Tennis News

After spending years with Adidas, British No. 1 Andy Murray has officially parted was with the sportswear giant and joined forces with apparel company Under Armour with a four-year kit deal.

The deal is believed to be valued at 15 million pounds ($23, 340,900).

“I am very honoured and excited to be joining Team Under Armour and to help them tell their story globally,” Murray is quoted as saying in an official Under Armour statement. “They are committed to providing innovative apparel, accessories, and footwear, with an unmatched focus on training and performance.”

The Scotsman is the latest addition to a roster of athletes that includes football team Tottenham Hotspur, NFL superstar Tom Brady, skier Lindsey Vonn and rising golf star Jordan Speith.

However, it appears Murray will remain with Adidas for his footwear until Under Armour complete the design for his specific footwear.

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 begin his 2015 season at the Hopman Cup, where he will team up with Heather Watson to represent Great Britain. He will then head to Auckland before preparation for the Australian Open.

Following another injury-plagued season on the professional tour, it appears Rafael Nadal is looking for a more pragmatic approach to 2015.

In his latest interview, the world No. 3 explained that hi priority is to structure his schedule to benefit his health and no simply for the maximum accumulation of ranking points.

“For me it won’t be a goal in my career anymore,” Nadal told French television in an interview promoting his new tennis academy. “If I have become No. 1 because of the results I have, it’s great. But I’m not going to pursue this objective. I will follow my schedule.”

The decision is an understandable one, as 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. He also had his knees checked and underwent stem cell therapy.

December 27, 2014: The first official day of partnership and practice between world No. 6 Agnieszka Radwanska and 18-time Grand Slam winner Martina Navratilova.

After announcing their partnership several weeks ago, it appears the two battle-tested competitors are ready to take 2015 by storm.

Navratilova partnership with Aga is the latest in a long line in star coaching roles over the past few years; Andy Murray sparked the trend when he hired Ivan Lendl then Amelie Mauresmo; Novak Djokovic brought Boris Becker on board; Marin Cilic partnered with Goran Ivanisevic to win his maiden Grand Slam title; Roger Federer teamed up with his idol Stefan Edberg, while Kei Nishikori joined forces with Michael Chang.

Photo available on twitter.

Navratilova won 167 WTA titles over the span of her illustrious career, 18 of which were Grand Slam singles titles and won her last Grand Slam mixed doubles title at the US Open in 2006. Her rivalry with Chris Evert goes down as one of the biggest rivalries in women’s tennis, having played each other a total of 80 times, with Navratilova leading the series 43-37.

Just a few short weeks before the start of the 2015 season, Marin Cilic is in doubt about his participation in the Brisbane International.

Although many have assumed that Cilic has withdrawn from the event officially, it appears he is actually still planning to make the trip there but is uncertain about his chances of playing after injuring his shoulder last week.

“He’s still coming as far as I know,” Tournament Director Cameron Pearson told The Australian. “Obviously there’s an element of doubt, but I spoke to his manager a little over 24 hours ago and he said we’d be the first to know if Marin couldn’t make it. “I suspect we’ll find out for sure in the next few days.”

While Cilic would have made a fantastic addition to the draw, the expected attendees this year make it one of the most anticipated Brisbane International events since its inception. In the men’s draw, the tournament features the likes of champion Lleyton Hewitt, runner-up Roger Federer, Kei Nishikori, Grigor Dimitrov, Bernard Tomic and the returning Juan Martin del Potro.

“I don’t think we’d take a hit because we’ve got such a wonderful tournament this year,” Pearson said. “I’m more upset for Marin as he’s playing great tennis; he’s on top of his game. He’s the latest grand slam champion having won the US Open so this is not the way he’d want to start the season. I hope he is in good shape to travel to Australia.”

The Brisbane International begins on Sunday, Jan. 4.

Rafael Nadal’s injury-plagued season on the tour has not hindered his ability to garner some of the top sponsorships and clothing deals of any athlete in any sport. The Spaniard’s latest acquisition is a interesting new partnership with Tommy Hilfiger.

The 14-time Grand Sam champion will serve as the global brand ambassador for Hilfiger and will be featured in special underwear and Tommy Hilfiger Tailored collections starting Autumn 2015.

“Rafael Nadal has been a longtime personal friend and supporter of our brand, and I’m continuously inspired by his dedication and passion for his sport,” said Tommy Hilfiger. “This exclusive partnership brings one of the greatest athletes of this generation into our Tommy family. Rafael embodies an effortless sense of style that exemplifies and reflects our brand spirit – he’s confident, fun and cool.”

Nadal, who has represented the likes of Bacardi, Quely, and Kia in the past, was excited about the opportunity to work with the Hilfiger brand over the coming years.

“I’ve always admired Tommy Hilfiger’s cool, all-American designs which are sophisticated and easy to wear, and I’m excited to be partnering with the brand.”

Nadal is scheduled to return to competition in the Mubadala World Championhips in Abu Dhabi. It will be his first tournament since he suffered a surprising loss in Basel and was forced to undergo appendix surgery.

After spending a large portion of 2013 on crutches, Moscow native Daria Gavrilova overcame the odds and eventually succeeded in winning the Australian Open playoff event to receive a wildcard entry into the first Grand Slam of the season.

“I was just like ‘Oh, I wish I was playing, why did this happen to me?’ ” Gavrilova recalled after Sunday’s playoff finals win over Arina Rodionova guaranteed her main draw entry at Melbourne Park next month (via Sydney morning Herald). “But now I actually thought about it during my match, I was like ‘Oh, wow, you were on crutches last year, so c’mon, keep fighting, you can do it’. So that helped.”

Her effort is not to be taken mildly. She was required to undergo right knee construction and then forced onto the sidelines for a significant period of time. The US Open junior champion and former world No. 1 Junior had ruptured her anterior cruciate ligament in Taiwan and had to wait patiently until she had recovered. Her tournament victory is the result of hard work and dedication to the craft and to her recovery.

“I’m really happy,” said the graduate of Russia’s Spartak Tennis Club, more recent Carlton fan and Vegemite lover. “It’s unbelievable, and it just feels great that I won it, and I just feel like ‘Yeah, you deserve to be in the main draw of the Australian Open’.”

The 20-year-old Russian native, who is applying for Australian citizenship, will soon become the latest representative and prospect from the and down under. It will be interesting to see how she perform during the Australian Open in January.

Tennis has had no shortage in drug abuse, both recreational and performance enhancing. However, many tennis fans and professionals are content to believe that tennis is more or less a PED-free sport. Media outlets in tennis underplay certain drug failures, instead of arguably striving to publicize such failures.

The topic of tennis’ ‘flawed’ drug testing was recently discussed in a Sports Illustrated Mailbag with Jon Wertheim, where he explained that, for years, “tennis operated under the assumption that it was above doping.” There has even been cases of the ATP burying Andre Agassi’s positive test during the early portion of his career, which emphasized their ability and willingness to cover up for certain stars.

However, it appears the International Tennis Federation has stepped up the regimens and increased drug testing over the past few years. Players such as Marin Cilic and Viktor Troicki have felt the wrath of the ITF when they failed to meet their standards. Yet, while the ITF conducted over 2,7000 tests in 2014, only 6000 of them were out-of-competition random tests, which is the best method to catch abusers.

Several days ago, Canadian star Eugenie Bouchard took to twitter to reveal that she had been tested on six separate occasions to date in the off-season – which is to say, in less than two months.

While no other player has been this vocal about the testing on twitter, it is safe to assume that Bouchard is not the only notable tennis star being subjected to consistent testing.

“6th anti doping visit this off season… Think we’re good guys.” pic.twitter.com/UUA7w1FyCt

After parting ways with Romanian No. 1 Simona Halep during the off-season, it appeared as though coach Wim Fissette would be joining forces with Madison Keys, the top-ranked American youngster behind Serena Williams. However, that report was soon refuted and it has now been revealed that the Romanian coach has joined forces with another American in Taylor Townsend.

The news was first announced by Belgian website Sportwereld.

Fissette previously coached the likes of Kim Clijsters and Sabine Lisicki. Under his tutelage, Halep took part in a career-best season on the WTA tour – one that included her first Grand Slam final at Roland Garros, a career-high ranking of world No. 2, and a semi-final showing at the Wimbledon Championships. She completed her season with a runner-up showing at the WTA Finals in Singapore.

Townsend won her first ITF title in Charlottesville, defeating Montserrat González in the final. Together with Asia Muhammad she also won doubles competition at the same tournament. Just a week later she won her second ITF title in Indian Harbour Beach, her opponent in the final this time was Yulia Putintseva.

Later on in the year, she won the USTA wild card entry into the French Open, where she made her Grand Slam singles debut ranked No. 205 in the world. In the first round, she defeated fellow American world No. 65 Vania King, and then upset the No. 20 seed and No. 1 Frenchwoman Alize Cornet in the second round to become the first American woman to advance to the third round.

As one of the most promising American female youngsters on the tour, it will be interesting to see how Fissette molds Townsend over the coming months.