Tennis – Fun Facts

• Lawn Tennis: The game of tennis as it is played today comes from Great Britain, where it originated as lawn tennis in the mid-1800’s.
• Wimbledon: In 1884 the Ladies’ Singles at Wimbledon was inaugurated, and from a field of 13 players Maud Watson became the champion.
• Tennis Balls: A new tennis ball should weigh two ounces.
• Bouncing Balls: When dropped from a height of 100 inches onto concrete, a new tennis ball should bounce about 55 inches.
• Grand Slam Titles: Margaret Smith Court holds the record with 24 Grand Slam singles titles.
• Record Holder: Martina Navratilova holds the record for most career singles and doubles titles with over 325.
• 1884/1885: Ladies’ singles tennis competition was added to Wimbledon in 1884. Maud Watson won in both 1884 and 1885.
• Lottie Dod: Lottie Dod won the women’s Wimbledon Championship five times between 1887 and 1893.
• 1897: The first Women’s French Tennis Championship is held.
• Ball Boys & Girls: There are more than 200 ball boys and girls used to fetch tennis balls during Wimbledon.
• Lawn Mower: Wimbledon is the only major tennis tournament still played on grass. The lawn there is cut every day.
• Tennis Dresses: The first women to play in the Wimbledon tournament wore full length dresses.
• Australian Open: Martina Hingis was the youngest Australian Open Women’s Single Champion (16 years, three months) in 1997.
• Wimbledon Wood: A wooden racket was last used at Wimbledon in 1987.
• Equal Pay: In 2007, the men’s and women’s singles winners at Wimbledon each received £700,000. It was the first year that women got as much prize money as men.
• Wimbledon Winner: May Sutton of the United States became the first non-European champion in 1905 when she captured the women’s singles title.
• Love Match: Steffi Graff and Andre Agassi were the first married couple to have won both the men’s and women’s singles Wimbledon Championships.

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.

New #1 Serena visits Leno

The world’s new #1 tennis player, Serena Williams, stopped by “The Tonight Show with Jay Leno” last night to discuss winning her fourth Aussie Open crown.

The self-described “odd girl” (seems she only wins the Open in odd years), Serena talked about the insufferable Aussie heat, her doubles win with Venus, and some gametime rituals.

Not surprisingly, Serena appeared incredibly happy. Guess that’s how you feel when you’re the top earning female athlete ever!

Serena crushes Safina; Wins 10th Grand Slam title

Serena Williams always selects a special outfit to bring to Australia for a victory celebration. Every second year, she gets to wear it.Williams’ 6-0, 6-3 rout of Dinara Safina on Saturday earned her a 10th Grand Slam title, a fourth Australian title — coming each odd-numbered year since 2003 — and the No. 1-ranking.

“I actually forgot until the end when I was saying hi to my box. They’re like, ‘Hey, you’re No. 1.’ I was like, ‘Oh, yeah,’” she said.

Not that a number means everything.

“I always believe I’m the best, whether I’m No. 1 or 100,” she said. “Just having that extra bonus is pretty cool.”

Williams set aside a stylish black top to wear for the big occasion this time. In between the match, doping tests and media commitments, she changed into it.

“I always bring an outfit for the championships,” she said. “I always try to think positive, and I think it helps me be able to win.”

Good strategy Serena – congrats on #10!

Interview

Women’s Tennis: Dokic’s fairytale ends, for now

Nine-time Grand Slam champion Serena Williams will meet the French Open runner-up Dinara Safina in the final of the 2009 Australian Open this Saturday. It should be a great match and whoever wins will take the No.1 ranking position from Jelena Jankovic.

But the real story of the 2009 Australian Open is Jelena Dokic. The 25-year-old Dokic’s dream run was cut short by No. 3 Safina but her epic bid to become an unlikely grand slam winner still reads like a fairytale.

When Jelena Dokic arrived in Melbourne Park a couple weeks ago, she was a wildcard entry seeded 187th. Nine days later, she strode out of the complex an Australian Open quarterfinalist ranked among the world’s top players. Dokic did not even have a racquet sponsor before the tournament, let alone anyone to dress her. She left with a A$182,500 check and sponsors falling at her feet.

Dokic hadn’t played on the tour at this level in many years, and she hadn’t played in a major for 5 1/2 years. Yet she became the first woman in history to play five consecutive three-set matches at the Australian Open. Dokic may have lost to Russia’s Safina, but she left her mark on the tournament and the women’s tour.

That Dokic could become the first Australian woman to win the Australian Open since Chris O’Neil in 1978 captured the imagination of an Australian public desperate for home success.

But more than national pride, the personal fortitude that Dokic exhibited during the tournament gained her legions of new fans.

Dokic first came to prominence when she knocked Martina Hingis out of Wimbledon 10 years ago. She rose to world No. 4 but then seemingly disappeared. After battling her way into this year’s Australian Open as a wildcard Dokic went public with her personal story. She poured out her heart describing her fight against depression and the break-up of her family brought on by the bizarre and volatile behaviour of her domineering father, Damir, who also served as her coach.

While Dokic always considered her mental toughness her greatest strength, she says her struggles with depression had transformed her into a cold-blooded tennis assassin.

Dokic senses she may now be better placed to fulfill her rich potential. Anyone who watched her at the Australian Open – including her highly ranked victims Caroline Wozniacki and Anna Chakvetadze as well as Safina – knows there’s little doubt Dokic will return next year an even more formidable opponent.

It certainly looks like happier days are ahead for Dokic and we can look forward to more tournaments where she can build on the progress established in Melbourne. The Cinderella story continues…

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.

AO Update: Venus upset, Serena digs deep

Seven-time Grand Slam champion Venus Williams who many thought was primed to win her first Australian Open title, lost to Spain’s Carla Suarez Navarro in the biggest upset so far at this year’s event.

This Spanish surprise had Venus squandering a match point in the 10th game of the final set before losing 2-6, 6-3, 7-5 at Rod Laver Arena.

Suarez Navarro, ranked 46th in the world and a French Open quarterfinalist last year, is making her tournament debut, while Williams suffered her second- earliest exit in 10 appearances.

Interviews with both Venus Williams and Suarez Navarro can be found on the Australian Open website.

In other AO news,

Serena Williams produced a characteristic fightback to advance to the third round after a 6-3 7-5 victory over Argentina’s Gisela Dulko in 110 minutes.

Also, Jelena Dokic of Austrialia defeated Russian Anna Chakvetadze 6-4,  6-7, 6-3 on Night 3 while Serbian Ana Ivanovic rallied past Italian Alberta Brianti 6-3,  6-2.

Also through to the third round are Jelena Jankovic, Elena Dementieva, Amelie Mauresmo and Jie Zheng.

AO Results Women’s Singles

Jelena Jankovic signs with Chinese sports brand ANTA

January 18, 2009 – World number one Jelena Jankovic will wear a new clothing brand when she steps onto the court at the Australian Open on Monday.

Leading Chinese sportswear brand, ANTA, announced it has secured one of the biggest deals in women’s tennis by signing Jankovic to exclusively wear their sports apparel, shoes and accessories world-wide.

The partnership with Jankovic marks a historic deal. ANTA is the first Chinese sports brand to align with a world number one female tennis player as part of their vision to grow its presence in tennis.

The ANTA design team from the US and Japan has worked closely with Jelena to develop a Jelena Jankovic range of sports products under the JJ brand. The range reflects the style, fashion and beauty of Jelena Jankovic while offering the performance required by the number one tennis player in the world.

“The recent success of the Beijing Olympics has firmly established China’s reputation as a world power in sport,” Jankovic said in ANTA’s official announcement. “I feel very honoured to be forming a partnership with the leading Chinese sports brand ANTA. I am delighted with the JJ range of products we have developed and I look forward to working with ANTA to promote the development of tennis and the ANTA brand world-wide.”

ANTA Sports Products primarily designs, develops, manufactures and markets sportswear, including sports footwear, apparel and accessories.

Jankovic will showcase the JJ range of ANTA sportswear at the Australian Open at Melbourne Park which starts tomorrow.

2009 Australian Open Women’s Main Draw

January 15, 2009 – The 2009 Australian Open women’s singles main draw was announced on Friday at Melbourne Park. With Sharapova unable to defend her crown, the field is wide open.

World number one Jelena Jankovic, who just recovered from a virus that forced her to withdraw from Sydney, is in the same half of the draw as her compatriot Ana Ivanovic as well as Dinara Safina and Vera Zvonareva.

After a stellar six month spell that seen her propel up the rankings to a career high of world No.2, Safina is now a genuine Grand Slam contender. She is currently the highest-ranked Russian from their army of players, which should give her added confidence.

Second seed Serena Williams could potentially face Beijing gold medalist and Sydney finalist Elena Dementieva, 2004 US Open champion Svetlana Kuznetsova and seven-time Grand Slam champion Venus Williams along the way to her fourth championship AO match. The earliest the Williams sisters could meet is in the semifinals.

Toughest of the women’s first round matches sees No.11 seed Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark play 2007 quarterfinalist Shahar Peer of Israel.

 View the complete Women’s Singles draw at the Australian Open website.

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