The Star Online: Sports
The Star Online: Sports |
- Radwanska headlines Sydney draw
- Tomic axed from Davis Cup over behaviour
- Ramy takes his passion to world championships
| Radwanska headlines Sydney draw Posted: 05 Dec 2012 07:35 PM PST SYDNEY - Poland's Agnieszka Radwanska will lead a field featuring seven of the top 10 women players for next month's Sydney International, organisers said on Thursday. World number four Radwanska is the likely top seed but will face a fierce challenge from three Grand Slam champions, China's Li Na, the Czech Republic's Petra Kvitova and Australia's Samantha Stosur. Angelique Kerber, French Open finalist Sara Errani and former world number one Caroline Wozniacki are the other top 10 players in the draw. The men's line-up features the French pair of Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Richard Gasquet. The Sydney International takes place from January 6 to 12. - AFP |
| Tomic axed from Davis Cup over behaviour Posted: 05 Dec 2012 04:28 PM PST SYDNEY - Captain Pat Rafter will not consider bad boy Bernard Tomic for Australia's opening Davis Cup tie next year due to concerns over his on and off-court behaviour, a report said on Thursday. Rafter took the decision two months before his side's opening match against Taiwan in February, the Sydney Morning Herald said. Tomic, 20, has fallen foul of Tennis Australia several times over the past 18 months since reaching the quarter-finals of Wimbledon in 2011. "Pat has made the decision early that for the first tie next year Bernard will not be selected," Craig Tiley, Tennis Australia's director of tennis, told the newspaper. "As a team, we just felt that part of the commitment that we make to athletes and athletes make to the sport is they always put 100 percent commitment and effort in competing for their country." Rafter had been particularly scathing of Tomic's performance in losing to Andy Roddick in the second round of this year's US Open, describing his final set capitulation as "disgraceful". US tennis great John McEnroe said Tomic, currently ranked 52nd in the world, seemed to give up during his 6-3, 6-4, 6-0 loss to Roddick at Flushing Meadows. Tomic also admitted that he had given only "85 percent" in his 6-4, 6-0 defeat to German Florian Mayer at the Shanghai Masters in October, saying the pressures of the tennis tour were taking their toll. In the same month, he was questioned by police after a fight with a friend on Australia's Gold Coast. Tomic was found guilty last month of failing to stop for police on the Gold Coast in his high-powered, bright orange sportscar and placed on a 12-month good behaviour bond. "We just felt that this decision should provide additional motivation every time (Tomic) walks on the court, to be a total professional in his approach to not only his preparation but competing in the match and post-match," Tiley said. "And it would be no different if he was the number one player in Australia or the number 100 player, or a junior." - AFP |
| Ramy takes his passion to world championships Posted: 05 Dec 2012 04:27 PM PST DOHA - Ramy Ashour is hoping that his bid to win back the world title will be a bit of a morale booster during Egypt's ongoing political revolution. The 25-year-old from Cairo has made visits to join protesters in Tahrir Square, and has been tweeting his support of them whilst preparing his bid to raise the trophy again in the world championships from December 7-14. Ashour is as passionate about the state of his country as about proving that he is again the world's best player. If he achieves that, more people may listen to his words. "I love my country but we are struggling at the moment," he said. "I feel for the less fortunate people, as the revolution was basically raised to help them. But now they are the ones who are suffering the most." Despite this heartache - or perhaps because of it - Ashour has been in outstanding form this year, winning three Super Series tournaments, the most recent being the Hong Kong Open title on Sunday. It has made the fifth-seeded Egyptian the unofficial favourite for the title, even though two Englishmen, world number one James Willstrop and World Open champion Nick Matthew, are the top two seeds. Ashour beat both in Hong Kong last week, having also overcome Matthew while winning the US Open title in Philadelphia last month, and Willstrop in the El Gouna International final in Alexandria in April. That was Egypt's first tournament for 18 months since the revolution. "This is how the true real moderate Egyptians unite and stand up for themselves," he tweeted on Wednessay, showing quotes and images from people before the Presidential palace. Ashour could hardly be more ambitious about his profession. "I am doing my best to get back to the top," said Ashour, who has just risen one place to fourth in the world rankings but can reach number one again if he wins the world title. "I am proud of my achievements, but more is yet to come." Even Matthew acknowledges the revival of the Ashour threat, partly an outcome of avoiding injuries which have plagued him in the past. "While Ramy doesn't have consistency within matches - he has more peaks and troughs in terms of winners and errors - overall his end product is getting more consistent by the day," the world champion said. If the 32-year-old Matthew does triumph again, it will be for the third successive time, something no Englishman has ever achieved. However both he and Ashour may be hindered by an unkind draw, which lands them in the same half, along with Gregory Gaultier, the former world number one from France, and with Amr Shabana, the four times former World Open champion from Egypt. Ashour and Gaultier, whose form has improved since becoming a father three months ago, should meet in the quarter-finals, with Matthew likely to face Shabana, the enduring 33-year-old legend, at the same stage. An easier route appears to have appeared in the top half for Willstrop, who could have a semi-final with Karim Darwish, the former world number one, or another Egyptian Mohamed El Shorbagy, the former world junior champion. - AFP |
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