Reuters

Actor Geoffrey Rush attends the matches in Rod Laver Arena during the Australian Open tennis tournament in Melbourne January 24, 2010.

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I didn't to bed until 9:30 this morning after being up all night watching Andy Roddick and Fernando Gonzalez fight to the death in their insane epic marathon. The whole day of tennis gave the Open Thread a record number of comments. If you have the patient to sift through them all can sift throught them all, you'll get intense comments about everything from the matches to bad journalism to doping controversies. Thanks to everyone who stayed up through the night and participated.


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Coach Larry Stefanki watches Andy Roddick of the United States of America in his fourth round match against Fernando González, of Chile during day seven of the 2010 Australian Open at Melbourne Park on January 24, 2010 in Melbourne, Australia.


Reuters

Daniela Castillo, the girlfriend of Fernando González,, watches the match between the Chilean and Andy Roddick of the U.S. at the Australian Open tennis tournament in Melbourne January 24, 2010.

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Men's Singles - Fourth Round
[2] R Nadal (ESP) d I Karlovic (CRO) 64 46 64 64
[14] M Cilic (CRO) d [4] J del Potro (ARG) 57 64 75 57 63
[5] A Murray (GBR) d [33] J Isner (USA) 76(4) 63 62
[7] A Roddick (USA) d [11] F Gonzalez (CHI) 63 36 46 75 62


Reuters

Russia's Nadia Petrova waits during her match against compatriot Svetlana Kuznetsova at the Australian Open tennis tournament in Melbourne January 24, 2010.


Reuters

Belgium's Yanina Wickmayer looks up while on a changeover during her match against compatriot Justine Henin at the Australian Open tennis tournament in Melbourne January 24, 2010.

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Women's Singles - Fourth Round
Maria Kirilenko (RUS) d. (2) Dinara Safina (RUS) 54 ret. (low back injury)
(19) Nadia Petrova (RUS) d. (3) Svetlana Kuznetsova (RUS) 63 36 61
Zheng Jie (CHN) d. (31) Alona Bondarenko (UKR) 76(5) 64
(WC) Justine Henin (BEL) d. (Q) Yanina Wickmayer (BEL) 76(3) 16 63

Men's Doubles - Third Round
[1] B Bryan (USA) / M Bryan (USA) d [17] J Melzer (AUT) / P Petzschner (AUT) 76(1) 64
[2] D Nestor (CAN) / N Zimonjic (SRB) d P Marx (GER) / I Zelenay (SVK) 64 62
A Clement (FRA) / J Erlich (ISR) d J Brunstrom (SWE) / J Rojer (AHO) 63 06 75
E Butorac (USA) / R Ram (USA) d L Mayer (ARG) / H Zeballos (ARG) 67(3) 64 76(3)

Women's Doubles - Third Round
(2) Williams/Williams (USA/USA) d. Hlavackova/Hradecka (CZE/CZE) 63 62
(13) Dulko/Pennetta (ARG/ITA) d. (4) Hsieh/Peng (TPE/CHN) 62 62
(7) Kleybanova/Schiavone (RUS/ITA) d. (10) Mirza/Ruano Pascual (IND/ESP) 64 63
(WC) Peers/Robson (AUS/GBR) d. Dushevina/Rodionova (RUS/AUS) 63 63

Women's Doubles - Second Round
Chan/Niculescu (TPE/ROU) d. (11) Kudryavtseva/Makarova (RUS/RUS) 64 64

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Yanina Wickmayer of Beligum holds the trophy after defeating Flavia Pennetta of Italy at the women's Auckland Classic final on January 9, 2010. Wickmayer defeated Pennetta 6-3, 6-2.

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What irony that she's the first titlist of the new decade.

“I think it was a shame [Yanina Wickmayer] got the ban and I’m happy she could come back. I sent her an e-mail to support her and I said I hoped she was fine. I think they went too far with the penalty, which she did not deserve.” --Shahar Pe'er, on playing her next opponent in the ASB Classic semifinals

According to this article in French. Apparently nothing will be resolved until 2010.

Yanina Wickmayer will need a wildcard to get into the Australian Open according to this article in English.

As the World Turns.

"We're going to appeal because we still don't have all the elements which will allow us to decide whether a sanction of one year is appropriate. The scale of sanctions (under the world anti-doping Code) is between one and two years. To drop down from two to one year there have to be justifiable elements. We're going to meet the Flemish authorities Friday to see how we can coordinate our actions, and to be consistent in how we approach this case because the athletes seem to want to make it an affair of principles on different levels."

--Olivier Niggli, World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) legal director, on why WADA is seeking a tougher penalty against Yanina Wickmayer and Xavier Malisse

This could be fun.

Suspended Belgian tennis players Yanina Wickmayer and Xavier Malisse are launching appeals with European authorities challenging the legality of the whereabouts rules of the World Anti-Doping Agency.

Victory at the European Commission in Brussels and the Strasbourg-based European Court of Human Rights could force WADA to change its rules on when and where athletes can be tested out of competition.

“The indispensable fight against doping is not the issue here. The problem is the lack of proportionality of certain measures,” their lawyer Jean-Louis Dupont told The Associated Press on Sunday.

Read the rest...

US Open semi-finalist Yanina Wickmayer and her Belgian compatriot Xavier Malisse were on Thursday handed one-year bans for falling foul of doping regulations, the Belga news agency reported.

Wickmayer, the world number 18, was suspended by the Flemish Doping Tribunal (VDT) for failing to fulfil [sic] the controversial "whereabouts rule" while Malisse was also punished for missing a drugs test.

Both players can appeal their suspensions to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS).

The suspension was announced despite 20-year-old Wickmayer currently playing in the Tournament of Champions event in Bali where on Friday she would be attempting to reach the semi-finals.

Wickmayer was accused of failing on three occasions to fulfil [sic] the ADAMS (Anti-Doping Administration and Management System) under which athletes are obliged to tell national anti-doping authorities where they will be at a chosen hour each day for a three-month period.

The sanctions came as a surprise - only last month, it was expected that the two players would escape with just a reprimand.

Malisse, 29, is currently 95 in the world, having been at 19 in 2002. He has won three titles in his career.

Color me curious that two Belgian players who haven't even tested positive for anything are banned for a year by a Flemish Doping Tribunal from the sport simply for not reporting whereabouts or missing a test mere weeks before another controversial Belgian player returns to the tour.

Can't say I'm a fan of either player -- didn't even know Malisse was still playing -- but this seems like overkill.

Actually, I think it's outrageous.

Wickmayer, who's contesting that other event that has no business on the WTA calendar, said she would immediately appeal.