He was worried, but now he knows the problem isn’t too serious. Andy Roddick has been dealing with a mild case of mononucleosis, but it isn’t going to affect him in the long term. The top-ranked American had become concerned that he just didn’t feel right, to the extent that it led to him cutting back on his training routine. Not knowing what was wrong was something that bothered him almost as much as the effect it had on him, but tests carried out in Washington, D.C. and in Texas eventually sorted out what the problem was.
"It's weird, the fear of kind of the unknown and not knowing what's going on," said Roddick, who withdrew from last week’s Rogers Cup in Toronto. "There were some days where it was good and some days where it was real bad. So it was like you would have one of those two or three good days, and it was like, 'OK, you're just being kind of a wimp.’ "I'm just glad that we found out something that was causing it. It's nice to have a little bit of clarity moving forward. It's not something that's going to affect me, anything super-serious. They think I'm most of the way through it, if not all the way through it." With a third round loss to Gilles Simon in Washington having stalled his U.S. Open preparations, Roddick resumes duty this week at the Cincinnati Masters.
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Andy Murray’s successful campaign to become the first male player to retain the Rogers Cup since Andre Agassi at the year’s sixth Masters 1000 Series event in Toronto would seem to suggest the feisty Scot is happiest playing without a coach in his corner. But
Murray insists he has no intention of working solo for the remainder of his career. Successive straight sets wins over Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer emphasized how Murray had recaptured top form after an indifferent year and the parting of the ways with former coach Miles Maclagan a month ago. “Obviously I am playing without a coach at the moment so it’s a little bit different,” said the player whose first title of the year warded off the challenge from Robin Soderling for the world no.4 spot. “I just want to enjoy playing my game and express myself on the court in the way I want. “I’m just playing a little bit freer. I was going for my shots and just felt pretty calm on the court the whole week. In fact it was one of the best weeks I’ve had. I was playing pretty free flowing tennis and didn’t get too nervous.” Sitting in Murray’s corner were his mother Judy along with fitness trainer Jez Green and physio Andy Ireland. He is on the look out for a successor to Maclagan but no appointment will be made before the US Open and he is in no rush. “I’m not going to rush into hiring a coach unless I feel it is the right person because it’s a big commitment,” said Murray. “It’s 30 or 35 weeks a year that you travel with that person and you spend a lot of time together. There’s a lot of pressure at the high or top end of sport so you need to make sure you get on very well. “I don’t want to pick someone just before the US Open and make a mistake. I’d rather play like I’m playing now and have people around me that I know and enjoy being with so you are enjoying yourself. After the Open I will sit down and think about what I want to do.” The All England Club is revered as the ultimate bastion of tennis tradition but things will certainly be a little different when for the 2012 Olympic event that will be staged on the hallowed lawns of Wimbledon. And the most immediate change visible to the spectators will be players allowed to compete in clothing of all colors rather than adhering to the club’s “predominantly white rule.”
Doubtless there will be some among the All England Club membership who will blanche at the thought of Roger Federer wearing a pink shirt similar to the one he chose for last week’s Rogers Cup in Toronto, current champion Rafael Nadal being clad in vibrant orange or Bethanie Mattek-Sands donning one of her more outlandish animal skin outfits. However national team colors and uniforms are bound to determine what contestants will wear. Wimbledon’s hierarchy is keen to stress that the Olympics has a very different identity to the annual Championships. Nobody should expect multi-colored outfits to be allowed annually during the last week of June and the first of July and indeed the playing dress code for club members all year round will continue to be predominantly white. But Ian Ritchie, chief executive of the All England Club maintained he has no problem with things being a little different for the Olympic event which begins July 28, 2012, just 20 days after that year’s Wimbledon men’s champion has been handed his trophy. “We have been very supportive to the Olympic organizers throughout the process,” said Ritchie. “We hope to some extent there will be a different type of audience. It is not a repeat of the Championships. It will be its own competition, have its own style and it will play out in its own way. And there is no concern that attracting more paying spectators will be a problem so soon after the highpoint of the British tennis calendar. Debbie Jevans, London 2012 director of sport and venues and herself a former Wimbledon contestant and All England Club member, insisted the organizers were confident there still would be an appetite for tennis at Wimbledon such a short time later. "There will be a lot of people who do not get tickets for the Championships," she said. "It gives them the chance to see the best players in the world." Five gold medals will be up for grabs at Wimbledon with Mixed Doubles becoming an Olympic event for the first time and all competitions will be contested over three sets, except for the men's final, which will played best-of-five. A total of 172 players will compete over nine days of tennis. And Eddie Seaward, head groundsman at the All England Club, is insistent the courts will have sufficient time to recover. Reseeding tests on the grass have recently been carried out after this year’s event and no concerns have been raised. “Right from the beginning of being involved in the London bid we knew that this was where there was going to be a big consultation with out ground staff and we always felt pretty confident,” said Ritchie. “This year we decided to do a very small test on Centre Court, so you are only talking about a handful of people, but the principles are still the same. The interesting thing now is that most of the wear is at the baselines outside the actual playing surface. Therefore where the ball actually bounces is hardly affected so we don’t believe it will interfere with play at all.” Only 12 of the available 17 courts will be required, meaning crowd capacity will be 26,000, down from 40,000 during the championships. Play will begin at 11 a.m. local time, and is expected to continue until about 8 p.m. although, as at the last two Championships, play could carry on under the roof on Centre Court if circumstances demand. Croatian pair Ivo Karlovic and Mario Ancic will be missing from the U.S. Open after failing to recover from injury. Karlovic underwent surgery on his left Achilles' tendon and hasn't played since May at the Madrid Masters, and Ancic has a back injury and will miss a seventh consecutive major. He also has not played since May. Their absence from New York means that Dustin Brown of Jamaica and Germany’s Tobias Kamke gain places in the main draw.
8/17/2010 Clijsters Wins Cincinnati and Moves into Second Place in US Open Series Bonus PoolRead NowReigning US Open champion Kim Clijsters defeated Maria Sharapova in the final of Cincinnati, 2-6, 7-6(4), 6-2, She earned 100 total points, and jumps into second place behind Sharapova in the Olympus US Open Series Bonus Challenge Standings with two weeks left in the season.
Andy Murray defeated Roger Federer, 7-5, 7-5, in Toronto and earned 100 points and now owns a 50-point lead over David Nalbandian heading into the final two events. The men's and women's winners of the Olympus US Open Series will compete for $1 million in bonus prize money at the 2010 US Open. The USTA announced that Serena Williams and Venus Williams have committed to represent the U.S. in the 2010 Fed Cup by BNP Paribas World Group Final against Italy on an indoor hard court at the San Diego Sports Arena in San Diego, November 6-7.
The Williams sisters will join the core U.S. Fed Cup group of Melanie Oudin, Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Liezel Huber, who have led the United States to its second straight Fed Cup Final. The best-of-five rubber series begins on Saturday, November 6, with two singles rubbers featuring each country’s No. 1 singles player facing the No. 2 singles player from the other nation. The event concludes the next day with “reverse singles,” as the No. 1 player from each country face off followed by the No. 2 singles players meeting. The second day of competition concludes with a doubles rubber. Per ITF rules for the Fed Cup Final, Sunday’s schedule is subject to change after one country wins three rubbers. Fed Cup rules require nations to submit an initial official roster of three or four players no less than 10 days prior to the start of play. Captains can change one or two players on the final roster that is submitted up to one hour before the draw which is held the day before matches begin. Tennis Channel will present live daily coverage of the U.S. vs. Italy Fed Cup Final. The USTA announced that Serena Williams and Venus Williams have committed to represent the U.S. in the 2010 Fed Cup by BNP Paribas World Group Final against Italy on an indoor hard court at the San Diego Sports Arena in San Diego, November 6-7.
The Williams sisters will join the core U.S. Fed Cup group of Melanie Oudin, Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Liezel Huber, who have led the United States to its second straight Fed Cup Final. The best-of-five rubber series begins on Saturday, November 6, with two singles rubbers featuring each country’s No. 1 singles player facing the No. 2 singles player from the other nation. The event concludes the next day with “reverse singles,” as the No. 1 player from each country face off followed by the No. 2 singles players meeting. The second day of competition concludes with a doubles rubber. Per ITF rules for the Fed Cup Final, Sunday’s schedule is subject to change after one country wins three rubbers. Fed Cup rules require nations to submit an initial official roster of three or four players no less than 10 days prior to the start of play. Captains can change one or two players on the final roster that is submitted up to one hour before the draw which is held the day before matches begin. Tennis Channel will present live daily coverage of the U.S. vs. Italy Fed Cup Final. ‘A Special Evening with Andre Agassi’, promoted as a once in a lifetime event, will coincide with this year's US Open to allow tennis fans the opportunity to have an intimate night with the star at The Town Hall, located at 123 West 43rd Street between 6th Avenue & Broadway. Hosted by legendary sports journalist Rick Reilly, the evening's format will be a combination of interview, real-time talk show, tribute and roast followed by a question and answer session with the audience.
The evening takes place on Thursday, September 2 and tickets costing $95 are available through Ticketmaster or the Town Hall on www.the-townhall-nyc.org. CNN will air Martina: My Toughest Opponent on Saturday, Aug 7, at 5:30p in London, 6:30p CET. Viewers will get to see a side of Martina they've never seen before. They'll see her traveling to her treatments while attempting to keep up her busy schedule. You will meet her doctor, see where she's getting treated and meet the group of friends who are determined to see her through this chapter in her life.
During January of this year, the tennis icon made a routine doctor's appointment and that's when cancer was spotted. Navratilova underwent a lumpectomy in March and completed six weeks of radiation in June. Navratilova allowed a CNN camera team to be alongside her as she tried to balance her treatments with her demanding daily routine at the Roland Garros. CNN was granted rare access and Navratilova is sharing her story with the world, so she can inspire women to get their mammograms and take a more active role in their personal health. The USTA announced that singing sensation David Archuleta, rising star Shontelle and tennis great Roger Federer have been added to an already star-studded line-up that includes chart-topping pop superstars Jonas Brothers, TV and recording sensation Demi Lovato, tennis world # 1 Rafael Nadal, Andy Roddick, Kim Clijsters and Novak Djokovic for the 15th Annual Arthur Ashe Kids’ Day presented by Hess Saturday, August 28 at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in Flushing, N.Y., from 9:30 a.m. - 4 p.m.
Hosted by Adrienne Bailon and Quddus, the show will feature special celebrity guests including Nick Cannon. The popular full-day tennis and music festival for children and families – including interactive games, musical entertainment and tennis clinics – will also feature performances from Allstar Weekend and School Gyrls. More musical acts and tennis stars will be announced in coming weeks. Arthur Ashe Kids’ Day Presented by Hess will kick off the 2010 US Open, which runs from August 30 - September 12. |
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August 2011
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