Tennis

At today's luncheon at the University of Illinois Colonnades Club above the football stadium, the ITA announced its National Award winners. Players of the Year will be named... For the complete story, click on the title of the post to go to zootennis.com

Seventh seed Viktor Troicki is through to the second round at the Power Horse Cup after holding off veteran Michael Russell. The Serbian is joined in round two by lucky loser Aljaz Bedene, who upset 8th seed Nikolay Davydenko.

Tommy Haas (Photo: Moana Bauer) By Yeshayahu Ginsburg Not every sport needs a feel-good story, but they really help bring in fans that might otherwise not be so interested. Unfortunately for tennis, its feel-good story—especially the American ones—have fallen flat recently. Mardy Fish lost 30 pounds and made fitness more a part of his life instead of just his tennis game a few years ago. He finally began to consistently compete in the deeper rounds of Masters and Slams. Then, just over a year ago, he discovered a heart condition and has barely competed since. Brian Baker was everyone’s heartwarming story last year. He was a top junior player but missed almost seven years after a long string of injuries that necessitated five surgeries. He came back last year to reach the final in Nice (after coming through the qualifying) and was competitive at both Roland Garros and Wimbledon. He tore his meniscus in the second round of this year’s Australian Open and hasn’t competed since. This is why Tommy Haas is such a breath of fresh air. Haas is not a traditional feel-good story. There is no massive life change. There is no adversity that has been overcome in extreme and immediate fashion. Haas is just pure grit, determination, and hard work. Haas first debuted in the ATP rankings in October 1993, almost 20 years ago. After 10 years of play (the first few on the lower tours, like everyone does), Haas reached a career high of World No. 2 in May of 2002. There is no telling how high he could have gone had tragic circumstances, including his father being in a coma and a severe injury, taken him out of tennis for an extended period of time. During Haas’s leave, Roger Federer arose as the dominant player and Haas lost his next nine matches against the Swiss, until finally beating him in the Halle final last year. Haas returned to the game in 2004, competing and winning titles before reaching the top 10 again in 2007. 2008, however, was marred by injuries and aside from a great run Roland Garros and Wimbledon in 2009, Haas’s career was once again derailed. This is the story of Tommy Haas’s career. He plays well, works his way into form, competes with just about anyone on tour, and then seems to be knocked off track by injuries at the worst time. If you look at a graph of his career ranking, it almost looks like a repeating curve. His ranking rises to the top of the game and then falls drastically when injury forces him to miss extended periods of time—twice missing more than 12 months and falling out of the rankings completely. Now, at the age of 35, Haas is back once again. He beat Novak Djokovic in Miami en route to reaching his first Masters 1000 semifinal since Paris back in 2006. He is on the verge of the top 10 and has no points to defend from now until Halle. He has all but guaranteed himself a top 16 seed in Roland Garros and will most likely be able to get a favorable draw both there and in Wimbledon. A few wins at Roland Garros could very easily put Haas back in the top 10 for the first time since 2007, which would be an incredible feat. Haas is competing at a high level past an age where most players have retired. He hasn’t done it with flash or shocking one-time runs. He has been consistently getting better after each return from injury. His feel-good story is not one of fan-rallying epic proportions. It’s the story of a player who has been dealt poor cards in his career and has made the absolute best of them time and time again. It’s the story of a man who has been on the brink of the top of the game but never quite made it—and he has still never let that get him down. Let’s hope that his current stint on tour lasts until he can leave on his own terms this time.

Yulia Putintseva is quickly developing a reputation for being one of the most outspoken players on Tour. During many a Real Housewives reunion special, a middle-aged, mildly affluent woman sits in a tight, off-the-shoulder cocktail dress (I’ve watched a couple in my day), and tells another similarly dressed woman to take responsibility for her actions. In other words, “own it.” With this sort of cartoonishly glamorous set up unfortunately missing from the tennis world, it can be difficult to keep track of the daily drama, on both a macro (the game’s elite) and micro level (everyone else). Like those sage Bravo producers, we can often bow to clips conclusively showing Juan Martin del Potro dissing Andy Murray’s mother, or Jelena Jankovic imitating compatriot Ana Ivanovic’s signature fist pump. But just like those bastions of reality television, it is almost always what happens “off-camera” that stirs up the most controversy. As a New Jersey housewife would probably say, “the fewer witnesses, the better.” In tennis, nothing breeds isolation quite like a rain delay. With troubling forecasts predicting rain through early next week in Europe, qualifying matches in last minute warm-up tournaments like Brussels were driven indoors to ensure the event reaches completion. One such match was ripe for drama, rain or shine. Vandeweghe came out on the losing end of her Brussels match, but may have the last laugh after all. In one corner was 21-year-old CoCo Vandeweghe. A former US Open girls’ champion, the young American made a dream run to the Stanford finals last summer. Since then, however, she has struggled to reign in her high-octane game, and coming into Brussels had yet to win back-to-back matches this year. Granddaughter to a former Miss America, Vandeweghe’s senior career has been largely played under the radar, but she has had a “princess” moment or two, as evidenced by her twitter account. Her opponent likely needs no introduction: the “delightfully offensive” Yulia Putintseva. After pushing Serena Williams to a tiebreak in Madrid, the teenaged Kazakh suffered a potentially soul-crushing loss in Rome, failing to convert a 5-1 final set lead to Madrid quarterfinalist Anabel Medina Garrigues. But whether you’re throwing drinks on someone at a party or playing a tennis match, it helps to be a little bit delusional. Shrugging off her fourth three-set loss (three of them from a set up) of the year, Putintseva crushed her first two opponents, including an equally offensive (though arguably less delightful) Michelle Larcher de Brito. Playing on a surface that mitigates her weapons and exposes her suspicious movement, Vandeweghe had been surprisingly comfortable in Brussels, and took a tight first set from Putintseva with only one break separating the two. From there, Putintseva went on a tear, winning 12 of the next 14 games, and broke the big-serving American five times for a 4-6, 6-1, 6-1 victory. But it was after the match where the drama (allegedly) reignited. With no one reporting more than the score of “Brussels QR3 Vandeweghe/Putintseva,” Vandeweghe took to Twitter to enlighten the public to that which many already consider to be obvious: I have never played a person with worst sportsmanship… Putintseva… — CoCo Vandeweghe (@CoCoVandey) May 20, 2013 From there, CoCo outlined an exchange following the match’s conclusion where the victorious Putintseva allegedly told her, “You are a terrible player only serve. I win all the rallies.” The American went on to accuse Putintseva’s father/coach, Anton, of not only condoning, but also “clapping” as his daughter made these biting observations. Hours later, Putintseva popped up on Twitter herself, at first to nonchalantly express her satisfaction at qualifying for the main draw, then to give us a “No comment,” re: CoCo. Elaborating for a fan, she said, @jakedavi5 haha i did:D i think she is angry coz before the match she thought that im not her level of playe

BRUSSELS OPEN Brussels, Belgium May 20-25, 2013 $690,000/Premier Red Clay/Outdoors Results - Monday, May 20, 2013 Singles – First Round (7) Varvara Lepchenko (USA) d. Bojana Jovanovski (SRB) 62 67(8) 64 Olga Govortsova (BLR) d. Arantxa Rus (NED) 62 75 Jana Cepelova (SVK) d. Lesia Tsurenko (UKR) 57 63 75 (WC) Elena Baltacha (GBR) d. Stefanie Voegele (SUI) 76(9) 75 Suspended due to darkness (4) Sloane Stephens (USA) is tied with Tsvetana Pironkova (BUL) 63 26 22 Doubles – First Round (1) Mirza/Zheng (IND/CHN) d. Hrdinova/Lee-Waters (CZE/USA) 62 64 Dekmeijere/Kalashnikova (LAT/GEO) d. Aoyama/Tanasugarn (JPN/THA) 64 64 Klemenschits/Klepac (AUT/SLO) d. Elie/Slater (USA/GBR) 63 62 (WC) Flipkens/Rybarikova (BEL/SVK) d. Huber/Pliskova (USA/CZE) 63 26 108 (Match TB) Singles Qualifying – Final Round (1) Mallory Burdette (USA) d. (6) Maria Joao Koehler (POR) 46 63 60 (3) Melanie Oudin (USA) d. Aliaksandra Sasnovich (BLR) 62 76(1) (7) Yulia Putintseva (KAZ) d. (4) Coco Vandeweghe (USA) 46 61 61 Zhang Shuai (CHN) d. Shahar Peer (ISR) 76(5) 62 Order Of Play – Tuesday, May 21, 2013 Center Court (from 10.30hrs) 1. Sofia Arvidsson vs. Peng Shuai 2. Sloane Stephens vs. Tsvetana Pironkova (tbc) 3. Coco Vandeweghe vs. Julia Goerges 4. Kaia Kanepi vs. Dominika Cibulkova 5. Yanina Wickmayer vs. Jamie Hampton 6. Kirsten Flipkens vs. Madison Keys (NB 18.00hrs) Court 1 (from 10.30hrs) 1. Yulia Putintseva vs. Alison Van Uytvanck 2. Zheng Jie vs. Mallory Burdette 3. Romina Oprandi vs. Melanie Oudin 4. Melnikova/Sasnovich vs. Kapshay/Kondratieva Court 3 (from 10.30hrs) 1. Zhang Shuai vs. Magdalena Rybarikova 2. Chan/Jurak vs. Dabrowski/Peer 3. Czink/Jovanovski vs. Govortsova/Rosolska 4. Craybas/Vandeweghe vs. Groenefeld/Peschke

British No 2 James Ward has been given a wild card for the AEGON Championships at Queen's Club next month.

The Roland Garros 2013 French Open Qualifying Round will begin on May 21 and will conclude on May 24. Several former top players are going to battle it out with up and coming players at the earlier rounds. The qualifying rounds will be held over four days with the matches starting at 10 am Paris The post Roland Garros 2013 French Open Qualifying Live Online Video Stream appeared first on Tennis Guru.

Rafa reacquaints himself with one of his old friends. Another awaits in Paris. One man looms above the rest in Paris, as usual.  But a few other champions could step into his shoes if he stumbles.  Meet the men to watch at Roland Garros. The smart money: 1) Rafael Nadal:  What more can be said about the greatest clay player ever to brand his mark on the terre battue?  Nadal has reached the final at all eight events that he has entered this year, seven of them on clay, in a career-best streak that has accompanied ATP-leading tallies in titles (six) and matches won (36).  Not since he won Roland Garros for the first time in 2004 has he suffered three or more losses in one clay season, and he already has dropped two this year.  The Monte Carlo loss to Djokovic did not seem to derail Nadal’s confidence for long against other opponents as he swept through Barcelona, Madrid, and Rome to claim a top-four seed. Even his most fervent fans could not have expected such an impressive comeback from the Spaniard, yet his detractors will note with some accuracy that he has produced form less overwhelming on this surface than in years past.  Nadal has played more final sets on clay this year, going the distance against players like Dimitrov, Gulbis, and Ferrer, and his movement looks a shade less naturally explosive on some days.  But those niggles are far from enough to consider him anything less than the presumptive favorite at the tournament where has lost only once.  He holds a perfect record there against his current archrival (Djokovic) and his former archrival (Federer), neither of whom even has taken him to a final set in Paris. Knocking on the door: 2) Novak Djokovic:  The only man to defeat Rafa during the European clay-court swing, Djokovic joined Nadal in completing the trio of Masters 1000 titles on this surface.  Perhaps even more important is his trio of victories over the greatest clay player ever at each of the clay Masters 1000 tournaments, the most recent in Monte Carlo this year.  Nobody else has defeated Rafa at any of those three events since 2009, which shows how far Djokovic stands ahead of the Spaniard’s other rivals.  His Monte Carlo victory reminded observers how well his backhand matches up to Nadal’s heavy topspin and how he can cover a clay court as suffocatingly as the man who built his reputation on it. Responding to adversity in that match with poise, the Serb stood less tall at the other 2013 clay events and brings little momentum to Roland Garros.  He has won just one set in their four meetings there, although he took a step forward by reaching his first final last year at the only major that he has not won.  Not seeking a Nole Slam of holding all four majors simultaneously, Djokovic may feel less pressure if he returns to that stage and especially if he faces Nadal before it.  He arrives in Paris with the momentum in their rivalry even if a host of more general concerns about his form surround him. 3) Roger Federer:  Not until Rome had he even reached a final, playing a reduced schedule and navigating around a back injury.  Other than Nadal, Federer is the only active man who ever has won Roland Garros, and his knowledge of what it takes to win there arms him mentally against the challenges that will arise.  Since that title in 2009, he has produced mixed results in Paris from a quarterfinal loss to Soderling and a tepid effort against Djokovic to a transcendent masterpiece that toppled the Serb in 2011.  Federer never has defeated Nadal at Roland Garros, of course, and he has registered just one victory over the Spaniard since his peak period in 2007.  That one win came with a  significant asterisk, a day after his rival’s 243-minute semifinal against Djokovic in Madrid. Outclassed again by Nadal in Rome, Federer will hope to land in the opposite half of the draw and for someone to conveniently remove him in advance.  If that surprise should happen, he could repeat what he did in 2009, for the week in Rome

World number three Roger Federer still has a positive outlook despite having lost the Internazionali BNL d’Italia or Rome Masters 2013 final against rival Rafael Nadal. Federer is now a three-time finalist at this prestigious claycourt event. “I am playing well and I am healthy, so I have everything to play for next week [ahead The post Roger Federer admits that Nadal still remains French Open favorite appeared first on Tennis Guru.