[antarctica]

Now that I've gone back and looked at the latest rankings/standings, you're right otma.

I just noticed that the point difference between Maria and Mauresmo isn't as great as I thought it was, so if Maria wins Madrid and maybe one of the other two tournaments she's entered in, she actually does have a chance to get to #1 - provided Mauresmo can't defend her points from last year.

[sahiba]

http://www.iht.com/articles/2006/09/28/opinion/edserge.php

Where were the Russian tennis stars before?
Serge Schmemann

Published: September 28, 2006


Where in frozen Siberia did these Russians learn how to swing a racket? Svetlana Kuznetsova took the China Open. Dmitry Tursunov (Dmitry who?) beat the best American player, Andy Roddick, to knock the United States out of the Davis Cup. The glamorous Russian teenager Maria Sharapova swept past Belgium's best, Justine Henin- Hardenne, to win the U.S. Open.

And so it goes, the extraordinary invasion of pro tennis, and especially women's tennis, by players from a country that shouldn't be playing tennis at all. Sure, Russians excel at ice hockey, or chess, and we wouldn't think twice if they dominated, say, gymnastics, or synchronized swimming. These are endeavors that sit well with our Western notion of what Russians should do well: sports that require year-round refrigeration, endless indoor drills and lots of brooding. But tennis? The quintessential bourgeois pastime?

Two decades ago, there were no Russian names among the top 100 players, much less among the glitterati of the sport. Today, Maria Sharapova is a trademark, and behind her is a cascade of top-ranked Russians with jaw-challenging names: Anastasia Myskina, Elena Dementieva, Svetlana Kuznetsova, Vera Zvonareva, Nadia Petrova, Mikhail Youzhny, Nikolai Davydenko, Dmitry Tursunov, Marat Safin. (Please, it's Sha-RA-pova, not Shara- POH-va; it's Kuzne-TSO-va, not Kuz- NET-sova...Oh, never mind.)

And there's nothing of the shy newcomer about them. They seem to have emerged as prepackaged, beautifully turned out stars, complete with obsessed parent. Tursunov, like Sharapova, was exported by a relentless father to the United States at a precocious age, and it's hard to tell whether either is more Russian or American.

So what spawned these stars?

There's a time-honored tradition in the West to approach Russia as a riddle, devising elaborate explanations for Russia's admittedly befuddling ways. I know: I was a foreign correspondent in Moscow for 10 years, and filled quite a few bytes expounding on the effects of endless winter, endless expanse, the collision of East and West, long subjugation by Mongol hordes, the absence of a Renaissance, vodka, and other such formative influences. I've always had a soft spot for the swaddling theory, wherein the practice of binding babies like mummies between feedings formed a nation given to lurching between total passivity and total anarchy (Full disclosure: I may have been swaddled).

So there is certain temptation to seek a Dostoevskian explanation for the rise of Russian tennis. Are these young stars a post-Soviet reaction to the collective ethic of the Soviet era? Are they another version of the trillionaire oligarch, people who frantically grasp for all the riches and glory denied them for 70 years? Tursunov has admitted in an interview that Hugh Hefner of Playboy fame was a model: "After tennis, I want to have a big house and wear a velvety robe." The Cincinnati Enquirer suggested that tennis was the Russian equivalent of basketball in the American inner city - a way out: "Think of a tennis court in Siberia as analogous to a basketball court in the Bronx."

The fact is that there was always tennis in the Soviet Union, even if it was often on lumpy courts behind high walls. But the Communist party always preferred to send teams abroad, because when stars went alone they had a nasty habit of defecting. All that changed in 1988, when tennis returned to the Olympics and the Soviet Union began to loosen up. Courts quickly began to sprout across the land. The game got a further boost from Boris Yeltsin, who was often photographed wrestling with a racket.

That was the era when most of the current stars got their first racket. Then Anna Kournikova showed how a Russian player can become a big bucks marketing star. Combine that with the fact that Russia is still a country where children are expected to master skills, whether chess, ballet or tennis, through relentless practice, and the head of Russian tennis, Shamil Tarpishev, says the invasion has only just begun.

Why women's tennis in particular? For that, the playwright Edvard Radzinsky has a compelling explanation. Writing in The Wall Street Journal, he noted that professional sport was one of the few fields where women had a measure of equality in the old USSR. With the collapse of the Soviet Union, women were also freed to plunge into business. And so the two merged, most noticeably in tennis. "The role of the Tennis Lolita, of the Beauteous Champion, is but Russian womanhood's most public face," Radzinsky wrote.

Still, I wouldn't overlook swaddling. Isn't tennis all about lurching between passivity and passion?

[Caoimhan]

SONY ERICSSON WTA TOUR EXTENDS AND EXPANDS INNOVATIONS PROGRAM

Select fall tournaments to continue trialing of on-court coaching and test new doubles format, adding to series of groundbreaking innovations designed to enhance the entertainment value for TV and in stadium viewers

ST. PETERSBURG, Florida – The Sony Ericsson WTA Tour announced today the extension and expansion of its fan friendly innovations program, highlighted by the continuation of its on-court coaching trial and the unveiling of doubles format testing at select fall events, in addition to innovations such as electronic line calling and greater player and coach pre- and in-match interviews previously unveiled earlier this year.

On-court coaching will be featured this fall at the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix in Stuttgart, Zurich Open in Zurich, and Generali Ladies Linz in Linz.

The debut of trialing of no-ad scoring in doubles matches will take place at the FORTIS Championships in Luxembourg, Guangzhou International Women’s Open in Guangzhou, China and Hansol Korea Open Tennis Championships in Seoul, Korea.

Electronic line calling, which has been a huge hit with fans and broadcasters, has been used with great success this past week at the China Open in Beijing, and will be also be featured at the Kremlin Cup in Moscow as well as the season-ending Sony Ericsson Championships in Madrid in November.

Additionally, all Sony Ericsson WTA Tour events will continue to utilize previously announced TV innovations including pre-match player interviews, coaches interviews during matches and enhanced microphones on court.

The on-court coaching trial is designed to enhance the viewing experience of fans by engaging a new actor in the drama of a tennis match, while also adding an additional element of strategy and content for broadcasters.

The most significant changes from the on-court coaching test previously conducted at the Rogers Cup in Montreal and Pilot Pen Tennis in New Haven are that players will no longer be able to call their coach during the middle of a set (rather, only at set breaks and when the opposing player takes a medical or bathroom break), and television will now be able to carry both the video and audio from coaching timeouts live.

The doubles scoring format test, which will see all doubles matches at the test events utilize two of three set, no-ad scoring, is designed to create greater drama for fans as well as more consistency in match length.

“The Sony Ericsson WTA Tour is committed to exploring all avenues open to us to make our sport as accessible, appealing and fan-friendly as possible,” said Stacey Allaster, President of the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour. “Together with our title sponsor Sony Ericsson and our broadcast partners, we are working closely on a number of exciting initiatives that we believe will take women’s tennis another step forward in terms of entertainment value. Our initial trialing of on-court coaching was very well received by television, fans and a majority of our players, and added another element to the oncourt show.”

“I am a big supporter of making changes that have the potential to bring new fans to our sport and make watching women’s tennis on TV even more fun for fans,” said Svetlana Kuznetsova, Sony Ericsson WTA Tour World No. 5 and former US Open Champion. “I know that as players, the whole locker room is intrigued to see how the second wave of testing works in Europe.”

“For Sony Ericsson, our sponsorship of women’s tennis is about connecting players to fans, be it through our technology or through the introduction of innovative entertainment concepts such as on court coaching,” said Dee Dutta, CVP and Head of Marketing for Sony Ericsson. “We are determined to look at all opportunities open to us and the Tour to make this great sport even better and continue to compete and succeed in the entertainment marketplace.”

[Shonta]

Who will qualify for Madrid?: October 16 update

The run-up to the year-ending Sony Ericsson WTA Tour Championships is starting to look more and more like a rain-hit Formula 1 race – the question isn't who'll end up on the podium, but how many will even make it to the finish line.

With so many injuries hitting at once, there’s no point counting anyone out – players who finish outside the top eight could get in anyway if there are multiple withdrawals. Still, some of the contenders are more secure than others. With three weeks to go, here’s how the field breaks down.

ALREADY IN

Three of the four players who have already qualified for the eight-player field have been struggling physically:

Justine Henin-Hardenne is now set to resume training after aggravating an old knee injury in the Fed Cup final, but hasn’t yet made a decision about whether she’ll play in Madrid. She’s already said she won’t play any events leading up to the tournament.

Amelie Mauresmo returned to competition in Moscow after pulling out of Stuttgart with a right shoulder injury a week earlier. She played two tough matches, winning a third-set tiebreaker over Elena Vesnina and losing another against Nicole Vaidisova. Mauresmo is the top seed in Zurich this week.

Maria Sharapova pulled out of her quarterfinal match Moscow last week with a right foot strain. She’s still scheduled to return this week in Zurich, and also appears to have added Linz to her schedule.

Svetlana Kuznetsova’s post-US Open run came to an end after 10 matches when she lost in the semifinals of Stuttgart and then went out in her opening match in Moscow. But at least she appears to be healthy as she goes into Zurich this week.

UPWARDLY MOBILE

Among those still trying to qualify, Nadia Petrova has made the greatest strides by winning in Stuttgart and reaching the final of Moscow. Of course, she also got injured in the process – a right pectoral injury hampered her play in Moscow. She’s not playing this week.

Elena Dementieva also boosted her chances by overcoming leg cramps to win her second-round match in Stuttgart. Though she subsequently had to withdraw from the tournament, the quarterfinal finish helped keep her in a good position, which she backed up by reaching the semifinals of Moscow. Naturally, she’s playing yet again this week.

Barring something extraordinary, she and Petrova are almost certain to make it. To qualify this week, Dementieva needs to outlast Patty Schnyder in Zurich, while Petrova will qualify if Schnyder loses before the final.

With two tournament wins in the last three weeks, Anna Chavetadze is climbing fast. She can’t make it to Madrid without a withdrawal or three, but even the chance of an alternate spot is a significant gain considering she was virtually out of the running a month ago. But she pulled out of Zurich with a left shoulder strain a day after winning the final in Moscow, foregoing her chances of moving up further.

Others are holding steady. Schnyder and Martina Hingis are playing in Zurich, while Kim Clijsters is probably going to make her return from a wrist injury the week before Madrid in Hasselt. Hingis needs to reach the final to qualify this week. Because Clijsters is hardly playing, Schnyder's destiny is in her own hands – if she can put up the results to pass Clijsters, she'll finish in the top eight. If she doesn't, she won't.

NEED SOME HELP

Dinara Safina more or less gave up her shot at finishing in the final eight by not playing Zurich, but she’s got a good chance of finishing ninth – i.e. next in if someone pulls out.

Nicole Vaidisova needs to win everything in sight to finish in the top eight -- if she doesn't, she'll probably end up in the 10th or 11th spots.

Jelena Jankovic is not going to finish in the top eight either, but she’s playing in Zurich and is another player who could get in as an alternate if she can post a win or a couple of finals in the next two weeks.

Ana Ivanovic’s shoulder injury has put an end to her slim hopes, and Anastasia Myskina’s post-US Open inactivity has also put her out of the running

[Shonta]

Dementieva, Petrova Secure Spots In Madrid

By Tennis Week
10/18/2006

The Madrid field will feature a Russian flavor next month. Nadia Petrova and Elena Dementieva have joined Justine Henin-Hardenne, Amelie Mauresmo, Maria Sharapova and Svetlana Kuznetsova in qualifying for the season-ending Sony Ericsson WTA Championships, November 7-12, in Madrid.

Both players clinched their spots in Madrid when Patty Schnyder was defeated in the first round of the Zurich Open this week. With just two more weeks of tournaments following this week before the Sony Ericsson Championships, only two spots remain up for grabs in the singles draw of the season-ending crown jewel event. Currently (not including points from this week in Zurich), Kim Clijsters sits in the seventh spot with 1,860 points, followed by Martina Hingis with 1,851 points and Patty Schnyder with 1,615 points.

Petrova, recent Porsche Grand Prix champion and winner of the Qatar Total Open, Bausch and Lomb Championships, Family Circle Cup and Qatar Telecom German Open this year, is currently in fifth place on the Race to the Sony Ericsson Championships with 2,029 points. She has posted a 44-16 record on the season. During the course of her six year professional career, Petrova has claimed six singles titles and 12 doubles titles, attained a career high world ranking of No. 3 and won over $4.8 million in prize money on the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour. Petrova will be making her second straight appearance at the season-ending event.

"I am really happy to have made it to the Sony Ericsson Championships," said Petrova. "This is a great reward for all the hard work I have done to get back from injury, and will be a fantastic end to my season. To be one of the eight best players in the world is amazing and I look forward to taking them all on in Madrid in November."

Dementieva, winner of the Toray Pan Pacific Open in Tokyo and JP Morgan Open in Los Angeles, and is currently sixth on the Race to the Sony Ericsson Championships with 1,943 points. She has a season record of 47-17. Since turning professional in 1998, Dementieva has won six singles and 6 doubles titles, attained a career high Sony Ericsson WTA Tour ranking of 4 and won over $7.4 million in prize money. Dementieva has qualified for every Sony Ericsson Championships since 2000, the only active player to do so.

"I'm extremely proud of the fact that this is the seventh straight year I have qualified for this prestigious event," said Dementieva."It means a lot to every player to make it to the end of season as one of the best eight players and I can’t wait to get to Madrid."

[Shonta]

Hingis, Clijsters qualify for season-ending WTA Championship

October 29, 2006

LINZ, Austria (AP) -- Martina Hingis and Kim Clijsters have qualified for the season-ending WTA Championship, joining the top players next month in Madrid, Spain.

Hingis and Clijsters earned the final spots Saturday when Patty Schnyder of Switzerland lost to Maria Sharapova in the semifinals of the Generali Ladies Linz in Austria.

The top eight players in the WTA rankings qualify for the championship. They'll join Amelie Mauresmo, Justine Henin-Hardenne, Sharapova, Svetlana Kuznetsova, Nadia Petrova and Elena Dementieva.

Last year, Mauresmo beat Mary Pierce in a marathon final.

The WTA Championship starts Nov. 7 and the final is set for Nov. 12.

[Sexy Siberian]

Model ball boys shouldn't focus on players

11/06/2006 7:56 AM - Male models being used as ball boys at this week's end-of-season WTA Championships need to keep their minds on the job and not be distracted by the female players, world No. 8 Elena Dementieva said.

MADRID -- Male models being used as ball boys at this week's end-of-season WTA Championships need to keep their minds on the job and not be distracted by the female players, world No. 8 Elena Dementieva said on Monday."We were practicing the other day and I don't think they really know what they have to do on the court because they are too busy watching the players," the 25-year-old Russian told reporters ahead of the Madrid event, which starts on Tuesday."We'll have to see if it will work out or not but I think it will be a distraction for them to do their job," she said. "I don't think that they realize what they have let themselves in for and that they will have to be very careful about what they are doing on the court."The players are so focused and sometimes they get crazy with the ball boys so they don't know what they will be facing in a couple of days," she said.Organizers decided to use male models as an answer to criticism over the use of female models as ball girls at the men's Madrid Masters.

Kim Clijsters, who won the tournament in 2002 and 2003, said the initiative had been a talking point among the eight players taking part."I was talking to Maria [Sharapova] in the taxi and she said they looked nice," the world No. 6 said. "I'm excited about it, although it is going to be strange. As long as they do a good job, that is all that matters."Belgian Justine Henin-Hardenne, who is bidding to wrap up the year-end No. 1 spot at the Championships, joked that her husband had warned her to be on her best behavior."I'm very excited but I'm married so I can look but not touch," she smiled.Martina Hingis added it would give her a chance to get even with boyfriend Radek Stepanek, ranked 19 in the world."Radek played here in Madrid in the past so now it's my turn," she said.

[GotSharapova]

American women conspicuous by their absence

By Simon Baskett

MADRID (Reuters) - Not so long ago the WTA's season-ending championships were dominated by players from the United States. This year, for the first time since the event began in 1972, there are no Americans at the tournament.

Four of the world's top eight players that have qualified to play in Madrid come from Russia, two from Belgium and one apiece from France and Switzerland.


The only American in the world's top 35 this week is Lindsay Davenport, while the long-term absence of Williams sisters Serena and Venus has left a vacuum which has yet to be filled.

Only 15 women have topped the world rankings in the 31 years since the inception of computer rankings and eight of them were Americans.

But in August this year, a week before the U.S. Open, there were no American representatives in the WTA top 10 for the first time since 1975.

World number eight Elena Dementieva, one of the quartet of Russians bidding to win the WTA Championships in Madrid, says she is bemused by the decline in fortunes of American tennis players.

"This is going to be the first time we won't see any American players in the top eight at the end of the year and this is really strange," she told reporters on the eve of the Championships.

"I don't see lots of young American players coming through. I see lots of Russian players who are playing junior grand slams and winning them.

"It's really strange with all the system and the great practice conditions that they have in the United States. It is really amazing why they don't have these players right now."

European women bagged all 16 semi-final spots in the grand slam events this year, although five of those were occupied by three players who either honed their trade or are based in the U.S: Russian Maria Sharapova, Czech Nicole Vaidisova and Serbia's Jelena Jankovic.

SPURRED ON

One factor that Dementieva believes could have led to American players being edged out in their own backyard is the hunger of the younger players from Russia and Eastern Europe for success.

"Obviously there is no secret and everyone has a different story to tell, but we are all very well-motivated and our parents were really involved in our tennis lives," she said.

World number five Nadia Petrova agrees with her compatriot, saying that many Russian youngsters are spurred on by the success of players like herself and Sharapova and see tennis as the road to fame and fortune.

"Why do we dominate? Well, it's partly down to the size of the country and how many talents there are. But it is also because many players start with nothing at all and tennis can give them opportunities," Petrova said.

The 24-year-old also points to the momentum that success has created in Russian tennis, pushing the players on to higher levels of achievement.

"There is a generation that grew up and competed together and pushed each other on. We all grew up differently and have our own style, but physically we are all strongly built, have a winning spirit and character."

World number one Amelie Mauresmo said that the weight of expectation created by the plethora of previous successes from American women may have taken its toll on many young players.

"It is tough for the young ones because American have such a big history with players like Chris Evert, Martina Navratilova, Monica Seles and Lindsay Davenport. So it is hard for the young ones to have the confidence to succeed. There is a lot of expectation," she said.

The Frenchwoman also believes that it is a question of cycles of sporting achievement. "I think American tennis has probably coming to a turning point in men's and women's events."


[/b]

[Shonta]

Jelena Dokic Disappears; Father Charges Kidnapping

By Tennis Week
11/21/2006

Another bizarre chapter in the continuing saga of Jelena Dokic is unfolding as Dokic disappeared on a trip to Zagreb and the the former World No. 4's father, the controversial Damir Dokic, claims his daughter's former coach and ex-boyfriend may have kidnapped his daughter.

The domineering Damir Dokic, who has made outrageous claims in the past, told the Serbian newspaper Kurir he believes his daughter's former coach, Borna Bikic and his brother, Dokic's ex-boyfriend, Tino Bikic, may have played a part in her disappearance.

"I'm very worried for my daughter," Damir Dokic told Kurir in comments published by Eurosport. "Jelena will never admit that she was kidnapped or made to stay in Zagreb, but I think it is crystal clear that the Bikic brothers are behind all this."

Former Croatian Davis Cup captain Niki Pilic, who led Croatia to its first Davis Cup championship in history last December, had been working with the 23-year-old Dokic in Germany when she reportedly left for Zagreb to retrieve some winter clothes. Dokic reportedly told Pilic she would return to Germany to resume training, but then phoned her mother and said she would not go back to Germany, according to published reports in the Serbian media.

Dokic's father has gone public with his claims the Bikic brothers may have kidnapped his daughter, however Damir Dokic has a history of outrageous behavior, including last year when he was quoted in the Serbian press advocating his daughter's kidnapping from the Bikic brothers prior to Wimbledon.

"Quite literarily, she should be kidnapped to save her from her boyfriend and her coach (the Bikic brothers)," Damir Dokic said in comments reprinted by the AAP. "The two of them are people of dubious moral and professional standards. I want WTA to ask for additional psychiatric and doping tests for my daughter to confirm whether she uses illegal substances. Two years ago she was the fourth player in the world and look where is she now on the WTA list. This happened because she stopped having a relationship with her family."

Widely regarded as one of the top teenage prospects in the world after moving to Sydney, Australia from Serbia when she was 11, Dokic soon found herself receiving as much media attention for her father's antics off the court than for her play on the court. Damir Dokic was arrested for drunk and disorderly conduct after being ejected from a grass-court tournament in Birmingham, England four years ago and protesting his ejection by lying down in a busy street in front of the tournament.

An allegedly drunken Damir Dokic was kicked out of Wimbledon in 2000 after a nonsensical tirade in which he allegedly made disparaging remarks about the royal family and made a lewd gesture at a female observing his outburst before grabbing a journalist's cell phone and smashing it to the ground. Despite her father's volatile outbursts, Jelena Dokic reached the Wimbledon semifinals before falling to Lindsay Davenport. Two months after his Wimbledon outburst, the former boxer battled security at the U.S. Open. Upset at what he perceived as the high cost of a $10 piece of salmon (despite the fact that he used free food vouchers to pay for his meal at no cost), Damir Dokic berated a server in the player's restaurant, argued loudly with U.S. Open security staff and was finally escorted off the grounds at Flushing Meadows and banned from the Open for the duration of the tournament. At a press conference outside his hotel the next day, Damir Dokic blasted then-WTA Tour CEO Bart McGuire, calling him a "communist." The WTA subsequently suspended Mr. Dokic from the Tour for six months.

Jelena tried to distance herself from her domineering father in 2002 when she banned her parents from the player area at the the Generali Ladies Linz tournament in Linz, Austria and retained her own security staff in an apparent effort to provide her protection from her father.

Dokic, whose ranking has plummeted from No. 4 in August of 2002 to No. 583 today, reached the semifinals of a $10,000 Challenger event in Germany last week.

That is really bizarre!!!

[GotSharapova]

Just Asking: 10 Questions on November 14

By Kamakshi Tandon

1. Maria, what are press conferences for? Talking only, please. Maria Sharapova had to field more than just questions during her post-match interviews in Madrid. After her first match, a reporter asked if she could throw a ball towards him. “That’s not a question, that’s an action,” Sharapova replied. After losing in the semifinals, Sharapova was asked to “shout” for the camera – i.e. give a rendition of the famous shriek she makes when hitting the ball. “You want me to shout?” said Sharapova in disbelief. “Are you kidding me? I don’t think so. Sorry. I won’t shout.”

Justine Henin-Hardenne, who defeated Sharapova in the semifinals and eventually went on to win the tournament, was also informed that she made a noise when hitting the ball. “Not like Sharapova,” Henin-Hardenne replied. Nevertheless, could she give a demonstration? “No, I’m not in the situation to do that,” she said. Just a small scream? “No, no, I’m too shy for that.”

2. Elena, are you having a bad day on serve? How can you tell? Asked why she had struggled on serve in her match against Maria Sharapova in Madrid, Elena Dementieva replied, “I don’t think there was a [special] reason. It’s been a problem for a while for me. So, I mean, there is no excuse for such a bad serve.”

3. Jelena, what are some adjectives that describe you? Ask the Quebec papers. Jelena Jankovic gave a pre-tournament interview at Quebec City and obviously made quite an impression. “Brilliante, eloquente, chaleureuse et coquette!” ran the headline in the Journal de Quebec (‘Brilliant, eloquent, warm and flirtatious!’). “Favorite et flamboyante!” concluded Le Soleil (‘Favorite and flamboyant!’). The latter also had a colorful description of the tournament finalist, Olga Poutchkova: “Pétillante, enjouée... et un gros péché mignon!” (‘Bubbly, cheerful... and a big cute sin (guilty pleasure)!”

4. Damir, would you settle for singing instead? It makes sense when you’ve already proven you know how to make people cover their ears. Damir Dokic, Jelena Dokic’s controversial father, has expressed an interest in appearing on Australian version of the reality show Dancing with the Stars. Previous negotiations apparently didn’t work out, but a former winner of the program – Lleyton Hewitt’s wife Bec – returned to her television career this week as a host of ABBA Mania, a TV special featuring celebrities singing ABBA songs. If the show gets picked up for regular airings, can a tennis-themed episode be far behind? In addition to Damir, possiblities include Mark Philippoussis’ ex-girlfriend and famous Australian singer Delta Goodrem, Andy Roddick’s ex-girlfriend and famous American singer Mandy Moore, tennis player turned famous French singer Yannick Noah, and John McEnroe’s wife and singer Patty Smythe.

5. Now that Whirlpool has renewed its sponsorship of the WTA Tour, who’ll be the next to sign up? All signs point to a fabric softener (see photos right).

6. David, did you make it that traumatic? Apparently. After David Nalbandian’s Madrid blog for the ATP abruptly ended after two cursory entries, there hasn’t been another player blog on the website since.

7. Nikolay, why do you make people’s eyes glaze over? Maybe something just gets lost in translation. Making his acceptance speech in Paris, Davydenko lightheartedly began with, “I don’t speak French – I just started English.” But thanks to the French translator, the crowd heard: “I don’t speak French. I’m going to speak in English.” Hard to tell that the low-profile Russian isn’t above the odd sly remark – before a Davis Cup tie against Croatia last year, he predicted the host nation’s “main advantage will be the line officials.” The following week, he assessed his luck at fishing: “I was there for two hours and caught five, then my girlfriend came and caught three in 10 minutes. That's women for you.”

8. Dominik, are you an awe-inspiring player? Sometimes – while racking up of four consecutive five-set matches at the Australian Open this year, for example. More often, though, Dominik Hrbaty is “aww”-inspiring. Transcripts from his breakout run to the semifinals at Roland Garros in 1999 are now inacessible, but if memory serves correctly, Hrbaty was asked what he most disliked about being a pro. He replied, “Nothing. I like everything.” Asked who his friends on tour were, he said, “Everybody is my friend. I love everybody.” Aww.

After proving less than awe-inspiring during a straight-sets blitzing by Nikolay Davydenko in the Paris final, Hrbaty reinforced that cuddly impression. “I was fighting till the last point for you,” he told the crowd during his runner’s-up speech in Paris, tears welling up in his eyes. “Sorry, today it didn’t work out.” He finished by saying he’d like to thank “everyone who works in tennis”: “This game is my life and I love playing it.” Aww.

9. Gael, can French crowds be a little tough? And how. After his ankle injury turned out to be less serious than originally thought, the Parisian-born Gael Monfils put off a vacation in Guadeloupe and returned to play at the Masters Series event in his hometown – an unexpected bonus for a tournament whose field had been decimated by withdrawals. His reward? Getting whistled by spectators during a rusty first-round loss to Igor Andreev. Afterwards, he proved more generous than the crowd, saying, “The people perhaps weren’t informed about my physical condition. I forgive them.”

10. Does it involve a player sitting naked on a horse? No, that’s only in WTA-sanctioned photo shoots. But an Argentine version of Playboy does feature a tennis theme in its November issue, including a former nationally-ranked player on the cover.

I wasnt sure where to put this since it deals with both ATP and WTA. Just decided to put it here itf thats alright.

[Shonta]

Number Crunching: Bottom lines for the top women

A look at some telling stats for the most successful women on the WTA Tour in 2006, as well as some things on the agenda for 2007.

THE TOP EIGHT

1. JUSTINE HENIN-HARDENNE

Titles won in 2006: 6

No year-end No. 1 has ended the year with fewer titles since computer rankings were established in 1973, and Lindsay Davenport in 1998 was the only other player to manage it with just six titles to her name. It’s a reflection of the current parity at the top of the women’s game, which is at least partly related to the number of injuries suffered by players over the last couple of years.

Henin-Hardenne may have only played 13 events, but she had an 88% match-winning percentage when she did play. In addition to winning four WTA Tour events and the season-ending championships, she reached the final of all four majors – winning the fifth Grand Slam title of her career at Roland Garros.

2007 To-Do list: Have more memorable wins than memorable retirements.

2. MARIA SHARAPOVA

2004-2006 winning percentage on clay: 74%
2004-2006 winning percentage on all other surfaces: 84%

Not counting her mid-tournament withdrawal from Moscow, Sharapova lost before the semifinals at only one event this year: Roland Garros, where she fell to Dinara Safin in the fourth round after blowing a 5-1 lead in the third set. Roland Garros was also the only clay event Sharapova played in 2006 – she sat out most of May with an ankle injury.

If Sharapova had played and performed as well on the red stuff as she did on everything else this year, she might even have finished the year No. 1. But as the 10-point gap in her winning percentage shows, it’s still the weak link in her results.

2007 To-Do list: Play on clay as well as all the other players who tell themselves to “vamos.”

3. AMELIE MAURESMO

Slams won in 2006: 2
Other titles won in 2006: 2

That’s how you end up No. 3 in the rankings even with two Slam titles in your pocket. Mauresmo played 17 events, more than either Henin-Hardenne or Sharapova, but she didn’t make it past the quarterfinals at seven of them.

Still, for a player whose big question marks have always been injuries and nerves, playing nearly a full quota of events and winning two of the biggest ones has to make for a very satisfying year.

2007 To-Do list: Say “Roland Garros is just another event, Roland Garros is just another event” in the mirror 50 times a day.

4. SVETLANA KUZNETSOVA

2006 match wins: 60

Spot the difference: 13, 15, 17, 22, 14. Those are the number of events played by each of the top five players, respectively. Kuznetsova’s 22 is the largest by a significant margin.

Her demanding schedule gave her the most match wins on the Tour this year (60), but she also had to play more matches than anyone else (80) to do it.

Can she keep up this kind of schedule?

2007 To-Do list: Win more, play less.

5. KIM CLIJSTERS

2006 in-match retirements: 2

Henin-Hardenne’s two in-match retirements may be the most remembered, but one of those came in doubles at Fed Cup. Clijsters is the only top player to retire from a singles match on two occasions this year.

Both turned out to be fairly significant injuries – she went into the Australian Open nursing a hip injury, and hurt her ankle in the semifinals. The Belgian managed to come back in time to play Antwerp in February, but then didn’t compete again until April. In August, she hurt her vulnerable left wrist in Montreal and had to sit out for several weeks, missing the US Open and again returning just in time to play a Belgian event, Hasselt.

It’s a reflection of Clijsters’ physical playing style, one which looks like it’ll lead her towards a more permanent retirement in 2007. She’s said she’ll play until Wimbledon but intends to be preoccupied by wedding plans after that.

2007 To-Do list: Get married. Start family. Start planning comeback.

6. NADIA PETROVA

2006 Opening-round losses: 7
2006 Titles: 5

Clearly a sign of a feast-or-famine year. Petrova was on a 15-match win-streak at Tour events and one of the favorites going into Roland Garros when she got struck by a hip injury and tumbled out in the first round. She struggled physically and mentally when trying to come back in late summer, and also made some coaching changes this year. But the Russian did at least finish on an encouraging note, reaching the finals of her last two regular tour events and upsetting Mauresmo in the season-ending championships.

2007 To-Do list: Think happy thoughts.

7. MARTINA HINGIS

Position based on quality points: 5th

Until last year, the WTA rankings awarded players extra ‘quality points’ for beating top players. Separating a player’s quality points from her regular tournament points was simple way of measuring the strength of her wins. If quality points were still being given out today, Hingis would have the fifth-largest amount, higher than her current No. 7 ranking. So while there are doubts about whether the former No. 1 can still defeat the very best players, she’s still putting up the wins to indicate that she can at least be right below them.

Given that this year was her first full season of play since 2002, it’s hard to find much fault with how she’s done. The only caveat? Nearly three-quarters of her quality points were earned in the first half of the year. During that period, she was performing like a Top 5 player. Since then, it’s been just Top 10 material.

2007 To-Do list: Surprise us.

8. ELENA DEMENTIEVA

Wins against Top 10 players: 10
Losses to non-Top 10 players: 10

A solid but hardly exciting year. Elena Dementieva had six early-round losses, eight quarterfinals, and seven semifinals or better. She won two titles – Tokyo and Los Angeles. But the two-time Slam finalist didn’t make it out of the quarterfinals at the majors this year, and had just three Top-10 wins against 10 losses (she also gave a walkover to Patty Schnyder in Moscow).

2007 To-Do list: Serve it up. In more ways than one.


OTHERS TO WATCH

10. NICOLE VAIDISOVA

Big tournaments won: 0
Smaller tournaments won: 6

For a player with such big weapons, Vaidisova has been looking surprisingly like a paper tiger. She’s won six Tier III/IV events (going 19-1 since June 2005) but has never been past the semifinal of a bigger event. But this season may turn out to be a transition year – she played only two of those smaller events, and meanwhile reached the semifinals of Roland Garros as well as San Diego and Moscow.

2007 To-Do list: Become a big-match player.

12. JELENA JANKOVIC

2006 win-loss till Rome: 1-10
2006 win-loss since: 44-17

After a miserable start that had her thinking about going back to school full-time, Jankovic turned things around and kept getting better all summer, reaching her first Grand Slam semifinal at the US Open. If she can play the whole of next year like the second half of this year, the Top 10 is a given.

2007 to-Do list: Play the whole of next year like the second half of this year.

13. ANNA CHAKVETADZE

Wins against Top 10 players since Wimbledon: 5

That’s more than Dementieva, Schnyder or Vaidisova had all year. It was hard to see this coming: until Wimbledon, she hadn’t beaten a Top 15 player all year. But since then, she’s won titles at Guangzhou and Moscow and was just three games away from reaching the Montreal final before retiring with injury.

2007 To-Do list: Keep the trend alive.

14. ANA IVANOVIC

2006 record in quarterfinals: 1-7
Pre-2006 record in quarterfinals: 4-3

On the plus side, the one time Ivanovic did make it past the quarterfinals this year – Montreal – she ended up winning the whole thing. She’s also beaten six of the current Top 10 players at one time or another.

2007 To-Do list: Win more matches in a row.

[Shonta]

Players worth watching in 2007

Women: 19-and-under to watch

Anna Chakvetadze, 19, Russia
2006 year-end ranking: 13; 2005 year-end ranking: 33
Learn to spell this name. Upset victory in Moscow, where she steamed past more highly regarded countrywomen Dinara Safina, Elena Dementieva and Nadia Petrova showed this teen doesn't want to get buried in the Russian avalanche. Won both of her finals this year.

Tatiana Golovin, 18, France
2006 year-end ranking: 22; 2005 year-end ranking: 24
Who knows how much more progress this vivacious Russian-born player would have made had she not severely sprained an ankle when she had Sharapova on the ropes in Miami in March. Still looking for her first WTA title, but had six of her seven career top-10 wins this season, including two apiece over Petrova and Nicole Vaidisova.

Ana Ivanovic, 19, Serbia
2006 year-end ranking: 14; 2005 year-end ranking: 16
Graceful player continues to improve. Can play on all surfaces but was at her best on hard courts, where she won both of her titles (Canberra and Montreal).

Vania King, 17, United States
2006 year-end ranking: 61; 2005 year-end ranking: 202
Weighed college entry, then turned pro in July and never looked back. Won WTA event in Bangkok, only the second U.S. player to win a title this year.

Michaella Krajicek, 17, Netherlands
2006 year-end ranking: 35; 2005 year-end ranking: 58
Kid sister of '96 Wimbledon champion Richard Krajicek won two tournaments this year (including her first outing at Hobart, Australia), but is still seeking to impress at a Grand Slam.

Shahar Peer, 19, Israel
2006 year-end ranking: 20; 2005 year-end ranking: 45
Won three WTA titles this season and reached fourth round at French Open and U.S. Open.

Aravane Rezai, 19, France
2006 year-end ranking: 48; 2005 year-end ranking: 189
An assertive personality with equally assertive shots. Strong finish included advancing to fourth round of U.S. Open. Could be hurt by political wrangling between her father and the French federation.

Olga Poutchkova, 19, Russia
2006 year-end ranking: 38; 2005 year-end ranking: 197
Stayed on lower-level ITF circuit for most of the season, then emerged after first-round U.S. Open loss (her Grand Slam debut) to reach two finals at WTA late-season indoor events.

Nicole Vaidisova, 17, Czech Republic 2006 year-end ranking: 10; 2005 year-end ranking: 15
Proved 2005 wasn't a fluke with a strong if not spectacular season. Won title on clay in Strasbourg and advanced to semifinals of French Open. Defeated Amelie Mauresmo in two of their three meetings this year.

Honorable mention: Anna Tatishvili, 16, Georgia
2006 year-end ranking: 300; 2005 year-end ranking: 1,151
John Evert's pupil showed poise, power and hints of a great future when she defeated then-No. 41 Sania Mirza as wild card in Miami.