On February 16th, tennis legend John McEnroe turned 50. Happy Birthday John!

I was just reading an article that talked about how much he has changed over the years. Here’s how they described him then and now:

He was once the raging, wild-haired, enfant terrible of men’s tennis who blew like a hurricane into the All England Club, sending shivers down Wimbledon’s genteel spine.

Now he sports well-tailored, conservative suits, deals in modern art and is an articulate, widely-respected father of six. And he still plays.

 

I love the description of him from his early days, lol. But it’s true! And now he does seem so…business like, although he can still stick his foot in his mouth at times and say some interesting things. He wouldn’t be THE John McEnroe if he didn’t!

McEnroe reached 50 just a day after playing Pete Sampras at an exhibition event in Boston. Sampras said, "At 50, he still plays great”.

Did the big 5-0 put a damper on McEnroe’s mood? Nah, not a bit.

"I don’t feel troubled by being 50, but I’m feeling fine," said McEnroe who celebrated his birthday on Monday.

"It’s good to feel the work that I have been doing in the gym for the past five or six years has helped me. It’s great to see the benefits both on the court and off."

Source: AFB

Post from: EveryJoe

John McEnroe Turns 50

As mentioned here, retired tennis star Pete Sampras currently holds the record with 14 Grand Slam titles. On Saturday, January 31st, Roger Federer has the chance to tie that record. If Federer wins the 2009 Australian Open final, that will give him his 14 titles.

Sampras thinks that not only will Federer tie his record, but he’ll break it with as many as 18 or 19 titles.

“I really thought that 14 would be a number that would be very tough to tie and break,” Sampras tells the AP, “but Roger just came along and dominated the game much more than I ever did.”

Can you imagine 18 or 19 Grand Slam titles? That would be phenomenal! If anyone can do it, I believe it’s Roger Federer.

Source: AP

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Pete Sampras Thinks Federer Could Knock Record Out of the Park

On Thursday, January 15th, women’s tennis legend Monica Seles was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame. Seles’s career consisted of nine Grand Slam singles titles and the stabbing incident that anyone who follows tennis remembers. She returned to the tour after being stabbed.

During a conference call, Seles said, “It was just a lot of highs and a lot of lows. One of the things that always kept me going was my love of the game.”

Other achievements of Seles’s include winning 53 singles titles. She won four at the Australian Open (which starts in just a few days!), three at the French Open and two at the U.S. Open.

Seles became the youngest French Open champion, at the young age of 16.

“As a 16-year-old, everybody says, ‘Oh, you’re going to be great, blah, blah, blah,” she said. “Until you actually do it, you don’t believe it.”

Monica Seles is one of my favorite tennis legends of all time. I will never forget watching her match in Germany when the man climbed over the stands and stabbed. What a scary moment that was, but she bounced back and was able to continue on to the finals.

She definitely deserves a spot in the Tennis Hall of Fame.

Source: Tennis.com

Image Credit: Bauer Griffin

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Monica Seles Inducted into Hall of Fame

In autumn of 2003, he reached a career high ranking of number 14, but says he cannot get to that point again. "I do not think that I can return to the highest level," Verkerk told Dutch television station NOS.

Martin Verkerk was actually doing well this season, but suffered an ankle injury over the summer. Injuries are something that plagued him during his 2004 season.

Well, we wish Verkerk all the best!

Source: CNN

Image Credit: Newscom

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Martin Verkerk Announces Retirement

Sydney’s 2000 Olympics

The 10,000 seat stadium will now be called the "Ken Rosewall Arena". Tennis New South Wales president Stephen Healy said,"Ken Rosewall is one of Australia’s sporting legends and without question one of the greatest tennis players of all time".

Rosewall played in Grand Slam tournaments from the 1950’s until he retired in the 1970’s. Fellow Australian legends had nothing but good things to say about Rosewall. Rod Laver said that Rosewall "is right up there as among the best ever".

Ken Rosewall was present during the renaming of the arena. He said, "It truly is an honour to have my name aligned to this first class tennis facility and I really feel humbled by it".

What an honor!

Source: Google News

Image Credit: Newscom

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Australian Tennis Arena Receives a New Name

Pete Sampras is definitely dominating the court at the Black Rock Masters tournament. On Wednesday, Sampras defeated John McEnroe 6-3, 6-4.

"To be retired six years and still play in front of good crowds is an honour," the 37-year-old Sampras said. "It was a fun night of tennis."

Sampras served 19 aces during the Wednesday match and 49 year old McEnroe said, "That serve is just scary". McEnroe was very impressed with Sampras and said that he thinks he has the ability to still be competing and play the likes of Rafael Nadal and Roger Federrer. He said, "They wouldn’t want to play him".

Sampras went on to face Jeremy Bates today, Friday December 5th, and defeated him also. His next match is tomorrow, Saturday December 6th, against Cedric Pioline. That should be a good match.

Post from: EveryJoe

Sampras Defeats McEnroe and Bates, Moves On to Pioline

Here’s what he had to say about Murray:

"He is one notch below Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal," said 14-time Grand Slam winner Sampras.

"He’s right on the edge of breaking through and winning a major. He’s got the game. He’ll do it, I really believe that. He’s the real deal." Sampras went on the say that he thinks all Murray needs is a little more self-belief in himself. He said that as he watched Murray play at the US Open, he could see that Murray didn’t believe he could win.

Continue reading below.

Sampras has some doubts about Rafael Nadal and whether or not he can stay at the top of the rankings.

"It will be interesting to see what happens with Nadal next year. The amount of work he has to do to stay on top and stay healthy… I think that’s where Roger has a bit of an advantage because he it takes a lot less energy for him to stay on top than Nadal."

"Rafa puts so much effort into each point that eventually something will break."

Read the rest of the article here and see what he had to say about Federrer. I think he might be right about Nadal. Do you think Nadal will eventually break?

Image Credit: Newscom

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Sampras Comments on Top Male Tennis Players

(In the picture above, Sampras presents a tennis racket to Czech President Vaclav Klaus, left, during their meeting at Prague castle in Prague, Czech Republic on December 1, 2008.)

The BlackRock Masters Tennis tournament started yesterday, December 2nd. It’s now time to watch tennis legends in action. Out of the 8 players involved in the singles tournament, Pete Sampras is favored to win. YES!

The eight tennis masters in the singles event are Pete Sampras, John McEnroe, Stefen Edberg, Pat Cash, Greg Rusedski, Jeremy Bates, Cedric Pioline and Guy Forget.

The tournament goes until December 7th at The Royal Albert Hall in London. The 8 tennis legends have been separated into two groups. The group leaders will head on to the finals. Here’s a breakdown of the 2 groups:

Group A – Pete Sampras, John McEnroe, Jeremy Bates and Cedric Pioline
Group B – Stefan Edberg, Pat Cash, Greg Rusedski and Guy Forget

My money (not literally) in on Pete Sampras! The most anticipated match of the event is the one between Sampras and McEnroe. Remember, McEnroe was mouthing off just a little and said he wasn’t going to London to lose. We’ll see about that…

Who are YOU rooting for?

Source: BettingChoice

Image Credit: Newscom

Post from: EveryJoe

Pete Sampras Favorite to Win BlackRock Masters

Well, Pete Sampras fans, the tennis legend will return to London for the BlackRock Masters on Tuesday, December 2nd, for the first time in 6 years. The last time he made an appearance in London was back in 2002 when he only made it to the second round in Wimbledon.

You will never believe who Sampras will play in the group stages. It’s someone so completely opposite of him, it’s like night and day. Yep, it’s John McEnroe. The outspoken and full of interesting personality Mr. John McEnroe. We call my four year old McEnroe on the court because he throws his racket when he gets mad. Yes, we are trying to get him to express his frustrations in other ways.

Sampras and McEnroe met three times during their careers and Sampras won all three times. Needless to say, this should be a fun match to watch.

Did I mention that McEnroe is outspoken? Yes, I believe I did. He has a message for Sampras and others who are attending this match. He said, ‘I’m not coming to London to lose’. I am sure he’s not the only one not coming to London to lose. In this very exciting week of tennis, we will see other professionals such as Stefan Edberg, Pat Cash and Cedric Pioline.

You can bet I will be tuning in to watch these tennis legends go head to head. I am so excited it’s not even funny! And yes, I am rooting for Pete Sampras. :-)

Source: MVN

Image Credit: Newscom

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Pete Sampras Returns to London After 6 Years

German tennis player Boris Becker was recently broken up with via text message. Sandy Meyer-Woelden, Becker’s 25 year-old fiance, reportedly broke off her wedding with Becker.

Becker said, "I suddenly got an SMS from Sandy… saying that this was it, that this was over. To make sure how serious she was she sent me five others saying the same thing. I was completely surprised"

He also said that the break-up ‘trampled his soul’. Ouch! How painful and over a text message. What the heck was she thinking?! Sometimes technology is not a good thing. Remember the days when men and women had to actually meet face to face for those hard conversations? Now it’s as easy as a few characters punched into a phone. Pathetic.

Source: Switched

Image Credit: Newscom

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Boris Becker Was Dumped Over a Text Message