Woods bemused by warm Australian reception

Woods bemused by warm Australian reception

Thousands of fans and a media circus worthy of a head of state greeted Tiger Woods at Melbourne’s Kingston Heath golf club yesterday, as the world No 1 made his first visit to Australia in 11 years.

Tiger Woods of the U.S. watches the ball during a practice session ahead of this week’s Australian Masters golf tournament in Melbourne November 10, 2009. [Agencies]
Woods, who arrived by private jet in Melbourne on Monday, tuned up for this week’s A$1.5 million ($1.40 million) Masters with a nine-hole practise round in front of throngs of spectators and a low-flying helicopter scanning his every move.
“No, (this reception) is not normal. No, I pray to God it’s not normal,” the 14-time major champion said.
“You don’t normally see this many people at a practise round, certainly, maybe at a major championship.”
Woods’s first tournament in Australia since the 1998 Presidents Cup in Melbourne, has been seen as a watershed for a tour that has struggled to provide purses and appearance fees large enough to attract the biggest names.
The state government of Victoria, which local media has reported paid half of Woods’ $3 million appearance fee, had branded his appearance a coup and said the visit would generate an economic benefit of A$19 million.
Woods’s delay in heading back to Australia was a matter of “timing” rather than financial incentives, the 33-year-old said.
“There are so many golf tournaments to play all around the world. I just haven’t got down here,” he said.
“You don’t get a chance to play in venues like this and it is really a treat to play the sand-belt golf courses.
“You have so many different options. You have to be able to shape the ball around the golf course. You have to be able to think.
“It’s one of the reasons I love playing links golf. It’s the same, the only difference here is well, it’s hot as hell.”

Marat Safin reaches 2nd round at Paris Masters

Marat Safin reaches 2nd round at Paris Masters


Marat Safin of Russia returns the ball to Thierry Ascione of France during the men’s first round match in the Paris Masters Series tennis tournament, Nov. 9, 2009. Safin won the match 2-1. (Xinhua/Reuters Photo)

Davydenko, Tsonga advance in Paris Masters

Davydenko, Tsonga advance in Paris Masters

Defending champion Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, sixth-seeded Nikolay Davydenko and Spaniard Fernando Verdasco won second-round matches at the Paris Masters on Tuesday to keep their hopes alive of qualifying for the eight-man ATP World Tour Finals.
Tsonga remained in the hunt for a place at the November 22-29 event in the English capital with a 6-1, 7-5 win over Spain’s Albert Montanes.
Davydenko cruised past Germany’s Benjamin Becker 6-2, 6-1 but seventh seed Verdasco was made to dig deep against Italian Andreas Seppi before eventually prevailing 6-7(3), 6-4, 6-4.
Davydenko, who won the Paris Masters in 2006, needs to reach the semifinals to secure a London spot, while Tsonga must defend his title without facing Verdasco in the final to advance.
“I still feel I’m an outsider,” said Tsonga, who won five straight games in the first set and went on to break in the 11th game of the second to seal the victory.
“I have nothing to lose, in fact. In this draw, my ranking is not the best and I haven’t made the greatest results in the past weeks. I have everything to win and nothing to lose,” he added.
Six of the world’s top players have already secured their places and Davydenko and Verdasco, who currently occupy the last two qualifying spots, are the hot favorites to join them.
“I need to win all the matches I can to qualify for myself and not wait to see how other players do,” said Verdasco.
“It was my big challenge for this year and this week is the last week. After this, everything will be decided. So I’m giving my best in the last week to try to do it.”
Elsewhere, the 11th-seeded Simon delighted his home crowd by edging former finalist Ivan Ljubicic 6-3, 3-6, 7-6(4) despite injuring his knee in the sixth game of the decider.
Nicolas Almagro of Spain defeated Marco Chiudinelli of Switzerland 6-2, 6-4 to advance to a second-round match against second-seeded Rafael Nadal.

Testing rules too tough, says Nadal

Testing rules too tough, says Nadal

World number two Rafael Nadal said on Tuesday that the doping testing procedures were too tough on the players.
“I am the first who wants a clean sport, more than anyone, believe me, but the way it (controls) are being done is, in my opinion, not right,” the Spaniard, competing at the ongoing Paris Masters, told a press conference.
“Sure, I would love to have a few changes,” he said. “I think that’s too much to have to say every day of your life where you are”.
The WTA, the women’s governing body, said it would like to see the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) revise its ‘whereabouts’ rule to give players more flexibility when they are competing.
Belgian players Yanina Wickmayer and Xavier Malisse were both handed one-year suspensions last week for failing to notify their national doping agency where they could be reached, under a ruling the WTA believes is a little too stringent.
The debate about doping in tennis was also stirred by Andre Agassi’s recent admission that he had lied about using drugs.

Woods swings into Australia as hype builds

Woods swings into Australia as hype builds

Tiger Woods managed to avoid the mayhem and hype awaiting him by slipping quietly into Melbourne on Monday to prepare for his first tournament in Australia for more than a decade.

Tiger Woods of the U.S. tees off on the fifth hole during the 2009 HSBC Champions golf tournament in Shanghai November 8, 2009. [Agencies] 
The world number one arrived in a private jet after flying in from Shanghai overnight and was immediately whisked away with his entourage to an unknown destination before his first round of public appearances on Tuesday.
Woods has been paid a $3 million appearance fee — more than 10 times the prizemoney on offer for winning the tournament — to play this week’s Australian Masters, an event co-sanctioned by the European and Australian PGA Tours.
Woods has played in Australia on just three occasions, without winning. His last appearance was at the 1998 Presidents Cup in Melbourne when his American team lost to the Internationals for the first and only time.
He had already won his first U.S. Masters title when he last played in Australia but has won 13 majors since and his current appearance has generated unprecedented interest in the Australian Masters, to be played from Thursday at the notoriously tricky Kingston Heath course on Melbourne’s famed sandbelt.
Organisers put up the house-full sign after all 100,000 spectator tickets were snapped up within hours of sale.
Woods will also attend a gala dinner function at Melbourne’s casino on Tuesday and hold his first news conference.
The American will also play in a charity event for the survivors of the bushfires outside of Melbourne earlier this year that killed 173 people and destroyed more than 2,000 homes.

Lefty shines in Shanghai golf tournament

‘Lefty’ shines in Shanghai golf tournament

 

Phil Mickelson of the US reacts after sinking a crucial putt at the 17th hole at the HSBC Champions tournament in Shanghai on Sunday. [China Daily]
As Phil Mickelson battled to his second title in three years at the newly-upgraded WGC-HSBC Champions Sunday, he paused at the turn to hand a golf ball to a Chinese toddler as part of his project to spread the gospel of golf and attract a new generation of fans in the Middle Kingdom.
Not that the world No 2, who is building a golf academy in the country and designing two courses, one in Tianjin called The World and another in Kunming, Yunnan province, was worried.
“The galleries were much bigger than the previous two years,” he said of the 12,375 crowd which turned up Sunday, up 25 percent from last year.
“I’m very excited to see people in China getting excited about golf,” said the American who won the tournament with a 17-under 271 and collected the lion’s share of the US$7 million prizemoney.
As a 7,000-strong gallery thronged around the lead group of Mickelson, Tiger Woods and fellow American Nick Watney on a humid afternoon Sunday to see if Mickelson could retain his two-stroke lead on the fourth and final day, it was impossible to tell who was the crowd favorite.
One Chinese man belted out “Wake up, Tiger!” after Woods teed off from the ninth to cap his morning meltdown with his first birdie of the day, one that surprised even himself and caused two local primary schoolers to sing out “marvelous” and “lovely” in English. Others sang for “Lefty”.
Unfortunately, by this point the world No 1 had already burnt his chances and was never going to get back into the game as he trailed Mickelson by six.
Woods, who shot his worst round in four days, a par-72, endured a nightmare morning that may have had him thinking it was Halloween all over again as he finished the day five off the pace and tied for sixth at 12-under 276.
“Today was (a case of) anything that could go wrong went wrong for me,” he said. “Just one of those days.”
In fact, what started as the final round everybody wanted to see – Tiger vs “Lefty”, the world’s two best players, slugging it out for the first time in Asia to bag the biggest trophy in the region – quickly changed format to “Lefty” vs “The Big Easy” as South Africa’s Ernie Els crept up the leaderboard.
Els, who managed the only hole-in-one of the tournament on Friday, shot an nine-under 63 Sunday to set a course record at Sheshan International and finish one stroke off the lead. His awesome play looked destined to force a playoff before the bell tolled at No 18.
Of the four Chinese mainland players who were in this year’s HSBC Champions, only Liang Wenchong who, like Zhang Lianwei, has a European PGA title to his name, beat par.

Federer upset by Djokovic at Basel ATP final

Federer upset by Djokovic at Basel ATP final


Serbia’s Novak Djokovic (R) celebrates with his trophy after his victory against Switzerland’s Roger Federer (L) in their final match at the Swiss Indoors ATP tennis tournament in Basel November 8, 2009. (Xinhua/Reuters Photo)
World No. 1 Roger Federer suffered upset to No. 3 Novak Djokovic and missed out on a fourth successive Swiss Indoors title in his hometown of Basel on Sunday.
The Serbian won 6-4, 4-6, 6-2 to record his third win over Federer in five meetings this year and notch his fourth ATP title of the season after winning in Beijing, Belgrade and Dubai.

Switzerland’s Roger Federer holds his trophy after he was defeated by Serbia’s Novak Djokovic in their final match at the Swiss Indoors ATP tennis tournament in Basel November 8, 2009.(Xinhua/Reuters Photo)
The Swiss just returned from a six-week break following his U.S. Open final defeat to Juan Martin del Potro.
Federer, who had not previously dropped a set or lost a service game in the tournament, had his serve broken four times as he losta final for the third time this year following defeats at the Australian and U.S. Open.
The match featured an extraordinary 10th game in the first set where Federer saved six set points and Djokovic five break points before the Serbian wrapped up the set at the seventh attempt.
Both players nailed their first four service games easily before Federer was broken in the ninth.
The 10th game took 24 minutes as both players made mistakes at crucial moments.
Federer sent a flurry of shots into the net while Djokovic repeatedly over-hit his drives when presented with the chance to wrap up the set.
Federer eventually obliged for him with a misplaced pass as he faced set point for the seventh time.
The Swiss started the second set by having his serve broken again before enjoying his best spell of the match.
He broke back in the fourth game with an exquisite drop shot from the baseline, which brought the house down, and again in the 10th to wrap up the second set, helped by a double fault from Djokovic.
Federer lost serve twice in a row at the start of the third set and frittered away his last chance when he squandered three break points in succession in the sixth game.
Djokovic finished off the match at the first attempt when Federer sent an attempted drive high into the air.

Ivanisevic and Enqvist to square off in Chengdu Open final

Ivanisevic and Enqvist to square off in Chengdu Open final

Finals are set after Saturday’s play concluded the round robin competition at the inaugural Chengdu Open. Goran Ivanisevic of Croatia and Thomas Enqvist of Sweden, winners from the round robin Groups A and B, will compete in the finals after compiling 3-0 records in round robin play.
Pat Cash of Australia and Yevgeny Kafelnikov of Russia will play off for third place.
The third day ushered in the most anticipated match of the tournament as John McEnroe and Bjorn Borg faced off once again. The marquee match reignited one of the most classic rivalries in the history of sport, with Borg emerging the victor, 6-4, 6-4.
Much like the Sampras-Agassi and Nadal-Federer rivalries familiar to younger tennis fans, the McEnroe-Borg rivalry was exemplary because of the contrasts between the two players.
McEnroe, a left-handed serve and volleyer with seven singles Grand Slams, nine doubles Grand Slams, and one mixed doubles Grand Slam, ruled the net, while right-handed Borg, 11-time Grand Slam singles champion, preferred to stalk the baseline. The players lived up to their “Fire and Ice” reputations, referring to McEnroe’s explosive temper and Borg’s steely exterior.
The spectators were more invested in this match than any other throughout the tournament as the two legends played under the lights at the Sichuan International Tennis Center.
Borg pressured McEnroe, who was visibly stiffened from his stunning effort against Ivanisevic the night before, from the very first game onwards. Firing returns with just as much heat as McEnroe’s serves, Borg’s passing shots off both wings caught the serve-and-volleying American behind the service line. Borg broke in the first game, and served far too well to face pressure on his own serve.
In the second set, Borg again broke McEnroe in the first game. Just how good was Borg’s serve in the second set? At 4-3, Borg served three consecutive aces up the T and then mixed in an ace out wide. The “Ice” of “Fire and Ice” smiled.
After the match, relaxing in stuffed striped chairs, the players held a joint press conference that felt more like a living room conversation between friends.
“It’s always fun to walk on the court to play against John,” said Borg. “It’s something special and it’s always going to be that way.”
The players reminisced about the first time they played, reflecting on how they knew how special their rivalry would become.
“I remember John coming to Wimbledon the first time, in ‘77. He reached the semis. No one had heard about John before that,” said Borg. “The year after, we played each other for the first time, at the Stockholm Open. We played in the semifinals and he beat me in two straight sets, so we knew that John was something special, that he was the next champion to come. And after that we played many great matches.”
McEnroe replied that being able to rise to Borg’s level was what excited him most, recalling from that first match the crowd, the court conditions, and the pressure on Borg to be invincible.
“For me, it was exciting obviously because Bjorn was the best player. He had this incredible following and aura already,” McEnroe explained.
“But I think that as soon as we started playing…that I would be in the same league? You have to earn the top players’ respect. It (usually) takes a few years at least, but I feel the first couple years that I was on the tour, that I earned his respect.”
In the first match of the day, Croatian Goran Ivanisevic swept into the finals by defeating Australian Pat Cash, 6-4, 7-6 (3).
Because Ivanisevic tweaked his leg during the match, he focused on conserving himself for the finals. “I didn’t want to make any tough movements,” he said. “I didn’t want to risk it too much.”
In the second match of the day, Spaniard Sergi Bruguera stretched the current ATP Champions Tour South African Airways No.1, Thomas Enqvist to three sets 6-4, 4-6, 1-0(6) (Champions Tiebreak) in Enqvist’s inevitable march to the finals. Having won every match that he has played on the ATP Champions Tour, Enqvist is now eleven-for-eleven. His competition has taken notice.
“To play Thomas the way he’s playing at the moment…I need my 100%. I need to play well, I need to serve well, I need to move well,” said Ivanisevic.
As for Enqvist, he knows how to withstand Ivanisevic’s huge serve: “Yes, I need to get my helmet on first, and all my hockey gear, to make the protection.”
In all seriousness, Enqvist has that much respect for Ivanisevic’s serve. “Obviously, his serve is probably the best all-time serve,” he said. “It’s always a challenge to get as many returns back as possible. It’s going to be a good match, I’m looking forward to it.”
The Group A qualifier for the third place playoff was a tense post-match mathematical affair as Cash, McEnroe, and Borg were all tied with one win and two losses. Normally, round robin match record ties would be broken with the percentage of sets won versus played, but all the players had all won in two sets and lost in two sets, and were tied with same percentage. Therefore, the percentage of games won versus played determined that Cash would advance, having won 33 of the 68 games he had played (48.53%).
McEnroe finished third in Group A, winning 30 of the 65 games he played (46.15%), narrowly edging out rival Borg who won 29 of his 63 games played (46.03%).
Kafelnikov qualified for the playoff much more simply, beating Michael Chang (United States) 6-2, 6-7(5), 1-0(9) (Champions Breaker) to own a 2-1 record in round robin play. With a 1-2 record, Sergi Bruguera (Spain) finished third in Group B. Chang finished fourth, posting a 0-3 record.
At stake at the outdoor hard court event are South African Airways ranking points. The winner will earn 400 points, with the runner-up to receive 250 points. Third place will receive 200 points, with the player finishing fourth to receive 125 points.

Woods, Watney lead at HSBC Champions golf championship

Woods, Watney lead at HSBC Champions golf championship

Tiger Woods shot 67 Friday in the second round to be 10-under-par and join fellow American Nick Watney in the top position at the WGC-HSBC Champions golf championship.
Phil Mickelson, who won here in 2007, stroke a majestic bogey-free 66 for a share of second place with Spain’s Alvaro Quiros (66) and another American Ryan Moore (69).
Anthony Kim is a shot further back, ahead of US PGA Tour player Pat Perez on six under.
Spain’s Sergio Garcia hit a 70 to go with his first round 75 to be 11 behind Watney, having slim chances of successfully defending his title.

Agassi seeks compassion in TV interview

Agassi seeks compassion in TV interview


Former tennis champion Andre Agassi salutes the crowd during the opening ceremony at the U.S. Open tennis tournament in New York, August 31, 2009.(Xinhua/Reuters Photo)
Andre Agassi pleaded for compassion in a TV interview in response to criticism of his crystal meth use while depressed in 1997.
Agassi, who revealled drug taking in his new autobiography incurring a wave of criticism, told TV’s “60 Minutes” he needed help when he took the drug.
“It’s what you don’t want to hear. I would hope along with that would come some compassion that maybe this person doesn’t need condemnation,” Agassi said to the interviewer.
“Maybe this person could stand a little help. Because that was at a time in my life when I needed help.
“I had a problem, and there might be many other athletes out there that test positive for recreational drugs that have a problem. So I would ask for some compassion,” added he.
In his book “Open”, which goes on sale on Monday, the eight-time Grand Slam champion says he used crystal meth in 1997 and failed a drug test, a result he says was thrown out after he lied by saying he unwittingly took the substance.
But Agassi told “60 Minutes” he has no regrets about his disclosures.