Van Sias's Articles

Calling All Nations (Davis Cup Preview)

For me, the most wonderful time of the year on the tennis calendar is the weekend of first-round Davis Cup action. Yes, that's right: I'm an unabashed DC fan. Not exactly the most popular thing to be a fan of, but I'm always into it--for the most part. Even though last year's final didn't exactly do it for me, I'm really looking forward to these ties.

And since I'll be following all the results closely, I figured I'd try to write something about each tie, and predict what player will… Continue

Added by Van Sias on March 4, 2010 at 10:30am — No Comments

My, How Times Have Changed

The year was 2002, and playing in the finals of the indoor tournament in Memphis was James Blake--making his ATP final debut--and Andy Roddick, already a perennial top tenner at that point. Roddick won in three tight sets, but it was like a breath of fresh air for U.S. men's tennis.

Now, eight years later, these two are playing in the first round of the same event, where Roddick is the top seed and Blake enters outside the top 50. The years since that final-round matchup have…

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Added by Van Sias on February 15, 2010 at 11:24pm — 1 Comment

Tennis Is Funny Sometimes

Five-and-a-half years? I could do that standing on my head: Try 20 and we'll talk!

Feliciano Lopez won his first title in more than five years at the South African Open, beating Stephane Robert in the finals in straights. His game has some holes in it (mainly that topspin backhand), but he does have a lot of versatility that should've resulted in more than two tournament wins to this point. But I can't be too hard on the guy, because in a way, I really…

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Added by Van Sias on February 7, 2010 at 10:23pm — No Comments

10 Years, 10 Big Deals

I guess we're all in a retrospective-type mood, having entered a new decade and all! If you hadn't gotten a chance, check out Tennischick's take on the past 10 years. Here's mine that originally ran on my blog, Tennis Talk, Anyone? — it's a list, since everyone always likes a list!

10. Aussie Rules

Now, I know Australian tennis players didn't exactly dominate the decade, but for a couple of years there, one of them… Continue

Added by Van Sias on January 1, 2010 at 11:07pm — No Comments

A Year in Review/ A Year in Preview

So how about that 2009 season, huh?

That's my "review" part!

I wanted to switch it up from last year when I looked back on all the calls I made over the season—the good, the bad and the ugly—and offer a brief look back on '09, as well as give some predictions for 2010. Will they happen? I don't know, I'm not Nostradamus! But what would a year be without me making some calls, however outlandish? Here's a few things that I think will happen in 2010:

• Roger… Continue

Added by Van Sias on December 11, 2009 at 11:30pm — 4 Comments

How Will History Judge Nikolay Davydenko?

Maybe you expected it, but if you didn't, no worries: I'll bet you're like about 95 percent of the tennis fans out there!

I'm referring to Nikolay Davydenko winning one of the ATP Tour's biggest stops, the Shanghai Masters. He followed up his near-classic semifinal win over Novak Djokovic with a straight-set defeat of Rafael Nadal, the top seed. This is Davydenko's fourth title of the season, all coming post-Wimbledon. I wonder if his legs are a little fresher after being sidelined… Continue

Added by Van Sias on October 19, 2009 at 12:54pm — 2 Comments

Season of Discontent

The quarters are set in Shanghai, but it seems like all the talk this week has been about injuries leading to match retirements and the big issue on players' minds: a longer offseason.

Scratch that: I meant on "some" players' minds. It's not everybody, but two of the game's big dawgs on the ATP Tour, Rafael Nadal and Andy Roddick, have made their thoughts known on the subject. But here's something I thought of that should be brought up: Why hasn't Novak Djokovic come out and said… Continue

Added by Van Sias on October 15, 2009 at 10:30pm — No Comments

The Best of the Rest

Meanwhile, over on the ATP tour …

The two tournaments going on this week, one in Thailand and the other in Kuala Lumpur (which HCFoo has been covering religiously!) feature pretty strong fields, and I just noticed something interesting—at least to me, tennis dork that I am: Between the two, none of the top six players are competing.

Usually, I'm all like, "The big guns should be out there," but with each event having a… Continue

Added by Van Sias on September 30, 2009 at 10:30pm — 1 Comment

Tokyo Drifting

"I don't know about the other players, but I feel like I didn't have enough time to recover after the U.S. Open. It's hard to get ready for such a big event like this and I just wish we had more time." — Elena Dementieva, after falling in the second round of this week's Pan Pacific Open.

Dementieva, if you recall, lost in the second round at the U.S. Open to Melanie Oudin.

If you've been following the results of this Tier I event featuring nine of the world's top 10… Continue

Added by Van Sias on September 29, 2009 at 3:00pm — 3 Comments

Back (AT LAST) in the Winner's Circle

Funny thing about the week that just passed:

When I was scouring the ATP and WTA sites at the beginning of it, two tournaments really intrigued me: the ATP stop in France and the WTA event in Korea. Despite the lack of top tenners in either draw, I thought they both had interesting potential, particularly in regard to the top seeds.

First, let me talk about the men's event in Metz, where the top seed was Gael Monfils. Now, I don't know how you feel about his game but it… Continue

Added by Van Sias on September 28, 2009 at 9:30am — No Comments

The U(npredictable) S(lam) Open

Heading into this U.S. Open, did you think?:

• Kim Clijsters would be in the semis?

• Melanie Oudin would be playing in the quarters?

• No U.S. male would make the quarterfinals for the first time EVER?

• Andy Murray would lose so early, seeing as how it seemed he was destined to get to the finals?

• Roger Federer would almost be under the radar with all the other stuff surrounding the fields on both sides?

• Rafa Nadal would be… Continue

Added by Van Sias on September 9, 2009 at 9:00am — 4 Comments

Just Thinking ...

There's been a ton of tournament action going on and all of it has gotten my old mind mind churning. Here's some of what's been running through my head about this old sport of ours called tennis:

• Marat Safin actually rallied to win a match for the first time in what seems forever over in the L.A. tournament! It's so crazy to think that if he wanted to, he could easily be a top 10 player instead of retiring.

• I know he's just a kid and has plenty of years ahead of him,… Continue

Added by Van Sias on July 30, 2009 at 9:30am — No Comments

An Ode to Wimbledon

That was some tournament, huh? (in what can be classified as the understatement of the year!) Epic matches, history being made, amazing performances, just inspiring.

It's so inspiring, in fact, I decided to write a little poem about it that I like to call "An Ode to Wimbledon." And it goes a little something like this:

Congratulations, Roger

On making more history.

How you got that break in the end

To some, is a mystery!

But break you… Continue

Added by Van Sias on July 5, 2009 at 6:00pm — 3 Comments

When Good Picks Go Bad (or How I Thought the French Was Going to Go)

So I don't think I did the Pick 'em team any favors this go-around with my French Open predictions!

The semifinal brackets in both the men and women draws are set at the French, and I can't help but think of this: Man, did I blow it.

See, one of my favorite things to do at my blog, Tennis Talk, Anyone? is to make quarterfinal predictions and I usually do pretty good, with about four to six right in each draw. This year's French is… Continue

Added by Van Sias on June 3, 2009 at 10:00pm — 4 Comments

Shouldering a Burden

Maria Sharapova made her singles comeback yesterday in Warsaw and managed to get through a three-setter against Tathiana Garbin. She came out smokin' in the first set, but had some rusty spots that led to the match being extended. Still, it was a good win for Sharapova and I'm glad to see her back as she's one of my favorite players on the WTA Tour.

But I think she should've just skipped the clay-court season!

That shoulder injury of hers was (or is?) obviously pretty… Continue

Added by Van Sias on May 19, 2009 at 1:00pm — No Comments

Second-Best Can Be Good Enough (Or My Crazy Theory on Broken Streaks)

You know what I would've said to myself if Rafael Nadal had lost that epic match Saturday against Novak Djokovic? And you know what I think after he lost to Roger Federer on Sunday?

Good for him! (And believe it or not, the "him" I'm referring to is Nadal!)

You see, I have this feeling about players on huge streaks going into Majors: I actually don't like to see them, particularly if a player is the favorite to win the event that's set to start just days after their latest… Continue

Added by Van Sias on May 19, 2009 at 11:30am — 1 Comment

It's Just a Little Dirt

So last week, I'm reading through the "tweets" I receive on Twitter and I notice one from Jon Werthiem, Sports Illustrated's tennis guru. He posted an item about something going on that I didn't even notice: No U.S. men were in the singles draw at the Monte Carlo event! That's amazing, but here's something that's pretty wild, too: There's none in the singles draw in Barcelona this week either!

And then, get this: Two out of three of the Challenger events this week are being played on… Continue

Added by Van Sias on April 23, 2009 at 9:30am — No Comments

Clay Achin'

What can I say? I've really been into "American Idol" this season!

Anyway, the clay-court season—the real one, not the teaser Latin American one earlier this year—kicked off this week and already there's been some pretty interesting happenings.

I guess the biggest thing is Serena Williams losing today to Klara Zakopalova (huh? who?) in the first round in Marbella, Spain. And not only did she lose the match, she also lost the number-one ranking to Dinara Safina, who'll take… Continue

Added by Van Sias on April 8, 2009 at 9:30pm — No Comments

An Elite Eight's Path to the Final Four

The men's quarterfinal lineup is set at the Sony Ericsson Open and it's about as good as it gets. Seven of the top eight seeds made it through, with the exception being Gilles Simon (it's hard to see him ranked ahead of Jo-Wilfried Tsonga).

I figured five of them would get through over at Tennis Talk, Anyone? and was looking at Tsonga, Radek Stepanek and David Ferrer as my Cinderella stories. (Elite… Continue

Added by Van Sias on March 31, 2009 at 10:30pm — 1 Comment

Four on the Floor

Wow, the women's draw took some hits yesterday in Miami, didn't it?

Four top 10 players got knocked out today with Dinara Safina, Vera Zvonareva, Ana Ivanovic and Nadia Petrova falling to Sam Stosur, Li Na, Agnes Szavay and Ekaterina Makarova, respectively. I wasn't expecting any of those top players to win—I still think it's Serena's to lose—but my personal picks took a hit with Zvonareva and Ivanovic falling. Safina's been in a bad way lately (like Jelena Jankovic, who lost… Continue

Added by Van Sias on March 29, 2009 at 11:00pm — 2 Comments

Van Sias's Articles (102)