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Gilles Simon

Around The Corner: Brazil, Rotterdam and San Jose

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By Mike McIntyre

SAP Open, San Jose, California

Fernando Verdasco is the defending champion and number one seed this year in San Jose. He opens against journeyman American wildcard Rajeev Ram.

He will have a tough quarter-final opponent with the likes of Sam Querrey, Juan Martin Del Potro and veteran Lleyton Hewitt also in the top section of the draw. All are very capable hardcourt players who could walk away with the title. I don’t think Del P. has found his comfort level since returning from his wrist injury, while Querrey has yet to show the real consistency to make him a legitimate threat on tour. Hewitt looks fit to start the season despite having the bad luck of facing David Nalbandian in the opening round in Australia.

Andy Murray

James Blake makes his first appearance of the season and is in the bottom half where he will face a qualifier in the opening round. He would next face the winner of a very intriguing first match between Xavier Malisse and up and coming Canadian Milos Raonic.

Gael Monfils is the second seed and has a good chance of advancing deep in this draw as well.

ABN AMRO World Tennis Tournament, Rotterdam, The Netherlands

More prize money and ranking points than anywhere else this week are available at the ATP World Tour level 500 tournament being held on indoor hard-courts in Rotterdam.

Sweden’s Robin Soderling comes in as the number one seed as well as the defending champion and opens against local hope Robin Haase. Soderling will have his hands full in the top half of the draw with tough opponents like Mikhail Youzhny, Jurgen Melzer and Australian Open semi-finalist David Ferrer. Marin Cilic is also in the mix and one has to imagine that he will have a break-out at some point after several months of lackluster results.

Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, Tomas Berdych, and Andy Murray represent the top seeded threats in the bottom half of the draw. Lookout for unseeded talents like Nikolay Davydenko, Gilles Simon and Marcos Baghdatis to also create problems. All in all it is impossible to predict who we might see in the finals of this one.

It will be interesting to see how Murray handles himself after yet another Grand Slam final stinker in Melbourne. He opens against Baghdatis in what should be a great match for tennis fans to watch. Both players can relate to one another as they have both lost in the finals of the first major of the year at one point in their respective careers.

Brasil Open, Costa Do Sauipe, Brazil

It seems like a strange time of the year to be playing on clay courts, but this level 250 tournament offers those specialists a chance to earn more points than they would anywhere else at the tour.

Juan Carlos Ferrero is the defending champion and at almost 31 years of age can still perform quite well on this surface.

Other clay-court players like Albert Montanes, Tomaz Bellucci and Nicolas Almagro are also entered in the event.

Ukraine’s Alexandr Dolgopolov will be playing and despite his quarter-final result at the Aussie Open still considers clay as his favorite surface. Lookout for him to be one of the real break-out players of 2011. His showing in Melbourne was no fluke.

Mondays with Bob Greene: A Summary of the First Week of the Australian Open 2011

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STARS

Australian Open

(First Week)

Alexandr Dolgopolov beat fourth-seeded Robin Soderling 1-6, 6-3 6-1 4-6 6-2

Andrea Petkovic beat fourth-seeded Venus Williams 1-0 retired

Petra Kvitova beat fifth-seeded Samantha Stosur 7-6 (5) 6-3

Peng Shuai beat seventh-seeded Jelena Jankovic 7-6 (3) 6-3

Li Na beat eighth-seeded Victoria Azarenka 6-3 6-3

Stanislas Wawrinka beat eighth-seeded Andy Roddick 6-3 6-4 6-4

Flavia Pennetta beat 10th-seeded Shahar Peer 3-6 7-6 (3) 6-4

Miles Raonic beat 10th-seeded Mikhail Youzhny 6-4 7-5 4-6 64

SAYINGS

“It’s super-disappointing because this is just not how I envisioned my Australian Open being. I’ve never had to retire from a Grand Slam, especially after working so hard to pull out the match the other day. Just hoping for some magic that I could recover. But I have peace of mind that I really gave more than my best to be out there.” – Venus Williams, after an injury forced her to retire from her third-round Australian Open match.

“I know I’m not 100 percent. I knew it before walking on the court. That’s why I say there are no excuses. I decided to play not being 100 percent. It’s been difficult in the last three days on my elbow and I just did everything that I could that it will be OK, but it wasn’t enough.” – Justine Henin, after losing to Svetlana Kuznetsova.

“You can’t win a Grand Slam in the first week, but you can lose it.” – Roger Federer, after needing five sets to beat Gilles Simon of France in a second-round match.

“It wasn’t really that I was the best player in the world, but it’s all the Grand Slams I won. That’s what gives really the emotions.” – Justine Henin, speaking about players who have reached number one in the rankings without having won a Grand Slam tournament title.

Roger Federer

“It just wasn’t a good day at the office. – Maria Sharapova, after being upset by Germany’s Andrea Petkovic.

STOP THE PAIN

Screaming in agony, Venus Williams fought through a painful muscle injury to win her second-round match, downing Sandra Zahlavova of the Czech Republic 6-7 () 6-0 6-4. But the injury proved to be too much, and Williams retired from a Grand Slam tournament match for the first time in her career. The injury occurred on the final point of the first-set tiebreak. She took a medical timeout between sets and, when she returned to the court, Williams had her right thigh heavily taped. Despite grimacing in pain through the next two sets, Williams rode her big serve and power game to victory against Zahlavova. The seven-time Grand Slam tournament champion said she had strained a psoas, a lower back muscle with tendons linked to the spine and hip. “I think this is probably the most acute one that I’ve ever had,” Williams said when asked to compare the strain with other injuries in her career. Against her next opponent, Germany’s Andrea Petkovic, Williams called it quits after the first seven points. “I obviously couldn’t play,” said Williams, who was playing in her first tournament since injuring her knee at the US Open.

SODERLING SHOCKER

This was supposed to be the tournament where Robin Soderling would seriously challenge for a Grand Slam title. Alexander Dolgopolov had other ideas. The young Ukrainian pulled off the shock of the Australian Open so far when he ousted the fourth-seeded Swede in a five-set battle. Until meeting Dolgopolov, Soderling had not lost a set in 2011. That changed when Dolgopolov won the second set. Soderling jumped out to a 4-0 led in the fourth set, eventually winning 6-4 to level the match at two sets apiece. And he broke his opponent’s serve to begin the final set. But he lost his own serve in the very next game and Dolgopolov closed out the victory on his fourth match point.

STEPPING

Andrea Petkovic has danced her way into the second week of the Australian Open. Best known for being on the other side of the court when Venus Williams retired for the first time in her career from a Grand Slam tournament match, Petkovic has been best known for her on-court hip-shaking dance after her victories.  “It started off as a bet with my coach,” the 23-year-old German said. “Going into the US Open last year I was playing terrible. I got to the first round and he said, ‘OK,  if you win this, you have to do something special.’ I won 7-6 in the third (upsetting Nadia Petrova) and I wanted to flee the court. But my coach said, ‘Hey, the dance.’ So I did it. And it became popular. Also, I am superstitious – I have played much better since I do the dance. So the dance stays.” When she moved into the fourth round because of the injury to Williams, it was same old thing for Petkovic. At the US Open in September, she advanced to the fourth round when her third-round opponent, China’s Peng Shuai, withdrew after hurting her arm. “I hope I’m not jinxing the other girls,” Petkovic said. “I really feel terrible that everybody has to retire against me in the third round. I hope next time I will make the fourth round with playing the third round.”

SUCCESS DOWN UNDER

The Australian Open is one of Andy Murray’s favorite tournaments. Ever since he won the junior title at Flushing Meadows seven years ago, the Scot has said the tournament he loves most is the US Open. But his successes Down Under over the last two years has caused the Melbourne event to rise rapidly in his affections. Murray was a finalist at Melbourne Park 12 months ago when he played the best tennis of his life before losing to Roger Federer in the title match. Now, he has returned to the fourth round of the Grand Slam tournament with the loss of just 17 games, fewer than he has conceded in the first three rounds on any of his previous Grand Slam tournament appearances. “I like the surface here better than the US Open,” Murray said. “It’s slower and I prefer that. I do like the surface here. It’s very similar to the courts I practice on in Miami. I really enjoy this tournament. It’s definitely one of the easiest to get yourself ready for, because they make life really comfortable here.”

SPEAKER KING

Billie Jean King will give the 2011 commencement address at the University of Vermont on May 22. Known for both her accomplishments on the court and as a champion for equality in women’s athletics, King was recognized by Life magazine as one of the 100 most important Americans in the 20th century. In 1972, King was the first woman named Sports Illustrated’s Sportsperson of the Year. In 2009, she was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, America’s highest civilian honor. And the United States Tennis Association named the site of the US Open the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center.

SAYING THANKS

Victorian Premier Ted Baillieu visited Melbourne Park to thank all those involved with the Australian Open for their efforts in raising money for flood victims.  Joined by Australian tennis player Alicia Molik and others Baillieu commended the efforts of the tennis community in assisting people affected by the devastating floods throughout eastern Australia. “This has been one of the most extraordinary natural disasters in Australia’s history. It’s going to cost Australians an awful lot, and anything that can be provided to support individuals and families on the ground is going to be much appreciated,” he said. Tennis Australia’s “Rally for Relief” before the tournament began featured some of the biggest names in tennis, including Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer, Kim Clijsters, Samantha Stosur, Novak Djokovic, Lleyton Hewitt and Caroline Wozniacki. So far the campaign has raised USD $2.3 million.

STRAIGHT TALK

When Tennis Channel aired Caroline Wozniacki’s third-round victory at the Australian Open, announcer Bill Macatee fielded a text message from a “Chris in Florida” who wondered if the top-ranked Danish player “feels like the number one player in the world, never having won a Grand Slam?” Sideline reporter Lindsay Davenport asked, “That wouldn’t be the Chris from Florida who is a Grand Slam winner herself, would it?” It turns out it was former number one Chris Evert, who was watching the match on television. In the booth next to Macatee was led analyst Martina Navratilova, who agreed that the point Evert was making has become an issue for Wozniacki because she is started to get asked about it more and more. Davenport admitted that upon reclaiming the top ranking at one point in her career she didn’t feel like number one in the world since she had not won a Grand Slam title in some time. Evert, Navratilova and Davenport all won Australian Open singles titles during their playing days.

STOPPING PLAY

The start of Maria Sharapova’s third-round match against Julia Goerges of Germany was delayed because of a bubble on the court. When she was approaching the umpire’s chair for the coin toss before the match began, Sharapova noticed something under her left foot. “All of a sudden I looked down and there was a pretty big bubble there,” the Russian beauty said. Umpire Kerrilyn Cramer took a look and the warm-up was halted. Tournament officials called in a technician who used a cordless power tool to drill a couple of holes in the rubberized surface. With the problem fixed, the match went on. Sharapova won. “Maybe it was comical to you; it wasn’t really comical to us. We warmed up and had to sit and wait for a while,” she told reporters. “They took care of it pretty fast.”

STRAIGHT IN

Andre Agassi read aloud a love letter to his wife when she was inducted into the International Tennis hall of Fame. Now, the former world number one joins her in the Newport, Rhode Island, USA, shrine. The announcement of Agassi’s induction was made at a Las Vegas, Nevada, charter school named for the tennis star, the Andre Agassi College Preparatory Academy. The students, who range from kindergarten through Grade 12, joined Agassi to celebrate his being named to the Hall. Agassi is the sold 2011 inductee in the Recent Player category. Additional 2011 inductees in other categories will be announced at a later date. The induction ceremony will be held July 9 at the Hall in Newport in conjunction with the Campbell’s Hall of Fame Tennis Championships, an ATP World Tour event. Now 40, Agassi’s 60 tournament titles include four Australian Opens, two US Opens and one victory each at the French Open and Wimbledon.  He also won the singles gold medal at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics and had a career 30-6 record in Davis Cup play, leading the United States to Davis Cup titles in 1990 and 1992. When he won the French Open in 1999, he became the first male player in history to win all four Grand Slam tournament titles on three different surfaces: clay, grass and hard court.

SPECIAL PLAYERS

Pakistan’s Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi and his doubles partner, Rohan Bopanna of India, have won the Willi Daume World Fair Play Trophy. The Indo-Pak Express will receive the prestigious award in Lausanne, Switzerland, on January 27. They also want to play an exhibition match across the Wagah border crossing between the two countries. Qureshi and Bopanna received the prize for their message of peace. The pair has been advocating peace between the two arch-rival countries, and their efforts have started to bear fruit with their: Stop War Start Tennis’ campaign. “A lot of good things have been achieved, the ITF is now supporting this, Peace and Sport is also supporting this,” Qureshi told Pakistani media.

STRUCK DOWN

Frenchwoman Marion Bartoli will be sidelined for six weeks after tearing a calf muscle during her second-round match against Vesna Manasieva. Bartoli, who raced through her first-round match 6-0, 6-0, lost to Manasieva 3-6, 6-3, 6-0. “It felt like an explosion inside my muscle when I pushed off at one point,” Bartoli said. “After that, it was very complicated because I couldn’t use my right leg. … The doctors asked me how I had managed to play another hour and a half. But I’m a competitor. I was up a set; it’s not easy to give up. It might not have been the best decision to take.”

SOUND THE ALARM

An exploded racquet enlivened one match at the Australian Open. Agnieszka Radwanska of Poland defeated 40-year-old Kimiko Date-Krumm of Japan in a first-round battle, 6-4, 4-6, 7-5, but not without an incident. With the 12th-seeded Radwanska leading 6-5, deuce, Date-Krumm served the ball. As Radwanska returned the serve, her racquet exploded, leaving the player with only a portion of the handle in her hands. The 21-year-old Radwanska grabbed another racquet and won the match three points later. Observers said Radwanska had been rapping her racquet on the court in anger during the third set, and that could have contributed to the racquet breaking.

SQUASHED

Dinara Safina’s game, at least, failed to show up for her first-round match. Third-seeded Kim Clijsters, the reigning US Open champion, hammered her Russian opponent 6-0, 6-0. It was just two years ago that Safina was ranked number one in the world before her career was derailed by a back injury. Playing on center court, Clijsters took only 44 minutes to trample her opponent. From midway through the first set, the only question was whether Safina could avoid the “double bagel.” She couldn’t. “I don’t know how to win a point … embarrassing,” Safina said of her performance, which came just a week after she lost 6-0, 6-1 to Marion Bartoli of France in the Moorilla Hobart International, an Australian Open warm-up tournament. ”Something was not right. I have to figure out the answers,” the 24-year-old said. “To lose two tournaments in a row 6-0, 6-1 and now 6-0, 6-0 – it’s really to scratch the head and thing, ‘What the hell am I doing?’ It’s not that I don’t want (to play). I want to come back and I want to play better. Definitely it hurts.”

SURE IT’S STEFFI?

Was it or wasn’t it Steffi? The man who won the auction to buy a plate from Andre Agassi and see a naked picture of Agassi’s wife said he is not positive the naked back in the photo belonged to Steffi Graf. While participating in the auction while he was in Taiwan earlier this month for an exhibition tennis match, Agassi spurred on the lagging bidding by holding up the plate and saying: “You pay more than $4,000 and I will show you a picture of my wife on my phone naked.” Franz Chen, chief executive of Taiwanese porcelain manufacturer Franz Collection, said he won the auction by bidding the equivalent of USD $7,000. Agassi showed him his phone which had a photo of the naked back of a blonde.

SWITCH

Just after Australia’s Jelena Dokic began her first-round Australian Open match against Zuzana Ondraskova, Channel Seven switched from the tennis to its 6 p.m. newscast. Television audiences were warned in advance that this would happen throughout the two weeks of the year’s first Grand Slam tournament. The conclusion of the Dokic-Ondraskova match could have been viewed on the digital channel 7mate until coverage resumed on Channel Seven at 7 p.m.

SERBIAN NO-NO

Ana Ivanovic can’t win even when she’s winning. Not only did the former world number one from Serbia lose her opening round Australian Open match, she also has been retired from the TennisReporters.net Sexiest Female Player reader poll. The reason? Because she’s a winner. Ivanovic won the poll five straight years, from 2005 to 2009, by such a large margin that tennis writer Matt Cronin, who co-owns the website, said they had little option but to take the Serbian beauty off the ballot. “She’s just plain unbeatable in that category. It was time to give other players a chance,” Cronin said. It wasn’t all grim news for the 23-year-old, however. In her honor the award has been renamed the “Ana Ivanovic Sexiest Player Award.” With Ivanovic no longer in the running, Russia’s Maria Kirilenko won the voting, followed by compatriot Maria Sharapova and Denmark’s Caroline Wozniacki.

SAD NEWS

Jim McManus, a former player and founding member of the men’s tennis tour, is dead at the age of 70. The ATP said McManus died of complications following a battle with cancer. He was a member of the ATP’s original board of directors in 1972 and was employed by the tour for 28 years. ATP president Adam Helfant called McManus “a true pioneer of the game of tennis” and “one of its greatest and most significant figures.” McManus is survived by his wife and two children.

SNUBBED

Immigration officials have turned down Russian-born Arina Rodionova’s bid to become an Australian citizen, while at the same time approving the citizenship of her sister, Anastasia Rodionova. A glowing endorsement from Tennis Australia touting Arina failed to impress Australian officials, who in a letter of rejection said she was “not the same caliber as her sister.” The 21-year-old Arina has been living for the past five years in Melbourne with her older sister, who won two gold medals at the Delhi Commonwealth Games. But an application for a residency visa in August was denied by the Immigration Department. “She wants to be an Australian,” the 28-year-old Anastasia said. “We will appeal, and hopefully the government will see her a bit different. Maybe after her results here at the Australian Open they’ll see she has the potential.” The Rodionovas were the only sisters playing in this year’s Australian Open, a far cry from last year when there were four sets of sisters in the tournament. It is believed the Rodionovas are the first sisters to represent different countries in the same Grand Slam tournament since Manuela Maleeva of Switzerland and Katarina Maleeva of Bulgaria played in the 1990 French Open.

SAYONARA

Ecuador’s Nicolas Lapentti said he is retiring because injuries have impeded him from playing at his full potential. “It took me a lot to make the decision, I didn’t want to rush, I wanted to be 100 percent sure. I’m leaving tennis without regret,” said Lapentti. The 34-year-old was surrounded by his family when he made the announcement at the Tennis Club in Guayaquil, Ecuador. Last year Lapentti was hampered by several injuries. He currently has a tendon injury in one of his knees. “I’ll have a farewell match, but I don’t know when and against whom. I have to get over the injury first,” he said. Lapentti started his career in 1993 on Ecuador’s Davis Cup team when he was just 16 years old. He played his first ATP match in 1995 and won a Challenger in Santiago, Chile. His was ranked sixth in the world in November 1999.

SPONSORS

The Aegon International will be played at Eastbourne, England’s Devonshire Park until at least 2013. The venue has been the site of the tournament since 1974. The event began as a WTA-only tournament, but since 2009 has hosted a joint ATP and WTA event. “We’ve had a good track record with the women here,” said Roger Draper, chief executive of the34 Lawn Tennis Association (LTA). “We brought the ATP competition here a couple of years ago and we’re building on that. We’ve got a couple of things up our sleeve to keep the fans happy.” This year’s tournament will be held June 11-18.

SITES TO SURF

Melbourne: www.australianopen.com/en_AU/index.html

ITF: www.itftennis.com/

Tennis Australia: www.tennis.com.au/

Heilbronn: www.heilbronn-open.de/

Fed Cup: www.fedcup.com

Johannesburg: www.satennisopen.co.za/

Zagreb: www.zagrebindoors.com/

Santiago: www.movistaropen.cl/

TOURNAMENTS THIS WEEK

(All money in USD)

MEN AND WOMEN

Australian Open, Melbourne, Australia, hard (second week)

MEN

$113,000 Heilbronn Open, Heilbronn, Germany, hard

TOURNAMENTS NEXT WEEK

MEN

$486,500 PBZ Zagreb Indoors, Zagreb, Croatia, hard

$442,500 SA Tennis Open, Johannesburg, South Africa, hard

$358,250 Movistar Open, Santiago, Chile, clay

FED CUP

World Group

Australia vs. Italy at Hobart, Australia, hard

Russia vs. France at Moscow, Russia, hard

Slovak Republic vs. Czech Republic at Bratislava, Slovak Republic, hard

Belgium vs. United States at Antwerp, Belgium, hard

World Group II

Estonia vs. Spain at Tallinn, Estonia, hard; Slovenia vs. Germany at Maribor, Slovenia, clay; Serbia vs. Canada at Novi Sad, Serbia, hard; Sweden vs. Ukraine at Helsingborg, Sweden, hard

Group I

Europe/Asia Zone, at Eilat, Israel, hard, round-robin, four pools: Austria, Belarus, Bulgaria, Croatia, Denmark, Great Britain, Greece, Hungary, Israel, Latvia, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Poland, Romania, Switzerland

Americas Zone, at Buenos Aires, Argentina, clay, round-robin, two pools: Argentina, Brazil, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Mexico, Paraguay, Peru

Asia/Oceania Zone, at Nonthaburi, Thailand, hard, round-robin, two pools: China, Chinese Taipei, India, Japan, Kazakhstan, Korea, Republic, New Zealand, Thailand, Uzbekistan

Group II

Asia/Oceania Zone, at Nonthaburi, Thailand, hard, round-robin, two pools: Hong Kong China, Indonesia, Iraq, Kyrgyzstan, Oman, Pakistan, Philippines, Singapore, Turkmenistan

Mondays with Bob Greene: Venus Williams Starts Australian Open Setting Strange Record

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STARS

Li Na beat Kim Clijsters 7-6 (3) 6-3 to win the Medibank International Sydney women’s singles in Sydney, Australia

Gilles Simon beat Viktor Troicki 7-5 7-6 (4) to win the Medibank International men’s singles in Sydney, Australia

David Ferrer beat David Nalbandian to win the Heineken Open in Auckland, New Zealand

Jarmila Groth beat Bethanie Mattek-Sands 6-4 6-3 to win the Moorilla Hobart International in Hobart, Australia

SAYINGS

“It’s always good to win the tournament. I mean, you never know if you’re going to win more after, so I enjoy it every time.” – Gilles Simon, after capturing the men’s singles at the Medibank International in Sydney, Australia

“I was 5-0 down and saw the time. It was only 15 minutes. I thought, ‘Yeah, the fans, they pay a lot of money and the match will be over in half an hour.’ One or two points changed it, and it turned around like that. When we got to the tiebreak, I thought it was my chance.” – Li Na, after rallying to win the Medibank International Sydney tournament in straight sets.

“I think I’ve beaten number 2, number 3, number 4, number 5 and everybody, just not number 1. So I’m really happy about it.” – Dominika Cibulkova, after beating top-ranked Caroline Wozniacki in the Medibank International Sydney tournament.

“It’s exciting because we never lost a match. We are going to play in a Grand Slam with eight matches in our pockets. We just have to focus for the matches like we did these two weeks. We have to keep it going like easy in the head and not thinking so much about what we have done. We have to look forward to what we have to do.” – Lukas Dlouhy, after he and Paul Haney upset twins Bob and Mike Bryan to win the Medibank International men’s doubles.

“It’s amazing. Something I think obviously we were hoping to do. But this is a little bit of a shock, to be honest. … “I’m from Brisbane, so to win in Brisbane and now to win back-to-back in Sydney, everyone loves winning their home title. Doing two in a row, I’m still in a little bit of shock, to be honest.” – Paul Hanley, who teamed with Lukas Dlouhy to win in Sydney, Australia.

“I think it was a very good week. Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose, sometimes you play good and lose, sometimes you play bad and win. Sport is like that. Today I lost. I will try to play better every day.” – David Nalbandian, after losing the title match at the Heineken Open.

Venus Williams

“Favorites, you know, it really doesn’t mean anything. Every match and every tournament has to be played. You all start – 128 players start from scratch. It’s the same for everybody from the start. … Every match has to be played. In sports, nothing is predictable, so I’m going to try and keep going, keep working on what I’ve been doing, and just try to improve, stay fit, rest well. We’ll see what happens.” – Kim Clijsters, saying she is taking nothing for granted heading into the Australian Open.

“Just like the flood disaster in the US, there are a lot of people that lost everything they owned, and it’s going to be a long road to some sense of normalcy. I want to continue to use my international platform as a WTA tennis player to help those who are in need, no matter if they are right next door or across an ocean.” – Bethanie Mattek-Sands, pledging a portion of her prize money to aid victims of the Queensland, Australia, flood.

SWINGING FOR DOLLARS

The world’s best tennis players showed they care, raising more than $1.8 million in the Rally for Relief, a fund-raiser for victims of the deadly flooding in Queensland, Australia. Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer, Kim Clijsters, Sam Stosur, Lleyton Hewitt, Justine Henin, Caroline Wozniacki, Novak Djokovic, Ana Ivanovic, Andy Murray, Andy Roddick, Vera Zvonareva, Victoria Azarenka as well as former players Pat Rafter and Jim Courier, entertained a capacity Rod Laver Arena crowd. “It’s all about doing something and giving back,” said Stosur, herself a Queensland resident whose family had their home destroyed in a flood in 1991. “These floods put things really into perspective.”

The ITF Board of Directors announced that, in consultation with Tennis Australia and Tennis Queensland, it will donate a minimum of $25,000 to assist in rebuilding tennis facilities that have been damaged or destroyed due to the devastating floods. At the same time, the ITF said it will also help the Brazilian Tennis Federation to rebuild tennis facilities following flooding that had affected that country.

SURPRISING WEEK

Li Na was one game away from defeat against two-time Grand Slam tournament winner Svetlana Kuznetsova, trailing 6-3 5-3 in the quarterfinals. She somehow pulled off a victory there, and then in the final dropped the first five games to US Open champion Kim Clijsters. Seeded eighth, Li ripped through the next five games to pull even at 5-all before sending the first set into a tiebreak. Again Clijsters took the lead, 3-1, before China’s top player won six straight points to take the set. When she also took the second set, Le became the first Chinese player to win a WTA Premier title, capturing the Medibank International Sydney, the final warm-up event for the Australian Open. “When we got to the tiebreak, I thought it was my chance,” Li said. If Clijsters had won, she would have moved into the number two spot in the rankings, surpassing Vera Zvonareva. Instead, the Belgian remains in the number three spot. “I’ve played here many years. Every time I saw the name of the champion and I would think, ‘Oh, when will my name be there?’” Li said. “Also, when you walk to center court, you can see many pictures of champions over there. So after today I talked to me team, saying we will come next year and see my picture.”

SO AT HOME

The World Team Cup will be played this year, after all. Two new sponsors were found for the vent, which now will be held May 15-21 at the Rochusclub in Dusseldorf, Germany. Last month, it was announced the team-format tournament, which has been held since 1978, was being discontinued because it had no sponsor. The clay court event is traditionally held before the French Open. Last year, Argentina beat the United States for the title.

STEPPING CAUTIOUSLY

Plans by the WTA to add a Premier tournament at the beginning of the year is causing ripples in Brisbane, Australia, and Auckland, New Zealand. Andrew Walker, WTA senior vice president, global marketing and communications, said the organization is aware of the concerns of the two smaller International events. Newspaper reports said the Auckland tournament was in real danger of not being able to secure quality players in the future because of the WTA’s desire to add a Premier event at the beginning of the year. “The board will be looking at the impact on our existing members and the impact on player fields and player flow,” Walker said. “That is critically important and that will be a very important consideration as to whether to put an event there.”

STRANGE RECORD

Venus Williams set a bizarre record when she played her first-round match at the Australian Open. She became the only top player to play the four Grand Slam tournaments in succession without playing any other event. Last year Williams lost to Nadia Petrova in the fourth round of the French Open. Because of a knee problem, she didn’t play again until Wimbledon, where she reached the quarterfinals before being upset in straight sets by little-known Tsvetana Pironkova. Again her troublesome left knee caused her to skip all tournaments until the US Open, where she battled into the semifinals before losing to eventual champion Kim Clijsters in a tough three-setter. The older of the Williams sisters was then sidelined for the remainder of last year due to the knee injury, yet still finished the year ranked fifth in the world, her first top-five year-end finish since 2002. This year, Williams played two exhibition singles matches in Hong Kong, losing both. But she has not competed in a WTA tour match since the US Open.

STATHAM’S THREAT

New Zealand’s Rubin Statham was so upset about being refused a wild card entry into the Heineken Open that he published a string of outbursts on Facebook, including a threat to change his nationality. Richard Palmer, Heineken Open tournament director, called Statham’s actions “silly” and “ill-conceived.” Palmer gave his main-draw wild cards to New Zealand’s top player, Michael Venus; the tournament’s second seed, Nicolas Almagro of Spain; and last year’s finalist, Arnaud Clement of France.  Statham received a wild card last year when he was ranked No. 1 in New Zealand, but his ranking has since dropped.

SENT AWAY

Bruce Flory has been relieved of his duties as tournament director of the Western & Southern Open by the United States Tennis Association (USTA), which said it is seeking a replacement. Saying he was surprised by the change, Flory will remain with the tournament as a consultant through the transition. He was named tournament director in 1999 and retained his post when the USTA became majority owner of the Western & Southern Open in 2008. This year, the tournament will feature concurrent men’s and women’s play for the first time. The new format will be staged August 13-21 at the Lindner Family Tennis Center in Mason, Ohio.

SETTING BACK THE CLOCK

Margaret Smith Court believes life is too easy for today’s Australian tennis players. One of the greatest female tennis players of all-time, Court said the over-complication of coaching and training had left many promising youngsters confused.  “In those early years we didn’t have psychologists, we didn’t have masseurs, we didn’t have any of that,” she said. “We just went out and played. We didn’t even have a seat to sit in until television came in.” Court said the blame for the state of the game in Australia cannot be solely directed at the players.  “I think the kids are getting confused and aren’t having those basic foundations that we had like going to school. They have too many coaches who are taking them away too early. If you look at the players that have managed to come through, they’ve come through with their own coach.”

STERLING PERFORMANCES

Six tennis players, including Rafael Nadal and Serena Williams, have been nominated for the Laureus World Sports Awards to be held next month in Abu Dhabi. Only track and field, boasting seven nominees, had more athletes chosen for the prestigious award. Besides Nadal and Williams, other tennis players nominated were Justine Henin, Kim Clijsters, Caroline Wozniacki and wheelchair player Esther Vergeer, The awards, considered sports version of the Oscars, is being held in Abu Dhabi for the second year in a row. Last year’s winners of the 2010 Laureus Sportsman and Sportswomen of the Year awards included Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt for the second time, American Serena Williams, and British Formula One driver Jenson Button.

SIGNED

Martina Navratilova and Lindsay Davenport have signed multi-year contract extensions with Tennis Channel. Both Grand Slam tournament champions are part of the channel’s Australian Open coverage, which begins in a week. Navratilova will continue to be Tennis Channel’s lead match analyst in Melbourne. Davenport will work for the cable network at the year’s first major tournament for the first time, including sideline reporting.

SPONSORS

Jetstar, a fully owned subsidiary of Qantas operating out of Australia, Singapore, New Zealand and Vietnam, will become the WTA’s official airline partner in Asia-Pacific. Jetstar is the third new sponsor signed by the women’s tour in the past 12 months and the second deal in the Asia-Pacific region this year. Earlier, the Chinese apparel brand Peak became a WTA sponsor. The WTA also signed a sponsorship agreement with Oriflame, a Swedish cosmetics company and renewed its global deals with Sony Ericsson; USANA, a leading global vitamin and health supplement manufacturer ; and leading foreign exchange company Travelex. Under the three year agreement, Jetstar will serve as the WTA’s official airline in the Asia-Pacific region and receive global exposure through branding, on-court presence, local activation and marketing and digital integration across all WTA social media platforms, in both English and Chinese.  Jetstar also will become the official airline partner of nine WTA tournaments in Asia-Pacific, including the Toray Pan Pacific Open in Tokyo, China Open in Beijing and Commonwealth Bank Tournament of Champions in Bali.

Automotive giant BMW will become the title sponsor of the WTA’s Malaysian Open, which will be held February 28-March 6 at the Bukit Kiara Equestrian and Country Resort. The inaugural tournament last year almost went on without a title sponsor until The Golden Horses Health Sanctuary stepped in at the eleventh hour. The BMW Malaysian Open will offer a purse of $220,000. Last year, Alisa Kleybanova won the title by defeating fellow Russian Elena Dementieva, the top seed, in the final.

The BMW Tennis Championship Challenger in Sunrise, Fla., won’t be held this year. The event served for seven years as a bridge between two ATP Masters tournaments in March. But tournament director Gabe Norona said the lack of sponsors combined with the annual cost of building bleachers at the Sunrise Tennis center was too much to overcome.  “It’s been a labor of love, but it still must be economically viable,” said Norona, founder of the $125,000 Challenger and co-owner of Pro Tennis World. “BMW was coming back and the city of Sunrise has always been good to us. But plans to build a fixed facility didn’t pan out and the sponsorships just weren’t there. That doesn’t mean we won’t try to host it here or somewhere else next year.”

SHARED PERFORMANCES

Auckland: Marcel Granollers and Tommy Robredo beat Johan Brunstrom and Stephen Huss 6-4 7-6 (6)

Hobart: Sara Errani and Roberta Vinci beat Kateryna Bondarenko and Liga Dekmeijere 6-3 7-5

Sydney (men): Lukas Dlouhy and Paul Hanley beat Bob Bryan and Mike Bryan 6-7 (6) 6-3 10-5 (match tiebreak)

Sydney (women): Iveta Benesova and Barbora Zahlavova Strycova beat Kveta Peschke and Katarina Srebotnik 4-6 6-4 10-7 (match tiebreak)

SITES TO SURF

Melbourne: www.australianopen.com/en_AU/index.html

ITF: www.itftennis.com/

Tennis Australia: www.tennis.com.au/

Heilbronn: www.heilbronn-open.de/

David Ferrer: http://davidferrer.com/

Novak Djokovic: www.novak-djokovic.com

Robin Soderling: http://robinsoderling.se/

Andy Murray: www.andymurray.com

Vera Zvonareva: www.zvonareva.ru/

Samantha Stosur: http://samstosur.com/

Caroline Wozniacki: www.carolinewozniacki.dk/

Venus Williams: www.venuswilliams.com/

TOURNAMENTS THIS WEEK

(All money in USD)

MEN AND WOMEN

Australian Open, Melbourne, Australia, hard (first week)

TOURNAMENTS NEXT WEEK

MEN AND WOMEN

Australian Open, Melbourne, Australia, hard (second week)

MEN

$113,000 Heilbronn Open, Heilbronn, Germany, hard

Around The Corner – Aussie Open Tune-Ups Continue

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By Mike McIntyre

Medibank International – Sydney, Australia

American Sam Querrey has the top seed and enjoys a first round bye. He will face either Alexandr Dolgopolov (who lost to Roddick in Brisbane) or a qualifier in his first match. It will be interesting to watch Querrey this year and see if the 23 year old is ready to take another big step forward. 2010 saw him win tournaments on all three surfaces, so expectations are high.

Gilles Simon looks to be the toughest opponent in Querrey’s section of the draw and the two could face-off in the third round. Simon is a former top-ten player, though he is not seeded in this event after sustaining a lackluster 2010 season.

Ernests Gulbis is the third seed and is also in the top-half of the draw, but somebody remind me when he last accomplished anything worthwhile on the circuit.

Juan Martin del Potro

Marcos Baghdatis is the defending champion in Sydney and is seeded second this year. He gets the winner of Potito Starace and Julien Benneteau. Look for the Frenchman Benneteau to possibly give him trouble in round two.

Juan Martin Del Potro has a wildcard into the tournament and gets Feliciano Lopez, the eight seed, in a tough first round match. After missing the majority of 2010 with a wrist injury, it is going to be fun to watch a healthy Del P and see if he bounces back this season. It will be nice to see him back near the top of the rankings and giving guys like Nadal and Federer a good run for their money.

Heineken Open – Auckland, New Zealand

World No. 7 David Ferrer of Spain takes the number one position in Auckland and gets a bye in the first round. He will open against either Tobias Kamke or a qualifier in round two. Philipp Kohlscrhreiber the eighth seed looks like potential trouble in the top-half of the draw while veteran Tommy Robredo is also present though unseeded.

In the bottom half clay-court guru Nicolas Almagro is the number two seed while John Isner is the third seed. The tall American returns to Auckland as the defending champion where he won his first ever ATP World Tour title. In the finals a year ago he saved a match point en-route to defeating Arnaud Clement.

David Nalbandian is also present and could cause some damage if he is healthy and fit to start the season. It seems something usually goes wrong with the Argentine in the early-goings of the tennis year, perhaps due to a lack of proper preparation or maybe just due to his chronic misfortune with injuries.

All in all a pretty nice draw in Auckland this year and one of several players involved could walk away with the title.

Kooyong Classic

Though not an official ATP tournament, the Kooyong Classic usually has some top-level talent on display. The annual exhibition offers up some pretty nice prize money to entice tour players to play.

This year they boast a lineup of Jurgen Melzer, Nikolay Davydenko, Gael Monfils, Lleyton Hewitt, Mikhail Youzhny, Tomas Berdych, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Fernando Verdasco in the tournament.

The draw has not yet been revealed but winners advance to the championship side while losers are relegated to the consolation section where they still are able to get a couple of matches under their belt prior to heading to Melbourne.

Enjoy the tennis and stay tuned for our Australian Open preview in a week’s time.

Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer Continue Their Historic Rivalry in Doha – Around The Corner

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By Mike McIntyre

Brisbane International

Robin Soderling arrives in Brisbane as the number one seed. Earlier this week in Abu Dhabi he defeated Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Tomas Berdych, while losing to Roger Federer in a tight three set match. It seems like he is off to a solid start and should be considered the favorite in this tournament.

Soderling will face a qualifier in the opening round this week and has only Mardy Fish as a real threat in his half of the draw. That duo could meet in the semi-finals.

In the bottom half, defending champion Andy Roddick is the number two seed and faces Marinko Matosevic, an Australian wildcard, in the first round. Roddick’s draw is much tougher than Soderling’s as he will face either Igor Andreev or Alexandr Dolgopolov in the second round. A potential quarter-final match against Marcos Baghdatis also looms followed by Fernando Verdasco, Gilles Simon or Feliciano Lopez in the semis. Repeating as champion will be no easy task for Roddick but if he can get to the finals it will be a sign that he is clearly ready to play in 2011.

Aircel Chennai Open

Also fresh from Abu Dhabi is number one seed Tomas Berdych of the Czech Republic. He will face Frederico Gil in the first round and could see Jeremy Chardy in the quarter-finals. For a player who was invisible in many tournaments a year ago, Berdych needs to take this opportunity in Chennai to show he is a true top-ten guy.

Rafael Nadal & Roger Federer continue their rivalry in 2011

Third seeded Stan Wawrinka is also in the top half of the draw and must have been a late entry because he is using one of the wildcard’s for the tournament.

In the bottom half, Xavier Malisse the 7th seed could face 4th seeded Richard Gasquet in one quarter-final while 6th seeded Janko Tipsarevic and 2nd seed Marin Cilic could square-off in the other.

Cilic is aiming to win his third Chennai Open in a row, which would make him the only player to have ever accomplished that feat at the Indian event. In 2010 he defeated Wawrinka in the finals and in 2009 it was Somdev Devvarman he took out.

Exxon Mobil Open – Qatar

Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer continue their historic rivalry by opening the 2011 ATP World Tour season in Doha, Qatar.

Fresh off an exhibition tournament victory in nearby Abu Dhabi, Nadal is seeded first and will face Karol Beck in the first round.

At the Mubadala Tennis Championships, Nadal defeated Tomas Berdych and then Federer to show that he is ready to go on the hard courts.

Here in Doha he will have to get through the likes of Ernests Gulbis, Nikolay Davydenko and perhaps Philipp Kohlschreiber in order to advance to an anticipated final match-up against Federer.

A year ago Davydenko defeated both Federer and Nadal en route to the title. Do no expect a similar result this year as the veteran Russian’s game has taken a sharp turn for the worse over the past eight months.

In the bottom half of the draw, Federer opens the tournament against a qualifier. He then has players such as Viktor Troicki and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in his path who could pose him some problems.

I’m somewhat surprised in the weak field that Doha has to offer given the fact they have much more prize money to offer than the other two level 250 tournaments that the ATP has this week. Chalk it up to the distance that players must travel to get to the Middle East and then proceed to Australia I suppose.

Look forward to the Federer/Nadal final in a week’s time. I’d be quite surprised if either player was unable to advance to that stage.

And what about for those fans of other top players like Andy Murray, Novak Djokovic and Juan Martin Del Potro? Murray and Djokovic are playing in the Hopman Cup at the moment, a mixed-team event. Del Potro will take to the courts in a week in Sydney.

Mondays with Bob Greene: Serbia wins Davis Cup

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STARS

Serbia beat France 3-2 to win the Davis Cup by BNP Parabis in Belgrade, Serbia

Goran Ivanisevic beat Todd Martin 6-2 6-4 to win the AEGON Masters Tennis in London, England

Timea Babos beat Elitsa Kostova 3-6 6-3 7-5 to win the $25,000 William Loud Bendigo International in Bendigo, Australia

Alexandra Cadantu beat Julia Cohen 6-1 6-3 to win the $25,000 Hotel do Frade ITF Challenger in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Dominic Thiem beat Oliver Golding 6-2 6-1 to win the boys 18s at the Eddie Herr International Junior Tennis Championships in Bradenton, Florida, USA

Lauren Davis beat Yulia Putintseva 6-3 7-5 to win the girls 18s at the Eddie Herr International Junior Tennis Championships in Bradenton, Florida, USA

DAVIS CUP FINAL

Gael Monfils (France) beat Janko Tipsarevic (Serbia) 6-1 7-6 (4) 6-0

Novak Djokovic (Serbia) beat Gilles Simon (France) 6-3 6-1 7-5

Arnaud Clement and Michael Llodra (France) beat Nenad Zimonjic and Viktor Troicki (Serbia) 3-6 6-7 (3) 6-4 7-5 6-4

Novak Djokovic beat Gael Monfils 6-2 6-2 6-4

Viktor Troicki beat Michael Llodra 6-2 6-2 6-3

SAYINGS

“Under the circumstances, with huge pressure, I played an amazing match. Everything was working for me.” – Novak Djokovic, after beating Gael Monfils in the reverse singles to knot the Davis Cup tie 2-2.

“I’m still in shock. After the last shot I couldn’t believe what had just happened. It will take a few days for it all to sink in. This was the most intense pressure ever in my life in front of my home fans. It’s unbelievable. I’m struggling for words.” – Viktor Troicki, after winning the decisive fifth rubber to give Serbia a 3-2 victory over France and its first Davis Cup title.

“The French team are good guys, but unfortunately someone has to lose.” – Bogdan Obradovic, Serbian Davis Cup captain.

“We are not asking them to be thieves and give us anything, but some of them were absolutely awful today and they made several bad calls at key moments in the match. They were like a dark force out there and their lack of patriotism was astounding.” – Bogdan Obradovic, Serbian Davis Cup captain, complaining about the line judges in the Davis Cup final against France.

“At times we felt like the line judges were French and we were playing in Paris.” – Viktor Troicki, a member of the victorious Serbian Davis Cup team.

“I had never before started the match with a pair of double faults. I was nervous and it’s not surprising the crowd never really got going because I gave them very little to cheer about. Stage fright is not the main reason for my bad performance though. Quite simply I lost to a better player today and all credit to (Gael) Monfils.” – Janko Tipsarevic, after losing the opening singles match to Gael Monfils and giving France a 1-0 lead over Serbia in the Davis Cup final played in Belgrade, Serbia.

“Every time people write me off – or try to write me off – I’m able to bounce back.” – Roger Federer, after winning the season-ending ATP World Finals in London, England, beating Rafael Nadal in the final.

“When he’s playing well, (it’s) difficult to find solutions.” – Rafael Nadal, talking about Roger Federer.

“I think I showed everyone this week that I have one of the best conditioning and that I’m probably the biggest fighter here. The basics for me just were to stay in the game, stay in the match and try to just get it to go longer and longer.” – Timea Babos, after winning the William Loud Bendigo International in Bendigo, Australia

SERBIAN KINGS

Viktor Troicki and Novak Djokovic were the heroes as Serbia made history by winning the Davis Cup for the first time in its history. Trailing France 2-1 going into the two reverse singles, Djokovic began the comeback by thrashing Gael Monfils 6-2 6-2 6-4. That knotted the score and made whoever won the fifth and final rubber the champion. Troicki played one of the best matches of his career to down Frenchman Michael Llodra 6-2 6-2 6-3. When Troicki’s cross-court backhand on match point was a winner, the players and the crowd broke into wild celebrations.

The three-day competition began with Monfils defeating Janko Tipsarevic and Djokovic beating Gilles Simon. France took its 2-1 led when Arnaud Clement and Llodra teamed up to defeat Nenad Zimonjic and Troicki in the doubles.

Serbia wins Davis Cup

SENIOR STAR

Goran Ivanisevic captured his first AEGON Masters Tennis title by downing Todd Martin 6-2 6-4 at Royal Albert Hall in London, England. Ivanisevic overwhelmed Martin with serves of more than 130 mph. “I’m just so happy I finally won this tournament,” Ivanisevic said after lifting the trophy. “The first set today was probably the best set I played this week.” Everything was working for the winner. His beloved British football team, West Bromwich Albion, also won, beating Newcastle 3-1. “My day can’t get any better!” shouted Goran to the crowd midway through the second set when he learned West Bromwich had taken a 1-0 lead. The AEGON Masters Tennis title is Goran’s third of the year, making 2010 his most successful year to-date on the ATP Champions Tour.

STANDING FOR PEACE

Doubles partners Rohan Bopanna of India and Aisam Ul Haq Qureshi of Pakistan have been awarded the 2010 Grand Prix of Peace & Sports at a glittering event held in Monaco. The two players, who are also known as “Indo-Pak Express,” were given the award in the presence of Crown Prince of Monaco for their role in promoting peaceful relations between India and Pakistan. One of the top doubles teams on the ATP Tour, the pair conveys their message of peace by sporting the slogan “Stop War, Start Tennis.” The citation on the award says: “Their commitment to promoting peace between the two countries and their conviction that peace was possible was shown amply during the year. In the US Open tournament they managed to bring together the ambassadors of India and Pakistan to support the same team.” As he presented the award, Joel Bouzou, president and founder of Peace and Sport Foundation, requested the governments of India and Pakistan support Bopanna and Qureshi by organizing a symbolic tennis match at the Wagah border check post. “The sport is ready for peace. Will the two governments rise to the occasion?” Bouzou asked.

SPECIAL MAN

Slobodan Zivojinovic was awarded the 2010 Davis Cup Award of Excellence at the Davis Cup finals held in Belgrade, Serbia. The International Tennis Hall of Fame & Museum and International Tennis Federation (ITF) honored Zivojinovic during a special on-court ceremony. The award was presented by ITF President Francesco Ricci Bitti and Geoff Pollard, a member of the International Tennis Hall of Fame & Museum Board of Directors. The award recognizes the importance of Davis Cup by honoring individuals who best represent the ideals of the competition’s founder, Dwight Davis and is presented annually to a member of a past or present Davis Cup team who is from the country or region where the Final is being held. Zivojinovic was a member of the Yugoslavian Davis Cup team for more than a decade, representing his nation for 12 consecutive years between 1981 and 1992. He led the team to the semifinals in 1988, 1989 and 1991, compiling an overall Davis Cup win-loss record of 36-26.

Past recipients of the Davis Cup Award of Excellence are Manuel Orantes of Spain in 2009; Guillermo Vilas of Argentina in 2008; Stan Smith of the United States in 2007; Alex Metreveli of Russia in 2006; Miloslav Mecir of Slovak Republic and Goran Ivanisevic of Croatia in 2005; Manolo Santana of Spain in 2004; John Newcombe of Australia in 2003; Pierre Darmon of France in 2002; and Neale Fraser of Australia in 2001.

SEASON FOR GIVING

John Isner showed up in Dallas, Texas, USA, to help a friend, Dallas Stars center Brad Richards. Isner didn’t have to play tennis, but instead joined his hockey-playing pal in a Texas hold ‘em poker tournament to raise money to expand the pediatric cancer wing at Children’s Medical Center.

Twins Bob and Mike Bryan were just two big names who took part in a clinic in Clinton Township, New Jersey, USA, to benefit the Justin Gimelstob Children’s Fund and The Valerie Fund. The Children’s Fund provides financial support to a variety of children’s charities and related causes in Northern New Jersey and the metropolitan New York City area. The next night the Bryans joined Pete Sampras, Lindsay Davenport, Mary Joe Fernandez and Gimelstob in Chatham, New Jersey, USA, for another fund-raiser.

The Mark Knowles Tennis Invitational in Nassau, Bahamas, celebrated its 10th renewal. Joining Knowles, one of the world’s top doubles players, were Andy Murray, Xavier Malisse, Anna-Lena Groenefeld, Olga Savchuk, Bethanie Mattek-Sands, Sabine Lisicki, Bobby Reynolds, Amer Delic, Alex Kuznetsov, Jesse Levine, Filip Krajinokov, Ryan Sweeting, Brent Haygarth, Oliver Marach and Don Johnson.

STUPID MOVE

Top of Form

Grigor Dimitrov of Bulgaria has been fined more than USD $2,000 for allegedly attacking an umpire at a Challenger tournament in Helsinki, Finland, and could be punished further. The Finnish press reported that after he lost to Ricardas Berankis, the 19-year-old Dimitrov pushed umpire Daniel Infanger and that the two had to be separated by another official. The tournament director said that Dimitrov, a former junior number one, is facing a possible suspension. “The immunity of the umpire is a sacred thing in sports. You can disagree with calls but this was way out of line,” Finnish umpire Antti Aine said.

Bottom of Form

STOSUR IS WINNER

Samantha Stosur was awarded the inaugural Newcombe Medal as Australia’s tennis’ player of the year. Currently ranked sixth in the world, Stosur received the medal from John Newcombe himself at the Australian Tennis Awards in Melbourne. The 26-year-old had a break-out year in 2010, reaching the French Open final where she lost to Italian veteran Francesca Schiavone. Stosur also reached the final at Stuttgart, won her second career title in Charleston and reached the semifinals of the season-ending WTA Tour Championships in Doha, Qatar.

Davis Cup stalwart Peter Luczak was awarded the Spirit of Tennis Award in recognition of his outstanding leadership, passion and dedication to the sport. Stosur’s coach and Australian Fed Cup captain, David Taylor, was awarded the Coaching Excellence, High Performance Award.

SERBIAN IRE

Calling them “unpatriotic,” Serbia captain Bogdan Obradovic lashed out at the line judges in the France-Serbia Davis Cup final played in Belgrade, Serbia. “They were like a dark force out there and their lack of patriotism was astounding,” Obradovic said. His comments came after Arnaud Clement and Michael Llodra gave France a 2-1 lead by rallying from a two-set deficit and beating Serbia’s duo of Viktor Troicki and Nenad Zimonjic. The battle was played in a raucous atmosphere that threatened to boil over in the closing stages of the second set. With Serbia a set up and leading 6-5 in the second, several hundred French fans screamed for a foot fault on Troicki’s serve and Serbian supporters responded with loud jeers every time the French duo hit the ball after that. Following protestations to the umpire by both sides, Serbia’s Janko Tipsarevic grabbed a microphone and warned the home crowd that Serbia could be punished with a point or game deduction if the fans carried on. France then rallied to win the match. Serbia captured both reverse singles to win the prestigious international team trophy for the first time.

SIGNED

Two-time defending US Open champion Kim Clijsters will play in the 2011 Mercury Insurance Open, which will take place July 30 through August 7 in Carlsbad, California, USA. Since turning pro in 1997, Clijsters has won 40 career singles titles, including three US Opens. The Belgian finished 2010 by defeating Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark to win the WTA Championships in Doha, Qatar, and ended the year ranked third in the world.

SHARING SPACE

A death in Andy Roddick’s family has resulted in the postponement of the ConAgra Food Rock-n-Racquets exhibition in Omaha, Nebraska, USA. Instead, the event will be held on December 17 at the Qwest Center in Omaha. “This week is a time my family needs to be together. I appreciate everyone’s understanding and support and look forward to giving the fans a great show on December 17,” Roddick said. Tennis great Pete Sampras said he will also be able to accommodate the new date.

SHARAPOVA SET

Maria Sharapova will lead Russia when it takes on France in a first-round Fed Cup tie next year. “Sharapova has agreed to play the first round,” said Shamil Tarpishchev, president of the Russian Tennis Federation and its Fed Cup captain. “She is now fully recovered from the problems with her shoulder and again could challenge for the number one spot.” A three-time Grand Slam tournament champion and former number one, Sharapova has struggled to regain her form after a nine-month lay-off following shoulder surgery at the end of 2008. She finished this year ranked 18th in the world. Sharapova made her first and only Fed Cup appearance for Russia in a 4-1 victory over Israel in February 2008. Tarpishchev said Svetlana Kuznetsova, who has won two Grand Slam singles titles, and former world number one Dinara Safina will be joined by Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova on the Russian team. The tie will be played in Moscow on February 5-6.

SPARKLING DEBUT

Tobias Kamke of Germany has been named the ATP 2010 Newcomer of the Year after advancing 187 places in the ATP rankings since the start of the season. The 24-year-old reached four ATP Challenger Tour finals, winning twice. He finished the year ranked 67th in the world.

SPONSOR

Adecco, the world leader in Human Resources Solutions, has returned as an international sponsor to Davis Cup by BNP Paribas and will join Fed Cup by BNP Paribas. The new agreement, announced by the International Tennis Federation (ITF), began AT THE Davis Cup Final between Serbia and France in Belgrade and runs through 2013. Adecco previously sponsored Davis Cup from 2002-2007. “It is always good news when a top sponsor like Adecco chooses your competition. It is even better news when they decide to come back,” said ITF President Francesco Ricci Bitti. “This shows a real vote of confidence for both Davis Cup and Fed Cup and reinforces the current strength of both competitions.”

SHARED PERFORMANCES

Bendigo: Timea Babos and Melanie Smith beat Jarmila Groth and Jade Hopper 6-3 6-2

Rio de Janeiro: Maria-Fernanda Alves and Ana-Clara Duarte beat Alize Lim and Paula Ormaechea, default

Bradenton (boys): Joris De Loore and Jannick Lupescu beat Bjorn Fratangelo and Alexios Halebian 6-3 5-7 10-6 (match tiebreak)

Bradenton (girls): An-Sophie Mestach and Demi Schuurs beat Jennifer Brady and Lauren Herring 6-4 4-6 10-8 (match tiebreak)

SITES TO SURF

ITF: www.itftennis.com

ATP Tour: www.atpworldtour.com

Rafael Nadal: www.rafaelnadal.com

Roger Federer: www.rogerfederer.com

Novak Djokovic: www.novak-djokovic.com

Caroline Wozniacki: www.carolinewozniacki.dk/

Vera Zvonareva: www.zvonareva.ru/

Kim Clijsters: www.kimclijsters.be/

Serena Williams: www.serenawilliams.com/

Around The Corner: Shanghai Hosts Masters 1000 Event

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By Mike McIntyre

The best men’s tennis players in the world are once again assembled as the ATP World Tour showcases their talent in Shanghai. The Masters 1000 event boasts all top twenty players in the world.

In the first quarter we have world number one Rafael Nadal who recently completed his career Grand Slam at the U.S. Open. Since then Nadal has lost a semi-final match in Thailand and is currently set to play Gael Monfils in the finals in Beijing.

Nadal gets a first round bye this coming week and will play the winner of the Gilles Simon vs. Stan Wawrinka match.

Rafael Nadal

While Nadal seemed to pace himself this year by playing fewer tournaments, he has been going full throttle during the Asian tennis swing and is perhaps due for an early round upset. Either of Simon or Wawrinka could trouble him. After his opening match Nadal could face the likes of Mardy Fish and Fernando Verdasco in the third and fourth rounds. I feel it is time for Nadal to come back down to earth with a humbling loss to one of the above players.

Andy Murray leads the next quarter and has had a less than successful 2010 season on tour. While he did finally grab his first tournament victory in Toronto in August, he failed to advance past the third round at the U.S. Open. Murray also bombed out early this past week in Beijing where veteran Ivan Ljubicic thrashed him 6-3, 6-2.

Murray could be challenged by the likes of Marcos Baghdatis, Sam Querrey or Mikhail Youzhny in his section. His recent results do not inspire confidence in his chances here this week.

On the other side of the draw Novak Djokovic has regained the number two position on the tour and likely will open in the second round against Ivan Ljubicic who has had a terrific week in Beijing making the semi-finals. Djokovic will have Gael Monfils and potentially Tomas Berdych to deal with in his quarter as well.

Finally, world number three Roger Federer will play in his first tournament since New York. It is hard to tell what we can expect from Federer after his month-long layoff, although he has played strongly since Wimbledon where he unexpectedly lost in the quarter finals.

Federer has the best draw of the top four and should get a couple of wins under his belt before having to face Robin Soderling in the quarter-finals.

I expect a strong showing from Federer who will certainly be well rested. I foresee a Federer vs. Djokovic semi-final on one side with more of an upset on the other between Verdasco and Youzhny.

Any way it ends up, it’s another great opportunity to see all of the best players in the world show us their skills. Tennis fans in Asia and those willing and able to watch at odd hours around the globe will enjoy this late season competition.

The ATP Tour Continues its Swing in Asia – Around the Corner

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By Mike McIntyre

The ATP Tour continues its swing in Asia with stops in both China and Japan this coming week. All of the top players in the game with the exception of Roger Federer will be making an appearance in either Beijing or Tokyo. Both events are at the 500 level which means bigger pay-days and bigger competition. The first Masters 1000 event of the fall is just a week away as well.

China Open:

Defending champion Novak Djokovic takes the top seed in Beijing and makes his first appearance on the Tour since falling to Rafael Nadal in the U.S. Open final a month ago. Djokovic need not worry about facing the Spaniard this week but will still be pushed hard in order to advance to the finals.

Mao-Xin Gong, a Chinese wildcard, will be Djokovic’s first opponent. Given Gong’s world ranking of 353rd, I don’t think we have to worry about any potential upsets here. He gets the winner of the Mardy Fish vs. Janko Tipsarevic match in round two which will surely be a much bigger test of his abilities.

Novak Djokovic

Tomas Berdych the fifth seed could be Djokovic’s quarter-final opponent, while both Nikolay Davydenko and Fernando Verdasco could await in the semis. It’s about time that Davydenko has a strong result and he has typically played well this time of year.

Gilles Simon and Sam Querrey are also lurking in the top half of a very strong draw and must face each other in the opening round.

David Ferrer and Sweden’s Robin Soderling are seeded to meet in the quarter-finals of the bottom section of the draw. Meanwhile Andy Murray will try to get back on track as the second seed and could end up meeting Russian Mikhail Youzhny in the final eight of his quarter.

Some great first round matches in Beijing include Alexandr Dolgopolov against Marcos Baghdatis, Youzhny vs. Ivan Ljubicic and the already mentioned Querrey vs. Simon.

Fans are going to be treated to some top-level tennis without a doubt this year in Beijing.

Rakuten Japan Open:

Nadal appears as the top seed in Tokyo and will try to improve upon his semi-final result this past week in Thailand where he was defeated by Guillermo Garcia-Lopez.Nadal opens against little-known Santiago Giraldo in the opening round. Next he could face either Florent Serra of France or a qualifier.

The draw here in Tokyo is not quite as strong as the one in Beijing, which should allow Nadal a clear path to the finals.

Names in his half of the draw that could cause some hurdles include Ernests Gulbis, Jurgen Melzer and Richard Gasquet.

In the bottom half, Andy Roddick is the second seed. Roddick will try to return to the form that helped him knock-off the likes of Djokovic and Soderling in Cincinnati earlier this summer, rather than his lackluster performances at the last two Grand Slams. Tatsuma Ito will be the American’s first opponent followed by the winner of either Jeremy Chardy or a qualifier. I foresee Chardy giving Roddick some trouble, especially if Andy has not been getting in a lot of court time lately.

Frenchman Gael Monfils, Jo-Wilfried Tsong and Michael Llodra have all been slotted into the bottom half of the draw and one of them should be advancing to the semi-finals. Perhaps Tsonga can rekindle some magic from a year ago where he won this very tournament. He is making his first tournament appearance since a quarter-final loss at Wimbledon.

This week’s tournaments boast a strong contingent of the world’s best competitors with only two players missing from the top twenty. Oddly enough both of those players, Federer and Stan Wawrinka, come from Switzerland.

The push for the final spots at the season ending Tour championships in London is about to kick-off. Time to see who has been preparing the best game plan since the U.S. Open ended.

Serbia to Host France in Davis Cup Final

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Serbia will host France in 2010 Davis Cup final after Serbia completed a spirited comeback Sunday, winning the final two singles matches to defeat the Czech Republic 3-2 in Belgrade.

World No. 2 Novak Djokovic recovered from losing the opening set, then suffering a knee injury in the second before defeating Tomas Berdych 4-6, 6-3, 6-2, 6-4. Janko Tipsarevic, who beat Andy Roddick in the second round of the US Open, then beat Radek Stepanek 6-0, 7-6 (8-6), 6-4.

Serbia will play for the first time in the Davis Cup final against nine-time champion France in the Dec. 3-5 final. France swept its best-of-five series against Argentina and will contest the title match for a first time since 2002.

Novak Djokovic and Janko Tipsarevic

Serbia, which competed as part of Yugoslavia from 1995 to 2003, and Serbia & Montenegro for two years after that, trailed the Czech Republic, the Davis Cup finalists last year, 1-2 after Saturday’s play.

France was already assured of its spot after three wins before today. Gilles Simon beat Eduardo Schwank 7-6 (7-5), 6-7 (6-8), 6-3, while Arnaud Clement defeated Horacio Zeballos 7-5, 6-1, in two matches reduced to best-of-three sets to seal a 5-0 win.

Djokovic went into the match leading 2-1 against Berdych in career head-to-heads, the seventh-ranked Czech won their Wimbledon semi-final in July in straight sets.

The Serb had a lethargic start, dropping his serve in the seventh game to lose the first set, but drew strength from the support of his hometown crowd in the Belgrade Arena.

Djokovic required medical attention in the second set after attempting a smash and falling heavily and returned to the court with a bandage on his right knee.

However, he did not appear to be hampered, breaking Berdych to go 5-3 ahead before serving out the set.

Djokovic broke serve twice to go up 4-1 in the third and although he had a brief lapse to lose the next game with two straight errors, the Serb quickly refocused to close out the set.

Berdych was broken at 4-4 in the fourth set and Djokovic served out to love to complete a four-set win and level the tie.

“I felt sleepy in the first set but it didn’t last long,” Djokovic said. “I woke up when I fell but fortunately I was not hurt and I felt a volcano of energy coming from the fans.”

“He is a big fighter and he doesn’t need much to get back into a match,” said Berdych, who lost both his singles matches.

Gilles Simon beat Eduardo Schwank 7-6 (7-5) 6-7 (6-8) 6-3 and Arnaud Clement beat Horacio Zeballos 7-5 6-1 as France completed a rout of Argentina in Lyon.

“We’ve been lucky enough to just play at home so far,” said France captain Guy Forget.

“The final was already very hard and now it will be even harder because Djokovic and Tipsarevic are very talented. They will probably have 20,000 people behind them. It will be tough.

“Novak is in great form at the moment after his final at the US Open. Whenever they needed him, he responded.

“When he plays for his country, he surpasses himself every time. There’s also Tipsarevic, who saved his team against the Czech Republic.

“But we beat the Australians at their place a few years ago [in the final in 2001], so why not repeat the feat?”

MONDAYS WITH BOB GREENE: INDIAN WELLS TITLES FOR LJUBICIC AND JANKOVIC

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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

Ivan Ljubicic
Ivan Ljubicic wins Indian Wells

“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)

FLORIAN MAYER BEATS SIMON TO WIN BMW CHAMPIONSHIPS IN SUNRISE

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By Charles Bricker

Florian Mayer insisted two days ago he was playing his “best tennis ever,” but it wasn’t easy to buy into that without one really magnificent victory this year.

Now he’s got it, with a 6-4, 6-4 conquest of former No. 6 (now No. 21) Gilles Simon of France to win the $125,000 BMW Challenger in Sunrise, Fla., Sunday afternoon.

Florian Mayer
Florian Mayer

In windy conditions that didn’t seem advantageous for Mayer’s big backswing and looping forehand ground strokes, the 26-year-old German bolted out to a 4-0 lead in the opening and a 3-1 lead in the second and stayed in front. As he did in his semifinal win over Santiago Giraldo of Colombia, he ended this match with an ace.

Mayer first few years on the ATP Tour had seen him hangingn consistently around the 40-60 area in the rankings and he came to Florida at No. 53. But the 125 points he picked up here, along with $18,000 in prize money, should vault him to near No. 40 when the new rankings come out today.

His won/loss record remains at 5-3 because this was a Challenger, but three of those wins are over Tommy Robredo, Janko Tipsarevic and Victor Troicki — all world class talents if not marquee players. Simon, however, is a major notch in the belt. He’s been fighting through tendonitis in his right knee, but it didn’t seem to bother him this week and, when he’s completely fit, he’s definitely a top-20 and perhaps a top-10 talent.

Simon was No. 6 last May.

In the doubles final, Martin Damm of the Czech Republic and partner Filip Polasek of Slovakia came from 4-9 down in the super tiebreak to defeat No. 1 seeded Leander Paes of India and Lukas Dlouhy of the Czech Republic — the reigning French and U.S. Open champions. The score was 4-6, 6-1, 13-11.

Paes, who has won 42 doubles titles, and Dlouhy had five chances to put the match away in the super tiebreak. On one of those points, Dlouhy double-faulted.

Charles Bricker can be reached at nflwriterr@aol.com

“GAME, SET, MATCH, FLORIAN” IN THE BATTLE OF THE MAYERS

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By Charles Bricker

There have been no headline-grabber wins this year for him, but Germany’s Florian Mayer, 5-3 in ATP matches and now 14-3 after Saturday if you count Challengers, is convinced that at age 26 he’s reached a new plateau in his game.

“I think I’m playing my best tennis,” he announced after dealing a 7-6 (2), 4-6, 6-4 loss to one of South America’s best young prospects, Leonardo Mayer, to reach the final of the $125,000 BMW Challenger in Sunrise, Fla.

Best tennis ever? he was pressed. “Yes, I would say so. I have to go mentally a little stronger, but yes. This is my best tennis.”

Florian Mayer
Florian Mayer

Today, he’ll find out just how good his tennis is when he plays Gilles Simon of France in the final. Simon was exquisite in a 6-1, 6-2 win over Santiago Giraldo of Colombia. His troublesome right knee had flared up two days ago, but was perfect in this evening semifinal. He’s lost only one set, to Potito Starace, on the way to the final.

For Mayer, win or lose this final, he will have had great preparation for the Sony Ericsson Open ATP 1000 that begins next Wednesday 50 miles south of Sunrise on Key Biscayne.

Mayer vs. Mayer in this semifinal. It sounded more like a divorce proceding and chair umpire Magdi Somat identified the players by their first names — as in “advantage Florian” or “game Leonardo.”

This was a rematch of their second rounder at Delray Beach two weeks ago, won by the 22-year-old Argentine, who once was considered one of the two or three best juniors in the world.

Leonardo Mayer’s big serving, punctuating forehand and all-out aggressiveness translate well to the professional game, and he reached a personal-best No. 54 in the rankings last September before falling back to No. 66 this week.

He’s got a future, but Florian Mayer has more of a present. He has wins this year over No. 15 Tommy Robredo, No. 30 Janko Tipsarevic and No. 37 Victor Troicki at the Australian Open, but also a confounding loss to Sebastien Grosjean, who is near the end of his career, at Auckland.

For Mayer, the key to this win over Leonardo Mayer came at 4-2 in the final set, just after the German had finally broken serve.

Twice before, in the first and third sets, Florian had broken and immediately gave the break back and he acknowledged how angry he was with himself for not steeling down and putting a hammerlock on his opponent.

This time, however, he ran out to 40-0, playing one loose point, then sliced an ace past Leonardo to go up 5-2.

How much confidence is Florian feeling? Taking the balls to serve out the match, he played five serve-and-volley points, finishing the match with an ace to the far corner of the ad court.

“It was maybe a little surprising for him,” said the German. “I tried to do something different. I know he got tired because he has played so many (three split-setters) long matches here, and he made many mistakes.”

Mayer reached the final without facing a seeded player.

There’s a lot to like about Leonardo Mayer’s game. That’s a crackling forehand he’s got and he not only gets his share of aces, he hits a second serve that is consistently deep in the box. He’s very aggressive off both sides, but he still needs to find some modulation in his game.

Give him a running forehand and he’s going to try to crush it, no matter the circumstance. He doesn’t seem to process alternatives on the run.

Leonardo Mayer, ranked No. 66, will take 45 points out of this tournament. Floridan Mayer is guaranteed 75 for reaching the final and 125 if he wins it.

Charles Bricker can be reached at nflwriterr@aol.com