Estoril Open 2010 - The Gods get their feet on the dirt!

The Estoril Open is an ATP and WTA clay court tournament held in Jamor, Oeiras, Portugal (in spite of nominally located in Estoril). The men's tournament was created in 1990 and since its inception, every champion except 2004 champion Juan Ignacio Chela and 2009 champion Albert Montañés has been in the Top 10 of the ATP rankings, including former World No. 1 players Thomas Muster (1995 and 1996), Carlos Moyà (2000), Juan Carlos Ferrero (2001), and Roger Federer (2008).

Also, Marat Safin lost the 2004 final and Yevgeny Kafelnikov and Gustavo Kuerten won the doubles tournament in 1995 and 1997, respectively. It currently gives 40 Champion's Race points to its winner. The women's tournament, created in 1998, started as an ITF tournament, but in the next year became a WTA tournament. The women's tournament is currently an International Series tournament.

Statistically, this tournament highlights the dominance of Argentine and Spanish male players on red clay. Between 1990 and 2001, at least one Spaniard appeared in the final ten times, with a player from Spain claiming the title in nine of those twelve years.

The Spanish dominance waned in recent years. Since 2001, there were only two Spaniards in the final and only one of them won. Between 2002 and 2006, an Argentine made the final at Estoril, wining four of these five titles.

The roll of champions on the women's side is more diverse. In 2006, Estoril showcased the first all-Chinese final in tour history, between Jie Zheng and Na Li.

List of players for the 2010 draw

Men - (22/03/2010)
Bios courtesy of ATPWorldTour.com)
Roger Federer (SUI)
Nikolay Davydenko (RUS)
Ivan Ljubicic (CRO)
Albert Montanes (ESP)
Guillermo Garcia-Lopez (ESP)
Pablo Cuevas (URU)
Florian Mayer (GER)
James Blake (USA)
Eduardo Schwank (ARG)
Marc Gicquel (FRA)
Alejandro Falla (COL)
Arnaud Clement (FRA)
Oscar Hernandez (ESP)
Juan Ignacio Chela (ARG)
Santiago Giraldo (COL)
Nicolas Massu (CHI)
Paolo Lorenzi (ITA)
Xavier Malisse (BEL)
Marcel Granollers (ESP)

Women (23/03/2010)
(Bios courtesy of SonyEricssonWTATour.com)
Na Li (CHN)
Agnes Szavay (HUN)
Anabel Medina Garrigues (ESP)
Aleksandra Wozniak (CAN)
Sorana Cirstea (ROU)
Melinda Czink (HUN)
Magdalena Rybarikova (SVK)
Shaui Peng (CHN)
Sybille Bammer (AUT)
Iveta Benesova (CZE)
Tamira Paszek (AUT)
Ekaterina Makarova (RUS)
Anastasija Sevastova (LTH)
Anna-Lena Gronefeld (GER)
Kimiko Date-Krumm (JAP)
Stefanie Voegele (SUI)
Julia Goerges (GER)
Angelique Kerber (GER)
Kirsten Flipkens (BEL)
Peta Martic (CRO)
Ioana Raluca Olaru (ROU)
Alize Cornet (FRA)
Sofia Arvidsson (SWE)
Julie Coin (FRA)

DATES May 1-9, 2010


QUALIFYING May 1-2, 2010


MAIN DRAW May 2-9, 2010


SITE

Estadio Nacional
1495 Cruz Quebrada
Lisbon, Portugal

Site Plan

EXECUTIVE OFFICE João Lagos Sports SA
Rua da Barruncheira, nº 6 2790-034 Carnaxide Portugal


DIRECTOR João Lagos (Tournament Director)

SURFACE Clay (Centre Court, Centralito and four Show Courts)

2009 ATTENDANCE 45,543 spectators

Federer To Compete At 2010 Estoril Open

ATP World Tour No. 1 and former champion Roger Federer has confirmed he will return to compete at the Estoril Open, an ATP World Tour 250 clay-court tournament, from 1-9 May 2010.



The Swiss superstar snapped a five-month title drought by winning his 54th career ATP World Tour trophy at the Estoril Open (d. Davydenko) in May 2008, when a record 53,888 spectators visited the Estadio Nacional.

Federer is the all-time Grand Slam title-leader, having broken Pete Sampras’ record of 14 triumphs (1990-2002) at The Championships, Wimbledon, in July 2009.

Estoril Open - Chinese Star NA LI Headlines Women's Entry

Na Li, the first Chinese player to reach a Grand Slam semi-final and break into the Top 10 of the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour Rankings, will lead the Estoril Open women’s field from 1-9 May 2010.


Li, who reached the 2005 (l. to Safarova) and 2006 (l. to Zheng) finals at the Estadio Nacional, venue of the clay-court tennis tournament, is joined by five other Top 50 players, including Agnes Szavay, Anabel Medina Garrigues, Aleksandra Wozniak, Sorana Cirstea and Melinda Czink.

Two-time runner-up Iveta Benesova will also compete again this year.

Estoril Open - Ljubicic Adds Name To 2010 Field

World No. 13 Ivan Ljubicic, who captured his first ATP World Tour Masters 1000 title at Indian Wells in March, will join World No. 1 Roger Federer and another former champion Nikolay Davydenko at the Estoril Open from 1-9 May 2010.

Seven players in the Top 50 in the South African Airways 2010 ATP Rankings have agreed to play at the Estadio Nacional, venue of the ATP World Tour 250 clay-court tennis tournament.

Ljubicic, 31, competed at the tournament in 2001, losing in the first round to Nicolas Lapentti. Federer captured the 2008 title, while Davydenko lifted the 2003 title and reached two other finals in 2006 and 2008.

Defending champion Albert Montanes, with a 9-4 overall tournament record, and last year’s runner-up James Blake will also return to the scene of their memorable final.

Djoker masters the smash

Just over a year ago, Serbian legend and world number two Novak Djokovic was having a nightmarish time with his new racquet.
Having just changed from Wilson to Head, he was struggling to get used to the new equipment and blamed it for a run of poor form.
He got the hang of it soon enough though, and though he was Grand Slam-free in 2009 he enjoyed an otherwise superb season to establish himself even more firmly - not that he needed to - as one of the very best in the business.
It seems, however, that the pesky racquet has started to play up once again, because he thrashed it to within an inch of its life and beyond as he muddled past Mikhail Youzhny to secure victory at the Dubai Championships.
Incredibly, though, his hot-headed tactic worked: the remainder of the racquets in the Djoker's bag, clearly fearing for their lives, began to behave much better as the Serb finished up a comfortable final set victory.
Sport is littered with examples of ridiculous, illogical tactics that shouldn't work - yet do.
Football club presidents look ridiculous when they fire their managers on the back of a brief run of bad results; yet the shot up the backside for the players invariably turns things round.
And how often do you see a golfer shouting at his ball in mid-air to get over the lake, then smile in gratitude as the under-hit shot does exactly what it's told.
Smashing a racquet is in exactly the same category, and not for a second should anybody grumble about it.
It adds to the spectacle, gives the crowd some pantomime-villain action to enjoy booing at, and increases the level of play from the player.
In fact, we'd rather see the ATP and WTA fine players for NOT losing their tempers when they clearly ought to have done.

Q&A With 'Jersey Girl' Clijsters - Interesting article from Tennnis.com

Q&A With 'Jersey Girl' Clijsters
By Bill Gray
Monday, March 1, 2010
Clijsters and Kuznetsova were the only two players to defeat Serena Williams in Grand Slam competition in 2009.

Availiable here:

http://www.tennis.com/articles/templates/features.aspx?articleid=4399&zoneid=9

To hear Kim Clijsters tell it, her weekend wasn’t much different than that of any other high-powered New Jersey working mom trying to balance family duties with work life. “It’s taken some time to get the right balance, but I’m getting the hang of it,” Clijsters said Sunday after a 60-mile commute from Wall, New Jersey, to New York City for a work obligation.
The start of the weekend was all about her mother role, as Clijsters was celebrating the second birthday of Jada, her daughter with her Jersey-born husband Brian Lynch. After baking a birthday cake and preparing and hosting a brunch for 24 of her husband’s relatives on Saturday, Clijsters changed into her work clothes—a Fila warm-up from its new Center Court Collection—to fulfill some promotional obligations for her apparel sponsor on Sunday. The tour culminated at Madison Square Garden, where Clijsters squared off with fellow Fila endorser Svetlana Kuznetsova in a Wii racquet sports contest and then took photos with disadvantaged kids as part of MSG’s Garden of Dreams Foundation program.
Clijsters is in town for the Billie Jean King Cup/BNP Paribas Showdown at the Garden, where she, Kuznetsova, Venus Williams and Ana Ivanovic will really get down to business, competing in a single-elimination exhibition event for $1.2 million in prize money.

TENNIS.com caught up with the reigning U.S. Open champ for a few minutes on Sunday.

TENNIS.com: So when did you become a Jersey Girl?

Kim Clijsters: Just before the [2009] U.S. Open. We feel it’s important that Jada knows both of the worlds her parents come from. So we bought our first house together [a 2,700-square-foot three-bedroom house in southern New Jersey]. Brian already had a house in New Jersey that was really nice because it was close to the [Jersey Shore] beaches, but it had a really small garden. So we went inland a little bit more to get a bigger garden for Jada to play in.

Will New Jersey be your new home base?

For now, just a few weeks here and there. I still have a house in Belgium for when the tour is in Europe, but we’ll come back to New Jersey for the American hardcourt season, at least for a while after the Miami tournament [in March], then a few weeks before Cincinnati [in August], and, of course, the Open and probably a week or so after it’s over.

Did Jada get the Kim Clijsters Barbie Doll for her birthday?

No, she already has that one, along with the little one they made of her. But my mother-in-law gave her a regular Barbie, and Brian and I got her some paints for coloring because she’s starting to get pretty creative now.

Speaking of Barbies, which is more special to you:

The role-model Barbie created in your likeness [others so honored by Mattel Toys are Oprah Winfrey, J.K. Rowlings and German Chancellor Angela Merkel], or being nominated for this year’s Laureus Comeback of the Year award [along with Lance Armstrong and Brett Favre]?

Oh wow, that’s really hard. Laureus is like the Oscars of sports and to be nominated so soon after I started back in tennis is really special. But if I had to choose it would be the Barbie, because Jada can play with it now and she’ll realize how special it is when she’s older.

Are you getting a lot of endorsement offers after the U.S. Open win for family-oriented products? Seems like you would be a natural pick for a mom-mobile brand like Volvo or some kind of mini-van soccer-mom thing.

There’s a lot more sponsor interest now than when I won the U.S. Open the first time [in 2005]. But not really the family kind of sponsors. Nothing from Volvo or other auto companies. At least they haven’t contacted us so far.

Are your tattoos—Jada’s name on your left wrist and Brian’s first initial on your ring finger—there for inspiration during tight matches?

Once in a while when I’m waiting to return serve I look down at them. But there’s a more practical reason for the “B” on my finger. I used to wear my engagement and wedding rings, but Jada would get scratches from the diamond when I was changing her diaper. So Brian and I went to the tattoo store.

How do you feel about Serena Williams pulling out of the exhibition here in New York?

Disappointed. It would have been nice. We’ve had some great charity matches. I just like her a lot. She’s a fun girl to hang out with.

Bill Gray is TENNIS magazine’s gear editor. Read his blog, The Pro Shop.

Gulbis, in 1st ATP final, to face Karlovic

DELRAY BEACH - Ernests Gulbis could be only one match away from wrapping his arms around his first ATP Tour winner's trophy.

The 21-year-old Latvian has been whacking tennis balls on the ATP Tour since 2006, but it took him beating Jarkko Nieminen of Finland 6-4, 6-4 in the semifinals at the Delray Beach International Tennis Championships on Saturday to journey to a final.
Unfortunately for Gulbis, he's going to have to tame birthday boy Ivo Karlovic - the Delray Beach second seed turns 31 on Sunday - and that's one tall order. At 6-10 and the tallest player ranked in the top 100, Karlovic's supersonic serve is most often an untouchable weapon.
The 33rd-ranked Karlovic, who led the tour with 890 aces in 43 matches last year, ended defending champion Mardy Fish's shot of a second consecutive title courtesy of a 6-2, 6-3 semifinal win.
Gulbis might take some encouragement from the fact that Karlovic only served seven aces against Fish. In his previous matches this week he was serving aces in the double digits.
"It was a bad day for my serve," Karlovic said. "It was cold which is why it [my serve] was not so fast as other days."
Gulbis' win took patience, a trait that he used to not possess. He was about to serve for the match at 6-4, 5-4 when he was forced to wait out a three-hour rain delay before taking care of unfinished business.
Then, skies cleared and court dried, Gulbis needed all of two minutes to serve out the match, unleashing a 125 mph ace on the final point.
The rain interruption didn't disturb the 72nd-ranked Gulbis. He enjoyed the downtime, switching from tennis balls to basketball while killing time.
"I scored 18 free throws in a row during the break," Gulbis said, then jokingly adding, "Usually I do a couple of hundred."
The hype was huge around Gulbis when he first arrived on tour. He had game; that was easy to see.
But it took him until recently to show signs of consistency and an ability to perform to expectations. In the past two weeks he reached the Memphis semifinal, following that result with at least a final appearance at Delray Beach.
What was missing? Focus.
"Basically, I used to win or lose matches by myself," Gulbis said. "I was the one guy on the court. The other guy just put the ball in, that's all he had to do if I had a bad day."
Practicing was tedious, whereas just playing matches, win or lose, was fun. Friends were out-and-about having good times, while he was supposed to be seriously working as a high-end athlete.
"I'm getting a little bit older," he said. "A couple of years ago I was playing tennis but I still had dozens of other interests in my head, which were even more important than tennis."
Gulbis' poise in the final set was evidence of a new maturity. He didn't panic after surrendering a 3-2 lead with a service break in the final set, nor did he lose his composure after initially going down 0-15 in the final game.
"I think the players have long felt that Gulbis is one of the most talented players," said the 109th-ranked Nieminen after the match. "He's found something to help him play with more courage, at least the last two weeks."