Wimbledon Tidbits 2008: Venus, Serena, Rafael & Roger

I watched four time French Open champion Rafael Nadal give the Brits' last "native hope," Andy Murray a big ol' beatdown at Wimbledon yesterday.

And can I just say right here, have you ever seen a more beautiful man?  He's got that lovely boyish face, that incredibly muscular body and he's an absolute sweetheart to boot.  Rafa please, call me.  No really---call me.

After his straight sets win, Rafa booked himself a spot in Friday's semis and short of a broken leg, almost certainly a birth in Sunday's finals.  He's hitting the ball like a dream, coiling and uncoiling those lovely muscles with every stroke, and his shotmaking is approaching Federer-like levels.

As you know, I'm picking Rafa to win the whole thing, Roger or no Roger---but speaking of which, Marat Safin might have something to say about that Rafa/Roger final.

Safin gave himself a crack at Roger Federer on by knocking out Feliciano Lopez 3-6, 7-5, 7-6, 6-3, but don't let that "I'm just happy to get this far" attitude deceive you.  Safin means business and I'm thinkin' Roger can expect a serious challenge.

When it comes to the women, I just have two words for you:  Williams and Williams.  I'm a big fan of Elena Dementieva---crappy serve or no crappy serve---but no way is she beating Venus today.

The woman from China, Zheng Jie is more of an unknown quantity and if Serena gets into one of those unforced error-fests, Jie may give her some trouble.  After all, China is very serious when it comes to their sports and in an Olympic year, Jie is going to want to make some more major noise back home.

However if Serena plays the way she did against Agnieszka Radwanska, China will have to wait a bit longer for their first Wimbledon finalist.

I made a bet with my tennis pro before the tournament started that Serena was going to win on the women's side and Rafa was going to win on the men's.  We have a lunch riding on it so the next few days of matches will be very exciting.