Richard Gasquet Submits Kissing Defense, And it Works!

http://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/15072009/58/gasquet-free-return-tour.html

July 16th, 2009 at 11:44 am

* Perhaps the critical piece of evidence is that his blood concentration was so low, suggesting indirect intake. However, is this distinguishable from simply taking a larger dose earlier?

* The ITF looks all-around ridiculous here. First, they give someone a two-year ban for a recreational drug. Then, they look toothless in granting Gasquet’s appeal so easily.

* Rumor has it that the more worldly athletes bribe their way out of these situations, paying witnesses to keep quiet and relying on their posses to vet would-be companions. For example, someone in Gasquet’s posse would have noticed “Pamela” snorting, and warned him.

July 16th, 2009 at 12:46 pm

If I were Gasquet I would blow a gasket and sue the ITF for the 2 months time off.

July 16th, 2009 at 1:59 pm

someone in gasquets “posse” should have been in the womens bathroom watching for chicks snorting coke? um, ok.

hingis had a lot more coke in her system than gasquet so the hingis argument is moot, no?

Id think gasquet is more in the mood of kissing the feet of the tribunal members than suing them for lost wages.

July 16th, 2009 at 2:08 pm

Who’s Got the Funk…
1. Roger FEDERER
G-O-A-T

==

Federer
G-L-O-A-T

Greatest Luck Of All Time

July 16th, 2009 at 3:14 pm

Who’s Got the Funk…

Richard Gasquet!!

July 16th, 2009 at 3:35 pm

Actually, Hingis had the same amount if not less coke in her system.

Hingis was the guinea pig in all of this. Gasquet reaped the rewards for ITF’s embarrassment around the Hingis affair.

July 16th, 2009 at 4:17 pm

The ITF was embarrassed over the Hingis case? I never got that impression.

July 16th, 2009 at 4:33 pm

the author of this article is an idiot. where the hell does he think the equivalent of one grain of salt of cocaine came from? he obviously didn’t read the news on this story about how the amt found in Gasquet’s system was less than the amt that would trigger a positive cocaine test for the U.S. military. so, he needs to collect more facts before drafting scurrilous articles peddling lots of innuendo.

July 16th, 2009 at 4:36 pm

tenisbebe you live in the midwest (I would guess)?

July 16th, 2009 at 4:52 pm

Dan Martin – Louisville

July 16th, 2009 at 4:59 pm

Hingis already had one foot out of the door and did not bother with the appeals process. I mean, if she or any other female player had used the same ‘oh…I went to club, kissed random guy whose name I don’t remember and so on…’, she will be a gossip fodder…while Gasquet is just being a dumb jock.

I do miss Hingis, though. A doubles only comeback is possible, but not sure if thats enough to motivate her.

July 16th, 2009 at 5:24 pm

Is that where greasy KFC comes from? YUCK

July 16th, 2009 at 5:24 pm

The “bullies” guy is obsessed with Federer. He must be having dreams about Fed every night. Maybe he even cuts off newspaper articles and pastes them on the wall in his bedroom.

Ridiculous.

July 16th, 2009 at 5:47 pm

I like tenis bullies Said:

“Who’s Got the Funk…
1. Roger FEDERER
G-O-A-T

==

Federer
G-L-O-A-T

Greatest Luck Of All Time”

What the hell does this post have to do with Fed?

That post speaks volumes about its poster’s intellect.

July 16th, 2009 at 6:22 pm

Watch it Greenie! lol I was born and raised in Louisville. And the GOAT in boxing was too!

July 16th, 2009 at 7:52 pm

I wonder, can you absorb small amounts of cocaine from another person through intercourse?

If so, we’re going to be seeing much racier cases than this one. “Uh, your honor, I slept with this girl, and she turned out to be a total junkie, and that’s how I got that coke in my system.”

July 16th, 2009 at 8:20 pm

Imagine if somebody smeared a tiny bit of that powder into a player’s food. Just a smidgeon. Would they get busted for doping? It seems so unsafe. If I were a player, I’d be so paranoid, what with WADA and all that I’d have to prepare my own home cooked meals every day, and never buy processed food from anywhere.

July 16th, 2009 at 8:40 pm

I love the “Kissing Defense”. Who would have thought: “French Kiss Defeats Player.”

In light of a lot of strange stuff going on in politics (particularly among Republican leaders) I will say Gasquet is looking better and better.

(One of my sisters felt he is quite handsome).

Anyhows. I wont mention Maria Kirilenko. Hands down, most beautiful girl in the top 50 on the WTA. But you dont get ranking points for beauty.

July 16th, 2009 at 9:00 pm

Come to think of it, why doesnt James Blake start blaming his losses on French kisses?

July 16th, 2009 at 9:00 pm

Now that it’s been mentioned that Gasquet was defeated by French Kissing, and that Roddick lost a lot of matches because of the bad food in his diet (I’d say it made a young man a step slow), I wonder what else contributes to ATP losses?

“He just was too good today”

(Translation: Boy am I tired. Tough night at the clubs in London.)

“American men just dont do well on the clay.”

(Translation: But we certainly do well on the hard courts, especially the sidewalks that lead to great cafes and nightlife in this awesome city! The women in Paris are lovely. I especially enjoyed dining at the bistros and enjoying street art and the romantic atmosphere! Who cares about the French Open – what I care about is Paris’ Open-Ness and great patissieries!”)

“There was nothing I could do out there – maybe serve a little better.”

(Translation: Because I certainly couldnt run for a ball today. Boy am I hung-over. I have won matches before after a few too many milwaukees beast, but it was because I had the morning off and I could recover by the night session. Oh well. You win some this way, you lose some this way.)

“He played the big points better than I did.”

(Given that he also went out last night, he had one less beer. That was the big point.)

July 16th, 2009 at 9:11 pm

Some quotables from the Tribunal’s decision…

“As a healthy, single young man who is not often able to go out and enjoy himself socially in the evenings, it is not unnatural that he should
have been attacted to P _, to the point of kissing her. He is not the first young man to have done such a thing with a young woman during a social night out.”

“Accidental contamination from a drink, from
contact with a person other than P _ or from contact with furniture, cannot be ruled out, but in our view, are considerably less likely to be the explanation than contamination from P ‘s kisses.”

“We take into account that the amount of cocaine in the player’s body was so small that if he had been tested only a few hours later, his test result would be likely to have been negative.”

July 16th, 2009 at 9:25 pm

Andrew Miller says “But you dont get ranking points for beauty.”

No, but I guess if you’re beautiful and playing at Wimbledon, you’ll get to play on Center Court, regardless of your ranking.

July 16th, 2009 at 9:30 pm

@Dan – hey I’m from Ontario, Canada – once home to the great boxing legend Lennox Lewis! Don’t forget he’s still younger and can inflict more damage today than your old washed up has been!

July 16th, 2009 at 9:35 pm

ATTN!!!!!!
ATTN!!!!!!
ALERT!!!!!

NADAL WILL DROP TO #3 IN THE RANKINGS THIS HARDCOURT SEASON!!!!

http://www.atpworldtour.com/News/Tennis/2009/07/Shark-Bites-Federer-Has-Hold-On-Number-One.aspx

July 16th, 2009 at 9:36 pm

“Americans have trouble with the red clay at Roland Garros”

(But Americans have no trouble with the red wine of Paris!)

July 16th, 2009 at 10:30 pm

Very much agree with George above, except I probably would not go all out and call Mr. Randall an idiot. I am sure he had also read about the supporting facts that the amt found in Gasquet’s system was so small hence making the kissing appeal(or other means of accidental contamination) very plausible. He just choose to omit it in his article to make it more sensational.

July 16th, 2009 at 10:32 pm

Green,

I always liked Lenox in the squared circle. Let me ask tenisbebe some questions and I will put my answers in parenthesis –

UK or U of L? (UK)
High School/year? (St. X 1994)
Neighborhood? (Hikes Point)

Anyway Louisville really is a great city – a lot to do, nice people, the culinary school results in a lot of good places to eat …

July 16th, 2009 at 10:32 pm

Green Balls – Bourbon & horses, dude.

July 16th, 2009 at 10:37 pm

Green Balls: What does Nadal have to do with this post? However, since you have mentioned it, if nadal DOES come back as planned, I think he can win the US Open. Many of Federer’s wins from RG on have been quite lucky (including the Roddick game)- Roddick definitely lost that game, as opposed to Federer winning. I am also from Ontario and hope to see these guys in Montreal.
I am also very plesed that Gasquet is back.

July 16th, 2009 at 10:44 pm

Dan Martin: Didn’t realize you were from Louisville, how ironic. I was not born & raised here – I am a Chicago girl at heart – so my answers will not jive with native ‘Villers:

UK or U of L? Notre Dame & Da Bears
High School/year? n/a
Neighborhood? Deer Park (Highlands)

Everyone here is college basketball obsessed which is not my thing so it keeps me out of the debate.

July 16th, 2009 at 10:48 pm

tenisbebe: “Everyone here is college basketball obsessed which is not my thing so it keeps me out of the debate.”

Same here. We’re the odd balls.
____________________
Andrew Miller: Love your sense of humor — sorry Kirilenko doesn’t read the blogs or else you’d be a shoe-in for the lovely Maria’s affections. Sorry pal.
___________________
Nancy: “Roddick definitely lost that game, as opposed to Federer winning.”

Thank you for saying what I’ve tried to say since the Wimby tourney, but I’ve been dubbed ‘sour grapes’ due to my being a Roddick fan.
____________________
Green balls: Are you Shan?

July 16th, 2009 at 11:04 pm

Tenisbebe,

Agree on the bourbon … Well at least you are not a U of L fan :) In Louisville, college hoops is the lead sports story 4 or 5 out of 7 days per week in July – a strange phenomenon. The Highlands is the best part of the city. St. X really is a tennis juggernaut and I should interview the retired coach sometime. He is an institution regionally and nationally speaking among tennis coaches.

Chicago is a great place I did a lecture on science and religion at Illinois Dominican in January and really wanted to move to Chicago. Anyway, tenisbebe as Cincy approaches we’ll have to see if our days there coincide.

Back to Gasquet

July 16th, 2009 at 11:07 pm

tenisbebe Says:
High School/year? n/a

@Dan: Ouch

@tenisbebe: Bourbon is da good stuff. I lived in Chicago for a few years, nice city!

@Nancy: Nadal has nothing to do with this thread, but his dropping to #3 in the world is more interesting than coke head Gasquet coming back. Also I’m debating Montreal vs. Toronto this year, since I live in Toronto probably check out some shrieking but wouldn’t mind the trek to Montreal to check out some men’s matches!

July 16th, 2009 at 11:09 pm

@Von – you got me, this is my preferred alias now

July 16th, 2009 at 11:09 pm

Green Balls,
I can’t imagine anyone wanting to watch the “shrieking beauty queens” of tennis in Toronto
Where is this “Nadal dropping to #3” coming from?
Murray certainly did not prove himself in his home country. You think he will surpass Nadal in the US?

July 16th, 2009 at 11:14 pm

Nancy and/or Green Balls – have either of you been to the Canadian Masters yet – the men’s in particular? If so, do you know how difficult it is to get tickets for the week? I am on the west coast, but am thinking of coming to Toronto for the men’s next summer (an old stomping ground, as lived in TO for 5 or so years, so I could combine the tennis with some haunting and visiting).

I think Murray has quite a few points to defend over this next stretch, but then again, so does Rafa… I suppose #2 could change hands.

July 16th, 2009 at 11:19 pm

…… what I can say??… thats f*ing crazy.

July 16th, 2009 at 11:20 pm

Jane,
I attended the Rogers Cup in Toronto last year for 4 days and it was an amazing experience. I am only criticizing the women’s tournament which I attended two years ago – less than 50% of the top ten women played – many defaulted and the matches we watched in the latter part of the week were one-sided and boring.

July 16th, 2009 at 11:25 pm

Thanks for your reply, Nancy, did you find it fairly easy to get the tickets? Did you get to see any later rounds? How about Nadal? Did you get to watch him? Finally, is the seating pretty good no matter where your seated (i.e., would the nosebleed seats be okay or is it crucial to get closer?)

Sorry for so many questions; feel free not to answer. I’d just hate to plan a trip around the event and find out the seats are horrible or something.

(p.s. – at this point, I wouldn’t go to the women’s; too bad you had a disappointing experience with that).

July 16th, 2009 at 11:32 pm

Jane,
Tickets are pretty available for the Roger’s cup but I don’t know about the seating in Montreal.

July 16th, 2009 at 11:37 pm

Here is the article from the ATP website re: Gasquet

http://www.atpworldtour.com/News/Tennis/2009/07/Gasquet-Antidoping-Decision.aspx

The article is as sterile as could be. I realize that the ATP walks a fine line regarding this issue but nevertheless one would expect a more insightful piece on behalf of one of their own.

July 16th, 2009 at 11:39 pm

OK Nancy, will look into it for next summer. Hope you get to see some matches in Montreal (always loved taking the train from TO to Montreal…).

July 16th, 2009 at 11:41 pm

@Jane – tickets are easy to get, ideally buy in advance through a tennis club referral for a discount to save a few bucks.

Personally I prefer the earlier rounds because they’re more fun, you get a lot more tennis in but not necessarily marquee matches of course. Still it’s nice to see the practice courts busy, lots of people and events happening on the grounds, etc.

@Nancy – Nadal could be #3 – see http://www.atpworldtour.com/News/Tennis/2009/07/Shark-Bites-Federer-Has-Hold-On-Number-One.aspx for an explanation of the points to be defended:

+ Total Pts. July 27
(Toronto) Aug. 3
(Cincinnati) Aug. 17
(Olympics) Sept. 14
(US Open)
1) Federer 11,200 10 150 200 2000
2) Nadal 10,735 1000 450 800 900
3) Murray 9,700 450 1000 10 1400

July 16th, 2009 at 11:48 pm

Sharko details the points each could lose in the summer U.S. Open series. As you can see, Nadal has 3,150 points, Murray 2,860 to defend.

Points Dropping through US Open = Federer (2,360), Nadal (3,150), Murray (2,860)

Nadal currently has 10,735 points, Murray 9,700 points.

July 16th, 2009 at 11:50 pm

@Jane – maybe by then Ontario’s $300,000,000 train improvement between Toronto & Montreal will be done. Not sure when it will start but it’s already been approved I think

July 16th, 2009 at 11:53 pm

Green Balls; I thought that was you. ‘Yah’, did it for me, a few weeks ago.

What about Djokovic, Roddick and JMDP, how’s their defense of points looking?

July 16th, 2009 at 11:56 pm

Green Balls – thanks to you for more details & advice on Roger’s Cup; earlier rounds make sense in a way. I tend to like the early rounds of slams too.

Holy crap! Didn’t know about that train improvement, but have lived on the west coast since mid-90s. That’s good to hear, I think. Loads of cash though.

July 16th, 2009 at 11:58 pm

BTW, quite the contingent of Canadian tennis fans on this site; off the top I can think of:

SG (I think?)
Tennisfan
Kimmi
Gordo
gordon
Nancy
Green Balls
andrea
myself

Not bad, considering we have no real tennis stars to speak of – except Nestor, and Wozniak, and, well, maybe, sorta Dancevic.

July 17th, 2009 at 12:01 am

@Von: Between Djokovic, Roddick and JMDP:

Djokovic: 8,150
Roddick: 5,440
JMDP: 5,425

Points to defend through US. Open:

Djokovic: 2,260
Roddick: 970
JMDP: 2,200

I definitely don’t see any movement at the #4 ranking, and I definitely think that Roddick will add a bit more points to his lead over JMDP, mainly because of his great form recently…who knows for sure!

July 17th, 2009 at 12:05 am

“BTW, quite the contingent of Canadian tennis fans on this site; off the top I can think of:” jane

Yeah, you guys could start a Canadian Tennis fan club.

July 17th, 2009 at 12:06 am

Dancevic has had his share of wins on the tour. Wozniak is one of the best we’ve had in a long time on the singles side, and I don’t see her being a defector, she’s a proud Canadian.

Nestor is incredible, he’s a doubles animal, a legend practically.

July 17th, 2009 at 12:07 am

Dan Martin – “Well at least you are not a U of L fan :)” My stepmom is from Nicholasville & a big UK fan. Few yrs back when they were eliminated during March Madness I asked if she therefore was going to root for U of L (who were still in) & she looked at me as if I had two heads. This maybe the equivalent of being both a Cubs and White Sox fan.

“Anyway, tenisbebe as Cincy approaches we’ll have to see if our days there coincide.” Yes, let’s do that Dan.
——————————————–
Green Balls – Ahhha, so you are Shan morphed, eh? Von is a good detective, yes? I would recommend her to any police dept. “tenisbebe Says:
High School/year? n/a” I didn’t attend HS here so didn’t list it. “Bourbon is da good stuff. I lived in Chicago for a few years, nice city!” I’m not a bourbon drinker but having visited several distilleries when bourbon drinking friends visit I am coming to appreciate it. I love & miss many things in Chicago – not the weather though :-). Where did live?

July 17th, 2009 at 12:09 am

“Canadian Tennis fan club.” LOL – virtually no “Canadian tennis” to cheer about; guess that’s why we’re all here. But it’s nice to know not everyone in Canada watches/follows only hockey.

I just happened to notice this “Canadian” trend lately. I am sure there are others I can’t remember at the moment. I know people were commenting during the FO coverage we were getting from Eurosport via TSN.

July 17th, 2009 at 12:09 am

Green Balls:

Thanks for the points breakdown. I was more interested in Roddick/JMDP, but asked for Djokovic considering he’s close to Murray in the race and am wondering how the situation, points wise, between the two will play out.

I think the finish to the YEC will be a dramatic one this year, similar to a horse race, where the No. 1 player will win by a ‘head’.

July 17th, 2009 at 12:10 am

“Nestor is incredible, he’s a doubles animal, a legend practically.”

Agreed! He’s got the golden slam and how many wins? It’s crazy. He deserves all the accolades we can throw at him.

July 17th, 2009 at 12:10 am

@tenisbebe – yes Von is quite the detective…she’d make a great stalker ;)

@Von – I don’t think Murray will lose the #3 ranking. Consider:

Murray: 9,700, can lose up to 2,860 points
Djoko: 8,150, can lose up to 2,260 points

So, that is probably not happening unless there’s an injury

July 17th, 2009 at 12:21 am

Green balls:

“@tenisbebe – yes Von is quite the detective…she’d make a great stalker ;)”

I’m kinda lost on how to interpret the above. ha ha

July 17th, 2009 at 12:24 am

@tennisbebe – I lived in Lincoln Park and worked in the loop…yah windy weather but a great city.

@jane – lots of tennis fans and players here in Toronto, of course tennis is nowhere near mainstream nor ever will likely be but it does seem like there’s a growing interest in the sport

@Von – Agreed it will be close, can’t wait to see the action in London!

July 17th, 2009 at 12:26 am

@Von you have a good memory. Tennis-x must be important to you!

July 17th, 2009 at 12:27 am

Green Balls, my 8 year old just took lessons and lots of kids were playing, so hopefully it’ll grow.

“30 Rock” re-run time – gotta go.

July 17th, 2009 at 12:32 am

Once again, hurray! I have someone to root for again.

July 17th, 2009 at 12:38 am

@Jane, 30 Rock? TV Show? I haven’t had cable since the start of the year, completely out of the loop with TV. If I were to get my kids into sports in Canada, I’d definitely go with 2 – tennis and a backup that had the potential to earn a great salary like hockey. Unfortunately in tennis, a guy like Dancevic , even though he’s 100 or so in the world, is not making a fraction as much as the #100 hockey, football, soccer, cricket, basketball, .

July 17th, 2009 at 12:41 am

blah:

“Once again, hurray! I have someone to root for again.”

I said something similar to you in one of my posts on the current Nadal thread. I’m happy for you that your guy is back.

July 17th, 2009 at 1:00 am

Green Balls;

“@Von you have a good memory. Tennis-x must be important to you!”

No, Tennis.X is not that important to me, I come here when I’m working doing research and use posting ‘as a pause to refresh’ or down time whichever way you want to look at it. I also like the fun interacting with some of the pleasant posters. I just happen to remember stuff that’s all.

July 17th, 2009 at 1:03 am

My memory is terrible, especially right now – 2 weeks of regular consulting + 3 RFPs that I’m proposing on all at the same time, going a bit batty – it’s the same for me here!

July 17th, 2009 at 1:07 am

Yeah, “30 Rock” is a funny (imo) 1/2 hour show, with Alec Baldwin, Tracy Morgan, & Tina Fey. I don’t watch much TV, some HBO series (6 feet Under, now True Blood), tennis, Charlie Rose… I prefer films and books.

Good luck on all that work.

July 17th, 2009 at 1:22 am

Think we all would agree that it would be very difficult for Roddick to take over the #4 spot from Djoko this summer. Djoko would have to fall on his face and Roddick have an outstanding summer. Andy can definitely pick up pts here and there if he plays well at some 250 events (Indy) and goes deep at the open. But in the past Djoko has done well at the NA HC’s (exception ’07 Cincy). It’s going to be an exciting race to London!

Jane – re: 2010 Roger’s Cup (Toronto next yr, yes?), you shouldn’t have any problem getting tickets to this event. If you have nosebleed seats for the early round days, you can move down to empty seats. As long as you don’t try to sit in the box seats you should be fine – the ushers won’t check what seats vs ticket, they don’t have the manpower. For the marquee night matches (when it’s alot more crowded) you won’t have as much flexibility.

Great that there are more Canadian posters here so you won’t feel so lonely :-)

July 17th, 2009 at 1:26 am

tenisbebe, thanks for the suggestions re: Roger’s Cup – never thought of moving up seats, but that makes sense. Honestly, I am not feeling “lonely” though, lol. Thanks for the nice words on the other thread, b.t.w. I have fought many battles here in the past, but I don’t get too embroiled anymore, for the most part, as some of those battles just raised my blood pressure. And like SG mentioned on the other thread, few people change their minds anyhow. But I admire people who can take really firm stances here, and logically argue their points. It’s always interesting and informative to read posts like that.

July 17th, 2009 at 2:54 am

***************************
***************************

Should you be in a night club the night before the match?

July 17th, 2009 at 7:28 am

No one has mentioned incidental contamination from his balls. Stranger things have happened.

July 17th, 2009 at 9:16 am

Some excellent analysis from Long live the King on the previous post:

——————————–
The other guys could not string it, because Roger was there to kick their ass and break the racquet or whatever the players are trying to string. Roger beat Hewitt, Safin, Agassi and Roddick all slam winners and former no.1s, multiple number of times in Majors. Ofcourse, mentioning them would demean your argument which is logically flawed.

In 6years since 2003 wimbledon, 25 Grand Slams have been played. Federer cleaned up 15 of them, was in the final in another 5, was in the semis in 3more which makes it 23/25 slams. Ofcourse the competition is left crap pieces to play for. Compare this with sampras who won his 14 GS over a stretch of 49 slams (90 USopen – 2002 USopen). That is less than 30% (14/49) slam win ratio compared to Roger’s 60%. (15/25). Less than half as dominant as Roger. If Agassi did not got AWOL between 95-99, Pete would have won zero Aus open (notice the fact Pete never beat Andre at australian open). Add to that the fact that Sampras was aided by lightning fast courts and conditions. The kind of courts, Nadal would have struggled to make the semis (Witness TMC Shanghai the two years Nadal played and got tuned by Roger). If the courts and conditions were not slowed to prevent the rock-fests that Sampras and his “rival” ivanisevic presented us in the 90s, Nadal would not have won a non-clay slam (maybe he would still have pulled the AO out but definitely not wimbledon).

Imagine Roger Vs Nadal in the 90s wimbledon courts. Nadal would struggle to win a set against Roger (just like AA used to struggle to win sets against Pete on the faster courts of Wimbledon and USOPEN!)

July 17th, 2009 at 11:21 am

First of all, hi to all, especially to Von!!!!!
Nicely developing thread, wish I could join in a lot of the debates going right now, but, am afraid I will be literally hammered away from my DSL to start drinking and chillaxing again, cause for some reason my posse keeps reminding me that I deserved it(have no clue what they mean, but it works for me as rationalization)

I have only 1 thing to quickly(whahahahaha, I know, i know) comment on: Have a nice 1 every one!!!!

Von says: Nancy says: “Roddick definitely lost that game, as opposed to Federer winning.”

Thank you for saying what I’ve tried to say since the Wimby tourney, but I’ve been dubbed ’sour grapes’ due to my being a Roddick fan.

Von, love ya to bits! But I have to put a little side note to this statement above(or maybe the blistering Spanish sun combined with muchisimo volumes of alcoholic beverages is starting to make its presence in my brain)

In my humble opinion the two weren’t mutually exclusive but happened (which is highly coincidental conventionally) simultaneously…
Andy lost it at and Fed won it.

July 17th, 2009 at 12:05 pm

Green I was fairly certain tenisbebe did not attend St. X in Louisville even before learning she is not native to the Derby City. She can explain why if she wants.

Tenisbebe, does Louisville still have that lowest tier women’s event? I know the city lost the USTA 18 and under clay court championships which is a bummer as Connors, both McEnroes, Courier, Wheaton, and James Blake all played in Louisville as juniors for that national title. The whole kentuckiana (southern Indiana) region is a sports bubble where IU, UK and U of L rule. I find not living in KY makes it easier to support U of L when UK is not playing but first through third grade recess always amounted to wrestling and the occasional fist fight divided on UK and U of L fan lines. Those bruises hurt! I guess we see KY’s educational difficulties begin with basketball fights in school.

July 17th, 2009 at 12:10 pm

Veno:

“Von, love ya to bits! But I have to put a little side note to this statement above(or maybe the blistering Spanish sun combined with muchisimo volumes of alcoholic beverages is starting to make its presence in my brain)

“In my humble opinion the two weren’t mutually exclusive but happened (which is highly coincidental conventionally) simultaneously…
Andy lost it at and Fed won it.”

Hi, and how are you doing with the suntan? Remember, too much of a good thing, is not so good in the long run.

I hope you remembered that we agreed to disagree, and I do value your opinion, very much. Yes, if we look at it that way, pure and simply put, I agree: Andy lost it, and Fed won it. and, that’s all you’ll hear from me again on the topic.

Hey, and love ya to bits too. Even though we differ in opinions, that doesn’t and/or shouldn’t change people’s fondness toward each other, yes? It’s why we’re called ‘adults’ and not adolescents. The adult thing to do is to be broadminded enough to try to see things through another’s perspective, and to also understand that we’re each entitled to our opinions. I can live with that.

On another note: You enquired about Andy’s injury. The news today, and I see there’s a thread on it he’s had to pull out of Indy at the last minute, today in fact, due to his right hip flexor injury.

http://www.tennis-x.com/xblog/2009-07-17/1816.php

I don’t know Veno, I’m becoming very concerned about this injury and I only hope that it doesn’t become a chronic problem for him. I was anguished watching him diving for some of those balls and my first thoughts were, God, please don’t let him be hurt, and what do you know, it happenend. Diving for some shots looks great when it’s happening, but it’s not so great for the body. To reiterate, I only hope he can bounce back from this injury and it doesn’t become a chronic problem considering how hard he’s worked to play at the level at which he’s now playing.

Veno, my friend, enjoy the rest of your day and evening and we’ll talk again soon. BTW, I don’t think you should be too concerned about being hammered by your posse, because you’ve got to be a nice guy for them to want to hang around with you. In my book, you’re great. Also, do try to stay away from those drinks with names that are too difficult to pronounce, they might be very potent and you’d end up someplace without having a clue as to how you got there.

And, last but not least, don’t kiss any girls you don’t know. LOL. Gosh, I’ve just taken all the fun out of everything haven’t I? Your eliminating both drinks and girls could turn out to be boring — Alright just be careful. How’s that for a happy medium? LOL.

July 17th, 2009 at 4:32 pm

Andrew Miller: “I wont mention Maria Kirilenko. Hands down, most beautiful girl in the top 50 on the WTA.”

I think that from all those newcomers, Ioana Raluca Olaru doesn’t look that bad either!

July 17th, 2009 at 5:57 pm