Beating Michael Phelps

Revenge is a dish best served cold. That is all I have to say. Apart from GO ROGER!

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I really, really wish I could have seen this match - though I doubt I would have any fingernails left if I had been... or, hell, fingers. The score might not reflect it, and there was certainly that one loose game at the beginning of the second set where Roger served three double faults (maybe he's under his annual average?) but when I see tennis described as 'sublime' I am very happy. I don't know if it was Supreme God Tennis, but it sounded like NinjaFed - or at least a decent facsimile - turned up. And that is good news. That is SUCH good news!

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There is a gold medal so close that I can almost smell it. Certainly, all Federer has to do is get past Blake to virtually guarantee a podium spot - though you can bet he won't be taking it for granted! One of the first Federer matches I remember was when he was a wee young boy of nineteen in Sydney, when he lost that bronze medal match to Di Pasquale and was just crushed afterwards. But not this time. I have no doubt that he can beat Blake and beat him good, and then go on to beat whoever it is he has to beat after that - and then beat Rafa/Novak FOR GOLD! GOLD! He may lose #1 at the beginning of next week, but I think a gold medal would be a perfect finish to this first Federer Golden Age of tennis... and a good precursor to the second one, which will obviously begin in the near future. He has a mark now - a record to beat. I want to see him go 235 weeks again!

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Team Fedrinka had a good win as well - the Tursunov/Youzhny team is definitely not a pushover, so that victory is really sweet... though I imagine Dmitry isn't too fond of Roger right now. Rafa's hopes of double gold were dashed - the Aussies knocked them out. Even though I'm not a Hewitt fan and I find Guccione a bit boring, I'd like them to do well. Not as well as Team Fedrinka, obviously, but well enough. I'm just hoping this doubles loss doesn't make Rafa super fresh for the singles. That would suck, especially if he plays Roger in the final... Roger is now the only man left with a shot at double gold, I think.

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But what am I saying? Roger trains in Dubai! He can deal with anything. ANYTHING!

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I'm sitting here watching that inane pre-Olympics show that Channel 7 have - 'Yum Cha' by name - and they're talking about Michael Phelps and how he's possibly the greatest sportsman of all time, across all sports. I nearly threw something at the television. One of the anchors said she thought it was between Phelps, Pele and Ali. No mention of Federer. Not even of Tiger Woods. I was outraged.

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You only have to look at the Laureus Awards, for God's sake. I don't want to take away what Phelps has done, because it's pretty outstanding. But to even begin to compare that to the achievements of Federer and Woods? That's just ridiculous. Eight gold medals - which he'll probably get - is amazing. But twelve Slams? 237 weeks at #1? Complete, utter dominance? Phelps has been around for a while, but you cannot - you just absolutely CANNOT - compare him to Federer. Not yet. Maybe not ever. I mean, I have issues with comparing sports anyway, but even so, I think Roger still comes out on top. Four times Laureus Sportsman - and that means beating out the not inconsiderable efforts of his mate Tiger. Phelps is up there, certainly, but the greatest athlete of this decade - and maybe even ever - is Roger Federer. Tiger Woods is a close second. Phelps is back a bit. He's good - excellent, outstanding - but he's not there yet. The cub is not ready to challenge those lions. Though what can you really expect from a show that has Sonia 'Tina Sparkle' Kruger as one of its primary anchors?

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(I would just like to point out that the cheer that Federer got when he entered the Olympic stadium was bigger that most countries. And people forget about him. He is such a class act. Beat that, Michael. You may be re-writing the record books at this Olympics, but Federer has been doing it for four years.)

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Right, back to tennis. The big upset on the men's side was Nalbandian, who went out to Monfils. Monfils is such an unpredictable player. If rankings were done on pure athletic ability, he would be in the top five for sure. You know how the French equivalent of the AIS (the FIS?) does all those crazy tests on their athletes, giving them scores for, oh, bendiness and strength and toughness and their ability to scull champagne and whatever else? Apparently Monfils came out on top, beating any other French athlete ever. And he certainly is a great athlete, but the way he throws himself round the court, doing Kim Clijsters splits and whatever means that he's injured all the time. When he's uninjured - for all of about four seconds a year - he's great to watch. I'm not sure where I stand on him, whether I like him or dislike him, but you can't deny he's got game and he's fun to see play tennis. And I'm not a Nalbandian fan, so I'm glad La Monf got through. I wonder if he won - a definite possibility - or if LameDave showed up? You can just never tell from scores sometimes.

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So our eight quarter-finalists are Federer, Nadal, Djokovic, Monfils, Melzer, Mathieu, Gonzalez and Blake. My pick for the podium? Federer gold. Nadal silver. Djokovic bronze. I'm sure of gold, but I wouldn't be surprised if silver and bronze were switched round... much as I don't like Djokovic, he has proved recently that he has the ability to beat Nadal on hard courts. I think I'd like to see Rafa win silver, though - he deserves the higher medal, and I just want to see Federer beat him, to tell the truth. I want Roger to know he can do it. Because he can. He SO can.

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The other person that might end up on the podium is Gonzalez. He's been there before - in doubles and singles - and he absolutely destroyed Rochus yesterday. I think he'll definitely figure in the bronze medal match - he'll beat Mathieu, but lose to Federer - and he's a real danger of taking out Djokovic, if we go on the proviso that Nadal beats Djokovic in that semi. Actually, in the quarters, if Monfils plays well, he is a good chance of upsetting Djokovic. I don't see him getting through Rafa, but he's also someone that could take a bronze.

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But gold is the big one. And it has Roger written ALL OVER IT.

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Oh yeah, the women played too. My girl Dinara is still on song and playing sweetly. I was a bit disappointed to see one of my other favourites, Cornet, go out - but oh! did she give Serena a run for her money! Most of the big guns are still there - Jankovic and both the Williamses are going strong - but Dinara's got what it takes. And I'd love to see her and Sveta win gold in the doubles too. I picked Sveta for gold - it would be nice to be right, even in the wrong event!

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Today's Results

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Games of the XXIX Olympiad (Beijing)

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Men's Draw - Singles

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Roger Federer def. Tomas Berdych, 6-3 7-6 (7-4)

Rafael Nadal def. Igor Andreev, 6-4 6-2

Novak Djokovic def. Mikhail Youzhny, 7-6 (7-3) 6-3

Gael Monfils def. David Nalbandian, 6-4 6-4

James Blake def. Gilles Simon, 6-4 6-2

Fernando Gonzalez def. Olivier Rochus, 6-0 6-3

Paul-Henri Mathieu def. Nicolas Kiefer, 6-3 7-5

Jurgen Melzer def. Lu Yen-Hsun, 6-2 6-4

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Women's Draw - Singles

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Jelena Jankovic def. Dominika Cibulkova, 7-5 6-1

Serena Williams def. Alizé Cornet, 3-6 6-3 6-4

Elena Dementieva def. Caroline Wozniacki, 7-6 (7-3) 6-2

Dinara Safina def. Zheng Jie, 6-4 6-3

Venus Williams def. Victoria Azarenka, 6-3 6-2

Vera Zvonareva def. Francesca Schiavone, 7-6 (7-4) 6-4

Sybille Bammer def. Lucie Safarova, 7-5 6-4

Li Na def. Kaia Kanepi, 4-6 6-2 6-0

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Men's Draw - Doubles

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Bryan/Bryan def. Knowle/Melzer, 7-6 (7-2) 6-4

Federer/Wawrinka def. Tursunov/Youzhny, 6-4 6-3

Aspelin/Johansson def. Almagro/Ferrer, 7-6 (8-6) 6-4

Guccione/Hewitt def. Nadal/Robredo, 6-2 7-6 (7-5)

Bhupathi/Paes def. Melo/Sa, 6-4 6-2

Andreev/Davydenko def. Darcis/Rochus, 7-6 (8-6) 6-2

Fyrstenberg/Matkowski def. Damm/Vizner, 1-6 7-6 (7-3) 7-5

Clement/Llodra def. Murray/Murray, 6-1 6-3

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Women's Draw - Doubles

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Kuznetsova/Safina def. Mirza/Rao, 6-4 6-4

Pennetta/Schiavone def. Chan/Chuang, 7-6 (7-1) 1-6 8-6

Davenport/Huber def. Azarenka/Poutchek, 6-4 4-6 6-3

Bondarenko/Bondarenko def. Govortsova/Kustova, 6-1 6-3

Vesnina/Zvonareva def. Dulko/Jozami, 6-2 6-3

Yan/Zheng def. Gagliardi/Schnyder, 6-3 7-6 (7-2)

Medina Garrigues/Ruano Pascual def. Koryttseva/Perebiynis, 6-3 6-4

Morita/Sugiyama def. Arn/Szavay, 6-3 6-3

Stosur/Stubbs def. Kvitova/Safarova, 6-1 6-0

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Legg Mason Tennis Classic (Washington)

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Tommy Haas def. Nicolas Mahut, 7-6 (7-4) 6-3

Alejandro Falla def. Florent Serra, 7-6 (7-2) 7-6 (13-11)

John Isner def. Donald Young, 6-4 7-6 (7-4)

Andy Roddick def. Ramon Delgado, 6-3 7-6 (7-4)

Eduardo Schwank def. Sebastien Grosjean, 6-3 4-6 6-3

Juan Martin del Potro def. Jesse Levine, 6-2 6-3

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Western and Southern Financial Group Women's Open (Cincinatti)

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Nadia Petrova def. Julie Ditty, 6-1 6-1

Maria Kirilenko def. Stéphanie Dubois, 1-6 6-2 7-5

Sabine Lisicki def. Camille Pin, 6-3 6-4

Lilia Osterloh def. Petra Cetkovska, 6-4 6-1