Miscellany

Laura Robson, who has been training at the Mouratoglou Academy for a year, has hired Patrick Mouratoglou to be her coach for the 2011 season.

Serena Williams and her crystal-encrusted rehab boot are now being spotted on tennis courts.

Tennis Channel is now airing its Hot Shots of 2010. Look for the feature to be shown several times.

Hopman Cup competition begins on January 1.

Justine Henin reports that it may take months for her elbow to be fully healed.

Olivia Rogowska has been given a wild card into the main draw of the Hobart Inernational tournament. She recently won the Australian Open wild card playoffs in Australia.

Rogowska wins Australian Open wild card

Olivia Rogowska was down 1-6, 1-3 to Jelena Dokic in the Australian Open wild card playoffs. There was a rain delay, and--according to Rogowska--Dokic returned from it with a little less swing. But also, Rogowska, who had lost two other wild card playoff finals, said she felt she just shouldn't lose three. She saved two match points and defeated Dokic 1-6, 7-6, 6-3.

Mirza makes comeback in Commonwealh Games semifinals

Down 1-6, 1-3 in the singles semifinals at the Commonwealth Games, 2nd seed Sania Mirza staged a comeback against Olivia Rogowska and won the match, 1-6, 6-4, 6-2. Rogowska will play the loser of the other semifinal to determine who wins the bronze medal. The other semifinalists are Sally Peers and top seed Anastasia Rodionova.

"She was just swinging and just hitting everything," Miza said of Rogowska. "I had to hang in there. I knew, at some point, she was going to crack."

Australians win on first day of Commonwealth Games

Olivia Rogowska won her first round match at the Commonwealth Games today, defeating Scottish player Mhairi Brown 6-1, 6-2. Top seeds Anastasia Rodionova and Paul Hanley defeated Nirupama Sanjeev and Rohan Bopanna 6-3, 3,-6, 6-3.

Dellacqua wins wild card playoff

Casey Dellacqua has won the Australian Open wild card playoffs in Australia. Dellacqua defeated Olivia Rogowska 1-6, 6-7, 6-3. Rogowska, who was the number 1 seed, served for the match in the second set, and held three match points in the tiebreak, but could not convert them.

There is still a chance that Rogowska will receive a discretionary wild card.

Dellacqua, who was off the tour most of this season because of shoulder surgery, made it to the round of 16 in last year's Australian Open.

Dellacqua and Rogowska to meet in final

Top seed Olivia Rogowska defeated Jessica Moore today in the Australian Open wild card playoffs in Australia, while Casey Dellacqua defeated Sally Peers. The winner of tomorrow's final will get a wild card into the main draw in Melbourne. Should Dellacqua lose, however, she--like Alicia Molik, who lost in the quarterfinals--will still be under consideration to receive a discretionary wild card.

This Thrill Ride may need to be closed for repairs

It's one thing to excite fans by coming back when you're a set and a break down, but--playing in the first round of a major and almost collapsing in the face of wild card--is a bit much. Both top seed Dinara Safina and her opponent, wild card Olivia Rogowska, made a combined total of 113 unforced errors in a match that was sometimes a bit hard to watch. Had Rogowska possessed something of a forehand or a better serve, she might have walked away with an upset. On the other hand, when the end was near, it was Rogowska who collapsed and Safina who rose to the occasion, but--in true Thrill Ride form--only after the she went down 0-3, 15-40.

I like it when, driven by desperation, Thrill Ride puts on her champion's face and saves herself at the last minute. But it is a stressful way to live, and we can only begin to guess what it takes out of her emotionally. To hold the trophy at the U.S. Open, Safina has to win seven straight matches. She can afford few like the one she played today, which lasted last two hours and 35 minutes. The world number 1's first serve win percentage was 60. Safina hit one ace and double-faulted eleven times. She wound up with more than twice as many unforced errors as winners. Her opponent was even more error-prone, but she was also relentless, and--until the end--appeared fearless. Rogowska received wild applause when she left the stadium, and she deserved it.

Of course, there's always the possibility that getting past Rogowska will put Safina more at ease, and permit her to play the kind of quality tennis of which she is capable. But with her history of letting her anxiety get the better of her, we can't count on that. She knows her problem is mental, but identifying a problem is not the same as solving it. It doesn't help that--everywhere she turns--Safina feels she has to defend her right to hold the world's highest ranking. Some people say her chronically scowling coach does not help, but I don't think it's up to us to judge that relationship.

Fans like excitement, but we would probably settle for a bit less of it if it means Thrill Ride can keep rolling in Flushing Meadows.

French Open wild card out of junior competition in first round

Lauren Embree, who won the U.S. wild card competition, lost to Nadia Petrova in the first round of the French Open. Today, she lost in the first round of the junior competition, to the unseeded Nastja Kolar. Embree was seeded 7th.

The Australian wild card, Olivia Rogowska, had better fortune. Seeded 12th, she defeated the unseeded Zsofia Susanyi.

Miscellany

The Wall Street Journal takes a look at match-fixing, and--specifically--an approach that was made to Ekaterina Bychkova. Almost a year ago, Akiko Morigami clearly said she was approached and asked to throw a match, and then, a few days later, insisted her comments had been "misunderstood." The speed with which the sports media abandoned the Morigami story was right up there in the Jankovic court movement realm.

Robert Radwanski is at it again, this time insisting that the organizers of the Warsaw Open did not treat his daughter fairly.

Vera Zvonareva has been named UNESCO's latest Gender Equality Ambassador.

Jelena Dokic has won one main draw match since the Australian Open. Some people--you know who they are--have mocked her for experiencing sports fatigue syndrome, but that is a nasty state of affairs that depletes just about every part of one's body.

Australian Olivia Rogowska has been added to the French Open wild card list.