#RG13

Roland Garros 2013 (aka the French Open) has just started today. We've already had a match where the winner came back from two sets down to win in 5 sets ([15]Gilles Simon, FRA def. Lleyton Hewitt, AUS), and a teenager upsetting a seeded player (Monica Puig, PUR def. [11]Nadia Petrova RUS)

Anyway, here are my predictions for who will make the quarterfinals in the men's and women's side:

[1]Novak Djokovic, SRB vs [12]Tommy Haas, GER
[3]Rafael Nadal, ESP vs [9]Stanislas Wawrinka, SUI
[5]Tomas Berdych, CZE vs [4]David Ferrer, ESP
[6]Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, FRA vs [2]Roger Federer, SUI

Winner: [3]Rafael Nadal, ESP

[1]Serena Williams, USA vs Svetlana Kuznetsova, RUS
[14]Ana Ivanovic, SRB vs [5]Sara Errani, ITA
[6]Na Li, CHN vs [3]Victoria Azarenka, BLR
[7]Petra Kvitova, CZE vs [2]Maria Sharapova, RUS

Winner: [1]Serena Williams, USA

I'm also predicting that our winners will be defeating the #2 seeds on their respective draws pretty easily in the finals.

I'm not seeing any huge upsets for this tournament (although Kuznetsova is not seeded, Roland Garros is one of the two grand slam titles she has won, so a sudden QF run for her shouldn't be *that* surprising. Ivanovic, another former winner here, looked shaky in her first round match, but I expect her to go through that part of the draw over the struggling #4 Radwanska. Of course, this is Ana, so she could lose in the very next match.

I'm hoping Dimitrov pulls of another upset over Djokovic in the 3rd round, just as he did in Madrid a few weeks ago. But beating the world #1 in a grand slam tournament is a totally different thing, and I expect Djokovic to be sharper and be better prepared this time. 35 year-old Tommy Haas is having a great resurgence, and while he has generally underperformed in grand slams (he's never been past the 4th round in RG, and has "only" been to 4 grand slam semifinals), the former #2 is playing as well as he has ever been the past year.

So by the end of this tournament, I think we'll be seeing Rafa winning his record 8th Roland Garros title, and Serena finally adding to her lone Roland Garros title from 2002(!).

June/July Tennis Catch Up

I got lazy blogging about the rest of the French Open and Wimbledon...

So Rafa won both tournaments on the men's side, upping his grand slam count to 8 and putting him safely on top of the rankings. Roger, on the other hand, lost in the quarterfinals of both tournaments, sending his ranking spiraling down to a tragic #3 (tragic for Roger's standards, anyway.) While I don't think this is the end of Roger winning grand slam tournaments, I do think that he'll have a very hard time getting the #1 ranking back, given that he's turning 29 next month (that's old in tennis years), and the rest of the top 5 are all 25 years old and younger.

Good thing Roger's already won the French Open as well 15 other grand slam titles before, so this doesn't feel like we're watching the decline of a career of a should've, would've, could've been has-been. It's like a glory lap for the all-time champ. Although Roger probably has more plans than turning the next few years into a glory lap, seeing that he's hired Paul Annacone, as his new part-time coach. Annacone coached Pete Sampras from 1995 to 2001, during which Pete won 8 grand slam titles. He also worked with Tim Henman, another serve and volleyer, after coaching Pete. So it looks like Roger is looking to beef up his serve and volley game by hiring Annacone the same way that he was looking to beef up his clay-court game by hiring Jose Higueras a couple of years ago.

As for Rafa, he's regained his French Open crown from Roger, and added another Wimbledon title after some convincing wins over Andy Murray and Tomas Berdych in the semifinal and final, respectively. The next milestone for him is the US Open, the only grand slam that he has yet to win. Rafa's never reached the final at the US Open because he usually gets overpowered on hardcourts, or his body is usually not in its best state after the grueling US spring/clay season where he plays a lot of matches. A factor that swings in his favor is that there hasn't been much reports about any injuries (especially on his knees.)

Anyway, we had a first-time grand slam champion in last year's US Open, so if Roger and Rafa can't sort their stuff out by August, we might get another one this year.

On the women's side, Serena won her 4th Wimbledon title, and her 13th grand slam title overall, over surprise finalist Vera Zvonareva. Actually, the semifinal line-up on the women's side was filled with surprises, after Bulgarian Tsvetana Pironkova upset Venus in the quarterfinals and up-and-coming Czech Petra Kvitova beat the just-as-young but higher-ranked Caroline Wozniacki and Victoria Azarenka.

The best moments of Wimbledon for me though would have to be 1) Federer's 1st round match against Colombian Alejandro Falla, where Roger had to claw his way back after losing the first two sets and then going down a break in the 3rd set to win in 5 sets (6-0 in the fifth) to avoid the biggest upset in Wimbledon history, and 2) the epic, historic, record-breaking 11-hour first round match between American John Isner and Frenchman Nicolas Mahut. The quality of play really wasn't as high as any of the matches in the later stages of the tournament, they were basically just trading aces and service winners... But they were doing it for 11 HOURS! That's a 6–4, 3–6, 6–7(9–7), 7–6(7–3), 70–68 scoreline! That's like 3 marathons! The sheer determination and will to win (not to mention the stamina and athleticism) displayed by both players just to survive the 11 hour match was just amazing to watch.

On to the US Open!

Francesca Schiavone, That's Who.

Francesca Schiavone is the 2010 Roland Garros Women's Singles Champion.

Two weeks ago, probably just a handful of people would've written those words seriously (namely, Frankie herself, her coach, and close friends and family. Maybe.) But Franny did the improbable and sliced through the upset-filled draw to win her first Grand Slam title. Along the way, she also becomes the first Italian woman to ever win a grand slam (Adriano Pannata won the French Open in 1976, thanks google), the second Italian woman to ever be ranked in the top 10 (she debuts at a career high #6, fellow Italian Flavia Pennetta was #10 last year) and the second oldest first-time Grand Slam champion as she turns 30 in less than a month (after some more googling, it was Ann Jones who won Wimbledon in 1969 at 30 years old.)

Schiavo definitely goes against the grain of up-and-coming prospects. She's got a one-handed backhand, which she alternates between a topspin and a mean slice. She also likes throwing uppercuts after winning big points and rolling on and kissing the dirt after winning a grand slam.

And there's the turning 30 thing that I'm sure will be mentioned a lot when articles about her are written.

I was rooting for Sam Stosur to win, just because of her upset wins over Justine, Serena and Jelena, but FranSchiav just threw about everything she had on her shots, so while Sam's groundstrokes and serves were generally not hitting the mark (probably due to nerves), FraniSchavi just kept on excitedly pumping her fist and playing fiery, aggressive tennis that surprisingly overwhelmed Sam.

So Francesca Schiavone, 2010 Roland Garros Champion, congratulations on an unlikely but deserved final win.

Justine/Rafa 2010

The French Open will be starting later today and this one's gonna be all about comebacks, I think.

Rafael Nadal will be looking to reclaim his title after shockingly losing (for the very first time) at Roland Garros last year to Robin Soderling. Rafa hasn't lost a match on clay this year, and it looks like he'll be keeping that trend up in the next two weeks. And just like the past 4 years, I'm expecting to see Roger Federer on the other side of the net versus Rafa in the finals, but he won't be winning back-to-back French Open titles over the best player clay court player of all time, who also happens to currently be in top form after suffering from injuries last year.

The other great comeback that I can't wait to see is from Justine Henin, who came out of retirement at the start of this year and then displayed a more aggressive game all the way to the Australian Open final, before losing to #1 Serena Williams in a tight match. Justine was the queen of Roland Garros, she was a 3-time defending champion from 2005-2007 (she also won it in 2003) before deciding to abruptly retire from tennis two weeks before the 2008 French Open while ranked #1 in the world.

Justine's draw this year is actually really, really tough. She's seeded #22, and could potentially face #12 Maria Sharapova (who just won in Strasbourg a few hours ago) in the 3rd round, and #7 Samantha Stosur (who won at Charleston and then reached the final in Stuttgart last April) in the 4th round, and then #1 Serena Williams (who, you know, is Serena) in the quarterfinals. That's a really difficult set of players to get through just to reach the semifinals of a tournament.

Anyway, it should be interesting to see how Justine does. I predict that whoever wins the Justine-Serena quarterfinals will go on to win the whole tournament. And that match should be fun!

Ang Kambing

a.k.a. The GOAT

a.k.a.: The Greatest Of All Time.

There's nothing more awesome than watching Roger Federer play tennis. I'm a Federer fanatic (yes, a Fedtard), obviously, and it isn't just because of how many grand slams he's won (a record 14, in all 4 grand slams events), or how long he has stayed at the #1 ranking (that would be 237 consecutive weeks, another record by the way). It's about how great this man is at playing the sport. From the booming aces and forehand winners, to the deft volleys and smooth drop shots (and those half-volleys and no-backswing groundstrokes from the baseline that only he can do), to his footwork and fitness... He has also played and won without the help of a coach for most of his career, which speaks volumes about how sharp his thinking game is.

Roger Federer is simply the most talented man to have ever played the sport.

Winning the French Open meant that Roger Federer is now undeniably part of that ultra-exclusive group of Greatest Tennis Player Ever candidates, together with Rod Laver and Pete Sampras on the men's side.

Laver, of course represents the old school. He won THE grand slam (all four grand slam events in the same year) twice, first in 1962 when grand slams were still an amatuer-only affair, and again in 1969, in the Open era, when pros were allowed to play in Grand Slams, ushering in the fame and multi-million prize money era of tennis.

Pete on the other hand represents the school of quantity (not that he lacks quality.) He won 14 grand slams (the record recently tied by Federer) which includes seven Wimbledons, but no French Opens. Pete also ended as the year-end world #1 six consecutive years, a record on the men's tour, and kept a winning record against his rival Andre Agassi.

Roger is probably a hybrid of the two: employing a great mixture of the old school game filled with fluidity and finesse, and the all-out aggression and power game of the more recent breed of champions. At his peak, he absolutely dominated the sport, holding a 92% match win percentage from 2004-2007. With the barrage of much younger competitors like Rafa Nadal, Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray, 27 year-old Federer has ceased to be the sole dominant force, but he has still managed to stay at the top-most level, winning 2 of the last 4 grand slams (and making the finals of the other 2.)

It feels fitting for Roger to claim his piece of history at the French Open: the very tournament that has eluded him so many times, at the exact venue that wounded his champion stature exactly a year before. But now it's no longer elusive, and no matter what happens, he will never again be a wounded champion.

Congrats on the career grand slam Roger! (And good luck at Wimbledon! Let's go for Grand Slam #15!)












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Before it starts...

I realized that I never got to blog about Soderling's super-sized upset over Rafa last week... So before the French Open men's final starts, let me just summarize my initial reactions (via facebook, twitter, tennis forums, and YM) right after Nadal lost that 4th round match:

Fuck! Nadal LOST???

Alvin: i'm still in shock
Alvin: biggest shock since justine lost to bartoli
Alvin: but this was insane haha
Alvin: soderling isn't even a clay courter

That was a huge upset! I'm a bit speechless.

HOLY SHIT! NADAL IS OUT???!?!!?? CRAZY. (And I really am screaming at my laptop right now)

insane, right?

OMFG

Wooooaah! Is Rafa really out?!?? Shit shit SHIT... don't fuck this up Roger!!!

And let me just add my facebook status right now: Be the Legend, Federer!


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Svetlana is Not a One-Slam Wonder. (Anymore.)

I just finished watching the Roland Garros women's final, where #7 Svetlana Kuznetsova convincingly defeated #1 Dinara Safina to win her second Grand Slam title, adding to the US Open title she won as a teenager back in 2004.

Svetlana kisses her trophy after easily winning the champhionship match, 6-4, 6-2.

I think a lot of people were expecting Dinara to win her first grand slam title today, since she's been the most dominant player on clay this year, riding a 16-match win streak after getting victories at big tournaments in Rome and Madrid (beating Kuznetsova in Rome.) She did finish runner-up to Kuzy in Stuttgart though, but that the first tournament in the European clay season. Dinara also won her first four matches at the French Open in devastating form: 6-0, 6-0 in the 1st round, 6-1, 6-1 in the 2nd, 6-2, 6-0 in the 3rd, and 6-1, 6-0 in the 4th.

But in today's final, she played like shit. I was expecting a tight 3-setter from the two fo them, but Dinara just came up short, which was too bad, and just reinforces the stigma that she can't handle the big match pressure. She was making too many errors and wasn't really controlling the points. She also had this scared/nervous look on her face all throughout the match which was a pretty clear signal that she wasn't gonna be able to pull this one out. And just like Ronnie, I knew she'd hit a double fault on match point.

Hats off to Svetlana though, she just didn't allow Dinara to play her game at all. She hit with loads of power from both wings, and her some of the forehands she hit were just sweet. And I loved it when she started bouncing a tennis ball on her foot towards the end of the second set, like she wasn't feeling any pressure at all.

Congratulations Kuzy! You are no longer a one-slam wonder.

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10th out of 17241

For posterity's sake, just in case my ranking drops like a rock in the next few rounds. :D


I joined the ATP World Tour Draw Challenge for Roland Garros (fancy name for the French Open). It's sort of a fantasy league contest and it goes like this: before the tournament begins, you predict which players will win their first round matches and proceed to the 2nd round, where you again predict which players will win those matches and go on to the next round and the next round and the next round... until you pick who wins in the final match. You get points for each correct prediction you make, and if you get the most points at the end of the tournament, you win... something. (The grand prize is a 4-night trip for 2 to London to watch the ATP World Tour Finals, and it goes to the highest total scorer in 12 major ATP tournaments that the contest covers... although after reading the terms and conditions, I'm apparently not eligible to win the prize because I live in the Philippines. BOOOOOOOO!)

Anyway, I'm not sure how long I'll be able to sustain my top ten ranking. But seeing that I won't get a chance to win prizes anyway, I'm not sure why I should care.

I wish the WTA Tour would have something like this too. It'd be interesting, with all the inconsistent results from the top players, choke jobs from the youngsters and the head cases... And it'll give me 1 more reason to shout "C'mon Caroline Wozniacki!"



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Action on the Red Clay

I've been meaning to post about Roger's win last week but never found the time, so let me just sneak in a hearty WOOOOHOOOOO!

Federer won his first title of the year last week by beating Rafael Nadal in straight sets, on clay, in Madrid. I literally woohoo'ed at my laptop screen right after Roger served an ace on match point, because I didn't expect him to actually win over Rafa that day (Roger played a "tired" Rafa at the Aussie Open and still lost, and I still remember that Italian Open final a few years ago when Roger had several match points and lost all of them while Rafa converted on his very first match point to win 7-6 in the fifth set), so suffice it to say, I was holding off my cheers until Roger actually won the final point.

Having said that, I still think Rafa is going to win the French Open. He's never lost a match at the red clay courts of Roland Garros, so despite that loss in Madrid (a high-altitude city which played to Fed's advantage), it's crazy to bet against the greatest claycourt player of all time.

Rafa's main challenge will come from Roger (obviously) and #4 Novak Djokovic. Fotunately for Rafa, those two could face/eliminate each other in the semis. Despite Andy Murray's recent climb to the #3 ranking over Novak, clay isn't his thing. He can beat Rafa on hardcourts, but on clay, he's got a long way to go. As for the French Brigade, clay isn't JWT's best surface, Gilles Simon is on a slump, and I want to say this is Reeshard Gasquet's year, but he went the Hingis route and is currently unable to play after returning a positive drug test for cocaine... so maybe in 2 years?

Anyway, this is once again Rafa's title to lose.

The women's side is much more open. Defending Champ Ana Ivanovic hasn't played well since winning the title last year and ascending to the #1 ranking. She has since fallen to #8 and has been nursing a knee injury just a few weeks before the French Open. Fellow Serb Jelena Jankovic also has lost the form that took her to the #1 ranking. New #1 Dinara Safina is probably the best bet, she won the 2 big clay tournaments before the French Open, and it doesn't look like her status as the new #1 isn't daunting her the way it scared Ana.

On the other hand, getting daunted or scared has never been a factor for Serena Williams. It's her health that's been her downfall. She's been injured since losing the final in Miami to 19 year-old Victoria Azarenka, and has lost 4 consecutive matches coming into the French Open (all on clay.) Serena's older sis Venus is a wild card, since her clay court results have been pretty inconsistent. Besides Dinara, Russia has two more strong contenders for the title: Svetlana Kuznetsova and (my facebook friend) Elena Dementieva, who have both finished as runner-up at the French Open a few years ago. They've both got great baseline games which serves them well on this surface, but the problem lies more on their (lack of) belief that they can actually win it all. Seeing that there really isn't a Henin-like dominant player this year, this could be their big chance (Go Elena!)

As for the youngsters, French Alize Cornet, Pole Agnieszka Radwanska and Slovak Dominika Cibulkova all had good years last year, but they haven't had that much great results this year. Meanwhile, Azarenka and fellow teen Caroline Wozniacki have broken through with some big results, and both are now in the top 10. I'm personally rooting for Caroline to get to the quarterfinals, at least.

So as I said, the women's draw is a lot more open than Rafa's draw... But I think at the end of the tournament, Dinara will walk away with her first Grand Slam title along with her #1 ranking. And I'll finally stop calling her Lil Sis and start calling Marat Big Bro.

Roland Garros 2009 started today and ends June 7.

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Two Forehands

Ana's and Rafa's, that is.

Our French Open 2008 Champions everyone.



Ana Ivanovic used her forehand to full effect the past two weeks to win her first Grand Slam in Roland Garros. She's got a great serve, her movement has improved greatly, and her backhand is powerful when she hits it on cleanly of her racket's sweet spot. But her whole game is anchored around her huge forehand.









Rafael Nadal's forehand is even more menacing. It's the absolute weapon on clay, and it's what he used to DECIMATE Roger Federer* earlier today to win his fourth consecutive French Open.





Paris, France
Men's Singles Final
Rafael Nadal (Spain)
Nadal wins his fourth consecutive French Open title. He is two championships away from tying Bjorn Borg's record of 6 French Opens.

Women's Singles Final
Ana Ivanovic (2) (Serbia)
Ana wins her first Grand Slam title, and will take over the #1 ranking from Maria Sharapova starting this week.

Women's Doubles Final
Anabel Medina Garrigues/Virginia Ruano Pascual (10) (Spain/Spain)
This is VRP's 9th grand slam doubles title and AMG's first

Men's Doubles Final
Pablo Cuevas/Luis Horna (Uruguay/Peru)
Cuevas and Horna are the first all-South American duo to become Grand Slam champions in the 40-year Open era

Mixed Doubles Final
Victoria Azarenka/Bob Bryan (3) (Belarus/USA)
This was the first tournament that Bryan and Azarenka played as partners

Boys' Juniors Singles Final
Tsung-Hua Yang (Taiwan)
Nice to see an Asian in the mix of champs

Girls' Juniors Singles Final
Simona Halep (9) (Romania)
Halep beat fellow Romanian teenager Elena Bogdan to win the title. So will Romania be the next Serbia that once was the next Russia that once was the next Belgium?

*As for Federer, he suffered his worst loss at a Grand Slam earlier today. The French Open is the only Grand Slam that he hasn't won, having already won 5 Wimbledons, 4 US Opens and 3 Australian Opens. As Morrissey sang it, there is a light and it never goes out.

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Numero Uno

Ok. This is an all-tennis post/Roland Garros update:

The men's and women's French Open Championship matches are now set! Tomorrow, World #2 Ana Ivanovic of Serbia will square off with Marat's Lil Sis Dinara Safina of Russia for the French Open title. Whoever wins here will get their first ever grand slam title. This will be Ana's third grand slam final, after she lost to Justine Henin in last year's French Open, and to Maria Sharapova at the Australian Open last January. On the other hand, Dinara will be making her grand slam final debut.

The 22 year-old Dinara, ranked 14 in the world, has been having the best clay court season of her career. She won the German Open a few weeks ago by defeating three top 10 players (then-#1 Justine Henin, #5 Serena Williams, and #7 Elena Dementieva.) At the French Open, she did a repeat by beating current #1 Maria Sharapova (6-7, 7-6, 6-2, after being match point down in the second set), Elena D again (quarterfinals, after being down a match point again 4-6, 7-6, 6-0), and #4 Svetlana Kuznetsova (semifinals, 6-3, 6-2).

I caught Ana's semifinal match against 3rd ranked and fellow Serbian Jelena Jankovic yesterday. It was a great match that ended 6-4 in the third set after 2 hours and 15 minutes. Lots of tension too, because whoever won that match would not only get the chance to play in the finals, but would also automatically overtake Sharapova and claim the #1 ranking (Masha lost in the 4th round.) So Ana won, and she'll now be ranked #1 next Monday, no matter what happens in the final match against Dinara.

Congratulations, Ana. Not just because you'll be the new #1, and because I think you'll win the ladies' final tomorrow, but because you also managed to land on the cover of FHM UK next August. You're not just taking Maria's titles. You're also getting her magazine cover opportunities.

You've truly made it.

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Ok, I spent so much time talking about the ladies' part of the draw. So moving on to the men's side. #2 Rafa beats #3 Djokovic (also from Serbia) in the semis to keep his perfectly undefeated record at the French Open. #1 Fed defeated surprise finalist and #59 Gael Monfils of France. Rafa beats Fed in the men's final on Sunday. That's all there really is to it.

ETA: Ok, since I was unloading a bunch of info on the women, I might as well go all the way on my tennis dork mode and talk more about the men's semifinalists too. Rafael Nadal holds a 26-0 w/l record at the French Open, By reaching the semis here, Roger Federer extends his record of reaching 16 straight semifinals at Grand Slam events. Novak Djokovic also has his own albeit smaller streak by reaching his 5th consecutive Grand Slam semifinal. He is only the fourth player in the Open Era to reach 5 consecutive Grand Slam semifinals (the others are Fed, Becker and Lendl.) As for Gael, well, this really is the French dude's first big result in the ATP Tour... He's been hyped up a lot as a future champion when he was a newbie, and it took him about 4 years to finally come up with a nice result for all that hype.

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Comings and Goings

Roland Garros Update:

Of the top 32 men entered in the tournament, 13 are already gone. The highest seeds who lost after three rounds are #6 Da-veed Nalbandian of Argentina, who lost to 21 year-old French wildcard Jeremy Chardy after winning the first two sets (Chardy won 3-6, 4-6, 6-2, 6-1, 6-2) and #7 James Blake, went down to 19 year-old Latvian Ernests Gulbis in four sets.

On the women's side, 12 of the 32 seeds are gone as of this writing. Must be a bad time to be the sixth seed, as #6 Anna Chakvetadze also lost in the 2nd round to Estonian Kaia Kanepi in straight sets. The big surprise of the tournament (well, so far...) is former champ and 5th seed Serena Williams going out in the third round after losing to Slovenian Katarina Srebotnik, again, in straight sets.

Turning out to be an interesting tournament, this RG is.

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Ok, now that we've gotten that out of the way, let me just give out my yearly moment of remembrance of Jeff Buckley's passing.

...

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And welcome the newest addition to the family. My 1-day old niece! She's my brother's first baby:

She's adorable.

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Roland Garros 2008

This year's French Open started last Sunday, and it completely sucks that there's no live coverage on my TV (although I think Studio 23 will be showing the men's and women's finals live.)

Then again (and I've told monsterboy about this), Nadal will win the men's title anyway, and Daniela isn't playing on the women's side because she has a foot injury... So I figure I really won't be missing too much this year. BUT THERE BETTER BE WIMBLEDON ON MY CABLE NEXT MONTH! (here that Las Pinas Cable?)

So as I said, I'm guessing Rafa wins his 4th straight French Open, and since 3-time defending champ Justine retired about two weeks ago, the women's draw is completely wide open. I'm guessing Jelena Jankovic will beat out Ana Ivanovic to be the first Serbian woman to win a grand slam title. We'll know who actually wins in two weeks.



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Roland Garros was a Fighter Pilot

Who knew spring in Paris would be so rainy?

It's the second day of the Roland Garros French Open 2007, and not even half of the first round matches have finished (or have even started!)

Anyway, my picks to win would be Justine Henin and Rafael Nadal, with Serena Williams and Roger Federer coming in at a close second.

I'm actually rooting for Federer, but I think that Nadal will take his third straight Roland Garros title. Federer's win last week over Nadal (see post below) sure made things a lot more interesting though. Justine is currently the best female tennis player on clay, but doesn't seem to be as dominant on it this year. Add to that the fact that the start of her season wasn't good, when she and her husband went through divorce. She may have a steely mental resolve on the tennis courts, but her divorce has got to take a toll, mentally and emotionally. But I still think that Justine will bring her best tennis at the French Open. Her potential quarterfinal and semifinal match against Serena and Jelena Jankovic respectively should be great.

Hopefully the weather improves the next few days (in Paris.) Right now, I'm loving the rainy Manila weather :D

Federer beats Nadal

Federer finally beat Nadal on clay!


This is the first time Roger has beaten Rafa after five meetings on the slow clay surface! And his win (6-0 in the third set too) came totally unexpected, as Roger has been on a mini-slump lately.

For any other player, winning a Grand Slam and a smaller tournament, and making the finals of a big one would have already been enough to make a great year... But it's a whole different story when it comes to Fed. He won the Australian Open convincingly last January, and then went on to win his next tournament in Dubai. But then, on his next tournament at the Indian Wells Masters Series, he shockingly lost his first match to a player outside the top 50 to snap a 41-match winning streak. On his next tournament, he lost to the same player again, in the fourth round of the Miami Masters Series.

Then, Fed went on to play at the Monte Carlo Masters Series and reached the final, but lost to Nadal easily. After a few weeks, at the Rome Masters Series, Federer again lost in straight sets to another player ranked outside the top 50. Needless to say, Roger hasn't been playing up to his usual greatness. Even on this week's Hamburg Masters, his matches have gone to three sets, and when he faced his clay nemesis in Nadal, a lot of people pegged his chances of winning to very slim.

And that's why Federer's a great champion.

It was a great win for Roger, he won his first clay tournament in almost two years, and in the process, stops Nadal's 81-match win streak on the clay surface.

Now, time for Federer to figure out how to beat Nadal at the French Open over five sets. The French Open suddenly turned very interesting.

Tennis Spittings, straight from Stade Roland Garros

Another week, another clay title for Rafael Nadal(ESP)... the just-recently-turned 19 year-old Spaniard claims his first ever Grand Slam title by winning the 2005 French Open. He beat the best player in the world, Roger Federer(SUI), in the semifinals (with some help from Federer who was playing sloppy tennis, instead of his trademark fluid, out-of-this-world, sickeningly amazing brand of tennis) and then the un-doped Mariano Puerta(ARG) in the finals.

23 year-old Justine Henin-Hardenne(BEL) also grabs the fourth Grand Slam title of her career after she beat 30 year-old veteran Mary Pierce(FRA) with an embarrassing score of 6-1, 6-1... Mary was gunning for her third Grand Slam title after winning the Australian Open in 1995 and the French Open in 2000. Justine earlier demolished Maria Sharapova(RUS) in the quarterfinals 6-4, 6-2... With the win, Justine seals her sweet comeback from a debilitating "mystery" blood virus and knee injury that kept her off the tennis tour for about seven months.

Daniela Hantuchova(SVK) won the Mixed Doubles title with Fabrice Santoro(FRA).

Woohoo!!! Go Daniela! She lost in the third round of the Singles to Kim Clijsters(BEL) though...

Hoping for a better result in Wimbledon for my longtime girlfriend Daniela. (Walang aangal)

There's a new Ana in tennis, except this one looks like she'll be staying on the court longer than she will on Enrique Iglesia's bed. 17 year-old, 6-foot tall Ana Ivanovic(SCG)(that's Serbia and Montenegro, btw), another teenaged up-and-comer destined for greatness, also had a pretty good tournament. She beat hometown favorite and world number 3 Amelie Mauresmo(FRA), who incidentally is also Martina Hingis' favorite male tennis player. Oops... Ana eventually succumbed to nerves and lost to Nadia Petrova(RUS) in the quarters 6-2, 6-2.

Don't worry my new favorite young sex kitten tennis player, you'll win one of these Grand Slams soon enough.

Virginia Ruano Pascual(ESP) and Paola Suarez(ARG) won their (count 'em) fourth Roland Garros title together after beating Cara Black(ZIM) and Liezl Huber(SAF) in the Women's Doubles final. They have partnered to win 8 Grand Slams in all, so far. Max Mirnyi(BLR) and Jonas Bjorkman(SWE) took home the Men's Doubles title after beating the Bryan Twins Mike and Bob(USA) in the final. Bjorkman has now won all four Grand Slam Men's Doubles titles.

Back to Federer, he remains at the top of the ranking after the French Open. Nadal goes up two places to number 3, while losing finalist Puerta jumps 26 spots to a career-high ranking of 11. Justine Henin-Hardenne enters the top 10 for the first time since her injury/illness break at number 7. Mary returns to the top 20 for the first time in some years (after falling out of the top 100, also because of various injuries) as the 13th ranked player in the world.

Last year's Men's finalists Gaston Gaudio(ARG) and Guillermo Coria(ARG) both fall out of the top ten (12 and 14 repectively). They are replaced by Roland Garros semifinalist Nikolay Davidenko(RUS) who jumps from number 12 to number 7, and Joachim Johansson(SWE) who didn't even play in the French Open but got lucky anyway. Last year's French Open champ Anastasia Myskina(RUS), who lost in the first round, barely hangs in the top ten as she falls four places (from #6 to #10)

Wimbledon gets going two weeks from now with Roger Federer(SUI) and Maria Sharapova(RUS) as the defending champs... Hope my favorite players win.

On a slightly different topic:

Another Grand Prix, another good win for Renault's Fernando Alonso in the European GP at the Nurburgring in Germany. He leads the Driver's Championship table, while Renault dominates the Constructor's Championships, with no Michael Schumacher nor Ferrari in sight. Since this happened last week, I am now less upset of the fact that Kimi Räikönen's car totally gave way (tire blew, suspension failure, etc. etc.) 3 miles from the finish line. 3 miles! 3 fucking miles! and he was leading the whole way! Right from the first turn of the race, he was leading the whole fucking way! He was successfully holding off Alonso for the top podium finish and 3 miles from from the finish line, his tire just fucking flies off! Boom. Gone. Kimi spins out to the gravel. Alonso goes on to take the win, while Kimi? DNF...

Now that I think of it, I still am upset.