Thursday, 1 July 2010

Off Court Photos: Wimbledon Player Party [Part 3]

[Above: Elena Baltacha]

[Above: Anne Keothavong]

[Above: Jelena Jankovic]

[Above: Maria Sharapova]

Off Court Photos: Wimbledon Player Party [Part 2]

[Above: Vera Zvonareva and Anna Chakvetadze; Gisela Dulko and Flavia Pennetta]

[Above: Dinara Safina]

[Above: Caroline Wozniacki and Agnieszka Radwanska]

[Above: Agnieszka Radwanska, Caroline Wozniacki]

Ana Ivanovic, Kimiko Date Krumm and Anne Keothavong on the way into the Wimbledon party.
[Above: Ana Ivanovic, Kimiko Date-Krumm]

[Source: Tennisforum.com]

Off Court Photos: Wimbledon Player Party [Part 1]

[Above: Venus Williams]




[Above: Agnieszka Radwanska]

[Above: Sorana Cirstea and Ana Ivanovic]

[Above: Sorana Cirstea and Ana Ivanovic]

[Above: Serena Williams]

[Above: Jelena Jankovic]

[Source: Tennisforum.com]

Monday, 7 June 2010

Saturday, 29 May 2010

Spotlight On ... Chanelle Scheepers

Chanelle Scheepers is a South African tennis player who has played on the ITF circuit for most of her career. She is currently ranked at # 131, just below her career-high ranking of # 127 that was achieved in December 2009). Her 2009 season started promisingly with qualification at the Australian Open in January, although she exited in the first round to 18th seed Dominika Cibulkova. The following month, she qualified for Memphis and won a round before losing to 8th seed Pauline Parmentier.

Her qualifying successes came to a halt in March 2009 as she failed to qualify for Monterrey, but she made up for that by winning an ITF title in Mexico. She failed in qualifying for Ponte Vedra Beach, Charleston, Stuttgart and Estoril but won an ITF doubles title in Saint Gaudens (w/Rika Fujiwara). She turned that around by qualifying for Roland Garros (l. to 4th seed Elena Dementieva in the opening round of the main draw), beating top 100 player Alla Kudryatseva in the first round of an ITF event in Nottingham (l. to Elena Baltacha in the second round), and qualifying for Birmingham (d. Yaroslava Shvedova in the opening round of the main draw).

In 2010, the South African really came to prominence at Roland Garros. So far, she has reached the fourth round with wins over Akgul Amanmuradova and Gisela Dulko and will face off against Elena Dementieva (who she lost to in the first round in 2009 after qualifying). Her progress through to the fourth round has been all the more impressive when you consider that she was almost down and out in her third qualifying match against Zuzana Ondraskova before regrouping to level the match and go onto win it. It's her best Grand Slam result and marks the first time that a South African woman has reached the fourth round since Amanda Coetzer back in 1997.

Chanelle is coached by Tony Huber, who is married to doubles specialist, Liezel Huber.

Read Chanelle's "Getting to Know" interview on the WTA Tour website here.

Sunday, 24 January 2010

Spotlight On ... Sally Peers

Australia's Sally Peers has been enjoying doubles success at the Australian Open alongside fellow young gun, Laura Robson. The duo were awarded a wildcard into the Women's Doubles competition and have successfully defeated a string of higher-ranked doubles players (including the 12th seeds) on their way to the quarter-finals.

Ordinarily, Sally spends most of her time on the ITF circuit. She was awarded a qualifying wildcard for WTA Brisbane, where she beat #174 Andrea Hlavackova in the first qualifying round before being knocked out by #89 Alla Kudryatseva. The previous week she received a qualifying wildcard for WTA Hobart, but was beaten in the first qualifying round by #83 Elena Baltacha. She hit a career-high ranking of #308 in January 2010, and is currently ranked just below that.

In doubles, she was ranked #22 going into the Australian Open, which is one place below the career-high doubles ranking that she achieved in December 2009. Throughout the 2009 season, she was partnered by several fellow Australians, including Alison Bai and Isabella Holland (with whom she reached several finals on the ITF circuit). Teaming up with compatriot Jessica Moore in WTA Brisbane, they were beaten by the Russian partnership of Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova and Galina Voskoboeva in their opening match, and there was little indication that an impressive run in a Grand Slam doubles competition was on the cards.