TENNIS in DEPTH.

Ana Ivanovic has too much natural talent to be mired in the lower end of the WTA rankings. Any player who has a Grand Slam victory in her resume has shown that she has the ability to be considered as one of the best. She has a new coach, whose credentials are impeccable, and she has taken some time away from competition to build her confidence and to analise her game under his tutorlidge.

Since her 2008 success at Roland Garros she has only won one other tournament in Austria, and was a runner-up at Indian Wells in 2009. While she has lost to several players she should have defeated, she also lost to both Williams sisters, to Stosur, Azarenka and Henin.

She begins the clay court season next week in Stuttgart, moves on to Rome, then Madrid, before entering the French Open in Paris. She will not receive an easy draw as the #58 player, but in the Women’s unpredictable competition she could easily cause a sensation by defeating any one of the top seeds in any of these events.

She’s only 22, she’s over six feet tall, she has a devasting forehand, she has experience far beyond her years, and she has a proud coach….don’t count her out just yet!

Bookmark It

It is now one year later! She’s sucking down the vodka, and he’s got nothing better to do than throw a football? I guess they are a typical American couple! How quickly the romance goes. They have spent most of the past 365 days traveling to opposite sides of the globe, and now theyare taking the weekend to celebrate their first anniversary together in Hawaii.

Congrats……when can we expect more?

Bookmark It

The large cloud of volcanic ash that has swept across much of Europe during the last week has played havoc with the world’s sporting calendar, with events far and wide having to be cancelled or rescheduled.

With only a few days to go before the Fed Cup season gets back under way, however, the opinion of the teams is that the ‘show will go on’.

The extraordinary efforts of those involved – from players and captains to fans and officials – have been nothing short of astonishing, as they’ve used any mode of transport available to reach their destinations.

Take the Estonians, for example. Rene Busch’s players started their journey to Hasselt, where they face Belgium, by catching a ferry from Tallinn to Stockholm, which was then followed by a massive 1,500km drive via Brussels.

Jelena Jankovic, meanwhile, has been marooned in Florida, but stated on her official website that, if necessary, she would take a submarine back to Belgrade for Serbia’s play-off tie against Slovak Republic. Fortunately, she has since booked a flight, so the underwater option won’t be necessary!

So far, the only rescheduling has come in the World Group II Play-offs. The tie between Sweden and China has been delayed by one day, due to the late arrival of the Chinese players, while the Saturday start time at the Slovenia v Japan tie has been put back by four hours.

Bookmark It

The International Tennis Federation (ITF) today announced the first four recipients of the 2010 Fed Cup Heart Award:

> Jelena Jankovic (SRB)

> Maria-Fernanda Alves (BRA)

> Kimiko Date-Krumm (JPN)

> Katarina Srebotnik (SLO)

Following the Fed Cup ties in February, ten players were shortlisted by the Heart Award judging panel in four categories. The winners were then decided by a public vote on FedCup.com and FedCup.com/es. Each winner receives a silver Baccarat bracelet and a cheque to be donated to a chosen charity.

The Fed Cup Heart Award is a joint initiative between the ITF and BNP Paribas. It aims to recognise players who have represented their country with distinction, shown exceptional courage on court and demonstrated outstanding commitment to their team.

A total of six awards will be presented in 2010, with two further players being recognised following this weekend’s World Group Semifinals and World Group / World Group II Play-offs. The Fed Cup Heart Award was launched at the 2009 Final, when American Melanie Oudin was the inaugural winner.

Bookmark It

Lleyton Hewitt, the 12th seed, was sent crashing out as the Australian lost 7-6 (7/3) 6-4 to world number 59 Eduardo Schwank.

Fourth seed Fernando Gonzalez made a shock second-round exit at the Barcelona Open after losing to unheralded Spaniard Albert Ramos-Vinolas.

The world 166 had claimed his first ATP Tour win when he beat Michael Russell in the first round, but usurped that with a dramatic 6-4 6-7 (8/10) 6-3 success against Gonzalez.

Third seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga enjoyed an easy afternoon on his Barcelona debut, beating Jan Hajek 6-3 6-2.

Tsonga, who turned 25 last Saturday, will next meet Spanish 15th seed Nicolas Almagro who he beat in the second round at Monte Carlo last week.

“Almagro is a great player and it will be difficult to get a win against him,” the Frenchman said.

“I beat him last week, but I was playing at home. This time it is him who is at home, and he’s going to get a lot of support, so I’m going to have to play a very solid match.”

Fifth seed Fernando Verdasco swept past another Frenchman, Richard Gasquet, 7-5 6-3 while former world number one Juan Carlos Ferrero improved his impressive clay-court record this year after Sergiy Stakhovsky retired from their match when trailing 6-3 4-2.

Ferrero, the 2001 champion, now has an 18-2 win-loss record on clay this season, which includes title victories at Costa do Sauipe and Buenos Aires.

Other seeds to progress where David Ferrer (eight), Jurgen Melzer (11), Thomasz Bellucci (13) and Feliciano Lopez (16).

Spanish duo Ferrer and Lopez were straight-sets winners against wildcard Marcel Granollers and Denis Istomin respectively.

Melzer struggled to end the run of Barcelona-born Oscar Hernandez, who fired 11 aces, 6-7 (4/7) 7-5 7-5 while Bellucci also took three sets to beat Victor Hanescu 6-2 1-6 7-5.

Elsewhere, Italian qualifier Simone Bolelli beat wildcard Alberto Martin and Guillermo Garcia-Lopez saw off lucky loser Teimuraz Gabashvili.

Ernests Gulbis and Thiemo de Bakker were straight-sets winners against Jeremy Chardy and Daniel Gimeno-Traver respectively.

Bookmark It

Venus Williams will not play for the U.S. in the Fed Cup semifinals against Russia this weekend, joining her sister Serena on the sidelines.

Williams said Wednesday she is still rehabilitating a troublesome knee injury and isn’t ready to return to competition.

“I waited until this moment in hopes that I would have an opportunity to play, but I am being advised by my medical support team that I will need more time to recover,” Williams said in a statement to USTA.com.

U.S. captain Mary Joe Fernandez said Williams told her of the decision Wednesday morning. Fernandez had been holding out a spot for the matches, hoping at least one of the sisters would recover from leg problems in time to compete.

Fernandez said that Venus is not quite ready. She wore wraps on both legs in the tournament final April 3 in Key Biscayne, Fla.

“She’s been trying to get better,” Fernandez said. “Obviously I knew it was going to be tough for her because she hurt herself at the end of the Miami tournament and couldn’t hit balls until the last week or so. I did everything I could do to give her as much time as possible to see if she got better. She’s not quite there.”

The team includes Melanie Oudin, Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Liezel Huber. Fernandez will choose between teenagers Christina McHale and Sloane Stephens to fill the final spot.

“They’re both ready,” Fernandez said. “They’re both equally capable and playing really well. They can both do it.”

Bookmark It

Christina McHale is an 18 year old American tennis player who has been selected to represent her country in her second Fed Cup tie this weekend. She’s probably excited and proud by the selection, and her family is most likely making plans to travel to Alabama to watch her play.

But hold on! The USA captain is trying to cajole one of the Williams sisters into playing instead of McHale! Even though both the sisters have said publicly that they are unavailable. Mary Joe, it’s time to s— or get off the pot! It’s time to go with the team that got the USA into the semi finals, It’s time to do the right thing. It’s time to build camraderie, team spirit, and to provide a chance for the future stars of US tennis to shine.

It is unfair to put Christina’s life on hold, unfair to make her suffer while the Captain dithers around like an old clucking hen. It’s time to dump Mary Joe Fernandez!

Bookmark It

Belgium will launch its presidency of the European Union in July with a clash between Kim Clijsters and Justine Henin that could beat the world record for the most spectators at a tennis match.

The pair, who have both returned to the WTA Tour in the last year after periods in retirement, will headline the “Best of Belgium” event at the King Baudouin stadium in Brussels on July 8.

The current record is the 30,492 spectators who watched the “Battle of the Sexes” clash between Billie Jean King and Bobby Riggs in Houston in 1973.

The Belgium match could be watched by 40,000 people, with 34,000 tickets to be sold to the public and 6,000 invited guests.

Henin and Clijsters are currently tied at 12 wins each from their 24 meetings, with the latter having won their two most recent matches.

Henin welcomed the initiative, saying: “Kim and I both like challenges. Now together we can break this record, we will certainly go for it.”

Bookmark It