Heroic umpire of Isner-Mahut match, Mohamad Lahyani
LONDON – If you were somewhere near the Atlantic and heard a horrendous, sound-barrier-breaking noise yesterday about noon, don’t be alarmed.
It was merely the last groan raised throughout Great Britain as the last of the Brits at Wimbledon hit the last shot and lasted no longer in the oldest lasting tournament.
That was a Scottish lad named Andrew Baron Murray who stalled in the semifinals for a second straight year, and the long-lasting Curse of Fred Perry continues for a 75th year. Way back in the age of schoolboys wearing knickers and Model A Fords with rumble seats, a Brit named Fred Perry won the singles championship. He did it in 1934-35-36. None of his countrymen has imitated Fred since. continue reading »
July 02 2010 | Wimbledon | 2 Comments »
One of the giant sculptures surrounding the Pietrangeli Court
While Roman emperors have come and gone over the centuries, the current one – of Spanish origin – holds the old town in the palm of his left hand. And has no intention of letting go.
Crowned for a Roman record fifth time, Rafael I should be known as Ravaging Rafa as he comes to town, sweeps up the goodies, and nobody dares to resist. Rafa started winning the Italian Open as a teen-ager in 2005, and boosted his match record here to 27-1 by beating countryman David Ferrer, 7-5, 6-2, on a cold, wet and windy Sunday. continue reading »
May 02 2010 | Tournaments | 1 Comment »
Australian Open 2010
The reign of Rafa I is over.
It was a night of fireworks in Melbourne – in the sky and on the tennis court below as Rafa Nadal lost his crown. The reign from Spain startlingly fell on the plain called Rod Laver Arena as Nadal dethroned Roger Federer a year ago in 5 thrilling sets.
But there was no 1-2 rematch. Nadal was ushered out in the quarter-finals by a brilliant Scottish upstart, Andy Murray. As I have said before, Nadal, though only 23, just ain’t the same guy who owned Paris, won Wimbledon and leaped past Federer to No. 1. continue reading »
January 26 2010 | Australian Open | 2 Comments »
More landscaping
NEW YORK – Perusing his US Open Championship menu, the big cheese from Switzerland recalls that he has devoured an Australian (Lleyton Hewitt), two Americans (Andy Roddick and Andre Agassi), a Serbian (Novak Djokovic), and a Scot (Andy Murray) as title munchies. Agassi and Roddick were the least appetizing, the only ones to win a set.
So, waiter, Roger Federer would like to try something new for this evening’s Open-closing meal: an Argentine named Juan Martin Del Potro. continue reading »
September 13 2009 | US Open | 6 Comments »
Umpires relaxing between matches
LONDON – Rafa has sore knees; Roger’s spirit soars. Maybe because the guy who stole his Wimbledon crown is absent?
“There’s a lot of weight off my shoulders since Paris,” he says. It’s an 180 pound weight named Nadal.
And so another Big W commences, bigger than ever, where the T-word (tendonitis) is a TKO to Rafa and his faithful, lamenting his inability to even make the starting gate. Tendonitis or tendinitis? Doesn’t matter how you spell it because it hurts just as bad. Too bad to play, Rafa said. This affliction used to be called housemaid’s knee, but it’s more serious for the suddenly not-so-overpowering Spaniard since he’s not scrubbing floors for a living. continue reading »
June 20 2009 | Wimbledon | No Comments »
Rafael Nadal at the French Open
PARIS — In the pink – but on the blink.
That was a dazed Rafa Nada at 5:54 Sunday afternoon as he blew a volley after three and a half hours of play and his last chance to stay unbeaten in Paris and win a fifth successive French Open.
The explosion you heard from the direction of Roland Garros was Rafa going up in smoke, a colossal victim. The clay court seemed to shake.
Pink was his dazzling shirt color, with bright yellow headband and wrist bands for the European season, but I doubt he’ll wear them again. Mournful memories of the 6-2, 6-7 (2-7), 6-4, 7-6 (7-2) blind-siding by Robin Soderling, a stranger to major fourth rounds until this time. It was the first time Rafa had even lost a set in Paris since the 2007 final against Roger Federer. He has never been extended to five sets in his streak of 31 matches here. continue reading »
May 31 2009 | French Open | 3 Comments »
The most beautiful hotel flowers I've ever seen are to be found in the lobby of the George V, The Four Seasons in Paris
PARIS — So, does Roger return to his former status as “the greatest player of all time”? Probably, at least with some of his countless idolaters, who took his recent hammerings by Rafa Nadal personally. They suffered. He suffered. The Federer family suffered. But Madrid alleviated some of that suffering.
However, Madrid isn’t Paris. Just as Little Rock isn’t Las Vegas. The difference is that Madrid was a tournament of admitted substance in a nifty new ball park — but Paris is a limited edition, one of the year’s four lalapaloozas, a treasure that dangles temptingly above 256 outstretched male and female hands like the apples of Hesperides. Paris, for Roundhouse Rafa, and Sister Serena is halfway to the grail — the Grand Slam.
continue reading »
May 23 2009 | French Open | No Comments »
Arc de Triumph du Carrousel, built in 1808, provides a gateway to the Louvre
En-route to Paris — Paris, the year’s second major, looms, along with a guy who may be more monumental than the Eiffel Tower. That would be Rafa Nadal of course, and here’s my advice to Messrs Federer, Murray, Djokovic, Roddick and anyone else who would hope to flatten him: Show up in a tank equipped with flame throwers.
Rafa has become such a striking landmark in Paris, where he has won the last four French Opens, that he rivals one of Rodin’s statues – and is as tough to dislodge. They ought to give him a gold key to the city, and a rent-free apartment at the top of Notre Dame alongside Quasimodo. If Quasi is the Hunchback of Notre Dame, Roundhouse Rafa is the Punchback with those big, powerful swings. continue reading »
May 13 2009 | French Open and Tournaments | 5 Comments »
Whither Roger?
Groan.
I can still hear the mass “Groan!” from the full-house audience of 15,000 that greeted Roger’s concluding mistake and Rafa’s Australian championship. Sure, they got around to dutifully saluting Nadal, and recognizing him as a worthy, appealing champ, but their non-Spanish hearts remained with Roger, and the Federer-ites are still mourning. Love’s labor lost.
I can tell that from my mail. Some of it angry because I’d picked Nadal to win. Many recall how the great Bjorn Borg was chased from the game, at 26, by his inability to no longer deal with John McEnroe, and wonder if Roger, frustrated, may be evicted by Rafa. continue reading »
February 19 2009 | Misc. Articles | 2 Comments »
Pete Sampras couldn’t defend himself. But a friend in need turned out to be a young Spanish guy who responded when Sampras screamed, “Stop thief!”
The prospective thief, named Roger Federer, had his eyes and grasping hands on Sampras’s treasure, the record 14 major singles championships he earned over 13 years of roaming the world with a dominating tennis racket.
Federer came to this sunny town with 13 majors in his satchel, three of them Australian Opens, ready to cut in on Pete’s goodies, and soon to have the record all to himself.
“Not so fast,” said the kid who had never won anything here, but thought somebody ought to protect the sainted Pete. And he, called Rafa Nadal, let everybody in town know the reign from Spain was going to fall on the concrete plain in Rod Laver Arena. Thus he swooped and scooped Federer’s best stuff and whacked it back like an avenging angel so that Sampras could sleep soundly with the record yet under his pillow. continue reading »
February 01 2009 | Australian Open | 6 Comments »
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