Archive for: December 2009

WTA player, Ana Ivanovic of Serbia, is looking for redemption. The 22-year-old former No. 1 ranked player was plagued with injuries and illness during the 2009 season and dropped to No. 21, her lowest year-end ranking since 2004, her 2nd year as a pro, when she ended the year at No. 97.

Ivanovic blames her injuries on “over-training”, and believes some of the changes she is making will translate into a return to the top 10 in 2010.

This photo is the memory I have of Serena Williams from 2009. She is shaking hands with Kim Clijsters of Belgium after Williams was disqualified by a foot fault during the Women’s Singles Semifinal match of the 2009 U.S. Open on September 12, 2009. Williams was given a point penalty, which happened to be match point, after threatening to shove a tennis ball down the throat of a lines woman.

Apparently that is not what the U.S. newspaper editors remember about her, because Williams was given the honor of AP’s Female Athlete of the Year. In fact, she was the runaway winner, receiving 66 of 158 votes cast. No other candidate got more than 18 votes.

The WTA Tour’s 16th ranked player and 2009 U.S. Open semi-finalist, Yanina Wickmayer from Belgium, has successfully appealed against the ban imposed on her for missing three drug tests in eighteen months under the World Anti-Doping Agency’s controversial “whereabouts clause”.

Wickmayer and fellow countryman, Xavier Malisse, a former Wimbledon semi-finalist, were suspended by a Belgian court Nov. 5, for breaking World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) rules by failing to report their whereabouts for drug testing three times. The International Tennis Federation imposed the bans worldwide.

Belgian Kim Clijsters, who just came out of retirement this year, beat American Venus Williams at the Diamond Games exhibition match in Antwerp, 6-1, 7-5.

It was the first high-level match that Clijsters had played in her native country since returning to tennis this year. They were playing in front of 14,000 people in the stands and Clijsters said that not even the US Open final can compare with the feeling of winning in your native country before a packed Sportpaleis.

Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario may have to get a part-time job to pay off her back-tax debt. The Spanish Supreme Court has ordered the former top-ranked women’s player to pay back approximately $5.1 million in unpaid income tax. The court rejected Sanchez-Vicario’s assertion that she was a resident of Andorra and not Spain from 1989 to 1993. The court said in its ruling Thursday that the three-time French Open champion “never effectively lived in Andorra and never had the intention of doing it in any moment, either.”

Steffe Graff and Andre Agassi make a good mixed doubles duo on the tennis court. Now you will be able to see some of your favorite mixed doubles duos in the Olympics. Olympic leaders made the change Thursday, December 10 for the 2012 London Games.

Mixed doubles was played at several Olympics from 1900 to 1924. The last gold medalists were Americans Richard Williams and Hazel Wightman in Paris in 1924. Tennis was dropped from the Olympics after 1924 but returned as a medal event in 1988 without mixed doubles.

The current world No. 2, and 3-time Grand Slam finalist, Dinara Safina of Russia, is pulling out of the Brisbane International scheduled for January 3-10, 2010, because of a lingering back injury. The back pain forced Safina to quit in tears after just 12 minutes and two games into a match against Jelena Jankovic at the WTA Championships at Doha in October. Going into the tournament she was ranked No. 1, and was working to end the year at that spot. The meltdown caused her to eventually lose the top WTA ranking to Serena Williams.

Venus Williams was honored last week as Sportswoman of the Year by the March of Dimes New York Division at its 26th Annual Sports Luncheon held at the Waldorf-Astoria in New York City on Wednesday, December 2, 2009.

The March of Dimes honors the outstanding achievements of men and women in the sports industry. Past tennis recipients include Billie Jean King, Andre Agassi and Arthur Ashe.

Two-time Grand Slam champion Amelie Mauresmo is calling it quits, announcing her retirement Thursday, December 3, 2009. Finishing this season at No. 21, the 30-year-old Frenchwoman says she no longer has a burning desire for competition.

“I don’t want to train anymore,” Mauresmo said after shedding tears about the decision. “I had to make a decision, which became evident in the last few months and weeks. When you grow older, it’s more difficult to stay at the top.”