Welcome Back

Hey everyone, I've missed you.

Thanks for voting...it seems unanimous that you all think Stefanki will be a good thing for Roddick.

Hope your Thanksgiving was great and you enjoyed your (hopefully) short break from the Tiebreak blog.  Of course we're all still in tennis limbo here in early December...but it's time to start to gear up for year.  This brings us to our first "Tiebreak's '08"

Biggest Duds of '08.

2008 was an amazing year of tennis...we saw so many new fresh faces and even the rebirth of some old ones that we all thought were done.  BUT...that's for another blog and another time...we had our fair share of disappointments in '08.

First I'm going to start with the Americans...Andy Roddick reached ONE quarterfinal this year at a Slam, and that was the US Open.  Of course he did have a bit of injury struggles this year, but I'd like to hope a top 8 player can prove he is in the top 8 in more than one Slam.  

Moving along to James Blake.  He also had a whopping one quarterfinal in a Slam and that was early in Australia.  The thing is, I've never been a big Blake guy.  Don't get me wrong, as a person he is unmatched, but on the court do you really think he is top 10?  I sure don't.  His results are just too inconsistent and let's face it when is he going to have his big breakthrough Slam?...sadly never it seems.

Of course the Americans aren't the only ones who tanked in '08...

David Ferrer saw his surge into the top of the game quickly disappear in '08.

By no means did he have a bad year...but he fell from 4 to 12 and usually if you make it to the top 5 and then leave...you're gone.  

Fernando Gonzalez also saw his descent continue...ever since he reached the Aussie Open Final two years ago it has been a steady decline for Gonzo.  Stefanki left him and he's going to need to do some serious damage control this off season if he wants to stay in the top 20.

Berdych, Robredo, Youzhny, and Tursunov all either had OK years, or continue to never make a move.  When is Berdych going to take his giant game into the big time?  Robredo A.K.A Mr. 4Th round of every tournament had a bit of an off year, Youzhny was too busy hitting himself in the forehead, and Tursunov went almost all of '08 without me hearing his name once.  

I like to keep my duds in the top 50...so that leaves only 1 more to mention.  I saved him for last because...well he bombed the worst this year.  Richard Gasquet...the man with every shot continued his under achieving this year, but if you ask me he took it to a new level.  After showing signs of life in '07, he single-handedly erased every piece of positive momentum he had going.

Honorable Mention: Haas, Hewitt(excused for injury), Baghdatis(excused for injury)

See you soon for the next of Tiebreak's '08...until then challengers have pretty much come to halt for the next two weeks so write me a comment on anything you'd like me to write about.