21 Club: Birthday Girl Azarenka Headed For BOW Final

Will Shoot for First Title of Year After 6-2, 6-3 Routine of Top-Seed Stosur

STANFORD, CALIF. — Victoria Azarenka doesn’t care much for beer.  She says she’s much more likely to reach for a glass of champagne.  But a celebratory toast wasn’t what she had in mind on her 21st birthday. A semifinal win over the top-seeded Sam Stosur at the Bank of the West Classic would suffice.  And [...]

The Barry Bonds-Bryan Bros. Connection

NUMBER 61 AND THE BARRY BONDS-BRYAN BROS. CONNECTION: It wasn’t all that surprising to see the Bryan Bros. hobnobbing with Home Run King Barry Bonds at the Farmers Classic in L.A.  After all, both parties have a special connection with the number 61.  Bob and Mike are on the verge of breaking The Woodies‘ all-time [...]

Grunt Work

Bartoli Calls Azarenka’s Grunts 'Disturbing' After BOW Loss

STANFORD, CALIF. — By no means is Victoria Azarenka the first over-the-top grunter the WTA Tour has ever seen. There’s a rich history of vociferous volleyers and bellowing baseliners that traces back to pioneer Monica Seles and threads through Maria Sharapova to Venus and Serena Williams and beyond.  But the Belarusian’s Whippoorwill-like exclamations have been known to [...]

Pole Position: Radwanska Strong In U.S. Open Tune-Up

No. 3 Seed Books BOW Semis With 7-5, 6-0 Domination of Kirilenko

STANFORD, CALIF. — Agnieszka Radwanska was just 18 when she scored the bona fide breakout win of her career, a 6-4, 1-6, 6-2 third-round dismantling of defending U.S. Open champion Maria Sharapova on a swirling, wind-swept day inside the bigger-than-life Arthur Ashe Stadium in 2007.

Bartoli Finally Gets Over Ivanovic at BOW Classic

Defending Champ Hopes to Use 6-3, 6-4 Win as Springboard to U.S. Open Success

STANFORD, CALIF — The last time they met was in Zurich in 2008. Ana Ivanovic was just a few months removed from her Roland Garros title and was comfortably camped inside the top 5.  Marion Bartoli, then ranked No. 16 and struggling with her confidence, came out on the short end of a 6-2, 6-4 [...]

Dementieva Returns to Where It All Began

No. 6-Ranked Russian Downs Date Krumm at Stanford; Revisits ’99 Fed Cup Win Over Venus

STANFORD, CALIF. — She was just 17, a shy, soft-spoken girl from Moscow with blonde locks straight out of a Brothers Grimm tale.  She didn’t have much command of the English language.  She didn’t have much command of her serve, either.

Tennis: It’s Really Dumb, But It’s What We Do

MAZEL TOV!: Regarding the mysterious foot injury Serena Williams says she suffered when she stepped on broken glass in a Munich restaurant, Art Spander asserted, “Exactly why anyone steps on a glass, other than a groom at a Jewish wedding ceremony, is beyond most of us.”  Of course, Williams isn’t the only player to have [...]

Sharapova Impresses at Bank of the West Classic

Russian Advances With 6-4, 7-5 Win Over Zheng

STANFORD, CALIF. – For a player who in the past two years has both overhauled her shoulder and her serve, Russia’s Maria Sharapova showed few signs of weakness in an all-business 6-4, 7-5 opening-round win over China’s Jie Zheng at the Bank of the West Classic.

It Doesn’t Take a Village to Raise a Champ

Bank of the West Titlist Marion Bartoli Vows Never to Go Home

She’s hardly a glam queen.  Not that tall (think Sharapova).  Not that lean (think Venus, Daniela).  Not that style conscious (think Ana, Serena).  Frenchwoman Marion Bartoli — she of two hands off both wings and the winner of the ’09 Bank of the West Classic — is a unique I’ll-do-it-my-way player whose greatest strength may just [...]

A Communist State in a Capital World

Defense Secretary Rice...Querrey On Nerves...The Numbers

BORN TO SHOP: Bank of the West Classic titlist Marion Bartoli recalled that when she reached the Wimbledon final in 2007, the British tabloids wrote that she “had the physical appearance of a shopping attendant.” ARE YOU NOW OR HAVE YOU EVER BEEN A MEMBER OF THE COMMUNIST PARTY?: Former Davis Cup captain David Lloyd [...]