Gisela Dulko married Fernando Gago yesterday in Buenos Aires. The pair met back in 2009 during the Madrid WTA tour event. Gago lives in Madrid as he plays football for Real Madrid.
There will be a big reception party tomorrow night in which 400 guests are invites to attend Tattersal, a very exclusive place in Palermo.
Congratulations for Gisela and Fernando!
Novak Djokovic went into the final of Madrid with an unbeaten record of 33-0 for the season. He was facing the King of Clay, Rafael Nadal for the title. And the fact that Nadal was playing on his home turf also gave him a bit of an advantage going into the match. Both players looking cool and calm from the first point started off the match with some lively points, but to the surprise of everyone it was Novak who was in control from the first point. He quickly ran ahead with a 4-0 lead, leaving Nadal no choice but to fight for each point and hope for the best. Eventually Nadal got his act together to make the score 5-4 to Djokovic. Both players then went for as much offense as possible to try and finish off the set but after some long points that left the crowd on the edge of their seat, Djokovic finally captured the first set with a score of 7-5. The second set was more consistent from both players, with both Djokovic and Nadal winning their serves comfortably until 4-4, when Djokovic got that crucial break and having a 15-40 lead on Nadal’s serve he finished it off when Nadal hit a shot out wide.
Djokovic then raised his arms in victory and went over to his box to get a big hug from his coach and close ones. He was as always, graceful and full of respect in his speech and received the new tournament trophy with a big smile on his face. As of now, Djokovic is 34-0 for the season and he has ended Nadal’s streak of 37-0 on the dirt.
Congratulations Novak!
Here is a great picture of Maria Kirilenko warming up in Madrid. Have to love the flexibility.
After Rafael Nadal’s victory over Oleksandr Dolgopolov Jr. at the Madrid Masters he was joined in the locker room by Cristiano Ronaldo and Raul. It doesnt seem like they were there to have a quiet word with Nadal, more like a press meeting.
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.
Raphael Nadal has had a lot to say at the Madrid Master and he has really been there more than 5 minutes. Nadal has been ripping the organisers of the Madrid Masters for several reasons.
Reasons include:
I really think Raphael is actually right about all those points. Madrid seems to be making a lot of changes this year and it doesnt seem like any of them is for the better.
Serena Williams is back in the headlines again and for the wrong reasons. Serena has just pulled out of her match in Madrid after losing the first set to Francesca Schiavone 6-4.
“I was just really hindered. My movement was hindered as a result of an injury I’ve been struggling with for some time,” Williams said.
Williams was refering to her leg injury that she suffered during the match. Williams would not comment on the extent of the injury or whether it would keep her out of the French Open, which begins May 24.
While at the same time Serena has been commenting about the WTA injury policy and how it needs to be reviewed. The American 10-times grand slam winner was asked why she played at last month’s Andalucia Tennis Championships when she had clearly not recovered from a thigh problem that hampered her in the final of the Sony Ericsson Open the previous week. “Unfortunately it doesn’t matter if you’re injured, if you’re dead or if you’re alive, if you don’t play they’re going to fine you heavily,” Williams said at a news conference ahead of this week’s Madrid Open. “So I have to play whether I am injured or not. That’s just how it is so I have no choice.”
To me it seems like Serena is talking a lot more in the press about the WTA and what regulations she isnt happy. I just wish she would stop talking out and get back to playing tennis and winning!
Ana Ivanovic withdrew from the Madrid Open because of a knee injury, but expects to be fit in time to defend her French Open title.
The seventh-ranked Serb is struggling with inflammation in her right knee. Doctors have ordered her not to play for a week.
Ivanovic said in a statement Friday that the knee has bothered her since a Fed Cup match last month. She said, “It’s become more painful with each match, so I decided to go and see a specialist in Munich.”
Ivanovic says there is “no danger” of her missing the French Open, which begins May 24.
The Associated Press has broken the news that Maria Sharapova has made the decision to postpone her return to the WTA tour after citing her continuing recorvery from shoulder injury. Maria has pulled out of the upcoming clay court tournaments in Rome and Madrid and it is now going to be interesting to see if plays the French Open.
Back home in Australia we have an airline called Virgin Blue which states they have the best looking stewardesses in the world, but at the Madrid Masters they take it one step further, by hiring models to be ball girls.
Feminism, whats that? I think most females probably don’t like the idea, however it seems to be having a great promotional affect for the tournament. It is kinda portraying a more fun side of tennis.
I still really believe that the ATP and WTA tour are doing such a poor job at marketing and building the sport. Models as ball girls is probably not the best idea in the world, but at least it is giving tennis and tournament a bit more press and stands them out from the rest of the crowd. These types of ideas are only going to help give tennis more exposure and obviously more exposure means more money for everyone involved.
You may have already noticed but here at The Tennis Times we have just added a new sidebar widget for everyone to enjoy. The widget is a video player from the atp masters series. The videos will preview all major interviews and results from the atp masters series events all around the world.
If you want to see more tennis masters series action, then please head over to their website, atpmastersseries.tv.
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