Slightly later than advertised Round-Up...

I've been a little busy this weekend and didn't get time to do the usual end of event round ups.

I need to do so now as its not often you get to blow your own trumpet. No, let me rephrase that. It's not often I make picks, in fact I think I might have only done it once since this blogs inception - and even then only half-heartedly. Last week, I finally decided to stop chickening out and jump into the deep end. After all, what type of a tennis blogger goes about their business without making picks (now and again)?

(Photo Credit: Sky Sports)

I was only half right with the ladies: Dinara did get to the final but went out to Sveta who I thought wouldn't make it past the semis against a solid looking Elena. She did, and then went on to take the title too - her first since New Haven in 2007, and the first time she's got through a final (without her opponent pulling out) in ten attempts. And she did it with a kind of nonchalant, confident expression on her face (not even that much celebrating) that suggested to me that she herself recognises her own capabilities, and just how overdue this title is. Not even going for the lines very much, just executing to near perfection (and routining poor old Dinara in the process). THAT'S what I'm talking about.

If she continues to play at this level she's looking the most promising inductee into my collection of picks for RG. The list currently goes:

(1) Elena
(2) Dinara
(3) Sveta
(4) Jelena

I've given the nod to Elena simply because she's been the most solid of the four since the beginning of the year. Jankovic on the other hand, despite showing some signs of life recently, still looks shaky, and is in there only because of the fact that she's won Rome the last two years.

Regular readers will know what a big fan of Sveta's I am, so it goes without saying how pleased I am about this. I know I've said this about a thousand times, but she's got the most complete game in the top ten, with the exception of perhaps only Venus Williams - don't think Serena volleys as well.

One other thing - Sveta's win here makes official what many have already sensed these last few weeks: that the WTA is on an upward trajectory once again.

But my men's picks for Rome were, how shall I put this, spot on? Not only in terms of the result but in the number of sets I thought it would take. Roger, as we all know, sadly went down to Djoko in three. Rafa came through against Gonzo in two (Ok that wasn't the hardest call in the world). And then Rafa came through against Djoko in only two sets. All exactly how I called them. Now I know many of my fellow bloggers are particularly well tuned in the art of picking matches, but this ain't half bad for a rookie's first or second attempt. Is it?

Ok I know I'm getting on your nerves now, so I'll move on to the winners and losers at Rome and Stuttgart.

Last weeks Emperors & Queens:

Novak Djokovic: This guy must be loving the clay. Nothing wrong with going out to Rafa in two. Seems ironic he'll lose the #3 spot to Murray given he's outperformed both him and Federer at this event.

Fernando Gonzales: He didn't play as well as he did in Barcelona, but still managed to get to the semis. Me thinks Gonzo's rediscovering that curiosity we call form. Be watching him over the next month or so.

Juan Monaco: Well done mate! Don't think you had a scrap of a chance against Nadal so it's probably just as well you went out to Gonzo. But beating the #4 player in the world (even if he played a horror of a match) must feel good. Feel justly proud of yourself. Go on....
Richard Gasquet: Went down fairly meekly to Nando, but only after having to play (and coming through in) two matches in the same day against Tsonga and Gulbis the day before. Not at all bad.

Dinara Safina: For sort of 'making good' by reaching the finals in her first event ranked as the world #1. Yeah, we still know who the real world #1 is, but take that anyway!

Flavia Pennetta: A good run, including a win over Jelena Jankovic.

This lot has some thinking to do:

Andy Murray: Take it easy...I'm not mad at you. I know that when it comes to clay, you're still learning the ropes so to speak. But you've surely gone beyond the stage of first round exits. No?
Marin Cilic: I dunno, maybe clay isn't his thing, and I know he went out to the guy that beat up on Murray. But that's two consecutive early losses for this bright young thing.

Giles Simon: That's it, consider me officially off the Gilles Simon Bandwagon.

Jelena Jankovic: You're not on this list for the usual reasons. A quarter final isn't bad, but is I'm sure you'll agree far below what you'd expect given you'd actually started to show signs of recovery.

Carla Suarez Navarro: I so want to make this girl my new unofficial champion of women's tennis, and I did think the clay court season would signal the start of an improvement. But we had yet another first round loss. If this continues, she'll turn into the WTA's very own Reeshard.