Justine Retires

    (May 14, 2008) 25-year-old # 1 Justine Henin has announced her retirement from the WTA Tour, effective immediately. Justine won 41 WTA singles titles, starting with Antwerp in 1999 and ending with Antwerp in 2008, including the 2003, '05, '06, & '07 French Open, the 2003 & '07 US Open, and the 2004 Australian Open. Ten of her titles were won in 2007. Justine won a career-total of $19,461,375 in prize money, with a 493-107 record in singles matches.
    Justine said: "This is a definitive decision. Those who know me know it is serious... I thought long about this. I started thinking about it late last year. I was at the end of the road. I leave with my head held high."
    Justine is the first player ever to retire while # 1 in the WTA rankings (she has spent 117 weeks at # 1, 6th highest all-time). Justine has requested that the WTA now remove her from the rankings: thus Maria Sharapova will be # 1 in the WTA next week.
Justine's official website   AP story   WTA story 1   WTA story 2   Henin Wallpaper   WTA Photos

  WTA: May 12-18 2008 Rome     Sunfeast Open (Oct 6-12) moved from Kolkata (Calcutta), India, indoors to Mumbai (Bombay), outdoors

Internazionali d' Italia Alice Cup Rome, ITA Tier I $1,340,000 56 players - outdoor: red clay Live Scores - in popup window WTA pdf.: draws & OOP - notes tourney: draw, .pdf - OOP & results pics: tourney - WTA - Yahoo:     rome masters - italian open Rome: weather - map Rome News - Italy News #2 Ana Ivanovic #3 Maria Sharapova #4 Svetlana Kuznetsova #5 Jelena Jankovic #6 Serena Williams #7 Anna Chakvetadze #8 Venus Williams #11 Marion Bartoli #12 Patty Schnyder #13 Vera Zvonareva

Rome: #5 Jelena Jankovic 5' 9½" 130lb RH 2H-BH Rome: #69 Tsvetana Pironkova 5' 11" 143lb RH 2H-BH tennis.quickfound.net tourney page: Rome

On Wednesday in Rome, in the 2nd round of the Internazionali d' Italia Alice Cup (aka the Italian Open), the 2007 tourney champion, 23-year-old 4th-seeded # 5 Jelena Jankovic from Belgrade, Serbia (with supplementary housing in Miami, Florida and San Diego, California), defeated 23-year-old # 29 Flavia Pennetta of Italy (residence: Verbier, Switzerland), 6-1, 6-4 (photo shown). Flavia was perhaps slowed a bit by the unfortunate disadvantage of having to play her rain-delayed 1st round match earlier on Wednesday.     Also on Wednesday in Rome, 20-year-old qualifier # 69 Tsvetana Pironkova from Plovdiv, Bulgaria, won the biggest victory of her career, defeating 20-year-old top-seeded # 2 Ana Ivanovic of Serbia (residence: Basel, Switzerland), 6-4, 5-7, 6-2 (Tsvetana is shown after match point). Tsvetana first gained notice by defeated then # 10 Venus Williams in the 1st round of the 2006 Australian Open, 2-6, 6-0, 9-7. She has been slowly climbing up the rankings since then.     Ana said: "I just didn't have enough intensity today, and I'm very frustrated with myself and obviously disappointed. But [Tsvetana] played quite well in the third set.     "I made too many errors too soon in the rallies, so I have to work hard. Now I have about ten days to prepare for French Open." postmatch interview Rome: Wed Shot of Day - Tue 1st Rd - Tue Shot of day - Ana-Maria K WTA ad shoot Berlin: Safina Final - Sun Shot of Day - Berlin Summary - Sat SFs - Sat Shot of Day - Fri QFs     Ana Ivanovic - Fri Shot of Day - Thu 3rd - Thu Shot of Day - Safina (d Henin) intrvw     Wed 2nd - Wed Shot of Day - player party - Tue 1st & 2nd rd - Cara & Liezel Charleston: Serena Final - Former Champs, 35th Anniv - Sat SFs - Fri QFs - Thu 3rd Rd Amelia Island: Maria Final - Sat SF - Fri QFs - Maria Sharapova - Meet Sania Mirza Miami: Serena Final - Review - Thu SFs - Wed QFs - Tue QFs - Mon 4th Rd - Sun 3rd Rd     Sat 2nd Rd - Venus - Maria S - Player Awards - Party - Black & Huber - Casey D Indian Wells: Review - Sun Ana Final - Fri SFs - Thu QFs - Wed eve - Casey D - Wed QF     Vera Z - Tue eve - Tue 4th - Mon eve - Mon 3rd - Sun eve - Sun 3rd     Sat Fashions - Maria K - Jelena J Bangalore: Serena Final - Sat SFs - Fri QFs - Thu 2nd - Vera Zvonareva - Venus - review Dubai: Elena Final - review - Fri SFs - photo shoot - Thu night - Thu day - Wed night     Wed day - Ana shops - player party - Tue - Mon - Justine signs Doha: Maria Final - SFs - QFs - 3rd - Player Party - Jankovic & SE Phone - Press Enough video? read RSS news - play Asteroids!     new in April, 2008: A link to the Finetune popup streaming music player has been installed in the Audio & Video menu at the top of every page at quickfound.net. Click on the in compact popup link to load it in a separate small window.     There are, so far, 16 playlists with 45 or more good tracks in each. At last count there are a total of 1004 tracks; very few are on more than one list. To access the playlists, click on the green 8-pointed spot in the upper right corner; the order is shuffled each time you start the player. There are no commercials whatsoever and the sound quality is fair. Try it. WTA SCOREBOARD: Rome     ranks are for the previous week s=seed, #=rank, *=upset, LL=lucky loser     How do players get into the "draw"? Rome, 1st Rnd, Mon-Tue 1pm losers' prize: $3,340 US; points: 1 Tuesday: rain delay #12 s9 Patty Schnyder SUI d #57 q Mariya Koryttseva UKR 3-6, 6-2, 6-3 ppd-Wed #13 s10 Vera Zvonareva RUS d #36 Ai Sugiyama JPN 6-3, 6-3 Mon #14 s11 Agnes Szavay HUN d #40 Zi Yan CHN 6-1, 6-1 Mon #15 s12 Agnieszka Radwanska POL d #65 q Akgul Amanmuradova UZB 6-3, 6-0 Mon *#74 LL Ekaterina Makarova RUS d #16 s13 N Vaidisova CZE 6-4, 4-6, 6-2 Tue-rain-Wed #20 s17 Francesca Schiavone ITA d #42 Lucie Safarova CZE 6-4, 7-5 Mon *#27 Maria Kirilenko RUS d #22 s18 Nadia Petrova RUS 3-6, 7-5, 6-4 Tue-rain-Wed *#26 wc Victoria Azarenka BLR d #23 s19 Sybille Bammer AUT 6-1, 6-3 Tue #25 Alona Bondarenko UKR d #100 wc Mara Santangelo ITA 6-2, 6-2 Mon #28 Virginie Razzano FRA d #47 Julia Vakulenko UKR 6-1, 6-2 Mon #29 Flavia Pennetta ITA d #82 LL Olga Savchuk UKR 6(9)-7, 6-3, 6-1 ppd-Wed #31 Dominika Cibulkova SVK d #48 Gisela Dulko ARG 7-6(1), 6-4 Tue #32 Anabel Medina Garrigues ESP d #64 q Alisa Kleybanova RUS 6-1, 7-5 Mon #34 q Alize Cornet FRA d #56 Vera Dushevina RUS 6-1, 6-3 ppd-Wed #38 Caroline Wozniacki DEN d #45 Tamira Paszek AUT 6-3, 6-0 Mon *#41 Olga Govortsova BLR d #39 Karin Knapp ITA 4-6, 6-1, 6-2 Mon *#147 sr  Samantha Stosur AUS d #43 Michaella Krajicek NED 6-3, 6-2 Mon *#85 q Iveta Benesova CZE d #44 q Elena Vesnina RUS 6-3, 7-5 Mon #50 Kateryna Bondarenko UKR d #54 Tathiana Garbin ITA 7-5, 6-4 ppd-Wed *#69 q Tsvetana Pironkova BUL d #51 q Klara Zakopalova CZE 6-4, 6-2 Tue *#161 wc Roberta Vinci ITA d #55 q Kaia Kanepi EST 6-4, 4-6, 6-0 Tue #58 wc Sara Errani ITA d #68 q Shuai Peng CHN 6-4, 1-6, 6-3 Mon *#108 q Monica Niculescu ROU d #66 q Jill Craybas USA 6-4, 3-6, 6-4 Mon *#73 LL Virginia Ruano Pascual ESP d #70 LL Anastasia Rodionova AUS(RUS) 6-1, 6-3 Mon Rome, 2nd Round, Tue 1pm Wed 11am (due to rain) losers' prize: $6,590 US; points: 35 *#69 q Tsvetana Pironkova BUL d #2 s1 Ana Ivanovic SRB 6-4, 5-7, 6-2 Wed #3 s2 Maria Sharapova RUS d #31 Dominika Cibulkova SVK 6-2, 3-6, 6-4 Wed #4 s3 Svetlana Kuznetsova RUS d #41 Olga Govortsova BLR 6-0, 6-2 #5 s4 Jelena Jankovic SRB d #29 Flavia Pennetta ITA 6-1, 6-4 Wed #6 s5 Serena Williams USA d #25 Alona Bondarenko UKR 6-2, 6-0 ppd-Wed #7 s6 Anna Chakvetadze RUS d #50 Kateryna Bondarenko UKR 3-6, 7-6(1), 6-0 Wed #8 s7 Venus Williams USA d #147 sr  Samantha Stosur AUS 6-4, 6-1 ppd-Wed #11 s8 Marion Bartoli FRA d #28 Virginie Razzano FRA 6-4, 7-5 ppd-Wed #12 s9 Patty Schnyder SUI d #73 LL Virginia Ruano Pascual ESP 6-1, 6-0 Wed #13 s10 Vera Zvonareva RUS d #85 q Iveta Benesova CZE 7-5, 4-6, 7-5 Wed *#58 wc Sara Errani ITA d #14 s11 Agnes Szavay HUN 6-0, 6-3 Wed #15 s12 Agnieszka Radwanska POL d #161 wc Roberta Vinci ITA 3-6, 6-2, 6-2 Wed *#34 q Alize Cornet FRA d #20 s17 Francesca Schiavone ITA 6-3, 6-2 Wed #26 wc Victoria Azarenka BLR d #108 q Monica Niculescu ROU 6-3, 6-2 Wed #27 Maria Kirilenko RUS d #32 Anabel Medina Garrigues ESP 6-3, 5-7, 6-2 Wed #38 Caroline Wozniacki DEN d #74 LL Ekaterina Makarova RUS 6-3, 6-4 Wed Rome, 3rd Round, Thu 1pm loser's prize: $13,000 US; points: 60 #3 s2 Maria Sharapova RUS d #38 Caroline Wozniacki DEN 6-4 7-6(3) #4 s3 Svetlana Kuznetsova RUS v #34 q Alize Cornet FRA 2-6, 0-0 #5 s4 Jelena Jankovic SRB d #27 Maria Kirilenko RUS 6-1, 6-1 #6 s5 Serena Williams USA d #58 wc Sara Errani ITA 6-4, 6-3 #7 s6 Anna Chakvetadze RUS v #15 s12 Agnieszka Radwanska POL 6-4, 1-6, 0-0 #8 s7 Venus Williams USA v #13 s10 Vera Zvonareva RUS cP m5 8:30pm+ *#12 s9 Patty Schnyder SUI d #11 s8 Marion Bartoli FRA 4-6, 6-4, 7-6(7) *#69 q Tsvetana Pironkova BUL d #26 wc Victoria Azarenka BLR 6-2 1-0     retired-- left knee injury Rome, QFs, Fri 1pm losers' prize: $25,650 US; points: 110 #3 s2 Maria Sharapova RUS v #12 s9 Patty Schnyder SUI #4 Kuznetsova OR #34 Cornet v #6 s5 Serena Williams USA #5 s4 Jelena Jankovic SRB v #8 V Williams OR #13 Zvonareva #7 Chakvetadze OR #15 A Radwanska v #69 q Tsvetana Pironkova BUL Rome, SFs, Sat 1:45pm losers' prize: $50,600 US; points: 195 Rome, Final, Sun after doubles (1:45pm) loser's prize: $99,850 US; points: 300 winner's prize: $196,900 US; points: 430 Rome, Doubles Final, Sun 1:45pm losers' prize: $29,940 US winners' prize: $59,000 US Rome, Qual Finals, Sun May 11 10am losers' prizes: q1 $865 1pt; q2 $1,700 10pts; qualifier 15 points #34 Alize Cornet FRA d #70 Anastasia Rodionova AUS(RUS) 6-0, 6-3 #44 Elena Vesnina RUS d #148 Andreja Klepac SLO 7-6(5), 6-3 #51 Klara Zakopalova CZE d #89 Galina Voskoboeva RUS 6-1, 3-6, 6-2 #55 Kaia Kanepi EST d #114 Maria Elena Camerin ITA 6-4, 7-6(3) #57 Mariya Koryttseva UKR d #103 Julie Ditty USA 6-2, 6-4 #64 Alisa Kleybanova RUS d #73 Virginia Ruano Pascual ESP 0-6, 6-4, 6-3 #65 Akgul Amanmuradova UZB d #82 Olga Savchuk UKR 6-2, 7-6(4) #66 Jill Craybas USA d #90 Rosanna de Los Rios PAR 7-5, 6-1 #68 Shuai Peng CHN d #93 Yung-Jan Chan TPE 6-3, 6-4 #69 Tsvetana Pironkova BUL d #122 Catalina Castano COL 6-1, 6-0 *#108 Monica Niculescu ROU d #74 Ekaterina Makarova RUS 6-3, 2-6, 6-3 #85 Iveta Benesova CZE d #124 Yuliana Fedak UKR 6-1, 6-2 Rome, Withdrawals #1 Justine Henin BEL fatigue-- will be fined $20,000 #10 Daniela Hantuchova SVK right foot stress fracture #17 s14 Dinara Safina RUS back injury #18 s15 Shahar Peer ISR right shoulder tendonitis #19 s16 Amelie Mauresmo FRA right intercostal muscle strain #21 Tatiana Golovin FRA still recovering from surgery? #30 Katarina Srebotnik SLO #33 Sania Mirza IND right wrist #35 Na Li CHN   WTA: May 5-11 2008 Berlin Berlin: #9 Elena Dementieva 5' 11" 141lb RH 2H-BH Berlin: #17 Dinara Safina 5' 11½" 154½lb RH 2H-BH Qatar Telecom German Open Berlin, GER Tier I $1,340,000 56 players - outdoor: red clay Live Scores - WTA pdf: draws & OOP - notes - pics: tourney - Yahoo! - WTA     On Sunday in Berlin, Germany, in the final of the Qatar Telecom German Open, 22-year-old 13th-seeded # 17 Dinara Safina of Russia (res: Monte Carlo, Monaco), defeated her compatriot from Moscow, 26-year-old 6th-seeded # 9 Elena Dementieva, 3-6, 6-2, 6-2 (Elena is shown during the match, Dinara with the hardware after). Dinara's prize is $196,900; Elena's is $100,000.     Dinara said: "I played a lot of drop shots and I think that really helped to win today. I didn't move that well at the beginning, even though I know I have to move really well for my game and use all the power I have; I thought 'Come on, you've got to make it today,' and I fought my way back in...     "Obviously, this has been the biggest success in my career. I still can't believe I actually won Berlin, and beat three Top 10 players in one week." WTA story     Elena said: "I played well in the first set, but then Dinara started to move much better and got more first serves in. I had problems returning and just wasn't as consistent as I needed to be to win today. I could see over the entire week that Dinara was playing well, and her success today pays off all the hard work and discipline she put in over the years..."     "I knew it would be a tough match. She's in great shape and she beat some really good players already this week. She also likes to play on clay - she practices in Spain - so I knew it would be a tough one."     Dinara now leads Elena 3-2 in career matches, Valencia, Spain-trained Dinara winning all three of their meetings on clay, and Elena twice on fast surfaces. Elena defeated Dinara in their previous meeting, on in indoor carpet in the Kremlin Cup semis in Moscow last October, 6-1, 6-0, and defeated Serena Williams to win the title the next day. But Dinara won the match before that, on red clay in last year's Rome quarters, 6-1, 6-1.     Dinara is now 6-4 in WTA singles finals; her most recent title had been at Gold Coast in 2007; she also reached the Charleston (green clay) final last year, where she lost to Jelena Jankovic. Dinara now has a 17-10 match record for the season.     Elena is now 9-12 in WTA singles finals; she won the Dubai title this year, and the Moscow and Istanbul titles last year. Elena now has a 20-5 match record in 2008. tennis.quickfound.net tourney page: Berlin   WTA: Apr 28-May 4 Prague & Fes Prague: #14 Vera Zvonareva 5' 7¾" 130½lb RH 2H-BH Fes: photo in Linz, 2007 #47 Gisela Dulko 5' 7" 123½lb RH 2H-BH ECM Prague Open, Prague, CZE Tier IV $145,000 32 players - outdoor: red clay Live Scores - WTA pdf.: draws & OOP - pics: tourney - Yahoo! - WTA - videos La Princesse Lalla Meryem Fès, MAR Tier IV $145,000 32 players - outdoor: red clay Live Scores - WTA pdf.: draws & OOP - pics: tourney - WTA     On Sunday in Prague, Czech Republic, in the final of the ECM Prague Open, 23-year-old top-seeded # 14 Vera Zvonareva from Moscow, Russia, defeated 18-year-old 3rd-seeded # 26 Victoria Azarenka of Belarus (residence: Scottsdale, Arizona), 7-6(2), 6-2 (Vera is shown with the goodies after the match). Vera's prize is $22,900; Victoria's is $12,345.     In the Fes final on Sunday, 23-year-old 2nd-seeded # 47 Gisela Dulko from Buenos Aires, Argentina, won her 7th match in a row, narrowly defeating 25-year-old top-seeded # 34 Anabel Medina Garrigues from Valencia, Spain, 7-6(2), 7-6(5) (photos from Fes have not been good this week; Gisela is shown looking very nice last October while shopping in Linz, Austria with Daniela Hantuchova). The prize money in Fes matches that in Prague: Gisela's prize is $22,900; Anabel's is $12,345. tennis.quickfound.net tourney page: Prague & Fes   WTA Apr 26-27 2008 Fed Cup SFs Beijing: #76 Nuria Llagostera Vives 5' 1½" 117lb RH 2H-BH Moscow: #14 Vera Zvonareva 5' 7¾" 130½lb RH 2H-BH Fed Cup World Group SFs: Live Scores - USA 2 at Russia 3   Moscow - Spain 4 at China 1   Beijing World Group Playoffs: winners advance to 2009 World Group Italy 3 at Ukraine 2 - France 4 at Japan 1 - Germany 2 at Argentina 3 - Czech Republic 3 at Israel 2 World Group II Playoffs: winners advance to 2009 World Group II Colombia 0 at Belgium 5 - Switzerland 3 at Austria 2 - Uzbekistan 0 at Slovakia 5 - Serbia 3 at Croatia 2 brackets & results - news - pics: Yahoo! - Fed Cup gallery - audio: interviews - "Radio Player"     On Sunday in Beijing, in the 3rd "rubber" of the Fed Cup semifinal "tie" between Spain and China, 27-year-old # 76 Nuria Llagostera Vives from Barcelona, Spain, defeated 24-year-old # 68 Shuai Peng from Tian Jin, China, 6-4, 6-4. The win gave Spain an insurmountable 3-0 lead over China, and clinched a place for the Spaniards in the Fed Cup final, September 13-14 (Nuria is shown celebrating after match point).     Meanwhile in Moscow, in the 3rd "rubber" of the semifinal "tie" between the USA and Russia, a hometown girl, 23-year-old # 14 Vera Zvonareva, defeated 19-year-old # 115 Vania King from Long Beach, California, 4-6, 6-3, 6-2. This put the Russkis ahead 3-0, and meant that they will face Spain in the Fed Cup final (Vera is also shown after match point).     2004, 2005 & 2007 Fed Cup champs Russia will face Spain in the Fed Cup final, September 13-14 (the weekend following the US Open).     Russia will be heavily favored; Spain will have the choice of ground. tennis.quickfound.net "tourney" page: 2008 Fed Cup   WTA: Apr 14-20 Charleston & Estoril Estoril: #32 Maria Kirilenko 5'8" 127lb RH 2H-BH Charleston: #9 Serena Williams 5'9" 135lb RH 2H-BH Family Circle Cup, Charleston, SC Tier I $1,340,000 - 56 players outdoor: green clay Live Scores - WTA pdf.: draws & OOP - notes - pics: tourney - Yahoo! - WTA Estoril Open, Estoril, POR Tier IV $145,000 32 players - outdoor: red clay Live Scores - WTA pdf.: draws & OOP - pics: Yahoo! - tourney - WTA     On Sunday in Charleston, South Carolina, in the final of the 35th Family Circle Cup, 26-year-old 5th-seeded # 9 Serena Williams from Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, defeated 9th-seeded 23-year-old # 14 Vera Zvonareva from Moscow, Russia, 6-4, 3-6, 6-3 (Serena is shown after match point). Serena's prize is $196,900; Vera's, $100,000.     In Portugal on Sunday, in the final of the Estoril Open, 21-year-old 2nd-seeded # 32 Maria Kirilenko from Moscow, Russia, defeated 25-year-old unseeded # 132 Iveta Benesova from Most, Czech Republic, 6-4, 6-2. Maria's prize is $22,900; Iveta's, $12,345. tennis.quickfound.net tourney page: Charleston & Estoril   WTA Jan 14-27 Australian Open Melbourne: #5 Maria Sharapova 6' 2" 130lb RH 2H-BH Melbourne: #4 Ana Ivanovic 6' 1" 152lb RH 2H-BH Melbourne: 3rd Grand Slam Title 17th WTA Singles Title Australian Open, Melbourne, AUS Grand Slam website map - event stats - 128 players - outdoor: hard plexicushion $20,600,000 AUS matches: Live Scores - OOP - results draws: WTA, .pdf - qualif. - singles - doub pics: Yahoo! - tourney - WTA - text interviews - 2008 WTA video & audio interviews click for AO tourney page with 284 select pics, cropped & enhanced, and 52 postmatch quotes       On Saturday in Melbourne, in the final of the 2007 Australian Open, the 2006 finalist, 20 year old 5th-seeded # 5 Maria Sharapova of Russia (res.: Calif. & Bradenton, Fla.) defeated 20 year old 4th-seeded # 4 Ana Ivanovic of Serbia (res.: Basel, Switz.), 7-5, 6-3 (photos shown).     2004 Wimbledon and 2006 US Open champion Maria Sharapova is now 17-7 in WTA singles finals, and 3-1 in Grand Slam tourney finals, the loss was to Serena Williams in last year's Aussie Open final. Maria had some serious problems with her right shoulder in 2006 and 2007, but Maria now appears to be 100% healthy, and her game is at peak level. Maria Sharapova career record - Maria Sharapova Wallpaper ESPN: video "replay" Maria Sharapova d Ana Ivanovic 7-5, 6-3  18 min, 12 sec   WTA Aug 27-Sept 9 US Open Flushing Meadows: #1 Justine Henin 5'5¾" 126lb RH 1H-BH Flushing Meadows: 7th Grand Slam Title Flushing Meadows: 2nd US Open Title US Open  Flushing Meadows, NY Grand Slam $19,653,000 128 players - outdoor: hard Deco Turf - Live Scores - OOP - results Draws: WS pdf - mix doub Women: qualif - singles - doub pics: AP - Reuters - CBS - tourney - WTA - Videos: highlights - WTA interviews click for quickfound US Open tourney page with 237 choice pics, cropped & enhanced...         On Saturday in New York, in the final of the 2007 US Open, the 2003 champion, 25-year-old top-seeded # 1 Justine Henin of Belgium (residence: Monte Carlo, Monaco), defeated the 2004 champ, 25-year-old 5th-seeded # 5 Svetlana Kuznetsova of Russia (residence: also Monte Carlo), 6-1, 6-3 (photos shown).     7-time Grand Slam tourney champ Justine is now 36-16 in WTA singles finals; her match record for 2007 is 49-4. Justine Henin Wallpaper tennis.quickfound.net tourney page: 2007 US Open   WTA June 25-July 8: Wimbledon-- The Championships Wimbledon: #20 Marion Bartoli 5' 6¾" 128 lb, RH, 2H-FH&BH Wimbledon: #31 Venus Williams 6' 1" 160 lb, RH, 2H-BH Wimbledon: 4th Wimbledon Title 6th Grand Slam Singles Title The Championships Wimbledon, GBR Grand Slam - stats - outdoor: grass - 128 players Prize$: £4,946,960 (women's) website map - venue Draws: ladies singles, .pdf - mix doub   Ladies': qualifying - singles - doubles photos - news - interviews - notes - Yahoo! news photos: US - UK - WTA BBC videos - Wimbledon wallpaper click for Wimbledon tourney page: 250+ photos all cropped & processed, and 60+ quotes       On Saturday in London, in the final of The Championships at Wimbledon, the 2000, '01 & '05 champion, 27 year old 23rd seeded # 31 Venus Williams from Palm Beach Gardens, Florida weathered a close 1st set, and defeated 22 year old 18th seeded # 20 Marion Bartoli of France (residence: Geneva, Switzerland), 6-4, 6-1 (photos shown). tennis.quickfound.net tourney page: Wimbledon   WTA May 27-Jun 10: Roland Garros-- The French Open Roland Garros: #1 Justine Henin 5' 5¾", 126 lb, RH, 1H-BH Roland Garros: 6th Grand Slam Title Roland Garros: 4th French Open Title French Open Roland Garros - Grand Slam - Prize$: €15,264,500 - outdoor: red clay Matches: current - order - completed IBM Real-Time Scoreboard - stats Draws: W singles, .pdf - mix doub Women's: qualifying - singles - doubles         photos: Yahoo! news: US - France     tourney gallery - WTA photo gallery     news articles - player interviews Videos: player interviews - highlights click for French Open tourney page: 225 photos all cropped & processed, + 41 quotes         On Saturday at Roland Garros, in the final of the French Open, the 2003, '05 & '06 champ, 25 year old top-seeded # 1 Justine Henin of Belgium (residence: Monte Carlo), handily defeated this year's German Open champ, 19 year old 7th-seeded # 8 Ana Ivanovic of Serbia (res.: Basel, Switzerland), 6-1, 6-2 (photos shown). tennis.quickfound.net tourney page: French Open  NEWS BRIEFS:     (April 10, 2008) Indian # 1 and WTA # 31 Sania Mirza will undergo arthroscopic wrist surgery in Miami today to try to prevent further pain in her right wrist. Sania, whose strongest shot is her forehand, has been plagued by right wrist pain for over a year. Sania is expected to be out of action for about a month. Sania was also sidelined for two months after knee surgery in March of last year. Reuters story     (March 21, 2008) # 13 Tatiana Golovin had surgery on March 12 to remove a left hip cyst that was causing pain. While the doctors had the hood open, they decided to remove her appendix as well, just to be on the safe side. Tatiana hopes to be playing again by the French Open (May 25).     (Aug 28, 2006 updated 1/2007) # 4 Maria Sharapova has signed a new racquet endorsement contract with Prince which will pay her around $25 million dollars over the next 10 years. Maria's previous deal with Prince, a five-year contract, was signed when she was 14 years old, and due to expire. Maria currently uses Prince's O3 White model. The deal includes a base pay, plus incentives for high rankings and tournament performance.     Maria also has endorsement contracts with Gatorade & Tropicana, Colgate-Palmolive, Motorola (expired in 2007), Parlux Fragrances, Canon, watchmaker TAG Heuer, Land Rover, Nike, and others, plus Japan-only deals with Honda & Pepsi, which make her the highest-paid female athlete in the world, earning an estimated $23 to $25 million a year.     (Jan 5, 2005) The WTA has made a 6-year deal with mobile phone manufacturer Sony Ericsson to become the primary WTA Tour global sponsor. The price? $88 million.     (Jan 6, 2004 revised) Wimbledon will have a new retractable roof for Centre Court in place in 2009, officials announced. Construction will begin after The Championships in July, 2006. The 2007 Championships will be played with no roof at all (the current partial roof removed), a new fixed partial roof will be in place in 2008, and the retractable roof completed in 2009. The roof will take 10 minutes to deploy, so Centre Court rain delays of up to 30 minutes will still be possible, but the roof is being installed to assure TV networks of almost continuous coverage, even if it rains. The arena's capacity will also be increased from 13,800 to 15,000. AELTC Long-Term Plan - original BBC story.     If you are a coffee fan like Patty Schnyder (see her Cincinnati player's blog), then you might enjoy the eighteen classic New York Times & Los Angeles Times coffee & tea articles from 1854 to 1916 at coffee.quickfound.net.     If you are a chocolate fan like Kim Clijsters (see her Hasselt player's blog), then you might enjoy the sixteen classic New York Times & Los Angeles Times chocolate, cocoa, sugar, candy & snack articles from 1891 to 1920 at chocolate.quickfound.net.     Apologies for the typographical errors on this page occasionally. These cut-and-paste errors result when faulty brain wiring impairs one person trying to keep up a large website. I try to keep errors to a minimum, but some always creep in.     2004 Wimbledon & 2006 US Open champion Maria Sharapova of Russia is featured in the 2006 Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Edition, which hit newsstands on Tuesday, Feb 14. Click on the photo to see the SI Swimsuit pages online, including 22 pics of Maria looking very nice.

2008 WTA Tour Calendar with links 2008 WTA Tour Calendar, .pdf Tennis Shoes at Footlocker.com New: Maria Sharapova Wallpaper with 2008 Australian Open, 2006 US Open & 2004 Wimbledon Photos WTA 2007 Offcourt Wallpaper 26 players being pretty WTA 2007 After Match Point Wallpaper - 15 players 2 WTA 2007 Oncourt Wallpapers 29 pics, 27 players + Combo (all 4 on 1 page) in extra sizes 1920x1200, 1680x1050, 1440x900 + Offcourt 2004-2007 Combo (4 offcourt wallpapers on 1 page), also 1920x1200, 1680x1050, 1440x900 2007 WTA Calendar: results & pics link to: http://tennis.quickfound.net   It's the Bat! Maria Sharapova, Vera Zvonareva,     A Sugiyama, Stosur: Prince O3 White Svetlana Kuznetsova, V Azarenka,     S Mirza, A Medina, A Myskina:     Head MicroGEL Extreme Justine Henin, Lindsay Davenport:    Wilson K Factor KTour Amelie Mauresmo, Patty Schnyder:    Head MicroGEL Radical Nadia Petrova, Dinara Safina:    Babolat Pure Storm Anna Chakvetadze, A-L Groenefeld:    Fischer M-Speed Pro No. 1 Serena Williams, Venus Williams:    Wilson K Factor KBlade Team 104" N Vaidisova, M Kirilenko:     Yonex RQ iS 2 Tour Jelena Jankovic:     Prince O3 Speedport Pro White MP Ana Ivanovic: Yonex RQ iS 1 Tour D Hantuchova: Prince Ozone Seven Marion Bartoli: Prince O3 Red Elena Dementieva: Yonex RDS 001 Shahar Peer: Prince O3 Hybrid Tour Srebotnik: Prince O3 Speedport Black Na Li, S Bammer: Babolat Pure Drive F Schiavone: Babolat AeroPro Drive Ai Sugiyama: Prince Ozone Pro Tour F Pennetta: Wilson K Factor KBlade 98" shop direct for adidas shoes & clothing Total Tennis $23.07 at Amazon Bud Collins' encyclopedia Official Guide to Pro Tennis WTA-ATP Annual $16.97 ($7.98 off) ships free if over $25 Tickets Now: Tennis Tickets   Tennis Photos & Tennis TV:     Yahoo! US and ESPN news photo searches are now located at the top of every page at tennis.quickfound.net. The same 304x345 pic at Yahoo! US is 452x512 at ESPN and 397x450 at the France & UK Yahoos (but Yahoo! includes Reuters, AFP, and some other agency pics which ESPN does not).     Yahoo! news photos are kept on the server for 30 days (ESPN: 15 days). The Yahoo! link above is now a category rather than just a search, but still might not find all of the photos. If you are looking for more, try the individual player names, or the name of the tourney, or the city it is in, with the search form below (or try the international Yahoo! links, below).     The Tennis.com Photo Gallery, new in 2006, displays mostly the same AP photos as ESPN, with the same quality and size (512 px max), and is, unfortunately, not searchable. Yahoos! of other nations sometimes include photos not shown on US Yahoo! Also, the UK Yahoo! includes some photos (from the EMPICS agency) that are over 30 days old, unlike the other Yahoos!. The Yahoo links below are category links, instead of keyword links, so if you just want to see all tennis photos click on the links instead of using the search form. Search Yahoo! UK Tennis Photos: find this: Search Yahoo! France Tennis Photos: find this: Int'l Yahoo! Tennis Photos: ARG - AUS-NZ - BRA - ESP - GER IND - ITA - JAP - MEX - SGP CBS Sportsline: Tennis News Photos carries tennis news photos from Getty Images that are not available from Yahoo! or ESPN, plus the same AP pics. The pics are usually larger and sharper than Yahoo US, but smaller than ESPN's. Unfortunately, the Sportsline photo gallery is not searchable, and the photos sometimes on their server for less than one day. BBC Tennis News Photos are in a slide-show format, a bit small, and do not link to larger versions. Archived WTA Player Photos: The QuickFound.net Photo Search page has direct entries for 9 online photo search engines, including Google, Yahoo, FAST, AltaVista, and Lycos, all on one page. In addition to many excellent oncourt photos, attributed to specific tourneys and matches, MFW Web Tennis also has a number of excellent QuickTime animations of WTA players strokes. WTA Tour Offcourt Photo Gallery Andre Jahnke's WTA Photos WTN Photos Inside Tennis Photos by Fans Sportal.au Tennis Photo Galleries Sporting-Heroes.net has 550 large photos of WTA & ATP players, including many of players of the 70s & 80s that are difficult to find online. Current Tennis TV Listings: -- Tennis One: Tennis TV This Month -- ESPN & ESPN2: Tennis This Week -- Tennis.com: TV Schedule -- The Tennis Channel: Schedule -- Sky Sports: Live Tennis -- TV Guide: free reg. req. At Overstock.com, you can save up to 70% on all kinds of brand name goods, including tennis rackets (like the Wilson Hyper Hammer 5.3 for under $80), with $2.95 shipping on all purchases. They even ship to P.O. boxes. find this:   Sports Sites' Tennis News Pages: CNN-Sports Illustrated: Tennis covers tennis with AP (and sometimes Reuters) stories. Occasionally the stories have a mid-size photo or two, but not as many as they used to, and the pics are no longer linked to large versions. BBC Sport: Tennis reduced the length of most stories in 2005. They often have small photos, but never large ones. They also have an online Tennis Academy. CBS Sportsline.com: Tennis coverage is basically AP, but you have to find photos on a separate page (listed above). ESPN: Tennis is basically AP; they have improved their layout & navigation.   Tennis-Specific Sites: ATP player profiles search: enter last name: find more ATP links in the page top menu Tennis.com did a complete makeover of their website in 2005--and did it again in 2006--and Chrissie forgot to call and tell me the URLs had changed both times. Oh, well, the links are fixed again. The new site, like the old versions, has feature stories, results, events information, and hundreds of excellent tennis instruction articles and tips from the publishers of Tennis Magazine.     You can search the very useful feature article, "Your Game" instruction, and message board forum sections of the Tennis.com website with this form. Try to be specific--if you simply search for "backhand" you will get countless results, all the articles in which the word "backhand" is used. find this:   in: articles instruction forums   Jiro's Tennis Page, which focuses on Thai players, has much useful general WTA & ATP info, including entry lists for many WTA, ATP, and ITF tourneys well in advance. Pro Tennis Fan is a blog site covering both the WTA & ATP, with good player-specific weblogs for many WTA players. Peter Bodo's Tennis World Blog Bob Larson's Tennis News Tennis Live, an all-tennis sports talk radio show, has been off the air since their last broadcast on WWZN in Boston, but a great many of their pro player interviews are archived at their website. Tennis Live has announced plans to broadcast live on the Internet from the Family Circle Cup in Charleston in April, 2007. Tennis-Pool.com is a 100% free online fantasy tennis game, where you can pick and operate your own teams of WTA & ATP players. String Forum has a database of info on over 1400 tennis racket strings. Racquet Research although not recently updated, has good pages such as "Introduction to Racquet Science," and racquet selection help. Operation Doubles: Tennis Doubles Strategy and Tactics covers the three basic doubles formations/strategies, partnership, positioning, switching, poaching, and much more. Tennis.info has a tennis info database that lets you search for statistics and rankings info about specific WTA & ATP players (the info is not always fully up to date, but it is very extensive). They also have a gallery of very nice off-court photos of several players including Anastasia Myskina and Emmanuelle Gagliardi. Go Tennis requires free registration, but they are loaded with tennis news and info. Tennis Week has a very large home page (long load), but has match summaries (and an archive of them) you might not find elsewhere. Tenniscom.com is a comprehensive tennis site for Spanish readers. College Tennis Online has current collegiate scores, news, and features. College and Junior Tennis adds scores, news and info from and about Junior tournaments. JuniorTennis.com features up-to-date coverage of juniors tourneys, plus extensive junior players info and photos.   WTA Player-Specific Sites: Martina Hingis & Anna Kournikova have their own subdomains at quickfound.net. 100% Justine Henin official Justine-Henin.net (many photos) MariaSharapova.com official MariaWorld (Sharapova- 4700+ photos) Sharapova Masha (good bio info) Ana Ivanovic official jj-jelenajankovic.com (official) JelenaJankovic.net Kuznetsova Fanpage VenusSerenaFans.com Elena Dementieva official Anna Chakvetadze official Anna's World (Chakvetadze) DanielaHantuchova.com (Flash req.) Patty-Schnyder.ch (in German) Zvonareva.ru official NicoleVaidisova.com Agnes Szavay Official Blog VikaAzarenkaTennis.com official Golovin Attitude Tatiana-Golovin.net Nadia-Petrova.org official Maria Kirilenko official CarolineWozniacki.dk official alize-cornet.com official Ashley-Harkleroad.com K-lina.com (Karolina Sprem) Myskina.ru official, in Russian Anastasia-Myskina.com Mary-Pierce.org Jennifer Capriati Jelena-Dokic.com Monica-Seles.com KimClijsters.be official   WTA Specific Sites: The WTA Tour since 1996, which received a major makeover in May, 2007, provides match scores and other stats for all WTA players & events, including head-to-head matchup info, updated weekly. WTA World is a discussion site, consisting entirely of forums about the WTA and its players. Women's Tennis Apparel is a blog about what the ladies are wearing. WTA Endorsement Deals is a CBS News story from December, 2000 outlining the corporate endorsement deals for several of the top WTA players. From January 2000 through March 2001, CNNSI published the Kristina Brandi Tennis Diary, a "diary" of WTA player Kristina Brandi kept every 2 weeks, showing what life is like for touring WTA players.   Tennis History: "The 700-year-old French game of tennis, traditionally as much a lady's as a man's game, was introduced to the U.S. in 1874 by a woman, Mary E. Outerbridge..." See more from this Sept. 9, 1946, TIME Magazine cover story on women's tennis and 1946 Wimbledon and Forest Hills champ Pauline Betz now on the Tennis Articles page. TIME Magazine, May 23, 1955:     In her first column, the San Diego Union's new Women's Sports Editor Maureen ("Little Mo") Connolly, retired as the world's greatest lady tennis star at a ripe old 21, showed that sports punditry is as easy for her as smashing a tennis ball down an opponents throat.     Lamented Little Mo in great pontifical style: "[On] the American scene today ... we're reducing sports to a cluster of numbers on a board ... We ... are expecting our champions to be stadium automatons, the human equivalents of the balls in a super pinball machine ... We're watching for the numbers to light up and forgetting the play." TIME articles: Maureen Connolly's 1st US Open & Wimbledon titles Book Excerpt: The Courts of Babylon: Dawn of the Pro Tennis Tours more tennis history book excerpts in the nav menu (top of page) WTA Top 20 Rankings 1989-2006 International Tennis Hall of Fame WTA Historical Bios Lawn Tennis 1873-1938 Pictorial History of Tennis 16-page .pdf Sportsline Tennis History includes a listing of Grand Slam champions, the winners of the most career singles titles, and more. The All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club has become too greedy to provide many Wimbledon video clips for free anymore, but their site still has some good Wimbledon history pages. The USOpen.org History pages have sadly thrown away their photo gallery, and their video clips. They still have stats and year-by-year finals descriptions since 1968 (but nothing about the Forest Hills and Newport Casino US Nationals before the "Open era"). Other Tennis Stats & Records: Tennis Corner offers excellent single page summaries of ATP and WTA player statistics. And their WTA & ATP Results Archive 1968-2003 has records of ATP and WTA tournament champions and final scores going back to the mid-1970's, and for major tournaments back to 1968 (the first year of "Open" professional tennis). Unfortunately the site is virtually crippled by popups and other intrusive advertising. Tennis Website Search: The DMOZ Open Directory searches for keywords in website titles and descriptions (not page content). You can limit your search to the Tennis links category, or search all sports links. find this: in: All Tennis College Tennis Tennis Players All Sports   Google Usenet Forums: rec.sport.tennis alt.tennis Sweatband: Top UK Racquet Sports Shop   Tennis News Tennis Magazine regularly features tutorials by Chris Evert, Tracy Austin, Mary Joe Fernandez, and other pros who will help you improve your serve, smooth out your backhand, and learn to play the percentages. Save 75%! (lowest rate available)