Friday, July 11, 2008

tennis names

i got paid to indulge so many times. i wrote about pete sampras twice and it touched on some exhaustive research and irrational zeal. a year later, deeply ignited by the false hope of the henman magic, i posted negative though objective views in a tiny portion of the worldwide web and in the hard copy published within one evolved sphere of asia.

the 2002 us open was sampras' last professional match. henman retired last year, leaving memories of henmania and henman hill behind. i may not see andy murray play that often but the Scot got better chances than the bloke from oxfordshire in winning a slam.

i'm weird when it comes to tennis serves and groundstrokes, i know my way around the big serves and  big forehands, backhand slices and forehand volleys just by staring. those who can't do, can talk. to be honest, an ace is a free point. a wonderful accouterment to possess in one's tennis game. couple that with stylish serve and volley and fabulous groundstrokes, underrated one-handed backhand and the best second serve in history, enviable running forehand, slam-dunking overhead smashes, you get a sampras. his kind of game was not enough to win the french as clay favors counter-punchers.

stefan edberg had the serve and volley but not the serve but he was able to procure six slams. boris becker -- big serve and giant strides to the net to serve and volley, six slams. andre agassi -- average serve, punishing return of serve, two-handed backhand, groundstrokes to match the best in history plus a rockstar image that is the delight of advertisers --- eight slams. federer has no weaknesses, the serve, though difficult to read, may not be as huge as the williams sisters, but the Swiss all-court presence is overpowering and his great liquid whip of a forehand is a surefire winner. rafael nadal is the master of clay specifically the french open, the biggest clay court event there is. the spanish mastery of the topspin and the ambidextrous quality of his game surely made my day by beating federer at wimbledon. the best wimbledon final ever, their supporters can claim whatever they want. there's still the us open to look forward to and that event in melbourne in january until it comes full circle yet again.

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