TMC final will be between:

Contenders: TMC 2008.

Joker	Aces	Ist serve pct.	Sets lost	Matches lost	Bk pt conv %	Time on court.	Matches played
Federer	9	57	2	1	40	3:48	2 OUT
Djokovic	19	57	3	1	39	5:53	3
Murray	18	58	2	0	44	6:09	3

Photos of Obama’s first visit to the Oval office with Bush.

Click here.

Simon after beating Federer at Shanghai. Click on the link if the vid doesn’t work because of your cheap computer.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e81vcvYutiU

Federer talks before TMC. Click the link if the vid doesn’t work. Geeezzz!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T_ropvQHLh4

Federer vs Simon at Shanghai 2008.

Nadal is forced to make the right decision.

Doctor has advised him to skip Davis Cup and take three to six weeks off to recover. Really? Shouldn’t even a monkey be able to prescribe that by now? That means he should not pick up the racket for the whole of December essentially removing Australian Open as being the first leg to a potential calendar Grand Slam next season. 

That’s still a pretty good deal, considering how many people are surprised that the career ending knee injury is still illusive, after all the abuse the joint has been subjected to for the past four years.

Nadal should be thankful that at least he will be, if he is sensible enough, able to run through the clay season like in years past. If he returns sooner than advised time table, it has the potential of turning into at least a season-ending injury if not career-ending.

Isn’t it freaking obvious that the joint is only getting worse and is crying for rest and tender care? Ignore it any longer and the regret will last a lifetime.

He should do what I do whenever I am sick or injured. Go beyond what the doctor advises, by researching on the Internet, books, quacks etc. Like if the doctor prescribes elevating the knee for thirty minutes every day, I make it thirty hours a day. Once I cut myself on the face while shaving and I stopped talking and smiling for weeks – not that it was anything I had to work extra hard at. What WAS out of the ordinary was when I cut myself elsewhere. Now that’s when I first realised I am a freaking genius.

With so many precedents readily available both in sports in general and tennis in particular on these cases, I wonder what makes these clowns to defy nature and expect a different result. This isn’t brain surgery – yet.

Federer lays egg No. 14 laced with 50 chicks.

Is anyone really surprised other than Federer’s mom?

Maybe the injury to his back should have been as severe as the injury to Nadal’s knees to force him to pull out like Nadal did with Davis Cup. Or is Federer working hard to get there so it can happen at the Australian Open?

Mirka is not helping by refusing to follow my ‘missionary’ instructions. Or is it Wawrinka now, refusing to be a pitcher?

It’s generally presumed that if you are playing with the intention of protecting an injury from flaring up, you are not only most likely to aggravate it to another level, you WILL injure another body part in the process. It’s like players favoring their right ankle to protect the other one, forcing the right one to take more than it can handle – resulting in two ankles out of commission.

There was no question Federer was acutely conscious of how his back will respond in the match since his practice sessions have not been as intense and hard. Is this the ideal time to be testing these things?

“Definitely today shots maybe I miss I normally don’t miss,” Federer said. “I think that’s just lack of practice and just uncertainty where my back was today. Now at least I have a match under my belt, especially three sets, and I hope I can play better in the next match.”

This blind effort to put a positive spin on everything is getting too stale now. What are you going to say after losing the next one with an ice pack on your back? “I am glad I have no more excuses to refuse missionary now?”

50 freaking unforced errors against a clown who got shooed in because the No. 1 player opted out? Didn’t Nalabandian win this title what couple of years ago when he was called to participate when on a fishing trip, just because someone pulled out?

If Simon wins this shouldn’t that be standard MO to win the title from now on?

Granted Simon has been doing well lately, but he is nowhere near the level even if you are at 50%. If you are thinking that this will be just like last year, when you lost the first match (Gonzalez) and still won the title, perish the thought.

There are no similarities to that title run here to even imagine that, despite Nadal’s absence.

I don’t get it. Either Federer and his camp have become super greedy to grab whatever they can, now that the light appears to be flickering, or they are in complete denial to what’s clear to even the dumbest cucumber on the planet.

Rest the freaking up NOW – something you SHOULD have done in January – and don’t let the US Open embolden you to tear yourself up even more. Use it instead to steady the ship for selective slaying of the dragons.

This match was another reminder of how much Federer’s game has come to rely on aces and first serve percentages to move past even non-credentialed opponents. He had just three aces, none of them coming in the deciding third set. First serve percentage was a pathetic 52.

If this continues on expect the back to piggy back on the mono rail to make things even more interesting.