The Queens Club final is on between Mahut and Roddick, Mahut should have won the second set but threw it away to yankee at Jimmy Connors delight. It's 3-3 in the final set. I have to say, I have never seen the fuss with Andy Roddick, he'll never be as good as Nadal or Federer, he is like Tim Henman, an almost player. Nadal and Federer will be up there with Connors, Becker's, McEnroe's (who is German, not American) and Borg (The greatest player in the sports history). Roddick is struggling against Mahut who is ranked 106th in the world. Roddick is a poor player, without his first serve he'd be a nothing player, like most Americans.
Federer will be one of the only players to win all four grand slams won't he? That said, he is not the greatest tennis player of all time IMO. That title belongs to Borg.
I keep on thinking that's going to happen, then he gets slapped around by Nadal who really can't lose on clay. I want to see if he can step up against Federer on grass. Though he played ok at Wimbeldon last year, hoping he can be a bit better this year. How can you not root for a player in clam diggers.
I know its Wimbledon, but the rain we've been getting this week! http://news.sky.com/skynews/article/0,,30100-1272890,00.html
I'm a Lleyton Hewitt fan. Lleyton needs to reinvent himself similar to what Andre Agassi had to do half way through his career. If Lleyton can add another dimension to his game, like coming to the net more often, he'll be a much better chance of beating Federer and Nadal more often.
The thing about tennis is, no matter how much I practice, I'll never be as good as a wall - Mitch Hedberg More or less sums up my feelings on tennis . Really though, it's very fun to play, but I don't know how you can bare to watch it.
I decided to start Tennis lessons when I finish school. With the Tennis Courts so close to where I live and the rush I get every year around the US Open I figured its worth a shot.
Fantastic game that can be played at any level and still have fun at it. When I first came to the States nobody played football or knew what to do with a round ball except toss it into a bloody basket...One didn't even see a 'soccer field' so I took up tennis. Used to play 8 hours a day with anyone who showed up and eventually got fair enough to play some tournament stuff and enjoy it. The day I realized that I was never going to play a final on Centre Court Wimbledon was the day I really started to enjoy playing for the fun of it. As I got older I started playing doubles, It was fun playing on the UW courts, us two old guys would challenge the college doubles teams and drive them crazy, a pair of old farts making them look bad. I think being tall enough to have a good service and being a goalie really helped me, especially for service returns. And by the way. There have only EVER been two Grand Slam Winners. (Reguardless of Morphs misinformation) A Grand slam is winning all 4 of the major tournaments in a single season. Australian open, French open , Wimbledon and the US open. Don Budge of the US won it first in 1938 Then (Rocket) Rod Laver won twice, first as an Amateur in 1962. Then as a Pro in 1968
Height is an advantage when serving I'm guessing. I'm 5"11 so I think I'm fine. I just have to work on my upper body and my forearms because I've concentrated most of my exercise on my lower body playing football all these years. I can't wait though!
Go for it I think you'll enjoy it. I'm sure you can find some park or school extension course for classes. Hint, Too many guys think it's all muscle, work on the right technique especially for the service "Even if you don't win a game for a while" (I know I'm 6'2' and 220#) Once the balls start dropping in where you want them, that is the time to work on hitting harder. Don't get slaphappy and try to steer the ball.
For those in Oz, who is this Casey Dellacqua who dumped Mauresmo outta the Open? You are always prepared for one or two upsets but I did not see this one coming.
I don't know much about tennis, I can only name like 6 active men (Federer, Blake, Roddick, Baghdatis, Djokovic, and Nadal) and 3 active women players (Sharapova and Williams sisters), but my brother who is a varsity tennis player in high school called me raving about this upset.
She's 22, never got past the first round here in like 6 goes, but has been slowly improving her game and her ranking. Apparently she's won 11 titles on the Challenger circuit, so she just needs to believe she can cut it to get better. This will hopefully be her big leap into the worlds eye. She lost last night to Jankovic, who has to be one of the most miserable tennis players I've seen by the way. And no- I didn't stay up until 4:34am local time to watch Lleyton Hewitt win the other night- I went to sleep after the Venus Williams game.
I don't blame him losing to Nadel again. He took two sets at 6-1 and lost two sets on tie breakers then loses in the 5th. So close. His serve (nerves?) let him down for this one, he was serving great all week. Nadel is the only player to have beaten him in a grand slam as well. Some fantasic points played as well wasn't there. impossible shots. It's probably my age but Nadel come off looking like a joke. His short are a couple of inches shorter now but he still had to keep pulling them out of his crack every couple of minutes and what's with the bandages around his knees? Fashion????
It was a great tennis match! I don't know about tennis players, they are kind of weird. Djokovic and Nadal especially. I think Nadal will eventually have the joints of an NFL football player, just because the way he plays. He plays the highest impact tennis I have ever seen. His knees and elbows must just kill because he is so active on the court and in his swinging motion.
Yeh, "Nadal" does have a weird motion, so much of the sweep and the wrist roll are extranious. The ball has gone long before he does all that. Seems to work for him though... Just to piss off out Ozzie contingent, some time back in the 70's I used to play a lot of tennis. Couldn't find much football in LA at the time although I did play with a mexican team there. So Tennis was my number one sport, I'd play like 8 hours a day and run the highschool bleachers in between games. Well this little guy came came to promote his new club, name of Laver sumthing, yeh Rod, Rod Laver I got to hit with him for quite a while, gave me a few tips that I used and improved my game a level. He gave me a run around and I could tell he was being nice to me. Not like your regular Ozzie... He liked a beer or 3 after the warm up. We had an airline club and used to play other airlines across the country and into Europe. First class travel for the most part and free. Lufhansa was one of our fav teams. There was this blonde tutonic beauty that played without a bra, well we used to get together in the evenings......... Anyhow Tennis was good for me back then.
I'd love to see these modern players play with the old wooden racquets, I think it would make some of these power players pretty useless!
Prolly true. My hero back then was Big John Newk, I remember stories about how he'd stuff his bathtub with beer and ice the night before the final at Wimbledon. He said it helped him relax...!!!! No shit.. Write a book. I did... Three editions of this one. My wife did most of the writing, I did articles, photos and cover. The one you suggest I write, well to be factual and interesting I'd have to hide it from my wife... Thanks though.
I am sure there was a few of you that watched the Wimbledon men's final today. Great tennis match. Heartbreaking to see Roddick lose after playing so well. I hope he eventually gets the Wimbledon title he rightfully deserves.
