Rafael Nadal’s, Roger Federer’s 2012 French Open outfits!!
This is what Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer will wear at the 2012 French Open, where Rafa will try to win his 7th French Open title!!
Archive for the ‘Featured’ Category
Caroline Wozniacki drops Ricardo Sanchez as Coach
After only two months working for Caroline Wozniacki, coach Ricardo Sanchez has been dropped from her team. It appears as though the split was caused after Caroline’s father Piotr, still looked like he was the sole lead in coaching his daughter.
After losing at the Australian Open, Wozniacki has gone down in the rankings to No. 4 in the world. It is unknown who she will hire as a new coach or if she will hire another coach at all, but she hasn’t been confident on the road to a Slam win ever since claiming that number one spot. Her father Piotr is quoted saying that his daughter just didn’t get a lot of inspiration from Sanchez and he couldn’t handle being the one in the middle of the father-daughter coaching relationship.
Hopefully because of her drop, Caroline will find a new hunger to pursue her goal of becoming a Grand Slam champion. She actually has a good chance at the upcoming Roland Garros in May. Well known for her ability to play defense, on a surface like clay it’s really important to use the maximum amount of your agility to get to every ball, so hopefully she will have a breakthrough there and a strong record coming into Paris.
Sorana Cirstea Whips an On the Run Forehand Winner
Here is the hot shot of the tournament so far. Sorana Cirstea finishes a lengthy rally with a quallity forehand at full stretch.
Its strange because it seems like her forehand technique isnt great… very whippy!
Venus Williams puts off return to the tour
Former world number one Venus Williams has withdrawn from next year’s ASB Classic in Auckland, New Zealand where she would make her first appearance in a tournament since August.
Venus has played at a recent exhibition in Milan and has played only four tournaments in the 2011 season but is still recovering from Sjogren’s syndrome, which causes joint pain and fatigue.
Organizer’s of the event have stated that she is just not ready to come back to the pro circuit. Venus, who is now 31 does have the Australian Open ahead of her coming up on January 16th, so we are all hoping Venus will make her appearance there and hopefully do well in her comeback.
Caroline Wozniacki Hires New Coach
World number one Caroline Wozniacki has finally hired a new coach to replace her father, Piotr. The Dane announced a couple of months ago that she and her father have decided no to work together on a coaching basis, but didn’t announce the name of her new coach since the announcement.
Her father Piotr accompanied his daughter to tournaments even after they agreed to split, but a Danish newspaper recently announced that her new coach will be Spain’s Ricardo Sanchez.
Wozniacki hasn’t had any luck at the Grand Slam events, and didn’t even reach the semis at the year-ending championships this year. The Spanish coach has stated that his goal will be to get the number one player up to her potential and win the Australian Open next month.
Hopefully Sanchez will be a good coaching match for her and will help her win at least one Slam to consolidate her top ranking in the women’s game. If she is to win a Grand Slam she shouldn’t play so many tournaments throughout the year and make wise choices as to where to play in order to get ready for a Grand Slam. I think Ricardo will help her realize her objectives as a player and maybe we will see an improvement in her game next year!
WILSON STEAM 100 BLX Tennis Racquet Review
Wilson Sporting Goods has made some changes to their tennis racquet line for 2012. One thing Wilson has done is to categorize racquet by three types: Control & Spin, Power & Spin, and Power & Comfort. I was able to play-test their new STEAM 100 BLX racquet which is placed in the “Power & Spin” category.
APPEARANCE / STYLE
The WILSON STEAM 100 BLX simply looks great! It has an exciting & colorful red/white/blue/yellow scheme and probably won’t show scratches or other “war-wounds” like some “plain” racquets often do. If you ignore the paint you’ll see that it is a bit of an “old school” design, i.e., flat-beam construction. But, as you read below, it is an “all new” product.
TECHNOLOGY
The WILSON STEAM 100 BLX features two of Wilson’s newer tech features:
1) Basalt (BLX): Basalt fibers are woven into the frame to reduced unwanted frequencies (vibrations) and to provide better feedback and feel;
2) Double Holes: Increased diameter on grommet holes to allow more string freedom which increases the “sweet spot” and adds power.
SPECIFICATIONS
The WILSON STEAM 100 BLX Mid Plus has a 100” head and weighs 10.4 oz. unstrung. It has a moderate16 x 20 pattern and is 5 points* head-light. It has a moderate 23 mm flat beam. It is rated by Wilson as appropriate for players with a medium to long swing. It is an extended-length racquet with a 27 ¼” length.* Wilson literature states 5 pts. HL, however, the frame decal states 8 pts. HL.
GROUNDSTROKES
The STEAM 100 BLX is outstanding at the baseline. It hits groundstrokes with confidence and power. Its control (ball placement) was exceptionally good—one can really swing-away and have some fun moving your opponent around! It is surprisingly quick considering its extended length—getting it around is not any problem at all. The only negative—and it is a very minor issue (I’m being picky)—is it has a slight more vibration than I anticipated. But this only occurs, however, on off-center hits. This vibration did not bother me at all—just surprised me. After about one set I forgot about it.
VOLLEYS
The WILSON STEAM 100 BLX provided excellent control on volleys and its power was above average. It reacts quickly on reflex-volleys and, again, its extended length was not a negative at the net.
OVERHEADS
The STEAM 100 BLX performed well on overhead “smashes”. It was solid and the accuracy was very good.
SERVES
The WILSON STEAM 100 BLX is really in it’s element on serves. I was able to generate excellent racquet-head speed and the extra .25” seems to provide a little more “pop”. I was very impressed with its accuracy and power. It does everything right when serving.
SPIN POTENTIAL
The STEAM 100 BLX provides sufficient spin and its 23mm beam gives enough clearance on slice shots. Whether topspin, underspin, or side-spin, it does it all well.
CONCLUSION
The WILSON STEAM 100 BLX is a racquet that has excellent “feel” and provides good power. Its accuracy is outstanding and it’s a “rock-star” when serving. It should be great for a wide range of players. i.e., “touch” players will love it as well as big-hitting baseliners. It’s a light, modern, well-designed stick that is suitable for players in the 3.0 – 5.0 range (NTRP).
Greg Christopherson is a professional tennis stringer who lives in Oceanside, Calif.
ATP World Tour Finals 2011: Line-Up
We have reached the last tournament of the ATP season featuring the 8 best players of the year competing for the ultimate honor in men’s tennis. Let’s take a look at the two groups and who will feature in each one.
Group A:
1. Novak Djokovic
3. Andy Murray
5. David Ferrer
7. Tomas Berdych
Group B:
2. Rafael Nadal
4. Roger Federer
6. Jo-Wilfried Tsonga
8. Mardy Fish
Play is due to start on Sunday November 20, 2011 at 7 am Eastern time with coverage being streamed on the Tennis Channel in the US. First up is Group B with Federer vs Tsonga and later on Nadal vs Fish. There should be some very good tennis up on display during the week and it will be exciting to see which of the Top 4 will hold up best, or if a dark horse should emerge from the shadows to claim the title at this year’s year-ending championships. Stay tuned!
Li Na Splits with Coach
Current French Open champion, Li Na has reportedly split with Danish coach Michael Mortensen. The main reason of the split according to the 29 year-old is because she didn’t like his sort of passive, mild and gentle way of coaching.
Mortensen did coach Li Na to her first Slam win in Roland Garros, but the top player of China has experienced a slump during the summer, losing in the second round of Wimbledon and the first round of the US Open. With that being said, Mortensen was also the technical coach of number one ranked Caroline Wozniacki.
Li Na Highest Earning Female Tennis Player
Li Na is now by far the richest tennis player! Maria Sharapova was previously the highest, earning over $24 million each year in prizemoney and endorsements. Now, Li Na has over $42 million on endorsement contracts.
“We could do five more endorsement deals but she just doesn’t have the time,” said Eisenbud, a vice president at Coral Gables, Florida-based IMG Tennis who signed Li in November 2009. “It’s incredible.”
Since winning the French Open, Li Na has signed contracts with Daimler and Chinese insurance company Taikang Life Insurance Co.
“It was hard to set the price” after Li’s triumph in Paris, Eisenbud said. “We had to change it a lot.”
Radek Stepanek: Solid Results to Win the ATP Washington Tournament
Radek Stepanek has performed amazingly well and has found a way to win the ATP Tour title in Washington.
Stepanek was a little lucky as Mardy Fish had to withdraw from the tournament, but he had a string of very solid wins, including the final where he beat Gael Monfils 6-4 6-4 to take the title.
This is Stepanek’s fifth title and his first ATP 500 win. At 32, he is the oldest player in the top 100.
Caption Competition: Roger Federer Going a Little Crazy!
This makes me wondering if Roger Federer is starting to lose his mind on and off the court.
This is a great picture we found from the 2011 Australian Open.
Caption Competition: Caption the picture in the comments.
Ana Ivanovic and Her Run of Bad Results Continues
Nigel Sears was praying that Ana Ivanovic could actually get some form on the court, but it still seems to be eluding her.
Ana was leading 30-0 and serving for the second set in her match against Morita, but could find a way to close that set out and eventually lost 6-2 7-5.
It seems like Ana is struggling with her confidence at the moment and it is now being moved to her results on the court. Potentially, she wants to now win too much!
Serena Williams Defeats 6-0 6-0 But Losses Likeability in My Eyes
Anastasia Rodionova gets a very big tennis lesson after her 6-0 6-0 loss to Serena Williams at the Bank of the West Classic in Stanford. It is very rare that you see a 6-0 6-0 loss in professional tennis and its quite sad for Rodionova.
- 6 aces
- 100% first serve points won (17/17)
- 82% second serve return points won
- Faced no break points
- 83% service points won
- 71% total points won
- 6-0, 6-0
- 47 minutes
The only thing I didnt like about the win is that Serena looked very cocky and even being a smart-ass at times.
John-Patrick Smith: Australian Player To Watch
When I was back home playing big tournaments in Australia there was a young junior who was gaining traction. The guys name was John-Patrick Smith. JP decided to go to university in the USA after high school and not try to make it straight onto the ATP Tour. Now JP is about finish university (with a great collegiate record) and give the ITF and maybe one day the ATP Tour a go!
Last week JP entered the Tulsa Future event and he has to win through qualifying to make the main draw (since he didn’t have any ITF points and no world ranking), which he did. No one gave him a chance to win the tournament, but JP had an amazing tournament won the USA F19 Tulsa tournament for both Singles and Doubles (singles final score was 6-1 6-0).
I can see JP having a great end to 2011 and taking his ITF ranking from 1,200 to around 600 (at least). Expect big things from JP in the coming years!
Liezel Huber Really Disappointed with the Talent of South African Tennis
Liezel Huber has been talking out to CNN about the state of South African tennis. Huber has been a top doubles player in the world for many years and she was basically forced to move to the USA from South Africa to improve her game at the age of 15.
“In South Africa I don’t think they are looking at it as a business. That’s kind of what hurts the most,” she said. “When Wes Moodie and I won Wimbledon doubles titles in 2005, I actually thought it would change tennis in South Africa. Nothing changed. Maybe there’s more important things to spend money on, maybe tennis is not important. Maybe it’s more important for the government to build schools. I’m not there so I’m not sure why tennis is not getting funding. But it shows.”
Huber recently went back to South Africa to hold a clinic but was very disappointed with the talent.
South African tennis really needs to step up their game and get the top players to really try to give back to get more kids involved at the grass roots of the game.
Gisela Dulko to Marry Fernando Gago in Argentina
Last week we talked about Elena Dementieva and her marriage. Now it is Gisela Dulko’s turn to get married. Dulko will marry Real Madrid soccer player Fernando Gago next Tuesday in Argentina.
Dulko has been playing great on tour and she was even named as Argentina’s Sportswoman of the year last year.
Congrats to Gisela Dulko!
US Open 2011 Tickets Now on Sale
USTA have opened up ticket sales to the US Open 2011. Anyone can now head over to the official ticket partner (ticketmaster) and purchase US Open 2011 tickets now.
It is expected that the US Open is going to be an amazing tournament with the return of the Williams sisters and we will see if Novak Djokovic can keep the number 1 ranking in the world.
You can buy direct from Ticketmaster here.
Sam Querrey and Nikolay Davydenko Make Quick Exits at Australian Open 2011
There has been some great matches on the first day of the Australian Open 2011. For me there were two match results that stuck out from the crowd. Florian Mayer def. Nikolay Davydenko (23) – 6-3 4-6 7-6 6-4 and Lukasz Kubot def. Sam Querrey (18) 5-7 6-2 3-6 6-1 8-6.
Davydenko was completely out of sorts today and never really bough his A game to Melbourne Park. However, Kubot played an amazaing match and pushed out a fighting Sam Querrey. I had the pleasure of playing juniors with Kubot and he probably the only guy that is taller and has a bigger serve than Sam Querrey on tour!
British Tennis With the Same Old Story: Right Direction but Give Us Time
This morning I read a very interesting article over on the BBC website about the state of British tennis. I thought I would embed the whole article here for everyone to read. It would be great to hear your thoughts on the matter, and is this only happening in British tennis or are their other countries also not performing?
Another year, another £60m outlay. More promises, more plans.
And the usual answers to the standard questions: “We’re heading in the right direction… give us time…”
Groundhog day at the National Tennis Centre, the unfailingly spotless home of the Lawn Tennis Association, where the annual accounts of the governing body were revealed on Wednesday accompanied by the annual plea for patience.
£59m was earned during 2010, up almost £3m on last year, with the majority coming, as usual, from the generous folk up the road at Wimbledon.
At 17, Bolton’s George Morgan is among the crop of current British hopefuls
Expenditure included £10m on business support, £3m on commercial, £16m on competitions and events, £13m on growth and development and another £13m on talent. £60m in total, a loss of just under £1m.The LTA, defending the expenditure, says definite progress is being made.
The number of adults playing weekly is up above 500,000 for the first time, the number of juniors regularly competing is above 41,000 and the number of juniors “on track” for a professional career is also up (31 in 2010 compared with 26 last year).
There are new sponsorship deals, more indoor courts, and the long-awaited surge of tennis equipment and educational tools into primary schools.
A healthy crop of junior talent – “more depth than before” according to chief executive Roger Draper – backs up a successful year for several British women, especially the inspiring Elena Baltacha, 55 in the world, and the promising Heather Watson whose transition from the junior ranks appears to be going impressively to plan (175 in the world already).
But the ranking figures on the men’s side continue to let the side down. If progress is being made in so many areas (and it clearly is) how can this simple rankings fact be explained: In 2006, there were nine British men inside the top 300 and three inside the top 100. In 2010 there are only three inside 300 and just Andy Murray inside 100?
Over four years, since the arrival of the current regime at the top of the LTA, men’s tennis – including the Davis Cup team – has unquestionably gone backwards.
April’s Davis Cup defeat in Lithuania was an all-time low – the lack of talent beneath Andy Murray cruelly exposed – and led to the “departure” of captain John Lloyd. It also signalled the end for coach Paul Annacone, who finally left the organisation in September to coach Roger Federer. The era of celebrity coaches at the NTC had come to an end.
Like Brad Gilbert and Peter Lundgren before them, Lloyd and Annacone were on extremely healthy contracts. A vast amount of money has left British tennis in the past three years to resolve these deals. Money well spent? Yes, says Draper, brushing aside the rankings history.
But how many indoor courts could have been built with just a fraction of the cash dished to the celebrity quartet?
Unsurprisingly, this matter wasn’t discussed during the speeches at the AGM. Contract pay-offs must appear somewhere within the balance sheet, we just don’t know where. Perhaps under “developing and supporting talent”.
As the speeches continued, and they tend to drone on at these kind of functions, I decided to escape to the indoor courts. On the way, a pit stop at the canteen for a famous LTA coffee and a hello to a few familiar faces.
James Ward, the British number two, had just come off court with his coach, and fellow Arsenal fanatic, Greg Rusedski.
Ward, 201 in the world, will probably be the number one player in the Davis Cup team when Tunisia visit in March so this is a big season ahead for the Londoner.
He’s got a wild card into the Sydney International at the start of the year – a great chance to win a couple of matches at ATP level and take that ranking upwards!
Good to see Jamie Baker too. More injury trouble in 2010 for the unluckiest man in British tennis but he keeps at it, keeps believing. He’s back at futures level for the time being so good luck to him as he grinds his way back.
And so to the courts where, I must confess, I watched some tennis to back up the optimism of the men in suits.
Seventeen-year-old George Morgan from Bolton, fresh from winning the prestigious Orange Bowl in Florida last week, was playing Nottingham 15-year-old Luke Bambridge. I’m told they’re among the hardest workers in the British junior ranks. The coaches love their attitude.
What impressed me most about their session, supervised by coaches Colin Beecher and Magnus Tideman, was the general positivity of the play. Always aggressive, always with an eye for stepping in, moving through the ball and up the court.
This was refreshing to see. Most of the junior tennis I’ve seen at the NTC over the years has been “up and down” – solid baseline stuff, nothing spectacular, a distinct shortage of collective “weapons”.
Morgan has a monster backhand and Bambridge does damage with his forehand; a couple of useful serves too; good feel for an approach shot.
As Davis Cup captain Leon Smith looked on, I couldn’t help wondering whether this was a sign of a new attacking ethos. Smith pointed out that for all the talk of slower courts and lack of net play in the modern game, rallies still only last an average of 4-6 shots. It’s all about taking opportunities and pouncing on chances when they appear. Good to hear.
Smith now heads up the coaching team on the men’s side and, along with Beecher and other committed LTA staffers, has seen the celebrity coaching era come and go. Now is the time to invest in British coaches, the bedrock of the sport in this country.
As Tony Nadal said on 5 Live the other night, there is no miracle cure or proven scientific solution to coaching tennis players. Whatever people may say, Smith and Beecher have as good a shot as Gilbert and Annacone of producing champions. And they’re a damn sight cheaper.
Tideman, the Swede, will be coaching Morgan this season as he takes the first few steps out of the junior ranks and into the big wide world of the senior game. A big job.
This crucial transition period can make or break a player but the LTA are keener than ever not to rush these kids. Patience will be the key. At least with Kyle Edmund, Liam Broady and Oliver Golding, Morgan spearheads an impressive crop of British juniors. Good luck to them all next season.
On the adjacent courts, a few 10-year-olds from the Aegon Future Stars programme were merrily hitting away.
I love the innocence of these kids. The racquets always look way too big, the angle of the serve makes it look trigonometrically impossible to clear to the net.
Good luck to them (keep at it!), although this radio commentator politely invites a colleague to take over before little Boris makes his Wimbledon debut!
They may not make it, they may not even be playing in a couple of years, but it’s always invigorating to watch young kids playing sport. And, make no mistake, there were some classy touches from Cameron Kerr (Renfrewshire), Kai Maxted (Sussex) and Boris Ivanyuzhenkov (London).
Martina Navratilova Released from Hospital
Martina Navratilova has been released from hospital, she spent three days after her fluid-filled lungs forced her to abandon her attempt to climb Africa’s highest mountain.
The 54-year-old tennis great was carried down Mount Kilimanjaro on a stretcher Thursday night and Friday morning. Navratilova said she knew by Wednesday she wouldn’t be able to reach the summit of the 19,340-foot mountain in Tanzania.
“I didn’t feel badly, I just couldn’t breathe. I couldn’t get a full breath of air,” Navratilova said shortly her release from the Nairobi hospital, where she was treated for high-altitude pulmonary edema. “Nothing hurt, and for an athlete that’s weird. Nothing hurt but I (couldn’t) go on.”
