cold war in sunny down under

a conflict that lasted for fifty years is back --- on centre court in melbourne park. when the women's final begins tomorrow in the rod laver arena, an american squares off against her russian opponent. the sentimental favourite is out of contention, freed to move closer to her dream of marrying and having kids of her own, a family entire that may some day be sitting in the stands and cheering the players on court.

who will you be rooting for? will it be the player who played only 2 matches prior to her australian open tournament, ranked 81st in the world, is unseeded in the year's first grand slam, and hounded by injuries in the last two years? there is, of course, the tiny fact of her having never lost a semi-final or final at melbourne, as were the cases in 2003 and 2005. or that she's a former world #1 and dubbed as a comeback queen, the label manifesting itself in her dramtic wins over 5th seed nadia petrova (who served for the match at 5-3 in the 2nd set) and 16th seed army private shahar peer.

or will you be rooting for the #1 seed golden girl and face of women's tennis, the nike/land cruiser/*insert any product brand here* model of russian descent yet american sensibilities who won the most recent grand slam in new york last september? the tall, "i feel pretty" blonde, whose face my older son likes is a fighter of mental grit that belies her 19 years, and has a 2-2 win-loss record against her opponent tomorrow. (2004 wimby final and year end championships that sharpie won; miami 2004 and the 2005 australian semi that serena won)

both girls are based in florida and play with the bollietteri brand of tennis, shrieks and "come on!"'s included. both have achieved diva status in their off-court lives and this rematch of their 2005 australian semi-final will be an interesting one to see. i hope they bring their best on court, hopefully sans the screaming (reach for the stars, svelte rogue!) and we are party to an exciting match. aesthetic tennis police, keep out!

as for me, bring on the serena train. and keep the hubris out when she does win. go, serena!

survival of the best

the australian open has churned out some great matches. what will stay in my mind for a long time to come is the thrilling five-set match between rafa and andy and serena's come-from-behind magical wins over nadia petrova and shahar peer. of these three matches, i tell you, the better player won.

in today's second men's quarterfinal, gonzo obliterated my rafa in three convincing sets. i knew rafa would lose and i stared in wonder at the chilean as he moved around the court, feeling something akin to burgeoning excitement stirring within. again, in spite of my deep loyalty to the sun-bronzed mallorcan, the better man won, and gonzo was it. there was something about the way gonzo carried himself on court that gave a stamp of authority to his already powerful forehand and made him glide from fabulous wide serves into sweet volleys into the open court. his time is now, my friends, and even if he loses between now and sunday, i am telling you, he is my man for the australian open. if by some outlandish stroke of fate andy beats roger tomorrow (and i'm wishing for that, not because i like andy, hell no, but because i want an unpredictable final, a mouth-watering final where the trophy will be disputed from beginning to end) and gonzo gets past tommy haas (another wonderful story in itself), fernando gonzalez is my man. yes, i am picking the cutie chilean. vamos, fernando!!!

today is remarkable in that two players, both in their mid-twenties, considered to be past their prime, and who are old enough to have played greats of the previous eras (think of people no longer in the active atp circuit such as sampras and kafelnikov), overcame their higher-seeded opponents, both in the quarterfinals. both were older than their opponents. this is quite telling. when it came to the big moments, you could argue that their experience --- perhaps of loss (tommy haas' interview transcript details some major losses at grand slams in the past eight years) --- saw them through at the crucial moments, helping them to rise above the occasion and take their grand slam quest one step further. both haas (seeded 12th) and gonzalez (seeded 10th) have never won a slam yet looking at the way both men played their hearts out in the past week and a half, i couldn't help but think that maybe this could be their time. surely there has to be a goran ivanesevic moment for them (if you don't know what i'm talking about, you have got to read this) and when that happens, mark my words, my sofa will be drenched in my sweat AND tears.

serena williams is another player, who, in spite of being vilified constantly by the media for one reason or another (being fat, being arrogant, being unfit, having no match fitness, etc etc etc you name it, it's all in there), has shown that you just cannot snuff out brilliance. she doesn't have the prettiest tennis out there, but who says you need to score high on stylish tennis to be great? only people who would wish to impose their opinions of HOW the sport must be played and won, and these same people will never understand the thrill one can get from watching win a match with not only sheer grit and determination (and believe me, in my book, these count for more than half the match won already), but solid technique that withstands any "advances" or changes in the modern game. serena's backhand still looks the same, with that right foot angling at 90°, and man, can she hit that ball at incredible angles and with such depth and pace. fabulous shotmaker, i'd say. she is the only unseeded woman in the final four but i say, with serena, seeding logic does not make sense! in another forum, i commented that people like serena are geniuses, misunderstood and misinterpreted. they will be great always, in my opinion.

for the women's semis, my picks remain the same: serena over nicole (vaidisova) and kim clijsters over maria shriekapova.

if roger doesn't make it through the semis, what an exciting men's final! think of it: big-serving andy against either reverse-cap-hot-body haas or he-of-cute-jowls-and-sex-appealing-shorts gonzo. wow, watching tennis has never been this fun! :)

andré says it for me

from my daily dose of tennis news:

Retired four-time Aussie Open champ Andre Agassi is not a fan of the Extreme Heat rule that stops play at the Aussie Open, and says players need to suck it up and get in shape: "It is about being fit and being prepared, and tennis brings both of those things together, and that needs to be respected and appreciated. This is a sport, it's about handling the elements the best. It is not about playing great. We train for this. (If you are not prepared), too bad."

there you have it. conditions are part of the game, hijos and hijas. how can you say you've played well at the australian open if you've been playing three straight games under a roof, in an airconditioned stadium? some people play better inside (read: blake, safin), some prefer the outdoors (read: nadal and other hard-hitting clay courter or spanish speaking player). but part of the australian open magic, or rigour, depending on how you look at it, is dealing with the hand you're given, and the ace is staying fit to fight the heat. just as slugging it out on clay is a test of your endurance, playing on grass is a test of your shot-making ability, and playing in new york is a test of how much jologs screaming you can take from the home crowd, so you have to learn how to play in the searing heat, no matter how delusional you get.

one of my favourites puts it quite well:

As I said after my first match, it doesn't make that much difference to kind of how the court plays. The difficult thing is that obviously I'd been practicing all the time outside.

I'd come in, I mean, it might sound strange, but unless you play tennis, you can't really understand, when you throw the ball up to serve, the clouds and the sun, the blue sky's not there, there's kind of floodlights and stuff.

It's much different to serving during the day. I struggled to find the rhythm on my serve, because the first day I went and played indoors and then I played outside. Obviously then, you know, back to indoors tonight. But I practiced indoors here before my match. That's the one thing that's difficult, but it doesn't really change the way the court plays.

in my next post, i'll be writing about the recent surge of upsets at this year's version of the australian open. or maybe i'll say something about the retreat of the russian brigade. entering the second week, only nikolay davydenko (last man standing), anna chakvetadze, and vera zvonareva are left in the single's draws. but more of that in the next post. stay with me as the heat keeps burning down under!

the heat is on

the weather has been freaky all over the world, but down in melbourne, australia, the heat is cutting a swathe across all the courts, and even with the movable roofs over the rod laver and vodafone arenas, players are wilting. or not. let's see what some of them have to say about the australian open's extreme heat policy:

martina hingis

Q. How do you mentally prepare for the heat?

I mean, you just have to be fit. I mean, there's no mental preparation. If you're not fit, you can't go out there and feel like you're going to make it easy because the heat is going to affect you no matter what at the end of the day. Sometimes the fitter survive, and you can see that in the matches the past couple days.

andy murray

Q. Did you see any of Alan Mackin's match? You must have some sympathy for him having to play in that heat, especially against a South American.

No, no sympathy. I think you got to deal with the conditions. It's not an excuse. It's the same for both players. You know, I didn't get the chance to see it because obviously I wanted to stay at my hotel. Obviously it wasn't on the TV, but I was watching on the live scoring on the Internet. Looked like he was kind of in there in the first two sets, maybe didn't take his chances.

rafael nadal

Q: Had no problems with the conditions?

No. That's fine, no? Is unbelievable hot outside (smiling). I prefer play without indoor, but that's it. That's fine. Most important thing is I won today. Always is very difficult to start one tournament.

roger federer

Q. Considering the heat yesterday, the heat policy, it came into question, the fairness of that, the well‑being of the players. Do you think that's something that needs to be reviewed and looked at?

Guys didn't go on court after that. I guess you're an unlucky guy if you have the match at 11:00 because it's not hot enough yet. I kind of agree with the heat rule. I mean, walking around in the streets, I think it's fine. But going out on the court, you know, the court, it gets so hot, like you can't believe. I mean, it's not only the heat from the sun, but especially from underneath. This is what's really killing the players. The feet are just on fire. On top of that, we have maybe, what, two events a year that are that hot. I think it's okay that you have a heat rule. It's an advantage for all the players.

Q. But is it fair if they've started, they have to continue on in that kind of heat, where other people don't have to?

Maybe they should give the choice to both players, if they want to continue. If both players agree they don't want to continue, maybe they can make an arrangement this kind of way. But at the same time, look, we need to be fit, as well. Got to bite the bullet sometimes. That's what happened yesterday.

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i got my own thoughts on this but i would like to see yours first. fair enough? come now, indulge me momentarily. :)

let the games begin

as of this writing, according to my pc clock, it's 8 minutes to 1 in the morning, gmt +1. melbourne is gmt +11, ergo... need i say it pa, 10 hours ahead of our local time. that means... in a little over two hours, the australian open starts a-swinging!

the men's draw is a nailbiter, anywhere you look, choose your quarter, and you're in for some potentially explosive encounters and possible upsets. can you say exciting in ten thousand more ways, please? in roger's half, he could face baghdatis in the quarters, either marat or roddick in the semis. tennis commentators and former players at espn.com predict that this is roddick's tournament, this is his year. for marat's sake, let it belong to the tall, beautiful moscovite. the texan can swagger into the US open or wimbledon later in the year. my russian needs this one! ice man roger, you are the favourite but please, step aside smoothly (i hope) and try not to snarl menacingly. you will still be enshrined in the hall of fame not too many years down the road. that's a certainty. rafa baby, i love your beautiful bottom, your muscled arms, your glistening body, your wayward locks, but can you handle kendrick in round 1? will you be able to stop blake? how about murray? will there be an intriguing semi between you and king david nalby? talk about a delicious match, if both of you bring your A games... huwaw!!! all-nighter but so worth it. marcos, can you go deep into the draw? hmmm, that sounded a little provocative now, didn't it? :) anyhow, enough of the men's draw. click here to see the draw for yourself.

on the women's side, i am openly rooting for kim clijsters to win the trophy for sentimental reasons (darn the girl, rolling in loads of money off endorsements --- did i hear at least $14 million --- and with a great career already in the bag) and because i love watching her play. she's got game. when she's on fire, she sets lines on fire and blows corners away. and she's not all power only. i love her lobs and recently, her crosscourt backhand drop shot that she used quite effectively against jankovic in their sydney final. (thank you, sporza, for the complete coverage!) i would love to see martina hingis go deep in the open, surpassing her quarterfinal showing of the year before, when she had just embarked on her comeback voyage... from a nominal seeding of 9,999, the tough swiss miss ended the year at number 8. she is seeded 6th at the AO (henceforth, this shall mean the australian open) and if she lives up to that seeding, it would be nice to see her win a quarterfinal and do one step more. everyone else, my eldest son included, is confident that maria sharapova will take the prize this year, seeing as how justine henin-hardenne has decided to disappear from the tennis grand slam radar to divorce her sleeveless shirted husband of the past four years, pierre yves. other players to watch, according to svelte me? my beloved russian pair, nadia petrova of the long legs and svetlana kuznetsova of the squat frame. elena dementieva won't be on my radar for the AO, not unless she has miraculously developed a serve that won't embarrass the monkeys. i'd like to see how jelena jankovic performs at this slam following her impressive showing the past two weeks in auckland and sydney, and her great run at the USO (US open) last year. vaidisova, ho hum. schnyder... will you be booted out of the top ten? safina? nah, marat is it as far as rooting for your family is concerned. anyhow, if you want to look at the women's draw, click here to see the match-ups in the coming fortnight.

live streaming? eurosport is offering it at reasonable rates, but until i can get my test video to work, i won't subscribe. am just waiting for technical support to answer my e-mail (read: desperate and needy). i hope i can get live streaming coverage. that's three courts simultaneously, baby!

it's late and i have a thesis to write. tomorrow is my first real deadline (at last!). so i shall rest for now. as for your thoughts on the men's and women's draws, please, let those thoughts flow.

the beckham product

have you read about one of the biggest sports deals of all time?

no matter what he says, or LA galaxy says, beckham cannot be leaving real madrid for tinseltown for the sake of soccer. he did say he wants to make history. i'll grant him that. but soccer glory history? c'mon david, kiss my ass. and make it linger.

as far as i know, you will make it glamourous. with skinny posh by your side, there will be exposure. for the love of football and sports, i just hope you don't sully a fantastic sport. the fact you're marrying the sport into entertainment marketing reeks. to high heavens.

bring in the high profile celebs and you lose the pure fans. or rather, you lose sight of the little person who gives life to the sport.

another harijan story in the making. the real sports lover will fall through the cracks.

i hope i am wrong. dead wrong.

your thoughts? prove me wrong, will ya?

choosing your battles

when i was a little girl, my dad kept telling me that i was like a decathlete, wanting to be involved in so many different things, and wanting to win in all of them. he was referring to my pursuit of activities and interests, and his way of making me channel my energies, to focus on singular goals, was to draw that analogy. (there are people who can do that, i believe, chase after many dreams and attain much success from multiple pursuits. my mom believes in that, and has always supported me in my wild-goose chases)

in later years, my dad switched to the metaphor of the warrior. the gladiator, armed with only a net and a spear, facing the centurions with their shield and short sword. "choose your battles, hija," he would tell me. know when to charge, when to retreat, when to keep still.

roger federer, in my book, or rather, my dad's book, is the athlete who will never join the decathlon. as a warrior, he would be dapper in his armani suits, but victorious in battle.

to my memory, he has not lost a match because he withdrew or failed to show up for the scheduled match. his loss record in the previous year have all been due to completed matches. many roger federer fans will tell you that their man tanked his lost matches, that he had the best strategy at hand, only to unravel and give the match to his opponent. in four out of five losses last year, he supposedly had the winning formula to beating rafa, but he didn't execute his game plan. in his loss to andy murray, the other youngster to beat him, he was probably tired from his tough toronto run and didn't last long on court.

but that begs the question. my admiration for the dapper swiss is that in the run-up to the australian open, he chose to fly in to melbourne early, skipping tournaments in qatar, chennai, and adelaide, to practise with his coach, tony roche. this week he is participating in exhibition matches at kooyong; no competition rank points to be gained.

in light of the withdrawals of the men in sydney (see previous entry) and the equally disturbing retirements of two russian women whose games i admire, kutznetsova (respiratory illness) and petrova (abdominal strain), roger's choice to not push himself prior to next week's grand slam appears to be stroked with the hand of wisdom and grudging practicality. any match practice he will be getting is happening now, at kooyong (where, as of this writing, it took him over 2 hours to put away radek stepanek in 3 sets 7-6, 6-7, 7-6). acclimatisation to australia's notorious summer heat was addressed by flying in early last week.

if anything, the man has not thumbed his commitments to any tournaments, has showed up when he was supposed to show up. the only disappointed people, if at all, are his fans, who want to see him playing 100% (like he was against blake in the YEC final in shanghai) 100% of the time against 100% of his opponents. barring that seemingly impossible dream, he has hardly let expectations down. the two times he withdrew last year from a tournament were: 1. after the epic five-setter with rafa in rome, he pulled out of hamburg; 2. after winning the madrid masters, he pulled out of paris.

given the grinding schedule that the ATP has for its players, i'd say that roger has been able to choose his battles judiciously, avoiding crippling injury (read: mark philippoussis, venus williams, and mary pierce) while standing head and shoulders and chest and stomach above the rest of the field. that is the one thing that might help other players catch up with his 8000+ points, possible injury. but he has kept himself fit for the important battles and emerged victorious 99% of the time.

damn pretty impressive. and i'm not even a federer fan. but i sure wouldn't mind getting my hands on one of those cute feder-bears. everybody loves a winner.

new year, old plot

it happens all the time, players withdrawing in the middle of a match due to injury. when your favourite guy withdraws, for the first time, let's say, you forgive him instantly, blowing him a multitude of kisses enough to wet your screen. when rafa withdrew at the queen's event on grass before the wimbledon grand slam in 2006, it was easy for me to rationalise that he was dead tired from having just set a new world record on number of consecutive clay matches won, plus winning the roland garros plum the second year in a row. he seemed to be losing to hewitt in that match, at least the momentum was starting to shift in lleyton's direction.

then this week, earlier today, in the middle of a match against guccione where he was trailing, it happened again. rafa withdrew, citing leg injury. carlos moya, former world #1 and friend to rafa was quick to tell reporters that this injury was real, although, he disclaimed, he was not quite privy to the actual details. paradorn "the fighter" srichaphan had also withdrawn, losing "more" in his match against ivo minar, citing pain in his right wrist.

i don't know, guys, gals. it's the same old argument: "i shan't ruin my chances at playing in next week's slam, so weighing all my available options, knowing what is allowed by atp rules, it's best i withdraw --- now. looks like a losing proposition anyhow." this is a rough paraphrase of what then-world #3 david nalbandian said when he withdrew in the semi-finals of the french open last year against (hold your breath) roger federer. there was some pain in his side that hindered his service motion and basic swings. wimbledon, many say, is nalby's prime event and he stood a much better chance of winning at sw19 than at roland garros. it doesn't matter that he lost in the first week, opting to prioritise argentina's match against england in the world cup. argentina lost that matchon penalties. bummer for you, david.

the whole logic behind such withdrawals stinks , if you ask me. if you truly are reserving your strength for a more important goal, why would you shirk your commitment to the present tournament? can't you just play out the match anyway?

i might be generalising here, and tennis players might get on my case for such naive claims, but i am simply against players withdrawing mid-match whe their only reason is that they're reserving their best for the big leagues.

fans don't care whether it's a grand slam event, a masters series event, or just a tier IV event. fans pay to come watch their idols play, and to see them play their best given any restraints at any given time.

you shortchange the match, the event, the fan, and you shortchange yourself in the long run.

rafa, can you go deep at the AO? i sincerely have doubts now.

back for reviews

knock knock.
who's there?
svelte rogue.
who?
svelte rogue.
mmmmm, sounds...
familiar?
weeelll, uhrm, try... weird.
come on, gimme a break, close your eyes and it will all come back.
what will come back? who? you?
there, you looked at me for the first time today. like you really know me. or knew me.
yeah, guess so.
i've been sent back.
sent back... *rolls eyes*
yes, sent back. to write more.
wow, like your god's gift to word-dom.¨
*smiles weakly* no, really. i've been sent back. to write. for money.
ha, that's a laugh. since when have you done something you Love for money?
probably never. *guffaws briefly. pauses. chuckles*
hmmm, for money. times must be a-tough, eh?
quite. mostly in my mind. so i think i'll cash in on my mind.
so what will you be writing about?
oh, stuff. i don't know what about until i'm told.
what's this, big brother writing?
i suppose. but with a nice tidy sum going into some obscure account in the cayman islands.
*snorts* maniniwala na sana ako e.

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reviews. more opinions. dear friends, i need you to come and read the reviews that will eventually be put up here, and then i need you to tell your friends to come and read the reviews you've read. for now, i just need your friendly, wayward mouse click to bring you over to this space again, and by simply doing that, you help a person in quest of semi-pro-blogging.

if this clicks, i will definitely get my own private blog, and i hope you will be with me if and when that change happens.

for now, i need you to be with me in these first few days of baby-reviewing.

thank you so much in advance for obliging!