"I’ve got a nice house, my four horses," Hingis said. "On the tour, I had no life.  If I had won the four Grand Slam tournaments, maybe I would have continued.  But I was on downslope. And I was suspended for two years, and that was it."

"I didn’t have the right to play any competition, even in another Olympic sport," she continued. "I didn’t have the right to feature in equestrian competition, even at an amateur level. … I’m not sure I have completely recovered."

Hingis retired once before, back in 2002, because of leg and foot injuries but returned in 2006.  She has 209 weeks at No. 1 in the women’s rankings and won five Grand Slam singles titles.  I’d say that she’s had a great career and, while the positive drug test is obviously not a highlight, she can retire knowing what it feels like to be a champion.

image: TSN

Post from: EveryJoe

Martina Hingis Not Returning to Tennis

image: Zuma Press

After pointing out the fact that Federer skipped the Shanghai Masters due to fatigue, Roddick added:  “It’s ridiculous to think that you have a professional sport that doesn’t have a legitimate off-season to rest, get healthy, and then train.  I just feel sooner or later that common sense has to prevail.”

He continued: “I certainly don’t see any other sporting leagues or federations following our lead as far as not being individually represented. I don’t know that it’s up to the players to be making business decisions about the schedule. At a certain point, I wish our input would be.  It’s got to be someone’s job to figure that out, right?”

I can’t help but agree with them.  I am an avid hockey fan and there are times when I’m grateful that the players will have a few months to manage injuries, get surgeries that they’ve put off, spend time with family, rest and even give fans a break.  Hopefully, the ATP will look at Nadal and Roddick’s comments and reconsider the schedule.

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Nadal and Roddick Say Tennis Season Too Long

image: Zuma Press

The pairing with Schiavone was pretty good since Stosur was the third seed and the Italian was fourth but, really, there wasn’t much competition here.  Stosur dominated for most of the match and was able to seal the deal in just one hour and eight minutes.

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Stosur Wins Japan Women’s Open

image: TSN

Meanwhile, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic both advanced to the next round.  Nadal took on James Blake and walked away with a 6-2, 6-7 (4-7), 6-4 victory on the hardcourts at Qi Zhong Tennis Center.  This was a virtual repeat of the pair’s meeting in Beijing last week.  Nadal will next face fellow Spaniard Tommy Robredo.

Meanwhile, Djokovic easily beat Fabio Fognoni 6-3, 6-1.   Other winners from the day include:

• Jo-Wilfried Tsonga
• Robin Soderling
• Ivan Ljubicic
• Gilles Simon
• Gael Monfils

The winner of this event will take home $616,500.

Post from: EveryJoe

Del Potro Eliminated in Shanghai

image: Zuma Press

In the ad, Serena takes on Mother Nature (they each hold a press conference to talk about Serena’s impending period) and I’m guessing the tennis great is triumphant since she not only is shown wearing white but menstruation clearly doesn’t slow her down.

Honestly, you just have to see it to believe it.

Post from: EveryJoe

Serena Promotes Tampax Tampons

image: Zuma Press

At 30 years old, Mauresmo has won two Grand Slams – the Australian Open and Wimbledon in 2006 – which is a great accomplishment.  On her website she wrote: “Since I came back from the U.S. Open, I’ve been trying to practice but I can’t find again the desire to come back to competition. I don’t want to rush or force things. (I will take) some time to think before making a decision regarding the remainder of my career.”

If she does decide to leave the sport, she can definitely say that she’s had a great career!

Post from: EveryJoe

Mauresmo Considering Retirement

image: TSN

It’s not like she was given the win, though.  She was already ahead 5-2 in the first set when the match was abruptly halted by Jankovic.  This is the first time Sharapova has won a title since Amelia Island in April 2008 since she was forced to take 10 months off due to a shoulder injury.

Sharapova collected $350,000 with the win.

Post from: EveryJoe

Maria Sharapova Wins Tokyo Title

image: TSN

Safina took on Roberta Vinci and ended up taking a 6-4, 6-4 victory while Williams beat Kaia Kanepi 7-5, 6-4.

Williams will next face unseeded Ekaterina Makarova with Safina battling local favorite, Shuai Zhang.  The first round will conclude tomorrow while the second round begins.

Third-seeded Venus Williams is expected to play in the second round against Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova.

The 2009 Beijing champion will take home $775,500.

Post from: EveryJoe

Serena and Safina Advance at China Open

image: Zuma Press

Although, it was later revealed that Roddick had suffered an injury during the match, it was clearly a historic day for tennis since Federer became the great men’s champion ever by capturing his 15th Grand Slam title (edging out Pete Sampras who sat in the stands cheering him on).

If you missed it, or you just want to watch it over and over again, you can pick up the Wimbledon 2009 Mens Final – Federer vs Roddick DVD of the full match which includes BBC TV commentary.  It’s a great purchase for tennis lovers, as well as fans of Federer and Roddick!

Post from: EveryJoe

Wimbledon 2009 Mens Final on DVD

While Maria Sharapova, who went into the event unseeded, managed to make it to the next round, big names like top-seeded defending champion Dinara Safina, second-seeded Venus Williams and Svetlana Kuznetsova were sent packing.

image: Zuma Press

Safina lost her match against qualifier Kai-Chen Chang (pictured celebrating above) 7-6 (7-5), 4-6, 7-5 which lasted 2 hours and 44 minutes.  Wow!

Meanwhile, Williams couldn’t get past yet another qualifier, Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova and lost 7-6 (8-6), 7-5 in just under two hours.

A third qualifier, Andrea Petkovic, took down fifth-seeded Kuznetsova 7-5, 4-6, 6-3.

Wow.  What a day!  It will be interesting to see who emerges from the event with the title!

Post from: EveryJoe

Major Upsets at the 2009 Tokyo Open