From Ahmad Kamal Dahalan', TEXTFONT, 'Verdana, Arial, Helvetica', TEXTSIZE, '1', WIDTH, 75)" onmouseout="nd()">SHAH ALAM, Dec 19 (Bernama) -- Tennis superstars, Sania Mirza, Elena Dementieva, Maria Kirilenko and Zheng Jie gave the local fans their money's worth with some sensational tennis action in the "Showdown of Champions" at the Malawati Stadium here on Saturday night.
Dementieva, the world number five, and her partner Kirilenko (world number 62) both from Russia overcame Asian representatives Zheng Jie from China and Mirza from India 2-1 in a pulsating match that was decided by a tie-break.
Though the Russian duo took the first set 6-4, largely due to numerous mistakes by Zheng early in the match, the Asian duo fought back superbly to draw level with a 7-5 win in the second set.
The Russians however, turned on their power to walk away with a 10-8 victory in the deciding tie-break.
Tomorrow, Dementieva will take on Sania in a singles match while Kirilenko is slated to face Zheng in another tie.
Published: Thursday November 5, 2009 MYT 8:03:00 AM
BASEL, Switzerland (AP) - Roger Federer reached the quarterfinals of the Swiss Indoors by beating Andreas Seppi of Italy 6-3, 6-3 on Wednesday.
The three-time defending champion served solidly to make it six matches against the 51st-ranked Seppi without dropping a set.
"It was a bit tougher (than the first round), but I was able to raise my game at a few crucial moments and that was the difference," said Federer, who rested through October.
"I recuperated and worked a bit to get in shape and can play maybe this (late) season in good health, which last year wasn't the case." Fifth-seeded Radek Stepanek of the Czech Republic beat France's Florent Serra 3-6, 7-6 (1), 7-6 (1) to also advance.
In the first round, fourth-seeded Marin Cilic beat Philipp Petzschner of Germany 6-4, 6-4 to keep alive his chances of qualifying for the ATP Tour finals in London.
The 21-year-old Croat, a wild-card entry, likely needs to win the Swiss Indoors and do well at the Paris Masters next week to make the eight-player lineup at London. He is currently 12th.
Third-seeded Fernando Gonzalez also is in finals contention at 10th on the list. The 2005 Basel champion was playing John Isner of the United States in the late match.
Another rival for a London place, No. 11 Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, has an injured left wrist and retired from his match Wednesday at the tournament in Valencia, Spain.
In other first-round action, Stanislas Wawrinka rallied to beat Croatia's Ivan Ljubicic 6-7 (5), 6-3, 6-4.
The sixth-seeded Swiss was treated for a shoulder injury after the first set. Ljubicic was the last man to beat Federer at his home event, in 2003.
Jeremy Chardy toughed out a 7-6 (4), 6-7 (6), 6-4 victory over seventh seed James Blake from the U.S.
The 22-year-old Frenchman sent down 24 aces and got the only service break of the match to open the third set.
"It was a beautiful victory," Chardy said, who is on course to meet Federer in the quarterfinals. "I could have won the match earlier, but James is a good player and like all good players he made some good shots at important times."
Richard Gasquet of France defeated Horacio Zeballos of Argentina 7-6 (3), 6-4.
Would you like to learn how to play tennis like a pro? This article is about the running for hard shots, what tennis grips you should use and when to use them. I will also give you some basic tennis tips from warm up to mental preparation and of course grant you some overall knowledge about tennis that you might have been looking for.
If you’re in a situation where you have to run a few meters to reach the ball, the most efficient way would be to use the one hundred meter runner starting techniques:
- Letting go of the supporting hand of the racket handle as fast as possible.
- Taking as long steps as possible in the beginning of the run to gain a lot of speed.
- Syncing your arm and leg movement to maintain speed and momentum.
- Keeping your eyes focused on the ball.
- And to slide the last bit before contact if you play on a clay court, otherwise you should either hit the ball on the run or try to slow down, step up and hit.
This is a really good technique that most people don’t even think about when playing tennis. Another thing most people don’t think about is how to correctly grip the tennis racket in some situations.
A good grip is extremely important to have when playing tennis. The most versatile forehand grip is the eastern forehand grip, comfortable for use for slices, flat hits and great topspins. The eastern forehand grip is also good for low and high balls. The best two-handed backhand grip doesn’t exist, any combination of grips that’s comfortable would work great for a two-hander. As for first serve grips most players like the continental grip, well formed to a mixture of topspin and slices without loosing power in your serve. For a more powerful kick on your first serve, try turning your grip towards the eastern backhand grip. The most popular grip for second serves is a grip mixture of continental and eastern backhand. For overheads a continental or eastern forehand grip should be used, whichever you feel most comfortable with. If a spin of the ball is necessary of an overhead shot, the continental grip is most suited for use. That’s the grips of tennis and when to use them, now let’s move on to the exciting tennis tips.
Get used to the conditions, weather, and your own personal form in your warm up and plan your play accordingly. Also keep in mind that your opponent will most likely play different in the warm up than when the match has begun, so start studying your opponent only when the match is about to begin. Get your groundstrokes (forehands and backhands) in order as fast as possible by aiming a few feet over the net and trying to get a feel for the length of the court. Try to find your opponents strengths/weaknesses and exploit them to the max. Do you want to play tennis like a pro? Then remember that tennis is a psychic game as well as a physical, keep thinking positive thoughts like “I’m going to win this set” instead of thinking “I don’t want to loose this set”. These important tips will improve your tennis game play and help you become a greater tennis player.
It’s no wonder that so many tennis players want to improve their play, tennis is a complex sport if you get into it and there are a lot of things to think about. Everyone wants to play tennis like a pro but that requires a lot of training or at least a good tutorial. It is anticipated that tennis players all over the world will continue to learn and educate themselves so that the future tennis players can become greater and greater, leaving tennis as one of the greatest sports of all time.
Tennis is a great sport, but not without a few foibles. Tennis was a game I remember playing from a very young age. Not really sure, what prompted me to pick up the game, but my younger brother and I use to head over to the local public tennis courts quite a few times during our summer vacation. Quite a few very competitive matches ensued during those long summer days, and a number of them evolved into some very competitive and verbal matches. Ala John Mcenroe vs Jimmy Conners kinda stuff. Not the same tennis skill level of course, but some of the tennis style disagreements certainly did.
There are a few things that are kind of annoying about the game of tennis, especially whey you play at the very beginning skill level. One has to be learning to hit a decent tennis serve. Certainly tricky, hitting the ball with just the right power to get it over the next, and still land it in that itty bitty little square of a service box. Certainly makes you look in awe at the tennis pros, as they pound the tennis balls at over 100 miles per hour just barely over the net, and paint the lines of the service box. Of course thousands of hours with a tennis racket in your hands hitting balls till there are callouses on your callouses helps develop a great tennis serve.
Tennis Serving Wenches
The other thing that kind of annoys me about tennis, is all the time spent chasing errant balls. All those tennis shots, that should have been great, but somehow ended up flying over the fence, orwhacking the guy two courts over, or the really sneaking ones that zipped out under the hole in the fence into the big bunch of bushes. I think every tennis court, public or otherwise, should come with a full time staff of ball boys or ball girls. I love watching those kids on the big televised matches running around fetching balls, handing out towels, at the beck and call of the players. As I've gotten older, and hadchildren, I've tried to encourage them to take up the fine and honorable of career of tennis ball girls, but to no avail. There must be something about chasing all my wild tennis shots, that just doesn't appeal to youngsters these days.
Tennis Graduation Days
I don't play a whole lot of tennis these days. Occasionally I'll play with friends and family while on vacation, or at resorts that have tennis courts available. I've taken up other racket sport activities. Played racquetball for a while before moving on to the game of squash. There is something to be said for playing in a court with no net, and no chance of the ball slipping under or over the fence. Helps to save my energy for running down my opponents shots, instead of traipsing through a pack of bushes look for that pink tennis ball, that should be oh so easy to find. Although, I'd have to thank my early days on the tennis courts to develop my affinity for other racket sports. Their all fun in their own way, a great game to play with family, and quite a racket.
REAKSI Dementieva selepas menewaskan Venus Williams pada aksi pertama Kumpulan Merah Kejuaraan Tenis WTA di Doha kelmarin.
DOHA - Bintang Rusia, Elena Dementieva mempamerkan kebangkitan luar biasa untuk menewaskan juara bertahan, Venus Williams pada aksi pertama Kumpulan Merah Kejuaraan Tenis WTA kelmarin.
Dementieva yang diletakkan selaku pilihan kelima pada kejohanan akhir musim itu menang dalam pertarungan tiga set 3-6, 7-6, 6-2.
Pada aksi kelmarin, Venus mendahului 6-3, 3-1 sebelum Dementieva bangkit memenangi dua set berikutnya untuk kemenangan ketiganya ke atas pemain Amerika Syarikat itu dalam 12 pertemuan.
"Sudah lama saya tidak menewaskan Venus dan kali ini saya berjaya," jelas Dementieva yang kali terakhir menewaskan juara Grand Slam tujuh kali itu pada tahun 2004.
"Saya hanya fokus untuk memberi tentangan dalam setiap mata dan saya cukup gembira kerana berjaya menewaskan Venus. Ia adalah kemenangan yang penuh emosi."
Pada aksi seterusnya, Dementieva akan berdepan adik Venus, Serena dalam misinya menjuarai Kumpulan Merah, sekali gus melangkah ke pusingan kalah mati pada kejohanan yang menampilkan lapan pemain wanita terbaik dunia itu.
Serena sebelum itu turut mencatat kemenangan pertama selepas menewaskan juara Terbuka Perancis, Svetlana Kuznetsova 7-6, 7-5.
"Ia akan menjadi minggu yang cukup mencabar buat saya," jelas Serena yang kini dalam misi merampas kembali gelaran pemain wanita No. 1 dunia daripada cengkaman Dinara Safina.
Bagi persaingan Kumpulan Putih, pendatang baru, Victoria Azarenka melakar kejutan awal apabila menewaskan bekas pemain No. 1 dunia, Jelena Jankovic, 6-2, 6-3.
"Saya puas hati kerana berjaya memenangi perlawanan ini dan saya akui, dia (Jankovic) tidak berada pada prestasi terbaik," jelas Azarenka. - Reuters
SERENA tewaskan Kuznetsova untuk menang 7-6 (6), 7-5 dalam saingan peringkat kumpulan, kejohanan tenis wanita Sony Ericsson di Doha, kelmarin.
Venus, Jankovic tewas dalam saingan peringkat kumpulan
DOHA: Serena Williams mengatasi cabaran daripada Svetlana Kuznetsova untuk menang 7-6 (6), 7-5 dalam saingan peringkat kumpulan, kejohanan tenis wanita Sony Ericsson kelmarin - memperbaiki peluang menamatkan tahun ini selaku pemain nombor satu dunia.
Jaguh dari Amerika Syarikat itu melakukan servis dua mata akhir dalam tie-break di sebalik kesakitan pergelangan kaki kanan dan meletakkan dirinya pada kedudukan 6-5 dalam set kedua sebelum menamatkan perlawanan.
“Saya memang mahukannya untuk diri saya,” kata Serena. “Saya bermain seperti biasa dan tenang.”
Ia memberi dirinya perkongsian pendahuluan dalam Kumpulan Merah bersama Elena Dementieva, yang bangkit daripada satu set untuk mengalahkan juara bertahan, Venus Williams 3-6, 7-6 (6), 6-2.
Victoria Azarenka melakukan permulaan pertama dalam kejohanan ini dengan mengejutkan Jelena Jankovic 6-2, 6-3 untuk mengetuai Kumpulan Putih.
Kejohanan ini menampilkan lapan pemain terbaik wanita dunia dengan dua pemain teratas setiap kumpulan mara ke separuh akhir. Pilihan pertama Dinara Safina dan pemain keempat, Caroline Wozniacki turun beraksi lewat malam tadi. - Reuters
WALAUPUN sudah bersara, Anna Kournikova tetap menyimpan keinginan untuk bermain dalam kejohanan kompetitif, biarpun sibuk melakukan kerja sosial pada masa kini.
KUALA LUMPUR - Selebriti tenis antarabangsa, Anna Kournikova melahirkan rasa rindu unutk beraksi di pentas dunia bagi kejohanan kompetitif dunia, meskipun dia mungkin sudah tidak mampu melakukannya.
Jelitawan dari Rusia itu menyatakan secara umumnya masih tetap menyimpan keinginan untuk bermain di kejohanan kompetitif, biarpun ketika ini sibuk melakukan kerja sosial.
"Secara jelasnya, saya merindui beraksi pada kejohanan kompetitif. Saya tidak mungkin akan melupakan sukan kesayangan ini kerana saya mula bermain sejak berusia lima tahun.
"Saya masih lagi bergelut dengan masalah kecederaan dan ia adalah penyebab utama yang menghalang saya ketika ini. Namun saya gembira dengan pencapaian kerjaya selama ini.
"Selain menjadi model, saya banyak menghabiskan masa dengan mengelilingi dunia bersama beberapa organisasi Amerika Syarikat dalam kerja sosial seperti kempen kesedaran AIDS dan penyakit malaria," kata Kournikova pada sidang akhbar di sini, semalam.
Pemain berusia 28 tahun itu berkata demikian ketika majlis pelancaran Pertembungan Juara-Juara 2009 (SOC 2009) yang akan menemukan pasukan Asia dengan Rusia.
Kournikova merupakan duta di kejohanan Glam Slam dua hari tersebut yang dijadualkan berlangsung pada 19 dan 20 Disember ini di Stadium Malawati, Shah Alam, Selangor.
Kejohanan tersebut bakal dihiasi dengan kehadiran beberapa pemain ternama dunia seperti Elena Dementieva, Maria Kirilenko, Sania Mirza dan Zheng Jie.
Mengulas lanjut mengenai kesudian menjadi duta kepada kejohanan edisi kali ketiga tersebut, Kournikova berkata, dia mahu menyokong usaha mempromosikan sukan tenis di rantau ini.
Jelasnya, dia mahu kehadirannya bersama pemain ternama lain mampu untuk menarik perhatian orang ramai terutama golongan muda terlibat dalam sukan tenis.
"Sukan tenis mampu untuk memupuk sikap kepimpinan, membentuk disiplin tinggi dan berkerja secara berpasukan.
"Oleh itu, saya berasa sangat gembira dan berbangga untuk berada di sini sebagai duta bagi menyokong kejohanan ini. Saya mahu menarik perhatian orang Asia untuk terlibat dalam sukan tenis.
"Oleh yang demikian, penganjuran kejohanan seperti ini harus dilaksanakan bagi menarik minat ibu bapa dan kanak-kanak terlibat secara langsung," kata Kournikova yang pernah menjadi pemain beregu No. 1 dunia pada tahun 1999.
Ditanya mengenai kehadirannya ke Malaysia, Kournikova berkata, dia menyukai cuaca dan rakyat di negara ini yang peramah serta mudah melemparkan senyuman.
"Saya pastinya akan ke Malaysia selepas ini dan bercuti di sini. Saya ingin bersiar dan pergi ke pantai-pantai yang terdapat di negara ini. Malaysia mempunyai budaya hidup yang hebat, selain masih menggabungkan cara hidup tradisional dan moden," katanya yang turut memuji makanan di negara ini.
