American Sloane Stephens was defeated in the first round of the Dubai Championship, losing to Sorana Cirstea of Romania 5-7, 6-3, 6-2. Stephens, a career-high 16th in the WTA Women’s Singles Rankings, defeated Serena Williams in Melbourne at the 2013 Australian Open before advancing the Aussie Open semis. "It was a rough day, and I think she…
Second-ranked Victoria Azarenka has withdrawn from the Dubai Championships due to a bone bruise in her right foot. Azarenka, who was replaced by Serena Williams at the top of the WTA Women’s Singles Rankings on Monday, said she hurt her foot a week ago in Doha, Qatar, en route to the final, where she defeated Serena. "I…
After watching Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal battle for six hours in last year’s Australian Open final, it is evident that the world’s best players are some of the fittest athletes in the world as tennis has evolved from a "gentleman’s game" into a demanding athletic contest. The modern game, at every competitive level, is…
Michael Pavlides of Massapequa, N.Y. was named Virginia and Chuck Landis High School Coach of the Year at the 2012 USTA Eastern Section Awards Dinner. Pavlides has been coaching boys and girls tennis at Massapequa High School for 15 years, during which time, he has helped his players improve and worked hard to grow the game. Since he started…
For the past year, I have been the head men’s and women’s tennis coach at SUNY Oneonta and have discovered something. Typically, when a junior tennis player thinks of Division III, they think of strong academics and not-so-strong tennis. The former is definitely true. If you look at the top 75 national universities and the…
World number 13-ranked Milos Raonic defeated the fourth-seeded Tommy Haas 6-4, 6-3 at the SAP Open in San Jose on Sunday, his third consecutive title at what will be the last ever SAP Open in San Jose. Raonic finishes with a 12-0 event record, winning all 24 sets he played during his three-year reign. “It’s pretty…
Outgoing world number one Victoria Azarenka defeated Serena Williams 7-6, 2-6, 6-3 to win the 2013 Qatar Open on Sunday. Serena replaced Azarenka on top of the WTA Women’s Singles Rankings, but the American’s hopes of capping off a memorable week with a 48th singles title were crushed by Azarenka who extended her 2013 record to…
Spain’s Rafael Nadal clinched his 37th clay-court title at the Brazil Open 2013 in Sao Paulo with a 6-2, 6-3 win over Argentina’s David Nalbandian 6-2, 6-3. It was Nadal’s first finals win since last June when he defeated Novak Djokovic in the finals of the 2012 French Open. He was upset at Wimbledon by…
Sunny Fishkind of Bethpage, N.Y. was been named 2012 Clinician of the Year by the USTA Eastern Section at its Annual Awards Dinner. Fishkind has had a long and outstanding career as a tennis clinician. For more than 25 years, she coached tennis at Bethpage High School, earning recognition as the High School Coach of the Year from…
American Serena Williams defeated Petra Kvitova 3-6, 6-3, 7-5 on Friday at the Qatar Total Open in Doha to recapture the world number one spot atop the WTA Women’s Singles Rankings. Serena had defeated Kvitova in straight sets all three times they had previously played. Serena becomes the oldest female to hold the number one ranking at the age of…