Between 18 and 22, a woman is like Africa. Half discovered, half wild, fertile and naturally Beautiful!
Between 23 and 30, a woman is like Europe. Well developed and open to trade, especially for someone of real value.
Between 31 and 35, a woman is like Spain, very hot, relaxed and convinced of her own beauty.
Between 36 and 40, a woman is like Greece, gently aging but still a warm and desirable place to visit.
Between 41 and 50, a woman is like Great Britain, with a glorious and all conquering past.
Between 51 and 60, a woman is like Israel, has been through war, doesn’t make the same mistakes twice, takes care of business.
Between 61 and 70, a woman is like Canada, self-preserving, but open to meeting new people.
After 70, she becomes Tibet.. Wildly beautiful, with a mysterious past and the wisdom of the ages. An adventurous spirit and a thirst for spiritual knowledge.
THE GEOGRAPHY OF A MAN
Between 1 and 80, a man is like Iran , ruled by nuts.
THE END.
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CHIPNPUTT
In a similar vein to Dee:
How to please a woman:
Compliment her; respect her; cuddle her; caress her; love her; kiss her; stroke her; buy things for her; tease her; comfort her; protect her; hug her; hold her; spend money on her; wine and dine her; listen to her; care for her; stand by her; support her; hold her; honor her.
While it appears Federer is telling the truth when denying all charges, the impact of the rehearsal given recent high-profile athlete break outs can be devastating specially when Federer looks more vulnerable than anytime in his career with no injury or illness to back it up. He has to be rattled as the stakes are too high compared to what he has on the plate today.
It’s hard not to be running high on emotions like anger, betrayal, fear etc. while dealing with office work piling up by the minute. It could very well play a significant part in his match against Djokovic. Even mental giants are moved by such a strong hit on their integrity built painfully over decades. Federer is not known for his mental toughness.
This is turning into another US Open run. Murray should feel quite excited about the similarity as Nadal is already out just like he was for Nadal at the US Open to allow the career Slam. Djokovic might not feel too bad either. Besides two straight wins over Federer right after a match he literally butchered Soderling would count for something – without a title. If things go by script Murray will land on center court with a tired finalist begging to be taken out of his misery.
For Federer, despite the pasting of Soderling, Djokovic’s current form AND the precedent may make it a tad disconcerting to feel as good about the whole drama as Djokovic and Murray. But Federer must be riding that ‘top of the world’ feeling once again after the relentless battering of Soderling. Two freaking break sticks in 53 freaking minutes and this: The pair split the opening two games of the match before Federer won the next 10? WOW!!!!!!!!!! Soderling has to feeling happy he didn’t come up for air in the rankings during Federer’s hey days. How do you freaking face your family and relatives after this? Without the thumbs?
While it was a major performance, considering Federer’s current plight, he has done nothing yet. He needs titles to inject life into his sputtering career hounded by wolves demanding his head – in retirement and more. Even Anaconda is not off the hook until that happens. Federer has been able to reach at least the quarters and more at most events he has lost since about this time last year. It’s the home stretch that’s proving elusive over and over again making it even more painful than losing in the early rounds as you are right there.
Additionally, Murray is not doing too bad either having not lost a set just like Federer and Djokovic with the ‘time on court’ stat pretty much even for all three. So it’s a true test of how much Federer has progressed with Anaconda, his own motivation, Mirka’s infidelity with Anaconda etc. etc. Winning a title going through Soderling, Djokovic and Murray back to back to back will register big time on the northbound scale while moving the title number for the season to three from one just a few weeks ago.
But this is also Djokovic’s opportunity to validate his US Open win over Federer and the mini run he has been on lately not to mention the Beijing schedule disaster and that he played Davis Cup right after US Open. While it’s tempting to predict a Federer win, Federer’s past inconsistencies, Djokovic’s resiliency, US Open precedent, history between the two etc. make it harder to sway.
As a fan thirsting for exciting closely fought matches, you cannot ask for more despite Nadal’s absence. Nadal is clearly more concerned about ensuring Federer is not able to catch up on his Masters title lead and the No. 1 rank cushion than anything else. Nadal’s had his fill for the season and may already be dreaming of a calendar Slam translating everything else including WTF into trivial annoyance that has to be endured for appearance sake.
For Federer and his team, expectations shoot through the roof after such dismantling of an opponent much less Soderling, leaving anything but a title the only option to call success. Everything else is relegated to the realm of failure. Add the recent drought and the US Open result…………….
Deep breathing is the act of breathing deep into one’s lungs by flexing one’s diaphragm rather than breathing shallowly by flexing one’s rib cage. This deep breathing is marked by expansion of the abdomen rather than the chest when breathing. It is generally considered a healthier and fuller way to ingest oxygen.
To breathe diaphragmatically, or with the diaphragm, one must draw air into the lungs in a way which will expand the stomach and not the chest. It is best to perform these breaths as long, slow intakes of air – allowing the body to absorb all of the inhaled oxygen while simultaneously relaxing the breather.
A common diaphragmatic breathing exercise is as follows:
Sit or lie comfortably, with loose garments.
Put one hand on your chest and one on your stomach.
Slowly inhale through your nose or through pursed lips (to slow down the intake of breath).
As you inhale, feel your stomach expand with your hand.
Slowly exhale through pursed lips to regulate the release of air.
For rock people, Soderling has defeated Federer just once in 14 attempts but it came at a sensitive place for Federer called Roland Garros – this year. Since that loss Federer has brought the train back on tracks by dispatching Soderling at the very next encounter – in straight sets – at a Slam called US Open – under severely debilitating weather conditions – @ the same round – quarterfinals.
Soderling was visibly more than upset at that loss as he appeared to be thinking that he has turned the whole thing around once and for all. Here’s his chance to settle the score before it blows back to its original proportion. Add the disputed call that uncovered the bristling Soderling felt throughout the match both from Federer and the weather Gods and you know he may not celebrate too wildly if he looses again.
For Federer, it’s another measure to gauge how far along he is on the road to recovery while validating the mini hard court run he is on since Wimbledon. With Nadal out and Murray misfiring – consistently – Djokovic may be all Federer may have to contend with for the title – looking forward.
Despite losing on the biggest leverage to save his season in US Open, Federer can still salvage the year if he can end up with close to five titles. He has four more events after this to get there – with two titles in the bag.
Soderling will be coming in to turn the spectacle into a dog fight and prove that his US Open loss was more due to the conditions than the opponent. De facto final? Could be unless Djokovic refuses to relent from his great form.
Nearly every sport has it’s own specialty shoe. Granted hard courts will eliminate many types but grass can take some. Maybe even clay. Isn’t the sole purpose of shoes in other sports is to allow players more traction thereby improving the quality of play, avoid injuries among others?
Nadal gambled miserably and lost or did he? Melzer has reached career high rank of 12 already from 28 in January. Over his nine year career, he has amassed nearly $5 million but $1.5 of it has come this this year. Not enough? This season he has defeated players like Verdasco, Fish, Djokovic (@ Roland Garros quarters no less), Ferrer, Cilic, Nalbandian……………..He is three spaces short in qualifying for WTF.
Nevertheless, there’s a lesson for Nadal somewhere. Nadal appears to be getting way ahead of himself emboldened by improved serve and knees. Besides, I feel the ONLY way Nadal can post consistent results on hard courts is to flatten his shots. Those loopy returns give way too much time for opponents to set up and blast away leaving Nadal scrambling. Likes of Soderling, Berdych, Delpo or even Cilic will blow him off the court if he is even slightly off the mark – something specially he can expect over the long hard court season unless just winning the US Open is the only motivation.
But that top spin gear is so deeply embedded in his psyche by now that clearing the net will become a major issue without the margin extra mustard allows.
Translation: Unless Nadal is 110 percent winning hard court titles will be more a function of the draw – over long haul.
The ATP should take note of this and start penalising entire games for our dear Rafa, for his on court between points time… Now wouldn’t that be interesting.
oh Sol i just checked Pico Monaco’s twitter out of curiosity, and then through that i found Carlos Moya’s Twitter and this pic of his daughter: http://twitpic.com/2xhwhs
“Carlita and her new Tennis teacher”.. soooooo cute!
He has no choice now. He will have to improve his net game out of bare and sheer necessity. Why?
Because his serve has improved. Even though his ace count is not where it should be, he is still able to generate enough pace and placement to evoke a weak response – within the next two shots in the rally – to win the point. With the opponent scrambling to barely stay in the point with far more severity than in the past it will be foolish for him to now stay back when just a nudge at the net will do the needful.
Q. Andy Murray just said he thought he and his partner won the game last night against you and your partner. I want to hear the story from your side. Who won?
RAFAEL NADAL: Is not a story about that. That’s the true. I not going to answer because everybody who was there knows who win yesterday night. So if he’s happy coming here and lie everybody, it’s okay (smiling).
But we won, that’s true. Monaco and me, we won 2-1. That’s true. But, anyway, if he doesn’t recognize that they lost, we don’t gonna play against them another time. That’s for sure.
I know it’s asking for too much from freaking freaks steeped in pessimism but it’s worth a shot.
Make a freaking effort to smile the whole freaking day irrespective of what’s happening around you. You don’t need that ear to ear grin. Just that slight Mona Lisa smile. Attempt it for a minute first and work yourself from there. Try it NOW. Geeeezzzzzzzz!!!!!!!!!!
Not only does it induce positive thoughts (for rock people, your brain can hold ONLY one thought at a time) it makes you look beautiful too – momentarily.
Even though it’s a no brainer what an athlete needs to do for a win, releasing the onus of intelligence from factoring in as significantly in shaping the final product as maybe a brain surgeon’s operation, it nevertheless must be impacting at some level to propel a sportsperson beyond what just their physical attributes can deliver.
How about a tennis player? If former greats are any indication the prospects look pretty bleak, don’t you think? Sampras doesn’t even break the tape. Laver isn’t a picture of genius either. Lendl? Are you freaking kidding me!!!!!! Borg? Even a cucumber looks more vibrant. Closest that any tennis great comes to that yardstick is John McEnroe. Agassi may be a distant second.
How about others who officially have scored high marks on paper? Roddick, Blake………… Did it help them get where they are with their ‘other’ person falling way short in getting them to ‘greatland’? I mean, without the verified intelligence could they have languished among players ranked 100 and beyond for most of their career?
Or is it completely irrelevant once you reach the basic threshold? Federer and Nadal may not be material that can get clubbed with Lendl, Borg, Sampras etc. but they are not McEnroe gear either.
How about other greats? Ali has to top the list of greats with super intelligence. Jordan may make the grade too – barely. Armstrong? Pele? Don’t think so.
Bottom line: “It’s not how good you are, it’s how bad you want it”?
At this point of their careers I do think that Roger is the best of both. His records sheet is just amazing. However I think that they are not competing in equal circumstances.
Tennis has a complexity, it’s played in 3 different scenarios that change considerably the skills needed to succeed on each one. There are a lot of examples that prove that, past and present.
That’s why I consider that to compare 2 tennis players you must be able to compare each player’s performance on each of the 3 surfaces that tennis has. But to see such performance you must give them exactly the same opportunities on each surface.
All of you say: “Roger has won 100 titles per year during 100 years” or “Roger has been the #1 for 100 years” or “Roger has won 100 slams”. It’s true he has been impressive, but also keep in mind that Roger has had much more chances than Nadal to reach such numbers.
Roger is a hard court specialist. All of you know that the ATP calendar has almost 70% of the tournaments on hard courts, 2 out of 4 GS and 6 out of 9 1000’s(and Rafa has more). Now imagine this scenario, where would Nadal be right now if the Calendar was exactly the opposite, 2 clay slams and 6 1000’s and 70% of the calendar on clay every year? And where would Roger be? Nadal would have now more than 60 clay titles(now has 29) including 10 slams! And of course he would be the #1 since 2005!!!
I’m not saying that because of this Nadal is better, in fact Roger has proved to be so far the best all court player of his generation and maybe all time (so far), that’s why I consider him a much greater player than Sampras, because Sampras performance on slow courts was almost non-existent, even at the OZ he had a “bad performance” compared to the USO and Wimby being the OZ a much slower court than the other 2.
Again, I’m not saying that for this Nadal is the best, I’m just asking you not to be so unfair with the kid, actually he has a hard court record a little bit better than Roger’s clay court record. If we had 3 1000’s on each surface, 3 slams per year 1 on each surface, and the same amount of 250’s and 500’s on each surface so every player can sign on his favorite tournament then we would have equal circumstances to compare each player performance on each surface and then we could compare their records sheet.
I’m just saying that this is another reason (age) why is so difficult to compare them.
