ITF Names Serena Williams and Novak Djokovic 2012 World Champions
The ITF released it's 2012 Champions list earlier today.
With no possibility of drama on the WTA side there was a lot of chit chat about who would be named the ITF World Champion for the ATP. The ITF didn't go strictly by ranking. It seems to have taken into account overall performance for 2012. If it didn't Serena Williams, who is not the top ranked WTA player, wouldn't have won.
With the ATP it was different. There were people pushing hard for Andy Murray. I thought he deserved it for getting the Grand Slam monkey off his back but Novak Djokovic had the better overall record and I can't argue with his getting the nod.
The win was the third time for Serena and the second for Djokovic.
The other winners are as follows:
Bob and Mike Bryan Men’s Doubles World Champions
Sara Errani and Roberta Vinci of Italy become Women’s Doubles World Champions
Filip Peliwo ITF Junior World Champion
Taylor Townsend ITF Junior World Champion
Esther Vergeer ITF Wheelchair World Champion
Stephane Houdet ITF Wheelchair World Champion
Congratulations to all the winners!
Not So Idle Chit Chat
We've all known this for awhile but at least the FFT is aware. Very aware.
Former Top 10 player Henri Leconte tells The Tennis Space that Gael Monfils is “completely lost at the moment and doesn’t know what to do.” The former world No. 7 has been saddled with knee injuries and has seen his ranking drop to No. 77. He only managed to play 29 matches in 2012.
“Maybe he’s going to stop playing tennis, you never know for sure,” Leconte said. “I hope not. He has a strange way of training, thinking about sports, about his life, his entourage, his everything. It’s a nightmare. He doesn’t know where to go ... He’s been lost for two years. It’s a shame, because he’s so talented.”
SOURCE
The minute I read the headline I knew this had to do with Roger Federer and what happened in London. I wasn't wrong.
ROME -- Tennis officials are considering adding third-set tiebreakers at the 2016 Rio Olympics after marathon matches in London this year.
Also, bronze-medal matches could be eliminated to lighten the loads of players entered in multiple events.
ITF president Francesco Ricci Bitti tells The Associated Press at the European Olympic Committees meeting in Rome that the matches this year were "very balanced and very long and that ruins the scheduling somewhat."
Roger Federer beat Juan Martin del Potro 3-6, 7-6 (5), 19-17 in the London semifinals and was soundly beaten by Andy Murray in straight sets in the gold-medal match.
If bronze-medal matches are eliminated, it would mark a return to handing out two bronzes for each of the semifinal losers, as happened at the 1988 Seoul Games.
via via ESPN
Someone please tell me when I'm supposed to laugh. Then again they say imitation is the highest form of flattery.
Is It January Yet?
There is actually live tennis being played and streamed now. The Australian Open Wild Card playoffs are under way. It's a good chance to put faces to the names we read about on the Challenger Circuit. Of course it means that many of us would have to adjust to Aussie time now instead of late January. But hey, did I mention it's live tennis?
Speaking of Australia Bernard Tomic continues to apply considerable effort off the court managing to force Tennis Australia's hand.
FORMER Davis Cup winner Paul McNamee has blasted Tennis Australia for its "public vilification" of young gun Bernard Tomic, warning it risks alienating the country's best young talent as it did with Mark Philippoussis and Jelena Dokic.
After much speculation, it was confirmed yesterday that Davis Cup captain Pat Rafter would not select Tomic for the February tie against Chinese Taipei.
And TA is also set to cut its support funding for the 20-year-old due to his poor attitude on and off the court.
The news was met with howls of approval from tennis luminaries past and present. Australia's No 1 female player and grand slam winner, Sam Stosur, voiced the thoughts of many when she urged her fellow Gold Coaster to "grow up".
McNamee, however, said he had been left perplexed by the "bludgeoning" approach of the authorities, adamant there had to be better ways to handle these situations.
(...)
"He is 20. Surely there is a better way, but (TA) don't seem to have any other approach . . I believe they have really hurt our Davis Cup team at a time when we aren't exactly enjoying a huge amount of success."
...Tomic's ranking had slipped from 27 to 52, putting him three places behind Marinko Matosevic.
(...)
"It didn't work with Dokic. It didn't work with Philippoussis. It won't work here."
Stosur, who is widely regarded as one of the hardest-working players on the WTA tour, was not as sympathetic to Tomic's plight, suggesting the former junior Wimbledon champion needed to make some tough decisions.
"That's probably the most disappointing thing for a lot of people on the outside - that he's got this unbelievable ability and he's not really using it at the moment," Stosur said.
McNamee wants to go back to the days when bad off court behavior was simply swept under the rug. In the digital age that's simply not going to happen. For the complete article please click the link .
For those who defend Tomic's right to bite the hand that's been feeding him and his family study the careers of contemporary top five players and see what they were up to when they were 20.
