SUMMER HEAT DOWNUNDER

Thursday, April 28, 2011

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Thursday, April 14, 2011

Wednesday, April 13, 2011

Sunday, April 10, 2011

Milos Raonic of Canada plays a volley in his match against Michael Llodra of France during Day One of the ATP Masters Series Tennis at the Monte Carlo Country Club on April 10, 2011 in Monte Carlo, Monaco.

Photograph by: Julian Finney, Getty Images

MONTE CARLO, Monaco — Rising Canadian tennis star Milos Raonic won his first senior ATP match played on clay Sunday, beating Michael Llodra of France 6-3, 0-6, 6-0 in first-round action at the Monte Carlo Masters.

Raonic, 20, of Thornhill, Ont., beat Llodra in their only other ATP Tour meeting, in the second round of the Australian Open two months ago.

Raonic will face either 14th-seeded Alexandr Dolgopolov of Ukraine or Ernests Gulbis of Latvia in the second round.

Raonic’s booming serve is the key to his game, rendered less dangerous when playing on clay.

Still, Raonic said he’s growing accustomed to the slower surface.

“I’m liking it more and more by the day,” Raonic said of playing on clay. “I look quite frustrated because I always want to win, but it’s fun. It’s a lot more fun than I might show.

“As long as it keeps getting better day to day, week by week, I’ll be smiling more and more.”

Raonic entered the match ranked 35th in the world, while Llodra was ranked 24th.

Raonic’s previous clay experience was in a French Open junior loss and several Futures matches while a teenager.

Last month, however, he won both of his matches on the surface in Canada’s Davis Cup first-round victory at Mexico City.

Thursday, April 7, 2011

ATP INJURY PREVENTION

We’re taught from a young age that prevention is better than cure. That’s particularly true when it comes to tennis injuries.

Since 2006 the ATP has conducted player performance and injury prevention screenings three or four times a year at key events like Indian Wells, Madrid and Cincinnati. At these selected events a physical therapist and orthopedic surgeon provide a 30-minute one-on-one voluntary evaluation with players in a screening programme to check for warning signs of injury. These ATP medical staff members look at a player’s injury history and run them through a series of measures and performance movements, including muscle and flexibility tests, to identify potential problems and, if needed, tailor an individualized training regimen. “It’s one thing to provide treatment for all these injuries, but the more important question is how do we try to prevent them in the first place,” says Todd Ellenbecker, Director of Sports Medicine for the ATP.

When looking for problems, one warning sign is if the right shoulder of a right-handed player is weaker than his left shoulder (and vice-versa for left-handers). “If the rotator cuff of the dominant shoulder is weaker than the non-dominant side that concerns us and we’d look to put that player on a shoulder-strengthening programme,” Ellenbecker says. “A player should have similar strength, if not more, on his dominant side.”

Tennis players typically lose some internal rotation flexibility on their dominant shoulder, but if significant flexibility is lost, that may lead to closer monitoring and improvement can be made with specific stretches. The screening evaluation also involves up to five tests for core stability (stomach, back, muscles of the mid section). Almost all players have very good core stability, which is important for preventing back injuries.

If a player doesn’t have a really high level of core stability, a specific programme is given to strengthen these important muscles for both injury prevention and of course to enhance a player’s performance.

Shoulder tests have been an important part of the screening programme since it was launched in 2006. ATP medical staff measure the internal and external rotation range of motion to ensure flexibility is not limited. A device is also used to measure muscular strength of the rotator cuff in a very precise way. “If a player loses range of motion or strength in their shoulder we know they are susceptible to injury,” Ellenbecker says. “A player who is found to have shoulder weakness is given an exercise programme and a list of things he can do to improve these deficiencies. Free exercise equipment from Thera-band is provided for the players going through the programme as we are confident that these products provide a great training stimulus and very importantly, can be taken with the player as they travel around the world so they are never without the right equipment to get their workout done.”

Remedial work to increase shoulder strength typically involves the use of elastic tubes and bands, which players can easily throw in their bag to take on the road. Work with small medicine balls is also often recommended. Ellenbecker says, “If we find a deficiency during the screening it’s not enough for us to say, ‘Hey you’ve got problems, see you later.’ So we structure a self-sufficient training programme they can follow on the road where they may not have access for fancy equipment. And they can check in with an ATP physio at a tournament if they have any questions.”

Players are encouraged to be tested multiple times a year so improvement can be monitored. “One of the most rewarding parts of the programme is when we see the deficiencies identified through the screening phase have gone,” Ellenbecker says.

ATP STAFF

Tuesday, April 5, 2011

PROSTATE SCREENING

Screening men for prostate cancer appears to have no significant impact on prostate cancer mortality, Swedish researchers reported in the BMJ (British Medical Journal). Screening for prostate cancer is common throughout most of the world, however, experts continue to disagree on whether their alleged life-protecting benefits are outweighed by overdiagnosis and unnecessary treatment.

Researchers from the Karolinska Institute examined a trial involving 9,026 males aged 50-59 years from Sweden's National Population Register.

1,494 of them were selected at random for prostate screening every year from 1987 to 1996. The remainder were controls (7,532 men).

The first two screenings only involved a digital rectal exam. From 1993 the screening involved both a digital rectal exam and a PSA (prostate specific antigen) test. In 1996, the fourth screening, only males up to the age of 69 years were invited.

The investigators included all the participants diagnosed with cancer up to December 31, 1999. They monitored survival rates until December 31, 2008.

5.7% (85) men were diagnosed with prostate cancer in the screened group and 3.9% (292) in the control group. Tumors were small and more frequently localized in the screened group.

The authors report that their analysis revealed no significantly longer survival or overall survival among the screened men with prostate cancer versus the control group.

A BMJ communiqué wrote:

"And while screening and treating men with detected tumours might reduce deaths specifically from prostate cancer by up to a third (at best), this would be at considerable risk of worrying overdetection and unpleasant or harmful overtreatment. Indeed, a previous trial found that to prevent one death from prostate cancer, 1,410 men would need to be screened and 48 treated. "

Before being screened, patients should be told about the risk of treatment, plus the anxiety and worry resulting from false-positive test results, the authors believe.

They add that future screenings should discriminate between indolent (slow growing) tumors and high risk ones. Less aggressive treatment should be the norm for indolent tumors. The aim should not be to simply seek to optimize the sensitivity of diagnostic tests.

The researchers concluded:

"After 20 years of follow-up, the rate of death from prostate cancer did not differ significantly between men in the screening group and those in the control group."

MEDICAL NEWS TODAY

EXERCISE AND HEART MASS

By Ransdell Pierson, ReutersApril 4, 2011

The first study to evaluate the effects of varying levels of lifelong exercise on heart mass was presented on Saturday at the annual scientific meeting of the American College of Cardiology in New Orleans.

Consistent lifelong exercise preserves heart muscle in the elderly to levels that match or even exceed that of healthy young sedentary people, a surprising finding that underscores the value of regular exercise training, according to a new study.

The first study to evaluate the effects of varying levels of lifelong exercise on heart mass was presented on Saturday at the annual scientific meeting of the American College of Cardiology in New Orleans.

It suggested that physical activity preserves the heart's youthful elasticity, showing that when people were sedentary, the mass of their hearts shrunk with each passing decade.

By contrast, elderly people with a documented history of exercising six to seven times a week throughout adulthood not only kept their heart mass, but built upon it -- having heart masses greater than sedentary healthy adults aged 25 to 34.

"One thing that characterizes the aging process by itself is the loss of muscle mass, particularly skeletal muscle," said Dr. Paul Bhella, a researcher from John Peter Smith Hospital in Fort Worth, Texas who presented the study at the conference.

"But we are showing that this process is not unique to skeletal muscle, it also happens in cardiac muscle," he said. "A heart muscle that atrophies is weaker."

The study enrolled 121 healthy people with no history of heart disease. Fifty nine were sedentary subjects recruited from the Dallas Heart Study, a large multiethnic sample of Dallas County residents.

Some 62 lifelong exercisers, all over age 65, were recruited mainly from the Aerobics Center Longitudinal Study, which had documented their exercise habits over a period of 25 years.

In the new study, exercise was assessed by the number of aerobic exercise sessions per week, rather than intensity or duration. Subjects were broken down into four groups: non-exercisers; casual exercisers (two to three times a week); committed exercisers (four to five times a week) and master athletes (six to seven times a week).

Heart mass measurements, taken using MRIs, showed that sedentary subjects had diminished heart mass as they aged, while lifelong exercisers had heart mass expansion with increasing frequency of exercise.

"The data suggest that if we can identify people in middle age, in the 45 to 60 year range, and get them to exercise four to five times a week, this may go a very long way in preventing some of the major heart conditions of old age, including heart failure," said Benjamin Levine of the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, who headed the study.

© Copyright (c) Reuters

Friday, April 1, 2011

FIRST, WE LEARN TO WALK, THEN RUN

Tuesday, March 29, 2011

ORANGE LOVERS

“It was an annual mystery that baffled [South African] fruit farmer Alwyn van der Merwe,” The Christian Science Monitor says. “Each June, when his oranges began ripening, a troop of baboons would descend from the mountains … and target one particular tree among thousands, stripping it of all its oranges. Year after year it happened, until Mr. van der Merwe decided to inspect the lone tree and discovered that it was a different variety from the others, sweeter and ripening three weeks earlier. ‘We couldn’t believe it. The one tree was different from the thousands of others and the baboons knew it,’ he says. Samples of the tree were sent to be tested by the Citrus Growers Association, which confirmed it was a new variety of Mineola orange.”

QUADROCOPTER

Friday, March 25, 2011

Festo - SmartBird

Tuesday, March 22, 2011

TENNIS POSTER

As a 17-year-old girl during the long hot summer of 1976 Fiona Walker, then Butler, cheerfully allowed her boyfriend, Martin Elliott, to photograph her knickerless, walking towards a tennis net. Elliott sold the image to Athena, and up it speedily went on the bedroom walls of boys everywhere, becoming one of the world's biggest selling posters.

Now, the Athena Tennis Girl poster is to be included in what organisers say is the first exhibition exploring lawn tennis as a subject in fine art.

Walker was not then, nor ever has been, a tennis player. "I don't have the hand eye co-ordination," she says. Nor has she made a penny from the poster. "I was very naive and was paid nothing."

But she has fond memories of the photoshoot – in which she wore her dad's plimsolls – and harbours no embarrassment at the image. "It never ceases to make me smile when I see it, and I do sometimes see it in some very strange places. I've no regrets about it," she says.

Elliott – who did do very well out of the image – died last year.

Walker was reunited with the picture when she attended the launch of the exhibition, called Court on Canvas.The show is being held this summer at Birmingham's Barber Institute of Fine Arts, less than half a mile from Ampton Road, Edgbaston, where the sport was played for the first time.

• Court on Canvas: Tennis in Art is at the Barber Institute of Fine Art, Birmingham from 27 May to 18 September

Thursday, March 17, 2011

STRING TECHNOLOGY AND TENNIS

In the French Open final this June, many thought that 6-foot-4-inch Robin Soderling would overpower Rafael Nadal, just as he had Roger Federer in the quarterfinals. On serve at 2–1 in the second set, he hit a sharp, low slice crosscourt to Nadal’s service line—the type of shot that has been unattackable, too low and close to the net to return aggressively: hit it just a bit too hard, and it floats long.
But Nadal took three strides into the court and ripped a short-hopped forehand crosscourt from the service line. The speed of his racket put the ball on a trajectory to the back fence, but his high-tech copolyester strings bent it down inside Soderling’s own service line for an untouchable winner. Soderling dropped his head in disbelief as commentator John McEnroe prefaced the television replay: “Take a look at this ball right here!”
“Yep, that’s impossible,” Nate Ferguson, the stringer and racket technician of Federer, Novak Djokovic, Andy Murray, and Soderling, told me later. “The ball’s 18 inches off the ground and hit for a winner [from there]—that’s bullshit.”
Copoly strings help generate so much spin that today’s players—dubbed the “new-string generation” by Federer— can hit once-inconceivable drives, angled winners, and passing shots. But despite the widespread belief of players that copoly strings have changed the game, scientists until recently could find no evidence that a string’s material, thickness, tension, or texture made a real difference in spin generation.
Enter the Japanese engineer Yoshihiko Kawazoe. In 2004, he decided to test a string lubricant that its inventor, Kenji Okimoto, thought would “revive” old, worn strings. Kawazoe realized that, despite much research, scientists had only a shadowy idea of what happens during the 4 or 5 milliseconds when the ball is on the strings, simply because they couldn’t see it. But with an ultra-high-speed, 10,000-frame-per-second camera, Kawazoe solved the mystery of strings and spin.
In capturing 40 to 50 frames of each ball-string impact, he saw that lubricated strings slid with the ball and snapped back as it left. As they snapped back into line, they transferred more energy to the ball in the tangential (parallel to the racket face) direction and gave it more spin—which was easily calculated from the super-slow-motion rotation of the ball as it left the strings. In technical studies published in 2006 and 2007, International Tennis Federation researchers reported that the same movement that Kawazoe observed with lubricated strings occurs with copoly as well.
Copoly strings—slippery and stiff—generate more spin not because of more friction, but because of less. “The old argument was that the better the grip between the strings and the ball, the more spin you would get. But that’s not true,” said Rod Cross, an Australian physicist and co-author of Technical Tennis.
Last April, Cross and his co-author, Crawford Lindsey, published their study showing that copoly strings generate 20 percent more spin than nylon strings, and 11 percent more than natural gut. Such differences help explain how a contemporary powerhouse like Rafael Nadal can hit with twice as much spin as Andre Agassi did.
Looking back, Lindsey and Kawazoe told me they are befuddled by how long people took to realize that polyester strings generated extra spin through sideways sliding and snapback. They should have known this, because 30 years ago, a radical innovation—“spaghetti strings”—used the same mechanism to generate more spin than even the best copolys.
“In spaghetti strings, the [horizontal and vertical] strings weren’t woven,” said Cross. “And because they weren’t woven, there was lots of freedom of movement within the string plane, and that produced almost a factor-of-two increase in the amount of spin. And that’s why the ITF banned them.”
Remarkably, the ITF’s 1978 ruling that all strings must be interwoven was the first rule constraining the design of either rackets or strings. Stuart Miller, the head of science and technology for the ITF, said that it tries to test each string that hits the market, “looking for anything that would, in our opinion, fundamentally change the nature of the game,” or introduce a “step change” in spin generation.
But two step-changing technologies have so far evaded regulation: the large-headed racket, which reached its spin potential only after three generations of technique refinements; and copoly strings, whose spin-boosting nature eluded proof for 15 years. Together, they can generate as much spin, or more, in the hands of today’s players as could a spaghetti racket wielded by a ’70s-era player.
This article available online at:
http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2011/01/the-new-physics-of-tennis/8339/
Copyright © 2011 by The Atlantic Monthly Group. All Rights Reserved.

Sunday, March 13, 2011

INDIAN WELLS RESULTS

Billionaire Larry Ellison

latimes.com

BILL DWYRE

The Oracle founder is the fifth-wealthiest man in the world, and he was willing to spend about $100 million of that fortune to buy the BNP Paribas Open, securing the future of the Indian Wells event. At 66, he's also a serious player.

We sat in a huge boardroom, with paneled walls, nice paintings and 20 big leather chairs so comfortable they could put you to sleep in minutes.

It was a great place to discuss software trends with Larry Ellison, who was not only deemed by Forbes last week to be the fifth wealthiest man in the world, but who has probably seen more boardrooms than anybody this side of Warren Buffett.

Of course, your typist wouldn't know a broadband from a Band-Aid. So it was a good thing the topic was one vastly more important to the welfare of Western civilization.

That would be tennis.

Last year, Ellison purchased the BNP Paribas Open, which has pretty well established itself as the next best thing in tennis after the four Grand Slams. If nothing else, its attendance, currently heading toward 350,000 for its 13-day run in the Southern California desert, proves that. Only the four majors sell more tickets.

Ellison, 66, is a tennis enthusiast, which probably understates it.

"I play five days a week," he says. "It's usually on clay. I love it."

This is not a pat-it-around guy, either. Asked if he is rated around a 4.0 or 4.5 player — ratings that indicate a strong, serious player, almost college-team level — Ellison says, "Oh, I think a little better than that."

He admits it is hard to know exactly, because he isn't playing senior tournaments, even though he smacks his lips at the thought.

"It is tempting," he says.

One might imagine that the board of directors of Oracle, his massive software company in Redwood Shores, Ca., would like competitive tennis to remain merely a temptation. He has already put together a team that won an America's Cup in sailing, so the window for more fun time can't be huge.

"Life is not practice," he says. "It can't be that all I do is work."

He says he came back and forth to the tournament a few times last year, the first year he owned the event. This time, he says, "I will stay the rest of the week. I like it here."

In corporate tennis circles, his purchase of the Indian Wells event is seen as something almost heroic, a move that not only injected cash and stability into a tournament that had become a crown jewel of the sport, but also sent an important message: If Larry Ellison thinks enough of the sport to spend around $100 million on it, and even commit to improving a tournament that didn't seem to need much, than tennis is still a big player on the international scene.

"I love the sport," he says. "Nobody had to sell me on doing this."

There had been the possibility that, with financial difficulties, this tournament might be sold and moved to another country, likely China. PM Sports Management, the Charlie Pasarell-Raymond Moore venture that owned and grew this tournament over 36 years, had gotten itself in decent shape the last few years to be able to carry on easily. But Ellison's offer was too good to refuse, as was the extra financial security.

"Nobody wanted to see this tournament go to another country," Ellison says.

He is an unabashed supporter of and optimist about the sport. He lights up when he talks about classic Jimmy Connors-John McEnroe matches he has seen. He indicates feeling honored to have met the great Aussie, Rod Laver, and says Laver's era, with Ken Rosewall and Roy Emerson, was a time of tennis pride, much like the current era of Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal.

"They are special," Ellison says of Federer and Nadal. "I remember that Australian final, when Rafa beat Roger and Roger was so crushed by losing, and Rafa went over and put his arm around him."

Ellison is at the age when men usually turn to golf, but he says he doesn't play the game, even though he just bought a huge property in Rancho Mirage that includes its own golf course, called Porcupine Creek.

"The joke is that I don't play golf because I have only one club," Ellison says.

Fifteen minutes had passed and nary a broadband had been discussed. Nor any skinny bands. This was tennis time, and bigger things were on the agenda, such as Juan Martin Del Potro's massive forehand.

In this discussion, probably as in most business discussions, Ellison's first serves were all in.

bill.dwyre@latimes.com

A COUPLE OF UPSETS

INDIAN WELLS, California, March 12 (Reuters) - Fifth seed Andy Murray, sixth-seeded David Ferrer and defending champion Ivan Ljubicic all fell by the wayside on a day of startling upsets at the Indian Wells ATP tournament on Saturday.

British world number five Murray was eliminated 7-6 6-3 by American qualifier Donald Young, Spaniard Ferrer crashed out 7-6 6-3 at the hands of Croat Ivo Karlovic and Ljubicic was beaten 5-7 6-4 6-2 by Argentine Juan Martin del Potro.

Spanish world number one and top seed Rafa Nadal, however, had little trouble with his opening match as he demolished South African qualifier Rik de Voest 6-0 6-2 after just an hour on the showpiece center court.

"It was a good victory for me," left-hander Nadal, champion at Indian Wells in 2007 and 2009, told reporters. "Probably my opponent played a little bit more nervous than usual.

"For that reason, it wasn't one of these matches that I had to play my best tennis. I did what I had to do to win, no?"

The early exit of Murray was the most surprising of the day's upsets, despite the fact that the 23-year-old Scot had not competed in more than a month.

Murray has always enjoyed playing at Indian Wells, where he was a runner-up in 2009, but he struggled for fluency against his 143rd-ranked opponent who won the biggest match of his career with an aggressive brand of tennis.

"Most of it was not great today," a subdued Murray said after being beaten in just over an hour-and-a-half. "I didn't serve particularly well, I didn't move very well.

"He hit a lot of winners and gained in confidence, I guess, from hitting more winners."

CUT SHORT

The 32-year-old Karlovic, whose 2010 season was cut short by six months due to Achilles surgery, powered down nine aces before sealing victory against Ferrer in 95 minutes.

The six-foot 10-inch (2.08 metre) Croat won the first set tiebreaker 7-3 and then broke his opponent in the fourth game of the second before ending the match with an ace.

"I was playing well, I was returning well and I played good on my second serve, which this year has not been the case," the 239th-ranked Karlovic told Reuters. "Today was really good."

The Croat, who broke the fastest serve world record with a 251 kph (156 mph) blast during his country's Davis Cup tie against Germany in Zagreb last week, will next meet Frenchman Gilles Simon, who beat German Rainer Schuettler 6-3 7-6.

Croat Ljubicic, who upset American Andy Roddick 7-6 7-6 in last year's final, won a tight opening set against del Potro before being broken once in the second and twice in the third.

"It was not an easy draw, of course," Ljubicic said of his opponent, a former world number four who played just three tournaments last year because of an injury to his right wrist.

"He's a great player. We had some great points and I came up short in the end. Del Potro played a solid game, as normally he does, and it was too much for me today."

Del Potro, who won his eighth ATP title at last month's Delray Beach International Championships, will next meet Ukrainian Alexandr Dolgopolov, a 6-4 6-4 winner against Romania's Victor Hanescu.

In other matches, Sweden's fourth seed Robin Soderling fended off a late fightback by Germany's Michael Berrer to win 6-3 7-6 while India's Somdev Devvarman upset 19th-seeded Cypriot Marcos Baghdatis 7-5 6-0. (Editing by Frank Pingue/John O'Brien; To query or comment on this story email sportsfeedback@thomsonreuters.com)

SUMMER HEAT DOWNUNDER

Thursday, April 28, 2011

RAONIC INTO QUARTERS

(AFP) ESTORIL, Portugal

Canadian Milos Raonic reached his first career quarter-final on clay with a 6-3, 6-3 defeat of Portugal's Joao Sousa at the ATP-WTA Estoril Open here on Thursday.

Raonic, seeded fifth and ranked 26th, kept his level high on the clay as he prepares to play as a seed at Roland Garros starting May 22.

The youngster who began the season just inside the Top 200 before breaking through with a title in San Jose and final a week later in Memphis, will Friday face the French fourth seed Gilles Simon.

Tuesday, April 26, 2011

TOMMY HAAS

GELSENKIRCHEN, Germany, April 26 (Reuters) - Former world number two Tommy Haas made his comeback on Tuesday after missing 14 months through injury when he competed in the doubles event at the Munich Open.

The 33-year-old German, who had reached his career-high ranking in May 2002 and played in four grand slam semi-finals, has won 12 singles titles but has been plagued by injuries for much of his career.

Haas, who has also taken on U.S. nationality, partnered close friend and Florida neighbour Czech Radek Stepanek but lost to Sweden's Simon Aspelin and Australian Paul Hanley 2-6 6-3 10-8.

"I would have also liked to play in the singles but I have not reached that point yet," Haas told reporters. "It was good experience but we came up a bit short."

He had last played on Feb. 22, 2010 at the Delray Beach International, following which he underwent hip and elbow surgery.

(Writing by Karolos Grohmann, Editing by Mark Meadows and Pritha Sarkar; To query or comment on this story email sportsfeedback@thomsonreuters.com)

Thursday, April 21, 2011

PLAYERS AND THEIR STRINGS

Where two tensions are shown the first is the tension of the main strings, and the second is the tension of the cross strings.

Latest Update: Hopman Cup/Doha/Sydney/Australian Open - January 2011

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