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