Life is an Ongoing Process » Tennis

The French Open Begins Today

Carol — Sun, 24 May 2009 13:46:47 +0000

The best thing about the Memorial Day holiday for me these days is that it coincides with the start of the French Open. I love watching tennis on the clay surface, especially when the matches (mens) are five sets long. It is like the Belmont of tennis.

The television coverage of tennis on DirecTV is excellent. The Tennis Channel has five high definition channels with simultaneous live coverage of the action on all of the courts starting at 5am EDT every day.

IBM continues to run the official web site for the slams this year, and they have the widget below available for your web site. This is a sweet little widget. It includes live scores, news, and the order of play. You can grab it from the widget below.

Update: Nice how the widget changes to display content from the next slam event as soon as the current event is completed.

New Tennis Slam Tournament Widget for US Open

Carol — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 16:58:42 +0000

IBM has created a new widget for the US Open tennis grand slam event. It is very nice – full featured, and easy to use.

French Open Commences

Carol — Mon, 26 May 2008 13:45:31 +0000

I always look forward to Memorial Day weekend because it is when the summer tennis grand slam season begins at the French Open. I love the French scenery, and the red clay. As you may know, IBM has hosted the tennis grand slam event web sites for many years. They always add new features and functions, and are always improving on the existing ones from previous events. This year is no exception. If you enjoy tracking the tennis action as much as I do, using the IBM Official French Open 2008 site is a great way to do it.

You can also get a couple of widgets from this site. Check them out.

Update: Widgets are no longer available and have been removed.

Federer vs Nadal: How Sweet it Is

Carol — Sun, 08 Jul 2007 16:58:16 +0000

The match many of were hoping for at Wimbledon has materialized, and what a fantastic match it has been! The sheer amazement and joy that I experience when watching these two fine athletes share the court is unparalleled entertainment for me. The downside is that I like both of them so much that I hate to see either one of them lose.

Rafa is down 5 games to 2 now in the fifth set, and it looks like Roger will prevail, but it ain’t over till the fat lady sings, as my father liked to say.

Thank you Roger and Rafael for another incredible match!

The Swiss Serves Up Another Masterpiece

Carol — Sun, 28 Jan 2007 19:39:08 +0000

Got up first thing this morning and turned on the DVR to watch the Australian Open final match between Roger Federer and Fernando Gonzales. The match did not disappoint. Gonzales hung tough in the first set all the way until he lost the tie breaker (7 points to 2 points). The remainder of the match belonged to Roger, and it was one of the most masterful performances that I have ever seen (I will definitely NOT be erasing this match from my DVR – it is a long way until the French Open – I may need a ‘Federer Fix’ before then.).

Roger reminds me of a boxer, specifically Ali in his young years, the way he moves his feet on the court, lining up his body to the ball in order to ‘throw the perfect punch’. And what a punch he can throw! He executed his game plan completely and convincingly in the second two sets. Always winning the crucial points, nailing the second set win with a clean ace, even though his serve was one of his weakest weapons during the first set.

The third set was a veritable showcase of all of the talents that Federer brings to the game. I don’t have words for how special it is to watch this guy play. Add to this how special a human being he is, gracious, thoughtful, intelligent, honest, open, simply beautiful.

Thanks for another great tournament Roger!