The tennis world could not have wanted it any better. Right in the first grand slam final of year comes the match everyone yearned.
The 2009 Australian Open Grand Slam Single Tennis finals will be disputed by the Number 1 tennis player in the world, Rafael Nadal and Number 2, Roger Federer.
Roger Federer continues his quest for Tennis immortality against the man who upended him last year. He will seek his 14th Grand slam title to equal Pete Sampras's record and 4th Aussie Open singles title. At the same time, get some measure of revenge against Nadal.
Rafael Nadal, the number one player in the world is seeking to conquer all surfaces. Initially rose to fame for reigning in clay, Nadal showed he can dominate grass last year, ending Federer's reign on it last year in the best Wimbledon final ever. Another win against Federer will now clearly manifest his completeness in all surface. Aside from that, he will include his name into the greatest of all time talk that Federer's name had been hogging for the last five years.
At first glance, Federer is slightly favored. He has won this major thrice and has advantage over Nadal in the past in this kind of surface.Aside from that he had ample of rest after quickly dismissing Andy Roddick in their semifinal. Whereas Nadal, had to go through the longest match ever in Aussie Open history against compatriot Fernando Verdasco to reach the final.
I like Federer to win. If Nadal prevails, then clearly, he really had Federer's numbers. The reason perhaps is that Nadal improved a lot. Federer on the hand, after dominating for so long is perhaps has less idea on what to work upon to defeat Nadal.
Perhaps Roger Federer is from the Sayyan race of planet Vegetta. You know... the warrior race that goes stronger after surviving a near-death hard-fought battle.
Federer recovered in time to escape the upset ax thrown at him by Thomas Berdych in the form of a five-setter 4th round 2009 Aussie Open match. On his next match, Federer unleashed the Federer we all have been accustomed to see as he delivered a sublime performance in crashing Juan Del Potro's wishful thinking of beating him, 6-3, 6-0, 6-0 in their quarterfinal encounter.
If it's true that what can't kill you makes you stronger, then that applies to Federer. He surely looks stronger than a year ago. His amazing streak of 19 straight semifinal appearance in a grand slam is awesome even with mono last year. I am guessing he's back. I mean, him. Back.
I don't like to jinx him but I am sure Federer would get past Roddick whom he beaten a lot of times and reach the 2009 Australian Open final. Roddick actually won their last match but that's 2008.
A year when Federer vacationed in Planet Vegetta.
Defending champion Boston Celtics visited the Orlando Magic in Orlando and show who is still the number one in the East.
Strong play of the Magic recently and the dip in form of the Celtics and Cavaliers allowed the Magic to take the lead in the East as they recorded a franchise record in 41 starts.
The Magic who is shooting well lately was off the mark the whole game allowing the Celtics to cruise to its seventh straight win.
Roger Federer continued his quest to reclaiming Tennis supremacy as he defeated Marat Safin in their 3rd Round match in the on-going 2009 Australian Open, 6-3 6-2 7-6.
Safin gave it all, especially in the third set but was not enough to overcome the No. 2 seed and prolonged the match.
Federer will face Thomas Berdych on the 4th round.
Filipino ring icon Manny Pacquiao apparently had a change of heart. So, we will have the much anticipated Manny Pacquiao vs Ricky Hatton bout on May 2, 2009 at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada as reported in ESPN.
Right after Pacquiao's win over De La Hoya, Hatton's name was immediately mentioned as Manny's next possible opponent. After almost not happening, the fight will push through (May 3 in Manila).
The bout will challenge Pacquiao's hold of the pound-for-pound title and give another chance to Hatton who lost to former pound-for-pound king and now retired, Floyd Mayweather jr.
Reports also say that Pacquiao stands to get the biggest purse of his career. Accordingly, he is guaranteed to receive $12 Million and a 52-48 split of the fight's revenue.
Days ago, reports said that the fight will not push through as Team Pacquiao would not budge in its earlier demand of a higher share for Pacquiao and failed to beat the deadline set by Golden Boy CEO Richard Schaeffer.
Initially, I was in favor of Pacquiao demanding a bigger share because in my opinion, Pacquiao is more popular than Hatton and therefore will bring more to the fight in terms of revenue. But when it comes to pay-per-view, Hatton can pull more revenues because he is so popular in Brittain.
Hatton can use this share of revenues as an added motivation in his training and show fans he deserved more.
This maybe some marketing strategy to generate more buzz for the match. But remember that this also happened in the Pacquiao-De La Hoya bout. Negotiations took longer because of disagreement in money. I hope that Money err.. Manny Pacquiao and his Team will not get use to this tactic. Otherwise, the fans may miss some intriguing fights because of money matters.
Nevertheless, I wish come May 2, the ending will be the same last December - Pacquiao prevailing vs Hatton.
Philippine boxing is definitely on the right track as proven by the superb performances of Pinoy pugilists in yesterday's Judgment in the Far East boxing showdown at the Araneta Coliseum.
Bernabe "Abe" Concepcion is treading the path boxing Superstar Manny Pacquiao took after trouncing Kenya's Sande Otiendo to claim the vacant WBC International Featherweight belt. The title was also held by Pacquiao. Concepcion totally outclassed his foe that he even admitted after the bout that he deliberately prolonged the fight for the fans.
Concepcion proved to be the better fighter right from the get go that his Kenyan foe received a cut on the left eye. Inspite of the blood oozing on his face, plus the countless combination he took from Concepcion, the Kenyan courageously fought on. But the ring physician has seen enough to stopped the fight, improving Concepcion's record and 16 bout winning streak since 2006.
Other foreign boxers suffered the same judgment at the fists of Philippine boxers.
Sonny Boy "the bullet" Jaro knocked out Ruslee Samoh of Thailand right in the first round in their light flyweight tussle. Denver "the excitment" Cuello gave the same fate to Yanus Emaury, winning by TKO in the third round.
Earlier, an 18 year old sensation by the name of Roberto "Calibre" Gonzales continued his winning ways by knockout after stopping Fred Tupas on the fifth round. Tupas actually made a good account of himself, fighting toe-to-toe with the much heralded foe with his great defense.
But in the 5th round, Gonzales saw an opening and connected on a wicked right to the midsection of Tupas. Tupas never recovered and included himself to growing victims of Gonzales. The young Gonzales now boasts of a perfect 8 - 0 record with 6 wins coming by way of knockout.
This good development in Philippine boxing can be attributed in part to the success of Manny Pacquiao that inspired young boxers across the country.
In the end, the San Miguel Beermen showed it has more left in the tank as it came back from twenty-one points down and outhustled the Baranggay Ginebra Gin Kings the rest of the way to win, 98-93 in do-or-die Game 3 and advance to the semifinals of the 2008 KFC-PBA Phil. Cup at the Araneta Coliseum.
Dondon Hontiveros delivered another monster performance, this time with a win, to power the Beermen's win. After a career 35 point game in a Game 2 loss against the Kings, Hontiveros provided intensity both ends of the court in the second half to thwart Ginebra's dreams of advancing to the next round.
San Miguel bucked a slow start aided by the ejection of veteran floor general Olsen Racela to the end the first half down by thirteen, 49 - 36 in favor of Ginebra.
The Kings opened up the 2nd half with guns ablazing in the outside. Salvacion, Helterbrand and Artadi connected on treys in consecutive possessions. Valenzuela's turn around jumper gave Ginebra its biggest lead, 62-41 just over half of the 3rd quarter.
With a 21 point deficit staring them in the face, the Beermen started fighting back. Their intensified defense allowed a meager 8 points for the Kings the rest of the quarter. Ginebra's outside shooting became sour that made San Miguel's zone look impregnable.
Hontiveros led his team with a couple of steals and streak shooting. Lordy Tugade who was scoreless in the first half finally joined the fray as they conspire to trimm the King's lead to just three, 67 - 70.
The fourth quarter turned into a Hontiveros and SMB defense show.
Hontiveros tied the game with a trey. After Menk's basket inside gave the lead back to Ginebra, Rookie Bonbon Custodio gave the Beermen its first taste of the lead with a long 2, 80 - 78 a little less than seven minutes left in the game.
The game turned into a nip and tuck affair. Tubid gave the lead back to te Kings with a three but Tugade answered with a three of his own. Hontiveros converts a stop-and-pop long 2 but Helterbrand and Wilson each made a basket to tie the game for the last time at 85.
Custodio's hang time move gave the lead for good to the San Miguel. Two steals by the Beermen translated to Hontiveros' five straight points that proved to be the turning point of the game as they lead 92 - 85.
Custodio's basket on a gutsy drive and Tugade's basket sandwiched Menk's free throws as San Miguel enjoyed its biggest lead, 96 - 87.
Helterbrand and Salvacion made a trey each to make it more interesting at 93 - 96 but that proved to be a little too late. Hontiveros made an insurance free throw 97 - 94 and Pingris got the offensive rebound. Pingris finished the scoring 98 - 93.
SMB completes semifinal cast and will face the Talk N' Text Tropang Texters. The other semifinal pits the Alaska Aces against the Sta. Lucia Realtors.
Racela was ejected after being given with a flarant foul 2 in the first half.
