Rich Benvin

Kennelbach – Austria – July 2008 -– HEAD International signed a contract with Tennis Europe to become the official ball and paddle partner for the European Beach Tennis Championships. The European Beach Tennis Championships will take place in Riccione, Italy...

Phoenix, Arizona – July 2008 -– Throughout 2008, the HEAD brand continues to show its success and proves to have some of the most dominant racquets on tour. The 2008 Wimbledon Championships showed that HEAD continues to be dominant on...

Andover, MA, July 2008 –- Continuing a partnership that began in 1987, DecoTurf is proud to have once again been selected as the tennis surface of the Rogers Cup WTA Tournament, to be played in Montreal July 26th through August...

New Pro Team 100 and Sharapova Collections Certain to Turn Heads at Year’s Last Grand Slam

[CHICAGO] -– For the second consecutive Olympic competition, the Wilson US Open Tennis Ball will serve as the Official Ball for the 2008 Summer Olympic Games in Beijing, China. The Olympics host some of the highest profiles players in the...

Andover, MA, July/August 2008 -- As momentum builds towards the US Open, the Lindner Family Tennis Center will host the Western & Southern Financial Group Masters as part of the US Open Series, July 28th – August 2nd. The play...

Boulder, Colorado – July 22, 2008 –- Babolat, a leading manufacturer of tennis products, announces the introduction of a full line of Nadal Junior racquets for children. Named for the five-time Grand Slam winner, Rafael Nadal, the Nadal Junior racquets...

Who says tennis isn't a team sport? The year 2000 could easily go down as the year of team tennis. At all levels, tennis teams are gaining more exposure and finding more competitive opportunities. About the last two or three years, the USTA [United States Tennis Association] has really made an

Publication: Parks & Recreation

Austria – Kennelbach – July 2008 –- HEAD players enjoyed success last week at tournaments around the world. Second-seeded HEAD Player Gilles Simon captured his first U.S. title at the Indianapolis Tennis Championships with a 6-4, 6-4 victory over defending...

First Episode Chronicles John McEnroe Sunday, July 20, with Others on Monica Seles, Arthur Ashe, Steffi Graf and Tracy Austin

Third Win on Tour this Season for Aerogel Racquets

Serena Williams hasn't had much rest since losing to her sister Venus in the finals at Wimbledon earlier this month, and that's been the perfect therapy for the eight-time Grand Slam champion. "I haven't really had time to stop, so I haven't had time to think about it," Serena Williams said Monday during a press conference at the Bank of the West Classic.

Lindsay Davenport's troublesome right knee forced her withdrawal from the Bank of the West Classic on Monday. It's the third time in six weeks the former No. 1 player in the world pulled out of a tournament. Davenport was scheduled to play eighth-seeded Francesca Schiavone in a first-round match Tuesday evening, but dropped out after warming up Monday.

The International Tennis Federation released the dates of next year's Davis Cup and Fed Cup on Monday. The Davis Cup final will be played over the first weekend of December 2009. The Davis Cup will open from March 6-8, with the quarterfinals to be played July 10-12 and the semifinals from Sept. 18-20. The final will be Dec.

As if four tournaments was not enough last week on tour, the ATP is back with the same number of events this week. The busy Olympic year calender continues to see the summer claycourt swing continue as well the start of the U.S. Open series.  As the top players get ready for masters series action next week in Toronto, this week will still provide a lot of top flight tennis.

On the first preview of the week and Kitzbühel, Austria. This tournament usual attracts a lot of tough clay court players but this year because of condensed calender Andres Seppi gets your top seed. The Italian has had a good season reaching the semi-finals of the Hamburg masters to go along with other great results. Seppi does have a good draw although former French Open finalist Guillermo Coria could be waiting in the second round and its a great opportunity for Coria to get his career back on track. Second seed Rainer Schuettler will look to continue the great form that saw the 32 year old reach the semi-finals of Wimbledon last week. Schuettler again has a good draw like Seppi, however neither player is capable of rolling through tournaments, so upsets are immanent.

Perhaps Eduardo Schwank will be a player to watch this week in Austira. The dangerous Argentine is a tricky player with some good fire from the baseline, and he plays very tough on clay courts. Look for Eduardo to have a good showing this week. This tournament is as open as it gets. Therefore a clear winner is difficult to predict. One thing is for sure a great chance for a break through week for a lower ranked player.

The second preview of the week comes from Amersfoot, Holland. Again not a power house field in Holland this year with Marc Gicquel and Jose Acasuso as the top two seeds. WIth the top seed ranked 48 in the world, its hard to have a clear favorite in an event, therefore making Amersfoot, similar to Austria with a wide open field. Good to see Mr. Martin Verkerk back from the dead and ready to play on home turf. The 6′6 Dutchman has been quiet for a long time as he has battled injuries and is trying to relieve the glory days when he was a French Open finalist. Verkerk has the potential to face Acasuso in round two provided he can make it there. If Acasuso can keep his fragile mindset together, I could see him raising the title which would make it the forth of his.

The third preview of the week brings the tour to Umag, Crotia. The beautiful ocean view club is a favorite of defending champion and the tournaments third seed Carlos “Charlie” Moya. Perhaps the last title that good old Carlos will defend, the aging 32 year old Spaniard has had a poor, after an impressive 2007. Winning the title 5 times, Moya clearly loves Umag. He will love it more than ever before if he can win title number 6 and improve on the sub par year that he has had. Carlos looks good to get to the semi-finals where his buddy top seed Fernando Verdasco who has been playing well as of late should be waiting for him. Ivo (I can’t break serve) Karlovic the tournament second seed will look to step up his game in his hometown and give the Croatian crowd a fantastic week. Karlovic will have problems with either Igor Indreev or Guillermo Canas if he intends to reach the semi’s or better.  Croatia is not as wide open as the other two clay court tournaments this week, and either Moya or Verdasco should come through.

The final preview of the week comes from yes, Indianapolis, Indiana. The hard court season finally kicks off this week with the beginning of the U.S. Open series. James Blake who is the tournament top seed should have little resistance in holding up the title. He is the only top ten player entered this week, in any tournament for that matter, as he looks to grab his 1st title of 2008. James returns to his favorite hardcourt surface and has only a few guys to really worry about in this tournament. Robby Ginepri could be Blake’s semi-final opponent or defending champ Dmitry Tursunov also the tournament 3rd seed could give James a few problems. Unheralded Frenchmen Gilles Simon is the number 2 seed this year and has a tough quarter with Tommy Haas or John Isner waiting to knock him off. Blake’s tournament to win or lose, and it will be pretty bad if he does not take home this title. The rest of the year will not provide a better opportunity than this week for Blake.