Tennis

[Guest wonderbang]

lol, something along the lines of the high 90's. whatever it is, it's a formidable achievement.

let's hope Higueras shows Fed a few new tricks, in prep for RG .

I haven't watched any of Fed's matches on clay but it looks like you guys have. Do you see any tactic changes or anything new that he's implementing? To be honest I can't imagine him making any big changes to his game, even on clay, but I'm curious if you all see any.

[Guest dOotsiez]

Me too. I think we take it as "normalcy" but there's nothing normal about this guy! His achievements are just getting greater and greater by the day...and it's funny how we "expect" things from this guy that we would never expect in any other tennis player. He's set a pretty high standard these days hasn't he?

HEAR HEAR :D Fed's definitely established himself as 'the one to beat' and obviously he's going to get beaten once in a while. Doesn't stop him from becoming one of the greatest ever. Hoping he wins 2 grandslams to equal Sampras this year.

^ dont think Higueras showed Feddy any new tricks as such, apart from how to come back from the dead and kick some spanish @rse. (no offense to the Spanish, love the spaniards, esp their tennis players)

Given that I'm a die-hard Fed fan, I'm actually not that upset that he lost. Rafa's a true gentleman, and it's always a pleasure to see the two of them play against each other. Great game, great comradeship, none of the retiring early nonsense, and always lots of flair and spice. Kudos to Fed for being the first guy to really push Rafa in this tournament.

Fantastic tournament after MONTHS of boring and weird tennis (Davydenko?? A.Rod???? MARDY FISH??? never again!). Fed got his mojo back, beat two of his biggest rivals, and showed that backboneless spongebob why he's the no 1. :tongue2: Maybe I should send the poor thing some cough lollies for his 'sore throat'. As for Nadal, what can you do with a guy who's THAT good on clay? it's like he comes out of hibernation at this time of the year. Love them both, and loved following this tournament.

Onto Barcelona next for Nadal. Fed's not playing that one, but Blake will be there. :blush: There's another top 10 fav for me. And then Rome, which I think both Fed and Roddick will be playing. Great tennis coming up in the next couple of weeks. WOOHOO!

[Guest wonderbang]

More clay ftw! haha.

Funny that you mention Blake...I still can't get over his lost in the US clay tournament final against.....I don't even remember his name! Seems like clay is death for Blake. Well....for all US players actually lol.

But to be honest, clay season is never my highlight. It's a little long and draggy for me....so I'm always looking forward to grass once it's over!

[ShukakuOTS]

Congrats to Nadal winning Monte Carlo for the fourth year and also winning the doubles title.

I love clay haha. Sadly, I've only played on green clay and want to try red clay one day. U_U

Anyways, I find it ridiculous how crazy packed this year's clay court season is. The ATP altered the schedule just so the ratings don't collide with college basketball, which I don't get. If the fans would rather watch basketball then let them! You can't completely cram a major part of the tennis calendar just so Americans "probably" would watch something they likely wouldn't even watch anyway. It's Monte Carlo, Barcelona, Rome and Hamburg in 4 weeks! That's a tournament every week. It seems unfair to Nadal the most, since noone else in the world has to defend every tournament.

On a side note Nishikori just broke into the top 100 after winning a Challengers event.

[Guest dOotsiez]

^ Actually Fed is defending Hamburg, remember their 'epic battle' last year?? but yeah you're right, Nadal's gonna come straight out of each tournament to defend the next. He's going to be EXHAUSTED after this season finishes. But you know what, he's so unbelievably inhuman on clay that he could probably do it. I didn't know that the season was scheduled this way because of college basketball though. That's stupid, since no one outside the US gives a damn about that.

Poor Blake losing to whats-his-face was kinda a surprise, but he's had a great season though, made quite a few semis and finals. Esp when US (and Australian) players generally suck on clay. we're just not brought up on it. Clay is by far my least favourite surface, one of the commentators was saying in the Fed v Nalb match that the last no.1 to win MC was Ivan Lendl more than 20 years ago, which just goes to show how specialist the surface is. Clay specialists rarely excel on other surfaces and world no.1s rarely dominate on clay. So it's ironic that i'm following the clay season that closely this year, but Indian Wells and Miami were both kinda dull this year that the clay season is actually oddly refreshing. Can't wait til Wimbledon though.

[Aziraphale]

Anyways, I find it ridiculous how crazy packed this year's clay court season is. The ATP altered the schedule just so the ratings don't collide with college basketball, which I don't get. If the fans would rather watch basketball then let them! You can't completely cram a major part of the tennis calendar just so Americans "probably" would watch something they likely wouldn't even watch anyway. It's Monte Carlo, Barcelona, Rome and Hamburg in 4 weeks! That's a tournament every week. It seems unfair to Nadal the most, since noone else in the world has to defend every tournament.

Actually, the clay court season is very short, and scheduling has always been rather tight. I had a look at previous years' scheduling, nothing much has changed. There's more or less two weeks between the last Masters Series, which is Hamburg, and the start of Roland Garros, if you discount a tournament in Austria and the World Team Cup (or other tourneys they have during this period that's not so relevant).

I like the clay court season, and Roland Garros is my favourite Grand Slam. Not so much a grass enthusiast, so I don't get the craze that is Wimbledon. My favourite players have generally been clay-courters, bar a certain Mr Edberg

[Guest dOotsiez]

^ Really? My favourite grand slam is the Australian Open, 3 guesses as to why? lol

http://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/28042008/58/...iled-brits.html

man this guy needs a PR lesson.

nothing interesting on the women's side atm, except for the Fed Cup final. Maria's playing in that one apparently.

[Aziraphale]

^ LOL, um... let's see. You are from Australia, you like Federer, you... also like Hewitt?

Djokovic can be rather tactless, but it's been a while since tennis had characters like him. Agassi was a brat in his time, but he's mellowed out gracefully, maybe there's hope for Djokovic then

Yeah, I love Roland Garros, because it's the surface that's capable of throwing up the most surprises. You see a lot of the usual suspects at the other Grand Slams - Wimbledon, in particular, has just become Federer's second home. It's not a bad thing, but it gets boring after a while, like Pete Sampras boring. I love seeing people like Roddick get walloped on clay

[ShukakuOTS]

^ Really? My favourite grand slam is the Australian Open, 3 guesses as to why? lol

http://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/28042008/58/...iled-brits.html

man this guy needs a PR lesson.

nothing interesting on the women's side atm, except for the Fed Cup final. Maria's playing in that one apparently.

lol You're Australian I'm guessing? XD

My mistake about Hamburg lol. Yeah Federer has to defend that. Nadal still has to defend a final though, so it's still tough XD.

Actually, the clay court season is very short, and scheduling has always been rather tight. I had a look at previous years' scheduling, nothing much has changed. There's more or less two weeks between the last Masters Series, which is Hamburg, and the start of Roland Garros, if you discount a tournament in Austria and the World Team Cup (or other tourneys they have during this period that's not so relevant).

I like the clay court season, and Roland Garros is my favourite Grand Slam. Not so much a grass enthusiast, so I don't get the craze that is Wimbledon. My favourite players have generally been clay-courters, bar a certain Mr Edberg

Ah I see. From the article I read, it seemed as though things were seriously crammed compared to previous years. It exaggerated a bit I guess lol.

Yeah Roland Garros is my favorite too. I like clay because of the long rallies and sliding. XD Second is US Open, only because I get to see it live though. hehe

And Djokovic is a twat sometimes, but there are worse players in terms of behavior. I've yet to see him curse at opponents/umpires like how players like Roddick Mcenroe do often, unless I just wasn't watching at the time. =P He's just cocky.

[Guest dOotsiez]

^ LOL, um... let's see. You are from Australia, you like Federer, you... also like Hewitt?

Djokovic can be rather tactless, but it's been a while since tennis had characters like him. Agassi was a brat in his time, but he's mellowed out gracefully, maybe there's hope for Djokovic then

Yeah, I love Roland Garros, because it's the surface that's capable of throwing up the most surprises. You see a lot of the usual suspects at the other Grand Slams - Wimbledon, in particular, has just become Federer's second home. It's not a bad thing, but it gets boring after a while, like Pete Sampras boring. I love seeing people like Roddick get walloped on clay

hahaha and then there is that slightly unimportant factor that the Rod Laver Arena (where they play) is about 15 mins from my place.

but actually apart from the fact that he's Aussie, there's nothing about Lleyton Hewitt that I find endearing as a tennis player. He's quite a defensive player, he wins a lot of matches by being tenacious and hanging in there, until his opponents wear themselves down, and that's not entertaining tennis.

but ur right about Wimbledon becoming quite boring and predictable (although I can't complain about any tournament that gives me a Fed v Nadal match), which is another reason why i like the AO, it's produced quite a few funky wildcard finals - Tsonga, Gonzales and Baghdatis.

And I am hoping that Djokovic mellows a little with age, and develops some sense of sportsmanship. He does play some hot tennis, but just has a frustratingly arrogant personality and family. It's a pity really, because he can be quite amusing and presents an interesting challenge to the little club that Fed and Nadal has going on between them.

[Guest wonderbang]

Maybe I'm just the odd ball and like Wimbledon the most. Of course I like all four for various reasons but there's just something about the Big W for me...anyhow, I shouldn't disrespect the clay season going on! It's fun and gritty and gives us the best rallies usually...nothing more boring than a serve-a-thon type match.

[Guest dOotsiez]

^ yeah wimbledon is kind of THE grand slam, and whenever i think about tennis, I think about the white outfits they wear, and the Ralph Lauren dressed ball boys too cute! i plan to make it to all four grand slams one day. But for now, I shall just be content with the AO.

Spain v Russia in the Fed Cup final. I'll be damned if Russia doesn't win. Nothing interesting happening in Barcelona, but can't wait til Rome. Fed only has to get past R16 to better last year. Nadal needs to win and keep winning to stay in front of Novak for this season, and Novak needs to get to QF to equal last year. Somehow I don't see any changes to the top 3 until after wimbledon.

there are signs that Lleyton Hewitt may be headed for retirement, then Australia will lose its last decent player. *sigh*

http://au.lifestyle.yahoo.com/b/new-idea/1.../becs-billions/

[Aziraphale]

^ I dunno, I don't find Hewitt a very good representative of Australia. There's something about him that irks me, and I know this is not really related, but I didn't like how he dumped Kim Clijsters and hooked up with whatshername. He's really not the most likeable of fellows.

Wimbledon... ah, I guess it's the history and all, having the British royal family grace the event adds a touch of grandeur to the event. It's had some great winners in the past: Laver, Borg, Ashe, Graf, etc. But there's something about the red clay of Roland Garros that's mesmerising :blush:

Speaking of wildcard finals, whatever happened to Tsonga?

[Guest dOotsiez]

^ poor old Tsonga's injured. He's out until at least RG. the guy's had a bad run of injuries from the very start of his career. if he hadn't, i think he would've come into spotlight earlier. cant wait to see him at RG, the last time he lost to Nadal it was so close, this guy def has the potential to be up there with Joker.

ur right about Lleyton Hewitt not being a great rep of Oz, his temper is much better these days, but he's not the most classy tennis star. unfortunately, we dont have any good young players at the moment, which is why there is so little interest in tennis in Aus atm. FYI Hewitt's married to Bec Cartwright, aka the soap opera bimbo, some tabloids have branded them the David/Posh of Australia but I didn't know he used to date Kim Clijsters!

Actually we seem to have quite a few unlikable tennis stars here in Aus, *cough Mark Philippousis cough*. Best Aussie player IMO is Pat Rafter, classy and hot, pity he only managed one week as the world no 1. lol.

re great wimbledon players, you forgot to mention Feddy LOL just to state the obvious.

[Guest symphonee.]

I'm Australian and I've never liked Hewitt as a player. I especially dislike his trademark, "C'MON!" He gets on my nerves everytime I see him. I'm not particularly fond of his play tactics either.

but I didn't like how he dumped Kim Clijsters and hooked up with whatshername.

Bec Cartwright

RG provides a challenge for majority of the players and is therefore, usually a good show of tennis. I hate playing on clay courts, but I like watching the pros play . I like the AO cause I usually fly down to melbourne to watch the matches live.

[Aziraphale]

Ah yes, whatshername is Bec Cartwright - she's so not memorable aye?

Yeah, Hewitt and Clijsters were engaged but he broke it off to go marry whatshername. I've always liked Kim and Justine Henin - man, what a player she is - and it's really rude what he's done to her. Tennis-wise, I've never thought Hewitt capable of anything major, he just didn't play like someone who'd inspire people to take up tennis or continue watching. Philippoussis... I kinda feel a bit sorry for him, he's been wracked by injuries and all.

Come to think of it, except for Tsonga, there's no newcomer lately that really makes one feel he's got the potential to go further. I always thought Mario Ancic is pretty decent, but he's not done anything big as yet. Murray is blah, I don't understand the fuss about him.

[Guest wonderbang]

Tsonga reminds me of Gasquet early on in his career.....talent is limitless but very injury-prone. Something about French men right? Anyways, Gasquet picked up his fitness and I assume Tsonga will too. Just a matter of time hopefully...

Hewitt and Clijsters were a couple for a looooooong time...ever since the juniors actually (yeah can you believe it?) Then suddenly the engagement was broken off and things went sour....but they each seem pretty content these days with their own respective families and children...funny how things work out like that.

dOotsiez, I'm with you on the Grand Slam thing. My ultimate dream would be to attend each one live.....not necessarily in the same year (that's pretty much impossible lol) but eventually.......hopefully......soon haha. Ok now I'm daydreaming...

[Guest dOotsiez]

Yeah Hewitt is so bogan it's not funny. Can't believe I didn't know about him and Kim Clijsters, but I wasn't that into tennis back then. But actually sometimes his trademark 'C'MON' is about the most amusing thing that happens in his matches. His 5-setter against Baghdatis this year at the AO was SO tiring to watch. As for Philippoussis, I never really got over how he dumped Delta Goodrem, what a modelizer.

Come to think of it, except for Tsonga, there's no newcomer lately that really makes one feel he's got the potential to go further. I always thought Mario Ancic is pretty decent, but he's not done anything big as yet. Murray is blah, I don't understand the fuss about him.

yeah i was so impressed by tsonga in the AO, esp the matches against the Nutter and Nadal. he's got this air of calmness that's rare among newcomers. reminds me of Fed, and it's a pity they haven't played against each other yet.

the fuss with andy murray is that he's the only decent player from the UK atm, funny how the pommies invent sports and then suck at them.

found a DISMAL article about players retiring, *sigh* tennis players these days have no backbone.

http://www.tennis.com/features/general/fea....aspx?id=127724

hahahaha wonderbang u must come to melbourne then, so you can cross the AO off ur list. if my europe exchange works out, i might be able to make 3 grand slams next year. lets not get our hopes up.

[Guest wonderbang]

That's true dOotsiez....you could go to the French and the Big W if you stayed long enough...that would be awesome! I would head to Europe too if it wasn't for the fact that the US dollar has declined so much.....depressing really. Cost has become way too high....

Anyhow, I'm surprised how many Australians seem to dislike Hewitt. I thought he had a huge fanbase in Australia! His personality doesn't really work for me....but he HAS mellowed out a lot...still he's not one of my favorites.

P.S. I love how I'm randomly picking up these Australian words like "bogan" and "pommies" .... I wouldn't have a clue what they meant if they weren't in context lol.

[Guest dOotsiez]

^ LMAO does that mean ur definition of 'bogan' at the moment is Lleyton Hewitt? poor poor Hewitt. :D I didn't know that 'bogan' and 'poms' don't exist in "American", that's no fun!

James Blake has confirmed that Americans suck on clay by making an early exit in Barcelona, being defeated by Denis Gremelmayr (WHO?), :(

and phew, tennis politics! (merger of two of my fav subjects, lol) looks like Nadal is having a bit of a sook about the schedule this year. Rule of politics - when things go wrong, blame the Americans. http://au.sports.yahoo.com/tennis/news/art...d-clay-calendar