Roddick v. Simon, Nadal v. Monfils Part of Intriguing Third Round in Paris

I like you comment very much. I hope you are right about Roger and Andy. I like them both. GO Roger and don’t give up Andy..

October 30th, 2008 at 2:11 am

http://msn.foxsports.com/tennis/story/8730530/Nalbandian's-never-lived-up-to-his-promise

Good analysis of the paths Federer and Nalbandian have taken.

October 30th, 2008 at 7:13 am

TO ALL:

Link for today’s matches:

http://www.justin.tv/lev_3

Enjoy. :P

October 30th, 2008 at 9:42 am

Here’s another:
http://www.justin.tv/jtv3868#

gulu: You should find your Rogi’s matches on either one, this way you won’t need to behead your cable company. Enjoy. :D

October 30th, 2008 at 9:44 am

Sean:

Thanks for not picking A-Rod to win.

Nalby was in great form today, especially in the second set where he put a good beat-down on JDMP.
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Way to go A-Rod!!!!

TD(Tam) and gulu:

Our guy looked great. I’ve never seen Simon as frustrated as he was today. Lopez was disgruntled and Simon was frustrated.

October 30th, 2008 at 9:50 am

Congratulation Von! :P

I hope Nadal will win too…

October 30th, 2008 at 10:04 am

Ezorra:

Thanks. :P

Nadal WILL win. Are you watch djoko’s match? it’s on now on the link I posted above. Here’s a link in Spanish for you.

http://www.justin.tv/yojopo3

October 30th, 2008 at 10:27 am

Von:

Thanks. Hopefully. I’m very nervous right now!

Pertaining the match between Djokovic and Tsonga, who do you hope will win? The winner will face your man, A-Rod, right?

October 30th, 2008 at 10:39 am

Von:

Congratulations on the victory of the American James Blake.

It seems like its not a good situation for novak right now, no?

October 30th, 2008 at 10:54 am

Congrats dear Von ! Rod’s playing well,but I’d still say he’s far from his best. Rod’ll hopefully return 2 his top form soon n then wil paint d faces of his critics black! ;-) Come on Rod,go n get them ! Enjoy Von,hopin dat Andy’ll win his next
match!

October 30th, 2008 at 11:04 am

Congrats to Roddick. He’s qualified for the TMC now. And Blake, nice to see him win for a stretch too.

Djoko, on the other hand, is very uneven, serving inconsistently. It’s disappointing, as he was serving so well against Tursunov, and he came back so forcefully in the second set today, then only to be broken in the 3rd set, first game. It doesn’t look like he’ll do much at the MC based on these last two events!

Oh well; it’ll be fun to watch Roddick vs. Tsonga. I don’t think they’ve played in a long while.

And who knew? Today, super Dave shows up and bagels JMDP in the second set. He’s a one-off that Dave.

Am off to work – Go Murray!

October 30th, 2008 at 11:08 am

I dont understand what happen to novak djokovic today. I didnt see him hit the ball at all. what i’ve seen most of the time is he just pass the ball across the court, which is very unsual to him. i believe he can do much much better than that. poor novak!

anyway, congratulations to all frenchmen and tsonga’s fans.

October 30th, 2008 at 11:21 am

:-( Djoko get it together! You can win; maybe a sports psychologist? A cape to match the mask? ;-)

Or better yet, try whatever Murray did! I think the psychologist was one thing and then major training the other. Djoko’s going to have to do something so he can make a better showing next season.

October 30th, 2008 at 11:25 am

Don’t be so sad Jane. If you look at the positive side of it, you will find that among the top 4, Novak might has the least points to defend next year, dont you think so? its good right?

October 30th, 2008 at 11:32 am

Maybe Nalby’s anemic starts are due to low iron blood. :P To me Nalby appears to have lost a few pouds around the middle. He wears those ill-fitting shirts, which makes him appear sort of boxish/squarish looking and difficult to guage his weight.

October 30th, 2008 at 11:43 am

Ezorra:

I felt Tsonga would win today because he played well against Stepanek. I believe Djoko is somewhat match deprived. His match with Tursunov is not a barometer to measure his game because Tursunov was injured. Today, in the second set Tsonga was having muscle problems, but after he got treated he bounced back and took the net away from Djoko at times. These things happen.

October 30th, 2008 at 11:50 am

gulu:

Did you notice the links I listed for you to watch your Rogi’s match, which is ongoing at the moment. enjoy. :P

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Ezorra:

I believe Nadal’s match will be an evening match, which means you’ll have to think of something else for a few more hours. Don’t worry, be happy. :D

October 30th, 2008 at 11:53 am

Von said: “To me Nalby appears to have lost a few pouds around the middle. He wears those ill-fitting shirts, which makes him appear sort of boxish/squarish looking and difficult to guage his weight.”

Von – this is what men do when they want to conceal their girth! BTW – has there ever been a chunkier player whose done as well, in tennis history? I’m trying to think of one, but can’t.

October 30th, 2008 at 12:11 pm

heres the fed match in a very decent quality
http://futbolforall.blogspot.com/2008/10/champions-leaguetodos-los-partidos-de.html

October 30th, 2008 at 12:27 pm

“Or better yet, try whatever Murray did!” Jane, today Hot Sauce outplayed Murray – but he also, ubnfortunately for Verdasco fans, outplayed himself, if you know what I mean. And that’s what Murray used to do, but now he has learnt how to win even when he is not playing anywhere near his best.
Can you imagine what Verdasco’s results might be if he didn’t so often self-destruct? He’s an amazing player, all the alent in the world – and a basket case.

October 30th, 2008 at 1:22 pm

Von, I m bit of a busy today 2 watch d live streamin of Fed’s or others’ matches. I just knew dat Fed won and so am happy :-) ! Besides I was a littl involved in celebratin Anand’s World Chess titl n some good cricket by Team India as well ! Grrreat :-*

October 30th, 2008 at 1:53 pm

MMT:

“Von – this is what men do when they want to conceal their girth! BTW – has there ever been a chunkier player whose done as well, in tennis history? I’m trying to think of one, but can’t.”

I didn’t know that about the concealment of their girth. I watch a comedy show where the guy wears a corset to conceal his spreading middle, which I think is absolutely ludicrous. Maybe a little more of the veggies and less of the rice would do the trick. Nalby also need some new clothes — especially a change from the yellow.

I can’t think of another male tennis player who’s chunky. Now you’ve set my wheels in motion and I’m definitely going to pay close attention when I watch the classics.

BTW, did you see my post of a few days ago — it was Jeff Tarrango. You’re good, very good. :P

October 30th, 2008 at 2:50 pm

grendel: “today Hot Sauce outplayed Murray – but he also, ubnfortunately for Verdasco fans, outplayed himself, if you know what I mean.”

I thought today was one of Murray’s worst matches I’ve seen in a while, but Verdasco handed it to him on a platter. He was so upset at Lars Graf and imploded, then got fined $1,000 and also lost the set. What a fiasco. Murray played a waiting game with Verdasco to make the errors. Frustration galore in that match from both guys and there definitely were some audible “Fs” emanating from Murray’s mouth. Oh WOW.

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gulu:

Did Team India win? If so, congrats and enjoy whatever it is you’re doing. :)

October 30th, 2008 at 2:57 pm

Von,it’s actually a test cricket between Ind and Aus and our team has posted a mammoth total and the Aus hav now just two options,either save the test or surrender to Ind,there’s no other choic for the Aussies. I m lovin it ! ;-)

October 30th, 2008 at 3:32 pm

Ezorra, I suppose that might be a silver lining in the cloud for Djoko. But defending or not defending points is only half the battle. He also needs to learn some consistency, and get back some confidence.

———–

Von, You may have a point that Djoko is not match-grooved at this tournament, given that he had an early exit at Madrid, but he didn’t really have that same excuse in Madrid, since he had gotten to the finals in Bangkok, where he also lost to Tsonga.

I suspect he’s going through a bit of an identity crisis; maybe I am over-analysing, as I am wont to do, but something is up with him. He could’ve won against both Karlovic and Tsonga but he didn’t play the big points well – and credit to them, they did. The fact that he’s not playing the big points well, or experiences frequent “let-downs” in matches, suggests that it’s a least partially a mental issue – be it fatigue, confusion, personal issues, whatever.

In any case, I will just wait for next season as for as Novak is concerned. He needs the respite, imho. Meanwhile let’s have Murray win the Master’s Cup, no?

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grendel, go figure with Verdasco. Totally talented, and I love to watch him when it’s all clicking. Buy he sure is an imploder / basket case. Murray, as you note, has learned to pull through, so that’s a good sign for his prospects. He’s on the way up. If you were implying a correlation between Verdasco and Djoko in your post, I can certainly see it. Although the difference lies in the way Djoko *used to* express such confidence and belief, and how that helped him to rocket up. But I think he’s experiencing something akin to tennis-existential-angst. LOL.

Meanwhile Rafa doesn’t seem to have any, or he hides it extremely well. Monfils has had chances on his serve in both games so for in the second, and yet it’s Rafa who breaks Gael. Rafa never seems to doubt.

On the other hand, Fed went through a slump / some angst after Wimbledon, and it seemed to turn around for him after the Olympics win. I guess these are just the ebbs and flows us fans must ride through with the players – it’s always better when there’s more flow though.

October 30th, 2008 at 4:08 pm

Murray vs Nalbandian, if (IF IF IF) they both play well, promises to be exciting! And who’s Rafa playing; is it Davydenko? If so, we can see how they match up this time around.

Then Roddick vs. Tsonga should be a great match as well. I like both players, but I want Roddick to win more. I expect Roger to come through against Blake, who’s not been on any kind of roll lately; I’d sure like to see Roddick and Roger play again this year, before the final 8 face off.

October 30th, 2008 at 4:53 pm

Oh my God, what is wrong with Monfils? He is playing like an amateur, and has given the match to Nadal, who imo is playing rather poorly, but has still managed to keep Monfils at bay. Nadal has made several forehand errors (maybe he’s cathcing Fed’s forehand disease) and has given Monfils several opportunities to break him, but sadly Monfils refuses to capitalize, 0/9, coupled with quite a few 30/30 games. Monfils is just content to play far behind the baseline, allow Nadal to distate and keep him running from side to side. After the match Monfils needs to find a strap and render a good whipping to himself. Why didn’t he play this way against Roddick in Madrid? What a painful match to watch.
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jane:

“Von, You may have a point that Djoko is not match-grooved at this tournament, given that he had an early exit at Madrid, but he didn’t really have that same excuse in Madrid, since he had gotten to the finals in Bangkok, where he also lost to Tsonga.”

In Madrid Djoko was tired from playing in Bangkok. I hope by now you’re reconciled to the fact that Djoko needs breaks in between tournaments and cannot play every day — he’s that kind of an athlete. Today, it could have been a deja vu situation for him against Tsonga. Also, I think we really need to believe him when he says he’s tired.

Verdasco doesn’t have his mind on tennis right now. He’s in luuuvvvv, yes in love, with Ana Ivanovic, per the commentators. I believe I’m becoming a bit of a Hedda Hopper listening to them.

Given the poor quality of match play by both Nadal and Murray today, and if they were to continue tomorow in this vein, I’d say the SF will be between Nalbandian and the winner of the Berdych/Davy match. I can’t see either Murray or Nadal winning unless their opponents were to lose it big time. However, both Murray and Nadal could up their play tomorrow and make a liar out of me.

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gulu:
From what you describe of the cricket situation, I’d say the winner will be Team India. How many bananas will the monkey eat? :P I’m happy for you. I’m always happy when my team wins in any sport.

October 30th, 2008 at 5:00 pm

giner:

Forget about Ivanovic, Verdasco is now her main squeeze. Sorry bro, better luck next time, and you’re $15K richer. :) That should make you happy. A lot more fish in the sea.

October 30th, 2008 at 5:05 pm

Von:

Sorry, I did see your other post – and thanks. I thought that might be it. That was a classic. I really don’t know what happened to old Bruno Rebeuh after that. I hope he got into AA :-)

As for overweight tennis players, I can’t think of one. It’s pretty hard to pull off because at least in other team sports, someone else can do the running for you.

Poor guy. Mardy Fish has gone through periods of corpulence, although these days, he appears to have slimmed down.

Ah! I thought of it – my man Henri Leconte. Even when he was slim he was soft as cookie dough. But when God reaches down and puts a lightning bolt in your left arm, you can get a way with not exactly watching your calories.

McEnroe also claimed (in “Serious”) that he was somewhat portly at the start of his career – apparently he didn’t exactly get the memo from Borg and Lendl on fitness, but again, a magic touch goes a long way to compensate for a healthy appetite.

October 30th, 2008 at 5:42 pm

Von:”some audible “Fs” emanating from Murray’s mouth”. I have heard it claimed that he is yelling to himself:”Focus!” Not altogether implausible. Probably he isn’t, however, exclaiming: “Oh, fiddlededy!”

Jane, no, I wasn’t implying anything about Djokovic, why should I? I don’t think he is anything like Verdasco; he may have lost a little in confidence, but surely he’ll regain that in due course. With Verdasco, I don’t think the issue is confidence except in a very deep way (i.e. it is not a matter of it coming and going): at some level, he just doesn’t see himself winning against the top players, however well he is playing. He always crumbles in the critical moments – and today, you know, I thought he was looking particularly determined, and it showed for a while in his play. But in the end, it was the same old story. He is my elder son’s favourite player, as it happens, and he goes through turmoil every time he watches him.

It is true that Nadal always seems to be immune from the least sign of ordinary human frailty, which is one reason why some people, not just Federer fans (who are biased for obvious reasons) can’t stand him. We don’t easily forgive the very strong. When Nadal is 25 or 26, and starts having the normal ups and downs, he’ll become everyone’s sentimental hero. I’ve done this myself, started off hating a player and ended up rather liking him. Quite common, I suspect.

October 30th, 2008 at 5:44 pm

reporting live from paris:

After 11 hours of sitting in the palais i had to leave as my eyes were fried and my jet lag has kicked in. but i can’t complain after all the great matches today. there were some crazy bongo guys in the audience who made the place hop when all the french players were on and since we had three frenchmen tonight it was pretty rocking.

davydenko and berdych are still playing but i am this close to passing out in my hotel so i don’t know who will win that.

i have to say that the court doesn’t look nearly as vile in person as it does on TV. don’t know why it ends up looking like barf on camera.

i was curious whether del potro is as big an energy void live as he is on camera and he is. he’s go to get some mojo going. i felt like i was watching a black hole. getting bageled doesn’t help.

simon is quite feisty and reminds me of a little kid with his facial expressions and stick legs. lots of french expletives coming out of his mouth. roddick out gunned him and admitted after the fact that he needed to.

tsonga and djokovic was the only three setter and was the most lively. i’m glad tsonga pulled it together after going away in second set. dkokovic’s downward slide continues.

maybe it was all the post tsonga craziness, but the roger-cilic match seemed very quiet and almost dull in comparison. roger seemed out of sorts but still pulled out a win. i think this was the first time they met? expected more from cilic.

nadal and monfils was fun. monfils had his chances but way too many errors. that’s why he’s #22. i don’t think anyone does a running forehand down the line better than nadal. he’s so accurate with that shot. seeing it live is a little mind boggling.

anyway, it’s cold and rainy here – surprise, just like vancouver.
and the eiffel tower is beige. go figure.

October 30th, 2008 at 6:06 pm

MMT:

The Tennis Channel will be showing another TC Signature Series of 5 worst, and I’ve set the faithful DVR to record these, which translates to a few quizzes from me to you. Hope you’re ready with your thinking cap on. :P

Sorry to disappoint you but I know not of Henri Leconte. Remember, I’m a babe with respect to tennis years of knowledge.
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grendel:

Those weren’t any ‘focus” or “fiddledee” words from Murray, and he wasn’t saying “I love you” to Verdasco and Lars Graf. Lars Graf is one inflexible, ridiculous umpire imo, no wonder he and Roddick are like oil and water.

Looks like we’ll be seeing that fated Davydenko/Nadal matchup tomorrow and if Nadal plays like he did today and Davy plays like he did also, I’m sorry to say, per the commentators and my opinion, also, it will be another Miami drubbing for Nadal from Davy, but we’ll see what happens. Nadal probably will shift into a higher gear and Davy won’t know what hit him.
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Andrea: Your summation of DelPotro’s style of play is bang on, which is the main reason I’ve not jumped on his bandwagon. He needs some oompf in his on-ourt demeanor; he lulls me to sleep.
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And now, I’ll do my usual complaining on behaf of A-Rod. What’s wrong with the tournament scheduling? A-Rod’s match was the second match today and they’ve scheduled him for the last match tomorrow evening at around 10:00 pm GMT. Are they crazy, and why is the always the recipient of these extra late night matches? Conspiracy, same as the draws. :D

October 30th, 2008 at 6:37 pm

Hurrah for Andy Roddick he is going to the masters cup for the sixth consecutive year! That is a tremendous achievement when you look back at who was in the top eight in 2003:

1 Roddick, Andy
2 Federer, Roger
3 Ferrero, Juan Carlos
4 Agassi, Andre
5 Coria, Guillermo
6 Schuettler, Rainer
7 Moya, Carlos
8 Nalbandian, David

and note who is still standing in the top eight six years later. :D

Quote-“Sean: Thanks for not picking A-Rod to win.”
=========

I second that! and– Sean please do not pick Andy to win over Tsonga. ;)

Quote-“TD(Tam) and gulu: Our guy looked great. I’ve never seen Simon as frustrated as he was today. Lopez was disgruntled and Simon was frustrated.”
=========

lol thanks for the update Von; I am happy to hear that Andy is frustrating and disgruntling his opponents. Let’s hope he brings more frustration upon Tsonga tomorrow night (nothing personal against Jo whom I happen to like but ARod is my main man).

October 30th, 2008 at 7:36 pm

oh jane sorry about your novak today. ~hugs~ I hope he will do well at masters cup.

October 30th, 2008 at 7:38 pm

TD – You sweetie. Thanks! Maybe Roddick will win Paris?!

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Von – “I hope by now you’re reconciled to the fact that Djoko needs breaks in between tournaments and cannot play every day — he’s that kind of an athlete.” I am not sure I agree with you completely, but I do agree with the “breaks” between events. He has won a number of tournaments in which he’s had to play every day, though, so I don’t think we can conclude that he “cannot play everyday.” Maybe it’s not the ideal scenario for him, but he can and has done it, and quite successfully to boot! I agree that he needs breaks between events, and in fact I’ve said on this blog more than once that he’s the type of player who should focus on the bigger events – Slams and MS tournaments – and not overfill his schedule. So in that regard I’ve been reconciled to his weaknesses for a while now. Doesn’t mean I won’t keep cheering! :-)

———————–

grendel – yes, Hot Sauce’s lack of confidence is deep rooted, whereas Djoko’s just seems to be something of the moment, though it’s difficult to know these things for sure. In terms of belief Djoko should know he can beat the best when he’s at his best. Hopefully he’ll bounce back, as you say. Your poor elder son; Verdasco would be a roller-coaster of a player for whom to root.

October 30th, 2008 at 9:27 pm

Wow – Davydenko beat Berdych 6-1, 6-1. Maybe Rafa will have his hands full tomorrow!

October 30th, 2008 at 9:38 pm

Nalbandian vs Murray should be good match… both are in form and whoever wins could straight set Nadal. Nadal already will have his hands full with Davy. Nadal’s next two opponents will be definitely someone who have won couple of Master’s series on hard and indoor courts. So i doubt he would reach the finals this year.
Fed on the other hand, will be the fav in his next couple of matches, even though they are tough.

Gulu: yeah.. it was a great day for India yest in Cric.. twin double hundreds for VVS and Gambhir. Am sure India will clinch the series this test itself.

October 30th, 2008 at 9:53 pm

I missed almost all live matches today. But i made sure I followed the live score. It was a good tennis day with a lot of interesting matches. I felt sorry for Djoker but good play from Tsonga. Tsonga’s play is very aggressive, his volleys are excellent, Aussie open run was definetly not a fluke. With a little bid more experience and staying away from injury…this guy has definetly got talent.

Just when I got home Davy and berdych match was on…live… and I don’t know if Davy was too good or berdych was just too bad. Well, if davydenko was good and plays the same tomorrow, he is definetly got the chance against Rafa.

I did not see Rafa/ Monfils but from the score, looks like Rafa is …well.. Rafa.

I just watch Roddick vs Simon on tape and It was funny to see Roddick telling Simon “sorry” when shaking hands at the end. Poor Simon, he looked beaten, really sad. The French crowed was trying to lift him up but he could not match Roddicks fire. Did Roddick really meant it when he said that ? The guy wanted to win this match more than anything ! Well, I guess it shows what a nice guy he is.

Looking forward to tommorrow, will again try to record some matches. Hope to see my buddy Federer. Nalbandian/Murray hope it lives up to the expectation. I wonder how Tsonga will do with Roddick. Can’t wait…

October 30th, 2008 at 10:42 pm

Oh,come on Roger! Apart from Roger and Rod,if there are other guys left whom I lik to win at Paris are Nalby n Tsonga! Today’s gonna be a heartbreak for me and that’s coz either Rod or Tsonga’s going to be out of the tournament, I hate this happening !

October 31st, 2008 at 9:08 am

I have then said and I’d again repeat that if Tsonga’s unable to win a Grand Slam then he alongwith ‘ Fat Dave’ are gonna be regarded by me as the greatest underachievers in tennis history. I’d not change this conviction of mine no matter wat u all say!

October 31st, 2008 at 9:26 am

Dear Jane, it was a bad day for you yesterday,Djoko lost 2 Tsonga! Was Nole playing below par or Tsonga playing well? However I’d say don’t worry coz Nole’s gonna beat Fed, Rafa n others sooner than later ! He’s got d game 2 toppl d big guys !

October 31st, 2008 at 9:40 am

Jane, one more thing to tell you! I honestly believ that Nole can beat Rafa at Wimby if he plays the match with the right attitude. Nole,if decides,will retain his Aus Open title next year! I am not going to write him off at Aus Open 2009,believe me !

October 31st, 2008 at 9:52 am

Do you ppl know what irks me most about Djokovic ? I often get the feeling that Nole just doesn’t try to raise his bar in a critical moment in a match thou he’s fully capabl of doing dat! I don’t understand why he lets d match 2 go out of his grip !

October 31st, 2008 at 10:08 am

gulu,

Thanks for your kind posts. I don’t know what it was yesterday; I don’t think Novak played horribly, but he shouldn’t’ve gotten broken in that first game, 3rd set. That really cost him the match. You’re right though; he needs to keep the bar raised – esp at those crucial moments!

October 31st, 2008 at 10:34 am

Mind you, you’re also right gulu that Tsonga is capable of being one of the best; he’s an exciting player to watch, and I like him a lot too. I think he’s had such a problem with injuries that it’s not allowed him to go on long stretches of consistency, and that may be what he needs to win a slam? Maybe the AO is a good one for him since it’s the beginning of the year when he’s fresh?! We’ll see in January I guess.

October 31st, 2008 at 10:36 am

Von:

I think you said you have issues getting through to youtube at some point, but if I’m wrong, here’s a clip of one of my all time favorites. Yes he is/was goofy, and wasn’t the sharpest knife in the drawer tactically, but it’s a good clip to demonstrate the beauty and grace of his game. He still plays today on the Black Rock tour of Champions.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tv1ABPghw5s&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=25yZw4JmZt8&NR=1

October 31st, 2008 at 2:22 pm

Hi Von:

Henri Leconte is one of my all time favorite players. I have a few clips of him, but he also plays currently on the Black Rock tour of champions. Enjoy:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rH0yHL4IRlM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4TnxfImRHI0

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cXuXI3BQSK8

The last clip was his last title on tour.

October 31st, 2008 at 2:29 pm

Von:

I’ve been trying to send this message a few times, but it doesn’t seem to take. I’ll post a couple of clips of Leconte for your viewing pleasure. Nice guy, great personality, but not the sharpest knife in the drawer…but boy could he ever hit that ball.

October 31st, 2008 at 2:31 pm

There it is…sorry!

October 31st, 2008 at 2:32 pm

MMT:

Thanks for those links. Now I know who’s Henri Leconte and what he looks like. I appreciate your kindness. Links are always a problem to post if you list more than one at a time. I always try to separate them. I do have problems with YouTube, mainly because I don’t know exactly how to do the search, and not being computer savvy adds to the problem. Thanks again. :P .

November 1st, 2008 at 3:56 am