Atul Karmarkar.Com» Tennis http://www.atulkarmarkar.com Around Pune, Technology, Investing, Living it Up Sat, 04 Feb 2012 13:27:08 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 Federer beats Roddick, gets # 15 http://www.atulkarmarkar.com/federer-beats-roddick-gets-15th-grand-slam/ http://www.atulkarmarkar.com/federer-beats-roddick-gets-15th-grand-slam/#comments Mon, 06 Jul 2009 00:02:20 +0000 Atul Karmarkar http://www.atulkarmarkar.com/?p=1057 Gosh ! What a Wimbledon final !!

Federer finally clinched his 15th Grand Slam but not before Andy Roddick gave him some super anxious moments during this marathon of a match. The scoreline says Fed won 5-7, 7-6, 7-6, 3-6, 16-14; the longest Wimbledon final in terms of games, as well as the longest Slam. The final set, which went to 30 games and 95 minutes, was also the longest ever in a men’s Wimbledon final and even longer than the women’s singles final this year !! :D

Last year, Nadal had wrested the crown from Fed in a nerve wracking match that lasted just short of 5 hrs, prevailing 9-7 in the final set, in semi-dark conditions. 

What can one say of Andy Roddick ? He put in one of his most inspired performances ever and still came up short, for the third time here. It was really tragic that he never lost his serve during the entire match, except in the final game, and Federer, who made so many unforced errors, couldn’t break Roddick, and lost his own serve, walked away with the trophy. No doubt, Fed deserved it, but I guess everyone on Centre Court would agree that Roddick didn’t deserve to lose. 

Fed of course, pulled out aces whenever he was in trouble (50 in the match!), and in the fifth set, had progressively shorter service games, whereas Roddick’s always seemed to go to the brink. Roddick of course, had a golden opportunity in the second set tie-break, when he was up 5-1 and then 6-2, with four set points to take a 2-0 lead. Fed then showed champion stuff in reeling of the next 6 points in a row to snatch the tie-break 8-6 and level the match. 

Federer now has 6 Wimbledons (one short of Sampras), 5 US Opens, 3 Australian Opens and 1 French Open.

Hail Federer, well and truly  an all time great !! :)

 

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]]> http://www.atulkarmarkar.com/federer-beats-roddick-gets-15th-grand-slam/feed/ 0 Yet another long weekend http://www.atulkarmarkar.com/yet-another-long-weekend/ http://www.atulkarmarkar.com/yet-another-long-weekend/#comments Mon, 29 Jan 2007 05:46:00 +0000 Atul Karmarkar http://atulkarmarkar.com/?p=49 The Republic Day on 26-Jan afforded the opportunity to avail a long weekend. Did some long overdue cleaning up at home, lazed around a bit… Also got an opportunity to catch up with some old friends… and yes, spent time watching the telly….

Watching India play cricket has now begun to lose it’s charm as we snatched defeat from the jaws of victory for the umpteenth time. Its the same story all over again, though this time the batsmen and bowlers BOTH let us down. On the other hand, the Australia-New Zealand match was thrilling and I didn’t quite expect the Kiwis to get that close to winning, falling short by 8 runs chasing a target of 344.

The Australian Open was equally interesting, though it was surprising to see the ease with which Serena Williams hammered Sharapova. The match I was really waiting for was the Men’s Final and even though Fernando Gonzalez lost in straight sets, he was by no means disgraced, and gave Federer some anxious moments in the first set. Roger Federer picked up his 10th Slam and now trails only Borg & Laver (11), Emerson (12) and Sampras (14). The best part is, he’s just 25 !! Wonder how many he’ll have added before he finally retires..

On a different note, I read that actor Mahima Chaudhary was in town on a campaign trip though she insisted she was not joining politics herself. One thing she said really amazed me; that she felt Pune roads were quite good and there were no problems on that front !! HELLO !! Wonder which part of town did she actually see ! Either she’s blind or Kalmadi expertly ensured that she saw some extremely select areas, which were recently resurfaced..

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]]> http://www.atulkarmarkar.com/yet-another-long-weekend/feed/ 0 Cricket and Tennis take over my weekend http://www.atulkarmarkar.com/cricket-and-tennis-take-over-my-weekend/ http://www.atulkarmarkar.com/cricket-and-tennis-take-over-my-weekend/#comments Mon, 22 Jan 2007 04:21:00 +0000 Atul Karmarkar http://atulkarmarkar.com/?p=46 Had a pretty lazy weekend this time.. With the roads everywhere being in the condition they are, sitting at home watching TV seemed to a better proposition, except of course, watching “Breaking News”. Secondly, as far as sports is concerend, the difference in the various time zones makes one a couch potato, as some or the other match is always going on…

Started off watching the South Africa – Pakistan test match… Even though Akhtar steamrolled the Safs, the Pakistan batting line up seemed destined to head the same way, but a certain gentleman called Inzamam-ul-Haq had other ideas. Along with Asif, who gamely provided him support, Inzamam hammered the South African attack to put on a fantastic partnership for the 10th wicket, and was quite unlucky to miss out on a richly deserved century.

Moved on to the Australia-New Zealand one dayer, and once again, a close affair. One thing is sure; Australia have some amazing talent in their ranks. Michael Clarke is turning out to be a solid performer, Stuart Clark is already coming into his own as a new ball bowler, and last but not the least, Mike Hussey, who is proving to be a match finisher in the mould of Michael Bevan, as he once again steered the Aussies to a win.

The India-West Indies match promised to be a humdinger, and it was, though once again, Sachin Tendulkar must be kicking himself for getting out when a century was his for the taking, especially as all the guys who did bat, scored half centuries each. Ganguly made a fine comeback falling just short of a ton. Then the old Indian weakness came back to haunt the team, as the Windies, with Chanderpaul in great form, almost reached the target, thanks to some wayward bowling by Sreesanth and Agarkar.

But I must say the icing on the cake was watching a teenager, Lucie Safarova demolish Mauresmo in a most comprehensive manner. It is fun to watch so many young upstarts come and tear the form book to shreds by beating the established players.

All in all, a highly satisfying “TV weekend” !!

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]]> http://www.atulkarmarkar.com/cricket-and-tennis-take-over-my-weekend/feed/ 0 Maria Sharapova at the Australian Open http://www.atulkarmarkar.com/maria-sharapova-at-the-australian-open/ http://www.atulkarmarkar.com/maria-sharapova-at-the-australian-open/#comments Wed, 17 Jan 2007 04:50:00 +0000 Atul Karmarkar http://atulkarmarkar.com/?p=43 maria-sharapova-at-australian-open-2007.jpgA new dress, sweltering heat, and finally, victory: Sharapova enters Round 2 of the Australian Open !

While I didn’t think her new dress was all that it was hyped up to be ;) , what really got my attention was the manner in which her opponent, Camille Pin almost came close to knocking Sharapova out in the first round itself. Sharapova was cruising at 5-0 up in the final set, her victory almost a foregone conclusion. Pin, however, had other ideas, and clawed back, giving Maria a fright. Ultimately, however, Maria managed to win 6-3, 4-6, 9-7 !

The heat seemed too much and even other players found the conditions unbearable.

 

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]]> http://www.atulkarmarkar.com/maria-sharapova-at-the-australian-open/feed/ 0 Federer the best ! http://www.atulkarmarkar.com/federer-the-best/ http://www.atulkarmarkar.com/federer-the-best/#comments Tue, 21 Nov 2006 14:05:00 +0000 Atul Karmarkar http://atulkarmarkar.com/?p=28 I’ve been watching the Masters Cup matches, and the quality of tennis was pretty good. First, we had the doubles semifinals, which I hoped Paes and Damm would win, but that did not happen. Paes was at his best on crucial points, and he managed some awesome angles.

But the treat was the Fed-Ex, Roger Federer… He is not only the best player in this era, but possibly the best ever. Watching him play is tennis at it’s very best. I saw the way he put away Nadal, though it must be said Nadal was playing two matches in two days without a break.

The ultimate, however, was the final, where Federer stamped his authority over James Blake, hammering him 6-0, 6-3, 6-4 in just an hour and 37 minutes. This took me back to the 1984 Wimbledon final, when John McEnroe, then at the peak of his career, finished off Connors in just a shade over 80 minutes !

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