Q. The fact that you cut your hair, does it give you more strength?

MARAT SAFIN: I'm faster (smiling).

Day Three: Kiss My Ace

With bonofan on decided withdrawal symptoms, it seems I'm the only hand manning the deck right now. A few friendly hints have no effect on him. Am most scorned.

Oh but what a day at wimbleville! Results, you can all check out here, what i really want to talk about today is the fashion.


Some fifty or odd years ago men were still carousing 3-inch shorts with their dandy wood rackets, and air-hair like Agassi's was considered "quite the something". Women wore frumpy old excuses of bags (er, apologies to any readers who still do), and, as much as I love her, even Steffi Graff must regret those horrendous oversized shirts she wore back in her "the day".

Three days into wimbledon, and you could almost feel a visible change in the course of the tides - and mind you, we're not complaining - we like the new Nike air-vented range and the smug splash of color that attempts to defy the wimbledon code of all white, bring it on, we say.

And here are our models for the day:

Here we have Janko Tipsaravic, a tennis player i've been following for quite a while now, and am most dismayed to see him fall out in the earlier rounds of the grandslams to higher ranked players by the smallest of margins, being the best junior in the world at one time. Now the thing i love about Tipsy here is one glance, and you can feel the old matrons in wimbledon choking on their tea: Tipsy is covered in tats (tattoos for the older lot of you)! His underarms, biceps, etc. (basically everything, when you notice during a shirt change) is dotted with tattoo. I was trying to decipher the arm-code of his today, while he smaashed in a set to Roddick, but i'm guessing it's Serbian. And how about those piercings on the face, eh? He Got Jazz.

Bethanie Mattek from the U.S. looked like she gave quite a few gasps to the All-England Board herself: in knee-high football socks and micro-shorts, you could pretty much guess the FIFA theme. Plus those HUGE earrings (not very comfortable to play with, i assume) and a bandana atop! She started with amazing energy in her match against Williams, but unfortunately couldn't keep it throughout the duration of the match. Full marks on the dress though.

such... a.. pretty... so.. much... pretty...

AHEM. Sorry, how'd he get here...

Kirilenko! Hers has to be the most talked about dress this wimbledon: A Stella McCartney design that shows it in the details. Loved, loved it. The double-strapped top down to the layered skort - Heck, kirilenko is rather giving Sharapova a run for her money: do try to get a glimpse of kirilenko's australian open outfit this year, and you'll see that fashion is something that tends to take priority of comfort in the case of the young russian. Too bad we didn't get to see much of this dress though, Kirilenko was outsed in the first round.

Venus Williams, with what seems like beads or glitter glue or just something sparkly on her shoulder. Flower power.

Switching back and forth from Tipsy being tipped over in the third to Nalbandian versus Clement, i thought i noticed something different about clement today - and BAM - he was wearing sunglasses!!??! In a tennis match!??! Whaaa!??!

I sat through a whole set just watching those sunglasses stay on, and ocassional pop off to give the eyes some breathing space, i assume, and then being diligently popped on. So maybe he had, i don't know, an eye infection, a sudden increased sensitivity towards the sun, a new sponsor? Wimbledon News gladly writes how it was, indeed, just a fashion thing, er along with the frequent changes of the bandana from white to red to orange. Yep. All very hip. AND he has a tat on his lower back! AND has grown a goatee (though those are pretty much out of style now). AND he's out in the first round :P

I didn't like sharapova's outfit, for a change. Yes, the australian open "nightie" took a little getting used to, but it grew on us all - but this wimbledon outfit, could have.. been... better? I'm sorry, but do those two cuts in the front of the dress irritate you as much as they do me? And am definitely not "with" the new hairstyle. We still love you, maria.

pretty.... so... much.... pretty....


AHEM.

We must call it a day. Tommorrow's matches include Safin versus Gonzalez (not again!), so please take a minute or two and just, oh i dunno, mutter a little something for the russian. We are much obliged.

Day Two: Bring The Pirates Back!


Ofcourse, as predicted, when two days worth of first round matches (in a grand slam of all places!) are squeezed into one, it means missing alot of the action. And i'm most insulted that Nadal versus Bogdanovic got a warm-up coverage while all we got to see of Safin versus Rusedki was the match point. Just a few jottings:

• Justine Henin-Hardenne ripped through her first round. So the rumors speak true: we do have a serious Wimbledon contender on our hand. Meng Yuan hadn't a chance, but it's great to see Chinese women emerging so.
• Federer, federer, federer. How do you do it. He breezed by a shaky Richard Gasquet, who looked like a tough contender on paper, but the poor kid is just having a rough year. One wonders whatever happened to the young frenchmen (who apart from Nadal and Monfils, were supposed to set the tennis world on fire circa 2005) to see his ranking plummet to where it is right now. All french eyes are on Monfils, but just you wait, Gasquet will most definitely prove his sorts in a couple of years. On the other hand, Federer played magistically! A bit too magistically, one might add, causing fears of 'peaking' too early in the tournament and running out of gas in the later stages. Or something.
• Andre! The old dog gave us a scare in the first set, losing 2-6 to a certain Mr. Pahanski (whom i have never heard of before, hmpff), but thank God he didn't pull a pete and have to lose in the first round as a retirement gift. No worries, it was just a lack of match play that rusted the edges a bit. Too bad he has that Swiss dude for the fourth round, though.
• Henman had a five-setter against the very talented Soderling. Still, throughout the match, you just knew Henman had it bagged. He just likes to give himself a hard time with all them five-setters. I'd love to see him go far this year (with that brilliant result in Stella Artois this year!) but dang, he's playing that Swiss in the second.
• Is it just me or do these new shorts on Nadal just seem two sizes too big? God, we've grown up watching them pirates whizz through the court. Bring The Pirates Back! No Baggy Rags Please. And did anyone spot our *special* friend in the player box? ;)
• Mathieu lost to the volatile Philoppoussis in four sets. So that's four frenchmen down today: Mathieu, Gasquet, Serra and, yes, Monfils. (well, atleast they beat Spain today.. *sniff*)
• MARAT SAFIN IS THROUGH! WOHOO! Straight Sets, Baby! I know, i know, i know, he might be out in the next round, knowing him but - can a girl not dream! =D Also, Juanqui has beaten fellow spaniard Fernando Vicente to make it through to the second round! Jubilation, i tell you!
• It's sad to see Scrichaphan lose in the first round, for the fourth time in a row.

Tommorrow's Matches to look out for:
David Nalbandian (ARG)[4] vs Arnaud Clement (FRA)

Viktoria Kutuzova (UKR) vs Kim Clijsters (BEL)[2]

Roger Federer (SUI)[1] vs Tim Henman (GBR)

Tommy Robredo (ESP)[11] vs Novak Djokovic (SCG)

Fabrice Santoro (FRA) vs Tomas Berdych (CZE)[13]

Ivan Ljubicic (CRO)[5] vs Feliciano Lopez (ESP)

Mark Philippoussis (AUS) vs Max Mirnyi (BLR)

We leave you with peace, love and Puyol (keep him.)

Day One: Bloody Hell, Its Raining! It Must Be Wimbledon!


Yes, yes, rain rain and not barely 40 minute sof play. Which means all the matches get squezzed for tommorrow. Which means one can not multitask to watch all at the same time. HMPFF.


The Bryans brothers are blogging this week. I don't know about you kids, but i prefer me my european bloggers. ahem.


note: keep a lookout for the Nadal player box - we might spot a new friend ;)

You MUST check this out! Gott bless them europeans!

Federer and Sharapova

Ahh! Beautiful people of the world (yes, all three of you who read us), we come laden with FIFA paraphernalia, sleeplessness and wimbledon reports. Ofcourse, the worldcup is here, and our priorities had temporarily shifted from all them Stella Artois’, Ordinas, ‘s-ertogenbosches any other greek mythology based tennis tourneys, to questions such as how many tries before Micheal Ballack finally slams one in.

Ahem. But I am back, and it’s early morning (which is actually late, late night) and the draws are a day old and wimbledon only a day away (yay yay!).

See, this is why I love the french open so much. Two weeks of clay bliss, wait another two more and BAM, another grandslam. Wimblebon might not be the most favorite (it comes second on my list) but we certainly get full blow-by-blow coverage, infact, more then any other slam in the calendar, on this side of the planet. Thank you, Sania Mirza. (though we haven’t quite forgiven you for those audacious sprite ads just yet)

Right, back to business, the serious stuff:

- Marat Safin is single. Again. I think he wants to ahem, beat a certain record Nastase set, ahem, in his prime AHEM.
- Agassi has announced he will be retiring after this year’s US Open. I’ve been perpetually sad ever since I’ve read that news, though I knew it going to be his last year on tour, but still… I was hoping something’d change his mind, you know… but the way Federer and Nadal are dominating the game in turns at the moment, I guess king agassi see it best to retreat quietly
- Federer Saab has a tough, TOUGH, tough draw. Richard Gaquet in the first round. Most probably Henmen in the second. If there was ever any pressure on him, it’s now. He’s coming out of a Roland Garros final he shouldn’t have lost but did anyway without seeming to ‘mind’ much. And he nearly gave us that Ollie Rochus scare in Halle. While Henman and Hewitta dn Ancic grow in confidence. (include nadal too, splendid job in Stella Artois!)
- Speaking of Nadal, he might have a sore foot.
- And I think I read somewhere that Fed might be injured too (someone’ll have to check that)
- Sigh, safin plays rusedski of all people in his first rounder.
- Well, atleast he’s gotten rid of that obnoxiously bun!
- Watch out for: Ancic.
- A safin fan was saying somewhere, that even if marat loses early in wimby, it won’t matter much because he’s got no more points to defend (he was ranked 83 last time I checked. And this is precisely around the time he fell to injury. I remember the in-form match he played was 3rd round, wimby, against Feliciano “Whose A Pretty Boy? I Am! I Am!” Lopez.
- And ofcourse, you’ve prolly heard of the sportscenter ads Roggie recently did. Oh how we love him: Click here and here.


Right. That's it for the night, er morning. See you on Day One!

SO Close, yet so far !

After a long delay, my tennis update is here and it is a rather sad one. Though, i ll start with the good ones. Roger Federer tied the record for consecutive victories on grass, 41. He is now tied with Bjorn Borg when the swede went on to win 5 straight wimbledon titles from 1976-80. Rog won against Tommy Berdych at Halle 'Gary Webber Open' and fine tuned his game for grass.

On the other hand, the more famous Stella Artois 'Queen's tournament provided another regular winner, Hewitt who won firsttime in 18 months by beating James Blake. If anybody notices it, its very surprising for some reason that Queen's tournament always gave regular winners, roddick was on a 4 time spree, hewitt managed it 3 straight, and things like that.

Now onto the sad news, only got to find out yesterday but there is another grass tournament taking place, ORDINA OPEN and Mario Ancic, baby croat with a HUGE serve was playingfirst round match against a qualifier from Pakistan , Aisam ul Haq qureshi !!! By the scoreline, it must have been some phenomenal match ! 7-6 6-7 7-5 for ancic and he barely survived. Aisam sahab has always been a phenomenal player on grass and it was just plain bad luck he had to put up with mario. I hope he manages to appear for wimbledon by qualifiying.


Note from plath: apparently, aisam ul haq will only respond to the name aisam qureshi now :P and lets not forget how nadal made it to the semi's of Stella Artois, being one set all to Hewitt, and having to pull out due to injury (of which, latest news says, he has fully recovered)

AND interestingly enough, i've been checking if Aisam has qualified for Wimby. Second day of qualification and still no news of him playing qualies.

Sourpuss

Day 13 - An interview with Ivan LjubicicFriday, June 9, 2006


Q. Was there anything that you were unhappy about with Rafael's play today? You looked a little bit unhappy with things at the end of the match.
IVAN LJUBICIC: Oh, no. I was just disappointed that I lost the match.
Q. You weren't worried about the amount of time he was taking between points?
IVAN LJUBICIC: That's not my issue. That's umpire's problem. I am surprised how much they let him do it, because, you know, they give him one time violation, but didn't seem like change something. I think the umpire should be more aggressive on that because it's ridiculous how much time he takes between points.
Q. He was only warned once.
IVAN LJUBICIC: My feeling is that the umpire does it just that he can say he did it and then, you know, nothing anymore, because it's not like something change after that. He just kept doing what he was doing.


Baby Bull
Day 13 - Interview with R.NadalFriday, June 9, 2006

Q. Obviously, Ljubicic is not a big fan of you because he said he would love that Federer beat you on Sunday.
RAFAEL NADAL: Okay. Is okay. I don't have any problem.

Q. Ljubicic said that it's ridiculous the amount of time you take in between points and that the umpire only warned you once because he had to do something. But then he let you do that, and he would love Federer to win and that everybody wants Federer to win.
RAFAEL NADAL: Is that what he said, that everybody wants Federer to win? Well, great. Great. That's not a problem, you know. Everybody is free to say whatever they want. They'll make friends in the course.
No, I know that everybody does not want Federer to win. I know that. You've got to learn to control yourself when you lose a match, not after you lose a match you can just go about saying anything. I get on well with Ljubicic. I don't want to lose that good relationship with him. I don't think that will be the case.
Now I think that we'll have to put pressure on the umpires so that he puts pressure on me if there's a problem with time. The umpire maybe didn't manage the situation properly, because I was going much faster than the other days. Carlos Costa said, "C'mon, Rafa," when his coach was also calling.
I don't know, you know. Each person does what they want. I realize that there are a lot of people who want me to win, and I'm very relaxed and I'm playing well. I've been on the circuit for many years, probably more than him, and I've never had any problems with anybody. I've always behaved properly. So I'll go on behaving the way I behave, and I'm very happy the way I relate to other people. I also get on very well with all the umpires, so maybe, I don't know, he just had something against me this one.
I'm just relaxed, just as relaxed as I've always been. That sort of statement doesn't really affect me. I have never spoken badly about him. I thought he was a nice guy, and so all I'm saying is that, you know, when you lose, you've got to control yourself and not just go on to say anything. That's what I try to do when I lose, you know, just keep under control.

Q. Do you still play with your PlayStation? I've seen this is something that you do.
RAFAEL NADAL: Yeah, I play from time to time, you know. When I've got a bit of free time in my hotel room, I play, yeah, my PlayStation.
I can see that some players drop out, so you've got to end up playing on your own. It's a bit complicated.

Q. If you don't have rivals to play PlayStation with, maybe you can ask Federer to play with you?
RAFAEL NADAL: I don't know whether I will go that far (smiling).
But, nah, I don't think so. I don't think he can beat me in the PlayStation. I don't think he trains enough for that.

:P

Day 13: Clash of the Titans

Well, we waited patiently for thirteen days, and it's finally come true: a dream lineup of nadal and federer in the french open final!

I haven't been this torn since my first day of cable: I really want rafael to win, because, well, i adore the guy to death basically - yet I want roger to win because I want him to complete his grand slam (that's winning four grand slams in a row, which only two other men in history have done).

Plus, I think federer deserves it in some surreal way - hes not run away from clay like sampras did - he fought his brick-red demons face on: he's played all the right tourneys, has put in all the right practice hours and has shown all the resilience that makes him 3000+ points ahead of the nearest competitor.

And Rafa's not had a great week - these past few matches he's not played like the Oh-Yeah-Baby-This-Thing-Is-What-I-Was-Waiting-For tennis we've gotten used to - it's as if these past few days he's played to "not lose" instead of "to win". He's been more vulnerable then I can ever remember and that scares me!

An important factoid: both of them have played three times this year, with the Spaniard coming out the better all three times. Roger just has a huge mental hurdle overcoming Nadal. In my opinion, the recent Rome Masters final, one of nadal's best performance ever, pretty much showed that federer's just that tiny bit hesitant when it comes to nadal. And mind you, ONLY nadal. The rest of tennis players of the world, he can handle. The thing is, if federer doesn't win this time either - big occasion, the one grand slam he has never won before, the grand slam he needs to complete all four in a row - I don't think he'll ever figure the kid out.

In the previous matchups - it was always federer who'd had to win these thing - you had the feeling it was all up to him. This time, I think it's all up to Nadal.


notes from today's semis:

- nalbandian is an idiot. and he pulled a hennin. Hah. and only shortly after he stated in a recent conference that even if he was 5-0 down in one of the most mportant grand slams of the calander - no amout of pain would shoo him off the court. ofcourse, the journos kindly reminded him of his quote :P

- ljubibitch, ahem, opps, i meant ljubicic played his match in the most mean-spirit I have ever seen. Whining to the chair umpire that nadal was taking too long between point and the umpire should tell him off (even though the umpire saw nadal playing within the rules (except that one time violation warning, meh)) - most prolly a tactic to distract the kid. But then ivan goes complaining of converation between toni nadal and rafa! even though the only conversation we saw on tv was both of them muttering 'vamos' to each other in turns (which is always quite funny, really). but the last straw was when he nearly didn't shake hands with the kid! he walked directly to the umpire, shook hands and was about to walk to his bench, with the kid (a little taken aback that he hadn't met him at the net), rushed up to ljubibitch, ahem, sorry again, and forced a semi-shake out of him. That tells you alot about someone.

vaidisova, we wanna get to know ya'!

Women's Semifinals

We'll keep this short and simple, since it's getting pretty late.

I don't know whether to be happy for Vaidisova, or just terribly angry. You get into the semfinals of a grandslam for the first time, at just 17, and you lose a match your never supposed to, being just four points away from the finish line.

Vaidy's serve is about as good as it gets, very similar to Sharapova on most ways: power game, good serve (Vaidy's technique is much better), a powerful forehand that will work wonders when the day is right, and a highly marketable face.

But Vaidisove did what Sharapova did not do at 17: choke near the end. I was reather pining over Vaidy winning Roland Garros this time around, no really, i was. And the way she was playing Kuzne in the first half of the match, you kinda though, hey, wow, maybe we have something here - but, alas, just our luck. She lost her first serve at the wrong time, and rushed the points at the wrong time - and the player we had seen beat Mauresmo, despite losing the first set, and beating Venus, who demolished her in the second set (and you'd think she'd carry the momentum with her in the third) - loses to good ole Svetlana Still Surviving Kuznetsova, who barely made a mark circa 2005.

Anyway.

Justine cruised by a Kim, who seemed to want to contribute to Justine's cause. A more lackluster performance, there was none. Baah. Someone shake Kim by the neck and ask her to concentrate and bring the killer instinct back on board. This Oh-I-Don't-Care-Much-No-Really attitude will always leave her one step away from the Slams she SHOULD be winning.


Right. the boys play tommorrow. Federer versus Nalbandian up first: In Federer We Trust, as the saying goes - but this might be a five-setter - if there's any guy who can beat Federer, and he's not wearing clam-diggers or if his first name isn't Marat - it has to be this guy.

Nadal versus Ivan up second. Not much difficulty for our Baby Bull there.

I can feel a Nadal-Federer final!! =)

Mathieu, eat my shoes!

It's the third set, and 15-15, with Rafael Nadal serving. He suddenly stops playing and walks up to his bench and signals for the trainer to come on. So at this point you go, "Oh crap, an injury!" and you worry a bit. The commentator's are hypothesizing ankle pains, knee joints, back aches, et al.

And what do you know, he's got a banana stuck in his throat! No seriously!! He ate it in such a hurry in the changeover, that it went down the wrong way - so now the poor kid's ashamed since he has two highly qualified tournament doctors diagnosing his injury :P

Ofcourse, the french crowd started jeering and the commentator's said he did it on purpose to slow the tempo of the match (yeah, sure, since he was winning anyway..) - but all of those who've known the kid longer for three weeks know he doesn't play you like that.


So, in the conference room, this is how they start:

Q. A banana stuck in your throat?
RAFAEL NADAL: (Nodding head.)

Q. How many bananas have you eaten in your life?
RAFAEL NADAL: A billion. Is the most easy question.

Q. What happened?
RAFAEL NADAL: I take a little bit banana like this. I feel slip in the mouth and stay here (pointing to his neck).

Q. You peeled it first?
RAFAEL NADAL: (Untranslated answer in Spanish.)





I wonder why they didn't translate him :P

Note: and thank you insiya, for watching :)

Day 5: The heavens a'restin'

Like bono-fan has most graciously recapitulated, the previous two-three days have been the most atrocious weather at RG. Most of the tennis players have been complaining of the breeze that tends to sweep away the clay from the court and leave behind a harder concreter surface where it's harder to slide, while in other cases rain has cancelled so many matches. Nadal and Clisters played today and must do the same tomorrow, since both their matches were delayed by a day.

So some of the results for the day:

- Gaudio beat Juanqi in a three-setter - the scoreline tells of a close battle, 7-5 7-5 7-6(7), but ofcourse it has summed up ferrero's career this past year, now, hasn't it? Even since being out from the tour with chickenpox a couple of years ago, juanqi's never really come back. and since federer and nadal have dominated the game in the way they have, it's sad that ferrero's going down without much of a fight. I still ADORE the guy. wimbledon, here we come?

- Elena "Serve? Huh?" Dementieva beat kutuzova. what kind of friggin name is that, kutuzova, you ask? mind you - this 17-year old Ukrainian has got GAME. give her a year on the tour, a chance to grow stronger physically and mentally, and a maturity in her shot selection, and we'll have another sharapova on hand. gosh, she even looks like sharapova (and grunts like her too). bonofan, ofcourse, is most delighted with this :P

- Nadal annihilates the inconspicuous kevin kim the rather harmless american who looked as if swatting a fly might be asking too much of him. Nadal didn't play anywhere near his best, but come now, did he really need to? he got the job done, no? and a happy birthday to him for tommorrow! he turns 20 (thank you GOD) and takes on paul henri mathieu which will be the match of the day!

- Davydenko beats Moya. ARGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH.

- Martina Hingis, beat Zuzana Ondraskova without breaking into a sweat. Hingis is in optimal form out there and all of us can't wait for the potential v. williams-hingis quarterfinal in the making. Venus, also, playing magnificently. overpowering sprem in a quick 2-setter.

- Wow! so the american men DO know how to play on clay! James Blake, hero of all heros, outs that nasty Almagro 6-7(5) 6-2 6-4 6-4. Nothing gives me more pleasure then seeing almagro go down. And yes, almagro is the same person who actually had a laugh with his box, during a Valencia semi, when marat rolled his ankle and was reeling in pain. Marat did not shake his hand at the end of the match.

- Robredo, Ferrer and Dinara going strong!! The three dark horses of the tourny so far.

- Kiefer retires to Berdych. Muahaha.

Tommorrow's cast: Hantuchova (abid's eyecandy :P), Nadal vs mathieu, blake versus monfils, Clijsters, Hewiit, Ljuby, and Hingis.

Sun, Atlast !

Thankfully, there was some much needed sunshine at Roland Garros and normalcy resumed after couple of awfully gloomy days with 12 matches overnight which were to be finished. Most of favourites are marching along rather handsomely and the main contenders are showing that all of them are on fire and will be vying to run deep into 2nd week.

Roggie and Nadal yet again showed they are a class above others by racking up some impressive wins. Nadal was up against the penultimate american left in draw, lucky loser Kevin Kim who was smothered with much ease and ruthlessness which is now becoming hallmark of Nadal at clay, where he today notched his 55th victory.

On the other hand, Fed has had to play against a rather accomplished player, Massu from chile who is currently the Gold Medallist from Athens 2004 Olympics and has racked up most number of wins on clay this year, even more than the beast Nadal. First two set swere quite amazing, considering the way Rog was controlling thegame nad he absolutely rolled over the chilean but then late in 3rd set when he was serving to finish the match - a sudden spark in chilean lead him to a commendable fightback where he broke rog's service and eventually went on to win the tie break. Must be quite frustrating but later on Fed was back to his usual authorative self and finished off in 2 and a half hours. Good practice he got and hopefully will not be pushed by Thomas Berdych in next round, who btw, defeated him at Athens `04.

I am really not too interested in women's matches except for the fact that most of my eye candies are from tennis :p. today found one reasonably good one.. jelena jankovic who btw is not a bad player , unfortunately had to runinto a steaming mauresmo.

Anyhow , that was a little update about today's game .. hopefully tomorrow will throw up surprises !