Nadal crushes in the AO Quarterfinals 2011

World No.1 Rafael Nadal falls in the Australian Open 2011 Quarterfinals against fellow Spaniard and compatriot David Ferrer 6-4 6-3 6-2 ending his quest for a 4th straight major title. Nadal couldn't chase down balls from the Ferrer racket due to a left leg injury suffered also in last years OZ open in the quarters. Ferrer will now face   No. 4 Andy Murray in the semifinals while World No.2 Roger Federer will meet No. 3 Novak Djokovic in the other semifinals to complete the finals birth to be held on Sunday.

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Davydenko shocks Nadal ; faces Federer in the Finals of Doha Open 2011

Nikolay Davydenko pounded on World No. 1 Rafael Nadal 6-3, 6-2 to have a crack at the finals in the 2011 Doha Open in Qatar. The Russian pushed the Spaniard from side to side by a constant barrage of cross court backhands and forehands which surprised Nadal all night. Nadal has no answer for Davydenko's consistency behind the baseline.

In the first set, Nadal cashed in on an early break in the 3rd game only to give it back in the 6th game which tied the score 3-3. It was then on all Davydenko - capitalizing on his next service game and went on to break Nadal's serve again in the 8th game to lead 5-3. The Russian won his service game to take the first set.  In the second set it was all Davydenko again, breaking the Spaniard's first service game and go on to take a 5-0 lead. Serving for the set, the Russian seemingly lost concentration and dropped his serve and handed the second game to Nadal with the score 5-2. Davydenko has given no chance to Nadal in the 8th game and closed it out at 6-2.

Davydenko will face a tougher challenge in the finals against world No. 2 and now a  rejuvenated Roger Federer who defeats Joe Wilfred Tsonga in the other semi finals 6-3, 7-6 (2). The Swiss leads the Russian 14-2 in their head to head ATP matches. 

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Sampras' Stolen Trophies: an insolence to his historic achievements

Former World No. 1 Pete Sampras was robbed not only of his precious collection of career trophies and memorabilia but the respect that a historic man like him deserve. His achievements and dedication  to tennis  during his career was quite unblemished and unparalleled. It's very disappointing to lose most of your tournaments hardware and priceless career possessions to reckless thieves who knew nothing about the importance of those to the man. 

The incident happened in West Los Angeles storage facility where he stored most of his career wares and precious items amid he's transfer (to a new house). He said the incident happened weeks ago. He decided to go  public weeks later after nothing happened to his effort to retrieved the stolen items. As of today no significant  leads are established to pin the criminals.

To his support, some of his lost wares will be replaced by Tennis organizers and Institutions such as the Australian Open (to replace his lost 94 Australian Open trophy) and the ATP  (to replace his 93-98 year end No. 1 trophy). We just wish that all institutions do the same to replace what Pete has lost.

In the event, i'm quite sure that Roger Federer and Rafa Nadal will build a more secure storage rooms for them not to be robbed like Pete. 

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Serbia defeats France to take its first Davis Cup Title

World No. 28 Victor Troicki of Serbia muscled his way passed No. 23 Michael Llorda of France (6-2,6-2,6-3) to win their first ever Davis Cup trophy. Serbia has become the 13th country in history to have laid  a hand on the title trophy. But it was the heroics of main man World No. 3 Novak Djokovic that have sparkled the Serbian comeback by winning the singles match over World No. 12 Gael Monfils 6-2, 6-2, 6-4. The win eventually leveled the match with 2 games apiece after France 2-1 go-ahead win in doubles category.

Troicki was then tasked to tame Michael Llorda (who never lost a Davis Cup rubber match in 2010) in the 5th game decider. “I’m in shock, after the last shot I couldn’t believe this happened,” said Troicki. "I think for the next few days I’ll still feel a little bit different" .  Well indeed he felt "different" even during the match when he consistently bombarded passing shots to the net-rushing Llorda. But I think the difference is that Troicki was the more composed player of the two (of course it was held in Belgrade) but the thing is -"nerve" has caught up in Llorda's game shown by his tentative approaches and double faulted twice in breakpoints.


In the defeat, some France media had called for the team's coach Guy Forget's ouster. The report had sprung when allegedly, during  the Djokovic - Monfils match, Forget summoned Michael Llorda to leave  for the locker room to prepare while Gilles Simon stayed to watch the game, giving the sign that Llorda will play in the deciding 5th game singles match and not Simon (whom Troicki never won) . In the event, Troicki was tagged to play Llorda rather than Janko Tipsarevic. 

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Barclays World Tour Auctions produces $127k for Charity

Not just the success of World No. 2 Roger Federer in the recent ATP World Tour Championships in O2 London, but also the massive turnout of fans that flooded in the 2 weeks tournament has made the Barclays World Tour Championship a success. The arena was visited by more than 250,000 guests that included numerous famous celebrities and politicians. But what i like about the tournament is that it (Barclays) organized a charity work that involves all the 8 top players that participated in the event. All the top 8 in the world produced a self portait that was made by painted balls repeatedly hit in a stenciled canvass producing a unique figure of themselves. The online auction gathered $127,755 - combining all the players portraits.

What is surprising is that from all the works - it was Andy Roddick's portrait that prized the most at $33,100. The second is Federer's with $27,300 followed by Nadal's at third place with $26,500. Well, I'm not an artist  nor  an art critic to judge whose portraits are better and whose not. The good thing is all proceeds will be given to charity - 50% of it goes to the Barclay's Charity which involves programs with children and the other 50% will be divided to the top 8 player's own charity works. 

Here's the video of the "artists" (players) making their self-portraits.

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