Latest happenings from the World of Tennis
Sharapova signs up with a new racquet company
Grand Slam winner and former World Number 1 Maria Sharapova has recently signed on with Head for a new racquet endorsement contract. According to reporters and inside sources, the deal is worth somewhere in the neighbourhood of two million US dollars per
annum.
The tennis world has been anticipating a change in equipment for the Russian tennis star ever since she announced the end of her contract with Prince Racquets, whom she has endorsed for ten years. For the past several months, Sharapova has been playing with
a blacked-out racquet.
Coach changes in the off-season
This off-season, a great number of tennis players have changed their coaches. The Women’s Tennis Association players who will be starting the year with a different coach are:
- Maria Sharapova, with Thomas Hogstedt as co-coach
- Nadia Petrova, who split from her old mentor Vladimir Platenik
- Ana Ivanovic, whose new coach is Antonio van Grichen
- Lucie Safarova, who will start 2011 with Biljana Veselinovic
- British teenager Laura Robson, who switched to legendary trainer Patrick Mouratoglou of the Mouratoglou Tennis Academy in France
- Jelena Jankovic, with Andrei Pavel
Some Association of Tennis Professionals players have also made changes to their teams. The players who will start the year with new mentors are:
- World Number 5 Robin Soderling, who will begin the year with Claudio Pistolesi
- Japanese tennis pro Kei Nishikori, with former tennis player and TV commentator Brad Gilbert and Dante Bottini
- 23-year-old Brazilian tennis player Thomaz Bellucci, who will begin his 2011 campaign with Larri Passos
Svetlana Kuznetsova defeats New Zealand local at the ASB Classic Open
Local wildcard Sacha Jones did her best to defeat Russian tennis pro Svetlana Kuznetsova, but her efforts proved futile when Kuznetsova did away with her in straight sets 6-4, 6-2 on the first day of the ASB Classic in Auckland, NZ.
Jones, who is the New Zealand Number 1, exhibited aggression and some superb ground strokes to make sure third seed Kuznetsova had to work to win. She came back from service breaks twice in the first set, before former World Number 1 Kuznetsova took the
set 6-4 in fifty-one minutes.
Although the match was almost decided in Kuznetsova’s favour, 20-year-old Jones fought for a win once again in the second set. One crisply executed backhand winner even earned her applause from her Russian opponent.
Despite the efforts made by Jones, Kuznetsova’s consistency won out as she wrapped up the match in one hour and twenty-five minutes.
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