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James Blake partners with Aspen Technology: This week in tennis business with Justin Cohen

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James Blake signs global sponsorship deal with Aspen Technology

Former world No. 4 James Blake has signed a global sponsorship agreement with Aspen Technology, a leading provider of software and services to the process industries. Financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed. As a part of the agreement, the former Harvard standout will wear the Aspen Technology logo on his clothing during all tournaments. He will also make public appearances on behalf of the company at tournaments such as Wimbledon and the US Open.

Chelsea Piers Connecticut Names Hall of Famer Gigi Fernandez as Director of Tennis

Former doubles world No. 1 and tennis Hall of Famer Gigi Fernandez has been named the Director of Tennis at Chelsea Piers Connecticut. As Director of Tennis, the 17-time Grand Slam doubles champion will oversee day-to-day tennis operations at Chelsea Piers, which includes development and oversight of all adult and junior programming and hiring, training and managing the tennis instructors. Fernandez will also offer exclusive “Gigi” tennis clinics, camps and private lessons for adults and juniors. “I am extremely honored and excited to join the team at CPCT and to be an integral part of growing the tennis community in Fairfield County,” said Fernandez, a two-time Olympic Gold Medalist. “CPCT provides a unique opportunity for me as well as other families who seek to find a multi sports facility that focuses on family activities as well as individual competitive sports. I look forward to sharing my tennis knowledge and enthusiasm for the great game of tennis with members and non-members of CPCT.” Chelsea Piers Connecticut, which is set to open in July 2012, is a 400,000 square foot state-of-the-art sports and recreation facility located in Stamford, Conn. The tennis club will feature seven indoor tennis courts.

Turnberry Isle Miami partners with Guillermo Cañas Tennis Academy

Turnberry Isle Miami, the legendary Mediterranean-style resort and private membership club, has teamed up with the elite Guillermo Cañas Tennis Academy. Starting yesterday, guests and members of Turnberry Isle Miami were able to have the opportunity to receive tennis instruction from players previously ranked professionally in the Top 10, as well as nationally ranked juniors through the exclusive union with the Guillermo Cañas Tennis Academy. Day-to-day operations of the program will be overseen by Gustavo Oribe, Tennis Director and Co-Founder of Cañas Tennis. “The collaboration with Cañas Tennis provides our guests and members with tennis coaching that is considered to be one of the best in the world,” said Douglas Hustad, Managing Director, Turnberry Isle Miami. “The unique combination of the Cañas Tennis program and Turnberry Isle Miami’s award-winning tennis facilities provides guests with a tennis experience that is unlikely to be found anywhere else.” As part of the partnership, Turnberry Isle Miami’s guests and members of the property have access to private lessons, group clinics for all skill levels and ages, pro-am tournaments, special events, summer camps, as well as a community match-play program, which will feature the CT instructors. In addition, there will be a roster of part-time and full-time pre-competition and competition programs at the Turnberry Isle Marina tennis courts. Rates for private lessons start at $100 per hour with Turnberry pros and $300 per hour with Cañas, while daily clinics begin at $40. “Our partnership with Turnberry Isle Miami is the perfect alignment of two South Florida institutions that are dedicated to providing an enriching and authentic experience,” said Guillermo Cañas, Co-Founder and Director of Player Development, Cañas Tennis. “Players from around the world come to CT to fulfill their lifelong ambitions and we look forward to working with the guests and members of Turnberry Isle Miami to aid in the realization of their dreams.” Cañas Tennis is currently headquartered in Key Biscayne and is the first South Florida tennis boarding academy to feature elite professional players, including Cañas, Oribe and Martin Garcia, as coaches.

Intercollegiate Tennis Association name 2012 Hall of Fame Inductees

On Friday, April 13, the Intercollegiate Tennis Association announced that six men will be inducted into the 2012 ITA Men’s Collegiate Tennis Hall of Fame. The 2012 class includes coaches Chuck Kriese, Paul Scarpa and Ron Smarr, as well as players Patrick Du Pré, David Wheaton and contributor Jon Vegosen. This year’s honorees will be inducted at the 2012 ITA Men’s Collegiate Tennis Hall of Fame Enshrinement Banquet on May 23 during the NCAA Division I Men’s and Women’s Tennis Championships at the University of Georgia in Athens, Ga.

Jankovic hires Zeljko Krajan as new coach

After a slow start to her 2012 season and a failed short-term coaching trial with former UNLV star Henner Nehles, Jelena Jankovic has hired Zeljko Krajan as her new coach. Krajan most recently coached Dominika Cibulkova for the past two years and helped Dinara Safina reach the top-ranking on the WTA Tour. According to a report from Matt Cronin of TENNIS.com, Jankovic and Krajan started working together on Tuesday in Moscow, where Serbia is scheduled to play Russia in this weekend’s Fed Cup semifinals.

Ljubicic retries following loss in Monte Carlo

Former world No. 3 Ivan Ljubicic retired from professional tennis on Sunday following a straight sets loss to fellow Croat Ivan Dodig in the first round of the Monte Carlo Rolex Masters. The 33-year-old, who turned pro in 1998, won 10 career singles titles on the ATP World Tour including the Indian Wells title in 2010 when he defeated American Andy Roddick in the championship match. A former French Open semifinalist in 2006 and a Doubles Bronze Medalist at the 2004 Olympics in Athens, Ljubicic earned victories throughout his career over players such as Andre Agassi, Gustavo Kuerten, Marat Safin, Carlos Moya, Andy Murray, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, Gael Monfils and Juan Carlos Ferrero.

Charlie Bricker: “Laughable” That Bollettieri Not In Hall of Fame

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I’m having a difficult time getting exorcised by the continual snubbing of Nick Bollettieri by the International Hall of Fame.

Not because I’m numbed by the succession of petty rejections of Bollettieri over the years, but because, frankly, the International Tennis Hall of Fame has become really quite irrelevant to professional tennis with its good-ole-boy network and perplexing decisions on who gets in and who doesn’t.

The ITHF likes to tell you it’s “the highest honor you can achieve in tennis.” Pure rubbish. The highest honor you can achieve in tennis is to win a Grand Slam singles title, something several of the Hall of Fame’s inductees have never achieved.

Bollettieri wouldn’t have gone in as a player, but as a “contributor.” He never played the game professionally. But you mention the name Bollettieri to any hard-core sports fan who doesn’t watch tennis and he will, nevertheless, recognize the name.

Why? Because, within or outside the tennis community, the name Bolletteiri is synonymous with tennis.

The 80-year-old founder of the Bollettieri Academy in Bradenton, Fla., has coached, counseled and/or consulted with 10 former No. 1 tennis players.

His academy, which has produced beaucoup tennis stars, is the most famous in the world. Ask Jim Courier if he would have reached No. 1 in the world or won four Grand Slams if he hadn’t been at Bollettieri’s. Ask Maria Sharapova about Nick’s impact on her life.

Nick IS tennis. I know it. You know it. And so do the vindictive voters within the ITHF. I can’t tell you with 100 percent certainty why they won’t let him in, nor do I any longer care except for the curiosity of it all.

My best guess is that Nick, who has ruffled some feathers over the years, has some enemies at the Hall and this is their childish way of getting even. If that is so, and I’d bet money on it, that only authenticates the fact that the International Tennis Hall of Fame has become irrelevant.

The whole setup in Newport, R.I., is a sham. Among the “contributors” they’ve voted in over the years are some obscure Italian journalist and some guy who did radio play-by-play at Wimbledon. Plus a slew of other nobodies who are touted as having done wonders to advance tennis.

This is laughable. Nick Bollettieri does more for tennis in one day at his academy than half these so-called contributors have done in a lifetime.

OK, I’m getting a bit riled again, so I’ll have to catch myself here. Fine, Bollettieri isn’t going into the worst-run and least prestigious Hall of Fame of any major sport.

Does it really matter? Does anyone who has his finger on the pulse of this game really care?

Charles Bricker can be reached at nflwriterr@aol.com.

Milos Raonic has Arrived

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By Mike McIntyre

Hello Canada and welcome back to the world of professional tennis.

Twenty year old Milos Raonic who resides in Thornhill, Ontario, won his first ever ATP World Tour title at the SAP Open in San Jose on Sunday against the ninth ranked player in the world, Fernando Verdasco. Fittingly, he won the event in a hockey arena that normally houses the NHL’s San Jose Sharks.

Milos Raonic

“It’s nice to know a hockey arena isn’t new to me,” Raonic said after the win. “I’ve been in a few of these. This feels like home.”

A total unknown up until a month ago in all parts of the world except perhaps certain tennis circles in Canada and in Spain where he trained during the off-season, Raonic has now shot up the rankings from 150th in the world to a top-60 position he should assume when the new rankings are released this week.

Armed with a huge serve, a strong sense of timing at the net and the ability to surprise many with his deft ground-strokes, Raonic is the biggest young talent to emerge on the tour since Rafael Nadal in 2003. Nadal won the ATP’s newcomer of the year award that year as he rose from 203rd in the world to 48th by the year’s end. While Nadal was a couple of years younger at the time, I’m hard-pressed to remember any other player who has so quickly captivated the tennis community.

With his 7-6(6), 7-6(5) victory over Verdasco, Raonic has literally served notice that he is for real. He becomes the first male Canadian singles player to win a tournament on tour since Greg Rusedski sixteen years ago.

That comparison might make Canadian tennis fans a tad nervous as Rusedski jumped-ship in 1995 to the United Kingdom. While himself born in Canada, Rusedski’s mother was born overseas. For his part, Raonic was born in Montenegro and moved to Canada at the age of three with his parents.

Similar to Rusedski, Raonic is becoming known for his rocket serve. In an exhibition contest just a couple of days ago he out-served Croatian monster Ivo Karlovic in a serving competition held on court after they completed their match. Karlovic stands a ridiculous 6’10” and has been for several years considered the hardest serving player on tour. While Karlovic struggled to get almost any of his ten serves over 140mph, Raonic routinely eclipsed that mark and even clocked one at 151mph that just missed the service box.

Raonic will be hoping that his career unfolds more closely to that of his idol Pete Sampras, a 14 time Grand Slam champion, than that of Karlovic who is thought viewed as more of a circus act on the circuit.

Milos has already attained several meaningful results in his short time as a professional player. Last summer he and partner Vasek Pospisil defeated Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic in a first round doubles match at the Rogers Cup in Toronto. At the time Nadal and Djokovic were ranked one and two in the world in the singles rankings.

Raonic followed that up with a tough match against Nadal in singles play in Japan where the Spaniard won 6-4, 6-4. A respectable score no-doubt considering the nearly 200 ranking points that separated them at the time.

Off season training with coach and former professional Galo Blanco during the off-season clearly paid-off for Raonic. There he got plenty of practice with Spanish players like David Ferrer and Nicolas Almagro – both top-twenty regulars.

Raonic started 2011 by narrowly missing the chance to qualify in Chennai, India but then had his break-out moment at the first Grand Slam of the season in Australia. He battled through three rounds of qualifying action before advancing all the way to the final sixteen players in the field. After knocking off top-ten player Mikhail Youzhny in the third round he was defeated by Ferrer in four sets.

Now with his first tournament victory under his belt and barely any ranking points to defend from a year ago, the potential for Raonic seems limitless.

On the official ATP World Tour website, Raonic lists his goal as becoming a, “consistent top-fifty player with top-ten aspirations.” If he continues his development at this pace, look for him to far surpass these now seemingly modest targets.

While Raonic now moves on to another tournament in Memphis, many will already begin talking about how a player of his size and abilities will fare when he gets to the largest tennis stage at Wimbledon later this year. Canadian tennis fans will be hoping it is not just a coincidence that the young man they call the Maple Leaf Missile grew up dreaming of becoming the next Pistol Pete.

Blake Strode Makes Most of US Open National Playoffs

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By Charles Bricker

Tennis unknown Blake Strode couldn’t have been much more excited when his coach lined him up with a one-hour training session with James Blake, but Blake — that’s James Blake — seemed a bit confused for a moment when they met on court.

Blake Strode
Blake Strode photo © Collegenandjuniorstennis.com

“Hi, I’m James,” said the veteran U.S. star who has been besieged this year by injury and a plunge in the rankings. “And I’m Blake,” Strode told him. Was James thinking, “Who is this joker?”

It was obvious that no one told him the name of the young man he would be hitting with at the Atlanta Tennis Championships, and James wouldn’t have recognized the name if anyone had. “I think it caught him off guard,” said Strode. “He had sort of a funny look.”

Eventually, James figured it out. It was no joke. As in, oh, OK, your name is Blake, too.

The name Blake Strode is almost unknown in the professional tennis community, though it’s a bit better known since he won nine matches in a 1,200-man tournament to earn a wild card into the U.S. Open qualifying later this month.

The USTA, which has a penchant for promotion, came up with the idea early this year of giving Everyman, and Everywoman, a shot at getting into the Open, and it would have been a pretty good piece of public relations had some weekend warrior from Nowhere, Nev., won the event and gotten the wild card.

Of course that wasn’t going to happen. Hundreds of players with an ongoing fantasy of playing in the U.S. Open — even the qualifying — signed up, aged 14 to nearly 70. But, not surprisingly, a number of professional players whose rankings were too low to get directly into the qualifying at a Grand Slam, also saw their chance here.

Strode, 23, currently ranked No. 594, and Alexandra Mueller, 22, at No. 445, were the winners. Not household names in tennis, but not Everyman and Everywoman, either. In fact, Strode was given an outright wild card a year ago into the U.S. Open qualifying after an All American year at the University of Arkansas.

His ranking places him 40th on the list of U.S. players while Mueller, of Abington, Pa., is 42nd among ranked U.S. women.

We’re not quite sure about Strode’s future on the ATP tour, but it’s easy to feel confident about his future in life. He has been accepted to Harvard University Law School, though that’s on hold while he explores his tennis future.

“I graduated from Arkansas in the spring of 2009 and I’ve been playing (Futures and Challengers) for a year,” he explained. “I heard about the U.S. Open qualifying playoffs in an email from the USTA and, at first, I wasn’t sure if I wanted to do it because of how it might affect my regular tournament schedule.

“But the more I looked at it, the more I knew I could fit it in. Absolutely, this was exciting. It was a chance to go back to the Open.”

He had been blown out in straight sets in his first round qualifying match in New York a year ago and felt pretty comfortable in the days leading up to the opening round. But, “Once the match started, everything hit me. I was overwhelmed by the moment. I was rushing, making a lot of mistakes. It was over pretty fast, but it was a great learning experience and it definitely made me want to go back.

“This time, I have a pretty good idea of what to expect. You know, it’s a totally different experience from the other world of playing Challengers and Futures — from the locker room to the meals to the massages. It’s all at your fingertips. I don’t want to say what they do for you at the Open is over the top, but it wasn’t what you were used to.”

Strode didn’t have a scintillating junior career, so, with his personal commitment to education, the scholarship to Arkansas was inviting. Plus, it wasn’t too far from his home in suburban St. Louis. “Four years at college. . .you learn to do things on your own and you mature as a person,” he said.

He loved the team aspect of college tennis. “Like the pressure of not letting your teammates down if the team score is tied and you’re the last match on court.” That senior year success and his year touring the ATP bush leagues got him ready for the U.S. Open qualifying playoffs.

More than a thousand players were separated into tournaments at the district level, with the survivors going to Atlanta for the final round. James Blake was there for an ATP event and Blake Strode was there attempting to win a trip back to New York.

In the final, he confronted Cecil Mamiit of South Pasadena, Calif., a 34-year-old who is retired from the ATP wars and who played a strong opening set. Strode settled down to play a little safer, won the second set and, after failing to serve out the match at 5-4 and 6-5 in the third, girded himself for the tiebreak, which he won 7-1.

He didn’t put on much of a celebration on court. “Somewhat muted,” he described it. “I’m not a real expressive guy.”

Of course, we’ll see about that if he wins his first round qualifying match at the Open.

Charles Bricker can be reached at nflwriterr@aol.com. He is an alumni of the University of California at Berkeley and has had 41 distinguished years in the news business, covering 25 NFL seasons and Super Bowls and for the last 16 years, he has covered men’s and women’s professional tennis. Listen to Charlie every Monday at 7 pm – and on podcast – on World Tennis talk at http://primesportsnetwork.com/tennis.html

This Week in Tennis Business: Serena Williams slapped with record fine of $82,500 for US Open tirade

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By Justin Cohen

Serena Williams
Serena WilliamsBy: Justin Cohen

· Serena Williams was slapped with a record fine of $82,500 for her US Open tirade at a line judge from this past September. Williams was also put on two-year probation at the four Grand Slam events and if another “major offense” occurs will face a $175,000 fine and ban for one year at the US Open. “I am thankful that we now have closure on the incident and we can all move forward,” Williams said in a statement released on Monday by her publicist. “I am back in training in preparation for next season and I continue to be grateful for all of the support from my fans and the tennis community.”

· The Austrian Open has been cancelled due to a legal dispute over the tennis stadium in Kitzbuhel. ATP World Tour officials announced that the tournament will now be played in Nice, France, for at least the next five years.

· Board of Directors of The Indianapolis Tennis Championships has agreed to sell their tournament. They are working closely with the ATP World Tour and potential buyers and hope to finalize a deal sometime in December. The event has not had a title sponsor since long-time sponsor RCA ended its sponsorship in 2006. News reports place Atlanta as a leading candidate to take over the event, run by the USTA Southern Section.

· The Tennis Week website has been shut down by its owners, the International Management Group (IMG).

· Russian media reports that the recently retired Marat Safin will run for Vice President of the Russian Olympic Committee.

· Roger Federer finished the year ranked No. 1 in the world for the fifth time in his career. “It’s one of the greatest performances I think I’ve achieved, seeing also what happened off the court — getting married, having twin girls. Reaching all four major finals, playing so well at the most important moments: it’s been the key this year, and staying healthy,” said Federer. “Especially after having a rough 2008, coming back this year and being able to dominate and play at the top when the depth in tennis is so, so great at the moment. I think it’s a wonderful achievement. Of course, it’s official. It’s a wonderful feeling.”

· By winning the ATP World Tour Doubles Final, Bob and Mike Bryan finish the year ranked No. 1 in the world.

· Roger Federer and Andy Roddick are nominated for the Sports Illustrated’s Sportsman of the Year award.

· Despite rumors of a break-up, Daniel Nestor confirmed to The Globe and Mail that he will continue his doubles partnership next season with Nenad Zimonjic. “It’s all gossip,” said Nestor. “As far as I know we’re playing Doha, Sydney and arranging coaching and all that. We’ve just had a bad run of matches, nothing more than that.”

· French Open doubles finalists Wesley Moodie and Dick Norman have ended their doubles partnership. In 2010, Moodie will partner with Mikhail Youzhny and Norman will join forces with Christopher Kas. “Moodie telephoned me last week to tell me that he would be partnering with Mikhail Youzhny,” Norman wrote on his website. “It was like a bucket of cold water, I wasn’t expecting it at all… But I think Wesley for this year, certainly the best season of my career.”

· According to Nielsen BookScan, Andre Agassi’s autobiography, Open, was the seventh bestselling book last week.

· HEAD announced at the ATP World Tour Finals last week in London that their partnership extension with the ATP World Tour will last through the 2012 season. Under the agreement, HEAD and Penn will continue to be the official tennis racquet, ball and tennis bag of the ATP. “The partnership between the ATP, HEAD and Penn is a natural fit between two recognized leaders in tennis,” said Adam Helfant, the ATP World Tour Executive Chairman and President. “HEAD has been with us for many years and we hope to see the relationship continue to grow for many more.”

· Andy Roddick has indicated that he is planning to play the 2012 London Olympics, which will be held on grass at Wimbledon. Roddick skipped the 2008 Beijing Olympics to prepare for the US Open.

· In the “Battle of the Sexes” match in Austria, Thomas Muster beat Sybille Bammer, 6-2, 6-3.