After earlier reports that tennis world No 4 Maria Sharapova and her camp had decided to skip this year’s Kremlin Cup, now Russian media report that after all Sharapova will be playing in Kremlin Cup.

Sharapova was forced to pull out of the Kremlin Cup with an injury last year and was beaten by compatriot Dinara Safina in the quarterfinals in 2005.

Other confirmed participants are world No. 1 Justine Henin, Amelie Mauresmo of France and a number of leading Russian players, including world No. 4 Svetlana Kuznetsova and defending champion sixth-ranked Anna Chakvetadze. According to Lenta.ru, Serena Williams is also planning to participate. She has requested a visa and hotel reservation, local tour organizers said.

Kremin Cup is a $1.34 million Tier 1 indoor tournament in Moscow. It will be held at Moscow’s Olympic sports complex from Oct. 6 to 14.

(Sources: Lenta.ru, Reuters.com)

After so much publicized Marat Safin’s decision to climb Mount Cho-Oyu, here comes Marat Safin’s letter to his fans relayed by Amit Naor (his former coach and good friend):

“Dear fans,

I am writing this letter on behalf of Marat who has been in touch with me in the last 48 hours and asked me to pass on this message to you all.

As you know Marat has taken an interesting step because of various reasons which he explained in his letter to you last week. And it has been an adventure - doing his acclimatisation climb and getting used to all that is part of climbing mountains.

The delegation has reached the next height of moving to the base camp for Cho-Oyu and at this stage Marat has realised several points.

First of all Marat realised that this climb is a very serious challenging issue and not just an adventure. He loves the experience and is fully into it but realises that it has to be treated with great caution and respect. And the next step is a very big one indeed.

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Over the weekend, Russian tennis star Marat Safin bagged his very first summit - Murat (4100 m). Last week Safin arrived in Nepal with the intention of climbing Cho Oyu, the world’s sixth highest mountain, giving the former world number one a fresh challenge.

According to Reuters,

“ Safin is part of an eight-member Russian expedition which is due to leave Nepal today to climb Cho Oyu, the 8,201-metre (26,906 ft) mountain on the Nepal-Tibet border, a Nepalese hiking official said.

This is an interesting climb but he has (had) very good physical exercise,” Ang Tshering Sherpa, chief of the Nepal Mountaineering Association said yesterday.

“He is young and energetic although the climb is challenging. I’m hopeful he will succeed,” said the official, providing logistic support to the expedition.

The expedition is expected to last over a month, which is also likely to rule Safin out of this month’s Davis Cup semi-final against Germany.

In response to journalists’ questions to Russian Davis Cup Captain Shamil Tarpishchev why Marat Safin had preferred alpinism to playing tennis for Russia, Tarpishchev said: “ Whatever is happening with Marat is internal. He has issues with himself.”

Typical Safin style. I like the guy!

(Photo source: 7 Summits Club)

Photo: Nadia Petrova showing Maria Sharapova her seat:-)

With the arrival of Maria Sharapova to Moscow to help the Russian tennis team win the Fed Cup, the Russian news services and blogosphere are very active on covering this big sport event. Here are some translated tidbits that might interest you.

• “I would give us 70 percent chance to win with only 30 for Italy,” said Svetlana Kuznetsova, #1 Russian tennis player (#2 in world.)
• Russia captain Shamil Tarpishchev: “Sharapova is a normal person. We are in very good terms. We don’t pay attention to what media is saying about why she decided to join the team. “
• Tarpishchev: “The fact that Maria Sharopova has been training with Anna Chakvetadze speaks about the improved relationship between their fathers. [There was some kind of a feud going on between those two. However, I couldn’t find more info. Do you know what was the cause?]
• Tarpishchev: “There is no tension between Sharapova and Kuzentsova. It was the media that exaggerated Kuznetsova’s comments. They actually like each other.”

With three players in the top 10, Russia is favoured to beat defending champion Italy and win its third Fed Cup title this weekend. Second-ranked Svetlana Kuznetsova, No. 5 Anna Chakvetadze and No. 8 Nadia Petrova will lead Russia along with Elena Vesnina in the best-of-series on indoor hard courts.

Source: Sport.ru

Peter Bodo at Tennis.com discusses on ESPN Tennis site about their recent findings on how efficient the tennis players are on Grand Slams. The rating that they came up with is pretty interesting. Here are some of the surprises and non-surprises that they have unraveled.

Non-Surprises:

Roger Federer (surprise!) is atop the leaderboard, averaging 4.09 wins per Slam. That’s a statement on something many of us forget: Roger’s “slow-start” as an impact player. Those first 16 slams, in which Federer never reached a quarterfinal, pull down his average — although he is still averaging one win per Slam more than did Pete Sampras. The overall Open era leader is Bjorn Borg, with a whopping 5.22 average.And consider this: for all the grief Andy Roddick takes for being unable to beat Federer, or failing to add a second Grand Slam title to his collection, his average of 3.07 wins over 27 majors leaves him third, behind Federer and Rafael Nadal. Dude ain’t into sunscreen, I guess.

Surprises:

David Nalbandian. Despite having a reputation for choking or mailing in sub-par performances at majors, Nalby, while ranked No. 23, has averaged three wins per slam (in 24 appearances). This represents a higher percentage than either James Blake (No. 6, but with a paltry 1.74 wins per slam) or Lleyton Hewitt (now No. 21, but a former No. 1 whose career average in Slams is 2.97).

No. 4 Nikolay Davydenko has played in 27 majors, but his average is an anemic 1.85. It may be cold comfort for Kolya the Obscure, but current No. 12 Ivan Ljubicic stinks out the big joints even worse than Davydenko. Although he finished 2006 at No. 5, Ljubicic doesn’t even average a win per Slam (.97).

The full post is at ESPN Tennis Blog.

Strana.ru reports that on Tuesday Maria Sharapova arrived Moscow to join the Russian team for the 2007 Federation Cup final against Italy, but only as a spectator and practice partner.

In a TV interview with vesti.ru, Svetlana Kuznetsova was”mildly” surprised why she was there. “I know that Masha is coming, but to tell the truth I am not sure why she is coming. If she says she can’t play because of her injury, how is she going to practice with us? It doesn’t make sense. Anyway my job here is to get ready and do my best.” Kuznetsova is #2 ranked player in the world.

Shamil Tarpishchev, the captain of the Russian tennis team, says that despite the rumors, he has very good relationship with Sharapova, and her dad Yuri, and he is happy that she is there to support the team.

On her website, Russia’s former world No.1 Maria Sharapova gave her explanation: “Unfortunately Tarpishchev called me the day I was visiting a doctor in Toronto, who said the best way to get rid of that 20% nagging shoulder pain… is if I don’t put any impinging overhead pressure on it for the next three weeks. Which basically means I can’t hit anything over my head…The least I could do is fly over there and be their practice partner for the week and cheer them on from the stands.” Sharapova is currently ranked 4th in the WTA rating list.

Source: Ria Novsosti
Maria Sharapova

Photo source: Gazzetta

What can I say. Congratulations to Henin!!! However, the game itself was extremely borring. Kuznetsova looked very confused and hopeless. She is still one of my favorite Russian tennis players. Here is a more official report on the match:

(Via Sports Network) - Justine Henin finished off a dominating two weeks at the U.S. Open, blitzing Russian Svetlana Kuznetsova, 6-1, 6-3 for her seventh Grand Slam title.

It capped a monumental effort for Henin, as she beat the Williams sisters back-to-back and became the first person to do it en route to a Grand Slam title. Henin disposed of Serena in the quarterfinals, and then ousted Venus in Friday’s semifinals.

Not only that, but the top-seeded/world No. 1 Belgian, also the 2003 U.S. Open champion and last year’s runner-up to Russian Maria Sharapova, did not drop a set at this ‘07 fortnight.

Also, Henin moved to 15-2 all-time against the fourth-seeded Kuznetsova, who overcame fellow Russian Anna Chakvetadze on Friday, but lost in her second U.S. Open final in four years. She won the title in 2004, beating Elena Dementieva for the championship.

“It’s very tough. I think the match was much closer than the score,” Kuznetsova said. “When she plays her best game I have to play my best game. I didn’t play my best game so that’s why I lost. I felt I just didn’t move to the ball well enough because I was pretty tight.”

Kuznetsova, who failed in her attempt for a 10th career title, will nonetheless rise to No. 2 in the world rankings next week, her career debut in the top two.

Amazingly, this was the 16th straight Grand Slam that nobody won back-to-back titles. The last person to achieve two major title runs in a row was in fact Henin, who captured the 2003 U.S. Open and the 2004 Australian Open.

Henin’s 36th career title gained her $1.4 million, while Kuznetsova netted $700,000.

Anastasia Myskina is the first Russian woman tennis player ever to win Grand Slam title (Roland Garros 2004). But nowadays she is more interested in Russian Premier League Football than tennis. While she is still recovering from her injuries, the Russian star is developing a new career—football television commentator. She has been working as a football show host for the Russian NTV TV station.

Quite a change of a career, given the fact that football (soccer for the American fans) traditionally has never been popular among women in Russia. From what I could understand from her interviews with Russian media, she didn’t have much knowledge about the football when she first started the job. She has also denied rumors of her early retirement, saying that the chance of her comeback is 50%-50%. In short, the desire is still there, if the body lets her.

In addition to her Roland Garros title, Myskina has won 10 WTA titles. She turned 26 on July 8.

Anastasia Myskina
Source: International Tennis Federation