Archive for the ‘Tennis News’ Category

• Fernando Gago marries Gisela Dulko

  Date: 2011.08.16 | Category: Soccer News, Sports News, Tennis News, Wags | Response: 0

  The footballer and tennis player are the newlyweds in the sports scene.

  Times are not good for Fernando Gago at Real Madrid, for he is one of the players that head coach Jose Mourinho has decided to find an exit to for the upcoming 2011-12 season. But when it comes to his private  life he is probably going through one of the best moments of his life, as he just got married to tennis pro Gisela Dulko in Argentina.

  The newlyweds walked through the aisle on Wednesday in front of 400 people between family and friends. That way the relationship that began to flourish in the 2009 Master Series of Madrid has been now formalized, and a new story will be written from now own as husband and wife.

  This is the biggest reason why Gago is looking for a transfer to his former club Boca Juniors, since he would like to return to his country to live with his wife, after five seasons in Europe.

  Talks between Real Madrid and Boca Juniors have been going lately, and an answer from the Spanish club about whether or not the bid for Gago was accepted should happen no later than this week. The couple will then now where they are going to start building their new life.

• Interesting antidote proposal for Nadal’s injuries

  Date: 2011.02.10 | Category: Sports News, Tennis News | Response: 0

  On a daily basis we are looking for topics of interests for you, dear reader, and this week we came across a really interesting one which will be our main topic of discussion this week. Going through Jon Wertheim’s column for Sport Illustrated a really catchy question got our attention about Rafael Nadal’s future: “Do you think the Serean Williams career plan would work for Rafael Nadal?”, one of his readers asked.

  If Nadal chooses to play only the Majors like Serena Williams does, he could arrive to them without rhythm of competition. Even though he is one step ahead from the rest of the players in the ATP World Tour, given them that advantage could put them in the same conditions as his competitors.

  Going over Nadal’s medical history -which has been the major setback in his career- this idea seems like a pretty good one, as the World No. 1 would suffer less physical exhaustion and arrive to the tournaments of his interests in plenitude of conditions.

  Of course this idea has its drawbacks too, and the price to pay could be really high. Playing tournaments before big events is part of the preparation to win them. Not only is Roger Federer after his World No.1 sport, but there are also players that are more matured and now can aspire to more that just being the runner up, like is the case of Novak Djokovic for instance, who won the first Grand Slam of the year in Australia.

  Just because Nadal is saving himself for one of the Majors, it doesn’t mean that he is going to win it or that he is not susceptible from getting hurt in one of them. And if he has already planned a season with a goal of x amount of points, having to retire early -due to elimination or injury- from one of these events would result in an unexpected change of plans.

  One aspect that could prevent this idea from materializing is that Nadal loves tennis. He lives for it, breathes it and thinks about it all the time. If it wasn’t this way, then his healing process after an injury would take longer or he would simply retire from a tournament when he is hurt, but he doesn’t.

  Another aspect that would also have a significant influence in his decision is the risk of “loosing bonuses tied to endorsements”, as Wertheim explains. There are many financial interests involved in every ATP tournament from which Nadal benefits, and not participating would result in losing an important part of his income.

  After this brief analysis we reached to the same conclusion as Wertheim got to in his column: “Nadal is, at his core, a jock. He’ll play if he can. I don’t think it’s in his nature to tinker and manipulate his schedule”. And we hope that we are right about this in order to continue being delighted with Nadal’s game on a regular basis.

  The good news for us fans is that those hypothetical changes won’t take place this year, as Nadal has a pretty tight schedule ahead with three tournaments per month form March until August, and then three more after that to finish the season.

• For second year in a row Nadal is injured in the quarter finals of the Australian Open

  Date: 2011.01.29 | Category: Sports News, Tennis News | Response: 0

  After winning Roland Garros, Wimbledon and the US Open, Spaniard Rafael Nadal arrive to Melbourne, Australia with the possibility of winning his fourth Grand Slam in a row. An injury last year caused the World No. 1 to withdraw from the quarter-final match against the English Andy Murray, and this year Nadal wanted his rematch. A lot of expectation was created around his chance of completing a Non-Calendar Year Grand Slam at the Australian Open, but he was going to be defeated my the same rival as in the previous edition: an injury.

  Nadal had caught a flew in Doha prior to the Australian Open, that according to his uncle and coach Toni Nadal it could have contributed to the fiber breakage in Nadal’s hamstrings. Nadal who doesn’t like to withdraw from a match, especially in one of this magnitude, tried to finish the quarterfinals game against his countryman David Ferrer playing at a level that he refused to say, but that wasn’t enough to “to defeat a rival who played at a great”, he said and when further by stating that “with that level I couldn’t get to that in the conditions in which I was”.

  Despite his rival being injured, Ferrer had to play at a great level and was aggressive, aware of the precautions that must be taken against his countryman. Ferrer won the game in three sets of 6-4, 6-2 and 6-3, and Nadal was eliminated from the tournament as a professional: on the court. In the Open Era no World No. 1 has ever retired from a Grand Slam, and Nadal made sure that stayed like that.

  Nadal is not worried about his injury, because it not something to be alarmed of. He is strictly focused in getting back to his level and doesn’t make a big deal about having lost the opportunity of completing Non-Calendar Year Grand Slam, which the media began to call “Rafa Slam”. “I don’t live for it or for the records” he said, making a statement about how that option is now part of the past.

  And he should find reasons to worry about if last year things began in the same way and ended up being a fantastic season with three out of the four Grand Slams titles won plus three Masters 1000 championships. He was questioned about if having such short vacations contributed to this injury, but Nadal didn’t feel that it was the right time to evaluate that particular situation.

  The good news for Nadal are that he doesn’t miss points in the ATP World Tour ranking, as he reached the same round as in 2010. In a sport as intensive as tennis it is not unusual that a player suffers an injury, taking into consideration that in ATP Tour tournaments they get to play up to five games in one week, and in a Grand Slam up to seven in two weeks.  Last year Nadal was forced to retire just from the Australian Open and played 17 tournaments after that, therefore fans shouldn’t be alarmed about his season.

• Nadal regrets the current events in Spanish sports

  Date: 2010.12.18 | Category: Sports News, Tennis News | Response: 0

  Back in April 2010 the Spanish Civil Guard began with an investigation known as Operation Greyhound -Operación Galgo- in proper Spanish in an attempt to fight down doping in athletics, and consequently involving renowned athletes along with their coaches, doctors and representatives. In the recent years the Spaniards have been enjoying of a golden era in sports, which could be coming to and end to let the dark era come through and taint the credibility and achievements of their athletes.

  Although he is not implicated in the investigation, tennis player World No. 1 Rafael Nadal spoke about how harmful this process is being for his country and how he condemned this anti-sportsmanship conduct as it creates “doubts about the rest of the athletes”. He went even further stating that “this is terrible for others” and emphasizing that despite the difficulty of the competition “you can not cheat”.

  His solution to this problematic is simple: “if with doping you get there in four (minutes) and without it in five, let’s get there in five, but let’s get there”, that way the “competitiveness will be the same”.

  He didn’t want to jump into conclusions about who was guilty or who wasn’t, but he did send a message of support to 2010 Tour de France winner cyclist Alberto Contador -currently on trial- that is “my colleague and I wish him the best and believe in him”.

  The investigation is in its first stages and many hours of trial will surely come along soon, but no verdict will heal the damage that has already been done to the Spanish sports.

• Tennis – Moya decides to put an end to his 15-year career

  Date: 2010.11.19 | Category: Sports News, Tennis News | Response: 0

  The 34 -year-old professional tennis player Carlos Moya announced this Wednesday afternoon in Madrid that he was putting an end to his career. The Spaniard and former World No. 1 took this decision due to a chronic right foot injury that has kept him away from competition since May of 2010, when he participated in Mutua Madrilena Madrid Open. He suffered a severe 1^st round defeat against German Benjamin Becker by 6-0, 6-2, which led him to a reflection where he found out that “the moment had arrived”.

  Throughout his 15-year career Moya achieved 20 tour-level titles, which include his only Grand Slam: the 1998 Roland Garros. He also had the honor of becoming the first Spaniard in ATP history to rank World No.1, although it only lasted for 2 weeks, back in March 15, 1999. Moya was also part of the Spanish Davis Cup team that won the competition against team USA in December 2004, which was held in Sevilla, Spain. And his last title was in the 2007ATP Studena Croatia Open, where he defeated Rumanian Andrei Pavel 6-4, 6-2. 

  About his new life, Moya will maintain involved in sports, as he owns a gym in his homeland Mallorca. The most benefit people from his retirement are his family, as he will have more time to spend with them. He feels that he is “still young for life, but for sport I am already knocking on a bit”.