++ [ originally posted by baggio ] ++
Cool yes. Great players? No. Remember the Edbergs, Beckers, Sampras', Agassis (hes not the same now), Lendls and McEnroes? Besides Federer, there is nobody of that quality anymore. Now, entire games are just based on power play.
Absolutely. Male tennis has become a contest between hard-working, ultra-resistant but talentless lumberjacks who as such mistake a racket for an axe. Hewitt, Roddick & co are a plague to this great game. Gone are the days of the Edberg-Becker rivalry (the latter is my tennis role model) and indeed thank God for Federer.
Female tennis on the other hand is more interesting and competitive than in the past, and it's good to see a delicious player like Henin (best one-hand backhand since Mc Enroe : everybody should make one-handed backhands if u ask me) standing up to the likes of Mauresmo and the Williams brothers.
In fact I like all racket sports and play tennis and squash myself.
As for other sports, Im quite a big fan of cyclism, though unfortunately I've missed most of the season this year. I've always preferred instinctive attackers à la Bugno, Chiappucci, Pantani over minutious calculators such as Armstrong and Indurain, and not just because they are Italian (but bring Cunego to the Alpe d'Huez for the love of God). I've lost all respect for Armstrong anyway since a certain episode in last year's Tour when he decided to punish an ex-teammate for breaking the law of silence that pervades this great sport (Paul will know what Im alluding to).
I like F1 and this season is the first interesting one in some time, with Ferrari's dictatorship finally being challenged.
I like MotoGP partly because the Italian pilots are so good but also because there are way more overtakings than in F1.
I like swimming because I used to swim on a competitive level, but I have to shake my head at the sudden plethora of Italian talents we're currently witnessing, when in 100 years of Olympics we had just managed to win a couple of medals so far. I smell something fishy there.
Water-polo is an amazing (though highly demanding) sport as well. I tried it in a club but that was before puberty and I kept getting sunk by 16 year old meanies so I lost confidence and quit. Too bad really, coz just one year later I had become 6'3" and those bastards would have tasted some of their own poo had I still been around.
Since Italy are/used to be the volley ball übermeisters, it is my duty to like the sport.
Basketball is a great team sport too, as is rugby, and if I had time I'd try to get interested into ice-hockey as well.
I watched bits of the Ashes last weekend and Im having second thoughts on cricket.
One of my favourite sports at the Olympics is fencing, as the Italy-France duels there can be as epic as a Euro 2000 final.
Finally, I share Claire's interest in monkey tennis, which imo deserves more attention than the one it currently gets.