WTA news

yvonne wrote:

bettiboop wrote:huh..she is fighting again

Patty thought its easy already but it seems she's wrong

yes..
and Bartoli looked at her father and tought.."ayyayy i better fight hard,otherwise no chocolate in the evening"

Schnyder - Bartoli 7/6(5) 6/3

yvonne wrote:Schnyder - Bartoli 7/6(5) 6/3

Congrats Patty!

Well done Patti!
Vaido and Hunto on now.
Maybe we should have made a Linz thread?

bettiboop wrote:

yvonne wrote:15all
15/30
30all
40/30
6/5 Patty


hehe

I know...I know...stupid joke

ohhh my God..my heart stopped for a sec :D

Come on Patty!!

Not to worry betti, it's our dear moderator herself :D

Final Linz:

Centre Court (from 13.45hrs)
1. Singles Final: Schnyder vs. Hantuchova
2. Doubles Final: Black/Huber vs. Srebotnik/Sugiyama

i am for patty, tho i don't care much ...

Hantuchova won against Patty- 6/4 6/2
She has now qualified for the season-ending WTA Championships.
Sharapova also entered the list,so it looks like this now:

1.Justine Henin
2. Jelena Jankovic
3. Svetlana Kuznetsova
4. Ana Ivanovic
5. Serena Williams
6. Anna Chakvetadze
7.Maria Sharapova
8.Daniela Hantuchova

congrats girls (and gooooooooo Jelena )

sunny wrote:Hantuchova won against Patty- 6/4 6/2
She has now qualified for the season-ending WTA Championships.
Sharapova also entered the list,so it looks like this now:

1.Justine Henin
2. Jelena Jankovic
3. Svetlana Kuznetsova
4. Ana Ivanovic
5. Serena Williams
6. Anna Chakvetadze
7.Maria Sharapova
8.Daniela Hantuchova

congrats girls (and gooooooooo Jelena )

Congrats Daniela!
(and gooooo Ana )

Go JELENA

Hi Betti

babyb wrote:Go JELENA

Hi Betti

Hi B!

Betti did you sign with Nike?

yes i did..they gave me this nice "push-up shorts"

Sharapova, Hantuchova Round Out Elite Eight Field

Maria Sharapova and Daniela Hantuchova have clinched the final two singles berths at the 2007 Sony Ericsson Championships, set to take place in Madrid's Recinto Ferial Casa de Campo arena, November 6-11. They join an already-impressive line-up made up of Justine Henin, Jelena Jankovic, Svetlana Kuznetsova, Ana Ivanovic, Serena Williams and Anna Chakvetadze.

For Sharapova, this is the fourth consecutive year in her career that she has qualified for the Sony Ericsson Championships. She was a champion at the event in 2004 and has been a semifinalist each of the last two years.

"This has been a very frustrating year for me physically but I'm a big competitor and am determined to compete at the Sony Ericsson Championships," Sharapova said.

Following her win at the Generali Ladies Linz in Austria, Hantuchova clinched her spot by outperforming her nearest challenger, Marion Bartoli, currently in the first alternate spot. This is her second appearance in singles at the Sony Ericsson Championships, having previously competed in the year-end event in 2002.

"It is definitely a dream come true for me this year and I know I did everything possible to qualify for the Sony Ericsson Championships in Madrid," Hantuchova said. "All my hard work this year will make this a great reward. I am just going to enjoy every single match so much. I'm thrilled to be a part of it and am really looking forward to going to Madrid."

Venus Williams, originally in seventh place in the Race to the Sony Ericsson Championships points standings, has been forced to withdraw. Following the incident of dizziness that she suffered at the US Open earlier this year, Venus underwent a series of tests, along with follow-up tests after returning from tournaments that she played in Asia in the fall, with her doctors' advice at this time to finalize the testing process and take a break from competitive play.

"This year has been a great one for many reasons," said the Wimbledon winner. "I am pleased that I finished the year in the top eight and in recent weeks I have remained optimistic about participating in the season-ending Sony Ericsson Championships. Nevertheless, the accumulation of matches has taken its toll and I have received several medical opinions to delay my return to competitive tennis. As a result, I will miss the Sony Ericsson Championships. I look forward to playing in the New Year for what will hopefully be an even better 2008."

"This year's Sony Ericsson Championships will feature one of the very best fields in the tournament’s history, with so many compelling champions and rising stars," said Larry Scott, Chairman & CEO of the Tour. "Having a global megastar such as Maria Sharapova and the hugely popular Daniela Hantuchova, each of whom has had a fantastic 2007 season, round out the singles event is a tremendous boost for the event and will showcase the very best women’s tennis has to offer."

"The Race to the Sony Ericsson Championships this year has been thrilling, and it's a great credit to Maria and Daniela that they have secured spots for Madrid," said Dee Dutta, CVP and Global Head of Marketing at Sony Ericsson. "With so many current and future champions in the field, fans will truly be treated to the best of the best in women's tennis."

"Once again we have a tremendous field. Having Maria and Daniela in Madrid is great news. I look forward to seeing them all next week. It is going to be an extraordinary week of women’s tennis," said Manolo Santana, Tournament Director.

The Sony Ericsson Championships is the richest annual women's sporting event in the world. The tournament is the year-ending punctuation to an 11-month global Tour which finally gathers the Top 8 singles players and Top 4 doubles teams from the season to battle it out for a share of the $3-million prize purse. Since its inception in 1972, the event has been held in such notable venues as Madison Square Garden, New York City, the Olympiahalle in Munich and The Forum and Staples Centre in Los Angeles. Former singles champions include Tracy Austin, Kim Clijsters, Chris Evert, Evonne Goolagong, Steffi Graf, Martina Hingis, Martina Navratilova, Gabriela Sabatini and Serena Williams. The reigning champions are Henin (singles) and Lisa Raymond and Samantha Stosur (doubles).

Two More Teams Make It, Doubles Field Complete

LINZ, Austria - Slovenian-Japanese duo Katarina Srebotnik and Ai Sugiyama and the Czech-Australian pairing of Kveta Peschke and Rennae Stubbs are the third and fourth teams to qualify for the doubles event at the season-ending Sony Ericsson Championships, set to take place in Madrid’s Recinto Ferial Casa de Campo, November 6-11. Peschke and Stubbs qualified with a quarterfinal win at the Generali Ladies Linz, securing the final place in the four-team event. The newly-qualified teams join Zimbabwean-American duo Cara Black and Liezel Huber and the Taiwanese team of Chan Yung-Jan and Chuang Chia-Jung at the four-team event.

This marks the first appearance for Srebotnik and Sugiyama at the year-ending event, having just paired up this spring. It is Srebotnik's first individual trip, while Sugiyama makes her sixth (but first since 2003, when she was runner-up with Kim Clijsters).

"We were very excited and happy to qualify for the Sony Ericsson Championships this year," Srebotnik said. "Ai and I did not start playing together until Miami and making it to the Championships is a nice accomplishment after only playing 11 tournaments together. She is a great player now and before, when she was the No.1 doubles player in the world. I have so much respect for her as a player and as a person and enjoy our chemistry together. At the same time we are also sad that Sam Stosur is sick and will not take part in the Championships this year. We wish her a quick recovery and hope to see her on the other side of the net soon."

Sugiyama was equally enthusiastic: "I am really happy to go to Madrid this year and play with Katarina. I have so much fun playing with her and we try to have fun all the time, on and off the court. I think by having fun playing together it has helped us with good results, and it brought us to Madrid this year. I hope to have a great time at the Sony Ericsson Championships and a really good result!"

Stubbs enters her 12th season-ending Championships, having made her debut in 1992 and having played the event nine of the last 10 years (the only exception being 2003). She won the title in 2001 with Lisa Raymond and was runner-up the last three years with Black. Peschke qualified for the first time in 2006 alongside Francesca Schiavone and now enters her second Championships.

"It's a pleasure for us to qualify for the Sony Ericsson Championships this year," Stubbs said. "We didn't start playing together until late March because we were playing with other people and I had knee surgery in February. Not long after we started together, Kveta and her husband, Torsten, received tragic news, so we didn't really start playing together until May. Since Eastbourne, things have been great and I have really enjoyed playing with Kveta, as she is one of the nicest human beings I have met. Personally, this time has probably meant the most after my knee surgery and the tough start we had. I am proud of our efforts and very happy to once again have made it into the tournament."

"The doubles event at this year's Sony Ericsson Championships will be one of the most diverse and exciting ever assembled for our season-ending event," said Larry Scott, Chairman & CEO of the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour. "We have a real mix of veterans and new faces, as well as seven different countries represented, including Chinese Taipei for the very first time. The fans in Madrid will be in for a real treat with the very best women's doubles can offer."

thanx for the news Y

October 28, 2007

Bartoli Backs Project 'deuce' At Generali Ladies Linz


© GEPA Pictures

For the 17th year in succession the stars of the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour have been showcasing their talents in Northern Austria this week at the prestigious Generali Ladies Linz. This year's tournament has not only seen some fantastic tennis, but also the launch of one very important initiative. On October 28, 'deuce', a project dealing with the issue of gender equality, was unveiled to the public and media.

'deuce' is the creation of Generali Ladies Linz tournament directors Sandra and Peter-Michael Reichel, who decided they wanted to make a contribution to informing the public about gender inequalities after seeing a film on the subject by UNESCO.

In November 2006, the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour formed a partnership with UNESCO – 'the UNESCO-Sony Ericsson WTA Tour Partnership for Gender Equality' – to raise awareness of gender inequality issues in different social areas and to create leadership opportunities for women and girls.

'deuce' is intended to raise awareness for equal treatment of women in the minds of the people. The Generali Ladies will serve as a platform, both through awareness raising events and fundraising, to further this cause. Through the power of the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour's athletes and the incredible tournament stages of the circuit, a greater awareness will be raised amongst the population. Already, partnership ambassadors Venus Williams, Tatiana Golovin and Zheng Jie have devoted significant time to raising awareness of gender equality issues.

On Sunday the project 'deuce' and its logo was announced and followed by a discussion regarding gender equality with Christoph Feurstein - a well-known Austrian TV-Moderator and journalist who has been named CNN journalist of 2007. Special guests at the event included: Doris Bures (Secretary of the Austrian governmental bureau for women), Sanye Gülser Corat (UNESCO Chief Section for Women and Gender Equality), Elfi Eschke (actress), Martin Heller (intendant of the European Capital of Culture - Linz 09), Miguel Herz-Kestranek (actor and writer), Janeth Kath (manager and proprietor of INTERIO Austria), Franz Meingast (board of directors Generali insurance), Josef M. Penninger (scientist), Peter-Michael Reichel (Sony Ericsson WTA Tour Board Member) and Marion Bartoli (No.9 ranked player on the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour).

"I'm very happy to have been part of today's panel," Bartoli said regararding Sunday's gender equality discussion. "It's an honor to have been invited by UNESCO and as a woman these issues regarding equality are very important. We need to show that we should be treated on an equal level with men in every area of life and I will try my best to promote this wherever I go across the world."

In regions all over the world girls and women are suffering from inequality. The medical support and education is much worse for females than for males. 640 million people of the total sum of 960 million adults who are illiterate are women. The salary of working women is far below the average of those of working men. Women make up only one quarter of the world's researchers. Violence, such as rape against women can be found all over the world. For these reasons, UNESCO and Sony the Ericsson WTA-Tour have formed a partnership to raise awareness of gender equality issues and to create leadership opportunities for women and girls.

'deuce' has outlined several goals for the coming years:

2007 - To inform, sensitize, support and raise awareness for gender equality

2008 & 2009 - Help host the UNESCO Gala and raise support and call for donations

http://www.sonyericssonwtatour.com/1/newsroom/stories/?ContentID=1850

longinov wrote:thanx for the news Y

you're welcome Longi

thanks for the article Med :D

Thanks for news Y&Med :D


October 24, 2007

Anastasia Myskina
© Sony Ericsson WTA Tour
Catching Up With... Anastasia Myskina

With six players in the Top 20 Russia is undoubtedly the preeminent tennis nation on the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour and were it not for a long-term left-foot injury to Anastasia Myskina the number would undoubtedly be higher. In 2004 the Muscovite became the first player from her homeland to lift a Grand Slam title when she defeated compatriot Elena Dementieva at Roland Garros. This achievement is, to date, the pinnacle of a career which has brought the 26-year-old 10 Tour titles - two of these at the Kremlin Cup - and despite her injury the former world No.2 returned to Moscow once again this year to carry out her role as interviewer for Russian TV station NTV+.

sonyericssonwtatour.com caught up with Anastasia in-between interviews in the Russian capital to talk television, comebacks and soccer!

What have you been up to while you have been away from the Tour?
I've been doing quite a lot of TV work in Moscow, mostly with tennis and I've enjoyed it so far. It's great fun because I get to see lots of friends involved in the sport and in a more relaxed way and I still feel I'm in touch with the girls on Tour. Also recently I've been hosting a soccer talk show and even though I'm not the most knowledgeable fan it's been great fun to get involved in another sport.

How did you get involved in the television work?
One of my close friends has been working for a tennis channel in Russia for a while and after I had surgery on my foot she suggested I get involved in some TV work. As I was scheduled for quite a long break to recover from the operation, I thought, 'why not?' It's difficult just sitting at home recovering from injuries and having no real schedule so I thought it would be an ideal way to use this free time.

How does it feel to be off the Tour recovering from injury?
Like I said before, it's strange not having a schedule and it's an unusual feeling for a tennis player as we are so used to that schedule taking up our time. It feels a little sad to be off Tour and out of that routine and it definitely takes some getting used to and at the moment I still miss it a lot, but perhaps it would have been worse if I had'nt kept myself so busy!

How did your surgery go?
The surgery on my foot went well, but I think I rushed back from it a little too quickly and when I appeared at Roland Garros I don't think I was 100% ready. Part of the reason I play was just that I wanted to appear in Paris so much, but perhaps looking back I maybe should have waited a little longer. The problem is I still feel some discomfort when I play and so I can't play to my full potential and I think I need to wait until that is possible before I make another comeback.

How much do you miss the game?
There are certain parts of being a tennis player that I don't miss at all like the travelling, but at the same time I miss the game as a whole and so I'm really hopeful of making a comeback sometime soon. I don't really want to have to play through the pain, but I'm still practicing quite regularly and although it still doesn't feel perfect yet I think it's improving. I also miss the girls on Tour a lot as you become quite close when you travel all over the world together, so it's nice when I see them at tournaments I do TV work for.

How does the injury affect your play?
I still have scars from the surgery and they have not fully healed yet and because of this there is some slight numbness on my big toe. Unfortunately this affects my movement quite a lot and when I practice I don't feel my mobility around the court is as good as perhaps it was or should be. I'm still optimistic that in time they will heal fully though and I will be able to play to my maximum again.

What is it like being back at the Kremlin Cup?
It's nice to be back here at the tournament venue as I got the trophy in 2004 and 2003 and it brings back lots of good memories. It's great to see lot of old friends as well and I'm happy to meet up with the girls on Tour as I haven't seen some of them for quite a while. Our relationship is a bit different now as I don' think they see me as a rival anymore so we can talk and chat like friends and trust each other more. Whereas before we were rivals and didn't want to give away our secrets!

http://www.sonyericssonwtatour.com/newsroom/stories/?ContentID=1841

I really hope we can see her play next season

thanks Sunny

Martina Navratilova off court


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pTd-wLumGso

babyb wrote:Martina Navratilova off court


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pTd-wLumGso

loool
gracias bebe

ps welcome Y :D

Lindsay's Quebec City Blog:

"Here in Québec he started rolling over and now he doesn't stop - he just keeps rolling over across the room..."

bettiboop wrote:Lindsay's Quebec City Blog:

"Here in Québec he started rolling over and now he doesn't stop - he just keeps rolling over across the room..."

hey Betti

babyb wrote:

bettiboop wrote:Lindsay's Quebec City Blog:

"Here in Québec he started rolling over and now he doesn't stop - he just keeps rolling over across the room..."

hey Betti

Hi B.

Bell Challenge
Wednesday, October 31, 2007

Singles - Second Round
(2) Vera Zvonareva (RUS) d. Severine Brémond (FRA) 63 76(6)
(3) Julia Vakulenko (UKR) d. (WC) Stéphanie Dubois (CAN) 61 26 75
(5) Olga Govortsova (BLR) d. (LL) Alina Jidkova (RUS) 63 50 ret. (dizziness)

Singles - First Round
Renata Voracova (CZE) d. (1) Nicole Vaidisova (CZE) 26 63 ret. (right wrist injury)
(Q) Sofia Arvidsson (SWE) d. (4) Meilen Tu (USA) 62 62
(Q) Julie Ditty (USA) d. (6) Alizé Cornet (FRA) 75 63
Maret Ani (EST) d. (LL) Andreja Klepac (SLO) 62 26 61

Doubles - Quarterfinals
Rao/Wheeler (IND/AUS) d. Bachmann/Dekmeijere (GER/LAT) 36 61 105
Fusano/Kops-Jones (USA/USA) d. Hrdinova/Pelletier (CZE/CAN) 63 64