VENUS WILLIAMS WINS BNP PARIBAS SHOWDOWN AT MADISON SQUARE GARDEN

NEW YORK – Venus Williams won the title at the BNP Paribas Showdown for the Billie Jean King Cup exhibition tennis series Monday at Madison Square Garden, defeating Kim Cljisters 6-4, 3-6, 7-5 in the final.
Williams won $400,000 for winning the one-night, four-player event that featured players who won the previous year’s major titles or [...]

MONDAYS WITH BOB GREENE: I AM NOT PARIS HILTON

STARS
Australian Open – First Week
Maria Kirilenko beat second-seeded Dinara Safina 5-4, retired
Nadia Petrova beat third-seeded Svetlana Kuznetsova 6-3 3-6 6-1
Marin Cilic beat fourth-seeded Juan Martin del Potro 5-7 6-4 7-5 5-7 6-3
Li Na beat fourth-seeded Caroline Wozniacki 6-4 6-3
Justine Henin beat fifth-seeded Elena Dementieva 7-5 7-6 (6)
Alona Bondarenko beat eighth-seeded Jelena Jankovic 6-2 6-3
Marcel Granollers [...]

CAN HENIN TOP CLIJSTERS COMEBACK?

Can Justine Henin out do Kim Clijsters?
The diminutive Belgian overcame a huge hurdle in her comeback bid, beating No. 5 seed and recently crowned Sydney International champion Elena Dementieva 7-5, 7-6 (6) in the Australian Open second round.
The win firmly establishes her as among the favorites to actually win the tournament.
If Henin is able to [...]

THE RETURN OF KIM AND JUSTINE MIGHT SAVE WOMEN’S TENNIS

By McCarton Ackerman
It’s 2003 all over again on the WTA Tour. The Belgians vs. the Williams sisters. For the last decade, these four players – Venus and Serena Williams and Belgians Kim Clijsters and Justine Henin – have made the biggest impact by far on the WTA Tour. Other players had the opportunity to step [...]

MONDAYS WITH BOB GREENE:MALISSE AND WICKMAYER NO LONGER SUSPENDED

STARS

Regina Kulikova beat Sandra Zahlavova 7-6 (6) 6-3 to win the Al Habtoor Tennis Challenge in Dubai, United Arab Emirates

SAYING

“The ITF has removed both Mr. Malisse and Ms. Wickmayer from the list of suspended players, and both are eligible to participate with immediate effect.” – The International Tennis Federation (ITF), in a statement.
”It’s the best [...]

MONDAYS WITH BOB GREENE: WHEN I MAKE A DECISION, I CONSIDER IT TO BE FINAL AND DEFINITIVE

SAYING

“We have a generation of athletes that is without doubt the best in the history of Spain. You know how to win with humility and elegance, you know how to play and fight during the tough moments and you have shown us how it’s done.” – Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, prime minister of Spain, on [...]

Mondays With Bob Greene: Spain Retains Davis Cup

STARS

Michael Berrer beat Jarkko Nieminen 6-7 (4) 6-4 6-4 to win the Salzburg Indoors in Salzburg, Austria

Konstantin Kravchuk beat Marcel Granollers 1-6 6-3 6-2 to win the Yugra Cup in Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia

Pat Rafter beat Stefan Edberg 6-7 (5) 6-4 11-9 (Champions tiebreak) to win the AEGON Masters Tennis in London, United Kingdom

Spain beat Czech Republic [...]

Mondays With Bob Greene: The score reflects the reality of this match

STARS

Serena Williams beat Venus Williams 6-2 7-6 (4) to win the Sony Ericsson Championships in Doha, Qatar

Ivan Ljubicic won the Grand Prix de Tennis de Lyon by beating Michael Llodra 7-5 6-3 in Lyon, France

Jurgen Melzer beat Marin Cilic 6-4 6-3 to win the Bank Austria Tennis Trophy in Vienna, Austria

Sergiy Stakhovsky won the St. [...]

Mondays With Bob Greene: Caro, it does not matter whether it’s going to be 5-0, 4-1 or 3-2

STARS

Mikhail Youzhny beat Janko Tipsarevic 6-5 (5) 6-0 6-4 to win the Kremlin Cup men’s singles in Moscow, Russia

Francesca Schiavone beat Olga Govortsova 6-3 6-0 to win the Kremlin Cup women’s singles in Moscow, Russia

Marcos Baghdatis beat Olivier Rochus 6-1 7-5 to win the Stockholm Open in Stockholm, Sweden

Timea Bacsinszky won the Luxembourg Open, beating [...]

Mondays With Bob Greene: It’s a special place for me

STARS

Nikolay Davydenko beat Fernando Verdasco 6-4 7-5 to win the Proton Malaysia Open in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Maria Sharapova won the Toray Pan Pacific in Tokyo, Japan, when Jelena Jankovic retired while trailing 5-2

Gilles Simon beat Viktor Troicki 7-5 6-3 to win the PTT Thailand Open in Bangkok, Thailand

Jelena Dokic beat Eleni Danilidou 6-3 6-1 to [...]

Wozniacki Ends Melanie’s Dream

Although the Arthur Ashe Stadium crowd was loudly pulling for her, Melanie Oudin’s dream run at the US Open ended Wednesday night when she was overwhelmed 6-2 6-2 by ninth-seeded Caroline Wozniacki.