Octoberfest: Tennis, Tennis, Tennis

This week, there are three men's events, two women's events, including the joint event at the Kremlin Cup in Moscow. This should guarantee that the final qualifiers for the year-end championships on both tours show up on one leg with one arm tied behind their backs.

As I prepare for a presentation at an adoption conference in Pittsburgh over the weekend, it's too much to follow and cover.

This is what I've gathered from headlines and scoreboards so far:



Venus Williams is playing Bangkok with a leg injury and a Nina Simone updo, which I must say is fabulous; Jelena Jankovic couldn't stand the heat so she got the fugh out the kitchen; Amélie Mauresmo's woes continue as she loses to Vera Zvonareva for the first time in 8 matches; Maria Sharapova is the only Russian woman to lose her singles match today (after holding not one, not two, not three, but six set points in the first set, mind you) 7-6(9), 6-2 to Viktoria Azarenka from Belarus; Serena Williams has yet to take the court at the venue where she made her professional debut; James Blake has yet to lose a match in Stockholm; Ivan Ljubicic has yet to lose a match in Vienna; Fernando Gonzalez and Juan Carlos Ferrero are looking to salvage what's left of their lackluster seasons with a title run in Austria; Max Mirnyi can't find his singles game with a microscope, which is surprising because his big game that just keeps coming usually works well indoors; Novak Djokovic can barely hold serve but he can beat the headcase we know as Robby Ginepri in straight sets; and Dmitry Tursunov and Marat Safin are practicing their doubles game in Moscow in preparation for the Davis Cup final in Portland, Oregon.



Did I miss anything?

Oh, yeah.



Serena has adorable little dogs.