Serena Williams honored as 2009 top player
World No 1 Serena Williams won the 2009 WTA Tour Player of the Year award and also took the Doubles Team of the year honors with sister Venus at a ceremony held at the Sony Ericsson Open on Wednesday.
Serena Williams, wearing high heels despite a knee injury, was all smiles when picking up her award. She won the Australian Open and Wimbledon in 2009, was a semifinalist at the US Open and a quarterfinalist at the French Open.
The Williams sisters won the 2009 Australian Open, Wimbledon, and US Open doubles titles as well as the doubles crown at Stanford.
\”It\’s exciting because I don\’t think we\’ve won the Doubles Team of the Year award before,\” Serena Williams told The Associated Press. \”I won the daily double today and that was cool.\”
US Open champion Kim Clijsters captured the Comeback Player of the Year and Karen Krantzcke Sportsmanship Award. This marked the seventh time in Clijsters career she won the sportsmanship award.
American teen Melanie Oudin, who had a breakthrough 2009 season in reaching the fourth round at Wimbledon and quarterfinals at the US Open, was honored as the Newcomer of the Year. Yanina Wickmayer of Belgium, who broke into the top 20 last year, won the Most Improved Player award.
Naturalized American Liezel Huber won The Player Service Award for the fourth time in her career. Among the causes Huber\’s raised money for are Hurricane Katrina victims and \”Locks of Love,\” a nonprofit organization that provides hairpieces to financially disadvantaged children suffering from medical hair loss.
Russian Elena Dementieva was voted as the Fan Favorite Singles Player of the Year by fans online.
Henin powers past Craybas
Justine Henin advanced to the second round of the Sony Ericsson Open in Key Biscayne, Florida, by beating Jill Craybas 6-2, 6-2 on Wednesday.
Henin double-faulted five times and struggled with inconsistent groundstrokes. But she saved seven of eight break points while converting five of six.
The 33rd-ranked Henin, a former No. 1 and seven-time grand slam champion, is mounting a comeback this year after a 20-month retirement. She\’ll play fifth-seeded Elena Dementieva in the second round today.
\”I realize it\’s gonna take a little bit of time to really be in the good rhythm and find myself again on the court, and I have to get used to different kind of things,\” Henin said.
\”I didn\’t live this life for almost two years, so that takes a little bit of time.\”
Henin will face a stiffer second-round test from Dementieva. Henin said she is looking forward to the match to find out where she is with her game. \”Now I\’m going to have a tough round, tough match,\” Henin said. \”That\’s what I want. So it\’s going to be perfect to test myself.\”
Seeded players had a first-round bye.
Making her first appearance in Miami since 1996, 39-year-old Kimiko Date Krumm of Japan earned a 7-5, 3-6, 6-4 victory over Anna Chakvetadze of Russia.
Date Krumm, who retired from the tour in 1996 and started to play again in 2008, spent 2 hours, 32 minutes on the court in beating Chakvetadze.
Chakvetadze saved two match points she faced while serving at 2-5 in the third set and broke Date\’s serve in the next game. The Russian lost the match, dropping her serve at love in the final game.
\”In the beginning, everybody said (it was) impossible to come back on the tour,\” Date Krumm said.
James Blake of the United States struggled to oust 18-year-old Serbian wildcard Filip Krajinovic in a 6-7 (6), 6-4, 6-4 first-round win.
After the 2 hour, 13-minute match, Blake joked that \”I should be home in bed by now,\” but credited the teen for keeping him on his toes.
\”I\’d take that ability at 18 years old over what I was working with at that age,\” Blake said of Krajinovic.
Melanie Oudin closed out the evening with a 6-2, 6-4 win over Michaella Krajicek of the Netherlands.
Fourth-seeded Rafael Nadal said a toothache sent him to a dentist and kept him from practicing.
Against Craybas, Henin lost her serve in the second game and sometimes struggled to hold after that. Leading 3-2 in the second set, she fought off four break points before going ahead 4-2.
Serving for the match at 5-2, Henin overcame one break point and needed four match points to close out the victory. In that final game, Henin missed an overhead shot on the first match point. She followed by netting a forehand drop shot on her second match point. She double-faulted on the third match point before Craybas hit a forehand long on the final match point.
Tiger acts to shore up image again
Tiger Woods gave us five minutes. It seemed an awful lot longer.
That\’s what happens when you introduce a new concept to journalism: Speed interviewing, with someone who has absolutely nothing to say.
Just what Woods was trying to accomplish with his appearances on Sunday night on the Golf Channel and ESPN isn\’t hard to figure out. The plan was to answer some questions for the first time since his infamous accident, so he won\’t have to answer them again two weeks from now at the Masters.
So there was Woods, looking as though he had just walked off the golf course. And there was ESPN\’s interviewer, addressing him in hushed tones as if he were interviewing the president.
\”I ask this question respectfully,\” the interviewer said at one point.
You were expecting a grilling in 300 seconds or less? No wonder CBS opted against its own interview.
This was a race against the clock more than digging for the truth.
The biggest news was that Woods did the interviews at all, that he took questions with no restrictions. That is precisely what Team Tiger wanted out of the latest appearance, part of a carefully prepared strategy to make Woods look human once again.
We did learn a few things.
Apparently Woods had stopped meditating and that\’s why he started chasing women by the dozens. He misses the guidance of his late father. And, yes, he\’s working hard on being the best husband ever.
The Buddhist bracelet on his wrist? He\’ll have it on at the Masters, Woods said, as surely as he\’ll be wearing the Nike swoosh.
\”It\’s for protection and strength and I certainly need that,\” Woods told the Golf Channel.
No one begrudges Woods that. But does he need so much protection that he will only talk to friendly media faces and only for five minutes lest he give anything more than a superficial answer to a question?
Apparently so, and it may have even worked.
\”Tiger Woods is following a rollout plan of slowly trying to return to normalcy and this was one of the few smart PR moves I\’ve seen him make since the whole debacle began,\” said Ronn Torossian, CEO of 5WPR, a New York public relations and crisis management firm. \”But I still don\’t think he\’s seen as very believable.\”
That may not be all Tiger\’s fault. He\’s spent so many years giving scripted answers to questions that he may not know any other way.
Even when he seems to be baring his soul, he does it with such detachment that he might as well be talking about the condition of a golf course than the condition of his marriage.
Then again, maybe he\’s just a phony. Hard to tell in five minutes.
The timing of it all was certainly interesting, coming just a few days after the release of some nasty text messages by an alleged former mistress who said Woods sent them to her. If true, it\’s hard to even look at Woods as he goes on about the great core values he had but somehow lost.
If the plan was to get past the sex texts, Woods probably advanced his cause. Unlike his first appearance last month, looking so staged it was laughable, this was casual cool – Nike hat, the kind of golf attire people relate to. All that was missing was the red shirt.
Expect the Woods rehabilitation campaign to heat up in the coming days. Maybe they\’ll release a picture of Tiger and his family. Together. Smiles all around. Maybe he and Elin will make a public appearance somewhere.
Ultimately, the goal seems to be to portray Woods as a sympathetic figure, someone beaten down by demons outside his control. Someone struggling to do the right thing for his family. It\’s the only way they can salvage the billion-dollar brand, though it likely will take years to blot the stain from his image.
They\’re not off to a great start. Woods\’ first TV appearance was widely panned, and the speed interviews weren\’t much better.
At some point he\’s going to have to sit at a press conference for longer than five minutes and answer really tough questions from a room full of media.
Only then will he be able to start putting the scandal behind him.
Until then, though, it\’s all a public relations exercise.
Tiger to hold first press conference at Masters
Tiger Woods will speak before he plays in the Masters.
Woods is scheduled to hold his first press conference in nearly five months at 2 pm on Monday, April 5, according to a tentative interview schedule that Augusta National released yesterday.
It will be his first press conference in nearly five months, and his first time facing a room full of reporters since he crashed his SUV into a tree on Nov. 27, setting off shocking revelations of rampant infidelity.
The Masters only recently began conducting a press conference on Monday of tournament week, usually a player with only moderate news interest because most of the media isn\’t there yet.
Woods is the only player scheduled for an interview that day. Given the sensational nature of his downfall, what he says could trump the NCAA basketball championship game held later that night.
Arnold Palmer, one of the most popular players in golf history, suggested that Woods be more open with reporters.
\”It\’s up to him to do and say whatever he feels he needs to do to redeem the situation, put it in the proper place,\” Palmer said. \” … I suppose the best thing he could do would be open up and just let you guys shoot at him. And that\’s just my thought.\”
The last time Woods held a press conference was Nov. 15 after he won the Australian Masters in Melbourne for his 82nd career victory. His middle-of-the-night accident occurred 12 days later.
Woods typically has his press conference at the majors on Tuesday.
Among those scheduled to speak the day after Woods are Phil Mickelson, Geoff Ogilvy and Jack Nicklaus.
Partners praise \’vintage\’ Tiger
Tiger Woods is in vintage form, driving the ball further than ever and fully capable of winning next month\’s US Masters, according to two practice partners.
Tiger Woods reacts on the 18th green after winning the 2005 Masters tournament on the first hole of a sudden-death playoff at Augusta National Golf Club in Augusta, Georgia, in this file photo. [Agencies]
Woods announced last week he would make his comeback at the Masters from April 8-11 after an indefinite break from golf to try to save his marriage following revelations of repeated infidelities.
The world No 1 practiced on Monday at Augusta National Golf Club, the site of next month\’s Masters, according to the Golf Channel and ESPN.
American John Cook, who has 11 PGA Tour wins, said he had played rounds with Woods on Thursday and Friday and hit balls with him on Sunday.
Asked, after play at the Tavistock Cup at Isleworth where he would place Woods in the Masters on the basis of his form, Cook said: \”From what I\’ve seen of the past three days of ball striking, first.
\”I don\’t see anyone that hits the ball like he does. We all know that that\’s not the whole battle, there are a lot of other issues there for him, but as far as ball-striking goes, if he takes that up there, it\’s vintage,\” he said.
\”Vintage that being said, you have to go up to the first green and mark your ball and you have to finish out and sign your name at the end of the day, that\’s a whole different deal.
\”I\’d be hard pressed to see anyone beat him but it will be his first rounds of golf for five months.\”
Arjun Atwal, who said he had played almost every day last week with Woods, said he was driving the ball even further than he had in his last competitive appearance in November.
\”He is hitting it just fine – he is hitting it longer than before, there is no doubt and he feels like he is not totally ready but I have seen him win with what he has right now, plenty of times,\” Atwal said.
\”I think he is ready but you know him, until he has every aspect right he isn\’t going to go out there.\”
Cook and Atwal said Woods was in a relaxed mood on the course, in contrast to the tense figure who appeared in television interviews on Sunday.
\”He\’s very mellow now, he\’s very chilled out, obviously whatever is going on at home I don\’t know, I don\’t even ask him, when he is out with us you can see he is more at peace right now. I think he is doing all the right things,\” said Atwal.
Atwal, who said he could see Woods being in the top five at the Masters and winning if he putted well, said there was no indication of any rustiness in Woods\’ game.
\”Nothing, nothing at all … he\’s killing it, he\’s absolutely killing it,\” he said.
\”He thinks he isn\’t putting very well but for us mere mortals it seems okay.\”
Britain\’s Ian Poulter, though, said it was pointless guessing what Woods could or could not do at Augusta.
\”We are all speculating, I just hate this nonsense talk of speculation, we don\’t know how he is going to play, I just hate all the chit-chat, I\’m bored of it,\” Poulter said.
\”It\’s going to be difficult for him but he\’s Tiger, he\’s the best player in the world, he has a win ratio of 50-50, so I would expect him to go out there and have a mega-week.\”
Golf world rejoices in Tiger\’s comeback
Tiger Woods\’ announcement on Tuesday that he will return to competitive golf at the Masters next month touched off joy around the golf world that the world\’s top-ranked player will be back.
Woods has not played since winning the Australian Masters in mid-November after a sex scandal in which he admitted cheating on his wife, Elin. He apologized for igniting a tabloid frenzy where more than a dozen women have claimed affairs.
\”We need him back out here,\” said Rocco Mediate, who lost to Woods in a playoff at the 2008 US Open. \”If anybody can cut through that stuff, he can cut through it. We\’ll see. I don\’t think it\’s going to knock him down too much.\”
For those who rely upon the excitement and audience he brings to golf, Woods means money. Even rivals who battle every week to beat Woods say his return gives them an ultimate foe, a drawing card who has boosted prizemoney levels.
\”It\’s great,\” South African golfer Trevor Immelman said. \”It\’s tough for a sport when your No 1 player is not participating. It\’s fantastic for the game and for the tour and our sponsors to have him back. That\’s a no-brainer.\”
US PGA Tour commissioner Tim Finchem looks for Woods to try and capture such prizes as Player of the Year and a playoff crown by appearing in several tour events, although Woods has indicated nothing beyond his Masters comeback.
\”I do anticipate a full schedule,\” Finchem said. \”Tiger plays to win and he plays to win everything … to do that he has got to play some tournaments. I look for him returning to his fairly robust schedule.\”
Woods said he did not think he could be ready to play in time for the Arnold Palmer Invitational next week, the reigning champion telephoning the event\’s legendary namesake to say he would miss the event for the first time as a pro.
\”He sounded good. He had some zip in his voice. He sounded just fine,\” Palmer told Golf Channel. \”He said he was sorry and that he really didn\’t feel his game was up to speed to start playing this early.\”
Palmer expects the comeback path will be a difficult one for Woods.
\”I would think for Tiger it\’s going to be tough. It\’s going to be something that\’s going to take him a little time to get used to,\” Palmer said.
\”He knows what he wants to do with his life and the way he\’s going to handle it and I guess we\’re going to give him that respect.\”
But British bookmaker William Hill made Woods a 4-1 Masters favorite just 90 minutes after he announced he would play at Augusta National in the year\’s first major championship on April 8-11.
\”I wouldn\’t be surprised if he wins just because he\’s that type of guy,\” Swedish golfer Carl Pettersson said.
\”I\’m sure he\’s going to be motivated,\” England\’s Justin Rose said. \”The best way for he to put this all to rest is to win the golf tournament so that\’s obviously going to be his goal.\”
Royal and Ancient Golf Club spokesman Malcolm Booth was happy to hear about the return of Woods, who is expected to seek his fourth British Open crown in July at St Andrews, the fabled Scottish course where he has two previous titles.
\”We\’re pleased to hear Tiger is to return to golf,\” Booth said. \”Golf needs the world No 1 to be playing.\”
Rivals are as curious as fans to see how the scandal will affect Woods on and off the course.
\”It\’s going to be very interesting to see what happens at Augusta,\” said England\’s Ross Fisher. \”There is always an extra element when you have the best golfer in the world taking part.\”
\”It means his family, him and everybody thinks he has got his life where it needs to be and he\’s just working on his game,\” US golfer Bubba Watson said.
Agence france-presse
Federer suffers shock loss to Baghdatis in Indian Wells
Roger Federer, of Switzerland, wipes his face as he leaves the court after being defeated by Marcos Baghdatis, of Cyprus, during their match at the BNP Paribas Open tennis tournament in Indian Wells, Calif., Tuesday, March 16, 2010. (Xinhua/Reuters Photo)
Zheng Jie books last eight spot at Indian Wells
Australian Open semifinalist Zheng Jie fought her way into the quarterfinals at Indian Wells Masters on Tuesday, beating Australian Alicia Molik 6-3, 4-6, 7-6 (7-1).
Zheng Jie of China hits a return to Alicia Molik of Australia during their match at the Indian Wells WTA tennis tournament in Indian Wells, California March 16, 2010. [Agencies]
The Chinese ace, ranked 23rd in the world, worked with Chan Yung Jan to stun the world number one doubles Cara Black and Liezel Huber 7-6 (5), 6-2 in the doubles quarterfinals.
In the singles, Zheng set up a meeting with Danish second seed Caroline Wozniacki who survived a see-saw battle with Russian veteran Nadia Petrova to win 6-3, 3-6, 6-0.
Fourth-seeded Elena Dementieva of Russia and fifth-seeded Agnieszka Radwanska of Poland lined up a quarter-final clash with no-nonsense victories over a pair of French opponents.
Dementieva beat Aravane Rezai, 6-3, 6-3 while Radwanska downed Marion Bartoli 6-3, 6-2.
Sixth-seeded Serbian Jelena Jankovic, who struggled mightily in a third-round victory over Sara Errani, turned in a strong performance in a 6-2, 6-2 triumph over Israel\’s Shahar Peer.
Zheng Jie books last eight spot at Indian Wells
Australian Open semifinalist Zheng Jie fought her way into the quarterfinals at Indian Wells Masters on Tuesday, beating Australian Alicia Molik 6-3, 4-6, 7-6 (7-1).
Zheng Jie of China hits a return to Alicia Molik of Australia during their match at the Indian Wells WTA tennis tournament in Indian Wells, California March 16, 2010. [Agencies]
The Chinese ace, ranked 23rd in the world, worked with Chan Yung Jan to stun the world number one doubles Cara Black and Liezel Huber 7-6 (5), 6-2 in the doubles quarterfinals.
In the singles, Zheng set up a meeting with Danish second seed Caroline Wozniacki who survived a see-saw battle with Russian veteran Nadia Petrova to win 6-3, 3-6, 6-0.
Fourth-seeded Elena Dementieva of Russia and fifth-seeded Agnieszka Radwanska of Poland lined up a quarter-final clash with no-nonsense victories over a pair of French opponents.
Dementieva beat Aravane Rezai, 6-3, 6-3 while Radwanska downed Marion Bartoli 6-3, 6-2.
Sixth-seeded Serbian Jelena Jankovic, who struggled mightily in a third-round victory over Sara Errani, turned in a strong performance in a 6-2, 6-2 triumph over Israel\’s Shahar Peer.
Shanghai Masters grabs top award
The inaugural Shanghai ATP 1000 Masters was awarded the ATP Masters 1000 Tournament of the year for 2009 with ATP International CEO Brad Drewett presenting the trophy to tournament organizers yesterday at the Hilton Shanghai hotel in Jing\’An District.
The award is voted on by ATP players. Shanghai beat out Masters Series events in Monte Carlo, Montreal and Cincinnati for the award.
The Shanghai event was the only Masters 1000 tournament hosted by an Asian city.
\”We hosted the Tennis Masters Cup for several years, but to host a full tournament took a great team and a lot of hard work,\” said tournament director Michael Luevano. \”We had a lot of dreams for our new event and we did all we could to make those a reality.\”
Shanghai Masters reigning champion, world No. 6 Nikolay Davydenko, congratulated organizers in a video.
\”I knew it,\” he said. \”I was there and won the event. It was a very good week for the players and everyone had a good time in Shanghai.\”
Davydenko defeated Rafael Nadal 7-6 (3), 6-3 in the final for one of his five titles last year.
Shanghai first hosted an ATP tournament in 1998 with the Heineken Open. The city hosted the season-ending Tennis Masters Cup five times from 2002 to 2008.
Meanwhile, Rolex announced yesterday that it will upgrade its sponsorship to become the title sponsor of the Shanghai event. The 2010 tournament will be called the Shanghai Rolex Masters.
