Tomorrow’s order of play has potential. Potential being the magical word — means that it can be awesome, but since today the Tennis Gods blessed me, tomorrow they’ll probably kick my ass. Like stealing a child’s candy. The candy being fun tennis and the child being, obviously, me. Let’s take a look, shall we?

The day on Chatrier starts with Serena versus Pavs. It will probably be an easy win for Serena but I’m sure lots of people will have a great time watching how well Pavs hits the ball. SPOILER: She hits it quite well. (Serena ain’t that bad either.)

After that, we have the continuation of the drrrrrama. Rezai and Petrova stopped play tonight at 7 all on the third for lack of light. Both players had to save match points. Bring. It. Or, like the French would nicely put it: BOOOOOOOOO.

Two zzzz-wothy matches after that one: Nole-Hanescu and Rafa-Hewitt (if their last year’s encounter here is anything to go by, at least).

And then, DUN DUN DUN, what will probably be low-quality tennis but, boy, do we want that low-quality tennis: Henin-Sharapova. Henin recently said that her embarrassing defeat to Masha in the AO final in 2008 felt like ages ago. Masha‘s response? ‘Actually, it feels like it was yesterday’. In the same interview, she was critical of the players that celebrate and scream after every point won, even when it was caused by the opponent’s error. Sounds like someone? (Besides herself. And Ana.)  MY SPORT, U GUISE: I love it so.

We also have some other matches on the lesser courts but the only one I’m sort of interested in is Wicky-Hantuchova. I imagine it will go the Slovakian’s way, Wicky is still recuperating from her elbow injury. And, in case you’re wondering how her elbow is doing, she is tired but Wicky is applying ice.

I’m excited. I’ll get popcorn, ice cream and swear at the TV. Be sure to check ze twitter for some live spamming coverage.

P.S. The ATP matches are boring to me, the WTA ones are AWESOME. I’m a box full of surprises, ain’t I.

When I say amazing, I really mean a-m-a-z-i-n-g.  You can watch such revolutionary music video HERE. (Spoiler: Lara Fabian makes the world colourful. :’) Beautiful.)

That’s a….. very interesting tune there. My favourite part of the video is when “Lara” draws a rainbow for Justine. How’s your ex-husband, Juju?

P.S. I’M SO GLAD I HAVE A “TENNIS PLAYERS ARE ROCKSTARS TOO” TAG.

Nadia Petrova does the Brisbane draw. Draws Justine Henin first round. FHL.

+ Full Brisbane draw HERE, Auckland draw HERE.

Earlier today, top 5 player Caroline Wozniacki played homegirl Anne Kremer in the first round of Luxembourg. It was a tough first set. Lots of running, lots of moonballs. She requested a medical time-out and got her left leg all taped up. She took it 7-5. Right in the beginning of the second, she got a break. She remained having problems with the injury — specially with her serve. She couldn’t put all her weight on the left leg. But even then, soon, she was leading 3-0. During the changeover, she requested coaching. Her dad and coach, Piotr, came on court. Reports say (my report is a tennis message board — trustworthy, I know) that he said to her, “At 5-0 up ask for the trainer once again and quit, you’re not gonna play next match anyway so let them have some joy”. She did.

I was watching, the injury was real. After the match, she left the court limping with a woman by her side aiding her to carry her gear. She has been playing way too many tournaments, she’s obviously exhausted. I can still understand her decision to play Luxembourg though. Last year, it was an amazing tournament for her. The final against Elena Dementieva was one of my favourite matches of the year. It was close and exciting. She lost having wasted a match point in a third set tiebreak. But Caroline’s not only a professional tennis player, but a top five one at that. It’s time for her to sit down with her fitness trainer and coach and cut down some tournaments. She’s young but she can’t keep up with these 20+ tourneys for much long. She definitely shouldn’t be playing all these weeks in a row when the YEC is literally around the corner.

A big issue that has been raised in this is regarding the betting. Any person that was watching the match (and spoke Polish) could have put money against Caroline and made profit in a 1:100 ratio. If you put 100 bucks, you’d win 10,000. Ruh-roh. Whose exactly fault is this? Piotr’s, for telling his daughter to retire? Caroline’s, for retiring? Kremer’s, for not being to defeat a dead woman walking? Or the WTA’s? For allowing this on-court coaching madness to happen in the first place?

I think it’s the WTA’s. Sure, most players receive coaching from their standing anyways. The WTA is only making it “legal” and at definite times. It’s also good for avoiding (or trying to avoid) meltdowns. But when a person who’s close to the player, like, let’s say, her dad, comes on court to tell them what to do… That has all the potential to go wrong, doesn’t it?

Caroline was sure she wasn’t going to play the next round. It was the smart thing to do. What she was advised by her coach was to make the home crowd happy. Instead of her giving her second round opponent a walk over and gaining a small number of points and prize money, she’d let Luxembourg have one of their players in the second round. I fail to understand how that makes her the bad guy (or girl, in this case). Maybe stupid for entering the tournament in the first place, but definitely not bad. (But seriously, very very stupid.)

This little event only made me reinforce my opinion regarding on-court coaching: it shouldn’t be allowed. Tennis is an individual sport. Having other people that aren’t the players directly interfere with the outcome is a terrible idea. It’s a sport famous for its mental aspect. The WTA is basically making the brain part less important. Dumbing women’s tennis down, let’s say. The players that have the ability to keep calm and change their game plan during the match will be in the same level of the players that simply do not. It’s okay, it’s not like any of us miss smart players like Martina Hingis and Justine Henin, right?

Oh yeah, and Henin is coming back.