Seeking the Mini Slam

Today I played tennis on a hard court for the first time since college. Man, was it ugly -- ironic, too, since I spent so much of my childhood playing on the surface. But it certainly gave me a greater appreciation for the pros who shift so seamlessly from one to another and for how amazing it is for one man or woman to achieve that elusive career Grand Slam.

And while most of the focus is rightfully on winning the Majors, Sam Querrey will be going for his own slam of sorts tomorrow -- playing in his first final at the prestigious Queen's Club, he has the chance to become the first player this year to win a title on all three courts this year. Already owning trophies from Memphis and Belgrade -- ironically both times beating his friend and countryman John Isner -- he's now looking to prove himself on grass.

Sam has done well on the surface before -- he made the finals last year in Newport and even took then-#13 Marin Cilic to five sets at Wimbledon in 2009. To make the championship match in London, the seventh-seed hasn't had to work terribly hard. In his opening match he faced his professional foil Robby Ginepri, a man who beat him for the '09 title in Indianapolis and stunned him early at Roland Garros during his spectacular run to the fourth round there. But since then, Sam's been unstoppable -- he played a couple of close matches, but didn't drop a set until a tiebreak gave Rainer Schuettler the early lead in the semis. But the American rallied through a tight second set and ended up with the win to reach his fourth final of the year.

To claim the title, though, Sam will have to get past another friend who's had to do a little more work this past week. Mardy Fish, who's been recovering from injuries on and off over the past year, reprised his Miami win over defending champ Andy Murray and followed it up by trouncing eighth seed Feliciano Lopez in the semis. In fact, the world #90 has beaten four seeds in a row in London, so he can't exactly be discounted. And, though it was almost three years ago, he has won his only previous meeting with Sam.

Needless to say, a win would be a big boost for Querrey who, ranked twenty-third in the world, is currently the third-best American man in the game. He's been trailing his buddy Isner for the better part of the year, even though he has more titles to his name and leads their head-to-head 2-1. Not that he needs any validation -- pundits have said he has a more well-rounded game and probably more longevity than his uber-tall compatriot. And while Andy Roddick might not be ready to cede his position at the top just yet, Sam sure looks like he's in good shape to hold on to it for a while when it does eventually become his turn.

More importantly, proving just how strong of an all-court player he is would show the world -- not just Americans -- that Sam Querrey is a force to be reckoned with.

Les Américans à Paris

You know the last time an American man made the quarterfinals in Paris? It's been almost seven years since Andre Agassi last got there, and after that no one has really come close. I'm not sure 2010 will be the year, either, but there are some signs of encouragement from the first few matches of the French Open.

Big John Isner was the first to make the next round after the second best man in the country used up just about ninety minutes to dismiss Andrey Golubev. Taylor Dent followed him soon after with a key win over fellow veteran Nicolas Lapentti, a man who had won three of his five titles on clay. Even Mardy Fish, who's been battling injuries for the better part of a year, rallied for a late night, five-set win over Germany's Michael Berrer. Today they were joined by two more compatriots whose performances show, if nothing else, they'll fight their hearts out to stay alive in Paris this year.

Robby Ginepri unfortunately had to face friend and countryman Sam Querrey in order to claim the third American spot. The world #98 had only advanced past to the first second of Roland Garros once in his career, and when the Belgrade champion rolled through the opening set in about half an hour, it didn't look like Ginepri would improve on that record. But finding himself down 0-3 in the second set tiebreak, Robby found a way to rally and took the next seven points from Sam to even up the score. He began the third set by breaking Querrey's serve and didn't look back -- he didn't even allow his opponent one break chance in the last three sets, and after just over two hours Ginepri earned only his second ticket out of the French Open first round.

More impressive was U.S. #1 Andy Roddick who put up his best ever performance in Paris when he made the fourth round of the Major. While Roddick has already won two titles this year and boasts an impressive 26-4 record, few considered him a force at this year's French. He had skipped the entire lead-up clay court season due to illness or injury, and with the record he has on dirt, it's hard to argue that this is his best surface.

Roddick had a pretty tough draw against Finland's Jarkko Nieminen in the first round. The twenty-eight year old has won a handful of Challenger events on clay and had beaten the likes of Agassi and Feliciano Lopez in Paris in the past. After dropping the first set, Nieminen found a way to get under Andy's skin and took the next two from the former world #1. Just when it looked like another American would pack their bags, Roddick went on a run in the fourth set tiebreak and then broke Jarkko twice in the decider to advance to the next round after almost three and a half hours of play.

Of course this tournament is far from over -- Dent will be rewarded with a date with 2009 runner-up Robin Soderling on Wednesday while Mardy faces Indian Wells champ Ivan Ljubicic. Roddick and Isner don't have the threat of a top seed looming any time soon, but that doesn't make their opponents any less intimidating. But though I know it's way too premature to call any of these guys a favorite on these grounds, it does seem that this crop of young Americans shows more promise than we've seen in a long time.

And if one of them should make their way into the quarters -- or better! -- I'd be cheering him all the way.

Separated at Birth Part Three -- Stars of the Summer

Several months ago I brought you my first "Look-alikes" post, pointing out some uncanny resemblances between ATP tour players and Hollywood's leading men. That one didn't quite cover all the bases though, so later in the year I reprised the article for some of the top women in the sport.

But the similarities hardly end there, and as we move deeper into the summer's hardcourt season a couple of pairs have definitely stood out.

Indianapolis proved to be a great arena for American Robby Ginepri to launch his comeback -- and not so long ago an actor named Patrick Dempsey was staging his own revolution as he took the halls of Seattle Grace by storm. Their stories are not that different -- and neither are they.



And while one man resurges another retires -- in his last season on the circuit Marat Safin is holding something of a farewell tour, but he is far from a senior citizen. During his match with Tommy Haas in Los Angeles last week, John McEnroe referred to Marat as a "specimen" -- it's only fitting that he should look so much like Derek Shepard's best frenemy, Doctor McSteamy himself, Eric Dane.



Then there's Marion Bartoli who shocked the world on Sunday when she played so impressively against third seeded Venus Williams in Stanford. Maybe her alter ego, Meadow Soprano, was peaking through a little, intimidating her opponent just a bit and helping Marion take the trophy.



And this week tennis fans are anxiously awaiting the return of Wimbledon finalist Andy Roddick in Washington, D.C. Always the entertainer, Andy definitely can put on a show, though I'm not sure he'll ever be quite as...well, aggressive as Seann-William Scott's infamous Stifler.



Got more ideas for look-alikes? E-mail me, and I'll post them all later this summer!

In the meantime, enjoy!

A Perfect Record -- Where It Counts

Robby Ginepri is one of those also-ran American tennis players. He's been around for the better part of the decade, but never really reached the top tiers. Though he's made his was as high as #15 in the world, he's usually overshadowed by more prominent players like Andy Roddick and James Blake, and for the last few years he's slipped a few times into triple digits.

This year hasn't been that kind to him either. Before this week he'd only won a handful of games -- four to be exact -- and the best player he beat was #71 Andrey Golubev in Eastbourne. He came down with appendicitis, which kept him hospitalized for over a week, dropped thirty pounds and was sidelined for three months. When he came back in May, he lost all three of his World Team Championship matches in Dusseldorf, including one to #657 Andreas Vinciguerra.

But when he stepped on the courts in Indianapolis, something must've taken over him. It was here, four years ago, that Ginepri won his last title, defeating Andy Roddick on his way to the finals. It put him on the road to a great second half of the year -- he made the semis in Cincinnati, getting past Marat Safin, and Madrid, passing Nikolay Davydenko on the way. Most impressively, though, was his U.S. Open showing, where he played four consecutive five-set matches, eventually losing to Andre Agassi in yet another semi.

But potential opponents should know that, if Robby Ginepri makes it past that penultimate round, he's probably going to win. He did it in 2005 and he did it earlier today, when he was nothing short of spectacular in his win over third seeded Sam Querrey. In fact, he's never lost a championship match -- he's played in three during his career -- and if you watched him in action this afternoon, you can understand why. He kept his cool against the higher ranked favorite, controlled his shots and, surprisingly, out-aced the big serving Querrey. He was run all over the court, but played some really smart shots to break Sam not once, but twice in the opening set. And he stayed with him through the second, finally breaking Querrey late and winning his last service game, holding Sam at love.

Like Sam, Robby has a full summer schedule ahead of him, and he's scheduled to play Marat Safin in the first round in Los Angeles next week. It might be premature to say he's heading for the same run he had in 2005, but if he continues to play at the level he did this week, Ginepri is certainly off in the right direction. And maybe, with a little more luck, he'll be giving us all something to talk about this summer!