Rich Benvin

Top-ranked Justine Henin has withdrawn from next week's Italian Open, citing fatigue, and the WTA Tour said Friday she will be fined $20,000 for the late withdrawal. On Thursday, Henin lost to Dinara Safina 5-7, 6-3, 6-1 in the third round of the German Open. That loss followed a 6-2, 6-0 drubbing by Serena Williams at the Sony Ericsson Open last month, the worst for a No.

Rejecting pleas from its players and coach, the Spanish tennis federation chose Madrid's bullring Friday as the venue for the Davis Cup semifinal series against the United States. The Spanish players had preferred one of the three other candidates -- Benidorm, Tenerife and Gijon -- for the Sept. 19-21 matchup against the defending champion Americans.

Babolat Storm Limited Specs:

- Weight:11.3 ounces
- Head light balance of 305mm
- Slightly thinner than 200 g Dunlop
- Flex is 65
- Babolat leather grip, which is also called natural grip
- Colour of the racquet is: black with yellow trim

Technorati Tags: Babolat Storm Limited

The selection process to determine which city will host Spain's Davis Cup semifinal series against the United States is threatening to turn into a mutiny. The players and team captain are upset that the Spanish tennis federation appears to be ready to overlook home-court advantage in favor of sponsorship money.

Madison Brengle and Wayne Odesnik earned wild-card berths for the French Open by winning U.S. Tennis Association mini-tournaments. The 18-year-old Brengle, a recent Fed Cup team selection, defeated Ahsha Rolle to emerge from an eight-woman field for a USTA wild card into the clay-court Grand Slam tournament, which begins May 25.

Co-Branded “The Sweetest Match” Partnership Uses Historic Tennis Tournament’s Strawberries and Cream Tradition, Mutual Health Benefits of Both Tennis and Strawberries to Put Products in Front of Like Consumers Promotion to Generate Unprecedented 1.25 Billion Media Impressions for Network

[CHICAGO] –- Wilson increased their market share lead in First Quarter 2008 compared to year end as the #1 racquet brand according to the Sports Marketing Surveys first quarter 2008 results just released. According to the first quarter sell-thru results,...

I have been hesitant to pick Nicolas Almagro as the player of the month, in previous months, but with a sparkling 23-3 record on clay this year headed into this weeks Roma Masters, my job was made easy this month. Almagro is a stalky 6 foot 180 pound clay court machine. His forehand and backhand are equally as penetrating and he has one of the best kick serves in the business. He already has 2 titles to his name this year as he took home trophies in Brazil and Acapulco to go along with a finals performance in his home town of Valencia. The 23 year old Spaniard is not a house hold name yet, but come French Open time that could very well change. He is certainly in the mix when contenders for the Roland Garros title are discussed.

Almagro turned pro in 2003 and is currently coached by Antonio Gonzalez. The native of Murcia, Spain is also improving on hardcourts. Many fans will remember him for his YouTube clip with his match against Mikhail Youzney from Russia. The third round encounter in Miami proved to be a “hit” with the fans as Youzney upset with himself deep in the third set, decided to whack himself over the head, and subsequently taking a time out because he was bleeding profusely.

Almagro’s full name is Nicolas Almagro Sanchez and his Spanish colleagues call him “Nico”. Not surprisingly his favoriate surface is clay and much like the rest of the Spanish contingent he like to keep track of the Spanish soccer teams. He has 4 career titles all on clay and he is focused on changing that and using is physical presence to achieve some hard and grass court success. A key component for Nicolas to develop into a better fast court player is to work on developing a bigger 1st serve. He is usually very content with hitting a heavy kicker to start the point, put that is not good enough to get it done at Wimbledon and the U.S. Open.

The next month of the season will be key for Almagro to round up as many points as he possibly can. He has three big claycourt tournaments to go, starting with Roma this week and Hamburg and the French Open to follow. Nicolas is headed up the rankings quickly and I see him being between 10-12 by the end of May. Almagro is just another example of a Spanish Armada and their continued desire to produce world class tennis players and champions.

Technorati Tags: Antonio Gonzalez, Mikhail Youzney, Nicolas Almagro

The years forth masters series gets underway this week in Rome, Italy. Perhaps the best claycourt master series of the 3 offered, in terms of its similar conditions and time frame towards the French Open. The Foro Italico will once again host a fantastic week of tennis in one of the most beautiful cities in the world. Players certainly like the event as the food and shopping in Rome are second to none. Rome is also known for its art and history and what two better players to have as the top seeds, than none other best fit than the elegant Swiss number 1 artist Roger Federer, and the chiseled and statuesque world number 2 Rafael Nadal.

As defending champion, Nadal will have to wrestle through a fierce crowd of challengers with all top 20 players entered this year. Rafa will look to meet his chief rival Federer in the finals, although before either of them can even think about that possibility they will each have to take out 4 tough foes in order to make the dream match up happen.

Novak Djokovic will certainly have something to say that as he is eager to crash the 1 and 2 party, but he has not looked that great in the last few tournaments himself. His fitness is once again an issue and clay is clearly not his best surface. His semi-final withdraw to R-Fed in Monte Carlo last month was an indication that he is saving himself for the majors and summer hardcourt season. Look for Novak to progress deep in the draw but not win the title.

On to the draw break down and as I’ve said before, masters series always provide great opening round matches. Roger Federer will be challenged straight out of the blocks as he faces Guillermo Canas in the opening round. Federer also has the potential of playing Paul-Henri Mathieu in the 3rd round and David Ferrer in the quarters. If R-Fed can get through that mess then he has the daunting task of facing either David Nalbandian, Novak Djokovic or Nicolas Almagro in the semi-finals.

As mentioned Novak Djokovic will potentially face Federer in the semi-finals, although he has potential clashes with Juan Monaco, David Nalbandian or Nicolas Almagro on his way to the semi-finals. I believe Novak can make the finals because Federer might be thinking of Hamburg next week as he is the defending champion at that event. Last year in Roma, Federer lost in the second round and does not have any points to defend this week. Therefore an early Federer exit is highly likely.

Rafa’s draw looks not as rough as the Federer and Djokovic half, as he has to contend with non clay court players James Blake and Andy Roddick on his road to the finals. Honestly if fatigue is not the culprit with Nadal this week, I believe his 4th final at the Floro Italico should be a cake walk. It will be interesting to see how Nadal keeps up his fantastic form as of late, and if he enters Hamburg next week. Unfortunately for the Hamburg masters next week, I believe the event will take a hit with its player entries.

As always please check back throughout the week with updates on matches as well as comments. Please check out the link below to the official tournament site. Enjoy!

The third week of the claycourt season saw continued domination from the Kind of clay Rafa Nadal, as well as some resurgence from veteran players such as former number 1 Marat Safin as well as 36 year old Younes El Aynaoui. As many players took the week off to prepare for the Roma Masters that will be held next week, Barcelona and Munich still managed to provide scintillating tennis for its fans.

On the 1st review of the week and Barcelona, Spain. No suprises at this years Open Sabadell Atlantico as home town hero and rock star Rafeal Nadal stormed the strong competition in his native backyard. Its seems as though Nadal is poised to smash all kinds of records this year as he has won Monte Carlo and Barcelona for 4th straight year and how is now 103-1 on the his favourite surface since 2005. Nadal was not the only Spaniard to cheer for in this tourney. Nicolas Almagro, perhaps the second best player on dirt reached the quarter-finals and David Ferrer made his second final in spain this year as he progressed to the finals. Stan Warwinka spoiled the party by reaching the semi-finals along with Dennis Gremelmayr of Germany to be the only none Spaniards in the final four. The Barcelona fans were surely happy with the output from their local stars all week.

A potential interesting match in the tournament that was spoiled by Gremelmayr could have been the semi-finals between Nadal and Almagro. Do not be surprised if you see this match as a French Open semi-final in 3 weeks time. Almagro is a rough customer on clay and I put him with Nadal and Federer and the top 3 favorites for the Roland Garros title. Nicolas is the tour leader with match wins on clay this year and has an impressive 24-3 record on the surface which he will try and improve on next week in Rome.

In closing Nadal has 3 more big tournaments to play this year on clay, and I do not think he has any intention of losing in any of them. Do not be surprised if he wins next week in Roma and skips the following week at the Hamburg masters series, which he lost in the finals in last year.

On to the second tournament review of the week in Munich, Germany. The draw held up pretty well in terms of seeded players as number 1 ranked Paul-Henri Mathieu and second seed Fernando Gonzalez progressed deep into the event. Top seed Mathieu was up ended by Italian upstart Simon Bolelli, 7-6 in the third set in the semi-finals and Younes El Aynaoui rounded out the final 4. The 36 year old Morroco native last made an ATP semifinal at the ATP Masters Series Madrid in October 2003. Its quite amazing that Younes is still able to compete at the main tour level. Although his career record in Munich is 13-2, he definitely knew he had a chance of doing some damage at this event. The cold and quick conditions in Germany really do suit his game. I’m sure this will really light a fire under El Aynaoui and he will be looking forward to qualifying for the Masters Series event in Hamburg in two weeks time.

Marat Safin also made it to his 1st quarter-final of the year as he continues to search for his confidence and reclain the form that would put him in the mix with the big boys at the top. Marat is truely a class player and has no business being ranked as low as 84 in the world. I do not think he will be able to recapture the form that he had in 2005, when he won his second grand slam at the Aussie Open, but surely he could get back to top 15 status.

A great week for Bolelli, as the 58th ranked native of Bologna, Italy, played hard all week and progressed to his 1st career final. He will certainly be looking to sustain his form next week in Rome, where the Italian fans will be in full support of their new hero.

Gonzalez claims his second title of the year in Munich, to go along with his victory in Chile in early February. Fernando is still a question mark in terms of consistency as he is up and down with his motivation. As well he has a ton of points to defend next week in Rome as he made it to the finals last. Enjoy this victory Fernando, because your ranking is gonna take a hit next week.

Technorati Tags: David Ferrer, Dennis Gremelmayr, Fernando Gonzalez, Marat Safin, Nicolas Almagro, Paul-Henri Mathieu, Rafael Nadal, Sabadell Atlantico, Simon Bolelli, Stan Warwinka, Younes El Aynaoui

Boulder, CO – May 2, 2008 -– Babolat, the leading French manufacturer of tennis racquets, announces the launch of the Babolat Aero Strike tennis racquet, a lighter version of three-time French Open winner (2005-07) Rafael Nadal’s Aero Pro Drive, the...

Ninth-seeded Richard Gasquet was upset by qualifier Luis Horna 6-4, 6-1 Monday in the opening match of the Rome Masters. The match was tied until the 111th-ranked Horna broke Gasquet late in the first set. The top French player then unraveled, missing 15 forehands and committing 27 unforced errors overall.

John McEnroe won his first Outback Champions Series title Sunday, beating Aaron Krickstein 5-7, 6-3, 10-5 (Champions tiebreak). The 49-year-old McEnroe, playing in his 13th career event on the 30-and-over tour, earned $54,000 with the victory over the 40-year-old Krickstein. "For my favorite fan base -- 75-year-old women -- this proves to you that you can still be young at an advanced age," McEnroe...

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Technorati Tags: Internet business, video business, PLR videos, online business, video tutorials, online marketing, internet marketing videos

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