Tennis Gabfest

I am SUPPOSE to be working.... Yeah I'm working hard.... working hard to faithfully watch the live televised broadbast of tennis matches,

I've got a dilemma.
DSTV finally televises the WTA matches as well on Supersports 2 (someone must have heard me 'cry-mother-cry-father' about not having women's coverages);
And there's ATP on Supersports 6.
Which to watch? Which to watch?
Having followed the Men's matches for so long, I'm incline towards the Men's matches.

And then evil conspiracy comes to mind....
MAYBE I should go buy the dual-view decoder....
Then I can watch BOTH the Men's AND the Women's matches.
Roland Garros IS coming up....
Then there's Wimbledon....
Then there's US Open...
Then there's the year-end Masters Cup....
And then the many Master-Series matches in-between...
And then and then.... I don't have to work.

It is no big news at this stage that I have my three favourite players - Marat Safin, Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal. I do support Andre Agassi too. Just for the fact that he is the oldest man on the circuit and one of the reigning epic players in tennis history. Just one more win Agassi.... just one more....

It is bearable to watch when your favourite players play in their individual matches and it is clear where my support goes. But what happens when your favourite players are playing against each other? I start climbing sofas and become the biggest traitor of all time - split loyalty. I still can't get my priorities right.

Marat Safin - He is my #1 darling of the tennis circuit. His wit and humour kills me, he has a smile that makes me melt, and he is the biggest on and off court entertainer there is. Bloody hot-headed, hot-handed, hot-blooded... hot-everything, he is the epitome of extremist eccentrics. When he plays well, he plays VERY well. But when he plays shit.... good grief..... he kills me watching him play just like he kills me with his humour. He breaks racquets, curses on-court, makes the most outrageously-ridiculous shots and then leaves you stump on your couch wondering what the heck just went on in his game.

He lost last night's match to a new unseeded 19-year old Spanish player - Almagro. I could not bear watching Safin's lousy game and went to sleep by the second. I was ready to tear the hair out of my head. 4-6, 3-6. Get outta here! Safin has yet to get past 2nd round of any match since he won the Australian Open in January. But that's Safin. You will love him and you will hate him. Unpredictable. Notoriously known as the raging volcano, leaving spectators wondering when he will erupt.

I love him for another bimbotic reason - he is the king of all drama-kings.
Watch him on-court and you will crack up laughing whilst he seethes in anger over the stupidity of his own game.
Standing at 6 ft 4, he has a presence to match his personality.


Roger Federer - I want to see him win on the account that I want to see how many more records he can break. I absolutely love his style of playing. He glides around the court very effectively, his all-court coverage is to die-for, his graceful single-backhand shots, his ability to vary his shots ever so effectively when needed, his ability to win cheap points with his service game, his ability to play on all court surfaces and most of all, he is about the only player that makes tennis look like an effortless game.

He is currently not playing in the Rome Masters Series as he is recovering from some leg injury. It is said that he will be back for in time for Hamburg - just before Roland Garros. I hope so. His absence from the circuit makes the game somewhat bland.

Marat Safin WAS speculated to be Fed's biggest competitor for 2005, possibly the only one who can give Fed the run for the money. But that was before he started losing every damn match after AO, then popped in young Nadal who NEARLY defeated Fed in Miami, and then came in ANNOYING Gasquet who did trash Fed in the quarter-finals of Monte Carlo.... so now, Fed is 35-2 wins against loss for 2005.

So what's on my wish-list for Fed this year?
1. Win Roland Garros to achieve winning all four grand slams in his career. He is not a hot favourite to win this though. As much as he is an efficient all-court-surface player, the Spaniards are bigger favourites to win the French Open. And speaking of Spaniards, guess which clammie boy is receiving the favourite votes for RG? You guessed it! Nadal.

2. Defend his Wimbledon title - if he does this, he would have won Wimbledon three-years running.... Of course I want to see him win this. I want to see him beat Sampras' record....

3. Defend his U.S. Open Title

4. Defend his Masters-Cup Title

5. Beat John McEnroe's record of 40-0 win-loss record....

And that's Federer.


Rafael Nadal - I like this dude for the most bimbotic reason of all time. I think this 19 year old is irresistably adorable. Ha! Ok ok... seriously, he is heck of a good left-handed player who has will of steel. He has just won Monte Carlo and Barcelona back-to-back but I reckon he still has some maturing to do. He has problems wrapping up his game to win. Like in Miami against Federer.... he was two sets ahead, Fed was playing super-lousy with record high unforced errors and it was clearly Nadal's game. But nooo.... mister went into twilight zone and lost the last three matches! It was quite painful to watch him lose that match but fine.... I was happy to see Fed win anyway.

Then came Monte Carlo against Coria. Again, clearly Nadal's game to take. He was two sets ahead then went into lalaland in the third set and fought back in the fourth set.

Sometimes I really wonder about tennis players. There seems to be some Hollywood meets Bollywood drama within them. They have to make life difficult for themselves, drag the game, induce some drama for the audiences and then finally hoorah hoorah, win the game.

I guess the main point is, they won the match anyway. Applause.

Nadal is definitely the next player to watch for. To start with, being left-handed changes the natural order of play for most players. And with Nadal, he plays the forehand with these incredible top-spins that leave players like Federer in an incredulous state of disbelief and helplessness as they find it difficult to read his shots.

Watch young clammie..... up and rising tennis star he is.
And not bad looking too.
Oops.
Signs of paedophile tendency?

Talking about Nadal, has anyone noticed that the orange tank that Nadal wears has sort of become the Spanish tennis uniform? New to orange tank club is Moya (manly-aura) and Lopez (gorgeous eyes). The only non-Spanish player wearing the orange-do is this young Black French player. Still struggling to remember his name. I only remember him as the one who falls and rolls around the court.

I wonder how many more Spanish will catch on with this trend.
Good camouflage on the striking orange clay court perhaps?
Imagine if the Spanish team wears this outfit for the Davis Cup?
Yikes.... ouch!

Definitely better than seeing Serena Williams and Maria Sharapova though. I don't have to comment about Williams choice of outfit which she proudly designs herself. Clearly there's a confusion between feminity and S&M.

Sharapova. Ok. Good looking chick. Great height. Great player. But grunt-o-meter? Spare me! She leaves very little imagination as to how she would be like in bed.

And what's up with that all-pink outfit? The innocent virgin girl look? Spare me. The grunt is bad enough to tolerate and now that pink outfit? Bring out Fendi shades and ear plugs. Damn! I forgot to bring back my Fendi.

I love DSTV.
I love my couch.
Hmmm.... buuurrggerrssss..... balance beer can on tummy....

Work?
What work?
Please try again later.

Tennis talks?
Yes please!
I'm ever-ready for Tennis talks.... but so I realized.... insufficient tennis fanatics.
Ah well.... I will continue to talk to myself....