Tennis Biografy

Jennifer Capriati

2010-09-26T23:05:00.000+02:00

Jennifer Marie Capriati (b. March 29 1976, in
Manhattan, New York) is a former World No. 1 woman
tennis player from the United States. During her
career, she has won three Grand Slam
(tennis)|Grand Slam singles titles (2 Australian
Open, 1 French Open), as well as the women's
singles Gold Medal at the 1992 Olympic Games.

Capriati was introduced to tennis while she still
a toddler by her father, Stefano Capriati, an
Italian-American former boxer turned tennis coach,
who has continued to coach her in her later
professional career. In 1986, when Jennifer's
burgeoning tennis talent became obvious, her
family moved to Florida, where the ten-year-old
player was enrolled in an intense training program
run by Jimmy Evert, the father of Chris Evert.

In 1989, Capriati served notice to the tennis
world by becoming the youngest player to win the
French Open junior singles title at the age of 13
years and 2 months. (The record stood until 1993,
when it was broken by Martina Hingis who won the
title as a 12-year-old). Capriati went on to win
the junior singles title at the 1989 U.S. Open
(tennis)|US Open, and the junior doubles titles
at both the US Open and Wimbledon
Championships|Wimbledon (partnering Meredith
McGrath).

Capriati turned professional at the beginning of
March 1990, four weeks before her 14th birthday.
In her debut tournament on the tour, at Boca
Raton, Florida, she defeated four seeded players
on her way to becoming the youngest-ever player to
reach a tour final, where she lost 6-4, 7-5 to
Gabriela Sabatini. Three months later, she became
the youngest-ever semi-finalist at the French Open
(aged 14 years and 2 months), where she lost to
the eventual champion Monica Seles. Capriati went
on to reach the fourth round at both Wimbledon and
the US Open that year, and won her first top-level
singles title that October at San Juan, Puerto
Rico. She finished her first year on the tour
ranked the World No. 8.

1991 saw Capriati reach the semi-finals at
Wimbledon and the US Open. She became Wimbledon's
youngest-ever semi-finalist after defeating the
defending-champion Martina Navratilova in the
quarter-finals, forcing Navratilova's earliest
Wimbeldon exit for 14 years. She won two singles
titles that year, as well as her first (and only)
tour doubles title (in Rome Masters|Rome
partnering Monica Seles).

The biggest moment of Capriati's early-career came
in 1992, when she won the women's singles Gold
Medal at the Olympic Games in Barcelona. In the
final, she defeated Steffi Graf (who was the Gold
Medalist four years earlier in Seoul) in three
sets 3-6, 6-3, 6-4.

But despite her Olympic triumph, it became clear
to observers that Capriati was struggling to cope
with the pressures of playing at the top by the
end of 1992. The enjoyment of playing the game
which she exuded when she first joined the tour
seemed to have drained away, and her results
started to suffer.

After some disappointing losses in 1993, Capriati
took a break from the tour to concentrate on her
high school studies. She soon ran into personal
and legal troubles. She was involved in a
shoplifting incident in December 1993, and in May
1994 she was arrested for marijuana possession. In
November 1994, a return to the tour lasted just
one match, which she lost. After that, she went on
a sabbatical of 15 months and did not play on the
tour for the whole of 1995.

Returning to the tour in 1996, Capriati again had
several false starts. In May 1999, she finally won
her first tournament in six years at Strasbourg.

In 2001, 11 years after she had first taken the
tour by storm as a young prodigy, Capriati finally
made her Grand Slam breakthough. She reached the
final of the Australian Open against the
then-World No. 1 player Martina Hingis, and won in
straight sets 6-4, 6-3. She followed this up by
capturing the French Open title five months later,
beating Kim Clijsters in a dramatic final 1-6,
6-4, 12-10. In October 2001, Capriati reached the
World No. 1 ranking.

Capriati won her third Grand Slam title in 2002,
when she sucessfully defended her Australian Open
crown. In the final against Hingis, Capriati was
4-6, 0-4 down at one point, but battled back to
win 4-6, 7-6, 6-2.

During her career, Capriati has won 14
professional singles titles and 1 doubles title as
well as earning herself the nickname "The
Incredible Bulk"

Recently, she has suffered several dramatic Grand
Slam defeats and has struggled with various
injuries that have kept her from playing a full
tour schedule.

Steffi Graf

2010-09-24T15:04:00.000+02:00

Stefanie Maria "Steffi" Graf (born June 14, 1969
in Mannheim, Germany) is a former World No. 1
woman tennis player from Germany, and widely
considered one of the greatest tennis players in
history. She won 22 Grand Slam (tennis)|Grand Slam
singles titles. In 1988, she became the first
player to achieve the "Golden Slam" –
capturing all four Grand Slam titles and the
Olympic Games|Olympic Gold Medal in the same year.
She was ranked the World No. 1 player for a record
377 weeks and is the only player to have won all
four of Grand Slam at least four times apiece.

==Biography==
===Early career===
Steffi was introduced to tennis by her father
Peter Graf, a car and insurance salesman and
aspiring tennis coach, who taught his
three-year-old daughter how to swing a wooden
racket in the family's living room. She began
practising on a court at the age of four and
played in her first tournament at five. She soon
began winning junior tournaments with regularity,
and in 1982 she won the European Championships 12s
and 18s.

Graf played in her first professional tournament
in October 1982 at Filderstadt, Germany; she lost
6-4, 6-0 to Tracy Austin. After the match, Austin
dismissed Graf's abilities saying there were
"hundreds" of kids like her in the United States.

At the start of her first full professional season
in 1983, the 13-year-old Graf was ranked World No.
124. She won no titles in the next three years,
but her game improved consistently and her ranking
steadily climbed: No. 98 in 1983, No. 22 in 1984,
and No. 6 in 1985. In 1984, she represented West
Germany in the tennis demonstration event at the
Olympic Games in Los Angeles and won the Gold
Medal. Her schedule was closely controlled by her
father, who limited her play so that she would not
burn out as many young tennis stars had. In 1985,
for instance, she played only 10 events leading up
to the U.S. Open (tennis)|US Open; whereas another
up-and-coming star, Gabriela Sabatini of
Argentina, who was a year younger than Graf,
played 21. Peter Graf also kept a tight reign on
Steffi's personal life. Social invitations on the
tour were often declined as Steffi's focus was
kept very much on on-court play. Working with her
father and coach Pavel Slozil, Graf typically
practiced for up to four hours a day, often
heading straight from airports to practice courts.
This narrow focus meant that Graf made few friends
on the tour in her early years, but led to a
steady improvement in her play.

Graf finally won her first tour title in April
1986 at Hilton Head, South Carolina, defeating
Chris Evert in the final. She followed this up
with seven further tournament victories in 1986,
and finished the year ranked World No. 3.

The main weapon in Graf's game was her powerful
forehand, which earned her the nickname "Fraulein
Forehand"'. Over time, Graf also developed the
best slice backhand in the game. She built her
powerful and accurate serve up to 105 mph. She was
also extremely fast and athletic, chasing down
balls that seemed unplayable. Though she chose
tennis as her career, she was also a top 400-metre
runner in her youth and could potentially have
been a world-class athlete in that event.

===Breakthrough year===

Graf's Grand Slam breakthrough came in 1987. She
started the year strongly, with six tournament
victories heading into the French Open. In the
final, she defeated World No. 1 Martina
Navratilova in an epic battle: 6-4, 4-6, 8-6. Graf
lost to Navratilova in the finals at Wimbledon
Championships|Wimbledon and the US Open later that
year. But she won three more tournaments after the
French Open and did enough to claim the World No.
1 ranking from Navratilova in August 1987. She
also helped West Germany win the Fed Cup that
year.

==="Golden Slam"===

1988 is widely considered to be the pinnacle of
Graf's career. She started out the year by winning
the Australian Open, beating Evert in straight
sets in the final. Then at the French Open, she
successfully defended her title by hammering
Natalia Zvereva 6-0, 6-0 in the final. Next came
Wimbledon, where Navratilova had won six straight
titles. After a tight start to the final, Graf
took control in the second set and beat
Navratilova 5-7, 6-2, 6-1. She then beat Sabatini
in three sets in the US Open final to duplicate
the feat of winning all four Grand Slam singles
titles in one year, previously achieved by only
two women – Maureen Connolly (in 1953) and
Margaret Court (in 1970). But with tennis becoming
a full medal sport at the 1988 Olympic Games in
Seoul, there was one more feat which Graf could
add. And she duly defeated Sabatini 6-3, 6-3 in
the Olympic final to win the Gold Medal and
achieve what the media had dubbed the "Golden
Slam". Graf also won her only Grand Slam doubles
title that year – at Wimbledon partnering
Sabatini – and picked up a women's doubles
Olympic Bronze Medal. She was named the 1988 BBC
Sports Personality of the Year Overseas
Personality|BBC Overseas Sports Personality of the
Year.

===New challengers===

Graf extended her Grand Slam winning streak to
five events at the Australian Open in 1989, where
she comfortably beat Helena Sukova in the final.
The winning streak was ended at the 1989 French
Open, where a 16 year-old Spanish contender
Arantxa SÃ¡nchez Vicario beat her in three sets to
become the French Open's youngest-ever winner.
However the winning touch was quickly rediscovered
as Graf beat Navratilova in three-set finals at
both Wimbeldon and the US Open.

Few doubted that Graf would continue to dominate
the women's game for years to come when she beat
Mary Joe FernÃ¡ndez at the start of 1990. But a
new threat to her dominance broke-through at the
1990 French Open where 16 year-old Monica Seles
beat Graf in straight sets to further lower to
youngest-ever winner record. At Wimbledon, Graf
was unexpectedly beaten in the semi-finals by Zina
Garrison. She then reached the US Open final, but
lost in straight sets to Sabatini. Personal
problems contributed to her difficulties. In the
middle of the year, her father Peter was the
subject of a paternity suit brought by a former
Playboy model. The difficulty of answering
questions about the matter came to a head at a
press conference early in the tournament at
Wimbledon, where Steffi broke down in tears.
Wimbledon authorities then threatened to
immediately shut-down any subsequent press
conferences where questions about the issue were
asked. (Tests eventually proved Peter was not the
baby's father.) Though Graf remained the World No.
1 player at the end of 1990, her aura of
invincibility had been broken.

A mixture of injury problems, personal
difficulties and loss of form made 1991 a tough
year for Graf. Seles established herself as the
new dominant player on the women's tour, winning
the Australian Open, French Open and US Open, and
ending Graf's reign as World No. 1 in March. Seles
did not play at Wimbledon, where Graf won her only
Grand Slam final of the year following a tight
three-set battle with Sabatini.

1992 was another year when Graf had to play
second-fiddle to Seles on the tour. Seles again
won the Australian, French and US Opens. Seles and
Graf met in the French Open final which Seles won
in a very close battle, taking the third set 10-8.
They then met again in the Wimbeldon final, where
Graf comprehensively proved that she was still the
tour's strongest grass court player, winning 6-2,
6-1. At the Olympic Games in Barcelona, Graf lost
to Jennifer Capriati in the final and claimed the
Silver Medal. However she did win her second Fed
Cup with Germany.

All indications were that Seles continued to have
the upper-hand at the start of the 1993, when she
beat Graf in three sets in the final of the
Australian Open. However a stunning turn of events
changed everything on April 30 1993. During a
quarter-final match between Seles and Magdalena
Maleeva at Hamburg, Seles was stabbed between the
shoulder-blades by a member of the crowd during a
change-over. As Seles was rushed to hospital, her
attacker was taken into custody. It turned out
that the assailant was GÃ¼nter Parche, a
38-year-old mentally-unstable fan of Graf from
eastern Germany, who claimed that he committed the
attack in order to help Graf reclaim the World No.
1 ranking, which Seles had held for the past two
years. Graf visited Seles in hospital the
following day, but said little in public about the
attack. She reached the final in Hamburg that
week, where she lost to SÃ¡nchez Vicario.

===Second period of dominance===

The psychological effects of the attack kept Seles
away from the tour for the next 28 months. With
Seles off the scene, Graf won the remaining three
Grand Slam titles in 1993 and regained the World
No. 1 ranking. It is impossible to determine if
Gunther Parche had not attacked Seles if Graf
would have experienced her second period of
resurgence. Parche got his way.

The beginning of 1994 saw Graf beat SÃ¡nchez
Vicario in the final of the Australian Open and,
for the second time in her career, become the
holder of all four Grand Slam titles
simultaneously. However she lost in the
semi-finals at the French Open, and then was
shockingly eliminated in the first round at
Wimbledon by Lori McNeil. She reached the final of
the US Open, where she lost to SÃ¡nchez Vicario in
three sets.

Injury kept Graf out of the Australian Open in
1995. She came back strongly to beat SÃ¡nchez
Vicario in the finals of both the French Open and
Wimbledon. The US Open was Seles' first Grand Slam
after returning from her long period away from the
tour. Seles and Graf met in the final, and Graf
won a dramatic battle 7-6, 0-6, 6-3.

In personal terms, 1995 was a very difficult year
for Steffi as she was accused by the German
authorities of tax evasion in the early years of
her career. In her defence, all she could say was
that her father Peter had been her financial
manager, and all financial matters relating to her
earnings at the time had been under his control.
As a result, Peter Graf was sentenced to 45 months
in jail. He was eventually released after serving
25 months. Prosecutors dropped their case against
Steffi in 1997, when she agreed to pay a fine of
1.3 million Deutsche Marks to the government and
an unspecified charity.

In 1996 Steffi again missed the Australian Open
due to injury, and then successfully defended the
three Grand Slam titles she won the year before.
In a classic French Open final, Graf saved
overcame SÃ¡nchez Vicario, taking the third-set
10-8. She then had straight-sets wins against
SÃ¡nchez Vicario in the Wimbledon final and Seles
in the US Open final.

While known for her business-like approach to the
game, at times Graf displayed a sense of humor.
During a tight 1996 semi-final match at Wimbledon
against Kimiko Date, Graf was getting ready to
serve when a spectator yelled out "Steffi, will
you marry me?". The whole stadium burst into
laughter. Steffi caught the ball she was bouncing,
turned to the fan, and yelled "How much money do
you have?". Graf lost the set, but won the match
6-2, 2-6, 6-3.

===Finals years on the tour===

The last few years of Graf's career were beset by
injuries – particularly to her knees and
back. But this did not prevent her enjoying some
final Grand Slam success as her career came to a
close.

Injury problems caused Graf to miss much of the
season in 1997. She lost the World No. 1 ranking
to Martina Hingis and failed to win a Grand Slam
title for the first time in ten years.

After missing almost half the season in 1998, she
finished that year ranked World No. 9 (her lowest
ranking since 1984).

But Graf still had a few more dramatic moments up
her sleeve in 1999. At the French Open, she
reached her first Grand Slam final for three years
and fought back from a set and a break down in the
second set to defeat the tennis world's new young
star Martina Hingis in three sets, in what she
called her most satisfying Grand Slam victory. She
then reached her ninth Wimbledon final, where she
lost to Lindsay Davenport.

With a series of injuries refusing to go away,
Graf announced her retirement from the tour in
August 1999. She was ranked the World No. 3 at the
time of her retirement.

During her career, Graf won 107 singles titles and
11 doubles titles. Her 22 Grand Slam singles
titles are second only to Margaret Court, who won
24. Her career prize-money earnings totalled
US$21,895,277. Her singles win-loss record was
900-115. She was ranked the World No. 1 for a
massive 377 weeks (non-consecutive), including a
record 186 consecutive weeks (from August
1987-March 1991) – more than any other man
or woman player.

===After retirement from the tour===

Graf married Andre Agassi on October 22 2001 at
his home in Las Vegas, Nevada|Las Vegas, with only
their mothers as witnesses. Their son Jaden Gil
was born on October 26, six weeks prematurely.
Their daughter Jaz Elle was born on October 3
2003.

Graf is the Founder and an active chairperson of
'Children for Tomorrow', a non-profit foundation
with the goal of implementing and developing
projects to support children who have been
traumatized by war or other crises. She is also a
WWF Ambassador. She appeared in "Otto, der
AuÃŸerfriesische", loves animals and is keen on
fashion and has created her own designs.

Graf was inducted into the International Tennis
Hall of Fame in 2004.

Rod Laver

2010-09-20T19:56:00.000+02:00

Rodney George "Rod" Laver (born August 9 1938, in Rockhampton, Australia) is
a former World No. 1 tennis player from Australia.
For this achievement, Laver is considered by many
tennis fans to be the greatest individual player
of all time.

Laver was a young boy when he left school to
pursue a career in tennis that would end up
lasting 23 years. Laver's first major singles
title was the Australian Open in 1960, where he beat fellow
Australian Neale Fraser in a titanic five-set
final. He then captured his first Wimbledon singles crown in 1961. In
1962, he became only the second male player after
Don Budge in 1938 to win all four of the Grand
Slam titles in the same year.

At the time, the Grand Slam events were only open
to amateur players, who were given (under the
table) little more than cost of living money for
their appearances in tournaments.

Laver turned professional after completing Grand
Slam in 1962. He quickly established himself among
the leading professional players, delighting
crowds with duels against Pancho Gonzales and Ken
Rosewall. During the next seven years, Laver won
the US
Professional Singles Championship five times,
including four in a row from 1966-1969.

With the dawn of the Tennis Open Era in
1968, professional players were once again allowed
to compete in the Grand Slam events. Laver became
Wimbeldon's first Open Era champion in 1968,
beating fellow-Australian Tony Roche in straight
sets in the final.

In 1969, Laver achived the Grand Slam for a second
time, sealing the achievement with a four-set win
over Roche in the US Open
final. He had an incredible record that year,
winning 17 of the 32 singles touarnments he
entered and compiling a 106-16 win-loss record. In
beating John Newcombe in four sets in the
Wimbeldon final, he captured the title at the All
England Club for the fourth consecutive time that
he'd entered the championship (and reached the
final for the sixth consecutive time as he'd been
runner-up in 1959 and 1960). He set a record of 31
consecutive match victories at Wimbledon between
1961 and 1970, which lasted until 1980 when it was
eclipsed by Bjorn Borg. Unlike his first Grand
Slam year in 1962, in 1969 Laver was playing in
events open to all players in the professional and
amateur ranks, and thus winning tournaments that
involved all of the best players in the world.

In 1971, Laver won a then-record US$292,717 in
tournament prize money. The figure enabled him to
become the first tennis player to surpass US$1
million in prize money.

Laver helped Australia win the Davis Cup four
consecutive times from 1959-62. In 1973,
professionals were permitted to play in the Davis
Cup for the first time, and Laver was on a winning
team for the fifth time, claiming two singles and
a doubles rubber in the final as Australia beat
the United States 5-0.

Laver was officially ranked the World No. 1 player
in 1961, 1962, 1968 and 1969. He retired from the
professional tennis tour in 1974. He was still
ranked in the Top 10 at the time of his
retirement.

Laver's 11 Grand Slam singles titles currently
place him tied for third place on the all-time
list, along with Borg. Only Pete Sampras and Roy
Emerson have won more Grand Slam singles titles.
Laver would almost certainly have won more than
the 11 Grand Slam singles titles he did had he not
been barred from entering the Slams from 1963-67,
due to his professional status. Laver also won
eight Grand Slam doubles titles.

While there are other players who could also
validly have a claim to the title of the greatest
male tennis player of all time, few would argue
that Laver is, at the very least, among the best
six or seven men ever to play tennis. Many fans
consider him to be the greatest as he is the only
play (male or female) to have achieved the Grand
Slam twice.

Laver was inducted into the International Tennis
Hall of Fame in 1981.

In July 1998, Laver suffered a major stroke while
being interviewed by ESPN for a series on greatest
athletes of the 20th Century. Characteristically,
tennis played an important role in his recovery.

In 2000, the centre court at Melbourne Park, which
today hosts the Australian Open, was named the Rod
Laver Arena is named in his honour.

In 2003, Laver, along with fellow Australian
tennis superstar Margaret Smith Court, was
honoured with his portrait on a List of people on
stamps of Australia|postage stamp by the
"Australia Post Australian Legends Award".

== Grand Slam singles finals ==

=== Wins (11) ===

Year Championship Opponent in
Final Score in Final
1960 Australian Championships Neale Fraser
5-7, 3-6, 6-3, 8-6, 8-6
1961 Wimbledon Charles
McKinley 6-3, 6-1, 6-4
1962 Australian Championships Roy Emerson
8-6, 0-6, 6-4, 6-4
1962 French Championships Roy Emerson
3-6, 2-6, 6-3, 9-7, 6-2
1962 Wimbledon Martin
Mulligan 6-2, 6-2, 6-1
1962 US Championships Roy Emerson
6-2, 6-4, 5-7, 6-4
Open Era
1968 Wimbledon Tony Roche
6-3, 6-4, 6-2
1969 Australian Open Andres Gimeno
6-3, 6-4, 7-5
1969 French Open Ken Rosewall
6-4, 6-3, 6-4
1969 Wimbledon John Newcombe
6-4, 5-7, 6-4, 6-4
1969 US Open Tony Roche
7-9, 6-1, 6-2, 6-2

=== Runner-ups (6) ===

Year Championship Opponent in
Final Score in Final
1959 Wimbledon Alex Olmedo
6-4, 6-3, 6-4
1960 Wimbledon Neale Fraser
6-4, 3-6, 9-7, 7-5
1960 US Championships Neale Fraser
6-4, 6-4, 9-7
1961 Australian Championships Roy Emerson
1-6, 6-3, 7-5, 6-4
1961 US Championships Roy Emerson
7-5, 6-3, 6-2
Open Era
1968 French Open Ken Rosewall
6-3, 6-1, 2-6, 6-2

Patrick Rafter

2010-09-20T19:42:00.000+02:00

Patrick Michael Rafter (born December 28 1972) is
a former World No. 1 tennis player from Australia.
He is best remembered as a two-time men's singles
champion at the US Open, and a
two-time runner-up at Wimbledon
Championships. Rafter was well known for
his attacking Serve and volley|serve and volley
game and possessed one of finest volleys in
the game.

Rafter was born in Queensland and is
third-youngest in a family of nine children. He
began playing tennis at the age of five with his
father and three older brothers. In April 2004,
Rafter married his longtime girlfriend Lara
Feltham (with whom he has a son, Joshua,) at a
resort in Fiji. Their daughter, India, was born in
the summer of 2005.

== Tennis career==

Rafter turned professional in 1991, and won his
first career singles title in 1994 in Manchester.
Prior to 1997, this was the only top-level singles
title he had won.

Rafter's major breakthorugh came in 1997 at the US
Open, when he reached the final against Greg
Rusedski and won in four sets to claim his first Grand Slam title.

In 1998, he reached the US Open final again and
defeated fellow Aussie player Mark Philippoussis
in four sets. He also won five other tour singles
titles that year.

In July 1999, Rafter reached the World No. 1 men's
singles ranking. However he held it for just one
week, making him the shortest-reigning World No. 1
in tour history.

Rafter won the Australian Open men's doubles title
in 1999 (partnering Jonas Bjorkman).

In 2000, Rafter reached the men's singles final a
Wimbledon where he faced Pete Sampras who was
gunning for a record-breaking seventh title.
Rafter made a strong start to the match and took
the first set. But after the match he claimed that
he had "choked" part way through the second set,
and was then not able to get back into his game.
Sampras won in four sets.

In 2001, Rafter made the Wimbledon final again. He
faced Goran Ivanisevic, who had reached the
Wimbledon final three times before but had slid
down the world rankings to No. 125 following
injury problems. After a titanic five-set
struggle, lasting just over three hours,
Ivanisevic prevailed 6-3, 3-6, 6-3, 2-6, 9-7.

Rafter was on the Australian Davis Cup teams which
lost in the final in 2000 (to Spain) and 2001 (to
France). He was ironically unable to play in the
1999 Davis Cup final where Australia beat
France to win the cup because of injury.

Rafter was on the Australian teams which won the
World Team Cup in 1999 and 2001.

Rafter retired from the professional tour at the
end of 2002. During his career he won 11 singles
titles and 10 doubles titles.

Rafter returns to the courts annually to play
World Team Tennis for the Philadelphia Freedoms.

==Grand Slam singles finals==

===Wins (2)===
Year Championship Opponent in
Final Score in Final
1997 US Open Greg Rusedski
6-3, 6-2, 4-6, 7-5
1998 US Open Mark
Philippoussis 6-3, 3-6, 6-2, 6-0

===Runner-ups (2)===
Year Championship Opponent in
Final Score in Final
2000 Wimbledon Pete Sampras
6-7, 7-6, 6-4, 6-2
2001 Wimbledon Goran Ivanisevic
6-3, 3-6, 6-3, 2-6, 9-7

Frederick John Perry

2010-09-20T19:31:00.000+02:00

Frederick John Perry (May 18, 1909 - February 2,
1995) was an English tennis player
and three-time Wimbledon Championships. Born in Stockport, Cheshire, England,
his father was elected to the British House of
Commons as a Labour Party
member.

==Early successes==
Perry was a table tennis world champion before
taking up tennis at the relatively late age of 18.
He had exceptional speed from his table tennis
days and played with the Continental grip,
attacking the ball low and on the rise. He was the
first player to win all four Grand Slam singles titles, though not all
in the same year, and the first player to win
those four titles consecutively (although once
again not in the same year). He has acheived the Career Grand
Slam, doing so at the age of 26. Perry is the last
British player to win the Wimbledon men's singles
title, winning it three times in a row and
becoming an English icon.

In 1933 Perry helped lead his team to victory over
France in the Davis Cup, which earned Great
Britain the Davis Cup for the first time in 21
years.

==Sporting legacy==
Perry is considered by some to have been one of
the greatest male players to have ever played the
game. Kings of the Court, a video-tape documentary
made in 1997 in conjunction with the International
Tennis Hall of Fame, named Perry one of the ten
greatest players of all time. But this documentary
only considered those players who played before
the Open era of tennis that began in 1968, with
the exception of Rod Laver, who spanned both eras,
so that all of the more recent great players are
missing.

Inside the Church Road gate at the All England
Lawn Tennis Club in Wimbledon, London, a statue of
Fred Perry was erected in 1984 to mark the 50th
anniversary of his first singles championship. In
his birthplace, a special 14 mile (23 km) walking
route, Fred Perry Way, was built by the city of
Stockport and officially opened in September 2002.

Perry was inducted into the International Tennis
Hall of Fame in Newport, Rhode Island in 1975. He
died in Melbourne, Australia.

==Fred Perry clothing brand==
The Fred Perry brand of clothing has been popular
for many years. It is best known for the laurel
logo on the left breast of its polo-style shirts.
In the mid-1950s and through the early 1960s many
considered the Fred Perry brand of male tennis
shirts to be the best available.

==Grand Slam Titles==
===Singles===
*Australian Open (1934)
*French Open (1935)
*Wimbledon Championships|Wimbledon (1934, 1935,
1936)
*US Open (tennis)|US Open (1933, 1934, 1936)

===Doubles===
*Australian Open (1934)
*French Open (1936)

===Mixed Doubles===
*French Open (1932)
*Wimbledon (1935, 1936)
*US Open (1932)

Jim Courier

2010-09-20T17:45:00.000+02:00

Jim Courier (b. August 17 1970 in Sanford,
Florida) is a former World No. 1 professional
tennis player from the United States. During his
career he won four Grand Slam
singles titles – two at the French Open and
two at the Australian Open.

As a junior player in the 1980s, Courier attended
the Nick Bollettieri Tennis Academy, and won the
prestigious Orange Bowl in 1986 and 1987, as well
as the French Open junior doubles title.

Courier turned professional in 1988 and made his
Grand Slam breakthrough in 1991 when he won the
French Open singles title, defeating his former
Bollettieri Academy-mate Andre Agassi in a
memorable five-set final. He also reached the
final of the US Open that year,
where he lost to Stefan Edberg.

1992 saw Courier win both the Australian Open and
French Open titles and enjoy a 25 match winning
streak. In February that year he became the tenth
player to reach the World No. 1 ranking since the
ranking system was implemented in 1973. He would
finish 1992 as the World No. 1 ranked player.
Courier was also a member of the US team which won
the 1992 Davis Cup.

1993 saw Courier claim the Australian Open title
again. He reached his third consecutive French
Open final, which he lost to Sergi Bruguera, and
also reached the 1993 Wimbledon final where he was
defeated by Pete Sampras.

Courier would again be part of a US Davis Cup
winning team in 1995.

Courier captured a total 23 singles titles and 6
doubles titles. He spent a total of 58 weeks
ranked as the World No. 1 in 1992 and 1993. A
consistent player on all surfaces, the
right-handed Courier was known for brandishing
brutal groundstrokes in defeating his opponents.
His powerful and accurate forehand was one of the
most feared shots on the tour during his time.

Courier was the first tour player to regularly
wear a baseball cap while on court. He was known
as being a huge baseball fan, his favorite team
having been the Cincinnati Reds.

Courier retired from the professional tour in
2000. He was inducted in the International Tennis
Hall of Fame, Newport, Rhode Island, in 2005.

Today, Courier serves as a tennis analyst for the
USA Network and NBC Sports and as an assistant
coach to Davis Cup captain Patrick McEnroe.

==Grand Slam finals==
===Wins (4)===
Year Championship Opponent in
Final Score in Final
1991 French Open Andre Agassi
3-6, 6-4, 2-6, 6-1, 6-4
1992 Australian Open Stefan Edberg
6-3, 3-6, 6-4, 6-2
1992 French Open Petr Korda
7-5, 6-2, 6-1
1993 Australian Open Stefan Edberg
6-2, 6-1, 2-6, 7-5

===Runner-ups (3)===
Year Championship Opponent in
Final Score in Final
1991 US Open Stefan Edberg
6-2, 6-4, 6-0
1993 French Open Sergi Bruguera
6-4, 2-6, 6-2, 3-6, 6-3
1993 Wimbledon Pete Sampras
7-6, 7-6, 3-6, 6-3

Tim Henman

2010-09-20T00:34:00.000+02:00

Tim Henman, Order of the British Empire (born
September 6, 1974 in Oxford, England) is a United
Kingdom tennis player.
He is the first British player since Roger TaylorRoger Taylor in the 1970s to reach
the semi-finals of the Wimbledon Men's Singles
Championship, and is regarded by his fans (whose
devotion is known as "Henmania") as the UK's only
hope of winning the tournament, a feat last
achieved by Fred Perry in 1936.

==Early Life==
Henman comes from a sporting family: his father
was adept at various sports, including tennis. His
grandfather and great-grandfather also competed at
Wimbledon. Henman supports Oxford United Football Club.

Between the ages of 10 and 17 he was a member of
the David Lloyd Slater Squad, where he trained
alongside a number of other young British tennis
hopefuls.

While still at school, Henman was diagnosed with
Osteochondritis, a bone disease (one form of
Chondritis). However, he kept playing tennis, and
in 1992 won the National Junior titles in singles
and doubles, deciding to join the professional
tour in 1993.

==Professional career==
He climbed up the ranks very quickly: in 1994, he
was among the top 200 players in the world; by
1995, among the top 100; and by 1996, he had made
it into the top 30 and won a medal at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics. He was the UK's
highest ranked player that year, and won the Most
Improved Player trophy at the ATP awards. He was
subsequently elected to the ATP Tour Player
Council and went on to win his first championship
in January 1997. In March of that year, he
underwent surgery on his elbow which kept him out
of action for two months.

In 1998, the year in which he reached Wimbledon's
semi-finals for the first time, he was ranked as
one of the top 10 ATP players. In 1999, Henman
married his long-term girlfriend, TV producer Lucy
Heald.

"Tiger Tim" - as he is fondly known to British tabloids and Wimbledon diehards
(many of whom assemble on Henman Hill,
unofficially named for their hero) - has come
tantalisingly close to reaching the final on a
number of occasions, bowing out during the
semi-final in 1998, 1999, 2001 (when just two
points from victory at one point) and 2002. In
2000 he reached the fourth round and in 2003 and
2004 he was ousted during the quarter-finals.

One of the tournaments he has been most successful
in is Queen's Club. He reached the final in 1999,
where he lost to Pete Sampras, and went on to
reach the final again in 2001 and 2002, where both
times he lost to Lleyton Hewitt.

Until 2004 he had never progressed beyond the
fourth round of any grand slam except Wimbledon.
However, he finally won a fourth round match at
the French Open at the 2004 championships. His run
finally came to an end in the semi-finals, where
he was beaten by the Argentine Guillermo Coria
after winning the first set, the first that the
Argentine had lost during the championships.

In the 2004 Summer Olympics Tennis event, Henman was seeded
fourth and expected to do well, but lost in the
first round. However, in the 2004 US Open held soon afterwards he reached
the semi-finals for the first time in his career,
before losing in straight sets to Roger Federer.

In 2005, he lost in straight sets to Nikolay
Davydenko in the third round of the Australian
Open. This was considered a great disappointment,
given his improved results at Grand Slams in the
previous year. He went out in the second round at
both the French Open and Wimbledon. In France, he
lost in four sets to Luis Horna. At Wimbledon, he
lost in five sets to Dmitry Tursunov after being
2-1 up; he narrowly won his first round match also
in five sets, having been 2-0 down. At the US Open he lost in straight sets in
the first round to Fernando Verdasco.

Even though he is now over 30, some British fans
still believe Henman will eventually become the
first British player in almost 70 years to win the
Wimbledon Men's Singles title.

Henman was created an Order of the British
Empire in the 2003 New Year's Honours List.

Brad Gilbert

2010-09-20T00:21:00.000+02:00

Brad Gilbert (b. August 9 1961, in Oakland,
California) is a tennis coach
and former professional tennis player.

Gilbert turned professional in 1982 and won his
first top-level singles title later that year in
Taipei. His first doubles title came in 1985 in
Tel Aviv. He won a total of 20 singles and 3
doubles titles during his career. His most
successful year on the tour was 1989, when he won
five singles titles. His best performance at a Grand Slam tournament was at
the 1987 US Open, where he
reached the quarter-finals. He was also runner-up
at the inaugural Grand Slam Cup in 1990. His
career-high singles ranking was World No. 4, which
he reached in January 1990.

Gilbert retired as player in 1994. Since then, he
has been highly successful as a tennis coach.

Gilbert served as coach to Andre Agassi for eight
years from 1994 to 2002. During that period,
Agassi won six Grand Slam singles titles, making
it the joint-most successful coach-player
partnership in the Open era (along side Tony
Roche's period as coach of Ivan Lendl).

Since then, Gilbert has gone on to serve as coach
for Andy Roddick, but has now parted ways with the
American, who won the 2003 US Open. Gilbert now
serves as an on-and-off analyst for ESPN. He is
also the author of the very popular Winning Ugly,
which gives tips to the average player on how to
beat the more skilled opponent.

Pat Cash

2010-09-19T08:13:00.000+02:00

Pat Cash (born May 27 1965, in Melbourne,
Australia) is a former professional tennis player
from Australia. He is best remembered for winning
the men's singles title at Wimbledon
championships in 1987.

Cash first came to the tennis world's attention as
a brilliant junior player in the early 1980s. He
was ranked the top junior player in the world in
1981, and in 1982 he won the junior titles at both
Wimbledon and the U.S. Open .

Cash turned professional in 1982 and won his first
top-level singles title that year in Melbourne.

Cash established a reputation on the tour as a
hard-fighting serve and volleyer, and for wearing
his trademark black-and-white checked headband.

In 1983, Cash became the youngest player to play
in a Davis Cup final.
In 1984, Cash reached the men's singles
semi-finals at both Wimbledon and the US Open. He
lost in three sets in the Wimbledon semi-finals to
John McEnroe, and was defeated thrilling five-set
semi-final at the US Open by Ivan Lendl who
claimed the fifth set in a tie-breaker.

Cash finished runner-up in the men's doubles
competition at Wimbledon in both 1984 and 1985.

In 1986, Cash helped Australia win the Davis Cup
again. Yet again they beat Sweden 3-2 in the
final. And Cash again won the decisive singles
rubber, coming back from two sets down against
Mikael Pernfors to win in five sets.

In 1987, Cash reached his first Grand Slam singles final at the
Australian Open, where he lost a tight five-setter
to Stefan Edberg in the last Australian Open final
to be played on grass courts at Kooyong.

The crowning moment of Cash's career came at
Wimbledon in 1987. Having beaten Mats Wilander in
the quarter-finals and Jimmy Connors in the
semi-finals, Cash moved through to the final where
he faced the World No. 1 Ivan Lendl. Cash seized
his moment and beat Lendl in straight-sets 7-6,
6-2, 7-5. Cash famously sealed a memorable victory
by climbing into the stands and up to the player's
box at Centre Court, where he celebrated with his
family, girlfriend and coach. In doing so, he
started a Wimbledon tradition which has been
copied by many other champions in the years that
followed.

In 1988, Cash reached the Australian Open final
for the second consecutive year and faced another
Swede in the form of Mats Wilander. It was the
first men's singles final to be played at the new
Flinders Park venue, and Wilander won in an epic
five-set, four-and-a-half-hour encounter, taking
the fifth set 8-6.

Cash played in his third Davis Cup final in 1990.
This time Australia lost 3-2 in the final to the
United States.

Cash continued to play on the circuit on-and-off
through to the mid-1990s. But a series of injuries
to his Achilles' tendon, knees and back meant that
he was never really able to recapture his best
form after his triumphant Wimbledon-winning year
in 1987. He won his last top-level singles title
in 1990 in Hong Kong. His last doubles title came
in 1996 at Pinehurst.

Cash won a total of 7 singles and 12 doubles
titles during his career. His career-high world
rankings were World No. 4 in singles and World No.
6 in doubles.

Since his retirement from the tour, Cash has
resided mainly in London. He has coached top
players including Greg Rusedski and Mark
Philippoussis. He has also worked as a TV
commentator. A father of four, Cash's main passion
away from tennis and his family is playing the
guitar. He donned the stage with INXS at the 2003
Australian Open, and has played with his own band
at various events and festivals.

The term "Pat Cash" has also become Cockney
rhyming slang for "slash", which is itself a
British slang term for "urinate".

==Grand Slam finals==

===Wins (1)===

Year Championship Opponent in
Final Score in Final
1987 Wimbledon Ivan Lendl
7-6, 6-2, 7-5

===Runner-ups (2)===

Year Championship Opponent in
Final Score in Final
1987 Australian Open Stefan Edberg
6-3, 6-4, 3-6, 5-7, 6-3
1988 Australian Open Mats Wilander
6-3, 6-7, 3-6, 6-1, 8-6

Roy Emerson

2010-09-17T23:22:00.000+02:00

Roy Stanley Emerson, born November 3, 1936 in
Blackbutt, Queensland, Australia, was a champion
tennis player.

Born on a farm in Australia, his family moved to
the city of Brisbane where he was able to receive
better tennis instruction. In 1961, Roy Emerson
won his first Australian Open singles championship
and then five more in consecutive order from 1963
to 1967. In 1964 he won 55 consecutive matches and
finished the year with 109 victories out of 115
matches. He won three of the four Grand Slam
events that year, losing only at the French Open.
He was the No. 1 ranked player in the world in
1964 and 1965.

Known as Emmo, he was the Wimbledon
championships|Wimbledon singles champion twice and
the doubles champion on three occasions. In
addition to winning the French Open singles title
in 1963 and again in 1967, he teamed up with five
different partners and won the French doubles
championship six consecutive times from 1960 to
1965. In the United States, he captured two
singles titles and four doubles titles at the US Open.

Emerson is the only male tennis player in history
to win singles and doubles titles at all four Grand Slam events. He held
the record for most Grand Slam men's singles
titles at 12 until surpassed by Pete Sampras in
2000. Added to his singles victories, his 16
doubles titles gives him the record total of 28
Grand Slam championships. As well, he holds the
record for Davis Cup team championships with eight
and the individual record of 11 singles victories
in the international competition.

Emerson was, of course, a very fine player. But
what many of today's generation of sports fans
ignore is the fact that all of his Grand Slam
titles were won against an amateur field in which
the world's best players had already turned
professional and were therefore unable to compete
against Emerson in these tournaments. If Sedgman,
Gonzales, Rosewall, Hoad, Trabert, Fraser, Gimeno,
Anderson, and Laver had remained in the amateur
ranks it is doubtful that Emerson would have won a
single Grand Slam title.

Emerson eventually turned pro, in 1968, just as Open Tennis was beginning. He was the
defending French championship titleholder from
1967. In the 1968 French quarterfinals he was
beaten by Pancho Gonzales, who was then 40 years
old. In the next few years Emerson played
Gonzales, a man nearly 9 years his senior, another
12 times. Roy Emerson, winner of 12 Grand Slam
titles, never beat Pancho Gonzales, not even once.

He was inducted into the International Tennis Hall
of Fame in Newport, Rhode Island, in 1982.

Roy Emerson resides in Newport Beach, California
and has a home in Gstaad, Switzerland where he
holds a tennis clinic each summer. In 1978, he
teamed up with his son Anthony to win the United
states Hard Court Father-and-Son championship.

Grand Slam Tournament wins:
*Australian Open:
**singles champion - 1961, 1963, 1964, 1965, 1966,
1967
**doubles champion - 3 times
*French Open:
**singles champion - 1963, 1967
**doubles - 6 consecutive championships from 1960
to 1965
*Wimbledon Championships:
**singles champion - 1964, 1965
**doubles champion - 3 times
*US Open:
**singles champion - 1961, 1964
**doubles champion - 4 times

Adapted from the article
http://www.wikinfo.org/wiki.phtml?title=Roy_Emerso
n Roy Emerson, from Wikinfo, licensed under the
GNU Free Documentation License.

==Grand Slam titles (12)==
1961 Australian Open Rod Laver
1-6, 6-3, 7-5, 6-4
1961 U.S. Open Rod Laver
7-5, 6-3, 6-2
1963 Australian Open Ken Fletcher
6-3, 6-3, 6-1
1963 Roland Garros Pierre Darmon
3-6, 6-1, 6-4, 6-4
1964 Australian Open Fred Stolle
6-3, 6-4, 6-2
1964 Wimbledon Fred Stolle
6-4, 12-10, 4-6, 6-3
1964 U.S. Open Fred Stolle
6-2, 6-2, 6-4
1965 Australian Open Fred Stolle
7-9, 2-6, 6-4, 7-5, 6-1
1965 Wimbledon Fred Stolle
6-2, 6-4, 6-4
1966 Australian Open Arthur Ashe
6-4, 6-8, 6-2, 6-3
1967 Australian Open Arthur Ashe
6-4, 6-1, 6-1
1967 Roland Garros Tony Roche
6-1, 6-4, 2-6, 6-2

Nikolay Davydenko

2010-09-17T23:16:00.000+02:00

Nikolay Davydenko ( born June 2,
1981) is a Russian male tennis player. He
was born in Severodonezk, Ukraine and now lives in
Monte Carlo, Monaco.

In his career he has won 5 singles titles.

His best result in a Grand Slam tournament was his
semifinal at the 2005 French Open (lost to Mariano
Puerta in five sets).

==Tennis==
A pro since 1999, Nikolay first caught the public
eye when he took a set off Pat Rafter in the
second round at the Australian Open. He also won
his first ATP tour victory in Australia in 2003 in
Adelaide. In three years he has climbed out of
Marat Safin's shadow from 85th to 6th in the world
rankings. He is especially successful on clay. The
shy native of Severodonezk in the Ukraine now
looks to be a contender for the Masters Cup at
season's end. "I'm playing well at the moment but
I still have to go out and prove myself everyday.
I can still do better, my game is far from
perfect" he says.

At just 11 Nikolay left his parents Vladimir and
Tatjana behind to live with his elder brother
Edouard in Volgograd. At the time, Russia seemed
to offer more opportunities for a would-be tennis
pro, he explains to the hordes of journalists who
gathered after his quarter-final win in Paris. "I
stayed 4 years in Russia. Edouard worked as a
tennis coach for kids and we practiced together.
He pushed me pretty hard. At 15 we left for
Germany. A Russian who lived there convinced
Edouard it would be better for me. In Europe I
could play more tournaments than in Russia."

Although he would be 18 before he was granted
Russian citizenship, the now Monaco resident soon
defended his adopted country's colours in the
Davis Cup. After his 4th ATP tour win in Moscow in
2004 he was warmly congratulated by former
president and tennis aficionado Boris Yeltsin.

===Yearly Highlights===
2000-Captured first Futures title at Germany #3
and reached final following week at Germany #4.
In June, reached back-to-back Futures finals at
Germany #6 and #7 and made ATP debut in Amsterdam,
reaching SF (l. to Sluiter). Two weeks later,
reached back-to-back Challenger SF at Wrexham. In August, won first Challenger title
at Monchengladbach.

2001- Made Grand Slam debut at Australian Open,
defeating Fukarek in 1st RD before losing to
Rafter in four sets in 2nd RD. Missed six weeks
after injuring lower back and hip in 1st RD at
Dallas Challenger. Did not win a
match again until May in Antwerp Challenger (l. in
QF). Advanced to 2nd RD on Roland Garros debut
(d. Bjorkman, l. to Hewitt). Captured Challenger
titles in Ulm (d. Labadze) and Istanbul (d.
Saulnier). Finished season with QF in Basel.

2002- Won 12 ATP level matches and went 16-9 in
Challenger player. On clay in Bastad, defeated C.
Rochus and Gonzalez before losing to eventual
champion Moya. Captured fourth career Challenger
title in Szczecin (d. D. Sanchez). Finished
season with second ATP QF in Vienna.

2003- The No. 2 Russian (behind No. 41 Kafelnikov)
captured two ATP titles and finished in Top 50 for
first time in his career. Opened season with his
first career title in Adelaide (d. Vliegen) and
three months later began clay court circuit with
title in Estoril (d. Kafelnikov in QF, Mirnyi in
SF, Calleri in F). Followed with QF in Barcelona
(d. Nalbandian, l. to Moya) and in May advanced to
final in St. Poelten (d. Verkerk, l. to
Roddick). Compiled records of 19-15 on clay and
11-13 on hard.

2004- The No. 3 Russian (behind Safin, Youzhny)
compiled his best pro season by finishing in Top
30 for first time and capturing two ATP titles for
second straight year. After a 3-9 start through
mid-April, turned things around at ATP Masters
Series Monte Carlo where he reached QF (l. to
Moya) and began a 10-2 run. Followed with title
in Munich (d. No. 5 Schuettler in QF, Verkerk in
F) and 3rd RD at AMS Rome (d. Gonzalez, l. to
Spadea). In July, reached SF in Stuttgart (l. to
Canas) and one month later advanced to QF in Long
Island. In October, captured first career title
on Russian soil in Moscow by winning singles and
doubles titles (w/Andreev). Saved one match
point in SF win over Youzhny, then saved three
match points in final against Rusedski. Compiled
records of 19-12 on clay, 7-10 on hard, 7-4 on
carpet, 0-3 on grass. Earned a career-high
$651,372.

Wayne Ferreira

2010-09-17T13:13:00.000+02:00

Wayne Richard Ferreira (b. September 15 1971, in
Johannesburg, South Africa) is a former
professional tennis player from South Africa.

As a junior player, Ferreira was ranked the
world's No. 1 junior doubles player and No. 6
junior singles player. He won the junior doubles
title at the US Open in 1989.

Ferreira turned professional in 1989. He won his
first top-level doubles title in Adelaide in 1991.

1992 was Ferreira's breakthourgh year on the tour.
He started out by reaching the semi-finals of the
Australian Open. He then won his first top-level
singles title at Queen's Club, London. His second
singles title came just a few weeks later at
Schenectady, New York. He also teamed-up with Piet
Norval to win the men's doubles Silver Medal for
South Africa at the 1992 Olympic Games in
Barcelona.

After a quiter year in 1993 in which he didn't win
any singles titles, Ferreira came back strongly in
1994 to win a career-best five singles titles. He
the won another four events in 1995.

The biggest titles of Ferreira's career came at Toronto in 1996 and Madrid
Masters|Stuttgart in 2000 (both Tennis Masters
Series events).

Ferreira teamed-up with Amanda Coetzer in 2000 to
win the Hopman Cup for South Africa.

Ferreira holds the record for the most consecutive Grand Slam tournament
appearances in men's tennis. He participated in 56
consecutive Grand Slams between 1991 and 2004.
(Stefan Edberg held the previous record of 53.)
Ferreira's best Grand Slam results came at the
Australian Open - where he reached the semi-finals
twice in 1992 and 2003.

During his career, Ferreira won 15 top-level
singles titles and 11 doubles titles. His
career-high world rankings were No. 6 in singles
(in 1995) and No. 9 in doubles (in 2001). His
career prize-money earnings totalled US$9,969,617.

Ferreira retired from the professional tour in
2005.

Stefan Edberg

2010-09-17T10:36:00.000+02:00

Stefan Edberg (b. January 19 1966, in Sweden) is a former World No. 1 professional
tennis player from Sweden. During his career, he
won six Grand Slam singles
titles and three Grand Slam doubles titles. Edberg
is well known as one of the best serve and volley players of all time, for
his superb Volley, and as a
gentleman and ambassador for the sport.

==Career==
Edberg first came to the tennis world's attention
as a brilliant junior player. He won all four of
the Grand Slam junior titles in 1983.

As a professional, Edberg won his first career
doubles title in Basel in 1983, and his first
top-level singles title at Milan in 1984.

Edberg's first two Grand Slam singles titles came
at the Australian Open. In 1985, he defeated Mats
Wilander in straight sets to claim his first major
title. Two years later, in 1987 he beat Pat Cash
in a memorable five-set final to win the last
Australian Open to be held on grass courts. Edberg
also won the Australian Open and US Open men's doubles titles in 1987

In 1988, Edberg reached the first of three
consecutive finals at Wimbledon. In all three finals he
played against Boris Becker in what is remembered
as one of Wimbledon's great rivalries. Edberg won
their first encounter in a four-set match spread
over three days because of rain delays. A year
later, in 1989, Becker won in straight sets. The
best of their matches came in the 1990 final, when
Edberg won an epic five-set encounter.

Edberg claimed the World No. 1 ranking in August
1990. He held it for the rest of that year, and
for much of 1991 and 1992.

Edberg's final two Grand Slam singles triumphs
came at the US Open, with wins over Jim Courier in
1991 final, and Pete Sampras in the 1992 final.

In 1996, Edberg won his third Grand Slam doubles
title at Australian Open with Petr Korda.

The only Grand Slam singles title Edberg never won
was the French Open. He reached the French Open
final in 1989, but lost in five sets to Michael
Chang in a match best remembered for making the
17-year old Chang the youngest ever male winner of
a Grand Slam singles title. Generally Edberg was
most comfortable playing tennis on fast-playing
surfaces. Of his six Grand Slam singles titles,
four were won on grass courts at the Australian
Open and Wimbledon, and two were won on hardcourts
at the US Open.

Edberg also played on four Swedish Davis Cup
winning teams in 1984, 1985, 1987, and 1994. He
appeared in seven Davis Cup finals - a record for
a Swedish player.

Edberg was also a member of the Swedish teams
which won the World Team Cup in 1988, 1991 and
1995.

At the 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles, where
tennis was a demonstration sport, Edberg won the
men's singles Gold Medal. Four years later, at the
1988 Olympics in Seoul, tennis became a full medal
sport and Edberg won Bronze Medals in both the
men's singles and the men's doubles for Sweden.

During his cereer, Edberg won a total 41 top-level
singles titles and 18 doubles titles, and appeared
in a record 54 consecutive Grand Slam
tournaments. He was ranked the World No. 1 for a
total of 72 weeks. Edberg was also a five-time
recipient of the ATP's Sportsmanship Award
(1988-90, 92 and 95). In recognition of this
achievement, the ATP renamed the award the "Edberg
Sportsmanship Award" in 1996. In 2004, Edberg was
inducted into the International Tennis Hall of
Fame in Newport, Rhode Island, USA.

==Grand Slam singles finals==

===Wins (6)===

Year Championship Opponent in
Final Score in Final
1985 Australian Open Mats Wilander
6-4, 6-3, 6-3
1987 Australian Open Pat Cash
6-3, 6-4, 3-6, 5-7, 6-3
1988 Wimbledon Boris Becker
4-6, 7-6, 6-4, 6-2
1990 Wimbledon Boris Becker
6-2, 6-2, 3-6, 3-6, 6-4
1991 U.S. Open Jim Courier
6-2, 6-4, 6-0
1992 U.S. Open Pete Sampras
3-6, 6-4, 7-6, 6-2

===Runner-ups (5)===

Year Championship Opponent in
Final Score in Final
1989 French Open Michael Chang
6-1, 3-6, 4-6, 6-4, 6-2
1989 Wimbledon Boris Becker
6-0, 7-6, 6-4
1990 Australian Open Ivan Lendl
4-6, 7-6, 5-2 (retired)
1992 Australian Open Jim Courier
6-3, 3-6, 6-4, 6-2
1993 Australian Open Jim Courier
6-2, 6-1, 2-6, 7-5

Jimmy Connors

2010-09-17T09:59:00.000+02:00

James Scott "Jimmy" Connors (b. September 2 1952,
in East St. Louis, Illinois) is a former World No.
1 tennis player from the United States. During his
career, he won eight Grand Slam (tennis)|Grand
Slam singles titles and two Grand Slam doubles
titles.

Connors went to college for a year at University
of California, Los Angeles|UCLA, where he won the
National Collegiate Athletic Association|NCAA
singles title in 1971. He turned professional in
1972, and won his first professional title later
that year at Jacksonville, Florida.

Connors' extreme competitiveness on court quickly
made him stand out. He simply refused to ever
accept that he was beaten and gave absolutely
everything on every point of every game, no matter
how apparently hopeless the cause. He was also not
averse to playing to the crowd or abusing his
opponent or the umpire—anything he could
think of to give himself an edge. His brash
behaviour both on and off court came to earn him a
reputation as the brat of the tennis world. He
acquired the nickname of the "Brash Basher of
Belleville, Illinois|Belleville" (after the Saint
Louis, Missouri|St Louis suburb where he grew up).
His high-profile romance with fellow teen tennis
prodigy Chris Evert in the early years of his
career also helped to keep him in the headlines.

Connors also acquired a reputation as a
wiktionary:maverick|maverick in 1972 when he
refused to join the newly-formed Association of
Tennis Professionals (ATP), the union which was
embraced by most male professional players. He
avoided the mainstream of professional tennis to
play in, and dominate, a series of smaller
tournaments organized by Bill Riordan, his manager
and a clever promoter.

In 1974, Connors and Riordan began bringing
lawsuits, eventually amounting to US$10 million,
against the ATP and its President Arthur Ashe for
allegedly restricting his freedom in the game. It
started when Connors was banned from the French
Open in 1974 after he had signed a contract to
play World Team Tennis (WTT) for Baltimore (the
ATP and the French administration opposed WTT
because it conflicted with their tournament, and
the entries of all WTT players were refused).

As it turned out, the French Open was the only
major tournament which Connors did not win that
year and his exclusion possibly prevented him from
becoming the first male player since Rod Laver to
win all four Grand Slam titles in one year. Though
he would progress as far as the semifinals on four
occasions, Connors would never prevail at the
French Open, which was the one Grand Slam title he
was never able to win. However, in 1974, Connors
won the Australian Open, defeating Phil Dent in
four sets in the final. Connors then beat Ken
Rosewall in straight sets in the finals of both
Wimbledon Championships|Wimbledon and the US Open
(tennis)|US Open. He won a total of 14 tournaments
that year.

Connors reached the World No. 1 ranking in July
1974, and held it for 159 straight weeks. Over the
course of his career, he held the World No. 1
ranking for a total of 263 weeks.

1975 saw Connors finish runner-up in the three
Grand Slams he had won the year before. The 1975
Wimbledon final proved to be a duel between
lawsuit opponents, as Connors faced ATP President
Arthur Ashe. Ashe won, and shortly thereafter
Connors dropped the suits and parted with Riordan.

In 1976, Connors met Bjorn Borg in the final of
the US Open and saved four set points in a
thrilling third-set tie-breaker (which Connors won
11–9) to beat the Swede 6–4,
3–6, 7–6, 6–4.

Despite his success, Connors remained an
independent character with little respect for
traditions and other people's expectations. At
Wimbledon in 1977, he refused to take part in a
parade of former champions to celebrate the
tournament's centenary, and was booed when he went
out to play the following day. He still managed to
make the final at Wimbledon that year, but lost to
Borg in a thrilling five-set final. He also lost
in the final of the US Open to Guillermo Vilas.
Having irritated sponsors and tennis officials by
shunning the end-of-year Tennis Masters
Cup|Masters championships for the previous three
years, Connors entered the competition for the
first time in 1977 and beat Borg in the final to
win the event.

Borg beat Connors comfortably in the 1978
Wimbledon final, but Connors came back and stunned
the Swede in straight sets in the US Open final to
win 6–4, 6–2, 6–2 in the first
final to be held at the new Flushing Meadows
venue.

After a few less successful years on the tour,
Connors was back in the Wimbledon final again in
1982 where he faced the new young star of the
tennis world, John McEnroe. And Connors stunned
the defending-champion as he came back from being
three points away from defeat in a fourth-set
tie-breaker to win in five sets and claim his
second Wimbledon title eight years after his
first.

Connors also got the better of another of the next
generation of tennis stars, Ivan Lendl, in the US
Open final in both 1982 and 1983.

Connors last Grand Slam final came at Wimbledon in
1984, where he again faced McEnroe. This time
McEnroe put in a superlative performance and blew
Connors off the court in straight sets 6–1,
6–1, 6–2. Though beaten, Connors'
competitive fire was certainly not dampened. Asked
afterwards if he now admitted his rival was the
better player, he simply replied: "Never".

Considered a feisty wiseguy in his earlier days,
Connors gradually transformed himself into a
respected elder of the tennis world in the later
years of his career. He continued to compete
forcefully against much younger men until he was
well into his 41st year.

The defining moment of Connors' later career came
in 1991. His career had seemed to be at an end in
1990, when he played only three tournament matches
(and lost all three), dropping to No. 936 in the
world rankings. But after surgery on his
deteriorating left wrist, he came back to play 14
tournaments in 1991, climaxing with a phenomenal
run at the US Open. While celebrating his 39th
birthday during the championships, Connors powered
his way all the way through to the semi-final
before finally being beaten by the reigning French
Open champion Jim Courier.

During his career, Connors won a record 109 men's
singles titles. He also won 15 doubles titles
(including the men's doubles titles at Wimbledon
in 1973 and the US Open in 1975).

Connors was inducted into the International Tennis
Hall of Fame in Newport, Rhode Island in 1998.

==Grand Slam singles finals ==

===Wins (8)===
Year Championship Opponent in
Final Score in Final
1974 Australian Open Phil Dent
7–6, 6–4, 4–6,
6–3
1974 Wimbledon Ken Rosewall
6–1, 6–1, 6–4
1974 US Open Ken Rosewall
6–1, 6–0, 6–1
1976 US Open Bjorn Borg
6–4, 3–6, 7–6,
6–4
1978 US Open Bjorn Borg
6–4, 6–2, 6–2
1982 Wimbledon John McEnroe
3–6, 6–3, 6–7,
7–6, 6–4
1982 US Open Ivan Lendl
6–3, 6–2, 4–6,
6–4
1983 US Open Ivan Lendl
6–3, 6–7, 7–5,
6–0

===Runner-ups (7)===
Year Championship Opponent in
Final Score in Final
1975 Australian Open John Newcombe
7–5, 3–6, 6–4,
7–5
1975 Wimbledon Arthur Ashe
6–1, 6–1, 5–7,
6–4
1975 US Open Manuel Orantes
6–4, 6–3, 6–3
1977 Wimbledon Bjorn Borg
3–6, 6–2, 6–1,
5–7, 6–4
1977 US Open Guillermo Vilas
2–6, 6–3, 7–5,
6–0
1978 Wimbledon Bjorn Borg
6–2, 6–2, 6–3
1984 Wimbledon John McEnroe
6–1, 6–1, 6–2

==Grand Slam results==
===Australian Open===
* Singles champion: 1974
** Singles finalist: 1975

===Wimbledon===
* Singles champion: 1974, 1982
** Singles finalist: 1975, 1977, 1978, 1984
* Doubles champion: 1973

===US Open===
* Singles champion: 1974, 1976, 1978, 1982, 1983
** Singles finalist: 1975, 1977
* Doubles champion: 1975

Michael Chang

2010-09-16T12:20:00.000+02:00

Michael Te Pei Chang (張德培;
Pinyin: Zhang|Zhāng ; born February 22
1972 in Hoboken, New Jersey) is a former
professional tennis player from the United States.
He is best remembered for becoming the
youngest-ever male winner of a Grand Slam singles title when he won the
French Open in 1989 as an unseeded player.

Utilizing his tremendous speed and strong
determination, Chang was one the best Tennis
Defensive baseliner of
all time and stayed in the Top 10 in the
Association_of_Tennis_Professionals|ATP for
several years, with a career best at No. 2. He has
a Chinese heritage and therefore was extremely
popular in Asia. At that time, there were no Asian
players in the higher ranks.

==Tennis Career==
Chang first came to the tennis world's attention
as a brilliant junior player who set numerous
"youngest-ever" records. He won his first national
title, the USTA Junior Hard Court singles, at the
age of 12. At age 13, he won the Fiesta Bowl 16s.

In 1987, aged 15, Chang won the USTA Boys 18s
Hardcourts and the Boys 18s Nationals, and became
the youngest player to win a main draw match at
the US Open (tennis)|US Open when he defeated Paul
McNamee in four sets in the first round. A month
later he reached the semi-finals at Scottsdale,
Arizona to become the youngest player to reach the
semi-final stage of a top-level professional
tournament. He won his first top-level singles
title in 1988 at San Francisco, aged 16 years and
7 months.

Chang's most significant youngest-ever record came
in 1989 when he won the French Open at the age of
17 years and 3 months, to become the youngest male
player ever to win a Grand Slam title. He defeated
Stefan Edberg in a memorable five-set final,
winning 6-1, 3-6, 4-6, 6-4, 6-2. His victory is
equally remembered for an epic five-set encounter
with Ivan Lendl in the fourth round (see below).
Chang became the first American man to win the
French Open since 1955. And in August 1989, Chang
became the youngest player to be ranked in the
world's top-five on the men's singles rankings.
(Chang's success marked the start of an era in
which a new generation of American
players—which also included Pete Sampras,
Jim Courier and Andre Agassi—would come to
dominate the game.)

Chang had another famous match against Edberg in
the semi-finals of the US Open in 1992. This time
Edberg won in a five-set encounter 7-6, 5-7, 6-7,
7-5, 4-6. The 5-hour, 26-minute marathon match was
the longest in US Open history.

Chang reached three further Grand Slam finals
after his famous 1989 French Open
triumph—losing the 1995 French Open final to
Thomas Muster, the 1996 Australian Open final to
Boris Becker, and the 1996 US Open final to Pete
Sampras.

Chang was a member of the US team which won the
Davis Cup in 1990, beating Australia in the final.
He was also on the US team which won the World
Team Cup in 1993.

For much of his career Chang was coached by his
older brother Carl, who also played in several
doubles tournaments with him in the early-1990s.

Chang retired from the professional tour in 2003.
During his career, he won a total of 34 top-level
professional singles titles. His final top-level
title was won in 2000 at Los Angeles. His total
career prize-money earnings was US$19,145,632. His
career-high singles ranking was World No. 2 in
1996.

==The Classic Match vs Ivan Lendl (French Open,
1989)==
Michael Chang's most famous match took place on
the way to winning the French Open title in 1989.
In the fourth round, he faced the World No. 1 and
three-time former champion Ivan Lendl.
Conventional wisdom made Lendl the heavy favourite
to win the match against the 17-year-old Chang.

Everything seemed to be going to expectation when
Lendl comfortably took the first two sets 6-4,
6-4, and then broke Chang's serve in the opening
game of the third set. Then Chang's fight-back
began. He broke back immediately and went on to
claim the third set 6-3. Part way through the
fourth set, Chang experienced a severe attack of
leg cramp. Fighting to stay in the match, Chang
resorted to some novel tactics. For a period he
began taking all speed out of the match by playing
"moon balls", and he wolfed down bananas and
drinks at every opportunity. Lendl, who was known
to be one of the least easily fazed players to
grace the court, completely lost his rhythm. He
began to swear at the umpire and the crowd,
especially after losing a key point in the fifth
set when Chang shocked him by delivering an
under-arm serve. Chang later explained, "I was
trying to break his concentration. I would do
anything to stay out there."

Barely able to stand, and screaming with pain
after many of his shots, Chang continued to battle
on. Despite being on the verge of physical
breakdown, he fought his way into the position of
a 5-3 lead in the fifth set with two match points
on Lendl's serve. Aiming to break Lendl's
concentration one more time, Chang stood well
inside the baseline, almost at the T-line in the
centre of the court while waiting to receive
Lendl's serve (normally an almost suicidal
position when facing an opponent's serve). The
tactic worked as Lendl produced a double-fault to
give Chang victory. Chang won one of the most
memorable matches in tennis history 4-6, 4-6, 6-3,
6-3, 6-3 in four hours and 37 minutes. Chang sank
to his knees and broke down in tears at the
conclusion of the match. Seven days later he would
go on to become the youngest male champion in
French Open history.

(Note: Chang and Lendl played another
similarly-exciting match in the semi-finals of the
1991 Grand Slam Cup, where Chang again came back
from two sets down and won 2-6, 4-6, 6-4, 7-6,
9-7.)

==Grand Slam Finals==

===Wins (1)===

Year Championship Opponent in
Final Score in Final
1989 French Open Stefan Edberg
6-1, 3-6, 4-6, 6-4, 6-2

===Runner-ups (3)===

Year Championship Opponent in
Final Score in Final
1995 French Open Thomas Muster
7-5, 6-2, 6-4
1996 Australian Open Boris Becker
6-2, 6-4, 2-6, 6-2
1996 US Open Pete Sampras
6-1, 6-4, 7-6

Sergio Bruguera

2010-09-16T12:10:00.000+02:00

Sergio "Sergi" Bruguera (born on January 16 1971,
in Barcelona, Spain) is a retired professional
tennis player from Spain. He is best remembered
for winning two consecutive men's singles titles
at the French Open in 1993 and 1994.

Bruguera was Spain's national junior champion in
1987. He turned professional in 1988. In his first
full year on the tour, 1989, he won the won Cairo
Challenger title as a qualifier (defeating Jordi
Arrese in the final) and reached the semi-finals
in Rome. He finshed 1989 ranked World No. 26, and
was named the Association of Tennis
Professionals|ATP's Newcomer of Year.

Bruguera earned a reputation as a top clay court
player in the early-1990s, winning titles in
Estoril, Monte Carlo and Athens in 1991, and in
Madrid, Gstaad and Palermo in 1992.

In 1993, Bruguera qualified for his first Grand Slam final at the French
Open, where he faced defending-champion Jim
Courier in the final. Bruguera won a gruelling
five-set final 6-4, 2-6, 6-2, 3-6, 6-3. The
victory was one of five titles that Bruguera
captured that year.

In 1994, Bruguera won the French Open again,
defeating fellow-Spaniard Alberto Berasategui in
four sets in the final 6-3, 7-5, 2-6, 6-1.

Bruguera won the men's singles Silver Medal at the
1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta. He
was defeated in straight sets in the final by
Andre Agassi 6-2, 6-3, 6-1.

Bruguera reached the French Open final for the
third time in 1997 and was considered the clear
favourite to win his third title against the
unseeded Brazilian Gustavo Kuerten. But Kuerten
surprisingly defeated Bruguera in straight sets
6-3, 6-4, 6-2. (Kuerten was almost completely
unknown at the time, but would go on to become the
World No. 1-ranked player in 2000.)

Outside tennis, Bruguera is a long-time fan of the
Los Angeles Lakers and would often attend their
games while playing at tournaments in United
States. On March 28 1997, after beating the World
No. 1 Pete Sampras in the semi-finals of a
tournament in Miami, Bruguera sank three shots
(layup, free throw, top of key) during a timeout
of a game between the Lakers and the Miami Heat to
earn $500 which was given to ATP Charities in his
name.

Bruguera earned the ATP's Comeback Player of Year
award in 1997 after returning from ankle injury
the previous year to improving his ranking from
No. 81 to No. 8.

Bruguera won a total of 14 top-level singles
titles and 3 doubles titles during his career. His
career-high singles ranking was World No. 3. He is
currently the director of Bruguera Tennis Academy
Top Team.

Alberto Berasategui

2010-09-16T12:05:00.000+02:00

Alberto Berasategui (b. May 28 1973, in Bilbao,
Spain) is a former professional tennis player from
Spain. He is best remembered for reaching the
men's singles final at the French Open in 1994.

Berasategui began playing tennis at age 7 and was
the European junior champion in 1991. He turned
professional later that year, and won his first
top-level singles title in 1993 in Sao Paulo. He
established a reputation on the tour in the early
1990s as a very strong clay court player.

1994 was without doubt the pinnacle of
Berasategui's career. He reached nine finals,
winning seven of them. And he qualified for his
first (and only) Grand Slam
final at the French Open, where he faced
fellow-Spaniard and defending-champion Sergi
Bruguera. Bruguera won the final in four sets in
6-3, 7-5, 2-6, 6-1. Berasategui reached his
career-high singles ranking of World No. 7 in
November 1994.

Berasategui won a total of 14 career singles
titles and 1 doubles titles. His total career
prize-money earnings was US$4,676,187. His last
singles title was won in Estoril in 1998.

Arthur Ashe

2010-09-16T09:13:00.001+02:00

Arthur Robert Ashe, Jr. (July 10,
1943–February 6, 1993) was a prominent
African American tennis player who was born and
raised in Richmond, Virginia|Richmond, Virginia,
USA. He is well remembered for his efforts to
further social causes.

Ashe began to attract the attention of tennis fans
after being awarded a tennis scholarship at UCLA
in 1963. That same year, Ashe was the first
African American ever selected to the US Davis Cup
team.

In 1965, Ashe won the individual NCAA
championship. He was also a chief contributor in
UCLA's winning the team NCAA championship in the
same year. With this successful college career
behind him, Ashe quickly ascended to the upper
echelon of tennis players worldwide after turning
professional in 1966.

By 1969, most people considered Ashe to be the
best American male tennis player. He had won the
inaugural U.S. Open (Tennis)|US Open in 1968, and
had aided the US Davis Cup team to victory that
same year. Concerned that tennis pros were not
receiving winnings commensurate with the sport's
growing popularity, Ashe was one of the key
figures behind the formation of the Association of
Tennis Professionals (ATP). That year would prove
even more momentous for Ashe, when he was denied a
visa by the South African government, thereby
keeping him out of the South African Open. Ashe chose to use
this denial to publicize South Africa's apartheid
policies. In the media, Ashe called for South
Africa to be expelled from the professional tennis
circuit. In 1970, he added a second Grand Slam title to his resume by winning
the Australian Open.

In 1975, after several years of lower levels of
success, Ashe played his best season ever by
winning Wimbledon championships|Wimbledon,
unexpectedly defeating Jimmy Connors in the final.
He remains the only black player ever
to win the men's singles at Wimbledon, the US
Open, or Australian Open, and one of only two
black men to win a Grand Slam singles event (the
other being France's Yannick Noah, who won the
French Open in 1983). Ashe would ultimately obtain
his career high ranking of World No. 2 the next
year. He would play for several more years, but
after being slowed by Cardiac surgery|heart
surgery in 1979, Ashe retired in 1980.

After his retirement, Ashe took on many new tasks,
from writing for Time magazine|Time magazine to
commentating for ABC Sports, from founding the
National Junior Tennis League to serving as
captain of the US Davis Cup team. In 1983, Ashe
underwent a second heart surgery. To no one's
surprise, he was elected to the Tennis Hall of
Fame in 1985.

The story of Ashe's life turned from success to
tragedy in 1988, however, when Ashe discovered he
had contracted HIV during the blood
transfusion he had received
during one of his two heart surgeries. He and his
wife kept his illness private until April 8, 1992,
when rumors forced him to make a public
announcement that he had the disease. In the last
year of his life, Arthur Ashe did much to call
attention to AIDS sufferers worldwide. Two months
before his death, he founded the Arthur Ashe
Institute for Urban Health, to help address issues
of inadequate health care delivery and was named
Sports Illustrated magazine's Sportsman of the
Year. He also spent much of the last years of his
life writing his memoir Days of Grace, finishing
the manuscript less than a week before his death.

Ashe died of complications from AIDS on February
6, 1993.

The city of Richmond posthumously honored Ashe's
life with a statue on Monument Avenue, a place
that was traditionally reserved for statues of key
figures of the Confederate States of America|
Confederacy. This decision led to some
controversy in a city that was the capital of the
Confederate States of America|Confederate States
during the American Civil War.

The main stadium at the USTA National Tennis
Center in Flushing Meadows Park, where the U.S.
Open is played, is named Arthur Ashe Stadium in
his honor.

In 2005, the United States Postal Service
announced the release of an Arthur Ashe
commemorative postal stamp, the first stamp ever
to feature the cover of a Sports Illustrated
magazine.

Andre Agassi

2010-09-16T09:02:00.001+02:00

Andre Kirk Agassi (born April 29 1970, in Las
Vegas, Nevada) is a former World
No. 1 professional tennis player from the United
States. During his career, he has won eight Grand
Slam (tennis)|Grand Slam singles titles. He is one
of only five players in tennis history to have won
the men's singles titles at all four of the Grand
Slam events over the course of his career.

==Background==
Agassi, whose father is half Armenian
people and half Assyrian, was born and
raised in Las Vegas, Nevada, and lives there when
not on tour. His father, Emmanuel "Mike" Agassi,
was a boxing|boxer for Iran at the 1948 and 1952
Olympic Games, before emigrating to the United
States.

Mike Agassi was a tennis fanatic and was
determined to turn at least one of his four
children into a world-class player. He hung tennis
balls over Andre's crib and gave him a full-sized
racket at age two. Growing up, Andre and his
siblings would hit 3,000 balls a day, seven days a
week. Mike had Andre practice with Ilie Nastase
and Jimmy Connors. Andre's sister, Rita, finally
rebelled and moved in with, and later married,
tennis great Pancho Gonzales (their son, Skylar,
played on Bishop-Gorman High School's tennis
team). When he was 14, Andre was enrolled in the
Nick Bollettieri Tennis Academy in Florida. Nick
Bollettieri would be Agassi's coach through July
1993.

==Tennis career==
Agassi turned professional in 1986 at the age of
16, and won his first top-level singles title in
1987 at Itaparica. He won six further tournaments
in 1988, and by December that year he had
surpassed US$2 million in career prize money after
playing in just 43 tournaments – the
quickest player in history to do so.

Agassi quickly developed a reputation on the tour
for exceptional fitness and conditioning, allowing
him to outlast most players over the course of a
long match, even the best counterpunchers. He
typically employs a baseline style of play,
however he often makes contact with the ball
inside the baseline (unlike most baseliners, who
make 4-8 feet behind the baseline their home). His
serve is not the fastest on the tour, but has very
good placement. His return-of-serve is his
strongest weapon. Many observers agree that Agassi
is the best service returner in the history of
professional tennis. He was the target of one of
the fastest serves on record – a 149-mph
(240 km/h) blast from Andy Roddick – and
returned it into play.

As a young up-and-coming player, Agassi embraced a
rebel image. He grew his hair to rock-star length,
sported an earring, and wore colorful shirts that
pushed tennis' still-strict sartorial boundaries.
He boasted of a cheeseburger-heavy diet and
endorsed the Canon Rebel camera. "Image is
everything" was the ads's tag line, and it became
Agassi's as well.

Strong performances on the tour meant that Agassi
was quickly tipped as a future Grand Slam
champion. But he began the 1990s with a series of
near-misses. He reached his first Grand Slam final
in 1990 at the French Open, where he lost in four
sets to the seasoned veteran player Andres
Gomez. Later that year he lost in the final of
the U.S. Open (tennis)|US Open to another
up-and-coming teenaged star, Pete Sampras. The
rivalry between the two American players was to
become the dominant rivalry in tennis over the
rest the of the decade. In 1991, Agassi reached
his second consecutive French Open final where he
faced his former Bollettieri Academy-mate Jim
Courier. Courier emerged the victor in a dramatic
rain-interrupted five-set final.

Agassi chose not to play at Wimbledon
Championships|Wimbledon from 1988-90, and publicly
stated that he did not wish to play there because
of the event's traditionalism, particularly its
"predominantly-white" dress code which players at
the event are required to conform to. Many
observers at the time speculated that Agassi's
real motivation was that his strong baseline game
would not be suited to Wimbledon's grass court
surface. He decided to play there in 1991, leading
to weeks of speculation in the media about what he
would wear – he eventually emerged for the
first round in a completely white outfit. He
reached the quarter-finals on that occasion. To
the surprise of many, Agassi's Grand Slam
breakthrough came at Wimbledon in 1992 when he
beat Goran Ivanisevic in a
tight five-set final.

Following wrist surgery in 1993, Agassi came back
strongly in 1994 and captured the US Open, beating
Michael Stich in the final. He then captured his
first Australian Open title in 1995, beating
Sampras in a four-set final. He won a career-high
seven titles that year and he reached the World
No. 1 ranking for the first time that April. He
held it for 30 weeks on that occasion through to
November. He compiled a career-best 26-match
winning streak during the summer hardcourt
circuit, which ended when he lost in the US Open
final to Sampras. In 1996, Agassi won the men's
singles Gold Medal at the Olympic Games in
Atlanta, Georgia|Atlanta, beating Sergi Bruguera
of Spain in straight sets in the final.

1997 was a poor year for Agassi. He won no
top-level titles and his ranking sank to World No.
141 in November. His form was perhaps affected by
the intense publicity surrounding his high-profile
and turbulent relationship and marriage to actress
Brooke Shields. Following this, he made a decision
to rededicate himself to tennis. He shaved his
balding head, began a rigorous conditioning
program, and worked his way back up the rankings
by playing in Challenger Series tournaments (a
circuit for professional players ranked outside
the world's top 50). Perhaps most remarkably, the
one-time rebel emerged as a gracious and
thoughtful athlete, and looked up to by younger
players. After winning matches, he took to bowing
and blowing a two-handed kisses to spectators on
each side of the court, a gesture seen as a rather
humble acknowledgment of their support for him and
for tennis.

In 1998, Agassi won five titles and lept from No.
122 on the rankings at the start of the year, to
No. 6 at the end of it, making it the highest jump
into the Top 10 made by any player in tennis. He
won five titles in ten finals, and finished
runner-up at the Miami Masters.

Agassi entered the history books in 1999 when he
beat Andrei Medvedev in a five-set French Open
final to become only the fifth male player to have
won all four Grand Slam singles titles (a feat
last achieved in the 1960s by Roy Emerson). He
followed that up by reaching the Wimbledon final,
where he lost to Sampras. He then won the US Open,
beating Todd Martin in five sets in the final, and
finished the year ranked the World No. 1.

Agassi began 2000 by capturing his second
Australian Open title, beating Yevgeny Kafelnikov
in a four-set final. He was the first male player
to have reached four consecutive Grand Slam finals
since Rod Laver achieved the Grand Slam in 1969.
2000 also saw Agassi reach the semi-finals at
Wimbledon, where he lost in five sets to Patrick
Rafter in a very high quality battle considered by
many to be one of the best matches ever played at
Wimbledon.

Agassi entered the year-end
Tennis Masters Cup locked in a tight fight for the
World No. 1 spot with Gustavo Kuerten and Marat
Safin. Safin needed only three match wins in the
tournament to become the year end number one.
However, Safin lost to Agassi in the semi-finals;
Safin only won two matches. He was out of the
running. Agassi then met Kuerten in the final,
which would determine not only who would win the
title but also who would finish the year as the
No. 1 player. In the end it was Kuerten who
emereged victorious with a 6-4, 6-4, 6-4 score.
(Agassi won the tour's year-end championship once
in 1990, and was runner-up in 1999, 2000 and
2003.)

Agassi opened 2001 by sucessfully defending his
Australian Open title with a straight-sets final
win over Arnaud Clement. At Wimbledon, he battled
Rafter again in the semi-finals and lost 8-6 in
the fifth set. At the US Open he lost in the
quarter-finals to Sampras in what is conisdered to
be one of tournament's all-time greatest matches.
Sampras won 6-7, 7-6, 7-6, 7-6 in a match with no
breaks of serve.

Agassi and Sampras' last duel came in the final of
the US Open in 2002. The battle between the two
veterans saw Sampras emerge victorious in four
sets, and left Sampras with a 20-14 edge in their
34 career meetings. (The match in fact proved to
be the last of Sampras' career. He did not play in
an event on the professional tour again, and
officially announced his retirement in 2003.)
Agassi's US Open finish, along with his victories
at the Miami Masters, Rome Masters, and Madrid
Masters, helped him become the oldest year-end No.
2 at 32 years and 8 months.

In 2003, Agassi won the eighth Grand Slam title of
his career at the Australian Open.
On May 11, Agassi won the U.S. Men's Clay Court
Championships in Houston, making him the oldest
No. 1 ranked male tennis player in history at 33
years and 13 days. He would hold the position for
13 weeks. At the Tennis Masters Cup in Houston,
Agassi made it to the final, losing to Roger
Federer, making him the oldest player to ever
finish the year in the Top 5 (fourth) since Jimmy
Connors finished fourth in 1987 when he was 35.

In 2004, the 34-year-old Agassi won the Tennis
Masters Series event at Cincinnati to bring his
career total to 59 top-level singles titles. With
strong finishes at the Australian Open (SF),
Indian Wells Masters (SF), Cincinnati Masters
(WON), US Open (QF), Madrid Masters (SF) and
Stockholm Open (F), Agassi finished the year
ranked eighth, making him the oldest player to
finish the year in the Top 10 (at age 34) since
Jimmy Connors finished seventh in 1988 when he was
36.

Agassi has also won one doubles title (at
Cincinnati in 1993, partnering Petr Korda). He is
one of only five male players to have won all the
Grand Slams – along with legends Don Budge,
Roy Emerson, Rod Laver and Fred Perry. He is in
fact the first male tennis player to win the four
Grand Slams on four different surfaces. The
previous players won the Australian Open,
Wimbledon, and the US Open on grass courts and the
French Open on clay courts; whereas Agassi won the
Australian Open on Rebound Ace, the French Open on
clay, Wimbledon on grass, and the US Open on
hardcourts. By winning the Olympic Gold Medal at
the 1996 Olympics, Agassi became the first male
tennis player to win the Career Golden Slam.
Agassi also helped the United States win the Davis
Cup in 1990 and 1992. He was named the BBC Sports
Personality of the Year Overseas Personality|BBC
Overseas Sports Personality of the Year in 1992.
Agassi has earned over US$25 million in
prize-money throughout his career, second only to
Sampras. In addition to this, he also earns over
US$25 million a year through endorsements, the
most by any tennis player and fourth in all sports
(first place is Tiger Woods at US$70 million a
year). In 2005, Agassi left Nike after 17 years
and signed an endorsement deal with Adidas.

==Personal and family life==
After a four-year courtship, Agassi married
actress Brooke Shields in a lavish ceremony on
April 19 1997. That February, they had filed suit
against The National Enquirer claiming it printed
"false and fabricated" statements: Brooke was
undergoing counseling, binge-eating and taking
pills; Agassi "lashed into" Brooke and he and
Brooke's mother "tangled like wildcats" when she
demanded a prenuptial agreement|prenup. The case
was dismissed, but the headlines were indicative
of the union. Agassi filed for divorce, which was
granted on April 9, 1999.

By the time the divorce was final, Agassi was
dating the German tennis legend Steffi Graf. With
only their mothers as witnesses, they were married
at his home on October 22 2001. Their son, Jaden
Gil, was born 6 weeks prematurely on October 26
that year. Their daughter, Jaz Elle, was born on
October 3 2003.

Boris Becker

2010-09-14T09:51:00.002+02:00

Boris Becker

Singles

Country	West Germany (1983–1990) Germany (from 1990)
Residence	Schwyz, Switzerland
Date of birth	22 November 1967 (1967-11-22) (age 42)
Place of birth	Leimen, West Germany
Height	1.90 m (6 ft 3 in)
Weight	85 kg (190 lb; 13.4 st)
Turned pro	1984
Retired	June 30, 1999
Plays	Right-handed (one-handed backhand)
Career prize money	US $25,080,956 5th All-time leader in earnings
Int. Tennis HOF	2003 (member page)
Career record	713–214 (76.91%)
Career titles	49
Highest ranking	No. 1 (28 January 1991)
Grand Slam results
Australian Open	W (1991, 1996)
French Open	SF (1987, 1989, 1991)
Wimbledon	W (1985, 1986, 1989)
US Open	W (1989)
Major tournaments
Tour Finals	W (1988, 1992, 1995)
Olympic Games	3R (1992)
Doubles
Career record	254–136
Career titles	15
Highest ranking	6 (22 September 1986)
Grand Slam Doubles results
Australian Open	QF (1985)
Olympic Games	W (1992)

Men's Tennis
Olympic medal record
Gold	1992 Barcelona	Men's doubles

Boris Franz Becker (born 22 November 1967) is a former World No. 1 professional tennis player from Germany. He is a six-time Grand Slam singles champion, an Olympic gold medalist, and the youngest-ever winner of the men's singles title at Wimbledon at the age of 17. Tennis Magazine put Becker in 18th place on its list of the 40 greatest tennis players from 1965 to 2005.

Tennis career

Boris turned professional in 1984 and won his first professional doubles title that year in Munich. As a West German teenager, Becker won his first top-level singles title in June 1985 at Queen's Club and two weeks later on 7 July, became the first unseeded player and the first German to win the Wimbledon singles title, defeating Kevin Curren in four sets. At the time, he was the youngest ever male Grand Slam singles champion at 17 years, 7 months (a record later broken by Michael Chang in 1989, who won the French Open when he was 17 years, 3 months). Two months after his triumph, Becker became the youngest winner of the Cincinnati Open.
In 1986, Becker successfully defended his Wimbledon title, defeating World No. 1 Ivan Lendl in straight sets in the final. Becker, then ranked World No. 2, was upset in the second round of Wimbledon in 1987 by the World No. 70 player, Peter Doohan. In the Davis Cup that year, Becker and John McEnroe played one of the longest matches in tennis history. Becker won 4–6, 15–13, 8–10, 6–2, 6–2 (at that time, there were no tiebreaks in the Davis Cup). The match lasted 6 hours and 22 minutes.
Becker was back in the Wimbledon final in 1988, where he lost in four sets to Stefan Edberg in a match that marked the start of one of Wimbledon's great rivalries. Becker also helped West Germany win its first Davis Cup in 1988. He won the year-ending Masters title in New York City, defeating five-time champion Lendl in the final.
In 1989, Becker won two Grand Slam singles titles, the only year he won more than one. After losing to Edberg in the French Open semifinals, he defeated Edberg in the Wimbledon final and then beat Lendl in the US Open final. He also helped West Germany retain the Davis Cup, defeating Andre Agassi in the semifinal round. As a result, Becker was named Player of The Year by the ATP Tour. The World No. 1 ranking, however, still eluded him.
In 1990, Becker met Edberg for the third consecutive year in the Wimbledon final, but this time was on the losing end of a long five-set match. He also failed to defend his US Open title, losing to Agassi in the semifinals. Becker reached the final of the Australian Open for the first time in his career in 1991, where he defeated Lendl to claim the World No. 1 ranking. Another loss to Agassi in the French Open semifinals kept him from winning the first two Grand Slam tournaments of the year. He was ranked World No. 1 for twelve weeks during 1991, though he never managed to finish a year with that ranking.
By 1991, issues back home over a non-German wife (Barbara Feltus) and tax problems with the German Government, had caused Becker to slide into a terminal and severe mid-career decline. Becker was ranked World No. 2 during Wimbledon in 1991 and reached his fourth consecutive final there. However, he lost in straight sets to fellow German compatriot and World No. 7 Michael Stich. Becker and Stich developed a fierce rivalry, with the media often comparing a passionate Becker to a more stoic Stich. However, Becker and Stich teamed in 1992 to win the men's doubles gold medal at the Olympic Games in Barcelona. Becker defeated Jim Courier in straight sets to win the 1992 year-end ATP Tour World Championships in Frankfurt.
In 1995, Becker, now almost a half decade past his prime, reached the Wimbledon final for the seventh time, by defeating Agassi in the semifinals. In the final however, the years past-his-prime Becker, further fatigued after grueling baseline contests with Cedric Pioline and then with Agassi, ran out of gas after winning the first set in a tiebreak, and lost in four sets to Pete Sampras. He won the year-end ATP Tour World Championships in Frankfurt that year with a straight-set win over Chang in the final. Becker's sixth and final Grand Slam title came in 1996 when he defeated Chang in the final of the Australian Open. In that tournament, Becker delivered a humorous victory speech. When he mentioned his sponsors, he cut himself short, by saying that he did not have the whole day left. He then consoled Chang, by saying that his (Becker's) days were numbered, while Chang was still young. After winning the Queen's Club Championships for the fourth time, Becker was widely expected to mount a serious challenge for the Wimbledon title in 1996, but his bid ended abruptly when he damaged his right wrist during a third-round match against Neville Godwin and was forced to withdraw.

Becker in 1994

Becker defeated Sampras in October 1996 in a five-set final in Stuttgart. "Becker is the best indoor player I've ever played," said Sampras after the match. Becker lost to Sampras in the final of the 1996 ATP Tour World Championships in Hannover. Becker saved two match points in the fourth set and held serve 27 consecutive times until he was broken in the penultimate game. In 1997, Becker lost to Sampras in the quarterfinals at Wimbledon. After that match, he vowed that he would never play at Wimbledon again. However, Becker played Wimbledon one more time in 1999, this time losing in the fourth round to Patrick Rafter.
Becker was most comfortable playing on fast-playing surfaces, particularly grass courts and indoor carpet (on which he won 26 titles). He reached a few finals playing on clay courts but never won a clay court tournament in his professional career. His best performances at the French Open were when he reached the semi-finals in 1987, 1989, and 1991.
Over the course of his career, Becker won 49 singles titles and 15 doubles titles. Besides his six Grand Slam titles, he was also a singles winner in the year-ending Masters / ATP Tour World Championships in 1988, 1992, and 1995, and at the Grand Slam Cup in 1996. He won a record-equalling four singles titles at London's Queen's Club. In Davis Cup, his career win-loss record was 54–12, including 38–3 in singles. He also won the other two major international team titles playing for Germany – the Hopman Cup (in 1995) and the World Team Cup (in 1989 and '98).
Becker won singles titles in 14 different countries: Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Netherlands, Qatar, Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom, United States. In 2003, Becker was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame. He occasionally plays on the senior tour and in World Team Tennis. He is also sometimes a commentator at Wimbledon for BBC.

Playing style

Becker's game was based on a fast and well-placed serve, that earned him the nicknames "Boom Boom" "Der Bomber" and "Baron von Slam", and great volleying skills at the net. He could supplement his pure serve-and-volley game with brilliant athleticism at the net, which included the diving volley that was considered a trademark of the young German, and which endeared him to his fans. His heavy forehand and return of serve were also very significant factors in his game.
Becker occasionally deviated from his serve-and-volley style to try to out-hit, from the baseline, opponents who normally were at their best while remaining near the baseline. Even though Becker possessed powerful shots from both wings, this strategy was often criticized by commentators.
Becker had frequent emotional outbursts on court. Whenever he considered himself to be playing badly, he often swore at himself and occasionally smashed his rackets. In contrast to John McEnroe, Becker rarely showed aggression toward his opponents. Also in contrast to McEnroe, his level of play and focus tended to be diminished rather than enhanced following these outbursts. Becker's highly dramatic play spawned new expressions such as the Becker Blocker (his trademark early return shot), the Becker Hecht (a flying lunge), the Becker Faust ("Becker Fist"), the Becker Shuffle (the dance he sometimes performed after making important points), and Becker Säge ("Becker Saw" – referring to the way in which he pumped his fists in a sawing motion).
Becker, one of the most effective players in his era on grass courts and carpet courts, had less success on clay. He never won a top-level singles title on clay, coming closest when holding two match points against Thomas Muster in the final of the 1995 Monte Carlo Open. Becker did, however, team up with Michael Stich to win the 1992 men's doubles Olympic gold medal on clay.

Career statistics

Main article: Boris Becker career statistics

In Grand Slam singles tournaments, Becker's match record is 163–40, an 80.3 winning percentage. The other male players in the open era with winning percentages over 80 are Björn Borg (89.8), Roger Federer (87.5), Rafael Nadal (86.2), Pete Sampras (84.2), Jimmy Connors (82.6), Ivan Lendl (81.9), John McEnroe (81.5) and Andre Agassi (80.9).

Relationships

Becker with Barbara Feltus in 1992

On 17 December 1993, Becker married actress and designer Barbara Feltus, who became a well known photographer in Germany. In January 1994, their son Noah Gabriel, named after Becker's friends Yannick Noah and Peter Gabriel, was born. Their second child, Elias, was born in September 1999. Before the marriage, they shocked some in Germany by posing nude for the cover of Stern in a picture taken by her father.
Becker separated from Barbara in December 1999. However, Barbara flew to Miami, Florida a week later with Noah and Elias and filed a divorce petition in Miami-Dade County Court, sidestepping their prenuptial agreement, which had entitled her to a single $2.5 million payoff. The January 2001 pretrial hearing was broadcast live to Germany. Becker was granted a divorce on 15 January 2001. She got a $14.4 million settlement, their condo on the exclusive Fisher Island, and custody of Noah and Elias.
In February 2001, Becker acknowledged paternity of a daughter, Anna (born March 22, 2000), with Angela Ermakova. In October 2009, he confirmed media reports that the child was the result of a brief sexual encounter in 1999 at a London hotel. He had been out drinking following losing a main draw singles match at the Wimbledon Championships, in what had been a come-back to the venue of his greatest success. Becker initially denied paternity, but admitted he was the child's father after a DNA test. In November 2007, he obtained joint custody of Anna after expressing concerns over how her mother was raising her.
Becker was engaged to Alessandra Meyer-Wölden briefly in 2008. Her father, Axel Meyer-Wölden, was Becker's advisor and manager in the 1990s. The couple broke up in November 2008.
In February 2009 on the German ZDF TV show Wetten, dass..?, Becker announced that he and Dutch model Sharlely "Lilly" Kerssenberg would be getting married on 12 June 2009 in St Moritz, Switzerland. In August 2009 they announced that they were expecting a child. In February 2010, Becker and wife welcomed a son, Amadeus Benedict Edley Luis Becker. The name Edley is for his wife's uncle Edley, and Luis is for his friend, Mexican-Cuban millionaire Luis Garcia Fanjul, who is also the child's godfather.

2010-09-14T09:43:00.000+02:00

Corrado Barazzutti

(born 19 February 1953, in Udine) is an Italian former tennis player.
Barazzutti gained fame in 1971 by winning the Orange Bowl. The previous year he had been called to the Italy Davis Cup team, for which he would play a total of 44 matches. In 1976 he played for the only victorious Italian Davis Cup team.
In Grand Slam tournaments, his best results are the semi-finals he reached in 1977 at the US Open and in 1978 at the French Open; in both occasions he was beaten in straight sets, by Jimmy Connors and Björn Borg respectively. He won five career ATP tournaments.
Barazzutti is currently non-playing captain of the Italy Davis Cup team.