Pray for My Ricco

Disaster: My baby Ricco Gross has injured his back and was pulled out of Germany's relay team, today, in Ruhpolding (which is in Germany, FYI, AND is Gross's hometown!).

There is a lot of speculation, now, that he will be deselected from the German olympic team, despite the fact that, according to Eurosport commentators, he has won THREE gold medals with the German relay team and FIVE world championship golds with them, as well. They also called him "THE most reliable servant to Germany over the last 15 years," which would have been, of course, a pretty dubious distinction 60 years ago.

While you're praying for athletes I love, put in a few good words to whomever you look towards (I'm so hungry right now, my choice would be: Large Cheese Pizza with light sauce) for Martina Hingis and Justine Henin for the upcoming Aussie Open. My fantasy semifinals (although I haven't seen the draw to know if it's even possible) would have Hingis wining the final over Henin, after Hingis beats Mauresmo in the Semis, and Henin beats Pierce. Not that you care (AT ALL), my favourite players go like this:

Always Henin, unless she is playing Hingis (my real #1)
Always Mauresmo, unless she is playing Henin or Hingis
Always Pierce, unless she is playing one of the three
Otherwise, I'm rooting for Serena

There are of course emotional victories I'd love for Hingis/Henin to have (like I could have said "Henin over Davenport in the semis and Hingis over Sharapova") but then my OTHER faves couldn't have made it that far in the tournament, which makes me sad.

VC