it will take coaching, education and a universal buy-in to f | Forum

Melbourne, Australia - Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer will resume their rivalry in the Australian Open semifinals after each posted four- set quarterfinal victories on Wednesday. http:///...balt-654470-002.html . The world No. 1 Nadal was the first to advance, claiming a 3-6, 7-6 (7-3), 7-6 (9-7), 6-2 triumph over 22nd-seeded Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov, before Federer reached his 11th straight Aussie Open semi with a 6-3, 6-4, 6-7 (6-8), 6-3 victory over fourth-seeded Andy Murray at Rod Laver Arena. The former No. 1 great Federer, seeded sixth at this fortnight, reached the final four of a Grand Slam for the first time since falling to the reigning Wimbledon champion Murray in the Melbourne semis last year. He was a quarterfinal loser at the French Open last spring, then suffered a stunning second-round loss at Wimbledon and a fourth-round exit at the U.S. Open. The 17-time Grand Slam champ is seeking his first Aussie crown since 2010, when he beat Murray in the final. The 26-year-old Murray is a three-time Aussie runner-up, including last year here against Novak Djokovic. After Federer took the first two sets from Murray, including a brisk 31-minute opening stanza, the Brit fought back in the third, saving two match points in the tiebreak. Federer served for the match, leading 5-4 in the third, but Murray notched his first break, on only his first break-point of the match, against the Swiss icon, who had not been broken in 50 consecutive service games. The four-time Aussie Open champion Federer opened up 5-2 and 6-4 leads in the tiebreak, but had the match points thwarted. First a forehand error and then a backhand error as Murray stayed alive. The Scot would then paint a line with a forehand winner to earn a set point and converted to force a fourth set. A resilient Murray kept the match tight in the fourth, but he gave Federer too many open chances. Finally, on his 10th break point of the set, the Swiss stepped in with a big backhand return to set up a winning point and then served things out. Federer broke Murray four times, while the Brit settled for only one break in only two break-point opportunities all night. "Andy played well and put the pressure on me so Im happy to get the win," a relieved Federer said in a courtside interview. "I probably miss more break points than other guys but I keep my composure and keep the poker face and tonight it worked." The 32-year-old Federer is now 10-11 lifetime against Murray, including 2-1 at the Aussie. A rusty Murray returned to action just a few weeks ago after being sidelined for 3 1/2 months following minor back surgery. Meanwhile, the 2009 Aussie Open champ and 2012 runner-up Nadal dropped the first set to Dimitrov on Day 10, but the 13-time major titlist gritted through a pair of tough tiebreaks over the next two sets before running away with the final set at Melbourne Park. The bout ended in 3 hours, 37 minutes. "I was so lucky," Nadal said. "It gives me the opportunity to be in semifinals of a tournament I love so much." It will be the fourth semifinal appearance at the Aussie Open for the reigning U.S. and French Open champ. The rising star Dimitrov, who became the first Bulgarian to reach the last eight of a Grand Slam singles event, dropped to 0-4 in his career against Nadal. He smacked 16 aces in a losing effort. The left-handed Nadal improved to 4-0 lifetime against the 22-year-old Dimitrov. Nadal and Federer will meet for a 33rd time on Friday, with the Spaniard leading the all-time series, 22-10, including 8-2 in Grand Slam action. Nadal is 2-0 versus Federer at the Aussie, including a win in the 2009 finale. The high-flying Nadal has won four straight and eight of their last 10 meetings overall. The "Big Four" of Nadal, Djokovic, Murray and Federer have combined to win 34 of the last 35 Grand Slam events. The first mens semifinal will be staged on Thursday, when seventh-seeded Tomas Berdych takes on eighth seed Stanislas Wawrinka. Both men will appear in their first-ever Aussie semi. Wawrinka is 8-5 lifetime against the former Wimbledon runner-up Berdych, but the Czech captured their lone Aussie Open meeting in 2009. Wawrinka bested Berdych in the fourth round at the U.S. Open back in September. http:///...jade-725222-301.html . Pence singled in the winning run with no outs in the ninth inning to give the Giants a 7-6 victory over the San Diego Padres on Sunday. http:///...uorescent-green.html . The CFLs leading rusher kept adding to his gaudy numbers this season and scored the winning touchdown with just over two minutes to play. The New Westminster, B.C., native plowed three yards into the end zone for the last score of a heated, see-saw battle between the two teams with the best records in the CFL. http:///...hoes-black-grey.html . The lawyers filed a 33-page amended complaint Tuesday in federal court in Manhattan, expanding on the suit originally filed Oct. 3 in New York Supreme Court. Arbitrator Fredric Horowitz last week refused to compel Selig to testify in the grievance, and Rodriguez then walked out of the hearing without testifying.Got a question on rule clarification, comments on rule enforcements or some memorable NHL stories? Kerry wants to answer your emails at cmonref@tsn.ca! There is plenty of blame to be shared as a result of the most recent NHL player (Pittsburghs Brooks Orpik) to be evacuated from the ice on a stretcher following an ugly incident Saturday night in Boston. Its high time for the NHL brass, their Officiating Department and the NHLPA to put their collective heads together to provide meaningful player safety measures that arent being achieved through current attempts. Consistently applied player suspensions arent the only tool to curb dangerous and unwanted hits to the head. We need to take a step back and have a serious discussion, recognizing that education will be the key to effectively changing this destructive culture at all levels of the game. Players often seek out retribution for hits, even those deemed legal, that are delivered to one of their teammates. Following a "big" hit, the temperature of the game can immediately elevate to the near boiling point. At such times, the referees primary job is to take whatever measures necessary to control the environment. To do that, he has to have a "feel" for the game and what is required. A better job could have been done by the refs in that regard after Orpik delivered a hard, legal open-ice check that knocked Loui Erisksson out of the game on the very first shift. Credit must be given to the referees for not overreacting to Orpiks legal check and then sending Zdeno Chara to the box for his retaliatory cross-check at the first stoppage of play 21 seconds in. The fuse was lit, however, and the refs could have been more proactive in bringing the temperature down and containing the ongoing illegal push-back demonstrated by some of the Bruin players. At the 2:42 mark, Chris Kelly was allowed to shove Chris Connor to the ice from behind at the red line with a cross-check motion deserving of an interference penalty. On a subsequent shift, Kelly again took a charge at Connor and delivered a high finish hit that should have resulted in a timely call. While a roughing minor was assessed to Shawn Thornton for popping Orpik a couple times in the face at 5:44, a prime opportunity to douse the flames was indeed missed by the referee by not adding a 10-minute misconduct to Thornton for his attempts to incite a fight with Orpik. Thhat penalty, in addition to a conference needed with Bruins head coach Claude Julien would have sent a strong and clear message where the control in the game rested! The game was very unsettled at this point and you didnt have to be on the ice to feel it. http:///...black-red-white.html. Oddly enough, sometimes a fight can help bring the temperature down but the negative energy did not diminish following the fisticuffs between Milan Lucic and Deryk Engelland at 7:19. Unfortunately, the nastiness came to a head less than four minutes later when Sidney Crosby tripped Brad Marchand in apparent view of the trailing referee and no call resulted. The referee did react a second later by raising his arm when James Neal extended a left knee directly (and deliberately) to the head of Marchand as the Bruin was getting up off the ice. While the referee observed and reacted to the kneeing infraction, I have a major problem with the fact that it was only deemed to be a minor penalty. At the very least, based on the deliberate act by Neal, a major and a game misconduct would be required and a match penalty for deliberate attempt to injure was most deserving! (Neal remained in the game and scored a power play goal after stepping out of the penalty box from serving his minor for kneeing.) When play stopped at the other end of the ice, more retribution was being sought against Orpik; this time by Gregory Campbell in a scrum. Thornton ended it (and lost it) with a slew-foot that took Orpik down from behind. The subsequent gloved knockout punches delivered by Thornton after Orpik hit the ice resulted in immediate medical attention and the stretcher being required to remove the Penguins defenceman.  As I said at the outset, there is plenty of blame to be shared when these horrific situations take place. Much is needed and can be done across the board to curb and eliminate the needless violence that places careers and the future health of players in jeopardy. It took a complete buy-in and education of players, coaches, and referees to change the negative culture of "obstruction" following a return from the first lockout season. While lengthy suspensions might be the immediate remedy in these two incidents, it will take coaching, education and a universal buy-in to fix this problem in the long-term.  Its not exclusively the referees job to bring the temperature down.    Cheap NFL Jerseys Cheap NFL Jerseys China Cheap Jerseys From China Cheap NFL Jerseys Authentic Wholesale Jerseys China Cheap NFL Jerseys China NFL Cheap Jerseys Cheap Soccer Jerseys ' ' '