Maria Sharapova pulls out of HK, back on court

Maria Sharapova pulled out of the exhibition tournament she was scheduled to play in Hong Kong in January. In an official statement released today, she cited that she is not “match ready” to take on the tournament courts. The  initial rehab on her shoulder failed to fix the injury and Maria had to go into surgery in October.

Unfortunately after my 10 weeks of shoulder rehab, I started hitting and serving again and I still felt the same exact pain that I have had in my shoulder since March. I went back to NY to see Dr.Altcheck on October 14 and we went to plan B. On the morning of October 15 Dr. Altcheck performed a minor arthroscopic surgery that lasted 22 minutes on my right shoulder.
The procedure was successful and very simple. I left the hospital a few hours after the procedure and flew to my home in Florida for 3 days and then I flew back to Phoenix to start working on my shoulder. The 10 weeks of shoulder strength before the procedure really helped the shoulder heal quicker. Dr. Altcheck thought my recovery would be very fast and he was right. I had full range of motion after 14 days, after 6 weeks I was throwing a foot ball and after 8 weeks I was back on the court where I belong.

Maria’s defense of her Australian Open crown is in doubt so let’s all cross our fingers and hope she will be ready by then.

I know my shoulder will be 100 percent by Australia, I just need to see if I have enough tennis training to be ready for that level.

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Maria Sharapova at Tiffany opening

Maria Sharapova was hard at work last night for one of her sponsors, Tiffany & Co. She was seen at the opening of their new store at The Americana in Glendale, CA. Also in attendance was Willie Ebersol who is the brother of Maria’s rumored boyfriend, Charlie Ebersol.

Click here for more photos.

Lindsay Davenport still charging on

Lindsay Davenport will be making a return to the WTA Tour next year. She has placed an entry to the Australian Open which begins in January. Rumors of retirement began to go around the tennis world sometime after the US Open since she has not played a match since then.

We are really excited that she has entered,” tournament director Craig Tiley said Thursday. “She is a world class player and a great ambassador for our sport.”

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Live stream of The Andy Roddick Foundation’s annual charity event

Live stream of Andy Roddick’s annual charity event is up now. Tonight they will be showing the annual charity dinner event and auction and tomorrow Club Roddick members will be able to see the celebrity tennis event. Earlier we saw some live behind the scenes footage of Andy practicing his speech and the crew setting up the place. Justin Gimblestob is in attendance as well as Andy’s finacee, Brooklyn Decker. You can also follow live updates from Team Roddick at twitter.com/andyroddick.

Top 5 moments of 2008

The Davis Cup final tie between Spain and Argentina officially closed out the tennis year last week. Now, we look back at the moments that shook the tennis world. Some were inevitable while others left us all in shock but these moments mostly reminded us of why we fell in love with the game. From the top players producing some sort of magic on court to the up and comers throwing everything at their opponents, it’s been one heck of a year and I look forward to an even more interesting one to come.

#5 – Dinara Safina comes of age

Dinara Safina broke out this year tearing up the clay and summer hardcourt seasons with key wins over Justine Henin and Serena Williams in Berlin, Maria Sharapova and Elena Dementieva in Paris and Jelena Jankovic in Los Angeles. She won 4 WTA titles this year with back-to-back wins at Los Angeles and Montreal. Dinara’s newly found composure on court has certainly helped with her achievements this year. Marat’s baby sister has come out of his shadows and is making statements of her own.

#4 – Justine Henin’s sudden retirement and the rest of the top 10 battle for #1

Who would have thought that the best player on the women’s tour would no longer be stepping on centre court even before this year’s French Open when the tennis season is just settling in. Justine’s sudden retirement left the entire tennis world in total shock. Even the rest of the women’s field did not know what to do with themselves that it seemed as if nobody wanted to assume the position as the best in the world. Every week for what seemed like an eternity, we had a different number 1 player until Jelena Jankovic, sans a grand slam title, took it upon herself to rack up the points and end the year as world number 1.

#3 – The Russian women win it all at the Summer Olympics in Beijing

Given that half of the top 10 women on the WTA tour are Russians, it hardly came as a surprise when the medals at this year’s Olympic games were handed out to the ladies in red. Elena Dementieva, Dinara Safina and Vera Zvonareva won gold, silver and bronze, respectively.

#2 – Rafael Nadal: Finally!

After trailing the world’s best, Roger Federer, in the ATP ranking for about 3 years, Rafa finally took the top spot on August 18, 2008. He did it in superhuman fashion too. He won all but one tournament in the clay court warm-ups leading to the French Open, won the French Open, won his first grass court title in Queens and then won Wimbledon. Rafa became an all-court player this year and defeated Roger 4 consecutive times en route to his claim of that seemingly inaccessible top spot.

#1 – Roger vs Rafa at Wimbledon: Greatest match ever?

I do not know of any sports fan who did not watch tennis that Sunday. Saying it was an epic match is almost an understatement but most of us are at a loss of words on how to put it. Classic? Larger-than-life? Blockbuster? All these words came up while I was trying to write about it. Well, it was all of the above and then some. I’ve never seen a match where both players were playing at their best and willing to do anything to win. There was a lot at stake for both, Roger was trying to resurrect a mediocre year (in Roger’s standard, anyway) and was gunning for his 6^th consecutive Wimbledon title while Rafa had his sights on world number 1 and his first grand slam title outside of clay. There was definitely something in the air that day and I hope that air shows up again sometime next year.

Here’s to a good 2009 and to more great tennis moments in the coming months!