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SERENA LEADS US CHARGE

Former world number one Serena Williams came back from a set down to beat her Belarusian opponent Anastasiya Yakimova in three sets to clinch the Fed Cup tie for the United States of America before her sister paired up with Liezel Huber in the doubles to round off a 5-0 whitewash of the depleted Belarusian team.

Serena won her match in the World Group II to help the United States of America to take another step towards their record 18th title with a score of 5-7, 6-1, and 6-1.

This was the first time that Serena took to the court after her disastrous Australian Open campaign and she looked extremely sharp throughout the competition, prompting many to conclude that the younger Williams was back to her best and will pose a serious threat to the young girls who are sitting on top of the WTA rankings at the moment and will push them all the way when the next Grand Slam sets in.

If she manages to hold her form for the next few WTA events where she is scheduled to participate in, Serena Williams would do her Olympic Games credentials a lot of good and the former Grand Slam winner might get another crack at the Singles event of the upcoming 2012 London Olympic Games. Having won the Gold Medal in the Doubles in the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games as well as the Beijing Olympic Games of 2008 with her sister Venus Williams, this year will probably provide her with her last shot at the Singles title to complete a Career Grand Slam.

But Serena Williams is not at all worried about the Olympic Games at the moment and all she wants to do now is get back to top physical condition so that she can compete with the best.

Serena Williams still the Toughest

The tenth ranked women’s tennis player in the world Andrea Petkovic believes that 13 time Grand Slam winner Serena Williams is still the toughest player in the women’s circuit and by far the toughest player she has met in her entire career and believes that it takes a whole lot of courage, guts and stamina to get the better of the younger Williams sister in any scenario. Petkovic also believes that although she is nowhere near the top ten players in the world, Serena still has the capability to launch a comeback and breeze through to the top 10 and win a couple of Grand Slam events as well.

Although ranked 12th in the world, it will take Serena a few tournament wins before she can break the top 10 barrier once again and her quest for the top of the mountain once again begins from the Brisbane International tournament that will begin in a few days’ time at Brisbane, Australia, ahead of the first Grand Slam of the year. Serena Williams will begin the tournament seeded fourth behind Samantha Stosur, Andrea Petkovic and Francesca Schiavone and Petkovic believes that it would be foolish to write Serena off on the basis of the seed distributions.

The American last played in a WTA event in the final of the US Open where her tantrums made her extremely unpopular among her fellow professionals but Petkovic believes that the anger shown by Serena was nothing but indomitable will to win.

Petkovic went on to add that while growing up, Serena Williams was an idol for her after the retirement of Steffi Graf and she dreamed of playing against her in singles match and the way the seeded players are lined up in the tournament, that dream of hers might become a reality once again.

Steffi Graf

In 1988, she became the first and then, the only, player to win a Calendar Year Golden Slam. She has won a total of 22 Grand Slam titles, a feat that is surpassed only by Margaret Court who has 24 titles to her name. Yes, she is the one woman who Billie Jean King described as the “greatest women’s tennis player of all time”. She is the inimitable Steffi Graf.

She was born Stefanie Maria Graf, on 14th June, 1969, in West Germany. She was introduced to the game by her father, Peter Graf, who was a car salesman and a tennis enthusiast. He also wanted to be a tennis coach, and handed her three year old daughter a wooden racket. Steffi Graf began practicing on a court at the tender age of four, when most other children are just starting school. Her fist tournament was at the age of five       and was soon making a name for herself by regularly winning junior level tournaments. She went on to win the European Junior Championships when she was just 13, in 1982. The same year, she played her very first professional match against Tracy Austin, a player against whom she would play again 12 years later, for the second and final time. Steffi Graf lost that match 6-4. 6-0, but she exacted revenge 12 years later by defeating her 6-0, 6-0 12 years later.

At the start of her professional career, she was ranked no. 124. while she didn’t win any titles during the next three years, her ranking steadily climbed and by 1985, she had cracked the top 10 and was no. 6 in the rankings. As a teenager at 15, she won the exhibition match at the 1984 Olympics. She came to prominence when she almost caused an upset by nearly defeating the tenth seed at a center court match in Wimbeldon.

Her father and coach, Peter Graf strictly followed a schedule so that his daughter wouldn’t be playing too many games and burn out. In 1986, she was being hailed as a challenger to the dominance of Martina Navratilova and Chris Evert. Although she lost to them many times, she continuosly made the quarterfinals and semifinals of various tournaments. She made a tremendous breakthrough in 1987 when she won the French Open. She had looked to be in very good form and had defeated Martina Navratilova in the semifinals at a tournament in Miami. This set her up against Chris Evert in the final match which she also won. This was followed by a scintillating performance at the French Open where she proceeded to the finals by defeating Gabriel Sabatini in a three set match. This set her up for a clash in the final against the reigning champion, Martina Navratilova. Graf won the match 6-4, 4-6, 8-6. The next year started when Graf won the Australian Open against Chris Evert, followed by her spirited defense of her French Open title. This was followed by a win over Navratilova in the finals of the Wimbeldon in a massive comeback match. The final obstacle was the US Open which she won by defeating Sabatini. The completion of the four titles got her a Calendar Grand Slam. The same year, she also won the Olympic Gold medal, thus making it what the media dubbed as a Golden Slam.

Roger Federer

He is one of the most classy players ever to grace the tennis court. His returns could be part of a dance routine, yet they are as deadly to the opponent as a murderer’s dagger. His runs along the baseline are as perfectly timed as that of the jump of a synchronized swimmer. He is none other than the most influential tennis player of this century, Roger Federer.
Born in Switzerland on 8th August, 1981, to Robert Federer and Lynette, he holds Swiss as well as South African citizenships. By his own admission, he was involved in a number of sports from a very young age, like badminton, basketball, chess, etc. He said it helped him improve his hand-eye co-ordination. He is married to Mirka Vavrinec, who he met during the 2000 Olympics. She was a member of the Women’s Tennis Association, but had to retire from the sport due to a foot injury in 2002. since retiring, she has been the public relations manager for Federer. Roger and Mirka got married in his hometown of Basel in 2009.

Federer was well on his way to becoming a star in his formative years as a professional tennis player. He won the Wimbeldon in 1998, both in the singles and doubles tournament. His singles opponent was Irakli Labadze, who he defeated in straight sets 6-4, 6-4. In the doubles final, he was paired with Olivier Rouchus. They defeated the opponent pair of Michaël Llodra and Andy Ram 6-4, 6-4 as well. However, in the very same year, he also lost the US Junior Open to David Nalbandian. He ended the year of 1998 as the Junior World no. 1.

As a child, Federer used to idolise Boris Becker and would watch tennis matches on the television for hours on end. His first professional appearance was at Gstaad in 1998, when he was only in the 12th grade. He was ousted by Lucas Arnold Ker in the round of 32, with a scoreline that read 4-6, 4-6. His first appearance in a final came a couple of years later at the Marseilles Open, but as fate would have it, that wasn’t his first title win. That came when he was representing Switzerland in the Hoffman Cup  alongside Martina Hingis. Together, they defeated the American mixed doubles team of Monica Seles and Jan-Michael Gambill. His first single win came in 2001 at the Milan Indoor tournament, when he defeated Julian Boutter.

His first Grand Slam final was the final of the 2001 French Open, which he reached by defeating the defending four-time world champion, Pete Sampras. But his first Grand Slam victory wasn’t to come for another two years. In 2003, he won his first Grand Slam singles title by defeating Mark Philippoussis in straight sets of the final of Wimbeldon. The next three years of men’s tennis were entirely dominated by Federer, during which he won the Australian Open twice, the Wimbeldon for a consecutive four years from 2003-2006, and the US Open for three consecutive years (2004-2006). Because of his long and extremely illustrious tennis career, he was named the Laureus Sportsman of the Year award for four consecutive years from 2005.