I almost don’t believe it. The headliner names at this years Rogers Cup in Montreal and Toronto have been all but culled in their opening matches. The first to roll out the door was defending champion Andy Murray. Murray was comprehensively beaten 6-4, 6-4 by Kevin Anderson.
Then came the huge shock that Ivan Dodig had beaten Rafael Nadal 1-6, 7-6, 7-6. Juan Martin del Potro fell easily to Marin Cilic in straight sets 6-3, 6-4. Read more
Serena Williams has officially announced her return to the top of tennis by comfortably taking the title at West Classic in Stanford by beating Marion Bartoli 7-5, 6-1. Throughout the tournament Serena looked dominant and in good shape leading up to the US Open. Williams is now a firm favourite at her home Grand Slam.
Along her road to victory Serena pummeled Maria Sharapova, Sabine Lisicki and Marion Bartoli all in straight sets despite entering the tournament as worl number 169 due to her extensive injury time out. Read more
Posted in Injury, Kim Clijsters, Maria Sharapova, Marion Bartoli, Sabine Lisicki, Serena Williams, Wimbledon
This years Arthur Ashe Kid’s Day at the US Open will feature defending champions Kim Clijsters and Rafael Nadal as well as the new and undisputed world number one Novak Djokovic. Andy Roddick, a former US Open champion will also be in attendance along with actor Bradley Cooper, Carmelo Anthony from the New York Knicks and pop star Cody Simpson.
The festivities will take place on Saturday, August 27th ahead of the tournament (start date 29th August) and will be hosted by La Anthony and Quddus.
Tickets are on sale through Ticketmaster
Posted in Andy Roddick, Kim Clijsters, Media, Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal, US Open
Retired tennis player Elena Dementieva is a step closer to having the family she talked about when she retired. On July 16 Elena married hockey champion Maxim Afinogenov at the Ritz Carlton in Moscow.
The ceremony was held on the roof of the building and birds were released at the end of the ceremony. The reception, inside the Ritz, hosted such famous tennis players as Vera Zvonareva, Dinara Safina, Sveta Kuznetsova, Maria Kirilenko and her partner Igor Andreev. Vera Dushevina caught the bouquet while Elena Vesnina and Ekaterina Makarova looked on. Read more
Scans of Kim Clijsters have revealed she has re-injured her enough to require her to again remove herself from competition and practice for the next four weeks, meaning she will miss Wimbledon.
A statement released expressed Kim’s disappointment but said she would focus on returning for a healthy US Open campaign for possibly the last time in her career. Read more
Posted in Injury, Kim Clijsters, Wimbledon
Both Kim Clijsters and her ex-fiance Lleyton Hewitt recently returned to play after serious foot/ankle injuries, both returning arguably too soon and now both are struggling after re-injuring themselves in the first round at Eastbourne.
Romania Oprandi defeated Clijsters 7-6, 6-3 after working Kim with drop shots to test he still troubled ankle. “I think maybe she was not 100 per cent and I tried drop shots. It came out good for me.” Read more
Posted in Eastbourne, Injury, Kim Clijsters, Romina Oprandi, Wimbledon
Maria Sharapova, far from a clay court goddess, handed out a thumping clay court lesson to Andrea Petkovic. The German youngster had nothing to dance about after Sharapova, who is looking to complete a career Grand Slam this year, trounced her 6-0 in the first set in just 32 minutes. Sharapova was clearly not messing about, relentlessly thumping her shots and teaching the (at times) cocky young Petkovic what champions are made of. Read more
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ears runner up Samantha Stosur has been knocked out in the third round of Roland Garros by world number 51 Gisela Dulko. Argentine Duko has scalped the odd big name from time to time but has had the most success in doubles, winning this years women’s doubles at the Australian Open. Today Dulko beat one of the tournament favourites 6-4, 1-6, 6-3. Read more
Kim Clijsters has attributed her shock second round defeat to a loss of confidence, not her ankle injury or the horrible conditions in Paris.
“I felt in control. I felt she was missing quite a lot at the beginning of the rallies. I felt that I was moving around well, from side to side. And then, yes, I started doubting a little bit and for me on clay, that is definitely the wrong attitude to have. It’s the wrong attitude to have on any surface but for me, definitely on clay, it’s the wrong attitude.
My ankle feels fine so that has absolutely nothing to do with it.”
Kim’s chances in Paris may have come to an end but she’s not out of luck – scoring one of the most bizarre points I remember seeing. The ball clipped the net, bounced onto the net posts and over the net into the court (see video below) Read more
Posted in Injury, Kim Clijsters, Roland Garros
Arantxa Rus had the best day of her young career today with a little help from her opponent Kim Clijsters. Kim raced to a 6-3, 5-2 leading position with a large number of winners and unforced errors under her belt before the wheels fell off on a windy cold day in Paris.
With the dust blowing up intermittently in the players faces Kim looked like she was in a hurry to get back to her daughter Jada who appeared in the audience. Instead Kim seemed to lose total control of her game once she had a match point in hand. Read more
Posted in Arantxa Rus, Injury, Kim Clijsters, Roland Garros
