Mesh Tennis

Former world No. 1 Amelie Mauresmo will be out of action for a month because of appendicitis, a statement on her Web site said.

Mauresmo underwent surgery to remove her appendix on Sunday and should be back in action for the European clay-court season, the statement read.

The Frenchwoman had delayed her departure, scheduled for Saturday, for the Sony Ericsson Open starting on Monday, because she was suffering from stomach pain. She underwent medical checks which showed she needed surgery.
ESPN

Just a bit from her Tuesday interview, when she exited the PacLife tournament and lost her #1 ranking.

Q. Boy, Maria, the wheels really came off there after 5-3.
MARIA SHARAPOVA: Yeah.

Q. What happened?
MARIA SHARAPOVA: I don’t know, it’s strange. You know, even in the first two sets I didn’t — I didn’t feel like I was playing, you know, amazing tennis. But I did the things that I needed to do, you know. I came up with the good shots, you know, especially on her serves when I needed to. And, you know, in serving for the match, I — the only unforced error I really made was that swing volley.
And after that I just deflated a little bit, you know. I wasn’t moving, moving well at all. You know, I missed a lot of first balls. They got returned. And I missed the first ball, and I serve, miss the first ball. That obviously gives your opponent so much confidence. She just started swinging and wasn’t making a lot of errors.

Q. Looked like you weren’t even sure at times what you should be doing, slap charging, coming in on points, you wouldn’t come in on. Was it just kind of confusing as to what was happening?
MARIA SHARAPOVA: No, not really. I mean, I just — you know, I was trying — just trying to come in a little bit, maybe put some pressure on her, ’cause I felt like she started swinging a little bit more and her balls were getting deeper and deeper as the match went on. And I wasn’t sure if that was because my ball was not heavy enough or because I needed to try something different or give her different looks, but…

Q. How would you rate your tennis this entire tournament so far, I mean up to this point?
MARIA SHARAPOVA: Still felt pretty rusty. It’s hard coming to an event, you know, when you haven’t played a lot and you try to — you try to — you try to improve with every match. But, you know, sometimes you run into someone who’s a great competitor, who’s had a lot of experience, who plays, you know, many tournaments a year. You know, you’ve got to be ready. You’ve got to take your chances when you have them. When you don’t, they’re able — I mean, you can’t underestimate her. I mean, she’s also had a, you know, pretty decent past.

Q. What was the problem with your serve today? You seemed to have a lot of trouble a foot.
MARIA SHARAPOVA: Yeah, there was a lot of wrong things going on today. That was just one of them - especially in the third set. But like I said, it was more of a snowball effect than anything else. PacLife

She goes on to say that she isn’t upset about losing #1, even though after the Aus Open that is what she kept bringing up to prove her worth.

Make that the former world #1…

The WTA Tour has fined Maria Sharapova’s $5,000 for her no-show at her mandatory post-match press conference on Friday. The world No.1 said she was ill after beating Michaella Krajicek 7-6, 6-4, but was slapped with her second fine of the year – illegal coaching from father Yuri cost her $2,000 at the Australian Open. If the Russian’s remorseful behaviour towards her agent in the player’s lounge was anything to go by, the dressing down she received from IMG was a lot more painful than the monetary punishment for a woman who earns in excess of $10 million a year. Tennis.com

Looks like Na Li took out Jankovic, going by the scoreboard - 6-3, 7-6. I haven’t read the interviews yet, so I’ll add more when I get to them. This tournament is just not a good one for some of the top seeds so far.

Not a surprise since she hasn’t been doing well in the tournament…

Defending champion Maria Sharapova was knocked out of the Pacific Life Open on Tuesday, a 4-6, 7-5, 6-1 loss to Vera Zvonareva that will cost her the No. 1 ranking.

Sharapova was beaten in the fourth round and needed to reach the Indian Wells semifinals to remain No. 1. She will be supplanted by Justine Henin when the rankings are released Monday. Henin, who is not at this tournament, won two recent events in the Middle East.

The 19-year-old Sharapova was playing her first event since withdrawing from her semifinal at Tokyo last month with a strained left hamstring.

She struggled in a match between Russians. Zvonareva, ranked No. 20, won for third time in seven matches against Sharapova. ESPN

Guillermo Canas fell to Carlos Moya 6-4, 6-4. Must have lost all of his steam in that Federer match.

INDIAN WELLS, California (AP) - Add Elena Dementieva to the growing list of star players to pull out of the Pacific Life Open.

A right rib injury forced the fifth-seeded Dementieva to withdraw on Wednesday from the tournament that is already missing three of the world’s top five players. Dementieva has a stress fracture that could sideline her for six weeks.
“I feel very disappointed,” the Russian said. “I wanted to play here. I was in the final (last year).

“Now I’m going to miss a couple of tournaments.”

Dementieva felt soreness while practicing in Moscow last week and has been in constant pain since, making sleeping and breathing difficult. Now she joins No. 2 Justine Henin, No. 3 Amelie Mauresmo and No. 5 Kim Clijsters on the list of top names missing from the 96-player field.
Fox Sports

Okay, so I’m starting to catch up…

Tim Henman of England, who appeared rusty after being out of action four months, wasted a 4-2 lead in the final set to lose, 7-5, 3-6, 7-5 to Jan Hernych in the first round of the Pacific Life Open yesterday in Indian Wells, Calif. NYT

Indian Wells is just falling apart for the men this year!

Canas, the former world number eight, only returned to the tour last September after a 15-month suspension for doping offences, and was understandably delighted at his result.

“It’s great to beat the number one, I feel perfect,” said the 29-year-old. “I dream about this, but I didn’t expect.”

Generally, it was not a good day for the big names and tournament seeds.

Lleyton Hewitt, Marat Safin, Tomas Berdych, Tommy Robredo and Radek Stepanek all made second-round exits, at the hands of Janko Tipsarevic, Nicolas Mahut, Michael Russell, Gilles Simon and Carlos Moya respectively. BBC

The field loses another top player…

Lleyton Hewitt lost 7-6 4-6 6-2 to Serb Janko Tipsarevic in the Pacific Life Open second round on Sunday.

Former world No. 1 Hewitt, who won the title in Las Vegas last week, injured his back in the first game and had trouble moving for the rest of the match.

“It didn’t get any better the whole time,” Hewitt told reporters. “I knew something wasn’t right. It affected me on movement and return of serve. I had to adjust my whole position.

“I’m a little concerned. It’s frustrating because I’ve been timing the ball well.”

Hewitt was watched by his former coach Darren Cahill, but the former US Open and Wimbledon champion played down reports they might work together again.

“I have no idea,” Hewitt said. “I still have to work things out and see where I want to go and see who the best person is to take me there.

“Darren is doing TV commentary here this week and he came a couple days early to work with Davis Cup guys like me and Chris Guccione and I was the only guy left so he was watching me.” SMH

Whatever, they’re going to work together again. No doubt in my mind that Cahill is just decided which Aussie to take on…