How can you not fall sick at Beijing?

They say, at times, you cannot even see the building across the street, because of the pollution. It’s fine if you have lived there all your life. In that case, your health is bound to improve with all the closure of factories etc.

But if you are from the US and Europe, AND this is not just once in a four year deal for you, you are flirting with trouble. If like tennis players this is just a short stopover in your continuing tour on the gruelling circuit with a major event right after it, how can you not fall sick and jeopardise your chances at the US Open?

It’s not that the difference in air pollution is just minor and that the body can adjust to it. It’s a complete mess. If you breathe air to live, you are at risk. Stepanek will have a field day in these conditions. Fish don’t breathe. GEEEEEEEEEEEEEEZZZZZZZ!!!! I have to eesssplain every freaking lame joke here.

If by any chance you will be running around for about two hours at break neck speed every other day, you may not be toast at the games, but you WILL get fried by August 25. Delicate babies like Djokovic, Gasquet etc. will be first to fall to lead the contingent.

There’s still time. Shelve your sham about the patriotic streak in you, and run for the hills. Nothing is more important than health. Best time to realise that is when it’s taken away. You are doing everything right so far to get there!!!!!!!!

When will the first successful Both-sided Forehand Tennis Player come along? From TheHumbleOne. Thanks.

THEHUMBLEONE

Okay, I’d love to get some responses to my question:
When will the first successful Both-sided Forehand Tennis Player come along?
There have been plenty successful two-handers on both sides players (Seles, Santoro, etc.). Many more successful one-handed forehand and backhand players (Federer, Henin, etc.).
Y’know, there are now several players who are right-handed but play lefty, and many more left-handers who play righty. But they are all taught the game the same conventional way, with one dominant hand, & the other for use to support the BACKHAND side.
However, the Forehand seems to be the biggest weopon in most players arsenals; The “Go-To” Shot. It seems logical, therefore, that one would try to develop the same weopon on BOTH SIDES of their body, no? (Oh sh**, did I just do a Nadal?)
Now I know, some may argue that it increases the chance of errors when passing the raquet back and forth during a point. Especially when playing at the net. But one can still keep both hands in contact with the raquet handle throughout, just maybe one side choked up a little farther than the other.
And besides, in today’s game, most of the points are won from the baseline anyway.
I am curious to hear if anyone knows of anyone successfully playing ambidextrously, with 2 forehands. I believe this will prove to be the next big Tennis Revolution. By the way, Nick Bolleteri if you’re reading this, I’ll gladly let you patent my idea and implement it, for a nominal fee of course. Plus royaltees.

Federer on why he cannot stay in the Olympic village.

“It’s not possible for me to stay there [Olympic Village], there are so many athletes who would want their pictures taken with me…I don’t mind it, but everyday? I cant escape it…”

Can Gulbis make this his coming out party?

He has a pretty friendly draw that almost guarantees a semifinal berth if he can pull off an upset in the first round against Davydenko. Beyond that he has just Kiefer and Ferrer standing in the way from blocking him from taking on Federer in the semis.

From whatever he has produced so far, Gulbis is clearly not far off the mark, but can he seize this opportunity to trounce a vulnerable Federer to possibly win a gold medal at 19? It’s not that big of a stretch, under current conditions.

That could very well make him the fifth dimension to the four man race currently on the boards.

Federer turning 27 at the most inopportune time?

Turning 26 from 25 is a lot different from turning 27 from 26. It’s a whole new bracket that’s so far removed from the previous one that it hits you harder, specially if you have 21 year olds amongst the top six in the world.

Add to all that the dearth of titles this season exacerbated by losses to tomato cans, and you can suddenly be feeling 50.

It’s a general consensus that until age 26 you are able to sustain the momentum you initiated in your early twenties. History provides it’s complete backing to it to nearly make it a rule. Most greats in the game saw a marked decline in their career after turning 27.

Just a handful have been able to deny nature it’s rightful prize. But they had to have a burning desire fueled by some pressing reasons to counter the norm.

Every loss from now on becomes a fight within yourself to avoid questioning the very existence of possessing whatever it takes to succeed anymore.

Turning 27 with momentum, more often than not, carries you a little further into the next season without facing the tug right away. But without it, the road gets bumpy in a hurry. There are just too many negative intangibles otherwise to allow it to happen any other way.

If Federer is unable to get past Karlovic, the dagger would have finally pierced the core of what generates the brilliance on the court. One after another, everything whatever Federer considered sacred and dear has been snatched away from him. The fact that it has all happened one after another like it was choreographed makes it harder than it actually is.

Reaching 27 now just appears a logical extension of the train already in motion to it’s inevitable end. It’s just another block Federer has to fight mentally to stay afloat.

Will the desire to win here trump all that?

Federer’s plan for his 27th birthday.

-Missionary ONLY position meeting with Mirka.

-’Position gone wild’ fiesta with Wawrinka.

-Send blankets and free food to common folks at Olympic village.

-Finally disclose he is really 29 and admit to tampering with his birth certificate to deny competition any mental edge, after losing his own.

-Finally let his prepared Wimbledon trophy acceptance speech out, in an attempt to heal the wound that will never go away EVER.

-’Other’ guy bursting through the birthday before Federer does ‘somewhere’ else.

-Get a $1000 hair cut to get away from his pretty boy pansy image.

-Ship water bottles to Nadal in an effort to congratulate on his No. 1 rank.

-Erase the word ‘retirement’ from English language. OK at least the Swiss one.

-Start the search for a younger slimmer Mirka to ignite the passion and reacquaint with anything not called missionary.

-Initate proceedings for exhos right before and after the US Open.

-Botox treatment?

More Olympic photos.

 

 
 

Why do you have to freaking bite the lower lip every freaking time you serve? Is that an attempt to somehow make your teeth visible?

 
 

 
 

Botoxenport.

Are you still corresponding with that guy after all we went through last night?

 

 

 

 

 

Good strategy to not have kids in your life.

 

 

 

What’s the rule if the ball cannot be found in the middle of a rally? That could be one way to replay the point you lost.

Olympic draw possibilities.

Don’t you get this feeling that the upset can happen at any round with any of these four clowns, now that the invicibility of Federer has evaporated? Even Ginepri and Tursunov are now looking legitimate road blocks in the first freaking round, given the inconsistency ruling the circuit.

Look at the brutal road for Nadal and Murray quarterfinal and beyond. For Federer, I think it’s too early for him to be facing Karlovic, given his track record of nursing his wound longer than most. It’s hard to imagine Nadal coming through here, now that he has admitted to being tired, the No. 1 rank transfer, the surface, the brutal draw and that he may already be looking at the US Open for his individual glory to cap the monstrous season he has had so far.

Nadal has to chose between Olympics and the US Open. He is not winning both. Only Federer can do that or at least have a chance, if he comes out of his shell to register post Halle form. Djokovic is in the same boat as Nadal, highlighted by his endurance woes even before the first set was over at Cincy against Murray in the finals.

Roddick may have booked himself at least a semifinal berth by electing to withdraw here. If he gets a friendly draw and the seed casualty mount due to the Olympic’s polluted air etc., Roddick may earn his second Grand Slam by default. Of course his pain in the, what is it, the neck this time, has to clear the road first.

 

Round	Federer	Nadal	Djokovic	Murray
1st	Tursunov	Scarface	Ginepri	Yen
2nd	Lee	Hewitt	Schuettler	Ljubicic
3rd	Karlovic	Stepanek	Youzhny	Wawrinka
Quarter	Blake	Murray	Nalbandian	Nadal
Semi	Davydenko	Djokovic	Nadal	Djokovic
Final	Djokovic	Federer	Federer	Federer

Olympic tennis draw.

Click here.

How come Nadal has such rippling biceps but nothing anywhere else? No pecks, abs, brains. Or is all that stored in the trunk?

20 little changes for a healthier life.

Click here.

Why Anna Kournikova is such a tennis icon.

by Christopher Kendalls

Few tennis stars are as idolized and gawked over as Anna Kournikova. She has captured the hearts and minds of many tennis fans, and other enthusiasts who can appreciate her beauty as she is simply stunning as the Russian equivalent of the American girl next door. But what do we really know about Anna Kournikova? On her website, Kournikova.com it is clear that she knows how to market herself; in fact the website itself is sponsored by K-Swiss, yet another company that she has a business relationship with. Canon recognized her potential early on and signed her up to market their Powershot series of cameras, which to this date is perhaps the most success line of entry level digital cameras to date.

Ms. Kournikova has clearly transcended the realm of sports and turned into a true celebrity, as her website states. She has joined the exclusive ranks of such sports celebrities as David Beckham, Jimmy Connors and Serena Williams. She signed a management deal early on at age 10 and went to Nick Bolletierri’s academy to train. Few realize that she was the youngest ever to win the Junior Orange Bowl, and that she was crowned the ITF World Champion by the end of that year.

In 1998 she beat 4 of the top 10 players in a row at the Lipton Championships, a feat no one else has beat to date. In fact Lindsay Davenport, Steffi Graff, Monica Seles, Jennifer Capriati, and Martina Hingis are among those she beat. However her website also mentions her affinity for designers such as Chanel and Gucci, and that Rock and Republic, True Religion and J Brand are among her favorite brands for casual everyday wear. There are times when an individual cannot be held by the constraints of having excelled in any one area of expertise, and Anna Kournikova is more of a quintessential sports figure than an actual sports God.

She wins a lot of awards, including that of the Hottest Female Athlete by ESPN in 2002. She wins Grand Slams but doesn’t win Wimbledon itself. At times she is ranked number 8, although surely she is the number one female athelete men check for. She is one of the reasons a lot of us men watch women’s tennis to begin with. So the real answer as to how Anna Kournikova is the tennis icon that she is lies somewhere in between the marketing genius of her and those she is surrounded by and her true sports acumen. If she ever quits tennis, I’m sure there is a career as a fashion model or some other business opportunity awaiting her …