Note: Posting will be spotty this week as I finish up a big non-tennis related project (What the heck am I doing wasting my time on non-tennis related projects, you ask? Good question.) But I wanted to play a little catch-up since there are so many interesting things going on during this supposedly sleepy part of the season.

News that Rio de Janeiro will be hosting the 2016 Olympics came as a disappointment to me (as a native Chicagoan) and Rafael Nadal, who supported Madrid’s bid for the games but was not able to attend the final vote in Copenhagen this week. USA Today reports that some Spaniards think Rafa’s presence might have made the difference:

King Juan Carlos and Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero couldn’t quite match President Barack Obama or Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.

Real Madrid striker Raul Gonzalez also failed to pack the necessary punch, and had Spaniards asking why the delegation didn’t bring tennis star Rafael Nadal, NBA champion Pau Gasol or Liverpool striker Fernando Torres — three world-known athletes who also speak English.

Rafa, who arrived in Beijing on Thursday for the China Open (sporting a dreamy Federer-esque ‘do) posted this message of hope for his countrymen and women via his website:

“Keep your head up high, we were very close. We made it to the final round and now we have to stay close to each other and support the organizers of our campaign more than ever.”

“We knew there could only be one winner at the end and unfortunately it wasn’t us. Nevertheless, the key is to keep on fighting.”

“Personally, I couldn’t make it to Copenhagen to support Madrid’s bid because my profession didn’t allow me. But I was glued to the TV last night watching the live broadcast”.

“I know next time we will win because we deserve it. Madrid deserves it and as it has always been the case, I will be there to help as much as I possibly can for whatever you need”.

“Finally, as the good sportsmen that we are, we should also congratulate Rio de Janeiro and Brazilians. We wish them the best of luck with the organization of the Olympic Games.”

Seriously, Spaniards, we had the Obamas and Oprah and Chicago was still eliminated in the first round! I’m not saying Rafa wouldn’t have helped, but it seems like Rio was destined to win.

Rafa will play Marcos Baghdatis on Monday in Beijing. Novak Djokovic and defending champ Andy Roddick could await him in the finals.

Speaking of finals, Nikolay Davydenko will play Fernando Verdasco on Sunday in the finals of the Proton Malaysian Open. Victor Troicki upset defending Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the semifinals of the Thailand Open this weekend and will face Gilles Simon in the final.

Pop quiz: Which is cuter? Marat the Hippo (click here for the reference – thanks, Judy!)

Or Spencer the Golden Tennis Ball Retriever (via the LATimes):

And big thanks to the forum user who shared this helpful tidbit: “Marat’s surname in Chinese is 萨芬” So is the first character “Big ‘n’ Sexy” and the second one “Russian”?

Also in Beijing – a combined ATP/WTA event – Serena Williams joins Venus and Tokyo Champ Maria Sharapova on the same side of a loaded draw. Dinara Safina and Elena Dementieva (who both won Olympic medals last year on these same courts) are on the other half. This tournament may decide who ends the year at No. 1 – if Serena Williams out performs Dinara Safina this week, it’s projected that the “Real No. 1″ will take the top spot.

Serena told reporters that she’s looking forward to doing a little shopping while she’s in town (via AFP): “I’ve been a complete tourist (in the past), so this year, I’ve decided I want to do more of the markets and shopping — maybe get some jade and things like that.”

But she may want to pinch her pennies, at least until the ITF finally decides how it will punish her for her infamous US Open tirade. Neil Harman of the Times wrote this report of where things stand currently for Serena:

Her (Serena’s) penalty is being considered by the ITF, the world governing body, and the world No 2 and winner of 11 grand-slam singles titles has little more than two weeks to give her version of events. The authorities will then decide if what she said and the way she said it merit further action, whether she should be docked the money she earned at Flushing Meadows this year or, most grievous of all, be suspended from one or possibly two grand-slam tournaments. (Jeff Tarango is a cited example of a player who was banned from a Major due to misconduct on court.)

Really? The reigning Australian Open and Wimbledon Champion could be banned from playing a Major next year? That sounds like such a bad idea that I wouldn’t be surprised if the ITF decides to do it.

Tragic heroine Ana Ivanovic wrote a real tear-jerker on her website after withdrawing from this week’s Beijing Open due to an upper respiratory tract infection:

I guess having to withdraw from Beijing is an appropriate ending to a very disappointing season. This trip to Asia has been a big disappointment and I have struggled with my health pretty much since I arrived. I am sorry to my supporters who were hoping to see me play here in Beijing. It’s very disappointing for me as well, to come here, see the amazing facility they have and not have the energy to be able to step onto court. I can only look forward to coming back here next year.

It’s especially disappointing because I was hoping to be able to see some improvements before the season ended. I have gone through a lot of training and physical changes over the past few months, which have mostly remained private until now… My body is quite fragile at the moment, because I over-trained during the first part of the year. This was, I think, what caused me to have many small injuries this season.

Instead of being patient and accepting that my best form was almost impossible due to physical limitations, I was always over-thinking things, and I never dealt with it very well. The season was a continuation of going from one disappointment to another. If I had dealt better with these setbacks, I would have had a lot more success.

Click here to read the rest. So can we just say that she’s “retiring” for the season? Hopefully she’ll spend her “retirement” reading inspirational literature and gearing up for her big comeback in 2010.

In real retirement news, Ai Sugiyama played the last match of her career this weekend in the doubles final of the Japan Open. She and her loyal partner, Daniela Hantuchova, lost to Alisa Kleybanova and Francesca Schiavone in straights. Along with winning 6 singles and 38 doubles titles on the WTA tour -  3 of those dubs titles coming in slams – Ai also holds the all-time record (male or female) for consecutive Grand Slam events played – having shown up to 62 majors in a row.

Finally, in the karma’s a bitch department, Greg Norman and Chris Evert have announced their separation after only 15 months of marriage.

Photo via AFP

The WTA craze for early round upsets continues in Tokyo, where Dinara Safina, Venus Williams and Svetlana Kuznetsova were all kicked out by qualifiers in the second round of the Toray Pan Pacific Open.

Dinara Safina (#1)  lost to Chang Kai-Chen (#132): 6-7(5), 6-4, 5-7  despite being up 5-3 in the final set. The defending champ was reportedly in tears after the match – probably because she’s lost four of her last six matches.

But let’s not forget the winner! I love this quote from the 18-year-old Chang: “I was jumping up and down at the end thinking about my mum. She never watches me play but she watches the live scores (on the Internet) so I was wondering what she was thinking.”

Her pre-match game-plan: “I never came into the match thinking I was going to lose badly.”

In the misery loves company department, Venus Williams (#3) lost to Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (#40) and Svetlana Kuznetsova (#6) lost to Andrea Petkovic (#58).

(But just wait until next season, Venus fans: “I already know what I want to achieve in 2010,” she told Reuters in Japan. “That’s already figured out — win it all!”)

Way back in the first round, Ana Ivanovic (#11) was “upset” by Lucie Safarova (#43).

“When I saw the draw I thought I could beat her,” Lucie said (via Reuters). Yeah, you and everybody else, Lucie.

Maria Sharapova (#25) found a way to beat Francesca Schiavone (#27) in three sets.

For all of Sharapova’s problems since her come back, you can’t knock her consistency.  Of the 8 tournaments Maria’s played this year, she’s made it to the quarterfinals or better in 6 of them. Unfortunately, her early round losses have both come at majors – losing in the 2nd round of Wimbledon and the 3rd round of the US Open. But after a 10 month layoff, that’s nothing to be ashamed of. (Not counting Tokyo, Ivanovic has played in 13 tournaments this season and has gotten to the quarters or better only 3 times.)

“I did a great job of hanging in there.” Maria said. (via NYT) Hanging in there seems to be good enough these days.

Other first round winners included No.11 seed Agnieszka Radwanska, No.12 seed Samantha Stosur, No.13 seed Nadia Petrova (who won when Ai Sugiyama retired into singles retirement), No.14 seed Marion Bartoli, Iveta Benesova, Daniela Hantuchova, Zheng Jie, Aleksandra Wozniak (who beat Seoul Champ Kimiko Date Krumm), Vera Dushevina, Magdalena Rybarikova, Peng Shuai and qualifier Kateryna Bondarenko.

By the way – I nominate the Japan Open for worst tournament website.

The Day 2 story of the US Open: Dinara Safina’s fugly win against the #167 ranked Olivia Rogowska of Australia. The No. 1 Russian was a point away from going down 0-4 in the third set before finally finding a way to win. Dinara won despite 11 double faults and 48 unforced errors. The grand total for both players over three sets included: 24 double-faults, 113 unforced errors and 15 service breaks over 2½ hours. Yikes!

This quote from Rogowska sums it up: “I’m disappointed I lost, and I didn’t expect to say that after playing the No. 1 player in the world. It’s a bit weird.” (via CBS Sports)

Dinara says this scare could lead her to ultimate victory in NYC, remembering Marat’s past to US Open glory in 2000:

My brother, when he won US Open, he almost lost to Grosjean in the first round. He won 7-6 in the fifth set, and they finished, I think it was 5-4. He was up and the rain started, so they finished another day. So and then he had another like difficult match against Pozzi. So I remember he said he was struggling from the first round, but he made it. So maybe I’m following his steps this time.

Safina struggled, but in the end, all that matters is that she’s onto the second round. The same can’t be said for former No. 1 Ana Ivanovic, who capped off her dismal summer on Tuesday with a 2-6 6-3 7-6 loss to Kateryna Bondarenko. Ana had 50 unforced errors in the match. Ouch. She wasted a match point in the third set tiebreak. Double Ouch. And before Tuesday Ivanovic has never lost in the first round of a Major. Someone call 911!

Ana diagnosed herself as being “a little disbalanced” in terms of her fitness, mind and game. I think it’s a bad sign that she was talking about how badly she needs a vacation – before her match even started:

Q. You haven’t had a substantial break in a long time, right? You’ve been either rehabbing or practicing.

ANA IVANOVIC: Exactly.

Q. Or playing.

ANA IVANOVIC: Exactly. That’s something that I spoke actually today. Today actually before my match I spoke to my coach, because I just said, you know, I feel like I constantly kept going and going. It’s really hard, because even though I had some time off, I was still doing like a little bit of fitness or rehab or something. So my mind was still in tennis.

I feel like I want to have ‑‑ I feel happy that, you know, this season, it’s going to be a longer off season so I have longer time off and completely switch off and, you know, I haven’t had proper holidays in years. So I’m looking forward to that.

Kateryna seems happy right where she is:

z

Maria Sharapova’s dress will make more news than her routine victory over Tsvetana Pironkova: 6-3 6-0 in 73 minutes. How do you like her “skyline” inspired evening dress?

Yes, the headband is silver. . .

Love the earrings, but I hate the dress. Leave it to Rafael Nadal to prove that clothing is overrated:

Rafa, you don’t need the lanyard – your pecs are credentials enough!

Nadal plays Richard Gasquet on Wednesday afternoon in a highly anticipated first round.

Novak Djokovic beat Ivan Ljubicic easily: 6-3, 6-1, 6-3. Nole confirmed that he is working with Todd Martin on a trial basis, to help him with his serve and volley game and to “look for positives.” Novak was also asked how he and the New York crowd were going to get along this year (click here for the story). He says that he and NYC have kissed and made up:

What happened last year, the way I get it, to be honest, was like, I don’t know, a fight with a girlfriend. Just a little fight with a girlfriend. These things happen. It was something that everybody can learn from it. I always felt like at home here. I played so well last three years. I see no reason for me thinking about something that happened already. So today was great. I just hope that the fans will behave nice, you know, in the next rounds.

Speaking of girlfriends, Djokovic’s girlfriend, Jelena Ristic, was behaving nice from the stands:

And in the “oh, to be a fly on the wall” department, here’s an intriguing snippet from Nole on advice he’s received from Marat Safin:

Q. Has he ever given you a great piece of advice or anything on how to handle the stress?
NOVAK DJOKOVIC: Well, yes, but not regarding tennis.

Q. What was it regarding?
NOVAK DJOKOVIC: That’s all I’m gonna say (smiling).

Q. This would be the most interesting part of the interview.
NOVAK DJOKOVIC: I know. If these cameras are off, you guys aren’t writing, then maybe (smiling).

Come on Nole! All this discretion won’t get you back in the good graces of us fans. SPILL!

Marat Safin plays Jurgen Melzer on Wednesday.

In other men’s action - Andy Murray beat Ernests Gulbis in three and Querry, Verdasco, Tsonga, Berdych, and Cilic all won in straights. 119 ranked Spaniard, Ivan Navarro, is being toasted in the lockerroom for upsetting Ivo Karlovic. Stan Wawrinka lost a five-setter to Nicolas Lapentti. Click here for more results.

More on the ladies’ side - Dementieva, Jankovic, Kuznetsova,Wozniacki, and Petrova all got through in straights. Lisicki and Suarez Navarro prevailed in three. American Melanie Oudin scored a nice win over Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova. Click here for more.

Ana Ivanovic and Caroline Wozniacki went retro in Toronto, staging a game of street tennis to promote this weeks Rogers Cup:

Love Ana’s: “Let’s do this!”

The original bad boys:

Were the mid 90s really that long ago?

Sam Stosur took out Ana Ivanovic, 6-3, 6-2, in the third round of the LA Women’s Tennis Championships today. Stosur was the more confident player on court and used her serve as a weapon. With this victory, the Australian scored her 6th win of the season over a Top 15 ranked opponent.

“This year I’ve had a lot more belief.“ Sam said after the match. She’ll take on the winner of Thursday night’s Dinara Safina vs. Zheng Jie match on Friday afternoon.

Photos of the match are below – click here to read Ivanovic’s reaction to the defeat.

 

Ana Ivanovic lost to Sam Stosur, 6-3, 6-2, on Thursday at the LA Women’s Tennis Championships. After the match, the always-thoughtful Ivanovic was disappointed, but still feeling positive about her first tournament back since Wimbledon:

“I really went through a lot in the last couple of months,” said Ivanovic, who could be referring to a number of traumatic events, including dropping out of the top 10 in June, hiring and firing and rehiring coaches and fitness trainers, and crashing out of  Wimbledon with an injury. “But it made me stronger. I know which direction I want to go. I feel like all I need is a little more matches and a little more competition.”

Ivanovic, who admitted to pushing herself to the point of exhaustion and finding herself “a little over-trained” this season, says she’s finally taken control of her tennis destiny:

I have to be more open and communicate. Because in the past I just felt like maybe I would hurt my coach by saying “Look, let’s just take it easy” or I would get judged by him because I’m not tough enough.

I learned that I can speak a little more open and can say to them (my coaches) “Look maybe I need to take a couple of days off.” It’s working really well for me. I have the feeling, you know, that I’m not here to please them.

It’s no accident that Ivanovic sounds like she’s spent some time with Dr. Phil (or Freud.) Except in Ana’s case, the therapist’s couch is a bench at Borders:

“I still like (reading) psychology, and almost every day since I’ve been here I go to Borders and just sit and read there. I always find myself wandering around that area (psychology section,) but I force myself to sort of go back and read something else. Because it gets you thinking a lot and I’m already doing that more than enough. So I should just read some fiction maybe.”

Ana’s current reading material? John Krakauer’s Into Thin Air: A Personal Account of the Mt. Everest Disaster.

 

The LA Women’s Tennis Championships kicks off today in Carson, California, a WTA Tour Premier Level event with a solid draw that includes Dinara Safina, Ana Ivanovic, Caroline Wozniacki, Vera Zvonareva and Maria Sharapova.

The top seeds attended today’s all-access media hour, here’s some of what they had to say:

Ana Ivanovic on moving up and down the rankings: “I put lots of pressure on myself – and I still do – but I didn’t realize how good pressure was until I didn’t have it anymore. All of the sudden when I didn’t have pressure, I realized how much I missed it and how much it made me sharper and more focused. I want the pressure back.”

Dinara Safina on Serena Williams (who is not playing in L.A.) and the No. 1 ranking:

“Ranking is ranking. I didn’t do the ranking system. . . It’s the result of the way you play the whole year, not just the Grand Slams. If she (Serena Williams) has some questions she can go to the WTA.”

Caroline Wozniacki on her goals: “Today I’m No. 8 in the world and it feels really good, but I still have seven spots left to where I want to be.“

Vera Zvonareva on coming back after ankle injury: “I think at the moment it’s a little bit like starting over for me.“

Vera had much more to say about her comeback – I’ll post my interview with her later, as well as photos and comments from Maria Sharapova’s match against Jarmila Groth tonight.

Click here to visit the LA Women’s Tennis Championships website.

 

Goodbye, dinky post-Wimbledon clay court tournaments! It’s time for concrete, sweltering heat and questionable hot dogs! Yes, the US Open Series is here and what better way to celebrate than with our own US Open Series promo film fest? Here’s a round up of the videos, past and present.

Andy Roddick is no one trick pony, people:

Andy Murray does his Rafa impersonation:

Serena obviously ripped Barbies’ heads off as a kid:

James Blake wants to take himself out to dinner:

Jelena Jankovic always puts on a show:

Dinara Safina is so awkward, yet adorable:

“They like the Federer, hey!”:

Venus and Harold, sitting in a tree!

Why did they give Ana Ivanovic such a LAME one?

Sorry folks, Nadal and Djokovic get mere cameos:

AND WHERE IS KUZY???? I’d trade in Blake for a Sveta infomercial any day. Masha, too. Also, there’s a cute Sam Querrey one that I can’t find on Youtube. . .anyone?

And now for a Tour Bus flash back – let’s revisit last year’s vids, shall we?

Roger to Roddick: “Did you steal my sandwich. . .”

Nadal: “This is rrrrriduckulous!”

Nadal: “This is rrrrriduckulous!” (I just noticed that they used the same Rafa takes for this one. Boo!)

OMG! Look how arrogant Roger Federer is with this MUG! JERK! And we thought the jacket was bad! Someone call the arrogance police! (Just kidding!)

(And we all remember that McEnroe was called in to replace Justin Gimelstob after Kournikova-gate last year.)

Venus and her def beats. . .uh, okay.

The Series started this past week in Indianapolis, with Querrey vs. Dancevic and Isner vs. Ginepri playing the semis this weekend. Click here for the full U.S. Open Series T.V. schedule

It’s like Tennis’ Summer Break right now. Sure there’s Davis Cup, but even stalwarts like Andy Roddick and Rafael Nadal have (understandably) withdrawn. The WTA has two clay court tournaments – in Bastad and Budapest (yes, the tennis calendar is crazy) and Santoro and friends are playing on waterlogged grass in Newport, Rhode Island. But for the most part, our favorite players are off doing their own thangs.

Here’s what they’re up to:

ROGER FEDERER: He’s in Switzerland with the very preggers Mirka until (maybe) the Roger’s Cup in Montreal at the beginning of August.  “It’s now my turn to support Mirka back home as much as I can.” Translation: He’s rubbing feet.

Or, if you believe the NYTimes, Roger’s flying to a mutant planet to replenish his superhero juice (click here).

RAFAEL NADAL: Like Roger, reports say Rafa will return to the tour in Montreal. In the meantime, off-court Rafa’s where he almost always is (when not golfing, video gaming or hanging in the basement) – on or near watersports equipment.

Rafa photo via tennislust.com

NOVAK DJOKOVIC: According to Blic, Novak Djokovic and his girlfriend, Jelena Ristic, set off today for a month long Mediterranean cruise on Nole’s new yacht. I have no idea if this is really true, but I like the story:

Novak Djokovic, world number four tennis player, will spend this summer with his girlfriend Jelena Ristic. The couple will cruise across the Mediterranean Sea in early July after the Wimbledon Championship on a 2,5-million-dollar yacht “Manhattan 60” which he bought last year. . .

“Novak will go on a cruising trip as soon as the Wimbledon Championship ends. Jelena and he can’t wait to spend time together. Jelena has recently started working in Monte Carlo, while Novak is, as always, training and this will be a unique opportunity for them to dedicate to each other and make their love stronger. They will spend some time on a yacht and later they will be joined by other members of the Djokovic family,” says a person close to the successful tennis player.

Assuming it’s a go, the lovebirds will stop in Croatia, where Novak will play doubles with his brother, Marko, in the Umag tournament. Novak will return to singles action in Montreal.

ANDY RODDICK: After Wimbledon, Andy stopped in NYC to check his injured hip and to do some shopping  at the Apple Store with Brooklyn (via The Gossip Center).

Photo: Lenny Abbot/INFphoto.com

Since then, Twitter tells us Roddick’s back home in Austin, enjoying the lake and cheering on his Davis Cup teammates from afar.

ANDY MURRAY: I have no idea – go-karting?

MARAT SAFIN: Yes, I know Marat’s playing (doubles only) in Israel this weekend for Davis Cup (pics here), but I found this photo from a June 29th party in Moscow and just have to ask: Is Marat stud enough to pull off this ridiculous t-shirt? My head says no but. . .

SERENA WILLIAMS: Definitely busy with Summer School. Since Wimbledon, she’s peddled a new skin care line, appeared on Letterman, been serenaded by Kanye West and has played World Team Tennis this week for the Washington Kastles. And just because it’s WTT, doesn’t mean Serena’s slacking at her press conferences (via WickedLocal.com):

“I think the level (of WTT) is very intense. Last year I was more nervous at Team Tennis than I was at Wimbledon,” said Serena, just five days after defeating Venus at Wimbledon’s ladies singles final. “I feel a little pressure. You’re not just playing for yourself, you’re playing for your team and your teammates and every game counts. It’s not the easiest thing, that’s for sure.”

VENUS WILLIAMS: V was in Washington D.C. on Monday helping to launch the city’s new tennis initiative for kids (click here for the article).

There’s cute video of Venus playing ball with the kids here.

Since then, Venus has been traveling the east coast playing World Team Tennis for the Philadelphia Freedoms in D.C., Philly and last night in Albany (where she lost to 16 year-old Sloane Stephens.) Yes, I feel lazy now. . .

ANA IVANOVIC: It’s nice to see Ana (kind of) enjoying herself as she comes off of the minor muscle tear that hampered her at Wimbledon. Yesterday, Ivanovic watched her golfer boyfriend, Adam Scott, play at the Scottish Open.

Here’s what Scott, who was spotted in Ana’s box at Wimbledon, had to say about their love-match (via The Guardian):“She is a top sports star, too, so she knows what I’m going through. I’m a tennis fan, so I probably enjoy watching her more than she enjoys being here.”

Image via The Daily Telegraph

When asked about Adam, Ana just said: “I am having a very nice time here in Scotland. Of course, I am here to support Adam.”

More photos of Ana as spectator here.

Speaking of love matches, congratulations to Sania Mirza, who is now engaged to 23-year-old “business scholar” Sohrab Mirza. Family members say that they are in no rush to tie the knot and Mirza has no plans for an early retirement. (Via Reuters.) The lead up to Sania’s engagement has included the arrest of two men for scary, stalkerish behavior.

Did I miss anyone who you have been (faux) stalking from your computer?

I’m not going to dwell on how frustrating it was to watch tennis today in Los Angeles. I basically had a 6 hour period where, thanks to time zones and match “embargoes,” there was no live tennis on t.v. – on the biggest tennis day of the year. Makes sense, right? Moving on: Manic Monday lived up to its name – both men’s and women’s Round of 16s were played and completed, we had rain, the roof, and an historic 10:39 p.m. finish as Stan Wawrinka stretched Andy Murray to a fifth nail-biting set under the Centre Court lights. What more could you want? (Besides Stan’s backhand and Andy’s defensive skills, of course.)

(Night) match of the tournament: Andy Murray vs. Stan Wawrinka: 2-6, 6-3,  6-3, 5-7, 6-3!

First up on Centre Court was Roger Federer who beat Robin Soderling in three tight sets: 6-4, 7-6, 7-6. It was a good test  – lots of tense moments, lots of patience required and some clutch play in the tie breaks.

Interesting admission from Roger about his problems earlier in the year:

Q. You said you’ve been quite pleased with how you’ve played, how you’ve made it through to this point. What have you been most pleased with so far in your game?

ROGER FEDERER: Just being relaxed out on court. You know, no signs of panics, what I maybe had, you know, six months ago when I played. I would just feel uneasy. I wouldn’t be exactly sure what the right plays were.

Now I feel perfect. You know, so from this standpoint it was great. I think I’m moving well, serving well. My rhythm from the baseline is well. So, you know, I’m just really, really pleased from this aspect.

Also feeling good on the men’s side: Lleyton Hewitt (who came from two sets down against Radek Stepanek), Juan Carlos Ferrero (over Gilles Simon), Tommy Haas (over Igor Andreev in straights), Novak Djokovic (easily over Dudi Sela) and Andy Roddick (in a surprisingly routine three-set victory over Tomas Berdych.)

On the women’s side, Venus Williams continued her march forward after Ana Ivanovic retired during their match. Venus Williams will face Agnieszka Radwanska in the quarters tomorrow, the Pole taking out the young American hopeful, Melanie Oudin in straights. Venus’s quarterfinal strategy is scary simple: “I’ll continue with my methods.”

It wasn’t Venus’s “methods” that brought Ana Ivanovic to tears on Centre Court but a sudden, searing thigh injury sustained while serving in the first game of the second set. And afterwards the poor woman was subjected to the DUMBEST PRESS CONFERENCE QUESTION EVER!

Q. Do you think female tennis players should be chosen to play on Centre Court because of their tennis rather than what they look like?

ANA IVANOVIC: I think on the Centre Court we always have interesting matches. You know, there is lot of interesting matches and lot of good players out there.

So, uhm, you know, they have chance only to play one or two women’s matches on the big courts, so it’s very hard for them to choose, I think.

The media keeps harping on these bogus “controversys” as if they aren’t the very ones fueling them. Can’t these reporters go cover rugby and stop treating women’s tennis like jello wrestling?

Serena Williams, who rolled over Daniela Hantuchova 6-3, 6-1, threatened to take a swing at them:

Q. Is it better to be young and hungry or a little more elderly and savvy?

SERENA WILLIAMS: Be careful (smiling).

Q. I was trying to be careful.

SERENA WILLIAMS: We don’t want a scuffle.

Yes we do, Serena!

And I love her twist on the Centre Court “controversy”:

Q. There’s been some controversy about the Wimbledon playing committee perhaps picking players for their looks rather than their tennis talent on Centre Court. They are saying that good looks are a factor with who plays on Centre Court. What do you think about that as an extremely accomplished tennis player who should be on Centre Court?

SERENA WILLIAMS: Well, I think Roger’s hot, but he’s married, so…

The fan in me is sad Amelie Mauresmo couldn’t pull off the upset against Dinara Safina, especially when she was up 3-0 in the third. But Safina fans should be very happy to hear the Russian sounding positive:

DINARA SAFINA: I think in overall the match I enjoyed because I have been missing already these kind of matches, you know, for a while. Really she pushed me to play my best tennis. That I won the match playing my best, not that you win the match by fighting, you know, or overrun somebody. But I played my best to win this match, so I’m really happy.

Let’s hope Safina needs her best tennis tomorrow against Sabine Lisicki, who beat Caroline Wozniacki 6-4, 6-4. Will this be the big upset?

Also on the women’s side, Elena Dementieva destroyed Elena Vesnina, 6-1, 6-3, “3rd favorite” Victoria Azarenka beat Nadia Petrova in three and Francesca Schiavone took out Virginie Razzano in straights.

As if the Williams sisters needed more to boost their confidence, they “bicycled” Zheng Jie and Yan Zi in the doubles today.

Click here for the full tennis results.