TENNIS – Bits & Pieces from the World of Tennis. Andrea Petkovic won the Family Circle Cup in Charleston. Ana Ivanovic won in Monterrey. Will Farrell wto be Riggs in “Battle of the sexes”. Wawrinka collects an award. Haas and Ferrer celebrate their birthday this week and who is playing where this week. Joshua Bosco
Charleston & Monterrey champions
The Family Circle Cup was won by Andrea Petkovic, who beat Jana Cepelova 7-5 6-2 in 1h 19m. Both players had a fantastic week in Charleston, with Cepelova beating Serena Williams, Vesnina and Hantuchova before defeating Bencic in the semi-final, while Petkovic beat Lisicki, Safarova and Bouchard playing some of her best tennis in quite some time.
Ana Ivanovic beat Jovana Jaksic 6-2 6-1 in an all-Serb final to win the Monterrey Open. Jaksic defeated the “Godmother of the WTA Tour” Kimiko Date Krumm to reach her first WTA career final, while Ivanovic battled past Caroline Wozniacki with a 7-6(5) 6-4 win: it was her sixth Top 20 win this season and the third against a former World No.1.
Tennis goes to Hollywood
Famous American actor and comedian Will Ferrell will play Bobby Riggs in “Match Maker” – an upcoming movie drama about the 1973 ‘Battle of the Sexes’ tennis match, where Riggs played Billie Jean King.
Riggs was World No.1 in 1939 and then again as a professional in 1946 and 1947. He won the US Open twice and completed a Wimbledon triple in 1939, capturing the singles, doubles and mixed doubles titles.
At 55 years old he seized an opportunity to make some money and draw attention to the sport of tennis when he challenged the then World No.1 Margaret Court and beat her 6-2 6-1. After the match, King came forward and agreed to play him, having refused a previous offer and the pair met four months later in Houston. Billie Jean King won the match, later marred by controversies, 6-4 6-3 6-3 and also claimed a winner-take-all prize of $100,000.
Davis Cup Commitment Awards
Swiss tennis star and 2014 Australian Open winner Stanislas Wawrinka headlined the latest group of recipients of the Davis Cup Commitment Award, an honour presented to Davis Cup players who have competed in a minimum of 20 home-and-away ties or 50 ties at any level of the competition over their career.
This new award was presented for the first time as part of the of the ITF’s centenary celebrations in 2013: among the initial recipients were Italian legend Nicola Pietrangeli -who has played 66 ties for his country – and San Marino’s Domenico Vicini who, with a total of 89, holds the record for most ties played in all levels of the competition.
This weekend Wawrinka, Japan’s Go Soeda, South Africa’s Rik de Voest, Slovak Republic’s Michal Mertinak and ten others were added to the list of 317 players who have already qualified to receive the award.
Happy Birthday
This week David Ferrer celebrated his 32nd birthday while Tommy Haas celebrated his birthday becoming one of only seven 36 year old players to be ranked in the Top 20.
He joins Australians Rod Laver, Ken Rosewall and Roy Emerson and Americans Arthur Ashe, Jimmy Connors and Andre Agassi in this elite list.
5) Who’s playing where
After last week’s pause for the Davis Cup, the ATP Tour resumes today with two 250 ATP World Tour events.
While many top names are taking a rest before Monte-Carlo, defending champion and top seed John Isner will be joined by Spaniards Robredo, Almagro, Verdasco and Lopez, Juan Monaco, Lleyton Hewitt and big server Ivo Karlovic in Houston for the US Men’s Clay Court Championships.
Other players, including top seed Kevin Anderson, French duo Monfils and Paire, Marcel Granollers and Robin Haase decided to stay closer to Monte-Carlo and will play in Casablanca at the 28th edition of the Grand Prix Hassan II.
In the week before the Fed Cup, the women will be divided between two tournaments, the Katowice Open and the Copa Colsanitas in Bogotá.
Polish No.1 Agnieszka Radwanska heads the field in Katowice where she will be joined by Roberta Vinci, Alize Cornet, Tsvetana Pironkova and Jovana Jaksic, who has received entry as a special exempt into the main draw after reaching the final in Monterrey.
Defending champion Jelena Jankovic, Sloane Stephens and Karin Knapp are the top seeds in Bogotá.
