Thursday, September 25, 2008
BUSINESS NEWS
Britain’s Young Robson Continues to Win and Attract Attention
Not quite three months have passed since Laura Robson stoked the British tennis public's optimism by winning the Wimbledon junior title and now the 14 year-old is making her first inroads towards establishing a reputation on the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour. The Australian-born 14 year-old made her first professional appearance at a $US 10,000 event in Limoges last week and brought her talents back home to England's Midlands and the $US 75,000 event at Shrewsbury's Welti Tennis Centre where she scored a 7-6 2-6 6-3 victory over an opponent more than twice her age, Britain's eighth ranked player Sarah Borwell. Robson, who is being fiercely protected by her management company Octagon and is not being allowed to do any interviews, is already guaranteed a check worth $1,000 (£531.84). However her omnipresent agent Abigail Tordoff did allow her to comment: "I was fortunate enough to receive a wild card into my first senior event in the UK. I had a tough match against Sarah and probably didn't play as well as I would have hoped in some parts of the match. But I'm pleased that I won and I look forward to the rest of the week." Things will get a far more testing today when Robson faces the 128th ranked 17 year-old Urszula Radwanska who has already won a main-tour doubles title with her elder sister Agnieszka and was Robson's predecessor at Junior Wimbledon champion in 2007. Borwell, currently ranked 325th in the world, said: "I had watched Laura's matches at Wimbledon, and she is amazingly talented, and I thought I was going to be able to hit her off the court a bit. But I couldn't do that. That quite shocked me. She reminded me of Ivanovic. "She was seeing the ball so early, and taking the ball so early, and being so aggressive. She plays like Ivanovic, and also looks a bit like her too. I was more impressed with Laura here than I was after watching her win Wimbledon," Borwell said. "After Wimbledon, I thought she would struggle against more powerful players, but her awareness on court was like that of a top player. I usually get a lot of free points on my serve, but that wasn't the case against Laura, as she returned so well."
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Tsonga aka Young Ali Tries Thai Boxing
There are what are termed “Player Activities” at pretty much every tournament, things that the players get involved in off-court - whether it be Roger Federer playing tennis on a barge in Hamburg harbor or Maria Sharapova facing Lindsay Davenport on a ski-slope in Dubai. In Bangkok this week some of the activities have a distinctly Thai flavor. When Jo-Wilfried Tsonga reached the final of the Australian Open in January much was made of his visual likeness to a young Mohammad Ali. So it was natural that, on his first visit to Bangkok to play in the Thailand Open, the second-seeded Frenchman should climb into the boxing ring with Thai 1996 Olympic gold medal winner Somrak Kamsing. Tsonga looked the part, especially when the ladies looking on demanded that he remove his shirt, and the pair together with a sparring partner traded a few “rallies” following a few moments of coaching for each “tactic.”
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ATP Offering a 2009 Hunk of the Month Calendar
Many years ago the WTA used to produce a calendar showcasing the glamorous side of some of their players. Eventually it was dropped, perhaps because of economics, political correctness, or because there are now plenty of pictures even in non-tennis publications showing players dressed to kill. Now the ATP has picked up the idea. Naturally, ruggedness rather than glamour is the theme. Each page has a Hunk of the Month, if you like. Featured players for 2009 include Tommy Robredo, Tommy Haas, Fernando Gonzalez and Marcos Baghdatis. And Tomas Berdych and Paradorn Srichaphan, who were on hand on Tuesday to sign copies for fans attending the Thailand Open. The calendar is available for purchase on the ATP website.
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Santoro Eyeing Retirement
As Frenchman Fabrice Santoro winds down his game, the reigning court magician looks also set to up stakes from Switzerland back to Paris. After six years in the low-tax neighboring nation - with a French tennis colony flourishing mainly in Geneva and the Francophile west of the confederation - it will be tough to leave.
But family ties are calling the 35-year-old, with his family now back in Paris. His daughter attends school in the French capital and that is enough to draw him back. "It's better to be close to her," said the winner of the Newport grass title last July.
Santoro will cut his ATP schedule severely in 2009 as he prepares for the inevitable goodbye after nearly two decades on court as a professional. "I will play some events, but it's getting tougher and tougher to play. "Playing the matches is not tough, it's the training, the traveling, I want to spend time with my daughter. And when I finally do leave tennis, I will have to choose an activity that keeps me at home, hopefully in tennis."
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Becker to Make Senior Debut in Dallas
Boris Becker will make his debut on the Outback Champions Series tennis circuit October 22-26 on the campus of SMU in Dallas, Texas. This will be Becker’s first tournament in the United States since he played in the Lipton Championships in Key Biscayne, Fla., in 1999. Becker will play Jim Courier, Wayne Ferreira and Mikael Pernfors in group A of the round robin portion of the event. Mark Philippoussis, Todd Martin, Aaron Krickstein and Jimmy Arias will play in group B.
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Italian Tennis Writer Becomes Staff Writer for Daily Tennis News
Daily Tennis News Publisher Bob Larson welcomes a new staff writer, all around writer, Ubaldo Scanagatta, who has always been involved with tennis. His father was the president of the 112 year-old club Circolo Tennis Firenze (Florence, Tuscany). Former Italian College Champion, with a tennis scholarship in the US (Oral Roberts University, Tulsa Oklahoma), for many years Florence ATP Tournament Director and European Tennis Press Chairman. He is one of the founders of ITWA, the International Tennis Writers Association. TV and radio broadcaster, he is also the special tennis correspondent for La Nazione of Florence, Il Giorno of Milan, Il Resto del Carlino of Bologna. TV and radio broadcaster for more than 1,000 live broadcasts, he has covered for these publications, among other events, 110 Grand Slam Tournaments, 4 Olympic Games, 3 America's Cups and a number of world swimming events. Editor of several tennis books and magazines on his well-known website www.ubitennis.com , the only multilingual tennis blog in the world with three homepages, Italian, French and English, Scanagatta has also a blog www.ubaldoscanagatta.com and claims he stays daily in touch with a few thousand fans.
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Philippoussis is a Last Minute Pull-Out from Charlotte
There's been more injury bad news for Mark Philippoussis, with the former two-time Grand Slam champion a step closer to official retirement after pulling from a senior event this weekend in North Carolina. The soon-to-be 32-year-old was a late scratch from Jim Courier's event, citing slow recovery from his fifth knee operation in January. The hard-luck Aussie was joined as an absentee by former French Open finalist Mikail Pernfors, limping with an Achilles problem. Philippoussis, who survived a serious surfing accident over the summer, hopes to somehow get back on court in seniors next month in Dallas - no sure thing as far as his fitness goes. "I'm disappointed that I am not quite ready to compete in Charlotte," he said.
"My doctor tells me I will be ready to go next month and I can't wait to step on the court there." He last played - and hurt his knee - during an ill-fated attempt at an Australian Open wild card last December in Melbourne.
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San Diego Hosts Another Huge Success
As it had been for the past 18 years, The Match Point Ball, the annual fundraiser for Youth Tennis San Diego, this year’s “Raise the Roof,” held this past Saturday evening, was a resounding success.The dinner and auction took place at the Manchester Grand Hyatt in San Diego to the delight of more than 200 people attendees including Ruth Jorgensen, the wife of the late USTA President Gordon; the dynamic husband-wife team of Steve and Lee Booth; and former Davis Cup Captain Tom Gullikson were on hand. Kerry Blum, Rick Evans, Linn Walker and Kathy Willette also played a big part in making the affair a spectacular. Gullikson, because of his 29-year friendship with Angel Lopez, a member of The Match Point Ball Committee and a Youth Tennis San Diego Foundation Board member, was the featured speaker. “I'm honored and very humbled to be here tonight to raise money for a very good cause,” he said. “I want to thank Angel for inviting me to attend. Tim (his twin brother) and I grew up in Lacrosse, Wisconsin. We played at the public parks and had After School Programs, which is such a big part of what Youth Tennis San Diego is about, been around at the time, we would have loved being a part of such a program.” Gullikson fondly reminisced about his brother who coached Pete Sampras, before being diagnosed with inoperable brain cancer and dying in 1996. “In 1976, Tim defeated a top 50 player named Karl Meiler. (You have to remember this was before Boris Becker and he was good.) A couple weeks later, I played him. Now, I'm left handed and Tim was right handed. So after the match, (which I won), Meiler said, “Who is this Gullikson guy? I lose to him right handed and then I lose to him left handed. Next time, I guess he will beat me two-handed.” As one would expect those on hand were captivated by the classy and personable Gullikson. Scott Rogers, who is on The Match Point Ball Committee, recalled, ³When Youth Tennis San Diego started, we had a budget of $100, 000 and worked with 400 youngsters annually. Now, we deal with over 10,000 youngsters a year, and have a budget of $1.7 million.”
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We Hear—
--that Jack Kramer had surgery Tuesday afternoon (90 minutes worth) to remove the remnants of a hematoma. He should be out of the hospital (Cedars-Sinai) by the end of the week.
--that Todd Martin and wife Amy are expecting a third child. They have two -- Jack and Cash.
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THIS WEEK
MEN
Bangkok
Beijing
WOMEN
Beijing
Seoul
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NEXT WEEK
MEN
Bangalore
Metz
Tokyo
WOMEN
Stuttgart
Tashkent
Tokyo
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Bob Larson’s Stock Report
Wednesday’s Stock Prices
Stock
Last
Change
Adidas
28.35
+.23
Amer Sports
6.70
0.00
Head
2.10
0.00
K-Swiss
17.40
-1.38
Nike
59.27
-1.46
Bob Larson Tennis Stock Index $118.82
* The index is based on the total value of one share of each stock we report daily.
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Results
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