Nadal In Final at Rogers Masters in Montreal

[EagerBeaver]

I see Rafael Nadal has advanced to his 10th tournament final this year, and will face the winner of the Agassi-Rusedksi match, which I am watching right now. Rusedki's return game kind of sucks, and right now Agassi just broke him and should kick his ass. Agassi looks real good on his serve and his return game is super, even at age 35. His overall game kind of reminds me of my own.

Some friends have told me Agassi is staying at the Omni this week and I hear he has been most cordial with the hotel guests. I hope he wins it but the young, talented Nadal is looking like the favorite to me.

By the ways, I see sellout crowds at these matches, which is as it should be.

 

[EagerBeaver]

Juliana,

You are dead on right about Nadal. I have been watching tennis for a long time, and Nadal is a very talented player who also plays with passion and intensity. It is a combination that another lefthander, Jimmy Connors (the Pete Rose of tennis) used to have.

 

[Reppy]

Nadal is good but Agassi is my fav of the two..

At 35 yrs old, this guy can still compete, it's amazing!

Go Agassi!

 

[EagerBeaver]

I just read in the morning paper that all 8 tournaments Nadal has won this year have been on clay. He did make one tournament final on a hardcourt surface, in March, and lost to Roger Federer in 5 sets. I personally feel as though Nadal has an all surface game, but it will be interesting to see what happens today. Agassi is a tremendous returner of serve (possibly the best of all time), and he takes the ball short making the "return of the return" very difficult. Last night Agassi made Rusedksi look like a stiff zombie at times. Agassi's serve is not as good as Rusedski made it look, and Nadal should do a much better job returning than the wooden Rusedski.

 

[Techman]

I'm pulling for Agassi to win. Nadal may ge a very good player but when I saw him on the court the first thing that came to mind was, "where's his skateboard?". I really don't watch much tennis anymore. It used to have a class and attitude that few other sports could match but in recent years, especially since the Williams sisters arrived, it seems to have become a fashion show. When you add the constant grunting it becomes almost unwatchable for me.

 

[EagerBeaver]

Techman,

Nadal can play, and in fact he has an "old school" style of play. He may look like a skateboarder, but he can play some tennis. I would suggest you watch the match today and draw conclusions afterwards. It is a classic matchup of the talented, accomplished veteran, against the up and coming megatalented young newcomer. Only time will tell how great Nadal will be, but I think his victory at the French Open will be the first of many major titles.

 

[Techman]

Eb

I know that he can play but that's not my point. How would you like to watch the PGA Master's and have a golfer come to the tee dressed like Nadal and letting go with a big grunt when he drives the ball? When it comes to tennis I guess that I am just too old school. Maybe I'll watch the final today, but with the sound off.

 

[Techman]

Bryson

Olympic power lifters make less noise than tennis players I agree that the women are much worse than the men in this respect, clothing also. In fact I can't watch either of the Williams sisters because of their ridiculous outfits. It's like watching a circus act.
As far as the ladies compensating for a lack of strength...the women's tour is switching to lighter weight balls mainly because of Sharapova's complaints that overly heavy balls led to her pectoral injury.

 

[EagerBeaver]

Nadal Wins!

Congratulations Rafael Nadal, 2005 Rogers Cup Champion!

Looked like the match slipped away from Agassi in the third set when he became irritated by Nadal taking too long between points which broke his rhythym. It is not clear whether this was intentional gamesmanship by Nadal, and he wasn't called for a time delay by the umpire. Nadal played an otherwise strong third set.

One thing I noticed that Nadal needs to work on: he has a tendency to overuse and favor his forehand in situations where the backhand should be used. He does not have a weak backhand like Andy Roddick, but he needs to get more comfortable with it. His two handed backhand is very nice. His defensive backhand needs work but can be easily fixed with coaching. He has all the tools. I think he can also improve his serve slightly.

He'll be a threat at the U.S. Open, no doubt.

 

[Doc Holliday]

Sharapova won't play in Toronto

Maria Sharapova just dealt a major blow to Toronto's organizers of the Women's Tennis Open to be held in Toronto this coming week:

Sharapova cancels due to injury

 

[Techman]

Dear Bryson !
Please give me substantiated reasons for the fact that my using of Italics annoys you so much ! Let's see if you could be a good lowyer.
Congratulations Rafael Nadal, you are the best ! Nadal is a great role model for today yongesters.

Actually he doesn't have to give any reasons. His opinion is that the italics are annoying and I for one happen to agree. The use of bold, italics or color on a message board such as this is primarily to highlight a specific point in a post. Not as the main font for the post. Some people find it hard to read but most of us find it a childish method to attract attention to your posts.

 

[EagerBeaver]

Some people find it hard to read but most of us find it a childish method to attract attention to your posts.

I would agree.

 

[Juliana]

My reasons... Nadal you are the best !

Dear Bryson....
First thank you so much for showing reasoning on your argument and teaching me something therefore.
I enjoy writting Italics to caracterize the feminine, the femme in my nature, and the fact that there is a human being beyond the screen.
Some of you and the moderator keep on insisting that i am trying to call attention to myself. I am in fact an exibitionist but in this case i was honestly just trying to show the femme/the femminine within myself of which i am so proud of.To me regular internet writing seens more like a newspaper/official/male writing. I wanted to caracterized myself as female, as femme and a real person writting before a screen.
However you Bryson, you are now giving me justifications why i should not write italics.
It did not occure to me that some of you does not have the luxury of having good quality scree/ecran therefore my writing italics making difficult to you guys to read.
I can understand substantiated reasoning.
Not just insults.
I asked so many times, why can't i write italics ? No one of you cared enough to explain till dear Bryson dared to explain to me.
To say you cannot. Explains nothing/nada/absoliment rien.
Thus i deleted all the posts i wrote in this thread because i could not understand unjustified prohibitions and insults.
Indeed i participated in this thread of Tennis full of enthusiasm because i think Nadal's and Andre Agassi game was full of interestings insights.

I Congratulate Nadal's sense of discipline, agility, great skills, passion and for representing such great role model for color youth in Norte America/Europe, who are in so much need of inspiration and poitive representation. You also bring passion to a game usually dominated by people who find rude to express passion/emotions and all the things that indicates that most of us care deeply about something.

Andre Agassi, your humbleness and supless at 37, teaches so much. Your game is great and we montrealers adore you. You also represent very positive role model for immigrantes all over the world, Congratulations !!

As you guys can see i dont know much about Tennis but i can see and perceive what is moving to me.