Congratulations to David Nalbandian. The new tennis superhero thrashed Rafa Nadal to win the Paris Masters. I am sure next year all top male athletes won’t withdraw from Paris Masters since this is how the award ceremony looks like in Paris. Not bad. Borat would even say “Niiiiiiiiiice.”

Good strategic move by the tour organizers. They can rest assured that this trick won’t be copied at the U.S. Open (or at Wimbledon) since it can result in banning tennis as a sport! We don’t need multiple nipplegates in the U.S.

Oops, I digressed.

Nadal and Federer must be calling now to all other six participants of the Masters Cup and pleading them not to withdraw. Nalby is the first alternate there. Let’s wait and see if he can be as lucky as in 2005. One of the rumors is that Davydenko might not be there, but given his tour history, I don’t think he will ever skip such a lucrative event.

Just give your body some rest Kolya! It is not an eternal machine.

If your TV stations don’t carry Paris Tennis Masters tournament, watch it online for free: http://channelsurfing.net

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David Nalbandian’s brilliant run continues. Today he crushed local favorite Richard Gasquet in just over an hour. After the match Gasquet himself admitted that Nalbandian is playing better than Roger Federer at the moment, and he had never played such a strong opponent before. Tomorrow Nalbandian faces Rafael Nadal in the final of the Paris Masters. David is going for a second straight Masters title after winning in Madrid last month, where he dominated Nadal 6-1, 6-2 in the quarterfinals. It will be a great and entertaining match. I am just thrilled to see Nalbandian back in the spotlight with his smart and interesting game.

Media and tennis blogosphere are a buzz about Nalbandian’s resurgence. Here are some excerpts from popular tennis blogs:

Peter Bodo’s Tennis World:

“David Nalbandian is not in the running for a place in Shanghai, but he is sizzzzzling. So he’s next best thing to king - he’s a potential kingmaker. Enjoy the tennis, everyone!”

Read more »

Not a good day for Swiss tennis fans.

Argentine David Nalbandian beat Roger Federer for the second time in less than two weeks, earning a 6-4, 7-6 (3) victory in the third round of the Paris Masters. This is becoming business as usual for Nalby, read the full story here.

I only can say, “Vamos Daveeeeed!” Sorry, when it comes to Nalbandian, I can’t even pretend that I am impartial, because I am very, very, very biased. “The crazy fan” mode takes over my brain.

Let’s get to the juicy news . Former world number one women’s tennis player Martina Hingis of Switzerland has announced her retirement AGAIN but this time in a new “fashion.” She is accused of using cocaine during Wimbledon 2007. Read more »

Though I don’t know what they are singing about, I find this video hilarious! David’s singing is as good as my tennis skills

Technorati Tags: David Nalbandian, Roger Federer

Congratulations to David Nalbandian! With all the victories this week, he made a statement. When he wins it means he is a better player, not because his opponent is “injured,” “tired,” or in a “bad mood,” the way media almost always explains Nalbandian’s wins. Federer looked so dejected and angry on the bench after the loss.

P.S. By the way, I can officially assure that “Donut David” nickname is no longer accurate. He looked very fit and his infamous stomach is now flat which was seen by millions of fans on TV

(Photo by Jasper Juinen/Getty Images)
Technorati Tags: David Nalbandian, Roger Federer

Another great win by Argentine David Nalbandian. The 25-year-old unseeded Nalbandian outclassed world No 3 Novak Djokovic with a 6-4 7-6 victory to reach his first final of the year. As I said in my previous post, the guy can beat anyone on any surface IF he is in the zone. This week has been his “Zone” week.

Nalbandian’s main weakness has been his inability to close matches and win on important points. He has always been underestimated by the media and experts. He is not media favorite because he doesn’t have typical marketable personality and doesn’t like talking to them after he loses matches (his press conferences are just awful). Since I am a biased Nalbandian fan, I attribute it to the language and cultural barrier he has with English-speaking crowd:-) Otherwise he is quite nice and friendly when he speaks Spanish:-) Still I think David needs a PR consultant to better market his image.

Peter Bodo’s blog reveals a nice secret about David. His full name is … (are you ready for this?) Gervasio Esteban David Ezequiel Nalbandian.

Gervasio Esteban David Ezequiel Nalbandian will face world number one Roger Federer in Sunday’s final.

David Nalbandian, former No 3 and currently ranked No. 25, crushed second seed Rafael Nadal 6-1 6-2 in the quarterfinals of the Madrid Masters. The match was over in just 1 hour and 33 minutes. While most of the media coverage explains Nadal’s loss as a result of post-Murray-match-fatigue-syndrome, I don’t understand why Nalbandian is always so underestimated. When he is in the zone he can beat anyone on any surface, even Roger Federer. He did beat Federer to win the Masters Cup in 2005 - a fact which the commentator on Tennis Channel chose to ignore by saying “this was David’s greatest win in his career.” ?????
When he beat Federer in a five-set thriller in the Master’s Cup final in 2005, everybody was talking about Federer’s post injury condition. David has been a consistent top ten player for several years though he is having a lousy season this year. If you ask me he is one of the talented players who didn’t win a Grand Slam, and who is consistently being ignored by media (thanks to his awful press conference skills:-)

The question is which David is going to show up at tomorrow’s match with Novak Djokovic.

(Photo by Jasper Juinen/Getty Images)

Peter Bodo at Tennis.com discusses on ESPN Tennis site about their recent findings on how efficient the tennis players are on Grand Slams. The rating that they came up with is pretty interesting. Here are some of the surprises and non-surprises that they have unraveled.

Non-Surprises:

Roger Federer (surprise!) is atop the leaderboard, averaging 4.09 wins per Slam. That’s a statement on something many of us forget: Roger’s “slow-start” as an impact player. Those first 16 slams, in which Federer never reached a quarterfinal, pull down his average — although he is still averaging one win per Slam more than did Pete Sampras. The overall Open era leader is Bjorn Borg, with a whopping 5.22 average.And consider this: for all the grief Andy Roddick takes for being unable to beat Federer, or failing to add a second Grand Slam title to his collection, his average of 3.07 wins over 27 majors leaves him third, behind Federer and Rafael Nadal. Dude ain’t into sunscreen, I guess.

Surprises:

David Nalbandian. Despite having a reputation for choking or mailing in sub-par performances at majors, Nalby, while ranked No. 23, has averaged three wins per slam (in 24 appearances). This represents a higher percentage than either James Blake (No. 6, but with a paltry 1.74 wins per slam) or Lleyton Hewitt (now No. 21, but a former No. 1 whose career average in Slams is 2.97).

No. 4 Nikolay Davydenko has played in 27 majors, but his average is an anemic 1.85. It may be cold comfort for Kolya the Obscure, but current No. 12 Ivan Ljubicic stinks out the big joints even worse than Davydenko. Although he finished 2006 at No. 5, Ljubicic doesn’t even average a win per Slam (.97).

The full post is at ESPN Tennis Blog.