Tennis News

On Tuesday afternoon, the WTA Board of Directors signed a record media agreement with partner PERFORM valued at more than $525 million. The agreement will span over 10 years and could prove to be a groundbreaking achievement for women’s sports.

The agreement includes the introduction of WTA Media, which is a joint endeavor that will provide premium content to fans. It will also produce magazine shows and increase the presence on social media and in the digital world.

“This is a game changing and historic moment for our fans and for women’s sport,” Stacey Allaster, the Chairman & CEO of the WTA, said. “Our new broadcast strategy to produce all 2000 main draw singles matches in partnership with PERFORM will deliver exponential global exposure for our players, tournaments and partners.”

Ultimately, the new deal will make it easier for fans to follow the WTA tour and have complete access to the athletes throughout the season.

“We are thrilled to expand on our highly successful partnership with the WTA,” PERFORM’s joint CEO, Simon Denyer, said. “We are strong believers in the exceptional sport entertainment value of the WTA and are committed to driving the value for all WTA members and partners. This deal also delivers maximum exposure to the WTA’s global fans on multiple platforms. This is a groundbreaking and innovative partnership and is a major first step in a significant 10-year growth plan for PERFORM.”

It is not everyday that fans get to witness 17-time Grand Slam champion Roger Federer play tennis in an environment outside of the competitive stranglehold of the ATP World Tour; it is even less likely that they will see Federer tear down the wall of professionalism during a match, and simply break out into a dance with French entertainer Gael Monfils.

However, that was exactly what happened a couple of days ago at the third leg of the International Premier Tennis League (IPTL) event.

Watch the footage below:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c21RDsSxJZM

Martina Navratilova is the latest tennis legend to dip her toes in coaching, as she announced on Monday afternoon that she would be working with world No. 6 Agnieszka Radwanska during the coming season.

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.

Both the players announced the big news on twitter.

So happy to announce @Martina as the newest member of my coaching team!

— Aga Radwanska (@ARadwanska) December 8, 2014

Am very excited to be working with @ARadwanska and her team:), should be a fun ride!!!

— Martina Navratilova (@Martina) December 8, 2014

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.

Martina, a US citizen for well over three decades now, dedicates a significant portion of her time to her causes, such as supporting environmental issues, gay rights issues as well as animal rights abuses.

The 2014 edition of the Statoil Masters Tennis ended with the crowning of a new champion, as Fernando Gonzalez defeated Andy Roddick in three sets to win the title in London.

The Chilean, who was taking part in his first ever ATP Champions Tour competition, looked fantastic in his Sunday encounter with the American Grand Slam winner and was able to close out the match 6-4, 2-6, 10-4 to the delight of the crowd at the Royal Albert Hall.

“This is great to win this tournament,” he said. “This week has been amazing and I enjoyed this match against Andy a lot. It was very tough, we had very long points, and my body will feel bad tomorrow!”

“This is so fun because after you retire you never think you are going to be back on a court like this. I have enjoyed it really a lot,” he said.

Roddick, however, made no excuses regarding his surprising loss to Gonzalez.

“Fernando played great today,” he said. “I kinda knew I would be in trouble if I had to play him because he’s still so good. But it was fun, I think the crowd enjoyed it and I certainly enjoyed my week here. I don’t know if you can ever prepare yourself for a venue like this. It’s one thing seeing it in the pictures, where it is impressive in its own right. But then to play it and experience it was a real treat for me.”

The American recently got honored with an honorary membership at the All England Club at SW19 earlier this week as well.

Discussion regarding the gradual drop in the quality of American men’s tennis has circulated for the better part of the past decade. 14-time Grand Slam champion Pete Sampras added his own opinion to the bubbling pot of criticism when he explained that he was not particularly thrilled with the direction that American men’s tennis is taking.

“It looks a little bit on the slim side for American tennis. I don’t see anyone or really even know anyone that people talking about breaking through or even getting to the Top 10.

Following several decades of consistent Men’s champions in the USA, including Jimmy Connors, John McEnroe, Sampras, Andre Agassi and Jim Courier, it is easy to contrast that golden age with the current drought. Now-retired Andy Roddick was the last American male to win a Grand Slam title for his country, and that took place eleven years ago at the US Open.

Sampras believes that since the game expanded its reach internationally, American players have far more competition than the previous generations did.

“We gotta take small steps you know. We are not in the 90′s anymore. The game has become so international and so global these days and a lot of kids are playing tennis around the world. It’s tougher on the Americans. Maybe the other kids are just more hungrier and we are just not producing enough young pros with potential.

Nevertheless, the legendary champion hopes that this is nothing more than a temporary “phase” that will bring about a new age of American dominance in tennis.

“Hopefully, it’s a phase and it won’t last too long.”

14-time Grand Slam champion Rafael Nadal has officially resumed training following a premature ending to his 2014 season on the tour due to appendix surgery and later a wrist injury.

“I began to train two days ago and yesterday, I played tennis for the first time. It is a strange feeling as I didn’t have much rhythm and my body hurt, but that is nothing unusual,” Nadal was quoted as saying by Xinhua.

The Spaniard 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.

“I hope now to be able to train well in December and lay the foundation for when the tournaments in Abu Dhabi and Doha start, so I can use those to recover my rhythm,” explained Nadal.

Nadal revealed that he was also recovering from a minor wrist injury but that it was nothing like the previous knee injury that plagued his 2012 season.

“I want to be able to recover the feeling of hitting the ball and knowing it will go in,” the 28-year-old said.“In that case, I couldn’t see the light at the end of the tunnel, now all I need to do is work. I will see what my realistic aims are as the weeks go by, but my aim is to get into shape and find form and if I am able to compete in Abu Dhabi and Doha, my aim is to be competitive in Australia.”

The world No. 3 is expected to return from the sidelines at the Mubadala World Tennis Championships in December. He will then take part in the Qatar Exxon Mobil Open between Jan. 4-11

Tournament officials announced this week that a compelling line-up of Top 50 WTA players is expected to compete at the 2015 edition of the event. The entry list includes Sloane Stephes, Heather Watson, and former champion Mona Barthel.

Stephens reached the semi-final at this event in 2013and will be looking to replicate those efforts in the coming year. This is just the second time that the young American will take part in the tournament.

Following a tough 2013 season marred with injuries and illness, Watson stormed back onto the tennis scene this year and rose over 65 places in the rankings to regain the title of British No. 1.

“We are excited to host 23 of the world’s top 60 female players in January as the event continues to provide a platform for players to get match ready ahead of the first Grand Slam of the year,” Hobart International Tournament Director Mark Handley said. “With Casey leading a field that includes Sloane, Heather and former champion Mona we have a group of extremely talented female athletes that have the pedigree to produce some highly competitive matches to be enjoyed by our Tasmanian sporting fans.

“We invite the local community to come out and support the players and enjoy a day out at the tennis.”

Also confirmed for the event is Kirsten Flipkens, Monica Niculescu, Roberta Vinci and Kaia Kanepi.

The Hobart International, take place at the Domain Tennis Centre from 11 to 17 January 2015.