Tennis!

[IAceI]

How do you mean? Most of them have sponsors names and the like but think Rogers Cup is probably the only one with it's own name as opposed to Western & Southern Cincinnati Open and the rest. Generally just refer to them by their cities names to make it easier to remember.

[naiwf]

Is it common for Masters events to have different names in their host cities, or is Toronto (Rogers Cup) an exception?

Indian Wells = BNP Paribas Open

Miami = Sony Ericsson Open

Rome = Internazionali BNL d'Italia

Cincy = Western & Southern Open

Paris = BNP Paribas Masters

Monte-Carlo & Shanghai are sponsored by Rolex. Madrid is sponsored by Mutua.

[Lineker]

I read that as Muta.

That would be tremendous.

[IAceI]

Looking back at this years Masters 1000 events I'm quite surprised by how uncompetitive the majority of finals have been. Only one has gone to a third set and there have only been two tie breaks, and in both instances the other set in the match was comfortable enough.

Donald Young lost in the second set on a tie break. So that's another loss for his run, 17 in a row now.

[naiwf]

Nadal is out of the US Open according to ESPN.

[gunnar hendershow]

I've worried about the longterm health of Nadal's knees, and it looks like he's been sidelined again due to it. It's a shame for the guy, but bad knees and tennis do not mix. Hopefully for his sake modern medicine can patch it up back to normal when it finally is time for a serious surgery.

[IAceI]

He was always going to be a short-term player, his style of play is just not conducive to a long career. It's far too full throttle, even the way he runs you can just tell how much it must be hurting him. The amount he has won has been phenomenal, but it was always going to have to be that way because he was never going to be on the scene for the length of time someone like Federer has been and will continue to be, not without a different style of play anyway and that's not particularly likely.

[IAceI]

Getting on the Raonic wagon now. Stuck some money on him when he was a set down and 3-0 up in the second, was still favourite at that stage. Looking good against Baghdatis, big serve and calm at the net. Refreshing to see.

[Adam]

What better way to bring this thread back to the first page ahead of the US Open than this:

Veteran tennis line-judge Lois Goodman charged with murdering her husband with a coffee mug

US Open tennis umpire Lois Goodman charged with murdering husband

The veteran tennis umpire Lois Goodman has been arrested in New York while preparing for the US Open and charged with beating her 80-year-old husband to death with a coffee mug.

Goodman, 70, was arrested on Tuesday accused of committing the murder at her home in Los Angeles in April.

The US Open's spokesman Tim Curry said Goodman has been a line judge at the tournament for many years and was about to begin working at the qualifying matches.

Alan Goodman died on 12 April at the couple's condominium in the Woodland Hills area. Lt David Storaker of the Los Angeles police department said Lois Goodman told officers it appeared to have been an accident, and that she had been out all day refereeing a tennis match.

When Goodman found her husband unresponsive in bed, "she said she surmised he had fallen down the steps, had a heart attack and managed to get back upstairs to the bed," Storaker said. "It was a suspicious death from the beginning."

The Los Angeles County coroner's office spokesman Ed Winter said investigators were sent to the mortuary where Alan Goodman's body was taken, and they noticed that he had multiple sharp force injuries on and around his head that were inconsistent with Lois Goodman's explanation.

Police found similar inconsistencies, including an amount of blood that did not suggest a fall, and a broken coffee mug, Storaker said. Working with coroner's investigators, police ruled the death a homicide and presented their conclusions to the district attorney's office. Storaker declined to discuss a possible motive.

"We don't want to taint anything by releasing that," Storaker said. "We know they were together at several locations during that day and would like to talk to people who saw them."

One tennis official said she thinks Goodman must be innocent. "I've worked with her for years and I don't believe any of this," Annette Buck, director of adult and senior tennis at the US Tennis Association, told the New York Times.

Goodman appeared in Manhattan criminal court on Tuesday, where she agreed to waive an extradition hearing so she could be returned quickly to Los Angeles to face the charges.

She was led into the courthouse in handcuffs, wearing her official US Open clothes, a dark blue Ralph Lauren sweatsuit, according to the New York Post. She showed no emotion and spoke only to give brief answers to a judge's questions.

If convicted, Goodman could be sentenced to life in prison. It was not clear when she would be returned to Los Angeles. Prosecutors said they would ask for $1m bail.

In 1994 when Goodman had already been officiating for 15 years, she was profiled by the Los Angeles Times and described as an avid tennis fan who was given the chance to be a referee.

"It's exciting," Goodman said at the time. "This is my favourite sport and I'm out there rubbing shoulders with the best players. There's no real way to describe it."

The profile said that Goodman and her husband had owned a Southern California auto parts business since the early 1960s and had three daughters.

[IAceI]

Top Half

http://www2.picturepush.com/photo/a/9074635/img/Anonymous/US-Open-2012-Top-Half.jpg

Bottom Half

http://picturepush.com/public/9074649

I'll stick my neck on the line. Sorry for the large images.

Edited August 27, 2012 by IAceI

[naiwf]

My predictions for the year.

ATP - Djokovic will win 2 majors (Aussie & US), Nadal (French) and Federer (Wimbledon) will win the others. Someone outside of "the big 3" will win the YEC. Murray will lose two more times in GS Finals, but he will finally win a set in a GS Final Djokovic will NOT go wire to wire as #1. Nadal will end the year at # 4 as injuries continue to take a toll on him.

WTA - Mercifully the Wozniacki reign at # 1 will end to Kvitova by the end of the Australian Open. Caro will end the year with another 4-6 titles won, but ZERO Grand Slams to her credit. Two players will win their first GS this year. Serena will lose her temper, withdraw from at least 4 tournaments due to "injury", but win another Slam simply because the field sucks. Venus, Jankovic and Clijsters will retire.

If my predictions are going to come true, then Djokovic will need to beat Murray in the final. Federer already took # 1, and Murray will jump over Nadal in the rankings if he makes the Final. It's all coming together nicely.

Wozniacki COMPLETELY bombed out this year. I hope sex with Carrot Top's cousin is worth it. A first time GS winner in NY, would make that prediction come true as well but I expect Serena to win here in 2 weeks. Serena already won another Slam because the field sucks and Clijsters is retiring regardless of what happens. I don't think Venus or Jankovic will follow suit, but they should.

What I'd like to see - Federer and Kvitova winning.

What I expect to see - Djokovic and Serena winning.

[Mongrel]

Is it common for Masters events to have different names in their host cities, or is Toronto (Rogers Cup) an exception?

I think it is probably because they alternate between Toronto and Montreal each year.

[Lineker]

Murray is two sets up on Bogomolov Jr. already.

[gunnar hendershow]

Caroline Woz in the U.S. Open for just one round.

[naiwf]

I know that she just turned 22 last month, but I wouldn't be surprised to see her retire before her 25th birthday. The ranking is tumbling, and her game is regressing. That's an ugly combination.

[Adam]

I watched Begu, conqueror of Wozniacki, lose in 3 sets to Azarenka in the Olympics and she looked like a solid player that day but not somebody who should be easily dispatching of Wozniacki. It seems failing to break the glass ceiling when she was world #1 has really kicked off a downward spiral for Caro. This is not good at all for her.

Oh, and of course Serena Williams has virtually murdered Coco Vandeweghe 6-1 6-1, Coco not quite putting up as much of a fight as she did last time she faced Serena in the Stanford final.

[mikevandam]

Well in Danish media, they still refer to her as "The former world #1". IIRC most of the top players at that period were out injured or something. Because Woz game is very predictable to say the least

[IAceI]

Barry Cowan is still referred to as former British number four.

My picks have done okay, unsurprisingly given it's the first round, no real shocks so far. Of course one of the one's that failed let my double bet down, naturally.

[IAceI]

Great victory for Robson over Clijsters. Mixed emotions really as Clijster's was probably my favourite female player in recent years and having her retire in the second round of the US Open is a bit of a shame but Robson really played brilliantly, coming back from 5-2 down in the first set too must have given her real belief. Clijster's must have needed a protractor to work out some of those angles tonight.

[Katsuya]

Robson has improved ridiculously in the past six months or so. Give her another couple of years and there's every reason to see her fighting in semi's ala Murray.