rammsteinfan-1

I have a 1995 Star Wars "shadows of the Empire Chewbacca action figure in Luke Skywalker packaging. I just wondered if anyone had any idea as to how much this may be worth.

Ok, with Martina Hingis recently making a return to competitive play, it probably leads us to consider who else might return to the pro tours.

1. Who would you most like to see return to professional tennis? I'd say Pete Sampras for the men. His huge serve and aggressive volley would make a welcome change to the modern baseline game and would give opponents a very different challenge. For the women, I'd pick Justine Henin. She was Serena Williams' consistently toughest foe and has a great all-round game. Your picks please.

2. Who would you say retired too young? I'd say Patrick Rafter is a likely candidate. He won two Majors and reached two Wimbledon finals, coming very close to winning at the second attempt. What if he'd played on? For the women I'd pick Ana Kournikova. OK, she was probably never going to be a legend but, if she hadn't been distracted by the whole modeling thing I think she could have certainly returned to the top ten and won that elusive first tour title. You guys?

3. Who went on too long? Mats Wilander is an obvious pick for the men. He won his last Slam in 1988 but went on playing for another largely fruitless seven years before finally hanging up his racket. For the women, I'm going for Venus Williams. Although she has not yet retired, it has been several years since she last won anything of note and looks unlikely to turn that trend around. What do you guys think?

I have a 1997 Kenner Chewbacca action figure in a Luke Skywalker box. I wondered how much this factory defect may be worth. Any ideas?

Who would you say are the nicest professional tennis players?

My picks, in no specific order..

Men.-

Patrick Rafter.- Always the consumate gentleman, never said anything out of order. Even when he was at the top and highly competetive he still got that it was just a game.

Gustavo Kuerten.- Even though he was a top-level champion, he always came across as very pleasant and had a child-like love of just being out there playing.

James Blake.- a fantastic ambassador for the sport. Even when Lleyton Hewitt made a stupid and racially slanted comment at the US Open one year, he took the higher ground and didn't rise to it.

Women.-

Kim Clijsters.- So sweet-natured. Seemed to be universally liked, even by her toughest of riivals..

Elena Dementieva.- Just seemed genuinely nice. It was touching to see so many of her peers pay tribute when she retired.

Lindsay Davenport.- Always came acroos as very laid back and very respectful to her rivals.

I'v ealways struggled with my serve. It can get reasonably good but my ball toss can go wild if I'm a little out of practice, killing the accuracy and even the speed. Given that, I'd pick Goran Ivanisevic's first serve. The guy could hit so many types of serve off the same toss and could seemingly get aces at will. Maybe his second delivery was a little less wonderful but I'd just love to serve like that.

What individual shot by a particular player would you love to have?

I for one was very happy to see Andy Murray finally break his Grand Slam jinx at the US Open. It was a great and deserved victory. Now that he's won, who would you most like to see win their first Major?

I'd probably pick either Jo Wilfried Tsonga or (if he ever comes back) Robin Soderling. Both are huge hitters and have come close before. On the women's side, I'd pick Agniezka Radwanska. She has done well and has a nice tactical game despite giving up a ton of power.

Who would you go for?

We all have our favorite players, usually the ones who are winning or at least in the running for Majors. But many of us also have our sentimental favorites, the ones who are good but never seem to get the big prize.

For me, I'd have to say Julien Benneteau. The poor guy's been in 7 ATP finals and is still yet to win one. Hopefully he'll get there one day.For the women, I'd pick either Andrea Petkovic or Sabine Lisicki. Every time ethy get on any kind of roll they seem to get injured. Who are your picks? Remember, do not include the big names. Even if you like them, multi-time Slam winners can hardly count as sentimental favorites.

Today's men's finals appear to have been pretty good ones. No Tennis Channel, so will have to Youtube the highlights. However, when I looked into the finals records of the four guys playing in the two finals I noticed how poor a record they had going in. Prior to today, the four guys combined to have played in a total of 33 finals... but also combined to have won a lamentable 6 of them. Nieminen.- 1/9, Monfils.- 3/11, Tipsarevic.- 1/4, Troicki.- 1/3. Is this an all-time record worst combined finals record on a finals day?

OK, we all have our favorites at the very top of the game but who is your favorite men's player ranked outside the top ten. Mine is Janko Tipsarevic. He has a very clever game and great variety as well as deceptive power. He is also one of the ATP Tour's more interesting characters. Your picks?

Which retired player, male and female, would you most liked to have won a Major? For me it would be

Men.- Marcelo Rios. He may have been a rather cantankerous character and definitely not the most popular guy in the locker room, but he was a fantastic talent. He had all the shots and pin-point accuracy, as well as a surprising amount of power for his size.

Women.- Elena Dementieva. Its a shame her serve was such a liability because the rest of her game was excellent. She was one of the very best movers in the game and had such explosive ground-strokes. At least she did win the Olympic Gold.

Who are your picks?

Tennis fans, I know we are all ages on here and got into tennis at different times but what was the first Major tournament you remember watching? For me it was the 1991 Wimbledon that Germany's Michael Stich won.

On both the men's and women's sides, who do you guys see being the next first-time Major winners?

OK, This year saw Novak Djokovic practically shut down the men's Slams but who do you think will win big in Melbourne, Paris, London and New York in 2012? With such a strong top 4 and with each one going into the end of the year on different form it should be an interesting season ahead of us. I'm not including the women's game because that has been so random lately that it would be next to impossible to guess.

I'm sure everyone's read on Yahoo Sports that 90's great Thomas Muster is going to be making a return to professional tennis. I personally think it is great. Ok, he's 42 and it is hard to imagine him winning Majors but he's fit as ever and seems committed to it. He is also wise to start on the Challenger circuit and has said he has no concrete expectations. I say good luck to him. What do you guys think?

I was disappointed to see that the French Open coverage has been shifted from ESPN2 to the Tennis Channel. What happened. Did ESPN drop the tournament from their lineup or did the Tennis Channel throw the French Open organizers an offer they simply coldn't refuse? Either way, it seems ridiculous to move the tournament from mainstream cable to a channel that about 50 households in the entire US actually receive. Hopefully, the networks will still be showing the final.

Ok, the season is (Davis Cup aside) over. What do you guys see as the years biggest highlights and lowlights?

In no particular order, mine are.-

Highlights.-

1.- Kim Clijsters returns to win the US Open

2. Roger Federer breaks the all-time Grand Slam record.

3.- Rafael Nadal wins his first hardcourt Major in Melbourne.

4.- Juan Martin delPotro breaks through to win his first Grand Slam title.

5.- Nikolay Davy denko finally wins big at the ATP finals.

Lowlights.-

1.- Andy Murray's dismal US Open performance.

2.- Serena Williams' outburst in US Open semis.

3.- Rafael Nadal caps an injury-prone end to the season by going 0-3 in London.

4.- Marat Safin finally calls it quits in uniquely unspectacular fashion.

5.- Dinara Safina's tearful and uncompetetive loss in the French Open final.

Opinions?

Ok, tennis fans, we all know eachother's favorite players and sport's aside from tennis. But, what music do you guys listen to? Personally, I would say you can't beat 90s grunge like Alice in chains and Soundgarden.

I don't know about anyone else but I'm so glad that NBC got the rights to Wimbledon. Don't get me wrong, I love tennis and all but I would have been disappointed if the Wimbledon coverage had been broadcast at the expense of favorites like Judge Judy or the Today Show. Thanks to NBC, I didn't have to worry about that. I can now sleep safe in the knowledge that, come finals day on Sunday, I won't have to choose between the Wimbledon final and another favorite show: I can watch Crocheting Today live, knowing that NBC will have the re-run of the Wimbledon Final ready for me a mere 4-5 hours later.

AWESOME!!!

Who sings these songs from current US commercials.- Toyota Prius?, Lincoln MKZ?, and Visa Debit (aquarium ad)?

In concept, when I first heard about, it seemed OK: a one-stop venue for all things tennis. However, in practice its proven to be a terrible idea. To start with, its a premium station that comes at extra cost over your regular monthly cable/satellite fee. If that doesn't reinforce tennis' image as an elitist sport I don't know what does.Also, unlike the golf network, there is not a huge market for its instructional features. To top it all off, its not even available in many markets. With it having acquired the rights to the Masters series events, all its achieved is to deprive most fans of tournaments they used to able to watch. With tennis coverage already being somewhat limited on network and standard cable TV, the last thing most of us need is yet more tournaments we can't watch. This hurts not only the fans but the sport itself. Given that tennis does not have anywhere near the popularity of mainstream sports like soccer, basketball or baseball, it seems pretty stupid to allow fans even less chance to see it.

Opinions?