Roger Federer Olympic Commercial
February 26, 2009
Check out this cool Fed Greek hero video that we found as a promo for the Olympics. Do you think they will put Rafa in the next one?
Agassi To Play World Team Tennis
February 26, 2009
from tennis.com
Andre Agassi will pick up a racket again, playing two matches for the Philadelphia Freedoms in the World Team Tennis league.
Agassi will compete for the Freedoms on July 10 in Philadelphia and July 17 in Newport Beach, Calif., the WTT announced Thursday.
“Team play is a terrific way to showcase tennis, especially for kids,” Agassi said in a statement released by the league. “WTT is competitive, it’s fun and there’s a really great energy from the fans.”
The coed professional league, co-founded by Billie Jean King, enters its 34th season. Agassi, who retired in 2006 with eight career Grand Slam titles, played for WTT from 2002-04.
Tennis fans will get a chance to watch other stars in the 10-team league that runs from July 2-26.
Serena Williams (Washington D.C.) Venus Williams (Philadelphia), John McEnroe (New York), Anna Kournikova (St. Louis), Michael Chang (Sacramento), Bob and Mike Bryan (Kansas City) and Martina Navratilova (Boston) will play during the season.
Top-ranked Serena Williams will make road appearances in Boston (July 9), New York City (July 10) and Philadelphia (July 13) before her home debut on July 14.
Kournikova will play six matches for the Aces, and McEnroe will be the featured player for the New York Sportimes, who moved from Marmaroneck to Randall’s Island in Manhattan.
On July 15, McEnroe’s team will host Boston and Navratilova, who returns for a league-record 20th season.
The Eastern and Western conference champions will play for the King trophy on July 26. The winner will be recognized at the U.S. Open.
Murray Pulls Out Of Dubai
February 26, 2009
from barclaysdubaichampionships.com
Dubai, UAE, February 26, 2009: A virus has caused Andy Murray to withdraw from further action at the Barclays Dubai Tennis Championships.
“I actually first got the virus in Australia, and I haven’t really felt the same since,” said Murray. “There were a couple of days right at the end of Rotterdam where I started to feel a bit better.
“I’ll go back home to London tomorrow and I’m hoping I’ll be ok in the next three or four days. I’ll then see what happens with it,” he added.
“It is unfortunate that Andy Murray has had to withdraw from the Championships, given his progress so far in the tournament,” said Colm McLoughlin, Managing Director of tournament owners and organisers, Dubai Duty Free. “He has proven to be an extremely popular player here in Dubai with a great number of fans. We wish Andy a speedy recovery in the meantime”.
Djokovic Dubai Interview
February 26, 2009
Here is a short video by the ATP with world #3 and the top seed in this week’s Barclay Open in Dubai.
RBS Wants Murray’s Money
February 26, 2009
from tennistalk.com
Andy Murray may feel the financial pain after sponsor Royal Bank of Scotland announced the largest loss in British corporate history.
The deficit of around $35 billion is sure to hit the sponsorship programme of the once high-flying bank, now reduced to selling off Asian and European assets purchased just a few years ago.
Murray has said that he hopes to work with his longtime sponsor during their crisis. But the Scot fell short of saying he’d provided a cashback on his presumably rich contract.
The bank has already said it will cut sponsorship of the Williams Formula 1 racing team at the end of 2010.
The British government now has a stake of around 70 percent of the bank and is set to buy off its toxic debt for around 370 billion dollars.
World No. 4 Murray began with RBS at age 13.
U.S. Davis Cup Team Announced
February 26, 2009
from USTA.com
White Plains, N.Y. – U.S. Davis Cup Captain Patrick McEnroe announced that Andy Roddick, James Blake and Bob and Mike Bryan will compete for the United States in the first-round tie against Switzerland.
Amer Delic and Alex Domijan were named U.S. Davis Cup team practice partners.
The Swiss team, coached by Severin Luthi, is comprised of Stanislas Wawrinka, Stephane Bohli, Marco Chudinelli and Yves Allegro.
The United States will face Switzerland in the 2009 Davis Cup by BNP Paribas at the Birmingham-Jefferson Convention Complex Arena in Birmingham, AL, March 6-8.
The winner advances to play either Chile or Croatia in the quarterfinal round, July 10-12. Having last hosted Chile and Croatia, the Americans would be guaranteed to play on the road in South America or Europe.
In 2008, the U.S. reached the semifinals and lost to Spain at the Las Ventas bull-ring in Madrid. Along the way, they beat Austria at Vienna in the first round, and followed that up with a strong win over France at the Joel Coliseum in Winston-Salem, N.C.
Switzerland will be playing without the services of their top player, Roger Federer, who announced his withdrawal from the series citing a back injury.
“This decision was very difficult for me because I won’t just be missing one of my favorite tournaments of the tour, but also the chance to go through to the next round with my teammates,” said Federer.
Without him, the Americans will arrive in Birmingham as heavy favorites to advance to the next round. The depleted Swiss squad figure to rely heavily on 17th-ranked Stanislas Wawrinka, their only other player ranked in the Top 100 of the ATP Tour.
Other 2009 Davis Cup First Round action includes: Croatia vs. Chile, Argentina vs. Netherlands, Czech Republic vs. France, Sweden vs. Israel, Romania vs. Russia, Germany vs. Austria, and Spain vs. Serbia.
Tennis Channel signed a multi-year deal to be the exclusive U.S. television home of all U.S. Davis Cup ties. All three days of the U.S.-Switzerland tie (March 6-8; daily covering starting at 1 p.m. ET) will be broadcast live in high-definition on Tennis Channel.
Rafa Training For Davis Cup
February 25, 2009
Here is some cool video from Spanish t.v. of Rafa training for the upcoming Davis Cup tie. I miss seeing Rafa in the 3/4 length shorts. Check out his cool ball trick around 40 seconds in. Awesome.
Dubai Player’s Party
February 25, 2009
Here is a video of the Dubai player’s party. You will notice two things. Number one, Roger Federer is at the party even though he is not competing in the even and number two, he is actually having a conversation with Andy Murray! I guess there is no bad blood after Roger said that Murray Aussie Open’s chance were way over hyped.
Hewitt Being Sued
February 25, 2009
from news.com/au
TENNIS star Lleyton Hewitt is embroiled in a legal fight with his former management company that has exposed his multimillion-dollar endorsements and media deals.
Hewitt, 28, is accused of breaching the Trade Practices Act, reneging on agreements and breaching exclusive contracts.
Hewitt countered with claims against U.S.-based Octagon Inc of misleading and deceptive conduct, unjust enrichment and management incompetence.
Court documents contain claims that in 2005 and 2006 Hewitt was paid $6.75 million from endorsements and tournament guarantees.
New Idea magazine paid Hewitt $84,000, Nike $3.5 million, Yonex racquets $2.3 million and Optus $130,000, it is claimed. He received $330,000 from endorsing tennis games for two video companies.
Tournament organisers in Sydney, Adelaide and London paid him $340,000 just to turn up.
In those years his world ranking dropped from two to 20.
Octagon is suing Hewitt and Lleyton Hewitt Management in the Victorian Supreme Court, claiming it is entitled to a bigger slice of his earnings from 2000 onwards.
Hewitt and LHM claim they cut ties with Octagon in late 2004.
Marat Talks About Retirement
February 25, 2009
It is a sad day but it seems the day the tour will be without Marat Safin seems to be getting closer and closer. Following his first round loss in Dubai to Richard Gasquet, Marat was asked the “when” questions. Here is the Q&A.
Q. And all things being equal, the last (tournament will be), what, Moscow? Bercy?
MARAT SAFIN: Well, we’ll have to see. Paris, we’ll have to make it the last tournament in Paris, a tournament where I play the best tennis and where I won the Davis Cup. So I would say I would love to say bye-bye there.
Q. Are you going to keep more motivated when you know it’s the end, or is it tough?
MARAT SAFIN: No, I’m motivated. I’m just not working out. And I’m trying to keep my body in shape. Looking forward for some good results throughout the year. I think that it’s much easier to do something great when you are less stressed and less — you have less expectations on yourself. So I think it will be a little bit easier, but just to get the confidence back, and maybe just a few lucky points and I can change. I don’t think that overall, I’m tired. I’m satisfied with the way I’m moving, but unfortunately sometimes wrong decisions.
Q. What things will you miss from the tennis tour, and what things won’t you miss?
MARAT SAFIN: Well, just the thing of being on the court and having the spectators watching you play and when you’re playing a great match and enjoying it. And also some moments when you’re playing terrible tennis and nothing is going your way, it’s sad to be on court, especially when you know that you are playing bad and you cannot do anything about it. So just a lot of stress on one hand. And on the other hand is some great matches that you are going to forget.
Q. You’re still only 29, but do you think that there’s an outside chance we could see you on the oldies tour?
MARAT SAFIN: I would love to play seniors, but just, it’s enough. I had a very good ride. Although I had been unlucky with injuries and should have done better than I did. And every time I played well, I got injured, so, what can I do? That’s life. And it’s just a part of — it’s just the beginning of the life, and there is another life coming after tennis. I think it’s just everybody should try something new.
Q. And what is that, business?
MARAT SAFIN: Anything. I’m open to anything, to any possibilities, but of course it has to be projects. I’m not jumping in something when there is no base. . .
Q. Would you be happy to stay in tennis, or are you looking outside, as well?
MARAT SAFIN: Well, of course I will try to do something with tennis. I would love to, but just it has to slow come up to something interesting and to do something in Russian, of course, if I can be useful for ATP in some way, maybe not a full-time job, but something interesting, yeah, I will do, but definitely not running into the offices and crying for help and all of these things. (Laughter) That’s not the way. . .
Q. Do you see yourself as a coach?
MARAT SAFIN: No, no. Playing is one thing and teaching is completely different. It looks simple but it’s really not. It’s a really tough job.
Q. Have you done any TV in Russia?
MARAT SAFIN: Oh, no. I can’t — I will not do commentating, that’s for sure. I will try — there are plenty of people who do that and they are doing pretty good job, so I don’t want to interfere on this when they are enjoying it.
Q. Do you think you could mark your farewell year with a tournament success?
MARAT SAFIN: Well, of course, but I have to agree with all of the players and make it happen. (Laughter) But unfortunately a lot of people are very ambitious and I don’t think it will happen.
Q. But that would be a final ambition of yours?
MARAT SAFIN: Yeah, why not? A nice farewell bye-bye, and, well, just win the tournament and just a present for me; I give away the prize money of course to everybody, but I would love to do that.
Q. Do you have your coach with you this time?
MARAT SAFIN: No, no, saving some money. Crisis, you know (Laughter).
Q. You won the Grand Slam against Kafelnikov; do you think you have underachieved or perhaps could you have done better?
MARAT SAFIN: Well, everybody is asking the same question, and of course, Federer should have won already 20 Grand Slams and of course Sampras should have won another five, six. I guess I should have won, instead of eight, how many, I should have won 14. Basically speculation; what happens if something will go in different directions. And of course if, if, if, we would not be in a crisis like we have a problem all over the world right now. So it’s just speculations, and of course, I wish I could have more, but as I said, was injured and every time I played well when I was injured and I can’t complain. Also where I’m coming from, I could have end up doing something completely different and I would not be sitting here and talking about this.
Q. Tarpischev can’t be Davis Cup captain forever, can he?
MARAT SAFIN: Well, there’s a person that shouldn’t be even considering being seated on the bench. There is a person already and I think it will not happen in the next five, ten years, that’s for sure so. We are going to keep it for later (smiling).
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