Sports Blog

Justine Henin defeated Jelena Jankovic 7-6 (3), 7-5 Sunday to win Rogers Cup, her first tournament since losing in the semifinals at Wimbledon.

The 25-year-old Henin was bothered by a sore right shoulder and wasn’t sure she would be able to play until a few hours before the match. She needed massage treatment after her semifinal and again Sunday morning. Henin finally declared herself ready after hitting some balls at a morning practice session.

Henin matched groundstrokes with Jankovic throughout, using her speed and effective net play to keep the pressure on.

Roger Federer raised both arms triumphantly when his ace finished it off. After years of having everyone else’s number, he had a special one of his own.

The Swiss star reached another measure of tennis greatness on Sunday, winning his 50th tournament title by beating James Blake 6-1, 6-4 in the Western & Southern Financial Group Masters.

At age 26, he became the fifth-youngest player to reach 50, and only the ninth overall in the Open Era — since 1968 — to win so many tournaments.

Henin, in her first appearance since being eliminated in the semifinals at Wimbledon, is using the Rogers Cup as a final tune-up for the U.S. Open — and perhaps some redemption for her disappointing performance at the All England Club.

Henin will face No. 2 seed Jelena Jankovic of Serbia, who defeated 12th-seeded Tatiana Golovin of France, 5-7, 6-3, and 6-2 in the late semifinal. Henin has won all six meetings against Jankovic, the most recent in the French Open semifinals.

Henin, who’s 42-4 this season, will take a week off after Sunday’s final before gearing up for the U.S. Open. She’s been bothered by injuries to both her wrists, and admitted her shoulder was bothering her Saturday.

Rafael Nadal struggled early and then retired during the second set against Juan Monaco of Argentina at the Western & Southern Financial Group Masters on Wednesday.

Nadal, his right knee wrapped and his left wrist aching, never appeared comfortable in the early going, barely managing to hold serve twice. He failed to win a point in his third service game, hitting game point off the edge of his racket into the stands.

Nadal seemed to be in complete control — until the tiebreak. After losing that, he took an injury timeout to have his left wrist and forearm massaged and ice applied.
When play resumed, Nadal did not win a point in failing to hold serve, and Monaco seemed revitalized. Nadal failed to hold again in the fifth game, weakly hitting game point into the net.

Maria Sharapova captivated millions around the world when she won her first Wimbledon Grand Slam in 2004. Since then she became the most marketed woman athlete around the world.

Anna Kournikova was attractive also but she couldn’t win any tournament while Sharapova did both.

Because Sharapova is hot (more…)

While Roger Federer tried to surge his mastery of the game of tennis in the French Open final, it was Rafael Nadal who showed a superb performance to win three consecutive titles.

He is successful to anyone else but Federer once more succumbed to Nadal at Roland Garros, one win short of a French Open title, one win short of a fourth consecutive major championship, one win short of a career Grand Slam.

Instead, it was Nadal who made a bit of history Sunday, showing true resolve on the biggest points to beat Federer 6-3, 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 and become only the second man since 1914 to win three consecutive French Open titles.

Millions of Maria Sharapova’s fans around the world were disappointed that she didn’t reached the Finals of the French Open that eventually won by Justine Henin. All has to wait another year to see Sharapova in Roland Garros Stadium.

Despite the fact that she dominantly excels in Wimbledon, Sharapova was a runner-up in Australian Open. She played well in the semis and fell short of the dream.

She is the highest paid woman athlete in the world. Of course because she is marketable. Her beauty allures everybody that it is a must to watch her even though she struggled on clay. But Maria is highly talented compares to Anna Kournikova, who never won any tournament.

We may pause for a moment and asked ourselves if this attractive woman can someday capture a title in the French Open. I believe she will display her poise in the future. She is still young and every mistakes is a learning process.

Let’s wait for Maria Sharapova next year and remember Wimbledon is coming.

This is the most anticipated match-up in the history of tennis. The most dominant player in this generation Roger Federer who entered his eight consecutive Grand Slam finals appearances against the superb and clay specialist Rafael Nadal who is eyeing for his third French Open in a row.

Who’s gonna win? I picked Federer last year and witnessed how Nadal excellently controlled the match. Federer has prepared himself for a year for this match  and  if he studied well enough the weaknesses and strengths of Nadal, I believe he will win.

But to consider that Nadal has extremely owned the clay in the last three years, Federer has to play his A plus game.

If Federer has to surpass the greatness of Pete Sampras, he has to capture this Grand Slam which Sampras was denied.

I can’t wait to watch them play.

I was browsing ESPN and in my surprise, it provides the coverage of the French Open. Then It leads me to ESPN360.

ESPN360.com is a first class state of the art website which features live broadcast of major sports events. It includes videos of the past days. Good for those who can’t watch the live broadcast on TV.

Youtube doesn’t offer you this service, ESPN360 does. I have now the opportunity to watch PTI here in my own time. Also the French Open.

HAMBURG, Germany (AP) — Roger Federer had the perfect response to questions about his status as the world’s top-ranked player — he ended Rafael Nadal’s 81-match winning streak on clay.

Federer beat Nadal 2-6, 6-2, 6-0 in the final of the Hamburg Masters on Sunday to win his first clay-court title in two years and snap out of a slump during which he failed to win a title in four events. It was his worst run since he became No. 1 in February 2004.–AP

A week from now the eyes of the world will witness these two giants of Tennis in our generation at the French Open.