PROFILES by Quito Treñas
INVICTUS and RED GALLERY present "PROFILES by QUITO TRENAS," July 20-31, 2009 at the RED Steakhouse and Gallery, Smallville, Iloilo City.
Jigger Latoza and his poetic thought on Roger Federer
While I was waiting for my next class, I decided to check my Facebook account and read some interesting feed-exchange of thoughts, by my network of friends. Then I can across the Facebook page of my great boss, Jigs Latoza. I was caught by his shoutout. It was about Roger Federer and it goes this way...
Watching Roger Federer play tennis is like being awed by the most graceful dancer on earth. He moves softer than a whisper. He seems to make the ball move to wherever he pleases without hitting it hard. All that the ball really needs is the gentlest caress from Roger's racket... Congratulations! Felicitations! Glückwünsche!
I was unfortunate not to witness this year's Wimbledon Finals. Nevertheless, I'm grateful to have friends like tita carmen who religiously updates me with the set scores and blow-by-blow account of the men's final match!
My sincerest congratulations to Roger Federer and other Wimbledon champions this year!
Federer the three-minute wonder
by: Alix Ramsay
Picture: EPA / G. Penny
Two weeks of effort, two decades of training and a lifetime of hoping – and all of it is condensed into three minutes on Centre Court. For both Roger Federer and Andy Roddick, they must have been three of the longest minutes of their lives. By the end of them, Roddick’s dream of winning Wimbledon was shattered while Federer was knocking on the door of greatness.
If Federer could win the title, he would end all arguments: he would become the greatest player to lift a racket. He would break Pete Sampras’s record of 14 Grand Slam titles and he would regain his number one world ranking from Rafael Nadal.
When Sampras set the record in 2002, winning the US Open final, no one believed it could be bettered. Sampras certainly knew there was nothing left for him to achieve in the sport and never played competitively again. But Federer has set a new standard and he is nowhere near finished yet. With the weight of expectation lifted from his shoulders, he is free to play and win for as long as he likes. And Federer, released from that stultifying pressure of chasing history, may yet reach even greater heights.
The three minutes in question came in the second set tiebreak. Roddick had blasted and feathered his way to four set points – and while Roddick’s serve is a world famous sledgehammer of a shot, he has made a good job of keeping his touch and finesse hidden under a bushel. So, then, here were four opportunities to take a two-set lead over Federer in the Wimbledon final. And in those four points and three minutes, Federer became great.
Sure enough, there was another three hours or so to play, another 52 games to marvel at, and another 35 aces to fly from Federer’s racket – he served 50 in all – before he would eventually win 5-7, 7-6, 7-6, 3-6, 16-14 but Federer had pulled rank as a five-time Wimbledon champion and stated his intent: “This is mine to win and yours to lose – the sixth title is mine.”
As Roddick tried to breathe and keep his head, Federer piled on the pressure. The Swiss grabbed one set point back with a backhand, he took the next two back with an unreturnable serve and an ace. Now he had taken Roddick’s safety net away, now Roddick had one last chance. And Roddick blew it, fluffing a volley as the tension gripped his racket arm. Two backhand winners from Federer later, and the score was one set apiece. Roddick was stunned and Federer knew in that moment that he was invincible.
In many ways, the moment had really come four weeks earlier when, after three consecutive soul-destroying losses in the French Open final to Nadal, Federer finally laid his hands on the trophy. There he equalled history, here he knew he could beat it.
This year at Wimbledon, Federer has played with the old strut and swagger, showing the supreme confidence of his early title-winning years in SW19 and the self-confidence that only Nadal had managed to shake in the epic five-set final 12 months ago. Here this year, he believed that he could walk on water and however hard Roddick served – and 27 aces and 98 unreturned serves suggested he was serving pretty hard – nothing could shake that belief.
This may not have been Federer at his most artistic but it was Federer at his most ferociously determined
As Federer has approached various milestones in his career, the greats of the game have come to watch him. And time after time, the extra pressure of seeing Rod Laver or Bjorn Borg in the Royal Box usually reduced him to tears when the final point had been won. This time there were no tears – and this time there were considerably more VIPs who had come to witness the historic day.
Sampras had flown in that morning to watch the man who has become his friend shatter his legacy in four hours and 16 minutes of mental fortitude. This may not have been Federer at his most brilliant, at his most artistic, but it was Federer at his most ferociously determined.
Roddick may have reinvented himself in the past six months as he worked with Larry Stefanki, his new coach, but Federer was going back to basics, going back to the old Roger who simply could not and would not let anyone pass him.
At the tightest and tensest moments, Federer would encourage himself with a quietly growled “C’mon!” His c’mons are not as loud or as aggressive as Lleyton Hewitt’s, they are not screamed with blood vessels bulging and eyes popping, but they are every bit as terrifying. This was Federer going for the kill.
Poor Roddick tried everything he knew – and lots that he had not known until he hired Stefanki – to chase his Swiss rival but Federer was unshakeable. He soaked up every charge and attack from the American and looked calm and collected as he did so. And with the advantage of serving first in the deciding set, he could leave Roddick to feel the tension while he concentrated on breaking the American’s serve for the first time in the match.
The longer that set went on, the better Federer looked. As Roddick started to tire, the Swiss kept up the pressure. He swatted away two break points in the 17th game and suddenly looked as relaxed and as fresh as if this were the first set. Roddick could not catch him and he knew it. As he started to pick away at Roddick’s serve, Roddick knew it, too.
The scream of delight as Roddick skied his final shot high and over the baseline marked the actual moment Federer achieved greatness but those three minutes all those hours before were when Federer knew that greatness was his due. A lifetime encapsulated in 180 seconds.
Epic win gives Federer record 15th Slam
by Ronald Atkin, http://www.wimbledon.org/en_GB/news/match_reports/2009-07-05/200907051246803778140.html
Roger Federer became tennis's greatest champion, watched by a legion of champions, as he beat Andy Roddick 5-7 7-6 (8-6) 7-6 (7-5) 3-6 16-14 in four hours and 16 minutes to claim his sixth Wimbledon crown. It was also a record 15th Grand Slam title for the Swiss master, overhauling the total of Pete Sampras who was in the Royal Box along with fellow legends Bjorn Borg and Rod Laver.
It was a truly momentous climax to the 2009 Championships as the 27-year-old Swiss became the most successful man in the sport. Sampras, previous holder of that title, had been an unannounced surprise visitor to Wimbledon – where he has not been seen since 2002.
The American arrived three games into the contest, but then sat as enraptured as the rest of the crowd as the two gladiators battled through 77 games, the most seen at any Wimbledon final.
In terms of match time, it was not quite as long as last year’s battle between Federer and Rafael Nadal, but it soon took on similarly epic proportions. And for much of the match, it seemed that Roddick would emulate Nadal's feat as he hammered away at his opponent. Federer wavered a few times, but never toppled and in the end won on merit. He returns to number one in the world, too, by way of yet another win bonus.
That this was going to be a contest between two big blasters was evident from the opening game, when Roddick slammed down two aces and in the next Federer replied with a couple of his own. That Federer had won 18 of their previous 20 matches was not a consideration on this day. For a start, Roddick, white cap pulled low over his eyes, was clearly a fitter and slimmer version of the man who had already lost to Federer in two Wimbledon finals, and he matched Federer stride for stride, shot for shot, ace for ace as they hurtled through the opening set, completing 10 games in just 25 minutes.
Four times Federer stood at break point, and on each occasion Roddick battled back
Then came the first sign of a falter. It was from Roddick, who fell 0-30 behind on serve, and Federer upped his level in pursuit of a break of serve which would have left him to serve for the set. He could not have tried harder, or played better. Four times he stood at break point, and on each occasion Roddick battled back to fend off the threat and was finally off the hook, courtesy of a pair of Federer forehand errors.
Perhaps it was the inspiration of surviving such a crisis, but Roddick bounced back brilliantly and when Federer offered him a glimpse of success with a faulty cross-court backhand to go break point down, the American struck. A brilliant forehand down the line forced Federer to project a forehand wide and it was Roddick who went a set in front after 39 minutes.
This was precisely the start Roddick needed to prove that he was a changed man from the opponent so frequently dominated by Federer in the past. Impressively aggressive and quick to close in on the net whenever the chance arose, he continued to stretch Federer in the second set with scorching serves of speeds beyond 135mph and a steadiness which was producing 80% of first serves on target.
Federer's discomfort at being so brashly challenged on a court he has come to regard as his own was beginning to show as the second set moved into a tiebreak. As the Centre Court audience roared in disbelief, two errors by the Swiss left Roddick with four points for a two-set lead. Now was the time for Federer to unveil the genius that had stood him such good stead in previous Wimbledon finals - and he responded in brilliant fashion, winning the next six points in a row as, for the first time, Roddick's nerves betrayed him.
Two volleying errors on his own serve let Roddick down before, on Federer's first set point, the American drove a forehand over the baseline and it was level pegging again after one hour 23 minutes.
In that second set Federer had conceded only five points on serve, with Roddick not far behind with seven.
The third set followed the course of the second, with both men holding serve comfortably, except when Roddick escaped from break point down in the sixth game. Though the American's first serve began to shed some of its potency, the two men moved into another tiebreak. And this time it was Federer who not only moved into the driver's seat with a mini-break on the third point but cemented that advantage, growling "C'mon" as he went ahead by six points to three, holding three set points.
When Federer was offered the first Championship point he grabbed it eagerly
Would Roddick stage a similar fightback to Federer's in the previous set? He certainly gave it a go, rescuing two set points on his own serve before Federer struck, following a potent serve with a forehand put-away to move in front by two sets to one with the match two hours 11 minutes old.
Roddick's indomitable attitude had its reward in the fourth set. He conjured two break points in the fourth game and though Federer saved one with his 24th ace, the American trapped the Swiss as he closed in on the net on the next point.
Steadily and impressively, Roddick built on the break, with the only scare coming when, at 5-2., he fell heavily. There were fears of a similar ankle injury to the one which had caused his withdrawal from the pre-Wimbledon event at Queen's Club, but this was not the occasion for something like that. He shook himself down, carried on, and held serve in the next game with that trusty weapon, a service winner. All square again after two hours 43 minutes.
So to the deciding set, with Federer threatening to strike early as he reached break point for the sixth time in the match, only to be frustrated again as the American pumped down his 20th ace at 138mph. With no tiebreak in the fifth set, this one had to be played out. And so it was, amid mounting excitement and with Federer beginning to show the first signs of uncertainty.
This reached a climax as Federer faced two break points at 8-8, only to serve his way out of trouble and as the games ascended into double figures for each man the set became the longest fifth set in Wimbledon's history.
Federer's ace count passed the 50 mark and then, finally, it was Roddick who cracked in the 30th game of the set. Three mishits off the frame indicated he was fatigued and when Federer was offered the first Championship point he grabbed it eagerly, leaping into the air with joy as another Roddick mishit sailed long.
My Cup of Coffee
Mornings wouldn’t be complete without a cup of hot coffee. After all coffee is a great mind stimulant. In fact, Monks used coffee to stay awake and concentrate on what they were doing. Historically, it was the goats that discovered the coffee plant. Their shepherd noticed that they were getting very hyper; therefore, one day, the shepherd followed their every move, and found out that they were eating a strange berry that was keeping them awake all day and night. The name coffee comes from the Arabic word qahwah, meaning wine.
As I sip my first cup of coffee today, I come to realize that its function goes beyond a morning habit. Like wine, coffee has other functions too. For one, it bridges people. Asvthe Nescafe advertisement goes, “one moment, one Nescafe”, at one moment, it brings together people.
Acquaintances, discussions, bondings, and romantic dates, are made over cups of coffee too. No wonder coffee houses are everywhere nowadays. In 17th century
Serving coffee is also a gesture of hospitality. In most offices, we would notice office assistants offering and serving cups coffee to guests. This kind of practice is also present at home when we receive guests and entertain relatives and friends.
Drinking coffee can also relieve us from stress caused by a day’s work. Working nine hours or more in a day is tiring and draining since the nature of human work demands physical, psychological, and mental alertness. These work requisites make us tired, toxic, and stressed out. A nearby coffee shop may serve as a refuge and a place to reenergize. Remember, we still have a lot of work to do at home.
As I sip the last drop of my cup coffee, so I end this writing with the line, let each cup of coffee be served not out of a habit but a nectar to a weary soul and more...
Sources:
http://library.thinkquest.org/5441/facts.html
http://library.thinkquest.org/5441/history.html
http://umichsph.files.wordpress.com/2009/03/a_small_cup_of_coffee.jpg
Roddick sets up Federer final
The home crowd was hoping for a dream “Roger versus Andy” final and they got one, but it was Mr Roddick of that ilk who came in, tore up the script and ensured that Britain’s wait for a successor to Fred Perry will stretch into a 74th year.
Roger Federer certainly kept his half of the bargain, seeing off the challenge of his practice partner, the resurgent Tommy Haas, in three sets, 7-6, 7-5, 6-3. The German came into the match on a 10-game winning streak on grass having won the Halle tournament and powered through to the second week here, beating no less an opponent than world No.4 Novak Djokovic in both competitions.
But he was no match for the canny Swiss, who slowly but surely raised his game throughout the tie. He put the pressure on Haas in the first set tiebreak with some strong serving – the hallmark of his game throughout the match – and when break points finally came his way at the end of the second set, he took them to double his lead.
Federer dropped only 11 points on serve and cruised to victory in a shade over two hours. “The important aspect was that my service was consistent and that I managed to vary it a lot,” the No.2 seed said after the match. “I’m serving a little quicker this year and that means that when I have to, I can take a little bit off it when I need more accuracy. It means I’m not getting to many of those '30-situations' – 0-30, 15-30 or 30-30 on my own serve – which puts you under a lot less pressure.”
The man charged with pushing Federer to a “30-situation” in the final is Andy Roddick after the American No.6 seed broke the hearts of 15,000 Centre Court fans, as many on “Henman Hill” and No.2 Court – where a big screen had been erected specially for the occasion – and 56m more around the UK. In truth, the Nebraska native was a step quicker than Murray all match and ran out a worthy winner, 6-4, 4-6, 7-6, 7-6.
The scoreline reflects how close the second semi-final was. Murray and Roddick matched each other ace for ace, but when it was not an immediate winner, the Scot’s serve was less of a weapon than previously in the tournament and meant that he was not able to dictate the rhythm of play. Murray’s second service is a good 30 mph slower than his first, and it enabled Roddick to come to the net at least twice per game and dominate his opponent.
We will therefore have a remake of the 2004 and 2005 Wimbledon finals, which Federer won in four and three sets respectively. Indeed, the Swiss enjoys an 18-2 head-to-head record against Roddick and will be the red-hot favourite to secure a sixth Wimbledon title and a record-breaking 15th Grand Slam.
In the boys’ singles, Russia’s Andrey Kuznetsov put an end to Bernard Tomic’s title tilt in straight sets to book a place in the final against American Jordan Cox, who outlasted his doubles partner Devin Britton 16-14 in an epic final set. No.1 girls’ seed and Roland Garros winner Kristina Mladenovic, meanwhile, will face No.4 seed and 2008 finalist Noppawan Lertcheewakarn after the two cruised through.
Top seeds Leander Paes and Cara Black will face Mark Knowles and Anna-Lena Groenefeld in the mixed doubles final after the two teams came through their semis in straight sets, while Sam Stosur and Rennae Stubbs will be charged with preventing a repeat of last year when the Williams sisters won both the singles and doubles titles.
The Australian duo outlasted French Open champions Anabel Medina Garrigues and Virginia Ruano Pascual in three sets, while the sisters made ominously short work of No.1 seeds and doubles legends Cara Black and Liezel Huber, surrendering only three games in the process.
taken from: http://www.wimbledon.org/en_GB/news/articles/2009-07-03/200907031246625011015.html
Another UCRP Journal now off the press
I recently received a complimentary copy of the latest UCRP journal – Augustinian. This 2009 issue features seven scholarly papers in the areas of Political Philosophy, Public Administration, Linguistics, Literature, and Psychology to wit, “Antonio Gramsci’s Theory of National-Popular and National-Democratic Transformation in the Philippines” by E. San Juan; “KALAHI-CIDSS Institutional Mapping in Concepcion, Iloilo: Salient Findings” by Jigger Latoza; “The Linguistic Context of Women Voices in Philippine Soaps” by Dr. Cecilia Alimen; “Hiligaynon Folk Utterances: Interjections and Proverbs” by Dr. Amorita Rabuco; “Region/Nation and the Globe in Alice Sun-Cua’s Chartered Prophecies” by Dr. Isidoro Cruz; “Pagbababoy sa Sarili: Ang Sariling Likhang-Akda Bilang Gamit sa Pagtuturo” by John Iremil Teodoro; and “Retired But Still Working” by Muriel Jover.
As I browse thru its 162 pages, I can’t help but notice the publication’s commitment in publishing scholarly outputs that exhibit comprehensive, relevant and purposeful research undertakings, aimed at the advancement of human knowledge on wide variety of disciplines.
Published by the USA Publishing House, Augustinian is available at the University Coordinating Center for Research and Publications, 5/F Fray Luis De Leon Building, University of San Agustin, Iloilo City.
As I browse thru its 162 pages, I can’t help but notice the publication’s commitment in publishing scholarly outputs that exhibit comprehensive, relevant and purposeful research undertakings, aimed at the advancement of human knowledge on wide variety of disciplines.
Published by the USA Publishing House, Augustinian is available at the University Coordinating Center for Research and Publications, 5/F Fray Luis De Leon Building, University of San Agustin, Iloilo City.
An Intellectual Masturbation with the Debonair among Geeks
I am fortunate to have a conversation with sir Jigs, the debonair among geeks, early today. Our intellectual masturbation tackled several interesting thoughts – from model friends turned celebrities, closet queen politicians, some concerns with the academia, and professional schooling among others.
The exchange of oral pleasures climaxed with the idea of renaming my blogsite title page from Starstruck to Between Lines hence this new blog entry.
Between Lines
As I start the new academic year with the century old University of San Agustin, both as a member of the faculty and a student in the graduate school, I would like to reposition myself as someone whose passion is into creative writing and other scholarly pursuits. With this in mind, it would be appropriate if I start the repositioning using one of the most powerful tools of communication today – BLOG.
This blogsite has served several purposes to me. It is one of my outlets every time I experience an intellectual rush. This kind of feeling is induced by my day to day encounters with real people and real life situations. In psychology, we learned that as humans, we have the gift to process these experiences and translate them into learnings. In my case, I make it a point that I share these learnings to others. And I believe the fastest form of sharing these thoughts is through online publishing or simply web logging.
Between Lines as my new bog site title page creates several impressions. For one, our level of understanding is dependent of several communication variables like age, gender, social status, cultural assumptions, and situational context. Between lines could mean bridging these gaps of understanding between the different perspectives that these variables have created.
Another one is that Between Lines could also mean, going beyond the literal sense of things, the attempt to see things from another point of view. This attempt may bring us fresh ideas, news insights and great valuable learning for life.
With these in mind, I formally relaunch this blogsite – Between Lines – my venue for self expression in pursuit of (re)discovering the things in between… the things the keep us going.
PS.
I’m indebted to Jigger Latoza for suggesting the title Between Lines. Thank you so much!
The exchange of oral pleasures climaxed with the idea of renaming my blogsite title page from Starstruck to Between Lines hence this new blog entry.
Between Lines
As I start the new academic year with the century old University of San Agustin, both as a member of the faculty and a student in the graduate school, I would like to reposition myself as someone whose passion is into creative writing and other scholarly pursuits. With this in mind, it would be appropriate if I start the repositioning using one of the most powerful tools of communication today – BLOG.
This blogsite has served several purposes to me. It is one of my outlets every time I experience an intellectual rush. This kind of feeling is induced by my day to day encounters with real people and real life situations. In psychology, we learned that as humans, we have the gift to process these experiences and translate them into learnings. In my case, I make it a point that I share these learnings to others. And I believe the fastest form of sharing these thoughts is through online publishing or simply web logging.
Between Lines as my new bog site title page creates several impressions. For one, our level of understanding is dependent of several communication variables like age, gender, social status, cultural assumptions, and situational context. Between lines could mean bridging these gaps of understanding between the different perspectives that these variables have created.
Another one is that Between Lines could also mean, going beyond the literal sense of things, the attempt to see things from another point of view. This attempt may bring us fresh ideas, news insights and great valuable learning for life.
With these in mind, I formally relaunch this blogsite – Between Lines – my venue for self expression in pursuit of (re)discovering the things in between… the things the keep us going.
PS.
I’m indebted to Jigger Latoza for suggesting the title Between Lines. Thank you so much!
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