Rich Benvin

Federico Luzzi was suspended 200 days and fined $50,000 by the ATP on Friday for betting 273 times on tennis matches. He's the fifth Italian player punished for gambling on matches. The governing body of men's tennis said Luzzi placed one bet on himself -- a $4.50 wager that he would win. The ATP began its investigation in August 2007 and found Luzzi bet 273 times on 836 matches between May 2004 and...

I’m sure most tennis fans would say that they are sick of seeing Rafael Nadal (ESP), tug at his shorts before he serves. They are sick of Rafa, pulling up his socks and tucking his hair under his bandana on every point. Would it be so much to ask for Nadal to stop these habits? Well the answer is yes! Throughout, the history of the game, tennis players have been some of the most methodical athletes when it comes to obsessive habits. I remember Mary Carillo, NBC commentator making reference to Nadal’s obsessive habits, during 2006 French Open Final between Nadal and Roger Federer (SUI). (more…)

Andy Roddick, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic succeeded where Roger Federer failed at the Dubai Tennis Championships. They each advanced to the second round Tuesday, a day after the top-ranked Federer extended his losing streak to two in a row. Roddick defeated Juan Carlos Ferrero of Spain 6-2, 6-4. He had 18 aces, including one that reached 147 mph.

Former U.S. Open champion Kim Clijsters gave birth to a daughter on Wednesday, nine months after retiring from tennis. Clijsters and her husband, American basketball player Brian Lynch, named the baby Jada. "The parents and the baby are in great shape," spokesman Jeroen Jespers said. The 24-year-old Clijsters retired in May, saying a string of injuries had led to fatigue, a lack of motivation and a...

Racquet Sports Company Looks to Expand

SEATTLE — Jack Huczek, a member of HEAD’s elite racquetball team of National Pro Staff, won the International Racquetball Tour’s (IRT) Seattle Open on Sunday. Huczek (Rochester Hills, Mich.) defeated Jason Mannino (San Diego, Calif.) in the five-game championship final...

Maria Sharapova pulled out of the Dubai Championships with a viral infection. The fifth-ranked Sharapova said Tuesday she has been battling a virus for several days and that it has "reached a point where I'm unable to compete." "This is really disappointing to me, but I do intend to come back to Dubai next year and hopefully have a great tournament," she said.

James Blake withdrew Monday from the Regions Morgan Keegan Championships, citing a sore right knee that had been bothering him the past couple of weeks. Blake had been seeded second in the tournament but withdrew from Memphis for a second straight year because he said he felt he wouldn't be able to play a competitive match.

Top-seeded Ivan Ljubicic led five Croats into the second round of the PBZ Zagreb Indoors with only countryman and second-seeded Ivo Karlovic losing his opener on Tuesday. Ljubicic, the 2006 champion and 2007 runner-up, hit 13 aces and broke serve only once in beating Ernests Gulbis of Latvia 6-3, 7-6 (7).

For once, Andy Roddick faced an opponent who could match him serve for serve. Though Feliciano Lopez managed more aces, he couldn't stop Roddick from winning his second ATP Tour title in three weeks with a 6-7 (8), 6-4, 6-2 victory in the Dubai Tennis Championship final on Saturday. "This is as well as I've played," said Roddick, who didn't drop his serve throughout the tournament.

The United States will host France on indoor hard courts in Winston-Salem, N.C., in the Davis Cup quarterfinals. The defending champions will play the French team April 11-13 at the Lawrence Joel Veterans Memorial Coliseum, the International Tennis Federation said Monday. The last time the teams played, France beat the U.S.

The last week in February brings the ATP to venues in Croatia, Tennessee and Mexico. None of the 3 tournaments this week have the all around star power that Rotterdam had last week. With the recent rash of upsets that the top players in a world have encountered in various tour events, I’m not sure if the fan’s are really missing out on the top players performances. (more…)

It seems as though 2008 has not been generous to the top seeded players in smaller tournaments. Rotterdam, San Jose, and Argentina saw there fair share of upsets. Rotterdam, the biggest and most loaded tournament in terms of points, money and top players, saw the likes of Nadal, Ferrer and Davydenko, all disappear before the 2nd round was finished. It’s interesting that the wear and tear of the tour is becoming more and more evident.  The top players are either getting injured or sick. Credit goes to Roger Federer (SUI) for taking a 6 week hiatus and regrouping both mentally and physically from a disappointing Aussie Open. (more…)

Top-seeded Ana Ivanovic of Serbia withdrew from the Qatar Open on Thursday because of an injured left ankle. The Australian Open finalist twisted her ankle after falling toward the end of her 6-3, 6-1 second-round win over Olga Govortsova of Belarus on Wednesday. Agnieszka Radwanska was due to play Ivanovic later Thursday.

Over my 10 years of coaching tennis, I have found that keeping it simple in regards to stroke mechanics and technique is the best way to go. I remember at the 2007 U.S. Open, Andre Agassi made reference to this while he was a guest commentator during the Roger Federer and Andy Roddick quarter final match. Ted Robinson, USA commentator asked Andre “were you the type of player that embraced the crowd”, Agassi replied “You know the 1st and last things I learned in this game were to move my feet and watch the ball” “That was my number 1 priority“. (more…)