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TSONGA FALLS TO DEL POTRO
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March 7, 2012

Jo-Wilfried Tsonga’s hopes of clashing with Roger Federer in the semi-finals of the Dubai open came to an end when he went down to Juan Martin Del Potro on Thursday.

With the win, Del Potro beat Tsonga for the second time in five days. Del Potro beat Tsongo 7-6, 6-2. The win also earned Del Potro his first win in a match against a top five player in the world in nine attempts. Del Potro’s win was pretty much sealed after Tsonga’s bad start in the crucial tie-break.

In the match Tsonga appeared less energetic than Del Potro and was 15-40 down in his first service game. He never really recovered – he was within two points of losing the set at deuce on his first serve in his 10th game.

In the tie-break Del Potro was helped by Tsonga’s double fault on his first service point and after that there was no looking back for Del Potro.

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VENUS TO PLAY AT FAMILY CIRCLE
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February 14, 2012

The Family Circle Cup, scheduled to take place between the 31st of March and the 1st of April just got a superstar boost in the form of former world number one Venus Williams who confirmed her participation in the event to be held on Daniel Island.

Samantha Stosur, the current world number five will defend her crown at the event and Russian beauty Vera Zvonareva will also be playing in the tournament but the addition of home favorite Venus to the event adds a much required star charisma to the event.

This will be the first time that Venus will play at the hard courts of Tennis Centre where she last played and won the title way back in 2004. Venus is hoping to get her form and fitness level up after returning to professional tennis in the Fed Cup tie against Belarus, having already missed the Australian Open, the first Grand Slam of the year. Venus Williams is extremely excited about returning to the event after such a long gap and she couldn’t hide her happiness in the press meet where she said that she was extremely pleased to be back.

What makes Venus’s participation in the tournament all the more appealing is the fact the Original 9 will be felicitated and recognized for their contribution to the world of women’s tennis. Speaking about the recognition for the original 9, Venus said that it was a great gesture on part of the WTA because without these people, women’s professional tennis would not have scaled the heights it has over the years.

Not only was the American pleased at being able to play at the event, the hosts are also excited to have Venus Williams on board, which means that more and more people will line up to see the event.

MURRAY LOOKS DANGEROUS
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February 10, 2012

British number one Andy Murray is looking forward to his quarterfinal match with Kei Nishikori in the early hours of Wednesday morning, but is wary of an opponent in great form.

Murray had an easy fourth round match, spending just 49 minutes in the Rod Laver Arena as his opponent Mikhail Kukushkin had to retire in the third set with a hip flexor problem. The Kazakhstan player had two tough 5 set matches in the run up to his meeting with Murray and these proved to have taken too much out of him to continue on his winning streak.

“I thought I played a little bit better each round. I didn’t feel good at all in my first match but I managed to get through. Then I started serving better and moving better,” said Murray after the match. “I will definitely be fresh for the next few rounds, hopefully.”

Kei Nishikori beat Jo-Wilfried Tsonga to set up his meeting with Murray, and looked fantastic, controlling the points against his athletic opponent. Murray admits he was watching closely, gauging the Japanese player and looking for weaknesses to exploit. “Kei is playing really, really well. He’s very good, very deceptive. For somebody who is not the tallest, he creates a lot of power,” Murray said. “He was dictating all the points from the back of the court against Tsonga.”

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VENUS WITHDRAWS FROM AUSTRALIAN OPEN
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January 26, 2012

Venus Williams, seven-time Grand Slam winner, has withdrawn from playing in this year’s Australian Open. She has been plagued with injuries since the middle of the 2010 season. Besides, she has been struggling with her fight against Sjogren’s syndrome, an autoimmune disease.

The disease is caused from fatigue and joint pains, something that the tennis star has often faced in her long and illustrious career. The disease is characterized by a loss of energy and severe joint pains.

She posted on her personal website, mentioning that she won’t be taking part in the upcoming Australian Open, the first Grand Slam tournament of the calendar year.  She also said that while she has been out of the competitive circuit for over 5 months, she has been in intensive training and has been under constant supervision and treatment.

She hopes to return to competitive fitness in quick time. Due to her absence from the professional circuit, her ranking has been constantly slipping. She also pulled out of the WTA event held in Auckland. In fact, she hasn’t played professionally since August 2011.

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Venus Williams in the Australian Open
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January 4, 2012

Venus Williams may have to sit out most of last season due to prolonged illness and injuries but the seven time Grand Slam winner will definitely be back on court for the first Grand Slam tournament of the year, the Australian Open that begins Down Under on the 16th of January, 2012 according to the director of the tournament, Craig Tiley. Although the older of the two Williams sisters withdrew from a tournament in New Zealand that was supposed to be a practice tournament for her before the Australian Open due to illness, she will travel to Australia for the first major tournament of the year, a title that she won way back in 2003.

The 101st ranked player in the world, Venus has been receiving treatment for an auto immune disease that doctors have termed as Sjogren’s syndrome for the last couple of months pulled out of the tournament in New Zealand that is scheduled between the 2nd and 7th of January, according to the organizers. But Craig Tiley said that both the Williams sisters will travel to Australia for the Grand Slam.

Venus Williams, who has been a champion at Wimbledon a staggering five times played in only four tournaments in 2011 due to the illness and was also suffering from a hip injury that made her miss four months of action in the last calendar year. But according to her representative, she is fit and raring to go as she aims to climb up the WTA rankings from 101.

This is the lowest ranking that she has managed in 15 years of professional tennis and Venus Williams aims to set things into perspective by winning the first Grand Slam tournament of the year and win a tournament that she has been the winner only once in her career.

Rafa Nadal
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August 17, 2011

There was once Boris Becker, Bjorn Borg, and Roger Federer.  Now there’s a new king of tennis and this time, he’s from Spain. He has been the no. 1 in tennis ranking for quite some time, and has slipped only now, thanks to a spate of injuries. His astonishing track record on clay courts have earned him the nickname of “King of Clay”. Such is his dominance on clay that many experts have been saying he is the best clay court player ever. He is none other than the swashbuckling Rafael Nadal.

He was born in Majorca, Spain to Sebastien Nadal and Ana-Marie Perera in 1986. Nadal’s natural talent for tennis was spottted by his uncle, Toni Nadal, at a very young age. Rafael was introduced to tennis when he was only three years of age. It’s a little known fact that he was also a promising football player. He won the under-12 regional tennis tournament when he was only 8 years of age. When he was about 13 years of age, he was playing football and tennis equally well. But in order to see that his studies were not hampered, his father asked him to choose between the two. He promptly chose tennis, which meant football had to be totally stopped. At the age of 14, the National Federation offered to take Nadal to Barcelona to continue his training, but his family was opposed to it. Instead, he continued his training from home. At the age of 15, he defeated Pat Cash, a former Grand Slam champion in an exhibition match on a clay court.

He turned professional the same year, taking part in two junior ITF events. By the time he was 17, he had already defeated the defending world champion, Roger Federer, the first time they were pitted against each other. This is a feat that he would go on to repeat many more times, most significantly in the finals of the French Open. By defeating Federer, he had also become the youngest man to reach the third round at Wimbeldon. At the age of 19, Nadal won his first French Open title. Incidentally, it was also the fist time he had played at the Roland Garros. This was something that had not taken place in Paris in over 20 years. It was also one of the first indications of the clay court dominance that was to become synonymous with his name. Nadal has a trademark habit in which he bites the trophies he wins, expecting to leave his mark on them probably. This habit was picked up by him quite early in his career.

2005 was one of the turning points of his tennis career. He reached the 4th round of the Australian Open, but was defeated by Lleyton Hewitt, who went on to become runner up. The same year, he was defeated in the finals of the Miami Masters by Roger Federer. Following the two defeats, he totally dominated the clay court in the spring session. Since then, Nadal has won the French Open 6 times, four of which came consecutively.