TENNIS in DEPTH.

Maria Sharapova will begin 2010 by playing the  Hong Kong Tennis Classic 2010 in Hong Kong which runs from January 6-9.  The tournament will feature four teams representing Europe, Russia, the Americas and Asia-Pacific.

Each team will consist of 2 female players and 1 male player competing in singles and doubles.  Maria is joined on the Russian team by Vera Zvonareva and Marat Safin.  Team Europe has Caroline Wozniacki, Victoria Azarenka and Stefan Edberg.  Venus Williams, Gisela Dulko and Michael Chang make up Team Americas and Jie Zheng, Ayumi Morita and Paradon Srichaphan represent Team Asia-Pacific.

The new team format will feature women’s & men’s singles and mixed doubles matches over four days of action packed tennis at Victoria Park.

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The 23-year-old Russian, who said she had been plagued by inflammation in her lower back for over three months, lasted just two games and 13 minutes in her tournament opener in the Middle East against Jelena Jankovic.

Safina admits that the rehabilitation programme she now faces could rule her out of the first Grand Slam event of 2010.

“It’s a question if I will be able to play in Australia, because when we speak with the doctors, it doesn’t sound so good,” she said.

“So it’s possible that I might even not be 100-per cent fit for the Australian. Maybe I’ll have to skip it.”

The Russian had regained the top spot in the rankings from Williams on Monday, having already spent 25 weeks as world number one earlier in the season.

Safina was the runner-up to Williams at the Australian Open in 2009 and so has a huge number of points to defend in Melbourne.

“It’s going to be disappointing (if she had to skip the Australian Open). But, at this stage, health is more important,” Safina said.

“If my back is not healthy, what can I do? I can go to Australia, play two games and I can shake hands. If I’m not fully recovered, I’ll not play.”

Safina said she needed a cortisone injection in order to make the $4.55m WTA Championships, a tournament where she lost all three matches on her debut in 2008. But she refused to blame the gruelling demands of the WTA schedule.

“We make the schedule, so all the injuries are on us. I wouldn’t complain about it because if I lose everywhere in the first round, I wouldn’t have this problem.”

She had started feeling the pain on her way to her third title of 2009 in Portoroz in July, but had been determined to keep playing.

“I have been on anti-inflammatories, on everything, but my body just gave up,” said the Russian, who arrived in Doha with a slender 155-point lead on Williams in the rankings. The American erased that deficit with a win over Svetlana Kuznetsova on Tuesday.

“I was advised to take a break after the US Open. But I thought that I was chasing this No. 1 place, I was fighting with my body,” said Safina.

“God knows, maybe I should have stopped after the US Open. But for two tournaments – in Beijing and Tokyo – it didn’t bother me that much. So I was still hoping.”

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Serena Williams survived what might prove to be her toughest match of the 2009 WTA Sony Ericsson Doha Championship, as she overcame a spirited and determined effort by her sister Venus, 5-7, 6-4, 7-6. The loss by the elder sister eliminated any chance she may have had of defending the title she won here last year, and it took a concerted effort from Serena to cope with her sister’s play, and the knowledge that she was sending her sister home. Serena who has clinched the #1 ranking again, is now at 2-0 in her matches and vitually guaranteed a place in the semi finals. There are four players with at 1-1 record.

Vera Zvonareva will take to the court tomorrow as a substitute for Dinara Safina when she plays Caroline Wozniacki.

Thursday, October 29, 2009

REVISED

Centre Court (from 17.00hrs)

1. Vera Zvonareva vs. Caroline Wozniacki

2. Serena Williams vs. Elena Dementieva

3. Svetlana Kuznetsova vs. Venus Williams

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Day two in Doha was an usual day of tennis, with the Williams sister match-up still to come. After 3 hours on court Caroline Wozniacki came from behind to save a match point and defeat Victoria Azarenka 1-6, 6-4, 7-5. It was an interesting affair between the two rookies, who are also good friends, as from the start it looked as though Azarenka would run away with the match. At 2-2 in the second set Azarenka served for 45 minutes and 12 deuces to finally take a 3-2 lead, but Wozniacki was not done. She came back to win the set, but trailed 4-2 and then 5-4 in the third. After winning the first set so easily and squandering her chances in the third, Azarenka lost her cool at that juncture. After falling behind on her serve at 5-5, 15-30, she smacked a ball out of the stadium, drawing a warning from the umpire. After losing the next point to go down 15-40 she smashed her racquet, bringing her a point penalty that gave Wozniacki the break and a 6-5 lead. Wozniacki calmly served it out, a service winner on match point sealing it.

If the drama of the first match was not enough, what followed was right out of left field. Dinara Safina was set to play her first match against Jelen Jankovic, a match Jankovic had to win to keep any hope alive. After the usual warm-up, the match began, nothing unusual happening. After just the second game Safina went to the sidelines in tears, and told the Tournament director that she could not continue. She cited a recurring lower back problem, and withdrew. Jankovic gets the win and Safina will be replced in the white group by Vera Zvonareva.

So now we have three players in the group with one win and one loss, and the #1 player is gone.

Now if Venus can defeat Serena later today there will be three players with one win each in the Maroon group.

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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 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 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.

“Players and fans are excited about the upcoming inaugural Commonwealth Bank Tournament of Champions in beautiful Bali,” said Stacey Allaster, Chairman and CEO of the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour. “The event promises to be a fantastic finale for the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour’s International tournaments. With the field featuring some of the Tour’s leading players and next generation stars, a great week of tennis and fierce competition is guaranteed.”

While Lisicki is a comparative newcomer, the second wild card has gone to veteran Kimiko Date Krumm, who in winning the Korea Open in Seoul a day before her 39th birthday became the second oldest player ever to win a Tour title.

Two Spaniards are included among the other seven players to be competing. Anabel Medina Garrigues has enjoyed her most successful season, climbing into the top 20 for the first time. As well as winning the Roland Garros doubles for a second straight year, she made her mark in singles by claiming the title in Fes to qualify her for the Tournament of Champions, and she later went on to reach the final in Seoul.

Fellow Spaniard Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez claimed two International Series events this year, winning Bogota in February before adding another in Bastad in July. Along with Stosur, she is one of just two players to qualify for both the doubles in Doha and a place in the Tournament of Champions in Bali.

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

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Rising tennis teen Bernard Tomic will finetune for the Australian Open by playing at the World Tennis Challenge.

Tomic, 17, has agreed to play in the novel World Tennis Challenge in Adelaide next January.

The Adelaide tournament, in which a retired star partners a current player in a teams format, ends only four days before the Australian Open starts in Melbourne.

Tomic will partner Wimbledon champ Pat Cash, who at age 44 is 27 years his senior.

The Tomic–Cash combination will represent Australasia in the Adelaide event, opposed to three teams – the Americas, Europe and the Internationals.

The Americas team features 50-year-old John McEnroe and Robbie Ginepri while French 46-year-old Henri Leconte will play for Europe with an as yet un-named teammate.

World No.14 Radek Stepanek will head the Internationals with a yet to be announced retired player.

Tomic this year became the youngest player in the Open era to win a main draw match at the Australian Open.

Currently ranked 286 in the world, Tomic expects to be given a wildcard into next year’s Australian Open.

“I can’t wait to play in Adelaide … playing alongside some of the greats will be a great learning curve,” he said in a statement on Tuesday.

“WTC is a fantastic concept and I think it will be great to play with Pat alongside some of the legends of the game.

“I think Adelaide is ideal preparation for the Australian Open.”

The WTC, first held earlier this year, will be held at Adelaide’s Memorial Drive from January 12 to 14.

The format pits the two current players against each other, followed by the past players. The teams then join for a doubles match.

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The eighth and final team for the Hyundai Hopman Cup will be determined at the fourth instalment of the Asian Hopman Cup to be held at the National Tennis Centre Astana, Kazakhstan from 11 – 14 November, 2009. The winning team automatically qualifies for the ITF’s International Mixed Teams Championship held annually in Perth, Western Australia in January.

Teams from Kazakhstan, China, Korea, India and Thailand will be vying to beat two time defending Champions – Chinese Taipei (Yen-Hsun Lu and Su-Wei Hsieh) and take their place in the Hyundai Hopman Cup field.

The full list of participating Nations and players:

KAZAKHSTAN: YAROSLAVA SHVEDOVA and ANDREY GOLUBEV

THAILAND: TAMARINE TANASUGARN and DANAI UDOMCHOKE

CHINESE TAIPEI: SU-WEI HSIEH and YEN-HSUN LU

INDIA: POOJASHREE VENKATESHA and VISHNU VARDHAN

KOREA: KUN-HEE KIM and YONG-KYU LIM

CHINA: HU YUEYUE and LI MING

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The Association of Tennis Professionals are considering their response to Andre Agassi’s revelation that he used crystal meth in 1997 and lied to avoid a drugs ban.

Eight-time grand slam winner Agassi has admitted in a new book that he gave the ATP a statement containing false information after being informed by a Tour doctor that he had failed a doping test.

Agassi, whose autobiography ‘Open’ is set to be released next month, was using crystal meth, a highly-addictive drug, in 1997 as he struggled with professional and personal issues. This ‘timely’ admission of his behaviour, which can only embarass his family and in particular his children, is another example of an immoral promotion designed to sell crappy books that are written by ex-athletes who lack any creative writing skills. It follows along the same path that Serena’s nude photos trod to promote her drivel. Why else would he make such a confession? Some role model he’s turned out to be!!

Here’s a guy who has a beautiful wife, two great kids, over a $100 million in the bank and the adoration of almost every tennis fan in the world, who decides to write a ‘tell-all’ book. Why? In his wildest dreams the book could net him a couple of million before tax. He must be nuts, in addition to being a liar and a cheat!

Agassi convinced the ATP not to punish him after writing a letter to argue the use was accidental.

Recognising his career “might soon mean nothing”, Agassi stressed to the ATP that he was not to blame, claiming he made mistakenly drank from a spiked soda belonging to ‘Slim’.

He wrote: “I say that recently I drank accidentally from one of Slim’s spiked sodas, unwittingly ingesting his drugs. I ask for understanding and leniency and hastily sign it: Sincerely.

“I feel ashamed, of course. I promise myself that this lie is the end of it.”

Agassi said the ATP reviewed his case and while he faced a minimum three-month ban, decided to believe his account and the case was withdrawn.

The ATP are looking at the American’s confession, and they are considering whether to respond today.

They will have to decide whether to explore taking retrospective disciplinary action against the player who won five of his grand slams after 1997.

The 39-year-old, who retired in 2006, recounted being introduced to the drug while sitting at home with his one-time assistant who he referred to as ‘Slim’, and admits in his book that the use was deliberate.

Recalling his first experiment with crystal meth, he writes in the book, which is being serialised in The Times: “Slim dumps a small pile of powder on the coffee table. He cuts it, snorts it. He cuts it again.

“I snort some. I ease back on the couch and consider the Rubicon I’ve just crossed.

“There is a moment of regret, followed by vast sadness. Then comes a tidal wave of euphoria that sweeps away every negative thought in my head. I’ve never felt so alive, so hopeful – and I’ve never felt such energy.”

The 1997 season was the American’s worst on tour as he failed to win a title and missed the Australian and French Opens as well as Wimbledon – and at one point had fallen to 141st in the world rankings.

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