Tennis archive

Dutch tennis player Yannick Ebbinghaus has been suspended for six months and fined $10,000 for violating the sport's betting rules.

The International Tennis Federation says the 23-year-old Ebbinghaus admitted to 67 violations between May 2012 and February 2013.

Ebbinghaus is currently No. 1,158 in the ATP rankings.

The ITF says three months of his suspension will be suspended if he commits no future violations and attends anti-corruption education training.

Half of the fine will be waived if Ebbinghaus cooperates with the tennis integrity unit in educating others about the ban on betting.

Under tennis rules, players are prohibited from betting on matches.

Read more: Pro tennis player gets 6-month ban and $10,000 fine for betting on matches | Fox News

Tennis - World no. 2 Andy Murray has joined the seciton of players not happy with the way the world rankings are structured.

Murray commented, “Unfortunately, that’s the way the ranking system works in tennis. It’s a one-year ranking whereas with golf it is a two-year ranking so even if one of the best players in the world gets injured, he can maintain his ranking. In tennis, if you miss four or five months it is almost impossible to maintain your ranking.

“So Rafa will be seeded five for Wimbledon which is tough because he’s better than that"

Wimbledon uses its own seeding formula which also give weightage to points earned on grass in the two previous years but in spite of that Nadal will be seeded fith for SW 19.

With the French Open in the rear-view mirror, we decided to use a Wall Street approach to assess the tennis landscape heading into Wimbledon.

If tennis players were stocks, potential investors would analyze their recent results and their performance trends to determine their market value.

The most important factor in determining a player's market value is his or her current status. However, the probability that a player's value will decline or rise in the short term (the rest of 2013) or over the long term (the next three years) is also significant to investors. With four of the 10 players listed in this article being 31 years old, future possibilities become significant issues.

Simply put, the two questions being addressed are: Who are the most highly valued players at the moment, and is their value expected to change in the near future?

We offer our analysis of 10 of the top players, with advice on whether investors should buy or sell stock in that player in the short term and long term.

Stock Watch for Top Tennis Stars After the 2013 French Open | Bleacher Report

After tennis players packed the hearing room in hopes of saving courts Ridgefielders have played on for 40 years, the Planning and Zoning Commission backed plans to turn the Ridgefield Tennis Club into a parking lot.

“This does represent a great void,” said Walter Beatty, who acted as spokesman for the room full of tennis players. “It’s a real loss to the community.”

With its two-step approval process, the commission voted to have a resolution of approval written by Town Planner Betty Brosius. That will come back for review and another vote, possibly next Tuesday.

BMW of Ridgefield has contracted to the purchase the tennis club that is behind its Route 7 property, and plans to use the site to store cars, many of which are now kept at an office complex.

While the room was packed for the public hearing, only five people from the public spoke — all in opposition to the plan.

Chairwoman Rebecca Mucchetti had warned the audience that the commission must limit its decision-making process to land use considerations — which don’t include tennis players’ sorrow at losing a place to play.

Comments ranged from calls for a public referendum on the question to concerns that the weight of so many parked cars on the land would damage nearby wetlands.

Mr. Beatty asked if the owners of the tennis club and BMW dealership might give club members a year to work out an alternative solution.

When project is done BMW of Ridgefield will be able to park 219 cars on its current nearly five-acre site, and another 354 on the tennis club’s three and one-half acres.



Tennis players protest, but BMWs are coming | The Ridgefield Press

Former number one junior player of the country Reza Ali Mirza, former national ranked player Imran Ahmed Siddique, former Sindh number one Sara Ahmed, and former Sindh ranked player from Mirpurkhas Naveed Khan are providing over 55 children this training at Creek Club.



Reza has received the United States Professional Tennis Registry (USPTR) Junior development Professional category certification, while Imran and Sara have obtained the International Tennis Federation (ITF) Level-1 certification.



In February this year they decided to introduce the ITF Tennis 10s programme for the first time in Pakistan.



The initial three-month programme was held at the Defense Club by Reza and Imran for 35 children.



“Currently the programme has more than 55 children registered and the team plans to increase this number to about 100 over the next 12 months. The Creek Club has been very satisfied with the way the programme is being conducted and has allowed it to continue despite the original agreement being for three months only,” said Reza while talking to ‘The News’.



He said that the children are divided into groups based on their skill levels and are being taught with special tennis balls and nets. “I recently visited Sri Lanka to study their programme being run at schools and noted that all expenses are borne by their tennis federation. The knowledge I gained from this trip is being applied to this programme,” he added.



Reza further said that although this is a group coaching programme, the coaches-to-kids ratio does not exceed 4:1. “The focus is on building hand-eye co-ordination, agility, speed, endurance and the basic strokes required to play tennis. All this is achieved by exposing the children to various drills and fun games,” he said.



Haider Ali Khan is one of the children who are getting this training. “I joined tennis to learn a new game, exercise, improve my motor skills and focus my energy on doing something constructive. My understanding of what tennis is has improved, as I have learnt the rules and manners of playing the game and my eye-hand coordination has gotten better too,” he told this scribe.



“I will continue with this programme upon my return from my vacations in mid-August,” he said happily.



Another participant of the programme is Mehrunnisa Minto Khan who joined the programme because tennis seemed fun to her. “The benefits of this training programme are that I get good exercise, good control over the ball and how to swing a racquet properly. Another beneficial thing is that it helps me move with agility and how to think quickly as a ball comes towards me,” she added.



“I learnt down-the-line and cross-court directions of where I hit the ball. I also learnt how to take a full swing rather than stopping midway as I hit. I would like to continue if I can and for as long as it is possible,” added Mehrunnisa.



Maryam Said is another kid getting tennis training at the programme. “I joined the programme because I had always wanted to learn how to play tennis. The benefit I get from it is that every single thing is worked on and I think there has been a lot of improvement with my tennis skills because of the drills and exercises we do,” she added.



Parents are also happy that their children are getting international standard training of tennis. Mansoor Ahmed said, “I wanted my son to join a programme that was professionally run and by international standards. I wanted to expose my son to an excellent sport and to see whether he likes to pursue it as a profession,” he added.



Semeen Wajhat Khan said she has chosen this programme because her 10-year-old daughter Schehrzade was very keen to play tennis. “I really would not want to see an end to this programme,” she added.



Sadaf Imam said she chose this programme for her kids because she could not find a place in Karachi where children were collectively provided proper training in tennis. “The only option available in Karachi, if you want your child to learn or play tennis, is to get private tennis lessons, and that also in the clubs that you have membership of,” she added.



But, she added, when she first heard of the Learning Tennis programme, she was really happy because now she had a place where her children could learn to play and enjoy tennis with children of their own age.



International standard tennis coaching in Karachi - thenews-com.pk

Some people really take to Queen’s. It’s the home of the repeat champion: Lleyton Hewitt, Andy Roddick, John McEnroe, and Boris Becker have all won it four times, and Pete Sampras, Jimmy Connors, and Ivan Lendl each did it twice. That’s a pretty prestigious list of winners for a 250-level event held at a tiny club in a rainy town.

The tradition continued today in the Aegon Championships final, which featured the winners from 2011 and 2012, Andy Murray and Marin Cilic. And for a second straight day, the two of them had their patience tested by another repeat champion at Queen’s: the interminable rain delay. After surviving a five-hour downpour on Saturday, they waited for more than three hours to get started today. But once again, Murray and Cilic finished by thrilling a packed house with three sets of entertaining play in the late-afternoon sunshine—the Croat called it “great, great tennis”—before Murray won his third Aegon title in five years. That’s enough to keep any player coming back for more.

In Murray’s case, it wasn’t just the win that was familiar; it was the way he went about it. For the second straight day, he lost the first set, wavered in the middle of the second before steadying himself, and ran away with the third. Murray has been nursing a back injury that had forced him out of the French Open and had made him a question mark for this event. After his semifinal win over Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, Murray said that he had been “sloppy” at times after four weeks away, that he had played well only in “patches,” but that he was satisfied that he had “found ways to win.” The same could be said for his performance over the first two sets on Sunday. Murray started with a more assertive attitude and broke Cilic immediately; his forehand looked crisper than it had all week, and he saved three break points at 2-0 with two service winners and an ace that were clocked at 132-,134-, and 136-M.P.H., respectively. It was at that moment that a question—unbidden, unwanted—wormed its way into my mind: “Is Andy Murray the favorite to win Wimbledon?”

Was I getting ahead of myself? The answer seemed to come right away. Murray’s forehand, as it had at various times this week, went AWOL. Serving at 4-2, he hammered one into the bottom of the net, sent one long at deuce, and put another into the net at break point. In the next game, Murray briefly looked like he might not get to Wimbledon at all. Trying to make a turn behind the baseline, he went down with a yelp. Silence reigned at Queen’s for a scary second. But, much like the soccer players he idolizes, Murray quickly left death’s door behind and was off the turf and running again a minute or two later. After the match, he said he had been cautious for a few games, but that he felt fine.

“I made some bad mistakes when I was up in the first set,” Murray said afterward, “like I had done in quite a few of the matches this week. But I kept trying to go for it. I was trying to take chances, and I felt like I was dictating a lot of the points.”

As he had against Tsonga, Murray tightened everything up with the match on the line. From 3-3 in the second set, he held at love three times—his serve started to click right on schedule—and came up with two very good backhand returns to break at 5-6. By the third set, Murray was flying. This time it was Cilic’s turn, while he was serving at 2-1, to watch his ground strokes go AWOL. And it was Murray’s turn to take advantage. His forehand was crisp again, and his backhand was even better. Murray fired one up the line for a winner to hold for 3-1, and came up with the shot of the tournament a couple of games later, a cross-court backhand pass hit on the dead run. Even the staid old Queen’s crowd had to get up for that one. Serving for the match at 5-3, Murray was still pounding them down at 132 M.P.H.

“I created a load of chances today,” Murray said. “I think with a few more matches and a few more days’ practice, I’ll do a better job converting them and won’t have the little slip-ups I had this week.” So let’s return to my unwanted question from back in the first set: Is Murray the favorite for Wimbledon? Queen’s is an erratic predictor of success at its big brother event: Only twice in the last decade has a player won them both in the same season, Rafael Nadal in 2008 and Lleyton Hewitt in 2002. At the same time, though, multiple Queen’s winners such as McEnroe, Hewitt, Connors, Sampras, and Becker all won the Big W at least once—one notable exception was Murray’s coach, Lendl.

As far as his form goes, Murray’s right, he has been sloppy, sloppier than he can afford to be at a Grand Slam. His forehand has deserted him, his concentration has lapsed, and, as Tsonga and Cilic proved this weekend, his second serve is still a liability. They had little trouble running around it.

On the other hand, I don’t think Murray will have those concentration/confidence lapses at Wimbledon—if nothing else, the fortnight focuses him. His wins in the semis and the final at Queen's reminded me of the close, hard-fought, briefly nerve-wracking four-set wins that we see so often from the top seeds in the middle rounds at the Grand Slams. Murray has won his share of them at Wimbledon over the years, including two very good ones against Tsonga and David Ferrer in 2012. He had his ups and downs at Queen’s, but ups and downs are part of the deal in three-out-of-five-set matches. It’s how you recover from the downs that matters, and Murray did that well yesterday and today.

As is the case for every player, his serve will be at the crux of the matter. In his press conference today, Cilic credited that shot with helping Murray kick-start his comeback. Cilic also said that the Scot is “in the form” that could win Wimbledon. Not that Marin is counting anyone out, of course, including himself. This was a strong, resilient week of tennis from Cilic, and we may see him in one of those tight middle-round matches with a To

With the grass-court season upon us and Wimbledon less than a week away, British tennis is about to experience its annual moment in the spotlight.

But this year carries added importance because the Lawn Tennis Association is effectively on trial, charged with failing to grow participation and threatened by the loss of £10.3m in funding. The governing body has until December to prove itself worthy of receiving that public money. If not, Sport England will pump it into the game through alternative means.

So while the nation craves success from the likes of Andy Murray and Laura Robson, the LTA is working frantically to improve the state of tennis at grassroots level.

Sport England director Phil Smith is of the opinion that elite success and grassroots participation are not mutually exclusive.

"We think they can be both achieved at the same time," he told BBC Sport. "British Cycling has managed to do both and that tells me it's possible.

"I want the LTA to have a big summer, winning as much as they possibly can with British players. I want the knock-on effect of that to be more people on tennis courts."

Easier said than done, but many would argue this should be expected of an organisation with a £60m turnover, a £40m National Tennis Centre and an outgoing chief executive earning £640,000.

LTA statistics indicate that there are 4,118 places to play tennis in England, Scotland and Wales, including 97 performance centres, 21,186 courts (1,645 of which are indoor) and 3,904 registered or licensed coaches.

Tennis Ulster lists a further 40 clubs, 320 courts (10 indoor) and 80 coaches in Northern Ireland.

According to Tennis for free, which campaigns for better access to tennis facilities, there are 2,594 free public courts and 16 free park coaching programmes in the United Kingdom.

For a nation of its size, the level of infrastructure appears reasonable, but Britain still has fewer players in the ATP and WTA rankings - 66 men and 27 women - than any other leading tennis country. The success stories - Andy Murray's US Open win, the rise of Laura Robson and Heather Watson, Jonny Marray's Wimbledon doubles title and various junior triumphs - are offset by the fact that just one man and four women are inside the world's top 200.

At the French Open, Murray's absence exposed the lack of strength in depth in men's singles as no British man contested the main draw for the first time since 1994. In the women's event, Britain's three entries won one just set between them.

"We need to start again, no matter how long it takes," said John Lloyd, a former British number one and Australian Open finalist who has also coached Britain's Davis Cup team.

"Spending money on players at the top has not worked. The important thing is to create a base from the bottom up."

Tennis Europe's 2012-13 report shows that, despite similar populations, France has three times more clubs than Britain, 11,000 more courts, five times the number of indoor courts and 7,000 more coaches.

France can also lay claim to 132 ATP and 58 WTA ranked players, with 19 men and 11 women in the top 200, although its wait for a male Grand Slam singles champion now stands at 30 years.

Spain has 1,500 fewer clubs than Britain and a quarter of the courts, but 16,500 more coaches. It also has 92 ATP and 32 WTA players - 19 men and eight women in the top 200 - plus plenty of Grand Slam winners.

"France has some of the best coaches in the world, a club system that is the envy of nearly all of their international rivals and good courts in almost every town across the nation," Pat Cash, Australia's 1987 Wimbledon champion, wrote in the Sunday Times. "The Spanish players are tough because they are brought up the hard way and thrust into solid competition against senior male players at a very early age. It's a case of sink or swim and those who are good enough keep afloat and flourish."

The LTA points to a promising future after Britain won the Junior Davis Cup for the first time in 2011. There have been other notable performances from British youngsters, too, with Kyle Edmund winning the boys' doubles at this year's French Open.

The LTA also highlights its vast Talent ID programme and claims that 58,000 juniors compete in six or more matches a year, with 17,000 playing 20 or more.

Elena Baltacha, one of Britain's leading female tennis players for the last decade, said more needs to be done.

"Kids have to compete more regularly," said Baltacha, who runs the Ebat academy in Ipswich.

"The more we get competing, the higher the quality is going to be. Then a filter begins to emerge and the strongest will survive."

Cash argues that junior competition - an area in which Britain traditionally has a reasonable record - is not necessarily the key.

"In the boys' singles at Roland Garros this year, there were 12 French entrants, four Australians and three players each from Britain and the United States," he wrote. "How many Spaniards? Just one.

"Spanish kids don't bother with the juniors and are brought up on the ultra-competitive network of Spanish clay court tournaments."

It was this environment that led London-based Cash to send his son to the Sanchez-Casal Academy in Barcelona, where Murray spent two years developing his career after leaving Scotland in 2002.

"Every day they empty crates, hitting hundreds of tennis balls, honing the groundstrokes and technique. At weekends, they play in extremely demanding contests," Cash explained. "The kids learn resilience, stop using lame excuses and lose their softness."

Speaking on the condition of anonymity, one British player told BBC Sport: "A lot of the British players I see are flaky, they're weak.

"A lot of the young British players get funding without doing an awful lot or, if they don't, their parents help out. "They work hard, but maybe the commitment is not 100%. They do the gym and tennis sessions, but they don't push it p

James Blake’s tournament may have ended with a 6-2, 6-4 first round defeat to Spanish clay-courter Albert Ramos at Eastbourne on Monday, but these days, Blake is simply happy to still be competing, saying he has finally found an inner peace after 14 years on tour.

Blake, 33, the charismatic showman who thrilled crowds for over a decade with his panache and athleticism, only now seems to derive a deep satisfaction from his tennis, in the twilight years of his long career.

It’s tempting to draw parallels with Andre Agassi, who said he only began to enjoy the game in his 30s when he realized what tennis had given him. But Blake insists that comparison would be wrong. “I never hated the game like Agassi did,” he said. “I have had a few days where I didn’t feel like playing but then I would usually be even more excited to get back out on the court after a few days off. I’ve loved the game my entire career.”

“If I could turn back the clock 10 years, I just think I’d appreciate a few more things from the tour at that time,” he said. “It took some pretty tough life lessons to grow up, but I don’t think many 20-year-olds have everything together so they are forced to learn the hard way.”

Blake’s life lessons included a broken neck, a severe bout of shingles and the death of his father during a traumatic 2004.

Like many of the tour’s 30-somethings, Blake is bombarded with questions probing his motivations for still playing. He gets asked whether he is inspired by Tommy Haas’s resurgence into the Top 20 at age 35. Blake, however, is keen to stress the fact that he still loves playing, which is why he is happy to endure the ignominy of qualifying for events like Eastbourne and even being forced to play the occasional challenger tournament.

“It hasn’t been tough playing challengers and qualifying because I do love the game,” he said. “The competition is still there and it just means smaller locker rooms, less crowds and no TV. But I’ve still been enjoying the process. They’ve all been very well run and I’m having a good time.”

As ever, this year’s clay-court season was a lean period for American men. Blake crashed out at the first hurdle at the French Open this year, losing in straight sets to Viktor Troicki. He has never made it past the third round at Roland Garros, but while that hasn’t been terribly surprising, his disappointing record at Wimbledon seems harder to explain. Blake wasn’t comfortable coming to the net for much of his career, but still, given the weapons at his disposal and the quality of his movement, it’s hard to comprehend why he’s never even made the second week.

“I’m not sure why I’ve never done better at Wimbledon,” he said. “To be honest, I don’t really like playing on grass as much as I think most people would expect me to. I have a tough time moving as well on it and I feel like it’s slippery. Also I definitely think the courts have gotten slower over the past 10 years. I feel that all the court surfaces have begun to blend into one speed. The hard and grass are now such a similar speed to the clay that the real specialists are a thing of the past. If you can play well on clay, you can play well on anything now. I do wish there were at least a few events maybe at the end of the year on some faster courts.”

The uniform court speeds and longer rallies have undoubtedly hindered Blake’s chances during the latter half of his career and many feel that the extra toll on the body is contributing to the tour’s growing injury list. It’s a divisive issue and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga said earlier this year that the real problem was still the length of the season. Blake agreed.

“I don’t think hard court events on the calendar shorten careers, I think the calendar itself shortens careers,” he said. “The ATP is doing all that they can to shorten the season, but until we have a real off-season I think we’ll still see injuries and players’ careers being cut short.”




His Headlining Days Behind Him, Blake Still Enjoys the Tennis - NYTimes-com

Sport England has warned the Lawn Tennis Association it faces a critical summer that will dictate whether or not it is stripped of valuable funding.

"They've got a big summer ahead," Sport England director Phil Smith told BBC Sport. "The track record of participation in tennis has been pretty poor. The crunch time is December." Sport England, the government body that distributes taxpayer money to sports, will discuss the situation with the LTA on Tuesday.

Smith says he has been "encouraged" with the changes already implemented by the LTA, which has a turnover of around £60m, but insists participation remains a key concern.

In response, the LTA insisted it is "fully focused" on using the summer to inspire more people to play the game, with Wimbledon, one of the key drivers of participation in Britain, due to get under way in less than a week's time.

"Over the next few months, we are delivering a series of promotional events around the country to encourage people to play tennis," said the Simon Long, the LTA's chief commercial officer.

"At the centre of this activity is a marketing campaign which focuses on personal experiences by imagining what tennis means to different people.

"We are also working with a range of partners from the commercial sector, public sector and through our club network to deliver the right offers to people interested in playing tennis to encourage them to get involved in our sport." In December 2012, Sport England decided to reduce its tennis funding from £24.5m to £17.4m for the next four-year cycle up to 2017, amid concerns the LTA was not making best use of the cash.

The LTA was still given £3.75m for talent development, but only received a one-year award of £3.35m for participation.

The remaining £10.3m has been withheld while Sport England decides whether the LTA is doing its job well enough.

"We invest in the talent system of tennis through the LTA and we find that largely to be going really well," Smith said.

"Participation is where we have more concern. The track record of participation in tennis was pretty poor in the last four-year cycle.

"The LTA presented a plan to us in December that we didn't feel was appropriate to fix the problem. It was weak in a number of areas." Sport England's latest survey showed 424,300 people aged 16 and over played tennis once a week from April 2012 to April 2013, up 0.95% on the 420,300 from April 2011 to April 2012 but down 4.7% on the 445,100 recorded from October 2011 to October 2012.

The LTA is contracted to raise the figure to 450,000 by December, while also achieving three other key milestones:

Draw up a credible plan that demonstrates it understands the sport better and gain more expertise in who plays, who doesn't, why they play and how to attract them.

Smith: "That wasn't very evident in their original plan last year. I know they're working very hard at fixing that now."

Work on the right things in the right places, not working randomly on different products, different clubs and different places.

Smith: "There's never been any doubt about the endeavour at the LTA, but there was doubt about their level of focus and whether they were working in the right places and on the right things."

Implement a strong performance management system to find out in real time how plans are working.

Smith: "Whether in parks, clubs etc the LTA must know whether what its doing is having the desired effect before it's too late."

Tuesday's meeting will provide Sport England with its first opportunity to assess the LTA's progress in depth.

"They've got to prove themselves this summer and our attention is firmly fixed on the results we'll get in December," said Smith.

"We've put in place some pretty tough conditions, but there's not going to be any knee-jerk reaction on Tuesday because we've deliberately given them a year to review the situation. You can't fix these things over night and we'll stick with that original plan."

Long is confident the LTA is on the right track.

"Our goal is to get more people playing tennis, more often," he said.

"It is encouraging to see that tennis participation is up year on year from the latest Active People Survey Results out this week.

"However, we are not complacent and know much more needs to be done and have been working very closely with Sport England to develop our plans around participation to achieve this goal.

"Sport England has stated that they will make a decision on future funding in December, so that will be a significant milestone for us."

The LTA's task is complicated by the impending departure of chief executive Roger Draper, with a successor yet to be appointed. But the LTA's new independent chairman, David Gregson, has made a strong impression since joining the governing body in January. "The mission they've recently created and the level of engagement from David Gregson and the board is very impressive," said Smith.

"It is certainly more impressive than I've ever seen before in tennis. What I've seen since December has been a dedicated and concerted effort to fix the problem."

Although the number of people playing tennis is 0.95% up on April 2012 - many other sports were down - that is still a drop of 7% compared to the inaugural figures from 2006 and 23% below 2009.

"They're not the only sport in this position," Smith added. "Growing participation in sport is not as simple as money in, people out.

"I don't dismiss the LTA's efforts as missing an open goal, but what they've done hasn't worked thus far, which is why we're building a new plan. If they can't, I'll find somebody who will."

Former British number one Tim Henman agrees with Smith that the LTA has so far failed to deliver when it comes to developing the game at grassroots level.

Despite the success of Andy Murray, the rise of Laura Robson and Heather Watson, plus various doubles and junior triumphs, Britain h

In his BBC column, Andy Murray writes that Agnieszka Radwanska is his favorite WTA player to watch.

“She plays a slightly different game, hits lobs, drop shots, moves well,” Murray wrote. “She has variety and I like that.”

Murray added that the reason he plays tennis is because: “It's one of the few things I'm good at. I obviously made the decision when I was young to go and train in Spain because I enjoyed the competition. Because they had ranking systems from a young age, I knew I was one of the best in Europe, so it was a bit easier compared with other sports to judge where you were at on a global scale. But I love the game and being around it.”





tennis-com - Murray is a Radwanska fan

Tennis fans will descend on Wimbledon from Sunday to join Britain's line of the year in which thousands wait patiently to see their sporting idols during the two week championship.

Thousands will camp out overnight or arrive at dawn each day to join the line, known as The Queue, which has become as much a tradition at the world's oldest tennis tournament that dates back to 1877 as strawberries and cream - and rain.

For Wimbledon is one of the few major British sporting events where people can still buy premium tickets on the day, if they are prepared to spend up to 24 hours in a line.

But newcomers beware because The Queue has transformed over the years to epitomise the British obsession for orderly lines, with strict rules ensuring fairness and civility and a list of websites and Twitter accounts giving tips on how to queue.

"QUEUE JUMPING IS NOT ACCEPTABLE AND WILL NOT BE TOLERATED," shouts a message on the Wimbledon website.

As people join the line they are handed a card that is dated and numbered and has to be given in at the ticket office where several thousand tickets are sold daily at 20 pounds ($31) each for unreserved seating and standing room on courts 3-19.

Wristbands are issued only to those at the front of the line, who then pay from 45 pounds ($70) for one of the 1 500 tickets available each day for the top three courts - Centre, One, and Two.

The rules, set by Wimbledon's organisers, the All England Lawn Tennis Club (AELTC), state no saving places for others, no reserving spots with equipment then nipping off somewhere more comfortable, and no loud music in the line.

A Wimbledon spokesman said the rules were introduced about 10 years ago to ensure fairness and were refined over the years - and the line has grown ever since.

QUINTESSENTIAL ART OF LINING UP

Veterans of The Queue enjoy their annual wait almost as much as the tournament, relishing the quintessential British art of queuing that etiquette experts say dates back to the world wars last century when Britons had to line up for food rations.

For six years Dex Hill, 18, a student at London's Kingston University, has been among the first to set up his tent in the line that starts at 8 a.m. on Sunday, and he will be there this year, hoping to get a good ticket for the Monday start.

"Being in the queue is really good fun because everyone is there for the same reason, talks tennis, and there is almost a party atmosphere," Hill told Reuters.

"Tips? Get there early and be prepared for any weather."

Jo Bryant, etiquette advisor from Britain's authority on manners, Debrett's, said the art of queuing must seem esoteric at best and maddening at worst to foreigners.

"But queue-barging is the worst solecism a foreigner can commit. Even the reticent English will feel justified in sharply pointing out the back of the line to any errant queue-jumpers," Bryant told Reuters.

The fans in line, however, do have to cope with Britain's fickle summer weather and the standing joke in Britain is that tennis fortnight means rain.

Meteorologists from Britain's national weather service, the Met Office, predict scattered showers for Wimbledon next week.

Rain stopping play prompted the AELTC to install a retractable roof on its main Centre Court four years ago and the club this year announced plans to put a roof on Court 1 by 2019.

Whatever the forecast, up to 38 500 tennis fans are expected daily at the All England Club in Wimbledon, south London, as the event is as much social as sporting with corporate tents galore.

Over the two weeks 8 615 punnets of strawberries and 200 000 glasses of the traditional cocktail Pimm's will be sold as players battle for the record 1.6 million pounds top prize money.

"There really is nothing quite like Wimbledon," Hill said.



Top tennis and the art of waiting - SuperSport - Tennis

Maria Sharapova tore into Wimbledon rival Serena Williams on the eve of the Championships, setting the tone for a tournament likely to be dominated by their unseemly public row.

The Russian blasted the defending champion for her controversial comments over a high-profile rape case and even ripped into the American's colourful private life.

In the astonishing attack on the world number one, Sharapova told Williams to keep her opinions to herself, laying bare the bitter relationship between the two.

Williams, the 16-time Grand Slam title-winner, was forced to apologise for her comments regarding the rape of a 16-year-old girl by two high school American football players in Ohio.

"She should be talking about her accomplishments, her achievements, rather than everything else that's just getting attention and controversy," said Sharapova.

The world number three, who has not beaten her great rival since 2004, also criticised Williams's love life after the American had aimed a thinly-disguised jibe at the Russian's affair with Bulgarian player, Grigor Dimitrov -- believed to be a former Williams boyfriend.

"There are people who live, breathe and dress tennis. I mean, seriously, give it a rest," Williams told Rolling Stone magazine without naming Sharapova.

"She begins every interview with 'I'm so happy. I'm so lucky' -- it's so boring. She's still not going to be invited to the cool parties. And, hey, if she wants to be with the guy with a black heart, go for it."

Sharapova, clearly upset at the insinuation, hit back at Williams's romance with her French coach Patrick Mouratoglou.

"If she wants to talk about something personal, maybe she should talk about her relationship and her boyfriend that was married and is getting a divorce and has kids," said Sharapova.

Williams, targeting a sixth All England Club title and 17th major, is fresh from her second French Open triumph, having beaten Sharapova in the final.

Williams is on a 31-match winning run, the best of a career which is already comfortably into its third decade.

She is now just two Grand Slam titles behind the 18 won by Chris Evert and Martina Navratilova and four back from the 22 racked up by Steffi Graf.

Williams' confidence is bad news for Sharapova, who is seeking a second Wimbledon title, nine years after her first.

Sharapova's defeat in Paris was her 14th in 16 meetings with the American with her last win coming back on 2004.

Australian Open champion Victoria Azarenka is seeded second and the Belarusian will be looking to go further than the semi-finals she reached in the last two years at Wimbledon.

She said it was "difficult to avoid" her friend Serena's comments but was prepared to give her the "benefit of the doubt".

"I know what it's like to be misunderstood sometimes.

"If I need some explanation from somebody, I'll go ask them directly."

She said she was looking to "make that extra step" and reach the final this time.

"It's just important to take your opportunities. First of all, it's important to get there," she stressed.

Poland's Agnieszka Radwanska, who took a set off Williams in last year's final, is seeded four.

She received praise from men's world number two Andy Murray, who said she was his favourite female player to watch.

"She plays a slightly different game, hits lobs, drop shots, moves well. She has variety and I like that," the Briton said.

Another contender with something to prove is the 2011 champion Petra Kvitova.

The Czech was dumped out in the quarter-finals by Williams last year and has yet to get past a Grand Slam fourth round since.

Seeded eighth, the left-hander has won just one singles tournament since August last year.

She was dumped out of the Eastbourne warm-up tournament early and has since been practising with Daniela Hantuchova.

Five-time champion Venus Williams will be missing from this year's tournament due to an ongoing lower back injury.



Tennis: Sharapova, Serena set up bitter Wimbledon campaign - Channel NewsAsia

At the French Open in Paris, Tommy Haas was deep into a fifth set with John Isner, and back in Florida, Nick Bollettieri was yelling and cursing at the television. “Do it, Tommy, just stay calm and just run around in the middle of his serve, and do a God darn disco dance to throw him off, anything,” Bollettieri said, quoting himself. “I was actually trying to get to him inside the television. If I could have crawled in there with him, I would have.”

Bollettieri, now 81, and Haas, now 35, have traveled a long road together since Haas first visited Bollettieri’s eponymous academy in Bradenton, Fla., in 1989.

Haas was 11 and did not speak English but was already determined to live the international life of a tennis star after finding his muse at age 7 when his fellow German Boris Becker won Wimbledon in 1985.

“There was a huge shock reaction in Germany,” Haas said. “Boris became my idol, and I said to my parents, to my dad: ‘I want to become a professional tennis player. There is no question in my mind that is what I want to do.’ ”

Most 7-year-olds’ obsessions eventually fade, but Haas’s never did. He left Germany at age 14 to board at Bollettieri’s, fighting through the homesickness and eventually moving out of the dormitory and into Bollettieri’s house.

“He’s like a son to me,” Bollettieri said.

Haas almost lost his parents in a motorcycle accident in 2002. He has lost years of his tennis career to injuries and lost Grand Slam semifinals he was in position to win. But he has somehow — despite all the childhood sacrifices and adulthood setbacks — never lost his passion for the game; for the feel of the ball coming off his strings; for the primal buzz of trying to impose his will and his true all-court game on the other, increasingly younger man across the net.

And so, while so many of his former rivals and peers have moved on, Haas is still putting his ball cap on backward and competing with the best. This will be his 14th Wimbledon, and he comes into it seeded No. 13, which he has long considered his lucky number.

“I’ve had a lot of great moments in my career, a lot of great matches I look back to that I’m really proud of playing,” Haas said. “I guess right now, in this moment, I’m just really proud of playing tennis at this level. I’m not just sort of hanging around and playing a few tournaments here and there and winning a few matches here and there. I’m playing tennis at a pretty high level, which, I’ll be honest, sometimes surprises me.

“And I’m really just proud of myself for that; that I got back to that level really not thinking a year and a half or even a year and a couple of months ago that this was possible again.”

Haas continues to represent Germany but now has dual nationality after all his years in the United States. His longtime partner, the actress Sara Foster, is an American. “I wish there was a flag, a German-American flag where both could be together,” he said. “That would be really the way I see myself in many ways.”

Haas considered representing the United States in 2011 when he returned from his latest major injury and even briefly changed the flag in his biography on the tour’s Web site.

“I switched it over when I was injured for fun just to see myself with the American flag there,” he said. “But at the same time, I’ve been in Germany and represented Germany for I don’t know how long, and I don’t know if Germany would ever forgive me for doing that. I don’t know if it was going to be worth it in the end, the headache and the explanation and all that stuff.

“But for me on the inside, from my personal point of view, a lot of times when I play American tournaments or the U.S. Open, I feel like I do represent just as much the U.S. flag as the German flag. And I think my fans in the U.S. know that as well.”

Haas is not quite the oldest man in the Wimbledon singles draw. The French qualifier Marc Gicquel is 36, but Haas is the oldest man to still be a major factor. He reached the final in San Jose, Calif., in February; beat the world’s No. 1 player, Novak Djokovic, in Miami in March; and won a clay-court title in Munich in May. He then reached his first quarterfinal at the French Open after winning his third-round marathon with Isner, 10-8, in the fifth set on his 13th match point. Last week, he reached the semifinals on grass in Halle, Germany, before losing in three sets to his good friend Roger Federer.

“There’s something inside of him that is just stubborn,” Bollettieri said of Haas. “I think he looks at the world and thinks, ‘Son of a gun, I came so close. No. 2 in the world and why me? Why all these injuries?’ I think there was some inner energy in Tommy that only a few people in life have. And I also believe that his daughter, their little girl, is driving him. He really wants his daughter someday to be able to say, ‘That was my daddy.’ ”

Haas does not debate the inspiration provided by his daughter Valentina, who will turn 3 in November and who just spent six weeks traveling with him and Foster in Europe. But he does reject the importance of the “Why me?” factor. After hip and elbow surgery in 2010 kept him off the tour for more than a year, this is his second major comeback from injury.

“I don’t have time for what ifs,” he said. “I don’t like to look back and ask myself what if, what if, what if? I just like to ask myself, what can I do better? What can I change now? And then let’s go out there and do it, let’s still go after a few goals, a few dreams you still have and if you make it, great. And if not, also great. I’m still happy to be out here.”

All of this is not to imply that Haas is now an ode to joy on a tennis court. He still has a deeply ingrained negative streak, a tendency to gripe and snipe at his coaches and support team under pressure, and a propensity for finding fault with elements beyond his control.

“The question mark with Tommy was whether or not he could deal with the little adversities

When Steve Darcis, a Belgian whose basic language is French, saw last Friday that he would be playing Rafael Nadal in the first round of Wimbledon, his response was an English vulgarity. Four letters, and that's about as far as it goes.

Nadal, a Spaniard, may be echoing Darcis' reaction today, because in this 127th Wimbledon, the world's fifth-ranked player and recent French Open champion already has gone as far as he can go. Nowhere.

The 29-year-old Darcis, ranked 135th in men's singles, defeated Nadal, 7-6 (4), 7-6 (8), 6-4, leaving both players stunned — "I surprised myself a little bit, yes," he said — but only one elated.

"So of course," said Darcis, "it's one of the greatest wins I have."

Make that THE greatest, beating a man who has 12 Grand Slam championships, two of them at Wimbledon, and who entered the tournament with 22 consecutive match wins, the most recent of which produced his eighth French Open title, the most by any man at a single Grand Slam tournament.

But all 22 were on clay, and Wimbledon, of course, is on grass — the lawns of the All England Club — and Nadal did not have a warmup tournament on the surface.

"The first match on grass is always difficult," said Darcis, a chatty sort with a shark tattoo on his left shoulder. "It's his first one."

And his last, this year, since tennis goes almost exclusively hard court after Wimbledon. Last year Nadal played two matches here, upset by another of unheralded reputation, No. 100 Lukas Rosol in the second round.

"I tried to come to the net as soon as I could," Darcis said of his tactics. "Not play too far from the baseline. I think it worked pretty good today."

Nadal, 27, had not lost a first-round match in 34 previous Grand Slam events. Darcis is the lowest-ranked player to defeat the Spaniard at a Slam and the lowest-ranked to beat him in any event since a Swede named Joachim Johansson, at the time No. 690, bounced him in 2006 at Stockholm.

Naturally, one of the first questions for Nadal was whether he had problems with the knee that kept him out of competition from last year's Wimbledon to this year's BNP Paribas Open at Indian Wells in March, almost eight months.

"Today is not the time to talk about this," said Nadal in the post-match news conference. He wore a billed cap, with his logo, the spiraling horns of a bull, pulled low.

"I don't want to talk about my knee this afternoon," he said. "All I can say today is I want to congratulate Steve Darcis. He played a fantastic match, and everything I say about my knee today is an excuse, and I don't like to put any excuses when I am losing a match like I lost today."

The assumption was Nadal and defending champion Roger Federer would meet in the quarterfinals, to which John Isner said with a laugh after his win, "So much for that Roger versus Rafa."

Darcis, who had only one win this year over a player in the top 70 — coincidentally, Rosol — said it appeared Nadal was moving well.

"Physically, it looks OK," said Darcis. "I think he was running. He was moving well. Of course, you don't beat Nadal if he's playing his best tennis, I think."

But as Nadal pointed out in his effective if sometimes awkward English, "Happen that is sport. And sometimes you play well and you have the chance to win. Sometimes you play worst and the opponent play well and you lose.

"Good things today for me was not a lot of things good. Grass is difficult to adapt your game. . . . I didn't have that chance this year. I didn't find my rhythm."

And now he finds himself out of Wimbledon.

In other matches Monday, defending champion Federer and U.S. Open and Olympic champion Andy Murray both won in straight sets. On the women's side, second-seeded Victoria Azarenka and third-seeded Maria Sharapova won in straight sets. Fifth-seeded Sara Errani was upset by Monica Puig of Puerto Rico, 6-3, 6-2.



Tennis: No.5 Rafael Nadal makes fast, and stunning, Wimbledon exit - latimes-com

Going into Laura Robson’s first-round match against 10th-seeded Maria Kirilenko on Tuesday, British tennis players not named Andy Murray had won all of one set in seven matches at Wimbledon. Robson, Britain’s top-ranked woman at No. 38, was handed a difficult opponent to start, but as her countrymen and countrywomen continued to lose, she also walked onto Court No. 1 with the annual hand-wringing over the state of British tennis already well under way.

Robson rose to the occasion, giving the British fans a reason to rise to their feet. With her booming left-handed serve, she took control of the match with a break in the eighth game of the first set and kept Kirilenko off balance the rest of the way for a 6-3, 6-4 victory.

“It was a big one for me because although I really like grass and I seem to play well on it, I’ve never actually done overly well here,” said Robson, 19. “I’ve only made the second round once.”

She added: “I thought I could win. I didn’t expect to win.”

Kirilenko, whose fiancé Alex Ovechkin credited her with helping him win the Hart Trophy as the N.H.L.’s most valuable player, broke into the top 10 this year after reaching the quarterfinals at the French Open. She also was a quarterfinalist at Wimbledon last year.

But Robson used 8 aces and 31 winners to overpower Kirilenko. A former Wimbledon junior champion who won a silver medal with Murray in mixed doubles at the Olympics, Robson broke through at the United States Open last year, beating Li Na and Kim Clijsters on her way to the fourth round.

At such a young age, Robson has faced many big moments. But after going up two breaks in the second set, she played a loose game and was broken for 4-2. The crowd, perhaps used to disappointment, seemed restless and tense. Robson said she was nervous, too, but she was able to serve out the match.

“In the past I’ve started out well in the first couple of games of the first set and then just not been able to hold on to that lead,” she said. “I’ve been really happy with my progress in the last couple of months with that and just being able to tough out wins.”

A day after the shocking upset of Rafael Nadal on the same court, Robson’s victory caused the biggest ripple at the All England Club.

Serena Williams, playing her first grass-court match since last year’s Olympics, opened on Centre Court with a 6-1, 6-3 victory over Mandy Minella of Luxembourg. The biggest surprise of that match was Williams’s serve being broken early in the second set.

Top-seeded Novak Djokovic had heaped praise on the grass-court abilities of his first-round opponent, Florian Mayer, but Djokovic was through to the second round easily, 6-3, 7-5, 6-4. David Ferrer, whose No. 4 seeding over Nadal was the subject of much discussion, dropped a set, but advanced with a 6-1, 4-6, 7-5, 6-2 victory over Martin Alund.

Getting back to normal at Wimbledon meant worrying about British tennis. As the home fans relish Murray’s best chance to break the British drought here, poor overall results perpetuate concerns about the Lawn Tennis Association, the national governing body of the sport.

An independent chairman, David Gregson, was appointed in December and is conducting a review of the organization. The chief executive, Roger Draper, announced his resignation in March, and his replacement has not yet been chosen. Sport England, which distributes taxpayer money for sports, has withheld millions of pounds and reduced overall funding to the L.T.A. because it has failed to meet participation goals.

Murray is the only British player in the men’s top 100. There are two British women, Robson and Heather Watson, in the top 100, compared with 10 Americans. That situation was lampooned by Owen Slot, a reporter for The Times of London, in an essay in The Wall Street Journal before the tournament, which called on the United States to “please stop developing these young women tennis players. Or send us your off-cuts. Because Wimbledon is humiliating for the home team.”

Fans could watch that story line play out Tuesday on Court 2, where Watson faced the up-and-coming 18-year-old American Madison Keys. In the stands to see the 56th-ranked Watson was Judy Murray, Andy’s mother and the British Fed Cup coach, and Iain Bates, the women’s tennis team manager of the L.T.A. The 52nd-ranked Keys is a prized pupil of the United States Tennis Association, based at the training facility at Boca Raton, Fla.

Watson missed two months because of mononucleosis, returning recently for the French Open and the grass-court season. She said that her game and her fitness were not 100 percent and that her reaction times were slow. Watson’s lack of rhythm was apparent in the first set of Keys’s 6-3, 7-5 victory.

Although it was Keys’s first main draw match at Wimbledon, her game seemed well suited to grass, particularly her serve, which averaged 107 miles an hour.

At the end of the first round, Robson was the only British woman left. Neither she nor Watson got very far in postmatch news conferences before being asked about the state of British tennis.

Watson noted the depth in the lower ranks, with Johanna Konta and Tara Moore in the top 200 and rising. Katy Dunn was a top 10 junior player.

“I feel like it is coming up slowly, but it’s getting there,” Watson said.

Robson said that even though it was especially disappointing for British players to lose at Wimbledon, they were producing good results week in and week out.

“Before this week, everyone was playing really well,” she said. “So it’s unfortunate that no one else made the second round.”

Of the 14 American women in the tournament, just five remain, including the 126th-ranked wild card Alison Riske, who upset the No. 31 seed, Romina Oprandi. But at least American tennis is considered on the rise.

“It seems like countries usually come up together,” Keys said. “So it’s great that this is kind of our time now.”

Tuesday was Robson’s time

Wimbledon king Roger Federer and Maria Sharapova endured jolting second-round losses to opponents outside the world top 100 in a freakishly dramatic 'Wednesday Wipeout' that saw seven players withdraw injured and the draw shredded.

Second seed Victoria Azarenka, Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and even Steve Darcis, man-of-the-moment after his opening day victory over Spaniard Rafa Nadal, were among the casualties as the medical bulletins piled up.

With title contenders dropping like flies, some before even striking a ball in anger, home favourite Andy Murray must be licking his lips after avoiding the scrapheap with an incident-free second round win over Taiwan's Lu Yen-Hsun.

Murray's hopes of emerging as "last man standing" to claim his first Wimbledon crown on Sunday week have soared after two rounds which have culled Nadal, Federer and sixth seed Tsonga from his half of the draw.

After a day of slips and slides, strained shoulders and aching knees, seven-times champion Federer was expected to glide serenely above the mayhem around him when he stepped out on Centre Court to play Ukraine's Sergiy Stakhovsky.

Three hours later on what former champion John McEnroe called "the craziest day ever" the Swiss great's dream of an eighth title was over.

Playing old-school serve and volley tennis the like of which was supposed to have gone out of fashion, the 27-year-old world No.116 won 6-7(5) 7-6(5) 7-5 7-6(5) to snap third seed Federer's streak of reaching 36 consecutive grand slam quarter-finals.

"I'm still in disbelief," Stakhovsky said. "I played the best tennis I have ever played. When you play Roger Federer it's like your're playing two persons.

"First you play Roger Federer, then you play his ego. I couldn't play any better today. It was a fantastic day for me."

For once, Federer's box of tricks could not rescue him and there was an "end of era" feel as the 31-year-old walked into the Centre Court shadows to a standing ovation.

LOOKING FORWARD

"It's normal that after all of a sudden losing early after being in the quarters 36 times, people feel it's different," Federer, who suffered his earliest Wimbledon defeat since a first-round loss in 2002, defiantly told a news conference.

"Usually I do turnarounds pretty good. I'm looking forward to what's to come. I hope I can play a good summer."

Nadal's first round defeat by Darcis on Monday created shockwaves but Wednesday's seismic events went off the scale.

Ten seeds perished and the seven players to withdraw or retire mid-match was record for a single day at a grand slam.

Croatian 10th seed Marin Cilic, who could not take to the court to play France's Kenny De Schepper after a knee injury flared up, described Wednesday as a "very black day".

Third-seed Sharapova was sent across the grounds to the bowl-like Court Two to face Portuguese firebrand Michelle Larcher de Brito and found the 131st-ranked qualifier too hot to handle as she slipped and slid to a 6-3 6-4 defeat.

Sharapova needed a 10-minute injury timeout after one of several falls left her clutching her hip and at one stage was overheard describing the court surface as "dangerous."

"I don't think I've ever fallen three times in a match before in my career, so that was a little strange," the Russian former champion told reporters.

Women's ninth seed Caroline Wozniacki also fell heavily on Court Two in her defeat by Czech Petra Cetkovska while second seed Azarenka did not even start against Italy's Flavia Pennetta due to the knee injury she suffered in a first-round tumble.

"I don't know if it's the court or the weather," the Belarussian told reporters. "I can't figure it out it.

"Would be great if the club or somebody who takes care of the courts would examine (it)."

THE SAME

A tournament spokesman said "the surfaces at the start are always lusher than at the end," while three-times former champion Boris Becker added "grass is always going to be slippery in the first couple of matches, that has been the case for the past 100 plus years."

Tsonga did not blame the surface for a knee injury that forced him to stop against Latvian Ernests Gulbis while Czech veteran Radek Stepanek also had to quit with a hamstring injury while trailing Poland's Jerzey Janowicz.

Spare a thought for Darcis.

Two days after easily the biggest win of his career over Nadal, the 29-year-old's tournament ended with a whimper as the shoulder he hurt in a fall against the Spaniard made it too painful to face Poland's Lukasz Kubot.

Even American marathon man John Isner was struck down.

The 18th seed played 183 games to beat Nicolas Mahut in a record-breaking epic in 2010 but lasted only two before his knee buckled and he quit against Frenchman Adrian Mannarino.

Kazakh Yaraslava Shvedova handed 2011 Wimbledon women's champion Petra Kvitova a walkover, meaning the Czech eighth seed is the highest-ranked player left in the rubble of the bottom half of the draw.

The lower half of the men's draw was supposed to have been the one to avoid but with Federer, Nadal, Tsonga and Isner all gone, "Murray Mania" is cranking up with home fans salivating at the prospect of him emulating Fred Perry's 1936 title.

The world number two has not dropped a set so far and with Spain's Nicolas Almagro, seeded 15, the next highest-ranked survivor in his half the route to the latter rounds suddenly looks an enticing one for last year's runner-up.

However, Wednesday proved just how unpredictable tennis can be and the Scot is not counting his chickens.

"That's sport," he said of a chaotic day. "You can fall down the stairs, trip over your shoelaces. Who knows? But I feel fine right now," said Murray whose next opponent is Tommy Robredo. (Reporting by Martyn Herman; editing by Ken Ferris)



Tennis-Federer and Sharapova exit in Wednesday Wipeout

Serena Williams is the bookies favourite to win Wimbledon with odds of 2/5 and she certainly looked on form in her opening match. She beat Mandy Minella in straight sets showing her signature powerful serve at 121mph as well as a softer touch when appropriate. Williams is also enjoying a winning streak of 32 matches, the longest single-season run on the women’s tour for 13 years.

The game marked Williams’ return to competition following a short break after winning the French Open earlier this month. It was also her first match on a grass court since winning her fifth Wimbledon title last year.

It’s also been an exciting week off the court with Williams and her biggest rival, number 2 seed Maria Sharapova, making headlines with their on-going exchange of insults. Luckily the two players are on opposite sides of the draw and could only meet in the final. While Sharapova is second favourite, the bookies have placed her a long way behind Williams with odds of 4/1.

However, it is early days yet and there have already been some surprise exits from the tournament, so if you think you can predict them be sure to place your bets soon.







Serena Williams Continues Winning Streak - Online Casino Archives

Andy Murray, the world's second ranked mens player and home darling during the current Wimbledon fortnight has offered up a new twist on tennis' great gender debate.

In a column on the BBC website, Murray, while discussing the different physical toll of playing three and five set matches, revealed he'd been challenged by a Twitter follower to take on Serena Williams in tennis match.

And his response: "I'd be up for it, why not?"

Murray went on to add: "I've never hit with her but she's obviously an incredible player and I think people would be interested to see the men play against the women to see how the styles match up. It's happened in the past with Jimmy Connors and Martina Navratilova.

"How about Las Vegas as a venue?"

Well, before her third round clash with Kimiko Date-Krumm tonight, Tennis-com reported a surprised Williams' response to the challenge.

"He wants to play me? Is he sure?," Williams laughed, when told of Murray's remarks.

"That would be fun. I doubt I'd win a point, but that would be fun. I get alleys. He gets no serves. I get alleys on my serves, too. He gets no legs."

Williams said she preferred clay for the match-up. "Indoor, grass, I'm going to have to choose grass indoor. Actually, I might go clay," she said.

"I think I might go clay with him. He loves grass. I do, too. But I'm going to definitely go clay."



Murray to take on Serena Williams in tennis clash? - Wimbledon News | TVNZ

Novak Djokovic and Serena Williams top the bill at Wimbledon’s super Monday when they attempt to capitalize on the shock exits of their heavyweight Grand Slam rivals.

Djokovic, the top seed and world number one, takes on 35-year-old Tommy Haas, the oldest player left in the men’s draw.

Djokovic, the 2011 champion, has not dropped his serve in his three rounds so far and in his straight sets demolition of Jeremy Chardy on Saturday he fired 38 winners and just three unforced errors.

Haas was a Wimbledon semi-finalist in 2009 and Djokovic has no intention of underestimating the German.

“It’s going to be a big challenge for both of us,” the Serb said.

“He loves playing on grass and beat Roger (Federer) in the final of Halle last year.

“He doesn’t look like a 35-year-old for sure. He’s full of confidence on the court and he’s been playing very close to the best tennis of his life.”

“There’s no clear favorite in that match. I need to try to repeat this performance. If I do I think I have a good chance.”

Women’s defending champion Serena Williams racked-up her 600th career win in her ruthless 6-2, 6-0 win over Japanese 42-year-old Kimiko Date-Krumm in Saturday’s third round.

Williams, chasing a sixth Wimbledon title and 17th Grand Slam crown, faces German 23rd seed Sabine Lisicki for a quarter-final place.

Victory on Monday will give her a 35th successive win, taking her level with sister Venus’s record set in 2000.

Lisicki was a semi-finalist in 2011 and made the quarter-finals last year, knocking out Maria Sharapova on the way.

“I was in this situation last year when everybody was saying that Sharapova was the favourite. I’m probably going into the match on Monday as the underdog, but I like that,” said Lisicki.

Madcap Russian Mikhail Youzhny and injury-plagued Estonian Kaia Kanepi will aim to shatter British hopes on Monday.

Youzhny tackles second seed Andy Murray with a 2-0 career deficit against the US Open champion and a reputation for living on the edge when his game goes astray.

At the French Open, the 29-year-old smashed the same racquet nine times, sending shards spiralling into the air and ball boys running for cover in a stunning meltdown during his defeat to Haas.

That random act of violence becoming an instant YouTube hit.

Youzhny, seeded 20 at Wimbledon, is notorious on the tour for his hair-trigger temper.

At Miami in 2008, playing Spain’s Nicolas Almagro, he smashed his racquet on his head so violently that blood spilled onto the court.

These days, he celebrates each victory by calmly bouncing his racquet on his head instead.

“Sometimes everybody has some problems. Yeah, bad luck for the racquet and bad luck for me because I still lost that match,” said Youzhny, who made the Wimbledon quarter-finals last year.

“I think during the match, when I do this one, maybe it helps me, and I come back like another player to the court.

“It happened to me only a few times, but it happens sometimes with all people, I think.”

Kanepi, meanwhile, tackles Laura Robson — the first British woman in the last 16 since 1998— having already eliminated Tara Moore of the home nation in the first round.

The 28-year-old, ranked world number 46, has already illustrated her potential at the tournament, knocking out German seventh seed Angelique Kerber in the second round.

She also made the Wimbledon quarter-finals in 2010, the same year she reached the last eight at the US Open, and has twice made the quarter-finals of the French Open.

Kanepi missed the last half of the 2012 season with an Achilles tendon injury, only returning to the circuit in April.

“I think I’m faster and I’m fitter than before,” insisted Kanepi, who said she is happy to face a hostile crowd.

“They are all going to be against me, the crowd. I think I’m going to enjoy that.”

Read more: Tennis: Djokovic, Serena top bill on super Monday - Inquirer Sports | Inquirer Sports
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With One Direction star Harry Styles and Prime Minister David Cameron among her growing army of fans, teenager Laura Robson is seen as "gold dust" for women's tennis in Britain.

Robson, 19, became the most successful British woman at Wimbledon in 15 years after powering through to the second week of the prestigious tennis tournament but she lost her fourth-round match on Monday to Estonia's Kaia Kanepi.

While Robson struggled to hold back tears leaving the court, campaigners for tennis and women's sport praised her performance and the inspiration the British No. 1 gave female players.

The "Robson factor" has been credited for helping to double the number of young girls regularly competing in tennis in the past two years, according to the Lawn Tennis Association (LTA) which is under pressure to increase participation in the sport.

"She is gold dust for women's sport," said Sue Tibbals, chief executive of the Women's Sports and Fitness Foundation which aims to boost the number of women playing sport.

"She has captured the nation's attention for her tennis and also because she is such a strong, inspiring woman. At 19 she has a great career ahead of her."

Robson has won praise among tennis fans for her destructive forehand but she added 20,000 people to her 280,000 following on Twitter last week when heart-throb boy band member Styles declared himself to be her fan.

Cameron joined her fan bandwagon from Kazakhstan on Monday, tweeting her his best wishes ahead of her match while some of her fans lined up for two days to get tickets for Wimbledon on Monday for the chance to see her play.

"That's unbelievable support .. I'm so happy that they decided to come," Robson told a news conference on Monday.

ROLE MODEL

Robson was bitterly disappointed by her failure to get the win which would have made her the first British woman quarter-finalist since Jo Durie 29 years ago.

Durie, a former world number five, said Robson was under enormous pressure as the only British female near the top of the rankings and now guaranteed to break into the world's top 30.

"Laura is out there on her own and so there is a lot of pressure on her .. but she is a great role model. She is young and with-it and people can relate to her," Durie told Reuters.

Robson's appeal is undeniable with a broad smile and typical teenage interests. She loves the TV show "Hannibal" and lists her hobbies as horse-riding, cooking and shopping.

"But she need to notch up some more victories to really become marketable," said Rebecca Hopkins, managing director of sports PR agency ENS Ltd.

Robson has emerged on the scene as the LTA is under pressure from Sport England, the body that distributes taxpayers' money to sports, to boost participation in tennis.

LTA spokesman Tom Harlow said Australian-born Robson had boosted the number of youngsters in tennis since winning silver in the doubles with Andy Murray at the 2012 Olympics. She also got through to the fourth round of last year's U.S. Open.

The number of under-12s competing regularly has nearly doubled to 8,000 and 11- to 18-year-old LTA memberships are up 10 percent to about 112,000.

But weekly adult tennis participation, of over-16s playing for at least 30 minutes, is still down from a peak of 530,000 in 2009 although numbers rose 19 percent last year to 445,000.

"We hope that Robson's success at Wimbledon will inspire more teenage girls to pick up a racket or stay in tennis. All sports struggle to get teenage girls playing," Harlow said.

A group of schoolgirls on an outing to Wimbledon for the day from Burgate School in Hampshire, said Robson was their idol.

"She's the first British female player I have ever known to do well and she's great," said 15-year-old Emily Bufton-Taylor.




Robson seen as gold dust for UK women's tennis - Tennis | The Star Online