In sporting heaven

It started at 2:30 pm and ended at 12:30 in the night. 10 hours of pure sporting bliss, that left me totally exhausted from all the adrenalin rush at various times.

It started with the Motogp. The 125 cc race was thrilling with over 8 riders all within 2 seconds of each other. The amazing thing is just how these kids (most are below 20 years) race so fast and so close without crashing or falling. This year, I’ve felt that the 250 cc races were even better and closer than the 125, but it was not to be yesterday. Though Lorenzo had 2 riders close to him until the very end, I always felt that he had enough in reserve and I was proved right in the end.

Motogp was thrilling as always. Even when the racing is not close, it’s a privilege to see a magician like Rossi. He now has two worthy opponents in Stoner and Pedrosa. Rossi’s Yamaha was able to keep up with Stoner when he was in the slipstream. But, when he moved to the front, it was a different story, Stoner just motored past. Still, it was a lot closer than in the first round at Qatar where the difference was just stark. The problem for Rossi is that Stoner is almost as fast as him through the twisty bits and on the straight, it is a no-contest. So, Rossi always has to push over 100%, whereas Stoner looks more calm and composed on his bike. The last 10 laps were truly edge-of-the-seat stuff, some of the best racing I have seen (I seem to say this of almost every single Motogp race)

The amazing thing about the events yesterday was the timing. The motogp finished at around 6:15, just in time for the French open final to start. I missed the first 5 games as I had to go out and complete the weekly shopping. The match was a bit of a letdown. The tennis was brilliant, with both players producing some amazing shots. But, I felt that Federer just made too many unforced errors and his first serve % wasn’t good enough. Also, a theme I’m always noticing when I see Federer play is the commentators complaining about how his game is a little predictable and how he should mix it up a little more. I tend to agree, for someone who has won Wimbledon for the last 4 years and has such a good serve-and-volley game, he really doesn’t come into the net as often as he can. I feel that he needs to dig deep and do something different, his current style of play is just not good enough to get the better of Nadal on clay. Sure, he’ll beat him (and everyone else) everywhere else, but then he really wants to win the French more than anything else.

I was expecting a lot from the Formula One race, but it was a bit anti-climactic. There was a lot of drama with the various safety car periods which really screwed up the race for many of the drivers (especially Ferrari). But really the racing was just not there at the front. Mclaren now seem to be much faster than Ferrari on race pace and BMW too seem to have the edge. Kimi really needs to pull up his socks, I can’t believe that this is the same driver who famously caught and overtook Fisi in Suzuka 2005. He seems so lackluster and definitely not worth the gazillions that he is being paid at Ferrari. The moment of the race for me was when Sato caught and overtook Alonso. Who would have thought this would happen? I was also really worried that Kubica would have a serious injury or even worse with his accident, but amazingly he was totally unhurt. Just shows how strong the cars are today.