Sunday, March 16, 2008
Saturday, March 8, 2008
master internet
*@cher blogeur
Il y a 2 options que je connais. La premiere est la meilleure pcq tu as l option de voir 2 ou 3 matchs. La deuxieme marche seulement sur internet explorer et window
1)Tu peux aller sur http://www.bet365.com/home/LiveStreaming/LiveStreaming.asp?langid=14, il faut ouvrir un compte gratuit avec eux. En t inscrivant, tu ne dois pas remplir la page ou en te demande ta carte de credit(tu peux fermer la fenetre).
2)** a)Tu peux utiliser TVU, http://pages.tvunetworks.com/channels/ et cherche a gauche 10006 star sport
b)Je te conseillerai de telecharger le tvu player http://pages.tvunetworks.com/downloads/player.html des fait il suffira de chercher 10006 star sport.
Tu peux voir l horaire de la chaine ici http://pages.tvunetworks.com/tvguide/tvGuide.do?lang=en&date=20080330&channelid=10006&tzoffset=-4
**Je prefere 2 b) plus stable. Bon divertissement
*P.S Je poste ici pcq cyberpresse refusait mon poste.
é en cuir du VIP lounge. Assis au bar et sirotant un fruit mix, Rafael Nadal le voit sans le regarder. Un éclair. "Roger is that you?" Dans cette atmosphère ouatée au silence assourdissant, le petit espagnol n’a jamais été aussi content de voir son meilleur ennemi.A en témoigner par le sourire qui fend le visage de ce dernier, le sentiment est apparemment réciproque.
-Je te croyais parti depuis lundi, j’ai pas vu ton match contre Murray mais c’était serré non?
-Ca va arrête tes conneries il m’a encore fait le coup du pousseur de balles. Du pousseur à deux balles devrais-je dire... Du pousseur de Bâle? Je ne sais même plus. Risque zéro, Monsieur est dos aux bâches et attend la faute.
-Putain dégoûté quoi!!
-Si je te dis qu’il se tenait plus loin que Gasquet tu me dis quoi?
-Jure!!
-Authentique, je ne voyais même pas le logo de son polo tellement il était loin; j’ai compté il a fait cinquante trois pas pour venir me serrer la main au filet.
-Tout fout le camp...
-A qui le dis-tu? Je sais plus, tout ça commence à me faire un peu chier. A toi je peux le dire: le tennis m’emmerde royalement en ce moment! Je ne sais pas trop ce qui m’arrive mais je ne prends plus vraiment mon pied.
-Pied? Ne m’en parle pas, le mien me fait plus que souffrir. Je passe sur les blagues à deux euros genre colosse aux pieds d’argile. Rends-toi compte, cette inflammation de la voute plantaire m’empêche de faire un simple footing. Je dois compenser, je fais beaucoup d’aquagym et de travail en salle. Pour les courses, je les limites aux entrainements tennistiques uniquement. Tonton Toni dit que c’est préférable.
-Ah? Moi les entrainements je ne sais pas trop. J’ai viré le coach l’an dernier mais je commence à me demander si je ne vais pas m’en reprendre un.Je pensais que le préparateur physique suffirait et de ce point de vue je suis en super forme, mais je ne sais pas, tennistiquement je sens moins bien la balle, je frappe moins bien, mes coups m’échappent un peu. Je ne retrouve pas le rythme en fait. A l’entrainement ça va mais en match je n’ai pas les bonnes sensations.
-Sensations? J’ai oublié ce que ce mot signifie, je n’ai pas remis les pieds sur terre depuis juillet!! Houston we have a problem!!
-Parlons de terre, tu étais allé foutre quoi à Stuttgart franchement? Tu ne pouvais pas te reposer après Wimbledon?
-Foutre quoi? Voyons laisse-moi réfléchir...Heuuuu au cas où tu ne l’aurais pas remarqué, avec ton printemps pourrave l’an dernier j’avais une bonne chance de te faire la nique à la fin de l’année.
-????????????????????
-Ben oui, tu pensais quand-même pas que j’allais rester numéro deux pendant cent ans?
-Le raaaaaaaaat! En interview tu disais...
-Tsssss de la sauce pour les journaleux, penses-tu. N’empêche j’ai quand-même pas été loin, si y’avait pas eu ce Tsonga en Australie.
-Ou la la qu’est-ce qu’il ta mis!! J’ai regardé un best of sur youtube, c’était un tabassage en bonne et due forme. D’ailleurs tu as été pas mal rossé en cette fin d’année 2007. Et en ce début d’année aussi. On m’a remplacé mon taureau de Manacor par une vachette d’Interville.
-Sinon Monsieur Propre s’est quand-même pris trois sets secs contre le Nole chez les Kangourous, on a beau dire.
-Ne me parle pas de ce petit con.
-Comment tu ne l’as pas vu arriver lui?
-Ben écoute on n’avait pas vraiment besoin de lui. On te comparait à Borg sur terre, tu avais ta petite principauté dans mon royaume et moi j’étais Sampras ou Laver partout ailleurs. Le bon vieux temps...
-Tu l’as dit putain. Barman, verse-moi un peu de Chivas dans ton jus d’asperges-là. Même Hulot il n’en boirait pas. C’est jour de deuil aujourd’hui. Et la même chose pour mon pote.
-Arrête tes conneries, Mirka n’est pas loin.
-On s’en tape de Mirka, on devrait la maquer avec Tonton Toni!
-MDRRRRRRRR
-Sinon tu vas où là?
-T’es pas au courant je joue contre Sampras à New York.
-Ah j’ai entendu parler de ça. Si c’est bien payé pourquoi pas? Mais je me demande si tu ne t’éparpilles pas un peu avec cette Sampras addiction qu’on te colle. Avec cette soif de records qu’on t’a insufflée tu perds un peu le nord non?
-Ouais peut-être. J’en sais rien... En fait si, tout ça finit par me dépasser. Aucun tennisman avant moi n’a eu à jouer en même temps contre ses pairs ET l’histoire. Je crois que le vide sidéral qui m’a entouré pendant quatre ans a fait qu’on n’a pas eu d’autre choix que de se focaliser sur moi et me comparer à des retraités glorieux. Quand à une époque tu as Connors, Lendl, Borg et Mac, ou à une autre tu as Sampras, Agassi, Edberg et Becker qui jouent tous en même temps...
-Vide sidéral? Merci Monsieur, traite-moi de quiche je ne te dirai rien.
-Mais non je ne dis pas ça pour toi. Heureusement que tu étais là d’ailleurs, autrement qu’est-ce que je me serais emmerdé!!
-Tu l’as dit bouffi, à la tienne. Ceci dit, on a l’air vachement moins seuls du coup. Le Serbe et l’Ecossais ont l’air en forme.
-Bof.
-J’en reviens pas, tu viens de te prendre trois sets par l’un et un premier tour et seconde défaite de suite face à l’autre et tu ne les prends toujours pas au sérieux? Tu charries là. C’est quand-même pas des manchots.
-C’est sûr que c’est pas Tsonga ou Youzhny!
-Mouais. Et Volandri c’est qui, le prochain Borg?
-Espagne 1 - Suisse 0. MDR. Il est où ce barman? Aubergiste, y’a marée basse! Et toi tu vas où?
-Je rentre passer quelques jours en Espagne.
-J’ai pas vu ton match contre Roddick, j’ai été surpris qu’il te tape.
-C’est sûr que c’est pas à toi que ça pourrait arriver!!
-Roddick? Sur le senior peut-être? MDR. On est méchants là.
-Alors Roge, service volée comme à la belle époque?
-J’en sais rien. J’ai quelques pistes à étudier, les filières plus courtes, jouer vers l’avant. Un peu comme Sampras vers la fin. C’est évident que du fond du court quand tu combines les progrès des autres avec mon propre manque de peps ça sent le butane. C’est à ça que je réfléchissais d’ailleurs. Eviter les longs échanges qui finissent par me dérégler, surtout en revers. Je ne vais peut-être pas jouer les Edberg ou les Rafter mais il faut que je cherche à abréger. Tant que je sentais bien la balle j’arrivais à dicter le jeu en coup droit, et j’avoue que c’était jouissif de battre les spécialistes de la baseline à leur propre jeu. Je me suis confessé, à toi!
-Filières courtes. Quand j’entends ça j’ai des envies de meurtre. On me répète jusqu’à plus soif que je dois m’orienter vers un jeu plus économe, mettre moins de lift, frapper à plat et faire la marche en avant. Mais qu’est-ce qu’ils se figurent? Les plans de frappe que j’ai, le lift, la lourdeur de la balle plus que la vitesse, j’ai appris à jouer comme ça et c’est ce que ma coordination et ma biomécanique me permettent de faire. Je ne serai jamais Julien Bouter, Stan Wawrinka, Petr Korda ou Xavier Malisse. Ces joueurs qui traversent la balle et finissent le point en deux coups de raquette. En même temps quand on compare nos palmarès je me dis que j’ai peut-être pas tout perdu dans mon malheur non?
-C’est clair que Stan si il avait le mental de Hewitt la Suisse serait vainqueur multiple en Coupe Davis. D’où l’importance de ces JO pour moi. Gagner quelque chose pour la nation, monter sur le podium et entendre l’hymne, j’en ai des frissons. Si je ne devais gagner qu’un tournoi cette année ce serait celui-là.
-Ah? Pas Roland Garros?
-Joker!
-Moi je t’avoue qu’au rythme où vont les choses ce quatrième titre de suite me paraît bien loin. Je ne crains ni Nole ni Murray à Paris, ce n’est pas leur surface de prédilection. Mais Nalbandian sait qu’il a un coup à jouer entre Roland et Wimbledon. Et vu que les deux prétendus maîtres des lieux n’ont pas pesé bien lourd face à lui cet automne...
-Parle pour toi! Les deux matches que j’ai perdus étaient serrés. Toi tu t’es pas pris un râteau, c’est tout le Bricorama qui t’es tombé sur la gueule!
-Ah voilà ta bru qui arrive, elle te cherche du regard. Question chocolats elle n’y va pas de main morte, allez savoir pourquoi elle a choisi la Suisse!
-MiLka Vavrineck!! MDR. Allez Raf repose-toi bien et on se voit à Indian Wells.
-So long Roge.
Même au sommet du tennis mondial, riches à millions et adulés des foules, ils ont su rester deux jeunes gars simples et finalement pas si différents de nous tous. Des victoires, des défaites, des succès, des échecs, des remises en questions et des doutes entrecoupés de certitudes et d’espoirs. A bientôt Messieurs et tous à Indian Wells.
URL TRACKBACK : http://www.sportvox.fr/tb-receive.php3?id_article=19370
D
Pour en revenir à Fed et à sa mono, les formes peuvent etre très variées : chez certains forme atténué mais pouvant durer jusqu’à un an et chez d’autres (comme chez moi) forme aigue mais qui dure 15 jours à 1 mois. Mais dans tous les cas c’est la galère...
L'AUTEUR DE L'ARTICLE
YODA (Abidjan)
Il y a 2 options que je connais. La premiere est la meilleure pcq tu as l option de voir 2 ou 3 matchs. La deuxieme marche seulement sur internet explorer et window
1)Tu peux aller sur http://www.bet365.com/home/LiveStreaming/LiveStreaming.asp?langid=14, il faut ouvrir un compte gratuit avec eux. En t inscrivant, tu ne dois pas remplir la page ou en te demande ta carte de credit(tu peux fermer la fenetre).
2)** a)Tu peux utiliser TVU, http://pages.tvunetworks.com/channels/ et cherche a gauche 10006 star sport
b)Je te conseillerai de telecharger le tvu player http://pages.tvunetworks.com/downloads/player.html des fait il suffira de chercher 10006 star sport.
Tu peux voir l horaire de la chaine ici http://pages.tvunetworks.com/tvguide/tvGuide.do?lang=en&date=20080330&channelid=10006&tzoffset=-4
**Je prefere 2 b) plus stable. Bon divertissement
*P.S Je poste ici pcq cyberpresse refusait mon poste.
é en cuir du VIP lounge. Assis au bar et sirotant un fruit mix, Rafael Nadal le voit sans le regarder. Un éclair. "Roger is that you?" Dans cette atmosphère ouatée au silence assourdissant, le petit espagnol n’a jamais été aussi content de voir son meilleur ennemi.A en témoigner par le sourire qui fend le visage de ce dernier, le sentiment est apparemment réciproque.
-Je te croyais parti depuis lundi, j’ai pas vu ton match contre Murray mais c’était serré non?
-Ca va arrête tes conneries il m’a encore fait le coup du pousseur de balles. Du pousseur à deux balles devrais-je dire... Du pousseur de Bâle? Je ne sais même plus. Risque zéro, Monsieur est dos aux bâches et attend la faute.
-Putain dégoûté quoi!!
-Si je te dis qu’il se tenait plus loin que Gasquet tu me dis quoi?
-Jure!!
-Authentique, je ne voyais même pas le logo de son polo tellement il était loin; j’ai compté il a fait cinquante trois pas pour venir me serrer la main au filet.
-Tout fout le camp...
-A qui le dis-tu? Je sais plus, tout ça commence à me faire un peu chier. A toi je peux le dire: le tennis m’emmerde royalement en ce moment! Je ne sais pas trop ce qui m’arrive mais je ne prends plus vraiment mon pied.
-Pied? Ne m’en parle pas, le mien me fait plus que souffrir. Je passe sur les blagues à deux euros genre colosse aux pieds d’argile. Rends-toi compte, cette inflammation de la voute plantaire m’empêche de faire un simple footing. Je dois compenser, je fais beaucoup d’aquagym et de travail en salle. Pour les courses, je les limites aux entrainements tennistiques uniquement. Tonton Toni dit que c’est préférable.
-Ah? Moi les entrainements je ne sais pas trop. J’ai viré le coach l’an dernier mais je commence à me demander si je ne vais pas m’en reprendre un.Je pensais que le préparateur physique suffirait et de ce point de vue je suis en super forme, mais je ne sais pas, tennistiquement je sens moins bien la balle, je frappe moins bien, mes coups m’échappent un peu. Je ne retrouve pas le rythme en fait. A l’entrainement ça va mais en match je n’ai pas les bonnes sensations.
-Sensations? J’ai oublié ce que ce mot signifie, je n’ai pas remis les pieds sur terre depuis juillet!! Houston we have a problem!!
-Parlons de terre, tu étais allé foutre quoi à Stuttgart franchement? Tu ne pouvais pas te reposer après Wimbledon?
-Foutre quoi? Voyons laisse-moi réfléchir...Heuuuu au cas où tu ne l’aurais pas remarqué, avec ton printemps pourrave l’an dernier j’avais une bonne chance de te faire la nique à la fin de l’année.
-????????????????????
-Ben oui, tu pensais quand-même pas que j’allais rester numéro deux pendant cent ans?
-Le raaaaaaaaat! En interview tu disais...
-Tsssss de la sauce pour les journaleux, penses-tu. N’empêche j’ai quand-même pas été loin, si y’avait pas eu ce Tsonga en Australie.
-Ou la la qu’est-ce qu’il ta mis!! J’ai regardé un best of sur youtube, c’était un tabassage en bonne et due forme. D’ailleurs tu as été pas mal rossé en cette fin d’année 2007. Et en ce début d’année aussi. On m’a remplacé mon taureau de Manacor par une vachette d’Interville.
-Sinon Monsieur Propre s’est quand-même pris trois sets secs contre le Nole chez les Kangourous, on a beau dire.
-Ne me parle pas de ce petit con.
-Comment tu ne l’as pas vu arriver lui?
-Ben écoute on n’avait pas vraiment besoin de lui. On te comparait à Borg sur terre, tu avais ta petite principauté dans mon royaume et moi j’étais Sampras ou Laver partout ailleurs. Le bon vieux temps...
-Tu l’as dit putain. Barman, verse-moi un peu de Chivas dans ton jus d’asperges-là. Même Hulot il n’en boirait pas. C’est jour de deuil aujourd’hui. Et la même chose pour mon pote.
-Arrête tes conneries, Mirka n’est pas loin.
-On s’en tape de Mirka, on devrait la maquer avec Tonton Toni!
-MDRRRRRRRR
-Sinon tu vas où là?
-T’es pas au courant je joue contre Sampras à New York.
-Ah j’ai entendu parler de ça. Si c’est bien payé pourquoi pas? Mais je me demande si tu ne t’éparpilles pas un peu avec cette Sampras addiction qu’on te colle. Avec cette soif de records qu’on t’a insufflée tu perds un peu le nord non?
-Ouais peut-être. J’en sais rien... En fait si, tout ça finit par me dépasser. Aucun tennisman avant moi n’a eu à jouer en même temps contre ses pairs ET l’histoire. Je crois que le vide sidéral qui m’a entouré pendant quatre ans a fait qu’on n’a pas eu d’autre choix que de se focaliser sur moi et me comparer à des retraités glorieux. Quand à une époque tu as Connors, Lendl, Borg et Mac, ou à une autre tu as Sampras, Agassi, Edberg et Becker qui jouent tous en même temps...
-Vide sidéral? Merci Monsieur, traite-moi de quiche je ne te dirai rien.
-Mais non je ne dis pas ça pour toi. Heureusement que tu étais là d’ailleurs, autrement qu’est-ce que je me serais emmerdé!!
-Tu l’as dit bouffi, à la tienne. Ceci dit, on a l’air vachement moins seuls du coup. Le Serbe et l’Ecossais ont l’air en forme.
-Bof.
-J’en reviens pas, tu viens de te prendre trois sets par l’un et un premier tour et seconde défaite de suite face à l’autre et tu ne les prends toujours pas au sérieux? Tu charries là. C’est quand-même pas des manchots.
-C’est sûr que c’est pas Tsonga ou Youzhny!
-Mouais. Et Volandri c’est qui, le prochain Borg?
-Espagne 1 - Suisse 0. MDR. Il est où ce barman? Aubergiste, y’a marée basse! Et toi tu vas où?
-Je rentre passer quelques jours en Espagne.
-J’ai pas vu ton match contre Roddick, j’ai été surpris qu’il te tape.
-C’est sûr que c’est pas à toi que ça pourrait arriver!!
-Roddick? Sur le senior peut-être? MDR. On est méchants là.
-Alors Roge, service volée comme à la belle époque?
-J’en sais rien. J’ai quelques pistes à étudier, les filières plus courtes, jouer vers l’avant. Un peu comme Sampras vers la fin. C’est évident que du fond du court quand tu combines les progrès des autres avec mon propre manque de peps ça sent le butane. C’est à ça que je réfléchissais d’ailleurs. Eviter les longs échanges qui finissent par me dérégler, surtout en revers. Je ne vais peut-être pas jouer les Edberg ou les Rafter mais il faut que je cherche à abréger. Tant que je sentais bien la balle j’arrivais à dicter le jeu en coup droit, et j’avoue que c’était jouissif de battre les spécialistes de la baseline à leur propre jeu. Je me suis confessé, à toi!
-Filières courtes. Quand j’entends ça j’ai des envies de meurtre. On me répète jusqu’à plus soif que je dois m’orienter vers un jeu plus économe, mettre moins de lift, frapper à plat et faire la marche en avant. Mais qu’est-ce qu’ils se figurent? Les plans de frappe que j’ai, le lift, la lourdeur de la balle plus que la vitesse, j’ai appris à jouer comme ça et c’est ce que ma coordination et ma biomécanique me permettent de faire. Je ne serai jamais Julien Bouter, Stan Wawrinka, Petr Korda ou Xavier Malisse. Ces joueurs qui traversent la balle et finissent le point en deux coups de raquette. En même temps quand on compare nos palmarès je me dis que j’ai peut-être pas tout perdu dans mon malheur non?
-C’est clair que Stan si il avait le mental de Hewitt la Suisse serait vainqueur multiple en Coupe Davis. D’où l’importance de ces JO pour moi. Gagner quelque chose pour la nation, monter sur le podium et entendre l’hymne, j’en ai des frissons. Si je ne devais gagner qu’un tournoi cette année ce serait celui-là.
-Ah? Pas Roland Garros?
-Joker!
-Moi je t’avoue qu’au rythme où vont les choses ce quatrième titre de suite me paraît bien loin. Je ne crains ni Nole ni Murray à Paris, ce n’est pas leur surface de prédilection. Mais Nalbandian sait qu’il a un coup à jouer entre Roland et Wimbledon. Et vu que les deux prétendus maîtres des lieux n’ont pas pesé bien lourd face à lui cet automne...
-Parle pour toi! Les deux matches que j’ai perdus étaient serrés. Toi tu t’es pas pris un râteau, c’est tout le Bricorama qui t’es tombé sur la gueule!
-Ah voilà ta bru qui arrive, elle te cherche du regard. Question chocolats elle n’y va pas de main morte, allez savoir pourquoi elle a choisi la Suisse!
-MiLka Vavrineck!! MDR. Allez Raf repose-toi bien et on se voit à Indian Wells.
-So long Roge.
Même au sommet du tennis mondial, riches à millions et adulés des foules, ils ont su rester deux jeunes gars simples et finalement pas si différents de nous tous. Des victoires, des défaites, des succès, des échecs, des remises en questions et des doutes entrecoupés de certitudes et d’espoirs. A bientôt Messieurs et tous à Indian Wells.
URL TRACKBACK : http://www.sportvox.fr/tb-receive.php3?id_article=19370
D
Pour en revenir à Fed et à sa mono, les formes peuvent etre très variées : chez certains forme atténué mais pouvant durer jusqu’à un an et chez d’autres (comme chez moi) forme aigue mais qui dure 15 jours à 1 mois. Mais dans tous les cas c’est la galère...
L'AUTEUR DE L'ARTICLE
YODA (Abidjan)
Tuesday, February 12, 2008
Sania Mirza faces a volley of criticism
Sambuddha Dutt
Tuesday, February 5, 2008 (New Delhi)
Sania Mirza faces a volley of criticism over her decision to skip the Bangalore Open.
The advice may have been given to her by Mahesh Bhupathi, but now both the mentor and the protegee are being castigated for what many are calling an impulsive and incorrect decision.
Leander Paes one of the most respected voices in Indian Tennis has only joined in saying that nobody is above the game.
Mahesh Bhupathi didn't want to comment any further on the issue of Sania Mirza's pull out from the Bangalore Open.
But his former doubles partner certainly made his point.
"Celebrities in all walks of life, be it actors or sportspersons, or politicians, all have to face this kind of a thing. Controversies are always part and parcel of life when you are a public figure," said Leander Paes, non-playing captain, Davis Cup team.
"It's about what kind of dignity you handle all this with. The biggest thing for any athlete is to play for his country and for its people," he added.
Despite the endless string of controversies that have surrounded Sania's career, most former players were harsh on globosport the sports management company headed by Mahesh Bhupathi, which advised Sania to skip the Bangalore Open.
"It's a highly immature, juvennile decision that she has been advised to do. It is not a question of setting just a bad precedent. It is the fact that she's been so badly misguided," said Naresh Kumar, Former Davis Cup Captain.
However, it is not like Sania does not have support. Many can empathise with what she has been going through.
"It is not easy on the court, when you already have so many things on your mind. So you don't need these controversies when you're off the court, that doesn't help at all," said Rohan Bopanna, Sania's Hopman Cup team-mate.
Media reports have hinted that a dispute over appearance money could be a reason for Sania pulling out of India's most high profile tennis event, which will feature the Williams sisters.
The tournament organisers did not confirm or deny that they are just hoping that Sania will have a change of heart.
"Certainly hope she does reconsider. After all she must not take a decision after depending on the extreme fringe layer of people, she should get on the court and play," said Sunder Raju, Tournament Director, Bangalore Open.
Sania's decision to pull out of the Bangalore open has evoked sharp criticism, from not just the experts but from former and current players alike.
But the one point to ponder here is about the challenges in front of Indian sports persons not just is it hard to become successful in India, but it seems now you've also got to contend with numerous other challenges, once you've made it as well.
Tuesday, February 5, 2008 (New Delhi)
Sania Mirza faces a volley of criticism over her decision to skip the Bangalore Open.
The advice may have been given to her by Mahesh Bhupathi, but now both the mentor and the protegee are being castigated for what many are calling an impulsive and incorrect decision.
Leander Paes one of the most respected voices in Indian Tennis has only joined in saying that nobody is above the game.
Mahesh Bhupathi didn't want to comment any further on the issue of Sania Mirza's pull out from the Bangalore Open.
But his former doubles partner certainly made his point.
"Celebrities in all walks of life, be it actors or sportspersons, or politicians, all have to face this kind of a thing. Controversies are always part and parcel of life when you are a public figure," said Leander Paes, non-playing captain, Davis Cup team.
"It's about what kind of dignity you handle all this with. The biggest thing for any athlete is to play for his country and for its people," he added.
Despite the endless string of controversies that have surrounded Sania's career, most former players were harsh on globosport the sports management company headed by Mahesh Bhupathi, which advised Sania to skip the Bangalore Open.
"It's a highly immature, juvennile decision that she has been advised to do. It is not a question of setting just a bad precedent. It is the fact that she's been so badly misguided," said Naresh Kumar, Former Davis Cup Captain.
However, it is not like Sania does not have support. Many can empathise with what she has been going through.
"It is not easy on the court, when you already have so many things on your mind. So you don't need these controversies when you're off the court, that doesn't help at all," said Rohan Bopanna, Sania's Hopman Cup team-mate.
Media reports have hinted that a dispute over appearance money could be a reason for Sania pulling out of India's most high profile tennis event, which will feature the Williams sisters.
The tournament organisers did not confirm or deny that they are just hoping that Sania will have a change of heart.
"Certainly hope she does reconsider. After all she must not take a decision after depending on the extreme fringe layer of people, she should get on the court and play," said Sunder Raju, Tournament Director, Bangalore Open.
Sania's decision to pull out of the Bangalore open has evoked sharp criticism, from not just the experts but from former and current players alike.
But the one point to ponder here is about the challenges in front of Indian sports persons not just is it hard to become successful in India, but it seems now you've also got to contend with numerous other challenges, once you've made it as well.
Monday, February 11, 2008
Chasing the past( SL PRICE)
NEW YORK -- You know this sensation. You shuffle through a drawer, come upon an old photo. Maybe it's from a decade ago, maybe longer, and you can't help but stop: Is that what I looked like then? You might remember what you were thinking when the shutter snapped. You might even know the way you were. But one good thing about being an obscure person, unwatched and unknown by millions, is that you know this moment will soon pass. You'll slip the photo back into the envelope, shove it to the back of the drawer. The slightly disturbing feeling that comes with staring at a younger version of yourself will fade. And your life will go on.
For Martina Hingis, it's different. She's surrounded by reminders of the way she used to be. Reporters and fans remind her daily of past mistakes, past wins; the other day someone called her a "has-been" to her face. Early Thursday afternoon, Hingis found herself on a treadmill in Flushing Meadow warming up for her second-round match at the 2007 U.S. Open. Directly above and in front of her, hanging from the ceiling, was a blown-up poster of 16-year-old Martina Hingis holding the silver '97 U.S. Open trophy: Short girlish bob, white Sergio Tacchini sweatsuit with blue trim, the grin of someone operating at the absolute peak of a rare and transcendent talent. She pumped her legs. The machine beneath her hummed, and she had no choice but to stare at the image of her younger, better self. "I look really young," Hingis said.
She is 26 now. After a three-year retirement, Hingis came back to tennis last year in astonishing form. She won two tournaments, rose to seventh in the world, raised the possibility that, with the fractured state of women's tennis, she might be able to sneak in a Grand Slam title or two before leaving the game for good. This year she choked away a quarterfinal win over Kim Clijsters at the Australian Open, won her lone title of the year in Tokyo, then spiraled into a cycle of injuries -- hip, back, femur -- that dropped her down to No. 17.
On Thursday, Hingis went on to beat qualifier Pauline Parmentier, 6-2, 7-5, with her usual mix of lobs, dropshots and chessboard tactics. If nothing else, Hingis' mind still operates at a level most of her opponents can't imagine.
"Everybody knows I can be a dangerous player," she said. "They have to watch out for me. Of course they know my weaknesses: They try to overpower them. Everybody tries to shoot me off the court. I try to to hold on against it.
"I know what I can do and what I can't," Hingis continued. "I'm very realistic. I know where my chances are, and I know if I prepare myself the best, like last year, that there's only a few players who can beat me. But being injured the last three, four months -- that wasn't easy. I'm just trying to get myself back together now. I know when I train right and everything is falling into place, I'm still a dangerous floater. Nobody likes to see me on the other side. I try to take that as a positive."
Still, Martina Hingis: "Dangerous Floater" was hardly the label anyone -- including Hingis -- would've predicted for her. At 12, she was the youngest to ever win a junior Slam title. At 13 she was the youngest Wimbledon junior champ. In 1995 she hit the women's tour and, at 14, became the youngest to win a singles match in the Open era.
"It's always been that I was the best junior, the best here and there, all at a young age, and I've broken so many records over the years," she said. "So when you have a hiccup, when you've been [ranked] 15-20 for one year, you're like, 'Hey, what's going on? I should be up there with the top 10, winning tournaments.' Because you don't know anything else."
The moment she arrived, cheery and light-footed in an era of rampaging tennis fathers and teen burnouts, the 15-year-old Hingis drew gasps from the tennis cognoscenti. Billie Jean King called her "a genius"; Mary Carillo said that she'd seen only one other pro, John McEnroe, play with such a vivid tennis imagination. Monica Seles raved that she had never seen anyone with such court sense, spoke of how, as her one-time doubles partner, she could actually see Hingis thinking in mid-point. Blessed with average speed and sometimes a laughable lack of power, Hingis saw the court better, thought levels deeper than anyone else, and that alone gave her the time and space needed to overcome the faster, stronger girls.
At 16 Hingis won the 1997 Australian Open to become the youngest Grand Slam titlist in a century. Within months, she had become the youngest No.1 ever. She went on to win three of the next four Slam events, on top of the game, and it quickly became clear that she was different there, too.
You know, in the development of a person, it's not a good thing to need winning that badly -- like Billie Jean and I did, or Martina or Steffi," Chris Evert, Hingis' one-time mentor, once told me. "Martina Hingis is a very well-rounded individual, and she's got a more easy-going nature than the rest of us. The question is, do you want your child to become No. 1 and be a pain-in the-neck and a cocky egomaniac and everything else that goes along with being No. 1? Or do you want a well-balanced child, more easy-going? I've always liked Martina. The first thing she said at our mentor meeting was, 'Let me see pictures of your boys. Let me see a picture of your husband. How's your life?' Everything was about me. It wasn't just about her, her, her."
Yet, almost just as quickly, Hingis revealed a mean streak behind that grin. She feuded with one-time doubles partner Jana Novotna, insulted Graf and called admitted lesbian Amelie Mauresmo "half a man." She engaged in spats with pinup doubles partner Anna Kournikova, basically accused the Williams sisters of playing the race card and said their father had a "big mouth." She acted like a petulant brat at the '99 French Open, squandered her last good chance at a Grand Slam title. Detractors on tour called Hingis "Chucky" after the homicidal movie doll, but she had already turned her attention elsewhere. After Hingis discovered boys, her tennis never was the same.
In 2002, I spent a few days in Switzerland with Hingis and her mother and coach, Melanie Molitor. Hingis was just on the cusp of her first retirement then because of chronic foot problems, involved with golfer Sergio Garcia, and facing the first true challenge of her life with a strange equanimity. Molitor, who strung her daughter's rackets, a task she loathed but did for three hours nightly, despaired constantly of ever being able to instill just a bit of her own will to win in her daughter. By the time I arrived, she'd all but given up.
"The only thing I can do is try to help Martina to play as good as possible, so she doesn't get close to needing that drive," Molitor said then. She described an athletic makeup unlike any other, a champion with almost no intrinsic need to dominate her opponent. "Martina, she likes the moment. It's a very important point: When Martina's on the court, with a match in her hand, she doesn't think how it will be in 10 minutes or a half hour," Molitor said. "She doesn't care. She's having fun. It's just a game for her."
I took Molitor's remarks as gospel, and wasn't surprised when Hingis seemingly left the game for good. But I also ignored something Hingis told me at the time: "Tennis was always something I could hold onto. I could always come back to the game. That's where I felt strong and safe."
There were times this year when Hingis asked herself, Do I still need to do this? But then comes a day like Thursday, facing a small challenge and still winning.
"Who knows how long it's going to be out there for me?" Hingis says. "It's not going to be another five, 10 years. So you take the moment: Just winning, or on match point when you're tossing the ball, or the last time I hit the backhand down the line into the corner, and I'm like, 'Wow, cool. This is worth all the fighting and running.' Especially on occasions like this. In New York."
How long can it last? Hingis will be 27 next month. She has run through a string of boyfriends, in and out of the game, the latest a broken engagement with Czech pro Radek Stepanek. She doesn't have much to say about that, except that she's ready now to focus on herself, alone again, and putting on blinders to concentrate solely on the game. "It helps," she says, "Winning now again."
She's into the third round here in New York, down in the weaker half of the draw. She takes inspiration from -- of all people -- the Williams sisters and their sudden championship runs at this year's Australian Open and Wimbledon. "It gives me hope," she says, but Hingis is smart enough not to predict a thing. She sees the younger girls, 17 and ready to run all day. "I see the freshness, the hunger, all that," Hingis says. "That's how I used to be."
Come tomorrow she'll be back on the treadmill, running, and maybe that's enough. Hingis will be able to look up at that poster again, after all, and see what few of us know: How it is to be young and happy and sure that you'll never lose.
SL PRICE
For Martina Hingis, it's different. She's surrounded by reminders of the way she used to be. Reporters and fans remind her daily of past mistakes, past wins; the other day someone called her a "has-been" to her face. Early Thursday afternoon, Hingis found herself on a treadmill in Flushing Meadow warming up for her second-round match at the 2007 U.S. Open. Directly above and in front of her, hanging from the ceiling, was a blown-up poster of 16-year-old Martina Hingis holding the silver '97 U.S. Open trophy: Short girlish bob, white Sergio Tacchini sweatsuit with blue trim, the grin of someone operating at the absolute peak of a rare and transcendent talent. She pumped her legs. The machine beneath her hummed, and she had no choice but to stare at the image of her younger, better self. "I look really young," Hingis said.
She is 26 now. After a three-year retirement, Hingis came back to tennis last year in astonishing form. She won two tournaments, rose to seventh in the world, raised the possibility that, with the fractured state of women's tennis, she might be able to sneak in a Grand Slam title or two before leaving the game for good. This year she choked away a quarterfinal win over Kim Clijsters at the Australian Open, won her lone title of the year in Tokyo, then spiraled into a cycle of injuries -- hip, back, femur -- that dropped her down to No. 17.
On Thursday, Hingis went on to beat qualifier Pauline Parmentier, 6-2, 7-5, with her usual mix of lobs, dropshots and chessboard tactics. If nothing else, Hingis' mind still operates at a level most of her opponents can't imagine.
"Everybody knows I can be a dangerous player," she said. "They have to watch out for me. Of course they know my weaknesses: They try to overpower them. Everybody tries to shoot me off the court. I try to to hold on against it.
"I know what I can do and what I can't," Hingis continued. "I'm very realistic. I know where my chances are, and I know if I prepare myself the best, like last year, that there's only a few players who can beat me. But being injured the last three, four months -- that wasn't easy. I'm just trying to get myself back together now. I know when I train right and everything is falling into place, I'm still a dangerous floater. Nobody likes to see me on the other side. I try to take that as a positive."
Still, Martina Hingis: "Dangerous Floater" was hardly the label anyone -- including Hingis -- would've predicted for her. At 12, she was the youngest to ever win a junior Slam title. At 13 she was the youngest Wimbledon junior champ. In 1995 she hit the women's tour and, at 14, became the youngest to win a singles match in the Open era.
"It's always been that I was the best junior, the best here and there, all at a young age, and I've broken so many records over the years," she said. "So when you have a hiccup, when you've been [ranked] 15-20 for one year, you're like, 'Hey, what's going on? I should be up there with the top 10, winning tournaments.' Because you don't know anything else."
The moment she arrived, cheery and light-footed in an era of rampaging tennis fathers and teen burnouts, the 15-year-old Hingis drew gasps from the tennis cognoscenti. Billie Jean King called her "a genius"; Mary Carillo said that she'd seen only one other pro, John McEnroe, play with such a vivid tennis imagination. Monica Seles raved that she had never seen anyone with such court sense, spoke of how, as her one-time doubles partner, she could actually see Hingis thinking in mid-point. Blessed with average speed and sometimes a laughable lack of power, Hingis saw the court better, thought levels deeper than anyone else, and that alone gave her the time and space needed to overcome the faster, stronger girls.
At 16 Hingis won the 1997 Australian Open to become the youngest Grand Slam titlist in a century. Within months, she had become the youngest No.1 ever. She went on to win three of the next four Slam events, on top of the game, and it quickly became clear that she was different there, too.
You know, in the development of a person, it's not a good thing to need winning that badly -- like Billie Jean and I did, or Martina or Steffi," Chris Evert, Hingis' one-time mentor, once told me. "Martina Hingis is a very well-rounded individual, and she's got a more easy-going nature than the rest of us. The question is, do you want your child to become No. 1 and be a pain-in the-neck and a cocky egomaniac and everything else that goes along with being No. 1? Or do you want a well-balanced child, more easy-going? I've always liked Martina. The first thing she said at our mentor meeting was, 'Let me see pictures of your boys. Let me see a picture of your husband. How's your life?' Everything was about me. It wasn't just about her, her, her."
Yet, almost just as quickly, Hingis revealed a mean streak behind that grin. She feuded with one-time doubles partner Jana Novotna, insulted Graf and called admitted lesbian Amelie Mauresmo "half a man." She engaged in spats with pinup doubles partner Anna Kournikova, basically accused the Williams sisters of playing the race card and said their father had a "big mouth." She acted like a petulant brat at the '99 French Open, squandered her last good chance at a Grand Slam title. Detractors on tour called Hingis "Chucky" after the homicidal movie doll, but she had already turned her attention elsewhere. After Hingis discovered boys, her tennis never was the same.
In 2002, I spent a few days in Switzerland with Hingis and her mother and coach, Melanie Molitor. Hingis was just on the cusp of her first retirement then because of chronic foot problems, involved with golfer Sergio Garcia, and facing the first true challenge of her life with a strange equanimity. Molitor, who strung her daughter's rackets, a task she loathed but did for three hours nightly, despaired constantly of ever being able to instill just a bit of her own will to win in her daughter. By the time I arrived, she'd all but given up.
"The only thing I can do is try to help Martina to play as good as possible, so she doesn't get close to needing that drive," Molitor said then. She described an athletic makeup unlike any other, a champion with almost no intrinsic need to dominate her opponent. "Martina, she likes the moment. It's a very important point: When Martina's on the court, with a match in her hand, she doesn't think how it will be in 10 minutes or a half hour," Molitor said. "She doesn't care. She's having fun. It's just a game for her."
I took Molitor's remarks as gospel, and wasn't surprised when Hingis seemingly left the game for good. But I also ignored something Hingis told me at the time: "Tennis was always something I could hold onto. I could always come back to the game. That's where I felt strong and safe."
There were times this year when Hingis asked herself, Do I still need to do this? But then comes a day like Thursday, facing a small challenge and still winning.
"Who knows how long it's going to be out there for me?" Hingis says. "It's not going to be another five, 10 years. So you take the moment: Just winning, or on match point when you're tossing the ball, or the last time I hit the backhand down the line into the corner, and I'm like, 'Wow, cool. This is worth all the fighting and running.' Especially on occasions like this. In New York."
How long can it last? Hingis will be 27 next month. She has run through a string of boyfriends, in and out of the game, the latest a broken engagement with Czech pro Radek Stepanek. She doesn't have much to say about that, except that she's ready now to focus on herself, alone again, and putting on blinders to concentrate solely on the game. "It helps," she says, "Winning now again."
She's into the third round here in New York, down in the weaker half of the draw. She takes inspiration from -- of all people -- the Williams sisters and their sudden championship runs at this year's Australian Open and Wimbledon. "It gives me hope," she says, but Hingis is smart enough not to predict a thing. She sees the younger girls, 17 and ready to run all day. "I see the freshness, the hunger, all that," Hingis says. "That's how I used to be."
Come tomorrow she'll be back on the treadmill, running, and maybe that's enough. Hingis will be able to look up at that poster again, after all, and see what few of us know: How it is to be young and happy and sure that you'll never lose.
SL PRICE
Friday, February 1, 2008
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