Archive for: img
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.”
CoCo Vandeweghe has split with her coach, Tom Gullikson. The two stopped working together after Vandeweghe fell in the first round of Stanford to Rebecca Marino.
It seems as thought CoCo’s mother and former Olympic swimmer Tauna is back on the scene and basically controlling her career. Vandeweghe also parted ways with her agency, IMG, last spring.
Bad sign for CoCo who I think will become yet another average player on tour.
Roger Federer has lashed out against some big allegations that he gave inside information about his matches so the president of his management company could place bets … saying the whole thing is “100% not true.”
TMZ broke the story that Agate Printing, Inc. filed a lawsuit against IMG and its owner, Ted Forstmann, claiming Federer gave Forstmann information about a match he played in at the 2007 French Open … and Forstmann later used the information to make a $40,000 wager on Roger.
At a press conference in China, Roger stated: “It’s disappointing that someone’s throwing my name around. I would never do such a thing.”
Federer continued, “My fans know that, the people who know me … I have nothing to hide. I’m sorry for those who think there is something to the story. But there’s nothing.”
Sorana Cirstea has signed with IMG Worldwide. IMG already has contracts with stars such as Maria Sharapova, Venus Williams, Jelena Jankovic, and others.
The 20-year-old Cirstea has won one WTA title, Tashkent Open in 2008, and four ITF titles. In her second Tour main draw appearance, Cirstea reached the finals at Budapest and became the first Romanian to reach a Tour singles final since Dragomir Ilie in June 2000.
I think IMG signed Cirstea not eactly for her tennis skills. Im sure she will soon be endorsing a lot of products!
Russian world number six Vera Zvonareva signed with IMG, global sports and entertainment company, for exclusive worldwide marketing and management representation.
“I feel like I have worked really hard and accomplished quite a lot on court the last six months and working with a company like IMG, that has such a worldwide presence will help me capitalize on these results. It will be great to have a global team guiding and helping me to take care of my business career so I can focus on my tennis,” said the 24-year-old Zvonareva.
Fernando Soler, Head of IMG’s Tennis Division, added, “We are really looking forward to working with Vera at this exciting time in her career. She is a very talented athlete with tremendous potential and we are thrilled she has chosen IMG to further develop her blossoming tennis career.”
It seems to have been the season for chaning coaches and management companies. Here is a list created by tennis.com which shows a quick breakdown of what has been happening around the place.
Jelena Jankovic
Jankovic hopped onto the International Management Group (IMG) bandwagon on January 1, joining Maria Sharapova, Venus Williams, Roger Federer, and Rafael Nadal, among others, on the sports marketing giant’s star-studded client list. She will be represented by the company’s London office. The former world No. 1 was previously signed to Virginia-based Octagon.
Andy Murray
Several management companies were vying to sign the U.S. Open finalist, currently ranked No. 4 in the world. Creative Artists Agency (CAA) Sports, Lagardere Group, IMG, and Simon Fuller’s 19 Entertainment (think American Idol fame) were all suiting the 21-year-old Murray whose endorsement earnings could reach nine figures (one outlet reported his earnings potential as $200 million). Eventually, Murray left Ace Group and signed on with CAA, whose sports division also represents David Beckham and Cristiano Ronaldo.
Ana Ivanovic
After the breakup of her four-month courtship with fellow pro Fernando Verdasco, Ivanovic also ended her coaching relationship with Sven Groeneveld just prior to the start of the Australian Open. While Groeneveld was not acting in an official coaching capacity, he was seen in Melbourne courtside with his former charge during practice sessions.
The world No. 8, who dropped three spots in the rankings after her third-round loss at the Australian Open, announced on Wednesday that she will be working with Craig Kardon on a trial basis, starting next week in Dubai.
Andy Roddick
A leaner Roddick made the semifinals in Oz before falling in straight sets to Roger Federer. In addition to the 15-pound weight loss, much credit for Roddick’s impressive run was given to his new coach, veteran Larry Stefanki, who joined the American’s team late last season.
Peng Shuai
China’s Peng has begun working with Frenchman Tarik Benhabiles, who previously coached Richard Gasquet, Tatiana Golovin, Andy Roddick and most recently, Benjamin Becker.
Daniela Hantuchova and Tamira Paszek
Austrian phenom Paszek has parted ways with Lari Passos, the former coach of Gustavo Kuerten, and is now being coached by Angel Gimenez of the Sanchez-Casal Academy in Barcelona. Gimenez had recently been coaching Daniela Hantuchova, but the Slovak began working with former ATP Tour player Albert Portas in November.
Yanina Wickmayer
The 19-year-old Wickmayer, an heir-apparent to the Belgian tennis throne who is currently ranked No. 76, is under the tutelage of Carlos Rodriguez, who was Justine Henin’s lifelong coach.
The reigning Australian Open junior champion is eligible to spend another two years bolstering his already impressive age record, if he wants to.
But, after mixing junior and senior events in roughly equal measure in 2008, the talented Gold Coast teenager would prefer to speed up his development by committing fully to the men’s circuit next year.
“I’ve started this year to play more and more (open) Futures and Challengers, but then again I’ve played also juniors,” German-born Tomic said.
“I think it’s time to put juniors away next year hopefully and just focus on Challenger level and Futures and getting my ranking up to where I want it to be.”
Tomic is the junior world No.3, with the two players ranked above him both about 18 months older.
In the senior rankings, he is 772.
While he hopes to steadily cut that number, he needs to rely on the generosity of officials if he is to play in ATP events or senior grand slams.
His chief aims for the coming summer are to make his ATP debut at the Brisbane International, starting January 4, and then play in the Australian Open later that month.
He will need wildcards for both, a prospect that remains uncertain, particularly given Tennis Australia’s recent emphasis on awarding wildcards on a merit basis, with Tomic only the 26th-ranked Australian man.
