Another year rolling by and as usual, marvelling as how time flies by.
Year 2011 started off with Bryan Graham's tweet about Andre's auction in Taiwan, which almost every media outlet and blogosphere enthusiastically spread the news without even bothering to find out what really occured to ending with ridiculous statements by Khode Klisch. And just like her tennis career, none of these had any effect on her life. Just like she played on the tennis court as if there is no tomorrow, she is enjoying her personal life as mother and wife in the same way. Wishing another great year for the Agassi-Graf family.
A reason to look forward to 2012 is that the year gives an opportunity for someone to level Steffi Graf's 1988 achievement of 'Golden Slam'. Makes you realize how Steffi made it look easy as can't see anyone doing that even with some great players in the current generation but as with everything, can never say never, so eagerly waiting for the next Steffi Graf so that my kids can have the same experience growing up as I had in my life following Steffi's career.
Sam Stosur on her idol Steffi Graf:
Have you ever met Steffi?
I have - once. I was more nervous meeting her than I was before most matches I have played. It was in Paris in 2009. She was nice, laid-back, easygoing and unassuming. A pleasure to meet. I had her on a pedestal my whole life and when you see how down to earth she is, it becomes a great experience in your life to meet her.
How do you think you would go against her?
I think even now she would give most of us a run for our money. All the people who I know have played and practised with her just say she was one of a kind. The way she moved her feet. Her intensity. I don't know I would want to practise with her, to be honest. She might be too good for me!
http://www.heraldsun.com.au/sport/xyx-tennis/from-shy-girl-to-superstar-sam-stosur-takes-it-in-her-stride/story-e6frfgao-1226233977240
"Stop thinking, start feeling" was the famous advice from Steffi to Andre but how to amateur tennis players do that!! May be some 'technology' assistance is needed to 'feel' right while hitting the ball.
http://blogs.tennis.com/the_pro_shop/2011/12/playing-by-feel-experiences-with-the-racquet-bracket-.html
Reading this old article and not surprised that even a phtographer's lens loves to capture Steffi. Some great pictures from the Wimbledon roof ceremony. Just click on the 'webgallery' in the article.
http://tennisworld.typepad.com/tennisworld/2009/05/your-call-523.html
An interview from 09 around Steffi's 40th B'day. Steffi saying she was uncomfortable looking at Novotna after her famous 93 wimbledon win.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/othersports/article-1192647/EXCLUSIVE-Steffi-Graf-40--striving-perfection.html
And finally for me, the highlight of tennis this year (apart from Novak's great year and Kvitova's emergence) is Andre's speech at the tennis HOF. Good to see that I am not the only one who was moved to tears by the speech.
http://glutenfreebowlofsoul.blogspot.com/2011/12/grace-gratitude-happy-new-year.html
Happy New Year and hope I can keep blogging away in 2012 as I did in 2011.
Saturday, December 31, 2011
Monday, December 19, 2011
Weekly Musings - 15
Well, I guess it took Khode-Kilsch 23 yrs and a banruptcy declaration to suggest that she lost an 'olympic gold' because of Steffi Graf. Wonder, if she ever realized that she might have won at least a 'bronze' because she played the doubles with Steffi. Guessing, she is going to come out with another statement and say, Steffi played so well in singles and won the gold medal just to prevent her from winning the gold medal. And why did Steffi decide all of a sudden in the SF to lose the match, she could have done that in QF or Finals. And if the ultimate goal of Steffi (and her father) was to prevent the great KK from winning an olympic gold, would have been easy for Steffi to just lose in the first round and concentrate on singles from the get go.
Ridiculous as it sounds, below is the Olympic doubles draw from 1988 and Graf/Khode Kilsch team had a tough time against the Canadian team in the QF and they lost to none other than Novotna-Sukova in the SF who lost a tough final to the Americans. To say that they lost beacuse Steffi didn't play well is downright outrageous as it is saying that Novotna-Sukova weren't capable of winning on their own, a formidable doubles team who won a career GS in women's doubles and also won the Olympic silver medal in doubles in 1992.
As expected, this makes the headlines and gets more coverage than Khode-Kilsch's bankruptcy and if that was what she was aiming to distract from the main news or gain attention to her, she succeeded big time. May be she will have more calls for interviews and TV shows which will help her with her bills (didn't want to be mean but couldn't resist).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tennis_at_the_1988_Summer_Olympics_%E2%80%93_Women's_Doubles
And guess, who comes out supporting Steffi, none other than Boris Becker, just check his tweets from a couple of days back on the same issue.
Not sure where to start but this post brings back a lot of childhood memories. Can only say best of luck to this fan's dream of interviewing Steffi, tough luck but who knows what is in store for the future.
http://www.sportskeeda.com/2011/12/12/excerpts-from-the-diary-of-a-tennis-fanboy/
Here is this fan's first post as a blogger and Steffi is the inspiration for his free lance writing just as she is for my blogging.
http://hareshtennis.blogspot.com/search?updated-min=2010-01-01T00:00:00-08:00&updated-max=2011-01-01T00:00:00-08:00&max-results=6
Navratilova is in and Steffi out for the Halle event, there were doubts from the beginning about Steffi's participation which turned out to be true.
http://www.tennisworldusa.org/Navratilova-and-Edberg-join-Halle-exhibition-field-articolo2624.html
and Junior Martina (Hingis) in to play Steffi at Taiwan. Just as a remainder, the last time these two played, it was voted as the best match by the viewers. There will be no grunting or shreiking but some great ball striking skills for sure and who knows, there might be some 'crossing over' to the other side as well. A great event for tennis lovers in Taiwan. Hope others can catch it on TV.
http://focustaiwan.tw/ShowNews/WebNews_Detail.aspx?Type=aSPT&ID=201112190034
And while Khode Kilsch claims were being spread all over, guess what Steffi was upto!! Mr and Mrs.Agassi enjoyed some great food cooked by a great chef. No wonder, Steffi had no time to respond (and she is never going to respond as she doesn't have to and as I said before: Words do matter unless you are Steffi Graf whose actions speak for themselves).
http://www.lasvegasweekly.com/blogs/luxe-life/2011/dec/19/star-surveillance-andre-agassi-shane-victorino-fan/
Ridiculous as it sounds, below is the Olympic doubles draw from 1988 and Graf/Khode Kilsch team had a tough time against the Canadian team in the QF and they lost to none other than Novotna-Sukova in the SF who lost a tough final to the Americans. To say that they lost beacuse Steffi didn't play well is downright outrageous as it is saying that Novotna-Sukova weren't capable of winning on their own, a formidable doubles team who won a career GS in women's doubles and also won the Olympic silver medal in doubles in 1992.
As expected, this makes the headlines and gets more coverage than Khode-Kilsch's bankruptcy and if that was what she was aiming to distract from the main news or gain attention to her, she succeeded big time. May be she will have more calls for interviews and TV shows which will help her with her bills (didn't want to be mean but couldn't resist).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tennis_at_the_1988_Summer_Olympics_%E2%80%93_Women's_Doubles
And guess, who comes out supporting Steffi, none other than Boris Becker, just check his tweets from a couple of days back on the same issue.
Not sure where to start but this post brings back a lot of childhood memories. Can only say best of luck to this fan's dream of interviewing Steffi, tough luck but who knows what is in store for the future.
http://www.sportskeeda.com/2011/12/12/excerpts-from-the-diary-of-a-tennis-fanboy/
Here is this fan's first post as a blogger and Steffi is the inspiration for his free lance writing just as she is for my blogging.
http://hareshtennis.blogspot.com/search?updated-min=2010-01-01T00:00:00-08:00&updated-max=2011-01-01T00:00:00-08:00&max-results=6
Navratilova is in and Steffi out for the Halle event, there were doubts from the beginning about Steffi's participation which turned out to be true.
http://www.tennisworldusa.org/Navratilova-and-Edberg-join-Halle-exhibition-field-articolo2624.html
and Junior Martina (Hingis) in to play Steffi at Taiwan. Just as a remainder, the last time these two played, it was voted as the best match by the viewers. There will be no grunting or shreiking but some great ball striking skills for sure and who knows, there might be some 'crossing over' to the other side as well. A great event for tennis lovers in Taiwan. Hope others can catch it on TV.
http://focustaiwan.tw/ShowNews/WebNews_Detail.aspx?Type=aSPT&ID=201112190034
And while Khode Kilsch claims were being spread all over, guess what Steffi was upto!! Mr and Mrs.Agassi enjoyed some great food cooked by a great chef. No wonder, Steffi had no time to respond (and she is never going to respond as she doesn't have to and as I said before: Words do matter unless you are Steffi Graf whose actions speak for themselves).
http://www.lasvegasweekly.com/blogs/luxe-life/2011/dec/19/star-surveillance-andre-agassi-shane-victorino-fan/
Sunday, December 11, 2011
Weekly Musings-14
As anticipated, it is tennis 'off season' and so not much from the newsfront.
As per this report, Bud Collins is the first person from the media to know about Steffi not returning back to Wimbledon back in 99. One of the few from media who called her 'Stefanie'. And not sure whom to beleive but either Collins or Bodo were the first ones to have coined 'Fraulein Forehand".
http://www.armchairqb.com/storyarchive/bud-talks-tennis-2
Steffi and Federer make to this person's list of greatest atheletes of all time.
http://allworldsport.blogspot.com/2011/12/15-greatest-athletes-of-all-time.html
Few pictures from Andre's HOF this summer but like the 'Pillow' story the most.
http://newportbetty.blogspot.com/2011/07/tennis.html
Video of Steffi at Harlem tennis center.
Steffi's jeans being auctioned off for a good cause.
http://www.nw-news.de/lokale_news/buende/buende/5508280_Steffi_Graf_spendiert_zwei_Jeans.html
And finally, "The Steffi Graf of winter"!!!!
http://de.eurosport.yahoo.com/blogs/sigi-heinrich/article/4661/
As per this report, Bud Collins is the first person from the media to know about Steffi not returning back to Wimbledon back in 99. One of the few from media who called her 'Stefanie'. And not sure whom to beleive but either Collins or Bodo were the first ones to have coined 'Fraulein Forehand".
http://www.armchairqb.com/storyarchive/bud-talks-tennis-2
Steffi and Federer make to this person's list of greatest atheletes of all time.
http://allworldsport.blogspot.com/2011/12/15-greatest-athletes-of-all-time.html
Few pictures from Andre's HOF this summer but like the 'Pillow' story the most.
http://newportbetty.blogspot.com/2011/07/tennis.html
Video of Steffi at Harlem tennis center.
Steffi's jeans being auctioned off for a good cause.
http://www.nw-news.de/lokale_news/buende/buende/5508280_Steffi_Graf_spendiert_zwei_Jeans.html
And finally, "The Steffi Graf of winter"!!!!
http://de.eurosport.yahoo.com/blogs/sigi-heinrich/article/4661/
Sunday, December 4, 2011
Weekly Musings - 13
To say that time flies is an understatement, already been two weeks from the last post but doesn't feel that way. Nothing major for news front and Steffi is doing a great job of keeping in touch with her fans, great to hear from her, be it tennis or her life and thankful for the social media to make it happen.
Reading this week's mailbag from Jon Wertheim and this particular statement caught my attention as he considers Serena Williams to be the greatest on the female side:
"Anyway, all that said, I'm not sure the Serena comparison is relevant. Serena might be the standard on the women's Tour. But on the ATP, the top players don't play simply when the urge strikes. They don't take off entire chunks of the year. They don't bail midway through events with dubious injuries and then show up at celebrity weddings a few days later.
She is not the standard for Djokovic. Federer and Nadal are".
Don't remember anyone saying this about Steffi Graf when she was playing tennis. In fact, she was considered superior to top men's players of her time when it came to commitment to tennis.
And that's why have hard time accepting Serena Williams as the greatest ever, greatest in her era for sure but not the greatest ever. Winning day in and day out regradless of surface or whether it is a major or a minor is a tough standard to surpass year in and year out, the way Steffi Graf did or Navratilova or Seles or Evert or Court did.
And one of the reasons why Sabatini was unfortunate not be world No:1 despite winning a GS whereas we have so many slamless no:1s in Serena's era.
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2011/writers/jon_wertheim/11/30/djokovic-mailbag/index.html?sct=tn_wr_a1
In that context, here is what Richard Williams said about Steffi back in 99:
"Actually, Steffi Graf is my favorite player on the Tour, and Venus and Serena would be my second and third. I admire Steffi Graf more than any player. The reason I admire Steffi Graf so much, when other players was not there, Steffi Graf was there. Steffi Graf, as far as I'm concerned, took the WTA, the Tour, and everyone else on her shoulder and did a marvelous job. I wanted to see my daughter beat Steffi Graf, but I guess I was hoping Steffi would win, too. But in reality, I really wanted to see Venus win. Steffi Graf is my favorite player".
http://www.asapsports.com/show_interview.php?id=11439
A NZ tennis umpire on Steffi Graf:
"She was an approachable, very down to earth person. Someone who took the time to talk to me and ask what I was doing, where I was going."
http://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/tennis/6051639/John-McEnroe-does-not-daunt-top-NZ-umpire
Steffi makes it to this list of strangest tennis habits but wondering if anyone else played with a ball in the other hand. In this day of double handed backhand being the norm, doubt any player in the current generation can play with a ball in the other hand and Steffi still does it (she was still holding a tennis ball in the other hand in the videos posted by her this year).
http://www.tenniscrack.com/2011/12/strangest-tennis-habits.html
Wow, looks like someone caught this moment on camera. This is dated Jun 15th 1999, one day after Steffi's B'day, at Wimbledon and for people who read Andre's book, I need not say anything more, the smile of Andre's face says it all. (if Speilberg ever needs any help for recreating the scenes, I am just a 'blog' away).
http://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/wimbeldon-great-britain-andre-agassi-with-steffi-graf-news-photo/51067716
Here is one more from the same day with Heidi Graf in the background.
http://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/wimbeldon-great-britain-andre-agassi-with-steffi-graf-news-photo/51067714
Have to watch the end where Andre compares his titles to that of his wife's:
http://www.ktvu.com/videos/news/tennis-legend-andre-agassi-meets-his-fans-in-palo/vFN8D/
Reading this week's mailbag from Jon Wertheim and this particular statement caught my attention as he considers Serena Williams to be the greatest on the female side:
"Anyway, all that said, I'm not sure the Serena comparison is relevant. Serena might be the standard on the women's Tour. But on the ATP, the top players don't play simply when the urge strikes. They don't take off entire chunks of the year. They don't bail midway through events with dubious injuries and then show up at celebrity weddings a few days later.
She is not the standard for Djokovic. Federer and Nadal are".
Don't remember anyone saying this about Steffi Graf when she was playing tennis. In fact, she was considered superior to top men's players of her time when it came to commitment to tennis.
And that's why have hard time accepting Serena Williams as the greatest ever, greatest in her era for sure but not the greatest ever. Winning day in and day out regradless of surface or whether it is a major or a minor is a tough standard to surpass year in and year out, the way Steffi Graf did or Navratilova or Seles or Evert or Court did.
And one of the reasons why Sabatini was unfortunate not be world No:1 despite winning a GS whereas we have so many slamless no:1s in Serena's era.
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2011/writers/jon_wertheim/11/30/djokovic-mailbag/index.html?sct=tn_wr_a1
In that context, here is what Richard Williams said about Steffi back in 99:
"Actually, Steffi Graf is my favorite player on the Tour, and Venus and Serena would be my second and third. I admire Steffi Graf more than any player. The reason I admire Steffi Graf so much, when other players was not there, Steffi Graf was there. Steffi Graf, as far as I'm concerned, took the WTA, the Tour, and everyone else on her shoulder and did a marvelous job. I wanted to see my daughter beat Steffi Graf, but I guess I was hoping Steffi would win, too. But in reality, I really wanted to see Venus win. Steffi Graf is my favorite player".
http://www.asapsports.com/show_interview.php?id=11439
A NZ tennis umpire on Steffi Graf:
"She was an approachable, very down to earth person. Someone who took the time to talk to me and ask what I was doing, where I was going."
http://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/tennis/6051639/John-McEnroe-does-not-daunt-top-NZ-umpire
Steffi makes it to this list of strangest tennis habits but wondering if anyone else played with a ball in the other hand. In this day of double handed backhand being the norm, doubt any player in the current generation can play with a ball in the other hand and Steffi still does it (she was still holding a tennis ball in the other hand in the videos posted by her this year).
http://www.tenniscrack.com/2011/12/strangest-tennis-habits.html
Wow, looks like someone caught this moment on camera. This is dated Jun 15th 1999, one day after Steffi's B'day, at Wimbledon and for people who read Andre's book, I need not say anything more, the smile of Andre's face says it all. (if Speilberg ever needs any help for recreating the scenes, I am just a 'blog' away).
http://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/wimbeldon-great-britain-andre-agassi-with-steffi-graf-news-photo/51067716
Here is one more from the same day with Heidi Graf in the background.
http://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/wimbeldon-great-britain-andre-agassi-with-steffi-graf-news-photo/51067714
Have to watch the end where Andre compares his titles to that of his wife's:
http://www.ktvu.com/videos/news/tennis-legend-andre-agassi-meets-his-fans-in-palo/vFN8D/
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