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By ChrisSkelton @ Sharapovanovic- Your Ticket to Tennis! 11/19/2011

As the quest for a record sixth title at the year-end championships begins, Federer finds himself in his most scintillating form sine he captured last year’s title.  During a ten-match winning streak, he coupled an emotional victory at...

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Rafael+nadal+rakuten+open+day+7+nqupxr0nscll (1)

By ChrisSkelton @ Sharapovanovic- Your Ticket to Tennis! 11/19/2011

Rarely resembling his intimidating best after the US Open, the world #2 came within a set of his first title at the most important tournament still absent from his sparkling resume.  Since his sixth straight loss to Djokovic, Nadal has played...

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David+ferrer+2011+shanghai+rolex+masters+day+05uklw6g1zdl

By ChrisSkelton @ Sharapovanovic- Your Ticket to Tennis! 11/19/2011

Regardless of his result this year, the world #5 could not fare worse than in his 0-3 London week last year, during which he failed to win a single set.  Ferrer’s third appearance here testifies to his prowess on slower surfaces and...

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By ChrisSkelton @ Sharapovanovic- Your Ticket to Tennis! 11/19/2011

In his debut at the World Tour Finals last year, the then-Wimbledon finalist admitted to nerves that hampered his performance, despite generally competitive efforts against Nadal and Djokovic.  That debut dizziness behind him, he should...

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Andy+murray+2011+shanghai+rolex+masters+day+mgdkniexkrcl

By ChrisSkelton @ Sharapovanovic- Your Ticket to Tennis! 11/19/2011

Sweeping through three Asian tournaments without a loss, the Scot fulfilled his goal of surpassing Federer for the #3 ranking.  When he reached Paris, Murray looked weary after a peripatetic autumn as his sporadic struggles against Berdych...

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Novak+djokovic+swiss+indoors+basel+day+six+sohfbzf7ookl

By ChrisSkelton @ Sharapovanovic- Your Ticket to Tennis! 11/19/2011

Tied closely to the world #1’s last three tournament exits were the injuries that have emerged to sting him in the second half.  While he retired against Del Potro and issued a walkover to Tsonga, Djokovic surely would not have suffered...

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David+ferrer+2011+shanghai+rolex+masters+day+05uklw6g1zdl

By ChrisSkelton @ Sharapovanovic- Your Ticket to Tennis! 11/19/2011

Regardless of his result this year, the world #5 could not fare worse than in his 0-3 London week last year, during which he failed to win a single set.  Ferrer’s third appearance here testifies to his prowess on slower surfaces and...

Read more…


Tomas+berdych+2011+china+open+day+9+zpf_f4eecafl

By ChrisSkelton @ Sharapovanovic- Your Ticket to Tennis! 11/19/2011

In his debut at the World Tour Finals last year, the then-Wimbledon finalist admitted to nerves that hampered his performance, despite generally competitive efforts against Nadal and Djokovic.  That debut dizziness behind him, he should...

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Andy+murray+2011+shanghai+rolex+masters+day+mgdkniexkrcl

By ChrisSkelton @ Sharapovanovic- Your Ticket to Tennis! 11/19/2011

Sweeping through three Asian tournaments without a loss, the Scot fulfilled his goal of surpassing Federer for the #3 ranking.  When he reached Paris, Murray looked weary after a peripatetic autumn as his sporadic struggles against Berdych...

Read more…


Novak+djokovic+swiss+indoors+basel+day+six+sohfbzf7ookl (1)

By ChrisSkelton @ Sharapovanovic- Your Ticket to Tennis! 11/19/2011

Tied closely to the world #1’s last three tournament exits were the injuries that have emerged to sting him in the second half.  While he retired against Del Potro and issued a walkover to Tsonga, Djokovic surely would not have suffered...

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By ChrisSkelton @ Sharapovanovic- Your Ticket to Tennis! 11/19/2011

Long after the years final major, 2011 concludes with the second premier tournament hosted by London. As the city on the Thames sinks into winter, which of the years eight leading stars will rise to the occasion?Group A:Djokovic: Tied closely to...

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By ChrisSkelton @ Sharapovanovic- Your Ticket to Tennis! 11/13/2011

A point from a deflating defeat against John Isner, Tsonga pummeled a first serve and slashed a cross-court forehand for a clean winner. That relatively routine point inspired a paroxysm of jubilation from the Frenchman, which electrified the...

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By ChrisSkelton @ Sharapovanovic- Your Ticket to Tennis! 11/12/2011

Federer vs. Berdych: Aiming to progress further than ever before in Bercy, Federer could win this title without defeating any of his three major rivals. Projected to meet Murray in the semifinals, he instead will encounter an opponent who has won...

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By ChrisSkelton @ Sharapovanovic- Your Ticket to Tennis! 11/11/2011

Djokovic vs. Tsonga: Throughout the most spectacular season in the modern era of tennis, the world #1 shed the reputation of physical frailty that had dogged him during his formative years and beyond. When Basel marked his third retirement in four...

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By ChrisSkelton @ Sharapovanovic- Your Ticket to Tennis! 11/07/2011

First quarter: Clouding this diverse section is the uncertainty enveloping the world #1, who seems all but certain to withdraw but has not as of Sunday evening. Should Djokovic find discretion the better part of valor, the two highest-ranked men...

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By ChrisSkelton @ Sharapovanovic- Your Ticket to Tennis! 11/05/2011

Dominant in the team competition of women's tennis over the past several years, Russia hosts a challenger worthy of its steel in a Czech battalion spearheaded by the world #2. If Kvitova aims to crack the Russian stranglehold, she may need to...

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By ChrisSkelton @ Sharapovanovic- Your Ticket to Tennis! 11/02/2011

After clicking the WTA websites link for the Bali draw, one might struggle to locate the bracket in what appears a mostly blank sheet of paper. The only event in the sport that starts with the quarterfinals, the Tournament of Champions doesnt...

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By ChrisSkelton @ Sharapovanovic- Your Ticket to Tennis! 11/01/2011

In the last match of individual competition that he played before his Basel opener on Monday, Federer marched within a point of the US Open final before Djokovic snatched that pearl out of the Swiss lions jaws. Now, the Serb ventures into the den...

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By ChrisSkelton @ Sharapovanovic- Your Ticket to Tennis! 10/30/2011

Before her sparkling week began, Azarenka breezily informed the press that prize money motivates her at crucial moments in addition to trophies, rankings points, and prestige. (Not for nothing did she name her dog Rolex, one realizes.) The...

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By ChrisSkelton @ Sharapovanovic- Your Ticket to Tennis! 10/29/2011

Kvitova vs. Stosur: Clearly the most impressive player of the round-robin phase, Kvitova blazed a trail past the world #1, a two-time Slam finalist, and the WTAs leading performer of the fall without surrendering so much as a set. Showcasing her...

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By ChrisSkelton @ Sharapovanovic- Your Ticket to Tennis! 10/28/2011

Li (1-1) vs. Stosur (1-1): What a difference a day made for these two women. Less than 24 hours after they opened their week with solid victories over Sharapova, Azarenka thrashed the Roland Garros and US Open champions by identical 6-2, 6-2...

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By ChrisSkelton @ Sharapovanovic- Your Ticket to Tennis! 10/27/2011

Azarenka (1-0) vs. Li (1-0): Showing scant respect for her elders, the Minx from Minsk marched straight from her Luxembourg title to Istanbul and demolished Stosur for the fifth straight time. While the Aussie suffered from a competitive hangover...

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By ChrisSkelton @ Sharapovanovic- Your Ticket to Tennis! 10/26/2011

Azarenka (0-0) vs. Stosur (1-0): For the second time in less than 24 hours, Stosur confronts a strong-willed and strong-lunged blonde who has throttled her throughout their previous meetings. Less extensive than her streak of futility against...

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By ChrisSkelton @ Sharapovanovic- Your Ticket to Tennis! 10/25/2011

Kvitova vs. Zvonareva: In her first career match at the year-end championships, the Wimbledon champion confronts a player who conquered her twice on hard courts this year. If this pair of combatants continue their rivalrys pattern of alternating...

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By ChrisSkelton @ Sharapovanovic- Your Ticket to Tennis! 10/23/2011

After a rather arid week in tennis news, the sport springs back to life with the first of its year-end championship tournaments, held in the unfamiliar setting of the Istanbul Dome. We profile each of the WTAs Elite Eight before they fire the...

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By ChrisSkelton @ Sharapovanovic- Your Ticket to Tennis! 10/17/2011

Checking off the boxes: When Nadal tumbled in the third round to Florian Mayer, the Shanghai Masters event retained only one legitimate contender in its draw and thus only one logical outcome. In the fall, however, foregone conclusion often prove...

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By ChrisSkelton @ Sharapovanovic- Your Ticket to Tennis! 10/16/2011

Overshadowed by plotlines like the ascendancy of Djokovic and the decline of Federer is the singular season of contradictions alternately enjoyed and suffered by Andy Murray. Sometimes heroic and sometimes humiliated, Murray reached semifinals at...

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By ChrisSkelton @ Sharapovanovic- Your Ticket to Tennis! 10/15/2011

On a reportedly fast surface like the Decoturf in Shanghai, one raises an eyebrow to see just one full-blooded shot-maker (Lopez) in the semifinals, together with one passive-aggressive hybrid (Murray), and two innate defenders (Ferrer and...

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By ChrisSkelton @ Sharapovanovic- Your Ticket to Tennis! 10/14/2011

While Djokovic and Federer sprawl harmlessly across couches rather than courts this week, Florian Mayer excised another member of the ATP top four from the depleted Shanghai draw. The sole survivor at the eighth Masters 1000 tournament of 2011,...

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By ChrisSkelton @ Sharapovanovic- Your Ticket to Tennis! 10/11/2011

Invited to predict which woman stood in the best position to accomplish the Premier Five / Premier Mandatory double in Tokyo and Beijing, tennis analysts might have suggested Sharapova, Azarenka, Kvitova, or perhaps Wozniacki, who accomplished the...

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By ChrisSkelton @ Sharapovanovic- Your Ticket to Tennis! 10/10/2011

First quarter: In the aftermath of yet another disappointment in a final, Nadal will have reason to smile when he crosses the Sea of Japan and examines his accommodating draw. A runner-up in Shanghai two years ago, the world #2 exited in the third...

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By ChrisSkelton @ Sharapovanovic- Your Ticket to Tennis! 10/09/2011

Nadal vs. Murray: As he seeks to capture his first 2011 title on a surface other than clay, the Tokyo top seed perhaps can empathize with the plight faced by his opponent. While Nadal has failed all season to solve the challenges posed by...

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By ChrisSkelton @ Sharapovanovic- Your Ticket to Tennis! 10/07/2011

At first glance, Agnieszka Radwanska cuts an unremarkable figure far from the dazzling glitter of the celebrities who populate the upper echelons of the WTA. Compact in physique and unassuming in manner, the Pole does not intimidate through her...

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By ChrisSkelton @ Sharapovanovic- Your Ticket to Tennis! 10/06/2011

As the action in the last WTA Premier Mandatory event of 2011 approaches the weekend, the action shifts inwards from Beijings poetically named Moon Court to the National Tennis Stadium and Lotus Court. We consider the quarterfinals of an...

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By ChrisSkelton @ Sharapovanovic- Your Ticket to Tennis! 10/03/2011

We preview the ATP 500 tournaments in Tokyo and Beijing, one half at a time.

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By ChrisSkelton @ Sharapovanovic- Your Ticket to Tennis! 10/03/2011

Having previewed the WTA tournaments in the capitals of Japan and China, we revisit those venues to discuss the less significant but still noteworthy ATP events this week.Tokyo:Top half: The top seed here for the second straight year, Nadal aims...

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Caroline+wozniacki+caroline+wozniack+beijing+ko9zmgn_uzsl

By ChrisSkelton @ Sharapovanovic- Your Ticket to Tennis! 10/02/2011

We break down the women's draw at the China Open, one quarter at a time.

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By ChrisSkelton @ Sharapovanovic- Your Ticket to Tennis! 10/02/2011

First quarter: Battered by Gajdosova and banished by Kanepi in Tokyo last week, Wozniacki hopes that this weeks title defense fares better than its predecessor. Remarkably, she could face the same pair of opponents again in her first two matches,...

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By ChrisSkelton @ Sharapovanovic- Your Ticket to Tennis! 09/30/2011

Radwanska vs. Zvonareva: Starting with her mid-career breakthrough last summer, Zvonareva reached the concluding stages of several pivotal tournaments: Wimbledon, the US Open, Beijing, and the Australian Open. Yet the intelligent, volatile Russian...

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By ChrisSkelton @ Sharapovanovic- Your Ticket to Tennis! 09/29/2011

In the final Premier Five tournament of 2011, all four semifinalists spring from the same, richly talented region of Russia and Eastern Europe. Despite sharing these cultural origins, though, the quartet represents a range of distinctive playing...

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By ChrisSkelton @ Sharapovanovic- Your Ticket to Tennis! 09/29/2011

Kanepi vs. Radwanska: Hailing from nearly adjacent countries, these Eastern European women could not represent more divergent attitudes to the sport. While Mats Wilander surely would include the Estonian among the mindless bashers of the WTA, he...

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By ChrisSkelton @ Sharapovanovic- Your Ticket to Tennis! 09/27/2011

While the women converge on Tokyo, dual squadrons of men descend on Bangkok and Kuala Lumpur. We focus upon the most intriguing figures in those minor tournaments, discussing what to expect from each of them in a week without the ominous shadows...

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By ChrisSkelton @ Sharapovanovic- Your Ticket to Tennis! 09/25/2011

Less than two weeks after the US Open finals, the fall season ignites with a Premier Five tournament in Tokyo that features seven of the WTA top 10 although not two of the seasons four Slam champions or Serena Williams. The top two in the world...

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By ChrisSkelton @ Sharapovanovic- Your Ticket to Tennis! 09/23/2011

From the smoke over the battlefields of the year's final major emerges the curious coda to the tennis calendar. We outline four of the key issues that separate the fall from other stages of the season, discussing their impact on players and...

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Ana+ivanovic+2011+open+day+2+lacncvxwkexl

By ChrisSkelton @ Sharapovanovic- Your Ticket to Tennis! 09/21/2011

We return with a point-counterpoint article on reasons to watch--or not watch--the fall season.

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Serena+williams+samantha+stosur+australia+4sovkzas9qol

By ChrisSkelton @ Sharapovanovic- Your Ticket to Tennis! 09/21/2011

SELL For Serena, the real season ended with her collapse in the US Open final, when she lost more than a match in some minds.  Will she travel around the world to compete in events that have no influence upon her legacy?   If she...

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Andrea+petkovic+western+southern+open+day+mk0lx9e5wwtl

By ChrisSkelton @ Sharapovanovic- Your Ticket to Tennis! 09/21/2011

BUY As many of her peers have careened between the sublime and the absurd, the charismatic German has recorded three or more victories at every tournament that she has played since Wimbledon.  Reaching the top 10 for the first time this...

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Li+na+li+na+wins+2011+french+open+tgfyrqwf3hjl

By ChrisSkelton @ Sharapovanovic- Your Ticket to Tennis! 09/21/2011

SELL Awash in the glory of their maiden Slam titles, Li and Kvitova have slipped into swoons from which they probably will not recover until next year.  Offering hope for the Chinese star, though, is the Premier Mandatory tournament in...

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Vera+zvonareva+2011+open+day+7+pjtp7gekymol

By ChrisSkelton @ Sharapovanovic- Your Ticket to Tennis! 09/21/2011

HOLD Soon after Sharapova’s fortunes rose in late March, her compatriot’s star began to decline after a hopeful start to 2011.  Not since Miami has Zvonareva registered a win over a top-10 opponent, although she remained well...

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By ChrisSkelton @ Sharapovanovic- Your Ticket to Tennis! 09/21/2011

As the Tours sweep across Asia in the season's concluding segment, we take an economist's view of the leading contenders and advise you on whether to buy, sell, or hold stocks in each of them.Djokovic: SELLWith the arguable exception of the...

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