12 New Year’s Wishes for 2012

 

 

Caroline Wozniacki and Rory McIIroy wish you a New year from Thailand.

No. 1 : That Kim Clijsters and Serena play each other in at least four big matches before the Belgian retires.

No. 2: That Andy Murray plays as well as he’s capable of against a Big 3 member in a Grand Slam final so we can see if that level is good enough to win a major.

No 3: That Maria Sharapova and Ana Ivanovic return to their 2008 levels and consistently push Generation Caro to show how good they really are,

No. 4: That Juan Martin Del Potro returns to his 2009 level so the ATP has potential Big 5 & that the promising youngsters (i.e. Tomic, Raonic, Harrison and Dmitrov) show the elite they can really play with them

No. 5: That Kvitova, Wozniacki, Azarenka, Radwanska et al develop intense rivalries that we’ll still be taking about 5 years from now.

No. 6: That the Big 3 of Djokovic, Nadal & Federer stay healthy all year and play each other on every surface & at least 5 times each.

No. 7: That both tours focus less on branding and more on how the sport is played. After all, tennis is a sport played on a court

No. 8: That Aussie, French & British players have huge impacts at their home Slams — its been a long time coming.

No. 9: That deserving WTA players like Radwanska, Pennetta, Petkovic, Pennetta & Peng reach at least onne Slam quarter so they can make strong go at their first final fours.

No. 10: That American veterans Roddick, Fish, Blake & Ginepri stay healthy enough so they can have major impact at least one more Slam again.

No.11: That all players would actually use social media as a way to interact with fans and not as a substitute texting service

Wish 12 for 2012: 24 highly dramatic, very well played Grand Slam semifinals and finals making 2012 the best year in tennis history!

Quick WTA Championships Picks

 

Urzula Radwanska will watch Aga and Caro (sitting back to back) face off.

The TEB BNP Paribas WTA Championships Istanbul kicks off play on Tuesday with a 5 p.m. start, featuring a Red Group matches between Petra Kvitova and Vera Zvonareva and Caroline Wozniacki and Agnieszka Radwanska, followed by a White Group match between Maria Sharapova and Samantha Stosur.

Here

The Big 2 (US Open favorites)

Novak has only lost one match all year.

 

By Ed Klajman

TORONTO

Azarenka’s angst

Vika cannot seem to stay healthy.

If Victoria Azarenka is going to win a Slam, she has to find a way to get healthy because her retirement count is now off the charts. On Thursday at Eastbourne, she retired for the fourth time in eight tournaments and twelfth time since the start of 2010 when down 62 20 to Marion Bartoli, she quit with a right groin injury. Whether its mental or just purely physical is hard to know, but what can be said is that it highly unusual and is happening right around every Slam. Someone in her camp better discover why or she never going to be consistent, serious threat.

Daniela Hantuchova finally found a way to best Venus Williams and took her out for the first time in 11 tries, 6-2 5-7 6-2. Give credit to Hantuchova who has had a fine month, but let’s not forget that Venus was playing just her third match since missing four and a half months of action due to hip and abdominal injuries

“The wind didn’t make it very predictable, but I give her credit for hanging in there. On a day like today, you have to just hang in there,” Williams said. “I think Daniela had a lot of motivation – we’ve been playing I don’t know how many years, and I am sure she has wanted to get a win against me for a long, long time…It wasn’t the best luck today, but I feel good about my preparation. More than anything I was able to get a lot of great competition. This has been ideal.”

Hantuchova will face Petra Kvitova, who came back to defeat the confounding Aga Radwanska 1-6 6-2 7-6(2). The lefty Kvitova certainly has a shot at Wimbledon and while Radwanska is a very smart player, she’s having trouble closing again and does not have a powerful enough game to do huge damage on grass.

No grass court lover, Sam Stosur came back from 6-4 4-2 down to best Vera Zvonareva 4-6, 7-6(4), 6-4, the second marathon match in a row for the Russian who had edged Serena Williams the day prior.

In Den Bosch, Roberta Vinci took out Yanina Wickmayer and Romina Oprandi upended Kimiko Date, Oprandi will face Jelena Dokic, who could be very dangerous at Wimbledon.

How about Kei Nishikori in rainy Eastbourne, first besting Rainer Schuettler 6-4 4-6 6-2 and then Radek Stepanek 6-2 6-3 in the quarters? Other semifinalists are Igor Kunitsyn, Janko Tipsarevic and Andreas Seppi…Irina Falconi qualified for Wimbledon, but Ryan Harrison was down two sets when the rain struck.

Nadal marches on, Goerges stuns Wozniacki

While Sunday in Barcelona was business as usual for clay court dominator and No. 1 Rafa Nadal, it wasn

Throw the Tactics Out the Window

Federer’s 5-Set Sweatfest, JJ, Kleybanova Fall

MELBOURNE – Perhaps the primary reason why Roger Federer hasn

Wawrinka Smokes Roddick, Petra-fied by Kvitova

MELBOURNE – The expectations for Sam Stosur here in Australia were pretty high coming into the tournament and for those of you who read me regularly know I didn’t share them. I certainly thought she had a shot at the semis when the draw was released, but I also thought that what occurred to last night — a decisive 7-6 (5) 6-3 loss to Petrova Kvitova — was a real possibility.
The lefty Czech has tremendous talent, significant power off her forehand side, a tough to read backhand, a fine hooking first serve when she gets it in and decent hands at the net. Due to her struggle with English (and my obvious ignorance of Czech) it

Rallying for Relief & Relevance

Before getting into the bouncing balls and those who strike them, I want to say that one of the great things about the tennis community is when it comes together and authentically raises money for charity, in this instance, the Rally for Relief, which raised a substantial funs to help the victims of the Queensland floods. Tennis is of the few sports with truly global appeal and where people of rival nations come together and develop friendships, and on tour, and also in the pressroom, there is a real love for the various nations that host tournaments and Australia is without question the tops of many folks’ list, including mine.

As Sam Stosur, who was just one of a ton of stars to participate including Federer, Nadal, Murray, Roddick, Ivanovic, Clijsters and Azarenka said: