ATP Live Screensaver

Attention all the ATP fans. Here is the ATP Live Screensaver to rock your Desktop.

The ATP Live! Screensaver will download the latest photos, videos and schedules from Tour stops worldwide and spotlighting the hottest players in action. Updates are made automatically to the Screensaver.

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Federer One Of The Best-Paid Young Celebs

Swiss tennis star Roger Federer is at No. 5 Rank in Forbes Magazine's latest list of Best-Paid Celebs Under 30, earning a total of $35 million from on-court prize money and sponsorship deals added together.

The Swiss, who who earned a handsome amount of $10.1 million in prize money during the year 2007 with victories at three of the four majors, earned an additional $25 million from his endorsements with Nike, Gillette, Mercedes-Benz, Wilson, and Swiss companies Emmi and Jura.

Earlier this year, Forbes placed Federer at No. 23 in its Celebrity top 100 rankings recognizing the world's most powerful and highest-paid celebrities. Oprah Winfrey came in at No. 1, followed by Tiger Woods, Angelina Jolie, Knowles and David Beckham.

Federer is the all-time ATP leader in career prize money, with earnings of $44.5 million to date. He overtook Pete Sampras's mark of $43 million this past October at Masters Series Madrid.

Maria Sharapova, the highest-paid sportswoman endorser, joined Federer as the only other tennis player in the Top 10 with her reported earnings of $26 million placing her at No. 7. Serena and Venus Williams finished at No. 11 and 12 respectively.

Beyonce Knowles finished as the Best-Paid Celeb Under 30 with $80 million in earnings last year, nearly double the amount of Justin Timberlake at No. 2 ($44 million). NBA stars Kobe Bryant ($39 million) and LeBron James ($38 million) followed the two singers on the power list.

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ATP World Tour 2009 Official Calendar

The official calendar of ATP World Tour is out now and its featuring players from 12 different countries. The price is just $13.

ATP Pro's Tommy Robredo, Fernando Gonzalez, Tommy Haas, Marcos Baghdatis, Tomas Berdych, Fernando Verdasco, Ivan Ljubicic, Juan Monaco, Michael Youzhny, Paradorn Srichaphan, Paul-Henri Mathieu, Dmitry Tursunov and the Bryan brothers are featuring in the calender. You can buy it at tennis warehouse.com or here is the link

http://www.tennis-warehouse.com/descpageGRANGE-ATPCAL09.html?from=atp

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ATP PLAYER NEWS

Johansson To Make Return To ATP Circuit

Former ATP World No. 9 Joachim "Pim-Pim" Johansson of Sweden announced on Friday that he would resume his professional tennis career starting at the If Stockholm Open, where he has received a wild card for the main draw, which starts on Monday.
The 26-year-old Johansson originally retired from the ATP circuit in February after suffering from shoulder injuries for three years.
“My shoulder feels much better and when Pelle (Per Hjertquist, Tournament Director) asked me to play here it felt like a very exciting challenge. It’s extra special for me to play this tournament, with home court advantage and with the wonderful atmosphere in the arena”, Johansson said.
The If Stockholm Open will be Johansson’s only tournament this year, while he will resume a full schedule starting in 2009. Johansson said after Stockholm he will consult with his doctor and build a workout program to get back in shape. He will start playing a full schedule towards the second half of 2009.
The 6’6’’ right-hander played his last professional match in Stockholm last year, defeating Carlos Berlocq in the first round before withdrawing from his second match due to illness.
Johansson captured three ATP titles at 2004 Memphis (d. Kiefer) and 2005 Adelaide (d. Dent) and Marseille (d. Ljubicic). His best Grand Slam performance came at the ’04 US Open, when he beat defending champion Andy Roddick in the quarterfinals before falling to Lleyton Hewitt in the semifinals. He reached a career-high No. 9 in the South African Airways ATP Rankings on February 14, 2005.

Information and photo frop ATP

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Davis Cup

Davis Cup continues golden year in tennis

2008 is proving a golden year in tennis. Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal have taken their rivalry at the top of men’s tennis to new heights with their Wimbledon final, they joined with the Williams sisters in winning gold medals at a truly memorable Olympic tennis event, and a wonderfully competitive US Open has just broken many of its previous records.
The Davis Cup by BNP Paribas is also contributing to this stellar year. The beauty of the competition is that it can sometimes throw up some wonderfully unexpected stories – like Croatia’s victory over the USA in the 2005 first round which was a stepping stone to the country’s first Davis Cup title nine months later – but this year the four leading team tennis nations of the current decade have all made it to the last four, promising a high-quality denouement to the competition.After years of underachievement, Spain has finally become a Davis Cup heavyweight since the turn of the century. Its ecstatic victory over Australia in the 2000 final in Barcelona’s Palau Sant Jordi seemed the logical culmination of Spain’s increasing dominance of the world’s top 100. That dominance has increased throughout this decade, and so has Spain’s impact on the sport’s top team competition.After a final in 2003, which the Spaniards lost to an Australian team enjoying the last gasp of a now faded generation, Spain won its second title in 2004 in what was Nadal’s breakthrough year. In his debut Davis Cup tie, the 17-year-old Mallorcan, still 16 months short of his first French Open title, won a live fifth rubber to see a weakened Spain through in the Czech city of Brno. In retrospect it seems strange that his selection over Juan Carlos Ferrero to play singles in the final against America was something of a shock, but in beating Andy Roddick on the opening day, Nadal put Spain out of reach and allowed for wild celebrations when Carlos Moya beat Roddick to seal the title in front of 27,200 spectators in Seville.Spain’s opponents in the up-coming semifinals are Davis Cup heavyweights by any standards. The USA’s win over Russia in Portland last December was their 32nd title, but only the second since 1995. Yet the Americans have been major players in the competition throughout this decade under the captaincy of Patrick McEnroe, who took over after his brother John’s three-tie reign ended in a 5-0 defeat to Spain in the 2000 semis.The younger McEnroe has nurtured a team that has posted five semifinal appearances in eight years, largely with the same team. In his first tie as captain he gave a debut to Andy Roddick, and in 2003 overcame his initial reluctance to pick a specialist doubles pair by selecting the Bryan twins, who have since gone on to become one of the Davis Cup’s greatest pairings. Although he is missing James Blake for the visit to Madrid, there’s no question the American squad is now made up of players who revel in the team variant of this very individual sport, a factor which has allowed them to stick with the best despite not having the depth of talent available during the 1990s.Russia can also look back on five semifinals this decade. It has not had the depth of talent to choose from that Spain and Argentina has, but has used its half-dozen world class players to great effect to win ties in which it started as underdog. The best example came in the 2007 first round when Marat Safin and Igor Andreev beat Chile on the clay of Santiago in the absence of Russia’s other glamorous names.The mastermind behind Russia’s success has been Shamil Tarpischev, the wily captain who was once a government minister. He has done deals with his players to ensure they take breaks from certain ties in return for shouldering the burden in others. It has led to two titles for Russia, both won on live fifth rubbers – Mikhail Youzhny’s coming-out party against the luckless Paul-Henri Mathieu in 2002, and Marat Safin’s triumph over José Acasuso on home soil in 2006.Argentina finds itself in a similar position to where Spain was 10 years ago. It has been a golden era for Argentina’s men in terms of populating the world’s top 100, and that has meant notable individual triumphs, headed by Gaston Gaudio’s French Open title in 2004 when three of the four semifinalists were Argentinian. But it has never turned that success into Davis Cup dominance, and has just one final (Moscow 2006) to show for its five semifinals this decade.In a country mad about football (soccer), Argentina’s players know the way to their sports fans’ hearts is via success in team competitions. That perhaps explains why Argentina has developed such an impressive home record in the Davis Cup by BNP Paribas, even this year when the country has done very little on the tour outside Juan-Martin del Potro’s 23-match unbeaten run over recent weeks. David Nalbandian is the torchbearer of the team – he has never lost a Davis Cup match, singles or doubles, on home soil, and his relatively poor year on the tour could all be because his focus is on the one competition that really matters to the Argentina sporting public.It would be disrespectful to focus so much on Spain, USA, Russia and Argentina as to detract from the titles won this decade by France (2001), Australia (2003) and Croatia (2005). But in terms of Davis Cup consistency, the big four have accounted for 20 of the 36 semifinalists since 2000. They are the dominant nations of the current era, and as such promise not only superb semifinals and a final, but also guarantee that the 2008 champion nation will be a very worthy one.

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DAVIS CUP Semifinals

Davis Cup Team Nominations Announced

World No. 1 Rafael Nadal will represent Spain in the Davis Cup semifinals against defending champion U.S. when the two nations face off from September 19-21 in Madrid. The Mallorcan will be joined in the line-up by No. 5 David Ferrer.
While the American contingent features members of its winning team in World No. 8 Andy Roddick and the top doubles team of Bob and Mike Bryan, it introduces 20-year-old Sam Querrey, who steps in as a replacement for James Blake.
Captain Patrick McEnroe said in a statement: "James is just physically and mentally exhausted after a grueling summer. He said he needed a break and we respect that. This is also a great opportunity for Sam, who has had a solid year, strong results on clay and has been a loyal practice partner for this team."
In the other semifinal, to be played in Buenos Aires, World No. 7 David Nalbandian and 19-year-old Juan Martin del Potro head up the Argentine charge against Russia.Nikolay Davydenko, currently No. 5 in the South African Airways ATP Rankings, will attempt to take Russia back into the final for the third straight year.
In addition to the World Group semifinals that weekend, eight ties will be played with the winners advancing into the 2009 World Group and the losers going into Group I. Top 10 players Roger Federer and Stanislas Wawrinka will both play for Switzerland in its tie against Belgium, US Open finalist Andy Murray will represent Great Britain against Austria, and bronze medalist Novak Djokovic will lead Serbia against the Slovak Republic.

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Masters Cup

Murray, Erlich/Ram Qualify for Tennis Masters Cup

US Open finalist to make debut at prestigious circuit finale- Reigning Australian Open doubles champions return to Shanghai for third year
Shanghai, China – US Open finalist Andy Murray of Great Britain secured his first trip to the prestigious Tennis Masters Cup—to be held at Shanghai’s Qi Zhong Stadium from November 9-16—joining the ATP’s top trio of Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic as singles players to have clinched their place in the elite eight-man, eight-team field. Meanwhile, reigning Australian Open doubles champions Jonathan Erlich and Andy Ram became the third team to qualify for the circuit finale.
Murray moved up to a career-high No. 4 in the ATP 2008 Race and South African Airways ATP Rankings – matching the highest ranking ever held by a British man – after reaching his first Grand Slam final at the US Open. En route, he defeated World No. 10 Stanislas Wawrinka in the fourth round, snapped Juan Martin del Potro’s 23-match winning streak in the quarterfinals and posted his first win in six meetings against World No. 1 Nadal in the semifinals.
“I am having my best season ever and qualifying for (Tennis Masters Cup) Shanghai is a great reward. It was one of my goals at the beginning of 2008 and I look forward to competing there for the first time,” said Murray, the first Briton to qualify for the circuit finale since Tim Henman in 2004.
The 21-year-old from Dunblane, Scotland, has enjoyed an impressive 2008 campaign with a 41-14 record. He won the Doha and Marseille titles in the first two months of the season, and collected his first ATP Masters Series title in August at the Western & Southern Financial Group Masters in Cincinnati. His eight wins against Top 10 players this season – inclusive of Nadal, Federer and Djokovic – is the second-best on the ATP circuit behind Nadal’s 16.
Tennis Masters Cup Tournament Director Brad Drewett said: “We are very excited to have Andy in Shanghai this year, especially as he was so close to qualifying last year. He has had another outstanding year and everyone in China is looking forward to having him qualifying for his first Masters Cup event later this year.”
Erlich and Ram, currently No. 3 in the Stanford ATP Doubles Race behind US Open champions Bob and Mike Bryan and Wimbledon titlists Daniel Nestor and Nenad Zimonjic, will be making their third straight appearance at the Tennis Masters Cup. They will be looking to advance beyond the round robin stage for the first time in Shanghai, after going 1-2 in each of their circuit finale showings. The Israeli duo enjoyed a strong start to the 2008 season with their team’s first Grand Slam title at the Australian Open and the ATP Masters Series shield at Indian Wells.
The top eight players in the ATP 2008 Race following the BNP Paribas Masters along with the top seven teams in the Stanford ATP Doubles Race, with one spot reserved for Grand Slam champions finishing within the Top 20, will qualify for the circuit finale.

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