Rafael Nada appears the runaway favorite for the French Open while the Williams sisters, neither of whom have contested a women’s Paris final since 2002, will be the top two seeds. But the year’s second Grand Slam has a depleted look as a French Tennis Federation revealed the growing list of non-participants.
US Open champion Kim Clijsters underwent more tests on her injured left foot in Belgium late last week and the results convinced her that a return to action at Roland Garros would have been premature and not conducive to her hopes of contesting Wimbledon and her title defense at Flushing Meadow. Clijsters is still suffering from a build up of fluid around the injury she sustained play for Belgium in the Fed Cup against Estonia three weeks ago and the original prognosis of a six weeks inactivity still seems to hold good. “I will continue my recovery to be totally up for the season on grass," admitted Clijsters on her own website. “It's really a shame to give up on Roland Garros. “Paris is so close to where I live and I always feel a little at home. And that's where I played my first Grand Slam final. But the foot pain forces me to throw in the towel.” Juan Martin Del Potro, the men’s US Open Champion and world no.5, had already announced his non participation in either the French Open or Wimbledon after undergoing wrist surgery and now no.6 Nikolay Davydenko has predictably joined him on the Roland Garros absentee list. Davydenko has been suffering wrist problems since the beginning of the year. He was forced to retire from his second round match in February’s Barclays Dubai Tennis Championships and has not played since giving Viktor Troicki a walkover in the second round of the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells in mid-March. Tommy Haas, Igor Andreev and James Blake are other notable no-shows in the men’s tournament so Michal Przysiezny, Daniel Gimeno-Traver, Paolo Lorenzi, Ricardo Mello and Kevin Anderson. Meanwhile Sania Mirza, Urszula Radwanska, Anna-Lena Groenefeld and Sabine Lisicki have pulled out of the women's tournament.
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4d. Don’t neglect you serve! This is the single most important stroke in tennis and for some players it’s the stroke that is least practiced. Spend lots of time hitting serves…especially second serves. If you never lost your serve in a match, you wouldn’t lose the match. If you nerve double faulted, your chances of winning the game go up significantly. So, second servers are really of utmost importance.
4c. Strongly believe in the benefits of hitting against the wall or a backboard as part of your recapturing/change process. First, you don’t need a partner. Second, you can hit lots of ball in a short period of time. Third, you can work on one stroke at a time until you feel comfortable with your progress. Most of us learned to play tennis using the backboard. As a means of getting back you strokes and
timing. 4b. Try video taping yourself as you make changes. Seeing yourself on tape can be a bit frightening, but does afford you a way to analyzing what need to be done to change weak or faulty strokes.
Ball Kids tryouts for the LA Open will be held:
* Saturday, May 22nd 10:00 AM at the Sycamore Canyon Courts on UCLA’s Campus * Saturday, June 5th 10:00 AM at the Sycamore Canyon Courts on UCLA’s Campus New Ball Persons must attend two (2) tryout sessions for consideration. Veteran applicants must attend one (1) tryout session for consideration. Minimum age requirement is 12 years old, as of July 1, 2010. Tryouts are expected to conclude before 1:00 PM. She may be sidelined at present after retiring from her opening matches at Indian Wells and Key Biscayne with an ankle injury, but Sabine Lisicki is not entirely absent. The 20-year old German was at the ATP’s BMW Open in Munich this week to sign a long-term agreement with Wilson Sporting Goods. While on-site, she took the opportunity to meet her fans and sign autographs.
Lisicki, who ended 2009 ranked 25 but has slipped back to 47 this week, is acknowledged as one of the most promising players and brightest personalities on the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour. Cara Black and Liezel Huber were a formidable team, but recently they have been playing with other partners. Huber paired up with Nadia Petrova to win Charleston, and in Stuttgart last week Huber played with Jelena Jankovic and Black linked up with Shahar Peer. So what is going on? Is the partnership that has amassed 29 titles - including four majors and two Tour Championships - over?
"Cara and I are taking a mutual break from being exclusive doubles partners," Huber said in a statement. "Don't be surprised to see us playing with each other or someone else in the next couple of months. It wasn't an easy decision. We have had a great partnership and we are so appreciative of all the fan support. We both continue to strive to do what we love most and that is to compete on the tennis court. Thank you for your continued support." John McEnroe will clash with Andy Roddick when the New York Sportimes take on the Philadelphia Freedoms in their World TeamTennis meeting on July 14. The match will take place at the Sportimes’ new $18 million state-of-the-art 2,000 seat venue at Randall’s Island Tennis Center. Special arrangements will be in place during the team’s home games to assist fans coming to the matches.
The Sportimes will provide free shuttle bus service from several stops on the East Side of Manhattan, starting two hours prior to each match and returning to the same locations following the conclusion of each night’s events. For the matches on July 5th, 11th and 12th, the team will also reimburse Sportimes ticket holders who drive to Randall’s Island for these Sportimes matches for their RFK bridge toll. Ticket holders who submit a paid toll receipt, or who show an EZ-Pass badge, will have the cost of the toll subtracted from their ticket price and those who purchase tickets in advance will have the cost of the toll reimbursed on site. The Legends Ball, which benefits the International Tennis Hall of Fame & Museum, returns to Cipriani 42nd Street, in New York City, on Friday, September 10 - the last Friday of the US Open. Regarded as the premier social event of the US Open, this special night of celebration will honor a host of tennis luminaries including the Hall of Fame Class of 2010. Held annually since 1980, the Legends Ball brings the tennis world together to celebrate the history of the game and to honor some of the sport's great contributors all while raising money for the International Tennis Hall of Fame & Museum.
A legendary line-up of tennis greats will be in attendance, including more than a dozen Hall of Famers and tennis dignitaries. The event will honor the International Tennis Hall of Fame Class of 2010 - the 14-time Grand Slam doubles tandem of Gigi Fernandez and Natasha Zvereva; legendary Australian doubles partners Todd Woodbridge and Mark Woodforde, winners of 11 Grand Slam championships; fellow Aussie men's and mixed doubles champion Owen Davidson, winner of 12 Grand Slam titles; wheelchair tennis pioneer Brad Parks; and Derek Hardwick, who was instrumental in the transition to the Open Era. In addition to honoring the Class of 2010, the International Tennis Hall of Fame will also recognize several other people and organizations for their contributions to the sport with the Eugene L. Scott Award and the Joseph F. Cullman 3rd Award. The Legends Ball auction will also be held, in which past items have included hit sessions with Pete Sampras, Jim Courier and Monica Seles; ticket and travel packages to Grand Slam events; golf at legendary courses like Winged Foot; autographed tennis memorabilia from Roger Federer, James Blake and Andre Agassi; exotic vacation packages; and golf, baseball, hockey, basketball and football tickets and memorabilia. A sense of the inevitable surrounded the news that US Open champion Juan Martin Del Potro finally underwent wrist surgery yesterday (Tuesday) and will require such extended recovery and rehabilitation from the operation that he might be unable to defend his title in New York.
Concerns about the well being of the health of the 21 year-old Argentine, currently world no.5 who stunned the tennis world by denying Roger Federer a record sixth successive US Open title last September, have been mounting with each tournament he initially named as a potential place for a comeback to the ATP World Tour and then reluctantly announced his non participation. “All year long, I wanted to avoid surgery by using different treatments, but the injury was obviously more serious,” said Del Potro in a statement given to Argentine journalist Juan Pablo Varsky. Playing the French Open and Wimbledon is already ruled as out of the question for Del Potro who underwent the surgery at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota . He has been suffering from tendinitis in his right wrist since last October when he was forced to quit a match at the Shanghai Rolex Masters and apart from contesting the BNP Paribas Masters at Paris’ Bercy when he was forced to retire hurt from the quarter-finals, reaching the final of the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals in London and the getting to the fourth round of the Australian Open, he has been inactive ever since. Del Potro has undergone many examinations and consulted numerous doctors and surgeons over the past few months but earlier this week traveled to the Mayo Clinic to meet the eminent hand specialist Dr. Richard Berger and it was immediately decided that after concerted rest and extensive rest had both failed, surgery was the only real remaining option. “As you can all understand, this is not a happy moment in my life,” said Del Potro whose ranking could potentially slide out of the world’s top 20 if he fails to defend the points he amassed throughout 2009. “But I’m accustomed to fight through adversity and I have all the strength to get through this and move forward.” Argentine news agency Telam reported Del Potro would not be able to play tournaments for at least four months, thereby posting a huge question mark over his ability to be fully ready to stage a Flushing Meadows title defense at the year’s final Grand Slam event that begins on August 30. Some sections of Argentina’s media have speculated that Del Potro’s long absence from competition has resulted in him suffering from depression and anxiety attacks. He countered saying such reports were false and malicious. “Stories have circulated about my state of mind and my physical condition but that’s not true,” he stressed. “I’m not going to say more about what doesn’t exist. But bad information not only affects my family, my team and the people who take care of me. It also affects those of you who end up reading news that is not true.” |
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