The Australian Open 2012 is the first Grand Slam of the year and it is going to be amazingly exciting. Six players on the womens side have the ability to finish the tournament with the World Number 1 ranking.
Victoria Azarenka, Maria Sharapova, Sam Stosur and Agnieszka Radwanska could also take the top ranking, but the No. 2-ranked Kvitova is the favorite.
Caroline Wozniacki currently holds the top spot, but with her poor run in Grand Slams I doubt highly that she will be number 1 when the tournament ends.
Venus Williams has announced that she wont be coming back onto the tour until February (after the Australian Open). Venus has been training and receiving treatment for several months, she has been getting a lot stronger, but just isnt going to be ready in time for the Australian Open.
After starting out the year ranked 34 in the world, Petra Kvitova turned everyone’s head when she won her maiden Grand Slam title at Wimbledon this year to former champion Maria Sharapova.
And after winning the Year-Ending Championships on her first try, not losing a single match en route to the final where she beat Victoria Azarenka; this young woman has certainly proved herself as the best of the year. Apart from these tremendous wins, she has also won 6 singles titles this year and has a record of 60-13 for the 2011 season. Not too long ago she won both her matches to help the Czech Republic win the Fed Cup and has by the end of the year catapulted herself to the number 2 ranking spot only behind Caroline Wozniacki.
Kvitova also won the Most Improved Player and Sportsmanship Award. Other winners include Sabine Lisicki of Germany for the Comeback Player of the Year and Irina-Camelia Begu for the Newcomer of the Year.
“This season has been simply a dream,” Kvitova said. ”It is an incredible honour to win the player of the year award and join the ranks of some of the best players that have ever played the sport, especially Martina Navratilova.” ”I will always cherish the 2011 season and look forward to building on it.”
Let’s see if Kvitova can have an even better year in 2012!
On a recent episode of “Tennisography” on the Tennis Channel, current world number 10 Victoria Azarenka was the featured tennis player that discussed her life story, and how she came about to holding a tennis racquet for the first time to being one of the top players on the women’s tour.
The entire episode can be seen below, and I hope you guys get inspired by this young lady and her desire to be the best at what she does.
It seems like Kim Clijsters has injured herself while dancing at the wedding of her nephew. With only the French Open weeks away, this isnt the time for Clijsters to get injured.
Clijsters turned her ankle while dancing (wonder if there was any alcohol involved! haha).
Clijsters revealed the news on her website (translated from Dutch):
At the wedding party of her cousin Tim, Kim injured her ankle severely. The consequences are rather dire. After a visit to the doctor, echo and NMR the diagnosis is a severe strain of both the medial and lateral ligaments of the right ankle and a torn ligaments, a torn capsule of the ankle joint, a hematoma and torn tendon sheath.
Being a professional tennis player is all about what you do on the practice court. Often there isn’t much shown of how the top players practice, but here is a great video that might give you a bit of an insight.
WTA players featured include: Maria Sharapova, Ana Ivanovic, Sam Stosur, Caroline Wozniacki, Vera Zvonareva, Maria Kirilenko, Victoria Azarenka, Gisela Dulko, Flavia Pennetta, Jelena Jankovic, Kaia Kanepi, Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, Andrea Petkovic, Yanina Wickmayer, Svetlana Kuznetsova, Vera Dushevina, Alicja Rosolska, Ekaterina Makarova & Sara Errani.
Twitter is already a huge medium for players to reach their fans online. Twitter provides a little personal touch and allows players and the general public to communicate in a simple way. I have been wondering for a while now, which players are actually already using Twitter!
Lindsay Davenport is planning to come back to the women’s doubles tour and will partner Liezel Huber.
Huber told Radio Roland Garros that Davenport has committed to play doubles at the Bank of the West Classic in Stanford, California and the Mercury Insurance Open in San Diego, California.Since leaving the Tour for the second time in 2008 due to the birth of her daughter Lauren, Davenport has been working as a television commentator, most notably for Tennis Channel.
Former Wimbledon champions Martina Hingis and Richard Krajicek will be the star attractions at this summer’s Nottingham Masters tournament. The event takes place at Nottingham Tennis Centre between 10 and 13 June.
Serena Williams has annonced that she will be returning to the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour after spending over two months on the sidelines.
Williams has not competed since she won the Australian Open in January, 2010, her 12th Grand Slam title. She has accepted a wild card into the 2010 Internazionali BNL d’Italia in Rome, Italy, scheduled for May 2-9.
The Internazionali BNL d’ Italia is a Premier event on the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour and is one of tennis’ biggest events on clay before Roland Garros.
Nicole Vaidisova was one of the most talked about players on the WTA tour, not just for her good looks but also her results. She had reached the Semifinals of the French Open at the age of 16, then in 2007 won her way to the Semifinals of the Australian Open, and the Quarterfinals of the French Open and Wimbledon, while bowing out of the U.S. Open in the 3rd round. She racked up 6 Sonny Ericsson WTA Tour singles titles, plus two ITF Women’s Circuit singles titles, earning over $2.7 million.
It looked like a promising career as she ended 2007 ranked 12th in the world. But she went into a slump and her ranking began to plummet. In 2008 she ended the year ranked 41, and 2009 she dropped to 186. In 2009 she lost in the 1st round of the Australian Open, French Open and Wimbledon. She didn’t even play in the U.S. Open. What happened?
It seems Vaidisova is now content just to watch fiancé Radek Stepanek play tennis, instead of playing tennis herself. Instead of preparing for the upcoming Sony Ericsson Open, Vaidisova was wrapped in a blanket sitting in the stands at the Sunrise Tennis Club cheering on her fiancé, Radek Stepanek, the top seed at the BMW Tennis Championship Challenger last Wednesday evening.
“I’m just a tennis fan,” said Vaidisova, 20, who refused to confirm reports that she has turned down a wild card into the Sony, is retired and will marry her 17th-ranked compatriot. “You can talk to Radek.” However, the Czech Daily Report has quoted her stepfather and former coach Alex Kodat as saying she is, “fed up with tennis.” “Her agent told me last week. She’s fed up with tennis and that’s understandable. She started very young,” Kodat said.
Vaidisova, who is now ranked 216, is no longer listed among the active players on the Sony Ericsson WTA web site. Meanwhile Stepanek admitted that the two will be married, but left the retirement issue to his fiancée. “We are getting married,” said Stepanek, who finished 2009 a career-best 12th. “It’s great to have her by my side supporting me. It means so much to me. “This [retirement] question is for her. If she wants to say something then she would say it.”
So it would appear Vaidisova has turned her love of tennis into love for a tennis player. Her heart, which had been given to tennis for a short time, has now been given away to Stepanek. Instead of serving up love games on the court, she will be serving up love off the court. If that’s where her heart is, I’m all for her. Go Vaidisova!
Serena Williams has certainly staked her claim at the top of the women’s’ game after reclaiming her No1 ranking from Dinara Safina after the 2009 US Open. The latter part of the season usually sees players drop their intensity and look forward to the prospect of a holiday. The Sony Ericsson Championships in Doha was more an exhibition of the consequences’ of over playing than a showcase of the best in women’s tennis.
Despite this, Serena Williams looked the freshest of the crop and came through some tough conditions with strapping on her thigh to win the singles. Elena Dementieva said after her 2-6 4-6 defeat, “She’s too good for me” Serena has accelerated her pace at the top of the women’s’ game, it’s reported, with the aid of Power Plate.
“On tour, playing back-to-back matches is tough on your body. Being ready the next day is the difference between winning or losing. If I can accelerate the recovery and healing process, I have a definite advantage. With my Power Plate®, I have that advantage,” Williams says.
Talk of Williams prowess at the Australian Open was accompanied by assurances that she will be around for a few years to come and I wonder if we will see her accelerate away from the rest of the field, or will they match the pace and keep up with her?
As the news broke that Kim Clijsters and Justine Henin would not be competing for Belgium in the February 6-7 Fed Cup tie against Poland many fans on the forums questioned Kim and Justines’ tenacity. Clijsters, who fell to Nadia Petrova in the 3rd round of the Australian Open 0-6 1-6 had let it be known that she “needs a fresh period to build up training” to “make it impossible to compete in the Fed Cup.” said the Belgian federation. Henin, the Australian Open finalist had already stated that it is too early in her comeback to play a best of five series.
Many fans have expressed anger at a lost opportunity to see these two women compete, but both women have expressed their desire to continue playing tennis on their own terms. Their respective returns to competition have already seen a grand slam victory and grand slam runner-up, deepening the field in the womens’ game. Both players know how gruelling the tour can be and will be looking to enjoy their time in competition. Avoiding injuries will be paramount if the best is yet to come and given their results in their 2.0 Grand Slam debuts, the future is bright.
For those fans hungry to see more of Justine, her next outing will be Indian Wells. Kim’s next match will be The Billie Jean King Cup at Madison Square Garden on 1st March.
Over the years Elena Dementieva has received a lot of stick about her serve. Here is quite a fun video of Dementieva serving. I dont think she actually did this first go, but maybe over the series of several hours!
I love it when tennis players get all upset over the smallest things. Here is a match yesterday at Wimbledon between Sabine Lisicki and Caroline Wozniacki, the two ladies but each other at the net during a change over. How funny!
Is it just me or do both of these girls look exactly the same? I really wish these clothing companies would give some more of their top players just a different outfit to wear!
It has been reported that Indian female tennis star Sania Mirza is now engaged. 22 year old Sania is engaged to Sohrab Mirza, a business scholar from her hometown of Hyderabad.
The 22-year-old Sania, now ranked only 95th in the world, is not planning to stop playing competitive tennis, just as her fiancé wants to pursue higher studies. Their marriage will therefore not take place in the near future.
I also find it a little strange that she is engaged to someone with the same surname, but The Tennis Times wishes them the best of luck.
Victoria Azarenka, Dominika Cibulkova, Anna Chakvetadze and Alona Bondarenko appear on this month’s French edition of FHM men’s magazine. The article, which coincides with the tournament of Roland Garros being held in Paris, includes interviews with the tennis players and very sexy pictures in bikini.
Chinese brand ANTA has officially released their new dress which Jelena Jankovic will be wearing throughout the 2009 French Open starting in just over a day. It is going to be very interesting to see how this dress looks in real life away from all the special affects in this picture above.
So here is our official WTA and ATP Tour players Twitter List! (if you know of any players we have missed please let us know 
Nicole Vaidisova was one of the most talked about players on the WTA tour, not just for her good looks but also her results. She had reached the Semifinals of the French Open at the age of 16, then in 2007 won her way to the Semifinals of the Australian Open, and the Quarterfinals of the French Open and Wimbledon, while bowing out of the U.S. Open in the 3rd round. She racked up 6 Sonny Ericsson WTA Tour singles titles, plus two ITF Women’s Circuit singles titles, earning over $2.7 million.
