Is Nole ready to conquer the Clay Court?

Nole poses his 2011 Sony Ericson Champion trophy in Miami

I’m having a great day!

I thought having a glimpsed on my crush was the best shot of the day. I was wrong. It turned out to be just a “cherry on top” event as I learned about Novak Djokovic defeated Rafael Nadal on the Finals of Sony Open in Miami. Now that’s the very good news I wanted to hear early in the morning.

Djokovic beat Nadal on a straight set, 4;6, 6;3, 7;6 (7-4) in a game that has lasted for about 3 and a half hours. (You can check the blow-by blow details of that great match here: ESPN Tennis)

His service and ability to return the serve into opponent’s side, I think, were the vital things that helped him to claim the title. The last time I watched the game between these two players was on the Finals of the US Open last year. That time, Nole was having a hard time hitting back the ball to Nadal’s serve. Now, I noticed Nole has a rapid reaction on how to manage the ball and return it to opponent’s side. And I don’t know how quickly he learned to improve his service in just months, but it was really impressive. It leveled his game with Nadal, if not surpassed.

And this video is a complete reversal of what I’ve witnessed during the Finals of US Open. This time it was Nadal who struggled to the service of Nole.

This is Novak’s 2nd time to win the title since he first earned it way back year 2007.

The victory gave him a total of 24-0 winning streak this year. He’s definitely up to set a new record for being undefeated for the longest time this year. Despite that impressive achievement, Nole remained humble uttering “I know I had the best start of the season, no question about it, it’s the best four months of my life,” he said “But it’s only the start of the season. It’s a bit early to talk about getting that top spot. It’s still quite a big difference. Rafa is definitely the best player in the world now.” he added.

Nole is right. Nadal’s points in the ranking are quite big in difference. To make it in to the top, it warrants him to claim the title of the remaining tournaments this year including the 3 Grandslams. Ambitious? Not really. But it is always possible.

There’s no doubt that Nole can rally in the hard court. But the thing is, in the next few months ahead, Nole will be required to play into the clay court. And when we say clay court, of course,  there’s only one name that will rise above among tennis professionals, and that would be Nadal.

And Nole, for the record, never grabbed any title on a clay court (I think). The closest success for him in this kind of court was back in 2009 where he played in the Finals of French Open with Rafel Nadal which he lost then eventually.

But again, like I said, things have changed. The Djokovic that we knew before has evolved and improved dramatically. For a long time, I’ve never seen him this confident and well composed. If these things will have it with him playing in the clay courts ahead, I believe he will definitely conquer!.

Congratulations again to you Nole!

Thoughts about Pacman

It’s a great day. Manny Paquiao has returned to his home country, Philippines, a week after he successfully defeated Antonio Margarito in a bout. As expected, he received a warm welcome coming from the Officials down to the ordinary folks.

As a Filipino, how can’t I be proud for the honor and pride he brought to the country. This is one of the high times for the country and for us, the Filipino people. Paquiao, in the nth time put the country on the world’s spot and attention. After too much damnation and shame from our mediocre government, finally we received a positive reviews and unparalleled recognition from International Community. All the credits must be put on Manny Paquiao’s ‘epic hand and fist’. Truly, he’s the world’s greatest.

So what’s next for Paquiao?

Aside from being a great boxer, let us not forget that he was elected as a Representative for the 2nd District of Saranggani Province. It is understandable that after his tiring fight, he deserve a week or a month rest. But, of course soon after he pampered himself, he must wear again his barong or coat and tie and head on to Batasan Pambansa to attend a congressional session. He must not forget that he has the mandate of his constituents and that he has the responsibility to provide services to the people.

The talk-about about match between Paquiao versus Mayweather…

The then fight between Paquiao and Margarito was supposedly a match for Mayweather and the former. It was until Mayweather suddenly dropped down the fight for any unknown reason. Probably because of the alleged ‘unfair distribution of percentage’.

After Paquiao won the fight with Margarito and grabbed his unparalleled 8th division title, there’s nothing left on his rosters list but Mayweather. The fight between the two ‘pound for pound’ champions has been the most popular in the world of boxing. It is so popular to the point that Mayweather was next to Margarito on the trending at twitter while the fight is on-going. Clearly, most of the people anticipated a match between the two greatest fighter in the world.

In order to realized this most anticipated match, Mayweather should have to changed his mental attitude and perception towards Paquiao. From the looks of things, Mayweather’s pride is soaring way up high. It seems that he will only fight Paquiao if all the conditions and sharing is in his favor. Also, Mayweather always tend to criticize and throw bad words to Paquiao which provokes Pacquiao to demand for a fight.

But honestly, Paquiao has nothing more to proved for. He’s a historic boxing icon of our generation. If there is a man who will demand for a fight, definitely it’s not Paquiao. He’s the ‘king’, and a king should not demand a fight to his subordinates. It should be the otherwise.

For now, Paquiao should focus first his time and attention in serving his constituents. And spend quality time with his family.

To Mayweather, be man enough to face and challenge Paquiao. No chicken out.

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