Happy New Year

I thought I would have up the Gonad Awards by Christmas. But life had other plans.

Today, my dog died.

Just like as last year, I'll get them up in the first week of the New Year.

Take care of your blessings.

Yuletide

Daedalus chomping, Orange Juice chilling, Wallpaper posing, Princess grazing in the distance.

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May your holidays be bathed in peace and love. Take care of your blessings.

Face Of The Day

Face Of The Day

Martina Hingis and her new husband Thibault Hutin.

Why does this photo make me laugh?

Up Next

The Gonad Awards.

Since I spent so much of the latter half of the tennis season AWOL, I'll ask you all to nominate some players and some matches for some Gonads over the next week or so. I'll try to post my year-end awards before Christmas.

Peace.

Today

The Feast of Harvest
has passed. Yuletide
rapidly approaches.

Smack dab in the middle
is today, the day I came
to be 43 years ago.

I have now lived longer
than all my artist
mentor friends,
save one.

Today,
I sing.

Serbia Wins Davis Cup, Makes History

by Craig Hickman


Reuters

Serbia's team captain Bogdan Obradovic and members Nenad Zimonjic, Novak Djokovic, Janko Tipsarevic and Viktor Troicki (L-R) raise up the Davis Cup trophy in Belgrade December 5, 2010.

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Relative to other tennis powerhouses, Serbian tennis remains underfunded. Still, the nation just won its first Davis Cup on the strings of unheralded Viktor Troicki.

It can thank Guy Forget, the coach of France's team, for a bit assist. Not that I didn't think Michael Llodra wouldn't make an intriguing choice in the final rubber. But his 30-year-old body didn't recover from yesterday's doubles marathon, and that was clear from the first point.

As someone tweeted, this tie was ultimately decided in the locker room this morning.

Amélie Mauresmo was not pleased.


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But make no mistake. Troicki earned his nation's victory with remarkable returns of serve, and viciously dipping passing shots that simply defied logic.

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He got the chance to secure victory on the strength of Novak Djokovic's play against Gael Monfils in the day's first match. (Monfils needs to rein in himself. He has zero on-court discipline. And I mean zero.)


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In the end, it was too easy. I had hoped for a more competitive final match of 2010, and perhaps with Gilles Simon, a counterpuncher who fights to the finish, the match may have featured a more compelling scoreline even if the result remained the same.

We'll never know.

What we do know is that Serbia becomes the 13th nation to win the Davis Cup and only the second in history to prevail in its final debut. Interestingly, Croatia was the first back in 2005.

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Serbian President Boris Tadic gestures.


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Davis Cup Final Open Thread

Reuters

Members of French and Serbian tennis teams listen to the national anthems before their Davis Cup final tennis match in Belgrade December 3, 2010.

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It's France vs. Serbia and I'm late with this post. Gael Monfils has already trounced Janko Tipsarevic to give the away team the early lead.

Next up, Gilles Simon will face Novak Djokovic.

Clijsters: WTA Player Of The Year

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Kim Clijsters of Belgium fields questions from the media after her win over Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark in the singles final on day six of the WTA Championships at the Khalifa Tennis Complex on October 31, 2010 in Doha, Qatar.

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Nothing surprising here, except that I believe the WTA got it wrong. More on that in the upcoming Gonad Awards.