Success Lessons From Serena Williams For All Fields Of Life

When it comes to tennis, there is one name nobody can avoid and it is Serena Williams. Phenomenal woman, incredible player, unique feminist, and loving wife as well as the mother. It seems this woman can do anything in the world when this goes as her priority. So far, however, it is tennis, personal life and entrepreneurship being in the top of the to-do list for Serena, a woman we all cannot but admire endlessly.

In this article, we will look at the lessons this incredible woman can teach all of us whether for tennis or for real life. For some spheres of life, like love and relationships, we tend to visit different special platforms or apps to try to find the significant other. For other spheres, like personal success, we usually crave advice of those who have achieved substantial heights. And this is exactly what we are going to learn today from Serena’s experiences and life lessons.

Learning About Success From The Ever Most Successful Sportswoman
When it comes to reading stories of achievements of the world-wide known sportsmen, we are subconsciously ready to hear about a lot of sacrificing and dedication. However, rarely do we really comprehend the extent to which professional athletes’ lives differ from the ones we peacefully lead. Nevertheless, it is their success that enormously impresses us and motivates on further achievements.

So, how did it happen that Serena, a simple girl from Michigan, managed to become the best tennis player as well as a most empowering feminist leader to follow? Let us look at the secrets to her unprecedented accomplishments below:

• mental imaginary technique: being born to the tennis coach, Serena started to play tennis where she was a kid. As the whole world recently learns from Nike ads featuring Williams, it was her dream from the very first steps onto the court to become the best at it. Basically, imagining yourself in the situation of the ultimate success as you define and understand it for yourself is a number one lesson. This works not only for sportsmen but also for people from all other fields of activities, including professional players in the world of betting sites online.
• “I have not made it yet” mentality: in one of the most recent interviews, Serena mentioned that she did not think she had made it. In her book, it is not about becoming the best once but about becoming the best for yourself every day and every time you enter the court. And for us court can also mean life;
• embracing your power: in the modern realities of yet existing glass ceilings and gender gaps, Serena sets an incredible example of being a powerful and successful woman. She believes in female power but does not diminish the power of men. In the end, it is all about being the best version of yourself.

To wrap things up, it seems every one of us can become just as successful as the world’s best female racket. However, this will require lots of devotion, constant work and unstoppable mentality.

Invitation to participate in tennis blog survey

Are you a reader of tennis blogs?

Are you willing to take a brief survey asking you about the role of tennis blogs in your consumption of tennis media?

Dr Brigid McCarthy of the Department of Communication and Media, La Trobe University is currently conducting research that seeks to understand the particular uses and gratifications for readers of fan-created tennis blogs and the tennis reportage they provide. It seeks information about the diversity and frequency of consumption, how readers appraise the fan blog as a form of sports journalism, how readers engage with the content, and how the consumption might complement consumption of tennis news provided by traditional media outlets.

The survey should take no more than fifteen minutes to complete.

To find out more about participating, or to fill out the survey, please follow this link:
https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/tennisblogresearch

Serving big data at Grand Slam tennis

The Australian Open is currently underway and that means fans are expecting a supercharged atmosphere as their favourite tennis players battle on courts for two weeks, while commentators and critics busy dissecting statistics.

For decades tennis fans have been served with statistics such as first and second serves percentages, forced and unforced errors, winning points and not to forgetting ranking points.

Watching an exciting tennis match, whether you're on court or off court, provides plenty of entertainment and adrenaline-inducing thrill. The overall experience is further enhanced with the inclusion of big data.

Businesses have adopted big data, using it to increase retail sales, boost e-commerce performance and improve supply chain operations. In the sports arena, big data analytics seem like a good fit. For the past several years, it is proving an effective catalyst for transforming the fan experience at major tournaments particularly in the Grand Slams.

With data captured from sensors placed all over the court, fans have the advantage of accessing to real-time statistics during a match. Many avid tennis fans love to study tennis matches by comparing the statistics of their favourite players. Big data play a significant role in helping these fans analyze the game they are following. IBM has been the official technology provider for the four Grand Slam tennis tournaments for many years. The partnership has allowed for unprecedented access to tennis scoring and statistical data that we have been feeding into Watson Analytics to find out what interesting insights we can gain about the matches and players.

Accessing stats through digital devices

The amount of big data being looked at is extremely massive, with more than 50 millions data points being analyzed since 1990. The statistics measure basic information such as the speed of serves and the number of double faults to complicated and advanced data such as winners on the forehand side of the court. The in-depth analysis helps provide insights to the strengths and weaknesses in a player’s game, while also providing a predictive analysis at what may happen during and at the end of a match. Separately, tournament organizers also examine player popularity and volume of social media conversations to predict the data demands from fans viewing a tournament website and engagement on social media platforms.

Must-have tennis apps on my phone

With the incredible analysis offered by this big data platform, it creates a remarkable effect on the overall fan experience. The insights derived from big data can be channelled to fans through data visualization. As a tennis fan, if I'm not able to stream a match or be at a live event, I can always turn to the app on my smartphone to find out the predictive analysis of the matches happening at that moment. Coupled with my engagement with other tennis enthusiasts at real time on Twitter, the experience is out of this world!

Hawkeye data

With the growing demands for processing power to handle large numbers of records with many attributes, the capability in managing digital traffic is essential to create undisrupted access to the user behaviors and their access to the statistical data. In the Australian Open 2015 alone, there were:

• 14.3 million unique visitors to the ausopen.com
• 24.3 million views across all official AO video platforms
• 1.2 million unique visitors on the Australian Open mobile app
• 23 Terabytes of Internet traffic was handled by the network infrastructure, a 136 percent increase on 2014
• 10,784 games, 68,345 points and 1,128 sets captured, analysed and distributed via the AO scoring system.

All of that traffic captured requires robust cloud computing technology to ensure the entire infrastructure run smoothly during the course of the tournament. It also requires advances in network security to make sure users are protected from cyber attacks keeping their personal data safe from potentially malicious malware.

While there maybe fans who were unaware of how big data has changed the way we experience tennis, they are very likely taking part in contributing to the data. The next time you use the Australian Open app or browsing through their website, try look at the key statistics in a different perspective. Let the data be the guide to help you understand the game better and perhaps to even predict the outcome of the match before it ends. Although, bookies such as WilliamHill have the odds on current and ongoing matches, they can help you out if you're going to use data analytics for your predictions during this hard court season.

To find out more relevant materials on big data in tennis, visit the following links:

• https://www.bernardmarr.com/default.asp?contentID=724
• http://www.afr.com/business/sport/tennis-australia-mines-big-data-for-new-performance-metrics-20170118-gttwxr
• http://www.abc.net.au/news/science/2018-01-16/australian-open-tennis-statistics-clutch-time-pressure-work-win/9329322
• https://www-03.ibm.com/press/uk/en/pressrelease/52728.wss
• https://www-07.ibm.com/innovation/au/ausopen/analytics.html

My top 10 FREE tennis apps on iPhone

As a tennis fan, phone apps are very important to keep me updated on all the latest news about my favourite tennis stars, the access to real-time scores, offerings in the upcoming tournaments, etc.

In this post, I would like to share the list of my favourite apps. This does not take into consideration of Twitter, Facebook and Instagram, which are highly essential in keeping me updated with breaking news and amazing photos of the tennis players usually created and shared by the tennis fans in the community. I spend a lot of time on the web because many nice tennis contents are still not available on mobile applications such as Menstennisforums, TennisForum or most of the men's tennis players like Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal.

Here's a list of my top 10 FREE tennis apps, must-haves for any enthusiasts.

1. ATP/WTA Live
Any tennis fan needs to have this on their phone. This is the official live scoring app provided by the ATP World Tour and WTA. So that means, you get to follow your favourite tennis players and all the tennis tournaments throughout the entire season, including the ATP Challenger Tour events. What I find most helpful are some of the important features such as OOP (order of play), live match statistic (so that I can use the data to complement with my discussion with fellow tennis Twitter friends from around the world during an ongoing match), tournament draws and head to head records.

2. Australian Open Tennis Championships
Each year I'd be looking forward to this Grand Slam tournament because of the amazing efforts done by their social media team. There are so many information available about the tournament and they never failed in engaging with their audiences online. I particularly love the official colour and the newly designed AO logo. They have the push alerts function so it's great for any avid fans to receive breaking news and special offers be it purchases at the Melbourne Park or online.

3. Wimbledon Championships
Just like the historical tournament itself, this is the mother of all tennis apps. It has a sleek yet elegant layout design. I particularly love the live commentary, 360 degree video from the practice courts and their daily live coverage on podcast. If you're visiting the tournament, you can enable push messages to be delivered to your mobile. Love this app a lot!

4. US Open Tennis Championships
This is another important app built for a Grand Slam tournament, which every tennis enthusiast needs to have on their phone. It has all the features offered by other GS tournaments but this is my least favourite app among the 4 of them. I did not mention about the Roland Garros French Open app because it has been taken off iTunes.

5. MyATP
Since the individual men's tennis players don't usually have their own apps, this is the best app you could have. You can subscribe to your favourite tennis players and watch out for trending updates. There are a lot of Q&As with featured tennis players, which you can comment, like and share, so that's a plus point for this app. You can also send and receive direct messages with the people that you follow or follow you, so you can image the interactivity going on with the tennis fans around the world. This is an awesome app!

6. WTA Finals
WTA doesn't have an app that can be used all year long like MyATP. However they do have an app for the WTA Finals. It's extremely useful if you're using this at the venue. They have an interaction fan zone where tennis enthusiasts can answer tennis trivia questions. You can also take your Singapore Selfie which you can use to share on your social media and help promote the beautiful country at the same time.

7. Tennis TV
This is an extremely important app if you needed access to live tennis matches on the go. The app is free and you can watch snippets of videos on the Freeplay tab. However, in order to watch live or replay old matches, you need to be ready to fork out some money to pay for the subscription fee. It's quite hefty considering you need to pay RM62.90 per month (USD15) or RM519.90 annually (USD126). Highly recommended any tennis fans to subscribe to this instead of using those illegal streaming online.

8. Maria Sharapova Official App
Updates are pretty slow on these app due to lack of content. I downloaded this app just for the sake of downloading it. I would prefer to read about her updates on her Instagram account.

9. Garbiñe Muguruza Official App
I love Garbine but I don't really fancy this app because updates are also extremely slow due to lack of content. Again, I recommend to follow her on social media platforms instead for the latest updates.

10. Virtua Tennis Challenge
I don't play online games that much but I thought it'll be really nice to mention about this game as one of my favourite tennis apps. I have played this game many years back and I still think SEGA produced the best tennis game. Great visuals as always, you can save your game progress and the ability to adjust your control on different surfaces including clay, indoor hard court and grass. Simply the best tennis mobile game.

Meanwhile, if you're interested in adult gaming, be sure to visit RB88 to access to betting sites that covers your favourite tennis matches and other sports of your preference.

Do let me know if there are other really cool tennis apps which I don't mention here. Or apps which are available on Android and not on iOS.

Featured Poll: The Millennial Impact on the Future of Pro Tennis

 Image: Instagram/ @monstasart

The G Brief addressed sports as an "old piece of human culture", dated back to the ancient Greek era in 776 BC. For tennis sports fans like us, we can relate to Wimbledon, the oldest tennis championship which was founded back in 1877. For decades, Wimbledon has been maintaining itself as the gentleman's game and keeping the dress code to strictly white on all players. Fortunately tennis is constantly evolving, with new technologies are being integrated into the spectators experience (like hawk-eye and 360-degree video), gears and even balls.

The question is, are the millennials excited about tennis? How do we get them to be interested in tennis? Do we actually know a lot about the millennials? The survey below could probably help us to get an insight into those questions raised.

a sport for old people: If you're a tennis fan, your baby boomer relatives are most likely interested in tennis too. Your mom could be either a Federer or Nadal fan. When you attend a tennis tournament, chances are you'll see a lot more fans in their 30s and older adults. A research done in 2007 (I wish I could find a more recent statistics) shows that 73% of the respondents who watched the US Open are 34 years old and above. You'd probably say you've seen a lot of young fans (read: kids) too. Even these Gen-Z may eventually grow out of the sport because there are probably larger things in life than tennis e.g. online games, football, etc. which are more mainstream and reasons for them to be in synced with their peers.

a cool and fashionable sport: Maria Sharapova is no. 30 in the 2015 Millennials' Athlete Index. Unfortunately, the highest paid female athlete is tainted by the failed dope test and has been banned from competing in the next 2 years. Although Sharapova is the only tennis player in the Top 40 of the 2015 Millennials' Athlete Index, there are many other pro tennis players like Roger Federer, Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray whom big brands like Nike, Uniqlo and Under Armour respectively are paying them millions to sign them on long term endorsement deals because of their significant influence to both young and adult consumers.

on television: According to a poll by Navigate Research, it was found that live sports viewing is down 16% among young viewers aged 6-17. One of the reasons millennials aren't all flocking to live streams of sports is that most sports streams are already tied to a paid TV subscription.

through online streaming: The New York Times reported that millennials just weren't getting TVs for their homes. The G Brief said based on the Forrester Research study, a relatively meager 52% of millennials were found to have watched live TV broadcasts recently. A particular graduate student told the New York Times that he thinks of TV as like a blender: “I may need one one day; it might be nice to have one. But it’s by no means essential". Furthermore, according to Poynter and The New York Times, millennials have shifted from watching sports on TV to watching online, which sports are one of the top ten topics millennials watch videos about online, with 25% saying they watched them. A focus group by Digitalist Mag shows, millennials are eager to gain easier access to online streaming, but don't want to commit to paid TV in order to do so.

live tennis match: Live sports experiences are getting more popular than ever. The Australian Open for example has recorded an attendance of 703k in 2015 smashing a previous record of 686k set in 2012. In 2016, 720k people attended the championship at Melbourne Park. Even more recent, the attendance at Wimbledon has increased from 484k in 2015 to 493k this year. Although the increase is not significantly high, it's enough to proof that live tennis experiences have not been affected by the influence of new media technologies.

social media: When it comes to choosing the best social media platform for real time tennis experience and engagement, nothing beats Twitter. The Australian Open itself has recorded 3.12mil tweets globally with a potential reach of 551,6mil in 2016. This is exactly how live tennis (or any other sports) are experienced these days. The ability to enable fans to comment and share special moments using GIF and Periscope on Twitter, and videos on Snapchat and YouTube has transformed how we watch and experience sports live.

In conclusion, tennis organisers need to be innovative when engaging with the millennials because they are participating in a more active kind of spectatorship through online streaming and social media. With the emergence of popular mediums such as virtual reality and 360-degree content, it's almost impossible to catch up and meet the demands of the tech-savvy young fans. Kudos have to be given to the Grand Slam tournaments for being able to execute their digital strategy in the most compelling and innovative manner making the tennis championships to stay continuously relevant.

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Birthdays of top 100 ATP & WTA tennis players

I've just added a list of October birthday babies on the sidebar.

From now onwards, every beginning of the month, I'll put up a list of tennis players who will be celebrating their birthday on that particular month.

Currently, I only have the database for ATP and WTA players in the top 100 rankings for men's singles, women's singles and men's doubles.

I'll update the women's doubles list very soon.

So hope you don't miss your favourite player's birthday anymore.

By the way, today is Jose Acasuco 26th birthday!

Oct 2, Cerretani, James(27)
Oct 2, Bartoli, Marion (24)
Oct 3, Meusburger, Yvonne (25)
Oct 4, Rybarikova, Magdalena (20)
Oct 6, Dushevina, Vera (22)
Oct 7, Ginepri, Robby (26)
Oct 7, Querrey, Sam (21)
Oct 8, Bolelli, Simone (23)
Oct 10, Massu, Nicolas (29)
Oct 20, Wickmayer, Yanina (19)
Oct 20, Cipolla, Flavio(25)
Oct 10, Mertinak, Michal(29)
Oct 12, Arnold Ker, Lucas(34)
Oct 15, Dementieva, Elena (27)
Oct 15, Levine, Jesse (21)
Oct 16, Kohlschreiber, Philipp (25)
Oct 19, Navarro, Ivan (27)
Oct 20, Acasuso, Jose (26)
Oct 26, Kerr, Jordan(29)

Malaysian tennis in dilemma

I hope what I'm reading is true. Not only that we might be having tennis legends Bjorn Borg and John McEnroe, as well as current ATP world no. 1 and 2, Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal right here in Kuala Lumpur on Nov 18, we might be having WTA tournament right in our backyard next year too!

LTAM have plans of bringing in international stars including world No 1 Roger Federer and Spanish ace Rafael Nadal later this year followed by a WTA tournament next year to further spur the interest of tennis among the locals. ~ Malay Mail

I salute Lawn Tennis Association Malaysia (LTAM) for bringing such high standard of tennis into this country. I almost lost hope in Malaysian tennis but now I can see how serious these guys at LTAM trying to relive tennis sport in our country again.

However, while LTAM is working hard to reinvent tennis sport in Malaysia, all the efforts seem to go down the drain after it was announced the sport will not be played at the next Malaysia Games in Malacca in 2010.

The reason for the exclusion remains unknown. Oh, perhaps Malaccans do not play tennis or there's not a single tennis court in that historical state. This call totally crushes the spirits of the younger enthusiasts.

And why isn’t football or hockey got the axe? You know our local football and hockey scene suck BIG time.

National tennis coach Rahizam Abdul Rahim was very upset upon learning the sport will not be held in Malacca.

“We allowed Malacca to host an ITF junior tournament last year as a bid to generate more interest among the youths in gearing up for the Sukma.But now tennis is not part of the list and it’s really disappointing.”

Rahizam further explained that Sukma is an avenue where the juniors graduate into the senior level.

“It’s not like the standards of Sukma are high, but it still serves as a platform for us to scout new talents. The sport is well represented by all states and yet it’s being dropped.”

This is not the first time tennis was dropped from Sukma. Tennis was axed back in the Kedah 2006 Games. Instead of moving forward, we’re taking a step back.

Will Malaysia ever have players like Adam Malik or V. Selvam again? I mean, can you name a single Malaysia tennis player now? I can't. Don't we have talents here in this country? Who are responsible to transform the sport?

Perhaps LTAM should look at our national squash team as a model. With little resource, they are still able to go far and make an impact in the international level.

Rafael Nadal defeated Roger Federer to create history @ the French Open

Jose Higueras, Roger Federer's coach is so fired!

Honestly speaking, it's quite a pain in the ass to see Federer not up to his game in this year's men's final. It's not even close to the previous years whereby you know Federer had a chance if he plays with the right tactics.

It's almost unbelievable that Rafael Nadal able to crush Federer in just three sets! The final result is 6-1, 6-3, 6-0! This win is Nadal's 11th in 17 meetings with Federer and his ninth in 10 claycourt clashes.

I can totally feel Federer's agony. It's the only Grand Slam that he still hasn't own.

If you notice, Nadal did not fall on the clay and celebrate like he used to be out of respect for Federer. I mean, to lost 0-6 is not what our world no. 1 player would expect. But in a big match like this, there's no mercy. I have to give credit to Nadal for his humble post match celebration.

For the past few months, Nadal has improved so much especially on his backhand and serve. At the age of just 22, Nadal has already won his fourth successive French Open title. With that he's joining tennis legend Bjorn Borg (1978-1981) as the only man to win 4 Roland Garros trophies in a row.

Now the question is, will Nadal be ready to take on Roger Federer on the grass surface? Let's see how they perform on their first grass court tournament of the year at The Queen's Club.

(Images by Matthew Stockman/JACQUES DEMARTHON/AFP/Getty Images)

Tennis is the no. 1 sport in Australia

After 17 years, tennis is now back as Australia's favourite sport.

According to the latest '07/08 edition of the Sweeney Sports Report, 57% of Australians in the major capital cities are interested in tennis, followed by swimming (55%) and cricket (53%).

Sweeney general manager Todd Deacon said tennis has become more popular despite the lack of any Australians in the top 10 largely due to savvy marketing by local administrators and because spectators often followed the fortunes of a favourite player regardless of nationality.

"They attract the world's top players to the lead-up events to the Australian Open; the likes of the Sydney International and the Kooyong Classic; and people want to see them," he said.

Deacon said tennis was also popular with women; 60 percent were interested in the sport compared to 40 percent for cricket.

(Image by GREG WOOD/AFP/Getty Images)

Gael Monfils through to the semis to meet Roger Federer @ Roland Garros

Spanish 5th seed David Ferrer bites the dust when he lost to the unseeded Gael Monfils who became the first Frenchman to reach the last four at Roland Garros for seven years with a 6-3 3-6 6-3 6-1.

"I prepared well for this tournament, I'm trying to take as much as pleasure as I can but also to keep focused. With the crowd and my family backing me, I feel very strong. I have raised my level progressively, I played beautiful tennis."

Monfils is now bidding to become the first home winner since Yannick Noah in 1983. He will meet world no. 1 Roger Federer tomorrow for a place in this Sunday's final.

Now Monfils sure has all the reasons to celebrate and join the shirtless players Hall of Fame.

(Images by AP Photo/ David Vincent/ Mike Hewitt/Getty Images)

Maria Sharapova: The fashionista lost at French Open

Any tennis fans can't miss talking about Maria Sharapova's Nike Paris Dress at the French Open 2008.

Sharapova might have lost her campaign in Roland Garros and possibility in losing her WTA no. 1 crown to Ana Ivanovic too if Ivanovic wins (which I think she will!), but she is definitely winning with the classy Nike Paris Dress and Tiffany & Co jewelry.

Sharapova arriving in her navy blue cape windbreaker. Looks classy, eh?

Sharapova oozes the charisma of a tai-kah-jeh (big sister).

She's loaded with weapon ready to go on war against Dinara Safina.

Isn't she's graceful like a ballerina girl?

Novak Djokovic can do better with this pose.

Boohoo, the world no. 1 lost 7-6, 6-7, 2-6 to Dinara Safina, Marat Safin's sister.

(Images from JACQUES DEMARTHON/AFP/Getty Images)

How to celebrate a win like a Frenchman

The French players are always passionate especially when it comes to celebrating a win.

Julien Benneteau must be overjoyed defeating by Robin Soderling in their third round match at the French Open tennis tournament.

The world no. 55 celebrates by kissing the red clay court.

Then of course we love the part when he takes off his shirts!

Not enough of that, Benneteau takes off his Asics Gel Resolution shoes and throw them to the spectators.

However that's where he stops.

(Images from AP Photo/Christophe Ena)

Andy Murray and Maria Sharapova are gay icons

It's official that Andy Murray and Maria Sharapova top the male and female tennis-pin ups amongst the gay community in the UK.

Gawd, the English gay men and gay women really have bad tastes.

Research conducted by dating website gay-PARSHIP.co.uk puts Murray and Sharapova atop a long list of players gay men and gay women would most like to date with.


Top 5 Male Tennis Pin-Ups are:

1 Andy Murray 24%
2 Mark Philippoussis 20%
3 Andy Roddick 18%
4 Roger Federer 18%
5 Rafael Nadal 14%

Speaking before his second round at the French Open, Andy said: "I'm flattered. The more fans I have, the better."


Top 5 Female Tennis Pin-Ups are:

1 Maria Sharapova 33%
2 Anna Kournikova 28%
3 Serena Williams 14%
4 Martina Hingis 11%
5 Ana Ivanovic 8%

Anna Kournakova might have hung up her sneakers a while ago, but that doesn’t stop her taking the second place.



(Images from andymurray.com and Matthew Stockman/Getty Images)

Here comes the French Open!

Rafael Nadal and Ana Ivanovic were caught arriving in the same car.


But they are not dating. Apparently they arrive together in the same vintage car for the draw of French Open tennis tournament at the Roland Garros Stadium in Paris. The prestigious tournament will start this Sunday.


Both Nadal and Ivanovic have avoided tough first round draw. However former champ Gustavo Kuerten, who will be making his farewell appearance, will face 18th seed, Frenchman Paul-Henri Mathieu.

(Images from AP Photo/Christophe Ena)

Please, Rafael Nadal is no 'ogre' or 'beast'

It seems that Rafael Nadal's success on clay has created humongous jealousy particularly among Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic supporters.

It is truly unacceptable when the self-proclaimed 'Britain's No. 1 quality newspaper website', Telegraph.co.uk called the King of Clay an 'ogre'. Since when the world no. 2 is known as an 'ogre' in France?

And what exactly is an ogre?

1. A giant or monster in legends and fairy tales that eats humans.
2. A person who is felt to be particularly cruel, brutish, or hideous.

I don't see the definition match Rafael Nadal at all.

Please accept the fact that Nadal is the best on clay. He has denied Novak Djokovic the no. 2 spot on Saturday and he also took away the Hamburg Masters from Roger Federer. But Nadal is no 'ogre' or 'beast' as some of the media would love to call him. Give Nadal some respect.

Nadal the Master of Clay; Jelena Jankovic wins in Rome

Roger Federer might received the most support here at Hamburg but still nothing can stop Rafael Nadal from winning the Hamburg Masters, the only major clay-court title which is still missing from his impressive collection.

Nadal beat Federer the defending champion 7-5, 6-7, 6-3 in less than 3 hours. In the first two sets, Federer lead Nadal by 5-2 but somehow Nadal fought back and win the first set and almost did it again in the second.

Now Nadal has raise their head-to-head to 10-6.

In Rome, Jelena Jankovic had a splashing time (with Italian Ferraelle spring water - sparkling bottled water) defending the WTA Rome International by beating Alize Cornet 6-2, 6-2.

(Images from AP Photo/Fabian Bimmer/TIZIANA FABI/AFP/Getty Images)

Federer and Nadal to meet at Hamburg Final

Perhaps not many have predicted a repeated final match between Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal at Hamburg Masters Series 2008. However the world no. 1 and 2 proved that they still dominate despite poor performance at the beginning of the year.

It's a total relieve for many Nadal's fans out there after beating Novak Djokovic 7-5, 2-6, 2-6. It's not much about beating the Djoker to be in the final but last night's match is all about maintaining the no. 2 spot on the ATP rankings. Djokovic has been a big threat for both Nadal and Federer this year.

In that slightly more than 3 hours match, Nadal proves that he is still the King of Clay, chasing down almost anything Djokovic threw at him.



Earlier on, Federer has no problem beating Italian Andreas Seppi 6-3, 6-1 to book a place in the final.

So who will win tonight? Personally I just want to see Nadal win this and widen the gap further away from Djokovic in the ATP Rankings.

(Images from ATP Tennis)

Tennis players when they were young

I thought this youtube video is pretty cool (except for the music). It is a compilation of most of the current top tennis players childhood pictures.

Here are the list of the players again:
Andre Agassi
Pete Sampras
Tommy Haas
David Ferrer
Marcos Baghdatis
James Blake
Richard Gasquet
Andy Roddick
Novak Djokovic
Rafael Nadal
Roger Federer
Marat Safin/Dinara Safina
Serena/Venus Williams
Steffi Graf
Monica Seles
Lindsay Davenport
Tatiana Golovin
Nadia Petrova
Amelie Mauresmo
Kim Clijster
Martina Hingis
Anna Kournikova
Elena Dementieva
Ana Ivanovic
Svetlena Kuznetsova
Maria Sharapova
Justine Henin

Celebrating gay marriage?

Errr, not quite actually. For your information, these are not Californian men celebrating the legalisation of gay marriage. They are tennis players having fun at the ATP Players' Night in Hamburg, Germany.

Israeli doubles stars Jonathan Erlich and Andy Ram joke at the ATP Players' Night.

Tournament Director Carl-Uwe Steeb and Thomas Muster attend the ATP Players Night in the Copper House in Hamburg, Germany.

And speaking about the controversial legalised gay marriage by the top court in California, Ellen DeGeneres announced during a taping of The Ellen DeGeneres Show that she and girlfriend Portia de Rossi plan to swap vows.



(Images from Getty Images)

Quote of the Day: Maria Sharapova on Justine Henin's retirement

“If I’m 25 and I won I don’t know how many Grand Slams she’s won, I’d call it quits as well. You know, I wouldn’t be disappointed leaving the sport, because obviously there’s a lot more to life than tennis.”
~ Maria Sharapova

*Yawn* Maria Sharapova will be the new no. 1 player when the updated WTA Tour rankings are released next Monday. Hopefully Ana Ivanovic will catch up soon and grab that away from Ms "Shriek"apova.

(Image from AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)