<a href="/blog/post/2009/10/30/World-Tennis-News-October-30th.aspx" class="taggedlink">World Tennis News: October 30th

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World Tennis News: October 29th

by mltennis 29. October 2009 04:11

Thursday, October 29, 2009

WORLD NEWS

Various Tennis Organizations Getting Involved Over Agassi’s Drug Disclosure

Pressure is mounting on the ATP World Tour to give their side of the story following the revelations in Andre Agassi’s soon to be published autobiography ‘Open’ that 12 years ago he tested positive for taking the he highly-addictive drug crystal methamphetamine but was exonerated after lying.
Agassi was and still is one of the most recognizable figures not just in tennis but the world of sport and the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) has demanded that the ATP, that was in charge of policing the drugs program back in 1997, make public their recollections of the case.
After hearing he had tested positive Agassi wrote to the ATP he ingested drugs accidentally by drinking from his assistant’s “spiked soda.” In fact, he admits in the book he had deliberately taken the substance at his Las Vegas home to “get high.”
WADA president John Fahey admits no retrospective punishment can be taken against the former world no.1 and winner of eight major titles on two counts; there is an eight-year statute of limitations in WADA regulations and Agassi retired competitively from the sport three years ago. However Fahey added: “We at WADA would expect the ATP, which administered its own anti-doping program at that time, to shed light on this allegation.”
Mark Young, the ATP World Tour’s long-serving General Counsel and now COO North America, refused to make any comment yesterday. However a statement from the ATP World Tour read: ‘Under the tennis anti-doping program it is, and always has been, an independent panel that makes a decision on whether a doping violation has been found. No executive at the ATP has therefore had the authority or ability to decide the outcome of an anti-doping matter.”
Mark Miles, the ATP’s CEO back in 1997 also preferred not to get drawn into the matter. Miles, now chairman of the host committee for the 2012 NFL Super Bowl in Indianapolis, did comment: “There has never been a time when an ATP executive decided the outcome of any doping case. Each one of those that took place in my period of office at the ATP was heard by a properly appointed independent panel.”
International Tennis Federation president, Francesco Ricci Bitti, said: ‘The ITF is surprised and disappointed by the remarks made by Andre Agassi.” The ITF are currently appealing against a decision to also exonerate French player Richard Gasquet who also tested positive at Miami earlier this year after maintaining he accidentally ingested cocaine by kissing a woman in a nightclub. Ricci Bitti continued: “It occurred before WADA was founded in 1999 and during the formative years of anti-doping in tennis when the program was managed by individual governing bodies.’
***
Serena Williams to be Number One for 2009

Dinara Safina’s decision to pull out of the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour Championships after just two games and 13 minutes of effort means the Russian who has spent 26 weeks of 2009 as the world no.1 ranked player will not finish the year top of the rankings.
Serena Williams had not even walked onto court to face her sister Venus when she was confirmed as the year ending no.1, even though she has only played 58 matches in 2009 compared to Safina’s total of 71.
But long term, Safina’s chances of playing the Australian Open in 11 weeks time seem in jeopardy after her doctors informed her she needs to rest completely for more than half that time before even contemplating any physical exercise.
The 23 year-old Muscovite is suffering from inflammation around the lower vertebrae 4 and 5 in her back and has been playing in pain since winning the Slovenian tournament in Portoroz in July. Since then she has reached the final of Cincinnati, but otherwise her results have been disappointing with winning just one match in both Carson and Beijing, a third round exit against 72^nd ranked Czech Petra Kvitova at the US Open and none in Toronto and Tokyo.
“I've been playing on the pain for about three months, on anti-inflammatory, on everything,” she said. “It was a reason I was advised to take a break after the US Open. I thought I was chasing the no.1 ranking but fighting with my body. For the tournaments in Tokyo and Beijing my body was quiet and I was still hoping but then my body just gave up.”
Safina was given a cortisone injection into her lower back before beginning her scheduled three round robin matches in Dubai, but she was unable to offer any resistance against Jelena Jankovic who had lost her opening match a day earlier.
“The beginning of next year is under question,” said Safina who reached the final of this year’s Australian Open and accrued a considerable amount of ranking points in the process. “I don’t know if I will be able to play in Australia, because when we speak with the doctors, it doesn't sound so nice. So it's possible that I might even not be 100% fit for the Australian. Maybe I'll have to skip it. “
Safina is insistent that back surgery is not a necessity but she needs to rehabilitate properly and concluded: “I have to work on my muscles, on my core stability,” she said. “As I'm tall, I need to be strong, that I can hold myself. This is going to be a very long procedure.”
***
Wozniacki and Azarenka Hope They Both Advance in WTA Championships

They are two of the young stars of the tour, and Caroline Wozniacki and Victoria Azarenka played a great match at the Sony Ericsson Championships. Azarenka dominated the first set and went on to hold match point before Wozniacki edged out the victory. After such a tough battle with the match swinging one way and then the other, the atmosphere in the locker room must have been pretty tense afterwards, surely. Not so. The pair are good friends, so after a short cooling down period they were chatting away about their prospects for the week.
“It's tough to talk after such a tough match. Of course, we need just some space just to cool down, both of us,” said Wozniacki. “But, I mean, we both have won one match in our group, and we were just talking about it would be great if somehow it would be possible both to qualify. That would be the dream scenario for both of us. I mean, we still have - I have two matches, she has one match left in the group. So, I mean, yeah, there's still a long way.”

***
Professional Tennis Management Program At Ferris State Offers Course in TennisConnect

The Professional Tennis Management program at Ferris State University in Big Rapids, Mich., now has a required course in tournament/activity administration that includes using the TennisConnect business tool.
The 16-week course, which is taught by PTM Director Derek Ameel, is designed to give students a well-rounded view of event programming and of TennisConnect’s capabilities in running a tennis business.
The course was created by Ameel with help from Charlie Ruddy, the developer of TennisConnect. Each student will create their own TennisConnect website and will complete a “go-live” process for their final exam.
The Ferris State Racquet & Fitness Center, which has 16 courts and is run by the students in the program, uses the TennisConnect system. Freshman and sophomore students work at the front desk at least four hours per week each and are trained in TennisConnect for the Court Scheduler, Contact Manager, eCalendar and more.
***
Texas Tennis Hall of Fame Inducts Five into 2009 Class

The Texas Tennis Hall of Fame inducted its 2009 class on October 10 in Waco, Texas, with Texas Executive Director, Ken McAllister acting as Master of Ceremonies.
The inductees were:
Richey Reneberg, who reached #20 in the World in singles in 1991 and #1 in doubles in 1993, played Davis Cup for the US for 5 years and the Olympics in 1996. He grew up in Houston and was an All-American at SMU.
Jeff Moore of Austin, who coached the women's team at the University of Texas to 23 straight NCAA appearances and two national NCAA titles.
Harriett Hulbert of Houston, beloved Executive Director of the Houston Tennis Association for 21 years, and one of the most influential women in the Texas Tennis family.
Lee Hamilton of Dallas, who served as COO of the USTA for five years and President of the Houston Tennis Association, the Dallas Tennis Association, and the USTA Texas Section prior to that.
Keith Diepraam of Houston, who was world ranked with a win over Arthur Ashe prior to the advent of Open tennis. He played Davis Cup for South Africa 34 times and was ranked #1 in the world in Men's 45 singles.

***

We Hear---
--that Roger Federer has just signed an endorsement contract with Swiss chocolate giant Lindt.
--that Caroline Wozniacki will compete at the Sydney International, immediately before the Australian Open. She joins a field that includes Serena Williams, Victoria Azarenka and Elena Dementieva.
***
THIS WEEK
MEN
Lyon
St. Petersburg
Vienna
WOMEN
Doha
***
NEXT WEEK
MEN
Basel
Valencia
WOMEN
Bali
Fed Cup Finals USA at Italy
***
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World Tennis News: October 28th

by mltennis 28. October 2009 04:10

Wednesday, October 28, 2009

WORLD NEWS

U.S. Fed Cup Team Announced

The USTA announced that Serena Williams will lead the U.S. Fed Cup team including Liezel Huber, Melanie Oudin and Alexa Glatch when it meets Italy in the Fed Cup Final which will be contested in Reggio Calabria, Italy, on November 7-8.
The best-of-five rubber tie begins on Saturday, November 7 with two singles rubbers and is followed by two reverse singles rubbers and the doubles rubber on Sunday, November 8. Tennis Channel will present daily live coverage beginning at 5:00 a.m. ET on Saturday and Sunday.
The U.S. is undefeated against Italy in Fed Cup competition, having won all nine previous meetings between the two countries. The U.S. won the last meeting between the two nations in 2003 in the quarterfinal tie in Washington, D.C., as Chanda Rubin and Meghann Shaughnessy each won two singles matches to lead the U.S. to a 5-0 victory. The U.S. and Italy have never met in a Fed Cup final.
The Italian team announcement is expected shortly.
***
The Field is Set for the Bali Tournament of Champions

Former Wimbledon finalist Marion Bartoli, Australian number one Samantha Stosur and US Open semi-finalist Yanina Wickmayer top the list of entries for the inaugural Commonwealth Bank Tournament of Champions in Bali next week. In addition, wild cards have been given to Germany’s Sabine Lisicki and Kimiko Date Krumm of Japan.
The $600,000 event is open to the top 10-ranked players who have claimed at least one of the 30 International Series events on the WTA Tour during 2009 and are not competing in the WTA Championships in Doha. Matches take place November 4-8.
WTA Tour rules forbid players competing in both the Sony Ericsson Championships and Bali, even though they might qualify for both. Those players include Venus Williams, Dinara Safina, Elena Dementieva and Caroline Wozniacki. Alternates in Doha have the option of playing in Bali, but both Vera Zvonareva (who qualified for Bali by winning Pattaya City) and Agnieszka Radwanska declined the opportunity.
Those players competing in doubles in Doha and who have qualified in singles for Bali are allowed to play, and two will do so - Samantha Stosur and Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez.
Not surprisingly as the tournament is held in Asia and Bali attracts many Japanese tourists, one of the wild cards has gone to Kimiko Date Krumm, who qualified by winning Seoul but whose ranking was too low to allow her to participate. Lisicki has attracted a lot of attention this year and is considered to be the best German player since Steffi Graf, and she only just failed to qualify when she lost last week’s Luxembourg final.
The full list of participants and the International Series events they won is:
Marion Bartoli - Monterrey - ranked 12
Samantha Stosur - Osaka - 13
Yanina Wickmayer - Estoril, Linz - 19
Anabel Medina Garrigues - Fes - 27
Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez - Bogota, Bastad - 31
Shahar Peer - Guangzhou, Tashkent - 32
Melinda Czink - Quebec - 39
Agnes Szavay - Budapest - 42
Aravane Rezai - Strasbourg - 44
Magdalena Rybarikova - Birmingham - 46
Sabine Lisicki - 25 - wild card
Kimiko Date Krumm - Seoul - 100 - wild card
Vera Dushevina - Istanbul - 49 - Alternate
***
Pe’er Avoids International Crisis

Shahar Pe’er, the Israeli player who became the center of an international diplomatic crisis eight months ago when she was prevented from entering the United Arab Emirates to contest the Barclays Dubai Tennis Championships, has been caught in the midst of a similar issue after qualifying for next week’s Commonwealth Bank Tournament of Champions in Bali.
Indonesia boasts the world’s largest population of Muslims and has no diplomatic relations with Israel. The Sony Ericsson WTA Tour, still mindful of February’s events in Dubai and the subsequent $US300,000 fine handed to the organizers, were determined there would be no repeat.
WTA Tour rules state that no host country can deny a player the right to compete at any event on the tour for which she has qualified by ranking but there was a distinct reluctance from the Indonesians to allow Pe’er entry.
Stacey Allaster, the WTA Tour’s chief executive officer was alerted to the situation and made it clear to the Indonesian government that the event would be cancelled if Pe’er, who qualified by virtue of winning back to back titles last month in China at the Guangzhou International Open and then the Tashkent Open in Uzbekistan, was denied entry.
The threat was sufficient and Pe’er was given the all clear to play the new event set up for ten women’s players who have won at least one International Series tournament during the year and who are not participating in singles at the year-end Sony Ericsson Championships in Doha.
"I'm happy this issue has been settled and that I can play in Bali," Pe'er said. "I'm looking forward to this event and I'm especially pleased with the fact that the Dubai scandal did not repeat itself."
***
Jankovic Ready to Work Her Way Back to the Top of the Tour

Jelena Jankovic has always been a person who enjoys her vacations but the time for rest and recuperation at the end of a disappointing tennis year that has seen her slip from world no.1 to a distant also ran will be cut short as the Serb desperately tries to recapture her form.
Jankovic was the last of the world’s leading eight singles player to qualify for the year ending Sony Ericsson WTA Tour Championships in Doha and she began her campaign with a lacklustre straight sets defeat against debutante Victoria Azarenka.
A mixture of despondency and disgust was Jankovic’s mood and in a couple of weeks she will be heading to Florida for concerted hard work in a bid to ensure 2010 does not see her fall further off the pace at the top of the women’s game.
"I will have to do a lot of work in the off-season to get back to my level and get to the top,” said Jankovic That's all I know. There is really a lot of work to be done. I know that I have to make some changes and I have to improve my game because what you have seen today, really, I gave the match away."
Last year Jankovic finished the world no.1 after rising to no.3 in 2007 but this year it seems she will have to be content with eighth place. She has failed to progress beyond the fourth round at any of the majors and after reaching the 2008 US Open final, lost in the second round at Flushing Meadows this time.
She has been hit with personal problems as well as physical issues, but she said: "I just have to try to clean my game. I need to get back to playing good points, hitting the ball, being aggressive, really cutting down all the errors, serve much better, return much better.”
***
Ivanovic is Facing the Climb Back to the Top of the Tour

A few years ago Jelena Jankovic was on the bottom of her career, she lost ten matches in a row, mused about quitting tennis, but bounced back and reached #1 after. Her Serbian fellow Ana Ivanovic is now in a similar situation, there is a string of losses and a drop to #22 behind the former Roland Garros champion.
“I really understand how it is to be down and to not do well”, said Jelena in Doha where she is playing in the WTA Championships. “To come out of this as a champion, it's I think a good achievement, no matter what your ranking is. But to overcome those obstacles and to become a better player, I think it makes you much stronger as a person and as a player as well. So if you can do that, I think it can be a plus, it can be a positive thing. If you go through all of that, you come out, I think in the future you can be much, much better than what you were before you went into those, let's say, crises.”
Jelena is not familiar with Ana’s plans to get back to the top.
“No, unfortunately not. She has her own team. She tries her best. It's hard. We are athletes. You cannot always expect to be on the top of the game. Our years are long on the Tour. We are not playing like some of the other sports where we play for few months and then we have few months off. Our year is very, very long. Even though we try to always play your best tennis, always give good results and do well in the events... So some years are better than others. That's the part of the sport, as well, part of life. We have a lot of ups and downs, not just in tennis, in many other aspects in life. Just it's important to be positive and to always learn, keep learning until you die.”
She is aware how much tougher will be next year because of return of Belgian champions Justine Henin and Kim Clijsters.
“You know, it's surprising not because they are coming to play, it's because when you say that you retire, that you don't want to play any more, then after two years you come back again and you want to compete. But they are great for the sport. Both of them, they're unbelievable athletes. I remember from playing, you know, a couple years ago against them, I was young, but I had really so exciting matches against both of them. They motivated me to work hard and to become a better player.”
***
Staying in Doha This Week is a Treat

Life can be pretty good if you’re a top-ranked player on the WTA Tour. If you’re also playing at the year-end Championships then you’re treated like royalty. And that also applies to the often-forgotten doubles players. Liezel Huber is in Doha competing with Cara Black and she’s loving it, as she reveals in her blog for the WTA. It helps that her husband, Tony, is there for them to share experience, and some memories.
"We are staying at the Ritz Carlton! Probably the nicest hotel we stay at during the whole year. The Championships provide us with two free rooms. On Tour we get a hotel room while we are still in. It's awesome getting my coach's room free this week! We really are spoilt here. The rooms are amazing. Ours is a suite with two balconies.
"The first time we came to Doha was in 2001. How I remember, we got married in February 2000 and we had our first anniversary here. My husband was so sweet and bought me 24 red roses! Good memories in Doha. Tonight when we drove from the airport, we could barely see the Sheraton hotel. Eight years ago it was a landmark and you could see it from afar. It shows how much development has been going on here. I love Doha and look forward to another exciting week!"
***
Navratilova Added to Field at 20^th Annual Chris Evert Event

Martina Navratilova has signed on to appear at the 20^th annual Chris Evert/Raymond James Pro-Celebrity Tennis Classic, set for Nov. 7 and 8 at the Delray Beach Tennis Center in Delray Beach, Fla.
Additionally, Pam Shriver, who teamed with Navratilova to win the Grand Slam of Doubles three times, will be at the event, attending the annual Gala and Dinner Dance on Saturday, Nov. 7 and providing television commentary for the ESPN telecast of the event.
Along with Chris Evert, Navratilova and Shriver, the tennis legends and standouts scheduled to appear this year include former #1 players Lindsay Davenport and Monica Seles, Justin Gimelstob and Vince Spadea. They will be joined by film and television stars Jeffrey Donovan, Elisabeth Shue, Jon Lovitz, Kris Jenner and Maeve Quinlan, Today show host Matt Lauer, musician Gavin Rossdale, Olympic Gold Medalist Bruce Jenner and Fox & Friends hosts Steve Doocy and Brian Kilmeade.
Tennis Hall of Famer Bud Collins will emcee the weekend’s events.

***

We Hear---
--that a British newspaper is running a serialization of Andre Agassi’s about-to-be-published book, Open: An Autobiography, where he admits using a recreational drug in 1997 and lying to the ATP so as to be able to keep playing on the tour.
--that Li Na has confirmed that she will compete at January’s ASB Classic in Auckland, the first time she will have played in New Zealand. She joins 2009 runner-up Elena Vesnina and top doubles team Cara Black and Liezel Huber.
***
THIS WEEK
MEN
Lyon
St. Petersburg
Vienna
WOMEN
Doha
***
NEXT WEEK
MEN
Basel
Valencia
WOMEN
Bali
Fed Cup Finals USA at Italy
***
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***
Results
For complete ATP and WTA results, please see our web site at www.tennisnews.com

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World Tennis News: October 27th

by mltennis 27. October 2009 05:20

Monday, October 26, 2009

WORLD NEWS

An Apology to Roberto Forzoni

On 18 September we published an article about the sports psychologist, Mr. Roberto Forzoni.
We incorrectly stated that Britain’s tennis players had decided to dispense with his services because they no longer believed in him. We were wrong.
In fact, Britain’s tennis players have not stopped working with Mr. Forzoni at all. They continue to have faith in him and his abilities as a sports psychologist working at the highest level of the game. Britain’s tennis players continue to aspire to work with him and they are grateful for his professionalism, skill and ongoing support. There was no basis for the allegations that we mistakenly published and which were also wrongly posted on www.mltennis.com
We apologise sincerely and unreservedly to Mr. Forzoni for the hurt that we caused him personally and professional by our false publication.
***

ITF to Launch Fed Cup Player Award

The ITF has announced that the inaugural Fed Cup by BNP Paribas Heart Award will be presented at the Fed Cup by BNP Paribas Final between Italy and USA. The Final is being held in Reggio Calabria on 7-8 November.
The Heart Award aims to recognize a player who has represented her country with distinction, shown exceptional courage on court and demonstrated outstanding commitment to the team during the 2009 Fed Cup by BNP Paribas.
Along with the honor of this prestigious Award, the winner will receive a unique Heart bracelet and a check for $2,500 to donate to her chosen charity. The winner will be decided by an online public vote, taking place from October 26 until November 4 on the Official Fed Cup by BNP Paribas website: www.fedcup.com and www.fedcup.com/es.
There are four nominees for the 2009 Fed Cup by BNP Paribas Heart Award, all selected for their exploits in this year’s competition: Alexa Glatch (USA), Melanie Oudin (USA), Flavia Pennetta (ITA) and Francesca Schiavone (ITA).
***
ITF to Hold Coaches Conference This Week

The 16th ITF Worldwide Coaches Conference by BNP Paribas starts in Valencia, Spain this Friday, October 30. The conference, which is organized every two years by the ITF, is being hosted by the Real Federacion Espanola de Tenis (Spanish Tennis Federation) as part of its centenary celebrations and will take place at the Luis Puig Velodrome.
BNP Paribas’s involvement with the conference as presenting partner expands the relationship between the ITF and BNP Paribas. This is the first time the conference has had a presenting partner and heralds a new era for what is the ITF’s flagship event in the field of coaches education. The theme of the five-day conference is Developing Competencies for Elite Players and Coaches and the program consists of lecture room and on-court presentations, as well as some shorter sessions, involving five presentations taking place simultaneously.
Confirmed keynote speakers include Spanish Davis Cup captain Albert Costa and former world No. 2 Alex Corretja. They are joined by Bruce Elliott, world-renowned biomechanist; Mark Kovacs, Senior Manager of Sport Science for the USTA; Yassine Yousfi of Olympic Solidarity, and Carl Maes, former coach of Kim Clijsters.
***
Murray to Change His Preparation for Australian Open

Andy Murray’s plans for a different build up to next January’s Australian Open in order to give him a greater chance of success at Melbourne Park means he will team up with Britain’s 15 year-old starlet Laura Robson to play the Hopman Cup.
World no.4 Murray has spurned the cash rich Arabian opening to the year to play the International Tennis Federation affiliated event that begins in Perth on Saturday January 2 and runs thru January 9. Early this year he won both the exhibition Capitala World Tennis Championships in Abu Dhabi which netted him $250,000 and the ATP World Tour’s Qatar ExxonMobil Open in Doha which paid another $183,000.
But by the time Murray started his Aussie Open campaign he was jaded after a hard December training in Miami and the combination of crossing 16 time zones and playing too much competitive tennis against the likes of Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Andy Roddick left the young Scot tired and jaded.
When he fell to Fernando Verdasco in the Australian Open’s fourth round he was suffering the onset of a virus infection that troubled him for several months.
Hopman Cup tournament director Paul McNamee said: “It's the first time Andy's prepared in Australia so that's a big statement. He's never done well at the Australian Open and he indicated through his management he wanted to do something different this year.”
Murray went into this January’s Australian Open as the pre-tournament favorite with the bookmakers but has still not survived beyond the round of 16.
McNamee has been in conversation with Murray's management company 19 Entertainment and said: "They noticed Novak Djokovic [in 2008] and Marat Safin [in 2005] used the Perth route to win the Australian Open so they are giving it a shot."
Other teams confirmed for the tournament include: the United States who will pair 18-year-old star Melanie Oudin with John Isner, Russia with Elena Dementieva and Igor Andreev; and Spain with Tommy Robredo and Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez. Hosts Australian will have the particularly strong looking duo of Lleyton Hewitt and Samantha Stosur.
***
To Venus Williams, Life is Much More Than Just Being a Top Tennis Player

Venus Williams goes into the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour Championships in Doha, Qatar as not only the defending champion but also the senior citizen of the field at the age of 29. But though she may be conceding ten years to the youngest of her rivals, the former world no.1 maintains she is a long way from done with the sport.
Since losing the Wimbledon final to her sister Serena in July, Venus has played seven tournaments and gone no further than the semi final. She has been troubled by knee problems and in her last two events in Tokyo and Beijing saw her defeated both times by the Russian teenager Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova.
Her last two Wimbledon titles in 2007 and again a year later, were her only major singles successes in 16 attempts but she was insistent: “"I love what I do, so that's a complete up for me. I get to work outside. My thing is I get to make a living looking good. It's my job to stay fit. It doesn't get better than that."
Billie Jean King has nominated Venus as the current day leader of the players and she admits to enjoying playing a part in the running of the game. Recently she even joined Sony Ericsson WTA Tour chief executive Stacey Allaster in meeting with the mobile phone company whose $88 million sponsorship deal is soon up for re-negotiation.
But Venus maintains playing is her main interest and an entry into the main political area is not on her list of ambitions. "I'm always determined, you got to have that determination that on every single day, even at practice, to be prepared," she said.
"It's a lifestyle. I'm at the point in my career where I've been very successful at every tournament just about, almost on every surface. For me it's about obviously playing great tennis, adding to my repertoire, continuing to get better, to enjoy the challenge of it all obviously while being on.
***
Sanchez to Debut in Doha This Week

Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez will make her WTA Championships debut this week in Doha in doubles, but she is determined not to stop there. Her ambition is to make singles debut in next year.
“My aim is to reach top ten in 2010”, says actual #31. “Every one has his limit, but when you improve all the time, then that is the reason to believe in yourself that you haven’t reached your maximum yet.”
And improving has been very successful for Maria Jose (27). She finished 2007 as # 173, last year she was # 86 and now she is on verge of breaking top 30. Though no one expected it from her 12 months ago, Martinez will finish this season as the Spanish player with the best results. She won two titles and qualified for both season ending tournaments – in doubles in Doha and in singles in Bali.
Tournament of Champions is the brand new event in Bali. “It is very interesting, there will be four groups of three players and winners will go to semifinal. It would be very good to end season with win over there”, Martinez Sanchez hopes to finish 2009 with even more success.
But even if she doesn’t end Bali voyage with trophy, she will enjoy there. “I will stay a week more to have holiday. I will spend second week with my family at home and then I will start preparations for new season.”
***
After a Tough Year, Jankovic Happy to be in the Championships

It hasn’t been the best of years for Jelena Jankovic, but she just managed to squeeze into the last available spot for the Sony Ericsson Championships. Considering what she went through during 2009, from her struggles at the beginning of the season after adding too much muscle bulk, to family misfortunes, she is thrilled that she still managed to qualify for Doha.
“Even though I had a tough year, so many things that have happened off the court that affected my tennis, I'm still in the top eight and I made the Championships,” she said. “I'm still strong. No matter what is happening, I'm just always trying to do my best and be positive out there. I had so many things that have happened off the court. My mother was sick. When I was competing at the US Open, my grandmother died. Then you realize there are more important things in life than tennis, and tennis is just a game. You realize that you don't need to take it so seriously. You don't go down on yourself when you lose, you don't get so disappointed like I used to before. I'm a little bit more gentle on myself. You know, I just try to enjoy it as much as I can.”

***
How Can Safina Improve?

What does Dinara Safina need to do to improve? A new forehand? Adjustment to her serve? A change to the way she hits her backhand? No. An attitude change would help, she says.
“Of course, I know this. Some things I'm like this, I'm too open. It's very bad, I know,” she said. “Many people don't even have to say how I feel, I can show them. This thing I have to learn. I think I am improve compared to how I was before. Before, before stepping on the court, I could say already if I have a bad day or good day. Now, of course, even I have a bad day, I still try to be much more positive and get the best out of it. So I still learning and I still have to improve. This is going to be the most important thing for me to improve. This is, of course, something that I have to change myself. Only I can control it, nobody else. Everybody says this. But this is my decision to change it or not. I guess I have to change it.”

***
Too Many Coaches for Wozniacki?

Too many coaches can spoil the broth. Many players over the years have suffered from too many well-intentioned people offering advice. With her connection to adidas and their team of advisors, Caroline Wozniacki could be in danger of suffering from information overload, especially with her father as her real coach.
“Actually, I'm working with my dad. Yeah, he's always there,” she said. “And then Sven (Groeneveld) and Gil (Reyes) and Killer (Darren Cahill), they're there sometimes. They come for some tournaments. They help me out. They come with some inputs from the outside. They talk with my dad, what they think I can improve. Yeah, it goes that way. So there's not too many people giving me information. They talk together, and then my dad is the one that gives me the information the last. So there's only one person communicating with me. Of course, Sven and everybody is on court with me. If they have some small things they think I can improve, they tell me. If it's bigger things, they go through my dad.”

***
It Isn’t Always Easy for a Top 10 Player

Jelena Jankovic is one of several players to question the rules introduced for the 2009 season that, although proving a shorter season, insisted the best 10 players compete at the top tournaments, while restricting them from playing lesser events if they want to.
“We have a longer off-season which is good for our recovery and to have enough time to train again and prepare for the next season,” she said. “But the only thing for me personally is that, you know, we have less tournaments and all of that. But for example, if you didn't play well in one tournament, and you lost early, you're not allowed to play the next (International Series) one. You feel like you're just training. You want to compete. That is for me something that, if you're doing well, you don't need to play the next one. But in case you didn't do well, we don't have players in the top 10 that have a chance to play the next event and get some matches in.
“As well, was a little bit hard at the end of the year, like now, we were competing for the Masters. My only chance was in Moscow, which some of the other players, a couple other players who had a chance to make it to the Masters, they could play Linz, Osaka. They had many other opportunities to get a few points where I had only one. So it also sometimes can be a disadvantage for a top-10 players like me who hasn't done so well during the year.”

***

We Hear---
--that Brian Earley, Don Johnson, Whitney Snyder and Peggy Michel were inducted into the United States Tennis Association Middle States Hall of Fame.
***
THIS WEEK
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Lyon
St. Petersburg
Vienna
WOMEN
Doha
***
NEXT WEEK
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Fed Cup Finals USA at Italy
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World Tennis News: October 26th

by mltennis 26. October 2009 10:08

Monday, October 26, 2009

WORLD NEWS

USTA and Mercedes-Benz USA Sign US Open Sponsorship

The USTA announced a multi-year marketing partnership with Mercedes-Benz USA. The new partnership designates Mercedes-Benz the “Presenting Sponsor of the US Open Men’s Singles Championship” and the “Official Vehicle of the US Open,” the highest attended annual sporting event in the world.
For its four-year agreement Mercedes-Benz gets significant exposure including on-site presence at the US Open, national TV media commitments, an extensive presence on USOpen.org, and all transportation fleet services for the more than 250 athletes participating in the US Open. Mercedes-Benz also becomes a sponsor of Arthur Ashe Kids’ Day, the interactive tennis and entertainment festival that serves as the unofficial kick-off of America’s Grand Slam.
Mercedes-Benz presence at the US Open will include net post signage for all televised men’s singles matches and side court signage on the majority of tennis courts, including Arthur Ashe Stadium, Louis Armstrong Stadium and the Grandstand. The luxury automobile manufacturer expects to have several Mercedes-Benz vehicle displays on the grounds of the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center, home of the US Open, to promote key vehicle models and conduct promotions with attendees. In its role as the Official Vehicle of the US Open, a fleet of Mercedes-Benz vehicles will be provided to support player transportation efforts at the Open.
The partnership includes a significant media commitment by Mercedes-Benz across the US Open’s three domestic television broadcasters – CBS, ESPN2 and Tennis Channel. Mercedes-Benz will also have a large presence on USOpen.org, the official website of the tournament. USOpen.org enjoyed a record year in 2009 with total visits topping 63 million and unique visitors up 47% vs. 2008 levels.

***

Geoff Pollard Re-Elected as Tennis Australia President

Geoff Pollard was re-elected as president of Tennis Australia for a further 12 months at the Annual General Meeting held in Melbourne October 26.
“I want to thank the Member Associations for their support,” Pollard said after the vote.
“There has been a lot of change in the last four years and a lot of good work done in tennis. In what will be my final year as president of Tennis Australia I look forward to progressing the culture of change we have developed, and continue to drive more growth and improvement in the sport. There is still a lot of work to do, but we have a great team in place to deliver what is needed in partnership with our member associations.
“I am also pleased I will be able to complete the current negotiations with the Victorian Government on the redevelopment of Melbourne Park. It is one of the most important projects we will undertake,” Pollard continued.
Fourteen state and territory delegates were eligible to vote, with three members up for re-election.
Independent director Dr. Janet Young was re-elected, as was member representative Ashley Cooper. Bill Cossey, the President of Tennis SA, was elected as a member representative, replacing Tennis Victoria President David Stobart.
Paul McNamee, a candidate who challenged Pollard for the position, issued this statement ;

“Firstly, I must congratulate Geoff on being elected for another year. A 20-year term is an obvious achievement, and I wish him well. I want to thank my loyal supporters who have worked tirelessly to help me in this campaign. This includes many individuals in the broader tennis community and beyond.
“I do believe that Australia needs to rebuild its status as a great tennis nation and, in order to do this, there are many ongoing issues that must be addressed. I will continue to play my part in helping our great game.”
***
Allaster is in Doha For Her First Championships as CEO

Four months after taking over the top job in women’s tennis, Stacey Allaster is settling into life at the head of the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour as she prepares to preside over her first year ending Championships in the hot seat.
Allaster is well aware there are many issues on the horizon that could give concern and none more worrying than the fact Sony Ericsson’s $88 million sponsorship deal is imminently up for renewal. “
Poor trading results for the last financial year have caused Sony Ericsson to make changes at top flight managerial level and consequently there is bound to be reassessment of how the company invests its’ money.
Dee Dutta, the architect of the Sony Ericsson deal that was ground breaking in its size of commitment has long since left the company but Allaster maintained: “We have Sony Ericsson committed through 2010, and our discussions are ongoing. We’re having good discussions, and hopefully we’ll know by year’s end if they will extend for 2011.”
Allaster is well aware of the competitive nature of enticing sponsors in the current economic climate and realizes there is an onus on the players to give value for money. This week in Doha the tour will be very much in the spotlight but she says: “The players understand the situation.
“It’s true to say they live in a world where they’re not affected by the economy, but they’re in touch enough to know what is happening around them.
“In Venus Williams, we could not ask for a better player leader. She’s been incredibly supportive inside the Player Council, and I can tell you she’s been actively engaged with helping with the Sony Ericsson renewal.
“She recently participated in a meeting in New York with me with Sony Ericsson along with Billie Jean King and Melanie Oudin. I think we know the story there: the past, present and future all understand the importance of our sponsorship partners.”
***
Wozniacki Arrived in Doha Claiming Her Innocence

With the Tennis Integrity Unit’s investigation into last week’s events in Luxembourg ongoing, Caroline Wozniacki arrived at the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour Championships in Doha fit to play and insistent once again of her innocence.
Wozniacki is recovered from the hamstring strain that forced her to quit against Anne Kremer when just a game from victory. She is no aware of the surge in betting connected to her retirement that caused the enquiry but maintained: “I don't have anything to do with betting. I don't do betting myself. I'm against it. I didn't do anything wrong. I was injured. There was no chance for me to finish.”
The teenage Dane who reached this year’s US Open final an currently stands in fourth place on the WTA Tour world rankings understands why the investigation is taking place but maintains neither her nor her father who was coaching her have done anything wrong.
She has been advised by the WTA Tour officials and added: “It's just regular procedure that they have someone who's looking into it. There's nothing suspicious about the match that way. So there is no really a big deal.”
Wozniacki has been drawn in the same group in Doha as world no.1. Dinara Safina, Jelena Jankovic and her close friend Victoria Azarenka. She is playing the Championships for the first time and said: “Last year I finished 12th in the world. I was hoping I could make it in the top ten. Definitely my goal was to reach the Sony Ericsson Championships. But, I didn't expect to be no.4 in the world right now.”
She has played 87 matches so far this year and the strain she suffered in Luxembourg was her first main injury problem. “Even if I would have won, there would have been no chance for me to play the next day,” maintained Wozniacki. “I think it's important to listen to your body and feel what you feel most comfortable with. I like playing matches. It feels like I'm on a go.”
***
Next Week’s New Valencia Event Will be Important to Owner Ferrero

Juan Carlos Ferrero is getting ready for a new chapter in his illustrious career. After being No.1 and champion of a major, the Spaniard will make debut as a co-owner of a tournament. That will happen next week when Valencia Open 500, a completely new event, opens its doors.
“For me, as a player from Valencia, home tournament was always special, but this time it will be even more special”, explains the 2003 Roland Garros champion. “Being a player, owner and organizer at the same time, gives me extra motivation and puts me in a position to watch for small details that I don’t look for on other tournaments.”
Ferrero is satisfied with the list of possible participants: Murray, Tsonga, Davydenko, Verdasco, Simon, Monfils. . . “A lot of great player entered tournament, we had expected big names, but this is much over it.”
One of the tournament attractions is the new arena; Agora, a spectacular building that looks more like a piece of art, then a place for tennis matches.
“This is going to be first event in Agora and all players are asking me all the time about it. I can hardly wait to see tournament in it. “As a clay court specialist, Ferrero cannot hope for a win in his tournament, like Novak Djokovic did in Belgrade earlier this year. Valencia Open will be played on indoor hard courts, but this doesn’t discourage him.
“All tournaments I enter, I always play with victory in mind”, says 29 year-old Ferrero who is #22 on ATP. “This one will be the same. I fill great physically and I will give my best to win the title. Besides, I will play in front of home crowd and my friends and that always gives special motivation.”
***
It is a Small World

It can be a small world, as Sabine Lisicki revealed in the answer to a question from a fan posed on her blog from Luxembourg for the Sony Ericsson website. She was asked about the strangest place she’d been. She answered Pennsylvania (!), but that wasn’t the small world part.
When I was flying back from Charleston this year, we didn't land in New York as planned, we landed in Allentown, Pennsylvania and took a bus to New York," she wrote. "Everyone on the plane got on the bus and by the end of the ride they all knew I had won the tournament in Charleston. Anyway, at the US Open this year I was walking in downtown New York, and one of the guys from that trip was on the street - all of a sudden, five months later in New York, someone was calling my name on the street. New York is huge! It was quite funny."

***
Lisicki Remembers Meeting Novotna

Many players have others they looked up to as youngsters, those they admired and treated as role models and inspiration. In the case of Sabine Lisicki that player was 1998 Wimbledon champion Jana Novotna. Sabine met her before playing her Luxembourg quarter-final against Patty Schnyder, but that wasn’t the first time they had got together.
"Before my match I met Jana Novotna. It brought some memories up. I thought I'd share them with you," she told her fans on her blog for the WTA website.
"When I was a little kid I went to practice with her. I was so nervous, I forgot to bring my shoes!! Can you imagine, you meet such a great player and forget your shoes. What impression does that make? Not good. Anyway, we went to the clubhouse and bought a new pair so I could practice with her. It was great and I still have a picture of the two of us."

***
Milavsky to be Inducted into Canadian Tennis Hall of Fame

Tennis Canada announced that Harold P. Milavsky, Chairman of Quantico Capital Corp., will be inducted into the Canadian Tennis Hall of Fame in the Builder category during a dinner in his honor on December 3 at the Glencoe Club in Calgary.
“As former chairman of the board and a passionate driver of Canadian Davis Cup, Harold is a most deserving inductee into the Canadian Tennis Hall of Fame,” said Tony Eames, Chair, Tennis Canada Board of Directors. “His unwavering passion and leadership for Davis Cup competition has made Calgary the most successful Canadian city to host Davis Cup. His tennis legacy however, is the hands-on leadership Harold demonstrated in driving the development and construction of the $40 Million Rexall Centre in Toronto. In some ways, it is the building Harold built!”
Milavsky fulfilled many duties during his 11 years with the organization. From 2001-2004 Milavsky acted as Chairman of the Board culminating in the grand opening of the new Rexall Centre in July 2004. Being appointed honorary Davis Cup captain for Canada in 2007 was another highlight, especially since Canada remains undefeated in ties held in Calgary with a perfect 5-0 record.
***
Ricky's Notes
By Ricky Dimon
Previously expected to retire at the end of this season, 33-year-old Nicolas Lapentti now plans to continue his ATP career. Lapentti's native Ecuador recently qualified for the Davis Cup 2010 World Group. "Reaching the World Group is a big motivation, not only to continue playing next year, but also to approach the tour with a different mindset," Lapentti explained. . . Sam Querrey, who is at home in California while out for the year with an arm injury, had Lasik eye surgery last week. "Just had Lasik eye surgery and now I can finally see," Querrey said via his Twitter account. "I now have 20/15 vision in both eyes. Life is so much better now.". . . Former Aussie star Mark Philippoussis is reportedly engaged to American actress Jennifer Esposito. Philippoussis, who has been struggling financially, is negotiating with several magazines for exclusive rights to cover the wedding and could make up to $200,000. . . Roger Federer is expected to make an appearance at the Swiss Pavilion for the 2010 Shanghai World Expo. One official said Federer would be there simply "to shake hands with his fans."
Pete Sampras argues that tennis players are the best athletes in the world. "In tennis, these athletes are incredible," Sampras said last week in an interview for ATP World Tour Uncovered. "I think tennis players are the best athletes, in my opinion. I'm not being biased. I know what it takes. I know hand-eye coordination. In an individual sport, you can't hide.". . . Sampras beat Andre Agassi 3-6, 6-3, 10-8 in an exhibition match at the Venetian Macao Tennis Showdown on Sunday. Sampras also teamed up with Yuki Bhambri to defeat Agassi and Ryan Harrison 7-5. . . The USTA Husband-Wife National Clay Court Championships will begin on Friday at the ATP Tennis Club in Ponte Vedra, Florida. PGA Tour player Matt Kuchar, a Ponte Vedra resident, will be competing at the event.
Stanislas Wawrinka, Andreas Beck, and Adrian Mannarino were the directly-entered players who pulled out of this week's ATP event in Lyon. Their departures allowed Nicolas Kiefer, Lamine Ouhab, and Paolo Lorenzi to get into the main draw. . . Juan Martin Del Potro and Tomas Berdych were among the withdrawals prior to the Bank Austria Tennis Trophy in Vienna. Lukasz Kubot and Marco Chiudinelli earned spots in the main draw as a result of the pullouts. . . Mischa Zverev and Michael Russell were the only two players to pull out of the St. Petersburg. Their absences gave Gulbis and Florian Mayer direct entry into the main draw. Ironically, Gulbis and Mayer played each other in the first round on Sunday. . . The Vienna hard courts have generally been some of the slowest on the tour in recent years, but that may not be the case this week. "The surface is much faster than in recent years," Jurgen Melzer said after practicing on them over the weekend. "The balls don't get so big so it should be easier to hit winners.". . . Stefan Koubek, who has played sparingly this fall because of a back problem, arrived in Vienna last Wednesday and says he feels better. "I am now fit and my back is in order," explained the Austrian. "My condition is good. Now I just need to improve my power."
Roger Federer quickly put an end to a Yahoo! Sports rumor that he would sit out the entire rest of the season, including the World Tour Finals. The world No. 1 announced last week that he will, in fact, return for Basel's Davidoff Swiss Indoors which begins on November 2. . . The draw for the year-end WTA Sony Ericsson Championships was revealed over the weekend. Serena Williams, Venus Williams, Elena Dementieva, and Svetlena Kuznetsova are in one group while Dinara Safina, Caroline Wozniacki, Jelena Jankovic, and Victoria Azarenka are in the other. . . Sybille Bammer will play fellow Austrian Thomas Muster, former world No. 1 on the ATP Tour, in an exhibition match on November 28 in Austria. . . Janko Tipsarevic, who finished runner-up in Moscow on Sunday, has been working with new coach Dirk Hordoff since late September. "The difference between the old and the new Janko is the way I think on court," Tipsarevic said prior to the title match against Mikhail Youzhny. "My new coach made me change in that respect." Horduff has worked previously with Rainer Schuettler and Yen-Hsun Lu.
Serena Williams and Caroline Wozniacki have been confirmed for an upcoming exhibition in Barbados. The two-day event beginning November 28 will feature a clinic for juniors, a singles match between Williams and Wozniacki, and a doubles match also involving two local players. . . U.S. Open semifinalist Yanina Wickmayer is not expected to face a suspension or any other kind of punishment for failing to report her whereabouts to anti-doping officials. The prosecutor at a Belgian tribunal called simply for a warning. . . Maria Sharapova has committed to play in the 2010 Cellular South Cup in Memphis. Tournament organizers already have Sharapova's opening-round match on the schedule for Monday night, February 15. . . Flavia Pennetta will play for Italy in the Fed Cup final against the United States on November 6 and 7. Pennetta opted to participate rather than play in Bali's Commonwealth Bank Tournament of Championships, which runs from November 4-8. . . The French Tennis Federation announced on Friday that it will host the United States in next year's Fed Cup first round on clay courts in Lievin. 2010 Fed Cup openers will be held February 6-7. . . Melanie Oudin will play Sloane Stephens in Birmingham's Pelham Challenge exhibition event on December. Stephens is the top-ranked American female junior.

***

We Hear---
--that ticket sales in London for the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals, are, in fact, fantastic. Out of a total of about 250,000 seats available over the eight days, the sales are over 230,000. What has been slow selling was the corporate hospitality packages. With just a month to go, expectations are that sales will pick up and the event will be a sell out. The event could wind up being the biggest one-week tournament, indoors or out.
***
THIS WEEK
MEN
Lyon
St. Petersburg
Vienna
WOMEN
Doha
***
NEXT WEEK
MEN
Basel
Valencia
WOMEN
Bali
Fed Cup Finals USA at Italy
***
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***
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World Tennis News: October 23rd

by mltennis 23. October 2009 04:04

Friday, October 23, 2009

WORLD NEWS

Wozniacki’s Performance at Luxembourg Has Caused an Investigation to be Launched

Caroline Wozniacki’s retirement in the opening round of the Luxembourg Open where she was just one game from an emphatic straight sets victory, has alerted the Tennis Integrity Unit which is in the process of beginning an investigation.
The top seeded Dane, finalist at the US Open last month, ranked no.6 in the world and qualified to contest next week’s Sony Ericsson WTA Tour Championships in Doha, Qatar, was leading 7-5,5-0 against Luxembourg’s own Anne Kremer, when she retired citing a hamstring injury. Speaking later to the Danish newspaper Ekstra Bladet, Wozniacki admitted that she withdrew to allow Kremer to play in the following round. ''I did not think I could play the second round, so I chose the sporting option, to let her proceed. She is playing at home,'' she said.
Concurrently internet gambling activity on the match was intense and spiked with bets on Kremer winning despite her seemingly hopeless position in the match. Neil Robinson, a newly arrived Sony Ericsson WTA Tour spokesman who previously worked for the International Tennis Federation that initially suggested the existence of the Tennis Integrity Unit, admitted: “We're just looking into everything that happened in this match.”
Court side microphones had reportedly picked up comments from Wozniacki's father and former coach, Piotr, from the point the world no. as leading 3-0 in the second set.
Speaking in his native Polish, the former soccer player was urging his daughter to retire because of the injury. Suspicions are rife that internet gamblers reacted to his comments that were picked up on court side microphones.
At the time Wozniacki was quoted by Betfair, the world’s largest online gambling exchange that alerted the authorities to the notorious activity surrounding the match between Nikolay Davydenko and Martin Arguello Vassallo in Sopot 26 months ago, at $1.01 to win the match. A rapid change saw a number of gamblers immediately lay money on Wozniacki to lose with a Kremer win rated at $41.
Piotr Wozniacki is maintaining his innocence. Speaking to Danish radio, he claimed: "I went onto the court and said to her: 'Caro, it does not matter whether it's going to be 5-0, 4-1 or 3-2. You can not play the next round, so you shouldn't take the risk.’ I'm very proud of Caroline, because she stopped the fight and gave her opponent a chance."
The 19 year-old player was flippant on the whole situation. "So, people bet on my matches,” said Wozniacki. “Some win, others lose. I just know that I am clean. It is most important to me. And if anyone is in doubt about my injury, I can both produce scan from the hospital and a report from the tournament physiotherapist.”
***
Terrorism Fears Cause Pakistan to Cancel Two ITF Tournaments

Pakistan's tennis officials have called off two international junior tennis tournaments in Islamabad because of the growing threat of terrorism. Rashid Khan, the Pakistan Tennis Federation (PTF) secretary, said in a statement that the back-to-back world ranking tournaments scheduled to get underway from October 25 have been cancelled in the wake of the twin suicide bombing at the International Islamic University earlier this week.

***
Williams Not Able to Make Tournament Plans

Serena Williams still cannot book her flight to Melbourne to take part in the 2010 Australian Open.
The reigning Australian Open as well as Wimbledon champion faces the possibility of a ban from one or more future majors, in addition to the record $10,000 fine already imposed upon her for her foul-mouthed and threatening abuse of a lines person in the semifinals of the US Open, a match she lost on a point penalty.
But, according to WTA Tour CEO Stacey Allaster, she should know her fate by the end of the year. "First of all, I'd like to say I think Serena is a fantastic champion and a great person," said Allaster at the China Open. "She has acknowledged the incident in New York as being a mistake, and something that she's not proud of, and she's apologized for that. That is under investigation, it is ongoing and it would be safe to assume that they will make a decision before year-end."
After initially showing little contrition for her outburst, which came after she was called for a foot-fault that left her two match points down against Kim Clijsters, she has since apologized and said she has learned from the experience. "Obviously I'd be not smart if I were to do the same thing," she said in Beijing. "It's important for people to learn from things they did in the past, and I learned and I would never do the same thing."
***
Nadal Travels to Barcelona to Receive a Special Trophy

Rafael Nadal used his tournament break to visit Barcelona where he received a replica of Trofeo Conde de Godo, a trophy he won five times in this city. That was a great opportunity for him to get ready for the last big competition he would be delighted to win in this year. “My objective for this season ending is to win Davis Cup”, explained Rafa. “That is always special because you represent your country.”
Spain will host Czech Republic in Barcelona (December 4-6) and Nadal is convinced that his team is favorite, but it doesn’t mean that he is not cautious.
“Hosting nations are always favorites, but they don’t win always. We’ll have to prove on court that we are better. Czechs are without weak points; they can count on experienced players like Tomas Berdych and Radek Stepanek, who make great doubles too. He who thinks that we have guaranteed points against them, he is very wrong.”
Nadal suffered a lot the last half of the year; because of knee tendonitis he missed Wimbledon and some other summer tournaments. Later, he had problems with abdominals, but now everything should be OK. Rafa will rest until Paris Open, the last Masters 1,000 of season.
“I want to finish year the best possible way. There is nothing better then winning Davis Cup. I hope that crowd will fill Sant Jordi,” as he invited fans to come to the palace where the final will be played. Seating capacity is almost 17,000.
***
Tennis Channel to Show WTA Championships Next Week

Next week’s Sony Ericsson WTA Tour Championships in Doha, Qatar, beginning on Tuesday, October 27, will be screened on a daily basis in the United States by Tennis Channel with more than 30 hours of live coverage.
The eight player singles field for the event is now set with defending champion Venus Williams, her sister Serena, Dinara Safina, Svetlana Kuznetsova, Caroline Wozniacki, Elena Dementieva, Victoria Azarenka and Jelena Jankovic guaranteed their places. Vera Zvonareva, the 2008 runner-up, and Agnieszka Radwanska will travel to Doha as alternates while the doubles field features the Williams sisters, Cara Black and Liezel Huber, the Spanish tandem of Nuria Llagostera Vives and Maria Jose Martinez, and the Australian duo of Samantha Stosur and Rennae Stubbs.
Tennis Channel regular Leif Shiras will lead the commentary team from Doha’s Khalifa Tennis Complex that stages the year ending finale to the women’s tour for the second time. Former world no.1 Lindsay Davenport and her regular doubles partner Corina Morariu will provide analysis while Tracy Austin will be conduct interviews and courtside reporting.
Tennis Channel’s live coverage will include all round-robin matches, singles semifinals and doubles play at the six-day event. The network will also offer a same-day replay of the singles final on Sunday, November 1, at 2 p.m. ET. Prime-time encore replays will air each evening at 8 p.m. ET
***
Indian Woman Named Hero Among Us

The Sony Ericsson WTA Tour has announced Suniti Marathe as the grand prize winner for the 2009 Heroes Among Us program. Marathe, who has taught high school for more than 20 years, receives this honor for her leadership and commitment to serving as a role model and mentor to young people in her community of Goa, India. Fans selected her out of five finalists in an online vote, which took place on the Tour’s official website between September 28 and October 5, 2009.
As the winner of the Heroes Among Us program, Marathe will receive a prize package for two to attend the Sony Ericsson Championships – Doha 2009, including tickets to the final, roundtrip airline tickets, accommodation, transportation, behind-the-scenes access at the tournament and tickets to the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour Year-End Party in Doha, Qatar.
Marathe’s son nominated his mother because of her commitment to educating youth in local villages. Marathe, who runs a library and teaches out of her home, also travels to neighboring villages to teach and to distribute books and uniforms to children who are in need. According to Ms. Marathe’s son, her mother believes that reading not only improves knowledge, but helps improve awareness.
The Heroes Among Us program follows in the footsteps of the Tour’s landmark global partnership with the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) to raise awareness of gender equality issues and create leadership opportunities for women.
Venus Williams, along with fellow Tour players Vera Zvonareva, Tatiana Golovin and Zheng Jie, and Tour Founder and tennis legend Billie Jean King, serve as UNESCO Promoters of Gender Equality to help raise awareness about issues of importance to women worldwide, and to create leadership opportunities for women through the funding of programs in Cameroon, Liberia, Dominican Republic, China, Jordan and the United States.

***

We Hear---
--that with one month to go, ticket sales for the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals are quite slow. IMG returned 13,000 of the 16,000 tickets they were allocated unsold. In other words, they have only sold 3,000 corporate hospitality packages.
***
THIS WEEK
MEN
Moscow
Stockholm
WOMEN
Luxemburg
Moscow
***
NEXT WEEK
MEN
St. Petersburg
Vienna
WOMEN
Doha
***
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***
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World Tennis News: October 22nd

by mltennis 22. October 2009 04:15

Thursday, October 22, 2009

WORLD NEWS

British Executive Leaves IMG

With the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals at London’s 02 Arena barely a month away, the man who recently secured a five year deal for IMG to sell and deliver corporate hospitality packages has left the company.
Peter Worth has left his post as the London-based Senior Vice President of IMG with immediate effect. He had rejoined the company two years ago when IMG acquired Quintus for a reputed 10,000 million pounds sterling, the sports and entertainment company that amongst other things owned the rights to the AEGON Masters which serves as the climax for the ATP Tour of Champions staged annually at the Royal Albert Hall.
Worth, a former agent for Bjorn Borg during his Wimbledon and French Open winning years, initially spent 11 years with IMG where he was also head of the European Sponsorship Division before branching out on his own and setting up Quintus.
A close friend of IMG International president Ian Todd, Worth also bought the pre-Wimbledon senior event The Fortis Tennis Classic at London’s Hurlingham Club and the Boodles Legends Tennis Classic at Cheshire’s Mottram Hall under the company banner.
Relations between Worth and IMG owner Theodore (Teddy) J. Forstmann are believed to have become strained over recent months.
Another IMG departure is Lawrence Frankopan, the London-based tennis client manager who has recently been working with the challenging duo of Bernard Tomic and Jelena Dokic. Frankopan had spent seven years with IMG and had previously been based in Barcelona and Miami.
***
Nalbandian Making Plans to Return to the Tour

David Nalbandian will resume his career in Auckland in January before competing the following week at the Australian Open. This is an interesting choice since he could be defending his title in Sydney the same week.
The 27-year old has not played since losing to Paul Capdeville in the first round of the Estoril Open in early May, this was shortly after he defaulted a quarterfinal showdown with Rafael Nadal in Barcelona. He then underwent hip surgery on May 13 in Spain.
Half a year after his operation, the former Wimbledon finalist sees light at the end of the tunnel. “My idea is to return on tournaments at the best possible shape. I want to start the last period of my career at the best level,” says the 27 year-old Argentine.
He is now #20, but he will start at a protected ranking of #14. “I will play exhibition in Argentina in December to check my hip, then I will go to Australia. My priorities in 2010 are Davis Cup and tournaments,” says Nalbandian who was #3 at the peak of his career.
Disappointment after failure in last year’s Davis Cup final against Spain in Argentina is still very strong in his memory. “We have very powerful team now; with Juan Martin Del Potro we are strong at all four singles to win at home and away.”
He is delighted with Del Potro’s US Open win. “This is very good not only for him, but for the tennis in Argentina too. This will inspire new generations.”
Nalbandian has joined critics of the long ATP Tour season. “There are too much tournaments, this is like butcher shop. Comes time when it is impossible for body to endure so much playing. The best example is Rafael Nadal, who at 23 has ruined knees.”
***
Sampras Predicts Big Things for Andy Murray

Pete Sampras is still backing Andy Murray to join that elite club of Grand Slam champions next year, even though the 22 year-old Scot was surprisingly beaten to membership by Argentina’s Juan Martin Del Potro at the US Open and has spent the last month on the injured list.
Sampras applauded Murray’s playing style and the way he manages his game, not rushing back into action after suffering wrist problems playing through the American summer and then representing Great Britain three days in succession in the Davis Cup match against Poland.
“He plays a game that takes a lot of work on the body and I know he works hard off the court but I think if he is smart with his injuries and recovers and doesn't play and make them worse, he will be fine," Sampras said. "When it comes down to next year in Australia he will be fit and ready to go.
"Obviously he is trying to win his first major and he has come pretty close this year and he can taste it. He is in a fishbowl in the UK with all the expectations and pressure, it is not easy to deal with but he is a great player and he is on the verge of really being a dominant player.
"He is up there and he is in his early twenties so he has many years to improve and learn and he will break through and win a couple of majors."
***
Stosur is Adjusting her Career Plans

Samantha Stosur has taken up the option of playing the Commonwealth Bank Tournament of Champions in Bali a week after she competes in the doubles event of the Sony Ericsson Championships in Doha.
That is part of her grand plan to earn a place in the top 10 after this week reaching a career-high 13 following victory over Francesca Schiavone in Osaka, a win that earned her a first career title.
"Now it's top 10 - that's obvious - but depending on how I finish in Bali, I could maybe be a little closer and then next year if I get a good start I can maybe have a good shot," she said, referring to her next career target. "I don't know how long I'll take to do it. I haven't set a date, but every day I'm going to work towards getting there."
Another part of the plan will be to cut down on her doubles. The former No.1 will not play with Rennae Stubbs, her partner in Doha, beyond this year as she concentrates her on her singles ambitions.
"Stubbsie and I have talked about this and we're not going to team up after this year," she revealed. "At the start of the year, when I said singles was my priority and I had to make some changes, I think I proved to myself that was a smart move. I'm starting to reap the benefits. Next year, I've got to do the same. I'll still play doubles, but not as much and possibly not with a regular partner, so I'm not letting anyone down if I can't play a certain week."
Stosur, though, is committed to beginning next season partnering Lleyton Hewitt at the Hopman Cup, rather than gathering ranking points the same week in Brisbane.

***

We Hear---
--that Steve Wood, the Tennis Australia chief executive who shouldered much of the criticism from Lleyton Hewitt’s broadside attack against Tennis Australia last week, has signed a new four year contract just two weeks before the potentially stormy annual general meeting which could see Geoff Pollard ousted after 20 years as president.
***
THIS WEEK
MEN
Moscow
Stockholm
WOMEN
Luxemburg
Moscow
***
NEXT WEEK
MEN
St. Petersburg
Vienna
WOMEN
Doha
***
Bob Larson’s Stock Report
Wednesday Stock Prices

Stock

Last

Change

6.25

-.45

4.75

-1.40

0.91

0.00

9.04

-.11

64.75

-.34

Bob Larson Tennis Stock Index $105.70
* The index is based on the total value of one share of each stock we report daily.
***
Results
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World Tennis News: October 21st

by mltennis 21. October 2009 05:22

Wednesday, October 21, 2009

WORLD NEWS

Wilander Steps Down as Sweden’s Davis Cup Captain

Mats Wilander has resigned as Sweden’s Davis Cup captain after six years in the job because he wants to spend more time with his family that has long been based in Sun Valley, Idaho.
The 45 year-old former world no.1 and seven times major singles champion has become disenchanted with the position because of the lack of Swedish talent following recent retirements of Jonas Bjorkman and Thomas Johansson.
World no.10 Robin Soderling has been the only leading singles player at Wilander’s disposal and the French Open finalist was ruled out of this year’s World Group opener which resulted in a defeat to Israel. The Swedes were forced into a September play-off against Romania in Helsinborg to preserve their World Group status.
Wilander and his South African-born wife Sonja have four children and son Erik suffers from a comparatively mild form of the skin condition epidermolysis bulosa which is the reason they live in the purified mountain air of the Rocky Mountains
"I will not continue. It's private reasons behind the decision. I want to be home more, spend more time with the kids," Wilander told Swedish daily newspaper Aftonbladet. "It was a difficult decision. I made up my mind three days ago."
The highpoint of Wilander’s term in charge came two years ago when he steered Sweden to the World Group semi-finals where the team comprising of Bjorkman, Thomas Johansson, Joachim Johansson and Simon Aspelin lost to eventual champions United States in Gothenburg.
The Swedish Federation’s general secretary Henrik Kallen maintained he completely understood Wilander’s decision and said: “We are grateful for these years and the success we've had under Mats.”
After succeeding Carl-Axel Hageskog at the beginning of 2003, Wilander registered an 8-7 record in charge of the Swedish team but maintained the nation’s presence in the World Group that has been 100% since its inception in 1981.
As well as captaining his native country, Wilander has briefly coached Marat Safin, Tatiana Golovin and Paul Henri Mathieu. He also works as a leading tennis commentator for the Eurosport television channel and still plays on both the ATP Tour of Champions and Outback Champions Tour.
Team coach Joachim Nystrom is also understood to have quit his post to concentrate on coaching Austria’s Jurgen Melzer. Early reports suggest Thomas Enqvist is the favorite to take over although Bjorkman may also be a candidate.
***
Hingis Says No Chance She Will Try A Tour Comeback

Martina Hingis has revealed that she underwent a drugs test while she was still serving a suspension after testing positive for cocaine at Wimbledon in 2007.
Her two year suspension ended on September 30th, her 29th birthday and, perhaps thinking she would follow in the footsteps of Belgian pair Kim Clijsters and Justine Henin in making a return to the game, a few days before her suspension expired she received the dreaded knock on the door.
"They thought maybe that I was planning a second comeback," she told French newspaper L’Equipe. But she isn’t. It would actually be a third comeback, as she had tried twice already. The first lasted for one match in Pattaya, Thailand, and the second resulted in only limited and declining success. Anyway, no matter how you count it, she says she has no desire to try again.
"You can't just snap your fingers and say 'let's go and play the Australian Open'," she said. I've got a nice house, my four horses. On the tour I had no life." She was thinking of retiring anyway, before the ban was imposed, but she sounds bitter at the consequences the ban had for something she still insists she was not guilty of.
"I was on a downslope. And I was suspended for two years, and that was it. I didn't have the right to play any competition, even in another Olympic sport. I didn't have the right to feature in equestrian competition, even at an amateur level. I'm not sure I have completely recovered."
***
Henin to Begin Her Comeback in Brisbane

As reported earlier this week in World News, Justine Henin has chosen Brisbane rather than Auckland to begin her comeback after an absence of 19 months. She last played in May 2008 and then retired before Roland Garros, which makes her mention of a 15-month absence rather puzzling.
"After a 15-month absence I am pleased to begin my second tennis career at the Brisbane International," Henin said in a statement Wednesday. "It will be great to get back to playing competitive tennis again and with the strong field, the same court surface and a similar climate to Melbourne, it will be the perfect preparation leading into the Australian Open."

***
Adelaide to Host World Tennis Challenge

John McEnroe and Pat Cash are among other former champions who are heading down under to compete at the World Tennis Challenge in Adelaide. Held at Memorial Drive, the site is the former home of one of the Australian Open warm-up events before it was moved to Brisbane in 2009. The event takes place January 12-14.
The event will feature four teams, each one consisting of a current player and a former champion. In a similar format to the women’s event in Hong Kong teams will represent various regions, and McEnroe will partner Robbie Ginepri to represent The Americas.
The other regions are Australia, Europe and a catch-all International zone.
Other champions signed up are Pat Cash for Australia, Henri Leconte for Europe and Radek Stepanek for the International team, with their partners to be named later.
***
Ivanovic is a Great Reader on the Road

Great reader and poor shopper, that is Ana Ivanovic out of court. She spent her holiday at home and discovered some of her traveling secrets.
When not with a racket, a book is her best weapon against boredom.
“I love reading, and travel causes me to read, because I spend a huge amount of time not alone but within the team environment. So I like to watch a movie, read a book or listen to music. The first thing I do when I wake up is turn on my computer and I let some music play.”
Though one of the most beautiful sportswomen of today, Ana rarely could be seen attacking shops.
“To tell the truth, this year I didn’t really go shopping, no matter how silly that sounds. I wish I had more time for that. However, I didn’t have a nice feeling like ‘now I am going shopping”.
After unsuccessful season in 2009 there is one wish for 2010. “I think that health is the most important thing, I realized that. Results come and go, but health is most significant and I want to enjoy in every moment.”

***

We Hear---
--that the ATP World Tour returned to the courts of Wilmington, Delaware where it last year won the protracted court case against the Deutsche Tennis Bund (German Tennis Federation) and the Qatar Tennis Federation over the issue of taking away Masters 1000 Series status from the long established Hamburg tournament. However Mark Young, the ATP’s CEO Americas and Chief Counsel, along with his legal team, were unsuccessful in getting the Germans and Qataris to pay $17.9 million in legal fees.
--that Arlen Kanterian, the former chief executive of professional tennis at the United States Tennis Association and current senior advisor to the Miami Dolphins, has turned down an offer to become Commissioner of the Ladies Professional Golf Association.
***
THIS WEEK
MEN
Moscow
Stockholm
WOMEN
Luxemburg
Moscow
***
NEXT WEEK
MEN
St. Petersburg
Vienna
WOMEN
Doha
***
Bob Larson’s Stock Report
Tuesday Stock Prices

Stock

Last

Change

26.70

-.75

6.15

0.00

0.91

0.00

9.15

+.11

65.09

-1.00

Bob Larson Tennis Stock Index $107.99
* The index is based on the total value of one share of each stock we report daily.
***
Results
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World Tennis News: October 20th

by mltennis 20. October 2009 04:13

Tuesday, October 20, 2009

WORLD NEWS

Roddick Qualifies for ATP World Tour Finals

Andy Roddick received the best possible news as he rested the painful left knee he injured last week in Shanghai as the mathematicians of Ponte Vedra Beach declared that he was now certain of the sixth qualifying spot for the Barclays ATP World Tour finals at London’s 02 Arena.
The American is entered to play the Valencia event in two weeks time and then the year’s concluding Masters 1000 Series tournament at Paris – Bercy but he is no longer under pressure to put his fitness to the test. He was assured there was no serious ligament or tendon damage after undergoing an MRI scan in New York late almost immediately on his arrival back in the United States last week and can now concentrate of rehabbing the knee in time to play in London starting November 22.
Roddick joined Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, Andy Murray, Novak Djokovic and Juan Martin del Potro in the list of players assured of a London place. Shanghai champion Nikolay Davydenko and Spain’s Fernando Verdasco currently occupy seventh and eighth places in the race but Robin Soderling, Fernando Gonzalez and Jo Wilfried Tsonga remain firmly in contention.
This will be the seventh straight year that the Austin, Texas based 27 year-old has earned a place in the calendar ending finale of the ATP World Tour. His best showing was a place in the semi finals which he has achieved three times; twice in Houston in 2003 and ’04, and again in Shanghai two years ago.
After reaching this year’s Wimbledon final and pushing Federer to the longest decisive final set in Grand Slam history, Roddick is savoring a return to London. He said: “The reaction I received from fans after the Wimbledon final was something I will never forget. I've always had great support in London and I'm looking forward to being back there in November. I'm sure it will be a fantastic event.”
***
Woodbridge Named to be Australian Peacemaker for Hewitt and Tomic

Todd Woodbridge has been nominated as the peacemaker in the Australian tennis row that sees current no.1 Lleyton Hewitt and his heir apparent Bernard Tomic at loggerheads.
Woodbridge, Australia’s Davis Cup coach and Head of Men’s Tennis at Tennis Australia is in a perfect position to mediate in the disagreement that started at Wimbledon four months ago when Tomic turned down an opportunity to practice with Hewitt.
“I'd like to see them speak face-to-face,'' said Woodbridge at the Australian Institute of Sport. ''We're talking about a minor, who's 16, and we're talking about a guy who's 28, so we want them to correspond, and I think it's essential for Bernard to be able to do that.
''In this sport, you've got to respect your opponents and you've got to respect your peers, and when you go forward that way then you give yourself the best chance of being the best person, the best tennis player that you can be.”
Woodbridge maintains he has spoken to Tomic who agrees there is a need to build bridges. Hewitt remains the more difficult party and is still furious at the lack of respect shown him by a junior.
''The key to it is that both individuals have to get together and talk it out; thrash it out between our former world No. 1 and our current world No. 1 junior, and not through third parties like parents or agents,” continued Woodbridge.
''It's more Bernard's journey that I'm worried about. I'm worried about developing him as a player and as a person … He doesn't want this, and obviously Lleyton doesn't want it, so we want both of them to be able to represent their country in Davis Cup and that means communication.''
***
Nadal is Strategizing his Future

Rafael Nadal is not going to dwell too long on the defeats he has suffered in his last two tournaments, against Marin Cilic in the Beijing semifinals and Nikolay Davydenko in Sunday’s final in Shanghai.
"I just can say I am going to work hard to be at my best as soon as possible and I am not seeing myself very far off that," Nadal said. "I would love to have a title, but if I am still playing like this in Paris and London, it's difficult, sure. The best players are there. But in Paris I expect to have another chance to play a good tournament. And if you are there all the time semifinals, final, you're going to win. I don't know when, but you're going to win."

***
Stosur’s Success on Court Boosts her Bank Balance

Samantha Stosur’s success this season, which has seen her earn a career-first title in Osaka, has moved her to a career-high 13 in singles and a place in the Sony Ericsson Championships doubles event, means that she has earned more this season that compatriot Lleyton Hewitt. Stosur has banked $1,100,306, with Hewitt trailing way behind with $682,947.

***
Jelena Jankovic is Determined not to Miss The Last Train to Doha

“I have been first player to secure spot on WTA Championships for last two years, I did it after Wimbledon and that is the reason why I can’t explain to myself how come I am still fighting for that,” said the best Serbian player who spent a few days in Belgrade before leaving for Moscow where she defends her title and hopes to reach Doha.
Twelve months ago #1, she is now eight places below. “Lot of nice things happened to me a year ago, but this season has been very tough for me,” Jelena doesn’t hide her disappointment with 2009. “And not only on court. My mother got sick and operated, my grandmother died, I had problems with coaches, suffered with injuries in first half… I wasn’t focus on tennis, that wasn’t me on court.”
Jelena believes that she is on rise again. “The most important thing is that I stayed in top ten after all these problems. I am back on my usual weight and that is good, because in first half of season I was too heavy with muscles and I couldn’t move like I know. I lost speed which is my weapon; I lost all virtues in my game. I hope that the next year I will be the same player that was #1 twelve months ago.”
She agrees that 2009 haven’t brought her lot of joy so far. “There were only few nice moments and I would stress Cincinnati final against Safina. She was No1 at that time and I beat her. I played well in Tokyo until I got injured.” Looking ahead she sees Serbia in the beginning of February will have debut in Fed Cup World Group. Russia is coming.
“Ana Ivanovic and I already beat the best Russian players in tournaments. We will have an advantage of home court in February and we must use that opportunity.”
Jelena was mysterious when asked about coaching staff. She parted her ways with Pat Etchebery few months ago, she was close to a similar move with Ricardo Sanchez, but the Spaniard is still with her.
“I had problems with coaches; there were lot of things that influenced my game. I still don’t know what I will do, but it is for sure that I will see to improve some things.”

***

We Hear---
--that Justine Henin has decided to compete at the Brisbane International rather than in Auckland in the first tournament of her comeback from retirement. It is thought that the court surface was the deciding factor, with Auckland having a different surface to that used at the Australian Open.
***
THIS WEEK
MEN
Moscow
Stockholm
WOMEN
Luxemburg
Moscow
***
NEXT WEEK
MEN
St. Petersburg
Vienna
WOMEN
Doha
***
Bob Larson’s Stock Report
Monday Stock Prices

Stock

Last

Change

27.45

+.45

6.15

0.00

0.91

-.14

9.04

+.09

66.09

+.99

Bob Larson Tennis Stock Index $109.63
* The index is based on the total value of one share of each stock we report daily.
***
Results
For complete ATP and WTA results, please see our web site at www.tennisnews.com

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World Tennis News: October 19th

by mltennis 19. October 2009 04:18

Monday, October 19, 2009

WORLD NEWS

Sony Ericsson Struggles to Make a Profit; Is WTA Sponsorship Doubtful?

Sony Ericsson, one of the largest mobile phone companies in the world, and global title sponsor for the WTA Tour, hasn't made a profit since the second quarter of 2008.
With Sony Ericsson's sponsorship contract with the WTA set to expire on December 31, 2010, the WTA could face a huge revenue loss if business forces the company to drop its sponsorship. With challenging market conditions and ongoing competition from BlackBerry and Apple's iPhone, Sony Ericsson continues its struggle to get in the black.
Despite the grim numbers, the WTA maintains a positive outlook. “Sony Ericsson has been a tremendous partner for the Tour, and women's tennis has delivered very strong return on investment for Sony Ericsson,” says Andrew Walker, Senior Vice President for Global Marketing & Communications for the WTA Tour. “We are in discussions regarding a continuation of their sponsorship of the WTA Tour, and our focus is on renewal of Sony Ericsson.”
In January 2005, Sony Ericsson inked a six-year sponsorship deal with the WTA for an unprecedented $88 million dollars, to become the Tour’s global title sponsor. Since then, Sony Ericsson has also become an event sponsor for WTA Tour events, including the Sony Ericsson Open in Miami, and the season-ending Sony Ericsson Championships in Doha, Qatar. In 2008, Maria Sharapova became the company’s global brand ambassador. Of course, all of this happened before the global economic downturn.
On the plus side, business at Sony Ericsson is beginning to show signs of recovery, after reporting its 2009 third quarter earnings last week. The company’s net loss was 164 million Euros, a significant improvement from the 213 million euro loss in the second quarter.
Since 2008, Sony Ericsson has continued to cut operating expenses, which has shown improvement in the company’s bottom line. It is worth noting that Sony Ericsson is also under new leadership. As of last week, Bert Nordberg became the new president of Sony Ericsson. “My principal aim is to turn around the company and to return to profitability as soon as possible,” says Nordberg. He also believes the recovery will come in the form of new products that are in the pipeline for the fourth quarter of 2009, which include the new multimedia smartphones, Aino and Satio.
***
Davydenko Finishing 2009 with a Flourish

The spate of retirement through injuries at the Shanghai Master 1000 event – nine in total -underline two things; first, that the calendar is undeniably too long and far too many contestants are physically beaten up by this time of the year but secondly many of the leading players don’t cherish the prospect of a long trip to Asia in the aftermath of the US Open. Nikolay Davydenko has once again proved himself an exception.
After enduring top flight tennis for more than five hours over the weekend to beat first Novak Djokovic and then Rafael Nadal, Davydenko walked away with $616,500 in his pocket and the player who only made the headlines because of his participation in that much debated match in Sopot a couple of years ago, said: ““I don’t care about the publicity. I like the money, though.’
Davydenko’s win propelled him from ninth to seventh place in the race for a place in London and he is now than 600 points ahead of Sweden’s Robin Soderling who is ninth in line to contest the year ending event.
"I was so tired at the beginning in the first set and I cannot believe it. I'm enjoying this. Beating Djokovic and Nadal is something amazing."
This week Davydenko contests the Moscow event but regardless of how well he does, it will be irrelevant in the Race for London and he has already won two 250 level series titles this year; in Hamburg and Kuala Lumpur.
Two titles in Kuala Lumpur and Shanghai from three weeks play with another semi in Beijing adding to his list of achievements have propelled the 28 year-old Russian into a strong position to claim one of the remaining three places up for grabs in the Barclays ATP Tour World Championships at London’s 02 late next month.
***
Finally Action to be Taken on Fake On-Court Injuries

Few rules in tennis have been abused more than the one which allows a player to demand a medical time in the midst of a game when he or she insist the onset of cramp makes it impossible to continue.
Ever since Japan’s Shuzo Matsuoka suffered serious problems at the 1995 US Open and the administrative thinking on the matter changed, numerous players have hidden behind a false barrage of cramp to destroy any form any form of ascendance that may have been established by their opponent.
Those who do not mince their words call it the most common form of cheating in tennis but now the final moves are in place to make a unified decision across the four major powers of tennis administration; the International Tennis Federation, the ATP World Tour, the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour and the Grand Slam Committee, to put a stop to this practice from the start of 2010.
The ATP’s Rules and Competition chief Gayle David Bradshaw has been the first to get clear backing from his constituents but there was agreement from the ATP Player Council and ratification from the Board of Directors during the recent US Open that interrupting the flow of a game will soon be outlawed. If a player requires treatment for cramp that can only be at changeovers or the end of a set. Otherwise the player will forfeit the game if unable to continue.
The WTA’s board are set to follow suit next week during a meeting at the end of season Championships in Doha while there is likely to be final agreement on the matter this week in Basel when the ITF’s new board convenes.
One leading umpire who has chaired a Grand Slam final in the last few months but obviously chose to remain nameless, said: “This is very good news for all concerned because everybody could see that players were using the rule for their advantage to interrupt the flow and give themselves a little breather. Everybody could see but nobody could do anything. Now this won’t be the case.”
***
Ivanovic About to Begin Preparing for 2010

Ana Ivanovic plans to start her surge in Australia. If everything is according to her intentions, she will spend almost three months in the country of the first major in 2010.
“Ana will train in Australia with Sven Groeneveld during November and December. Ana is trying a new fitness coach, it is not a permanent appointment yet. His name is Mark McGrath. He is Australian and he has worked with, among other, Olympic Gold Medalist Cathy Freeman, as well as triple-Olympic Gold Medal-winning rowers James Tomkins and Drew Ginn. He is very highly qualified and concerns himself not just with simple workouts but the science of movement and recovery”, explains Gavin Versi, Ivanovic’s manager.
And if you add a month of playing Down Under, then it is three months. Though, her tournament calendar is not fully known yet.
“This has not yet been finalized, but it's probably not going to be very different from 2009. Ana is confirmed for Brisbane in January, which is her first tournament of the year. She doesn't plan on playing Sydney, but it's always an option if she decides she needs more matches before the Australian Open,” said Versi. Ana went on holiday yesterday.
“Ana visited her family in Belgrade. She spent time with her grandparents, cousins and old friends. The goal was of course to relax and try not to think about tennis too much. She attended the birthday party for her brother Milos, who became 18.”
Ivanovic’s deal with Adidas expires this winter. There has been a lot of speculation that some wealthy Chinese companies are very interested to have her autograph on a contract from January 1. Ana has a racket deal with Japanese firm.
“The Yonex deal is halfway through a 4-year contract (it began 1 January 2008). Regarding Ana's clothing contract, I cannot make any comment right now, but we will be making an announcement in the next few months,” added Versi.
***
Ricky's Notes
By Ricky Dimon

Rafael Nadal was the only non-American to make the Forbes list of America's Top 10 most-liked sports figures. Nadal came in at No. 4, while Olympic gold medal-winning gymnast Shawn Johnson topped the chart. . . Sam Querrey is considering Lasik eye surgery, according to a post he made on his Twitter account. Querrey, who is out for the year with an arm injury, had a Lasik consultation last week at home in California. . . Up-and-coming teenagers Yuki Bhambri and Ryan Harrison will join Pete Sampras and Andre Agassi on Sunday for the third edition of Venetian Macao Tennis Showdown, an exhibition event. Two singles matches will be followed by a doubles match. . . Fabrice Santoro said during a French TV interview on Saturday that he is feeling good and no longer wants to retire at the end of the season. Santoro added that he plans to play at the Australian Open, thus participating in a Grand Slam event for four straight decades. . . Jelena Dokic asked for a wild card into the WTA's Kremlin Cup, but tournament organizers denied the request, instead opting in favor of younger Russian players. . . The lineswoman who was verbally abused by Serena Williams at the U.S. Open declined an offer to work at the upcoming WTA Tour Championships in Doha.
Marin Cilic announced last week that he will return to Chennai, India in January to defend his Chennai Open title. Cilic defeated Somdev Devvarman in last year's final. . . Ivan Dodig was disqualified from the title match of last week's Challenger in Kolding, Denmark after splitting sets with Alex Bogdanovic. Dodig got the boot for verbal abuse of a linesperson and he promptly smashed his runner-up trophy to pieces. . . Cilic, Paul-Henri Mathieu, and Mischa Zverev were the directly-entered players who withdrew from this week's Kremlin Cup in Moscow. Their departures allowed Potito Starace, Karol Beck, and Denis Istomin to gain entry into the main draw. . . Ivo Karlovic, Jurgen Melzer, and Ivan Ljubicic were the most notable players who pulled out of this week's Stockholm Open. Marcos Baghdatis and Ernests Gulbis were among those who got in off the alternate list. . . Juan Martin Del Potro has pulled out of next week's tournament in Vienna with the wrist problem that forced him to retire from his Shanghai opener. Del Potro's exit gives Gulbis direct entry into the main draw.
After retiring from a second-round match in Shanghai, Zverev had an MRI done on his right wrist and it revealed a fracture. Zverev will miss the rest of the season and further x-rays will be done to taken to find out if he needs surgery. . . Kristof Vliegen, who has not played since July due to a back injury, has decided to end his attempt at a comeback this season. "I will take a protected ranking next week," Vliegen said on his website. "The plan is to be back on court for the Australian Open 2010.". . . Daniel Koellerer resumed training last week after he missed the Asian swing with shoulder and back problems. The Austrian is giving it a go this week at the Kremlin Cup. . . Tommy Haas confirmed that his withdrawal from a second-round Shanghai match was only the result of very minor shoulder trouble. "It was just a precautionary measure," he explained. "I felt a bit of pain again in the shoulder and didn't want to take a gamble. This is why I had to quit the match." Haas is entered this week in Stockholm. . . Andy Roddick will not need surgery on his injured left knee after an MRI showed a mild sprain of the Medial Collateral Ligament. A Thursday update on Roddick's website said, "Andy will rest and receive treatments and will be expected to start activity in 2 to 3 weeks."
Former WTA player Chanda Rubin will be back on the tennis court for a December 8 charity event at Louisiana State University. Rubin will join Roddick, Haas, Lindsay Davenport, and Anna Kournikova in a star-studded cast. Proceeds will go to the Elton John AIDS and Baton Rouge AIDS foundations. . . Akiko Morigami announced her retirement from the WTA Tour on Friday. The 29-year-old, who has been plagued by a knee injury, reached a career-high ranking of No. 41 in the world. . . Jelena Jankovic was the primary promoter of a record-breaking mosaic of "smile" photos that was presented at the Belgrade Arena on Thursday. It consisted of 137,264 photos of smiling faces, surpassing a mosaic revealed last year in the UK by 23,271 smiles. . . Tamira Paszek, who has not played since Wimbledon because of a back injury, resumed training last week and plans to return in January. She also confirmed that she will not be suspended for allegedly taking a banned substance during treatment. . . Tatiana Golovin says her chances of ever resuming her tennis career are slim after being diagnosed with spondylitis, a type of arthritis affecting the spine. "Do I have any chance to play again? It's not advised, but I'm still young," she explained. "If I do have to give up tennis, it will be for launching into humanitarian work, to find something meaningful, where I can see something big.". . . Virginie Razzano pulled out of this week's WTA event in Luxembourg with a calf strain.

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We Hear---
--that John Tomic, the controversial father of Australian teenager Bernard, was involved in a road-rage accident where he reportedly forced a car with two top Tennis Australia coaches and a young female player to mount the curb and almost hit a telegraph pole. Tomic Sr has subsequently apologized.
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THIS WEEK
MEN
Moscow
Stockholm
WOMEN
Luxemburg
Moscow
***
NEXT WEEK
MEN
St. Petersburg
Vienna
WOMEN
Doha
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Bob Larson’s Stock Report
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