Archive for August, 2008

Posted on August 28, 2008 - by Michael

Wimbledon Olympic Venue 2012

Yes, the 2008 Olympic closing ceremony has just finished and we are talking about The 2012 Olympic Host London !!.

Of particular interest to tennis fans is that the Tennis Venue for 2012 Olympics will be The All England Club, Wimbledon! On the 24th of August My Ian Ritchie who is the CEO for The All England Club officially accepted the Olympic Handover Flag.

“We are thrilled to have marked the return of the Olympics to Wimbledon in 2012 with the raising of the Olympic Handover Flag.”

Wimbledon raised the London Olympic Handover Flag simultaneously with other regions around the UK who are also hosting 2012 events.

What an exciting time for The All England Club, Wimbledon and UK !!

Posted on August 27, 2008 - by The Insider

US Open Day 2 Coverage

At the US Open on day 2 there weren’t too many upsets. Federer, Robredo and Fernando Gonzalez all breezed through their first round matches, but it was the same story for 22nd seed Tomas Berdych, who was bundled out by young American Sam Querrey in straight sets (6-3 6-1 6-2).

On the women’s side of the draw Ivanovic won a tight three set match, and I cant see her really even making it to the semi finals in the tournament. However, both Williams sisters are in good form and they cruised into the second round. Amelie Mauresmo had a good win in the first round when she played compatriot Nathalie Dechy. This was going to be one of the toughest first round matches and Mauresmo showed some of her fighting spirit, winning 6-2 in the third set.

After the first round matches I still think we are going to see Djokovic, Federer and Nadal in the semi finals, but I think it will be interested to see who joins them.

Posted on August 26, 2008 - by The Insider

The US Open 2008 Has Now Started and Here Are The Scores On The Doors From Day 1

The US Open is now up and running and there have already been some interesting results on Day 1.

Raphael Nadal has started off with a solid straight sets win over Bjorn Phau (GER) 7-6 6-3 7-6. Even though the set scores were really close Nadal always seems to find a way to win the tiebreaks.

In other matches James Blake (9) struggled in his first round match with fellow American Donald Young. Blake ended up winning 6-4 in the 5th set. This was a great result however for Young, who is still new to ATP tour matches since he stopped playing juniors. Young has a lot of expectation on his shoulders from the USTA, and it will be great to see how he progresses in the coming years. I think he could cause a few surprises in the years to come.

Juan Martin Del Porto survived a really tough first round match over Guillermo Canas. Del Porto was the 17th seed, but was expected to really have a fight on his hands, and in the end he came out triumphant.

Other winners were Andy Murray, Gael Monfils, Stanislas Wawrinka and David Nalbandian.

On the womens side there were straight forward wins for Jelena Jankovic, Lindsay Davenport, Elena Dementieva, and Svetlana Kuznetsova. The only surprise was that glamour girl of the women’s tour Maria Kirilenko couldn’t live up to her 22nd seeding and was put out in three close sets. I really hope Kirilenko doesnt end up being another Ana Kornikova!

Posted on August 24, 2008 - by The Insider

What Tennis Forums Are The Best?

Since launch The Tennis Times a month or so ago, we have been trying to find places to promote our services and interact with players and the general public. Normally to do this forums are the best places to head, however I have noticed there are only limited amounts of forums that are actually worth visiting. Here are a couple of tennis forums that are really worth joining:

• TennisForum.com
• The Tennis Warehouse Forum
• Tennis.com
  

Im trying to find out where all the players and tennis supports hang out. Do they hang out in other forums and if so which ones?

Posted on August 23, 2008 - by The Insider

Adidas inspired by Ana Ivanovic, shoes for 2008 US Open

It has been rumoured that Ana Ivanovic will be wearing a specially designed Adidas shoes at this years US Open. It has been rumoured that it will be a unique feminine version of the Barricade V. In addition, the shoes will have this playful graphic of the world No.1, pearlized white on white, which stretches across the upper side of the shoe.

Will this shoes make the difference for Ivanovic to actually challenge for the 2008 US Open title? Doubt it!

Posted on August 22, 2008 - by The Insider

Rafa Is Now World Number 1

Posted on August 22, 2008 - by The Insider

US Open Main Draw Announced

After the highlights of the Olympics the US Open is now just around the corner and the draw have just been announced. The draws can be found here. For the first time in years Roger Federer will not be the mens number 1 seed. Since Nadal is now world number 1, will he be able to rise to actually turning up to a Grand Slam tournament as favourite?

I cant wait, I have a strange feeling that there are going to be a lot of upsets at this years US Open.

Posted on August 22, 2008 - by The Insider

Etienne de Villers to Step Down as ATP Executive Chairman and President

Etienne de Villers who is the Executive Chairman and President of the ATP has today announced that he will not be renewing his contract at the end of the 2008 season. Etienne has been in his current position since 2005.

The ATP now has record breaking levels of prize money, new world class tournaments, a healthier calendar structure and unprecedented levels of promotion. Will the departure of Etienne lead to a new era for the ATP? Currently the tour has been coming under a lot of fire from players and tournaments about their new calendar, and with the ATP currently holding a monopoly in the sport, I think it is only going to be a matter of time before we see a rival company and calendar hit the scene.

Posted on August 18, 2008 - by Michael

Roger Federers Journey

On the 18th of August 2008 we are all going to witness Roger Federers number one ranking being handed to Rafael Nadal.

By no means is this the end for Roger, however here is a quick summary of his journey to number one.

1996 - 15 Year Old Roger was a pupil at the Swiss National Tennis Centre

1997 - Swiss Junior Champion

1998 - Junior Wimbledon Champion

1999 - Started the year ranked 302

2000 - Started the year ranked 64

2001 - Started the year ranked 29

2001 - Beat Pete Sampras

2002- Started the year ranked 13

2003 - Started the year ranked 6

2003 - Wimbledon Champion

2004 - Started the year ranked 2

2004 - Tennis Masters Cup

2004 - Australian Open

2004 - Became number 1 player in the world

Federer has dominated the sport for many years. The sign of a true champion. History shows us that these champions come along and change how the sport is played. They take the sport to a new level and rewrite the books.

Coaches and players have studied how Federer changed the game and needed to create a plan to conquer this dominant force. Being such a champion must be stressful. The focus is entirely on you and people want to crack the code.

Rafael Nadal and his team has proven they created a plan and trained for many years. Tested and modified  their strategy where appropriate, persisted and executed it.

They had one single goal in mind to create a game which would take them to number one in the world. In this generation that meant conquering the game that Roger Federer owned and played on his terms.

Every champion owns a piece of the game. They created a moment in time. Thanks to them the game of tennis evolved to a new dimension. Tennis will be forever grateful to Roger for the impact he has had on the game.

Being number one for such a long time must be a lonely place. He would be very much be in a defensive mindset while others try and crack him open. Well done to Rafael Nadal.

Rafael Nadal has brought a new dimension to replace the previous one created by Roger Federer.

I would love to see what Roger does over the next few months. Does he relax, reflect and himself work out how to change his game to become number one in the world again.Becoming number one again would be his first goal - then the elusive Grand Slam. I personally would love to see Roger win all 4 Grand Slams. I would love to watch that piece of history unfold. I honestly think he deserves it.

Whatever the future holds - tennis is the winner having had Federer in the sport.

Michael

Posted on August 10, 2008 - by Michael

Enhance Coordination and Awareness

Ok, I heard about this last night and tried it. This is a great little test and skill enhancer. We are not working on improving any stroke in particular however your whole game will improve.

The drill goes like this.

What you need - 2 players. One Serving and the other Receiving. 2 balls - one for the server and one for the receiver.

1. The Receiver starts the drill by bouncing a ball on their racquet, not letting it touch the ground.
2. The server serves another ball whenever he or she is ready. - Second Serve speed - about 80% serve.
3. The receiver must continue to keep bouncing the ball on their racquet, hit the ball the server served and continue bouncing the ball on their racquet.

It sounds difficult however you work it out after a few serves. What I worked out is - tap the ball gently only leaving the racquet about 1 foot. Just after the server makes contact with the ball tap the ball higher (not sure how high I was not watching the ball in the air - I was focussing on the return- maybe 3 meters)

This really trains you to work on your peripheral vision and after a while you are actually become quite relaxed and confident you can make the return and keep bouncing the ball on your racquet.

After you have finished that drill try hitting normal returns… How easy are they now !!!

By overloading your system you work on all your senses. An advanced version of this would be to have people throwing balls at you, random noise next to you, or obstacles you need to step around. When all these distractions are taken away and ‘all’ you have to do is hit a return it much easier !

What do you think? Leave a comment or let us know another drill you like and use

Michael