Jason Kubler is an Australian player on the rise. Jason is only 18 and he has just won his fourth Future tournament. Jason just won the ITF Future tournament in Bundaberg (Queensland, Australia) over (8) John Millman 6-4 1-6 6-1.
“It’s always nice to win in Australia, it’s the first time I’ve done it, so that’s good.
“It was a tough match and I was getting pretty tired out there, I was just lucky enough to get the third set.
“John is a very good player, he is always going to come out and try as hard as he can. I knew that coming into the match and I just had to try as hard as I could and see who was going to win,” said Kubler.
This is what Roger Federer will be wearing at the Masters events in Rome and Madrid. These outfits are of course Nike and specifically Nike Smash Clay range.
Questions are being raised on whether Rafa will be fit for the clay season, his success in the clay court stint has earned him the nickname “King of Clay”.
When Rafael Nadal edged past Jo-Wilfried Tsonga to advance to the semi finals at the Sony Ericsson Open, he looked to have found form that would have beaten Roger Federer in the Desert at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden. The world number two cut out the forehand errors that were very common in his match against Federer, with Tsonga unable to answer the Spaniard’s exceptional speed and accuracy. Rumours started circulating, only hours after the match, that Rafa had suffered some kind of leg injury during the match. The following day, Nadal confirmed he had a left knee injury that needed a lot of treatment and rest.
While the World number 2 has stated he plans to be ready for his home masters tournament in Monte Carlo in two weeks, there are various officials casting doubt on whether he will be ready in time. The impact of his absence in Monte Carlo could have on his game is quite significant as it is the first masters of the year on clay and provides very good preparation for Roland Garros, which is only a month and a half away. Now while Rafa has plenty of time to recover before he begins his only Grand Slam defence, will he be playing his best tennis and able to not hold back on his left knee? We look back to January at this year’s Australian Open, Rafa stated he had to hold back on his stretching and putting weight on his leg, due to a crack before walking on court.
At the moment it’s all just speculation, we will have to wait and see what form the world number two has in a couple of weeks, but if he isn’t able to rely and put full strain on his left knee, I don’t see him defending his title in Monte Carlo or at the French Open.
Andy Murray yet again joined in with April fools day today, by suggesting he was skipping the entire clay court season to prepare for Wimbledon.
The world number four isn’t a stranger to April fools as last year he announced his new coach would be his friend, Ross Hutchins. Though Andy can sometimes be seen as “moody” and “grumpy” on court, these times are such a good reminder that he is quite a hilarious personality off court and is considered quite a joker among his fellow players on the ATP Tour.
Andy had this to say at his Announcement, “I spoke with Ivan and it just makes so much sense. At the French, I was looking at a semi at best, especially with Rafa around, so it’s down to me to get a head start on Nole and the others for my home grand slam. Right now, Wimbledon is my number one goal.”
While some have taken this announcement seriously, I think its good time to embrace the lighter side of Andy ahead of his very serious match against the world number one Novak Djokovic, in the Miami final tonight. Andy won their last meeting, in Dubai where the conditions are quite similar to that of Miami, I’m hoping for Murray’s first Masters title of the year, reliving his success in 2009.
Nick Bollettieri was at the Sony Ericsson Open 2012 cheering on Tommy Haas. Tommy Haas is still playing a few matches on tour, but he hasnt been able to get any good results of late.
Although it happened about two weeks ago, I thought I’d show you guys a clip from the quarterfinal women’s match where Maria Kirilenko faced Maria Sharapova. Two point away from the end of the match, Kirilenko apparently tapped her racquet a few times against the court during the point and the point was subsequently stopped by the referee and called a hindrance. If you didn’t catch that while you were there or watching on TV, here’s your chance for a replay of the incident.
It has been confirmed that Brazil will hold their first WTA Tournament in 11 years next year. The 2013 event has been announced, but they are still trying to work out a date, location and other details.
Federation president Jorge Lacerda says Brazil “got the needed approval to give this gift to Brazil’s women’s tennis. One of our goals is to make women’s tennis grow, taking advantage of the 2016 Olympics in Rio.”
It was recently announced that the Hopeman Cup would be moved into the ITF’s control. Moments after this happened, Founder Paul McNamee was sacked as tournament director.
A boardroom battle at an International Tennis Federation meeting in Vienna resulted in former Wimbledon doubles champion McNamee out of the unique tournament he founded almost a quarter of a century ago along with others including Aussie Wimbledon winner Pat Cash.
The ITF will take over the lucrative event before passing management rights onto its junior partner Tennis Australia.
I never knew that Juan Monaco was dating model Zaira Nara. Well anyways.. Juan Monaco had a great birthday yesterday as he defeated Mardy Fish in the quarterfinals of the Sony Ericsson Open and the win was watch by his girlfriend. Wonder what present she gave him for his birthday.
Serena Williams seems to have come out with yet another stupid comment. After her loss at the Sony Ericsson Open in Miami to Caroline Wozniacki, Serena said the following:
“The good thing is I could’ve played a lot better,” Serena told reporters. “I probably played about 20 percent. You know, it would really suck and if I had to sit here and say I couldn’t do any better. That’s not the case. I just made a tremendous amount of errors. There’s no reason for that. I’m older and I shouldn’t do that. There’s no excuse. I just gotta stop that. It’s silly.”
Serena only played at 20 percent. Is this not just a rude comment towards Wozniacki and her play?
Here is the promotional video for the upcoming Porsche Tennis Grand Prix tournament in Germany. The tournament will be held between April 21st – 29th 2012.
