Offseason Newsreel: Career 2.0
‘Tis the season to be jolly, as they say, and why wouldn’t you be?
In the lazy, frazzle-free haze of the offseason, familiar faces are resurfacing everywhere. You know what they say about absence and fond hearts?
How could I have missed the orgasmic effects of an Henin backhand without her 18-month ‘retirement’?
Who knew I had this much love for Nalbandian and his tummy full of foxiness?
And didn’t you have a smile on your face too when you saw Alicia Molik and Casey Dellacqua on court at the Australian Open wild card play-off? …Well didn’t cha?!
Oh yeth! Old friends are back, and they’re back in a winning fashion.
Making his first appearance since being sidelined with a hip injury 7 months ago. Nalbandian defeated Massu and Gaudio at the Copa San Juan Minero, conceding only 7 games in 4 sets.
Having only seen the match against Massu, what can I say? Nalby was much better than I thought he’d be.
Remarkably self-assured throughout the match, Bandy served big, foxed his way around court and absolutely crushed that forehand at every opportunity he got. In fact, I was surprised at how effective his forehand was during the match and how happily at ease he looked.
Now the thought of Nalbandian lurking in the Australian Open draw of some hapless top seed officially makes me want to stick my head into a barf-bag. But hey, good to have you back, you foxy ninja!
The woman’s on a roll! Justine Henin capped off her exho tour with a straight-sets win over Nadia Petrova in Cairo. It was her first match on clay since the painful loss to Dinara Safina 18 months ago. Good to see the bitch of Roland Garros back on home turf.
Henin now goes into the Australian circuit with 3 straight-sets wins under her belt, 2 of which over fringe top 10 players. And she says she doesn’t have high expectations for the Australian Open? Right.
Here’s to hoping for a good draw. Like Nalbandian, Henin is just a land mine waiting to feast on the limbs of a few top players.
The Australian Open wild card play-offs kicked off this week at Melbourne Park, as Casey Dellacqua and Alicia Molik both made their appearances in hope of boosting Aussie presence at our home slam.
Molik, who retired for a year due to lingering illness and injury, looked fresh and happy as she downed 18-year-old Jade Hopper 6-1 6-2. She was soon joined by her sometime doubles partner Casey Dellacqua, as Dellacqua defeated Olivia Rogowska 76(10) 60.
The score line speaks volumes for how Rogowska fell apart after losing the first set, but from what I saw, Casey was hitting the balls cleanly enough.
Regardless of form, ranking or potential, you won’t find two more down-to-earth, happy-go-lucky players on the WTA tour. Welcome back ladies. Our Fed Cup team will be made of win next year.
Also on the comeback trail, Carlos Moya will be playing an exhibition tournament in Buenos Aires as preparation for a January return to the ATP.
Moya was sidelined with osteoarthritis in a foot, and injuries to the tendon and bone of the right buttock.
I wonder how he injured his right buttock.
xx doots
20 responses to “Offseason Newsreel: Career 2.0”
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Who the hell is dootsiez?
Melbournian lawyer. Blogger. Unapologetic Federer tragic.
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Go on, I don't bite. =)
All I need is a picket fence ... 
HA,I wonder indeed… 😛
Or maybe Flavia finally got her revenge Elin Woods style?I can imagine Flavs doing that kind of thing…Although I now feel kind of a twat for making a domestic violence joke,a friend of mine the other day was saying how people would never have joked about Chris Brown beating Rihanna,but feel fine if the genders are reversed,and it’s so true…
But anyways,yay Fatty Dave! 😛
I’ve actually missed the guy and didn’t think I would,hopefully this timeout will give him some
real focus and will to fulfill his huge potential!
Although if it’s like 1st round Nalbandian-Federer at AO I’ll have to pray that Nalby’s been on a fast food crawl the night before,then stolen Sod’s jelly babies…
“a friend of mine the other day was saying how people would never have joked about Chris Brown beating Rihanna,but feel fine if the genders are reversed,and it’s so true…”
Quite true. But that is because women make up almost all of domestic violence cases, no? Reality makes one way funnier than the other.
I hope Flavia smashed a few car windows with his tennis racquet. 😉
Yeah that’s a good point,and I think we can be safe in saying Flavia got her revenge somehow 😉
Nalby played good but he hasn´t rivals.But in a previous interview he said:”This year I want to win a G.S. Wimby and beating Fed in the final”Just to do what Delpo has just did. They rivalry sumed no end in sigth.
I really like watching Nalbandian play. But when I watch him, I wonder why he hasn’t won a Grand Slam already?!
Also, who the hell is Gaudio?! I know Massu won a silver or bronze at the Sydney Olympics, but I have no idea who this Gaudio guy is!!
You’ve never heard of Gaudio? He won Roland Garros in 2004!
Personally, I’m still like “how did Coria not win that match.” >.<
Le sigh.
He won rolland garros in 2004?! wow, the only people i remember winning slams in 2004 is roger and masha. I have no idea who won the other ones!
in my defence, i wasn’t a hardcore tennis fan until about 2005/2006
i take it gaudio is argentinian, like coria?! and he never got to no1, right?! (or are they two dumbass questions? :))
Iam more like why didn’t Roger win that FO, losing to Googa of all people, I know he was a great claycourter but the key word here is “was”.Seriously what was roger thinking?
I don’t think that Coria who lost to Gaudio would have won against Roger in the finals .Roger was vulnerable on clay technically but a grand slam final is a different kettle of fish altogether. And I certainly don’t think it would have been presumptuos or egotistical of Roger to believe that he could go for the record in 2005. People were talking about him being the best ever even then simply because of the way he played the game.But yes I agree that his clay court game was not ready for RG but Coria beating him in the finals I am not sure I will ever buy that…….Coria for all his clay court prowess was no Rafa and he was pretty worn out by the final.The question is not whether Roger would have won the final(he was on that 24 final winning streak) but whether he would have reached it at all?
Coria let his guards down. For the first two sets, he was blowing Gaudio off the court. Coria may not be Nadal, but on a good day, he can give Nadal more fits than Fed. 2004 Roland Garros wasn’t a screw up by Roger, sure he probably could’ve made it further, but he wasn’t gonna win regardless or whether he made it past Kuerten.
Jack – Gaudio was in the top 8 for 2005, qualified for the Masters Cup, made it into the semifinal before losing 60 60 to – you guessed it – Fed. Since then he’s imploded, although I’m not sure that the two are related. 😉
pban – not everything is about Roger, no? Even if he made it through Kuerten, I’m not sure that he would’ve won against Coria. Sure, Coria imploded a little in the final, but the guy is one of the finest clay courters of his generation. On a good day, he could give Nadal fits.
I know you were not into Roger in those days doots but i was and Roger used to beat Coria on clay even back then. I just don’t think he was mentally ready for what he could achieve ,2004 US Open was the turning point. It was then that his wide eyed wonder at winning a slam changed to an unshakeable belief that he was destined to overcome Pete,I know tennis wasn’t only about Roger but winning or losing even then depended very much on him .
pban, I may not have been a fan of Roger back than, but I followed the sport more than I followed anyone’s career.
I know Roger beat Coria in Hamburg that year, but Coria by then had won 5 clay court tournaments in a row, and was on a 31 match winning streak on clay. Hamburg was a tiny blip before a major slam, but there was no doubt back then that this was the best clay courter of the generation.
Roger, on the contrary, was vulnerable on clay. If he HAD gone up against Coria at Roland Garros 2004, my bet is that he would’ve lost, period. Especially if he was struggling against the likes of Kuerten, who had always given him trouble.
And I don’t think Roger’s “unshakable belief” that he was going to beat Pete’s record came until 2006. I highly doubt that with 4 slams under his belt at the USO04, Roger thought he would eventually end up with 15 and counting. He’s not that egotistic or presumptious.
Had no idea where to stick these things,but just seen on Daily Telegraph website that they’re trying to find the ‘sporting moment of the decade’,Fed-Nadal Wimbly 08 currently joint 1st with Arsenal’s ‘Invincible’ season,then Liverpool getting 5th Champions League trophy with 17% (you can tell it’s a Brit poll 😛 )
You can vote here if you want to
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/tennis/rafaelnadal/6709948/Top-20-sporting-moments-of-the-noughties-The-2008-Wimbledon-final.html
Tiger Woods winning 2008 US Open currently on a grand total of 0%…
And in a poll with slighly less gravitas 😉 Myla
Rose was voted the 3rd most popular celeb baby name this year in the UK,poor Charlene
gets nothing!
http://www.prweb.com/releases/parenting/baby-names/prweb3185894.htm
Aww poor Charlene. She got the less popular name 😦
ah doots you are never going to convince me that Coria would have beaten Roger nor will I be able to sell you my point of view. We can only agree to disagree, no 😉
Ahh pban, we’ll *have* to agree to disagree. Trust you to turn something entirely unrelated to Roger into something all about him.
How else do you expect me to survive the offseason, especially since my frazzling has started 15 days in advance after reading an article on the safe bets for slam winners in 2010.The prophets of doom are everywhere 😦 its good to have friends who understand and share your paranoia, at least Ican rant without someone staring at me as if I belonged in a loonybin 😉
We might have to abandon the Concubine nickname…
Stan has just married Ilham Vuilloud in Lausanne…
Awww,marrying his older,uber preggers girlfriend in Switzerland though?Such a copycat! 😛
Article is on hcfoo’s blog
http://www.hcfoo.com/2009/12/stanislas-wawrinka-marries-heavily.html
And I still really want to call Stan (and his hair god compatriot)Concubine… 😉
Stan will always be Concubine! 🙂