Nadal says he is back. The knees holding up. But 10 weeks off? Seems like he has a long road ahead of him. It will be interesting to see if he gets to the level he was at .

Juan Martin foils Andy twice in less than a week...saves match point to do it!!!! Vamos JMDP!!!

WTF was that match between Jankobitch and Demented? That was the worst 3rd set of women's tennis I've ever seen in my ENTIRE LIFE!!!

Elena: You serve
Jelena : No you serve
Elena: No I insist that you serve
Jelena: No really I don't mind...you serve

I hope Dinara crushes that pusher!!!!

I didn't see the match, but I was watching on the scoreboard. I turned away with Elena up 6-2 in the 3rd set tiebreaker. How did she lose? I've never heard of anyone losing 4 MPs in a row. If this had happened in a slam, I'd be worried for Elena's mental state, but she probably can just shrug this off.

What the? Jelena picked Dinara apart. This is the 5th of 8 finals Dinara has lost this year. She remains consistent but geez man...what the hell happens to her in these moments?? But good on Jelena. After last night I was so disgusted with both Jelena and Elena that I wanted Dinara to destroy Jelena. But, the opposite occurred. Oh the WTA is really ridiculous.

It's hard to fathom the world's #1 player playing so poorly to close a match. I love Federer... and to see that performance made me cringe.

Wow, Venus out again early. Amazing. This time to one of the Bondarenko sisters. Will Serena suffer the same fate? Who knows in a non-major event.

A part of me believes that Venus and Serena show up to these lower tournaments, win a round or two and then say ehhhh. Its so pathetic for Venus to play like that though. She sprayed so many errors. I don't think Bondarenko hit one winner in the third set, but she didn't have to. However, with Venus and Serena I think they realize its all about the slams nowadays, so I don't base their performance during the US Open series on how they will perform at the US Open. But Venus is really messing with her ranking because if Dementieva makes it far, Venus can go to a #3 seed to a 4 or 5. Not something you want to mess with. Just pathetic. It was embarrassing to see her struggle like that against a freakin Bondarenko sister.

Now, I'm a little worried about Vee. Unlike Serena, she can't just turn her game on unless she's at Wimbledon. She's starting to revert to her pre-Zurich form from last year, when you couldn't even count on her getting to the finals of a tournament (again, outside of Wimbledon). This is distressing to see her play so poorly. In contrast to Serena, she has tended to play well at the smaller tournaments, although her performance at Cincinnati and Toronto certainly has changed that perception. I hope she isn't starting to slump the way the Serbs did (and Ivanovic still is) this year. Her career has precious little time left for her to work her way out of a slump.

Serena, is a whole different creature. She can lose first round matches in all the smaller tournaments she plays and I still wouldn't bet against her at a slam.

Good lord Venus. Get yourself sorted.

I don't think her core fitness is at its usual excellent level.

Okay my panic alert has officially been turned off.

Venus is really not having that much of a worse summer than Dinara or Svetlana, two of the hotter players of the past few months. Sveta hasn't even reached a quarterfinal since winning the French. Dinara won a small tournament before the U.S. Open Series. Since the start of the Series, she's had a finals finish (Cincinnati), a third round appearance (L.A.) and just lost her opening match in Toronto. Venus has had a finals appearance (Stanford), a third round performance (Cincinnati) and also lost her opener in Toronto. For the moment any of the top players are susceptible to upsets in the smaller tournaments, particularly on hard courts.

The winners of the U.S. Open Series so far have been Bartoli, Penetta and Jankovic. Only Jankovic would I consider a U.S. Open threat. So it's not just the Williams sisters who are underperforming at non-slams, it's the other top players too. I have no problem thinking that Sveta and Dinara are threats to win at the U.S. Open, so obviously Venus is very much still in the picture.

I think Serena has to be the favorite because she's won three of the last four slams...but beyond that, I can't remember a slam on either side that seemed so wide open. Sure, Venus is in the mix, along with Safina, Kuznetsova, Dementieva, Jankovic...maybe Clijsters and Azarenka. Hell, this year maybe even Pennetta or Stosur. While it's hard to imagine them winning seven matches in a row, I don't see anyone they can't beat, if Serena doesn't find her form.

Penetta does seem to be entering a new phase in her career where she is more regularly beating top players. Stosur, though, can't seem to seal the deal. She's been to like five finals in her career and has yet to win one of them. She can go far at the U.S. Open, but I'm not sure if she can bag a slam title if she can't even win a lower level title.

Well Serena actually played like she cared tonight. That running forehand winner fist pump slit to go up 5-2 in the second set was FIYAH!!!!! WORK BITCH!!!!

Oh and apparently Venus and Serena are part owners of the Miami Dolphins now. Other part owners include Gloria and Emilio Estefan, Jimmy Buffet, and Marc Anthony LOVE IT!!! Make that paper girls...tennis won't last forever.

Wow! I'd kind of forgotten what Safarova's game looked like when she was in the zone. Some of those backhand winners were just shocking.

Following the usual script of Serena/Dementieva matches, Elena wins all the non slam matches and Serena wins all the grand slam matches. Lazyrena showed up today and looks like she'd rather be watching paint dry. Good lord. See you in NY Serena. Well done Elena! Now win the title!!!

This is an excellent win for Dementieva especially considering she had a horrible semifinal against Jankovic last week in Cincinnati where she failed to convert on 4 straight match points and lost the match as a result. I'm glad Elena was able to bounce back mentally so quickly.

I'd say the top contenders for the U.S. Open are Elena, Serena, Jelena, and Venus. I would put Dinara, Svetlana, Viktoria, Maria and Kimmy in the second tier of contenders, but all nine are pretty close. I would have liked top put Vera up there, but she just doesn't seem back from her injury and I think she needs to be playing well going into a slam to be a true threat.

Favorite at this point impo: no one. Default to Serena because of her recent record at majors and because she can turn it on, particularly against this level of competition.

Possible finalists (since 2 players will make it regardless): Dinara, Venus, Justine.

Could have a shot for the final: Elena, Jennifer, Lindsey, Steffi.

The women's tourney will be something. Not sure what, but something.

Martina out with an injury? BJK?

Are you baiting me JC? I should realize you're in Canada. Some people on WTA World were saying Safarova's defeat of Ivanovic in Toronto was the best match since Serena def. Elena at Wimbledon.

Of course, the next day, Lucie failed to win a single point against Serena's second serve en route to a straight sets loss. Lucie's lousy return of serve loses her matches and keeps her ranked a good 20 spots lower than she could be ranked.

But she's still a big fave for me, because I like her personality (nice as Clijsters) and win or lose (too often lose) she's been part of some of the best quality matches of the last couple years: against Venus sets one and three at Roland Garros this year; the Jankovic match at Wimbledon 07.

I like Lucie. I find it more interesting to root for regular players who lose as often as win than to root only for #1s with egos to match. And who knows, maybe Lucie will have a decent second-week run at a major again sometime. She won 5 matches in a row in Canada. After two close losses to Venus and also three-set losses to Safina on clay and Kuznetsova (7-6 in the third) this year, she was deserving of a breakthrough.

The other interesting thing to me about Toronto was Alisa Kleybanova. I've been terrible at picking ATP breakthroughs (I'd said Cilic and Nishikori) this year, but 2-for-2 with the women: Sorana Cirstea and Kleybanova were who I said would make marks this year. Neither has pulled a total coup, but both have gone far in majors and scored some quality scalps. I expect Alisa to play well at the USO.

Love it when a John Waters-ready chubby non-starlet girl like Alisa fights to the top of the ranks. What an outrage. Surely it's an embarrassment to the WTA, yadda yadda. Alisa has more clutch fight than Fernando Verdasco or some other muscle machine. Body sculpting isn't the main factor in winning matches, or being an athlete.

Go ahead Amelie!!! Takes out Kuznetsova in 3 at Pilot Pen. She should be favored in her next match and should go to the final. Wow Svetlana just fell apart at the end. I haven't seen Mauresmo play in awhile and man her variety was simply beautiful. Slice, topspin, flat shot, angle shot, squash hot, drop shot all in one rally was beautiful to see. She really has a beautiful game and perhaps she can gain some confidence from her performance in New Haven going into the Open. Still a top 10 win for Mauresmo, but Kuzzie is so up and down these days and hasn't played well at all in the US Open series. But still...confidence booster for Amelie.

I'd love to see Amélie win another slam as she rides off into the sunset!! I don't think it's in the cards, but what a great story it would be.

She's always had an elegant combination of Big Babe and remarkable variety, and downright wonderful point construction...her win over JH(ret) at the Big W a few years ago was probably the most indicative of this. While sadly, she may be remembered for her lapses, they can't take her slams and other titles away from her. Hopefully she'll always be remembered for her graciousness, as well as being a beautiful athlete, and hopefully she has a few more trophies to win.

Amélie!!

Well, somehow Mauresmo defeated the Russian with two Slam titles to her name, and fell to the Russian who has only ever been to one other final before this week. Still, the switch indoors must have been difficult as far as adjusting, although Amélie does very well indoors also (witness her YEC and numerous Paris and Philly titles) so it's all a bit odd. Yet another final for Wozniacki, who is turning into a mini-Safina with her numerous final appearances (and a similarly iffy 50-50 record in them). I think it's 5 or 6 this year alone, and of course she is defending her title here. She'll be sticking around in the Top 10.

What a bonus the rain brought today--to see the match between Amelie and Kutzy. Suddenly it occurred to me--are we watching 2 women who each have 2 majors--all 4 different ones--on the court? Amelie--Aus and Wim, Svetlana--US Open and French. Just a tidbit of interesting fact.
It feels like every time I get to see Amelie now it's a treat that may not come many more times...