Archive for: russia
After 4 years of being an ambassador for Sony Ericsson, world No. 2 Maria Sharapova will now be a team with Samsung. Her new deal will only cover Russia and the Commonwealth of Independent States, which are countries such as Armenia, Ukraine, and Kyrgyzstan, and it will last for 3 years. The deal includes promotion of phones, tablets, and TVs. Sharapova’s agent had this to say:
Maria really hasn’t been marketed that much in Russia. It’s important to her because that’s where her roots are. I also felt that was a really untapped market, with the 2014 Sochi Olympics coming up.
Maria Sharapova will be skipping the Fed Cup semifinal for Russia against Serbia. The match is scheduled to be played in April, but it seems like this does fit in with Maria’s schedule. Very interesting to see that she has no national pride whatsoever.
Here is Jelena Jankovic, Maria Sharapova and Bojana Jovanovski during the practice session for the Fed Cup.
Maria Sharapova is actually going to play for her country in the Fed Cup next month against Spain. This is only the third time she will be playing for her country! How Sad! Its a real shame that tennis players dont seem to have national pride and want to play for their country any more.
If I was the Russian captain I probably wouldnt even want her to play, since she hasnt seemed to care in the past!
Safin passed the ‘Relaxing restrictions and roadblocks on women (with certain assets) in joining the Parliament’ legislation.
Marat Safin has been elected to Russian Parliament. Safin is part of Vladimir Putin’s United Russia Party, which is currently being investigated for electoral fraud!
Pete Sampras supported Marat’s move into politics saying,
“In 20 years Marat will be the President of Russia. Marat is going to go a long way. He is very intelligent and articulate and he’s good with people, and that’s half the battle with being a politician.”
It currently seems like elections in Russia are fraudulent, so it is no surprised that he got elected. I’m wondering if his constituents actually wanted him in!
Yes.. Its true. Marat Safin is running for Parliament in Russia.
“I am an intelligent guy and I have a lot to bring and a lot of ideas about things and what to do,” Safin said. “I am very committed to it.”
“I could be the best looking guy in the Duma,” Safin said. “But that’s only because all the other guys are over 60.”
Click here for more.
Anna Chakvetadze has been named as candidate for Russia’s Right Cause party in the upcoming elections in Russia. Anna hasnt played on the tour since Wimbledon as she has been struggling with dizziness.
It be interesting to see what Anna would do if she was elected. Would her tennis career continue?
Up-and-coming Russian tennis player Alisa Kleybanova has been diagnosed with a form of cancer called Hodgkin’s lymphoma. She has made the announcement today, which also coincided with her birthday. She is now 22 years old.
She is now in a hospital in Italy, receiving her treatment. The Russian hasn’t played since May and had this to say; ”It’s not an easy time for me right now. I’ve been a bit unlucky with my health.” “I’ve been having treatment and it has been going well, but it takes lots of patience and I’ve had to be really strong to go through this. The good news is after I do treatment for a few more months, if I feel well, there’s a chance I’ll be able to play tennis again. I really miss playing – I miss seeing fans and friends around the world, I miss hitting the ball, I miss everything. Tennis has been my life for the last 15 years.”
The Russian has Stage 2 of the disease, so let’s give our best wishes to Alisa and hope that her retreat from the game will be a short one and that she will come back to the tour better than ever after this ordeal.
After losing her second round match at Wimbledon, Svetlana Kuznetsova refused to shake hands with Anastasia Rodionova. Radionova who is now an Australian citizen defeated Kuznetsova 6-2 2-6 6-4.
Radionova is known for on-court theatrics and tactics. During the match Radionova questioned a huge amount of line calls and even went for a medical break due to a back injury. I think the back injury was just a load of crap! Back in 2007 in Cincinnati she was defaulted from a match for unsportsmanlike conduct in a similar situation. Seems like most players on tour havent forgot about this just yet!
Anastasia Rodionova’s comments on the match:
I don’t know what happened, I guess Svetlana was disappointed. It doesn’t really bother me. I go out there and try my best, every single match that I play.
I’m happy that I won the match and I’m looking forward to my next round. I played really well and I served really well. I felt really good on the court. It can’t even compare to my first round.
And what about suggestions the injury was not as severe as she claimed?
I strained a muscle a bit on my hip at the beginning of the second set. I’m fine. I have a bit of history there and I wanted to make sure it was nothing serious.
Vera Zvonareva has been named a “Promoter of Gender Equality” as part of the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour’s partnership with UNESCO.
Here’s what the world No.6 Russian said about the honor:
I think that the UNESCO-Sony Ericsson WTA Tour partnership is incredibly important and this is a role that I value highly and will work extremely hard in helping young girls and women all around the world to gain better opportunities to succeed in whatever they wish to do. In particular I very much believe in the importance and value of education and the rights of all women and girls to have equal access to it.
Other WTA players that already have that role are Venus Williams, Tatiana Golovin and Zheng Jie, as well as Tour founder Billie Jean King, who was named “Global Mentor for Gender Equality” in November last year.
Russian former world number one Marat Safin is looking forward to life after tennis when he retires from the professional tour at the end of the year and says he does not care how people remember him. The 29-year-old twice grand slam champion, who is on a farewell sweep of the events he has graced since he turned professional in 1997, lost in the first round of the Madrid Open on Monday to Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga.
“They can remember me how they want,” Safin, the U.S. Open champion in 2000 and winner of the Australian Open title in 2005, told a news conference. “I don’t care. I’m not really thinking about it all day.” Safin said he had not eased back on the regime he had followed during his decade at the top of the sport even though it was his final year.
“You wake up in the morning and you get on a bus or in a car at 11 o’clock,” he said. You come back around six. You watch a couple of episodes of something on TV. You read a book. You go for dinner. You look at the internet a little bit. And then you go to sleep. It’s boring I know but it’s the routine you have to do because you can’t do anything else. That’s our job for 10 years. Some great moments, some bad moments. Sometimes we can get out and have some fun but most of the time you have to be focused on tennis. Life is waiting for me after,” he added with a smile.
Over at the DamnGoodList they have profiled the top 25 female tennis players. The list features so big names and some ladies who are still yet to actually make their mark on tour. Take a look and let us know what you think.
Players include:
Elena Dementieva
Tatiana Golovin
Sania Mirza
Marta Domachowska
and more..
Click here for the full list.
