STARS
Viktor Troicki beat Marcos Baghdatis 3-6 6-4 6-3 to win the Kremlin Cup men’s singles in Moscow, Russia
Victoria Azarenka beat Maria Kirilenko 6-3 6-4 to win the Kremlin Cup women’s singles in Moscow, Russia
Roger Federer beat Florian Mayer 6-4 6-3 to win the If Stockholm Open in Stockholm, Sweden
Roberta Vinci beat Julia Goerges 6-3 6-4 to win the BGL BNP Paribas Luxembourg Open in Luxembourg
Lu Yen-Hsun beat Kevin Anderson 6-3 6-4 to win the Samsung Securities Cup in Seoul, Korea
Nicolas Mahut beat Grigor Dimitrov 2-6 7-6 (6) 7-6 (4) to win the Open d’Orleans in Orleans, France
Fabio Fognini beat Paul Capdeville 6-2 7-6 (2) to win the Copa Petrobas in Santiago, Chile
Greg Rusedski beat Pete Sampras 6-4 6-2 to win the Chengdu Open in Chengdu, China
Mark Philippoussis beat Jim Courier 6-4 6-1 to win the Cancer Treatment Centers of America Tennis Championships in Surprise, Arizona
SAYINGS
“Early on, I think that feeling of wanting to prove yourself to the world and all the doubters is a very strong one, so you’re very aggressive in your ways of winning and not enjoying them. Today it’s much more of the enjoyment part because I don’t need to prove myself to anyone anymore, except to myself.” – Roger Federer, after winning the Stockholm Open.
“Marcos was playing very good in the first set. But then I started playing better and better, and in the end I won my first title. It feels unbelievable.” – Viktor Troicki, after beating Marcos Baghdatis to win the Kremlin Cup men’s singles title.
“It’s very, very frustrating. I don’t mind losing, but we are professionals and we need professionals to be on the lines. Everyone can make a mistake, but it wasn’t a mistake. The guy was sleeping.” – Marcos Baghdatis, saying two bad calls at the end of the second set impacted on the match. A TV replay showed Troicki’s shot in the 10th game was out, though called good.
“I’ve just fallen back in love with the sport on the Champions Series. It’s just great, and since I’ve gotten that love back, my body has been getting stronger. I feel I can hit the ball just as hard as the guys on the tour, so why not give it a go if I’m having this much fun?” – Mark Philippoussis, who after winning a senior event in Surprise, Arizona, said he is considering returning to the ATP World Tour.
“It’s not that important to be two, three or four. For me it’s either number one in the world or everything else. After being number one for so long and having been there, it’s obviously the best feeling to be there. When you’re not ranked number one in the world, you obviously try to get back there.” – Roger Federer, on being ranked second in the world.
“I remember at one stage I beat 24 top 10 players in a row. Every time I was in a final, I won 24 finals in a row, so obviously you cannot keep up those kinds of streaks. But I was so successful that I suppose I’m being compared to back then, which is very hard to do.” – Roger Federer.
SWEDE IT WAS
Pete Sampras was on his mind when Roger Federer captured his latest title. With a 6-4 6-3 victory over Florian Mayer, Federer captured his 64th career title, tying him with Sampras for fourth place on the all-time Open Era list. He trails Jimmy Connors, who won 109 tournaments, Ivan Lendl with 94 and John McEnroe with 77. “It’s amazing that I’m there where Pete ended his career on,” Federer said. “You never know when it’s your last one. That’s why you want to savor every tournament victory.” A 16-time Grand Slam tournament winner, Federer won his 50th match of the year in the quarterfinals, becoming only the fifth man in the Open Era – and the first since Sampras – to win 50 matches in at least nine straight years. He was presented the champion’s trophy by Sweden’s Crown Princess Victoria. “For me, every tournament victory is special,” Federer said, noting this was his first title in Sweden. “This is one I’ll definitely remember, maybe more than other ones.”
SODERLING IS IN
Robin Soderling is the fifth singles player to qualify for the season-ending Barclays ATP World Tour Finals, which will be played November 21-28 in London. The Swede joins Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer, Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray in the elite eight-player field. “There are only eight players and you play against the world’s best, so every match you play could be like a Grand Slam final,” Soderling said. “I will have to be ready from the first match.” There will also be eight doubles teams at London. Already qualified are the teams of Lukas Dlouhy and Leader Paes, twins Bob and Mike Bryan, Daniel Nestor and Nenad Zimonjic, and Jurgen Melzer and Philipp Petzschner.
SIDELINED
Re-injuring her right foot from over-training, Serena Williams is taking off until next year. “Pushed by my desire to return to competition, I trained too hard too soon and re-tore the tendon in my foot,” Williams said on her website. The American has not played since she won her 13th Grand Slam tournament singles title at Wimbledon in July. She cut her foot on broken glass in Germany, then underwent surgery in the United States to repair the damage. Serena’s sister, Venus, also ended her season early due to a nagging knee injury.
SILENCE IS GOLDEN
British tennis ace Andy Murray is teaming up with Radiohead singer Thom Yorke, British Prime Minister David Cameron and others to record a single that consists of two minutes of silence. The single – titled “2 Minute Silence” – goes on sale November 7 to commemorate Remembrance Day, a United Kingdom holiday honoring fallen soldiers. “Rather than record a song, we felt the U.K. public would recognize the poignancy of silence and its clear association with remembrance,” Roy British Leon Director General Chris Simpkins said in a statement. It won’t be the first record of silence. In 1952, experimental composer John Cage composed the piece “4’33”,” which consisted of four minutes, 33 seconds of a silence.
STAYING HOME
Thomas Muster has been given a wild card entry into the main draw of the Bank Austria Tennis Trophy, a hard court tournament that will begin play in Vienna, Austria, on November 1. It will be the first ATP Tour event for the 43-year-old left-hander following an 11-year retirement. Since he returned to competitive tennis earlier this year, the former number one-ranked Muster has won just one match in six Challenger tournaments
STUNNING WEEK
Greg Rusedski wasn’t going to play in Chengdu, China, until Michael Stich pulled out with an injury. Rusedski made his trip pay off by capturing the ATP Champions Tour event with a 6-4 6-2 victory over Pete Sampras in the final. “I had not played a lot of tennis coming into the event,” Rusedski said. “I played really well this week. I surprised myself how well I played.” Earlier in the week, Rusedski became only the second player to defeat Thomas Enqvist since the Swede joined the senior circuit 28 matches earlier. Rusedski then overwhelmed Sampras in the rain-delayed final. Rusedski and Sampras had played 10 times previously, with Rusedski winning only once.
SOMETHING DIFFERENT
When Frenchman Nicolas Mahut beat Grigor Dimitrov 2-6 7-6 (6) 7-6 (4) to win the Open d’Orleans, it was the first time Bulgaria’s top player had ever lost in a final. Dimitrov had won six Futures titles and three Challenger events before running into Mahut. Still, the 19-year-old Bulgarian won more points than his rival – 105 against 95 – in the loss.
SNAZZY LOGO
The WTA Tour has unveiled a new logo. Now, instead of featuring a figure of a female tennis player, the new logo instead puts the emphasis on the letters W, T and A. Designer Tom Geismar of Chermayeff & Geismar, said: “By diverging from the expected approach of featuring an image of an athlete, we created a mark that is unusual in professional sports, and its appropriately bold identity will over time come to recall the incredible athletes that represent women’s tennis.”
STOP IS RETURNED
The WTA will reinstate its regular tour stop in Doha, Qatar, beginning next year. The Qatar Open started in 2001, but was discontinued when Doha began hosting the season-ending Sony Eriksson WTA Tour Championships in 2008. The three-year contract to stage the Championships ends with this year’s event.
STEERING THE SHIP
Retired Davis Cup captain John Fitzgerald has been elected to Tennis Australia’s board, while advertising mogul Harold Mitchell and fellow incumbent director Graeme Holloway were re-elected. New Tennis Australia president officially took over from Geoff Pollard, who retired after 21 years on the job. Current player Alicia Molik and former Davis Cup coach Wally Masur failed to gain spots on the board. Fitzgerald stepped down last week as Davis Cup captain after a 10-year stint. He was replaced by Pat Rafter, who will work with Tony Roche.
STRAIGHT IN
The field for the WTA Tour Championships was completed when Victoria Azarenka qualified for the season-ending event for the second straight year. Azarenka replaced the injured Serena Williams in the elite eight-player tournament in Doha, Qatar. “Every player wants to play in Doha,” Azarenka said. Williams re-injured the tendon in her right foot, causing her to withdraw from Doha. Joining Azarenka in Doha will be Caroline Wozniacki, Vera Zvonareva, Kim Clijsters, Francesca Schiavone, Samantha Stosur, Jelena Jankovic and Elena Dementieva.
SHARAPOVA’S BEAU
Maria Sharapova reportedly said yes when pro basketball player Sasha Vujacic popped the question at his Manhattan Beach, Calif., home. The 26-year-old Slovenia native, who has played six seasons with the world champion Los Angeles Lakers, recently suffered a concussion during practice. Sharapova reportedly has been seen wearing a large diamond ring. The Russian tennis star could emulate Belgian Kim Clijsters, who is married to American pro basketball player Brian Lynch.
STADIUM PLANS?
Now that the threat of condominium apartments replacing the famed horseshoe stadium at New York’s West Side Tennis Club has ended, there is word that the Marriott Hotel chain may develop the site. The New York Daily News reported Marriot is expected to submit its bid to redevelop West Side Stadium before a November 15 deadline set by the club. In the late 1990s, Marriott proposed a USD $7 million plan to erect an extended-stay hotel that could encompass the stadium and surrounding plots. But that project died when club members protested the plans. In a recent vote, club members rejected the sale of the property to developer Cord Meyer, who wanted to build 70 condos and a swimming pool at the site.
SWISS-SPANISH CLASH
Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer have met only three times in the last two years. That’s about to change. The world’s top two players will play two exhibition matches before Christmas. Nadal announced they will play a charity match in Zurich, Switzerland, to raise funds for Africa on Dec. 21. The next day the two will meet in Spain with the proceeds going to Nadal’s charity foundation. Nadal said the two “wanted to take advantage of our head-to-head rivalry over recent years … and help people who need it.”
STILL TOGETHER
There is no truth to the rumor that Anna Kournikova has broken up with singer Enrique Iglesias. At least that’s the word from his representative. While the two have been dating for eight years, they have consistently denied having any plans to marry. The romance was recently rumored to be in trouble when Kournikova appeared at a book release party in Florida without the pop star. A spokesperson for Iglesias told New York Post gossip column Page Six: “They are definitely together. Enrique has been out of the country on a promotional tour, so maybe that’s where the speculation is coming from.”
STAYING HOME
Juan Martin del Potro has decided to stay home and prepare for next season. The Argentine withdrew from all of his scheduled fall tournaments, saying he returned to action too soon. The 2009 US Open men’s singles champion, Del Potro lost first-round matches in both tournaments he played since returning to the ATP World Tour following wrist surgery and a long recuperation period. He said he wants time to train and will try to return in good form next year.
SOMDEV, SANIA LEAD INDIA
Somdev Devvarman and Sania Mirza will lead India’s tennis team in the Asian Games, scheduled to be held November 12-27 in Guangzhou, China. In announcing the six men and six women to represent India, the All India Tennis Association (AITA) said Leander Paes will not be available because he qualified for the ATP World Tour Finals in London, which will be held during the same period. The AITA included on its team Mahesh Bhupathi and Rohan Bopanna, although their availability would depend on their not qualifying for the World Tour Finals. Other members of the men’s team include Vishnu Vardhan and Karan Rastogi, while Sanam Singh’s selection will be subject to the approval from the University of Virginia, where he is a student-athlete. Besides Mirza, also picked for the women’s squad are Poojashree Venkatesh, Nirupama Sanjeev, Rushmi Chakravarthi, Tara Iyer and Shivika Burman.
SIBLING THREE
Lleyton Hewitt is a daddy again after Hewitt’s wife, Bec, gave birth to a daughter. They have two other children, daughter Mia, who is 4 years old, and son, Cruz, 1. The name of the newest arrival has not yet been released. “Mum and baby are great,” Hewitt wrote on his website. “Dad, big sister and brother elated.”
SQUABBLE FOR TV
A mediator will decide the dispute between the Tennis Channel and Comcast Corp. The Tennis Channel maintains that it was put at a competitive disadvantage by its inclusion in a more costly package of sports channels that has fewer subscribers while, at the same time, Comcast makes the sports channels it owns available to all its cable subscribers. The Federal Communications Commission has said it would review allegations Comcast was discriminating against the independently owned Tennis Channel. This all comes at a time when Comcast has asked the FCC to approve its proposed merger with NBC Universal. Critics of the merger contend that a Comcast-controlled NBC would give too much power to the Philadelphia-based cable company which it could then use to favor its own networks at the expense of competitors. The two companies said it would complete mediation by November 24.
SPONSORS STEP UP
The Pilot Pen is now the New Haven Open. And it is a women’s only event. Several sponsors, including Yale University, Yale-New Haven Hospital, Aetna and American Express, have stepped up as sponsors to keep the Connecticut tournament going for at least three years. Pilot Pen had been the tournament’s main sponsor for 15 years, but, citing financial reasons, ended its relationship following this year’s tournament. While not disclosing the finances, tournament director Anne Worcester said the four cornerstone sponsorships cover the loss of a title sponsorship for each year of the deal.
SHARED PERFORMANCES
Luxembourg: Timea Bacsinszky and Tathiana Garbin beat Iveta Benesova and Barbora Zahlavova Strycova 6-4 6-4
Moscow (men): Igor Kunitsyn and Dmitry Tursunov beat Janko Tipsarevic and Viktor Troicki 7-6 (8) 6-3
Moscow (women): Gisela Dulko and Flavia Pennetta beat Sara Errani and Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez 6-3 2-6 10-6 (match tiebreak)
Orleans: Pierre-Hugues Herbert and Nicolas Renavand beat Sebastien Grosjean and Nicolas Mahut 7-6 (3) 1-6 10-6 (match tiebreak)
Santiago: Daniel Munoz-De La Nava and Ruben Ramirez Hildago beat Nikoa Ciric and Goran Tosic 6-4 6-2
Seoul: Ramirez Junaid and Frank Moser beat Vasek Pospisil and Adil Shamason 6-3 6-4
Stockholm: Eric Butorac and Jean-Julien Roger beat Johan Brunstrom and Jarkko Nieminen 6-3 6-4
SITES TO SURF
Doha: www.wtachampionships.com/
Vienna: www.bankaustria-tennistrophy.at/
Montpellier: www.atpworldtour.com/Tennis/Tournaments/Montpellier.aspx
St. Petersburg: www.spbopen.ru/eng/index.html
Poitiers: www.ifv86.com
Valencia: www.valenciaopen500.com/
Basel: www.davidoffswissindoors.ch/
Bali: www.commbanktennis.com/
Taipei: www.taipeiarena.com.tw/
TOURNAMENTS THIS WEEK
(All money in USD)
ATP
$796,000 Bank Austria Tennis Trophy, Vienna, Austria, hard
$796,000 Open Sud de France, Montpellier, France, hard
$663,750 St. Petersburg Open, St. Petersburg, Russia, hard
WTA
$4,550,000 WTA Championships-Doha 2010, Doha, Qatar, hard
$100,000 Internationaux Feminins de la Vienne, Poitiers, France, hard
TOURNAMENTS NEXT WEEK
ATP
$1,900,000 Valencia Open 500, Valencia, Spain, hard
$1,707,000 Swiss Indoors, Basel, Switzerland, hard
$125,000 Challenger Astana President’s Cup, Astana, Kazakhstan, hard
WTA
$600,000 Commonwealth Bank Tournament of Champions, Bali, Indonesia
$100,000 Taipei Ladies Open, Taipei, Taiwan, carpet
SENIOR
The Residences at the Ritz-Carlton Grand Cayman Legends Championships, Grand Cayman