Day 5: QF Doubles: Gulbis/Kunitsyn d. Murray/Vemic: 6-3, 6-7(5), 10-6. YAY, A WIN!!! Ernie and Kuni looked so impressive today, especially during the first set. Ernie was just killing the other team with his serves. He never lost any of his service games and he was equally impressive at the net, showing lightning reflexes and going toe-to-toe with the other guys on the "wolleys". Kuni was just as good and was the more stable player. At one point, Ernie started questioning a service call and was not letting it go. Kuni came over and told him to stop. Kuni is really growing on me. During the second set, they kind of played loose, particularly Ernie (who else?). He started missing those forehand shots. What the heck is wrong with his forehand that he makes a lot of UE's on that side? It's lethal but so unreliable. Imo, it ain't broke but it sure needs fixin'. But today is not a day to quibble. It's a goooood day! The best part about the match besides the win, of course, was seeing Ernie smile-giggle-laugh. A LOT. That was some eye-candy, I'm telling you. And it's so nice to see him rebound quickly from the loss yesterday. From the get go, he and Kuni looked like two boys let loose in summer camp (particularly Ernie), joking around, doing knuckle bumps, slapping hands, talking between points as though they had a running conversation, and smiling when the other scores a winner. They looked so relaxed together, as though this was just a friendly match in a local club. Of course, during the second set they got serious because they were getting some stiff competition. And during the tiebreak, they really got down to business. And now on to the semis. Sarauj! And oh, one more eye-candy...Ernie sitting cross-legged during the changeover. Have some beer, Ernie?



Let's see, what else. Ok, there was the match between Kuni and Dudi Sela, which Sela won. **sad face** When I say Kuni is growing on me, it's because of having seen him play Andreev and Petzschner, and winning against them from being down a set. He could have won the Sela match, too, but Sela was just very good and accurate on offense today and ran Kuni ragged in the third set. But Kuni is a fighter and a cool head on the court. What's not to like? Besides, whenever he plays, you can be sure of a Gulbis sighting. ha ha. Ms. Vika was there too. And Ainars and KHW. They are one tightknit group.



I also saw the del Potro/Stepanek match. Even though I can't stand watching del Potro's game (not del Potro himself), I purposely watched this one to study his game and understand why Erno could not win over this guy, besides the obvious reasons that we all know already. This was the third match of del Potro's that I've seen this week. Ugh! Btw, Stepanek beat him and I know exactly what he did to win this one. First of all, del Potro's game is nothing but offense. Defending or counterpunching is not for him. He is like a female Vika. Always attacking, always taking it to the other guy. He does this with a killer serve and solid groundstrokes on both sides. He can also track balls down because of his long strides and long arm reach so unless you have a killer dropshot, don't even think about it. So if you pit two offensive players against each other (del Potro vs Gulbis), obviously the one with the most consistency and accuracy wins. We all know how Ernie's game just unraveled yesterday with all the UE's while del Potro was just solid. Today, Stepanek was not anything spectacular, nor is he ever. He does not have a killer shot. But he mixed up his shots often and used A LOT of sliced backhands, all of which he patiently fed to del Potro- who was just waiting to smack them- until he drew an error. It helps that Stepanek is an experienced player who hardly misses a shot. He is a good all-courter and retriever, even on old legs! Sheesh. And he keeps his sense of humor on the court, too. Well he got under del Potro's skin and won in straights. If only Ernie stayed to watch this one.



There are other matches and players to blog about but unless they lead to Gulbis, ain't really worth the trouble. So I'll leave it here. It has been loads of fun blogging and coming to Memphis. Mission accomplished. Thanks a lot for reading.

Day 4: Round 2: Gulbis vs. del Potro. Gulbis lost, 6-4, 6-3. As a fan, this is a very deflating day and it's hard to post without getting into a rant. But I shall try to be cool and objective. But sheesh, Ernie didn't even get to play his beautiful tennis today. Only a few moments here and there that we had glimpses of it. Well, we all know that tennis is as much about the other guy as the one you're rooting for. So credit to del Potro (whose game I can't stand to watch) for being tough, consistent, and most of all, effective. This was really a match between a man and a boy.

I sat in one of the box seats just behind the baseline and so had a very good vantage point on the match. From here, you can see the players up close when they towel off, get the balls, and collect themselves. You can see their facial expressions, too, clear as daylight, and sense their moods. You hear them mutter to themselves. None of these you get on tv because their backs are turned to the camera. So what did I see? Well, let me start with the good stuff.

• Ernie's backhand. What a beautiful solid shot it is. He drives it with topspin but also slices it and is very impressive with both. He can create extreme angles with it to the opponent's backhand. It is also pretty accurate. He doesn't make as many errors with it as with his forehand. I like it more than his forehand because it is a very reliable shot.
• His serve. Besides it going at you at 100000 mph, he can also put a lot of spin on it so that the direction of the ball curves before it lands. Just awesome.
• Speed of his forehand shot. Sometimes he literally smacks the ball where there's no backswing to speak of or any kind of stroking. Just plain slaps it. And it goes so fast it's a blur when it lands. We all know this but I just have to say it because it is unreal to watch.

And now for the not-so-good stuff. When I say this was a match between a man and a boy, it's because of the difference in the composure of the two players. After Ernie lost the first set, he went through a number of negative emotions. He got impatient and irritated with the ball boys. He got sulky, making swatting gestures with his hands as if to say "scrap that" or "to hell with that". He became destructive, purposely destroying his racquet. On the contrary, del Potro was in control of his emotions. Sure, he got upset with himself a few times but mostly he looked determined and businesslike. There was not a sense of him unraveling. And so his game did not unravel, either. Before the match started, Ernie's body language was very positive. He looked relaxed and confident. But after he got broken in his very first service game, all the positive body language disappeared. And his game just got more and more ragged and less and less consistent. How could it have been otherwise? His mind was already muddled by his emotions. He could not control his game anymore. All that raw talent going the way of one unforced error after another. Now if Erno were a fighter, he could get irritable and sulky and destructive as much as he'd like because no matter what, you know he would fight till he dropped. But he's not that type of a player. He's not a fighter like Nadal or scrappy like Stepanek. He is more of an artist on the court (nobody comes to mind for comparison). An artist cannot show his full artistry when someone's messing with his act, right? I cannot quite explain this yet but this is my impression. So. I still hold to my views expressed in yesterday's post that his temperament is a little too delicate when subjected to pressure. The pressure today was del Potro's consistency, imo. Two 20 year-olds but what a difference in maturity. Maybe it's time for Ainars to pack his bags and go home. Let Ernie travel on his own. Be his own man.

Ernie's match did not start till 1:00 so I had time to check out Kuni's match against Petzschner in one of the smaller courts. It was the first set and Kuni was losing. Petzschner looked very sharp against Kuni. I was feeling pretty neutral about the match, just went there to kill time really. At the start of the second set, in walks her royal prettiness Ms. Vika. She sat directly opposite the players' chairs, in the front row bench. Her presence there got me curious. First thought was: she probably can't find anything to do when she's not playing that she ends up hanging around the club and watching more tennis. Then I saw that she was cheering Kuni on. So I got it. Vika cheers Erno. Erno cheers Vika. Erno cheers Kuni. So Vika cheers Kuni. They're pretty regionalistic, aren't they? So when Vika went "Davai! Davai! C'mon!" and clapping loudly, heck, I started cheering too. What's a fan to do? I cheer Erno. Erno cheers Kuni...well, it's all interconnected. Fanlove works in mysterious ways. And the cheering worked! Kuni started making his shots and drawing Petzs into making those defensive lobs that he could then put away, and the more he did that, the more the crowd got into his game. And they started cheering for him too. I left before the match was finished but I found out later that he won. And to think that I consider Petzs a more talented player than Kuni. Echo of another match, anyone?

Day 3: No Gulbis action today. You're probably thinking that this should shut me up for one day. Nuh-uh. I still have a few things to report from yesterday and I really want to clear the backlog 'cuz I'm going to be sick if I don't. I know, it's no longer fresh news and you may not care to know what trivia I have to dish from yesterday but folks, I want to remind you, this is my blog, so I'll do what I want.

In yesterday's post, I did not have the chance to share my thoughts on the match. The play-by-play should come with an analysis, don't you think? Otherwise, it would be like giving you a shoe without the shoelaces. If I wax philosophic, and the ick factor becomes intolerable, well you know what to do. A fellow fan, her name is Camilla, saw Ernie play in Zagreb and afterward wrote a post in the MTF/Ernests Gulbis Thread and I'm paraphrasing her here, that it's easier to watch Ernie lose a match when you are actually there than if you are watching it on tv at home, because you are able to perceive more of what's going on. So true. I certainly saw a lot more than just how fast Ernie's serves were swinging by me. Such as, what happened during the second set that the stats alone could not tell you. You'd probably think he had a walkabout. Not the case. This is what happened: Dent upped his game having lost the first set. This put pressure on Ernie and he got rattled by the pressure. His game became messy. Same high-risk attacking game but with less consistency. You could see that he was trying to figure out how to win the set but couldn't piece it together, thus the acting out. Well, when you're rattled, how can you think straight? Unless you have a few ounces of control over your emotions, which Ernie does not yet have, it's really hard to do. Having seen him with his dad, though only on a few occasions, it's easy to see that he is a well-loved and sheltered child. Of course, I could be wrong about his upbringing but if I am right, this may have given him a more delicate and sensitive temperament, not unlike an artist's. He may have the physique of a modern jock but inside he is a softie. And softies generally don't do well under pressure. He needs to harden up. When and whether this would come to pass is anyone's guess. How then did he manage to win the third set? I can make a guess. Having one set each, the two players were even going to the third set, like starting the match over. At this point, all the bad things that happened during the second set could be forgotten. If you're smart you'll know it's already irrelevant. You start with a clean slate. This probably allowed Ernie to calm down and regroup. And because Dent is not a top-level player, he was not able to sustain the pressure that he put on Ernie in the second set. So Ernie played basically unchallenged. As you can see from the stats, he played a much better third set compared to the first. Serve percentage went up, less unforced errors, better scoreline. If Dent were a better player with a game to pressure Ernie and the toughness to sustain the pressure longer, no chance. Against del Potro? No chance. That's brutal from a fangirl, I know, but I saw del Potro play against Canas who threw everything but the kitchen sink at him last night, still he won. Granted, Canas does not have a game like Ernie's but the guy could think on the court. Del Potro had an answer to whatever Canas did. He is tough as nails. He will have to self-destruct tomorrow if Ernie were to win. So I'll go to the match thinking that I'm there to enjoy watching Ernie play because as Camilla said, there's really no more beautiful player to watch than Ernie when he plays his best tennis.

Before I sign off, let me tell you about my one other Gulbis sighting. I could just tell you straightaway that I passed him by the stairwell and be done with it. But that wouldn't be satisfying, would it? There's as much fun in the telling as in the story itself so let's see if I can work it a little bit. I'll begin with the Racquet Club of Memphis. As a venue for a combined ATP/WTA 500 tourney, it really is quite small. There's the main entrance that opens to a small lobby, then you go through the gift shop, then down a winding staircase to the subterranean floor and through a short corridor that leads to the ticket office, the players' lounge, and the courts. Everyone passes through this way, although the players can enter and exit their lounge area through a separate stairway in the lobby. When the place gets crowded, as at the end of the day session or before the evening session begins, you're practically rubbing elbows with the players in the passageway. Not that the players seem to mind. There's a relaxed atmosphere about the place, such as you'd find in your local sports club. And if you've been to the South of the US of A, you'll know about the famous southern hospitality. So we go back to Vika's match yesterday. As soon as it was over, Ernie and his dad left. I did too because by then I had all the tennis I could take. I was walking a few feet behind them. Then they stopped by the stairwell. It looked like Ernie wanted to go to the locker room and Ainars wanted to get out of there. So Ainars was on the stairs and Ernie was in the corridor. They were going back and forth in Latvian like this when I passed between them to go up to the upper level. Ernie was just a foot away to my right, and I don't know, you can call me stupid but I did not dare turn my head to look at him. I just kept going, straight as a rod. At the landing, I did look down and he was looking up at his dad with this sweet smile on his face, so boyish looking. So now I'm standing by the receptionist's desk in the lobby inquiring about the ride to the hotel. Here comes the father and son. To my surprise, Ainars decided to stop by the receptionist too. Son asks in Latvian, which I can easily guess to be: "What are you doing, dad?" Father says, "Schedule, son." Whoa. They speak to each other in English, too. Then Ernie, now halfway out the door, looking all pouty and impatient and sounding a bit whiny, says what could be, "No dad. Not now. We've got to go. We can ask Karl. He should know." And so they went. If I were with a friend who was not a fan, said friend would have told me then to wipe the silly fangirl smile off my face.

Day 2: Ernie's first round match against Taylor Dent. Here's another caveat that I forgot to mention yesterday: If you're looking for serious, pinpoint commentary on the technical aspects of the game that was played, you had better look for it elsewhere. Sure I'll give it a shot, I might even pretend I'm a female Johnny Mac with a keyboard but don't forget, I warned you. So proceed with caution. Here goes. First order of business for Ernie as soon as he entered the stadium and after setting down his tennis bag: change his shirt. What was up with that? He couldn't do it while getting ready in the locker room or he sweated so much on the way to the stadium? Never mind. Both you and I know, an Erno shirtchange is a rare sighting indeed so it was a treat, though so fast that if you had blinked you'd have missed it. Anyway, to the match. I'll start with broad strokes:

• Taylor Dent is as much a ballbasher as Ernie
• He also has a powerful serve, with the same speed averages as Ernie (100-132 mph)
• They are both tall and large men

So if you look at my broadstrokes you'd think that they were pretty evenly matched, right? Wrong. Ernie is eye-candy and Taylor is not. No, sorry, not what I meant. Ernie is way more talented, that's what I meant. Anyway, to the pinpoint commentary. Take from it what you will, they're my notes from the match. I hope you don't get a headache. (Sorry but I'm too sleep-deprived to make poetry out of it.) There are holes in the commentary where a. I stopped writing because Ernie was on my side of the court and I just had to ogle, b. the game was played so fast that it could not be transcribed, c. there were errors off Ernie's racquet that I was too upset to write about, and d. I remembered that it was a lot more fun watching than writing!

First set, 0-0 T serving. Started off with a tumble after lunging at a strong return from E. Got people worried there. Held serve. Next, E serving, 0-1. At 15-15, a 2nd serve at 106 mph, then a nice return down the line from T that E could not get to.15-30. First double-fault (DF) to 15-40. First dropshot, a success, to 30-40. At 40-30, an ace at 98mph. Game to E. Whew! As you can see he got himself down to 15-40 and then had to climb out of it. T now serving at 1-1. T came to the net but E passed him pretty, to 0-15. Got to 15-40, then a long forehand miss from E, to 30-40. DF from T. Broken. E now serves at 2-1. At 15-0, DF to 15-15. Then an 80 mph serve that was well-placed, to 30-15. At 40-15, a 122 mph serve that was unreturnable. Game to E, 3-1. T now serves. A beautiful down-the-line (dtl) pass with T at net, to 0-15. Two aces from T followed. Game. E serves at 3-2. Got to 0-15 somehow. Got to 15-15. Then a long rally followed that E won where he mixed up his shots- slow-slow-fast-slow (the slow coming from sliced backhands which as you know seem to just float over to the other side, hence, "slow". And btw, E can slice prettyyyy!) . 30-15 now. Then, get ready for this, a 2nd serve at 122 mph! I had to do a double-take at the speedometer. Unreturnable, of course. 40-15. You'd think that he's home safe now but no, it got to deuce. (You can supply your own choice of Erno errors here.) Now E comes to the net but T passed him, so to 30-40. Then a long backhand-to-backhand (bh2bh) rhythmic rally that got me in a trance until E ended it with a drive to the forehand side that was as swift as it was delicious! Point! 40-40. Then an error and so back to 30-40. A strong serve followed by 2 solid bh shots then to the net to finish with a soft volley. 40-40. Then 40-30. Now a 108 mph serve with a good pickup from T but E passed him on the fh side. Game. Ernie leads 4-2. Fast forward now to 4-4, T serving. (E got broken in the previous game.) E broke back! E serves at 5-4. At 30-15, E serves a 108 mph, then hits to fh, then to bh, and to fh again to finish, none of the balls bashed, just nice topspin shots. For game-set, an ace. Ernie leads 1-0.

Second set. Well, what do you know, we got fast to 0-2. T started playing better and I guess E felt the pressure. This set is not really worth writing about because he lost it (and also my notes are more messed up than usual) but E got dramatic here and showed what an emotional player he is so for that reason, I'll go ahead anyway. T serving now at 2-0, 15-30. E missed a shot and screamed something in Latvian. 30-30. Then E smacked a passing shot to T's fh, 30-40. Then another point and it's game to E but still down a break. E now serves at 1-2. He got quickly down to 0-30. Frustrated, he kicked the ball and it was such a good kick that it sailed into the stands, accompanied with some choice words in Latvian. Did he apologize to the people in the stands? Noooo, not our spoiled brat. Next, he served an ace. 15-30. Then, a dropshot (ds) that T got to and returned with a shot that E could not get to. 15-40. Another error and it's game to T. 3-1. The next game T won to go up 4-1. E now serves. At 15-0, a long bh2bh rally, about 6 balls, then a ds from T that E ran down and returned with a bh slice down the line for a winner, 30-0. For 40-0, E hits to fh then to bh, fast and furious, that D returned short, so E ran to meet the ball and here carved the shot so deliciously that you could see the ball twirl in the air as it dropped just over the net. Game to E, 2-4. T now serves. In this game, which T held to go up 5-2, E missed a return of serve and screamed again in Latvian (I must learn it!). And you know, the place was so quiet so you can just imagine how jarring it was. Anyway, T finished off the set in style, with a couple of aces.

Third set, 1-1, E serving. Long exchange that E ended by netting a fh return. 0-15. Ace. 15-15. Ace. 30-15. Then to 40-40. An attempt at a ds that failed. 30-40. Ace. 40-40. Error from T. 40-30. Ace. Game to E, 1-0. T serves. At 15-0, an error from T to 15-15. Then a long exchange that E won. 15-30. E doesn't usually make much sound while playing but here he was going HMPT....HMMMMNNNHHH....with every shot, I guess from having to exert a lot. At this point, I noticed that he was not bashing the ball as much, just using topspin to create some angles. I love it. Anyway, E broke T to go up 2-0. E now serves. He got down quickly to 0-30. Blame it on that high-risk game of his. And oh, I have some thoughts on that but first I must get to the end of this so I can get some sleep! So now, another error and it's 0-40. Then broken, 2-1. Then E breaks back, 3-1. E now serves. Opened with ace, 132 mph. 15-0. Ace again at 132 followed by a "c'mon!" a la Vika, 30-0. Third ace at 118, 40-0. A 2nd serve at 128 but a DF, 40-15. Then an ace at 132. Game to E for a 4-1 lead. Towelhead moment. T now serves. Twice T went to net and won both points. Then he follows with 2 aces to clinch the game, 2-4. Crowd roared approval. E now serves at 4-2. A 126 mph ace. 15-0. Another point for 30-0. Then a 127 mph for 40-0. To finish, a 104 mph to T's fh, then to bh for a winner, not bashing it, mind you. Game to E, 5-2. Well, you know the rest.

I hope you didn't get a headache. If you read it through, well, I'm honored. There's more to report but I must get some rest. But I'll leave you something to chew on. Vika also played today. Her match was the last to be played in the stadium and for whatever reason, given her #1 ranking in this tourney, very few people stayed to watch it. Her coach was sitting nearby and since she kept looking towards him, I dunno, I also found myself looking his way. Besides, he's a cutie. Anyway, Vika won the 1st set easily. At the start of the 2nd, I looked towards her coach and guess who my radar picked up... Erno! He was with Ainars. I think they came near the end of the 1st set. They were sitting three rows above me so I didn't have the pleasure of reading his facial expressions while he watched Vika. Damn! Well folks, I'll leave it to your rich imagination.

I must start with a caveat: this blog will feature the name Gulbis pretty frequently as he is the reason I came to Memphis on my week off from a job in New York. So if you're allergic to the name (and I can't imagine a single reason why you should be), you've been warned. If you're a fan, a big fan, a huge fan, well then, welcome, because this is for you! And since you're a fan, I'll skip all the background info that you're presumed to know (from spending countless hours trawling the 'net of anything Gulbis, Ernests, that is) and if you know something that I don't, please do share. Also, this blog will last only as far as my stay in Memphis (and you'll probably thank me for that) as I do have to get back to work on Monday.

Day 1: Gulbis did not play today but Kunitsyn did and my radar told me that he might come and watch his friend and doubles partner play. I had this in mind when I went to the stadium but in fairness to Kuni and Andreev, there really was no other match at that hour that I wanted to see. I got there in the middle of the first set, when Andreev was firing bombs at Kuni and Kuni's somewhat permanent hangdog expression seemed very apropos to the moment. No Ernie. Time passed and I kind of forgot about him. But ho, look what the wind brought! Here HE comes rushing in with his dad and... it's really, really hard to miss two very tall men. At the next changeover, my fired-up stalkery instincts got me moving- and fast- to a seat two rows behind them and thank goodness this was not the USO as the usher did not stop me. And hey, look, there was also KHW. Apparently, he had been there all along. This was as close as I got to Ernie , just a mere two feet away, and boy, was I excited. If this is what I get on my first day in Memphis, just imagine what the next few days will bring! It took all my reserve not to stare at his back the whole entire time! First set ended and Kuni lost 6-1. The second set started off a little bit better for him and I cheered like mad, because you guessed it, I wanted a third set! Ernie was in a good mood today; he was quite the joker. He was often chuckling about something with his dad and KHW, but especially with his dad, and I just loved that. That's just something really nice to see of ANY father and son, you know. And if only I understood Latvian. My guess was that he was having fun at the expense of Andreev, who started to pile up on the UE's in the second set , even more in the third, and eventually lost the match. Vicarious revenge, anyone? So Kuni beat Andreev to humor his friend. By the way, Kuni has a nice varied game, with many approaches to the net. He quite deserved to win. Ok, what else about Ernie...there were the beautiful, reddish-brown curls that we all adore and I have to say the obvious, I just have to, he's really drop-dead gorgeous, even more so up close. Those eyes...at one point he turned around and he looked right at me. (Damn, where are the emoticons when you most need them?) Well, as you can see I did not turn to stone as here I am blogging so I know I'm safe, and so are you. It took all my self-control not to take a picture of Ernie every five minutes. I just took two and only under the pretext of photographing Kuni, who sat directly ahead of us at the opposite side of the court. (I do know how to be subtle.) I'm sorry if said pics cannot be posted here as due to my digital unsavviness I didn't even think to bring the computer cable for my camera. Heck, come to think of it, I didn't even think to write a blog until tonight. So. Match ended, everyone headed to the exit and I wanted to take pics of Kuni and Igor leaving the court. I wasn't going to take one of Ernie as at this point he was facing towards me and I'm sure you'll agree, that would just be so blase, you know? At best I could steal sideways looks. Well, idiotic camera went hiding in my bag and as I was too busy fumbling for it I didn't get to do any of the above. Ernie and company had gone and done swallowed by the crowd.

In case you are wondering if there were other things that went on besides Gulbis: First off, there was Safarova. She was so impressive against South. Powerful serve and baseline game. She just about clobbered the other girl, 6-2, 6-2. One thing I noticed about Lucie, besides her very slim (thin?) figure is that she has a very pronounced shoulder rotation in her service motion, more so than any of the girls that I've seen on the tour. I guess she needs it to make up for the lack in muscle mass, give the motion that extra momentum, and boy, is it effective. Not that it makes her service motion look weird. Indeed, it is quite nice to look at. Her ballerina-like physique is a rarity these days and you can blame Serena for that. My guess is that we're going to see them in even bigger packages in a few years and I can't wait. Btw, Gaidosova and Dokic came to watch her match.....Next, Krajicek. A tourney would be boring without an upset and Kraj did it to Kudryavtseva. In case you didn't know, this was a big upset as Kraj had to qualify for this tournament. Poor Kudry, she did all that an upset child would do- cry, stamp her feet, throw her racket, smack balls violently against the tarp, scream in Russian, cry some more. She simply could not stop an on-fire Michaela. The girl is baaaack! Her game reminds me of Sharapova's, with a matching competitive spirit to boot. I'm rooting for her to go far in this tourney.....Last but not least, Parmentier vs. Coin. This was really worth watching. Three sets of slugfest, French style. This match allowed me to see up close the difference between a very good player (Coin) and a very, very good player (Parmentier). It came down to this: (Ready? Some insight coming your way.) In the heat of an exchange, when both players are trading groundies from corner to corner, both being equally able to run the balls down and put pressure on the other, Parmentier is able to hit with more accuracy and consistency- and sustain this said accuracy and consistency longer- than Coin. At these moments, while on the run, Coin would be hitting incredible shots three times in a row and then on the fourth, would miss it as badly as a club-level player would (me, for instance) that it makes you go "what-the-hey!?"And if you've watched Coin play before, you know that she's not a headcase. She's as steady and as competitive as they come (just ask Ivanovic). At the risk of sounding trite (ok, I'll risk it), when push comes to shove it really boils down to talent, and as David Foster Wallace has pointed out in String Theory, the difference may be a mere breath but it makes ALL the difference. With that folks, I bid you g'night from Memphis, the Home of the Blues!