Tuesday, February 24, 2009

BUSINESS NEWS

The All England Club to Test New Centre Court Roof

The All England Club, Wimbledon, announced today that a star line-up of Andre Agassi, Stefanie Graf, Kim Clijsters and Tim Henman will become the first to play tennis under the new Centre Court roof as part of its A Centre Court Celebration event on Sunday, May 17, 2009.
The event is designed to test the new roof and air management system with live tennis in front of a capacity crowd of 15,000.
The program will feature a men’s singles, a ladies’ singles and a mixed doubles match all played to the pro set format – the first to 8 games, with a tie-break at 8-8.  The exact order of play will be confirmed nearer the time.
Tickets priced at £35.00 ($50.75US) each will go on general sale via Ticketmaster www.ticketmaster.co.uk and 0844 847 2481 at 10.00am on Thursday 12 March 2009.  There will be no on-day sales at the turnstiles.
Kim Clijsters said:  “To be asked to be part of this unique event with Andre and Steffi and Tim is very exciting and a real privilege. It has been ten years since I played Steffi at Wimbledon.  My first and only match against her in my career.  It was quite an experience.  I was very nervous to play against my idol and because of the rain the match took two days to finish.  The new roof will prevent that this time around.”
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Santoro Says This is His Final Season

Frenchman Fabrice Santoro has confirmed this will be his final season, and there will doubtless be many sad moments as he goes around the world playing for the last time at places he has competed at for more than half his life.
The Barclays Dubai Tennis Championships means more to him than most, as he was in the final the first year the tournament was held, in 1993, when he lost to Karel Novacek.
Ten years later he went one better and won the title under remarkable circumstances, arriving from hospital after falling sick and with zero expectations. Yet he was able to defeat Younes El Aynaoui for the title.
"Yeah, yeah, it's kind of normal for me to come here in February, since 17 years," said Santoro. "But I'll be 37 at the end of the year, and I think it's time to maybe try to do something else. Even if I love my job, I have to take a decision one day.
"I'll be back to Dubai. Not as a player probably, but I'll be back to Dubai. (But now) every city, every week, is special for me, because when I land in the city, I say, it's the last check in, as a player. But I was very lucky. I've been doing this for 21 years, and I feel very lucky. When I started, I never thought I could do it for more than ten years."
Of all the cities he has visited over his long career, which will he miss the most?
"I will miss this week, I will miss Dubai. I will miss Melbourne. I will miss actually all four Grand Slams, and playing in front of the French crowd. Yeah."
And what will he do after he finally hangs up his racquets?
"Doing something else means sleeping in my bed first. Something that's normal for you, but not for me. Then, I will see. I have started to think about it. Nothing is fixed yet, but every day I'm thinking about it. I can play one part probably in tennis and one part, I hope outside of tennis, to keep one foot in tennis, and also to see if I'm able to do something out of tennis, it's a good challenge for me."
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Murray is Seriously Worried about his Ankle

Murray admits that a lingering ankle problem is weighing on him with a pair of Masters 1000 events starting in less than a fortnight in the US. "It's just annoying.  It was feeling fine the last couple of days, but it not the same in play," he complained.
The Scot re-injured the joint during his opening victory at the Barclays Championships in Dubai, beating Ukrainian Sergiy Stahovsky.
Murray said the problem which bothered him this month on his way to a title in Rotterdam re-appeared in court in the emirate.
"I was only practicing an hour, hour and a half, each day. Around the hour and a half mark where it started to hurt a little bit. I obviously just tweaked it again."
It was a battle of bad ankles all around, as the No. 75 Ukrainian challenger took a heavy taping on his right ankle late in the opening set and later quit trailing 3-5 in the final set due to his injury.
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Djokovic is Planning to Keep his Day Job

Before taking to the courts at the Barclays Dubai Tennis Championships, No.1 seed Novak Djokovic took to the skies. Or he had at least the experience of flying, even though he remained firmly on the ground, as he enjoyed operating a flight simulator courtesy of Emirates Airlines. Djokovic ‘piloted’ an A380 aircraft on his chosen route, from Belgrade to Dubai, flying with Emirates Captain Milan Kosanovic, a fellow Serbian.

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Fernando Velasco Named PTR Male Player of the Year

Professional Tennis Registry (PTR) presented its annual awards last week during the 2009 PTR International Tennis Symposium at Van der Meer Shipyard Racquet Club on Hilton Head Island, South Carolina.
Fernando Velasco, General Manager and Director of Tennis of the Circle C Tennis Club in Austin, Texas, was named PTR Male Player of the Year. Velasco is currently ranked #1 in Texas and #20 in the National USTA65 and over Singles. 

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We Hear---
--- that Tim Heath, president of the Eastern Section of the USTA and the newly named publisher of Tennis Week, is going to resign his Tennis Week post.
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THIS WEEK
MEN
Acapulco
Delray Beach
Dubai
WOMEN
Acapulco
***
NEXT WEEK
MEN
Davis Cup
WOMEN
Monterrey
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