I wonder if this works. Nobody pays attention to it so it'd be the perfect place to actually blog some stuff.

As rumors going around Nicole in tennis world that she going to hung her boots at age just 20 to marry her long time BF Radek. This is really very sad for me and surely same feel her fans around the world. Former world no 7 two times grandslam semifinalist and one of the most talented player is hanging her boots at age just 20 is really something no one has expected. But I do hope she will return on court before long. I think Radek should encourage her to do so. Also this break will help her to get out of bad patch. I think her prolonged injuries and bad form made her to take this decision.
I hope she will return fit and agile and her happiness will improve her game. I wish her and Radek very best future. See you soon on court Nicole.

loves
Abhi

P.S Finally Nicole has announce her retirement and tied knot with Radek best of luck to her for her for her future and lets all of us fans hope one day she will back...
THE WORLD RESIDES ON HOPE. GOOD LUCK NICOLE
Enjoy pics of Nicole







finally Nicole serving... see you soon

:armed:

Hey, again.
I've set up a new site for my blog - http://notanothertennisblog.blogspot.com/. There, I'm sharing some thoughts on the men's and women's tours, but no doubt, it will be more in-depth on the women's side - I know the women better. Once in awhile, I'll continue to post here. Here's a few thoughts on what's happened in the women's draw so far:

The circus that is the women's draw held surprisingly to form in the first round of Roland Garros. Only three seeded players failed to make it through, although all three upsets were biggies – Dinara Safina is out, losing 7-5 in the third to Kimiko Date-Krumm. It's a great win for Date-Krumm, but a horrible loss for Safina, who may have to kiss her Top 20 ranking goodbye before it's all said and done. If Svetlana Kuznetsova can win her second-round match, she'll knock Safina down to 19th, with Zvonareva, Rezai and Henin all within 100 points of her. If Zvonareva reaches the third round and either Henin or Rezai reaches the Round of 16, that will be enough to do it. That's a long way to fall for the player who was No. 1 at this tournament last year.
Also out are Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez and Victoria Azarenka. Martinez Sanchez's loss came out of nowhere – straight sets to Akgul Amanmuradova. Azarenka's was less so – she went down to Gisela Dulko, a player who's got a pretty impressive list of upsets to her name. It was the score of the loss, 6-1, 6-2, that was shocking.
Svetlana Kuznetsova was a pleasant surprise. She started horribly against Sorana Cirstea, a player I picked for the upset but then ended excellently. We'll see what the future holds for the defending champion. She's in the least predictable quarter, but if she can get through, she's the most accomplished clay-courter in the bottom half. I'm not sold on her yet, but that first round was a great start.
Also in that quarter was Caroline Wozniacki, who also got off to a strong start after a horrid spring. She's got a brutal draw to get through before we can start talking seriously about her, but she's taken the first step.
There's not much to write home about in the bottom quarter, in this round. With Sanchez and Azarenka out, Dementieva's path to the quarters opened up nicely. Meanwhile, we could be in for a couple barnburners - Venus Williams vs. Dominika Cibulkova and Nadia Petrova vs. Aravane Rezai in the third round in the bottom section.
The top half is still, by far, the tougher half of the draw. Jelena Jankovic has to be the favorite to come out of her quarter, but she probably has one of the tougher second-round matches, against Kaia Kanepi - the same Kaia Kanepi who beat Justine Henin in Fed Cup a few weeks ago. Further down the road, she could have a revenge match against Alona Bondarenko, who topped her in Australia. Her Round of 16 shouldn't be too much trouble, and then just about anybody could come out of that bottom section for the quarters.
The biggest ring in the women's circus continues to be the top quarter. Serena Williams got a tough first set, but an easy second from Stefanie Voegele. It's still hard to see her not coming out of her section. Shahar Peer looked good and had a strong spring, but Marion Bartoli could be a tough Round of 16.
THE match of the third round could be Maria Sharapova vs. Justine Henin. Sharapova had a solid win over compatriot Ksenia Pervak and now gets Belgian Kirsten Flipkens. Watch that match if you get a chance. Flipkens is fun to watch if she's playing well - she'll show Sharapova something different and might actually be a nice warm-up for a possible Henin match.
In my pre-tournament prediction, I picked Henin to win. Mainly, that was because she has so much more margin for error in her game on this surface than the other women do. I don't think she has to be at her best to win - just reasonably close to it. Henin's first-round match was quintessential Justine Henin - not brilliant but good enough in the first set. She took a mental break after going up 2-0 in the second, but then finished strongly. She looked nervous early, but improved as the match went on. Now, she gets Klara Zakapalova, and then possibly Sharapova. Samantha Stosur will most likely be waiting for the winner of that match. And all that just to get to the quarters!
I'll be back as the week goes on with more.

I am so happy ivanovic beat elena vesina and victoria azerenka back to back YAY SHE IS IN GOOD FORM AGAIN

I recently read an interesting thread in General Messages about the seeming lack of young stars coming up on the Tour. I posted a little bit there, but I thought I would offer a few more thoughts here.
First of all, I had also noticed the lack of younger players coming up. You just have to look at TheSpoiledEgg's rankings thread - no players under 18 in the top 100? Yikes!
That being said, sometimes, the sport just goes through awkward periods – caused by various factors. In the 1950s, there was an opportunity for a lot of players to break through – most likely because Maureen Connolly, the dominant player during the decade, suffered a broken leg and her career ended prematurely.
In later decades, there was rarely that same opportunity, because stars kept coming at a fairly consistent rate, but there are gaps. In the ‘60s and ‘70s, players who developed into superstars (winning five Grand Slams or more) were Maria Bueno, Margaret Smith Court, Billie Jean King, Evonne Goologong Chris Evert and Martina Navratilova. After Navratilova, though, there is a pretty substantial gap. After she broke through at the Slams, there is a nine-year gap (1978-1987) before the next superstar, Steffi Graf, broke through. Before that, and starting in 1950, the gap from one superstar winning her first Slam to the next one breaking through was never longer than six years.
After that, Graf was followed by Monica Seles, and then Martina Hingis. (Seles won her first Slam in 1990, and Hingis won hers in ’97 – a seven-year gap there, but nothing jaw-dropping) After that came Serena Williams, Venus Williams and Justine Henin, which brings us to today.
Now, one important factor that needs to be brought up is the age-eligibility rules that players had to deal with starting after Hingis and Venus Williams. Some people point to them as factors affecting a young player’s development, but I’m not so sure. Venus Williams was 20 when she won her first Slam and Henin was 21, but Serena Williams was only 16 when she broke through in 1999, and Maria Sharapova won Wimbledon at 17. The rules haven’t kept young players from winning Slams – if they’re good enough. It seems that the age-rules hurt young players the most when they’re getting started. In a post on WTA World, I said that players don’t have the same opportunities now as they did to build early results/momentum/confidence. Graf and Seles, just to name two players, were ranked in the top 100 at 15. After taking a quick scan at the rankings, the top player born in 1995 (15 years ago) I could find was Yulia Putintseva – and she’s not ranked in the top 800. The top 1994-born player is Laura Robson, outside the top 300, and the top player born in 1993 is Michelle Larcher de Brito, ranked below 110.
***
If it seems like there’s been a lack of great, great young players lately, it’s because we’re in another gap. As of today, it’s been seven years since Henin won her first Slam, and no other player has joined that 5+ Slam group.
To see why, I think we can learn from the earlier gaps in recent tennis history. Between Navratilova and Graf, we had Tracy Austin and Andrea Jaeger, who ended up injured, and Gabriela Sabatini, who didn’t have the mental fortitude to become an all-time great. Between Seles and Hingis, we had Lindsay Davenport, Jennifer Capriati and Mary Pierce, all very good players who had their own problems, whether it was personal, self-esteem, burn-out or fitness. After Henin, we’ve had Sharapova (injuries), Ana Ivanovic (mental) and Nicole Vaidisova (burn-out). It’s just a perfect storm of circumstances that occasionally sets back a generation.
Now, if Sharapova can sort our her injury problems, I can see her joining the elite group, but she’s already almost 23 – she might only have three or four years left in her prime, and it looks like she’s going to have to contend with Serena, Venus and Henin the entire time. Kim Clijsters might also have a chance at joining that group. She’s older than Sharapova, but it’s hard to argue with her recent results. If she can stay injury-free and motivated, who knows?
So what are we going to see moving forward? I wrote in my post in the GM thread that 18 might be the new 15 in women’s tennis. That being said, Caroline Wozniacki is clearly the most accomplished "young" player. It’s hard to argue with the results (Grand Slam final at 19), but she hasn’t shown that she can beat the elite players at big tournaments yet, although she appears to have time to take that next step. I don’t see Victoria Azarenka joining that all-time group - she's 21, but she's now in her second season as a Top 10 player, and she doesn't seem to have the mental consistency necessary to be elite week in, week out. Melanie Oudin has shown early results – Grand Slam quarterfinal (U.S. Open) and Round of 16 (Wimbledon) before her 18th birthday – that suggest she has potential; now, she needs consistency. Larcher de Brito showed some promise last year before falling back. If she can get going again, she might be one to watch.
The others (Radwanska, Wickmayer, Lisicki), I have a hard time seeing as great champions. Let’s face it – almost all of the recent greats were showing signs of their potential at 15 and 16. Even by my new standards, I think these three players are too old to become consistent Slam champions. If they do break through, it’s going to be as a Davenport/Pierce level player. That’s nothing to sneeze at, but I don’t think they’ll be all-time greats.
I took a look at the junior rankings today, and in the top 25, I noticed several 16-year-old players, and a couple 15-year-olds and one who will turn 15 in May. If any of those players is going to develop into a Grand Slam champion, it seems that they will start standing out in the next 2-3 years. Otherwise, you might have to look forward to the drought continuing.

Still a few months away until Roland Garros 2010 but I thought I'd share a little story. At a very young age, American tennis player Michael Chang managed to win the prestigious Roland Garros tournament. He was only 17 years old when he raised the trophy above his head and showed it to the cheering crowd, in 1989. Michal Chang was born in 1972 and is now retired, but during his long career he was very appreciated, as he was an excellent tennis player.

He set two records during his career, one being this epic win of the Roland Garros trophy after defeating Swedish superstar Stefan Edberg (as a matter of fact, he beat Edberg almost in every tournament they met). This made him not only the youngest guy ever to win at the French Open, but also the youngest to win a Grand Slam tournament ever! The other record he set was winning the most titles at the Indian Wells Masters. There is only one player who matched this record, but did not surpass it: the king Roger Federer. He never managed to get to first place in the ATP world rankings though, his best position being 2 in the 90s.

But winning at Roland Garros sealed his position in the tennis players' all time hall of fame.

domachowska.blog.onet.pl

FULL ARTICLE


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Former tennis number one-ranked player Andy Roddick, 27, is married to model Brooklyn Decker who is featured on the cover of Sports Illustrated's 2010 Swimsuit Issue.
The latest issue hit newsstands on February 9th earlier this week featuring the 22-year old model.
PHOTOS: SI's Swimsuit Issue Party

Last month's issue focused on covering international athletes. Russian tennis player Maria Kirilenko, Slovak tennis player Daniela Hantuchova, and French tennis player Tatiana Golovin were prominently featured. [ See: Top International Athletes' Salaries ]

It's been a little while since I've blogged here (okay, longer than that!) but I thought I'd get back to posting once in a while and see how things go from there.
Lots has happened in the tennis world since my last post. Let's see ... the last time I posted here, both Belgians were still in their first careers, Amelie Mauresmo was a one-time Grand Slam champion, Maria Sharapova was a top player, Martina Hingis was in her first retirement, the Serbians were still ascending, the Italians were not (quite) yet a Fed Cup dynasty, and Serena Williams was still in single digits in terms of Grand Slam singles titles. Needless to say, a lot has changed. Hey, it has been almost three-and-a-half years.
Anyway, a few thoughts on recent action:
First of all, all credit to Serena for her Australian Open. She had tough matches to close out her tournament, but she closed it out. It's easy to imagine almost any other player folding in any of those matches. Kudos to Serena for fighting until the very end.

Speaking of fighting, it's nice to see Justine Henin playing (and winning) again. I'll reserve judgment on her for now. I like her early results, but now, it's time to win something. To her credit, she seems to have adjusted her goals since the beginning of the season.

Kim Clijsters looked cool and collected in winning the U.S. Open. Coming off of that, how does one explain her loss in Australia? That one left me slack-jawed, to say the least. Kim's never been a player I can understand - she's so good, but for an elite player (one of the top five of this generation) she rarely seems able to out-tough an opponent. And yet, she seems like a relatively mentally-strong player.

What's going on with some of the younger players who had been coming up? Honestly, would you have believed in 2006 that Maria Sharapova, Nicole Vaidisova and Ana Ivanovic would not be Top 10 players by 2010? The good news is that all three are still young enough to recover and get back to where they once belonged. Can they turn it around, though? Right now, it seems like Sharapova is in the best position to do so - she's had the best results lately, but her Australian Open was discouraging. I wrote in an earlier post on WTA World that I don't fully trust matches between compatriots, but I thought we could trust Sharapova to get through Maria Kirilenko. Quite clearly, I was wrong.

Have we seen the start of the Chinese rise on the WTA? Probably. Now don't get me wrong, I don't think Na Li or Jie Zheng will be winning Grand Slams anytime soon, but this Australian Open may very well have been the Slam that really gets things going in the most heavily-populated country in the world. We may not see the results of this tournament for 5-10 years, but I wouldn't be at all surprised if we're watching a girl in a Grand Slam final sometime between 2015 and 2020 and we hear, "She was motivated to start playing when she watched Na Li and Jie Zheng reach the semifinals of the 2010 Australian Open."

Well, that's enough for now. Back with a few more thoughts later.

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PHOTOS: Tournament Images


Former women's tennis number one-ranked player Ana Ivanovic is featured on Sports Illustrated's famous Swimsuit Issue. The latest issue hits newsstands this week.

The 22-year old Ivanovic resides in Switzerland but is originally from Serbia.

PHOTOS: Tournament Images

PHOTOS: Ivanovic on Swimsuit Issue

At the 2010 Brisbane International, Ivanovic reached her first semifinal since Indian Wells, defeating Jelena Dokic, Timea Bacsinszky and Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova. However, Ivanovic lost to wild card Justine Henin, 6–3, 6–2. This was Henin's first return to tennis since her retirement.

At the 2010 Australian Open, Ivanovic lost lost in the second round to Gisela Dulko 6–7(6), 7–5, 6–4. Ana Ivanovic withdrew from Dubai with shoulder tendenitis. Her next event will be the 2010 BNP Paribas Open.

PHOTOS: Ivanovic on Swimsuit Issue
FULL ARTICLE


Former women's tennis number one-ranked player Ana Ivanovic is featured on Sports Illustrated's famous Swimsuit Issue which hits newsstands this week.
The 22-year old Ivanovic resides in Switzerland but is originally from Serbia.
PHOTOS: Ivanovic on Swimsuit Issue
The Serbian tennis star struggled at the Fed Cup quarterfinal. She lost in the singles and doubles match.
Ivanovic follows in the footsteps of the now-retired Anna Kournikova who also posed for numerous high profile magazines. Serena Williams also posed for ESPN's Body Issue. Tennis player Ashley Harkleroad posed nude for Playboy in 2008.

I hope she goes alright tomorrow :D

Well it's that time of the year, today is 4 years since the love of my life passed away, and this year is one of the worst. Sure, one year after was, but this year's been pretty hard, infact the last few months (hence no Beefy's Xmas Message last Christmas). I didn't think much about it last year, because Carmen was on my mind heaps, what with the war and everything. But last year, doing stuff which put my mind back 4 years made it hard, and it's hard still.

The reason I find it hard at this period, is because for me, I'm always looking forward or back 4 years quite a few years, because of all these different sporting events. The World Cup, Olympics, Commonwealth Games, Ashes cricket series in England, and in Australia, they're all every 4 years, and when one of them is on, I always think back to 4 years earlier to the last one, and what my life is. So between the Ashes in England last, and from then on, I've just been thinking back to 4 years earlier, and the whole fun, and now when I think back 4 years, it's all the pain.

I remember shortley after her death, and I was feeling shit, the Winter Olympics were on for Turin, and I was thinking back 4 years to the Salt Lake City Olympics, and just being with her, and having our first Valentines day together, but of course in 2006, there would be none, and it hurt. As I said, the one year mark is pretty bad, but this just seems worse, maybe because of what I've said, or maybe there's more, I don't know.

I was at the tennis yesterday, and hanging around court 9 just brings back some bad memories. I remember it was that court that on the Saturday for qualifying in 06 that it really hit me that she had tried to take her life, and was on life support, and it was that court on the Tuesday night that I had my last phone convo with her, though she didn't hear anything.

I don't know what the rest of this year is going to be like, but it hasn't really got much better in the 4 years since it changed for the worse, all I know is, I don't want to go forward, I just wanna go back, but not 4 years, further and just enjoy those times with someone who I've lost, and can't replace.

What an year we saw 2009... just chilling here I am posting my latest blog after so much time. From Kim's comback(nice cute girl and US Open title) to Justine comeback news to Dinara's two final appearances. Sad start of season for me since Maria Sharapova missing from action in opening part but it gave me time to look for other beauties with talent on tour.
1st of all Caroline Wozniacki a Dannish sweetie who jumped in top draw with her talent on tour and in my list with her looks :worship:
2ndly Victoria Azarenka she also stormed into top draw with conviction but needs to keep level going.
3rdly not new one but one of the fittest player on tour playing her best tennis form Elena Dementieva.She and her nerves only comes between her and grandslam I hope she will prove more robust this year.
4th Elena Vesnina just purely her beauty attracted me before her game some what appealed me.
Some Beauties appealed me Sabine Lisicki ,Dominika Cibulkova, Sorana Cirstea,MICHELLE LARCHER DE BRITO(15 year portugese),Yanina Wickmayer,Flavia Pennetta. These player shown considerable talent in both departments next time may be more about them.

I want some of my fav play good in 2010 with poor 2009
Nicole Vaidisova :- She had terrible year on tour dropping out of top 100 she needs strong comeback.
Maria kirilenko & Anna Chakvetadze :- both player dropped out of top 30 but not bad year though.
Ana Ivanovic: Her love may bring her new heights but she has to play well this year.

Maria Sharapova :- Needs to better her serve thats funda for next year

All the best For 2010
Happy New Year

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