An Interesting Day Of Tennis!!

Oh yeah..As most of you readers out there know that Federer has been knocked out of Wimbledon 2010 by Thomas Berdych who ALWAYS was a potential threat to Federer in most of the games they played..
To sum up the game ,I'd say ,Federer lost the game because of a bad forehand which most of the time landed outside..Berdych's amazing determination ,and being not the fastest runner in the tour ,Berdych made amends by landing the balls deep inside Federers court and in either side of the court and made Federer push to return the ball so that he could get back in position for a return..
Federer TOTALLY looked out of touch..except for a few games ,His forehands ditched him ,his serves were pretty awesome and that was the only thing that actually made amends for Federers performance yesterday

And coming to the Rafa game..The Fed-Berd match ended when Rafa was broken once and was trailing 3-0 in the first set..
Another break and Nadal was trailing 5-0..That was the score when I started watching the game.. I couldnt believe myself nor the score..And Nadal pounces back with a game-lou and a break in the next game to get back 5-2..then makes it 5-3 before Soderling does an "Ace game" and wraps up the set 6-3..
Nadal came back like a Tiger which was hurt and recovered..He served like a genius ,his forehands were out of the world and his timing and shot selection were elegant..I loved the way he played yesterday..
Maybe one of the coolest matches i've seen this wimbledon and probably the best comeback after Federer trailing 2 sets to 0 in the first round against Falla..
Nadal breaks Soderling once in the 2nd set to make it 6-3 and goes for the 3rd set..
Nadal leads 5-3 with a break and serving for the set when Soderling takes the medical time out and the trainer takes almost 7 LONG MINUTES to reach the centre court..That makes Nadals back sour and he isnt able to wrap up the set..The set goes into a tie breaker and Nadal prevails once again before wrapping the Match with a beautiful last set breaking Soderlings POWERFUL serve 3 times to make it 6-1 and GAME SET Match ,NADAL!!! :)
Oh yeah..Thats how I'd sum up Nadals game..It was an amazing come back from the side of Nadal..

Now ,Just as we are discussing Tennis..I think this would be a nice time to introduce two of my friends ,Sekhar and AT ,Maddy too (I'll come to him later)..The two who I discuss Tennis with really really deeply..
This is a convo we had prior to Wimbledon..
Me and AT being STRONG Nadal supporters and Sekar being an ardent Federer fan
The convo goes like this:
It all started off with AT posting a facebook status saying
~~~~

This is it
rafa the king......who is the world no. 1 now da?......common speak up

Sekar : He's king of Clay. Not a big King. Federer is still the king. See what happens at wimbledon...

Alexoo: he lost FO '08..u said see at Queens..He lost Queens ,u said see Wimby ,he lost..u said See AO'09 and he lost again!!!

Sekar: Why do you talk like crap..? May be he's world number 1. But Fed has been world number 1 for years. Lets see how long he hold this title.. Why don't you talk about that.

Federer has a variety of shots in his bag. Look at Nadal.. The same forehand top spinner which bounces a lot and always plays metres behind the baseline like a coward.

AT: haha..fed has copied his game from pete..c nadal he is his kind.....

Alexoo: Mate..Who was for Federer's competition when he came into the game??!!! But for Nadal ,there is stiff competition!! Lots of players wanting to get the top spot..

There was no Sampras ,No Agassi!! Federer was without a competition..Roddick was just inside the tour..but for nadal ,Murray is here ,Potro,Federer ,davydenko,roddick is on fire!! so many people..
Answer that!!!And come on..Its his style of play ,Federer plays serve&volley ,does that mean he copies Sampras??!!

AT: wen everyone was thinking abt just aces and power hitting....nadal revolutionized ......he is the game's gift i am taking nothing away from fed.i just meant fed had no unique style....even pete had those.....

Sekar:Federer revolutionized back hand..

AT: pete already had that backhand......check youtube.....
fed's inspiration was pete...!!!!!

Alexoo: rafa has an out of the world forehand which even federer accepts is the best he's ever seen!!!

Sekar:Don't you remember what happened in 2000...Federer defeated Pete Sampras and in a US open defeated Agassi. Because of their loss Pete Sampras and Agassi their rank and Federer also overcame Gustavo Kuertan, Hewitt, Roddick, Haas and Safin...Safin was dominant in early 2000s and Hass was number 2.

Alexoo: Sampras and Agassi were in the prime ends of their careers..beating a dead lion doesnt count in hunting does it??

Safin was okay ,not so competitive ,but Haas?? wth mate..You compare Haas to todays Murray and Davydenko??

AT: wat was the age of pete n agassi....haas ,hewitt,safin,,were all inconsistent 'one slam wonders'

Sekar: Who among Djokovic, Roddic, Murray, Potro, Davydenko are consistent...?

Alexoo: Djoko reaches the Quarters or Semis of every Grand slam..Murray does too..Davydenko surprise package ,fires up twice or more in a year and defeats all the top seeds..saw London last year?? thats the thing..But Safin couldnt defeat Federer even thrice in a year!!!

Sekar: Common yaar...Don't be a kid...Just citing a few examples for argument. Who is consistent...? Reaching the semis of most of the grandslams...? Just grow up//..!

Alexoo: Djokovic..He's been no.3 for such a long long time..That does not show consistency?? And Safin..how long was he in the top 10?? The 2 players to finish the year in top 10 from 2002 to '09 were oly Roddick and Federer..Nobody else!!!

Sekar:Djokovic is no 3 because all the other players down him are also not consistent..It's because only the players above his rank go into finals and not the players who are below him...Only when other players below Djoko go into higher rounds..his rank would drop....

Alexoo: Roddick hasnt been able to break into the top 5 for a whole lotta time..why?? Cuz the top 4 are amazingly consistent..
Murray and Djoko go to every semi finals..

Sekar: Ok..Let me put a full stop to this thread..Look the Dominance of Roger and Rafa have prevented other players from the sight of grandslam..Federer is simply great..I won't even consider Borg or Agassi. Fed is better than Sampras.

It's not the time to say Rafa as a great player because he's still young. At 28 if Nadal surpasses Federer..I would accept Rafa as the king..Not now..

You know Rafa has to show greater consistency to become Fed. ... See More

Moreover he's restless. He plays in all tournaments and is injury prone. Remember what happened last year. From Last years French to this years Aus open...he hasn't won anything...

But take a look at Federer...I have never seen him miss a grandslam due to injury. He is selective..He gives more importance to fitness...

Yes..Fitness matters to be a KING..

Sekar again: As I said if Rafa reached the semisfinals of 23 consecutive grandslams and wins over 16 grandslams and tops all time earnings and becomes the fan favorite..I'd accept he's great.. not before that. I think we should understand what GREAT stands for first.

AT: just winning so many number of slams is not enough....its all abt competition....fed had nothing opposing him in the 2003,2004,2005,.....this the period where he won quite a number of slams.....nadal was not around....no djoko,....no murray....only useless safin,hewitt,roddick.....

Sekar: God...What's that competition...you speek about...? THis is ridiculous..Playing tennis infront of the crowd is a big pressure..There's no pressure if you go in as an underdog... Federer has manged that pressure...Not rafa....Look.There's nobody other than Fed to compete with Rafa.. For more than 4 years Rafa has been there and Fed Won most of the titles during this 4 years...You can't argue...can you?Nadal was aroung at that time..Go to wikipedia..

Alexoo: What do u mean by an underdog mate?? Who do u think is the underdog in a Federer-Nadal game??? Nadal or Federer?? Federer was NEVER an underdog..cuz he had no competition!!! But Rafa ,he went into most of his competitions as the underdog and won it..now thats what i call talent and determination!!!

Sekar: That's why I say...That pressure is more on Federer..As simple as that..and you accepted that yourself...

Alexoo: Being an underdog is more pressure matey!! You're more free when u're not the underdog ,when ur favorite ,u can get away with it..Being an underdog and winning ,thats determination!!!

AT: in wimble rafa is the underdog...in us rafa is the underdog....in aus rafa is the underdog...everyone of u fed fans accept the fact that rafa is the clay king......but rafa won aus .....wimble.....not by beating some crap....he beat the gr8 fed.....,and fed won these slams the next season just bcos he did not play rafa....mark my words whenever fed... See More faces rafa in a slam...he dould definitely lose.....fed 'may' win some.....it is goin to happen-in every slam hereafterwards rafa n fed will be in the same pool...rafa will b the top seed....

Raonak Enters the scene now:

hi,sorry 2 interrupt AT but any how results matter,so presently fedx is da king of tennis.cos he proved himslf.......let rafa bt fedx's record

Alexoo: Sampras was ,is and will be the ONLY KING of tennis :)

Sekar with a detailed point: @ AT...You say that Rafa is the underdog...Then how can he be Great..He's just a Clay man...Even Federer has won a french open in which Nadal was knocked out in the fouth round...Can you remember an Instance when Roger was knocked out in the fourth round of any grandslam after he became pop...But Nadal is not as well versed as Roger in all ... See Morecourts...

If you want to be a topper in your class..you need to be well versed in all subjects...You can't say that " I love only Maths and Don't want other subjects....) You speek Nadal has won Wimbledon and he's won even Aus open....Yes..But think how many Roger has won...Don't say that he didn't have competition.. Don't underestimate all the opponent of Roger other than Rafa....

@ Alex...Who told you pressure is more on underdogs...Underdogd have the least pressure because expectation is less on them...

More over...You say Federer won grandslam last year because therer was no Nadal. But You had Roddick last year...You seem to be talking nonsense.. Didn't you see the finals of Wimble last year...? It was a five setter and Roddick was serving Deadly...Rafa wouldn't survive fast servers...Even this years final in French open he beat Soder because that idiot didn't hve first serves....He didn't play that good and He was 75% on first serve with Federer..but only 45 or 50 % with Rafa...

So the conclusion Is Federer is greatest...He may not be at the moment...But He's the GREATEST

Some guy said Rafa hasn't won a US open and Alexoo returns with a pt.
What if he hasnt won a US Open?? the french open is something that eluded from Sampras ,that doesnt make him a champion?? He's the KING of Tennis..and nadal can and will the US Open..It isnt difficult cuz he has won AO ,Its just that Hard courts are more tiring than grass or clay..And its hard to play on!!! But he'll overcome it ,he has the age!!!! and the talent..He deserves the US Open!!

and he is WINNING this Wimby..Just you wait :D

and just as u said ,Federer is the favorite for all grand slams except FO...Who did Rafa defeat to win the AO and Wimby?? the favorite as u said it..Beating the favorite and taking the title away from him is THE MAN!! AND RAFA IS THE MAN!!!

AT:i think this wimble will be difficult for rafa......pressure....i just feel he won't win....but its just my feeling...if nadal feels he can win he will win...

Alexoo: He will..He's high on confidence ,And for EVERYBODY'S INFO ,What I feel is ,Nadal has a better accuracy and shot control than Federer..I dunno if im right ,I was watching this video where both of them get points for hitting targets..Federer hit 7 targets on forehand and 4 on backhand..And Nadal hit 10 on forehand and 6 on backhand..I dunno if it was serious or not..I saw it before the US Open '08!!

~~~~~~~~~~~

And the convo ends there..With Sekar leaving the scene looking forward to Wimbledon 2010...But being disappointed at the end..Because Federer is knocked out.
He just came up with a point a few minutes ago when I was saying that Messi is a humble person.
He said
"If humbleness is the key ,you ought to like Federer too" for which I replied "I never said I dont like Federer did I?? Its that I like Rafa more"..

Looking forward to Rafa winning this Wimbledon and BITING THAT TROPHY AGAIN!!! Come on RAFA!! Vamos!!!

What a dancer...

Can't help but wish I was on the video production team..Sigh
Haha..Anyway ,Good morning..Well ,I think it is considered morning since its 5.30 almost here :)

have a beautiful day!! :D

Meeting An Interesting Airport Character!

It's been a nice flight from Chennai to KL and interesting because of 3 things -

1) I caught 2 movies and that is a record because I always sleep through the entire flight (yes, all 80 odd hours on 4 flights to and fro from the US). And one of them, 7 things to do before I am 30 had a nice message..

2) I started writing a letter. I realized it takes SO long to write a note. It's still incomplete as food popped by just as I was finishing a page but was very nice. I should probably write more letters..

3) Meeting the character was the big one. I met a very nice Swiss guy sitting next to me - a lawyer on his internship and taking a summer study trip to Beijing. We got along well and decided to spend some time together in transit. And that's when we had a 3rd character join us, an Indian guy who had lived in Switzerland. This meeting was interesting for a number of reasons..

What intrigued me was his point of view about everything. He was talking with great pride about being expelled from various international schools in India (his parents sent them over from Switzerland as he was too much of a troublemaker there apparently) and the fact that he's working at a telecom company now and how he plans to get his BBA by joining a friend's school in Bangalore. Given the friend is the education minister's son, he figures he doesn't quite need to attend classes and can fly in to take his exams. As for preparation, he's sure he can get his hands on the question papers. So, that takes care of that..

After all this, he went on about how India changed him and how he's against western attitudes and way of thought. He obviously had a lot to say and after a while, we had to bid adieu and my new Swiss friend and I decided to just sit down and browse. Our Indian friend promised to be back after a smoke..

Of course, he never came back..

Maybe we were too boring for him. What hit me was just that I couldn't wait to get out of his company. While I've matured (I think that's what it would be) not to judge him or his opinions or his actions as right or wrong, I just realize that I've very little bandwidth to spend time on things I don't want to do.

I just love the quote I read the other day 'Whenever you are saying yes to something unimportant, you are saying no to something important!'. I guess this will be a good morning quote soon..

And its true, I am enjoying typing this out and learning from the incident.. :)

It's been a busy few days but lots of learnings coming through.. very soon! :)

Kamal's Magic Pen

This is the story of a pen that was born in 1981. It was a Dustin Hoffman fan back then. So it included a sweet little tribute to "graduate" in its adaptation of 'Butterflies Are Free'. As expected, the pen - which was also a highly rated actor by then had casted itself in the lead in this , which was then a small budget experimental cinema but is now considered path breaking. The subtle romance of Raajaparvai was just the perfect way for Kamal Haasan to launch his career in screenwriting. A career that 28 years later stands tall as one of the country's best.

A few malayalam scripts and some unofficial screenplays later, Kamal collaborated with Sujatha to come up with the proper Indian combination of Indiana Jones and James Bond - From Credits to BGM to Action sequences and the plot as a whole, Vikram arrived on the Indian Screens, technically awesome but with too many loose ends. A work which any screenwriter of Kamal's standard can not be proud of. However, as we later realised, Kamal was only preparing for something much much bigger. Another collaboration with a person known to have written 'only' hit movies. It was a perfect match. While Panchu Arunachalam took care of the 'mass - pulse', Kamal brought in sequences which were a complete treat to any lover of great cinema. Aboorva Sahodrargal was a money making masterpiece / A commercial Classic / The pinnacle of mass+class/ The ultimate movie making output. And with this movie started the trend. A series of screenplays which take their sweet time to first get into the feel and later race off at an exhilarating pace, often ending with a complex chase in areas with heavy traffic. It had become the Kamal Stamp. Driving the car with the screenplay in the back seat and accelerating the vehicle into a bridge only to break off and free fall into the sea. But Aboorva Sahodrargal was very special. A comic take on the investigating policeman cliche and a sad tale of love failure injected into what was primarily a story of full blooded revenge.

Commerce Done. It was time now for Self Indulgence. Four Years. Four Films. Such amazing displays of mastery over the way the pen is to be handled. Stunning Variety too. What colours ! There is comedy supreme, psychedelia delusional, drama burning hot and tragedy unbearable. Micheal Madana Kamarajan, Guna, Devar Magan and Mahanadi are screenplays whose quality,tautness,variety and supremacy can simply not be matched. At least not in Indian Cinema yet. Michael Madana Kamarajan may look simple on screen. But the flow from one character to the other and the final connectors are not easy to represent. It is done in such a subtle manner that one is made to believe that is the only way the story can move. There is class written all over this super efficient screenplay. Then there is Guna - A peek into the delusional world. A simple story laced with ironies galore and some very tough to write sequences. Guna still stands tall as one of Tamil Cinema's very unique and special films. Devar Magan is in a different league altogether. Definitely One of the very few adaptations of Godfather that Puzo and Coppola would actually be proud of. A high voltage Drama that has clinical intensity "written" all over it. Voted once among the most Important Tamil Films of all time, Devar Magan owes its everything to the tight narrative. Then of course we have the true masterpiece. The gut wrencher. The soul stirrer. The movie through which Kamal splashes all the ink from his pen on the audience. Till they have no option but to cry. Mahanadi is just as great as any story can get. Even on book, Even without kamal's histrionics on screen, Mahanadi will make you cry. Such is the agony in the tale. He had reached unimaginable screenwriting heights by this time.




Post Mahanadi and Pre Hey Ram ( can be ranked number one and two among his works) , came magalir mattum (why kamal, why?), Nammavar(WOW) and Kadala Kadala ( You are getting to form Boss) from Kamal's pen. Among these, Nammavar is a very very special film. A very well knit plot which impressed me particularly with its minor but very necessary references to the student life of the protagonist assistant professor.

Then Brilliant ink started to flow again. It was now getting very complicated - dishing out masterpiece after masterpiece. Each one jam packed with multi layered themes, hard hitting ironies, convoluted themes, intelligent sub-plots and endless wit. Hey Ram, Aalavandaan,Virumandi and Anbe Sivam were such stunning products. Leaving out Aalavandaan( the screenplay which kamal thinks is warped, was written by him way back in the eighties during his mumbai days), the other three plots must have taken months of staggering research and hardwork to have materialized. Hey Ram which hits you on your face with almost every element of its story is among the most thought provoking films I have ever seen. Writing Virumaandi and making it visibly different from Roshomon should be included as the final question in an examination for picking the best screenwriter of the world. Anbe Sivam with its themes are no less either. So many issues, both burning and old, beamed onto big screen through a very simple story of two different men travelling together. Masterful is THE word.

Mumbai Express was unique and Dasavatharam was a victim of its own budget. But he compensated in the latter with a flourish of just unimaginable witty dialogues. I must confess, It gave me great joy and goosebumps rewinding through the career of one of the country's best screenwriters EVER. And if you still do not agree. The challenege is always open. Show me the Intensity, Show me the Variety and Show me the supremacy. I doubt if you can.