Thursday, August 20, 2009
BUSINESS NEWS
US Open Men’s Singles Wild Card Recipients Announced
The USTA announced the names of players that have been awarded men’s singles main draw wild card entries into the 2009 US Open.
Devin Britton (Jackson, Miss.), Chase Buchanan (New Albany, Ohio), Taylor Dent (Newport Beach, Calif.), Brendan Evans (Key Biscayne, Fla.), Jesse Levine (Boca Raton, Fla.) and Rajeev Ram (Carmel, Ind.), along with two international players including Australian Chris Guccione and a player to be named by the French Tennis Association, have been awarded men’s singles main draw wild card entries into the 2009 US Open Tennis Championships.
Britton, 18, of Jackson, Miss., burst onto the tennis scene by reaching the 2008 US Open boys’ final as a qualifier. After winning the doubles title at the Dunlop Orange Bowl in December, he enrolled at the University of Mississippi, where in May he became the youngest man ever to win the NCAA Division I singles title.
Buchanan, 18, of New Albany, Ohio, earned his wild card into the 2009 US Open main draw by winning the USTA Boys’ 18s National Championships on Sunday. Buchanan went 17-7 (11-4 in singles) to help lead the Ohio State Buckeyes to the 2009 NCAA team final as a freshman.
Dent, 28, of Newport Beach, Calif., returned to the ATP World Tour briefly in 2008 after three back surgeries that forced him to miss two years and nearly ended his career. This year, he played in the main draw at the 2009 Australian Open, advanced to the fourth round in Miami and qualified for Wimbledon. Dent finished in the year-end Top 35 every year from 2003-05 and climbed to a career-high No. 21 in 2005.
Evans, 23, of Key Biscayne, Fla., is currently ranked a career-high No. 122. He recently reached the quarterfinals at the ATP World Tour event in Newport, R.I. Also this year, Evans has won Challengers in Noumea, New Caledonia, and Nottingham, England, and he reached the final at the $50,000 USTA Pro Circuit event in Dallas and qualified for the ATP World Tour event in Indian Wells.
Levine, 21, of Boca Raton, Fla., broke into the Top 100 earlier this year and is currently ranked No. 112. He had his best Grand Slam showing at Wimbledon this summer, upsetting 14th-seeded Marat Safin and reaching the third round as a qualifier.
Ram, 25, of Carmel, Ind., is currently ranked No. 121. He won his first ATP World Tour title this summer at the Campbell’s Hall of Fame Tennis Championships, in Newport, R.I., after receiving a “lucky loser” spot into the main draw, defeating Sam Querrey in the final and also winning the doubles title.
Guccione, 24, of Australia, is ranked No. 124 and received his wild card through a reciprocal agreement with Tennis Australia, which will grant a men’s main draw wild card into the 2010 Australian Open to a player designated by the USTA. On this year’s USTA Pro Circuit, he swept the singles and doubles titles at the $75,000 Challenger event in Aptos, Calif.
An eighth player will also receive a main draw wild card through a reciprocal agreement with the French Tennis Federation, which granted a men’s draw wild card at the 2009 French Open to John Isner. (Isner was forced to withdraw due to illness.)
In addition to the eight US Open men’s singles main draw wild cards, the USTA also announced the nine men who have been awarded wild card entries into the US Open Qualifying Tournament.
Players receiving US Open qualifying wild cards are: Lester Cook (25, Sherman Oaks, Calif.), 2008 US Open boys’ singles champion Grigor Dimitrov (18, Bulgaria), Alexander Domijan (17, Wesley Chapel, Fla.), Ryan Harrison (17, Bradenton, Fla.), Scoville Jenkins (turns 23 on Sunday, Atlanta), 2009 USTA Boys’ 18s runner-up Ryan Lipman (18, Nashville, Tenn.), Tim Smyczek (21, Milwaukee, Wis.), Blake Strode (22, St. Louis) and Michael Venus (21, Orlando, Fla.).
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Tennis Popularity in Russia to Decline
The popularity of tennis in Russia, despite all the achievements of Russian tennis players, is steadily declining, according to Russian analysts. The main signs of this are the declining attendance and television ratings of the major tennis tournaments held in the country, in particular, St. Petersburg Open and Kremlin Cup.
Coming in October Moscow’s Kremlin Cup, according to experts, can be one of the most unsuccessful Russian tennis tournaments in the past few years mostly in terms of attendance. High ticket prices (up to $1000 in play-offs) in combination with a reduction of purchasing power of Moscow citizens amid the economic crisis could seriously affect the profitability of the tournament. The same is true in the case of the St. Petersburg Open, which attendance this year may fall even more intensely than in Moscow.
Lack of celebrities (especially among men) despite rising prize money is another cause of sustained decline in interest to the competition.
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Martin Joins Djokovic’s Advisory Team
Ten years after reaching the US Open final, the hugely respected but undeniably laid back Todd Martin is the surprise choice to join Novak Djokovic’s coaching team and give the Serbian a jump charge going into this year’s campaign at Flushing Meadows.
The 39 year-old native of Lansing, Michigan who has made his home at Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida for many years and retired from the ATP World Tour five years ago after a career that took him to no.4 ranking in the world and amassed eight singles titles along with prize money in excess of $8.25 million, has been in negotiation with the Djokovic camp for several weeks.
Martin’s only previous coaching experience was a short-lived tie-up with Mardy Fish but Djokovic clearly sees that the experience and calming influence of Martin who twice won the ATP World Tour’s Sportsmanship Award in 1993 and 1994 and served two terms as President of ATP Players Council from 1995 to 1997 and 1998 to 1999 as hugely beneficial.
“We have been talking about it, and these days we are finalizing the conversations and negotiations,” revealed Djokovic after his opening win over Ivan Ljubicic at the Western and Southern Financial Group Masters in Cincinnati. “"Hopefully we are going to be able to start working prior to the U.S. Open. That would be a great experience for me. Of course, he's experienced long years on the tour as a player and as a coach as well, and it will help me a lot."
Djokovic has been coached by Marian Vajda for more than three years and that relationship apparently stays firm. But the 22 year-old has previously shown an inclination to tap into the knowledge of front line performers. Mark Woodforde was employed as a coaching assistant to try and improve the Serb’s volleying technique a couple of years ago.
Last year’s Australian Open and Tennis Masters Cup champion has only won two titles this year; Dubai when Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal withdrew from the tournament before it began and then Andy Murray fell sick, and Belgrade which was staged by his own family and did not lure any other top flight players.
Djokovic, a US Open finalist in 2007, has not progressed further than the quarter finals in any of this year’s majors and has seen Murray overtake him in the world rankings to become the first player to split the duo of Federer and Nadal at the top since Lleyton Hewitt.
Martin has been a regular contestant on Jim Courier’s Outback Champions Series and is playing this week’s Hall of Fame Champion’s Cup at Newport, Rhode Island.
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Nadal’s Mind is Set for a Ranking Improvement
Rafael Nadal is convinced that his drop to #3 is not a permanent fall, but a first step to return to #1.
“It is impossible to start from zero and immediately reach 100”, explains Spaniard that he is not disappointed with his set back on ATP rankings. “I need little steps forward every day, I need to progress slowly. The most important thing for me now is to stay healthy.”
Nadal returned to ATP Tour last week in Montreal, finishing a 2.5 months break because of knees tendonitis. His first tournament after sensational defeat against Robin Soderling in French open ended in Canadian Masters quarterfinal. He plays in Cincinnati this week, but he is not obsessed with results.
“If I feel that I can practice full time, I will have an opportunity to be ready to reach my best level this year. If not, I expect to do it next year.
Rafa admitted that he had tough times to make peace with everything that happened to him this summer.
“I felt that I had season under control before the injury. Everything became very difficult after, but I know myself and I know that I will be on top again if I am well. I was No. 1 and I will be it again if I can prepare as I used to do”, said Spaniard who doesn’t give to much importance to losing one spot to Andy Murray. “That is only a number. I expect to be ready to return to #1 or #2, but #3 is very good too. The most essential thing is to be competitive enough to win tournaments. US Open is very important, but there is a lot of tournaments after that and I am looking forward to play to the end of season.”
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Blake, Ready for the US Open Has Memories of His Early Experiences
James Blake is always the mystery man at the big events. He can enjoy a great run, or slump to an early defeat. At the upcoming US Open his record is modest, with two quarterfinals his best showings there. No shame then that he didn’t advance further, because he lost those matches to Andre Agassi in 2005 and Roger Federer in 2006. But those runs are not what he most remembers about his Open experiences.
“I’ve got to say there’s two (memories),” he told tennishead.net. “Playing doubles with my brother in the qualies in 1999 as the Arthur Ashe Stadium was going up, and lost in a third-set tie breaker, but just to be out there on court with my brother at the US Open is something that as a kid I couldn’t have even dreamed of.
“Then to actually get my first win. Not even to get to the quarters or anything – as a kid you dream about just winning any match at the US Open. I won my first match at Court 7. It probably wasn’t a big deal in the scheme of the US Open, but it was a big deal to me! I remember it so well – beating David Sanchez. It wasn’t a big moment in the history of the event, but I remember being excited that not only had I got to the US Open but I belonged there – it proved to me that I belonged because I had won a match.”
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Tarpischev Hopes to Use Sharapova in the National Team
The Russian Tennis Federation and its head, Shamil Tarpischev, has little hope for the involvement of Russia’s most popular player, Maria Sharapova, on the Russian national team.
According to Russian press, Tarpischev has repeatedly met with Yuri, father of the tennis player, where they discussed the possibility of Maria's participation in the games for the national team at the Fed Cup. Unfortunately, in most cases the response was negative.
"Practice shows that the matches of the Fed Cup and Davis Cup are very intensive for a tennis player, requiring good physical conditions" said Tarpischev. “Maria does not have an opportunity to play on two fronts including because of her injuries.”
Another reason is lack of big money (while playing for the Russian team), making Fed Cup not so attractive to such rich players as Sharapova.
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IMG Signs Bulgarian Junior
Viktoriya Tomova, the highly rated 14 year-old from Bulgaria who is viewed as a potential world beater in the next decade, has joined the impressive IMG roster of future stars.
The Sofia native is currently ranked no.1 in Europe at her age group. Recent impressive results saw her win the BNP Paribas Cup Stade Francais in Paris and then drop just 12 games en route to the final of the 2009 European Junior Championships in Pilzen, Czech Republic where she scored a 6-2, 6-2 win over home hope Petra Rohanova.
Tomova is the third Bulgarian girl to win the 14 & Under European title, following in the footsteps of Magdalena Maleeva and Lubomira Bacheva, who won in 1988 and 1989 respectively.
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We Hear---
--that Thailand’s Paradorn Srichaphan, who has not played for more than two years because of a wrist injury but has still not officially retired, has been appointed by the Lawn Tennis Association of Thailand as an advisor for young players.
--that Svetlana Kuznetsova, who lost her opening round match in Toronto this week, has received a wild card into the Pilot Pen event that begins Sunday. Meghann Shaughnessy has also been given a wild card, along with John Isner and Taylor Dent.
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