Some tennis ramblings in lieu of doing actual work.
written: 7:40 p.m. on Tuesday, Oct. 14, 2008

Monfils v Fognini. The latter apparently hasn't even turned pro; his ATP profile lists his "turned pro" year as "N/A". Monfils was completely thrashing him in the second set (I missed the first), breaking him twice I think it was, and poor Fognini was having a complete meltdown. He was throwing his racquet, yelling out in Italian, and during one of the breaks he looked almost teary-eyed.

Oh my god, so poor thing! Naturally I had to root for him, right? Duh. So Monfils served for the match, and out of nowhere it was suddenly 15-40. Then with an unforced error, Fognini got the break while Monfils was serving for the match. Unbelievable!

Unfortunately, that was about as far as Fognini got to stay in the match. Fognini held serve, then Monfils once again served for the match, and seconds later he had three match points. He secured the win with an ace...and was so obnoxious after that.

I swear, he looks like a basketball player. Or a football player. The tennis racquet doesn't look like it belongs in his hand at all.

My point is, I didn't know who the hell Fognini was when I sat down to watch out of boredom and a deep-seated refusal to do work, but because he was thrashed so completely by the other guy, and because his own game was practically breaking apart (all those double faults gave Monfils many, many break points), I was hoping he'd so something miraculous and win the second set and then win the match. But alas, that was not to be. I totally had a feeling that he was quite young, apart from the fact that he looked young, and I checked out his ATP profile and I was right - he's 21. And WTF, I didn't go so far as to think he hasn't turned pro, but he hasn't turned pro.

Totally explains the meltdown. I hate it when tennis players start showing their desperation and frustration on court; it feels so awkward and uncomfortable. And it makes me want to root for them (except for when the person's playing against Roger, of course). It's quite timely, actually, that I hopped onto the Federer Express at almost the precise moment he slipped to #2; my propensity towards vouching for the underdog won't be taking a break anytime soon.

I know, Roger Federer, the underdog? It's arguably the case, considering all the shit in the media about his downfall and his decline, yada yada, and all the hype over Nadal. And of course, the fact that he's #2. If he gets back his #1 ranking (which is obviously rightfully his), he'd probably cease to be the underdog; but for now, I see him as one, and I'm sure I'm not alone in this.

OMG FEDERER FTW AT MADRID. I thought he'd be playing his first match today but nooooo. Hopefully he gets the morning slot so that I can watch it live, Interpol be damned; if he gets the afternoon slot, I'm gonna have to tape it.

And speaking of tape, fucking hell, I drove all the way to West Mall after I got out of school today just to buy a new tape for my Federer matches, but guess what I found out when I went to Harvey Norman?

They don't sell tapes. No one sells tapes.

I feel so marginalised! How can this be? Am I the only person in the world still using a VCR? Am I the only person in the world without a DVD-R?

This used to be okay, actually, until I started watching Roger Federer. I want to be able to record his matches and watch them again which the tape doesn't do too well 'cause they're all really old and breaking apart. My USO semi and final matches almost died from the strain of the long-play recording and my constant rewinding to watch a particularly amazing shot in detail, etc, and there were lines flickering all over the freaking screen the last time I watched.

Well, I won't have a chance to anymore; my brother taped Heroes over my match yesterday. Dammit. I'm gonna have to download, double dammit, which takes 4EVA. Which is why I need a DVD-R, so that I can record my matches on a high quality medium without resorting to downloading, failing which buying.

Ugh, my parents are so infuriating. Dad has been waiting for the prices of DVD records to drop since, like, forever. Hello, it's been years. I'm sure it's fallen enough to buy one.

Once Interpol's out of the way, I'm gonna make this happen. There's still Basel (assuming they show it. They might not; too small a tournament. But then again, it is Federer. Assuming he plays. He might not), Paris and Shanghai. And of course, the 2009 season! My brother was saying how they should have more than four grand slams, after which we had a mini argument over who's fitter, basketball players or tennis players? But obviously tennis players have to be fitter, considering the ATP season runs from January to November, and unlike team sports, they don't get substitutes. And tennis matches can go on for hours and hours and hours while basketball matches are four 12-minute quarters (for NBA) and lots of rest time in between. My brother is full of rubbish. Four grand slams is enough, I think.

Lastly, I ate two scoops of ice-cream in school today. I feel so fat. My arms - both arms - are aching from the tennis yesterday. Call me masochistic, but boy, it feels damn good.

before sunrise // before sunset

Previously:
- - Tuesday, Aug. 29, 2017
I'm moving. - Sunday, Jul. 11, 2010
In all honesty - Tuesday, Jul. 06, 2010
What I want for my birthday... - Sunday, Jul. 04, 2010
On Roger's behalf. - Friday, Jul. 02, 2010