It’s important that the small group known as Tennis Maryland actually play tennis from time-to-time. That is why we skipped Legg Mason again tonight. Unfortunately, we couldn’t help but think about it the whole time.
Friday is the business end of the tournament. It’s a cliché as old as Bud Collins, but just as entertaining. Tomorrow is the kind of day where tennis fans salivate like Pavlov’s Dog, which is a worse cliché.
Fernando Verdasco, or No-Hair-Fer, as @TennisRomi or @RacquetRequired @onthegotennis aptly designated him, plays Radek Stepanek at 2 p.m on Stadium Court. At 5 p.m., Donald Young takes on Marcos Baghdatis. Young has had a lot of support from the DC-area crowd, and we’d love to see him pull the upset. John Isner will get things going after that against Victor Troicki. Tell the babysitter you’ll be home late, because Thursday’s double-header sweeper Gael Monfils will play Janko Tipsarevic not before 9:15 p.m. If Isner plays a couple more Legg Mason Thai-Breakers against Troicki like he did against Blake, it might be more like not before 10:00 p.m. for Monfils and Tipsy.
We miss you guys down there. We’ll see you all weekend. Hope you missed us as much as we missed you. Expect confusing twitter photos and bad press conference questions from 4:00 p.m.
Tennis Atlantic 
Return Serve?