The Musings of Dale Dietrich
Immediately after Roger Federer won his record-setting 15th grand slam title at Wimbledon 2009, this amusing Nike commercial ran congratulating him. It features John McEnroe, Serena Williams, Michael Jordan, Pete Sampras, and Tiger Woods.
Sorry for the TiVo bloops at the beginning. This is my second YouTube video. I don’t know how to edit videos yet.
Can someone point me to a free video editor that is easy to use and works with Windows 7?
After winning his 15th grand-slam at Wimbledon 2009, Federer slipped into this designer cardigan with the number 15 on the lower right back side.
You know you are a super rich tennis star when your cellophane tennis racket bags bear your personalized logo!
The announcers were as surprised as I was when Federer reached for a replacement tennis racket during the Wimbledon 2009 final.
In another terrific Wimbledon final, Roger Federer defeated the terrific Andy Roddick (7-5, 6-7, 6-7, 6-3, 14-16) making him the undisputed best tennis player of all time. With 15 slam titles he passed Pete Sampras’ 14 and stands alone. With his French Open victory a few weeks ago, he has won all four grand slams.
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See also: Brooklyn Decker Cheers for Andy Roddick at Wimbledon 2009
Sampras travelled to London (his first time back since winning in 2002) to attend the final match where his record 14 grand slam title record was surpassed. It’s too bad they didn’t have Pete hand the trophy to Roger.
Nobody could be certain that Roger would win, however. Following on from a fantastic semi-final win over Andy Murray, Andy Roddick played a beautiful final match – perhaps the best of his career.
Continue reading “Federer Wins Wimbledon 2009 – Sets All-Time Grand Slam Record”
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Sorry, folks, but these are the best shots I could get of Federer’s tennis shoes during Wimbledon 2009. The camera never went up close in any of the matches I watched.
Continue reading “Roger Federer’s Designer Tennis Shoes – Wimbledon 2009”
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Tying Pete Sampras’ 14 slam titles, and with a career grand slam under his belt (only the 6th man in history to do that – Sampras never won the French), Roger Federer is now, undeniably, the best tennis player – ever!
Federer beat Robin Söderling (6-1, 7-6, 6-5) easily. Söderling took down Nadal the prior Sunday, paving the way for Federer’s historic win. In the three sets Roger:
It was fun to watch my all time favourite men’s tennis player, Andre Agassi, present the trophies. Having won the French Open 10 years ago and being the last man to win the career grand slam, he was a fitting choice. It was nice to see his wife, Steffi Graf present the woman’s trophies.
Continue reading “Federer – The Best Tennis Player of All Time: French Open 2009”
When Rafael Nadal’s tripped in the third set, Mary Carillo said this picture will be famous if Nadal goes on to loose – even suggesting a title – “the Champ goes Down”. How prescient! I’m doing my part to fulfill her prophecy.
In what was a surprising and yet terrific match, Nadal’s 2007 Wimbledon nemesis,Robin Soderling (they played a 5 setter lasting 5 days due to rain delays), did something nobody has ever done before – beat Nadal at the French Open. Amazing!
This sets Federer up to accomplish three big things next Sunday:
Assuming, that is, that Federer makes it to the finals next week. This is Federer’s big break. I’ll be cheering for him.
On a related note, Azarenka defeated the 2009 French Open women’s champion, Ana Ivanovic, in straight sets. That isn’t much of a surprise to me. I have thought for some time that Ivanovic was over-rated. Go Safina go!
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Nadal def. Federer: Nadal won his first major on a hard court while denying Federer‘s attempt to match Sampras’ 14 major record. This marks the first time a Spaniard has won the Aussie Open. The high level of play we saw in the 2008 Wimbledon final continued into the
early sets of the Aussie final. Given the record setting five hour, fourteen minute semi between Nadal and Verdasco, Federer’s attempted to capitalize on Nadal’s fatigue. It didn’t work. Nadal did seem tire out early on but was resilient enough to take it to a fifth set where Federer appeared to wither. Nadal’s strategy, to constantly serve and return to Federer’s backhand worked.
Federer broke down in tears during his acceptance speech. He had to walk away to compose himself. He stood their crying for what seemed like an eternity as the crowed cheered. He finished his speech, fighting back the tears after Nadal picked up his trophy. I’ve never seen anything like that.
Trivia Tidbit: The coin toss is irrelevant for every Federer/Nadal match. No matter who wins, Nadal always elects to server and Federer always elects to receive.
S. Williams def. Safina: Serena Williams embarrassed Dinara Safina in 
a 6-0, 6-3 loss lasting less than an hour. This was Williams’ fourth Aussie Open win and 10th grand slam title. Safina’s performance tournament-wide was less than spectacular. She needs more work. She apologized to the crowd for her poor performance. The crowd forgave her.
Continue reading “Australian Open (2009) Second Week – Nadal and Serena Win”
Below is a roundup of my thoughts and observations concerning the first week matches at the 2009 Australian Open.
Click on the photos below to view full-sized versions.
Nadal Tweaks his Game & His Outfit: Number 1 seeded Nadal has changed his service stance (a little more open, left leg further back and tighter in) to try and get more speed on his serve. It seems to be working so far. His average first serve speed at the Aussie Open in 2009 is 113 mph. His average speed in 2008 was 109 mph. He is also dropping the elbow close to the body to take topspin off his forehand and flattening his forehand to work better on the slower Australian courts. As for fashion, his shorts are a little shorter and he has shirt sleeves for the first time. You’d think that with all his millions, he’d be able to hire a designer to solve his constant wedge problem. But no, he was tugging at the back of his new shorts as much as he ever has.
Roddick: Roddick lost 15 pounds in the off-season. He lost the weight to gain speed. Speed is needed to compete with the top players these days. Fabrice Santoro did Roddick a big favor by knocking out Kohlschreiber in the second round. Kohlschreiber defeated Roddick at the 2008 Aussie Open. I’m looking forward to his next match with Djokovic (assuming Djokovic beats Baghdatis) in the quarters. I’ll be cheering for Roddick! Is it just me, or does that KIA logo make you hunger for a Kit-Kat too?
Continue reading “Australian Open (2009) – First Week Roundup”
Official Wimbledon Site | Men’s Draw | Ladies’ Draw | 
Wow! John McEnroe opined that the 2008 Wimbledon men’s final was the best match he’d ever seen. At 4 hours and 48 minutes it was certainly the longest (the previous record was the 1982 Connors v. McEnroe final at 4 hours, 16 minutes). I loved it, stomach twisting and turning all the way.
In the end Rafael Nadal won the a gut-wrenching five set 6-4, 6-4, 6-7, 6-7, 9-7 match that spanned two rain delays and threatened to go into Monday. Nadal had two championship points in the 3rd and 4th sets that Roger Federer managed to stave off. But Nadal was just too good. As hard as it is for me to say it, Nadal deserved that win. Point for point he chased down everything Federer threw at him.
(Nadal collapses after his hard-fought win)
(Nadal hugs trophy – Federer contemplates defeat)
Continue reading “Wimbledon 2008 – Nadal and Venus Win Championship”
Since I wrote about Rafael Nadal’s designer tennis shoes at the 2008 French Open, it is only fitting to post pictures the designer shoes worn by Federer at Wimbledon 2008.
As you can see, he wear’s custom Nike, Zoom Air, Fit Frame tennis shoes. On the left heal, his RF trademark is displayed. On the right heal, the Wimbledon gold trophy is emblazoned with the number 5 – signifying his 5 prior Wimbledon singles championships.
[June 6, 2008 Update: Having lost to Nadal in the finals, it appears that the insignia on the right heal won’t be changing any time soon 🙁 ]
Official Wimbledon Site | Wimbledon Live | Men’s Draw | Ladies’ Draw |
With the exception of Nalbandian (7), all the major seeds advanced to the second round including: Federer (1), Djokovic (3), Hewitt (20), Safin, Gonzalez (15), Baghdatis (10), Ivanovic (1), Kuznetsova (4), S. Williams (6) and Mauresmo (20).
Tomorrow we’ll see the first round matches of: Nadal (2), Davydenko (4), Roddick (6), Blake (9), Murray (12), Fish, Tipsarevic, Jankovic (2), Sharapova (3), Dementieva (5), V. Williams (7), Safina (9) and, my favourite, Davenport (25).
Canadian Frank Dancevic made it through to the second round. Stephanie Dubois lost in the first. Aleksandra Wozniak plays her first match tomorrow.
Ever since Nadal wiped the floor with Federer in the French, the press has been a-buzz with talk about whether Roger can win Wimbledon again. I say, of course he can. He’s won 5 straight Wimbledons. Why not another? Every great player goes through lean times. He had no problem knocking out his buddy Hrbaty in straight sets today. My money is still on Federer to take a 6th straight victory.
For the third consecutive year Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal met at the French Open finals. I fully expected Nadal to win, but I did not expect a 6-1, 6-3, 6-0 blow-out.
With the exception of Federer’s reaching, but not capitalizing on, a break-point in the 2nd, the match was entirely Nadal’s – repeatedly breaking Federer’s serve. The Nadal-Djokovic semi-final was much more satisfying.
It was amusing to see Nadal inhibited by the opening ceremony restrictions. Normally after the pre-game photos and the coin-toss, Nadal charges from the net to the baseline to begin his warm-up. This time he had to wait (noticeably frustrated) until the huge opening ceremony flags were removed before he could make his trademark zig-zag run.
Continue reading “Nadal Crushes Federer to Win Fourth Consecutive French Open”
As Bjorn Borg looked on (see pic below), Nadal decisively defeated Novak Djokovic in the first men’s semi final of the 2008 French Open. Nadal is now within one match of tying Borg’s four-straight French Open win record.
I started watching, trying very hard not to root for either player. I wanted to revel in the sheer brilliance of their play alone. But I wasn’t able to do that for long. While Djokovic put up an admirable fight, the match was clearly Nadal’s from the beginning.
Continue reading “Men’s Semi-Finals at the 2008 French Open”
