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AllFlying |
Tennis
archive
Dokic
restarts career in NZ (Dec 1)
 Former
world number four tennis player Jelena Dokic has moved back to the southern hemisphere,
away from her notoriously excitable father Damir, to restart her career as an
Australian player.
Now ranked below 300, the 22-year-old has picked up a wildcard
entry in the New Zealand ASB tournament in January. The Serbian-born and Australian
raised player is still looking for a new coach, a role formerly filled by her
father. Hingis
back in 2006 (Nov
30)
Former World Number One
Martina Hingis has declared herself completely over her nagging foot injuries
and is set to return to the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour in 2006.
The 25-year-old
tennis star told a press conference that she had recovered from ankle problems
which forced her to retire in 2002, at the tender age of 22.
“I was never
happy that my injuries cut my career short and ultimately forced my decision to
step away from tennis,” said Hingis to the WTA Tour web.
“I miss
the game and the challenge of competing at the highest level of tennis, and I
want to gauge whether I can stay healthy and compete against today's top players.”
Hingis
was the youngest ever World Number One player, reaching the coveted position at
only the age of 16 and six months. She stayed at the top of women's tennis for
seven straight seasons, winning 76 singles and doubles tournaments including 14
Grand Slam titles during her tenure.
For the CEO of the WTA Tour, Larry Scott,
Hingis' return can only add another level of excitement to an already entertaining
lineup.
Martina Hingis is one of the game's great champions and unique personalities,"
he said.
"For fans of women's tennis, Martina's return will add another
level of excitement to the sport and enhance the incredible rivalries and roster
of big-name stars. Her passion for the game has never wavered and we look forward
to her return."
Hingis will play her first tournament in Australia, when
the tennis season kick off in January.
By Rick D'Andrea & Danielle Tralli WTA
goes French in LA (Nov 14)
 Mary
Pierce and Amelie Mauresmo have made the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour Championship final
an all-French affair after both won their respective semi-finals.
Pierce knocked
out World Number One Lindsay Davenport in a very tightly fought match 7-6 7-6,
whilst Mauresmo fended off Russian Maria Sharapova 7-6 6-3 in the other semi-final.
"It
came down to two close tie-breaks," Davenport reported to the WTA Tour website,
"It was very tough to kind of get any kind of momentum going.”
“Every
time I felt like that was a good hold, a close one, let's get it going here, she
would hold at love or make one ball in that game. She played really well when
it got close for the lines, made them, and I made a few errors in each tie-break,
like one shot in each tie break I would love to take back - and the year is over.”
Pierce
added that she wants this title to cap off an already stellar year, in which she
has won 29 or her last 32 matches and reached third in the world.
“I am
very proud of myself for the year I have had, especially since Roland Garros,”
Pierce said.
“I just enjoy what I do. I do it because I feel this is
my purpose in life right now. Just one more match this year and I'm going to give
everything that I have, enjoy it, and see what happens in the end.”
Mauresmo
had a slightly easier match than Pierce after Sharapova complained of soreness
in her playing (right) arm during the second set.
“My arm is still not
one hundred percent. Especially in the second set, I couldn't serve very big.
And I couldn't hit a really big forehand,” Sharapova said in a post-match
press conference.
“So that obviously is not very good when you are playing
a top player in the semis.”
The final will be the second time that the
Frenchwomen will have met this week with the result going in favour of the 30-year-old
Pierce 2-6 6-4 6-2.
By Rick D'Andrea
Davenport
on top for second year (Nov 12)
American Lindsay Davenport has already
assured herself of remaining the World's Number One for the fourth time in her
career after the final event currently being held in Los Angeles.
Davenport
assured her place at the top of women's tennis after making the semi-final of
the Sony Ericsson WTA Championships where she will face Frenchwoman Mary Pierce
for a spot in the final and a chance to win $1 million.
"It's unbelievable
to do it four times," Davenport told the WTATour website. "I wouldn't
have felt last year that I would have a chance to do that again.”
“It's
been a great year; I came close to winning a Grand Slam a couple of times. This
is just a really nice way to end the season.”
The only person who had
a slim chance of taking the coveted position away from the American was Belgian
Kim Clijsters, but had a poor round-robin tournament, with only a win over Russian
Nadia Petrova.
The Belgian was glad to end her memorable year like this, after
she had won nine previous tournaments and 67 matches leading into Los Angeles,
which included her first Grand Slam title. She had risen from 134th in the world
to second, and was glad that the season was had come to an end.
"It sounds
very good to say that," Clijsters told ABC News.
By Rick D'Andrea Dokic
set to became Aussie -- again (Nov 12)
Serbian tennis star Jelena
Dokic is set to re-apply for her Australian citizenship when she visits Melbourne
next month to prepare for the Australian Open in January.
Dokic renounced her
Australian citizenship back in 2001, after her eccentric father, Damir, accused
the Australian tennis officialdom of rigging the draw against his daughter.
"Jelena
phoned her mother and told her she plans to travel to Melbourne in December to
prepare for the Australian Open," Damir Dokic told Kurir, a Serbian newspaper.
"She
wants to take Australian citizenship when she is there and to play at the Australian
Open as an Australian citizen."
The Serbian's ranking has plummeted this
past two years, from being in the top ten at the end of last year, into the 300s,
where she currently sits. She has also estranged herself from her father after
the antics he caused at both the US Open and Wimbledon Grand Slams.
"She
phoned my wife from Croatia saying she was OK," Damir Dokic told Sportal.
"I thought she had been kidnapped or something."
"She did not
call for three months and I was about to ring the police."
The 22-year-old
has not won a Grand Slam match since the first round of the US open back in 2003.
By
Rick D'Andrea Mauresmo
wins, but Dementieva claims last spot (Nov 7)
 Number
one seed Amelie Mauresmo has won the Advanta Championships in Philadelphia after
she defeated Russian and number four seed Elena Dementieva 7-5, 2-6, 7-5.
The Frenchwoman was given a real scare when she was up 4-1 in the final set, when
Dementieva won the next four games to take the score to 5-4. But the tournament’s
Number One seed was strong enough to hold on and win her third title of the season,
as well as defend her crown that she had won last year and in 2003.
Speaking
to the Daily Times, Mauresmo admitted that she did not have it all her
own way.
“There were a lot of ups and downs for me but also for her,”
she said.
“I lost my rhythm in the second set and felt like I let her
back in the match. I wasn’t aggressive and started to feel it physically,
but I still managed to stay in control of the points in the third.”
But
the real winner on the night was the Russian Dementieva, who claimed the final
spot in the lucrative Sony Ericsson WTA Tour Championships to be held at the Staples
Centre in Los Angeles.
The top eight female singles and doubles players will
compete for over $3 million in prize money, and with a field including Belgian
Kim Clijsters, American World Number One Lindsay Davenport, former World Number
One Amelie Mauresmo and former Wimbledon champion, Maria Sharapova, the competition
is set to tough.
By Rick D’Andrea Molik's
career on back foot (Oct 25)
 Australia's
highest ranked female tennis star and current world number 23, Alicia Molik, is
facing a premature end to her career due to the inner-ear virus that has hampered
her past seven months.
A Senior Victorian neurologist, at the Royal Victorian
Eye and Ear Hospital, Dr Mark Paine, has warned that one-quarter of those who
are diagnosed with vestibular neuronitis end up with residual nerve damage.
Dr
Paine told the Herald Sun that he believes there is a glimmer of hope for Molik
to continue to play international tennis, however he said that, “in some
people, it may take up to six or 12 months, and then a proportion-maybe 20 to
25 percent-don't recover fully and are left with residual problem.”
The
infection has affected Molik's stability and timing, forcing her to take a temporary
break from the game. Dr Paine said in the Herald Sun that, “For an
elite athlete, even if they've got a minor residual problem, it might be enough
to prevent them from performing satisfactorily-maybe ever. But sometimes the recovery
can be very slow and sometimes the recovery depends on a specifically designed
rehab program. Usually, there is an acute viral insult, which then gradually resolves,
and most people recover fully or, if not, almost fully.”
Dr Paine was
reported as telling the Herald Sun that with the right rehabilitation program,
it is possible for Molik to return after a three-or-four month break. “But
I would have thought that six to 12 months would be a reasonable time period and
then reassess after that.”
As a result of the infection, Molik will therefore
miss the Australian Open, the Sydney International and the Hopman Cup this coming
January.
By Stephen Ritchie
Herald
Sun Indian
star asks for Australian coach (Oct 20)
 Former
Australian Davis Cup Coach Tony Roche has been approached by Indian tennis sensation
Sania Mirza to guide her through a three-week training camp just before Christmas.
The
18-year-old Indian is said to need some work “particularly on her serve”,
according to her coach, Jaidip Mukerjea.
“I think at this stage, the people
who are looking after (Mirza) just felt that she needs a bit of work on a few
areas of her game, so I am just going to have a look at her and just see what
she needs to do,” Roche told The Age Newspaper.
“She's had a pretty
good year, made some big inroads, so it will be interesting to see.”
Mirza
rose from outside the World's top 200, into the top 40 within 12 months, with
strong performances on the WTA Circuit, reaching the fourth round of the US Open,
the third round of the Australian Open, as well as winning her first title in
Hyderabad, India.
Roche has had a history improving players' games, and has
taken under his wing some of the biggest names including Former World Number One's
Pat Rafter and Ivan Lendl. His current protégé is World Number One,
Roger Federer, to whom he has helped win this year's Wimbledon and US Open titles.
By
Rick D'Andrea
Mirza fan
site Illness
forces another setback for Molik (Oct 20)
Alicia Moliks's inner-ear
condition forced her out of yet another tournament yesterday; this time her opening
round match at the Zurich Open in Switzerland.
The former world number eight
and eighth seeded Australian was forced to retire toward the end of the second
set in her match against Jelena Jankovic. The final score read a disappointing
6-3, 4-2 for Molik.
Molik was looking to defend her Zurich Open title that
she claimed in 2004, defeating teenage Russian superstar, Maria Sharapova. Zurich
was Molik's first tier one title and a huge highlight in her career.
Molik
continues to feel the effects of vestibular neuronitis, which she contracted in
March of this year and has forbade her progress past the opening round in eight
of her past nine tournaments. The condition leaves the sufferer low on energy
and with poor balance and vision.
"She's still struggling from the vestibular
neuronitis. It's not something that's recurred over the last 24 hours," her
manager Lisa Chaffey said.
The set back puts in doubt Molik's Australian Open
2006 campaign even though she has indicated her intention to play tournaments
in Hasselt and Philadelphia to finish out the 2005 circuit.
High hopes are
held for Molik's return to Australia as she defeated Venus Williams in last year's
event and made it to the quarterfinals.
Molik's manager maintains that Aussie
star's priority is improving her health, staying positive and looking after herself.
"It's
something she's working through, and looking after (her) health is the most important
thing,” Chaffey said.
By Leah Bound
Pierce
through to Kremlin Cup final (Oct 16)
 Number
three seeded Frenchwoman Mary Pierce has secured her place in the Kremlin Cup
final in Moscow where she will take on Italian woman Francesca Schiavone who is
currently unseeded.
Pierce defeated unseeded Russian teenager Dinara Saffina
in the semi-final, winning in straight sets, 7/6 (2), 6/3 thus taking her one
step closer to the title. After a tough first set Pierce dominated in the second.
“I was not confident enough in the beginning of the match but after
I got up 4/1 (in the second set) I felt more comfortable,” said Pierce. “I
tried to make her run a lot to make her tired and that tactic seemed to work.”
In the second semi-final, Schiavone beat no. 4 seed Elena Dementieva in a match
that lasted just over an hour, winning the match 6/3, 6/1.
“The score
might look like it was an easy match but it's misleading because in every rally
I was trying to figure out how to pressure her. In the end I was successful,”
said Schiavone.
The two finallists have only played each other once before
in the Federation Cup in 2004, where Pierce won in straight sets.
Mary Pierce
won the Kremlin Cup title in 1998 where she defeated Monica Seles. The no.3 seed
has already had a successful year winning 24 of her last 27 matches in the WTA
tour this year, including reaching the finals in two Grand Slam events- Roland
Garros and the US Open.
This year's winner of the Kremlin Cup women's singles
title will receive $180,000, while the runner up will win $102,000. The total
prize pool for the women's draw is $1.3 million.
By Danielle Tralli
WTA Tour Molik
defeated in Kremlin Cup (Oct 13)
Australia's number one ranked female
tennis player Alicia Molik was defeated in straight sets by fellow countrywoman
Samantha Stosur. Molik lost the match in just over an hour, 6-3, 6-2.
Molik's
bad run continued as she lost her seventh opening round in eight tournaments since
March. Molik will have to improve remarkably to defend her titles she won in 2004
in Stockholm, Zurich and Luxembourg.
Molik's year has been plagued by injury
as she suffered an ear infection with prevented her from competing at the French
Open and Wimbledon.
It appeared that Molik was still hampered by the injury
which was affecting her balance and her strength. Against Stosour, she committed
33 unforced errors.
Molik'd record for 2005 is 18 wins, 22 losses and she will
face inform Russian Dinara Safina in the next round.
By Stephen Ritchie Davenport
wins title number 50 (Oct 13)
Former women's Number One player
Lindsay Davenport last week took out her 50th career singles title after she defeated
another former Number One in Frenchwoman Amelie Mauresmo 6-2, 6-4 at the Porsche
Tennis Grand Prix in Germany.
Davenport had it all her way against Mauresmo
in the first set, only allowing her opponent to win one of the last seven games.
But the Frenchwomen came back stronger in the second set, and took a commanding
4-2 lead, only to be overpowered by the American in the last four games.
Mauresmo told the WTATour website that her performance was "disappointing".
"It was very tough today with the way she was serving. The only
chance I had was in the sixth game of the second set and she played perfect again
after that," she said.
"I was disappointed with how I served, especially
in the first set, and she's too good at returning when she gets a lot of chances
on the second (serve).
"I'm disappointed I couldn't step it up when
I led 4-2 in the second,"
The American capped off a successful tournament
only dropping one set on her way to winning the German event, and defending her
title. She takes home $98,500 in prize money and a brand new Porsche car.
"This has been a really great week for me," said Davenport. "I've
been able to play at a high level and keep it up, very much the same as last year
here. I was really fired up to play well and I'm glad I did that. I
was in control of most of the match, dictating most of the rallies and played
very well winning those four games in a row in the middle of the first set and
again to finish the match."
Davenport is now only three singles titles
away from surpassing another great American tennis star in Monica Seles, who sits
on 53 title wins.
By Rick D'Andrea
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