ISNER STOPS MONFILS

American John Isner blazed more than 100 winners in knocking 12th-seeded Gael Monfils of France out of Australian Open 2010 on Friday evening.

It was a disciplined display from the 206cm giant, who made only 38 unforced errors on the way to his second consecutive Grand Slam round of 16, defeating Monfils 6-1 4-6 7-6(4) 7-6(5).

TSN TENNIS

- Australian Open - January 17 – 31
- ATP Masters Series 1000: Indian Wells - March 15 – 21
- ATP Masters Series 1000: Miami - March 29 – April 4
- ATP Masters Series 1000: Monte Carlo - April 12 – 18
- ATP Masters Series 1000: Rome - April 26 – May 2
- ATP Masters Series 1000: Madrid - May 10 – 16
- French Open - May 23 – June 6
- Wimbledon - June 21 – July 2
- ATP Masters Series 1000: Rogers Cup (Toronto) - August 9 – 13
- Sony Ericsson WTA Tour: Rogers Cup (Montreal) - August 16 – 20
- ATP Masters Series 1000: Cincinnati - August 16 – 22
- US Open - August 30 – September 12
- ATP Masters Series 1000: Shanghai - October 11 – 17
- ATP Masters Series 1000: Paris - November 8 – 14
- Barclays ATP World Tour Finals: London - November 22 – 28

CRYSTAL BALLS

 

Who has to beat whom to be champ by round:

Federer

1. Andreev

2. Chela

3. Starace

4. Hewett

5. Davydenko - Verdasco

6. Djokovic

7. Nadal

Djokovic

1. Gimeno-Traver

2. Chiudinelli

3. Chardy

4. Robredo

5. Tsonga - Haas - Soderling

6. Federer

7. Nadal

Del Potro

1. Russel

2. Blake

3. Troicki

4. Cilic - Wawrinka

5. Gonzalez - Berdych - Roddick

6. Nadal

7. Federer

Nadal

1. Luczak

2. Mayer

3. Kohlschreiber

4. Stepanek - Karlovic

5. Murray

6. Del Po

7. Federer

OZ ON TSN AND TSN2

 

JESSE LOST

JINGOISM

Police have warned they are ready to crack down on troublemakers at the Australian Open after ethnic violence marred recent tournaments.

In 2007, 150 Croat and Serb fans engaged in a wild brawl, hitting each other with bottles and flagpoles. It was the first time in more than 100 years of grand slam tennis that violence had erupted at a tournament.

Police then used capsicum spray on a group of rowdy Greek supporters in 2008 while last year a fight broke out in one of the bar areas between Bosnian and Serbian fans, who threw plastic chairs at each other.

The year's first grand slam begins on Monday.

Police also had expanded powers to deal with drunkeness and swearing, he said, while they would also use closed-circuit television to monitor the crowds and venue 24 hours a day.

REUTERS

OZ SEEDS

Men’s seeds

1 (SUI) Roger Federer

2 (ESP) Rafael Nadal

3 (SRB) Novak Djokovic

4 (ARG) Juan Martin del Potro

5 (GRB) Andy Murray

6 (RUS) Nikolay Davydenko

7 (USA) Andy Roddick

8 (SWE) Robin Soderling

9 (ESP) Fernando Verdasco

10 (FRA) Jo-Wilfried Tsonga

11 (CHI) Fernando Gonzalez

12 (FRA) Gael Monfils

13 (CZE) Radek Stepanek

14 (CRO) Marin Cilic

15 (FRA) Gilles Simon

16 (ESP) Tommy Robredo

17 (ESP) David Ferrer

18 (GER) Tommy Haas

19 (SUI) Stanislas Wawrinka

20 (RUS) Mikhail Youzhny

21 (CZE) Tomas Berdych

22 (AUS) Lleyton Hewitt

23 (ESP) Juan Carlos Ferrero

24 (CRO) Ivan Ljubicic

25 (USA)Sam Querrey

26 (ESP) Nicolas Almagro

27 (GER)Philipp Kohlschreiber

28 (AUT) Jurgen Melzer

29 (SRB) Viktor Troicki

30 (ARG) Juan Monaco

31 (ESP) Albert Montanes

32 (FRA) Jeremy Chardy

OZ WILDCARDS

Men

Nick Lindahl (AO Play-off winner), Bernard Tomic (discretionary), Carsten Ball (discretionary), Jason Kubler (discretionary), Marinko Matosevic (discretionary), Sebastien Grosjean (French Open reciprocal), Ryan Harrison (US Open reciprocal), Andrey Golubev (Asia Pacific).

Women

Casey Dellacqua (AO Play-off winner), Alicia Molik (discretionary), Olivia Rogowska (discretionary), Jarmila Groth (discretionary), Stephanie Cohen-Aloro (French Open reciprocal), Coco Vandeweghe (US Open reciprocal), Sesil Karatantcheva (Asia Pacific).

WITTEN _ 2nd ROUND QUALIES

JESSE INTO 2nd ROUND QUALIE

He'll have a day off and then play Niland.

WITTEN IN QUALIES

Jesse Witten has been drawn in the bottom of the second quarter of the qualies.

His match is scheduled for Wed, 10 am, court 8 - 6 pm, Tuesday [tonight] here.

Maybe it will be on Veetle or ATDHE.

GO HERE FOR FULL QUALIE DRAW.

DO YOU REMEMBER - JESSE WITTEN

In the US OPEN, Jesse played through the Qualies  and got in the main draw.

He's now in Australia hoping for the best.

 

LAST SEPTEMBER

Fourth seed Djokovic barely knew what hit him as he came face-to-face with a player who had never won a tour match before this week but American Jessie Witten thrilled the hollering home fans for almost 3-1/2 hours before he succumbed 6-7 6-3 7-6 6-4.

Being on a roll is something Witten had never experienced before this week.

Struggling to make ends meet on the lower echelons of tennis the 26-year-old came close to quitting the sport earlier this year. Things went from bad to worse on the eve of Open as he became a victim of the global credit crunch when he was dropped by his clothing sponsor.

But handed a wildcard into the qualifying draw, the 276th ranked Witten has made the most of his opportunity to get some free laundry done at the expense of U.S. Open organisers.

Domestic chores aside, for over an hour he responded to the rhythmic chants of "Jess-ie, Jess-ie" ringing around Louis Armstrong Stadium as he tormented a racket-bashing Djokovic.

But in the end, he did not have the firepower to subdue Djokovic, who applauded the American's heroics before telling the crowd. "It was hard to tell who was the number four player out there."

"Once I started playing, I mean, we're having rallies, and you don't really think of the rankings. You're thinking strategy more than numbers," said Witten, who had to request almost two dozen tickets from the organisers to satisfy the demands of his friends and family.

Despite his defeat, Witten hoped the biggest payday of his career -- $48,000 for reaching the last 32 - will allow him to prolong his career for "at least the rest of the year."

REUTERS

MEN'S RANKINGS

(Reuters) - Men's tennis world rankings on Monday (previous week's rankings in brackets):

1. (1) Roger Federer (Switzerland) 10550 points

2. (2) Rafael Nadal (Spain) 9310

3. (3) Novak Djokovic (Serbia) 8310

4. (5) Juan Martin del Potro (Argentina) 6785

5. (4) Andy Murray (Britain) 6780

6. (6) Nikolay Davydenko (Russia) 4930

7. (7) Andy Roddick (U.S.) 4510

8. (8) Robin Soderling (Sweden) 3410

9. (9) Fernando Verdasco (Spain) 3300

10. (10) Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (France) 2875

11. (11) Fernando Gonzalez (Chile) 2870

12. (13) Gael Monfils (France) 2610

13. (12) Radek Stepanek (Czech Republic) 2525

14. (14) Marin Cilic (Croatia) 2430

One year in 60 seconds

OZ ON TSN AND TSN2

TABATA - 4 MINUTE WORKOUT

The Tabata protocol is a high-intensity training regimen that produces remarkable results. A Tabata workout (also called a Tabata sequence) is an interval training cycle of 20 seconds of maximum intensity exercise, followed by 10 seconds of rest, repeated without pause 8 times for a total of four minutes.

4 Minute Fat Burning Workout Tabata Style! on Howcast

Credit for this simple and powerful training method belongs to its namesake, Dr. Izumi Tabata and a team of researchers from the National Institute of Fitness and Sports in Tokyo, Japan. Their groundbreaking 1996 study, published in the journal Medicine and Science in Sports & Exercise, provided documented evidence concerning the dramatic physiological benefits of high-intensity intermittent training. After just 6 weeks of testing, Dr. Tabata noted a 28% increase in anaerobic capacity in his subjects, along with a 14% increase in their ability to consume oxygen (V02Max). These results were witnessed in already physically fit athletes. The conclusion was that just four minutes of Tabata interval training could do more to boost aerobic and anaerobic capacity than an hour of endurance exercise.

GLOBE AND MAIL ARTICLE ON TABATA

BORIS SYMPATHISES

Former tennis champion Boris Becker says he sympathises with Tiger Woods, whose life is in turmoil after he admitted cheating on his wife.

Becker, 42, who fathered a child with a Russian model after a brief sexual encounter in a cupboard at a London restaurant while his wife was pregnant, said he could identify with the golf star.

"I experienced exactly the same and I can sympathise with him," the German newspaper Bild quoted Becker, winner of six grand slam titles, as telling a TV show to be aired later on Monday.

Becker, who had a messy divorce and became the butt of jokes for his flings, said he believed it would be "damned hard" for father-of-two Woods to save his marriage to Swede Elin Nordegren.

NALBANDIAN COMEBACK

Argentina's former world number three David Nalbandian has targeted the Davis Cup as a main objective as he steps up his return from a seven-month injury layoff at an exhibition tournament in Buenos Aires this weekend.

The 2002 Wimbledon runner-up, who made a winning return to action at an exhibition tournament last week, has been sidelined with a hip injury since May and has been recovering from surgery in August.

"The first issue is to make it through these first four months," the 27-year-old told a news conference. "I have to be careful and time will tell what goals I can set. But obviously the Davis Cup is still a clear objective; after that, the big tournaments."

Nalbandian is set to return to the ATP Tour at the Jan 11-16 Auckland Open to complete his preparations for the Australian Open, starting in Melbourne the following weekend.

REUTERS

WATCHING LESS TV

What happens when people start watching less television? Do they eat less? Exercise more? Sleep better?

To the researchers’ surprise, cutting back television time didn’t have an effect on calorie consumption, nor did it change sleep habits. The group that watched less television did, however, move more, burning an average of 120 calories more a day than the control group.

Although some participants did report getting more exercise by walking their dogs more often or signing up for a yoga class, most of the people didn’t use their television-free time for scheduled physical exercise. One person used the extra time to organize photo albums, others reported reading more or playing board games with their children. Many said they spent the time doing more household chores or paying bills.

But even those minor changes in activity level counted a lot. While the group that reduced television viewing burned off an additional 120 calories a day compared with the previous three weeks, the control group became even more sedentary, moving about 100 calories less than before. The additional activity that resulted from less television time is the equivalent of walking about eight miles a week.

NYTIMES

MURRY'S 'CALL OF DUTY'

Tennis star Andy Murray has been dumped by his girlfriend for spending too much time playing “Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2”, at least according to an article in that most trusted and intellectual of ‘newspapers’, The Sun.

Twenty one year old Kim Sears dumped the twenty two year old sportsman because he apparently spends up to seven hours a day playing the recently released shooter on the PlayStation 3, something which “drove her mad”, according to the tabloid. “He would spend all his time glued (to the game),” according to a “source”. “In the end she just got fed up with it. She wanted more out of the relationship.”

The young student has apparently abandoned Murray’s five million pound Surrey mansion to return home to live with her parents, due to his “obsession” with the game. Murray’s addiction to gaming has been well documented in the past, with his former coach Brad Gilbert, apparently confirming “He plays video games seven hours a day.”