Tennis for tennis players. Athletes guide to tennis. Racket selections, strategy tips, tennis training, tennis clubs, and a some coverage of professional tennis too.
Defending champion Marin Cilic of Croatia led a charge of seeded players into the semi-finals of the ATP Chennai Open on Friday. The second-seeded Cilic, favoured to retain the title after top seed Robin Soderling was knocked out in the first round, beat Santiago Giraldo of Colombia 7-6 (7/3), 6-1 in a quarter-final that ended past midnight. Also moving into the last four following a lengthy rain delay were third seed Stanislas Wawrinka of Switzerland, fourth-seeded Janko Tipsarevic of... Read Full Story
Roger Federer, who ended the 2009 season with a surprise loss to Nikolay Davydenko in London, ended his first tournament of 2010 with another defeat to the surprising, little celebrated Russian. Federer was not at his best, never serving particularly well, and mistiming a few important balls on the backhand side, but the more remarkable thing about his 6-4, 6-4 defeat how he was often bullied by Davydenko's fierce flat-hitting from the baseline. Davydenko's excellent performance carried him... Read Full Story
Third seed Stanislas Wawrinka and fourth-seeded Janko Tipsarevic shrugged off a lengthy rain delay to advance to the ATP Chennai Open semi-finals on Friday. There was also a place in the last four of the 400,000-dollar event for Israeli fifth seed Dudi Sela, who overcame promising Lukas Lacko of the Slovak Republic 7-6 (7/3), 7-5. Some 200 Indian fans braved the damp weather to watch play begin at 8:30 pm (1500 GMT) after light rain delayed the start by three hours. The organisers juggled... Read Full Story
DOHA (Reuters) - Nikolay Davydenko proved his victory over Roger Federer last year was no fluke by beating the world number one 6-4 6-4 on Friday to reach the Qatar Open final. The Russian third seed, who beat the Swiss for the first time in the semi-finals of the ATP World Tour Finals in November, repeated the feat to progress to Saturday's final where he will face world number two Rafael Nadal. "I'd beaten him once, so I knew I could beat him again. Then I thought, why not this time? I... Read Full Story
Rafael Nadal sent a message to the tennis world with the quality of his performance in reaching only his second final in eight months with a super-quick semi-final victory in the Qatar Open on Friday. Nadal, who begins the defence of his Australian Open title in nine days time in Melbourne, needed only 67 minutes to win 6-1, 6-3 against Viktor Troicki, the in-form fifth-seeded Serbian - and the beating might easily have been even more one-sided. Nadal summoned such an inspired spell of... Read Full Story
Top seed Andy Roddick gave a serving masterclass as he blasted his way past Frenchman Richard Gasquet 6-3, 7-6 (7/5) in the quarter-finals of the Brisbane International on Friday. Roddick will take on fourth seeded Czech Tomas Berdych for a place in Sunday's final, with the winner to face either Berdych's countryman Radek Stepanek or France's Gael Monfils. The American was on top form against a tricky opponent who has troubled him in the past and who beat him the last time they met, at... Read Full Story
Great Britain have reached their first Hopman Cup final after Andy Murray and teenager Laura Robson beat Russia 2-1 in their final Group B tie here Friday. The battle for the right to play Spain in Saturday's final went right down to the wire, with the British needing to win the mixed doubles against Elena Dementieva and Igor Andreev to stop qualifier Kazakhstan snatching top spot in the group. However, with Robson again defying her inexperience, Murray in peak form and Andreev out of sorts... Read Full Story
American Venus Williams on Friday dismissed speculation she is mulling retirement as the seven-time Grand Slam champion gets set to play in the Australian Open later this month. "I know I have so much more to give," she told reporters after an exhibition match in Hong Kong. "There's no timeline (for retirement) if I'm playing well... As long as I keep playing well, I'll stay." The American struggled for much of 2009, losing her Wimbledon crown to sister Serena and then crashing out of the... Read Full Story
American Venus Williams overpowered Zheng Jie at an exhibition match in Hong Kong on Friday, with a 6-3, 6-2 victory over her Chinese opponent. Zheng, ranked 35 in the world, took an early 2-0 lead in the first set but Williams powered back to overtake the 26-year-old Chengdu native. Williams, a seven-time Grand Slam winner, continued the pressure in the second set, blasting Zheng with her powerful serve. "Every game was close," Williams said after the match. "I really had to work for it... Read Full Story
American Andy Roddick confirmed Friday that he would not represent the USA in the 2010 Davis Cup to avoid causing any further damage to his suspect knee. Roddick was speaking after he beat Richard Gasquet 6-3, 7-6 (7/5) in the quarter-finals of the Brisbane International. The world number seven injured his knee during the ATP event in Shanghai last October, forcing him to withdraw from the tournament. He said while the knee was not causing him any problems now, he wanted to protect it as... Read Full Story
Usain Bolt said he had no intentions of playing professional football in the United States, and apparently he has no intention of testing his speed against the NFL's best either.
