Happy New Year

I thought I would have up the Gonad Awards by Christmas. But life had other plans.

Today, my dog died.

Just like as last year, I'll get them up in the first week of the New Year.

Take care of your blessings.

Yuletide

Daedalus chomping, Orange Juice chilling, Wallpaper posing, Princess grazing in the distance.

::

May your holidays be bathed in peace and love. Take care of your blessings.

Face Of The Day

Face Of The Day

Martina Hingis and her new husband Thibault Hutin.

Why does this photo make me laugh?

Up Next

The Gonad Awards.

Since I spent so much of the latter half of the tennis season AWOL, I'll ask you all to nominate some players and some matches for some Gonads over the next week or so. I'll try to post my year-end awards before Christmas.

Peace.

Today

The Feast of Harvest
has passed. Yuletide
rapidly approaches.

Smack dab in the middle
is today, the day I came
to be 43 years ago.

I have now lived longer
than all my artist
mentor friends,
save one.

Today,
I sing.

Serbia Wins Davis Cup, Makes History

by Craig Hickman


Reuters

Serbia's team captain Bogdan Obradovic and members Nenad Zimonjic, Novak Djokovic, Janko Tipsarevic and Viktor Troicki (L-R) raise up the Davis Cup trophy in Belgrade December 5, 2010.

::

Relative to other tennis powerhouses, Serbian tennis remains underfunded. Still, the nation just won its first Davis Cup on the strings of unheralded Viktor Troicki.

It can thank Guy Forget, the coach of France's team, for a bit assist. Not that I didn't think Michael Llodra wouldn't make an intriguing choice in the final rubber. But his 30-year-old body didn't recover from yesterday's doubles marathon, and that was clear from the first point.

As someone tweeted, this tie was ultimately decided in the locker room this morning.

Amélie Mauresmo was not pleased.


Getty

But make no mistake. Troicki earned his nation's victory with remarkable returns of serve, and viciously dipping passing shots that simply defied logic.

Getty

He got the chance to secure victory on the strength of Novak Djokovic's play against Gael Monfils in the day's first match. (Monfils needs to rein in himself. He has zero on-court discipline. And I mean zero.)


Getty

Getty

In the end, it was too easy. I had hoped for a more competitive final match of 2010, and perhaps with Gilles Simon, a counterpuncher who fights to the finish, the match may have featured a more compelling scoreline even if the result remained the same.

We'll never know.

What we do know is that Serbia becomes the 13th nation to win the Davis Cup and only the second in history to prevail in its final debut. Interestingly, Croatia was the first back in 2005.

::

Getty

Serbian President Boris Tadic gestures.


Getty


Getty

Davis Cup Final Open Thread

Reuters

Members of French and Serbian tennis teams listen to the national anthems before their Davis Cup final tennis match in Belgrade December 3, 2010.

::

It's France vs. Serbia and I'm late with this post. Gael Monfils has already trounced Janko Tipsarevic to give the away team the early lead.

Next up, Gilles Simon will face Novak Djokovic.

Clijsters: WTA Player Of The Year

Getty

Kim Clijsters of Belgium fields questions from the media after her win over Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark in the singles final on day six of the WTA Championships at the Khalifa Tennis Complex on October 31, 2010 in Doha, Qatar.

::

Nothing surprising here, except that I believe the WTA got it wrong. More on that in the upcoming Gonad Awards.

World Tour Finals :: Nadalerer

by Craig Hickman



Roger Federer of Switzerland walks off the court with the trophy after defeating Rafael Nadal of Spain in their men's final match during the ATP World Tour Finals at O2 Arena on November 28, 2010 in London, England.

::

It will be the first time world No. 1 Rafael Nadal and world No. 2 Roger Federer have contested a match since the Madrid final five months ago.

Both are playing well. Both are struggling with concentration lapses during matches. He who lapses last will lose.

Who you got?

::

MadProfessah was a bit late, but he offered up his divinations as follows:

ATP World Tour Finals Semifinals Review and Final Preview

BY MAD PROFESSAH

World #1 Rafael Nadal will face World #2 Roger Federer in the final match of the 2010 ATP tennis season at the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals in London today. As MadProfessah predicted on Friday, Federer was able to dismiss World #3 Novak Djokovic in straight sets while World #5 Andy Murray put up a stern challenge to prevent this 22nd meeting in the storied rivalry between the two greatest players of their generation.

Semifinals Review

The two semifinals were thrilling in their own way. Federer demolished the Serb in a 6-1 6-4 match which was not as close as the score reveals. Essentially, Federer won two 6-1 sets but went through "a bad patch" at the beginning of the second set where he lost 3 consecutive games. The Swiss quickly recovered and dispatched Djokovic to continue his preparation for next week's Davis Cup Final matchup versus France in Belgrade.

The Nadal-Murray match was one of the best matches of the year, with the Spaniard (barely) prevailing 7-6(5) 3-6 7-6(6). There were some incredible 27 and 36(!) stroke rallies in the first set, with incredibly high quality tennis on both sides of the net. Murray basically lost the first set because after enjoying a hot serving streak for the majority of the set, in the tiebreaker he couldn't buy a first serve. If you can't serve well, it makes it very difficult to win a tiebreaker where every point is effectively a breakpoint. Interestingly the second set was similar to the second set in the Federer-Djokovic match where after basically playing to a draw at 3-all suddenly Nadal went through a bad patch and lost 3 games in a row. (Murray grew more aggressive and was able to break Nadal twice in ten minutes to win the set). In the third set Nadal got the early break and served for the match at 5-4 where, inexplicably, he was broken after holding a match point. Would he be able to prevail in the inevitable tiebreak? It didn't look like it when Murray won the first three points of the tiebreak and led 4-2 on the change over. However, as usual, Nadal did not give up and won the mini-break back to hold a second match point 5-6 on Murray's serve.Murray was able to defend that point with some incredible gets and at 6-6 went for a huge cross-court winner which flew a couple inches wide giving Nadal his third match point on his serve. The World #1 was able to win the match point with his patented inside-out cross-court forehand winner into the far corner of the court to reach the Tour Final for the first time in his storied career.

Finals Preview

This is the 22nd meeting between the 24-year-old 9-time grand slam champion and the 29-year-old 16-time grand slam champion. The younger player enjoys a 14-7 career head-to-head edge; all but 4 of their meetings have been in finals (where Nadal leads 12-5) but at the season-ending championships Federer leads 2-0 (but those wins came when Nadal was usually exhausted at the end of the season). In hard court finals, Nadal leads 2-1 (2009 Australian Open final, 2006 Dubai final). Nadal is also experiencing one of history's greatest seasons ever, having won every clay court match he played this year and winning the last three consecutive grand slam titles with a better than even shot of claiming the "Nadal slam" in Melbourne in a few months.

There are four possibilities for the match result (tabulated below with associated estimated probabilities)

Match Result               Probability
Federer wins in 2 sets     33%
Nadal wins in 2 sets       17%
Federer wins in 3 sets     20%
Nadal wins in 3 sets       30%

This computes to a 53% chance for Federer to win with a 47% chance for Nadal, if there is an equally likelihood of a 2-set and 3-set match. Actually, looking at their 21 previous matches, only 8 of their matches have gone the distance. All that being said, the match should be close and exciting!

MadProfessah's prediction: Federer in 2 sets; Nadal in 3 sets with a distinct edge to whomever wins the first set.

ATP World Tour Finals: Semifinals Preview

By MAD PROFESSAH

The semifinals of the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals are set: Roger Federer will play Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal will play Andy Murray. Federer and Nadal are undefeated through the first three round-robin rounds with Nadal only dropping his very first set of the tournament against Andy Roddick, although Djokovic should probably have won the first set in their match. Federer was pretty lucky not to lose the first set against Robin Soderling.

That being said, Nadal has a 8-4 career edge against Murray, a 14-7 lead against Federer and a 15-7 lead against Djokovic. He is, after all, the world's No. 1 player and the current holder of 3 of the 4 major titles, having won 3 in a row in 2010. He has never won this tournament, because he's usually dead tired by this point in the season. He did not play in 2008 and lost all 3 round-robin matches last year. However, it's 2010 and I expect him to at least get to the final, where I suspect he will play Federer in a mouth-watering final. Although Nadal leads the Greatest Of All Time in their overall head-to-head and beat him once this year as well as the last time they met on a hard court (the inexplicable 2009 Australian Open final), their hard court record head-to-head is tied 3-3 with Federer beating Nadal twice in the semifinals of the year-ending championships in 2006 and 2007. However, in Finals one would have to give the edge to Nadal (12-5).

Can Novak and Andy stop another Fedal final? Possibly, since Murray sports a 2-1 lead over Nadal (4-4 career on hard courts) this year, both time winning on hard courts including the last time they played in the semifinals of Toronto (where Murray also beat Federer). His single loss to Nadal came in London earlier this year in the Wimbledon semis. For all intents and purposes that was the equivalent of a Tour final. Murray himself has been lowering expectations about his chances against Nadal (and Federer) in his press conferences this week. However, I think he probably has the best chance of the three of preventing Nadal from winning his first tour championships.

While Nadal faces the person most likely to beat him, Federer plays the person least likely to beat him. (He beat Murray this week in round-robin play but has an overall 5-8 losing record to the Scot.) Djokovic trails Federer 6-12 in their career match-up, including 1-3 for the year. Of course that one win was in the semifinals of the 2010 US Open where Federer held two match points and lost. One does feel if the match is close, Federer will likely lose it. Ever since then, Federer has beaten Novak relatively easily and I expect that will be the case tomorrow.

MadProfessah's predictions: Nadal defeats Murray in 3 sets; Federer defeats Djokovic in 2 sets.

London Round Robin Review

by Craig Hickman

The title of this post is really a misnomer for I don't actually have a review of the round-robin matches to share. Too many of the encounters were straight-set snooze fests featuring uninspired tennis and an abundance of ennui. That's why I'm happy to know that the ATP and the ITF are conspiring to shorten the season by two weeks. I think it's two weeks. I'm sure one of our readers knows better.

The best match London has had to offer prior to the semifinals was Rafael Nadal's defeat of Andy Roddick after trailing a set and a break. Fans of Rafa will likely say he started reading Roddick's serve after being a break down in the second set and wore Roddick out from the baseline. Fans of Roddick will likely say he started disbelieving he could actually defeat a reigning world No. 1 shortly after being up a break in the second set and lost his way.

Now, we'll have Roger Federer wipe up the floor with Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray, presumably with lots of crowd encouragement, try to exert his hard court prowess over Rafa in the semis.

It's looking like another Nadalerer final, the first to be contested at season's end if I recall correctly.

Either you're excited or you're blasé.

Serena Williams Withdraws From Melbourne

Getty

Tennis star Serena Williams watches a game between the Miami Heat and the Charlotte Bobcats at American Airlines Arena on November 19, 2010 in Miami, Florida.

::

From Tennis Australia:

Serena Williams today confirmed she has withdrawn from Australian Open 2011.

“As I continue to rehabilitate my foot after the second surgery last month, it is with the utmost regret that I am withdrawing from the Hopman Cup and the 2011 Australian Open Championships,” Serena Williams said today.

“As I recently learned, pushing myself back into my intense training too early only caused me further injury and damage.

“While I desperately want to be back on the court and competing in the first Grand Slam tournament of the year, it is imperative for my health that I continue to work with my doctors to ensure my foot heals properly.

“This decision, though heavy on my heart, is the right one. I am praying for a healthy recovery and I promise my Aussie fans and my fans around the world that I will be back better than ever as soon as I can be.”

Williams has been in regular contact with Australian Open Tournament Director Craig Tiley and made her decision after receiving further medical advice.

“I know how disappointing it will be for Serena that she’s unable to come back and defend her title at Australian Open 2011. We all know how much she enjoys playing here, and how much she loves her Aussie fans,” Tiley said.

“Serena is a great champion and we will miss her in January. We send her our very best wishes for a speedy recovery and look forward to welcoming her back to Australia soon.”

What a blow for the first Slam of the year to be without one of its defending champions.

Truth be told, this fan has lost almost all interest in women's tennis. Serena's comeback is about the only thing on the WTA that I look forward to. Sure, she's my girl, so this comes as no surprise to many of you. But tell me who's holding down the fort right now? Maybe I've missed something exciting in my absence.

Far too early to prognosticate about who'll be in form to take the title Serena has held for two years now and won five times. But Melbourne won't be quite the same.

(Thanks, Savannah)

World Tour Finals 2010 Day 1 Open Thread

by Craig Hickman


Reuters

Tennis players (L-R) Tomas Berdych, Roger Federer, Robin Söderling, Andy Murray, Rafael Nadal, Andy Roddick, Novak Djokovic and David Ferrer are pictured standing together with British Prime Minister David Cameron (4th L) outside 10 Downing Street in London, November 18, 2010.

::

The final ATP event of yet another long and grueling year is upon us. Because I haven't seen enough tennis in the latter half of the season, I can make no predictions whatsoever.

Savannah's World has an excellent and artistic preview posted. Those interspersed head shots are lovely.

Tell us what you think about the draw and who you believe will prevail.

Enjoy tennis.

Carlos Moya Retires

by Craig Hickman


AP

Former French Open champion Carlos Moya, left, attends a press conference in Madrid, Wednesday, Nov. 17, 2010. Moya, 34, a former No. 1 and member of Spain's 2004 Davis Cup-winning team, announced his retirement from tennis citing a nagging foot injury, calling time on a 15-year career.

::

This one makes me a bit sad. I sincerely enjoyed Moya's tennis. And he always seemed so humble.

1998 French Open champ Moya retires from tennis

(AP) – 3 hours ago

MADRID (AP) — Former French Open champion Carlos Moya retired from tennis Wednesday, ending a 15-year career because of a nagging foot injury.

The former No. 1 said differing medical opinions on resolving the lingering right foot injury had left him with little option but to retire.

"It's not how I dreamt of ending my career," the 34-year-old Spaniard said during an emotional news conference.

Moya said he knew it was time after his last match, a 6-0, 6-2 loss to Benjamin Becker at the Madrid Masters in May.

"I wanted to play the big tournaments and say goodbye, but I got to the Madrid tournament and I still wasn't 100 percent, but motivation pushed me on," Moya said. "But I realized with that match that the moment had arrived."

Read the rest...

AP

So long, sir. Hope the next chapter brings as much success as this.

London 2010 - Groups and Orders of Play

For the ATP WTF 2010 groups and Orders of Play please go Savannah's World

Soderling Wins First Masters Title

Swedish Robin Söderling holds his trophy after winning the Paris masters 1000 ATP tournament final on November 14, 2010 at the Paris Bercy in Paris.

::

Still haven't watched a lick of tennis. So much farming to catch up on before the ground freezes and I'm a farmhand short to boot.

I wish I had caught the Gael Monfils - Roger Federer semifinal. That scoreline was loaded.

I see The Sod beat a pair of homeboys back-to-back to take the title, not to mention the one he ousted in his first match. Can you say Frenchmen killer?

A nice penultimate year-end finish for the Big Swede. Let's see if he's got any energy left for London. Surely his confidence will be sky-high.

Taylor Dent Retires

Getty

Taylor Dent of USA plays a forehand during his match against Ivan Ljubicic of Croatia during day four of the Open Sud de France at the Arena on October 28, 2010 in Montpellier, France.

::

This is understandable but too bad.

BRADENTON, Fla. -- Former top-25 player Taylor Dent is retiring from professional tennis.

The 29-year-old American was one of a handful of current pros with a serve-and-volley style. Once ranked as high as 21st, Dent had three back operations in 2006 and 2007 that derailed his career, then made a comeback and climbed back into the top 100 in 2009.

In a statement released Monday by his agent, Dent says he wants to stay active in the sport and "explore opportunities ... that my full tournament scheduled never allowed."

Face Of The Day

Getty

Andy Roddick reacts after a point a ball to Roger Federer during their Swiss Indoors ATP tennis tournament semi-final match on November 6, 2010 in Basel. Federer won 6-2, 6-4.

::

Tennis is like a soap opera. Now matter how long you've been away, you come back to see the same old story lines. I guess it's appropriate that Roddick gets the first nod upon my return for Face Of The Day, losing in straight sets to none other than Raja.

The more things change.....

Checking In

As many of you know, I have been MIA over the last several months because I was running an intense campaign for the Maine House of Representatives as an insurgent.

I ran alongside a popular, well-entrenched, three-term moderate incumbent. By the end of the campaign, we had done such a good job that word on the street suggested we would win.

Wasn't meant to be. The voters chose to give the incumbent his last two-year term with 60% of the vote.

I'm proud of our campaign and humbled by all the good will the people of my district bestowed upon me.

I had the time of my life.

Sorry I haven't been around to comment on so many of the intriguing stories in tennis, but I'll get back to that when the time comes.

I'd like to thank Savannah and MadProfessah for their contributions in my absence.

See you soon.

Clijsters Beats Wozniacki To Win 2010 WTA Tour Championships

2009 and 2010 US Open Champion Kim Clijsters of Belgium beat World #1 Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark 6-3 5-7 6-3 in Goha, Qatar to win the season-ending WTA Championships on Sunday. Clijsters won her 3rd tour championship in 2 hours, 20 minutes, following up on wins in 2002 and 2003, by coming back after blowing a 4-1 lead in the second set. 

Altough she will end 2010 ranked World #1, Wozniacki still has not won a major championship and still has not beaten Clijsters, losing in straight sets the only other time they have played on tour, in the 2009 US Open final.

Clijsters was happy to win, saying:

"I felt like it was never going to end," said the Belgian. "It was a really tough battle with some great shots, great tennis and great fitness. I'm glad that I won, obviously it's disappointing for Caroline but I don't know how many more years I'm going to keep doing this. She has a great future ahead of her."

Clijsters ends the year at World #3, just behind 2010 Wimbledon and US Open finalist Vera Zvonareva and ahead of 2010 Australian Open and 2010 Wimbledon champion Serena Williams at #4 and Venus Williams at #5. In 2009, Serena beat Venus to win the tour championships and ended the year ranked #1.

Elena Dementieva Has Retired

by Savannah

Savannah's World

Doha 2010 - Day 3

by Savannah


For a summary of today's action, and an update on the IMG scandal please visit Savannah's World

Doha 2010 - Day 2

For a review of Day 2 play at Doha please see Savannah's World

Jim Courier New U.S. Davis Cup Captain

by Savannah

Jim Courier is to be named the new Captain of the United States Davis Cup team. For more details please go to Savannah's World

Doha 2010 - Day 1

by Savannah

Billie Jean King on the state of her baby the WTA,.

Billie Jean King, who co-founded the Women's Tennis Association and remains among the sport's more forceful advocates, concedes that women's tennis "is not in a great place right now." But King argues that the sport always goes in cycles; this particular down cycle, she said, is due more to freak injuries and bad luck. She also suspects it's exaggerated by media, whom she believes delight in pointing out injury or frailty (real or perceived) among female athletes.

"I just want everybody to be healthy at the same time because we really have depth if we can get them all playing," King said. "We've had a very bad year. But it's not going to be like that forever."

SOURCE

Doha - A Dismal Start

Jelena Jankovic did not have a great second half of the year. Still most people, well me, expected her to suck it up and bring her "A" game to Doha. The opening match between JJ and Vera Zvonareva should have been competitive. Instead JJ dropped the first set 6-3 and disappeared for the second set losing it 6-0. She is still saying she is ill.

For some reason I didn't expect much from the Caroline Wozniacki/Elena Dementieva match and I got even less. The final score was 6-1, 6-1 Wozniacki and it wasn't even that close. Elena is obviously injured but she did play the entire match.

There was one match worthy of the name and that was not between two new school WTA'ers. Francesca Schiavone and Samantha Stosur, neither of whom have official WTA sanctioned nick names both came to play.

I'm sure Franny will be talking to herself after blowing a 4-0 second set lead and losing the set and the match 6-4.

The win has to be a confidence booster for Stosur who tightened up her game winning six games in a row.

There is a lot of speculation that both Elena Dementieva and Jelena Jankovic will withdraw from the tournament. Li Na and Shahar Peer are the alternates. It was announced today that Li is a confirmed player in Bali, an event she said she didn't want to play. We should know more tomorrow.

Wednesday Order of Play - Doha

Khalifa Tennis Complex (from 17.00hrs - 10a Eastern US Time)

1. Vera Zvonareva vs. Victoria Azarenka

2. Kim Clijsters vs. Jelena Jankovic

3. Caroline Wozniacki vs. Samantha Stosur

The Weekend's Winners - and The WTA in the Desert

by Savannah

The WTA wound up it's season with a Premier event in Moscow and an International event in Luxembourg. The only women who got a break were the ones who took one.

Roberta Vinci won the singles title in Luxembourg.

Timea Bacsinszky and Tathiana Garbin were the Luxembourg doubles champions.
Meanwhile in Moscow there was a Victor/Victoria moment.

Victoria Azarenka fought like hell to come back from being down 0-4 in the second set to defeat Maria Kirilenko in straight sets 6-3, 6-4. Kirilenko will have nightmares about that second set.

Meanwhile the Glam Girls team of Flavia Pennetta and Gisela Dulko won the doubles championship.
The ATP staged 250 events in Moscow and Stockholm.

To no one's surprise Roger Federer won easily in Stockholm. It seems Jonas Bjorkman managed to detach himself from Roger's anus.

Eric Butorac and Jean-Julien Rojer won the doubles championship.

In Moscow the team of Dmitry Tursunov and Igor Kunitsyn took the doubles championship.

Viktor Troicki won his first ATP title in Moscow defeating Marcos Baghdatis in three sets.
Congratulations to them all.

Women in the Desert

The WTA Year End Championships begin tomorrow in Doha. The WTA is also introducing it's new logo, featured above with seven of the eight competitor at this event. The group breakdown is as follows:

Maroon

Caroline Wozniacki

Francesca Schiavone

Samantha Stosur

Elena Dementieva

White

Vera Zvonareva

Kim Clijsters

Jelena Jankovic

Victoria Azarenka

The White Group is quite competitive while the Maroon Group is pretty, well, WTAish. May the best woman win.

Idle Chit Chat

As everyone in the world knows Maria Sharapova's engagement to Los Angeles Laker Sasha Vujacic was the big news last week. They look very happy in this picture and I'm glad to see that. Of course, being me, I wanted to see the ring.

Looks like he stepped up to the plate and did right by her. I don't think a date has been set. The NBA season is about to start and her season will start in January. Best wishes to both of them.

Roger Federer - I Have Nothing To Hide

by Savannah

Tennis superstar Roger Federer is lashing out at allegations that he gave inside information about his matches so the president of his management company could place bets ... saying the whole thing is "100% not true."

TMZ broke the story ... Agate Printing, Inc. filed a lawsuit against IMG and its owner, Ted Forstmann, claiming Federer gave Forstmann information about a match he played in at the 2007 French Open ... and Forstmann later used the information to make a $40,000 wager on Roger.

But... at a press conference during an event in China -- Federer said, "It’s disappointing that someone’s throwing my name around. I would never do such a thing."

Federer continued, "My fans know that, the people who know me ... I have nothing to hide. I’m sorry for those who think there is something to the story. But there’s nothing."

SOURCE

Weekend Results

by Savannah

For the results from Shanghai, Osaka and Linz as well as the status of all three year end finals please go to Savannah's World.

The Weekend's Winners

by Savannah

For a summary of the winners in Tokyo and Beijing please go to Savannah's World

Weekend Open Thread

Getty

Members of the Indian Army, Engineer Corp, who are flag bearers at the R.K. Khanna Tennis Stadium watching local tennis star Sania Mirza on centre court ahead of the Delhi 2010 Commonwealth Games on October 1, 2010 in Delhi, India.

::

Hello, everyone. Life, as you might imagine, for a person running for public office with an election coming in four weeks (or, right now, since people can vote early in Maine), is pure chaos. Safe to say, I've managed to retain most of my sanity, and still make time to farm, harvest, and prepare food for winter storage, but that's about all.

Tennis? What's tennis?

I don't know who's back from injury, or who's out. So please, drop those links, engage in civil debate, and tell me what I'm missing.

Autumnal Champions

Getty

French Gilles Simon holds his trophy after defeating German Mischa Zverev 6-3, 6-2 in the Metz Open final match on September 26, 2010, northeastern France.


AP

Juan Ignacio Chela of Argentina holds the trophy after defeating Spain's Pablo Andujar in the final of the BCR Open Romania tennis tournament in Bucharest, Romania, Sept. 26, 2010.


Getty

Alisa Kleybanova of Russia holds up her trophy after defeating Klara Zakopalova of the Czech Republic in their final match of the Hansol Korea Open tennis tournament at Olympic Park in Seoul on september 26, 2010. Kleybanova won the match 6-1, 6-3.


AP

Wearing traditional Uzbek costume Russia's Alla Kudryavtseva holds up the plate after winning the Tashkent Open Final tennis match against Russia's Elena Vesnina in Tashkent, Saturday, Sept. 25, 2010.

Face Of The Day

Getty

Kurumi Nara of Japan attends a press conference for the Toray Pan Pacific Open Tennis 2010 at Hotel Grand Pacific Le Daiba on September 24, 2010 in Tokyo, Japan. The main draw of the tournament is to be held at Ariake Colosseum from September 26 to October 2.