Henin edges Mauresmo in thrilling showdown at Eastbourne...
Justine Henin can take one of two things away from beating Amelie Mauresmo 7-5, 6-7 (4), 7-6 (2) Saturday in a classic final at the Wimbledon warm-up in Eastbourne: she can beat Amelie (who beat her in last year's Wimbledon final) on grass OR she is really going to have to fight for the crown as Mauresmo seems to have regained her form and fitness after a dismal year so far.
The two top seeds were on court for more than two and a half hours before Henin triumphed and after the match she said:“I had a very good week and I am happy with how I am playing. I have much more feeling in my game than this time last year. It was very difficult conditions for both of us. I am tired now more because of the wind than because of the tough match.”
The title was the 34th of Henin's career and her fifth this year. To win it, she fought back from 5-3 down in the final set, with Mauresmo serving for the match at 5-4.
If Mauresmo felt any bitter disappointment, she wasn't showing it saying: “It is always a pleasure to come here to Eastbourne and I have really enjoyed this week. “I am disappointed not to win the tournament but I have played quite well and this has been very good preparation for me.”
Then there is Serena Williams, seeded way down at number 7 as she continues to lack in points due to how little she plays. It drives me crazy that her ranking is not higher because it means a Henin-Serena quarterfinal instead of final. That's what happened at the French Open where Justine won in straight sets. Serena, unless she pulls up lame, should be able to put up a much bigger fight on the grass. She never plays warm-up tourneys so it's tough to assess her form but we know she can come from nowhere and win a grand slam. If she can get past Henin - and I think she can - she will win the tournament.
Then there is second=seeded Rafael Nadal who shocked everyone last year by making it to the final and taking Federer to four sets. Nadal has a champion's heart and the athleticsm to win on grass. He's also so young that I don't think he will be too fatigued from the clay court season. I can see him making the final again but I could also see a grass-court specialist taking him out in an earlier round like at Queen's Club.
"I was very happy the way I played, and the way I served especially," Henin said. "My attitude and the way I played tactically was very good and she never really had the time to get a rhythm and really be into the match." 
Russian tennis player Maria Sharapova plays a game with local school children against a back drop of London's Tower Bridge, 21 June 2007, as she promotes Sochi's 2014 bid to become the first Russian resort to host the Olympic and Paralympic games. Sharapova believes her grasscourt game is shaping up well a week ahead of Wimbledon, which begins 25 June 2007, despite her defeat in the Birmingham final at the hands of Serbia's Jelena Jankovic. AFP PHOTO/CHRIS YOUNG 
Would you want to face these two in a doubles match??? Well, good luck to the rest of the women's doubles draw at Wimbledon 2007 because the Williams sisters are back on the same side of the court and as a duo, they really can't be beat. They are doubles together for the first time since 2003 at Wimbledon after requesting a wild card from the All England Club which, of course, said YES! YES! YES! They've won the Wimbledon doubles championship twice, in 2000 and 2002, part of a career Grand Slam in doubles that also includes the U.S. Open and French Open in 1999, and the Australian Open in 2001 and 2003. They also won the gold medal at the 2000 Olympic games where Venus won the gold in singles. In singles, Venus has won three Wimbledons and Serena two.
Wimbledon is just a few days away! The All England Club announced its seedings earlier today but I won't be writing my preview with predictions until later this week when the draw comes out. Which side of the draw players fall could make a big difference and it's my hope that we don't have matches like a Serena Williams-Justine Henin quarterfinal in Paris. Serena has GOT to play more and get her ranking to a realistic two or three in the world.
Rafael Nadal, last year's runner-up, was seeded second and deserves to be. Wimbledon can adjust its seedings and be different from world rankings in order to reflect a player's prowess on grass. Serena was not given a boost from her number seven ranking despite being a two-time champion. I think that's fair though since most of the players ranked above her are all strong on the turf: 2. Maria Sharapova (2004 Wimbledon winner), 3. Jelena Jankovic, winner of last week's warm-up in Birmingham and 4. defending champion Amelie Mauresmo. 
Remember when Mark Phillippoussis was a threat to win grand slam titles? With all of his injuries and now that he's reached the age of 30, I think it's safe to say that those days are pretty much over. Not with guys with Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal at the top of the game and the likes of Andy Roddick and Lleyton Hewitt chasing them.
Is James Blake becoming a big whiner with an excuse for every loss? It's starting to seem that way. After he crashed out in the first round of the French Open, he vowed that the same thing would npt happen on grass. But on Friday in Halle, Germany, Blake said a slippery court had affected his game after he lost to Philipp Kohlschreiber in the Gerry Weber Open quarter-finals. 
Meanwhile, over at the Queen's Club tournament in London, Fernando Gonzalez lost his temper and broke his racquet after lead 4-2 in the final set of his quarter-final against Dmitry Tursunov but losing 6-3 6-7 (5-7) 6-4.
Maria Sharapova started the year ranked niumber one in the world. But after making her second consecutive grand slam final in Australia (she won the US Open last September), it has been somewhat downhill. Serena Williams thrashed her in Australia and Miami, there has been a nagging shoulder injury that has limited her play and last week there was a disappointing loss in the French Open semis.
Five-time Wimbledon Men's singles tennis champion Bjorn Borg attends a press conference at the Liverpool International tennis event at Calderstones Park, Liverpool, England Wednesday June 13, 2007. Tennis legend Borg had to miss his first return to grass court action in 26 years after being bitten by a dog called 'The Wolf', when he tried to pull the dog away from his golden retriever at his home in Sweden over the weekend. 
Rafael Nadal is scary good. Three days after winning his third consecutive French Open title, the Spaniard made a successful transition to grass by defeating Juan Martin del Potro of Argentina 6-4, 6-4 Wednesday in the second round at Queen's Club. 
Congratulations to Lindsay Davenport and Jonathan Leach who became the proud parents of baby boy Jagger Jonathan Leach on Sunday.
In contrast, Andy Roddick is a young guy who still has a strong chance of winning at Wimbledon where he has been twice the runner-up and another time a semifinalist. Roddick lost only four points on his serve Tuesda in beating Radek Stepanek of the Czech Republic 6-4, 6-4 to advance to the third round of the Queen's Club grass-court championships. The American has lost just one match in his past four appearances at the Wimbledon warm-up event, winning three straight titles before losing to James Blake in the 2006 semifinals. 
I don't know what this says about Roger Federer's state of mind heading into Wimbledon in two weeks, but on Monday he withdrew from the Gerry Weber Open in Halle, Germany, where he is the four-time defending champion.
Federer must be taking the loss very badly since the classy champ actually refused to do a post-match interview with NBC's Bud Collins. Can't say I blame him. He must be kicking himself for not winning the first set of the match when he had countless break point possibilities then got broken early on the third and fourth sets. So, he lost 6-3, 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 and Nadal becomes the first man since Bjorn Borg 25 years ago to win three French titles in a row.
Yawn. Oh, excuse me. i wasn't yawning because I found the women's French Open final between Justine Henin and Ava Ivanovic boring or anything, i just had to get up at 6 a.m. to watch it live. But took a nap afterward and want to share my thoughts. Justine just rolled over Ava 6-1, 6-2 as the Serbian youngster was just too nervous in her first grand slam final to produce the kind of tennis that allowed her to thrash Maria Sharapova in the semis. But hey, she won more games than Natasha Zverva did against Steffi Graf in the '88 final (Graf won 6-0, 6-0) and than Mary Pierce in the 2004 final (Henin won that one 6-1, 6-1). Doubt that makes her feel better but hey, she made it there, she's really young, and unless she pulls a one-slam final career like Pam Shriver, she oughta be back!
But much of the credit goes to Henin who became the first woman since Monica Seles to win three French Open titles in a row. And it was her fourth title in the last five years. Since no one else holds a candle to Henin on clay these days and she is only 25 year old, I think she could match Steffi Graf's six titles and maybe even Chris Evert's seven. Time will tell.
OK, Roger Federer wants to make history Sunday by becoming one of the few men to have won all four of tennis' slam titles in their career. But in beating Nikolay Davydenko in straight sets in the French semis on Friday, he became the first man to reach eight Grand Slam finals in a row! His last loss before a fonal was to Rafael Nadal back in the 2005 French when they met in the semis and Nadal prevailed.
Maria Sharapova's semifinal loss to Ana Ivanovic means the French Open will not have the marquee final on Saturday of Justine Henin and Maria Sharapova. But it could also herald the arrival of a new tennis superstar in Ivanovic who swept aside Sharapova in Serena Williams-like fashion: 6-2, 6-1. Even though Maria had minimal clay preparation due to injury, I thought she had played her way into this tournament and might go all the way on her talent and ambition alone.
It's only gonna get tougher from here but Roger Federer is in the semifinals of the French Open for the third straight year and is my pick to win the only grand slam title to alude him. A title in Paris would be a crowning achievement for the four-time Wimbledon champ who also has three U.S Open and Australian Open crowns. On Tuesday, Federer beat Spain's Tommy Robredo, in a quarterfinal match 7-5, 1-6, 6-1, 6-2. It was the first set he has lost in the tournament. Up next for Federer is foiurth seed Nikolay Davydenko who beat Guillermo Canas 7-5, 6-4, 6-4. You gotta figure that's a break for Roger who has lost to Canas twice this year.
There's a reason why Justine Henin is number one in the world and why she has won three out of the last four French Open titles: she knows how to win. On Tuesday, she beat the last American hope Serena Williams 6-4, 6-3 in the quarterfinals in the women's tournament's most highly-anticipated match.
While Henin making the semis is no surprise, it was kind of unexpected that second seeded Maria Sharapova would make it that far given her lack of preparation and injury-plagued year. But she somehow gathers herself for the majors and secured her place in the last four with a 6-3 6-4 win over Anna Chakvetadze. Her semi-final opponent will be Ana Ivanovic, who beat third seed Svetlana Kuznetsova 6-0 3-6 6-1 to reach her first Grand Slam semi-final. Jelena Jankovic joined fellow Serb Ivanovic in the last four with a 6-4 7-5 win over Nicole Vaidisova. 
How delicious is THIS?