Tipsarevic!

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Janko Tipsarevic is perhaps better known for his sense of style than his tennis. But he changed all that today when he ousted one of the top players in men's tennis of our time, Andy Roddick. The class, the power and the entire persona of Tipsarevic looked magnificent at the Flushing Meadows.

What was impressive was how Tipsarevic never really let go and constantly troubled Roddick by returning even his most potent serves. The US Open 2010 is now truly open. With this sort of form, I wouldnt doubt Tipsarevic's ability to tame another giant. As I always say, we are living in privileged times. Anyone who rises to the occasion to beat a champion without any support from the crowd whatsoever deserves a pat on the back.

Why Does Federer Need A Coach?

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I'm not a tennis player but am surely a sports lover and tennis is surely one of my favourites. Over the years, I've realised that this is perhaps the best time to witness tennis. The fact is we have some of the best players on the planet of recent times if not the best players ever playing the game. Without a doubt, Roger Federer's name would be right at the top if a greatest players of all time list is released.

However I wonder why such a great player who is hailed as the best in the world, needs a coach. Paul Annacone has recently been 'coaching' the great man, after a certain drop in form which resulted in Federer not even making it to the semifinals at his favourite tournament, Wimbledon. But one wonders what would a coach tell a man who has already won 16 grand slam titles, has made a record 10 consecutive grand slam finals appearances and is believed widely to be the greatest man to have hit the tennis ball. Well I dont know, maybe because I'm not a tennis player. But anyway, there must be some utility in hiring the coach who coached the great Pete Sampras. Being a Federer fan, I honestly hope Federer overcomes this slump and emerges as a stronger player, with the help of his coach.

Where is that charm of cricket commentary?

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Its cricket season again. This time its the Indian Premier League (IPL). But why am I not excited anymore? Why is cricket, to me at least, just another game these days?

Part of the blame goes to the herculean schedule of cricket. Every year we have more than a hundred one day matches, and even more T20 ones. Even test cricket, which is supposedly dying, isnt really that scarce in a calendar year. Overexposure of the game such as these, has always been blamed for the drop in popularity of the game.

However I think there's something else which is responsible for, what I'd call, loss of the charm of the gentleman's game. Its commentary.

Commentary is an integral part of the viewing experience. A good commentator can make a perfectly boring match tolerable. (Although the reverse is necessarily not true, as you now have the power to simply press the mute button on the remote.) Remember those days when people switched on their tele sets in the middle of the night to catch India's West Indies or Australian or South African tours? I distinctly remember those nights. I used to set my alarm at 4-4:30 in the morning to the extreme agony of mum and dad. The moment the alarm clock (yea, back in those days I didnt have a mobile phone of my own) sounded the arrival of the hour, I was awake, and with a steaming hot cup of coffee in my hand I used to tune in to ESPN/Star Sports. The oh so awesome voices of Harsha Bhogle, Sunny Gavaskar, Richie Benaud, Ian Bishop, Michael Holding and last but not the least Geoffrey Boycott boomed from the television set. It didnt matter which team was batting or fielding, it didnt matter what ground it was, hell it didnt even matter what form of the game it was! Those voices made cricket seem well and truly the gentleman's game.

Sigh! Gone are those days. I saw Harsha Bhogle on a programme on CNN IBN today, and frankly, when I heard him speak, all these memories started pouring in. I never realised how much I had missed that voice until I heard him speak.

I wish I could go back in time to that wonderful era. But again, maybe thats why memory is such a sweet thing.

Dumb Luck

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In case you were wondering, I'm talking about the Indian hockey team, which has virtually crashed out of the Hockey World Cup 2010.

Remember all those stupid ads? Watch the hockey world cup or get shot, said Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore. Cheer with me, said Sehwag. And guess what that blackmailing had actually worked! At least when it came to pulling the crowds to the stadium, it did work. I was quite frankly, a bit surprised to see such huge crowds in the stadiums.

I personally never really enjoyed hockey. Men playing with their sticks never sounded encouraging to me. Sorry, bad joke. Anyway, inspite of this strong dislike for hockey I still mustered enough patience to switch on the tele and tune in to Doordarshan. The only other time I would watch that channel would be during the Republic Day Parade.

But after all the moolah had been earned from advertising and ticket sales, the onus was on the Indian hockey team to perform. And thats where the problem lied. No one gave a damn about making sure the Indian team was well prepared for the world cup. At least not the team management clearly. Its a real pity that when the Indian hockey team got all the attention it was shouting for, for so many years, the team decided to put in a lacklustre performance. I havent seen many hockey world cups but I'm sure instances of the home team crashing out even before reaching the semis is rare. I dont think the Indian hockey management or whatever crap they call themselves should ever shout about cricket hogging all the attention undeservedly. Because frankly from now on that allegation will be an imbecile and idiotic one. Indian cricket team gets all the attention coz they are f*ckin brilliant! Period.

Will I ever give hockey another chance? I dont know, maybe if these guys pull up their socks and decide to do some 'real' hard work and perform, I might. Or else, to me, the glory of our national game is a thing of the past.