Maria Sharapova Wins 2nd Major Title

nws,yahoo.com ^ | 9/9/06 | Howard Fendrich

[beyond the sea]

more than a handful is a waste....

;-)

[eleni121]

Bravo Maria...well deserved victory. A superb tennis athlete.

[beyond the sea]

LOL....... your sense of humor is great.

LOL

[beyond the sea]

Yes......... I never saw her play that well. Good for her.

[cloud8]

> We throw change-ups, forkballs, screwballs and other off speed pitches in baseball (and they are hard to hit). Why not in tennis?

I have done it maybe 3 times in 30 years. Throws your opponent completely off guard. My point.

And props to Federer!

[Echo Talon]

yep, there is an old guy that can make like 99.something% of his free throws and he shoots them "granny style"

[beyond the sea]

LOL....... I think I saw that guy on tv about 10 years ago. He sometimes made 1000 or more in a row.

"granny style" --- that's funny!

[Echo Talon]

yea thats the guy, he made like over 1000 in a row or something.. :), thats what we always called it when we were kids, "granny style"

[beyond the sea]

I'm so tired, every time I see you write that I'm cracking up. I shouldn't work 18 hours a day/night.

Take it easy.

granny style ........... LOL!!!

[Echo Talon]

lol! ;) hehe

[garyhope]

" Where's the love for Roddick who is really kicking butt now that Jimmy Connors is his coach? Tomorrow's Men's Final should be very interesting."

I agree and I'm PO'd that Mr. Tiger Woods was sitting in Roger Federer's corner. As far as I'm concerned, Tiger should have been supporting his fellow American, Andy Roddick.

Tiger came across to me as a petty snob. Tiger has the personality of a cipher. Andy is fallible, but human. Tiger is boring.

[garyhope]

"If you saw Sharapova walking down the street in NY, and she wasn't famous, you'd forget about her on the next block."

You're joking or you need your glasses checked. Even in NYC with lots of fabulous women, Sharapova looks GREAT!

Are you kidding,...she's 6'3", 137 pounds and a natural blonde.

Not only does she look great, she's tough, disciplined and determined to play and win. She actually likes tennis, unlike the Williams sisters who just wanted money and wanted to beat "whitey".

The Williams were all about money, not about the game of tennis.

Sharapova, she's the real deal but she's handicapped by her looks for some people.

You would prefer, perhaps a couple of lesbians who look like Mauresmo or Navratilova? Don't forget, Sharapova kicked Mauresmo's butt.

Plus, Kornikova is too short to be a "super model". The real "supermodels" are high fashion models making over $10,000 a day whose names you may not know. Many of them are not "beautiful" but kind of weird or strange looking.

The real fashion world is bizarre and perverse. Sharapova is much too healthy, grounded and real for that.

[jjbrouwer]

I think this link from a Q&A page on the US Tennis Association website may answer some of your questions...

Q: I have a friend and doubles partner who plays high school tennis with me and he has an amazing and consistent first serve (100+ mph). His serve usually forces our opponents to back up way behind the baseline while returning his serves. However, on occasion when he sees that our opponents are pushed far back behind the baseline, he'll throw in a soft underhand serve with plenty of underspin which usually dies after crossing the net. Since our opponents are well behind the baseline they're unable to reach it. On several occasions our opponents have complained about his trick serve and asked him to stop. We've even had a high school coach tell us that it's illegal. However my friend believes that it's perfectly legal and continues to do so, despite the loud objections of our opponents. My question was whether or not this type of serve is legal or not? And what to do if we're accused of cheating during a match?
Rufus - Salt Lake City, UT

A: As long as the ball is hit out of the air, and not after a bounce, then an underhand serve is perfectly legal. In olden times, players always served underhand. In fact, Tim Henman’s grandmother was the first woman to serve overhand at Wimbledon. In a more recent era, Michael Chang, who was suffering from severe cramps, used the underhand serve tactic to startle the seemingly invincible Ivan Lendl during a crucial stage of their match at the French Championships in 1989. So, yes… while it is uncommon, it is certainly legal.
- Bill

[beyond the sea]

.......... see post # 213

[beyond the sea]

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/060912/482/76acbc191cb7458ba8fc99b64fcd424e

[Axenolith]

Woa... Somebody cloned Geddy Lee and left out a chromasome...

[beyond the sea]

but she's till not the best all-around women's player. That'd be Lindsay Davenport

Not any more. Lindsay, over the past five years or so, has become quite the thinking player to go along with her height and shot making. But she was never too quick on the court. (By the way, you know her family has a great tradition playing badminton.)

But her back is beginning to be a problem more often than not. I've always liked her because she's a good girl too.

But, she's a little past her prime because of her health.

Sharapova is just getting smarter and better with each month that goes by. She can only get better in the future, and she wants to.

****

Her game is built largely around her groundstrokes, which are considered to be among the most powerful and cleanly struck in the history of women's tennis. Lack of court speed is perhaps her greatest weakness, mainly because of her size. At slightly over 6 ft 2 in (1.89 m), she is the tallest woman ever to win a Grand Slam singles title. However, she has worked to overcome this by losing weight, overhauling her conditioning program, and becoming mentally stronger. She is an advocate for the mental game, as evidenced by her comments on the cover of "Smart Tennis: How to Play and Win the Mental Game."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lindsay_Davenport

[beyond the sea]

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y221/seven007/Steffi_Graf.jpg

[garyhope]

Thanks, one of the smartest things Agassi ever did was to marry Steffi and have kids with her. How good are THOSE kids going to be able to play tennis?!

There is a GREAT picture of Mary Pierce somewhere on the net of her in a long black dress, with a slit up the side, sitting on a bench on a tennis court with her hair, long and combed back, wearing heels, that is just,...WOW! If you could find it and post it here, all the people that thinks she looks like a man would forget that idea forever.

[beyond the sea]

How good are THOSE kids going to be able to play tennis?!

No kidding .......... and, Steffi's father was a world class sprinter.

I'll look for that pic.