No news on what happened in the doubles. Daniela & Lucic-Baroni were the underdogs against a very good team but it would have been great for them to play and see what happens.


I think we'll all be in the Genie Army again tomorrow. It's amazing how Kerber, who has no real talent apart from running around a lot, is able to go from barely in the top 100 to going deep in slams by running around a bit more. We all know what a cheating bitch she is. GO GENIE or maybe it should be ALLEH GENIE.

The Facebook page of Croatian Tennis about the withdrawal at Wimbledon:

"Kraj za Mirjanu Lucic-Baroni na Wimbledonu ! Lucic i Hantuchova zaustavljene su u drugom kolu parova protiv Ruske kombinacije Makarova/ Vesnina. Nasa kombinacija mec je predala bez borbe, a razlog je vjerojatno neka povreda Lucic, posto je Mirjana ovaj tjedan trebala igrati Challenger u Francuskoj s kojeg se povukla."

"End of Mirjana Lucic-Baroni at Wimbledon! Lucic and Hantuchova were stopped in the second round against the Russian pairs Makarova / Vesnina. Our combination of mec surrendered without a fight, and the reason is probably an injury (povreda) of Lucic, Mirjana was to play this week a Challenger in France from which she withdrew."

My apologies to Daniela for my foolish attempt to sensationalize the doubles withdrawal. I don't normally do that, so in the future this will be left to those employed on Fleet Street.
It's still puzzling, though. Each time that match was scheduled and re-scheduled, it seemed like they were ready to go. Had Makarova finished bageling Aga just before the rain delay, it would seem that the doubles match would have proceeded after the delay was over. You don't suppose that Lucic's psycho father hit her across the ankles with a baseball bat during the delay!? Just hard to figure how she was all of a sudden too injured to play.

Daniela's San Diego Aviators begin play one week from today. How can I complain...it brings her to America for 3 extra weeks! Hope this works out for her and she enjoys it. Yesterday I saw an article that said that some knowledgeable observers of the WTA think that Dani is thissssssssss close to being in top 20 form, and that when tournament play resumes, she may well be that player that no one wants to draw in the first round. In World Team Tennis, barring injury, our gal will be playing one or two matches most every night. Barring any misfortune, this could be a terrific sharpening experience that could nicely benefit her in the US Open Series. (Wait a minute....as a dyed in the wool Daniela fan, that's just a bit too logical!) Fingers crossed!

Bouchard through to semis, what a sucky draw it was for Daniela.

Cornet and Daniela remain the only players to get at least 5 games in a set against Bouchard.

I honestly think Daniela played top 15 tennis against Bouchard. Even a slightly kinder draw could have allowee Daniela to reach the 2nd week. I guess it's aanother if only tournament.

Bouchard's the only player to have reached the semi-final of all the slams this year, so of course Daniela draws her in the first round and Daniela played very well and gave Bouchard her biggest test this tournament. Daniela's performance was good enough to beat most of the other players.

In the last four slams the players that have beaten Daniela are Azarenka, Serena Williams, Kerber and Bouchard all of whom are, or in Bouchard's case will be, in the top 10. It's taken a quality player and Kerber to beat Daniela at the slams. Daniela has to bring her slam form to the tour and if she does she'll get more wins and get her ranking up.

Fervent Daniela fans like us know the overwhelming feeling of woulda-coulda-shoulda what might have been so often. Thankfully we have each other to commiserate with and share the feelings. Let's remember as well things like last year in Birmingham and New York, where everything fell into place for Daniela with upsets, and she gave us phenomenal displays of talent and her humungous heart (I bet both Schaivone and Glushko still can't figure out how they lost those matches). Or, in my case, seeing her get her only career double bagel victory live and in person. Yeah, that's not been the case for months now, but we have lived through many a Daniela drought and seen her rise from the ashes like a phoenix and bring us pure joy. Never give up on the good times!

Bouchard does parp out a load of cliched shite like some cult leader moonlighting as a motivational speaker, "Looking forward to the challenge, eh" and she likes Justin Beiber

Mind you, she spent her childhood slaving away down the maple syrup mines and having to fight off moose and beavers on the way to work. Seeing your friends die in a vat of syrup or get gored by a elk does things to a girl. A tough upbringing like that goes a long way towards determining someone's character.

She gave Kerber a doing at the last two slams which goes a long way to redeeming her in my eyes.