Today's News
Last updated at Mon, 28 Apr 2008 15:41:10 GMT
..."I had no problems with my stamina but my muscles still need to get used to the kind of shot I have to react to quickly," she said.
"I might start thinking about winning or raising my ranking as I play more matches, but at the moment I'm enjoying the challenge I'm facing," she added.
..."Stamina-wise I'm fine but it will take a while for my muscles to get used to it all," said Date, who has been using an oxygen chamber and acupuncture to help speed recovery after training. "I have to get my body to adapt again." ...Borg, now 51, had a 46-match streak (1977-79) on clay, well short of Nadal's record 81. But in 1980, Borg won Roland Garros without losing a set - 21 in a row with none going higher than 6-4 and four ending in zeros. He ran that streak to 41 the following year before losing the second set of the final to Ivan Lendl. Nadal, in three French Opens, has never won more than a measly 22 consecutive sets.
...Seldom has there been a tangent of terror - the left-handed Nadal's wickedly top-spun, explosive forehand hit cross-court into Federer's weaker backhand side - on a surface that is so telling in a matchup of the world's No. 1 and No. 2 players.
"If you have perfect conditions and everything you want, you don't know the real meaning of tennis and you don't work as hard as you are supposed to. You do not have hunger for success because everything is on a plate."
...Djokovic did not have any cause for criticism of his friend and rival Murray, however. "He has enough quality, enough talent, and enough potential to be a top-five player, and everybody expects him to do that," he said of his fellow 20-year-old. "But obviously he has so much pressure on him because Great Britain needs a champion, badly, and a Wimbledon champion especially, so they expect him
His one victory on the surface came last year in the Hamburg Master Series final, but the courts and conditions in the German city are atypical, bearing little resemblance to here, Rome, or Roland Garros, where Nadal holds sway.
Federer has no other option other than to talk up his chances of ultimately getting the better of the world No2 on clay, as he did after this defeat, their 15th meeting on all surfaces, and Nadal's ninth victory. It is only on the All England Club's grass, as well as indoors, that Nadal has yet to get the better of him, and he was preciously close to ending Federer's Wimbledon dominance in last year's final.
At 5-6 Federer played a ragged game. An indecisive approach at 0-15 was punished by a backhand down the line and at 15-40 Federer made the same mistake as the tamest of forehands invited Nadal to pass him.
The shift in fortunes was even more extreme in the second set. Federer, at last finding a consistency of touch, won eight points in a row on his way to a 4-0 lead but Nadal bettered that with 11 points in succession in a run of five winning games. Federer stopped the rot to level at 5-5, but more mistakes handed Nadal victory two games later. The last three points – a poor forehand and two misplaced backhands – summed up his day.
..."I'm coming back strong," he said. "I'm happy with the way things are now, whereas I still had a bit of doubt a few weeks ago... Maybe my attacking game didn't work as well as it has in the past, but that can happen. I'm still awfully close. He's improving, but so am I." Federer thought his attacking game didn’t really work but is hard to see how he would have prospered had he merely sat back and tried to slug it out with the game’s greatest slugger.
...Unlikely as it would have been on this occasion, every champion thinks he would have a chance of coming back and when Federer was asked if he thought he could have lasted five sets, his answer was cutting. "I could have played seven sets if I had to, no problem. It’s a pity, best of three set finals. They’re over so quickly. I don’t think fitness mattered at all today because what, we had six, seven hours on court throughout the week? Normally we do twenty. So this is peanuts." "In the beginning of the second set he start playing much better," said Nadal before going back on court to play doubles with Tommy Robredo. "It was a very important game for 5-2. Was a very, very tough game. He has break points. He is always inside the court, no? He’s pushing against my backhand. So don’t lose the court, try to be inside all the time. Because if I am inside, he has less time to prepare for the next shot, no?"
...It is just possible Nadal will not be as fresh as he would like. With an evening sun glinting against the sail of a little yacht as it swayed gently on the Mediterranean, Nadal and Robredo were still at it long after Federer had gone back to his hotel. And ultimately, it paid off for the Spaniards who came through a thrilling semifinal 5-7, 7-6, 10-7 against the veteran pair of Jonas Bjorkman and Kevin Ullyett. “Tomorrow, I will try to push him to see what happens," said Federer, whose confidence is creeping back into his game after a decent title run in Estoril and some fine, aggressive play in Monte Carlo on Saturday, he took care of the Boy-Who-Might-Be-King, Novak Djokovic 6-3, 3-2. The Australian Open retired after complaining of dizziness and a sore throat.
The ten cities are: Barcelona, Benidom, Gijon, Jerez de la Frontera, Madrid, Malaga, Marbella, Murcia, Santa Cruz de Tenerife and Santander. Each proposed venue has a capacity of at least 12,000 with four of them detailing a capacity of up to 20,000 and beyond. The highest attendance for a Davis Cup tie was set at the Spain v USA World Group Final in 2004 in Seville when the daily crowd numbered 27,200.
Dokic, who turned 25 this month, was due to play France's world No. 509 Sophie Lefevre in her opening match in Fes overnight, Melbourne time, and has also been granted a main draw doubles wildcard with Moroccan partner Lamia Essaidi.
IMG's Lawrence Frankopan said although there was no formal representation agreement in place, the company hoped to help Dokic set up a "professional structure", which may include further wildcard requests and a permanent training base. Dokic has recently spent time in France, and other potential options include the Sanchez-Casal Tennis Academy in Barcelona or the British LTA headquarters in London.
Rafael Nadal, who has been in his element on the red dust of Monte Carlo this past week, faces Federer in the final for the third year in succession. Nadal will be going for his fourth successive title at Europe’s opening ATP Masters Series event.
The 21-year-old from Majorca leads 8-6 in all meetings against Federer; more pertinently, he is 6-1 ahead in their matches on clay.
“Tennis has become almost an irrelevant conversation,” he says. “I don’t look at it as something that’s cruel. I view myself as extremely lucky to be alive.
“Now I have a new perspective on life, I have really got a sense of what is important. Success was always the goal for me, but now I see a bigger picture.
...“I have the ability to take the bull by the horns and do something just like I did in Argentina. I hate it when I look at Andy and see how far away the next player is. I spend a lot of my time thinking about it.” Unfortunately for Dee, the circuit is independent of ITF jurisdiction and therefore not a contributory factor to the ATP ranking system. Even so, it has been the launching pad for 13 of this week’s world top 100, including Rafael Nadal.
So angry was Dee’s father, Alan, by some of the mocking articles written about his son that he sought the counsel of his solicitors. On Friday they presented their case to the Press Complaints Commission. Understandably, the player admits to being a little psychologically bruised, but even more resolute in his chosen profession.
“I just felt a little bit hard done by because I didn’t know what I had done to deserve this treatment,” said Dee, who has been based in Spain at the family holiday home in La Manga for nearly three years after spending almost two years at the Nick Bollettieri Tennis Academy in Bradenton, Florida, which has produced such champions as Maria Sharapova, Andre Agassi, Jim Courier and Monica Seles. “I’ve worked hard and kept my head down, just trying to do what I love doing. I was a little bit hurt by the term Worst Player in the World. When you read that about yourself, not just in one newspaper but several, you think it is slightly unfair.”
After being broken for the second time in the second set to trail 6-3, 3-2, Djokovic walked over to Federer and told him he could no longer continue. "I didn't feel good for the last three days and feel dizziness a little bit," he said. "I've been waking up with some sore throat. I asked doctor yesterday, but he said I don't have nothing, which I really don't believe. I think he didn't give me the right diagnosis."
When it comes to debilitating illnesses, Federer must have been tempted to tell him to try glandular fever for size. The Swiss was said to be suffering from such a condition when he lost to Djokovic in the semi-finals of the Melbourne grand slam - after completing the match, it should be added. It was a defeat that ended his run of 10 consecutive grand slam finals and precipitated a supposed fall from grace for the 12-time grand slam champion.
As compassionate as he is, Federer was not alone in failing to spot Djokovic's discomfort yesterday. On a couple of occasions the world No 3 dropped to his haunches after a shot failed to find its target, but, as Federer said, that could have been through disappointment. "I didn't see anything from my side till when he called the doctor [at the end of the first set]," said Federer. "But I didn't feel like he was playing too sick. I didn't think it was that extreme." To add confusion to the game's seething political scenario, Hamburg will lose its Masters status next year - provided the ATP successfully defends a lawsuit against an enraged German Tennis Federation - and will be moved to July, with an enlarged event from Madrid moving to May from October. Monte Carlo was earmarked for a fate similar to Hamburg's, but some tough talking from the Monte Carlo Country Club President Elisabeth de Massy, a cousin of Prince Albert, left the tournament clinging to its status but stripped of its ability to demand entry from all the world's top players.
Djokovic called for the trainer after the first set and threw in the towel after Federer had broken to take a 3-2 lead in the second. The world No 3 said he had been unwell for the last three days but said his previous opponents here, which included Andy Murray on Thursday, "were not that tough and I didn't have long rallies against them like I had today".
...The "Summer of Women" turned the spotlight on female athletes in soccer, gymnastics, softball and basketball, but the attention generally didn't translate into lasting marketing success. Now they face increased competition from Hollywood stars who no longer eschew product pitches.
"That shift has really opened up the market," said Max Eisenbud, an IMG agent who represents Sharapova. "Look at Catherine Zeta-Jones with T-Mobile and Jennifer Aniston with Smartwater."
...Having plied the Federer backhand to such effect in the first set, Nalbandian was not the same once the Swiss broke to lead 4-2 in the second, forcing a forehand error at the conclusion of a breathtaking rally.
“I really like this victory because David’s played in South America on clay, played Davis Cup on clay, so he’s well used to it already,” Federer said.
On the clay courts, Rafael Nadal is the man to envy, the one with a record worth coveting. So there was quite a stir when it looked as though the defending champion was about to drop the second set, and so get dragged into a decider against David Ferrer, a fellow Spaniard. Ferrer held three set-points when serving at 5-4, but Nadal broke back, and then two games later he struck again, with a wonderful forehand whipped down the line, for another break and a 6-1, 7-5 victory that took him into the semi-finals once again. On Wednesday the world No1 had been within two shots of losing his opening match against the Spanish qualifier Ruben Ramirez Hidalgo, after which there was much shaking of heads among the cognoscenti. This was not the Federer of the previous four years, the Federer of 12 slam titles. Had the Australian Open semi-final defeat against Serbia's Novak Djokovic in January so punctured his confidence that every Tom, Dick, and Ruben was now capable of placing the great man under pressure?
...When Nalbandian won the first set against Federer, during which the standard of play was exceptionally high, it had seemed as if there might be no way back for the Swiss, but he began to play even better, with his forehand, strangely inconsistent of late, beginning to resemble its old self. "Roger played really a high level, one of the best matches on clay," said the South American. The divide between the surfaces began to grow smaller with the demise of grass-court tournaments, and reached critical mass when the U.S. Open abandoned grass in favor of hard courts. The Australian Open soon followed suit, and only Wimbledon's brilliant ability to retain its prestige saved that event from either oblivion - or a surface change (the effort is multi-pronged, but based on walking a tightrope between retaining its privileged place as the official shrine of tennis and keeping up with changing times - something at which few institutions are nearly as good as the All-England Club).
But at the same time, radical advances in equipment and the generation-by-generation improvement in the game and players helped sustain appreciable differences in the way the game was played by surface. The growing success of the European clay circuit also ensured that clay would not become irrelevant, even as slow hard courts threatened to make clay redundant. Instead, those hard courts seemed to highlight the beauty and novelty of tennis on clay. In a way, clay has become what grass was before the Open era - a common surface but no longer a particularly practical surface, with distinct playing properties and appealing aesthetics in a world suddenly choc-a-bloc with utilitarian, boring hard courts. It was Sam Querrey’s task to try and take Djokovic out of Federer’s path in the semifinal but, not surprisingly, that was a step too far for the American. Querrey went down 6-4, 6-0 to the World No. 3 but not before he had demonstrated to the Centre Court crowd why had he had come so far on his first visit to this historic tournament. Djokovic had to battle hard to break the thunderous serve and had to run a lot, too, in pursuit of Querrey’s impressive range of ground strokes. In the end it was a bit too much but Sam will fly home a different player from the one who arrived here a week ago – a Monte Carlo quarterfinalist with all the cachet and confidence that this will bring.
The other semifinal will see Nikolay Davydenko play Nadal after the Russian beat his compatriot Igor Andreev and the reigning champion took care of fellow Spaniard David Ferrer, 6-1, 7-5. Nadal will smile if he reads Davydenko’s press conference. Ah, life is so hard for the diminutive Russian. "Sometimes I was thinking I want to come back on hard court because it’s really tough, you know, running so much," said the winner of the Sony Ericsson Championships in Miami. "I don’t know how many kilomters I run. But it’s pretty tough. Really tough. Different. Because co-ordination is different. I try to play fast. It’s not possible because if I try to make winners, and I can’t, sometimes I lose confidence." What a wonderful Russian lament. And the guy’s only No. 4 in the world. Heaven knows how he will feel like after Nadal’s finished with him.
...In beating James Blake for last week’s title in Houston, Spaniard Marcel Granollers became the sixth player this year to win an ATP title after saving match points (two vs. American Wayne Odesnik in the semifinals). The others are David Ferrer (Valencia), Nikolay Davydenko (Miami), Sam Querrey (Las Vegas), Kei Nishikori (Delray Beach) and Francisco Gonzalez (Vina del Mar). According to ATP stat guru Greg Sharko, who has been keeping track since 2001, the most on record in a season is 10 in 2002, so that record is in jeopardy if the current pace continues. “To be honest, there’s not as much on the line here as an ATP tour event,” Gambill said. “Here if you lose, there are a couple open bars and some great parties to go.”
...He’s a close friend of William Shatner and plans to pursue an acting career. “I’m going out to Los Angeles next month to try to pursue (acting) more seriously,” Gambill said. “I’ve studied it a bit and been on the set of a few different things. But I’ve never given it 100 percent.” He hopes to sit in on a taping of his favorite show “Boston Legal” — Shatner is one of the main stars. ...Having demolished Alex Bogomolov in the first round, Ernests Gulbis had a tougher opponent in Nicolas Massu... Gulbis eventually came through a first set tie-break, after Massu lost his composure and concentration, and the second set was a much more clean-cut affair.
...Gulbis now faces Nishikori this evening, and along with Marcel Granollers, must be considered one of the favourites to win this year's tournament.
..."Maybe if you were a little nicer to them they'd do a better job for you," Pennington told him. Warnings followed, and as the third set began to go the same way as the second, Koellerer experienced a convenient case of the cramps that delayed proceedings by a good five minutes. Here then is the frustrating part. Down 4-1 in the final set, but level at one set apiece, he battled back to 4-3, and played some fine tennis into the bargain. For a brief moment he forgot to complain, and argue, and demand, and just played tennis.
..."I didn't start off very well, and the first set was a struggle," said Massu. "I don't want to talk about him (Koellerer)... It is very, very difficult to play against that. Ask the referee what he thinks."
...But an insight into Koellerer's character was delivered moments after the game when he cornered a match official to complain that Massu's shirt hadn't been 'white enough'.
Querrey worked with Reyes for a week earlier this month "and just loved it,'' said his coach, Grant Doyle. "We're going to try to use him whenever we can.''
..."I'm basically a singles player," Jankovic said. "But, I could play doubles with Ivanovic. We could aim for the gold, why not?"
...Sanda Mamic, a reserve in Croatia's squad, agreed. "We have a chance if four of us take to the court and play one of them in the singles," Mamic said with a giggle.
...MURRAY HEADLINES OF THE WEEK: How about this from the Times of London: On Monday it was, “Murray Beginning to Fit Clay Court Mold.” On Tuesday, it was “Murray Shows New Stability on Clay;” and then on Thursday (drum roll please) it was “Murray Remains a Pretender on Clay.” ...That was Murray's problem yesterday. Djokovic did not take kindly to forfeiting his Sony Ericsson Open title in the first round in Key Biscayne, Florida, last month and has worked feverishly on clay in the principality where he has made his home.
He is thriving on the challenge of making himself as formidable a foe on the surface as he is on hard courts. “It's not my favourite, but I want to make it so,” he said. “You have to approach clay in a different way, but my game is aggressive and that's where I will earn the most benefits.”
Little went Murray's way, even down to a ball-boy inadvertently running over a mark on the clay in the penultimate game, and so preventing the umpire from addressing Murray's complaint that a forehand from Djokovic, that had been called in, had actually landed wide in the tramlines.
"He hits good angles off both wings and is tough to anticipate," said Murray, whose ground strokes, one of his strengths, rarely matched the Serb's, while his first serve was a misfiring weapon. "I'm just disappointed I didn't play well and that's not good enough against a player like Novak. He does everything very well."
Murray's opening service game, lasting more than 15 minutes with eight deuces, was symptomatic of the struggles and perplexities that followed.
It’s amazing what can happen if you just show up.
...Everything was stacked in Gasquet’s favor apart, possibly, for the fact that the match was played on the second court here in front of a far smaller crowd than would have been there to cheer him on had it been played in the main arena. But Gasquet can hardly complain about that. With his beautiful backhand working, well, the 21-year-old was well in control during the first set but Querrey kept his head and just continued to bang down those big serves, backing them up, eventually, with forehands of increasing steadiness and penetration. "Yeah, I surprised myself again," said Querrey who stunned former French Open champion Carlos Moya in the first round. "I just felt that if I could go on getting my first serve in, I would cause him problems, especially as I started hitting my forehand better later on."
Querrey thought Gasquet probably underestimated him, "especially after he had beaten me in about 12 minutes in the first set." So why is Querrey having so much success on red clay? "Well, I think clay really suits my game," he said which is a thought most people would not have shared before he started winning here. "I can still get my serve to go through the court and then the clay is slow enough for me to have just that little bit of extra time to go for my shots."
Sam smiled when asked if he would tell other American players to come and play Monte Carlo next year. "Yeah, I’ll tell them but they probably won’t listen," he said.
"It's déjà vu all over again," Pasarell told TR. "Any time the tour wants to make some major changes, it's going to piss off some people. Players usually hate change. I was the same way when I was a player. Talbert came up to us and said, 'Look guys, we are going to use a tiebreaker.' We said, 'No way, don't mess with the game.' We were unanimously against it. We all signed a letter, just like the current players did last month, and even sent Rocket (Rod Laver) to negotiate with them. You know what Talbert said? 'Thanks for the letter guys, but we will be using a tiebreaker at this US Open, like it or not.' It turned out to be one of the greatest and most exciting innovations in tennis history, but we didn't see it that way then because we were used to doing things one way and were afraid to change."
...Pasarell likes a quote that De Villiers frequently cites: "The definition of stupidity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results."
2. "The definition of stupidity [sic: insanity] is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results."
ATP 1990: Group tour's most prestigious tournaments under new name (Super 9), increase prize money, new television package to expand broadcasts, create new ranking system (Best 14), rename the tour (ATP tour).
ATP 2000: Group the tour's most prestigious tournaments under new name (Masters Series), increase prize money, use new computer wizardry to improve television broadcasts (Lucent technologies), create new ranking system (the Race), rename the tour (ATP), create global set of ads and marketing materials to establish a unified brand (Masters logos, New Balls Please, etc.) .
ATP 2009: Group the tour's most prestigious tournaments under new name (Masters 1000), increase prize money, use computer wizardry to improve television broadcasts (Hawk-Eye), create new ranking system (the Race), rename the tour (ATP), create global set of ads and marketing materials to establish a unified brand. ("Feel It.")
Hmm. Talk about deja vu all over again.
Roger teams up with Mercedes-Benz
- Federer website
Mercedes-Benz China Ltd. announced today that they have entered into a multi-year advertising and strategic marketing partnership with Roger Federer. As a component of this partnership, Roger Federer will join “Swing for the Stars” – a Junior Tennis Development Program launched by Mercedes-Benz in cooperation with the China Tennis Association (CTA). “Its exciting to work with a top brand like Mercedes-Benz in China. I look forward to helping them grow their business while increasing the popularity of tennis in China,” said Federer.
Date returns with win
- Japan Times
Krumm Date defeated high school player Anna Tajima 6-7, 6-1, 6-3 in the first round of the Kangaroo Cup International Ladies Open in her first match appearance since announcing her surprise return to the professional circuits.
Japan's Date shows youngsters the way in return
- Reuters
The 37-year-old, a former top-five player, beat teenager Shuko Aoyama 6-1 3-6 6-3 to move to within one win of qualifying for the main draw of an ITF tournament in Gifu, central Japan.
Like Borg before him, Nadal cleans up on the dirt
- Tom Tebbutt, The Globe and Mail
If he wins his first match in Barcelona on Wednesday, he will have won an astounding 99 of his past 100 matches on clay, the bulk of those during an 81-match streak from 2005 to 2007.
Reynolds wins Pro Tennis Classic
- The Lousiana Advocate
Mattek wins USTA Pro Classic
- Dothan Eagle
Mattek said she could feel her game getting stronger. In WTA events this year she knocked off No. 2 seed Tatiana Golovin in the first round in Memphis and qualified for Amelia Island. “It’s just been really solid lately,” she said. “(Maria) Sharapova killed me, but even then I try to take confidence away from that.”
Nadal Appearing Unbeatable on Clay
- Tom Perrotta, New York Sun
He successfully used drop shots, a shot that Federer has scoffed at in the past.
The top 10 sporting bookworms
- The Times
7 Jim Courier The American tennis star took a ‘novel’ approach to changeovers during his 1993 world championship match against Andrei Medvedev in Frankfurt. Rather than knocking back the barley water, Courier refreshed himself by reading Maybe The Moon by Armistead Maupin. Medvedev won but Courier says he enjoyed the book
Novak Djokovic says 'spoilt' Brits lack hunger
- The Telegraph
Djokovic, the 20-year-old Serbian who leads this year's ATP Race as the player to have amassed the most rankings points so far this season, said: "In the UK a lot of kids are a little bit spoilt.
Rafael Nadal trumps Federer in Monte Carlo
- Mark Hodgkinson, The Telegraph
After clinching victory, Nadal performed his trademark celebration of collapsing on his back. "It's unthinkable, winning here four years in a row," said the world No?2 after claiming his first title since triumphing on the Stuttgart clay last July. He later won the doubles title, partnering compatriot Tommy Robredo to a 6-3, 6-3 defeat of Mark Knowles, of the Bahamas, and Indian Mahesh Bhupathi.
Nadal's feats on clay leave Federer with much to do before French Open
- Steve Bierley, The Guardian
Federer had more chances than usual, and this seemed enough to convince him that he is getting ever closer to solving the Nadal clay-court conundrum. He twice broke the young Spaniard's serve in the opening set, and then held a 4-0 lead in the second. Yet even then he could not nail his nemesis.
Nadal's clay mastery leaves Federer behind
- Paul Newman, The Independent
The pattern for an error-strewn first set was established with the first two points as Nadal put limp forehands into the net. The Spaniard dropped his opening serve to 15, only for Federer to follow suit in the next game. When Federer broke for a second time to lead 4-3, Nadal again levelled immediately.
Rafa Roars By Roger To Win Monte Carlo
- Richard Evans, Tennis Week
But he was not too downhearted. "Maybe I am growing up," he said with just the faintest flicker of a smile. "I don’t take losses that bad any more. You know, I try everything I can. And when it’s not enough, it’s unfortunate. But, like I said it was good for me to play him here. I felt much more confident. Last year I felt like I was completely out of the match. So today was better. Maybe that’s why I am not that disappointed."
Sources Say ESPN Acquires U.S. Open Rights
- Tennis Week
ESPN and the USTA have come to terms on a contract that will give the network U.S. Open cable rights starting in 2009 inside sources close to the deal tell Tennis Week. ESPN already owns or shares cable television rights with Tennis Channel for the season's first three Grand Slam tournaments: the Australian Open, Roland Garros and Wimbledon.
Federer's second-set collapse gives Rafa another clay crown
- Matthew Cronin,tennisreporters.net (partial link only)
The Evans Report: Rivalry Restored In Monte Carlo
- Richard Evans, Tennis Week
However, sport is compelling because you cannot write the script and the two matches did not match up to the occasion. That is not to say that the winners did not produce some breathtaking stroke play. Rafael Nadal, beaten by Davydenko in Miami three weeks ago, was obviously relishing his return to clay and came through with an impressive 6-3, 6-2 victory that was certainly deserved but possibly not quite as decisive as the score suggests.
Federer v. Nadal No. 15
- Matthew Cronin, tennisreporters.net
It’s been way too long since the world top two of Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal faced off. Unfortunately, these legends who have terrorized the last of the tour at big events for the past three years haven’t both played well at the same event in 2008 and consequently, the last time they met was at 2007 TMC Shanghai, where Federer beat up an exhausted Nadal for the first time in their rivalry, which now stands at 8-6 for the Spaniard.
Ten Spanish cities bid to host semifinal
- Davis Cup website
The Spanish Tennis Federation (RFET) has announced that ten cities have officially bid to host the Davis Cup by BNP Paribas World Group Semifinal against USA on 19-21 September.
Dokic asks IMG to help lift career
- Linda Pearce, Melbourne Age
JELENA Dokic has sought the help of global management giant IMG as she attempts to resuscitate her flagging career with the help of a singles wildcard into the qualifying rounds of this week's WTA tournament in Morocco.
Roger Federer sets up Rafael Nadal clash as Novak Djokovic quits
- Barry Flatman, The Sunday Times
FIVE days after flirting with the most embarrassing defeat of his reign as world No 1 against an obscure Spaniard, Roger Federer today faces another episode in his rivalry with perhaps the greatest clay-court champion in history.
Brush with death puts tennis in perspective for Jamie Baker
- Barry Flatman, The Sunday Times
ITP affects 33 people in a million. Two-thirds of known cases occur in females. However, the life of an emergent tennis player, pushing the body to intense levels of physical exertion on a daily basis and flying the world in less-than-comfortable conditions at the back of the plane increases the risk. Baker was put on steroids and a month on is still not allowed to let his heart rate get above 140, which means he can do nothing more strenuous than walk, ride an exercise bike or take part in the most tame six-stroke rally. He could curse his luck, given that he had done so well just weeks previously, but he takes the opposite view.
No joke for jolly Robert Dee
- Barry Flatman, The Sunday Times
Dee is touched by Federer’s interest, but offers his record on the Spanish professional circuit as evidence of his ability. In the past year he has entered 11 tournaments, registered 19 victories in 30 matches and even reached a final last December in Almeria – hardly an achievement expected of a player who has been widely pilloried for supposed ineptitude.
Roger Federer and Nadal resume clay rivalry
- Clive White, the Telegraph
It was not the first time the 20-year-old Serbian had failed to finish a match that might help to shape his future, and it is something one cannot easily imagine either Federer or Rafael Nadal - the two men he hopes to usurp one day - doing.
Federer and Nadal into final
- Richard Evans, The Observer
Nadal's stylish victory took the Spanish left-hander into his third ATP final of the year but, surprisingly, the defending champion here has not won a title since claiming Stuttgart on clay last July. This statistic confirms clay as Nadal's favoured surface and goes some way to explaining his exasperation over the ATP calendar, which compresses the three Masters Series clay court events of the year - Monte Carlo, Rome and Hamburg - into the space of four weeks before the French Open.
Federer and Nadal set to sparkle for clay crown jewels
- Paul Newman, The Independent
If another premature finish – Djokovic complained of a sore throat and dizziness – meant that Federer did not have to rescale the heights he had climbed against David Nalbandian the previous day, the world No 1 had given every impression that he would have been capable of doing so. On only the third point he produced a stupendous shot, ripping a backhand winner past Djokovic after the Serb attacked the net.
Payback time for women's sports?
- Los Angeles Times
Maria Sharapova, the Russian-born tennis star who lives in Manhattan Beach, is Forbes' top-earning female athlete with an estimated $23 million from corporate deals. Among the handful of women on the list: Michelle Wie ($19 million), Serena Williams ($14 million) and Patrick ($5 million). Unlike on the golf course, Mexico's Ochoa, the sport's top-ranked woman, failed to make the cut.
Zvonareva replaces injured Safina in Russia Fed Cup team
- Reuters
World number 14 Vera Zvonareva has replaced Dinara Safina in the Russian team for this weekend's Fed Cup semi-final against the United States in Moscow.
Federer hits top gear to wear down Nalbandian
- Neil Harman, The Times
Roger Federer has topped everyone’s guest list this week, which, when you consider that President Sarkozy is in town, speaks volumes. There was the invitation on to the yacht of Patrick Heiniger, the chief executive officer of Rolex and cocktails to follow (he sipped water), more hands shaken than points played, but enough time to start playing clay-court tennis as befits the world No 1.
Robert Dee discovers the will to win
- The Times
Just in! All new Robert Dee “Triumph in Spain” memorabilia line. Available to order today
It was the story the nation couldn't get enough of - how one 21-year-old British tennis pro, after three years and 54 matches of continuous failure and on the verge of an ignominious world record, never stopped believing and was finally rewarded with a redemptive, uplifting victory over Arzhang Derakhshani, of the United States, 6-4, 6-3.
Rafael Nadal survives Ferrer scare
- Mark Hodgkinson, The Telegraph
Red courts and green-eyed monsters. Even the super-rich in the crowd at the Monte Carlo Country Club yesterday would have had a serious case of yacht-envy, as floating just offshore was a fabulously large billionaire's boat, more than 200 feet long and with the owner's helicopter coming and going from the pad on the stern.
Federer back to his brilliant best
- Steve Bierley, The Guardian
Given Federer's current state of vulnerability, and all things are relative, the importance of this ninth victory over Nalbandian was obvious to all those watching around a packed court central, as well as to the other players in the locker room, most notably Spain's Rafael Nadal, the French Open champion.
Nadal's clay-court mastery proves too much for Ferrer
- Paul Newman, The Independent
The world No 2 dropped only eight games in his first two contests here, against Mario Ancic and Juan-Carlos Ferrero, and will see his 6-1, 7-5 victory over Ferrer as even more significant. Ferrer, the world No 5, would probably have been voted the game's most improved player last year but for Novak Djokovic and had also beaten Nadal in their two previous meetings, at last year's US Open and Tennis Masters Cup.
The Ticker
- Tennis.com
Blake and Murray have taken wildcards into Barcelona... Safin will contest Munich qualifying next week. Tournament officials said they did not receive a request for a wildcard.
Clay: the New Grass?
- Peter Bodo, TennisWorld
But the International Tennis Federation was a British body, and partly for that reason The All-England Club and New York's West Side Tennis Club were way ahead of the curve when it came to promoting the game as a spectacle. Thus, grass became the most important surface in tennis. It's significant that the French Open was a "closed" to non-French players until the relatively late date of 1925, and the tournament stood in grave danger of losing its prestige as a Grand Slam event, if not the actual designation, until Philippe Chatrier embarked on what has been a wildly successful rehabilitation of the event in the mid-1970s. However you feel about it, historically and factually, the French Open was both provincial and exotic until Chatrier brilliantly converted its greatest drawback (it was the only major not played on grass) into an enormous and bewitching asset (it's the only major played on clay, the surface of choice in many parts of the world).
The Evans Report: Burying Doubt In Dirt
- Richard Evans, Tennis Week
Federer was well pleased. "I think the level of play was excellent today," he said. "We had some really tough games at the end of the first set." Federer admitted it was satisfying to beat the man who has been a rival since childhood. "He’s a great player; a wonderful ball striker. We go way back to the Orange Bowl semifinals; finals of the U.S. Open Juniors as well. And he actually beat me years ago here in Monte Carlo 6-1, 6-2 so it’s nice to get him back because of that, more so because of Madrid (or wherever he beat me last)."
Querrey’s Monte Carlo Success Provides a Granual of Clay Hope
- Douglas Robson, Sports Dish
think the gradual homogenization of surfaces should not be overlooked, either. Clay is faster than it used to be; cement and grass are slower. This means more players have a chance to do well on a variety of surfaces, and big servers like Querrey can get more free points on clay than in the Vilas-Borg days.
Gambill ousted from Invitational
- Spartanburg Herald-Journal
Gambill was concerned having to play two matches in one day. And, in fact, a recurring back injury flared up after his win against Thompson. But, again, he had a plan for the week, regardless of how many matches he won.
Young: 'I want to win all the slams'
- Bermuda Sun
Top-seed Sela crashes out against teenager
- Bermuda Royal Gazette
Not one of the first four games in the second set went to serve, and like the hypnotic sound of a long rally, the new and interesting ways that the pair discovered to lose their service games was equally captivating.
Petulant Koellerer a second-rate bad boy
- Bermuda Royal Gazette
This year the tournament was prepared. The best ball boys and girls where assigned to his game, with instructions, issued only half jokingly, to watch for low flying rackets. Roger Pennington[,] a man considered to be a strong enough hand to deal with the worst of players was installed as umpire. And a game that arguably could have been the evening attraction on centre court, was put on early afternoon on court five.
Querrey's unexpected confidence on clay burgeoning
- Bonnie D. Ford, ESPN
No matter what happens in Monte Carlo, Sam Querrey will be coming home for the next three weeks for an intensive training period with Andre Agassi's fitness mentor, Gil Reyes, in Las Vegas.
Serbia a heavy favorite against Balkan rival Croatia in Fed Cup playoff
- AP
The second-ranked Ivanovic said she is unlikely to play doubles with the fifth-ranked Jankovic, a pairing that would be an instant favorite for the gold medal in Beijing."I plan to focus on the singles," the 20-year-old Ivanovic said.
Federer’s nemesis Nalbandian gets another crack at Swiss
- Matthew Cronin, tennisreporters.net
FEDERER V. NALBANDIAN NO. 17... At the end of last year, Nalbandian beat Federer twice in three weeks en route to back-to-back titles in Madrid and Paris. The rivals are locked at 8-8 in their head-to-head, with Federer somewhat remarkably leading the Argentine 2-1 on clay... If Nalbandian is able to dictate with his backhand – that Federer calls the best on tour – and push the Swiss off the court with his first serve, Federer could be in real trouble.
Beaten Andy Murray remains a pretender on clay
- Neil Harman, The Times
Murray, who lost 6-0, 6-4 to Djokovic, the Australian Open champion, came off marginally better than Tommy Robredo, who took a single game from Nalbandian, matched Janko Tipsarevic's four against Ferrer, one fewer than Juan Carlos Ferrero sneaked against Nadal, and paled in comparison with Gaël Monfils, who Federer allowed a full seven games.
Andy Murray suffers heavy loss to Djokovic
- Mark Hodgkinson, The Telegraph
He was more competitive in the second set, but his all-round game, and his serve in particular, continued to let him down. Murray finished with two double-faults for a 6-0, 6-4 defeat that meant that the Briton has lost all four career meetings with the Australian Open champion and world No 3 it's going to take a lot to rectify the head-to-head record in the future.
Britain's Jamie Baker 'lucky to be alive'
- Mark Hodgkinson, The Telegraph
Slick Djokovic humbles hapless Murray
- Steve Bierley, The Guardian
It is not so much that the Serb has any one shot that he uses as his signature, rather that he has a game that quells and blunts his opponents.
British No. 2 Baker recovering from virus
- Paul Newman, The Independent
The Evans Report: Sam Surprises
- Richard Evans, Tennis Week
Pasarell behind De Villiers changes
- Matthew Cronin, tennisreporters.net
Pasarell harkens back to his days as a player when he and the rest of his peers were told by tournament director Bill Talbert at the '70 US Open that a nine-point tiebreaker would now be used for the first time.
>> It's true the players tend to be conservative (and sometimes one-eyed), but two observations:
1. The nine-point (sudden death) tiebreaker was eventually abandoned. Just because it's the right problem doesn't mean any solution will work. (More recently, look at round-robin and the original WTA calendar redesign.)
Magazines this Month
April issue - Tennis (table of contents + web extras)
April issue - Australian Tennis (table of contents)
First Serve: The Bucket List - Bill Simons, Inside Tennis
The Buzz - Inside Tennis
Funny Folks
- Inside Tennis
Tennis' Top Ten Funniest - Inside Tennis
Who's Hot, Who's Not - Matthew Cronin, Inside Tennis
Serbian Wells - Inside Tennis
U.S. vs. France: No Fear of Les Blues - Inside Tennis
Tennis’ Political Endorsements - Inside Tennis
Inside Line - Tennis Week
Serbia's Tennis Mania - Tennis Week
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