Your Call, 1.4

Hi all. I'm posting a bit later than usual today, to accommodate the overnight match-calling for the ATP/WTA tournament in Brisbane, and for the Hopman Cup. You can use this thread to go off-topic, but please remember that we're easing back into "live tennis" mode after the off-season, and that OT contributions should be kept to a minimum while matches are going on.

I don't know what's wrong with the photographers at AP and Getty - between them, they only managed to come up with two pictures of the first-ever Marat'n'Dinara brother-sister act on court together yesterday, during their mixed doubles match at the Hopman Cup. The gallery of shots of Maratski's eye injuries was far more impressive - I wonder why?

I'd like to briefly revisit the theme of our off-topic posts at the end of last year - the tennis-related "Moments of 2008". We simply ran out of time, and in the end I wasn't able to post a picture of all of the special moments I'd have liked to cover, many of which were suggested by the TWibe. Moments that didn't get pictured included Venus Williams' Wimbledon victory over sister Serena, Ana Ivanovic's first Grand Slam title at Roland Garros, and Spain's unlikely triumph in the Davis Cup final, starring Feliciano Lopez and Fernando Verdasco. Other memorable moments were Justine Henin's shock retirement, and Mikhail Youzhny's self-inflicted wounding with his own racquet while beating Nicolas Almagro in Key Biscayne. Of course, I could have included Roger Federer's thirteenth Grand Slam victory, or Rafael Nadal's stunning Roland Garros triumph to go four-in-a-row, equalling Borg's record, but decided to stick with just one "moment" for each player.

I still expect to publish the promised account of the Rafa Euro-Spectator Slam in the next few days. Meanwhile, Pete should be back in action here at some point tomorrow.

-- Rosangel Valenti