TENNIS – Mardy Fish to try and qualify for the Golf US Open. The list of qualified players and Wild Cards in Rome. Dinara Safina retires. IPTL moves the opener to Manila and Nadal becomes an honorary citizen of Madrid. Joshua Bosco
Fish to play US Open qualifiers
While other tennis players are busy on clay, former World No.7 Mardy Fish is trying to qualify for the US Open… not the one played in Flushing Meadows though.
The American is taking part in local qualifiers hoping to earn a place in the prestigious golf Major Championship and, after shooting a 73 at the TPC Valencia in LA, he is now the first alternate. The tournament will take place in Pinehurst, North Carolina from June 12th to June 15th.
All we can say is, good luck Mardy!
Qualifiers and wildcards in Rome
Italians Simone Bolelli, Marco Cecchinato, Paolo Lorenzi and Filippo Volandri have all received wildcards for the BNL Internazionali d’Italia which are underway in Rome. Among the seven qualifiers we find 33 year old Stephane Robert, who got himself noticed at this year’s Australian Open when he became the first Lucky Loser to reach the fourth round – where he eventually lost to Murray in four sets – and Italian World No.296 Stefano Travaglia, who will play his first ATP World Tour level match against another Italian, World No.164 Bolelli.
In the women’s draw Italians Nastassja Burnett, Camila Giorgi and Karin Knapp have received wildcards while Mona Barthel , Lauren Davis, Belinda Bencic and Christina McHale are among the qualifiers for the main draw. Paula Ormaechea will play in the first round as a Lucky Loser.
Who’s not playing in Rome
Juan Martin del Potro, Nicolas Almagro, Richard Gasquet, Florian Mayer, Gael Monfils and Benoit Paire have all announced their withdrawal before the start of the tournament. Novak Djokovic, who didn’t play in Madrid, is expected to play here in Rome while World No.4 Roger Federer is still in doubt after his wife Mirka gave birth to twins last Tuesday.
Victoria Azarenka is still off court due to her ongoing foot injury, while Kaia Kanepi and former World No.1 Caroline Wozniacki announced their withdrawal last week. Serena Williams, who withdrew from her Madrid quarterfinal match against Petra Kvitova due to a left thigh injury, is already in Rome and expects to be ready to play her second round match against either Romina Oprandi or Andrea Petkovic.
Dinara Safina officially retires
Former World No.1 Dinara Safina has officially called time on her career, three years after playing her last match on the WTA Tour.
“I played the last professional tournament of my career here in Madrid and that’s why I think it’s the best place for me to quit the game” said Safina, who kept delaying the official announcement in the hope of recovering from the back injury sustained during her second round match against Julia Georges in May 2011.
IPTL opener moves to Manila
Due to a tense political situation in Thailand, where the Prime Minister was ousted for nepotism by the Constitutional Court after months of anti-government protests, IPTL organisers have decided to move the first leg of the tournament from Bangkok to Manila, in the Philippines.
League founder and doubles specialist Mahesh Bhupathi released a statement saying that bringing tennis to new audiences has always been one of the IPTL’s objectives and Manila is a perfect city to do so, thanks to world class indoor venues which hold more than 20,000 spectators.
This means that Andy Murray, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Victoria Azarenka will now represent Manila against Singapore, Dubai and Mumbai. Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic and Serena Williams are among other players who will take part in this new competition, set to start in late November.
Nadal is now a Honorary Citizen
Last Monday World No.1 Rafael Nadal was awarded the Honorary Citizenship of the city of Madrid in a ceremony that took place at the Cibeles Palace, the Madrid City Hall.
The honorary title, which is the highest honour that the city can grant to people who were not born there, is intended as an acknowledgment of Nadal’s “extraordinary sports career” and to enforce the close tie that binds the tennis player to the Spanish capital.
