8/24/06

the "all-things-tennis" edition

To celebrate the start of the US open tnext week, let's talk tennis:
quick notes:
1) the most emailed article fromthe NYT was this piece on Federer. I agree with the article, we are very fortunate to have the chance to witness "greatness in motion" in Roger Federer: his skills has reached such levels that he is reinventing how the game of tennis is being played. We are even mor fortunate that he has got a rival of the quality of Nadal to challenge him to reach new heights. Sadly, Sampras was a bit lonely at the top because Agassi was riddled with inconsistency (made me like him even more).
2) Speaking of Agassi, he will retire after the US OPEN. This is the end of an awesome era in Tennis. Agassi played against Connors and Nadal, talk about bridging the generation gap ! Here is a great tribute to his contribution to tennis.
3) Fun game of US open (www) tennis if you are a tennis fan: The rule: one pick a day, cannot be reused during the tournament. The prize: T-shirts, sweaters and your 15 mins of fame.
4) We have a budding star in Malagasy tennis, Lofo (via Marc). I hope I did not jinx him by predicting a great pro career.
5) I remember watching Noah beat Wilander to win Roland Garros over and over when I was a kid. I cannot believe how crazy the french crowd went when he won. No chance of such reaction nowdays because 1) less passion 2) security will beat up anyone who goes on the court (cf the tragic Seles stabbing ).
6) Amazing Federer shots, just for the heck of it.


4 comments:

  1. Anonymous11:34 AM

    I watched Agassi vs Pavel and I must say after witnessing the raucous and rude NYC crowd, I turned against Agassi, The LEgend. Seriously I cannot wait for somebody to beat the hyper hyped Agassi and I will be rooting for Baghdatis ! The crowd was unabashedly too partisan, no sense of sportsmanship at all, I really felt sorry for Pavel.

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  2. >sipakv: I am a huge Agassi fan. Especially because I thought he was not given proper credit for winning all 4 majors on different surfaces. However, just like you, I am now turned off by the oherhpe from the medi and the behavior of the fans. How can they disrespect Pavel that way while he was playing his heart out ? Pretty sad indeed. This is one instance of why the US open will never have Wimbledon's cache. The brits will support their guy but always with class. I am sorry for the long rant, sipakv, you just touched on a subject that I was dying to rant on :) as always :).

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  3. Anonymous9:33 AM

    wow lova, what a great match yesterday. agassi deserves his win, and baghdatis has a new fan in me. he looks like a cuddly big bear.

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  4. > sipakv what a night !!! I don't have any nails to chew on anymore :) Now what I don't understand is how can anyone boo Baghdatis for cramping ? He definitely won me over as well, not because he looks like a big teddy bear (though the similarity is uncanny :) ), but because he showed amazing poise and courage in the middle of a hostile crowd. With the a name like Baghda(d)tis,a lebanese dad, 20,000 people wishing you ill and down 2 sets , I would have packed my bags and go in a hurry. I am happy you are enjoying the nice send-off to Agassi . He really came around since his younger days. I think all of his matches will be an epic battle from now on. It will be too easy otherwise :)

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