After Draft, CAPS '08 Roster Complete

Roster Finalized
The 2008 WTT Draft took place April 1, in Miami, where the CAPS took doubles specialist Eric Butorac to team with Sam Warburg on the men's side. For the women, Elena Likhovtseva will be joined by Tamaryn Hendler this season.


If you liked the energy from last year's young rookie, Michelle Larcher de Brito, you'll enjoy watching this 15-year-old as well. For Hendler, tennis has been her whole life. "Tammy" has trained at the Bollettieri Academy and Chris Evert's Academy in Florida, and now trains mostly in Belgium. The young Belgian, currently the No. 18 junior in the world, just partnered with former CAP Nicole Vaidisova at the Sony Ericsson Open in Miami. The pair lost to Elena and Lisa Raymond in the first round. I'm sure Hendler will enjoy being Elena's teammate rather than going up against her this summer at Allstate Stadium.


Eric Butorac, at just 26-year-old, is a tour veteran. Since turning pro in 2003, the Minnesotan has focused mainly on doubles and is joining the CAPS after a career year in 2007, in which Butorac won three titles -- San Jose, Memphis, and Nottingham. He has continued that momentum into '08. In February, he reached No. 30 in the Stanford ATP Doubles Race, a career high. He and Warburg will be looking to dominate in men's doubles for the CAPS!


Coming soon: More detailed player profiles and player reaction/thoughts on playing for the defending WTT Champions.


Knowles and Bhupati Back in Finals
A rivalry is brewing in men's doubles on the ATP Tour. For the second time in the last three tournaments, CAPS MVP "Knowlsey" and partner Mahesh Bhupati have taken out the Czech team of Martin Damm and Pavel Vizner. This time, it was a tight 7-6 (5), 4-6, 11-9 triumph to reach the finals of the Sony Ericsson Open.


March Madness
The NCAA Basketball Tournament has to be near the top of the "best sporting events" list. The upsets, the cinderella story, the .... 4 top seeds making up the Final Four?? The year I decide fill my bracket with upset picks just happens to be the year everything goes according to plan (mostly). So my brackets were busted a long time ago, but the games, the passion, the suspense, is still as entertaining as ever. The effort put forth by collegiate athletes, especially with so much on the line, just makes you wonder what happens to that heart and emotion if and when they turn pro.


Dream Job
Have you happened to notice all the beautiful people at sporting events these days? If not, the camera guys are trying to help you out. Just about every time a game comes back from a commercial, there's a shot of some gorgeous young blonde or good-looking couple enjoying their evening. This got me thinking, and I think I've found the ultimate dream job:

Job description: Attend sporting events, hang out and watch games for free. During timeouts or breaks in action, please scope crowd for any and all "hotties," zoom in and focus camera on them. Go strike up conversation with "hottie" that caught your eye (to be sure we can put them on TV, of course), and if needed, please get contact info (this is a judgement call). Requirements: Good vision and people skills. Wow, can the job get any better?!

* It is probably worth mentioning that the Major League Baseball season began this week.