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Politics : High Tolerance Plasticity -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Bruce L who wrote (22939)	3/20/2005 9:02:05 PM
From: Bruce L	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 23153

OT: Professional Tennis For those interested in tennis, a few notes about the Pacific Life Open Tournament in the desert that ended today. - it is the only "Super Eight" in the U.S., meaning tournaments just below the level of the 4 "Grand Slams." The main stadium is the 2nd largest in the world after the one built for the U.S. Open in N.Y. The entire facility is first rate and I strongly recommend it for anyone who likes tennis and wants some sun in March each year. -Roger Federer of Switzerland, the #1 ranked player, is at least one full quality level higher than every other player today. Meaning that it will take the very best game from 2nd tier players and a sub-par match from Federer for him to lose. He is much more fun to watch than the Sampras type matches of old because he has an all court game of finesse and variety that keep his opponents off balance. -The 2nd tier players that might have a shot of beating Federer on their best days include: Leyton Hewitt(Austrailia), Marat Safin (Russia), Andy Roddick(USA), G. Coria, /G. Canas and D. Nalbandian (all from Argentina), Fernando Gonzales(Chile), Carlos Moya (Spain), and Joachim Johansson(Sweden) and Ivan Ljubicic(Croatia). -Ljubicic of Croatia is the strongest of the lot and is the surprise sensation of this year; he single handedly knocked the U.S. out of Davis Cup contention beating Agassi and Roddick and anchoring the doubles as well. -With great sorrow, I do not include Agassi in the 2nd tier any more. While he had a good tournament here, and can beat any of the above listed 2nd tier players on a good day, he clearly is on his way (finally, after a tremendous career) out. - The center of gravity in men's tennis - despite Federer - is clearly moving to the Spanish speaking world: Spain and South America. I'm not sure why this should be so; I'm very interested in explanations. -The center of gravity for women's tennis is Russia. Nine of the top 32 seeds are Russian/Ukrainian and 16 of 96 in the main draw. The explanation for Russian dominance among the women is simple: the womens game -more so than the mens - requires guts, determination and hard work. And with so few opportunities in other fields, Russian women have these qualities in abundance. -Despite being humiliated by Lindsay Davenport 6-0/6-0, Maria Sharapova is the strongest of the Russian women. Elena Dementieva is a close 2nd. Both have strong games that are fun to watch. -Lindsay Davenport lost in the finals to Kim Clijsters. In my opinion she is on her way out; she is too soft mentally and inexplicably gets down on herself in the middle of matches. I still believe she may quit after this year having (in her mind) won all of the main laurels. - After Lindsay, there are no American contenders in the womens ranks, not even IMO prospects. Very sad. -My favorite player, man or woman, Justine Henin(Belgium), is still out with injuries.