Safin... so near yet so far....

When Federer and Safin start their 3 round match tomorrow, it would be a case of so near yet so far.....This could have been
a rivalry of decade, comparisions of Borg vs Mcnroe, Lendl vs Connors would have been obvious... but then again everything does not end up as a perfect script and tht is the beauty of the uncertainity in the mordern era sport!!!!

Rewind back a few years, september 2000... a young man from Moscow virtually dismantled the greatest player to have ever
graced the game of Tennis.Yes Sampras was on a decline but he had won his 13th grandslam the very year and he was only 27..
This was Safin's way of introducing himself to the world and what an introduction it was......Safin possessed an all round game, a game which made people mark him as a future champion all the way....Not only tht he was a character, a character the game needed......

The very next year a certain man from Swiss defeated the Greatest on the very court where he had written the greatest chapters of his tennis career. That man, as if he still needs any introduction, was Roger Federer.

A rivalry in the making.... ??!!!

Well things have changed a lot since then, Federer has gone on to be the owner of 10 grandslam titles, where as Safin only 2. It has not been the case tht these 2 guys have eliminated each other in a slam .There has been no rivalry of any sort. There has been only 2 meetings in the slams between the 2, Australian open final in 2004 which federer after a tough match and a semifinal in 2005 Australian open , which Safin won, in 5 sets, 9-7 being the last set score......tht says something abt Safin!!!

A lot was expected of Safin. He still probably is the most talented guy on the tennis courts, but talent is only half the thing....
It has been a case of lost oppurtunites. Tht dreaded word if.... if only ..... Well but then again there is no place for if's and but's.
Yes Safin had a few injury issues, he was away from game for long periods but he never showed the mental strength to bounce back strong..., sometimes watching him
play it looks some times as if he lacks a certain enthusiasm..

It would be rubbish to call his career as failure, he is only 26 and has 2 grandslams, not far away from Agassi at the same age......He can bounce back and
be one the greatest champions of this game, may be he could repeat wht Agassi did after his 29 birthday, it would be great for the game and it would out Safin at a higher place among the tennis greats, the place he so deserves........

Television…Is there anything watchable on tht ???

Well there used to be days, when on returning home for holidays i had only one thing on mind…finally TV dekh paoonga,!!!!!
Well these holidays changed my view towards it…

As any engineering student will tell u, (and I am referring to the holiday season…!!!!) tht u basically are jobless during tht time of the year…. and things were no different for me!!!
I started of my holidays trying to find solace with my T.V, but ended up attaining Nirvana of sorts..
I finally understood why it is called an Idiot Box, and with the way its going I guess more of u will attain it soon….
Well lets say watching television isn’t the same any more…..

U switch on to sony, star and zee and wht do u find, ekta kapoor and her team of excellent voodoos crying there hell out on those typical saans bahu dramas!!! Wht or who inspires them to come up with such ideas is one thing, but wht makes me pull my hair in madness is why the hell are these programs still persuaded with… don’t we hve any more creativity left in ourselves to come out with things better than this ….surely we can have something different…. Anything ,but not these. Please!!!!

Well this has been going on for long, so I moved on to the next area of interest, the movie channels…. Well well well… wht do we hve here…
U end up watching movies, even those actors wont remember they acted in, or else the same old ones …again and again and again, I surely need to know from where do they get these movies… surely u wont find Cd’s or dvd’s of such movies!!!! Surely Collectors Item….

I was never a fan of the music channels and wont be one soon too..
The same trailers are shown 24*7 till u basically memorize the whole stuff….and with the quality of movies coming up, well lemme put it this way… u are not missing anything if u are not watching them. Anyone seen tht Aap Ka Suroor trailer,(yes the Himesh movie tht too as an actor!!!), well u hve a song dedicated to Auto walas, now thts something different, but watchable?? Well I don’t think so…

Atleast I had my daily doze of sports to look forward too….. or did I??
Ten sports and Zee sports…. Icing on the cake tht has been baked by all the previous stuff I hve written!!!
There coverage of any sporting event is awful!!! Think of champions league and I feel chill down my spine.. Man from where do they get such expert commentators.. and in cricket u end up listening to guys such as Arun Lal , Manjrekar,Rameez Raja, a never ending list…!!! And if they keep bagging rights for covering major sporting events, I guess then newspaper or net would be a better place to follow these events!!!
Not tht Espn or Star Sports is doing some thing great… Who in the world would be interested to watch India play Pakistan in an year when Indira Gandhi was our PM.
Even in case of live sports, (atleast in India) they give preference to a cricket match. Just last week when Real Madrid was playing for the title, these guys were showing us the recording of W.I and England test match…!!!!

Finally u come to the news channels!!! Well u have a variety here, abt 70 in no, in all the major languages. Surely u will have some thing over here to watch…
U end up watching things which are as exciting or interesting as Sanjay Bangars’ batting!!!!
These channels are even more jobless than us guys!!! U have the same piece of news shown 24*7 as breaking news!!! Ash and Abhishek marrying was great , but covering it live for 5 days, 24*7 , tht too every channel…. Is it not being too monotonous!!!
It’s the same old stuff.
U want creativity and they end up showing nonsense on Bhoot and yogi baba’s.
]If that is not possible at least do simple things right and don’t mess up with the facts which u are showing!!!!


Well may be they have an idea up there sleeves which I cannot understand, because in a nation where u have 70% youth, they seem to be focusing on junta that comes in 70+ age
Bracket…..


At least there was something great from this T.V experience…. I just became a little more awesome…(www.awesome-ritukar.blogspot.com ….
Founding fathers … Indian Television…
Credits ….Indian Television…!!!!!)

First Take....

Well i welcome myself to the world of bloggers and it sure is an adroit business!!!!
I must say i hve been inspired by blogs of my frens(shubu's www.lifeispeaceful.blogspot.com and Prateeks' www.planetricks.com... well extra publicity for u guys.. may be i deserve something in return from u .....!!!!!)....

This being my first post, i really did not waste much time in deciding abt whom or wht to write....Sports ofcourse!!! .. and wht in sports???[:o] who else but Roger Federer.....

After watching the great man fail yet again on the clay of Roland Garros, the same old question of his position among the Champions of this game, arose once again.It would be naive of me to rate him above Sampras , Laver or for that mater of fact even Borg( whose 5 consecutive Wimbledon Titles record, Federer would be trying to match...), for greatness is not a quantitative thing....

Federer is no Sampras, the Hollow Man of Tennis world, nor is he a Mcnroe,there just cant be another Mcnroe....(those tantrums on court and Federer doing them,, u gotto be kidding me!!!), but he sure is the greatest artist to have graced this game. The King of Wimbledon title would be even more tougher to attain than winning the King of Clay title, and tht even Nadal knows...

When the ball strts rolling on June 26, Noon(B.S.T) on the courts of Wimbledon, all eyes will be
again on him. How would he react to his French Open loss?... Is he well prepared....? Or will Nadal stop him and become first man since Borg to hold both the clay and grass court grandslam titles......
We dont hve to wait for eternity to find those answers... luckily its just a 2 week long tournament(its not cricket guys.. u need not wait 2 months.. !!!!).......