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(4 days ago)
Dead Spot on Tennis Court at Australian Open 2011
Dead Spot on Hisense Arena -Australian Open 2011- before Sharapova/Goerges match starts
There was ...
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Dead Spot on Tennis Court at Australian Open 2011
Dead Spot on Hisense Arena -Australian Open 2011- before Sharapova/Goerges match starts
There was a spot that was dead on the tennis court and when you drop the ball it just defies gravity and sticks there without bouncing. It was solved by drilling 2 holes!
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(4 weeks ago)
Arsenal moved back to second place in the Premier League after finally beating title rivals Chelsea for the first time since November 2008 as the B...
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Arsenal moved back to second place in the Premier League after finally beating title rivals Chelsea for the first time since November 2008 as the Blues' poor run continued.
The Gunners had lost each of their previous five matches against Chelsea, but Alex Song put them ahead before half-time, with quickfire strikes from captain Cesc Fabregas and Theo Walcott giving Arsene Wenger's side a three-goal cushion.
Chelsea reduced the deficit through Branislav Ivanovic, but there was no way back for Carlo Ancelotti's men, who have now taken just six points from their last eight league games - the club's worst run since 1998.
Arsenal, beaten at Manchester United in their previous game, were positive during the opening exchanges.
Robin van Persie almost collected Song's chip into the box, but the ball bounced just ahead of the Dutch striker.
There was a warning with Chelsea's first meaningful attack as Didier Drogba - with 13 goals in as many games against the Gunners - shrugged off his marker to drag a 20-yard shot wide.
John Terry pulled back Van Persie as the Gunners looked to break on the half-way line, but a stern talking-to from referee Mark Clattenburg was all the Chelsea skipper received.
The home side continued to press, and had a penalty appeal waved away when Florent Malouda looked to have made some contact with Van Persie at the edge of the box.
Nasri's 25-yard free-kick was on target, but held by Petr Cech.
Walcott latched on to a long ball over the Chelsea defence, but just as he aimed to cut back into the area, his touch was poor and Terry recovered to clear.
On 29 minutes, former Gunner Ashley Cole went into the referee's book for tripping Walcott as his England colleague turned him on the right touchline.
Van Persie was then put through into the left by Nasri after some clever one-touch passing, the Dutchman snatched at his angled shot, which flew high and wide.
Salomon Kalou was perhaps fortunate to receive only a yellow card after jumping in, studs up on Gael Clichy.
Arsenal increased the tempo as half-time approached.
Walcott scampered into the right side of the Chelsea penalty area and was blocked by Cech at the near post before the goalkeeper turned over Nasri's chip which was looping into the top-left corner.
The Gunners finally made the breakthrough after 43 minutes.
Jack Wilshere and Song exchanged passes on the edge of the area, with the Cameroon midfielder carrying the ball into the box.
Paulo Ferreira slid in and tripped Fabregas, but Song had the presence of mind not to wait for a whistle and swept a low left-footed shot across goal and into the bottom right corner.
Chelsea made a change at the start of the second half as the creative Brazilian Ramires replaced John Obi Mikel.
Arsenal, though, had a two-goal cushion after 51 minutes.
Van Persie held the ball up 30 yards out, and, as he was closed down, Michael Essien's challenge inadvertently pushed the ball straight to Walcott clean through on goal.
The England winger dashed to the edge of the box, where he drew Cech before sliding the ball along to Fabregas and the Arsenal skipper made no mistake from 15 yards.
Chelsea had little chance to recover, as Walcott smashed in goal number three just 90 seconds later.
Walcott robbed Malouda and fed Fabregas, who repaid the favour by sending the Arsenal winger away down the right for him to slot a low shot into the bottom left corner.
Ancelotti had to do something, and sent on Gael Kakuta, replacing Malouda.
Chelsea snatched a lifeline after 57 minutes when Drogba's free-kick floated through to the six-yard box, where it was nodded in by Ivanovic.
Given Arsenal's recent record of failing to hold on to winning positions, the visitors rallied.
Chelsea made a final change when Ferreira was replaced by Jose Bosingwa.
Arsenal just about weathered the storm as the contest entered the final 20 minutes.
Nasri should then have done better when Kakuta's tame back-pass presented him with the ball 10 yards from goal, but Cech was out quickly to block.
With 18 minutes left, Walcott was replaced by defensive midfielder Abou Diaby who made his first appearance since mid-October, before Marouane Chamakh came on for Van Persie.
Diaby's close-range effort was blocked by Frank Lampard and Kakuta's bundled effort was ruled out for offside as the Gunners closed out for a long-overdue victory against their championship rivals and moved within two points of leaders Manchester United, albeit having played a game more.
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(1 month ago)
La Liga Football Soccer David Villa scores 2 goals, with Xavi and Pedro netting the first 2. Sergio Ramos receives a red card for shoving/pushing a...
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La Liga Football Soccer David Villa scores 2 goals, with Xavi and Pedro netting the first 2. Sergio Ramos receives a red card for shoving/pushing and even seemed like hitting his own countrymen Xavi and Puyol. This is Jose Mourinho's worst loss ever, his previous being 3-0 in Chelsea.
A second-half brace from David Villa led Barcelona to an incredible 5-0 rout of Real Madrid in El Clasico and saw the Catalans leapfrog their fierce rivals - who lost for the first time under Jose Mourinho - at the top of the Primera Division.
Mourinho had gone unbeaten in his first 19 games in all competitions since joining Madrid in the summer, but the Portuguese was unable to avoid defeat in the biggest one of all as Pep Guardiola maintained his perfect record as Barca coach in El Clasico with a fifth straight victory over Real.
Xavi and Pedro put Barca two up within 17 minutes, while Villa made it a night to remember at a packed Camp Nou with two goals early in the second half and substitute Jeffren Suarez added a fifth right at the end.
To add insult to injury for Madrid, they finished the match with ten men after Sergio Ramos pushed Carles Puyol in the face late on.
It was some revenge for Barca - and Guardiola - after Mourinho, then coach of Inter Milan, knocked the Catalan side out of the Champions League at the semi-final stage last season here.
Mourinho handed a rare start to France striker Karim Benzema, out of favour for most of this season, after Gonzalo Higuain failed a late fitness test. Guardiola, though, was able to field his strongest XI, which of course included Lionel Messi.
And the Argentina winger, yet to score against a side coached by Mourinho, almost did so after five minutes, when he beat Madrid 'keeper Iker Casillas with an exquisite chip from a tight angle, only to see his effort rebound off the post.
But four minutes later, Barca did go ahead.
Andres Iniesta's perfectly-weighted through-ball found Xavi and the midfielder took one touch to control, albeit with some fortune, before clipping the ball past Casillas on the volley from close range.
Angel di Maria tested Victor Valdes with a stinging effort at the other end two minutes later, but Barca made it 2-0 in their very next attack.
It came after 17 minutes and was scored by Barca's number 17 - Pedro. The Spain forward was left with a simple tap-in from close range after Casillas failed to deal with Villa's low cross from the left.
That followed a long passing move from the home side and the Catalans looked good for their lead.
An unseemly brawl followed after half an hour, when Cristiano Ronaldo pushed Guardiola in the chest, with the Barca coach having refused to hand the ball to the Portugal winger on the touchline. Ronaldo was shown the yellow card and received huge jeers every time he touched the ball after that.
The former Manchester United forward came close with a free-kick later in the half and also saw a decent penalty appeal turned down after he went to ground following a challenge with Valdes. Messi was booked for simulation a minute before the interval for exaggerating a foul by Ricardo Carvalho.
Barca began the second half brightly and after Xavi and Villa missed good chances early on, the latter made it 3-0 with only 54 minutes on the clock.
The Spain striker latched onto Messi's pass and beat Casillas with a clinical finish in the area, although he looked to be marginally offside when the ball was played.
The same combination made it 4-0 three minutes later as Messi set up Villa once more and the former Valencia forward slid the ball through Casillas' legs as the 'keeper came out to narrow the angle.
The Camp Nou was rocking after that and Barca dominated right until the end. Substitute Bojan Krkic saw his fierce effort saved by Casillas and was unable to stay on his feet as he raced clear moments earlier.
But Jeffren, who replaced Pedro with three minutes left, did make it five in added time when he clipped the ball past Casillas from close range after a low cross from the right.
Madrid's misery was compounded right at the end as the visitors finished the game with ten men after Ramos hit out at Puyol and was shown the red card.
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(1 month ago)
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(1 month ago)
Roger Federer wins fifth ATP Finals title Roger Federer beats Rafael Nadal. 6-3 3-6 6-1
LONDON -- Roger Federer turned his high-profile, season-endi...
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Roger Federer wins fifth ATP Finals title Roger Federer beats Rafael Nadal. 6-3 3-6 6-1
LONDON -- Roger Federer turned his high-profile, season-ending match against Rafael Nadal into little more than an exhbition.
Federer gave his rival little chance to mount a challenge in the 22nd meeting between two of the greatest players of all time, winning his fifth season-ending title 6-3, 3-6, 6-1 at the ATP World Tour Finals on Sunday.
Federer won an incredible 92 percent of the points played on his first serve in the final, and lost only 13 points on serve in the entire match.
"I was able to stay offensive. Rallies were never that long," said Federer, who has won the season-ending tournament in Houston, Shanghai and London. "That kind of maybe frustrated him."
Nadal, the top-ranked Spaniard who won the French Open, Wimbledon and the U.S. Open this year, was able to break Federer once in the second set, but he appeared to tire as the match wore on. On Saturday, Nadal spent more then three hours and three sets beating Andy Murray to reach the final of the tournament for the first time in his career.
"I know I didn't spoil his vacation after this because he's had an amazing year," Federer said. "A year that any player dreams of."
The win cut Nadal's career record to 14-8 against the second-ranked Swiss player. In Grand Slam finals, Nadal is 5-2 against Federer, but Federer has now beaten Nadal all three times they have faced each other in the final tournament of the season.
In the first set Sunday at the O2 Arena, Federer lost only three points on his serve, and broke Nadal once. He then lost five points on serve in both the second and third sets, but four of them came in one game, giving Nadal his only break of the match.
"I don't want to say I gave it to him, but obviously Rafa is good enough off second serves he's going to win at least 50 percent off them usually, unless you're on a roll and he doesn't kind of figure out your second serve," Federer said. "But at that point, he was into the match. He knew the importance of it. He was able to find a way to break me in that game."
The decisive shift came early in the third set on Nadal's serve with the Spaniard trailing 2-1. He took a 40-15 lead when Federer sent a return long, but Federer then reeled off the next four points -- the last when Nadal sent a forehand wide -- to earn the break and essentially end Nadal's chances of winning.
On match point, Federer hit a forehand winner on the line, but the crowd apparently thought the ball was out as they sat quietly in the arena. Then Nadal started coming to the net to shake hands with Federer, who raised his arms in victory to set off a standing ovation.
Federer has won a record 16 Grand Slam titles, the last coming at this year's Australian Open, and he and Nadal have combined to win 21 of the past 23 majors.
"Everybody saw the match of yesterday, so everybody's free to think his own opinion," Nadal said. "I'm not going to say I lost the match because I was tired. What I'm going to say and what I feel is I lost the match because I played against a very good Roger Federer in one of his favorite surfaces. And when he's playing like this, it's very difficult to stop him, no?"
After ending his semifinal streak at major championships at Roland Garros and then faltering at the last two Grand Slam tournaments, Federer has played some of his best tennis of the year this week in London.
He won all three of his round-robin matches in straight sets, and then swept Novak Djokovic on Saturday to reach the final.
"You played unbelievable all during the week," Nadal said to Federer on court after the match. "So well done for everything."
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you should follow asian cup that is happening now