Why is that idiot Justin Gimelstob a commentator at BNP Paribas Tennis event

So I'm sitting up to watch Federer /Verdasco Match and there I see the ugly mug of GimelSlob on TV.

What the Fudge!

Shame on BNP Paribas - you need not remind me that I should not do any business with this bank.

Very disappointing.

What a Semis showdown! Fedex is back on rails, Nadal temporarily saved by rain!

Ok So I was wrong (well at least 50%) but why does it feel so right!

I know I said that Roger will reach Semis but will lose to Djokovic and here I was, sitting in the stadium and watch unfold the Semis drama while the clouds hung overhead.

Soon as Roger came into the stadium, I started pumping my fists. No longer had he served his first serve that I was screaming into the ears of people in front of me. My kids were very confused, said my son; "Dad, you wrote earlier that Roger will lose to Djokovic and here is the first serve by Federer and you are already screaming in his favor! What's the deal! We thought you didn't like Roger!

I had to correct them and tell them, look, I love Roger, I want him to break every record there is, because he's a master, BUT make no mistake, a few years from now someone younger and talented will come and attempt to break all of Roger's records and I will be cheering that guy to go all the way. I like this cycle of prepetuity, Roger should break Sampras' records and if someone more capable comes along then let the new kid break Roger's records. That's how I like it.

But I digress, I gad to explain to my son that despite that I love Roger, I don't like the current Roger - the tentative Roger, the hesitant Roger, the overanxious Roger, or simply missing the Roger that I and other fans have known for last few years. I don't like the stubborn way he is playing these days without making necessary changes, the adjustments.

I think today, Roger heard me, his fans and their prayers and came a little bit back into his own, but he was still kind of really missing, well at leats till the third set against Djokovic. He had a fair opportunity to carry the second set to the tiebreak but at 30-40 down and knowing that he must get a deuce and then win next two points, he chose to hit a shot that I have seen him over/under hit many a times this year and there it was, 7-5 in favor of Djokovic! I was getting nervous again! Will the Real Roger please stand up!

To get back a little bit, I liked how Roger came out in the first game, won it and continued to play well. Not surprisingly though, he was still over anxious on many points in the first two sets, but in the third, as Djokovic started misfiring a bit, Roger strated getting his groove back. With every game, we were seeing the Roger "the King" Federer hitting the shots with supreme confidence and finally he relieved Djokovic from his misery with a clean forehand, with the final score at 6-3 5-7 7-5 6-2 , Roger has booked his ticket to the Final.

More importantly,
- Federer is now 7-2 against Djokovic.
- This was Federer's s 33rd consecutive victory at the US Open. Can you believe, his last loss was in the 2003 (against David Nalbandian)
- If Federer wins US Open, it will be his fifth consecutive US Open trophy
- If Federer wins US Open, He will be the first man to win 5 consecutive titles at two grand slam titles ( Wimbledon and US Open)

One side fun fact of the match was that while there was some support for djokovic (I was actually surprised by that, I thought he would have zero support and will be solidly booed after his comments at the end of match with Roddick), BUT every time Roger was on the go, he got a huge cheer from the crowd. By my guess, Roger's fan outnumbered Djokovoc fans by roughly a 100o:10
As for me here's my thought;

"GO ROGER GO"

I have got to tell you, I was almost stunned when I heard the announcer say during the second set of Fedex/Novak match " Because of inclement weather, Nadal/Murray match will start right now in the Louis Armstrong stadium". I was like, "No freakin' way. I came here to watch both the matches, not half of this and half of that." Since rest of my family wanted to see Nadal and I definitely wanted to see Andy ( he was so gracious the other day when I got his autographs and asked him to pose for a foto, Andy is real cool), we reluctanly made our way to the other match.

Man, was I happy to see Andy play so well! He was calm, not trying too much extra and was on the ball. I think in the whole stadium, there were probably five of us, Andy supporters and it sounded like it was a Rafa fan convention. Everytime, Nadal would get up, go to serve, make a good return, the whole stadium would hit a high octave. It may sound silly, but even though I was outnumbered as an Andy fan, maybe 1:3000, somehow, I felt good and I think it was mainly because Andy made his racket talk. Thank the lord, that Andy won the first and then the second and put a little bit of lid on the Rafa fans. More than him, I was relieved.

I do think though, that Andy was both a bit relieved (having won two sets) and, out of focus at the start of the third set. I was little startled that, he proceeded to go 0-2 in the third and of course, right now, the score stands at 2-3 with Nadal up a break. What I dislike about that as an Andy fan, is the fact that,
- one, if you are Andy, you can't afford to be out of focus even for a fraction of a second, against world's current best player
- two, with a rain break, now there is a chance that Nadal will gather himself and unleash his missiles on Andy.

As for Nadal, he looked slightly out of sorts right from the start! Was he thinking too much, too ahead! Did he think, he will walk on the court and Andy will roll over! Was he already planning for the Finals! I don't know Man! All I saw was that he was lackluster and Andy's great play made it look very ordinary ( don't get me wrong, even an ordinary stroke from the world number one is extraordinary, but something was missing!)

There were some extended, powerful, long rallies with both guys hitting some tough, ground hugging shots but Andy got the best of, many of them. On the other hand, I was worried for Andy, for suddenly at the start of the 3rd set, he didn't have answers for the Rafa serve and that to me is a dangerous sign. As much as Rain has helped Rafa escape a NDE ( near death experience), I think, Andy needs to use this break to get his act together, he can't afford to slip up. Its Do or Die trying for him! No third option.

As for me, I'm happy, Not only Fedex is back but I'll get a chance to get back to the stadium tomorrow and see the completion of Nadal/Murray match. In fact, if the rumors are correct, my ticket will enable me to watch Cara Black & Liezel Huber battle it out against Lisa Raymond & Samantha Stosur in the Women's Doubles - Finals. Well, lets just say that I consider my $1000 spent on the tickets, really worth every penny.

US Open; Nadal out, Roger , Djokovic in Semis - Djokovic moves to Finals to meet Andy Murray

Ok I know that lots of matches are yet to be played before these predictions can come true but my observations are based on the very few matches completed and that few practice matches I got to see. Here we go;

1. Nadal - Not only will he not make the semis but he will fold up at the first hard core resistance he meets, in other words, any guy who can take him to five sets or wins the first two sets from him will defeat Rafael. Right now he's just riding on sheer will power and some great talent BUT he has no juice. He's tired and will not go beyond quarters, specially because he will end up meeting either Blake or Nalbandian in the quarters and specially if he ends up meeting Blake, he'll lose it.

2. Roger - Everyone and the media in general is going all gaga over his first win and saying that he's back on track based on how he played against Maximo Gonzales BUT I'm not buying it. He's still hitting many erratic shots, playing in a somewhat casual fashion and not closing out the points and to top it, still refuses to admit that he needs a strategy and/or game change. Even though his side of the draw should easily take him to the Semis since his true good poential opponents are Verdasco and Stepanek, I'm so unsure of him that I put him into Semis gingerly. At the moment though, I don't see him overpowering Djokovic in the Semis so that should be the end of the road for him. If however it is Andy Roddick who ends up defeating Djokovic and meeting Roger then I give Roger a 60/40 chance.

3. Djokovic - So far looking good but he's mentally a wee bit less sure than he was at the end of 07 and start of 08. The early exit from Wimbledon has definitely made a dent on his psyche and both, he and his opponents know that he is vulnerable. He does have enough though to make it through to Semis. He will be looking at some potential good opponents like Marat Safin (revenge time!), Cilic , Moya. Even the quarters could be against Andy Roddick and that will be a tough test.

4. Andy Roddick- So far I have only seen his first match and he came out looking the best of the entire lot of players, but again, even though Fabrice is a very good player, he has his on & off days so I'll give Andy 75 out of 100 for that match and that's a high rating from me. To me he's got an easier draw and than makes him potential Semis candidate. He is capable of defeating Djokovic, specially if he can take Djokovic to four or more sets. Djokovic's stamina to me is a real question mark and smart players should be able to use that fact to their advantage. Irrespective of that though, I don't see Andy winning the title.

5. AndyMurray - looking good and impressive early but not hugely impressive or let me further clarify - Andy will certainly fly into the quarters because the most tough opponent he will meet is Wawrinka and though Waw is playing well, Murray should have a slight edge. Again he's potential Semis candidate to me because he's capable of defeating Ferrer or lets say Ferrer is capable of losing to Murray. Makes Sense! To me yes, to you I don't know! Based on sheer determination he could find himself be an a very good situation.

Now couple of guys that deserve a mention
6. Monfils - Man, this guy looks good. I'm not sure how far will he go but I saw him practice, and then also his first match and he looks good. He has a tough matche coming up against Nalbandian but if he maintains his confidence he should do well. He's an emotional athlete and so it would matter that he win the first sets of his match.

7. Juan Martin del Potro - Can this man keep his winning streak running! Considering that he plays Giles Simon and then Ferrer - could this be the end of the road for him in the Open or would he continue his big strides ! An exciting player to watch for sure.

8. Cilic - Is he playing well or what! The only issue is that if he wins from Bobby Ginepri then he meets Djokovic and I'm giving Djokovic the advantage between the two.

I would have liked to mention Tsonga here but haven't seen him play at all so need to skip it but I hope he does well.

I have to end this post here, but it's on a happy note. Fedex (not Roger) just delivered my US Open Men's Semifinal tickets and boy am I excited even though I'm paying far more than the list price.

I'll share the experience of my first grand slam attendance when I get to that.
Ciao.

Ooh. Losing hurts! Grow up Blake

So Olympics are on and as expected, the tennis fun continues and so does Federer's downward slide.

Of course, not withstanding Fedex's loss, some scintillating tennis is on display. If you watched Nadal/Djokovic match, you know what I mean.

Can you imagine this kind of intense rivalry in an Olympics tennis tournament! Such rivalries always seemed only to be meant for Grand slams. I would have loved to see this level of competition in the earlier Olympics, but this one is compensating for all the previous ones! I'm so glad that top tennis players decided to play in this Olympics and give us fans, such a treat.

Before I go on, I have to say that I didn't like the bitching and moaning coming from James Blake about Gonzalez, he kept on saying;
-how it was unsportsman like for Gonzales,
-how he lost faith in a fellow competitor,
-how Gonzalez should have conceded the point,
-how who Gonzales does everything in his power to win, “usually” within the rules.

In effect, Blake brought everything possible into press conference about his opponent EXCEPT the fact that he failed to convert three match-points in the final set. The real reason for his loss.

I have high respect for Blake, and if you have read his biography, you'd agree with me too - the man is fighter. He has faced high odds and lost his dad to cancer, a man who shaped him and his career and inspired Blake to achieve these lofty heights. In fact, he mentioned his dad in the post-game conference too though I wish, he had used his Dad's reference in a better context.

Blake just came out as a bitter man, venting out his frustration, of losing in a crucial match, winning which could have gotten him to a Golden final.

What is surprising to me is the fact that if you look at the match TV footing, you can see that Gonzales genuinely didn't seem to have felt the brush of the few fibers of the ball on the BACK of his racket.
Sure, Blake was close to the action and even if we presume for a moment, that Gonzales knew for sure that ball had hit his racket but didn't acknowledge it, would you blame him!

I mean, its a match and a crucial one at that. I've seem many a top players, simply look at the umpire and wait for the chair to call a point and not concede a point on their own, EVE when they know that the point belonged to their opponent.

By crying out like he did, Blake has only come out as a cry baby and not someone who can take a rough day stoically.

Oh Nadal! Man is he good and lucky or what! If you watched the match you know what I mean! Poor Novak- he blazed through Nadal in the second set only to get a little tight and then smash himself out of the match and for chasing the gold. I don't blame him for being emotional in the end. He was so close.

Novak, my man, its not you! Nadal is on an unbelievable run and apparently supprted by Gods of Tennis.

Now to my favorite Federer - he just doesn't have the confidence, does he! I was already thinking that he's not gonna go far when I read the news that he had decided not to stay in the Olympic village and was lodged in a hotel. This is what he said;
"It's not possible for me to stay there," he said. "There are so many athletes who want their pictures taken with me. "I don't mind it, but every day? I can't escape it. It's not the ideal preparation for winning Olympic gold."

Doesn't it sound like he's almost afraid. Some would say its arrogance but, I don't take his statement as a display of arrogance. I've always thought that this man speaks the truth, always, though at times, it can appear that he has airs.

I just think the Fedex is suddenly hugeky unsure of his game and, what seems to be worst is that, NO One in his entourage has the guts to tell him that by tweaking everything except his confidence, he's only losing a chance to make a forceful come back.

I always thought that a key legacy of Federer will leave behind is, his humbleness, his graciousness, his style and the fact that he's a perfect gentleman. Looks like he may lose a bit of the gloss on his leagcy by the acts like staying away from olympic village.

Even more intriguing was his comment after winning the doubles matches against Bryan brothers - “I’m very excited,” Federer said. “Having beaten the best in the world and going for gold, it’s an incredible scenario. This is a big moment in my career.”

So should we think that he's reconciled to the fact that he's no longer a force in the Singles and is resigned to being a good doubles player! I knew it had to happen some day but so soon!

Big moment in the Career! Get out of here!

McEnroe tirade - you have likely already read the news " McEnroe got tossed from his opening-round match at the Hall of Fame Champions Cup on Thursday for cursing, arguing with the chair umpire and making an obscene gesture at fans."

Somethings will never change! I recall that couple of years back I took my kids to the US Open on Arthur Ashe day - a dfay meant for kids to involve and indulge in tennis. As we were going around, we saw that McEnroe was on one of the tennis courts playing with some one, (I think the guy was a ski athlete and good one at that). So my kids pleaded that they would like to watch the game and wait to get his autograph at the end of the friendly game. We all patiently waited in the hot sun for McEnroe to come out of the gate and get his autograph, once the game was over. Imagine our shock when McEnroe walked off the court and in a high voice went on to say someting to the effect that " I'm late for appearance at another court so I can't scribble on your booklets", I felt so bad for my and other kids who had braved the sun for more than an hour for this man to just move two fingers and here he was almost yelling to the people, kids really, who were his fans. I silently said, shame on you McEnroe - this day is meant for kids and you choose to insult them! I really thought that he was pits as a man.

Later as the days went by and I watched him on the TV speaking so well as a commentator and oh so gently, about all the players, coupled with the last year's American Express dispute-resolution commercial, in the commercial he travels to meet an an umpire from the 1985 US Open to mend fences with the umpire who McEnroe had called "Evil" for an 'Out' Call.

The magic of TV make-believe led me to presume that, this McEnroe was a changed man, a mellowed man, boy, was I wrong!

The man is a raging lunatic and will remain so.

Now for the the last word , everyone talks about how China and India are going to be superpowers. Just going by Olympics medals , looks like there is a great disparity between China and India.

India Shining - well not in Sports at least. With its gowing middle class I would like to see a growing Medal class!

Nadal does a Federer, Djokovic does a Nadal and Andy is the (not so) Surprising Winner

" More things change, the more they remain same".

Federer is a OK, hard courts will favor him - Ivo Karlovic proved that wrong
Nadal couldn't be defeated in his current form- Djokovic proved that wrong
Djokovic will make a strong return after Wimbledon- Andy Murray proved that wrong

So you say Andy is the best right now - not so fast my friend.

Tennis as seen from my point of view;

Lets start with Fedex ; Federer looks far from OK.
Iis he a great player - no doubt!
Is he in his best elements - NO,
Will he win Olympics and US - can't say though you can bet that he will make the Semis in both tournaments.

Just when I thought he was getting more realistic - he actually joked that he was on a "one game winning streak" after his first match win at Cincinnati, and then he comes up with this " The bigger picture is the Olympic Games and the U.S. Open. Those are the places where I want to win." WTF!!!

Really Roger!! I mean after you lose a tournament you talk about the next one as if nothing happened in the one that you lost! As one of your fans, I am getting concerned that at this rate, if you lost Olympics and US, you will say " This was a good year but my focus is on regrouping for 2009"

I think instead of focusing on anything else, he should only focus on his confidence level - both overconfidence as well as bouts of low confidence. This may sound absurd - but he needs to make sure that he's confident of closing - closing a point, a game, a set and the match.
He needs to play tight, even play safe like how every player does including Nadal & Co., when they know that a single point can tip the match one way or the other, but since Roger refuses to do it, my assessment is that he will remain in trouble. In my mind still the greatest but still the most obstinate in not making the badly needed adjustments during a match. He seems either overconfident or starts playing over anxiously and then seems surprised that he lost! Whew!

Nadal - the guy is so much improved in his determination, his game and knowing that other players get mentally fickle when he makes those unexpected results - he's truly unbelievable. You can say so many things about this guy - how he is winning on all surfaces, how focused he is on his pursuit of number one position and how he as taken his game to next level, but there is no need. Everyone can see it clearly, so;

Does he deserve # 1 ranking - Absolutely.
Is he self-effacing and humble - Yes
but here's my thought;
Is his game as complete as Roger - I don't think so.
C'mon. don't pretend to be shocked. Roger on a good day is still ahead of Nadal, Nadal surely is snapping at the heels of Roger, in fact, he has taken Roger's # 1 position but Roger is Roger.

Djokovic - He seems to be getting his groove back. Looks better prepared and determined to retain his number # 3 position after the stunning loss to Safin in Wimbledon but his stamina is not the same as others in the top 10.
He can win his matches on skill and talent but I'm gonna say that every time a match goes to four sets or more and his opponent retains the mental poise, Djokovic can be defeated, In fact, looking at the young and veteran players, he may have tougher time retaining his # 3 position for too long.

Andy Roddick - can you step it up and make a comeback! I know it looks impossible right now, but the guy has got game. He's in a bit of Roger situation! Over Anxious most of the time.

and now to the latest sensation - Andy Murray!

Man, isn't he showing glimpses of Nadal in his game! Unbelievable returns, great passing shots, speedy running all over the court!
If anyone can truly take the tag of MOST IMPROVED Player in top 10, it has to be this kid and what I like about him is the same humble streak as Nadal - realistic in what he says!

So Andy is a great winner but I'll repeat what I said at Wimbledon time - this kid is OK when he wins the first set but when he doesn't, Lord have mercy!

Not to take away anything from him but if you watched Cin. final - you know that Djokovic in second set was trying to lose and not playing to win. Couple of good shots from Novak and Andy's body language hit a down turn. In fact it looked more and more, that it would be tough for Andy to win if Djokovic could get his breath back. Again, I think Djokovic lost rather than Andy won but in the end I was happy for the result and for Andy.

He has put in hard work and it was paid. I still think though that Andy has a long way to go - the good news is he can.

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!

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.

Fedex, Rafa, Dojokovic and a Superidiot - Gimelstob

So, the first week of Wimbledon came to a close y'day and Federer and Nadal continue on their run. Neither of them looked smooth to me though I have to admit that Fedex looks little better then I thought he would but he still continues to play some loose games in almost every match.

Till such time he starts playing more sharply and starts closing out games that he should, he will not re-gain his status as the most dominant player on the circuit. In fact, I think he's in real danger of losing his wimbledon crown this year to Nadal - if Nadal makes it to the finals, which I believe he will.

On the other hand Nadal excfept for his y'day match with Keifer hasn't had the kind of matches that he had in French open and almost every match has started tighter for him compared to his clay court matches, but there is no denying that for a clay court player he is far ahead of the pack. With every win, I think he's getting better here. We'll see how it pans out.

Fedex on the other hand has a tough match coming up with Hewitt. Since Tony Roche has previously coached Roger and is now coaching Hewitt, it will be interesting to see if Hewitt has a major strategy coming into the match and causes extra concerns to Roger. I do except Roger to come through but only with a whisker.

In my mind its very clear that IF Federer doesn't win this 2008 Wimbledon Men's Championship then herefater he will only be playing as one of the good players and not the greatest. In other words, No 2008 Wimbledon Title - No other Tennis Final win. He may end up winning 2 or more grand slam titles to get ahead of Pete Sampras' grand slam record but he will be winning that over a long period of time, UNLESS he wins this time in AELTC.

Now coming to this moron called Gimelstob - yeah the same guy who endeared himself to many a tennis fans by his oncourt persona during 2007 US open after losing to Andy Roddick - remember the few minutes that he grabbed the microphone and started asking funny questions to Andy and jibing in general.

Alas, how were we to know that a man who appeared to be witty on the court was shitty in his head. If you don't know why am I saying all this or why tennis fans are upset then this is the background;

Earlier this week, he went on the morning show of a radio station and vomitted out filth as you can read in this article by Dan Steinberg;

But just before you start reading on what he said, wherein besides addressing Ana and other women tennis players in worst possible ways, he berated Ana's game, here's a quick look at Ana's and Gimelschlob's records

Justin’s lifetime record: Singles: 106W-168L, highest world ranking 68.
Doubles: 171W-154L, highest world ranking 18.

Anna’s lifetime record: Singles: 209W-129L, highest world ranking 8.
Doubles: 200W-71L, highest world ranking 1.

Here's the article;
And when he went on the Junkies this morning, he talked about--what else?--the female figure.

Early on, it was Brooke Mueller, the new wife of Charlie Sheen, with whom Gimelstob said he was previously "friendly. Biblically friendly. I don't think I was the only one," he added.

There were vague references to other conquests, but his most interesting remarks were reserved for Anna Kournikova, whose St. Louis Aces will face the Kastles in a late July grudge match that will surely be uglier than any World Team Tennis grudge match this town has known. Seriously, if you thought DeShawn-LeBron was ugly, just wait for Gimelstob-Kournikova.

"She's a [bleep]," Gimelstob said of Anna, using a word that rhymes with "kitsch. "We're gonna kick her [bleep]," he added, using a word that almost rhymes with "kastle."

Well then. Will he talk junk to her on the court?

"One hundred percent," he said. "If she's not crying by the time she walks off that court, then I did not do my job."

So it's pure hate then?

"Hate's a very strong word," he said. "I just despise her to the maximum level, right below hate. I think she falls into the Marcelo Rios 'Scumbag' category....And this whole bluff about her retiring because of her back? She had the yips on her serve, she can't get her serve on the court. Wait until you see on July 23, she's gonna be serving 40 miles an hour and I'm gonna be just plugging it down her throat....We do exhibitions together and I'll mock her, and make fun of her. I'll just make her know that she's stupid....I'm sure she'll rue the day that she has to come here and actually share space with me."

The Junkies asked whether she knows that they'll be facing each other; "probably," Gimelstob said. "She might not even be smart enough to read the schedule."

They asked if he would serve at her head; "No, I'm gonna just serve it right into the body, about 128, right into the midriff," he said.

And they asked what would happen if Kournikova made a move on Gimelstob. You know, a Biblical move.

"Definitely not," he said. "I have no attraction to her, because she's such a douche....I really have no interest in her. I wouldn't mind having my younger brother, who's kind of a stud, nail her and then reap the benefits of that."

Later, he was asked to assess the top 20 players in the WTA rankings;
he called Tatiana Golovin "a sexpot,"
Nicole Vaidisova "a well-developed young lady," and
Alize Cornet "a little sexpot." ...........................

If you are a tennis fan appaled by this Schlob's comments, I encourage you to write to following;

Tennis Channel - where this a$$hole is somekind of journo
Alos note that the Tennis Channel is sponsored by
Wilson Sporting Goods (racquet@wilson.com),
Tennis Warehouse (info@tennis-warehouse.com),
Tennis Court Online (http://www.tenniscourtonline.com/ContactUs )
IMG Academies (laura.young@imgworld.com) and
Lacosta (http://www.lacoste.com/usa/main.html - contact form) to name a few.
You should cc e-mails to them as well as the tennis channel -general@thetennischannel.com

Random List - People and Places I like

Always like
- Manu Ginobli
- Dev Ananad
- Roger Federer
- Kapil Dev - The best there is, was or will be
- Leander Paes
- Vijay Amritraj
- Bill Maher
- Amitabh Bacchan
- Rahul Dravid
- Vishwanathan Anand
- JRD & Ratan Tata
- Geet Sethi
- Aishwarya Rai
- Madhubala
- Govinda
- Pondicherry
- Singapore
- My Family
- Mobikes
- Traveling
- Movies
- Akshay Kumar
- Manoj Bajpai
- Sonali Bendre
- MJ
-

- Always grateful to
My Country, Family & Friends, Subhas Chandra Bose, Shaheed Bhagat Singh , Chandrashekhar Azad , Sardar Patel, Lala Lajpat Rai, Lal Bahadur Shastri , Lakshmi Bai- Jhansi Ki Rani, Shivaji Maratha, Maulana Abul Kalam Azad, Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, Veer Savarkar , Rajkumari Amrit Kaur , Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit , Abdul Ghaffar Khan , Pattabhi Sitaramayya , Bipin Chandra Pal , Mangal Pandey , Aruna Asaf Ali, Bal Gangadhar Tilak, Birju Maharaj, Kishore Kumar , Kundan Lal Saigal , Mohammed Rafi, C.V. Raman , Homi Bhabha , Jagdish Chandra Bose , Meghnad Saha , M. Visvesvaraya , Anil Kakodkar, Birbal Sahni , Srinivasa Ramanujan , Dr. Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar , Har Gobind Khorana, Dayanand Saraswati , Raja Ram Mohan Roy , Ramakrishna Paramhansa , Swami Vivekananda , Vinoba Bhave , Kiran Bedi , Medha Patkar , Shanta Sinha , Baba Amte , Jyotiba Phule , Shahu Chhatrapati ,Bankim Chandra Chatterjee , Premchand , Rabindranath Tagore , Anita Desai , Arundhati Roy , Jhumpa Lahiri , Mulk Raj Anand , R.K. Narayan , Salman Rushdie , Vikram Seth , V.S. Naipaul , Kiran Desai , Mahadevi Varma , Shashi Deshpande , Shobha De , Khushwant Singh , Nirad C. Chaudhuri , Subhadra Kumari Chauhan , Subramanya Bharathi , Mahasweta Devi ,Girija Devi , Kumar Gandharva , Vishwanath Rao Ringe , Bhimsen Joshi , Pandit Jasraj , Balamurali Krishna , Ustad Bade Ghulam Ali Khan Tenzing Norgay , Mirabai , Sister Nivedita , M G Ranade , Kamaladevi Chattopadhyay

Current Favorites
Katrina Kaif
Harold & KUMAR
Ayesha Takia


Like most of the time
Underdogs
Nadal - not when he plays FedEx
London
Dojokovic -- not when he plays FedEx
A Rod
Manny Ramirez
Goa
Pokhara - Nepal
Bombay
Calcutta
Dalhousie


Used to like
Sachin Tendulkar
Kareena
Salman
Mahesh Bhupathi
Simla
Mussourie
Rajesh Khanna



Do not like
Gavaskar
Ravi Shastri
Donald Trump
Sharukh Khan - overpaid, undertalented! Certainly Successful.
Saif
Chandigarh
Dilip Kumar



Do not like at all
Indian Counselor Office New York - I guess it will be the same for many Indian Embassies/Offices across the world. Expect a full rant on this soon.