Wimbledon

Manchester United and England defender, born 1978. John Barnes (football) – former Liverpool and England midfielder, born 1963. Mark Philippoussis (tennis) – Australian former player, who was a finalist at Wimbledon in 2003, born 1976.  

Top seed Marion Bartoli of France was in commanding form as she dispatched longtime nemesis Shahar Peer of Israel on Friday to reach the semifinals of the Commonwealth Bank Tournament of Champions, but Australian second seed Samantha Stosur ended her year with a loss at the round-robin event. The day's other big story came off court, with the withdrawal of Belgian 3rd seed Yanina Wickmayer following a one-year suspension from her national antidoping agency for failing to comply with its regulations. Her exit handed the semifinal spot from Group C to Japanese veteran Kimiko Date-Krumm.

I didn't play well, and when I did I couldn't change the momentum   -Shahar Peer

 

US Open semi-finalist Yanina Wickmayer has been handed a one-year ban for falling foul of doping regulations. Wickmayer was suspended by the Flemish Doping Tribunal (VDT) for failing to fulfill the "whereabouts" requirement for drug testing on three occasions. The Belgian world number 18 has denied any wrongdoing and plans to appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

We are examining all different options... this news really hit home incredibly hard.   -Stacey Allaster

 

During a recent visit to Montrose Tennis Club by the Provost of Angus, Ruth Leslie Melville, Jonny explained that his hopes for the future involve continuing to represent the UK in international tennis tournaments, becoming a professional tennis player and, of course, playing at Wimbledon. He stated: "It is also my dream to open a tennis academy with my dad and my younger brother, Ben, with one training school in Angus and one in America or Spain." Jonny, who competes against some of the best ...  

Italy will head into the Fed Cup final against the United States here this weekend as the overwhelming favorites with both Williams sisters missing from the visitors' line-up. Had either Serena or Venus been available it would have made a huge difference. But despite winning Sunday's season-ending Tour Championships final in Doha, Serena, who hasn't played Fed Cup since 2007, pulled out, citing exhaustion.  

Gasquet refused to blame that stress on his 6-1 6-3 loss to Marco Chiudinelli in the quarter-finals of the Swiss Indoors on Friday. "I know what I have to do Tuesday," said Gasquet as an ATP representative tried to deflect questions about his controversial doping case which resulted in an acquittal now being appealed by both the International Tennis Federation (ITF) and WADA, the world sport doping watchdog. Gasquet said on Friday he is heading back to Paris before the date at the Court for Arbitration in Sport (CAS) in Lausanne.

I know what I have to do Tuesday   -Gasquet

 

A ruling on Serena Williams' U.S. Open tirade is expected in the next two weeks. "It's in the hands of the Grand Slam administrator, who I believe has now completed his investigation and will be making a ruling within the next two weeks," United States Tennis Association President Lucy Garvin told The Associated Press on Friday. "That's what we have been told — that Serena would hear, we would hear."

It's in the hands of the Grand Slam administrator, who I believe has now completed his investigation and will be making a ruling within the next two weeks   -Lucy Garvin

 

DURING his old days as a rebel when he ran into trouble with Tennis Zimbabwe authorities, Martin Dzuwa reminded a British visitor, John Stonebridge, of former United States and world number one John McEnroe. That was in 1995. Dzuwa, then a raw 17-year-old, smashed his racket on the court in frustration during a Bata Zimbabwe Junior Tennis Championship semi-final match against Genius Chidzikwe in Bulawayo in May 1995.  

Top seeds Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic highlighted Friday's quarterfinal winners at the Swiss Indoors tennis tournament. The world No. 1 Federer dismissed Russian qualifier Evgeny Korolev 6-3, 6-2 at St. Jakobshalle. The mighty Swiss moved on in a mere 55 minutes, striking seven aces and breaking Korolev's serve three times.