Posted: 22.03.13 15:57. Post subject: http://www.kolobok.u..
Как интересно - идет турнир серии Мастерс, где присутствуют все ведущие теннисисты мира. Кроме двоих. И о чем же пишет пресса (к примеру, ESPN)?
Federer vs. Nadal vs. history
<...> ...few years ago... we prepared for an appearance on "The Sports Reporters," Mike Lupica, already at full fever pitch at 6 a.m., interrupted a tennis conversation with the following thought: "How can he [Federer] be the best player of all time, when he isn't even the best of his time? I mean, can you really call Roger Federer the greatest when there is a guy playing alongside him, during his exact time period, that he can't beat?"
In the world of barstool debate and incessant superlatives, it made for an interesting thought. Watching a revived Nadal raised anew the question of what it takes to be considered the greatest of all time, of whether greatness is more a player competing against the game and its history standards (Federer, 17 majors) or vanquishing one's immediate contemporaries (Nadal, 11 majors but the only active player with a winning record against Federer, Novak Djokovic, Andy Murray and del Potro, or every major winner since 2006).
<...идет много примеров из других видов спорта...>
Meanwhile, 31-year-old Federer has won a record 17 majors: seven Wimbledons, five U.S. Opens, four Australian Opens and one French Open. He has 21 Masters 1000 titles and was ranked No. 1 for 302 weeks. Nadal, 26, has won 11 majors: one U.S. Open, two Wimbledon, one Australian Open and seven French Open titles and a record 22 Masters 1000 titles. He is also 19-10 (.655) versus Federer, 19-14 against Djokovic (.576), 13-5 (.722) against Murray and 8-3 (.727) against del Potro. The odd piece of the dynamic is that clay is a more universal surface than grass -- clay has one major and three Masters 1000 tournaments on its surface; grass has Wimbledon -- yet Federer (or Pete Sampras for that matter) was derided as a grass champion the way Nadal is criticized as something less than a true champion because his greatest successes have come on clay.
From this corner of the world, Magic Johnson was my favorite, most feared player to watch (though as a Bostonian I wanted Bird to beat him every time), but Michael Jordan was the best basketball player I've ever seen. Montana is football's greatest quarterback. Wayne Gretzky may be The Great One, but no one was greater than Bobby Orr.
As for tennis, I enjoy watching Nadal the most because of his flair and forehand, his snarl and fight and ferocious approach to the game, but I believe Federer is the greatest player of all time because of his calendar consistency and freakish physical resiliency. For me, Federer's greatness isn't simply derived from winning majors but his staggering imperviousness to a bad day -- as his streaks of 23 straight major semifinal appearances and 35 straight quarterfinals and counting attest. <...>
Posted: 22.03.13 16:48. Post subject: Sonya Да... вроде б..
Sonya Да... вроде бы настали новые времена,появились новые супер игроки,а турнир без этой парочки,как салат без заправки - ингредиенты есть, а салата - нет!
а кто из этих двоих будет майонезом ,а кто смесью оливкового масла с уксусом + специи - каждый решает для себя сам
Posted: 23.03.13 07:58. Post subject: На рфк выложили стат..
На рфк выложили статью в Independent о переписке Дж. М. Кутзее и Пола Остера
J M Coetzee opens up about his life in letters to Paul Auster
Reclusive South African writer reveals admiration for tennis star Roger Federer
J M Coetzee opens up about his life in letters to Paul Auster Reclusive South African writer reveals admiration for tennis star Roger Federer
J M Coetzee, the notoriously publicity-shy Nobel Prize-winning author, has made an art of revealing almost nothing about his life.
But now the South African novelist has surprised critics by revealing his profound, almost obsessive respect for an unlikely figure – the Swiss tennis star Roger Federer.
One of literature’s great recluses, the South African writer rarely submits to being interviewed but has granted a glimpse into his daily musings in an exchange of correspondence with the American author Paul Auster, to be published as a book in the UK in May.
Revealing himself as an armchair sports fan, Coetzee describes Federer’s best tennis as “something like the human ideal made visible” and says the experience of watching him play is “very much like my response to masterworks of art”. The two authors, who met in February 2008 and decided to embark on an epistolary friendship to “strike sparks off each other”, corresponded via post and fax for three years, covering topics as diverse as philosophy, friendship, the financial crisis and their shared love for the “guilty pleasure” of watching sport.
In one letter, dated 19 March 2009, Coetzee writes: “Like you, I think that watching sport on television is mostly a waste of time. But there are moments that are not a waste of time, as would, for example, crop up now and again in the glory days of Roger Federer.
“I scrutinise such moments, revisiting them in memory – Federer playing a crosscourt backhand volley, for instance.”
Explaining that he would go through three phases of thought when watching Federer play, Coetzee writes: “One starts by envying Federer, one moves from there to admiring him and one ends up neither envying him or admiring him but exalted at the revelation of what a human being – a being like oneself – can do.” Coetzee, the author of Dusklands and Disgrace, won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2003 and has twice won the Booker Prize. He failed to collect either of his Bookers and is a jealous guardian of his private life – making the details revealed in the new book Here and Now: Letters 2008-2011, all the more tantalising for critics.
Few, however, would have expected Coetzee – described by one fellow writer as having laughed only once in a decade of acquaintance – to have displayed such powerful feelings for a tennis player.
His correspondence with Auster, the author of the absurdist novel The Book of Illusions, also reveals an admiration for cricket. “I was absorbed, I was emotionally involved, I tore myself away only reluctantly,” he writes of a five-day game between Australia and South Africa. But Coetzee, who now lives in Adelaide, Australia, is also affected by pangs of guilt at watching sport: “Why waste my time slumped in front of the television screen watching young men at play? For, I concede, it is a waste of time. I have an experience... but it does me no good that I can detect. I learn nothing. I come away with nothing.”
He suggests to Auster that the appeal of sport has to do with a human “need for heroes”.
The two authors had been reading each other’s works for years but only met in February 2008, when Coetzee suggested the letter-writing exercise. Although outwardly different in their writing – Auster is known for his dark, philosophical texts and enthusiastic embrace of public life, while Coetzee has been described as a “sceptic… and uncompromising moralist” – the pair found common ground on many topics. On Federer, especially, they are in perfect alignment. “I am in total accord with you,” Auster writes of the seven-time Wimbledon champion. “Awe at the fact that a fellow human being is accomplishing such things.”
The MercedesCup in Stuttgart will become an ATP World Tour grass court tournament from 2015.
The tournament’s request to move to a grass court event taking place the week following Roland Garros in the lead up to Wimbledon beginning in 2015 was approved by the ATP Board of Directors at its recent meetings in Miami.
With Wimbledon taking place a week later in the calendar from 2015, a three-week gap will be incorporated in the ATP World Tour calendar in between Roland Garros and The Championships, meaning an additional week of tournaments in the lead up to Wimbledon.
Brad Drewett, ATP Executive Chairman and President, said: “The ATP is pleased to confirm that the request by the MercedesCup in Stuttgart to move to a grass court event in the week after Roland Garros from 2015 has been approved by the ATP Board of Directors. The MercedesCup in Stuttgart presented an extremely thorough application and we have full confidence that they will deliver a high-level ATP grass court event in the lead up to Wimbledon. As part of our process in setting the 2015 ATP World Tour calendar, we continue to review other options for the three-week period between Roland Garros and Wimbledon in 2015.”
Edwin Weindorfer, Tournament Director of the MercedesCup, said: “On behalf of the MercedesCup and its long tradition, I would like to thank the ATP and its Board of Directors for their trust and commitment to award Stuttgart with a grass court tournament starting in 2015. We have worked very hard on this and we are convinced that our investments in the new and permanent grass courts and infrastructure will be well rewarded. The new grass courts will be built in close cooperation with Wimbledon expertise and supervised by Wimbledon grass court experts. Thanks to the long-term support and commitment of Mercedes-Benz, the TC Weissenhof and our other sponsors and partners, this project will now become reality. Our ultimate goal is to provide the best players in the world perfect grass court playing conditions to take home the winner‘s Trophy of the MercedesCup ahead of The Championships at Wimbledon!”
Richard Lewis, Chief Executive of the All England Club, said: “The three-week gap will create a longer grass court season between the French Open and Wimbledon, allowing the players more time to recover from the demands of playing at Roland Garros and then to prepare for The Championships. We are delighted to welcome the MercedesCup as a very important first step in building this exciting new extension to the grass court game. It is a highly respected tournament with a fine history and with whom we have a great relationship, and we look forward to working closely with them as we develop the opportunities for top class grass court tennis.”
The MercedesCup will join the AEGON Championships at Queen’s Club, the Gerry Weber Open in Halle, the AEGON International in Eastbourne, the Topshelf Open in ‘s-Hertogenbosch and the Hall of Fame Tennis Championships in Newport as ATP World Tour grass court tournaments.
The first edition of the tournament in Stuttgart was held in 1898, with Mercedes-Benz assuming the role of title sponsor from 1979.
[img]https://pbs.twimg.com/card_img/883899025577127937/A9LFmA4S?format=jpg&name=600x314[/img] Roger Federer defeated Mischa Zverev, 7-6 (3), 6-4, 6-4, in the third round of Wimbledon on Saturday.
WIMBLEDON, England — Roger Federer is back in the second week at Wimbledon, and he has his usual companions.
The rest of the Big Four — Novak Djokovic, Andy Murray and Rafael Nadal — are right there with him. The good old days seem as fresh as ever.
“I think one of those four men will hold up the trophy again,” said Boris Becker, a three-time Wimbledon champion who coached Djokovic in 2015 and 2016.
Federer, 35, is the senior club member by almost five years. He is the only one who has four young children, all of whom are staying with him and his wife, Mirka, in Wimbledon Village. He is the only one battling a cold in the middle of an unusually torrid English summer.
“I’ve almost had more problems with my cold than the opponents, even though there were some problems today, and a tiebreaker is always a bit delicate,” Federer said Saturday, still sounding congested after defeating Mischa Zverev in straight sets in the third round.
“I’m definitely feeling better,” Federer said. “Today I feel 50 percent better than I did two days ago.”
The next challenge after a day of rest: a date with Grigor Dimitrov on Wimbledon’s so-called Manic Monday, when all the men’s and women’s fourth-round singles matches are played in a civilized rush.
Dimitrov shares a playing style and a management agency with Federer, but their résumés have very little in common beyond that. Federer is chasing his 19th Grand Slam singles title. Dimitrov is still chasing his first, and he is 0-5 against Federer, although they have never played an official match on grass.
Federer has now played 98 singles matches at Wimbledon, and has won 87, more than any other man in the Open era. Saturday’s victory was a throwback, with Zverev serving and volleying and inspiring some of the same from Federer.
All tennis is fast-twitch tennis these days, with the power of the players and the equipment. But Federer versus Zverev was only intermittently supersonic. There were baseline rallies on Federer’s service games, exchanges that seemed languid in comparison with the grip-it-and-rip-it approach now in vogue. Federer and Zverev traded sliced backhands, giving spectators ample time to appreciate the ball in flight.
Zverev has fine touch, feathery footwork and an artisanal forehand that is more of a poke than a stroke. Against nearly all other opponents, he would have been the flashiest player on the grass on Saturday. But Federer remains No. 1 in that category, even if he is seeded No. 3 at the All England Club.
Saturday was not quite full flight for him, but there were plenty of flourishes. Above all, he did an exemplary job of putting the ball again and again in an awkward position for Zverev — the outer limit of his reach, the top of his leap, the tips of his toes.
Federer has already proved that he can learn new tennis tricks at an advanced age, having come back from knee surgery and a six-month layoff, the longest of his career, to win the Australian Open in January. He has already proved that he can drive his single-handed backhand with new commitment and find an antidote to Nadal, having beaten him three straight times on hardcourts this year.
But winning his eighth Wimbledon title, and his first since 2012, will require plenty more legerdemain and staying power. If he beats Dimitrov, Federer will face either Milos Raonic, a finalist here last year, or Zverev’s outrageously talented younger brother, Alexander, in the quarterfinals. Past that, Federer is likely to face Djokovic, who continued to show signs of resurgence in his straight-sets victory over Ernests Gulbis on Saturday.
Calling Federer a clear favorite seems a stretch, but he is certainly a crowd favorite. After his victory on Saturday, the usual horde awaited him below the pedestrian bridge near Centre Court, camera phones at the ready.
Federer soon appeared on the bridge, holding his arms wide and smiling down at a following he has acquired over 19 Wimbledons.
He exited the stage, but the crowd wanted more and began chanting, “Roger.” Marcus Willis, the unlikely British qualifier who reached the main draw in singles last year and is still in contention in doubles this year, seized the moment instead: He walked onto the bridge and did his best arms-outstretched Federer impression for the fans.
“You’ve got to milk it while you can,” Willis said with a wink as he walked toward the players’ garden.
For Federer, however, the big moment never seems to end.
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