The long awaited return to action of Juan Martin Del Potro is finally looking imminent and hopes are growing the 21 year-old Argentine who has only played four matches this year, will be able to defend his U.S. Open title.
Del Potro, whose competitive tennis in 2010 has so far been confined to January’s Australian Open where he reached the round of 16, this week returned to the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota where he underwent surgery on his right wrist on May 4. An original comeback date in November was targeted but the post-surgery medical examination of the tall Argentine who still stands in the world no.7 has shown positive signs and now optimism is growing that he will be able to stage a title defense when the year’s final major tournament begins at the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center at New York’s Flushing Meadows on August 30. "The doctor is happy with the progress," reported Del Potro on his Twitter account. "Now we have to keep strengthening and then be ready for the racket." Del Potro resorted to surgery after several aborted comebacks on the ATP World Tour. He first complained of wrist problems when he was forced to retire from the Shanghai Rolex Masters last October and then at the beginning of this year he also was forced to offer his apologies at the pre-Australian Open Amii Classic at Kooyong in Melbourne. Following the Australian Open, Del Potro was absent from both the initial Masters 1000 series events of the year in Indian Wells and Miami before announcing, and rapidly aborting, projected comeback dates in Monte Carlo, Barcelona and Rome. Now Del Potro cites Argentina's September Davis Cup semifinal against France, a week after the U.S. Open, as his target. But this does suggest Flushing Meadows is far from out of the question. Del Potro informed the Argentine press: "Davis Cup is a good date for returning to the tour but I hope I can come back sooner. I don't want to have any illusions because I don't know when I can return to playing with the racket. But I'll train hard to prepare."
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Josh Shiels heaved a sigh of relief last week when he won a court case against Lleyton Hewitt Marketing, allowing him use of the cry ‘Come on’. But his relief was short-lived. Hewitt, no stranger to legal skirmishes as he has engaged former agents Octagon and the ATP among others in court-room battles, has appealed the decision.
An Intellectual Property officer in Canberra ruled against LHM’s claim that Shiels was unlawfully using Hewitt’s rallying cry for unauthorized commercial purposes, and ordered LHM to pay Shiels’ court costs. But Hewitt’s marketing arm is not accepting the ruling. "My family have been dragged through the court system for a few years now. It's draining mentally and financially, especially when you're trying to juggle a small business," said Shiels, who with his daughters designed a stylized logo based around the words ‘Come on’ and began by selling items off a market stall. Although the catchphrase has most recently been associated with Hewitt, it has in fact been used by Australian sports fans for decades and Shiels wanted to use it on a variety of sportswear, such as caps and shirts in various team colors. He has trademarked the phrase not only in Australia but in the United States and nearly 30 other countries. Safin Appears to be Getting More Involved in Russian Tennis
No longer it seems is former world no.1 Marat Safin the man who wants to leave tennis behind and discover other adventures in life. Barely eight months into a retirement he craved for so long the charismatic but often frustrating Muscovite is shaping up as the heir apparent to long time Russian tennis tsar Shamil Tarpischev. Within weeks of laying down his competitive racket on the ATP World Tour at Paris Bercy last October, the 30 year-old was back playing exhibition matches before appearing on Jim Courier’s Champion’s Tour. In December, he was elected to Russia’s Olympic committee and he has also played an increasingly more important role in Safin is also doing a large amount of representational work for the Russian Tennis Federation, under the watchful tutelage of the 62 year-old Tarpischev who has been chief coach and captain of all tennis teams first from the Soviet Union and then Russia for 36 years. Just before the turn of the century Tarpischev was appointed President of the Russian Tennis Federation. After initially declaring he wanted to break away from the tennis circuit, Safin was in attendance at the Masters 1000 event in Madrid (bankrolled by his former mentor Ion Tiriac and co-run by his agent Gerard Tsobanian) as well as the French Open and Wimbledon. His role was to attract more top flight players to the Kremlin Cup tour event played in Moscow October 18 thru 24. “I have to run around and be nice to everybody,” declared the notoriously rebellious former US and Australian Open champion. Although Safin’s name does not appear on the tournament’s list of former champions, there have only been four non-Russian male winners since Yevgeny Kafelnikov began a run of five straight titles in 1997 and now there is a desire to form a more world class field. Russian opinion maintains that Safin will soon succeed Tarpischev’s son Amir as Tournament Director of the Moscow event that became the first professional tennis tournament in Russia when founded 20 years ago by Swiss businessman Sasson Kakshouri in collaboration with the vastly respected American Eugene L.Scott . “We need to make it more interesting,” said Safin of the combined event that was won last year by Mikhail Youzhny and Francesca Schiavone. “Lately we’ve struggled with the tennis players. The people in Russia want to see a little bit more the good quality players.” Simply by being the second best Swiss tennis player for the last five years, Stanislas Wawrinka has regularly followed in the footsteps of Roger Federer. Now the 25 year-old has done it again by hiring Peter Lundgren as his coach.
Wawrinka’s form has been disappointing of late and he saw the need for change after exiting Wimbledon at the first round stage. Briefly a member of the world’s top ten more than two years ago, he has hit a plateau and after failing to register a place inside the top 20 since March, he parted with long-time coach Dimitri Zavialoff after the defeat to Uzbekistan’s Denis Istomin at the All England Club. Lundgren had been working as a leading coach for the Mouratoglou Tennis Academy in France with specific responsibility for the vastly promising Bulgarian 19 year-old Grigor Dimitrov whose transition from winning the Wimbledon and US Open junior titles two years ago to establishing himself in the ranks of the ATP World Tour has not been as spectacular as hoped. Most certainly Lundgren would have been recommended to Wawrinka by Federer whom he guided to the world no.1 spot in 2004 and the first of the Swiss’ Wimbledon titles a year earlier. The pair have always remained on convivial terms. Wawrinka approached the 45 year-old Swede, who apart his time with Federer has also worked with top ranked players Marcelo Rios and Marat Safin after firing Zavialoff, thus ending a relationship that began when the player was eight years old. Lundgren, also a former British Davis Cup coach and highly paid employee of the Lawn Tennis Association, was enthusiastic about taking on a new challenge. "When I asked Stan what he wanted help with, he said he wants to return to the Top 10," said the Swede. "It's what you want to hear as a coach. I'm going to try to get Stan to become more aggressive." Wawrinka and Lundgren will begin working together next week in preparation for Toronto beginning August 7 which forms stop no.6 in the ATP World Tour’s Masters 1000 series. After making the final in the year-opening event at Chennai, Wawrinka’s only notable performance in 2010 was reaching the quarter finals in Rome although he also progressed to the last 16 at the French Open. The ITF has confirmed the dates for the 2011 Davis Cup by BNP Paribas and Fed Cup by BNP Paribas. As part of long-term agreements with the ATP and Sony Ericsson WTA Tour, both of the ITF’s international team competitions currently have fixed dates in the tennis calendar.
The full dates are: Davis Cup by BNP Paribas 2011 World Group first round: March 4-6 World Group quarterfinals: July 8-10 World Group semifinals and play-offs: September 16-18 World Group Final: December 2-4 Fed Cup by BNP Paribas 2011 World Group and World Group II first round: February 5-6 World Group semifinals and play-offs: April 16-17 World Group Final: November 5-6 The World Group semifinals of the 2010 Davis Cup by BNP Paribas will be held on September 17-19 when France hosts Argentina, and Serbia hosts the Czech Republic.
The World Group Final of the 2010 Fed Cup by BNP Paribas will be between the United States and Italy in San Diego on November 6-7. 7. Clothing - It is best to choose light colored, breathable and loosely woven fabrics to help sweat evaporate easily.
Gear that Guards Contemporary clothing manufactures offer added value to their sportswear lines: Ultraviolet protection, antibacterial, & moisture management. Anti – Bacterial: Ah, the sweat smell of…nothing! New innovations in tennis – savvy fabrics make you look good & smell good, too. Dry – breathable fabrics include antibacterial properties to help stop the production of bacteria on your skin. Built – In Sunscreen: many tennis & fitness apparel manufactures offer gear with sun protective woven into the fabric. Ultraviolet (UV) protection in fabrics is achieved by using micro- polyester fabrics that are densely woven to block the sun’s rays before they reach the skin. The most effective claim is around 98%, equivalent to an SPF of 50. Moisture Management: Exercising in high humidity & hot temps increases perspiration, & sweat often leads to sticky, wet gear. To combat this discomfort, try contemporary moleculary – enhanced fabric that keeps you feeling dry & cool. The treated clothing wicks moisture from your skin & transfers it to the surface of the fabric for rapid evaporation. My opponent called "Double Bounce" on my side of the court after I scooped up a short ball. She made the call while hitting the ball back to me. The ball did not bounce twice.
Can I stop play and claim the point because: 1) Double bounce on my court is my call. 2) My opponent talking while the ball is coming toward my court creates a hindrance for me. Katherine Bellevue, WA KAUFMAN: Double bounces are called by the person who hit the ball, not the opponent. If a player does not call it on themselves immediately, then play must continue. If the opponent makes the call it is a hindrance and you win the point since it is not their call.
Olympus US Open Series
Week 1: Atlanta Tennis Championships The 2010 Olympus US Open Series begins its seventh season this week in Atlanta at the Atlanta Tennis Championships. Americans Andy Roddick, John Isner, James Blake, Mardy Fish and Robby Ginepri are among the stars scheduled to compete. Visit OlympusUSOpenSeries.com for the TV Schedule, Tournament Listings, Live Scores, Photo Gallery, Video Updates and more! Up Next: The women head to Stanford for the Bank of the West Classic and the men head to Los Angles for the Farmers Classic presented by Mercedes-Benz -- July 26 - August 1. TV Schedule - Click here Atlanta Tennis Championships - Click here |
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August 2011
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