The Rafa-Less 2011 ATP World Tour Championships, The Finals!

(To the victor goes the spoils, and several tons of confetti!)

Woohoo! Roger Federer beat Jo-Wilfried Tsonga 6-3, 6-7 (6), 6-3 for a record sixth title in the ATP World Tour Finals.This marks Roger's 70th title in his career. Simply amazing. Well done, Fed!

It looked for a moment like Tsonga might repeat his come-from-behind Wimbledon victory over Fed after taking the second set tie break, but Fed reclaimed dominance in the third. Federer really was a cut above everyone else this week. He never lost a match, looked fresher than the three higher and (much younger) seeds and was just his usually elegant and awesome self. It's really been an amazing end of the year for, Roger. You're making 30 look like the new 20, FedEx! Thanks for that!

Now Fed can go relax with his lovely wife and kids, Murray and Djokovic can recover from their physical problems, and Rafa can go play some MORE tennis this weekend in the Davis Cup Final for Spain against Argentina and hopefully regain some mental edge with some victories there. Vamos!

The Rafa-Less 2011 ATP World Tour Championships, Semifinals

(Fed can beat you with his eyes closed.)

Semifinal Results!
Federer def. Ferrer 7-5, 6-3
Tsonga def. Berdych 6-3, 7-5

This year's ATP Finals bring more career milestones for Fed! He has now reached his 100th career final by beating Ferrer. If he wins tomorrow he'll claim his 70th title for his career and a record sixth season-ending tournament title.

Tsonga is into the final for the first time, in only his second appearance here. Good for him!

With this win, Federer climbs past Andy Murray to No. 3 in the year-end rankings, with Djokovic and Nadal keeping their No.1 and No. 2 positions respectively. That feels more right to me. I didn't like seeing Federer ranked below Murray. Fed's got 16 Grand Slam titles and Murray has zero. I'm just saying.

Federer becomes the fifth player to reach 100 finals in the open era, joining Jimmy Connors (163), Lendl (146), John McEnroe (108) and Guillermo Vilas (104). 

Federer has really been on fire through the end of the season. It would be wonderful to see him finish off the ATP Finals on top again and I hope he makes it! He's already beaten Tsonga once here, but Tsonga is tricky! He's bested Federer before. He knows what he needs to do. We'll just have to see how it goes! I'm rooting for you, Fed!

Rafa & The 2011 ATP World Tour Championships, Round 3

(Tough times for Rafa. I will have to rename the blogpost for the semis...)

Oh, boy. Here's how the groups were ranked at the end of the 3nd Round of Round Robin:

Group A:
2-1 David Ferrer - ESP - Semifinalist!
2-1  Jurgen Melzer - GER - Semifinalist!
1-2 Novak Djokovic - SRB
1-2 Andy Murray -GBR / Janko Tipsarevic SRB

Group B:
3-0 Roger Federer - SUI - Semifinalist!
2-1 Jo-Wilfried Tsonga - FRA - Semifinalist!
1-2 Our Hero, Rafael Nadal ESP
0-3  Mardy Fish - USA

So in a surprising twist, the top 3-ranked players in the field will not make it out of round Robin play. Djokovic, Nadal and Murray all were upset by lower-seeded players. Murray got injured and replaced, Djokovic admittedly ran out of gas after having such a successful season, and Rafa has seemingly misplaced his explosive on-court nature. I feel for him. I hope he has a good showing at the David Cup Finals and that it inspires him to find that mental match toughness in 2012. I still love you, Rafa!

Looking ahead, Ferrer will face Federer in Saturday’s first semifinal, and then Berdych will take on Tsonga in the late match. This will be interesting! It's a really great opportunity for all these guys. Federer has to be the favorite to take the title at this point, but Ferrer should provide a great challenge before he gets there. And for the other three guys, they have a chance to take the year end title for the first time! I'm hoping the tourney winner is whoever wins the Federer-Ferrer match. Should be fun! Vamos (Ferrer)! 

A Year Without Cookies - Week 47

(Thanksgiving Cookies! Gobble, Gobble them up!)

Turkey Time! A time to give thanks!  I am thankful that there are only 5 weeks left in the year for me to be living without cookies and soda. I had a delicious feast with family out on Long Island. Very few veggies to be seen on this T-Gives. Lots of turkey and stuffing and potatoes and cranberry sauce and yams with marshmallows - all so good! There were many desserts. I brought special thanksgiving themed cupcakes for my nieces from the local bakery by my house like I do every year. It's nice to supply the dessert that my nieces prefer over the other 5 or 6 cakes and pies that are on hand. There were, of course, homemade cookies that looked SO GOOD, but I had to pass on them. Soon, home made cookies, soon you will be mine again.

5 weeks to go! The finish line is just around the corner!

Rafa & the 2011 ATP World Championships, Round 2

(Rafa's just not feeling it in his fight against Federer.)

So I'm already a little behind, but here's how the groups were ranked at the end of the 2nd Round of Round Robin:

Group A:
2-0 David Ferrer - ESP
1-1 Novak Djokovic - SRB
1-1  Jurgen Melzer - GER
0-2 Andy Murray -GBR / Janko Tipsarevic SRB

Group B:
2-0 Roger Federer - SUI
1-1 Our Hero, Rafael Nadal ESP
1-1 Jo-Wilfried Tsonga - FRA
0-2  Mardy Fish - USA

You will note that Murray did in fact leave the competition due to injury and Tispsarevic took his place. Tip than lost to Melzer. So he inherited a losing record and did nothing to improve it. Group A is still a bit of a toss up though. I think if Novak beats Tip and then Melzer beats Ferrer. that would put them all at 2-1 and then I'm not sure how they rank them by points to figure out who makes it through.

Nadal needs to beat Tsonga to move to the semis. I think this is a tall order. Rafa got so totally handled by Fed in their match up. Rafa says it's not injury or illness that contributed to the lopsided loss. I just don't think it's in the cards this year. But we'll see soon enough! Vamos!

Food! Glorious FOOD!

(Lots of people out there could use some more.)

Ahh, Thanksgiving. How long I have waited for a plateful of home cooked turkey and stuffing!! Maybe there will be a stray vegetable on the dish as well. Sometimes they have a way of sneaking in there and taking up space that should be occupied by delicious baked-in-the-bird stuffing. Hmph. Vegetables.

I'm thankful for a lot of things this year, not the least of which is for the food I'm about to receive. The idea of being hungry without food troubles me greatly. Considering my usual hobbit's daily diet of 1st Breakfast, 2nd Breakfast, Elevensies, Lunch, Snack, Supper, Dinner, and Dessert, food should always be at the ready. Yet so many people, young and old go without. It makes me sad. Times are very tough and local food pantries struggle to keep up with the demand. I urge everyone who is traveling home to enjoy a delicious meal today to consider making a monetary or dry goods contribution sometime between now and Christmas to an organization that helps the less fortunate. I'll provide links to two charities I like - Citymeals-on-Wheels and City Harvest below. If you have time to volunteer at a soup kitchen or toy drive or something of the like this season, you're aces in my book as well. Aces, I tell you!

Gobble it down and enjoy, my lovelies. And give thanks!

For more information and to make a donation to Citymeals-on-Wheels you can go here.

For more information and to make a donation to City Harvest go here.

Rafa & the 2011 ATP World Championships, Round 1

 (Rafa is ready for the Year-End Championship!)

So while those of us here in The New World will be celebrating the Thanksgiving Holidays this week, across the Atlantic, nobody really cares about that too much. Instead, they are focused on TENNIS! The 2011 ATP World Tour Finals are happening in London right now! The top 8 players of the season face off - first in two round robin groups, followed by single elimination semis for the two in each group with the best records, and the winners of those face off in the finals! Woohoo!

Here's how the two groups are comprised, by current rank:

Group A:
1. Novak Djokovic - SRB
3. Andy Murray -GBR
5. David Ferrer - ESP
7. Jurgen Melzer - GER

Group B:
2. Our Hero, Rafael Nadal ESP
4. Roger Federer - SUI
6. Jo-Wilfried Tsonga - FRA
8. Mardy Fish - USA

The Finals are played on an indoor hardcourt, which with its quickness and ball bounce is least suited to Rafa's game. This is one major tournament he has never won. It will be tough for him to take the title in best of 3 set play. But this is an interesting field this year of contenders this year and he might have an opening. Djokovic has been dealing with some nagging injuries at the end of his stellar season, so he might not be in the best condition to take this title. Federer hasn't won a Major in awhile, but he comes in here having won his last two tournaments and looking great. Murray is a giant question mark. Ferrer can be a real threat if he's mentally and physically peaking at the right time. Fish and Tsonga I don't really think have a shot, but Tsonga has some impressive wins over Federer, so we'll see how it all shakes down. Rafa should definitely make it to the semis, but from there forward it's anyone's guess who actually makes it through to the Final match. He hasn't played at all since mid-October, opting instead to mentally and physically recharge from his string of losses in Finals this year. It should be really exciting how these guys all match up right now

After one round played in both groups, the current standings are:

Group A:
Djokovic 1-0
Ferrer 1-0
Melzer 0-1
Murray 0-1

Group B:
Federer 1-0
Nadal 1-0
Fish 0-1
Tsonga 0-1

It was a good first round. The only real upset was Ferrer over Murray (who seems to be injured) but all the
other matches went to a decisive third set. Nadal and Federer face off in the next round. Should be an exciting match and it should tell us if Nadal taking off so much of the fall season was the right choice for his match readiness. I'm sure hoping Rafa can do it. Vamos!

A Year Without Cookies - Week 46

(You were always on my mind...)

So this week, while meeting some new people for the first time, I told them about my year without cookies and they were amused. I told them about the dreams I had about how I would think I was drinking soda, and how they were like addiction dreams and they were intrigued. I told them I no longer had those dreams and they were slightly disappointed. But then of course after having that conversation, what did I dream about that very same night? What else but finding myself with a glass of coke on the rocks in my hand, sipping away at it eagerly and then feeling horribly guilty! Oh, talking about the dream summoned the anxiety and imagery right back to the forefront of my subconscious (if such a thing can even exist.)

Up next, holiday season truly begins. All sorts of new and festive cookies enter the marketplace and into kitchen cookie jars across America. Here comes the last brutal test. I am ready for it!

A Year Without Cookies - Week 45

(The Higher Learning of Bad Eating Habits)

Another week marked down in the books. We are almost there! I can feel it more and more as a reality. I can remember a time long ago in college when I would consistently eat Chips Deluxe chocolate chip cookies and a can of Mug root beer for BREAKFAST (yet still to this day, no cavities!) and look at me now! Being 45 weeks in, it feels like the time has flown by, but those early months certainly didn't feel that way. The constant cravings. The addiction dreams. I just have to get through the next two food-based holidays and then life can get back to a new normal. What will that new normal be? I was talking about it with a friend earlier today, and I will certainly reincorporate cookies and soda into my diet, but in a more measured way. They won't be the foundation of my diet as they were in the past.

That's all for now. Week 46 is coming up fast. I forget how quickly these last few holiday season weeks all rush together. I need to start thinking about gifts and ornaments and non-cookie desserts to bring for Thanksgiving Dinner. Mmmm... it's almost Turkey Time!! Gobble gobble gobble all those non-cookie foods!

A Year Without Cookies - Week 44

 

These are my friends.
See how they glisten.
See this one shine...
How he smiles in the light.
My friend.
My faithful friend...

Speak to me friend.
Whisper...
I'll listen.
I know, I know you've been locked
out of sight
all these years, like me
My friend...
well I've come home to find you waiting.
Home, and we're together!
And we'll do wonders.
Won't we?

This was a tough week for wanting cookies. Someone decided to truly test me by stocking the cookie jars with Nilla Wafers. Man, how I wanted a tall glass of whole milk and a dozen or so Nilla wafers for dunking.

One assumes that my cookie fast will be broken with chocolate chip cookies, but Nilla Wafers and Mallomars are also going to have their day in the sun. First Soda could go so many different ways. Root Beer? Cream Soda? Cherry Coke? Sprite? I just don't know. But I have 8 weeks left to dream about it!

OMG ING NYC!

(Taking it to the bridge! Onward Racers!)

Congrats to everyone who ran the ING NYC Marathon today! It's such a great event and whether it was your first time or your 20th time I applaud you taking to the streets of the five boroughs to complete your 26.2 mile journey. I'm so thankful (as I'm sure all of you are as well) that our freak snowstorm hit last weekend and not this weekend and that instead of a windy slushy nightmare, you were treated to an absolutely beautiful fall day for running!

Knowing how important it is to have cheering faces all along the race, I took the N in to Queensboro Plaza and got out to watch the masses of runners take that important turn around mile 15 up onto the 59th street bridge. Running on that bridge is tough because you are running on an incline, there are no spectators, minimal sun, maximum wind and it's just TOUGH. I was happy to take an hour and stand on the corner and wave and shout last words of encouragement as people made their way onto the bridge. The crowd was great, the cover band that was helping everybody run to some rockin' tunes was awesome and it was just a really inspiring experience.

 (Birdseye view from the elevated platform at Queensboro Plaza!)

I stood with these two women on the corner who were looking for separate people and charting their progress along the route on the iphone apps set up for the race. Those things are great. The NYC Marathon really is a the forefront in making the race a really interactive experience for spectators. I didn't see the people my new friends were there to support but I did spot Top Chef Winner Richard Blais running by as well as Survivor Winner/Amazing Race contestant Ethan Zohn amongst the runners (for the record, Blais was running ahead of Zohn, but Zohn seemed to be holding up better physically at that point in the race.) It's fun just to see people with their names on their shirts and you can scream for them and most of the time they don't actually see you, but you can see it register on their faces and sometimes it gives them a little boost of energy. That's a great feeling.

(the runners just keep coming!)

I love Race Day in New York. It's so inspiring. And it makes me realize I have been too lax in my prep up until now for the Disney Marathon in January. November now has to be all about running and writing. those are the two main focuses for the end of the year. It was great to watch the Race today and remember how gruelling it is but also how personally rewarding. I can't wait to be ready for it again!