Unimaginable
things do happen in life to fortunate some !! How are you spending your lockdown days !
The Ligurian Sea is an arm
of the Mediterranean Sea, between the Italian Riviera (Liguria) and the island
of Corsica. The sea is theorized to be named after the ancient Ligures people. Finale Ligure is a
comune on the Gulf of Genoa in the Province of Savona in Liguria, Italy. It is
considered part of the Italian Riviera.
Known for its white sand beaches and its views, Finale Ligure is located
directly adjacent to the Rock of Caprazoppa, a steep limestone mountain on the
southwest, and much of the town extends up hill slopes. The town has a lively
commercial district. The post is about Roger Federer’s
trip down there ! ~ why ?
Hotel-Tower Burj Al-Arab
looks like an enormous sail, which raises 321 meters above sea level. Residents of the city are experts in a
genuinely oriental luxury: room price in Burj Al-Arab starts from 1000 USD and
reach 28000 USD per night - full comfort: the hotel calls itself the
"seven-star." It is
the third tallest hotel in the world; however, 39% of its total height is made
up of non-occupiable space. It stands
on an artificial island 280 m (920 ft) from Jumeirah beach and is connected to
the mainland by a private curving bridge. It has
a helipad near the roof at a height of 210 m (689 ft) above ground.
A good match can bring the viewers to the tip of
their seats – tense someone could
bite-off their nails – there can also be
matches with none watching – for this one was at a dizzying height – a green
roof, infact the helipad of the luxury
hotel – the competitors were World famous – Andre Agassi and Roger Federer, but
the result was no important. On February
22, 2005, the Burj al Arab hosted Andre Agassi and Roger Federer to play a
match on their helipad tennis court before heading to the US$1 million Dubai
Duty Free Men’s Open, which was the first round of the two-week Dubai Tennis
Championships.
The 2019
Wimbledon Championships took place at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet
Club in Wimbledon, London, United Kingdom, beginning on 1st July and finishing
on 14th July 2019. The defending Gentlemen's
singles champion Novak Djokovic retained his title, while the defending Ladies'
singles champion Angelique Kerber lost in the second round to Lauren Davis. This was the first edition of the tournament
to feature a standard tie break in the final set when the score in the set was
12 games all. In men's singles, the only such match was the
final in which Novak Djokovic defeated Roger Federer, in what was also the
longest final in tournament history lasting for 4 hours and 58 minutes.
Djokovic became the first man since Bob Falkenburg at the 1948 Wimbledon
Championships to win the title after being championship points down, having
saved two when down 7–8 in the fifth set.
After months
of speculation, it was confirmed that the 2020 US Open would be taking place.
This was great news for tennis fans as the 2020 Wimbledon had already been
canceled due to the coronavirus pandemic. Unfortunately, this came along with
some bad news – Roger Federer won’t be playing the event!
Roger Federer is a
Swiss professional tennis player who is now ranked world No. 4 in men's singles tennis by
the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP). He has won 20 Grand Slam singles titles—the
most in history for a male player—and has held the world No. 1 spot in the ATP
rankings for a record total of 310 weeks (including a record 237 consecutive
weeks) and was the year-end No. 1 five times, including four consecutive. Federer
has won a record eight Wimbledon men's singles titles, six Australian Open
titles, five US Open titles (all consecutive, a record), and one French Open
title. He is one of eight men to have achieved a Career Grand Slam. Federer has
reached a record 31 men's singles Grand Slam finals, including 10 consecutively
from the 2005 Wimbledon Championships to the 2007 US Open. Federer's all-court game and versatile style
of play involve exceptional footwork and shot-making.
Federer made news as
amidst Covid lockdowns, he took a private jet headed to Finale Ligure, Italy,
not to any hotel but to exchange a few volleys roof-top. He surprised young girls - Vittoria Oliveri, 13, and Carola Pessina, 11, and played with them.
Roger
Federer joined two Italian schoolgirls for a game of tennis on the rooftop of
an apartment building after they earned international fame with 12 million
Twitter views with their lockdown match video. The tennis champion, 38, took a
private jet to surprise friends Vittoria Oliveri, 13, and Carola Pessina, 11,
at their homes in Finale Ligure, Italy. The
girls, both avid tennis players, had been unable to visit the courts during
Italy's tough lockdown in April. But they had been instructed by their coach to
keep practising so came up with the rooftop alternative, which soon went viral.
The buildings, which are three stories up, are around 8.5 metres apart and with
the girls standing four to five metres away from the edges, the improvised
space proved to be a similar size to that of a true tennis court.
Federer, winner of 20
Grand Slam competitions, praised it as a 'wonderful idea' and wanted to get in
on the action. He added: 'The passion does not go away just because of a
lockdown. I think that their video really resonated with a lot of people and
with me too.' In the clip, after meeting Federer for the
first time, Vittoria said: 'I nearly fainted. I didn't think he was real, I thought
it was a mannequin.'
After the hour-long
session, and having sent a few balls flying on to the cars parked down on the
street, Federer said: 'This was the first time I played tennis in a long, long
time. The buildings, which are three stories up, are around 8.5 metres apart
and with the girls standing four to five metres away from the edges, the
improvised space proved to be a similar size to that of a true tennis court. 'They couldn't believe I was making a lot of mistakes —
they were better than me sometimes. They had home court advantage.' In February, the tennis pro had
surgery on his right knee, followed by a further procedure, before declaring
that he would not play for the rest of the year. At the end of the
heart-warming clip Federer invited the girls to join the tennis school run by
rival Rafael Nadal in Mallorca.
Amazing and too good to be
true !
With regards – S.
Sampathkumar
4.8.2020
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