Rob Wood

Rob's Sports, Fitness & Science Blog

Entries from September 19th, 2006

Hewitt in Danger

September 19th, 2006 · No Comments · Tennis

Lleyton Hewitt arrived in Buenos Aires Argentina on Sunday night for a Davis Cup tie, accompanied by two personal security guards. He has previously been abused and felt threatened by the Argentinean supporters, but it seems like overkill to me. If he was not popular with the Argentinean fans and players before now, this will certainly not make it any better. David Nalbandian, who Hewitt beat to win his Wimbledon title in 2002, has said that none of the other players like Hewitt, and out on the court this animosity may be the extra fuel that players need to beat him.

Related Pages: Davis Cup, Tennis, Lleyton Hewitt profile

Tags:

Beach Cricket

September 8th, 2006 · No Comments · Cricket

In the upcoming Australian cricket summer there will be three beach cricket internationals – between Australia, England and the West Indies. The matches will be played in temporary beach stadiums, in Coolangata Queensland, Scarborough Western Australia and Maroubra New South Wales. Each team will comprise six players, including some of the greats of world cricket. It will be great to see these guys in action again, and having a bit of fun too.

Australia: Allan Border (c), Dean Jones, Mark Waugh, Kim Hughes, Damien Fleming, Jeff Thomson, Dennis Lillee.
West Indies: Courtney Walsh (c), Desmond Haynes, Richie Richardson, Phil Simmons, Jimmy Adams, Curtley Ambrose, Joel Garner.
England: Graham Gooch (c), Robin Smith, Allan Lamb, Graeme Hick, Mark Ramprakash, Adam Hollioake, Darren Gough.

The rules for these matches with be similar to those we are used to when visiting the beach with some mates. To make it more interesting and entertaining for the crowds, the games will be played on plastic matting to give the ball some bounce, and a special beach cricket ball will be used that is loaded on one side to increase swing.

Related Pages: About Cricket, Beach Cricket,

Tags:

Agassi Out

September 4th, 2006 · No Comments · Tennis

Andre Agassi’s long and very successful career is now over. He played his final match on Sunday, September 3, 2006, losing to Benjamin Becker in four sets in the third round of the U.S. Open. He is 36 years old, having turned professional at aged 16. I must say that I was not too impressed with him early in his career – he seemed like a spoilt brat. This may have been a result of his missed childhood as he was drilled as a tennis player from an early age. He is reaping the rewards now, and over time he has mellowed to be a very respected player around the world. His bald head will be sadly missed on the tennis court. Now we wait for the day the super player children that he and his wife Steffi Graf have produced to make it to the court.

Related Pages: US Open, Tennis, Andre Agassi profile

Tags:

Interstate Domination

September 2nd, 2006 · No Comments · AFL

The Australian Rules Football home-and-away season is over and it looks like it is going to be another finals campaign dominated by the interstate teams. It is an interesting term, ‘interstate teams’, as it is supposed to be a nationwide competition, yet any team that is not based in Victoria is classified as such. This year, there are only four Victorian teams in the final eight, and after the first week of finals there will only be two left, and they face an uphill battle to reach the Grand Final. In addition, there is only going to be three final matches played in Victoria, with the Grand Final one of them. It is great for the competition and for the spread of the game, but in the home of Football it is another disappointment for the armies of supporters.

Related Pages: AFL

Tags: