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So if I'm Team USA Fed Cup Mary Jo Fernandez, I call Alexa Glatch and Melanie Oudin into the locker room, sit them down real close to me, look them in the eye, and say, "Girls, we go 'em right where we want them!" Try to give them a little confidence - better deluded than dispirited, right? It look's like the USA's back is really up against the wall against this nicely balanced, talented, spirited team of Italian veterans who won both of yesterday's singles in the Fed Cup final at Reggio Calabria, Italy. Neither Flavia Pennetta (who beat Alexa Glatch) nor Francesca Schiavone (who topped Melanie Oudin after a tight, tiebreaker first set).
Reggio Calabria - isn't he Roland Garros's second cousin?
Anyway. The other big news of the day was Novak Djokovic's match-point dismissing win over Radek Stepanek, which earned the Djoker a place opposite Roger Federer in the Basel final. Federer is the definition of "classic" as well as "classy" in tennis, so it only figures that he's on the cusp of winning the tournament where he once worked, dreamy-eyed, as a ballboy. This kind of thing, unsurprisingly, happens quite often in tennis. So maybe you should forget all those expensive tennis lessons and set aside the brochure from the IMG Nick Bollettieri Tennis Academy and just send your kids out to ballboy at any event they can find.
Anyway, have a good Sunday, I'll be back tomorrow morning with some red meat.
-- Pete