What better thing to enjoy while watching America’s Pastime than something called the Grand Slam?

The Grand Slam

Ingredients:

• 1 oz Gibson’s Finest Canadian Whisky
• 3 oz ginger ale
• Dash of bitters

Directions:

Build ingredients over ice in a rocks glass.

Garnish with slice of lime.

Image and recipe courtesy of Gibson’s Finest

Post from: EveryJoe

Grand Slam

Quick recap of what happened today. On the men’s side, Novak Djokovic worked his way through Denis Gremelmayr in four sets. Novak lost the first set but rallied to win the next three. Gremelmayr is a talented player, but he just can’t push it to the level he needs to in order to play with the top-ranked players.

David Nalbandian won in three sets as did James Blake. Andy Murray took it to five sets before finally getting the Dub-ya over Jonathan Evsseric.

The most prolific of the less fortunate was Carlos Moya. The 16th-ranked player lost in five sets to Eduardo Schwank; Janko Tipsarevic lost in four sets.

In the women’s draw, Serena Williams and Ana Ivanovic won their first round matches in straight sets. Alize Cornet gave the French something to cheer about in her first-round victory over Julia Vakulenko.

Nicole Vaidisova was the first ranked player to bow out, losing to fellow Czech Iveta Benesova. Vaidisova took the first set to a tiebreak but failed to capitalize and then was blown out 6-1 in the second set.

I know, I know – today was a little dry and boring. The real excitement doesn’t come until later in the tournament…unless of course we get a huge upset tomorrow…

(Image: Newscom)
James Blake eyes a backhand in the first round at Roland Garros.

Post from: EveryJoe

Opening Day of French Open

Something that gets a little less notice is the Davis Cup (although all the big names play in it – I think it’s just the format and nature of the event that makes its less notable). The Swiss are out despite the efforts of top-ranked Roger Federer and the Americans have worked their way into the final against the defending Russian champions.

Christopher Clarey writes an excellent bit about Andy Roddick closing in on his Davis Cup dream. The Americans haven’t won the cup since 1995 and this year, the chance to win is within reach and delightfully close to home. Roddick has been playing the Davis Cup event since he joined the team in 2001 and has dogged his way through the years in search of a title.

Dreams are dreams and everybody’s got them, including a top-ranked tennis player. But what are dreams without a little hardware to back them up?

Post from: EveryJoe

Davis Cup