Hail, King Roger, er ... Arthur?

Hear ye! Hear ye! Our King Roger the Great has been in another photo shoot by renowned photographer Annie Liebovitz and this time it's for Disney's "Year of a Million Dreams" promotion.

In a photo (detail shown at left) aptly entitled "When You're Always King of the Court", Roger looking every inch a dashing knight in shining armor--and a flowing red cape to boot!--poses as the legendary King Arthur as he pulls the sword from the stone. The backdrop was said to have been taken at Tintagel Castle at Cornwall, England, purportedly the birthplace of King Arthur.

The photo is just one in a series that was commissioned by Disney to feature various international celebrities--such as singer Julie Andrews--in fairy tale settings.

P.S.
Don't you think that if the photo were cropped as shown, it would look just perfect in a gilt frame hung on a castle wall?
Photo credit: Annie Liebovitz/Disney/PA

King Roger the Great continues reign at No. 1

Our Swiss tennis superstar has clinched the number one ranking for the fourth year running after successfully winning a second consecutive title at the Davidoff Swiss Indoors in Basel, Switzerland. Federer comfortably defeated the unseeded Jarkko Nieminen of Finland, 6-3 6-4 in the finals.

Previous to that match, the 6'1" top seed fought off 6'10" Croatian Ivo Karlovic yet again--I wonder what he thought about the size difference this time!--via two tie-breaks in the semi-finals and won a rematch with Nicolas Kiefer, 6-3 6-2, in the quarter-finals. The latter was Federer's 544th career victory, the most for any active player in the ATP circuit.

This is Federer's seventh ATP title of the year, his 53rd in his career. He now also joins past tennis greats Jimmy Connors, John McEnroe and Pete Sampras as the only men in the open era to hold the number one ranking for four consecutive years.

Long live King Roger the Great!
Photo credit: Ryan Pierse/Getty Images

Naughty Roger whips del Potro

After a rather shaky start at his hometown tournament, Roger stamped his authority with a quick 58-minute 6-1 6-4 win over young Argentine Juan Martin del Potro to move into the semifinals of the Davidoff Swiss Indoors.

Although I didn't get to watch the match itself (no coverage at all of this minor tournament at my favorite cable sports channel), it was clear that the top seed was back into his winning ways raising his game when needed, to the obvious delight of the home crowd in Basel.

However, it seems that the highlight of that event came during the post-match interview throughout which Federer was practically rendered speechless by a fit of giggles after giving a naughty answer to an question posed by his interviewer.



For my part, I was laughing throughout that interview the first time I watched it even if I couldn't understand a word that was being said; Federer has such a funny infectious laugh. Thankfully somebody provided a rough translation so that I eventually found out what the big joke was all about.

Roger loses title to long-time nemesis

Federer failed to defend his title at Madrid as he lost to long-time nemesis David Nalbandian in three sets, 6-1 3-6 3-6.

The Swiss top seed and defending champion appeared to be on the way to another routine win when he easily took the first set on two breaks of serve. Unfortunately he was unable to maintain his form, committing an uncharacteristic 38 unforced errors in the process, as the unseeded Argentine skillfully put into execution an effective game plan just as he did when he defeated Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic in the quarterfinals and semifinals, respectively.

This is only the seventh loss for Federer this season and first to Nalbandian since 2005 where the latter similarly came back from two sets down to clinch his first Tennis Masters Cup title.
Photo credit: Jasper Juinen/Getty Images

Roger's revenge

Federer exacted revenge on Guillermo Cañas at the AMS Madrid, and how! The top seed and defending champion bageled Cañas in the first set then made a break of serve one more time in the second for good measure. On top of it all, Federer allowed his hapless opponent nary a break point on the way to a emphatic straight-sets victory (6-0 6-3). Just the perfect revenge for back-to-back losses at the hands of the Argentine in two consecutive tournaments (AMS Indian Wells and AMS Miami) earlier this season.

Federer will next play against either Feliciano Lopez of Spain or Stefan Koubek of Austria for a spot in the semifinals.

The Federer Express is back!

After winning a record fourth-consecutive US Open men's singles title in September, he took a long well-deserved break before coming out of hibernation to dutifully play two singles rubbers and a doubles match for Switzerland in the Davis Cup World Group tie against the Czech Republic. Then just two weeks ago, he withdrew from the Japan Open in Tokyo, where he was defending champion, to get some more rest.

Now the world number one in men's tennis is finally back in action on the tennis court at the AMS Madrid where he is defending champion as well and where he hopes to earn a 15th career Masters Series shield.

After receiving a bye at the first round as a seeded player at the tournament, Federer went up against the United States' Robby Ginepri in the second and once again thrilled the crowd there with his brilliant shot-making. This fan in particular managed to wake up in the wee hours of the morning to catch the live coverage of the match just as the second set commenced. There were audible gasps, oohs and aahs from the audience throughout that set and especially when Federer hit some amazing shots as he broke the American's serve in the fifth game. Judging from the scoreline of the first set (7-6(2)) and from what I witnessed during the second (which Federer won 6-4), this was clearly another high-quality tennis match where Ginepri himself played well although, as expected, he still failed to break the Swiss' four-year-long winning streak of 38 matches over Americans.