3 in 1

four entries written about three amazing stories that happened within six hours of each other.

the three headliners?

first, my captain defeated my favourite maverick.

second, i discovered that ana ivanovic was not the only beautiful girl on court 1 today.

last, much as turkish delight has lit up the tournament thus far, the ball is still round and anything can happen.

life imitating sports

wait. i think that should read "life imitates literature." however, this maxim has certainly landed me in hot volcanic springs and my ass is toasted red with all talk in that direction. i'll leave all sane literature discussions for my classes next semester --- at least i get to tell any over-sensitive hotshots to just leave the classroom if they can't handle the heat.

it is possible, my friends, to learn valuable lessons from one of the most unifying events in our lives: SPORT.

bmw-sauber rocks in montreal

the beamer used to be my dream car. since i can never realistically get my hands on one of these and call it mine, i can at least adopt the munich-born grand prix team, if only for one race, can't i? because yesterday in montreal was when it finally came together for bmw-sauber! congratulations, kubica! heidfeld! theissen! rampf! well done all around!

the mallorcan juggernaut

you can't touch him, roger, not you, not nole, not nico, not anyone right now.

vamos mi rafalito, the undisputed king of clay! wooohooooooo!

the big 3 and dinara

compelling match-ups tomorrow, my friends! read more about it HERE!

and the feel-good story of this year's french open thus far for yours truly has got to be the stirring run of dinara safina to this saturday's final.

it's heating up in roland garros... bring it on, boys and girls!

words get in the way

it's been three days since i got back from roland garros and i still have not found the right things to say about my experience, only THIS.



while we're on the topic of my beloved tennis, check out my sports blog entry about two exciting players i've added to my impossibly long list of favourites . it's getting more crowded at the top!

RG watch: centre court is the place to be

today's fourth round matches on both the men's and women's side promises to be action-packed and joy-giving to this very happy tennis fan

see you there, folks!

sa dernière samba à paris

one of the best things to happen to this tennis fan was to cheer one of her favourite players in his last match --- on the court of his maiden triumph --- and witness the last poignant moments of his tennis career draw to a close.

i will miss you, guga.

all roads lead to moscow

... and the path will be beaten by 42.000 zealous english fans and 3.000 other fans --- a whopping attendance in russia's queen city for the biggest match of the year!

i've asked this before but i ask it again: are you for the reds or for the blues? i'm going for avram grant's blues! allez les bleus!

rafa takes over roger's hamburg home

my rafa did it: beat roger in a strange final at the atp hamburg masters yesterday to add the only missing masters shield to his impressive collection of clay titles. onto roland garros, my sweet, and a fourth consecutive french open title!

vamonos, mi raralito!

when rafa loses...

... it really HURTS. always. this week, the timing of his loss to a friend triggered so much more than just pathos for the end of an amazing streak of one amazing athlete.

roger-rafa final!

what an exciting sunday for sports and it always happens on the fourth sunday of april --- just in time for my 7th wedding anniversary on the morrow (honestly, what IS the connection? LOL)

in tennis, world number 1 roger federer squares off against world number 2 rafael nadal (mi rafalito!) at 14.30. watch for it on star sports, my asian readers! elsewhere, pray that the tennis channel has decent coverage in north america and as ever, eurosport is bound to cover this great title match. vamos rafa!

in motor sport, kimi raikkonen is set to claim his second victory of the season at the spanish grand prix in barcelona's circuit de catalunya at 14.00 today.

how shall i spend my afternoon, then? why, with my tv tuned in to the live coverage of the grand prix and my laptop streaming the live feed of the roger-rafa match via my atp masters tv. it's the best a girl can do in the circumstances, no? :)

*note: although nole is not in the final, i still wanted to put his picture here. oh vay!

roland garros, here i come!

i'm all set for may 28-29 2008 this year. i have got to book accommodations in the 15me arrondissment in paris and no matter what happens, i am confirmed for this year's french open! woohoooo!

three's a charm, rafa!

guys, i am so happy i cannot sleep! it's 6.20 in the morning and i'm exhausted. you HAVE to share in my euphoria!

this is euphoria number 1.

this is euphoria number 2.

the question is, can there be euphoria number 3, even if it comes at the expense of my nole? vamonos rafa! ajde nole! rafa forever!

we've only just begun!

the first race has been battled on a track with soaring temperatures down in australia, and things can still get hotter! last weekend was exciting for formula 1 nuts like me. i couldn't sleep after watching a predictable race. but things started sizzling with more than 35 laps still to go, and suddenly i was wishing there were more laps to go around. kimi broke my heart by driving like a drunk. be sure to click on the highlights video; crank up your speakers as well for the rockin' music. :)

*in photo: nico rosberg of williams-toyota (german nationality --- finnish dad, german mum). isn't he such a cutie??? his father, apart from being a finn like heikki and kimi, was former 3-time world champion keke rosberg.

roddick disarmed

the king of wit and humour in tennis press conferences has met his match. or not? you tell me.

Tennis in Rotterdam

Hello would-be tennis fan! :)

I'm writing because I'd like to offer my Rotterdam ABN-Amro World Tennis tickets for you and someone else of your choice. I bought tickets for both semi-finals on Saturday, Feb 23, only to realise that I already have something else planned for that evening and I had completely forgotten about it! I bought 2 tickets for the 14.00 and the 19.00 sessions. Just so you know, Mikhail Youzhny is the defending champion at this event and this year's draw is loaded with SEVEN (!) Top 10 players: Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic, Nikolay Davydenko, Richard Gasquet, Andy Murray, and Youzhny himself. Other players included in this exciting field are Juan Carlos Ferrero, Jo-Wilfriend Tsonga (yes, that guy again!), Tomas Berdych and Janko Tipsarevic. It's so exciting that I want to shoot myself for not being able to go to the event, just 2 (!) hours away by train. Needless to say, I am crushed, and S has not allowed me to watch the semifinals at the expense of messing up my previous engagement.

If you would like to purchase these tickets from me, below are the details:

First session @ 14.00

ABN AMRO WORLD TENNIS TOURNAMENT
Ahoy
Sat, February 23, 2008 2:00 PM

Rang 2
Seat location: section BC, row 6, seat 50 to 51.
Total Charge(s): € 75.87

Second session @ 19.30

ABN AMRO WORLD TENNIS TOURNAMENT
Ahoy
Sat, February 23, 2008 7:30 PM

Rang 2
Seat location: section CF, row 5, seat 12 to 13.
Total Charge(s): € 75.87
--------------------------------------------------------------------

The total, if you get all four, would be 151,74€.

Hoping to hear from you soon,
Svelte Rogue

i've moved!

little steps, baby steps, angel steps. i'm creating a new home for my sports entries, and i am throwing wide open the doors for you to enter.

come over to my new sports domain at SVELTE SPORT.

hope to see you there soon! :)

knockout

look who's just won france football's prestigious ballon d'or award :) it was no huge surprise and something that was timely, coming after ac milan's champions league triumph early this year in a rain-soaked final. considered to be the most prestigious award for individual football players, kakà joins a list of awardees that reads like a who's who in ac milan's roster: van basten and schevchenko were teammates who had won the coveted award for the world's best footballer of the year. brazilian compatriot ronaldinho had won the award two years ago. 96 international journalists voted from a shortlist of 50, and kakà was quick to give praise to the two young superstars he bested, cristiano ronaldo, the flashy and powerful portuguese midfield attacker from manchester united and lionel messi, brilliant and savvy argentinian dribbler playing for the bernabau (fc barcelona). this article shows why kakà is respected by coaches and players alike: he is a calm presence on and off the court, and never fails to vitalise the ac milan offense with his dazzling plays. personally, i find him to be one of the cutest and sexiest football players on the planet, and not just by the way he looks but by how he moves his booty (read: magnifico!) on the field. it is fluid art. priceless. simply smooth.

not again!

the draws are out for the euro 2008 and the matches will be played from june 7-29. check out the groupings:

A--- Switzerland, Turkey, Portugal and the Czech Republic
B--- Austria, Germany, Poland and Croatia
C--- Italy, France, The Netherlands, Romania
D--- Greece, Sweden, Russia, Spain

for starters, you can say that group D is the most open group as any team can make it through to the knockout stages. greece says that they should be careful about sweden's ibramovic but i see spain and russia as teams that cannot be counted out either. my predictions for the top 2 at this early stage? spain and russia.

host switzerland has what appears to me as the easiest group on paper, but we know better than to count out portugal (repeat after me: ronaldo and deco), the czech republic, or turkey. with the home crowd backing switzerland in basel, you never know what the small country might whip up. predictions? portugal and the czech republic.

germany and poland have a history of overly emotional fans getting into fights at their matches so you can expect the organisers agonising over the logistics of this encounter. you also have croatia's acerbic fans chanting racist slurs; they have been warned by FIFA that a repeat offense would mean the disqualification of their team. you can never count out the vociferous home support for the austrians. predictions: croatia and germany.

i saved the best for last: can you have a better tag for group C than fireworks brigade? world cup 2006 finalists italy and france square off --- again! --- on the international field and with the zidane-materazzi fiasco still fresh in both teams' memories, so anything can happen on the pitch. coaches of both teams hope (or so they say) that cooler heads must prevail to avoid unnecessary encounters but this is football, mate. didn't i say it before? anything can happen. the netherlands and romania can't be too happy either with this grouping, especially since the dutch have been struggling with form of late, losing to belarus in their most recent encounter. predictions: surprise, surprise, italy and france.

bbc's commentators, when reporting after the draw was completed, were a picture of glumness and professionalism in conflict. they looked gutted still for their own team not qualifying for the prestigious tournament but braved on with their coverage in spite of it. i don't know what england will do now to get the right man to be steve mcclaren's successor as manager, but i cannot imagine the likes of mourinho or klinsmann rushing anytime soon to fill the void.