Sports Then and Now

Not one, but two Masters tournaments, the firsts of the year.

The only ATP events of the month, both centered in the sunshine of the United States.

These are the last hard courts before spring ushers in the clay. No more of the artificial, punishing surfaces until the tour heads back to North America in late July. Many, indeed, will postpone their transfer from the all-too-brief grass season until August.

So it is little wonder that Indian Wells and its Miami sister two weeks later draw the big names, the big crowds, the big coverage.

Indian Wells, in particular, is set like a sapphire in the Californian desert, a jewel in the tennis crown. More people soak up the tennis at this tournament than anywhere outside the Grand Slams.

It’s a place drenched in blue, wholly in tune with its watery origins. This most favored stop on the tennis tour, attracting the very best from both the ATP and WTA tours, offers a serene mountainous backdrop, cloudless skies, dry heat, clear air. It’s as close to paradise as wealth can bring to the desert.

More than 300,000 flock to the Indian Wells Tennis Garden. It overflows with tropical flowers, trees, and fountains, and the courts themselves sit like miniature Aegean Seas within their grass-green surroundings.

The pale violet and blue peaks of the distant Santa Rosa range provide a glorious setting as this oasis bursts into flower with a bouquet of wonderful prospects. Read the rest of this entry →

Frenchman Gael Monfils who won the BMW in 2007 is known for his pure athleticism on court.

The French love it in Sunrise, Florida.  Since the tournament’s inception in 2004, a dozen top-ranked Frenchmen have participated in the BMW Tennis Championship Tournament, some coming back year after year.

The reasons they keep returning –– great competition, outstanding hospitality, appreciative crowds and hope for a great springboard into the rest of the season.

In 2007 a young up-and-comer Gael Monfils of France won the BMW Tennis Championship trophy, defeating Andreas Seppi of Italy in the final 6-3, 1-6, 6-1. Monfils’ pure athleticism and power made him a crowd favorite as he worked his way through the draw.

Monfils followed this triumph in Florida with a trip to the finals of the Hypo Group Tennis International Tournament in Poertschach, Austria where he lost to Argentine Juan Monaco.  During the semifinals at Poertschach, Monfils upset Lleyton Hewitt, seeded No. 4, having previously dismissed the No. 2 seed Andy Roddick in the 3rd round of this French Open tune-up event.

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Merlin Olsen earned 14 Pro Bowl trips during his 15-year NFL career.

The sports world lost a gentle giant on Thursday with the death at age 69 of NFL Hall of Famer Merlin Olsen.

Though Olsen made his name as one of the best defensive tackles in NFL history, he is known to a generation for his post football work as a broadcaster and pitchman as well as for his role on one of the leading television programs of the 1970s and 1980s.

A three-time All-American and 1961 Outland Trophy winner at Utah State, Olsen was the first round pick in the 1962 AFL Draft by the Denver Broncos (second overall) and in the 1962 NFL Draft by the Los Angeles Rams (third overall).

He chose to play for the Rams and the result was one of the greatest careers in NFL history.

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Kaká is the leader of the Brazilian squad for the 2010 World Cup.

A team does not become one of the World Cup 2010 betting favorites without talent in all positions and great overall depth, but Brazil’s hopes of glory are strongly pinned to the performance of their top player Kaká. The Real Madrid playmaker should be one of the stars of the tournament and prove on a global stage why he was once voted the World player of the year.

Some of the world’s greatest ever players do not have great World Cup records and Kaká’s previous appearances – 25 minutes as a substitute in 2002 and a solitary goal, albeit a superb one, in an unmemorable Brazilian campaign four years later – means the best Brazilian player of his generation might end up being included on that list.

However, everything is in place for Kaká to make this his career-defining year. At 27 he is at his peak and part of a team that is many observers’ favorite to lift the trophy. He is the attacking heartbeat of the Samba Kings, able to prompt attacks with his guileful passing and surging dribbling.

True, the goals have dried up recently – only four since he was voted the world’s best in 2007 – but he is hitting the net regularly for free-scoring Real Madrid and can be expected to get more chances for his national team in the summer, who often go through the motions in friendlies.

Not since 1986 has a World Cup-winner be sustained throughout the tournament by the brilliance of one man, and whilst it might be too much to expect Kaká to hit the heights Diego Maradona reached in Mexico, if he plays his best it is probably safe to say that World Cup 2010 odds will back Brazil to become world champions for the sixth time.

Nomar Garciapara was star from the get-go in Boston.

Yesterday marked the end of the line to Nomar Garciaparra.  He announced his retirement from baseball at the age of 36, after playing 14 14 Major League seasons.  In a twist that will forever endear him to Red Sox Nation, Nomar signed a one day minor league contract so that he officially retire with the team where he began it all back in 1994 as a first round draft pick.

But besides the praise he’ll get from Boston faithful after a teary press conference and after throwing out the first pitch of a Grapefruit League match-up, the question now will be asked whether “Nomah” will be a possibility for Cooperstown and the Baseball Hall of Fame.

Pros

Garciaparra has some seriously good statistics in his favor.  He batted .313 for his career.  His 229 home runs seems sort of low, but remember that Garciaparra was predominantly a shortstop.  The AL record for homers by a short stop is Cal Ripken, Jr.’s 345.  In the NL, the record is held by Ernie Banks at 277. Read the rest of this entry →

Thomaz Bellucci's left-handed forehand is already a formidable weapon.

Things a tennis player ought to have by age 22:

Overpowering forehand: Check.
Safe, consistent backhand: Check.
Heavy, effective serve: Check.

Lean but stout build (a la Novak Djokovic): Check
At least one tour title: Check
Deep run in a major: Uhm …

Currently No. 32, Brazil’s Thomaz Bellucci is one of the least-known players in the world’s top 50. That has the potential to change — and soon — but whether or not it does will largely depend on factors other than his physical gifts.

The tools are there, and have already been demonstrated in the young Brazilian’s two career titles, last year at Gstaad in August, then in February in Santiago. Of these two clay court wins, his result in Switzerland would have to be considered the more impressive in terms of volume, as he came through qualifying to win seven matches and take his first title.

Though rather fortunate that the very tough German Nicolas Kiefer withdrew after winning the first set from Bellucci, the young Brazilian scored several impressive wins in the process: He topped the No. 2 Swiss Stanislas Wawrinka fell in the first round, then Russia’s mini-Nadal, Igor Andreev in the semis, and finally German Andreas Beck in the final. In doing so, he added his first tour title to his six Challenger wins. Read the rest of this entry →