Prior to the French Open starting Rafael Nadal the current world number 1 lost an exhibition match. At the exhibition match Rafael Nadal was defeated by Argentinian player Brian Dabul who is located on 109th on ATP list.
The match was part of “Benny Berthet” charity exhibition matches. The match was only one set and Rafa was defeated 7-5. However, it is completely understandable that Rafa did not want to risk injury before Roland Garros and has not demonstrated the full power that has made him the number one player in the world. However, young Dabul succeeded in something that none of the world`s greatest tennis players have, which is to defeat the king of clay in his invincible Paris.
Visitors to Disneyland Paris today had a big surprise when they saw Mickey Mouse playing a game of doubles with invited children against professional tennis players Gael Monfils and Stansilas Wawrinka.
The court itself was a little short and had quasi-official dimensions, but that didn’t matter when the children had such a great event.
Disneyland Paris invited 200 children from the French “Fête le Mur” association, founded by Yannick Noah, to participate in this more than unusual exchange.
The Fête le Mur association is set up in the heart of 25 under-privileged Urban Zones, allows the children of those neighborhoods to practice tennis, to train and perfect themselves, and some of them to later find a professional opening.
After a great Wimbledon exhibition match Andre Agassi and Steffi Graf are schedule to now compete in another exhibition match on Saturday the 6th of June at Roland Garros. The famous couple will be playing on Court 7 at 11am. If you are heading to Roland Garros make sure you dont miss this match!
The match is being sponsored by Longines, and is in honour of the tenth anniversary of the couple’s 1999 singles championship wins. That year would prove to be Agassi’s one and only Roland Garros success, while it was Graf’s sixth and final triumph.
Agassi and Graf will also play with ten young players from around the world, followed by a special gala and auction benefiting the Andre Agassi Foundation and Children for Tomorrow.
Actor Will Ferrell will be armed with a trusted ally – a Prince racquet – when he takes on Mats Wilander in a charity exhibition match on Saturday. Former French Open champ Wilander will come face to face with the new king of clay next month – and will be crowned a Viking after the encounter. The Swedish School of Los Angeles – a non-profit 501 C3 organization offering a cultural program for children – will host The K-Swiss Global Tennis Showdown, a charity tennis event, taking place on Saturday at The Los Angeles Tennis Center.
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.
Roger Federer will cut exhibition matches from his 2009 schedule as he pursues Pete Sampras’ record of 14 Grand Slam singles titles, his agent said Sunday.
Federer and Sampras played three exhibition matches across Asia last November and again in New York City last March.
Such commitments won’t be repeated in 2009, agent Tony Godsick told The Associated Press. “Roger will only play a schedule that works for him physically,” Godsick said after Federer won his hometown tournament at the Swiss Indoors on Sunday.
It has been reported that Maria Sharapova will be missing the remainder of the season, and she will be making her return in the second week of January at an exhibition event in Hong Kong.
After the layoff from her healing shoulder injury she is planning on heading to Melbourne to defend her Australian Open crown. After such a long layoff can we really expect her to challenge again for the Australian Open title?
