Local town scenes sorry some are side wards...
Spent some time in town this afternoon after I had my session with Joe and tonight a quiet evening I guess I will have to pack soon so may start tonight...
This is a great article!!!
Roger Federer celebrates after defeating Rafael Nadal to win the Miami Open.
A serious concept in tennis that would have been absurd to think about last year: Roger Federer might be better than ever.
Federer won his third title of the season on Sunday with a 6-3, 6-4 defeat of former hex Rafael Nadal at the Miami Open. Federer, age 35, has now beaten Nadal, 30, three times this year, with victories at the Australian Open, Indian Wells and now Miami. His record for the season: 19-1, including 7-0 against top 10 opponents. Only one other time in his career, in 2006, did Federer win all three of these tournaments to start a season.
A reminder in case you forgot: In the spring of 2006, Federer was 24 years old. That’s young! And a time when Federer felt he could do no wrong. But as good as he was, you probably figured at the time that his skills would decline and he’d be retired within 10 years. Last year, Federer’s future seemed fittingly dim, as an injury kept him off the tour for six months, following Wimbledon.
No one expected much when he returned at the Australian Open in January, not even Federer.
In tennis there’s sometimes a wonderful contribution from low expectations. Relaxation. Fun. Aggression and risks that don’t feel like risks anymore. And in Federer’s case, an ideal miracle occurs sometimes, too. Trailing in the fifth set of the Open final against Nadal, Federer went for more, missed less and sprinted to victory.
He’s since looked like a relaxed man sipping lemonade at a beach, not a long-time player who will turn 36 in August. On Sunday, he became the oldest man to ever win the Miami tournament, passing Andre Agassi’s previous record, when he won at the age 32.
“Once you win a big tournament like the Australian Open, or any big tournament for that matter, you can just bank usually on some confidence,” Federer said. “I am definitely profiting from confidence.”
Federer’s backhand causes more danger for opponents than ever before. He hits more of them with pace and mishits much less often. Being more aggressive, as unlikely as this sounds, gives him better percentages, not worse. In Nadal’s last service game late in the second set, Federer won a key point with an aggressive backhand that clipped the net and fell short. Federer immediately moved in and hit a volley lob when Nadal flicked the ball back. Nadal, five years younger than Federer and still fast, turned and chased down the ball but couldn’t hit it over the net. Nadal has now lost the final in this tournament five times and never won it, a rare case of futility for a man who has won all four major titles and just about everything else.
“He’s playing good and with high confidence,” Nadal said. “When a top player like him is playing with this high confidence and playing that good then it’s tough to win.”
How much confidence? Enough to save two match points earlier in the tournament, against Tomas Berdych. Enough to win an exhausting, three-set, triple tiebreaker match against Australia’s Nick Kyrgios on Friday evening. And then enough to beat Nadal for the fourth time in a row—for the first time in his career.
Federer looked stiff at the start of the final on Sunday and faced break points on his opening service game. He escaped and then cruised in the second set, as if his legs had loosened up.
“I was tired so I didn’t think about it very much,” he said. “Just like, OK, go through the warm-up, go through everything, and then once the match starts it’s all go.”
Federer won’t compete in as many matches as he did in 2006, when he played in four Grand Slam finals, won three of them and finished the year with a 92-5 record. He said he won’t play any clay court tournaments until the French Open, where he won once in his career, in 2009, and it won’t be surprising if he skips the Grand Slam at Roland Garros.
Federer didn’t say this but he might as well have said: health and Wimbledon, where he has won seven titles, is a bigger part of the season.
“Hopefully I’ll play the French, but we’ll see how all of the buildup is going to go,” he said. “Then obviously for me, that’s when the season essential starts.”
Whenever he plays again, there’s one certainty: Everything else is a bonus. Federer, now the owner of 18 Grand Slam titles and much more, has already accomplished the inconceivable. Now he’s going to enjoy some time off.
“I can’t keep this pace up on every single day,” he said. “Just too much and I’ll run out. The desire will run out. I would rather stay, take a step back and then really come back with a lot of energy and happiness.”
Sunny and warm all day hope yours was!!
Yashi Kochi!!
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