Wimbledon winners: Serena (Wow! way to go out on a limb, Porker!) and Nalbandian. What do I win?

ESPN's celebrating their upcoming virgin coverage of Wimbledon by running old finals matches on ESPN Classic. Excellent stuff, and a huge improvement over the tired stuff they usually show on that underachieving channel. Tonight's 0-dark-30 lineup so far has been '82 Connors beating an in his prime McEnroe on McEnroe's best surface, and the late Arthur Ashe vs. Prince Valiant cut Connors in '75. VERY weird watching a dead man compete.

Hewitt gags vs. a qualifier in rd. 1!!! Beautiful!

"very weird watching dead man compete." you think that is weird you should follow dead man walking errr ben around tj.

i haven't seen this guy play that beat hewitt, but i hear he is a giant. being that they were playing on grass, i would say the monster has a big serve and got hot. i would also guess that he followed his serve in, and must have been a sight on those low volleys. has to be very athletic....wonder if he plays basketball.

6'10" according to the news, made Hewitt look like a midget when they shook hands at the net

Wow, chicas and tennis, what a site. the giant who beat hewitt is a one surface wonder; he won't have the game even for cement, let alone indoor and clay (laughable). Sampson, remember from our era of tennis Vic Amaya who played at my alma mater? that's this guys game.
Serena is still my girl.
she's certainly the the best looking and best player combined in one woman ever. I haven't watched too many matches yet, but I'm a huge fan and I'll pipe in for the semi's/finals. Just was shocked to see this heading for tennis. thanks.

i think i played vic's cousin or brother or so in juniors. i just remember was named amaya, and he was bragging about vic. at the time i didn't know who he was.

i haven't seen chanda rubin for years, but she was pretty decent looking when she first hit the tour.

womens tennis is a lot better today. i'm not sure i could make a living on their tour.

nice meltdown Rusedski!

Serena is hotttt

full figured hard body

I'm in looooooove

French Open Finals: Coria (-340) over Gaudio --- 3.4 units to win 1 unit

What else can go wrong, jeez, first San Jose (arena football) blows a 31 point lead to start the 4th quarter to win by only 4 and doesn`t cover the -6, then Coria gets leg cramps and can barely play. But that`s the luck part of the game that no one can predict or control, pretty sure i made the right calls but sometimes you lose anyway, just gotta suck it up and move on.

Coria (-340) over Gaudio --- LOST 3.4 units

Tennis to date --- LOST 3.4 UNITS

Man, what's with all the Russian chicks in the top 10 in chicks' tennis? I'm picking Serena again. Let's see if Fooledagain's crystal ball will extend to tennis this time.

http://sports.yahoo.com/ten/news;_ylc=X3oDMTBpcmc2NWVyBF9TAzI1NjY0ODI1BHNlYwNvZQ--?slug=wimbledonwomens&prov=cnnsi&type=lgns

Jon Wertheim is pretty much the best sportswriter I have ever read. Some would say that's like being the best-dressed Blue Hair at SEIZURE WORLD (for those of you who live anywhere near Newport Beach), but actually the boy can really write.

Hell - if it's Serena against any TWO Russian girls in a ring, preferably with shaving cream, I'd put my money on my Amazon ANY DAY OF THE WEEK!!

E

US Open Finals :

Hewitt (+200) over Federer --- 3 units to win 6 units

Hewitt over Federer --- lost 3 units

2004 Tennis Majors --- Lost 6.4 units

2004 playoffs to date --- WON 147.15 UNITS

Federer is playing with a magic wand. People are saying he may be the best ever. Hard to argue. His tennis Sunday was damn near perfect.

It would be great to have seen Federer 2004 vs Sampras 1995 in a Wimbledon final. For me that would be a pick-em matchup. Sampras is another guy that had the total package.

That Russian cutie who got the runner up trophy had what it took to come out over Capriati. She may have been good enough to take home the big prize, but my god, she serves like a friggin girl. I can't stand to watch her serve. It makes me cringe...

Federer is one smooth player. Let's see if he can win the french open. If you can win consistently on all three surfaces that is the TOTAL PACKAGE.

the french and wimbledon seems to slip away from the best.

sampras never won a french.

lendl never won wimbledon.

jimmy conors is the only men's champion to win the USopen on three different surfaces. grass, clay and hard court.

agassi has won all four grandslams. recent number ones can't boast this accomplishment.(borg and mcenroe included) Agassi probably would have more grandslam titles under his belt if he matured quicker and wasn't the "glam rebel" boy in the beginning of his career. ie. he skipped wimbledon because he had to wear white and not his hot pink gear. guess which grandslam he won first? yep, wimbledon! regardless, he is a great champion that has my highest respect.

roddick has the tools but no where near the composure of a Federer. andrenaline will only get you so far compared to having the mind for the game. Along with his strokes, federer is always two strokes ahead of his opponent. I hope he wins all four major tournaments next year.

To be considered a tennis 'great', IMO, you really need to beat somebody great to earn your spurs, so to speak. Sampras-Courier and then Sampras-Agassi was compelling tennis. Lleyton Hewitt is a nice player and so is Andy Roddick, but jeez, Federer is playing so far above the crowd it's a legit question as to whether he's THAT much of a stud or the field is just at a lull at the moment. Kinda like when Martina Hingis (gee, another Swiss. Well, kinda...) was dominating chick's tennis for a VERY short period of time until the Williams sisters sent her into obscurity where she probably belonged.

And what happened in the Olympics? I have no clue, but I'd GUESS that'd have been the first Swiss men's gold in my lifetime? Instead, he treated it like most tennis players would and punked out cuz it was a 'little hot', both Greek tennis fans were probably spending more money on Oozo and saving their drachma for tix in the finals, and the Open was around the corner.

Mr. P, Hingis was kind of like Federer, only too small physically to handle it when the Williams sisters came on the scene. I wouldn't be too surprised if she tries a comeback.

It's funny, when Agassi first started making news back in about 87 or so, I DID NOT LIKE HIM. I will openly admit that now. He chumped an aging Jimmy Connors (one of my all-time favs) and made some smart ass comments about it.

NOW, however, I LOVE AGASSI. The way he totally re-committed himself to the game about 10 years ago earned him my total respect. He's a total class act, but I don't expect him to win any more majors.

Frontbc, I agree totally. Roddick, when he's pumped, will blow anybody off the court. But to maintain that level of play in a long, grueling match against a guy like Federer, well, we've seen the result.

Borg, more or less, was Jimmy Connors' daddy, but Jimbo pulled off a hell of a win in, I believe the 1976 US Open final ON CLAY. Am I right on this one?

I don't know about you, but for me it was always fun watching Lendl implode at Wimbledon, he, he...

Now, whether anyone wants it or not, my greatest all-time tennis players--drum roll please:

Men: Pete Sampras

Women: Serena Williams

I think the best match I've ever seen was the USopen nite match Agassi vs. Sampras. It went 4 sets, all of them with tie-breakers. I was rooting for agassi so bad.

I don't hate sampras but i don't have one moment of his etched in my mind. maybe his sky hook overhead smash.

these are a few images are etched in my mind:

becker's wimbledon dives. when asked why he stopped diving. his reply was, "because they are my bones." you gotta love it.

mcenroe's serve and volley. not good enough for today's game but very classic.

jimmy connor's ability to dig deep.

lendl's running forehand down the line return. yes everyone hated him, but he changed the sport. in mcenroe's book he says he never really liked lendl but respected him for his dedication to having a coach and training. not many players were doing that prior to lendl. he raised the bar.

steffi graf's wicked forehand. she is my all time greatest women's player. she won all 4 majors in a year. maybe twice. so pure.

todays game is so different compared to the eighties and early nineties.

sampras brought in the new era of the game. some argue the sport changed because of the racquet technology.

now there is some truth to that, but Sampras used the same old school Wilson Prostaff until the end.

so one can make an arguement it's the training discipline introduced by lendl and stroke technique that changed the game more than the racquets.

I thought Hewitt might have a good shot at beating Federer because he pretty much dominated throu the tournament and Federer didn` play as well throughout the tournament as he normally has in other tournaments, but when push came to shove Federer dominated, he just on an other level right now.

Gregorio, you and I share the same exact image of Agassi -- from punk pissant to All-Time great (though I always hated Connors for exaggerating hte 'hustle' aspect of his game, a la Pete Rose). Agassi's serve return is allegedly the greatest weapon in the history of the sport, and I certainly won't argue.

Borg was just a legend to me, and I always hated him for quitting too early when he could have made a very impressionable sports fanatics' dreams come true by continuing to battle the hated McEnroe (who ALSO ended up becoming an all-time fave. Tennis has some weird spin to it!)

All this being said, Lendl is my favorite all-time tennis player, probably equally due to his machine like backhand and his eventual failed quest to win Wimbledon to complete his legacy.

A very close second was Boris Becker, who, like Borg and McEnroe (and to a FAR lesser extent Courier), burned out all too quickly (making guys like Agassi, Sampras and Connors all the MORE amazing for their longevity).

The guy I tend to root for most now besides Agassi is Marat Safin. Of course his career is almost an exact mirro image of that of Goran Ivanisevic, except Safin actually WON a match early in his career instead of choking it away. Of course since my favorite beisbol players grwoing up were Garry Templeton and Bob Horner, I probably just have a predilection for talented underachievers.

If Hingis ever comes back she'll quit 2 months later, proving that the modern day Arantxa has no place in the women's game.

Damn, I didn't know there were so many knowledgeable tennis fans on the CH board. I haven't seen anyone yet say anything I can argue with.

I scrolled back and even saw where Sampson said he played Vic Amaya (I used to subscribe to Tennis and World Tennis when I was a teenybopper). Sampson must be a hell of a dude to play at that level and now sucessfully pimp on the streets of Tijuana.

More weird shit from the far recesses of my brain. I saw on the John McEnroe show the two front guys from Metallica. I couldn't believe it when they said the one guy was the son of Torbin Ulrich...Freaked me out totally.

One last comment on Andy Roddick. A ferocious hitter, charismatic etc...Great for the game. But, the reason he will have trouble beating Federer is his uncomfortability at the net. He may develop it to some extent. But it's more of an innate quality. Federer can cut your heart out serving, volleying and from the baseline. The only other guy like that IMO was Pete.

Anybody want to comment on Anna Kournikova? Would anybody like to pass her the towel after she comes out of the shower and give her a post-match rubdown?

"Anybody want to comment on Anna Kournikova?"

Anna Kournikova... hmmm. It would have been nice for her to win one major and have that monkey off her back. She's got too many other things going on in her life right now, I don't think she thinks twice about it.

Poor Henman. He's due, but there are a few players that on any given day will beat him no matter how good he plays.

"Would anybody like to pass her the towel after she comes out of the shower and give her a post-match rubdown?"

Yes, please.

Star-studded men's semis in the land of Aussies. I'd love to see Roddick win, but I wouldn't even bet Fooledagain's "unit" on THAT!

Serena still has the BOULDERS in the bra, but JEEZ she looks bigger than most LINEBACKERS! 1 date with Barry Bonds and suddenly SHE'D be the one (not Mauresmo) who gets them to scream "She's a MAN, Baby!"

That was one helluva comeback win by Serena. Sharapova CREAMS the ball, but Serena seemed to figure her out in the 3rd set. Fatigue and nerves probably helped her too.

I tried watching that just to see Sharapova's tits bounce around- small as they are, but that shit's unwatchable with her screaming her friggin head off every time she hits the ball. They make everyone in the audience be totally silent during the point then let the players scream and grunt at the top of their lungs. It's irritating to listen to. If I was playing her I'd hit a return right back into her grill and shout -- " Shut the fuck up bitch !! "


Of course I'd never see the ball as it zipped past me so the return would be imaginary.

How bout a mixed doubles match: Porker and Sharapova vs Khun Mor and Kournikova. Live from the palenque in Tijuana...

Damn, 2/3 women's grand slam winners this year meet on SUNDAY OF THE FIRST WEEK of the U.S. Open?

Not to mention that they are among the top 5 U.S.-born women's players of all-time and happen to be sisters... I guess CBS stopped trying to gerrymander the seeds to draw ratings in tennis.

Or, seeing that this is probably their biggest non-compete viewing day of the entire two weeks, maybe they DID?

Still sad to see the Williams sisters meeting before the semi's.

The BLUE COURTS look GAY!!!

I'm not a fan of the blue courts either. It looks like the indoor blue carpet stuff.

Can we vote on it? I give the blue a "1".

Porker you are on a roll. Those blue courts do indeed look gay as hell. Thank your lucky stars you can watch the event on Mexican TV though, because here we are subjected to an endless stream (of now totally irrelevant) "Andy Roddick mojo" commercials. Great timing on that ad campaign, no? Please don't ask me to describe them.

Gerrymander? I wonder how many times a week Regio uses that word...

After a week of watching latin ESPN show all the matches of the clay court schlubs, it was actually NICE to see CBS coverage this weekend, always entertaining to listen to McEnroe and Mary Carillo. So yes, I've seen that "mojo" commercial a couple zillion times (What is this, the Masters? They only have 1 sponsor or something?), and actually, I thought it was semi-topical for Roddick's implosion in rd. 1. Maybe that was part of the bargain for getting those endorsement $$?

Great to see college football in primetime the last few nights as well. Saturday night's Ohio St.-Texas game should be fun to watch. Vince Young can be all of Ohio's DADDY!

The Agassi-Blake match was one for the ages. I had no idea Blake had anywhere near that much starch in his shorts. I guess it wasn't for nuttin that he dispatched Nadal earlier in the tourney.

Wouldn't it be great if Agassi could somehow "win this one for the Gipper?"

All he has to do is win TWO more matches, LOL...

Yes, I'm rooting for Agassi too.

I don't know the brackets but it would be great if he met Federer in the final.

It may very well be that matchup. Can you see Agassi hoisting up the big cup early Sunday evening? Reality is for people who can't handle drugs...

He'll probably inexplicably gag against the American nobody he's playing today. Federer should abuse him if he can live up to his talent and make the final. Agassi, that is. Federer almost always lives up to his talent.

Agassi is in the final.

Federer is leading Hewitt right now. RF won the first set and is serving 1-0 right now in the second. so he already broke hewitt early.

Close but no cigar for Leyton. Thanks for the memories Andre...

Clijsters got paid 2.2 MILLION bucks today? I think my financial future is now well-defined: Gonna do the Richard Williams thing and have 8 kids and shove a racket in their hand before they can walk.

Porker wrote: "Gonna do the Richard Williams thing and have 8 kids and shove a racket in their hand before they can walk."

Individual sports are like Tennis and Golf are great to shove onto a kid because a weak surrunding team in team sports can limit their developement. With individual sports it's all on them to develop their skills. In tennis one needs great opponents but in golf the opponent is the course.

Although Golf and Tennis have senior tours, Golf's is more lucrative where as tennis doens't get much attention.

I wish my parents forced one of these sports upon me.

Porker
Given genetic tendencies I would bet on your kids becoming sex addicts but not likely tennis stars.

Do we really need 8 more sex addicts in the world ?? :-)

I was going to bring up the fact that I didn't see any tennis courts when I was in AC.

Frontbc, when I was a kid, they built six nice hardcourts about 100 yards from my house. I guess I was about 15 at the time. That was back in the day when some of the big names in tennis where Bob Lutz and Brian Gottfried...

Gregorio,

By living close to those courts, did you develop competetive tennis skills?

Andy Roddick grew up with tennis court in his back yard. Nice.

I was a player with average skills who played every day for at least a couple of hours for about six years. It was so handy and I liked it so much that I got halfway decent.

Back then, the general philosophy was not to lift weights--so I didn't. Late in my playing career, about age 20, I got a job that required a lot of heavy lifting. Inexplicably, my game got "bigger" about the same time.

If I could do it all over again, as you know hindsight is 20-20, I'd have put in some serious time on the conditioning aspect of the game.

Alas, many years, major back surgery, and several pounds later, all I do now is watch--which I enjoy very much. Who knows, one of these days, I may decide to try contact lenses again (playing tennis with glasses not so good), get the racket out of the mothballs and bang a few around.

Tennis is a GREAT game, and unlike golf, not at all expensive to play...

Agassi gave it all. Losing the 3rd set tie breaker just took the wind out of his sails.

I concur. Great match for three sets. I really had my hopes up for a while, but after that tiebreak, I was mentally prepared for what was to follow.

I know Federer beat Sampras in their only meeting at the US Open, I still don't know if I'm ready to say he is the superior player.

I think Pete would have been able to beat him at Wimbledon for sure. Edberg may have been able to beat him at Wimbledon too. No way Edberg would ever beat Roger at the US Open though.

As Dennis Miller would say "that's just my opinion, I could be wrong..."

I always felt whenever I watched sampras he was always playing and giving 100% effort. And always doing whatever he could to play with his "A" game. The same goes for alot of past champions and No. 1s

But when I watch Federer he always seems reserved and relaxed and never playing at 100% or not tapping into his best tennis. It's like he doesn't have to to beat guys.

It's like he's playing at 90% and if he is in a tough spot he's got reserve to uplift his game.

He's got a long way to go to be compared to Sampras but he has the skills to pass his accomplishments.

double post.


(Message edited by frontbc on September 11, 2005)

Federer indeed does make the game look very easy. As I've said before here, though, who has he ever really played? A bunch of rather ordinary types with poor resumes for a perennial top-5 player (Hewitt), clay-court 'legends' (just look at the rankings), technology-aided bangers (Roddick) and aging vets like Agassi. The guy really seems like a winning MACHINE right now, though, and his success has been pretty damned awesome.

Re: making things look easy, Agassi's economy of motion in his game is pretty damned incredible. Staying put right at the baseline and taking the ball early means he's almost never out of position and he runs FAR less than all the big hitters who stand 15 feet behind the baseline and slug it out.

Porker,

A champ with no challengers. It always seems that way doesn't it.

That is why I think a guy like Federer should make his goal to grand slam in one year, if he is that good.

Agassi is the most recent player to complete a slam but not in one year. even sampras didn't.

I think a "great" should win on all surfaces.


I agree about Agassi's "economy of motion". And combined with quick reflexes and excepitional hand eye make his stroke deadly.

His knowledge of the game has increased greatly too.

Unfortunately the only thing counteracting his "economy of motion" is his slight loss in step.

The key to executing the ideal stroke is postition. When Agassi was in perfect position he smacked the ball well.

What is amazing is Ferderer's ability to get into position(youth is on his side) and his abiltity to still make solid contact with the ball when he is out of position.

This just in, I could eat Marcos Baghdadatis' girlfriend's pussy full of ice cream...

Federer walking into the US Open final again. Ho hum...

Gregorio

You must really like ice cream.

KM, Gregorio was probably referring to Marcos Baghdadis' girlfriend at the Australian Open in Jan., who lately is not to be seen anywhere. She was a 17-year-old model from Paria, Oo La La...

What the hell has happened to David Nalbandian? I thought this was gonna be a breakout year for the Argentine after winning the Masters in Shanghi, then he rolls over and dies after being up two sets to love at the semis down under. Hasn't been the same since.

The dude has game, I just wonder if he's gonna turn into another head case.

I have never seen ANYBODY hit the ball as hard as Andy Roddick did in his 1st set tiebreaker against Federer.

And Federer won the tiebreak EASILY. It's really not FAIR how good that guy is. While Roddick's game has obvious flaws (as does Nadal and everyone else he plays), I really can't imagine anyone beating Federer when he's playing well.

If Nadal keeps getting better, though, things may get interesting eventually. His record at Wimbledon is really amazing for a "grass is for the cows" Spaniard.

Oh, and it's a fucking SHAME that Serena lost last night: I mean Henin has NO TITS WHATSOEVR and Serena has BOULDERS!

In that regard, what the hell happened to Venus in the cup size department?

Fed is sick...

Roddick played as good as he probably can and was disposed of fairly easily.

Watch out Fed, there is still a "Joker" in the draw...

Oh well. Another day at the office for R-Fed. (how come Mary Carillo doesn't call him that?)

Hand him the check and the trophy, then head for the exits...

Venus' girlfriend is pretty cute!

Man, Venus don't play like dat.

Hey, first time in my life I've ever had anything to say against Mary Carillo, but she was pretty tasteless in her post-match interview with Jankovic. If there was a comic strip thought bubble above her head it would have read "hurry it up kid, let's get this thing moving. Geeze when is this punk gonna shut her trap."

Who wins an updated "Battle of the Sexes" match between Serena Williams and John McEnroe at Roland Garros in May 2010?

You just don't know what will happen when McEnroe is playing, which always makes it interesting. McEnroe is always excitable, and should he lose to a woman..........Bobby Riggs forbid! The term male chauvinist would need to be redefined. I'm sure Billie Jean King is advising Serena accordingly.

That foot fault call was so, so, so, so bad. Woulda been funny to see her TRY and "shove the fucking ball down her throat".

How that translates into "I'm gonna kill you", though...

Lesson here: Don't smash your racket to get a warning before going off on some blind ref!

I know players can request an instant replay for a line call on the ball. Then they show an instant replay that shows a gray dot where the ball hit. Could Serena have asked for an instant replay for the line call? Seems like that should be allowed.

Referees aren't perfect. They are going to make mistakes. It sounds like this call was bad and ill timed for the match. Serena is a professional should have acted like one. But I always like seeing John McEnroe throw his tantrums. He was funny.

Well, bad call or not, you go off on an official in any sport that way, you're getting tossed or penalized. Simple as that. The fact that it was match point, Serena should have known to be doubly sure what she was saying.

She was toast anyways, but going out like that is really her fault, not the linesman.

Beside the $10,000 fine levied, an added $500 fine for 'racket abuse' was given. Hmmnnn, racket abuse, I bet that got someone excited!