The emblem of Wimbledon

Last week, Wimbledon the tournament with the biggest prestige in the tennis world began and because of that I think its interesting for you to know some facts about this Grand Slam. Especially, because this tournament have a few special conventions and a famous tradition.

Main Informations:

Wimbledon, is the oldest tennis tournament in the world and is generally considered the most prestigious. It has been held at the All England Club in the London suburb of Wimbledon since 1877. It is one of the four Grand Slam tennis tournaments, and the only one still played on grass courts.

Wimbledon traditions include the eating of strawberries and cream, royal patronage, and a strict white dress code for competitors.

Tickets

Wimbledon is the only grand slam where fans without tickets for play can queue up and still get seats on Centre Courts. From 2008, there is a single queue, apportioned about 500 seats for each court. When they join the queue fans are handed vouchers with a number on it and the following morning when the line moves towards the Grounds, stewards come through the line and hand out different wristbands to the specific court. The voucher is then redeemed at the ticket office for the ticket.

Royal family

Previously, players bowed or curtsied to members of the Royal Family seated in the Royal Box upon entering or leaving Centre Court. In 2003, however, the President of the All England Club, HRH The Duke of Kent, decided to discontinue the tradition. Now, players are required to bow only if the Queen or the Prince of Wales is present.

Prize Money: Total is 12,550,000 pounds (about $20.5 million), with 850,000 pounds (about $1.4 million) each to the men’s and women’s singles champions.

Especialness this year:

Really exciting will be to follow the way of Roger Federer this year, because if he win the tournament, he becomes the number one again in the ATP list. The reason for this is that Rafael Nadal is not able to defend his title because of a knee injury. Also special is the following Key Statistic.

Key Statistic: 14 – Number of Grand Slam singles titles won by both Federer and Pete Sampras, the most by a man. Federer reached the same  record by winning the French Open last month and can break it by winning Wimbledon.

If you are interested here is the list of the Wimbledon Champions:

-Wimbledon champions list -

Now then at last I must show you this video, I have discovered it recently in youtube and I find it really awesome and funny as well. Tommy Haas (Number 34 currently in ATP list) is playing with the ballboys after his match against Llodra. I think this reflects the pleasent mood at the Wimbledon tournament and Tommys cheerful character very well. For those who not yet know it, he is in the eight final and plays on Monday against Andreev.

Source:

http://www.wimbledon.org/en_GB/index.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Championships,_Wimbledon

Djokovic and Haas

Tommy Haas is back in top tennis after his success in Halle in the Gerry Weber Open tournament. The Gerry Weber Open is one of five grass court tournaments on the ATP World Tour calendar, and provides players with their first chance to play on the surface in the two-week lead-up to Wimbledon.

This tournament on grass becomes really popular in the last years and the players use this tournament to prepare themselves for Wimbledon.

Tommy (Number 41 seeded, now 35) defeated ATP World Tour No. 4 Novak Djokovic 6-3, 6-7(4), 6-1 on Sunday in the final of the Gerry Weber Open in Halle to end a title drought of more than two years.

Haas received 250 South African Airways 2009 ATP Ranking points and €115,150 the second placed Djokovic earned 150 Ranking points and a pay cheque of €62,250.

Haas said in an inteview after the match:

“It’s such an incredibly nice feeling to hold up the trophy again and to be in Germany as well, in front of German fans is even more special.”

Haas defeated Djokovic for the first time, in their two previous meetings was Djokovic the better player.

He took a one set lead against the Serbian after breaking in the eighth game before serving it out 6-3 after 37 minutes. After saving two break points in the third game of the second set, Djokovic went on to level the match in a tie-break.

Haas could then brake Djokovic for the second time in the match to earn a 3-0 lead in the final set. He was saving four break points in the third game. The German then closed out his win against the Top 10 player by breaking serve once more in the sixth game before serving out to win the final after two hours and 12 minutes.

Its in addition a great success for German tennis, especially because even the German double won the final in Halle (Kas/ Kohlschreiber).

Haas defeated Kohlschreiber as well, who is actually higher ranked and in the last two years the best German tennis player.

So I think is time for a little poll, its quite interesting to see what is your opinion. View This Poll

Andy Murray with the Queens title

Andy Murray ended Great Britain’s 71-year wait for a homegrown champion at the AEGON Championships after defeating No. 16 seed James Blake 7-5, 6-4 on last Sunday in the final of the ATP World Tour 250 tennis tournament at The Queen’s Club in London.

The British guy received 250 points for the ATP Ranking and €84,300 in prize money, now he is counted to the favourites for the Wimbledon tournament next week.

The 22-year-old Murray was contesting his fifth ATP World Tour final of the season and collected his fourth title, only the World No. 1 Rafael Nadal with five trophies has won more tour-level titles in 2009.

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Here are an excerpt of the determining last game, it shows Murrays predominance really well, for me he is one of the favourites in Wimbledon because he is great on grass court and the dream final for me is Murray against Federer.

Source:

Roddick on grass court

The next Grand Slam will be the famous Wimbledon tournament and because of that, I want to give you a short introduction how you play on grass court.

Grass is much faster then the other courts and you have a lower bounce, than on clay for example.

There is a certain strategy you can use to improve your grass tennis court game.

1. Serve hard. The serve is the most effective weapon on grass. Because grass plays so fast, harder and faster serves will make your opponent return defensively and can result in an ace. Moreover if you use a slice serve it could be very effective. Also if you set up a serve-and-volley this could work very well in a match.
2. Use the serve-and-volley technique. To serve-and-volley, you should make a powerful serve and then go immediately to the net to attack your opponents return. If you serve well and your opponent has to return defensively, you should be able to make a low bouncing, fast-moving volley shot that should win you the point or give you control over the point.

3. Hit flat shots, with these shots the ball move faster and help to have control of the point, as opposed to higher bouncing or loftier shots.

4. Make your strokes short and compact. This will put you in position to make offensive shots on the low-bouncing, fast-moving balls on a grass court instead of having to play defensively.

5. Position your hits toward the open court and approach the net when possible.

I think these tips are very helpfull if you start to play on this court and especially now you could imagine why some top players are better on grass court. This concerns players who have a strong serve and a good play if they approach the net.

View This Poll

You are really welcome to make some comments, maybe you have  important reasons why either of them become or remains the number one in tennis.

Thanks in advance!

Roger with the French Open trophy and next to him Andre Agassi.

On sunday I was very excited, because of the great final between the sensational newcomer in high class tennis, in fact Robin Söderling (currently the number 12 in the world) and the ingenious Roger Federer (number 2 in ATP list). So I followed the game yesterday and Roger made a really good job, he showed his best tennis and Söderling had never the real possibilities to put pressure on Roger’s game.

At last Federer won very clear in three sets with 6-1, 7-6(1), 6-4. Robin Söderling was not able to play on the same level like in the other matches. On one hand he didn’t play his best tennis, maybe the preliminaries were too exhausted, but I think the main reason was that Federer played on the highest level and thereby he dominated the whole game.

Roger Federer became the sixth man in history to win all four Grand Slam singles titles when he produced this exceptional performance to defeat the Swede Robin Soderling in the final. Federer said: “This is my most satisfying win of my life, along with my first Wimbledon,” this shows the importance of this tournament for Federer.

The victory has Roger Federer brought equal to Pete Sampras’ all-time record of 14 Grand Slam singles titles. At the age of 27, the Swiss was contesting just his 40th major. Federer, who has a 14-5 record in Grand Slam finals, accomplished this great achievement in a span of less than seven years – needing just 24 Grand Slams from his first victory to his 14th.

For him it was one of his biggest success, becaus he was waiting so long to win this tournament and moreover it is his first Roland Garros trophy.

Here are few highlights and especially you can watch the great moment when Federer plays the final ball to win. Thats pure emotion!

Please look also at this interview, it shows that Federer stay really natural and he is, despite of his big success and the hundreds of million he deserved in tennis,  still down to earth and a very pleasent guy.

Finally I want to show you a little bit funny but also very strange situation in the match, where a streaker (but with clothes on) probably a Nadal supporter jump on the court and tries to irritate Federer. I think this video is even worth to see, because something like this never happened in the french open final history.

Source:

Söderling after the match against Nadal

Actually I think this was the biggest sensation during the french open tournament. The big Nadal who is the unchallenged number one in the world was beaten by the current 25 seeded Söderling in the atp ranking.

Clay court specialist Nadal went into the match with a record unequaled in modern tennis: he hadn’t lost a match at Roland Garos since debuting there in 2005, an unbeaten run of 31 straight matches, and four consecutive titles.

In the 3 1/2 hours match, Soderling broke Nadal, winning the match 6-2, 6-7 (2), 6-4, 7-6 (2) through a range of strong forehands and some amazing serving.

Nadal was philosophical about the result, saying that “Well, that’s the end of the road, and I have to accept it.

I have to accept my defeat as I accepted my victories: with calm.” Nadal proved his sportive fairness witgh this interview.

Here I got the best scenes in the match for you:

Söderling, who has never won a third round match in a major before beating Nadal, defeated in the next rounds Davydenko and recently No. 12 seed Fernando Gonzalez as well, with 6-3, 7-5, 5-7, 4-6, 6-4, in three hours and 28 minutes. Now tomorrow the fascinating final will take place between Roger Federer and Söderling. This final promises to become one of the best tennis matches in the last years.

Source:

Kohlschreiber shows emotions

The third round was awesome especially because Philipp Kohlschreiber the number 29 in the atp list won his match against the favor number 4 in the world Novak Djokovic.

I follow the game on saturday and it was breathtaking and really one of the best best games in the 3. round. Kohlschreiber played his best tennis and dominates the game from the beginning.

Djokovic could never show his real power, maybe it was not his day, but I think Kohlschreiber was too strong. He defeated him in three sets, each with 6:4. I’m really satisfied that two germans, in fact Kohlschreiber and even Haas reach the round of sixteen and now everything is possible but at least its a great success for german tennis. If you want an impression and the highlights of the whole third round including the best points of the Djokovic match look at the following you tube video.

Here is a overview of the 3. round results:

Thomas Haas  – Jeremy Chardy 7:5, 6:3, 4:6, 6:4

Nikolai Dawidenko (10) – Stanislas Wawrinka (17) 6:3, 4:6, 6:3, 6:2

Fernando Verdasco (8) – Nicolas Almagro (31) 6:2, 7:6 (7:4), 7:6 (10:8)

Fernando Gonzalez (12) – Josselin Ouanna 7:5, 6:3, 7:5

Rafael Nadal (1) – Lleyton Hewitt 6:1, 6:3, 6:1

Marin Cilic (13) – Radek Stepanek (18) 6:1, 7:6 (7:4), 6:3

Victor Hanescu (30) – Gilles Simon (7) 6:4, 6:4, 6:2

Andrew Murray (Großbritannien/3) – Janko Tipsarevic (Serbien) 7:6 (7:3), 6:3, Aufgabe

Robin Söderling (23) – David Ferrer (14) 6:7 (5:7), 7:5, 6:2, 7:6 (7:5)

Andy Roddick (6) – Marc Gicquel (Frankreich) 6:1, 6:4, 6:4

Juan Martin del Potro (5) – Igor Andrejew (25) 6:4, 7:5, 6:4

Gael Monfils (11) – Jürgen Melzer (24) 6:2, 4:6, 6:3, 6:1

Philipp Kohlschreiber (29) – Novak Djokovic (4) 6:4, 6:4, 6:4

Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (9) – Christophe Rochus 6:2, 6:2, 6:2

Tommy Robredo (16) – Maximo Gonzalez 4:6, 7:5, 6:1, 6:0

Roger Federer (2) – Paul-Henri Mathieu (32) 4:6, 6:1, 6:4, 6:4

Tipsarevic in the final game against Kohlschreiber

The ARAG World Team Cup is a team championship who starts one week before the french open.

Its is mainly the World Team Championship of the ATP. Moreover the tournament exist since 1978 and took place for the 32nd time in the Düsseldorf Rochusclub. The players of the winner nation get 1.5 million euros in prize money and it is being contested by the 8 best tennis nations in the world.

Previously the qualification based on the year-end entry rankings of the ATP.

Over 75000 people visit this cup every year and it is broadcast in almost 200 countries around the world.

Especially for the Düsseldorf area it is a very popular event and almost the sportive highlight of this region.

This year it was very suspenseful for me because the german team reach the final and get the possibility to win. Naturally the counterpart, the Serbian team had although best chances to get the cup. The newcomer reach the final at its first attempt, this was a really professional performance.

So at last it was a little bit sad that germany was defeated but the serbian players were the better team and they get the cup. Rainer Schüttler was beaten by Viktor Troicki with 6-4, 7-6 in a close, competitive match. Philipp Kohlschreiber the 35 placed player in the atp ranking lost the essential match against Janko Tipsarevic (65 in ranking) very clear in 2-6, 4-6 and this brought the final decision.

The Serbian Team is the ARAG World Team Cup champion 2009, because they show their strengh in the right time, but the second place is even a good result for german tennis.

Source:

http://www.arag-world-team-cup.com/en

ATP worldtour

Yesterday the final of  Madrid Masters Tournament took place, between Raffael Nadal and Roger Federer.

Rafa and Federer have already met 15 times in ATP World Tour and Grand Slam championship finals and it was the pair’s first meeting since the final of this year’s Australian Open, which Rafa won in five sets. Roger Federer wins his first title of the 2009 season by defeating Nadal.

It was a big surprise that Roger Federer beats Nadal, very clear in two sets with 6:4 and 6:4, so Federer get the 3.7 million euro prize money.

ATP worldtour (gallery)

Maybe the physically demanding semi- final four hours thriller against Novak Djokovic and the problems with his right knee were the principal reasons for his defeat. Roger Federers semi final against del podro was a lot of less exhausting, he won in two sets.

Federer will now turn his attention to winning the first Roland Garros title and he believes the confidence from this win will give him an advantage going into the clay-court Grand Slam. He said in an inteview yesterday: “I am very happy that I remained positive and I got the win I needed badly because I have had some rather bad losses this year in terms of the way I played but I think that everything is falling into place and I felt it coming the last few weeks so it is the right time to get a victory like this.”

Despite the marathon semi-final with Djokovic, Nadal opposed to blame his effort on Saturday for his defeat, he said: “I never tend to use an excuse and if I’m tired it’s because I played longer than I should have yesterday and today I played less, that’s the way that sport works. The court was very, very fast. When you are lacking that spark, if you’re able to get into the game you can slowly get back and recover but he used his tactic. He went forth from the very beginning and he was better. That’s all there is to it.

Once again the inteviews show that these two guys are very fair and respectful sportlers. They become good buddys in the last years, despite of their big rivalry. I think the french open become very suspenseful, because the final in madrid has shown that the big Rafael Nadal is not unbeatable.

Source: http://www.atpworldtour.com/TENNIS/1/EN/NEWS/