Tiempo -

....time.  Is what we have today.   After playing even better tennis yesterday in our quarterfinal than in the first round, Fish and I now have a day off to prepare for our Saturday semi-final. 

What do we do on a day off you ask?....(if you have some more ideas, let us know).

We decided to get a workout on center court this morning as its surface is slightly slower that "center court" which we played on yesterday.  PS...for all tournament directors out there, I don't think it makes sense to have a "stadium court" and a "center court."  I mean, which one is better?  where is the final played?  Its just confusing.  I'd prefer they name them after great Puerto Ricans (like in US with Ashe or France with Chatrier),  like court J-Lo, or they could name one after Edgargo Rivera, my college teammate who made an appearance on Survivor Fiji. 

We got out there nice and early and Fish decided we should play some baseline games, but after two quick, ugly games to 11, we were huffing, puffing, and ready to shake hands after splitting the series and call it a tie.  It was at that point that Fish questioned how people can actually play singles for 5 sets on clay, when we get tired after two baseline games. 

We finished off practice, switched our luggage from our Villa to a member's house (this resort is supposed to fill up by tonight) and were prepared to lounge out and watch the Masters, but coverage won't start for a couple more hours.  Our driver tried hard to convince us to get out on the golf course, but after one surgery this year, Fish didn't want to add shoulder surgery to his resume...So, we decided to saddle up to club grill and order our 12th and 13th turkey burgers for the week as I wrote this blog. 

Hasta Luego.
Booty

Buenos Dias Puerto Rico! -

First off, I will apologize for the lack of blogs the past month or two, but I will assure you that will not happen again. 

Fish and I are officially starting our partnership this week in Humacao, Puerto Rico. 

We have been preparing for our first round opponents since we arrived, but since we drew the qualifiers in the first round, we were unsure until today which of the three teams we would play. 

The top seeds in the doubles qualifying were by far the most interesting team, the Battistone brothers.  I watched these guys play for 20 minutes and I'm still not quite sure what was going on.  They have specially made rackets (that they have patented) with two grips.  So basically just below the throat of the racket it splits out into two handles each at a 45 degree angle.  Then, on top of that, one brother has a massive jump serve.  It looks like a volleyball serve where he throws the ball up with his right hand takes a couple steps and jumps into the court, (switching hands with his racket) and hits a massive serve.  It was one of the most entertaining doubles teams I've ever seen.  When I start my "Rock and Roll Doubles Tour" someday, these guys will definitely be a part of it.  Unfortunately, they lost in a 3rd set tie-breaker and we will be taking on the team of Patrick Eichenberger and Fabrice Martin. 

We'll let you know how it goes....

- Booty

Victory Gallop -

I was sitting on my girlfriends couch about to enjoy a relaxing morning in Boston, when I got the call. Jim Thomas was a man short for a charity match/event in Akron, Ohio and was looking for a substitute. My 6 day vacation/training in Boston was interrupted in Day 1 with flight planning and inquiries as well as me debating if my girlfriend (Monica) would kill me for canceling the plans she had for friday and saturday. After some diligent searching for the fastest way, my girlfriend and I were on our way early Friday morning to Akron. Going into the day I knew I was going to Akron for 2 days and had to bring my rackets, that was basically the details that Jim gave me on the phone. We arrived on friday just before noon and was told that I would have approximately 10 mins from when we arrived at the club until when I needed to be on court. I said I needed 5...and a tall vanilla latte and I will be ready! Victory Gallop was the organization running the event headed by Sue Miller. It's a program designed to give opportunities to underprivileged children and allow them to ride horses at farm in Akron. Maybe the neatest part of the organization involves "Petie the Pony," who is a REAL pony who every friday goes to hospitals and visits sick children. The video they showed us was amazing, when I first heard, that Petie the Pony visits kids in the hospital, I thought for sure it was a guy in a horse suit! But, no!, he's a real pony, they bring him in and he goes room to room and greets the children. It's so awesome...you should see the looks on these kids faces as Petie walks in and puts his head on their bed. We did a pro-am, had a dinner/auction, 3 clinics and finished up with an awesome doubles match where Jim and I played against Mardy Fish and Sam Querrey. It was a whirlwind 48 hours, but it went great. Monica who after the dinner mentioned that she would love to see the farm, was greeted Saturday morning by about a dozen different organizers who all said, "So, I hear you are going to volunteer at the farm!" I was busy teaching clinics, so I couldn't go, but she had a great time, although it sounded like she spent most her time playing with the 4 puppies and the biggest dog you have ever seen (Simba). That made her day. After the 2 day event we were headed back to Boston and Monica and I couldn't stop talking about everything that happened over the course of the weekend. We met so many great people and felt so great that we had helped contribute to such a neat cause that 48 hours earlier we didn't even know about. Thanks to Sue, James, Ted, Rocco, Jim and everyone else who put on the event and made us feel so special, it was such a great experience for both of us! - Booty

Melbourne Wrap-up... -

Stories of 2008.  

My Australian Open finished up on Wednesday as I was knocked out in the quarterfinals of the mixed doubles.  I had little time to worry about the loss as I was looking forward to watching the night match of Blake-Federer.  James had given me a few extra tickets for his box so I could take my parents too.  The match turned out good as I thought James played some great tennis.  He pushed Federer and had a couple opportunities, but like usual, Fed just raised his level and prevailed.  It reminded me so much of the Federer-Roddick match from the US Open where I thought Andy played his best tennis, but Roger has another level when he needs it.    I guess Roger did not have another level against Djokovic though as he went down in straights.  I missed this one unfortunately as I was in the middle of a 30hr journey from Melbourne back to Minneapolis.  




Capsicum Spray

Violence and trouble in the stands - I don't know how much this portrayed in the states, but it was big in Australia.  There was some trouble in the stands during the Econimidis-Gonzalez match, but I think it was blown out of proportion.  As a player, Australia is usually the best slam to play because you can find a davis cup atmosphere on each court.  There's nothing like this in the French or Wimby and while the US Open night matches can really get loud, they don't have the same patriotic feel where fans will dress up in their country's colors and sing songs and chant for their respective player.  I hope the "Aussie" doesn't crack down too hard on fans cause if it does, it will lose one of its best qualities.  


French Cassius

Jo-Wilfred Tsonga - I wrote in a blog that the first round match-up of Tsonga-Murray was going to be one of the best matches and was it ever.  I knew Tsonga was capable of having big weeks due to the firepower that he has in his game, but I can't say I expected his run to continue bulldozing Gasquet, Yhouzny and Nadal.  And tell me you see the Ali resemblance, its just too bad his english isn't good enough to hear what he really has to say.  Have you noticed his post match speeches often focus on a new word he most likely recently learned.  After he beat Nadal, it was "like a dream for him."   When asked what his parents said when he called home, they said it was "like a dream for them." I've gotten to know him over the past few years and I'm so happy for him, because he's a light hearted, enjoyable, kind person....which can be rare among the French players.  


The "Sharapova-throat shlash"

If you didn't see it, Maria's dad, Yuri, looking like an "assassin" according to her with  his sunglasses and hood up gave a throat-slash motion after she best Henin in the quarterfinals.  First of all, maybe it was a joke, maybe not, whether or not he should be punished is debatable.  But I'll tell you from what I've seen, this guy is awful.  He routinely treats people with no respect.  As we were standing by the tv monitors at the practice court desk last week and someone walked in front of the monitor he was watching stopped, he yelled at them to get out of the way, through his arms up and let out a big puff of air as that person moved.  My coach and I stood an watched for the next 10 minutes just hoping someone would stop in front of the monitor again.  There's just no need to treat people the way he does, I would love to see him removed from the game or at least punished for some of the behavior he shows on a regular basis.  


Doubles #1's?  

Most people know who the #1 doubles team in the world is, its Bob and Mike Bryan.  Do many doubt that they are the best team on tour?  Probably not.  But, we do have an issue here.  The Bryans according to the rankings are #1, but they have not won a grand slam in the past 12 months (nor the year-end championships).  I will have to check this, but I don't even know if they have reached a final.  Now, Clement and Llodra, have won wimby and are looking on track to win Australia without even dropping a set.  Depending on how you look at things, I think they have an adequate argument that they are the best team.  I lost to them this week, and I can tell you they are every bit as tough as Bob and Mike.  


I hope you enjoyed my stories from the '08 Australian, I'll be back again soon...

- Eric

Mixed continues... -

Mixed Doubles...

After going down in the 3rd round of the Men's doubles, it was time to turn my focus to the mixed doubles.  

I was partnered with Yun-Jan Chan of Taiwan.  Also known as "Latisha" (her American name) we were dealt a tough draw in the first round, the number 4 seeds, Zheng and Nestor.  We started slow in both sets, down a break in each one, but turned it on when it counted and won 7-5, 7-6.  The Taiwanese crowd was very impressive in this one.  They had painted faces, flags, signs and were chanting for most of the match.  While I couldn't understand the majority of the cheers, they did throw in the occasional "Let's go Eric....Let's go!"  That was very appreciated.

It was on the to the 2nd round and a match-up that wasn't supposed to be as tough, but turned out to be.  We played the team of Razanno-Wassen.  They came out on fire and we were anything but.  After spotting them a 6-1, 4-2 lead, we decided it was time to start playing some ball.  We broke back, broke again to win the set and were into the all important "super-tiebreaker."  We rode the momentum again and charged to a 10-5 win.  

Next up will be the team of Dechy-Ram, another very good team and I'm sure will be very tough...

...let you know how it goes.

- Booty

Mixed Doubles -

Mixed Doubles -

Mixed Doubles -

2nd-3rd round match... -

First round match... -

Kevin and I cruised through our first round this week 6-3, 6-1 in about an hour in a real carnival like atmosphere as the 60 Gustavus students made us feel like we were playing a Davis Cup home tie.  There was face paint, body paint, chants, songs, cheers, the whole works.  I've never been part of such a fun atmosphere in a grand slam match before.  

Next up for us will be the team of Brezecki-Calleri, two Argentine grinders who rip the ball from the baseline.  It should be a good matchup for us, but they did look very impressive in their first match beating the two giants, Isner and Karlovic.  

Even with a day off tomorrow, my coach and I decided to skip the big "player's party" tonight.  Last year it was great, but I opted for the relaxing night in to focus oa good practice tomorrow afternoon and hopefully another win on Saturday.  

Keep you posted on how it goes.  

Eric

Melbourne -

Melbourne -
 
Kevin and I have been in Melbourne since last Friday, practicing an getting ready for our first round match on Thursday.  We play the team of Zovko-Cibulic, a good team, but also a good matchup for us.  We've been playing lots of practice sets with other top doubles teams and playing great the last week.  Now we're just hoping it carries over to match time.
 
As doubles players, our matches don't start until the middle of the first week, so I've had the opportunity to sneak out and watch some of my friends play their first round singles matches.  By far the best match I have seen this tournament was Monday on Rod Laver Arena when Jo-Wilfred Tsonga upset Andy Murray.  I think this match was some of the best tennis we will see all tournament.  Tsonga is an up-and-coming Frenchman who is probably one of the top 15 players in the draw and Andy while playing quite well at the moment didn't have enough to fight him off. 
 
This trip has been extra special so far because my college coach, Steve Wilkinson, has brought 50 Gustavus students over for a J-term class about sports ethics.  They have been attending the matches here all week and will be in full force on Thursday at my match I hope.  I've had the opportunity to meet with them each morning before matches start, bringing a different tour player with me each morning to answer questions about the life on tour and anything else the students are interested in. 
 
We had another great morning of practice today, now I am off to get some rackets strung, head to the gym and maybe get a massage so I am all ready for the big match tomorrow.
 
I'll let you know how it goes...

Eric

Sydney -

Sydney

"Women's tennis is a very lonely world, especially when you're at the top.  You do not have that many friends.  There's a lot of jealousy out there.  - Martina Hingis

I saw it this morning when I went to breakfast.  Justine Henin sat down by herself, then eventually her coach joined her.  Same thing at the courts, Henin sitting by herself.  If Federer or Nadal were to walk into a room, nearly the entire room would greet them, but the same is not true on the women's tour.  

I've spoken with a number of women's players over the years and they all say the same thing, "lots of jealousy, not much friendliness."  This week in Sydney is one of the rare tour events that involve both men and women and it's very funny to see the interaction between them.  Most women actually tell me it helps having the men down as it drops the overall stress level of the women's tour.   Reason #5000 why I love being a guy. 

Also, look forward to 2009, where there is going to be an increased number of combined events (men's and women's).  I think it will be great for the tour.

- Booty

Adelaide 2 -

Adelaide - 1/3 midnight Suffered a tough loss tonight to two Aussies, Guccione and Smeets. Two big serving lefties that didn't give Frank and I chance to get into the match. We had a number of break opportunities in the first but failed to get one. Then on my serve at 4-4, 15-30, umpire Steve Ulrich decided he no longer wanted to be my favorite ump of all time as he over-ruled a (I feel correct) long call by the linesmen to give our opponents double set point. A big return two points later closed the first set for the Aussies and they went on to serve bigger and better in the 2nd. My dreams of winning the coveted Adelaide title were smashed and I returned to my hotel late Thursday night. No, in all honesty, these tournaments while worth reasonable points and money are more of a lead up to the Australian Open in Melbourne in a week and half. Since my expected partner, Ashley Fisher, had to have his knee scoped and will be out a month, I had to piece together different partners for this first month of the season. I will be playing Sydney with Zimbabwaen (is that a word, what would you call someone from Zimbabwe?) doubles specialist Kevin Ullyett. - Booty www.bootyandfish.com

Adelaide Blog -

Adelaide - 12/31

"I'm not backing down from anybody.  You don't play this game to win.  You play to kill people out there."  - Leyton Hewitt (2000)

Well the Men's tour kicks off this week in 3 spots across the world Australia, Qatar and India.  I'm here in Adelaide starting my season along with a large group many of which have been in Australia for a few days all in preparation for the Australian Open coming up in two weeks.  

Adelaide is also the hometown of Aussie #1, Leyton Hewitt.  On my flight over on Friday I read an article quoting Leyton that he is fitter than ever in his career and has spent the last eight weeks of intense training at a boxing gym.  

So, when my coach/friend, Gareth Keating (die hard Leyton fan) handed me a copy of the doubles draw on Saturday evening and said, "I don't know who to cheer for,"  I wasn't surprised.  I drew the "Rocky" himself, Leyton Hewitt (playing with Nathan Healy).  

My partner, Frank Dancevic, and I came out hot though...maybe cause it was 43 degrees Celsius in the shade, maybe 50 on court!  I think that's about 189 degrees Fahrenheit...I say that cause I've never played a match in the hot of conditions in my life.  Frank even had a singles match in the morning and was on his second of the day!  What an animal.  We cruised the through the first playing flawlessly.  Then the heat set in.   By the second I started feeling slow and weak, then came on the spotty vision and even the shakes.  I figure it was about a 100 degree temperature change from my Minnesota home just a few days ago.  We dropped the second, then went for the "bathroom break" after the 2nd.  I tell you, that 2 minutes I spent in the air-conditioned bathroom was maybe the best two minutes of my life!  

I came out of the super-breaker alive!....and with a win!....barely.

We'll play again on Wednesday.  
 
- Booty
www.bootyandfish.com

A day in Asia -

People always ask what it's like to be a pro tennis player. Everyone thinks it's this fantasy job, but really is SO much tougher than you'd think. Here's a daily recap of what I went through on Tuesday.


Day in the life of a tennis player

6am - wake up - I get over jet lag pretty quick now, but for whatever reason, I've been waking up at 6am all week, so I've just been rolling with it. Usually I drag myself out at 9:45 just in time to catch the close of the breakfast buffet, but this week my body is pumped to get up at 6 and I'm usually hitting the fantastic Shangri-La buffet by 6:15

7am - After a cup of coffee, some fruit and maybe a pastry, I head to the gym. Today being a match day, I biked a bit did some yoga stretching and did very light weights.

8am - The Shangri-La buffet is one of a kind, so I've usually been doing "two-a-days" with my second time through being a serious effort. Today, an omelet, sausage, juice, toast, some chinese stuff that I have no idea what it was, a smoothie and some more fruit consisted of breakfast #2.

9:30am - We caught the shuttle to the courts. Its about a 45 min drive to the site, and I prefer not to watch. Driving in China is insane. They actually have lane painted on the road, but I'm not really even sure why they bother. No one stays in there lane and often it will be six cars wide on a 4 lane road. People just merge regardless of openings and thank god horns aren't that loud cause people are constantly on them. Luckily I was born with an unbelievable ability to sleep in cars, so I've yet to make it a whole journey without dozing off. Possibly why I'm waking up at 6 every day, I get an extra hour per day in the shuttle!

11am - practice - We hit for a good hour today before our doubles match. We were playing Fernando Gonzalez and Adrian Garcia, so we attempted to recreate some patterns to what we might see in the match. Unfortunately neither Ross or I are capable of hitting a forehand mach 10, so it didn't really work that well.

1230pm - China does there food right. Although I'm still feeling a bit heavy from my "double breakfast," I did eat some lunch. I wasn't however ready for the power of the mushroom curry though and let's just say I was lighter on my feet by about 12:50.

130pm - We started real slow and dropped the first set. The match was tricky cause it was quite windy and we were playing against guys who were often playing much more from the baseline than we were used to. We did raise the level in the 2nd and play a great tie-break and are moving on to the next round.

3pm - After the match I was given a nice greeting from one of our favorite people, Mr. Anti-doping tester guy. So, I signed my forms which meant I had an hour to show up in the designated area to provide a sample. In the time being, the doping-tester-guy would provide me with about 2.5 feet of space until I entered the anti-doping room. This includes the time while I shower. Doping tests are never fun and there's always that moment of panic where you start thinking about everything you put in your body in the past week....like..."I had a benadryl on the plane, hope that's ok"...and "I never should have had that poppyseed muffin for breakfast on Monday!"

4pm - One the testing was complete I headed for my daily massage. After such a hard day's work, it's always nice to get a some treatment on your body.

5pm - We took the bus back to the hotel, where I participated in my own afternoon siesta!

7pm - Player's party - We had some dinner and entertainment back at the hotel, which included some singing, dancing and fire-breathing. A very nice event.

9pm - Spa time - Ross and I decided that although our massages were good, we might as well hit up the spa. I spent a good two hours there which consisted of a jacuzzi (where they had reclining stone seats that you lie in, with jets), a quick dip in the pool, back to the jacuzzi, a rinse in the arctic mist room (unreal by the way), followed by a nice stretch session in the steamroom and one more arctic blast before heading in for a shower. Anyone want to trade jobs yet????

11pm - By 11, my body was in full relaxation mode and i was ready for bed. Tomorrow is an off day, so hopefully it won't be so stressful!

There you go....a day in the life of a tennis player!

New York -

US Open 2007

This week I'll be wrapping up my final grand slam of the year. I've never played the US Open before, I've only been here to watch twice before.

We arrived Saturday and things were in full-swing. The US Open is crazy, it seems wilder than all the other slams. I get in at 10am most mornings and am lucky if I leave the courts by 7 or 8. I think the biggest problem is that I LOVE watching tennis. I'm always trying to catch what's happening the back courts in between practices, meals, weight sessions and even the occaisional massage. I know...rough life.

This being my first time in the Open, I had a nice group of fans and friends make the trip out for the week which is always great. Highlights being a night out at ESPN Zone attempting to play every sports simulation game possible, catching a broadway show eating at the top pizza restaurant in all of New York.

Best quote of the week - One of my favorite people on tour is Ron Yu. He's the stringer for Priority One, a company that strings for a number of the top players, including Federer. We were sitting having lunch one day discussing who was going to win the matches of the day, when he throws out the comment of...."Roger and I both feel he's going to be a great player." Wow, Jamie and I instantly burst out laughing. Did he really need to tack on his opinion with Roger's? As if that made it any more valid. Because if just Roger, the greatest player in the game, felt this way, I don't know if if I'd buy it. But since Ron Yu, greatest stringer in the game feels the same, Ok Sure. Funny thing is, I was laughing so hard at the comment, I forgot who we were even talking about!


Henman's Goodbye...

I've had the good fortune of watching Tim play since I was young. Being a serve and volleyer myself, he was always a player I enjoyed watching. One of my first pro tennis experiences was watching him win his first (and only) Master's event in Paris in 2003. Tim will be missed on tour by many people as he hangs it up after Davis Cup, I always enjoyed watching him play and really appreciate all the times I was able to spend with him....listed below are a couple of my favorite moments with Tim.


Tim is a competive guy, and really gets into it in practice. When training one day in London, Jamie and I played him a set one on two. Loser had to walk back to the locker room holding hands (he would have had to do it with his coach). It was my first insight into the true competitivness of Tim.

Tim loves his food, during Indian Wells we spent most of the week dining at the nicer restaurants around Palm Springs, usually dining with Tim, Annecone, Joey (his traininer), Andy Murray, Gilbert, Jamie, Louis (our coach), Bogdanovic and maybe one or two others. Usually, Andy or Tim would graciously pick up the check, sometimes split it. Well one night I happened to sit next to Tim and when the bill came, he opened it, I took a peek as well and as he closed it, he looked and me and said, "wanna split it Boot?" As I nodded, gasped and slowly went for my wallet, he smiled and said, "Just kidding." I think that dinner alone could have put me in the red for the week!

As he finished this week, getting a win over Tursnov (a nemisis of his), he showed his class and humor in his final speech to the crowd. When he was asked, if before EVERY match he played at the open he thought to himself, could this be the last? His response, "well, there's only been two." Classic Henman humor.

Thats it from New York. Off to Beijing now with more stories to come from the far east!

- Booty

US Open Blog -

US Open 2007

This week I'll be wrapping up my final grand slam of the year. I've never played the US Open before, I've only been here to watch twice before.

We arrived Saturday and things were in full-swing. The US Open is crazy, it seems wilder than all the other slams. I get in at 10am most mornings and am lucky if I leave the courts by 7 or 8. I think the biggest problem is that I LOVE watching tennis. I'm always trying to catch what's happening the back courts in between practices, meals, weight sessions and even the occaisional massage. I know...rough life.

This being my first time in the Open, I had a nice group of fans and friends make the trip out for the week which is always great. Highlights being a night out at ESPN Zone attempting to play every sports simulation game possible, catching a broadway show eating at the top pizza restaurant in all of New York.

Best quote of the week - One of my favorite people on tour is Ron Yu. He's the stringer for Priority One, a company that strings for a number of the top players, including Federer. We were sitting having lunch one day discussing who was going to win the matches of the day, when he throws out the comment of...."Roger and I both feel he's going to be a great player." Wow, Jamie and I instantly burst out laughing. Did he really need to tack on his opinion with Roger's? As if that made it any more valid. Because if just Roger, the greatest player in the game, felt this way, I don't know if if I'd buy it. But since Ron Yu, greatest stringer in the game feels the same, Ok Sure. Funny thing is, I was laughing so hard at the comment, I forgot who we were even talking about!


Henman's Goodbye...

I've had the good fortune of watching Tim play since I was young. Being a serve and volleyer myself, he was always a player I enjoyed watching. One of my first pro tennis experiences was watching him win his first (and only) Master's event in Paris in 2003. Tim will be missed on tour by many people as he hangs it up after Davis Cup, I always enjoyed watching him play and really appreciate all the times I was able to spend with him....listed below are a couple of my favorite moments with Tim.


Tim is a competive guy, and really gets into it in practice. When training one day in London, Jamie and I played him a set one on two. Loser had to walk back to the locker room holding hands (he would have had to do it with his coach). It was my first insight into the true competitivness of Tim.

Tim loves his food, during Indian Wells we spent most of the week dining at the nicer restaurants around Palm Springs, usually dining with Tim, Annecone, Joey (his traininer), Andy Murray, Gilbert, Jamie, Louis (our coach), Bogdanovic and maybe one or two others. Usually, Andy or Tim would graciously pick up the check, sometimes split it. Well one night I happened to sit next to Tim and when the bill came, he opened it, I took a peek as well and as he closed it, he looked and me and said, "wanna split it Boot?" As I nodded, gasped and slowly went for my wallet, he smiled and said, "Just kidding." I think that dinner alone could have put me in the red for the week!

As he finished this week, getting a win over Tursnov (a nemisis of his), he showed his class and humor in his final speech to the crowd. When he was asked, if before EVERY match he played at the open he thought to himself, could this be the last? His response, "well, there's only been two." Classic Henman humor.

Thats it from New York. Off to Beijing now with more stories to come from the far east!

- Booty

US Open Blog -

US Open 2007

This week I'll be wrapping up my final grand slam of the year. I've never played the US Open before, I've only been here to watch twice before.

We arrived Saturday and things were in full-swing. The US Open is crazy, it seems wilder than all the other slams. I get in at 10am most mornings and am lucky if I leave the courts by 7 or 8. I think the biggest problem is that I LOVE watching tennis. I'm always trying to catch what's happening the back courts in between practices, meals, weight sessions and even the occaisional massage. I know...rough life.

This being my first time in the Open, I had a nice group of fans and friends make the trip out for the week which is always great. Highlights being a night out at ESPN Zone attempting to play every sports simulation game possible, catching a broadway show eating at the top pizza restaurant in all of New York.

Best quote of the week - One of my favorite people on tour is Ron Yu. He's the stringer for Priority One, a company that strings for a number of the top players, including Federer. We were sitting having lunch one day discussing who was going to win the matches of the day, when he throws out the comment of...."Roger and I both feel he's going to be a great player." Wow, Jamie and I instantly burst out laughing. Did he really need to tack on his opinion with Roger's? As if that made it any more valid. Because if just Roger, the greatest player in the game, felt this way, I don't know if if I'd buy it. But since Ron Yu, greatest stringer in the game feels the same, Ok Sure. Funny thing is, I was laughing so hard at the comment, I forgot who we were even talking about!


Henman's Goodbye...

I've had the good fortune of watching Tim play since I was young. Being a serve and volleyer myself, he was always a player I enjoyed watching. One of my first pro tennis experiences was watching him win his first (and only) Master's event in Paris in 2003. Tim will be missed on tour by many people as he hangs it up after Davis Cup, I always enjoyed watching him play and really appreciate all the times I was able to spend with him....listed below are a couple of my favorite moments with Tim.


Tim is a competive guy, and really gets into it in practice. When training one day in London, Jamie and I played him a set one on two. Loser had to walk back to the locker room holding hands (he would have had to do it with his coach). It was my first insight into the true competitivness of Tim.

Tim loves his food, during Indian Wells we spent most of the week dining at the nicer restaurants around Palm Springs, usually dining with Tim, Annecone, Joey (his traininer), Andy Murray, Gilbert, Jamie, Louis (our coach), Bogdanovic and maybe one or two others. Usually, Andy or Tim would graciously pick up the check, sometimes split it. Well one night I happened to sit next to Tim and when the bill came, he opened it, I took a peek as well and as he closed it, he looked and me and said, "wanna split it Boot?" As I nodded, gasped and slowly went for my wallet, he smiled and said, "Just kidding." I think that dinner alone could have put me in the red for the week!

As he finished this week, getting a win over Tursnov (a nemisis of his), he showed his class and humor in his final speech to the crowd. When he was asked, if before EVERY match he played at the open he thought to himself, could this be the last? His response, "well, there's only been two." Classic Henman humor.

Thats it from New York. Off to Beijing now with more stories to come from the far east!

- Booty

Cincy -

Cincinnati

I missed the tournament at Montreal, so for me Cincinnati was my first masters event of the summer. I ended up sliding in on a wild card entry with young American, Sam Querrey. In the first round, we drew Nenad Zimonjic and Novak Djokovic. It was quite a tough draw as Djoko was straight off his win in Montreal and Zimo is quite the accomplished doubles player. We got up early, but went down 6-3, 6-4.

Other notes from the tourney.....

Upset-day (Weds) - The day started off with Hewitt handling Gasquet. I don't really consider this an upset, cause Hewitt has a very impressive record against the young Frenchman.

Soon to follow, was my DP (Querrey) getting it done against Mikhail Yhouzny. Yhouzny just reached a career high last week ( #10), so this was a big win for Sam.

Next to fall was Nadal, who suffered an injury and went down to Monaco. This sounds like a bad loss for Nadal, and probably was, but Monaco is confident and is ranked #25 for a reason. That reason may be that he's won 3 tour events this year.

And...to cap off the day...Novak Djokovic, after showing the world that he's ready to be considered in the top of the men's game, bombed out to former Cincy champ, Carlos Moya in his first match.

Behind the Scenes....
A lot of people wonder what players get up to when they aren't playing matches. The player's lounge is often full of tvs, computers and sometimes video games. I'm not a huge arcade game player, but this week I decided to give Mrs. Pac Man a go. I've played the game before, but decided I was really going to figure it out. I was in the middle of posting my biggest score of the week (33,000), when Andy Murray came behind me and started verbally abusing me for my poor play. I thought this was another case of Andy shooting his mouth, but when he took control the next game, I was very impressed. After watching him post 83,000 (my best for the week was 53k, and I was in the zone for that game) I picked up a few techniques...

1. Its all about eating up the ghosts, especially in the early rounds. You need to get all 4 almost every time.

2. They never change direction, so sometimes you can follow them and they won't turn around and get you.

3. From watching Andy, it helps to talk trash to the ghosts. I never realized Pac-Man could be a game of confidence...but he was often berating the ghosts for how slow they were. It seemed to really work well.

That's the news from Cincy....

DC -

So, the US Open..."ROAD TRIP" is in full swing, and although I am not winning many matches, the tourneys roll on. This week's stop, DC.

I'd love to know people's thoughts on this "US Open Series." I feel like the idea is good, but it's not really catching on. I think the lack of top players is hurting it, although that will change in Montreal and Cincy, the next two stops. In LA, Indy and DC, pretty much the top names we are seeing is Roddick, Blake, Safin and Gonzolez. I don't think this is enough star power to get people excited enough. While I absolutely love the Federer-Nadal rivalry, I don't think we are hurt by it in a way over here, because they play so much of their tennis over in Europe. Sidenote, don't know if anyone has noticed, but after winning Stuttgart, a Gold Series ATP event, Nadal has stretched his lead over Federer in the ATP Race, 936-801. Now obviously there is still 1 slam left (US Open) along 4 Master's Events (Montreal, Cincy, Madrid, Paris) and the year-end championships (Shanghai), none of which are on clay, Nadal's best surface. But....135 points is a size-able lead for Rafa. Anyone doubting Fed's ability to still get the #1 year end ranking???? Nah, me either.

Anyway, me recent early round losses have given me a chance to sit back and watch some of the tennis being played...Here's what has impressed me so far.

DROPPING BOMBS - Sam Querry hit 10 consecutive aces against James Blake in a 3 set victory in the quarterfinals of Indy. I think a lot of players have had those games where they hit 3 aces and want to hit 4 in a row to finish off a game, but they smash two serves about 10 feet long. Well, only Sam knows how it feels to do that, then do it again, and then tack on a couple more after. Well done...wonder if it helps being about 6'12"!!!!

WAITING FOR SO LONG - Frank Dancevic breaking through to make the Indy finals, beating Roddick along the way. Frank is talented and has been on the verge of making a big result in a big tournament for a while now. This could be the stepping stone he needed to move his game up to the top 50.

LOVE YOUR STYLE - Somdev Devarmen - I got to watch Somdev play in qualifying at the Legg Mason and could not have been more impressed. I know winning the NCAA's this year, he should be confident. But disposing of veteran Andre Sa, 6-2, 6-1 was one of the more impressive performances I've seen. Somdev doesn't have a ton of power, but has the speed, feel and placement of a world class player. Even more than his skills, I was so impressed with his focused, calm, positive attitude and I am looking for huge things from him in the future.

That's the latest news from the tour....

- Booty

LA -

This week we started our hard court season or our "Road Trip," as the US Open promotional campaign states it. We first formed our partnership here a year ago and made a run to the finals.  Obviously we were hoping to do the same and get a rematch with the victors in '06, the Bryan Bros.

We had a delightful invitation to participate in an exhibition on the Sunday before the tournament for a local hospital trying to raise money to fight diabetes. Now, I am always looking to give back, do whatever I can to help those in need. So, the fact that the event was to be held at the Playboy  Mansion, did not change my mind that I was very excited to help.

The event was quite cool and I was told by one organizer, Harold Foonberg (no, that actually is his name, he gave me his card), that this event was the "most profitable charity tennis tournament, ever." Hmm....ok, fine, happy to be here! We proceeded to play a set of tennis on a beautiful court with a row of bunnies sitting in the first row cheering us on! Then, post match, Jamie, Hugh and I retired to the pool for a swim, then lounged around in "the grotto" with about 25 playmates.

Anyone jealous???? Well, that didn't happen. What did? We took about 50 photos with people I didn't know, ate some food, saw the monkeys, played our set of tennis and caught transport back to the courts. We did manage to meet a few people, and by that I mean, bunnies, and the experience was cool.

Back in our reality, we had to prepare for our first hard-court event in quite some time. The grass courts while low bouncing, actually play quite slow and the balls are very heavy. So, it was no surprise to me, that after hitting about 10 forehands off the fence in my first 10 minutes of practice, I would need to raise the tension in my rackets by about 10 pounds.

We broke the new clothes this week, with some sharp new "Booty and Stretch" shirts. However, it led to a first round exit to Lipsky-Martin, an American team that is really on the move up the rankings this year. Tennis is a funny game, looking back logically over the past month or so, Jamie and I won 2 rounds in Queens, won Nottingham and won 2 rounds at Wimby. Yet, after our loss yesterday, I was really doubting our ability to ever win a match again. Tennis is such a funny game like that. It's one of the reasons I have such respect for a team like the Bryan's. They show up every week, they rarely, if ever, take bad losses. With the new scoring system, this is even more impressive.

See you in Indy,

Booty

Newport Hall of Fame Championships -

Newport -

After Jamie's Wimbledon Mixed Doubles title, he opted to not play Newport the following day. I joined forces with another brit, Ross Hutchins, that week.

Newport is one of my favorite cites, mainly because of a girl I met there last year who changed my life, but I also quite like the city. After being in Paris and London for the past 2 months, a week in Newport is just what the doctor ordered.

As Wimby and Queens are famous for having some of the best grass courts in the world, Newport is known for probably having the worst. They held true to form again this year.

In Wimby, bounces are flawless and you forget you are even playing on grass sometimes....In Newport, returning serve is like playing the lottery. You guess where it might land, but the odds are against you.

In Wimby, if the ball hits the line, you get a nice "poof" of chalk...In Newport, when the ball clearly missed the line in my match, I said, "there was no chalk!" The ump then noted that we've never seen a "poof" of chalk here.

In Wimby, you practice at Aorangi Park, which is on-site and has probably 25 great grass courts....In Newport there are 3 courts which by Tuesday had a massive sand pit behind the baseline where you hit and then long grass about 6 feet behind the baseline. As my friend pointed out, its like playing golf. You have rough (behind the ct), sand (a 12-ft oval around the baseling) and green (the rest of the court)....no wait, let's call that "fairway."

In Wimby, I think you might get shot if you walk on a grass court in the evening when play is complete....In Newport, the player's party on Monday was held on match courts 1 and 2, which consisted of games of football and baseball.

Ok.....that was harsh, probably as harsh as a blog as I have ever written. Newport is a great city and actually a very nice tournament. I plan to go back for many years, although next year I plan to not bother practicing, bring my 9-iron on court, win the lottery of bounces and NOT throw my arm out trying throw the football over the clubhouse during the player's party!

- Booty

Wimbledon Recap -

My Wimbledon.....

As most of you know, I played Wimby last year but lost in the first round of qualifying with Chris Drake. This year, playing with Jamie Murray, was quite a different experience.

We arrived to the All England Club the Sunday before the start of tourney after picking up our 3rd title of the year in Nottingham the day before. Obviously we were full of confidence and had some pretty high expectations placed upon us from the British Public.

On Sunday I tried to take care of all the business on site, getting rackets strung, setting up practice and go find myself a locker. I went to the main locker room and asked where my locker was and got a response that my name wasn't on the list. Now, my first instinct was to grab my player pass and shove it in the locker room attendant's face and go, "Ha! I am a player, thank you very much, where is my locker?" But, before I can even get that phrase out, the man behind him replied, "Mr Butorac, you are downstairs in the Champion's Locker Room." Ohhh. Ok. Excuse me. I'm sorry. I'll be on my way now.

So, I slide into the "Champions" locker room, say hello to Rafa, Roger and start searching for my locker. Ah ok. Ljubicic, Henman, Butorac, Ivansisavic. Yep, that sounds about right. What is going on here you may ask? Well appearantly this locker room is for all past champions, top 16 singles seeds and davis cup team members....and most importantly, Davis Cup team members' doubles partners! A nice way to start your Wimbledon huh? Would really hate to be upstairs with all the riff-raff right?

To go from a year ago playing with Drake where about 9 people watched our match to a pretty full house on court 2 was quite a different experience. Of course you get chills walking out onto the grass for the first time. Luckily we had played on center court once at Queens and 3 times up at Nottingham, so it wasn't to big of a shock.

We cruised in our first round taking out two clay courters in straight sets. Signed more autographs after the match than I probably had in my previous 25 years, but it was great!

Obviously Britain is looking for any kind of success, so in our post match press conference, I think the 2nd question we got was.....well....can you guys win it? "Win it? C'mon, we just be two dirt ballers who arrived two days ago in the first round and you guys want us to say we're going to win it?" The press over here is like nothing I've ever seen before.

Our 2nd round came the next day against Erlich-Ram, the #7 seeds. We started slow and dropped the first, but then rolled on to a 4 set victory. We played real sharp and finished the match with some of our best tennis of the tournament. I don't think we even faced a break point after the first set.

A couple days later I made my mixed doubles debut with another American, Cornia Morariu. I'd never played mixed at this level, but I have played a lot of Father/Son tennis before. (I'm sure my dad loves me comparing mixed doubles to Father/Son doubles, but in a way it's quite similar.) As a the male in mixed (or the Son in F/S) you are expected serve first, into the wind and sun and normally cover about 70 percent of the court. I actually started the match unbelievable with a couple return winners and a huge poach to secure the break. After 4 big first serves, we were up 2-0 and all I could think was, this mixed stuff is quite easy. Of course, 12 minutes later, we're sitting on the changeover having just lost the first set 6-2. How'd it happen? I have no idea. They started firing balls up my line, Stubbs (the woman) was serving what felt like 125 and I didn't know what to do. Then the skies opened up and I thought, ok, we can regroup and take these guys in 3. Corina thought, hey , we're down 6-2, my wrist hurts, might as well pull out and go home before I get stuck here for another week. In all honesty, I'm sure she was quite hurt, and felt bad for pulling out.

About 5 rain soaked days later we actually played our 3rd round match. Dlouhy-Vizner (the 9 seeds) took us out in 4 sets. It was quite an ugly match as the wind was really swirling that morning and it made it tough to play good tennis. After losing the first set by them hitting a net cord return at 5-6 in the breaker, they broke me in the 2nd on a complete mis-hit that was headed for the 6th row before it got caught in a gale and knuckled down in the corner. I felt the need to let everyone know how I felt about that one by sending a ball over the top of the Southfields tube station. I'm sorry Wilk, it was my first code violation of the year. It won't happen again.

I flew out Saturday to head to Newport for the Hall of Fame Championships. Actually ran into Roddick in the airport and chatted to him for a while. I've never been a huge fan of his, but have gotten to know him a bit better lately. One thing I do really like about him is that he leaves it all on the court. He was up two sets to love on Gasquet yesterday before going down 7-6, 7-6, 8-6. I could tell today that it absolutely killed him. I like that. When I lose a match, it hurts, and I love seeing the top guys in world that aren't afraid to show that it means something to them.

That was my Wimby 2007.

- Eric

Wimby 3 -

Well...it's been a number of days since I last wrote a blog and a number of people have been asking for another.

I feel like not that much has happened, so I just haven't written. So prepare to read one of the most boring blogs of all time!

Jamie and I did win our two matches and are onto the third round, but still awaiting our opponents to finish their match. Both our matches were pretty fun cause playing with Jamie in Britain, you can draw some pretty massive crowds. I'm just a lowly Division 3 doubles specialist...I didn't ask for the money, fame and women that come with all this!....but I'll gladly accept it.

As most of you have seen, it's been absolutely chucking it (rainy) down here almost every day. It's made life quite difficult for the players as all you do is hang at the courts try to practice and the minute you step out on court, it starts raining again.

A lot of time has been spent in the locker rooms and player's lounge just hanging out. People are quite good at finding games to pass the time or entertain one another somehow.

At the current pace this tournament is going, I'd say we should finish sometime by the middle of next week. I think that's also one of the days that has no rain in the forecast.

Keep you posted if we actually play some tennis today.

- Booty

Wimby 2 -

After 3 days of Wimbledon....the following has all happened.

1. Jamie and I have still not played a match. We are scheduled for the 5th match on court 2 today, I'd say the odds of us actually playing fall between "slim" and "none."

2. We have managed to do about 100 interviews over the past 3 days. It's definitely fun being a star, but the questions revolve around the same couple q's.
a. Is it great to be playing in London with all the support? Yes.
b. Due to your success, is this a partnership for the future? Yes.
c. What is the status of Andy's wrist? We don't really know.

3. I was approached by Justin Gimblestob who didn't really care for what he called few "backhanded compliments," which I wrote in a previous article. I didn't think players actually read anything I wrote. Have to start being a little more careful.

4. I tried to get a locker in the changing room and was told my name wasn't on the list. I quickly rushed to my bag to shove my player's badge in the locker room attendant's face to prove that I was a player, when he pointed out that I had special credentials to be in the locker room reserved for former champions, singles seeds and davis cup players. Apparently playing with a Davis Cup member is good enough (thanks Jamie). I finally found my name sandwiched between Henman and Ljubicic...pretty much right where I belong (Yeah, right).

5. Spent some time yesterday with one of my best friends Chris Varga who travels with Boyd Tinsley (violinist for Dave Matthews Band). Boyd, besides being extremely genuine and kind individual, is a huge tennis fan and they are over here for the week. Today we got out on the grass and played a set of doubles. After we went back to his suite at the Ritz to chill for a bit and grabbed some food at a great little Mediterranean restaurant. I swear I didn't sign up for stuff like this when I started playing tennis. It just keeps getting better and better!

6. This morning I am off to warm-up Henman for his match with Lopez. Since I'm a big lefty, I'm hoping to groove his return for the match. I think I'm actually more nervous for my warm-up hit with Tim than I am for my actual match. I feel like I have a direct influence on a match the entire country will be following. I hope I can pull him through.

C'mon Tim!

- Booty

Wimbledon 1 -

Rainy Days in London....

....what else is new


Luckily, I have the greatest doubles partner in the world when it comes to practice in London. When you play doubles with a "Brit," you are pretty much given "carte blanc" to do as you please around all the training facilities in London.

Today, instead of waiting around all day on-site at Wimby, we went straight to the National Training Center in Roehampton to have our practice indoors and then head straight to the state of the art gym. I decided to pass on having a massage from one of the many on-site physios and figured it was best to not push my luck. I hung out with my Mom and Dad for most of the morning waiting for our court at 2pm. Then it was time for an intense doubles training session with my coach Louis Cayer.


In the afternoon we played an exhibition match in finance district, somewhere in London. I don't really know where they took us, just that it was quite a long drive from the courts. Also apparently long enough the our opponents, Knowles-Nestor were stuck in traffic and were 30 minutes late.

Once they arrived and we exchanged our greetings, we were complimented on our fine play with a title last week in Nottingham, we also complimented them on their fine play with a title the week before at Queens. I figured it was worth mentioning that (to the #2 ranked doubles team in the world) that makes 3 titles (San Jose, Memphis, Nottingham) for us on the year, to their 2 (Queens and some tourney called the French Open). Then they announced our bios and Knowles has won 47 career ATP titles....he was like "How many is that for you Booty?, Oh 3?" Don't know why I started that debate.

We played a set of tennis on a rain-soaked miniature court in front of some passing by London workers on their way home and enjoyed ourselves a bit before heading back to Wimbledon to meet up with my Dad who was anxiously trying to soak up every minute of tennis action.

The day finished meeting up with a couple friends in the Wimby village for some good chat and a fairly early night to sleep for what will likely be a rain-soaked Day 2.

- Booty

Nottingham 3 -

Nottingham wrap-up


Jamie and I picked up our 3rd title of the year today by winning Nottingham.

Obviously we are quite excited to win another tour event and this does great things for our ranking. It was a bit anti-climactic as after we won the tournament less than an hour later we were both headed back to London separately.

I celebrated with a friend and a couple of "Aussies" on the train back by opening up my laptop for some tunes and passing around the bottle of champagne that I had won.

I wish I had more time to write but we are now back in London and have to start getting ready for Wimby tomorrow!

Also....as promised....I attached my good friend Ashley Fisher's suggested rule changes for the tennis tour. Let me know what you think, also send me any other ideas that you think should be changed with tennis...I'll post again with some of your responses....you can email me on my site at www.bootyandstretch.com

The greatest issue in tennis is dwindling fan interest. The core fan can't maintain interest for 11 months and the casual fan can't understand the structure. The season starts the day after Christmas, ends in the middle of November and has no structure by region or surface. For example, as we lead into Indian Wells next week we have one hard-court lead up event in Las Vegas and one in Acapulco on clay. As commissioner of tennis I would scrap the entire tennis calendar and start again.

Since the USTA has had great success with the US Open series, I would emulate this structure with the other Grand Slams to create 4 mini seasons with distinct surfaces and regions. In the six weeks prior to each of the Slams, all ATP and Sony Ericsson WTA Tour events would be played on the same surface and in the same region as the approaching slam. Fans could get behind the mini season in their region or they follow the entire season since it will only be 8 months long.

The new season would start in February in Asia with hard court events in India, China, Thailand, Vietnam, Australia and other Pacific Rim countries. The events will be promoted as the lead up to the Australian Open and appropriate bonuses and incentives would be awarded to generate additional excitement. In the early spring, the clay court season would begin throughout Europe and South America leading up to Roland Garros. Late spring would lead into the six week grass court season since anyone who has ever been to Queens and Wimbledon knows the British are fanatical that time of year. Simply put, we need to give them more tennis. The US swing would remain very similar to the US Open series. The calendar would end at the US Open providing players with an off season to spend at home with their families. During this time events such as World Team Tennis, Bundesliga and other exhibitions could take place.

Obviously, this is a very drastic measure that involves reducing the number of events, however fewer tournaments will draw stronger fields and allow tournaments to better market their stars. Injuries and player withdrawals, the bain and vulnerability of tournaments, will become less of problem and fans will gain confidence in the product again.. In addition to Grand Slams and Tour events, we have Davis Cup competing for limited fan interest and limited player availability. The Davis Cup needs to become an event similar to World Cup Soccer held every four years. Davis Cup should be one of the most watched events in tennis and right now it does not garner the attention it deserves because it doesn't showcase the top stars. For example, the greatest player of all time, Roger Federer doesn't represent Switzerland so the fans don't know it is an important event. The Cup should rotate to North America, Asia, South America and Europe and be played over a two week period at which point all the marketing focus from the Tours will be applied to creating a world-stopping interest.

- Booty

Nottingham 2 -

Jamie and I are rolling on in Nottingham. Nothing too exciting has happened, which has led to a lack of blogs. When you spend the past month in Paris and London, then head up to the Midlands' city of Nottingham, things sure seem quite quiet.

The other day I watched Justin Gimelstob break a racket on a return, then make about 20 different faces (the guy is notorious for having great facial expressions), couldn't decide whether to keep playing with it, really give it a good smash in the ground or politely set it down.... and then finally settled on chucking it into the crowd to a kid sitting in the front row. It was a sweet gesture at a time when I would have bet my life that it was going to be shattered into pieces on the ground next to his bag.


....which brings me to my next point. Has anyone seen the new T.V. show with Philippoussis? I heard about it, still haven't seen the first episode, but apparently Gimelstob was one of the final candidates for the show. After hearing this, I don't know if I can watch Mark. Sure "Phlip" is a better looking guy, but he doesn't have 1/100 of the intelligence of Justin and nowhere near the personality. Gimelstob (while being absolutely insane at times) is also one of the funniest people I know. He said that he went into the interview and said, "Just have a camera follow me around, doing anything, the show will be a hit." He couldn't be more true....to see him chat with the different women on the show would have been priceless. I'm so disappointed.

I had dinner last night with Ashley Fisher, one of my best friends on tour, at Pizza Express. Having dinner with Ash is great chat, but also quite funny, cause he really doesn't like any food other than a cheese pizza. So, Pizza Express is a safe bet. We started talking about the ATP and got off into a half hour discussion on how the ATP needs to change so many things about how it operates. He said he wrote an amazing essay on the necessary rule changes and I said that I'd print it in my blog sometime soon. Keep an eye out for that one.

Other than that...nothing too exciting from Nottingham. We play in the semis this afternoon.

Nottigham 1 - First rd win -

Well, if you didn't see or didn't realize from my lack of a blog, Jamie and I were bounced out in the quarterfinals of Queen's on Friday.

I did the typical losing routine....sulk for a while, go to dinner with some friends who gradually brought me out of it, then hit the town! Some friends took me to a place called "Fifty" which was quite exclusive (judging by the security process just to get into the club, even though we were ON the list!). Was a great time.

Saturday was my day off. Well, not totally off as I hit the gym at about 10am for a hard workout, which could have been harder if my head wasn't absolutely pounding (see previous paragraph)...but I got through it by about noon. Spent the afternoon in the city with a friend and actually went and checked out the Tate Modern Museum. Yes, I know, a little culture in my life! I loved the first few exhibits, but the section of paintings where a huge red square or pictures that looked like something a 1st grader did really tested my patience.


We got up to Nottingham last night to prepare for this tourney and we probably should got here a little earlier as we were first on this morning.

We were able to pull through though, 6-4, 7-6 (7) against Auckland and Huss.

That's the news from here....

- Booty (also known over here as "Jamie Murray's doubles partner")

Queens Day 3 -

Queens Day 3

We played our round of 16 match this afternoon against Fisher/Phillips. You know those days where you walk out on the court and everything just clicks. You serve is hitting the spots you want, you see the return as if it's going in slow motion and every single bounce seems to go your way? Well, that's my best description for what happened today.

We next take on Hanley/Ulyett, the number 3 team in the world in the quarters on Friday. Can't wait for it.

A couple of upsets today at the Queen's tourney. Jo Wilfred-Tsonga took down Hewitt. This big Frenchman is on an absolute tear right now. He's won about 5 challengers this year and won last week in Surbiton. He was very impressive.

Yesterday, Henman went down as well...never happy to see him lose. My favorite quote I read this morning in one of the papers was, "Will Henman win another tennis match, ever?" I thought that was just a little harsh. Leave it to the Brits though, the press over here is so tough! Had lunch with Tim today and luckily he can just shake it off. I guess enough years of that nonsense and it really doesn't even bother you anymore.

Tags: tennis

Queens - Centre Court -

Queen's....

On a match day things seem to just fly by. You wake up at 830 and by the time you finish your post-match activities, it's 630 in the evening.

Here's my account of the day....

8:30am - Rise and shine, when you wake up on a match day it's quite a different feeling than any other. Especially when you're playing center court and the entire country of England will be watching you on BBC2.

10am - started our morning out with a quick Yoga workout at the training center in Roehampton, which more than a couple people managed to mention, "wow, booty, you really aren't too flexible." Yep, that's right. I blame genetics. Don't think my dad's ever been able to touch his toes, doubt I ever will either.

Noon - Finished our morning hit around...of to Queen's.

2pm - Back on court for a practice at Queen's. Seeing the ball like its a football (soccer ball for the American readers).

3:15 - Practice over, 2 minute shower as we see Boggo (Alex Boganovic, another British player) is rolling through and about to serve it out on Center Court. Nerves are starting to kick in!

3:30 - Match time. Walking onto the Center Court at Queen's was quite a surreal experience. It's quite accepted that it's the greatest grass court in the world. With the red backdrop and the stadium pretty much filled to capacity, this was the point where I was debating whether I should run to the bathroom for probably the 10th time in the past hour. I think every player gets a bit nervous before you walk on a court like that. If not, I bet they're lying.

3:35 - I manage to hold serve and my heart rate has dropped to about 195 beats per minute.

3:37 - Ljubicic hits an ace up the T at what felt like 187 mph. I challenge the call, and it's over-turned. (two completely unrelated facts to this story.... there were 4 challenges in this match and they all went our way.....Jamie is British.)

3:40 - Jamie smacks a return winner to break Ljubicic as we go up 2-0. Heart rate now down to 180.

3:50 - We take the first set 6-1 and the crowd is absolutely loving us. On the changeover, Jamie is discussing the Swedish girls sitting in the front row, I'm trying to plan out my next service game and somehow control my breathing.

4:05 - We can not break them in the 2nd. I even completely whiffed (or as the English say, "fresh-aired") a sitting forehand. I'm claiming bad bounce, even though in the past twenty years no has even complained of a bad bounce on that court.

4:30 - Game, Set, Match, Butorac/Murray. My favorite five words in tennis.

4:40 - On court BBC interview where Jamie was asked for the 37th time that day...."How's Andy's wrist?"

5:10 - Press Conference, where I was asked, "Do you have a British relative or is there any chance you'll marry an British girl before the Davis Cup match in September?" Answers were, Don't think so....and unlikely....but you never know!

6:30 - Fed, showered, relaxed, pretty much ready to call it a day....an emotional day for sure. Can't wait to do it again on Weds!

Queen's Blog -

Queen's Haven't written since I left the French a week ago. This week Jamie and I are playing in the famous Stella Artios Queen's Club Tournament. Walking into Queen's is one of the more impressive sights in tennis. Most players feel its the best kept grass courts in the world (yes it even plays better than Wimby!). We had a busy day starting off with a doubles exhibition in Surbiton against Goodall/Hutchins (another UK team) which we took down 3-6, 6-1 10-8. Before the breaker we asked them if they were up for playing the final breaker for 2 butts-ups shots each. (this is when the losing team bends over and stands on the baseline while the other team fires two serves at them (quite a common wager when playing a practice set). They agreed to do it. Then as we came back from 5-8 (them serving) to win 10-8, Goodall had his bag on his shoulder before we even shook hands. I think he was in 3rd gear cruising to his home before I even realized he was gone. Such poor form from him. Ross (Hutchins) offered to take all 4 for the team (which was a good effort although we didn't accept), but I would have preferred to send a rocket at Goodall. Oh well. After we had to do a quick photo shoot for Getty Images since Wimby is just around the corner. It was fun for a while, but then the shots kept getting crazier and crazier. He was like "Now, sit back to back and look over your shoulder at each other and smile."....ah, Ok. Then he came with, "Sit side-by-side and stare deep into each other's eyes." I was like, "Wait, what kind of photo shoot is this?" We're keeping all our clothes on, right? I'm not sure I want people seeing these shots! We got to Queen's in the afternoon just in time to get some lunch for the Rafa/Roger final that we've all been waiting for. You really know a match means a lot when you see the entire player's lounge tuning in for that one. At 3pm we had to do another press event on center court at Queen's. We were actually the only ones allowed to walk on the court all day. We played a tie-breaker with some local BBC and Times reporter, then did some interviews for the BBC morning show which should air Monday morning. It was cool, other than the fact that it was so staged. At one point, the reporter asked if I could hit a serve like 120mph inside out on the deuce court about an inch wide so he could then challenge the call. Hmm....haven't hit a serve in about 4 hours, shoulder feels so cold it's a joke....why not rip the first serve 120mph an inch wide. I'm a professional right? Then I hit it, and he challenges it and runs to the camera and the guy wasn't even filming! He hits a ball back to me and goes, "Take 2!" After that we hit the courts for another hour workout on the practice courts. We play 3rd match tomorrow on center court (and also on Eurosport), so we better be bringing our A-game against Ljubicic-Gulbis. Should be a fun match! I'll let you know how it goes!

Roland Garros : Early Exit -

Rough Day in Paris.... Today, Jamie and I followed suit with the rest of the Americans (Roddick, Blake, Querrey, Kendrick, Spadea, Delic) and Brit (Henman) who all bowed out first round. We had some chances including two set points in the first set, but couldn't get it done. I remember just a couple years ago watching Agassi play Courier in the finals of Roland Garros. Now we can't even get an American past the first round!!! What's the problem you ask??? Increasing number of South American players, lack of red clay courts in the states, and maybe bad luck? I wish I could really put my finger on it. For me, growing up I played about 7 tournaments on green clay (Har-Tru) before I was 22....which was also the first year I even hit a ball on the red "terre battu" (literal translation being "beaten earth" but is actually crushed brick). However, the Bryan's have proved that Americans can still be successful at least in doubles, but the current top Americans (Roddick, Blake and Fish) really rely on the speed of a hard court. I will stay in Paris for the next two days and watch some tennis, hit the gym, and hopefully provide you with some good stories from behind the scenes at Roland. Expect much better results coming soon as myself, Andy, James and Tim, I can say with certainty, will not be hitting many balls on clay for the next ten months. This should bring more success...but maybe it's also part of the problem? Either way.... Bring on the grass!!!

Roland Garros from "Crazy Will's perspective -

We're bringing in a "guest blogger" today. My mate with the man-crush on Federer will be doing the writing today. He has my all-access guest badge and has been practicing with me all week. He's going to give you a little French Open from his perspective.... Without further a do......Will Mason. Thanks Boot. After a late night out in a stylish Parisian bar (meaning 12 euros a beer) talking about Roger's dominance on the tennis world, I arrived at Boot's hotel at 11am planning to take advantage of the vacant bed to catch up an hour or two's sleep so as to put me in top form for an afternoon's watching of tennis at the French. However Boot needs Gareth and I to work him and Stretch out on the court for a couple of hours. I jump at the opportunity, enthusiasm making up for the lack of sleep. Two minutes later I'm in shorts, rackets under my arm making my way to the player's car en route to Roland Garros. We have a court booked for 11.30 at a near-by prestigious Parisian tennis club. We get to the courts, Boot is on court warming up, I'm looking for the changing room. I get sent to 3 different people just to find the guy that has the code for the changing rooms. 8 euros spent on water, I'm ready to play. Excellent practice session throughout which I dodged many a Booty first serve bullet, then back to Roland Garros in one piece. Things are a little easier for Boot than for his sparring partner. Booty goes straight to the player's locker room to shower whereas my pass won't allow me in. I have to see another 3 different people that attempt to point me in the rough (very rough) direction of some long lost shower to which I may or may not have access. Apparently, as far as young tennis fans are concerned, anyone walking around the centre in tennis shorts with rackets must be a super star worthy of signing autographs. After assuring a young girl that my autograph was worthless I returned to my shower-searching mission. On leg 6 of the search, the same girl again hands me pen and paper on which to sign. Rather than re-explain my autograph unworthiness, I scribbled and ran. Boot has already eaten and in relax mode before I find the shower. Two hours later I'm ready for the highlight of the day which was to watch fellow Aussie Lleyton Hewitt beat up on ex-doubles partner Max Mirnyi in straight sets on court 2. Federer has all the talent a man can have but Hewitt is fascinating to watch. So focused, no errors, returns consistently find the only 2-inch slot necessary to put 6'5" Mirnyi in difficulty. At the end of the day, food-less and tired I make my way with Booty and posse to have dinner with world number one doubles player Samantha Stosur at a quiet Parisian restaurant. Great conversation, cold uncooked steak and highly caffeinated coffee before heading back to Boot's hotel room to wind down with a little evening poker game. The chips are divided, cards are dealt, everyone is waiting for me... - Will, Booty's guest blogger

Roland Garros 2 - Rain, Rain, Go Away! -

We had about as much rain today as we did yesterday. About 4 matches actually were completed, and most (me included) were unable to practice for the 2nd day in a row. What do you do when you can’t practice? Here’s a rundown of my day…. 10am – Head to the courts, see that its raining, search for partner to sign-up for mixed doubles. 11am – My coach, and friends arrive, we sit down for small game of Texas Hold ’em. For you regular blog readers, you know I’m a shark on the tables…not so today. Noon – Lunch and a little chat with my friend Will who has the BIGGEST man crush on Federer. I mean a 28 year old that stares in awe every time he walks by. Fed often eats lunch with his girlfriend, agent, parents at the same table right when you walk in the player’s restaurant. He asked, “is that Roger’s table.” With a straight face, I said, “Yeah. Nadal has to sit in the back and everyone else fends for themselves.” He completely bought it. 1pm – Gym workout as Gareth (my coach/friend) decided to tell me how tennis was invented. Apparently, it started with this game “court tennis” where 2 people play games that last forever. People started playing “Lawn tennis” while they waited for the game to start and that caught on. Scores were based on 1 hour (as they were waiting for the court to open up). Hence, the 15-30-45 (which then became 40) scoring systems. 2:30pm – Watched our friend Alize play Venus Williams on centre court. Serena was trying to “lay low” by sitting near us wearing an old woman’s scarf over her head. Unfortunately it looked exactly like Serena wearing a scarf over her head... wasn’t fooling me. 4pm – Watched Fed bomber on center court, looked his usual self. 5pm – Another meal. I love the slams. So much action, men and women at the same tourney! 7pm – Back to the gym for workout #2. If you don’t recognize me the next time you see me, its cause I was on the old bench press. 8pm – We’re outta here. Off to Saint Germain for some dinner and maybe a film. Such a rough life we live. A plus tard…. - Booty

Roland Garros 1 - Opening Day -

My French Open I arrived in Paris on Friday for the French Open, the second grand slam of my career and my first with my current partner, Jamie Murray. I was impressed when I turned up at 9am on Saturday with 2 other doubles players and they scheduled our practice on Court Suzanne Lenglen (one of the stadiums)….um…did someone make an error here? I wasn’t planning on having any matches on these courts, but if they want me to practice there, okay! Put on a little show for the kids after our practice as I was taking baseball swings (hitting the ball with my handle) into the crowd off my partner’s serve. The Frencies love this one. No one here can do it….although if you asked them to slide a ball up there leg, kick it up with their knee and punt it into the stands, no problem. After practice I ran into Henman in the locker room (we have been practicing a lot together in London lately) and he was off to play a set with Federer in the main stadium. I figured, why not have my lunch in the sun watching one of the greatest players of all time sharpen up his game. Pretty much the talk amongst the players is “who is going to win, Roger (Federer) or Rafa (Nadal)?” I would argue that it’s the most anticipated match in quite some time. Roger is searching for the grand slam, and the title of GOAT (Greatest of all-time.) Rafa HAD completely owned Roger - taking a handful in a row and a total of 81 matches in a row on clay. This all changed last week when Roger picked Rafa apart in one of the greatest displays of tennis I have seen in the Hamburg Masters. Roger has regained his swagger and Rafa is not looking quite a confident as before. Everyone is looking forward to their final 2 weeks from today….assuming no one takes them out. Today (Sunday) was a bit of a mess. It started raining around noon and has been washing out everyone’s practice for the day. The only thing left to do was hit up the gym (which was jam packed) for a workout and call it a day. I also got some great advice from Bob Bryan on how to win matches on clay, which I’m planning to use this week. One of the flip-sides with the rain is that there are kids everywhere you go. When I left the locker room to walk to the gym, I was hounded by hundreds of kids for autographs yelling “Meissuir!, Meissuir, je suis une grand fan!!” I replied back to the kids (I speak some French from the year I lived over here) “If anyone can tell me who I am, I will sign all your autographs!”…..Dead silence. Then I signed them all anyway. What else do I have to do? It was raining. A tout a le heure Eric

Poertschach 3 -

Since I last wrote a few things happened. After winning our first round, we hit players' party #2 (first one was on saturday and was quite good, even though this tourney struggles with its security, they make up for it with good parties!). This one was a celebrity/charity poker tourney. We had to pay 20 euro per person and the winner got a nice pair of Ray Ban aviator sun glasses. I played tight to the final four, then stepped it up with a big take down, a nice slow played flush, a big bluff with a 2-6 and hammered some big Austrian in heads up to take down the title. I'm not sure if I'm better at poker than tennis, but I'm quite certain I'm better at tennis tour poker than I am in clay court doubles! Our match today was a rough one. An hour or so before we were about to start, the rain rolled into town. I think Jamie and I are 2-0 playing on clay when the sun is shining, and 0-5 otherwise. So, when the rain came down and we were told we had to play through it, we weren't exactly oozing confidence. Actually it was a quite a site at the beginning of the match when there were 4 players, 1 chair umpire, 6 ball kids and 7 linesmen and 0 people in the stands. Our coach (Diesel) turned up just before the first ball was hit and 3 games in Friedl and Skoch's girlfriends had braved the conditions as well. Obviously once the match got going, we attracted many more fans, and I didn't take official count by the end of the match, but there were at least 10-12 people didn't have direct relation (coach or gf) to the players. (probably the parents of the ballkids!) Oh to be a star on the doubles tour!!! Anyway, we lost 6-4, 6-3 in an ugly affair all around. We are off tomorrow to Paris to get ready for the French.....just praying we don't have to play through the rain!!! Tonight is player's party #3 with pizza and beer while watching the Champion's League Final. For those American readers, its like the Super Bowl of Soccer. I'm backing Liverpool tonight! Auf Wiedersehn aus Osteriech!!! Booty

Poertschach 2 -

Poertschach Poertschach is located on a beautiful lake. Clear water, people out boating, wake-boarding and swimming...there are mountains in the background....a truly beautiful setting! I was about to head for a swim this afternoon and was speaking with a couple of the transport drivers about how nice the lake is. He starts telling me how the water quality of the lake is drinkable..."as pure as a bottle of evian," was his comment. I thought wow, very impressive. Then follows up that comment saying how, if I really want to drink that water, to make sure to swim out a bit cause most of the surrounding houses still empty their toilets into the lake. Wait....What!!?!?!!? Now, i've been swimming in my fair share of lakes in Minn, (where I assume most houses are not emptying their toilets in it) and I've never thought of drinking the water....and definitely never compared it to a bottle of evain! Why would he ever tell me this, I can't get over it! We played today and won 7-6, 6-7, 10-7. Not the prettiest of matches, especially considering we served for the 2nd set (and the match) and let it get away. None the less, a win is a win! Then afterwards my coach and I decided to go for a swim after too. We made it halfway across the lake to this big floating object. and swam back. Great physical workout after the match...I was really feeling it about halfway through! Also...not go too far astray...but what did everyone think of that match on Sunday? Federer taking it to Nadal for the first time on clay. Going into the year, I thought this was it, this is Fed's year to take home the slam. Then he looked so average all season since Australia and with Rafa looking absolutely dominating again on clay, I thought, "here we go again." Rafa works his way through the clay season again. I couldn't be happier as a tennis fan for what has happened this season. Fed comes out early this season and everyone is quick to call him the greatest player of all time. Then he lets off the accelerator, loses to Canas (twice), Rafa (again!) and Volandri of all people. He consistenly is dropping sets on clay, (Monaco, Ferrer and Moya) something he did not do last year, and no one thinks he has a shot in the Hamburg final....especially after dropping the first set 6-2. Then....here comes Roger! He takes it 6-2, 6-0 as impressive tennis as I have ever seen from him. Check out this point... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BOn_9VvMSeQ&mode=related&search= Unbelievable rally, with a poor finish...but can Roger really wear Rafa down like he did in that point? I have to say, I'm so excited to see what happens at Roland Garros next week. I don't even know where to start with predictions. I just want to sit back and enjoy it. I just hope no one disrupts our chance to see the perfect final!!! That's the news here....we play again on Weds.

Poertschach -

We arrived in Poertschach, Austria on Saturday, our final clay court tourney before playing the French Open next week and then officially getting off the clay for the rest of year! It's been a bit of a struggle for us and as I heard Roddick scream on the practice courts this morning, "Fast-forward a month please!" This city is unbelievable, the courts are set right on a lake with mountains in the background. My only frustration with the tournament so far has been the security. Ok, I understand you need to allow only accrediated players to certain areas, but this is not Wimbledon, it's the Poertschach Open. On Saturday I went to get my player's badge and they said, "Sorry, you can't get the badge until you are officially in the draw. (Doubles draw is made at 6pm and Jamie and I would make it in no problem). So, I head for the sign-in dest to officially enter the doubles and the security guard says, "No players without badges allowed in here." Ok, minor fault in the system, I can't get a badge until I sign-in, can't sign in without a badge. Went back and forth two times before The supervisor opened a side door to let us all in. The look on the security guard's face was priceless. I know he's just doing his job, but c'mon. So....today, I have my badge and I head to the lunch tent. Appearantly you need a ticket to go to lunch. I head to the desk to collect my player's ticket and they say, "Sorry, we ran out of tickets, tell the man to let you pass." Do you think he let me pass??? No chance I was getting by this security without a ticket. Back and forth three times and finally I was allowed through. Ok....same thing, I know they are just doing their job....but, if someone is sly enough to forge a players badge with their own picture, speak a foriegn language and dress head to toe in tennis clothes, the security should just say "too good," and allow whoever it is to get their lunch. I'll keep you posted on any more stories from Poertchach. We play our first round match tomorrow against Jeff Cotzee and Rogier Wassen. I'm feeling confident about this one, as long as security allows me onto the court to play!!! Bis Dann from Austria.... Eric

Training with Tim! -

The last 5 days have been about as tough as any training Jamie and I have done. A typical day is similar to what happens Thursday. Start out at 10am with a 45 min core session workout. This consists of different exercises to do with your back, abs, legs, chest, back, etc. Today was especially hard as we worked though set after set of what they call "planks." This is where your support yourself straight on your toes and your elbows. Sounds easy, until they balance a 25lb weight on your back as you do it for a few mins, you really start to feel it. I actually hit a pain barrier where I thought tears were coming out my eyes. But it should make me serve harder, right? At 11am we were on court hitting. Tim Henman hit with us this morning as he does quite often and we did a lot of 2 on 1 drills. Only seeing him play singles, I never realized how quick he was around the baseline and how hard he can rip the groundies. He's good fun to train with too cause he's very competitive, but in a fun way. He gets pumped and loves to be on every little game we play. We started playing games 2 on 1 where he covers the singles and we cover the doubles. You got to bet anything you wanted and if you broke serve, the other guy had to do it. His first prop was that if he broke us we had to walk back to the main center with our shirts off. (To get from the courts back to the locker rooms at Roehampton, you have to walk past the hundreds of workers with floor to ceiling windows looking out at you.) We held. Our bet was that if we broke, the next time Tim came to practice, he couldn't park his Jaguar right in front of the door like he always does (he has to park down where everyone else does!). He held. It went back and forth for a while as we each kept holding serve, with him throwing out ideas that if we lost we had to walk back to the locker room holding hands (that would not have been a good sight for the staff to see). We finally did break him on a bet that he had to do his gym session without a shirt on! But then we proceeded to play double or quits on a baseline game and lose it. All in all, a great practice session. Tim's a class guy all around and to have the opportunity to train with him on a regular basis is something special. The afternoon consisted of another hit with our coaches, Louis Cayer and James Davidson, breaking down some specifics for our clay court game. Then it was off to the gym for a weight workout. The summer is almost upon us and we need to be making sure we are in fine form!!! Andy (Murray, Jamie's bro) came back to London yesterday and is having his wrist checked out. He hurt in Hamburg and is doubtful for Roland Garros. He and Jamie spend yesterday afternoon house hunting here in the Wimby area. It was a typical day at Roehampton for us, a little dinner in the Wimbledon Village and it was early to bed for one more day of training before our trip to Austria.

Day...by Day...by Day..... -

Highlights of my day while training at Roehampton….. Win of the day – Delgy and Aucks taking down a buster in Zagreb. Thatta way boys! Dance Move of the day – Jamie’s shoulder circles he was perfecting in the mirror CD of the day – Jamie threw together our new “workout mix” for the week. Hits include “Cash Machine”…”what goes around”…”breaking the habit” among others. It was impressive. Certainly will help the energy levels! Worst stench of the day – Our coach Diesel who ate something bad for lunch…had wto run two courts down frequently during practice just so we could breathe! Quote of the day - “Fast forward a month please!!!” - Roddick in Rome after smashing a racket in practice. Obviously having similar feelings to me with regards to the clay court season

France : C'est la vie! -

With Roland Garros just around the corner, I decided to do a blog about France. It's probably my favorite country in the world. I was there a week ago training in my favorite city of Nice and decided to throw down my thoughts for anyone who's interested. I don't know what it is, I've just always loved it there. Not sure if its the fact they are so proud of their culture, they won't be subjected to anyone else bringing in other ideas, or that I would give anything to wake up every day and have a genuine pain au chocalate....but I just love it. However, I do have a few issues with how they operate and we'll get those out of they way first. 1. Distance - If you ask someone how far a walk a certain place is. They will always give you two responses, 5 minutes or 10 minutes. However, today I wanted to go to a gym and the "messieur" where I had lunch said it was just down the road, 5 minutes. I assumed he meant walking, cause it was a walking only street. I decided to jog, cause I was going for a workout anyway. I arrived 12 minutes later (now this is jogging at a decent pace), was he assuming I was sprinting? How could anyone have made it in 5 minutes? Now, if someone gives you a response of a 10 minute walk, you really have no idea what you are in for. You may as well start looking for a cab! 2. Efficiency - My main question to anyone living in France is....how do you get things done? For instance, going to bank or a post office is one the most difficult things to do. First off, the lines are so long, you may as well plan your entire afternoon to do these two activities. However, banks are not open Sundays or Saturday afternoons and usually not Mondays either. They also take an hour and a half for lunch from 1230-2, so pretty much you have Tues-Fri 9-1230, and 2-5. Otherwise, you are out of luck. Now my question is, if you have a normal job, how do you ever get there? It's impossible! Don't even get me started on holidays. Also, for anyone who has spent some time in France, how's your first sunday treating you? Let me guess....were you a little hungry??? Thought so, good luck finding a store to buy something to eat! (PS....none of this applies to Paris, who does accomodate the large number of foriegners who are not prepared for the normal rules of France....also note that all stores open on Sunday are run by foriegners!) 3. Service - My friend Gareth and I tried to get a coffee the other day. We went to this sweet cafe in central Nice, grabbed a table and waited to be serve. About 10 mins later we were giving firm stares to every waiter that walked by and there was no interest in serving us still. By about the 15 minute point we decided to get up and physically signal the waiter over. Even though, this waiter was not designated to our section. He then sent the waiter for our section over to take our order, which was, two coffees. About 2.5 hours later we were struggling to get the check and were literally just begging the waiter to pay him for his services. When you go to McDonalds in the states none of the food is ready when you get there, you place your order, the food comes out and the average serving time is like 45 secs. McDo (as they call it) has about 350 sandwhiches sitting there when you arrive, but the average serving time is like 8.5 minutes a customer!!! How is this possible? France could be one the most innefficent countries I've ever seen. But I love the fact that they don't care! They run on their own time and nobody will change that. So, now that my issues are out of the way....a couple of my favorite things! One of the things I like most about French tennis, is the ranking system. For those of you who don't know it, I'm not going to try to explain it. Everyone has a ranking from Gasquet down to club player Bob and they all are on the same system. It's perfect and if America could ever adapt to it, we would run so much more efficiently. Forget this "I'm a 4.5, but I'm self-rating myself down to a 4.0 so I can win more." If we all have official rankings by the Federation, we can all play in the same system. Also, in France, to be a teaching pro, you have to be at least a rating of 5/6 (which is not bad) and you have to play at least 3 tournaments a year. Great idea. None of these teaching pros who yell and scream all day but really can't hit a ball over the net. Plus, it allows to you know how good any player is. None of this "well who's better, a Div 3 #4 singles player, a 5.0 league player, a top 100 National Junior, or the number 1 45 and over in the country!) In France its simple, a -30 is better than a -15. It doesn't matter if you are in our out of school, are 12 or 65, everyone's on the same ranking system! The Boulangerie! Everyone who has ever been to France for even a minute know about the French Bakery! I think this fact alone is good enough for me to love this country. Not only are the croissants, pain au chocolates, and baguettes, some of the best you will ever sink your teeth into, but there is literally a bakery on every corner in every city in the country. That seems like a "bold booty statement" as my friend says, but it's basically true! Toss in the incredible selection on wine and cheese and how can you go wrong??? Now I understand that France is proud of their culture, their heritage, their language and that's why they are so difficult on foreigners. They don't want to change! Maybe that's part of the reason I like it...that, and the adorable accent. So here's a few tip's for visiting France. 1. Learn French! ok....that's a bit unrealistic, but learn 5 good useful phrases and use them all the time. Any effort you make to speak French will be rewarded. Also, when a person starts speaking English to you, instantly comment on how great their English is! I don't care if they know 17 words and the accent is so thick you can hardly understand....compliment them anyway. They are so self-consicous about their English, if you don't compliment them, they won't speak it to you. (Sidenote....anyone I've ever met in France....this doesn't apply to you...you're English actually was good!!!) 2. Don't be loud. I have a loud voice and struggle with this one. If you go out to eat, speak softly. Every time you open your mouth, think of whisper and speak 2% percent louder than that. 3. No matter what your political views are, under no circumstances try to defend Bush. My biggest reason for disliking him is that he's made my life so much tougher the past 4 years, because everyone I meet instantly hates me before I can even get a word out. Oh well....I've become quite good at adapting to the situation. So, if the conversation comes up....Just say "Yes, I'm sorry, I don't know why he was re-elected." Even if you love him, don't admit it. It won't win you any friends! 4. Enjoy the differences! Everything is different there (especially to Americans) but take it all in and make sure you soak up the culture, the language, the cuisine, the people....everything that goes on!!! J'adore France!!!

Australian Open 2007 -

The trip started over a week ago as we arrived a little jet lagged and a bit white for the Aussie sun, but ready to go to work. Some people practice on Rod Laver, well we decided (or were told) we would be sharting court 22 with Frank Dancevic and Hung-Tyke Lee. Then actually when we were about to start hitting Dimtiry Tursnov comes over and thinks he has court 22. He's like, "have you guys seen Yhouzny around here?" Ahh, no Yhouzny around here. Then he calls the practice desk and says, "Yeah this is Tursnov, I have court 22 right? Ah, no? Vodafone areana? Where the hell is that?" Yeah Dimitry, doubt that you and Yhouzny are sharing the court with a couple of Doubles Spech's. Aussie Open Begins. Practicing on court was great, but once Monday hit and the fans rolled in, it really hit. So much energy at the slams. It was sweet. I wanted to go watch tennis all day. Travis, however, does not like watching tennis, and does not like me watching tennis either. He thinks it will decrease my energy for the practice. So, I got out to watch a bit here and there when I could. Practice Courts All of the people here are so friendly. Drivers, staff, officials, player's lounge, locker room attendants, everyon...everyone except the practice court reservation guys. They are terrible. They make it a point to remind you every time you book a court the order of who gets preference. (here it is in case you want to know, I heard it 27 times) 1. Singles seeds 2. Singles players 3. Doubles seeds 4. Doubles players. Yes, I am aware I fall in the fourth category. Thanks for reminding me every time I try to book a court. And, yes, next year I will try to come back as a "singles seed." However, I doubt that will happen. Also, its not like its a complicated system, I don't think I need to hear it 27 times. There wasn't one instance when I was like, "Wait, I forget, is it singles seeds or doubles players who get priority when booking courts....excuse me sir?" Paint Jobs Mardy Fish signed with Wilson, but didn't have time to switch rackets. He's playing with a Dunlop painted all black. James Blake is trying to switch to Prince, but doesn't like the frame excactly yet. He's playing with a black racket which is supposedly made to play like the Head Prestige Favorite Matches that I caught some of..... 5. Safin/Roddick - two stars going at it. Would have been better if it went 5...and I wanted Safin to win. 4. Tipsaravic/Nalbandian - does Nalbandian go down 2 sets to love and let hit opponent serve for the match in every slam or is it just me. The guy is unreal. 3. Gabashvilli/Dlouhy - was like 16-14 or something. 2. Sela/Safin - I don't if you know Dudi Sela, but he is the nicest guy ever, he's also like 5'3" and has the sweetest one handed backhand you'll ever see. He took Marat to 5 in rd 2. 1. Monfils/Baghdatis - so much energy from Monfils, he completely stole the crowd from Baggy and that's hard to do. *watching Federer is always impressive, but the guy is just steam rolling people. I think Djokovic will push him to 4. Novak can play some ball and I predict will finish top 5 at year end. Who's on the Rise..... Novak Djokovic - I say top 5 by the end of the year Richard Gasquet - if he can stay healthy all year (hasn't done it yet) Andy Murray - has Brad Gilbert ever coach anyone who doesn't charge up the ranks Roger Federer - I'm calling for the "Grand Slam" and him to take his formal spot as the "greatest of all time." Who's going to fall..... Marcos Baghdatis - had his career year last year Rafael Nadal - people aren't as scared of him as last year. I think Murray will beat him in the rd of 16. Ivan Ljubicic - was #3 most of last year, but I don't see him in the top 10 at the end of '07 First Round Win Everyone has been asking me what happened? I know a lot of you were watching on live scoring. 1. I really appreciate that. I love and feel the support. 2. I think you're all crazy, cause I've watched live scoring before when I had no vested interest in the match and thought it was so nerve wracking that I've vowed to not watch it anymore. So, most of you saw the scores and here's what happened. The crowd was good, and since we were playing a Swede, there was a solid Swedish crowd there, which if you've been here before, you know is pretty cool. They spent the whole match chanting, singing and getting pumped. My favorite song being, "If you all love Robert clap your hands." We lost the first with me getting broken in a bit of a garbage game at 4-5. Came roaring back in the 2nd to go up 2 breaks, give one back before finishing it off. The third went the distance with 12 holds, then Travis rushing back to me saying, "Remember, there's no breaker, we play it out." I didn't think that was right, but he's the veteran. So, Lindstadt hits and ace, the ump calls out, "1-0." Nice Travis. We proceed to lose 4 of the next 5 points and switch sides at 1-5. My thoughts as I grabbed a drink of water.... 1. God its hot, we put in all this work today and were gonna get our butts kicked in the breaker. 2. I wonder if we will stay for a few days or leave tomorrow. and finally..."As I remember Wilk telling me when I walked out in the NCAA semis down a set and 5-4 with the other guy serving for it. "Give it all you got and enjoy it." Didn't think I would enjoy the next hour as I went on to win that match, and didn't think I'd enjoy the next 6 points of this match as much as I did either. 1-5. Trav misses a first serve, calls off my stay call and has me poach, then takes a return of his shoes and they hit a lob about a foot long. 2-5. Trav floats a return over the middle, Allegro had poached and jumped back to spike a high forehand/slash overhead. I turned slightly, protected all important areas on hoped he wouldn't smash it off my face as they went up 6-2. Wasn't aware that it was physically possible for him to hit it in the net, felt like he was on my side of the court, but somehow he did. 3-5. I caught a return right in the strike zone and on the toes of Lindstadt, he popped up a half volley and Trav knocked it through them. 4-5. Service winner. 5-5. After a good first serve, I dug out a return that actually clipped the tape and I got it back deep to Allegro who gave us a fairly easy overhead. 6-5. They went I-formation to Trav and he caught one clean right down the middle of the court. Allegro got a racket on it, but the ball hit the bottom of the net. 7-5. Thanks for coming out. Well, the run was stopped there. We lost 7-6, 3-6, 6-3 to Cermack/Levinsky the next day. I won't give you any play by play from that one. All in all, an unreal experience and I can't wait to go back next year. I think you all should come as well.

San Jose and Memphis Blog...Ups and downs of the tour -

Except this one's mostly and upper! I think last time I wrote, I was in the middle of a winning streak and in the semis in the SAP Open in San Jose. Well, as I'm sure a lot of you have seen, that certainly continued. Jamie and I went on to win that tournament, which for the time being, was the biggest win of my life. The tourney was played in the HP Pavilion, home of the SJ Sharks. Its always an adjustment to play matches in such a huge stadium. I think we made the right ones, played to the crowd and cruised to the title without dropping a set. Two of the matches were on the tennis channel, so I hope some of you were able to see some of it. Playing with Jamie has been a great experience so far. For those of you who haven't seen us yet, he plays a lot like me (tall, left-handed, big serve, good volleys), and has been unbelievable in pressure situations. I'm sure a lot of our success is coming from our ability to stay relaxed and enjoy our matches. Of course the more big points you win, the more confident you are the next time, and that helps as well. I also need to put a special thanks to my coach for coming down (Ryan Dussault), he always seems to be around for my best weeks. Maybe there's some correlation there. A former foe of mine, Derek Fitzpatrick (beat me in the NCAA Finals in '01) helped us out all week and the entire Santa Cruz (one of our rival teams at Gustavus) team came out to watch in the final. Their support was so big as well. Jamie's bro (Andy) won the singles title, so it really made it a special week all around. Duss and I also took a trip one afternoon to San Francisco. Wow, if you have time, get there. It's my new favorite American city. I arrived in Memphis on Monday, Team Butorac (my parents, girlfriend and friends) were already there when I arrived that night. I actually had a first round meeting with an ex-partner (Travis Parrott). We got down a break, broke back at 4-5, then came back from 4-6 in the breaker to take the first 8-6. We cruised through the 2nd and were into the 2nd rd. Our 2nd match we knew would be tough, we played Erlich/Ram, the #7 team in the world last year and most certainly the toughest team we'd played in the past 2 weeks. Since Dussault wasn't available this week, we had to rely on our backup coach, the services of Brad Gilbert. While not necessarily a great doubles tactician, Brad is arguably the greatest coach of all time, so having his services for free was not a bad deal. Although Brad was loving our matches, it wasn't as much as he loved his Torri Hunter style catch he made in the crowd off and overhead in our first match. He gave us a good scouting report on Erlich/Ram and pumped us up good. "Smoking Mirrors" is what he called them. Smoking Mirrors is what they were. We played a sharp match, but nothing spectacular and broke when it counted, this all led to a comfortable 6-4 6-4 victory. Now, obviously feeling confident, we were on to the semis against Johannson/Benneteau. Junk (Kyle Anderson) probably hit me 200 serves for the next 2 days as I attempted to groove the return for this match as I knew it would be important, and it sure was. I think this match was probably the match of the tournament, at least as far as doubles matches go. It had everything. Big serves, good returns, great volley exchanges, unbelievable scramble points and some great multiple smash points. It was destined to end in a super-breaker where each team fought off a match point before I caught a Tommy Jo first serve a bit early and sent it up Benne-nasty's line for a winner at 10-all. Jamie closed the door on his serve to end it. The final was a bit less dramatic. I was so ill (about half the tournament caught this virus that stemmed from some sort of food poisoning) I wasn't sure if I could even play. But I made enough serves, returns and the occasional volley to help us to a 7-5. 6-3 victory. I would have to put it up there as one of the greatest weeks of my life. Having family and friends around to share such a cool experience with was perfect. It was a little hard to enjoy it though, seeing as not only did I feel horrible after the final, but I had to fly to Vegas that night. Still, an unbelievable week. We assumed we would be playing the Tennis Channel Open in Las Vegas the next week, but actually missed the cut by one ranking spot. This hurt, but we decided to go try for an alternate spot but were unsuccessful. We did continue our luck streak for the next couple days in the casino, which started when I found a $25 chip on the floor in the Bellagio and we hit red three times in a row and both walked out with hundred dollar bills to start our gambling experience that evening. Henman was like, "These guys are on fire. They are so hot that they are actually creating money without even betting it!" Jamie continued his streak throughout the week, while mine cooled off as the week went on. I think he won over 1500 at blackjack without ever hitting a number over 11. Unbelievable. As he put it, "you have to make the dealer earn it." I would never believe that system works, if I didn't see it work consistently for 3 days. Henman lost at least 3 grand playing proper blackjack and almost cheering on when the dealer would flip over two face cards to beat Jamie's 13. This happened about 6 times in 3 days. Unreal. So Vegas turned into a 3 day vacation and we are now at Palm Springs prac