Wednesday, October 24, 2012

Passing shots

Former world number 1 Caroline Wozniacki will be the top seed at the Tournament of Champions, which will be held in Sofia October 30-November 4. The second seed is Nadia Petrova. Joining Wozniacki and Petrova as this year's big International Tournament winners will be Roberta Vinci, Hsieh Su-Wei, Zheng Jie, and Daniela Hantuchova. There are also two wild cards--Maria Kirilenko and Tsvetana Pironkova. If Wozniacki wins the event, she'll return to the top 10.

The American Psychological Association reported last month that when athletes fail to perform well under pressure, it may be that they are focusing too much on their movements. A study found that right-handed athletes who squeezed a ball in their left hand before an athletic event played better under pressure. Clenching with the left hand is thought to activate the right side of the brain, which is associated with automated movements.

The WTA has donated $25,000 to the USANA True Health Foundation, which helps "deserving" (no kidding--that's what it says) populations worldwide in times of need.

Petra Kvitova, who withdrew from the WTA Championships because of a viral illness, says she expects to be well by the time the Fed Cup final rolls around in a week and a half.

Victoria Azarenka has received the WTA Diamond ACES Award for 2012. The award is given to a player who does an outstanding job of promoting the sport of tennis both on and off the court.

7 comments:

Sunny nine said...

Okay here I am again. I asked you about the Sophia draw. So Venus is ranked 24, any idea why she is not in? Or did I get this wrong too. I got it from the WTA page.

Diane said...

I don't know; maybe she took herself out of the running? If anyone knows the answer, please post.

Todd.Spiker said...

Quick! Someone get a towel to wipe the irony dripping off Azarenka's award for promoting the tour on and off court!

Considering how much criticism and blow-back she got most of this year for how "awful" it is that she makes noise on the court, and how, off it, some players and others so publicly criticized her because of that, Vika should carry that trophy around with her in her tennis bag at every event she attends... just to remind everyone that she won it.

Diane said...

Did you see the photo of her with Stacey Allaster? Every time I see them photographed together, I think "Isn't Vika tall?" and "Yo, Stacey--there's your hoodie-wearing, racquet-breaking, dance-happy, screaming: number 1 player!"

Todd.Spiker said...

Of course, some of it might be that Allaster is a bit short, too. :)

I did see Allaster "living it up" in the WTA's courtside suite with Mary Pierce the last few days. Maybe it's a Canada thing?

Sunny nine said...

Although my husband follows men's and women's tennis through me, it took Azarenka's (from Diane)"... hoodie-wearing, racquet-breaking, dance-happy, screaming: number 1 player!" for him to get as involved as he was with Henin. Of course as I have mentioned before he like the athletic looking shorts too.

Diane said...

What's not to like about Vika?!