Venus Williams' Wimbledon 2011 Sports Wear

As usual, Venus Williams managed to make great waves again on her return to Grand Slam tennis. After 5 months of silence from her side since she pulled out of the Australian Open in January, she came up with a smashing game on the opening day of Wimbledon. The 5-time Wimbledon champion managed to trounce Akgul Amanmuradova in only 59 minutes 6-3, 6-1 with only 5 unforced errors.

But again it wasn’t her game that was duly noticed by the tennis world and the media but her outrageous Wimbledon 2011 sports wear. The latest creation from her own clothing line eleVen was a one-piece jump suit with front zipper, short shorts with a flowing v-shaped bodice with a plunging neckline where the zipper begins and upturned V-shaped slit in the back. According to Venus, the outfit is very now, it’s trendy and fun. She also clarified that this outfit is called a jumper, it is not a two-piece outfit and she is into simplicity, hence the design. Well, compared to her other sports wear this Wimbledon outfit is certainly conservative.

ATP Ranking and Wimbledon 2011

ATP top 20	Top 20 women's rankings
1 Rafael Nadal (Spa) 12070pts	1 Caroline Wozniacki (Den) 9915pts
2 Novak Djokovic (Ser) 12025	2 Kim Clijsters (Bel) 8215
3 Roger Federer (Swi) 9230	3 Vera Zvonareva (Rus) 7935
4 Andy Murray (Gbr) 6625	4 Na Li (Chn) 6475
5 Robin Soderling (Swe) 4595	5 Victoria Azarenka (Blr) 5920
6 David Ferrer (Spa) 4150	6 Maria Sharapova (Rus) 5221
7 Tomas Berdych (Cze) 3490	7 Francesca Schiavone (Ita) 4646
8 Gael Monfils (Fra) 2780	8 Petra Kvitova (Cze) 4018
9 Mardy Fish (USA) 2440	9 Marion Bartoli (Fra) 3740
10 Andy Roddick (USA) 2200	10 Samantha Stosur (Aus) 3405
11 Jurgen Melzer (Aut) 2175	11 Andrea Petkovic (Ger) 3280
12 Viktor Troicki (Ser) 1930	12 Svetlana Kuznetsova (Rus) 3210
13 Richard Gasquet (Fra) 1925	13 Agnieszka Radwanska (Pol) 3056
14 Stanislas Wawrinka (Swi) 1920	14 Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (Rus) 3055
15 Nicolas Almagro (Spa) 1875	15 Jelena Jankovic (Ser) 3050
16 Gilles Simon (Fra) 1745	16 Julia Goerges (Ger) 2560
17 Mikhail Youzhny (Rus) 1740	17 Kaia Kanepi (Est) 2545
18 Florian Mayer (Ger) 1600	18 Yanina Wickmayer (Bel) 2350
19 Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (Fra) 1480	19 Ana Ivanovic (Ser) 2330
20 Juan Ignacio Chela (Arg)1475	20 Shuai Peng (Chn) 2240,

WIMBLEDON 2011: Important Dates

Qualifying: 13 June - 16 June

The Championships: 20 June – 3 July

Seeds Announced: 15 June

The Draw: 17 June

Rafa Bags 6th Roland Garros Title

Despite the series of defeat, Rafa made sure he bagged the French Open title for the 6th time, making him at par with former World No 1 Bjorn Borg. Although he had some problems with John Isner from the start he was able to do better in the next games. He was told by Uncle Toni that he wasn't going to win the Cup that way...and Rafa needed to relax. As the video shows, Rafa has really felt the pressure although even if he lost the French Open title he would still remain the top-seeded.

Roger Federer though has been doing good. In fact he broke Djokovic's winning streak when he won the semis. It's just that Federer has not won over Rafa in Roland Garros but even Rafa has said that yopu never know. He came into the game knowing he might win or lose but did everything to win. But if Roger have won...he would have been considered the greatest player having won at least 2 championships in of each of the four majors. Rafa's victory made him still a part of the equation.

Either way, I think one of the winner in this game was the sports apparel worn by the 2 players. One can easily notice that both Rafa and Roger were wearing the iconic swoosh on all their sports gear, from the headband to the shirts, shorts,socks down to their shoes and jackets, differing only in color with Federer in red and Nadal in blue.

Rafa Slides Past Soderling into Semis

Defending champion and World No.1, Rafa Nadal defeated Swedish fifth seed Robin Soderling 6-4, 6-1, 7-6 (7/3) on Wednesday afternoon to reach the French Open semi-finals and improve his career record there to 43-1. The top seeded Spaniard, hoping to emulate the great Bjorn Borg as a six-time Paris champion (the most in history), will tackle Andy Murray for a place in the final.

To read more..

(via RafaelNadal.com)

Rafa Improving Play at Roland Garros 2011

Some tennis experts are saying that its going to be Federer and Djokovic on the finals...semi-finals may be but it's too soon to say that it's going to be them at the last match. Even Rafa is saying he has been playing better.

Am scared though because Soderling, whom he plays against today, is one of the best players on red clay and the only man to beat him at Roland Garros. But if Rafa wins over 5th seeded Soderling then he only has to worry about Murray. Rafa definitely looks better unlike the matches before when his sports apparel was super wet with sweat, like he wasn't used to playing and tired easily. Soderling is much more dangerous on the red clay, but then so is Nadal. And so where this one promises to be a real nail-biter, Nadal is expected to reign supreme and in four gruelling sets to book his last four berth. I truly hope what tennis experts are saying are true.

The funny thing is Rafa has been hearing a lot of criticisms from people and he has pointed this out:

I play six finals in a row this year. I am having a very good year. One player is doing better than me. That’s all. But I’m in good position to finish the year in a very high position of the ranking.

I guess fans and people around him has set the standards so high for him that even when he is playing well, though not at par with his playing before, he gets criticized.

Those who know better still believe he is World No 1. Here is what Soderling has to say regarding Rafa:

"No, seriously, he's a great player, I think everybody knows what he can do. He won here so many times."

Both players possess destructive weapons and great playing prowess which they can deploy against each other. And though Soderling is an erratic player who can floor any player on his day and Nadal may not be playing at his best (that is compared to last year) but he is definitely improving with every match and is still the favorite to emerge victorious from the clash.

Djokovic on the other hand has more free time and more reason to smile since Fabio Fognini of Italy withdrew with a torn left thigh muscle giving him ample time to rest.

As a Rafa fan, Djokovic may be hungry for this win but Rafa is certainly doing everything to hold on to the title. And I am personally keeping all my fingers crossed that he does.

Novak Djokovic Wins Over Rafael Nadal 4 Times In A Row

For the past two years Rafael Nadal has remained undefeated in clay and has been considered “The King of Clay” until Novak Djokovic started dominating this year. Since his win in the Davis Cup, Djokovic has had the longest winning streak including beating Rafa in two straight wins in the surface he is most proficient, Madrid and the match in Foro Italico. Nadal had lost only one match in six years in the Italian Open in Rome. Much as he did at Roland Garros and Monte Carlo, Nadal owned Rome. Novak also made history by becoming the second player (Nikolay Davydenko) to beat the nine-time major champion four times in a row.

Rafa has managed to remain the top-seeded as push forward to the French Open but it looks like Djokovik will be doing everything to ensure that Rafa does not get hold of the French Open trophy for the 6^th time. And the numbers that will take away the No. 1 position from Rafa is also getting smaller and smaller. I do feel that Rafa’s illness has something to do with that. Since he got sick I don’t think he has truly recovered. Though Noval believes, Rafa is still the man to beat. It is believe that this was the first time in ATP World Tour Masters 1000 history (since 1990), the same two players met in four finals in same year.

And it looks like the Djoker is being very serious about becoming World No. 1 this year. He now works with two trainers including one who worked with former No 1 player Thomas Muster who has won most of his titles in clay. Seems like all the training he got from this is working as Djokovic is continuously moving forward. Not satisfied with being No 3, not even No 2, with more than $5 million he has already won this year, the best sports gear and sports apparel, off-court endorsements deals, Novak is still aiming for more and it looks like everything else is conspiring to give him the chance.

Finally, Real Madrid Wins Copa del Rey Cup

After 18 years, Real Madrid wins the Copa del Rey cup again. It has been a long drought for the Madridistas but the win makes everything worthwhile.

When Real Madrid finally won the cup I had mixed emotions…I was happy that they won the cup again after almost 18 years, the last time being that of 1993. At the same time a little sad because my idol Raul was not part of the win. When he said goodbye to Real Madrid which I wrote about in my post Raul says Adios to Real Madrid, he was considered finish and he wanted to show he wasn’t ready to retire yet and so he changed his sportswear from whites to blues but knowing the fact that he is forever etched in Madridismo he is certainly happy for this win.

Typically it is Real Madrid forward Cristiano Ronaldo who has been the focus of headlines; it was his goal in the extra that has made the score. But let us not forget that it was goalkeeper and the Los Blancos captain Iker Casillas’ saves and outstanding stops that made sure the Barca’s assault did not score. He should be the one receiving the praise for his exceptional saves in the last 15 minutes that denied Barcelona a goal.

First, Spain's World Cup-winning goalkeeper flung himself low to his right to block a fierce shot by Lionel Messi.

Casillas then launched himself high to his left to tip away a shot by winger Pedro.

Finally, the man who is widely regarded as the best in the world at his profession threw himself down and to his left to turn away Andres Iniesta's goal-bound shot with a fingertip save.

And Iker did it all in a space of a 15-minute vigorous attack from superb players who more often than not score a goal. The decisive goal of Ronaldo came on a swift counterattack from a ball that was passed from Marcelo to Angel di Maria that was met by Ronaldo who arched backward and then flung himself forward to power the ball into the corner of the net. And Barca’s goalkeeper Jose Manuel Pinto was powerless to stop that.

And Madridistas all over the world rejoiced with the win. Celebration was held at the Cibeles plaza where the wins are always celebrated, Iker Casillas then wrapped the flag on the Cibeles statue and gave her a kiss amdist the We Are the Champions and chants from the thousands celebrating the cup. Though there is a funny addendum to the history because after waiting for 18 years to get the cup, Sergio Ramos dropped it and the bus taking the team to Cibeles run over it. Good thing thought that the makers always have a duplicate.