Posts Tagged ‘Tennis’

Nadal turns to Andhra meals and Tollywood to get back to the top

Posted: December 8, 2011 by The CouchExpert in Fiction, Tennis
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Goutham Chakravarthi

“Djokovic’s gluten free diet may have revolutionized tennis this year, but, I believe my journey to the top has already begun with my new found diet – full Andhra meals!” announced Nadal in his tennis school in Anantapur, India on Tuesday. Just days after leading Spain to another Davis Cup title to finish a largely disappointing year on a high, Rafael Nadal, is in his tennis school in India to plan and prepare for 2012.

Nadal is in Indiaiin search of the perfect diet for 2012

“2011 has been disappointing for me. Perhaps releasing my autobiography, Rafa: My story, was the biggest mistake,” confessed a visibly upset Nadal. “I confessed to my fear of the dark and also that my uncle Toni had super powers. Opponents would switch off the light in the locker room and tell me that not even my uncle could save me. I would scream and yell in fear, but no help would come through. It led to a strained relationship with my uncle.”

“Eventually, I lost it all by the time Federer and Tsonga toyed with me in the ATP World Tour Finals in London. My game had become weak and lacked spice. I was beaten to pulp and I wanted vengeance. I saw Gladiator twice that night to psyche myself up. Once is usually enough. This time, no use! That’s when I ran into Mahesh Bhupathi, a Telugite, and a connoisseur of Andhra food. He jokingly suggested that I try the Hyderabadi Biriyani that he was eating to try and bring back some spice into my game. His actor-wife, Lara Dutta, urged me to watch Tollywood movies to learn vengeance!”

“Those of you who have read my autobiography will know that my Mom has taught me not to be rude to people even if they were rude to me like Lara Dutta was. I smiled and helped myself to a serving of the biriyani and headed out for a hit. And hit them I did like laser beams! All of a sudden, I could sprint like Usain Bolt, paint the lines like Picaso, and even slice a ball into two! I knew I had stumbled on to something!”

When asked on his plan for his duration of his stay in Anatapur, Nadal said, “I am here to prepare myself for the diet. I have just taken to Hyderabadi biriyani and now I have pasta and pizza with gongura pachadi. I also love aavakai pachadi and hope to graduate to having full Andhra meals by the end of November. ”

“Samarasimha Reddy is my favourite vengeance movie these days. I’m also eagerly awaiting the release of Panjaa to psyche myself up for the new year. I also am learning to pacify all the anger with calm and touch. I am travelling to Chennai every second day to practice with the touch artist Ramesh Krishnan. If ever anyone clocked the speed of groundstrokes, Ramesh Krishnan would be 50% slower than the slowest one you could find. He is tutoring me his slice. I’m still getting to be slow, but Ramesh’s slices reach me only the next day. It is a strategy I will use to irritate Djokovic and others in 2012.”

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Australian Open 2011: Courage Under Fire, Schiavone vs Kuznetsova

Posted: January 23, 2011 by rjsays in Australian Open 2011, Tennis
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Rajat jain

Head of Tennis, CouchExpert

23 January 2011

The scoreboard says 11-10 in the third set, Francesca Schiavone to serve for the match. The timer reads more than four hours—only minutes away from the longest women’s singles match in a Grand Slam.  But she is looking sick. She has her hand on her heart, trying to control her breathing rate. And at 29, after playing more than four hours of physically draining match, you cannot blame her. She calls for the trainer and takes a medical timeout—that when she was serving for the match.

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Francesca Schiavone

After her three minutes, Svetlana Kuznetsova called for her trainer too and treat her foot. She had already called for a trainer at the end of the second set, to work on her blisters—she had played the entire third set suffering from blisters.

Before this moment, Schiavone had already saved six match points, and squandered three break point opportunities at 0-40—one of them by tipping over the net while successfully reaching to a Kuznetsova volley! The drama had already reached its unexpected proportions.

And yet, Kuznetsova, the mental widget stroke two courageous forehand winners to keep the match alive at 11-11. And astonishingly, they continue to hold for six more games as the match gets to 4:21 hrs making it the longest match in women’s history. And unlike the men’s longest match—the famous Isner-Mahut saga—it was not a serving contest. They could not serve big, in fact, their serves were in the 120s and 130s by then. It was an excellent display of all court tennis.

They approached the net a total of 126 times out of 358 points played—more than once every three points. And each of those net approaches were constructed brilliantly by heavy hitting from the baseline, and using intelligent approach shots. Kuznetsova was hitting her forehand better than I have seen, and Schiavone’s defense was unparalleled. It was commendable how she was handling the heavy Kuznetsova forehand with her one handed backhand, and returning it back with interest. When she was made to run around the court, she used her supremely cupped slice backhand—one of the best in women’s game, probably better than even Justine Henin—to get back in the rally, or even gain the upper hand by creating ridiculous angles which left a scrambling Sveta reaching for the ball.

At 14-14 with a break point, Schiavone had to reach away two great volleys from Sveta to earn the break, twisting her calf muscle in the process. A trainer was again called to rub her muscles and two minutes later, she was back hustling around the court, and watched to her dismay as Sveta saved two match points of her own. Schiavone finally hit a service winner out wide to earn her third match point, and ended the next point at the net to achieve a well deserved victory.

Four Four Four. Read the timer—at four hours and forty four minutes, Schiavone finally got her reward—tired legs, fatigue and a quarter final clash with the world No. 1 Caroline Wozniacki.

Women’s tennis has come under a lot of criticism, with the absence of Serena Williams, injured Justine Henin, a slamless No. 1, and one-dimensional baseline bashers. This match was anything but that. I hate to use superlatives, especially right after an emotional match, but I have to say this was the greatest women’s match I have ever seen. But it was played between a 30 year old and a 26 year old. We have yet to see such variety from the women in their teens or early twenties.

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Australian Open ’11: Men’s Draw, Preview and Analysis

Posted: January 15, 2011 by rjsays in Australian Open 2011, Tennis
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Rajat jain

Head of Tennis, CouchExpert

15 January 2011

 

Another season starts, and brings with it lots of questions and expectations. Will Rafael Nadal bag his fourth Slam is at the top of this list, with the expectations from the reinvigorated Roger Federer, who recently paired with Paul Annacone and had an excellent fall 2010, not far below. Novak Djokovic has given enough to his fans to look forward to after his runners-up performance at New York (and Melbourne is place where he has bagged his maiden major), while Robin Soderling (surprise, surprise! In a repeat of last year, Andy Murray doesn’t find himself at No. 4 at Melbourne) expects to increase his cushion in the top-4 by gaining points even if he wins his opener.

Andy Murray, and Great Britain, is still in search for his elusive feat, while the other Andy, Roddick, says he has never been more motivated. There is a small matter of Juan Martin del Potro coming back in the circuit, while Nikolay Davydenko performed well at Doha too.

Lots of action await, and the year’s first Slam is due for a major surprise this year. The last two years had surprisingly predictable finalists considering the history of this court to produce dark-horses (Thomas Johansson, Rainer Schuettler, Marcos Baghdatis, Fernando Gonzalez to name a few) and Melbourne cannot get third time lucky. The distorted seedings due to injuries will make the earlier rounds very interesting, and to add to the unpredictability, we’ll have the wrath of rainfall too, adding the unnecessary breaks in between and spoiling player’s rhythms.

Amidst all this, a draw analysis is an indispensible part of the event, whether important or not, differs with one fan to another.

Rafael Nadal’s Quarter

Promises to be a blockbuster. Right from the start, we will revisit an old rivalry—Lleyton Hewitt vs David Nalbandian. While they are more famous for being the two counter puncher finalists at Wimbledon, it was the last time at Melbourne, when they played an epic, which went 9-7 in the fifth. Both men have lost their firepower since then, but this promises to bring back some of it—the war of two great return of serves, and two great backhands.

Other than this highlight opening round match, this seems to be a fairly routine draw for Nadal, with compatriots Feliciano Lopez expected in the third (Lopez can only trouble Nadal on a fairly fast surface, and given that he was unable to even break him at New York, Melbourne should be a breeze), and David  Ferrer expected in the quarter finals. Ferrer has troubled Nadal in past, but that was way back in 2007 where he was having the year of his life, and Nadal was …. well, not quite the Nadal we know today. He may be very well troubled by Marin Cilic, though, even if he is out of form. He likes Melbourne, and would be hoping to repeat his semifinal performance this time around.

Richard Berankis is the kid to look out for after having a great season last year to spring himself in the top-100 and earn a place in the main draw. Michael Llodra, who brought Paris Masters to life last year, is also the one to look out for, even though he may not like the slower surface here.

First Round Matches: Hewitt vs Nalbandian

Dark Horse: David Naldandian

Semifinalist: Rafael Nadal

 

Robin Soderling’s Quarter

Or if we want to go back to the routine top-4 we have enjoyed for most part of the past two years—Andy Murray’s quarter. This also promises to be the most exciting quarter of them all, with lots of potential upsets on card, and a great chance of a dark horse to emerge. Both the top seeds expect to have smooth sailing for the first three rounds, and things will start getting explosive by then. Murray might get any one from the former finalist, Baghdatis, Melzer, or ….. del Potro, who finds himself nicely hidden in the draw. Soderling would also find it difficult in round four, with any one of Tsonga, Gulbis or Dolgopolov opposite his net. There are also dangerous players in Thomaz Bellucci or Phillip Petzschner lurking around.

All in all, this promises to be a very exciting quarter, and look out for a definite dark horse emerging from here.

Potential matchups to lookout for: Gulbis vs Dolgopolov, Tsonga vs Petzschner, Baghdatis vs del Potro.

Dark Horse: Ernests Gulbis

Semifinalist: Jo Wilfried Tsonga

 

Novak Djokovic’s Quarter

Again, not much to choose from. Berdych has been out of form since ages, Kohlschreiber has enjoyed some upsets in Melbourne, Verdasco achieved a dream run (albeit with a bitter ending) in 2009, Davydenko almost upset Federer last year, while Djokovic has had his own personal problems with the heat and humidity here. Adding up the veteran Ljubicic, and the unpredictable Almagro and Gasquet only add to the confusion. Djokovic might struggle against the fellow Serb Troicki, while Davydenko and Verdasco may light up the Melbourne night in the third round. All in all, your guess is as good as mine.

Potential matchups to lookout for: Davydenko vs Verdasco, Djokovic vs Troicki, Gasquet vs Kohlschreiber (the battle of two one handed backhands)

Dark Horse: Can Davydenko be called one?

Semifinalist: Fernando Verdasco

 

Roger Federer’s Quarter

Federer may not have won as many titles in Melbourne, as he has won in New York or London, but all of his four victories here have been ruthless dominations—in 2004 against Safin, in 2006 against Baghdatis, in 2007 against Roddick and Gonzalez, and in 2010 against Tsonga and Murray. When he is in form, he enjoys this surface as much as, if not more than, Wimbledon or U.S. Open. And given his form over the last few months, it is hard to see any player coming even remotely close to upset Federer before the semis. Sure, Simon may have beaten him twice, but he is half as good as he was in 2008, while Federer is twice as much efficient. Monfils, Roddick, Wawrinka …. All are capable of giving him a scare, but not outdo him in the war of attrition.

Federer is fit, fresh, motivated, match-fit, confident, and on a winning streak. Anything less than something really special will be insufficient to stop this man.

Semifinalist: Roger Federer

 

Semifinals: Tsonga d. Nadal, Federer d. Verdasco

Champion: Roger Federer