Phelps meets Nadal. From Mike. Thanks.

MIKE

Phelps star-struck meeting Nadal …

QUESTION: “Is there anybody you looked up to in Beijing?”
PHELPS: “I went up to Rafael Nadal, I love watching him play tennis, he’s such a good athlete. And I walked up to him and I just wanted to meet him. I told him good-luck and I love watching his matches.”

Pretty high praise coming from a 14-time Gold Medalist.

Is Roddick even relevant anymore?

Ever since getting booted out in the second round by Tipsarevic at Wimbledon this year, Roddick appears to have lost it, finally. Sure, injuries are a part of it but it just appears to be a very insignificant part.

Since Wimbledon, he has lost to Cilic, Del Potro and Troicki – on hard courts. He even skipped Olympics to prepare for the US Open by attempting to win the tune up events, made even easy with the absence of top dogs busy at Beijing.

This is not the ideal time to be playing catch up with your rankings, forget about losing to tomato cans in your backyard. As it happened with everyone with a weak backhand, including Sampras, the weakness has gotten even more acute in the absence of a concerted effort to overcome it once and for all.

That puts immense pressure on his lone weapon called the serve to save the day for him. If the ball comes back and the rally begins, Roddick goes on the backfoot instantly, playing defensively to win a point, more often than not.

Although he will be turning just 26 in a few days, the physical toll of consistently maintaining his top five rank over the years may have finally done the damage at this early age. Unless a super friendly draw comes along at the US Open, this may be another early exit event for him keeping the pattern from the last four tournaments alive.

With no one in sight to step in his shoes from the US, this may be the last time that any US man will be seeded among the top ten for some years to come.

Nadal owns everything Federer wants – almost.

-Roland Garros.

-Wimbledon.

-No. 1 rank.

-Olympic Gold in singles. Rest don’t matter.

-Xisca.

-Calendar Grand Slam.

-Two Grand Slams this year.

-Uncle Tony.

-Mental toughness.

-Muscular body.

Looks strange. Specially when the lead is already about 800 points, with a loaded US Open to begin.

1st Nadal , R. 6700

2nd Federer , R. 5930

3rd Djokovic , N. 5105

4th Ferrer , D. 2865

5th Davydenko , N. 2700

6th Murray , A. 2415

7th Nalbandian , D. 1975

8th Roddick , A. 1845

9th Blake , J. 1825

10th Wawrinka , S. 1695

Full ATP Rankings

Difference is mental? From Brooke. Thanks.

BROOKE

I can’t remember where I read this, but some journalist wrote that when you watch players practice, there’s, mechanically, little difference between number 1 and number 101; the real difference, he says, is all mental. At the time, I agreed but now I have a couple issues with his belief. Opinions?

Nadal sits on the No. 1 throne with an uneasy calm.

Unlike Federer’s start of the reign when signs pointed to the point differential getting only worse for other jokers, Nadal knows his ‘Nadal’ is already here. Here are the latest numbers:

Nadal: 6700 points.

Federer: 5930.

Djokovic: 5105.

Although Nadal is ahead by almost 1600 points, Djokovic is more than capable of closing that gap faster than Nadal managed against Federer. With US Open now the only event where Nadal has a lot fewer points to defend than Djokovic, of the three big events left before TMC, Djokovic can reasonably reduce the gap considerably even before the year ends. Of course, Djokovic is banking on Nadal to run out of steam or knee cartilage on hard courts by year end, to offer some help.

Overall Nadal has 625 points to Djokovic’s 760 to defend for the three events: US Open, Madrid and Paris.

Djokovic performing better than his last year showing at these events appears more likely than Nadal continuing his run on the hard courts for two main reasons: The toll from the endless run he has been since the clay season and the punishment of hard courts on his body that will only add to it with every match.

Although Djokovic may not be too far from that scenario with his own physical vulnerabilities, mentally the task should appear more attainable for him to see Nadal as the man to trounce instead of Federer.

Two scenarios will boost Djokovic’s chances of winning the US Open: If he falls on Federer’s half of the draw or falls on Nadal’s half with Nadal falling to some clown before their semifinal showdown. Duh!!!!

I think Djokovic has fooled himself by taking the pressure off himself with his repeated BS of “I will get to No. 1 when I can”. Pressure is not only not always bad, it’s absolutely vital to achieve a goat, as big as what’s at stake here.

Although Nadal leads the H2H 10-4, Djokovic has defeated Nadal at every hard court meeting in straight sets, except two. Last loss coming at the Olympics.

Federer’s woes have placed Djokovic as the ruler of hard courts by default, surprising Djokovic himself. This is his time to answer the bell as a predator instead of a prey, forcing the maturity graph beyond the boundaries he is currently willing or able to handle.

But it’s hard to imagine Nadal beating Djokovic at this stage on hard courts, unless Djokovic falters big time himself. Still the momentum Nadal is bringing in cannot be completely discounted. Hope it turns into another thrilling five setter like Wimbledon.

Nadal’s recent wins over Djokovic on hard courts are bound to evoke feeling of revenge on clay next season. After all, Djokovic was the only one to take Nadal to a tie-break at Roland Garros this year, while everyone else, including Federer, were busy dining on bagels and bread sticks. Djokovic also took a set off today’s Nadal at Hamburg.

Translation: Djokovic may rise up to be a bigger challenge to Nadal on clay than Federer. If that happens, even partially, at next year’s clay season, meaning Djokovic winning any of those big clay tournaments instead of Nadal, Nadal may be back to No. 2 before he slips any further.

The real stats on your health. From Wilde. Thanks.

WILDE

There is a widespread misconception that modern medicine (allopathy) translates into better health. The following is taken right from the pages of the Journal of the American Medical Association (July 26, 2000):

Of 13 countries in a recent (health) comparison, the United States (the most modern and advanced in the world) ranks an average of 12th (second from the bottom).

For example, the U.S. ranks:

* last for low birth weight
* last for neonatal and infant mortality overall
* 11th for post neonatal mortality
* last for years of potential life lost
* 11th for female life expectancy at one year, and next to last for males
* 10th for age adjusted mortality

The World Health Organization, using different indicators, ranked the U.S. 15th among 25 industrialized nations. (If ranked against “primitive” cultures eating and living as humans were designed, the whole industrialized world would be at the bottom of the heap.)

Some might say these dismal results are because of smoking, alcohol, cholesterol, animal fats and poor penetration of medical care. Not so. Countries where these health risks are greater have better overall health according to epidemiological studies. It’s also not due to lack of technology. The U.S. is, for example, second only to Japan in the number of magnetic resonance imaging units (MRIs) and computed tomography scanners per unit of population. Neither can lack of medical personnel be blamed since the U.S. has the greatest number of employees per hospital bed in the world.

So what is the problem? Here are some clues as revealed in the same journal cited above:

* 12,000 deaths per year from unnecessary surgery
* 7,000 deaths per year from medication errors in hospitals
* 20,000 deaths per year from other hospital errors
* 80,000 deaths per year from nosocomial (originating in a hospital) infections
* 106,000 deaths per year from adverse effects of medications

That totals 225,000 deaths per year, the third leading cause of death, behind heart disease and cancer. Another study – we’re talking just hospital related deaths here – estimates 284,000 deaths per year. An analysis of outpatient care jumps these figures by 199,000 deaths for a new total of 483,000 medically related deaths per year. And this assumes doctors and hospitals eagerly report all their mistakes. Think so?

The poor health ranking in the U.S. is in large part not because of lack of modern medical care, it is because of it! This does not deny that each person’s life choices do not impact health as well. People cannot live with abandon and then expect anybody to fix it regardless of their technology and skills. You can imagine the frustration physicians must feel faced day-to-day with patients wanting a quick fix for a lifetime of unhealthy life choices. Be that as it may, it does not deny that modern medicine in and of itself is a huge risk to those who surrender to it.

Why do we not hear more about this? It is just too difficult to come to grips with the inevitable – and unbelievable – conclusion: When all the deaths (not counting the hundreds of thousands who are maimed or otherwise harmed but don’t die) reported and not reported are tallied, medical intervention is arguably the leading cause of death in our country.

Time to splash some cold water on the rely-on-modern-medicine inebriation. And remember folks, the above are just cold statistics. Take any one of these numbers and humanize it to the real pain, suffering, financial devastation, grief and family disruption, and each one is a heart rending story deserving of anyone’s deep concern and sympathy. It is a tragedy of a magnitude unequaled by anything in human history. And it’s repeated every year. It makes 9-11, all the deaths in all U.S. wars, deaths by auto, homicides and everything else pale in comparison. (Not to minimize the tragedy of each of those things.)

The media should be shouting about medical risks from atop their broadcast towers. But there is mostly silence, just reports in obscure (to the public) medical and scientific publications. In the meantime, trusting people keep flocking to the slaughter. From just 1995 to 2002, pharmaceutical sales jumped from $65 billion to over $200 billion. That’s about one prescription for each man, woman and child in the country every month. This escalation in medical dependency is paralleled in surgeries, lab tests, emergency room admissions, elective procedures and outpatient visits.

You can do something about it. Begin today to take control of your own health destiny. The philosophical paradigm of conventional, allopathic, symptom based, crisis care, episodic, after-the-fact medicine is seriously flawed … and very deadly. Good and well meaning doctors are hamstrung by wrong philosophical premises. They are crippled every bit as much as those who once believed in a flat Earth. Trying to achieve health with modern allopathic medicine is like trying to fix computers with a hammer, just because that’s the only tool you were taught to use or believe in.

Don’t wait for the system to change. Old ideas die too hard. The mega-medical industry is not going to be quick in either admitting error or revamping itself. Your health is at stake. Think prevention and natural holistic cure. Study, learn, grow, be skeptical, change lifestyle, be self-reliant -– be a thinking person. That’s your best road to health.