Uh Oh! What's Tennis coming to!

I mean isn't it getting exciting now - Safin defeats Djokovic in the second round of Wimbledon, we get to see an amazing match between Schuttler and Clement and then of course in the finals Federer defeats himself and hands over the championship to Nadal

Action moves to Canada and the top seeds start stumbling in the Rogers Cup like Stock market during Mortgage crisis. I knew Roger was not going to make it to the finals but second round!

Fedx was ousted in the very first match he played - who is Giles Simon anyways! Well as we know well by now, the 'Roger FeDenial amazing circus show' continues - his comments after the match were no different than his comments after Australian, French and Wimbledon losses - Sure I lost but what can I do. the other guy was playing better, and for the gem of his talks - I am focused on m y next tournament, this is all behind me.

Surely, if you are a big fan of Roger, like I am, you are in a shocking stupor.

Roger- please hear me out, one of us is drunk or smoking something really really edgy, if you say something like "I'm OK, I'll be OK, Next tournament is mine" as you have been saying all along AND I know I'm not drunk or smoking so it must be you!

I admire your guts to put everything behind you after a loss BUT wait a minute, you seem to really forget everything including the bad decision making you do in all the matches you lose.

Man, all I can say is that now the whole Tennis circuit knows, you are not be feared - why -

Because - you stick with one game plan that you come to court with and don't change anything even if your plan is falling by wayside even as your opponent starts getting aggressive.

Ok the only redeeming feature in this tournament so far is that Djokovic, Roddick, Davydenko, Gasquet and Blake are all out of the tournament but that should be a warning not a relief.

Nadal has not looked too good either but at least he's surviving on his will power and slightly improved game.

By far, Andy Murray is the one I'm really impressed with - I saw his match against Djokovic and boy - is he playing like Nadal! I loved the fact that he's learnt to hang around each volley and despite serving something like 50% first serve, he's still winning.

I'd like to think that he can win over Nadal later today but I think Nadal has a little too much motivation going in this match. If I'm not wrong, he'll earn enough points by winning the this title to become number One.

Even though right now it looks like that if Andy can walk into the match like he did against Djokovic - relaxed and confident, he could give a surprise to the Wimbledon Champ.

We shall See!

Pappu Can't Dance Saala or White Man just can't Dance - Bon Jovi Concert

So thanks to my wife, I got the VIP tickets to the Bon Jovi concert on Saturday Night at the Central Park. Oh I mean I was among the 2000+ VIPs. Other thanks go to Mayor Bloomberg and Bon Jovi & his band, of course.

The concert was scintillating- Bon Jovi looks as fresh as he was long time ago - three years back I'm gonna guess, and the crowd was up on its feet all the time - well, there was no place to sit.

Nah, I just kid you - It was a summer picnic and central park is a cool place to be at, in summer. Throw in a band like Bon Jovi and you have a perfect summer (satur)Day

I loved some great things about this concert
- The concert started on exact time it was supposed to be - 8 pm.
- There was no unnecessary stops during the concert - just a smooth flow of one song from another, no useless MCing or wasting of time
-The concert finished on time - a bit of tease before the band finished it but they let the croed know that it was about to finish.

As a spectator, it was flawless event to attend.
BUT, that's not why I'm blogging though.

I blog today 'coz I have to sadly admit a fact, that I suspect you already know and my feedback through this blog is, but just a confirmation
- Ladies and Gentlemen, I have no doubts left that white male just can't dance. Can you imagine 50-60 thousand people in the park and not one white guy has a reasonable move!

A white woman on the other hand Can & Will JUMP!
They didn't show much dance moves either but at least they did jump. The vertical elevation scores against no elevation indeed, no movement.

Yes, that's what my observation(s) are.

I mean you must have heard the recent Desi bollywood song "Pappu Can't Dance Saalea", which is kind of a hit song right now - about a bunch of college kids ( I suppose middle class) who sing in a dance video in a bollywood movie, about another student who is rich with many luxuries handed to him by his parents so the student gang is envious, BUT these students revel in the fact that despite all his riches (the rich kid has Rado watch on the wrist, Gucci cologone et al) - The rich kid just can't dance.

I was instantly reminded of that song moment the concert started.

Before you jump on me - Imean before you WASPs John, Les and Luke jump on me and call me wonderful names like; " you browny, how dare you" etc. - do note, that the "White man Can't Dance" is just an observation and not an accusation. As a homo spaien either you have the natural rhythem in your body or you don't.And my ivory skinned friends - you just Don't, god gave you many things - skin cancer when you are exposed to sun, the american and european continents, wall and fleet street but he kept away the most important thing from you - the ability to enjoy in tough situations - dancing.

Of course, I couldn't help but compare this concert with another concert I went for a few months back - that one had Sean Paul, Talib Kweli and a host of Spanish hip-hop stars ( unfortunately, I don't know their names) - now that was a big contrast - everyone was moving, shaking and stirring, Surprise, surprise - even the white girls were actually putting on some moves that could shame anyone - black, brown or any shade in-between.

I know you are wondering white girls are OK tell us about the white guys in a hip-hop concert.
so here is the answer! The white guys couldn't dance there either. In fact, you could spot a white guy from a mile - those were the onlu guys looking perplexed - as if they expected that they were told it was a bar and somebody failed to inform them that it was not.

The other side observation was that, while Bon Jovi's concert had lots of Lighting special effects there were practically none in the other one! Do the whiteys feel that technology will fill-in for the natural effects. I don't know but the good news is they don't seem to know either.

I'm just messing with you readers (I mean son). Oh you ask, Why do I Say Son!
Well, I'll let you on a secret, no one reads my blog except for my son and least of all - you, John Q.

In fact, if this blog was being read by anyone outside my family - I might die due to sheer ecstasy of knowing that I have a readership beyond three people! Shoot - now you know that there mine is a three person family! When will the brownies learn to hid etheir moves like whiteys!

So relax Caucasians ( why does Caucasian have an "Asian" in it!) and go beyond jumping

- Dance!
Will Ya!

Fedrinator Vs. Nadambo - Tennis the clash of the Titans on the world's biggest Tennis stage -Will it be Titanic results for Federer!

Ok, I admit both lack the physique of a Terminator or a Rambo but you'll agree, both annihilate the competition.

Fedex made short work of Safin and Nadal stepped it up when he really needed against Schuettler. Even though both won, we all saw that they are not invincible.

Nadal looked more shaky of the two and looked definitely rattled when Schuettler got ahead in the second set. As expected though, he managed to win against the german. This however, was the first time in a long time that I saw, Nadal being a defender than an aggressor and apparently he's neither used to nor likes being in that situation.

Under pressure, he was making the mistakes that any player does, hitting long balls, making unforced errors and even double faulting. Before I say anything else, I need to acknowledge that Schuettler despite his two-day marathon match with Clement didn't look jaded as I thought he would and instead looked fresh enough to bring it to Nadal and boy, did he do that. If he had won the second set, who knows what would have happened. When I saw his first two games in the match against Nadal and though he eneded up losing the first set, I felt that if anyone could defeat Nadal, this is the man. Oh what a loss! Spain overcomes Germany again.

Federer on the other hand had a relatively easier match against a resigned-to-lose Safin. I mean Safin seemed to believe what he had said earlier; I'm playing semifinals, but that doesn't mean that I have a chance there .... To beat Federer you need to be Nadal and run around like a rabbit and hit winners from all over the place...... It's another chance for me. But I think it's just a little bit too difficult it would be for me to beat him.

Again, I felt somewhat, if anyone could trouble Roger - Safin could be the man but then we all know the result.

Coming to our match on hand - the £700,000 question is - Can Fedex retain his title! Notice that I didn't say " Can Nadal win the title" - I truly believe that Federer has a mental block against Nadal, a lack of confidence if I could stretch a little bit.

I've also felt that Roger is trying to pscyhe himself up and gets quite a bit defensive when asked about his potential loss to Nadal. His comments, in my opinion, even refelect a certain desperation; "But this is different because this is now crunch time, it's playing the second best player in the world, somebody's got all the chances to beat you on any given day, you know. So you definitely respect that.

It's make or break, and that can sort of put you under more pressure or make you more nervous. I've been in this situation so many times that for me it's not really a whole lot different because for me I know I'm playing very well, and from that standpoint I don't have much to worry about. And I know if I do play well, I'm most likely, you know, going to win the finals."
Here's the full interview link of both players R. Federer Interview - 5 July & R. Nadal Interview - 5 July

Now don't get me wrong these interviews by themselves don't appear to intense, even appear to be nice conversations with nice comments about each other but the overall drift that I catch from these and other comments Roger has made - to me its all one sign - he's great except when he plays Rafa and then he hits a road block.

To me this match's result is going to be a combination of two previous matches
1. Andy Murray and Nadal match
2. Fededx and Rafa French opem final match.

1. If Fedex can win the first set, in my opinion, he will win the match
2. In the French Open final, in my mind, Fedex lost the match in the second game of the first set when he was one game up and had a chance to break Nadal's serve and didn't do it. It brought him down but pumped up Rafa.

Keys to the match;

Roger
1. Do a Schuettler - be highly agressive, not necessarily rush to the net but make Rafa run coast to caost - keep him reacting rather than set up his shots. For gos' sake, win the first set.
2. Be a closer - make sure to break Rafa's serve when you get a chance - if you are up 15-40 on Nadal's serve, play very tight, control your volley's and play be percantages. Try being your usual self and you will neither win the game nor the championship

Nadal
1. Remain aggrassive, win the first set
2. Don't do too many drop shots, Roger is very fit and covers the ground very well and will put you in trouble if these are not ball-dead-on-arrival drop shots.

Good luck to both and as tennis fans, we hope for a good treat as we set glued to our TVs.
Yeah, I wish I was to watch this live but I have to wait till I'm sponsored.

Spain wins after 44 yrs. Now China looms! Tennis World

Ok I admit, the title may be little confusing there! Of course I refer to Euro Cup when I say that Spain won after 44 yrs.

So you may question, why mix Football/Soccer with Tennis. The reason is kind of weirdly obvious to me, at least as far as the Ladies Singles go. Can China do an encore of Spain and win their first ever Grand Slam title!!!

As for as Men's title; The question in the mind of fans in the tennis world is; can Nadal do the same in the Tennis World!! on Grass!
Would he be able to say Your Ass is Grass to Federer or would Andy Murray bring back some long last glory to British tennis and end up meeting Federer for the top honors, eventually.

Would Federer be even in the Final!

Either way, it is a yummy set up on the Wimbledon stage right now. Federer, Safn, Nadal, Murray, Ancic, Lopez, Schueletter, & Clement - could there be more variety here! I guess you could say that a Baghdatis or a Youzny may have been not bad either but, it is what it is.

However, before we delve deeper into Men's side, let say three Cheers for Zheng Jie of China. The first wild card to reach a grand slam semi-final of the ladies' singles and the first Chinese woman in the last four of a Grand Slam semi-final. Wow! And I believe that if anyone can defeat Serena ( besides Serena herself) Zheng is the one!

As for the other semi between Venus and Dementieva, the question is who will fold up first mentally and I think so far, Russians have shown a tendency to be highly fickle in that department. Would it be a Zheng Vs. Venus, Serena Vs. Dementivea, Venus Vs. Serena or the highly improbable though not entirely impossible; Zheng Vs. Dementiva!

Ooh! the possibilities and potentials! I'm ready to watch some action now.

Circling back to Men's corner now, lets look at the quarterfinal line-up and evaluate;

Fedex Vs. Ancic - would Ancic's marathon match with Verdasco take its toll or would he show the same grit as he showed in that match! I think Fedex may be little too much for Ancic.
Winnner - Fedex

Marat Vs. Lopez - Before I comment on the upcoming quarters match, I must vent a bit on Safin. I have to admit, I was surprised, no - was stunned by Safin's demeanor against Dojokovic in their match - I was expecting almost all through the match that Safin will explode in anger, frustration or both whenever he lost an easy point but boy, was I in for a big surprise. He kept his cool and got under the head of Dojokovic. Yes, I do believe that Dojokovic didn't play too bad except maybe in the third set but I think what got his goat was the fact that like me he expected Safin to implode and that never happened.

Anyways, coming to the quarters - Lopez has couple of good victories under belt specially the last one with Baghdatis but I think Safin is capable of taking care of business.
Winner - Safin in a tight finish

Schuettler Vs. Clement - Schuettler defeated Tipsarevic and Blake on his way while Clement won over Cilic and Bjrokman - I would like to think that Schuettler will win over Clement but given the fact that Germany lost to Spain in Euro - an absurd comparison but a kind of sign!!
Winner - Clement ( because Germany lost Euro cup)

and now Ladies and gentlemen, perhaps the most anticipated quarterfinal match-up

Nadal Vs. Murray - Murray has kep his head with wins over Gasquet, Haas and that old fox Santoro ( God, I love that guy, he makes the best players look ordinary with his game) while in my opinion Nadal has not really been battle tested so far, really speaking and where ever he was tested, he came up with mental toughness to win. He looks to be the fittest player on the circuit and his reputation alone gives him a one set lead over opponents but you know what, I like Andy's chances here. I'm not sure if Andy can keep his head and the focus but if he can, he has a decent chance. I know, I'm being a little ambiguous here but you know this is amongst the toughest to call. In my mind, whoever wins the first set will take the match and the honors.
Winner: the winner of first set

So there, this is how I read the matches and hopefully I'll be correct in predicting All of them - yes, modesty is my middle name.
If that doesn't happen, I'll cry in my towel till I go to sleep.

Lets meet again after the Men's quarters and Woman's Semis are done and see how I fared.