TENNIS in DEPTH.

All Federer had to do was win his service game. He was serving at 3-4 in the final set, and by holding serve to make the score 4-4, Andy Murray would have qualified for the semi finals. But Del Potro broke serve and went on to win 6-1, 6-7, 6-3, and Murray has been eliminated by less than 1% point based on games won and lost. In fact Del Potro’s winning margin had to be calculated to 3 decimal places to determine the winner.

It all came down to one game, with Federer winning the group and Del Potro pipping Murray courtesy of his 45 games won to 43 lost, while the Scot’s record read 44-43.

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“It’s probably the longest three-set match I’ve ever played. And I’m still not definitely in the semi-finals so it would kill me if I didn’t get through.”

The British No 1 went into the match knowing a straight-sets win would secure his progress regardless of the result of Thursday night’s match between Roger Federer and Juan Martin del Potro.

But, despite being under pressure on his serve for most of the match, Verdasco dug in to push Murray to the limit and a Federer win tonight will ensure the world No 4 makes it through to the last four on Saturday.

 A Federer victory will definitely send Murray through and the ATP confirmed the Scot will also progress if Del Potro wins in straight sets, with the world No 1 then missing out. If Del Potro wins in three sets, the trio will be split on games.

Murray’s serve had let him down in his defeat by the world No 1 on Tuesday and it was a similar story in the early stages on Thursday, the Scot struggling to land his first serve consistently and mixing aces with double faults.

He was the better player off the ground, though, and, although Verdasco was serving impressively, the chances still came against the Spaniard’s delivery.

The seventh seed had to save three break points in an eight-minute opening game and at 3-3 Verdasco snuffed out another opportunity with a second-serve ace.

With the only certainty being Verdasco’s elimination, the Spaniard having lost all three of his matches of his debut at the end-of-season tournament, Murray said: “I thought it was an unbelievable match.

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Andy Roddick (US Open 2003), Kim Clijsters (US Open 2009 and 2005), Ana Ivanovic (French Open 2008) and Justine Henin (Australian Open 2004, French Open 2007, 2006, 2005 and 2003 and US Open 2007 and 2003 will be the major attractions at the 2010  Brisbane International.

In the men’s draw, 2009 Wimbledon finalist and world No.6 Roddick is joined by the reigning champion Radek Stepanek, fellow Czech Tomas Berdych, Frenchmen Gael Monfils and Richard Gasquet, and crowd favourites James Blake and Marcos Baghdatis.

Clijsters, Henin and Ivanovic are joined by world No.2 Dinara Safina, fellow Russian Nadia Petrova, glamour girl Daniela Hantuchova and former Gold Coast Champion Lucie Safarova.

Australia will be represented by Jelena Dokic in the women’s draw and Peter Luczak in the men’s draw with Taylor Dent, son of former ATP player and 1974 Australian Open finalist Phil Dent, adding another Australian angle.

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 Jelena Jankovic presented her new collection “JJ Star Collection” in the headquarters of “Mona” company in Belgrade, on Friday (November 20th, 2009).

“JJ Star Collection” is the third collection which Jelena Jankovic, the tennis star, designed especially for the fashion company “Mona”.

“JJ Star Collection” is intended for those who want to shine brilliantly like the real stars.

It has become a tradition that Jelena Jankovic promotes the fashion line for the upcoming holidays, providing a sophisticated and glamorous look.

“JJ Star Collection” will be sold in “Mona’s” store at Terazije square, number 43, by December 1st, where everyone who wants to look like stars will be able to afford it.

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Group A.

Federer is not assured of his place in the semi-finals just yet, though, as he, Murray and del Potro could all tie with a 2-1 match record in Group A – should del Potro defeat Federer and Murray beat Verdasco. If there is a three-way tie then the first criteria to break the deadlock is sets won-lost. Coming into Thursday, Federer was 4-2 while del Potro and Murray were 3-3 in sets won-lost in the first two round robin matches.

 To guarantee his place in the semi-finals, Federer must avenge his US Open final defeat to del Potro, while Murray needs to beat Verdasco. Then Federer and Murray would qualify into the semi-finals. Verdasco also has a slight chance still to qualify for the semi-finals, but would need to defeat Murray in straight sets and hope that Federer dismisses del Potro in the same fashion.

Group B.

Robin Soderling is in control of Group B, and should he choose to he can determine who will qualify along with himself into the semi finals. If Davydenko wins their Friday match in straight sets, he would jump to the top of the group with a 5-2 edge over Soderling who would be at 4-2. The best Djokovic could do with a straight set win over Nadal would be to wind up at 4-3; he would not qualify. If Nadal wins, Djokovic is out.

The semi finals format pits the winners of each group gainst the runners-up of the opposite group. So if Federer wins group A, he would play the runner-up from Group B. In the above scenario that would be Soderling, while most likely Davydenko would play Murray. (Maybe Soderling will prefer to take his chances with Murray than Federer, and defeat Davydenko tomorrow and give Djokovic a chance to qualify).

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The USTA announced the acceptance lists for the 63rd Dunlop Orange Bowl International Tennis Championships, which begins Sunday, December 6, at the Crandon Park Tennis Center in Key Biscayne, Fla. The qualifying draw will take place beginning Friday, December 4. The Dunlop Orange Bowl features singles and doubles competition for boys and girls in 18-and-under and 16-and-under divisions.

“The Dunlop Orange Bowl provides our top junior players a chance to play world-class competition right here in the U.S. in one of the marquee junior tournaments in the world,” said tournament director Lew Brewer, who also serves as Director, Junior Competition, USTA Player Development. “The tournament traditionally draws a number of the world’s top junior players and often determines the year-end No. 1 players in the ITF Junior Circuit, and this year we received a record number of entrants in all four draws.”

The Boys’ 18s field includes three of the top 10 players in the world, led by Daniel Berta of Sweden, currently the top-ranked player in the ITF World Junior Rankings and the winner of the boys’ singles title at Roland Garros. Gianni Mina of France, who lost to Berta in the final at Roland Garros and reached the boys’ singles semifinals at the US Open, is also entered.

Denis Kudla of Arlington, Va., and Raymond Sarmiento of Fontana, Calif., will lead the American contingent. Kudla captured the Boys’ 16s title at the 2008 Dunlop Orange Bowl, and is currently the highest-ranked American in the ITF World Junior Rankings at No. 22. Sarmiento swept the singles and doubles titles at the International Grass Court Championships in June, and took third place at the 2009 USTA Boys’ 18s National Championships.

The Girls’ 18s field features two of this year’s Grand Slam winners, led by Kristina Mladenovic of France, currently No. 1 in the ITF World Junior Rankings, and No. 3 Heather Watson of Great Britain. Mladenovic won the girls’ singles title at the French Open, and was a finalist in girls’ singles at Wimbledon. Watson won the girls’ singles title at the US Open, and is currently No. 3 in the ITF World Junior Rankings.

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Hi everyone,

Well, it looks like the chances for being here on Saturday are very, very little, practically impossible if I am not wrong. I lost today again and it is actually a weird sensation to lose twice in a week. I felt I played better today, more aggressive, with more determination, but still not enough to beat a top player like Davydenko.

Tomorrow I will continue with the normal routine anyway. I will practice around 2pm at the tournament site. The important thing is to continue, to practice to continue improving and getting ready for the match on Friday. After that, I will be focusing and preparing the Davis Cup final.

I am not happy as you can all imagine but I am not down either. I felt better today, had some chances, played a good second part of the match and was close to bringing the match to a 3rd set. I am far from where I can be and that’s encouraging. I suppose that what I need is to go back to El Cambio de Tercio for a good dinner with my team and regain all good habits, playing well included

I also would like to say that I am sorry for all my fans here. I really feel great playing in the UK. Probably here, and apart from my home country, is where I feel I have more fans. I know a lot of you came from different places around the World also. Many, many thanks is the least I can say.

Many thanks.

Rafa

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Rafael Nadal lost 6-1 7-6 to Russian Nikolay Davydenko on Wednesday to become the first player to exit the ATP World Tour Finals.

After losing both of his Group B clashes in straight sets, the Spaniard has no chance of progressing any further in the elite eight-man event, even if he beats Novak Djokovic in his final round-robin match on Friday.

The Spaniard looked a shadow of the man who was rated as the world’s best player until four months ago and spent more time shaking his head in frustration than producing winners during a lopsided first set.

Davydenko hushed the 17,500 fans crammed into the O2 Arena by leaping to a 4-2 lead in the second set, and despite a spirited fightback from the Spaniard, the world number six secured the win with a blazing forehand winner. The second set tie breaker produced the best tennis of the tournament as the rallies were often more than 30 strokes in duration.

The 28-year-old Davydenko, who finished runner-up to Djokovic at the 2008 year-end championship in Shanghai, notched his first round-robin win of the week, having fallen to Djokovic on Monday. He will now face Soderling, who has a perfect 2-0 record, in his final Group B match on Friday.

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