STARS
Ivan Ljubicic beat Andy Roddick 7-6 (3) 7-6 (5) to win the men’s singles at the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, California, USA
Jelena Jankovic beat Caroline Wozniacki 6-2 6-4 to win the BNP Paribas Open women’s singles in Indian Wells, California, USA
Jarkko Nieminen beat Oleksandr Dolgopolov Jr. 6-3 6-2 to win the Morocco Tennis Tour in Marrakech, Morocco
Florian Mayer beat Gilles Simon 6-4 6-4 to win the BMW Tennis Championships in Sunrise, Florida, USA
SAYINGS
“I know how difficult it is to beat me … and I’m going to give a hard time to everybody who is going to be on the other side of the net. That’s the only thing I can promise.” – Ivan Ljubicic, after winning the BNP Paribas Open men’s singles title.
“I played bad yesterday, I played even worse today. I served seven double faults in one game, which is crazy. I could not run at all, so I had zero chance to beat him today.” – Goran Ivanisevic, after losing to Mauricio Hadad in a seniors tournament in Bogota, Colombia.
“When I think back on this tournament, I think I’ve done a great job. It was a strong field, and then coming out as a finalist and then coming out as number two in the world tomorrow, that’s still a great feeling.” – Caroline Wozniacki, who despite losing in the final to Jelena Jankovic, will surpass Dinara Safina and move into the number two spot in the world rankings.
“I want to be at the end of the tournament where there’s no one and there’s only a couple of us standing. That means I’m doing well.” – Jelena Jankovic.
“It’s the best win of my career. I lost a lot of matches against those top guys, and it’s a relief to win. It’s a great moment for me.” – Marcos Baghdatis, after beating Roger Federer
“I just couldn’t find the way to win. I was maybe one shot away, maybe wrong choices at the wrong time, maybe playing too passively.” – Roger Federer, after losing to Marcos Baghdatis at Indian Wells, California.
“I had a lot of opportunities and I didn’t use many of them.” – Novak Djokovic, after losing to Ivan Ljubicic.
“I didn’t move particularly well. I was hitting the ball really short and he’s obviously got a big game and he was able to dictate all of the points. … I made some mistakes in the tiebreak, and that’s why I lost.” – Andy Murray, after losing to Robin Soderling.
“Try and look at the positives. It was a great week, but today I definitely didn’t play anywhere close to as well as I can. Really, I just got frustrated and wasn’t able to pull it back.” – Samantha Stosur, after her semifinal loss to Jelena Jankovic.
“I’ve played Maria lots of times before but never beat her, so today gives me a lot of confidence. After Australia I believe I can do more and more.” – Zheng Jie, after beating Maria Sharapova.
“She’s like a ball machine. She hits a lot of balls back, hits them deep… It was just very inconsistent from my end. I returned well – I’d have periods of good games, but then the problem was keeping them all together. It’s not easy to lose. We’re all competitors and we all want to win matches.” – Maria Sharapova, after losing to Zheng Jie.
“I have been a Davis Cup player, captain and now it is time for me to become a fan.” – John Lloyd, who resigned as captain of Great Britain’s Davis Cup team.
“Everybody told me after the match what’s happened, but during the match, you know how fast Americans speak, and I am Spanish. I didn’t understand nothing.” Rafael Nadal, when asked about the controversial interaction between Andre Agassi and Pete Sampras during an exhibition match in which Nadal participated.
SERVING BIG
Riding his big serve and forceful ground game, Ivan Ljubicic finally won an ATP World Tour Masters 1000 title. The Croat upset seventh-seeded Andy Roddick 7-6 (3) 7-6 (5) to capture the BNP Parabis Open in Indian Wells, California. The 31-year-old Ljubicic slammed 20 aces and hit 42 winners to become the second oldest player to win the Indian Wells tournament. Jimmy Connors was five years older when he won in 1984. Roddick fought hard, rallying from a 1-5 deficit in the second-set tiebreak. But Ljubicic closed out the victory with an ace and an unreturnable serve. “He served great,” Roddick said of Ljubicic. “The last two days was an exhibition on how to serve big points.” Roddick was trying to become the first American to win Indian Wells since Andre Agassi in 2001. Ljubicic earned his victory, beating second-ranked Novak Djokovic in the fourth round and third-ranked Rafael Nadal in the semifinals just to get to the final.
SUCCESSFUL SERB
Jelena Jankovic finally held the winner’s trophy again. Back to her aggressive best, Jankovic beat Caroline Wozniacki in the women’s singles final at the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, California. “I wanted to be really aggressive, but at the same time patient and not really go for too much or go over the limit with some balls,” Jankovic said. “I waited for my opportunities, and when I had them I took them.” The champion from Serbia was two points away from losing to Sara Errani in the third round before rallying to beat the Italian. Jankovic didn’t lose a set after that in capturing her 12th Sony Ericsson WTA Tour singles titles.
Despite losing in the final, Denmark’s Caroline Wozniacki moves into second place in the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour rankings, surpassing Russia’s Dinara Safina.
SORRY
Admitting he was “out of line,” Andre Agassi has apologized for poking fun at long-time rival Pete Sampras during a charity match in Indian Wells, California. With the crowd listening to every word through the microphones the players wore, Agassi chided Sampras for being stingy. Sampras responded with a serve that forced Agassi to duck. “It was inappropriate,” Agassi told ESPN.com. “We were all having fun. I was trying to be comedic. I only had a split second to make a decision. I went for it and it fell flat.” Agassi said he has texted Sampras to ask him if he could apologize in person. In the Hit for Haiti fund-raising one-set doubles exhibition, Sampras and Roger Federer played Agassi and Rafael Nadal. The event raised USD $1 million to aid relief efforts in the earthquake-ravaged island nation.
SO RARE
Roger Federer suffered one of his rare losses when he fell to Marcos Baghdatis in the third round of the BNP Paribas Open. And the world’s top-ranked player lost after having three match points. Baghdatis, who lost to Federer in the 2006 Australian Open final, kissed the court when the final point was played. It was the first time Federer had lost a match after holding a match point since Rome in 2006. It was Federer’s second defeat in 13 matches this year in his first tournament since winning his 16th Grand Slam tournament title at the Australian Open in January. A lung infection forced him to withdraw from a tournament in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, last month. “It’s a very fine line,” Federer said of the defeat. “That’s why I don’t like to beat myself up too much after a match like that. You play good most of the time and then you don’t play so well when you really have to.”
SLIPPING AWAY
There has been a rush of departures at the Sony Ericsson Open in Miami, Florida. Serena Williams, who has won 12 Grand Slam tournament singles titles, and US Open champion Juan Martin del Potro joined a crowd of competitors pulling out of the hard-court event. Williams, a five-time winner in Miami, is skipping the tournament because of a left knee injury that has sidelined her since she won the Australian Open. Del Potro has been bothered by his right wrist since the start of the season. Others who have withdrawn from the Sony Ericsson Open include three Russians: world number three Dinara Safina (back), Maria Sharapova (right elbow) and Nikolay Davydenko (broken left wrist). Venus Williams, French Open winner Svetlana Kuznetsova, US Open champion Kim Clijsters and Justine Henin headline the women’s field, while the top three men – Roger Federer, Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal – will be joined by Andy Roddick and defending champion Andy Murray.
STOPPED PROBE
An investigation into Andre Agassi’s drug revelations has ended. Francesco Ricci Bitti, president of the International Tennis Federation (ITF), said the statute of limitations in the case expired long ago and no retroactive punishment was possible. In his autobiography, Agassi wrote that he took crystal meth in 1997 and after failing a drug test lied to the ATP to avoid a suspension. The statute of limitations in the case was eight years. “I’m sure he had his reasons, which were not easy to understand,” Ricci Bitti said of Agassi. “There were a lot of strange reasons involved. From a sports point of view, it’s very unfortunate. I think what he did hurt our sport.”
SPLITSVILLE
John Lloyd is no longer captain of Great Britain’s Davis Cup team. Lloyd resigned the post after his team suffered a humiliating defeat to Lithuania, which has only three players in the rankings, all teen-agers. Britain has lost its last five Davis Cup ties and now faces a relegation playoff against Turkey in July to avoid dropping into Europe/Africa Zone Group III. Britain has won the prestigious international tennis Cup nine times, but has only reached the final once since 1937.
SWITCHED
The Asia/Oceania Group II Davis Cup semifinal between Pakistan and New Zealand will be played in New Zealand. The International Tennis Federation (ITF) moved the tie from Pakistan because of security reasons. New Zealand had asked that the tie be moved, but Pakistan initially insisted on hosting the match. But two recent suicide bombs in Lahore, Pakistan, which killed 55 people, led the Pakistani tennis federation to relent. Pakistan’s first-round tie had been moved to Hong Kong for the same reason.
STOPPED BY PAIN
Pain from a groin injury finally became too much for John McEnroe to bear. The veteran was forced to withdraw from an ATP Champions Tour event in Bogota, Colombia, although he played two round-robin matches with the injury. McEnroe suffered the injury at the BNP Paribas Zurich Open in Switzerland a week earlier. He was competitive against both Thomas Enqvist and Yevgeny Kafelnikov, but lost both matches before withdrawing. “I’ve been trying to push through for two matches, but I know that I need to take a break from playing for a few weeks to stop it getting any worse,” McEnroe said.
SPORTIMES MOMS
The New York Sportimes went for motherhood in the 2010 World TeamTennis Draft. The team selected two mothers – Ashley Harkleroad and Kim Clijsters – along with Jesse Witten, Robert Kendrick and Abigail Spears. They will join captain John McEnroe, who is scheduled to play in two of the team’s matches during the July season. Ashley’s husband, Chuck Adams, coaches the Sportimes, who will open their home schedule against the reigning WTT champion Washington Kastles on July 5.
STRENGTH IN NUMBERS
He may be disappointed about losing in the singles semifinals, but Rafael Nadal left Indian Wells, California, with a trophy. He teamed with fellow Spaniard Marc Lopez to win the BNP Paris Open doubles. The pair got into the tournament on a wild card, but made it pay off as they dropped just one set en route to their second title together. The Spaniards began their remarkable run by upsetting third-seeded Lukas Dlouhy and Leander Paes. They wrapped up the tournament by beating top-seeded Daniel Nestor and Nenad Zimonjic 7-6 (8) 6-3. “After losing important singles, the victory in doubles make me happy,” Nadal said. “Always is nice to win a tournament.”
SWISS WINNER
For the fifth time in six years, Roger Federer has been named ATP World Tour Player of the Year. The Swiss superstar became the sixth man in history to win all four Grand Slam tournament titles during his career and is the all-time men’s leader with 16 Grand Slam tournament crowns, the last coming in January at the Australian Open. Federer and Ivan Lendl are the only players to finish number one after losing the title for a season. Fans voted Federer their favorite player for a record seventh consecutive year, and he was voted the Stefan Edberg Sportsmanship Award. In other ATP yearly awards, twins Bob and Mike Bryan were named doubles champions for the fifth time in seven years for their on-court exploits. And, like Federer, the American brothers were voted favorite doubles teams by the fans. MaliVai Washington, who has helped thousands of underprivileged children in Jacksonville, Florida, since 1994, received the Arthur Ashe Humanitarian of the Year honors, while other awards went to: John Isner, Most Improved Player of the Year; Horacio Zeballos, Newcomer of the Year; and Marco Chiudinelli, Comeback Player of the Year;
SHARAPOVA ON GRASS
Maria Sharapova will play the Wimbledon grass-court warm-up event in Birmingham, England, a tournament she is quite familiar with. The Russian has won the AEGON Classic twice, in 2004 and 2005. Sharapova, who won Wimbledon in 2004 for her first Grand Slam tournament title, has been hampered by injuries in the past year.
SPOTLIGHT ON SHANGHAI
In its inaugural year, Shanghai has been voted by players as the ATP Masters 1000 Tournament of the Year. It is the first time a tournament at the highest level on the ATP World Tour has received the prestigious award in its first year. In another move, Rolex announced it will become the title sponsor of the event, which will be known as the Shanghai Rolex Masters. In other voting, the Barclays Dubai Tennis Championships in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, was recognized for the sixth time in seven years as the players’ favourite ATP World Tour 500 event, while the SkiStar Swedish Open in Bastad, Sweden, was named the top ATP World Tour 250 event for the eighth straight year.
SAMUEL HARDY AWARD
James Brown Grimes has been named winner of the Samuel Hardy Award, which is presented annually by the International Tennis Hall of Fame (ITHoF) to a volunteer of the United States Tennis Association (USTA) in recognition of long and outstanding service to the sport of tennis. “Very much in the spirit of Samuel Hardy, Jane has donated countless hours toward the growth of the sport through her leadership within the USWTA, the Hall of Fame and other industry organizations,” said Christopher Clouser, ITHoF chairman. Also honoured at a luncheon in Dallas, Texas, were Dr. Steve Wilkinson and Dr. W. Ben Kibler, who received the Tennis Education Merit Award.
SPONSOR
Travelex, the world’s leading foreign exchange company, will continue its sponsorship of the WTA Tour through 2011. Under terms of the agreement, Travelex will continue to provide player’s prize money at tour events. “With 2,225 players representing 91 countries competing across 53 Sony Ericsson WTA Tour tournaments around the globe, Travelex is the perfect partner for us,” said Stacey Allaster, chairman and CEO of the WTA Tour. Kim Clijsters agreed. “We are constantly traveling across the world, so being able to receive our prize money in whatever currency we want is fantastic,” said the reigning US Open champion.
SHARED PERFORMANCES
Indian Wells (men): Rafael Nadal and Marc Lopez beat Daniel Nestor and Nenad Zimonjic 7-6 (8) 6-3
Indian Wells (women): Kveta Peschke and Katarina Srebotnik beat Nadia Petrova and Samantha Stosur 6-4 2-6 10-5 (match tiebreak)
Marrakech: Ilija Bozoljac and Horia Tecau beat James Cerretani and Adil Shamasdin 6-1 6-1
Sunrise: Martin Damm and Filip Polasek beat Lukas Dlouhy and Leander Paes 4-6 6-1 13-11 (match tiebreak)
SITE TO SURF
Miami: www.sonyericssonopen.com/
TOURNAMENTS THIS WEEK
(All money in USD)
ATP
$4,000,000 Sony Ericsson Open, Miami, Florida, USA, hard (first week)
WTA
$4,000,000 Sony Ericsson Open, Miami, Florida, USA, hard (first week)
TOURNAMENTS NEXT WEEK
ATP
$4,000,000 Sony Ericsson Open, Miami, Florida, USA, hard (second week)
WTA
$4,000,000 Sony Ericsson Open, Miami, Florida, USA, hard (second week)