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** until 6-8-09 **
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Well the field has been eliminated and the stage is set for the Finals on 6/6/09 & 6/7/09. May the best clay courters win!!!
Women's Singles Final
Dinara Safina vs Svetlana Kuznetsova
and
Men's Singles Final
Robin Soderling vs Roger Federer
Everything you can imagine is real.
- Pablo Picasso -
Midday 6-6-09 Evening
** until 6-8-09 **
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Motivational Speaker - Veraunda Jackson
1. Quit arguing with people about the same old foolishness! Respect their position and keep it moving!
2. Quit telling people your secrets when you know they are not going to keep them! And if you keep telling them, then quit getting mad when they tell your secrets!
3. Quit trying to pull people on your journey who don't want to travel with you. Either they believe in you and value you...or they don't!
4. Quit complaining about things you can't and won't change!
5. Quit gossiping about other people! Minding our own business should be a full time job!
6. Quit blaming each other for things that in the big picture aren't going to matter three weeks from now! Talk solutions...and then implement them!
7. Quit eating things you know are not good for you! If you can't quit...eat smaller portions!
8. Quit buying things when we know we can't afford them! If you don't have self control, then quit going to the stores! Quit charging things, especially when you don't NEED them!
9. Quit staying in unhealthy relationships! It is not okay for people to verbally or physically abuse you! So quit lying to yourself! It is not okay to stay in the marriage for the children! Ask them and they will tell you that they really would prefer to see you happy and that the misery you and your spouse/partner are living with is affecting them!
10. Quit letting family members rope you into the drama! -Start telling them you don't want to hear it! Quit spreading the drama! Quit calling other relatives and telling them about your cousin or aunt! Go back to #5 minding your own business should be enough to keep you busy!
11. Quit trying to change people! IT DOESN'T WORK! Quit cussing people out when you know that they are just being the miserable and jealous people that they are!
12. Quit the job you hate! Start pursuing your passion. Find the job that fuels your passion BEFORE you quit!
13. Quit volunteering for things that you aren't getting any personal fulfillment from anymore! Quit volunteering for things and then failing to follow through with your commitment!
14. Quit listening to the naysayers! Quit watching the depressing news if you are going to live in the doom and gloom of it all!
15. Quit making excuses about why you are where you are or why you can't do what you want to do!
16. Quit waiting on others to give you the answers...and start finding the answers for yourself! If what you are doing isn't working for you...then quit it!
17. Quit settling and start making your dreams a reality!- Quit being afraid and START LIVING YOUR LIFE! CREATE THE LIFE YOU WANT! If you want something different than what you have had in the past...you must quit doing what you have done before and DO something different! JUST QUIT IT ...... and START DOING something to create the experience you want!
"Life is short, but there is always time enough for courtesy and kindness."
"Discovery consists of seeing what everybody has seen and thinking what nobody has thought."
- Alert von Szent-Gyorgyi -
Wednesday, June 3, 2009
Williams falls to Kuznetsova in quarters
Associated Press
PARIS -- One shot by Serena Williams sent Svetlana Kuznetsova to the court in a messy spill that left her covered with clay.
The resilient Russian was down but not out. She squandered a big lead Wednesday but ended Williams' 18-match Grand Slam winning streak in the French Open quarterfinals, 7-6 (3), 5-7, 7-5.
Williams, seeded second, was seeking her third successive major title and the 11th of her career.
The No. 7-seeded Kuznetsova faced a set point serving at 5-6 in the first set but erased it with a slam and won that set. After her tumble in the second set, Williams rallied three points from defeat to even the match and then took a 3-1 lead in the third.
Kuznetsova mounted the final comeback and broke serve in the last game when Williams pushed a backhand wide.
The seesaw struggle was this close: Midway through the third set, each player had won 100 points.
Kuznetsova, the 2004 U.S. Open champion, seeks her second major title. Her opponent Thursday will be Samantha Stosur of Australia, who reached her first major semifinal by beating Sorana Cirstea of Romania 6-1, 6-3.
Stosur, 25, has never won a tour title.
Magic players believe Nelson will play in finals
ORLANDO, Fla. - Orlando Magic players say Jameer Nelson will play in the NBA finals, even though the All-Star point guard and his coach remain publicly pessimistic.
Nelson participated in a full team practice Tuesday for the first time since tearing the labrum in his right shoulder Feb. 2. While Nelson and coach Stan Van Gundy still said the point guard's status won't be determined until game day, players said Nelson looked "terrific'' and expect him to be on the court against the Los Angeles Lakers.
"I expect to see him out there at some point in the series,'' backup point guard Anthony Johnson said.
Nelson had what was then called season-ending surgery Feb. 19. Nelson's rehabilitation was supposed to take at least another two months.
Game 1 of the finals is Thursday night in Los Angeles, and healed or not, Nelson wants to play.
"I'm not saying I'm any tougher or stronger than anybody, but I've been known to do some amazing things sometimes,'' Nelson said Tuesday, again lobbying for playing time.
Magic general manager Otis Smith had repeatedly said Nelson will not play again this season. But he recanted his comments Monday and said a quicker recovery and the chance of winning a championship has forced him to at least take a look at Nelson
"It's still no in my mind,'' Smith said. "There's a very smidgen of a chance he can play.''
That "smidgen'' seems to be growing.
Nelson has been playing full-court games and practicing in non-contact drills for the last two weeks. Tuesday, he participated in every drill.
Players said Nelson wasn't in his All-Star form, but even not completely healthy, he was better than most NBA point guards.
"He was terrific,'' Magic forward Mickael Pietrus said. "Hopefully, he will play and can help us win.''
Starting point guard Rafer Alston expressed similar optimism.
"I was going to try to run him ragged out there, but I didn't want to cross him over,'' Alston said. "He did cross me over a couple times.''
The Lakers are preparing as if Nelson will play - and for good reason.
Orlando was 2-0 against Los Angeles this season. Nelson was Orlando's leading scorer in both those games, averaging 27.5 points.
And with the Lakers' troubles guarding point guards in the postseason, they're not taking any chances.
"He's a terrific player. He's really come on a lot in the last year as a player,'' Lakers coach Phil Jackson. "Someone's got to play that position and we have to match whatever happens there. He has the speed and intelligence to play that position very well for that team.''
Nelson has been trying to convince the Magic for a chance at playing since the playoffs began, with each round the team advances the idea - and the talk - of him returning growing.
For the Lakers, Nelson is just one more offensive weapon they have to worry about.
"They add another scorer,'' Los Angeles' Kobe Bryant said. "They have a team full of them, but he is another player you're going to have to deal with on defense.''
The Magic's title hopes seemingly took a major hit after Nelson was injured. A trade-deadline deal that brought Alston from Houston largely saved the Magic's season, allowing the rotation to remain the same and Johnson to continue to provide solid play as Alston's backup.
The Magic are hoping Nelson can only add to that success.
Van Gundy, perhaps trying to keep his coaching strategy a secret, again expressed doubt Tuesday whether Nelson could seriously return for the finals. But he also said that even if Nelson doesn't play in Game 1, he could play later in the series.
"He was OK,'' Van Gundy said, shrugging his shoulders. "We'll have to wait until and see.''
Tuesday 6-2-09
305, 202, 678, 101, 931, 356, 651, 166, 405, 205
102, 778, 578, 001, 813, 301, 526, 564, 506, 751
116, 333, 555, 666, 777, 888, 999
Nadal's historic run in Paris ends
By Greg Garber
ESPN.com
PARIS -- Customarily, the loser of a professional tennis match packs up in great haste and stalks off the court as quickly as possible.
On Sunday evening, Robin Soderling of Sweden exited Court Philippe Chatrier first, leaving Rafael Nadal to his usual stage. Nadal, the four-time defending French Open champion, squeezed a few more rackets into his large bag, then a towel and a wrist band, letting the thunderous applause wash over him.
As he walked off, Nadal did his usual clockwise, 360-degree spin, his hand in the air to acknowledge the appreciative crowd. It was a resounding and heartfelt ovation, and it continued as he disappeared into the tunnel at the north end of the stadium.
The King is dead.
Long live the King.
At precisely, 5:54 local time, history was made at Roland Garros. For the first time ever here, the 22-year-old Spaniard lost a match.
Nadal did seem uncharacteristically laconic at times and displayed negative body language throughout but, just as much, Soderling won it.
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| Rafael Nadal's unblemished 31-0 record at Roland Garros came to an inexplicable end versus Robin Soderling. |
Playing the match of his 24-year-old life, Soderling prevailed 6-2, 6-7 (2), 6-4, 7-6 (2), which, considering the context, was one of the most staggering upsets in recent Grand Slam history. Nadal had won all 31 of his previous matches here and seemed destined to become the first man or woman to win five consecutive titles.
Coming into this fourth-round match, Nadal had won all 48 of his best-of-five matches on clay.
Afterward, he was still flushed, but composed.
"All of us athletes, we know that when we walk on the court we can either win or lose," Nadal said. "I know it for a fact anything can happen, and I have to accept them both in the same way. "You cannot collapse either because you've won a match or because you've lost it. This is sport, and you can have victories or defeats. No one remembers defeats on the long run. People remember victories."
This one will long stand as an exception to the rule.
"I try to keep telling myself before the match that I have to believe," Soderling said later. "Of course, I told everybody this is the biggest challenge you can have, I think, playing Nadal, the best clay-court player of all times on clay, best of five sets in Roland Garros.
"But still, you know, I have to believe that I have a chance, otherwise there's no meaning going on the court. I could just go home instead. I tried to keep telling myself that, you know, at least I have a small chance."
Mats Wilander, the three-time champion at Roland Garros, analyzed the match for Eurosport.
"All the players are in a state of shock," Wilander said afterward. "At some point, Nadal was going to lose, but nobody expected it to happen today, or maybe even next year. Now there's a tournament to be won by a bunch of players.
"I think they're all having a beer tonight."
Only one month ago, Nadal strafed Soderling 6-1, 6-0 in Rome -- one of the worst losses in the Swede's career. But for 3½ hours at Roland Garros, Soderling consistently out-willed, out-stroked Nadal. And, against all odds, he showed more heart when the points mattered most.
So what changed? Perhaps it was Madrid.
The blueprint for the victory was provided by Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer two weeks ago in Spain. Although Djokovic lost, he played an artful, passive-aggressive game that extended Nadal to more than four hours. Federer finished him off in a straight-sets final, but showed a different approach against Nadal than he has taken in the past.
He stepped into the court, making it a smaller playing field. He made a deliberate attempt to keep rallies short, going for shots that were sometimes beyond safe. He took huge cuts with his forehand, running around his backhand whenever feasible. He jumped on anything short and teed off on second serves. He mixed it up with slices and even a few drop shots.
This is precisely what Soderling did. What was so astonishing was that he was able to maintain that unconscious level for four sets.
Last week, Darren Cahill was asked for a game plan to beat Nadal. Cahill, who worked briefly with Federer earlier this year, had three words: High-risk tennis.
"You have to attempt as best as you can, to take Rafa out of his comfort zone," Cahill said. "The beat way to do that is to be aggressive, very aggressive."
In breezy conditions, Soderling took some massive cuts, flattened his stroke out and wound up with 59 unforced errors, a high number for a four-set match. But, in the end, his risk was rewarded with 61 winners -- 28 more than Nadal.
In the monstrous moments, facing a break point, Soderling won five of six against Nadal, while saving two of four.
"My strategy was to play aggressive," Soderling said. "You can't really try to beat him in running him down, because, for sure, I had to take some chances. I think I did, and, you know, I played extremely well on the important points.
"I played exactly the way I wanted to play for the match."
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| Robin Soderling employed a high-risk game that saw him hit 28 more winners than Rafael Nadal. |
When Nadal dropped the first set 6-2, it sent media representatives scrambling to the record book.
The 6-2 loss was a distinct slice of history. It was the first dropped set at Roland Garros since the second set of the 2007 final against Federer and ended a 32-set winning streak And only the second set Nadal's lost in a span of 53 going back to the first set of the 2006 final -- also against Federer.
"I never was calm -- that's the truth," Nadal admitted. "The match started off very badly for me. I mean, the second set, I should have won it 6-4. Then there was wind, and that wasn't good.
"Then not being calm enough to face the important points, so I had to fight. But sometimes it's not enough fighting. You have to play a good level of tennis. Sometimes people think I win because I'm physically fit, but, no. When I win, it's because I play well, and that wasn't the case today."
After winning the second-set tiebreaker -- he won the first six points -- many probably assumed Nadal would win the final two sets. But in the seventh game of the third set he was broken after falling awkwardly, landing heavily on his right ankle. Nadal never seemed to find a rhythm.
Nadal missed several forehands early and never contested the fourth-set tiebreaker. Afterward, he declined to cite fatigue as a factor.
The King, it must be said, is still only 22 -- three days from 23rd birthday.
"Unfortunately, it's the first time I'm not going to celebrate my birthday in Roland Garros," Nadal said. "I hope I'll be able to celebrate more here and be back next year and try and win."
This will take some getting used to.
The men's No. 1 and No. 4 seeds have now departed a day apart, leaving Federer, the No. 2 seed, and Andy Murray, the No. 3, a far more open draw than they dared to imagine. Nadal cast Federer -- who he's beaten in the past three finals here -- as the favorite.
Hard to imagine, that Federer now has a sterling chance to win his first French Open and complete his set of Grand Slam trophies.
Soderling, for his part, plays Nikolay Davydenko in a surprise quarterfinal.
In his postmatch press conference, Nadal was asked the obligatory question about his preparation for Wimbledon.
"Right now, my preparation is for the swimming pool of my house," Nadal said, smiling at his own joke. "Yeah, give me three more days to think about preparation for Wimbledon."
Saturday 5-30-09
369, 723, 189, 098, 623, 186, 238, 469, 296
030, 063, 603, 613, 373, 226, 148, 158, 413
467, 578, 420, 821, 087, 555, 666, 888, 999
0110, 8110, 3113, 3118, 3119, 3111, 3117
"Dogma does not mean the absence of thought, but the end of thought."
- Gilbert Chesterton -
CHICAGO
Half the journey to getting what you want is knowing what you want. That means Stephen Curry, yet to do a draft workout, is already in the homestretch.
Curry's first audition will be with the hometown Charlotte Bobcats, but his first choice – he said this a half-dozen times Thursday – is to be a New York Knick.
The easy response would be to go off on a be-careful-what-you-wish-for rant. How many pro athletes has New York chewed, swallowed and belched?
But sitting there, in a group interview with Curry at the NBA draft combine, I was convinced the skinny kid from Davidson knows precisely what New York is, and he's ready for it. The Knicks hold the eighth pick in the June25 draft. Curry believes what he is – a scoring point guard – is what they need, and he's all but shouting his desire to go there.
He loves coach Mike D'Antoni's up-tempo, Euro-style offense. He'd love to be chosen eighth (about as high as he could realistically expect). And he embraces what basketball in New York entails.
“New York is the most ideal situation right now,'' Curry said. “To play in the (Madison Square) Garden 41 games a season? That's a legacy. How can you beat it?''
I've been hanging around NBA pre-draft camps for 20 years. The interviews all blend together. Players typically come in two flavors – the nervous and coy (their agents telling them not to screw anything up with the wrong remark) and the recklessly <snip>y. Curry was neither.
The kid is confident in a way that places those around him at ease. He isn't trying to convince himself or others how good he is. He doesn't need to; it comes naturally.
We asked him Thursday about the training he's been doing in Washington, D.C. He said the misconception is that he's preparing for the draft, and not what will follow that draft. It was like hearing a student interpret the difference between cramming for a test and absorbing the class material.
“I'm prepping for all next year,'' Curry explained. “I'm working out to be in better condition, to strengthen up and improve my ballhandling.
“I have my sights set on playing right away and contributing.''
I might be the last sportswriter at the Observer – certainly the last one who covers basketball – to spend real time around Steph. I've known his parents for most of his life. Dell, a former NBA player, and his wife Sonya raised their kids right – to be respectful and courteous, but also confident and tough.
Steph prefers that he did it at Davidson, accomplishing the same things he would have at a North Carolina or Duke without dumping the school he originally chose.
“We played the best non-conference schedule and that gave me the chance to showcase everything I could do,'' he explained. “I never thought about transferring.''
He did turn pro early, and it's natural to wonder if a skinny, 6-foot-3 kid from the little school on the lake is ready for the big, bad NBA.
I wondered, as he left that interview Thursday, if the big, bad NBA is quite ready for Steph Curry.
"Education is an admirable thing, but it is well to remember from time to time that nothing that is worth knowing can be taught."
- Oscar Wilde -
Midday & Evening
** until 5-31-09 **
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