Archive for the 'Players News' Category

Marat Safin and Dmitry Tursunov of Russia dominated David Nalbandian and Agustin Calleri of Argentina on Saturday 6-2, 6-3, 6-4 to put Russia within one victory of its second Davis Cup title. Safin was a surprise replacement for the doubles match. Note that Russia has not lost a Davis Cup tie at home in 11 years while Argentina has never won the trophy.

Garnering attention off the court as well, Tursunov’s blog for the Men’s Tennis Association has earned him the nickname “The Tolstoy of Tennis.” He hopes that his blog will help to give readers a more well-rounded view of the player both on and off the court. Tursunov says, “People think we all arrive in limos, and we’re flying all first class and we have six models waiting for us in the locker room. Things that are not really true. We’re actually normal people–for most of us, most tennis players, we’re just like anybody else–and we just happen to play tennis.” (cbsnews.com) It’s a funny read, he actually refers to himself as being bageled by Federer in a match.

Thursday night was a thriller for both Andre Agassi and Rafael Nadal. Both had tough matches and Agassi has decided he wants to play every single set of his last matches.

Andre Agassi had a tough match playing 8th seeded Marcos Baghdatis in the second eound of the US Open. Monday night rumor has it that Agassi had a cortisone shot in his back, then he proceeded to limp around the next day, warm and Wednesday and come out and play a 5 set match against the 8th seeded player.

And Win!

Agassi beat him in front of over 23,000 people in Arthur Ashe Stadium Thursday night, 6-4, 6-4, 3-6, 5-7, 7-5.

Agassi is scheduled to play on Saturday again against Benjamin Becker who beat Grosjean in the second round. Weather might be a little poor this weekend in NYC due to the hurricanes/tropical storms picking up speed but there may be a chance the 36 year old can pull out career win 869.

Source

technorati tags:Andre, Agassi, US, Open, Tennis, Baghdatis, Arthur, Ashe, Stadium

We’ve taken a short hiatus here at Wicked Backhand for a much needed rest but we are back to bring you tennis tips and tennis news you can use on a daily basis. You can check in with us as we bring you all the gossip you can handle from around the tennis world as well as tips to get you that perfect backhand, forehand, or serve you’ve been looking for.

First though, a quick update from the US Open which is under way in New York City this week with matches starting Monday morning.

Today (Thursday), Nadal fought a tough match against Luis Horna of Peru wininning in the fourth set 6-4, 4-6, 6-4, 6-2. He moves onto the third round beating Horna. Of his competition Nadal said “It was a very tough match.” Tough and close but let’s hope he got it out of the way early.

15th seed Laten Hewitt won his match in straight sets in just one hour and 43 minutes 6-4, 6-2, 6-2.

Check back again for more updates from the world of tennis.

technorati tags:Tennis, US, Open, News, Rafael, Nadal, Hewitt

The current world rankings are out and two men from the US have made it while the women’s rankings look like a Russian team entry form. The world rankings for May 2006 for men and women’s professional tennis are:

Male:
1. Roger Federer (SUI)
2. Rafael Nadal (ESP)
3. David Nalbandian (ARG)
4. Andy Roddick (USA)
5. Ican Ljubicic (CRO)
6. Nikolay Davydenko (RUS)
7. Guillermo Coria (ARG)
8. James Blake (USA)
9. Gaston Gaudio (ARG)
10. David Ferrer (ESP)

Women
1. Amelie Mauresmo (FRA)
2. Kim Clijsters (BEL)
3. Justine Nenin-Hardenne (BEL)
4. Maria Sharapova (RUS)
5. Lindsay Davenport (USA)
6. Mary Pierce (FRA)
7. Nadia Petrova (RUS)
8. Elena Dementieva (RUS)
9. Patty Schnyder (SUI)
10. Svetlana Kuznetsova (RUS)

Congrats to James Blake for rockin’ the top 10 this time around. Keep up the top notch playing. We hope to see you climbing throughout the summer.

Are you looking for Professional Tennis’ very own player blogs? Well look no further. Wicked Backhand found a good stock of professional tennis players telling it like it is on their very own blogs at the Men’s ATP Blog site.

They have players like James Blake, Ivan Ljubicic, Marcos Baghdatis, and Jarkko Nieminen. The players give updates on their latest tennis tournaments as well as some personal behind the scenes looks into their training, travel, and life on the tour.

Marcos Baghdatis has some interesting posts from about a month ago when he played the NASDAQ-100 Open in Miami. He talks about the new challenge rule, getting rackets restrung and swimming with dolphins. He is quite a character on court and as it turns out, can joke around off the court. Check him out over at his ATP blog.