The Prime Time Show of Tennis - 1

You see, I'm not in the best of spirits when Roger Federer loses a match in a Grand Slam. It's no good if the slam is Wimbledon and it only gets worse that he lost from a two sets to love lead. And so naturally, I wouldn't be seen talking about it. But I still want to write on this blog so I tactfully skirt around the issue like this. But given recent events, my spirits seem to have lifted enough to bring that episode out and compare it what just happened.

Of the many records he has set in his career, the 178-0 stat after winning the first two sets is not the most monumental one of them. For instance, it doesn't compare with the 23 straight semi-final or better performance he accomplished starting Wimbledon 2004, or the 285 weeks he spent at the No. 1 spot. But its tells everyone that Federer is certainly one of the best home stretch performers. So when Tsonga snapped that streak, it must've raised doubts. When Federer goes two sets to love up, it doesn't necessarily mean he is going to win. Even more so when you consider that Federer did not stop playing well, just that the opponent started playing much better. Another thing which people started pointing out was that most of Federer's recent grand slam losses have come against players who hit the ball hard. And when I say hard, I mean rip the fluff out type hard. Berdych, Soderling and Tsonga all do that. The same guys who he would've beaten two years back in surprisingly short straights, were bombing him with unplayables and getting results. Perhaps the time had come when he was getting passed by younger, bulkier models.

The excitement in the build up to the US Open quarter-final had several contributors. No one must have failed to notice that both were drawn in the same quarter. And no one expected either to fall anywhere less. And Tsonga's recent demolition of Roger in Montreal was still fresh in everyone's minds. (People generally do not forget important Wimbledon matches) Both players lived up to their seeding and set up the clash too. And then even nature contributed by washing out a couple of days of play, just to give enough time for all the press and tongues to set the anticipation to impossible heights.
The match wasn't of the same level as Wimbledon. But one thing was pretty much in plain sight. Federer was out hitting Tsonga and except for a few more errors, things were 2007 Roger-esque. Funnily enough, by winning this match, Federer has setup an even more talked about and highly wanted semi-final with Novak Djokovic.

The top four have made it to semi-finals yet again in a major and the peak of men's tennis certainly looks good. I'd recommend you keep your schedule free at 2130hrs IST on this Saturday.

His Middle Name is Sharad

I haven’t spoken about this incident much, with good reason too.

Firstly, no one would believe me.

Secondly…no there is only one reason.

I have had a phone conversation with Rahul Dravid.

Back when he was the brand ambassador of Bank of Baroda (thats for the "how" and "when") and I was a geeky student with braces (now with spectacles…sigh). Even though I wasn’t making much of a conversation, I was struck by the genuine friendliness of the man. Nothing pleases a cricket loving (all right, absolutely adoring) school kid more than being asked by the captain of the Indian Cricket team, “How are you and your friends doing?” and “Do you watch a lot of cricket?”. Quite appreciative when you consider that the best the other end could come up with was, “So, How’s the party?”

I was absolutely ecstatic that day. And absolutely devastated the day we crashed out of the World Cup. The matches were coming in late at night and I had a Board Exam on the morning after. I was supposed to be in bed, but I’d sneaked past my parents room to check on the scores. It was painful. And the faces of the balcony at Port-of-Spain, even more so. And the back lash that followed, absolutely horrific. The man who had led the same unit to a win in England in both tests and ODI formats just a few months back resigned. And was subsequently dropped. And surprisingly, apart from test cricket, almost forgotten.

So today, after almost four years of virtually no One Day cricket [sadly, Dravid will have never won a World Cup] after doing all the odd jobs in the recently concluded test matches, after being the only batsman to make any sort of runs, it surprised no one when he was called back to the One Day squad. What with Yuvraj and Zaheer injured and Sachin not in form and Gambhir (oh I dunno) also not at his best, the selectors looked about for someone with anything to give and to their least surprise they found him.

Dravid is set to officially withdraw from One-Day cricket after this series, but not after agreeing to lend a hand in a crisis situation, yet again. It seems that the Wall is finally done.

[PS- After several "Why don't you try Wordpress"s, I finally did try it. Check out my blog on wordpress HERE ]

Howler List

1. Ian Bell was frigging out.

2. Who the frigging cares about the spirit of cricket!

3. Outside of the SCG, Rahul Dravid is the best Indian batsman overseas.

4. Harbhajan Singh has not made anything large in his life. A vast majority of his 400 wickets have come on square turners in the subcontinent.

5. Can we bring back Anil Kumble? He took 500+ wickets without turning the ball anywhere!

6. What the hell is wrong with Mahendra Singh Dhoni? Stuart Broad has scored more runs, taken more wickets and held on to more catches than him.

7. Arul Suppiah scored more runs in that Practice match for Somerset than Sachin, Mukund, and Raina in the series. And he is Malaysian!

8. It feels strange to say this but Sreesanth is actually the best fast bowler India has. Unfortunately, he is also our best dancer and antics man...sigh.

9. Someone please take Sourav Ganguly out of the commentary box.

Djoker: Why So Serious Rafa?

People who watch cricket and tennis, cannot fail to notice the similarity between South Africa and Andy Murray. Both enter the big tournaments in red hot form. Both have copious amount of talent and carry a large amount of hype with them. Both perform nervelessly at the preliminary stages. And both choke.

They said sometime back that as long as Roger Federer is around, Murray cannot win a major. Federer is past his prime now and his loss to Jo-Wilfried Tsonga at the QF, while still a shock, was by no means an unthinkable. So Murray found himself a raging Rafael Nadal to choke against. The turning point of that match was a Rafa service game in the second set. At 15-30 and a set down, Murray set himself up for an easy forehand at the net only to push it long. That was enough to bring out the Rafa juggernaut.

But this tournament wasn't about Rafa, Roger or Tsonga (clearly it wasn't about Murray). The man of this tournament travels on a diplomatic passport. His countrymen revere him and ever since he won them the Davis Cup, he seems to have decided to play only in matches where he will win. His box is always full of people-two brothers, mum and dad, coach, fitness trainers and a girlfriend, a boisterous lot; he bounces the ball a hundred times before he serves at break point, and he is the current Wimbledon and Australian Open Champion. And he has won 48 of 49 matches this year. When Novak Djokovic lifted his maiden Wimbledon title, he sort of capped his lifetime ambition. Having assured himself the number 1 rank by making it to the finals, all he needed to do was secure one more win to fulfil, what he says, he started playing tennis for.

The match itself was one of excellent quality. As expected, both players displayed exceptional court coverage, made very few errors and struck clean winners. Both players displayed remarkable defensive skills and the difference came down to who held his nerve when the other forced yet another ball back into play. In short, Djokovic did to Rafa what Rafa did so well against Federer. Even Rafa admitted that he had no answers that day.

Djokovic is 5-0 against Rafa this year, all their meetings in finals. He sure doesn't find this Djoke amusing.

Notable mentions:

1. Nicolas Mahut vs John Isner - Part 1 lasted more than 11 hours which probably led to part 2 being held on the summer solstice. Isner amused everyone by wrapping in in just over two.

2. Juan Martin Del Potro is a brilliant tennis player. He was destined for greatness when he was brutally constrained by a wrist injury. But he did show why he is considered good in his 4 set loss to Rafa.

3. It's winter in Australia but their Barnard Tomic shined like the northern sun on the lawns of SW19. He became the youngest quarter-finalist since Boris Becker and the No.1 ranked Aussie.

4. I don't follow women's tennis much but this tournament will make me keep an eye and an ear open for it. Credits go to Kvitova, Lisicki, Pironkova and Sharapova.