STARS
Wimbledon
Men’s Singles: Rafael Nadal beat Tomas Berdych 6-3 7-5 6-4
Women’s Singles: Serena Williams beat Vera Zvonareva 6-3 6-2
Men’s Doubles: Jurgen Melzer and Philipp Petzschner beat Robert Lindstedt and Horia Tecau 6-1 7-5 7-5
Women’s Doubles: Vania King and Yaroslava Shvedova beat Elena Vesnina and Vera Zvonareva 7-6 (6) 6-2
Mixed Doubles: Leander Paes and Cara Black beat Wesley Moodie and Lisa Raymond 6-4 7-6 (5)
Boys’ Singles: Marton Fucsovics beat Benjamin Mitchell 6-4 6-4
Girls’ Singles: Kristyna Pliskova beat Sachie Ishizu 6-3 4-6 6-4
Boys’ Doubles: Liam Brody and Tom Farquharson beat Lewis Burton and George Morgan 7-6 (4) 6-4
Girls’ Doubles: Sloane Stephens and Timea Babos beat Irina Khromacheva and Elina Svitolina 6-7 (7) 6-2 6-2
Other
Mikhail Kukushkin beat Marcos Daniel 6-2 3-0 retired to win the NORD/LB Open 2010 in Braunschweig, Germany
Simone Bolelli beat Potito Starace 7-6 (7) 6-2 to win the Sporting Challenger in Turin, Italy
Romina Oprandi beat Pauline Parmentier 6-0 6-2 to win the Cuneo ITF event in Cuneo, Italy
DAVIS CUP
Americas Zone Group IV at Panama City, Panama: Barbados and Honduras promoted to Americas Zone Group III in 2011
SAYINGS
“It’s more than a dream for me. It was always my dream to play on this court and today, to play a fourth final for me was amazing. I couldn’t be here last year, but this year I came back and to have this trophy in my hands is more than a dream.” –Rafael Nadal, after winning his second Wimbledon title.
“I hope this gives me a lot of confidence and some extra power to be stronger for next time and who knows what’s going to happen in the next few years.” –Tomas Berdych, after losing the Wimbledon men’s singles final to Rafael Nada.
“I’m happy to win 13. You never know what tomorrow brings. I’m happy to have gotten this far. Who would have thought? It just takes a dream and a little work effort.” – Serena Williams, after winning Wimbledon for the fourth time and her 13th Grand Slam tournament title.
“She can be the greatest ever if she keeps going.” – Billie Jean King, talking about Serena Williams, who is now tied with King with 13 career major titles.
“At the rate she’s going, she certainly may catch me and Chris (Evert) and Helen Wills Moody and who knows, maybe even Steffi (Graf). She’s just head and shoulders above everybody else, and those are pretty broad shoulders she’s got.” – Martina Navratilova, about Serena Williams’ growing total of major titles.
“My opponent’s impeccable performance just shattered my attempts to reverse the match.” – Yen-Hsun Lu, after losing to Novak Djokovic in the Wimbledon quarterfinals.
“Some people may ascribe my performance to good luck, but luck only comes when you prepare for it.” – Yen-Hsun Lu.
“I just didn’t get enough balls in today. I let it spiral and didn’t get any balls in. I had a lot of opportunities, a lot of short balls and I seemed to hit each one out. … If there was a shot to miss, I think I missed it.” – Venus Williams, after losing to Tsvetana Pironkova in the quarterfinals.
“She was very consistent, didn’t give me any easy mistakes. I gave her a few too many.” – Kim Clijsters, after losing her quarterfinal match to Vera Zvonareva.
“Honestly, I think no one expected me to play semifinal in Wimbledon and to beat Venus Williams like that. Coming here I really just wanted to play a good game, to maybe win one or two rounds. I still cannot believe that I reached the semifinals. This is truly like a dream to me.” – Tsvetana Pironkova, after beating Venus Williams to advance to the semifinals.
“I didn’t deserve to win today, simple as that. I congratulate my opponent for he was the best player. You know, I have to move on. I hope next time, if I have this opportunity, I’ll play better.” – Novak Djokovic, after losing his semifinal match in straight sets to Tomas Berdych.
“I would have loved to have been around, you know, to come close and hopefully make it an all-Williams final this year. But that won’t be.”—Venus Williams, after losing in the quarterfinals. She and her younger sister Serena met in the Wimbledon final in 2002, 2003, 2008 and 2009.
“I thought it was a dream, I could not imagine this moment happening.” – Yen-Hsun Lu, after upsetting Andy Roddick and becoming the first Asian man to reach the quarterfinals of a Grand Slam tournament since Japan’s Shuzo Matsuoka in 1995.
“I was waiting on someone to get me. No one came. So eventually I just came out. I saw everyone else leave. I thought, ‘OK, time to go.'” – Venus Williams, who was nine minutes late showing up on remote Court 2 for her fourth-round match against Jarmila Groth.
STABILITY FINALLY
It was perhaps fitting that Rafael Nadal won his second straight men’s singles title – he missed last year’s tournament because of injuries – and Serena Williams finished on top of the women’s singles. It brought stability to an otherwise topsy-turvy tournament. This was the year five-time champion Venus Williams lost in the quarterfinals, as did five-time men’s winner Roger Federer. Sisters Venus and Serena, seeking their third straight Wimbledon women’s doubles crown, were sent packing two rounds before the final. Taiwan’s Yen-Hsun Lu became the first Asian man to reach the quarterfinals in a Grand Slam tournament since Japan’s Shuzo Matsuoka did so in 1995. Lu was ranked 82th in the world when he upset last year’s finalist Andy Roddick. Tsvetana Pironkova was ranked 82nd in the world she knocked off Venus Williams. Other familiar faces? The mixed doubles championship was won by Leander Paes and Cara Black. It was their third mixed title, while Paes was earning his sixth career mixed doubles championship and Blacker her fifth.
SUBJECT OF WEIGHT
BBC commentator David Mercer stirred up a heavy round of protest when he said young British player Laura Robson needs to lose what Mercer called “puppy fat.” The 60-year-old broadcaster was forced to apologize on air about his choice of words for the 16-year-old Robson. Mercer was commenting on Robson’s second-round junior girls’ match when he made his comment. It was retracted minutes later, reportedly under pressure from his BBC bosses. The apology apparently has not pacified some who say the original comments could encourage eating disorders in young people.
SCENE FROM THE FUTURE?
When she pulled off one of Wimbledon’s biggest upsets, Tsvetana Pironkova became the first Bulgarian player – man or woman – to reach the semifinals of a Grand Slam tournament. “Coming here I just wanted to win one or two rounds,” Pironkova said. Before this Wimbledon, she had never been past the second round of a major. And because of her success, she had problems finding a hotel room in London. “After my second match I left my hotel and there was no place that I could stay because the hotels at this time of the year are very busy,” the 22-year-old said. The president of the Bulgarian Tennis Federation called the Bulgarian Embassy in London and it was able to come up with an apartment in the South Kensington area of the city. Pironkova’s losing semifinalist check of USD $380,150 is more than enough to cover the USD $9,706 required to rent an apartment in such a swanky part of London for a week. Another native of Bulgaria, Manuel Maleeva-Fragniere, was a two-time semifinalist at the US Open in the early 1990s, but she was a Swiss citizen at the time.
SIDELINED
An elbow injury will keep Justine Henin from playing in this year’s US Open. The former world number one fell heavily on her right elbow during her fourth-round Wimbledon loss to fellow Belgian Kim Clijsters. Tests revealed the damage was worse than initially thought. Henin will undergo additional tests in about four weeks that could determine when she might be able to return to the courts. “I took several medical examinations that have revealed a partial ligament fracture of the right elbow,” Henin said on her website. “This injury will keep me away from the courts for a rough period of two months, with the consequence that I have withdrawn from the US Open.”
STAYING HOME
Jo-Wilfried Tsonga will miss France’s Davis Cup quarterfinal tie against Spain because of a knee injury. Tsonga had been selected to play singles along with Gael Monfils in this week’s international team competition. Richard Gasquet had been selected as an alternate, but he also has been ruled out because of back pain. Davis Cup captain Guy Forget selected Paul-Henri Mathieu to replace Tsonga and join Monfils, Michael Llodra and Julien Benneteau on the French team.
The Czech Republic will be without Wimbledon runner-up Tomas Berdych when it faces Chile in a quarterfinal Davis Cup match. Berdych, who lost to Rafael Nadal in the Wimbledon final, has been replaced by Ivo Minar. The Czech Republic’s second highest ranked player – second only to Berdych – will also miss the tie. Radek Stepanek is out with a left knee injury. Chile will play without its top player, Fernando Gonzalez, who was ruled out for 10 weeks with knee problems. The tie will be played in Coquimbo, Colombia.
STILL IN THE HUNT
Brothers Bob and Mike Bryan are still seeking to break their tie with a pair of Australians for the most doubles titles won on the ATP Tour in the Open Era. The American twins won their 61st men’s doubles title in Madrid, Spain, in May. That tied them with the retired pair of Todd Woodbridge and Mark Woodforde, who will be inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in Newport, Rhode Island, this week. The Bryans were upset in the quarterfinals at Wimbledon by 39-year-old Dick Norman of Belgium and Wesley Moodie of South Africa. “Unfortunately we ran up against a couple of big servers, and it really kind of limits what you can do,” Mike Bryan said. “The points are really short and that court is playing really quick and the guys were serving well. We felt like we couldn’t really use our skill against them.” Still, the brothers weren’t too upset over not taking sole possession of the record. “Obviously it would have been good to get it here, but we’re happy that we’re tied with it,” said Bob Bryan. “And if we don’t win another title, at least we’re tied with the Woodies.”
STABLE CONDITION
Former tennis star Jennifer Capriati is in stable condition after being treated for an accidental overdose of prescription medication. Once ranked number one in the world, the 34-year-old Capriati is expected to make a full recovery. She was rushed to a hospital in south Florida, but spokeswoman Lacey Wickline would not say how Capriati was found or who called emergency services. Wickline also declined to identify the medication. Capriati won three Grand Slam tournament singles – two Australian Opens and one French Open – and a gold medal in the 1992 Olympics. She was the youngest semifinalist at the French Open in 1990 when, at the age of 14, she lost to eventual champion Monica Seles.
STRAIGHT TO THE HALL
The shirt and racquet used by Nicolas Mahut in his record-setting Wimbledon match is on display at the International Tennis Hall of Fame in Newport, Rhode Island, USA. The Frenchman and American John Isner played a record 11 hours, 5 minutes in their first-round Wimbledon match before Isner finally prevailed, winning the fifth set 70-68 after it had been suspended twice because of darkness.
STARTLING STUNNER
When Tsvetana Pironkova knocked off five-time Wimbledon champion Venus Williams, it was considered one of the biggest upset in the history of the world’s oldest tournament. Pironkova was ranked 82nd in the world and, prior to this year’s Wimbledon, had never advanced past the second round at a Grand Slam tournament. Yet she handed Williams the worst loss the American had ever suffered at the All England Club. In other major upsets at Wimbledon, unseeded Billie Jean Moffitt (King) beat top-seeded Margaret Court in the second round in 1962, qualifier Jelena Dokic crushed top-seeded Martina Hingis 6-2 6-1 in a first-round match in 1999, and Virginia Ruano Pascual, then seeded 83rd, eliminated Hingis 6-4 6-2 in the first round in 2001.
SHOWDOWN AT MSG
Pete Sampras, Andre Agassi, John McEnroe and Ivan Lendl will participate in the 2011 BNP Paribas Showdown exhibition matches at New York City’s Madison Square Garden in February. Sampras will play Agassi in a best-of-three-set match and McEnroe and Lendl will battle for one set with the winner being the first to reach eight games. The four players combined to win a total of 37 Grand Slam tournament titles. Sampras and Agassi met in three US Open finals, with Sampras winning each time. McEnroe won the US Open four times and Lendl three times. The two met for the US Open title in 1984, with McEnroe winning, and the next year, when Lendl prevailed.
SPANKED
Sisters Venus and Serena Williams were each fined USD $4,000 at Wimbledon for skipping a news conference after losing their quarterfinal doubles match. Serena said she was “shocked to hear” about the penalty, noting that she and her sister rarely speak to the media after their Grand Slam tournament doubles matches other than the final. The Williams sisters were going after their third straight Wimbledon doubles title when they were upset by Vera Zvonareva and Elena Vesnina. The Russians eventually lost in the championship match, 7-6 (6) 6-2 to American Vania King and Yaroslava Shvedova of Kazakhstan.
SLOW START
At one time Austrian Thomas Muster was on top of the tennis world, ranked number one. That didn’t mean a thing when he returned to the ATP Tour for the first time in years, suffering a first-round loss to Conor Niland of Ireland 6-2 6-1 at the NORD/LB Open in Braunschweig, Germany, an ATP Challenger event. It was Muster’s first match since the French Open in 1999. The 42-year-old Muster, who won the 1995 French Open, struggled throughout his match against Niland, holding serve just once in the entire match and committing six double faults. Muster and his partner Jaan-Frederick Brunken of Germany also lost their first-round doubles match.
SHARING THE STAGE
The WTA Tour and the ATP are going to play two more combined tournaments in 2011. The men and women will share the stage in Cincinnati, Ohio, USA and in Rome, Italy. The Cincinnati tournament begins August 15, while the Italian Open will play its combined event the week of May 9.
STAGE SET
The Fed Cup final between the United States and Italy will be held at San Diego, California, USA. The United States Tennis Association (USTA) announced the site for the event, which will be held November 6-7. San Diego was one of 10 cities bidding to stage the first Fed Cup final to be held in the United States since 2000. The San Diego Sports Arena, where the event will be played, was the site of the 1989 Davis Cup quarterfinal between the United States and France. Last year Italy won the Fed Cup in Reggio Calabria, Italy, beating the United States in the final.
SUBBING
Serena Williams is expected to fill in for Justine Henin in an exhibition match against Kim Clijsters to be held in Brussels, Belgium. Organizers had been hoping to break the record for highest attendance at a tennis match. The old mark is 30,492, set at the 1973 “Battle of the Sexes” between Billie Jean King and Bobby Riggs at the Houston Astrodome. Henin had to withdraw from the exhibition after injuring her right elbow in a match at Wimbledon against her fellow Belgian, Clijsters.
STARRING
Seven great players will be inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame (ITHoF) this coming Saturday. The Induction Ceremony will take place on the grass courts of Bill Talbert Center Court at the ITHoF in Newport, Rhode Island, USA. Elected in the Recent Player category will be Gigi Fernandez and Natasha Zvereva, who won 38 titles together, including 14 Grand Slam tournaments, and Todd Woodbridge and Mark Woodforde, the Australian duo who amassed a record 61 ATP doubles titles, including 11 Grand Slam tournament titles. Elected in the Master Player category is 12-time Grand Slam tournament champion Owen Davidson. Derek Hardwick, past chairman of the British Lawn Tennis Association who was instrumental in the game’s transition to the Open Era, will be inducted posthumously in the Contributor category. Also in the Contributor category is Brad Parks, the pioneering founder of wheelchair tennis. Parks will be the first wheelchair tennis inductee into the famed institution.
SHARING
Venus Williams is making her first visit to the Arthur Ashe Youth Tennis and Education (AAYTE) in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA. More than 6,500 young people participate in AAYTE’s year-round tennis, education, life skills and leadership development programs at either the Arthur Ashe Youth Tennis and Education Center, schools, recreation centers and faith-based institutions in Philadelphia, Ardmore, Pennsylvania; Norristown, Pennsylvania, and Camden, New Jersey. The program was started by Ashe, a three-time Grand Slam tournament champion, including the first US Open in 1968 and Wimbledon in 1973.
SHARED PERFORMANCES
Braunschweig: Leonard Tavares and Simone Vognozzi beat Igor Kunitsyn and Yuri Schukin 7-5
7-6 (9)
Cuneo: Eva Birnerova and Lucie Hradecka beat Sorana Cirstea and Andreja Klepac 3-6 6-4 10-8 (match tiebreak)
Turin: Carlos Berlocq and Frederico Gil beat Daniele Bracciali and Potito Starace 6-3 7-6 (5)
SITES TO SURF
Davis Cup: www.daviscup.com
Bastad: http://women.swedishopen.org/
Budapest: www.gazdefrancegrandprix.com
Newport: www.tennisfame.com/
Pozoblanco: www.tennispozoblanco.com
Madison Square Garden: www.tennnisshowdown.com
TOURNAMENTS THIS WEEK
(All money in USD)
ATP
$442,500 Campbell’s Hall of Fame Tennis Championships, Newport, Rhode Island, USA, grass
$105,000 Open Diputacion Ciudad Pozoblanco, Pozoblanco, Spain, hard
WTA
$220,000 GDF SUEZ Grand Prix, Budapest, Hungary, clay
$220,000 Collector Swedish Open Women, Bastad, Sweden, clay
DAVIS CUP
World Group Quarterfinals
France vs. Spain at Clermont-Ferrand, France
Russia vs. Argentina at Moscow, Russia
Croatia vs. Serbia at Split, Croatia
Chile vs. Czech Republic at Coquimbo, Chile
Americans Zone Group II Second Round: Venezuela-Peru at Maracaibo, Venezuela; Paraguay-Mexico at Encarnacio, Paraguay
Americas Zone Group II Playoffs: Bolivia-El Salvador at Cochabamba, Bolivia; Guatemala-Netherlands Antilles at Guatemala City, Guatemala
Asia/Oceania Zone Group I First Round Playoffs: Chinese Taipei-Philippines at Kaohsiung, Taiwan; Korea-Uzbekistan at Gimcheon, South Korea
Asia/Oceania Zone Group II Second Round: Indonesia-Thailand at Jakarta, Indonesia; New Zealand-Pakistan at Taranaki, New Zealand
Asia/Oceania Zone Group II Playoffs: Malaysia-Pacific Oceania at Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia; Sri Lanka-Hong Kong, China at Colombo, Sri Lanka
Europe/Africa Zone Group I First Round Playoffs: Belarus-Netherlands at Minsk, Belarus
Europe/Africa Zone Group II Second Round: Ireland-Lithuania at Dublin, Ireland; Slovenia-Bulgaria at Otocec, Slovenia; Cyprus-Portugal at Cruz Quebrada, Portugal; Bosnia and Herzegovina-Estonia at Tallinn, Estonia
Europe/Africa Zone Group II Playoffs: Turkey-Great Britain at Eastbourne, Great Britain; Norway-Monaco at Monte Carlo, Monaco; Egypt-Denmark at Cairo, Egypt; FYR Macedonia-Hungary at Godollo, Hungary
TOURNAMENTS NEXT WEEK
ATP
$500,000 Mercedes Cup, Stuttgart, Germany, clay
$500,000 SkiStar Swedish Open, Bastad, Sweden, clay
$133,000 The Baltic Cup, Sopot, Poland, clay
$125,000 ATP Challenger Bogota, Bogota, Colombia, hard
WTA
$220,000 XXII SNBAI Open, Palermo, Italy, clay
$220,000 ECM Prague Open, Prague, Czech Republic, clay