Friday, August 18, 2006

The Brad Gilbert’s impact: perfect work of a staggering genius ?


We can surely say Brad Gilbert is a tennis King Midas for his ability to turn anyone he coaches into success. It all began with Andre Agassi, who recovers from the brink to win Grand Slam titles. Then It came time to bring Andy Roddick to succes: we will never forget the amazing 2003, culminated with his first (an the only) Grand Slam win and his year-ending n.1 ranking. It broke down like this: in 2003 season, before A Rod and Brad started working together, the Kid from Nebraska had a 25-11 record (69%); from there on, he was 47-8 (85%), with five titles under the belt; during the american hard-court schedule he won 27 matches, with just one loss by Tin Henman in Washington. C’mon Brad, tell us what is your secret, Talk about your magic wand.
Nowadays the history’s repeating: Lawn Tennis Federation hired Brad Gilbert in order to tranform Andy Murray, the british best hope, in a consecrated champion (Wimbledon champ ?). Will brad succeed in this hard task ? Let’s see, but you can see the good day in the morning, the beginning wasn’t so bad: 11-2 (85%) record for Murray, after he starded working with Brad, alias King Midas; versus a 21-17 (55%) track record in firt part of the season.
What to say about Brad ? Does he really have a magic wand ? Just lucky or a real great coach ? We’ve got an opinion about it, but will tell you later. :-)

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Terza di Copertina.

"Cementi di Gloria" è l'opera prima di Paolo Ricaldi, aka Mr. Pemulis, che nell'estate 2007 ha girato in lungo e largo i tornei di preparazione agli Us Open - il c.d. minicircuito chiamato Us Open Series - è tornato sano e salvo, anche se un po' intossicato di Tennis, e ci ha raccontato quanto visto, sentito e percepito nel Nuovo Mondo.
In questo reportage, che è un viaggio picaresco nel nordamerica, intorno al "vuoto" dello showbiz, l'autore alterna con grande potenza espressiva cronache sportive esilaranti, pagine di letteratura minimalista, storie surreali, incubi metropolitani abitati da personaggi dai nomi improbabili e aneddoti irresistibili; e lo fa utilizzando una vasta gamma di registri, che vanno dal comico al noir. Ne risulta un inno sghembo al tennis e alla vita in generale, che fa' di Ricaldi, la "next big thing" del panorama letterario mediterraneo.