Posts Tagged ‘means’

Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal: What it means when only the good guys ever win

Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal: What it means when only the good guys ever win
“Nice guys finish last,” Leo Durocher famously said, and we all believe it. So where does that leave Federer and Nadal?

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Nadal Starts as he Means to go On, Can Anyone Stop Him?

The mens clay court tennis season got underway last week at the Monte Carlo Masters and not unsurprisingly, the World’s clay court king, Rafael Nadal, won the tournament for the fifth successive season.

For Nadal, it was his 138th win in 142 matches on the surface and proof, if any was ever needed, that he is the greatest clay court player the world has ever seen.

He now plays in Barcelona against a field denied by the likes of Federer, Djokovic and Murray and is an odds certainty to win there too, which would bring his tally to four titles already this season and with another Masters clay court tournament to play in Madrid before the players embark on the second Grand Slam tournament of the year at the French Open.

Nadal has won the French Open for the past four years and holds the remarkable record of never having been beaten at Roland Garros. In last year’s French Open final he defeated the second best clay court player in the world, Roger Federer, losing just four games in his three set victory. It was humiliating loss for Federer, who at the time was the world number one and favourite to overhaul the record fourteen Grand Slam titles held by Pete Sampras.

It is Nadal who is now the world number one and it is he rather than Federer who is favourite to transcend Sampras’s feat. The Spaniard has already amassed six Grand Slam wins and with the French and Wimbledon looming, he is likely to make that eight before the year is out and he is only 22 years old.

Obviously, Federer, Djokovic and Murray will all be out there to stop him but even they, when in their deepest thoughts, must wonder how to beat a man who plays with such stubborn defence and overwhelming accuracy on virtually any court.

In Monte Carlo last week, Murray showed signs that he could trouble the Spaniard. He took the second set to a tie break and looked for a long period that he was the better player, but it was Nadal who found the way to win when it mattered. Djokovic also had Nadal in trouble in the final, daring even to take a set off him, but he too fell by the wayside when the going got tough. Federer of course went out of the tournament early, offering more proof that his reign is now over at the top of the world.

There are three Grand Slam events left this year, the French Open, Wimbledon and the US Open. There is little doubt that Nadal will claim the French Open and he will be favourite to win for the second straight year at Wimbledon. There is a chance that any of the other top four players could upset his chances at the US Open, but with Nadal already in possession of the Australian Open title even that will be a tall order. Nadal could be the first man since the great Rod Laver to hold all four Grand Slam titles in one year. Who would bet against him?

Rob Andrew Says James Haskell Affair Means England Selection Rethink ? Autumn Internationals 2010

Andrew said: “When we made the call last July about whether we should involve players based in France, having had meetings with the relevant French clubs, we knew that at some point this may happen. The policy is open to review at any stage after the end of this campaign. We have to look at who is in France, what their circumstances are and make another call on what happens next season.

“We need to be absolutely clear these are the circumstances under which players who are based in France will be considered for England. This is the one ripple we have had and we have enjoyed excellent relationships with the French clubs. We want to make sure that going into next season, which is World Cup year, that we have all this covered. We cannot have a situation where we have fights and compromises: we had plenty of those with the English clubs and do not want them again.”

Stade wanted Haskell to play against Toulouse , arguing England had to release him because a rest weekend in the Six Nations meant the International Rugby Board regulation on player release did not apply and that the 24-year old would be in breach of contract if he failed to return. The RFU refused after the player’s lawyer said Haskell had an agreement with his club that allowed him to be released for Test duty in line with the elite player deal to which Premiership clubs have signed up. Ironically, Haskell was in bed yesterday after contracting a virus.

England play New Zealand in December, a match that will not be covered by the IRB regulation governing player release. Any player based in France who does not have an agreement with his club will not be released. England also have pre-World Cup training camps for which French clubs will not be bound to release players.

“When players went to France last year, we told them all they would only be considered for the national side if they gave us assurances that they could be released for England when Martin Johnson [the team manager] wanted them,” said Andrew. “We did not want players who could not fulfil the same criteria as those based in England. Some of got that in their contracts directly, others negotiated separately with their clubs after they signed their original contracts. A misconception this week is that the RFU has an agreement with clubs in France. We do not.

“We have been given assurances by James and his advisers that he has an agreement with Stade that allows him to fulfil the release periods for England training as per the EPS agreement. The position this week has been between the player and the club. We have spoken convivially to Stade about the RFU’s position and there is no issue between us.”

Andrew said he had not seen the agreement between Stade and Haskell: “It is confidential between player and his club. If the club does not give authority for that piece of paper to be shown to us we can only go on an undertaking from a lawyer, which we have in James’s case, that they have the release rights.”

Johnson said: “We are not prepared to compromise the management of players, which is based on what we think they need. We told Stade on Sunday of our intention to keep all the players who started against Ireland to keep them fresh for Scotland and the following day they said they wanted James back. I do not think he will be affected by all this.”

Johnson said he did not expect the full-back Delon Armitage and the lock Simon Shaw, who suffered rib and shoulder injuries against Ireland, to face Scotland. Ben Foden and Louis Deacon have stayed with the squad. Joe Worsley was called up for training when Haskell fell ill.

England V Samoa Hospitality

Autumn Internationals Hospitality

Sania Mirza marrying another Mirza? Same sir name means they are brother and sisters right?

Same sir name means they have same ancestors and they become brother and sisters. Can anybody clarify how a Mirza can marry another Mirza ?