Tennis

[Guest teeny]

im glad that ivanovic won To me she seems like such a wonderful player, humble and talented!

i missed out part of the game though, can anyone explain what happened at that one point where ivanovic thought she had a ball in, but then safina got her raquet and flicked at the white line? The audience didn't sound too happy....

[Guest wonderbang]

Ahh.....I'm mostly satisfied watching the women's final. I'm glad Ana finally broke through and got her first major title on the third try. What an awesome two weeks for her.....not only winning her first GS but getting the number one ranking too. This bodes well for the rest of the season I hope. I find it a bit ironic how she won her first GS at RG though....her game is way more suited to a faster court so I can only think of the damage she'll dish out in the last two slams of the year....exciting

Btw, did anyone catch the trophy presentation? In her thank you speech, Safina said something along the lines of "thanks to Ana's box even though they were a bit annoying" or something along those lines LOL. I'm sure she didn't mean it harshly since she's not super fluent in English but what a moment to speak something on your mind haha.

i missed out part of the game though, can anyone explain what happened at that one point where ivanovic thought she had a ball in, but then safina got her raquet and flicked at the white line? The audience didn't sound too happy....

It was break point for Ana to go up a double break 5-2 in the second. She hit a backhand down the line return that SHE thought caught the line. She pumped her fist and was about to walk to her chair. The linesperson made a late "out" call and Safina went to the supposed mark left by the return and circled it with her racket. The umpire came down and confirmed the call but Ivanovic said that that wasn't where the ball landed and that it was ANOTHER mark. Anyhow, she wanted to dispute the point but gave in and continued play. I thought she would've lost it at that point (being so close to winning) but she held on strong and didn't let it bother her for the most part.

[Guest dOotsiez]

Yeah Federer didn't release the mono information until after Dubai. He missed most of his practice season, which meant that he had to play himself into shape, but it's all turned out nicely, despite what the media's been saying over the last few months.

StealthGnome, I agree with you. I think Ivanovic is definitely 'one of the best' with or without the FO, but I'm not sure if she is THE best. She needs to validate her win by beating the likes of Sharapova and the Williamses on grass and hard court, because I don't see these 3 going down anytime soon if they keep themselves injury free. Sure Ivanovic's game is more suited to faster courts, but compared to all the other girls in the competition, she looks quite comfortable on clay, we haven't really got any 'clay court specialists' on the women's side. The season's definitely looking more interesting now that we've gotten over Henin's retirement (or have we?) Let's see how long Ana can hold on to her No1. As far as I know, it's still pretty close between Sharapova, Ivanovic and Jankovic.

WOW did Safina really say that? Didn't have the patience for trophy presentations, needed to clock up some sleep for tonight/tomorrow morning. But I love the cat fights on the women's side. And we've had a few gems over the last week. I remember a reporter asking Sharapova how she felt about losing her no1 spot. 'Boohoo.' LOVE IT. Or when Jankovic was asked about what she was going to do that night after losing to Ivanovic. 'Kill myself?' LMAO.

[Guest J_FeR]

just waiting for tonight *in Thailand*

The big match!!! of Rafa "the King of clay" again!!!!

Vamos Rafa!!!!!!!!! Buena suerte!!!

[Guest wonderbang]

WOW did Safina really say that? Didn't have the patience for trophy presentations, needed to clock up some sleep for tonight/tomorrow morning. But I love the cat fights on the women's side. And we've had a few gems over the last week. I remember a reporter asking Sharapova how she felt about losing her no1 spot. 'Boohoo.' LOVE IT. Or when Jankovic was asked about what she was going to do that night after losing to Ivanovic. 'Kill myself?' LMAO.

I love these wacky comments that are made. Gives tennis some personality rather than the cliche press conference right?

After Jankovic's comment, she actually went on and said something along the lines of "I don't know....I'll probably get dinner and GET DRUNK.....or do something to make me happier" hahaha.....Jankovic in the press room=pure entertainment!

[Guest dOotsiez]

hahaha that's why I started to love JJ, she's certainly a very colourful character with very colourful nails.

One more match til all this red stuff is over. WOO!

If there was a fashionista war in tennis, Nike is definitely winning. what was Adidas THINKING dressing Ana in the same bubble dress in different hues all year. But check out her wimbledon dress, makes me wanna rush to the stores and buy one myself

[Guest wonderbang]

One more match til all this red stuff is over. WOO!

You said it! As much fun as it's been, I'm ready to move on to something other than the red stuff.

I always get easily burned out on clay court tennis.....yes, how so American of me.

But of course we all have to tune in for the RG men's final....that's one red-stuff-match we

probably shouldn't miss

[Guest dOotsiez]

hahahaha definitely, I'm so bored right now. 1 hour til play starts, and I have nothing to do in the meantime. Eeek the life of a tennis nerd.

Never heard of this site before today, but it's HILARIOUS. Just spent the last hr procrastinating on it.

http://uncyclopedia.org/wiki/Roger_Federer

err...there's also a page of Djokovic, enter at your own risk.

[L.FOR.LOVE]

i learn tennis <3

its so fun

sharapova got knocked out =/ !

tennis is LOVE

[Aziraphale]

Yes, NADAL!!!

Omg, I love the score: 6-1, 6-3, 6-0. : I was a bit surprised, I expected Federer to put up a bit more fight seeing as he stretched Nadal to four sets last year, so the whitewash in the last set was quite unexpected. But Nadal is pure class on clay, and that's why it's my favourite slam of the year.

Nadal is now two short of Borg's six French Open titles.

[Guest StealthGnome]

Cover your spoilers.

Men's final

great game by Nadal. No magic by Federer. Nadal's Lefty defence/counter-punch was too much on clay for Roger's one-hand bh. Egh. I wanted a longer match with more duels. Rafa is the king on clay.

[Guest happypiano]

federer was murdered so badly. =.=;;; quite a let down for fed fans~

yay for nadal!~ ^__^

[Guest dOotsiez]

Now teach me how the HAIL you remain emotionally detached from a final like that. To say that I was distraught, devastated, crying my friggin eyes out would be an understatement. Man I need to get a life, but I'm too depressed.

Did you hear that!? that was my heart breaking again.

Roger Federer...... :tears: :tears: :tears: :tears:

[Guest jvchou1316]

NADALLLLLLLLLLLLLLL <3

i'm too happy to be true. my sexy beast. he was amazing today. but i felt bad for federer.... who wasn't so sharp. i hope nadal gains enough momentum for wimbledon this year... i mean... in two weeks. haha...

now i just need the Celtics to win game 2 and i'll be one happy woman.

[Guest dOotsiez]

'wasn't so sharp' is a nice euphemism for it. A pounding from sports journalists at Fed's presser, it'll be fair to say that they were kinda out to get him.

Q. If there is a key reason in your mind for what happened, and could you name it?

ROGER FEDERER: I didn't get the beginning.

Q. If there is some key reason in your mind for what happened...

ROGER FEDERER: What kind of reason?

Q. Key reason.

ROGER FEDERER: Key reason. Excuse me, okay. :blush:

Q. Do you still think you can win Roland Garros?

ROGER FEDERER: Yes.

Q. Are you sure?

ROGER FEDERER: Well, if you want me to answer no if that makes you happy, then no. Choose the answer. I said yes. (laughter.)

Q. Imagine it's 2009 and this little fairy comes to you and says, You're going to win one tournament, but you have to choose: Wimbledon or Roland Garros. Which one?

ROGER FEDERER: I don't want to answer these stupid questions anymore. They're too stupid.

Q. But why?

ROGER FEDERER: Because I want to win at everything. I have no preference.

:tears: Did I mention I was heartbroken? When it comes to tears and melodrama, I'm proud to say that I'll give Jelena Jankovic a run her for money.

Congrats to Mr. Vamos-Rafa-the-King-of-Clay, you played brilliantly. I eat my humblepie.

[Guest wonderbang]

Yeah Federer's presser was a bit antagonizing but understandable considering he just suffered a total and complete beat down by Nadal.

I predicted Nadal would win but I never imagined it to be so easy.....I mean, this is Federer we're talking about....I can't remember the last time he lost so easily or 6-0 in the third. Props to Nadal (he's the best clay-courter out there hands down) and this must give him a ton of confidence.

I'm sure Federer will simmer down and resume his business in a few weeks at SW 19....or at least I hope so! :/

[Guest dOotsiez]

Yeah I only remember him being at the giving end of bagels, never at the receiving end. I guess what upset me last night (night for me) was the air of vulnerability he was emanating from the very start. I mean he was grunting in that last set, Federer the 'non-grunter'! for me that just spelt the end of the match for me, so I went to bed, only to be messaged 30 minutes later by a friend and fellow fed fan with a single word - 'bageled'.

I remember taunting a friend who is a fan of Henin (yes a nice person I am) when Justine Henin got bageled at the AO QF this year, must remember to apologize. Can imagine how she's been feeling all year now Still trying to feel positive. My guy got into 16 SF in a row, 11 out of the last 12 consecutive finals. To quote Sharapova: 'Boohoo'. He'll be serving up English bagels in no time.

This was like a replay of the Roddick v Federer AO SF last year. Only between Fed and Nadal. Inexplicable and disappointing. Feel sorry for the Parisian crowd for having to watch that, must've been torture for them since Fed's kinda the fave in their country.

EDIT// to say that according to SI, the last time Federer was bageled was in 1999. Back to moody dootsiez again.

[Guest n4n45h1]

i found it weird that federer kept approaching the net even though he was getting tons of unforced errors from it. At some point i recall seeing that federer had 40 unforced errors compared to nadals 13? even so, federer didnt play as strongly this time around, especially compared to last year

[Guest dOotsiez]

I think it's the coach really. It seemed like part of his game plan was to be aggressive at all times, but Nadal's defense has just been taken to another level of scariness. But that's not to say that Federer didn't try everything - serve and volley, power hitting from the base line. But Nadal's movement, offense and defense just all came together. Every player has a few of those days a year, I'm used to it happening to Federer more often, but that was phenomenal tennis from Nadal, even when I was finding it utterly demoralizing on behalf of Federer. It seems that the Might Fed never made it to the match, but his inferior twin, who I dub Fed the Dead, made it instead.

The stats I saw quoted Nadal's unforced errors at 7 for 3 sets. SEVEN! As I said, I eat my humble pie.

[ShukakuOTS]

i found it weird that federer kept approaching the net even though he was getting tons of unforced errors from it.

Well yeah, everyone has been telling him to try something new and he did. Thing is things don't match up for Fed too well against Nadal at RG. I mean, he can try being aggressive and going to net, but then again, Nadal has arguably the best passing shots in the world. If Federer rallies from the baseline, he continuously gets pushed farther and farther back behind the baseline. The only real points Federer was in control of was when he was super aggressive and almost go for broke, having to hit it hard and on the lines. That's really hard to to consistently, even for Federer.

Federer has to find some other formula.