Australian Open Day 3: Kuznetsov

Curtain Call

Player: Andrey Kuznetsov
Age: 21
Nation: Russia
Current Ranking: 79
Notable Conquest: Juan Monaco (11th seed, Argentina)
Today's Result: lost to Kevin Anderson (South Africa) in straight sets

 

Photo via bettor.com

This was Kuznetsov first main draw appearance at the Australian.  His second round finish is his career-best for a Major.  He was the Wimbledon boys champion is 2009.


Golden Squid Report

Christina McHale (Golden Squid since 6/29/2012) - McHale's in a bit of a tail spin at the moment.  Her first round loss to Yulia Putintseva (Kazakhstan) was her eight consecutive lost match.  She didn't fair much better in doubles.  She and partner Eleni Daniilidou (Greece) lost in the first round the second-seeded team of Andrea Hlavackova and Lucie Hradecka.  Hopefully, she can get back on track with the upcoming North American hard court swing.

Australian Open Day 2: Menendez-Maceiras

Curtain Call

Player: Adrian Menendez-Maceiras
Age: 27
Nation: Spain
Current Ranking: 233
Today's Result: lost to Jeremy Chardy (France) in four sets

Photo via Wikipedia

Menendez-Maceiras went through qualifying to reach his first Australian Open main draw.  For his career, he has 1 Challenger title and 9 Futures titles.  The Challenger tournaments are one level below the top flight, the Futures two levels below.

Catching Up with Old Friends

Edina Gallovits-Hall (Curtain Call, US Open Day 3) - Gallovits-Hall was double-bageled by Serena Williams (3rd seed, USA) today, probably not so great for the ego.  However, since she didn't play the main draw last year, her ranking will still improve slightly.  She is currently the sixth-ranked Romanian woman in the world.

Golden Squid Report

Rebecca Marino (Golden Squid since 6/24/2011) - It's great to have Marino playing again.  She took off several months of 2012, citing mental and physical fatigue.  Today's match, a straight-sets loss to Shuai Peng (China), was her first in the top flight since last February.

Greta Arn (Golden Squid since 5/24/2011) - Arn had to go through qualifying to reach the main draw.  She lost to Jana Cepelova (Slovakia) in the first round, failing to match last year's third round result.  Arn will turn 34 in April.

Australian Open Day 1: Bemelmans

Curtain Call

Player: Ruben Bemelmans
Age: 25
Nation: Belgium
Current Ranking: 114
Today's Result: loss to Edouard Roger-Vasselin (France) in five sets

Photo via Hbvl.be

This was Bemelmans's first Australian Open main draw.  A lefty, he is currently the fifth-ranked Belgian in the world.

A few years ago, I posted a list of reasons "Why You Should Watch the Australian Open."  The highlights:

Australia
If you live in a northern climate as I do, glimpses of summertime anywhere else in the world can provide a welcome relief. Thank goodness for the Southern Hemisphere! The sunshine over Melbourne can seem relentless and I don't envy the players the heat but it's so pleasant on the TV screen. Then there's the people. To say that Australians are more laid back than Parisians, Londoners or New Yorkers is an embarrassing understatement. The atmosphere of the tournament is reflected accordingly. The beer is free-flowing, though, and crowds can occasionally tend to the raucous. If any Slam feels like a day at the beach, this is the one.

No Longer Optional
The Australian Open was, for decades, the ugly duckling of the Slams. Quite often, the top American and European players would decline to make the trip Down Under at all. That time has passed. Endorsement contracts are now structured to give everyone ample incentive to show up. Also, ever since Pete Sampras established total Slam titles as the measure of all-time greatness, no one in search of a legacy can afford to pass it up. While perhaps still not as glamorous as its brethren, the Australian Open is a world-class event by any measure.

The Big KickoffThe tours have already been in action since the beginning of the month but Melbourne is the first big gathering of the tennis season. Some are critical of the fact that the tennis year begins with such an important event right off the bat. It's not quite as strange as NASCAR beginning its year with the Daytona 500 but the timing does present unique challenges. The summer Slam season is a marathon. The physical challenge is to pace oneself at the smaller events and peak just in time for the big pay day. As for the Australian, this is the first tournament of the year for many of the top players. Those who trained well in the off-season are rewarded here.

A Slower Hard Court?
The hard court surface used in Melbourne is of a different chemical composition than that used at the US Open. The stuff is called Plexicushion Prestige and is apparently slower than the Deco Turf at Flushing Meadows. Thus, it is not so surprising that Rafael Nadal has found greater success here than in New York. I'm not sure I really buy it - concrete is concrete, right? But as I have no personal experience whatsoever in the comparison, I must defer to the experts.

Ideal for Night Owls and Early BirdsIf you live in the Western Hemisphere and are at your best in the afternoon, the Australian Open is probably not the tournament that will turn you on to tennis. But, if you're like me and just start to hit your stride around 10 p.m., the coverage will suit you just fine. Similarly, morning people like my wife could watch over morning coffee (assuming they care more about tennis than my wife does, of course). It upsets me that so much of the tennis is played as I slumber but my schedule works out pretty well for the other Slams so I really can't complain.  


Catching Up with Old Friends

Maxime Authom (Curtain Call, US Open Day 1) - It's Belgian Appreciation Day at The Squid.  Authom is currently the sixth-ranked Belgian.  He reached the main draw through qualifying, then lost to Carlos Berlocq (Argentina) in four sets.

Golden Squid Report

Juan Carlos Ferrero (Golden Squid since 6/25/2012) - Ferrero announced his retirement in September.  He played his final ATP tournament at Valencia in October.  He leaves the sport with 16 titles, including the 2003 French Open.  He held the World #1 ranking for nearly two months of that same year.  Hall of Fame?  My guess is no.  Injuries and the rise of Nadal robbed him of a more meaningful legacy.  Nonetheless, he had a fine career.

Family Movie Night: Lupin the Third

Title: Lupin the Third: The Castle of Cagliostro
Director: Hayao Miyazaki
Original Release: 1971
Choice: Our Girl's
My Overall Rating: 4 stars out of 5

Image via Ghibli Blog

The Castle of Cagliostro was the directorial debut for Hayao Miyazaki, the Japanese anime titan.  The title character, a professional thief and a cad, was created by Monkey Punch for a manga series entitled Lupin III.  This film is actually the second of five feature films about Lupin but the only one directed by Miyazaki.

The story begins with Lupin and his partner Daisuke robbing a casino only to discover that the loot is counterfeit.  This inspires a visit to the fictional duchy of Cagliostro, rumored hub of an international counterfeit operation.  Soon, a damsel in distress comes on the scene.  Adventures ensue.  As is often the case with Miyazaki films, the plot is quite sophisticated for a children's film, though perhaps this one is better suited for slightly older kids for other reasons.  We'll get to that in a bit.

Much of Miyazaki's genius is already on full display in this early work.  Landscapes and other wide-view shots are breathtaking.  Human movements, on the other hand, are a bit more clunky than in later Miyazaki films.  Mind you, it's still pretty good by most people's standards.



Our Girl's a big fan of this one.  We don't have many rules regarding Family Movie Night but one we had to institute early on was that once a film had been chosen, no one could choose it again for at least a year.  It was an important measure for assuring variety.  Our Girl generally likes to pick movies she's seen before rather than trying something new.  It's not too surprising.  Most children appreciate the comfort of the familiar.  She'd been particular eager for this one to become available again.

Multi-generational considerations:

• Language is a bit on the mature side.  While it is officially unrated, the movie has a suggested MPAA rating of PG-13.  If you worry about your kid dropping the wrong word in polite company, you might consider another Miyazaki film as your first.

Family Movie Night: The Return of the King

Title: The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
Director: Peter Jackson
Original Release: 2003
Choice: My Wife's
My Overall Rating: 5 stars out of 5

Image via Pollianicus

Eleven Oscars.  Not that Oscars are everything.  After all, Titanic won eleven and nearly everything associated with that movie makes my skin crawl.   However, those eleven Oscars are at least an indication that I'm far from the only person who considers Return of the King to be one of the greatest films ever made.



Recently, my blogger pal Suze asked me which of the three Lord of the Rings films was my favorite.  At the time, I said The Two Towers, the middle movie.  But now, having watched all of them again over the past few weeks, I'm not so sure.  All three have strong selling points.  The Fellowship of the Ring is a loving introduction to the story and perhaps the most beautiful visually.  The Two Towers is the heart of the tale and provides lots of meaningful screen time to my two favorite Tolkien characters: Gollum and Treebeard.  The Return of the King provides a magnificent conclusion.  By the end, the viewer feels as invested in the journey as the characters.  We have all defeated Sauron.  We have all made it back home.

The story's conclusion reveals its true hero: the eternally faithful Sam.  Frodo's the star, of course, and he deserves admiration for having borne the burden of the Ring.  But it is Sam who carries him into Mt. Doom when his own strength and will are gone.  It is Sam who saves Frodo from himself.  Without Sam, the mission fails and Middle Earth is lost.

The end also reveals the tale's most tragic figure: Gollum, of course.  For the most part, The Lord of the Rings follows the fairy tale dictum that everyone gets what he or she deserves.  However, for as genuinely evil as he proves himself to be, Gollum's sentence far outweighs his crimes.  After the centuries of pitiful slavery to the Ring, his fiery death seems almost merciful.

Multi-generational considerations:

• There were a few moments when Our Girl covered her eyes and asked to tell her when it was over.  Gollum murdering Déagol in the beginning was the first.  The Army of the Dead freaked her out quite a bit as well.  Overall, I'd have to say this is the scariest of the three movies.
• It is also probably the most violent.  If you love epic battle scenes, this is your film.
• "Too much kissing," she said.
• Our Girl and I are still midway through reading The Two Towers together.  I was a little worried that her interest in the story would fade once we finished.  I'm pleased to say that hasn't been the case so far.

I'm with the Band: Kent State

Band: Marching Golden Flashes
University: Kent State University
Founded: 1919
Current Director: Frank Cosenza
Today's Bowl Game: Arkansas State, GoDaddy.com Bowl, 9 p.m., Mobile, Alabama

Photo via Kent State University

An excellent promotional video:



"Zombie Nation":

I'm with the Band: Pittsburgh

Band: University of Pittsburgh Varsity Marching Band
University: University of Pittsburgh
Founded: 1911
Current Director: Jack R. Anderson
Fight Song: "Hail to Pitt"
Today's Bowl Game: Mississippi, BBVA Compass Bowl, 1 p.m., Birmingham, Alabama

Photo via Wikipedia

"Victory Chorale":



They can dance, too.  "Party Rock Anthem":