Happy New Year everyone! I’m just going to throw a bunch of random thoughts that I have in my head regarding the 2012 tennis season at you. Just know that I don’t really like writing, but it’s such a big part of my life I have no choice but to do it. So for those of you who are big fans of mine, just know my heart isn’t really in it. For those that don’t get this joke, please click here.

- Actually let’s start with Serena. It’s not that I don’t appreciate her honesty, it’s that I’m not quite sure why she would bother confessing this, given how hard it has been for her to retain fans over the past couple years. I’d predict how her season will go, but at this point it’s almost impossible. Would it surprise me to her win 2 slams and dominate when she chooses to play? Not really. But I could also envision a year with more drama and no big titles.

- I’d like to think Andy Murray’s hiring of Ivan Lendl will help him win a Grand Slam…but I just don’t see it happening. There is always the chance that he gets lucky and avoids Djokovic & Nadal en route to a title, but I can’t for the life of me envision Murray beating one of those two in a semi or final in one of the slams.

- Roger Federer will win a Grand Slam this year. Most likely Wimbledon, possibly the US Open, and there is a slim chance he even takes both. I don’t think he has been desperate enough the last couple of years. He peaked from ’05-’09 or so, and the last couple of years he hasn’t been the same player. But now I think he knows the end of his career is near, and that will be enough for him to reach back to his peak for one more fortnight.

- Caroline Wozniacki will not win a slam this year, nor will she finish the year ranked #1. It just seems to me that every time she runs into one of the big hitters that also has some consistency, she has an incredibly hard time keeping up. And in a slam, you usually don’t just run into one of those gals…

- Speaking of hard hitting females that show consistency as well, I can’t recall a year in which just about everyone thinks one player is going to dominate the rest of the WTA field. Even in the mid aughts, there was Venus, Serena, and the Belgians. As of today though, I’m pretty sure experts think Petra Kvitova is going to go undefeated in 2012. Well, she might not go undefeated…but I think 2 slam titles and a year end #1 ranking is a pretty good bet.

- Holy cow, nearly 500 words in and not one mention of Djokovic or Nadal! That’s easily explainable…it’s boring. Barring injury, they will both win at least one grand slam title and finish 1-2 (in some order) at the end of the year. Seriously, I’d be an idiot to predict anything else, and quite frankly I bored even myself writing that sentence.

- Holy cow, over 500 words in and not one mention of an American man! American fans will continue to complain about American mens tennis, because we were spoiled by the Connors/McEnroe and Sampras/Agassi eras. Meanwhile, vets like Fish & Roddick will continue to put up solid (and sometimes spectacular) results. In addition, youngsters like Isner, Querrey (injury comeback hopeful!), Young & Harrison will continue to improve.