Rome draw: 2010.

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Photos.

Rome Masters casualty watch. From M. Thanks.

M

ROME MASTERS 1000 2010

Withdrawals (11) as of April 23:
Davydenko, Nikolay RUS
Del Potro, Juan Martin ARG
Gonzalez, Fernando CHI
Haas, Tommy USA
Karlovic, Ivo CRO
Monfils, Gael FRA
Nalbandian, David ARG
Robredo, Tommy ESP
Roddick, Andy USA
Simon, Gilles FRA
Stepanek, Radek CZE
James Blake USA

Alternates (11):
Chardy, Jeremy FRA
Gulbis, Ernests LAT
Seppi, Andreas ITA
Cuevas, Pablo URU
Beck, Andreas GER
Garcia-Lopez, Guillermo ESP
Zeballos, Horacio ARG
Berrer, Michael GER
Mayer, Florian GER
Fognini, Fabio ITA
Korolev, Evgeny KAZ

Wonder what’s being discussed here!!!!!!!!!!!!!

What have the contenders done at Rome in the past.

Player	Played	Titles	Best result	Last year	Worst result/when
Federer	9 times	0	Final(2)	Semis-lost to Djokovic	1st round (twice)/2000 and 2002
Djokovic	3 times	1	Winner	Final-lost to Nadal	Quarters/2007
Nadal	5 times	4	Winner	Winner	opening round-lost to Ferrero/2008

Is there anything else – anywhere?

Bakker on eliminating Tsonga.

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Soderling on reaching the semis @ Barcelona.

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Ferrer on reaching the semis @ Barcelona.

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Verdasco on reaching semis at Barcelona.

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Photos.

That was an awesome freaking job from Bluechyll and Liz. Thanks.

For rock people, both signed up as volunteers and then completed their freaking assignment I expected would take weeks – in a few freaking hours. WOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Great work.

CERTIFICATE OF APPRECIATION FROM FREAKS AT TENNISPLANET

This certificate is being awarded to BLUECHYLL and LIZ for the lightning speed with which they completed their individual assignment as volunteers of above site. All freaks including the weirdo who runs the site express their sincere appreciation and gratitude for a job done well.

Dated: April 23, 2010.

Must be playing Federer. Or is ‘No. 2′ reserved for Federer and this is just Nadal – on clay?

Borg vs Nadal @ Roland Garros.

No.	Bagels dished	Bagels eaten	Won title w/o losing a set	Five setters	4-setters	Total losses at the event	Played/Titles
Borg	20	2	Twice	5	9	2	8 times/6.
Nadal	6 (1 to Federer)	0	Once	0	8	1	5 times/4.

The King of Clay — Rafael Nadal vs Djokovic.

Azarenka boos back. From Jenny. Thanks.

Ex-Olympics head Juan Antonio Samaranch dies at 89. From M. Thanks.

M

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Barcelona Or Bust For Jordan Kerr. From UM17. Thanks.

UM17

I’m sure we’ll all find this on our own, but wow, that is some serious committment:

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When eyes spill out what you cannot say.

Live chat thread for Barcelona.

UM17

Poor Jenny, are you being forced to discuss matches here because you don’t have a live chat thread for Barcelona?

*hint, Teep*

Here’s how you can reduce stress – instantly.

Give yourself a bigger margin for each activity. For instance, when leaving for work (???????) leave 10-15 minutes before your usual time and see how HUGE a difference it will make – right away.

Duplicate that for each and every act and notice how much better you will feel – guaranfreakingteed.

Barcelona in photos.

Latest picture of Federer with twins. One of them has really grown up.

I know I am making a huge mistake but I might need volunteers.

Yeah, it’s getting out of hand like missing birthdays etc.

So sign up if you want to work for nothing – for ONCE in your miserable life. I might need someone to tabulate all the birthday dates or update the stats section etc. etc. as and when the need arises.

Did you know?

………..that the iPad is equipped with a battery that can last upto 10 hours and is Wi-Fi enabled? Translation: You can carry it all day long anywhere (mostly) without hunting down electrical outlets.

You didn’t know that. Admit it. At least not both features. And for rock people I am not discussing sanitary pads here. Geeeeeeeeeeeeezzzzzzzzzzzzz!!!!!!!!!!

Photos.

What’s the one thing that works for Federer and against Nadal – at the same time?

Have a clue? No, you don’t!!!!!!

I should have made a Wall Of Fame contest out of it but just the thought of the thousands of hints I would have had to drop to get even close to a correct freaking answer from all you cheap lazy freaking freaks made me chicken out.

Still, can you move your limited marbles now and see if you can figure it out BEFORE reading on? Yeah, you googling cheating freaks will surely do that!!!!!!!!!! Geeeeeezzzzzzzzzz!!!!!!!!!!!

Ostensibly Federer’s greatest asset has been his talent and immense skill pushing him past nearly everyone in setting records that today seem near impossible to break. But that skill piece may not be even fifty percent of the bigger pie allowing to him to dictate like nobody else.

And here it is: It’s his ability to cash in on his economical game coupled with super professional care of his body through physio etc. to remain injury free. That’s it.

If you agree to that the next logical conclusion is that the current tour conditions regarding schedule etc. work FOR Federer like no other weapon in his arsenal. NOBODY else can produce that ‘gentle to the body’ game AND win as many titles / go as deep as Federer does nonchalantly at nearly every freaking event he participates in.

That’s a humongous advantage considering 1) how many players fall off the tour with injury and illness routinely and 2) Go through that gestation period to get tour ready again – all this while Federer accumulates titles after titles with some worthy competition on the sidelines.

You think Nalbanidan or even Hewitt would have produced some kind of sustained resistance to Federer’s train if not for those massive time out(s) nursing their body? You bet!!!!!

Still not convinced? Just look at players around Federer’s age today. Most are not even in the top twenty, forget about top ten. And what do you think is the reason – primarily? Bingo. Bring in Roddick and you have a negative proving the positive. Read that Roddick part again and again – you might get it one day.

If there was any doubt on how much of an advantage that is for Federer OVER Nadal, last year’s FO and No. 15 more than settled it once and for all. You see, Nadal’s constant complaining about the schedule is rooted more in not what’s happening to him. It’s more embedded in what Federer’s been able to do while he is languishing on the hospital bed.

It’s his ONLY way now to catch up to Federer. If he can remain healthy he CAN produce Federer like results consistently. You think Federer knows this? Are you freaking kidding me!!!!!!!!! That’s big part of the reason Federer hasn’t jumped on the schedule bandwagon the way he did for Haiti. He knows how much of a sway his superiority – physically – allows him to dominate weaklings.

Translation: Crowded schedule works FOR Federer and AGAINST Nadal – at the same freaking time.

Kownacki leaps over the catcher. From Somebody Else. Thanks.

SOMEBODY ELSE

Kownacki leaps over the catcher @ Yahoo! Video

Your fastest Internet in the world is found in Berkeley, CA.

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Why fellow players don’t back Nadal on scheduling?

Sure there are some players who have come up here and there but given how valid the contention is heavily documented by the plethora of injuries and illnesses even months into the season there should have been a mutiny by now, don’t you think?

Or is Nadal not as popular in the locker room as it’s made out to be? There must be a reason Federer has been voted the most popular player by his colleagues – by a massive margin – year after year. Hit for Haiti became a huge success overnight when Federer put his weight behind it.

Could Federer have evoked a far stronger support if Nadal would have ‘allowed’ it to happen that way? Difficult to argue against it. Given the fact that Nadal has been the one hurting the most from the crowded schedule, wouldn’t it have been far smarter to let someone else take the lead to minimise the ‘conflicting of interest’ boat to not show up so conspicuously?

Or current stance Nadal has taken was opted for AFTER already exhausting that avenue? It’s hard to imagine that Tony and others did not think of it before ‘allowing’ Nadal to open his mouth on this.

To a casual observer it now seems as if Nadal is the ONLY one complaining with the recent knee / ‘rest’ problems only adding to the mix to dumb down the message to ATP. Unless there’s a strong uprising collectively from major players targetted to hit ATP where it hurts the most – the wallet – it won’t work.  Nadal is just helping make the issue look more insignificant and isolated with his every rant – so closely coinciding with his health issues.

Besides, other players have tons to gain in seeing Nadal vanish from the tour. Federer being one of the first ones on that list as proven from last year’s exploits.

You can do these things in public now? So much wasted time – from the Vaseline store to my basement.

What’s your heavenly moment of the day?

For me, other than the obvious one(s), time spent exercising. And if I were to single out one routine, it has to be the bench press. Somehow it just feels ‘heavenly’.

Will exhibition matches one day become a integral part of the tour – with current players?

Sure looks like it the way they are being cranked up of late.

For rock people, Clijsters and Justine are slated to play in Belgium. And the match is expected to break the attendance record set by Billie Jean King against Bobby Riggs back in 1973 in the “Battle of the Sexes”.

Couldn’t you have broken that record with Shrek against Clijsters today considering you are Belgium?

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The money is being raised of ‘humanitarian’ purposes. Really? Why are they not being specific as to where it will all go?

And if this is what gets clowns to open up their wallets today shouldn’t every freaking country stage similar events? Don’t we have at least two jokers from every country in the top 1oo today to make it possible all over the globe?

What’s Serbia waiting for? Ivanovic to turn into Kournikova to milk it better? Or Djokovic to fall down to Tipsy Turvy’s status? They are leaving tons of money on the table that could so productively be used for ‘humanitarian’ purposes like providing etiquette instruction for Djokovic family.

Did former players EVER play exhos? Borg, McEnroe, Connors, Sampras, Agassi? Maybe the ‘humanitarian’ causes have become more pressing today. Either that or the ‘sucker’ population has exploded for this to succeed today.

Can someone send a note to Nadal that exhibitions are being added to the tour as mandated events to make things interesting?

Photos.

Nadal’s last resort.

If this keeps up and the pace of withdrawal escalates as knees begin to worsen there will come a point where the ‘take what you can get and run’ motion will take affect. But there may be a stage before you get there that may force Nadal into a room with walls wallpapered with ‘last resort’ written all over it.

Nadal will not be the first and the last athlete to retire prematurely because of injury if it all happens but there’s enough evidence now that the prospect is looking more and more like possible if not inevitable. Question is whether he and his team will be able to bite a good enough chunk off the pie to make the reconciliation to an absolute certainty lot less painful.

While reducing the number of events played may have already been discussed to extend the career, there may be another possibility to squeeze the juice with minimum risk, called ‘last resort’.

It’s this: Nadal to play just to win Roland Garros every year. That means just the clay season including only Monte Carlo and Rome as tune ups. That’s it. Nothing else.

Target: To pad the career Slam total in hopes of reaching double digits if not No. 16.