Air Show

OK, this has nothing to do with architecture or Scrapitecture. If I had a thriving lawn outside where the mud used to be, perhaps I could tie it together....
Grass court tennis: why is it so much fun to watch? Discuss.
Gravity-defying feats, that's why!

Check out Jeremy Chardy, who's already a tall drink of water, adding a few feet to his reach with this lovely overhead smash (he lost, but I give him a 9.6 for this maneuver.)
Sometimes linesmen are caught in the crossfire. Don't know how this shot came up so high this far back on a grass court. In fact, I can't remember this fellow's name. Vliegen? He lost too.

This is an exceptional display of finesse from Argentine Juan Martin del Potro. He came to net to get a hold of a drop shot, fumbled it, but somehow managed to grab the ball in his hand and at the same split second, avoid crashing into the net by taking flight. Bear in mind this guy is at least 6'-6" tall. And leggy. He handed the ball to his opponent (Lleytton Hewitt) then loped back to his side of the net and continued to lose the match.

Americans take flight too, but dare I say they tend to lack finesse here as in other areas of the game. I'm having a hard time visualizing how a ball figures into this move, but Andy Roddick is doing well and I wish him the best of luck getting through to the second week.

Nobody Does it Better

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Wow. What a day for Roger Federer. And for anyone who was lucky enough to watch his match against Robin Soderling (who delivers a fine yoke at the end of the day)
Here's what I love about Fed:
He cries. For his victories and his losses. He loves his sport, and his game.
He gives props to his family.
He says these delightfully dorky things that actually end up sticking in my head like Zen koans: I once heard an interview where he described being a little flustered when asked his philosophy of life in front of a group of children. He answered: It's nice to be important, but it's more important to be nice.
Wow.
Remember that the next time you have an unpleasant moment on hold with the person at the cable company.

Well I should've made a top-ten style list for all the things that inspire me about Roger Federer's game. But for the moment, let me just conclude with this:


After the match, the interviews, (not to mention the on-court assault by a deranged fan) he makes time to pose for photos with the technical grounds crew at Roland Garros.
Cheers, Roger. You're a class act.