Thursday, August 25, 2011

Passing shots

Madison Keys has received a wild card into the U.S. Open main draw. Keys defeated 2010 winner Beatrice Capra 3-6, 6-4k, 6-0 in the U.S. Open Wild Card Playoffs. She had already qualified for the U.S. Open doubles main draw. 16-year-old Keys trained at the Evert Academy, but is now being coached by Adam Peterson in the USTA Player Development Program. Peterson is the former coach of Lindsay Davenport.

The latest issue of USTA Magazine has a feature called "In Your Dreams!" Sports journalists and former tennis stars are asked to describe a "dream" match between players of any generation. My favorite was Steve Tignor's: He would like to see Justine Henin play Evonne Goolagong. Martina Navratilova would like to see herself playing Serena Williams, and Chris Evert would like to see herself playing Martina Hingis.

SI.com is revamping its "Open Source" blog and has hired C Note to run the show! Stay tuned...

Robin Anderson earned a wild card into U.S. Open qualifying by virtue of winning the U.S. Open National Playoffs. Anderson, who was unseeded, knocked out the top two seeds. However, she lost in the first round of qualifying to Naomi Broady, who defeated her 7-6, 7-5.

The earthquake that hit the U.S. East Coast was felt in New Haven, and the New Haven Open venue had to be evacuated Tuesday when the upper level of the stadium started shaking. Jelena Jankovic--who else?!-- was on the court when the stands began rattling. She was playing Elena Vesnina, who defeated her when play was resumed.

6 comments:

Daniel said...

Dang, should we make wills out next year at the FCC before Jelena hits the court? You know that Charleston is supposed to get 'the big one'

And you know work is crazy for me right now with everyone going hurricane-crazy...and then an earthquake!

Diane said...

I have to refer to WTA Backspin's favorite nickname here: Queen Chaos is coming--Batten down the hatches!

Todd Spiker said...

Oh, that JJ/QC was on court during the earthquake is just... too... perfect. :)

Wayne said...

JJ makes a first serve... and causes an earthquake: was one of the better jokes.

I was watching the match on-line. The bleacher's starting shaking, the match abandoned and spectators asked to evacuate the complex. The match was stopped at 15*-40 (second serve *foot fault*). I couldn't see anything wrong with Vesnina's foot, I guess the service line must have 'moved' during the rumble.

Diane said...

Oh, Wayne, that's funny.

Did you see Pavlyuchenkova carrying on over the raindrops today? Just think what she would have done if there had been an earthquake.

Wayne said...

A final postscript to last Monday's events... "Calamity Jelena's" post-match presser: and the waiting for two hours on the grass outside the stadium while it was being cleared by the fire marshal and building inspectors.
Classic !

“It doesn’t make you feel good before going on the court,” she said. “It’s not like you are sitting on a couch. You are just sitting in the middle of nowhere and mosquitoes biting you and bugs and spiders crawling over you.”