Sunday, July 31, 2011

roger federer Swiss professional tennis player

Roger Federer German pronunciation: born August 8, 1981 is a Swiss professional tennis player who held the ATP number one position for a record 237 consecutive weeks, and 285 weeks overall. As of 18 July 2011, he is ranked World No. 3 by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP). Federer has won a men's record 16 Grand Slam singles titles. He is one of seven male players to capture the career Grand Slam and one of three (with Andre Agassi and Rafael Nadal) to do so on three different surfaces (clay, grass and hard courts). He is the only male player in tennis history to have reached the title match of each Grand Slam tournament at least 5 times. Many sports analysts, tennis critics, and former and current players consider Federer to be the greatest tennis player of all time.
Federer has appeared in an unprecedented 23 career Grand Slam finals, of which 10 were consecutive appearances, and appeared in 18 of 19 finals over the four and a half years from the 2005 Wimbledon Championships through the 2010 Australian Open, the lone exception being the 2008 Australian Open. He holds the record of reaching the semifinals or better of 23 consecutive Grand Slam tournaments over five and a half years from the 2004 Wimbledon Championships through the 2010 Australian Open. At the 2011 Wimbledon Championships he reached his 29th consecutive Grand Slam quarterfinal, breaking the record set by Jimmy Connors.
Federer has won a record five ATP World Tour Finals (shared with Ivan Lendl and Pete Sampras) and 17 ATP Masters Series tournaments (tied second all-time). He also won the Olympic gold medal in doubles with his compatriot Stanislas Wawrinka at the 2008 Summer Olympic Games. For the past eight years (2003–2010) he has been in the top two in the year-end rankings.
As a result of Federer's successes in tennis, he was named the Laureus World Sportsman of the Year for a record four consecutive years (2005–2008). He is often referred to as The Federer Express or abbreviated to Fed Express, the Swiss Maestro or simply Maestro. In 2011, Federer was ranked No.25 in Forbes Celebrity 100 List.
Contents
* 1 Early life
o 1.1 Childhood and personal life
o 1.2 Marriage and family
o 1.3 Outreach and charitable efforts
* 2 Tennis career
o 2.1 Pre-1998: Junior years
o 2.2 1998–2002: Early career in the ATP
o 2.3 2003–2006: Breakthrough and dominance
o 2.4 2007 to present
o 2.5 Rivalries
+ 2.5.1 Federer vs. Nadal
+ 2.5.2 Federer vs. Hewitt
+ 2.5.3 Federer vs. Nalbandian
+ 2.5.4 Federer vs. Djokovic
+ 2.5.5 Federer vs. Murray
+ 2.5.6 Federer vs. Roddick
o 2.6 Playing style
o 2.7 Equipment, apparel, endorsements
o 2.8 Grand Slam tournament performance timeline
o 2.9 Year-End Championship performance timeline
o 2.10 Olympic games
o 2.11 Records
* 3 See also
* 4 References and notes
* 5 Further reading
* 6 Video
* 7 External links
o 7.1 Profiles

roger federer

Friday, July 29, 2011

Robert Kubica

Renault’s Robert Kubica was fastest in opening practice on Friday ahead of the weekend’s Australian Grand Prix.

The Polish driver clocked a fastest lap of one minute 26.927 seconds out of the 22 laps he completed on the Albert Park street circuit in fine, dry conditions.

Kubica was 0.199secs quicker than German Mercedes driver Nico Rosberg (1:27.126) with reigning world champion Jenson Button third fastest in 1:27.482 in his McLaren Mercedes.

Ferrari’s Brazilian racer Felipe Massa came in fourth best in 1:27.511 ahead of Germany’s Sebastian Vettel (1:27.686) in a Red Bull-Renault.

Spanish two-time world champion Fernando Alonso clocked the sixth best lap time of 1:27.747 in his Ferrari ahead of the 2008 world champion Lewis Hamilton in his McLaren Mercedes in 1:27.793.

Seven-time world champion Michael Schumacher, making a comeback this season with Mercedes GP Petronas, came in 12th fastest in 1:28.550 in his first tilt around Albert Park this week.

Australian Mark Webber, bidding to win his home GP in his Red Bull-Renault, was 14th quickest in 1:28.683.

The red flag came out twice in the session with Japan’s Kamui Kobayashi striking trouble with his BMW-Sauber

Kobayashi lost his front wing after hitting a kerb and then the wing appeared to come loose and break away in his second stint in practice.

The drivers will have a second practice session later on Friday ahead of Sunday’s Australian GP.

John Smoltz Base Ball Player

John Smoltz is progressing along just fine from June 2008 right shoulder surgery. Smoltz has a 1.59 ERA in 3 rehab starts so far. Smoltz has pitched 11 1/3 innings in those 3 starts and has not walked a batter while striking out 10. On Sunday, Smoltz pitched 5 innings at Class A Greenville – 73 pitches, 52 strikes, 1 run on 4 hits with 6 strikeouts.

Assuming continued pain-free sessions for Smoltz, he will make 2 starts for Triple-A Pawtucket and then join the Red Sox at the major league level. Should be interesting to see how GM Theo Epstein and Manager Terry Francona juggle the pitching staff with the addition of Smoltz. Smolt is very positive and optimistic about his ability to pitch well at the highest level for the rest of the season: “I felt really good. And for the most part, I tried to establish my fastball. I had a cranky beginning, but it worked itself out and I got into a nice little groove. I think I’m going to get a little more complete each time. For the most part, I’m really pleased with today’s effort. I felt really fresh in the 5th inning, even though it’s the longest stint I’ve had.

Good news Red Sox fans. Especially with the Yankees clicking on all cylinders right now, it will be great to have Smoltz make his Red Sox debut sooner rather than later – it’s almost like making a pre-trade deadline trade for a top-notch pitcher in June. Let’s hope it all works out OK.

Contact

John Smoltz and his beard may be done forever.

Published on June 4, 2008 by The Sloth · No Comments

Atlanta Braves pitcher John Smoltz, who in addition to being one third of the 3 sure-fire Hall of Fame inductees to come up with the team during the 80′s (Tom Glavine and Greg Maddux being the other two) also rocks one the longest running beards in all of sports, and he may be done pitching forever as of today.

The 21 year vet who has spent his entire career with the same team said his shoulder has been troubling him all year and he just can’t take it anymore. He is going to have immediate surgery by Dr. James Andrews, who has operated on pretty much every pitcher at one point in their career. After watching the got the feeling that he thinks he isn’t going to pitch anymore, and that he would be happy just to be able to lift his arm above his head.

I’m not a Braves fan or anything, but they have been doing it about as right as a team can do it for the past 20 years or so. They have held on to all of their stars for a as long as they could without ever crippling the franchise by over paying to keep them, they made the playoffs for over a decade straight, and in the age where managers get fired like Taco Bell employees, they have held on to Bobby Cox since I didn’t even know how babies were made, so I root for him to pull of a miracle.
I doubt Smoltz can come back from major shoulder surgery at 41 years old. But the dude has more scars on his pitching arm than a cutter goth chick and he’s been able to come back from all of his previous surgeries successfully, so who knows?

Red Sox John Smoltz, is setting to return off the disabled list this season on June 25th. John Smoltz has not started a game since June 2nd of 2008. For now John Smoltz is going to start for the Triple-A Pawtucket team. Before joining the Red Sox last year Smoltz was a starting pitcher for the Atlanta Braves for 21 years, he has a career record of 210-147 with 3,011 strikeouts.
Since Smoltz's injury his replacement has been Daisuke Matsuzaka. Matsuzaka has struggled alot since replacing Smoltz, but that would all end on next Thursday. Coach Terry Francona says,"He's spent a lot of time getting ready to come back and help us and he's been unbelievably cooperative.He's been tremendous. He wants to help us win and he hasn't gotten caught up in just coming back to make an appearance for the Red Sox. He understands the big picture, which we're appreciative of. I think as an organization we'll be rewarded for that, because I think he's going to pitch well."
John Smoltz said this on Tuesday,"I'm going to have an abbreviated game tomorrow and then next week; it looks like Thursday against the Nationals will be my first start,That gives me plenty of time to figure everything out, get situated and anxiously await my first start." As for the rest of the Red Sox fans we will just have to what happens next Thusday.

Monday, July 25, 2011

anna kournikova born in Moscow, Soviet Union, on June 7, 1981

Early life
Anna Kournikova was born in Moscow, Soviet Union, on June 7, 1981. Her father, Sergei Kournikov, was 19 at the time. Sergei, a former Greco-Roman wrestling champion, had earned a Ph.D. and was a professor at the University of Physical Culture and Sport in Moscow. As of 2001, he was still a part-time martial arts instructor there. Her mother Alla, who was 18 when Kournikova was born, had been a 400-meter runner.
Sergei Kournikov has said, "We were young and we liked the clean, physical life, so Anna was in a good environment for sport from the beginning. The family name is spelled in Russian without an "o", so a direct transliteration would be "Kurnikov", and it is sometimes written that way. But it is pronounced "Kournikov", so the family chose that as their English spelling.
Kournikova received her first tennis racquet as a New Year gift in 1986 at age 5. Describing her early regimen, she said, "I played two times a week from age six. It was a children's program. And it was just for fun; my parents didn't know I was going to play professionally, they just wanted me to do something because I had lots of energy. It was only when I started playing well at seven that I went to a professional academy. I would go to school, and then my parents would take me to the club, and I'd spend the rest of the day there just having fun with the kids. In 1986, Kournikova became a member of the Spartak Tennis Club, coached by Larissa Preobrazhenskaya. In 1989, at the age of eight, Kournikova began appearing in junior tournaments, and by the following year, was attracting attention from tennis scouts across the world. Kournikova signed a management deal at age ten and went to Bradenton, Florida, to train at Nick Bollettieri's celebrated tennis academy.

anna kournikova

Saturday, July 23, 2011

Sabine Lisicki German professional tennis player.

Sabine Katharina Lisicki born 22 September 1989 in Troisdorf is a German professional tennis player.
Lisicki has won two WTA singles tournaments in her career (one in 2009 and one in 2011) and one doubles tournament (in 2011). She reached the semifinals of the 2011 Wimbledon Championships and also reached the quarterfinals of the 2009 Wimbledon Championships. She achieved her career high rank of World No. 22 on 3 August 2009. After struggling with injuries in 2010, Lisicki rebounded in 2011 and re-entered the top 100 of the world rankings. She is only the second player in Wimbledon history to make it to the semifinals while entering the tournament as a wildcard
Lisicki lives in Bradenton, Florida. Her parents emigrated from Poland in 1979; her father, Dr. Richard Lisicki, is of German and Polish descent, and her mother, Elisabeth, of Polish.
Contents
* 1 Career
o 1.1 2008
o 1.2 2009
o 1.3 2010
o 1.4 2011
* 2 Major finals
o 2.1 Grand Slam finals
+ 2.1.1 Doubles: 1 (0–1)
* 3 Career finals
o 3.1 Singles finals: 4 (2–2)
o 3.2 Doubles finals: 2 (1–1)
* 4 Singles performance timeline
* 5 References
* 6 External link
Career
Since 2004 Lisicki trained at the Nick Bollettieri Tennis Academy in Bradenton, Florida, USA where she is sponsored and managed by IMG. She is coached by her father who studied sport science in Wrocław and Cologne.
Lisicki had a successful year in 2007 on the ITF circuit and climbed from World No. 497 to World No. 198 in the WTA rankings. She won two titles, one in Jersey and the other in Toronto, Canada. She defeated top-seed Katie O'Brien on 2 August 2007 at the Odlum Brown Vancouver Open.
In 2006, Lisicki competed at the 2006 Sunfeast Open – Singles Qualifying in Kolkata where she crushed Ragini Vimal 6-1, 6-0 in the first round, but lost in the qualifying round to Sanaa Bhambri of India.