Is Sam Allardyce a lookalike of Meatloaf?

Meatloaf singer Michael Lee Aday

Big Sam aka Sam Allardyce

ATP your finals

There are four slams in a year and the ATP tour ends with the final event which is called Tour finals. For past 2 years it has been taking place at London O2 arena. It is the culmination of the ATP season and the tournament is second only to slams. It is one of the prestigious events and the importance can be gauged from the fact that Rafael Nadal wants to add this to his selection of cups in his already overcrowded trophy cabinet.

Well luckily I happen to be  at the tour finals this year. It is an amazing experience and probably one of the best stadiums to watch a game of tennis. The atmosphere was electrifying and at times it feels that you are watching a giant screen television.

In the morning it seemed as if all the roads or rather trains were going to O2. At the arena Rafael Nadal was practising and there was no way to go in as the courts were surrounded by Rafa's female fans. It seems that Rafa is the only tennis player to have such a big female fan following.

Organisers have done a fantastic job inside the auditorium and even from the top, tennis seemed quite enjoyable. The first match was a doubles match although the quality of tennis was good but the climax and pleasure never reached to it s zenith.

It's all very dramatic inside and at times you get a feeling of watching a cinema with dolby digital sound. The much anticipated clash started with both players arriving on the courts and welcome to Rafa was deafening. It was good to see that kind of recption for any kind of player. There was not too much support for Berdych and it seemed I was amongst three of his supporters amongst the crowd of 17,500 spectators.

Berdych started well to my liking and showed few signs of upsetting the current world no. 1 but the hope faded into disappointment after the first set win for Rafa. Come on Rafa! was the shout coming on between all the points and sporadic ' come on Thomas' shouts from the seat where I was sitting.

Finally I must say that it is a fantastic experience for any tennis fan to be there and I will go there again and again.

Guzzarish: a futile request!

It is high time that Hrithik Roshan should realise that he is no Amir Khan. His strategy of doing one film in a year  is going to ruin his career or rather has ruined his career. There are various reasons behind this but primarily it can be judged on the fact that Amir is a very versatile and creative personality whereas Hrithik has limited repertiore.

Hrithik's last movie (Kites) was also a flop and it was mainly because that his fans or audiences kept waiting for more than a year and when it came out, it was nothing like what was projected by its promoters. The storyline was ordinary, the songs were not long lasting and it lacked that "ZARA HATKE" factor in it.

In my opinion Sanjay Bhansadi is an over rated director. All his movies have been pretty boring. The problem with Bhansadi is that he makes the movies which he wants to whereas Farah and Sazid Khan makes the movies which audiences want to see.

The other problem is that Bhansadi is over creative and puts too many things in his film which makes it  beyond the understanding of common man. If I want to go for a movie then I look for light hearted fun which takes me away from the day to day stress.

Amir Khan's intelligence can be gauged by comparing Dhobhi Ghaat and Guzarish. If Sanjay wanted to make a niche movie on a serious subject, he could have starred someone else than Hrithik or Ash because big names raises the expectations and also effects the financial viability of the project. Kiran Rao starred her own husband and the unknown (less expensive) faces in her movie.

I have serious doubts on the success of Guzarish and it does not bode very well for superstar Hrithik. It is high time that he should work with successful directors and concentrate on thrillers/adventure sort of movies.
For Bhansadi, my advice is that he should stop making movies for audiences, because he really bores us!

Masterchef India- What a let down!

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KliqIs0znMo

Indian media is big on reality issues these days and after copying most of the concepts Akshay Kumar decided to be the host of Masterchef India. I am not saying that it is bad to emulate the other's success as Indian audiences needed to be trated with variety and if a programme is made in Hindi then it will reach to larger audiences. But, what I do not agree to is sensationalising it unnecessarily.

I kind of had that feeling when I watched the intro of the programme given by Akshay. It said something like that Indians think about food even when they are committing suicide. I will call it bankruptcy of ideas to come with such an idiotic punch line.

I have watched few clips of the show and it is no way as interresting as the Uk version. The quality of food is bad, the judges are bad, the comperer is bad and even the participants are useless. The show is focussing more on emotions rather than creativity or quality of food. The alternative should have been to organise the first event by hosting a competition amogst the professional chefs of India and showcasing the talent which is there in abundance.

It is really sad that creative media personnel in India tries to dramatise everything they dish out and the result is a badly baked product who knows it maight be a case of 'TOO MANY COOKS SPOIL THE BROTH'.

My advice to you all is not to watch this crappy show!

Is Amanda Burton a lookalike of Hillary Clinton?

Amanda Burton is a famous British actress mainly known for her role of 'Sam Ryan' in the BBC drama 'Silent Witness'. It might be me only wo thinks that she looks like Hillary or vice versa as Amanda Burton is deifintely much better looking than the former.

I would leave you to decide

Amanda Burton

Hilary Clinton

How long can they keep him out?

I am talking about Manish Pandey. It is not because I am a Pandey and that's why I am talking about him. I wrote an article about him last year when he became the first Indian cricketer to score a century in 20-20 IPl tournament and I am a big fan of him.

Manish is a fearless cricketer and provides excitement in the same vein as Virendra Sehwag does. Although he has a long road to cover to follow footsteps of Nawab of Najfgarh but he desperately needs a Godfather in the selection committee for that dream to realise.

http://www.cricinfo.com/ci/engine/match/412791.html?CMP=OTC-RSS
This is the scorecard from the Ranji trophy final earlier this year. Manish flopped in the first innings but played a gem of an innings while batting second time. Karnatka needing 338 runs to win in the 4th innings were in a precarious position at 46-4. Manish came out to bat and took the bull by horns. He attacked and played his shots and scored a whirlwind century scoring 144 in 151 balls.

It was looking as if Karnatka will pull off an unlikely win but once Pandey got out they succumbed to the pressure of chasing and folded like pack of cards (which often happens in such kind of chases). At that time I thought that selectors might have a look at him but there is always more than what it meets to the eyes...

Batting and fielding averages

	Mat	Inns	NO	Runs	HS	Ave	BF	SR	100	50	4s	6s	Ct	St
First-class	18	28	3	1203	194	48.12	1671	71.99	4	7	161	14	22	0
List A	20	20	1	544	95	28.63	592	91.89	0	3	45	18	11	0
Twenty20	36	34	5	756	114*	26.06	629	120.19	1	2	77	16	14	0

These are Manish Pandey's batting stats till date and he has already scored 4 hundreds in first class matches and all of them have come at crucial times. It wont be an exaggeration but the recent good showing by South Indian team can be owed to the sensational batting of his.

Even in the two matches he played at Champions league T20 he made 44 and 52. Manish has been performing consistently at all the levels and formats he has been given chances so far. I watched his innings of 44 against Lions and he was all out on attack against the quality opposition displaying good variety of strokes all sides of the ground. Manish Pandey's ability can be judged from the fact that it is not easy to score a hundred and he has the honour of scoring one in a T20 match.

Recenlty India played an Emerging player's tournament in SA and there Pandey's performance in t20 was
14 vs SA, 32 vs Aus, 11 vs Aus. Considering these were 20 over matches and some of them were really scoring, it was a decent performance.

1 vs SA, 14n.o. vs NZ, 23 vs Aus (match winning and also cleared the path for the finals) http://www.cricinfo.com/ept10/engine/match/467183.html


It would be intersting to see as how long can they keep him out from the national team. The challengers trophy is going to take place between 8-11 Oct 2010. Manish Pandey is playing for India Red. Watch this space for more on the RISING STAR OF UTTARAKHAND.......

Unsung Heroes!

Leave a comment if you agree or disagree.
Cricket always takes centerstage in Indian sports scenario and that is why the contribution of players like Leander Paes, Bhupati, Somdev and Bopanna goes unnnoticed.  Although India has not produced too many great tennis players however some brave ones have kept the tricolour flying in the international arena, namely Ramanath Krishnan, Vijay Amritraj, Ramesh Krishnan and Leander Paes.

Leander Paes has an exemplary record in Davis cup which is the only tournament apart from Olympics in which players represent their countries. Somehow he becomes a totally different player when he represents the tricolour. I still remember the tie against France in 1993 when he beat much higher ranked opponents Arnaud Botsch, Henri Leconte and also inspired Ramesh Krishnan to pull off a dramatich win against Cedric Pioline.

Now coming to the main story and India has caused a big upset in knocking out much fancier opponents Brazil in a play off tie to re enter the elite world group in Davis cup. I was following it on the news only and was quite pleased to see the results on opening day. Although India lost both the opening singles but Bopanna and Devarman both played out of their skins. They both took their respective opponents to the wire which was a sign that comeback was possible. Thomaz Belluci is top 25 player and Mello is no. 75 at the moment.

On the second day, Paes and Bhupati pulled off a facile win over their opponents as they have been doing quite regularly in the past. Going on the third day it was unlikely that Bopanna and Devvarman had any chances to pull off a win against the Brazilians. Chennai's heat played a crucial role but the credit needs to be given to the team members who despite of their low ranking in the international level defeated the stronger players while representing India.

Congrats to our heroes!

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE68I0WR20100919?type=sportsNews

Behind successful Nadal is another Nadal!

No matter how much I want him to lose he wins more and more. Obvioulsy I am talking about Nadal. I am a die hard Federer fan and nothing gives me more pleasure than seeing Rafa lose however I have started to like him more and more. (but that does not mean I will cheer for him)

Last year I was amongst those who wrote him off saying that he has not beaten a top 10 player for more than 10 months and only loses when he is injured blah, blah, blah. But to be frank what a turnaround this has been! Since the Aussie open Nadal has taken everyone by storm, he looks invincible and is on the road to become greatest of all time.

The year 2010 has been a revelation for Rafa, he has nearly  won 60 matches and only losing 5. In addition he won 3 slams, completed the grand slam, won the French open without dropping even a set. It seems that no one can stop him at the moment, let's see if JMDP will be able to manage that.

There have been several factors in Rafa's phenomenal success in this year:

• His knees are holding up well owed to a new plasma platelet treatment he is undergoing at the moment.
• He has been more selective in choosing his tournaments and also saving his best for the slams. He lost to Lopez at Queens then to Baghdatis at Cincinatti but both wimby and US open saw a totally different Nadal.
• His service has become very potent, specially the one which goes to the side flanks.
• His forehand is more lethal then it was ever before.
• Like always he is probably the player with minimum unforced errors, very compact techinque
• The amount of handwork he has put in to improve on his weaknesses (such as hard court play)
• Behind his success is a very astute tactician and his name is Toni Nadal. 

Toni Nadal as we all know is Rafa's uncle, he has been coaching him since he was four. Uncle Toni has studied history and has coached junior players at Uni in playing tennis. It is really astonishing and admiring that him not being such a successful tennis player has coached someone to become such a strong champion. Rafa's success can be owed to Uncle Toni as he forced him to become a leftie so he can hit a double handed backhand.

A good coach helps player in overcoming the weaknesses and adding potent weapon and can turnaround a player into winning one, Soderling is another example who is coached by Magnus Norman. Well just coaching is not the answer and player also needs to put in the hardwork.  It is just not about the technique part of the game only but the emotional aspect as well. Rafa is the strongest player metnally and every point is played like match point. I think it is this belief only which brought him back from that slump to right on the top.

Finally congratulations to Rafa and Uncle Toni for achieving such a feat. hopefully many more to come.

Dawn of a new era

Federer finally bows out of the US open before making it to the finals but only in the seventh year. Probably Fed's era has now come to an end. There were far too many forehand errors which eventually costed the match.

Full credit to Djoko to come back from 2 match points down to win the match. When asked as how he was feeling during those match points, he simply said that he wanted to hit forehand winners without thinking much as that was the only option available.

It will be the first time in seven years that there will be no Federer in the finals of US open. Novak lost to him all the three times before and the win had to come sooner or later. When you have played an opponent lot of times that gives you a fair idea of the weaknesses of your opponent. Also Federer is not the same invincible anymore and has been making lots of unforced errors recently. In the final game of the match he made 4 unforced forehand errors which never used to happen beofre the Aus open 2010.

Tomorrow is the final and Djokovic has been in the final before when he lost to Federer. Djokovic is a hard court specialist and has a good head to head record against Nadal on these courts. He has also beaten Nadal in the last two meetings in the year 2009, they have yet to meet in 2010.

Djokovic is considered to be the best returner of the serve and in the US open his service has been going good so far. He leads the first serve percentage and has controlled his double faults to certain extent. He has the game to take to Nadal and in my view will win tomorrow's final in 4 sets.

Nadal on the other hand has been very lucky so far as all the tough opponents kept losing before meeting him like Berdych, Nalbandian and Murray. Nadal has worked very hard to adjust to hardcourt tennis and playing at his best at the moment. He has been serving really fast in this tournament which has been the most remarkable change in his play. The biggest advantage Nadal has over other players is his mental toughness and to play his best on important points. The downside is that he has not met a quality opposition so far and Djoko has beaten him before and knows how to do that.

It should be a fanrastic matchup and Djoko has waited for too long to stay in the shadows of Federe and Nadal. His time has come now.

Come on Djoker!

US open culmination of this year's tennis season

US open is the final  grand slam of the year and it will be taking place at Flushing Meadows, New York from 30th of August to 12th of September. There are four slams in a year viz. Australian, French, Wimbledon and US open. Of these Australian is played on slow hard courts, French on red clay, Wimbledon on green grass and American open on faster hard courts.

What makes today's tennis is so exciting and competitive is that there are top four players and top two of them are one of the all time greats. Last year at the same time Nadal was struggling after coming back from knee injury. Apparently he always had that problem because the way he punishes his body but now he has learn to play with it.

Nadal is the king of clay and with grass courts becoming slower too, he is becoming invincible there  however hard courts still need to be conquered.

There are primarily two reasons behind Nadal's lack of success on these faster courts, first he plays a predominantly baseline game in which he keeps defending and throwing the spinning balls at this opponent and secondly mental barrier.


Nadal's baseline moonballing technique is ineffective on these courts as players taller than him and with more powerful ground strokes can hit the ball harder to hit the winners. Same winners Nadal can easily return on the slower courts of Roland Garros and now to some extent at Wimbledon.

Nadal has been coming to Flushing Meadows for past seven years and has only got two semifinals to boast off which is pretty poor as compared to his record in other slams. This has created a mental block and every time he falls behind in the match makes it harder for him to make a comeback. His movement is not very smooth on these courts and he has still not figured it out. Nadal is a clay court specialist but when he plays on quicker grass courts he stands closure to baseline and he has adapted to the transition.

On the other hand Federer is the emperor who has ruled the tennis world for past seven years. He holds the record for consecutive grand slam appearances, quarter final appearances, semi finals, finals and championships. He is an all time great and that reflects in his playing style too. He hardly ever breaks sweat, moves around the court swiftly and his strokes display variety. He has been in the six consecutive finals of the US open and won five out of them. The only loss came against Del Potro in last year's finals when Federer's first serve deserted him in the final set.

Murray and Djokovic are now pretty used to be seeded third and fourth for long time now. One can ask Nadal as he holds the record for being number two player for longest duration behind Federer. On the positive side Nadal is still young and many people hold the view that he may go past beyond Federer in winning number of slams.


Mind you, it will not be an easy task as Federer leads the all time list with 16 slams in his kitty and Nadal has 8 at present. The story goes that after his loss against Federer in the finals of wimbledon 2007, he broke down in the locker room saying that it was his golden chance to win it and whether he will it again or  not. Then Uncle Toni told him that he will defintely win it as he is the no. 2 player and have many more years to come.

Nadal is an epitomisation of belief and mental strength  and it will be foolhardy to not to count him as one of the favourites.

Murray has started to show some hard court form in the recent matches and is coming as one of the favourties to be a winner. The general view is that only player who can stop Murray being a champion is Federer. Djokovic has had a forgettable 2010 so far but he has the calibre to beat Nadal, Federer and Murray on these hard and fast courts.

In summary, it is going to be a very interesting tournament and Federer once again starting as favorite.However reigning champion Del Potro will sorely be missed.

Golden era of Tennis

Leave a comment if you agree or disagree.
This seems like the most entertaining period of Tennis. I managed to watch the Toronto matches and the quality was excellent.

It is always a delight to watch Federer, he hardly breaks sweat and movement on the court is very smooth. His forehands, backhands are lethal but it never seems that he is exerting when executing them. It was good to see him getting one back on Berdych or else it would have been a big big mental disadvantage for him. Berdych is beaming with his new confidence and now has the belief that he can compete with the best. His encounter with Nadal at Cinci will provide some good entertainment.

I have watched Djoko playing before but I was not aware of his ability to change the angles of his strokes with such ease and dominance. I knew that his ground strokes are one of the best but with the ease he was hitting those winners against Fed were breathtaking. Djoko's misfortune is that he always needed to beat either Nadal or Federer to be a winner (same with Murray). Probably that explains lack of grand slams for both of them.

Murray, I have always said that is the heir apparent to Federer. He has a complete game and a lethal backhand which he was not using often till Toronto. His game is flowing beautifully at the moment and if he can keep the newfound aggressiveness then I am sure that we will have a new US open champ this year.

I personally don't like Nadal's game but I do appreciate his mental toughness and the fighting spirit. The guy just not let the opponents win easily. Some of his forehands and backhands have impossible angles. In addition he makes very few unforced errors. It is quite surprising that even without having a powerful serve he has been such a force.

In the beginning of the season I was of the notion that Cilic and Sod will break new grounds but there is a great lack of consistency so far. Berdych should continue to improve his ranking. He has a strong serve and massive forehand as we saw in his matches against federer. I was bit disappointed with his display against Nadal in the finals of Wimby. Probably he was too nervous being in his first final.

Finally, it would be worth to see if JMDP will be the same player after his comeback. GOLDEN ERA EQUALS FEDERER ET AL

Why Sachin is the greatest cricketer of his generation

There are many followers of cricket who are of the view that Sachin is not the greatest because time and again he has succumbed to the pressure and failed to deliver. When I quoted Sachin's innings of 136 against Pakistan at Chennai. I was told that  victories are meant to be real rather than moral.


Well, Sachin played with the back spasm and stood like a rock and was the only one standing assisted by Nayan Mongia. No other batsman made any score in excess of 20 in that innings and when Sachin got out there were only 18 runs needed. India lost the match  by 12 runs and it was a sad moment for the master who gave his everything for the team but was not supported.  some insider told that he was in tears that day. Here is the link 
http://www.cricinfo.com/ci/engine/match/63828.html

Recently, I was sent a blog by some Sridhar guy who was coming up with the fact that whenever Dravid scores India wins and even if Sachin plays good it does not translate to an Indian win and he is merely playing to achieve personal milestones.
(http://sridhar190.blogspot.com/2005/04/sachin-vs-dravid.html)
The blog was written in 2005 and Dravid went through a purple patch between 2003 -2005. During one of those years, he was averaging over 100. All players go through peaks and lows but as they say 'form is temporary and class is permanent'.

Dravid has a poorest strike rate amongst all the greats which hovers around 40s. Some people say that strike rate does not matter in test cricket but in reality it does. As it has been demonstrated by other great players such as Lara, Sehwag, Ponting, Hayden, Gilly and Gavaskar. Yes, Sunil Gavaskar was a prolific batsman in the tests and he could not make the adjustments in his game to suit ODI, however he was the important member of the world cup winning team in 1983 and a batting legend in himself.

When a batsman score freely, it helps in dominating the opposition and taking the game away from them. The recent improvement in India's winning percentage in tests  can be owed to the fact that since the comeback of Sehwag the team has been scoring 300 or more in a day's play ( It wasn't the case when Dravid was opening).

Sirdhar says that Dravid has won more matches for India but the stats say otherwise. Although Sachin has played more matches but this is because of his sheer talent and fitness regime which has helped him in playing for so long.

                              matches innings       runs           avg          100        50
Dravid                    48           78         4415          67.92        12          21
Tendulkar               56          88         4895          67.05        19          17
Lara                        32           52         2929          61.02        8            16
Sehwag                  30                         2700          61.36        6            12
Laxman                  40           59          2783          52.50         5            19
Gavaskar                23           42          1671          43.91       6              7

I don't see anything wrong with the winning percentage of Tendulkar he has won 8 more matches more than Dravid and has scored 7 more centuries. The argument that whenever Sachin scores India loses does not hold well by looking at the above stats.

Lara has a really  low winning percentage because he represneted WI during a weak era but few times he has won match single handedly. The famous 153* at Bridgetown ( http://www.cricinfo.com/ci/engine/match/63839.html)  against a very good Aussie bowling attack is the prime example of it.

Dravid has one inning of significance during his match winning performances under crunch situations and that was in the famous Calcutta test. He also made 72* against Australia in Adelaide victory (http://www.cricinfo.com/ci/engine/match/64060.html) but all Indian batsmen chipped in and the chase was for 250 odd runs.

Sridhar compares this innings of Dravid with the 136 of Sachin's.This 4th innings century was scored on a placid track and Ganguly also scored century in this.(http://www.cricinfo.com/ci/engine/match/63827.html)To play a match winning 153 (Lara) knock is once in a life time and it was the fourth inning.

Sachin almost came close to winning it single handedly at Chennai but was let down by the fellow batsmen. Dravid scored 10 in that match. Sachin made 103* at Chennai against England to chase a record 387, Dravid made 4 in that inning.

Sachin has scored 3 centuries in the 4th innings and 2 of them were epic knocks. Dravid has scored 1 century and 9 fifties but only 72* is of any significance and the century was scored in a drawn match.Sachin has an average of 36.72 in 4th innings which is pretty decent as compared to other greats.

Dravid has a high 4th innings average but then not so great 3rd innings average. Only Indian batsman to have a strong 4th innings average is Sunil Gavaskar, that is why he is also considered among greats and have played plenty memorable knocks.

Dravid's peformance comes in a under big question when playing against South Africa.

                     match      innings    runs    avg      100    50
Dravid          18              34       1132   36.51   2        5
away              8                16       504    33.6    1        2
Sachin            22              39     1415   38.24  5      5
away             12               22      835    39.76  3     3


There is only a difference of 5 innings but Sachin has scored 3 more centuries and better overall average and better away showing. South Africa is the place where most of the Indian batsmen have struggled but Sachin has again shown that why he is the best. And he has done it on consistent basis.

Ricky Ponting has better winning percentage and even slightly better 4th innings record owing to the fact that there were batters like Hayden, Gilly, Langer, Waugh were around him. Ricky has a terrible record in India and same goes for Lara. Ricky made 17 runs in 2001 final frontier series and his average in India hovers around 20. He does not oozes the same confidence against Bhajji (maaki scandal one) and has been taken out by him maximum times.( Ricky is Bhajji's bunny)


All the batsman have their fallings so blaming Sachin for India's losses is lack of cricketing knowledge. Writers like Sridhar use the stats to their advantage.(http://sridhar190.blogspot.com/2005/04/sachin-vs-dravid.html)

Sachin has a respectable home and away record, he has performed well against the top bowlers and top teams. Shane Warne, Glen Mcgrath, Murli, Wasim Akram, Imran Khan they all  agree witht he fact. Sachin is the highest run scorer in the world cup one day matches and he is holding that record since Miandad retired.

He is a complete player who has the ability to succeed in all formats of game. One person told me that I can count Sachin's memorable innings on finger tips. Well, that's very good because public memory is short and it is hard to remember stupendous performances. I always remember Sachin's knock against Pak in 2001 world cup, his knocks against Austalia in Sharjah, his bowling in Hero cup semi finals. To prove his detractors wrong once more he has been awarded best batsman in IPL 3. Sachin has been playing for 20 years and it is really amazing to see that how he has maintained such high order of play.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SACHIN!

Cilic proving to be a dark horse

Leave a comment if you agree or disagree.
In my pre tournament predictions I put Cilic as a dark horse, it is really good to see him coming off an age.

When he lost to Delpo at U S open last year, not many took notice of him but he has a powerful and varied game which means that he would be a contender for top 5 sooner or later.
I am not too sure if he can go all the way, as looking at the way current proceedings Andy looks very good and his game is flowing really well.

I missed the first 2 sets but in the third turning point was Cilic getting the break back from DelPo by virtue of a double fault. It was interesting to see how Cilic outplayed Delpo. It seemed that he was playing Delpo more on his backhand plus Cilic returns of serve are pretty good.

at present Cilic vs Murray semi looks very much on the card. Andy vs Nadal will be another cracking match.

On the predictions OP very few people have given chance to Verdasco of beating Davydenko but I think Nando might sneak through. let's see what happens.

My predictions for Australian open 10

Leave a comment if you agree or disagree.

This is a picture which has saved in the RAM of tennis fans,  Federer crying after his loss at Australian open. Many Nadal fans said that this was a shameful event and men don't cry, well I disagree. It is lot of hardwork to win a slam and if one misses it by such thin margin then it is going to hurt. To  those Nadal fans that he never cried, well he did when he won the Wimbledon in 2008.

As I  wrote befor that men's tennis have never been this exciting before and I am quite enjoying it. Federer is still the top player closely followed by a pack who is waiting to dethrone him this year. Nadal is going out of favour as he has not managed to win a masters since April last year and subsequently  has failed to beat a top 10 player since French open last year.


Djokovic was looking good at the end of last year but his start in 2010 is not looking very promising. Del Potro finished strong 2009 but has not played at all in 2010. Andy Murray showed so much promise at the beginning of the year but failed to turn up  at the grand slams.

Soderling is an upcoming player and he has shown that on his day he can beat any player in the world. People who  said that beating Nadal was a fluke had to eat  their words as he managed to  beat Federer after losing 12 times in  a row to him. Davydenko had a phenomeonal run at the end of 2009 which he has carried to 2010 as well however it has been some sort of history that Doha winner comes cropper at Australian open.

To conclude I think Federer, Murray and Del Potro  are favourites and the dark horses in my opinion are Marin Cillic and Robin Soderling.

Sad state of Indian sports

Leave a comment if you agree or disagree.

I was going to write an article on Australian open tennis and then I cam across the news of Abhinav Bindra who because of some egoistic govt  official will  not be able to take part in commonwealth and world championships. This is a serious blow, firstly we hardly have medal winning soprtsperson and secondly we have meted out this treatment to the one who has won our first individual gold medal in the history of olympics.

Few days ago, I read on one of these blogs that being good in sport reflects the power of a country in the world arena.  When Soviet Union and US of A were winning medals in plenty at olympics, they were the 2 supreme powers in the world and now with the rise og Chinese supremacy it is apparent that they are becoming one of the powerhouses of world economy.

To add to this insult we just had hockey fiasco hardly a week ago. We used to be the champions in world hockey but thanks to nepotism which is evident in every walk of our life as Indians that we finished last in olympics and world cups and then we even failed to qualify for olympics. I do not think there is dearth of talent only thing which mars Indian sport is nepotism, lack of facilities and lack of  political will.

I just hope that as a true Indian someday all these things will get sorted out and we will produce more champions and just not in cricket. Cmon India  chak de......

New order in men's tennis

 I watched the whole match last night and also participated in the ongoing debate on 606. I must say a very close match and delpo just managed to sneak through throught the skin of his teeth. sod did have a fantastic chance when he broke delpo's serve but delpo got it back in the next game and upped his ante when it needed the most. at current form, delpo is going everything for him which comes from the fact that he is good in winning points when it matters most. for a matter of fact, delpo has the second best record as debutant in men's tennis. (best is nadal)

just a question that are all the fed fans also sod fans by default? any thoughts?

what my perception is that soderling is as good as delpo, esp on indoor courts atleast. his serve was better than delpo's. he hit more aces and did dominate series of play at one point of the match. delpo on the other hand as put by many has the ferocious forehand, big serve and powerful strokes. only ting which seprated these 2 last night was the performance at crucial points. delpo being a slam champion had more confidence in his abilities. in the latter stages of the match sod even handled delpo's serve quite remarkably.

the season next year will not be starting from the same point anyway. as wehave seen this year, the form fluctuates throughout the year. andy started the year with the bang, then it was nadal, followed by federer, delpo, djoko and then again delpo.

as a neutral and follower of game, i still think that murray will be stronger in the year 2010. people who say that he is weak mentally that s not true. i have seen few of his remarkable performances. he was dead and buried against gasquet (wimby08) and he played phenomeonal tennis to come back and win that match.

in my opinion it will stay neck to neck between delpo and nadal. fed to stay strong force atleast in the first half of the season.

Nadal slipping further,,

Leave a comment if you agree or disagree.
When Nadal won his sixth slam before reaching the age of 22, many were saying that he will break Federer's record of winning slams. On reacting to this statement one person on 606 said that his son is 3 years old and he has already started holding the racket. He said that he reckons that his son will be a greater player than Nadal.

Winning slams at young age is no guarantee that a player will keep on winning them. To be frank, people who keeps referring to H2H record between  Nadal and Federer and stating that Nadal is a better player, must understand that it is not the only criteria. One can be a nemesis to a certain player because of psychological edge, tactical abilities or may be the way they play their game.

In reality most of Nadal's wins against Federer  have come on clay court which is the most favourite surface for him. On watching Nadal I always felt that he puts too much effort into his game and this is one of the reasons why he is getting injured more often compared to Federer. On the other hand even on days when Federer is grinding it out or stretching to cover court, it never feels as if he is making a lot of effort. On his defeat against Del Potro, a poor percentage of first serve proved a major factor in the end.

In my opinion, losing to Federer at Madrid open was the beginning of end of Nadal's regime and he has hardly won anything after that.

Looking at the picture now, it looks very unlikely that Nadal might be able to win more slams other than the French open. ( only and if only, he does not play Soderling again!)

Will Federer prevail again?

Leave a comment if you agree or disagree.

Tennis season is reaching to its climax. It was a tumultous year which saw Murray starting with a bang and continued his climb on the ranking charts then it was Nadal who again proved nemesis of Federer and clinched the Australian open in a humdinger. After that it was an unknown entity Robin Soderling who brought Nadal's juggernaut to a screeching halt and old order of play was restored.  Federer won French and Wimbledon and got reinstated as no 1 and one of the greatest in the history of tennis.


Male tennis has never been this exciting before  since I started to follow it, although Federer is still ruling but there is tough competition going around for all the places. Nadal is back but has slipped to no 3 and is not at his competitive best because of the layoff. Murray is on rise but the big events and playing close matches is still not his forte. Djokovic is getting his rhythm back after being an non entity for most of the season. Juan Del Potro is the star in making and is here to stay. Roddick played like a possessed soul  during Wimbledon but has not shown the same form again.

My first choice for winner is still the KING FEDERER but he is closely chased by the pack and Murray and Nadal enjoys a good record against him. I still have my doubts about Murray and he has a tough draw. He has to face either Nadal or Del Potro in the semi final and even if he wins that match it wont be an easy one. This means that he will be drained out for the final match. Federer avoids both Nadal and Murray till the finals if he continues to play like he is playing now then there is no stopping. If Djokovic beats Federer in semi final then title is his as his style of play does not suit either to Murray or to Nadal.

Let's wait and watch and see how the event unfolds........

Sourav Ganguly- the revolutionist and a visionary

Sourav Chandidas Ganguly would be remembered as one of the greatest captains in Indian cricket history. His cricketing greatness got overshadowed by the presence of other contemporary legendary batsmen in Indian cricket teams in the form of Sachin, Dravid and Laxman.

I remember when Sourav first donned Indian colours and it was the tour down under. He was given a chance to play in One day International match against Australia, he scored around 14-15 runs and gave his wicket cheaply. There was this rumour that he had been selected because of the influence of his father. I also remember the RAMU joke, which was that Sourav refused to be 12 man and said that- YEH KAAM TO HAMARE GHAR ME RAMU KARTA HAI. Well, I was not surprised when he got dropped from the team. I thought of him as one series wonders like many in the past from Bengal such as Arun Lal, Ashok Malhotra etc.

After 4 years of anonymity Sourav was given another chance but this time on the basis of his first class performances! He announced his first comeback with a thumping thud and scored a fluent debut century at Lords. Dada had arrived- Prince of Bengal had silenced his critics and sort of indicated that he is hereto play a long innings this time. Sourav's batting thrived on offside domination and I think if one sees the runs scored by him then more than 70% would have been scored on the off.

Well, the biggest contribution of Ganguly to Indian cricekt was to turn Indian cricket team to a fearless unit which could give it back to dominating teams especially Australia. Steve waugh dubbed it as a last frontier and wanted to win in India badly but Sourav was waiting for him. Steve waugh said in his autobiography ' OUT OF MY COMFORT ZONE' that Ganguly was late for toss 7 times. Steve claimed to be a master of mental disintegration but here it was Ganguly who was giving it back that too in style.

Ganguly's masterstroke in 2001 series against Aussies was to pick unknown Harbhajan to more favoured Shrandeep singh. I think bhajji was only 18 or 19 at that time and haven't played much cricket till then. It proved to be a calculated gamble, Bhajji demolished the touted batting line up. He took a hat trick and got Ponting 5 times in his 6 innings. Gilchrist only scored 19 runs after his century in the first innings at Wankhede. In the epic test at Calcutta Laxman decided to play innings of his life and then Sachin and Bhajji delat the lethal blow. Well, Sourav inflicted Steve Waugh his first defeat in 16 tests and that is a cherished moment for any Indian cricket fan.

In my opinion Sourav inculcated a belief and desire to win in Indian contingent. He was unorthodox but calculative at the same time. He nurtured young players and showed faith in them. He also showed others to not to take India lightlty and his response to Flintoff's antics at the Lord's balcony was the most unexpected one. But, it did give a strong message that Indian cricket is evolving and it does not need pushing around..........

Why Federer is the greatest?

This is one of the most controversial debated topics these days. Federer by winning 15 slams have fueled this debate further more. I remember exactly as how I started watching Tennis. It was year 1985 and we were traveling from Jammu to Haldwani. I was starting to realize world around me in a better and clearer perspective. Book stalls at Railway stations always created an impression on young people's mind. I used to get attracted by them. The book stall at the station had the magazines laid out neat and colourful way to say that come and buy us. I always wanted to know as what was inside those magazines. My father bought me a SPORTSTAR to quench my thirst for curiosity regarding sportsworld and to make my train journey more enjoyable. It had Steffi Graf on its cover and her achievements at the age of 15 in the tennis world.

In my view, Graf could be the most popular tennis player in India and had a big hand in making that sport popular. She and Becker always remained my favourite players owing to the fact that both of them had kind of flair and charisma in their game. Becker and Edberg dual were treat to watch during Doordarshan days, when we only had the option of watching semis and finals. I always enjoyed watching tennis specially the grand slam events.

Winning a slam is a dream for every tennis player and winning all 4 of them is like achieving the improbable. Women tennis has been more dominated by star players for longer periods than mens. Margaret court won 24 slams and Steffi 22. If you compare this to men tennis then Federer's 15 are the maximum won by anyone in the history of the game.

Let's come to the fact that why Roger can be termed as Greatest of all time (G.O.A.T.). First, the guy plays swiftest tennis on a tennis court. I have not seen anyone else to move with such elan and ease. He is a persona dignified. I don't remember any instances when he had a spat with his fellow players or umpires/officials.

Today's game is all about power but Roger proved that skills make the tennis much more watchable and enjoyable. His forehand is one of the devastating owed to the fact that he creates acute angles while hitting it. At one stage Roger's forehand was nonreturnable on any type of surface. He has always behaved on the court and if you watches his matches, he never grunts or shows desperation on the court. His serve is not all about power but the consistency, he has one of the finest records in tie breaks and it is almost a certainty if the set goes to a tie break, he will win it. Even the big servers like Roddick, Karlovic have failed to win tie breaks against him.

The way Roger plays, he has proved to be one of the most fittest player of all time. He has not missed a slam since he has started playing them. His records in slams reads like this 33 slams, 21 semis, 20 finals and 15 slams. This is the reason that lots of pundits have agreed to the fact that he is the greatest. It is his sheer consistency by which he has managed to perform again and again at highest level. It is another astonishing fact that during his 33 slams he never had his trainer out on the court and never surrendered a match!

Well, some people might say that that Rod Laver could have been the greatest but I can not argue that fact as I did not see him playing. All the players I have watched from 1985 till now, I can say with utmost confidence that Federer is the greatest.