Rafa on the mend

Nice article about Rafa Nadal. Roger Federer gets a lot of kudos for his good sportsmanship and helping the image of tennis (and rightly so) but Rafa is right up there with him in my book. Interesting to read his comments about Agassi.

Though I don’t think Rafa will win the ATP World Tour Finals I do think that if he is able to manage his knee problem and cut down his playing schedule in 2010 (he played himself literally to a stand still in the first five months of 2009) he’ll be right back up there challenging for grand slam titles and the number one ranking.

Cut out the middle men

Tennis, like most domains, has been overtaken by middle management. The spat between Lleyton Hewitt and Bernard Tomic that stemmed from Wimbledon is a classic example. For the future of Australia’s Davis Cup aspirations over the next few years Lleyton Hewitt and Bernard Tomic must meet face to face. Some wise words here from John Newcombe.

Gaga over GaGa …

She’s mad as a meat-axe but I love Lady GaGa’s music and sense of style. Check out her Bad Romance video.

Agassi’s double fault

I admire the man for his on court acheivements – winning a career grand slam and all – but why oh why release such a damaging autobiography which does little for his character or for the sport itself. If he hated the sport so much then why not walk away? Guess the money was too good, right? As for the drugs I couldn’t care less that he took meth but the admission that he lied when caught out – and even worse the authorities bought the excuse – does nothing for him or for tennis. Other guys got caught out and copped the mandatory three month suspension on the chin.

Will this have any effect on his Hall of Fame credentials? Unlikely, but there were plenty of commentators at the time of Martina Hingis’s positive cocaine test suggesting the drug result would count her out.