Venus Williams: Illness and Injury

Neutral Omes:

Injuries and illnesses. They are every athlete's fear. Unassuming and unforgiving they can attack at any time and in any stage of a career. And they've certainly gone after Venus Williams.

2011 has indeed been a nightmare year for the American. Plagued with injury she missed five months off the tour having retired in the third round at the Australian Open with a hip injury. She then returned (along with sister Serena who had had nearly a year off with an injury and extremely serious illness of her own) in Eastbourne, making a decent run to the quarterfinals. 

Wimbledon was a big test for both, and both fared very well considering the circumstances - Venus made it to the third round; Serena went out in the round of 16. But while Serena picked up the trophies of the next two tournaments she played, Venus was struck yet again. This time in form of a virus that prevented her from competing in Toronto and Cincinnati. We now learn the virus in question is Sjogren's Syndrome, an autoimmune disease which affects energy levels and causes fatigue and joint pain. And it has now caused Venus to pull out of this year's US Open in the 2nd round. 

This recent onslaught of injuires and illnesses - which actually date back to a knee problem in 2010 - have shown no tact and ruined what could have been a decent year for Williams in light of the inconsistency of the WTA. With the US Open lacking any of the three previous Slam winners, the draw was wide open enough for Venus to make a run. And at 31 years and closer to the end than the beginning, a run at the US Open would have been a very welcome prospect. But Venus has been set back yet again and many fear time is running out. With an energy sapping disease, who knows when she'll next be able to compete.

If retirement is on the horizon, it will be a huge blow to tennis. And a shocking reminder to enjoy our players while we can. Because sometimes injury and illness get their way.

(Pic: AP) 

 

US Open Day Three

Fanatic Omes:

Now that I can finally put pen to paper, or rather finger to key, I bring you the order of play for today.

Click me, and I will take you to the OOP.

Ladies match of the day: Williams vs Lisicki; 3rd on Arthur Ashe. (Can we talk about this?)

Men's match of the day: Baghdatis vs Isner; 4th on Louis Armstrong.

Notable shizz: Muzz and Delpo begin their campaigns today.

(Pic: AP)
 

The US Open so far - in blather form.

Fanatic Omes:

- Fish swam (I had to) through his match pretty much likeaboss. He came, he saw, he demolished, he probably went home and polished off a can of Bumblebee. Me like-y what me see-y here.

- Harrison failed dismally having lead all through the match and I really don't know why. Maybe the success of his breakout season has finally caught up with him? Or MAYBE HE NEEDS TO CHILL. No one should have a respected commie calling them a 'brat'. Remember when he tried to give Federer advice? Maybe he should take a page out of the GOAT's book and start to control that temper on court.

- Gutsy, courageous - no doubt two words you would've heard Heather Watson being described by when she pushed a crappy Masha to three. What impressed me the most about her was her MIND yo. She was all like: I'm playing Maria Sharapova winner of 3 Slams, no big deal, what are you doing for the rest of the week? She really thought she could win the match (and with the way Masha was playing, I could've probably won the match) and that is what you want to see from youngins. Here's to a bright future Hev.

- We had our first upset of the tournament with Wimbly champ Petra Kvitova. This gives me sadz, I don't like when champions go out emphatically. Especially when I just recently ran my mouth about more WTA consistency. Ahem.

- And then we had our 2nd upset with Li Na bowing out who said she played like the stronger word for poo. And only for the 2nd time in the Open Era, 40 years since the last we have none of the previous Grand Slam winners in the 2nd round of the USO. Which brings me back to dud article on female domination. Jeez can't catch a break.

- We had 2 curses - the curse of the Japanese players with Kei Nishikori, Ayumi Morita and Misaki Doi all bowing out. And the curse of the 5-1 down retirements with Conor Niland and Jamie Hampton both retiring from their matches against Nole and Elena Baltacha respectively.

- Ernie won his match! And convincingly! Shhhh, don't say it out loud.

- Rafa was in and out of focus, actually mostly just out. Golubev lead all the way through the match, but proceeded to choke all the way through the match. Dude has some serious shot-making abilitites, it was almost annoying. And by almost I mean very. Well it was a customary slow start from Rafa. On the plus side the prodigal serve seems to be on its way back home.

- Serena steamrolling through her match isn't news. Her hilarious response to yet another journey back to Foot Fault Gate is.

(Vid: bizbuzz2000 on YouTube)
 

Rafa Book Review: 10 things 'Rafa' Reveals About Rafa

Neutral Omes:

Rafael Nadal has admitted becoming more open as he's gotten older. He's always been that charming, grounded, sensitive guy who never revealed much at all about his personal life. His memoir with John Carlin has allowed us to gain - rather surprisingly - much insight into the contradictory nature of this humble champion.

Here are10 things 'Rafa' reveals about Rafa:

1. His insecurities.

We always knew Rafa had that humble, unassuming air, but we didn't quite realise the depths of his insecurities. He doesn't seem to believe in his abilities as much as others (including friend and mentor, Carlos Moya,) do and often feels like his top competitors are more talented than he. Rafa admits that Toni with his harsh coaching methods is partly to blame.

2. It's more “Rafa's foot” than “Rafa's knees”. 

Rafa's knees had been somewhat infamous around 2008/9 as his Achilles' heel (they even have their own Twitter account). Especially as they were the reason (physically speaking) he lost his first ever match at Roland Garros in 2009 and couldn't defend his Wimbledon title that same year. However the injury - the one that threatened Rafa's career - actually came about due to very rare foot disease where the 'tarsal scaphoid' - a bone located in the bridge of the foot failed to form as a child and thus became slightly deformed as a result of repetitive stress on the area, making it liable to splinter and causing intense pain. The injury knocked him out for four months, with the only form of treatment found in special trainers that had to be made for him. And Rafa claims it's still a work in progress. It definitely explains his reaction when he sustained a foot injury during his match against Del Potro at Wimbledon this year. The knees however have received a special treatment and are no longer a problem.

3. His pre-match rituals are not superstitions but a means for transformation.

The borderline OCD rituals (the jumping up and down before a match, the drinking from the two bottles etc.) are all a part of the transformation into Rafa's on court alter ego - the warrior - and enable him to get into the frame of mind to compete. Some have relentlessly dubbed them as superstitions despite Rafa's countless contestations. But Rafa is adamant that everything down to the tightness of his bandana is necessary to prepare his mind.

4. The extent of the love-hate relationship with Tio Toni. 

We've always known Uncle Toni to be a stern coach, but the extent to which the tension between them permeates everyday situations is revealed. You can even feel Rafa’s attitude towards Toni as he writes. Many times throughout the book, Rafa will relay just how difficult it is to cope with Toni's antics - almost bitch about him (for lack of a better term) - but then will retort with praise and understanding, knowing that he owes his successes not in part to Toni.

The US Open Draw

Fanatic Omes:

Having listened to the confusion that was the 2011 US Open draw on a barely functional usopen.org radio (who had the temerity to switch back to the studio just when Rafa, who was on hand to help with the ladies' draw was about to be interviewed) whilst also being ill, I needed a few to recover. So after the intital ooohs and aaahs, I now bring you some attempted analysis.

The Men

For the men, bottom line, if you're a fan of the top four, you can sleep easy. And you can also start to unbelieve the coincidence of the stars aligning ever so nicely tournament after tournament for your guy.

Nole, the heavy favourite, is very likely to remain untroubled till the semis. The only notable threats for him are Monfils and Berdych - you know the guys who an injured and ailing Nole beat on the way to the final in Cincinnati last week - the kind of threats you toast to.

Rog has a testier route to the semis, with pesky Jo-Willy who just relishes beating the guy, and a very in-form Tuna Fish Mardy Fish in his quarter. Jo-Wills and Tuna could battle it out in the round of 16 before the winner takes on Rog in the quarters.

The biggest threat for Muzz en route to the semis would be Delpo, who he could face in the quarters. But with Delly P a little bit out of sorts and with Muzzard coming in from victory at Cincy, he should be cool with that.

Rafa also has a sweet deal, with his biggest threat being Daveeeed (of the Ferrer variety) in a potential quarter-final match. Daveeed is just coming back from injury but nevertheless a third round appearance at Cincy bodes well. Even still Rafa, brains and burns-permitting, should be more than ok.

So everything is set, some would argue quite literally, for YET another Rog vs Nole and Muzz vs Rafa semifinal. Fine then, we'll take it.

1st rounders to watch: Cilic vs Harrison, Gulbis vs Youzhny and Isner vs Baghdatis (who just played each other at Winston-Salem yesterday - Izzie won).

The Women

The biggest threat to top seed CaroWoz, would be Petkovic for a potential quarters match up, IF Caro finds her form. If not, then Hantuchova and Vinci are also in there. Just sayin. Li Na could also potentially meet Woz in the quarters, but she would have to get through Petko first, and her form is kind of questionable at the moment.

Vika (no.4 seed), poor poor Vika, is the lucky sod in who's quarter Serena lies. The two could potentially meet in the third round. There there Vika.

Masha (no. 3 seed) has Aga and Kvitty to contend with on her way to the semis. That could be tricky as Kvitty was the one with the audacity to deny her her 2nd Wimbly trophy; and Aga's shown us what's she's capable of in this year's US Open Series, even if she was a one-armed bandit. But Masha having just won Cincy, Masha is super-confident and unsurprisingly most people's favourite to win the whole thing behind Serena.

Bepa (no. 2 seed) has enough on her plate with Sabine and Venus (who has enough on her plate with Sabine - the two could play in the 2nd round!). If Bepa doesn't bring her A game, I expect an upset, but she seems to be performing well enough.

1st rounder to watch: Penetta vs Rezai.

And there you go. Let's hope Irene doesn't ruin it all. She's already gone after Arthur Ashe Kids Day. Wench.

(Pic: Getty)

New York Good Times

Fanatic Omes:

New York Times asked photographer Walter Iooss Jr. and Andy Samberg to explore the theme of tennis rivals for their magazine. Phenomenal idea and toe-ticklin' gosh-darn funny. As if you couldn't love Andy Samberg even more right?

(Vid: nytimes.com)

Djokes

Fanatic Omes:

So Head and Nole did this commercial - yes, I know you've seen it - just humour me. Head and Nole did this commercial whereby Nole brung that Masha impression we know he's capable of. It is HIGHLAIR. I don't get bored of Nole's impressions. (I get bored of his winning streaks, but that's a different matter.)

Brava Head! Brava Nole!

Highlights:

The annoyed fist shake at 0:10.

The laughing fit at the end.

Choice quotes:

"It makes me feel beautiful on the court."

"Fanatastic. It's just great, yeah."

I snokered (snorted+ snickered) big time when I watched this. Seriously Nole, NEVER stop showing this side of you. Never ever ever.

(Vid: Head Tennis on YouTube)

Rafa learns a new word!

Fanatic Omes:

Rafa via Facebook: "I am on my way to the Letterman show, let's see how it goes.... Not sure my English is the best but will give my best try. Hope he'll be nice to me! Tomorrow i'll be at Macy's Herald Square tomorrow at 5:00pm as I unveil the new Fall @Armani Jeans ad campaign."

(Pic: Getty) 

Readme

Fanatic Omes:

Hello friends. Sorry I  haven't been blogging much lately - I spent last week in the middle of the Mediterranean sea. They should really put some telecom masts in there.

Now, read.

• Mardy Fish's Open opportunity.
• Pete Bodo talks about dubious retirements (*cough Tsonga* *cough Nole*) and their effects on the sport. And it's reeeaaallly hard to argue with him.
• Chris Chase's Serena seeding sentiments before and after he found out her seeding. Let's just say he wasn't thrilled, as I'm sure plently of people won't be.
• Holy Swiss! Fed has actually apporached Hingis about the Olympics. Come on guys stop tennis flirting and just pair up already.
• Going to the US Open? Well that means I don't like you :P. But anyway here are tips to make your stay that much more US Openy.
• Lovely jubbly article on Masha. (Gist: she's still here. Ahem.)
• A picture of Rafa's burns. Egadz. Hope he feels better soon!
• Great article on Caro's state right now and what she can do to silence her 100000000000+ critics and win a major.

(Pic: ffk8mediacenter.wikispaces.com)

How to Beat Novak Djokovic

Neutral Omes:

To reiterate that Novak Djokovic has had one of the most fantastic seasons in the history of men’s tennis is as useful as declaring the sun shines. So I’m not going to go there. I will go however to the fact that he’s managed to continue on this unprecedented run whilst making Rafa and Roger look like less than stellar players who haven’t won 26 Slams and 36 Masters titles combined. I mean these guys have done it before – they know how to win Slams; and they know how to win Djokovic (c.f. their combined winning record of 30 to Novak’s 21). But not anymore it seems. Ok Roger has been the first and only player to beat him in 2011 in that four-setter at Roland Garros, but it wasn’t like Novak was completely outgunned. It was a thriller of a match and the pressure from so much victory played a part in his defeat. Meanwhile Rafa has made no secret about the fact that his game simply isn’t troubling Novak.

But what’s interesting is that Rafa, Roger and Andy Murray all declared earlier this year that Novak has always had it in him; yes he is a lot more focused and yes maybe a lack of gluten helped him to get around the court that much quicker (come on, did you think I was going to write a piece about Novak Djokovic and not mention gluten?), but he’s always been one of the best defenders in the game. No, Rafa, Roger and Andy were adamant that he’d always played that way, with the notable difference being his insurmountable confidence.

And that confidence is so high that he gets visibly irate when a would-be winner against any other player isn’t blasted back into a corner of the court twice as fast and two millimetres inside the baseline. And therein lays the secret. A fine tennis tactic employed by many is to attack a player’s strong side to expose their weaker one. And since we can safely say Novak has not one weak shot in his game at the moment, the only way, aside from hoping he has a bad day at the office would be to shake that unparalleled confidence I was talking about earlier. And then shake it some more. Novak’s strength is his confidence – attack that and you expose a weaker Djokovic.

We saw Mardy Fish almost succeed in doing this in the Montreal Masters final. As soon as Mardy made Novak doubt himself, the errors crept up and the shouts became louder, and all of a sudden the second set was the American’s. But what Mardy failed to do was capitalise on that situation and Novak was allowed to get back to autopilot when Mardy was broken in the final set. And that’s what’s so important. If he gives you an inch you have to take several thousand miles. You must play him into submission. If you break him once, you try your darndest to break him again; breathe even for a second and let him back into the match and you’re toast. That’s not to take away Novak’s fighting spirit, which is obviously right up there with the best of them, hence the 1 loss this year; but since that confidence that he’s playing with is what’s responsible for elevating himself above the rest, you’ve got to go for it. I mean, really destroy it. In a strange way it’s not only his strength, it’s also his weakness.

And that’s how to beat Novak Djokovic. Good luck trying. 

(Pic: Reuters)

Female Domination

Charlotte Cooper Sherry - won five Wimbledon's titles.

Neutral Omes:

Women’s tennis has been the target for much criticism for a while due to the lack of dominant players on the scene. There are certainly plenty of folk who will enjoy the thrill and unpredictability of a new face every trophy, but a sizable amount of experts (ex-tennis players, commentators, coaches, journalists and the like) will tell you that it doesn’t do much for the image of women’s tennis. Many would echo Nick Bollettieri’s sentiments that the women’s circuit needs more “pizzazz.”

There is no doubt that the history of women’s tennis is indeed one of the most compelling in sport, having given birth to some of the most brilliant champions (of either gender) in the sport’s history. With the likes of Steffi Graf - the first and only player, male or female, to win a Calender Year Golden Slam (not to mention double-bagelling Natalia Zvereva in 32 minutes at the 1988 French Open, in the most one-sided final of the Slam’s history); Martina Navratilova who aside from winning every single Slam - singles, doubles and mixed doubles (all but one multiple times), holds the Open Era record male or female, for the most singles and doubles titles; Chris Evert - the player with the best win to loss ratio at 1,309–146 (90% of matches played won) and who might I add never lost in the first or second round of a Slam in singles; Margaret Court - the player with the most Gran Slam singles titles; and many more names of renown (key in Williams squared, Seles, Henin and Clijsters) not just within the sporting community, but for your average layman. The women’s circuit has established itself as a domain worthy of much admiration and inspiration.

True that with the absence of the current generation’s injury-laden champions, we’ve been lacking this state of super-stardom in women’s tennis for a little while*, but it looks like the tide is ever so slowly starting to twist and turn. Not only have we got said injured champions, Venus, Serena, Sharapova and fingers crossed, Kim Clijsters making their resurgences, but we’ve got young, strong up and comers like Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova and exciting talent, Sabine Lisicki who will hopefully eventually be able to challenge them. And thankfully it doesn’t feel like we are trading names at the latter stages of every tournament.
 
I’m well aware that we’re yet to see the spawn of Seles at a shootout with Serena in every Slam final, but it won’t be long before we see some dominance from the ladies. 

For now let’s just be content with that fact that for the first time in a while it would at least be a shock to see the 400th-ranked female player holding a big trophy. 

*True that the current female number one has hardly failed the WTA on the consistency front, but she’d have to bring that same consistency to the Slams in order for her to be in the champions conversation.

(Pic: tiptoptennis.com)

Cutting-Edge Investigative Journalism

Fanatic Omes:

I came across this display on the windows of the Selfridges department store in London.

So the only logical thing for me to do was to cross the threshold and delve into the exciting world of men’s underwear and see for myself the fruits of Bjorn Borg and John McEnroe's underwear-y labour for charity.

Verdict: Nice colours, good quality, great entry for a Christmas stocking, even better makeshift night-wear for girls. Bjorn loves John. Omes loves Bjorn loves John.

Hmmm now all they need is a tennis player to model them...

I was going to nominate Rafa but this will do just fine. Plus he already has underwear loyalties of his own.
 
(Pics: Omes Tennis, TalkAboutTennis.com)

Day Five at the Rog

Fanatic Omes

So. No Rafa, no Andy, no Delpo, no Woz. And now Rog is out, Bepa is out, Masha is out.

Guys seriously, just make Nole and Serena compete with each other for the title.

 
OOP for ladies

OOP for men 

Ladies' match of the day: Radwanska vs Petkovic; 3rd on Centre

Men's match of the day: Djokovic vs Monfils; 4th on Central 

(Pic: Getty)

"But you're like, really pretty...so you agree, you think you're really pretty..?"

Fanatic Omes:

Tennis boys seem to have a type - sweet and stunning.

(Vid: ATPWorldTour on YouTube)

Day Four at the Rog

Fanatic Omes:

Ok I'm just going to remain calm and breathe.

It's only tennis. It's only tennis. It's only tennis. It's only tennis. It's only tennis. It's only tennis. It's only tennis. It's only tennis. It's only tennis. It's only tennis. It's only tennis. It's only tennis. It's only tennis. It's only tennis. It's only tennis. It's only tennis. It's only tennis. It's only tennis. It's only tennis. It's only tennis. It's only tennis. It's only tennis. It's only tennis. It's only tennis.

OOP for men
OOP for ladies

Men's matches of the day: Fish vs Gulbis and Federer vs Tsonga; 4th on Central and BN respectively
Ladies' match of the day: Zvonareva vs Radwanska; 3rd on Grandstand

(Pic: Reuters)

Day Three at the Rog

Fanatic Omes:

Well Murray did certainly momentarily forget how to play tennis, didn't he? (I’m calling him “Murray” 'cause I’m mad). He did say he wanted to pace himself before the US Open but I think, I THINK, he’s going to want to re-think that strategy. (Maybe inhale a two-foot baguette?) I guess the only solace we can take is that for the last two years he’d worked really hard for the Toronto and Cincy and then lost out at the USO so...ohhhhh, I don’t know.
Seriously though I’m sure he’ll be fine - we’ll just “Butterfly Effect” that shiz along with the 2011 Wimbledon final. 

And speaking of Rafa Nadal, he begins his campaign today. Nerviose.

Other things I want to say:

Kim has sustained yet another injury. I can't...

Canadian wildcard, Pospisil, or Popsicle as I'm sure we'll all be calling him (ranked 155), upset Chela in his first round match. He is adorbz. He will now go on to play... Federer. Pahahahaha.

OOP for ladies

OOP for men

Ladies' match of the day: Serena Williams vs Julia Goerges; 3rd on centre

Men's match of the day: Jo-Wilfried Tsonga vs Bernard Tomic;1st on BN Court

(Pic: AP)

Day Two at the Rog

Fanatic Omes:

Well that went alright, didn't it? Not much dramz on the men's side, but the ladies...oh Marion, Marion...

Play is already underway so without further ado I bring you:

OOP for men

OOP for women

Men's match of the day: Isner vs Bahgdatis, 3rd on centre

Ladies' match of the day: Penetta vs Kirilenko, 1st on court 1 

(Pic: Reuters) 

Tennis Monsoon

 

Fanatic Omes:

Well shave my legs and call me grandpa! It’s Masters 1000 time again! With the top 20 guys and dolls in action at the Roger's Cup, well dun’t it just feel a lil’ like a Slam? I’m so excited for a sleep-deprived, concept-of-reality-deprived, social-life-deprived-and-subsequently-friendless month. 

It’s the taste of Hard Court, baby, and it tastes like happy. 

OOP for men

OOP for women

Men's match of the day: Ernests Gulbis vs Juan Carlos Ferrero; 2nd on centre

Women's match of the day: Julia Georges vs Jelena Jankovic; 5th on centre

(Pic: Jeff Moore)