The AGK Collection
When not having Disney vacations with their children, the tennis power couple of Andre Agassi and Steffi Graf are busy designing for their Kreiss furniture line.
(coffee table)
(dining table)
(bed)
The majority of the new collection was in black and white because these are Graf’s favorite color combinations. She said, “They are not only visually different but also of distinctly different materials.” Exactly what can be said of the contrast in the iconic couple’s personalities. So distinctly different, yet perfect together.
Sports Handicapping
I didn’t know that sports betting is so prevalent until I’ve heard about the case of the Russian tennis player Nikolay Davydenko - he became, what they say, tennis’ fall guy when organizers became “curious” about matches that appeared to have betting patterns. In other words, it seemed suspicious that someone of Davydenko’s caliber (he’s a consistent top 10 player) can lose to someone unranked so early in a tournament and then win the next tournament he enters. Could it be that he’s rigging his own results? He has since been cleared from all charges.
Sports handicapping is the process of predicting the result of a competition, and in the world of sports, tennis is possibly among the least profitable in terms of winnings. But it is a reality; I remember the 2004 movie Wimbledon where James McAvoy (the brother of Paul Bettany’s character) always bets against his brother during tournaments. Well, things like that happen in real life and it may be a source of entertainment for spectators but the athletes should not be a part of it. Imagine if Federer purposely lost that epic Wimbledon final because his girlfriend took a big bet in favor of Nadal? You get the picture.
Dreary USO
Make me forget that the U.S. Open is about to start. I still find it weird that Rafael Nadal is now the top seed. Naturally, he should be, despite the fact that Federer is the four-time defending champion there. Just a few days from becoming ATP’s no. 1 and I’ve read he’s already in a fashion magazine spread. What will Anna Wintour, American Vogue’s editor-in-chief and Federer’s friend, say to that? I don’t think Roger needs a memory stick to remind him that barely 12 months ago, these high-profile friends of his were watching him take all the glory in the tennis courts and then bringing him to the Paris fashion runways during his “dayoffs.”
Well, speaking of glam, Ana Ivanovic is back at the top of the rankings and is the women’s top seed. As for the WTA, the no. 1 spot has not meant that much since Justine Henin retired. Somebody has to step up and deserve the ranking. Maria Sharapova, the one who can be considered the best hardcourt player in the field save for the Williams sisters, is out of the Open due to a shoulder injury.
Looking Good, Fed
He may be dropping to no. 2 in the world ranking in a weeks’ time; he may be losing confidence and tournaments lately, but you can’t say Roger Federer doesn’t have style!
Here’s TheFed carrying the Swiss flag at the opening ceremony of the 2008 Bejing Olympics. I got the photo from tennisforum.com and the highlighted part is obviously a mistake.
He looks good in red, no? I can imagine him driving a red Ferrari F430. I bet this guy doesn’t need car insurance, no matter how many millions his car(s) costs. With his tour schedule, I wonder if he even drives at all. Tennis stars have such a globe-trotting lifestyle.
Hope for the Gold
Manny Pacquiao did carry the Philippine flag in the opening ceremonies at the Beijing Olympics tonight. The 15-member Philippine delegation is said to be pinning its hope in boxing and taekwondo, hoping to end our country’s 12-year Olympic medal drought. It may be an uphill battle, but, as they say, hope springs eternal.
Meanwhile, Roger Federer, the outgoing world’s no. 1 tennis player, carried the flag for his country, Switzerland. He’s also celebrating his 27th birthday and has been claiming that winning the Olympics is as important to him as winning Wimbledon. Not that the memory of this year’s championship can be expected to make Federer’s pulse quicken in a good way. On the other hand, if I’m Mirka Vavrinec, I’ll surely need a pulse oximeter had I heard my man saying that meeting me at the Olympics (as they did during the Athens Olympics 8 years ago) is better than being the flag bearer this year.
Badminton Tournament
Last Saturday, July 19, was our company’s 4th annual badminton tournament. I joined the last three years; it’s been the only company activity so far that I really looked forward into joining, obviously because I’m a badminton nut. A “badminton addict” may be too strong a name, but for people who haven’t really tried the sport, that may very well be how I’m classified. Next year may be a different story, though, but I’ll cross the bridge when I get there.
For now, here are some pieces of the action.
The Death of Beauty
Titanic tiebreaker:
This Sports Illustrated article sums up accurately, and rather emotionally, what Rafael Nadal’s win over Roger Federer at Wimbledon, so often called “the cathedral of tennis,” meant to Roger’s fans. His reference to an old New York Times article, Federer as a Religious Experience, also brings nostalgia to all who were left in awe by his five-year run on the lawns of the All-England Club.
Some excerpts from the first article:
On July 6, as I watched Federer lose a four-hour 48-minute five-set match to the up-and-coming Spanish superstar Rafael Nadal — a match that John McEnroe and Bjorn Borg both described as the greatest ever played — I felt a creeping realization as the duo battled into twilight that I was witnessing something more profound than my hero losing a tennis match: I was witnessing the death of beauty.
For as much as even his own fans admire his play, there is nothing lithe, elegant or graceful about Rafael Nadal, oh he of bulging biceps and perennially itchy butt. A spectacular athlete, Nadal has risen to the top of men’s tennis with strength and determination. He’s a bruiser (case in point: on Sunday, he directed 25 percent of his serves to Federer’s body; Federer chose that aggressive line only four percent of the time).
Eben Harrel, Si.com
Bonne Chance, Fed
Expectators are now looking for Nadal’s biceps to swallow Roger Federer whole for the fourth straight year at Roland Garros but I’m keeping the dream alive.
One match at a time, Fed. He’s through to the second round after defeating American Sam Querrey today. Let’s wait until the end of the fortnight to see whose predictions will come true. I’m betting on Federer to win his first French Open title. This may be his last chance, anyway. Take a hike, Rafa.
Painting the Lines
I was watching an old tennis match last night and got fascinated once again by the colorful language of the commentators. Most of those “behind-the-curtain” voices are former pros and champions so their love for the game and their first-hand experiences make for an interesting analysis of what is going on inside that small rectangular space. My fascination with tennis possibly goes beyond its being a competition but more on its being an art. To borrow the lines of someone else who wrote about this very same idea,
the beauty of the game is seeing, then trying to remember, the way a ball travels around the court during a point…Strategy entails mapping out and resolving combinations of lines — patterns — just as an artist maps a drawing. The fan’s pleasure comes in redrawing the lines as a memory.
Within sameness there can be endless variety. Artists have proved this over centuries. It’s the art of tennis, too — or part of the art, because there is beauty to the sound of the game and to its passage through time. Call it the music of the sport. Which is to say nothing of its drama, offcourt and on, or of the ballet of Federer’s footwork …
-Michael Kimmelman, NYT 9/06
In tennis, you follow these simple rules - keep your eye on the ball; keep the ball on or inside the lines. This reminds me of an entry on mordsith’s blog about following rules and brought me to the realization that I’m not really someone who colors outside the lines; mostly, I’d rather paint the lines.