Foro Italico: The circus is coming to town...

[gzhpcu]

Nadal has also been losing first sets...

[bottle]

Too bad he then decided to come apart.

[klacr]

36 year old Tommy Haas beat Wawrinka, playing very aggressively with great stop balls and forays to the net whenever the chance presented itself. Stylish player. Rack up another one for a one-handed backhand player...

Amen!

And this month's interactive forum subject Philipp Kohlschreiber just took the first set from Djokovic.

Kyle LaCroix USPTA
Boca Raton

[bottle]

Maybe Dominic Thiem loosened Wawrinka up.

[gzhpcu]

36 year old Tommy Haas beat Wawrinka, playing very aggressively with great stop balls and forays to the net whenever the chance presented itself. Stylish player. Rack up another one for a one-handed backhand player...

[stroke]

Federer, beaten by Chardy, a man who breaches one of the golden rules of the ATP forehand: "Keep thy swing on the hitting side of the body".

I agree, no type 3 with Chardy. His forehand reminds me of Soderling's, from what I remember of it.

[klacr]

Federer plays today...

What a fantastic center court...

That's actually Pietrangeli Court. Stadium court is in the background. Statues surrounding it make it truly epic.

Kyle LaCroix USPTA
Boca Raton

[stotty]

Federer, beaten by Chardy, a man who breaches one of the golden rules of the ATP forehand: "Keep thy swing on the hitting side of the body".

[gzhpcu]

Federer plays today...

What a fantastic center court...

[GeoffWilliams]

I used to be Italian, according to a psychic, who also told my girl at that time: who her father was, his name (hidden/denied by her mother all her life), where he lived in Connecticut, and that he always wanted to hear from her. She spent a summer with him and that's the last I saw of her.

Psychic name: Allie Barkalow, Sonoma, ca.

https://www.facebook.com/alliemodernmystic

http://www.yelp.com/biz/allie-barkal...-mystic-sonoma

[klacr]

How could I forget about the food? Of course! Forgive me. My true passion and inspiration outside of tennis and I ignored it. The fear of creating it in my father's restaurants and burn out led me to tennis, which ironically enough has led me back to food.

Italian food and Mediterranean food in general, I love it. Food I loved creating and cooking. Simple, minimal amount of ingredients. Inspired by true technique and fine products. Yes, Thats Italian food. Simplistic and hands-on cooking is the core of Italian Cuisine. The greatest aspiration is to take as few ingredients as possible, cook them perfectly, and make them sing.

As for the actual tournament...I guess we all have to agree that Nadal will be the favorite by a long shot. Although Djokovic will be making his comeback. Maybe Rafa-Novak final.

Kyle LaCroix USPTA
Boca Raton

[gzhpcu]

You forgot to mention the Italian food...

[klacr]

All those descriptions you gave about the Italian Open are why its one of my favorites.

The colosseum atmosphere, the statues, the history, the rowdy fans rooting for their fellow countrymen, the Italian television cameras searching for gorgeous women. Yes, what's not to love?


Kyle LaCroix USPTA
Boca Raton

[gzhpcu]

Monday the tennis tournament in Rome starts. I went a couple of years ago to the Foro Italico, the main stadium decorated with Roman statues (appropriately, actually, like the old days when the gladiators fought in the colosseum).

The Italians are extremely noisy supporting their home town boys. The days of Adriano Panatta and Nicola Pietrangeli are long bygone and now all they have are like likes of Fognini and co. Playing against them will be like being thrown to the lions... Never saw such a partisan crowd.

When the Italian TV stations start the coverage, during the intervals, they concentrate mostly on filming attractive young women... (so it is not all that bad after all...)