Saturday, January 12
Last updated at 9:30 am EDT
AUSTRALIAN PRESS
Roddick wins in two, making it a Classic set of three - Melbourne Age
"Is it possible to get some kind of three for one Classic deal, when you get an Australian Open win when you've won three Classics," Roddick joked....Connors kept a close eye on Roddick's performance from a courtside box.
Davydenko, the Australian Open's fourth seed, told The Sunday Age he was unsure if he would ever be able to clear his name, even in the event he is exonerated by the ATP's investigation into the irregular betting patterns in his match against Martin Vassallo Arguello in Sopot, Poland, last August....Nor, indeed, is he convinced by any of the many claims from fellow ATP players to emerge in recent months - including Djokovic, Clement, Dmitry Tursunov, Paul Goldstein and Michael Llodra. "I cannot believe these guys," Davydenko said yesterday. "I think these guys try to be clean. They try to say 'somebody is asking me (to tank)', but I say no, so I have nothing to do with it'. People try to be some nice guy for the press, or for the people." Davydenko, in contrast, is well aware he is wearing the villain's black hat, but in one sense seems curiously satisfied with his notoriety. "In the press I am like the bad guy . not nice guy or good guy. But before I was nobody; now I (am) somebody. OK, it was not good, but some people already were thinking I'm the bad guy, 'the ice man' or something like this... Now my wife she said to me 'now you're somebody, doesn't matter good or bad, but you already somebody and people know you'."
...Davydenko's manager, Ronnie Leitgeb, hinted at legal action, and described the ATP's investigation as amateurish. "At the end of the day, there's a damage, and somebody has to pay for the damage," Leitgeb said. "If he has done something against the law then the ATP has to put it to a public court. But after six months, there's no action, it's quite strange." The ATP's chief executive, Etienne de Villiers, told the BBC on Friday that neither player was being investigated. "We've never ever said this is about Davydenko or Arguello. We said this is about an irregular betting pattern and we need to get to the bottom of it."
"They probably won't notice much at all. We didn't really want to obstruct or cause problems for the players," said Sal Perna."You could have gone to extreme lengths like ban mobile phones, but that would have been totally disproportionate. But we've found a comfortable balance between that.
As if keen to dispel the notion that his 21-year-old body is already starting to betray him, the Spaniard with the history of leg injuries said he had trained and practised so hard in December that each night he would fall asleep on the couch only five minutes after sitting down in front of the TV.His days would begin with an 8.30am workout and alternate between the practice court and "physical performance" until 7.15pm, with a two-hour lunchbreak and another hour off at 5pm.
Some rare respite came on Christmas Day. "After the family dinner, I go out a little bit with the friends - well, a little bit more than a little bit," he smiled. "The next day is day off, holiday."
Williams believes her sister, Venus, will be her toughest opponent in her bid to defend the crown."My biggest concern is who I practise with every day, Venus. She's playing unbelievable. She gets every ball back. I think Justine is a big concern, as well.
MELBOURNE'S summer of tennis hasn't officially started until Maria Sharapova has posed with a koala or one of the Williams sisters has been pictured in a bikini.Consider, therefore, this snap of Serena Williams to be game on.
"Since the first moment I started to watch tennis on the TV, I started to imitate all these players, and I did it all throughout my career, but now the people started noticing it more because of my popularity and my success I had on the court. Some people say I just do it to get all the attention on me, to show off, but it's not true... I'm going to travel the tour, I'm going to visit more or less the same place, so you have to take it more or less in a positive way, and take everything with a smile - bring out the positive energy, make the people laugh, enjoy yourself, and that's what I'm doing."...Mark Woodforde, offered some advice during last year's net tutorials about not overdoing the funster routine and giving rivals cause to feel miffed. "You can beat them with your racquet; that's what disturbs them. Don't give them any extra (motivation) by trying to take off Nadal, picking your pants out of your bum," says Woodforde. "In a particular time and place, the crowd will love it, but you don't need to overdo it, and I think he gets that, but sometimes I think that youthful exuberance takes over.
"Has he got up Roger's nose? Yes, and probably up Rafa's a little bit, as well. How nice is it when there's two of you standing up at the top of the mountain, you don't want to share it around, but then all of a sudden someone comes barging up and clawing at you and it can hurt. Novak has left some marks on them, so I don't know whether they're worried that he could knock them off, or it's just that the personalities haven't meshed. It could be both."
"Not everybody can like what I do, and if you feel that somebody is coming up closer to you and starting the rivalry and everything, you maybe change your position to him. Me, I don't have a different opinion about him or either Rafa. They are my rivals, I can say, but they are my colleagues, as well, in the life and in the business. I see a lot of them during the year and I really respect them both, because I think they are fantastic players, especially Roger, for me."
The nationality saga involving Australian permanent residents Jarmila Gajdosova and Anastasia Rodionova has taken yet another twist, with clearance arriving overnight on Thursday for the pair to immediately represent their adopted country in tournament play, although not yet in Fed Cup.
"The focus will be what's going on in the US rather than domestically," says Heffernan. "Here, most eyes will be on the tennis!"
Lowly ranked Alessio di Mauro received a nine-month suspension, Daniele Bracciali three months, and Potito Starace six weeks for betting on other players' matches.Blake suggested that the ATP had made an example of those players.
"It's been extremely harsh for what guys have done four or five years ago and didn't seem to have an effect . I think the danger is if these guys start doing it now," he said. "If it's five years ago, you know, we hope they've learned and would never do it again. But to punish them so severely looks like they might be just looking to make an example of someone.
"If anything comes recently, or on their own matches, or even on tournaments that they're at, then that's something we need to take extremely seriously. And that's where the strict punishments should come in."
Soon after bowing out of qualifying, Dokic declared her achievements in the past week had overshadowed the career efforts of some Australian wildcard recipients."I was disappointed they didn't even take me into consideration, but that's the way Tennis Australia does things," Dokic said.
"One of the biggest stories of our tournament was the injuries and withdrawals," he said. "We had two pull out (Meghann Shaughnessy and Michaella Krajicek) prior to the event and overall six of the top eight players pull out prior or during the event."
INTERNATIONAL PRESS
Ana Ivanovic, one of the most beautiful and successful tennis starts (from Monday ranked number 3 in the world) will take part in the 53rdEurovision Song Contest. At first there were rumours that Ana might host the show but due to her sporting commitments she was unable to do so. However a solution was found and Ana will take part in some way.
Indian tennis star Sania Mirza is considering her future after a furore in her homeland over a photograph that shows her resting her bare feet near the national flag, it was reported yesterday...."She is very upset, it's a major issue for her," Bhupathi told the Australian. "At the end of the day, she is a 21-year-old girl trying to do her best.
"Everything is adding up and she is starting to wonder whether it is all worth it, but people close to her, they are telling her to hang in there."
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There were rumors circulating that the two had made an agreement that Pete would win at least one of the matches, but he adamantly refuted that notion. "It's not true," he said. "We played. We didn't talk about any first set, second set, you do this I'll do that. But exhibitions are a tricky sort of deal. You want to entertain and have a lighter side, but you also want to play well."...Before the first match in Seoul, Federer called Sampras and asked him to come up to his room to hang out, which kind of surprised Sampras. "I said, 'Roger I've never done that in 20 years on the road, go hang out with another player,'" Sampras said with a laugh. "I said it sarcastically. But he's like my new best friend."
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