Federer suffers unexpected defeat, Nadal advances
Tennis heavyweight Roger Federer, still ranked number 1, suffered an unexpected defeat on Wednesday night, when he was ousted from Rogers Cup by Giles Simon of France, ranked 22nd in the world. The unseeded French player defeated the world number 1 in three sets 2-6, 7-5, 6-4, thus putting an end to the Swiss star’s hopes of a rematch against his second-ranked rival, Rafael Nadal, after having lost the epic Wimbledon final to the Spanish player, two weeks ago.
“The problem was my game today,” said Federer into the post-match interview room. “I had enough to put him away.”
The unforgiving hard court of the Rogers Cup tournament proved to be a little bumpier for the Swiss champ, who ended the second set with four unforced errors on his usually deadly forehand. In the end of the match, Federer repeated the same errors as he served to tie the third set, but he unravelled, sending forehands, wide, into the net, long and long.
“I don’t know what to say right now,” the 23-year-old French player said. “I am so confident, actually (after winning last week) and I just wanted to fight, to play a nice game, a nice match. And that’s what I did tonight, so I am so proud of it.”
“For sure this is my best victory, even if he’s not the No. 1 next week.”
Federer was asked if Wimbledon had drained him. He just smiled wryly and said: “You wouldn’t have asked me that if I would have won, right? So I guess.”
Wednesday, after nearly six hours of rain delay, Nadal won 6-4, 6-2 to Ottawa-born American qualifier Jesse Levine.
“Today wasn’t my best match,” said Nadal, 22. “I have to be better, that’s for sure.”
“I think I was in that zone where I wasn’t sure really where I was,” said Levine, ranked 123rd. “And then I came to my senses and realized I’m playing Nadal on stadium court.”
No. 4 Nikolay Davydenko of Russia, No. 5 David Ferrer of Spain, No. 7 James Blake of the United States, and No. 10 Richard Gasquet of France, all advanced, but seeds that fell in the second round included No. 12 Tommy Robredo of Spain (6-3, 6-4 by Marin Cilic of Croatia, ranked 44th), No. 13 Fernando Verdasco, also of Spain (6-4, 6-7, 6-4 to Robin Soderling of Sweden), No. 14 Fernando Gonzalez, of Chile (6-3, 3-6, 6-3 to Jose Acasuso of Chile) and talented but erratic No. 16 seed Tomas Berdych, of the Czech Republic (6-4, 3-6, 6-4 to Igor Andreev of Russia.)
Teenager Del Potro wins his first career tennis title in Stuttgart
Unseeded Argentine teenager Juan Martin del Potro surprisingly but deservedly clinched his first ATP career title on Sunday when he beat French second seeded Richard Gasquet 6-4, 7-5 in the final of the Stuttgart clay-court tournament.
Along with his first title, Del Potro also collected a white luxury convertible presented by the tournament sponsor.
“This is incredible. I’ve dreamed of winning a tournament since I’ve been a kid and now I also get a car,” said Del Potro, aged 19, in an on-court interview. He drove the vehicle around the court after the awards ceremony and also picked up $186,853 as first prize.
“I congratulate Juan Martin but he’d better be careful, it’s a fast car,” Gasquet, world ranked 15, joked.
Del Potro showed resilience and steady nerves in both sets. The Argentinean broke serve for a 5-4 lead and served out the first set.
After a brief rain break, he again broke Gasquet’s serve to take a 6-5 lead and served out the match at love at the end of the second set to wrap up his first career title.
“I knew I had to serve well to win, and now I can just enjoy it.”
“For sure I want to congratulate him on his first title,” said Gasquet, a former world number seven who has gone 10 months since winning his fifth career title in Mumbai last September.
Gasquet admitted he had played badly. “I was frustrated but he played well. It was difficult to play my best tennis, the court was too slow.”
“I remember winning my first title and it’s an important step. I would say he has all it takes to make it into the top five.”
Del Potro, who entered the event ranked number 65, was also playing in his first final and he managed to beat four seeded players to win the tournament. The young Argentinean player succeeds world number two Rafael Nadal as champion of the Stuttgart tournament. Nadal pulled out of the tournament with a knee injury after winning an epic Wimbledon final over Roger Federer last weekend.
The 3rd Grand Slam has started
The oldest tennis championship in the world WIMBLEDON has started today (June 23, 2008) and will ends in July 6, 2008.
Wimbledon is one of the four Grand Slam tennis tournaments and it is the only one where tennis players played on grass courts.
Wimbledon is the third Grand Slam tournament played each year:
- 1st Australian Open (Melbourne) - hard tennis courts
- 2nd French Open (Roland Garros) - clay tennis courts
- 3rd England Open (Wimbledon) - grass tennis courts
- 4th US Open (Flushing)) - hard tennis courts
The first major tennis event at Wimbledon was held in 1877 with men single players.
Wimbledon includes five main events, four junior events and four invitation events.
Among these events the most popular are men’s singles (128 player draw)
and womens’ singles (128 draw).
The Wimbledon dress code requires that sport players to wear “almost entirely white” clothing during matches.
For the spectators, strawberries and cream is the traditional snack at Wimbledon. Approximately 28 tons of strawberries and 7 tons of cream are sold each year during the event.
At the beginning of the tournament (23 June, 2008) the following 5 gentlemen are favorites in singles:
- Roger Federer (SUI)
- Rafael Nadal (ESP)
- Novak Djokovic (SRB)
- Andy Roddick (USA)
- Andy Murray (GRB)
At the beginning of the tournament (23 June, 2008) the following 5 ladies are favorites in singles:
- Maria Sharapova (RUS)
- Ana Ivanovic (SRB)
- Williams Serena (USA)
- illiams Venus (USA)
- Jelena Jancovic (SRB)
At Wimbledon the singles’ winners will earn approximative US$ 1.5 millions each (man/woman) at the end of the tournament.
ATP ranking movement
Jo-Wilfried Tsonga entered in the Australian Open tournament unseeded and ranked #38, but the Frenchman’s loss to Novak Djokovic in 27 January 2008 final means he is now #18 ATP ranking. Tsonga said he feels “pretty good” after reaching the final of any tournament for the first time. “Not everybody can beat the players I beat,” he said after knocking off four men in the top 14, including second-ranked Rafael Nadal. “Of course I’m confident now.” – Tsonga said. The top six men remain unchanged, with #1 Roger Federer, who lost in the semifinals to #3 Novac Djokovic, retaining his top-ranking and Nadal at #2. Nikolay Davydeno stays at #4, David Ferrer at #5 and Andy Roddick at #6 ATP ranking. Mikhail Youzhny, who lost in the quarterfinals to Tsonga, jumps from #14 to 8 while James Blake, who lost to Federer in the quarters, moves up from #15 to #9 ATP ranking Andy Murray, knocked out in the first round by Tsonga, drops from #9 to #12, while Fernando Gonzalez, who lost in last year’s final to Federer, falls from #7 to #24 after losing in the third round.
Nadal will go into Chennai open final
Rafael Nadal (21 years) defeat his compatriot Carlos Moya (31 years) in three sets 6-7 7-6 7-6 in the Chennai Open (India) . Moya had 4 chances to win the match. He earned three match points at 6-3 in the second set tie-break, but Nadal saved the first match point with a backhand winner and Moya hit wide returns on the next two. Moya’s next opportunity came at 7-6 following a forehand winner, but Nadal saved the match with a great pass and proceeded to win the tie-break, 10-8.
With Moya serving for the match at 5-4 in the decisive set, Nadal finally succeeded in breaking the veteran on his eighth break point opportunity of the third set. Nadal rolled out to a 5-0 lead in the tie-break and converted on his first of five match points to seal the win in 3 hours and 54 minutes of splendid tennis.
The #31 ATP ranking Potito Starace suspended for 6 weeks
Starace Potito was suspended for six weeks and fined $30,000, the Italian federation said. Bracciali, ranked 258th, was banned for three months and fined $20,000. Both suspensions take effect January 1, 2008.
The federation said Starace made five bets for a total of $130 two years ago, and Bracciali made about 50 bets of $7 each from 2004-05 on tennis matches involving other players.
“Injustice is done,” the statement said. “These penalties are absolutely, excessively severe compared to the magnitude of the violations carried out by the two players.”
The federation said the two were not aware of the ATP’s betting regulations, and they stopped placing bets as soon as they learned it was against the rules.
“It’s disgusting,” Starace said. “The ATP doesn’t know where to turn. It’s all a joke.”
Bracciali said the two had been “sacrificed.”
Concerns about match-fixing have risen since August, when an online betting company reported unusual betting patterns during a match between fourth-ranked Nikolay Davydenko of
2007 ITF World Champions
ITF awarded for the third time overall men’s tennis world #1 Roger Federer and women’s #1 Justine Henin the 2007 ITF World Champions.
Federer (26 years), who won the Australian Open, Wimbledon and US Open titles to bring his Grand Slam haul to 12, took the award for the fourth straight year, while Henin, (25 years), who won the French and US Open titles was named for the third time overall.
“Each year brings new challenges, and I am proud that I have been able to raise the level of my game when needed. It gives me great satisfaction to have won another three Grand Slam titles and maintained the number one ranking.” – R. Federer said.
“This has definitely been the best season of my career so far and I am delighted to be named ITF World Champion once again.” –J. Henin said.
“Roger Federer and Justine Henin both enjoyed outstanding seasons to maintain their status as the world’s number one players. In particular their record in Grand Slam events saw them emerge as the clear choices for ITF World Champions.” – The ITF President Francesco Ricci said.
Roger Federer won the Tennis Masters Cup
Roger Federer(SUI) crushed his rival David Ferrer(ESP) in straight 3 sets (6-2 6-3 6-2) to win the final of the season-ending Masters Cup on Sunday in Shanghai.
“Who’s the Daddy?” asks the British speaker. Of course #1 tennis player Roger Federer. An exceptional 2007 year of results from R. Federer keeps him on #1 ATP ranking.
What else can he wants from tennis?
Nothing, excepts Roland Garros French 2008 Title on clay.
ATP Masters series - quarters
It is very hard to beat Roger Federer, but David Nalbandian did it again after his victory in the final of the Madrid Masters Series. So called “El Gringo” won in 2 sets 6-4 7-6(3) in 1h41mins. So the quarterfinals will be between theese players: Baghdatis M. vs Robredo T.; Nalbandian D. vs. Ferrer D.; Nadal R. vs. Youzhny M. and Murray A. vs. Gasquet R.
Bangkok tennis open final
Books sees Tursunov as a favorite in this match. For those who have seen the SF matches is just a little bit strange this assumption. Only history statistics are in Tursunov’s advantage (in 2007 Tursunov was 11-6 and Becker was 14-15 on hard courts). They meet each other in 2006 US Open-Indianapolis when Tursunov won by Becker’s retirement. Benjamin Becker take the victory in 3 sets over T. Berdich and have now a lot of confidence.