The Sports Review

Maria Sharapova, the Australian Open champion of 2008, has withdrawn from the WTA tournament in Key Biscayne citing a shoulder injury. The Russian was in sublime form this year winning 18 matches on the trot until she was beaten by the second seeded Svetlana Kuznetsova in the semi finals of the Pacific Life Open last week.

Sharapova said that she needed to take a break from the game as the hectic schedule of many tournaments is proving to be energy sapping. She said that she has been playing a lot of tennis since the start of this season and has been travelling a lot as well. She wanted to take a small break in order to get her mind and her body into top gear again. She said that she will return to playing tennis once she feels that she has got the much needed rest and that no one can force her to play.

Ana Ivanovic has made a vow that she will capture a Grand Slam title this year and the 20 year old hot tennis sensation has to show her prowess by winning the forthcoming Tier I event, the Pacific Life Open. She is the number one seed in this tournament that kicks off on Wednesday and has to repeat her last year form in a bid to capture the title. She has been steadily climbing in the ATP rankings since last year and she jumped to the Number two position after her appearance in the final of the 2008 Australian Open. Maria Sharapova is also expected to take part in this tournament and she was the one who beat the Serbian lass at the Australian Open final.

Both the Williams sisters will not be playing at the Indiana Wells tournament and the crowd will also not get to see the world number one Justine Henin play in this tournament. The tournament will feature six of the top 10 players in the world competing for the Pacific Life Open title and Ana Ivanovic is in the top half of the draw and is pitted to play either Raluca Olaru of Romania or China’s Yuan Meng in the first round of the tournament.

The American number one tennis player and booming server Andy Roddick came up with some stupendous tennis to overcome the heroic efforts of unseeded Spanish player Feliciano Lopez to win the 2008 Dubai Open with a score line that reads 6-7, 6-4 & 6-2. Andy Roddick who had recently won the Sap Open is on the top of his game right now, as he amassed a total of 84 aces in the Barclays Dubai Tennis Championships. Lopez who also played some fabulous tennis during the course of the week by defeating top players like Ferrer, Davydenko and Berdych made Andy toil for his maiden victory in his first appearance in Dubai.

Roddick said that he was pretty happy to win the title and the main idea of playing this tournament was to test himself against some of the top players in the world. Roddick said that he felt he was on top of his game while he was playing in the match and was confident in his mind that he can pull this game off. Roddick said that any player can crack during pressure situations and that is what exactly happened in the second set with Lopez. Roddick said that he played the third set pretty well and hoped to continue the rich form well into the season.

Justin Henin, the world number one women’s tennis player, is having a gala time in Dubai, as she has won the 17th consecutive match that she has played in this tournament, by defeating qualifier Katarina Srebotnik 7-5, 6-7, 6-3 in a thrilling three setter. Henin had to bring out the best tennis she has ever played in this season to beat her lesser known opponent Serbotnik. The Barclays Dubai Tennis Championship is Henin’s favorite hunting ground and she had to give her best in the last set to retain her winning streak record in Dubai.

The Belgian number one player, who got a bye in the first round of the tournament, said that she was happy that the game was extended top the third set and acknowledged that this game will do a lot for her in the 2008 season. She said that she had thoroughly enjoyed the game and was in total rhythm for the entire match. The winner of the Sydney and the recently concluded Antwerp Championship, Henin, said that she badly needed a match like this to keep her focus on the game and appreciated the efforts of her Slovekina opponent. Henin will now face the Italian Francesca Schiavone in the quarter final round.

Andy Roddick, the world number 6 and top seed player at the Sap Open Tennis Tournament came up with a booming service package to defeat the fourth seeded player Stepanek 6-4, 7-5 in the Sunday’s final. This is the third victory at this championship for Roddick and the previous two titles victories came in 2004 and 2005. Andy Roddick’s serve has been the highlight in the final match as he closed out both the sets with a booming ace. Andy Roddick was pretty pleased to have some tough fights in the earlier rounds, as these matches instilled confidence in him that he is all set to scale the top of the peak.

As Roddick has been in and out of the tour for major part of last year, this victory has helped him in putting his foot on the accelerator pedal and he wants to carry on with the rich form that he has derived from this tournament. The last serve of the match was a 208 kph ace down the middle of the court that made him celebrate his triumph with a Michael Jackson style dance. Andy Roddick has accepted a wild card entry to play in the upcoming Memphis tournament as he is in need of more work to reach to the top level.

The World number one men’s tennis player, Roger Federer, has once again won the prestigious Laureus World Sportsman of the Year award. The amazing fact is that he has won this award for a record fourth straight year and is the first man to achieve the same. The awards were announced at a grand event in St Petersburg at Mariinsky Theatre that was attended by the Russian President Vladimir Putin. Federer seemed top be very happy to receive the award and later said that he was glad that the jury did not think that three is enough and awarded him with the fourth one this year.

Roger Federer, a five time consecutive Wimbledon Grand Slam title holder, said that the first Laureus award was the award he cherished most and said that he would like to win it next year also to make it five in a row as his Wimbledon titles. The World number one is virtually unbeatable as he has amassed three of the four grand slam titles in 2007 and he has done so for the past three years. Federer also thanked all the people who had voted for him and said that even though he received a lot of awards in the past year, they might have been either regional or national, but Laureus is one that goes worldwide.

So many things have been about the great tennis player in recent years. Something like he is nothing without that serve, or that his volley is not that great, or that at times he is too defensive… However, very few could argue that there is a more deserving Davis Cup winner than Andy Roddick. The player has only missed 1 series in the past 6 years, which is especially remarkable for an elite player.

After an American “dream team” of Pete Sampras Andre Agassi, John McEnroe, and Jim Courier knocked off the Swiss, Andy Roddick vowed he’d experience the same feeling one day. Once he said that the Davis Cup had always been a huge priority for him. Now Andy Roddick’s time has come. The Andy Roddick-led Americans are trying to end a twelve-year drought against the Russian team in Portland starting today.