Van Basten II

French fans won't be able to say Cocorico as Tsonga was beaten by Djokovic --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Djokovic Beats Tsonga for Aussie Title By JOHN PYE – 13 minutes ago Novak Djokovic fended off unseeded Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga 4-6, 6-4, 6-3, 7-6 (2) in the Australian Open final Sunday, earning his first Grand Slam title. No. 3-ranked Djokovic's win broke a sequence of 11 straight majors won by either Roger Federer or Rafael Nadal since Marat Safin's triumph at the 2005 Australian championship. Djokovic had not lost a set in six matches leading into the final, including his semifinal win over two-time defending champion Federer. But with Muhammad Ali lookalike Tsonga coming out swinging like he did in his straight-sets upset over No. 2 Nadal in the semifinals, that streak came to a sudden end. The 20-year-old Djokovic rebounded in the second and third sets and after saving a crucial breakpoint in the fourth, clinched his first major at his 13th attempt. He was the youngest player since Stefan Edberg defeated Mats Wilander in 1985 to win the Australian title and the first man from Serbia to win a major. As well as Tsonga, he had to overcome cramps. Djokovic got treatment on the back of his left thigh while holding for a 3-2 lead in the fourth set, then fended off a break point while serving at 5-5. Wanting to finish it off quickly, he raced through the tiebreaker — with some help from Tsonga, who double-faulted to make it 5-1 and then sent a running forehand long to give Djokovic four championship points. He only needed one as Tsonga hit a forehand wide. Djokovic fell on his back, then got up to shake hands with Tsonga and put his arm around the Frenchman. He got on his knees and kissed the court, shook hands with his family, then tossed two rackets into the stands before burying his face in a towel. "First, before I thank everybody in this world, I want to thank everybody in my box, who've supported me all the way through, not just these two weeks, all the way in my life," Djokovic said. "Thank you very much, I love you. "Second of course Jo. Unbelievable tournament and you should be proud of yourself — if he won tonight it would be absolutely deserved, so well done for his success." Djokovic, who has had a hot and cold relationship with the Melbourne Park crowd, won them back over again in his post-match speech. "I know the crowd wanted him to win more," he said of Tsonga. "That's OK, it's alright. I still love you guys, don't worry. "I'm very, very happy that I won my first Grand Slam here, so hopefully we'll see you here on this stage a lot more often in the future." Tsonga, ranked 38th, was playing his fifth Grand Slam tournament and had never previously gone beyond the fourth round. He was aiming to be the first Frenchman in 80 years to win the Australian title and the first to win any of the four Grand Slams since Yannick Noah's win at Roland Garros in 1983. Rod Laver Arena was packed and awash in red, white and blue, the national colors of both countries, but there was little doubt where the rowdy crowd's loyalties lay — with underdog Tsonga, who has delighted the Melbourne Park fans with his ebullient personality and go-for-broke style. A portrait of Ali, a racket sketched in one hand, was taped to a wall, and Tsonga sprinted onto the court for warmups. Djokovic, who had complained after his semifinal victory over Federer that he had to fight two opponents because of the overwhelming support for the Swiss star, was at it again, frequently turning toward a pocket of chanting Serbian fans to get them fired up after he fired winners. Both men looked tight at first, dropping their first service games before settling in. Tsonga suddenly picked up his game when it appeared the first set was headed for a tiebreaker. He blasted three aces to take a 5-4 lead, then came up with two great shots to break Djokovic. Serving at 30-30, Djokovic had an easy overhead, but didn't do enough with it. Tsonga ripped a forehand crosscourt passing shot for a winner, then raised his racket and roared with the crowd. Another good forehand winner finished off the set, and Tsonga went down on one knee to pump his fist before dancing over to his chair to a standing ovation. Djokovic refused to crumble. He never faced a break point in the second and third sets, yielding only 10 points in his nine service games. Tsonga, who had been so aggressive in beating four top 14 players earlier in the tournament, including No. 2 Rafael Nadal in the semifinals, seemed more content to rally from the baseline, especially after getting passed several times. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Couldn't see the game, it was played at 3 am for us. What makes Tsonga intriguing is that he's way better suited for hard courts than clay which setss him apart of other recent French players who generally have their best for clay courts. Although from memory Pioline was getting great results on hard surfaces So you gotta like his chance to have a great run late in the summer and make some moves on the rankings.

http://www.c00lstuff.com/1133/Do_s_and_don_ts_with_babies/

Ty Cobb Sam Crawford Hughie Jennings Pretty sure that those guys weren't Mormons

Rudolph W. Giuliani (it can link with any part of the previous name) Mike Huckabee Mitt Romney

Being your neighbors and will probably get residual crap from this recession, can we get money too.

Considering the few responses it got, guess that Geogia was not on anybody's mind

Am i the only guy who can't wait for Bundesliga to come back in action, their break is way too long Notable games this weekend Saturday FA Cup action Arsenal-Newcastle and my favourite Liverpool playing Havant & Waterlooville In the late game Wigan receives Chelsea Sunday Udinese-Inter Real-Villareal

Gowan Rick Davies Dennis De Young Singers that sound like castrated poodles.

Jack Klugman (As in the tv series Quincy) Tony Randall MR Peepers

Impressive win for Sharapova, boy what a great first serve can do for your game.

somehow you doubt I'm a woman? It's just that when i searched for female members in the search function, your name did not come up. My apologies if i offended you in any way.

Which gender they have selected in their profile ?

Among the few ladies hanging around there is Elissa who comes to mind. There is a function that allows us to know the gender of the members, as long as they gave us the correct info in their profile. http://www.organissimo.org/forum/index.php?act=members

Jimmy Connors John MceNroe Vitas Gerulatis

Bernard Hopkins Marvin Hagler Carlos Monzon

Joyeux anniversaire, mes voeux les plus sincères. Diantre, avec le départ de Brownie est-ce que je deviens le doyen des francos de ce forum ?

Few days after Brad Renfro, that's a shame to see all that wasted talent.

Don't watch much NHL nowadays but have a rooting interest for the Habs and am always pleased in the Leafs misery. In NFL, i cheer for the Steelers, had an alliance with the Bills when Levy was the head coach though, don't like the Cowboys. In futbol, i cheer for the French team and i have all kind of problems with the Italian side. On the domestic side my team in France is St-Étienne while i applaud any disasters done by Marseille. Other favourite domestic sides include Werder Bremen in Germany, Barcelona in Spain and Arsenal in England. My pet peeves are Bayern, Real Madrid and MU and about all the Calcio teams.

Looks like it's time for a separate sports forum. Not a bad idea, not so sure that the action on this board warrants one, think i'll start a thread about that, maybe we'll get as much milleage as the one about the Classical music section

I've noticed that in the sports related threads there is often confusion about the allegiances of certain forum members, sports wise. Thought it would be useful to start a thread that will put it everything in the open. So tell us who are your favourite teams in any sport that you follow closely or not. And also since sports offers us the thrilling joy of having the pleasure of seeing the teams that we hate getting beaten in a cruel fashion, so why not mention the teams that you feel that as much pleasure losing as you see your favourite teams lose. I'll add up mine tomorrow.

Not a Pats fan either, but when you see a team on the verge of doing something special like staying undefeated throughout the season and beyond, can't help for rooting for them. Heck when MU did the treble, i pulled for them and i loathe MU. Just hope that once that they retire they don't act lke assholes about it like the 72 Dolphins did

Is it the first time that two brothers lead as quarterbacks their team to a Super Bowl ?

Miss Goldfrapp will be back with a new album in 2008 and she has apparently ditched out the disco stuff to get back a little closer to the Felt Mountain sound http://www.goldfrapp.co.uk/

Lionel Hampton Milt Jackson Bobby Hutcherson Let's put some good vibes into this thread

Mademoiselle K Mistress Brarbara Ms Dynamite