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February 26 - March 3 Last updated at Sun, 02 Mar 2008 04:35:08 GMT   Sweden's Soderling knocks off top-seeded Roddick - Memphis Commercial Appeal ''If you look at his career record, indoors he's over three-to-one in wins to losses,'' Roddick said. ''Outdoors, he's flirting with .500. I definitely don't think that's coincidental. ''If you see his toss, it almost brings rain. If you had a little wind and conditions to that it's a little bit of a different story.''   They Cannot be Serious! - New York Times Don't tell tennis fans that the March 10 “NetJets Showdown” between Roger Federer and Pete Sampras is just a friendly exhibition. Nineteen thousand tickets have been sold... The Garden’s stratospheric cheap seats are actually closer to the court than Arthur Ashe’s: 202 feet versus 230 feet to the farthest row. And the view is much less vertiginous — you’re hovering about 65 feet over the action at the Garden, compared with 108 feet at Ashe   Hunting the No. 1s: Are Henin, Federer vulnerable? - Matthew Cronin, tennisreporters.net (partial link only) It was just three months ago that the tennis world was taking deep bows to No. 1s Justine Henin and Roger Federer and today, they look as vulnerable as they did last March, when Federer was shocked by Guillermo Canas at Indian Wells and Miami, and Ju-Ju gagged to Serena Williams in the Miami final. ...Imagine that Venus Williams lost to qualifier Petra Kvitova in the first round of Memphis. Package that with the fact that she looked to be the less talented player against Ana Ivanovic in Australia and lost early in Antwerp, you have a troubled veteran. Venus will allegedly play Bangalore next week, but I'm sniffing an undisclosed injury. Serena, who hasn't competed since Australia due to dental surgery (or so she says), is also supposed to show up in India. If she doesn't, when she arrives in Miami, it will be close to two months before she's competed again. ...Speaking of Roddick: I get the distinct feeling that Robin Soderling will make a major impression in Tennessee. His huge serve and slapping ground strokes are perfect in the dead indoor air. He awaits the winner of Roddick v. Mardy Fish, a match which goes off tonight for the second week in a row. Will Mardy find his courage this time? Radek Stepanek is also in that half.   Luzzi found guilty of betting on tennis, suspended 200 days, fined $50K - AP "An ATP investigation, launched in August 2007, found that Mr. Luzzi had wagered 273 times on 836 tennis matches between May 2004 and April 2007," the ATP said in a statement. "Of these 273 bets, one was $4.50 bet, placed on himself to win."   Dubai: Out of site - TennisWorld I like Jankovic; she's fun, effervescent, approachable and entertaining. But she can get a little whiny. After the match, she complained again about all the injuries she's had this year and bemoaned her poor fitness for her fade in the third set. If you can't go three sets in the heat when you're game is built on movement, you're not going to stay in the top five for long. She also sounded very iffy about her new coaching relationship with former pro Scott Humphries, who she began working with recently. "I am struggling with him at the moment as we are in a trial period," she said. "I'll know in a week or two whether the arrangement will last." ...But Godsick really tickled my ear when he mentioned a commercial shift in Federer's activities. It sounded like Team Federer feels like the Swiss has maxed out his earning potential in the USA - and not without chagrin. They are now focusing their marketing, sponsorship and brand-building efforts on the Middle East and Asia, where Federer's status is closer to deity than Rodney Dangerfield. Federer, in fact, spent seven hours filming a new spot in Dubai for a soon-to-be announced partnership aimed specifically at China. As Godsick said, "Roger can't get any bigger in America. I mean, he's won four U.S. Opens in a row!" True dat.   Ljubicic's Take: Gambling punishments don't necessarily fit the crime - ESPN   Clear focus, judicious schedule part of Ljubicic's plan to resurrect career - ESPN "He's physically strong, and if he has good motivation, what I would expect is that he does well in one big tournament,'' said the Italian, adding that some subtle adjustments made to Ljubicic's Head racket would help matters. "We had some goals, to win a tournament, make the Masters, win the Davis Cup, and he won a medal at the Olympics. One goal was to play very well in a Grand Slam. He made one semi, but for me it's not enough.''   Italian flair and dash - Khaleej Times The athletic and agile Francesca reminds us of the legend Martina Navratilova, especially in her stroke making, the only difference being that Francesca is right handed. “Beating Henin is a feeling but being compared to Navratilova, I do not like because I grew up looking at the great Navratilova who was my childhood idol. I do not deserve that. Maybe I picked up on her lines of play a bit,” said Francesca adding, “She is an incredible volleyer.” ...["]As to whether the papers will write more about me, well I really do not care much. In any case soccer is the only important thing back home sports wise. Tennis is just number six or seven in this respect in my country[.] “My only priority is to enjoy my game and not be involved in thinking what the others think of me,” she said in her English which she finds difficult, saying, “Forgive me for the way I speak in English.” About what she likes about London, Francesca had a candid answer as well. “Nothing much really but it is peaceful and I am able to train and do my physical fitness part regularly. I give very little chance for my English to improve. Nearly all my 20 friends there know Italian.”   Kuznetsova in final - Khaleej Times   Russian revolution - Gulf News   Mauresmo says there is no need to worry - Gulf News "I have played much better here than in Doha, and I am leaving Dubai in a much better frame of mind," Mauresmo smiled.   Kuznetsova keeps eyes on the prize - Paul Newman, The Independent Svetlana Kuznetsova has learned how to handle Jelena Jankovic. "It's better not to look at her," the Russian said after a hard-earned victory yesterday over the Serb at the Barclays Dubai Championships. "Somehow she looks as though she's weak, but then she gets all the balls back.["]   Russian tennis stars rule Middle East - The Telegraph World No 4 Jankovic, who hinted that she might not go to the two major tournaments in California and Florida this month, said: "Physically I wasn't there. I had a tough time from the end of the second set. I just couldn't make the shots."   Rafael Nadal: Dubai's tougher than a Slam - Dubai Xpress The feisty Spaniard also refused to admit that his much-publicised foot injury – one that prompted uncle Toni to call it career-threatening in November last year – had anything to do with his apparent slump in form. "I don’t think so at all. I have played my best year in 2007 and that foot injury you talk about was in 2005. It is already over," he said.   Sania’s woes surprise me says Selima Sfar - Dubai Xpress "I guess the problem is not the same for both of us. I am a Muslim too but my country has supported me. Sania’s case is strange in that she is from a secular country and yet has to face all the criticisms," she said. And she also believes it will be difficult for young Arab girls keen to follow in her footsteps to get support. "It’s not going to be easy, that’s for sure. Youngsters here will find it tough to get the backing," she said. ...While she is pleased with the Barclays Dubai Tennis Championships organisers to grant her a wild card every year, she was not so kind to their Qatar counterparts. "Mr Salah Talak has always been kind to the Arab players by giving them wildcards. However, in Doha, the organisers are more interested in giving wild cards to German players," she said.   Efficient Roddick makes short work of friend Fish - Memphis Commercial Appeal So dominating was Roddick, who won last week's ATP Tour stop at San Jose, that he reeled off 16 straight points on his serve after nearly being broken early in the second set.   Bjorkman, Darcis reach tennis semifinals - Memphis Commercial Appeal The unseeded Bjorkman, 35, saved a match point at 5-6 in the third-set tiebreaker to set up a date with Begium’s Steve Darcis in Saturday’s semifinals. The 18-year-old Young, of Atlanta, slammed his racquet off the court in disgust after missing out on a chance at his first career semifinal.   U.S. teen stops skid, uses grit to take 3-setter - Memphis Commercial Appeal Young advanced Thursday with a 6-1, 1-6, 6-3 victory over Alejandro Falla of Colombia. Young saved seven of eight break points in the final set to win back-to-back ATP Tour matches for the first time. His two wins this week have been the third and fourth of his Tour career. He fought through a setback during the offseason and early into this season but appears to have recovered. Blisters developed on Young's left hand -- his hitting hand -- last month... Young's father, Donald Sr., said his son had to play the Tour event two weeks ago in Delray Beach, Fla., with a protective glove on his left hand. This week's the glove's been off, and his game has been rounding into form.   Paradorn back on the court - Bangkok Post ''My wrist is getting better. But I can't tell when I will be able to return to competition,'' he said. ''If my wrist is in good shape then I will be willing to help Thailand in the Davis Cup.''   Paradorn gets his hand back in - Bangkok Nation With his new "skinhead" and less macho look, the 28-year-old swung the racquet with his successor and friend Danai Udomchoke, the country's current top player, at the Piyarom Sport Club and felt no pain in his right wrist after surgery last December. ..."As I have been out of action so long, I need time to practise. I will skip the entire clay season to get back in shape and come back during the grass season, followed by the American hard court season,'' added the tennis star. Once ranked No 9 in the world, Paradorn has his eyes fixed on the top 50 in an attempt to rescue his career, but he has a "protected" ranking at No 75, which will allow him to enter nine ATP events. "If I set my sights too high, it will be too much pressure. I'd rather enjoy the tennis. To be back in the top 50 will not be easy as I'm a senior player now, and there are many new guys who are only 18-19."   Sony Ericsson takes on sponsorship chief - Marketing Week Sony Ericsson has appointed Calum Macdougall as its global sponsorship chief. He replaces Julian Mack, who is thought to have left to set up his own sponsorship agency. Macdougall, who takes the title of global director of sponsorship, will be responsible for all of the handset manufacturer's sponsorship activity, including its £50m partnership with the women's tennis tour.   Equal money but the matches do not add up - Barry Flatman, Times Online career. “Absolutely wonderful,” gushed the on-court announcer afterwards as Jankovic bolted for the sanctuary of the locker rooms in an apparent move to hide her embarrassment. Absolutely not I’m afraid, for much of the time that standard of play was little short of appalling as both players struggled to find any consistency and sprayed shots so far off target that the dimensions of the court became superfluou   Henin's desert dominance comes to an end in gruelling contest - Paul Newman, The Independent The first set was tight, but Schiavone's positive approach paid off as she took the tie-break 7-3, winning the last three points with an ace and two volleys. In the second set Schiavone made two successive breaks and served for the match at 5-2, but the Italian's boldness deserted her as Henin fought back to lead 6-5. The Belgian again went on the defensive, however, and lost the second tie-break 7-4. Henin, who has been recovering after a cortisone injection in her injured right knee, said: "She played well, but I didn't take my opportunities. I wasn't brave enough and she really took her chances." Svetlana Kuznetsova and Jelena Jankovic will meet in the other semi-final. Kuznetsova beat Amélie Mauresmo 6-1, 7-6, while Jankovic's opponent, Anna Chakvetadze, retired with a thigh injury.   Fan warned over 'betting' at the Dubai Open - The Telegraph Henin's 7-6, 7-6 loss to Francesca Schiavone was her first in 18 matches and during it a man in the stands was watched at length talking on a mobile phone. He was then spoken to by a WTA Tour official, before the two left to continue the discussion elsewhere. It was said to be the second such incident in two days. >> Finally -- a crackdown we can all get behind...   Francesca Schiavone gives Italy something to smile about - Barry Flatman, Times Online He was accessible and accommodating. He did little things like pronounce Guillermo Coria's first name correctly; he did big things like launch a legit foundation, not the pay-my-friends-to-show-up-and-donate-the-table-scraps sham that so many other athletes perpetrate. It's discouraging that at 26, Roddick has regressed almost to the point of cliché: another boorish athlete who appears to have forgotten that he was once that kid with the Sharpie in his extended hand.   Mailbag: In bad taste - Jon Wertheim, SI.com Also, I'm not sure this episode rises to the level of "felony trash talk." As I understood it, Roddick was telling Nishikori to be merciless, essentially saying, "If you're going to drive the lane, go for the dunk and not some cutesy finger roll." The message got lost in translation, but the intent didn't seem malicious. Nevertheless, triggered by this latest episode, a lot of you wrote in criticizing Roddick's attitude of late. And I think that the larger point is a fair one. The dirty secret in men's tennis is that the guy has been fairly insufferable lately. ...And heeding Roddick's advice to Nishikori, we're going to stick him with it: I cringed as Roddick dressed down Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and winced as he sucked down champagne and blew off the Portland, Ore., kids seeking autographs at the Davis Cup, and bristled at this laughable, Connors-ian me-against-the-world routine. ...He was accessible and accommodating. He did little things like pronounce Guillermo Coria's first name correctly; he did big things like launch a legit foundation, not the pay-my-friends-to-show-up-and-donate-the-table-scraps sham that so many other athletes perpetrate. It's discouraging that at 26, Roddick has regressed almost to the point of cliché: another boorish athlete who appears to have forgotten that he was once that kid with the Sharpie in his extended hand.   Ginepri's offseason boot camp paying dividends - Bonnie D. Ford, ESPN "I think I'm better overall than in '05," Ginepri told reporters, referring to the stellar season that has been his yardstick ever since. "I attacked that whole match. When you're feeling like that, it's easier to take risks." ..."Robby needed focus and discipline," Courier said. "He's a very gifted athlete, but he was, self-admittedly, floating and wondering how he was going to resurrect himself. Robby's an unfinished product, and Jose is one of the best at finishing players." Ginepri's coast-and-accelerate pattern was familiar to Higueras, who initially agreed to work with him only on a trial basis. "I needed to see where he was in terms of desire," the coach said. Higueras also admits that Ginepri's laid-back exterior makes it easy to assume he's not hungry enough -- a perception that since has been altered.   More to Bryan Brothers than meets the eye - Joel Drucker, ESPN One of the smartest moves the ATP has made in recent years is to open the concluding day of many events with the doubles final. All too often in the past, when the doubles final was played after the singles, the energy would drain from the venue as everyone from fans to tournament officials and traveling tennis roadies began making their way out of the event. "The funny thing is that the great majority of recreational tennis players mostly play doubles," Wayne Bryan, father of the world's best team, twins Mike and Bob, said at the Davis Cup final in November. Using the doubles final as an appetizer for the singles worked perfectly at Sunday's SAP Open in San Jose. Of the 7,166 spectators who came to that final, roughly three-quarters were already in their seats to watch the match between the Bryan brothers and Scott Lipsky and David Martin. There was even a local angle, as all four players had attended nearby Stanford University. (Ironically, Lipsky-Martin's coaching duo is a pair of notables from Stanford rival UC Berkeley, Scott McCain and Steve Devries.)   Will Roddick's maturity mean better results? - Matthew Cronin, Foxsports Four and half years have passed since that time, and at 25, Roddick is no longer so self-assured on court. Off the court, he still can come off as a needling fraternity president, but he also has a thoughtful and considerate side. He's a smart guy who better understands his place in the tennis universe now because he's been through the wars and he knows that he's not the tour's five-star general. He's more like a smart, muscular colonel willing to go to the front lines time and time and hope that his best-laid plans won't be set aflame. He's a veteran now, and with that comes knowledge and self realization. "After seven years, if I still feel like a young buck, it'd be a little weird," said Roddick from San Jose's SAP Open, where he reached the quarterfinal with a clinical 6-2, 6-4 victory over Japanese teen sensation Kei Nishikori. Connors, who had spent a few years in tennis exile after quitting the senior tour, appeared super excited when they began their association back in the summer of 2006. "When he stepped on the court from the first minute, I've never seen any like it, which kind of reminded me of me, which was kind of cool," Connors said. "I said, 'Geez, if I could bring that out of him a little more and keep him practicing and working and going about it that way, then what he has to offer and what he has to bring to the game is unlimited.'" Maybe he's still seeing it that way, and maybe not, but for now, as long as Connors is still considered Roddick's head coach (his brother John is his traveling coach), it has to be conceded that Connors still feels like there is value to their relationship. But this year, you won't see Jimbo planted in a dozen Friend's Boxes watching his protege. "(There are) going to be more practice weeks this year instead of coming to a tournament and being a little bit of a Band-Aid, " Roddick said. "You might see him at bigger events. I know how to come and play these events and we view the preparation as more important. From the beginning, we knew he wasn't going to travel 40 weeks a year. We thought how we would best utilize the situation and get where we want to go. It wasn't so much, 'I'm not going anymore' type-of-thing."   Tour’s funny guy Llodra focuses on his career - tennisreporters.net There was a time when Rotterdam champion Michael Llodra was thinking more about what kind of practical joke he was going to pull next than he was focusing on which tactics he’d use in his upcoming match. “I give my best sometimes,” the Frenchman said about his attitude. “Like one match here, one match there, but not every time. And that’s the difference when you want to be in the Top 20, or something like that, or you want to be like 80, 90.” But when his coach Olivier Marcor came up to him one day in August last year and said it was time for Llodra to start thinking about what he wanted to get out of the rest of his career, he became a different man. “My coach said, ‘Now you are 27, and you have two chances. One: You can be Top 100 at the end of the year. You play good, you win some money, you win some doubles, and that’s all. Or you have the second chance and you fight more on the court, you try to do your best everyday and we see what’s happening.”   House of Laver - Peter Bodo, TennisWorld The eastern seems to be following the continental into the dustbin of history. This weeding out over the past few decades tells us something about the history of the game. Both the surfaces that have come to dominate (and it's easy to forget that we've undergone a major change in that regard) and the way the game is taught and played have changed at a bedrock level. Partly as a result of that, comparing the games of Laver and Federer is a little like comparing an open-cockpit, bullet-shaped race car from the 1950s to one of today's low-slung, sleek Indy cars.   Footloose in Dubai - TennisWorld I looked around the nearly empty stands and reminded myself that, for the most part, players labor in obscurity. If the sweat drops and nobody sees it, does it make a sound? Meanwhile, Ditty had come back from a 1-4 first set deficit against Dushevina, only to fold in the final two sets, losing 5-7, 6-4, 6-4. A 2002 graduate of Vanderbilt University where she was a three-time All-American, Ditty, 29, is a neat story. The 5-6 southpaw ground her way into the WTA’s main events after wracking up 30 titles (8 singles, 22 doubles) on the lower-tier pro level – a record she shares with Nana Miyagi. She broke into the top 100 for the first time last fall and received her first direct entry into a major at last month’s Australian Open (she lost in the first round). Ditty has been a true road warrior in a sport made of them, playing in eight consecutive weeks, according to her coach, Mark Hanson, whom I caught up with in the stands. ...It turns out Likhvotseva, one of the friendliest and best liked of competitors, is playing doubles here with Dushevina in the hopes of making the Russian Olympic team. Now 32, the Muscovite told me she had seriously considered retiring last year and hadn’t played an event since the Kremlin Cup last fall. She spent three months idle in Moscow, and while it felt fantastic not spending her days in planes and hotels (“It’s almost the same every week,” she said) she also got antsy both to travel and train. “You long to go somewhere,” said the 2004 French Open semifinalist, “just to change places.” She laughed at being one of the oldest women still around, joking that only Rennae Stubbs and Ai Sugiyama are longer in the tooth. The Russian admitted her chances of making the Olympic squad are thin, considering the depth of women’s tennis in her country. She doesn’t have a regular doubles partner yet, but has ranked as high as No. 3 in her career. She said the top two ranked Russians in doubles will make the Olympics, so that’s her hope. The other pair will be taken from the singles qualifiers. If she doesn’t qualify, she’ll likely retire and start a family with her husband, Michael Baranov, whom she married in Las Vegas in 1999.   The Battle of 30-All - Steve Tignor, Tennis.com It would be unfair to think of Sharapova as merely as desperate street fighter who saves her best for when she’s behind. If that’s all you can do, you’re not going to put yourself in a position to win many matches. What's more important is how well she plays the crucial little points that crop up in each game. These are not dramatic moments that change the momentum, and they rarely make the highlight reel afterward. But taken together they determine the course of a match, and winning them regularly requires not just fighting ability, but intelligent point management, which may be Sharapova’s most underrated attribute. A playing partner of mine and I like to say that 30-30 is the point that separates the men from the boys—or, more coldly, the winners from the losers... It didn’t work out that way in the second set. Zvonareva served the first game, which went to 30-30. For some reason, Sharapova abandoned the safe block and went straight down the line with a full-swing forehand return, missing by inches. It was an all-or-nothing attempt, and it cost her. Having held, Zvonareva was relieved and rejuvenated, perhaps becasue she had finally won a point that some part of her recognized as crucial. Sharapova, meanwhile, seemed distracted by her missed opportunity. Seven games later she had lost the set and coach Michael Joyce was saying to her, “You let the first few games [of that set] bother you.” I’m guessing Sharapova knew not just the game, but the point, he was talking about. In the first game of the third set, she won a long rally with a brilliant mix of scrambling defense and powerful offense. When her last forehand screamed past her opponent for a winner, Sharapova let loose with a spasmodic fist-pump. And why not: She’d just won the 30-all point. She wouldn’t lose another game.   FSN Finalizes Indian Wells Commentary Team - Tennis Week Veteran broadcaster Barry Tompkins will anchor the telecast as play-by-play announcer joined by analysts Justin Gimelstob and Chanda Rubin. >> Oh my. Seriously, the commentary is the most important part of the broadcast after the actual match itself. But the signage on the net is subject to more quality control than who gets to be in the booth.   Nadal Puts Foot Down - Tennis Week Toni Nadal, Rafa's uncle and coach, told Tennis Week Editor-At-Large Richard Evans in the new issue of Tennis Week Magazine that the hard courts on the ATP Tour are creating injury issues for several players. "It is a medical problem for everyone," Toni Nadal told Evans. "What other sport asks its athletes to compete on this kind of surface? Runners run on Tartan, which is cushioned. Soccer and rugby players play on grass. No one has to suffer this kind of physical hardship like tennis players."   No repeats for Haas this time around - Memphis Commercial Appeal ''We played Davis Cup last year when (Haas) was at his peak,'' Becker said. ''I knew (Wednesday) he was not at his best. He is clearly an unbelievable player. But you can tell he's not hitting his serve the same. He's not hitting his groundstrokes the same. ''I knew I'd have more chances against him today than I did had I played him last year at this time. For him to come back after his third shoulder surgery is really tough. Obviously, it takes a lot of time and a lot of patience for him to get back to 100 percent. It takes a lot of work and lot of discipline. I know he has it.''   Peer fights back to avoid big upset - Memphis Commercial Appeal Finding a second wind that resulted in winner after winner, Peer came back from a 2-0 deficit in the third set to win six straight games and the match.   Sharapova admits making mistakes - Gulf News   Jankovic’s great escape - The experience of the Serb held her good finally when the killer shots required to finish off a tight situation, were produced from her armoury with ease. “Sania had some great situations from where she could have capitalised on cornering me further,” Jelena said.“My experience came to my help. I don’t know whether she was nervous. “The 4-4 situation in the final set and the three errors by her gave me the chance and I never let it go. In the first set, she played brilliant tennis and her shots were heavy and solid. I found it very difficult initially.”   Serb eyes sunglasses - Khaleej Times Serbian tennis star Ana Ivanovic had a look at the delights of Dubai Duty Free.   Sania eyes Olympics - Khaleej Times Recently some writers had said about Sania wanting to transfer base to Dubai when the flag issue raged and after her announcement to pull out from the Indian WTA legs. “No question, it was all a media misinterpretation. All I said was - with all the unwanted happenings that is going around me, I would like to move on outside and concentrate just on my game so that at home there would not be any issues raised. “No permanent outside homes or training bases. My family and India are first priorities for me. India is my home, have no doubts about that,” the 21-year-old said. “Everything has a price. The iconic level that I am treated with is not my fault. We have to accept the situation, more so from my side. “The past is past. There is no point just dragging on with the issues off the court. Me not playing in India is a professional decision for personal reasons.”   Strong field gives BMW Championship extra appeal - Michelle Kaufman, Miami Herald Ivo Karlovic, the 6-10, big-serving Croat, is ranked No. 21 and could be the highest-ranked player in the Sunrise field. Other potential players include No. 39 Andreas Seppi, the Italian who beat Lleyton Hewitt and Rafael Nadal last week, and No. 44 Janko Tipsarevic, a Serbian who took Roger Federer to five sets at the Australian Open. Two wild-card spots will be held for former world No. 7 Mario Ancic and American Robby Ginepri, who was ranked 15th in 2005, slid to No. 132 and is climbing back with semifinal showings at Delray Beach and San Jose, Calif, in the past month.   Former world No. 1 Clijsters gives birth to daughter - AP Former U.S. Open champion Kim Clijsters gave birth to a daughter on Wednesday, nine months after retiring from tennis. Clijsters and her husband, American basketball player Brian Lynch, named the baby Jada.   Plenty of firsts as qualifier downs top seed Williams - Memphis Commercial Appeal Her first match ever against a top 10 opponent for the 17-year old from the Czech Republic. Her first phone call to her dad at 3 a.m. in the morning, his time. Her first press conference ever. Ranked 143rd in the world, Kvitova, who turns 18 on March 8, got just the second win of her career on the WTA tour... In the second set, it looked like Williams was on the verge of breaking open the match a couple times, especially when she began cranking up her serves in the 120 miles per hour range in game five. But though Williams led 3-2 and 4-3, she couldn't put away Kvitova, who did a nice job of serve placement. Williams had to keeping making exerted efforts just to get her racket on Kvitova's first serves. Williams' big forehand grew more and more erratic, and before she knew it, she had lost the second set 6-4... "It was 3 in the morning, but my father was following the live scoring (online)," Kvitova said. "He was very nervous, but now he's very happy." Until her stunning loss, Willliams' path to a repeat championship appeared to get easier earlier on Tuesday when second-seeded Tatiana Golovin of France was upset, 6-4, 6-4, by Bethanie Mattek of Miami.   Memphis tennisfirst round Haas feels at home - Memphis Commercial Appeal "The shoulder's holding up. It's allowing me to play," Haas said. "It's not always the way I want it to be, as you can imagine after three surgeries. Overall, though, I am very pleased." ...The 22-year-old former Georgia star wondered whether he'd be able to play Melzer at all after falling ill on Sunday. To conserve energy, he dispensed with warmups. "I started feeling pretty bad last night -- just real stiff," he said. "I woke up about 4 this morning and couldn't get back to sleep. I laid in bed 'til about 1:30. I couldn't get out of bed. I walked out on the court, didn't hit a ball or anything, just trying to wing it." ...Isner committed eight double faults in all, including three in a row at 3-4 in the second set, to provide Melzer with the only service break of the match. Melzer said Isner "gave me an early Easter present" with that dubious hat trick.   Fifth seed Querrey avoids upset in opener - Memphis Commercial Appeal Afterward, Russell said had he won he likely would have had to withdraw from the tournament because of his shoulder. ''I didn't realize (his injury) until I saw him rubbing his shoulder,'' Querrey said. ''But I knew last week he pulled out last week (at San Jose) with a shoulder injury. ''I think it started to bug him at the end of the match. He was just kind of sliding his first serve in.'' Russell said Querrey's normal aggressive play may have been neutralized by concern for Russell's injury. ''We're friends, I'm injured, and I think it played with his mind a little bit and he didn't play as well,'' Russell said. ''I felt like he was nervous and tight from the baseline.''   Webb takes different post-career path - Tom Tebbutt, The Globe and Mail Vanessa Webb of Toronto made a seamless transition from professional player to her new career, mostly because she did not have much choice. "I went from tennis to Wharton [the prestigious business school in Philadelphia] 10 days later," Webb said. "Wharton was so difficult, it didn't give me time to think about having stopped playing." That was in August of 2003. Since then she has led a life much different than the one she had during more than a decade on the international tennis circuit (with time away to graduate from Duke University in 1999 with a triple major in economics, Canadian studies and French, and win the U.S. National Collegiate Athletic Association women's singles title in 1998). After graduating with a master of business administration degree from Wharton in 2005, she joined the Parthenon Group, a Boston-based consulting firm and recently relocated to Mumbai to help open up a new office in the Indian metropolis. ...Last year at Wimbledon, the WTA Tour player council recognized Webb's impressive background by electing her as one its representatives on the tour board of directors. "Tennis matters to me," Webb said. "I thought I could help because I understand the problems from a player's perspective, but can also step back and look at the issues from a business and financial perspective." She sits on the finance committee and has worked on the player pension plan as well as helping "put a little more order in our financial management and our investment management - just creating more transparency." Webb cites the organization naming of Larry Scott as chief executive officer five years ago as a turning point. "The WTA has become profitable. We're now spending money on marketing and our revenue generation from sponsorship is far higher, as it is from TV," she said. "We actually, for the first time, have a reserve. We have an $84-million [U.S.], six-year contract for the year-end championships [2008-10 in Qatar and 2011-13 in Turkey]."   The region’s premier tournament gets rolling - Emirates Business Barclays has paid $9 million (Dh33m) for their association. The region’s premier tournament gets rolling McLoughlin said the decision to share the title with Barclays was a well thought out one, which came after Dubai Duty Free rejected various such proposals in the past. ...“What we are really doing with the tournament is the marketing of not just Dubai Duty Free, but the entire emirate of Dubai. Being a global sponsor on the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour is also very good for us. We are also supposed to foster and build up tennis in the region, which I think our tournament does very well,” he said.   Sania simply superb - Dubai Khaleej Times Late on Monday night Sania and Francesca Schiavone edged out wild cards Svetlana Kuznetsova and Amelia Mauresmo 6-4 6-4 in a first round doubles match on Centre Court.   Rastogi backs out of players’ revolt - PTI Karan Rastogi, one of the signatories of the letter of complaint against Davis Cup captain Leander Paes sent to the All India Tennis Association, has since done a volte face, saying he has sorted out the issues with his skipper and was willing to play under him. “It’s about time. After looking at personal (issues) and speaking to the Federation, I have sorted out all the issues with Leander,” Rastogi told PTI. Magazines this Month   Roger and out? - ESPN the Magazine   The man who makes the tennis world nervous - ESPN the Magazine   January-February issue - Tennis magazine (table of contents plus some links)   First Serve: The Man Could Not Avoid Beauty - Bill Simons, Inside Tennis   The Buzz - Inside Tennis   World Top 10 Stories - Matthew Cronin, Inside Tennis   Changes - Inside Tennis   Say It Ain't So - Bill Simons, Inside Tennis   The Best Damn Tennis Crib Sheet - Period!: Men - Matthew Cronin, Inside Tennis   The Best Damn Tennis Crib Sheet - Period! - Matthew Cronin, Inside Tennis   Ana Ivanovic: Leads the Serbian Charge - Alix Ramsay, Tennis Life   Hall of Fame: Pete Sampra goes home for the first time - Bill Dwyre, Tennis Life   Roy Emerson Now - Tennis Life   Cookie Quandry: Superstitions Are Serious Business - Tennis Week   February issue - Australian Tennis (table of contents)   Warriors Ready to Battle for Their Honor - Deuce   Andy Roddick: The Road Ahead - Joel Drucker, Deuce   Ferrer Steps Out of the Shadows - Deuce   Kiefer's Comeback & The Getting of Wisdom - Deuce   ATP's 'FEEL IT' Set for Global Rollout in 2008 - Deuce   Erlich & Ram Share Dreams On and Off Court - Deuce   The Last Time... with Tommy Haas - Deuce This site is not responsible for the content of external websites and does not vouch for the accuracy of material excerpted above. 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