Grand Prix De Tennis De Lyon

Sunday 12 October
Rainer Wins Lyon, 75 63 Over Clement


After Schuettler got off to a fast start, Clement broke back to close the gap, but the German prevailed 75. In the second, Rainer played steadily and made some great passing shots while Clement had some errors, enabling Schuettler to close out the match. Schuettler gutted out an ankle injury that required painkillers and taping in order to get through the afternoon. It was a battle for back-to-back titles between Rainer (Tokyo) and Clement (Metz), and Schuettler now has four career titles and can continue to close in on the Top Five as the season winds down. He stated that he wants to avoid the tennis court for 24 hours, but after that brief respite he is off to the Tennis Masters Madrid. There he is the 4th seed and has a first round bye, Rainer will then face the Robby Ginepri v Olivier Rochus winner.




Schuettler Shots... Photos


Photos from Rainer's site, ATP, and France Yahoo Sports

There's Something About Rainer... Articles

• French AP wire


• Reuters French article


• IAfrica's story on the win, "Clement came back in the second set. But after the first set he was under pressure, and he took a big risk by coming to the net, because passing shots are one of my strong points," said Rainer. "I'm going to do my best in Madrid, and if I continue to play like this I might be able to win one or two tournaments before the end of the year."


• AP story from San Francisco Gate. Mentions his injury... Schuettler, ranked No. 6, played with a heavily taped right ankle and said he needed to take painkillers. "There was a bit of pain but I wasn't worried by it," he said. Clement quote: "He had the edge on me today. Physically, the guy is phenomenal. I never gave up, but he was always there, always running shots down."


• New Zealand's OneSport writeup, has some good quotes about the match and then tennis in Germany as well.


• ATP's writeup on the day, has these Schuettler quotes:
  

  "I knew it was going to be a tough match because I watched a little of Arnaud's match against Paradorn yesterday. After I won the first set I felt pretty good. He was trying to put pressure on me but I was waiting for him to attack because passing shots are one of my strengths and luckily it was working. I know he likes to mix it up, play serve and volley. I liked it when he came close to the net because I could lob him and he had to guess what I was going to do with the ball. It was a great atmosphere out there and the crowd was pulling for him, but I thought they were fair and I have been playing well under pressure all week, so I liked being out there."
  about winning two titles after a drought
  "I've had a good year, but obviously it sounds better if you win titles. If you get to the late rounds, OK, it might be a good result but people don't really remember. But when you win titles, that's when people notice."
  about taking time off
  "Tonight and tomorrow I am going to relax a little and not think about tennis or come onto the court. I don't get too much time to take a vacation but I took some days after Wimbledon and I have 10 days planned after the season. Last year I went to the beach, this year, I think since I live in Switzerland, I'll probably take a ski vacation."
  about playing his best tennis
  "There have been several times this year when I've played good tennis. I don't know if this was my 'best' tennis but certainly I played well. After I clinched the berth in Houston I was having fun out there and playing relaxed. There was no pressure on me."
  on health and stamina
  "The match was over 2 hours. Sure I'm tired but I felt good going into the match. My physio, Alex Stober, prepared me really well and fitness is one of my strong points. If I go out there, I'm going to focus all my energies and give it my best. There's no reason not to work hard during the match.
  Clement commented: "Physically Rainer Schuettler is a giant, he's quick in his legs, imposing and a great counterpuncher. During the match I never let down but he played the match of the week and it also seemed logical that he came out victorious."



• MSNBC's super short wire mention


• Netzeitung article on win


• TennisMagazin.de report, says how the top German player won his second tournament on two continents within eight days. The match (Schuettler's eleventh career final appearance) was nearly 2 hours long, and ended with a passing shot on Rainer's second matchpoint - also giving him his tenth straight win.


• SkySports writeup. ""Arnaud has a game which suits me fine as I love to have a target standing at the net. I feel I hit some great passing shots today," said Rainer. "I'm very happy about the back-to-back wins but, believe me, I'm tired. I hope not to see a tennis court for 24 hours at least."


• Sportgate.de story. Stated that it is a good feeling to have made it to Houston and not have as much pressure on him to win these last few weeks, that his spot for the Masters Cup is solid.


• Sport1 article. Says that Rainer was in high school in the nineties when he saw Boris Becker (1992, 1995) and Michael Stich (1993) won ATP world championships. At the time he never dreamed he "would one day also participate in the final of the eight best players of the world".


• Sport.ARD mention. Talks about how the crowd was all for Clement and Rainer showed an impressive game and desire, especially since the day before he had an ankle and rib injury. Said this was a "Golden October" for "the workhorse" player, who has already played in 89 singles matches this year.


• Sportbild recap of Sunday's day in tennis


• Spiegel.de writeup


• Fox Sports recap of win


• N-TV.de piece


• ESPN's wire report


• Sports Illustrated's same wire report


• Ticker recap from TennisMagazin.de of finals


• Channel News Asia story of Schuettler's win


• Chinese mini wire report

Saturday 11 October
Rainer Holds Off Youzhny 63 36 75, Into Finals (Again!)
Schuettler faced off against friend and doubles partner Mikhail Youzhny today in the first semifinal of the GPTL, and after getting off to a solid start encountered some tough breaks. After taking the first set 63, Rainer dropped the second 36, and then in the third found himself behind 04, managed to close it to 45 only to have Mikhail get two points from the win. Schuettler battled to stay in the match and limited his mistakes to ultimately claim the third set 75. "To be honest, I thought, 'It's over,' " said Rainer about being down 03 in the third. Schuettler also had to call out the trainer twice due to jamming his ankle going for a shot. He stated that he thinks it will be fine for Sunday after receiving some treatment.
A career milestone was also achieved in today's victory as Rainer now has notched 200 wins as a singles player, well done!
This is Schuettler's third appearance in a final in his three events since the US Open (fourth of the year). He lost to Schalken in Brazil, won against Grosjean in Tokyo and will face either third seed Paradorn Srichaphan or Arnaud Clement Sunday for the Lyon title.

** Clement defeated Srichaphan 62 63. **
(Against Paradorn, Rainer won their only meeting back in 2000 at Memphis. The first round hardcourt win was a 57 63 63 effort. Since that time, both players have improved their rankings significantly, and it's surprising that they haven't met again in the past three years. This has been a big year for the perpetual crowd favorite as Paradorn captured titles in Long Island and Chennai, was a finalist in Indianapolis, semifinalist in Tokyo and TMS Miami, and reached the quarters in Sydney, Bangkok and Washington.)
In the matchup with Clement, Rainer faces a pretty even contest on paper. They are of similar sizes and are 1-1 against each other - with first round two-set wins apiece in their own countries. The Frenchman took their latest meeting back in Paris 2002, defeating Rainer on carpet 75 63 while Schuettler won on clay in Stuttgart 1999, 63 64. For 2003, Clement won the title in Metz just last week, reached the 's-Hertogenbosch finals and was in the semis in Halle. On Sunday expect a loud crowd for the local hero. Clement's quote about the final vs Rainer: "Rainer is No. 6 in the world and he's had a great season. I don't know what the outcome will be tomorrow, but I do know that it will be a tough match either way. He hits hard from the back of the court and moves really well."

There's Something About Rainer... Articles

• Netzeitung recap of Saturday's tennis


• TennisMagazin.de wire report


• Sport1 recap


• Sport.ard writeup of the match. Headline was "Schuettler weiter auf Hohenflug" - Schuettler continues to fly high, or something like that.


• Sportgate.de piece


• Sportbild wire report


• N-tv.de mini blurb


• French article on match from Yahoo Sports. Has a mention of Rainer hurting his ankle and that he believes he can be 100% for the final.


• Another French Yahoo article


• Ticker recap of match, from TennisMagazin, in German


• Spiegel.de piece from semis


• ESPN blurb


• Sports Illustrated's wire report


• Australian News.com review


• Reuters report on final, has Rainer quote "Experience made the difference in the end. I was really tired but he was under more pressure than me because this meant more to him than to me," he said of his tense contest against Youzhny.


• ATP's Saturday recap of Lyon.

  Schuettler quotes: "He (Mikhail) started playing really well midway through the second set and at the beginning of the third. When he went up 3-0 and had a game point, to be honest, I thought 'it's over,' but then I won that game and when you are just one break down [instead of two] you still think you are in it. I just kept fighting and when he got to 4-all, I couldn't believe I was back in the match, so that's why I had a little laugh. It actually made me relax a little."
  
  "Tomorrow's a final so even if I'm tired, I'll give it my all. With a crowd like this it's hard not to. Either opponent will be tough. Paradorn is playing really well -- he got to the semis last week and plays well on this surface. Arnaud won the tournament in Metz and will definitely have the crowd behind him."
  
  about his ankle: "I just jammed it a little when I was hitting a forehand in the middle of the second set. I had the trainer come out to look at it just to see if it's something that could get worse. It bothered me a little when I was pushing off on my serve, but it didn't get any worse and it should be fine for tomorrow after I get some treatment."

Friday 10 October
Schuettler Over Malisse 76(2) 64, Houston A Go
Rainer Schuettler moved into the semifinals with a win over Xavier Malisse, the victory also guaranteed his spot for the Masters Cup in November.
Rainer took the first set 76(2) against Malisse, they traded some breaks but the growing confidence of Rainer is really showing through again as he closed out the tiebreak effectively.
After the match, the ATP site let it be known: "Schuettler Seals Houston Spot - Top seed Rainer Schuettler became the sixth player to qualify for Houston on Friday, defeating Xavier Malisse in straight sets to advance to the semifinals of the Grand Prix de Tennis de Lyon. The German has been a model of consistency all year and is aiming to claim his second title in as many weeks, following his win in Tokyo last week."
It's great to see Rainer's name now in gold on the list of Houston qualifiers, a true accomplishment and well-earned.

In the first match of the day, Schuettler's doubles partner Mikhail Youzhny (RUS) beat Ginepri (USA) 76(3) 62. They have a second match to play Friday afternoon (doubles semis), and then face off against each other in the GPTL semifinals on Saturday. Schuettler and Youzhny fell to Erlich and Ram 46 61 16.
In singles, Rainer took their only meeting, a 62 64 first round win this summer at TMS Canada. The young Youzhny is Top 50 with appearances in the Halle and Doha semis and quarters in Stuttgart, Munich and Bastad. He won his first career title in Stuttgart in July 2002. Youzhny also played Davis Cup for Russia when they met France in last year's finals. On his Friday win: "I'm still hoping for more. At the beginning of the week if you had said semifinals, I would say it's a good result. But now that I'm here, I want more."

On the other side of the draw, third-seeded Paradorn Srichaphan overcame Frenchman Fabrice Santoro in a tight duel 16 63 76(4). Arnaud Clement, also from France, beat Arazi 63 64 to fill out the bracket.

There's Something About Rainer... Articles

• ATP's report of Rainer officially going to the Masters Cup


• Ticker recap of the match, in German


• TennisMagazin.de article on Friday's results. "I already celebrated a little. Clearly I am tired, but as long as I keep winning, everything's perfect," said Rainer in view of his many upcoming tennis obligations. That he next faces his doubles partner, it's not a problem: "we know each other
  very well, he is a friend of mine." I think his last quote on Mikhail is that they'll play the match with a fair approach. (?)


• N-TV.de quick recap of Lyon and making it to Houston


• Netzeitung quick blurb


• Sport1 article on Rainer's day in Lyon as well as Kiefer's results


• NY Times wire report of Houston accomplishment


• ESPN's nearly identical report


• ATP's Lyon recap

  Rainer said "As long as I'm winning I will forget that I'm a bit tired. I think our first set took almost an hour out there and in the second I was trying to take advantage with my backhand and it worked."
  On qualifying for the Tennis Masters Cup Houston: "After reaching the final in Brasil, I was pretty confident of going to Houston, so it's not a big surprise, really. I knew the other players would have to do well at the big tournaments. But to know that I don't have to win another match and I'll still be in Houston is a good feeling. I've said all year that it's been a dream of mine since reaching the final at the Australian Open."
  On past Masters memories: "I went one year when it was in Frankfurt to watch live, so I've seen the atmosphere. It was a great event and I'm excited to be going there as a player."
  His expectations for 2003: "You know, I've improved my ranking every year since I've been on tour. Last year I finished in the 30s and had been in the 20s a few times during the season, so Top 20 was definitely my goal. After the Australian Open, it became Top 10."
  Next up, the Top Three: "One step at a time, Top 5 comes next, then I will think about Top 3 [laughing]."
  About maintaining his consistency in 2003: "I hate to lose and physical conditioning is something I really focus on with my coach. When I play I want to give it my best every time and I think that shows with my results."



• Sports Illustrated's writeup. "To be in the top-8 and play the Tennis Masters Cup in Houston was a dream after I was in the final of the Australian Open. I'm so happy I could fulfill this dream so early," said Rainer. "I'm very happy to be in the Masters. I've had a great season and I'm pretty proud, actually."


• Sportgate article


• Sky Sports writeup, "After reaching the Australian Open final, it's another dream come true to make it into the top eight," Rainer said. "I'm delighted to have made it this far, especially for the German fans."

Friday's Schedule: Youzhny faces Ginepri first on Center Court at 1pm, followed by Rainer v Malisse ("not before 3pm"), then Santoro v Paradorn and Clement v Arazi.
Rainer and Mikhail are the first doubles match of the day as well, they take on Erlich and Ram after suitable rest on Court 1, "not before 5pm."


Thursday 9 October
Rainer Rebounds to Defeat Ljubicic 46 76(2) 75
Schuettler pulled out a hard fought, come-from-behind win over Ivan Ljubicic to advance to the quarterfinals of the GPTL. After going down 46 in the first, Schuettler fought through two break points to reach a second set tiebreak. He then showed some of his new aggressiveness and took the extra session 72. After an wide open third set, Rainer took the victory over the hard-serving Croatian after capitalizing on his second matchpoint. A win in the quarters for Rainer makes his trip to Houston downright official.
"At that point, it really could have been over. Down 15-40, I think I was down a few break points in the second set and with his serve, it would be tough to come back. I tried to play more aggressive when I was down at that point," said Rainer. "Coming from Tokyo, I'm tired, certainly, but I'd rather win and be tired than lose and feel fresh. I'm feeling fine, though. There's not many weeks left in the season, so I should have no problem."

He'll face either Thomas Enqvist or Xavier Malisse, who are scheduled for 8:30pm in Lyon.
**Malisse beat Enqvist 63 64 and will be Rainer's next opponent for the quarters.
Against Malisse, Rainer holds a 2-1 advantage in their matchups. He won both times in 2002, Indianapolis, Hard, R16 63 62 and Cincinnati TMS, Hard, R16 64 63, while in Atlanta in 2001 Clay, R16 Malisse took their initial meeting 16 16. This year, "the X-man" has reached the quarterfinals in Indianapolis and London / Queen's Club.
Rainer against Enqvist happens seemingly every couple years, with the Swede holding the 2-1 advantage. Enqvist took the two most recent matches, 2001 Monte Carlo TMS, Clay, R64 Enqvist 26 64 36 and Wimbledon 1999 Grass, R64 Enqvist 26 46 57. Rainer won the first match in 1997 Chennai, Hard, R32 Schuettler 60 60.

In Lyon on Thursday, however, Rainer's work was not done... he had a quarterfinal doubles match to play. He and Mikhail Youzhny defeated Robbie Koenig and Sebastian Prieto 60 75. For Koenig and Prieto, this was their second time playing together this season, coming off Moscow, International Series, 9/29/2003, I, Carpet , Draw: 16, R16 Igor Andreev(RUS)/Nikolay Davydenko (RUS) 67(5) 36.

The German and Russian duo defeated Russian pair Marat Safin and Andrei Olhovskiy 63 76(6) in their first round match.

Schuettler and Youzhny will have another full day with quarterfinal singles and then semifinal doubles play against Jonathan Erlich and Andy Ram. The Israeli pair captured the Bangkok title a few weeks ago, and have partnered together for most of the year. As a duo, they won Bangkok, Binghamton, Greece F1 and Istanbul, appeared in the finals in New Delhi and were defeated in the Wimbledon semis by Bjorkman and Woodbridge 26 64 26 16. Playing with other partners, their 2003 success continued... Erlich won Indianapolis, finals in Sao Paulo-1, semis in Ho Chi Minh and Zagreb while Ram was part of winning Besancon and Lexington and played in the Great Britain F2 finals.

Youzhny in singles has advanced to the Halle and Doha semis and the quarters in Stuttgart, Munich and Bastad this year.

In doubles, Rainer and Mikhail have played in these events for 2003 (all draw of 16):
Dubai, UAE, International Series Gold, 2/24/2003, O, Hard
R16 Leander Paes(IND)/David Rikl(CZE) 16 46

Halle, Germany, International Series, 6/9/2003, O, Grass
R16 Karsten Braasch (GER)/Lars Burgsmuller (GER) 63 26 36

Stuttgart, Germany, International Series Gold, 7/14/2003, O, Clay
R16 Alex Corretja (ESP)/Albert Costa (ESP) 57 46

There's Something About Rainer... Articles

• TennisMagazin.de writeup, talks about the lineup for Houston and the rest of the year. Quote from Dirk Hordorff, "I was actually sure since the US Open that he'd make it. That makes me terribly happy for him and it'll bring great self-assurance will bring." Rainer's coach also said that it's possible for Schuettler to move past more players since some are injured or aren't playing in some remaining tournaments.


• Sport1 article on Rainer


• Sport.ARD article on Rainer qualifying for Houston


• Sport.ARD piece on advancing to the quarterfinals


• Netzeitung recap


• N-TV.de article on going to Houston


• SportBild.de piece on quarters and Houston. "I feel pride, joy and also little ease," said Schuettler. "Pride because I am the first German in four years to reached the year end final. Joy because now this crazy year is confirmed and crowned. Ease because before the next two master events in Madrid and Paris some of the pressure is taken off me."


• On the main page Rainer continued to "get some press" with this mention: "Schuettler, Srichaphan Secure Spots in Last 8 - Top seed Rainer Schuettler defeated Croatia's Ivan Ljubicic 4-6, 7-6(2), 7-5 to reach the quarterfinals of the Grand Prix de Tennis de Lyon. The German, who claimed the title in Tokyo last week, is still bidding to clinch a Tennis Masters Cup berth, which he can accomplish with a semifinal appearance here or some losses by players at other events. Also, Paradorn Srichaphan cruised into the quarterfinals, overcoming Belgium's Olivier Rochus 6-3, 6-2 on Thursday. The Thai sensation, who is a crowd favorite in Lyon, will now meet either Frenchman Fabrice Santoro or Swiss qualifier Marc Rosset on Friday."


• Sport1 second piece


• Ticker recap of match from Sportal.de, in German


• AP Wire blurb from San Jose Mercury News (CA USA)


• ESPN report from Thursday's matches


• ESPN wire report of Hewitt pulling out of Madrid event. Also not playing as a result of injuries are Nalbandian and Coria (Agassi withdrew earlier this month). The Argentinian no-show helped solidify Rainer's Houston spot since any points gained in other events would not be able to overtake him in the race.

Wednesday 8 October
Schuettler Over Mathieu 62 62
Rainer defeated Frenchman Paul-Henri Mathieu in their first round match of the GPTL and now faces Ivan Ljubicic . Mathieu won last year's Lyon event and the local favorite is playing a lot of tennis late in the season as he is coming back from some injuries.

Rainer's second round match is scheduled for Thursday on Center Court, "not to begin before 2pm", and the official event site has it as a 4pm start...

Going against "the usual" of the past few matches, Rainer posts a winning record against his next opponent. He is 4-2 against Ljubicic, with the Croatian taking their first and last meetings. Here are the results from their six face-offs:
2003 Dubai, Hard, Quarters Ljubicic 36 46
2003 Sydney, Hard, R32 Hard Schuettler 62 76
2002 Hamburg TMS, Clay, R64 Schuettler 36 75 64
2002 CRO v GER WG Rd 1, Carpet, Croatia Schuettler 57 76 63 76
2001 Wimbledon, Grass, R128 Schuettler 76 76 75
2000 Kitzbuhel, Clay, R32 Austria Ljubicic 46 26

Ljubicic this year has reached the semis in Dubai, Bangkok and Milan as well as the Rome TMS quarterfinals.

There's Something About Rainer... Articles

• Sport.ARD quick recap


• ATP's recap of the day in Lyon. "To be No. 1 in Germany means a tremendous amount to me, but at the same time if we had three Germans in front of me that would mean that we would have a fantastic level of tennis in Germany," said Rainer. On facing Ljubicic "He's got a very good serve and that really is his game. If he's serving well then I am going to be returning well in order to take the match. He killed me in Dubai by serving at such a high level and I have defeated him in the past by returning at a high level."


• Sports1 update on Kiefer and Rainer


• TennisMagazin.de report


• ESPN's wire update, but had this as its title "Schuettler too much for defending champ at Lyon" Unfortunately, Rainer still isn't listed as a player on their site... too bad they're broadcasting Houston in November, they need to get with it.


• SportBild mini recap


• Sports Illustrated's update. From Rainer "I have a very good chance to get to Houston, and to be in the top-10 in the world was always a dream."
  
• Hindustan Times article

Tuesday 7 October
Rainer's first match is Wednesday as he takes on Paul-Henri Mathieu "not before 4pm" on Centre Court. (France is 6 hours ahead of NY time.) Mathieu has reached the finals in Palermo, semis in Moscow, and the quarters in both Szczecin and Bucharest this year. This will be their fourth career meeting, with Mathieu winning the last two. Here are their matches:
July 2003 Kitzbuhel, Clay, R32 Austria Mathieu 46 63 36
2002 Moscow, Carpet, Q Russia Mathieu 64 26 36
2002 Australian Open, Hard, R128 Schuettler 26 61 46 61 64

The winner faces Ivan Ljubicic, who defeated Lapentti 62 76(3) on Monday.

There's Something About Rainer... Articles
If you thought my German was bad, my French is worse. Still looking for other international links and stories.

• Here is a French article from Tokyo. Do take note of their opinion poll on who will be the top player at the end of the year... they list seven players and 'other'... take a guess as to whose name was not on the list?! Would it have killed them to add his name? See, no respect!


• Sport1 had Rainer atop their tennis coverage... Nachstes Traumziel fest im Visier
  Rainer Schuettler hat mit dem Turniersieg in Tokio ueber Sebastien Grosjean seine zweijahrige Titelflaute endlich ueberwunden. Und mehr noch: Jetzt rueckt er seinem groBen Ziel, dem Masters der besten acht Tennis-Profis der Saison, den vielleicht schon entscheidenden Schritt naher. "Dieses Jahr habe ich mir schon viele Traume erfuellt, Houston wird wohl ein weiterer sein", sagt Schuettler im Gesprach mit Sport1. Rainer Schuettler (l., Grosjean) mit dem Pokal: "Ein tolles Gefuehl"
  Rainer Schuettler triumphiert in Tokio | Schuettler erreicht Finale in Tokio | Schuettler im Halbfinale von Tokio | Schuettler in Tokio im Viertelfinale | Popp spielt sich eine Runde weiter | Schuettler und Kiefer im Achtelfinale von Tokio


• Ranking update from German wires


• Generic update from ESPN on Tuesday scores... Ginepri wins, 6th seed Ferreira loses. Also the 8th seed, Y. Kafelnikov fell to Fernando Vicente 26 36

Monday 6 October
Fresh off his Tokyo victory, Rainer Schuettler arrives in Lyon now as the 6th-ranked player in the world, and remains solid in his 6th position for the Champions Race and Houston. Schuettler is the top-seed for this event, and if the draw holds true to form again this week, he could face #2 Grosjean again in the finals.
The third seed is Srichaphan, and fourth seed Mantilla was upset by Youzhny in the first round.

The ATP's site has Rainer as their ATP Champions Race Stat of the Week - "Rainer Schuettler increased his chances of qualifying for the Tennis Masters Cup Houston after claiming his first title of the year in Tokyo. The German, currently in sixth position in the ATP Champions Race 2003, staked his claim for one of the three remaining spots and now lies 137 points ahead of Carlos Moya."

Points-wise, here is how the race shapes up as of this week:
1st Roddick 807; 2nd Ferrero 726; 3rd Federer 629; 4th Agassi 605; 5th Coria 589; 6th Schuettler 535.
In Lyon, quarterfinalists earn 11 points, semifinalists get 20, the runner-up with 31 while the winner adds 45 points.

Here is the singles draw and results from the tournament's site.

Weekly Roundup

Site Insight
I am happy to report that this site has been linked via the ATP's fansite area for Rainer Schuettler. It lists his official site and then this one as places to check for info on him, so I am proud of that... especially after only a month. People were finding it through Google and on their own, but the ATP link made an instant impact in even more traffic.

The "worldwide appeal" of the site also is encouraging... as of today there have been hits from USA, Germany, Netherlands, Brazil, Austria, France, Romania, United Kingdom, Spain, Canada, Japan, Singapore, and New Zealand! Late in the week we picked up Italy and Poland, and over the weekend Switzerland and Finland, too!
Hello to all of you!

I've been working on my photo part of the site, and hope to be adding more of my pictures from the US Open now that I figured out how to get crisper copies online. Not sure if I am going to post them within the US Open entry, or just make a separate photo entry and drop them in there. I hope to get my favorite shots from NY up in the next few days, wherever they end up being placed. Meanwhile, I redid the tile photos at the top of the site, some are the same shots but clearer while some are brand new. They are all from my shots of the US Open.



On and Off The Playing Fields...
This past week found a lot of sports news, including off-court activities/events.

• Horrible news in the NHL as Dan Snyder died from his injuries from a car accident when his friend and teammate Dan Heatley crashed in Atlanta. The black Ferrari was torn in half and the players were thrown into the street after hitting a brick wall at a reported 80mph. Photos of the crash are awful, and all you can tell about the car was that it was black. It brings back memories for me of the loss of 26-year old Pelle Lindbergh in November 1985, the Swedish goalie who was an instant star player for the Philadelphia Flyers who died when his Porsche slammed into a wall. Snyder's team, the Thrashers, begin the regular season on Thursday and will then travel to Ontario for his funeral on Friday and return to the ice again on Saturday. Heatley is the team's superstar and an All-Star Game MVP and a rising league star while Snyder was the classic hockey rink-rat - not the most skilled player and nothing fancy about his attitude or appearance. But he was the type of kid that had a dream to play pro and worked and worked and worked to achieve it, and as it was taking shape, this tragic event happens.



• In Women's World Cup, Team USA lost 0-3 to Germany in the semifinals (they face Sweden for the championship) and will play Canada for third place. As great as the US squad is (or was), Germany played a better game and converted their chances and deserved to advance. This was probably a better game than what the finals will be, but here the news is reporting it as a huge upset... I don't agree with that characteristic. Going into this event it was well-known (at least from all the previews I read) that the one team that could effectively challenge USA was the German team. Also, some great stories on German star Maren Meinert... I was practically shocked to read in this article that there is no German girls' soccer camp! Here's a quick mention on Meinert and WUSA closeness. Here is a nice story on the US team from the NY Times. This team did amazing things in the past 10-plus years that benefited women's, college and girl's athletics, and all the surge we see in America today can be traced back to athletes like these. The finals are Sunday as now heavily-favored Germany takes on Sweden. Another NY Times feature, this one on Joy Fawcett... World Champion, Olympian, and mother on the US Team. Another article on girls and women in soccer around the world, also from the NY Times.
  If everyone was saying that CBS was freaking out during the US Open when the Williams sisters didn't play and Davenport and/or Capriati didn't advance to the live Saturday night finals... ABC must have been on life support when the US fell to Germany in the semis and were faced with Germany vs Sweden Sunday afternoon. For some reason the American networks feel that we, the viewing sports public, have to see athletes from the US on the tube. I have no idea what the ratings are as of Sunday night, but the game was great to watch and I was only able to catch the first half. The game had plenty of notables riding on it - a first-time champion would be crowned, both finalists were coached by women (a first), and then the game went into OT - what more could you ask for? And I must add, that header to win it for the Germans was as close to perfect as you will ever see, in any soccer game. Congratulations to the Germans who had a great tournament, and to Sweden for putting on quite a run for the Cup - it's great to see soccer gaining in Europe for women.



• I'm not one who normally gets psyched over medical news, but this one could change the lives of thousands of normal people as well as have an enormous impact on pro sports. Sign me up, I want a six-month old knee too!



• I don't know what exactly happened in the Saturday NYY-Boston Playoff game, but I feel confident enough to say that basically all hell broke loose. I, a non-Yankee fan from New England, wasn't watching the game and had on NASCAR. (Chinese food, pajamas, watching racing under the lights - that seems like a perfectly normal Saturday night to me!) I like baseball -l as long as it isn't on TV, for watching a game on television is pure torture in my opinion. I can sit in a ballpark for 5+ hours, but after 20 minutes on TV I am ready to lose it.
  Red Sox pitcher Pedro Martinez threw Don Zimmer - an old man - to the ground during a bench-clearing "get together", beer sales were then suspended in the fourth inning, and in the 9th the groundscrew got into a fight with players in the bull pen, with help from an outfielder who jumped the fence!
  I can understand grabbing Zim or stiff arming him since he was running at Pedro, but there is no way you can ever convince me that Pedro had to hurl him to the grass. Both should be suspended, but Pedro better be given a real suspension - not just 5 games which means only one for him since he's a pitcher. Here are some writeups from ESPN on the incidents... Jim Caple's take; AP story; bullpen incident AP story. Oh yeah, somebody won the game, too.
  On Sunday, this article was in the Washington Post, I think a lot of people agree. Later on Sunday it was announced Zimmer was fined $5,000 and Martinez a cool $50,000. In a press conference, poor Zim was choking back tears as he apologized to the Yankees, fans, umpires and his family for his actions... the poor man! Zimmer was seriously injured in his playing days - he has a metal plate in his head - and his career was nearly ended by a beaning similar to what Pedro does from time to time, we all know headhunting when we see it (Pedro). Just ask Mike Piazza about the Rocket.



• Sports Flashback... it was fifteen years ago that Ben Johnson won and then lost the 100m gold medal in the 1988 Seoul Olympic Games. He had set the world record of 9.83 at the 1987 World Championships (later this was revoked too), and then shattered that with a 9.79 run in the Games. Of course he was DQ'd for a positive steroid test and stripped of his medal 3 days later. I remember watching that race and even though I was a kid, I totally remember my mouth dropping open when they crossed the tape... shattering that 9.83 puts it mildly.
  To put that type of speed into perspective... NO ONE ran that fast again until Maurice Greene also did 9.79 in Greece in 1999 and Tim Montgomery posted a 9.78 last year in France. Even though Johnson's run was tainted, it was an incredible sight... I've since seen countless world records on TV and love it, but witnessing four records broken in person is a blast. It's a surreal feeling (remember, I am a sports freak) to see and there is definitely an excitement in the air. From swimming (Olympic Trials) to speed skating (2002 Olympics) a World Record is a World Record, and the crowds - no matter who the athlete was or where the event happened - have always gone nuts and cheered wildly for such a remarkable accomplishment.



• John McEnroe article from a few years ago, parts of it also appeared in the NY Times Magazine.



• Feature article from Australian Broadcasting Corp on Brad Gilbert.



• Totally un-Rainer related, but I have to mention that this past week one of my Top Five all-time favorite athletes had a birthday... Mark McGwire. All 6'5" and the ridiculous biceps that measure something like 18", turns the big 4-0 today. Here's a nice non-typical sports article on him from 1998 when he and Sosa were named TIME's Men of the Year.



• Not truly sports-related, but since Rainer is in France, I thought I'd throw this one in.