Mondays with Bob Greene
SAYING
“The main thing for me is I am able to work hard in these next weeks. I am sure the level of intensity and level of competition will be helpful for me. I will try to spend as much time on court as possible. Every match that I have the opportunity to play is important.” – Rafael Nadal, who underwent appendectomy surgery in November.
“I did achieve the goals that I specified but I always have this yearning for more, more, more. It doesn’t matter how much I do, I always want more – especially when it comes to my tennis.” – Milos Raonic.
“I was running a tennis academy in Dubai then (in 2005). It was for the first time, after Mirza beat (reigning US Open champion Svetlana) Kuznetsova, when we had more girls than boys registering for tennis lessons and planning to turn pro. That’s what Sania Mirza has done for women’s tennis (in India).” – Zeeshan Ali, former India Davis Cupper.
“You saw the will and desire to be one of the best. He was never a big server, but he was a work horse.” – Yevgeny Kafelnikov, talking about Nikolay Davydenko, who retired in 2014.
“When I was young, with my size, everyone was telling me it was going to be too tough. When I look back, I cannot believe it’s me who did all of this. I couldn’t expect a better career with my size.” – Olivier Rochus, who at 5-foot-6 (1.68m) was named ATP Newcomer of the Year in 2000, won the French Open doubles in 2004, reached a career-high 24th in the singles rankings and served on the ATP Player Council.
SHARED PERFORMANCES
Tennis stars have been selected as the 2014 Athlete of the Year in several countries.
A nationwide poll by sports journalists in Bulgaria named Grigor Dimitrov its top athlete. A Wimbledon semifinalist, Dimitrov won three ATP World Tour titles on three different surfaces this year. The 23-year-old right-hander finished the year ranked 11th in the world, a jump of 12 spots in the last 12 months after reaching his first Grand Slam tournament quarterfinals at the Australian Open, then the semifinals at Wimbledon.
French Open finalist Simona Halep captured the award in Romania. She was a comfortable winner in the annual poll conducted by the Romanian daily Gazeta Sporturilor. An aggressive baseliner, Halep reached her first Grand Slam tournament final in Paris and finished the season ranked third in the world on the WTA tour behind Serena Williams and Maria Sharapova. At one point, she was ranked number two, the highest ever WTA ranking achieved by a Romanian.
Like Dimitrov, Milos Raonic reached his first Grand Slam tournament semifinal at Wimbledon, becoming the first Canadian to reach a singles semifinals in one of the four major tournaments. And after enjoying his best year, rising to sixth in the world in the Emirates ATP Rankings, Raonic won the Lionel Conacher Award for the second straight year, an honor given annually to the Canadian Press male athlete of the year. Raonic is the only tennis player to win the award, which dates back to 1932.
SANIA THE BEST
Sania Mirza is not just India’s top female tennis player. Now she’s also on the cover of Forbes India magazine. An article titled “Sania Mirza – The Queen of her Court” tells of Mirza’s rise to become India’s best female tennis player in history. She won her first senior international trophy when she was just 15 years old, a mixed doubles bronze medal with Leander Paes at the 2002 Asian Games. Mirza turned professional the next year and has since won three Grand Slam tournament mixed doubles titles, become the first Indian woman to win WTA singles and doubles titles, reach the top 50 in singles and surpass USD $1 million in career earnings. She quit singles in 2013 to focus on doubles. This year, she won five WTA doubles titles, the US Open mixed doubles and capped her year by teaming with Cara Black to win the WTA Finals and end 2014 ranked sixth in the world in doubles. Her WTA Finals victory equaled the feat of Vijay Amritraj, the only other Indian to have won a season-ending title.
SET FOR BRAZIL OPEN
Two Spaniards – Tommy Robredo and Fernando Verdasco – will compete at the Brazil Open in February. The two will join compatriot Feliciano Lopez, whose participation in the ATP 250 tournament was confirmed earlier this month. Currently ranked 17th in the world, Robredo won the Brazil Open in 2009 and will be making his fifth appearance in the Sao Paulo. It will be the third Brazil Open for Verdasco. The February 9-15 event will be played on clay.
STRICTLY TENNIS
Australia’s Bernard Tomic says he has changed his ways and plans to be a force on the men’s tennis circuit. The former party-goer says he has left the flashy cars and party girls behind as he prepares for the 2015 season. “All that stuff is in the past,” Tomic said. “It was all when I was 18-19 years old. I had a lot of stuff thrown my way – money, girls. It’s very easy to get distracted, but now the job is to play tennis and do the job as good as I can.” Tomic is now 22 and says he is more determined than ever to devote himself to tennis. “There’s stuff that can happen that distracts, you that’s life,” the right-hander said. “I’m 22, now is the time for maturity. I have to focus as much as I can on tennis and do the best I can for the next seven or eight years.”
SAYING GOODBYE
This year saw a number of players decide to step away from the tennis tours, including two of the best: Li Na and Nikolay Davydenko. And then there was a surprise. Dinara Safina announced her retirement although she hadn’t played in several years.
No goodbye was more emotional than that of Elena Baltacha, who retired from the women’s tour in 2013 and died of liver cancer on May 4, 2014.
A native of Russia, Davydenko at one time was ranked third in the world behind Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal. Others who retired from the ATP World Tour included Olivier Rochus of Belgium, who teamed with Federer to win the Wimbledon boys’ doubles in 1998; Russia’s Alex Bogomolov Jr.; Marc Gicquel of France; Germany’s Bjorn Phau; Israel’s Andy Ram; Great Britain’s Ross Hutchins; Australia’s Paul Hanley; Kazakhstan’s Evgeny Korolev; South Africa’s Rik de Voest, and Chile’s Paul Capdeville.
Bidding adieu from the WTA tour were Iveta Benesova Melzer of the Czech Republic; Austria’s Yvonne Meusburger; Germany’s Kristina Barrois; Colombia’s Catalina Castaño; Luxembourg’s Anne Kremer; American Mallory Burdette and Australia’s Ashleigh Barty.
Barty could be back. The 18-year-old announced after the US Open that she would take an indefinite break from tennis with no plans to return.
SURFING
Brisbane: www.brisbaneinternational.com.au/
Doha: www.qatartennis.org/
Chennai: www.aircelchennaiopen.org/2015/
Shenzhen: www.shenzhenopentennis.com/2015/chs/
Auckland (women): www.festivaloftennis.co.nz/asbclassic/
Sydney: www.apiainternational.com.au/
Auckland (men): www.festivaloftennis.co.nz/heinekenopen/
Hobart: www.hobartinternational.com.au/
TOURNAMENTS WEEK OF JAN. 5, 2015
(All money in USD)
MEN
$1,195,500 Qatar ExxonMobil Open, Doha, Qatar, hard
$511,825 Brisbane International presented by Suncorp, Brisbane, Australia, hard
$459,140 Aircel Chennai Open, Chennai, India, hard
WOMEN
$881,100 Brisbane International presented by Suncorp, Brisbane, Australia, hard
$426,750 Shenzhen Open, Shenzhen, China, hard
$226,750 ASB Classic, Auckland, New Zealand, hard
TOURNAMENTS WEEK OF JAN. 12, 2015
(All money in USD)
MEN
$519,395 Heineken Open, Auckland, New Zealand, hard
$494,310 Apia International Sydney, Sydney, Australia, hard
WOMEN
$665,900 Apia International Sydney, Sydney, Australia, hard
$226,750 Hobart International, Hobart, Australia, hard
