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Underwear, one-way streets and Central European champions

“Bjorn Loves John”—that’s what will be emblazoned on Bjorn Borg’s new line of underwear.

Mac the Mouth disclosed that he has donned the Borg name under his pants for the past 10 years. Now, he has a chance to get his own back.

The former champs are serious.

But John, why wear those undies beneath your clothes? Wear them over  like a modern-day superhero where those labels are visible to all and sundry.

A better idea would be for Bjorn to launch a special edition of ‘Borg loves Nadal’ when the Spaniard equals Bjorn’s record of 11 majors.

For a man who is immensely flattered to be compared to the inimitable Swede, there could be no bigger compliment.

But then, Armani might not be too happy about it.

For now, it’s merely a ‘Perfect 10’  for the Mallorcan.

Rafael Nadal was on his way to a third Wimbledon title and his 11th major, until he turned into a one-way path—‘Djokovic Street’. Unfortunately, traffic was not flowing his way.

The Serbian knocked out the defending champion in four sets, a thorough demolition of the man who would be ‘GOAT’. Is there a chance that we might soon be saying the same of Nadal, that he is the best ever except he was not the best of his generation?

That’s assuming the Djoker can sustain his spell of excellence and attain a stranglehold over his senior—by a year.

We shall see.

Did you know?

Petra Kvitova is the first Czech woman since Jana Novotna—in 1998—to win Wimbledon.

Jan Kodes was the last Czech man to triumph at Wimbledon in 1973 representing the erstwhile Czechoslovakia.

Novak Djokovic is the first Serbian to win the men’s title. He is the first man from a Central European country to win the title since Croatian Goran Ivanisevic in 2001.

No Central European ‘pair’ have lifted the singles title in the same year.

Quote of the day:
In science one tries to tell people, in such a way as to be understood by everyone, something that no one ever knew before. But in poetry, it’s the exact opposite. – Paul Dirac

Soderling clinches Paris Masters in style: Heartbreak for Monfils again

Soderling takes home the Paris Masters for the first time.

Monfils could not use the momentum of the crowd to make inroads into the Swede’s game.

The first set was an one-sided affair with the tall Nordic breaking twice to take the set 6-1.

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Soderling hangs tough to oust Llodra,Federer capitulates to Monfils

It will be Robin Soderling versus Gael Monfils this Sunday at the Paris Masters but not before both protagonists overcame hiccups en route to the final.

The first semi featured Michael Llodra—on a hot streak—against Swede Soderling.

The initial set went with serve 6-6. And it was Llodra—playing with the foot pressed to the accelerator—who romped home 7-0 in the tie-break.

That served as a wake-up call to Soderling who started to find his feet in the second, hitting his returns nice and deep. But it was all bazookas and Llodra’s brilliance until 5-5.

Soderling broke Llodra to go up 6-5 and then served out the set to make it 1-1.

Scintillating tennis continued with Llodra negating an early break to come roaring back into the match in the third set.

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Nadal , The Ferocious!

There’s nothing more dangerous than a wounded or cornered tiger and Nadal was a wounded tiger who had been licking his wounds ever since he was diagnosed with acute tendinitis in his knees in 2009. After being out for the most part of 2009 and unable to defend his 2008 Wimbledon crown, Nadal decided that it was time to ration out his appearances in the clay court season this time around. A little bit of rest and recuperation for his much abused knees could do no harm!

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