Dunno about autographs but...well, you decide
Why do you think he's covering up "them ears"?? :)
Posted on 09/10/2006 1:32:15 AM PDT by beyond the sea
NEW YORK - Maria Sharapova began the U.S. Open with as much buzz about her sponsorships as her strokes, as much talk about her getups as her game.
She's long insisted she's more about substance than style, though, and now she owns a second Grand Slam title to prove it.
Better on the biggest points all night, the third-seeded Sharapova beat No. 2 Justine Henin-Hardenne 6-4, 6-4 in the U.S. Open final Saturday to add a follow-up championship to her breakthrough title at Wimbledon in 2004.
"I experienced it two years ago, and I knew that I wasn't done," Sharapova said. "I had a lot more in me."
What Sharapova had on this night was a lot more force on nearly every shot, from groundstrokes to serves to returns. She faced only one break point all match, broke Henin-Hardenne three times, and compiled a 20-15 edge in winners.
"She's been a real fighter tonight," said Henin-Hardenne, who would have moved up to No. 1 with a victory. "The better player won tonight."
Quite a concession from the Belgian, who leads the tour this season in matches won (54), Grand Slam matches won (25) and tournament titles (five). She was the first woman since Martina Hingis in 1997 to reach a year's four major finals.
"She didn't give me a lot of opportunities," Henin-Hardenne said.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
Furyk brings it home and Justin winds up right where you said he would.
And Federer ends up right where I said he would. 3-1 though I was wrong about him winning a set 6-0. He had a match point at 5-0 but could only 'scrape' home 6-1.
An *ss kicking? How smug and arrogant can you be?
Andy won the second set and came darn close to winning the third. Yes, the mental got to him in the 4th, but big whoop. Considering the fact that Federer often kills his opponents three sets to zip, Andy did OK. (As well as Agassi did against Federer I might add.)
It's a shame Sampras isn't still around. It would be fun to watch a match between him and Fed. They only got to play once, unfortunately.
* "Like the poet Carl Sandberg's description of fog, Federer comes whispering in on little cat feet. He rarely looks hurried. He hits silky, easy-looking winners from seemingly untenable positions. He seems surprised, even irritated, when he hits the ball out."
* "He's improving as well," said Roddick, "which is scary."
* "James Blake, after losing to Federer in the quarterfinals, called him "the best athlete of our time -- not tennis player, athlete.""
* "He's just a genius with the racket," Navratilova said earlier in the day. "Probably at his best, he was better than anybody else at their best."
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I guess that just about says it all, eh?
;-)
You know, even Tiger seems human at times.
This guy Federer just doesn't seem human.
I think he's could be an android...or a Vulcan.
Federer: Really enjoyed watching him. He's smoooooth.....all the way!!
You know what..... I swear that I have thought the same thing more than once. He is that good...... and he has this presence that almost makes me feel like he never gets "shook" like we regular humans do from time to time in competition.
Maybe I'm listening to "Coast To Coast" too much.
Nevertheless, to me it's a joy to see an athlete play as well as he does, to make the shots that he makes, and to be the gentleman that he is.
I used to play baseball a lot like that decades ago ........... so I really love these incredible sportsmen....... even if he is an alien, android.... or whatever.
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By the way .......... what do aliens' autographs look like? And maybe we should check into Roger's family tree.
You know what..... I swear that I have thought the same thing more than once. He is that good...... and he has this presence that almost makes me feel like he never gets "shook" like we regular humans do from time to time in competition.
Maybe I'm listening to "Coast To Coast" too much.
Nevertheless, to me it's a joy to see an athlete play as well as he does, to make the shots that he makes, and to be the gentleman that he is.
I used to play baseball a lot like that decades ago ........... so I really love these incredible sportsmen....... even if he is an alien, android.... or whatever.
****
By the way .......... what do aliens' autographs look like? And maybe we should check into Roger's family tree.
Dunno about autographs but...well, you decide
Why do you think he's covering up "them ears"?? :)
Keep it under your hat. I won't tell if you don't.
;-)
But he'll want to keep going until he can win the French Open. If he hadn't lost to Nadal in the French final, he would have become the first player since Laver to do the grand slam. (Not including Steffi Graf who did it a couple of times, I think.)
I haven't looked at the rules in awhile, but as I recall, the only requirement is that the player put the ball into the air, then, before the ball strikes the ground, to hit it with the racket so that it hits inside the service box. The rules I saw had no requirement for overhand vs. underhand.
Yep...that surface absolutely 'sux', IMO.
Just another reason to rag on the french.
They should turf over the court with nice grass.
I would suspect so.
If I were younger and played tennis as I did back in the old days (the 60's), I'd drop one of those little dinky underhanded serves in there quite often.
Really ......... what can the returner do with it????
If it is done well (disguised well).... the returner can do little else than to get to the ball ....... and lift it over the net.
Really..... what are your thoughts on this?
Michael Chang won the French Open semi-final against Lendl serving underhand.
LOL, (under-handed serves).
*******
Why isn't it done more often in tennis?
We throw change-ups, forkballs, screwballs and other off speed pitches in baseball (and they are hard to hit). Why not in tennis?
If this is a stupid question by me, it wouldn't be the first time, but it seems that it would actually make the game of tennis more entertaining. Getting those service returners to think about something else has to be great for the game.
is that kinda like shooting a free throw in basketball "granny style/granny shot" ? :)
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