Posts Tagged ‘Australian Open’
Jo-Wilfried Tsonga-Novak Djokavic Show Us the Future of Men’s Tennis
Roger Federer will, at some point, break Pete Sampras’ record of 14 grand slam wins. Rafael Nadal has a couple of French Open wins left on his racket.
But Federer has been had. And Nadal looks closer in the rearview mirror than he actually is. It is 2008 and there is new tennis to be played; Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Novak Djokavic are playing it.
Armed with new hybrid synthetic and natural gut strings and 21-century rackets these two can do things with a tennis ball that could not be imagined only 10 years ago. But Tsonga’s body looks more like an NFL running back’s than a tennis player’s and Djokavic is built like a wideout. As hard as Djokavic hits his shots, Tsonga hits them harder – and more effortlessly. As quick as Djokavic is, Tsonga is as quick.
Tsonga, 22, is a black man of the Congo – his father, Didier – and his French mother. He favors a young Mohammed Ali. His father actually saw the Ali-George Foreman fight in Zaire. Djokavic, 20, and his family barely escaped the bombing of his former neighborhood, moved to Germany and began to invest their time into their son’s future.
Tsonga won the first set of the Australian Open Finals (6-4) against Djokavic, the heavy favorite, by hitting a topspin lob from 10 feet behind the baseline on the dead run. Tsonga comes to net and shortens points with crisp, precise volleys like a player from a time gone by; when coming to net to win points was actually part of the game, not a place to be feared and run from. Djokavic relies on his groundstrokes more, but volleys adequately.
Three Thoughts for Friday: Deron Washington and Duke; The Australian Open and the State of Tennis; Mantan Finally Hits the Airwaves
Did anyone see Lomas Brown and Ray Buchannon “RayLo” on ESPN’s First Take today! These two ex NFL players dressed in all-white and all-cream- colored suits reminiscent of some Bizarro World Uncle Ben’ Converted Rice uniforms, proceeded to do a “Mantan: The New Millenium Minstrel Show” with their “Do Over” awards.
Buchannon: I LUVS HIS GUNS WHEN HE OUT DARE HAVIN’FUN(??!!)
Brown: WOOOOOO!
Brown: Less see it one mo’ time for da big fella!
Buchannon: WOOOOOOOO!
Federer Wins a Classic Over Tipsarevic
No one thought the Roger Federer-Janko Tipsarevic would go down like it did. The #49 player in the world with no one outstanding weapon couldn’t challenge the world’s #1, could he?
Well, “challenge” became the operative word in the match between the two players. While Federer won 26 more total points that his opponent, he nearly lost the match. While Federer hit more aces than he ever has in this match (39) and won 89% of the points on his first serve, it still went five sets. But in the end, after four hours and twenty-seven minutes, Roger Federer showed exactly why he is the world’s best tennis player defeating a game challenge from the Serb, 6-7 (5-7), 7-6 (7-1), 5-7, 6-1, 10-8.
Federer appeared to take control of the affair in the fourth set, winning easily 6-1. But Tipsarevic, as he had the whole match, took full advantage of the rules. He called for a trainer to get his feet re-taped. However, Tipsarevic demanded his feet be encased to the point of mummification to extend what was supposed to be a three-minute injury timeout. Then he changed clothes – all without a peep from the chair umpire.
Spotes Notes, 1.18.08: NFL Takes BALCO Hit; Golfweek Fires Editor; Venus’ Eclipse Down Under; Roddick Upset; Ernie Holmes Dies
NFL takes BALCO hit
Dana Stubblefield, former San Francisco 49ers defensive lineman pleaded guilty to lying to investigators today and became the first NFL player to be charged in the BALCO (Bay Area Laboratory Co-Operative) case. The charges allege that Stubblefield lied to an IRS agent when he said he had not used steroids linked to BALCO and denied that he received performance-enhancing drugs (PEDs) from BALCO founder Victor Conte:
The plea deal calls for the 37-year-old Stubblefield to spend zero to six months in prison, though U.S. District Judge Susan Illston said she is not bound by that agreement and can sentence him to up to five years. He is to be sentenced April 25….
He was one of three players fined by the NFL for testing positive for the designer steroid THG, but he was not suspended because THG was not added to the NFL’s banned substance list until after the tests were conducted.
Sports Goggles 