We introduce One-Timers, a new podcast segment wherein Pucked in the Head talks about several timely topics in the news, then promptly takes a week to post the episode to iTunes.
• Intro
• Sofa Surfer Girl by the Orchid Highway
• Jason can’t skate
• Milos Raonic unlocks the Beat Rafa Nadal badge
• Cceci n’est pas une pipe
• Jason plays Nostradamus
• March Madness exists
• Buenos noches, Steve Nash
• Wayne Gretzky transformed hockey, bless his record-breaking soul
• Steve Nash is awesome, but he couldn’t have saved the Grizzlies
• Steve Nash, Simon Whitfield, what’s in the water over there?
• We really ought to do some research
• Nike Academy — will corporations name teams in the future?
• Corporate logos already abound
• Time for a Change by the Orchid Highway
• Smell my shoe
Russell & I trade semi-researched factoids for the second time in short order, getting into John Tortorella’s recent soul searching on Tampa radio. In an attempt to show something reminiscent of range, we stretch into Davis Cup tennis and trade two dozen words in French.
• Intro
• Sofa Surfer Girl by the Orchid Highway
• I’m fatigued
• Où sont les pamplemousses?
• John Tortorella is Yoda
• Willie’s ahead of Torts so far
• Davis Cup coming back to UBC
• Daniel Nestor ages not
• Eugenie Bouchard’s legs are all Photoshop
• NHL DOPS: Dmitry Kulikov gets four games
• Time for a Change by the Orchid Highway
“Oh yeah? Well I know I was wrong! How do you like THEM apples?”
There’s this tennis player, see, and she’s playing at the Australian Open this week. She made the final four in the first three Grand Slam tournaments last year, truly a breakout season for the 20-year-old. She even made the final at Wimbledon, where she had previously become the first Canadian to win the junior singles title. Nowadays, she’s ranked number seven in the world, so she’s pretty good at this tennis thing.
Wouldn’t it be nice if we could talk about how she overcame a rough first half of her third round match to dominate the #36-ranked French right-hander Caroline Garcia in the second set? We could discuss her steely on-court focus. Let’s break down her solid form on return. Or extoll the fact that she’s parlayed a strong all-around game into five consecutive Grand Slam fourth-round appearances.
Eugenie Bouchard rips a crosscourt forehand winner against third round opponent Caroline Garcia. Photo cribbed from an AskJeeves search.
Sadly, we can’t. Eugenie Bouchard also happens to be an attractive blonde with a gigawatt smile and a sense of humour. She’s on magazine covers and she tweets about fashion, so Ian Cohen just had to ask her to do a pirouette after her R2 win the other day. The justifiable shit storm to follow has both Channel 7 and Tennis Australia scrambling to deny association with Cohen — if neither the broadcaster nor the athletic body own this guy, why the hell was he doing on-court presentation in the first place? Tourism Australia is livid — they issued a press release stating “It’s completely inappropriate for a Bruce to ask a Shiela to twirl on a tennis court; the correct form is to shout ‘show us your teats’ at the beach.”
Bouchard, for her part, is handling this whole thing better than most, suggesting she’s got that pretty little head of hers screwed on right. When the post-match questions on Friday turned to issues of ‘Twirl-gate’, she sighed, smiled and said, “I was waiting for this.” She followed up by voicing calmly what so many others have been screaming the past few days: “It’s funny…. I’m fine with being asked to twirl, if they ask the guys to… flex their muscles and stuff.”
Last year, after becoming the first Canadian to reach a Grand Slam semi in singles play, Bouchard was asked who her dream date would be. Sam Smith, herself a former pro tennis player — and one might observe, a woman — said “I’m sorry but they asked me to say this” — should have refused to ask. Even the preamble was awkwardly sexist. “You’ve got a lot of fans here, most of them male, and they want to know.”
I’d love for someone to come at a male pro athlete post-game, as he’s sweaty and revelling in a win: “Russell Wilson, you’ve just won the Super Bowl — who would you like to snog?”
Is Genie a good-looking woman? You’re darn tootin’ she is. But I’ve shot tennis tournaments before — they’re all Greek gods, every single one of them. Does that make it okay for crotchety old dudes to plant creepy questions about ‘dream dates’, or make borderline crude suggestions that she dance for the nice people? Absolutely fucking not. Bouchard would be justified to go full primal scream on the next idiot who goes that way in a post-match interview.
First Bieber, now a twirl? Howzabout they just mandate that on-court interviewers talk about, oh I don’t know, TENNIS? #AskHerMore
Eugenie Bouchard is a typical 20-year-old gal — she tweets, Facebooks, dances Gangnam Style on the Great Wall of China, and wins millions on the tennis court. Selfie from GB’s own Instagram account.
North Van’s Filip Peliwo also brought home the boys’ trophy that year, but no one remembers because he’s not a remarkably photogenic blonde woman who has reached the final eight in three consecutive Grand Slam tournaments. This Bouchard gal, on the other hand, is entirely memorable. She may have lost the Wimbledon final, but the Montrealer was by far the biggest story on the women’s side. Her sense of humour is winning as many fans as her rapidly improving on-court arsenal, with everyone from TV nerd Jim Parsons to tennis legend Chris Evert admitting to being a part of Genie’s Army. She can fricking hit the ball, yo.
Vasek Pospisil became just the second Canadian man to win the Vancouver Open, with a 6–0, 1–6, 7–5 win over Daniel Evans of the UK. Photo by Jason Kurylo for Pucked in the Head.
The 2013 Odlum Brown Vancouver Open ended with as much drama and suspense as you could possibly cram into a three-set match. There were twists. There were turns. There were swizzle sticks. There were sunburns.
Rising Canadian tennis star Vasek Pospisil (@VasekPospisil) outlasted England’s Daniel Evans (@Evo151216) in a see-saw battle to win the men’s singles title 6–0, 1–6, 7–5 to become the first BC-born player to win in the 12-year history of the event.
“My eyes were wide, I was a pretty innocent 15-year-old kid,” said Pospisil of his first time playing the Vancouver Open back in 2005. “At that age, you’re just excited to play against all of these amazing athletes, and happy to get a game or two off of them in your first pro event.”
Eight years later, the Vernon-born Pospisil came in as the number two seed in the tournament and ranked 85th in the world. He brought consecutive Davis Cup wins with Team Canada with him in his equipment bag, and led the list of prominent Tennis Canada stars to appear at the event-opening press conference. “Because I started here, you know, it’s always been a dream of mine to win the Vancouver Open,” said Pospisil, “and it’s great to do it with all of these people here. I think I personally know half of the people in the stands today.”
Just a quick picture to tide you tennis fans over till I can get the full post up later tonight. Canadian tennis star Stephanie Dubois won her second-round match in straight sets Thursday, defeating Misaki Doi of Japan (WR #94) 6–1, 6–4.
Stephanie Dubois of Canada stabs at a backhand service return during a straight sets victory over Misaki Doi of Japan at the Vancouver Open. Photo by Jason Kurylo for Pucked in the Head.
Headed up to Hollyburn for a bit of Women’s First Round action this afternoon, and caught an all-Canadian matchup: Stephanie Dubois, ranked #4 in Canada (World Ranking #164), won in straight sets over Egyptian-born, Toronto-based Heidi El Tabakh (WR #284), 7–5, 6–3.
Up by a set and a break in the second, Stephanie Dubois crunches a forehand winner on the way to a first-round win over Heidi El Tabakh at the 2013 Vancouver Open. Photo by Jason Kurylo for Pucked in the Head.
El Tabakh hits with some serious power, and offered up more than a few impressive winners in the match. Unfortunately for her, on this day she allowed emotions to distract her, double faulting after a long baseline rally and swearing at herself repeatedly during the second set. Dubois, who won the Vancouver Open in 2009, took advantage of El Tabakh’s mood swings, dictating the overall pace of the game and frustrating her opponent with a calm, cool demeanor throughout the match.
23-year-old Vasek Pospisil is an important part of the Canadian Davis Cup team. He will challenge for the Vancouver Open at Hollyburn Country Club this week. Photo by Jason Kurylo for Pucked in the Head.
This weekend sees the Odlum Brown Vancouver Open Tennis Tournament open with qualifying rounds at the scenic Hollyburn Country Club in North Vancouver. While skeptics complain that the field doesn’t include the top personalities in world rankings — no Rafa or Roger, no Martina or Serena, as the OBVO schedule coincides with Canada’s only ATP World Tour event, the Rogers Cup co-hosted in TO and Montreal — but there is plenty of excellent tennis to be seen. And as a venue, Hollyburn is as good as they come.
Canadians Vasek Pospisil (Can #3, World #89), Frank Dancevic (Can #4, World #161) and Felip Peliwo (Can #7, World #434) are among the recognizable names in the men’s draw. Pospisil has taken part in Canada’s historic run to the Davis Cup semifinals, and will continue to play alongside Milos Raonic and Daniel Nestor when they take on Serbia in September. Dancevic, likewise, was a major part of the Canadian win over Spain at UBC; he has been a fixture for Tennis Canada since turning pro in 2003. Peliwo, for his part, did nothing less than become the first Canadian male to win a single’s title at Wimbledon, bringing home the 2012 junior championship.
A few things before this weekend officially draws to a close:
Canadian Tennis is on the Rise
Canadian tennis star Eugenie Bouchard helped earn a berth in the Federation Cup World Group II for 2014. Photo borrowed unceremoniously from the CBC.
Canada beat Ukraine 3-2 this weekend to qualify for World Group II play in 2014. Number 93-ranked Eugenie Bouchard and #125 Sharon Fichman both beat #71 Lesia Tsurenko for two of Canada’s wins, but #90 Ellna Svitolina was perfect for the weekend, earning both of Ukraine’s points. Canada won the deciding doubles match in straight sets, 6-4, 6-3, to record the win. Bouchard, of course, made headlines last year when she won the junior women’s singles title at Wimbledon. Canada will compete with Sweden, Japan, Serbia, Argentina, France, Poland and the loser of Australia and Switzerland in the 2014 World Group II; four of those teams will play for the right to enter the top World Group in 2015. It’s a fabulous result for the Canadian women, and comes on the heels of the men’s team advancing to the Davis Cup final four with consecutive wins in Vancouver against Italy and Spain. (The Fed Cup structure is complicated to explain, but relatively easy on the eyes. Check out this link if you’d like more enlightenment in this area.)
More, including BCHL and AHL hockey, and MLS soccer, after the break.
Is Genie a good-looking woman? You’re darn tootin’ she is. But I’ve shot tennis tournaments before — they’re all Greek gods, every single one of them. Does that make it okay for crotchety old dudes to plant creepy questions about ‘dream dates’, or make borderline crude suggestions that she dance for the nice people? Absolutely fucking not. Bouchard would be justified to go full primal scream on the next idiot who goes that way in a post-match interview.
