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Daily Insider: Super Serena

Daily Insider: Super Serena

  • Posted: Dec 08, 2015

– Serena the Superhero: espnW and Marvel Comics collaborated on this project to turn 25 women into superheroes. Serena Williams is included as Super Galactic Slam.

– Han Xiyun wins the Australian Open wildcard: Han defeated Wang Yafan 6-1, 6-0, on Sunday to win the Asia-Pacific wildcard playoff, earning a main draw wildcard at the Australian Open in January.

– Drama defined the 2015 WTA Season: Christopher Clarey for The New York Times takes a closer look at how the 2015 season played out for the women.

“I just thought it was a really good year for women’s tennis,” said Pam Shriver, a former star who is now an ESPN analyst. “A lot of it had to do with Serena, but there were also some other really interesting runs. In a lot of the big events, I thought the women matched the men’s story lines or even bettered them for the first time in many years.”

– Caroline Wozniacki goes Ballin’: First Eugenie Bouchard, now Caroline Wozniacki. Ballers is really picking up the tennis cameos:

– The evolution of on-court coaching: Pat Cash talks to Darren Cahill (Simona Halep), Sam Sumyk (Garbiñe Muguruza) and Rob Steckley (Lucie Safarova) about on-court coaching and how its best optimized for the players.

– Cross-training with Kvitova: Petra Kvitova is doing a little bit of everything to get ready for the 2016 season:

– Calling all Arrested Development fans: Will Arnett will team up with Maria Sharapova at the Maria Sharapova and Friends event this weekend.

– Get them shiny, Nick Kyrgios: Belinda Bencic gets the treatment before a recent IPTL match for the Singapore Slammers.

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Muguruza To Headline Mallorca Debut

Muguruza To Headline Mallorca Debut

  • Posted: Dec 07, 2015

SANTA PONSA, Spain – Mallorca, a popular holiday destination for tourists all over Europe – and home to former ATP No.1 Rafael Nadal – will now become even more appealing with the staging of the premier edition of the Mallorca Open from the 11th to 19th of June in 2016.

The $250,000 WTA event will be played at the Santa Ponsa Tennis Club in Calvià, where the tennis women will find ideal conditions to prepare for the Wimbledon Championships.

During the recent groundbreaking ceremony on site, World No.3 Garbiñe Muguruza said she is convinced that the new tournament on grass will be a perfect fit for her after reaching the 2015 Wimbledon final against Serena Williams.

“It’s always very special to compete in a tournament on home soil. I am very happy to be part of the first edition of the Mallorca Open next year,” said the two-time WTA tournament winner.

Traditionally a hotbed for clay court tennis, Spain will host its first ever grass court tournament as Muguruza aims to be the first Spanish woman to win Wimbledon since Conchita Martínez stunned nine-time champion Martina Navratilova in 1994.

“We are very proud to present a strong players field in the first tournament edition with Garbiñe Muguruza in the lead plus other international top players,” explained Edwin Weindorfer, CEO and founder of e|motion. “This guarantees a highly attractive programme for tourists and residents of the island – especially with the night sessions.” e|motion also hosts an ATP tournament in Stuttgart, the MercedesCup.

“The Santa Ponsa resort venue is a premium destination for our fans and players to experience and enjoy the fast, aggressive and spectacular tennis that is unique to this surface,” said WTA CEO Steve Simon. “I would like to thank our Tournament Promoter, e|motion, for their exceptional efforts in building this new event and also the All England Lawn and Tennis Club and the Community of Calvia for their exceptional support. We look forward to an incredible inaugural event.”

Garbiñe Muguruza

While at the groundbreaking, Muguruza was on hand for photos with Weindorfer, Tournament Ambassador (and uncle to Rafael Nadal) Toni Nadal, and Tournament Director Peer Zebergs (pictured from left to right).

Garbiñe Muguruza

The big news for Muguruza and Mallorca has already grabbed headlines in Spanish press.

Garbiñe Muguruza

All photos courtesy of e | motion.

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Williams, Mirza Make Strides In Manila

Williams, Mirza Make Strides In Manila

  • Posted: Dec 07, 2015

Top ranked doubles player Sania Mirza continued her winning ways for the Micromax Indian Aces, leading her team to a third straight victory on Monday, this time over the OBI UAE Royals, led by France’s Kristina Mladenovic.

Mirza and Mladenovic went head-to-head to open the match in mixed doubles; after 26 minutes, Mirza and partner Rohan Bopanna proved too much for Mladenovic and Daniel Nestor – two-time mixed doubles champions as a pair – to set the tone with a 6-4 first set win.

Samantha Stosur, herself an accomplished doubles player, stepped in for Mirza to take on Mladenovic in women’s singles, winning 6-3 en route to a five-set shutout for the Aces, who ultimately ended the night with a 30-18 victory.

Next up was World No.1 Serena Williams, who looks to be hitting her stride after a slow start in IPTL. Williams won both of her sets for the Philippine Mavericks over the Legendari Japan Warriors, including a 6-4 set of mixed doubles with Milos Raonic over Pierre-Hughes Herbet and Mirjana Lucic-Baroni, and a 6-3 set of women’s singles over Lucic-Baroni immediately after. The Mavericks solidified themselves as second place behind the Aces with a 25-21 win.

Check out some of the best tweets of the night:

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Best Hot Shots From 2015 ATP Challenger Tour

  • Posted: Dec 07, 2015

Best Hot Shots From 2015 ATP Challenger Tour

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Radwanska: WTA Shot Of The Year

Radwanska: WTA Shot Of The Year

  • Posted: Dec 07, 2015

There’s a reason Agnieszka Radwanska has the nicknames “The Magician”, “Ninja” and “La Profesora”. It’s simple, she can pull off the most difficult shots in the game with ease.

Agnieszka Radwanska has done it again, she is the winner of the 2015 WTA Shot of the Year. Radwanska took top honors by turning her signature defense into some thrilling offense, culminating with some soft hands at the net – all the third set of the championship match at the BNP Paribas WTA Finals Singapore presented by SC Global in October.

This is Radwanska’s third straight year winning the WTA Shot of the Year. Last year she took top honors with an incredible overhead backhand in Montreal.

Final Results for 2015 WTA Shot of the Year

1. Agnieszka Radwanska: Singapore (42%)
2. Simona Halep: Toronto (34%)
3. Agnieszka Radwanska: Miami (18%)
4. Angelique Kerber: Stuttgart (6%)

Click here to watch all four WTA Shot of the Year finalists

WTA Shot of the Year Winners

2014: Agnieszka Radwanska: Montreal
2013: Agnieszka Radwanska: Miami

How it works:

Each Shot of the Month winner is placed into one of two groups.
The two shots from each group that receive the most votes will then be placed into a final group
Winner is then determined by a fan vote on wtatennis.com

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WTA Live Fan Access Best Episodes: No.7

  • Posted: Dec 07, 2015

In this episode from sunny Miami, Agnieszka Radwanska takes a sweet shot – but this time it’s not one of her tennis court tricks. Find out what it is on this episode of WTA Live Fan Access presented by Xerox.

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ATP Media To Produce More Live Matches In 2016

  • Posted: Dec 07, 2015

ATP Media To Produce More Live Matches In 2016

More than 100 singles matches and increased doubles coverage next year

The ATP and ATP Media, the broadcast arm of the ATP World Tour, announced this week that live match production at ATP World Tour Masters 1000 tournaments will be significantly increased from 2016.

More than 100 additional ATP singles matches will be produced, as well as increased coverage of doubles matches. In all, 24 additional courts will be produced across eight of the ATP World Tour Masters 1000 tournaments starting in 2016. The increased production will start from the 2016 BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells in March where a minimum of 96 live ATP matches across eight courts will be produced.

The broadcast enhancements are underpinned by a $300m investment in television production over the next 10 years, which will see more matches than ever produced from the top two tiers on the ATP World Tour.

Matches will be made available to ATP Media’s global broadcast rightsholders and will also be shown on its official live streaming service TennisTV.

The enhancements were announced at the inaugural ATP Media Broadcaster Forum, which took place at the Chelsea Harbour Hotel in London on 2 and 3 December 2015.

The event saw representatives of broadcasters in attendance from around the world across two days of collaboration between ATP Media, ATP World Tour and its top broadcast rightsholders to discuss future plans and enhancements for the Tour, the television production and broadcast distribution.

Both Mark Webster, CEO of ATP Media, and Chris Kermode, ATP Executive Chairman & President, addressed the audience at the start of the event, which outlined how ATP Media would take tennis television production, services and enhancements to the next level.

“The ATP World Tour has seen has seen tremendous growth in global TV viewership in recent years,” said Kermode. “We are in the content business, and ATP Media’s increased level of production for 2016 will allow more fans to engage with more of our content from our top tier of events than ever before.”

“As the demand for world class tennis from broadcasters and fans around the world continues to rise, we are delighted to be able to step up our production levels even further in 2016,” said Webster. “This is the first step in a series of broadcast enhancements ATP Media will be making in the near future.”

The ATP World Tour’s global TV audience has soared in recent years and is projected to exceed 900 million viewers globally in 2015, while ATP sponsorship revenues are at an all-time high. More than $1.3 billion in broadcast revenue is forecast over the next 10 years across the nine ATP World Tour Masters 1000s, 13 ATP World Tour 500s, and the season-ending Barclays ATP World Tour Finals.

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Master The One Handed Backhand With Tommy Haas

  • Posted: Dec 07, 2015

Master The One Handed Backhand With Tommy Haas

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Gonzalez Beats Henman To Retain Champions Tennis Crown

  • Posted: Dec 07, 2015

Gonzalez Beats Henman To Retain Champions Tennis Crown

Chilean comes from behind to prevail

Fernando Gonzalez successfully defended his Champions Tennis title at the Royal Albert Hall on Sunday afternoon, coming from behind to beat Tim Henman 1-6, 7-6, 10-6.

“It’s been a brilliant week, I’ve had a lot of fun,” said Gonzalez, afterwards. “Tim probably comes to the net more in one game than I have in my whole career. I was lucky today, he was playing well and he makes me feel uncomfortable on court.”

Early on it looked like being Henman’s afternoon. The former British No.1 ran away with the opening set, holding serve with ease and breaking his Chilean opponent on two occasions.

The second set was much closer. Gonzalez began to rip winners off both wings and won it on a tie-break.

In the first-to-ten point Champions’ tie-break, Henman edged ahead but Gonzalez struck back to win.

“I never liked his forehand when we played on tour, and I still don’t like it!” said Henman. “It was great to have the opportunity to play here again, the Royal Albert Hall is such an iconic venue. If I can still walk next year, I’ll be playing!”

Elsewhere on Sunday, there was an exhibition doubles win for Bahrami and El Aynaoui and John McEnroe overcame Henri Leconte 6-3 6-3. 

Finally, long-time tournament referee Alan Mills was honoured for his years of service to the sport. Mills was referee at the Wimbledon Championships for 23 years and 2015 marks his final year as the referee for Champions Tennis. In a touching on-court presentation, he received warm applause from players and spectators.

“It is such a privilege to be able to retire in this way, here at the Royal Albert Hall,” Mills said. “I will miss every aspect of being here, all the players, the staff and this wonderful crowd that we have year after year.”

John McEnroe led the tributes to Mills. “You have always been a players’ referee. You did your best to keep me on the court when there were plenty of officials out there that did their best to get me kicked off it. I always appreciated that,” he said, before giving Mills a hug.

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