All right, Fed Cup weekend is upon us - how did it sneak up on us so quickly? James LaRosa, who has blogged for Tennis Channel (last year in Paris) will be covering the tie between the USA and Germany in La Jolla, Ca., this weekend.
James a screenwriter (yes, produced) from Los Angeles is a long-time TennisWorld reader. He freely admits that his favorite player is Lindsay Davenport. James also plays the game, although he says, "I wouldn't even know how to describe my game. . ."
That's okay, James, as long as you can describe Ashley Harkleroad's, or Sabine Lisicki's. We'll probably have our first post from James up by the end of the day tomorrow, and you'll have a Crisis Center thread in the morning, for general discussion and match-calling, as well as a Sunday Brunch post.
I confess that I'm not overly inspired by the first round of Fed Cup this weekend. Russia towers over the field, personnel-wise, and the number of obscure players who will be taking the field is remarkable. The other way to look at this is that the wide-open nature of so many of the ties may ensure one of the most competitive first rounds in recent memory. I mean, do you have the guts to predict the winner of the Argentina vs. Austria tie?
The match-ups I like best are Italy vs. Spain in Naples, and China, PR vs. France. Who knew that China had annexed Puerto Rico and does this mean Gigi Fernandez will be playing doubles?