SHANGHAI QUALIFIERS

GOLD INSPIRED FEDERER

 

Winning an Olympic gold medal helped Roger Federer turn around his difficult year.

"I think it has definitely inspired me," Federer said Tuesday as he prepared to lead Switzerland in a Davis Cup playoff against Belgium this weekend.

Federer won the men's doubles title in Beijing with Stanislas Wawrinka on Aug. 16. Even though he lost in the Olympic singles quarterfinals to James Blake, the doubles gold was a turning point in a season that had passed without a major title.

"It helped me to stay positive and be motivated for the U.S. Open and not maybe be too disappointed," said the 27-year-old Swiss, who won his fifth straight title at Flushing Meadows last week.

"I'm happy that I've got an Olympic gold now in my pocket and that I've also got a U.S. Open trophy, so it couldn't be better right now."

Visibly lifted by the doubles victory in Beijing, Federer carried that momentum into New York and claimed a 13th Grand Slam singles crown. He dominated Novak Djokovic in the semifinals and Andy Murray in the final to reassert his dominance.[AP]

USTA HIRES HIGUERAS

Roger Federer's part-time coach, Jose Higueras, was hired by the U.S. Tennis Association on Tuesday as director of coaching for elite player development, a program that aims to identify future champions.

"Jose is one of the greatest minds in coaching today," said Patrick McEnroe, the U.S. Davis Cup captain and general manager of the development program. "His understanding of the sport is unrivaled, and his familiarity with American tennis makes him an invaluable asset and important addition to our staff as we continue to develop the skills of the brightest young talents in tennis."

Higueras will work at USTA training centers in California and Florida.

As a player, Higueras won 16 ATP singles titles and was ranked in the top 10. As a coach, he helped Michael Chang and Jim Courier win Grand Slam titles, and he also worked with Pete Sampras, Jennifer Capriati, Todd Martin and Robby Ginepri.

Higueras began working off and on with Federer this season and was at the U.S. Open this month when the Swiss star won his 13th major singles championship. [AP]

REPORTS OF FED'S DEMISE MUCH EXAGGERATED

Federer 6 -2, 7 -5, 6 -2.

Federer danced past the 21-year-old Murray in the opening set, outlasted his rundown opponent in the second and briskly put an end to Murray's dreams of a first Grand Slam title in the third.

By the time the second set was over, obituary writers could sense that their copy was not going to appear in the next day's paper. In the face of headlines prematurely announcing his imminent decline, Federer, who was without a Grand Slam title this late in the year for the first time in four years, allowed his eminence to emerge.

MURRAY BEATS A BURNED-OUT NADAL

Rafael Nadal hunched over, his chest heaving, his hopes of reaching his first U.S. Open final fading fast.

No one ever seems to run Nadal ragged.

Andy Murray managed to do just that.

Exhibiting precisely the sort of winner-vaporizing, opponent-demoralizing defense new No. 1 Nadal usually employs, Murray reached his first Grand Slam final by completing a stunning, rain-interrupted 6-2, 7-6 (5), 4-6, 6-4 upset of the Spaniard on Sunday.

BLOWIN' SMOKE

Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic advanced to the semifinals of the U.S. Open, where they'll meet in a rematch of last year's final.

Federer defeated qualifier Gilles Muller of Luxembourg 7-6 (7-5), 6-4, 7-6 (7-5) at the National Tennis Center in New York to continue his quest for a fifth straight U.S. Open title. Djokovic was a 6-2, 6-3, 3-6, 7-6 (7-5) winner over Andy Roddick, who was the last American left at the year's final Grand Slam tournament.

He's absolutely the favorite,'' Djokovic said of Federer in a televised courtside interview. ``I lost to him last year. For him it's a big challenge to go back to the No. 1 spot in the world.''

More BS from Djokovic!

Everyone, who's watched Roger this tournament, realizes that the man on court is an imposter.

Jim Courier commented that Roger is playing poker with us and he's bluffing. Eventho' he declares himself fit, mono still saps his strength.

Djokovic, in my eyes is the overwhelming favourite.

Djoker in 4 sets.

Get well, Roger!

The men's semifinals may be disrupted by rain from Tropical Storm Hanna, said the U.S. Tennis Association, which has contingency plans for alternate schedules in case of bad weather conditions.

NADAL GAFFS?! FISH --

NEW YORK (AP)—It sure took a while, but Rafael Nadal is a U.S. Open semifinalist.

The No. 1-ranked Nadal beat unseeded American Mardy Fish 3-6, 6-1, 6-4, 6-2, getting past the quarterfinals for the first time in six trips to Flushing Meadows with a victory that ended with the scoreboard showing 2:10 a.m. Thursday, making it the third-latest finish in tournament history.

“This is one of the things that we players discuss all the time. There should be a limit on when to start. But we know that the TV rules in this,” Nadal said.

“I think I’m going to end up sleeping at 5 a.m. I’ve got to go eat. With all the attention on the match, it takes a while to unwind. There’s nothing else you can do.”

Fish took the opening set on the strength of a 23-6 edge in winners, some gutsy serving and one service break. But Nadal never faced a break point the rest of the way.

They approached the latest finish in the tournament’s history—Mats Wilander defeated Mikael Pernfors at 2:26 a.m. in 1993.

“It’s not ideal starting that late, but I was ready,” Fish said. “The first set couldn’t have gone better for me.”

Nadal, who has won four titles at the French Open and one at Wimbledon, now will face first-time Grand Slam semifinalist Andy Murray. The No. 6 seed beat No. 17 Juan Martin del Potro 7-6 (2), 7-6 (1), 4-6, 7-5.

MEN'S SEMIS

TENNIS ECONOMICS

At the end of August, a half-million tennis fans will pour into northeastern Queens, N.Y., for the U.S. Open--one of America’s biggest, and most profitable, sporting events.

A full two weeks of backhands and forehands, as well as its international status, gives the tennis classic more in common with the Olympics than with other American sporting landmarks like the Super Bowl or the Indianapolis 500.

The money-spinning competition generates an estimated $195 million, about 85% of the United States Tennis Association's (USTA) revenue for the year, the rest of which comes largely from membership dues. Across the Atlantic, the French Open brings in a little less--an estimated $175 million last year.

Half of the U.S. Open’s revenue comes from sponsorship deals and broadcasting rights, another $80 million from ticket sales, and the rest from other sources like concessions and merchandise.

Cutting into its profits are the $21 million in prize money the USTA doles out to the hundreds of players who participate in the Open--$1.5 million to the each of the winners in the singles tournament, and half a million to each of the winning teams in the doubles tournament.

Among the USTA’s other costs are a $13.4 million annual marketing bill, $2.4 million for insurance and $1.2 million worth of promotional items and gifts.

The Billie Jean King National Tennis Center is no backyard tennis court, either. Host to the U.S. Open since 1978, it is the world’s largest public tennis facility and costs $5.5 million a year to staff. In 1998, as part of an effort to keep the Open from moving to San Diego, a $254 million stadium was added with room for 23,000 fans (the old one had room for 18,000).

Arthur Ashe Stadium is now the world’s largest tennis-only venue.

The USTA leases the land for the Tennis Center from New York City. In addition to $400,000 a year in rent, the city gets one penny of every revenue dollar over $25 million (including money from broadcasting, sponsorship and concessions). That's about $2 million a year pocketed by New York--not counting the economic impact on the community of hosting the USTA’s signature event.

ARGENTEEN

 

Rafael Nadal isn’t the hottest player on tour. That distinction goes to Del Potro, who’s strolling through the summer on a 22-match win streak. The Argentine has won four tournaments since July – becoming the first player to win his first four titles in four straight tournaments.

As a reward, Del Potro has rocketed up the rankings. In July he was No. 65; by the start of the US Open, he had reached a career-high of 17. Along the way he has notched wins over Andy Roddick and Richard Gasquet.

Del Potro, from the small city of Tandil, five hours south of Buenos Aires, hardly looks the part of a newcomer. The lanky 6-foot-6 right-hander, nicknamed “Enano” (Dwarf) and “Palito” (Twig), has an imposing game of forceful groundstrokes and a big, 130-mph-plus serve. The Argentine takes a massive windup on his forehand and crushes the ball deep into the corners. Unlike most of his compatriots (of whom there were 10 in the draw at the start of the US Open), who are more at home on clay, Del Potro prefers hard courts (even though two of his titles this summer were on European dirt).

After his 3-hour, 47-minute third-round victory over Gilles Simon, another player who’s had a personal-best summer, Del Potro said: “It was punishing, a battle. At the end, neither of us had anything left.”

US OPEN ON TSN

MONO A MONO

Federer disclosed that he had contracted mononucleosis in January 2008 - seven months ago.

Since then, he's declared himself fit and has made no mention of it in his recent spate of losses, but this bug is tenacious. As I wrote earlier, it took my daughter almost one year to get back to full strength. Same with Ancic -I thought!

Croatia's Mario Ancic withdrew from the U.S. Open on Tuesday with a recurrence of mononucleosis, the second straight year the 25th-ranked player was forced to miss the tournament.

Ancic, a former Wimbledon semifinalist, was slowed throughout the 2007 season because of mononucleosis.

NADAL #1 BY US OPEN

After the Spaniard won the Toronto Masters trophy last Sunday, Nadal is as close as he's ever been to the Swiss — just 300 points back and with precious few of those points to defend during the next few months.

In fact, at this point, it would be surprising if Nadal didn't end Federer's seemingly endless 234-week stint at No. 1. He may not do it this week at the Cincinnati Masters, as Federer would have to lose early and Nadal would have to at least reach the final, but once Federer begins to dump major points on August 18 (due to the havoc the Olympics have played with the schedule, points are dropping off later this year), his ranking will be under siege daily.

Unless the Spaniard gets hurt or his level drops to a pre-2008 level, there should be a new No. 1 entering the U.S. Open, where Federer is the four-time defending champion.

Outside of his often-spectacular play at Wimbledon, he's been a tad mediocre. Just how many losses will it take before he admits to himself that he's in a legitimate slump?

It's one thing to lose to world No. 3 Novak Djokovic in the Australian Open semis, or to Nadal at the French Open and Wimbledon, but how to explain losses to Mardy Fish, Radek Stepanek and just last week, Frenchman Gilles Simon?

Simple: He doesn't trust his shots like he used to and is therefore undergoing major bouts of sloppy play.

Federer has no choice but to stay upbeat. He's a realist and he knows that his reign couldn't have lasted uninterrupted forever. Even when Djokovic took over the first quarter of the year, winning the Australian Open and Indian Wells, Federer kept pointing to Nadal as the world's second best, well aware that when healthy and playing the right way, the Spaniard with his speed, remarkable defense and "two forehands" could face down anyone on a great day.

8 YEAR OLD GIRL LISTENS TO DAD

An eight-year-old girl was ejected from a junior tennis tournament at Christchurch on New Zealand's South Island when officials discovered she was wearing a radio earpiece to receive instructions from her father.

Tournament referee Rob Wilkinson said officials became suspicious because the match involving Ukranian-born Anastasiya Korzh featured a "heightened number of questioned calls."

Officials found the earpiece hidden under the girl's headband, linked by a cord to a receiver under her shirt, The Press newspaper reported Thursday.

Korzh's father said the earpiece was only being used to help the girl keep score in the under-10 tournament.

She was playing in her first tournament.

UNISEX TOUNAMENT

Tennis promoter Steve Bellamy envisions such matchups one day, although he'll go with less dynamic pairings for now. On Aug. 3, he'll stage what's believed to be the first tournament involving world-ranked men and women going head to head.

The one-day competition in suburban Pacific Palisades comes with several big rules changes: no overhand serve, second serves or lets. All serving is drop-hit and struck from below the waist.

"About 40 percent of the points in tennis are won on the serve or the return," said Bellamy, founder of The Tennis Channel. "Basically, half the points are over before they even start. Men dominate women in tennis mainly because of the serve, so this concept neutralizes that advantage."

Bellamy said the event will have a 32-player draw, and should be completed in about three hours. He said a committee will examine the qualifications of every entrant and choose the top 28. The other four will come from a qualifier earlier in the day that's open to the public.

The format will be similar to table tennis, with the winner being the first to reach 21 points and each player serving five points before service alternates.

DJOKOVIC BEATS DANCEVIC

Dancevic, 23, of Niagara Falls, Ont., reached the quarter-finals of last year's tournament in Montreal before losing to Spain's Rafael Nadal. On Tuesday night, it was third-seeded Serb Novak Djokovic, the defending champion, who sent Dancevic packing with a 6-4, 6-4 second-round victory before a boisterous Centre Court gathering at Rexall Centre.

Still, it was a decent showing for Dancevic, ranked No. 82 in the world, against a player who's ranked 79 spots higher. On Monday, Dancevic downed Croatian Mario Ancic, ranked 24th in the world.

Dancevic was the lone Canadian remaining in singles after Peter Polansky of Thornhill, Ont., was eliminated earlier Tuesday. Dancevic remains in doubles with Canadian-born partner Jesse Levine and their first match comes Wednesday night against Australians Paul Hanley and Jordan Kerr.

DANCEVIC INTO SECOND ROUND

Dancevic, 23, of Niagara Falls, Ont., was the only Canuck to advance Monday, upsetting Croatian Mario Ancic 6-3, 6-4 before a partisan Centre Court gathering at the Rexall Centre. Frederic Niemeyer, of Deauville, Que., lost both his first-round singles and doubles matches.

Dancevic said his win brought back memories of his play in last year's event when the Canadian thrilled tennis fans in Montreal by reaching the quarter-final round before losing to Spain's Rafael Nadal.

A big reason for Dancevic's apprehension was missing 3 1/2 months earlier this year with a back injury suffered at the Australian Open. But on Monday night, Dancevic was dominant on Ancic's second serve, winning stellar 71 per cent of the return points.

Dancevic also won a whopping 81 per cent of points on his first serve.

Dancevic, Canada's top singles player with a No. 82 world ranking, fell behind 2-0 in the second set before rallying to tie it 2-2. Dancevic broke Ancic, ranked No. 24, to take a 5-4 lead before serving out the match.

Dancevic doesn't have much time to savour his victory. He faces third-seeded Serbian Novak Djokovic on Tuesday night. Djokovic won this title last year in Montreal.

TENNIS ON TSN- TORONTO- MONTREAL- CINCINNATI

NESTOR WINS WIMBLEDON

Daniel Nestor has his career Grand Slam.

The Toronto native [who has played at Mayfair Lakeshore] and Serbian partner Nenad Zimonjic defeated Sweden's Jonas Bjorkman and Kevin Ullyett of Zimbabwe 7-6 (12), 6-7 (3), 6-3, 6-3 in the doubles final at Wimbledon.

"Being the only Canadian to win it is very special," said Nestor. "I feel like I've achieved a lot in tennis. I feel very fortunate to have won today, and we feel like we had to play our best to do it. That makes it more satisfying."

The tournament at the All England Club had been the only Grand Slam missing from Nestor's resume.

He played in one other Wimbledon final, losing to Bjorkman and Todd Woodbridge of Australia 6-1, 6-2, 6-7 (7), 7-5 in 2002.

"It's a great feeling," said Nestor. "Wimbledon has the most history and tradition of any tournament.

"We focused really hard. It's one of those matches where you don't want to give an inch. Every game and point is tough."

Nestor, 35, won the 2002 Australian Open, 2004 U.S. Open and 2007 French Open with previous partner Mark Knowles.

The win was the 10th in a row for Nestor's team, who tuned up for Wimbledon by claiming the Queens' club crown on grass, and made up for disappointment in the French Open final a month ago, when they lost to South Americans Pablo Cuevas and Luis Horna.

Zimonjic clinched the victory despite playing with his left wrist heavily braced after a semifinal fall, with the newly married Serb slamming a backhand return winner to the far corner out of reach on first match point.

The well-balanced final was contested by a quarter of seasoned over-30 veterans with a combined total of 14 Grand Slam doubles titles. Playing his 11th Grand Slam doubles final, Nestor now owns 53 career honours, 40 earned with Knowles.

The trophy was the first at a Grand Slam for Zimonjic, who came up short at Wimbledon in 2004 and 2006.

The match was the last at Wimbledon for the 36-year-old Bjorkman, retiring after the Olympics.

Nestor and Zimonjic have now lifted three trophies this season, the first two Hamburg and Queen's. They placed runners-up at Indian Wells, Rome and Roland Garros.

"Now I think we're the No. 1 team so far for the year, which is very exciting, too," said Nestor.

"Hopefully we can relax and carry this through the rest of the season and play a little more relaxed and enjoy things a little more."

The marathon opening set, which stretched close to an hour, stayed on serve and into a tiebreak, with Nestor and Zimonjic finally taking a welcome lead on their fifth set point after saving three for their opponents. After a duel at the net, Nestor's team earned the set when Bjorkman blinked first with a shovelled reaction return into tape.

The second set was equally draining as it also went into tiebreakers. But the experienced Bjorkman and Ullyett killed any unnecessary drama as they quickly reached three set points. Ullyett poached perfectly cross-court with a volley winner to square the match in a flash at one set apiece.

The second seeds earned the first break of the grinding match as Bjorkman went down 3-1 through a backhand long, with Nestor quickly consolidating with a hold for 4-1 in the third.

"It was a little bit of nerves out there, and finally we broke through," said Nestor.  "They kept up their level in the second, and we were fortunate to get a break.

"I thought we started playing better in the third and forth, especially returning. The whole match we served really well."

Two unforced errors from Bjorkman handed over a two-set-to-love lead as Zimonjic put the set away with a precision volley.

Because of the match's length, television viewers were denied the final's ending as NBC cut from their Wimbledon coverage to regularly-scheduled programming.

MEN'S QUARTERS