Archive for the 'Tennis News' Category

In an unfortunate accident, Andre Agassi hit his wife Steffi Graf in the face with his racquet at a fundraiser during the U.S. Clay Court Championships. While rallying with another couple, Graf and Agassi were holding hands. When Agassi swung his racquet at one point, he hit Graf in the face on the follow through. A doctor at the stadium gave her three stitches in her lip which was split but her teeth were not damaged. Graf holds 22 Grand Slam titles while Agassi has eight; both are retired and they have two children.

The ATP announced that select Masters Series events will earn rankings points equal to the Grand Slams beginning in 2009. The ATP call it the Masters 1000 and Hamburg and Monte Carlo are suing the ATP over being omitted from the select group.

The four Grand Slam events–the Australian Open, the French Open, Wimbledon, and the US Open–are now worth twice the points awarded for wins in the ATP’s Masters Series events.

Rankings points may be awarded for Davis Cup wins as well, stay tuned for further developments when the board meets again during the French Open.

Later this month in Miami, Sony Ericsson hosts “Night Tennis” at The Ice Palace Film Studios complete with sets by world-renowned house DJs Paul Oakenfold and Masters at Work. Yes, DJ sets, not to be confused with tennis sets. “I’m very intrigued by the whole Night Tennis concept,” Oakenfold said. “Who would have expected sport and electronic culture to combine in this way?” Indeed.

The night match will be played with only ultraviolet lighting, players dressed in neon whites, and UV-reactive court, net, and balls. Dean Taylor of Sony Ericsson says, “The more I look at tennis, the more opportunities I see to present it in a new and experimental way. Tennis fans love tennis, and I wouldn’t want to change that, but we want to find ways of getting a new audience and by blending tennis with music, creating a visual and audio spectacular, I think we achieved that.” The future of tennis looks neon white.

In looking at the schedule for Indian Wells, a couple points jump out:

1. Being a resident of Indian Wells has serious perks:

Sony Ericsson WTA Main Draw – Monday, March 5
Free Admission at the gates to watch the WTA Qualifying Rounds

ATP Main Draw – Tuesday, March 6
Free Admission at the gates to watch the WTA Qualifying Rounds

City of Indian Wells Residents’ Day – Thursday, March 8
Residents of Indian Wells receive complimentary tickets to a full-day of matches. 

2. The well-known camera manufacturer’s campaign at Indian Wells creeps me out a bit:

Canon Maria Look-alikes – March 9-11 & 16-18
Join the Canon PowerShot team by celebrating one of the most loved champions in tennis today.  Maria Sharapova look-alikes will be canvassing the Tennis Garden grounds.  Stop them and say hello or simply get your picture taken with them.

Stay tuned for more Indian Wells drama, will it be Federer and Sharapova? Or Williams and Hewitt?

Gloria Connors, herself a former tennis pro, died Monday at the age of 82. She lived in Belleville, Illinois, and apparently died peacefully of natural causes at home. She was her son Jimmy’s only coach for much of his remarkable career as a world champion tennis player.

In a statement released by the International Tennis Hall of Fame, Connors described his mother thusly: “She had an unwavering passion for tennis. All my life, she taught me, made me a world champion. She always got me to do things without my even realizing. She instilled passion, excitement, and enthusiasm into me that was contagious to everyone around me. And yet separately, she was my mother and my friend.”

Also fun but much more realistic are Sports Illustrated’s Predictions 2007: Tennis. They make an interesting point in stating that while our individual American players may not be taking top honors, we have Blake and Roddick and a good chance at winning the Davis Cup in 2007. Short of Nadal becoming Swiss, of course. I really like that they played it safe with the fifth prediction: Federer will win three of four majors next year. You don’t say? I wonder how many analysts spent how much time dithering over that one. I’ll even go so far as to predict that the one of four Grand Slams that Federer does not take is Roland Garros.

ESPN’s Bonnie DeSimone reviews the year in tennis, it’s an entertaining read. If I were Andy Roddick, I’d rehearse a few postmatch comments just in case.

Best use of junk food in postmatch comments
“I used to, like, hit for a half hour and then go eat Cheetos the rest of the day, come out and drill forehands. Now I’m really trying to make it happen, being professional, really going for it, and I miss my Cheetos.”
– Andy Roddick, after losing to Russia’s Igor Andreev in the round of 16 at Indian Wells

Best use of a martyred world leader in postmatch comments
“Yeah, for the most part I was fine today until I just, you know, went mental at the end. That’s 5-1, so it’s not really going to matter. I mean, I could have, you know, reached Gandhi-like peace of mind and it wouldn’t have mattered then.”
– Andy Roddick, at the same news conference

Best use of a beloved animated character in postmatch comments
“Shooting the guy who shot Bambi? I guess it feels better than shooting Bambi.”
– Andy Roddick, after beating Benjamin Becker to advance to the US Open quarterfinals

Former world #1 Marat Safin overtook Jose Acasuso in a tiebreak in the fourth set to win the Davis Cup for Russia. Safin beat Acasuso 6-3, 3-6, 6-3, 7-6 (7-5). Earlier, David Nalbandian beat Nikolay Davydenko 6-2, 6-2, 4-6, 6-4. This is Russia’s second Davis Cup and their first won at home; Argentina lost to the US in Cincinnati in their only other Davis Cup final 25 years ago.

David Nalbandian overcame Marat Safin in three sets (6-4, 6-4, 6-4) Friday resulting in a 1-1 tie between Argentina and Russia at the Davis Cup final. Soccer legend Diego Maradona was among the rowdy Argentinean fans crowding Moscow’s Olympic Stadium. Nikolay Davydenko gave Russia the early lead by defeating Juan Ignacio Chela 6-1, 6-2, 5-7, 6-4.