Ernests Gulbis d. Mardy Fish 5-7 6-4 6-4

Today in the LA final, Ernests Gulbis defeated Mardy Fish in three sets, 5-7 6-4 6-4. This is his second career title. By winning the title, Gulbis will also be jumping up 33 spots in the ATP rankings. Read on for my analysis of the match.

Week In Review II

Throughout the week, we were treated to some great tennis. Because of that, I spent most of my time watching tennis instead of writing about it. That said, I'm still writing this recap of the week. Read on to see what happened this week and to see my thoughts on Serena Williams's comeback.

San Diego Preview

The Mercury Insurance Open at San Diego is a 56 entrant premier level event. The winner of the tournament will receive 111,000 dollars and 470 ranking points. The draw came out last night, and it didn't disappoint. Although Kim Clijsters, Petra Kvitova and Svetlana Kuznetsova withdrew, there are still some big names coming to the Mercury Insurance Open. The top seed at San Diego will be Vera Zvonareva, the third ranked player in the world.

Read on for my analysis of the contenders for the title and for some possible matchups.

Week in Review I

This week had the first hardcourt tournament of the summer. The tournament was at Baku and is also the last tournament before the US Open series starts. Read on to see what happened this week.

The Absence of the Slice in the WTA

In the past, the slice backhand used to be a shot that nearly every player had in their arsenal. Steffi Graf used to slice 99% of her backhands. However, nowadays, there are very few players who the use slice unless they are at full stretch trying to retrieve a ball. This article will explain the slice and try to figure out why the slice is going the way of the Dodo in the women's game.

Elena Dementieva Wedding Photos Part V

Yep, that's right! Even more wedding photos! Elena, you'll be missed by all of us.

It's a common Russian tradition for the newlyweds to release a pair of white doves.

More photos after the jump!

Midweek Update- Baku

This week, the only WTA tournament is an international tournament held in Baku. The field was highlighted by Vera Zvonareva and Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova. So far, there have been some interesting stories.

Elena Dementieva Wedding Photos Part IV

Yes, that's right! There are even more pictures that I have just acquired! Also, there's a short video of the vows and stuff. It's not HD, but it's still nice to see.

Washington DC- Citi Open Preview

The Citi Open at Washington DC is an international event happening next week. It is not part of the US Open series. Although the tournament may seem pretty lackluster with no players in the top 20, there are still some interesting stories to be told here. I hope you take the chance and read on.

Stanford Preview

The Bank of the West Classic at Stanford is the first event of the US Open Series for the WTA. It is a premier event that will feature four members of the top ten as well as six more players in the top 32. Serena Williams will also be competing in Stanford. Last year at Stanford, Victoria Azarenka beat Maria Sharapova in the finals, 6-4 6-1. Will Azarenka be able to defend her championship and capture her third singles title of the year?

US Open Series Preview

The US Open Series is a series of five premier events for both genders. The WTA US Open series begins next week with Stanford and ends with New Haven. The two biggest events of the US Open Series are at Cincinnati and Toronto. Although the US Open Series is a great way to warm up for the US Open in late August, there is another bonus to doing well here- the top three finishers in the US Open series will win an extra million dollars in prize money if they win the US Open.

Andrea Petkovic

She is the current German number 1. Although she wasn't really known by the tennis community until her fourth round appearance at the US Open in 2010, she has sped up the rankings and has a good chance of reaching the Year End Championships this year in Istanbul. On top of being a huge personality, she is known for her post-match celebration- the Petko Dance. This is Andrea Petkovic!

Petra Kvitova

With her victory at Wimbledon, Petra Kvitova is the only member of Generation Suck who has won a major. Although she only started to make a name for herself at Wimbledon 2010, in a year, she's risen from being 62nd in the world to being ranked 7th in the world and 2nd in the race to the YEC.

Elena Dementieva Wedding Photos Part III

I have two high quality pictures from Elena Dementieva and Maxim Afinogenov's wedding! Feast your eyes on these!

Doesn't she look beautiful?

Technology Update

This post does not have to do with tennis. I'm just writing to you all to say that I have beefed up on my knowledge of blogger, and I've figured out how to do jump breaks. This will allow my main page to have faster loading times- especially since I'm going to start posting more photos in my posts. Some of the jumps will be a little clunky since a lot of the stuff that I wrote in the past wasn't written with breaks in mind, but rest assured that in the future, the breaks won't seem that bad.

Elena Dementieva Wedding Photos Part II

Russian tennis player Elena Dementieva (my favorite player) got married to hockey player Maxim Afinogenov last week. As promised, here are some more photos from the Royal Wedding!

Awww

More photos after the jump!

Spain Triumphs in Final Week of Clay

Today, two Spanish veterans triumphed in the final two clay tournaments of the year. Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez won Bad Gastein and Anabel Medina Garrigues won Palermo. I really don't care about either of them, so lets talk about what else happened in this past week.

This Week in Tennis Tones

Every Sunday, I will be posting a new "This Week in Tennis Tones" which will be a list of some of the stuff I'll be writing about during the upcoming week.

Some time during this coming week starting July 18, I will be writing about:

Andrea Petkovic
A US Open Series preview
A preview for the Bank of the West Classic in Stanford
A preview for the Citi Open in Washington DC
An article about the absence of the slice in the women's game...
And more!

Baku Preview

The international tournament at Baku signals the start of the second hard court season which will last until the end of the year. This is the only WTA event going on next week, and it is the last tournament before the US Open Series starts.

Elena Dementieva Wedding Photos

Today, Elena Dementieva and Maxim Afinogenov got married. Some notable names at the wedding were tennis stars, Dinara Safina, Maria Kirilenko, Svetlana Kuznetsova and Vera Zvonareva. Although one would expect Maria Kirilenko and her boyfriend Igor Andreev to be the next tennis stars to get married, Vera Dushevina caught the bouquet. Alla Kudryavtseva was kind enough to post pics from the wedding on her twitter so that us fans could see what the wedding was like. Pictures after the jump!

Victoria Azarenka

Next, I will be analyzing Victoria Azarenka, the shrieking Belarussian.

Caroline Wozniacki

I decided that the first player I should analyze in my mini series on newer generation of players (not newest) would be Caroline Wozniacki, the current world number one.

An Introduction to "Generation Suck"

Generation Suck is the name many tennis fans have given to the new generation of tennis players. Why is the new generation called Generation Suck? Well, the biggest reason is that they have failed to achieve the success that they were expected to have. And they haven't been able to push out the older players despite growing older themselves. Furthermore, Generation Suck currently only owns one Grand Slam- Wimbledon 2011. However, as more and more of the Old Guard are playing less and less or even retiring, these women are becoming the future of the WTA. The members of Generation Suck are:

Caroline Wozniacki

Victoria Azarenka
Petra Kvitova

Andrea Petkovic

Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova

Yanina Wickmayer

Sabine Lisicki

Alisa Kleybanova (Adida Kelybanova)

Compare those players with some of the Old Guard like Elena Dementieva, Justine Henin and the Williams sisters. Now you see why we call this new crop of players Generation Suck right?

How are the members of Generation Suck determined? As you can see, the deciding factor for entry into Generation Suck is not age. Notable young tennis players who aren't in Generation Suck include Maria Sharapova and Ana Ivanovic who enjoyed success prior to the beginnings of Generation Suck (which is a name, a group, a period of time and so much more.) Generation Suck belongs to the players who are young and who really started to experience their success starting in mid-2009. These players have just started to become household names (in a select few households I might add.)

Over the next week and a half to two weeks, I will analyze each of these players. Enjoy.

From Bad Gastein to Worse

Yeah... I went there...

Today, Simona Halep lost in three sets to Sybille Bammer. The sixth seed, she was the highest seed left in the Bad Gastein Draw, but her loss was expected. After all, the only seed to advance past the first round was Ksenia Pervak of Russia, the eighth seed. Simona Halep is probably known most for getting breast reduction surgery a couple years ago. Since then, she's risen more than 400 spots in the rankings, and she is close to cracking the top 50. Sybille Bammer is a mother who will be retiring from tennis after Bad Gastein. She reached the quarterfinals of the US Open in 2008, and she peaked at number 19 in the rankings. However, despite these accomplishments, she will probably be remembered most for having a 2:0 head to head record against Serena Williams. Aranxta Sanchez-Vicario is the only other woman in the world with a positive head to head ratio against Serena.

In other news, Flavia Pennetta was brought back from the brink of defeat by Mathilde Johansson. Johansson led 6-4 5-3 before choking away the second set. She also led by 6-4 5-7 5-3 before choking the match away. Johansson is known for choking. In her match against Vitalia Diatchenko at the 2009 French Open, Johansson wasted eight match points before losing 10-8 in the third. She double faulted four of them away.

Bad Tennis in Bad Gastein

I think I'm cursed. Whoever I give my resounding vote of confidence to always forgets how to play tennis. Last week, I said that no one would be able to stop Wozniacki from picking up yet another tournament, but she retired after winning a match. Now, in Bad Gastein, Goerges proved that my predictions hold little water.

Earlier today, Julia Goerges, the defending champion, top seed and clear favorite for the title, lost in three sets to Laura Pous-Tio, a player ranked 75 spots below her, 6-1 2-6 6-1. Pous-Tio still has not won a single match at a grand slam and had only ended the year in the top 100 twice. (2006 and 2005)

Although one could say that Goerges simply tanked the match so that she could get some rest before the US Open series, said person would have trouble explaining what had happened to the rest of the top players at Bad Gastein. At Bad Gastein, the top eight ranked players were given seeds. Out of those eight seeds, only one seed, the relatively unknown 61st ranked eighth seeded Ksenia Pervak, advanced past the first round. Although the sixth seed, Simona Halep has yet to play, those results are pretty embarrassing.

So who's my new pick for the title? Normally, I'd give my pick to Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez as she's a fabulous clay court player who cracked the top 20 when she won Rome in 2010, but because all the favorites are dropping like flies, I'll give my pick to Dia Evtimova who I didn't even know existed until I scanned the Bad Gastein Draw.

In Palermo, however, things look to be going better for the seeds with all eight of them advancing. One notable victory happened yesterday when 2010 Wimbledon Semifinalist and 2011 Wimbledon Quarterfinalist Tsvetana Pironkova beat Anna Tatishvili of Georgia 6-2 7-5. What was so notable about this win? It was one of Pironkova's only wins outside of Wimbledon this year. Maybe she has finally learned how to play tennis outside SW19. One can only hope that she can turn the rest of the year around and live up to her potential so that she won't be forever remembered as the girl who beat Venus Williams three times.

The Marriage of Elena Dementieva

When she retired in 2010, Elena Dementieva said that she wanted to start a family. On Saturday, July 16, 2011, Dementieva will be getting married to Maxim Afinogenov, a hockey player. Rumors of their engagement surfaced in 2007, so it's nice to see them finally tying the knot.

Although she has said that this retirement is permanent, we all know how that turned out for Justine Henin and Kim Clijsters, so don't lose hope tennis fans. Maybe she'll realize that she can play tennis and have a family. But if she doesn't, we'll always have amazing memories of her triumphs, the greatest of which being her Olympic Gold Medal in 2008. Lena, we tennis fans love you, and we'll never stop missing you even if you stop missing us.

Palermo Preview

One of two final clay tournaments of the year is at Palermo. Last year, Kaia Kanepi defeated crowd favorite Flavia Pennetta 6-4 6-3 in the Palermo final to win her first title. However, Kanepi will not be returning to Palermo to defend her title.

The three top seeds at Palermo are Italian. The top seed, Flavia Pennetta, won Palermo in 2009. She broke into the top 10 in 2009 as well. The second seed, Roberta Vinci is enjoying a great season and is fighting for her fourth title of the year. She is coming off a win at Budapest, another clay tournament. She is quite close to cracking the top 20 for the first time in her career. The third seed is Sara Errani who won Palermo in 2008. She was the runner up at Palermo in 2009. Other contenders for the title include Anabel Medina Garrigues who won a clay court title earlier this year at Estoril and Polona Hercog who just won Bastad.

My pick for the title is Roberta Vinci who has really blossomed this year. She is a clay court specialist, and she will have the home court advantage.

Happy Birthday Caroline Wozniacki

Happy Birthday Caro!

Bad Gastein Preview

There are two clay tournaments left in the year, and they are both international tournaments played on red clay. Neither tournament has a top ten player.

One of those two tournaments is at Bad Gastein in Austria. Not to be confused with Bastad, Bad Gastein is a skiing town near Salzburg. The top seed and favorite for the title is Julia Goerges. (Remember not to call her Georges or Gorgeous as you may not live to regret it- just ask Graeme Jones.) Goerges has really blossomed this year; she won Stuttgart beating French Open finalist Samantha Stosur and world number one Caroline Wozniacki along the way. She also achieved a career high world ranking of 16. She has a great flat serve and a great kick serve as well as a strong forehand. Her play style really suits the clay because she has very long strokes, and she has extra time to generate power off of both wings. It doesn't hurt her prospects that she's the defending champion here.

Other potential threats include Jarmila Gajdosova, the hard hitting Aussie and Lourdes Domingues Lino who won Bogota this year, another outdoor red clay event. Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez is another contender for the title as she is an excellent clay court player. She is excellent at net, and she won Rome in 2010. The top five seeds also include two players from the Czech Republic, Lucie Hradecka and Iveta Benesova, two very accomplished doubles players. Lucie Hradecka won the doubles title at Roland Garros 2011, and she has won 18 ITF singles titles. However, she has yet to make a dent in the WTA singles circuit. Iveta Benesova, another Czech lefty, has won two clay titles on the WTA tour. She hits quite flat off both sides. Although she's a good player, I see her going out early seeing as she is still celebrating her recent victory in mixed doubles at Wimbledon.

Stay tuned for my preview of Palermo, the other WTA tournament next week.

Caroline Wozniacki Retires

... from Bastad.
She was leading Sofia Arvidsson 6-2 0-1 when she retired from a shoulder injury. Apparently, it is just preventative; it's just a pulled muscle, so her serve won't be affected. However, she was in pain during the match, and she was having trouble hitting forehands. Here's to hoping she gets better in time for the US Open series and can do well at the US Open.

NBC Loses Wimbledon

NBC lost its rights to Wimbledon! That's good news considering that they showed numerous matches on tape delay. Most likely, Wimbledon will be shown mainly on ESPN with tape delayed coverage on the Tennis Channel. I for one am ecstatic because that means that I won't have to switch back and forth between ESPN and NBC. Also, I won't have to look for streams online.

What do you guys think?

The Week After Wimbledon

Although Wimbledon is over, there is still a lot of tennis until the US Open. Immediately following Wimbledon, there are two weeks of clay tournaments. During the week beginning July fourth, there will be two WTA tournaments, Budapest and Bastad. Although the only top 20 player who will be playing next week is Caroline Wozniacki, there will still be some great matches.

Lets start with Budapest. Budapest is an international tournament, the new equivalent of a Tier III or Tier IV tournament.  There is only one player who will be competing at Budapest who is in the top 32- the 25th ranked Roberta Vinci. Vinci comes into Budapest as the favorite since she has already won two international events on clay this year. I'd say she leaves Budapest with her third.

The other tournament is at Bastad. It's also an international tournament. There are three players in the top 32 who are participating in Bastad- Lucie Safarova, Flavia Pennetta and Caroline Wozniacki. Safarova is a dangerous lefty who has a great forehand but who has always been hindered by her lack of mental toughness. Flavia Pennetta is a former top 10 player who is also the top ranked player in doubles. Caroline Wozniacki is the top ranked player in singles. Although she favors hard courts, Caroline Wozniacki will be hard to beat here. She has already won two clay titles this year, and has a combined 6-1 head to head against Pennetta and Safarova.

Congratulations to Petra Kvitova

Congratulations to Wimbledon Champion Petra Kvitova!!!

Wimbledon Final Pick- WTA

[5] Maria Sharapova vs [8] Petra Kvitova

I really don't know who is going to win this. I'm going to go with Kvitova in three just because I've been rooting for her the whole tournament.

Let's compare the two shot by shot:

Serve:
Sharapova's first serve isn't bad by any means. She's gone back to her old service motion, and she is serving in the 100's which is fine. However, she isn't really getting a high percentage of first serves in which will hurt her in this marriage because it will force her to go to her second serve which is what will really hurt her in this match. Sharapova's second serve is slower than her first serve, but it doesn't have much spin, so it is still a low margin shot. She had thirteen double faults during her match against Lisicki, and Kvitova has a better ROS than Lisicki, so Sharapova may feel like she needs to go for more on her second serve which will give her even more double faults.

Kvitova's serve is considered one of the best in the women's game. It isn't the fastest serve in the game, (her fastest serve at Wimbledon this year clocked in at 113 MPH) but it has variety. She has a great flat serve and a great slice serve, and both have great placement. She hits a lot of aces, and she can open up the court on the ad side with her slice serve out wide. Her second serve isn't bad either. Because she usually slices it, she can still start a point well off of her second serve.

Forehand:
Sharapova's forehand is a great shot. It is hit hard and deep, and she can hit it well on the run as well.

Kvitova's forehand is both her better side and her weaker side. She hits her forehand harder than her backhand, but her forehand often breaks down when she runs into rough spots. Although she normally hits pretty flat, she can add top spin at times.

Backhand:
Sharapova has a stronger backhand than Kvitova. She hits it harder and deeper. However, Kvitova has more variety on her backhand than Sharapova does. Kvitova has a good slice backhand that stays very low on the grass. She will want to use it to get Sharapova to make mistakes.

Return of Serve:
Both Sharapova and Kvitova will be aggressive when returning serve. Kvitova will likely have more success with her ROS because of Sharapova's weaker serve.

Netplay:
Since Sharapova almost never comes to net and Kvitova isn't terrible at net, Kvitova has the edge here. However, she needs to make sure that she hits better approach shots than she did in her semifinal match against Azarenka. Otherwise, she'll get passed every time she tries to come in.

Movement:
Neither player is a great mover, but Sharapova hits harder ground strokes on the run.

Mental Game:
Sharapova definitely has the edge here. Not only has she already won three slams, but she is a great competitor. She has the ability to induce short term memory loss on herself when she is down, and she won't give up even when her serve has completely deserted her.

Kvitova, on the other hand, doesn't have a great mental game. She often starts out great. However, in her two most recent matches, her level of play dropped significantly for a few games after the first set. She started to spray forehands, and she stopped moving her feet. Although she was able to recover in both of those matches, she cannot allow herself to gift Sharapova a single game in the final if she wants to win. Also, because she has never reached a major final before, it is unknown whether she'll be able to handle the pressure of playing such a huge match.