Notwithstanding, I would like to dedicate this blog post for two of my favorites who are hanging up their racket this season, Marat Safin and Ai Sugiyama.

No matter how many tantrums this tall, dark and handsome Russian tennis player has thrown on the court, we all find Marat Safin impossible to resist. In 2000, when he pummeled Pete Sampras in the U.S. Open Final, the world believed that the young man could be No. 1 for several years to come. However, Marat Safin spent 13 seasons chasing after that success everyone predicted for him without really reaching it. Instead, we witnessed an athlete with raw talent breaking dozens of rackets, forgetting his equipment before a tournament, getting bored with interviews. As Tom Perrotta said about Marat Safin’s magical misery tour, “Sometimes he was great. Most times he was hilarious. But he always entertained.”

Some observers qualify him as a lazy player, an underachiever. Yet, let’s think about it, how can he underachieve when he is that emotional on court? In 2005, Marat Safin finally got another chance, he eliminated Roger Federer in the Australian Open semifinal to later win the title and become No. 1. Redemption some would say?

I was ecstatic to catch Marat Safin at his last Montreal Masters Series

As for Ai Sugiyama, indefatigable Japanese player, she challenged the boundaries of athletic longevity. She retired at age 34 with the all-time record, for both male and female players, for the most consecutive Grand Slam main draw appearances which currently stands at 62 [1]. Not only she is one of the most consistent tour players, she is also the very first Asian to be ranked No.1 in either singles or doubles. I had the chance to watch her train at the Rogers Cup in Toronto. It is inspiring how she never loses for lack of hustle.

Honored I was to meet one of the best doubles player in the WTA tour Ai Sugiyama

And “anything” actually happened. Where to begin? How about upsets were all over the place? Thanks to 17-year-old Melanie Oudin, brackets busters affected the women’s top draw. To our dismay, the two Andy’s didn’t reach the semis. Also, according to Serena Williams’ t-shirt, you can’t spell dynasty without “nasty”. Could we add “You can’t threat a line judge without a tennis racket and a ball”?

Furthermore, what a men’s epic final! Who would have thought that after 22 consecutive Grand Slam semis, Roger Federer would not be able to secure a sixth US Open title? Who would have expect a new King of the Queens?

Incidentally, I wanted your thoughts about the US Open tag line “It must be love”? Do you dig it as much as I do? (FYI: tennis has a relatively complicated system of points where we can say “love” instead of “zero”) However, I must admit that I am a bit disappointed with the “It must be love” videos campaign they launched . I’m not sure they chose the best insights (no offense, but I’m convinced there is more thrilling than Andy Murray’s chin ups or Sam Querrey’s ace face).

Here’s what comes through my mind when I hear “It must be love”:

Family LOVE

After two years of “retirement”, Kim Clijsters managed to be the first unseeded woman to ever win the US Open. She also became the first mother to win a Grand Slam title since Evonne Goolagong Cawley in 1980 at Wimbledon. Guess who’s back!

LOVE for fashion

With mi Adidas, Melanie Oudin personally created this flashy design of her Barricade V. Every time she entered the court, she made a bold statement that she *believes* she can beat all the top players.

LOVE for the environment

Did you know that…

• 60,000 Wilson tennis balls will be reused for National Tennis Center to their community and youth programs
• Hybrid vehicles made up 52% of Lexus’ players transportation fleet
• Daily drawsheets were printed on paper containing 30% post-consumer waste
• They managed to save about 18,102 pounds CO2 equivalent of greenhouse gases

IT MUST BE LOVE FOR TENNIS

I suppose that it must be love for the sport that 721, 059 fans rushed through Billie Jean Stadium to witness all those athletes compete for $26.1 million of total prize money. In addition to that, we counted nearly 14 million activated streams on usopen.org and total viewership of CBS’ US Open broadcasts was 55.8 million.

I hope that one day, I’ll be lucky enough to go to this highest-attended annual sporting event in the world. Who’s with me? :)

During each face-off, 11 matches are played:

• 3 men’s singles
• 3 women’s singles
• 2 men’s doubles
• 2 women’s doubles
• 1 mixed doubles

For the last confrontation, after 10 matches against Simon Fraser University, the score was tied at 5-5. Therefore, the mixed doubles was going to be the decisive match. Being a “money player”, I couldn’t imagine a better scenario to conclude this University Canadian championships. It was my last official match as a Carabins, and on the top of that, I had the honor to perform at the Rexall Center during the Rogers Cup. My mixed doubles partner David Trudeau and I accepted the challenge. We gave everything we got. I believe that it is because of our electrifying energy and chemistry that we succeeded to defeat SFU 7-5 6-4.

After Dave’s delicious smash on match point, our teammates roared and jumped off their seats. I can’t actually find words to express our joy. We, the Carabins won the first edition of the University National Tennis Championships! We, the Carabins are the BEST University tennis team in Canada!

What an awesome ride it was this past week. I am still on cloud nine, I haven’t lost a match during this year’s university league, not even dropped single a set. What a perfect way to retire from University tennis…

Merci à toute mon équipe

(Patrick Gilbert, Michael Tousignant, Alexandre Vigeant, Olivier Berthiaume, Jean-Philippe Trottier-Hardy, David Trudeau, Céline Wauthier, Catherine Garand, Geneviève Prairie-Caron, Anne-Marie Belleau, Lena Salgado)

and a big thank you to my super hitting partners who pushed me to train all summer

(Dominic Rossi, Nicolas Charette, Pierre-Jean Robichaud :)

video Carabins 2008-2009

In order to play in that high heat, I wear a white cap, I put sunscreen and I bring a lot of water. Training when it feels like 40 degrees Celsius is a good way to sweat my French Fries fat :P

Let’s see if the Carabins will win the Canadian Championship, wish us luck. And wish me luck as I will get in the entourage of those tennis divas when I’ll be in the VIP box at the semi-finals (I will also try to tweet with those superstars Iike I did with Bob Bryan :)

* I would like to meet with the person who is tweeting for the @RogersCup, care to help?

Well anyway, that’s what I’ve been telling myself :) I believe that on a good day, I can serve faster than what you will see here

So, how about you guys? How fast is your tennis serve?

I arrived at Stade Uniprix one hour before the matches so that I can show around the site to Hugo (his first time at the prestigious Rogers Cup event). As soon as we enter, there was this cart going by us, it was Bob and Mike Bryan. I shout to them “Hey Bob and Mike, do you remember me?”. Imagine how pleased I was when they say “Yeah, I remember you, you are isaSuperstar” :)

That Thursday night was memorable. The singles match was a battle of two musketeers Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (7th) VS Gilles Simon (9th). The Frenchmen gave a good show. After Tsonga’s win, the Californian twins made their entrance on the court to face Robert Lindstedt and Marcelo Melo. Bob and Mike Bryan played well and secured their win with a break in the second set.

These chest-bumping twins rock: they took the time to sign several autographs. They threw towels (I caught one!) and tennis balls in the crowd. While Bob Byran was giving out autographs, I went to talk to him. He told me he read my ‘Bob and Mike Bryan’s music band’ blog post. On the top of that, not only he said that I was a good writer but he gave me his Adidas cap! It will be my lucky charm for my Canadian Championship this week.

(After their practice on Tuesday, I asked Bob Bryan to tweet about my beautiful city ^^ As soon as I saw his tweet, I replied @Bryanbros and told him about my blog. Twitter is a great way to interact with the superstars.)

With his win over Jo-Wilfried Tsonga today at the Montreal Masters semi-finals, Andy Murray guarantees he will reach the ATP World Tour No. 2 spot over Rafael Nadal. The Scot will in this way bust the four-year Federer-Nadal supremacy.

Throughout this past week, Murray has been magnificent. He didn’t even drop a single set until now. Let’s see if Juan Martin Del Potro can shake the new No. 2 tomorrow at the finals of the Montreal Rogers Cup.

No. 1 Roger Federer (Switzerland) VS No. 7 Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (France)
No. 2 Rafael Nadal (Spain) VS No. 6 Juan Martin del Potro (Argentina)
No. 3 Andy Murray (England) VS No. 8 Nikolay Davydenko (Russia)
No. 4 Novak Djokovic (Serbia) VS No. 5 Andy Roddick (USA)

Andy Murray, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, Andy Roddick and Juan Martin del Potro made it to the Final Four. Here are some salient facts:

- If Murray gets to the finals, he would move to No. 2 spot in the ATP rankings.

- Although he only served for 23% on his first serve in the second set, Tsonga brilliantly came back from two breaks in the third set.

- Roddick dropped 226 km/h bombs and won 8/11 net points.

- Del Potro served his seventh ace on his match point to beat Nadal.

Simultaneously, Fernando Gonzalez and Tommy Haas gave the public a solid first set on Court Banque Nationale. It went to a tie break. However, Tommy had to give up because of his hand, apparently we could see his flesh…

All the tickets holders must have been so disappointed. Luckily for me, I didn’t attend that evening session, I needed a little break (I’ve already been there on Saturday, Sunday, Monday and Tuesday). Some of my friends who were there were sooooo pissed*

*Olibou, I’m sorry, don’t be mad :)

Don’t we like Igor Andreev’s forehand? Moreover, I also love how his Under Armour gear fits him so well :)
Imagine how happy I was when Igor Andreev accepted to take a picture with me!