the peaceful warrior

What else can be said about Rafa’s incredible semifinal victory over his compatriot Fernando Verdasco? Over 5 hours of blistering hard court tennis, this exhausted tennis lover is simply out of superlatives. I didn’t pick Nadal to win the title. In fact, I didn’t even pick him to get past the semis. Too often in the past he’s been stopped cold by an aggressive hitting player who’s playing out of his skin and for much of yesterday’s match, Nadal looked as if he was about to be shown the door by Verdasco.

But Nadal just would not go away. With a perfect mixture of blistering shots and zen like focus, Nadal found a way to win. At the end of the match, after wiping the tears from his eyes and picking himself off the court, he walked up to his opponent and gathered him in his arms. It was a perfect message to all, “It’s over now and you’re still my friend.”

Let’s not think of what may happen Sunday. The time is not to speculate about his tiredness, and what that might mean for Roger Federer. More than a moment needs to be given to the triumph of will and the goodness of spirit.

woman of steel

She’s been down but never out. And now Serena is back in the final at the Australian Open. She hasn’t always played her best, but one thing Serena Williams knows how to do is win. Have a 3-0 current head to head against her? She’ll beat you. Stick her out on a court in 100 degree weather, she’ll beat you. If you’re 10 year old Andy Roddick, she’ll beat you.

If you’re Dinara Safina, be on your game because Serena will beat you.

The Three R’s

Ridiculous:

    

Resurgent:

   

Retirement:

the debate is over for now.

Jelena Jankovic just got dumped out of the Australian Open by France’s Marion Bartoli in straight sets. So the debate over who is really the number 1 player in the world has ended for now. With her loss, Jankovic has lost the top ranking and gained probably a little bit more criticism from the sports writers and her fellow players.

She was defensive, and error prone with her play. Her serve was a mess and she tended to massage the ball rather than flat out hit it. Bartoli was superior in every aspect of the match: Movement, intensity, and consistency. Kinda surprising considering that Bartoli had been pretty much been written off due to her conditioning and injury issues. She proved today that her appearance in the 2007 Wimbledon final was no fluke. She really likes playing number 1 ranked players and beating them.

The good thing for Jelena is that this is the first major championship of the year. She has plenty of time to work on her serve, to tell her coach to zip it, to learn that she has a limited number of challenges, and to realize that in order to stay number 1 she needs to bring it every single time she steps out on the court.

But still, it’s a tough lesson for the Glamour Serb to learn.

Oh well….

(images via th AP)

passive/aggressive

The Passive

I can’t tell you how bummed I am. The first time I attempt to make any kind of public tennis prediction, I come off looking like a mook. Venus, Venus, Venus, what happened? You had match point against Suarez and you lost! The post match verdict was that you abandoned your net game, hit your balls way too short, and let the little Spaniard dictate play. Even Mama Oracene was shaking her head after your performance while I’m left kicking rocks and pinning my hopes on your little sister.

I can’t even feel good about my correct guess about Ana Ivanovic’s early exit. It’s not like I wanted it to happen, but I knew it would. It’s just mind boggling how someone who was so firmly entrenched in the Big Babe Tennis Brigade has fallen so far off the rails. I’ll give Ivanovic some leftover cool points for fighting back and taking it to three, but in the end her losing was inevitable.  Whether it be injuries, outside pressures, or rust, Ivanovic has to find her form again. She said in her post match presser that she probably needs a coach. She’s just now figuring this out?

The Aggressive

Picture the scene: A boiling hot day in Australia. A Serb and a Naturalized American of Bosnian descent are playing on the biggest show court at Melbourne Park. Huge crowds mill about, drinking lots of alcohol which allows simmering ethnic tensions to rise. What happens next, Bosnian and Serbian sympathizers start throwing chairs and hurling bottles at one another.

Such a shame. While Novak Djokovic, the Serb and Amer Delic, the Bosnian played their hearts out and exhibited awesome sportsmanship, their efforts were marred by those who had nothing better to do than to stick politics in a place where it didn’t belong. All week there have been incidents of ugly behavior involving Serbians, Croatians, and Bosnians taunting one another during matches. It’s reminiscent of the skirmishes between in the groups during the 2005 Australian Open where over 100 people were arrested and thrown from the grounds. Last year, a group of rowdy Greek fans were pepper sprayed in the stands during a Marcos Baghdatis match. You have to start wondering, is this tennis or professional wrestling?

All this could be a result of the rambunctious soccer culture filtering it’s way into the world of tennis. Or, it could be an illustration of something more sinister. Or, it could be both, but as a tennis fan it irks the hell out of me. Whether you are Greek, Croat, Serb, Bosnian, or Martian, there’s no excuse for acting a fool and ruining a great tennis experience for those who just want to watch a good match. I’ll refrain from getting into some geopolitical rant because frankly I could care less. There’s a time and a place for everything. And the grounds of Melbourne Park isn’t where you should get your revolution on, ya feel me?

It’s time for the tournament directors, Tennis Australia, and the ITF to take a stand and let these jerks know that behavior like that will not be tolerated. It’s as simple as this: Leave the partisanship at home or don’t come at all.

ready on day one

It was the first day of work for President Barack Obama and it was a busy one.  Even before his signature was dry on his official paper saying that, “Hey, I’m the President now,” He stopped George Bush’s attempts to make regulations in the dead of night. He also went to church, drafted an order to close Gitmo, enacted a salary freeze for the White House executive staff, and received congratulations from a whole bunch of other world leaders. All this after kicking his heels with Michelle into the wee hours of the morning.

It’s good to see that Obama is hitting the ground in a full sprint. How refreshing it is to have a leader who fully understands the monumental challenges we as a country face and who is committed to conquering them. I feel like breaking out with a Negro Spiritual, well one of the happy spirituals….if there is one. But I’m getting off topic here. The point is, even with things so effed up right now, Obama has harvested enough good will that people are willing to give him time to undo all the damage caused by the Bush Administration.

I know some of the upcoming decisions will not always make me happy (Hillary!). The task of cleaning out the muck and finding the skeletons of Bush & Co. aint going to be easy. In fact, it’s going to be downright painful. The yahoos on Fox News will be waiting for the first misstep with baited breath, but I have to be ready for it. Prices may go up, unemployment too, and I’ll have to be ready for it. War crimes might go unpunished, and worldwide conflicts may rage on, but I’ve got to be ready for it. It’s the choice I made when I voted for him.

welcome and so long…

The 44th President takes the oath.

He addresses the crowd.

 

He acknowledges his predecessor.

The President and the First Lady make their walk towards destiny.

 

The 43rd takes his leave.

And they along with the rest of us, say goodbye to childish things.

(photos via the AP)

une mauvaise semaine

It’s been a minute but it’s time to honor some bad week winners.

  George Bush-His farewell speech was greeted with little fanfare. With a mix and self delusion and swagger, Bush tried to put a cap on 8 years of mind numbing incompetence but even Dick Cheney wasn’t swayed. He was caught napping during the speech.

 Ann Coulter-The hateful conservative scribe got more than she asked for when she appeared on “The View” this week. She was given the smackdown by Whoopi, a talking to by Sherri Shepard, and a very stern look by Barbara Walters. Even Elisabeth Hasselbeck didn’t bother to rush to her aid. To top it all off, she was the subject of mockery on Saturday Night Live. Now it’s really a bad week when you’re portrayed by the “new” girl on the show in a rather unfunny skit.

 The New York Times Staff-After being snubbed by President Elect Obama in favor of the The Washington Post for a sit down interview and visit, Helene Cooper of the NYT wrote a snarky send up proclaiming that Washington Post staffers stood up and gave the President Elect a standing ovation. Luckily, The Post’s Howard Kurtz set the record straight in his blog, thus rendering the Times’ piss poor pool reporting as nothing but a litany of rotten sour grapes.

 Jeremy Piven-The perpetually sweaty star of “Entourage” who left his part time gig on Broadway due to mercury poisoning, was slapped by a grievance this week by the Speed the Plow producers. Apparently, they didn’t buy his story about overloading on sushi. Then again, who would?

(pics via the AP, Yahoo, and EOnline)

australian open: a look at the ladies

 Yesterday I gave my thoughts on the men’s draw so today I’ll share what I think about how it’s going to play out for the ladies. The 2009 Aussie Open looks to be quite an exciting one for the ladies. There are quite a few players that could win the title. Some of the top contenders are the Williams sisters (of course), Jelena Jankovic, Ana Ivanovic, Dinara Safina, and Elena Dementieva, but don’t overlook Caroline Wozniacki, Victoria Azarenka, Vera Zvonareva, and Agnieszka Radwanski.

Venus and Serena are both in the bottom half of the draw, the key for success for them is to get through the early rounds with as little wear and tear as possible.  Venus could meet her new found nemesis Flavia Pennetta in the 4th round before meeting up with the surging Elena Dementieva in the quarterfinals. Serena-the front runner for the WTA’s “Miss Congeniality” Awards has it a bit easier. She’s on path towards a tricky encounter with Amelie Mauresmo in the 4th round (if Amelie’s body holds up), and then Svetlana Kusnetsova in the quarters (If Kuzzy’s body holds up). The sisters will have to work hard if they want to meet in the semifinals.  Once they get there it’s anyone’s guess who will win that encounter, but I’m leaning towards Venus.

In the top half of the draw, there’s Jankovic and Ivanovic. If all falls into place, then the two Serbs could meet in the semifinals. As the top seed, Jankovic’s draw looks relatively easy up until the quarterfinals where she could face Zvonareva. Ivanovic’s half is nightmarish. Two extremely good players are looming in the distance in the forms of Safina and Wozniacki. Ivanovic has struggled mightily since her win at the French Open and she will have to play superlative tennis in order to have any chance to win the AO.

More predictions:

Most likely to have an on court meltdown: Dinara Safina. Marat’s baby sis has matured a lot in the past 11 months and it has showed in her amazing results. But old habits die hard, and if she struggles to put away her opponents and she succumbs to the pressure that her ranking entails, look for the Dinara 1.0 to make an appearance.

Most likely trash talk each other: Serena and Jelena. Serena fired off the first shot by dismissing Jelena’s #1 ranking. I don’t expect Jelena to let that pass. I see verbal fireworks.

Short stint: Ivanovic. She’s not going to be able to turnaround her shaky game in time for the tournament. She’ll spend more time in the stands watching her boyfriend then out of the court.

Most likely to win: Venus Williams. If she gets past Dementieva, she’ll win her first Aussie Open.

the down low down under

After a brief break from blogging I’m back and just in time for the first Major tennis championship of the year, The Australian Open. I’m actually quite happy because this takes my mind off of Burris, Palin, Joe the Plumber, Coultergeist,  Dubya, and the BART shooting. It’s time for some good in the midst of all of this bad!

Today was the official draw in Melbourne Park and for the top men things look real tricky. Rafa has a tough potential 4th round match with Richard Gasquet,  a possible quarterfinal showdown with Gilles Simon, and then a probable Semifinal clash with Andy Murray. Roger has a tough early test with Marat Safin in the 3rd round and could possibly meet red hot Croatian Martin Cillic in the 4th round. If he makes it that far, then he could face Juan Martin Del Potro in quarters. Novak Djokovic might have the toughest draw of them all. He’ s got  David Nalbandian, Marty Fish, and Andy Roddick floating around in his quarter, and if he manages to fight his way out, he has Roger Federer to look forward to in the Semifinals.

So here are my predictions. Well sort of.

Most likely to crash and burn: James Blake. James to me has lost a lot of his edge. After numerous inexplicable losses last year, his glory days of reaching the top 5 are over.

Cinderella Story: Llleyton Hewitt. A new baby, a healthy body, and a boisterous home crowd could propel Hewitt to a surprising run.

No repeat part 1: Jo Wilfried Tsonga. The injury plagued French sensation will not repeat as runner up this year. Bragging aside, he’s just in no shape to make a great run.

No repeat part 2: Roger Federer started out last year with a case of mononucleosis. He was slow and error prone and fell to Djokovic in the semis. This year, he is a man with something to prove. He’s going all the way to the final.

Sleeping Darkhorse: Martin Cillic. Another big Croatian with an even bigger serve, this guy’s has game for days.

Close but no cigar: Djokovic and Nadal. They’ll have good runs but they won’t quite reach their peak. I’ll be looking for these two battle out on the clay and grass.

Most likely to win: Andy Murray. He has the momentum, the confidence, and bevy of coaches behind him. He’s a great bet to take it all.

Tomorrow, I’ll share my thoughts on the women!