News-Record.com

Yes, I realize today seems like it's been all John Isner all the time (hey, the guy is No. 1 in the nation in both singles and doubles, you know) but Greensboro has another proud Page Pirate competing in the NCAA tournament as well.

Catherine Newman, who plays No. 2 doubles and No. 3 singles for No. 16 Vanderbilt, is on the court right now, starting her doubles match, as the Commodores take on No. 1 Stanford.

You can watch it all on the free, live video feed at www.georgiadogs.com (scroll down to the tournament info banner, click on it, then click on Live Video on the next screen). But, if you actually have other things to do, I'll do my best to keep you abreast of things with periodic live updates.

Here's my first one: Thanks to the slightly darker hair of Newman's doubles partner, junior Taka Bertrand, I've been able to figure out which is which on the video feed. Bertrand's the one wearing a baseball cap - oh, and Vandy's wearing the black skirts, while Stanford's in the red.

Unfortunately, Bertrand's also the one that just had her serve broken to start the match. 1-0 Cardinal.

12:17 update - One other thing you should know if you're trying to follow the video feed. When returning serve, Newman's playing in the ad-court. Otherwise, it's really, really hard to tell which one she is when they're on the far side of the court.

And if you don't know what the ad-court is, I really don't know how to help you. Actually, you're probably not watching this right now.

Anyway, sweet topspin lob by Bertrand gets Vandy the break right back. 1-1.

12:24 update:
Newman hammers a forehand winner to finish off a long game resulting in the (gasp!) first held serve of the match. 2-1 'Dores. Greensboro, represent. (Picture me pounding my heart with my right fist. Yes, I realize that gesture is so 2004).

This video feed's getting kinda addictive, actually.

12:33
Two more breaks in a row, and now it's 3-2 Newman and Co. Catherine's hold is starting to look pretty important.

In addition to the live video feed, there's also a live scoreboard as well, which allows you to keep up with how the other dual team matches are going. This is particularly important in doubles, because only one point is given, to the team that wins at least two out of the three doubles matches. So even if Newman and Bertrand keep their lead and win this match, it would be irrelevant if Vandy doesn't also win the other two doubles matches.

Right now, Stanford leads 3-2 in the other two matches.

Sadly, the live scoreboard and the live video feed are almost perfectly synchronized. I was hoping there might be like a 15 second delay on the video, so that I could see the scoreboard updated, then click over to the video and see it all unfold, just as the scoreboard foretold. Sorta make me feel like Desmond on Lost, only without the cool accent and the 40 days of facial hair growth.

Yeah, I should probably step away from the computer now.

12:42 Update

Helped by some fee-nominal defensive tennis by Bertrand, who half-volleys two Stanford overheads to keep a rally alive that ends in Vandy winning the point and the game, Vandy is now up 5-2. Basically, the Commodores are up two "holds" in this match. And both of those "holds" have come when Newman is serving. (Picture me now raising the roof. Yes, I admit I'm lame. I'm watching a video feed from my computer. What do you expect?)

Speaking of video feeds. I've finally figured out what's going on with the weird Court 1 feed. Each time I toggled over to it, it showed a score from a Florida-Baylor match and pictured players sitting on the court, watching action on the next court. However, I could tell by watching the Court 2 feed of Newman's match, that there was actually a real, live match taking place on Court 1. Weird, huh?

Turns out, the Court 1 camera is actually showing Court 4. Thank goodness I remembered the layout of the tennis center from my trip down to Athens last week. This would have driven me nuts otherwise.

12:56 Update

Well, if Vanderbilt doesn't win this doubles point, it won't be the fault of Newman and Bertrand. They just broke again to go up 6-2. Unfortunately though, Vandy's No. 1 doubles team is getting rolled, 7-2. (Oh, by the way, did I fail to mention they play 8-game pro sets in doubles? Sorry about that). It looks like it will all come down to No. 3 doubles, where Stanford's leading 7-5 right now.

Also just had an alarming thought about that Court 1/Court 4 camera snafu. Isner plays his matches on Court 1, for both No. 1 singles and doubles. We'd better get that corrected before he takes the court tomorow. Let's get on that, Georgia techie people.

1:03 Update

Whew! After losing on Court 1, 8-2, Vandy's No. 3 doubles was down two match points at 15-40, 5-7. But they fought back to hold serve. It's now 7-6 on that court.

I think it's 6-4 on Newman's court, with Stanford finally holding serve. But the scoreboard operator apparently took a coffee break, because the scores are no longer keeping up with the action. Thus, when you're toggling back and forth from one match to another, as I am, it gets sort of confusing.

Don't worry though, gentle reader. I will continue to soldier on. Why? Because I care, that's why.

1:07 Update

Well it doesn't really matter what the score was on Newman's court (6-5, 7-4?) because Vandy's No. 3 doubles team just lost 8-6.

This is what would drive me nuts about playing dual team tennis in the tournament play. Now that Stanford has won two of the doubles matches, it has claimed the doubles point. So Newman's match gets stopped mid-stream and we go straight to singles. She doesn't even get the satisfaction of finishing off the set. Thanks for the hour's worth of effort. Sorry if it seems meaningless.

The same thing happens in singles. Once one team has clinched the match, by getting the fourth point, they just halt all other matches immediately. Isner told that this has been an annoying trend for him, as well. Beginning with the SEC tournament, he's only finished one of his last five singles matches. Last night was more of the same. Up 7-5, 4-4 on Florida's Jesse Levine - the only guy to beat Isner in a dual-team match this season, by the way - Isner had to stop short of what could have been a very satisfying win because Georgia had already won the overall match, 4-0.

I understand that in tournament play it's all about the team, and there's no sense burning out players' legs in meaningless matches, but still ... it would frustrate me just a tad.

On to singles, 1-0 Stanford. Newman now will play No. 3 singles against Stanford's Celia Durkin, the No. 14 player in the nation. That's right, No. 14 in the country, but just No. 3 on her own team. There's a reason Stanford's No. 1. The three straight national titles the Cardinal have won are also pretty impressive. I probably should have mentioned that earlier, but I didn't want you to lose hope before the match even started. Then you probably wouldn't have made it this far in the blog, would you?

1:38 Update

Uh oh. Things aren't looking good for Newman. She was just broken for the second time and now trails Durkin, 4-0. If there's any comfort here, it's that Newman's not alone. Five of her six teammates are also trailing. Did I mention Stanford's won the last three team titles?

The problem here for Newman is that Durkin just has more firepower. Newman's a great athlete - remember, she was also a top-notch soccer player in high school - but even she doesnt' have the footspeed to track down some of the bombs Durkin's been firing her way. Point after point, Newman's eventually given up a short ball, and invariablly, Durkin's made her pay.

Newman's best shot is probably to string out this match, keep retrieving as many shots as possible, and hope that Durkin wears down and starts making mistakes. The problem with that strategy though, is that the team match will likely be over before it can start paying dividends.

1:44 Update

Going to keep these updates to a minimum for a while until there's something good to report about Newman's match. From my highly scientific view on this video feed, I'm guessing that she's giving up about 6 inches and 35 pounds to the much more powerful Durkin. I'm going to check the Stanford roster in a moment to see if I'm right (not that I'm expecting an actual weigh listing on a women's tennis roster. Some things about the genders are still just different, regardlesss of Title IX).

In a totally unrelated note, I just realized that No. 5 Northwestern, which was upset by No. 12 UCLA, has a woman named Alexis Prousis, senior, playing for them. I covered Alexis back when she was a freshman at Lake Forest High School in Illinois. Boy, do I feel old. Turns out Alexis won the national doubles title in 2006. Another brush with tennis greatness for me.

By the way, Durkin's 5-8, so the height differential is four inches, not six. Still, that definitely has somethign to do with the power gap between the two player.

2:15 update (the finale)

Well, that'll do it folks. It ended in a pretty appropriate way, with Durkin drilling a penetrating forehand deep that forced Newman into mishitting her forehand wide. Final score, 6-0, 6-1, Durkin.

It's a depressing result, no doubt, but Newman can at least look forward to playing in the NCAA singles tournament as well. And this kind of match is one she can definitely use as a learning experience. At this level, it's no longer enough to be consistent and a great defensive player. You've got to have some offensive weapons as well. Unless Newman adds a few inches to her 5-4 frame, that means she's going to have to work on her strength, and perhaps taking more balls early, instead of from behind the baseline - where Durkin frequently forced her today.

It'll mean a lot more work, but hey, this is the first year ever that Newman has focused solely on tennis. And she's just a freshman. There's plenty of time for her to improve, and plent more room before she reaches the ceiling of her potential, I think.

And with that, I bid you adieu. Hope you enjoyed the blog. I'm hoping to do a few more of these during other live events this summer ... if my bosses let me.