STREAMING VID FROM MIAMI

I'm very impressed with the streaming video from Miami

on ADHTE.NET

 

Both these pix are screenshots from that web site.

TSN - KEY BISCAYNE

RODDICK HAMMERS DJOKOVIC

Big-serving American Andy Roddick hammered an out-of-sorts Novak Djokovic 6-3 6-2 on Friday to advance to the semi-finals of the ATP event at Indian Wells.

Roddick broke the third-seeded Serb twice in each set to book his place in the last four against world number one Rafael Nadal, who crushed Argentinean Juan Martin Del Potro 6-2 6-4 in a later match.

On a hot afternoon in the California desert, seventh seed Roddick swept through the opening set in just over half an hour on the stadium court at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden.

The second set went with serve until the error-prone Djokovic netted a backhand to be broken in the sixth game and trail 2-4.

World number seven Roddick then held serve before again breaking the Serb in the eighth to reach the semi-finals at Indian Wells for a third time.

LJUBICIC BOUNCED

Ivan Ljubicic had a double birthday letdown on Thursday when he lost to Andy Murray in the quarter-finals of the ATP event at Indian Wells and was wrongly denied a point by the Hawk-Eye system.

The big-serving Croat was beaten 7-5 7-6 on his 30th birthday after being frustrated by a successful Murray challenge at 4-4 in the ninth game of the second set.

On break point, Murray's shot bounced outside the line with Ljubicic in position to hit a winner but the Scot challenged the linesman's call.

The Hawk-Eye technology, which reconstructs the ball's most likely path by combining its trajectory with images from cameras positioned around the court, surprisingly supported Murray by incorrectly assessing the ball's second bounce.

"I didn't play the ball because it was clearly out," Ljubicic told reporters after losing the match in just over two hours.

"The (Hawk-Eye) operator showed a second bounce instead of the first. It's just human error, and it's frustrating when you see such a clear mistake.

"We really wanted to take control of the human error with that machine, and then you have a human error of the operator who is controlling that machine. It's a strange situation."

REUTERS

MURRAY MEETS FED IN SEMI

TSN

WHO NEEDS A COACH?

Roger Federer is to become a father for the first time, the world number two announced on Thursday.

The 27-year-old Swiss revealed on his website (www.rogerfederer.com) that his girlfriend Mirka Vavrinec is pregnant.

"Mirka and I are excited to let you know that we will be parents this summer," Federer said from Indian Wells, where he is playing in an ATP tournament.

"Mirka is pregnant and we are so happy to be starting a family together. This is a dream come true for us. We love children and we are looking forward to being parents for the first time. Mirka is feeling great and everything is going well."

Federer and Vavrinec met at the 2000 Olympics in Sydney.

REUTERS

THE MAIN MEN

Rafael Nadal - The world No. 1 won the title in Indian Wells in 2007 and has only been playing better on hardcourts since. He won his first Australian Open title in 2009 in another classic battle with Roger Federer. However, the Spaniard injured his troublesome knee in Rotterdam, losing in the final to Andy Murray. How is the knee feeling? He did help lead Spain to a 4-1 victory over Serbia in Davis Cup last weekend, including defeating world No. 3 (and defending Indian Wells champion) Novak Djokovic in straight sets with no signs of trouble.

Roger Federer - The mighty Federer is playing in his first event since losing an emotional Australian Open final in five sets to Nadal. He withdrew from Dubai and Davis Cup last weekend with a back injury he had been battling since late 2008. It was an unusual move for the Swiss, who has managed to stay clear of major injuries in his illustrious career. How he moves and plays could dictate whether the back could be a nagging problem this season or if the layoff sufficiently healed the problem. Will we see the Federer of old in Indian Wells this week?

Novak Djokovic - The Indian Wells defending champion won the title here last year with a three-set win over surprising finalist Mardy Fish. The world No. 3 was also a finalist at Indian Wells in 2007, so the desert has been a place of great success for him. Recently he won the title in Dubai and went 0-2 in Serbia’s Davis Cup loss to Spain, losing to Nadal and David Ferrer.

Andy Murray - Murray started 2009 where he left off in 2008, playing some of the best tennis on tour. He has won two titles so far this year, including defeating Nadal in Rotterdam. However, like Federer, he was forced to withdraw from last weekend’s Davis Cup matches with an illness that also caused him to miss the tournament in Dubai. Like can be said of Federer – is he fully recovered?

Andy Roddick - Roddick, the highest-ranked American in the draw, is coming off another fantastic performance for the U.S. Davis Cup Team. He went 2-0 in the tie against a Federer-less Swiss team, including clinching the series with a win over Stanislas Wawrinka. He is playing solid tennis in 2009 with a 19-3 record on the tour, and he won his first title of the year in Memphis just a few weeks ago.

 

USTA

MOJAVE

THE MOJAVE

The desert has a special place in my heart.

I spent a couple of years in the Mojave, in the early fifties, as a child and the memories are etched in my mind.

Driving into town, canvas water-bag hanging from the front bumper, the truck would rattle rhythmically as it hit the expansion joints of the concrete road and the desiccated carcases of the Jacks [rabbits] drawn to the headlights of the cars. The road ahead was a shimmering watery mirage.

Town, Twenty-Nine Palms, was a sneeze on the highway to L.A.

Summers were hot, 105 – 115 F, and air-conditioning the domain of the rich. Even in summer, on a clear cloudless night the temperature could plummet to freezing.

Most nights were clear.

Summer was a season to be survived. We would hide from the sun in shadows, under Stetsons and shirts and jeans and boots.

Spring was the season of life and renewal. A few days of rain, right about now, would thrust the desert into a frenzy. The cactus, cholla, ocotillo, prickly-pear, agave, yucca, Joshua tree and sage would bloom in hours – changing the desert into a pallette of colours.

Much has changed.

As a child, I could see forever – the mountains disappearing on the horizon. Now, smog is a constant cloak.

The Salton Sea was fresh water reserve. Now, a cesspool of human waste.

Across the Joshua Tree National Park lies Indian Wells.

It's spring in the desert.

Tennis-life is about to be renewed.

JESSE LOST

P Capdeville (CHI) d [WC] J Witten (USA) 46 62 64

INDIAN WELLS' QUALIES

A side of pro tennis that most of us are unaware is the 'Qualies" - where good players whose ranking doesn't get them into the main draw must compete for the chance to play the 'real' tournament.

Qualies are usually held a few days before the main draw and those who reach the semis will get entry.

Leigh's team mate [at University of Kentucky], Sarah Witten has a brother, Jesse, who has to go the qualies route.

We watched Jesse play the first round at the US Open a couple of years ago.He'd come through the qualies and lost a difficult 5 set match in the main.

He's just flown out to Indian Wells because he got a wild card into the qualies.

But what a tough row to hoe.

If he wins his first round against Capdeville [a rising Chilean], he would play, probably, Xavier Malisse and then Evgeny Korolev --in the qualies!!!

INDIAN WELLS ON TSN

SCHEDULE 'TIL MAY

FALLEN ANGEL

Blond, beautiful, athletic—filled with untapped promise, Roscoe Tanner should be among our heroes in tennis.  Instead he sits atop a rare list of tennis gone-bad boys.

Tanner remains one of the finest tennis players of the 1970s. In 1977, he won the Australian Open and in 1979 played Bjorn Borg to a trauma-inducing final at Wimbledon, extending him to five sets before finally falling to the mystique and iron will of the ice man.

The significance of that match goes beyond the intensity of its level of competition. It was the first live broadcast of Breakfast at Wimbledon, now a tradition to tennis loving fans in the United States.

NBC had prayed for John McEnroe or Jimmy Connors to meet Borg in the finals. Instead, they got Roscoe Tanner, who played the match of his life. We owe the continuation of the early morning live broadcast to him for making it memorable.

Long before the days of high-tech rackets, Roscoe Tanner was scorching the earth with serves that set many an opponent back on his heels wondering what just flew by.

He is the father of the lethal serve—plus he was a lefty, which gave him a further advantage because the serve came from an angle his opponents were not used to or ready for, an advantage Rafael Nadal has evolved into an art form.

Tanner’s February 1978 serve of 153 mph was the fastest recorded serve in tennis history until Andy Roddick broke it in September of 2004 with a serve of 155 mph.

In the '70s, clocking serves was not typically done, nor was it accomplished with the accuracy it is today. But every player knew of the sheer power of Tanner’s serve and dreaded meeting Roscoe in any round of any tournament.

During his tennis career, Tanner was ranked as high as No. 4 in the world. He was the first player of significance to play tennis at Stanford University and he helped establish it as an NCAA tennis dynasty.

Not only did Roscoe play tennis supremely well, he had a magnetic personality that drew people around him. He was outgoing and handsome, came from a good family, and had Stanford credentials. In the '70s, Roscoe made a great deal of money on tour and with endorsements.

So how could this man who had the world in the palm of his hand fail so utterly as a human being? And fail he did, in no uncertain terms! As you survey the life and times of Roscoe Tanner, you unveil a perfect role model for a sociopath.

Tennis fit right in to Roscoe’s innate ability to compartmentalize his life. Someone commented that Roscoe played tennis well because he could concentrate solely on the ball and not on his opponent. Opponents can be distracting—but keeping your eye on the ball is the chief ingredient for success on court.

Being able to compartmentalize your life means always seeing things from your own perspective. You are the center of your life and everything you do relates to your perceived goals and ambitions. There is no one sharing the spotlight with you.

This translated into magnificent tennis because most of Tanner’s efforts in the '70s were devoted to playing the game he was meant to play.

Keeping distractions to a minimum and seeing the panorama across the net and into the stands from his vantage point all worked to seal his success.

But while tennis thrived, the rest of Tanner’s life grew suspect. He was popular because he told people what they wanted to hear. It was expeditious. He did it to please. There was never a malicious intent in his actions.

He fell effortlessly into the trap of being a womanizer. He cheated on all his wives without feeling it was wrong because he needed it to fill his ego, and as long as she didn’t know, Tanner felt there was nothing wrong. 

He had no moral compass. Yet, no one quite recognized that fact until much later.

There were hints at aberrant behavior all along. He would have sudden outbursts of temper and then turn them off, automatically returning to his charming ways. He would ignore his parents, who flew across the country to see him play. He had a high-pitched giggle that used to raise eyebrows.

Toward the end of his career, he injured his elbow, and this contributed to his ultimate decline and led him to retire from professional tennis in 1984. ESPN had signed Tanner to do commentary and everyone was confident it was just another step in his fine tennis career.

It marked the beginning of his steady decline into ignominy.

He cheated friends, family, and fellow tennis professionals out of money, always promising but never delivering on schemes to get rich by banking on his fame.

He has been married three times, divorced twice, and sued for child-custody support.  He has been jailed numerous times for failure to pay child support, as well as for felony charges of theft. He was incarcerated in Germany and later expedited to the United States for fleeing prosecution.

He is a sexual addict, a pathological liar, and cannot honor his commitments to anyone or anything. He is the perfect sociopath. There are 10 general symptoms: (1) not learning from experience, (2) no sense of responsibility, (3) inability to form meaningful relationships, (4) inability to control impulses, (5) lack of moral sense, (6) chronically antisocial behavior, (7) no change in behavior after punishment, (8) emotional immaturity, (9) lack of guilt, (10) self-centeredness.

He was once arrested and hauled off to jail at a senior tennis event for failure to pay child support. Upon his return, he received a standing ovation from assembled friends. He is chronically broke and usually one step ahead of being jailed.

Tanner was arrested in May of 2008 for writing bad checks—two of them for two Toyota Highlanders. Once the vehicles were returned and Tanner paid $5,000 in restitution, the charges were dropped.   

He remains a charmer continually puzzling family and friends with his bizarre behavior—but there is no cure for sociopathic behavior. We all know a Roscoe Tanner perhaps better than we wish...

The man with the golden arm who dazzled the world with his powerful serves now only serves time—waiting for his next opportunity to bounce one over the net...

J.A.ALLEN

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