They're having a tennis tournament in Rome right now

from Reuters:

Nadal rediscovered his lost spark to reach the quarter-finals of the Rome Masters on Thursday, defeating fellow Spaniard Feliciano Lopez 6-4 6-2.

The world number one flirted with danger in the previous round when he struggled past Italian qualifier Paolo Lorenzi in three sets but against Lopez he looked much more like the player who won 37 consecutive matches on his favorite clay until being stopped by Novak Djokovic in Madrid on Sunday.

Nadal, champion in Rome for five of the past six years, stamped his authority at the start of the match as won the opening three games against the rangy Lopez.

With his forehand back to its destructive best Nadal looked on course for a trouble-free passage against his close friend who he had never lost to on clay, but his early fire fizzled out as the unseeded Lopez hit back to break and level at 4-4.

One snatched forehand was reminiscent of some of his scruffy play against Lorenzi the previous day when he came within two games of a shock defeat but he quickly regained control.

Nadal held serve for a 5-4 lead and Lopez buckled in the 10th game. missing a volley, netting an attempted drop shot and then watching as Nadal unleashed a fierce backhand crosscourt winner to take the set.

Nadal waited until the sixth game of the second set to launch a match-ending attack, firing another flashing backhand pass and then winning a 26-stroke rally with a savage forehand to break the Lopez serve.

The five-times French Open champion finished the match in style and one more victory against either Mardy Fish or Marin Cilic will ensure that he stays ahead of Djokovic in the rankings going to Roland Garros.

Man-of-the-moment Djokovic, who faces Swiss Stanislas Wawrinka later on Thursday, can claim the world number one ranking if he wins the title in Rome and Nadal fails to reach the semi-finals.

See?  I told you so

Roger Federer has confidence in Roger Federer

from Reuters:

Roger Federer rejects the idea that the balance of power in men's tennis has tipped toward Novak Djokovic after a 32-match winning run and believes he can still beat Pete Sampras's record for time spent as world number one.

The Swiss world number three, who has a record 16 grand slam titles to his name, has been left in the shade by Rafa Nadal for much of the past 12 months and has now seen Djokovic supplant him as the Spaniard's main rival.

However, Federer feels he can reclaim his throne and move ahead of American great Sampras who spent a total of 286 weeks as world number one to Federer's current 285.

"It's still important for me to get back to being world number one," Federer told reporters in Italy ahead of his second round match against France's Jo-Wilfried Tsonga at the Rome Masters. "I mentioned after Wimbledon it was a goal of mine.

"It's still very real and possible. I think I can do it if I win one of those grand slams."

Serbia's Djokovic could become the first player other than Federer or Nadal to hold the top ranking since 2004 if he wins the Rome Masters this week, but Federer remains confident he can still challenge the top two.

"They (Djokovic and Nadal) are playing better than me but I'm close to winning those tournaments," said Federer, who lost to Nadal in the semi-finals of the Madrid Masters last week.

"It's not as if I'm losing in the first or second rounds.

"I feel I'm playing well myself. Apart from Novak not losing all year not much has changed in the game. Everybody can play well on all surfaces these days.

"It doesn't feel more different apart from having three more questions to answer at a press conference, but they deserve their press and it's all good stories."

This is kind of a dumb story.  If you go up to any top-10 player and ask them if they can be number one, they're not going to say "Nah, I'm not half as good as Novak or Rafael, those guys are ridiculous."

United States Tennis Players Suck

from IOL:

For the first time in the history of tennis rankings, no American man or woman stood inside the Top 10 on either the WTA or ATP list on Monday, a historic low for one of the former world powers of the sport.

The US, which once dominated on the courts, seems to be afflicted by the same disease which is bothering fellow Grand Slam nations Australia (Lleyton Hewitt at 66th is the only Aussie in the Top 100) and Britain, who can only count on world No 4 Andy Murray.

The bottom dropped out of a three-decade run for the US when inactive Serena Williams, who last played at Wimbledon in July, tumbled to 17th on the WTA list after clinging onto 10th for months under the convoluted mathematics of the system.

The 13-time Grand Slam champion has been struck by a series of injuries and illness since winning Wimbledon in 2010 – and has never put her sport as absolute first in her life.

The US tennis footprint has declined dramatically, with the nation that produced the likes of Jimmy Connors, John McEnroe, Chris Evert, Pete Sampras, Andre Agassi, Jim Courier, Tracy Austin, Andy Roddick, Lindsay Davenport, Venus Williams, Serena Williams and naturalised European trio of Martina Navratilova, Monica Seles and Ivan Lendl now reduced to just another tennis-playing contender.

American Connnors set the template as the first man to earn the No 1 ranking in 1974. Andy Roddick was the most recent before the rise of the Roger Federer-Rafael Nadal duopoly which has dominated until only recently.

Despite millions in the treasury of the national federation, youth development has not produced a new hope from the teenaged ranks with little of promise coming down the pipeline.

Let's face it: tennis just isn't as cool as ... what are the kids doing these days?  The Myspace?

Champions Series featuring Agassi, Sampras, McEnroe

from the Miami Herald:

South Florida tennis fans can turn back the clock on Sept. 22 and watch legends Pete Sampras, John McEnroe, Jim Courier and Michael Chang compete against each other at the BankAtlantic Center in the first stop of the 2011 Champions Series.

The four Grand Slam champions will kick off a whirlwind 12-city tour over five weeks, and the series also will feature Andre Agassi, Bjorn Borg and Mats Wilander in other cities. The players at each stop will compete in one-set semifinals and the winners will play for the title in an eight-game championship. The champion earns $500,000, the runner-up $350,000.

“Competing against my friends and foes in front of fans across the country is going to get my adrenaline pumping,” said Courier, who is co-owner of the tour. “The player lineup and format of the circuit is ideal for me and my peers to quench our competitive thirst while showcasing tennis to many cities that lack pro tennis events. May the best man win.”

There was reportedly a delay starting the event due to a problem with McEnroe's wheelchair.

Old tennis players rockin' South Philly

from Philly.com:

South Philadelphia may have been deprived of professional tennis in recent years, but the city will be exploding with talent this fall when four of the sport's greatest legends come to town.

As part of the 2011 Champions Series tour, retired world champions Andre Agassi, Pete Sampras, John McEnroe and Jim Courier will stop in Philadelphia on Sept. 24 for one of 12 single-night tournaments taking place across the country this fall.

"We're going to be moving around like a rock 'n' roll tour," Courier told reporters yesterday. "Philadelphia is going to be an amazing show. It's another great American city that lacks high-level professional tennis. This is a real opportunity to bring something special back to a place where we've all played over the years."

Playing at the Wells Fargo Center, the foursome will compete in one-set semifinals with the winners moving onto an eight-game pro-set championship match. Each individual tournament is expected to last about 3 hours and be loaded with excitement.

"In terms of the bells and whistles, it's going to be a lot like a basketball game," Courier said. "There will be a lot of energy and a lot of use of the JumboTron to keep people entertained between games."

Fellow tennis legends Bjorn Borg, Michael Chang and Mats Wilander also will participate in the circuit but not the tournament to Philadelphia. With an impressive 52 Grand Slam victories between them, the seven retired players will compete for ranking points and a $1 million bonus to be shared by the top three finishers at the end of the tour.

"Giving back to the sport that has given so much to me has been at the top of my priority list for years," Agassi said. "I see no better way to do it than to support this effort. I think everybody wins. The fans win with great entertainment, the players win because we get to be at our best, and then the sport wins."

i'm so happy right now

Andy Murray is a Naughty Young Man

Andy Murray

from IOL:

Many sportsmen swear by avoiding sex before a big event to keep their strength for the battle ahead.

Not Andy Murray. The British tennis player says he plays so often that abstaining before matches would means he was always saying no.

In contrast to the likes of Muhammad Ali, who is said to have abstained for six weeks before each fight, Murray admitted: “I’m not one of those sportsmen who practises a strict policy of sexual abstinence before playing.”

Murray, 23, whose relationship with girlfriend Kim Sears goes back six years, told Spain’s El Mundo newspaper: “Tennis is not like boxing.

“I remember a former world heavyweight whose trainer banned him from having sex six weeks before a fight. We play every week, so with a boxer’s mentality we’d always be saying “no”.”

Murray competed in 19 tournaments last year, involving 75 matches.

He is currently in Barcelona training for the Madrid Open.

At least the world No 4 is free to make his own decisions, unlike the German football team who were banned by then manager Berti Vogts from having sex before games at the 1994 World Cup.

In contrast at the last World Cup in South Africa, the Argentinian and Brazilian teams were actually encouraged to spend time with their partners

Scientists say there is no evidence that sex the night before an event affects sporting performance.

Some have even suggested that it can be beneficial by increasing the production of testosterone, which heightens aggression.

Well I'm glad we got that out of the way, I was really concerned for a minute that Andy Murray wasn't having enough sex.

Nadal and Djokovic and Federer and Points and Rankings

from 10S Balls:

Heading into the Madrid Masters, Rafael Nadal holds onto his reign at No. 1 in the ATP Singles Rankings, although he boasts a smaller lead over world No. 2 Novak Djokovic and world No. 3 Roger Federer this week. The Spaniard now leads Djokovic by over 2,000 points, with a total of 11,915 points at the top spot. Djokovic has 9,710 points this week, and Federer trails Djokovic with 8,690 points. Neither Nadal nor Federer competed last week, however, while Djokovic earned his fifth title and extended his winning streak this year at the Serbian Open.

The upcoming clay-court events in Madrid, Rome, and Paris will be crucial as Nadal, Djokovic, and Federer continue their battle atop the rankings. Of the three, Nadal has the most to lose as the defending champion of all three tournaments. Djokovic, meanwhile, reached last year’s quarterfinals in Rome, skipped the Madrid Masters, and reached the French Open quarterfinals. Federer was ousted in the round of 32 in Rome, advanced to the finals in Madrid before losing to Nadal, and fell in the quarterfinals at Roland Garros.

The top 10 remains fairly steady for another week, with Britain’s Andy Murray at No. 4, Sweden’s Robin Soderling at No. 5, Spain’s David Ferrer at No. 6, the Czech Republic’s Tomas Berdych at No. 7, and Austria’s Jurgen Melzer at No. 8. Nicolas Almagro of Spain and Gael Monfils of France have switched places, with Almagro now at a career high of No. 9 and Monfils at No. 10.

They'd better get to the arcade and get some serious Pac-Man in.

seriously though what are we talking about, who decides these things