JESSE WITTEN QUALIFIES

Former University of Kentucky men's tennis star Jesse Witten will compete in first-round action of the French Open against Marcos Baghdatis of Cyprus, Monday at the Stade Roland Garros in Paris, France at 11 a.m. CET (5 a.m. EST). The lone tennis Grand Slam event played on a clay surface began Saturday.

Witten, listed No. 184 according to ATP rankings, earned his way into the prestigious tournament last week when he won three qualifying matches. The Naples, Fla., native won a three-hour-47-minute marathon against Marcos Daniel of Brazil 7-6, (7-2), 4-6, 17-15 on Tuesday to start his run. Daniel was ranked 107th in the world. A day later, Witten posted a 6-2, 6-1 victory over Australia's John Millman. Witten punched his qualifying ticket Friday when he registered a 7-5, 6-2 win over Pavol Cervenak of Slovakia.

Witten will be making his first appearance at the French Open. He has participated twice in the singles tournament at the US Open (2006 and 2009) with a third-round finish in 2009. He also took part in the US Open doubles tournament in 2006.

Witten's first-round opponent Monday in Paris, Baghdatis, holds a No. 29 singles ranking and has played in five previous French Opens, including a fourth-round finish in 2007.

Witten grew into an iconic tennis figure at Kentucky during his college days (2002-2005), becoming only the 11th four-time men's singles All-American in NCAA history. The native of Naples, Fla., was named the 2005 Southeastern Conference Player of the Year and advanced to the championship match of the 2005 NCAA Singles Championship. As a newcomer in 2002, Witten was named SEC Freshman of the Year, helping the Wildcats to a 23-10 mark and eighth-place finish at the NCAA Championships.

UNIVERSITY OF KENTUCKY

FRENCH OPEN ON TSN

MADRID ON TSN AND TSN1

NEWCOMBE - SKIN CANCER

Australian tennis great John Newcombe expects to attend Wimbledon next month after recovering from an operation for skin cancer.

The 65-year-old Newcombe had a growth removed from the right side of his nose after his doctor discovered the cancer had spread under the skin.

"It's just a small little white thing you can hardly see it," Newcombe told Australia's Channel 10 television network.

"It's a cancerous growth so he [the doctor] had to cut ... and I finished up having to have 64 stitches."

Newcombe won seven Grand Slam singles titles and reached the world's No. 1 ranking.

AP

WRIST SURGERY FOR DEL PO

World No. 5 Juan Martin del Potro, who has been sidelined from the ATP World Tour since the Australian Open in January, will undergo surgery on his right wrist on Tuesday in the United States. In a statement, the Argentine divulged that the operation will be carried out by Dr. Richard Berger, director of hand surgery at the Mayo Clinic in the city of Rochester, Minnesota.

APOLLO LAUNCH - TURN ON SOUND

Apollo 11 Saturn V Launch (HD) Camera E-8 from Mark Gray on Vimeo.

ITALIAN OPEN ON TSN AND TSN1

NESTOR TAKES BARCELONA

Top seeds Daniel Nestor and Nenad Zimonjic became the first repeat winners at the Barcelona Open BancSabadell in 27 years Sunday as they defeated Lleyton Hewitt and Mark Knowles 4-6, 6-3, 10-6 in the final of the ATP World Tour 500 clay-court tennis tournament.

The Canadian-Serbian duo, currently No. 1 in the 2010 ATP Doubles Team Rankings, adds a further 500 ATP World Tour Ranking points to its tally and shares €89,660 in prize money. The top eight teams at the end of the season will qualify for the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals, to be held at The O2 in London from 21-28 November.

Nestor and Zimonjic clinched their 20th tour-level title together, following on from their title defence at last week’s Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters (d. Bhupathi-Mirnyi). They also lifted trophies in Sydney (d. Hutchins-Kerr) and Rotterdam (d. Aspelin-Hanley) and finished runners-up at the Australian Open (l. to Bryan-Bryan) and the BNP Paribas Open (l. to Lopez-Nadal) earlier in the season.

Last year, Nestor and Zimonjic went on from Barcelona to triumph at the Internazionali BNL d’Italia in Rome, where they will play next week. They completed the sweep of 2009 ATP World Tour Masters 1000 clay-court tournaments in Madrid.

ATP

MARK KNOWLES MILESTONE

Bahamian Mark Knowles has become just the fifth player in ATP World Tour history to record 700 doubles match wins.

The 38-year-old Knowles partnered former World No. 1 singles player Lleyton Hewitt to a 6-4, 7-6(0) victory over sixth seeds Lukasz Kubot and Oliver Marach on Thursday for a place in the Barcelona Open BancSabadell quarter-finals. Knowles and Hewitt won 71 per cent of service points and saved four of six break points for victory in 89 minutes.

“It’s a great milestone,” said Knowles, who has a 700-338 overall doubles record. “It reflects a pretty good career and I’ve had some great partners along the way to get me to that milestone. It’s exciting [and] it’s been a very challenging year. Every win is special these days based on the year I've had with injuries.”

Knowles joins Todd Woodbridge (782 wins), his long-time former partner Daniel Nestor (745), Sherwood Stewart (723) and Jonas Bjorkman (709) in the exclusive 700 Match Wins Club.

"I've got to know Lleyton pretty well recently,” said Knowles. “I asked him to play here and he was excited to play. Obviously it’s an honour. It’s extra special that he got me to 700 today.”

Over the course of a 19-season pro career, Knowles has won 52 career doubles titles. He has won at least one title for 16 of 17 years (except 1999) from 1993-2009. He won his three Grand Slam doubles titles with Nestor at the 2002 Australian Open, the 2004 US Open and at 2007 Roland Garros.

When asked how much longer he intends to play, No. 8-ranked Knowles said, “You never know. I've got a great partner lined up in Mardy Fish this year. So far our biggest obstacle has been to try and stay healthy between the two of us.

“I still enjoy being out there and competing. A lot depends on health, family and other issues, but I feel like I'm still playing at a good enough level to stay out here and compete.”

ATP

WIMBLEDON PRIZE HISTORY

Following is an evolution of the prize money awarded to singles champions at Wimbledon since tennis turned professional in 1968 (all figures in pounds sterling).

            Men              Women

1968 2,000          750

1970 3,000         1,500

1975 10,000      7,000

1980 20,000     18,000

1985 130,000   117,000

1990 230,000  207,000

1995 365,000  328,000

2000 477,500 430,000

2005 630,000 600,000

2007 700,000 700,000

REUTERS

WIMBLEDON PRIZE MONEY

Wimbledon organizers have increased prize money for the men's and women's champions to £1 million ($1.53 million).

The All England Club has sanctioned the £150,000 rise to offset the effects of the falling value of the British pound against the US dollar and euro.

The total prize money for the event will be £13.725 million, an increase of £1.175 million on 2009.

The All England Club agreed to pay women the same prize money as men for the first time in 2007. The £1 million prize for the 2010 ladies singles' champion is more than double that of eight years ago.

CNN

NADAL KNEES REST

Spanish tennis star
Rafael Nadal has withdrawn from the Conde de Godo tournament in
Barcelona because of further problems in his knees.

The
former world number one had just returned to winning ways after
triumphing in Monte Carlo, but tendonitis in his knees forced him out
of the Barcelona competition.

"My body has asked me to rest," he explained in Barcelona based spots paper El Mundo Deportivo.

Nadal
was plagued with knee problems last year and was unable to play at
Queens, Wimbledon or take part in the final of the Davis Cup, which
Spain won in Barcelona.

"I
have said on several occasions that the calendar is badly structured at
this time of the season," commented Nadal, in reference to the fact
that the competitions in Monte Carlo, Barcelona and the Rome Masters
(which begins next week) represent three consecutive weeks of
competition with no rest in between.

"I
am really sorry I can't play in Barcelona, more than in any other
competition. I feel it is the competition that is played in my club and
at my home," he explained.

Nadal
will now focus on recovering in time to play the Rome Masters, before
competing in the Madrid Masters in early 9-16 May and then the French
Open (May 23-June 6).

MONTE CARLO ON TSN

CHEECH SMOKES RAFA

 

 

Ivan Ljubicic posted a surprise semifinal victory on Saturday at the $4.5 million BNP Paribas Open.

The 20th-seeded Croat downed favored third-seeded Spaniard Rafael Nadal, 3-6, 6-4, 7-6 (7-1) to gain a berth in Sunday's final.

Nadal -- who won here in 2007 and 2009 -- breezed through the first set in a half hour, but Ljubicic roared back with four straight points in the second to win the set. The 31-year-old then toughed out a final set which took nearly an hour to complete to earn the victory.

It will be Ljubicic's first appearance in an ATP Masters Series final since bowing to Roger Federer in Miami four years ago. His opponent will be either seventh-seeded American Andy Roddick .

TSN

INDIAN WELLS AND KEY BICAYNE ON TSN

Things Get Ugly Between Two Legends At Charity Event "Agassi/Sampras"

Agassi, in his book, "Open", asks a car valet how much Pete tipped him. The valet reluctantly says, "One dollar."
This revelation has lead to some hard feelings between Pete and Andre.

ANCIC AND MONO

Another former Top 10 player, Croatian Mario Ancic, won his first ATP World Tour match in more than year as he rallied from down a set and break to claim a 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 victory over American qualifier Bobby Reynolds.

Returning to Indian Wells held extra significance for the 25 year old, who had retired against countryman Ivan Lubicic after six games in his 2009 opener. “This week is so special for me because last year this was the last match, and then I haven’t played for almost a year,” said Ancic.

The Croat had reached a career-high No. 7 in 2006, but suffered a series of setbacks over the past couple years – largely caused by recurrences of mononucleosis. After receiving a clean bill of health in November, he tested out his match fitness at ATP Challengers and Futures events this season, and reached the final last week at a Futures tournament in Texas.

“The more matches I play, the better I will feel on the court definitely,” said Ancic.

NADAL'S RANKING

There will be a lot at stake for Rafael Nadal at the BNP Paribas Open from the Indian Wells Tennis Center at Indian Wells, California.  Nadal is the defending champion from 2009 and as a result he has 1000 points to defend, points that are scheduled to drop from his total on March 22nd, 2010.

Currently Nadal is ranked 3rd on the ATP tour with 7520 points and he could quite easily drop below 7000 points after Indian Wells.  Depending on how Andy Murray does at Indian Wells (he was a finalist last year) we might see Nadal slip back down to 4th on tour.

While nothing major will happen to Nadal's ranking in March, April and May of 2010 could be a different story.

Those two months will see a lot of tour ranking points at risk for Nadal.  On April 19th 1000 points are scheduled to drop from Nadal's total from his win at Monte Carlo in 2009.  On April 26th 500 points from his Barcelona title are scheduled to drop off as well.  On May 3rd his 1000 points from winning Rome last year are scheduled to drop and finally on May 17th 600 more points from his finals appearance at Madrid last year will be at risk.

There's also 180 points from his quarterfinals appearance in Miami last year that will be at risk soon but Nadal could defend those.

However a large chunk of the other 4100 points for the five other tournaments (Indian Wells, Monte Carlo, Rome, Madrid, and Barcelona) are in serious jeopardy of going undefended as Nadal's form is not the same now as it was at this time last year due to his nagging injuries.

CRUNCH SPORTS

INDIAN WELLS -TSN AND TSN2

HIP REPLACEMENT PROBLEMS

Some of the nation’s leading orthopedic surgeons have reduced or stopped use of a popular category of artificial hips amid concerns that the devices are causing severe tissue and bone damage in some patients, often requiring replacement surgery within a year or two.

In recent years, such devices, known as “metal on metal” implants, have been used in about one-third of the approximately 250,000 hip replacements performed annually in this country. They are used in conventional hip replacements and in a popular alternative procedure known as resurfacing.

The devices, whose ball-and-socket joints are made from metals like cobalt and chromium, became widely used in the belief that they would be more durable than previous types of implants.

The cause and the scope of the problem are not clear. But studies in recent years indicate that in some cases the devices can quickly begin to wear, generating high volumes of metallic debris that is absorbed into a patient’s body. That situation can touch off inflammatory reactions that cause pain in the groin, death of tissue in the hip joint and loss of surrounding bone.

WHOLE ARTICLE FROM NYTIMES