WITHER RODGER

 

Croatian tennis player Mario Ancic will miss Wimbledon and the Davis Cup against the United States because he has still not regained fitness after suffering mononucleosis two years ago, Croatian media reported Thursday. Ancic, ranked No. 38 and a former Wimbledon semifinalist, had already pulled out of the French Open at Roland Garros.

"Don't ask me when I'll return, because I don't even know the answer myself," Ancic said.

MATCHES START AT 7AM EST

DEATH BY DROPSHOT

MEN'S SEMIS

SUNDAY'S RESULTS

MONDAY'S PLAY

TSN AND TSN2 FRENCH OPEN SKEDS

 

FRENCH OPEN DRAW

 

REUTERS

FIRST WEEK OF THE FRENCH ON TSN

FRENCH OPEN BEGINS 25 MAY ON TSN

The first five dates are the broadcasts of Madrid.

WRAISING WIMBLEDON'S WROOF

ESPN Classic will air live coverage of the May 17 exhibition matches under Wimbledon's new Centre Court roof.

Past Wimbledon champions -- and married couple -- Andre Agassi and Steffi Graf are scheduled to play, as are Tim Henman and Kim Clijsters. The event is being called "A Centre Court Celebration" and will be a test of the All England Club's new retractable roof and ventilation system.

ESPN Classic will air 3½ hours of the British Broadcasting Corp. feed, starting at 9:30 a.m. ET.

The schedule includes a men's singles match, a women's singles match and a mixed doubles match.

Wimbledon begins June 22.

 

AP

ONE BIG SHOE INTO ONE BIG MOUTH

YESTERDAY

Serena Williams may be ranked second in the world but she believes there is no one better. The 27-year-old American was overtaken in the rankings two weeks ago by Dinara Safina, making the Russian and older sibling Marat Safin the only brother-sister duo to have been No. 1 in professional tennis. "We all know who the real No. 1 is. Quite frankly, I'm the best in the world," Williams said Monday, adding that she is her toughest opponent and "I always beat myself.

AND TODAY

Serena Williams has lost to Swiss veteran Patty Schnyder 6-2, 2-6, 6-1 in her opening match at the Italian Open. The second-ranked Williams appeared to be moving with difficulty at times at Foro Italico, where the clay match ended at 1 a.m. on Wednesday. The players did not get to center court until well after 11 p.m., as a rainstorm forced play to be suspended for 3 1/2 hours earlier in the day.

AP

INTERNAZIONALI D"ITALIA ON TSN

TWO TITLES FOR NESTOR

Canadian Daniel Nestor and Serb Nenad Zimonjic have added another clay title to their resume.

The pair defeated Nestor's former partner Mark Knowles of the Bahamas and India's Mahesh Bhupathi 6-3, 7-6 (9) to win the Barcelona Open doubles title, their second clay championship in as many weeks.

The trophy at the Real club came on the heels of last week's victory in Monte Carlo, where they trounced the world No. 1 team of Bob and Mike Bryan of the U.S.

The victory came in Nestor's 100th career final, and in the Toronto player's first match against Knowles since the two split up prior to the start of the 2008 season.

WIMBLEDON PRIZE MONEY POUNDED

The prize for each of the men's and women's champions went up by 13.3 percent to 850,000 pounds ($1.24 million), organizers said Tuesday, but the pound's weak exchange rate means that translates to a reduction in dollars of 17 percent from last year's $1.49 million.

Buoyed by a new television contract in Asia and the extension of its commercial agreement with IBM, the tournament has also raised the total prize fund for the June 22-July 5 tournament by 6.2 percent to 12.55 million pounds ($18.38 million).

But that still compares unfavorably to last year's $23.46 million despite the increase being nearly double the 3.4 percent hike the All England Club managed 12 months ago.

AP

BORN TO RUN

Christopher McDougall, author of the forthcoming Born to Run, excerpts a section of his book that suggests costly, tech-term-laden training shoes aren't helping runners all that much—and they may actually be hurting.

McDougall draws from sports science, evolutionary study, and evidence from coaches and running teams that shoes with top-of-the-line "support," "impact resistance," and other features have actually resulted in more injuries for runners than using cheap, low-tech sneakers. There's actually an argument made for running barefoot as, McDougall argues, the human body was designed for.

Dr Daniel Lieberman, professor of biological anthropology at Harvard University, has been studying the growing injury crisis in the developed world for some time and has come to a startling conclusion: 'A lot of foot and knee injuries currently plaguing us are caused by people running with shoes that actually make our feet weak, cause us to over-pronate (ankle rotation) and give us knee problems.

'Until 1972, when the modern athletic shoe was invented, people ran in very thin-soled shoes, had strong feet and had a much lower incidence of knee injuries.'

Don't go tossing out your sneaks just yet, though—any doctor will tell you that a sudden change in footwear will almost certainly cause pain and injury. Seeing as how most of us have been running with modern sneakers since we could really run, barefoot or thin leather soles aren't going to cut it. But keep the injury evidence in mind next time you feel obligated to pay top dollars for something you're born to do anyways.

 

LIFEHACKER

WIMBLEDON'S WROOF

Tournament organizers unveiled the 56,000-square foot folding roof Tuesday and confirmed that it will be ready for the first time for the June 22-July 5 tournament.

While matches will be scheduled as they were in previous years, the new roof and the 118 lights under it mean that play will likely continue well beyond the point at which bad light usually forces a halt. Also, matches will be moved from other courts to the tournament's only covered venue if bad weather hits the grass-court tournament.

But the prospect of late matches means the ventilation system under the roof will have to be working perfectly to prevent condensation and the danger of slipping for the players racing across court.

It will take between 8 and 10 minutes for the roof's 10 trusses to slide across and cover Centre Court, and then as long as another 30 minutes for the airflow system to reduce moisture sufficiently for play to begin.

The construction of the closing roof began in 2006 with the dismantling of the traditional roof overhang after that year's tournament. The grass surface was more open to the elements during the wet tournament of 2007, but the overhang was back in 2008, along with 1,200 extra seats.

A new 4,000-capacity Court No. 2 will also open for the first time, taking the total ground capacity to 40,000.

If the Centre Court roof, which will be tested out on May 17 at a special exhibition featuring former Wimbledon champions Andre Agassi and Steffi Graf, has to be closed during a match, it will not be opened again until after that match finishes so that players have consistent conditions and to prevent delays.

 

AP

ROGER AND MIRKA

Roger
Federer begins his honeymoon this week
in court at the Monte Carlo Open after
an Easter weekend wedding to pregnant
long-time girlfriend Mirka Vavrinec.



Federer told his fans on his website:
"Earlier today, in my hometown of Basel,
surrounded by a small group of close
friends and family, Mirka and I got
married. It was a beautiful spring day
and an incredibly joyous occasion.



"Mr. and Mrs. Roger Federer wish all of
you a Happy Easter weekend.



Love,



Roger."



The wedding on the day before Easter
comes a few months before the new bride
is scheduled to give birth to the
couple's first child.

The surprise nuptials came only 48 hours
after the world No. 2 changed his mind
and took a wild card into Monte Carlo.

MONTE CARLO - CLAY SEASON BEGINS ON TSN

ATP RANKINGS