©Kourtin’ Karen’s Tennis News Scoreboard – Week Ending October 18, 2009
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Question: Why should have Fidelity Investments been a sponsor for the Shanghai Masters tournament?
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Answer:
Both the tournament and the company specialize in retirements! From
Roddick and Del Potro in the first round to Feliciano Lopez in the
semis, injuries on court were in abundance!
The joke about
the tournament this week was whether or not there
were more “retirements” than spectators, at least in the early
rounds. There were a total of nine retirements during the tournament.
15- 15
The ATP Calendar…part 182,843 and counting…
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Andy Roddick :
“We’ve been talking about this forever, and now we get slapped with
mandatory tournaments… We don’t really have a whole lot of choices in
the matter, which I don’t think is the right way to go about it.”
Tommy Robredo:
“I think if we will have tournaments every week it will be perfect,
no? Because then anyone has the chance to play the weeks he wants. “The
problem now is that we have the obligation to play certain
tournaments… we have to play the Masters 1000, the Grand Slams, and
that’s an obligation. Sometimes it’s in a time that maybe you would
like to rest a little bit.”
Marat Safin on Andy
Roddick’s complaints about the calendar: “In 2004 we had this
discussion in Olympic Games with Roddick about it and they were blaming
me that I’m playing too much. “And I was saying that
the season is too long, we should make it shorter. And the guys, they
jumped on me like I was the one who was wrong. “So
look at all of them — everybody is falling apart. Everybody is getting
injured left and right, and everybody is complaining the season is
long. It takes six years to realise that something is wrong? “They
just have to deal with that, not when they are 21 and ambitious and
want to make money. They have to think a little bit with their brains
and to make the career a little bit longer.”
To his credit, Andy Roddick also answered a few questions from TennisConnected via twitter
about shortening the calendar:
“if
u would combine palm/springs and miami to three[] weeks combined, and
cancel the off week between paris and masters, you would eliminate two
weeks without cancelling any tournament
“…it would take some cooperation from those tournaments which might be the problem at this point
and tuesday night finals in palms springs u wou[ldn’]t be going against
march madness on the weekends there which would make for better tv.” Meanwhile, no one is complaining about playing those million dollar exhibitions in the off-season.
Ivo Minar banned for Eight Months
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Czech
Player Ivo Minar has received an anti-doping suspension of eight months
for testing positive for the stimulant methylhexanamine which he
injested via a nutritional supplement.
30-30
Agassi Speaks
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Andre Agassi says Federer- Nadal era is ending
Quotes from Agassi:
“Now
we have possibly the changing of the guard. You have those top two who
are now losing ground to the likes of (Novak) Djokovic and Murray and
(Juan Martin) del Potro.”
“From a talent standpoint, Murray is a person who should win multiple Slams.â€
“When I look at his game compared to the other players, he has what it takes to win and to win against anybody on any surface.â€
Golovin’s Career may be over
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In a chat with L’Equipe, Tatiana Golovin says she has been diagnosed with spondylitis of the back, an arthritic-like condition.
“Learning
my condition was a big shock, but now I know what I have and what I
have, you can’t cure,” she said. “Do I have any chance to play again?
It’s not advised, but I’m still young. The pain may suddenly disappear.
“If I do have to give up tennis, it will be for launching into
humanitarian work, to find something meaningful, where I can see
something big.
Deuce
Signs of the Week
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Deuce
Screams of the week
Advantage
Women’s Sports Foundation Awards
Over fifty elite women athletes participated in the 30th Annual Salute to Women in sports. Tennis players attending included Melanie Oudin, Billie Jean King and Rennae Stubbs. Read all about it here.
Deuce
Racquet smash of the week
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Advantage
Maiden Victory
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Samantha Stosur finally breaks through with a tournament win in Osaka Japan.
Deuce
Say “No” to golf shorts
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I
think Rafa Nadal needs to take control of what he wears on court and
tell Nike that he plays tennis and not golf! These plaid/picnic
tablecloth shorts look like wardrobe from the movie “Caddyshack.” I think that pink shirt he wore for the French Open put a curse on him.
Advantage
Linz
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Yanina Wickmayer tops Kvitova in Austrai to win her second tournament of the year.
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Trophy and Kiss of the week
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Nikolay
Davydenko joins this year’s Masters Series Club, knocking out Rafael
Nadal in the final of the Shanghai 7-6 (4), 6-3. This marks
Davydenko’s fourth tournament win this season, he previously won titles
in Kuala Lumpur, Croatia and Germany.
Davydenko said after the win: “I
think a little bit was lucky, but mostly I was playing very well
today,” said Davydenko. “[At] four all in [the] first set I was feeling
like I [was] losing my chance to win [the] first set because he came
back. I started to make more mistakes and felt tired already. Like
yesterday and today I played very well in [the] tie-break, winning, and
then I felt I had [a] chance, fighting [in the] second set.”