There seems to be no stopping Novak Djokovic on his sublime season start as he added the Rome Masters/Italian Open to his streak of 37 straight victories.

The Italian Open/Rome Masters is played on clay and Djokovic once again beat world no. 1 and clay court king Rafael Nadal for the title via 6-4, 6-4 straight sets win. Along with the amazing streak is 4 consecutive finals win over Nadal, the last two on clay.

The ultimate test will be the upcoming French Open where the stakes are much higher. Right now, Djokovic appears ready to challenge Nadal's stranglehold of that grand slam.

But the French open being the most unpredictable grand slam event in tennis and produced the most surprising winners, someone may crash and spoil a Rafa - Nole finals.

[Yes, I'm calling out Roger Federer. Let's go, Fed!]



*****

On the women's side, Maria Sharapova won. Women's tennis is looking for a recognizable face or dominant player to market their tour. Well, Sharapova can really help in that department minus the annoying sounds she makes on the court.

Read More...

Rafael Nadal said this about Novak Djokovic moments after Djokovic beat him at the 2011 Madrid Open final.

"I came up against a great player obviously -- he's having a monster year,".

When you've just beaten the top ranked tennis player in the men's tour, the greatest clay court tennis player in history, in straight sets and in his home soil, that clinches it. Djokovic is looking like a monster on the tennis court.

[Thanks, Rafa. I'm running out of apt adjectives for blog titles about Djokovic.]

Novak Djokovic's season remained perfect but beating Rafael Nadal for a title on the clay surface is the better headline. Djokovic won the Madrid Open title by dealing a rare loss to Nadal on clay, 7-5, 6-4.

Image from AP, Yahoo Sports/Tennis Gallery

The way he's playing and the confidence of beating Nadal on their last 3 finals clash, augurs well for Djokovic' chances at this year's French Open. The way I see it, Djokovic has better chance of toppling Nadal on his favorite grand slam tourmanent than Federer had on his prime.

Djokovic remains unbeaten in 2011 (30-0). He defeated Nadal for the third straight time in a finals. The Madrid Open is his 6th title of the year including the Australian Open, Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships, BNP Paribas Open, Sony Ericsson Open and the Serbia Open. It includes three straight wins against Nadal and Federer.

Tennis fans should look forward to Djokovic matching or breaking John McEnroe's record of 42 straight wins at the start of the 1980 tennis tour.

To match the record, Djokovic should capture his next tournament, Internazionali BNL d'Italia in Rome, and reach the semifinals of the French Open. Coincidentally, Djokovic can break it by winning the French Open.

By then, I need to come up with another adjective.



* Somewhere out there, I know that Ate Gigie is smiling pretty because she's a big Novak Djokovic fan.

Read More...

Wow! The Dallas Mavericks is now up 3 - 0 against the two-time defending champs Los Angeles Lakers in their Western Conference Semifinal Playoff series. I just read that the Mavs beat the Lakers in Game 3, at Dallas, by the score of 98 - 92.

Peja Stojakovic and Dirk Nowitzki fueled the win from the outside.

The Lakers haven't really looked like the contenders they ought to be and basically riding their championship reputation towards the playoffs. Yes, Dirk Nowitzki and the Mavericks are capable of beating the Lakers.

But by this lopsided of a series? Wow!

I can't recall Phil Jackson getting swept in a playoff series. I wonder what Kobe would do. I've heard in a pod cast, jokingly I may add, that Pau Gasol's uninspired play is due to a broken heart. That's talking about emotional injury.

Mark Cuban finally found the right deals to shore up his team. Tyson Chandler and Peja stojakovic was great acquisition this season. Dirk and Mavericks can surely exorcise the ghosts of playoff's past failures by sweeping the once mighty Los Angeles Lakers.

Uh-oh. A Mavericks-Heat finals rematch is now more seemingly possible.

Read More...

Congratulations to Derrick Rose of the Chicago Bulls for being named the Most Valuable Player of the NBA for the regular season 2010 - 2011.

Derrick Rose, Chicago Bulls Main Man
MVP of NBA 2010 - 2011 Regular Season
Image from Wikipedia

Rose became the youngest NBA player ever named MVP. A nice reward for leading his team, the Chicago Bulls to be the no. 1 team in the 2010-2011 regular season. He has followed Michael Jordan as the other Chicago Bulls player named MVP.

What a career trajectory!

2008 - 2009 Rookie of the Year
2009 - 2010 All-Star Selection
2010 - 2011 Most Valuable Player

The Chicago Bulls passed the Indiana Pacers in the first round of the Eastern Conference playoffs but was upset by the surging Atlanta Hawks in Game 1 of their Eastern Conference Semifinal round playoff series. Worse, he sprained his left ankle in that last game.

Winning the MVP is good but winning the championship is the ultimate prize for Rose. But to do so, he needs to be 100% in uniform.

It is the same ankle he sprained against the Pacers. X-rays were negative thankfully.

If I am Derrick, I would be extremely annoyed going to check ups at this juncture of the playoffs even if I'm attended by lovely female attendants in sexy scrubs such those at http://www.blueskyscrubs.com/categories/Scrubs/Scrubs-for-Women/ .

Read More...