Call to Action: Jefferson Award nominees

The Jefferson Awards are a prestigious national recognition system honoring community and public service in America.  They began in 1972 to create a Nobel Prize for public service. Today, their primary purpose is to serve as a “Call to Action for Volunteers” in local communities.

Did you know that athletes give back to their communities more than most groups?  Well, it’s true. Check out some of their random acts of kindness.

This month, voting begins for the prestigious national Jefferson Award for Outstanding Public Service by an Athlete.   A list of highly impressive nominees includes the following women:

Cheri Balwut – Paralympic Gold Medalist

Brandi Chastain – Soccer player

Lauren Fleshman - Long distance runner

Sara Hall – Runner

Mia Hamm – Soccer player

Lindsey Harding – Basketball player

Ana Ivanovic – Tennis player

Jelena Jankovic – Tennis player

Jessica Mendoza – Softball player

Angela Ruggiero – Hockey player

Kerri Walsh – Volleyball player

If you’re not already familiar with these inspiring women, you need to be. Click here to read about the incredible things these athletes are doing and to vote (by November 15th) for your favorite nominee.

Tennis players stop traffic in Toronto

Soon after arriving in Toronto for  this week’s Rogers Cup, Ana Ivanovic took part in an impromptu hit with world No.8 Caroline Wozniacki in the middle of the street. The “Street Tennis” event was put on by women’s tennis’ title sponsor Sony Ericsson at Yonge Street, which is the longest in the entire country.

“The Rogers Cup in Toronto is one of my favorite stops during the US Open Series,” said Ana. “I won this event three years ago and it is always nice to be back in Canada.

“I was thrilled to have a chance to participate in the Sony Ericsson “Street Tennis” stunt with Caroline. It is always exciting to be able to bring the sport of tennis to new audiences and we definitely had fun, taking people on the streets of Toronto by a huge surprise.”

Wozniacki, from Denmark, was equally excited about the event. “I was thrilled to have an opportunity to participate in “Street Tennis” with Ana and very impressed with Yonge Street in this beautiful city of Toronto,” she said.

“The court was laid out for us in a record time and playing an impromptu tennis match with Ana was really fun.”

Ana is a veteran when it comes to playing tennis in unusual but spectacular places: earlier this year she hit with Victoria Azarenka on the roof of the Villa Miami hotel in Rome, while last year she faced Elena Dementieva on a desert island in the Arabian Sea in Doha. She was also featured vaulting across rooftops in Sony Ericsson’s memorable “Never Miss A Shot” TV commercial in 2006.

Video: It Must Be Love

In anticipation of the 2009 Olympus US Open Series and the 2009 US Open, meet some of the world’s top tennis players, including Venus Williams, Ana Ivanovic and Jelena Jankovic talking about their lives and their loves.

2009 Laureus World Sports Awards nominees announced

I love awards. Gold stickers and glitter stars too.

So it was great to see that a sparkling collection of the world’s greatest sports stars have been nominated for the 10th Laureus World Sports Awards, following a ballot by the world’s media.

The Laureus World Sports Awards is recognized as a premier event in the international sporting calendar honoring the greatest sportsmen and women across all sports each year. A panel of leading sports editors, writers and broadcasters from 112 countries announced the Laureus nominees for 2008-09, which includes six athletes in each category.

Check out some of the nominees:

Sportswoman of the Year

Tirunesh Dibaba (ETH) – athletics
Yelena Isinbayeva (RUS) – athletics
Lorena Ochoa (MEX) – golf
Stephanie Rice (AUS) – swimming
Lindsey Vonn (USA) – skiing
Venus Williams (USA) – tennis

Breakthrough of the Year

Rebecca Adlington (UK) – swimming
Novak Djokovic (Srb) – tennis
Ana Ivanovic (Srb) – tennis
Anthony Kim (USA) – golf
Sebastian Vettel (GER) – Formula One
Zou Kai (CHN) – gymnastics

The organizers of the Laureus Awards ceremony say the gala event will be scaled back to focus on the Sport for Good Foundation. The economy strikes again. Bad news for gala goers, good for the foundation. Winners will instead receive their awards individually at a series of presentations in May and June. Good luck to all!!

Ana, Maria & Venus star in video game

Are you a gamer who loves tennis? Or a tennis player who loves video games? Well this is for you.

The world’s top tennis stars are hitting the courts in Virtua Tennis 2009, a video game produced by Japanese console and software giants SEGA.

Superstar players include Ana Ivanovic, Venus Williams and Maria Sharapova who took part in 3D-modelling sessions to ensure that their in-game personas are as accurate as possible. The champions are joined in the game by the likes of Roger Federer, Andy Roddick and Rafael Nadal.

Virtua Tennis will be released in May and will be available on the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, PC and Wii platforms.

Create your own player and join the new World Tour where you will compete for the #1 ranking against the biggest stars. C’mon girls. Game on!

Smile Ambassador Jelena Jankovic in Orbit

Tennis powerhouse Jelena Jankovic has been chosen by Wrigley’s Orbit to be its smile ambassador for the territory of Serbia. This is the first time that the chewing gum brand has appointed a brand ambassador in Serbia and Jelena was obviously chosen for her dazzling smile, which is as famous as her sports victories.

JJ will star in the latest TV commercial for Orbit scheduled to hit TV stations in Serbia in March. Viewers will be able to see her perform off-court and enjoy her shiny smile.

In addition, JJ will help Orbit in its campaign aimed at gathering the biggest number of smile photos ever collected for the Guiness Book of World Records.  Jankovic and Orbit want to show the world that Serbia can beat the world record, currently held by Birmingham (UK) where the collage totals 112,893 photos. Once the photos necessary to break the world record are collected, Serbia’s smiling collage will be presented on a public exhibition in Belgrade. The competition will be open from March 1st till May 31st.

What else is new with the former #1 tennis star?  Earlier this month she was selected by Status magazine as Personality of the Year.  And next week she’ll be in New York for the  BNP Paribas Showdown for the Billie Jean King Cup, which pits four of the top women’s tennis players in the world (Serena Williams, Ana Ivanovic, Venus Williams, and Jelena Jankovic) in a one night event at Madison Square Garden  for $1.2 Million in prize money.

(via Jelena Jankovic’s official website)

WTA Dubai Update; Visas, Quarterfinals & More

Venus Williams is on course for a possible semi-final clash with her younger sister Serena after beating Alize Cornet 6-3 6-1 at the WTA Barclays Dubai Championship.

The 19-year-old Cornet, from Nice, proved no match for the Wimbledon champion, who will now face Elena Dementieva in the quarter-finals.

Venus was forced to mix up her game more than usual against an opponent who has risen more than 50 spots in little more than a year.

Russian fourth seed Dementieva came through 6-1 6-3 against Spain’s Anabel Medina Garrigues, while French Open champion Ana Ivanovic also made it through to the elite eight after defeating Camille Pin 6-2 7-6 (7-5).

Top seed Serena Williams won 6-4, 6-2 against Zheng Jie the Wimbledon semi-finalist from China . Serena now plays Ivanovic for only the second time.

But former world number one Jelena Jankovic is out after losing 6-2 7-5 to the 16th-seeded Estonian, Kaia Kanepi.

Jankovic attributed her loss to a bad performance (rather than a worthy opponent). “This was the worst match of my career. It was a horrible day. I kept framing the ball, kept making unforced errors and could not put two balls together on the court. I didn’t move properly, and I didn’t see the ball properly.”

Visa Controversy

Earlier this week, Israeli Shahar Peer was denied a last minute visa to compete in Dubai despite qualifying for the event. The tournament’s organizers supported the decision to deny Peer a visa, saying local tennis fans would have boycotted the championships if she had been allowed to compete.

So why is Israeli doubles specialist Andy Ram receiving a visa by the United Arab Emirates to play in Dubai?

The double standard is reprehensible. Shahar earned the right to be in the tournament just as Ram did. WTA officials criticized the decision and said they may consider dropping Dubai as a future site. How would the ATP have responded had the same thing happened to one of their ballers?

Athletes should never get caught in the middle of politics. Ever.

Ivanovic selects Craig Kardon as new coach

Former top-ranked player Ana Ivanovic has appointed American Craig Kardon as her new tennis coach. The pair will work on a trial basis, beginning at next week’s Barclays Dubai Tennis Championships.

Ana is also set to take part in the BNP Paribas Showdown in New York in less than three weeks.  She’ll be joined by Venus and Serena Williams and Jelena Jankovic for the one-night extravaganza.

The 47-year-old Kardon is the former coach of eighteen-time Grand Slam champion Martina Navratilova: they worked together during the last of her nine Wimbledon titles in 1990.

Other notable ex-pupils of the Texas-based Kardon include Lindsay Davenport, Mary Pierce and Jennifer Capriati.

“I’m happy to begin working with Craig,” said Ana. “We’re going to see how it goes in the beginning and then I’ll make a decision about the longer-term future.

“I feel like I made good progress during the Fed Cup tie and I’m not so far away from finding my old form. Craig has a lot of experience, he encourages attacking tennis and I am hopeful we will achieve some good results together.”

The 21-year-old Ivanovic won the 2008 French Open and held the No. 1 ranking for nine weeks before Serena Williams reclaimed it. She is currently No. 8 after an early exit from the Australian Open.

Shortly before the Australian Open last month, Ivanovic parted ways with her former mentor Sven Groeneveld.

Scott Byrnes will continue to serve as Ana’s strength and conditioning coach.

What else has Ivanovic been up to? Filming some sequences for a feature that will be shown on HBO television around the time of the BNP Paribas Showdown exhibition in New York next month. 

And modeling for swiss watchmaker Rolex – one of her sponsors.

AO Update: No.1 Jankovic upset

A lot happening on a busy day of fourth-round action at the Australian Open in Melbourne.

The big upset: France’s Marion Bartoli reached her first quarterfinal at the Aussie Open, outhitting the Jelena Jankovic and stunning the top seed in straight sets 6-1, 6-4.

Bartoli, who famously upset then World No.1 Justine Henin in 2007 to reach her Wimbledon final, said after the match:

“I think I played amazingly. The last game of the match was pretty tough. I just tried to play my game. I served so well and I’m very pleased to have won. I knew I could beat Jelena on a good day, it was just a matter of executing, you know, play the right shot at the right time and don’t make too many mistakes. But I was not overwhelmed by the situation, and I just went for my shot and everything went in today. It was just a great match.”

Jankovic’s loss follows the early round exits of Venus Williams and Ana Ivanovic from the Grand Slam tourney. While she may be No.1,  JJ’s yet to win a major – and until she does, a big question-mark hangs over her head.

Other big wins include Australia’s comeback player Jelena Dokic (No.187) defeating Russian 29th seed Alisa Kleybanova, who upset world No.5 Ana Ivanovic in the third round. Dokic defeated Kleybanova 7-5 5-7 8-6 and will next meet Dinara Safina in the quarterfinals.

Good stuff – who wants this title the most?

Results for Day 7: Sunday, January 25, 2009
Women’s Singles - 4th Round
(16) Marion Bartoli (FRA) d. (1) Jelena Jankovic (SRB) 61 64
(3) Dinara Safina (RUS) d. (15) Alizé Cornet (FRA) 62 26 75
(7) Vera Zvonareva (RUS) d. (10) Nadia Petrova (RUS) 75 64
(WC) Jelena Dokic (AUS) d. (29) Alisa Kleybanova (RUS) 75 57 86

Schedule for Day 8: Monday, January 26, 2009
Women’s Singles – 4th Round
Rod Laver Arena
Victoria Azarenka (BLR)[13] v. Serena Williams (USA)[2]

Hisense Arena
Carla Suarez Navarro (ESP) v. Anabel Medina Garrigues (ESP)[21]
Dominika Cibulkova (SVK)[18] v. Elena Dementieva (RUS)[4]
Svetlana Kuznetsova (RUS)[8] v. Jie Zheng (CHN)[22]

AO Update: No. 5 Ivanovic ousted in third round

Fortunes change quickly in tennis. Last year’s French Open champion and, for a time, No. 1 ranked player, Ana Ivanovic’s hopes of a return trip to the Australian Open final fell apart in a barrage of mistakes Friday as Russia’s Alisa Kleybanova ousted the 2008 runner-up with a 7-5, 6-7 (5), 6-2 victory in the third round.

After the match, Kleybanova, who reached the fourth round at Wimbledon last year in her third Grand Slam and is seeded 29th, dropped to her knees in disbelief.

Ivanovic, with her 50 unforced errors, became the second top women’s seed (after Venus Williams) to bow out of the tournament.

Meanwhile Jelena Dokic  pulled off the latest of her Australian Open upsets against Caroline Wozniacki, the 18-year-old from Denmark and No. 11 seed, 3-6, 6-1, 6-2.

World number one Jelena Jankovic, wearing new threads by ANTA, ground out another tough win to reach fourth round Friday. She beat Japan’s Ai Sugiyama 6-4, 6-4 but for the second time in the tournament struggled to land a killer blow against an opponent who, on paper, should have been easy pickings for the top seed.

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