Serena to Play Fed Cup Again, Clijsters US Open Scare and Murray out of Montreal

Serena to Play Fed Cup Again:

American star Serena Williams has confirmed she will play two Fed Cup ties in 2012 to make her eligible to represent her country at next summer’s Olympic Games in London. It will be the first time she has represented her country since 2007. With its top stars absent the US team has seen itself slip from the World Group and the USTA will hope that by Serena and possibly their other big names returning they can return to the top tier of competition. “I am committing to play in both of the U.S. Fed Cup team’s ties in 2012,” Williams said in a statement released to The Associated Press by the USTA on Wednesday. “After being physically unable to participate in the last few ties, I am eager to compete in Fed Cup and help my country return to the World Group.”

Clijsters in the Wars Again:

Kim Clijsters may miss out on the chance to defend her US Open title in a couple of weeks as her torrid time with injuries continued when she was forced to retire from her second round encounter with Zheng Jie in Toronto yesterday. A set up, a stomach complaint forced her to withdraw and she will now have one eye on the clock as the seconds tick down to the final Grand Slam of the year in New York at the end of the month. She is definitely out of Cincinnati next week.“I still have a few weeks until then so will try to do everything to obviously be ready,” she said. Another player in the wars is American Bethanie Mattek-Sands, who revealed that she pulled out of this week’s Rogers Cup in Toronto because of a torn right shoulder. “The fact that I have to think about it during certain shots makes it even more uncomfortable,” she said. “I still am out practicing each day, but most of my practice is done left handed. I still work on all my movement drills and so on, which is continuing to make me a better player each day. Let’s hope this week goes well and I am able to string some days together without the pain.”

Serena Williams

Murray Slumps out of Montreal:

British No.1 Andy Murray repeated his post-Australian Open troubles with a horrendous 3-6, 1-6 defeat to Kevin Anderson yesterday. The two-time defending champion was playing his first competitive tennis since Great Britain’s whitewash of Luxembourg in the Davis Cup last month and the 6ft 8in South African dominated him from start to finish here. “I just felt very slow, the game seemed to be going so fast,” Murray told BBC Radio 5 Live afterwards. “I’ve trained really hard to get ready for the tournament. I’ve always played very well here. I couldn’t get anything going. I started both sets really, really badly which doesn’t help against someone that serves like Kevin.”

Stepanek Upsets Monfils for Legg Mason Classic:

Radek Stepanek captured his fifth ATP singles title on the weekend by upsetting the French top seed Gael Monfils 6-4, 6-4 in the final of the Legg Mason Classic in Washington. It was his first title since San Jose in 2009 and will give him confidence going through the US Open Series. “It’s my biggest win in my career so far and it’s coming in the later stage of my career, so it means so much to me that I’m capable even in this age to play such great tennis, beating the guys from the Top 10 and winning the title,” said the Czech. “It’s really an amazing feeling.” In the wake of that defeat, world No.7 Monfils has revealed that trainer Patrick Chamagne will train him for at least the next few weeks after her parted ways with coach Roger Rasheed last month. “I’m a believer, but to reach the top I have to believe more, endure more,” he said. “When I do two hours of practice, I need to add 30 minutes more. I need to feel something inside to go further. I think I show too much respect to my opponent. Maybe I can be more selfish. If I do that, I believe I can reach the finals.”

Violence Erupts at ITF Challenger:

The 25k ITF Challenger Event at Versmold in Germany erupted into chaos this week when Dutch tennis player Elise Tamaela was attacked by the father of Danish teen Karen Barbat. Tamaela, 28, was cheering on compatriot Danielle Harmsen who faced Barbat in a qualifier for the $25,000 event when Mihai Barbat erupted in to rage and assaulted her. Witnesses have reported that Barbat shouted verbal assaults at Tamaela before eventually rising out of his chair and punching and elbowing her in the face. She was knocked out for five minutes and rushed to hospital in Halle. She is reported to have suffered concussion and facial swelling. Her brother, Sander Tamaela, rushed from Holland to Versmold with their father upon hearing of the incident and they hope to return Tamaela to Holland tomorrow. “Elise has been attacked by the father of Karen Barbat [while] watching her game,” Sander posted in a message on Tennis Forum. “He was calling her names from the start of the game (all kind of racist things I’m not willing to repeat). After a while Elise said something about it, he then knocked her out with a punch and elbows to [her] temple.”

Radwanska Back in the Winners’ Circle:

Poland’s Agnieszka Radwanska won her fifth WTA title, and her first in three years, as she shocked world No.3 Vera Zvonareva in the final at Carlsbad. A year on from her last final at the same event, the 22-year-old put her recent falling out with her father/coach behind her to grind out a 6-3, 6-4 victory which followed comeback wins against both Daniela Hantuchova and Andrea Petkovic. “Everything was working,” Radwanska said. “Even though I had two really tough matches in the quarters and semifinals, I played very well today. I really wanted to win this tournament so I was really focused from the beginning. Winning a tournament with a lot of great matches against top players is very special.”

ATP Tour Welcomes Another New Winner:

Dutchman Robin Haase was celebrating over the weekend after he defeated Spain’s Albert Montanes to lift the Bet-At-Home Cup Kitzbuhel. It was also his first ATP Tour final so the experience will be all the sweeter for him. Feliciano Lopez and Andreas Seppi were also among the names to fall at the feet of Haase throughout the week. “It’s an amazing feeling. I’m really happy that I won,” he said. “It was one of the goals this year to make it into a semi-final or final, and maybe win it. I was close a few times when I played good but actually lost to good players. To win this match and beat good players this week was really great.”

Gasquet Reaches 250 Mark:

Frenchman Richard Gasquet hit 250 ATP Tour singles wins this week with his first round 6-3, 6-2 win over Germany’s Florian Mayer. “I went through a period when I was losing matches, but I still practised a lot,” said the world No.13 afterwards. “Little by little I started playing better and winning matches. The victories added up and I became more and more confident.”

Stepanek Leaps in Rankings Watch:

Radek Stepanek will be beaming this week after his title in Washington sees him leap 27 places in the South African Airways ATP World Rankings to No.27 in the world. Marcos Baghdatis drops 14 to No.40, whilst Argentine David Nalbandian plummets 24 to No.51. As he drops out of the Top 50, Finland’s Jarkko Nieminen climbs back in at No.50. Donald Young and Brazil’s Joao Souza both experience big jumps to enter the Top 100, while Young’s countryman Michael Russell rounds up the Top 100 after he climbs 9. This week’s Sony Eriksson WTA World Rankings are all about Germany. Andrea Petkovic becomes the first German woman in the Top 10 for 11 years after reaching the semifinals at Carlsbad last week. Her No.10 placing is a career-high. She is only the sixth German woman to complete this feat. Wimbledon semifinalist Sabine Lisicki is also at a career-high No.21, which is amazing considering she was outside the Top 200 in April. There are two climbers in to the Top 100; Greece’s Eleni Daniilidou jumps from No.103 to No.93, and Varvara Lepchenko of the USA climbs one to No.100.

Tennis People Greatest Of All Time (GOAT) Race Returns:

After Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal took it easy following their exploits in Wimbledon they have both returned to action at the Montreal Masters this week. As they are back, so too is the 2011 GOAT race documenting which of the two players involved in the constant rows over who is better is performing more amiably this year. As a reminder, players receive 10 points for entering a tournament, 25 for reaching a quarterfinal, 50 for a semi, 100 for a final and 200 points for winning a title. All points are doubled for Grand Slam events. Each player receives 10 points for entering Montreal.

Roger: 965 Rafa: 1675