Wahhah, gonna miss it since I don't arrive until Sunday afternoon! Hope you all have fun andante we can have another later in the week!

I know, Annie. Sigh, just was impossible to find a day that worked for everyone. But Lord knows we'll have fun at the Esmeralda every night. ;)

Yay, DC! Morning, everyone. :)

So envious of everyone going to IW.

Are the Oscars really on Sunday? That's too quick. :)

jewell! Headed to bed soon. But so glad I caught you. Any fun weekend plans?

Jax! *loves* Not really, apart from watching Dubai final. :) Hoping for a more competitive match than Radwanska's last one with Goerges. Still not up to doing much, but better. How about you?

I haven't seen even one Oscar film, bad Jewell...the only thing that's grabbed my interest in ages film-wise is The Hunger Games. Might even manage to get to the cinema to see it. :)

Go Agi go! :)

You think *you're* bad! I literally haven't seen ONE film this year. None. I am totally clueless. Would like to see The Artist though...

OK, must retire. Totally fried.

But you be well, jewell! Enjoy the tennis!

I hope more folks stop by this weekend...

I haven't been to the cinema since the final part of Lord of the Rings came out. Or maybe it was to see Love Actually. Super bad. :)

Will you be able to watch, Jax? Are you giving up anything for Lent?

Oh, must answer questions. :)

Yeah, my last time was ... The Wrestler? Ha.

I'll try to watch, just because I feel like I have to. Yes, Lent - trying to give up swearing. Not very successful. You?

'Night Jax. :)

I never really do Lent...the few times I've tried I've lasted about four days and then forgotten. Admire people who can do it though.

Could never manage not to swear for the whole time. :)

I already renounce so much ... there's nothing left! Ha. Maybe Facebook. But not like I go on there that often ...

OK, gotta sign off. You take care, dear jewell. :)

LOL. "I'm giving up self-denial," was my favourite answer to the Lent question for a bit.

I keep meaning to delete myself off Facebook, I so rarely go to it.

It's really not one of my faves (honest!), but speaking of addictive stuff The Matrix is one addictive popcorn flick. Shouldn't have been channel surfing while doing much-needed home improvement (with a vacuum, cough cough). Damn!

Carrie-Anne Moss is a babe.

Morning, NP. I liked the first one ok but never made it to the 2nd and 3rd.

Home improvement = housework?

Are you giving up anything for Lent? What have you been reading lately?

Well nice to have a grand daughter who know how to cheer her "morfar" up: "Look at it this way morfar (mother father): Caro played like absolute crap and only lost 6-7, 5-7 to Goerges. That's one hell of a bottom level to have!"

Morning, manix.

"morfar" - nice.

"I liked the first one ok but never made it to the 2nd and 3rd."

The 1st one was an imaginative hodgepodge of sci fi, martial arts, CGI & mildly stimulating undergraduate philosophy all rolled into one. The 2nd wasn't as exciting but still very watchable. The 3rd was a disappointment.

"Home improvement = housework?"

No, I really do my home improvement with a vacuum cleaner.

"Are you giving up anything for Lent?"

Is this another joke of yours?

"What have you been reading lately?"

Something you're not.

Morning Jewell

Good morning,
DC at last! Too late to meet Jackie. Thank you and have fun in IW along with all the Twibers

Housework? No thanks.

Delpo-Tsonga in 5 hours. Hard to choose between these two as both are wonderful players. Tsonga will have the crowd and Delpo will have Franco and me.

In Dubai besides the Final between Julia and ARad the mens Qualifiers with Marco Chiudinelli, Marco Berrer, Lucas Lacko an others in action.

OOP: http://www.atpworldtour.com/posting/2012/495/op.pdf

RR's are like moron magnets.

Morning, zenggi!

JMDP vs Tsonga should be fun.

Morning, jewell, Manix and NP :)

If a granddaughter can't tell the truth to her morfar, who can?

Oh, I've missed our exchanges so much, NP. :)

Melzer won? I'm sorry I've missed that. Has anyone watched that match.

And very happy for Nalby. And David and Nicolas and Stan. I guess the SF's are David-David and Nicolas Stan, right?

zenggi

I saw it. Melzer returned Isner's serves so well it was scary. He hit a return winner to seal the second set.

Read Melzer has a broken toe, I think, which makes a win even more impressive. I miss his 2010 self.

You like to suffer, jewell. :) How are you today? No headache?

Sijsling is in the SF of the Challenger in Wolsfburg. Yay! I think he got inspired after playing those super tiebreaks with Roger in Rotterdam. Igor won the second one!

zenggi, sup.

"Oh, I've missed our exchanges so much, NP. :)"

I know.

Seriously, just got done with Peter Schweizer's Throw Them All Out, which was featured on 60 Minutes recently. Not exactly an eye-opener, but clearly an eye-widener, which is what you should expect in this type of political lit anyway.

Thanks, Manix. Very impressive. I remember that match against Tursunov at Wimbledon last year and he was solid on grass too. I'm glad for Jurgen. And what about playing doubles with Petzschner? Great couple!

That sounds interesting, actually...ugh, politicians.

This is lovely. Wall-to-wall coverage of Dubai and Acapulco on CanalPlus Sport Nordic next week. In HD too.

Hey, NP.

No news this side of the pond at a personal level. At least none I want to share with the net.
On national news, one of our Princes is in coma after avalanche ski accident in Austria.

What about you? Did you get rich, married, famous, abroad?

Manix,
Thanks for the news on CanalPlus. That means that I'll get Dubai as well. Another bunch of recorded matches that I'll watch in 30 years or something.

Do you keep all your recorded matches, zenggi?

"ugh, politicians."

Like you wouldn't do what they do when given a chance?

"Did you get rich,"

I wish.

"married,"

Hell no.

"famous,"

In TW I'm already a demigod.

"abroad?"

Not since I got back, no.

Yes I do, jewell. My DVR is full again. I have to take action soon or buy a new one which I was thinking already to do. This one is already 5 years old and nowadays they are easier to handle. Specially for GS's as there are several channels showing simultaneously matches. I can have two recording at the same time. Or so I hear from the techs.

Sigh. Just got a call from from a web tech. I have to redo some of what I did yesterday. Problems with the transfer from our old site to the new. How much I don't know, but it looks like I'll miss the birthday party for 2 of my great grandchildren.

Can you copy them onto DVDs, zenggi? Then you could send them out as Christmas presents, NP-style. ;-)

Poor you, NP. Keep trying. Demigod? My, my. Did you buy that status along with your CB? In Walmart sales, right?

Oh, Manix! That's terrible. Can't you do it later or tomorrow?

jewell,
I cannot copy the matches into DVD's fast enough. You need time to do that you know. Besides, I don't think I can send them as Christmas presents for my relatives and friends. They aren't into tennis.

Right. My chauffeur is ready. Back later for tennis.

"Did you buy that status along with your CB?"

It was earned without hard work.

"In Walmart sales, right?"

I actually prefer Target most of the time. It's just that Walmart takes care of my CBs the best.

I hear you, NP. I hope to see you later for the matches in Marseille. You like Tsonga, don't you?

And as you say, Really off. :)

That's horrid, manix...hope you make it.

Breakfast time for me.

"Problems with the transfer from our old site to the new. How much I don't know, but it looks like I'll miss the birthday party for 2 of my great grandchildren."

manixdk, maybe I missed something, but are you saying you're gonna skip your great-grandchildren's b-day parties for your personal business? You're my new hero!

"You like Tsonga, don't you?"

I like any1 who has spanked Fedal at the majors.

Has to be done now. It won't take too long though it seems. But I have to stay home and wait by the phone to see if everything's OK. I'm not complaining. My department's web team is at work all weekend.

Boy,

that Serve from Milos is just a BEAUTY...

I hope Milos can win the Title in Memphis. It'll take an extraordinary effort to take him out because the Guy isn't just a Serve.

Bit random, but I love these photos:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/2012/feb/24/michael-marten-photographer-tide-pictures

Hi, TennisFed.

Finished. Page references always get screwed up when updating CMS and redesigning at the same time. Now I have to wait for the report from the web team. There are literally over 50,000 pages, so it may take a while before I know.

I'm not that upset. A birthday party for two 2½ year olds who have seen me twice isn't something I'm that upset about. They'll get their presents, and I miss chitchat with people 1)I've never met or 2)I've seen as recently as two weeks ago.

I may not have got abroad in a while, but I got a broad who got abroad by the broad range of her work:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZXT2aSUiOfg

(BTW, that picture with the teddy bear has gotta be one of the most WTF choices ever made for a music clip.)

Casulana is the first published female composer in the history of Western music. More info from Wiki:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maddalena_Casulana

This was actually my 2nd exposure to this madrigal, which I still feel is inferior to the very 1st performance I heard on this CD set (for a textbook called Understanding Music, IIRC) that I happened to borrow from a bud before heading off to college. (The tone is just a bit too harsh, which is further exacerbated by the close miking of the soprano voices.) But the book, the respected Anthology of Music by Women, and the accompanying CD set are overall excellent. Def worth an investigation, esp if you have free access like I did at a school library. (I really should've ripped all the CDs I checked out from the library while I was in school. The thought never came to my conscientious mind!)

Oh yeah, and did I say this madrigal is gorgeous? YT has other worthwhile works by Casulana, so if check them out before death calls to you 1st.

Later.

Good morning everyone - just about to take my mother out shopping. Honestly, taking her clothes shopping is worse than going out with a bolshy teenager and she's 83:))

I wan't to give one of my favourite players a big pat on the back. Julien Benneteau - now one of the 30 somethings - reached a career high ranking of 29 this week. Last August he was 111. Well done him!!

Have a great day everyone. Cheer on JMDP for me please:)

Eh, looks like this is the only other Casulana madrigal on YT (which can be found on the more popular English & Italian Madrigals collection on Virgin Classics):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iDAnLolekKI

So nothing new has been issued in a decade, at least not on a major label. Maybe I should contact a few early music specialists.

Really off.

*waves to Caroline* Hope at least you can stop for a nice lunch. :)

Not quite a complete Grove Dictionary entry, but close:

http://bit.ly/w2F76U

Again, if you have free access to these references in school or a library, make as much use of 'em as you can. Back in college I didn't even have to step a foot in to the library to use all this stuff. Instead I could browse the entire Grove Dictionary of Music online from my room, and even without having to enter a single code! That's $300 worth of savings per yr! And naturally you had next to no responsibilities, so you could stay up all nite doing whatever the hell you want! Man I miss those days. (On 2nd thought, most of the the pianos in the practice rooms sucked.)

K, off.

"And naturally you had next to no responsibilities, so you could stay up all nite doing whatever the hell you want! Man I miss those days."

Me too sometimes but if one stayed there I daresay they would become tiresome eventually.

Liked the music. :)

Meh, that link to photos above should really be this one:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/gallery/2012/feb/24/tides-michael-marten-photography

If anyone needs a stream for Dubai

http://www.dmi.ae/live.asp?lang=ar&ChannelID=2

The page is in Arabic, but just over the video is a menu bar with tabs. Click on each tab to see what's showing. The three sports channels are there. One of them, not sure which, will send the doubles final at 14.00 CET. It's excellent quality

There were fireworks the last time Mirza and Vesnina met Huber and Raymond in doubles:

http://youtu.be/tEuIvuEH1cc

Morning everyone
Jacquie,could not open my eyes after 10 PM yesterday,they just would not take the abuse I'm inflicting on them lately,lol:)thank you for Deuce club!

zenggi terrible news about your princess,I thought on TV lately about a snow accident involving VIP but those they showed and say they were ok,couple with 2 lovely girls in pinlk,Denmark was it?can't really tell!I hope the Princess gets back to consciousness,these avalanche have been devastating nowadyas killed 2 skiers here last week,one woman survived!

NP,I myself prefer Target but for this reason:their employeees are more considerate,more clean looking and engaging with customers,(they mostly students or people with other incentives in life but just working for Target for ever...)even when they're tired, they don't blame it on the client and be unprofessional with you,Walmart on the other hand, is closer to me, cheaper at times, but boy oh boy the customer service on the check out points,just perplexing most of the times!For groceries I stick to Trader Joes,they're impeccable so far!

I like the idea of the Deuce Club upcoming subject Jacquie,actually it's great! and it gives me an incentive to go intrude a tennis player's privacy,lol! as you know I will not want to be "en reste" on the subject,lol!

jewell,different sightings between low tide and high water,interesting too,thanks for sharing...

I don't rememebr where excatly but in Massachusets somewhere there's a spot on their coast where when the tide is low you could walk kilometers on white sandy beaches with beautiful geometric figures, but oh when it comes back up you'd deny ever being down under over there,totally different places...

may be Heather can come name the place for me!lol

Tsonga-Delpo on court in Marseille now

Delpo breaks in the 1st game, serving 1-0

Easy hold for Delpo, Jojo serving 0-2

Jojo holds easily, Delpo serving 2-1

Lizel and Lisa break Yelena/Sania, serving 1-0

JWT looked pretty frustrated with that BH into the net. But a brilliant rally for him to take the third BP and get back on serve.

Difficult camera angle on this stream, hard to see what's happening.

*waves to Aube*

Sorry both have held serve, Hub/Ray serving 1-1

Jojo breaks back, we're on serve 2-2

I'm tired of all the captchas. Only posting highlights from now on.

Saturday Order of Play

ATP: Marseille started at 8 AM - Tsonga vs Del Potro
WTA: Dubai at 10 AM - Julia Goerges vs Agnieszka Radwanska
ATP: Marseille at 10 AM - Tipsarevic vs Llodra
ATP: Memphis at Noon - Melzer vs Stepanek
ATP: Buenos Aires at 3 PM - Wawrinka vs Almagro followed by Ferrer vs Nalbandian
ATP: Memphis at 4 PM - Raonic vs Becker
WTA: Monterrey at 5 PM - Babos vs Errani followed by Arn vs Cadantu
WTA: Memphis at 8 PM - Marina Erakovic vs Sofia Arvidsson

Indian Wells is my favorite tournament of all, and after 6 years, it looked like I'd swing it this year. But then it fell apart and Miami plans came together.

I've given up pasta for Lent. And taken up some new volunteer work. It's the only time of year I give a flying one about being a Catholic.

So far, so good for Delpo! I feared he'd get crushed by JWT. But here he is, breaking the Tsonga serve... now hold this time!

So JMDP breaks again? Stupid phone call.

manix - the captchas make it really hard for match calls.

Lovely pass from JWT.

I don't really understand why, since I have a TypePad account, there are these constant captchas.

Tsonga pressuring JMDP and has a break point, which he saves with a monster ace out wide.

Hi tina and Master Ace.

JWT's return goes long and JMDP holds.

Hold for Tsonga. I'm finding it really hard to see the ball, having to squint at the stream.

Hub/Ray break San/Mir after a really exciting long rally, serving 4-2

mornin' jewell. Or rather, afternoon

I've got streams open for Marseille and 6 Nations Rugby. Order v. chaos.

7 winners, 12 UFEs for Tsonga so far, 7 and 9 for del Potro.

Jewell

I have it up on one my big screens and it's difficult. Very low angle.

Good point about the afternoon, it's nearly 2pm here.

Too late as usual. Thanks for the match calls, jewell and manix.

On to find a stream.

del Potro is pulling out the big serves at the right moments so far.

And Delpo with a break already!

Good quality in French:
http://lsh.lshunter.tv/static/popups/8351102461620.html

He needs to, apparently he's won 1 out of 10 points on his second serve.

Great BH from Tsonga.

There is a new post? I'll stay here.
Tsonga with a BP

Ray/Hub take the 1st set 6-2

That's great, Delpo. Punching the ball with the FH.

Terrific FHs from del Potro and then a great volley to save BP.

Aube,
It's a Prince who had the accident.

5-3. Tsonga to serve

Tsonga falls and del Potro goes to make sure he's ok. Nice.

Poor Tsonga. Bad fall. Delpo comes to the net again like he did yesterday when Richard fell.

And with a massive serve, Delpo takes the set 6-4.

Manix,
Is the problem solved at work?

JMDP just played the big points better in that set...took his chances, stopped Tsonga mainly from taking his.

zenggi

So far so good. I'll know for sure in an hour.

Think I'll finish this match here and move to the new thread for Dubai, maybe.

mir/ves couldn't consolidate their break, Hub/Ray serving 3-1

Manix,
Fingers crossed for you. You can then choose without stress between going to the birthday party or watching the Final in Dubai.

Delpo looks serene today. As in more confidence.

Looks like tough sledding for Mir/Ves, serving 1-4, down a set.

zenggi, the birthday party started at 2PM, and I'm pretty sure most will be gone by 4. So it's the final for me.