I got to the US Open at about 6pm, quickly scalped some tickets, and went straight to the back courts to watch the unseeded player play. Caught a female match where we sat in the first row, then a men's match, and then some mixed doubles. After a rain delay and the day sessions going over, around 8pm we went into the stadium to watch Marion Bartoli defeat Lindsay Davenport 6-1, 7-6 (3), earning Bartoli her first win in her first match in center court at the USTA.

The headline event was 26 year old Andy Roddick vs Ernests Gulbis, a 19-year-old from Latvia. Gulbis comes out with a cannon, acing and winning fast, taking the first three games in about 11 minutes. After about 25 minutes Roddick did manage to win a few games, but Gulbis won the first set.

Then something happened. The clock struck midnight and *both* Roddick and Gulbis were celebrating their birthdays. Roddick 27 and Gulbis 20. Experience mattered and Roddick went on to win in 4 sets.

ESPN reports that Roddick is washed up. Younger players are passing him by and it is only a matter of time before young kids like Gulbis give him a scare and defeat him in early rounds.

Posted by Steve from New York

Roger Federer has been having a bad year. Having lost in Austrailia to the Tank's cousin in the semi's and to Nadal in the finals in both Paris and London, Federer's bid for his first Olympic medal ended yesterday when he lost to American James Blake.

As reported by Steve and the Tank in the past, we think that Roger Federer is human after all. Having never defeated Roger Federer in the past, actually only winning 1 set against him in the past, Blake defeated Federer in straight sets 6-4, 7-6 (2).

Roger Federer showed some negative energy with an angry scream toward his feet. Then he swatted a stray ball in utter frustration. Next was his thigh and then stomped behind the baseline. Federer even got desperate and started to challenge calls, something that he almost never does. That backfired and was 0-4 on the replays.

And as a last resort, he questioned calls, something he hates to do. That merely made him madder: He went 0-4 on replay challenges.

Federer had been seeking his first Olympic medal after losing in the singles semifinals in Sydney and in the second round in Athens. Blake has never won a medal and has never gone to the finals in a grand slam. He got a call of good wishes from the US Mens Basketball team to wish him luck. Just 2 wins away from gold.

Today's men's Wimbledon final was something I have never seen before. After being delayed by rain, Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer squared off in the finals, a rematch from the French Open finals (Nadal won) and a rematch of the last two Wimbledon finals (Federer won both, and 5 in a row.)

Federer is a machine and has won 40 matches in a row at the All England Club as well as an unbelievable 65 in a row on grass. Going into the finals Federer had not dropped a set this tournment, so he was expected to cruse to his 6th Wimbledon in a row.

But Nadal took an early lead winning the first two sets 6-4 and 6-4. Up by a few games in the 3rd set, the sky opened and there was an hour and a half rain delay. (This is when the Tank called me about the need for retractable roofs, next year Centre Court will have one.)

After the rain delay, facing 1 game from elimination, Federer fought back. He forced a tie-breaker in the 3rd and won that, then fought back again, facing two championship points in the fourth and forced yet another tie-breaker, which he also won. Now it was down to a fifth and decisive final set and Federer was on a roll.

But Nadal would never say die and fought back. Neither side broke each other in hours. Night was coming and there are no lights on Centre Court. When the match looked all tied up, rain fell again.

After the delay, the match continued and was tied up. No tie-breakers in the last match. At the 4:16 mark, the match surpassed Conners-McEnroe in 1982 in longest final every played (not counting the rain). Nadal finally broke Federer after about 4:30 of play and went up 7-6 in the last set to serve for the victory. It was only the 4th break of the match for Nadal (Federer only broke Nadal once). It was almost completely dark, about 9:15pm in London, a Wimbledon match never went this late. With the match about to be called for darkness and with two more match points served up, Nadal finally won the match, becoming the first person to win both Wimbledon and the French Open in the same year since Bjorn Borg did it in 1980 (who was there to congratulate Nadal.)

Forget Conners-McEnroe, this is the most exciting match I have ever watched.

Congratulations to Rafael Nadal!

Posted by Steve, in awe.

I watched the Williams Sisters play the Wimbledon Ladies Final on this morning.

Venus won the first set 7-5.  Venus led 5-4 in the second set.  Serena made several un forced errors.

Down to championship point, Serena served past Venus to make it 30-40.  Big Sister Venus won the second set 6-4 and her fifth Wimbledon Championship.  It was her first in three tries against her Kid Sister Serena at Wimbledon.

Their father Richard was so conflicted that he went home.  He couldn't handle seeing the final result.  Their mother and siblings watched from the stands.

Even though she won, Venus stays at #7 in the world but Serena moves up to #5 in the world.  It's good to see the Williams Sisters healthy and fit.  It should be a wide open US Open starting next month in Flushing.  The Williams Sisters, Maria Sharapova, Ana Ivanovic, Jelena Jankovic, or other players could win the next grand slam.

Congratulations to Zimonjic and Nestor for winning the Gentlemen's Doubles Final.  Nestor deserves extra recogntion because he completed the grand slam in his final year as a professional.

Prediction: I think Federer will barely beat Nadal in a classic tomorrow.  If he does, the top three players in the world (Djokovic, Federer, and Nadal) will have one grand slam each going into the U.S. Open.  Buckle up! 

Posted by The Tank in Tennis Land.

Today Rafal Nadal defeated Roger Federer in straight sets to win the French Open, his fourth straight, tying Bjorn Borg's record.

Federer was humiliated 6-1, 6-3, 6-0. Nadal won 18 of 22 games: Federer's 4 games was the fewest number of games won by a #1 seed in any Grand Slam final. After losing in Australia and some minor tournaments, is #1 in trouble?

We'll only see at Centre Court at Wimbledon. "If [Nadal] survives the first couple rounds this year, I pick him to win Wimbledon," Bjorn Borg who was on hand today at the French Open.

Posted by Steve in New York

Ana Ivanovic cemented her #1 status in the world after beating Dinara Safina in straight sets at the French Open this morning.  After the recent and sudden retirement of Justine Henin, Ivanovic was already #1 but Henin was on hand to give her trophy and pass the torch in person.

Posted by a celebrating Tank in NY and in spirit at Roland Garos and in Serbia.

Second seed Rafael Nadal defeated first seed Roger Federer 7-5, 7-5 today in the Monte Carlo Masters title. Federer shows his only true vulnerability and that is clay. Federer is 1-7 against Nadal on clay lifetime.

Rafael Nadal continues to dominate the Monte Carlo Masters. Nadal has won 22 consecutive matches in Monte Carlo since he lost to Guillermo Coria in the third round in 2003. He has not lost a set in two years: Federer was the last person to take a set from him in the 2006 final.

Next major stop is the French Open, another clay surface. Having already lost Australia to the Tank's countryman Djokovic, Federer will look to wins in the US and UK this summer.
Posted by Steve in New York

Novak Djokovic "finally" won the big one, the Australian Open, this morning in Melbourne. 
                        
The 20 year old Serb defeated Jo-Wilfried Tsonga of France in four sets 4-6, 6-4, 6-3, 7-6 on Saint Sava's Day, the patron saint and father of the Serbian Orthodox Church.
              
After watching Novak lose to Rodger Federer last September in Flushing Meadows at the US Open (permalink), it was gratifying to see Novak win for personal and political reasons.  During former War Criminal in Chief President Clinton's illegal bombing of the former Yugoslavia in 1999 (there was a tie in the war authorization vote in the House of Representatives), Novak and other Serbs including my relatives had to deal with life and death issues every day and night.  Twelve year old Novak was luckier than most as he was able to go to Germany for safety.

The tennis world is far better for Novak, Jelena Jankovic, Ana Ivanovic, Janko Tipsarevic, and others surviving those 78 consecutive days of illegal and immoral bombing of a sovereign country.  There are many more fighting cancer, birth defects, and other health ailments caused by depleted uranium used during the bombing.
                                            
Congratulations Novak!  We're proud of you!  Many years of health and championship tennis!

Posted by The Tank in Tennis Heaven getting closure after the US Open last September pictured above.

At the semi-finals at the Australian Open down in Melbourne Park, Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic had a rematch of the US Open Finals from September 2007. Steve and the Tank predicted Djokovic in that finals, but the young Serb, who had two different set points, cracked under the pressure. Not this time. Federer lost to the #3 ranked Serb 7-5, 6-3, 7-6 (5) in the Australian Open semifinals Friday. Federer had reached 10 straight Grand Slam finals, and won 19 matches in a row at the Australian Open. Thus ends a streak that seemed like it would never end.

"I've created a monster that I need to win every tournament," Federer said. "Still, the semifinals isn't bad."

Not that bad at all.

"I am just very amazed I coped with the pressure today," the 20-year-old Djokovic said. "In the most important moments, I played my best tennis. It's just amazing, indescribable, to beat the No. 1 player of the world, one of the best players this sport has ever had, in straight sets."

With the victory, Novak Djokovic advances to the finals against unseeded Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, who beat No. 2 Rafael Nadal in the other semifinal, in the final Sunday. 

Posted by Steve in New York.

Last night I was out for dinner on las Rumblas in Barcelona, early by Spanish standards at about 11pm. As I stepped off the metro I thought I walked into the middle of a riot. Was there a massive government protest? Did George Bush decide to visit? No, Barcelona is host to a match tonight between the Rangers of Scotland and local hometown favorite FC Barcelona.

To say that tonight's match is a huge one is an understatement. The Rangers and FC Barcelona are tied in the E Group in the Championship League with two wins and 1 draw apiece.

The Scottish Soccer hooligans were out in full force on the Rublas last night. I have experienced some crazy European soccer experiences in the past, including being in Paris (by accident) when France won the World Cup, but nothing could prepare me for this. The hooligans took over the square and were separated by police barricades, Scots on one side, Spaniards on the other. They were drunk (of course!), dressed in team colors and singing at the top of their lungs the songs of their team and country. Chants of intimidation in unison were shouted over and over again and at one point the crowd gathered into two groups (separated by police) and were throwing beer, food, and clothing at each other (over the line of police separating them.)

It was a lot of fun to be a part of. What amazes me is that life just stops for soccer fans in Europe and they travel to the city where their team is playing an important match and just go to bars, sing, dance, get in trouble, and watch the game on TV since there is usually no chance of getting a ticket. (I tried, but going rate is 350 euros on the scalper market, too high for our budget, I will be watching at a bar on las Rumblas, hopefully with a camera this time!)

Tennis:

Football is not the only thing going on in Spain this week, the Sony Ericsson Championships are going on in Madrid. With her ailing shoulder clearly healed, Maria Sharapova looked like her usual self. She won her first match in more than two months yesterday in Madrid, a 6-4, 7-5 win against Daniela Hantuchova.

 

Posted by Steve in Barcelona, Spain

The Tank went to the US Open finals and tells the back story about his ticket saga here.

 

The Tank in Studio 86:

Posted by Steve in New York

Three-time US Open defending champion Roger Federer appears to be an unstoppable force. Tonight he will meet former U.S. Open champion Andy Roddick in the quarter-finals in Flushing. Federer, bidding to become the first man in memory to win the US Open four years in a row, has not lost to Roddick in their last 10 matches.

The 26 year old Federer seems unstoppable, like Pete Sampras was. Federer needs only three more Grand Slam victories to tie Sampras record of 14 total Grand Slam wins. It seem that he is in cruse control to overtake Sampras' record.

But wait. There is the 20 year old hard hitting Serb Novak Djokovic. Novak is ranked #3 in the world and is a hard hitting player who does very well on hard courts. While he has lost twice to Federer this year, he also just defeated him on a hard court to win the Rogers Cup in Montreal on August 12th.

While Federer has to get through Roddick and Djokovic has to get through Carlos Moya, now with Nadal out, I predict it will be a Federer-Djokovic finals on Sunday September 9th. (Good thing the Tank has tickets, he will have to report live from the Open!)

Federer has been practicing against lefties to prepare for Nadal and has recently lost to Djokovic. Djokovic is in position to stage a huge upset. Steve's prediction: Djokovic in 4 sets.

Posted by Steve in New York 

With Bjorn Borg watching in the stands, Roger Federer overtook Rafael Nadal in the 5th set and tied Borg's record of 5 straight Wimbledon titles. When Federer won the first of his 5 titles, he beat Pete Sampras who was trying to win his 5th straight. At some points yesterday Refael Nadal from Spain was looking like he would repeat history, but Federer took control and found some sprint late in the 5th set.

I have been saying that Mens tennis has been boring of late. Too much Federer. Yesterday Nadal make Federer work and work hard. Nadal has arrived, tennis is about to get very interesting. I am looking forward to next month in Flushing where there should be a likely rematch.

Posted by Steve in New York.