Rabbits, Blinkity

So, Cow on Ice beat Vika the Pirate (aka Extremely Injured) in the Stuttgart final. And it was awesome.

So now, people are speculating on whether or not Sharapova's best surface is clay now. I'm pleased to report that according to my magic tennis statistics box, is probably is:

Maria Sharapova pre-surgery (before 2009)
Overall win percentage: 0.794
Clay win percentage: 0.750
Grass win percentage: 0.855
Hardcourt win percentage: 0.790

Clay is worst.

Maria Sharapova post-surgery (2009 and on)
Read More...

Yes, they're at it again. Ten times they've played, this will be the eleventh. A-Rad's won three, Azarenka's won seven. Almost half have been three setters, half have involved a set that went to 7. In short, it's almost always fun when they play. But you probably knew this already.

The really neat thing about this matchup is that at this point in their careers, neither player is really prone to blowing up randomly. Yes, Azarenka used to have, well, issues, and Radwanska still sometimes just plays badly, as it were, but you can be reasonably certain that neither will completely lose her head and implode. Neither will just start missing dozens of shots, or double faulting at every turn, or simply stop trying. It's simply less stressful to watch them than a Sharapova or a Wozniacki or a Stosur or Li Na. In my opinion. And at the same time, VikaNinja* aren't exactly boring, hit-it-between-the-lines types either.

Can Vika hit Radwanska off of the court? Again? Or will Sneaky McNinja hit three dozen dropshots and get away with far more of them than she has any real right to? Will Radwanska keep her obscene service record for this tournament alive, or will Vika do her usual returning job? On paper, Azarenka should win easily, but I've convinced it'll be fairly close. It's an enormous game of cat/mouse, where it's not exactly clear who's the cat and who's the mouse.

Most importantly, will A-Rad return and volley again? (I swear she…
Read More...

She stares impassively across the net, bouncing a tennis ball thoughtfully. She throws the ball high - too high - up in the air, pauses for a moment, then throws all the power of her 6'3" frame against it with a tremendous sound. To no avail; the ball crashes into the net. "15-40" says the chair umpire. For a moment the player look furious, outraged that the ball would betray her - but only for a moment. She stands still. Her features flow back to calmness. She turns around and walks toward the backstop in stiff half-steps. As she stops to receive balls for possibly the last point in the set, she glances up to the crowd, her face a perfect mask. The cameras zoom in. And the world wonders: what on earth is going on in Maria Sharapova's mind?
Read More...