Goings-on at the Australian Open

I didn't see but a bit of the match, but during the doubles competition between the Williams sisters and Ayumi Morita/Martina Muller, yet another streaker appeared on the court. Apparently, several people--but probably not Monica Seles--thought it was pretty funny.

Ai Sugiyama appeared to be cramping in the second set of her match against Jelena Jankovic, though--after treatment--she looked fine. Galina Voskoboeva wasn't as lucky; she retired at the end of her first third round set from either a shoulder injury or a back strain--I've heard both.

Kaia Kanepi must have folded under the pressure of playing on a big court in a major. The usually feisty performer gave Dinara Safina almost no resistance.

The ITF has fined Nicole Vaidisova $2,000 for failing to appear at her Australian Open press conference.

The only big match I've watched is the Serena Williams-Gisela Dulko thriller. The others--Venus Williams vs. Carla Suarez Navarro, Ana Ivanovic vs. Alisa Kleybanova, Daniela Hantuchova vs. Alize Cornet, Jelena Dokic vs. Paszek, Chakvetadze and Wozniacki--either Tennis Channel and ESPN didn't show them, or the matches were at 4 a.m. my time, which made them unwatchable. I haven't even been able to see repeats. The Williams-Dulko match was shown over and over, but it was one I saw live. This is frustrating because the Australian Open is the only major which I really can watch, except for the night matches. Work, alas, interferes with the other three majors. I'm hoping for a little rain, so Tennis Channel and ESPN will show some repeats, even though it isn't really that much fun to watch a match when you know its outcome. To make matters worse, I think that Wimbledon Live is no more, so my ability to view that major will also be limited. I always like to have one match going on TV, and another one on the computer.

So, even though I am watching a lot of tennis, I don't feel like I'm really seeing a lot of tennis. I enjoy watching ATP matches, and I have had a bit of luck seeing a couple of the good ones. But I feel cheated out of seeing most of the good women's matches.