2006 Tennis-X Blogging Contest

[XBot]

Dear Tennis-X Message Boarders,

Tennis-X is looking for a blogger who will post officially as staff for the Tennis-X website at least once a week, and we will use this thread as the contest platform. This contest is open to anyone registered with the message board.

If you are interested, to enter post at least one blog entry on this thread, once a week, from this week through the end of the French Open. Blogs can be on any subject, the more relevant to things going on in professional tennis the better. Try to make your blog entries just the right length -- not too long-winded and blow-hardy, but more than one paragraph.

The winner will receive a prize package and a weekly blog for Tennis-X. Your compensation as a Tennis-X blogger will be zero, but this could be your launch pad to stardom as your blogs will go out on our newsfeeds around the world, and will be read by the movers and shakers of the tennis industry who subscribe to the X-newsletter. And if you kick ass like you're supposed to, after the one year expires you can maybe renegotiate for cash (good luck).

Upon the completion of the contest in June after the French, the winner will be judged by the Tennis-X editors/writers, with posted feedback/critiques from fellow bloggers after the completion of the contest taken into consideration. Thanks for playing and happy blogging.

Tennis-X Staff

[BeerMe]

hah will surely be better than bodo, bricker, uhh those are like the only mainstream tennis bloggers out there?

[Fee]

If the winning blogger has the means to travel to tournaments, will you secure media credentials for those tournaments?

[XBot]

Magic 8-ball says "yes." All answers yes, anything goes.

[pnace]

Back when Martina was romping around gleefully as #1, I hated her guts. She was a trash-talking adolescent with pudgy legs, bad hair, a chunky body, and a smarmy Chucky [Mary Carillo rules!] sneer. She hit junk balls, she had no serve, no power. I didn’t understand how she managed to win so often. It was insulting. Worse, she had no manners and no respect dor others. She seemed to enjoy torturing her opponents on court. No way could I admire her. Then the big babes like Lindsay, Jennifer, and the Williamses started pushing her around, and
she started saying it was because they were a lot bigger and stronger, implying that she didn’t have a chance, why go on. Then there was that business about her foot injury. Then she retired several years ago. It really looked like she had been searching for excuses to leave, without working harder and trying to improve her fitness and that cream puff serve. She liked to win easy, without paying her dues.
I don’t hate her anymore. Why? It has to do with Justine and Roger. The first time I saw Justine hit her backhand, I became a Justine fan. The first time I saw Roger dance around a tennis court - because that’s what he does - I became a Roger fan. This was when each was just starting to get some TV time, a few years before they made their breakthroughs on tour. Justine and Roger taught me how to appreciate variety of shot, among lots of other things. I’m still not a Hingis fan. She still has a crummy serve and she still looks like a Chucky relative. But I’ve learned to appreciate what she does, and I appreciate that she put her ego on the line and came back because she realized how much she loved the game and missed being part of it. When she was a kid, it all came easy; when it became hard, she quit. Since then she’s matured and gotten in better shape, paid some dues. That deserves respect. The fact that she’s done so well in so short a time is splendid. I’ve seen enough guys and girls stay at the baseline and bang away all day. Boring, boring, boring. They need a few players to show them how many more ways a tennis ball can be hit. Welcome back, Martina.

[pnace]

James Blake won over Nadal because he is finally playing smarter and using his big weapons more intelligently. He has improved his backhand, so now he can play defense as well as offense. He used to try for winners at the most brainless times, when he was in the most hopeless positions. His error rate was barf-able. I’d have screaming fits watching him self-destruct. Now he can chase balls down, play a good defensive shot, and choose the right time to hit a winner. He’s not afraid to trade forehands with Nadal because his forehand has more juice than Nadal’s, and it’s much flatter, with a shorter swing. A hard, flat forehand taken early can give a topspinner with extreme grips and a loopy swing [classic claycourters] mucho trouble. But tennis is about how individual players match up. Why does Roger Federer have a harder time against Nadal? Federer’s balls have more top than Blake’s and don’t give Nadal as much trouble. They sit up more and get whacked, usually high to Federer’s backhand. But Blake’s record against Federer is poor because Roger’s consistency, variety of shot, and execution are the best in the business; hard flat shots don’t trouble Roger that much. Blake’s play against Nadal should give Federer some big clues and help him adjust his own strategy against Nadal and other guys who grew up on clay.

[mariam]

oh my god, Xbot responding to questions--it's the apocalypse!

[DStern127]

I've been thinking about this a lot, and I have to say, I'm not a believer in Martina Hingis' "second coming." Sure, she's done very well for herself thus far in 2006 and will definitely crack the Top 10 before or after the French Open. Ultimately, however, she's going to fall short of her true hope, adding to her existing Grand Slam singles glory. Here's why...

When Martina burst onto the scene as a wide-eyed teenager in 1996, the competition was somewhat stiff, but not extremely overpowering. Sure Graf, Seles, Sanchez Vicario, Davenport, Martinez and Novotna were there. But Graf was injury-prone. Seles was too slow to hurt Hingis on every point. Sanchez Vicario and Martinez had little with which to hurt Hingis. Davenport was very slow and had no belief. And Novotna's only hope was on a grass court. Basically, it was the perfect time for someone like Hingis to arrive on the WTA stage -- and she took it by storm, grabbing #1 from Graf and racking up five Grand Slam singles titles in three years.

Then a few things happened. A few things named Lindsay, Venus, Serena, and Jennifer. After Hingis' win at the 1999 Australian Open, 13 of the next 15 Slams were won by those four women (Lindsay 2, Venus 4, Serena 4, Jennifer 3), with the other two going to Graf (99 French) and Pierce (2000 French). Martina simply was being overpowered and outplayed, and it was impossible for her to play the "let your opponent beat themselves" game successfully in the last three rounds of the Slams.

Due to these beatings and injuries, Hingis hung her head and hung up her racquets after six years on tour.

Now she's back in 2006, refreshed physically and mentally, her game having changed very little other than a bit more topspin on her forehand and a bit more muscle on her biceps. But there are bigger problems now. Problems named Henin, Clijsters, Mauresmo, Sharapova, Pierce, and Dementieva -- not to mention the old guard that kicked Hingis out before is still around, albeit in varying degrees.

Yes, she'll beat 95% of the players on tour, which is why she'll easily make the Top 10, but she's still going to have huge problems beating three of these players in a row as is required at most Grand Slams. You just can't imagine that these Petrova-like results of making Slam quarters and a few semis is going to be okay with Hingis.

It's already written on her face during losses like the one she took to Sharapova last week in IW. As she slams her racquet to the ground in disgust as balls speed by her on crucial points, I wonder: how long until she's back to the same place she was in 2002 -- the I can't take losing the same way all the time place?

My guess...two years max.

[di-10S]

oh my god, Xbot responding to questions--it's the apocalypse!

Does this mean Xbot is a real human??

[setpoint]

Where’s Andy’s Mo—er—Confidence?

Andy Roddick, the ever-hip (or is that over-hyped?) American tennis player and ESPN’s golden boy, is struggling. The ATP entry rankings currently place him at no. 4 in the world, but based on his recent play, his year-to-date ranking (no. 20) seems more appropriate. This year he lost in the fourth round of both the Australian Open and Indian Wells, and he hasn’t even made it past the semifinals of the “Mickey Mouseâ€

[srockter]

I thought that it would be interesting to note that each of these people who are blogging on this thread all joined Tennis-X this week. Coincidence?

[LOVE_FEDERER]

I thought that it would be interesting to note that each of these people who are blogging on this thread all joined Tennis-X this week. Coincidence?

All the texts read like the same person wrote them. Coincidence?

[BeerMe]

not that i can string 2 or more sentence together or want 2, but lets have a little variety and personality. and dont use "I" and "me" in every sentence. and stop being boring, vary from all-analysis. compare serena to the goodyear blimp or something.

[consafos]

...compare serena to the goodyear blimp or something.

lol

You had to go and insult the Goodyear Blimp, didn't you? You're gonna get the WMS fans all riled up...remember, Serena isn't fat, she's "well rounded".

[CraigP]

The Search for the Baseline, a Bad Ass, and a Bar of Soap: Ten Lessons Learned from Indian Wells

10. Justine Henin-Hardenne blew a 6-2, 5-2 lead over Elena Dementieva in a losing semifinal effort. Maybe the bad karma from Melbourne is finally setting in?

9. Whatever you do, don’t ask Andy Roddick why he spends so much time far behind the baseline in his matches. In an expletive-littered post-match press conference, one reporter had the audacity to inquire about Andy’s court positioning. Roddick snapped back, “Go check yourself. Go look. I think that’s wrong. I was forcing early.â€