Serena Williams and Maria Sharapova favorites

The US Open starts on Monday and it looks like Serena Williams and Maria Sharapova have the best chances for the title. Let’s quickly review the recent action on the women’s tour and then look at the upcoming US Open, which is certainly one of the most exciting tournaments of the year.

Over the last 8 weeks the US Open Series was played out and Serena Williams ended up in first place in the US Open Series rankings. In case she wins the US Open tournament she would receive a $1 million dollar bonus on top of the regular prize money.

Serena is back to top form and did not lose a match in the US Open Series until pulling out of the second round in Cincinnati to rest a troublesome right big toe. She won the tournament in Stanford and the week after she won the Premier-level event in Toronto.

Since she won the US Open Series, Serena can now compete for the biggest paycheck in tennis history. If she wins the US Open she will collect $2.8 million dollars. She would get $1.8 million for winning the US Open, and a $1 million dollar bonus for winning both the US Open Series and the US Open. I believe this provides some extra motivation for Serena, especially since she hadn’t played for almost a year.



The other player next to Serena that I see with good chances to win the title is Maria Sharapova.



Sharapova has improved consistently over the last few months. I think she has been working really hard in order to put herself in position to contend for another major. She did well in the US Open Series, winning the Premiere-level event in Cincinnati and she also has the belief and the experience that are usually necessary to win a Grand Slam tournament. For her a lot depends on whether she gets her serve going or not.



The rest of the field is pretty wide open but I see a small group of players with outsider chances to win the title:

1. Vera Zvonareva
2. Agnieszka Radwanska
3. Andrea Petkovic
4. Sam Stosur
5. Sabine Lisicki

Vera Zvonareva has good memories from last year's US Open where she reached the finals. The fast surface suits her flat shots very well and she also played pretty solid since Wimbledon.

Agnieszka Radwanska has done really well in the US Open Series, finishing in a tied second place, and she seems to be playing very good tennis right now. Nevertheless she has never gone past the quarterfinals of a major and it will have to be seen whether she is mentally ready to contend for a Grand Slam title.



Andrea Petkovic has been improving on a consistent basis. She reached the quarterfinals of the Australian Open and French Open this year. I don’t think she was mentally ready to take it a step further, but she might be now with a little more experience.

Sam Stosur has a very dangerous game on a fast court with her big serve and big forehand. After going through somewhat of a slump earlier in the year she has shown some strong form recently, reaching the finals of the Toronto event. She has also been to a Grand Slam final and knows what it’s like.

Sabine Lisicki surprised many people by reaching the Wimbledon semifinals this year. Most experts in the circuit were long aware though that she has a great game and the ability to beat anybody in the world if she can stay mentally tough. In addition, this weekend she won the Texas Tennis Open.

Caroline Wozniacki the number 1 player in the world, because she seems to be out of form. She was victorious at the New Haven Open, but had not won a single match in the US Open Series previously. I doubt that she has the game at the moment to compete for the title at the US Open.It's interesting thing to note that Serena Williams is seeded at number 28. The tournament officials decided to seed her according to her ranking and not make an exception because she was injured for so long.



Serena and Maria are in opposite halves so that would make a final between the two possible. Serena could also face number 4 seed, Victoria Azarenka, in the third round already, which I am sure Azarenka is not very happy about.

U.S. Open Tennis rocked by Venus shock withdrawal

Venus Williams quit the U.S. Open on Wednesday, revealing that she was suffering from a chronic illness that could threaten her future in the sport.



After a week when the last grand slam of the year was threatened by an earthquake then a hurricane, this was perhaps the biggest shock of all.



The two-time U.S. Open champion told officials she was withdrawing from the tournament less than an hour before she was due to play Germany's Sabine Lisicki in the second round.



Then she dropped the bombshell, revealing for the first time exactly what had kept her off the courts for months.



"I have recently been diagnosed with Sjogren's Syndrome," she said in a statement.



"(I) wish I could continue but right now I am unable to."



The disease drains people of their energy and causes joint pain. For a professional tennis player, that spells trouble but Williams said she had no thoughts of retiring.



"I am thankful I finally have a diagnosis and am now focused on getting better and returning to the court soon," she said.



The American was not the only high-profile casualty at Flushing Meadows on Wednesday but her illness did overshadow most of the on-court action.



Andy Murray, Britain's great perennial hope, made a bright start to his campaign while Argentina's Juan Martin Del Potro made a successful return two years after his stunning title success.



Three seeded women made early exits at the hands of lower-ranked players. Marion Bartoli, Dominika Cibulkova and Yanina Wickmayer all departed while the only male seed to lose was Nicolas Almagro of Spain, although Robin Soderling, seeded sixth, pulled out because of injury.

The Swede had been regarded as one of the few players able to challenge the big four of Roger Federer, Rafa Nadal, Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray, but threw in the towel before his first round match.



Murray launched his campaign with a 7-6 6-2 6-3 victory over Somdev Devvarman of India. The Scotsman played below his best but still had plenty in reserve.



"It's all about just winning," Murray said. "That's all that matters at the end of the day."



Del Potro upset Federer to win the men's title two years ago but was unable to defend it because of a wrist injury that sidelined him for nearly nine months.



On Wednesday, he finally made it back and the towering Argentine was in a hurry to make up for lost time, crushing Italy's Filippo Volandri 6-3 6-1 6-1.



"It's my favourite tournament," Del Potro said. "I'm really happy to get the opportunity to play here again."



The women's draw, already depleted by the absence of Kim Clijsters and the early defeats of Petra Kvitova and Li Na, lost Bartoli to American Christina McHale and Cilbulkova to Irina Falconi, another American, giving rise to hope that the U.S. may eventually find a successor to the Williams sisters.



Russia's Vera Zvonareva, last year's runner-up and the second seed this time around, was never in any real danger of joining the casualty list even though she had a tough workout against Kateryna Bondarenko of Ukraine before triumphing 7-5 3-6 6-3.



There were five American winners among the men, including former champion Andy Roddick, but there was an upset when the Bryan brothers Mike and Bob were beaten by Ivo Karlovic and Frank, marking the first time in a decade the twins had been beaten in the opening round at a grand slam.

Rafael Nadal and Caroline Wozniacki are world champions

Denmark's Caroline Wozniacki has been crowned International Tennis Federation world champion for 2010, despite not having won a Grand Slam.

The 20-year-old, who unseats 13-time Grand Slam winner Serena Williams as champion, won six tournaments in 2010.

"To be listed with all the former world champions is something I'm really proud of," said world number one Wozniacki.

Rafael Nadal, who won the French and US Opens and Wimbledon this year, regains the men's title from Roger Federer.

Nadal's triumph rounds off a superb year for the 24-year-old.

Having overcome a persistent knee problem, he won the French Open for the fifth time and claimed his second Wimbledon title.

He then became the youngest player ever, and only the seventh in history, to complete a career Grand Slam when he won the US Open in September, in addition to regaining the world number one spot.
Having also won an Olympic gold medal and two Davis Cups, Spaniard Nadal has now won all of tennis's major prizes.

"It is an honour to be named world champion for the second time," he said.

"After a difficult year in 2009, it was an amazing feeling to regain the number one ranking and finally win the US Open.

"My goal all the time is to keep improving and be a better player each year than I was the previous year."

Sharapova wild about getting a start in Sydney

Russian tennis superstar Maria Sharapova could be heading to Sydney for the first time after requesting a wildcard for next month's Sydney International. One of the world's most photographed athletes, Sharapova will contest the Auckland Classic from January 3 to 8 before deciding whether or not to round out her Australian Open preparations in the harbour city. Ordinarily, officials would already have handed out their quota of wildcards a week before the event, but Sharapova will understandably receive the red-carpet treatment. Tournament director Craig Watson will give the former world No.1 and three-time grand slam champion right up until the tournament-eve draw to commit to the hardcourt event, which runs from January 9 to 15. ''I would love to see her in the draw and so would her legion of fans here in Sydney,'' Watson said yesterday. Sharapova, 23, has never played in Sydney and her appearance would add yet more star power to an already stunning line-up featuring the world's top three - Caroline Wozniacki, Vera Zvonareva and Kim Clijsters, as well as Australian No.1 Samantha Stosur. All up, seven of the world's top-10 women's players are venturing to Sydney. Ranked 18th, Sharapova made an impressive comeback this year from career-threatening shoulder surgery, collecting titles in Memphis and Strasbourg and reaching finals in Birmingham, Stanford and Cincinnati.

Wimbledon Tennis Tour pics

The answer is relatively simple: Nadal capitalized to the utmost on two critical lapses by his rival one at Wimbledon, where Federer was upset by Tomas Berdych, and one at the U.S. Open, where he was taken out by Novak Djokovic. That Nadal was able to take advantage of those opportunities tells us a great deal about where the ATP Tour is today, but it also makes an oblique comment on the state of the WTA game.

On the ATP side, the evidence suggests that we're living the absolute best years tennis has ever known. It has a rivalry that resonates far beyond the stadia where tennis is played, and the consciousness of the niche tennis audience. The entire world knows, and seems to care, about Rafa versus Roger.

At the same time, the titans have not exercised utter dominion over the men's game, which is always the danger in rivalry. (Surely you remember sitting around, twiddling your thumbs, waiting for the predestined Chris versus Martina final.) Novak Djokovic, Tomas Berdych and Robin Soderling inserted themselves into the main narrative of 2010, in an explosive way, at critical moments that left us hoping rather than merely waiting for another Grand Slam final between Roger and Rafa.

Let's also remember that exactly one year ago, a third name was in the mix at the very top, that of 2009 U.S. Open champion Juan Martin del Potro. I don't even want to think how competitive the men's game would have been had del Potro not suffered a wrist injury that kept him out of action for almost this entire year.

The men's game in 2010 had depth at the top and depth at every other level. I can't imagine men's tennis being in a healthier state than it is at the moment.

It's a little different on the women's side, where the lack of depth at the top is an outstanding shortcoming. It's fitting that the year-end No. 1 ranking went to Caroline Wozniacki, who did not win a single major, because when you don't have a dominant champion or two, the honors go to the last woman standing. And though the WTA has a good number of Grand Slam champions, it doesn't have a dominant one.

The year just ending was undoubtedly the Year of Rafa, as the Spanish lad, already an international icon, completed his career Grand Slam. But in one sense, 2010 ought to be given a one-month extension because this is an ongoing story. Should Nadal win the upcoming Australian Open, he'll be the first man since Rod Laver in 1969 to hold all four majors. Can you say, "Serena/Rafa Slam?"

One of the more interesting aspects of Rafael Nadal's feat is that he accomplished it in the era dominated by the consensus GOAT (Greatest of All Time), Roger Federer, leading us to wonder, "Gee, how did he do that?"

This is unfortunate because the WTA now has something it has historically lacked: solid depth through the top 15 -- and beyond. When players of the caliber and potential of Victoria Azarenka (No. 10) and Jelena Jankovic (No. 8) are more or less second-tier floaters, the game is in good shape -- better shape than the controversy of a Slam-less No. 1 suggests.

Then there's this: the two stars who returned to the game in 2010, Kim Clijsters (granted, she came back after the midpoint of 2009, but this was her first full year since a lengthy "retirement") and Justine Henin. They didn't waltz back in and dominate, as some predicted they would. Clijsters ended the year at No. 3, just ahead of the Williams sisters, Serena and Venus. Henin pulled her stakes after suffering an elbow injury at Wimbledon, and we have no real idea of her future plans.

It's a good thing for the WTA that whatever she decides doesn't appear to be a pressing co

ana ivanovic Tennis Celebrities

Ana Ivanovic's Biography

A former World No.1 Serbian tennis player, Ana Ivanovic was born November 6, 1987, in Belgrade, Serbia, then Yugoslavia.. She is the current World No.5 in the WTA Tour and the reigning French Open champion. She was also the runner-up in singles at the 2007 French Open and the 2008 Australian Open.
Ivanović endorsed Nike apparel and shoes at the beginning of her professional career, but at the beginning of 2006, she switched to rival Adidas. She started with the Wilson HTour racquet, then upgraded to the nCode nTour and to the nCode nTour Two before switching to the nCode nBlade. Since the beginning of 2008, Ivanović has been using the Yonex RQiS-1TOUR racquet. She has now begun using the RQiS 1 Tour XL racquet.

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ana ivanovic

ana ivanovic

ana ivanovic

ana ivanovic

ana ivanovic

ana ivanovic

ana ivanovic

ana ivanovic

ana ivanovic

Kobe Bryant's cute Wife 2011 images

The basketball world was absolutely floored Sunday when the L.A. Lakers' hopes of a three-peat came to a screeching halt.
The Lakers were swept by the Dallas Mavericks in a series capped by an embarrassing 36-point drubbing in Game 4.
Fans and analysts are pointing to several reasons for the Lakers' demise: age, poor perimeter defense, lack of focus.
But the prevailing theory is that Pau Gasol was distracted by the fact that his girlfriend broke up with him right before the playoffs started. To make matters worse, Gasol's girlfriend was apparently counseled and told to break up with him by none other than Mrs. Kobe Bryant.
Let's take a closer look at the woman who single-handedly took down the Lakers dynasty.

Kobe Bryant's cute Wife  2011 images

kobe bryant wife

kobe bryant wife

kobe bryant wife vanessa bryant

kobe bryant wife and cute baby

Kobe Bryant Career Top NBA Player 2011 latest news

Kobe Bryant Biography

Basketball player. Born August 23, 1978 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Named after a Japanese steakhouse, Kobe is the son of former NBA player Joe "Jellybean" Bryant. In 1984, after ending his NBA career, the elder Bryant took the family to Italy where he played on the Italian League. Growing up in Italy alongside two athletic older sisters, Shaya and Sharia, Kobe was an avid player of both basketball and soccer. When the family returned to Philadelphia in 1991, Bryant joined the Lower Merion high school basketball team, leading it to the state championships four years in a row. With an eye on the NBA, he also started working out with the 76ers. Though he boasted good grades and high SAT scores, Bryant decided to go straight to the NBA from high school. In 1996, he was picked by Charlotte in the draft and was subsequently traded to the Los Angeles Lakers. In his second season as guard he was voted a starter for the 1998 All-Star Game, becoming at 19 the youngest All-Star in NBA history. Bryant went on to help the team win three consecutive NBA championships and was voted first-team all-NBA in 2002 and 2003. He also inked multi-year endorsement deals with Adidas, Sprite and other top sponsors.
Images:

Kobe Bryant

Kobe Bryant

Kobe Bryant photo

Kobe Bryant 2010

Kobe Bryant girlfriend

Lakers fans most admire Kobe Bryant's work ethic

Resigned to little more than three hours of sleep per night, Kobe Bryant spends plenty of those waking hours watching tape.

Eager to maximize the health on his ailing body, Bryant sits on the trainers table at all hours of the day, receiving any necessary treatment.

Hoping to find some competitive advantage no matter how small, Bryant finds various nuances to perfect so he remains dominant.

The lasting images of Bryant's legacy, whenever it's fully cemented, provides a never-ending highlight reel. It could feature Bryant's career-high 81-point performance five years ago when he made an array of difficult shots. It could feature his beautiful on-court play, with his countless game winners, sharp basketball intelligence and graceful footwork appearing all too easy. And, of course, with the way Bryant and many measure his own success, it could point to his five NBA championships.

But the lasting image for me features different moments. The way he grinded through injuries. How he fought through fatigue. His want to adjust his game to become a complete player. Bryant isn't just immensely talented at playing basketball. He's maximized that talent and his own longevity simply through uncompromising hard work.

“I’ve always been comfortable as a kid growing up to think that when my career is over, I want them to think of me as an overachiever despite the talent that I have,” Bryant once told Yahoo! Sports' Marc Spears. “To think of me as a person that’s overachieved, that would mean a lot to me. That means I put a lot of work in and squeezed every ounce of juice out of this orange that I could."

Bryant has three years remaining on his $83.5-million contract so he's not going to reflect on his career just yet. But on the heels of his 33rd birthday this week, the results of a Lakers blog poll reveal that the 29.1% plurality of voters remain most impressed with Bryant's work ethic.

This isn't so much a revelation. Bryant's competitive spirit, after all, is well established. But it clearly validates that whatever natural talent contributed to his five rings, two Finals MVPS, one regular-season MVP, a sixth-place standing on the NBA's all-time scoring list and becoming the Lakers' all-time leading scorer, Bryant's work ethic played a larger role in cementing that resume.

Kenny Dalglish Biography and pictures

Date of Birth

04 Mar 1951

Birthplace

Glasgow

Nationality

Scottish

Signed for LFC

1977

LFC Debut

13 Aug 1977

LFC Appearances

515

LFC Goals

172

International Caps

102

International Goals

30

Profile

 

There can only ever be one King and the man who's earned the right to sit on Anfield's throne is Kenneth Mathieson Dalglish.
With a delicate touch and the ultimate football brain, King Kenny is regarded by the majority of Liverpudlians as the club's greatest ever player.
When he joined in August 1977, it was hard to see how Bob Paisley's side could top their first European Cup triumph of the previous season. But, with the highly influential Dalglish in the team, the next 13 years brought untold riches.
Unlike many Liverpool signings of the era, the Scotland international was already a household name when he made the switch from Parkhead to Anfield. His deeds in the green and white hoops of Celtic had made him one of the most sought-after figures in British football and it required a record £440,000 fee to secure his services.
Dalglish was brought in to replace Kop idol Kevin Keegan, who'd moved to Hamburg earlier that summer, though any fears he couldn't fill those illustrious boots were quickly laid to rest.
The Glasgow-born forward found the net seven minutes into his league debut against Middlesbrough at Ayresome Park, and followed that with a goal on his first appearance in front of the Kop as Newcastle were beaten 2-0.
Dalglish slipped seamlessly into Paisley's all-conquering red machine and the new King of the Kop crowned his first season by topping the club's goalscoring charts. The most memorable of his 31 strikes came in the 1978 European Cup final against FC Bruges at Wembley, a delicate dink over the keeper that clinched a 1-0 victory.
The move south increased his profile dramatically, though Dalglish was never one to seek the limelight and remained typically modest despite his new found superstar status.
In 1979, his talent was recognised by the football writers of England, who voted the canny Scotsman their Footballer of the Year. The award was just desserts for a player whose every touch made Kopites purr with delight.
A selfless team player who brought others into play, Dalglish was an on-the-field visionary who could spot openings that few, if any, of his contemporaries could see.
David Johnson was the first grateful recipient of this in the late Seventies but it was the King's strike partnership with Ian Rush that was to fire the Reds to greater glory during the Eighties.
The club may have had a new chief goalscorer, but Dalglish remained the man pulling all the strings. If assists were recorded back then, he'd have been the first name on everyone's Fantasy Football teamsheet.
A double Footballer of the Year in 1983, he was without doubt the finest British-born player of his generation and was rightly spoken about in the same breath as Maradona, Zico, Platini and Rummenigge.
With the ball at his feet, he was a pure genius - a contention backed up by footage of just about every one of his 172 Liverpool goals. There's the aforementioned European Cup winner, his sublime curlers at Highbury, Portman Road and Goodison, a mazy dribble through the Man United defence at Maine Road, his stretching volley in the League Cup final versus West Ham and title clinchers against Tottenham and Chelsea.
Everyone has their own particular favourite but the one common denominator in all the above was the famous Kenny celebration: a quick turn with arms aloft and a beaming smile that would have lit up even the murkiest Mersey sky.
The Kop hero-worshipped him like no other. Dalglish was the first name they sang and many a bed sheet was converted into a homemade banner paying homage.
In the aftermath of the Heysel Stadium disaster, the playmaker was a surprising but popular appointment as player/manager.
Fears his new role would result in more time on the touchline and less on the pitch were initially unfounded. It was on his return to the side during the 1985-86 run-in that Liverpool embarked on a winning streak that would see them clinch a coveted league and FA Cup double. How fitting it was at Stamford Bridge when Dalglish 'the player' scored the goal that secured the title.
Inevitably, his appearances became fewer and fewer over the next few years but there was still the odd flash of brilliance as the master sought to teach his apprentices.
What Dalglish went on to achieve as Liverpool manager cemented his legendary status.
His double in 1986 was followed by league titles in 1988 and 1990, with another all-Merseyside Cup triumph in 1989.
Who knows how many European trophies would have found their way back to Anfield during this period had English clubs not been barred from continental competition?
It could be argued that it took a decade for the club to recover from his shock resignation in February 1991.

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Kenny Dalglish

Kenny Dalglish

Kenny Dalglish

Kenny Dalglish

Michael, You Will Be Missed pics

 

Michael Jackson.

The name, since I was young enough to appreciate music to the point where I was memorizing names, stuck in my head throughout the Jackson 5; and I was one of the first in line to get my Thriller album, which is still in vinyl, sitting in my closet, where it is a tribute to 27 years of history. I can think of very few who did not attempt to do the Moon Walk as I grew up - hell, I can recall a few weeks before hearing about his death, someone at work tried to do it here and we all laughed as his sneakers got caught on the carpet. A bunch of 30 and 40-somethings all laughing and remembering the childhood awe that we felt about him, his music, his glittered glove!

Regardless of news reports his sex life, or his growing eccentric behavior...his ruining his relationship with Paul McCartney by trying to buy the Beatles songs... I think most people, although they would joke about him and his possible sexual desires for pre-teen boys, all felt in their hearts that it was more about a man who was torn from his childhood and wanted playmates...and could only relate to children; and who had major mental problems. There are priests and such who have raped boys, but I don't think that Michael Jackson ever raped anyone - and I have rarely, despite jokes - met anyone who really thinks he did either.

On the day of his recent death, and the day after, an ex-boyfriend began texting me all of these jokes about MJ and his penchant for young boys; then the texts escalated into making fun of his face and his surgeries. I had to write him back and tell him to please STOP - it wasn't funny. The man was DEAD. Three children are without a father, and a world who grew up with him as the center of their musical universe as a child had that man taken away...a man who had become a shell of what he once was. My ex's curt response was "I love the way he was hated by Paul McCartney who issued a press release he loved him and for a decade he was called a child molester but now he's a saint...No one I know is upset (that he is dead) at all."

Well, for starters, this explains why this person and I are no longer dating...but what really gets me is that although some might call him a child molester, I would have to say: look at his interviews. When asked if kids were sleeping in his bed with him and having sleep-overs, he would reply enthusiastically, "Yes!" and talk about all the fun they had. He went to bed watching cartoons. A person I know, who worked in shwanky hotel that MJ stayed at one night said that he called room service. When she asked what he wanted, thinking he wanted food, he asked her to tell him a bedtime story because he couldn't sleep.

I ask you: who can't look at the man and see that he was just trying to re-live his childhood, one that he never was allowed to really have? He was troubled, yes; had mental problems, yes; but although some of us had a good laugh at some of the issues that were going on and his odd behavior, we need to look at the brilliant boy, the brilliant young man, who did indeed become the King of Pop and created a legacy that will go into history for all the good he did.

And what my darling, empathy-filled (I hope the sarcasm is dripping as I type) ex seems to forget is that even people who are seen as twisted at times, and even when there is anger in relationships involved, people will still mourn the untimely death of such a brilliant star who was so troubled that he only weighed 112 at his death. I mean, hell - I will actually mourn when Robert dies...which, I cannot say he would do for me, or anyone for that matter. But that is a whole other post.

Michael - thank you for the good times. I'm so sorry that you were so unhappy. I wish you could have been happier...and hopefully the Neverland you were seeking is now in your hands and around you. Rest peacefully.

Nikki Garrett pics

Maree "Nikki" Garrett (born 8 January 1984) is an Australian professional golfer.
Garrett turned professional in late 2005, and qualified for the 2006 Ladies European Tour (LET). She did not win a tournament in her rookie season, but she had four top-ten finishes, ended up 12th on the Order of Merit standings with €99,445 in earnings, and won the 2006 Ryder Cup Wales Rookie of the Year award. In 2007 she collected back to back LET titles at the Tenerife Ladies Open and the Open de Espana Femenino.

Nikki Garrett

Nikki Garrett

Nikki Garrett

Nikki Garrett

great michael jordan pics

great michael jordan picture

michael jordan
michael jordan
michael jordan
michael jordan