Just three months after having a baby, former world number one Lindsay Davenport won the Bali Open title. She deserves a huge credit for returning to tennis so soon after giving birth. Imagine traveling around the world with a three-month-old baby, practicing tennis and dealing with post-pregnancy hormonal swings. She just gave a hugs boost to a lot of mothers around the world.

Davenport defeated second seed Daniela Hantuchova 6-4 3-6 6-2. En route to the final, she had already beaten the number one seed Jelena Jankovic from Serbia.

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

Oh well.. . Federer loses his Grand Slam virginity….NOOOT! The Swiss maestro (as many media commentators call him) has won his 12th Grand Slam title.

I wonder how he still manages to pretend that he is sooo shocked by the victory. Yes, he is a great player, loves speaking about how it is important to promote the sport, but the mere fact that he keeps winning non-stop makes those slams so boring. Good for him, but boring for many tennis fans. I wonder if his fans still get excited and thrilled by his victories.

After Federer’s win, I have been following the discussions going around in the tennis blogosphere. Apparently there are many out there that don’t like Djokovic’s djocks, his constant not-really-justified medical time-outs, and the media hype:-)

I think the problem here is not Djokovic but the way American media work. If there was no Djokovic, there would have been somebody else (remember Marcos Baghdatis hype?). Whoever gives them a good meat to chew on, they will make him/her the media darling. Djokovic is smart enough to realize it and how he can benefit from it. It is a win-win situation. If the player doesn’t have media-likable-marketable personality, (regardless of how good their game is) he/she is very likely to be ignored by the American media. Davydenko and Nalbandian (when he was in top 5) are perfect examples of it.

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

Why Rafa is doing it? Many fans have wondered about it.

Here is Nadal’s answer published in a recent interview with Time magazine.

Question to Rafael Nadal

“Why wear the Capri pants that you have to constantly pull out of your rear? Why not shorts? —Sara Norm, Chicago

[Laughs.] It’s not the fault of the clothes. It’s a habit that I picked up when I was competing when I was young. I am trying to break the habit, but it’s not easy.”

Here is Novak Djokovic’s impersonation of Nadal and Maria Sharapova which he, by the way, repeated yesterday after beating Carlos Moya at U.S. Open.

I am a news junkie and I like sharing tennis news, photos, gossip–everything tennis.

Bare with me while I am setting up my system and website. Check back soon to see what’s happening in the world of Sharapovas, Williams, and where this Serbian tennis invasion is going to take us…