Official 2007 Tennis Thread

[Casey's Angel27]

Stars and strife?
by Luke Buttigieg
Wednesday, 17 January, 2007


American women have dominated tennis throughout the Open era but, by virtue of injury and loss of form recently, a quirk of Australian Open 2007 sees no seeded ladies in the singles draw hailing from the USA.

In the 1970s, 80s and 90s it was the likes of Chris Evert, Czechoslovakian-born Martina Navratilova, Tracy Austin, Billy-Jean King and Pam Shriver who were among the world's best.

Navratilova won 16 Grand Slams including three Australian Opens, while Evert won the Australian Open in 1982 and 1984 and also made the final in her three other appearances at Kooyong and then Melbourne Park as she claimed eight career Grand Slam titles.

Then from the late 90s and beyond the turn of the century it has been the Williams sisters, Serena and Venus, Lindsay Davenport and Jennifer Capriati who have been regulars among the world's top 10, keeping the American flag flying prominently.

But Davenport looks set to retire after recently becoming pregnant, Capriati is battling injury problems that have kept her off the court since 2004 and the Williams girls are either also battling injury or on the comeback trail following form or injury woes.

The fiercely proud and patriotic nation will be hoping the Williams duo can return to their best, but tennis fans in the land of the stars and stripes will now also be looking to the future, and the view on the horizon looks promising.

Davenport is still the top-ranked American woman at No.25, with Meghann Shaughnessy (No.39), Shenay Perry (No.44), Venus Williams (No.47) and Jamea Jackson (No.49) also inside the top 50.

Others in the top 100 are No.58 Vania King, Jill Craybas (No.64), Laura Granville (No.72), Serena Williams (No.81), Ashley Harkleroad (No.88) and Meilen Tu (No.90).

And while Shaughnessy (27 years old), Craybas (32), Granville (25) and Tu (28) have all been on the WTA Tour for many years, it is the progress of players like King, Harkleroad, 16-year-old Madison Brengle, Perry and Jackson providing the excitement.

Now 21, Harkleroad is looking to improve on or at least match her career rankings high of No.39 back in June 2003, having decided to try and use her 'athleticism' to her advantage rather than continuing to 'grind' out results.

Harkleroad, who beat Meng Yuan of China in her opening round match on Day Three, dismissed any notions that the lack of a seeded American woman is anything more than a temporary blip while King, a month short of her 18th birthday, is more concerned with her own game.

"To be honest, sometimes you really have countries, for instance, who don't have very many players for a little bit and then next thing you know they have a lot of players, it just comes and goes," Harkleroad said dismissively of the seeds situation.

"I really don't think anybody should look at that more, we have Serena (Williams) coming back and surely she can do pretty well anyway. We have a lot of girls that are in the main draw here that are top 100, it's not easy to be top 100 in the world in anything you do."

"I think sometimes you just have to look at the positives and say we have some girls and they keep getting better, you never know, you honestly never know what can happen."

"I always just try to think, just to give myself the best chance, just to go out there and try my best and that's all I can do," said King, who was ousted on Day Two, beaten by the more experienced Ana Ivanovic 6-2 6-0.

"I'm obviously very honoured to be compared to such elite greats but I usually try to keep it simple, going out there and fighting the best I can, trying to improve and not thinking about my ranking and winning."

King has made an exciting leap in the WTA Tour rankings, improving from No.825 to No.202 to No.50 at the end of each of the past three seasons, and Harkleroad is one who expects big things from her.

"She's actually pretty good at getting into the net a lot," Harkleroad said. "Size-wise she's little, she doesn't have a very big shot and she's not super-fast but I think that she knows that she probably needs to use what she has."

"She can volley extremely well and she can get in to the net and she just has to be smart doing stuff like that, mixing it up. I think she'll be fine."

King wants to reach the top 40 by midway through the season and the top 30 by year's end as she continues to find her way, and the well-spoken youngster makes no secret of what she thinks it will take her to reach those goals, identifying the areas that were raised by Harkleroad.

"I think I still need to work a lot on my fitness, I'm still young so I can't quite hit the ball as hard as some of the older girls out here," King said.

"I think the game is leaning towards more of an all-court game which is something that I've been trying to improve a lot, like working on my volleys and my serves, and serve-and-volley and slicing it, mixing it up and putting a variety in."

Brengle was another who showed glimpses of why she could be a star of the future in her straight-sets loss to Swiss No.8 seed Patty Schnyder on Day Three, even though she squandered a point that could have given her a double break in the second set.

American fans may have to wait a little bit longer before they see Harkleroad, King and co consistently matching it with the world's best, with the likelihood one of the Williams sisters could deliver another Grand Slam before any of their younger countrywomen.

And even though Serena Williams is the only one of the 10 American women who made it into the singles draw at Melbourne Park already through to the round of 32 - with Harkleroad and Granville the only other two who can join her - the next generation's future prospects look limitless.

from www.australianopen.com

[Casey's Angel27]

If you want to see the Draw for the open

http://www.australianopen.com/en_AU/.../ms/index.html

Go here and have a look

[Casey's Angel27]

Molik fights her way through
by Bren O'Brien
Thursday, 18 January, 2007


Australian wildcard Alicia Molik has staged a stirring comeback on Day Four to progress to the third round of the women's draw at Australian Open 2007.

Molik was starting down the barrel of an early exit in her second round match against Estonia's Kaia Kanepi, but after losing the first set, she bounced back to win 1-6 6-3 6-2.

The powerful Estonian jumped out of the blocks, putting immediate pressure on Molik's serve, which she broke twice in the first set. But the South Austrian-native, spurred on by the crowd at Vodafone Arena, kept her nerve in a tense second-set, getting the break she needed to level the match.

A break early in the third had Molik on her way, and she added a second, and served for the match. She will now play either Shuai Peng or Patty Schnyder in the third round.

Match facts
? Molik served 10 aces to Kanepi's one
? There were 50 unforced errors, 29 to Kanepi. 21 to Molik
? Kanepi had one more winner than Molik (26 to 25)
? There were five breaks of serve, three to Molik, two to Kanepi
? The match lasted one hour and 41 minutes

from www.australianopen.com

[Casey's Angel27]

Some Pics from www.foxsports.com.au




Alicia Molik is my fave tennis player
Along with Andy Roddick




look at his arm... now thats muscle

[Robbie_Dee]

[Casey's Angel27]

More Images from www.foxsports.com.au









Woah... wouldnt wanna get on the wrong side of her...

[Casey's Angel27]

Star pair in friendly race
January 18, 2007

KIM Clijsters and Martina Hingis have developed a friendly rivalry over who can dispose of their opponents quickest in the Australian Open's early stages.

The two former world No.1s have both been in dominant form at the season-opening grand slam, where a scheduling coincidence has meant they took to the court at the same time for their matches in the first two rounds.

Clijsters said after the first round they joked about who had been on court the longest.

"We almost won at around the same time and then we came into the locker room and we started laughing and she's like, 'Damn, you beat me, you were there first'," the Belgian said.

"Then today, as well, we were waiting at the office, at the practice desk to be escorted out and she's like, 'I hope I'm going to get here before you get here'.

"So we were just kind of joking and laughing, but it's fun, that's what's so good about it."

So far, Clijsters has the edge over Hingis in beating up her early opponents.

The tournament's No.4 seed scored a rare "double bagel" when crushing Russian Vasilia Bardina 6-0 6-0 in just 44 minutes in the first round then swept aside Akiko Morigami from Japan 6-3 6-0 in 59 minutes today.

Hingis downed France's Nathalie Dechy 6-0 6-2 in 54 minutes in her opening game and took a relatively leisurely one hour and eight minutes to get past Russian Alla Kudryavtseva 6-2 6-2 in the second round.

No.6 seed Hingis and Clijsters will face one another if they make it to the quarter-finals.

The Belgian dumped Hingis out of the tournament at the same stage last year, when the Swiss Miss was returning from a three-year injury lay-off.

Clijsters also defeated Hingis in the French Open quarter-finals and a hardcourt tournament in San Diego.

The overall record between the pair is four wins each, with Hingis's victories coming between 2000 and 2002, when she was the dominating women's tennis and Clijsters was emerging.

Clijsters said there was no tension between the pair.

"We're friends off the court, and you can laugh and say those kinds of things," she said.

"Once you get on the court, if we get to play each other, it's all business but from the moment that it's done, then those kind of things (friendship) should be possible, I think."

Agence France-Presse

from www.foxsports.com.au

[Robbie_Dee]

Just watched the Highlights reel of Gael Monfils play and bloody hell it was good! What a player he will be in the future!!!

[Titanium_BD1103]

He's very talented... but he needs to learn to not slide on his feet, he will have many injuries doing that...

YAY for Ana, she won again, in blistering heat... good on her for that... she is very talented but needs to stay focused...and she is starting to do that more consistently every match.. it's great to see..

[BrisbaneBroncosRule]

What a final its gonna be

Gonzo v the Fed

I still think that Federer will be too smart for Gonzalez in the final

[Robbie_Dee]

Damn, this is going to be one hell of a final!!!!!!! Fed and Gonza both played just awesome in their Semi Finals, but IMO, Federer will be just waaaay to strong!!!

[Casey's Angel27]

i wanted tommy haas to win...

I was at the tennis yesterday... not in Rod laver Arena but still had alot of fun

[BrisbaneBroncosRule]

i wanted tommy haas to win...

I was at the tennis yesterday... not in Rod laver Arena but still had alot of fun

cool that you had fun


He was playing the Gonz though, everyone wanted him to win :satan:

[Go_The_Doggies]

w00t speedy is in the final *dances* idc who wins the mens final, they are both awesome, but it would be nice to see speedy win

w00t for Serena winning. She really deserved it!

[Casey's Angel27]

I dont like Gonzales... butt head. lol

I hate both screechapova and williams but im happy serena won coz i hate her less.. (makes sense?)