The greatest thing in life is to do things because we love them and not because of any underlying intent and motive....
Look at what writing about tennis has brought me....world-class photos taken live from the actual Roland Garros men's singles finale....(and then some)
Man on the verge of history....could win 14 Grand Slam titles equaling the most by Pete Sampras...and complete career Grand Slam by winning the only Slam played on clay....
and starring:
Robin Soderling
Swedish spoiler....Nadal vanquisher...total underdog but with the power of a dozen Swedish shiatsu masseurs (at least he's hotter than the Swiss bloke LOLOL)
Anna Wintour
Vogue USA editor....profound and shameless tennis enthusiast and Chanel couture addict...TOTAL Federer ally..... seen clapping, cajoling, cartwheeling with every Federer point won throughout his semifinal match...
Magnus Norman
Robin's guru and mentor....former French Open 2000 men's finalist....the most handsome, hot, delishhhh guy in the stands possibly at least from these eyes' perspective...
Mirka Vavrinec
Mrs. Roger Federer....senior cheerleader of the Federer team, bag and sunglass hag, and would you believe it, an ex-tennis player herself!!!!
Bjorn Borg
Swedish tennis world champion.....Grand Slam titlist extraordinaire....with a list of titles longer than my arm....(POSSIBLY????) secret plotter/FUNDER/FUHRER of another wave of SWEDISH invasion (first started by compatriots Mats Wilander, Stefan Edberg etc)....
Andre Agassi
Former tennis world champion....hot stud if without the beer belly that most American fastfood worshippers proudly sport....Federer fan, pulling for him to win the title for history.....with wife Steffi in picture....he looks like he's proud of the belly LOL
Liisa Winklergirl
Filipina tennis lunatic....wannabe sports correspondent....cute blogger 6,700 miles from the real action but not without the power of pathetic Cable television....will be without her TEQUILA tonight but definitely cheering for the SCANDINAVIAN UNDERDOG!!!! bwahahahahahaha
DUN FORGET TO BRING YOUR POPCORN FOLKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
And so Friday night, 7 pm, Philippine time, i decided to camp inside my room and follow the men's tennis semi-finals of Roland Garros in Paris on sports television. Men's semis what???? Since when have I followed avidly a men's singles tennis match? Let alone two!!!! Not since the days of Rafter and Agassi I think! hahaha I tell you it is indeed a record for me. What determination and steely nerves I have to not want to go out on a Friday night!!! Impressive ain't I? And men's semi-finals indeed!!! LOL
I have no idea how Robin Soderling plays, the burly Swede who has shocked the world by beating Nadal and then continued to impress by crushing the Russian brick wall Davydenko in the quarterfinals...(sorry non-tennis followers at this point please shift to another webpage as only hardcore tennis aficionados will truly comprehend these hieroglyphics of the sport). He is the 24 year old protegee (pretty old to be one I say) of Magnus Norman, a retired player who coincidentally is also the last Swede to ever be in the semis of the French Open. Let me say this though he is a lot more cute, younger-looking and appealing than his protegee! Hahaha! It doesn't leave me wondering why the camera often took several glances at him all throughout the match!
Soderling's opponent is Fernando Gonzales, the Chilean with the superhuman forehand but a rather tame backhand comparatively. His game reminds me a lot of Steffi Graf's. The forehand is a weapon and he often would run around his backhand to hit a forehand in short to protect a rather mundane shot. I don't like Gonzales as he rubs me the wrong way and well he is more of an eye candy than Robin but I would go for the hirsute Swedeman than him LOL
The match turned out to be phenomenal! Robin won the first two sets 6-3, 7-5 impressively with consistent down-the-line backhands which left Gonzo scrambling. As Gonzo is always looking to hit his power forehand around his backhand he constantly leaves a gap on his forehandside which the Swede consistently explored leaving Gonzo bewildered. Soderling's power is also incredible, he is very very strong and he probably matches Gonzo's forehand power but on both wings, forehand and backhand. He put a lot of pressure on the Chilean's backhand too by pushing the ball deep causing the Chilean to slice the ball defensively and not achieve anything offensive with it. All Gonzales could do throughout the whole encounter was scramble and hit desperation shot after desperation shot. Commentary called his underhand sliced forehand shots, squash shots....The whole match reminded me of a Seles-Graf match urrgh dont get me started on that LOL
But then Gonzales' persistence started to earn him merit as Soderling's game slightly became more tame. The Chilean returned everything the Swede gave him, he sliced forehands, churned out one defensive lob after another, crawled on the ground, even used the whole stadium literally to scramble to get shots!!! Soderling's shots suddenly did not have the same zing as the first couple of sets and Gonzo started becoming more confident. His serve became a massive weapon and served as the anchor for him to impose his game on the match. Soderling committed more errors and the match stood at two sets apiece with Fernando winning the next two sets 7-5, 6-4
With Soderling's confidence shaken and Fernando smelling victory the match stood at 4-1 in the DECIDING SET in favor of the Chilean. Everyone was sure Gonzales would win the match. The French were readying themselves for the next match with Federer in it, the Swede's shoulders were slumped and Fernando was VAMOSing his way around the court....
BUT....the match was ready for one more twist. Suddenly like a revived Lazarus, Soderling's offensive game resurrected out of nowhere. He found the storm und drang that deserted him in the last two sets and started pounding winner after winner. He regained his accuracy on the down-the-line backhands and started trading blows comfortably again with Fernando. I was shocked at his resurgence and the quickness of it all! The SWEDE reeled off five straight games to win the match 6-4 in the fifth set. The Swede falls on his knees, jubilant, victorious....all the apt adjectives and well I say this cheekily, probably shocked to be in his first career Grand Slam final. I was happy because Magnus Norman, Soderling's handsome coach was happy HAHAHAHAHAHHA
This is a rather bizaare account of a tennis match but oh well I have never been one to conform the laws of convention...not even with writing a simple tennis article!!!
Onto the next match, Roger Federer versus Juan Martin Del Potro!!!! (of which I'm not sure I will cover!!! hahahahahahaha)
