yaaaaaaaaaay

yoyoyoyoyoyo.........................................djokovic did finally win his maiden grand slam. i'm really happy for him. this was coming for a long time. the match was really good and looked like a slam final. but what i felt was that tsonga did not play the game that he played with nadal. whatever little number of dropshots that he played, djokovic was able to reach them. still the match was amazing. there were these great rallies which sent both of them running in all directions and reaching out for a variety of shots. the match was a wonderful display of brilliant tennis. and i got relly mad when electricity went off at our hostel(a perenial problem). i called up my dad and heard the match commentary from him for about fifteen minutes. this electricity problem is so darn irritating, but this one's about tennis. that will constitute another blog. back to the ao final, i really liked what they said during the presentation ceremony, describing djokovic and tsonga as "the champion and the champion in waiting". tennis has got two new stars from this years aus open. i felt that the crowd was very unfair towards djokovic and that they could have been a little more supportive of him. this austrlian open proved to be platform for djokovic to prove that he had the goods to take down the world number one in a slam and win the slam along the way. he had the mettle to be considered among the best in the world. and is now a serious contender for all grand slams. this open also proved to be the place where tsonga announced to the world loud and clear that he had the goods needed to win against the some of the higher ranked players. he has arrived in the tennis circuit. nadal needs to figure out a way to win against him. and soon. hats off to these two very brilliant and magnificent (and cute) players. congratulations. hope to see both of u win many many more tournaments in the future and dazzle tennis fans with your wonderful array of tennis.
signing off waiting for the french open to start.................
xoxo
the rambler

sharapova does it

sharapova won her maiden australian open and her third slam title. on the way to winning it, she hasn't dropped a set. amazing win. well, her no nonsense attitude was pretty evident from her no frills dress this time. she was good, really good. hope to seeing her play like this more often. she controlled the match from the very beggining. its was a joy to see sharapova play so well in this tournament. her annihilation of henin- simply outstanding. and she also beat davenport and jankovic on her way to the finals. hats off to her. signing off waiting for the men's final to start(hope its a five setter).cya
xoxoxoxoxo
the rambler
p.s. a word about the other finalist ivanovic- she was also decent. hope to see her win a slam sometime in the future.
xoxo
The Rambler

omg

federer and nadal both not in the running for the austrlian open!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! while nadal is still trying to get comfortable on other surfaces, seeing federer lose at a slam semi, that too in straight sets is astonishing. he seemed to be master of all surfaces(well except clay where he was probably the jack). djokovic was good, infact very good. but federer wasn't federer.he had too many unforced errors and he wasn't serving like federer. the backhand slice was simply not slicing over the net. and he had problems throughout the match. i have never seen him play so dismally. but not taking credit away from djokovic, he was good yesterday in the match. the way he made the ball move was nice. and his crosscourt shots were sizzlers. the shots were finding the baseline and the corners of the boxes. i especially liked that one shot where the ball went out of court due to its sharp angle and he curved the ball into the court. amazing stuff. his serves were also really good. while djokovic stepped up, federer really wasn't himself. maybe what happened was inevitable, but i had imagined it to atleast go on to be a five setter. djokovic had problems with his drop shot and he needs to work on that if he wants to win against the muscular frenchman jo wilfred tsonga. that was another excellent match. while in federer's case i was at the edge of my seat, especially when federer and djokovic were head to head in the tiebreak. the other semifinal belonged to tsonga from the beggining till the end. what a player. he sizzled in that match. while he had answers to everything that nadal gave him, nadal couldn't come up with convincing answers for the shots tsonga gave him. he played drop shot after drop shot after another. and what wonderful shots. nadal had absolutely no answer for them. tsonga had the net game, the baseline game, the drop shots, the power(really fast serves), the aces. what ever i say about his game will never be enough. i have never seen such wide display of shots been out up in a single match(though it was basically the drop shot which got him through). he was impeccable in the semifinal. evn rafa said that it was not he who played poorly but tsonga who put up a fine game. i wonder where was this one helluva player till now? being unseeded, he has sent off three top ten players. really commendable. the sunday final is going to be one scorcher, atleast i hope it will. while i was really hoping for a federer nadal final, i don't think i'm going to miss them much. because the feast of tennis that this year's ao finalists have put out is simply delectable. with two such very talented players who have packed away the top two seeds, i hope the final will not be a dissapointment. signing off while waiting for australian open women's final to start...............
xoxoxoxoxo
the rambler
p.s. women's final this time is sharapova( remarkable win over henin) and ivanaovic( amazing how someone can recover from 0-6). cameramen are going to have field day.
xoxo
The Rambler

the australian open

the australian open starts today( i.e 14 jan). can't wait for it. i'm rooting for rafa this time( as always). i am simply in love with the passion he displays on courts with his fistpumps and all. i hope there's a final showdown between the rafa and fedex like in last year's wimbeldon final. i had absolutely enjoyed that match even though rafa lost. i feel that it was the best match in which both of them featured even better than the french open which was also very good. i wish rafa would win on some other surface other than clay. i hope he wins wimbledon before federer wins french. he's already been declared the king of clay(81 undefeated matches on that surface- no mean feat) its time he made his mark on surface other than clay. he came pretty close to doing it on grass during last years wimby. if only had the last set swung in his favour the story would have been different. with federer not being as invincible as he was in the past rafa has the chance of winning on other surfaces. but then there are so many young players also coming up. one of them whom i really admire is novak djokovic. he has some really nice moves on the court and its fun to watch him play. being at number three he is the player rafa should be wary about. but this time around he is on federer's side of the draw.there's also andy murray who is really good too and he's also in the bottom half of the draw. there's roddick on nadal's side of the draw, which can be problem. davydenko and gasquet are also in the bottom half of the draw. but i am so hoping to see nadal in the final.in the top half of the draw apart from djokovic, there's lleyton hewitt, marat safin and nalbandian in top half of the draw to give federer company. that's the men's draw. in the women's draw there could be a possible meeting between henin and sharapova in the quarterfinals. and i think henin is already through to the second round. the top seed could meet serena williams or jelena jankovic in the semifinal. henin could also meet davenport in the quarterfinals. kuznetsova and chakvetadze could meet in the quarterfinals and a possible meeting with venus williams or ivanovic. i do hope that the women's final is more interesting this time around. last year sharapova was completely anhillated by serena. i do hope that this time around henin wins the slam. i really admire her, especially her backhand. it's one of the best in tennis right now. i also admire federer's backhand. well, most(probably all) of federer's serves and shots are immaculate and precise and beautiful(yes beautiful, no other word was coming to my mind). well that's what i have to say before the first slam of the year starts.with so many good players and and so much competition out there, may the best man( i hope its nadal) and woman win. cya till my next post
xoxo
the rambler

stars among us

I just finished watching tare zameen par. Hats off to Aamir Khan for bringing such a wonderful cinematic experience into the lives of people. The movie is beautifully directed and the portrayal of the small kid by Darsheel Safary and of the empathetic teacher by Aamir is just right. The movie is touching and moving and exposes associated with children (even giving glimpses of child labour) the movie is definitely a work of art. I really admire Aamir Khan for carrying off this absolutely amazing venture. I am running out of words to describe my experience of watching this movie. All I can say is that Aamir Khan can count me in his fan club. Even young Darsheel. To emote the feelings the way that he did on the screen at such a young age and to actually move people to tears while doing so speaks loads for his acting prowess.
There have been only three movies that have been able to move me to tears. One was lion king (by far the best animated movie ever made), when simba’s dad dies. I was sobbing in that scene and whether that was because of my young age(don’t remember my age but I was really young) or not I do not recall, but that was, is and will be one scene that will be etched in my mind forever. The other movie that I cried in was stepmom, during Susan Sarandon’s last conversation (supposedly) with her kids. I remember that I didn’t want to cry and had this huge lump in my throat till tears finally formed in my eyes. The third movie, I don’t remember the name (please do not laugh). But it was this really touching story of the friendship between a Jewish boy and a catholic boy. The Jewish boy has leukaemia and he carries out ten tasks that will ensure him some sort of holy bread that ensures that Catholics who have had that bread go to heaven. And by the time the catholic boy gets the bread it’s too late. The hospital scene really moved me. I think tare zameen par definitely has a place in this list. I didn’t sob through the entire movie but the movie was definitely touching and tears did swell up in my eyes for some parts of the movie.
A final word- tzp is one cinematic experience that no one should miss.
xoxoxoxoxo
the rambler
p.s- please do forgive any spelling errors as it is the product of toil at 1:00 in the night
xoxo
The Rambler