dunlop clothing

By: Justin Cohen

• Following his opening round victory over Victor Hanescu at the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, Roger Federer was presented with trophies for 2009 ATP World Tour Player of the Year, ATPWorldTour.com Fans’ Favorite Player of the Year presented by RICOH, and the Stefan Edberg Sportsmanship Award. “I’d like to thank the fans for voting for me,” Federer said to the crowd after receiving the Fan Favorite Award for a seventh straight year. “You guys are amazing. Thank you. As you know, you guys make this even more worthwhile traveling around the globe from January to November. I love coming back here, so it’s very nice to get presented the awards here.”John Isner, who climbed from No. 145 to a year-end career high ranking of No. 34, took home the ATP World Tour Most Improved Player of the Year award.

  

• Nikolay Davydenko, who withdrew from his third round match in Indian Wells, has a broken left wrist according to the MRI that was taken in California. Davydenko will need to wear a soft cast for the next month and could miss the entire clay court season. Davydenko also made headlines this week in California because he signed a racquet, clothing and accessories deal with Dunlop according to an announcement the company released. However, Prince quickly issued a statement saying Davydenko agreed in January to use Prince products throughout the year. Davydenko was seen wearing Dunlop clothing at the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, but playing with a Prince racquet.
• The Hit for Haiti tennis exhibition at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden in Palm Springs raised more than $1 million for the Red Cross’ relief effort. In the opening match, Justine Henin and Martina Navratilova defeated Steffi Grad and Lindsay Davenport, 8-6. In a fiery final match that saw former rivals Andre Agassi and Pete have some tension filled comments towards each other, Roger Federer and Sampras held of Rafael Nadal and Agassi, 8-6. At one point, Sampras mimicked Agassi’s pigeon-toed walk, while Agassi made fun of Sampras for being a lousy tipper. “It was out of line,” said Agassi during an interview with ESPN.com on Monday. “It was inappropriate. The night was on fire. 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. I was trying to get past it, but Pete didn’t really let me get past it. He didn’t really roll with it. I’ve texted Pete to ask him if I can apologize in person.”
• On Tuesday, the Shanghai ATP Masters 1000 was named the Masters 1000 Tournament of the Year, as voted by the ATP World Tour players. Also on Tuesday, Rolex announced that it will increase its sponsorship to become the title sponsor of the tournament. This year’s tournament will now be known as the Shanghai Rolex Masters. “Being named Masters 1000 Tournament of the Year makes us all very proud, and to achieve such a distinction in our inaugural year is more than the icing on the cake,” said Tournament Directors Michael Luevano and Leon Sun.
• Kim Clijsters won the Laureus Comeback Athlete of the Year Award, beating out Lance Armstrong. Serena Williams was named the Laureus World Sportswoman of the Year. Roger Federer was nominated for the World Sportsman of the Year but was beat out by Olympic track and field champion Usain Bolt.
• Sources indicate that former Australian and French Open semifinalist Nicole Vaidisova has retired at the age of 20 and will marry ATP World Tour star Radek Stepanek. Vaidisova, who reached a career high ranking of No. 7 in 2007, said she was tired of losing and lacks the desire to climb her way back to the top of the women’s tennis rankings.
• The USTA announced that the inaugural US Open National Playoffs will be held on the sites of the first men’s and women’s tournaments of the 2010 Olympus US Open Series. The men’s playoff will take place at the Atlanta Athletic Club during the ATP Atlanta Tennis Championships from July 22-25, while the women’s playoff will be held at the Taube Family Tennis Stadium at Stanford University during the Bank of the West Classic from July 29-August 1. “We are thrilled to hold the US Open National Playoffs – Men’s and Women’s Championships in conjunction with the start of the 2010 Olympus US Open Series,” said Jim Curley, the Chief Professional Tournaments Officer and US Open Tournament Director.
• Vera Zvonareva has split with coach Antonio Van Grichen, who only coached her for three months.
• Former Wimbledon champion Goran Ivanisevic will coach Marin Cilic at tournaments in Miami and Madrid. “Bob (Brett) is still his coach but in Miami and Madrid I am going to be his replacement while he is not there,” Ivanisevic told the ATP Champions Tour. “I will be like a mentor to Marin.”
• Tim Henman has ruled himself out as the next Davis Cup Captain for Great Britain. “It doesn’t feel like the right time. I’m enjoying my family and my golf, and not having any structure in my life,” Henman told The Sun.
• Rafael Nadal has committed to play in the AEGON Championships at Queen’s Club in London in June. It will be Nadal’s first grass court action since defeating Roger Federer in five sets to capture his first Wimbledon title in 2008. US Open champion Juan Martin del Potro has also committed early to play in the grass court tune-up for Wimbledon.
• Lleyton Hewitt has committed to play in the Atlanta Tennis Championships from July 19-25. John Isner, James Blake and Robby Ginepri have already signed up.
• Dinara Safina, who has been sidelined since the Australian Open with a back injury, has withdrawn from next week’s tournament in Miami.
• Former Top 30 player Dmitry Tursunov is aiming to return to competition at Wimbledon, following two foot and ankle surgeries during the last six months.
• Anna-Lena Groenefeld will be out of competition for six weeks due to a foot injury.
• Following her opening round loss to Anastasija Sevastova in Indian Wells former World No. 1 Ana Ivanovic will be ranked outside the Top 50 when the newest rankings are released on Monday.
• By defeating Taylor Dent in straight sets in his opening round match in Indian Wells, American Ryan Harrison became the first 17-year-old to win a main draw match at the event since Rafael Nadal did so in 2004.
• Fernando Gonzalez, who did not play in Indian Wells to help with earthquake relief efforts in Chile, has been touring hard struck areas this week. Gonzalez even held a tennis clinic for children in the town of Talcahuano.
• A hearing by the Court of Arbitration of Sport (CAS) on Yanina Wickmayer’s suspension for violating anti-doping whereabouts requirements could be delayed for several years while the case is fought in Belgian court. Wickmayer was informed by the CAS that they won’t rule on the case until a decision by the Belgian courts is final.
• Struggling Frenchman Paul-Henri Mathieu told L’Equipe that he has been watching old clips of his form on YouTube to help him analyze how he reached No. 12 in the rankings in 2008.
• Beach Tennis USA will launch a two-day international open beach tennis tournament at the site of the Sony Ericsson Open in Key Biscayne. The event will take place on March 27 and 28.