NP: LRC is such a hot song.

sblily: we were talking earlier about rafa's habit of listening to phantom before matches. LOVE the idea of players having their own song. this could be fun to think about.

OK....there's also "I Wanna Be Your Lover".

Actually I love "Little Red Corvette", as Prince numbers go. One of the best along with 1999.

Re my 7:43:

Oh East is East and West is West,
And n'ere the twain shall meet,
'Til Raf and Rog meet presently
In a Centre Court repeat.

With apologies to Kipling. Those so inclined can substitute "Chartrier" for "Centre Court'.

Perhaps this little ditty could be mounted on the Wimbledon Hall wall this year, next to That Other Poem by Rudyard Kipling.

oh Grant. just oh i flove you.

Gotta disagree, Grant. We all know LRC is certainly not about a car. It'd be irony and embarrassment galore.

Rafa needs some Whitney Houston!!!

Not exactly in violet, but in a tender lilac, at RG locker rooms last year:
http://tinyurl.com/pt3w65

Temes Well her Father is also a doctor maybe he can fix his over zealous daughter.

Annie, and it's one of Prince's best tunes.

Ok NP, but can we at least make a video of a bunch of Rafa wedgie-pull moments with The Divinyls' only hit as the score?

Malimeda Oh such great memories

Rafa tender in Lilac

temes: you really think it would work for Rafa to come out to the sound of "I'm Your Baby Tonight" or "All the Man That I Need'?

I guess his KADs could go along with "I Will Always Love You".

Ryota: apparently it's not uncommon for the defending champions to play an early round on the 2nd court. much discussion here earlier about this. I always thought that the defending champ has the honor of playing center court for every match. I was told today that the U.S.open is the only grand slam tourney that still follows this tradition. too bad, isn't it?

Did someone say poetry slam?

Tigress, tigress, burning bright
In the tennis world, at night,
What immortal Rafalite's subjectivity,
Could stop thy fearful objectivity?

In what distant tournament lights
Burnt the fire of thine eyes?
On what surface dare he aspire?
What delays when he tires?

And whose topspin and lack of art
Could twist the sinews of thy heart?
And when thy hands began to type,
What dread Rafa and what dread Rafalites?

Tigress, tigress, burning bright
In the tennis world, at night,
What immortal Rafalite's subjectivity,
Could stop thy fearful objectivity?

Nothing sets you better in the right state of mind before a match than one of Whitney's syrupy inspirational tunes...may I recommend "One moment in time" for Federer before the possible final. Now if it doesn't quite work out he can always listen to "Where do broken hearts go", or "Didn't we almost have it all".

Grant, you have my green light. BTW if you do make one, I don't know you.

Bon Jovi's Blaze of Glory has been appropriate for me during post-Fed trauma. Well, I'm not sure if there's been blazes or glory, but lots of going down ;-).

Annie At the AO the defending champions always start the tournament.

Annie At the AO the defending champions always start the tournament.

Pspace, wasn't expecting Blake from you. Well done.

oops sorry for the double post

Prince made me do it.

Nobody could accuse us of not having a sense of humour, could they? Goodnight and sweet dreams everyone.

Now I think about it, "I Will Always Love You" is perfect for a deliverer of bagels....

No Dolly fans here? How dare you insult Jolene!

I really have no idea why that second Poetry Slam never happened...TWibe members are wasted as tennis commentators.

So whats wrong with Nadal playing on Suzanne Lenglen. Is it higher altitude?

All we need now is for Miss Highpockets to appear

She is a true Gem in the Poetry stakes.

Pspace: Quite nicely done, although your meter and scansion are a bit off the mark. But this is out of date. Didn't I say (at 7:43) that Rafa and Roger are dual Emperors of the tennis world, each worthy (unlike all others) of wearing Rosangel's royal purple. Especially since Madrid, Tigress is well-fed and happy. And fully recognizes Rafa's exalted status and amazing accomplishments. Pax? Or must there be strife between the dual empires. Can't we just all get along? At least until the Finals.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/columnists/paul_kimmage/article6349407.ece

Very nice interview of the iconic Ivan Lendl. (Apologies if this is a repost)

Hmm Rosangel perhaps not those songs...LOL

Hmm Rosangel perhaps not those songs...LOL

imjimmy, I think jewell and maybe a few others linked to it earlier, but that's alright. Nice interview with arguably the most underrated top player of the Open era.

Imjimmy Yes it indeed was a greater insight into Lendl who at times I felt in his career was misjudged.

That was a repost by the way.Dosent matter some people might have missed it.

temes: well there's always "Saving All My Love For You" :) Perhaps the theme song of the 2008 RG final.

We need entrace songs for more players/personalities. May I suggest:

Under Pressure - Andy Murray (at Wimbledon)
Karma Police - Soderling
Idiot Wind - Justin Gimelstob

Orchid, the problem some people have with that is not the altitude, but the fact that a no. 1 player isn't playing on the no. 1 court. Previous posters have explained why it's actually not an affront some people think it is.

Tigress, hehe, I am, of course, on your side as far as rooting interest go, faulty meter and scansion notwithstanding ;-).

Gee Rafa dosent care what court he plays on?

He has played on outside courts at RG before.

Thanks, NP and AM. Agree with your opinions about Lendl. He was also one of the fittest players in his prime.

Pspace: i'm impressed. NP: i'm even more impressed you knew it was Blake. god you people rock.

I didn't realize til now, NP, that the title LRC is not about the car..that makes it even hotter. *fans self*

Orchid: hee hee

espn2 is currently showing the National Spelling Bee. awww.

Grant You indeed are on Fire tonight

Love the song for Justin

"London Calling" for Murray.

NP I am also impressed with your wit and even Humour here today.

Suspicious Minds - any Russian player(not to offend anyone;))

Grant - Idiot Wind for Justin - LOL!!! I needed the laugh. Thanks!

>"Saving All My Love For You" :) Perhaps the theme song of the 2008 RG final.<

Perhaps. But whose 'love' will go to whom in 2009? And please please don't say 'Madrid payback'. '2005-8 RG payback' will be the theme.

NP, imjimmy. I once wrote a post about Lendl's place in the GOAT ladder. Lemme see if I can find it.

Heh, Annie, that's prolly Blake's most famous poem so nothing really too impressive there. BTW you really didn't know LRC was about you-now-know-what? :)

Grant: Queen have some great tennis changeover songs. I wrote last year after the Davis Cup QF in Bremen that their Greatest Hits albums alone might do the business -

Another One Bites The Dust (Rafa at RG)
We Are The Champions
Don't Stop Me Now (Federer stuck at 13)
Play The Game
We Will Rock You
A KInd of Magic
I Want It All
I Want To Break Free (Marat Safin signature tune)
The Show Must Go On
Fat-Bottomed Girls (temes can decide who that one might apply to - it's not uncomplimentary!)
It's A Hard Life

Queen even have a song called "Death on Two Legs" on their "A Night At the Opera" album.

AM, you sound like I'm dead serious all the time. That belongs to a lover of all things Scandinavian.

grant: lol. don't know idiot wind. who's it by?

Annie, Dylan.

More Elvis:

Don't be cruel - any American on clay

NP Now I understand. Thank you.

OK, here's my post on Lendl. U know if you wanna read this:

Anyone who has read the Sampras autobio should know Pete considers Lendl among the top 5 GOATs, along with Laver, Borg, Federer and himself. Like most readers (I assume) I was dismissive at first, but then Pete hurls these stats at ya: Lendl was 22-13 against Connors and 21-15 against McEnroe, and he was also in the USO final eight consecutive years.

That’s when I began to take Pete’s pick more seriously. I mean, just look at Lendl’s top-notch roster: Connors, McEnroe, Wilander, Becker, Cash, Edberg. Only Stefan had a winning H2H against him, and even that’s just by a razor-thin margin (14-13). Throw Borg, Chang, Courier, Agassi and Sampras in the mix, and it’s not hard to see that Lendl may well have had the fiercest competition ever among all the GOAT candidates. The fact that he’s largely responsible for the fitness/power-tennis revolution doesn’t hurt his GOAT ranking, either.

I’m not ready to put Lendl among the Immortals yet, largely ‘cause I can’t see him winning against any of those guys and also Mac playing at their best, but I will say this: Ivan may be the most underrated top player of the Open era.

"That belongs to a lover of all things Scandinavian."

That reminds me, should Scandinavia's #1 have a pop theme, like Abba or Ace of Base? Or maybe some death metal?

Obviously it can't be Polish music.

NP: nope, i didn't! i always pictured prince squeezing into the back seat with all the 'horses' (at least i got that one) that had been there before. but now the song is even better. gotta listen to it now.

Ros: those are great ones, especially another one bites the dust! But it would have to be played post-match.

NP, Orchid.

"don't know idiot wind. who's it by?"

It's Dylan's finest diss track (which is saying something, as he did a LOT of diss tracks).

'crazy train' - jo-willy

Elvis Presley possible tennis songs....

All Shook Up
Hard Headed Woman
You're The Devil in Disguise (sorry, Nole)
Only The Strong Survive
I Got Stung
Viva Las Vegas (Andre Agassi)
Blue Smurf Shoes

I have a question, why Roger is not going to play tomorrow?

Pspace: >Tigress, hehe, I am, of course, on your side as far as rooting interest go,<

oh oh. I forgot that. Upon reconsideration, it was all just perfect.

Expect some "Fearful Symmetry" coming up soon. Rafa stole Roger's Wimbledon crown last year. In return, Roger takes Rafa's RG crown in 2009. They're still Dual Emperors, in any case. But there's only one true Tiger in tennis.

Grant, you're REALLY making it hard for me not to pick a Polish tune.

Annie, Prince, at least at his best, is a superb lyricist. See/listen to Sign o' the Times.

Joe: tomorrow the top half of the draw is playing. No one in Roger's half of the draw is playing except for Rochus and Santoro who haven't finished their match.

Scandinavia's number one should have an Abba theme tune....or possibly a-Ha

a-Ha:
Take On Me

Abba
Fernando (very timely)
Tiger
Waterloo
Super Trouper

Lol Ros at "Fat Bottomed Girls"...I was thinking maybe "I'm Every Woman" or "I will survive" for Rena...lol

NP: Thanks and word for the 8:54 PM. That's one of the reason why the quality of the competition (esp. h2h stats) are so important in the GOAT debate.

Other possible Abba tennis songs....

The Winner Takes It All
The Name of The Game
Voulez-Vous (surely Fabrice Santoro's signature tune)

Yeah, imjimmy. That's why we don't regard Emerson's 12 Slams so highly.

Let It Be - McEnroe

Joe: I think it's because they took 3 days for the first round. Starting with the 2nd round, the two draw halves will play on alternate days, starting with the top half (Rafa's) tomorrow. So Roger and the bottom draw will have two days off and will play on Thursday.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/05/26/AR2009052602063.html

Another article on Nadal. This time from the WashingtonPost.

crazyone, then why Roger played yesterday?

McEnroe's current theme tune (as opposed to that during his playing days) might be Oasis' "Don't Look Back In Anger".

The Roland Garros website is really great...

As regards inspirational music, a while ago Pinky mentioned in his blogs that amongst all that Iglesias, Sainz and Oreja de Van Gogh timeless masterpieces in his ipod there are also "many different national anthems" that he loves.

Talking about eclectic. And unabashed.

Hey, what happened to the Rafa-Jacko comparison? A new theme for Rafa: "Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'," fittingly MJ's best paranoid anthem with the only possible exception of "Billie Jean."

malimada: btw, that rafa lockerroom pic from RG is so lovely.

Malimeda national anthems? LOL That's very unique...I do listen to the Star Spangled Banner, God Bless America and America the Beautiful quite often but only because Miss Houston sang(I mean sang) them. lol

NP: So agree. Emerson's Grand Slam record of 12 was probably the emptiest record in all of sports (even including American steroid baseball records) because he won nearly all of them in that strange interim in the '60's when the top players (including Laver and Rosewall) were absent. Sampras ended the embarrassment when he got his 13th in 2000. Fed further helped by pushing Emerson into third place last year.

Rafa and Michael Jackson:

Working Day and Night
Thriller
Off The Wall (Tim will approve)
Bad (Tigress will approve)

Just had a chance to watch a little of Caro's match. She was great in that last set and showed why she's a top ten player and why there is so much buzz about her. I love the way she blew kisses to the French crowd. She really is something special. Go Caro, Scandinavia's#1, winner of 4WTA titles, 2OO8, new comer of the year and the FIRST Scandinavian girl to be ranked in the top ten.

Against all odds(Phil Collins) - Bartoli

Tigress, Roy actually got his handful of wins over Laver and Rosewall. He's just not in their league, of course.

Rosangel, you do know "Bad" isn't what it usually means, right?

Anne Keothavong - Love Me Two Times

Does any1 know why Novak's presser is not up? Did he not do press, because of the short match today? Surely, it can't be that no one showed up to his presser.

He also has "dirty diana" that's paranoid and rageful. i don't think the rafa - mj comparison will ever get real traction because alot of mj's problems stem from his horrible childhood and family. rafa's childhood and family are by all accounts very happy and settled. what made me initially think of jacko in terms of rafa, was on hearing he got scared being alone at night, i was thinking about the growing up in the public eye thing. but rafa didn't grow up in the public eye like jackson. not even close.

Geez, the Magic's perimeter shooting scares me. This is why I actually think the Cavs will be an easier matchup for the Lakers.

NP: I'm taking the song titles literally today...

I don't think that "Emmo" was in any way disrespected by his contemporaries - far from it.

Annie the spoilsport.

Material Girl, Papa Don't Preach, Vogue - Sharpie

NP - Also, Lebron is tired from carrying his team around for 90-odd games.

Gotcha, Rosangel. And right, Emmo wasn't a 2nd-rater. Just a notch below the 2 Aussie legends.

Yeah, Grant. Especially Mo is letting down LeBron and the rest of the team big time, though today he seems to be shooting better.

See where we are talking about poetry and music so here is one from me.
Since Hott Sauce has been around Camilla Belle, Ana Ivanovic, and Caroline Wozniacki(sorry Samantha Elin), here is a potential song : 777-9311 (Morris Day and the Time).

Annie, TTC did a little special on Rafa, showed some pictures of him when he was a little boy, very cute baby pictures of him, and said how he worships his uncle Tony because Uncle Tony once predicted that Lendl would retire from a match before he did. Nice to see they are so close. Go Caro, Scandinavia's#1, world's#1O!

@PSpace : Strangely, the interview is available in French, but not in english (that's really odd, because there is no translation to make to have it available in english).
I guess it will be available soon in english, but if you want to check, here's the link for the french interview : http://tinyurl.com/qk8tc5

And the google translation of the transcript :

Interview with Novak Djokovic

N. Djokovic / N. Lapentti

6 / 3 3 / 1 (abandoned)

Q. Hello. Do you think you had control dumatch when he had his little injury?

R. I think what conditions were difficult and strange for the game in general. Ona because the wind was very fickle, very violent. You can not savoirquelle trajectory will take the ball. We must remain focused. That is the reason why I made more mistakes than usual direct. Ilm'a took a little longer to find the rhythm, but the second setj'ai very well. 4 games of the second, I very well enchaînémalheureusement the match ended in this way. I talked to my opponent, he told me that there was no reason to play because he could not pasbouger.

Q. You t'étais says: I'm glad passerce first round but perhaps you would want to spend 40 minutes plussur short?

R. Bienévidemment I wish I was hitting the ball more, spend more detemps on the court, but on the other hand, there has been little short of échangessur because the conditions were very bad.

Q. Novak Hi, I spoke with other personnesqui were in the tournament in Belgrade, you said it was a remarkable experience àfait but also characterized by stress because there are a lot of demands, responsibilities for you not?

R. For the first time in the history of tennis in Serbia, we have organized untournoi ATP. Obviously, for us as a rule for myself, mafamille and for all other players who came was véritablementun challenge. In addition, many people attended mesmatches. It is true that expectations were very high. The pressure aussiétait strong. But it is an event held for the first fois.C It was a strange feeling because I've never played in front of my fans in the country part of an ATP tournament. I have not practiced my meilleurtennis but winning tournaments. It was a little stressful vraiparce is that I had to assume responsibilities on the court and outside Ducourt. But generally, I would say that this experience was trèspositive, all persons who attended the tournament letournoi loved. People from abroad have loved the tournament, etl'organisation was absolutely incredible for the first edition of cetournoi ATP.

Q. Over the past few weeks. You're trèsbonne form on clay, are you number 2 or 3 on cettesurface?

R. I The same question arises with each press conference. You know, there is a classement.Je am number 4 in the standings. And number 4 endpoint. Pasparler we do that! I am very happy with my performance on earth battuepour yet. For major tournaments, I showed consistency, consistency. It is not for me to judge if I'm 2, 3 ou4 on this surface. It is not for me to do so. I try to alleraussi far as possible in the tournament and I hope I'll manage to franchirce last cap.

Q. If you come back to the number 3 spot in the place of Andy, is this a motivation?

R. It untournoi Grand Slam, which lasts two weeks, we can not predict the results and anticipate what will happen. We can say that 2 or 3 joueurssont able to reach the quarters and semi finals. Comprendreque but it takes a lot of players are very dangerous during the first rounds. Arestrategicinstitutions This matches the best of five sets, it must be sharp, psychologically and mentally strong in order to focus on durée.C That is why the Grand Slams are unique. But I would say that sij'avais the opportunity, I play the best players in the world. Ceserait quite a challenge.

Q. With your new physical trainer, on the physical saitque can hurt.

R. Indeed, I am now suffering.

Q. What makes you to be a very physical point of view and how does it take to get ready physically pourfranchir a quarter.

With R monnouveau physical, what I like is that s'attachebeaucoup to detail. He analyzes things, small details that make the difference, which are very important for the fitness of a player holding. It is true that my physical trainer has worked with Thomas Muster ily a 10 or 15 years is someone who is familiar with tennis, tennis whoever. And that's good. I'm happy, we travaillonsensemble last month. We obtained good results. Physically, jesuis very sharp and I hope that this will continue.

Q. Do you exercise cardiology, lift weights studies?

R. Pouvezpas you do you expect that I give you an answer, we all have secrets nospetits in this area.

Q. You talked less important players. Tuvas perhaps play against Dabul who beat Nadal.

R. He battuNadal when?

Q. He beat Nadal at the BennyBerthet day at Roland Garros. What do you think?

R. It is a matchd'entraînement not an official match. I do not know this player Dabul too, but I know it is a specialist in clay.

He won the first round sonmatch?

Q. He still plays. Yes

R. It must passous belittle players, and my favorite role in tournaments auxquelsje involved. There are a lot of waiting. The pressure is strong. Considering the form that I have, everyone expects that I win. But once moreover, take each player very seriously. Nothing is taken for granted.

MA, hard to top that. Good call.

This is how you can tell English is a second language, Patrick, I don't get it, what does the phone number have to do with Caro and the other girl's he has dated???

By the way, you crack me up will all those players songs.

I'll come with
You can't always get what you want - Any player (but Roger is the one who comes in mind the most easily with RG on)