ForeverInLoveWithJus

Interesting article I read:

John McEnroe on Monday slammed Tim Henman for being too boring, just a week before the start of the Wimbledown grand slam tournament.

The former Wimbledon champion, in an interview with the Radio Times magazine, said the current crop of players were "robots" lacking personality and in danger of killing the game. McEnroe said: "They're Darth Vader types to me. OK, so they're great athletes. But where's the passion, the feeling?

"It seems to me that even if you, the audience, really dislike the guy on the court, it's better to feel that than to feel nothing." The 45-year-old, who will be commentating on the Wimbledon Championships for the BBC, described Henman as "the classic example".

He sent a message to the British number one: "Get with the fans. They are rooting for you! Respond to them, harness their energy, love them back! "If he could do that, Henman could win on grass. Call it acting, but it would energise the game," McEnroe said. "We need more daring attempts to entertain. The players don't seem happy to be out there.

These kids have to do all these tournaments, show up on the circuit, because that's business, but then they can't get into the big ones that we really care about. "They walk around with their heads down. If they're 15 in the world, they're miserable because all they can think about is the 14 people better than them.

"They walk around in a bubble that's all professional sport and no life. We need to work out a way of promoting them, or the game will go down. "They need to be accessible to their fans. Who wants to watch robots all day?"

DrTagnian

ATP 's Hertogenbosch:

The Dutchies are doing well. 2002 and 2003 Champion Schalken is out of the tournament already (he isn't in form at the moment), but still enough Dutch talent.

Van Lottum had to give up because of a back injury. Verkerk plays later today ( or tomorrow ).

Raemon Sluiter advances to the Quarter Final after beating Petzschner with 6-3 and 6-0. Easy win. And seeing as he already defeated #2 seed Schuettler, reaching the Final shouldn't be such a problem.

ForeverInLoveWithJus

I heard Serena is ranked no 1 for Wimbledon! Yay Go Serena!

ForeverInLoveWithJus

Daniela Hantuchova, concentrating on tennis again instead of lingering queries about her weight, entered her favourite part of the season with a win into the second round of the US$585,000 Eastbourne Championships Tuesday.

The unseeded Slovak, fit and looking healthy after questions 12 months ago over her falling weight and patchy form, overcame a mid-match challenge from American veteran Amy Frazier 7-5, 3-6, 6-2.

The slender right-hander has put on a few welcome kilograms since fielding questions about a possible eating disorder following a quarter-final exit here in 2003. "I've put the entire last year behind me," she said. "I feel great physically and am concentrating on the future."

The former world number five, who plunged to 19 at the end of last season, was able to contain Frazier, aged 31, who had won only a single match in her first nine appearances here before managing a last-eight appearance two years ago.

But feeling good again about tennis is the main goal of the 21-year-old Hantuchova as the summer campaign heads to Wimbledon.

"I'm so glad to get off clay and onto the grass," said Hantuchova, who won a round last week in Birmingham before losing to French teenager Tatiana Golivin. "I love playing on grass, this is the most exciting time of the year."

PastyHusty

Even though she's ranked at #10 in the world .. but considering her recent form at Wimbledon over the last few years, I can understand that. Venus has been ranked at #3, with Myskina seperating the two sisters. The full rankings can be found here.

The draw for the women's singles sees Serena and Venus in opposite halves, so we could have another Williams sisters final .. but with the Russians on good form I doubt that. Serena faces Jie Zheng in the 1st round, Myskina faces Lubomira Kurhajcova (Slovakia), venus faces Marie-Gayanay Mikaelian (Switzerland) and Mauresmo faces Jelena Kostanic (Croatia). The Brits have 6 players in the draw, but with a few qualifiers to be played there might be a few more. Full women's draw here.


Roger Federer has been seeded #1 in the men's draw, with Roddick #2, Coria #3 and Nalbandian #4. Tim Henman has a ranking of #5 and could meet Nalbandian in the Quarter-Finals! Full mens seedings here.

Roger Federer will be playing Britain's Bogdanovic in the first round, what a game for the Brit, lol. Roddick will be up against a qualifier, Coria is playing Wesley Moodie (South Africa) and Nalbandian is against Mario Ancic (Croatia). Tim Henman begins his Wimbledon quest against Ruben Ramirez Hidalgo (Spain). The full men's draw here.


Rusedski is out of the Nottingham tournament. He was beaten in the 3rd round/Quarter-Finals by Thomas Johansson. The Swede won 4-6, 7-5, 7-6 to progress to a Semi-Final match against either Taylor Dent or Victor Hanescu.

ForeverInLoveWithJus

I hope both Williams Sisters do really well, I saw them on Richard & Judy, Serena looked really pretty, both were wearing yellow, nice touch. They looked really happy.

ForeverInLoveWithJus

French Open finalist Guillermo Coria has appointed a new coach ahead of next week's Wimbledon tournament at the All England Lawn Tennis club.

The BBC reported Thursday that Coria -- who lost the French Open final to Argentinian compatriot Gaston Gaudio -- split with Fabian Blengino after last week's first round exit at the Stella Artois championship at Queen's club.

Coria, 22, is the third seed for this year's event even though he has twice failed to progress past the first round at Wimbledon.

"My new coach is my countryman Gabriel Makus. We will begin to work together next Monday when Wimbledon begins," said Coria. "The agreement with Fabian was just to Paris," said Coria.

"Even though the relationship was very good, I felt it was time to set a team in place that can stay together until the end of my career.

"I want to try and forget all about Paris now," said Coria, who suffered serious cramping in the five-set Roland Garros defeat to Gaudio.

ForeverInLoveWithJus

Wimbledon great Martina Navratilova fears the Williams sisters might have reached the end of their era because they don't take tennis seriously any more. The nine-time Wimbledon champion accused Serena and Venus of treating the sport like a hobby and losing their invincibility.

"The Williamses are finding out that tennis cannot be just a hobby," she told the London Evening Standard. "It needs to be a full-time deal because it takes such a long time to build up confidence and so little time to shatter it. "Players used to go on court against either sister hoping they were not going to make a fool of themselves. "Now even lower-ranked women know they can hang in there and get a respectable score.

"The better players know they can win, and that levels the playing field a tremendous amount. The aura of invincibility which the Williams sisters used to have has gone." Serena is seeded No 1 for Wimbledon and Venus is ranked third even though neither has played much in the last year.

Reigning champion Serena only returned to competition in March after eight months out with a knee injury while her older sister missed the second half of 2003 with a stomach problem.

Serena has her own clothing label, Aneres, and is an aspiring actress, while Venus has an interior design business, V Starr Interiors, and is working towards a degree in fashion design.
And when the pair released a book this week they claimed they had been extremely hands-on over the last six months while it was produced. At least the book is about the game, entitled How To Play Tennis, and is aimed at children.

"You have to listen to what we say and any other statements that people make are just their opinions," Venus said. "People seem to expect that because you're an athlete you have no right to focus on anything else. But you are who you are.

"You don't say, 'I have a job, so I can't be anyone else.' I'm preparing for life, not just for a sport. I do me off the court."
Serena admitted she was pleased to get some time out of the game because of her knee injury.

She designed clothes for Miss New Jersey in last September's Miss America beauty pageant and has been seen around America's movie scene, but she claimed she also missed the game.

"First of all it was like: 'Oh, what a relief. I don't have to wake up at seven o'clock and go on a court like I've done all my life'," she said. "It had pretty much been the same routine since I was tiny. But it's not a problem. This is my career, my job.

"I wasn't born with a large sum of money in the bank so I have to work. Once I realise that, I feel blessed that my job allows me to travel the world and do so many things."

ForeverInLoveWithJus

Amanda Coetzer has decided to retire from women's tennis after a 16-year career. The former world number three has not played since March when she lost in the first round of the Acapulco Open. She won nine titles in her career, reached two Australian Open semi-finals and played in the season-ending championships nine years in a row.

Meanwhile, the fourth seed for Wimbledon, David Nalbandian, may be forced to miss the event due to has a rib injury. The former finalist had to retire during a match at the Boodle and Dunthorne Challenge at Stoke Park. Goran Ivanisevic plays fellow Croatian Ivan Ljubicic in today's final there.

DrTagnian

Daniela Hantuchova got to the Semi-Final in the WTA Eastbourne tournament. And in that Semi-Final she defeated #1 seed Amelie Mauresmo!

YOU GO GIRL!

But ... in the Final she had to play against the #2 seed Koeznetsova and unfortunately she didn't win the tournament. She won the first set with 6-2, but lost the other two (7-6, 6-4).

It would have been amazing. Two of my favorite players winning tournaments after each other. Sharapova last week and now ... well, hopefully she'll be in good form for Wimbledon which starts Monday.

How are the weater forecasts in England?