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Tennis
Llodra slips a mickey to a doubting Tomas
The Has!
Ha! Ha! Ha!
Serve and volley? Ha!Ha! Ha! Serve and volley is dead!
Net play? Ha!Ha!Ha!
Are you nuts?
A woman coach? Amelie Mauresmo? Ha! Ha! Ha! You must be crazy!
These are the kinds of barbs , taunts, scorn and scathing attack you would imagine that Michaël Llodra endured when he decided to seek coaching from his compatriot Mauresmo.
Changing your game plan is never easy. Remolding and remodeling it is even harder, especially late in your career. The trick lies in not changing a lot of stuff, just a few things.
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Can Samantha Stosur Go Far At The US Open?
Samantha Stosur cuts a striking, even imposing figure on court with her trademark baseball cap and dark shades.
She brings to the tennis court her unique persona and style.
She started out as a doubles player and was ranked No. 1 in the world with Lisa Raymond.
Samantha Stosur is the Australian No.1. She goes into the US Open ranked No. 5, her highest ranking ever at Flushing Meadows.
If 2009 marked the rebirth of Stosur in her singles avatar, 2010 confirmed her status as a challenger to beware of.
2009 saw her reach the French Open semis and 2010 saw her go one better reaching the finals only to cave in to an uninhibited Schiavone. Ironically, it was Schiavone she knocked out in the first round at the 2009 edition of the French Open.
2010 has been her best year ever on the WTA tour. Her career high-ranking of five has come on the back of her stupendous showing at the French Open. This period also includes seven successive quarter-final appearances, a record of sorts.
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Four Reasons Why It Could Be Federer All The Way At Flushing Meadows
The Poached Egg
The hiring of Paul Annacone as coach appears a masterstroke in hindsight. Federer’s results and ranking since have shown an upward trajectory.
He has reached two consecutive finals: The Rogers Cup and Cincinatti Masters, winning the latter.
A new resilience and a willingness to slug it out with the best of them exemplify Federer’s ascendant star. He expects no easy wins and is willing to stay the course. This was so not the case earlier when Federer’s opponents were overawed by his reputation and gifted away easy victories.
The mortality of Federer has unlocked a new stream of consciousness in his opponents that there is life in professional tennis despite his looming presence.
As to how Annacone has added luster to Federer’s glory, the answer is still in the realm of speculation.
Roger, what is it? Is it validation? Is it motivation? Is it technical? Or is he a trophy coach?
Either way, Annacone is there to egg Federer on to his sixth US Open title.
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Somdev scores a ton
The Ton Is Here!
He’s done it! Finally!
Somdev Devvarman has cracked the top 100 on the ATP tour. Another milestone in his fledgling career.
He becomes just the second Indian male player in a decade or so to be ranked amongst the top 100. Leander Paes was the last Indian male to be ranked so, achieving that distinction in 1999.
Somdev’s rise to the list of centurions has not been meteoric; rather it has been steady but sure.
He is now ranked 96 in the world. However, he is unlikely to be perched there for too long; he was thwarted in his bid to defend last year’s accumulated points.More on that later.
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Sania Mirza: Whither Goest Thou?
Sania, A Volcano Of Talent
It was a heady day in 2003, when Sania Mirza burst onto the stream of Indian sport consciousness, an awareness that if India were to ever have a world beater in an individual sport , it would not be a hirsute male, but a member of the weaker, fairer sex.
Sania Mirza erupted onto the scene like a long dormant volcano, heralding the birth of a new breed of Indian athletes , who not only excelled at their sport but were media savvy and clever enough to carve an image, a niche for themselves, in games other than cricket.
She was smart, she was intelligent, she was articulate, she was pretty, she was sexy, she was photogenic and she had attitude with a capital A. She carried off the anachronism of a nose ring with aplomb and style. To top it all , she owned a killer forehand - the one that drew comparisons with Steffi Graf , her idol incidentally– , that was almost impossible to return when she dispatched the tennis ball with all the power and strength at her disposal. The forehand was flat and it was skiddy.
Sania Mirza had arrived on the stage of world tennis and Indian tennis would never be the same again. Or so we hoped.
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Wimbledon 2010: Post-mortem
Cometh the hour, cometh the man! Or woman!
And may it never be said that Serena and Rafael don’t know how to party!
They came to the Wimbledon party and how!
Nadal, as though his year-long hiatus from the sport was a mere blip in the chasm of tennis time!
And Serena, who perhaps believes that it’s now time to just buckle down to it and claim her space in among the greats! Not that she does not belong there already but who’s to say that she might not have been the greatest?
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Venus Quote
"Some people say I have attitude – maybe I do…but
I think you have to. You have to believe in yourself
when no one else does – that makes you a winner
right there." — Venus Williams
Wimbledon Finals: A Preview
So, it’s final!
The last men and women standing at Wimbledon are Serena & Vera, Tomas & Rafael.
11 days of tennis and the draw has whittled down to these 4 contenders for the throne at the green lawns at SW18.
Could it have gotten any better than this?
Of course, we will miss Federer and his balletic grace on the tennis court. We have grown so used to having his majestic presence adorn Wimbledon that his absence seems like blasphemy. But if it is blasphemy, then what do we make of the stronger, fitter and wiser Nadal whose game, presence and speed makes us forget , at least for a while, that Federer was God?
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Quote of the day: |
Saina, Video Technology and Ultra Marathons
Saina Nehwal completed a treble of wins last Sunday at the Indonesian Open. It was her 3rd consecutive tournament triumph ,an unbroken streak of 15 games without a loss. Saina is in the best form of her life and her ranking is now a stratospheric No. 3. The Indonesian Open ,though, lacked serious competition from the Chinese who preferred to compete in their local league. The Chinese are notorious for lying low before any major tournaments such as the World championship that is scheduled in the near future. They prefer to scout their opponents and exploit any detected weaknesses and in the meanwhile identify , groom and train their future stars. The Chinese depth in badminton and table-tennis is to be envied and emulated. Will Saina be able to carry her form into the world championship? Will the Chinese spring a surprise package , as they have been known to do before, and unveil a new star on the badminton horizon? Who knows? Only time will tell! But congratulations to Saina and good luck to her! Her star still shines bright in the barren sky of Indian sport.
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Quote of the day:
You can go a long way with a smile. You can go a lot farther with a smile and a gun. – Al Capone
A marketer’s dream, tennis nightmare?
Image via Wikipedia
She was the young nymphet, the minx on court who seduced the spectators with her dazzling blonde beauty.
She was the Lolita, the male spectator’s fantasy, who seemed to sound the siren call , the ‘come hither’ every time she stepped on court.
She was the young upstart, the agent provocateur, who stirred up a storm of protests when she was rewarded with center court at Wimbledon ahead of her fellow – much higher ranked – players on the WTA tour.Wimbledon broke tradition for her justifying their decision saying that they were giving the paying public what they wanted.
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