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Tennis Tournament Results: Nov 9th - 16th 2008

Men’s Weekly Tennis Results

Nov. 9 - 16

ATP Tennis Masters Cup Shanghai

Shanghai, China

(2) Novak Djokovic (Ser) def. (4) Nikolay Davydenko (Rus) 6-1 7-5

Click here to view this weeks Men’s and Women’s World Tennis Rankings

Tennis Oops - My 10 Crazy, Genuine Tennis Tales From Over The Years

It is great when this normally staid sport throws up its lighter side. The following tennis oops are absolutely true! Read on.

1. When I was a young lad attending a tournament, I was watching a friend’s match. His opponent was a player renowned for his great serve. My pal knew that he needed to break the service rhythm and so he stood as far back on the court as he could with his back touching the wire fence. Unbeknown to him, behind, watching the match were some more players who thought it would be hilarious to put their hands through the fence tug at his shorts just as he attempted to move forward for the ball. You can imagine the result! Everybody fell about laughing as he was pinned to the fence.

2. My very favourite tennis oops involved 2 pros. Queens Club in London was a very prestigious and exclusive club and I was very lucky to be a member. When the English grass court season began many of the top pros practised there. I watched Illie Nastase and Jimmy Connons heading towards one of the indoor wooden courts for some practice. I knew that they hadn’t seen me and so I followed them to the court and sat quietly in the gallery. When Nastase fed the ball to Connors he hit it straight into the net. He did this again and again and he was exasperated. Suddenly Jimbo dropped his shorts and exposed his bare buttocks to Nastase who fell about laughing. The pair of them were like giggling schoolboys until they heard my giggles. When suddenly it became apparent that this childlike prank had been witnessed, they nearly passed out.

3. A friend of mine had a terrible temper both on and off the court. After losing an important point, he kicked an empty ball can as high into the air as he could. It flew over the fence and straight on to the roof of a passing car - which happened to be a very smart Mercedes!

4. What would be the odds of this happening? Picture the scene. I am playing doubles and my partner’s delicate parts were on the receiving end of a very heavy, close overhead smash. He fell to the ground in agony and needed medical attention. The match continued after 10 minutes but about 10 minutes later history repeated itself - he caught it right in the same place again. This time he had to retire from the match in agony. Unbelievable? Yes - but it actually happened!

5. This is one about the disqualification of another bad tempered player who actually pushed the umpire’s chair because he was so upset about a call. It happened to be a very windy day on the coast of England and the umpire’s chair toppled over along with the umpire - right out of his chair and onto the court.

6. This is a Wimbledon tennis oops. Operating the Wimbledon centre court digital scoreboard was a job given to a mate of mine. The rain fell, as was so typical of Wimbledon and so play was suspended. Bored and egged on by some friends, he decided that it would be a laugh to entertain the centre court crowd and so he used the digital scoreboard to tell jokes. Although the jokes were clean and the crowd were loving it, the powers that be were not amused and he got himself into some serious trouble.

7. Another great tennis oops happened to me whilst I was playing the Great Britain under 16’s Grass Court National Championship at Eastbourne, Sussex. We had a beautiful German Shepherd dog who was besotted with me. We used to take her along to tournaments and it was my sister’s job to walk her. I was playing a match on court 9. Tara spotted me, broke away and charged across 8 grass courts to get to me. She plonked herself down at my feet having disrupted 9 important matches!

8. Another great friend of mine, a very good tennis player and on particularly great form, was seeded 1 at the GB National Under 18 Championships. He was a nightmare to play because he was a leftie with a tremendous serve. He had his practice session and decided to get some sea air whilst wandering on the beach. Showing off, he picked up a large and heavy rock, and being the accident prone butterfingers he was, promptly dropped it on his foot. Game set and match - over!! He couldn’t even play the tournament or several others that followed.

9. The old UK indoor rubber surfaced courts once provided me with a laugh at somebody else’s expense. I watched a guy hurl his racket in temper, tip first onto the court. Being rubber, it bounced right back and hit him right on the nose.

10. My final tennis oops was watching a doubles pair at a pro tournament get an extreme case of the giggles. The more they laughed, the louder they got. The more they tried to stop, the more they giggled. The umpire was slowly losing his patience and gave them several warnings. Disqualification was imminent and they finally managed to pull themselves together. They actually won the match in the end!

Tennis dull ? Never!!

John

Tennis Tournament Results: Nov 2nd - 9th 2008

Women’s Weekly Tennis Results

Nov 2 - 9

WTA Sony Ericsson Tour Championships

Doha, Qatar

(7) Venus Williams (USA) def. (8) Vera Zvonareva (Rus) 6-7 (5-7) 6-0 6-2

Click here to view this weeks Men’s and Women’s World Tennis Rankings

How To Re-Grip Your Tennis Racket

As for some players re-gripping a tennis racket can be a fiddly job, I thought this short demonstration film might be helpful.

The guy explains the process pretty well.

Take a look.

John

Tennis Tournament Results: October 27th - Nov 2nd 2008

Men’s Weekly Tennis Results

Oct. 27 - Nov. 2

ATP BNP Paribas Masters

Paris, France

(13) Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (Fra) def. (8) David Nalbandian (Arg) 6-3 4-6 6-4

Women’s Weekly Tennis Results

Oct. 27 - Nov 2

WTA Tour Bell Challenge

Quebec City, Canada

(1) Nadia Petrova (Rus) def. (6) Bethanie Mattek (USA) 4-6 6-4 6-1

Click here to view this weeks Men’s and Women’s World Tennis Rankings

Who needs a backhand when you can switch hands like Jarkko Nieminem!

Here’s a great example of how to scrap in a rally from Finland’s excellent Jarkko Nieminem - and also some serious improvisation.

If you can’t reach a backhand, just put the racket in the other hand and make it a forehand - well if you’re Jarkko Nieminem anyway! This is not something that coaches would generally recommend their pupils attempt, but when it works, it’s great fun to see. Nieminem won the point with a great passing shot.

It’s a short film but worth a look.

John

Tennis Tournament Results: October 20th - 26th 2008

Men’s Weekly Tennis Results

Oct. 20 - 26	ATP Davidoff Swiss Indoors Basel	Basel, Switzerland	(1) Roger Federer (Swi) def. (2) David Nalbandian (Arg) 6-3 6-4
Oct. 20 - 26	ATP Tour St. Petersburg Open	St Petersburg, Russia	(1) Andy Murray (Gbr) def. Andrey Golubev (Kaz) 6-1 6-1
Oct. 20 - 26	ATP Grand Prix de Tennis de Lyon	Lyon, France	(7) Robin Soderling (Swe) def. Julien Benneteau (Fra) 6-3 6-7 (5-7) 6-1

Women’s Weekly Tennis Results

Oct. 20 - 26	WTA FORTIS Championships	Luxembourg	(1) Elena Dementieva (Rus) def. (4) Caroline Wozniacki (Den) 2-6 6-4 7-6 (7-4)
Oct. 20 - 26	WTA Generali Ladies Linz	Linz, Austria	(1) Ana Ivanovic (Ser) def. (2) Vera Zvonareva (Rus) 6-2 6-1

Click here to view this weeks Men’s and Women’s World Tennis Rankings

Tennis Tournament Results: October 13th - 19th 2008

Men’s Weekly Tennis Results

Oct. 13 - 19

ATP Masters Series Madrid

Madrid, Spain

(4) Andy Murray (Gbr) def. Gilles Simon (Fra) 6-4 7-6 (8-6)

Women’s Weekly Tennis Results

Oct. 13 - 19

WTA Zurich Open

Zurich, Switzerland

(3) Venus Williams (USA) def. Flavia Pennetta (Ita) 7-6 (7-1) 6-2

Click here to view this weeks Men’s and Women’s World Tennis Rankings

Tennis Tournament Results: October 6th - 12th 2008

Men’s Weekly Tennis Results

Oct. 6 - 12	ATP Bank Austria-Tennis Trophy 2008	Vienna, Austria	Philipp Petzschner (Ger) def. (8) Gael Monfils (Fra) 6-4 6-4
Oct. 6 - 12	ATP Tour if…Stockholm Open	Stockholm, Sweden	(1) David Nalbandian (Arg) def. (4) Robin Soderling (Swe) 6-2 5-7 6-3
Oct. 6 - 12	ATP Kremlin Cup	Moscow, Russia	Igor Kunitsyn (Rus) def. (7) Marat Safin (Rus) 7-6 (8-6) 6-7 (4-7) 6-3

Women’s Weekly Tennis Results

Oct. 6 - 12

WTA Tour Ladies Kremlin Cup

Moscow, Russia

(1) Jelena Jankovic (Ser) def. (7) Vera Zvonareva (Rus) 6-2 6-4

Click here to view this weeks Men’s and Women’s World Tennis Rankings

Rod Laver v Tony Roche on film!

This film really is worth a look. It’s old, a bit small but has some beautiful tennis from two great players.

John

p.s. Laver is wearing the hat.