!97878731 Howdy. Huge day, and not just for Robin Soderling (who took out Andy Murray at Indian Wells) or Jelena Jankovic, who sorely needed the the confidence that comes with playing a championship match again. It's a big day because we're picking up our dog, a golden retriever/lab/hound cross who spent the night in a motor home, making his way up to New York from South Carolina. Found him incarcerated in a kennel; he's just 7 months old. More about that in Deuce Club in Friday (it will be pet day at TW!).
I also need to apologize for an error in yesterday's post, which I couldn't fix until this morning. Isner did indeed play all three possible matches Davis Cup matches, something which I knew. But fact-checking is a little like using a compass - rule no. 1, with a compass, is to always trust it, because you have it precisely because when you get turned around on a wild trail, and feel that first, frigid drop of perspiration roll down your backbone, you consult your compass and often think: This can't be right! The compass must be damaged or off . . .
I have yet to hear a story about getting lost in wilds in which the compass was, really, broken.
So it is with fact-checking. When I went to count and compare the number of matches Isner and Djokovic had played (not against each other, but total for the year), I used the ATP Tour site, and my eye paused on the Davis Cup entry. I saw only his two singles and thought, That's funny, I could have sworn Isner played doubles! Of course, he did. But the site gives you (as the default setting) singles matches only - if you want doubles, you have to toggle the appropriate button. Anyway, since I am well-accustomed to being wrong and was under the usual time/deadline pressure, I didn't stop to figure it out. I just assumed my "compass" is always right. . .
Anyway, we're off to the Vince Lombardi rest stop on the New Jersey Turnpike, just outside New York City, the introduce cowboy Luke to Buck(y), his new best friend!
Enjoy the tennis, everyone. I hope to catch some or all of the women's final myself. Feel free to call the match here and chit-chat all day - and night - if you wish.
Andrew will be putting up a red-meat post a bit later. . .
-- Pete