What’s the ONE biggest knock on these players?

Laver: Grass only?

Sampras: Just ‘serve-running forehand’ dimensional?

Connors: Failed to marry Evert? Or should that be the biggest achievement?

Agassi: There are just too many.

Lendl: Boring, machine-like?

Federer: Lopsided losing record against arch rival? 7-13.

Nadal: Shameless pickings?

Here are two absolute morons together on the phone. Geeeezzzz!!!!

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Contenders: Wimbledon ’09.

Player	Aces	Ist serve pct.	Sets lost/ Bagels dished	Unforced. Errors - Total/ Winners	Bk pt conv %	Time on court.	Matches played
Federer	77	67	1 / 0	71 / 239	49	11:29	6
Murray	73	62	3 / 0	113 / 225	52	11:22	5 OUT
Djokovic	47	65	1 / 0	87 / 138	56	8:54	4 OUT
Others:
Roddick	160	71	6 / 0	112 / 331	31	15:45	6
Delpo	10	69	0 / 0	17 / 27	67	1:37	1 OUT

What I would do to deal with court-intruders.

Instead of freaking running after them and making a spectacle of yourself while handing over exactly what the clown wanted – just freaking Taser them.

You are within a few feet of the clown in most cases anyway. It’s not like you are going to miss and hit the fans. And if you do, shouldn’t you be locked up with the clown just for viewing pleasure of the public – for being in the wrong profession?

Maybe that Taser effect might deter future clowns, instead of the encouragement your current stupid run around provides.

What Nadal should be doing right about now and for months.

-Should be in a hospital bed in his room with both knees elevated and iced – 24 hours a day. The screen for video games should be on his ceiling to keep him company.

Anything else means you have learnt nothing from the loudest message life just sent down.

Rocky II is on. Who do you wanna be now? Rocky or Mr. T?

Just one appearance at a sponsored event or any other BS like that and it will be better for everyone if you never return.

Make it a do or die effort. Make every minute count towards rehab. Beat the doctor’s time frame for recovery by going ballistic on it. 

Be thankful you are getting a second chance. It could have been all over. Extend the body the respect you have owed for years.

Four golden arches for tennis GOATdom – in order.

-Calendar Slam.

-No. of Slams.

-Consecutive year-end years as No. 1.

-Career Slam.

More photos.

Serena vs Graf.

Photos.

Ten things we’re going to miss about Wimbledon bad weather days. From Evie. Thanks.

EVIE

“Ten things we’re going to miss about Wimbledon bad weather days.”

I’m not in the U.K., but even I can appreciate this list. The roof is a wonderful, wondrous addition, but we are losing a few things as well…

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Wimbledon Online @ Espn360.com.

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Last showing at Slams for tennis greats.

Player	AO	FO	Wimby	USO
Sampras	4th round	Opening round	2nd round	Winner
Borg	3rd round	Winner	Final	Final
Agassi	Quarters	Opening round	3rd round	3rd round
Connors	Finals	Opening round	Opening round	2nd round
Lendl	4th round	Opening round	2nd round	2nd round
Federer	Final	Winner	Final	Winner
Nadal	Winner	4th round	Winner	Semis

Photos.

Murray and Fed on Nadal’s absence @ Wimby.

Federer on Nadal injury and more. From Overcaffeinated. Thanks.

OVERCAFFEINATED

Reuters interview with Roger – Click here – where we learn that Roger wears taping on his ankles, and here I thought it was just the water he walks on

One answer that caught my eye:

REUTERS: Does the men’s ATP Tour need to address this issue and reduce the load and demands on the players?

FEDERER: “We’ve had so much debate about how much should we play, are we not playing too much, are we not being chased around all over the world? I don’t buy into this because I always think the player is in charge of his own schedule. So it’s only the player to blame. Sometimes you get unlucky like he did right now.”

NBC to offer Online streaming for Wimbledon. From Jason. Good work. Thanks.

JASON

According to NBC’s website, NBC will offer online streaming.

Click here and then go to – Video: Live from Wimbledon.

This should be interesting. Are the dinosaurs at the Peacock’s nest courageous enough to meet us, the consumers, in the 21st century. As one colleague stated: “Whether this will be available when ESPN is on air, or when NBC is showing delayed coverage of Serena Williams, remains to be seen.”

Hopefully, the commentators are British as it were for Tennis Channel’s coverage of Rolland Garros. What are the chances that NBC will stream in HD?

Car Dealer Tricks to Watch For.

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Are you cheap freaks ‘Nadal in the making’?

Sure you are. I can tell some all of you are doing your part under guise of work, pleasure etc. to end up being a ‘Nadal’ sooner than later.

That includes:

-Eating food ON TIME everyday.

-Exercising everyday.

-Drinking enough water.

-Sleeping eight hours – AT NIGHT.

-Eating processed food.

-LYAO everyday.

-Eating junk food and drinking sodas.

-Smoking and drinking.

-Gambling.

-Not using enough Vaseline.

Who is your wildest choice to win Wimbledon ’09, considering what’s happened at the AO and the FO this year?

Records that even Federer and Nadal couldn’t break.

With Federer now unanimously agreed to being the overall GOAT and Nadal as the clay GOAT, it’s amazing following records are still standing:

-Five straight Wimbledon titles.

-Four straight Roland Garros titles.

-Most number of weeks at No. 1.

-82-3 match record for a year.

-Seven Wimbledon titles.

So was this the roughest storm for these stats? Are they now as good as gold? Or an even more scarier tornado is around the corner?

Nadal still unsure about mistakes leading to this decision? Are you freaking kidding me!!!!!!!!!!

Who is the next high profile player on the tour to be snuffed out ‘coz of phyiscal problems?

Djokovic?

While it’s unlikely that in his case it will be as abrupt as Nadal’s, he may not be riding a train too far from the one Nadal just got ejected from.

His case looks more like the engine gradually losing steam by the time he reaches 25 if not earlier. That could receive a thunderous boost if his results do not start to improve in a hurry.

Roddick suddenly seems like a God in that respect now. Whatever his shortcomings he has been able to stay healthy long enough to not lose his rank amongst the top ten for most of his career.

Add the fact that his game is nowhere near as economical on his body as Federer’s and it’s even more remarkable. Maybe it’s the genes.

If genes are to determine the longevity on the tour today, then no one is more vulnerable than Djokovic. From back to breathing to heat to headache to SARS to H1N1 to disproportionate body enlargements, the list appears to only get longer with time.

This recent loss to a 50-year old injury-prone Haas in the finals of a vital tune up event at Halle is only going to make matters worse with Del Potro already knocking at door No. 4.

Suspect physical prowess + weak results = Tour banishment – prematurely.

Interesting matches coming up @ Wimbledon.

-Querrey vs Cilic.

-Djokovic vs Cilic.

-Djokovic vs Haas – Haas beat Djokovic in the finals at Halle with a bread stick in the deciding set.

-Soderling vs Nadal?

-Verdasco vs Tsonga.

-Federer vs Tsonga.

-Federer vs Verdasco.

-Del Potro vs Ferrer.

-Del Potro vs Roddick.

-Murray vs Gulbis.

-Gonzalez vs Simon.

Who amongst the top three is most likely to fall in quarters @ Wimby?

Draw possibilities: Wimbledon 2009.

Round		Federer	Murray	Djokovic
1st		Hsun	Kendrick	Benneteau
2nd		Guillermo	Gulbis	Yani
3rd		Kohlscreiber	Troicki	Fish
4th		Soderling	Wawrinka	Robredo
Quarter		Verdasco	Gonzalez	Cilic
Semi		Djokovic	Del Potro	Federer
Final		Murray	Federer	Murray

Nadal’s presser after Wimbledon exit.

How Nadal’s exit affects Sampras.

The ONLY record Sampras seemed to have saved for eternity – weeks at No. 1 – may now be on the chopping block again.

Sampras is on his knees praying for Murray to step in to deny Federer any more traction or the marriage-kid combo to work it’s magic.

If not, even seven Wimbledon titles could be moving away along with the bagging of Roland Garros-Wimbledon combo to push Sampras down that totem pole even further. 

And who’s the winner through all this?

Borg. Both his Wimbledon and FO records stand for another day.

Photos.

How long will Nadal’s knees keep him away from the tour?

Could Nadal’s withdrawl from Wimbledon be a blessing in disguise?

If nothing else he may now be able to walk post-tennis – without a walker.

On the other extreme this forced break may force him to look at the game with a fresh perspective hopefully making necessary amends to dominate the tour once again.

This also should add another dimension to the appreciation he already has for Federer.

To be on the tour for as long as Federer has been and then to reach the latter rounds at almost every event he has played for what five freaking years – without a serious injury – is mind boggling.

The only factor that can allow you to last that long at this level has to be pure talent.

But Nadal is finally off the tiger. The timing of it may add another dagger to the decision but I think that’s the kick he needed to now try his best to turn his game on it’s head moving forward.

I only hope Nadal and his camp do not blow this up by returning to the table prematurely dictated more by what’s happening on the tour instead of what’s happening inside those knees.

To be in this mess at 23 despite the teen start sends a strong message to everyone else too.

From being judicious in planning the tour schedule to addressing any physical problems thoroughly to knowing when to step back to taking responsibility instead of letting the greedy clowns on the sidelines make such decisions etc. are some billboard lessons from this.

This withdrawl however places the Roland Garros type pressure on Federer at least at Wimbledon. With the likelihood of facing Djokovic and Murray back to back further heightens the drama.

Just when everything appeared to point to Federer slowing down, this withdrawl starts that free for all frenzy for Slams adding another strand to the fire already burning under Federer.

Unless Murray can pick up where he left in beating Federer to pulp, Federer could be home free for No. 18 if not more.

But the blame for this has to lie squarely on Tony. There’s absolutely no excuse he can make up now that can hold water for messing this up this bad.

Tony must be watching the reel of the thousands of moments when he should have pulled the plug before the problem grew into a monster.

Worse case scenario, Nadal’s career may be over now. Anything he can salvage coming out the other side cannot be taken as anything but gravy.

Nadal will have to morph into an Agassi now to do justice to his talent, determination and skill.

Either way this is a blessing. Whether it will produce anything spectacular will depend on how much these knuckleheads will learn from their mistakes.

Who will end up as the REAL beneficiary of Nadal’s absence on the tour?

Could it be Djokovic?

I mean the guy clearly looks like the best clay court player in the world after Nadal. And if that’s true and he is able to dominate on the surface clinching Roland Garros, winning on grass and hard courts may receive a huge boost.

Considering he already has a hard court Slam, with Federer slowing down, Djokovic may be able to sustain his run, anchored in clay, to give Murray a run for his money – without Nadal.

While Federer has benefited immensely from Nadal’s absence at the FO, he may not be in position to milk it as much as he would have done a couple of years ago – age, marriage, kid, Murray etc.

Wiimbledon draw candies for contenders.

What draw combination are the top three contenders looking for tomorrow?

Federer:

Djokovic in semis.
Murray in finals.

Murray:

Djokovic in semis
Federer in finals.

Djokovic:

Federer in semis
Murray in finals.

Does the FO title take something away from Federer’s extreme desire to win Wimbledon this year? Or does the allure of Wimbledon title stands alone?

From whatever we have heard from Federer, it seems he will be happy to win just Wimbledon every year to the exclusion of everything. If that mind set is still existent, then this FO title may do little to waiver his determination to win back the title.

But there’s a chance that the FO title, coming at the heels of a  protracted slow down reaching as far back as 18 months, may pull that engine speed down.

Additionally there’s always that media beat down that’s more-than-expected if Federer wins Wimbledon without Nadal. Although that campaign may not  have the intensity of Roland Garros, it nevertheless is something that will play with Federer’s mind – close to that Graf-Seles history.

While Graf was able to pull away with 22 Slams after Seles in absence of any other threat, Federer has his own age and Murray to fill that ‘Nadal’ void.

So it may be in Federer’s interest to have Nadal in the mix to fight back the onslaught Graf has faced forever.

Granted it’s not anyone’s concern who falls off the wagon but when you are looking at the claim of being the very best to have ever picked up the racket, that H2H record and this absence will drive a wedgie somewhere.

Either that or maybe Federer’s own slide will accelerate even further with the backdrop of the FO title, marriage, kid etc. to take the thunder out of that argument once and for all – leaving Federer at No. 14 with just one title without his nemesis.

Shouldn’t the Hewitt loss be the last straw for Nadal’s camp?

How long are they going to stretch it now? Or do they know that this is it with any future return to tennis impossible and they are now just out to milk it before they cannot go any further?

It appears either the doctor treating him from the beginning is a knucklehead or the jokers receiving diagnoses from him are driven with anything other than Nadal’s welfare. Could it be money? That would be a shocker!!!!

As things stand today, it appears Nadal is in deep trouble. But the reason the alarm bells did not go off early and are not sounding now is maybe because of the helplessness of the whole process.

What I mean is this: The main factor leading to the knee problem has been Nadal’s physical game. He does not have the shot arsenal to hit winners leaving him with no option but to slug it out.

With no way to alter that kind of play – either consciously or due to lack of marbles – Nadal and his camp became helpless in wake of the inevitability of the outcome.

That may be one of  the reasons why Nadal recently admitted to being happy even if his career ended today.

So it could have been a deliberate strategy once the course appeared set in stone due to style of play, weight etc. While it may not have been so black and white, there certainly may have been an understanding that reconciliation to the inevitable may not be too far.

Even in the worse case scenario of Nadal leaving the game NOW, it has been a fascinating ride with a Seles-like ‘what if’ at the end.

If there was anything left of that feeling of being over with tennis, Roland Garros loss must have made sure to drive that point home – strong and straight.

You see, when things start to go wrong, it’s rarely followed by a drizzle. It’s accompanied by ‘raining cats and dogs’ with a combination of factors converging at the ‘right’ time.

If that’s a given – that the situation from the get go was untenable – then the current bag of trophies and accolades may not be that bad after all.

For me the best solution will be to take the rest of the season and more off. Pick it up again at age 25 or so. Then at least you will have given your best  shot at it by giving back everything the body is asking for now.

Whatever happens with the encore will certainly be more ‘liveable’ then, instead of the pain of aggravating it now to the point of no return.

The world’s highest-paid athletes: Woods, Jordan and Kobe? Where’s Federer and Squarepants?

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Photos.