Andrea Petkovic def Jarmila Gajdosova 5-7 7-6 (5) 6-2

Cincinnati First Round:
Andrea Petkovic def Jarmila Gajdosova 5-7 7-6 (5) 6-2

This was one of the worst matches I've seen. Luckily, it was comedically bad, so I wasn't un-entertained.

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.

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!

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!

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.

Wimbledon Womens Predictions for the tournament

Although Wimbledon is already well underway, I'm going to post my predictions for the WTA.

Quarterfinalists:
Wozniacki-Although she isn't the greatest player on grass (or at all, but that's for another post all together) she has a good draw with her two biggest threats coming in the fourth round with Cibulkova and Goerges, two women who hit the ball quite hard and have both beaten her this year.

Sharapova-Since the only threat that she has in her draw is Peng, she should get to the quarterfinals with ease.

Li-Although she has a tough second round match with Lisicki, she is still an amazing ball striker. However, Roland Garros champions tend not to fare well at Wimbledon a few weeks later.

Serena-Even though she's been out for eleven months, she is still Serena. She has a tough customer in Bartoli in the fourth round, but if she can shake the rust in her game, she should be fine.

Petkovic-I gotta be honest. I had Makarova getting to the quarters in this relatively weak eighth of the draw on the grounds that she won Eastbourne in 2010 and has a good game for grass. But she lost to McHale in the first round, so I'm going with Andrea Petkovic who has been in the quarterfinals of both majors this year.

Azarenka-Azarenka has a good shot at reaching the quarterfinals in a major if she can stay healthy. The one person who can stop her is Daniella Hantuchova, otherwise known as Danielle Anotoxfa. She got to the finals of Birmingham defeating Ana Ivanovic and Venus Williams before losing to Sabine Lisicki. If she doesn't choke, she can definitely beat Azarenka in the third round.

Kvitova-Kvitova is a great player who hits the ball very hard and very deep. She got to the semifinals of Wimbledon last year before falling to Serena. There isn't really anyone who can beat her in this eighth than herself.

Zvonareva-This final eighth of the draw is probably one of the strongest with Venus Williams, Vera Zvonareva and Tsvetana Pironkova. Interesting matches will be a rematch of last year's Wimbledon semifinal coming in the third round and a match between the winner of that one and Venus Williams. I'd say that Zvonareva has the edge to get to the quarters on the grounds of Venus's lack of match play.

Semifinalists:

Sharapova-If she can minimize her double faults and her unforced errors, she'll be a force to be reckoned with. She has defeated Wozniacki in the past, and on grass, she'll have an even bigger advantage.

Serena-This was a really tough one to predict, but I think that Serena will have shaken off her rust by the quarterfinals and will prove to be too tough a challenge for Li. However, I think that the winner of this match has a great shot at winning the whole thing.

Azarenka-If she can get past her third round match against Hantuchova, she has a great shot at reaching her maiden semifinal.

Kvitova-She is such a great ballstriker that whoever she faces will have quite a lot of trouble dealing with her.

Finalists:

Serena-It's Serena... on grass... She has such mental toughness and can even overpower Sharapova. She beat her last year at Wimbledon as well.

Kvitova-She can beat anyone in the third quarter of the draw with ease.

Winner:

Serena-Although Kvitova can definitely challenge Serena in almost every aspect of her game, Serena is a 13 time grand slam champion and knows how deal with that pressure. However, as seen in last year's semifinal, Kvitova can put pressure on Serena, and if she can deal with the pressure, she might be the next winner of the Venus Rosewater Dish.