Indy stars

Last weekend, I was thinking, "Man, the hard-court season is kind of getting off to a lame start this year. I think this is the weakest draw at the annual RCA Championships in Indianapolis that I've ever seen. Gilles Simon is the second seed? Geez!"

But as the matches have shaken down and it's gotten to the quarters, I'm reconsidering that. There's some guys out there that whose mission it seems is to make a ball split apart at the seams with every swing. Big bangin' will definitely be the order of the day for the rest of the matches.

Past champs James Blake (2006, in what was one of the best regular tour finals I've seen in years) and Dmitry Tursunov (2007) are slated to meet each other in the semis, which if they don't make it to that next step, I'd be surprised. Those two are among the hardest hitters out there so that should be a fun one to watch.

And you know who else is looking good out there? Tommy Haas. The way he had been playing this year wouldn't give any indication that he could take out the two players he did so easily. I'd like to see him take out Simon and make a good run here.

A quarterfinal I think will be pretty intriguing is the Bobby Reynolds-Sam Querrey one. They've both had career years so far and hard court is their best surface. If you haven't watched Reynolds before, check him out: He has a perfect hard-court game. He hits hard, serves big and can get into the net. Querrey, like many big servers, is pretty unpredictable I feel. This has the potential to be a really good one.

Anyway, I've learned that I just can't write off a tournament upon first glance. You never know how it's going to shake out when it gets to the end!

(Photo: Getty Images)

In the spirit of the Games

That quest for Olympic Gold sure is powerful!

It's enough to bring moms out of retirement, a la Lindsay Davenport, and to me, this shocker of shockers: Mahesh Bhupathi and Leander Paes (pictured) are teaming up for some tournaments this summer before the Olympics, which I thought would basically be the equivalent of hell freezing over, pigs flying, whatever metaphor you would want to use. They pretty much could have been a new metaphor for something unlikely happening! ("You want me to do what? When Paes and Bhupathi get back together!")

If you go to the ATP's home page, you'll see the pair in the video section talking about their chances at the Games. The image of them with big grins on their faces is surprising because these two have really called each other out in the past few years. But they're confident of their chances in Beijing and realize they don't have to be buddy-buddies to do well.

I really like following doubles and I've thought it a shame these two couldn't stick together because they were on their way to being one of the best teams ever. They've won tons of titles together, Slams and Masters shields a-plenty, and even in their first tournament back together last month they made the finals. They got knocked out in their first match in Indianopolis today by another Olympic pairing, Canadians Daniel Nestor and Frederic Niemeyer, but just barely.

Here's hoping the Indian Express gets back on track and can pick up a medal in Beijing. (As long as they don't knock off the Bryans, I'm good!)

(Photos: Getty Images)

Where would YOU be without this man?

If you're a tennis fan or player, think long and hard about it.

Michael Chang has to be one of the most, if not THE most, revolutionizing players in tennis in the past 20 years. Here's just a few of the ways he changed the game for the modern fan and player:

• First of all, thinking about what he did at the 1989 French Open, and the way he went about playing throughout his career, always forced you to dig a little deeper: whether you were playing your Monday night league match or playing for your high school team. If you were down, that didn't necessarily mean that you were out. Keep fighting, get one more ball back and you could be rewarded at the end. (As I type, I'm suffering from a slightly overstretched groin muscle after doing a split to keep a ball in play. But I won the point!)

• Without that French win, would Pete Sampras, Jim Courier or Andre Agassi gone on to be three of the greatest players of all time? All three of them at numerous times over times over their careers have said that "If Michael can do it, then hey, maybe I can, too." It forced them all to work harder and start to envision the possibility of winning Majors. And millions of fans can rejoice to that fact.

• Tennis isn't just for the giants. A player that's 5-foot nothing with a pop-gun serve at the start of his career getting to number 2 in the world, winning over 30 titles and almost $20 million in prize money? Anyone can play and do well at it! It's the size of the heart and determination that count, which Chang had by the ton.

I know there was some debate as to whether Chang belongs in the Hall of Fame because he only won one Major and never got to number 1. In my mind, though, there was no question. Congrats Michael! I and the tennis community out there owe you a world of thanks!

(Photo: AP)

Jersey ... Boy! (or back by popular demand: the latest installment of "Oh yeah, I play tennis, too")

Cracking inside-out forehands like my man Jim Courier.

Busting two-handed backhands like Novak Djokovic.

Serving up kickers as if it was Rafael Nadal.

Guess who was doing all of that? None other than yours truly over the week as I got ready to play my first tournament in nearly a year this weekend due to injuries.

First stop on the Van Sias comeback trail: Veteran's Park in Trenton, N.J. I was going to play a tournament at the club I belong to, but I missed the entry cut-off. So I scoured the USTA site for one in the region and Trenton was it. I had never been out there before, so why not go for it?

Can I tell you how much I regret that decision? I get out there, which was about a two-hour journey, get on the court and get my head handed to me by a pretty-good player, but one that if I were to lose to, I shouldn't lose by that much. This is sad, but I've gotten unused to playing a competitive match outdoors. Most of the time nowadays when I'm playing points, games or sets, I'm doing it indoors on Har-Tru. I hit with a guy in my neighborhood outdoors on hard courts in the park maybe once or twice a week, but that's it: We just hit. No points, nothing. I'm not adept at handling the outdoor conditions, such as wind and humidity, anymore, which is sad because if anything I grew up playing in the hottest place in the world, Mobile, Ala.

So my week of hitting like the perfect combination of Courier, Djokovic and Nadal was all for naught. After getting dusted, I was back on my merry way to Brooklyn, another two-hour journey. My total travel time was more than double my on-court time! All those two-hour journeys were expensive, too. So not only did I take a beating, my wallet did as well!

Anyway, I'm not going to pack it in. And I guess I did come away with some things I need to do or be more conscious of:

• First, and foremost, get my sorry butt in shape. I've been playing about three times a week, but I need to hit the gym, or at least jump some rope!

• When I'm outside hitting with that guy in the 'hood, make sure we play some points at least.

• This was a tip from the cab driver who dropped me off and picked me up at the courts: Make sure I give myself plenty of time to get there so I can hit the courts in a more relaxed state rather than being agitated about making it there on time.

• Never play out there again! Just kidding! I'm too hard-headed to give up. Plus, the way I figure it, that place owes me a trophy! I'll be back.

A dirty deed, indeed

Now that the grass-court season has (almost) come and gone—the men are playing in Newport this week—it's time for the players to start getting ready for ... the clay again?

There's three tournaments on the dirt this week that the men are playing in, and two for the women. The men are playing in Switzerland, Sweden and Stuttgart, while the women are in France and Palermo.

Something, though, has really stuck out to me on the men's side with the tournaments this week: Why are there first-round byes for the top four seeds at these events? Did I miss a memo or something? I can't recall a 32-player draw this year passing on the top four to the next round. Or in recent years, for that matter.

I should mention this: I HATE first-round byes at 32-draw tournaments! The WTA has been doing it forever, and I'm not a big fan of it there, either. Is it done for the players' sake? Is it a reward to them for what they've accomplished? Is it to cut down on the amount they have to play?

Well, I know the players complain about the travel and having to deal with injuries, but if you notice, it's only the top ones that do that. Journeymen and women can't play enough!

First-round byes can be both beneficial and harmful to the top players, I feel. Look what happened with Novak Djokovic in Indian Wells this year. He had a few days off, played a qualifier, Kevin Anderson, who had been on a hot streak and promptly lost. Would an extra match under his belt helped him get a better foothold into the tournament? No doubt.

But also if you look at the beginning of the year, where Maria Sharapova won multiple tournaments in a row, fewer matches probably kept her fresher.

If the ATP is doing the byes because it's the week after Wimbledon, that doesn't make much sense to me: The only semifinalist on both sides playing is Marat Safin, who just lost his match in a tight three-setter in Sweden.

Aside from all that, shouldn't the fans get to see as much tennis as possible? I guess it's the economy, though, forcing tournaments to struggle to accommodate players. Stuttgart used to be the fifth-biggest clay-court tournament on tour for the men, but look what it's been reduced to.

That's it for my rant on the matter.

Well, one more thing: Defending Swiss Open champ and bye beneficiary Paul-Henri Mathieu (pictured) lost his first match today. I just wouldn't mind saying bye to byes!

(Photo: AP)

The day after

Can any storylines the rest of the year possibly top what happened yesterday at the All-England Club?

In a five-setter for the ages, Rafael Nadal broke Roger Federer's hold on the gold cup to win his first Wimbledon title and first Slam outside of Paris. Everyone knows how devastated R-Fed is. I have a big question, though, in regard to his state of mind:

What's next?

Tennis With Attitude made a great point regarding what needs to happen, or rather, what could have made a difference: A coach should definitely be in the camp. Federer did a great job of coming back and battling on his own, but maybe a coach could've helped him as to where he shouldn't have been in that situation in the first place. I still think he's technically superior on grass to Nadal. If he has someone on board to scout how Nadal's progressing through the tournament, that could help.

Also, if I might add something here: I just took a gander at Federer's schedule for the hard-court season. He's slated to be back at it next week in Montreal, then Cincinnatti a couple of weeks after that, followed by the Olympics and finishing up with the U.S. Open. Now, I'm a die-hard Olympics fan, but he needs to skip it: Pull up lame, catch a cold, whatever. The primary focus for the rest of the year should be the Open, and back-to-back two-week events could be a killer. The Olympics will be back around before he knows it, and he'll still be young enough to be a contender there. I originally thought it was kind of weak for Andy Roddick to skip the Olympics, but in certain cases, I can see the logic behind it—Federer's situation being one of them.

So, R-Fed, old boy, if these words could reach you, take heed to them: Get a coach and skip the Olympics, then all could be right in your world.

(Photo: Getty Images)

Get ready for some fireworks

Serena Williams won to advance to the finals at Wimbledon, making for another "Sister Act." I'm picking Williams to win in straights! (Venus, that is.)

Tomorrow, the men are on tap: I'm still sticking with my original prediction of Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal to make it through. But I'll say this, and I hope it doesn't sound too crazy: If Marat Safin won tomorrow, I wouldn't be surprised at all.

My blogging is going to be extremely limited over the next couple of days for the Fourth of July weekend. So if you happen to observe it, have a safe and happy 4th! And if you don't, have a safe and happy weekend!