Monday Net Post

[Ed. note: Gotta love Big Ed McGrogan. He goes off last week for a Vegas vacation (with college buddies no less), digs himself into a big blackjack or Texas Hold 'Em hole, but goes on a run and flies home $500 up. And he STILL finds time to file a Monday Net Post.  I'll post some thoughts on the ultmate grinder in tennis a little later in the day - Pete]

Last Week's Tournaments

Western & Southern Financial Group Masters (ATP - Hard - Cincinnati, United States)

- Singles Final: Roger Federer def. James Blake 6-1, 6-4.
- Singles Semifinal: Roger Federer def. Lleyton Hewitt 6-3, 6-7, 7-6.
- Singles Semifinal: James Blake def. Nikolay Davydenko 6-4, 6-2.
- Singles Bracket

- Doubles Final: Jonathan Erlich/Andy Ram def. Bob Bryan/Mike Bryan 4-6, 6-3, 13-11.
- Doubles Semifinal: Bob Bryan/Mike Bryan def. Martin Damm/Leander Paes 3-6, 6-0, 10-7.
- Doubles Semifinal: Jonathan Erlich/Andy Ram def. Lukas Dlouhy/Pavel Vizner 7-6, 7-5.
- Doubles Bracket

Rogers Cup (WTA - Hard - Toronto, Canada)

- Singles Final: Justine Henin def. Jelena Jankovic 7-6, 7-5.
- Singles Semifinal: Justine Henin def. Zi Yan 6-2, 3-0 (retired).
- Singles Semifinal: Jelena Jankovic def. Tatiana Golovin 5-7, 6-3, 6-2.

- Doubles Final: Katarina Srebotnik/Ai Sugiyama def. Cara Black/Liezel Huber 6-4, 2-6, 10-5.
- Doubles Semifinal: Cara Black/Liezel Huber def. Nathalie Dechy/Tiantian Sun 6-2, 6-3.
- Doubles Semifinal: Katarina Srebotnik/Ai Sugiyama def. Alicia Molik/Mara Santangelo 6-2, 6-3.

• Singles & Doubles Bracket

By the Letter

T...humb injury lingering from Wimbledon forced Serena Williams to withdraw from the Pilot Pen on Friday.  If she plays in the U.S. Open, Serena will be playing her first competitive match in over seven weeks.
E...quine racing is a sport that is inherently connected to gambling.  The British Horseracing Authority, an organization which investigates betting scams, was contacted by the ATP to help look into allegations of match-fixing during the Nikolay Davydenko/Martin Vassallo Arguello match in Sopot.
N...one of the eight seeded players on the left side of the draw advanced past the second round of the Western & Southern Financial Masters, except for top seed Roger Federer.
N...adal's two well-known customs - biting his trophies and tugging on his pants - were addressed by the Mallorcan in a questionnaire in Time.
I...njury (an appendectomy) has forced Amelie Mauresmo to withdraw from the U.S. Open.
S...ix foot, nine inch John Isner and 2007 Wimbledon junior champion Donald Young were two notable Americans who got wild cards into the U.S. Open men's draw.  Six others received exemptions; they are listed here.
W...ild cards were granted to eight women for the U.S. Open, including NCAA singles champion Audra Cohen (Miami).  The others are listed here.
O...fficial and tournament director Rudi Berger passed away on Wednesday at the age of 55.
R...etirement (in the literal sense of the word) may be coming soon for Tim Henman, who said that the pain in his back has impacted his game and spirit so much so that simply playing has become a challenge.
L...ove is a term used frequently on the tennis court, but it can be seen off the court as well.  Roger Federer offered Rafael Nadal and his girlfriend a ride in his private jet after Rafa was having trouble finding a flight from Montreal to Cincinnati.
D...uring the opening night of the U.S. Open, the USTA will honor the 50th anniversary of Althea Gibson's U.S. National Championship victory with a ceremony called "Breaking Barriers".

McGrogan's Heroes

ATP: In recent years - with this year being the exception - Roger Federer has had little trouble in both ends of the back-to-back Indian Wells/Miami AMS events:

• 2004: Won Indian Wells, lost in the third round of Miami (to Nadal).
• 2005: Won Indian Wells and Miami.
• 2006: Won Indian Wells and Miami.

However, he hasn't shown the same consistency in the back-to-back Canada/Cincinnati AMS events:

• 2004: Won Canada, lost in the first round of Cincinnati (to Hrbaty).
• 2005: Didn't play Canada, won in Cincinnati.
• 2006: Won Canada, lost in the second round of Cincinnati (to Murray).

This year, Roger finally managed to string together two impressive performances in the summer heat by reaching the finals of Montreal and winning in Ohio.  The victory was Roger's 50th of his career, and his celebration on match point seemed to reflect this fact.  But I also think that part of the celebration stemmed from Roger being very happy to have played well in both Canada and Cincinnati for the first time in his career.

Federer didn't have to contend with the big guns like Nadal, Djokovic, or Roddick this week, but he did face stern tests from Nicolas Almagro and Lleyton Hewitt, requiring three sets to defeat each player.  He also gutted out a third-round victory over Marcos Baghdatis in tough weather conditions - it was an ugly match from both men, but an important one for Federer nonetheless.

For all you Blake fans: I was tempted to give this week's award to James, but at times his match against Federer reminded me of the Tennis Masters Cup blowout last year.  In the end, Roger was the only choice.  But the plus for James is that he seems to have found his game on the hard courts once again, as evidenced by his play this summer.  If Blake is on the opposite side of the U.S. Open draw from Federer, a replay of this match on September 9 isn't out of the question.

WTA: Justine Henin had no trouble winning her sixth title of the year in Toronto; she didn't even drop a set during the week.  But with so many withdrawals from the Rogers Cup, it was expected that the few remaining stars would advance deep into the week.  However, there was one notable surprise this week - Zi Yan - a qualifier who made it all the way to the semifinals.

Yan is best known in the tennis world for her play in doubles, where she partners with Jie Zheng.  This week, her singles play was the main focus, especially after she upset Ana Ivanovic in the second round in convincing fashion (6-3, 6-1).  Yan then took out Eleni Daniilidou in a third set tiebreaker, and defeated Wimbledon finalist Marion Bartoli (although Bartoli did retire).

Yan fell to Henin in the semifinals, but her play this week still deserves praise.  Her only tour victory came in September of 2005 in Guangzhou; since then, she has reached the quarterfinals or better of an event only three other times (with no finals appearances).  The decimated field may be what Toronto '07 is remembered for, but Yan got no free passes en route to her best showing on tour in nearly two years.

Next Week's Tournaments

Pilot Pen Tennis (ATP & WTA - Hard - New Haven, United States)

• Website
• Men's Singles Bracket
• Men's Doubles Bracket
• Women's Singles & Doubles Bracket

TV (Eastern Standard Time):

Wednesday: 2:00 - 4:00 pm (ESPN2), 10:30 pm - 12:30 am (ESPN2)
Thursday: 1:00 - 5:00 pm (ESPN2), 12:00 - 2:00 am (ESPN2)
Friday: 12:00 - 4:00 pm (ESPN2)
Saturday: 12:30 - 2:30 am (ESPN2), 1:00 - 3:00 pm (CBS), 7:00 - 9:00 pm (ESPN2)

Beyond the Bracket

If you read through the comments from last week's "Monday Net Post", you may have caught one from Pete mentioning that I was in Las Vegas this past week, on a vacation before the U.S. Open.  (As an aside, even though I'll be pulling 90 hour weeks at Flushing Meadows, it will still be like a vacation to me.)  Pete also promised you that I would report, upon my return.  Las Vegas culture is as "beyond the bracket" as there can be, so I think this is a great place to talk about my week in the Pacific Time zone.  Don't worry - true to the form of the column, this does have something to do with tennis.

When I found out I was going to the City of Sin, the first thing I thought of - before endless buffets, rolled up aces over kings, or scantily-clad women sipping drinks on the strip - was what tennis I could bet on.  I figured that as a hardcore observer of the sport for years, I could use my advanced knowledge to handicap some of the Cincinnati matches, taking home some serious loot in the process.  I was going to watch the tennis anyway, so why not make some money out of the deal?

In fact, I got so obsessed with the idea that I proposed a contest to a friend that was coming on the trip with me.  He's also an avid tennis fan, and played at the Division III level in college.  Without hesitation, he was on board, and we would determine who was the better man by seeing who could make the most money from betting on AMS Cincinnati matches.

We got to Las Vegas on Monday, and I rushed to the sports books to see what kind of action was going on.  Here's what I asked the teller at the Excalibur, where we were staying:

Me: "Do you have any tennis going on?"
Teller: (with completely blank stare on his face) "...No sir, we don't do tennis."

Undeterred, I headed across the street to the MGM Grand, figuring that a casino of their stature would surely be taking wagers on the world's greatest game.  Again, I inquired:

Me: "Are you taking any bets on tennis?"
Teller: "Just the U.S. Open."

The U.S. Open?  That's two weeks away!  Where's the love for the Masters Series tournaments?  When I planned this trip, I had a feeling that it would be a reach to get action from the minor events on the calendar, like Washington or Sopot, but I didn't at all consider there being no action on AMS Cincy.  I tried other casinos on the strip, but to no avail - the only tennis they had going were U.S. Open futures wagers (winner only).

If you know me, you  know I'll get my tennis fix in somehow, so I got to thinking about how this could still work out.  Then it dawned on me - a combined draft of the men and women between my friend and I.  Let me explain.  We would each take turns selecting a name from the board, and then allocate a portion our $50 tennis bankroll to that player.  Then we'd place our bets, wait until the Open concluded, and see who came out on top.  Plus, since we were betting on both the men and women, we could both, in theory, be winners, if we each got a champion in our stable.  It sounded good to us, and we went forward with the draft.

There is an exhaustive report on the actual draft (which took place in between heaping plates of Mongolian pork), and other matters Las Vegas, at Gasquet & Racquet, which I encourage you to peruse.  In particular, I would like to ask Sports Illustrated's L. Jon Wertheim to click on the link, after what I read in his recent mailbag (I added the bold and underline):

Yes, it is as bad as it sounds. Come on! There were $7 million in bets on the match! Of course this is serious, and obviously more than just someone overhearing something about Davydenko's foot!
-- Gilbert Benoit, Ottawa

To Which El Jon replied: No question, it stinks. Clearly something not kosher was going on. My point was simply that there are scenarios considerably less dark than the conventional wisdom that "Russian mobsters got their tentacles on Davydenko." And I also wanted to emphasize just how dumb you have to be to bet on tennis, particularly if you're a continent away from the action and not armed with any inside dope.

Jon, don't knock it before you try it!  Although I can see your point in this letter response.  But you know what they say...what happens in Vegas...

- Ed McGrogan