Looking For Love In All The Wrong Places

London's The Sunday Times writer Lynn Barber is most famous for being played by Carey Mulligan in the 2009 movie, "An Education", for which Mulligan received an Oscar nomination, but that's not what got Barber death threats last week. No, Barber's famous tales of sleeping with lots and lots of men didn't raise the world's ire, but her recent interview with Rafael Nadal did. The most controversial item in the interview was Barber's hint that Nadal might be gay, but the main jist of the piece was that Nadal is "over-handled" and is leading a bizarro, strangled life of all work and no play. And by no "play", Barber is talking about a sex life. Barber pondered many times in the article how a young, vital 25 year-old can survive without sex, but of course, Barber is only speculating that Nadal is nookie-free. Nadal supposedly has a girlfriend, but no one outside of his very tight inner-circle knows the truth. Anyway, the world-wide fans of Nadal, who just won his sixth French Open title, went beserk, threatening Barber's life and coming to a quick and spirited defense of their idol.

It's funny that Barber's article was published when it was, because after watching Nadal's French Open win last week, we caught ourselves thinking, "Why can't we get more excited about this guy?". We're certainly not about to go down the ill-advised path that Sports Illustrated Magazine trod back in the 1980's with its famous piece on Ivan Lendl, (click here), but we can't help but see the similarities between Nadal and Lendl. Back in the 1980's, the Connors/McEnroe tennis era, which electrified American sports fans and helped to make tennis incredibly popular in the U.S., was coming to an end, and in its place came a new champion, Czechoslovakian Ivan Lendl. Lendl was a great champion, but to say that he played with no emotion and no fireworks is an understatement. He was the embodiment of the stereotype of the robotic Soviet-bloc athlete who wins his games, but in the process wins no fans. To Americans, who like their sports heroes to wear their hearts on their sleeves, Lendl was the anti-Christ.

And now comes Nadal, who plays with a similar machine-like attitude with little emotion. Yes, he jumps in the air and pumps his fists, but other than that, he has absolutely no personality. Unlike other sports stars like Roger Federer and Tiger Woods, Nadal appears in no American t.v. commercials, and he barely speaks to the press. Part of the reason for Nadal's silence is the fact that he struggles to speak English, but even when he does, he has very little of interest to say. Now we're not about to say that only bright, shiny objects catch our attention; we don't need our sports stars to rant and rave, ala John McEnroe, for us to love them. We were big fans of Ivan Lendl back in the day, and he barely even smiled. But an athlete has to do something to endear himself to us, and so we're sorry to say this, but for all of Nadal's success, he just bores us. In fact, there are times when we don't even like him.

Maybe Nadal's lack of popularity in America has something to do with the era in which he's playing. When Lendl played, he proved to be the perfect antithesis for the much fierier McEnroe; in other words, for all those people who wanted to see the spoiled-brat McEnroe get his come-uppance, Lendl was our savior. But when Nadal wins, he more often than not ruins the storyline that most people want to see. Among the top four men in tennis, everyone wants to see Federer win to see how many more Grand Slams he can win; they want to see Andy Murray win to become Great Britain's first tennis champion in eighty years, and they want to see Novak Djokovic win because he's just so darn funny and likable. So when Nadal defeats these guys, instead of receiving the love, he instead earns scorn for ruining the storybook ending we would rather have seen.



It's a shame, because Nadal himself is very likable. He might be a little OCD, and the butt-picking is more than we can take, but the way that he shows concern for his opponents right after he crushes their dreams is genuinely touching. And the fact that he modestly refuses to believe that he is better than Roger Federer, even though he routinely beats him, is a sign of inspiring maturity. But for some reason, it just doesn't work. We just can't work ourselves up to love Nadal, or to cheer for him to win. Maybe one day it will all change; maybe the storyline will shift, and Nadal will become the underdog for whom we'll cheer. But it's going to take a lot for that to happen, and at this point, we wouldn't count on it.

Same Story, Different Day

Well, we thought we were going to see something different at this year's French Open. Novak Djokovic was having the tennis year of his life, even beating Rafael Nadal twice in the finals of clay court tournaments, Nadal was a little shaky on clay for the first time in his career, and Federer was safely out of play in the rare, (for him), #3 position. So the dream story was being written; everyone was hoping for a Djokovic/Nadal French Open final where Djokovic might just do the unthinkable: beat Nadal in the finals.

But it was not to be, and in the end, we reverted back to the same old script of the past few years, with unfortunately, the same sad, disappointing result. Federer defeated Djokovic in the semi-finals, and then met Nadal in the finals today where Federer did what he always does, he just folded under the pressure and just went away. Federer started off the first set like a man possessed, totally controlling the match, racing out to a 5-2 lead. But then, as he always does against Nadal on clay, he just disappeared before our very eyes. Fucker! Nadal won the next eight games in a row, and went on to win the match in four sets. With his victory, Nadal won his sixth French Open, tying the great Bjorn Borg with the most all-time wins at Roland Garros.

We'll never understand how the greatest player in the sport, Federer, can just completely fold against only one player, Nadal, on only one surface, clay. And Federer disappointed us twice this week, first by interrupting the better story which would have been a Djokovic/Nadal final, and then, second, by losing so quickly, once again, in the final. But now that we've gotten our anger out at Roger, we can give him a little credit. He has made the finals of the French Open four times, which would arguably make him currently the second best player on clay, and certainly in the top ten of all time, and he's not the only great player in the sport to have an career achilles heel. McEnroe, Connors and Sampras never won the French, Borg never won the U.S. Open, and Lendl never won Wimbledon. Federer did win the French in 2009, just not against Nadal in the final. So even though Roger definitely disappointed us in the past couple of days, he's still probably the greatest player of all time, and nothing will ever take that away from him. Okay, now, everyone feel better? Right, now, on to Wimbledon!

A Different Kind of History

Well, history is indeed being made at this year's French Open, but not the kind we expected. We really thought Novak Djokovic would extend his unbeaten win streak for 2011, not only breaking John McEnroe's 1984 record of a 42-0 start to a year, but would also win his first French Open title. Wrong.

Unfortunately for Djokovic, it seems that Roger Federer didn't like the fact that he's been considered an afterthought for most of this year, and he took out all his frustrations yesterday in the semi-finals on Novak. Federer beat Djokovic in four sets, ending Novak's win streak at 41 straight matches, and set up another Federer/Nadal Grand Slam final.

What was unusual about the match was the emotion with which Federer played. Always stoic, always one to keep his emotions bottled up on the court, Federer was in rare form yesterday, screaming and yelling at times, leaving no doubt to the thousands of crazed, screaming French fans that this match meant a lot to him. And when he won, Federer held up a "#1" finger, wagging it in the air, almost to say to the tennis world, "Now who's the best player in the world?" If you missed the match, we're sorry, because John McEnroe and many others commented that it was one of the best matches Federer had ever played; and for a storied career like his, that's saying a lot.

There's a lot on the line tomorrow in the Federer/Nadal final. If Nadal wins, he'll tie Bjorn Borg's record of six French titles, and if Federer wins, it will be his second French, and 19th Grand Slam title overall. But it'll be a tough one for Federer, he's never beaten Nadal at the French Open.

History was made today over on the women's side when Li Na defeated Italy's Francesca Schiavone to become the first Chinese player, man or woman, to win a Grand Slam tennis tournament. Something like 50 million Chinese people were watching the match on t.v. today; something tells us that in about five years, there will be a whole pack of young Chinese girls coming up through the ranks of the tennis world.

One last note on Novak Djokovic's win streak. As we said before, he only needed one more win to tie McEnroe's 27 year-old record, and if Fabio Fognini hadn't pulled out of the quarterfinals with an injury, we're almost certain Djokovic would have had it. It's a shame that he lost the record on a fluke.

The Vampire Sharapova Rises... Where's a Wooden Stake When You Need One?

We're down to the semi-finals at The 2011 French Open, and the men and women seemed to have switched places in the tennis world in the past few years. All through the 1980's and 90's, in the four Grand Slam tournaments of the year, you could almost always count on the top four seeded women making the semi-finals, while the men were all over the place, the top seeds losing in the early rounds, putting some strange, unexpected players in the semis. Now it's flipped; while the top four men in the sport, Djokovic, Federer, Nadal and Murray almost always seem to find their places in the semi-finals, this year's French no exception, on the women's side it's a free-for-all. Today's semifinalists on the women's side of The French Open are the 11th seed playing the 5th seed, (Bartoli vs. Schiavone), and the 6th seed playing the 7th seed, (Li vs. Sharapova). The women's tour is definitely going through a transition period, with the past decade's top players, Serena, Venus, Kim Clijsters and Justine Henin leaving the game, with no younger players yet ready to dominate the next era of the sport.

When it comes to Novak Djokovic breaking John McEnroe's 1984 record of a 42-0 win streak to start the year, it just got a little trickier. When Djokovic won his 4th Round match, his record for the year stood at 41-0. His unseeded, almost unknown opponent in the quarterfinals, Fabio Fognini, looked to be an easy win for Djokovic, which would give Djokovic a tie with McEnroe's twenty-seven year-old record. But then Fognini pulled out of the tournament, which put Djokovic in the semi-finals, but Djokovic wasn't given credit for the win, keeping his record for the year at 41-0. So now to tie McEnroe's record, Djokovic has to defeat Roger Federer in the semi-finals, ouch!, and to break the record he'll have to beat, (probably), Rafael Nadal in the finals. Double ouch. It's a tough haul, but something tells us that Djokovic will do it.

And speaking of the women's side of tennis, would someone, please, for the love of god defeat Maria Sharapova? Watching this woman's game is painful; watching her play actually makes us hurt. Sharapova, who already holds three Grand Slam titles, is experiencing a career resurgence after being away from the game for awhile due to injuries. But she has to be the single most obnoxious player in the sport of tennis. It's not the fact that she loudly barks like a seal everytime she strikes the ball that's so annoying, although that is very annoying, no, it's Maria's
"gamesmanship" which is so torturous. Sharapova is determined to slow the game down, (she plays better when the pace of the game is slow), and so after every single point she takes the maximum amount of time allowed before serving. It makes watching her play even less exciting than watching paint dry. But where Maria deserves a slap on the wrist is when she subtly breaks one of the first rules of tennis, which states that the receiver must play at the speed of the server. In other words, when you're receiving, it's your responsiblity to be on the line, ready to receive the serve when the server is ready to serve. Instead, Maria turns her back on the server after every point, pretending to adjust her racket strings, forcing the server to wait. She's not technically breaking a rule, but the tactic is rude and obnoxious. We're hoping that at some point in their semi-final match that Li Na will go ahead and serve the ball to a back-turned Sharapova and whack her right in the back of the head. It might not correct Sharapova's unsportsmanlike behavior, but it would certainly make us feel better. Come on, Li, we're begging you!

Nearly the Greatest Upset of All Time

Yesterday at The French Open we very nearly witnessed the greatest upset in the history of tennis. Rafael Nadal has played in The French Open six times, winning it five times. If he wins this year, he'll equal Bjorn Borg's record of six French Open championships. To say that he's the greatest clay court tennis player of all time is probably undeniable at this point. Yesterday, he played his first round match against unseeded American John Isner, who became famous at last year's Wimbledon for playing the longest match in tennis history. No problem for Nadal, right? Not so fast.


Isner played what might have been the match of his life, at one point leading Nadal two sets to one. Nadal was in trouble. The match went the distance, Nadal narrowly winning the fifth set at 6-4. If five-time champion Nadal had lost in the first round of Roland Garros, the loss would have been historic and jaw-droppingly shocking. If you ask us, Nadal's shaky play shows that he is clearly rattled by his two recent losses on clay to a storming Novak Djokovic.




On a better note for American tennis, we said last year, (click here), that Shreveport, Louisiana native, Ryan Harrison, might be the future of tennis for a struggling American program. Harrison attempted to get into this year's French Open by winning his way through the qualifying tournament, but he lost. But then when Benjamin Becker from the withdrew from the tournament with an injury, Harrison got his spot. Unfortunately for Harrison, he had to play Sweden's Robin Soderling, who was in the finals of the two most recent French Open's, where he defeated Nadal one year and Federer the next. No one expected Harrison to win, but he did take the second set from Soderling before he lost the match, and he showed remarkable composure and confidence.



Unless something goes wrong in the future, it looks like 19 year-old Ryan Harrison does indeed have all the skills to become the next great American champion. But although Harrison's tennis career is on the rise, we would probably advise Harrison to learn some other languages if he wants to have any friends on the world tennis circuit, because it doesn't look like he's going to have the company of any other American men.

Can He Do It?

The remarkable sports story of Novak Djokovic just gets better and better.

Here's the deal, for all of you who don't follow tennis. For the past decade, Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal have dominated the men's game, with everyone else playing the roles of "afterthoughts", or just slightly annoying people who Federer and Nadal had to beat to make it to the finals of another tournament. First Federer was unbeatable for two or three years, then Nadal finally, slowly figured out how to beat Federer, first on clay, then on every other surface. And so for the past two years, Federer and Nadal have jockeyed back and forth for the #1 ranking. And even though Novak Djokovic was in third place in the rankings behind Federer and Nadal, he was always a very distant third, not really a contender to ever consistently beat the top two players.

And then something happened this year, Djokovic is unbeaten for the year, and has now defeated Federer and Nadal three and four times, respectively. How did this happen, you might ask. Well, Federer got a little older and his invincibility began to wain, and while Nadal had spent so much time figuring out how to take down Federer, he evidently didn't pay much attention to the games of others, namely, Djokovic, coming up behind him. But Djokovic also played a part in gaining his new status as the best player in the game. He matured; he stopped throwing his shirt into the stands after matches, and he stopped imitating the other players to laughs from the crowds. And with his new mental and emotional maturity seemed to come a new maturity in his game.

One week ago, at the Madrid Open, Djokovic did the unthinkable, he beat Nadal on his unbeatable surface of clay, in Nadal's home country, no less. But it was even more unthinkable that Djokovic could beat in today's Italian Open final, which would mean that he would defeat Nadal, the best clay court player in the world, in two clay tournaments, back to back. But he did it. And not only did he do it, but today, he made Nadal look like a struggling amateur.

And, of course, as we've been saying for the past few days, at stake today was Djokovic's unbeaten win streak for 2011, which after today's win, now stands at 37 straight matches. He's only five matches away from tying John McEnroe's record of 42 straight matches to start the 1984 season.

Next up for Djokovic is The French Open, the second Grand Slam tournament of the year, which starts one week from today. All eyes will be on Novak next week in Paris, not only to see if he can break McEnroe's record, but also to see if can win his first French Open. But also going for the win in Paris will be Rafael Nadal, which would be his sixth championship at Roland Garros Stadium and would tie him with the great Bjorn Borg for winning the most French Opens. So guess which two players we want to see in the finals? Oh yeah, let's pray for tennis heaven next week.

Going For The Record

We're nearing the end of the Italian Open Tennis Championship, and Novak Djokovic is, as we write this, in the quarterfinals, and his win streak for the year now stands at 34-0. Djokovic now trails only John McEnroe for having the best all-time start to a tennis year; McEnroe started the 1984 year with a 42-0 record. To overtake McEnroe's record, Djokovic will have to win this week's Italian Open, which probably means he'll have to play Nadal in the finals, and he'll have to make it to the quarterfinals of next week's biggie, The French Open. We're rooting for the very likable Djokovic; he spent all those years in the shadows of Federer and Nadal, so it's satisfying to see him finally break through and take the spotlight for himself, not to mention a possible #1 world ranking.





There's a little jinx danger, though, in comparing Djokovic to McEnroe's fabled year of 1984 and his run of 42 straight matches, primarily because of what happened in McEnroe's 43rd match of that year. McEnroe had never won the French Open, and in his 43rd match of the year, he found himself in the finals of the Grand Slam tournament, with a 2-0 sets lead over Ivan Lendl, who had yet to win his first Grand Slam tournament. It looked like a done deal, McEnroe would win the French, and combined with his later wins that year at Wimbledon and the U.S. Open, would have given McEnroe one of the greatest years of all time in tennis. (He wouldn't have won the Grand Slam because he didn't compete that year in the Australian Open). But suddenly the wheels came off. Lendl came back from two sets down to steal the championship match away from McEnroe, dashing McEnroe's dreams of a French Open title, which no American man had won since 1955, and ended his win streak that year at 42 straight matches. After that French loss, McEnroe won his next 21 matches, which coupled with a win at the French, would have given him a stunning win streak of 64 matches, a record which probably never would have been broken.

UPDATE: Make that 35-0. Djokovic won his match today against Robin Soderling. Djokovic is now only seven matches away from tying McEnroe's record.

The Streak Continues

While most of America's sports fans this week are focused on the NBA play-offs, there's an even bigger sports story brewing in the world of tennis. Tennis has fallen out of favor with American sports fans in the past few years, mainly because there are no longer any American stars in the sport. This week it was announced that no American man or woman would be in the Top Ten of the world rankings next week, the first time this has happened since the pro rankings began in the sport in the early 1970's.

But thanks to players like Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic, the sport of tennis is still thriving, regardless of whether Americans pay attention or not. Federer is slowly beginning to slip from the top of the game, but that's not the big story this week. The big news this week is coming from Novak Djokovic, who yesterday beat Rafael Nadal in the finals of the Madrid Open, Nadal's "home court". All the big Spanish sports stars, former #1 Carlos Moya, soccer pin-up boy Ronaldo Cristiano, and former Wimbledon, U.S. Open and French champion Manolo Santana, were there to watch their hometown boy, but their support for Nadal was in vain. Djokovic's win was an important milestone in his career; it was the first time, in ten tries, that he defeated Nadal on Nadal's strongest surface of clay. But that's still not the big story. The real news is that Djokovic is currently 32-0 for 2011. That's right, no one has defeated Djokovic this year, which means he's won every tournament he's entered, including the Australian Open, Indian Wells and the Sony Ericsson Open. Djokovic's win streak is no fluke, either; he's defeated the other top two players, Federer and Nadal, three times each, (an unbelievable accomplishment), in the course of winning five tournaments. His win yesterday enabled Djokovic to surpass Bjorn Borg on the all-time record of "best starts" for the year; Borg started the 1980 season with 31 straight wins. But Djokovic still trails the all-time record holder, John McEnroe, who started the 1984 season with 42 straight wins. Next up for Djokovic is this week's Italian Open in Rome, where all eyes will be on the Serbian star week to see if he can extend his record-breaking win streak.

T.V. Round-Up

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Over the past few days, it was hard to keep an eye on our regular t.v. viewing, as March Madness was in full swing. And is it just us, or are there more really close games in the first week of the NCAA Tournament than there used to be? Many basketball experts have been saying that there's more parity in college basketball than ever before, and we believe it. In past years of the NCAA tournament, the buzzer beaters didn't occur until the later rounds, now they're happening in the games with the #1 vs. the #16 seeds. And that finish of the Butler-Pittsburgh game was the most bizarre we've ever seen.
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Lost in the madness of college basketball was another sports milestone that took place on Sunday. Novak Djokovic beat Rafael Nadal in the finals of the Indian Wells championship, which clearly cemented Djokovic's claim as the top player of 2011 and puts him in a great place to challenge for the upcoming French Open. He's already won the Australian Open this season and currently stands at 18-0 for the year. Also, Djokovic defeated Roger Federer in the semi-finals, which allowed Djokovic to overtake Federer in the point standings for the #2 world ranking.
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But let's get back to real t.v. We were greatly anticipating Kathy Griffin's new Bravo stand-up special, "Kathy Griffin: 50 and Not Pregnant", which premiered last week. But as much as we hate to say it, it was a disappointment. Griffin's delivery is still razor-sharp, but the material in this special was mostly stuff retread from previous specials, and so the jokes sounded stale. At this point, Kathy Griffin bringing up Sarah Palin and Whitney Houston just doesn't have the same punch that it did a few years ago. We love ya, Kathy, but you gotta find some new celebrity targets and some new material.
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The comedy that definitely did not disappoint was HBO's broadcast of Pee Wee Herman's broadway show, "The Pee Wee Herman Show on Broadway". The broadway show is basically a revisiting of his old Saturday morning show from many years ago, which itself was based on a stage show he performed for many years in L.A. Some have said his material was as stale as Kathy Griffin's, but unlike Griffin's stuff, it's been twenty years since we've seen the Herman man-child in his playhouse. So his material seems fresh again, plus in this most recent show, there seemed to be a few more adult double entendres we don't remember from the past. The show was clever and witty, and we loved it. Our favorite moments included Miss Yvonne's pining for Cowboy Curtis as she applied her make-up, and the death of Sham-Wow. So funny. Looks like we can pull out that Pee Wee Herman Fan Club Membership Card we ordered out of the back of Rolling Stone Magazine in 1982. We're not kidding on that one.
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But maybe the best t.v. moment of the past few days was on last night's "Celebrity Apprentice" in which Star Jones said she "wasn't going to be the boss any longer", to which Nene told her, "Yes, you will." Nene secretly told the camera that Star is not happy unless she's the boss and telling everyone else what to do. Only moments later, Star was back in front of the ladies being bossy and telling everyone else what to do. Nene was off-camera, laughing her ass off.

And Roger Federer Breathes a Huge Sigh of Relief

Shocker at the Australian Open yesterday! And no we're not talking about #1 Caroline Wozniacki's tale of attack kangaroos or Kim Clijsters' public smack-down of Todd Woodbridge for twittering that Clijsters looked pregnant. No the shock of the tournament was that Rafael Nadal went out in the quarterfinals in straight sets to fellow Spaniard, David Ferrer. Nadal was going for his fourth Grand Slam tournament win a row, having won the 2010 French Open, Wimbledon and U.S. Open. No man has won four Grand Slams in a row since Rod Laver last did it in 1969.
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We're disappointed for Rafa, but we're more disappointed for ourselves, and the rest of the sports world who were practically salivating for a Nadal-Federer final. Now the door is wide open for Roger Federer to take his 17th Grand Slam championship overall, which would put him three ahead of the previous record-holder, Pete Sampras, who ended his career with 14.
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Interestingly enough, almost no one doubts that the Rafael Nadal-Roger Federer rivalry is one of the greatest of all time in sports, yet they've only played each other 22 times. This pales in comparison to the other great tennis rivalry of Chris Evert-Martina Navratilova who played each other 80 times.

I'm Shocked, Shocked! That Someone Noticed Me With My Shirt Off!

British fashion model-turned actor Alex Pettyfer has seemingly come out of nowhere to quickly climb the Hollywood ladder of stardom. After just a few previous acting roles, he's about to star in a major movie release next month called, "I Am Number Four", with real-life girlfriend Dianna Agron of "Glee". And it looks like, from this recent pic of his shirtless jog, that Pettyfer is also quickly finding out that with stardom comes not only big film roles and sexy girlfriends, but also paparazzi at every turn.

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Alex might turn to someone for paparazzi advice who's a little more familiar with the spotlight, the current #1 tennis player in the world, Rafael Nadal. After years of dodging the spotlight, Nadal has finally accepted the fact that lots and lots... and LOTS of people want to look at him, and he now seems to be quite comfortable with that attention. Here is another shot of Nadal's recent stint as a model for Armani.

A Star is Born

We stayed up late last night watching the Australian Open, and even though we've been bemoaning the fall of American tennis, it's exciting to watch a match, and out of nowhere, know that you're seeing the future of the sport. And such a new star emerged last night: Bernard Tomic. Tomic, who was born in Germany and whose family is Croatian, but who lives in and competes for Australia, took on the world's #1, Rafael Nadal, last night in the third round. Nadal ended up winning in straight sets, but Tomic gave him all he could handle. With a little more experience, Tomic, who is just 18, will surely take his place as one of the world's top players.
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And just in case you think we're being too hard on how disastrous is the state of American tennis, consider this fact. Since the Open Era of tennis began in 1968, only twice has any American, man or woman, failed to make the quarterfinals of one of the four major Grand Slam tournaments. Excluding three of the early years of the Australian Open in which no Americans even competed, only twice have Americans completely flamed out before the quarters, 2006 Wimbledon and the 2008 French Open. In this current Australian Open, as of today, Andy Roddick is the only American left in the tournament, and if he loses tonight, then we'll have the third time since 1968 in which no American, man or woman made at least the quarters of a Grand Slam. We don't know what we're going to have to do to start growing some new tennis champions, but we need to do it soon. It's bad enough that American youth can't read or do math as well as the rest of the industrialized world, but up until now, we could at least kick their asses in sports.

Thank You, Mr. Armani!

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We just wrote a couple of days ago about the pathetic state of American men's tennis, and in the past two days, it's gotten worse. This year's Aussie championship started with only eight American men making the cut, and now, in the Third Round, it's already down to two, Andy Roddick and John Isner. And no one seriously considers either of those two a threat to win. At least we've still got the possibility of another Federer-Nadal final. But if watching Rafael Nadal play tennis doesn't float your boat, maybe you'd rather just stare at his, uh... jeans in his new ad for Armani Jeans. Game, set, match.

Is It Too Late For a John McEnroe Comeback?

The first major tennis tournament of 2011 is underway, The Australian Open. At left is player Alicia Molik and 1989 and 1990 Australian Open Champion, Ivan Lendl, who assisted a few days ago with the tournament draw.
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We've bemoaned for a few years now the disastrous state of American men's tennis, and this year's Aussie Open is no exception to that sad state. Only eight American men are in this year's championship, and three of them have already exited in the first round, including the 18th Seed, Sam Querrey, and next generation hopefuls, Donald Young and Ryan Harrison. Perennial disappointments Andy Roddick, Mardy Fish and John Isner are the best American hopes for a win left in the championship, and frankly, depending on one of those three for a major win is like hoping for Sarah Palin to win a Nobel Prize. It just ain't gonna happen.
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But despite the fact that American tennis is pathetic, and doesn't look like it's going to get any better anytime soon, we still have one of the greatest sports rivalries of all time to look forward to next week, a hopeful match-up between Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal. And then, there's always the easy-on-the-eyes 31st Seed and part-time model, Feliciano Lopez, who's still in the tournament.

The Greatest Rivalry

Earlier today was the final of the ATP World Tour Finals in London, the annual tournament to officially end the professional tennis year. Only the top eight players in the world are invited to participate, and these photos were taken a few days ago when the players were invited to 10 Downing Street by British Prime Minister David Cameron.
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(robin soderling, roger federer and andy murray)
.Fittingly, the finalists today were Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer, and another chapter was added to the greatest rivalry in sports. Many probably expected Rafa to end his year on an even higher note than what he has already experienced earlier in the year by winning three of the four major tournaments, The French Open, Wimbledon and The U.S. Open. But for all those who are quick to declare the end of the reign of King Roger, not so fast. Federer not only beat Nadal today, but beat him handily. Roger might be nearing 30, but he's got at least five more good years in him, and we're guessing he'll win at least a few more Grand Slam titles.
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On a sadder note, when you look at the photos below of the top eight world players, Federer, Nadal, Robin Soderling, David Ferrer, Novak Djovic, Andy Murray, Andy Roddick and Tomas Berdych, any serious tennis fan must wonder what Andy Roddick is doing in the picture. But true to form, he lost quickly and easily in the prestigious year end tournament. When, oh when, will America once again produce a great tennis champion?
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Oh, and by the way, did David Ferrer miss the memo about the black suit thing?
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We Are The Champions!

On Monday, new U.S. Open champion, Rafael Nadal hit the talk show circuit in New York City, and then posed with his trophy in Times Square. It couldn't happen for a nicer guy; he's a great champion on the court, and off the court, there's hardly anyone more gracious or classy. Go, Rafa!
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In the photo on the bottom right, Nadal makes an appearance at "Live with Regis and Kelly" and poses with Blake Lively. How nice. Now. Who the hell is Blake Lively? Was she a ball girl at the U.S. Open?

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The Changing of the Guard... For Real This Time

Ever since Roger Federer began to dominate men's tennis a few years back, there was the question of how long his reign would last. We might have finally seen the end of it this summer.
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(rafael nadal holds the u.s. open trophy yesterday)
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Rafael Nadal defeated Novak Djokovic yesterday in the finals of the U.S. Open, giving Nadal his first U.S. Open title and his ninth grand slam title overall. With his win, Nadal also became only the seventh tennis player in history to win all four Grand Slam tournaments. The only question, now, for Nadal, is how far will he go?
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Roger Federer first won the #1 ranking in Feb. 2004, and until this summer, had never fallen lower than #2. But with his semi-final loss to Djokovic a few days ago, Federer slipped to #3. And at age 29, Roger's dominant reign might be finally coming to an end. Can he still win another Grand Slam? Absolutely; in fact, he could still win several more. But this is about Nadal. How many more Grand Slams can Rafael Nadal win?
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(federer and djokovic, the winner and runner-up at the 2007 u.s. open)
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At age 24, Nadal already has three more Grand Slams than Federer did at 24, but this is why we think Rafael won't break Federer's record of 16 Slams. Nadal plays a very physically demanding game which is incredibly fatiguing and taxing on his body; he's already had a stomach tear and knee problems. Federer's game is much more smooth; at the end of some matches he looked like he had barely perspired, the result being that Federer has enjoyed a longevity in the game that we don't think Nadal will. In other words, we think Nadal's body will give out long before he can threaten Federer's record. But only time will tell.

Celebrity Vacays 2010

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Yes, celebrities take vacations just like the rest of us, but unlike the sunny headlines of the entertainment blogs which tell you what the celebs are "supposedly" doing, we'll tell you what's really going on.

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Here is Kate Hudson taking a little R&R and reading her next possible film script. What you can't see are the notes on every other page from the producer who sent her the script which say, "You are going to take acting lessons, right? Oh, God, please take some acting lessons." Ouch. And by the way, where are those new boobs she just bought?

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Here is Jessica Simpson celebrating her 30th birthday with her newest boyfriend. They ate at The Cheesecake Factory... they closed it down.

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Rafael Nadal on a beach somewhere. No comment needed, just look and enjoy.
You're welcome.

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LeBron James taking a nice little jog on the beach? Hell, no! Still pissed off-as-hell Cleveland Cavalier fans have chased him out of Cleveland, torn off his clothes, and as he arrives in Miami, he's still running. Enjoy South Beach, LeBron.

 

Paris and Nicky Hilton on a jetty on their way to a private yacht. Just before the driver of the jetty passed out from the heat, he managed to mutter to the famous socialites, "All you have to know is your right from your left, and you can find

your own way to the yacht."

They circled the bay for hours.