Despite the incessant gloom’s best efforts, we finally got one up on the rain and squeezed in a couple hours of tennis after work on Tuesday. Ace!
Posts Tagged ‘tennis’
Federer should win the French even though I don’t really like him
With the Turkish Formula 1 GP underway and the French Open final at 9pm, sporting fever is high in our household. While hubby and I are big F1 fans, it’s the showdown between Roger Federer and Robin Soderling, of course, that’s got us all jittery. As a self-proclaimed Federer die-hard fan – and indeed it is impossible to have a reasonable and unbiased conversation about Roger Federer with him – hubby has threatened melodramatics if the Swiss ace doesn’t lift the trophy tonight.
Me, I’m torn between wanting one of the biggest upsets in French Open history and seeing Federer cement his place as one of the sport’s greatest of all time. But I don’t want to see hubby sad (aren’t I the softie?) and to be honest, Federer deserves this. He’s been so close too many times and despite all my reservations about the guy, he truly is one of the greatest, most talented and most graceful of all time.
He deserves it. And so I’ll be rooting for him tonight. Even though I once walked right up to him and asked him for an autograph and he conveniently turned away though I was the only person there. Even though I’ve seen him disappoint local fans by deliberately avoiding them after a match though it was the exhibition match between him and Pete Sampras in KL two years ago and if you didn’t accept the invitation to please the fans (and pocket the money) then really, why did you bother? Even though he was far more obliging to the foreign fans and managed just the bare minimum when it came to the locals and the thought did cross my mind that he’s a snob.
So yes, despite all that, I will feel sorry for Roger Federer if he doesn’t win the French Open tonight. Even though that will make him greater than my all-time favourite tennis player Andre Agassi. Just don’t tell me he’s the nicest guy on court. He’s polite, he does interviews in three languages, he can be witty when he likes and I totally get why the press is so in love with him. But no. Nice is Rafael Nadal comforting Federer when the former took the Australian Open early this year. That’s nice. I’m not exactly a die-hard Rafa fan either, but I can’t help wondering if maybe he isn’t as popular with the media because he doesn’t speak the best English. He also doesn’t make excuses when he loses and (so far) hasn’t come across arrogant despite his success. And that’s really nice.
Gosh, I so hope Agassi is nice.
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Nadal victorious at last
This was so worth staying up till 4.30am for. I suspect the only reason I didn’t keel over at work or during the 2.5 hour tennis session after is adrenaline from last night’s (this morning’s) epic battle. I’ve always maintained that it was time for Federer’s domination on grass to end, but I never imagined it would happen in what is being hailed as the greatest and definitely the longest Wimbledon final in history.
Right up till the fifth set, I believed it could go either way. In fact, there were moments when I thought Federer would take it because Nadal seemed a bit nervous at the crucial points. But Nadal pulled through, and I genuinely felt – feel – sorry for Federer. He took the loss hard, and thrilled as I am for Nadal, who totally deserved the win, I can’t help feeling for the Swiss world number one, who, after all, is already one of the greatest ever.
I’m sure he’ll bounce back. I hope he does. But he’ll never rule the courts the way he has again I don’t think.
Now that the French Open and Wimbledon are over, I hope the media will finally stop asking Bjorn Borg his opinion on who will win the next Grand Slam. He may be one of the tennis greats, but he’s starting to come across a teeny bit silly offcourt.
He tipped Federer to end Nadal’s reign at the French Open this year, only to watch Nadal wipe the clay court with FedEx. Following that episode, he immediately tipped Nadal to end Federer’s Wimbledon reign, only to change his mind days before the showdown and throw his vote behind Federer. And Nadal went on to win.
Well, to be fair, most people thought this would be Federer’s year (for the sixth consecutive time), and I suppose Borg decided it would be safer to stick with the masses. Wrong again, Mr. Borg. His only redeeming glimmer, not that he really needs one I suppose, might be this interview, published 24 hours before the final. And he did get one thing right: his records will most likely be beaten. If not this year then very possibly in the ones to come. We’ll see.
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We sort of trash talk, yeah
Y just got back yesterday after being in Singapore all week for work. We normally don’t communicate much when he’s away, especially if it’s only a short trip (i.e. seven days or less), but I must say my husband has surprised me this week.
On Monday, I nearly fell off my sofa when he texted me just four hours after leaving:
“Federer is showing who’s king of grass…”
I replied:
“Where are you watching the match? I told u Hewitt is hopeless. I’m waiting to see how Nadal and Safin go.”
He texted back:
“Who cares about Hewitt.. can you see Fedex’s shots and slices.. Watching from hotel but now eating dinner.”
On Wednesday, my phone beeped again:
“So are federer and nadal in the semis?”
I replied:
“Don’t know yet. Rain delay. I’m waiting also.”
On Thursday, he asked:
“When is Federer going to trash Safin?”
I said:
“Fed is going to lose to Safin tomorrow night.”
On Friday, he started an MSN conversation:
“So is Safin going to say grass is for cows* tonight?”
I said:
“Why are you calling Federer a cow?”
He said:
“Federer is a cow because he’s good on grass. Safin is a fish.”
And when Federer eventually beat Safin later that evening, this came into my phone:
“Oohh Safin is a fish. Haha.”
?!!?!?! My reply:
“You wait for Sunday. Nadal is playing better than Fed.”
Gosh, I hope it’s going to be a really good one tonight.
* Safin once said grass is for cows. He doesn’t like playing on grass courts and this is the first time he’s reached the semifinals of Wimbledon. He gives the funniest press conferences.
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Is Marat Safin back?
I’m still in shock from Marat Safin beating Novak Djokovic in the 2nd round of Wimbledon. I said earlier that I like Safin – always have – but I also said I’d hoped Djokovic would end Roger Federer’s reign. Now I’m throwing all my support behind the tall, dark and handsome Russian. When he’s on top of his game he can be pretty damn unbeatable so let’s hope he stays that way for another week and three days.
Check out the post-match press conferences here:
I really like Safin’s slightly grumpy air, sarcasm and deadpan humour. It’s his frequent mental slipups on court that I want to smack him for. The least someone so good-looking and charismatic could do is win more matches so we can see more of him, no?
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Tennis mad
I’m completely spent. Physically. It feels great. After an interval of several months, I’m playing tennis regularly again. Today marks the third time in a span of a week. I love going out there and just whacking the ball as hard as I can. It’s not a good workout unless I’m totally pooped after, and if I’m going to sweat I might as well go all the way, right?
If only I can clock 11am to 7pm so I can get in some tennis in the mornings, though tiring myself out for an evening in front of the telly also feels pretty good. I highly recommend strenuous exercise for the angst-filled; it’s the perfect channel for pent-up frustration and unreleased anger, and it’s guaranteed to leave you too exhausted to be worked up over anything.
While I’m on the subject of tennis, Wimbledon has begun, and Y and I are keeping a close watch on the proceedings. My die-hard Roger Federer fan hubby is hoping the Swiss world number one will take the trophy, but I reckon it’s time someone else is crowned champion. I don’t care if it’s world number two Rafael Nadal or world number three Novak Djokovic or even some dark horse like Marat Safin (that’s almost impossible but I like Safin because he’s good-looking so there).
So the rivalry is on. With Federer and Djokovic drawn in the same half, only one of them can make it to the final, and we’re both betting the other finalist will be Nadal. Fingers crossed.
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Getting active again
It’s been a while since I last swung my tennis racquet, so when the noncomittal rain of the last few days finally let up today, the four of us decided it was too good an opportunity to let pass by.
The weather held up – it was perfect actually, I was relieved to find that I still have a stroke, and we had a good two hours of play. It felt good to be out and active again; the last time I did something outdoors that resembled exercise was when I went walking in the rain in Mulu, Sarawak, over a month ago.
The urge to get off my bum and start moving on a regular basis has made a somewhat sneaky return. This should go nicely with my ongoing effort to eat healthy. As part of my resolution, I’ve been having cereal for brekkie at least a few times a week – the rest of the time I usually end up having an early lunch instead.
I watch the Nadal vs Bellucci match from my sofa after a good shower, relishing that clean, fresh and very relaxed/pleasantly exhausted/recuperating feeling that comes from using more than three muscles and getting a good sweat.
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Still despondent, by the way
After four days of blogwriter’s block, I have given up trying to think of what to say and have decided to just post up pictures instead.
The past week has been an obsession over these people:
and
These guys rocked up first:
I’ll confess I wasn’t nearly as excited about them as I was about Roger Federer and Pete Sampras, but it was pretty cool to see them in the flesh all the same. Besides, they were a hell of a lot more accessible than the other two, and I have these to prove it:
I hear Jeremy Dalseno is really jealous about the Rafael Nadal photo. If I’d known he was such a huge fan, I’d have gotten him an autograph! See, people need to tell me things like that, because sometimes (and I can’t stress the ‘some’ part enough) I can actually help out.
Jeremy (and any other closet Nadal fan I may know), this is an extra for you:
Nadal and Richard Gasquet flew in on Monday and played their exhibition match on Tuesday. Then on Wednesday, Federer and Sampras flew in.
These are from their very eventful pre-match press conference:
Pete may be charm itself during an exhibition match, but I assure you the Pete that did the press conference that day was quite the opposite. Roger was nice enough about signing autographs, assuming you managed to get past the eight or so members of his entourage that surrounded him wherever he went. As you might have noticed from the above link, these were seriously big guys too.
I got neither an interview nor a photograph with Roger, so I had to be content with just being in the presence of greatness. Plus, my media pass got me pretty good seats for the match so I shan’t whinge. Here is a photo from the post-match press conference, which lasted all of six(!) questions.
As you can see, Pete is no happier to be doing post-match press conferences than he was a day earlier. I suppose it comes with being retired, not to mention he’s probably feeling the aches and pains of trying to play against Roger at 36.
I’ll admit they were both being a bit of a diva throughout the two days, but (luckily? ha ha) for Roger, I’ve always had a thing for tall, skinny guys (like you can’t already tell from Y). Add that to the fact that he is a beyond brilliant tennis player…
For more photos, you can go here.
***
Speaking of photos, these are just two other blokes I’ve met up close of late – and just for the curious, they were far more obliging.
Ekin Cheng
Wang Lee Hom
If you’re Lee Hom-obsessed like a certain member of my family is, you can also go here. This was my pressie to Jessie, and I’m relieved to say I’ve never done anything this fan-crazed in my life for myself. I seriously doubt I ever will.
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Little green balls anyone?
Thanks to a public holiday I didn’t even remember and still don’t know what it’s all about, I got my first tennis lesson today.
Thanks to work and the fact that the coach will be away for two months while I’m free in between jobs, it just might be my only lesson.
Wanted: Someone to play tennis with. Fast.
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The Russian triumphs.
“Of course (Hewitt) couldn’t have done it without (his) group so thank you (Hewitt’s) parents, coach, girlfriend, everybody.”
“Thanks to all of you who came out here and supported us throughout these last two weeks. Even though 90% of you were rooting for Hewitt, thanks.”
- Marat Safin, upon accepting his Australian Open championship trophy.
Isn’t he adorable?
