid=3xb0JdKjm-s&feature=iv&annotation_id=annotation_947395&channel=NMATV

I do like Dustin 'Dreddy' Brown though. He's a journeyman who is fun to watch and was in desperate need of a break and he got a good one today. The transition from clay to grass is proving rough for some this year, it seems. I love grass court tennis but the grind of the schedule in the past few years and the all too disjointed and short grass court season has been killing it.

I looked him up and Yikes! He makes Flavio Briatore look attractive! When you mentioned his age, I thought maybe just maybe he might be old but attractive, maybe like Richard Roundtree or someone who didn't look so... I used to have this joke about some Eastern Europeand female tennis players dating these much older guys by the time they were barely legal like Anna Kournikova but I never thought to lump Monica in that group. Well, I guess everybody needs somebody sometime and for Monica, I guess that sometime is now. Still...okay, I'll try to resist the impulse to analyze this one.

What??! What the what?!

Me too but at least she didn't 'go away' after the first set. In the beginning of the 2nd set, I worried that she would turn into another Errani. She competed quite well for the occasion. Too bad she was unable to come away with the victory. And I was grumbling about those 2 net cords that Sharapova got (LOL) when the ball just barely climbed over the net onto Halep's side.

That match really was a snooze. I multi-tasked during both matches. I was even able to get in my workout. I'm no fan of Sharapova and I didn't really have any rooting interest in either of the Women's semifinals yesterday but I have to say, I found the Women's Semifinals much more entertaining to watch than today's Men's semifinals. I had to laugh at Murray's tactics and how Nadal was not allowing himself to be thrown off by Murray's antics (his clutching of his back, thighs, etc). No offense to Monfils, whom I love, but thankfully Nadal is not thrown by Murray's antics- Nadal is no Monfils.