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Sorry, I can't resist. Mr POJO awoke memories of the good old days...
Jimbo being himself...
Jimbo being himself...
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posted by Ellyllions Men say, "I'll never understand women." That's a very lonely place to be if you're a woman because we don't understand half of what we do either.posted by ALinChainz Katy, Pipe down, pump off, and fly back to your cave you old bat. -
SAFIN withdrew from Flushing Meadows, due to a persistent knee injury.
Damn! I'm pissed, I really dig the way he plays...posted by Ellyllions Men say, "I'll never understand women." That's a very lonely place to be if you're a woman because we don't understand half of what we do either.posted by ALinChainz Katy, Pipe down, pump off, and fly back to your cave you old bat.Comment
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Jesus Christ...
Roddick dumped in 3 sets in the first round...on his 23rd birthday...
American tennis is in shambles..."Van Halen was one of the most hallelujah, tailgate, backyard, BBQ, arrive four hours early to the gig just for the parking lot bands. And still to this day is. It's an attitude. I think it's a spirit more than anything else is."Comment
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Blake is up 6-4, 0-0 in the second set, but has him at 30-40...could get the early break...
Blake moving through this tournament is nothing but fucking brilliant...
I would love to see Blake beat this punk..."Van Halen was one of the most hallelujah, tailgate, backyard, BBQ, arrive four hours early to the gig just for the parking lot bands. And still to this day is. It's an attitude. I think it's a spirit more than anything else is."Comment
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This Blake/Nadal match is something...
Nadal fights off a break...then breaks Blake to jump up 2-0...a couple of great exchanges...then...with another great exchange...Blake dumps him and breaks back...Blake serving up a set...and on serve...2-1"Van Halen was one of the most hallelujah, tailgate, backyard, BBQ, arrive four hours early to the gig just for the parking lot bands. And still to this day is. It's an attitude. I think it's a spirit more than anything else is."Comment
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Blake vs. Nadal...
tied...
Blake 6-4/4-6/5-3 in the third set...
and Blake is really fucking playing well...moving great..."Van Halen was one of the most hallelujah, tailgate, backyard, BBQ, arrive four hours early to the gig just for the parking lot bands. And still to this day is. It's an attitude. I think it's a spirit more than anything else is."Comment
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Set Point for Blake to break...
and he does it!!!!!
YEAH...
jesus christ...great tennis...great fucking tennis...
he just iced it with a great lob that nadal got to...left him deep...
Blake 3/4 slam...Nadal got it...the ball was going out...but it was a weak shot...and Blake overheaded it into the stands...then showed really the first bit of emotion he's had during the match...
Blake...6-4/4-6/6-3"Van Halen was one of the most hallelujah, tailgate, backyard, BBQ, arrive four hours early to the gig just for the parking lot bands. And still to this day is. It's an attitude. I think it's a spirit more than anything else is."Comment
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Blake is up 4-1 in the fourth...
I've seen to many come back from a lead like this...but jesus christ has Blake turned it on..."Van Halen was one of the most hallelujah, tailgate, backyard, BBQ, arrive four hours early to the gig just for the parking lot bands. And still to this day is. It's an attitude. I think it's a spirit more than anything else is."Comment
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Three breaks to go up 5-1 in the fourth...
he's destroying this kid...
he breaks him at fucking LOVE...
god I love the fucking US Open..."Van Halen was one of the most hallelujah, tailgate, backyard, BBQ, arrive four hours early to the gig just for the parking lot bands. And still to this day is. It's an attitude. I think it's a spirit more than anything else is."Comment
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New York — If ever a player deserved a turn of good fortune, and earned one by dint of hard work, it's James Blake.
To see him play so beautifully and with unfettered ease in a straight-sets takedown of former finalist Greg Rusedski at the U.S. Open on Tuesday was to watch a man who summoned a reservoir of inner strength from a year of unrelenting misery.
Backed by his friends and many fans chanting "James! James! James!" in Arthur Ashe Stadium, Blake served a 131 mph ace to reach match point, then ripped a backhand passing shot to beat the No. 28 Rusedski, 7-5, 7-6 (3), 6-3.
Unseeded, James may not be a threat to win the Open. He's playing the best tennis of his life at age 25, but he harbours no illusions that he's in the same class as No. 1 Roger Federer, who won his first-round match against Czech newcomer Ivo Minar 6-1, 6-1, 6-1 in 1 hour, one minute earlier in the day, or No. 2 Rafael Nadal, who could end Blake's run in the third round.
It was a sweltering afternoon at the Open as No. 12 Tim Henman of Britain lost 6-4, 6-2, 6-2 in the first round to Spain's Fernando Verdasco.
Women's French Open champion Justine Henin-Hardenne won as easily in straight sets as did No. 3 Amelie Mauresmo.
There were touches of drama in three-time French Open champ Gustavo Kuerten's 6-2, 6-7 (5), 6-3, 7-6 (3) victory over American Paul Goldstein.
But there was no more joyous scene than in the stadium as Blake played his heart out a year after he could do no more than watch the tournament from home.
"It was tough to watch," Blake said. "I kept thinking, 'I wonder how I'd be doing if I was there.' Now this year to go out there, it's just a great feeling."
Blake won his first tournament in three years on Sunday in New Haven, Conn., not far from where he grew up in Fairfield.
It was a victory, a few weeks after he reached the final in Washington against Andy Roddick, that showed how far Blake had come since his lowest moments — when he lay in a hospital bed with a fractured neck last spring from a freak accident on court; or when he later contracted an illness that affected his sight and hearing and temporarily paralyzed part of his face; or when he watched his father dying of cancer last summer.
"Every different scenario was going through my head," Blake said of his toughest days. "At times I was thinking, 'I wonder if I'll be able to play again. I wonder if my face will ever come back to normal.' Just kind of general curiosity as to what life has in store for me. Just trying to think about every situation and find a way to be happy with each situation.
"If I couldn't play tennis again, am I still going to be happy going back to school, maybe going to business school, doing whatever else I could do? ... Would I be able to be happy if my eye never came back to normal and I couldn't really be athletic at all the rest of my life? Could I find a way to still be happy? All those I tried to answer, 'Yes.'"
He could answer yes, he said, because he still had friends, still had people who believed in him and would stand by him, joke with him, make him smile. He had the lifetime lessons of his father, who had learned tennis in middle age and "attacked it with the same vigor that he did everything."
"He taught me about hard work, the joy of hard work for just improving yourself," Blake said.
Blake's life has long been a story of triumphing over difficulties. At age 13, he was diagnosed with severe scoliosis, a curvature of the spine, which forced him to wear a back brace 18 hours a day.
He didn't let that stop him from becoming an athlete, going to Harvard for two years, then pursuing a pro tennis career. He got his ATP ranking up to No. 22 in 2003 and seemed capable of moving higher. Then, suddenly, he was gone from the game for nine months when he fractured his neck after crashing into a net post while practicing in Rome and came down afterward with a case of shingles.
All of that, good and bad, imbued Blake with a deep appreciation for what it takes to be successful and what each achievement means. He could look up into the stands and see his friends cheering for him, know they'll be there for him, win or lose, as they were when he was home last year, dealing with his injury, his illness and his father's cancer.
"They were all someone special to me, every single one of them there," he said. "It means so much to be (winning at the Open again) in front of them. They're picking me up now when I'm high. They were picking me up when I was low. I don't know how much I can give back to them, but everything I do, it's probably not enough for how much they've done for me.""Van Halen was one of the most hallelujah, tailgate, backyard, BBQ, arrive four hours early to the gig just for the parking lot bands. And still to this day is. It's an attitude. I think it's a spirit more than anything else is."Comment
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BLAKE WINS!!!!
Nadal walks off...lookin' like a punk...
good...cuz he got fucking punked...
Blake...with his biggest win in his career...at the biggest event...
Nicely done...
Nicely done..."Van Halen was one of the most hallelujah, tailgate, backyard, BBQ, arrive four hours early to the gig just for the parking lot bands. And still to this day is. It's an attitude. I think it's a spirit more than anything else is."Comment
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"Van Halen was one of the most hallelujah, tailgate, backyard, BBQ, arrive four hours early to the gig just for the parking lot bands. And still to this day is. It's an attitude. I think it's a spirit more than anything else is."Comment
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From today...
"Van Halen was one of the most hallelujah, tailgate, backyard, BBQ, arrive four hours early to the gig just for the parking lot bands. And still to this day is. It's an attitude. I think it's a spirit more than anything else is."Comment
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With Agassi about to come on...one of the classic opens...
4 sets...all tiebreakers...they never lost serve...
an incredible match...
Agassi/Sampras 2001...
Sampras downs Agassi in U.S. Open classic
Pete Sampras defeated Andre Agassi in a tension-filled, electrifying battle of wills between Grand Slam greats on Wednesday night to advance to the U.S. Open semifinals.
In one of the tightest matches imaginable, with sensationally high-quality tennis from two players with 20 Grand Slam titles between them, the four-time champion took three of four tiebreaks, winning 6-7, 7-6, 7-6, 7-6 to advance to the final four at Flushing Meadows for the eighth time in his glorious career.
Break points were at a premium and service breaks non-existent as neither player dropped his serve in the three hour and 32 minute classic that ended well after midnight.
"Anything can happen when you get down to a tiebreaker," said Agassi, who had captured his seventh Grand Slam title at the Australian Open this year.
"You got to give credit where credit is due and Pete played the big points real well and pulled out a match that is disappointing for me, but I was glad to be part of it," Agassi said. "We both worked hard out here tonight and it went his way."
Agassi, 31, was the second successive double U.S. Open champion gunned down by 30-year-old Sampras after his fourth round win over Patrick Rafter.
And the 10th seed next must face third-seeded defending champion Marat Safin of Russia in Saturday's semifinals.
Just to get to the final, Sampras will have to beat every player who has won the U.S. Open since he last lifted the trophy here in 1996 -- Rafter (1997, '98), Agassi (1999) and Safin (2000).
"It was a pleasure playing tonight. The energy was phenomenal," said Sampras."Van Halen was one of the most hallelujah, tailgate, backyard, BBQ, arrive four hours early to the gig just for the parking lot bands. And still to this day is. It's an attitude. I think it's a spirit more than anything else is."Comment
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"Van Halen was one of the most hallelujah, tailgate, backyard, BBQ, arrive four hours early to the gig just for the parking lot bands. And still to this day is. It's an attitude. I think it's a spirit more than anything else is."Comment
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