Wimbledon, through my amateur eyes !

A final post before I leave my sweet home and embark on a half-day journey to one of the remotest places in the world, a place where people appear flummoxed about their nationality, to continue pursuing my proverbial 'aim in life' in more than tedious conditions and circumstances. I would request all who will read further to bless me. Thank you, may God bless you.

As the green grass near the baseline dwindles, it means we are a week into the oldest tennis tournament in the world. The Wimbledon Championships, as it is named, is so littered with tradition that I can't help but feel myself being in a time of the erstwhile kings and monarchs of the 17th and 18th centuries. Starting with the most obvious white-only dress code, to the immaculately dressed officials and the uniformed ball boys and girls, to name a few, Wimbledon surely looks the part when it comes to Grand Slams.

And the 2013 edition will not be the most memorable Wimbledon, for me at least. French Open winner Nadal crashed out in the very first round, first time that Rafa's been out of the tree for the second round in a Grand Slam. It was somewhat sad for me, having grown up idolizing Nadal, it's such a shame to see him in such dire straits. If my opinion were considered, I wouldn't have advised him to play while carrying an injury. And the following days produced further shocks, sweetest of all being the ouster of Roger Federer in the second round. Aggrieved by the losses of my favorite ladies in Sharapova, Azarenka, Ivanovic and Wozniacki, I now owe Mr. Sergiy Stakhovsky a big thanks for that giant-killing of Federer. Federer is such a great professional, but I have my reasons to hate him, about which I will talk a bit later.

So, it's become pretty straightforward now for the top seeded Djokovic and Williams, although I anticipate Andy Murray and Agnieszka Radwanska to go the distance. Speaking of Murray, the Scot who missed the French Open and still managed to hold on to his World No 2 while Nadal won in France yet slipped to fifth, a pang of pity arises in me for him. Not-so-broad shoulders, and the burden of high expectations. His every winner is cheered across the Blighty and every unforced error followed by a wave of tension. The famous 'Henman Hill' gets renamed 'Murray Mound' every time Murray steps onto those hallowed grass courts. Britain's really crazy and with no fear of Federer this time around, Murray must get his act together and deliver the nation its ultimate prize.

Henman Hill

Speaking of national pride, another player making waves is Britain's Laura Robson. The new kid, just 19-years old, made her way into the round of 16. And yet again, crazy Brits found a way to rename 'Henman Hill', this time with 'Robson Ridge'. Why don't they call it "British Bump" and stop the drama once and for all?

Roger Federer, it's hard to find an athlete like him in generations. He is such a great personality, a giant of his era and the epitome of success. And my compliments end there. At the time when I seriously started following tennis, Roger Federer was the man dominating world tennis, collecting trophies at will and leaving opponents biting the dust. And you can forgive/condemn me for having a special liking for underdogs, I wanted somebody to rise up to his virtually unconquerable challenge. Enter Rafael Nadal, the peculiar Spaniard donning sleeveless tops and 'pirata' shorts. Over the coming years, Nadal appeared to be the best bet to overhaul Federer and bring a halt to his monopoly, and so he did. Nadal became nemesis no1 for Federer and the Swiss never remained the same again.

The Championships has still got a week more to run, and although the frequency of matches is going to lower, the intensity will still be the same. Big games will be the order of the day as the tournament reaches its climax. I, for one, would like Andy Murray to win but I can't really see anyone other than the 'Djoker' lifting the trophy. The same goes for Serena Williams in the ladies' section, although I would love some fresh face like Aga Radwanska to win it. Fingers crossed nonetheless, but Wimbledon 2013 has been an event to forget for me.

P.S. Federer fans please take no offense, the opinions above are limited to me and me only, and I am fully entitled to my opinion.

My football reverie

It has been more than ten years since I started following and worshiping the beautiful game. It's hard to fathom, but literally speaking, I have spent more than half of my life on earth with football. Whether I could've done better things or worse things than that in all these years is open to jury, but it's been a journey which has defined me so far in my two decade-long stay on earth.



Growing up in a cricket-crazy country like India, I too grew up a cricket addict and still manage to follow matches involving India at the most, but for me it has always been football since I managed to catch glimpses of the 2002 World Cup. Gradually, I grew up with like-minded friends at school and soon football was to become an important part of me and my fledgling life. And now with more than a decade-long experience of watching and following the sport, I can truly say that football has become something of a religion for me.

Those days of Ronaldos, Rivaldos, Zidanes, Del Pieros, Seamans, Figos, Henrys were too awesome, wish I could go back in time to see them in action again, at their peak, dominating and bossing games, for one last time. Those days, without so much money around, had something divine about it, compared to today's overpaid and average footballers. Those were the times of unadulterated football experience, and football was less a commercial entity and more a sporting event. 

Today, with the emergence of social media, the likes of Twitters and Facebooks have brought another dimension to the sport. Transfer windows were offered limited coverage earlier, with news of signings only filling tabloids after official confirmation. But nowadays it's a festival, with various sources working 24x7 to make rumors seem like gospel truths. And these spread faster than wildfires, often prompting club officials to open their mouths in public. Like the proverbial 'too many cooks spoil the broth', it feels as if too many things has made the beautiful game somewhat murkier.

Bale and his 'heart' celebration

The big investments by affluent consortia, buying away clubs and shifting the power balance with money and more and more clubs being pushed to the brink due to financial strains, something we did not see or anticipate a few years ago. Football has become something of a business, not that it wasn't before, but too much effort is being put into money making or earning these days. For example, the licensing of his trademark 'heart' celebration by Gareth Bale shows how players nowadays are pocketing huge sums using their image, something we could never have imagined Zidane doing. 

Of course evolution is necessary, and with the changing times, football too has learnt to change and adapt. A 50 million transfer seems the norm, and no longer do we see fairy tales like Porto's Champions League win in 2004. It's all not written in the stars, success can be bought these days as shown so eloquently by Chelsea and Manchester City. Young stars seldom develop at their parent clubs these days as they are poached at the slightest indication and instigation by bigger and wealthier clubs. Football now has embraced technology after years of aversion. Goal-line technology is already on the way to making its first World Cup appearance next year. Ticket prices at stadiums have increased exponentially, much to the fury of those season ticket holders, which shows how the game has become a money business.

Trolls and memes, order of the day

Those things I mentioned above haven't affected me directly in any way, as such a playing field to come to Indian shores would take another millennium at least, but as a lover of the beautiful game, a throwback to the years bygone is something I really yearn. With all the chaos and unnecessary buzz, the emergence of lame stuffs in social media, the likes of trolls and memes have spoilt the new generation of football fans. Now I wonder how lucky I was to grow up watching football in those Sportstar-days devoid of such nonsensical and trivial stuffs. Nowadays among the so-called newbies, game watching is of lesser importance than sharing and liking those nigh on stupid stuffs.

As all things in life, football too has undergone changes, some very obvious and some which nobody had ever expected. Like it or not, these changes have broadened football's horizons. For example India, like many other countries, has overseen a huge rise in football following, as evidenced by the broadcast of almost all international competitions, even the age group tournaments. This is only a good thing for the so-called game of the masses. Football unites the world, and the world unites with football.

"If your studies are getting in the way of your football, then you're studying too much"-NENEM PRANCHA

Travails of a Gaffer

He's the be all and end all of an institution. The 'He' here is the so called manager of the institution called a football club. When his team does well, all is good and in times of despair, he becomes the sacrificial lamb. His conduct on and off the pitch characterizes the football club, in simple terms he represents the club. His one simple misdemeanor may lead to chaos and bad press. Such are the demands of a modern day football manager that it has become the poisoned chalice, a job not for the weak-willed and faint-hearted. Not to forget, the job of a football manager brings its own rewards, viz, a top pay, good network and facilities and a world in the limelight.

Perhaps the only job in the world which remains unaffected by recession or inflation or deflation, a football manager has minimum job security which implies that he has to toil

day in, day out without knowing when the axe will fall on him. Of course there are exceptions to this fact. Managers like the recently retired Sir Alex Ferguson and Arsene Wenger, managers from the old-school stable, virtually owned their jobs after umpteen years of service at their respective clubs. How funny and ridiculous it is to see today's managers being fired even before mid-season. How can one forget Roberto di Matteo's acrimonious sacking from Chelsea even before the season reached its halfway point. The way Roberto Mancini faced the boot of his Arab employers even after leading Manchester City to an unprecedented title triumph, shows how fickle this job at the high end could be. It could be all rosy one week only to see things turn worse the following week. The manager has to face all sorts of circumstances, from the trigger happy and success driven owners to the pack of wolves in the media. He is no ordinary being, a football manager's job, with all its trials and tribulations, has got to be one of the most challenging jobs of modern day.

Recent League Manager's Association reports suggest that clubs are dispensing with the services of their managers far too frequently, with 63 managers losing their jobs in England over the course of the just concluded 2012-13 season. Today, the average manager doesn't even have a season's time to stamp his authority on the club and its playing staff. Success, and the huge financial rewards that follow is what the club presidents and owners want, and they would rather have it quickly by getting another man at the helm than wait a season more. There are more subtleties and intricacies involved in managing and coaching a professional football team than what an average club president or owner can understand, it goes far beyond their realms of thought, which more often than not, end with the money-related stuffs. Fans too can be a fickle bunch, seemingly not as much as those aforementioned kingmakers at the top. To deliver on the fans' often-elevated expectations can be pretty demanding if you're not onside with them, and it could take time to build a bond with the supporters. It takes years to build a successful team, and only an impatient hierarchy to break one. Tactical training sessions take months to perfect, only if you've got the same squad of players to train. But with the present scenario of festive transfer windows, managers rarely get to work with a stable squad. That the gaffer is the face of the club is best illustrated by the fact that he is the one giving away press interviews before and after games. Win, and all hails him. Lose, and all hell breaks lose on him. And not to forget the varying degrees of mentality of his playing staff. Big stars often have that problematic attitude with their egos and self-esteem, and there comes in the gaffer again, to find the perfect balance to keep his players happy and content and at the same time, increase their appetite for success. Tough job eh? They trudge on a very thin line, the proverbial line between victory and defeat. 

And while thinking of the workload of football club managers, I wonder whether they have another life to live, their personal life, a life away from the spotlight, a life with family and friends? Of course yes, they definitely have that 'other' life, they are humans like us, they work like us, only that they have nowhere to hide when something goes awry, or nowhere to run to enjoy that moment of joy serenely with their nearest ones.

The travails of a gaffer are well pronounced, they go through a hell lot before even reaching the heights. The pressure associated is immense, to take care of owners' demands, managing player pressures and delivering on fans' expectations is far more demanding, it squeezes every bit of life in those managers. But these hard men tend to enjoy their jobs, they love the daily buzz surrounding them, they would rather try to negotiate a transfer on a Sunday than have a Sabbath. Their's is a job of great responsibility, and a post of greater respect and I hope that in impending times, they get the due respect they and their hard work deserve. 

Serena's serenade !!

SERENA WILLIAMS : THE QUEEN OF TENNIS

This is my second post in two days, and I am becoming fairly regular here, which I don't know is a good or a bad thing. But still, this is something of my own stuff and not any other website where this post would have gone to an editor, who would then put away some of my lines and then publish it with some odd pictures. And I will get myself started today by congratulating the French Open winner 2013, Serena Williams. What a player ! Hugs and kisses !!

I am presently in the second month of my two month long vacations and having done nothing productive yet, ailments and illnesses played a part here, I finally got myself together and started studying a book of programming, going some way in terms of making my holidays productive. But guess what, I dozed of having barely finished reading the preface part. And there ends another of my programming adventure. Incidentally, I started off with Python a week earlier only to see it end the same way. The troublesome editor definitely made me averse to Python. As much as I learn from various media that programming is utmost necessary for an engineering student, the more I cannot learn it. Never a bookworm, I could've read a bit of the book now instead of jotting down trivial stuffs on my laptop. But as I've done all my life, a little relaxation helps and that is what I am doing, keeping things to get done tomorrow.

The wonderful event of the French Open women's final surely made the evening wonderful, with dad joining me in the fun of watching two ladies, Sharapova and Serena, battling it out. My dad seems to bring a political flavor to all things and he was no different today. As the American and Russian battled it out on court, he mentioned something about the America-Russia Cold War. I was simply baffled by his analogizing of petty things. Still he was a Maria supporter like me, and we both ended up on the losing side. Fair play to both, and a big congratulations to Serena Williams for winning her 16th Grand Slam title. She must have earned a fortune by now.

And all the hype of St Georges Park and England's next generation came to a shuddering halt with the u21 team outplayed and outscored by an unfancied Norway side whose star player, Havard Nordveit, did not even play. England played all their supposed stars, from Wilfried Zaha to Tom Ince, but still got a hammering, a 1-3 defeat. It was good to see an Indian running the show on a football pitch with Norway's Indian origin player Harmeet Singh playing a pivotal role for his side. Hope we Indians can get a few Harmeets across the globe and request them to play for India. Surely we won't be 147th in the world then.

Musings !!

RAFA : THE KING OF CLAY

What an epic. 277 minutes was all it took for the first semi final of the French Open to end. For two men to run around in the heat of Paris for more than 4 hours is no mean feat. Even if somebody gave me a billion dollars to do that, I will balk, will surely think more than once before doing it. I know tennis matches have been played for longer duration than this and I also know that the scoreline of 6-4 3-6 6-1 6-7 9-7 is not something which has happened for the first time ever and there have been far more epic scorelines than this, but the intensity from start to finish was unparalleled. 

World No 1 Novak Djokovic faced off against arguably his only challenger in the world right now, defending French Open champion Rafael Nadal. Nadal, the king of clay, came into the match with a 57-1 record on the French clay. While Djokovic had the motivation to put one over his opponent who defeated him in the final last year. The red clay provided the perfect setting with the first set going Nadal's way, Djokovic lending a helping hand my making way too many unforced errors. Djokovic came back to win the second set 6-3 only to see Nadal run away with the third 6-1. Then arose the champions spirit, Djokovic looked down and out when Nadal served for the match at 5-4 but came back strongly to force a tie breaker and then swiftly took home the fourth set. Djokovic broke early in the fifth set and held onto serve but Nadal too broke to make it 4-4 and this served up an exciting finale. Both matched each other shot for shot, but there was the famous Nadal spirit and stamina that took him over the line.

Now to another sporting event that's gone a bit under the radar, mainly due to it not being a full senior tournament. The UEFA Under 21 Championships are underway in Israel, seven of the qualified teams along with hosts Israel are participating. With highly fancied teams like Spain(holders), Germany, Netherlands, England, Italy locking horns with lesser weights like Israel, Russia, Norway, thus making the tourney a good mix. At the end of the first round of fixtures, Spain, Italy and Netherlands have looked the real deal. Normally, an under age group tournament seldom produces quality with the players raw and still learning their trade at club level. But going by the first few matches we have quite a contradiction this time around. Highly rated youngsters like Isco, Thiago Alcantara, Lorenzo Insigne, Marco Veratti, Asier Illaramendi, Adam Maher, Kevin Strootman, Patrick Herrmann, Lewis Holtby have already created quite a buzz with their starring performances. With such quality oozing even in tournaments like these, football fans will be salivating. These tournaments, which are often neglected by the general fans, have got their profile raised to such an extent that the normal fans have started following them like any other high profile tournament, thanks to all those youngsters. May the kids have a bright future.

And onto some news on yours truly, thisisfutbol.com roped me in yesterday as an opinion blogger. It was advertised that they required writers and I applied with a 750 word piece. And finally I am there. A big thanks to Harry Cloke and his team who are doing such good work at the site. 

Time for some racket and ball ?

One sport that I have developed a keen interest in the past few years is lawn tennis. I don't know what made me like this particular sport, maybe the ladies in their splendid outfits or maybe the different fancy surfaces on which it is played or maybe the pure fun of seeing my favorite players almost always making it to the title matches. Tennis is bloody tough, looking at the players sweating their way into the fifth set, it seems they've got nothing to live for, the match is their life. Losers feel hard done by I suppose, seeing them deflated after hours of effort is just so cruel. And the fact that it is all on yourself, you are your destiny, you are your prize, and there's no teammate to assist you. That perhaps explains why it is a knockout sport, you move forward only if you win, nothing else helps.

And now to the line I mentioned above, why do I always see the favorites making it to the final rounds. Aren't there any scope for giant-killings?  Of course there is and there have been umpteen instances of them. But unlike football or cricket or any other team sport, here you don't need the entire 11 to function properly to win. Its this thing that explains and answers my question. Obviously, no one player is invincible and everyone is fallible, so upsets do happen but they are rarely the order of the day.

The Grand Slams, all 4 of them, bring me closer to tennis. Every year, I try to follow a bit of tennis on TV, but the higher preferences and demands of other sports overshadows my desire of watching the Nadals and Djokovics and Sharapovas in Tour matches. So, the Grand Slams quell my thirst for tennis year after year. These are really a class above all the aforementioned ATP or WTA tournaments with TV and media coverage much better and bigger. Grand Slams have a real feel to it, the atmosphere, the hype, the big matches, the build up, its all there.

The French Open is the real deal these days for me with little to no work to do apart from wheeling away time in the scorching heat. Intriguing match ups, great coverage and some truly epic encounters have made the tournament even more watchable. Having exhausted all my movie and TV series reserves, I was wondering how to spend the next few days and the French Open has given me a great fillip. Its the 4th of June and we still have 5 more days of claycourt action and with Wimbledon just around the corner, I bet the entertainment and excitement will get even bigger in the coming days.