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Quotable Quotes: Nadal Makes A Few Adjustments

1 Comment Posted by on January 2, 2012

One Slam title, two slam finals, a masters title, a comfortable top two finish for the 7th straight year, and yet 2011 was quite a tough year to swallow for Nadal and his fans. After the countless losses to Djokovic in the first half of the season followed by injury and defeats to just about every man and his dog in the second half, he finally made the decision to switch things up and try out a new racket in the off-season.

“My preparation is not the perfect one, and I’m trying to play with a little bit heavier racket, to get a little bit more power,” Nadal said. “(With the new racket) I’m losing a little bit of control now, sometimes I don’t feel the forehand as good as before. But it’s something that I believe can help me in the future. After the Davis Cup final I had all the rackets prepared at home to change. In theory I’m supposed to practice almost a month or at least three weeks with the (new) racket, but finally I practiced only one week, and I’m here now, so probably it’s not good enough.

“You can’t think that everything will be perfect from the beginning, but you make the change thinking it’ll be better in the future. There’s no magic, but the new racket can help a little bit to improve my game. It’s a risk I’m taking at the beginning of the season.”

What I have always admired more than anything about Nadal is his ever-present willingness to make adjustments and improvements his game. While enjoying such an illustrious and legendary career as his, it must be so easy to refuse to change what, for the most part, has been a winning formular over the year.

But that’s not how Rafael Nadal’s mind works, and while Federer is still putting himself at a disadvantage by competing with his 967,532 year-old racket frame (one that the dinosaurs probably would have turned their noses up at), Nadal is forever looking to improve even the tiniest and least important mechanics of his game. We only have to look back to the 2010 US Open and at the completely reckless adjustment to his serve on the eve of the tournament. In retrospect, the likelihood is that he would still be chasing the Career Grand Slam had he not taken that risk.

As for this specific racket change, we’ll soon see whether or not it pays dividends. But one thing’s for sure, Nadal creates easily more racket head speed than just about any other player in the history. The new racket isn’t going to single-handedly catapult him out of Djokovic’s shadow again – trusting himself to hit through the ball, and to do so in the tight and important moments, will. We’ll see.

ATP, News, Quotable Quotes, Rafael Nadal

Quotable Quotes: Venus Opens Up About Her Illness

2 Comments Posted by on December 30, 2011

Four months after dramatically pulling out of the US Open due to Sjogren’s syndrome, Venus Williams has finally spoken candidly about her battle with Sjrojens Syndrome. Conversing with People magazine, the seven-time Slam champion discussed her reaction and recovery after being dealt such a dramatic mental and pysical blow.

“I couldn’t raise my arm over my head, the racket felt like concrete. I had no feelings in my hands,” she told People. “They were swollen and itchy. I realised (her match against Lisicki) would be a miserable show. [...] I would go to the doctor and start crying. I couldn’t help it. I just want a chance to play on the same field as other people, I want to feel normal, but as frightening as the diagnosis was, it was also a relief. I wasn’t crazy and I wasn’t lazy; I thought, ‘is this a mental problem? Maybe I need to work harder.’”

After reading about Venus’ experience, it’s not hard to see why her comeback has and will continue to demand such a titanic effort on her part.

Even taking the whole tennis match aspect of being a professional tennis player out of the equation, this profession demands more of it’s athletes than practically any other sport; from grueling gym, fitness and on-court training reigimes, to the constant traveling and the rapid changes in climate and conditions. The idea of managing these normal requirements of a professional tennis player while keeping her illness in check seems like nothing but an unrealistic dream.

And yet, if there is anyone with the discipline, class and sheer determination to stay on top of this illness and close out the rest of her career in style, it’s ‘The Fucking Venus Williams’. There’s hope for the legend yet.

News, Quotable Quotes, Venus Williams, WTA, WTA off-court

Dear Tennis Federations, How You Should React To Departing Players

3 Comments Posted by on December 28, 2011

The last couple of weeks of the off-season have been ripe with news of players deciding to change their nationalities ahead of the 2012 season. First came Bogomolov who changed from USA to his motherland Russia in order to compete in the Davis Cup after a breakthrough 2011. Despite publicly admitting that they had no intention of using Bogomolov in their squad, the USTA essentially threw their toys out of their pram upon hearing the news, eventually issuing Bogomolov an invoice for $75k compensation.

A few weeks later, it was the Russian Tennis Federation’s turn to throw their own tantrum following Ksenia Pervak’s decision to play under the Kazakhstan flag in order to fulfil her dream of competing in the Olympics. For most of 2011, the 21 year-old has spoken openly about the possibility of changing flags ahead of the olympics. Even so, after the decision was finalized Shamil Tarpishev immediately went on a media rampage, stating that Pervak had no right to do so, among other things.

This week it was the turn of little-known Kiwi Sacha Jones to make a move, ditching the practically non-existent Tennis NZ in favour of Australia and all of the funding and help. Steve Johns, CEO of Tennis NZ, reacted slightly differently to the aforementioned federations:

“It was totally out of the blue. We were very surprised, a bit shocked, disappointed – all those emotions. There’s been a reasonable amount of money invested in Sacha’s career, but we quickly realised that she’s a professional athlete and, yes, while we’d like New Zealand to feature in her plans, at the end of the day she’s looking after the best interests of her career. She believes – and rightly so – that she can get better assistance playing under the Australian flag. She’s a Kiwi at heart. If it doesn’t work out for her in Australia then, absolutely, we’d welcome her back with open arms. If it does work out over there and she achieves her goals and goes onto great things then, rest assured, we’ll be claiming her as a Kiwi forever and making it pretty clear that this is where she got her start.”

It’s funny, we all know that – with the omnipresent foursome of Roddick, Fish and the Bryan Bros around – Alex Bogomolov meant absolutely nothing to the USTA until he decided to change his nationality. Similarly, with Russia overflowing with big names above Pervak and young prospects rising below her, there wasn’t much hope for the middle-of-the-road Pervak to ever really be a regular fixture in Fed Cup and Olympic campaigns. Even so, members from both federations have managed to blow things completely out of proportion.

Meanwhile, New Zealand have lost a young and fairly talented player in Jones, leaving them with only one player in the entire top 700. And yet, after their initial disappointment, Tennis NZ were able to maturely accept and respect Jones’ decision, even wishing her luck as an Australian. Hmmm.

Dramz, News

The Horrific Chakvetadze Burglary; Finally Revealed

2 Comments Posted by on December 7, 2011

It has been almost four years since Anna Chakvetadze and her family were burgled and robbed at knifepoint in her own home on new years eve. In the years that have followed, the Russian’s once glittering career has fallen into the gutter, with the oft-discussed loss of the form that took her to number four in the rankings swiftly followed by the double hammer-blow of Chakvetadze encountering serious health problems. And while it appears melodramatic to suggest that the one remote incident on the eve of 2008 played a role in all of Chakvetadze’s woes that have followed, it’s tough to overstate just how pivotal the gruesome burglary and subsequent events have been for Chakvetadze in the four years that have followed.

Most have heard about the incident that took place; about the six masked men who gained entry by knocking the houemaid out cold and gaining entry through her quarters. After battering the 24 year-old’s father, Djamal, with a pistol and putting a knife to her mother’s throat, the thieves made away with over $250k dollars and many more valuables. The attack left Djamal Chakvetadze in need of surgery on both his shoulder and hand, while Anna was left with an injured wrist.

Sadly, this hardly signaled the end of the ordeal. Afterwards, Shamil Tarpishchev used his political influence to reach out to regional governors in order to find the thiefs and put them to justice. But all that has followed is a trail of corruption, with the police bribed into picking up six innocent men off the streets and torturing them in custody until they confessed to crimes they never committed. Djamal was eventually tipped off to the fact that the men indicted for the burlary were innocent, but even with the names of the guilty and DNA evidence of the intruders, the police continue to refuse to pay him any attention.

Thus, in addition to her tennis falling apart after the incident and her health following suit throughout this year, Chakvetadze continues to live in fear with her attackers still roaming the streets without fear of rebuttal for their crimes. Her father revealed that she still struggles to sleep and regularly wakes up in shock at 3am each time – the very time the burglars stormed their property. And considering the criminals pledged to return again to the Chakvetadze household as they made their escape, it’s hard to believe that those nightmares will be stopping anytime soon.

(via Novaya Gazeta)

Anna Chakvetadze, News, Quotable Quotes, WTA off-court

Quotable Quotes: Serena Accidently Lets Slip Her Real Reason For Skipping Asia

Leave a Comment Posted by on December 2, 2011

After her disappointing and already-infamous loss to Sam Stosur in this year’s US Open final, Serena Williams made the decision to withdraw from Tokyo, Beijing and all other remaining events in 2011 and to instead immediately turn her attention to 2012. The 30 year-old’s official excuse for withdrawing from the premier+ has a well-guarded secret, and even as many began to speculate on the disappearance of her name from all fall events, both the WTA and Serena’s camp refused to give anything away.

However, according to ESPN, during the media rounds ahead of her Milan exhibition alongside Venus Williams, Flavia Pennetta and Francesca Schiavone, the 13-time Grand Slam champion herself was controversially candid when discussing her absence from the fall events of 2011.

“I was tired after the Open and didn’t want to go to Asia,” she said before bursting into laughter and correcting herself. Well no, I was injured.”

Oh, Serena.

Of course, anyone with the tiniest amount of common sense knew this immediately after her shock loss to Stosur and had made peace with the fact that that, with no major title to play for after losing the US Open final (Williams was all but out of the race for Istanbul by virtue of losing that final), Williams would likely close up shop on 2011 and recuperate back home. However, though some can say that she has earnt it, Serena sitting there and chuckling heartily not wanting to play in Asia does make quite a mockery of the WTA; we know she’s bigger than the WTA and its rules, the WTA knows she is, and evidently she does too.

But hey, at least she was honest when asked, rather than lamely attempting to blame her withdrawal on non-existent radiation and a natural disaster that occurred a good six/seven months prior to the Asian swing. Ahem.

News, Only god is the jurge(((, Quotable Quotes, Serena Williams

Novak Djokovic to miss Beijing and Shanghai

1 Comment Posted by on September 19, 2011

After his horrifying episode at the Davis Cup where he fell to the ground in a scream of pain before being forced to retire and hand the tie over to Argentina, Serbian press are now reporting that the world number one will be out for just under a month;

Doctors have found a tear in Djokovic’s intercostal (rib) muscle. According to physiotherapist Miljana Amanović, Nole will need at least 28 days, to be fully recovered.

This means that he will miss Beijing which starts October 3rd, and a withdrawal from Shanghai is also very certain. Get well soon.

News, Novak Djokovic

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