I can accept those predictions. I'll pull for JJ today and, of course, Lenochka. Though if Vera won, I couldn't be angry with her. She's a good girl and, while she & Elena have different personalities, they're very alike in their thinking. I like her too.

Elena shakes finger and loudly (in Russian) chastises a misbehaving tennis ball. This was funny to watch.

                       

Awww, I missed the matches cos I fell asleep unusually early. I was surprised and a bit glad to see Vera win until I realized that that meant she'll face Elena next. Ana and Serena's withdrawal were not that surprising specially Ana's. I guess Serena realize she had no chance against Elena so she just withdrew. hehehe

I have a question, let's say a player had already qualified for the semis but she forfeited her last match for some reason so an alternative played in her place. Would she still be eligible to play in the semis or does her failure to play in the dead rubber also meant she withrew from the tournament???

p.s. the figure skaters are really cute!!! hehe lol 

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Fantasy Tennis Game - SuperTennis Everyone is invited to join! The more the merrier! Here's the code to our league 504775.

Actually, I think that could be about right. True that Serena might have an injury. That said, what I saw was her melt down playing Venus. Perhaps she's unable to come on court at all the next day--but certainly not against a player who has apparently now turned into a nemisis for her.

I suppose the hypothetical is conceivable--"24-hour virus" or something... Dunno, but I suspect that a player can only miss a scheduled match by withdrawing from the tournament. As we know some players are gonna use any loophole you leave open.

hehehe, Elena is having fun in the second set!!! nice smile! hehe

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Fantasy Tennis Game - SuperTennis Everyone is invited to join! The more the merrier! Here's the code to our league 504775.

So, maybe Elena was having too much fun? Actually, she blew it when she failed to close in the first set. After that, it didn't matter how hard she worked on a night when all the luck went to the other girl.

Oh well, congrats to Vera. Glad to see Verochka make the final.

Sorry about JJ, Dee. That Venus, I tell you--most players apologize for net cord luck. What kinda a$$hole pumps her fist? She acted like her sister.

Davaiii, Verochka! Deflate the illusion of Yankee hegemony!

Thanks Paul.  Well my predictions for the semi final matches were right - I predicted 3 tight sets for Elena/Vera and a bit of an up and down 3 set match for JJ.  I just got the most important part of the prediction - about who would win the matches - completely wrong!!    Well both JJ and Elena got beaten.   So my dream final can't happen.  Oh well at least I don't have to watch the final now and so I have an extra 1 or 2 hours to catch up on my uni work!!   I guess good luck to Vera, cos I know it would make Paul happy if she won.  

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MY NOLE!!!

Well I gotta tell you, yesterday wasn't a nice day at all with both JJ and Elena loosing . Of course that today I'm wishing for Vera to beat Venus but the chances of me watching the match are 1%... Anyways DAVAII VEROCHKA!!!

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MASHA, NOLE, JJ, ROGER, GOOD LUCK IN 2009! YOU ROCK!!!

MY ROGER !!!!!!!!!

Did anyone take note of Elena applauding Vera's great shots? Now, that's class, and gives the lie to Barry MacKay's (Tennis Channel) fantasies of Russian team mates thristing for "revenge" on each other. I would like to see Vera pull off an upset today, in part, to frustrate the sports news outlets' (including WTA) intention to report something along the lines of All-Poweful Amercan Crushes Russian Hopes... Dunno how many pitches like that we have to see to get who they belong to and where their bias lies. LOL!

Vera lost it. 

Deja vu, different opponent same result. Venus waits for her opponents to falter before she strikes. She did it to Elena, then to Serena, then to Vera. Almost seems like it's part of her plan to lose some games/set, then she makes a comeback just to mess with her opponents' heads...maybe I'm giving her too much credit...

 

 

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Let's look at this. A player may visibly tank some games--particularly when she's confident of serving for the set in the next game. But it seems to me that only in very special circumstances would she intentionally let a set get away.

1st set: An arrogant champion may think she can get away with taking four games to find her game. The danger of such laziness Venus demonstrated yesterday. Even an atypically questionable finding by Hawkeye late in the tiebreak failed to put her over, and then she found herself committed to three sets.

2nd set: Most often, I think, needless second set losses result from too much "let down" after winning the first set. This can also result from arrogance but I think it's usually not a matter of intention. In fact, it suggests conscious control is not what it could be. That might somewhat apply to Vera yesterday.

Now, I do see things on the flip side that result in even harder play by an underdog. I'm not conventional--I often dismiss the common notion of a player "making her opponent work for it". The first reason for "dragging out" a match is that you never know what may happen. But I'm pretty sure I've also seen (from time to time) a player with little confidence in victory nonetheless fight to hold her opponent on court as long as possible (especially in late-night matches)--exhausting her so that a subsequent opponent may take her out.

That's when there's some serious animus involved.  

 

does anyone know where venus ends on the rankings?

1 JANKOVIC, JELENA  SRB 4710
2 WILLIAMS, SERENA  USA 3866
3 SAFINA, DINARA  RUS   3817
4 DEMENTIEVA, ELENA RUS 3663
5 IVANOVIC, ANA  SRB    3457
6 WILLIAMS, VENUS  USA  3272
7 ZVONAREVA, VERA  RUS  2952
8 KUZNETSOVA, SVETA RUS 2726
9 SHARAPOVA, MARIA  RUS 2515
10 RADWANSKA, AGNIE POL 2286

thanks

i would have never thought that dinara would be # 3 in the world let alone in the top ten