Thursday, August 24, 2006

Us Open: look at the draws let your thoughts flow.

No tennis yesterday, I had a relaxed evening watching an amazing movie, “Lords of Dogtown”. And today morning, completely fresh and awake, took a first look at the US Open main draws, pretty complex stuff as usual. The rule in all my “looking into the draws” is that there are NO rules. Just think as fast as I can without interruption, and let my thoughts flow. That’s about it.
Now I’m trying to report the thoughts that bubbled up from the inside out:
Women’s draw: highways for Justine Henin; when it’s “slam time”don’t be too concerned with her shape, her knees and other physical matters: she is OK. Her quarter is a warm-up en route to SF, where is possible a clash with an outsider: IMO, the winner of Vaidisova vs Jankovic (3rd round) have some chances with Sveta and Lena D. Consider the latter quarter (Vaidisova, Jankovic, Sveta, Lena D, and if you wanna...Venus and Groenefeld) the closest one. Top half: some traps (Santangelo? fellow Dechy?) for Mauresmo on the way to a terrible 4th round against the bullets of the Serbian army named I V A N O V I C. So scaring name (ask to Martina Hingis, please)! And what about Martina? She won’t go beyond the QF, as usual in a Slam. In this quarter we should have a thrilling 2nd round clash: the thin and lanky Hantuchova versus the big hamburger Serena (the revenge of the last Aussie Open 3rd round). And, finally, the bottom part of the top half should be under the rule of queen Masha. Very easy way to the QF, where the beutiful grunter might match a darkhorse: neither Petrova nor Myskina, Tati should be perfect for a revenge of Miami, but Tati is not in a good shape (I have to check it).
Men’s draw: Crazy thought of the day – I wish It was the turn of Malisse to rock the house (can’t wait for it), but the guy is getting her butt kicked by Nieminem (1st round). In the bottom half is a battle to oust Nadal: from Philippousis to Roddick or Gasquet, everyone is in a hurry to defeat Nadal, ‘cause people are thinking Rafa is out of shape, and his summer American hard court sucked! Robredo and Nieminen are my favourite on the bottom, Roddick and Gasquet my picks on the top. Relating to the top half, is Federer still the king? I thinkYes, some traps but not real insidious danger. Would appreciate a SF match up against Andy “The Kid” Murray, but not a cakewalk for the kid: Fernando “Mano de Piedra” Gonzalez is the worst opponent he could have had for a 3rd round clash. IMO the winner of this match will have no problem to clich a spot in the semi-final. Interesting match between two slumping players: Nalbandian vs Safin (2nd round). The re-birth of Juan Carlos Ferrero? Check it out in possible 4th round clash with Roger.

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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.