Federer and Williams Sisters Out at the Olympics

Posted Thursday, August 14, 2008 7:12 AM ET
BEIJING (AP) -- Serena Williams and Roger Federer probably would have liked the rain to stay.

Federer's bid for his first Olympic singles medal ended Thursday night after a near-four-hour rain delay when he lost to American James Blake.

That was the start of an upset parade in the quarterfinals. Serena Williams lost to Elena Dementieva of Russia. And as the clock approached midnight, Venus Williams was beaten by Li Na of China.

The startling sequence came in a tournament that had gone mostly according to form through three rounds. But upsets have long been the norm in Olympic tennis -- since 1988, no top-five player has won the gold medal in men's singles.

No. 4-seeded Serena struggled with her serve early against Dementieva, then staged a rally in the final set. Williams overcame two match points during an 18-point game to hold for 5-3.

But Dementieva held at love in the next game, sealing the victory when Williams pushed a volley wide. The loss came after the U.S. team had won 12 consecutive matches over the past three days.

"It was what it was," Williams said as she left the court. "It hasn't sunk yet."

Williams remained in contention for a doubles medal and was to play a second-round match later with her sister. They won a gold in doubles in 2000 in Sydney.

A wayward forehand plagued Venus, and she sent one long to lose serve and fall behind 6-5 in the second set. The reigning Wimbledon champion had three more forehand errors in the final game, and when Li hit a service winner on match point, the crowd responded with the biggest roar of the tournament.

Blake's 6-4, 7-6 (2) victory was a stunner in that he had won only a single set in eight previous matches against Federer. But the top-seeded Federer has been battling a yearlong slump that has left him stalled at 12 major titles, two shy of Pete Sampras' record.

His Wimbledon reign ended last month, and he came to Beijing knowing he would lose the No. 1 ranking to Rafael Nadal next week after 4½ years on top.

Federer's latest defeat means no rematch in Sunday's final against Nadal, who won in epic fashion when they met for the Wimbledon title.

Federer had been seeking his first Olympic medal after losing in the singles semifinals in Sydney and in the second round in Athens. He was scheduled to play a quarterfinal doubles match later Thursday with Swiss partner Stanislas Wawrinka.

The upset was sweet for the No. 8-seeded Blake, a first-time Olympian at 28 and the lone U.S. male to survive the first round of singles.

Top-seeded Mike and Bob Bryan of the United States advanced to the semifinals in doubles by beating Lleyton Hewitt and Chris Guccione of Australia 6-4, 6-3.

SOURCE: http://www.nbcolympics.com/tennis/news/newsid=213754.html

Davenport pulls out of Stanford with knee injury

STANFORD, Calif. (AP) -- Lindsay Davenport's troublesome right knee forced her withdrawal from the Bank of the West Classic on Monday.

It's the third time in six weeks the former No. 1 player in the world pulled out of a tournament.

Davenport was scheduled to play eighth-seeded Francesca Schiavone in a first-round match Tuesday evening, but dropped out after warming up Monday. A three-time winner of the event, Davenport was attempting to play for the first time since pulling out of her second-round match at Wimbledon.

The 32-year-old Davenport also dropped out of the Eastbourne tournament on June 16, citing the same injury.

"The Bank of the West has been one of my favorite tournaments to play throughout my career," Davenport said in a statement. "Unfortunately, my knee has not healed sufficiently since Wimbledon to allow me to compete."

A three-time Grand Slam champion, Davenport previously won the Bank of the West Classic in 1998, '99 and 2004.

Qualifier Aleksandra Wozniak of Canada replaced Davenport in the draw and will play Schiavone.

SOURCE: Tennis.com

Del Potro wins first career title in Stuttgart

STUTTGART, Germany (AP) -- Juan Martin Del Potro won his first ATP title Sunday when he upset second-seeded Richard Gasquet 6-4, 7-5 in the final of the Mercedes Cup.

The 19-year-old Argentine unleashed a huge serve on his first match point. Gasquet managed to return it, but Del Potro was ready to put away a forehand winner.

Along with his first title, Del Potro also collected a white luxury convertible presented by the tournament sponsor.

"This is incredible. I've dreamed of winning a tournament since I've been a kid and now I also get a car," said Del Potro, who drove the vehicle around the court after the awards ceremony. He also picked up $186,853 as first prize.

"I congratulate Juan Martin but he'd better be careful, it's a fast car," Gasquet joked.

Del Potro broke serve for a 5-4 lead and served out the first set.

After a brief rain break, he again broke Gasquet's serve to take a 6-5 lead and served out the match at love.

Del Potro, who entered the event ranked No. 65, beat four seeded players to win the tournament.

Rafael Nadal, who won the event last year, pulled out with a knee injury after winning Wimbledon.

SOURCE: Tennis.com

Slate Wimbledon Final Article... Do they watch tennis?

I really don't understand this article at all. #1 Serves are still 130+ (Not in this final) and the reason that Federer is such an amazing player is not pure defense. The guy is anything but a retreiver and the same with Nadal. In fact in this match Federer if anyone was playing a MUCH more defensive match than Nadal. Rafa was going for many more shots and connecting impossible angles. Roger was on the defensive constantly... that is why he lost, not because rafa defended well. No matter what in order to win, you have to protect your court, but pure defense at that level doesn't win. Maybe that works at the NTRP 3.0 level, but the reason rafa won was NOT defense. The fact that he is extremely quick and can get to almost anything, doesn't speak to his defensive ability but to athleticism and his shot making ability (full disclosure: I wanted Fed to win and have never been a rafa fan). I feel like this article is reaching for something that just isn't the case. Fed was off his game and kept 2nd guessing approach shots and NOT coming in... instead he stayed at the baseline and traded angles with a very ON rafa. oh yea, and the reason Roddick game doesn't work (and I use NOT work loosely as he is one of the games top players, he's doing something right) is pure ability, not because of an overall change in the game of tennis. No matter what when he gets out on the court its mano-e-mano (sp?) and the "trends" of the game don't matter one bit...
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SAID ARTICLE

Defense Wins the Wimbledon Championships
How Rafael Nadal finally took down Roger Federer.
By Daniel Seidel
Posted Monday, July 7, 2008, at 10:04 AM ET

Remember in the early 2000s when men's tennis became close to unwatchable—booming serves, points that were over before you blinked, synthetic rackets blasting serves 130 miles an hour? With Rafael Nadal dethroning five-time Wimbledon champion Roger Federer on Sunday, that broad caricature of the men's game no longer applies. In men's tennis, defense now reigns supreme.

Federer, of course, has not won 12 Grand Slam titles with his serve alone. He, too, has used his superior service return and all-around defensive skills to dominate more traditional power players like Andy Roddick. When he faces Nadal, however, Federer's all-court genius is stymied. Federer relied on his monstrous first serve to help abate the enormous pressure in the fifth set. (You can watch the whole remarkable set here.) He served consecutive aces from deuce after the match's third rain delay, at 2-2, then hit his way out of trouble again at 15-40 and 5-5. Every other player would have been demoralized after squandering these break opportunities. Not Nadal. He simply adjusted his underwear, broke Federer for the fourth time in the match, and served out the championship, winning 9-7 in the fifth.

Nadal's game hinges on defensive pressure—so long as he's able to get the ball back in play, he always seems to have an advantage. Despite an improved first serve, which he hits consistently and at a higher percentage than Federer, it was Nadal's stubbornness—refusing to ever concede a point—that gave him the edge in the fifth set. In a game where he didn't end up breaking, at 5-5, 15-15, Nadal showed why he now looks impossible to beat. Federer hit a well-placed serve down the middle at 126 mph. The point should have been over, but Nadal somehow reached and returned the ball with reasonable depth. Federer then whipped a wicked approach shot into the corner, seemingly winning the point for a second time. Instead, he was met by a nasty, dipping forehand pass that he couldn't return. Against any other player, either of Federer's shots might've been good enough; against Nadal, he needed to win the point three times.

Defense and offense are always intertwined in tennis, and it's the instantaneous conversion of a losing position into a winning one that makes the sport so thrilling. Aces are exciting enough, but it's the return of a seemingly unreturnable shot that gets fans truly ecstatic. Compare Sunday's match to a recent one between Nadal and Croat Ivo Karlovic, a grass-court titan who the Spaniard took down at a Wimbledon warm-up tournament last month. Karlovic stands 6-foot-10, crushes his serve, and seems all but incapable of winning a point if he doesn't produce an ace or a service winner. Nadal won the match in a pair of tiebreakers despite failing to break Karlovic's serve once. This was a tennis dystopia, where the points are nasty, brutish, and short.

Sunday's match, by contrast, was the most utopian spectacle in tennis' recent history. The inevitable changing of the guard talk shouldn't overshadow that the 26-year-old Federer played brilliantly after a shaky two opening sets, most memorably hitting an ungodly backhand pass in the fourth-set tiebreaker that saved championship point. For another, Sunday's match illustrated the striking similarities in the top players' games. Nadal and Federer (and to a lesser extent, Novak Djokovic) wear their opponents down by forcing errors, weaving together finesse and power and spraying winners from places on the court that other players can't reach. When everybody—even Nadal on occasion—can serve at 125 mph, such abilities are what distinguish those two from the more traditional power players like James Blake and the 155-mph-serving Roddick, both of whom fared poorly at the French and Wimbledon.

This year's results aren't a sign that power no longer matters in the men's game; one look at Nadal's arms would dispel any such notion. It's more that power in tennis today is largely manifested defensively; thanks to high-tech rackets and weight training, the best players can now hit shots on the run with incredible pace, depth, and spin, immediately placing them back on the offensive. Nadal, in particular, is turning the supposed disadvantage of bad court position into an outdated theory for lesser players.

In men's tennis, there's no better way to get your opponent out of position than with a well-struck, well-placed serve. Nadal showed at Wimbledon that other players' best serves aren't good enough. He leads the men's game in return games won in 2008, breaking his opponents' serve 36 percent of the time, or roughly twice a set. After him come Nikolay Davydenko and Novak Djokovic, the Nos. 4 and 3 players in the world, respectively. Federer is tied for sixth in return games won, which may reflect his greater ease in holding his own serve—if you never get broken, you don't need to break your opponent as often—but may also reflect unaccustomed troubles with his defensive game. In Sunday's match, he had plenty of break opportunities in the first two sets but was unable to convert. In the fifth set, when he needed a break to win his sixth straight Wimbledon, Federer couldn't put consistent pressure on Nadal's serve.

By winning the French Open and Wimbledon consecutively, Nadal has confirmed that in today's game, unrelenting defense can win major titles. For Nadal to cement his position at the top, though, he'll have to prove that his grinding style won't destroy his body. The very brilliance that makes for such remarkable tennis may also—so the current fear goes—shorten the 22-year-old's career. Roddick, with his booming serve, might conceivably outlast Nadal and become competitive once again. Federer, too, with his reliable serve, power forehand, and remarkable ability to stay healthy, may still be able to remain at a high level until he's 30, or at least until he breaks Pete Sampras' record of 14 Grand Slam titles. So long as Nadal is still standing, though, it'll be a long slog for everyone else. Big servers take note: You'll need to win every point three times.

SOURCE: Slate

More on Federer and Nadal in Wimbledon Final

WIMBLEDON, England (AP)—With darkness enveloping Centre Court and the clock showing 9:15 p.m., Rafael Nadal watched as Roger Federer’s errant forehand settled into the net, ending what might have been the greatest men’s final on the greatest stage in tennis.

With that, Nadal flopped onto his back on the worn-out lawn as champion of Wimbledon for the first time and conqueror of the five-time winner and grass-court master.

After five riveting sets and 4 hours, 48 minutes of play, there was a changing of the guard at Wimbledon on Sunday when Nadal held off Federer’s stirring comeback to win 6-4, 6-4, 6-7 (5), 6-7 (8), 9-7.

“It’s impossible to explain what I felt in that moment,” Nadal said after receiving the winner’s trophy from the Duke of Kent. “Just very, very happy to win this title. For me, (it) is a dream to play in this tournament. But to win, I never imagined something like this.”

Nadal, winner of four straight French Open championships, is no longer just the King of Clay.

He’s the first Spanish man to win at the All England Club since Manolo Santana in 1966 and, more significantly, the first player to sweep the French Open and Wimbledon men’s titles in the same year since Bjorn Borg in 1980.

Federer, who converted only one of 13 break points but saved two match points in the fourth set tiebreaker, fell short in his bid to set two landmarks: He failed to surpass Borg by winning a sixth consecutive title or equal Willie Renshaw’s record of six in a row from 1881-86.

Both Borg and Santana were in the Royal Box for the occasion, the longest singles final in Wimbledon history and one that many rated as an epic for the ages.

“This is the greatest match I’ve ever seen,” said John McEnroe, a three-time Wimbledon champion and a television commentator at the tournament.

Nadal, who snapped Federer’s Wimbledon winning streak at 40 matches and overall grass-court run at 65, climbed into the players’ guest box to embrace his entourage. He grabbed a Spanish flag and walked across the television commentators’ booth to the edge of the Royal Box to shake hands with Prince Felipe and Princess Letizia of Spain.

Was this Nadal’s greatest match?

“Probably the best, yes,” said the 22-year-old Spaniard from Mallorca. “When I won for the first time the French Open (it) was unbelievable, too. I don’t want to compare Grand Slams, but Wimbledon is special for everybody. Tradition, everything. For me, it’s more surprise to win here than the French.”

As for Federer, he called it “probably my hardest loss, by far.”

Federer said he thought the match, which started late due to rain and was interrupted twice by showers, should have been suspended and carried over to Monday because of the fading light.

“It’s rough on me now, obviously, to lose the biggest tournament in the world over maybe a bit of light,” he said.

Nadal, too, wasn’t sure the match could go on any longer.

“In the last game, I didn’t see nothing, it’s true,” he said. “It was unbelievable. I thought we have to stop. If I lose that game, we have to stop.”

Nadal won his fifth Grand Slam title, adding to his four consecutive French Open championships. Federer, meanwhile, remains two shy of Pete Sampras’ record of 14 Grand Slam wins.

“He’s still No. 1,” Nadal said. “He’s still the best. He’s still five-time champion here and I only have one, so for me it is very, very important.”

Nadal, who has won 24 straight matches, extended his career record against Federer to 11-6, but it was only his third win in six against him on a surface other than clay. Nadal had lost in the last two Wimbledon finals to Federer.

Sunday’s victory was Nadal’s second straight over Federer in a Grand Slam final—and this time on the champion’s favorite court and surface. Nadal crushed Federer in last month’s French Open final, losing only four games.

As Nadal and Federer battled through the fifth set in the fading light, they were like two heavyweight prize fighters going toe-to-toe in the late rounds of a title fight. The overall intensity and quality of the match recalled the 1980 final between Borg and McEnroe, which the Swede won in the fifth set after losing an 18-16 tiebreaker.

Federer had mixed feelings about being part of a classic.

“It’s sort of always nice to be part of them,” he said. “Probably later in life, I’ll go, ‘That was a great match.’ But right now, it’s not much of a feel-good thing. It’s not up to us to judge if it was the best ever.”

Federer lost despite serving 25 aces and smacking 89 winners, 29 more than Nadal. But he was more erratic than his opponent, committing 52 unforced errors, compared to 27 for Nadal.

Federer came close to becoming the first player to overcome a two-set deficit in a Wimbledon men’s final since 1927, when Henri Cochet beat Jean Borotra.

The fourth-set tiebreaker featured brilliant winners by both players, sudden changes of momentum—and two missed match points for Nadal.

The Spaniard was serving at 5-2 in the tiebreaker, two points from victory, when he let Federer off the hook with a double-fault and a backhand error. After saving a set point at 6-5, Nadal earned match points at 7-6 and 8-7 but couldn’t convert. Federer erased the first with a 127 mph service winner and the second with a backhand pass down the line.

“I was hoping with the momentum going into the fifth set, that it was going to be enough, that I would play a little bit better,” Federer said. “But I couldn’t play my best when I really had to.”

SOURCE: Tennis.com

Nadal dethrones Federer at Wimbledon

What an AMAZING match! My wife and I had a blast spending ALL MORNING watching one of the greatest finals ever!
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WIMBLEDON, England (AP)—Rafael Nadal ended Roger Federer’s five-year reign at Wimbledon on Sunday, winning a riveting, five-set marathon to claim his first title at the All England Club and signal a changing of the guard in men’s tennis.

Nadal held off a stirring comeback by Federer from two sets down to prevail 6-4, 6-4, 6-7 (5), 6-7 (8), 9-7. He became the first man to win the French Open and Wimbledon in the same year since Bjorn Borg in 1980.

Nadal, the first Spaniard to win Wimbledon since Manolo Santana in 1966, avenged his losses to Federer in the last two finals here and snapped the Swiss star’s All England Club winning streak at 40 matches and overall grass-court run at 65.

The rain-delayed match ended in near darkness after 4 hours, 48 minutes of play—the longest men’s final in Wimbledon history—when Federer slapped a forehand into the net on Nadal’s fourth match point and second of the game.

Nadal fell onto his back in exhilaration at the baseline. With his shirt caked with turf, he congratulated Federer and climbed into the players’ box to embrace his entourage. He had tears in his eyes as he grabbed a Spanish flag and went to the edge of the Royal Box to shake hands with Prince Felipe and Princess Letizia of Spain.

Federer, who converted only one of 13 break points in the match, fell short in his bid to set two landmarks: He failed to surpass Bjorn Borg by winning a sixth consecutive title or equal Willie Renshaw’s record of six in a row from 1881-86.

Nadal won his fifth Grand Slam title, adding to his four consecutive French Open championships. Federer, meanwhile, remains two shy of Pete Sampras’ record of 14 Grand Slam wins.

Watching it all from the front row of the Royal Box was the silver-haired Borg, who won 41 straight Wimbledon matches during his 1976-80 title runs.

SOURCE: Yahoo

One more time: Federer vs. Nadal at Wimbledon

WIMBLEDON, England (AP)—Add up all of Roger Federer’s greatness on grass courts, and the numbers are striking: 40 wins in a row at Wimbledon, 65 overall on the surface.

Now he seeks an additional victory, a victory that would make him the first man since the 1880s to win six consecutive Wimbledon titles, a victory that would give him a 13th Grand Slam championship, one shy of Pete Sampras’ career record.

And a victory that would have to come against his only real rival in today’s game, Rafael Nadal.

No. 1 Federer and No. 2 Nadal set up their third straight showdown in the Wimbledon final, and sixth meeting in a major title match, by handily beating unseeded opponents Friday. Federer eliminated Marat Safin 6-3, 7-6 (3), 6-4 in the first semifinal, and Nadal defeated Rainer Schuettler 6-1, 7-6 (3), 6-4.

“There’s one more left,” Federer said. “I don’t think it matters really a lot if I’m the favorite or not. I’m on an incredible winning streak on grass. First somebody has to be able to break that before we start talking differently.”

He reached his 16th Grand Slam final, tying him with Bjorn Borg for fourth most in history. Borg was the last man to win Wimbledon five years in a row. The only man with six successive titles was Willie Renshaw from 1881-86, but he merely needed to win one match in each of his five title defenses because back then the reigning champion got a bye directly into the final.

“A little different,” Federer noted.

On the other hand, the ease with which Federer dominates the All England Club these days sort of makes it seem as though he’s getting a pass to the second Sunday. For the second time in three years, he’s reached the final without losing a set.

“He didn’t even give me a chance,” said Safin, a former No. 1 with two major titles.

Federer walked out in his custom-designed cream cardigan, the one with the gold “RF” on the chest. Safin, in contrast, looked as though he might have just rolled out of bed, emerging from the locker room with his T-shirt wrinkled, his sneakers untied, his hair mussed. During the third set, a woman in the crowd yelled, “Come on, Safin, wake up!”

Federer did plenty well, but he served impeccably.

He smacked 14 aces, took 70 of 90 points in his service games and faced only two break points. Both came with Safin leading 2-1 in the second set, and Federer erased them in similar fashion: a second serve delivered right at Safin’s body, setting up short returns that led to forehand winners.

Federer’s return game was working, too, and he broke Safin in the match’s second game and its last one. Asked if it was easy out there, Federer said, “Easy in terms of being able to control a really dangerous player who’s got the potential to upset anyone—in this aspect, yes.”

One example: Safin beat No. 3 Novak Djokovic last week. It was Djokovic who ended Federer’s record run of reaching 10 consecutive major finals by stopping him at this year’s Australian Open, then wondered aloud before Wimbledon whether the Swiss star was slipping. Djokovic thought Federer’s 6-1, 6-3, 6-0 loss to Nadal in last month’s French Open final—his worst loss in 179 career Grand Slam matches—might have left him “a little bit shaken.”

Federer has scoffed at such suggestions and did so again Friday.

“For me, anyway, that final is out of the picture. I hardly remember anything of it. It went so quickly,” he said, without a trace of irony. “Yeah, for me it’s not really that big of a problem.”


He also alluded to the fact that while he is only 6-11 against Nadal—0-3 in French Open finals—over their careers, Federer does lead 5-2 in matches played on surfaces other than clay. That includes victories in the 2006 and 2007 Wimbledon finals, the latter a taut, five-set thriller.

That is why, Nadal acknowledged, “I believe I can win, but I also know he’s the favorite.”

Like Federer, Nadal faced only two break points Friday, and while the Spaniard did get broken once, he never was in true trouble. Thanks to that break, the 94th-ranked Schuettler went ahead 2-1 in the second set, then served for it at 5-4.

But Nadal broke the 2003 Australian Open runner-up there to pull even, and that was pretty much that. The only thing that really bothered Nadal on this day was the condition of his shoes, which he said were worn out from too much running around on the bare earth where the grass has disappeared near the Centre Court baselines. A member of Nadal’s entourage tossed a fresh pair onto the court from the stands, and Nadal was back to his usual perpetual motion.

Afterward, Nadal spoke of how a Wimbledon championship would change his career. He’ll try again, just as he did each of the past two years, to beat Federer to become the first man since Borg in 1980 to win the French Open and Wimbledon in the same season.

“It doesn’t matter at any tournament who you beat. It matters that you get to take the trophy home,” Nadal said. “But beating Federer would be special.”

Borg showed up at the All England Club in 2007, and watched Federer match his modern mark of five consecutive titles. Borg returned this year and sat in the second row of the Royal Box on Friday, rising to clap when Federer finished off Safin to close in on breaking that tie.

“He is still hungry to win. He is still the No. 1 player in the world, and he wants to win more Grand Slam tournaments. He still has motivation to win. I think he will play many more years to come,” said Borg, who walked away from the game in his 20s. “Sooner or later someone will beat him here at Wimbledon on Centre Court, but that might not happen this year.”

SOURCE: Yahoo

Murray vs. gasquet

Good commentary on Murray vs. gasquet.

http://tennisworld.typepad.com/string_theory/2008/07/charged-up.html?cid=120771994#comment-120771994

Good Roger Federer interview

By Georges Homsi, Tennis.com
Q. Does defeat hurt more when it's so rare, because it's so rare?

ROGER FEDERER: Actually it hurts less, you know. Because you win so much, I think you can take a defeat easier. It's not like you're going to expect a defeat, but because of all the success I've had, a loss here or there will arrive. When it happens, all you can just make sure is that you try your best. And I used to have many matches in the past where I thought, came off court and I felt like, “This wasn't a fight. You could’ve fought more. You could’ve tried harder. You could’ve changed things.” You come off the court and you feel like you have regrets. Today, since let's say four, five years, I don't have those anymore, and this is why they're easier to accept. Because I think you have to be able to handle both things the same way.

Q. Some players are saying, Roger is not going to dominate anymore like he did. It's not like it used to be. Things have changed. Does that do something to you?

RF: Not really, you know. I mean, every player has their own opinions. It's no problem, you know. The only thing is the way probably the press asks the questions as well. They trick the players sometimes and ask them. “We have the feeling it's over. What do you think?” All a sudden, you can create your story you wanted it to be. For me, it's important to come back, you know, and play well now again. I don't think it's a fair statement either, you know, to say something like that, you know, after I just won the Masters, finished again No. 1 in the world and won three Grand Slams and only played two tournaments under bad circumstances in three‑and‑a‑half months and people start questioning if I'm still on top of my game. It's not fair, because I didn't get a chance to really prove myself yet. If I lose the next five matches in a row in the first round, then you can start talking like this, but not yet.

Q. Do you have the feeling that the threat from other players is bigger than ever before?

RF: Well, I think when I came up with the generation of Hewitt and Safin and Roddick and all these guys, I think that was sort of maybe a similar time to what it is today. I mean, that group was very, very strong as well, you know. We had plenty of No. 1s there. If you look back, all of them became No. 1 in the world at some stage, so you have the same thing here. Even though some guys have been strong to enter into the top 10, like maybe Berdych or Baghdatis, to stay there on a regular basis, there's only so many spots in top 10. Our generation’s still strong with Hewitt and Roddick and myself, and Safin unfortunately is struggling a little bit, but Blake is hanging in there, and many of the other guys are always ready for a surprise. For me it was only a matter of time until the juniors will really arrive, and it seems like it's happened really since a year or so.

Q. A guy like Djokovic says, I want his spot. I want the No. 1. Before people used to say, I want to be No. 2 or No. 3, because these guys are untouchable. Does that motivate you?

RF: No, I mean I think Rafa has always wanted to be No. 1 in the world as well. Maybe Novak is just speaking a little bit more loudly about it, you know. He's maybe got that sort of aura around him that people, whatever he says, pick it up in a more aggressive way, I think. Rafa’s always been very down to earth, very low key and this is why it doesn't come across that bad, but he wants it as bad as Novak, for sure.

Q. Go back to when you discovered you had had mono. At that point, it was probably gone. Was that a real relief, say, okay, now I know what I had?

RF: Well, the thing was, I got so severely sick three times that I was like, this is incredible, you know. I'm never sick. I haven't been sick basically the last 10 years, and all of a sudden three times in six weeks. The first time around I was not too worried about it. I just though, Okay, everybody can get sick for few days and you get over it. Second time was before Australian Open, so I went to emergency to check everything out. Then the third time I really thought this is strange, because now I thought it was food poisoning. I ate very healthy, I paid even more attention to everything I did, and I got sick again. When I found out what it was, I was like, “Okay, wow, I heard of people having it. I know it can take a while,” but they told me that I was already towards the end and I had a quite severe mono. This is what sort of made me really, not worried, but I was like, “Wow, how could I then play the Australian Open at all?” Because probably if people would have known, and doctors, maybe they would have told me not to play, you know. So this is sort of what was my biggest scare, a little bit. When I did the next test back in Dubai and they told me actually I was over it, building antibodies and everything, this is then when I felt like, “Okay, I'm fine again because I'm practicing well again.” I just had lack of practice, and that's what my biggest problem was. But that's not a real problem, because most important is health, you know, before everything.

Q. Do you deal with defeat differently than you did five years ago?

RF: Yeah, sure. I was disappointed when I lost in earlier days. I used to cry a lot. I don't know if you remember me, but I was a very sort of a sad person, a very upset person. So it sort of worked me a little bit, you know, just being perfectionist in a way, wanting to win so badly that I would almost ruin my day or my week. And then I used to see other players who would get so, so disappointed or upset. Sometimes they wouldn't speak for a week after. I was like, that's not the way to do it. You know, this is supposed to be fun and this is a dream come true for every player to play on the tour and be challenging the best in the world. So I started to relax a little bit, and I said, “As long as I give everything on the court, that's all I can do.” And once the match is over, you know, a different life sort of starts. This is how I see it now and it’s much better on my mind, absolutely.

Q. What's your first memory of defeat? Maybe juniors, maybe anything that stuck to your mind?

RF: It's hard to say. You know, I mean, I had—I guess the one that really marked me was I think the Squillari match I lost in Hamburg back in 2001. I was upset. I lost 6‑4, 6‑4. Played okay, you know. I just then decided, look, you know what? I cannot continue being like a—acting like some idiot on the court. Just always screaming, throwing my racquet, commentating every shot, just being so emotional. I have to relax a little bit. This is when I then told myself, I have to sort of relax a little bit. Played quarters in Paris for my first time, played quarters in Wimbledon beating Pete. This was really a moment for me when I realized, I have to change. But then the whole change kind of thing took me much, much longer. It was just a switch that I changed, but then it took me most of the year, almost one‑and‑a‑half years, to adapt. But that was sort of a big match for me. And then also the junior U.S. Open final in '98 when I lost to Nalbandian. I went into the match almost being happy with my result already because I had to really battle to get to the finals beating Jerome Haenel and Pless in really tough matches. Got to the finals and was like, “Oh, this is great. I'm just happy.” And then I lost to Nalbandian and I wasn't even upset. I was like, that's not Federer. Federer, he gets upset when he loses, especially when he's 18 years old, you know, 17. This is this also when I then told myself I have to work much, much harder, on my attitude.

Q. And your first significant memory of victory, first one?

RF: First one, big ones were junior Wimbledon, Orange Bowl, and it goes on. I guess first title back in Milan, obviously the Wimbledon win against Pete. But then also I was going to say Davis Cup back in Basel against the Americans. I think it was the first time I ever cried after a match I won, just because of the exhaustion. I won singles, doubles and singles against Americans. It was a big deal. Sort of went like this in phases and phases, and then I guess, you know, sort of my first—I think Hamburg was huge, too, back in 2002. First clay court tournament title. Also then I cried just because I could not—the shock almost. I played in Rome and was so disappointed, I lost in the first round against Gaudenzi, hanging out with Safin and I was like, “I just wish I didn't have to go to Hamburg next week. Can we not skip it and go to Paris?” Next thing we know we're playing each other in the final in Hamburg. It was quite ironic.

Q. Do you still feel you have anything to prove to yourself or to others?

RF: Not to others, really. I think it's more about, not keeping people happy, but more like the fans. I want to show the fans, really, you know, they pay tickets, I'm there to perform, I’m there to entertain. I want to do well for myself, I want to do well for my team who gives its best every day. This is sort of how I see things. Prove to myself that I'm the best, yes. Prove that I want to become part of history in a big way, yes. And this is sort of what I'm looking at. History really is motivating me in a great deal now, actually. I always thought it’s going to put extra pressure on me, playing for history, playing against young guys, playing for myself, the whole thing. But it's become actually the pleasure ride for me, being part of playing for history. It's something very special for me.

Q. You're still very young. Still, do you feel like your body is trying to react differently as a few years ago, whereas after practice it gets tired easier?

RF: Honestly, not in a big way. I think important as an athlete, I think it's to understand your body, how it reacts and how it feels before and after competition and what can happen, what is normal, what is abnormal. So I think this is also way of experience, you know. When you have a lot of muscle pain and you don't understand why you have it, you don't know that it's normal. Sometimes it's normal that you have muscle pain, depending on what you do. And I know exactly what I need to get ready for matches, I know what to treat to feel better, and this is, I think, is a big secret.

Q. Can you talk about the experience and the excitement of the Olympics?

ROGER FEDERER: Well, Olympics is different, because you feel like it's Game Switzerland and not Game Federer. And playing under the flag, it's always a special feeling for me. The Olympic Games being every four years creates extra pressure, it always creates a big juggle in the calendar. Right away it makes it a big priority because of that. And, you know, for me, having met Mirka at the Sydney Olympics, having carried the flag back in Athens in '04, I have had some of the most incredible experiences of my life at the Olympic Games. This is why I’ll always play it as long as I can and I hope I’m going to do well in Beijing.

Q. A lot of players put it behind the Slams. It seems like you almost put it in front.

ROGER FEDERER: It's a tough call. I think it's the same thing for me. Depends, you know. I think it's—it's as big. Let's just put it that way. Some—it depends what you have achieved so far in your career. Because I have won so many Grand Slams, the Olympic Games becomes much, much more important to me than maybe for other players.

Q. What has it been like to get to know Pete Sampras?

ROGER FEDERER: I don't know how you saw Pete and how much you knew him. But for me, I kind of just missed him. He was sort of a ghost on tour for me, you know. Too high, too good to talk to. Sort of, too much respect. And he was gone before I knew it. That was a bit unfortunate. That's why I really enjoyed actually playing against Agassi for so long. So getting to meet Pete, it was above actually playing against him, because I had the pleasure of playing him once at Wimbledon. It was a lot of fun. We had a great time together, I would do it for sure again if the chance comes about. So we'll see if we can do one more exo. I think we got maybe one more exo left in us. Yeah, I mean, he might come out here. So we'll hang around again. We're in contact, and it's nice to sort of have gotten to know him, somebody I admire so much.

Q. Do you feel any bitterness in him that you might break his record?

ROGER FEDERER: No, I think it's in a healthy way, really. I think he would be happy for me. Obviously it's hard for him to maybe let go of those records, but I'm not there yet, you know, so I still have some way to go. I know I have a lot of time, but you never know. That's why I really hope I can make it.

SOURCE: MSNBC

Murray moves on...

LONDON, June 28 (Reuters) - Britain’s sole survivor Andy Murray reached the last 16 at Wimbledon on Saturday after surviving his toughest test yet against German Tommy Haas.

The 21-year-old Scot, seeded 12, played some spectacular tennis to win 6-4 6-7 6-3 6-2 and move into the second week where he will face flamboyant Frenchman Richard Gasquet for a place in his first grand slam quarter-final.

Murray was cruising when he led by a set and a break before a mid-match wobble threatened to silence Centre Court and the massed ranks watching the huge screen on the hill named after Tim Henman, the host nation’s last serious challenger.

After losing the second set on a tiebreak and weathering a Haas storm early in the third, Murray regained the initiative to overwhelm Haas with a succession of flashing winners.

Three times in the past Murray has reached the fourth round at a grand slams and has always come up short but after dropping just one set in three matches so far the Scot is aiming high.

“I want to concentrate on trying to win the tournament right now,” he told reporters. “There’s a big jump obviously from the position I’m in now to getting to the final.

“It’s still three matches away and I’m going to have to beat some really tough players if I want to do that. I’m not really thinking about reaching the quarters. I’m more interested in making it to the final.”

The last Briton to win Wimbledon was Fred Perry in 1936.

LUNGING FOREHAND

A superb lunging forehand pass set Murray on the way to the first break of the match in the third game and that proved enough to take the opening set.

The 30-year-old Haas was barely hanging on to Murray’s coat tails in the second set.

Murray appeared to be toying with Haas, mixing delightful drops shots and lobs with cleanly struck winners. His serve was also regularly topping the 130 mph mark, so it was a complete shock when Haas suddenly turned it around.

The German broke out of the blue after a double-fault let him in and Murray double-faulted again at 4-5 in the tiebreak and then netted a forehand to concede te set.

Former world number two Haas looked dangerous and he twice had the chance to break again at 1-1 in the third. First he put a routine volley wide then Murray cracked down an ace to escape.

Haas wavered in the next game to hand Murray the break and suddenly the momentum switched.

Having moved into a two sets to one lead, Murray produced another improbable forehand pass at 2-2 in the fourth and a couple of points later Haas double-faulted to go behind and this time there was no way back.

“At two all in the fourth he really just played some unbelievable shots and deserved to win,” said Haas.

“He’s going to be tough to beat if he’s playing the way he is, but he’s still got a long way to go.”

SOURCE: Yahoo

John McEnroe: Andy Murray must avoid anger

There is no one who understands the motivational powers of rage on a tennis court better than John McEnroe. The most furious player to have trodden the turf of the All England Club has offered to act as Andy Murray’s anger counsel-lor in an attempt to bring the best out of the British No 1. “He probably should give me a call and I might be able to help,” McEnroe says.

The three-time champion does not want Murray to lose the feisty edge that leads him to castigate officials, causes television commentators to apologise for the industrial language and makes him one of the most potentially combustible players on the tour. He just wants the Scot to channel his energy in the best direction.

“My anger would be funnelled in a positive manner; his brings negativity,” says the 49-year-old New Yorker. “He needs to figure out a way to use his feelings more positively. When I was winning, I was getting all fired up. He doesn’t seem to be getting so much of that emotion and sometimes we see the anger almost destroy him. We’ve never really had any serious conversations, but, sure, I would talk to him about it, although I have a son older than him, so maybe there’s a generation gap.”

Three fourth-round finishes in 10 Grand Slam appearances hardly testify to the talent that McEnroe and other respected judges see in Murray. Despite winning titles this year in Doha and Marseilles, he has grossly underachieved in the Grand Slams, losing in the first round to eventual finalist Jo-Wilfried Tsonga at the Australian Open, then being sent home from Roland Garros by Nicolas Almagro in the third round.

Each time Murray’s demean-our in defeat was one of a player at odds with himself. Although many sports psychologists and coaches maintain that any displeasure should be masked from opponents, McEnroe says: “I never thought it was a crime to let the opponent know how I was thinking. I can see the argument against that, with Bjorn Borg as the classic example. You’d be thinking, ‘This is unbelievable because this guy is unreadable’. It was not a source of frustration, more amazement, because I could not relate. Sometimes when you wear your emotions on your sleeve it may fuel an opponent who is down and out. Perhaps it has cost me at times when the other player said to himself, ‘I’m going to keep trying because this guy is such a jerk’.”

Such feelings are unlikely to be going back and forth across the net in Murray’s opening match against the 35-year-old French veteran Fabrice Santoro; they have previously announced their mutual appreciation of each other’s talents. After 12 previous visits, this is almost certain to be Santoro’s last competitive visit to the All England Club, and he finally seems set to achieve an ambition of playing on Centre Court. The pair have met once before, towards the end of last season on the indoor hardcourt of Bercy in Paris, with Murray prevailing 6-4 6-2. “He’s a tricky guy to play against,” says the 12th-seeded Scot. “You need to stay focused the whole time because he tries everything and can hit shots that none of the other players can play.”

Murray must hope that his footing is surer than it was on his last grass-court outing at Queen’s, when he repeatedly slipped and stumbled, spraining a thumb. Free from the restraints of an endorsement contract with a shoe company, he has changed brands from adidas to Nike in an attempt to keep his feet.

A practice session yesterday with the seasoned Swede Jonas Bjorkman, who is Santoro’s senior by nine months, left Murray in a confident mood. He insists there will be more marked differences from his last appearance at The Championships two years ago than just a change from three stripes to a swoosh on his feet. Asked to describe improvements he has made since losing to Marcos Baghdatis in 2006, he says: “My net game and positioning is way better. I had good hands at the net, but didn’t quite know what I was doing once I got up there. My first serve, although not having as high a percentage as some others, is a huge weapon when it goes in. And being able to return and come in has been a big difference. I spent too much time a long way behind the base-line, and you get tired after a while. I’m more of an all-round player now compared with the majority of the top players. I counter-punch well and can play aggressive too.”

He insists he is 100% fit after the thumb injury forced him to withdraw from the Artois championships. And he is relaxed before his impending examination by a nation’s fans. “In terms of expectation, I won’t know until I start playing, but in terms of the pressure, it doesn’t feel as bad as it was a couple of years ago,” he says. “It’s been much more relaxed and that’s good. Before, I was taking more of an interest in what was being said in the press and I wasn’t used to people talking about my game. I don’t hate fame, but sometimes, like when you lose a tennis match, you wish no one was bothered with you too much.”

SOURCE: Timesonline.co.uk

Wimbledon under fire for pigeon cull

Go pigeons! :)
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LONDON, June 24 (Reuters) - Wimbledon came under fire from animal activists on Tuesday for using marksmen to shoot down dive-bombing pigeons.

The tournament employs two hawks to scare away pigeons who had become a pest swooping down on Centre Court and distracting players in the middle of tense matches.

But the hawks failed to keep the pigeons away from the players’ lawn and the open-air media restaurant so marksmen were called in.

“The hawks are our first line of deterrent, and by and large they do the job,” Wimbledon spokesman Johnny Perkins said.

“But unfortunately there were one or two areas where the hawks didn’t deter the pigeons, so it was deemed necessary to take a harder approach,” he explained.

The marksmen were summoned by Wimbledon as pigeon droppings on the restaurant tables were thought to be a health hazard.

The decision to call in the marksmen was condemned as “cruel and illegal behaviour” by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) which complained to the tournament organisers and the police.

“Since the use of marksmen to kill pigeons appears to have been carried out as a first, rather than a last resort, and not out of a concern for public health, but rather because the animals were deemed inconvenient by players, you appear to be in clear violation of the law,” PETA vice-president Bruce Friedrich said.

SOURCE: Yahoo

Top-seed Ana Ivanovic is ousted at Wimbledon

WIMBLEDON, England - Top-seeded Ana Ivanovic was knocked out in the third round of Wimbledon on Friday by 133rd-ranked Zheng Jie of China, extending a spate of stunning upsets at the All England Club.

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Ivanovic, who took over the No. 1 ranking after winning the French Open earlier this month, slumped to a 6-1, 6-4 loss to the wild-card entry and doubles specialist.

Ivanovic, who saved two match points before overcoming Nathalie Dechy in three sets on Wednesday, had no answer for the hard-hitting Zheng.

"It's a surprise for me," said the 24-year-old Zheng, who won the Wimbledon doubles title in 2006. "Thanks to Wimbledon, (which) gave me a wild card. I just tried my best and had to keep going, going."

Ivanovic went out a day after 2004 champion and third-seeded Maria Sharapova was ousted by 154th-ranked Alla Kudryavtseva and two-time men's runner-up Andy Roddick was bounced by Janko Tipsarevic. A day earlier, Australian Open champion and No. 3-ranked Novak Djokovic fell to Marat Safin.

Ivanovic committed 17 unforced errors, converted only one of seven break-point chances and lost serve four times. She could lose the No. 1 ranking depending on how far No. 2 Jelena Jankovic and No. 4 Svetlana Kuznetsova advance in the tournament.

The match ended with Zheng's serve hitting the service line and Ivanovic shanking her forehand return into the Court 1 stands.

"She played really well today and it was a tough match for me," Ivanovic said. "I'm disappointed with my loss but I still look at it as a learning experience.

"It was a very emotional last couple of weeks for me and it took a bit of a toll," she added. "I didn't have great preparation."

Zheng has won 11 tour doubles titles, including the 2006 Wimbledon and Australian Open championships with Yan Zi. She has captured three career singles titles, in relatively small events at Hobart in 2005 and Estoril and Stockholm in 2006.

In 2004, Zheng reached the round of 16 at the French Open to become the first Chinese woman to make the fourth round of a Grand Slam. She reached a career high singles ranking of No. 27 in 2006.

SOURCE: Yahoo

Forgot all about this... Classic

By CHARLIE WYETT

Published: 21 Jun 2008

MIKHAIL YOUZHNY wants the Wimbledon docs on stand-by — in case he suffers another rush of blood to the head.

The Russian stunned the tennis world when he smashed his racket against his head THREE TIMES after missing a routine shot — causing the claret to gush down his face.

The world No17 needed treatment on court during his match against Nicolas Almagro in the Sony Ericsson Open in Miami.

Youzhny is now preparing for the first round at the All England Club despite injuring his neck in two places in a freak accident while exercising.

And the Moscow-based fruitcake refuses to rule out a repeat of those madcap antics if he gets stressed during a match.

He said: “When I was a kid I had big problems with my behaviour. It is common among players. One guy who coached me says the older Youzhny is fine but the younger brother Mikhail was crazy.

“I broke rackets and I cried. I’d then shout at my family during matches. Growing older, I changed.

“However, I don’t really like this tournament in Miami. I have never felt comfortable in this tournament. I don’t tend to win matches there.

“I don’t know why. I feel something bad — there is too much negativity around there.

“Before the match I felt negative, during the match I felt negative and after the match I felt negative. I was suffering inside.

“I tried to do my best but I was making so many mistakes. I had break point on his serve, missed the chance and hit the frame against my head a little bit. Three times.”

Laughing about the April incident, he added: “It’s not something I had done before.”

Asked if he’d do it here, he said: “When you watch football and your team is losing, you get the phone and throw it against the wall.

“Some people say they won’t do it again but they watch another match and they do the same thing. It is all about emotions but it is not something I plan to do all the time. But, I can’t say I won’t do it.

“Thankfully in Miami, there was a physio very near. At first I didn’t feel the blood but then I realised I had to go to my chair.

“After that, I felt I had released all the negativity. I won the match.”

Youzhny, 26 on Wednesday, plays Argie Sergio Roitman first up.

The Russian started the year impressively, thrashing Rafael Nadal 6-0 6-1 in India and then reached the Australian Open quarter-finals.

But he has since struggled with his freak injury. He said: “I hurt it while exercising. It restricts me when I raise my arms but I can play.”

SOURCE: The Sun

Roddick out at Wimbledon!

WIMBLEDON, England (AP)—Sixth-seeded Andy Roddick has been upset in the second round at Wimbledon, losing to Janko Tipsarevic of Serbia.

Roddick, who lost the 2004 and 2005 Wimbledon finals to Roger Federer, was beaten 6-7 (5), 7-5, 6-4, 7-6 (4) by 40th-ranked Tipsarevic, who has never gone past the fourth round at a major.

Roddick reached the semifinals at the grass-court tuneup event at Queen’s, coming back from a shoulder injury that forced him out of the French Open.

He had three set points in the fourth to pull even and eight breakpoint chances overall, but Tipsarevic saved them all.

SOURCE: Yahoo

Maria Sharapova is ousted in 2nd round at Wimbledon

WIMBLEDON, England - Former champion Maria Sharapova has been ousted in the second round at Wimbledon by 154th-ranked Alla Kudryavtseva.

Kudryavtseva recovered an early break in the second set to beat the 2004 champion 6-2, 6-4 on Court 1 on Thursday.

It was Sharapova's earliest exit from a Grand Slam event since her first full season on the circuit in 2003. Since her breakthrough at Wimbledon in '04, Sharapova has added major titles at the 2006 U.S. Open and the last Australian Open.

Kudryavtseva, 20, has never won a WTA Tour title and was playing only her 10th Grand Slam match.

SOURCE: Yahoo

Serve and Drop Tip

Most players practice their serves by taking a basket of balls and hitting one after another in the deuce court and then in the ad court. A more productive way to practice serves is to add a second shot to your routine. When you play a match, your opponent will return most of your serves. Why not practice what to do next? Ideally, practice serves with a partner and hit an aggressive second shot after the return but don’t play out the point. If no one is available to hit with, serve a ball and then drop a second one and hit a ground stroke. This will help you back up your serve with more effective second shots.

—Ajay Pant, PTR Master Pro, USPTA, Midtown Tennis Club, Overland Park, Kan.

SOURCE: Tennis Magazine

Davenport withdraws due to knee injury

WIMBLEDON, England - Lindsay Davenport has withdrawn from Wimbledon because of a knee injury.

The 1999 Wimbledon champion was due to play Gisela Dulko in the second round on Thursday, but withdrew hours before the match, a WTA Tour official said.

On Tuesday, in her first match at Wimbledon since 2005, Davenport hobbled past Renata Voracova 6-3, 5-7, 6-3.

The 32-year-old Davenport had been idle for two months after sitting out the clay-court season. She withdrew from a warmup tournament at Eastbourne last week.

SOURCE: Yahoo

Djokovic upset by Safin in 2nd round

WOO HOO! I couldn't be happier... Joker and his Family all need attitude adjustments! Down with the JOKER!
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WIMBLEDON, England (AP)—Novak Djokovic was upset in straight sets by Marat Safin in the second round Wednesday, ending the Serb’s chances of testing his theory about Roger Federer’s vulnerability.

The 75th-ranked Safin won 6-4, 7-6 (3), 6-2 on Centre Court, stunning the third-ranked Djokovic who was ranked third and came into Wimbledon confident after beating top-ranked Federer in the semifinals at the Australian Open en route to his first Grand Slam title.

But the 21-year-old Djokovic came up against one of the toughest second-round opponents he could have drawn.

Former No. 1 Safin has won two Grand Slam titles and also had a semifinal upset against Federer in Australia, beating the Swiss star before winning the 2005 title.

Djokovic said Federer, bidding for his sixth consecutive Wimbledon crown, was vulnerable after his recent lopsided French Open loss to No. 2-ranked Rafael Nadal.

The hype surrounding those comments set up an enticing semifinal here. Now, it will be Safin who tries to go down that path.

Djokovic seemed to be vulnerable himself, playing on a surface he is not entirely comfortable on and struggling with his serve in a blustery breeze. After saving three match points, he served a double-fault to give his Russian opponent a fourth, then double-faulted again to concede.

He shook his head as he walked forward, and hugged Safin across the net.

Grass is not Safin’s favorite surface, either. Wimbledon is the only major where he has not advanced beyond the quarterfinals. But he is a dangerous floater now.

Safin said he came in under the radar, with Djokovic under all the pressure.

“He’s the one who has to win matches. For me, nobody expects anything,” said Safin, who admitted he had not dared look beyond the second round. “Now, I’ll have to check—the way I’m playing now, I could go far.”

Federer is most at home on grass—he is on a 60-match winning streak on the surface. He had a potentially tough second-round match later Wednesday on Centre Court against Sweden’s Robin Soderling.

SOURCE: Yahoo

Wimbledon: Maria Sharapova in robust shape

By Andrew Baker

Sharapova's game looked in fairly robust shape in the course of a sporadically testing first round match on No 1 Court.

Her opponent, Stephanie Foretz, is a 27-year-old French journeyperson who has never made it beyond the quarter-finals of a Tour event and whose recent history consists largely of failed attempts to qualify for proper tournaments.

She made it into Wimbledon, though, and her brave Gallic heart must have sunk when she heard about the draw. Nothing in the form book suggested that Foretz would be any more threat to Sharapova than a road bump en route to the press conference.

That was the way that it looked in the opening set, when descriptive notes resembled the station log at Peckham CID. The 2004 champion slaughtered Foretz's feeble serve, murdered her ground strokes and beat up her occasional lobs.

Sharapova captured the first set 6-1 in less than half an hour and at the changeover her diminutive opponent looked more in need of a comforting hug than an energy drink and a bite of banana.

SOURCE: Telegraph UK - Full story here...

Lessons from Andy Roddick

Lessons from Andy Roddick
The hard-serving American may claim to be a dumb jock, but he’s a high-percentage player.

By Paul Annacone

1. Be steady
Everyone wants to talk about Andy Roddick’s serve, and for good reason: It’s among the biggest weapons in tennis. Without it he wouldn’t be nearly as successful. But Roddick’s general steadiness is underrated. He doesn’t give points or games away, he makes opponents take them. You hear this said about quicker players with weaker serves, such as Lleyton Hewitt or Rafael Nadal, but the same goes for Roddick. And it can apply to you, too. At the club level, where weapons are less com-mon and errors plentiful, perhaps nothing is more important than making sure not to give away cheap points. Invite your opponents to beat you with good shots. You’ll be surprised how many players won’t take you up on your offer.

2. Serve for percentage
Speed. Spin. High bounces. Those are the things that come to mind when we think about Roddick’s serve. What isn’t noticed enough is his fi rst-serve percentage, which is almost always well over 60 percent (in Dubai in March, he served at or better than 65 percent in his last three matches, which included wins over Nadal and Novak Djokovic). You’re not going to serve like Roddick, but improving your fi rst-serve percentage will help, even if it means going for less or using a little more spin. Giving opponents fewer looks at second serves will frustrate them and save you from worrying about double faulting.

3. Compete, compete, compete . . .
As an American who followed in the footsteps of two legends, Pete Sampras and Andre Agassi, Roddick has carried a big burden. Many cast him as an underachiever. Others think he was lucky to win a U.S. Open back in 2003. I disagree with those views. To me, Roddick has accomplished what he should have accomplished. He’s not one of those guys who has left a lot of majors on the table, and he’s deserving of his one big win. He might still capture another major under the right circumstances. One thing’s for sure, if those circumstances arise, he’ll be waiting. Roddick is one of the best competitors in the game. Though a few of Roddick’s tough losses—like last year’s Wimbledon quarterfi nals loss to Richard Gasquet, when Roddick won the fi rst two sets—stand out, there haven’t been many doozies over the course of his career. When a player wins the matches he’s expected to win and scores a few upsets, he can maintain a top ranking for years. Besides a two-month blip in 2006, Roddick has remained in the Top 10 since November 2002. Club players can learn from this approach. When you step on the court, don’t think about winning or losing or your opponent’s superiority. Just say, “I’m out here to compete hard.”

4. . . . but don’t overdo it
Sometimes people get so competitive that they become mentally paralyzed. When you push yourself too much, expectations can get the better of you. Roddick rarely competes so hard that he forces the issue or hurts his chances.

SOURCE: Tennis Magazine

Wimbledon 2008: Day 2 picks

By Kamakshi Tandon

Fabrice Santoro (FRA) vs. Andy Murray (GBR) [12] Centre Court: 3rd match

The 35-year-old Frenchman gets one of his dearest tennis wishes as he finally makes his Centre Court debut at Wimbledon, but Andy Murray is looking to fufill a greater ambition: reach the quarterfinals of a Grand Slam for the first time. He certainly has the draw to do so - there are no players who should threaten him in the next three matches, and then it's a winnable encounter against whoever comes out of Richard Gasquet's section.

This particular match is one for the aficionados and even the players themselves may take a moment to admire each other. "He's just a completely different player, plays some unbelievable shots. I love watching him," says Murray.

Fabrice Santoro returns the compliment. "He's also a player that I enjoy watching. He's a very smart player and I like the way he moves. I prefer players like that rather than the players who just rely on their power."

Both are cagey shotmakers who will deftly move the ball all over the court, but Murray has some firepower to go along with his variety as well as the pressure to fulfill national expectations. But even he'll probably take a moment to watch 'The Magician' perform his sorcery at Wimbledon for the last time.

Prediction: Murray

Richard Gasquet (FRA) [8] vs. Mardy Fish (USA) Court 1: 1:00 p.m.

This was one of the potential upsets circled in the draw when it was first made. Richard Gasquet's shotmaking talents are obvious and he reached the semifinal last year in memorable fashion: coming from two sets and break down against Andy Roddick in the quarterfinals. But recently all the talk has been about his mental struggles. He suffered meltdown afer meltdown during the spring and eventually pulled out of the French Open with a knee injury.

Mardy Fish made a big splash (sorry) at the beginning of the year when he dominated Roger Federer to reach the final of Indian Wells. As usual, he didn't do much during the clay season, even choosing that time to hold his bachelor party in Las Vegas with good friends James Blake and Andy Roddick among the attendees. But this is grass, and his attacking style is well-suited to the surface. He'll put constant pressure on Gasquet, and we'll learn a lot about where the Frenchman is at by seeing whether he can respond.

Prediction: Fish

Andy Roddick (USA) [6] vs. Eduardo Schwank (ARG) Court 1: 3rd match

Even leaving aside the hotel room fire episode, Eduardo Schwank has has quite a ride the past two months. He won 20 straight matches in challengers, qualifying and tour events during the spring clay season before finally falling to Paul-Henri Mathieu in a third-round thriller at the French Open. But the going on grass hasn't been quite as good: he lost his second match at Nottingham 7-6 in the third and now has to face Andy Roddick in the first round of Wimbledon

Roddick, like most people, considers himself the fourth favorite in this event, and the sixth seed has been lucky enough to land in Nikolay Davydenko's quarter rather than Federer's, Nadal's or Djokovic's. He's still getting his serve back in full firing mode after missing the French Open with a shoulder injury, but it should be enough to allow him to force the pace against Schwank and come through without too much of a scare.

Prediction: Roddick

Jesse Levine (USA) vs. Donald Young (USA) Court 5: 3rd match

A former Wimbledon junior champion (Donald Young) against another rising youngster who qualified for this event. They're both lefties with pleasing games who know each other quite well - as Levine joked to the South Florida Sun-Sentinel, "We could have stayed at home and played this." The match should be competitive and both players will be eager to prove themselves against a peer, but the temptation is go with the more enterprising and more match-tough player - Levine.

Prediction: Levine

Others to note
John Isner vs. Ernests Gulbis, Anne Keothavong vs. Vania King, Victoria Azarenka vs. Tsevtana Pironkova, Nicholas Mahut vs. Dmitry Tursunov

SOURCE: Tennis.com

Sampras: Federer worthy of my record

LONDON (AP)—Pete Sampras remains confident that Roger Federer will beat his record for most career Grand Slam singles titles.

In fact, Sampras plans to be sitting among Federer’s most vocal supporters when he does win a 15th career major—even if that requires a lengthy flight to Melbourne, Australia.

Federer has 12 Grand Slam titles, two behind Sampras’ record.

If Federer won a sixth straight Wimbledon title next month and a fifth consecutive U.S. Open title in September, he would be aiming for No. 15 at the Australian Open in January.

“There is a burning desire in Roger to break my record, and when he does it I would like to be there,” Sampras said Thursday. “I said to Roger, ‘Just make sure it’s in New York or London. Australia is a long way to go. (But) if it worked out like that, I would fly there.’

“I would just let him enjoy it as his moment but (I would want to be there) just to respect the record and what he was able to do and to just say, ‘Congratulations.”’

Despite Federer’s loss to No. 2-ranked Rafael Nadal in the French Open final, Sampras is confident the Swiss star will bounce back at the All England Club.

“He’s created this monster of winning so many tournaments and so many majors and doing it with ease,” Sampras said in Sao Paulo, Brazil. “As great as Roger is, he’s going to have his losses and his bad days. It’s just human nature to go through some lulls.”

That doesn’t mean he has lost his edge, Sampras said.

“In the majors, he’s still the guy that’s most likely to win them,” Sampras said. “He’s lost a couple and, if anything, that’ll do him some good. It’ll get him going and fired up. He’ll be just fine.”

The 36-year-old Sampras was speaking from BlackRock Tour of Champions, where he makes his debut Thursday in Brazil against Thomas Muster.

But Sampras will find it hard not thinking of Wimbledon, which begins Monday, and where he captured half of his career majors.

“I think if I were to step back on that court at Wimbledon it would bring up a lot of emotion,” Sampras said. “Just because of what the place meant to me and how big it was to the sport of tennis.”

SOURCE: Yahoo Sports

King of Queen's: Nadal heads list of Wimbledon challengers

LONDON—Until 1922, defending Wimbledon champions got a bye into the final while the rest of the field battled it out for the right to play them for the title. This year's Artois Championships, the annual men's warm-up held at Queen's Club in west London, looked a lot like one of those pre-1922 “challenge round” tournaments: Everyone but Federer.

Except for five-time champion Roger Federer, every serious contender for the Wimbledon title played Queen’s. Four-time French Open champ Rafael Nadal was there, as was Australian Open champ Novak Djokovic, and two-time Wimbledon finalist Andy Roddick. Plenty of darkhorses were also in the mix: Lleyton Hewitt, the 2002 Wimbledon champion; David Nalbandian, the 2002 Wimbledon finalist; Briton Andy Murray, Richard Gasquet, and Mario Ancic (the last man to beat Federer at Wimbledon.

Some up-and-coming prospects like Latvian Ernests Gulbis and Kei Nishikori, the Japanese newcomer also sounded warnings. Gulbis gave Murray a battle in the third round while Nishikori, playing in his first-ever grass-court tournament, took a set off Nadal and was afterwards called a future top-tenner by the Spaniard.

When the dust had settled at the end of the week, Nadal was not only the last player standing but the one who had taken down the other two top contenders for Federer’s Wimbledon crown - Roddick and Djokovic.

Queen’s is not just about bragging rights and getting your name on the enormous silver trophy alongside most of the grasscourt greats of the past 30 years. It’s also about scouting the opposition. And after two tight but decisive beatings by the Spaniard, both Roddick and Djokovic know that Nadal will be a daunting challenge at the All England Club in a weeks’ time.

“It’s not exactly a surprise that he's an extremely capable grass court player. He's proved that,” said Roddick after losing 7-5, 6-4 to Nadal, who had never won a grass title before last week but has reached the Wimbledon final each of the past two years.

SOURCE: Tennis.com - Read the rest of the article here

Injured Davenport aims to play Wimbledon

EASTBOURNE, England (AP)—Lindsay Davenport withdrew from the International Women’s Open on Tuesday with a knee injury, but expects to compete at Wimbledon.

Davenport, who was set to play in her first event since defaulting from her semifinal match against Maria Sharapova at Amelia Island in April, won the Eastbourne title in 2001, and Wimbledon in 1999.

“I am very disappointed to be unable to compete here but I unfortunately injured my right knee in practice over the weekend and was unable to recover in time for today’s match,” Davenport said in a brief statement released by Eastbourne organizers. “I look forward to it getting better and resting and, of course, being able to play next week at Wimbledon.”

Davenport, who has three Grand Slam singles titles, returned to the WTA Tour in August last year after an 11-month absence to have a baby. She has played only seven tournaments this year, winning titles at Auckland in January and Memphis in March.

SOURCE: Yahoo.com

Hingis to play Novotna in rematch of '97 Wimbledon final

LIVERPOOL, England -- Martina Hingis, banned from the WTA Tour for two years for testing positive for cocaine, will play an exhibition match against Jana Novotna during the Liverpool International tournament on Friday.

Organizers are billing it a rematch of the 1997 Wimbledon final. Hingis tested positive after a third-round exit at Wimbledon last year.

Hingis, a former No. 1 player and winner of five Grand Slams, retired for the second time last November, a day after her doping violation was made public. She denied using cocaine.

The International Tennis Federation disqualified Hingis' results from Wimbledon and other tournaments last year. She forfeited ranking points gained and $129,481 in prize money.

She's banned from competitive tennis until October, 2009.

Her 2-6, 6-3, 6-3 win over Novotna at Wimbledon in 1997 was one of the three majors she won that season. Only a loss in the French Open final prevented a season Grand Slam.

Changing of the guard?

Will this year's French Open be seen as a changing of the guard on the women's side? It's too early to say for sure, but you couldn't have drawn one up any better. World No. 1 and three-time defending champion Justine Henin retires two weeks before the tournament; one month later 20-year-old rising star and No. 2-ranked Ana Ivanovic takes advantage by winning her first major title and ascending to the top ranking. The whole thing was made even more strangely symmetrical when Henin appeared on stage with Ivanovic during the trophy presentation. It was almost as if she were handing over the keys to the WTA castle.

There's no doubt now that Ivanovic is for real. In the last 12 months, and particularly over the course of 2008, she's dispelled all doubts about her ability to stand up to the competition at the biggest moments. In the past she had seemed too nice, too demure, a little out of shape. But with her new team of coaches and trainers, she's methodically set about recasting herself and her game in a more ambitious image. Ivanovic lost weight, developed a fist-pump to remind herself of her desire and intensity (OK, it's still a little awkward but give her points for trying) and, for better or worse, began to embrace stardom and capitalize on her sex appeal. She sealed the deal in Paris by successfully managing her emotions and her tactics at just those crucial moments when she might have broken down in the past.

Is Ivanovic the next Henin, the next seven-Slam winner, and long-term No. 1? I'll say this: She could be. She has the smooth strokes and a strong serve to back then up, and she's growing as a competitor with every match. And most important of all, she wants it. If there's one element of Ivanovic's game that remains in question, it's her ability to fight off the power players. This spring she impressively won a big event in Indian Wells, then went to Key Biscayne and was belted off the court by Lindsay Davenport. And she's struggled thus far with the tour's heavy hitters -- Ivanovic is 1-5 against Venus and Serena Williams and 2-3 against Maria Sharapova.

Ivanovic needs to dictate. With her serve and her slap forehand, which she can hit for winners from anywhere, she's a first-strike player. While she showed improved defense at Roland Garros, sliding smoothly for difficult gets, she still doesn't like to react to hard-hit balls directed right at her. It's no accident that her first Slam title came on clay, a surface that gives her a little more time to absorb her opponents' best shots.

That won't be true of the grass at Wimbledon, which shoots the ball through more quickly. Ivanovic reached the semis there last year but was handled routinely by another first-strike artist, Venus Williams. Which just means that Ivanovic, two weeks after passing one test, will face another. She has the stuff to be a true No. 1, but I don't think she's ready to run through the Williamses and Sharapova and complete the rare French-Wimbledon double. Changings of the guard don't happen that quickly, do they?

SOURCE: ESPN

Dominant Duo

LONDON (AP) -- Rafael Nadal claimed the first grass-court title of his career Sunday when he defeated Novak Djokovic 7-6 (7-5), 7-5 in the final at Queen's Club.

Nadal is also the first player to win at Roland Garros and Queen's Club in the same year since Ilie Nastase in 1973.

"This week was amazing for me," Nadal said.

The win should give Nadal a confidence boost ahead of Wimbledon, particularly after his resounding straight-sets win over No. 1 Roger Federer in the French Open final.

"Wimbledon is (a) very, very important tournament, and the motivation is 100 percent," Nadal said. "Doesn't matter if I am tired mentally. Physically is a little bit more important, but I think physically I'm fine."

Federer, who has won the last five Wimbledon crowns, lost to Djokovic in this year's Australian Open semifinals. The Swiss earned his fifth title at Halle, Germany, earlier Sunday to extend his streak on grass to 59 wins.

Early on, Djokovic threatened to sweep the top-seeded Nadal aside in the same manner as his 6-1, 6-0 demolition of David Nalbandian in the semifinals.

Djokovic survived a break point in the opening game and then took a 2-0 lead on his fourth break point when he forced a forehand error from Nadal. The Serb earned a break point for a 4-0 lead, but Nadal struck a cross-court forehand winner and went on to break Djokovic in the fifth game.

Djokovic had another opportunity in the tiebreaker, leading 6-5 when a forehand from Nadal clipped the net cord and landed wide. Nadal leveled at 6-6 with a forehand winner, and two points later Djokovic netted a return to concede the set.

Nadal took advantage of Djokovic's frustration by breaking to lead 2-0 in the second set, but Djokovic immediately broke back before Nadal received treatment for blisters on his racket hand.

Both players had opportunities late in the set.

Nadal dropped his serve at love to leave Djokovic serving for the set, but the Spaniard won the final three games of the match, closing out with an easy volley at the net.

Djokovic was pleased with his performance -- especially since he has been playing on grass only three years.

"Well, I tried. It was a great match," he said. "It was a great atmosphere. It's been a terrific week."

SOURCE: Tennis.com

Federer breezes into Halle final, extends win streak on grass to 58

HALLE, Germany -- Roger Federer reached the Gerry Weber Open final on Saturday without dropping his serve in any match after a 6-1, 6-4 win against Germany's Nicolas Kiefer.

Federer pushed his record winning streak on grass to 58 matches at the Wimbledon warmup, which the top-ranked Swiss has claimed four times. Each time, he has gone on to win the grand slam tournament.

"Nobody has won the grand slam from the Gerry Weber Open before me," Federer said. "I hope I can do it again. The win streak is incredible."

In Sunday's final, Federer will face Philipp Kohlschreiber, who knocked seventh-ranked James Blake of the United States out of the tournament for the second straight year, 6-3, 7-5.

Blake's 33 aces heading into the match led the field, but the unseeded German broke his serve three times. The American's forehand sailed wide to end the match in 72 minutes.

Federer has served 39 times without a break at the tournament, as he extended his undefeated run at Halle to 24 wins. The event is his first this season on grass.

"The rhythm is coming along nicely for me, I'm moving well," said Federer, adding that Wimbledon was on his mind. "All in all, I played a great match today, especially the first set."


Roger Federer has not dropped his serve in any match during the event. (AP)
Kiefer, who has fallen to No. 38 after a wrist injury, was the last player to beat Federer in Halle -- back in 2002 in the semifinals. The next year Federer launched his grass streak at Halle, which includes five Wimbledon titles.

Federer broke the serve of Kiefer -- a 1999 winner and twice a losing finalist here -- in the first game, ending a trade of volleys by lashing one into the open court. Federer raced through the set in 22 minutes.

"At times we had some unbelievable rallies," Kiefer said. "I had some chances, but if you don't use them against the No. 1, 2 or 3, you get penalized."

Federer came into Halle after Rafael Nadal routed him in the French Open on Sunday, his worst loss to his rival.

The Spaniard's performance at Roland Garros made some think he may be ready to beat Federer at Wimbledon after losing the final in the last two years to the Swiss. Nadal beat four-time champion Andy Roddick 7-5, 6-4 Saturday to reach the final at the Queen's Club for the first time.

"I already know he can play on grass," Federer said. "Queen's is not Wimbledon, Halle is not Wimbledon."

At the Gerry Weber Open, none of Federer's four matches lasted much longer than the 65 minutes he spent on court Saturday.

SOURCE: CBS Sportsline

Nadal tops Roddick on grass in London

LONDON (TICKER) —Rafael Nadal has carried his dominant claycourt form onto grass.

The top-seeded Spaniard advanced to the final of the Artois Championships on Saturday with a 7-5, 6-4 victory over No. 3 Andy Roddick.

Nadal punctuated a remarkable European claycourt season on Sunday by capturing his fourth straight French Open title with a straight sets victory over world No. 1 Roger Federer. The transition to grass at this Wimbledon tune-up has done little to slow down the 22-year-old lefthander.

“The truth is that I’m feeling comfortable on grass,” said Nadal, who is bidding to become the first Spaniard to win a grass court title since Andres Gimeno at Eastbourne in 1972.

Nadal’s opponent in Sunday’s championship will be third-seeded Novak Djokovic, who steamrolled fourth-seeded Argentine David Nalbandian by a 6-1, 6-0 count.

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Roddick was the defending champion of this event and has won it four of the last five years, but Nadal never gave the American No. 1 an opportunity to gain the upperhand, saving all four break points he faced during the 88-minute encounter.

“It was an important match for me,” Nadal said. “This week has been amazing for me. Just very happy how I’m playing on grass. Especially very happy to play in the final here (at The Queen’s Club).”

In improving to 3-2 all-time against Roddick, Nadal continued what has been a remarkable stretch and finds himself just a win away from his first grasscourt title.

Nadal has won four of his last five events played - all claycourt tournaments - and gone 32-2 since losing to Djokovic in the Indian Wells semifinals during March.

The 27-time champion has an ATP-leading 48 wins this year and is quickly emerging as a trendy pick to deny Federer a sixth straight Wimbledon title in a few weeks.

“(Nadal) hits the ball pretty heavy,” said Roddick, who was appearing in his first tournament in more than a month due to a shoulder injury. “I think he’s learned on grass how to hit it through the court a little bit.

“I think the thing that helps him out the most as far as surface is the grass really helps out his serve. … His serve is a lot better on grass than it would be on a hard court or even a clay court for that matter.”

Djokovic also is candidate to top Federer at the All-England Club, but first he’ll look to exact a measure of revenge on Nadal, who holds an 8-3 edge in their all-time series.

“I’m looking forward to it,” said Djokovic, who retired in the third set against Nadal at Wimbledon last year due to a toe blister. “We played only one time on grass courts, last year Wimbledon. I was unfortunate to finish that way due to injury.

“But this time I feel much more comfortable on this surface, more experienced. I gained a lot of confidence, matured. Physically, I’m much better. So it can be very interesting match.”

The reigning Australian Open champion, Djokovic faced Nadal twice during the claycourt season and on both occasions he stood to overtake the Spaniard as the world No. 2 with a victory.

But in each instance, the third-ranked Serb was unable to solve Nadal - the game’s premier claycourt player.

“(Nadal is) making very few mistakes these days on grass courts, so this can be a trouble for me,” said Djokovic, who is attempting to become the first player this season to win a title on three different surfaces. “I need to step it up and just be aggressive because it’s much better playing him on the faster surfaces than on his favorite, clay.”

Djokovic was dominant in his semifinal win over Nalbandian, winning 12 straight games to close the match in 48 minutes.

“Having these kind of performances, these easy victories, is always good before the finals,” Djokovic said. “Honestly, I wasn’t expecting such an easy match. Knowing that Nalbandian has a lot of experience and he loves to play on this surface. … I was preparing for a tough match.”

First prize is $133,000.

SOURCE: Yahoo

Commentators: Too much talk, too many talkers

1. Too many talking heads

For Serena Williams’ first round match at Roland Garros, for example, ESPN had four, count ’em four, commentators: Dick Enberg, Mary Carillo, Mary Joe Fernandez, and Pam Shriver courtside. What, they couldn’t squeeze John McEnroe, Pat McEnroe, and Bud Collins in there, too? Even the Superbowl usually uses fewer people in the booth.
At a minimum, tennis broadcasters feel compelled to have three folks in the booth (a play-by-play guy, plus two "color" commentators) and one courtside for all matches. Clearly, someone has circulated an email suggesting there is strength in numbers, but it’s just not the case. This overkill approach turns telecasts into bad dinner parties, where everyone feels the need to get their two-cents into the discussion. Net result is a cacophony of incessant back-and-forth banter, much of which is off-topic. I sometimes feel John McEnroe spends more time talking about how lightweight racquets and string technology allow the players to hit the ball harder than he could in his day than he does actually calling the matches.

This dinner-party dynamic is part and parcel of a second problem. . . .

2. Too much talk

Tennis announcers dread silence, or dead air, as if they were working for radio. This all-the-time chatter ranges from the insignificant to the significant, the obscure to the obvious. One dreadful example: During an Ana Ivanovic match at the French, Ivanovic approached the net to take a floater out of the air. Enberg, who, I’m sorry, needs to start his retirement today, announced that Ivanovic is, well, coming to the net. It was quite helpful . . . . for all viewers of ESPN who happen to be blind, that is. In another match, the commentators described in detail how the chair umpire is checking a ball mark, as if viewers would mistake his pointing to the clay for something else.

Sadly, there are countless examples. And Enberg isn’t the only guilty one. Mary Carillo and John McEnroe need to dial their talk (and egos) back. Ted Robinson could throw a few dozen fewer softball questions to McEnroe and, while he’s at it, stop offering up almost by-the-minute affirmations to Mac’s commentary. It’s all enough to drive tennis fans nuts. Really, how many times during a match do we have to be reminded that this is a "big match"? How many times do we have to hear those tired background stories? (I might lose it if I listen to the Ivanovic-pool chestnut one more time.)

Source: Tennis.com - Read Full Story