Tennis Hack and Cough

So much tennis going on, I’m feeling dizzy but I wouldn’t have it any other way.

• After serving a bagel yesterday, Rafa Nadal was fed one by Lukas Lacko. Nadal managed to pull out the win and keep a lung, although he tried he darndest to cough it up in the 3rd set. Surprisingly, he went out a few hours later and won his doubles match. During the presser, Nadal said that he was suffering from a fever and was on antibiotics. Let’s hope for a quick recovery. The Aussie Open starts in 8 days.
• Roger Federer struggled a bit against his countryman Marco Chiudinelli, but he managed to win and book a date with Victor Troicki. And he didn’t hit a tweener this time.
• Maria Sharapova was defeated by 31-year-old veteran Greta Arn today in Auckland. I’m not quite ready to bring up the “y” word (YIPS), but it’s apparent that she still has serving issues. Richard Gasquet keeps on disappointing everyone, and Kuznetsova had yet another inexplicable loss.
• Andy Murray and Novak Djokovic continue to frolic and have fun at Hopman Cup.

bagels, tweeners, and upsets

The first real full day of tennis brought the following:

• A feverish Rafael Nadal made himself feel better by serving a bagel to Karol Beck in his first round match at Doha
• Earlier,  Roger Federer performed another tweener to delighted audiences who pretended that he hadn’t done it before. It’s still impressive that he can seemingly do that at will.
• Fernando Verdasco and his new racket are out in Brisbane. If he wants to know how successful a player can be when they switch sticks in mid-career, he can ask Ivan Lubijic.
• Sam Stosur-bounced. Dinara Safina-bounced (no surprise). Marin Cilic-bounced (the surprise was in who did the bouncing-Kei Nishikori. Remember him?).
• Bernard Tomic put his wildcard hopes for the Aussie Open in further jeopardy by losing to Florian Mayer.
• The U.S. continues to roll in Hopman Cup. I smell a hot and crackling match up with Serbia who is also undefeated. The pairing of Novak Djokovic and Ana Ivanovic is just too cute for words.

Deja View

Back to that big tournament in Madrid for a moment folks. The men’s final is set and  Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal will face each other once again for the championship. It is indeed a repeat of last year’s final but my oh my, what a difference a year makes. We all know about the subsequent triumphs of Federer  and the tragedies (?) of Rafa. Federer finally won the French Open and sealed the deal with his 16th major win at this year’s Aussie Open. Nadal on the other hand was upset at the FO, had to withdraw from Wimbledon, and suffered from mediocre results and a lack of confidence for months. Things are different now. I hope.

It was as if the tennis gods wrote this in the stars. Nadal and Federer facing each other again on the clay courts of Madrid to chase history. Nadal is gunning for his 18th Master’s Series title which will put him ahead of the all time leader, Andre Agassi. He’s also looking for a clean sweep of the clay Master’s tournaments before the tent gathering starts at Roland Garros. Meanwhile, Federer is looking to resuscitate his season after a series of early losses. One man stands in the way of the other’s chance to make history. It always seems to be the case with these two.

I guess that’s why their match ups are so compelling. There always seems to be more at stake than a weird looking trophy and a big check. They are diametrical opposites. They both have rabid fan bases. They both are personable and have a great relationship with the press. People love to watch them and talk about them and speculate about them. They’ve become this weird two-headed symbiotic tennis monster and no one can ever get enough, even when their matches don’t necessarily live up to the hype (2008 French Open, anyone?).

Of course I’ll watch because I’m a tennis junkie. I love history and I’m a total Rafa KAD. Naturally I want him to kick ass and take the title over his greatest rival. It would in my opinion make his the absolute, total, complete favorite for the French Open. It would quell all the talk about his tender knees and it would strike a blow to his challengers,letting them know once and for all: “I’M BACK, MOFOS!!! TAKE THAT! TAKE THAT!”  Okay, so I kind of imagined that Rafa would sound like Sean “Diddy” Combs for a minute, but you get the gist. It’s been a tough few months for him and his fans.I want my guy to do well.

Let’s hope the tennis gods are listening.

news around the court

• American standout Sam Querry is out for the season after a freak accident in Bangkok, Thailand. Querry was sitting on a glass table and suddenly fell through it, severely cutting his arm.
• Roger Federer is out of the Tokyo Open and the Shanghai Masters. Speculation is that he is having issues with his back, but Federer did not confirm anything in his official withdrawal statement. It’s not known at this time whether or not he will play in the season end championships in London.
• Rafael Nadal after pulling out of the Thailand Open, resumed training this week and hopes to compete in Shanghai. He’s stated that his stomach injury is almost completely healed but he has had to change his service motion in order not to re-aggravate the injury.
• Richard Gasquet received the best news possible. The defamation suit filed against him by “Pamela” has been dismissed and she has been ordered into rehab. Well, well, well.
• Seems like the controversy surrounding Serena Williams’ loss at the U.S. Open hasn’t hurt her as much as the chattering masses thought it would (ha!). She just signed a huge deal with Tampax and will be featured in a new campaign. Can’t say much about the source of the money, but I’m not mad at Miss Serena for getting that cheddar.
• Meanwhile, her sister Venus was one of many seeds to fall in Tokyo this week. A whole bunch of top players bowing out in a meaningless but mandatory tournament is no longer headline news. Really, it’s not.
• Some other Belgium player has announced her comeback . Yawn.
• Kimiko Date-Krumm, aged 38 just won a tournament last Sunday. Hooray for the 30 something chicks!

last laughs

Ha ha haaa!

 

HA HA HAAAAAAA!

 

HA HA HAAAAAAA!

the tale of two champions

So the Wimbledon is over and the men’s champion has been crowned. The guy who pretty much had his way paved in gold for him when last year’s champion had to withdraw because of injury. He was only truly tested once and that during today’s final, when a man who had lost to the champ 19 times in 21 matches played for 5 sets with the belief that maybe, just maybe he could be the one to derail history. Alas, it was not to be.

Credit Andy Roddick for giving everything that he had. During the fortnight, he played some of the best tennis of his professional career. He stunned the other golden boy, Andy Murray in the semifinals and apart from being the feel good story of the tournament, most tennis fans knew that the 19-2 head to head would play a major part in the men’s final. All it took was one break in the 5th set, and the record was broken and the number 15 monogrammed jacket  made its Center Court debut.

In the world of sports, milestones are rarely given asterisks. If someone breaks a record, very little attention is paid to how it was accomplished. Years from now, I doubt that people will mention Robin Soderling and Andy Roddick when they talk about the 15 Major titles. The most they can expect is to be the subject of a question in the latest edition of “Trivial Pursuit”. It might even be considered unfair that the feat was achieved without the benefit of a victory over one’s great nemesis but hell, a lot of things in this world are unfair. Some fans would argue that it was unfair that Roger Federer had been denied the chance to seal the deal in previous years because of Rafael Nadal. They possibly see it as a type of justice that Federer was able to fulfill his dream of greatness while his archrival was laid up in Mallorca.

That just don’t cut the mustard with me. See, as appreciative as I am of Federer’s game I could never warm to him on a personal level. I blame the press mainly for this because early in his career, his supposed greatness was shoved down everyone’s throat.  Once he matured and started winning he naturally started to believe his own hype. His casual dismissiveness of any perceived threats and haughty nature helped increase my dislike. Along with Nike and a worshipful tennis press, his perfection was packaged, promoted, and hyped to nauseating levels. It was like, “See how great he is? You HAVE to love him! You just HAVE to!”

Well not exactly. I’ll tell you something you might already know: I flove Serena Williams. The main reason is because there is something undeniably human about her. I know that Federer wants to win just as much as Serena does, but with Serena you can tell that she is willing to do anything to win, even if makes her look awkward, or unattractive, or less than graceful. Even with her flights of mental fancy or her less than PC sound bites, Serena is always Serena. She’s doesn’t need a clothing company to tout her greatness. She’s not interested in being universally loved and adored. She just uses her racket and her will to get by and she lets the rest take care of itself.

I guess that’s why I was so happy yesterday to see her win against her greatest rival; her sister Venus. The post match celebration included a hug at the net, a touching speech, and a wish that she would help her sister win the doubles championship. No hype, no hoopla-just delight in a job well done. It reminds me of the end of another monumental match. Back in 1988, I saw Steffi Graf win the calendar Grad Slam at Flushing Meadows. It was a feat that has yet to be repeated and yet there were no fireworks launched. Steffi didn’t have a special bag or outfit for the occasion. There was  just a simple announcement and a round of well deserved applause. Owing to the fact that her opponent; her greatest rival Gabriela Sabatini was distraught, Graf’s speech was simple and gracious.  Oh, how I wish things were still like that.

But anyhoo, I’ll say congratulations to Federer. It was his time to shine and I will waste no more time throwing shade his way. Only because I know that somewhere in Porto Cristo, there’s a man who is still around who has the ability to thwart Federer and to make some history of his own.

Congrats again, Serena.

Get well soon, Rafa. You are missed more than you know.

sublimely ridiculous

Roger Federer took the court today with his fancy Wimbledon duds. Emphasis on DUD.

If the gold lame disco diaper bag wasn’t enough, our eyes were further assaulted with the vest with gold piping. Sgt. Pepper’s feeling a little lonely without his get up don’t you think?

Attention whore fail.

News around the court

• Rafael Nadal says that he will be in London June 16th and hopes to be ready to defend his Wimbledon title. According to his doctor, Nadal is suffering from knee tendinitis and edema.
• Roger Federer has skipped the Halle Open citing exhaustion.
• Anna Ivanovic has split from coach, Craig Kardon and will return to coaching by committee via the Adidas Development Program.
• As a result of his semi-final showing at the French Open, Chile’s Fernando Gonzalez returns to the top 10.
• Dinara Safina is still the #1 ranked tennis player.
• Martina Navratilova has called for a ban on shrieking. Maria Sharapova is silent.
• Federer’s 14th wasn’t a big ratings booster. More people watched Tiger Woods win the Memorial.

Bagels and Breadsticks

It’s French Open Time! And it’s time for me to make so observations (NOT predictions. I suck at them)

The Men:

-As much as he might not like to admit it, Rafael Nadal is coming into this year’s French Open with more pressure than he has ever faced before. He’s the top seed for the first time ever and he has a chance to make even more clay court history by winning a 5th consecutive title. So far he’s handled the pre-tournament hype with a lot of grace. I don’t forsee the complete demolition he exhibited last year, but I think he will make it to the finals. Will he win? Ha! Do you even need to ask? The key is to get Nadal in the early rounds. He’s has some potentially tough matches with David Ferrer and/or Fernando Verdasco. His semi-final opponent could be Andy Murray from Great Britain. However, if he passes through those guys without spending too much time on the court, the title will be his once again.

-Roger Federer’s draw looks pretty straightforward until he reaches the semifinals where he could meet Novak Djokovic. Unless Federer plays the way he did during the Madrid final last week, Djokovic is a big favorite to win that match. Should Federer make his 4th straight final at Roland Garros, what will his mindset be? Does he still think his 14th Grand Slam title could be won on the French Clay? Will he be up for the fight or will he accept the inevitable? Let’s face it, Nadal has owned Federer on the center court on championship Sunday and after facing each other 20 times, I doubt Federer has anything new to show Nadal.

-Someone who could show Nadal a thing or two is the fourth seed and in my opinion, the second best player on clay this season-Novak Djokovic. Instead of being discouraged by his heartbreaking loss to Nadal in Madrid, I think he will in fact be emboldened to prove himself at Roland Garros. He has a really good chance to make it to the final if he isn’t too tired or gets to frustrated. Looking into my crystal ball I’m seeing a Djokovic Nadal faceoff two Sundays from now.

-Where does that leave Andy Murray? I say a decent showing until the semifinals. He’s improved somewhat on clay but there are still too many guys out there who can outmaneuver him on clay. The chatter about his prowess has dampened a bit but that’s due to his own so so results as of late. If he wants to be part of the conversation again, he’ll have to step it up. This means he will have to step up the aggression and not be too passive to even stand a chance of making it.

As for the other men, I don’t really see any dark horses or surprises. The top men have been so consistent, I expect the draw to play out according to seeding. I will be interested to see how the French players perform on their home soil. I’ll also be looking out for the American men. Will Andy Roddick do any damage? He was the only player to take a set off of Federer at the Madrid tournament so who knows?

The Women:

The field is wide open and the title is up for grabs. The Paper Number One, Dinara Safina has a chance to silence the critics by finally winning a major title. Ana Ivanovic is trying to make a comeback from injury and so is Maria Sharapova but I don’t see either one of them making it past the second week. Venus and Serena are now ranked number 2 and number 3 which means they will be on  opposite sides of the draw. Does that mean we’ll see an all Williams final in Paris? No. Serena is still nursing a knee injury and Venus has gone all “Miss Inconsistent” on me.

Jelena Jankovic is much ado about nothing. The other Russian players are all a big smelly pot of MEH so I’m going to focus my attention on Victoria Azarenka of Belarus. I think she’s going to go pretty far IF she has completely healed from her shoulder injury. If she hasn’t and loses early, I’ll deny everything that I’ve just written.

Sorry, I just can’t get too worked up about the women right now. Ask me if I feel any different once Wimbledon starts and Kim Clijsters returns.

clay confidence

You didn’t think I was going to say anything about the men’s final in Madrid? That momentous occasion when Roger Federer defeated Rafael Nadal for the first time since November2007? On clay? What else is there to say? Everything lined up perfectly for Federer and he scored a win over his biggest rival. Good for him.

Sorry I can’t celebrate more. I am a Nadal fan naturally and tennis fans have been through this before. Remember Hamburg 2007 when Federer defeated Nadal for the first time on clay breaking Nadal’s incredible 81 match winning streak? A lot of experts predicted then that Federerhad turned the tide withhis rivalry with Nadal and it was his time to finally win the title at Roland Garros. We all saw what happened with that. Nadal shrugged off the loss and defeated Federer in 4 sets that year. In 2008, Nadal did one better and beat Roger in straight sets. So conventional wisdom says that there’s very little reason to believe that Federer’s victory over Nadal last Sunday will mean that he will finally win in Paris.

For one, Roger’s appearance in a 4th straight French Open final isn’t necessarily guaranteed. Between his clay court triumphs over Nadal, Federer has suffered losses from the likes of Andy Roddick, James Blake,  Radek Stepanek, Ivo Karlovic, Stanislaw Wawrinka, Novak Djokovic, and Andy Murray. In fact, Murray like Nadal has a winning record against Federer.  Any one of these guys, especially Djokovic and Murray could score an upset so Federer would be wise to keep his focus on the guys in his draw. The Mighty Federer is a thing of the past for most players and any slip in concentration-any loose games could mean that the Not So Mighty Fed could be shown the door early.

Secondly, meeting a tired Nadal at the tail end of the clay masters series is very different from meeting a motivated Nadal in a Grand Slam final. If he makes it, Federer will know that Nadalwill stop at nothing short of ripping his flesh off with his teeth to remain the “El Rey of Clay”. Sure, making sure his first serve percentage is above 60% could help. Oh, and running around his backhand to slam a forehand down the line could come in handy. But come on, he’s already shown his hand during the Madrid final. You don’t think that Nadal will be looking for those things?

But wait! Federer says he’s rested and confident!

So what?

In 2006, Federer won three major titles: The Australian Open, Wimbledon, and the U.S Open. He lost in the French finals to Nadal. In 2007, he did the very same thing. He also lost in the final of the French Open to Nadal. These days, Rafa is the number #1 player in the world and he’s a much better player than he was in 2006 and 2007. Federer on the other hand is ranked #2 and he’s not. Throw in the fact that he benefited greatly from an easy draw and hard court like conditions in Madrid, and you can call me not convinced just yet that he will win the elusive French Open championship.

That’s not to say that Nadal has it in the bag. He’s facing new challengers as well. If he makes it to the final though, there’s no way I’m voting against him to hold up the trophy for the 5th time no matter how confident Roger may feel.