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TENNIS-X NEWS, NOTES, QUOTES AND BARBS
Three 2008 Wimbledon semifinalists are back in the 2009 semis as Serena, Venus and Elena romp in the quarterfinals…
ADHEREL
8 different countries are in the men’s QF…
“Dr.” Ivo Karlovic hasn’t dropped serve in eight matches this grass season…
For the first time since 2006 the Top 4 seeds have reached the women’s SF…
31-year-old Tommy Haas is the oldest player in the tournament…
Venus Williams has now won 19 straight matches at Wimbledon including 33 consecutive sets…
Venus is the oldest in the women’s draw at 29…
Dinara Safina has reached the semifinals at all four Grand Slams, same as her brother…
Andy Murray is gunning for his 200th career match win come Wednesday…
Andy Roddick has won four straight over Lleyton Hewitt…
Ivo Karlovic has smashed a tournament-best 137 aces, and he hasn’t faced a break point since the first round…
Andy Roddick has won 13 straight tiebreaks…
Six of eight remaining men have won a grass title…
Tommy Haas and Novak Djokovic have Grand Slam wins over Roger Federer. And Lleyton Hewitt has a grass win plus a best-of-five set win over the Swiss…
Novak Djokovic has the most match wins on the tour (47)…
Forecast: Continued warm and dry…
From the Reuters blog: “The trouble with a match as riveting as Andy Murray’s against Stanislas Wawrinka is that it’s very hard to find something good enough to follow it…and women’s quarter-final day at Wimbledon was singularly unable to do so.”…
KUALA LUMPUR BACK ON TOUR! REJOICE! — The ATP World Tour confirmed that Kuala Lumpur has been added to the 2009 calendar’s Asian Swing. The Malaysian Open, Kuala Lumpur, will be held indoors at the 16,000-seat Putra Stadium at the Bukit Jalil Sports Complex, beginning Sept. 28. The five event Asian Swing beginning in September will include Bangkok, Kuala Lumpur, Beijing, Tokyo and Shanghai.
Roger Federer on the passing of the King of Pop Michael Jackson: “Sure, a very sad moment I think in the music world. You know, he touched many people. Same for me. But I’ll obviously still listen to his music for many more years to come. I remember, I don’t know, back maybe in ’88 or ’89, he came to Basel. I was outside of the stadium, because there was such excitement that he would come. I was still very young. I think I went there with my sister, and we just listened from the outside, you know. Yeah, always listened to his music. And, yeah, it’s sad. You know, it really is.”
DAVENPORT BABY #2 — Former No. 1 Lindsay Davenport became a mother for the second time on Saturday, giving birth to a daughter, Lauren Andrus Davenport Leach…
Long-time Mark Philippoussis coach Peter McNamara of Australia has become a coach at the Mouratoglou Tennis Academy, and according to the academy will “coach a future new member of the Elite Team.”…
THE FAUX HAWK AND THE WORM — From The Wall Street Journal: “In the tennis world, Fernando Verdasco is on a tear. Not only has the 25-year-old Spaniard shot up to No. 8 in the world rankings, he has already dated two of the most sought-after bachelorettes on the women’s tour, Ana Ivanovic and Gisela Dulko. Recenty he has become close with Denmark’s Caroline Wozniacki, though she says they’re just friends. Defending the title of ATP playboy, though, is Czech Radek Stepanek. He was engaged to Martina Hingis, is dating Nicole Vaidisova and is known for charming ladies with his sense of humor and a victory dance he calls “the worm,” which he debuted at a player party in the Austrian Alps several years ago after a big win and a little too much Schnapps. “Everyone was very impressed,” recalls Mr. Stepanek, adding that he hopes his popularity with beautiful women, a subject of much speculation on tennis forums, is “because of who I am as a person.”…
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