mb palaver

SportsPalaver: Foxy Tennis Players

I'm watching Victoria Azarenka play Kim Clijsters in the Australian Open right now.  Azarenka, like many professional women tennis players these days, is a screamer.  She's almost as bad as Maria Sharapova.  I've tried turning the volume off when these women play, but I just can't enjoy watching tennis if I can't hear the ball bounce.  As I was watching, the sound of Azarenka screaming sounded familiar.  It was a sound I heard one night last fall while staying with a friend in Ealing, a suburb just outside London.  I lay in bed wondering what that horrible sound coming from the wooded area behind the house was.  Cats fighting?  A person being murdered?  I thought, should I wake my friend?  Call 911?  What's British for 911?  The next morning my friend said it was probably a fox.  A couple of nights later we saw one skulking under a street lamp.  Tennis fans:  does this video not remind you of Sharapova and Azarenka?  Honestly, I don't know how these women can talk after a match.  (P.S. #1:  Go Kim!  P.S. #2:  Roger vs. Rafa at 3:30 am!)

 

 

 

SportsPalaver: Australian Open 2012

The Australian Open starts in Sydney Monday (tonight our time).  On the tournament's eve, everyone's abuzz over Rafa Nadal's complaints that Roger Federer isn't pushing to change the men's tour schedule.  I hate to even mention it because these guys are such gentlemen, but I did have to laugh at this remark (as translated from the Spanish and reported by the AP/Washington Post):  “Maybe (Federer) has got a super body and he’ll finish his career like a rose. Neither myself, nor Murray, nor Djokovic are going to finish our careers like a rose."  Roger (seeded third) and Rafa (seeded second) are both in the bottom half of the draw, meaning if they meet it will be in the semis.  Novak Djokovic, not surprisingly, has the top seed, and Andy Murray rounds out the top four.

On the women's side, Caroline Wozniacki is seeded first, Petra Kvitova second, Victoria Azarenka third, and Maria Sharapova fourth.  As usual (lately) on the women's side, it seems like anything could happen.  Li Na, the Chinese player who made it to the finals last year but lost to Kim Clijsters, comes in at the fifth seed this year (though Kim's down at 11).  Ana Ivanovic is only seeded 21st, but I couldn't resist the photo above (from the australianopen website).

You can find draws and updates on the tournament website and on TENNIS.com.  TV coverage in the US will be on ESPN2 and Tennis channel; times and channels are listed on TENNIS.com at this link, which I always use when I'm recording and avoiding spoilers.  (Speaking of which, I better go delete those 10 episodes of The Mentalist clogging up my DVR.)

The schedule is demanding for those of us half a world a way.  I wish I could do a swing shift for this fortnight.  If you need any help figuring out what time it is in Sydney, timeanddate.com is my favorite clock and calendar website.  Right now in Sydney it's Monday at 2:41 pm.  That freaks me out.

 

SportsPalaver: Wimbledon 2011

 

There's a new Wimbledon champ on the ladies' side of the draw.  This morning Petra Kvitova -- a 21-year old Czech lefty -- beat Maria Sharapova in straight sets (6-3, 6-4) to take the title.  The men are up tomorrow.  Rafa Nadal will seek his third Wimbledon title, but will have to overcome Novak Djokovic, who has been nearly unbeatable in 2011 and who will be ranked world number 1 when the new ATP rankings come out Monday regardless of who wins tomorrow.

I'm still despondent over Roger's loss in the quarters to Jo-Wilfried Tsonga.  On my birthday.  Harumph.  (Though I do love watching Tsonga play.)

Coverage of the men's final starts at 9:00 tomorrow morning on NBC.

Photo from wimbledon.com.

SportsPalaver: French Open Finals 2011

I somehow managed to stay in a news bubble about today's French Open men's semis results until I finished watching Roger Federer beat Novak Djokovic in 4 sets, against the pros' predictions, just moments ago.  To Roger-detractors I can only say: "Face!"  Roger will now play Rafa Nadal Sunday morning at 9, carried by NBC.  It'll be just like old times, and no matter what anyone else says, I say it could go either way.  I thought Roger looked better out there today against Novak than Rafa did against Andy Murray.

But first, reigning champion Francesca Schiavone will take on Li Na tomorrow (Saturday) morning at 9 am on NBC.  I like them both, but have to root for the almost-31-year old Italian.  I love the way she scrambles all over the court, the strength and grace of her one-handed backhand, and the joy she takes in playing.  Whoever wins, it'll be a change to have no Russians and no Williams in the women's final, and to have the tallest woman (Li) standing at 5'8" (Schiavone is a perfect 5'5" (perfect because that's my height too)).  I always like to root for fellow shrimps.

 

Photo of Francesca Schiavone from official Roland-Garros site.

 

MusicPalaver: Melbourne -- I Want To Go To There

It seems television coverage of every Grand Slam tennis tournament includes about five commercials, run about a thousand times each.  After watching untold hours of the Australian Open coverage, I could do without ever again watching men in meat ponchos trying to outrun hungry wolves while wearing Degree deodorant, and it bothers me that I find myself humming the Franklin Templeton Investments theme song.  But I loved the Melbourne tourism ad.  It showed people bundled up in a cold gray city, who look into a picture frame and see folks Down Under strolling on the beach and sipping cocktails in strapless dresses, while a woman softly sings "I wanna go, I wanna go where you go when you're gone."  It reminded me of a comment Dubliner posted on here about the Australian Open a few years ago:   "But perhaps what's most appealing to me is that I get a glimpse of sunshine and warm weather in the depths of winter here."

The song is "A Heart Divided" by Sydney native Holly Throsby.  You can watch Holly sing the song on youtube, and buy it on iTunes.

SportsPalaver: Australian Open Finals

Tonight in Melbourne (tomorrow morning our time), Belgian/New Jersey girl Kim Clijsters will take on China's Li Na for the Australian Open women's title.  I can't imagine rooting against Kim, but how can you not love Li Na, particularly after the grit she showed on Thursday, surviving match point at 5-4 in the second set to beat Caroline Wozniacki in three? 

I'm much less excited about the men's final, even though it will probably be a great match.  Yesterday Novak Djokovic beat Roger Federer in one semi, and today David Ferrer went down to Andy Murray.   Rafael Nadal, who seemed to be suffering a hamstring injury, lost in the quarters to Ferrer.  This will be the first men's grand slam final without Roger or Rafa in years.  It is sad.  And in a Murray/Djoko final I don't really care who wins.  That's no fun -- I like to be tortured when I watch.  By the way, they keep talking about how if Murray wins he'll be the first British man to win a grand slam tournament since Fred Perry in 1936.  How about a shout-out to Scotland?  I'm just saying. (In another first, Li Na is now the first Chinese player to reach a Grand Slam final.)

Coverage of both matches begins at 3:00 am ET on ESPN2 -- the women's final on Saturday, and the men's on Sunday.  For those who aren't night owls and don't have DVRs, ESPN2 will be replaying the matches later in the morning.

 

Photo from the official site of the Australian Open.

SportsPalaver: US Open 2010 -- Foot Faults and Upsets

 

Nothing like a tennis major to pull mbpalaver out of mothballs.  The US Open is well underway.  Today was a mixed bag for American men.  Eighteen year-old qualifier Ryan Harrison managed to upset 15th seed Ivan Ljubicic, 6-3, 6-7(4), 6-3, 6-4.  Later, 9th seed Andy Roddick went down to Serbian Janko Tipsarevic in four sets.  I don't recall seeing Tipsarevic play before, but he played amazingly well, and kept his cool during Roddick's extended tantrum over a foot fault call.  The above photo of Justin Bieber looking up in awe during Ryan's on-court interview with Pam Shriver was my favorite image of the night until I saw how tickled pink this guy was at capturing Roddick's foot fault hissy fit on his iPhone. 

 

Or maybe this one of iPhone guy and his seat mates all turning to look at a foot fault hissy fit joke made by Bobby Cannavale (or his lookalike), on the left.

 

With Roddick's latest display of boorish behavior, you have to wonder what he would have to do for the crowd not to cheer for him.  Pummel the line judge to within an inch of her life?

Edited to Add:  In a weird Internet twist reminiscent of the movie Vantage Point, mysterywriter found iPhone guy's video:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0gTmoUSqloI

 

 

SportsPalaver: What a Week It Was at Wimbledon

I've been wanting to post all week about Wimbledon, but I've been in too deep a news blackout to risk  going online.  As is traditional, there is no play today, the middle Sunday, so I am safe.  The week started out with Roger Federer coming close to losing in the first round.  If you heard the score of his match against Alejandro Falla (5-7, 4-6, 6-4, 7-6, 6-0) after the fact, you might have thought gee, that was tough, but of course Roger pulled it out.  Yet it really looked like he was going to lose.  In fact, the announcers were referring to it as an upset before he turned things around in the third set.  There was no way I'd be able to avoid the news if he lost.  So I did what any self-respecting tennis fan with nothing urgent waiting in the office would do:  I took the morning off.

When on Wednesday I heard rumblings that something historic was going on at Wimbledon, I avoided email, news headlines, my car radio, and even skipped getting my mail in case there was someone in the lobby looking to ruin my day.  I didn't find out until after watching seven hours of tennis that American John Isner and French qualifier Nicolas Mahut had still not finished the match that had been called for darkness Tuesday night.  That meant I had to stay in a deep news blackout all day Thursday as well.  As you know unless you've been in a news blackout of your own, Isner finally won the match on Thursday, 70-68 in the fifth.  I was surprised:  Mahut looked fresh as a daisy in the longest match in history, while Isner seemed like he might need to be carried off the court.  Not surprisingly, Isner was too spent to put up a fight in the next round, losing to Thiemo De Bakker (6-0, 6-3, 6-2).  Will Wimbledon break with tradition and add a tie-breaker at some point in the 5th?  I sure hope so.   No one should have to play 183 games, as they did, in one match.

The best news of the tournament (for me) was that I've been watching it on MY BRAND NEW 46" HDTV.   I am deadline driven in all things, and Wimbledon was my deadline for getting a new TV.  I bought it Saturday, and a friend came over to set it up Sunday (thanks Ken!).  Now I can even watch two matches at once.  You can find American TV listings here, with no risk of spoilers.  In addition to ESPN2, this week NBC is also carrying matches for a few hours in the middle of the day.

 

SportsPalaver: Australian Open 2010

Baby, it's cold outside, but it's summery warm Down Under, and the Australian Open is nearing its finish.  Today Andy Murray, left (doing an impersonation of an emu), defeated Marin Cilic in four sets to reach one men's semi.  The other -- pitting Roger Federer against Jo-Wilfried Tsonga -- will air live on Friday at 3:30 am EST on ESPN2.  The men's final will air Sunday at 3:30 am EST.

On the women's side, Serena Williams will play the newly un-retired Justine Henin for the championship Saturday at 3:30 am EST.  In her last two matches I thought Serena was on her way out.  I'm not a big fan of her behavior at times, but she is one remarkable competitor.

In addition to the live match times given above, the matches will be rerun on both ESPN2 and the Tennis Channel at various times.  You can find the full schedule (including doubles) at tennis.com.

Photo from www.australianopen.com.

 

SportsPalaver: Nadal and Gonzalez Resume Saturday (Weather Permitting)

Friday was a complete wash-out at the US Open.  CBS coverage of the rest of the Nadal/Gonzalez quarterfinal match will begin Saturday at noon.  Showers are expected tomorrow, so who knows when it'll really start.  Or end:  they've now scheduled the men's final for Monday at 4.

It looks like coverage over the weekend will be a combination of CBS and ESPN2.  You can find updated info here, though be cautious about going to usopen.org if you are watching on tape delay.  Belated kudos to Lynn for sticking it out until midnight Thursday night in the cold rain.  Look on the bright side: at least you saw some great tennis until the rain delay.  Today's ticket holders really must be bumming.