World Sports

Friday, September 2, 2011

Women's Bios Women s Bios

Women's Bios

Isner makes short work of Ginepri sportes pics

Isner makes short work of Ginepri

Wednesday, August 31, 2011

Rafael Nadal and Caroline Wozniacki are world champions

Denmark's Caroline Wozniacki has been crowned International Tennis Federation world champion for 2010, despite not having won a Grand Slam.

The 20-year-old, who unseats 13-time Grand Slam winner Serena Williams as champion, won six tournaments in 2010.

"To be listed with all the former world champions is something I'm really proud of," said world number one Wozniacki.

Rafael Nadal, who won the French and US Opens and Wimbledon this year, regains the men's title from Roger Federer.

Nadal's triumph rounds off a superb year for the 24-year-old.

Having overcome a persistent knee problem, he won the French Open for the fifth time and claimed his second Wimbledon title.

He then became the youngest player ever, and only the seventh in history, to complete a career Grand Slam when he won the US Open in September, in addition to regaining the world number one spot.

Having also won an Olympic gold medal and two Davis Cups, Spaniard Nadal has now won all of tennis's major prizes.

"It is an honour to be named world champion for the second time," he said.

"After a difficult year in 2009, it was an amazing feeling to regain the number one ranking and finally win the US Open.

"My goal all the time is to keep improving and be a better player each year than I was the previous year."

Sharapova wild about getting a start in Sydney

Russian tennis superstar Maria Sharapova could be heading to Sydney for the first time after requesting a wildcard for next month's Sydney International. One of the world's most photographed athletes, Sharapova will contest the Auckland Classic from January 3 to 8 before deciding whether or not to round out her Australian Open preparations in the harbour city. Ordinarily, officials would already have handed out their quota of wildcards a week before the event, but Sharapova will understandably receive the red-carpet treatment. Tournament director Craig Watson will give the former world No.1 and three-time grand slam champion right up until the tournament-eve draw to commit to the hardcourt event, which runs from January 9 to 15. ''I would love to see her in the draw and so would her legion of fans here in Sydney,'' Watson said yesterday. Sharapova, 23, has never played in Sydney and her appearance would add yet more star power to an already stunning line-up featuring the world's top three - Caroline Wozniacki, Vera Zvonareva and Kim Clijsters, as well as Australian No.1 Samantha Stosur. All up, seven of the world's top-10 women's players are venturing to Sydney. Ranked 18th, Sharapova made an impressive comeback this year from career-threatening shoulder surgery, collecting titles in Memphis and Strasbourg and reaching finals in Birmingham, Stanford and Cincinnati.

Wimbledon Tennis Tour pics

The answer is relatively simple: Nadal capitalized to the utmost on two critical lapses by his rival one at Wimbledon, where Federer was upset by Tomas Berdych, and one at the U.S. Open, where he was taken out by Novak Djokovic. That Nadal was able to take advantage of those opportunities tells us a great deal about where the ATP Tour is today, but it also makes an oblique comment on the state of the WTA game.

On the ATP side, the evidence suggests that we're living the absolute best years tennis has ever known. It has a rivalry that resonates far beyond the stadia where tennis is played, and the consciousness of the niche tennis audience. The entire world knows, and seems to care, about Rafa versus Roger.

At the same time, the titans have not exercised utter dominion over the men's game, which is always the danger in rivalry. (Surely you remember sitting around, twiddling your thumbs, waiting for the predestined Chris versus Martina final.) Novak Djokovic, Tomas Berdych and Robin Soderling inserted themselves into the main narrative of 2010, in an explosive way, at critical moments that left us hoping rather than merely waiting for another Grand Slam final between Roger and Rafa.

Let's also remember that exactly one year ago, a third name was in the mix at the very top, that of 2009 U.S. Open champion Juan Martin del Potro. I don't even want to think how competitive the men's game would have been had del Potro not suffered a wrist injury that kept him out of action for almost this entire year.

The men's game in 2010 had depth at the top and depth at every other level. I can't imagine men's tennis being in a healthier state than it is at the moment.

It's a little different on the women's side, where the lack of depth at the top is an outstanding shortcoming. It's fitting that the year-end No. 1 ranking went to Caroline Wozniacki, who did not win a single major, because when you don't have a dominant champion or two, the honors go to the last woman standing. And though the WTA has a good number of Grand Slam champions, it doesn't have a dominant one.

The year just ending was undoubtedly the Year of Rafa, as the Spanish lad, already an international icon, completed his career Grand Slam. But in one sense, 2010 ought to be given a one-month extension because this is an ongoing story. Should Nadal win the upcoming Australian Open, he'll be the first man since Rod Laver in 1969 to hold all four majors. Can you say, "Serena/Rafa Slam?"

One of the more interesting aspects of Rafael Nadal's feat is that he accomplished it in the era dominated by the consensus GOAT (Greatest of All Time), Roger Federer, leading us to wonder, "Gee, how did he do that?"

This is unfortunate because the WTA now has something it has historically lacked: solid depth through the top 15 -- and beyond. When players of the caliber and potential of Victoria Azarenka (No. 10) and Jelena Jankovic (No. 8) are more or less second-tier floaters, the game is in good shape -- better shape than the controversy of a Slam-less No. 1 suggests.

Then there's this: the two stars who returned to the game in 2010, Kim Clijsters (granted, she came back after the midpoint of 2009, but this was her first full year since a lengthy "retirement") and Justine Henin. They didn't waltz back in and dominate, as some predicted they would. Clijsters ended the year at No. 3, just ahead of the Williams sisters, Serena and Venus. Henin pulled her stakes after suffering an elbow injury at Wimbledon, and we have no real idea of her future plans.

It's a good thing for the WTA that whatever she decides doesn't appear to be a pressing co

Tuesday, August 30, 2011

ana ivanovic Tennis Celebrities

Ana Ivanovic's Biography

A former World No.1 Serbian tennis player, Ana Ivanovic was born November 6, 1987, in Belgrade, Serbia, then Yugoslavia.. She is the current World No.5 in the WTA Tour and the reigning French Open champion. She was also the runner-up in singles at the 2007 French Open and the 2008 Australian Open.
Ivanović endorsed Nike apparel and shoes at the beginning of her professional career, but at the beginning of 2006, she switched to rival Adidas. She started with the Wilson HTour racquet, then upgraded to the nCode nTour and to the nCode nTour Two before switching to the nCode nBlade. Since the beginning of 2008, Ivanović has been using the Yonex RQiS-1TOUR racquet. She has now begun using the RQiS 1 Tour XL racquet.

ana ivanovic

Friday, August 26, 2011

Michael, You Will Be Missed pics

Michael Jackson.

The name, since I was young enough to appreciate music to the point where I was memorizing names, stuck in my head throughout the Jackson 5; and I was one of the first in line to get my Thriller album, which is still in vinyl, sitting in my closet, where it is a tribute to 27 years of history. I can think of very few who did not attempt to do the Moon Walk as I grew up - hell, I can recall a few weeks before hearing about his death, someone at work tried to do it here and we all laughed as his sneakers got caught on the carpet. A bunch of 30 and 40-somethings all laughing and remembering the childhood awe that we felt about him, his music, his glittered glove!

Regardless of news reports his sex life, or his growing eccentric behavior...his ruining his relationship with Paul McCartney by trying to buy the Beatles songs... I think most people, although they would joke about him and his possible sexual desires for pre-teen boys, all felt in their hearts that it was more about a man who was torn from his childhood and wanted playmates...and could only relate to children; and who had major mental problems. There are priests and such who have raped boys, but I don't think that Michael Jackson ever raped anyone - and I have rarely, despite jokes - met anyone who really thinks he did either.

On the day of his recent death, and the day after, an ex-boyfriend began texting me all of these jokes about MJ and his penchant for young boys; then the texts escalated into making fun of his face and his surgeries. I had to write him back and tell him to please STOP - it wasn't funny. The man was DEAD. Three children are without a father, and a world who grew up with him as the center of their musical universe as a child had that man taken away...a man who had become a shell of what he once was. My ex's curt response was "I love the way he was hated by Paul McCartney who issued a press release he loved him and for a decade he was called a child molester but now he's a saint...No one I know is upset (that he is dead) at all."

Well, for starters, this explains why this person and I are no longer dating...but what really gets me is that although some might call him a child molester, I would have to say: look at his interviews. When asked if kids were sleeping in his bed with him and having sleep-overs, he would reply enthusiastically, "Yes!" and talk about all the fun they had. He went to bed watching cartoons. A person I know, who worked in shwanky hotel that MJ stayed at one night said that he called room service. When she asked what he wanted, thinking he wanted food, he asked her to tell him a bedtime story because he couldn't sleep.

I ask you: who can't look at the man and see that he was just trying to re-live his childhood, one that he never was allowed to really have? He was troubled, yes; had mental problems, yes; but although some of us had a good laugh at some of the issues that were going on and his odd behavior, we need to look at the brilliant boy, the brilliant young man, who did indeed become the King of Pop and created a legacy that will go into history for all the good he did.

And what my darling, empathy-filled (I hope the sarcasm is dripping as I type) ex seems to forget is that even people who are seen as twisted at times, and even when there is anger in relationships involved, people will still mourn the untimely death of such a brilliant star who was so troubled that he only weighed 112 at his death. I mean, hell - I will actually mourn when Robert dies...which, I cannot say he would do for me, or anyone for that matter. But that is a whole other post.

Michael - thank you for the good times. I'm so sorry that you were so unhappy. I wish you could have been happier...and hopefully the Neverland you were seeking is now in your hands and around you. Rest peacefully.