Venus Williams is excited to return to tennis
2012-02-01 11:10:00
WORCESTER, Massachusetts (AP)—Recovery never comes fast enough for Venus Williams, who plans to return this weekend in the Fed Cup against Belarus after a five-month layoff caused by an autoimmune disease that can cause fatigue and joint pain.Williams has been fighting Sjogren’s Syndrome and hasn’t played a sanctioned match since the U.S. Open in August. She withdrew after the first round and was not ready to return last month for the Australian Open.Williams practiced with the U.S. team Wednesday morning and said she’s thrilled to be so close to competing again.“I think just being on a team and just having some adrenaline just gives me even more energy, to be honest,” she said at a news conference. “I need to be on a team every week and not at home.”Williams has had to learn the difference between recovering from an injury and an illness. That has meant pacing herself more in practice and minding doctors’ orders not to push it while she tries to regain her form. A former No. 1 and seven-time Grand Slam singles winner, Williams isn’t used to taking it easy.“The difference is acceptance—trying to accept how you feel and limitations. Listening to your body and taking care of yourself,” she said. “Instead of trying to run through a wall, just really kind of take a step back and be smart. I think that’s kind of what I’ve learned.“There are some things you can’t keep going through,” she added. “I still have to be reminded to slow down, but hopefully there will be a day when I don’t have to be reminded of that.”Williams played younger sister, Serena, in an exhibition in Colombia in November.The recovery has been frustratingly slow at times, but she feels ready for this weekend when the U.S. begins its quest to return to the top tier in the Fed Cup. The Americans were bounced to Group II in a 5-0 loss to Germany last year, when Venus was with the team but couldn’t play because of a hip injury.“I was just kind of standing on the sidelines, which was tough because I wasn’t able to help the team at all,” she said. “This year, it’s great to be in a position to help the team.”It’s also great for U.S. captain Mary Joe Fernandez, who said the lineup for the matches Saturday and Sunday will depend on how well Venus plays in practice over the next few days.Wednesday’s results looked promising, Fernandez said.“Just to have her around is such a big motivator for the rest of the team. There’s a lot of excitement. I think Venus was thrilled and she was itching to get out there and hit that first ball,” Fernandez said. “I think that goes such a long way. The ripple effect of everybody seeing it—just seeing the desire, the determination, the intensity—it rubs off. It was great to see Venus out there this morning hitting well and working hard.”Belarus features new world No. 1 Victoria Azarenka, who just won the Australian Open title on Saturday.Fernandez said she has to submit her lineup on Friday, when the weekend draw will be determined. There are two singles matches Saturday and another two rounds of singles Sunday before the competition wraps up with doubles. The U.S. team also includes Liezel Huber, the world’s No. 1 doubles player, Christina McHale and Sloane Stephens.Serena Williams has been recovering from a left ankle injury, but could still be the American opponent to face Azarenka, who routed Maria Sharapova 6-3, 6-0 in the Australian Open final.“The good news is we can always change it up the second day, so I have good options,” Fernandez said.No matter how she plays this weekend, just getting on the court for a real match will be somewhat of a triumph for Venus Williams, who will be 32 in June.Injuries have limited her to playing in only 11 matches since she reached the semifinals at the 2010 U.S. Open. The last few months of recovery have been more trying than what she has endured in the past because it has been so different.“It’s definitely difficult not being on the court, especially when there’s not much to be done about it when it’s completely out of my control,” she said. “I think that’s probably the hardest part.”

Berrer upsets top-seeded Ljubicic in Zagreb
2012-02-01 10:15:00
addCustomPlayer('f6isi3jyhj7o17un4lic62asz', '06882d4d91b244989c273e88d01e3088', 'yfmljfjh2ga21a4q9ej2fox6o', 620, 429, 'perff6isi3jyhj7o17un4lic62asz-yfmljfjh2ga21a4q9ej2fox6o', 'eplayer17'); ZAGREB, Croatia (AP)—Michael Berrer of Germany upset top-seeded Ivan Ljubicic 6-4, 6-4 on Wednesday to advance to the quarterfinals of Zagreb Indoors.Berrer, last year’s finalist, had little trouble as shown by him breaking back immediately in the second set after dropping serve for the only time in the match.“I played badly,” Ljubicic said. “It hurts much more losing at home, but the good thing with tennis is that you don’t have to wait long for another chance.”Defending champion Ivan Dodig defeated Marsel Ilhan of Turkey by 7-6 (5), 7-5, and later said he wasn’t concerned by the back injury which forced his retirement in the first round of the Australian Open.“It was more important not to feel the injury during play,” Dodig said.Earlier, Jurgen Melzer of Austria upset fifth-seeded Andreas Seppi 6-2, 6-3 for a spot in the quarterfinals.Melzer was a late entry and had to play in qualifiers, but has lost just nine games in his first two matches. Melzer—a 2010 semifinalist—served nine aces against Seppi and converted four of his seven break points.“I am very happy with the way I played so far,” he said. “I needed some matches after an early exit in Melbourne, where I lost in the first round. … And after many injury problems I had last year now I finally play pain free.”Seventh-seeded Robin Haase from the Netherlands also advanced after rallying to beat Matthias Bachinger from Germany 7-6 (4), 3-6, 6-3.In the remaining first-round matches, Slovenian wild card Grega Zemlja beat Croat Antonio Veic 7-6 (5), 7-6 (6), Dudi Sela of Israel defeated Andreas Beck of Germany 3-6, 6-3, 6-2, and Guillermo Garcia-Lopez of Spain ousted Daviel Evans of Britain 6-4, 1-6, 6-1.

Gil ousts Andujar in Vina del Mar second round
2012-02-01 10:00:00
VINA DEL MAR, Chile (AP)—Frederico Gil of Portugal beat fourth-seeded Pablo Andujar of Spain 6-2, 6-1 in the second round of the Vina del Mar VTR Open on Wednesday.Fifth-seeded Albert Montanes of Spain had better luck in the clay-court tournament, defeating Rogerio Dutra Silva of Brazil 7-5, 6-2. Jeremy Chardy of France defeated Leonardo Mayer of Argentina 7-5, 6-2.Top-seeded Juan Monaco of Argentina was scheduled to play late Wednesday against Igor Andreev of Russia.

Gasquet, Simon reach Montpellier quarterfinals
2012-02-01 10:00:00
MONTPELLIER, France (AP)—Seeded Frenchmen Gilles Simon and Richard Gasquet both won in straight sets Wednesday to reach the Open Sud de France quarterfinals.The second-seeded Simon fired nine aces and saved four break points in his 6-3, 6-2 win against Flavio Cipolla of Italy, while the fourth-seeded Gasquet broke Nikolay Davydenko three times in a 6-3, 6-4 victory.Even though Davydenko is no longer ranked in the world’s top 50, Gasquet had remained wary of the former top-five player.“He’s not the No. 3 he was a few years ago but he can still dazzle sometimes, and you can easily find yourself a break down against him,” Gasquet said. “So it was important to hold my serve.”Davydenko led 40-15 on serve in the 10th game of the second set, but Gasquet took a forehand early to pass Davydenko, who next hit an unforced error and watched as Gasquet dispatched a volley to get to his first match point.Davydenko saved that with his fifth ace. Gasquet wasted his next chance when a hurried backhand pass hit the net, then double-faulted on his third match point and watched as Davydenko saved another with a clipped forehand pass.Gasquet, who reached the fourth round at the Australian Open, sealed victory on his fifth match point after a long baseline rally ended with the Russian slicing a forehand well wide.“I’m glad he missed that as it was becoming harder to get my first serve in,” said Gasquet, who has slipped from a ranking of seventh in 2007 to 16th. “I’ve recovered from Australia now and am starting to sleep properly, so everything’s fine.”Philipp Kohlschreiber of Germany, seeded No. 7, dropped serve twice but served 10 aces to beat Edouard Roger-Vasselin of France 6-4, 7-5.Guillaume Rufin of France also advanced after a 7-6 (5), 6-3 win over fifth-seeded Feliciano Lopez of Spain.Rufin hit 16 aces compared to 13 for Lopez, who lost his serve twice in the second set after the big servers swapped a break each in the first.

Sanchez on firing: Wozniacki was confused
2012-02-01 07:38:00
Coach Ricardo Sanchez tells Ekstra Bladet that the reason why Caroline Wozniacki and her father Piotr decided to stop working with him was because he could not find a way to work within the confines of their relationship. Piotr Wozniacki called Sanchez after the Australian Open to tell him that he was being released after just two months. Sanchez said that he did not speak to Caroline, who lost her No.1 ranking during the Australian Open to Victoria Azarenka and has now fallen to No. 4.'Piotr and Caroline have their own system,' Sanchez said. 'Their relationship is so close. They work so well together. It is impossible to break the ice and penetrate. I have great respect for Piotr, who never even played tennis, and for the work he has done. But Piotr has his system, I have mine. If I were to continue, it would be under Piotr’s system. That’s main reason for our break — I could not. It is impossible with two coaches who want something different. Caroline was just confused.'

Djokovic to miss Davis Cup tie versus Sweden
2012-02-01 02:00:00
BELGRADE, Serbia (AP)—Australian Open champion Novak Djokovic will not play in Serbia’s Davis Cup match against Sweden this month. Serbia captain Bogdan Obradovic said he decided to let the top-ranked Djokovic rest after he beat Rafael Nadal in a grueling five-set final in Melbourne. Obradovic told The Associated Press that “we want to spare Djokovic to help him remain the world’s No. 1 player and win gold at the Olympic Games in London.” Obradovic says “I had difficultly to persuade Djokovic not to play against Sweden, but think we can beat them even without him.” Serbia beat Sweden 4-1 in an away match last season. Bogdanovic said the ninth-ranked Janko Tipsarevic and Viktor Troicki will lead Serbia in the Feb. 10-12 match in the Serbian city of Nis.

Ricardo Sanchez out as Wozniacki's coach
2012-01-31 10:12:00
Ricardo Sanchez is out as Caroline Wozniacki's coach after just two months on the job, TENNIS.com has learned. Sanchez was coaching the 20-year-old Dane along with her father, Piotr, but it appeared during practice sessions at the Australian Open that Piotr was for all intents and purposes still running the ship. Wozniacki lost her No. 1 ranking during the Australian Open and has fallen to No. 4, behind No. 1 Victoria Azarenka, No. 2 Petra Kvitova, and No. 3 Maria Sharapova.Sanchez also coached former No. 1 Jelena Jankovic in 2011.  Wozniacki will not hire another coach, at least for the time being, but may go back to occasionally working with adidas player development coaches Sven Groenefeld and Mats Merkel.The Danish newspaper Ekstra Bladet will have details on the separation in its Wednesday edition, and will quote Piotr as saying that Caroline did not get enough inspiration from Sanchez's coaching and that Sanchez could not find a place to fit into the father and daughter's longtime coaching relationship. —Matt Cronin

Serena's ankle healing ahead of Fed Cup tie
2012-01-31 10:11:00
Serena Williams says that the health of her sprained right ankle is progressing. Williams tore two ligaments in her ankle at the tournament in Brisbane during the first week of January. She will play Fed Cup for the United States this coming weekend against Belarus, which has new No. 1 Victoria Azarenka on its team. After she lost to Ekaterina Makarova at the Australian Open, Williams said that had it not been a Grand Slam, she would not have played. 'The ankle is better,' Serena said at a Fed Cup press conference on Tuesday in Worcester, Mass. 'Every day it's feeling better. It's not a hundred percent. But it's better than it was last week and two weeks ago. It just needs time to heal.'

Venus 'coming along awesome', says Serena
2012-01-31 10:10:00
WORCESTER, Massachusetts (AP)—Serena Williams says her sister Venus will be ready for this weekend’s Fed Cup matches against Belarus. Serena says Venus has been training every day, and is “coming along awesome.” The sisters are teammates on the U.S. team that will face Belarus and new No. 1 Victoria Azarenka, the Australian Open champion. Serena says it’s fun being able to play team events with her sister because they don’t get to spend much time together. It will be Venus Williams’ first competitive appearance since the 2011 U.S. Open, when she revealed she had Sjogren’s Syndrome. The autoimmune disease that can cause fatigue and joint pain. The sisters did play in an exhibition in Colombia in November.

Tomic must go to court over traffic disputes
2012-01-31 10:09:00
Bernard Tomic will have to go to court to deal with two traffic offenses that caused a stir during Australia Day last week, the Australian press reports. The 19-year-old was fined twice in the space of an hour for driving his BMW M3 on Australia’s Gold Coast, but refused to stop when asked to pull over a third time. ??Tomic then drove home, went inside and had a three-hour standoff with the police. Tomic has a special exemption allowing him to drive his V8 car for reasons 'pertaining to his career' but is not allowed to drive it for other reasons. He claims officers are picking him on because of his European background.

Murray will miss Davis Cup tie, citing Aussie run
2012-01-31 10:00:00
LONDON (AP)—Andy Murray will miss Britain’s Davis Cup match against Slovakia next month after sustaining “a few injuries” during his run to the Australian Open semifinals.The fourth-ranked Murray, who lost to eventual winner Novak Djokovic in a five-set match in Melbourne, says it is “probably a sensible decision” to pull out of the group matches ahead of a busy year that also includes the London Olympics.With Britain’s leading player missing, captain Leon Smith selected James Ward, Dan Evans, Colin Fleming and Ross Hutchins for the Feb. 10-12 matches in the first round of Euro/Africa Zone Group I.The matches will be played in Glasgow, Scotland.Britain beat Hungary in September to gain promotion from Group II and Smith says “we go into the tie knowing Slovakia will be favorites.”

Bogomolov to make debut for Russia in Davis Cup
2012-01-31 09:59:00
MOSCOW (AP)—Alex Bogomolov Jr. will make his Davis Cup debut for Russia next week. Russia captain Shamil Tarpischev says the 28-year-old Bogomolov has been included in the team to play at Austria next month in the first round. In November, Bogomolov announced that he would play for Russia, the country of his birth, instead of the United States, where he had lived and trained since 1992. After his debut, Bogomolov can apply for acceptance to play at the Olympics later in the year. Tarpischev also chose Mikhail Youzhny, Nikolay Davydenko and Igor Kunitsyn for the best-of-five series in Austria.

Lopez, Kohlschreiber, Nieminen win in Montpellier
2012-01-31 08:35:00
MONTPELLIER, France (AP)—Feliciano Lopez beat Igor Kunitsyn of Russia 6-4, 7-6 (7) Tuesday to reach the second round of the Open Sud de France. The fifth-seeded Spaniard finished with 19 aces, earning the only break of the match in the third game of the opening set. He then jumped out to a 5-1 lead in the second-set tiebreaker. Philipp Kohlschreiber of Germany and Jarkko Nieminen of Finland also advanced. The seventh-seeded Kohlschreiber broke serve twice in each set to defeat Olivier Rochus of Belgium 6-1, 6-4. French qualifier Maxime Teixeira saved 11 break points, but still lost 6-3, 3-6, 6-4 to the eighth-seeded Nieminen, who won the Sydney International this month. Flavio Cipolla of Italy, American veteran Michael Russell and Frenchmen Paul-Henri Mathieu, Edouard Roger-Vasselin and Nicolas Mahut also moved into the second round. Cipolla rallied past Marc Gicquel of France 1-6, 6-4, 7-5, Russell topped Adrian Mannarino of France 6-3, 7-5 and Mathieu beat Cedrik-Marcel Stebe of Germany 6-4, 6-4 to earn his first victory this year after missing the 2011 season because of a knee injury. Roger-Vasselin downed Roberto Bautista-Agut of Spain 7-5, 6-2 and Mahut earned a 6-3, 6-2 win over Albert Ramos of Spain.

Berlocq, Gil into second round of Vina del Mar
2012-01-31 04:46:00
VINA DEL MAR, Chile (AP)—Carlos Berlocq of Argentina defeated Daniel Gimeno-Traver of Spain, 7-5, 6-0 on Tuesday to reach the second round of the Vina Del Mar VTR Open, the first event on the monthlong clay-court swing around Latin America. The seventh-seeded Berlocq and No. 5 Albert Montanes of Spain, who was to play later, are the only seeded players in action on Tuesday. In other early matches, Frederico Gil of Portugal defeated Paolo Lorenzi of Italy, 6-3, 5-7, 6-1, and Rogerio Dutra Silva of Brazil recovered from a poor start to beat Maximo Gonzalez of Argentina 0-6, 7-6 (3), 6-3. The top four seeds in the tournament have byes into the second round. Argentine Juan Monaco is seeded No. 1 and countryman Juan Ignacio Chela is No. 2. Brazilian Thomaz Bellucci is No. 3 and Pablo Andujar of Spain is No. 4.

Raonic, Nestor lead Canada in Davis Cup
2012-01-31 04:00:00
TORONTO (AP)—Milos Raonic and veteran Daniel Nestor will lead Canada against France in the Davis Cup next week.Frank Dancevic and Vasek Pospisil were also named on Tuesday for Canada’s first World Group tie since 2004 at Thunderbird Sports Centre in Vancouver from Feb. 10-12.Raonic is ranked 28th in the world, and the 39-year-old Nestor is ranked third in doubles.Canada won road ties against Mexico, Ecuador and Israel last year to advance to the World Group for the first time in eight years.France include world No. 6 Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, No. 13 Gael Monfils and doubles specialists Julien Benneteau and Michael Llodra.“France will obviously be a tough challenge with so many top players, but I believe in this group and their ability to rise to the occasion,” Canadian captain Martin Laurendeau said in a statement. “We are a confident team after overcoming last year’s obstacles and there is a camaraderie and respect for one another that is essential for Davis Cup success.”