I’ll write about the women’s semifinals tomorrow morning but here are a few quick hits to tide you over.

Fishing

Whoa, Mardy Fish took out David Nalbandian in the quarterfinals, 6-3, 6-7(5), 7-6(4). Earlier in the week Fish said he changed his attitude towards tiebreakers – previously he was content just to get to a tiebreaker and now he’s trying to be more aggressive and focus on getting his first serve in. I guess it’s working.

I’m going to concentrate on the women today so I won’t say much, but I did watch Fish’s match from the Media Center here at Indian Wells while I was pecking away. Two things: 1. Fish beat Nalbandian by serving well and attacking the net. 2. This is Roger Federer’s lucky day: Tommy Haas dropped out of the tournament due to a sinus infection so Federer got a pass to the semifinals, and now he’ll face Fish instead of Nalbandian who beat him at both the Madrid and Paris Masters events last fall. Wanna bet Federer was watching this match with great interest?

Freud

Ana Ivanovic is surprisingly well read in the field of psychology. She’s currently reading a book by Freudian psychoanalyst Karen Horney and she ably explained how her understanding of psychology helped her tennis game. When someone asked Maria Sharapova about Freud, however, this was her response: “I don’t know who that is?”

A few years ago I was in the same media interview room when someone asked Roger Federer a question about Freud. He didn’t know who Freud was either. When someone explained that he was a psychologist, Federer said, “Nope, never needed him.”

Gambling

I tried to click through to an article about Andy Murray that I picked up through a google alert but the site was blocked by the server here on site. Its turns out that the article was on a betting website and all betting sites are blocked by the server.

You know, I’ve been wondering: if the U.S. decides to legalize offshore gambling and I get an account on a betting site so I can watch streaming video, will the ATP and WTA find out about it and refuse to give me media credentials? I ask because ATP player Federico Luzzi was suspended for six months and his agent, Norman Canter, mentioned that Luzzi might sue the gambling site he bet on because they divulged private information to the ATP.

I can see the ATP doing background checks on applicants for media credentials. Clearly they have a working relationship with the betting sites because they were able to get Luzzi’s records. Damn, and I was looking forward to getting access to that streaming video. I’ll have to get a beard – a term for someone who stands in for someone else – and get my beard to open an account in his or her name so I can use it. Don’t tell anyone.