Player Profile: Ana Ivanović

Category: Upcoming Prodigy

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Background:

Ana Ivanović was born November 6, 1987 is a former #1 Serbian Tennis Player. As of September 27, 2010, she is ranked World No. 38 on the WTA rankings. She won the 2008 French Open and was the runner-up in singles at the 2007 French Open and the 2008 Australian Open.

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Early Life:

Born in Serbia, but highly influenced by the western ideas, she was the first player in her family, to actually become affiliated with the international federation. She started her tennis career at the age of 5 with the inspiration of Monica Seles, former #1 tennis player. When she was 15 she lost her first game, shattering her, causing her manager to nearly drop him saying that she did not have what it takes to become the best. But Dan Holzmann has stayed her manager to this day. When she was 17 she won all 26 of the ITF circuit, a tennis tournament, and became the youngest player to have done that, and then it was on to the real deal.

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Professional Career:

     Ivanović won her first career singles title, as a qualifier, in Canberra, Australia after defeating Melinda Czink in the final. Her ranking continued to rise after wins over Svetlana Kuznetsova, Nadia Petrova, and Vera Zvonareva, all of whom were top 10 players. Ivanović lost to Amélie Mauresmo at the Australian Open, Doha, and Miami Masters. But she was a rather feisty one and did not give in to the three loses. She fough over and got through to the third round of the French Open, which was arguable the biggest win of her career. She did lose but people started to focus in on her because who ever saw an 18-year-old play in the French open and get to the third round. People train for years just to get their. But her greatest event is yet to come.

     Ivanović made her breakthrough in August when she defeated former World No. 1 Martina Hingis in the final of the Rogers Cup in Montreal. This ultimately led to her winning the United States Open Series ahead of Kim Clijsters and Maria Sharapova. However at the US Open she lost to Serena Williams causing her to lose the title of number 1. She would have been the youngest player at the age of 18, in all of tennis history to hold the number one spot for more than a month. She now at the age of 23 has won 1 french open, and seeded in the Wimbleton and Australian. Seeded, means that you earned a place on the bracket allowing your name to be recognized, this goes for the top 10, but can also be for the top 20. Currently Ivanovic is the #38 player in the world and has progressed rapidly through the years, and is one of the most anticipated players of the year.  

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 Famous Things Ana is Famous For:

- Won her first open, when most tennis players start thier career.

- Her only wish is not to be stabbed while playing tennis, like her idol Monica Seles

- She was voted top 30 swimsuit models of the year, by Sports Illustrated at a recent photo shoot event

- She is a UNICEF Ambassador for Serbia, meaning that

-She has been featured in many music videos, Serbian and Video Games, including Virtua Tennis 2009, and Smash Court Tennis 3

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Player Profile: Andy Roddick

Category: Fastest Serve in the World

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Background

Andrew Stephen "Andy" Roddick was born August 30, 1982, is an American professional tennis player and former #1 tennis player, (preceded by Roger Federer, and then Rafael Nadal). But he was former #1, so he was the best

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Early Life

Roddick lived in Austin, Texas, from age 4 until he was 11, and then moved to Boca Raton, Florida, in the interest of his brother's tennis career, first attending Boca Prep International School, but graduating from the Highlands Christian Academy in 2000. Roddick played varsity basketball in high school alongside his future Davis Cup teammate Mardy Fish, who trained and lived with Roddick in 1999. During that time period, he sometimes trained with Venus and Serena Williams; but he later moved back to Austin.

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Professional Career

Roddick's breakthrough year was in 2003, in which he defeated Younes El Aynaoui in the quarterfinals of the 2003 Australian Open. This was because Avnaoui was a seeded tennis player and was the fan-fave for winning the Australian Open. But the young prodigy outclassed his older counter-part, in a grueling match that would set him as record holder. Finally after the victory of all his exhibition matches and all the open, and his destructive Wimbledon showdown, Roddick, at age 21, was ranked # 1, the first American to finish a year at # 1 since Andre Agassi in 1999. He also became the youngest American to hold this rank since computer rankings were started in 1973. Recently he was back to form, after a knee injury, and played in the 2010 US Open, however lost in the 3^rd round. Nonetheless, the comeback kid is tough and will pull out and finally win an open.  

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Famous Things that Roddick is Famous For:)

-       -His serve, which is the world’s fastest serve

-       -His ego, every game that the line judge calls against him  he yells at the judgs

-       -He is the only player to have thrown the racket at the judge, and not get suspended

-       -Andy Roddick dated Paris Hilton and was serious about getting married to her

-       -His autographed ball, which he signed at age 7 is now worth, $370,000, but the family says they won’t -give it away

-       -Andy as a child had no talent as a tennis player, but his brothers were top notch players

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Player Profile: Monica Seles

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Category: Legend

Background:

Monica Seles was born December 2, 1973, She was the former #1 player in the world, professional tennis player and a member of the International Tennis Hall of Fame. She was born in Novi Sad, Yugoslavia (now Serbia) to Hungarian parents. She became a naturalized United States citizen in 1994 and also received Hungarian citizenship in June 2007. In her overall career she won nine Grand Slam singles titles, winning eight of them while a citizen of Yugoslavia and one while a citizen of the United States. She became the youngest-ever champion at the 1990 French Open at the age of 16. She was the World No. 1 player in the women's game during 1991 and 1992, but in 1993 she was forced out of the sport for more than two years following an on-court attack in which a German spectator stabbed her in the back with a foot and a half knife. She then had to retire for the season, but eventually after 3-5 years of resting, she reappeared in the French Open, where she won.

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Early Career:

Seles was born in Novi Sad, Yugoslavia. Her parents' name are Eszter and Károly and she has an older brother, Zoltán. She began playing tennis at the age of five, coached by her father. In 1985 at the age of 11, she won the Orange Bowl tournament in Miami, Florida, and caught the attention of tennis coach Nick Bollettieri. In 1986, the Seles family moved from SFR Yugoslavia to the United States, and Seles enrolled at the Nick Bollettieri Tennis Academy, where she trained for two years, under the guidance of Bollettieri.

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Professional Level

Seles won her first Grand Slam singles title at the 1990 French Open. Facing World No. 1 Steffi Graf in the final. Seles was the top women's player heading into 1993, having won the French Open three consecutive years and both the US Open and Australian Open in consecutive years. In January 1993, Seles defeated Graf in the final of the Australian Open, which to date was her third win in four Grand Slam finals with Graf. Which meant that she had potential to become the youngest player in all of tennis history to achieve, 5 grand slams consecutively. However that was the year that she was stabbed and had to take a 5-year rest to recover her injury, crushing her chance of becoming a record-breaker.

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Legendary Status, and records:

She was stabbed with a knife, but still played after 5 years. She was inducted to the Tennis Hall of Fame, and she contributed her playing clothes, that she wore in her fist grand slam title. Monica Seles is the Goodwill Ambassador of IIMSAM, the Intergovernmental Institution for the use of Micro-algae Spirulina Against Malnutrition (IIMSAM). Monica Seles holds, 4 grand slams, none after the stabbing incident, and was nominated humanitarian of the year, in the organization that she is currently working in. 

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Player Profile: Rafael Nadal

Category: Prodigy

Background:

Rafael "Rafa" Nadal Parera is a Spanish professional tennis player currently ranked No. 1 in the world. Nadal has won nine Grand Slam singles titles, the 2008 Olympic gold medal in singles, a record 18 ATP World Tour Masters 1000 tournaments and also was part of the Spain Davis Cup team that won the finals in 2004, 2008 and 2009. He completed the career Grand Slam by winning the 2010 US Open. He is regarded by many as one of the greatest tennis players of all time.

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Early Career:

Nadal began playing tennis when he was three-years-old under the guidance of his uncle Toni Nadal. When He was eight-years-old he won his first 12-year regional championship. When he was 14, the Spanish tennis federation requested that he leave Mallorca and move to Barcelona to continue his tennis progression and training. Nadal's family turned down this request, partly because they feared it would hurt his education. However after this, at the age of 15, he defeated former Grand Slam Champion Pat Cash, this set him up for the years to come. 

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Professional Level:

Nadal has won a total of 9 grand slam titles, the 2008 Olympic gold medals, and 18 ATP World Tour Masters. He also has achieved the honor of being the youngest tennis playing male to achieve this. After about 8 years of playing he has only one consistent rival, Roger Federer, who is known by most people as the “one.” Nadal has upped the scale and beat Federer in many exhibitions matches, but has only beat 8 times in an open.

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Playing Style:

Playing style is the type of basics that a certain tennis player, advocates. Nadal is a left-handed player; this means that he has total control of the ball in the tennis court. Nadal, is known as a tiger, he is the most aggressive and athletic player. He is not the most graceful player in the world, however he is the most athletic. He serves as fast as he can play, and he can return serves no matter what the condition is. He is also the only known tennis player who developed a left-handed spin volley. What this means is that he can volley and spin with his left hand. 

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How To Read a Tennis Court

In a Single's Game:

This is a tennis court. When a person plays a tennis game, singles they stand behind the baseline while receiving a serve, and one foot behind the baseline when you are serving. And during the first serve, the player has to stand on the right side, receiving and serving, and then they alternate sides of the serve and the receiving. 

In a Double's Game:

When you play doubles game, the serving team server stand one foot behind the base line, and the partner can either, stand with him on the base line, or you can stand in the service area. one the opposite of the servers side. In the receiving end, the person receiving the serve, stands on the right, in the back of the baseline and the partner the opposite side, and stands on the service side. And they switch up and down every time the server changes side. 

History of Tennis

Tennis is a very old game, most historians believe that it originated in the 12th century, in France, however the game was played by hitting the ball in the palm of the hand, rather than with the racquet. The racquet was introduced about 400 years later. So from then people were serving with palms of steel. When people started to use racquets then the game was known as “tennis.”

     Tennis was an indoor sport and very similar to racquetball, hitting the ball of the wall. Then when the sport was taken seriously, it went outdoors, and was played on the grass. This was known as “lawn tennis.” If you ask a European about a certain game with a racquet and a ball, he would call it lawn tennis, not just tennis, lawn tennis. You should try it sometimes. After a couple of centuries tennis became a international sensation where many countries played, America, Europe, India, Africa, and many others. And in 1877 the first real competition for tennis arose, Wimbledon. However people say that the French Open was first real competition, Wimbledon is the most open of all.

     Now to this very day, every year, Wimbledon is played and just this year, Rafael Nadal won #1 singles in the world. 

Tennis Tricks

In tennis getting the basics in is important, and when you master the basics you can always up your game, an example is Roger Federer's tweener leg shot, as we see in the video down there. A shot like this can only be done when you master the basic tennis game.