Cut Roger Federer some slack.

It’s too early to call demise of great Roger Federer, Great champions always bounce back with vengeance .All greats have a slump period when nothing works, you run low on confidence and lucky charm is hard to find, when you needed it most.   Off to a quick start. Federer serving with power, and there’s no sign that his back is bothering him. Although probably the worst thing we could do right now would be to get our hopes up. There are still too many unanswered questions. Will this be one of those days when Federer loses after having match point, like, two times? Or will he instead lose in a way that makes us wish he had lost after having those match points? If and when Federer blows it, will he be sad.What actually letting him down is first serve percentage, you need to keep it above 60 percentage mark to be offensive on first strike if returned.Lack of confidence is quite visible in his shot selection, self doubt that actually tells the poor break point conversion.  But signs are great for him as he looked healthy and fit, another reason for concern; he is hitting winners from uncomfortable positions and missing, forehand breaks down under pressure.  He needs to grind more and construct points and then pull the trigger, right now he is pulling trigger too quick, even rushing to net seems awkward, wait for your chance with good approach shot.He usually comes behind second serve but only will work against weak players, against top ten he will be passed easily, it will work only as a surprising shot, once in a set; I guess. Bigger frame will give Federer a little bit more zip on serve and extra power, but off season will be great time for testing it instead of middle of season, which actually sends wrong vibes to the locker room.
I see lot of positives in his game though, taking ball early on backhand side is good sign. watch out for him in  2014. 

NEWTOWN tragedy - why?

After incomprehensible shooting in Newtown (CT), where parents are hugging their kids more and little tighter , at the same time the gun enthusiasts are admiring their automatic assault rifles (which  only and only will be used for killing scores of people; nothing else). (Gun control and right to bear arms are two darkest corners for US lawmakers) . My plea to all gun lovers, if you love your guns please do love people more.

We all need to be more resilient in this time of crisis; but fundamental question comes to mind; why these acts are so frequent in America?   Is something really wrong with American culture?

Where violent video games are way of life for kids, where you get extra points for pumping seven more bullets to the body of victim; where Grand Theft Auto (IV) is most popular game.

Where, Kim Kardashian and Paris Hilton get a celebrity status overnight, by just making an illicit video.

Where violence is glamorized in movies, if guns are not the problems but for sure guns are the contributor.  

I cannot fathom the pain of suffering Of Newtown people, poor survivors kids will go through post traumatic stress and survival guilt.

What goes in a shooter’s mind? What makes then snap?

Most mass murderers suffer from mental illness, they try to build a legacy by killing scores of people, that is why they choose defenseless targets and they want to create a most talked about situation with shock as a main ingredient.  They fantasize about it and plan it for years.

In united state 17 million kids need psychiatric help as of now, some of the warning signs are learning disability, resentment, lack of empathy, love for destruction, love to inflict pain to others, like to live in isolation.

May be this incident becomes a tipping point , which makes new conversations possible. May lawmakers and society find the answers of these questions and somehow stop these evil acts.  

Federer - Analysis of recent loss of federer in Aus semis - 2012.

Federer recent loss to Nadal in Australian open   semis 2012 was not that bad as score line suggested. Roger was on target in first set, playing aggressive, taking ball on the rise, targeting Nadal’s backhand, in a nutshell there were some missed opportunities by Federer, specially some missed forehands and some lucky and timely forehand passing shot by Nadal made the difference.

 Roger was guarding baseline in the first set and refused to fall backwards on the court but second set onwards after the interruption in the game due to fireworks, Nadal dialed in, hit some really mesmerizing passing shot rattled Federer. Suddenly Federer forgot the gameplan, was approaching net on Nadal’s forehand, shanked balls and missed forehand again and again.

But to me this game was a step forward for Federer although he lost. Going forward I think Federer needs to make some changes when facing Nadal, Nadal being lefty makes it complicated for Federer , Naturally Federer approaches the net after hitting cross court forehand, which usually goes  to backhand side for all other players  but for Nadal it is forehand , where he is capable of  putting  it on a dime even when he is hitting a running forehand. So I think approaching on a backhand side will make a difference.

Roger was missing forehands because he hits it flatter than Nadal and he was trying to finish the points quickly. Against Nadal you always get ready to hit a second shot,

Even though you think you hit a winner already. So really Federer needs to hit high percentage forhands with little bit a margin on  the height and width.

Hitting ball on the rise with Nadal’s heavy topspin was also problem for Federer, resulted many shanks during the game; needs to practice this more often on practice court. This shot is very effective against Novak as he hit flatter than Nadal.

Other reason for shanks may be smaller racquet's head, so may be a little bit bigger racquet's head will make a difference.

Attacking second serve, really crucial for Federer specially on ad court, Federer usually chip it or goes inside out forehand resulting in opening his own court. Needs some tinkering there. please hit the practice court. 
Some of the misses by Roger was good, as when he approched net and fell down on half volley, but then he was reluctant to come in, he was aggressive on backhand slice, even though he missed a few.Those misses were not so bad but timing of those misses were crucial, so taking a calculated risk during
the entire match certainly will pay off.

In a nutshell Roger did pretty good in this match, making some adjustments will make result more favorable for him.  Sticking to his own gameplan  also crucial for Federer against Nadal.

This is only start of the season Federer might rewrite history again this year. All the very best Fed.

Awareness (self) and LOVE @ first sight.

 

How do you really define or understand AWARENESS?

When your observation is without any judgment, without any thought and without any preconceived notion, that moment might be defined as awareness. So, being fully conscious of one’s whole process of thinking, and being able to go beyond that process, is awareness.

Seeing or understanding is not a matter of time, it is not a matter of gradations. Either you see or you don’t see, you must look at the fact without thought. Then there is awareness, a state of attention without a center, without frontiers, where the known doesn’t interfere.

There is understanding only when there is stillness, when there is silent observation, passive awareness. Then only the problem yields its full significance. The awareness of which I speak is of what is from moment to moment, of the activities of thought and its subtle deceptions, fears and hopes. Choice less awareness wholly dissolves our conflicts and miseries.

To keep awareness for longer period of time is highly impossible unless you are a gifted individual, so in a nutshell awareness is alive within the moments of real fast pace.

When you see a tree, behind that observation our thought is running, so our mind is not still, so we may find that moment great or worse based on our thought process and our mental state at that moment. But if we are self aware at that point of time the seeing experience will be different for good or for worse.

Love at first sight might be the example of self-awareness itself, when you fell in love your observations

are without any thought and you may be dumbfounded by that moment or merely by observation, when your mind is still and some of these moments will be  so intense that it  will imprint on your psyche for rest of your life and beyond.

=====================================

मैंने  जिन्दगी को कभी , इतने करीब  से न देखा

जब देखा तो मेरा देखना ही, मुझसे न देखा गया ,

हजारों आसुओं  से सींचा जिसे , वो कैसे  मुरझा  गया

इस तरह मेरा मुस्कराना , मुझसे ही देखा न गया.

जिन उम्मीदों  से , मैंने तुझे इस कदर  तरासा
टूट कर मेरा ही बिखरना , मुझसे देखा न गया.

एक तड़प  थी हमेशा , मेरी हर सिरकत में
इतना बेपनाह सकूंन  देख कर , मुझसे देखा  न गया .

तुझे  आज  तक  चाहकर  भी,  अपने से जुदा न कर पाया
भरी महफ़िल में तेरा   इतना तिरस्कार ,  मुझसे देखा न गया.

एक हलचल थी हमेशा , तेरी हर एक हरकत में

तुझे इस कदर अकेला  मायूस पाकर , मुझसे देखा न गया.

Why Federer is so dominant on indoor hard courts. (According to me..)

Roger finished 2011 season with a high note winning at O2 arena, after finishing a season without a grand  slam  this year, He is 17-0  after the US open, was just a shot away then, going to the US OPEN FINALS last month.

What makes Roger so dominant on indoor hard courts is primarily speed of the courts. Usually indoor hard courts are pretty fast with a surface of lower bounce, Paris masters 2011 was the exception though.

Top spin always gives Roger some trouble, his matches with Nadal were the examples of  severity of  the trouble, even this year O2 arena match with Ferrer , he had some trouble with topspin in the first set.

But hard courts usually do not give extra juice to topspin as a result ball  does not jump that high and it sits well on attacking (firing)  line  of Roger's specially on Backhand side.

·         If you have been watching matches closely this year (last couple of weeks) , Roger was standing right on the baseline and reluctant to fall behind the baseline, most of deep balls he usually plays half volley or on the rise . It does two things in my opinion ; one takes time away from your opponent and you are still standing on base line and you have an upper hand in the rallies. 

·         But if you watch him on grass or clay he cannot guard baseline that dominantly because of uneven bounce of those courts. So low bounce of these courts and not so frequent uneven bounce of these hard courts certainly help him in that sense.

·         Another reason is backhand slice, which he did not use effectively this year but specially in Paris and O2 courts, backhand slice stayed very low and hard to attack, which he used very effectively  this year’s ATP finals.  

·         Court positioning, as I mentioned earlier Roger was standing near the baseline and tried to stay there as much as he could. It also gave him ample time to crowd the net quickly for volleys.

·         His backhand was crisp in all these three tournaments Basel, Paris and London ATP finals 2011.

·         He served very high percentage first serve in last three weeks, which actually gave him some free points on serve. All in all , his forehand was lethal and serves were good enough, which were points of concern this year especially in pressure situation.

Roger mixed his backhand shot selction in the O2 finals , with backhand topspin and slice ofcourse , but in second set against Joe's 135 mph first serve backhand topspin did not work(I Think), so in third set all the retun of serve were backhand slices (worked like a charm I guess) , so may be some work needed in that front for Roger but this is only my observation.

Federer looked really rejuvenated and looked his oldself now, watch out for 2012..King is back.

Aware..

 
you would know the secret of death.
But how shall you find it unless you seek it in the heart of life?
These are the famous lines by Khalil Zibran.

But seriously and take a look at it with different perspective and there will be
some other passages for  ideas that actually opens up.

You cannot be frightened of the unknown because you do not know what the unknown is and so there is nothing to be afraid of. Death is a word, and it is the word, the image, that creates fear. So can you look at death without the image of death?
As long as the image exists from which springs thought, thought must always create fear. Then you either rationalize your fear of death and build a resistance against the inevitable or you invent innumerable beliefs to protect you from the fear of death. Hence there is a gap between you and the thing of which you are afraid.

In this time-space interval there must be conflict which is fear, anxiety and self-pity. Thought, which breeds the fear of death, says, 'Let's postpone it, let's avoid it, keep it as far away as possible, let's not think about it'- but you are thinking about it. .

Most of us are frightened of dying because we don't know what it means to live. We don't know how to live, therefore we don't know how to die. As long as we are frightened of life we shall be frightened of death. The man who is not frightened of life is not frightened of being completely insecure for he understands that inwardly, psychologically, there is no security. When there is no security there is an endless movement and then life and death are the same. The man who lives without conflict, who lives with beauty and love, is not frightened of death because to love is to die.

The core of Hindu mythology is, your attachment to this world is root cause of your fear of death, but if you live fully in this world and you somehow enjoy the beauty of life  then death is merely an event for you.





जिन्दगी है इस कदर उलझी हुयी, कि मैं  आहें  भरता हूँ छुप कर  

वक़्त  है इस कदर हावी  हम पर , कि मैं सांस लेता हूँ गिन कर.  

मेरे वक़्त को तूने   लिख दिया , रूक जा.. ,  कई बार  सोच कर

सवाल एक ही  है तुझसे, क्यों दिया ये  दर्द ,  जिन्दगी दे  कर .

पल गुजरे जैसे  शामे  उल्फत में हमेशा , चैन कभी न मिला उम्र भर  

ऐ मददे  खुदा  मुझे जिन्दगी न लौटा ,पर  कुछ पल लौटा दे सोच कर. 

तूने दी मोहब्बत ,  जिन्दादिली , पर बेरहमी की संतुष्टि,  न दे कर

अगली मर्तबा   नहीं चाहिए संकल्प  , बस संयम देना सोच कर.  

जिन्दा रहे जिन्दादिली में , मशगूल  रहे उम्र भर, एक सच को भूल कर
तेरी एक इसी भूल ने , हजारों को कहा अलविदा , बस एक तेरे को छोड़ कर.

मौत के साथ ही खत्म  हो गए, ये सारे सिलसिले , बस एक लम्हे को छोड़ कर 
जिसे न उजाड़ पाया  जिन्दगी का सच, उसे मौत छोड़ देगी , कुछ सोच कर .   

 

           

          

तलाश

प्रतिबिम्ब/(reflection);

विभ्रम /(hallucinated)

अब तो मौजूदगी का अहसास भी नहीं होता ,उनको छूकर भी

मुझे उन तमाम सर्द रातों ने, इस कदर बेरूखा बना दिया.

अब तो सुबह को  भी रात   का ही, प्रतिबिम्ब नजर आता है

अँधेरी तमाम  रातों ने इसकदर, मुझे आधा अधूरा  बना  दिया.

अपने ही  शहर के इन चौराहों   में, अब रास्तों  का पता नहीं मिलता
मुझे भूले कुछ बेवजह रास्तों ने , एकदम  विभ्रम  बना दिया.

सवालों के हुजूम में ,चिर परिचित  जिन्दगी एक पहेली बन गयी

मुझे झकझोरते  कुछ चंद  सवालों ने, एकदम  बेसहारा  बना दिया.

उस दर की तलाश में , मैंने हजारों लम्हों  को कहा अलविदा    

उस करिश्मे की तलाश ने, मुकद्दर को एक हादसा बना दिया.

उसको पाने की तलाश ने, मुझे अलग किया मेरे साये से
सारी उम्र चलते चलते, मेरा साया,मेरी शामों में छुप गया.