I've decided to write a post about Andre Agassi's new book titled 'Open'. In this book Andre, brings up some pretty controversial things. Substance abuse, his marriage with Brook Shields, being pushed into tennis by his father, and he even admitted to having worn a wig during the 1990 French Open Final.
In addition to all of those things, Andre, also confessed to having a deep, secret hatred for tennis, brought about by his father's incessant need for him to become a pro. According to Andre, he didn't even want to go pro, but his dad never gave him a choice about it. It all started for him, when he was a small kid. Andre's, father made him practicing returning 110 mph balls, against a mechanically altered ball machine. As Andre got older, his father, would bribe him to skip school, in order to practice more tennis. Andre, said that his dad didn't think much of education and encouraged Andre to scorn it as well. Andre's dad put so much pressure on him to perform, that he began to hate tennis, this anger towards tennis continued into his adult years and was one of the main reasons for his inconsistency. Andre, didn't want to be a tennis player and he didn't care if he did well at it, it was just something that he had to do.
Unfortunately, this probably happens to a lot of kids, who's parents force them into sports or competitions. There's so much pressure to perform that they get fed up with it and rebel against their parents. I'm sorry to hear this happened to Andre Agassi, considering the stories that I've heard about Andre's father smashing his fourth place trophy when he was 10 years old, I can understand why Andre wouldn't have enjoyed tennis.
Now as for Andre's drug abuse that's completely different. The media has been making a huge deal out of this, we've had tennis players, both current and past who have been giving their opinions on it, in fact pretty much everyone has an opinion on this. I personally, am disappointed but not altogether surprised that he resorted to drugs, during the low point of his tennis career. Things, weren't the way Andre wanted them to be and he was severely depressed. so when his assistant offered him some crystal meth, he decided to take it, thinking that his life couldn't get any worse.
While, I can understand Andre's desire to get out of his depressed state, it doesn't change the fact that he was using an illegal substance, that could debateably be considered a performance enhancing drug. Why didn't the ATP hold him accountable for this? Well it turns out that he did fail one of his drug tests, and they did question him about it, but he made up some story about his assistant slipping meth into his sports drink by accident. Why the ATP bought this story I'll never know. Today, these athletes are tested almost every week for illegal drugs. Just this year, Gasquet had a drug test that turned out positive, for a tiny, tiny amount of cocaine and that resulted in an instant ban for him, until he was able to clear his name. Should Andre receive the same kind of punishment for using crystal Meth. It's been 12 years but it doesn't really seem fair that he should be able to get away without any kind of fine. It's a tough question to answer. Performance enhancing drugs will get you a 2 year ban on the tour and that would strip Andre of his Roland Garros and US Open titles from 1999, as well as his Australian Open title from 2000.
Would this be the right thing to do? I don't know, it seems a bit excessive but then again he did break the rules. This is definitely a tough question to answer.
So I'd like to hear from you guys, what's your opinion about Andre's drug use? Should he be fined, penalized, have his titles taken away or was it just too long ago for it to matter?
Friday, November 6, 2009
Friday, October 30, 2009
Worst tennis video games of all time part 2
Hey guys, I'm back now with part two of this series. Well, so far the games I've reviewed have been awful. Could these next two games possibly be any worse? Let's find out.:)
Game: Tennis
Year: 1989
System: Game boy
In this game, you play as a kid, who's goal is to become the best tennis player ever. To do this, he has to overcome four opponents of various skill levels to become the "Tennis Master" or something like that. Anyway, the serving is much simpler and the groundstrokes and cross court volleys are easy to execute but covering the court is frustrating to say the least. Your character is so slow that it's pointless to rally from the baseline, if you hit a decent shot it will most likely be a winner since neither you nor your opponent are able to run very fast. The best tactic for this game is to just serve and volley. You can do this pretty much all through the game, as long as you have decent serves out wide, you'll have no trouble.
All in all, this one isn't bad but the lack of speed from your character can make it annoying. The controls are also pretty good with this game.
Game: Andre Agassi Tennis
Year: 1993
System: Super Nintendo
This game, is HORRIBLE!! It is so bad and so boring that it's not even worth playing. I am not exaggerating when I say that this game, is the worst tennis game, that I've ever played. Easily the worst. However, I did promise to review this one so, here it goes.
When you first turn on the game you are greeted with pictures of Andre during his early mullet days at Wimbledon, that and some cheesy music. Once you press start you can choose what kind of match you want to play, IE: exhibition, practice, or tournament. You can also choose to be a female tennis player but there's only 2 of them to pick from. I guess the game designers didn't think that girls would buy this, or they would have included a better selection.
Once you start the tournament you can choose what surface you want. There isn't any difference between them, so it doesn't really matter which one you choose. Ok, now we can finally start the match. The first thing that you'll notice, upon starting, is how bad the graphics are. The animation is poor, the characters are not well detailed, and the colors are hideous. In addition to that, the ball bounces like a deflated tire, making it just about impossible to carry on an extended rally. Serving, is annoying because the ball tends to go wide if you hold down the arrow, in the direction that you want to serve. It's better to just toss the ball up and hit it in,without going for precision. The ground strokes, in this game are WORSE than in Top Players Tennis, if you can believe that. You can hit the ground strokes so that they bounce high or drop low and that's it. No slice, no topspin, no underspin, no variety, just high balls and low balls.
If you are somehow able to master the worst controls of all time, you may be able to win the tournament and beat the game. I don't know what happens, I've never been able to do that, I can't win more than 2 games per match and I've tried several times.
This is without a doubt the worst game I've ever played. It's a disgrace that it was ever made. Stay away from this thing, it's just pure junk.
Game: Tennis
Year: 1989
System: Game boy
In this game, you play as a kid, who's goal is to become the best tennis player ever. To do this, he has to overcome four opponents of various skill levels to become the "Tennis Master" or something like that. Anyway, the serving is much simpler and the groundstrokes and cross court volleys are easy to execute but covering the court is frustrating to say the least. Your character is so slow that it's pointless to rally from the baseline, if you hit a decent shot it will most likely be a winner since neither you nor your opponent are able to run very fast. The best tactic for this game is to just serve and volley. You can do this pretty much all through the game, as long as you have decent serves out wide, you'll have no trouble.
All in all, this one isn't bad but the lack of speed from your character can make it annoying. The controls are also pretty good with this game.
Game: Andre Agassi Tennis
Year: 1993
System: Super Nintendo
This game, is HORRIBLE!! It is so bad and so boring that it's not even worth playing. I am not exaggerating when I say that this game, is the worst tennis game, that I've ever played. Easily the worst. However, I did promise to review this one so, here it goes.
When you first turn on the game you are greeted with pictures of Andre during his early mullet days at Wimbledon, that and some cheesy music. Once you press start you can choose what kind of match you want to play, IE: exhibition, practice, or tournament. You can also choose to be a female tennis player but there's only 2 of them to pick from. I guess the game designers didn't think that girls would buy this, or they would have included a better selection.
Once you start the tournament you can choose what surface you want. There isn't any difference between them, so it doesn't really matter which one you choose. Ok, now we can finally start the match. The first thing that you'll notice, upon starting, is how bad the graphics are. The animation is poor, the characters are not well detailed, and the colors are hideous. In addition to that, the ball bounces like a deflated tire, making it just about impossible to carry on an extended rally. Serving, is annoying because the ball tends to go wide if you hold down the arrow, in the direction that you want to serve. It's better to just toss the ball up and hit it in,without going for precision. The ground strokes, in this game are WORSE than in Top Players Tennis, if you can believe that. You can hit the ground strokes so that they bounce high or drop low and that's it. No slice, no topspin, no underspin, no variety, just high balls and low balls.
If you are somehow able to master the worst controls of all time, you may be able to win the tournament and beat the game. I don't know what happens, I've never been able to do that, I can't win more than 2 games per match and I've tried several times.
This is without a doubt the worst game I've ever played. It's a disgrace that it was ever made. Stay away from this thing, it's just pure junk.
Monday, October 26, 2009
Worst tennis video games of all time
Since, this is towards the end of the tennis season and the World Tour Final isn't for a few more weeks, I decided to do a few posts just for fun, to talk about some of the worst tennis video games that I've played. Surprisingly, there's a lot of them.
Now, if you're like me, you pretty much grew up with video games and started gaming at a very early age, with Nintendo, Sega or Playstation. The first system that I ever owned was a Super Nintendo but later on in my early teens I played a couple of the old NES games at a friend's house and two of the games that he had were, Top Players Tennis and Jimmy Connor's Tennis.
Today I'll be reviewing both games for the original Nintendo and just to be fair I replayed them recently and they were just as bad as I remembered.
Now, if you're like me, you pretty much grew up with video games and started gaming at a very early age, with Nintendo, Sega or Playstation. The first system that I ever owned was a Super Nintendo but later on in my early teens I played a couple of the old NES games at a friend's house and two of the games that he had were, Top Players Tennis and Jimmy Connor's Tennis.
Today I'll be reviewing both games for the original Nintendo and just to be fair I replayed them recently and they were just as bad as I remembered.
Game: Top players Tennis
Year: 1990
System: Nintendo
This is the most pathetic excuse that I've ever seen for a video game. When you first turn on the game, you are greeted by an annoying robotic voice which tells you the names of the two pro tennis players, in this game, Chris Evert and Ivan Lendl. When you press start the player select screen pops up and you can play as one of four players, Evert, Lendl, and a really ugly boy and girl. The controls on this game just suck. Your character tosses the ball so high, that it almost goes out of the stadium and it makes the serve extremely difficult to time. You have to start your service motion when the ball is at it's maximum height so it looks like you're swinging at a ball that's over 40 feet in the air. The ground stokes, while confusing, are manageable, but serving, volleying, moving the character, and controlling the ground strokes is a nightmare.
Bottom line, this game just sucks, it's so bad it's worth trying it just for a laugh but don't spend any money on this early 90s piece of junk.
Year: 1990
System: Nintendo
This is the most pathetic excuse that I've ever seen for a video game. When you first turn on the game, you are greeted by an annoying robotic voice which tells you the names of the two pro tennis players, in this game, Chris Evert and Ivan Lendl. When you press start the player select screen pops up and you can play as one of four players, Evert, Lendl, and a really ugly boy and girl. The controls on this game just suck. Your character tosses the ball so high, that it almost goes out of the stadium and it makes the serve extremely difficult to time. You have to start your service motion when the ball is at it's maximum height so it looks like you're swinging at a ball that's over 40 feet in the air. The ground stokes, while confusing, are manageable, but serving, volleying, moving the character, and controlling the ground strokes is a nightmare.
Bottom line, this game just sucks, it's so bad it's worth trying it just for a laugh but don't spend any money on this early 90s piece of junk.
Game: Jimmy Connors Tennis
Year 1993
System: NES
Well, for a game coming out as late as 1993, I would expect something much better than this. The music is so bad in this game that they give you the option to turn it off and the controls aren't much better, although the serve is much easier in this game than in Top Player's tennis. Jimmy's, ground strokes are slow and his primary weapon is some kind of weird slice shot that he can execute if you hold the B button and then release when you're ready to strike the ball. The volleys are very hard to hit unless you are right on top of them but moving Jimmy around the court isn't that bad. He doesn't slide in the same way that Lendl does in the Top Player's tennis game.
The one strange about this game is that it seems to be set in the 70s. Instead of playing with a yellow tennis ball and graphite racquet, Jimmy is back to his old days of wood frames and white tennis balls. The tennis ball is actually too small in this game, it looks more like a golf ball or maybe a wadded up piece of paper. Yeah, that sounds right to me, Jimmy Connors, is beating his opponents with a wadded up piece of paper.
Anyway, this game is pretty bad but it's not terrible. If you can learn to master Jimmy's weird slice backhand then you might have fun with it but it's going to take some work and a few play throughs, it's not something that you can just sit down and completely master in 5 minutes.
Check back for part 2 where I will be reviewing Andre Agassi's tennis for the SNES and Tennis for the original game boy.
Year 1993
System: NES
Well, for a game coming out as late as 1993, I would expect something much better than this. The music is so bad in this game that they give you the option to turn it off and the controls aren't much better, although the serve is much easier in this game than in Top Player's tennis. Jimmy's, ground strokes are slow and his primary weapon is some kind of weird slice shot that he can execute if you hold the B button and then release when you're ready to strike the ball. The volleys are very hard to hit unless you are right on top of them but moving Jimmy around the court isn't that bad. He doesn't slide in the same way that Lendl does in the Top Player's tennis game.
The one strange about this game is that it seems to be set in the 70s. Instead of playing with a yellow tennis ball and graphite racquet, Jimmy is back to his old days of wood frames and white tennis balls. The tennis ball is actually too small in this game, it looks more like a golf ball or maybe a wadded up piece of paper. Yeah, that sounds right to me, Jimmy Connors, is beating his opponents with a wadded up piece of paper.
Anyway, this game is pretty bad but it's not terrible. If you can learn to master Jimmy's weird slice backhand then you might have fun with it but it's going to take some work and a few play throughs, it's not something that you can just sit down and completely master in 5 minutes.
Check back for part 2 where I will be reviewing Andre Agassi's tennis for the SNES and Tennis for the original game boy.
Thursday, October 22, 2009
Nike 2010 line
Well, 2009 is almost at an end and in my opinion this has been one of the worst years for Nike in a long time, there clothes this year have just been weird. However, there is good news, I've seen the new Nike line for next year and most of it looks really nice. Here are the links for the Spring and Summer 2010 Nike line on Tennis Warehouse forums:
http://tt.tennis-warehouse.com/showthread.php?s=fc8b3298f27fe2fe21fa646bfad9c9c3&t=294052
http://tt.tennis-warehouse.com/showthread.php?s=fc8b3298f27fe2fe21fa646bfad9c9c3&t=294052
It seems like Nike has finally gotten away from strange combinations like turquoise with pink and green, or pink with black and yellow and other ugly patterns from earlier this year.
Need I say more.
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
Safin surpises Davydenko in the first round of the Kremlin Cup
Is it just me or does Marat look kind of like Neo from The Matrix in this pic?Despite being just a few weeks away from hanging up his racquet for good, Marat Safin managed to prove that he's still got game by eliminating the recent Shanghai champion and former 3 time Kremlin Cup champ Nikolay Davydenko, in 3 sets. I took a look at their head-to head on the ATP website and I was surprised to see that Davydenko has never beaten Safin on hard courts, yet Safin had never beaten Davydenko on clay. It's strange sometimes how the surfaces can make all the difference in a match.
Anyway, I can't say that this is a particularly huge win for Safin, since he's not going to be around for much longer but it would be kind of cool if he wins the Kremlin Cup, at least that way he can sort of go out with a bang.
Safin, will be missed next year, especially by his fans, but I know that he's ready to go and hopefully his life after retirement, will be easier for him than these last few years on tour have been.
Anyway, I can't say that this is a particularly huge win for Safin, since he's not going to be around for much longer but it would be kind of cool if he wins the Kremlin Cup, at least that way he can sort of go out with a bang.
Safin, will be missed next year, especially by his fans, but I know that he's ready to go and hopefully his life after retirement, will be easier for him than these last few years on tour have been.
Sunday, October 18, 2009
Davydenko defeats Nadal to win Shanghai Open
What a strange tournament it's been. With players retiring left and right, Nadal was able to easily progress into the finals defeating two players who retired half way through the matches with injuries. In my opinion, the ATP has got to do something about these injury problems. Federer, Murray, Roddick, Monfils, are all out with injuries and Nadal has been out a lot this year because of his knees. They need to cut back on the amount of tournaments the players are required to play or at least change things around so that months like August, March, April, June, and May aren't so grueling.
Anyway, as for the match, it was a good one, Davydenko played great in parts, (especially in the first set tie-break) and Nadal was a bit off his mark. This is Davydenko's third ATP Masters series title and it will just about guarantee him a place in the World Tour Finals. In last years Year End Masters Davydenko made the finals. With the fast indoor courts playing well to his game, I think he's got a chance of actually winning the title. For him Roger Federer will be the big problem. In all 12 of their meetings he's never beaten him but Roger has been somewhat vulnerable over the last two years and since he's just coming back from his back injury...well who knows. Good luck with that match Nikolay.:)
Anyway, as for the match, it was a good one, Davydenko played great in parts, (especially in the first set tie-break) and Nadal was a bit off his mark. This is Davydenko's third ATP Masters series title and it will just about guarantee him a place in the World Tour Finals. In last years Year End Masters Davydenko made the finals. With the fast indoor courts playing well to his game, I think he's got a chance of actually winning the title. For him Roger Federer will be the big problem. In all 12 of their meetings he's never beaten him but Roger has been somewhat vulnerable over the last two years and since he's just coming back from his back injury...well who knows. Good luck with that match Nikolay.:)
Thursday, October 15, 2009
Who do you want to win the majors next year?
I've been thinking about this recently and I've been trying to figure out what would be the most interesting match ups for the finals of the grand slams, next year. Obviously the Nadal and Federer matches, would probably first come to mind but I tried to pick other top players who would not only be likely to make the finals but would also be capable of playing a great match.
Well, this is what I've come up with for now, let me know what you think:
Australian Open: Nadal vs Del Potro
Reason: Del Potro killed Nadal in all 3 of their meetings on the fast hard courts this year, but the Australian Open surface is different. It's slower than most hard courts and produces a higher bouncing ball, making it a much easier surface to play on for topspinners. Even though Del Potro still has a height advantage, the slowness of the court combined with the higher bounce would give Nadal a fair chance. In fact this would probably be the most neutral surface that I can think of for these two players to meet on. Neither one would have an overwhelming advantage and it would all come down to who played the better match.
French Open: Nadal vs Djokovic
Reason: Since there's already been 3 Federer/Nadal French Open finals, I decided to make my French Open choice between Nadal and Djokovic. Even though Djokovic, has never beaten Nadal on clay, he's come very close several times. Djoker, frequently takes sets off Nadal and he's even had match points in their meeting in Rome 2008 and then earlier this year in Madrid. I'm not sure if Djokovic, would really do any better against Nadal than Federer would but I would rather see him get a chance to prove himself in the French Open finals. Even if Djokovic, loses in straight sets, I know he would at least put up a good fight.
Wimbledon: Nadal vs Federer
Reason: There's just no question that the Federer Nadal matches at Wimby are classics. I don't know anyone who wouldn't want to see more of them. Regardless of who wins, you know your going to have a great match and that's why I'm picking this for the Wimbledon finals.
US Open: Del Potro vs Tsonga
Reason: This one was a bit tricky for me, but I eventually decided to go with Del Potro to make the finals next year, because I'd like to see him try to defend his title, on the biggest stage of all. As for his opponent, I wanted someone who he hasn't played a bunch of times. That's why I'm going with Tsonga. Ever since making the finals at the Australian Open, Tsonga, hasn't come close to winning a major, but I think that would probably change, if makes the finals at the US Open. Tsonga has done well against the top 3 players and he's got the game needed to win the here. He has a huge serve and a powerful forehand, not to mention great volleys. Making him one of the few real all court players still left on tour. Because his game is well rounded, he doesn't have to rely on any one particular shot, in the way that Roddick relies on his serve, or Gasquet relies on his backhand. Tsonga, should be able to give Del Potro everything he could handle and I'd really like to see this one happen next year.
Well, this is what I've come up with for now, let me know what you think:
Australian Open: Nadal vs Del Potro
Reason: Del Potro killed Nadal in all 3 of their meetings on the fast hard courts this year, but the Australian Open surface is different. It's slower than most hard courts and produces a higher bouncing ball, making it a much easier surface to play on for topspinners. Even though Del Potro still has a height advantage, the slowness of the court combined with the higher bounce would give Nadal a fair chance. In fact this would probably be the most neutral surface that I can think of for these two players to meet on. Neither one would have an overwhelming advantage and it would all come down to who played the better match.
French Open: Nadal vs Djokovic
Reason: Since there's already been 3 Federer/Nadal French Open finals, I decided to make my French Open choice between Nadal and Djokovic. Even though Djokovic, has never beaten Nadal on clay, he's come very close several times. Djoker, frequently takes sets off Nadal and he's even had match points in their meeting in Rome 2008 and then earlier this year in Madrid. I'm not sure if Djokovic, would really do any better against Nadal than Federer would but I would rather see him get a chance to prove himself in the French Open finals. Even if Djokovic, loses in straight sets, I know he would at least put up a good fight.
Wimbledon: Nadal vs Federer
Reason: There's just no question that the Federer Nadal matches at Wimby are classics. I don't know anyone who wouldn't want to see more of them. Regardless of who wins, you know your going to have a great match and that's why I'm picking this for the Wimbledon finals.
US Open: Del Potro vs Tsonga
Reason: This one was a bit tricky for me, but I eventually decided to go with Del Potro to make the finals next year, because I'd like to see him try to defend his title, on the biggest stage of all. As for his opponent, I wanted someone who he hasn't played a bunch of times. That's why I'm going with Tsonga. Ever since making the finals at the Australian Open, Tsonga, hasn't come close to winning a major, but I think that would probably change, if makes the finals at the US Open. Tsonga has done well against the top 3 players and he's got the game needed to win the here. He has a huge serve and a powerful forehand, not to mention great volleys. Making him one of the few real all court players still left on tour. Because his game is well rounded, he doesn't have to rely on any one particular shot, in the way that Roddick relies on his serve, or Gasquet relies on his backhand. Tsonga, should be able to give Del Potro everything he could handle and I'd really like to see this one happen next year.
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