Can Roland Garros Afford to Remain in Cramped Quarters? As the French Open gets under way, the threat to move the nation’s premier tournament away from its traditional but distinctly cramped 85 year-old Roland Garros site has intensified. The French Tennis Federation (FFT) first warned of the possibilities nearly three months ago, and as the Paris government refuses to be intimidated and the crowds flock back to the 16th arrondissement, new warnings came that a new site either at Versailles or close to the EuroDisney complex could be the French Open’s future home. On the eve of the tournament, the FFT published a multi-page document questioning the future of Roland Garros as a venue. "Moving is an option we cannot rule out," said FFT chief Jean Gachassin. "Of course we are very attached to the stadium at the Porte d'Auteuil. Some of the greatest pages of our sport's history have been written on these courts. This stadium has a past, a soul. "But as this is an extremely complex project; it is our duty to consider another direction, which would be the relocation of the Roland Garros stadium." Roland Garros is currently played on a site which less than half the size of the All England Club’s domain at Wimbledon and recently Roger Federer delivered the FFT with a long list of players’ complaints about the overcrowding caused by the presence of 450,000 spectators during the tournament fortnight. Tournament director Gilbert Ysern said: “Roland Garros cannot stay the way it is. We have two options, make it bigger or move out. Over the last 10 years, the three other grand slam tournaments have progressed, notably in terms of infrastructure, but we haven't."
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Not an upest shocker, but a clothing shocker by Venus Williams. The outfit that she wear duing her match was a little revealing. I guess the French people are use to seeing & showing off a little skin.
5. As you find yourself regaining your potential conditions and game form, you will probably want to start serious, focused practice with a hitting partner who shares your desire to improve.
Tennis Channel, the only 24-hour, television-based multimedia destination dedicated to both the professional sport and tennis lifestyle, will carry 77 hours of live French Open coverage during its fourth year in Paris, not including same-day repeats of the men’s and women’s singles semifinals. As a general rule, seven hours of live match play will air each day, from 5 a.m. to noon ET, with coverage continuing through the men’s and women’s quarterfinals deep into the second week of play (see complete schedule below).
The network’s groundbreaking prime-time show, French Open Tonight, will return each evening with anchor Bill Macatee and Tennis Channel’s signature set overlooking the tournament’s famed Musketeer Plaza. The nightly three-and-a-half-hour show will again offer interviews, highlights, analysis, encore match replays and coverage from in and around the City of Light. Macatee will host a variety of tennis personalities, including players, coaches, agents, tennis-industry representatives, past champions, Hall of Famers and other notables in the sport. French Open Tonight will run from 6:30 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET, each evening, and immediately re-air twice in its entirety, throughout the night and early morning, concluding with the start of the following day’s live match play at 5 a.m. ET. In all, Tennis Channel will show more than 140 hours of the nightly show, with 42 hours of first-run airings. All of Tennis Channel’s coverage from the world’s most prestigious clay-court competition will be produced in high definition. The network is working with ESPN2 again to bring viewers an almost round-the-clock tournament experience for the fourth consecutive year, with each channel cross-promoting the other’s schedule. As Tennis Channel’s daily match coverage concludes at noon ET, ESPN2 picks up the action without missing a beat, covering the tournament through 6:30 p.m. ET, when Tennis Channel’s French Open Tonight begins. Tennis Channel will produce all coverage for both channels, with each making use of its own on-air team. On-Air Talent John McEnroe and Martina Navratilova have become fixtures of Tennis Channel’s French Open coverage and will be back in the network’s booth this year as lead on-air analysts. In their fourth year of providing Hall of Fame insight, the pair will be joined by new correspondent Lindsay Davenport, a three-time Grand Slam singles winner who reached the French Open semifinals in 1998. Ted Robinson, Ian Eagle and former player Leif Shiras will resume play-by-play duties for the network in 2010, working with Tennis Channel’s long-running team of analysts and former players Katrina Adams, Justin Gimelstob, Barry MacKay and Corina Morariu. “I’m thrilled that it’s springtime in Paris and the French Open is here again,” said Navratilova. “Everyone wants to see if Rafael Nadal can return to dominance after his disappointing exit last year. The women’s side is just as interesting, with so many potential winners. I can’t wait to get back in the Tennis Channel booth and watch it all unfold.” Davenport, in addition to her appearances during match coverage, will frequently assist on French Open Tonight with Macatee, along with a roster of new contributors. Legendary tennis writer, analyst, reporter and all-around expert Bud Collins joins the prime-time team this year, as does long-time tennis journalist Jon Wertheim. Rounding out French Open Tonight will be Cari Champion, anchor of Tennis Channel’s Court Report nightly newscast, and Danielle Dotzenrod, host of health and nutrition series Fit To Hit. Combined, this group will offer analysis and commentary, and cover the sights and sounds of the tournament grounds, its fans and various on-site activities — with field reports from the surrounding city sprinkled into the mix. Broadband Coverage Tennis Channel’s extensive French Open coverage has never been limited to television. The network will again offer free live and on-demand broadband streams, with close to 125 matches and 200 hours during the first 10 days of the tournament. Visitors to the network’s site, tennischannel.com, will be able to view any one of five courts for the first eight days of the event, followed by a single court on days nine and ten. The site will also offer interview archives from French Open Tonight, news, live scores, daily highlights, exclusive tournament photos, blogs, columns, sweepstakes information and the network’s “Racquet Bracket” tournament prediction game. Tennis Channel’s Live 2010 French Open Match Schedule — Entirely in High Definition (Men’s/Women’s Singles Unless Otherwise Specified) Date Time (ET) Event Sunday, May 23 5 a.m.-Noon First-Round Action Monday, May 24 5 a.m.-3 p.m. First-Round Action Tuesday, May 25 5 a.m.-Noon First-Round Action Wednesday, May 26 5 a.m.-Noon Second-Round Action Thursday, May 27 5 a.m.-Noon Second-Round Action Friday, May 28 5 a.m.-Noon Third-Round Action Saturday, May 29 5 a.m.-Noon Third-Round Action Sunday, May 30 5 a.m.-Noon Round of 16 Action Monday, May 31 5 a.m.-Noon Round of 16 Action Tuesday, June 1 8 a.m.-Noon Quarterfinals Wednesday, June 2 8 a.m.-Noon Quarterfinals Thursday, June 3 5 a.m.-8 a.m. Men’s Doubles Semifinals Tennis Channel will also offer same-day replays of the men’s and women’s singles semifinals: Thursday, June 3 — 1 p.m.-6:30 p.m. (ET): women’s singles semifinals Friday, June 4 — 5 p.m.-midnight (ET): men’s semifinals Tennis Channel’s French Open Tonight Schedule French Open Tonight airs Sunday, May 23-Thursday, June 3, and typically runs from 6:30 p.m.-10 p.m. ET, and is then repeated twice from 10 p.m.-1:30 a.m. and 1:30 a.m.-5 a.m. The following exceptions are ET: Monday, May 24; Saturday, May 29; and Sunday, May 30 — 3 p.m.-6:30 p.m., followed by 6:30 p.m.-10 p.m., 10 p.m.-1:30 a.m. and 1:30 a.m.-5 a.m. Additionally, shortened encore editions of French Open Tonight will air Tuesday, June 1, and Wednesday, June 2, from 5 a.m.-8 a.m. 4e. You need to ease back into hitting. If you haven’t hit for a while, your hands will not be calloused. The last thing you want is to develop blisters as you are trying to get back into competitive form. That’s why we recommend that for the first two weeks, you hit every other day. By the end of the two weeks, your hands should have develop most of the necessary calluses.
Wild cards into the main draw at Roland Garros have been announced. They are:
MEN: Carsten Ball (AUS), David Guez (FRA), Nicolas Mahut (FRA), Gianni Mina (FRA), Josselin Ouanna (FRA), Laurent Recouderc (FRA), Edouard Roger-Vasselin (FRA), Ryan Sweeting (USA) WOMEN: Stephanie Cohen-Aloro (FRA), Claire Feuerstein (FRA), Stephanie Foretz (FRA), Jarmila Groth (AUS), Mathilde Johansson (FRA), Christina McHale (USA), Kristina Mladenovic (FRA), Olivia Sanchez (FRA) The tournament begins on May 23. The Springfield-Greene County Park Board will host its first US Open National Playoffs Missouri Valley Sectional Qualifying Tournament beginning at 8 a.m. May 15 through May 17 at Cooper Tennis Complex, 2331 E. Pythian St.
The tournament is the first of its kind by the U.S. Tennis Association, allowing players 14 and older the chance to compete for a wild-card berth into the 2010 US Open. The men’s field in Springfield contains 36 players, ranging from 14 to 62 years old. The women’s field has 16 players. All players have a wide range of backgrounds and skill level. This is one of 16 qualifying tournaments taking place in USTA sections around the United States this summer. Each section winner will advance to the US Open National Playoffs Qualifying Championship, with the winner of that earning a spot in the US Open qualifier at Flushing The International Tennis Federation has announced that Kristina Antoniychuk, ranked 182, has been found to have committed a Doping Offence under Article C.1 of the Tennis Anti-Doping Program (presence of a Prohibited Substance in player’s sample).
Antoniychuk, a 19-year-old from Ukraine, provided a sample on February 22 at the Abierto Mexicano TELCEL presentado por HSBC Event held in Acapulco, Mexico, which was found to contain furosemide, a diuretic. Furosemide is a Prohibited Substance under the 2010 WADA List of Prohibited Substances and Prohibited Methods, and is therefore also prohibited under the Tennis Anti-Doping Program. Ms Antoniychuk was therefore charged with an anti-doping rule violation under Article C.1 of the Program. The player asserted that the furosemide had got into her system through medication prescribed by a doctor and denied any intent to enhance her performance. However, under the Tennis Anti-Doping Program it is a player’s strict personal duty to ensure that no Prohibited Substance enters his/her body, whether as a prescription medication or otherwise, unless he/she holds a valid therapeutic use exemption for such substance. As a result, Antoniychuk has been suspended for a period of fourteen months commencing from February 22, and her results including and subsequent to the Acapulco event should be disqualified, with resulting forfeiture of the ranking points and prize money that she won at those events. Former world no.1 Carlos Moya, the man who first put Majorca on the tennis map, believes he has played his last match on Spanish clay but is now ready to move into sports public relations with one of his main clients being his fellow islander Rafael Nadal.
Moya, aged 32 and plagued by injuries in recent years, is set to go into partnership with former ATP World Tour staffer Benito Perez-Barbadilo , the principal and founder of B1PR which currently directs the media activities of both Nadal and world no.2 Novak Djokovic. Ever since he emerged onto the ATP World Tour as a teenage powerhouse seven years ago, Nadal has long seen Moya as a friend, guide and mentor in the world of tennis. The pair has always remained close, occasionally playing doubles together. Moya has been seeking avenues to pursue once his tennis career, which climaxed by winning the French Open in 1998 and reaching top spot on the ATP World Tour rankings nine months later. Last year he had plenty of time to think and plan after being sidelined from February onward following hip surgery. No sooner had he tried to return to action than he suffered a stress fracture of the right foot and after a string of less than satisfactory results, was forced to withdraw from the second round in Indian Wells. He played his first match in three months when handed a wild card into the ongoing Mutua Madrilena Open in Madrid but only managed to win a couple of games as he lost 6-0,6-2 to Germany’s Benjamin Becker and cut something of a sad figure. “It is difficult for an athlete to know when the moment has come to retire,” said Moya. “Tennis has been the love of my life and when you are with the love of your life and everything doesn’t go well, you don’t just go walking away immediately. Instead you hold on and hope things can get better.” Moya conceded it was almost certainly his last match at the Caja Magica but remains hopeful of finally bowing out at the French Open in a couple of weeks time with a sentimental last journey to Roland Garros. “The setback with the foot has been hard,” said the player who won 20 career titles and amassed more than $13 million in prize money. “I could not properly play the tournaments where I've had some of the best memories of my career -- the Australian Open [where he reached his first Grand Slam final, Indian Wells and Miami [where he clinched the no.1 spot].” Up to now the rest of the men’s tennis world has comforted themselves with the belief Roger Federer has long viewed the 2012 Olympic Games, played on his beloved lawns at Wimbledon’s All England Club, as the cut-off point of his ambitions. Now it seems the world no.1 is looking a lot further into the future.
Federer will be closing in on his 31st birthday when action begins at the Olympics on July 29, 2012 but slightly more than two years from the event, the Swiss is energized and has no intention of even contemplating a potential date for his retirement. "People think I'm going to retire at the 2012 Olympics - which is not true,” said Federer in the plainest terms possible during an exclusive radio interview with the BBC. “It's just not something I'm even in the mood to think about. Even though you never know because it depends on your body, I would like to play beyond that point. So we'll see how it goes. “The moment you start questioning yourself and asking 'how am I going to go out of this sport' - well it's never crossed my mind.” Nowadays Federer is a committed family man and his twin daughters Myla and Charlene will be three years old by then and nearing the age to begin their schooling and he admitted: “I don't have a problem saying this is the second half of my career because I do have kids and a lot of things have changed around me.” Wife Mirka and the two infant girls are constant traveling companions and he maintains: “It's a lot of fun right now and I obviously want to do this as long as possible.” The last 12 months have seen Federer write himself even deeper into the tennis record books and ownership of 16 Grand Slam titles as well as the imminent ‘Most Weeks in the No.1 Slot’ that is expected to become his property before this year’s title defense at Wimbledon, has served to replenish his appetite for success. "Looking back now, one year ago I didn't have two daughters, I didn't have three more Slams and one more Slam final,” he said. “It's quite amazing what has happened in the last year.” |
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