Ginepri will have to defend his Indy title in Atlanta next year!

The ATP Tour will return to Atlanta next season after the series purchased the sanctioning rights from the event in Indianapolis.

The ATP board last month voted to buy the Indianapolis sanction under rules which allowed the ATP to match any offer made for the event.

The hard-court tournament in Atlanta will be held over the week of July 17-25 2010 and marks the first time an ATP Tour event has been held in the US city for nine years.

Mark Young, ATP chief executive officer for the Americas, said: “This is a great win for the parties involved and is a wonderful example of co-operation and understanding between different authorities in tennis coming together to achieve the common goal of promoting and developing tennis in the United States.

“We at the ATP wish the tournament every success and are delighted we could find a way to work with the USTA to achieve this outcome.”

The host club for the hard-court tournament, to be held from July 17-25, is yet to be determined, though a decision is expected by mid-January ahead of ticket sales.

The first stop on the US Open Series – dubbed ‘the greatest roadtrip in sport’ by marketeers – starts two weeks after the European clay and grass court seasons end, and has traditionally struggled to attract European players capitalising on extra time around their local training bases.

But Oakes said he has already heard from the agents of two top-10 players. Robby Ginepri, this year’s champion at the Indianapolis event, is expected to ‘defend his title’ in Atlanta.

“This is two weeks after Wimbledon, so normally the top Europeans haven’t come over yet,” said Rex Maynard, president of USTA Southern. “What we’d hope to be able to attract would be the top American players, maybe the South American players.”

Previous winners from the Atlanta tournament, in its many guises, include Andy Roddick in 2001, Pete Sampras in 1998, Andre Agassi in 1989, 1991, and 1992 and John McEnroe in 1985.

There will be a 32-player draw in singles and a 16-team draw in doubles.

Richard Gasquet exonerated from any fault or negligence.

Richard Gasquet has been cleared of doping by the Court of Arbitration for Sport, which dismissed appeals by sports authorities for a tougher penalty after the French tennis player tested positive for cocaine in March.

Gasquet, a former top 10 player and a Wimbledon semi-finalist, failed the original test at the Miami Masters.

The 23 year-old said traces of the drug entered his system via a woman – known only as ‘Pamela’ – who he kissed in a Miami club.

International sport’s top court acknowledged that Gasquet was likely to have been inadvertently contaminated with a minute trace of cocaine when he kissed the woman.

“The player has been exonerated from any fault or negligence and the CAS has dismissed the appeals filed by the ITF (International Tennis Federation) and WADA (World Anti-Doping Agency),” the court said in a statement.

Gasquet was provisionally suspended in May before serving a two-and-a-half month retroactive ban.

The ITF and WADA wanted him to be hit with a ban of one or two years.

The Lausanne-based court’s arbitrators said that a doping offence was correctly reported because of the presence of a “minusucle” quantity of cocaine in Gasquet’s urine sample.

However, they upheld Gasquet’s contention that he was contaminated through kissing and concluded that he could not be blamed.

“On a balance of probability, the CAS panel concluded that it was more likely than not that the player’s contamination with cocaine resulted, as Gasquet always asserted, from kissing a woman in a nightclub in Miami on the day before the anti-doping test.

“It was impossible for the player, even when exercising the utmost caution, to know that in kissing a woman who he had met in a totally unsuspicious environment, he could be contaminated with cocaine,” the statement added.

The CAS found that Gasquet “had met the required standards of proof with respect to the way of ingestion.”

Tomic and Cash team up for World Tennis Challenge.

Rising tennis teen Bernard Tomic will finetune for the Australian Open by playing at the World Tennis Challenge.

Tomic, 17, has agreed to play in the novel World Tennis Challenge in Adelaide next January.

The Adelaide tournament, in which a retired star partners a current player in a teams format, ends only four days before the Australian Open starts in Melbourne.

Tomic will partner Wimbledon champ Pat Cash, who at age 44 is 27 years his senior.

The Tomic–Cash combination will represent Australasia in the Adelaide event, opposed to three teams – the Americas, Europe and the Internationals.

The Americas team features 50-year-old John McEnroe and Robbie Ginepri while French 46-year-old Henri Leconte will play for Europe with an as yet un-named teammate.

World No.14 Radek Stepanek will head the Internationals with a yet to be announced retired player.

Tomic this year became the youngest player in the Open era to win a main draw match at the Australian Open.

Currently ranked 286 in the world, Tomic expects to be given a wildcard into next year’s Australian Open.

“I can’t wait to play in Adelaide … playing alongside some of the greats will be a great learning curve,” he said in a statement on Tuesday.

“WTC is a fantastic concept and I think it will be great to play with Pat alongside some of the legends of the game.

“I think Adelaide is ideal preparation for the Australian Open.”

The WTC, first held earlier this year, will be held at Adelaide’s Memorial Drive from January 12 to 14.

The format pits the two current players against each other, followed by the past players. The teams then join for a doubles match.

Gonzalez agrees to meet with El Presidente!

Last month on a national television sports show, President Michelle Bachelet said she felt it important that Gonzalez, ranked 11th in the world, play for Chile’s Davis Cup tennis team (ST. Nov 2). Gonzalez responded by thanking the President and agreeing to meet with her to discuss his problems with Chile’s tennis federation.

Gonzalez defended the length of time it had taken for him to respond to Bachelet’s offer, insisting that he hadn’t been able to think about it until the tennis season ended earlier this month.

The tennis star quit the Davis Cup team in April after the FTCh published details of how much he and fellow team members Nicolas Massu and Paul Capdeville were paid. Since then Gonzalez has publicly feuded with FTCh director Jose Hinzpeter.

Hinzpeter hailed Gonzalez’s words as a “positive gesture.” “I hope we can heal the wounds and talk about Fernando returning,” he said.

A government spokesperson also praised Gonzalez’s comments, but insisted that a firm date for the meeting was yet to be agreed upon due to the President’s busy schedule and the player’s tournament commitments.

The Davis Cup competition pits the best tennis players from countries the world over in an international knockout format. Without Gonzalez, the Chilean team defeated Austria in September to maintain their position in the cup’s top division – the World Group (ST, 22 Sept).

Gonzalez’s statement raised hopes he will play in Chile’s first match of the 2010 tournament against Israel in the north Chilean port city of Coquimbo next march.

Gonzalez spoke while publicizing next Monday’s exhibition game against Argentine world number five and US open champion Juan Martin del Potro. The game starts at 22.00 at Santiago’s Moviestar arena and is seen by both players as an important warm-up ahead of next month’s Australian open.

Bob Bryan says, “Venus and I will smoke Andy and Serena!”

Andy Roddick and Serena Williams hope to team up for the United States in mixed doubles when the event returns to the Olympics at the 2012 London Games.

Roddick, 27, the men’s world number seven, has had discussions with Williams, 28, the women’s number one.

And Roddick said on Twitter: “It’s confirmed! Serena and Andy teaming up for mixed doubles at 2012 games if they push the mixed doubles through.”

The tennis events at London 2012 will take place on Wimbledon’s grass courts.

The International Olympic Committe announced last week that mixed doubles would be introduced to the Olympic programme in time for 2012.

But Roddick and Serena could face competition to represent the US from doubles star Bob Bryan, who hopes to form a pairing with Serena’s elder sister Venus, 29.

Bryan, 31, who has won seven Grand Slam doubles titles, and six Grand Slam mixed doubles titles, said on Twitter: “It’s not confirmed yet but if Bob and Venus play in 2012 we’ll smoke Andy and Serena.”

6 man field set for Abu-Dhabi.

Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal have been handed opening round byes for the Capitala World Tennis Championship, beginning on New Years Eve.

As part of an impressive six-strong field due to compete in Abu-Dhabi, Robin Soderling will take on Stanislas Wawrinka for a place against Federer in the semi-finals.

On the opposite side of the draw Jo-Wilfred Tsonga will need to record a first career win over Barclays ATP World Tour Finals champion Nikolay Davydenko if he is to secure a spot against Rafael Nadal in the second semi-final.

Setting up the possibility of another mouth watering Nadal/ Federer final, the draw could reignite the famous rivalry that has seen the Spaniard come out on top of 13 of his 20 career encounters against the Swiss.

Bryan Bros. even donate their clothes for charity!

Twins Mike and Bob, the top men’s doubles tennis team in the world, donated their shirts, shoes, hats, sunglasses, watches and even underwear – all signed – to an auction at the Zeno/Canon Tennis Challenge 2 event. All proceeds went to the Larry King Cardiac Foundation.

The brothers left Mayor Rick Lott’s house without shoes, in old T-shirts and warm-ups.

“The Bryans were so unbelievably gracious of their time, and they did so much beyond what they had to do contractually,” said event organizer Rhett Rollyson. “It was wonderful.”

Many Polk County tennis players and fans attended the event to watch the coolest tandem to hit the courts in years.

Andy Murray reflects on 2009, “My best year so far.”

Andy Murray believes the 2009 season was his best year yet and hopes his success this year will act as a stepping stone for winning his first Grand Slam.

The French Open, for me, was a big success – to get into the quarter-finals, the furthest I’ve ever been. I’m hoping I can build on that for next year.

Queens was the first tournament I’d won on home soil which made it extra special. It’s the first time a British player won there for eighty odd years, that obviously meant a lot to me.

Wimbledon was amazing this year. In the match against Wawrinka, the crowd were going absolutely nuts. It was one of the best atomospheres I’ve ever played in. And I played under the roof for the first time, to win in five tough sets, that was a pretty special moment.

I won six titles which was more than I had done in any previous year and I got to number two in the world which is the highest any Brit has ever got. I got further in Wimbledon than I had ever done so I’m hoping it will be a good stepping stone for bigger and better things next year, I will work as hard as I can to win that first Grand Slam.

David Nalbandian makes an impressive return to tennis.

“King” David made a great comeback to the tennis courts. During his presentation at the Copa San Juan Minero, played at the indoors Aldo Cantoniesa Stadium in that province, he had moments where he played very well and crushed the Chilean Nicolás Massú 6-2 and 6-1. He had a great satisfaction: 5,000 people welcomed him applauding widely, he played well, and his serves were good and did not feel any discomfort.

“I felt really good, very happy. I hadn’t been on a court for a long time and I felt great from the beginning. Coming onto the court with an ovation, people applauding on their feet, it was great. I think it is really nice to feel that people like you, support you, cheer you, and are always there for you. I felt well while playing and it was the first match”, the man from Córdoba stated.

Everybody was happy with his great level: himself, who eased the tension of his comeback, his collaborators and family member who were with him in San Juan, the audience who could see a good version of the player and, above all, the tennis world that has now recovered one of its main figures. Now it is just a matter of getting better and better.

Canada’s Gabriela Dabrowski joins Gianni Mina in the winners circle!

France and Canada split the 2009 Orange Bowl singles titles as Gianni Mina and Gabriela Dabrowski were crowned champions in Key Biscayne yesterday, winning the last Grade A event of the year on the ITF Junior Circuit. It was a curious fact that in the long history of the Dunlop Orange Bowl their only forerunners on the Roll of Honour, Guy Forget and Carling Basset, both triumphed in 1982.

17-year-old top seed Mina, the double of Gael Monfils, managed to take his first Grade A trophy of the year, after two wins on clay at the Grade 2 Istres and Grade 1 Beaulieu sur Mer, by defeating his friend and doubles partner Arthur De Greef of Belgium in the final round, with a 64 64 victory. Dropping just one set en route to the title, the Parisian confirmed his tennis has improved a lot on hard courts.

World number five Mina started the match fighting hard and broke De Greef in the ninth game with a down-the-line passing shot to take a 5-4 lead that secured him the first set. Leading 4-0 in the second, Mina appeared just a bit tired after having run a lot in the fifth game and let De Greef come back to 5-4. But with a formidable forehand, Mina took the decisive point, winning the match and yelling “Vamos”. “I played the best match of the tournament on Sunday,” said Mina. “I’m very happy to enjoy a Grade A event, now I want to win a Grand Slam.”

Although she had a lower ITF ranking of 63, unseeded Gabriela Dabrowski of Canada took revenge on top seed and world number one Kristina Mladenovic with a dramatic 63 26 75 win to win the girls’ singles title. 17-year-old Dabrowski, from Ottawa, who was beaten by the French girl in the 2008 US Open first round, developed her tactics and strategy smoothly, hitting heavy deep backhands and drawing her opponent into plenty of mistakes. After having lost the first set 6-3, the Roland Garros champion recovered her serve in the second one and took a 5-4 lead in the third, when tenacious Dabrowski began to increase the pressure from the baseline, surprising the French girl once again with powerful backhands, then converting her only match-point to capture the Orange Bowl trophy.

Despite injuring her knee at the Yucatan Cup last month, the Canadian has played 17 matches in the last 20 days. Ralph Platz’s pupil was runner-up in Merida, losing to Lauren Davis of the USA in the final, and reached the semifinals at the Eddie Herr Championships just a week ago. In Key Biscayne, talented Dabrowski showed off her natural athleticism and a great maturity during her matches, and she looked ready to move on to the professional tour soon. “I had no expectations at the Orange Bowl and now I’m really very happy,” said Dabrowski . “I have tried to play aggressively in all my matches even if I didn’t enjoy my best form.”