Tennis Stars Hope to Hear Their Name Called at 2010 ESPY’s.

BEL AIR, CA - JULY 12: Professional tennis player Serena Williams attends her Pre-ESPYs House Party held at a private residence on July 12, 2010 in Bel Air, California. (Photo by Charley Gallay/Getty Images for SW)

I’ll admit I haven’t paid too much attention in recent years to the ESPY’s which are something like the Golden Globes of the sports world in which the awards are nice but it’s mainly about the show and the money raised for charity. However this year tennis, and some of the pros nominated, stands a real chance of winning some of the big awards. But on the flip side, I think tennis got left out of some of marquee categories as well. In any event, let’s take a quick look at the nominees and rate their chances of taking home the hardware.

BEST FEMALE TENNIS PLAYER
Kim Clijsters
Serena Williams
Venus Williams

I’d be shocked if Serena didn’t win. She is still the most dominating player in the women’s game right now.

BEST MALE TENNIS PLAYER
Roger Federer
Juan Martin del Potro
Rafael Nadal

This is pretty much between Federer and Nadal. I have a feeling Federer will win based on his 2009 season rather than his so-so 2010 season thus far.

BEST RECORD-BREAKING PERFORMANCE
Usain Bolt, 100 and 200-meter World Records
Brett Favre, NFL record for consecutive starts
Roger Federer, Most Grand Slam singles titles
Connecticut Women’s Basketball, Longest winning streak in Women’s NCAA Basketball History
Isner vs. Mahut at Wimbledon, Longest Match in Professional Tennis History

It’s nice to see tennis have two nods here and apparently the Isner/Mahut match just made it in before the close of nominations. Since that match is still fresh on everyone’s mind, it might just win, though Federer could sneak and win this one too since he wasn’t nominated for best overall male athlete which I think was a bad snub.

BEST FEMALE ATHLETE
Maya Moore, NCAA Basketball
Diana Taurasi, WNBA
Lindsey Vonn, Skiing
Serena Williams, Tennis

Serena could win this one as well but I see Lindsey Vonn taking it for her emotional Olympic Gold Medal run in Vancouver.

And if I had anything to do with the nominations, I would have added Larry Stefanki’s name to the list for “Best Coach” for the great job he’s done in turning around Andy Roddick’s game in the last year and also put Melanie Oudin in for “Breakthrough Athlete” for her impressive U.S. Open run last summer. But as they say, there’s always next year. And who knows, maybe Jelena Jankovic will finally get nominated and win. Can you imagine the acceptance speech she would give? Epic!

For more information about the ESPY’s which is set to at 9pm EST on July 14th on ESPN, click here.