TENNIS in DEPTH.

Israeli tennis player Andy Ram will be allowed to play in a premier Dubai tennis tournament after the Arab country said it would permit the 7th-ranked doubles player to enter the country.

The Persian Gulf country banned Israeli woman

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The ITF has been informed that, for security reasons, the local government in Malmo has advised the Swedish Tennis Association that the upcoming Davis Cup by BNP Paribas first round tie between Sweden and Israel must be played behind closed doors.

The ITF thinks this decision is very unfortunate because it denies tennis fans in Sweden the opportunity to watch these elite teams compete in the competition and believes that this is not in the long-term interests of Davis Cup. However, for this tie, the ITF reluctantly accedes to the decision of the local authority.

The ITF also thanks the Swedish Tennis Association who has done everything possible to ensure that this tie goes ahead in the great tradition of Davis Cup.

…..and what if Israel wins in Sweden and they go on to play Argentine(behind closed doors), and they win there and go on to play Russia(behind closed doors), and they move on to the final against Spain…..tennis fans will never know who wins because the Davis Cup matches will have been reduced to a non-spectator sport, and nobody will give a damn anyway!

Zimbabwe was banned from cricket by the Brits, next it will be Sri Lanka, or Iran from soccer by the US. If the security risk is too much for the wimps in Sweden to handle then let them forfeit home court advantage and play the Davis Cup tie in Israel!

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Former US Open winner Gabriela Sabatini was honored in her hometown of Buenos Aires, Argentina on February 15th, 2009 by the International Tennis Hall of Fame, in conjunction with the Copa Telmex Tournament in Buenos Aires. The ceremony was made by Mark Stenning, Chief Executive Officer of the International Tennis Hall of Fame, and 2005 Hall of Famer Butch Buchholz. The Hall of Fame and the tournament paid a special tribute to Sabatini at the opening dinner of the Copa Telmex, an ATP World Tour event.

Sabatini, who was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 2006, was the first woman from Argentina to gain a Grand Slam title when she won the 1990 US Open, defeating world No.1 Steffi Graf in a straight set final. In 1985 Sabatini was the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour’s most impressive newcomer, and received Rookie of the Year honors. That year she also became the youngest-ever player to reach the semifinals at the French Open, where she lost to Chris Evert. Later that year in Tokyo she won her first top-level singles title.

Sabatini held a spot in the world Top 10 from 1986-1995, and reached her peak at the world No.3 ranking in 1995, while holding the No.1 ranking in South America and Argentina from 1985-1996. She completed her career in 1996 with a singles win-loss record of 632-189. She won 27 singles titles and 14 doubles titles over her career, including the doubles title at Wimbledon in 1988, and won a silver medal at the 1988 Olympic Games.

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Australian veteran Lleyton Hewitt sent third-seeded American James Blake tumbling out of the first-round of the 1.22 million-dollar ATP and WTA hardcourt tennis tournament in Memphis.

Hewitt notched the upset of the day with a 3-6, 6-1, 6-4 triumph over Blake.

Hewitt, a former world number one, bounced back from a sloppy first set to improve to 8-1 lifetime in head-to-head matchups with Blake.

Despite the weary history, Blake entered as a heavy favorite to pull off his second victory over Hewitt, who had battled a myriad of injuries throughout 2008 and has dropped to 103rd in the world rankings.

Instead Hewitt booked a second-round clash with compatriot Chris Guccione, who was called up along with Hewitt Wednesday for Australia’s Davis Cup tie against Thailand in March.

Top-seeded American Roddick launched his quest for a first title of 2009 by dispatching defending champion Steve Darcis of Belgium 7-6, (7/1), 6-2.

Roddick has reached three finals over his previous eight appearances at this hardcourt event, but has only the 2002 crown to show for it.

Although Roddick has yet to lift a trophy this year, he boasts a runner-up finish in Doha and semi-final showings at the Australian Open and San Jose.

Darcis, the shock winner here last year, remains in search of his first match win of the year after first-round departures at at Brisbane, Auckland, the Australian Open and San Jose.

Roddick, ranked sixth in the world, was one of six American men in action on Wednesday.

He advanced to a meeting with compatriot Robby Ginepri, a 6-4, 6-4 winner over German qualifier Simon Greul.

Fifth-seeded Czech Radek Stepanek, who won the title in San Jose on Sunday, also reached the second round, beating American qualifier Kevin Kim 6-4, 6-2.

Seventh seed Mardy Fish also benefited from the partisan crowd as he topped Taipei’s Lu Yun-Hsun Lu 6-1, 7-5.

Eighth-seeded Sam Querrey – in the same half of the draw as compatriots Roddick, Blake and Fish – downed German veteran Tommy Haas 7-6, (7/4), 6-4.

On the women’s side, Danish top seed Caroline Wozniacki advanced to the quarter-finals by defeating France’s Severine Bremond 6-1, 7-6 (7/1).

Wozniacki will next face Dutch qualifier Michaella Krajicek, the only unseeded player in the women’s final eight.

Also claiming quarter-final spots were Czech third seed Lucie Safarova, British fourth seed Anne Keothavong, German sixth seed Sabine Lisicki and eighth seed Pauline Parmentier of France.

Britain’s Keothavong defeated Portugal’s Michelle Larcherde Brito 7-6 (7/2), 6-4 to book a date against New Zealand’s fifth-seeded Marina Erakovic.

Parmentier eliminated South African qualifier Chanelle Scheepers 6-4, 6-1 and will next meet second seed Victoria Azarenka of Belarus.

Safarova ousted American Vania King 7-6 (7/1), 6-3, to book a final-eight date with Lisicki, who defeated France’s Stephanie Foretz 6-2, 6-4.

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One of the major host sponsors of the Sony Ericsson Championships which are scheduled for March 27 in Miami, is none other than Stanford Financial. Just in case you don’t listen to the financial news, it has been alleged that Sir Alan Stanford, the billionaire owner of Stanford Financial, has perpetrated an $8 Billion dollar fraud, and he is wanted for questioning. So far he cannot be found.
Stanford sponsors many sports events that include cricket, golf and tennis, and many events rely on the company to put up prize money and operational funds.
The SEC, (Securities Exchange Commission) who is investigating the fraud has said that any recipient of money from the Stanford Financial Group could be in receipt of stolen funds and liable to prosecution.
So if Serena or Rafa win a million dollars at the Sony Ericsson they could be in serious trouble. The WTA, the ATP and Sony Ericcson need to take immediate action to prevent such a fiasco from happening.
The whereabouts of Alan Stanford is unknown, and it is suspected that he has fled the US by private jet. He has homes in Antigua and St. Croix, and a watch is being maintained on these locations. The head office for Stanford Financial is located in Houston Texas.

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Roger Federer has had to pull out of next month’s 1st round tie against the United States due to a back injury.

“Unfortunately I have to announce that I will not be taking part in either the Dubai tournament of the Davis Cup tie in the States,” Federer said in a statement released by the Swiss tennis federation.

“It was a very difficult decision for me because it means I will miss not only one of my favourite events on the Tour, but also the chance along with my team mates to reach the next round of the Davis Cup.”

Federer said he sustained the back problem last year and had not had enough time to strengthen the affected muscles.

“We hugely regret that Roger can not travel with the team to the USA,” said team captain Severin Luethi.

“The health of every player is of course the most important thing however and we hope to have Roger back with us again in time for the next tie,” Luethi added.

Without Federer on their team the Swiss do not have much chance of beating the US team, and Andy Roddick and the Bryan Bros. should be able to secure a victory for the US.

The fans who have already bought all the tickets for the weekend matches are the ones who will miss out. Most of them were hoping to see Roger Federer play against Roddick and Blake in the singles, and maybe, as the gold medal winner, against the Bryan Bros in the doubles.

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The World Anti-Doping Agency (Wada) has told the BBC there will be no changes to the new drug-testing programme and has fired a broadside at its critics.

The likes of Andy Murray and Rafa Nadal have accused the “whereabouts” rules of being an intrusion of privacy.

But Wada director general David Howman says they need time to bed in.

“Just give this a chance,” said the Kiwi. “Don’t just go out there and be totally critical and damn it. That’s not a sensible, pro-active response.”

Howman, in London for talks with around nine national and international players’ associations, also suggested many critics of “whereabouts” were ignorant of what exactly was involved.

“Learn a little more before you open your mouth,” he told them, adding: “It’s very important to know what you are talking about before you criticise it.”

The new testing programme, which has been in use since 1 January, has already provoked a storm of protest from some of the world’s leading sporting figures.

Under the rules, any athlete on the national testing register – largely any elite athlete in an Olympic or major team sport – must make themselves available to testers for one hour a day, between 6am and 11pm three months in advance.

This is done online and can be updated by email or text message.

However, if an athlete is not where they said they would be when the testers call, they are given a strike.

Three strikes in an 18-month period and an athlete is handed an automatic ban from competition, as Olympic 400m champion Christine Ohuruogu discovered.

Murray, the world number four tennis player and the British number one, has described the new rules as “so draconian that it makes it almost impossible to live a normal life”.

Now Wimbledon champion Venus Williams has joined the growing list of critics, arguing the new regulations are too much of a demand on players.

“If your match goes to one o’clock at night you don’t know what’s going to happen if you are focusing on recovery for the next day,” said the American.

“You are not focusing on where you are going to be. You are trying to do what you have to do – even at home. First thing you do is wake up and go to play.

“There are some things in the system which need to be looked at. We want a system which works and then it’s fair.”

But Howman insisted the “whereabouts” scheme needed time to bed in and urged athletes to give themselves time to adapt.

“We’ve been in operation under this new system for six weeks,” he said.

“There will be some ripples and there will be some issues you need to change your habits on.”

Howman added that there would be opportunities to modify the testing programme at some future point but it was too early to start making changes now.

“Let’s try to work together,” he said. “Let’s just get this system through the introductory wrinkles and see how it settles.

“There are other possibilities. As we go forward we will consider them. But whatever we put into place has to work worldwide.

“We’re not just talking about the developed nations or those nations that have been to the forefront of the anti-doping programmes.

“We are talking about the Mozambiques, the Chiles, the Samoas, the parts of the world when anti-doping has not been quite as prevalent. Everything we do must be worldwide in its operation.”

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TOP seed Caroline Wozniacki earned some revenge over Jelena Dokic, cruising past the Australian in the opening round of the combined ATP and WTA event in Memphis.

Dokic upset Wozniacki in the third round of the Australian Open last month, but the Danish world No 12 hit back with a dominant 6-1 6-2 victory in just 49 minutes.

Now ranked No 84 after her quarter-final run in Melbourne, Dokic still had to qualify for Memphis and proved no match for Wozniacki, who won three titles in 2008 and finished the year well inside the world’s top 20.

Wozniacki will meet unseeded Frenchwoman Severine Bremond in the next round.

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