Sports Then and Now

Nalbandian defeats Federer in Madrid

David Nalbandian and Roger Federer have fought each other long and hard on tennis courts around the world since their days on the junior circuit with Nalbandian usually winning those early contests.

The Argentine’s game when he plays it at his best makes him almost unbeatable.  Early on in his career Nalbandian was a superior player to Federer who often could not control his emotions, losing his way in a match.  The wily Argentine recognized this fact and took full advantage.

Once they turned pro, Nalbandian won their first five matches.  It wasn’t until they met at the year-end 2003 Tennis Master’s Cup in Houston in round robin play that Federer was finally able to defeat Nalbandian 6-3, 6-0.   Even so Nalbandian finished 2003 in the top 10 for the first time in his career.

Even as Federer began his remarkable winning span from 2004-2007, Nalbandian continued to rise up periodically and remind the Swiss of his roots, back in the days when Federer could be flummoxed by the consistent play and tenacious returns that the Argentine was capable of  delivering.

Nalbandian loved to remind Federer that he could exert his will and still beat the World No. 1. Read the rest of this entry →

Just how worried are the “big cheeses” in charge of the first Masters events of 2010? As the men’s Tour heads towards the climax of the early hard court season in North America, the window of preparation is closing fast. Yet there are worrying signs about who will actually start, let alone stay, the course.

With the news this week that Juan Martin Del Potro will be absent for between one and two months due to a recurrence of a wrist injury, it will be touch and go whether the world No. 5 is able to play in either Indian Wells—which begins in four weeks’ time—or in Miami—six weeks hence.

This comes on the heels of Rafael Nadal’s departure from the circuit in the quarterfinals of the Australian Open, also for at least a month. He is still targeting Indian Wells for his return. But the uncertainty surrounding the fitness of two of the game’s biggest draws must nevertheless be causing a few sleepless nights for tournament organisers.

Del Potro has been hampered, on and off, by tendinitis in the wrist since he won the U.S. Open last September. It forced him to pull out of the second round of the Shanghai Masters, and flared up again at the warm-up tournament in Kooyong before the Australian Open.

He has now been forced to withdraw from Marseille and Dubai with the same problem, and is also unlikely to join the Argentine Davis Cup team against Sweden next month. Read the rest of this entry →

The series “Pillars of Roger’s Career” looks back at key matches in the evolution of the mighty Roger Federer.

As the tennis telescope turns towards Flushing Meadow at the end of August, the world sits comfortably on its axis, and turns at its designated 24 hours a day. Roger Federer is No. 1 in the world, holds the Wimbledon title, and has broken Pete Sampras’ grip on the Grand Slam record.

Rewind 12 months and this was precisely the scenario that had been predicted for last year’s US Open. Except that, by August 2008, Federer had lost his No. 1 ranking, lost his Wimbledon title and had many commentators doubting whether he would ever reach that elusive 14th Grand Slam. The earth had, for tennis aficionados, tilted out of true.

Federer’s losses had begun, unexpectedly, at the very start of 2008, the first surprise being his capitulation of the Australian title. A subsequent diagnosis of glandular fever explained the result but did not silence the few who had begun to question his hunger.

While Federer continued with the required tournaments and ATP commitments, he was clearly not himself. Rafael Nadal was eating away at his ranking points, Novak Djokovic was celebrating his first Slam victory and further Masters success. Other rising stars were also picking Federer off—not least Andy Murray.

So the year went on, with a shocking defeat at the hands of Nadal in Paris, and a heartbreaking loss to the same adversary at Wimbledon. Most ominously, he made early exits from the key hard-court Masters leading into Flushing Meadows.

So the pressure could not have been higher nor the expectations lower for the four-time U.S. champion’s bid to equal the 80-year-old record of Bill Tilden. Read the rest of this entry →

The series “Pillars of Roger’s Career” looks back at key matches in the evolution of the mighty Roger Federer.

It was early in the new millennium and it had a special feel: of worlds colliding, of a changing of the guard, of one era giving way to another.

Pete Sampras, the dominant player of the 1990s, was flexing his muscles and his reputation for one more assault on the record books.

Another Wimbledon title would make him the most prolific winner of singles titles at the most prestigious of tennis events. One more Wimbledon victory and he would step above William Renshaw, with whom he shared the record of seven.

But it was more than that. Sampras had taken the last decade of the 20th century by the throat from the moment he won his first Grand Slam at the U.S. Open in 1990 until his most recent victory at this very tournament in 2000.

He was the title holder. He had lost only one match on Wimbledon’s grass—his quarterfinal against Richard Krajicek in 1996—since reaching the semi-finals in 1992. That’s 53 wins in the last 54 matches.

He was the first since Rod Laver to have a legitimate claim to the “Greatest of all Time” accolade, and this could be one more nail in the coffin of that “GOAT” debate.

Stood on the opposite side of the court was a mere teenager, newly in the top 20, and the first time he’d been seeded in a Slam. Sure, he’d won the junior title in 1998, but he’d gone out in the first round in both years since.

But this had a special feel. Read the rest of this entry →

Some stories are meant to make you laugh. Some are meant to make you cry.

Others are simply meant to make you get out of bed, look in the mirror and recite to your reflection, “How Lucky Am I?”

I told of the “Pebble In My Shoe” in the opening piece, which chronicled my battle with situational depression (the loss of my wife, my kids, my house, my job, and my self esteem left me cowering like a baby most mornings).

My informal introduction to Roger Crawford saved my life. I read Roger’s story in “Chicken Soup for the Soul” every day until I committed it to memory. Each day I’d rise licking my emotional wounds and think of “my imaginary friend, Roger” immediately realizing that my plight in life isn’t so bad. Read the rest of this entry →

I woke up one morning in 1996, and it was clear to me. I’d never been more sure of anything in my life.

I didn’t want to play anymore.

In a span of three months or so, which may have even been a bit longer, I stopped caring.

I had lost my wife and my two daughters to divorce, lost my job, lost my house, and, more importantly than any of that, lost my desire to live.

What did I have to live for? Things will never get better. I wouldn’t even know where to begin. No place to live, no place to go, and virtually nothing to live for.

I looked in the mirror that day and asked God the most basic of all questions. A question we’ve all asked at various points in our lives. Why me? Why me, God? I’m a nice guy. I feel like I always think of others before I think of myself. I do unto others. Why me, man? Why me? Read the rest of this entry →