Rogers Cup Photos: Juan Monaco on the Practice Courts

Juan Monaco was working hard on the practice courts at the Rogers Cup on Tuesday. See photos of his practice below:

Rogers Cup Photos and Recap: Qualifying Day 1

Back home from my first day of covering the Rogers Cup in Toronto. I'll be at the tournament every day this week, so check back often for photos, videos, and news. As expected, there were not many big name players on the practice courts today, as they either withdrew (Federer, Nadal, Roddick, Ferrer, Wawrinka, Almagro, and most recently Feliciano Lopez) or they're still at the Olympics (Djokovic and Murray). However, I did get a chance to see lots of great players sweating it out in the ridiculous heat of Toronto.

First up on Court 1 was Italian Fabio Fognini who defeated Canadian Pavel Krainik in the first round of qualifying.

I heard Milos was on the practice courts so I quickly ditched the Fognini match and headed over to watch everyone's favourite Canadian. He was practicing with fellow Canadian Peter Polansky.

Then Milos stated telling his coach some crazy story where he made monster-like movements with his arms.

While watching Milos on the practice courts I turned around to catch Bernard Tomic posing for photos with a bunch of fans. Made me like him a little more.  

Day 4: Olympic Tennis Matches to Watch

Jo-Wilfried Tsonga vs. Milos Raonic
GO CANADA!!! I feel like this match is either going to be a blow-out match with Tsonga winning in straight sets, or a hard-fought three-setter with Milos winning. I wish I believed that Milos could take Tsonga out and keep Canada in the running for a singles medal, but I think the Frenchman will prevail.

Andy Roddick vs. Novak Djokovic
Brutal second round match for Andy. Just brutal. Novak is probably not loving this draw either, but you've got to think that he's going to be able to take Andy out. But who knows. Andy's had a lot of success on the Wimbledon courts in the past (not that Novak hasn't as well), so perhaps we'll see an upset. Here's hoping.

Feliciano Lopez vs. Juan Monaco
If you need to ask why this is a must-see match to watch, then clearly you haven't seen these photos before. Or these. And I guess, you know, it will also be an exciting match because Juan Monaco is on a roll and will want to continue his winning ways, and Feliciano is a pretty good grass court player and will want to make the most of his last minute Olympic entry. It will be a delightfully pretty match to watch, and I'll go with Pico winning in three sets. 

Other potentially interesting matches of the day include Gasquet vs. Baghdatis, Venus Williams vs. Aleksandra Woziak, and obviously the tag team of Federer and Wawrinka against Erlic and Ram.

Roddick Destroyed by Monaco in Miami

Less than twenty-four hours after beating Roger Federer, Andy Roddick went down in straight sets to Argentina's Juan Moncao. Really, Andy? You knock out a player who could very well have won this title and then you lose to someone who has a zero percent chance of making it to the finals? You frustrate me Andy Roddick.

Watch Andy's press conference after his loss to Juan Monaco...

Team Pretty vs. Those Other Guys

Feliciano Lopez and Juan Monaco got into a brawl with Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi during their doubles match at the Australian Open. Okay fine. It wasn't a brawl. But it could have been. Seriously...watch the video. It's ridiculous.

US Open Drama: Vika, Berdych, Polansky

• Canadian Peter Polansky pulled off a big upset yesterday when he defeated Juan Monaco in a straight sets victory. Polansky has played better than he ever has this summer, and if he keeps it up I think he has a really good chance of taking out James Blake in the next round. 

• The biggest upset of the tournament so far has to be the loss of Tomas Berdych to Michael Llodra.  Berdych was one of the favourites to make it until at least the quarterfinals, and for him to go out in the first round after such a successful year has got to be tough. Llodra will play Hanescu in the second round, and he should have a great chance of winning that match and moving on.

• In yet another upset, American Ryan Harrison defeated 15th seeded Ivan Ljubicic in a four set match. Harrison will play Ukranian player Sergiy Stakhovsky in the next round. 

• Victoria Azarenka collapsed on the court today in her match against Gisela Dulko, and was forced to retire. Vika later said that she was warming up in the gym before the match and fell during her sprints, which caused her to hit her head. She started to feel dizzy during the match, and after she collapsed she was taken to the hospital for testing and was diagnosed with a mild concussion.