Top Tennis Stars: July 2011

Sunday, July 31, 2011

roger federer Swiss professional tennis player

Roger Federer German pronunciation: born August 8, 1981 is a Swiss professional tennis player who held the ATP number one position for a record 237 consecutive weeks, and 285 weeks overall. As of 18 July 2011, he is ranked World No. 3 by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP). Federer has won a men's record 16 Grand Slam singles titles. He is one of seven male players to capture the career Grand Slam and one of three (with Andre Agassi and Rafael Nadal) to do so on three different surfaces (clay, grass and hard courts). He is the only male player in tennis history to have reached the title match of each Grand Slam tournament at least 5 times. Many sports analysts, tennis critics, and former and current players consider Federer to be the greatest tennis player of all time.
Federer has appeared in an unprecedented 23 career Grand Slam finals, of which 10 were consecutive appearances, and appeared in 18 of 19 finals over the four and a half years from the 2005 Wimbledon Championships through the 2010 Australian Open, the lone exception being the 2008 Australian Open. He holds the record of reaching the semifinals or better of 23 consecutive Grand Slam tournaments over five and a half years from the 2004 Wimbledon Championships through the 2010 Australian Open. At the 2011 Wimbledon Championships he reached his 29th consecutive Grand Slam quarterfinal, breaking the record set by Jimmy Connors.
Federer has won a record five ATP World Tour Finals (shared with Ivan Lendl and Pete Sampras) and 17 ATP Masters Series tournaments (tied second all-time). He also won the Olympic gold medal in doubles with his compatriot Stanislas Wawrinka at the 2008 Summer Olympic Games. For the past eight years (2003–2010) he has been in the top two in the year-end rankings.
As a result of Federer's successes in tennis, he was named the Laureus World Sportsman of the Year for a record four consecutive years (2005–2008). He is often referred to as The Federer Express or abbreviated to Fed Express, the Swiss Maestro or simply Maestro. In 2011, Federer was ranked No.25 in Forbes Celebrity 100 List.
Contents
* 1 Early life
o 1.1 Childhood and personal life
o 1.2 Marriage and family
o 1.3 Outreach and charitable efforts
* 2 Tennis career
o 2.1 Pre-1998: Junior years
o 2.2 1998–2002: Early career in the ATP
o 2.3 2003–2006: Breakthrough and dominance
o 2.4 2007 to present
o 2.5 Rivalries
+ 2.5.1 Federer vs. Nadal
+ 2.5.2 Federer vs. Hewitt
+ 2.5.3 Federer vs. Nalbandian
+ 2.5.4 Federer vs. Djokovic
+ 2.5.5 Federer vs. Murray
+ 2.5.6 Federer vs. Roddick
o 2.6 Playing style
o 2.7 Equipment, apparel, endorsements
o 2.8 Grand Slam tournament performance timeline
o 2.9 Year-End Championship performance timeline
o 2.10 Olympic games
o 2.11 Records
* 3 See also
* 4 References and notes
* 5 Further reading
* 6 Video
* 7 External links
o 7.1 Profiles

roger federer

Monday, July 25, 2011

anna kournikova born in Moscow, Soviet Union, on June 7, 1981

Early life
Anna Kournikova was born in Moscow, Soviet Union, on June 7, 1981. Her father, Sergei Kournikov, was 19 at the time. Sergei, a former Greco-Roman wrestling champion, had earned a Ph.D. and was a professor at the University of Physical Culture and Sport in Moscow. As of 2001, he was still a part-time martial arts instructor there. Her mother Alla, who was 18 when Kournikova was born, had been a 400-meter runner.
Sergei Kournikov has said, "We were young and we liked the clean, physical life, so Anna was in a good environment for sport from the beginning. The family name is spelled in Russian without an "o", so a direct transliteration would be "Kurnikov", and it is sometimes written that way. But it is pronounced "Kournikov", so the family chose that as their English spelling.
Kournikova received her first tennis racquet as a New Year gift in 1986 at age 5. Describing her early regimen, she said, "I played two times a week from age six. It was a children's program. And it was just for fun; my parents didn't know I was going to play professionally, they just wanted me to do something because I had lots of energy. It was only when I started playing well at seven that I went to a professional academy. I would go to school, and then my parents would take me to the club, and I'd spend the rest of the day there just having fun with the kids. In 1986, Kournikova became a member of the Spartak Tennis Club, coached by Larissa Preobrazhenskaya. In 1989, at the age of eight, Kournikova began appearing in junior tournaments, and by the following year, was attracting attention from tennis scouts across the world. Kournikova signed a management deal at age ten and went to Bradenton, Florida, to train at Nick Bollettieri's celebrated tennis academy.

anna kournikova

Saturday, July 23, 2011

Sabine Lisicki German professional tennis player.

Sabine Katharina Lisicki born 22 September 1989 in Troisdorf is a German professional tennis player.
Lisicki has won two WTA singles tournaments in her career (one in 2009 and one in 2011) and one doubles tournament (in 2011). She reached the semifinals of the 2011 Wimbledon Championships and also reached the quarterfinals of the 2009 Wimbledon Championships. She achieved her career high rank of World No. 22 on 3 August 2009. After struggling with injuries in 2010, Lisicki rebounded in 2011 and re-entered the top 100 of the world rankings. She is only the second player in Wimbledon history to make it to the semifinals while entering the tournament as a wildcard
Lisicki lives in Bradenton, Florida. Her parents emigrated from Poland in 1979; her father, Dr. Richard Lisicki, is of German and Polish descent, and her mother, Elisabeth, of Polish.
Contents
* 1 Career
o 1.1 2008
o 1.2 2009
o 1.3 2010
o 1.4 2011
* 2 Major finals
o 2.1 Grand Slam finals
+ 2.1.1 Doubles: 1 (0–1)
* 3 Career finals
o 3.1 Singles finals: 4 (2–2)
o 3.2 Doubles finals: 2 (1–1)
* 4 Singles performance timeline
* 5 References
* 6 External link
Career
Since 2004 Lisicki trained at the Nick Bollettieri Tennis Academy in Bradenton, Florida, USA where she is sponsored and managed by IMG. She is coached by her father who studied sport science in Wrocław and Cologne.
Lisicki had a successful year in 2007 on the ITF circuit and climbed from World No. 497 to World No. 198 in the WTA rankings. She won two titles, one in Jersey and the other in Toronto, Canada. She defeated top-seed Katie O'Brien on 2 August 2007 at the Odlum Brown Vancouver Open.
In 2006, Lisicki competed at the 2006 Sunfeast Open – Singles Qualifying in Kolkata where she crushed Ragini Vimal 6-1, 6-0 in the first round, but lost in the qualifying round to Sanaa Bhambri of India.

Sabine Lisicki

Urszula Radwanska tennis career

Urszula Radwańska born 7 December 1990 in Ahaus, Germany is a Polish tennis player and a younger sister of Agnieszka Radwańska. She reached her career high ranking of World No. 62 on 10 August 2009.
Contents
* 1 Tennis career
* 2 2009
* 3 2010–2011
* 4 WTA Tour women's doubles finals (1)
* 5 ITF Circuit finals
o 5.1 Singles finals (7)
o 5.2 Doubles finals (14)
* 6 Junior grand slam finals
o 6.1 Singles (2)
o 6.2 Doubles (4)
* 7 Singles performance timeline
* 8 External links
Tennis career
As a junior player, Radwańska won Grand Slam titles, including the 2007 Wimbledon girls' singles, culminating in the junior year-ending World No. 1 ranking. This was the leaping pad into her professional career, where she has been getting into WTA main draws via qualifying and wildcards.

In 2007, Radwańska played in the main draw of three WTA tour tournaments. She lost in the first round of the Tier II J&S Cup in Warsaw, the second round of the Tier III Japan Open Tennis Championships in Tokyo, and the quarterfinals of the Tier III PTT Bangkok Open after defeating fourth-seeded Virginie Razzano in the third round. Urszula and Agnieszka won a doubles title together at the 2007 Istanbul Cup.
At the 2008 Wimbledon Championships, Radwańska made her Grand Slam singles debut, losing in the second round to two-time champion Serena Williams 6–4, 6–4. Having seen the fight she put up in this match, the commentator Andrew Castle observed, "She is sound in just about all areas, and she knows what to do with the ball, she seems to have an understanding, a little like Martina Hingis."[citation needed]

Urszula Radwanska

Nikolay Davydenko Russian tennis player

Nikolay Vladimirovich Davydenko (Russian: Николай Владимирович Давыденко; born June 2, 1981 in Severodonetsk, Ukrainian SSR) is a Russian tennis player. Davydenko's best result in a Grand Slam tournament has been reaching the semifinals, which he has done on four occasions: twice each at the French Open and the U.S. Open. His biggest achievement to date was winning the 2009 ATP World Tour Finals, and he has also won three ATP Masters Series. He is one of the few players who has a winning record against Rafael Nadal.
Contents
* 1 Personal life
* 2 Tennis career
o 2.1 Early career
o 2.2 2001–2003
o 2.3 2004
o 2.4 2005
o 2.5 2006–2007
o 2.6 2008
o 2.7 2009
o 2.8 2010
o 2.9 2011
* 3 Playing style
* 4 Equipment
* 5 Controversies
* 6 Career statistics
* 7 References
* 8 External links
Personal life
Years later, Davydenko explained his peripatetic youth, "I stayed four years in Russia. Eduard worked as a tennis coach for kids, and we practised together. He pushed me pretty hard. At 15 we left for Germany. A Russian who lived there convinced Eduard it would be better for me and help me to learn more about my game with better coaches. In Europe I could play more tournaments and earn more money than in Russia."[citation needed]
Davydenko was granted Russian citizenship in 1999 at the age of 18 (losing his Ukrainian citizenship), and has represented Russia ever since. In 2007, he applied for Austrian citizenship (so as to obtain dual citizenship) and has also previously applied for German citizenship.
Tennis fans have nicknamed Davydenko "Kolya", the Russian nickname for Nikolay. He has also been called "Iron Man" because he plays in more tournaments per year than any other player, just like fellow Russian and former World No. 1 Yevgeny Kafelnikov. Another nickname is "The Machine" due to his aggressive, consistent style of play.
Davydenko's favourite players growing up were Ivan Lendl and Yannick Noah. During his spare time he enjoys cycling, fishing, soccer, and hockey. He is also a Guns N' Roses fan. He speaks Russian, German and English.
Before the Davis Cup in 2006, Davydenko married his girlfriend Irina, who was his traveling companion for three years. He currently resides in Volgograd, Russia.