-->

Monday, January 25, 2010

Michael Jordan The Greatest Basketball Player

Michael Jordan is the greatest basketball player of all time. His leaping ability, illustrated by performing slam dunks from the free throw line at Slam Dunk Contests, earned him the nicknames "Air Jordan" and "His Airness." He also gained a reputation as one of the best defensive players in basketball.

Michael Jordan the legendMichael Jordan the legend
Michael Jordan dunk wallpaperMichael Jordan dunk wallpaper
Michael Jordan legend wallpaperMichael Jordan legend wallpaper
Read More - Michael Jordan The Greatest Basketball Player

michael jordan

Michael Jordan was born on February 17, 1963, in Brooklyn, New York, one of James and Deloris Jordan's five children. The family moved to Wilmington, North Carolina, when Michael was very young. His father worked as a General Electric plant supervisor, and his mother worked at a bank. His father taught him to work hard and not to be tempted by street life. His mother taught him to sew, clean, and do laundry. Jordan loved sports but failed to make his high school basketball team as a sophomore. He continued to practice and made the team the next year. After high school he accepted a basketball scholarship to the University of North Carolina, where he played under head coach Dean Smith
Read more: Michael Jordan Biography - life, family, children, story, death, history, wife, school, mother, young, old, information, born, college, movie, contract, house, time, year http://www.notablebiographies.com/Jo-Ki/Jordan-Michael.html#ixzz0Yz9DZCGf
Greene, Bob. Hang Time. New York: Doubleday, 1992.
Gutman, Bill. Michael Jordan: A Biography. New York: Pocket Books, 1991.
Halberstam, David. Playing for Keeps: Michael Jordan and the World He Made. New York: Random House, 1999.
Jordan, Michael. For the Love of the Game: My Story. New York: Crown Publishers, 1998.
Naughton, Jim. Taking to the Air: The Rise of Michael Jordan. New York: Warner Books, 1992.
Smith, Sam. The Jordan Rules. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1992
Read more: Michael Jordan Biography - life, family, children, story, death, history, wife, school, mother, young, old, information, born, college, movie, contract, house, time, year http://www.notablebiographies.com/Jo-Ki/Jordan-Michael.html#ixzz0Yz9Nq38S
michael jordan
michael jordan wallpapers
michael jordan
michael jordan pics
michael jordan
michael jordan
michael jordan girlfriend
michael jordan
michael jordan image
Read More - michael jordan

Michael Jordan The Legend

michael jordanmichael jordan
michael jordanmichael jordan
Michael Jordan PhotoMichael Jordan Photo
Michael Jordan The Legend
Read More - Michael Jordan The Legend

Saturday, January 23, 2010

All Hail Ana Ivanovic

Ana IvanovicAna Ivanovic

Not only does Ana Ivanovic look like a young Catherine Zeta-Jones, but during the second set of her round of 16 match this morning, her opponent hit a ball deep into the baseline, which the line judge called out. Ivanovic was right on top of the ball and she whiffed on it when it took at odd bounce. She immediately gestured to the chair umpire that the ball had been good.
Read More - All Hail Ana Ivanovic

some ana ivanovic photos

ana ivanovic photo
ana ivanovic photo


ana ivanovic photo
ana ivanovic photo

ana ivanovic photo
ana ivanovic photo


ana ivanovic photo
ana ivanovic photo

ana ivanovic photo
ana ivanovic photo

ana ivanovic photo
ana ivanovic photo


ana ivanovic photo
ana ivanovic photo
Read More - some ana ivanovic photos

ennis: U.S. Teen’s underdog story ends in fourth round of Wimbledon

Melanie Oudin was downed in straight sets in Monday’s fourth round to 11th ranked Agnieszka Radwanska 4-6, 5-7. Despite the loss, the 17-year-old still found plenty of success.

Melanie Oudin, courtesy of: flickr.com

Melanie Oudin, courtesy of: flickr.com

Oudin (pronounced OO-dan) drew a lot of attention when she upset sixth ranked and former number one Jelena Jankovic 6-7, 7-5, 6-2 on Saturday in round three. Coming into this tournament, she lost her only two grand slam matches. Those first round exits came in the 2008 U.S. Open and 2009 Australian Open.

The native from Marietta, Georgia made a strong Wimbledon debut, posting a 3-1 record. She was the youngest American to advance to the women’s fourth round at Wimbledon since 1993 when Jennifer Capriati made the quarterfinals.

Oudin has won two ITF Women’s Circuit singles titles this year, tallying three for her two-year career. Her career record in singles is 69-36.

Radwanska will play Venus Williams in the quarterfinals.

Read More - ennis: U.S. Teen’s underdog story ends in fourth round of Wimbledon

Heard Around

by Savannah


As 2007 winds down and Hopman Cup play starts in a few days let's see what's going on around the world.

The head of the ATP, Etienne de Villiers, in his year end interview states the following:

I’d rather be in tennis than football, I’d rather be in tennis than cycling, I’d rather be in tennis than track and field [athletics], I’d rather be in tennis than baseball,” De Villiers, 57, said this weekend. “Of course there are issues, but the people in our sport, especially our players, are saying, ‘Let’s do the right thing here.’ We need to know where and how our information-gathering systems need resources because it is up-to-date information that drives everything.


  • He will not attend the Australian Open, opting to stay in London to put the finishing touches on the new Integrity Unit "that he intends will shape the sport’s response should further evidence of improper activity require action. He is canvassing as many as he trusts to make the proper appointments."(emphasis mine) He goes on to say that he has nothing new to say to the players in Australia and that being there just to be there is counterproductive.

  • DeVilliers states that the Olympics this year is what led to 56 man draws and best of three matches in the big events. This is so the players can "listen to their bodies and schedule their year with greater thought than before."

De Villiers is also fan focused. American fans are credited with being aware that tennis is an international sport and that they want to see it presented as such.
The ATP presents the following statistics for 2007:

  • 9 Masters Series tournaments played in 2007 by all four top players, the first time they have appeared in each event since 2001.

  • 27 Percentage of player withdrawals on the ATP Tour in 2007 – a six-year low.

  • 29 million The amount (in pounds) that the Italian federation has spent on upgrading the Foro Italico in Rome for the 2009 season.

  • 50 The number of €5 (about £3.60) bets that Daniele Bracciali was found to have placed on matches. The Italian was fined £14,300 and suspended for three months.

  • 100 million The money (in dollars) to be spent on facilities, promotions, prize-money and more in 2009 – the biggest investment in ATP history.


For the entire article please go here ATP 2007 Year in Review

As for the WTA this appeared online at Tennis X. It was written by Joel Drucker.

Sharapova had the bloody tar beaten out of her by Serena in Australia and Venus at Wimbledon. Struggling with an injury that impeded her serve all year, she was unable to dictate enough points. Only a fine effort to each the finals of the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour Championships in Madrid — where she lost the best women’s match of the year to Henin — gave her a sense of significant accomplishment in 2007. At the same time, while I deeply respect Sharapova’s tenacity and commitment, I fear she could well be a female Andy Roddick: a gritty fighter with limited hardware.

Here’s where we enter the news-you-can-use zone. Both the Williams sisters and Sharapova were exposed to tennis by zealous fathers. Sadly, the outcome of that model — rather than the process — has been taken as gospel by a great many tennis instructors. What I’m talking about here is the unwitting, co-dependent collaboration of a gung-ho father and hot-to-trot instructor mostly teaching young ladies how to rip the ball again and again. Yes, I know that repetition is a vital factor in mastering a technique. But it is only one factor.

The trouble occurs when repetition becomes less a means than an ends. The man who most ardently shaped Sharapova’s strokes, the great coach Robert Lansdorp, once asked me, “Who gives a blankety-blank about strategy? Just hit the ball.” With all due respect to a coach I think has a certain kind of genius, I would heartily disagree. Surely a baseball player is aided when he knows a pitcher can’t throw a good curveball. Ditto for a basketball player who knows the man he’s guarding prefers driving to his left. And so on.



John Newcombe Rips Guccione A New One

This quote is one I'm sure "Gooch" will make part of his tennis scrapbook.
"He can't move left and right," Newcombe said. "It was a bit embarrassing.

"Soon as he got in a rally that went over four or five shots...forget it."

Newcombe said he had approached Guccione and John Fitzgerald - Newcombe's successor as Davis Cup captain - about the issue of working on Guccione's fitness.

"But it's not happening," Newcombe said.

"So why would you support Chris if he's not giving it back?

"He's been in the Davis Cup squads. I look at him and I see a kid who's 6'5, 6'6 and boy you better be f***king fit and strong in the stomach muscles and leg muscles.

"Now, I know he had a couple of injuries, so I'm not speaking like I know the inside situation.

"(But) if I was in charge of Chris, I would take him off the circuit for two months and I'd get the best athletic trainer I could find and teach him how to run and move and to build his stomach muscles and his leg muscles up so that he's got lateral movement."

Tell us how you really feel John. For more of John's views on Chris and Tennis Australia in general go Here

Australian Open News

Dominik Hrbaty
will miss his first Grand Slam in eleven years due to shoulder surgery. He had surgery in September but he is still having problems.
Hrbaty To Miss Australian Open
Tennis fashionista's quietly rejoiced at the news...

Samantha Stosur has withdrawn from both the Gold Coast event and the Australian Open due lingering effects of viral meningits which she contracted over the summer. This, coupled with an unknown virus made Stosur unable to compete most of the second half of the season. Stosur, who has been back in training for the last three weeks says she is simply not ready for her home Slam.
Stosur Out of Oz Open


C'mon Lleyton

In the category of you've got to be shitting me is this story.

It’s official. Tennis star Lleyton Hewitt is trademarking his “C’mon” celebration and is going into business.

On the eve of his thrust at an elusive Australian Open title, Hewitt and his management have developed a logo representing the hand signal and traditional affirmation seen on the tennis courts of the world for the past decade, and expect to see it bob up on a clothing range before too long.

Hewitt’s Melbourne-based manager, David Drysdale, said yesterday the logo had been submitted for trademarking.

Hewitt told Australian Tennis magazine recently he had been considering the idea for a while. “It’s funny — I walk down the street and everybody says, ‘C’mon’,” he said.

“They copy me for doing my signal. I’m not quite sure how to describe that signal, there’s no real word for it. So we’ve trademarked ‘C’mon’. We’re going to try and push that as much as possible as my brand, and get it out there in the marketplace, make shirts for kids, golf shirts and different kinds of stuff like cargo shorts.”

Lleyton's Trademark



Random News
Sesil Karatantcheva, who was banned two years ago when she was fifteen after testing postitive for performance enhancing drugs (She blamed the positive test on a pregnancy which was aborted. This led to more speculation that she was subjected to a form of old school blood doping that was once practiced in the former Eastern Bloc countries but we won't get into all of that because it's just too icky) will soon be back on the tour. Her ban ends January 1, 2008. Now if those soft porn pics taken of her when she was still sixteen or so can go away maybe tennisheads will be able to judge her based on her tennis and not on male hormonal reaction...
A big shout out to James Blake, his brother Thomas Blake, and thier family for their continued support of the program that propelled the Blake brothers into the world of professional tennis. The
Harlem Junior Tennis program run by Katrina Adams, has been in existence for 35 years. Originally aimed at youngsters from Harlem it now draws children from all over the tri state area. Their benefit was held this past weekend at the renovated Harlem Regiment Armory and was a well attended and enjoyable event. Please visit TAT for coverage of this event.
Also on TAT is a report on what tennis players are doing in the Peachtree State of Georgia to promote tennis. Present for the young fans were Andy Roddick,
Sam Querrey, John Isner, and Atlanta area natives Robby Ginepri, Scoville Jenkins, Ashley Harkleroad, and Melanie Oudin.


More Pics from 2007




Read More - Heard Around

Oudin and Elias Reign as Eddie Herr 18s Champions

OudinfinalsOudinfinals
©Colette Lewis 2007--
Bradenton, FL--

The half dozen U.S. singles finalists produced only one Eddie Herr champion Sunday, but Melanie Oudin's 6-1, 6-4 victory over Poland's Katarzyna Piter was a significant one.

It is the first girls' 18 title for an American since records were kept in 1993, and it marked the fourth consecutive ITF title for Oudin since September.

"I'm really excited now. I never thought I'd win Eddie Herr--especially since it hasn't been my best tournament," said the fifth-seeded Oudin, who lives and trains in suburban Atlanta. "I knew I'd been playing well lately, so I knew I was going to work hard and try to play well here."

Oudin started quickly in the final, played under clear skies on the US Open blue Stadium Court, making virtually no unforced errors. It was a complete reversal of the opening sets in her quarterfinal and semifinal matches, when she was down a set before her shots began to find their range.

"I was really happy with the way I came out today," Oudin said. "In my last much and the one before, I had not played my best tennis in the beginning. But today, I came out strong, was going for my shots and I was making them, and it was working."

Prospects for Piter, seeded seventh, did not look good when she dropped her serve for the fourth straight time in the opening game of the second set, but a change in strategy got her back to even at 3.

"She play well because I play bad," said Piter. "I play much on her forehand and she has a lot of winners. The second set was better for me because I have good tactics--I play more on her backhand. If I win second set, I think third would be a fight."

There were two line judges in addition to a chair umpire, but controversy surfaced at 4-4, with Piter serving down break point, when Oudin hit a ball that was widely observed to have landed well past the baseline. No "out" call came and it gave Oudin the opportunity to serve out the set. After four consecutive breaks, however, that wasn't a particular advantage, and Oudin was down 15-40 before winning the next four points, several of them on line calls that the Piter supporters in the stands loudly disagreed with.

When Oudin's forehand was called wide on the first of four match points she would need to close it out, a derisive cheer rose from Piter's fans, but their sarcasm couldn't help the Polish 16-year-old in the five-deuce game that ended with Oudin's 22nd consecutive junior victory.

Piter didn't express any bitterness over the call that gave Oudin the ninth game. "It was out, like twenty centimeters (eight inches), and the umpire don't see that, but one ball is not the match. Maybe without that call (however), I can win this match."

EliasElias
There was no controversy in the boys' 18s final, with 17-year-old Gastao Elias of Portugal dominating qualifier Alex Domijan 6-1, 6-2. Expecting an interesting contrast of style (Elias) and power (Domijan), most of the hundreds of fans packing the bleachers were instead treated to a serving exhibition by Elias, who admitted that he played "a perfect match."

"I was holding my service games very easily and it helped me very much," said Elias, who trains at Bollettieri and is represented by IMG. "I could spend more energy in the returning game."

Domijan's serve had helped him to eight wins over the course of the week, but Elias had little trouble with it, which gave time to maneuver the 6-foot-6 inch Saddlebrook student around the court. Domijan chipped in with plenty of unforced errors, which kept him from getting into the rhythm that carried him past a raft of good players.

"I thought I played all right," said Domijan, who once again had a large contingent of supporters from Saddlebrook Prep in attendance, this time with a large poster with his last name writ large. "He got a lot of balls in play, and he doesn't really miss, at all. Doesn't miss first serves either."

Elias recently won an ITF Men's event in Mexico, and he conceded that with a win on that next level, pressure can increase when returning to play juniors.

"I dealt with some pressure in the beginning; I knew I had to play good," said No. 9 seed Elias, who lost only one set in the tournament, in the second round. "But I relaxed and played my game."

Elias had friends and coaches from Bollettieri's watching him, Domijan had his Saddlebrook friends, but Sekou Bangoura Jr. brought out even more fans, who hoped to see a local player take an Eddie Herr title. But unseeded Pablo Carreno of Spain took advantage of his opportunities for a 6-4, 4-6, 6-3 victory sending the crowd of several hundred home disappointed.

"I made a lot of unforced errors," said the sixth-seeded Bangoura, who had won four of his five previous matches in three sets. "I was just tentative, he was aggressive, so he won."

With all his experience in three setters, Bangoura should have been confident heading into the third set, but he couldn't shake his jitters.

"I was still a little nervous," Bangoura admitted. "I was trying to stay relaxed, but I got a little tentative and made some bad shot selections. He knew when to attack, and he didn't blow his chances."

Carreno, who trains in Barcelona with the Spanish federation, is in the U.S. for the first time, and he too, was anxious about playing in front of such a large crowd.

"But once I started to concentrate, I started to improve more," Carreno said through an interpreter. "He is a great player, never made mistakes, and I am happy to win."

The girls' 16 champion is 14-year-old Zarina Diyas of Kazakhstan, who overcame a second-set lapse to defeat wild card Alexandra Cercone of Seminole, Fla. 6-1, 3-6, 6-3. Diyas, the No. 4 seed, prepared for her first trip to the U.S. by practicing on clay in the Czech Republic, but her game is well-suited to hard courts, "aggressive tennis," as she called it.

After controlling the first set, Diyas couldn't sustain her momentum.

"I lost concentration," said Diyas, who sought her mother's help in selecting the appropriate word in English throughout the post-match interview. "And I was tired in third set. My knee," she said, pointing down to the area taking the stress of her first tournament on hard courts. "But good serves and good returns."

The second game of the third set proved pivotal, with Cercone holding easily in the first game and then earning several break points for a 2-0 lead, which she failed to convert.

"It was pretty crucial," said Cercone, who admitted the pace of Diyas caught her off guard in the first set. "I was kind of upset I didn't win it."

When Cercone was broken at love in the next game, the momentum shifted, and despite several brilliant displays of defense, she couldn't keep the ball between the lines, and fell behind 5-1.

Cercone saved three match points serving at 1-5, and broke Diyas to inject some doubt into the outcome, but she couldn't summon the energy to force Diyas to serve it out.

"I had to fight off a few match points, I started getting really hot and tired and she started running me more and she stopped missing. She was playing more conservative, the points were lasting a lot longer, and she was running me from side to side."

Diyas, who took Piter to three sets in the final of a Grade 2 in the Czech Republic, is not playing the Junior Orange Bowl, but she has her sights set on returning to the Eddie Herr next year. "It's great," she said.

Girls' 14s No. 1 seed Laura Robson would certainly agree, after taking her second consecutive title with a 6-0, 4-6, 6-0 victory over No. 5 Monica Puig of Miami. Playing on the same court where she captured her 12s title last year, Robson, who had won eleven straight sets this week, saw that streak come to a halt.

"I had a bad service game at 4-2, and then I kind of mentally destructed," said the British left-hander. "I got so tense, my balls were flying everywhere, back fence, but in the third set I got my head together."

Puig, who trains at the Harold Solomon Tennis Institute, is not as experienced as Robson in international level events, and she also rode a roller coaster of emotions.

"I couldn't make a lot of balls, focusing about being in the final, and she had the edge because she's been here before," Puig said of the opening set. "In the second set, I felt I had nothing to lose, so I went out and played very loose tennis, and I put the pressure on her. In the third set, the nerves came back, because I knew this was it."

For Puig, who lost her first match at the Eddie Herr three years ago 6-0, 6-0, reaching the final and putting pressure on the top seed helped console the pain of the loss.

"She came out here and was blowing everybody away in two sets," said Puig, who won the doubles title on Saturday. "I don't think anybody has really given her a hard time, so I was happy to get a set off her, and fought as hard as I could."

Puig succeeded in challenging Robson for one set, but the boys' 14 field couldn't mount any resistance to No. 12 seed Tiago Fernandes of Brazil, who defeated Spencer Newman of Miami 6-2, 6-1, bringing his games-lost total to 17 in six matches.

Fernandes, who is competing in the U.S. (and internationally) for the first time, used a big serve and a heavy ball to dominate Newman, the No. 14 seed.

"He served well," said Newman. "I just wasn't hitting my shots, and he had a heavy ball, so every time I would set up for it, I was tight, and it would catch on me, and I'd get it a little late. He played well, kept attacking, kept the pressure on me."

The tall, thin Brazilian was modest about his impressive debut on the international tennis stage.

"It seem easy, maybe, but the players are so good," said Fernandes, who is entered in the 18s at the upcoming Prince Cup and in the 14s at the Junior Orange Bowl. "The tournament is very important, everyone is so nice, the organization is good, and I enjoy it. And I play good."

In addition to the six singles champions crowned on Sunday, the 18s doubles winners were decided. Top seeds Vlad Ignatic of Belarus and Grigor Dimitrov of Bulgaria defeated the second-seeded team of Roman Jebavy of the Czech Republic and Vasek Pospisil of Canada 2-6, 6-4, 7-6(4) in a match that provided plenty of entertainment for those not interested in the girls' 18s singles finals played at the same time.

In the girls' 18s doubles, Melanie Oudin fell short in her attempt to sweep both 18s titles, as she and partner Mallory Cecil, the No. 4 seeds, dropped a 2-6, 6-4, 6-3 decision to unseeded Kristy Frilling and Asia Muhammad.

Frilling and Muhammad, who played together for the first time at the U.S. Open junior championships and reached the semifinals, fell behind 2-0 in the final set, but reeled off six of the next seven games for the victory.

"We started playing more aggressive," said Muhammad. "When we were losing games, we were letting them take control. Playing aggressive is what we do best."

Frilling, a qualifier in singles, needed to reach the semifinals in doubles this week in order to secure a special exemption to avoid qualifying at the Orange Bowl.

"I was so nervous in the quarters," said Frilling. "We had to win that match for me to get the special exemption, and I was here by myself, without a ride, so I didn't know how I'd get to Miami (for qualifying). So we had to win."

The boys 16s doubles final, which was played in Key Biscayne to accommodate qualifiers for that tournament, was won by No. 2 seeds David Holiner and Max Stevens of the U.S. They defeated the unseeded team of Brandon Burke of Jamaica and Darian King of Barbados 8-4.
Read More - Oudin and Elias Reign as Eddie Herr 18s Champions

Shawn Johnson gymnast

Shawn Machel Johnson (born January 19, 1992) is an American artistic gymnast. She is the 2008 Olympic women's balance beam gold medalist, the individual all-around silver medalist,[1] the 2007 all-around World Champion, and the 2007 and 2008 U.S. all-around champion.

shawn johnsonshawn johnson
shawn johnsonshawn johnson
shawn johnsonshawn johnson
shawn johnsonshawn johnson
shawn johnsonshawn johnson
shawn johnsonshawn johnson
shawn johnsonshawn johnson
shawn johnsonshawn johnson
shawn johnsonshawn johnson
shawn johnsonshawn johnson
shawnjohnsonshawnjohnson
shawn johnsonshawn johnson
shawn johnsonshawn johnson
shawn johnsonshawn johnson
shawn johnsonshawn johnson
Read More - Shawn Johnson gymnast
Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...