Face Of The Day

Reuters

Robby Ginepri of the United States reacts after winning his match against Juan Carlos Ferrero of Spain during the French Open tennis tournament at Roland Garros in Paris May 29, 2010.

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Last American man standing. Defeating a former champion in a his resurgent year. Nice work.

Winner's Circle

AP

I tried to watch the final. Really, I did. But Sam Querrey's hang-dog attitude turned me right off, so the action on ESPN was background noise rather than focus.

I used to like Robby Ginepri. Really, I did. But he often exhibits no fight and can evaporate in a match quicker than gasoline. A win is a win. It's been a long time between drinks.

Reuters

I'm not in love with Nikolay Davydenko as a few of our readers are, but it's nice to see him win another title. Too bad he did it in an event I disregarded.

AP

So as not to get into any more trouble, the less said about the world No. 1 the better.


Getty

Germany's Andrea Petkovic celebrates with the trophy after defeating Romanian Ioana Raluca Olaru in the final of the WTA Tennis Tournament in Bad Gastein on July 26, 2009. Petkovic claimed her first WTA title here with a convincing straight sets win over Olaru. The 21-year-old, ranked 98th and playing in her first WTA final, came through 6-2, 6-3 winner against her 66th-ranked opponent in the clay court tournament in 1hr 29 minutes.

Face Of The Day

Getty

Robby Ginepri cools down between sets against Eduardo Schwank of Argentina during the Indianapolis Tennis Championships on July 23, 2009.

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Singles - Second Round
[1] D Tursunov (RUS) d M Daniel (BRA) 63 63
[Q] A Bogomolov Jr. (USA) d [2] D Sela (ISR) 64 76(5)
[3] S Querrey (USA) d [WC] R Ram (USA) 75 63
W Odesnik (USA) d [4] I Kunitsyn (RUS) 26 61 61
F Dancevic (CAN) d [5] B Becker (GER) 62 75
[7] M Gicquel (FRA) d [Q] J Levine (USA) 62 62
J Isner (USA) d [8] D Istomin (UZB) 64 64
R Ginepri (USA) d E Schwank (ARG) 67(1) 63 60

Singles - First Round
M Daniel (BRA) d [WC] T Dent (USA) 62 64

Doubles - Quarterfinals
[1] A Fisher (AUS) / J Kerr (AUS) d J Levine (USA) / D Sela (ISR) 26 62 10-7
B Becker (GER) / I Kunitsyn (RUS) d [4] R de Voest (RSA) / R Ram (USA) 64 61

Doubles - First Round
[1] A Fisher (AUS) / J Kerr (AUS) d Y Lu (TPE) / F Moser (GER) 61 67(12) 12-10

Faces Of The Day

AP

Russia's Maria Sharapova serves the ball to Italy's Tathiana Garbin during the first round of the WTA Warsaw Open tournament in Warsaw, Poland, Monday, May 18, 2009.

Singles - First Round
(3) Zheng Jie (CHN) d. Olga Govortsova (BLR) 46 76(0) 63
Julia Goerges (GER) d. (4) Aleksandra Wozniak (CAN) 76(5) 63
Anne Keothavong (GBR) d. (7) Bethanie Mattek-Sands (USA) 62 76(4)
(8) Alona Bondarenko (UKR) d. (WC) Katarzyna Piter (POL) 60 60
Kateryna Bondarenko (UKR) d. (9) Tsvetana Pironkova (BUL) 75 62
Marta Domachowska (POL) d. Akgul Amanmuradova (UZB) 62 61
(WC) Maria Sharapova (RUS) d. Tathiana Garbin (ITA) 61 67(6) 63

Doubles - First Round
Czink/Grandin (HUN/RSA) d. Frankova/Henke (CZE/GER) 75 57 104

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Internationaux de Strasbourg

Singles - First Round
Aravane Rezai (FRA) d. (2) Sybille Bammer (AUT) 62 62
(3) Peng Shuai (CHN) d. Alexa Glatch (USA) 36 62 60
(4) Gisela Dulko (ARG) d. Mara Santangelo (ITA) 61 76(3)
Ayumi Morita (JPN) d. (WC) Kinnie Laisne (FRA) 61 63
Kristina Barrois (GER) d. (WC) Irena Pavlovic (FRA) 63 63

Doubles - First Round
(2) Dechy/Santangelo (FRA/ITA) d. Coin/Pelletier (FRA/CAN) 62 62
(4) Hlavackova/Hradecka (CZE/CZE) d. Barrois/Groenefeld (GER/GER) 63 64
Feuerstein/Foretz (FRA/FRA) d. Glatch/Lepchenko (USA/USA) 64 76(5)

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AP

Robby Ginepri of the U.S. returns the ball to Philipp Kohlschreiber of Germany during the second match between Germany and USA in the red group of the Tennis World Team Cup in Duesseldorf, Germany, Monday, May 18, 2009.

Singles Round Robin Matches
P Kohlschreiber (GER) d R Ginepri (USA) 67(5) 76(4) 60
V Troicki (SRB) d M Gonzalez (ARG) 64 61

Doubles Round Robin Matches
S Bolelli (ITA) / A Seppi (ITA) d E Korolev (RUS) / S Vovk (RUS) 67(4) 63 10-4
R Lindstedt (SWE) / R Soderling (SWE) d J Chardy (FRA) / J Tsonga (FRA) 62 36 10-7
N Kiefer (GER) / M Zverev (GER) d M Fish (USA) / S Querrey (USA) 46 64 10-1
N Zimonjic (SRB) / V Troicki (SRB) d J Del Potro (ARG) / J Monaco (ARG) 46 76(4) 10-8

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Interwetten Austrian Open Kitzbuhel

Singles - First Round
[3] V Hanescu (ROU) d [Q] N Lapentti (ECU) 67(6) 63 75
[7] M Youzhny (RUS) d D Gimeno-Traver (ESP) 62 76(7)
M Granollers (ESP) d T Gabashvili (RUS) 76(11) 63
N Massu (CHI) d [Q] R Vik (CZE) 64 62
[WC] A Beck (GER) d J Hernych (CZE) 57 63 75
[WC] D Koellerer (AUT) d T Bellucci (BRA) 64 64
A Calleri (ARG) d Y Lu (TPE) 36 75 01 ret. (illness)

Doubles - First Round
M Gicquel (FRA) / C Rochus (BEL) vs [2] M Melo (BRA) / A Sa (BRA)
[4] F Cermak (CZE) / M Mertinak (SVK) d J Cerretani (USA) / D Vemic (SRB) 63 36 10-2

Isner Advances

America's tallest player, John Isner, advanced to the Heineken Open quarterfinals with a 6-4, 6-7(1), 7-6(5) win over compatriot Robby Ginepri, who also seems to be in good form. I hate when the Americans have to knock each other out so early in events. Isner will take on hard-hitting Swede on the comeback trail Robin Soderling in the quarters.

Face Of The Day

Getty

Robby Ginepri of the USA serves during his first round match against Jose (Rubin) Statham of New Zealand during day one of the Heineken Open at ASB Tennis Centre on January 12, 2009 in Auckland, New Zealand.

Day 7: An American in Paris

In the fourth round of Roland Garros. Nice work if you can get it. Thanks, Robby Ginepri, for bringing some respect back to American men's tennis at the premier claycourt event.

And the French fans have something to cheer in three of their own fighting through to the last 16.

Today should be a great day of tennis.

Too bad I'll miss most of it.

Day 5: For the First Time Since 2002

Two American men have advanced to the third round at Roland Garros. Today, Robby Ginepri upset No. 27 seed Igor Andreev, a quarterfinalist last year, to join Wayne Odesnik in the final 32. An upset by a man who wasn't event included in the player's guide because he'd dropped out of the top 100.

That's all I have for today. And that's quite enough. Especially given the beatings American men take every single year around this time.

The Celebration

We tracked them down. Five probable venues were on some list one of the NetHeads got from someone who worked somewhere in Portland, or so the story goes.

So three of the NetHeads, Job and I put up with the rain and the lines and visited each venue until we found them celebrating at McFadden's.

Andy Roddick, James Blake, Bob Bryan, Mike Bryan, Patrick McEnroe, Robbie Ginepri, Mardy Fish, John Isner, Donald Young, Thomas Blake, Dean Goldfarb, John Roddick, Stan Smith's son, whose first name escapes me at the moment, Brian Barker, agents, managers, girlfriends and others were all there, mixed in with a laughing, drunken crowd, dancing till all hours.

My cell phone battery died. But by the time we found them, it was too late to let anybody know where the party was.

I met many of the players and was humbled by how approachable and sincere they all were.

Close up, all of them are taller and thinner in person than they appear on television or even from the stands.

Andy was still crying. At one point, he said something to James and they shared a teary moment in the middle of the dance floor. Bob left early. Apparently he'll be playing the first reverse singles match later today.

What a day. What a great day.

















Special thanks to Job for taking all these photos.