Not long ago, Marin Cilic (he's the one on the right) looked ready to emerge as tennis's next
big star. In 2010, he stormed to the semis in Australia, taking out
del Potro, himself the newly crowned US Open champ, along the way. The
two are only five days apart in age and it looked at the time as if they
might challenge the reigning monarchs (Federer and Nadal) together.
Unfortunately, it hasn't really worked out that way for either of them.
Cilic has yet to even make it to the quarters of a major since, even skipping the Australian this year. Of
course, 23 is still young by tennis standards. Cilic may yet have another deep run in him, though hard courts are the more likely venue.
Golden Squid Report
Marina Erakovic - New Zealand's #1 matched last year's result, losing in the first round to Lourdes Dominguez Lino (Spain) in straight sets. She fared better in doubles, teaming with Monica Niculescu (Romania) to form the 16th-seeded team. They lost in the second round today to Shuai Peng/Jie Zheng (China), again in straight sets.
Player: Lauren Davis Age: 18 Nation: USA Current Ranking: 169 Notable Conquest: Mona Barthel (Germany, 30th seed) Today's Result: loss to Christina McHale (USA) in straight sets
Davis went through qualifying to reach her first Roland Garros main draw. She celebrated the occasion by taking out a seed in the first round. The Cleveland native comes from a medical family. Mom's a nurse. Dad's a doctor.
Glatch was a very successful junior player, winning the Easter Bowl and the Orange Bowl, making the US Open final in both singles and doubles and attaining a world junior ranking of #5. Her senior career has yet to take off. It's been a decent week in Paris, though, reaching the second round for the second time.
Catching Up with Old Friends
Juan Carlos Ferrero (Curtain Call, US Open Day 8) - It can't be easy to be Ferrero at Roland Garros. He won this tournament nine years ago. He'd made the finals the year before that and the semis the two years before that. At the time, he sure looked like the emerging dominant force in clay court tennis. Then there were many injuries. And then, of course, Nadal came along. What's it like for him on the grounds now? How many people still remember? I will always have a soft spot for Ferrero. I'm glad he's still playing at 32. Alas, he fell to Marin Cilic (Croatia, 21st) today on Court 7.
Zopp almost deserves recognition for the awesome name alone. He went through qualifying to reach his first ever Roland Garros main draw. He is Estonia's top ranked player.
Golden Squid Report
Greta Arn - I guess it's Finno-Ugric Appreciation Day. At 33 years of age, the Hungarian Arn is still fighting the good fight. She lost twice today. In singles, she fell to Anastasia Pavlyunchenkova (Russia, 22nd seed) in straight sets. In doubles, she teamed with Tsvetana Pironkova (Bulgaria). The pair lost to Anna-Lena Groenfeld (Germany)/Petra Martic (Croatia), also in straight sets.
Memorial Day weekend is the beginning of hiking season in Vermont. Our first trek of the year was at Underhill State Park. My Wife has a full write up at her blog:
This was our first hike at a state park. One thing I really like about the state park system is that they grade their hikes by difficulty. The Green Mountain Club, the fine organization which maintains the Long Trail and many other hiking trails in Vermont, isn't so good about that. In their many publications, only the trail map offers any indication as to easy, moderate and difficult hikes. My Wife argues that all of the Long Trail hikes are difficult but I still contend that they're not all equally difficult. A frame of reference is very useful for planning.
It was a beautiful day for hiking. On the way back down the hill, I was walking a bit behind the ladies and had a very funny encounter. As a group of 20-somethings was coming my way, one of them was whistling "Yellow Submarine." I couldn't resist belting out "And we live beneath the waves..." He laughed. "I'll have that stuck in my head all day now," I said.
"That is how it came to us," he replied, "and that is how we pass it on to you."
Inspired by the idea, every time we came upon other hikers on the trail from that point on, I whistled the song, trying to plant the song in their heads. No observable reactions but maybe I can get this going all summer. Care to join me? Need a refresher on the song? Here you go:
On the way home, we stopped off at the Underhill Country Store for sandwiches and creemies: orange and vanilla on offer. I love creamcicles so that's always a winning combination.
Monday marked the beginning of kickball season. That's right, adults can play kickball, too, and there might very well be a league in your area. Check out the WAKA (World Adult Kickball Association) site for details. I hadn't played since the fourth grade but a contingent from the broomball team played the spring season with an eye to getting a jump on the summer. There are 16 teams in the league with approximately 18 players each. The league champion goes to Vegas for Nationals.
For my first game, I did...okay. I went 1-for-2 at the plate but felt lost in the field. I'm sure that will improve with time. Just as with broomball, some organization is required for our team to succeed, I think. I say Mock is the man for the job!
The atmosphere is far more relaxed than the broomball league - plenty of beer on hand, too (perhaps not coincidental). I felt a little out of my element as the first-timer. This group is bigger than the broomball team and includes many more people whom I don't know. Yes, yes, a stranger is a friend you haven't met yet. Yadda, yadda... I can already see that it will be a nice excuse to see friends regularly over the summer.
Oh right, we lost 4-1. It was really just one bad inning that made the difference. I think once we get our act together, we'll be respectable. The team finished second out of four in the spring season.
It's Dutch Appreciation Week here at The Squid. In March, Bertens went through qualifying to reach the main draw of the tournament in Fes, Morocco. She won her first round match, the first WTA-level win of her career. She then went on to win the whole tournament! She qualified in Paris, too, though with a top 100 ranking, she won't have to go through qualifying at Slams much longer. This was her first Slam main draw.
Golden Squid Report
Tobias Kamke - There's no shame in losing to Roger Federer (Switzerland, 3rd seed), the very definition of a lousy first round draw for nearly a decade now. Still Kamke's made it to the second round in Paris each of the past two years. So, his ranking will take a hit - albeit a small one - with today's first round loss. Wimbledon is his best Slam, though. He reached the third round in 2010. Perhaps he has a chance for a decent run if the draw gods should smile upon him.
I've been reading a lot of superhero team comics over the past several months: Justice League, X-Men, Avengers, Fantastic Four, etc. Moore's and O'Neill's Victorian era team serves as a reminder that all of the characters who populate the comic books of the 20th century have their antecedents in the fantastical literature of 19th century Europe. Indeed, this picture discovered by Miss Murray in the second issue of an earlier incarnation of the League demonstrates that even she and her entourage are part of a long lineage:
Some of the connections between 20th century characters and their ancestors are obvious. What is the Hulk, after all, if not a nuclear age interpretation of Jekyll & Hyde? Loads of modern era superheroes have invisibility powers like Hawley Griffin. Moore and O'Neill aren't shy about drawing parallels either - their League has one token female character as did all of the teams listed above in their first incarnations.
I was instantly intrigued by the characters themselves. My own experience with literature of the era is pretty shoddy. Of all Volume 1's central characters, Captain Nemo was the only one for whom I had read his original book, Jules Verne's 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea in this case. If I am to continue with this series, I may dig into the source material as well.
The stories themselves, however, didn't do as much for me - at least not at first. Despite the costume drama trappings, many of the team story formulae are easily identified: the team formation story, the early hints of romantic possibilities, basic beat-the-bad-guy adventures and so forth. I was also a little turned off by the admittedly era-appropriate misogyny. But by the end of the collection, I was sad it was over. I am quite charmed by the way literary figures keep turning up and am eager to see who makes appearances in further installments.
Mock wrote about the League as part of his A to Z Challenge. I'm still a relative newbie. If you want to read the thoughts of someone who lives and breathes this stuff, Mock's your man. Also, my blogger pal Suze has an interesting post this week about the original Superman movie with pertinent thoughts about the stories that influence our lives.
