Rafael Nadal is unbeaten versus Federer in the 2 times that they have met on clay. The last was the recent Monte Carlo match up. Nadal has also been triumphant the last 3 encounters versus Federer.

Nadal has stakes in the match apart from the rivalry with Federer too.

As CNN reports:

If Nadal beats the world number one on Sunday he will equal Guillermo Vilas’s all-time record of 53 consecutive wins on clay, set in 1977.

Federer has a lot at stake as well. He virtually has to win this one in the Rome Masters final if he wants to start making the necessary statements in the Federer-Nadal rivalry. Nadal’s time to make statements in hard courts will come in later. Federer will remain dominant versus Nadal on grass courts in all probability, if and when they do meet up on the surface. Federer would not like to be remembered second to Nadal on clay though and it is time he did some thing about it.

Forget that Federer was stretched to a tie break in the third versus Nalbandian. Forget that Nadal has been the guy in better form.

This one promises to be another cracker.

(A few earlier posts on related subjects - Nadal vs Federer, Nadal and Dominant Champs, the Clay Court season ahead of us)

This is quite special. Nadal has carried on from where he left a year ago on clay. He has already won at Monte Carlo and now has made Nadal-meat of the opponents at Barcelona - ending with 6-4, 6-4 and finally 6-0 versus Tommy Robredo in the Final.

In the process, he has overhauled Bjorg’s record of 46 consecutive wins on Clay. Only the 53 consecutive mark of Guillermo Vilas, who achieved the feat in 1977, remains.

Can Nadal achieve this? The right question should be ‘Who can stop him?’ Federer has been no match for Nadal on clay, yet. No one else looks close to beating him. There has been a lot of talk of how professional tennis has become so much more competitive which is essentially true.

However, a bit of recent history needs to be refreshed. When Sampras retired, people feared that he was the last dominating Champion men’s tennis would see. No sooner had we seen the back of Sampras, we had Federer dominating. Now, we have Nadal breaking past records of a comparitively less competitive era. In other sports as well, the dominations have existed. Case in point - Schumacher in F1 not long ago.

I guess the champions will make their mark, whatever the era. After all, they are champions - or campeón as they say it in Spanish.

The pay issue in tennis has all the ingredients which captivate the mind - authority versus player, man versus woman. The issue has reached boiling point with the announcement of the All England club. Reports CNN:

The All England club announced on Tuesday that its singles winners would receive a four percent increase, but with the men’s champion receiving 30,000 pounds ($51,000) more than his female counterpart.

This leaves Wimbledon as the only Grand Slam which gives away less prize money to its champions. French Open announced equal pay for it’s champions earlier this year. However, they still give more money to the men compared to the women. The US Open gives it’s prize money down the middle though as seen by the 2005 prize money distribution.

The women are fuming. Former player’s Chris Evert and Billie Jean King’s views from the same CNN article:

(more…)

It is upon us. The first big battle of the clay court season. I had previewed the clay court season here. Over the last few days, Nadal and Federer have done away with the best of the rest in contemporary clay court tennis with considerable ease. Federer, after being stretched to three sets by Novak Djokovic, has lost just 16 games in 4 consequent rounds.

Nadal has been as dominant. Apart from the semi where Gaston Gaudio stretched Nadal to three sets, he has lost only 22 games in 4 matches. Nadal has a 3-1 lead over Federer in head-to-head. Also, a 1-0 in clay courtesy that semi-final Roland Garros triumph last year. Nadal has also handed Federer his only defeat of the season when he beat Federer 2-6, 6-4, 6-4 in Dubai, the only time they met this year.

The previous two encounters in Dubai and at Roland Garros have been tight and engaging. The one upon us promises to be one in possibly a series of superb battles between the two over their careers.

The clay court season has taken off from the sluggish first gear, if there ever exists one on clay. The serious business has already begun with the first two rounds Monte Carlo Masters tournament over.

Justin Gimelstob writes over at CNNSI:

This past week, a sport within a sport began: clay-court tennis. What is arguably tennis’ toughest season tipped off around the world with events in Houston and Valencia, Spain.

Clay surfaces offer totally different challenges than the hard-court tennis that dominates the early part of the ATP Tour calendar. Clay-court tennis hinges on movement, strategy and defense. Sliding effectively on clay is an art unto itself. It combines the artistic flare of ice skating with the athletic grace of a ballerina.

The season ends with the French Open, a title most clay court gladiators of Europe consider the ultimate prize in tennis over Wimbledon. Clay courts provide gruelling battles. You cannot win games on serves and volleys. The ball slows down considerably once it hits the surface. So you have to defeat the opponent despite the surface. In a Wimbledon, you would have to grass on surface aid you with bounce and pace after bouncing. On hard courts, you do not have the support of the surface. However, it doesn’t make you toil much more like clay does.

(more…)

First the uncool new hairstyle of Marat Safin:

I dread what the Anti Foolish Haircut Association would say on this. And I have not shown pictures of the Safin hair with the hair band yet from his recent Davis Cup match.

Okay here it is:

Now that I have completely spoiled your mood, here is Sergio Garcia and his cool orange pants from Day 1 at Augusta:

Images courtesy Eurosport, Davis Cup and Golf365 respectively.

Bjorn Borg has decided never to sell his Wimbledon trophies citing that the trophies mean long term financial security. If you decide never to sell trophies, does it not mean they are not financial securities at all for him? I do not see the logic there.

Not that I am advocating selling trophies or am against it. It is person X’s trophy. If he has had financial problems in the future, how else can he tacke them? Sporting personalities who do not even have financial tproblems have decided to sell sporting memorablia for easy cash or charity in the past.

How Borg will tacke his immediate financial problems though, I do not know. As CNN reports:

Bjorn Borg Design Group crashed in 1989 and he is being sued for 11 million crowns ($1.42 million) by former business associate designer Lars Modin. They case is due to come to court next month. Borg still makes money from the branding of his name, most notably on a successful underwear line.

Bjorn Borg does have a brand name but mere brand names cannot mean people will never face financial problems. Big movie stars and sportsmen have faced similar problems. Moreover, market values of brand names (which have suffered depreciation from the prime playing/performing days) are not usually sufficient to meet huge financial problems. In India, Amitabh Bacchan is the best recent example of a superstar celebrity facing financial problems and then overcoming the phase.

Here’s hoping Borg rides over this phase.

Update: Borg has come out and said it was McEnroe who finally convinced him not to sell the trophies. Also the initial decision was not to do with any financial concerns as he said that he is quite well off.

Andre Agassi is organising an effort to keep the 5 Bjorg Wimbledon trophies in the sport. I hope the move is successful.

More than 150 Indian Bloggers have joined The Blank Noise Project to highlight the harassment of women on Indian streets. Why should any one have to bear indignity because of the gender?

I have had my women friends speak on harassment, leering they have to go through. Not being a woman, I am not the right person to speak from personal experience on the issue. Only a woman can truly express how she feels on the issue.

I am all for equality though and in that vein, am strongly behind the intentions of the cause. I would like to highlight on the state of equality in sport in general taking this opportunity. Most sports have a far less following for the women’s game compared to the men’s game. Tennis, athletics apart how many games can you think of where you can recount names of women sports people? Do they try less or are the games less interesting to watch?

Why is there hardly a following for Women’s football, cricket, basketball, et all? Apart from the lack of general interest of people, the participation of women is also far behind because of society at large. Indian, Pakistani women are discouraged to play in the sun as it is apparently going to cause their skin to become darker, hence ugly. People don’t want to marry dark women. White skin is supposedly more  beautiful.  India does not have the WNBA but the Women’s Railways Basketball team has just as dedicated and sincere players.

Most of those who do manage to play the game have to retire way before they reach their prime. Pressure from parents and society to marry is too much to resist beyond a point. These problems are specifically worse in the subcontinent. When sports people sacrifice marriage, kids in many countries, in the subcontinent such bold decisions are looked down upon rather than being applauded.

(more…)

Nadia Petrova denied Amelie Mauresmo a number 1 spot. She will have to wait another week. I wasn’t expecting it. Good on you Petrova.

Meanwhile Rafael Nadal defeats Federer one more time. He now has a 3-1 record versus Federer. Perfect come back for Nadal. First defeat for Federer in the year and a build up to a possible long term rivalry for men’s tennis. The clay season with the climax at Roland Garros will certainly be engrossing.