Nadal through

Rafael Nadal delivered the performance of a seven-time Grand Slam champion to end Andy Murray’s hopes of reaching his first Wimbledon final.

Murray had hoped to become the first British man since 1938 to reach the final but Nadal was stronger in the key moments as he won 6-4 7-6 (7-5) 6-4.

The Spaniard made the decisive move in a superb second set tie-break. Nadal will meet Czech Tomas Berdych in Sunday’s final after the 12th seed beat Novak Djokovic in straight sets. “It was a very, very good match for me,” the world number one told BBC Sport.

“To beat Andy you have to play your best tennis, it’s always a big challenge and it was an amazing victory for me against one of the toughest opponents in the world.” The Majorcan, who was unable to defend his 2008 title last year because of injury, extended his winning streak at the All England Club to 13 matches as he reached his fourth straight final.

The defeat sees Murray miss out for the second year in a row on ending the 72-year wait for a successor to Bunny Austin, Britain’s last male finalist, and ensures it will be at least 75 years before there is a successor to Fred Perry as a British Wimbledon men’s singles champion. “I’m not feeling like I played terrible,” said Murray. “I’m disappointed to have lost, I didn’t play a bad match at all. I’ve had some good wins against Rafa where I played great tennis.
“It’s not like I played badly. He played great, and that was the difference.”

It was initially confined to the British Isle and the USA, but has with time become the most prestigious inter-nation event for men, embracing the whole world. For little Sri Lanka the Davis Cup presents a chance to display its wares to the world. Today, more than 120 nations compete regularly in Davis Cup.

The world group with 16 nations is the pinnacle of the competition. The other countries compete in Groups 1-1V, divided across three regional zones: Americas, Asia/Oceania and Europe/Africa.

Sri Lanka’s association with Davis Cup goes back to 1953. L. Percival Ernst was the first Davis Cup Player/Captain of Sri Lanka. The first team comprised of L.P.  Ernst, D.L. Fonseka (Manager), D. Scharenguivel and Rupert Ferdinands.

The first tie was against Holland where Sri Lanka lost 5-0. It was also mentioned that ‘Ceylon does not need to send a Davis Cup Team the following year, as they lost to the weakest side in Europe’.

Sri Lanka re-entered Davis Cup competition in 1956. In 1988 the competition was conducted on a zonal basis with Sri Lanka slotted into the Easter Zone & Asia/Oceania Zone.
Sri Lanka Davis Cup record reads, 51-61 win/loss as at 2009, having played for 57 years.
Sri Lanka has not played in the Zone’s Group II since 1999 which means it has taken 11 years to return to Group II. Sri Lanka’s best ever performances in the Davis Cup was from 1989 to 1992 when it made to Group II semi-finals for four successive years, and again in 1995.

In 2001, Sri Lanka was demoted from Group IV and in 2004, was promoted back to Group III in Jordan. The 2004 team comprised of Renouk Wijemanne, Rohan De Silva, Rajeev Rajapakse and Franklyn Emmannuel. Team manager – Irshad Othman.

Last year Sri Lanka fought itself back to Group II in Syria.  It produced the most decisive victory in its Davis Cup history by winnings all of its’ five encounters, conceding just six games on its triumphant march. The team that did Lanka proud: Harshana Godamanna, Rajeev Rajapakse, Sanka Athukorala, Guyanga Weerasekera and non playing Captain, Asiri Iddamalgoda.

This year Sri Lanka will play New Zealand from March 5-7 in Colombo. It will be the Kiwis tennis players’ first visit to the island, which gives the Sri Lankan fans their first opportunity of watching the Kiwis in action.

The Sri Lankan team will have undergone three months of preparation, including a two-week stint in Bangkok, for the tie. With a development program in the outstation ongoing, SLTA President Maxwell de Silva hopes for some measure of success in next month’s tie so as to boost the sport’s future here.

Serena Williams

The Australian Open showdown between Serena Williams and Justine Henin is more than a dream final between defending champion and comeback queen.

It marks the re-birth of one of the fiercest rivalries in modern tennis on a stage where the stakes could not be higher.

Despite a long rivalry stretching back over a decade, Saturday’s clash is their first meeting in a grand slam final.

“I think it’ll be a defining match for both of us,” said world number one Williams.

The pair have played each other 13 times with Williams winning seven and Henin six and both have held the number one ranking.

Their individual records already show they are two of the greatest players the game has seen. Williams has won 11 grand slam titles and Henin seven.

Williams has pocketed almost $30 million in prize money and the Belgian around $20 million.

In many ways, the pair could hardly be any different — Williams is an imposing figure who uses her incredible physique and supreme confidence to overpower her opponents.
Henin is smaller, quietly spoken but possesses brilliant technique.

They also bear striking similarities, driven by their fierce determination to succeed.
The players clashed at the 2003 French Open when Williams accused the Belgian of lying after she refused to allow her to replay a contentious point.

They have not exactly kissed and made up but Henin said they had resolved their differences and buried the past.

“It’s far away now, it’s a long time,” the 27-year-old said. “We exchanged a few words here…so I’m sure there’s no problem about that between the two of us.

“We both want to win. We both respect the fact that the other gave a lot to the game and that’s very good.”

Williams is the favourite to win the Melbourne Park final. She has already won the Australian Open four times and warmed up for the event by teaming up with her sister Venus to successfully defend the doubles title on Friday.

The 28-year-old struggled to win her quarter-final against Victoria Azarenka and then her semi with Li Na, but fought her way out of trouble each time and is relishing the prospect of facing her old sparring partner.

“I definitely think of her as a rival. We bring out the best game in each other,” Williams said. “We both just play our hearts out. That’s what creates a good rivalry.”

Their rivalry was put on hold for two years after Henin quit the sport in 2008, fed up with the relentless grind of playing, training and travel.

She only made her comeback this month and has exceeded her wildest expectations by reaching the final.

The odds may be stacked against her but she has not given up hope of winning after her fellow Belgian Kim Clijsters won last year’s U.S. Open when she too was in the early stages of a comeback.

Henin won the Australian Open in 2004 and was runner-up to Amelie Mauresmo in 2006 when she threw in the towel because she was feeling ill.

“It’s a special occasion but I see it as an opportunity to play the number one player in the world in a grand slam final,” said Henin. “It’s more than a dream for me. It’s a perfect challenge and I love this kind of situation.

“The one who will want it more will win probably. I know I’ll have to be aggressive generally and use my qualities. I have the determination and the ambition, of course.”

Roger Federer

Roger Federer played down his destruction of Jo-Wilfried Tsonga to reach the Australian Open final as “not exceptional”, then cheekily reminded Andy Murray of the weight of British expectation ahead of their title bout.

“I’m happy. I played solid. I didn’t play exceptional. I did enough and I’m through. It’s nice,” the world number one said in a courtside interview after obliterating the Frenchman 6-2 6-3 6-2 in just 88 minutes.

“No wasted energy that’s for sure … I’m very surprised at how the match went. I expected differently. Perhaps today was one of those days when he needed that first set. When I got it maybe his head went down.”

The 15-times grand slam champion’s masterclass to dispatch 10th-ranked Tsonga carried Federer into his 22nd major final and his eighth in a row.

It was also the perfect reply to Andy Murray’s dazzling semi-final win over Croatian Marin Cilic, which has raised Britain’s hopes of ending a 74-year wait for a men’s grand slam champion to fever pitch.

Federer, who shed bitter tears after his loss to arch-rival Rafa Nadal in last year’s final, was all smiles when asked to look ahead to Sunday’s showdown against the 22-year-old Scot.

“I know he’d like to win the first for British tennis in … what is it? Like 150,000 years?” he joked.

“The poor guy has to go through those moments over and over again. He’s done tremendously. We match up well. I’m looking forward to the final.”

Federer has already won the Australian Open three times, while Murray has one grand slam final appearance to his name — a straight-sets humbling to the Swiss maestro at Flushing Meadows in 2008.

Murray will need little reminding of the disparity, but Federer was happy to oblige.
“Look, he’s in his second grand slam final now,” he told reporters.

“I think the first one’s always a bit tougher than the second. But now that he didn’t win the first one, I think doesn’t help for the second one around.

“Plus he’s playing me, who’s won many grand slams prior to that, been able to win here three times so I know what it takes and how to do it, which is definitely an advantage.

“I don’t feel like the pressure’s really on me having to do it again, because I did it before. I think he really needs it more than I do, you know.

“But we’ll see how he’s gonna handle it. It’s not going to be easy for him, that’s for sure.”

Federer did pause briefly, however, when reminded of his 4-6 win-loss record against Murray.

“First of all, he’s a good player,” said the 28-year-old, who has won the last two outings against the Scot.

“But, no, without taking anything away from him, I think a few times he played me I wasn’t at my very, very best. That’s why I don’t really care too much about how the head to head stands. Every match is played differently.”

The second seed’s serve was put under pressure and he needed some inventive shots to win in three-and-a-half hours.

Fourth seed Juan Martin del Potro survived some anxious moments before beating the unseeded Florian Mayer.

The 21-year-old US Open champion served 11 aces but was guilty of 46 unforced errors in a 6-3 0-6 6-4 7-5 victory.

Nadal extended his record against Kohlschreiber to 5-0 but it was their closest match to date, and in statistical terms only eight points separated them over the 38 games.

“Well, the most important thing is I won, so I’m happy for that,” the 22-year-old said.

“I am less happy about my game, what I was practising. But everybody has not very good days. “I think I played much better the fourth set. The second set for a few moments I played well, too. But the first set and the third, I played bad and I need to play a little bit more aggressive for my next match.”

That will be against the gargantuan Croatian Ivo Karlovic, who beat compatriot Ivan Ljubicic 6-3 3-6 6-3 7-6.

“He’s always a really difficult opponent because the match is decided on a few points,” said Nadal, who has won both his previous matches against the 6ft 10” Karlovic.

“So the thing is to be very concentrated with my serve all the time and try to convert the small opportunities that I have on the return. That’s it.”

It was another hard-fought victory for Del Potro, who will face Marin Cilic in the fourth round, after the Croatian beat Stanislas Wawrinka of Switzerland 4-6 6-4 6-3 6-3.

Del Potro needed four sets to get past American Michael Russell in the opening round and five to overcome another American James Blake in the second.

Having beaten Mayer in straight sets in the second round at last year’s Championship, he found him a much tougher proposition this time, and was only 118-117 ahead on total points won.

Mayer took all three of his break point chances to win the second set to love in only 28 minutes before Del Potro clinched the match following two keenly-contested closing sets.

Kim Clijsters

Kim Clijsters suffered a humbling third round defeat while Justine Henin narrowly avoided the same fate on an intriguing day at the Australian Open.

Clijsters, one of the favourites to win the title, was blasted off court by 19th seeded Russian Nadia Petrova 6-0 6-1 in only 52 minutes in Melbourne.

The result shocked the large crowd who had come to cheer her on.

Fellow Belgian comeback queen Henin fought back from a set down to see off Russian Alisa Kleybanova 3-6 6-4 6-2.

Meanwhile, eighth seed Jelena Jankovic made a third-round exit in a 6-2 6-3 loss to 31st seed Alona Bondarenko.

Clijsters, 26, an emotional winner of the US Open last year in only her third tournament back after a two-year sabbatical, won only five points in an 18-minute opening set, in which she ran up 17 unforced errors.

The 15th seed finally held her serve in the 10th game of the match but quickly succumbed to defeat.

It tarnished a previously impressive record for the former world number one, who had reached the semi-finals or better at her five previous trips to the Australian Open.

“I was completely off. I think tennis-wise, I didn’t feel the ball at all,” Clijsters said.

“On the other hand, she was good, but I made all the mistakes and she really didn’t have to do much. It’s something you don’t want to happen too often.

“It sucks that it has to happen at this stage of this tournament. That’s sports – it can happen.”

Henin, who has only just returned to the sport, looked a little weary at the start, which was not surprising considering her three-hour epic victory over fifth seed Elena Dementieva in the second round.

The former number one was swept all around the court in the opening set and after being broken at the start of the second a swift exit seemed the most likely outcome.

However, Kleybanova, 27th seed, allowed her opponent to break back and lost the set with a sloppy double fault.

With the crowd growing more noisy, both players raised their game and it was the Belgian who thrived on the atmosphere and took full advantage of the tiring Russian by flying into a 3-0 lead.

Sudantha Soysa has declined to coach Sri Lanka’s Davis Cup squad, citing his inability to give the commitment the task demands. And veteran George Paldano is to take on the four-month-long job.

Soysa’s thumbs-down to what is currently the most important job going in local tennis is surprising, hinting a conflict between the coach and officials. But SLTA Chief Maxwell de Silva denied Soysa’s refusal was born of any controversial circumstance.

“Yes, the job of coaching the Davis Cup team was offered to Sudantha; he considered and concluded he can’t give the commitment the job deserves and it’s best that a coach who can give fulltime commitment does the job,’’ said de Silva. “That Sudantha is also the SLTA Coaching Director has to be considered.
If the Davis Cup coaching job was going to affect his work as Coaching Director then that’s not going to help our development programme.’’ Soysa’s plate also bears the responsibilities of running his own tennis academy.

With the promotion to Group Two, after nine long years, the job of coaching our Davis Cup squad has acquired greater importance. Paldano has the credentials to fit the bill.

He counts about three decades of coaching experience, and was, in fact, Davis Cup coach in the 90s when the country figured in Group Two competition.

Meanwhile, the selectors, after last week’s trials, have pruned down the Davis Cup to nine, from 14. The nine: Harshana Godamanna, Rajiv  Rajapakse, A. Jayawickrema, A.

Hewakotage, S. Atukorale, M. Siyaguna, S. Gomes, T. Dineshkanthan and G. Weerasekera.

A second trial is slated for December 19 after which the final squad of four players will be named and get into intense training all the way to the March 5-7 Colombo tie with New Zealand.

Feature of the preparation would be the hire of two Indian players as sparring partners to our players for a period of three months. As well, arrangements are being made to have our players participate in ITF tournaments in India.

Sri Lanka is to play its opening 2010 Group Two Davis Cup tennis tie on clay courts next year, and not as was expected, on the recently-laid hard courts.
In 2006 the SLTA invested Rs. 2.5m. to convert the surface of six of the 14 courts at Green Path to hard, just so that tournaments like the Davis Cup could be played on them. But, ironically, the first chance to host a Davis Cup tie on the new courts has been rejected – with nary a dissenting voice heard.

The SLTA top brass, selectors and the top players themselves were of one mind that the March 5-7 Davis Cup tie with New Zealand should be played on the slow clay as opposed to the faster hard courts.

“The accepted belief was the tie would be on hard courts until the chairman of selectors (Suresh Subramaniam) revealed a historical fact we weren’t aware of:  New Zealand has played six Davis Cup ties on clay – and lost all of them,’’ said SLTA President Maxwell de Silva. “Obviously, the New Zealanders are less comfortable playing on the slower clay surface, and we’ll be missing a trick if we don’t choose a surface on which there’s a chance that we might put them under greater pressure.”

New Zealand tennis historically has been in quite another league. Where Sri Lanka, over the last nine years, has been wallowing in the shallows of Group 3 and 4 over, the Kiwis have long slugged it out in Group 1 and 2 with the likes of India, South Africa, Japan the Philippines and Indonesia, countries with ambitions to play in the World Group, alongside the likes of US, Russia and the other big guns of tennis.
“It won’t be wrong to say that New Zealand is the strongest Group 2 (Asia/Oceania) team and would probably be the top seed. They may have been in Group 1 (for the 2010 competition) had they not conceded the Group Two Final last year to the Philippines,’’ said Rajiv Rajapakse, second singles players in Sri Lanka’s promotion- winning 2009 Davis Cup team.

Huge Advantage

New Zealand tennis also boasts of a Wimbledon finalist: Chris Lewis, who was beaten by John McEnroe in an early-80s final.

SLTA officials, while conceding the Kiwis’ superior Davis Cup pedigree, however, think there’s no reason why our players ought to be overawed by the visitors’ reputation. “For a start the players shouldn’t forget we are a Group 2 team same as they – that way you discount whatever history might say,’’ says President de Silva, “as well, playing them in our own backyard is a huge advantage – and if Godamanna, Rajapakse and co. can set their minds on making use of home advantage, it is possible we can cause the Kiwis some concern – and then who knows what might happen.’’

De Silva’s thought might seem wishful thinking, but it isn’t fantasy either. It shouldn’t be forgotten that the New Zealanders are accustomed to playing in the near-Frigidaire conditions of 9-20 centigrade, so that asking them to play in Colombo in the 10 a.m. March heat is, well… they’ll have to be excused should they inquire from the umpire if the oven door in the SLTA kitchen has been left open.
Long hours on court in sultry Colombo aren’t a prospect that will please men from the cold lands, and it’s to subject them to just that sort of discomfiture is why the SLTA chose to take the tie to the less glamorous clay courts, which, in SLTA-talk is referred to as downstairs, being situated on lower ground at back of the hard courts.

“Any tennis player who’s played on the two kinds of courts will tell you that to score points on the slow-paced clay courts take longer than the quicker hard surfaces – probably it takes 15-20 shots to score on clay and 4-6 shots on hard. What this means is that the Kiwis are going to be kept a lot longer on clay courts than on hard – and in high-30 temperatures that’s not going to be fun,’’ said President de Silva. “Obviously, the fitness level of our players would have to be at peak – which is why the players have already got into fitness training.’’

Clay courts neglected

Since the birth of the hard courts, the clay courts have become SLTA’s orphans – neglected to a point of decay. “The clay courts aren’t in the best of condition which means a complete makeover will have to be done on two courts for the tie (one court for matches and the other for practice as required by Davis Cup rules). Both courts will have to be re-laid with a top dressing of ant-hill soil,’’ says President de Silva, “as well, temporary wooden stands will have to be erected along the flanks of match court. The whole job of dressing up the old clay courts for the event is going to cost about Rs.750, 000.’’

The Sport Ministry has pledged Rs. 3m. for the Davis Cup campaign. “The Ministry’s contribution is generous, but it won’t meet all our expenses. Preparation of the players for the tie alone is going to cost Rs. 3m; paying for the players’ overseas exposure itself is going to be a tidy sum. Obviously, the balance required funds will to be solicited from sponsors,’’ said de Silva.

Sri Lanka earned Group Two promotion last April after finishing on top of the eight-nation Group Three tournament in Damascus, Syria. After nine years in Group 3 and 4, the SLTA obviously will want to extend its Group Two status beyond just a year. For that Sri Lanka will have to win at least one of their two 2010 ties – v. New Zealand in March and the July/or August tie v. the winners/or losers of the Pakistan v. Hong Kong encounter. The second tie, too, is to be staged in Colombo.