Serena Williams: Still the Best Female Player On the Planet

The last time Serena Williams played in a Grand Slam, it didn't end particularly well.

Rather than saving her agression and power for her opponent, Williams instead served up a volley of abuse to a lines woman who had incorrectly called her for a foot fault.

She was assessed a code violation which came when she was facing match point and promptly lost.

Comeback queen Kim Clijsters then went on to win the event.

Clijsters who had retired to have a baby, was playing in her first Grand Slam event in over two years.

Hollywood script writers must dream of being able to think up stories like it.

With the 2010 Grand Slam season about to start in Melbourne on Monday, Clijsters will be joined on the circuit by fellow un-retiree and Belgian, Justine Henin.

Added to the field also is the ever popular Maria Sharapova who missed last years Open after winning it all in 2008.

The women's draw will be full of worthy candidates.

But still, Serena Williams remains the clear favourite. She is by far the most dominant woman on the tour when she decides to play at her best. She doesn't always perform to her optimum level at non-Grand Slams, but when she is on her game, no other player can match her.

She is too strong and can simply overpower her opponents. There's been instances in the past when she has been beaten, such as the Wimbledon final in 2004 when Sharapova out-thumped her, but that was the exception, not the rule.

It was disappointing to see the way that Serena exploded at the lines woman during the US Open last year and I think that she'll use that incident and resulting embarrassment as motivation to show that she is the best.

She constantly mocked Russian Dinara Safina last year who unconvincingly held the No. 1 ranking for most of last year, for being unable to win a major.

Serena over took Safina at the end of last year and Williams has what she believes is hers - top spot on the official rankings. However, as defending champion, Serena will need to win in Melbourne to guarantee that she stays there.

At 28, Williams could play this game for a lot of years, but she is already wealthy and has many interests outside of tennis so it's reasonable to think that she's beginning to think more and more about the next stage of her career.

Australia Open's the Sports Year

I love this time of year. Christmas and New Year's is done and so begins another year of sport.

2010 is going to be a massive year. Any World Cup year has to be massive. I can't wait for South Africa in June and July. Australia has Germany, Ghana and Serbia in their group. Tough, but I think we can get through to the knockout phase. If we finish second and the Poms win their group, we will meet ye olde enemy in that first elimination phase.

It will be huge.

But, that's still a long way off and might not even happen. What we do know is that in just under two weeks, the Australian Open kicks off in the beautiful city of Melbourne.

From as young as I can remember, the Aussie Open is always the first major international sporting event each year. In the old days, it used to be held on the grass courts of Kooyong, but in 1988, it was moved to Flinders Park, now known as Melbourne Park.

Watching the tennis was always a fun part of the summer.

Me and a good friend, Dan Mousley, used to eat icey poles and watch the matches on my back porch. I still remember when John McEnroe was booted out of the tournament in 1990. I was actually disappointed because he didn't chuck a complete spaz, it was more a gradual build up of obscenities and abuse and finally, the chair umpire had enough and disqualified him.




I wanted to see a good old fashioned tantrum from the great man.

One of my all time favourite players was Martina Hingis. She was a six-time finalist and three-time champion.

She was (still is) sexy.

Melbourne loved her and she loved Melbourne.

I live in Toronto now so I can't go to the matches, but I will be following the tournament closely.

I love the surprises and upsets. In the men's draw, there is often a player who goes deep into the second week. Marcos Baghdadits in 2006, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in 07, Rainer Schuttler in 03 and Thomas Johansson actually won it all in 2002, but the biggest shock was in 1998 when Petr Korda defeated Marcelo Rios in the final in straight sets. Really, I could have busted the racquet out and I probably would have at least made the semi's that year!

Melbournian's love and support the event very well. For 10 straight years, the attendance has been over 500k and the last two years, they've had over 600k, including setting a one-day Grand Slam record of 66,018 last year.

It's very important because Sydney and some Asian cities are trying to poach this lucrative event, but the Victorian government and Tennis Australia do a great job of ensuring that they maintain the highest of standards.

Vinny Del Negro To Go? Or Eddie Jordan?

Let's start with the Top 10 plays from Wednesday nights NBA action.



You'll notice that the only two plays involving the Chicago Bulls and the Philadelphia 76ers were that they were on the receiving end of the highlight. It sums up the situation facing those teams right now.

In Sunday's power rankings, I wrote that Indiana Pacers head coach Jim O'Brien is my tip to be the most likely coach next to get the gun, but seeing the Chicago Bulls go down to the Atlanta Hawks by 35 points really means that Vinny Del Negro has stormed into favouritism.

It was the Bulls ninth loss in 10 games and second 30+ point hammering in the last three games. In between? A two point loss to the New Jersey Nets, who by the way won on the road for the first time this season.

There's no fight in the Bulls and it they give up too easily. It hasn't been a great year for sophomore Derrick Rose which has been really surprising. He was so good last year, especially in the playoffs, but he looks unsure of himself at the moment.

At 7-13, Chicago starts a six-game homestand tomorrow night which Del Negro's fate will likely be decided by, but, with the Celtics and Lakers coming to town, if I was a betting man, I'd have a few bob on Vinny to be unemployed by Christmas.

*****
The euphoria of the second coming of Allen Iverson as 76er has worn off pretty quickly.

Kate Fagan of the Philadelphia Inquirer "On Monday night in Iverson's emotional return to the Sixers, 20,664 people packed the Wachovia Center. Last night, that number dropped to 12,136.

Along with the attendance, so too dropped Iverson's effectiveness. He played 33 minutes, scoring 11 points on 3-for-10 shooting with three assists, six turnovers and no rebounds.

Last night's game should have been the streak's end: The Sixers were at home, playing an injury-wracked opponent, a team with double-digit losses."

The Philly faithful saw Iverson and fell in love for one brief encounter, but the 11 straight losses is just too much. For the record, Philadelphia is only better than the New Jersey Nets in the eastern conference.

Maybe Philly's head coach Eddie Jordan will also be looking for another job soon. If so, it will mean he has been sacked twice in 12 months.

Is this really Tom Cruise?

The Cavs Need to Stand Up to LeBron, Bryon Russell Just Needs to Shut Up

LeBron James posturing and dancing upset Chicago Bulls star Joakim Noah.

Sitting on the bench, Noah said something to James to the effect of "You're not a very good dancer".

LeBron took offence and the biggest pussy-est scuffle in NBA history broke out.

James didn't need to approach Noah. Nothing was going to happen physically, and LeBron was just being the smaller man of the two.

It's exactly this type of incident that James needs to be at least spoken to about by Cavaliers management.

There was no need for him to go over to Noah. But, because head coach Mike Brown and GM Danny Ferry are merely more of LeBron's "yes" men, no action was apparently taken.

Just like last year in the playoffs when LeBron sulked his way off the court after the Orlando Magic had just dispatched the Cavs.

LeBron's "I don't shake hands" was accepted as a manly thing to do by Cavs management.

Somebody involved with the Cavs needs to get the balls to say something that LeBron might not like, because otherwise he will just treat the organization with little or no respect.

*****

One of the stupidest hoaxes comes from Utah.

Apparently up to 7,500 fans turned up expecting to see the real Michael Jordan take on Bryon Russell (or Byron, whatever his f*cking name is) in a charity one-on-one match.

This is an extension of the challenge Russell issued after Jordan mentioned him during his Hall of Fame induction speech.

What gets me is that Russell couldn't even tie Jordan's shoes when they were both in the NBA, so why does he think he could beat him in a one-on-one game now?

All this is, is Russell desperately trying to cling onto anything that connects him to Jordan other than being the guy that MJ nailed his real final shot of his career over.

*****

Every kid wants to go to work with their Dad for a day. It's a bit different for this kid.

*****

More insight into the Mike D'Antoni-Nate Robinson fued.

Robinson might have some of the MSG crowd behind him (chanting for his name), but D'Antoni has the support of Knicks GM Donnie Walsh.

I'm fully in D'Antoni's corner on this one. The Knicks are a bad team and Robinson hasn't been taking his business seriously.

I have been a critic of D'Antoni in the past, saying that he lacks the discipline required to coach a team like the Knicks, but he's definately got my respect on this decision.

Oh yeah, the Knicks are 3-1 with Robinson DNP-CD'd.

The World Cup Draw @ The Score

NBA Power Rankings: Kobe's Lakers Untouchable At The Top

By the end of this week, the Lakers will have played 17 of 21 games at Staples Center, so it's no surprise that they are looking pretty content at the top of the league and also atop of The Daily Hurt's weekly power rankings.

Also Allen Iverson was the only man who picked up a million dollars last week and didn't have to sleep with Tiger Woods to do it.

1. LA LAKERS - Boredom appears to be the only real obstacle facing the Lakers face right now. Phil Jackson must be hoping it doesn't turn Ron Artest back to the (halftime)bottle.


2. BOSTON CELTICS - Boston won its four road games this week by a combined 50 points. Therefore, the C's are probably not too daunted by playing three of their next four on the road.


3. ORLANDO MAGIC - The Magic are going about their business quietly, and I think they remain the biggest threat to both the Lakers and Celtics—yes, even more so than the Cavs.


4. CLEVELAND CAVALIERS - LeBron has got the Cavs playing pretty well, but on form, they are still only third best team in the east. If LeBron does shoot through next year, do you think that Dan Gilbert would be interested in retiring the No. 23 league wide?


5. DENVER NUGGETS - The only real blotch on the Nuggets season so far has been the losses to the Clippers and Timberwolves. Still, Denver is off to its best 20-game start in franchise history.


6. ATLANTA HAWKS - Atlanta smoked Toronto for 146 points but needed only 80 points to beat Dallas on Saturday night, which was interesting considering the Hawks missed 20 straight field goals during one stretch.


7. PHOENIX SUNS - The losses to the Knicks and Cavs can't be overlooked. Just a week ago, Phoenix looked like they were a serious contender, but that doesn't seem as believable anymore.


8. PORTLAND TRAILBLAZERS - What a blow it was for the Blazers and any basketball fan to see Oden go down again. However, it may give Portland even more incentive to try to deal Andre Miller as soon as the December 15 deadline passes.


9. DALLAS MAVERICKS - Add the Memphis Grizzlies to the Mavericks list of boogie teams. Dallas shot a season low 35-percent and scored a season low 82 points en route to their third straight loss in Memphis on Wednesday.


10. HOUSTON ROCKETS - Seeing Greg Oden go down would have been an untimely reminder to the Rockets that they are still without Yao. Luis Scola once again displayed his super talent, but the Rockets still lost again to the Blazers.


11. OKLAHOMA CITY THUNDER - I was expecting more from the Thunder against the Celtics. Is Kevin Durant a starter in this years All-Star game? He deserves it.


12. SAN ANTONIO SPURS - I know the Spurs don't care about what happens in November and December, but losing both games at home to the Celtics and Nuggets was a pretty poor effort by San Antonio's standards.


13. UTAH JAZZ - Utah couldn't beat the Timberwolves on Saturday, so just how are they going to fair this week where they face the Lakers twice, San Antonio and Orlando?


14. MIAMI HEAT - For all of Miami's struggles of late, Dwyane Wade has a knack for saving his absolute best form for when he faces the league's best. However, he needs to show it against opponents not named Bryant, James or Roy.


15. SACRAMENTO KINGS - The Kings are 1-7 on the road but a tidy 8-3 at Arco, so by the looks of it they'll need every advantage they gain at home if they are to stay within reach of the playoffs.


16. MILWAUKEE BUCKS - The wheels aren't completely off in Milwaukee, but the Bucks have dropped seven of the last eight and are at Boston next. Brandon Jennings hasn't shot better than 40-percent from the field more than once in the last eight games.


17. MEMPHIS GRIZZLIES - The Grizzlies 16-point blowout of the Mavericks was impressive not because of Memphis' offensive, rather its defense, especially on Dirk Nowitzki. It will be put to the test again this week against LeBron James and Kevin Durant.


18. NEW ORLEANS HORNETS - The key to New Orleans season might not rest on the return of Chris Paul. Instead, it could come down to how David West snaps out of his early season funk.


19. TORONTO RAPTORS - The Raptors finally stood up for themselves against the Wizards and Bulls after Atlanta humiliated them earlier in the week. This could be a turning point in the season, but most likely it will be just a mirage.


20. LA CLIPPERS - That the Clippers shot 35-percent but still crushed the Indiana Pacers says quite a lot...about Indiana.


21. DETROIT PISTONS - Last year Ben Wallace looked like bored and done with playing basketball. On Friday night he had four monster dunks on five field goals and he already has half as many rebounds this year as he had all of last season. He's back.


22. CHARLOTTE BOBCATS - By becoming the first team to lose to the New Jersey Nets this year, it confirmed what I'd thought for a while. The Bobcats aren't very good.


23. WASHINGTON WIZARDS - Every time I think Earl Boykins is little more than a crowd pleaser, he keeps proving me wrong. His game-winning free throws against the Bucks showed that he's got smarts much bigger than his size.


24. GOLDEN STATE WARRIORS - Five-game road trips are never easy, but four of the Warriors opponents this week have records south of .500. It will be very interesting to see how they play without Don Nelson who'll miss the entire trip.


25. CHICAGO BULLS - Joakim Noah was right to call LeBron out for his dancing, because that's Shaq's gig. If only the rest of the Bulls team had Noah's attitude they wouldn't be four games below .500.


26. INDIANA PACERS - I just can't help but wonder how Indiana knocked off the Celtics but have won just twice in 11 games since. With Lawrence Frank done, Jim O'Brien must be the bookies favourite to the next coach to go.


27. NEW YORK KNICKS - The Nate Robinson-Mike D'Antoni feud has stretched to three games. If Robinson needs reminding about his attitude, maybe he should watch this again.


28. MINNESOTA TIMBERWOLVES - With Kevin Love's impressive numbers in his return and two wins from four games made it easily the T'Wolves best week of the season. Still a lot of work to do, but maybe this is the start.


29. PHILADELPHIA 76ERS - Allen Iverson's return to Philadelphia began with tears and I have a feeling it will end that way too. Philly has lost nine straight so for Iverson; it will probably feel like he's never left.


30. NEW JERSEY NETS - The Nets breakthrough victory was a relief no doubt, but they still need another nine wins to avoid the 1972-73 Philadelphia 76ers(9-73) for the worst season ever. See, there's a reason to watch the Nets this year.

Questions, comments or suggestions email:
thedailyhurt@hotmail.com

twitter.com/LeighEllis

Even Nike Can't Get Tiger Woods Out Of This One.

Tiger Woods' poorly kept secret is out.

He's been fooling around behind his wife's back.

He might not have admitted it in those exact words, but if anyone thinks the "transgressions" he admits to are anything else, they are a fool.

Tiger Woods: Super golf, Super rich, Super competitive, but Superman? No.

No man is.

We are flawed and we all mistakes. Some more than others but no matter how much we don't want to, we do things sometimes that we wish we hadn't.

So what to do now?

Should Tiger make a full confession? Tell us more, tell us everything? He can if he wants or if he doesn't want to. Won't change my opinion of him. It might change others but who cares?

My opinion is that he mucked up and he has to deal with the consequences. No PR waffle, just face the music. Not even Nike can bail you out of this one. But just man up.

It's his problem and no matter how good a golfer he is, if Elin doesn't forgive him, then he's blown his perfect family life with her.

Even if she does forgive him, things won't be the same again.

And for that he's only got himself to blame.

The best she or they could do is just admit what's happened and move on.

Look at David Beckham and Posh. Posh still refuses to believe that Becks was mucking around she just looks plain stupid. Money hungry and stupid. She'd rather have his fortune and wealth than her own dignity.

I don't know Tiger or Elin, but she seems like a pretty good wife to him. I don't know if she cooks or cleans but she doesn't go out trying to make herself famous for being his wife. It looks like she loves Tiger Woods the person, not the billion dollar golfer. She conducts herself well and stays out of the spotlight.

Like any athlete who spends a lot of time on the road, Tiger Woods must have women - skanky and sexy - absolutely heaving themselves at him everywhere he goes.

It's part of the life of an athlete or any celebrity. They must know that the attention they get from girls is not always genuine, but when it's constantly on a plate like that, yeah, it must be hard sometimes.

Still, it doesn't excuse anyone.

Not even Tiger Woods.