The Star Online: Sports

Aoyama to replace injured Pedrosa at Dutch MotoGP
Sharapova dreams of repeating Wimbledon triumph
Australian veteran savouring impressive first round victory

Aoyama to replace injured Pedrosa at Dutch MotoGP

Posted: 22 Jun 2011 06:34 PM PDT

MADRID: Spaniard Dani Pedrosa will not be fit in time to race at the Dutch Grand Prix in Assen this weekend and will be replaced by Japan's Hiroshi Aoyama (pic), his Repsol Honda team said yesterday.

The 25-year-old broke his collarbone in a fall at the French Grand Prix at Le Mans last month and needed further surgery last week after a fragment of bone came loose.

Earlier in the week, Pedrosa had said it was more likely he would be back for the Italian Grand Prix at the start of next month.

Pedrosa, last season's runner up, missed his home race in Barcelona and the British Grand Prix and has dropped down to fifth in the championship standings on 61 points after six races.

Team mate Casey Stoner leads the standings on 116 points, 18 ahead of champion Jorge Lorenzo of Yamaha. Aoyama, who is seventh with 43 points, moves across from the Gresini Honda team. — Reuters

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Sharapova dreams of repeating Wimbledon triumph

Posted: 22 Jun 2011 06:32 PM PDT

Former champion Maria Sharapova (pic) admits winning a second Wimbledon title would be the perfect way to erase the painful memories of her injury woes.

Sharapova has struggled with a host of ailments over the last two years that caused her ranking to slip and raised questions about her ability to continue to compete for the sport's top prizes.

But the 24-year-old has always possessed a ferocious competitive spirit and that desire to get back to her best has driven the Russian to successfully overcome her injury problems.

Sharapova, who first won Wimbledon as a 17-year-old in 2004, is back up to sixth in the world rankings after a fine run to the French Open semi-finals and the fifth seed kicked off her latest campaign at the All England Club with a 6-2, 6-1 demolition of compatriot Anna Chakvetadze.

Already one of the favourites for the title, Sharapova conceded it would be a dream come true to win her first Grand Slam crown since the 2008 Australian Open.

"Of course it's important. It would be a wonderful achievement. But I'm really happy to be playing something that I really love," Sharapova said.

"Obviously I'm very fortunate to have had that feeling of holding the trophy before and knowing how good that feeling is. That's what drives you deep down inside.

"But I also think on the other hand if you want something so bad that you can't sleep over it, where is that going to get you?

"I think time will tell and you just have to be patient and work as hard as you can and give it all you have, and then the rest will take care of itself."

Sharapova's match was moved to Centre Court late in the evening on Tuesday and she gave a command performance for the crowd, who have always retained a soft spot for the Russian since her teenage triumph seven years ago.

Although former world number one Sharapova was delighted to be back on Wimbledon's famous showcourt, she was more relieved to emerged unscathed from a potentially tricky first round tie.

"It was great to be back on Centre Court, considering that I didn't play a warm-up tournament," Sharapova said. — AFP

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Australian veteran savouring impressive first round victory

Posted: 22 Jun 2011 06:32 PM PDT

Australian veteran Lleyton Hewitt put weeks of pain and a battle for form behind him as he savoured an impressive Wimbledon victory with the words: "This is what I play for".

The 2002 champion is recovering from foot surgery and a loss of form that has seen his world ranking plunge to 130 and admitted that if it wasn't the grass court Grand Slam, he would be literally putting his feet up.

"If it wasn't Wimbledon, I wouldn't be out there. I'd be looking after my body a bit more. This is what I play for," he said.

"It's been rough, sort of a day-to-day thing. Knowing the whole time that it's not just going to disappear magically overnight. That's the hard thing. You wake up, it's pretty sore," he said of his recovering foot.

"I've had to try and block it out as much as possible and still get on with practice and doing all the right things to prepare myself as well as possible.

"I've told everyone we'll sit back and think about it after the tournament."

Hewitt saw off a gritty performance from Japan's Kei Nishikori in the first round on Tuesday, digging deep for a 6-1, 7-6 (7-4), 6-7 (7-9), 6-3 win.

The 30-year-old sunk to his knees to celebrate victory, having won only six matches all year.

"It was very satisfying, considering what I've been through, mentally and physically what I've had to go through to try and even get on the court," the former world number one said.

The victory set up a clash with Swedish fifth seed Robin Soderling, likely on one of the bigger show courts.

"I'll be up for it, that's for sure," the Adelaide right-hander said. "I'll be right come Thursday. It's going to be another tough test. He's another step up from Nishikori. Especially on this surface, he's a dangerous player.

"He's a big striker off both sides, forehand and backhand, from the baseline, and got a big serve."

Hewitt leads Soderling 3-1 in clashes between the pair, with the Swede claiming victory last time out at Cincinnati in 2010.

"It was an extremely tight match in three sets," Hewitt recalled. "I've got to go out there and play my game, obviously try to dictate play as much as possible.

"Then again, I'm going to have to return and move extremely well to put him under some kind of pressure. He's the guy that wants to be playing on his terms and trying to dictate me around. So it will be a good match-up." — AFP

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Kredit: www.thestar.com.my

Rabu, 22 Jun 2011

The Star Online: Sports

The Star Online: Sports

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