OneForty-love: Translating the point
Originally published on: 16/07/10 00:00
Us nerdy tennis types would be lost without twitter. With no shame whatsoever, we'll hang on every word – mundane or marvellous – tapped out by the twitterverse's finest racket wielders. We’d also be lost without a good translator, since for all our good intentions, we haven’t quite mastered the Spanish tongue. Fortunately, we can count our.. errr.. what's Spanish for 'chickens'? – ah, 'Pollos', I'm reliably informed – because we’ve got both twitter and someone who understands Spanish.
Happily, that means we (along with just over 28,000 del Potro 'followers') have the answer to the question everyone’s been longing to know the answer to. How the devil is Juan Martin del Potro? Well, how about we let the man tell you himself…
“El medico esta contento por la evolucion..ahora hay q seguir con el fortalecimiento un tiempo mas y dps estare listo para la raqueta,” said the US Open champ on twitter this week.
Understood? Satisfied? Good. Let’s move on.
After two Grand Slam’s without him, we’re really starting to miss last year’s shock US Open champ. He won’t defend his title at Flushing Meadows this year, and while Argentina’s Davis Cup captain Tito Vazquez said (with his vocal chords, not with twitter-fingers) that he’d love to have del Potro back for their semi-final tie against France, he’s not holding his breath.
“I think it’ll be hard as he still needs another two months to recover from his injuries," said Vazquez. "I don’t know if he will play at the US Open, and if he doesn’t play there, then realistically it will be tough for him to play in the Davis Cup a week later.”
Del Potro himself was more hopeful about his recovery from wrist surgery, or so he said on twitter (we'll assist you with a translation this time…): “The doctor is happy with the progress. Now we have to keep strengthening [the wrist] and then be ready for the racket.”
On top of that, his comments to an Argentinian newspaper earlier this week fuelled speculation that the 21-year-old could yet be back sooner than we think.
"Davis Cup is a good date for returning to the tour, I hope I can come back sooner," he said. "I don't want to have any illusions because I don't know when I can return to [playing with the] racket. But I'll train hard to prepare."
Watch this space. Or better yet, get your hands on a Spanish dictionary and sit on Delpo's twitter page…
Elsewhere in the twitterverse
Short, to the point, and overwhelmingly excited about heading back to the scene of his first ATP tour triumph, Andy Roddick makes the most of his 140-character twitter allowance:
@andyroddick: “See u next week ATL”
If you didn’t know Shahar Peer’s choice of career before, it's pretty safe to assume she doesn’t have an office job…
@shaharpeer: “Another hard work week is over 😉 About to have a massage!”
Gael Monfils had the novel idea of plugging his mattress into the phone line:
@monfilsgael: “My bed is calling me so im going to answer. G'nite twitter.”
Andy Murray feeds our appetite for serious pain, and we'll be doing some exercise of our own while we watch from a comfy chair, gleefully working the jaw muscles…
@andy_murray: Going to be covering my US training block from next monday. News, blogs video and pics on andymurray.com
Britain's Anne Keothavong has a go at destroying technology's finest…
@annekeothavong: Haven't had an iPOD for the last 6 months coz I've lost 5 + was punishing myself. Have just brought my sixth iPOD + I'm now happy again 🙂
Fellow Brit Katie O'Brien takes a swing at nature on the golf course…
@katiejobrien: Did a few holes myself. Struggled early on. Fresh aired a few, hit a tree & took 10+ attempts to get out of bunker…but finished strongly!
And finally, as we pointed out last week Venus Williams has a new book out. According to her last nine million tweets, you can still buy one. Better still, you can win one. All you need to do is answer one easy question…
@Venuseswilliams' "What sport did contributor Lynn Elsenhans play at Rice University? First correct response receives a signed copy of my book!"
Erm, yeh, I'll just buy it…
Now get the WORLD’S BEST TENNIS MAGAZINE here
