Adam Gilchrist

Adam Gilchrist is one of the greatest wicketkeepers to represent Australia in international cricket. Gilchrist played as opening batsman for the Australian cricket team. Across the globe, millions of fans liked him not only for his achievements in the game of cricket, but also for his style of batting and wicketkeeping. Let's know more about his life and achievements in the following Adam Gilchrist biography.


Early Life
Adam Craig Gilchrist was born on November 14, 1971, in Bellingen, New South Wales, Australia. He did his schooling from Deniliquin Public School and Kadina High School. From an early age, his parents Stan and June Gilchrist always encouraged him to play cricket. During his school days, he actively played cricket and wanted to be a fast bowler. However, he was fascinated by the wicketkeeping gloves and went on to become one of the finest wicketkeepers in international cricket. Gilchrist is married to his school sweetheart Melinda and they have two sons Harrison and Archie, and a daughter Anne Jean.

International Career
Adam Gilchrist replaced an injured Ian Healy as wicketkeeper in the Australian team and played his first One Day International (ODI) in the year 1996 against South Africa in Faridabad, India. In that match, he took his first catch in international cricket when he dismissed Hansie Cronje for a duck. Gilly's position became firm in the home cricket squad because the Australian selectors decided to keep different teams for One-day and Test cricket. In the year 1998, during the New Zealand tour, he achieved his highest average of 50 by any Australian batsman. In the same year, he made his test debut against Pakistan at Gabba in Brisbane. Here, not only did he play an excellent knock, but the hosts also won the Test and One-day series. Adam Gilchrist is the first batsman to have scored 100 sixes in Test cricket. In 1999, he was one of the key players leading to Australia winning the World Cup. In the year 2001 Ashes series, Adam Gilchrist performed excellently, that led to the Australian team winning the series by 4-1.

Career Achievements
Adam Gilchrist is also known an one of the finest all-rounders in the game of cricket. Many describe Gilchrist as the greatest wicketkeeper and One Day player. He is admired for his leadership qualities as well as the spirit in which he played the game. He scored 8585 runs in 257 matches in One Day International cricket, at an average rate of 35.26. Gilly made 172 runs, his highest, in the ODI against Zimbabwe. In his international cricket career, he scored 17 test and 15 ODI centuries. He has also made 50 half-centuries. Gilly has 375 catches and 45 stumpings to his credit as a wicketkeeper.

Gilchrist is the only wicketkeeper to have captained the Australian team for One Day and Test matches to-date, and has also led his side to many victories. He has an excellent strike rate, both in One Day as well as Test cricket. He made the second fastest century in the Australia vs England test match played in Perth in 2006.

Adam Gilchrist was named one of the the Wisden Cricketers of the Year in 2002. He was also declared Australia's ODI Player of the Year in 2003 and 2004. In 2003, Gilly was awarded with the Allan Border Medal for excellent performances in Test and One-day cricket. In 2004, Gilchrist was named in the Richie Benaud's Greatest XI. He was also voted as the 9th Greatest All Rounder of the Century in the year 2007.

Retirement from International Cricket
Adam Gilchrist retired from International cricket in March 2008, after breaking the world record for the highest dismissals by a wicketkeeper. Presently, Gilly is leading Deccan Chargers in the Indian Premier League (IPL) Twenty20 competition being played in India, as Team Captain. In 2009, after taking over the captaincy of Deccan Chargers from VVS Laxman, he led the team to win the IPL trophy in South Africa.

Gilchrist believes in charity, and he is the ambassador of World Vision in India. Through this charity, he sponsors a young, fatherless boy, named Mangesh, living in an urban slum in Chennai, India. In the present season of the Indian Premiere League (IPL), Adam Gilchrist aims to hit 25 sixes, so 25 physically challenged children will receive modified push bikes through the Amway's Freedom Wheels program.

Adam Gilchrist is one of the well-admired cricketers of his generation. After reading the Adam Gilchrist biography, cricket fans will agree that the manner and the spirit in which he played the game of cricket was brilliant!

Viswanathan Anand

Viswanathan Anand, (Tamil: விசுவநாதன் ஆனந்த்) (born 11 December 1969) is an Indian chess Grandmaster and the current World Chess Champion.

Anand held the FIDE World Chess Championship from 2000 to 2002, at a time when the world title was split. He became the undisputed World Champion in 2007 and defended his title against Vladimir Kramnik in 2008. With this win, he became the first player in chess history to have won the World Championship in three different formats: Knockout, Tournament, and Match. He will next defend his title in the World Chess Championship 2010 against Veselin Topalov, the winner of a challenger match against Gata Kamsky in February 2009.[

Anand is one of five players in history to break the 2800 mark on the FIDE rating list, and in April 2007 at the age of 37, he became the oldest person to become world number-one for the first time. He was at the top of the world rankings five out of six times, from April 2007 to July 2008, holding the number-one ranking for a total of 15 months. In October 2008, he dropped out of the world top three ranking for the first time since July 1996.

In 2007 he was awarded India's second highest civilian award, the Padma Vibhushan. He is also the first recipient of Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award in 1991–92, India's highest sporting honour.

maradona

Full name	Diego Armando Maradona
Date of birth	30 October 1960 (1960-10-30) (age 49)
Place of birth	Lanús, Argentina
Height	1.65 m (5 ft 5 in)
Playing position	Attacking Midfielder/Second Striker

Diego Armando Maradona is arguably the greatest footballer that has ever put on a pair of boots. He is born in the slums of Villa Fiorito near Buenos Aires as the fifth of eight children. Maradona enters professional football at the astonishing age of 15. By the time he turns 16, Diego is called in the senior national squad of Argentina. Regardless of his talent, Diego is considered too young by coach Cesar Menotti, who rejects him from his selection for the 1978 World Cup. Bitterly disappointed, Maradona watches the tournament from home as his country wins gold. In the following four years, Diego dominates his country's domestic league and is eventually added to the Argentine squad for Spain 1982.
Argentina advances from the first stage of the tournament by losing to Belgium, but beating Hungary and Salvador. Maradona manages to leave his mark with two beautiful, yet not critical goals. In the the second stage of the tournament, Maradona is manhandled by his Italian marker Claudio Gentile. Diego's frustration gets him sent off. Argentina fails to advance and Diego is again suppressed from unleashing his full potential. Although unsuccessful, the brilliance of the Argentine footballer does not go unnoticed and after the World Cup, he is picked up by European powerhouse Barcelona. By 1984, Maradona had established himself in Barca and is picked up by the Italian club Napoli.
At the 1986 World Cup in Mexico, Maradona makes his return on the World stage in a spectacular fashion. After leading his team to a quarter final against England, Diego steals the attention of millions with both his controversial character and technical brilliance. The fuss around the Argentina-England encounter is further elevated by the Falkland Islands conflict, which at that time had turned both countries against each other. Diego opens the game 1-0 by striking the ball with his hand over the English goalkeeper Shilton. Unnoticed by the referees, the mishap is ruled a goal. Five minutes later, Maradona single handedly takes the ball through the entire English defense with a slalom from midfield right down to the goal line. After the match, when confronted with the video footage of the illegal goal, Maradona replies simply "Even if there was a hand, it must have been the hand of God." Maradona silenced his critics by deciding the following semi and final matches. By scoring two goals in the first and with an assist in the second, Maradona practically earns the World Cup for his nation.
Maradona's influence on his teammates was carried over to his club side Napoli, as they reached unprecedented heights, winning their very first and second Scudetto (1997 and 1990) and the UEFA Cup in 1988/99.
At Italy 1990, all eyes are on Argentina and its brightest star Diego Maradona. Diego comes close to replicating his success from four years ago. With Maradona's ability, Argentina defeats Brazil, Yugoslavia and Italy on its way to the final. Most memorable is the semi-final match between Argentina and Italy played at Diego's club home Naples. To the torment of Maradona, the fans at his own club stadium boo him during the match. Nevertheless, Argentina eliminates Italy after a penalty shootout. The final of the 1990 World Cup, leaves Diego helpless as Argentina are defeated 0-1 by West Germany with a goal from a questionable penalty.
After the loss against West Germany, Maradona's career plummets. In March of 1991, he tested positive for doping and is banned from football for 15 months. Maradona refuses to return back to Napoli after the World Cup incident and transferrs to Sevilla for a year. He eventually goes back to Argentina with Newell's Old Boys.
The 1994 World Cup confirms that Diego's career in international football is over. He is suspended again after failing yet another doping test. Hurt by his absence, Argentina is eventually eliminated by Romania in the second stage.
Shortly after, Diego takes on a new career path as a coach. He fails miserably again, unable to remain at a single club for more than four months. By 1995, Maradona is forced to return to the game as a player. He goes back to his former club Boca Juniors, and remains there until his last match on 25th of October 1997. Five days later, during his 37th birthday, Maradona announces his retirement from football. Up until 2001, Diego remains away from the playing pitch, periodically entering rehab for cocaine abuse. Diego plays his farewell match on the 10th of November 2001 against a select team comprised by some of the greatest footballers in the game including Ferrara, Suker, Stoichkov, Cantona, Higuita, and Romario. One year earlier, Maradona is voted Best Football Player of the Century by a global Internet poll. Controversy is stirred yet again, by his nearly unanimous victory. FIFA, who find Maradona's personal image as the 'King of Football' unacceptable, decide to give the same award to Pelé as the Best Footballer for the first half of the century.

Tiger Woods

Born:Dec. 30, 1975, in Cypress, California
Nickname: Tiger, of course. His given name is Eldrick, but he legally changed his name to "Tiger" in the late 1990s.

Tour Victories

71
Tiger Woods wins (view the full list, from first to most recent)
Major Championships


Professional: 14
• Masters: 1997, 2001, 2002, 2005
• U.S. Open: 2000, 2002, 2008
• British Open: 2000, 2005, 2006
• PGA Championship: 1999, 2000, 2006, 2007
Amateur: 3
• U.S. Amateur: 1994, 1995, 1996
Awards and Honors


• 8-time PGA Tour money leader
• 7-time PGA Tour Vardon Trophy winner
• 9-time PGA Tour Player of the Year
• Dozens of Golfer of the Year and Athlete of the Year awards, going back to his amateur days
• U.S. Presidents Cup team member, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2007
• U.S. Ryder Cup team member, 1997, 1999, 2002, 2004, 2006
Quote, Unquote


• Tiger Woods: "Every day on the golf course is about making little adjustments, taking what you've got on that day and finding the way to deal with it."
Trivia


• Tiger Woods became the youngest-ever career grand slam winner in 2000, at age 25, when he won the British Open.
• In 1997, Tiger Woods became the youngest-ever Masters champion at age 21 years, three months and 14 days.

• Woods was the youngest (15) ever to win the U.S. Junior Amateur and the youngest (18) to win the U.S. Amateur.

For more Tiger Woods trivia, try our Tiger Woods Trivia Quiz

Tiger Woods Biography


The world had never before seen a golfing phenom the likes of Tiger Woods. A golfer whose amazing youth and amateur exploits were followed up by equally amazing professional exploits.
Woods was imitating his father's golf swing at age 6 months, while still in his crib. At age 2, he appeared on the "Mike Douglas Show" and putted with Bob Hope. At age 3, he shot 48 for 9 holes, and at age 5 he was featured in Golf Digest.

And then the really impressive stuff started. Woods won the Optimist International Junior tournament 6 times, starting at age 8. He won three U.S. Junior Amateurs, the first to do so. His first of three straight U.S. Amateur titles came in 1994.

He turned pro in late summer 1996 and played 7 tournaments on the PGA Tour, needing to finish in the Top 125 to avoid having to go through Q-School. Woods won twice and posted 5 straight Top 5 finishes.

In 1997, he won the Masters for his first major. Woods won just once in 1998, but in 1999 he began a string of consecutive Player of the Year awards that didn't end until Vijay Singh won the title in 2004.

He won 8 times in 1999, then 9 more times in 2000. Woods' 2000 season is arguably the best ever on the PGA Tour. He became the second golfer to win three professional majors in one year and broke Byron Nelson's more-than-50-year-old scoring average record.

In 2001, when he won the Masters, Woods became the first golfer to hold all four professional majors at the same time.

Tiger Woods holds or shares the record for the low score in relation to par in all four professional majors. He's won the U.S. Open by 15 strokes, the Masters by 12 and the British Open by 8 strokes.

A swing change slowed his winning a bit in 2004, and his record streak of consecutive cuts ended at 142 in 2005. But he roared back with two majors in '05.

Woods took a couple months off in 2006 following the death of his father, and missed the cut in his return at the U.S. Open. But then he won the next two majors and reeled off wins in the next eight tournaments he played.

In 2008, Woods won a dramatic playoff victory in the U.S. Open, then revealed that he was playing with a torn ACL and with a fracture in his leg. He underwent surgery shortly after and missed the next eight months. The 2009 WGC Accenture Match Play Championship marked his return.

The Tiger Woods Foundation, launched by Woods and his father in 1996, has raised millions of dollars to help underprivileged youth get started in golf and succeed in life.

Wayne Rooney

Wayne Rooney (born 24 October 1985) is a footballer who currently plays for Manchester United and the England national football team. He wears the number 8 shirt for his club, and is generally given the number 9 for his country. Rooney was brought up in a suburb of eastern Liverpool called Croxteth, where he and his two brothers attended De La Salle School.

As a player, Rooney is noted not only for the deft touch and pace typical of a teenage virtuoso, but also for his strength and physical presence which are more usually the hallmarks of mature players. While constantly surrounded by media hype and observation since first bursting onto the scene in 2002, it was not until his performances at the UEFA European Championships in Portugal during 2004 that he gained a reputation on the world stage as he spearheaded the English attack – several commentators comparing his impact to that made by the legendary Brazilian Pele at a similar age during the 1958 World Cup. Other commentators, perhaps prematurely, have compared him to Manchester United legend Eric Cantona.

Premiership breakthrough

Rooney first gained national prominence in October 2002 when he became the youngest goal scorer in the history of the Premiership at 16 years of age, while playing for Everton. His goal was a sensational last-minute winner against the then-League champions Arsenal that consigned them to their first league defeat in almost a year.

England career

He has also figured prominently in recent England international matches, after having become the youngest ever player to play for England, in a friendly against Australia, in February 2003 and also set a record as the youngest player to score for England. In 2004 Rooney became the youngest player ever to score in the European Football Championships on 17 June 2004 when he scored twice against Switzerland; however the Swiss player, Johan Vonlanthen, broke this record against France four days later.

Transfers

Before turning 17 and becoming eligible for a professional contract, he was playing for 100 a week and living with his family on a council estate. Now, the teenage sensation has raised that several times and earns an estimated 50,000 (?73,500 / $90,000) a week. Following intense media coverage of Rooney at the 2004 European Championships, Everton claimed that they would not transfer his contract for less than 50 million pounds. The club offered Rooney a new contract for 50,000 a week. This, however, was turned down by Rooney on the 27 August 2004, leaving Manchester United and Newcastle United to battle for his services.

The Times newspaper reported rumours that Newcastle’s initial bid was made at the request of Rooney’s agent, who eventually made 1.5 million from the deal and employs the son of the Newcastle United chairman. In return for making a bid that would force Manchester United to try to buy the player a year earlier than they had planned, Newcastle would be allowed to bid for a Manchester United defender.

Suspicions were further raised because at that point in time Newcastle United had little need for a striker having already got three world class forwards at the club. The Newcastle United bid succeeded in forcing Manchester United to enter the bidding. Rooney handed in a transfer request to Everton and on 31 August, 2004 Rooney signed for Manchester United after a deal worth up to 27 million was agreed.

The initial fee of 22m is paid directly to Everton Football Club, the rest of the money depends on appearances and/or success at Manchester United and/or England. It is unlikely the fee will reach the maximum 27m due to the complex nature of the contract drawn up by Everton and Manchester United. A final fee in the region of 25m is more likely. He made his debut for the club on 28 September, 2004 in the Champions League against Fenerbahçe, scoring a hat-trick and also an assist.

Rooney’s transfer fee is the second highest for an exclusively British deal, with only his new teammate, Rio Ferdinand commanding a higher fee.

Paul Gerrard

Paul Gerrard (born January 22, 1973), is an English football goalkeeper who last played for Nottingham Forest before being released in May 2006. He is 1.88 m (6 ft 2 in).

Paul William Gerrard was born on Monday 22nd January 1973 in Heywood, Rochdale in Greater Manchester. In his late teens he was a goalkeeping apprentice at Oldham Athletic under Joy Royle.Making his debut in the Premiership at the age of 19 on Saturday, 5th December 1992 in a 3-2 defeat at Queens Park Rangers. Paul soon made 118 League appearances for the Latics.

Joe Royle was appointed manager at Everton in November 1994 after Mike Walker’s Everton reign ended shy of 11 months. Nearly 2 years after Royle left Oldham he returned to buy Gerrard for £1million in July 1996. Paul’s debut was coming on for Neville Southall at half time in a 7-1 win at home to Southampton on Saturday, 16th November 1996. After Royle left Everton, Neville Southall returned between the sticks for the Toffees, and Gerrard decided to go on loan to Oxford United in 1997 for regular first team action.

After Howard Kendall took over the reigns for a second time at Goodison Park, Gerrard was recalled from Oxford. Despite this, Gerrard only played a small number of games.

Royle, now at Ipswich, swooped to sign Gerrard on loan, although he returned to Everton after an injury to first choice goalkeeper Thomas Myhre in the 2002/2003 season. Later that season new Nottingham Forest boss Joe Kinnear signed Gerrard for the last 2 months of the season in March 2004. Paul kept a clean sheet against Crewe in a 2-0 win for Forest.

In the summer of 2004 Gerrard eventually signed for Nottingham Forets despite Ipswich and Leeds being interested. The 2004/2005 season was a disaster or Forest with the club being relegated to League 1. Paul won Nottingham Forest’s Player of the Year award for the 2004-2005 season. Despite going into the 2005/2006 season as Nottingham Forest number 1 and reigning Player of the year Gerrard found himself dropped to new signing Rune Pedersen. This fuelled speculation about Gerrard’s future and he eventually handed in a tansfer request. Gerrard returned to first team action at the end of August in a 3-1 win against Gillingham.

Paul was later dropped as manager Gary Megson signed Russell Hoult on loan from West Bromwich Albion. Russell Hoult was recalled by West Brom in October and Gerrard returned as number one at Forest. In Novemember Gerrard’s wife Michelle gave birth to their first child Thomas Paul. By February 2006 Forest were a few points adrift of the play-offs, but on Wednesday 15th February Paul Gerrard limped off in a 3-0 defeat against former club Oldham Athletic and a day later Megson resigned as boss of Nottingham Forest.

He played only 1 game under Ian McParland and Frank Barlow due to a knee injury.

He was released from Forest at the end of the 05-06 season to free up some money on the wage bill as it is said he was on Premiership player wages.

He won Nottingham Forest’s Player of the Year award for the 2004-2005 season.

David Robert Joseph Beckham

David Robert Joseph Beckham, OBE (born May 2, 1975) is an English professional footballer who currently plays for Real Madrid. Beckham was named as a member of Pelé’s FIFA 100. In addition to his success on the pitch, Beckham has been recognized by Time as one of 2004’s Time 100 (Heroes & Icons), as well as an elite global advertising brand. Beckham was already a crowd-pleasing star for Manchester United when he married Spice Girls star Victoria Adams (“Posh Spice”) in July of 1999

Beckham is the fifth most capped English player of all time, has twice been the runner up in the FIFA World Player Of The Year Award in 1999 and 2001 and in addition to being the only Englishman to score in three different World Cups, is also only the ninth player in World Cup history to score twice from direct free kicks. He was captain of the English national team from 15 November 2000 to July 2, 2006.

Beckham’s career began when he signed a professional contract with Manchester United, making his first first-team appearance in 1992, at the age of 17. While with Manchester United he played a key role in their dominance of the FA Premier League in the 1990s and early 2000s, being pivotal in accomplishing The Treble of the League, FA Cup, and UEFA Champions League in 1999. He left the club to become only the third Englishman to sign for Real Madrid in 2003, after Laurie Cunningham and Steve McManaman.

In 2006, after England’s quarter-final exit at the World Cup in Germany, he stood down as captain and he was then succeeded by Chelsea captain John Terry. Beckham was dropped from the England national team selected by coach Steve McClaren on 11 August 2006.

On 10 January 2007 Real Madrid Sporting Director Predrag Mijatovic announced Beckham would leave the club in mid 2007. On 11 January 2007, Beckham agreed to a move to the MLS team LA Galaxy on a 5 year contract beginning on 1 July 2007, after his current deal with Real Madrid expires. Late Monday (15 January), after speculation in the U.K. and Spanish press on a possible early exit for Beckham from Real Madrid, MLS Commissioner Don Garber denied that his league was attempting to secure an early MLS debut for Beckham.

Ronaldinho

Ronaldo de Assis Moreira (born March 21, 1980 in Porto Alegre), commonly known as Ronaldinho or Ronaldinho Gaúcho, is a Brazilian footballer who plays for Italian Serie A club A.C. Milan and the Brazil national team.

Ronaldinho, Portuguese for “little Ronaldo”, is known in Brazil by the nickname Ronaldinho Gaúcho, in order to distinguish him from Ronaldo, who was already called “Ronaldinho” in Brazil. Ronaldo simply went by his first name upon his move to Europe, thereby allowing Ronaldinho to drop the “Gaúcho” and remain simply as Ronaldinho.

He has played for Paris Saint-Germain, and FC Barcelona, with whom he won his first Champions League in 2006. He became a Spanish citizen in January 2007.

Ronaldo de Assis Moreira was born in Brazil. His mother, Miguelina, is a former babysitter who studied to become a nurse. His father, João, was a shipyard worker and footballer for local club Esporte Clube Cruzeiro (not to be confused with Cruzeiro EC), and suffered a fatal heart attack when Ronaldo was eight. After Ronaldo’s older brother, Roberto, signed with Grêmio, the family moved to a more affluent home in Porto Alegre, which was a gift from Grêmio to convince Roberto to stay at the club. Roberto’s career was ultimately cut short by injury.

Ronaldo’s football skills began to blossom at an early age, and he was first given the nickname Ronaldinho because he was often the youngest and the smallest player in youth club matches.He developed an interest in futsal and beach football, which later expanded to organized football, and his first brush with the media came at the age of thirteen, when he scored all 23 goals in a 23-0 victory against a local team. Ronaldinho was identified as a rising star at the Egypt 1997 under-17 world championship, in which he scored two goals on penalty kicks.

Ronaldinho’s career began with the Grêmio youth squad under head coach Celso Roth, who only played him due to immense pressure from team supporters. He made his senior side debut during the 1998 Copa Libertadores. In 2001, Arsenal F.C. expressed interest in signing Ronaldinho, but the move collapsed after he could not obtain a work permit, because he was a non-EU player who had not played enough international matches. He considered playing on loan with Scottish Premier League side St Mirren F.C., which never happened due to his involvement in a fake passport scandal in Brazil. Ronaldinho ultimately signed a five-year contract with Paris Saint-Germain FC.

During the 2001-02 season, PSG manager Luis Fernandez claimed that Ronaldinho was too focused on the Parisian nightlife rather than football, and complained that his holidays in Brazil never ended at the scheduled times. In 2003, less than two years into his PSG stint, Ronaldinho made it clear he wanted to leave after PSG failed to qualify for any European competition.

Ronaldinho turned down a £25.5 million offer from Manchester City to join Italian giants A.C. Milan on a three-year contract, after he was purchased from Barcelona for €21 million.With the number 10 already occupied by teammate Clarence Seedorf, he selected 80 as his jersey number, because 1980 was his birth year. Ronaldinho scored his first goal for Milan in a 1-0 derby victory over Internazionale on September 28, 2008, and his first brace was in a 3-0 win over Sampdoria on October 19, 2008. He scored a 93rd-minute match-winner against Sporting Braga in the UEFA Cup group stage on November 6. His subsequent spectacular goal in the UEFA Cup against Portsmouth helped Milan to a 2-2 draw, having been 2-0 down at the time.

Anna Sergeyevna Kournikova

Anna Sergeyevna Kournikova (Russian: rnikova; born June 7, 1981) is a tennis player. She is one of the best known tennis players, especially among those who do not follow the game. Anna was born in Moscow, Russia to Alla and Sergei Kournikov; her family later emigrated to the United States, and she currently resides in Miami, Florida.

Tennis career

Anna dazzled the world at age 13 and 14 in international junior tennis, winning several tournaments including the 1995 Italian Open. Anna Kournikova ended that year as Junior European Champion and Junior World Champion.

Kournikova debuted in professional tennis at age 14 in the Fed Cup for Russia, the youngest player ever to participate. At age 15, she reached the fourth round of the 1996 U.S. Open, only to be stopped by then-top ranked player Steffi Graf.

Anna was a member of the Russian delegation to the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta, Georgia. As a 16-year old, she reached the semi-finals of Wimbledon. Kournikova’s first of two Grand Slam doubles titles came in 1999 at the Australian Open in the Women’s Doubles event with partner Martina Hingis, with whom she played frequently.

Kournikova proved a successful doubles player on the senior circuit, winning sixteen doubles titles, including two Australian Opens and being a finalist in mixed doubles at the US Open and Wimbledon, and reaching #1 in doubles in the Women’s Tennis Association tour rankings. Her career doubles record was 200-71. However, while she was ranked as high as #8 as a singles player at one point, she only reached the finals four times in 130 singles tournaments, never won one, and spent the bulk of her career ranked out of the top thirty. She had a record of 209-129 as a singles player.

In 2001 Kournikova had ankle surgery and in 2003 she had complicated back surgery, causing her to announce her retirement from the WTA tour.

Media publicity

Anna Kournikova on the cover of Maxim magazine in 2004.

However, much of Anna’s fame – more, many have argued, than she ever gained in her tennis career – has come from publicity surrounding her personal life as well as numerous modelling shoots. A number of her relationships with other celebrities, including romantic involvement (and even rumors of marriage) with pop star Enrique Iglesias (in whose video, Escape, she appeared) and with hockey star Sergei Fedorov (to which he admits), have featured prominently in the tabloid press.

Photographs of her scantily-clad form have appeared in various men’s magazines, including a much-publicized Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue and other popular publications such as FHM and Maxim. Kournikova was named one of People’s 50 Most Beautiful People in 1998, 2000, 2002, and 2003. She has also been voted “hottest athlete” on espn.com and “sexiest woman in the world” by FHM readers. By contrast, ESPN - citing the degree of hype as compared to actual accomplishments as a singles player – ranked Anna 18th in its “25 Biggest Sports Flops of the Past 25 Years”.

Although she has retired from the WTA tour, she still plays exhibition matches for charitable causes. In late 2004 she participated in three events organized by Elton John and by fellow tennis stars Serena Williams and Andy Roddick. She played for Tsunami relief January 2005 with John McEnroe, Andy Roddick and Chris Evert.

Kournikova had a small role (as a motel manager) in the 2000 film Me, Myself and Irene, starring Jim Carrey.

She has recently announced a desire to pursue a career in acting.

Books

Anna Kournikova by Susan Holden (2001)
Anna Kournikova (Women Who Win) by Connie Berman

Maria Yuryevna Sharapova

Maria Yuryevna Sharapova ( born April 19, 1987) is a Russian professional tennis player, and currently World No. 1 as of September 12, 2005. Her parents are originally from Gomel, Belarus, but moved to Russia in 1986 in the aftermath of the Chernobyl nuclear accident. Sharapova was born in Nyagan, Russia, the following year.

Career

At the age of three, Sharapova moved with her family to the resort town of Sochi, beginning to play tennis at the age of four, using a racquet given to her by Yevgeny Kafelnikov’s father. At age five or six, at a tennis clinic in Moscow, Sharapova was spotted by Martina Navratilova, who urged her parents to get her serious coaching in the United States.

In 2004, Sharapova became the second youngest Wimbledon women’s champion in the Open Era (after Martina Hingis) by defeating defending two-time champion Serena Williams in straight sets (6-1, 6-4). In the process she also became the first Russian ever to win that tournament.

Maria Sharapova uses the Prince Shark Racket and consequently the popularity of the racket has gone through the roof.

A 6 ft 2 in. blonde, Sharapova is regarded by many as possessing a natural beauty and figure and has done some model in November 2003 with IMG Models. She enjoys fashion and is known to read celebrity magazines. However, she says she does not want to overdo these activities, preferring to focus on her tennis. She is often compared to Anna Kournikova, also a Russian Bollettieri student and model. However, Sharapova, Bollettieri, and Kournikova all reject the comparison.

From June 2004 until her Wimbledon semi-final appearance in 2005, Sharapova had a 22-match winning streak on grass, including back-to-back Birmingham titles and the Wimbledon crown. Sharapova’s huge success continued after winning Wimbledon, with a victory at the WTA Season-Ending Championships and consistent results.

In April 2005, Sharapova was listed by People Magazine as among the 50 most beautiful celebrities in the world. In June of 2005, Forbes magazine listed Sharapova as the highest-paid female athlete in the world, with annual earnings of $18 million. A significant portion of this amount came from endorsements.

Defending her Wimbledon title in 2005 proved to be a simple enough task at first, with Sharapova sailing through to the semi-finals with ease without losing a set. However, she dropped her first set of the tournament against a rejuvenated Venus Williams and lost the match 6-7 1-6 in one of the most thrilling and masterful displays of power and accuracy seen in the women’s game. Sharapova’s streak on grass was ended, as was her quest for the No. 1 ranking, with Lindsay Davenport, who lost a historic match to Venus Williams in the 2005 Wimbledon final, holding firm.

However, a back injury/a> Davenport sustained in the Wimbledon final meant that she could not defend her titles won during the US hard court season of 2004. Because of this, she lost valuable ranking points. Sharapova was also suffering from an injury and did not complete a tournament during the season; however, she had fewer points to defend and therefore rose to the No. 1 ranking on August 22, 2005. However, Sharapova’s reign was short-lived, lasting only a week after Davenport re-ascended after winning the New Haven title. Sharapova rose to No. 1 ranking again on September 12, 2005 despite losing in the Semi-finals of the US Open.

Her loss in the semifinal of the 2005 US Open against Kim Clijsters, marked the fourth time that season she lost at a Grand Slam tournament against the eventual champion: Australian Open-SF-Serena Williams, French Open-QF-Justine Henin-Hardenne, Wimbledon-SF-Venus Williams, US Open-SF-Kim Clijsters.

US Open 2005

Sharapova was defeated in the semi-finals of the US Open against Kim Clijsters after a nerve-wrecking encounter that ended 2-6 in first set, followed up by 7-6 in the second (ending in a tie-break) to finally lose with 3-6 in the third. Sharapova’s defeat was much due to her inconsistent serves that led to a total of seven double faults during the encounter. Nevertheless, after falling behind 0-40 in the 12th game of the second set, the Russian started uncorking winners and managed to bring the game to deuce where after she fought off two more match points to force a tiebreak. Unfortunately, she didn’t have the physical endurance left to pull-off a winning game on the last set and inevitably lost the match to Clijsters for the fourth time in a row.

Education

Sharapova studies via correspondence on the internet with the Keystone High School home schooling program and has a liking for sociology.

Awards

Maria Sharapova at the 2004 US Open.

2003

WTA Newcomer of the Year

2004

WTA Player of the Year
WTA Most Improved Player of the Year
WTA Player Service

2005

ESPY Best Female Tennis Player

Serena Jameka Williams

Serena Jameka Williams (born September 26, 1981) is an American professional women’s tennis player, who is a former World No. 1 of the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA). She is the younger sister of another female tennis champion, Venus Williams. She currently resides at Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, United States.

Early life

Serena Williams was born in Saginaw, Michigan. When she and her four sisters were young, their parents, Richard and Oracene (also called Brandy), took them to the poor and sometimes violent Los Angeles suburb of Compton. Her father dreamed of making at least one of his daughters a tennis superstar, hoping that involvement in sports would give them a way out of that neighborhood.

When Serena was four and a half, she won her first tournament, and she entered 49 tournaments before the age of 10, winning 46 of them. At one point, she replaced sister Venus as the number one ranked tennis player aged 12 or under in California.

1991-1997

In 1991, Richard Williams, saying that he hoped to prevent his daughters from facing racism, stopped sending them to national junior tennis tournaments, and Serena attended a tennis school run by professional player Rick Macci instead. Macci had already helped the careers of Jennifer Capriati and Mary Pierce, among others. Soon Richard, who had struck a deal on behalf of his daughters with a major clothing company, was able to move the rest of the Williams family to West Palm Beach, to be near Serena and Venus.

Serena became a professional in September 1995 at the age of 14. Because of her age, she had to participate in non-WTA events at first. Her first professional event was the Bell Challenge in Quebec, and she was ousted in less than an hour of play.

By 1997, ranked number 304 in the world, she upset both Monica Seles and Mary Pierce at the Ameritech Open in Chicago, Illinois, recording her first career wins over top 10 players. She finished 1997 in the top 100 at no. 99.

1998

1998 was the first year when she finished in the WTA top 20. She began the season in Sydney as a qualifier, ranked no. 96, and she beat world no. 3 Lindsay Davenport in the quarterfinal. Serena, with her top 20 ranking, was then expected to do well in her first Grand Slam tournament, but she lost in the second round of the Australian Open to sister Venus.

Serena reached six other quarterfinals during the season. She won the mixed doubles title at Wimbledon and US Open with Max Mirnyi, completing the Williams family’s sweep of the 1998 mixed doubles Grand Slams. Sister Venus also won the mixed doubles at the Australian and Roland Garros opens with Justin Gimelstob. She won her first pro title in doubles at Oklahoma City with sister Venus becoming the third pair of sisters to win a WTA tour women’s doubles title. She earned 2.6 million dollars in the season.

1999

In 1999, Serena was ranked number 21, and she and sister Venus had become celebrities. She defeated Amelie Mauresmo in a final the same day that Venus won in Oklahoma City, marking first time in professional tennis history that two sisters had won titles in the same week.

Ranked number 21, she defeated 3 top 10 players: world no. 2 Lindsay Davenport in the second round, world no. 8 Mary Pierce in the quarterfinal, and world no. 7 Steffi Graf in the final at Indian Wells.

Serena has been the focus of many ad campaigns, including one with shoe and clothes maker PUMA, which signed her to a $12 million agreement.

On September 11, 1999, Serena won her first Grand Slam tournament when she became US Open champion, becoming the first African American woman to win a Grand Slam tournament since Althea Gibson in 1958. The next day, she and sister Venus won the doubles championship at the same tournament. She finished 1999 ranked no. 4 in just her third full season.

2000-2002

In 2000, she won the doubles gold medal at the Olympics with sister Venus. 2001 was the third consecutive year in which she finished in the top 10 reaching her first Grand Slam singles final in two years. In 2002, she won the French Open, Wimbledon, and the US Open.

2003

She won the Australian Open in 2003, her fourth straight Grand Slam singles title, becoming only the ninth woman ever to win all four Grand Slam events. Her accomplishment was dubbed the Serena Slam.

For the first time since January 2002, the Grand Slam final did not read Williams-Williams at the French Open in June 2003. Venus lost to Vera Zvonareva in the fourth round of the French Open. Among boos and catcalls, Serena lost to Justine Henin-Hardenne of Belgium in an acrimonious and controversial semi-final match. Henin-Hardenne backed away from her position, just as Serena was about to serve at a critical point in the match. Serena missed the serve, and asked for a repeat, which was not granted. After a futile exchange with the umpire which turned the crowd against her, Serena won the point and game, but went on to lose the match.

At Wimbledon in 2003, Serena Williams became back-to-back champion, exacting revenge on Henin-Hardenne in straight set in the semifinals and her sister Venus in the finals by a score of 4-6, 6-4, 6-2.

Serena beat her sister Venus to win the Australian Open in 2003. This was only the sixth time a woman has held all four of tennis’ major championships within 12 months. This accomplishment was also remarkable in that Serena had to beat her sister each time. The Williams siblings are the first two women in Grand Slam history to square off in five consecutive finals.

Williams’ older sister, Yetunde Price, was murdered on the morning of September 14, 2003, by gunshots as she passed by in a car driven by a man in the Compton area.

2004-2005

Serena withdrew from Australian Open 2004 to continue rehabilitating her left knee. She reached the final of Wimbledon once again, but lost to the 17-year-old Russian player Maria Sharapova. On July 30, Serena withdrew from her quarterfinal match against Russia’s Vera Zvonareva with a left knee injury. On August 1, she announced her withdrawal from the Rogers Cup due to the same injury. The injury also forced her to pull out of the 2004 Summer Olympics.

Controversy has arisen over Williams’s level of dedication to the sport. Some believe that she is far too concerned with her fashion and acting careers and has not focused enough recently on her tennis. Disappointing performances during 2004 have been cited as proof of this lack of focus. However, in 2005, she won her seventh Grand Slam event, winning the Australian Open. She defeated the three of the tournament’s top 4 seeds, #2 Amelie Mauresmo, #4 Maria Sharapova and #1 Lindsay Davenport, en route to the title.

In April 2005, MTV announced plans to broadcast a reality show around the lives of Serena and Venus Williams. Williams was also on Punk’d when she was trying to save a Punk’d problem kid played by Rob Pinkston until Ashton Kutcher exposed the set-up from the SUV.

Her participation in Wimbledon 2005 ended in the third round when she was beaten by fellow American Jill Craybas (ranked 85th in the world) 6-3, 7-6(4). Serena broke down in tears in the subsequent press conference. She had come into the tournament with an stress fracture in her ankle, a severe lack of conditioning, and had not played a competitive match for six weeks, missing the French Open.

As Serena slumped in the tournament, Venus progressed, defeating top-seeded Lindsay Davenport in the 2005 Wimbledon final. Venus admitted later that she emulated Serena’s never-say-die spirit, and this attitude led her Wimbledon victory.

Venus Ebone Starr Williams

Venus Ebone Starr Williams (born June 17, 1980) is an American former World No. 1 tennis champion, born in Lynwood, California. She is the daughter of Richard and Oracene Williams and the older sister of another tennis champion, Serena Williams.

Tennis career

Venus turned professional in the 1990s, then won many important championships, including two Gold medals at the Sydney Summer Olympics in 2000, the 1999 French Open doubles (with sister Serena as her partner), and five other doubles and two mixed doubles grand slams. In 2000, she won the Wimbledon championship and the U.S. Open in singles and defended both titles in 2001. In 2002 and 2003, Venus reached five consecutive major finals, and lost all of them to her sister Serena.

When Venus and Serena won the 1999 French Open doubles title, they became the first pair of sisters to win a doubles title in the 20th century. They remain a dominant doubles team when they choose to play.

In 2003, Williams faced her sister Serena Williams at the 2003 Wimbledon finals despite suffering a severe abdominal injury which required medical attention during the match. Venus eventually lost to her sister Serena, 6-4, 4-6, 2-6.

Venus and Serena’s older sister, Yetunde Price, was killed by gunshots in the Compton area on the morning of September 14, 2003.

The era of domination by the Williams sisters began to close out after the murder of their sister. Both Venus and Serena suffered injuries (Venus with a severe adductor muscle tear) that kept them out of the latter part of the 2003 season. In that time, Belgian players Kim Clijsters and Justine Henin-Hardenne took over as the most dominant players in the game.

Upon their return in 2004, the Williams sisters failed to recapture their previous best, including Venus’s controversial defeat in a second round loss to Croatian Karolina Sprem at Wimbledon. The referee of the match, Ted Watts awarded Sprem an unearned point in the deciding tiebreak. Upon the conclusion of the match, he was quickly relieved of his duties. Her sister, Serena Williams, made the finals of 2004 Wimbledon, losing to Maria Sharapova.

Venus’ 2005 season began similarly patchy, with one Tier III title (Istanbul) and a series of unusual losses. However, media attention and public interest in both of the Williams sisters continued with their fashion and interior design companies as well as their reality TV series.

However, after an embarrassing loss to 15-year old Bulgarian Sesil Karatantcheva at the 2005 French Open, Venus reached the 2005 Wimbledon finals without dropping a set. She defeated the defending champion Maria Sharapova with a blistering display of power tennis in the semifinals in straight sets, decisively breaking Sharapova’s serve four times. (Sharapova had lost only one service game in reaching the semifinal.) This marked the sixth consecutive year that at least one of the Williams sisters reached the final.

In the longest Wimbledon final in history, Venus overcame a match point against her to triumph over top seed Lindsay Davenport 4-6 7-6(4) 9-7 to claim the 2005 Wimbledon Championship – her third Wimbledon title in six years. This was the first time in 70 years that a player had won after facing match point during the women’s championship. In addition, Williams, as the 14th seed in the draw, was the lowest seed to win the title in Wimbledon history.

At the age of 18 she served the fastest serve by any woman (127.4 MPH) to Ace Mary Pierce at the semifinals of the Swisscom Challenge in Zurich, Switzerland.

“Natasha” Zvereva

Natalya “Natasha” Zvereva (born April 16, 1971) is a tennis player from Belarus. A Belarusian tennis star, she dominated doubles tennis tournaments in late 1980s and through 1990s. She was a girl’s US Open champion in 1987 beating Sandra Birch 6-0, 6-3 in the finals. After turning pro Zvereva won four WTA Tour single titles and 79 WTA Tour double titles. Eighteen of them are Grand Slam double titles.

In doubles Zvereva is a five times Wimbledon champion, four times US Open champion, five times French Open champion, and four times Australian Open champion.

She won those Grand Slam titles with four different partners (Gigi Fernandez, Martina Hingis, Pam Shriver and Larissa Neiland-Savchenko).

As for single’s best achievement, in 1988 Zvereva reached the final in French Open, where she was beaten (0-6,0-6) by Steffi Graf who was unbeatable that year, winning all four Grand Slam titles and an Olympic gold medal.

In addition, Zvereva twice won mixed doubles titles in Australian Open. In 1992, she won a bronze medal at the 1992 Summer Olympics in the doubles event (with Leila Meskhi, representing the CIS).

Facts

Height: 5 ft 8 in (1.74 m)
Weight: 138 lb (62 kg)
Plays: right
Birthplace: Minsk, Belarus
Resides: Newport Beach, Florida, USA
Turned pro: 1988

Mahesh Shrinivas Bhupathi

Mahesh Shrinivas Bhupathi (born June 7, 1974, Madras, India) is a professional tennis player from India. He turned professional in 1995. He currently resides in Bangalore and is among the best doubles tennis players in the world. He’s is 6ft. 1in tall.

The 1999 season

In 1999, Bhupathi won three doubles titles with Leander Paes including Roland Garros and Wimbledon. He and Leander became the first doubles team to reach finals of all four Grand Slams, the first time such a feat has been achieved in the Open era and the first time since 1952. On April 26 that year, they became the World No. 1 doubles team. Bhupathi also won the US Open mixed doubles with Ai Sugiyama of Japan.

Grand Slam titles

MEN’S DOUBLES

Year Championship Partner
1999 French Open Leander Paes (IND)
1999 Wimbledon Leander Paes (IND)
2001 French Open Leander Paes (IND)
2002 US Open Max Mirnyi (BLR)

MIXED DOUBLES

Year Championship Partner
1997 French Open Rika Hiraki (JPN)
1999 US Open Ai Sugiyama (JPN)
2002 Wimbledon Elena Likhovtseva (RUS)
2005 Wimbledon Mary Pierce (FRA)
2005 US Open Daniela Hantuchova (SVK)

Sports Management

Mahesh Bhupathi has also been involved in developing tennis facilities in India and along with his company Globosports he has played in a key role in developing and managing the careers of many Indian atheletes including the new Indian tennis star, Sania Mirza.

Roger Federer

Roger Federer (born August 8, 1981 in Basel, Switzerland) is a highly talented Swiss professional tennis player who, in 2004, became the World No. 1 in tennis and the first man since Mats Wilander in 1988 to win three out of four Grand Slam events in the same year. As of 2005, he is the dominant active player of his era.

Biography

Federer was born in Basel, Switzerland, to Robert and Lynette Federer. He grew up 10 minutes from Basel proper, in suburban Münchenstein.

His parents met while his father was on a business trip to South Africa for a Basel-based chemical company for which they both worked. Ciba Specialty Chemicals was spun out from the pharmaceutical company Ciba-Geigy, in January 1997, when Ciba merged with Sandoz to form the pharmaceutical giant Novartis, in late 1996. Lynette was born and raised in Kempton Park, Gauteng, South Africa. Lynette no longer works at the company, but is a manager at the Roger Federer Foundation. Robert is still with the Ciba Specialty Chemicals, in sales.

Roger has an elder sister, Diana, who is a nurse, and lives in the Basel area. He speaks three languages (German, French and English) fluently and conducts press conferences in all of them.

Federer spends his off-court time playing cards, cricket, ping pong, other sports and sitting on the beach, currently resides in Oberwil, Switzerland, and is dating former WTA player and fellow Swiss Miroslava Vavrinec (Mirka), who retired from the game in 2002 after a foot injury. The two met at the 2000 Sydney Olympics.

He co-established the Roger Federer Foundation in December 2003. Its goals include funding projects that benefit disadvantaged children, primarily in South Africa. In January 2005, he encouraged efforts from tennis players for the Tsunami-affected people, saying he would play as many matches as possible in tournaments organized to raise funds for the Tsunami victims and auctioned off his autographed rackets to raise funds for UNICEF’s relief operations.

Federer also launched a fragrance and cosmetics line called RF Cosmetics in October of 2003.

Tennis Career

Roger Federer started playing tennis at the age of eight. He spent hours playing softball tennis on the street or hitting tennis balls against the wall in the local club. He also practised football and was undecided about which sport he liked better until he turned twelve, when he chose tennis as the sport to focus on. At the age of fourteen, he became the Swiss Junior champion for all age groups and subsequently relocated to the Swiss National Tennis Center in the French-speaking part of Switzerland for more focused training. The training continued until he finished school at the age of sixteen and began playing more international junior tournaments.

1998 was Federer’s last year in the Junior circuits; he won the Wimbledon Juniors title and the prestigious year-ending Orange Bowl. He finished the year as the ITF World Junior Tennis champion. Earlier in July, 1998, he had joined the ATP tour.

In 1999, he debuted for the Swiss Davis Cup team. He finished the year inside ATP’s top 100 ranked players, the youngest ever to do so.

In 2000, he reached the semi-finals in the Sydney Olympics, but lost the bronze-medal match. He also reached the finals in Basel and Marseille but did not win either of them.

In February, 2001, Federer won his first ATP tournament in Milan. He also won 3 matches for his country in the Davis Cup in a 3-2 victory over the United States. He advanced to the quarterfinals at both the French Open and Wimbledon. En route to the quarterfinals at Wimbledon, he defeated defending champion Pete Sampras in the fourth round. This match marked the emergence of Federer as a prominent player on the tour. He finished the year ranked 13th.

In 2002, Federer started with a tournament victory at Sydney. In February, he won both his Davis Cup singles against former world number ones, Russians Marat Safin and Yevgeny Kafelnikov. He reached his first Masters Series final in Miami, only to be beaten by Andre Agassi. In May, he got a second opportunity to win his first Masters Series tournament in Hamburg, which he did, defeating Marat Safin in the final. However, he subsequently lost in the 1st round at both the French Open and Wimbledon. He also lost his long-time Australian coach Peter Carter in a car crash in August and subsequently performed poorly at the U.S. Open. Later in the year he earned 6th place in the ATP Race and qualified for the first time in the prestigious year-ending Tennis Masters Cup, where he lost in the semi-finals against the then-top tennis player Lleyton Hewitt in three sets.

Federer started 2003 by winning 2 tournaments in a row in Dubai and Marseille. He won in Munich without losing a set but fell out of the French Open again in the first round, this time against Luis Horna. On July 6, 2003, he became the first Swiss man to win the Wimbledon championship, defeating Australia’s Mark Philippoussis in the final while dropping only one set during the entire tournament. He also won four Davis Cup matches during the year to lead Switzerland to the semi-finals. He finished 2003 by winning the Tennis Masters Cup at Houston and ranking second in the ATP tour race. In December he parted ways with Peter Lundgren, his coach for four years.

In 2004, Federer had what has been arguably one of the best years in modern men’s tennis, winning three of the four Grand Slam titles. He began by winning the Australian Open for the first time, defeating Marat Safin. In May, he won the Hamburg Masters on clay by beating Guillermo Coria. He then defended his Wimbledon crown, overcoming Andy Roddick in a rain-affected final. Federer also won the Gstaad tournament on clay and the Toronto Masters Series. In September, he defeated Lleyton Hewitt 6-0,7-6(3), 6-0 in a one-sided final at the US Open for the year’s third Grand Slam. He finished the year by taking the Tennis Masters Cup at Houston for the second time in a row. His overall record for the year was a win-loss record of 74-6 and 11 tournament wins. Federer’s remarkable year was recognised when he was named Laureus World Sportsman of the Year in early 2005, edging out the likes of Michael Schumacher, Valentino Rossi, Lance Armstrong and Michael Phelps.

Throughout 2004 Federer did not have a coach, relying instead on his fitness trainer, Pierre Paganini, physiotherapist Pavel Kovac, and a management team composed of his parents, his girlfriend, Mirka, and a few friends. For 2005, Federer arranged for former Australian tennis player Tony Roche to coach him on a limited basis.

To begin 2005, he won his first title at the Qatar ExxonMobil Open in Doha, Qatar. Next was his defeat in the Australian Open semi-final by Marat Safin in a five-set match that lasted more than four hours. Federer went on to win his next four tournaments, including Dubai, Rotterdam (both as in Doha game, by defeating Ivan Ljubicic of Croatia) and the year’s first two ATP Masters Series titles at Indian Wells (by defeating Lleyton Hewitt of Australia) and Miami (by defeating Rafael Nadal of Spain). He lost to Richard Gasquet of France in ATP Masters Series in Monte Carlo, but he won his third Hamburg Masters clay court title in May by defeating Richard Gasquet, and entered the French Open as one of the favorites. He lost at the semi-final stage in four sets to Rafael Nadal. Federer went on to defend his grass court title at Halle by defeating Marat Safin of Russia. Federer won the Wimbledon Championship for the third successive year by defeating Andy Roddick of the United States. At that Wimbledon final, Federer struck 49 winners and only 12 unforced errors.

He dropped only two sets on his way to the US Open final, where he defeated Andre Agassi in four sets for back to back titles.

Federer is expected by many (including Rod Laver, John McEnroe, and his childhood idol Boris Becker; see quotes) to go on and become one of the game’s all time greats.

Already, Roger has become the first man in the Open Era to win Wimbledon and the US Open back-to-back in consecutive years (2004 and 2005). He also has won three straight Wimbledon titles (2003-05), an achievement also completed by Bjorn Borg (1976-80) and Pete Sampras (1993-95; 1997-2000) in the Open Era.

Coaches

1989-1994: Seppli Kacovsky (Switzerland). Kacovsky was the head coach of the Old Boys’ Tennis Club in Federer’s home town of Basel. Roger joined Old Boys’ when he was eight years old and trained there until ‘94.
1991-1995, 1997-1998: Peter Carter (Australia). Carter privately coached Federer on a weekly basis, from the age of 10 to 14. They reunited again in a new training facility in Biel in 1997 and Carter continued coaching Federer on and off until he turned pro.

1995-1997: After he became the Swiss junior champion, Federer was selected to join the Swiss National Tennis center in Ecublens. He continued to train there until he finished school.

1999-2003: Peter Lundgren (Sweden). Federer chose former top-25 player Lundgren, whom he met in Biel, as his coach, as he entered the professional circuit. He still consulted frequently with Carter.

2005-Present : Tony Roche (Australia). Roche is a former Australian tennis champion who previously coached Patrick Rafter to the world number one ranking. He is scheduled to help Federer for a few weeks before the Grand Slam tournaments only.

Equipment

Roger Federer currently uses the Wilson nSix-One tour tennis racquet. This is the first tennis racquet in the world to utilize nanotechnology, which according to Wilson promotional literature is twice as strong and twice as stable as traditional racquets, yielding 22% more power, as well as added control and a greater life span.

Records and trivia

1999

Federer became the youngest player (18 years, 4 months) to finish a year inside ATP Ranking’s Top 100. France’s Richard Gasquet broke this record in 2003.

2001

He teamed up with Martina Hingis to win the Hopman Cup. They beat the United States 2-1 in the final. Federer beat Jan-Michael Gambill (6-4, 6-3); Hingis defeated Monica Seles (7-5, 6-4).

2003

Federer captures his first Grand Slam title by winning Wimbledon, defeating Australia’s Mark Philippoussis 7-6, 6-2, 7-6.
He also won the Tennis Masters Cup for the first time by beating Andre Agassi in straight sets. He didn’t lose one match in the tournament (5-0).

2004

Federer’s victory at the 2004 US Open marked the first time in the Open era (i.e., since 1968) that anyone had won his first four Grand Slam finals.
Federer is the first player since Ivan Lendl in 1986-87 to win back-to-back Tennis Masters Cup titles without losing a match.
Federer became the 10th different player in the Open era to win at least 10 singles titles in a season. He is the first year-end No. 1 to register 11 titles since Ivan Lendl in 1985. In addition, Federer is the only player to win at least 10 titles in a season without losing in a final.
Federer is the first player since Bjorn Borg in 1979 to win consecutive tournaments on three different surfaces, having captured titles at Wimbledon (grass), Gstaad (clay) and Toronto (hard).
Federer’s tally of 1267 ATP Race points in 2004 is a new record since the Race began in 2000. The previous best was Andy Roddick’s 907 in 2003.
With a total of 6335 points, Federer finished 2004 with the highest number of year-ending ATP tour ranking points since the ATP circuit began in 1990, although the points breakdown changed slightly in 2000. The previous year-ending highest rating was Pete Sampras’s 5097 points in 1994.
With a 74-6 record in 2004, Federer’s winning percentage of .925 is the best since Ivan Lendl had the same 74-6 record in 1986. John McEnroe tops the list of such players with a .965 percentage and an 82-3 record in 1984.
In the semi-final of the Tennis Masters Cup 2004, Federer won the second set tie-break against Marat Safin at 20-18 that lasted 26 minutes. It tied the record for the longest tie-break (in terms of points) ever played since the tie-break system was introduced in 1970. Besides Federer, only Bjorn Borg (1st round Wimbledon 1973 against Premjit Lal) and Goran Ivanišević (1st round US Open 1993 against Daniel Nestor, and semi-final Queen’s Club 1997 against Greg Rusedski) won such drawn out tie-breaks.
Federer was presented the inaugural “Golden Bagel award” in 2004, a light-hearted award based on a trivial statistic given to the men’s professional tennis player who serves up more “bagels” (sets won 6-0) than any other player in any given year. Federer gave out 12 “bagels” in 2004. He also served 23 “bread sticks” (6-1 sets won).

2005

Federer held a record 26 consecutive wins against top ten ranked opponents; the streak spanned from October 2003 to January 2005 (he lost to Marat Safin in the semifinal of the Australian Open).
His loss against Richard Gasquet in the Monte Carlo Masters brought his win-loss tally to 35-2 for 2005, the best start on the men’s tour since John McEnroe, who holds the record with 39-0 in 1984.
Federer lost the semi-finals of both Australian and French Open to the eventual winner: Safin in Melbourne and Nadal in Paris.
Federer also owns the record for the highest ranking points at any time of the year for performances based on the past 52 weeks: 6980 points (June 6 and June 13, 2005).
Winning the doubles title in Halle along with fellow Swiss Yves Allegro marked the fact that Federer has now won singles and doubles titles on all four surfaces: hardcourt, clay, carpet and grass. [Singles: Sydney ‘02 (hard), Hamburg ‘02 (clay), Milan ‘01 (carpet) and Halle ‘03 (grass); Doubles: Rotterdam ‘01 (hard), Gstaad ‘01 (clay), Moscow ‘02 (carpet) and Halle ‘05 (grass)]
Federer now has the #1 spot of the ATP rankings for more than 86 consecutive weeks, most since Sampras held that spot for 102 weeks from 1996 to ‘98.
He also holds a 36-match winning streak on matches played on grass; this particular streak is the best since Bjorn Borg, who won 41 consecutive matches on grass between 1976 and 1980.
Federer wins a third consecutive mens singles title at Wimbledon, a feat accomplished only by Borg and Sampras in the Open era.
In the 21 matches Federer played at Wimbledon through 2003-05 he dropped just four sets (winning 63). In comparison, Borg and Sampras lost 9 and 11 sets respectively, in a similar three-year time frame.
He has become the first player to win Grand Slam events (Wimbledon & US Open) the year after having won three Grand Slam events in the same year.
With his victory over American Andre Agassi in the final of the U.S. Open, he reached a 23-match winning streak against American players.
His victory in Cincinnati meant that Federer had become the first player to win four Tennis Masters Series titles in one season.
With his victory in Cincinnati, Federer became only the third player (and only non-American) to have won all four American ATP Masters Series events in a career (along with Andre Agassi and Michael Chang.) He and Agassi are the only two players to win the six major hardcourt titles in a career (The 4 Masters Series events plus the Australian Open and the US Open).
He has held a record-tying four winning streaks of 20 consecutive matches or more. The first one was a 23-match winning streak in mid 2004, the second one was a 26-match streak spanning the latter half of 2004 and early 2005, and the third was a 25-match streak in early 2005. The fourth streak is currently active at 31 matches including tournament wins at Halle, Wimbledon, Cincinnati, the US Open, one Davis Cup match and Bangkok. Pete Sampras also had four such streaks in his entire career; Federer’s win against Fabrice Santoro allowed him to tie the record.
With his victory over Lleyton Hewitt in the US Open semifinals he has now won 70 matches or more in three consecutive seasons (2003: 78-17, 2004: 74-6, 2005: 77-3).
He is now 6-0 in Grand Slam finals; the best since William Renshaw and Richard Sears with 7-0 in the 19th century.
Federer’s victory at the 2005 US Open marked the first time since William Renshaw and Richard Sears, in the 19th century, that anyone had won his first six Grand Slam finals.
By winning in Bangkok in September 2005, Federer won his 24rd straight final dating back to Vienna, October 2003. His undefeated streak in finals is a new Open era record. The previous record was 12 straight final wins, shared by McEnroe and Borg. It marked also the first time Federer won five straight finals in five consecutive tournaments he’s played in.
Federer’s win against Andy Murray in the final of the Bangkok tournament was his 40th consecutive win on the hardcourt surface; and Open Era record. He broke the previous record held by Pete Sampras.

Awards

2003

ATP European Player of the Year.
Swiss Sportsman of the Year.
Swiss of the Year.
Michael-Westphal Award.

2004

ATP European Player of the Year.
ITF World Champion.
Sports Illustrated Tennis Player of the Year.
Swiss Sportsman of the Year.
Swiss of the Year.
European Sportsman of the Year.
Reuters International Sportsman of the Year.
BBC Overseas Sports Personality of the Year.
International Tennis Writers Association Player of the Year.

2005

Ambassador of United Nations’ Year of Sport and Physical Education.
Goldene Kamera Award.
ATP Player of the Year (for the year 2004).
Stefan Edberg Sportmanship Award.
ATPTennis.com Fan’s Favourite
Laureus World Sportsman of the Year.
Michael-Westphal Award.
ESPY Award 2005 for The Best Male Tennis Player.

Sania Mirza

Sania Mirza was born in Mumbai, India on the 15th November, 1986 to Mr. Imran Mirza and Naseema. Saniya Mirza’s father Imran was a sports journalist previously after that he went into the printing business and finally he became a builder and her mother Naseema was associated with the printing industry. The family later relocated themselves in the city of Hyderabad. Saniya Mirza got her schooling from Nasr School Khairatabad and passed her SSC examination with first division securing 63% marks.

Saniya Mirza has got a younger sister by the name of Anam. Saniya was drawn to the lawn tennis by her father; she started playing tennis at the tender age of six at Nizam Club Hyderabad. When Saniya was first taken to the coach he refused to coach her, later on after a week he called up the parents of Saniya and told them that he has never seen such a talent at such a tender age. Her initial training was handled by CK Bhupati father of Mahesh Bhupati, the legendary Indian tennis player.

Saniya Mirza started playing in international tournaments from the year 1999 when she first represented India in the World Junior Championship, Jakarta; after that Saniya went on to participate in the Asian Games in the year with Paes where she won a bronze medal. She again did India proud when she figured in the main draw for the girls doubles junior Wimbledon Tennis tournament with a 13 year old Russian player Alisa Kleybanova and won the Grand Slam title. Doing so Saniya became the first youngest Indian player to do so.

Sania Mirza has won 21 ITF titles till date. In the year 2005 Saniya Mirza created waves in the tennis world when she reached to the 3rd and 4th rounds of many Grand Slam tournaments. She has a very powerful forehand (Double handed backhand) and serves an array of strokes. She is greatly influenced by the German player Stefi Graff.

Rafael Nadal

Rafael Nadal (born June 3, 1986, Manacor, Majorca, Spain) is a Spanish tennis player. He is currently the world’s number two male tennis player-his highest career singles ranking-and the first man since Boris Becker to reach that spot before the age of 20.

Career In 2002, he won his first ATP match at Majorca at the age of 15, defeating Ramon Delgado to become the ninth player in the Open Era to win an ATP match before his 16th birthday.

In 2003, Nadal became the second-youngest player to be ranked among the world’s top 100 singles players. He finished the year in the top 50, winning two Challenger titles. At his Wimbledon debut in 2000, he became the youngest player (at age 13) to reach the 3rd round since 16-year-old Boris Becker in 1984.

By May 2005, he had reached the top 5 in world rankings, becoming the youngest player to break into the Top 10 since Andrei Medvedev in 1993.

Nadal has won ten titles in 2005, including three ATP Masters Series events (Monte Carlo, Rome and Montreal, defeating Guillermo Coria in the finals of Monte Carlo/Rome, and Andre Agassi in Montreal) and one Grand Slam title (Roland Garros, becoming the first player since Mats Wilander in 1982 to win the tournament in his first attempt). He boasts a 44-2 match record on clay in 2005 and a 72-10 record on all surfaces this season, second only to Roger Federer, winning the most matches out of any player on the tour this year.

Nadal won 24 consecutive matches during early 2005, the longest winning streak of any teenager in the Open Era, topping Andre Agassi’s run of 23 matches in 1988.

In his Roland Garros debut, he claimed the title by defeating world number one Roger Federer in the semi finals on his 19th birthday on the way. At 19 years and two days, he became the sixth-youngest Grand Slam champion, and the fourth-youngest Roland Garros champion in the Open Era. He became the seventh player to win a Grand Slam in his first appearance at the event, and the first since Andre Agassi at the 1995 Australian Open. He became the first teenager to win a Grand Slam since Pete Sampras won the 1990 US Open at age 19. Nadal is the first teenager to win six titles in a year since Agassi in 1988 at the age of 18.

Three days after his victory in Paris, his winning streak was snapped on the grass of Halle, Germany, where he was beaten by German Alexander Waske in the first round.

He was eliminated in the second round of Wimbledon, at the All England Lawn Tennis Club, where he was seeded fourth, by Luxembourg player, Gilles Muller.

Nadal has a 35 match winning streak on clay from April till September 2005, and with his tournament victory in Stuttgart, he has become the first man since to win eight clay court titles in the same year (Thomas Muster held the previous record of seven titles on clay in 1995).

He was eliminated in the third round of the 2005 US Open in Flushing Meadows, New York, by American James Blake. His second seed overall and third round U.S. Open performance were both career highs. He defeated Bobby Reynolds in the first round and Scoville Jenkins in the second, both Americans.

Patrick Michael Rafter

Patrick Michael Rafter (born December 28, 1972) is a former World No. 1 tennis player from Australia. He is best remembered as a two-time men’s singles champion at the US Open, and a two-time runner-up at Wimbledon. Rafter was well known for his attacking serve and volley game and possessed one of the finest volleys in the game.

Rafter was born in Queensland and is third-youngest in a family of nine children. He began playing tennis at the age of five with his father and three older brothers. In April 2004, Rafter married his longtime girlfriend Lara Feltham (with whom he has a son, Joshua,) at a resort in Fiji. Their daughter, India, was born in the summer of 2005.

Tennis career

Rafter turned professional in 1991, and won his first career singles title in 1994 in Manchester. Prior to 1997, this was the only top-level singles title he had won.

Rafter’s major breakthorugh came in 1997 at the US Open, when he reached the final against Greg Rusedski and won in four sets to claim his first Grand Slam title.

In 1998, he reached the US Open final again and defeated fellow Aussie player Mark Philippoussis in four sets. He also won five other tour singles titles that year.

In July 1999, Rafter reached the World No. 1 men’s singles ranking. However he held it for just one week, making him the shortest-reigning World No. 1 in tour history.

Rafter won the Australian Open men’s doubles title in 1999 (partnering Jonas Bjorkman).

In 2000, Rafter reached the men’s singles final a Wimbledon where he faced Pete Sampras who was gunning for a record-breaking seventh title. Rafter made a strong start to the match and took the first set. But after the match he claimed that he had “choked” part way through the second set, and was then not able to get back into his game. Sampras won in four sets.

In 2001, Rafter made the Wimbledon final again. He faced Goran Ivanisevic, who had reached the Wimbledon final three times before but had slid down the world rankings to No. 125 following injury problems. After a titanic five-set struggle, lasting just over three hours, Ivanisevic prevailed 6-3, 3-6, 6-3, 2-6, 9-7.

Rafter was on the Australian Davis Cup teams which lost in the final in 2000 (to Spain) and 2001 (to France). He was ironically unable to play in the 1999 Davis Cup final – where Australia beat France to win the cup – because of injury (though he won important matches in the earlier rounds to help the team qualify).

Rafter was on the Australian teams which won the World Team Cup in 1999 and 2001.

Rafter retired from the professional tour at the end of 2002. During his career he won 11 singles titles and 10 doubles titles.

Rafter returns to the courts annually to play World Team Tennis for the Philadelphia Freedoms.

Grand Slam singles finals

Wins (2)

Year Championship Opponent in Final Score in Final
1997 US Open Greg Rusedski 6-3, 6-2, 4-6, 7-5
1998 US Open Mark Philippoussis 6-3, 3-6, 6-2, 6-0

Runner-ups (2)

Year Championship Opponent in Final Score in Final
2000 Wimbledon Pete Sampras 6-7, 7-6, 6-4, 6-2
2001 Wimbledon Goran Ivanisevic 6-3, 3-6, 6-3, 2-6, 9-7

Leander Adrian Paes

Leander Adrian Paes (born June 17, 1973) is currently one of the most successful players of the tennis Men’s Doubles and Mixed Doubles circuits. Leander Paes was born in Goa and brought up in Kolkata (then Calcutta). His mother, Jennifer Paes was a renowned basketball player and captain of the Indian team in the 1980 Asian Basketball Championships. His father, Vece Paes, was a hockey midfielder representing the Indian team in the 1972 Munich Olympics that won the bronze medal.

He joined the Britannia Tennis Academy in Madras (now known as Chennai) in 1985 where he was coached by Dave O’Meara. Leander shot into international fame when he won the 1990 Wimbledon Junior title and rose to No.1 in the junior world-rankings.

He turned professional in 1991 and in 1996 won a bronze medal at the Atlanta Olympics becoming the first Indian in more than 4 decades to win a individual medal. The previous individual medalist for India was K.D. Jadhav who won a bronze in 1952.

Specialising in Doubles, he was ranked number 1 along with Mahesh Bhupathi.

He was a joint winner of India’s highest sporting honour, the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna award in the year 1996-1997 along with Nameirakpam Kunjarani.

Andy Roddick

Andrew Stephen “Andy” Roddick, (born August 30, 1982, Omaha, Nebraska, USA), nicknamed “A-Rod” [1], is an American former World No. 1 tennis player. As of September 2005, Roddick ranked as the best male US tennis player and the third-best in the world by the Association of Tennis Professionals, behind Federer and Nadal. Roddick is known for his explosive serves, powerful forehands, and off-court charm.

Tennis career

Roddick turned professional in 2000 at 18, and became the youngest man to end the year in the ATP Top 200 (a record broken in 2002 by 16-year-old French Richard Gasquet). In 2001, he became the youngest player to end the year in the ATP Top 20.

Roddick’s outstanding hardcourt record in summer 2003 included his first Grand Slam title at the 2003 US Open, in which he rallied from two sets down in the semifinals to beat David Nalbandian and dispatching finalist Juan Carlos Ferrero in straight sets.

In 2003, at age 21, he was ranked No. 1, the first American to finish a year at No. 1 since Andre Agassi in 1999. He also became the youngest American and second-youngest player (behind Australian Lleyton Hewitt, aged 20 years, 8 months) to hold this rank since computer rankings were started in 1973.

In 2004, Roddick set the world record for the fastest serve: 246.2 km/h (153.5 mph) during a straight-set victory over Thailand’s Paradorn Srichaphan in the quarter-finals of the Queens Club grass-court tournament. On August 31 of that year, he had the fastest serve in US Open history: 244 km/h (152 mph). But Roddick was unexpectedly knocked out of the tournament in a spectacular 5-set quarterfinal match against another big server, Joachim Johansson. He finished 2004 ranked as the world’s No. 2, the USA’s No. 1, and the player with the most aces (he hit 1017 of them in 2004).

In 2004, Roddick joined Mardy Fish and doubles players Bob and Mike Bryan on the U.S. Davis Cup team that lost to Spain in the finals in Seville. In 2005, Andre Agassi joined the team, and played behind Roddick at No. 2.

In 2004, Roddick fired his coach of 18 months, Brad Gilbert, and hired assistant Davis Cup coach Dean Goldfine.

Roddick’s first 2005 victory was the SAP Open in San Jose, California, where he was the first to win the event in consecutive years since Mark Philippoussis in 1999 and 2000. The top-seeded Roddick breezed to a 6-0, 6-4 victory over Cyril Saulnier in 50 minutes, the event’s first championship shutout set since Arthur Ashe beat Guillermo Vilas in 1975.

On April 24, 2005, Roddick won the U.S. Men’s Claycourt Championships, reclaiming the title he won in 2001 and 2002. He lost in 2003 to Andre Agassi and in 2004 to Tommy Haas.

In May 2005, top-seeded Roddick chose sportsmanship over a slot in the quarterfinals of the Rome Masters when he challenged a ruling that favored him at a triple match point. After Roddick’s objections, his opponent Fernando Verdasco was awarded an ace instead of a double fault. Verdasco then saved two more match points, held serve, broke Roddick’s serve, and eventually won the match.

At Roland Garros 2005, Roddick lost to the unseeded Argentine player Jose Acasuso in the second round.

At Wimbledon 2005, Roddick lost to Roger Federer in the final for the second year in a row.

At U.S. Open 2005, Roddick lost to Gilles Muller in the first round. Roddick’s last U.S. Open first round loss was in 2000.

Personal

Roddick was born in Omaha, Nebraska, moved to Boca Raton, Florida, and now lives in Austin, Texas.

Roddick’s father Jerry is an investor; his mother Blanche directs the Andy Roddick Foundation. Roddick’s brother John was an All-American tennis player at the University of Georgia from 1996 to 1998, and operates a tennis academy in San Antonio, Texas. Their oldest brother, Lawrence, a chiropractor in San Antonio, was an accomplished springboard diver and a member of U.S. Senior National Team.

Roddick is considered a U.S. sports celebrity. Following his 2003 US Open win, Roddick embarked on a 12-hour media blitz, appearing on the Today Show, MTV, CNN, and The Late Show with David Letterman, among others. He has thrown out the first pitch at several Major League Baseball games, most recently Game 2 of the 2003 Oakland-Boston playoff series. After winning the NASDAQ tournament, Roddick opened that stock market on August 20, 2003.

He hosted Saturday Night Live on November 8, 2003, becoming the second tennis player (the first being Chris Evert) and only the tenth athlete to do so. He won the 2004 ESPY award for best male tennis player. He was deemed “Sexiest Athlete” by People Magazine’s December 2003 issue of “Sexiest Man Alive”. Roddick has appeared in Vogue magazine.

In 2004, Roddick won the Arthur Ashe Humanitarian Award of the Year because of his charity efforts, which include: raising money for the survivors of the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami through Serving for Tsunami Relief and other efforts; auctioning off several rackets and autographs to raise money for UNICEF; and creating the Andy Roddick Foundation to help at-risk youth. The foundation is partly funded through the sale of blue wristbands inscribed “No Compromise,” mimicking Lance Armstrong’s yellow Livestrong bands.

In 2005, Roddick appeared on VH1’s 100 Most Wanted Bodies, The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, and Punk’d after being tricked by Ashton Kutcher on his way to the Tonight Show. Roddick also appeared on Jimmy Kimmel Live.

In April 2005, Reebok announced that it would end its contract with Roddick, who had been endorsed by the company ever since he was 17. Roddick has now joined forces with Lacoste.

Roddick had a high profile relationship with singer Mandy Moore. Furthermore, he has been linked with aspiring model Lauren Bedford and tennis ace Maria Sharapova.

Quotations

“I’m in the mood for a beer right now… This guy’s the best for a reason and you’ve really got to give him a lot of credit… He’s such a complete player … maybe I’ll just punch him or something, I don’t know.” – On losing to Roger Federer in the 2005 Wimbledon Championships.

Titles (20)

Legend (Singles)
Grand Slam (1)
Tennis Masters Cup (0)
ATP Masters Series (3)
ATP Tour (14)

Singles (19)

No. Date Tournament Surface Opponent in the final Score
1. Apr 23, 2001 Atlanta, USA Hard Xavier Malisse (Belgium) 6-2 6-4
2. Apr 30, 2001 Houston, USA Clay Hyung-Taik Lee (South Korea) 7-5 6-3
3. Aug 13, 2001 Washington, USA Hard Sjeng Schalken (Netherlands) 6-2 6-3
4. Feb 18, 2002 Memphis, USA Hard James Blake (USA) 6-4 3-6 7-5
5. Apr 22, 2002 Houston, USA Clay Pete Sampras (USA) 7-6 6-3
6. May 19, 2003 St. Polten, Austria Clay Nikolay Davydenko (Russia) 6-3 6-2
7. Jun 9, 2003 London / Queen’s Club, Great Britain Grass Sebastien Grosjean (France) 6-3 6-3
8. Jul 21, 2003 Indianapolis, USA Hard Paradorn Srichaphan (Thailand) 7-6 6-4
9. Aug 4, 2003 Montreal, Canada Hard David Nalbandian (Argentina) 6-1 6-3
10. Aug 11, 2003 Cincinnati, USA Hard Mardy Fish (USA) 4-6 7-6 7-6
11. Aug 25, 2003 U.S. Open, New York, USA Hard Juan Carlos Ferrero (Spain) 6-3 7-6 6-3
12. Feb 9, 2004 San Jose, USA Hard Mardy Fish (USA) 7-6 6-4
13. Mar 22, 2004 Miami, USA Hard Guillermo Coria (Argentina) 6-7 6-3 6-1 ret.
14. Jun 7, 2004 London / Queen’s Club, Great Britain Grass Sebastien Grosjean (France) 7-6 6-4
15. Jul 19, 2004 Indianapolis, USA Hard Nicolas Kiefer (Germany) 6-2 6-3
16. Feb 7, 2005 San Jose, USA Hard Cyril Saulnier (France) 6-0 6-4
17. Apr 24, 2005 Houston, USA Clay Sebastien Grosjean (France) 6-2 6-2
18. Jun 6, 2005 London / Queen’s Club, Great Britain Grass Ivo Karlovic (Croatia) 7-6 7-6
19. Aug 7, 2005 Washington, USA Hard James Blake (USA) 7-5 6-3

Singles Finalist (10)

2002: Delray Beach (lost to Davide Sanguinetti)
2002: Toronto AMS (lost to Guillermo Canas)
2003: Memphis (lost to Taylor Dent)
2003: Houston (lost to Andre Agassi)
2004: Houston (lost to Tommy Haas)
2004: Wimbledon (lost to Roger Federer)
2004: Toronto AMS (lost to Roger Federer)
2004: Bangkok (lost to Roger Federer)
2005: Wimbledon (lost to Roger Federer)
2005: Cincinnati AMS (lost to Roger Federer)

Performance timeline

Tournament 2006 2005 2004 2003 2002 2001 2000 Career
Australian Open SF QF SF 2r – - 0
French Open 2r 2r 1r 1r 3r – 0
Wimbledon F F SF 3r 3r – 0
U.S. Open 1r QF W QF QF 1r 1
Tennis Masters Cup SF SF - – - 0
Tournaments played 10 20 23 19 19 5 88
Finals reached 3 8 8 4 3 0 26
Tournaments Won 3 4 6 2 3 0 18
Hardcourt Win-Loss 18-4 57-11 44-10 34-11 23-10 4-5 180-51
Grass Win-Loss 11-1 11-1 10-1 4-2 5-3 0-0 41-8
Carpet Win-Loss 0-0 1-1 6-2 4-2 2-2 0-0 13-7
Clay Win-Loss 5-0 5-5 12-6 14-7 12-1 0-0 43-19
Overall Win-Loss 36-7 74-18 71-19 51-19 39-16 4-5 284-87
ATP Race points 547 731 907 409 303 18 N/A
Year End Ranking 2 1 10 16 160 N/A

Doubles (2)

2001 Delray Beach
2002 Houston