Wordless WednesdayPlayers Graduate From ATP University
Monday, December 3, 2007
Many of tennis' brightest young stars, including Gael Monfils, Benjamin Becker and Sam Querrey, can now call themselves graduates of ATP University following the conclusion of the three-day session held at the Walt Disney World Resort in Orlando, Florida. A total of 36 players attended ATP University, held from November 27-30.
Administered by the ATP's Player Relations department, the ATP University featured classroom presentations made by ATP staff members and outside experts specializing in the fields of communications, finance, and medicine. The workshop covered topics including the history of the ATP, how to control personal finances, and the importance of the media and promoting the sport.
The players, who also had the opportunity to explore the Magic Kingdom after class, had high praise for ATP University.
Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga lauded it as "a great opportunity to learn a lot of things," and Croat Marin Cilic agreed, saying: "The ATP is introducing new stuff to us, including media, rules and regulations, anti-corruption...We had a lot of questions and the ATP explained to us how it's going and now we're better informed about that. I also had doubts about some things and now most of them are quite clear."
While many players pinpointed media training as their favorite session, Dutchman Robin Haase said: "The financial session for me was really important because I live in a country where I pay a lot of taxes, so that was really interesting and a lot of help. It's good to be here. It's educational and it's fun also with all the other tennis players here to have the feeling that we're doing it together."
"It's been great," said American Sam Querrey. "Really fun, really educational, it's nice to see these guy, the hotel's nice, the weather's nice. No complaints."Source--ATP Tour
Gael Monfils
Jo-Wilfried TsongaManic Monday: "Ship"
James Blake Ships Dmitry Tursunov Out Of Davis Cup Final
James Blake punctuated the U.S.A.'s Davis Cup Final celebrations Sunday, winning the last 10 points of the match after being within two points of defeat to beat Russian Dmitry Tursunov 1-6, 6-3, 7-5. Earlier, Igor Andreev defeated Bob Bryan 6-3, 7-6(4) to claim Russia's only point of the final. Bryan stood in for Andy Roddick (pictured), who preferred to cheer on his team mates from the sidelines.Blake set the tone for the free-spirited dead rubber by taking some popcorn from Mardy Fish's giant-sized tub just seconds before receiving the opening serve of the fifth and final match. Blake came out swinging, torching a couple of forehands in the opening two points, setting the tone for a match of unrestrained aggression from the baseline.
Tursunov nailed a crushing crosscourt backhand winner to claim the first break to go ahead 3-1 and also broke Blake's next service game to bust open the first set. But it would be the last time in the match that Blake would surrender his serve. He did find himself in danger at 4-5 30/30 in the third set, but the 2006 Tennis Masters Cup finalist reeled off the last 10 points to close out the match.
In the earlier match on Day 3, Andreev dictated play with his monster forehand against Bryan, who one day earlier had teamed with his brother Mike to clinch the U.S.A.'s first Davis Cup title in 12 years by winning the doubles rubber against Andreev and Nikolay Davydenko. Anytime Bryan attempted to chip the ball back Andreev would run around and pound his forehand, clipping 28 winners on that wing alone to Bryan's three.
Bryan, who dropped serve twice in the first set, saved all six break points he faced in the second set before Andreev eventually came through in the tie-break to clinch Russia's first point of the tie.
Source -- ATP Tennis
Read the rest of this post...........
USA WINS 32ND DAVIS CUP!!!!!
Saturday, December 1, 2007
Photographs by Paul Zimmer/Ron Angle
Technorati Tags: 
World AIDS Day
Technorati Tags: 
Lisa , Kim, Deborah, Pearl, Sandy, Jesse, Chris, Zubli Zainordin, Santa, Blog Elf, Jackie, Marzie, Adrian, Jos, NAFA SG, Polli, Sue, Kathy Maartje, Morgan, Greg, MaryAnn, Eric, Hawk, Carol, Diane, Ev Nucci, Surjit, Kuanyin, Christy Z, Sandee, Robin, Hanna, Maunie, Kim, Bobby, Billy, David, Jennifer, Aryst, Winston, Christy, LilyRuth, Jess, Rudy, Lynda, Lili, Sandy G, Ange, BlackWyrm, Vincent, Colin & Anne, Blandly Urbane, Marco, Mihaela Lica, John C, Aziz-sm, Ugyen, Lansy, Alex Badalic, Victors, Nostalgia Manila, Franco Yong, Herby, Rubie, Santaram & BVK, Jean-david, Namgay, Catherine, Yunita P, PJ Lighthouse, Lorimer Black, Dream Catcher, Fred Plimley, Anja Merret, Maria Lourdes, Jon B, Aayush, Denise, Dharmendra P, Brent D, Jerry & Daryl McCoy, Brian B, Calvin Innes, Pieter Marburn, Jessica Field, Taflas, Alex Sysoef, Norie, Justin Stanley, Ashish, David Ledoux, Thanate Tan, Kevin, Etienne, Gerbera, Christina, Abhishek d, Uprai, Texas_Jam, Azmiel, Daniel, Kristin B, Luwis, Adavait, Now Sourcing, Buen Amigo, Kiran Pande, Peterson Wong, Lynn, Chessnoid, Luis Hipolito, Joliveira, Jennifer & Pete, Team Dog, Megan, Mark, Raivyn, Mel, Andrea, Jen / domestika, Mimi, Bobo, Lynda Lehmann, Dread Bob, Julie, RennyBA, Bobbarama, Becky, Magdalena, Michelle, Shelia
Davis Cup Number 32 Coming Up!
Now that I'm back down to earth, I can truly say that when Bob and Mike Bryan win their doubles match tomorrow and clinch the Davis Cup for the USA, it will have been one of the most fulfilling tennis moments that I've ever had. Yes, I know that Bob and Mike Bryan are going to win tomorrow, no feeling, no intuition, no brag, strictly fact.....just watch and see.
Today however, both Andy Roddick and James Blake committed to their games and pulled out wins. Both of them actually scared me a bit, although Blake hit me with the fear of God. Roddick seemed so pensive throughout the first set, even though he won. He seemed to play a bit more aggressively in the second and third sets, either way he won. Blake was lightening charged in his first set against Youzhney, but came down quite a bit in the second. When he lost the third, that he should have won, I started having heart palpitations. When Youzhney broke back at 5-4 Blake in the fourth set, I took a drink and turned the channel at 9:57 p.m. I refused to turn back until 10:15 p.m. when only one of two things could be occuring, either James Blake and the entire USA bench would be jumping for joy, or it would be the fifth set.
When I turned back to Versus (VS) at 10:15 p.m. on the nose, a middle-aged man was sitting on a rock in some river talking about deer. I leapt out of my chair because it was off, over and Blake had pulled it out. So what I missed the big hug fest, I'd catch it later on The Tennis Channel and save myself some of life's breath!
This is what Davis Cup match victory looks like:
Post match Blake said:
"They've believed in me the whole year, so I wanted to prove them right, to be honest." Blake said of the U.S. team. "They've had confidence in me every time."
"Every time I came over I saw Patrick with a fist pump saying, 'Keep doing what you're doing,' That's the best feeling," Blake said. "That's the confidence I talked about that my teammates have, that if I play my game I'm going to give myself the best chance to win."
Roddick stated:
"It's kind of like 'so close but so far away.' There's no celebration," he said. "It's one match. The celebration will be saved for when we win, if we win."
"If there are 12-and-a-half thousand people behind you and you can use them to help you win a tennis match, you would be stupid not to, right?" Roddick said. "Other than cheating, I'll do anything I can to win."
Technorati Tags:
![[Valid Atom 1.0]](valid-atom.png "Validate my Atom 1.0 feed")
