Tennis News

Several of the WTA’s top stars as scheduled to begin their 2015 season at the ASB Classic in Auckland, including top seed Caroline Wozniacki, Venus Williams, Sloane Stephens and Sara Errani.

Along with the top stars, the entire lineup was announced on Tuesday afternoon, and will include five Top 30 players and two former world No. 1s. Two-time Grand Slam champion Svetlana Kuznetsova will also be featured in the draw.

“To have a top 10 player in Caroline, a legend in Venus and a further three others in top 30 is a pretty incredible effort considering the competition,” tournament director Karl Budge said.

The full list of seeded players is available below:

1. Caroline Wozniacki (Denmark – 8)
2. Sara Errani (Italy – 14)
3. Venus Williams (USA – 18)
4. Barbora Zahlavova-Strycova (Czeck Republic – 25)
5. Svetlana Kuznetsova (Russia – 27)
6. Sloane Stephens (USA – 36)
7. Coco Vandeweghe (USA – 39)
8. Mona Barthel (German – 42)

The ASB Classic takes place between Jan 5-10, 2015.

World No. 58 Sergiy Stakhovsky, who defeated Roger Federer at the 2013 Wimbledon Championships, has hired Fabrice Santoro as his new coach for the foreseeable future.

Stakhovsky made the announcement via twitter.

So tennis world please welcome my new coach..the on and only,incredible magician, fantastic person and extraordinary player @fabsantoro72 !!

— Sergiy Stakhovsky (@Stako_tennis) November 25, 2014

Stakhovsky compiled a 20-20 record on the tour this season – a year highlighted by his semi-final appearance in Sydney and his second round victory over Ernests Gulbis at the Wimbledon Championships. He also climbed back 37 ranking spots over the year.

The decision to hire Santoro is a surprising one since the retired Frenchman is not an experienced coach. However, it is in keeping with the recent trend of hiring so-called celebrity coaches (ie. Federer-Edberg, Nishikori-Chang, Djokovic-Becker and Cilic-Ivanisevic.)

Santoro won six singles titles over his career but never achieved Grand Slam success except in doubles action, where he won three Major championships (2 doubles, 1 mixed doubles).

Two-time Grand Slam champion Andy Murray is officially engaged to long-time partner Kim Sears.

The 27-year-old seemingly asked his love of eight years with an expensive diamond ring while on holiday. They met in 2005 at the US Open and Sears remained a regular companion on the tour – even witnessing his rise to stardom, which culminated with Murray’s historic Wimbledon title in 2013.

A source told The Mirror: “Andy spent ages thinking about the ring, he chose the design himself and picked it up last week. He then proposed on Wednesday. “Kim said ‘yes’ immediately. They are completely besotted with each other and have been there for each other through thick and thin.

“They are just going to enjoy themselves before they start planning their big day.”

Following a particularly difficult first half of the year with little to show for it, world No. 8 Andy Murray appeared to have gotten over his injuries late in the season, after he took part in a cramped six week run on the tour that included title wins in Shenzhen, Valencia and Vienna in order to qualify for the Barclays ATP World Tour Final.

Murray will return to court this week at the debut event of the International Premier Tennis League for the Manila Mavericks. He is scheduled to begin his 2015 season at the Hobart International before moving on to prepare for the Australian Open.

Following a turbulent week that culminated in a historic first title for Switzerland, it appears the drama is far from over. It is being reported that shortly after the title celebration on Sunday, Stan Wawrinka and members of the French Davis Cup team were involved in a heated quarrel in the bathroom.

Notable French sports daily newspaper l’Équipe reported that six members of the French team – Julien Benneteau, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, Richard Gasquet, Gilles Simon, and two other staff members – confronted Stan Wawrinka in the bathroom and explained their feelings regarding some comments he had made to the media ahead of the final.

While Wawrinka’s remarks were not particularly insulting, he said things along the lines of “I thought I was the stronger player on the court. I’m not No. 4 for nothing.”

“The boys told him they didn’t appreciate his statements. There was five minutes of explanations, man to man. They never raised their tone, but it was direct, and frank,” Benneteau told l’Équipe.

It appears the tone remained moderate and respectful but Richard Gasquet, the unfortunate player who had to take part in the losing fourth rubber against Roger Federer, was particularly aggressive. This came as quite a surprise considering he was generally described as a timid and reserved member of the team.

Gael Monfils seemingly interfered, squashed the beef and made room for Wawrinka to apologize.

Following his relatively impressive year on the tour, Marcos Baghdatis did not shy away from the suggestion that he is capable of returning to the ATP Word Tour’s Top 10 within the next 4-5 years.

Speaking to Indian newspaper The Asian Age, Baghdatis explained that his main deterrent over the past couple of years was his health issue and injuries. The Cypriot was troubled by a shoulder injury recently but claims to be feeling much better about it now.

“This year, towards the end of the year I am feeling better. I think I can finish the next year in the top 50 and in 4-5 years try and finish in the top 10”.

With no nagging injuries to pester his performances, Baghdatis believes still has several years of tennis left in him.

“I think I have another 4-5 years (of tennis) in my body. The last two years I have been struggling with health problems and injuries so it’s been tough”.

The 29-year-old also explained that he wants to be “more aggressive” in his game and find confidence against the top players. As a former Australian Open finalist, Baghdatis has no intention of retiring before he claws his way back to the upper echelon of the tour.

“ I need to start being more aggressive again and start finding confidence. Because of the injury I lost a lot of confidence so it is tough to be aggressive when your body is letting you down a bit. I am going to try to get to the top 10. That’s the main goal for me so I can finally retire.”

On Monday evening, a grand jury opted not to indict Darren Wilson, a Ferguson police officer who was responsible for the fatal shooting of unarmed African American youngster Michael Brown.

The shooting itself led to violent protests and clashes on the streets of Ferguson, Missouri, and the grand jury’s decision only rekindled the anger. Even notable celebrities and athletes have come forward publicly on twitter to condemn the decision, including world No. 1 Serena Williams.

Wow. Just wow. Shameful. What will it take???

— Serena Williams (@serenawilliams) November 25, 2014

Williams concluded her 2014 season with her third consecutive WTA Finals title win in Singapore. Her win guaranteed her the year-end No. 1 ranking. The 18-time Grand Slam champion won seven titles overall this season, including the US Open title. She was awarded the WTA Player of the Year award for her accomplishments.

“It’s been a really difficult year for me. I don’t think I’ve had such an up and down year,” she said. “I started out well with Brisbane; then didn’t do well in Australia; then I did well again in Miami. It was really up and down. I ended the year well.”

Former world No. 1 Rafael Nadal announced that he would open a tennis academy in Malorca in 2016.

The Associated Press first announced the news after Nadal held a ceremony to commemorate the occasion in his hometown of Manacor.

While the academy will not begin until 2016, it was also announced that the promising talents enrolled with get to complete their regular studies in a built-in school at the academy.

“This is a special day for me, this project that we have been working on for many years is finally a reality.” said Nadal.

Nadal was diagnosed with appendicitis during the Shanghai Rolex Masters in September and did not end his 2014 season until a quarter-final loss to 17-year-old Borna Coric in Basel. He eventually withdrew from the Paris Bercy and the ATP World Tour Finals and underwent successful surgery to rectify the problem.

Having already kicked off his training, Nadal also revealed that he is scheduled to take part in the Mubadala World Tennis Championships in Abu Dhabi.