The 2008 US $2,450,000 French Masters Series event played in Monte Carlo, Monaco has just began. This senior championship first started back in 1897 and throughout the years has gathered the best male tennis players from around the globe.

Amongst some of the major clashes that have already taken place are the Murray vs Lopez game which brought lots of expectation; specially on the young Britton who was an unknown option to advance to a second round due to his retiring from the Valencia Open previously due to injuries. Despite the odds Murray was able to pull off a relaxing victory over the Spaniard Feliciano Lopez 7-6, 6-4.

Other clay surprises were those of Volandri vs Mahut match which finished 6-2, 6-3 in favour of the Italian player; followed by the ousting of the ninth seeded Frenchman Mathieu who lost to Serbian Janko Tipsarevic 6-4, 2-6, 6-4.

From what we have witnessed until now it is very likely this year’s tournament will bring plenty of action and interesting matches as the big names in the ATP top ten begin to appear on the scheduled list. 2008 Australian Open and Indian Wells winner Novak Djokovic could be a possible rival for Murray in a third round match. Djokovic has made it clear to all of us that he is in active pursue of the number one position as he possesses all the tools and skills to achieve such goal. Nevertheless; the Serb is very aware of the fact he will encounter the man who has dominated the red surfaces over the past years; Spaniard Rafa Nadal and who is not willing to surrender his crown any time soon.

Nadal is the 3-in-a-row Monte Carlo King since his first win back in 2005 over Argentinean Coria 6-3, 6-1, 0-6, 7-5 followed by two consecutive defeats over world number one Roger Federer in 2006 and 2007 respectively. Nadal holds a 93-1 clay-court record which he persistently kept to 81-0 previously to his loss at the German Open to counterpart Federer last year. Nadal’s record also includes three French Grand Slam titles besides wins in Rome and Hamburg. But this year, the Spaniard will have to juggle a new trick in order to continue his reign due to the regular European clay tournament schedule changes because of the Beijing Olympic Games next month of August.

The Spaniard made a statement regarding the current situation … “The calendar is completely crazy,” Nadal said yesterday in Monte Carlo. “I think it’s not fair to the European players and the clay-court players, too. Three Masters in four weeks, it is too much. They [the ATP] say this is an Olympic year, that is very nice, but the truth is they put Indian Wells and Miami back [actually forward] because of the college [basketball].”

It will be very interesting to see whether the Nadal era will prevail if he is able to win his fourth uninterrupted title; a win-streak which had not been witnessed since 1971 when Ilie Nastase won three consecutive times.

However; there are plenty of factors to take into account; to begin we have a recovered Federer who has just won at the Estoril Open in Portugal; then there are Spaniard David Ferrer whose game is most aggressive on clay and he seems to be going through the best time in his career; just this weekend he grasped the crown at the Valencia Open winning over fellowman Almagro in three sets.

As a tennis fan I must admit this tournament is a tough call as more players keep lining up to take the trophy home and get on course to the French Grand Slam at Roland Garros next month.

Claudia Beckford provides outstanding Tennis Masters Series content as well as information in the sports betting industry.

Author: Claudy Beckford
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Monte Carlo ceiling fans can go great with any decor. For many people the perfect home include their taste in everything down to the ceiling fans. To have the perfect dream home the interior decoration must be precise to the homeowner’s stipulations. They take pleasure in their home’s decoration and mixing their tastes with every last detail of the decor. It is the decor that really renders a homeowner to feel like they really are at home.

The Monte Carlo Fan Company has been around for over a decade. The company opened its doors in 1996 and has focused on the commitment that quality design can be accomplished without forfeiting performance. Not only does the company produce high quality ceiling fans but also they design the fans to go accessorize any room beautifully. From conventional to stylish the Monte Carlo Fan Company produces fans to reflect the trends in home decor.

When deciding to decorate or redecorate your home you have a lot of decisions to make. You have to decide how you want everything to look and everything should match including the ceiling fan. Monte Carlo fans come in a variety of styles and finishes that will accent any room perfectly. It should be quite easy to find a ceiling fan that has the style you want and the performance you need for any room.

It is not good enough to choose a ceiling fan for its looks; you must look at the quality of the fan as well. You should choose a fan that will look great in the room you have chosen but also work great and produce the correct airflow for that room. Monte Carlo is known not only for their wonderful designs by also for the quality work put into each and everyone of the fans.

Monte Carlo comes in a variety of styles. The Naturals Monte Carlo ceiling fan collection is perfect if you want to create an all natural feel to a specific room. The Naturals Collection fans are made of organic material such as wood and wicker. The High Performance Monte Carlo ceiling fan collection has steeper blade angels and larger blade spans to deliver the highest performance.

If you are redecorating or decorating an outdoor area you may want to consider the Outdoor ceiling fan collection. These ceiling fans are designed to handle outdoor areas and can also go great with any out door theme. If you want to create a Victorian feel to a room the Ornate Monte Carlo collection is perfect for you. This collection does not have replicas of Victorian ceiling fans but are reminiscent of them.

The styles of the Monte Carlo ceiling fan collections have changed over the years but the commitment has not and will not change. The company takes pride in producing diverse, comprehensive and trendy line of ceiling fans. With a Monte Carlo you can watch a room transform before your very eyes. These beautiful ceiling fans can set the mood for any room.

To Find More Monte Carlo Ceiling Fans ratings and reviews for your home visit http://www.ceiling-fan-wizard.com

Mark is the editor Ceiling-fan-wizard.com which Provides you with the best ceiling fan reviews and ratings. To Find More ceiling fan ratings and reviews visit the website http://www.ceiling-fan-wizard.com

Author: Mark Van Tuel
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Retirement planning is all about managing the unknowns. Nobody can be certain of how their investments will perform, how well they’ll be able to stick to their savings plan, or how much their retirement spending will really be. Yet, each of these variables must be estimated in order to build a solid retirement plan. To make matters worse, investment results are anything but uniform from year to year, and large variations in annual portfolio returns can wreak havoc on even the best retirement plans. Yet, despite all this, many seasoned financial planners are still using archaic tools that don’t account for the uncertainty and volatility that’s inherent in all long-term planning.

Fortunately, thanks to some powerful new retirement planning research, you are no longer constrained to those simple minded approaches. Breakthrough research has led to a new retirement planning approach called Monte Carlo Simulation. Monte Carlo retirement planning can be used to help manage the unknowns and give planners and future retirees better information about the risks and potential pitfalls hiding along the retirement road that lies ahead.

Monte Carlo Simulation is a planning technique that provides answers in the form of probabilities, or a likelihood of success. Instead of a simple yes or no, black and white answer, a Monte Carlo retirement calculator returns the percentage chance that the plan might work. A retirement plan with a 50% probability of success has the same chance of failing as it does succeeding. Odds like these that would leave most very unsettled. On the other hand, a plan with a 95% probability of success has only a one in twenty chance of failing. Now those odds would make for much sounder sleep.

Another important benefit of this powerful approach is that it allows you to easily build a “model” of your retirement and run experiments with it. Today, the best retirement plans are “stress tested” to expose the weak points and vulnerabilities. Are you worried about what the expenses of long-term care might do to your retirement plan? You can model them in your plan. Are you concerned about the effects of a 20% stock market crash, five years into your retirement? Simulate it. The possibilities are endless for modeling or simulating expected and unexpected situations that could impact your plan. These tools put you in the drivers seat so risk and uncertainty can be kept in check.

You’ll be able to use the insights you get from stress testing to make better decisions about how best to protect yourself down the road. Perhaps a long-term care insurance policy is called for, or maybe the simulation will show you that your plan is robust enough to weather even this storm, saving the premiums for a fine European cruise! You thought you wanted to invest your portfolio aggressively for the highest returns, but seeing real numbers that clearly show the potential downside of that high risk portfolio might lead you to reevaluate your risk appetite.

So, you’re thinking this sounds good, Where do I start? Well, if you’re working with a financial advisor, this is certainly something you should take up with them. Ask them if they use Monte Carlo Simulation as part of their planning process. If you’re a do-it-yourselfer, you might like to try a free online Monte Carlo calculator called the flexibleRetirementPlanner that lets you run your own retirement simulations.

Either way, it’s clear that the days of leaving retirement planning to chance are over for good. Now, you have the power to manage risk and uncertainty and build a retirement plan that’s just right for you and your family.

Jim is mostly retired from the software industry and is now a part-time undergraduate finance instructor and the author of the flexibleRetirementPlanner.

Author: Jim Richmond
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