In her semifinal match with Agnieszka Radwanska at Carlsbad, California, Andrea Petkovic ran of the court in the second set of the match to go to the bathroom and vomit after she “ate something bad for lunch”, as Petkovic discussed that she wouldn’t have liked to be on SportsCenter for the next 25 years.
Petkovic eventually lost the match, 4-6, 6-0 6-4.
“At the point where I ran out, I couldn’t hold it back anymore,” Petkovic said. “I didn’t want to be on Sports Center for the next 25 years.”
Petkovic did not have a point taken away as a penalty, as she had previously warned the chair umpire. She was also allowed a medical timeout off the court.
“I told her immediately I need to throw up,” Petkovic said. “The trainer gave me something against it. It didn’t help. I just felt this big stone in my stomach that needed to get out. I told them, Listen, I actually just feel fine, I just need to go to the bathroom as quick as possible.”
Petkovic said that she wouldn’t have liked to have the same incident as Pete Sampras at the 1996 US Open against Alex Corretja.
Roger Federer has stunned Rafael Nadal 6-4 6-4 to win the Madrid Masters event yesterday. Rogers win against Rafael ended a five match, 18 month lising stream against the Spaniard. That run included three Grand Slam titles and ended Nadal’s 33 match winning streak on clay, which streaches back over a year to the Rome second round in 2008.
Federer heads into the French Open in a week’s time with a huge confidence boost after finally defeating the man who stripped him of his Wimbledon title last summer.
Nadal, who had won clay-court titles in Monte Carlo, Barcelona and Rome this year, was visibly jaded from his semi-final the day before, when he needed over four hours to defeat Novak Djokovic. It was one match too many for the top seed, who was unable to squeeze motivation or power out of a weary body after complaining of problems with his knees in that marathon encounter.
“I think this (fast clay) favoured Roger,” said Nadal, who has won nine of 11 clay meetings against his rival.
“He deserved this victory more than I did. He played well. I wasn’t able to play aggressively enough.”
Nadal and Federer, who have contested the last three French Open finals, both head to Paris with the Spaniard hoping to regain his powers after playing and winning for three of the last four weeks on his favoured surface.
Federer won €585,000 ($1.05 million) and a car as he extracted some revenge in the pair’s first meeting since the Australian Open final five months ago which ended with him reduced to tears.
“I’m sorry to have beaten a Spaniard on your court, I’m sorry to spoil the party,” he told tournament director and former great Manolo Santana on the showcase court named in his honour.
The Spaniard’s defeat was only his fifth on clay over 155 matches dating back to 2005.
The BBC has announced that they will have live coverage of the Wimbledon Centre Court Celebration on Sunday May 17. The coverage will be shown live on BBC Two and it will include Andre Agassi, Steffi Graf, Kim Clijsters and Tim Henman will play a combination of men’s singles, women’s singles and mixed doubles for an increased capacity crowd under the new Centre Court roof.
Sue Barker will host the coverage live from Wimbledon with Andrew Castle and John Lloyd providing expert commentary on the matches. Additionally, coverage will also be available online and via the Red Button.
It has been reported that Lleyton Hewitt is in a bit of a court battle with his former management company Octagon. Octagon are taking Hewitt to court for breach of contract and then Hewitt is now fighting back with a countersuit, citing incompetence and deception on the part of the agency.
In 2005 and 2006, Hewitt earned $6.75 million net in endorsements and appearance guarantees — including $3.5 mil from Nike and $2.3 mil from Yonex. He also received $340,000 in appearance fees for Sydney, Adelaide, and Queen’s Club.
We will keep you post on how this all turns out.
