Oh, dang! Maria Sharapova was kicked out of SW19 today- going out in the second round to feisty Gisela Dulko: 6-2, 3-6, 6-4. I was rooting for her when she was saving match points in that final game, but she just couldn’t pull it off. Too bad.
Afterwards, Maria was asked a Dumb Press Conference Question:
Q. Will you be coming back to Wimbledon next year?
MARIA SHARAPOVA: Will I be coming back? Let me take a second to answer that question. I think you know the answer to that one (laughter). Absolutely.
But Dulko faced even Dumber Press Conference Questions:
Q. Maria has a lot of fans, not just because she’s a great tennis player, but because she’s very attractive and she does a lot of modeling. A few people have noticed you’re not so bad looking yourself. How do you feel about being a pin up?
GISELA DULKO: Thank you.
Q. Do you have a boyfriend?
GISELA DULKO: We talking about tennis here. Not personal, no. I’m not gonna talk about that.
And I’m not even going to bother posting the questions about grunting, fashion and soccer. Sigh.
2008 semi-finalist Zheng Jie was the other upset today, falling victim to Daniela Hantuchova: 6-3, 7-5. Is Daniela one to watch this tournament?
Someone is down, but not yet out: “I have no expectations really for Wimbledon this year.” No, that’s not Maria or Safina talking but 4th seed Novak Djokovic. He’s begging the press to let him stay under the radar at the All England Club. Here he is after beating qualifier Simon Gruel today:
Q. You seem to be downbeat about your chances. Clearly you have the game to trouble anybody.
NOVAK DJOKOVIC: Well, I do. I’m aware of my qualities. It’s just that I don’t want to, as I said, create an extra pressure on myself, because I know how hard it is to deal with it. And I’m happy that the people are not talking about me in this moment.
To be honest, I wish for that so I can really focus on my game and try to perform my best tennis as possible.
He plays Mardy Fish in the next round, who got past Novak’s countryman, Janko Tipsarevic, today. Obviously, Nole says “I can’t rate myself as a favorite in that match.”
What’s up with these Sad-Sack Serbs? It’s like the party’s over an Novak, Jelena and Ana are huddled in the corner, drowning their sorrows in cheap ouzo. Cheer up, guys!
Yes, Roger Federer beat Guillermo Garcia-Lopez today in three sharp-looking sets: 6-2. 6-2, 6-4. But the big Roger news today was Mirka’s absence in the stands. Which led to more shameless questions in the presser, of course:
Q. We notice today after many years Mirka wasn’t in your box. Should we wait for some special announcement to be made sooner than expected, or not?
ROGER FEDERER: No, no, not really. She’s just not feeling, you know, a hundred percent. She only felt 95%, so we decided it’s better if she takes it easy instead of sitting in the sun maybe, feeling worse the next day.
It’s important for her to rest. She’s already feeling better, which is good.
Q. Is it still 10 August, more or less, the date?
ROGER FEDERER: I never said it. I don’t know who told you, but… you can speculate as much as you want.
Q. Mirka told me.
ROGER FEDERER: Mirka told you? I’m sure she did (smiling).
Roger mentioned on ESPN that Mirka said she’d fallen asleep while watching his match on TV. Slacker!
News Bulletin! There’s nothing going on between Fernando Verdasco and 15 year-old Laura Robson. Because you know, there were “rumors.”
Q. Is the rumor true that after Laura Robson’s loss in the first round that you telephoned her to console her about this loss?
FERNANDO VERDASCO: Who?
Q. Laura Robson.
FERNANDO VERDASCO: No. Who said that?
Q. Rumor. Which part do you admire the most about Federer?
Love the quick-change there. Psych! Verdasco beat Vliegen today in 4. (BTW, Verdasco called Federer’s game “unbelievable.”)
I left Serena Williams to the end, because there were just so many “out-there” moments in her presser. Her match was much less entertaining – she destroyed Jarmila Groth 6-2, 6-1.
Pity the WMA intern who gets this one:
Q. What is the subject matter of the TV script that you’re writing?
SERENA WILLIAMS: Uhm, it’s a mixture between some of my favorite shows, like Desperate Housewives, and Sex and the City, and actually Family Guy. It’s kind of those put together in one, if you can imagine.
Q. Can I ask whether or not you’ve consulted anybody that is a professional script writer that you much admire?
SERENA WILLIAMS: No. But I have my agent with William Morris Agency. This is a real blessing. What I was told to do is just kind of write down my ideas.
See, I’ve always been a writer, like a storyteller writer, not exactly a script writer. That’s what I was told to do, just write my story, you know, just the first episode, just to get them the idea.
And then I would turn it in and someone will put it into treatment format. So that way they’ll put it into a script, but it would be my writing.
Speaking of writing, Serena also discussed vocabulary:
Q. Wimbledon is so full of rules and all that kind of stuff. Maybe too many rules, a lot of people would say. The one thing I hear that’s getting on your nerves this week is there’s no eating allowed in the locker rooms. Why?
SERENA WILLIAMS: Uhm, you know, they said they voted on it. And I can understand. I just got confused as to why there are bananas and other stuff that you consume in the locker room, unless they found another way to consume it that I’m not aware of. I don’t dare want to find out.
Q. Can you comment on Larry Scott. He’s leaving at the end of the week. His tenure.
SERENA WILLIAMS: Ten years. Was it ten years already?
Q. His tenure.
SERENA WILLIAMS: Oh, tenure.
Click here for the full results from Day 3.
Maria clutches, but not clutch enough. Photo by GLYN KIRK/AFP/Getty Images via Daylife
Lone Wolf Roger surveys his domain. Photo by Paul Gilham/Getty Images via Daylife.
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VALENTINE VIDEO: RAFAEL NADAL AND BAR REFAELI SPORTS ILLUSTRATED PHOTO SHOOT 
NOT RESTING ON HIS LAUREUS: NOVAK DJOKOVIC WINS SPORTSMAN AWARD, EYES FRENCH OPEN 
VIDEO: ROGER FEDERER AND ROD LAVER ESPN INTERVIEW 
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