MIscellany

Francesca Schiavone and Sam Stosur have qualified to play in the WTA Championships in Doha, which means there are only two spots left. Caroline Wozniacki, Vera Zvonareva, Serena Williams, and Kim Clijsters are already in.

Here's a well-deserved shout-out for Schiavone.

And, in case you  missed it, here is the non-diva, great sportswomen, too-cool photo of the season.

Maria Sharapova is out for the rest of the season.

You can now get to know Bojana Jovanovski.

Venus Williams has a new computer game, and you can win a copy of it.

Miscellany

Yanina Wickmayer's father says that if she isn't scheduled to play singles, Wickmayer won't be at Belgium's Fed Cup match against Estonia. Wickmayer, it should be noted, says it doesn't matter to her--that she plans to be there to support her team, no matter what.

Anna Kournikova talks with Peter Bodo about her life.

Sam Stosur is cross-dominant, and eats with her left hand.

Melanie Oudin is the first U.S. woman to commit to playing on the USA Fed Cup squad next month in the semifinal against Russia.

ESPN is making a documentary on the Evert-Navratilova rivalry.

What a comeback!

For someone who has been off the tour for such a long time, Sam Stosur has certainly made a big comeback at Wimbledon. While I'm sure she would like to have had better singles results, getting into both doubles finals is rather impressive. Must be a big relief for Lisa Raymond, too.

They're...back!

Lisa Raymond and Sam Stosur, the former world number 1 doubles team, defeated the current world number 1 team today to get to the Wimbledon final. They won 6-3, 6-3 over top seeds Cara Black and Leizel Huber. Raymond and Stosur were seeded 16th because they did not play for several months; Stosur was out for a long time because of serious illness.

Raymond and Stosur will play Venus and Serena Williams in the final. The 11th-seeded Williams team defeated the unseeded team of Nathalie Dechy and Casey Dellacqua, 6-3, 6-3.

Venus and Serena Williams will play each other in the singles final. Seems like old times.

Stosur gets wild card to Wimbledon main draw

Sam Stosur has been given a wild card for Wimbledon. That leaves one more to be announced.

Raymond and Stosur out in first round in Birmingham

Sam Stosur, trying to get match-tough again after a very long illness layoff, went out (with partner Lisa Raymond) in the first round of doubles competition in Birmingham today. They were defeated by the impromptu team of Chuang Chia-Jung and Rika Fujiwara, 7-5, 6-3. Chuang's usual partner, Chan Yung-Jan, is out with a back injury.

Also upset were Alona and Kateryna Bondarenko, who were defeated 6-4, 6-4, by Severine Bremond and Virginia Ruano Pascual.

Stosur gets French Open wild card

Word comes from On the Baseline that Sam Stosur has been given a wild card into the main draw of the French Open. Stosur has just returned to the tour following a lengthy illness layoff.

She's back! Stosur wins first round in Rome

The good news is that Sam Stosur, who has been out for about eight months because of illness, won her opening round in Rome today. The bad news is that she beat Michaella Krajicek, which means that Krajicek has yet to win a match this season. Stosur defeated Krajicek 6-3, 6-2. Next, Stosur will face Venus Williams.

What are they doing?

Where are the players who dropped out for a while because of injury and illness or other problems? What are they doing?

Anastasia Myskina just had a baby.

Sam Stosur is playing in challengers. She just lost to Yanina Wickmayer in the quarterfinals of the Boyd Tinsley USTA Pro Women's Tennis Championships in Charlottesville, Virginia.

Tatiana Golovin is playing in challengers. She just lost to in the second round of the Cagnes-Sur-Mer in France to Maret Ani.

Sesil Karatantcheva was playing in challengers and is now playing in Tour events.

Jelena Dokic just keeps coming back, over and over, but to no avail.

Good news for Stosur fans

Sam Stosur is scheduled to play in the Internazionali BNL d'Italia and in Roland Garros.

Stosur to miss Fed Cup

Sam Stosur says she is feeling good, but will not be able to play until March, so she is going to miss the Fed Cup matches. The Australian Fed Cup team for January 30-February 2, led by Alicia Molik, will also consist of Nicole Pratt, Rennae Stubbs and Casey Dellacqua.

Update on Stosur withdrawal

A couple of days ago, I posted the news that Sam Stosur had withdrawn from both the Mondial Women's Hardcourts tournament and the Australian Open. At the time, my fear was that Stosur had not fully recovered from her illnesses, but it turns out that she withdrew because she just did not have enough time to prepare. The news is still disappointing, but it is good to know that her health appears to be fine, and she will continue her training on the Gold Coast.

Stosur withdraws from Australian Open

Unconfirmed word is that Sam Stosur, recovering from two serious illnesses, has withdrawn from both the Mondial Women's Hardcourt tournament and the Australian Open. During her recent training, she said she was not 100% recovered, but expected to be so by the time the season began. I found that a bit suspicious, and am not surprised that she has withdrawn. Very disappointing, however.

Updates on sick and injured players

Amelie Mauresmo has been training for two weeks, and is doing well, other than experiencing sore legs at night.

Sam Stosur has been back in Australia for a week now, after her lengthy medical timeout in the U.S. Her condition is described as "not 100%" but she is due to begin light training soon.

Zheng Jie has been practicing, and--according to one of the tennis authorities in China--has made a complete recovery from the ankle injury that has kept her out of play since the French Open. She is, according to the official, working on regaining confidence, and will play in the Australian Open.

Li Na, out since she sustained a rib inflammation during the summer, has been recovering in Germany and is also scheduled to play in Melbourne.

Raymond and Stosur will not defend title in Madrid

The doubles team of Lisa Raymond and Sam Stosur, who won last year's Sony Ericsson WTA Year-End Championships, will not be in Madrid next month to defend their title. Stosur has been ill with viral meningitis for much of the latter part of the season, and she is currently receiving treatment in the U.S. that will take up to six weeks to complete.

This is a blow to fans, but good for Stosur, who should be healthy and ready to play by 2008.

Raymond and Stosur out of the U.S. Open

Like them or not, the crowd at the U.S. Open will get to see more of Bethanie Mattek's tennis outfits. She and Sania Mirza just defeated second seeds Lisa Raymond and Sam Stosur in what appeared, from the scoreboard, to be a genuine thriller. Raymond and Stosur took the first set, 6-2, and Mattek and Mirza took the second, 7-5. In the third, Mattek and Mirza broke at 4-all, but were broken right back when they served for the match. But they broke again at 5-all, and held to take the third set, 7-5.

The top seeds, Cara Black and Liezel Huber, are already gone. They were defeated by Maria Elena Camerin and Gisela Dulko.

Next up for 16th-seeded Mattek and Mirza are Chan Yung-Jan and Chuang Chia-Jung.

Latest withdrawals

Serena Williams has withdrawn from the Acura Classic in San Diego, which begins in about a week. The thumb injury that Williams sustained earlier this summer, and which kept her out of the tournaments in Cincinnati and Stanford, may keep her out of much of the U.S. Open Series.

Sam Stosur has also withdrawn from the Acura Classic, wisely opting to get more rest and not tempt a relapse of her virus.

Wimbledon, Day 10

The last two quarterfinals were played today--one rather efficiently, the other with some thrills. Venus Williams defeated Svetlana Kuznetsova 6-3, 6-4. Despite her struggles in early Wimbledon matches, Williams has looked more and more like a champion in the last few days. Kuznetsova herself was in danger of going out in the first round when she played an ever-improving Julia Vakulenko, but since that difficult win, she cruised through until she got to Williams. Williams served well, and was successful in her net approaches. Kuznetsova is a great all-around, all-surface player and a gifted athlete, but Williams on grass was too much for her today.

The other semifinal was less predictable, with two of the tour's younger stars, Nicole Vaidisova and Ana Ivanovic, battling it out in three sets. Vaidisova took the first, Ivanovic took the second, and then the fun started. Like Serena Williams, Vaidisova is a high-risk player, willing to chalk up errors in exchange for getting in some big, decisive winners. That was the kind of game she was playing today, and it looked like it was going to work for her. She broke Ivanovic immediately in the third set, and held that break until Ivanovic served at 3-5 and Vaidisova held three match points. Ivanovic, determined not to give her opponent the match on her own serve, saved all three match points in rallies that were thrilling.

She then had an easy hold to even it up at 5-all. Vaidisova, not known for her calm manner on court, proceeded to go to pieces mentally, an occurrence that did not elude Ivanovic, who broke her in the next game, with Vaidisova throwing in a double fault for good measure. Ivanovic then had a mental moment on her first match point, but prevailed on her second. Final score: 4-6, 6-2, 7-5

Fans of Sam Stosur--take note: She and Bob Bryan withdrew from mixed doubles today because Stosur has come down with a viral infection. She and Lisa Raymond are scheduled to play a quarterfinal match tomorrow in women's doubles.

Player of the day: Ana Ivanovic, who refused to lose the match on her own serve, then sensed her opponent's crack-up, and moved in skillfully for the victory.