Tennis Vine
Posted by RSVP on
Hewitt's 'Cure Our Kids' charity gets a little help from his friendsLleyton Hewitt has found a project to occupy some of his time as he recovers from hip surgery with an expected return to tennis in January prior to the Australian Open.
The 27 year old and his wife Bec, pregnant with the couple's second child, have set up a month-long fundraising auction with proceeds going to the Cure Our Kids charity, which supports children in the state of New South Wales.
Among items going under the hammer are donations from former No.1 Hewitt and his television ex-soap star wife. In addition, tennis pals Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer plus Ana Ivanovic and Andre Agassi have also kicked in memorabilia.
Hewitt, who last played at the Beijing Olympics before bowing to the inevitable and undergoing an operation on his hip, said that Nadal was particularly generous.
"He donated the racquet he used to win the 2008 Wimbledon final," said Hewitt. "Steffi Graf and Andre Agassi both donated tennis racquets, while Roger Federer gave us the shirt off his own back."
Speedy on and off the court
Speedy Swiss Stan Wawrinka has had to apply the brakes on the motorways at home after temporarily having his drivers license suspended.
The Swiss No.2 who is now out of the chase for the Masters Cup after first-round losses in two of his past three indoor tournaments confessed to the infraction on his blog.
Stan told his public: "I'm not proud to admit it, but recently I lost my license for a month for driving a little too fast."
"But I've learned my lesson. We took it easy on the trip." The pair travelled from Lausanne to Basel, where he went out in his first match to German qualifier Benjamin Becker.
And the No.12 cautioned impressionable readers: "There are lots of speed cameras so you will almost certainly be caught if you drive too fast." His penance paid, Wawrinka is now driving with more prudence after getting his license back.
Players take time to see the sights
Tournaments often try to introduce players to a little of the local culture, and the Generali Ladies Linz is no exception. The Austrian city is to be the European Capital of Culture in 2009, and several players, including Jill Craybas, Tamarine Tanasugarn and Nuria Llagostera Vives, were taken on a tour of the city, seeing an art museum and taking a tourist train ride through the Old Town.
At the players party, several players, including Ana Ivanovic, Nadia Petrova and Tamira Paszek, were among those who dressed up in local costume.
Nadal Claims Argentina is the Davis Cup favourite
The internal Argentine row about the venue of the upcoming Davis Cup final seems to have subsided but regardless of the infighting, Rafael Nadal still insists the South American hosts remain favourites to win the famous trophy for the first time in the nation's history.
Argentina's first-ever home Davis Cup final is now definitely to be played in the coastal city of Mar del Plata on November 21 through 23. But world No.1 Nadal, still only 22 years of age but a veteran of Spain's last triumph four years ago in Seville against the United States, is mindful of the history books.
In the past five years only Croatia has managed to win the Cup on foreign territory with its win over the Slovak Republic in Bratislava in 2005. "When you play away from home, your opponents are always favourites," said the man from Mallorca. "History shows that when you play the Davis Cup at home, it allows you to considerably improve your chances of winning."
David Nalbandian, the main protagonist in the campaign to stage the final in his home city of Cordoba, still believes the wrong decision has been made and remains insistent higher altitude would have been more advantageous for an Argentine team that is likely to feature himself and Juan Martin del Potro.
"Particularly I think to play at higher altitude would have benefited us," said Nalbandian who originally threatened to boycott the final because of the decision that appeared to be influenced by the International Tennis Federation. "Altitude might appear as nothing but it influences. It's a lot faster, the ball jumps up more and you have to play more carefully."
Modest Murray not on the level yet
Andy Murray may have risen to a career-best fourth ranking, which was also enjoyed by predecessors Tim Henman and Greg Rusedski, but the newest British hope says he's not yet arrived at the level of the previous generation of tennis heroes.
"Tim was definitely much, much better than me. Over eight or nine years he was in the top 10, always playing well in Wimbledon, making the semifinals in all the Grand Slams .
"I've only passed the semis once, I still have a long way to achieve what he did."
But Murray does not totally play down his own hot prospects. "But I've done something that neither of them were able to do," said the first form Britain to win four ATP events in the same season.
"I've beaten Federer and Djokovic in the last two tournaments that I've won . I¿m having to beat really good players to do it consistently."
But, he added with delight, "It¿s great to make a little bit of history."
Tennis stars swap racquets for footballs
Roger Federer and David Nalbandian were able to momentarily cast aside tennis concerns at the Swiss Indoors in Basel to attend a key European football match at the midway point of the tournament week.
With Champions League soccer the sporting passion of millions around the world, it's no surprise the Swiss and the Argentinian both made the trip just across the street from the St Jakobshalle tennis venue for places in the VIP tribune of the football. Also along to watch, Argentine third seed Juan Martin Del Potro
Both top seed Federer and No.2 Nalbandian each had a vested interest in the outcome, with FC Basel facing Spain's mighty Barcelona featuring Argentine international Lionel Messi and Barca winning easily 5-0.
"I know Messi personally, so I'm sure he can get me a ticket if I asked," Nalbandian said, as if he would not get the same from tennis organisers eager to please their drawcards.
Mirza's miraculous comebackJust two months after Sania Mirza's tennis career seemed to be threatened by a wrist injury that meant she was not even able to use a fork, let alone a tennis racquet, the Indian 21 year old is pain free and ready to return to the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour.
After two rounds of surgery, Mirza was reluctant to undergo a third but she has been aided by a 26-year-old physiotherapist in Delhi who practices the South Korean science of spiral therapy, which is based on cell regeneration. She was recommended to try Jatin Chaudhry's treatment by Indian international cricketer Yuvraj Singh and has been amazed by the results.
"For an athlete, surgery is one of the worst things, said Mirza who has only managed to register two Tour wins since Wimbledon and has not played since being forced to retire at August's Olympic Games in Beijing against Iveta Benesova.
"From being completely active, you go to being dependent on someone else for everything and that's really difficult to live with. Yuvi told me that there was this doctor who could cure me in seven to 10 days and that telephone call came at a time when I was staring surgery in the face for a second time in six months and thinking 'That's another year of my tennis gone.'"
Now Mirza, whose ranking has slipped from a career high of 27 little more than a year ago to her current position precariously just inside the top 100, is certain she will be fit to return to the WTA Tour at the beginning of 2009 if not sooner. She added: "I had seen the best doctors in the world, had surgery and nothing was working.
"Sometimes, I couldn't even feel my little finger, the pain was numbing. Yuvi told me that Jatin fixed his shoulder in ten minutes, and that it could work for me too.
"When I went to Jatin, he put some 30 to 35 needles on my index finger, and every time he hit the spot I felt an electric current go through me. He left the needles on for 30 minutes and he did this about three or four times a day.
"It was very painful, because the more times he did it the more sore the finger felt. After two days he asked me to bend my wrist and I had regained 90 per cent of the movement. Just before I started the treatment I had done an ultra sound and there were cysts in the area. After ten days of treatment, there was no significant scarring tissue, my bones were fine and the two cysts were gone."
Federer predicts plenty of pressure for Nadal in 2009
Roger Federer is calmly plotting strategy in the final weeks of the season, relishing the spectacle of new No.1 Rafael Nadal trying to defend a mass of points and prestige in 2009.
Nadal claimed the year-end No.1 ranking on the ATP last weekend when Federer went down to Andy Murray in the Madrid semifinals. But with the pressure now shifted, Federer will be more than ready to make his move towards regaining "his" honour.
The pressure-cooker is not over for Nadal - even this season - with the Masters Cup in Shanghai from November 9 followed by a tough road trip across the Pacific to Mar del Plata for a Davis Cup final against Argentina.
And then there are title defenses for eight trophies including the French Open, Wimbledon and three Masters wins. "It all starts at zero next year," said Federer. "Rafa is going to have way more to defend next year than I have.
"He's played more than I have and he's got Davis Cup after Shanghai, so we¿ll see how he feels next year with all the pressure.
But, he¿s done very well and I predict he¿s going to be playing very well again. Can he play the whole year through being No.1 in the world?"
For more tennis news and gossip go to: www.tennis.com.au