Zheng Jie - China's Brightest shinning tennis star

Zheng Jie (simplified Chinese: 郑洁; traditional Chinese: 鄭潔; pinyin: Zhèng Jié; Pe̍h-ōe-jī: Tēⁿ Chia̍t, Mandarin pronunciation: [tʂə̂ŋ tɕjɛ̌]; born 5 July 1983 in Chengdu, Sichuan) is a Chinese professional tennis player. Her career high ranking is World No. 15 which she achieved on May 18, 2009. As of May 17, 2010, Zheng is ranked World No. 24 in singles and World No. 16 in doubles.

Zheng is one of the most successful tennis players in China's history. She has won three WTA singles titles at Hobart in 2005 and Estoril and Stockholm in 2006. She has also won twelve doubles titles, eleven of them with Yan Zi including Wimbledon and the Australian Open in 2006. Her career high doubles ranking is World No. 3. Zheng has reached the singles semi-finals at the 2008 Wimbledon Championships, becoming the first Chinese player to reach the semi-finals at a Grand Slam, and at the 2010 Australian Open. She also won the bronze medal in doubles with Yan Zi at the 2008 Beijing Olympics and was the first Chinese player to defeat a World No. 1 (by defeating Ana Ivanović at Wimbledon in 2008) as well as the first Chinese player to reach the top 15.

Country People's Republic of China
Residence Chengdu, Sichuan, China
Date of birth 5 July 1983 (1983-07-05) (age 27)
Place of birth Chengdu, Sichuan, China
Height 1.64 m (5 ft 4+1⁄2 in)
Turned pro 16 January 2003
Plays Right-handed; two-handed backhand
Career prize money US $3,531,187
Singles
Career record 267–155 (63.3%)
Career titles 3 WTA, 4 ITF
Highest ranking No. 15 (18 May 2009)
Current ranking No. 23 (5 July 2010)
Grand Slam results
Australian Open SF (2010)
French Open 4R (2004)
Wimbledon SF (2008)
US Open 3R (2008, 2009)
Doubles
Career record 281–121 (69.9%)
Career titles 12 WTA, 16 ITF
Highest ranking No. 3 (10 July 2006)
Grand Slam Doubles results
Australian Open W (2006)
French Open SF (2006)
Wimbledon W (2006)
US Open QF (2005, 2006, 2008, 2009)
Last updated on: May 24, 2010.

Woodies, Davidson Inducted Into International Hall Of Fame

Australians Todd Woodbridge and Mark Woodforde, known throughout the tennis world as the "Woodies", were both inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame, the venue of the Campbell's Hall of Fame Tennis Championships at Newport, on Saturday.

“This is an amazing day for the Woodies,” said Woodforde, during the 65-minute ceremony that started in heavy rain.

“I don’t know if any of us said we’re just going to be doubles players. We just excelled on the doubles court a little more than we did on the singles. As much as we would have loved to win more in the singles titles, we did in doubles.”

Together, Woodbridge and Woodforde won 11 major doubles championships and 61 tour-level titles overall from 1991 to 2000. Bob Bryan and Mike Bryan equalled their overall title-record earlier this year.

Watch Video Tribute To The "Woodies"

“I think we won our fourth tournament [sixth event at 1991 Brussels] we played together,” said Woodbridge. “It was close on average to every fourth tournament we won the next 10 years. That’s pretty good business.

“I figured if I could team up with Mark we’d do well together. We did better than well, we did bloody great.”

They had a 508-137 lifetime record. Woodforde retired after the duo won the silver medal at the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney.

Woodbridge, now aged 39, won an Open Era record 83 doubles trophies. He spent 204 weeks at World No. 1 and finished his career with a 782-260 match record. He was a member Australia's Davis Cup winning team in 1999 and 2003. He reached the Wimbledon singles semi-finals in 1997 (l. to Sampras).

Woodforde, 44, captured 67 doubles titles, four singles titles and fived mixed doubles crowns. He was World No 1 for 84 weeks and upon retirement in December 2000 he held the No. 1 individual ranking plus the No. 1 team ranking with Woodbridge. He represented Australia in Davis Cup over a 10-year period, participating in three finals in 1993, 1999-2000.

Another Australian, 65-year-old Owen Davidson, nicknamed “Davo”, was also inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame. During a 15-year career he won 12 major doubles titles and is one of just 12 people who have won a personal Grand Slam in tennis history.

Source: ATP.com

Paradorn Srichaphan retires from Professional tennis

Out of action for almost three years, Thailand’s Paradorn Srichaphan announced his retirement from professional tennis this week. While it was a persistent wrist injury that had sidelined him, it was an awful motorcycle racing accident recently that broke both hands and severely injured a knee which dealt the coup de grace on one of tennis great ambassadors.

A former Top 10 player, Srichaphan’s rise to the top read like a fairy tale. On the way to winning five ATP World Tour titles and a career-high South African Airways ATP Ranking of No. 9 (12 May 2003), Paradorn captured the hearts of millions and was the inspiration of the ‘Asian Invasion’ on the men’s and women’s tennis tours.

Srichaphan’s charismatic smile and ‘grip it and rip it’ slugfest style electrified fans while earning him a legion of followers worldwide. But it was in Asia, at the height of his career, where his popularity was so widespread that the press dubbed it, “Paradorn Fever”.

During that time billboards with his bare-chested image lined expressways, tennis racquet sales soared and politicians jockeyed for photo-ops with the young man nicknamed, ‘Ball’. Paradorn rose so high in status that he received a private royal audience with the King of Thailand, an honour usually reserved for heads of state. When Srichaphan took to the court, everyone from the noodle vendor to the prime minister tuned in. And after each match, diplomats, businessmen and rock stars queued to shake the hand of the young man that was filling stadiums and dominating the news all over Asia.

His native Thailand is known around the world as the ‘Land of Smiles’, and nobody personified that better than Paradorn Srichaphan. Recognising his ability to attract people, Thailand Tourism Authority named him as their Cultural Ambassador and the government granted him a red diplomatic passport. His easy going manner and friendly ways on the tennis court earned him the Stefan Edberg Sportsmanship Award in 2002 and 2003. And Time Magazine Asia featured him on the cover as an Asian Hero.

“Paradorn means so much to all of us,” claims Davis Cup teammate Sanchai Ratiwatana. “He is more than a big brother, he is a hero and he has showed us how to achieve our dreams.”

There are more testaments to his legacy. Thailand’s Noppawan Lertcheewakarn, the 2009 girl’s Wimbledon champion and World No. 1, credits Paradorn for opening the doors to Asians.

“Before Paradorn we were not sure if we were good enough,” says Lertcheewakarn. “But when he started winning so much, we knew that we (Asians) could follow his example.”

During his career, Srichaphan would reach 11 ATP World Tour finals, winning five titles and finish 2003 at a year-end best World No. 11. But it was the victory over Andre Agassi on Centre Court at Wimbledon in 2002 that propelled him to demi-god status in Asia. An Asian defeating one of the greatest players of the game on the hallowed court of the All England Lawn Tennis Club was a dream come true.

Even off the court, Paradorn remained in the spotlight, whether it was marrying a former Miss Universe, Natalie Glebova, racing motorbikes or opening restaurants, Paradorn’s star appeal never waned. Last year, a movie director came calling his name, and Paradorn accepted the role of an action hero in the Thai movie sequel, Bang Rajan II. Just like his days on the tennis court, Paradorn stole the show and a promising career as an actor is now in full swing. Though his playing days are over, Paradorn remains involved in tennis as the Thai Davis Cup captain and occasional exhibition match. They say in Thailand that Srichaphan was born to be on centre court, now it seems that he will continue to thrill the masses, except this time it is likely to be on centre stage.

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.