Wimbledon Day 5

So today was a good and a bad day.  I would say it was like 50%, because Ana and Amelie lost but Mario and Marat won.  The best part was being able to see them all play.  Labwork involved a lot of setting up a spec machine to do repetitive scans so I had lots of time to follow the livestreamer.  I also caught a bit of Berdych vs. Verdasco, by the way.

Svetlana Kuznetsova vs. Barbora Zahlavova Strycova - Sveta looked solid, being aggressive (which is good) and keeping her head on even with the rain delay.  Davai Sveta!

Ana Ivanovic vs. Jie Zheng - I think there was definitely a matchup issue.  Ana just could not get to the low bouncing balls and kept mishitting them.  Her serve wasn't great, but she's been battling with that for a while.  And Zheng's consistency was giving Ana fits.  But mostly the ball bounces.  Ana has matchup issues, which is why she's probably not going to be number one consistently until she can adapt.

Amelie Mauresmo vs. Serena Williams - I saw the first set only but it was such a great throwback to the 2004 match I saw.  First time I saw Amelie play actually.  I just love Amelie's style, and she even brought out more variety from Serena.  This is why Amelie needs to be here.  Unfortunately her weak serving/weak movement because of her injury probably was her demise.  But awesome first set and something to build on, hopefully.

Mario Ancic vs. David Ferrer - Wow.  Great play by Mario - I think that is the best I've seen him.  Maybe in ever.  Definitely his baseline game has improved, but some of those volleys he got were amazing!  I'm so glad that he managed to get it done in 4.  Ajmo!  Idemo do kraja!

Marat Safin vs. Andreas Seppi - I don't think I have ever seen Seppi play before, but he must have played better than usual because he looked great.  And Marat looked even better.  Some MTFers think he played better than he did against Novak, and I can totally believe it.  I hope he beats Stan the Man with his awesome!

The rest of the third round plays tomorrow, and I still have quite a few hotties on that side of the draw.  Here's the lineup:

Caroline Wozniacki vs. Jelena Jankovic

Tommy Haas vs. Andy Murray

Richard Gasquet vs. Gilles Simon

Shahar Peer vs. Dinara Safina

Paul-Henri Mathieu vs. Marin Cilic (their fifth meeting this year, third on grass, super-crazy isn't it?)

Unfortunately 2nd round casualties from this side were Lindsay Davenport and Viktor Troicki.  Injury concerns caused Lindsay to pull out and Viktor lost a 5-setter to Radek Stepanek.  Marin sweated out his five-setter against Jarkko Nieminen.  Now with Andy Roddick out that quarter looks even better for Marin.  SF Marin FTW!

Also very importantly, SPAIN WON AGAINST RUSSIA YESTERDAY IN EURO 2008 SEMIFINALS!  Germany vs. Spain final will be intense.  Spain has looked awesome, keep it up!  I think part of it was to make up for a terrible Wednesday

Wimbledon Day 3

Today was overall stressful and in some ways terrible for me. Especially with Novak. Poor guy, he puts way too much pressure on himself. And he was fighting himself and the wind as well as Marat. Now I really want Marat to go far in Novak's stead. And Ana had her crazy match against Dechy. I watched her lose that first set and wondered why she couldn't get any returns in play. And her serve was awful! But she was lucky - maybe that will mean something? Amelie also had to turn things around, but she had a much more emphatic command of the 2nd and 3rd sets. Mario had to regain his head (probably, only saw the scoreboard) and win in 5 after leading 2 sets to 0. The only quickly through was Svetlana. That really doesn't mean anything to me because she may be the nuttiest of them all.

Tomorrow hopefully is relief. Here are the matches I care about:

Xavier Malisse vs. Andy Murray
Su-Wei Hsieh vs. Dinara Safina
Carla Suarez Navarro vs. Jelena Jankovic (rematch of French Open 2008)
Richard Gasquet vs. Sebastien Grosjean
Gisela Dulko vs. Lindsay Davenport
Marin Cilic vs. Jarkko Nieminen
Radek Stepanek vs. Viktor Troicki

There is also double fun with Amelie and Sveta teaming up! Vania at least won her doubles match - I feel like she may find her niche in doubles instead - so yay doubles!

Wimbledon Day 2

Since my post didn't work yesterday, I'll be posting about Wimbledon in two quick posts. Today was overall a good day. Let me recap.

Fabrice Santoro vs. Andy Murray - supposedly fun. At least Fabrice wasn't crushed like he was at the French. And yay Andy!

Richard Gasquet vs. Mardy Fish - Richie's backhand was beautiful again. He looked happy and I am excited for his chances. Please meet up with Murray in the 4th round!

Olga Savchuk vs. Jelena Jankovic - she sounded happy in her interview and so I am happy for her. I will try to catch her sometime later, because I believe she can at least get to the quarters.

Anne Keothavang vs. Vania King - Vania should have played better. She looked ok in the first set. I don't know what she's missing - she used to have something - she played so well at the U.S. Open a few years ago... Whatever it is, please get it back!

Renata Voracova vs. Lindsay Davenport - Lindsay scraped through, according to the blog. I just hope that she's healthy.

Eduoard Roger-Vasselin vs. Marin Cilic - Marin won! Probably because Gilles Simon wasn't his opponent. Now keep up the good work.

Yung-Jan Chan vs. Dinara Safina - Good for her. Grass really isn't her surface, but I think she can still get a few rounds. She has the confidence after all.

Viktor Troicki vs. Nicolas Lapentti - I have no idea how that went, but he was leading before Nicolas retired. So many retirements in this tournament. I have no idea where Viktor is in the draw so hopefully his next match isn't too hard.

Anyway, tomorrow is another early day for Novak and Ana's matches. Novak vs. Marat - teenage fangirls are happy! Actually it's rough for Safin, who will still hate the grass. As for tomorrow's matchups...

Novak Djokovic vs. Marat Safn - I will watch this hopefully (please show this ESPN2)

Svetlana Kuznetsova vs. Kateryna Bondarenko

Ana Ivanovic vs. Nathalie Dechy

Amelie Mauresmo vs. Virginia Ruano Pascual

Mario Ancic vs. Philipp Petzschner

Good luck to my faves!

Wimbledon Day 1

Day 1 was a nice sunny day, with almost all matches completed.  The results were overall good for my favorites.  Let me recap.

Ana Ivanovic vs. Rossana de los Rios - too early in the day for me to catch at home, but the highlights suggest that she looked solid.  Ajde!

Novak Djokovic vs. Michael Berrer - also missed somewhat because I wasn't home yet, but also because Hewitt and Haase went to a fifth set.  Supposedly fell asleep in the 2nd set or something.  Igraj bolje, Novake!

Svetlana Kuznetsova vs. Mathilde Johansson - Sveta didn't do so great at Eastbourne and I'm worried about her.  I don't think she's winning this slam, but at least she loses to people with good mental strength.  But she can do better, I believe it!

Michael Llodra vs. Mario Ancic - Retirement from Llodra, but according to MTF Mario looked in good shape.  Aim for the match against Ferrer!  Ajmo Mario!

Marat Safin vs. Fabio Fognini - I caught the third set, where Fabio probably played more and Marat couldn't hold his serve for some reason.  But he won that set in a tiebreak and gets to play Novak next.  So sorry Marat, I want you to lose in the next round...  Though with the way you played today I don't have to work my voodoo.

Amelie Mauresmo vs. Ashley Harkleroad - I caught the first set of this.  Her serve looks awful - maybe because of the thigh injury? - but her strokes were fine.  Please get confidence, Amelie!  I know you love this surface - you can do it!  Allez!

Chris Guccione vs. Gael Monfils - didn't happen because Gael pulled out with a shoulder injury.  Poor Gael.  Seriously if he didn't get injured so much he could actually do something...  Gael's replacement beat Guccione by the way.

Now for Day 2!  Most of my faves are playing early (first match on) so I'll be up nice and early.  Of course, Andy Murray and Jelena and Lindsay have to be late so I won't catch them.  If those three don't win I will be disappointed.  Anyway...

Fabrice Santoro vs. Andy Murray

Richard Gasquet vs. Mardy Fish

Olga Savchuk vs. Jelena Jankovic

Anne Keothavang vs. Vania King

Renata Voracova vs. Lindsay Davenport

Eduoard Roger-Vasselin vs. Marin Cilic

Yung-Jan Chan vs. Dinara Safina

Viktor Troicki vs. Nicolas Lapentti

*I forgot Maria Kirilenko yesterday, but I'm not surprised she lost.  She spends too much time on the clay in my opinion...

¡Vamos España!

Lo más increíble ocurrió hoy.  España, que siempre no sale como debe, ganó el partido contra Italia en penales.  España, que trató de marcar un gol y no podía romper la defensa de los Italianos, que perdió muchas veces anteriores el mismo día en los años pasados, sobrevivió y jugará en el semifinal contra Rusia.  Estoy muy orgullosa de los chicos.  Merecían la victoria.  Todos jugaron con el corazón, con el alma fuerte.  Pienso que es la primera vez que lloré por un momento de deportes.  No solo una lágrima, había muchas.  Lloré porque había tanto estrés y alegría.  Es un sueño verdadero y magnífico.

Desafortunadamente Sasha Artemev y Raj Bhavsar no fueron llamados del equipo de gimnasia de los Estados Unidos, pero fueron sustitutos.  Pobre Sasha...  A pesar de la victoria de España, este fin de semana fue terrible para la gente que me gusta.  Pero hay verdad en el mundo, y balanza y todo saldrá como debe.  Y la victoria de España no tiene precio material.

Wimbledon!

Now for the grassy Slam...  The draw looks pretty awesome.  Novak is on Roger's half, and Marin can potentially be a QF-list.  The only rough one is for Mario, who I don't think is back to his former fitness yet.  Anyway here goes day 1...

Ana Ivanovic vs. Rossana de los Rios

Novak Djokovic vs. Michael Berrer

Svetlana Kuznetsova vs. Mathilde Johansson

Michael Llodra vs. Mario Ancic

Marat Safin vs. Fabio Fognini

Amelie Mauresmo vs. Ashley Harkleroad

Chris Guccione vs. Gael Monfils

I feel too busy to really write more.  Men's gymnastics olympic trials for the U.S. concluded yesterday and I am super worried about Sasha since he did badly on the 2nd day.  But at least J-Ho was named to the team already!  Super excited for him.  It's pretty competitive on the men's side, and someone is not going to make the team.  Fingers crossed for Sasha!

And EURO 2008 is also going on.  Freaking out about Spain.  This weekend is truly nerve-wracking.  Tennis will save me, hopefully.

Tužna sam... (I am sad...)

...da su izgubili Vatreni utakmicu. (That Croatia's soccer team lost the match)

Da je kraj utakmice poslije 1:0 Hrvatska, Vatreni bi pobijedili. Ali Turska je imala odgovor i je odgovorila brzo. I Hrvatska je izgubila u jedanaesteraca. Luka Modrić je promašio gol i nije promašio Turan. Modrić koji je imao gol u prvoj utakmici... I Rakitić i Petrić su promašili penale i je bio kraj. Tužna sam jer volim Vatrene. Mislila sam da bi pobijedili sve, da bi bili pobjednik EURO 2008... Ne mržim Tursku nego više volim Hrvatsku. Turska je zaslužna pobjednik, ali bih bila sretna kad Turska bi pobijedila kontra Njemački. Sada sam tužna...

(If the match ended after 1:0 Croatia, the Croatian soccer team would win. But Turkey had the answer and answered quickly. And Croatia lost in a penalty shootout. Luka Modrić missed the goal and Turan did not miss. Modrić who had a goal in the first match... And Rakitić and Petrić missed penalties and it was the end. I am sad because I love Croatias soccer team. I thought that they would win everything, that they would be champions of EURO 2008... I do not hate Turkey but rather I prefer Croatia. Turkey is a deserved winner, but I would be happy if Turkey wins against Germany. Now I am sad...)

Smile - Sonrisa - Osmijeh - Laecheln

Despite working for like 11 hours today, I have been quite happy (though tired). Firstly it is because I have seen my crush from last summer today! I also saw her on Thursday. The best part? She smiled at me again! It's awesome.

Also, Marin finally beat Paul-Henri Mathieu! Another 3-set battle with Marin on top this time! I think, with a good draw, he can do well at Wimbledon. Like 4th round or something... I also hope for similar awesome from Mario! He won his doubles match with Jurgen Melzer today.

(Tangent, but another group of people who keep meeting up are Eric Butorac and Jamie Murray. The former doubles team keep meeting each other in the draw! Since I feel bad for Booty, I root for him. But in the end I don't really care, and Jamie (or Stretch) is probably a more talented player and should be shooting to the top. So conflicts as usual...)

Thirdly, Croatia's soccer team (Vatreni!) won again. They were already guaranteed, but I heard they played well. Quite exciting, I hope they win against Turkey on Friday! Guess I already figured out what I'm doing Friday afternoon around 2:30...

Sports Fandom

I guess I am involved in quite a few fandoms, but the most recent and largest fandoms in which I participate are the football/soccer and tennis fandoms.  And coming from videogame fandom, these fandoms are quite large and much more accepted.  After all, this stuff gets in the general media and not in select publications.

It is unfortunate to see the self-centered/selfish/self-glorifying views so openly expressed in these fandoms.  Of course, in Suikoden fandom people who ask "stupid" questions are sometimes insulted but the whole "you're from this country so you aren't as worthy" or "you like this person so obviously you have no worth".  And then there is the question about "team loyalty" versus "player loyalty".  I am much more "player loyal" because I started off with tennis, in which you don't really root for countries but rather for people.  It is a liberated enough sport that I can root for any player, no matter which place he or she is from or which nationality he or she claims.  Of course there is "nationalistic" coverage (or biased coverage of Americans), but sometimes it makes sense.  Americans do like seeing themselves in sport, and many American tennis fans support American players.  It does not mean gushing of American players without equal/deserved gushing over their opponents.

However, in football/soccer, stuff is very interesting.  Especially with national teams, because these teams represent the country, of course.  Because people's own self-worth depend on these teams...  Seriously it is scary.  Germany - Poland, for example, is very very symbolic.  And of course with regionalisms, like Eastern vs. Western Europe, England/France/Germany-like countries vs. Spain/Portugal/Italy-like countries.  England vs. USA, etc.  It's so bad that someone who thinks "Oh that goal for Italy should have been disallowed" is obviously a biased fan of the other nation, because obviously a fan of Italy cannot desire fair play/correct judgements.  I want to rant more, but it's a problem that has many branches and tangents.  I'll just say sometimes that despite my obsession with stuff, I sometimes want to avoid these forums because I hate reading comments or more "reactions" to comments like these.

And for what is actually happening right now, Rafa just won a grass tournament by beating Novak, Richie is playing again, Andy Murray released a book (OMG!), Turkey beat the Czech Republic in a crazy match, and EURO 2008 has been a lot of fun.  I am happy for all of the group winners so far - they have all been playing awesome stuff.  I hope they keep playing awesome attacking soccer.  (Also, USA over Barbados 8-0 - should have been like 20-0 or something and seriously where was Mo Edu?)

Congrats, Ana!

Great final match, even though it was only 2 sets. Good stuff from both of the girls; I am proud of both of you. But especially proud of Ana, for finally winning a Grand Slam! She kept nerves under control and played pretty well - maybe even better than her usual for this tournament. And Dinara - some nerves but overall solid performance. You will do better next time!

I was tearing up when Ana was, after realizing she won the title and was hugging all of her family and stuff. It is amazing, being #1 and a Grand Slam champion for the first time! She is just amazing. I cannot help but love her.

Euro 2008 started and I watched Portugal vs. Turkey, which was quite entertaining. Portugal should be in good shape and I heard that the Czech Republic won, so interesting stuff. Too bad the parents are coming up tomorrow when it'd be awesome to watch Austria vs. Croatia live, but guess I'll go to the fishbowl or take my computer up to lab to watch that one. And Germany vs. Poland... I guess I've just made my plans for tomorrow evening...a good deal of fussball/nogemet!

Ana is number 1!

Ana played a tough, tough match against Jelena today in the semis of the French and found her shots and a win!  She is in the final again, and she will be number 1 in the WTA Rankings on Monday!

Spectacular stuff from her and Jelena.  It was much better than the earlier match between Sveta and Dinara because Sveta was not firing at all (well once every ten times or something).  So Ana vs. Dinara...you know who I want to win...

Now I wonder which match NBC will show tomorrow.  It better be Novak vs. Rafa OR ELSE...  I plan to wake up early, go to lab and start my purification, watch tennis while my stuff is dialyzing, and then go back to lab when my stuff is finished.  Yes, my labwork is picking up.  I actually shouldn't work so fast...what will I be able to do in a few weeks?  Well I got myself a full week next week...should get myself the 40 hours I want (or even more...)

Also Euro 2008 starts on Saturday!  But I need to do some stop-flow so maybe I'll try university med. school wireless...  Croatia plays on Sunday so I'll be definitely enjoying that and more on my day off!

Serbia vs. Russia

It's finalized.  With Sveta's win over Kaia Kanepi today, there will be a Russia vs. Serbia women's final.  Dinara, who is doing awesomely, goes against Sveta in the first women's semi tomorrow, and Ana plays Jelena in the second.  Well I will be happy if any of these women win.  I hope for good tennis!  Especially a good final - there hasn't been any terribly exciting ones recently (Sveta probably played the best of the last 3 finalists, since Mary Pierce and Ana got creamed by Justine in '05 and '07 respectively).  Really, based on form and mental issues I hope Sveta wins the most.  But Ana needs to also beat back against her nerves and needs to win a slam too.  So Jelena and Dinara are third favorites.  But seriously YAY for not Maria winning the title.  If she completed a career slam this early, I would be so pissed off.  And seriously she doesn't need that contentment nor does women tennis.  We need new blood now!

On the men's side, Gael and his "Soulja Boy" dancing are causing a riot.  He fucking beat David Ferrer today and is somehow winning by playing so far back from the court.  Seriously he should come in more; he has an awesome forehand.  Though at least his serve is still awesome.  Anyway, I hope he upsets Federer just because.  And with Novak vs. Rafa...well you know who I want to win...  Though Novak is sort of annoying me at the moment - his match play is.  Off court I still love him, but am growing more and more vexation with his father.  Seriously I wish his family was  more like Rafa's; I don't want him to not love his family but he may have to ditch them since they are totally using him.  And it sucks, because I am such a pushover and I would be so much worse than he is if I were in his position.  But that doesn't mean I can't hope for things to be better.

Soon also is Euro 2008.  I'm debating whether or not I should bring my computer to lab, or take an extended lunch break so I can at least watch one match live.  Though 2 matches means 4 hours.  I should have that much time, but the thing is when I will have that time.  Stupid Comcast, if you only allowed ESPN360...