voo doo explained

So apparently Stan was "on fire" and Roger was warming himself upon the flames. In Roger's own words:

"Ehm yeah it was really nice once again! We celebrated together on the court: He was lying on the court. He was so hot, like a fire! I had to warm myself on him.. no it was really fantastic! It was beautiful!... He was electrifying.. He was electrified. He is in such a good shape at the moment! Fantastic!"

Voo Doo

Roger and Stanislas Wawrinka have moved on to the finals of the doubles, which means they are sure to get a silver or gold medal. After their upset of the Bryan brothers, Stan lay on the ground so that Roger could perform some sort of voo doo routine over him.

It was great to see Roger so happy during a tough spell this year. And its terrific he will get the Olympic medal he has wanted for so long.

Can voo doo help him win in New York?

Kipketer?

So this is the best thing Novak has said in a while: listing the athletes he has bothered for photos this week in China he mentioned "‘‘Kipketer, LeBron James, Kobe Bryant, all the top athletes in the world. I do ask them for pictures. This is a memory that is going to stay in my life forever.’’ Kipketer? Apparently Novak is a sucker for the middle distance. And Kipketer comes first on the list, and is the only one-namer in that group for Djokovic. Good stuff.

Kipketer was capable of some good stuff in his younger days as well.

sound of silence

Here at fuzzy we actually love Mary Carillo and John McEnroe (thats them around the time they won the French Open mixed doubles together). But they really do talk an awful lot, as Tennis Magazine recently commented.

To sample the alternative, NBC is offering high quality video of full matches at the Olympics with absolutely no commentary at all. Just the crowd, the squeaks and the groans. For us on the east coast its pretty easy to wake up, avoid any headlines, and watch the match fresh.

China

Roger was looking youthful and patriotic at the opening ceremony, and sharp against Tursunov. Plenty of shouts of "allez" and some vintage stuff from the backhand side. Rafa struggled a bit more and has a tough second round match against Hewitt.

The NY Times is using Roger's career as a metaphor for how to be eclipsed gracefully (predicting China will surpass the US in medals). Well, it certainly has been graceful, not least from Nadal, who said this the day his rise to #1 became inevitable:

“I never saw anybody play better than him. For sure, he’s going to continue to have a lot of chances to continue to be No. 1 and win Grand Slams. Roger is having a good season, but in the last four years, he did some unbelievable things. I think he’s going to be the favorite for the Olympics and the U.S. Open."

Roger is coming around to Rafa's way of thinking, it seems: “I just think more about, you know, being at the top for a long time. I mean, at the top doesn’t mean No. 1 in the world. It can mean deep into Grand Slams, being in the top five, top 10 for, whatever, 10 years, 15 years, just be up there and having a shot at Grand Slams.