Tennis News

After abstaining from professional competition against his will following arthroscopic surgery on his right shoulder in June, Tommy Haas announced that he will not compete in the first Grand Slam tournament of 2015.

Hass has not been seen on the tour since he retired during the opening round of the French Open. This is not the first time the veteran will undergo surgery during his professional career, as he had operations on his hip and elbow back in 2012.

“The comeback from injury is going pretty well,” Haas said in an interview with E llesse Italia. “Obviously, surgery went well, which is one of the most important things. The other important thing is to be patient and let the healing process take its course.”

“My doctor strictly said that if everything goes well, I’d probably have eight months before I could come back, which means (I’ll be back) for Indian Wells 2015. I’ll be ready to go again. It is probably one of my favourite tournaments throughout the year.”

The three-time semi-finalist also revealed that he will likely not return from his spell on the sidelines until the Indian Wells Masters event in March. He is one of three Top 100 players who will not take part in the Australian Open this year, along with Jack Sock, who underwent hip surgery and is still recovering from the procedure.

Haas is currently ranked at No. 77 on the ATP World Tour and will be looking to climb back to his regular home within the Top 20 on the tour in 2015.

The latest endeavor of the Roger Federer foundation was the ‘Match for Africa’ event last week, which featured an exhibition match between the 17-time Grand Slam champion and fellow countryman and Swiss No. 2 Stan Wawrinka.

The event, which took place in the sold out Hallenstadion in Zurich, garnered 11, 000 fans to watch their country’s top two competitors take part in an enthralling encounter mixed with entertaining points and humorous moments. Eventually, after a 93-minute affair, Federer won the match 7-6 (4), 6-4.

“The evening was a great experience for me,” said Federer. “Stan and I were given a wonderful reception in the stadium. The fact that we were able to raise such a large amount for the foundation makes the evening even more special. A hearty thank you to Stan that he made this possible.”

Although the match concluded in straight sets, it was an entertaining and competitive affair and only featured one break of serve throughout. Federer was able to take the lead in the second set and maintain it to finish the match in dominant fashion.

The event was deemed a success, as the Roger Federer Foundation was able to raise 1.3 million Swiss Francs. The goal of the organization is to support and promote access to quality education and to help operate local nonprofit organizations in Southern Africa.

Federer will begin his 2015 season at the Brisbane International, where he finished runner-up to Lleyton Hewitt last season. Wawrinka will take part in his traditiona first stop on the tour – the Chennai Open in India.

Following a mediocre year on the tour, Daniela Hantuchova announced that she has officially joined forces with Li Na’s former coach Carlos Rodriguez for the upcoming season on the WTA Tour.

“I’m very happy to announce my working relationship with Carlos Rodriguez, whose work I have admired for many, many years and what an incredible job he has done with Justine and Li Na. It’s my privilege to have Carlos by my side and I’m very thankful for this opportunity,” she said on Facebook.

The ATP revealed this week that there would be significant prize money increases over the next four years that will see overall player compensation on the ATP World Tour reach US$135 million by 2018.

Over the past year, there were rumours and speculation that players were interested in an increase in prize money particularly at Masters 1000 events, which just so happen to be the most impacted events over the coming years. They will witness a 14-percent hike in prize money allocation to players.

Compensation for players at ATP World Tour events in 2015 will exceed US$100 million for the first time in the tour’s history. This increase is a testament to the sustained success of men’s professional tennis, as well as demonstrating the ATP’s confidence in the strength of its product and projected growth in future years.

The biggest increases in player compensation come at the ATP World Tour Masters 1000 category, with tournaments providing annual increases of 11%, and with the ATP contributing a further 3% increase, resulting in a 14% annual increase in that category through to 2018. Player compensation at the ATP World Tour 250s is set to increase at an average of 3.5% per year during the same period.

The latest decisions at Masters 1000 and 250-level mean that player compensation is now confirmed across all three ATP World Tour tournament categories for a four-year period. Player compensation for a five-year period for the ATP World Tour 500 category was decided at the end of 2013.

The ATP’s announcement comes shortly following the WTA’s historic broadcast deal several days prior – both signs of the continuous development of tennis on a global scale.

American legend Pete Sampras may be amused by the recent super coaching trend that had involved the likes of Ivan Lendl and Boris Becker, he has no intention of taking on a full-time job of that status anytime in the near future.

“I am not into travelling at the moment, at least more than a couple of weeks in a year. The captaincy is nothing something I am interested in either. This is not for me at the moment. I am not going to rule it out, you can’t say what can happen in future. But for the time being, I am happy playing some exhibition every now and then and staying at home,” he said (via zee news).

Andy Murray sparked the trend of super coaches 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.

Apart from a discussion on coaching, Sampras added that he believes the ‘Big Three’ will continue to dominate men’s tennis for the coming year. The 14-time Grand Slam champion is also intrigued to see how this year’s maiden champions will fare in their title defences in the coming year.

“I still see those three guys (Djokovic, Nadal, Federer) dominating. I see guys threatening them, but at the top you will see just those three guys in the second week of majors, in the semi-finals and the finals. Wawrinka is going to have an interesting Australian Open defending his title. Cilic is up and coming and he has been there for a while. I still think Roger, Novak and Rafa are the cream of the crop. I think they have the experience, they want it and when they are playing well, they will be tough to beat,” said the 14-time Grand Slam champion.

Following a fantastic season that saw her win her second Grand Slam title at the Wimbledon Championships, Petra Kvitova has made it clear that she has set her sights on becoming world No. 1 in the coming year.

In a blog post on her official website www.petrakvitova.net, Kvitova details her preseason training and how she is plans to prepare for 2015.

“I’m happy to say that my pre-season is going very well so far. I am healthy and working very hard on everything that I need to improve for 2015. My new fitness coach Alex Stober has been absolutely great. He has a lot of experience and he knows what to do, he arrived with a very specific plan to make me stronger and faster on court. It’s also great that he is a physio as well because he knows exactly how a tennis player’s body is working.”

The Czech No. 1 compiled a 43-16 record in 2014, which included three titles on the WTA Tour. She won the Wimbledon title with a thrashing of Canadian starlet Eugenie Bouchard. She also helped her nation win yet another Fed Cup title at the end of the season.

With that in mind, Kvitova hopes the coming season will bring with it even more success.

“Next year I have some clear goals in my mind. I want to have better results at the Grand Slams and of course one day I want to be Number One in the world. I have been close already, but I really hope that day will come. Those clear goals are motivating me to work harder than ever before to get ready for 2015.”

After staging women’s tennis events since 1991, the PTT Thailand Open is facing a turbulent period and is currently at high risk of putting an end to the event after 2015.

Ironically, the news was revealed on the tournament’s official website hours after the WTA announced a historic and record-breaking $525 million media broadcast deal for the coming decade. It appears that tournament director Geoffrey Rowe referred to contract terminations as the main reason for the concerns about the tournament’s future.

“At the same time funding from other key sponsors has also been cut, which means the financial viability of the tournament is at risk. We have no option but to go ahead with the tournament in 2015 but we need to seriously consider the situation beyond next year. It is a great pity as the tournament is Thailand’s longest-running professional sporting event and we were looking forward to celebrating our 25th anniversary in 2016.”

If the Thailand Open ceases to exist, it would follow in the footsteps of the Portugal Open, which was cancelled when the tournament officials deemed it no longer financially viable.

The PTT Pattaya Open takes place Feb. 9-15 2015.

Top American players John Isner and Ryan Harrison have hired new coaches for the upcoming ATP World Tour season.

Isner announced on Monday that he will be teaming up with former player and current tennis commentator and ATP Board member Justin Gimelstob as his new coach for the coming season.

“I’m really excited to start working with Justin,” Isner told ATPWorldTour.com. “He has so much experience within the tennis business and I’ve long respected his knowledge of the sport. I think it will be great for me to have a new perspective helping me with my game.”

Isner had a mediocre year on the tour by relative standards. Although he finished as the top ranked American, he was at the tail end of the Top 20. He did manage to win two titles and reach the semi-finals of the Indian Wells Masters event.

“I had a great run with Mike [Sell] and feel I really learned a lot from him throughout the course of our coaching relationship. I just thought it was time to try something new, and with Justin I believe I will have a strong and passionate new voice on my team. In spending some time with Justin throughout the fall I have full confidence that he has a clear vision for my game and an understanding of what I need to do in order to play my best tennis.”

Gimelstob revealed that he will continue to undertake his duties as a commentator and a board member.

“John is a very unique talent, a great guy both on and off the court and I am thrilled to be able to be a part of his team,” Gimelstob said. “Coaching is in my blood. I have the highest regard for the level of commitment coaching a player of John’s pedigree entails.

World No. 190 Harrison hired Grant Doyle as his coach after parting ways with him in 2012. With Doyle, Harrison reached a career-high No. 43 on the tour and will be looking to achieve similar success this time around as well.