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 practicing for a week and getting ready for Indian Wells. We are not sure if we're getting in, we are hoping for a wild card and I think there's a good chance. If not, we will try to scramble at the last minute to find other partners to get in. After Indian Wells, we will take our shot at the Sony Ericcson (former NASDAQ) in Key Biscane. If Jamie and I don't get in, I will most likely play with Mardy Fish. So I should be good to get in one way or another. And for those of you who are interested....a little more pro tennis commentary..... Best Stat of the week Tommy Haas didn't face a break point in the entire tournament in Memphis. Thats five matches, 10 sets, and I don't know how many service games, but at least 40. Not one break point. Best on court quote I have to set this one up a bit... In the finals I think Jamie hit 3 consecutive returns nowhere near the court, like I'm talking off the fence and bouncing into the net. We won all 3 points on my side and got to decue. We conversed before the no-ad point and I naturally assumed I was taking it. He said, "I got this one." I was like, "well, I've hit three in a row pretty well, maybe I should take it?" And he replies with, "Nah, I got it." Then puts his hand up and walks back to return. What does he do? He hits a screaming return up the line for a winner, and as the ball flies past the net man, yells, "That is why you take the deuce point!!!" I think I laughed well through the next game. Best Quotes I heard thrown my way... "There they are, the hottest team on tour." - Mike Bryan "Hey wait, has anyone ever beaten you guys?" - Bob Bryan --- I guess if the number 1 team in the world is giving you a hard time, things are going ok. Best Shot Anyone see Federer's between the legs against Bracialli this week in Dubai? Worth checking out youtube for ir. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BYLgUEiDbZY Best Rule Change... I think the round robin system (used in Las Vegas) will officially be pulled off the calendar with the Blake/Korolev situation on Friday. Blake lost his first match and needed to win against Del Potro, losing less than 6 games to advance. He was up 6-1, 3-1 when Del Potro retired. He didn't get the official points for a match won and was not allowed to advance. The ATP over-ruled, sent Korolev packing (literally) and heading for the airport before the over-rule was re-over-ruled and Korolev advanced. Crazy. Thats all I got for this month.... Eric

San Jose and Memphis Blog -

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 practicing for a week and getting ready for Indian Wells. We are not sure if we're getting in, we are hoping for a wild card and I think there's a good chance. If not, we will try to scramble at the last minute to find other partners to get in. After Indian Wells, we will take our shot at the Sony Ericcson (former NASDAQ) in Key Biscane. If Jamie and I don't get in, I will most likely play with Mardy Fish. So I should be good to get in one way or another. And for those of you who are interested....a little more pro tennis commentary..... Best Stat of the week Tommy Haas didn't face a break point in the entire tournament in Memphis. Thats five matches, 10 sets, and I don't know how many service games, but at least 40. Not one break point. Best on court quote I have to set this one up a bit... In the finals I think Jamie hit 3 consecutive returns nowhere near the court, like I'm talking off the fence and bouncing into the net. We won all 3 points on my side and got to decue. We conversed before the no-ad point and I naturally assumed I was taking it. He said, "I got this one." I was like, "well, I've hit three in a row pretty well, maybe I should take it?" And he replies with, "Nah, I got it." Then puts his hand up and walks back to return. What does he do? He hits a screaming return up the line for a winner, and as the ball flies past the net man, yells, "That is why you take the deuce point!!!" I think I laughed well through the next game. Best Quotes I heard thrown my way... "There they are, the hottest team on tour." - Mike Bryan "Hey wait, has anyone ever beaten you guys?" - Bob Bryan --- I guess if the number 1 team in the world is giving you a hard time, things are going ok. Best Shot Anyone see Federer's between the legs against Bracialli this week in Dubai? Worth checking out youtube for ir. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BYLgUEiDbZY Best Rule Change... I think the round robin system (used in Las Vegas) will officially be pulled off the calendar with the Blake/Korolev situation on Friday. Blake lost his first match and needed to win against Del Potro, losing less than 6 games to advance. He was up 6-1, 3-1 when Del Potro retired. He didn't get the official points for a match won and was not allowed to advance. The ATP over-ruled, sent Korolev packing (literally) and heading for the airport before the over-rule was re-over-ruled and Korolev advanced. Crazy. Thats all I got for this month.... Eric

Happy Cinco de Mayo -

For all the Spanish speakers out there, wanted to show some love!

Tags: Holidays