Digital Sportspage

Soderling is seen as a one-dimensional player with a huge serve, pounding groundstrokes and relatively little versatility in terms of having a plan B. That may be true but he does what he does very well and, fortunately for him, his natural game is probably the best and maybe the only way to beat Ra...

Rhymes, I am glad that you did not asked me 'bout who would be in the women's finals. :) Geez. Big win for Soderling and props to the Swede for making the finals for the 2nd year in a row. It should be Rafa on the other side of the net but I would think that the match won't be as easy as it maybe p...

Watched the finals in Miami last week between Berdych-Soderling and to be honest, the Swede seemed to just have no interest at all after the first set. I think he'll be much stronger this time and will advance to the finals against Rafa who looks very strong, not just physically, but mentally too. ...

Hey nobody beats Roger Federer 16 times in a row or whatever winning record the Swiss had over Soderling. Stunning upset to say the least. After the rain delay, the Swede just out-aced Roger. This guy has upset some top guns over the past few years. You watch a match like that and wonder why Soderl...

10spro wrote: Another factor when you grow up playing on clay is that a player learns to glide laterally more naturally, buying some extra time when pulled wide something that Rafa does better than anyone. That could be the script for the second clip of this little video: http://www.youtube.com/wat...

10spro wrote: Another factor when you grow up playing on clay is that a player learns to glide laterally more naturally, buying some extra time when pulled wide something that Rafa does better than anyone. That could be the script for the second clip of this little video: http://www.youtube.com/watc...

I'll be following this. Regarding Venus, I saw her live for the first time in Madrid a couple of weeks back and I was surprised that she seemed a lot more attractive and slimmer than on TV. That's probably down to watching tennis broadcast in 4:3 format on a widescreen TV, which makes the players lo...

10spro wrote Hey rhymes, I was away on vacation so I missed most of the tourney, but I did manage to catch up with the semis. Obviously with the early departures of Federer and Nadal, the general interest dwindled a bit but as you know I was cheering for Del Potro in the finals. He just didn't have ...

Thought I couldn't leave the second most successful thread I've ever opened at DSP unfinished. Davydenko was brilliant winner and probably a bit unfortunate not to claim the jackpot by winning all five matches. For anyone fed up of over-hyped sports stars this was won by the epitome of the anti-hero...

Thought I'd open a thread on this final tournament of 2009, just in case anybody is interested. Here's the link to the official website. http://www.barclaysatpworldtourfinals.com/ Star-studded line up for the "fifth slam" featuring the top 8 players on the planet, with the unfortunate exception of A...

I'm Irish and ever so slightly upset at the way things turned out. Mind you, if FIFA decided to replay the match, I think they'd look even more stupid. It'd be like saying, "of course we don't accept video evidence during the match 'cos that'd be far too logical. What we prefer to do is wait till th...

It is an interesting read but I think the journalist is barking up the wrong tree, perhaps failing to take into account, that however good Benitez's English might be, it's not his native language and probably shouldn't be subjected to too much psycho-linguistic analysis. Rather than admitting that h...

macca00 wrote

Torres wasn't fully fit for the United game

Makes the goal he scored in that game all the more remarkable. There were lots of things to admire in that goal but the way Torres stayed onside was absolutely brilliant IMO.

Played about 6 or 7 games in one player mode and generally positive reaction. Player positioning looks markedly better than last year (full backs seem to be back) with fewer wide open spaces down the flanks and less bunching in the centre. Looks like the ball has to be played around a bit to try and...

10spro wrote Haa, I know what you mean. I do have a soft spot for the Swiss but growing up in Buenos Aires I had to pull for Del Potro. He had like 40+ winners on the forehand side and many like you said, down the line. And they were haymakers too, and not that his backhand was the weakest weapon, b...

Brilliant Del Potro. Game of two halves. Who'd have thought with Fed serving for the for the second at 5-4 that things would have worked out the way they did. 10spro, I have to confess that I got so wrapped up in this that I was watching it more from an emotional rather than an analytical prespectiv...

To use your expression 10spro, it's his to lose now. Drama at its best

Delpo would be sure to knock in a goal or two I haven't seen this kind of hitting maybe ever. And I've seen a fair bit of tennis. Hell, I've even seen Franco Davin (Delpo's coach) beat Boris Becker on clay in the early nineties.

Anybody who isn't watching this should change channel pretty quick. Awesome hitting by Delpo to get back in the match. Breaks to go 3-2 in the 4th. He's not finished yet. Just when you think the guy can't hit any harder, he moveds it up 10% to take the 2nd. Brilliant stuff.

Great credit due to Del Potro. He really burst on the scene last year by winning those 4 consecutive "minor" events and getting to the QFs in New York. Pretty tough guy mentally too. Not even the terrible beating he took against Fed in Melbourne could halt his progress. He was back for more at Rolan...

What about this shot from Roger Federer in the final game of his semi-final against Djokovic.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=37qyvTRVus8

Great tournament by Roddick. He won a great battle with Hewitt and played a very complete match against Murray. Very tough loss in the final. While his game is fundamentally similar to what it has always been, I agree with 10spro that the adjustments made, particularly on the backhand wing, where he...

Have to apologise to Dave for my totally over the top reaction to what was essentially a fairly innocuous comment. Fraid it caught me at a bad time and what I said was way out of order. Rush of blood to the head. Anyway, no excuses...

Feanor wrote: I'm sure he'll enjoy the Madrid lifestyle a lot more than living in Manchester You can say that again. Might be the reason why Kaká or Ronaldinho weren't lured by all those petrodollars. Great nightlife, sunshine from time to time, good food, pretty girls as opposed to overweight, unde...

XXXIV wrote:

They met in 5 grand slam finals with Sampras winning 4 of them.

Fair point. The numbers clearly point to Sampras as being the greater of the two, with the only argument in Agassi's favor being that he won all four slams on the different surfaces.