Link Roundup

Just a few links that I wanted to share with you all. From pop song tournaments to a possible tennis partnership for the ages to a whole bunch of lists.

The Critical Condition The Ultimate Pop Song Tournament ends with Cyndi Lauper's "Time After Time" winning against Journey's "Don't Stop Believing" in the championship round. Re-live the whole tournament by going to the site.

After Elton kindly put together a list that combines two of my favorite things, hot guys and TV, as they present The Hot Men of Fall TV. Love the eye candy, but they forgot to include Sean Maher who apparently plays gay in the new The Playboy Club.

GoToTennis looks into the possibility of a Roger Federer-Martina Hingis mixed doubles team for the London 2012 Olympics. My life would literally be complete if this were to happen.

Dynamic Duos: Federer/Hingis, Fassbender/McAvoy

Flix Chatter Ruth posts the top 40 reasons she loved X-Men: First Class. Her top two reasons are mine as well: Michael Fassbender and James McAvoy.

Foreign Policy talks about what Harry Potter and the greater wizard world can expect after the brutal war with Voldemort. Just a great read even if you're not a big fan of the series.

Very Aware presents The Geek Bucket List: 100 Geektastic Things To Do Before You Kick. #17 is "Accept Joss Whedon as your dear and fluffy lord and savior." DONE.

Doctor Who And finally, I apparently need to have a Who-link in every link round-up and this one is the prequel to "Let's Kill Hitler" which airs on BBC America August 27th. It's less than a minute, but I found it quite emotional.

Wimbledon: The Finale

For a tournament so steep in tradition, this year's Wimbledon Championships, which notably celebrated its 125th year, was marked by breakthroughs and a general feeling of change and transition. Most of this can be attributed to the crowning of first-time Wimbledon champions, Novak Djokovic and Petra Kvitova, who fought to claim the most coveted prize in tennis.


For so long, the tennis world has been dominated by two men, Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal, especially in Wimbledon where they have won the last 8 times. This year, however, Djokovic has defeated everyone, including notching a 9-1 record against Federer and Nadal. With this mindset, Djokovic went into his first Wimbledon final with the belief that not only could he win against Nadal, but that he would. Fortunately for Djokovic, Nadal blinked first in that all-important first set, playing a loose game, giving Djokovic the first set. With that in his pocket, Djokovic played lights out in the 2nd set not giving Nadal an inch in any game and eventually winning it 6-1. To his credit, Nadal upped his own game as well as took advantage of Djokovic's slight dip in concentration in the 3rd to get his own breadstick set. The 4th set was similar to the 1st with both players playing more within themselves and yet again it was Nadal to blink first in the 8th game giving Djokovic a chance to serve for the championships which he promptly did. Win or loss, he would've been ranked #1 tomorrow, but with this win, his 8th title of the year, he has quite literally shaken up the dominance of Nadal and Federer. It's scary to think what else he has in store this year.


The women's final didn't cause a monumental shake up in the women's tour and yet in smaller and indirect ways, it kind of did. First of all, the match really was in the hands of 2004 Wimbledon champion Maria Sharapova who has had an amazing comeback year, reaching the finals here and the semifinals at the French Open. With her power and experience she was the favorite going to the match. And yet it was Kvitova who outhit and outplayed the former champion. What's more impressive though is how contained and relaxed she seemed playing in the biggest match of her life. After winning the first set, a dip of play might be expected, and there was a slight dip with both players trading breaks a couple of times each. Kvitova though was the more steady of the two and under the watch of her idol Martina Navratilova, she took down Sharapova in straight sets. Similarly to the men, Kvitova was able to breakthrough a tournament that in the past decade had been dominated by two players. For the women it was the Serena and Venus Williams, who both exited in the 4th round this year.

So is there a changing of guards in tennis? Are the era of Nadal, Federer, Serena, and/or Venus over? For the latter three, age is a big factor and they are all getting up there. And yet, I wouldn't be surprised to see them winning 1-2 more major titles. For Nadal, who is still at the top of his game, it's mostly adjusting to this new challenge that Djokovic has given him this year (5 straight losses in 3 different surfaces). Basically, their era of domination is probably over, but underestimate them at your peril.


Elsewhere, top seeds Bob and Mike Bryan claimed their 2nd Wimbledon title, 11th overall, beating 8th seeds Robert Lindstedt/Horia Tecau in Men's Doubles. Second seeds Kveta Peschke/Katarina Srebotnik defeated Sabine Lisicki /Samantha Stosur for the Women's Doubles title. Finally, 9th seed Jurgen Melzer /Iveta Benesova took out 4th seeds Mahesh Bhupathi/Elena Vesnina in straight sets for the Mixed Doubles. And just for old time's sake Martina Hingis/Lindsay Davenport defeated Martina Navratilova/Jana Novotna in the Ladies' Invitation Doubles. Sigh, come back to us.

Wimbledon Report: Gentlemen's Quarterfinals

The sun came out today for the men's quarterfinal action and were there some surprises. All of the matches were basically trickier and tougher than I had imagined. For some, it was a thrill, for one match in particular though, it was very disappointing.


Six-time champion Roger Federer had a 7-1 H2H record against Jo-Wilfried Tsonga heading into their match and while Tsonga is a solid grasscourt player Federer was seen as the favorite. He became even more so after winning the first 2 sets since he was 178-0. Then the rails came off, or more accurately the Tsonga train ramped up speed. He outhit and outplayed Federer the next three sets mounting one of his greatest comebacks ever to reach his first ever Wimbledon semifinals. He'll meet Novak Djokovic who defeated qualified Bernard Tomic who unexpectedly put up a fight, winning the 2nd set and giving Djokovic headaches by varying the pace of the ball. In the end, the Serbian notched his tour-high 46th match of the year.


Defending champ Rafael Nadal continued his quest for his 3rd French Open-Wimbledon double by taking out Mardy Fish, the last American singles player left in the draw. It's a testament to Fish though that he remained close to Nadal throughout the match even winning the 3rd set. Nadal will go head to head with Andy Murray in the semifinals after the Brit won in straight sets against Feliciano Lopez. While the scoreline was quite straightforward, Murray did sustain some kind of thigh injury late in the match. Stay tuned.

Predictions: Like the women, I actually ended up predicting 3 of the 4 eventual semifinalist with Federer the only hold out. I'm still a bit in shock that he lost that game, but no use in moping around. Nadal owns Murray and Murray has underperformed on this court plenty of times, which means Nadal is the clear favorite. Tsonga-Djokovic is a bit more complicated. While Djokovic has had a nearly flawless year, it's Tsonga who heads their H2H 5-2. And yet, I believe Nadal-Djokovic will be the final we'll see on Sunday.

Sighting: Martina Hingis and Lindsay Davenport partnered up for Legends Doubles. I bet they could still do some damage if they joined the women's tour now. Come back to us. Please.

US Open Report: Day 11

Only two men's singles matches needed to be played today to complete the roster of semifinalists for the men and women. And like the past few days, the four men playing today had to deal with the gutsy wind and the cold conditions.

First match was between Stanislas Wawrinka of Switzerland and Mikhail Youzhny of Russia. This was a real opportunity for both players with Wawrinka never making it this far into a major and Youzhny trying to reach only his second major semifinals. Wawrinka took a stanglehold early in the match capturing the first set easily, but the Russian fought back in the second to win a tiebreak putting them even once again. Wawrinka took the third set, but then the Russian wore down his Swiss opponent in the last two sets to win. Youzhny faces the winner of the first all-Spanish quarterfinal match at the US Open.

That match was between the top two Spaniards in the world, top seed Rafael Nadal and 8th seed Fernando Verdasco. Verdasco started out strong breaking Nadal in the latter's first service game to take the early lead. Nadal hung in there and slowly, but surely found his range finally able to break Verdasco in the eight game tying the score at 4-4. Nadal went on to break Verdasco's serve once more to win the first set 7-5. After that, there was little Verdasco could do as Nadal won the next two sets in a routine fashion.

Before those single matches were played, the first trophies of the US Open were handed out today as America's Liezel Huber and Bob Bryan won the Mixed Doubles title over Kveta Peschke of Czech Republic and Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi of Pakistan 6-4 6-4. After the singles matches, 5-time Grand slam champion Martina Hingis teamed up with her old partner Anna Kournikova in an exhibition doubles match against Pat Cash and Mats Wilander. The guys won 7-5, but just so it's out there in the universe for anyone listening: "Hingis PLEASE COME BACK!!!"

Men's Second Semifinals Preview: Nadal should be heavily favored against Youzhny especially considering Nadal's form (hasn't lost a set yet) and Youzhny's condition (played a grueling five-set match). Last time they both played one another was two years ago at Wimbledon which Nadal won in straight sets. Historically, their H2H is 7-4 in Nadal's favor, but all of Youzhny's four wins came on hard courts which he has a 4-3 advantage over Nadal. They played once at the US Open back in 2006 which Youzhny won in four sets. Still, it's hard to see Nadal NOT win this to get to his first US Open final and a chance at a career Grand Slam.

The Versatile Blogger

Andrew has tagged me for this completely undeserved award/meme. I mean I know I talk about TV and tennis (and occasionally about movies), but versatile I am not. I really need to work on that. Maybe I can start reviewing movies or actually pick shows to review weekly instead of at completely random times. This blogging thing is clearly still a work-in-progress.

In any case, this award comes with a few instructions:
1. Thank the person who gave you this award
2. Share 7 things about yourself
3. Pass the award along to 15 who you have recently discovered and who you think fantastic for whatever reasons!
4. Contact the blogs you picked and let them know about the award.

So first, Andrew, thanks. It was nice you thought of me. I wish I was half as versatile or well-read/watched as you.

And now seven things about myself, which is actually a bit difficult since my goal for this blog was for it to be "less personal and more about random thoughts on tennis, TV, movies" so...

1. I got into tennis initially because of Martina Hingis. I loved her savvy court sense and her sly way of dismissing players on court. I was devastated when she retired, but as if by fate, another Swiss native caught my eye (Roger Federer) after she left and my tennis passion was renewed and has only gotten stronger. I am afraid that once Federer retires, I'll stop caring about tennis. Is there another Swiss player on the horizon?

2. If someone asks me what my favorite movie of all time is, I would probably be unable to answer. I've just seen so many movies now that I probably can't even narrow it down to a top 25. It would literally drive me insane. With that said, if you had asked me in 1999, my answer would probably be Cruel Intentions, because I suddenly discovered Ryan Philippe, was still in love with Sarah Michelle Gellar, and just got into its taboo-ness. Before that, my answer would've been Dirty Dancing or Sister Act. Yes, really.

3. My default way of breaking the ice with new people I've just met is to ask them what TV shows they watch. If they answer "I don't really watch TV" or something similar, it's pretty much strikes 1, 2, and 3. In a related vein, if I consider you a very good friend, I will bother you endlessly with TV/movie recommendations to the point of annoyance. I do it out of love, I swear.

4. I love movie trailers. Sometimes they're my favorite part of watching movies in the theaters and I actually get disappointed when they end and the movie begins. With that said, when I watch DVDs, I will only watch the trailer AFTER I have seen the movie. Then judge it to see how well it represented/sold the film.

5. Sometimes when I hear a song, I usually imagine my own music videos for them. It's just a thing I started doing when I was younger and I've sorta just kept at it. Maybe in another life I was a music video director or something. Who knows?

6. Even though I'm a big movie/TV fan, I actually do not have a large collection of DVDs. Most of that is because I'm a veritable cheapskate, but I think it's also because I ALWAYS have a list of movies to watch for the first time or TV shows to catch up on thus finding myself not really having any time to re-watch or revisit films/shows. Plus with Netflix and Hulu and friends who have large DVD collections, I'm not really left hanging dry.

7. I guess I'll share some non-movie/tv/tennis personal facts about me. I majored in Psychology in college. I've fallen off a side of a mountain and almost drowned in a swimming pool. I hate driving. I am tone deaf. I learned Italian in middle school, French in high school, and sign language in college. Sadly, I've more or less forgotten how to converse in any of those languages save for a few words and phrases here and there.

Now I'm obligated to pick 15 bloggers who I think are fabulous to do this. Now, I read quite a few blogs, but (a) they would never do this, (b) I wouldn't want to ask them to do this, or (c) they've already done this. So 15? No. Can't do it. With that said, here are two...

Bunny's Pop Culture Blog
A Blog Next Door

You really can't go wrong with either one.

Storylines at Wimbledon

The qualifying rounds are already happening at Wimbledon, but the official start of the third and most prestigious Grand Slam of the year is only a few days away. Let's look at some of the storylines to look out for this year...

- Can the relatively out-of-form top seeds and defending champions re-capture their mojos? Both Serena Williams and Roger Federer are seeded as number one, but neither of them have won a title since capturing the Australian Open back in January. Serena essentially didn't play for three months and when she did, most of her success came in doubles with her sister. Roger, in the meantime, had a forgettable spring hard court season and a somber looking clay season, reaching only one final at Madrid. He recently reached the final at Halle, but he unexpectedly lost to Lleyton Hewitt. Both Serena and Roger reached the quarterfinals at Roland Garros both losing to the eventual losing finalist. With all of that said, how can one bet against 27 Grand Slam titles?

- Who are the next best bets? Well there's Venus Williams who did better than expected the past few weeks on clay, her worst surface. Last year's finalist and now up to #2 in the world and in her best surface, she will be nearly impossible to beat. The same could be said about former Wimbledon and now 5-time French Open champion Rafael Nadal. He was unable to defend his Wimbledon title last year and you know he's hungry to get a chance of the title again especially with some much needed momentum from his latest French Open win.

- Can the Andys meet expectations? Last year, Andy Murray came into Wimbledon with high aspirations of being Great Britain's first homegrown champion in what seems like forever. He was one match away from reaching the finals and having the Queen on Centre Court, but he was blindsided by a resurgent Andy Roddick who put up more than a fight against Federer losing 14-16 in the final set. Despite some encouraging results earlier this year with Murray reaching the Australian Open finals and Roddick winning Miami, both have floundered including shocking losses in the early rounds of the AEGON Championships in Queens, London.

- How will other former Grand Slam champions fare? Justine Henin more or less declared that the reason for her comeback is to try and win the one Grand Slam that has alluded her for the career Grand Slam. She even tweaked her game to be more effective on the grass. Her Belgian compatriot, Kim Clijsters, makes her Grand Slam comeback at Wimbledon after withdrawing from the French Open after some injuries. Novak Djokovic, Ana Ivanovic, and former Wimbledon champion Maria Sharapova will also look to gain some form on the grass.

- Is that Martina Hingis and Anna Kournikova? According to some, these two will reunite in Wimbledon to play legends' doubles. For Hingis, this might be the first step in re-joining the tour, if only to be a doubles specialist.

Can't wait! A look into the men's and women's draw to come later this weekend.

Birthday Girl: Martina Hingis

Today is a big day for 5-time Grand Slam champion Martina Hingis. Not only is she celebrating her 29th birthday, but today is also her last day of her unfairly doled out two-year drug suspension.

Funny thing actually since it was Martina Hingis who actually got me interested in tennis. No joke. I fell in love with her uncanny court sense and penchant for thinking about every shot rather than power the ball down the line. It's fitting that when she left the game in 2003, a new Swiss tennis player took over the tennis landscape and my tennis obsessed heart.

Hingis came back to the game briefly for about a year and a half reaching all the way to #7 in the rankings. Her comeback ended early when she was beset with injuries in the end of the 2007 and her confession that she tested positive for cocaine at Wimbledon. Instead of finding the ruling, she left the game.

CLICK HERE to read Sport Illustrated's tennis editor Jon Wertheim interview Martina Hingis talking about her retirement, her feelings about the suspension, and what she thinks about the future.

So while she doesn't see another competitive comeback in her future, I do hope she keeps connected to the tennis world. Lord knows the uninspired women's game would only benefit from her presence.