Sabatini: Changes at top of WTA hard to follow
2012-02-03 09:51:00
Former U.S. Open champion Gabriela Sabatini tells La Nacion that the depth at the top of the women’s game does have it negatives. 'Today I see that the game is based more on power and speed,' the Argentine said. 'Then the constant rotation of players at the top makes it very difficult to follow or identify with any of them, as in the men's tour with Federer, Nadal or Djokovic. The power in the players of today is impressive, but personally I identify more with the game that has more variation, like Justine Henin, Kim Clijsters, Francesca Schiavone or Carla Suarez Navarro.'

Disputed Djokovic shirt auctioned off
2012-02-03 09:30:00
An Australian woman who caught Novak Djokovic's shirt in front of a teenage fan after the Australian Open final auctioned it for charity because of the criticism she underwent. According to the Herald Sun, Yael Rothschild auctioned off the shirt online and the mother of the girl who had complained it was taken from her, 14-year-old Melissa Cook, bought it for ,500. Rothschild denied that she has snatched the shirt, and said that money raised from the auction will go to charity. A video dispute was widely shown on social media.

Mirza to focus on doubles this year
2012-02-03 09:00:00
Sania Mirza has decided to focus on doubles this year as injuries have taken a toll on her body. Former No. 27-ranked Mirza told the Indian press at Fed Cup that having undergone three surgeries in the last four years has not helped her singles. She lost in the first round of the Australian Open, but did reach the mixed final with Mahesh Bhupathi and the doubles semis with Elena Vesnina. 'I am excited to have achieved my career-best ranking of seven this week in doubles,' she said. 'Yet, being in professional tennis for almost a decade has taken a toll on my body. As my body may not be able to cope with playing both singles and doubles, I have decided to focus on doubles in the Olympic year.'  Mirza added that she would continue to play singles as her body allows it.

Completion of new Roland Garros delayed to 2017
2012-02-03 07:56:00
PARIS (AP)—The French Tennis Federation says the renovation of the Roland Garros complex will be delayed by a year and completed in 2017. The federation has pushed back expansion into an area that now hosts a gymnasium for schoolchildren and is due for demolition. Originally, there would have been a gap between the demolition work and the building of a new gym by Paris authorities. Federation general manager Gilbert Ysern tells the French newspaper Le Figaro on Friday that “some parents were worried that their kids would have no place to do sport for a year.” He says the federation therefore decided to delay the work at the complex, the home of the French Open.

Sharapova leads Russia against Spain in Fed Cup
2012-02-03 03:30:00
MOSCOW (AP)—Three-time Grand Slam champion Maria Sharapova will play Silvia Soler-Espinosa in the opening singles match Saturday when Russia hosts Spain in the first round of the Fed Cup. Two-time Grand Slam champion Svetlana Kuznetsova will face Carla Suarez Navarro in the second match. “I’m satisfied with the draw,” Sharapova said. “I wanted to play in the first match and I’m happy I will.” It will be Sharapova’s third appearance for Russia. The Australian Open runner-up won both her singles matches against Israel in 2008 but lost in opening singles against France last year. Russia is the clear favorite to win but Sharapova refused to underestimate the opponent. “Last season, we were favorites against France at the same stage of the competition but fell 2-0 down after the opening singles,” Sharapova said. “We were lucky to win in the end.” In Sunday’s reverse singles, Sharapova will play Suarez Navarro, while Kuznetsova will take on Soler-Espinosa. In the doubles match, the Russian pair of Nadia Petrova and Ekaterina Makarova will play Nuria Llagostera Vives and Arantxa Parra Santonja. The reverse singles and doubles pairings in the best-of-five series on the indoor hard court at the Olympic indoor stadium can be changed depending on the results of earlier matches. Russia has won the Fed Cup title four times since 2004 and is 5-1 against Spain, which won the title five times between 1991 and 1998. The winner will play Belgium or Serbia in the semifinals April 21-22.

Errani earns singles spot for Italy versus Ukraine
2012-02-03 03:00:00
BIELLA, Italy (AP)—Fresh off a quarterfinal appearance at the Australian Open, Sara Errani earned one of Italy’s singles spots Friday for this weekend’s Fed Cup tie with Ukraine. The 34th-ranked Errani will open against Kateryna Bondarenko on Saturday, with 2010 French Open winner Francesca Schiavone then facing Lesia Tsurenko on an indoor red clay court at Lauretana Forum. Flavia Pennetta, Italy’s usual No. 2 player, is struggling with a back problem. After the reverse singles on Sunday, Errani will team with Roberta Vinci against Yuliya Beygelzimer and Olga Savchuk in doubles. Errani was beaten by Petra Kvitova of the Czech Republic in the Australian Open quarterfinals. She also reached the doubles final in Melbourne, pairing with Vinci in a loss to Svetlana Kuznetsova and Vera Zvonareva of Russia. Italy won the Fed Cup in 2006, 2009 and 2010. However, in its last outing, an under-strength Italy—without Schiavone and Pennetta—had its eight-tie winning streak broken in a 5-0 loss to Russia in last year’s semifinals. The 89th-ranked Bondarenko is Ukraine’s top player. Italy has won all three of its ties with Ukraine.

ITF extends use of Hawk-Eye in Davis, Fed Cup
2012-02-03 02:00:00
LONDON (AP)—The International Tennis Federation says it is expanding the use of Hawk-Eye replay technology to all rounds of the Davis Cup and Fed Cup World Groups. Last year, the ITF used the system from the Davis Cup quarterfinals and Fed Cup semifinals. But the federation has now added Hawk-Eye to the first rounds in both competitions as well as the Fed Cup playoffs. Hawk-Eye was first used in the Davis Cup for the 2006 final, and was extended to the Fed Cup for the 2007 final. The replay technology is used only for matches on hard and grass courts.

Azarenka likes being hunted No. 1
2012-02-02 15:28:00
Australian Open champion Victoria Azarenka seems to be relishing her new role as the world's top player. The Australian Open champion will lead Belarus against the United States in a Fed Cup playoff this coming weekend in Worcester, Mass.'It's definitely going to be more challenging,' she told reporters. 'A lot of people are going to have more motivation. But I feel like being No. 1. I want to work as I'm No. 2.'Belarussian captain Tatiana Poutchek said that the reception to Azarenka's Grand Slam victory at home was overwhelming. 'It was huge,' she said. 'I would say it's like, I don't know, 80 percent or 90 percent of population was watching. It was spectacular.'Azarenka indicted that after Fed Cup, she might take some time off to visit with her family. She could opt out of the tournaments in Doha and Dubai. 'Maybe before Indian Wells. But don't write it,' she said.

Roddick remains optimistic for San Jose return
2012-02-02 14:15:00
Andy Roddick remains on track to return at the SAP Open in San Jose, even though he says he hasn’t hit a tennis ball since hurting his right hamstring in the second round of the Australian Open.Roddick said on a conference call Thursday that an MRI exam showed a partial tear in the tendon after he hurt his leg in a match against Lleyton Hewitt on Jan 19.Roddick, who turns 30 in August, was hurt in the second set against Hewitt and took a medical timeout. He then played 16 more games before retiring.“It’s a concern,” Roddick said. “I haven’t hit a ball since Australia. We’ve just been working on different types of treatment trying to get it right. The MRI came back probably not as good as we were hoping. I’m hoping to be hitting balls for the first time next Monday, and that should get me. I fall goes well there, that should be plenty of time to be ready.”Roddick’s first match in San Jose is scheduled for Feb. 15, and he is scheduled to play in Memphis the following week at the Regions Morgan Keegan Championships. A good run in San Jose would give him a chance to win his 600th career match in Memphis where he won his 30th career title in 2011.“My only urgent thing right now is getting this hamstring right so I can try to play well at San Jose,” Roddick said.Roddick was asked if he watched the Australian Final where Novak Djokovic outlasted Rafael Nadal in the longest Grand Slam final, which went 5 hours and 53 minutes.The American said he finds it hard to set his alarm for one in the morning when not playing in a tournament. But he was impressed by what he did see of that final.“It almost looks like the kind of tennis you see when you play Xbox where the guys really don’t get tired and they hit whatever shot they want. It’s pretty remarkable. I know probably at no time in my career, and I’ve been in pretty good shape throughout it, I don’t know if I could play back to back six hour matches of that intensity,” Roddick said.“What they’re doing is physically impressive.”

Wozniacki, Sanchez debate reason for split
2012-02-02 10:30:00
Caroline Wozniacki tells the Danish television station TV 2 that the reason for her quick split with coach Ricardo Sanchez was because he was not making a difference in her game.'I feel so experienced in my game that I know what I need to practice and from there we felt all along that it was the right way,' she said. 'I also felt that he could not make a big difference for me personally as a player. Therefore we decided to terminate the relationship. If I had won [the Australian Open] or not, it would not made any difference. It was more a personal decision.'Sanchez, who only coached Wozniacki for two months, told La Marca that he gave up numerous other coaching opportunities to be with her, but did not like being subjected to a secondary role by her father Piotr. 'I think Caroline can win a Grand Slam and return to No. 1 with her father, with me or even a flower seller,' he said. 'She has an exquisite quality and a promising future. But she should improve. She must be more aggressive against the trident [Big 3] of players (Victoria Azarenka, Petra Kvitova and Maria Sharapova) who have proven to be stronger. I tried to do it, but they did not let me. Wozniacki should be a race horse and not a burden.'

Tomic out of San Jose for personal reasons
2012-02-02 10:27:00
Australian teenager Bernard Tomic pulls out of the SAP Open (Feb. 13-19) in San Jose, California for personal reasons. The 19-year-old has a court date on February 14 in Queensland to fight traffic violations related to use of his sports car. The tournament had cited a leg injury for the pullout, but ATP Player Relations was told that he used one of his two personal exemptions for ATP 250 tournaments, and he will not be fined for the withdrawal. Tomic is scheduled to play Davis Cup the weekend prior to San Jose. James Blake, who is battling a knee injury, also pulled out. Sam Querrey and Mikhail Kukushkin will replace them in the main draw.—MC

Nadal: Tax bill paid up, despite reports
2012-02-02 10:00:00
MADRID (AP)—Rafael Nadal says his fiscal requirements are up to date after a Spanish website reported the Australian Open finalist had set up several companies to trim his tax bill. Spanish website Primeran says Nadal created companies in the Basque region to take advantage of a local tax rule to drop the amount of income tax he would have to pay from image rights. Spanish media reported on Thursday that Basque tax authorities were investigating. Nadal issued a statement acknowledging the existence of the companies, which had been transferred to his home residence of the Balearic Islands. Nadal says he gained “no benefit,” while the companies mentioned “are up to date with the payment of all tax obligations.”

Qualifier Delbonis upsets Bellucci in Vina del Mar
2012-02-02 09:56:00
VINA DEL MAR, Chile (AP)—Argentine qualifier Federico Delbonis reached his second career ATP quarterfinals when he upset third-seeded Thomaz Bellucci of Brazil 6-2, 7-5 in the VTR Open on Thursday. Bellucci, the Vina del Mar champion two years ago, lost his serve four times to Delbonis. Seventh-seeded Carlos Berlocq overwhelmed Argentine countryman Diego Junqueira 6-1, 6-0 in the second round. Berlocq moved ahead 4-3 in their matchups, but this was their first on the ATP Tour. Also in action on Thursday were No. 2 Juan Ignacio Chela against Horacio Zeballos, and Fernando Gonzalez meeting Joao Souza of Brazil.

Lacko, Youzhny, Baghdatis win at Zagreb Indoors
2012-02-02 07:42:00
ZAGREB, Croatia (AP)—Lukas Lacko of Slovakia ousted second-seeded Alex Bogomolov Jr. of Russia 6-0, 6-7 (1), 6-1 to advance to the Zagreb Indoors quarterfinals on Thursday.Bogomolov, a quarterfinalist last year, rallied after dropping the first set but lost five games in only 14 minutes in the decider.Third-seeded Mikhail Youzhny of Russia defeated Grega Zemlja of Slovenia 6-1, 6-3 to reach his third quarterfinal in Zagreb.Defending champion Ivan Dodig beat Guillermo Garcia-Lopez of Spain 4-6, 6-4, 6-4, and said, “It seems that I cannot win an easy match in Zagreb.“This one was tough and the one tomorrow will most likely be even tougher.”The fourth-seeded Dodig will face No. 6 Marcos Baghdatis, the 2007 champion, who downed Lukasz Kubot of Poland 6-4, 6-2.“I kept the momentum,” Baghdatis said.Another Croat, eighth-seeded Ivo Karlovic won his second-rounder by hitting a dozen aces past Dudi Sela in beating the Israeli 6-3, 6-2.Karlovic will play Youzhny on Friday.

Berdych, Monfils advance to Montpellier quarters
2012-02-02 05:59:00
MONTPELLIER, France (AP)—Defending champion Gael Monfils finished off Michael Russell of the U.S. with his 17th ace Thursday, winning 6-3, 6-3 to reach the Open Sud de France quarterfinals.Also advancing to the quarters were top-seeded Tomas Berdych, Jarkko Nieminen and Nicolas Mahut.Nieminen is enjoying a good run, having won the Sydney International last month. Mathieu returned to the ATP Tour this week after missing the 2011 season because of a knee injury. Berdych lost a grueling quarterfinal to Rafael Nadal at the Australian Open.Russell double-faulted to drop serve at 3-3 and lost the opening set on a forehand error. The third-seeded Monfils capitalized on a backhand error from Russell to break for a 3-1 lead in the second set. Monfils next plays eighth-seeded Nieminen, who dismissed French wild card Paul-Henri Mathieu 7-6 (4), 6-1.Berdych cruised past French qualifier Florent Serra 6-0, 6-2 in another second-round match. Berdych broke Serra five times to set up a match against Mahut, who beat sixth-seeded Florian Mayer 7-6 (3), 6-3.Mahut jumped to 4-1 in the tiebreaker and took the first set when Mayer double-faulted. He broke the German twice in the final set to clinch victory.