SUNDAY, DEC. 6 - Donald Young has had a tough year except for a USTA Pro Circuit win in Calabas in October. But, with a ranking of 194, the Atlanta native and one-time No. 73, was looking to get into the Australian Open via the USTA's wild card playoffs in his hometown.

But Young couldn't get past six-seeded Ryan Harrison in the semis, falling 6-3, 6-4.

Harrison will battle top-seed Jesse Levine, who defeated Michael McClune 7-6(3), 6-4, for the wild card.

In women's play, defending champ Christina McHale eliminated Alison Riske in straight sets. She'll play CoCo Vandeweghe, who downed Julia Boserup, in Monday's final.

Boserup Upsets Brengle in Aussie Open Wild Card Playoffs

SATURDAY, DEC. 5 - Los Angeles' Julia Boserup pulled the biggest surprise in the USTA Australian Open Wild Card Playoffs, ejecting top-seed Madison Brengle 6-3, 6-4 in the first round. Boserup trains at the USTA National Training Center in Boca Raton.

All other top-seeded women - Alison Riske, Christina McHale and CoCo Vandeweghe - prevailed in the tournament in Atlanta.

Hometown talent Donald Young downed Jack Sock in three sets and Californian Alex Kuznetsov fell to Ryan Harrison in an upset.

Also winning were top-seed Jesse Levine and Michael McClune.

The USTA pickee eight young men and women to play for a wild card into the Aussie Open main draw.

Bryans Come Full Circle to No. 1 MORE

Spain Checkmates Czechs to Win Davis Cup As Verdasco/Lopez Come Through

SATURDAY, DEC. 5 - The result was predictable after all. Playing at home in Barcelona on clay, Spain secured a fourth Davis Cup title with a 3-0 shutout of the Czech Republic.
On Saturday, the pumped up team of Feliciano Lopez/Fernando Verdasco took down Tomas Berdych/Radek Stepanek 7-6(7), 7-5, 6-2, never allowing the competent team to get comfortable by returning a great deal better, volleying well enough, and punishing their foes from the backcourt.
Captain Albert Costa’s Spain became the first team to successfully defend the Davis Cup since Sweden in 1998, having beaten Argentina last year. "The goal now is just to keep on winning Davis Cups," Verdasco said. "The more the better." MORE

Spain Takes 2-0 Lead Behind Ferrer, Nadal
FRIDAY, DEC. 4 - After withering under Radek Stepanek’s on-rushing attack for the first two sets, David Ferrer produced an incredible 1-6, 2-6, 6-4, 6-4. 8-6 to put Spain 2-0 up in the Davis Cup final against Czech Republic in Barcelona.
In the opening match, Rafael Nadal regained his once stellar clay court form after a shaky first set and bullied Tomas Berdych 7-5, 6-0, 6-2.
Spain is now in the driver’s seat to win the Cup again, as captain Albert Costa can rest his two singles players while Czech captain Jaroslav Navratil may sit the partnership of Lukas Dlouhy and Jan Hajek as his doubles team to in favor of Berdych/Stepanek to face the excellent team of Feliciano Lopez and Fernando Verdasco.Ferrer looked confused for part of his triumph, but in the last three sets, played more aggressively form the baseline and finally was able to push the veteran Czech off the court, who tried to confuse his foes with various speeds, spins and court positioning.
Nadal, who lost all three of his matches at the ATP World Finals in London, was pleased.
"After that first set I just started to play much better," Nadal said. "I was able to control the points a lot better and I wasn't making so many mistakes."


Lum Photo
Amelie Mauresmo's best moment: Winning '06 Wimbledon.Mauresmo Retires at 30
THURSDAY, DEC. 3 - Two time Grand Slam champion and former No. 1 Amelie Mauresmo retired, bringing to close an always emotional and classy career. Winner of 25 Sony Ericsson WTA Tour singles titles, the popular Frenchwoman said she had no more to give. “I don’t want to train anymore,” Mauresmo said. “I had to make a decision, which became evident in the last few months and weeks. When you grew older, it’s more difficult to stay at the top. It’s a bit sad, but this is the right decision. I was lucky enough to have an exceptional career and to experience very strong feelings on the court.”

TR Retro:
Mauresmo Wins 2006 Wimbledon MORE

mauresmo BREAKS OUT AND WINS CONTROVERSIAL AUSSIE OPEN OVER JUSTINE HENIN MORE


MAURESMO BEGINS BREAKOUT BY WINNING '05 WTA CHAMPIONSHIPS MORE

ATP Denies Indy Sale to Atlanta

TUESDAY, DEC. 1 - The ATP Tour has denied the sale of the Indianapolis tournament to Atlanta, TennisReporters.net has learned. In a meeting on Wednesday, the ATP Board of Directors exercised its first right of refusal for the transfer, stunning officials at USTA Southern, which had already approved the purchase of the mid-July event.

When negotiating to purchase the 80-year-old tournament, the ATP allegedly told Atlanta officials back in the late summer that it would not oppose the sale, but apparently under a mandate to shrink the tour’s long calendar, the board voted to the kill the sanction.

Officials of the Southern Section, which represents a whopping 25 percent of the USTA's national membership, will appeal the decision on Monday.

While ATP CEO Adam Helfant has discussed shortening the schedule, which goes from the first of January through late November, it’s surprising that the board chose to eliminate a mid-summer tournament, which has no effect on the end of the season.

The Indianapolis week is the first stop of the US Open Series, which has become a successful and highly identifiable component of the American summer tennis. Losing another tournament would be a decent-sized blow to US pro tennis, as well as to the sport internationally, as America remains tennis’ biggest market.

There are those industry insiders who argue that the 250-level tournament has little value because few of the stars show up to play, but there are still plenty of players outside of the Top 10 (especially American ones) who are willing to play that week, and if there are thousands of fans in Americans hottest tennis city who are willing to watch them, there’s little reason why the tour should deny them the opportunity.

What the tour is also failing to consider is that Atlanta is home to some of nation’s top corporations, many of which might be willing to invest in the tournament, and perhaps the sport as a whole to a larger degree.

With the ATP struggling to find sponsors, it’s hard to conceive why it doesn’t want to gain a foothold in that arena. Additionally, USTA Southern's nine-state base and influential leadership at the national helm, should provide additional clout to help make the tournament a success.

However, politically and economically, the tour has become much more orientated toward Europe and Asia, so Southern officials might find it a tough go to garner enough votes to reverse the decision.

MONDAY, NOV. 30 - While the fine of $82,500 for her U.S. Open implosion was a record, the super-wealthy Serena Williams got off easy as the Grand Slam Committee failed to suspend her from any event. Instead, Williams – who earned $6,545,586 on court this season and even more off court -- only faces a two-year probation and could be suspended if she has another “major offense” at any Grand Slam in the next two years. Exactly what a “major offense” would be is up to debate and wasn’t clarified, but it would almost certainly include physically threatening another linesperson.

If Serena has another “major offense”, the fine would increase to $175,000 and she would be barred from the following U.S. Open.
But that’s unlikely to happen and instead of being held up an example of abhorrent behavior, Serena has now essentially been told that she can pay her way out of anything. How that is a lesson to junior players is beyond us.

“I am thankful that we now have closure on the incident and we can all move forward,” said Williams, who nearly doubled the previous highest fine for a Grand Slam offense, that of Jeff Tarango at Wimbledon. “I am back in training in preparation for next season and I continue to be grateful for all of the support from my fans and the tennis community.”

The decision came as no surprise, as none of the Grand Slam nations wanted to left without Williams in their fields. While she’s unpopular with some fans, she’s very popular with others and is always a very good draw.

Here are two parting thoughts from the victorious and wealthier Nikolay Davydenko at the ATP Finals: "I want to buy apartment still. I didn't buy apartment in Moscow. Still expensive. I wait. Maybe start to be cheaper. But this is one million is not enough." One million is not enough in Moscow? Where’s he looking, the center of Red Square?

Davydenko also added that he doesn't have a racket endorsement because Prince [has] no money. Crisis. I know Prince give everything to Sharapova and no money anymore."

The word off the court is that Prince is having trouble with Jelena Jankovic and may not re-sign her. They have other contracts with the Bryan Brothers, Gael Monfils. David Ferrer, John Isner, Marion Bartoli, Shahar Peer and Daniela Hantuchova.

Props to the Bryan Brothers for clinching the doubles year-end No. 1 ranking with a 7-6(5), 6-3 defeat of Max Mirnyi/Andy Ram in the ATP Final. They also scored a huge win over Daniel Nestor and Nenad Zimonjic.

The 80-year-old Indianapolis Tennis Championships (ATP) is now history. Some former winners were Jimmy Connors, Bjorn Borg, Arthur Ashe and Ivan Lendl. No other locale has bought the event yet. Stay tuned….Austrian lefty Thomas Muster beat another lefty compatriot, Sybille Bammer, 6-3, 6-2 in a 'Battle of the Sexes' exhibition in Salzburg. That’s not a great result from Bammer, but it was clear from the get go that the only advantage that she had in the match-up was speed….Andy Murray has ended his four-year relationship with Kim Sears, the daughter of LTA coach Nigel. So which WTA player would be a good match for the Scot? We’ll nominate Casey Dellacqua… Lindsay Davenport joins Bob and Mike Bryan, Melanie Oudin and John Isner, for Pam Shriver’s BCF Tennis Challenge presented by The Baltimore Sun Media Group at the 1st Mariner on, December 9 at 7:00 PM. Tickets can be obtained via the web at tennischallenge.org.

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