Davis Cup teams announced for Canada vs. Italy World Group quarterfinal

Toronto, March 26, 2013 – Tennis Canada announced Tuesday the Miele Canadian Davis Cup team nominated to compete in the upcoming Davis Cup by BNP Paribas World Group quarter-final tie between Canada and Italy.

Frank Dancevic (Niagara Falls, Ontario), Daniel Nestor (Toronto), Vasek Pospisil (Vancouver) and Milos Raonic (Thornhill, Ontario) were named to the squad by captain Martin Laurendeau to compete on an indoor hard court at the Doug Mitchell Thunderbird Sports Centre in Vancouver from April 5-7, 2013. Jesse Levine (Ottawa), Filip Peliwo (Vancouver) and Adil Shamasdin (Toronto) will also be travelling to Vancouver with the team as part of an extended squad of players. Available members of the team are currently taking part in a training camp to prepare for the tie at Uniprix Stadium in Montreal before heading to Vancouver later this week.

The Italian Tennis Federation also announced the team that will head to Vancouver to face-off against Canada. They selected world No. 19 Andreas Seppi, current No. 2 doubles team Simone Bolelli and Fabio Fognini as well as No. 59 Paolo Lorenzi. Fognini is also a highly-ranked singles player at No. 36.

“Any team that reaches the final eight in Davis Cup competition is going to be a very tough group of players and this is definitely true of Italy,” said Laurendeau. “We have the same group of guys already in Montreal working hard to get ready to play this team and we will continue the preparation in Vancouver next week leading up to the tie. We are still on a high from making history in February and we want to ride that momentum, take advantage of this opportunity and keep this going into the semifinals.”

Dancevic has competed for Canada’s Davis Cup team every year since 2002 except when he was hampered with a back injury in 2008. He holds an impressive 13-5 record in Davis Cup matches played on home soil. One of his biggest career Davis Cup victories came during February’s tie against Spain when he defeated their top singles player Marcel Granollers 6-1, 6-2, 6-2 to give Canada a resounding 2-0 lead after the first day of play. Dancevic has come through for his team in big moments in the past as he clinched the fifth and deciding rubber against Brazil in 2003 to send Canada back to the World Group after more than a decade absence. Dancevic recently qualified for the Masters 1000 event in Miami last week but fell in the first round to Lukasz Kubot.

Nestor holds the record for most years played by a Canadian in Davis Cup at 21. He also holds the record for most wins (44), most doubles wins (29), and most ties played (43). He was awarded a Davis Cup Commitment Award from the ITF at the tie in February for his exemplary dedication to playing for his country. Nestor holds 80 ATP World Tour doubles titles, which is fourth on the all-time list, and holds a career Golden Slam (all four Grand Slam trophies and an Olympic Gold medal). He is currently ranked No. 5 on the ATP World Tour doubles rankings.

Pospisil will be playing his eighth tie for Canada in Davis Cup. He was a key contributor to Canada’s return to the World Group in 2011, going 6-1 in the three ties he played and nearly single-handedly winning the World Group play-off versus Israel. Currently No. 129 in singles, Pospisil qualified for the ATP World Tour Masters 1000 event in Indian Wells earlier this month and was a finalist at the $35K Rimouski Challenger in Quebec this past weekend.

The highest-ranked singles player nominated to play this upcoming tie at No. 16 in the world, Raonic has had a successful start to the 2013 season. In addition to tying his career-best fourth-round appearance at the Australian Open in January, he also won his third consecutive SAP Open title at San Jose and reached the fourth round at Indian Wells earlier this month. Raonic is on a 5-0 Davis Cup singles win streak dating back to the World Group tie against France last year. He won both of his singles matches in the play-off against South Africa and the historic victory over Spain earlier this year.

Canada is entering uncharted territory for this upcoming tie as it is the country’s first Davis Cup quarter-final appearance in history. It has been 15 years since Italy was last in this stage of the competition as they finished as runners-up in 1998. Canada is the higher-ranked team at No. 8 with Italy sitting right behind at No. 9. This will be the first meeting between the two teams.

The winner of this tie will move on to the semifinals in September versus the winner of a tie between Serbia and the United States. The loser will be eliminated from 2013 Davis Cup by BNP Paribas competition, but both nations have already qualified for World Group action in 2014 because of their first-round victories.

Davis Cup by BNP Paribas is the largest annual international team competition in sport with 130 nations competing. Only 16 countries entered in Davis Cup competition qualify for the World Group each year.

Davis Cup Teams announced for Canada vs. Spain World Group tie

Toronto, January 22, 2013 – Tennis Canada announced Tuesday the Miele Canadian Davis Cup team nominated to compete in the upcoming Davis Cup by BNP Paribas World Group first-round tie between Canada and Spain.

Frank Dancevic (Niagara Falls, Ontario), Daniel Nestor (Toronto), Vasek Pospisil (Vancouver) and Milos Raonic (Thornhill, Ontario) were named to the squad by captain Martin Laurendeau to compete on indoor hard court at the Doug Mitchell Thunderbird Sports Centre in Vancouver from February 1-3, 2013. Jesse Levine (Ottawa), Filip Peliwo (Vancouver) and Adil Shamasdin (Toronto) will also be travelling to Vancouver with the team as part of an extended squad of players.

The Spanish Tennis Federation also announced the team that will head to Vancouver to face-off against Canada. They selected World No. 11 Nicolas Almagro, Top 5 doubles team Marcel Granollers and Marc Lopez as well as No. 51 Albert Ramos. Granollers is also a highly-ranked singles player at No. 33.

“Over the last couple of years we have really established a solid group of players who are all passionate about playing Davis Cup,” said Laurendeau. “I’m extremely happy with the group coming to Vancouver and feel confident about returning to a place that showed us such tremendous fan support last year. Spain is going to be a real challenge. They are the top team in the world with incredible depth. They have 13 players in the Top 100 alone so no matter what team they’re bringing, it will be stacked with talent. Our guys will train hard all week and be at their best for the weekend but we will also need a loud crowd on our side to help us pull off this upset.”

Dancevic has competed for Canada’s Davis Cup team every year since 2002 except in 2008 when he was hampered with a back injury. He holds an impressive 12-4 record in Davis Cup matches played on home soil. In 2012 he captured the $125K Dallas Tennis Classic defeating top players Igor Andreev, Marin Cilic and Yen-Hsun Lu en route. He also reached the final of the $50K Tallahassee Challenger and the semifinals of the $100K Vancouver Challenger. His career-high ranking is No. 65, achieved in 2007.

Nestor holds the record for most years played by a Canadian in Davis Cup at 20. He also holds the record for most wins (44), most doubles wins (29) and most ties played (42). Nestor is currently ranked No. 5 in the world in doubles and has started the year in a new partnership with another veteran doubles specialist in Mahesh Bhupathi. In 2012 he captured his eighth Grand Slam title and became the oldest player to hit the No. 1 ranking spot in singles or doubles on the ATP World Tour. Nestor holds 80 ATP World Tour doubles titles, which is fourth on the all-time list, and holds a career Golden Slam (all four Grand Slam trophies and an Olympic Gold medal).

Pospisil will be playing his seventh tie for Canada in Davis Cup. He was a key contributor to Canada’s return to the World Group in 2011, going 6-1 in the three ties he played and nearly single-handedly winning the World Group play-off versus Israel. In 2012, he captured his first two ATP Challenger events at the $35K Rimouski and $50K Granby tournaments and reached his first ATP World Tour quarter-final at Kuala Lumpur. He reached a career-high ranking of No. 85 in July of last year.

Raonic continued his rise as one of the young stars of the game in 2012, finishing the year as the top-ranked North American at No. 13 in the world. He picked up two more titles at Chennai and San Jose and was a finalist at Memphis and Tokyo. He also reached his first two Masters 1000 quarter-finals at Rogers Cup and Cincinnati in successive weeks. He matched his career-best performance at a Slam by making the fourth round at the US Open, a feat he accomplished again this past week at the Australian Open before falling to world No. 2 Roger Federer. Raonic has compiled an 8-4 record for Canada in Davis Cup play in just six ties.

Spain is the seeded team and also the top-ranked Davis Cup team in the world. They have dominated Davis Cup competition since 2000, winning five times (2000, 2004, 2008, 2009, 2011) and finishing as runner-up twice (2003, 2012).

The only other time the two countries have met in Davis Cup action was in 1991 when Spain defeated Canada 4-1 in the World Group first round.

The winner of this tie in February will move on to the World Group quarter-finals and will also be assured to keep their spot in the World Group for the following year. The losing nation will be forced to play a World Group play-off tie to keep their spot in the elite level for 2014.

Davis Cup by BNP Paribas is the largest annual international team competition in sport with 130 nations competing. Only 16 countries entered in Davis Cup competition qualify for the World Group each year.

A limited number of tickets for the event are still available at www.ticketermaster.ca or by calling 1-855-985-5000. For more information about the event, please visit www.tenniscanada.com/daviscup.

Davis Cup by BNP Paribas match schedule for Canada vs. Spain
(Pacific time)

Friday, February 1, 2013 1 p.m. Singles
Saturday, February 2, 2013 1 p.m. Doubles
Sunday, February 3, 2013 11 a.m. Reverse Singles

Canada defeats South Africa to keep their place in world group

Montreal, September 16, 2012 – The Miele Canadian Davis Cup team will remain in the World Group for Davis Cup by BNP Paribas next year after defeating South Africa 4-1 in a World Group play-off tie held outdoors this weekend at Uniprix Stadium in Montreal.

After Daniel Nestor (Toronto, ON) and Vasek Pospisil (Vancouver, BC) were unable to clinch the tie for Canada in Saturday’s doubles rubber losing in straight sets, Milos Raonic (Thornhill, ON) secured the winning point for his country with a decisive 6-2, 6-2, 6-4 victory over Izak Van Der Merwe in Sunday’s first reverse singles rubber between the teams’ no. 1 players.

Raonic was dominant from the first ball, getting an early break in all three sets to maintain control throughout the match. The 21-year-old executed both on serve and with his groundstrokes, continually keeping his opponent on his heels.

“I am proud to be part of this new era of Canadian tennis.” Raonic said.” It’s great to be back in the World Group, there’s a lot of time between now and February for us all to improve so that we can improve our chances of advancing further in the World Group in 2013.”

Frank Dancevic (Niagara Falls, ON) capped the weekend with a 6-2, 6-2 triumph over Nikala Scholtz, who was appearing in his first Davis Cup tie for South Africa.

“To qualify for the World Group for two straight years shows that we can consistently perform at a high level,” said Team Canada captain Martin Laurendeau. “It was a great team effort this week starting with the way we practiced, the way we prepared for the tie, and the way we executed and played the matches.”

This is the first time since 1991-‘92 that Canada has qualified for the World Group in consecutive years. Only 16 nations entered in Davis Cup play qualify for the elite World Group. The draw for opponent and choice of ground will take place this Wednesday, September 19 in London at 11:00 a.m. local time (6 a.m. ET). The World Group first round tie will be played from February 1-3, 2013.

Babolat Video: Inside tomorrow’s racquet with Rafa and Toni Nadal

Rafael Nadal and his uncle Toni demo the latest Play & Connect racquet from Babolat.

This technology is sure to change the game. There’s a cool track to compliment the video as well.

Enjoy

Video: Grand Slam Tennis 2 trailer

Grand Slam Tennis 2 will feature all four Grand Slam championships and is the only game to feature Wimbledon. Players can experience the thrill of serving up aces on Wimbledon’s prestigious Centre Court or hitting cross-court winners on the clay courts of the French Open. In addition, the game features a deep roster of elite past and present players and will be coming worldwide in 2012.

Grand Slam Tennis 2 will include a host of gameplay features including:

· All-New Total Racquet Control: Control every shot with the right analog stick, smashing forehands, backhands, overheads and volleys with precision, accuracy and power. Utilize this innovative control system to take your game to the top!
· Become a Champion: Become a true Grand Slam tournament champion by capturing all four major championships in succession. The prestige of some of the most historic events in tennis come alive like never before, including the Australian Open, French Open, U.S. Open and exclusive to EA SPORTS Grand Slam® Tennis franchise — Wimbledon.
· PlayStation Move Support: The motion control experience gets you on your feet and puts a racquet right in the palm of your hands. From casual players to tennis masters, you truly have the chance to swing your way to victory.
· Legends of Now and Then: Play with or against more than 20 of the greatest players to ever grace the courts, including Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic, Bjorn Borg, Maria Sharapova, Serena and Venus Williams and exclusive to EA SPORTS Grand Slam Tennis franchise, seventeen-time winner of a Grand Slam tournament John McEnroe.
· Professional, Realistic, Organic (P.R.O.). AI: The playing styles and behaviors of the sport’s greatest stars are captured right down to their signature swings and emotional reactions. Realistic tactics and strategies are your keys to success against each legend whether playing on hard court, clay or grass. The organic artificial intelligence adapts to your game so there’s never a dull moment!
· ESPN Grand Slam Tournament Classics: Relive some of the most memorable moments in tennis. From Borg versus McEnroe to Nadal versus Federer, play your way through history unlocking up to 25 amazing moments of Grand Slam tournaments.
· Deep Tennis Experience: Play countless hours of tennis in Play Now mode — singles and doubles, through a 10-year career or battle online. A wide variety of online gameplay features, Photo Game Face and more keep your experience fresh and authentic.

Australian Open 2012 to offer record prize money

The 2012 Australian Open will offer the most prize money in the history of Grand Slam tennis. The the men’s and women’s champions will take home a record A$2.3 million (US$2.18 million) each.

This year’s US Open paid out $1.8 million to the Novak Djokovic and Sam Stosur, with Djokovic earning an extra $500,000 because he finished second in the US Open Series.

Video: New Nadal Armani Fall/Winter Ad Campaign

Just in time for his return to the courts, world No. 2 Rafael Nadal has been highlighted in a new ad campaign for Emporio Armani’s Fall/Winter collection.

The Spaniard, who is seen running through most of the video, discloses what he likes about fashion, and how he’s honored to be associated with the legendary brand.

Enjoy.

Video: Federer’s Closest Ever Shave on Grass

June 2011, London

Contenders for the most famous grass tennis tournament in the World will face a daunting prospect when they arrive this week… a 70 metre portrait of Roger Federer! The tennis ace’s face has been reproduced on a field in London by sponsors Gillette marking arguably the biggest homage to him yet, not to mention Gillette’s biggest ever shave.

The 2,800 square meter image has been created in grass using laser guided robots with high-precision technology to plot over 14,000 mapping points required to bring the environmentally friendly image to life. 7 different shades of green specialist grass paint were used to create Federer’s features resulting in the unique portrait.

Not only is the design a feat in its own right, but Federer’s face was also treated to a genuine shave. The image was blasted with bio-degradable foam before lawnmowers set to the task of getting him looking his best ahead of what is set to be a busy week. Over 3,000 litres of diluted paint were used to create the masterpiece as well as 1,000 diluted litres of black and white paint to create a 5 o’clock shadow for the tennis superstar. A 1,000 litres of environmentally friendly and biodegradable foam were then used to lubricate the high-precision shave and in total 210 man hours went into the whole process.

Gillette undertook a similar project in New York earlier this year when a giant billboard image of baseball legend Derek Jeter was also “shaved”. However, this time Gillette decided to go one better and beat their own biggest ever shave with a significantly larger image. Gillette also appealed to their Facebook community ( HYPERLINK “http://www.facebook.com/GilletteUK” www.facebook.com/GilletteUK), who were asked to offer messages of support for Federer. Over the course of a couple of days facebook fans submitted over 2000 messages with one lucky winner having their piece of inspiration added to the final design.

Upon seeing the portrait Federer said: “Obviously I have seen myself on posters and on screen before but to see my face shaved into grass was a definite first for me! All the support that I’ve received from the Gillette UK Facebook fans has been incredible and I look forward to a great fortnight of tennis.”

Gillette Brand Manager Jared Regan said of the activity: “We are delighted to have been able to bring this idea to life. The high-precision technology involved in making it happen has some real parallels to our latest razor, the Gillette Fusion ProGlide. We were also keen to show our support for Roger at such an important tournament and alongside our facebook fans we think there is no better way to do it.”
To see the video of Gillette’s biggest ever shave being created, head to HYPERLINK “http://www.facebook.com/GilletteUK” www.facebook.com/GilletteUK.

Video:

TC Quick Review of Top Spin 4

by: Dan Rumeo

The good people at 2K Sports have released the 4^th iteration in their blockbuster tennis franchise Top Spin.  The Top Spin series is best known for bringing ultra realistic game play to the console market since 2003 and ever since has gone through many variations by changing up the controls, player lineups and of course bumping up the graphics.

The first thing you notice when you pop in the TS4 disc is how much the game and the gameplay itself feels like a tennis match you would watch on TV.  From the player entrances, to the between points cut scenes, there is no doubt that 2K really wanted to make the gamer feel like they are taking part in a real match.

Players

One of the elements that makes this game what it is is the player lineup.  There are a wide array of players, both past and present (25 players in total), including the most anticipated (according to me anyways), Andre Agassi.  There is even a retro version of Andre that all pre-ordered gamers received and he looks pretty good but unfortunately due to his new sponsorship with Adidas, he isn’t wearing some of the old neon outfits that we grew up with and that still sit in my closet.  There are a few exemptions that I would like to see including Johnny Mac, but I believe he has been signed exclusively to the EA Grand Slam Tennis franchise.  The ATP side is definitely more covered than the WTA side, but I am not sure if this was due to dollars or due to the ATP’s greater popularity at the moment.

Venues

The venue list has also been beefed up and looks very realistic.  One thing you notice right off the bat is that the crowd does not look cut and pasted and all over the place.  The sound they produce during different times in the point really adds to the ambiance of the game.

Another amazing addition is that the players really move differently according to venue/surface. Obviously this is most evident on clay where the player’s not only slide like in real life, but also the recovery time and hitting behind the players have the same effect as on the dirt.

There are a lot of venues, some are real and unfortunately some are not.  While they do have three out of four of the slams, everyone will notice that they have left out Wimbledon.  This is of course due to money and the fact that once again it seems like EA has exclusivity on that venue.  They do have the “Dublin” Open which does take place on grass, but it is a downer in a game that is so realistic in so many other ways.

Career

Career mode is quite good and very similar to what you have seen in the past if you have played any of the previous Top Spin games.  The game starts off with you as a newcomer trying to make it on the tour.  You start playing low level events (1 star) trying to build wins to enter larger events.  Each win gets you “XP” points which you can use to train your player.  One thing that is different with TS4 is that you can hire different coaches which bump up your level according to their teaching ability.  You unlock this potential by accomplishing four specific tasks for each coach (ie. Hit 50 winners, 25 volleys, etc.).

Although Top Spin 4 does a better job that the previous games in terms of challenges, the first couple of matches seem too easy and essentially pointless.  I would love to see a bit more scaling in terms of challenge.  Once you do start stringing some wins together and make it to the higher matches the competition does get better, especially when in a semi or final.  Nadal is difficult to beat on any surface but at Roland Garros, good luck on your first try.  Many gamers might hate this but I loved it.  It really is a challenge and makes you have to pick and choose your shots wisely as opposed to just button mashing or coming to the net like every other tennis game ever.

By far my favorite part of the Career mode is the “Dream Matches.”  This is where you challenge a legend to a match.  This was so much fun and depending on the pro, also very challenging.  Courier’s forehand was massive, Sampras’ serve I didn’t even see sometimes and of course Andre’s return put me on the defensive many times.

One thing that makes TS4 a lot better than the previous tennis games is that in order to progress the game keeps altering the challenges. For ex: You need become No. 1 to have so many fans; beat so and so at such a venue to unlock an outfit, etc.  I have played for at least 48 hours (not straight but close) and I can honestly say I am maybe 50 percent through.  This is a very welcome change since before I would usually just trade in my game the following week.

Online

Online game play has been very good as well.  The game matching has been pretty spot on and there are many different variations depending on your level or the amount of time you have.  Another huge plus is that the rankings reset every week.  That means every Monday you can start over and try to achieve the No. 1 ranking over the guy/girl that seems to play 25hrs in a 24hr day. The only negative I have had is trying to play a friend online but it didn’t seem to go through, but I am not sure if that was an Xbox problem or with Top Spin’s server.

Controls

By far the best element of Top Spin 4 is the controls.  Throughout the history of the game, the developers have played with different button combos but I have to say that I think they have finally hit the nail right on the head with this one.  The simple reason being is that the controls are more like real tennis.  The success of the strokes depends on timing.  You hold the button for your backswing, then release when your player is to start the follow through.  As easy as this sounds, it does take some time to get used it.  This allows balls to go short, wide, long, in, out, etc and really adds to the realism.  When you do win a point, match, etc. you have a greater sense of accomplishment than in previous versions.  Also, it prevents net rushers to always have the advantage because now their reflexes need to be super sharp instead of just button mashing.

Wrap Up

Overall Top Spin 4 is definitely worth the price ($59.99CAD) and is taking the world of online tennis sim to the next level.  Is it perfect, no, but then again you can’t expect Madden-like development for a game who’s niche market is a lot smaller.  Overall Top Spin 4 gets 8.5/10.

Pros
- Controls  are very good and very symbolic of tennis
- Wide variety of venues and challenges
- Array of both new and legend players
- Player movements and gameplay very  realistic

Cons
- Graphics, especially player faces can look a lot better and really should look a lot better
- Omission of Wimbledon
- Lack of sleeveless Nike tennis shirts
- Lack of Kinect support
- No ability to have tantrums between points (this used to exist in previous versions)

*Special thanks to 2K Sports for providing us with a copy of the game.

Ferrer Bovet Watch Ad in Revolution Magazine

World No. 6 David Ferrer was recently featured on the cover of the March edition of Revolution Magazine sporting his signature Bovet Amadeo 45 Chronograph Cambiano watch. Known for his feisty competitiveness on court, Ferrer was also featured wearing a suit and posing throughout the pages of the magazine.

Ferrer, who has won two Tour titles this year, has begun his spring clay-court campaign in Monaco this week.

Next Page »