Ranking surge for young guns.

Djokovic	Month/Yr	Rank
	December 2003	675
	December 2004	186
	December 2005	78
	December 2006	16
	To-date	10

Murray	Month/Yr	Rank
	December 2003	540
	December 2004	411
	December 2005	64
	December 2006	17
	To-date	14

Gasquet	Month/Yr	Rank
	December 2002	161
	December 2003	93
	December 2004	107
	December 2005	16
	December 2006	18
	To-date	16

Do good deeds anonymously and feel the freaking power!!!

 

Do some good deeds without the recipient knowing anything about you. Here are some ideas. Write in and let us know how it went. If you have any ideas of your own, please leave them in the comment box.

 

• While in a restaurant, pay for the meals at another table. Instruct the waitress to give you that table’s check, quietly without notice.
• Cut some one’s grass.
• Wash some one’s car.
• Plant flowers in some one’s garden.
• Pay for the food order for the car behind you in the drive-through, fast-food restaurant.
• Pay for the toll of the car behind you on a toll road or toll bridge.
• Pay for the movie of the third person behind you in line at the theater. It needs to be the third person so you can get away in time.
• Make arrangements to pay some one’s gas, water, telephone, or electric bill. Call the utility company and offer this for a total stranger.
• Go to the dry cleaners. Pay for some one’s dry cleaning, someone you don’t know.
• Go to the manager of a grocery store and give him/her $50.00 to $100.00. Instruct the manager to award free groceries to a deserving person going through the check-out line during the day. Tell the manager to inform the recipient that they are the 1000Th person this week to buy groceries.
• Go to a nursing home and take a perfect stranger out for lunch or bring an anonymous bouquet of flowers.

Good deeds for children:

• While Mommy is asleep, have Daddy help you fix her breakfast in bed. Then take it up to her bedroom door and set it on the floor. Then scratch on the door and scurry away. When your Mon wants to know who did this wonderful thing, tell her a little mouse.
• While your Mommy is in another room or taking a nap, wash the dishes. Tell her they must have been washed by a little fairy. Don’t get the water too hot.
• Empty all the wastebaskets in the house into a large garbage bag and take that large bag outside and put it into the garbage can.
• Send your Mommy or Daddy a letter telling them that they are wonderful parents. Sign it “A special angel looking down upon them.” Make sure your address is correct on the envelope. Ask someone big for a postage stamp.
• Pick up your toys or clean your room without being asked. Be very quiet so no one hears you.

Annoying words and phrases.

The words you choose reflect who you are. Freshen-up your conversation by eliminating these stale words and phrases TODAY!!! 

-You know what.

-Guess what.

-Honestly.

-To be honest with you.

-Frankly.

-You know what I mean.

-Exactly.

-No question about it.

-Really.

-Absolutely.

-Actually.

-As a matter of fact.

-Basically.

-Like.

-Seriously.

-Should I tell you the truth (No, lie!!!).

-Are you serious.

-Truth of the matter is.

-Let me say this. (No we won’t).

-Listen.

-Look.

Top 10 guy movies.

 

In no particular order:

-Goodfellas.

-Godfather I & II.

-Heat.

-Scarface.

-The Great Escape.

-Rocky II.

-Shawshank redemption.

-Terminator II.

-Dirty Harry.

-Enter the Dragon.

Reviewing Pacific Life Open tournament.

 

Lets review and see if there are some indications of what tennis might look like this season. Were there any discernible reasons, why some succeeded and others faded in this continuing struggle, to improve and reach perfection?

Roger Federer:
Opening round exit, at the hands of a lucky loser and 60th ranked player in the world, Guillermo Canas, plus a second round exit in doubles, is still being taken as an aberration by the tennis world. But it has stirred some debate: if the total and complete domination Federer has had for the past three years, can continue at this frantic pace.

He is going to be 26 years of age this August. Add to it the physical and mental pressure,  of maintaining the high level of play for 3 years. Something has to give.

The field of competitors has changed dramatically to compound the dilemma. Nalbandian, Ljubicic, Blake, Hewitt, Safin and even Roddick (despite his latest surge) are not considered, by many, to be serious contenders anymore.

The new field comprises of younger and fresher legs who seem hungrier and less patient to wait, than the previous batch. Most of them have already (in the third month of the season) won more matches than they did the whole of last year. To give one example, Djokovic had to wait till July last year, to win 18 matches, he is there already, NOW. By the way, he has also moved amongst the top 10 players in the world for the first time.

Others waiting to explode, other than Nadal, who is just 20, are Andy Murray, Richard Gasquet and Marcos Baghdatis. All of them except Baghdatis had an improved showing here to send a clear message.

Mind you, this was not just any tournament. This was the Masters Series – meaning that 19 of the top 20 players in the world competed. So these youngsters played against the best and delivered.

Federer will need to adjust his game to accommodate any loss of step, if any, to base it more on his brilliant talent than to rely on speed and retrieving ability, specially against this agile group. Every champion who breaks records, has done that, irrespective of what sport it is. As you age, you keep up with the younger competitors, by using your experience and superior talent.

It is absolutely vital for Federer to send a clear message at Miami, later this month, to squash any hopes, these young throne-usurpers might have of gaining ground. If he falters again, it is certain doubts will creep into his own mental psychic, which could be catastrophic.

Nadal.
Nadal could not have scripted it any better, to send a message, loud and clear, that he is here to stay and for the long haul. I mean, he did not lose a set the entire tournament and sent others, who had also not lost a set (Roddick, Djokovic), into oblivion with straight set victories.

The field came off thinking of Nadal as the main man to beat for the top spot than Federer. His serve has improved exponentialy and that has to send shivers down the line.

Remember, he is only 20 and is way ahead of Federer when he was that age. Federer had 3 titles at this stage, compared to 18, Nadal has. Due to the lackluster second half of last season (he still won 5 titles), he now has a chip on his shoulder and is playing with purpose and vindictiveness.

If health and injuries do not become an issue this year, he could equal or exceed the 11 titles he won in 2005, while closing in on the No. 1 ranking.

Djokovic.
He is among the top ten players in the world, for the first time, at 19 years of age. How cool is that!!! He is sure to move further up the rankings this year, in a hurry. Already ahead of last year’s pace by over 4 months, he is ready for prime time.

With a fading field of veterans, he must be licking his chops. A tremendous talent, he is going to be a force to reckon with, this year and beyond. Look for him to qualify for the year end championship for sure, and maybe break the top 5 barrier by year’s end.

Murray.
By destroying World’s No. 4, Davydenko, in straight sets, Murray let the field know of his boundless talent and intentions of getting deeper in every tournament this year. He also has the rare distinction of beating Federer last year in Cincinnati.

Ever since, he hired Brad Gilbert, as the coach, last year,  his fortunes have spiralled upwards and is now ranked 14 in the world. Known more for his defense, he can turn it up on the offensive end just as easily.

All in all, it seemed this tournament was a ‘changing of the guards’ kind of competition, where new and younger faces emerged with authority and confidence, brushing aside and at times, destroying the hitherto rulers of the tennis world.

Will the trend continue or was it a flash in the pan?