I wasn’t expecting Hewitt to win, or to even come close to winning, but I wasn’t expecting him to hold out that long against Djokovic either - the first 2 sets seemed so easy, but counter-intuitively he seemed to play so much better after that.
Not a fan of Hewitt, but idk, I just had so many feelings last night, maybe it was the atmosphere.
“In the greatest tennis carpool ever, Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal drove together to an exhibition match in Zurich. Federer picked up the world’s top-ranked player at the airport and took a jaunt through downtown before heading to the stadium.” — Yahoo News
This is my ultimate Foe Yay pairing.
Are they supposed to be wearing matching outfits or is that just Zurich for you?
^ What she said :))
pgwp:
You, my dear readers, are all so good at arguing over Pitchfork lists, yet so terrible at discussing tennis. So I’ve helped you by converting the Australian Open into a Pitchforkian Battle of the Bands. Federer is Radiohead. Roddick is Wilco. And the other remaining 14 players you may not be not familiar with are Battles, Dirty Projectors, and so on. Now you have no excuse but to choose your favorite player.
I have developed new respect for Federer. I mean, all these years, all those struggles, all those epic matches, and he’s still at the top of his game in every sense of the phrase.
Also, re: Serena - If I were in her tennis shoes, wrongly accused of a foot fault at a very crucial point in the game, all the pressure/frustration probably would’ve gotten the best of me too. And I know, athletes should be disciplined, etc, but fudge, tennis is, like, the most emotional sport ever, and come on, we’ve seen worse and more violent forms of poor sportsmanship. (I don’t watch women’s tennis at all, sorry, but I kind of feel bad for Serena losing to that, idk.)
Observe how I am cleverly sidestepping the Kanye/Taylor/Beyonce issue. XD
I have no interest or investment in tennis, but I found this piece by Will Leitch to be interesting, but also profoundly depressing in its view of talent and achievement. Yes, this is specific to sports, and Leitch is primarily a sports writer, but I think that this may be a sports analogy that crumbles when applied to more subjective artforms, much less the sort of achievements that are far more difficult to judge in a particular time and place.
I have yet to read this piece, but the analogy is doing all sorts of things to my heart and making me want to hug Andy Roddick all over again. (…Of course my knowledge of Salieri is completely based on Amadeus /fail).
But I still feel very much inspired by Roddick’s performance. It’s just so self-transcending, and after seeing it happen, I have high hopes for Roddick, that he won’t succumb to learned helplessness after that devastating defeat. I want so bad for him to rise up and higher and meet with the friction of Federer vs Nadal. It would be a beautiful fire. And everyone would be fighting harder.
(Maybe it’s just wishful thinking, but. Honestly. Watching Roddick play like that and defend his service games so well… IT’S STILL A WONDER THAT THE WORLD HASN’T CHANGED AT ALL.)
Congratulations, Roger Federer! I’m still not over that 5th set.
(via atpworldtour.com)
I can’t get over the 2nd, HAHA. I was so afraid that it would be over too soon.
I hope Andy realizes that he does have a chance against Roger, even though he lost that one. And I hope that match inspired other players as well - it may not have been as epic as last year’s, but idk, it was strangely uplifting. Fudge, I really wanted to hug him when he cried and apologized (jokingly) to Sampras. He was under so much pressure that it makes me happy that he held out in the 5th set and made it so hard for Roger to crack his serve. It’s games like these that remind me that sports are about mental tenacity as they are about technique. :x
But yeah, Roger deserves his place/title. His tennis is simply art, you know? If they made a movie with nothing but his movements in slow-motion, I’d totally watch it. XD (Also, now that he has his 15th, I can root for the other players now. HAHA.)
OH SEV YOU’RE THE ONLY ONE WHO UNDERSTANDS
—
Andy Roddick
:x
—
Roger Federer
<333
(I still kind of wish it was Rafa he was up against for the finals, considering how the latter is pretty much the king of the clay court. Just like how much of a victory it was when Rafa beat Roger at Wimbledon - conquering and breaking Roger’s service games… TeniPuri and HnG have totally messed my head with this whole rivalry and Hand of God thing, haven’t they. HAHA.)
I love just how calm and focused and expressionless Federer is throughout his games - in spite of whatever pressure/difficulty that is pressed upon him on the spot. But the moment the net catches the match point, his face crumples, and he falls on his knees and lets himself cry. Awww. That just makes me want to hug him. :x
(I only caught the third set. It was pretty boring. I heard that there was a 23-shot rally before that. Shame that I missed it.)
