Samoa and Tokelau skip a day for dateline change

Samoa and Tokelau have skipped a day - and jumped westwards across the international dateline - to align with trade partners.

As the clock struck midnight (10:00 GMT Friday) as 29 December ended, Samoa and Tokelau fast-forwarded to 31 December, missing out on 30 December entirely.

Samoa announced the decision in May in a bid to improve ties with major trade partners Australia and New Zealand.

Neighbouring Tokelau decided to follow suit in October.

The change comes 119 years after Samoa moved in the opposite direction. Then, it transferred to the same side of the international date line as the United States, in an effort to aid trade.

But New Zealand and Australia have become increasingly valuable trade partners for the country.

Speaking from Samoa shortly after the change, at midnight local time, journalist Rico Tupai said the town was alive.

"You can hear the sound of a lot of vehicles going round town, going round the town centre clock and tooting their horns. People screaming," he said.

"We have once again achieved another milestone in our history of Samoa."

Samoan Prime Minister Tuila'epa Sailele Malielegaoi said he expected to see immediate benefits from the change, particularly for the tourist industry, as Samoans would now have five working days of continuous contact with counterparts in New Zealand and Australia.

"While it's Friday here, it's Saturday in New Zealand, and when we're at church on Sunday, they're already conducting business in Sydney and Brisbane," the prime minister said in the countdown to the switch.

Mr Malielegaoi later said he had just attended a ceremony to signal the change in time zone which was followed by morning tea and coffee for the people who had attended to "applaud the occasion".

He added that the change would have particular benefits for Samoans needing to travel to New Zealand to attend to family business.

Samoa is located approximately halfway between New Zealand and Hawaii and has a population of 180,000 people. Around 131,000 people living in New Zealand are of Samoan descent, according to New Zealand's 2006 census.

Local time up to 29 December had been 23 hours behind Auckland - but now it is one hour ahead.

Tokelau is a tiny New Zealand-administered territory of three islands. It lies to the north of Fiji, approximately half-way between Hawaii and the Australian coast.

From : BBC News

Óscar Arias

Óscar Arias Sánchez (born 13 September 1940) is a Costa Rican politician who was President of Costa Rica from 2006 to 2010. He previously served as President from 1986 to 1990 and received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1987 for his efforts to end civil wars then raging in several other Central American countries.

He is also a recipient of the Albert Schweitzer Prize for Humanitarianism and a trustee of Economists for Peace and Security. In 2003, he was elected to the Board of Directors of the International Criminal Court's Trust Fund for Victims.

He is a member of Collegium International, an organization of leaders with political, scientific, and ethical expertise whose goal is to provide new approaches in overcoming the obstacles in the way of a peaceful, socially just and economically sustainable world.

Early life

Raised by an upper class family in the province of Heredia, Óscar Arias concluded his secondary schooling at the Saint Francis College in the capital city of San José. He then went to the United States and enrolled in Boston University with the intention of studying medicine, but he soon returned to his home country and completed degrees in law and economics at the University of Costa Rica. In 1967, Arias traveled to the United Kingdom and enrolled in the London School of Economics. He received a doctoral degree in political science from the University of Essex in 1974. Arias has received over fifty honorary degrees, including doctorates from Harvard University, Princeton University, Dartmouth College, Oberlin College, Wake Forest University, Ithaca College and Washington University in St. Louis.

From : www.wikipedia.org

Liu Xiaobo

Liu Xiaobo (born 28 December 1955) is a Chinese literary critic, writer, professor, and human rights activist who called for political reforms and the end of communist single-party rule in China. He is currently incarcerated as a political prisoner in China.

Liu has served from 2003 to 2007 as President of the Independent Chinese PEN Center, an organization funded by the National Endowment for Democracy,  which in turn is almost entirely funded by the US Congress. He was also the President of NED-funded MinZhuZhongGuo (Democratic China) magazine since the mid-1990s. On 8 December 2008, Liu was detained because of his participation with the Charter 08 manifesto. He was formally arrested on 23 June 2009 on suspicion of "inciting subversion of state power." He was tried on the same charges on 23 December 2009, and sentenced to eleven years' imprisonment and two years' deprivation of political rights on 25 December 2009.

During his fourth prison term, he was awarded the 2010 Nobel Peace Prize for "his long and non-violent struggle for fundamental human rights in China." He is the first Chinese citizen to be awarded a Nobel Prize of any kind while residing in China. Liu is the third person to be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize while in prison or detention, after Germany's Carl von Ossietzky (1935) and Burma's Aung San Suu Kyi (1991). Liu is also the first person since Ossietzky to be denied the right to have a representative collect the Nobel prize for him.

From : www.wikipedia.org

Christine Lagarde

Christine Madeleine Odette Lagarde (née Lallouette; born 1 January 1956) is a French lawyer and the managing director of the International Monetary Fund since July 5, 2011. Previously, she held various ministerial posts in the French government: she was Minister of Economic Affairs, Finances and Industry and before that Minister of Agriculture and Fishing and Minister of Trade in the government of Dominique de Villepin. Lagarde was the first woman ever to become minister of Economic Affairs of a G8 economy, and is the first woman to ever head the IMF.

A noted antitrust and labour lawyer, Lagarde made history as the first female chair of the international law firm Baker & McKenzie. On 16 November 2009, The Financial Times ranked her the best minister of finance of the Eurozone.

On 28 June 2011, she was named as the next managing director of the International Monetary Fund for a five-year term, starting on 5 July 2011, replacing Dominique Strauss-Kahn. This made her the 11th European running to head the IMF. In 2011, Lagarde was ranked the 9th most powerful woman in the world by Forbes magazine.

Personal Life

Lagarde was born in Le Havre, a city in the Seine-Maritime department of the Haute-Normandie region in France, as Christine Madeleine Odette Lallouette into a family of academics. Her father Robert Lallouette was a Professor of English at the Faculty of Rouen; her mother Nicole worked as a teacher. After graduation in 1974 at the Lycée François 1er in Le Havre, she went on an AFS scholarship to the Holton-Arms School, a girls' school in Bethesda, Maryland, USA. Then she graduated from law school at University Paris X Nanterre, near Paris, France, and obtained a Master's Degree in political science from the Institut d'études politiques d'Aix-en-Provence (Sciences Po Aix). Since 2010, she has presided over the Institute's board of directors.

Lagarde worked as an intern at the United States Capitol, as William Cohen's congressional assistant.

As a teenager, Lagarde was a member of the French national synchronised swimming team. She is divorced and has two sons, Pierre-Henri Lagarde (born 1986) and Thomas Lagarde (born 1988). Since 2006, her partner has been the entrepreneur Xavier Giocanti from Marseille. She is a vegetarian and never drinks alcohol. Her hobbies are scuba diving, swimming and gardening.

The fashion magazine Vogue profiled Lagarde in September 2011.

From : www.wikipedia.org

Anastasiya Myskina

Anastasiya Andreyevna Myskina (Анастасия Мыскина; born July 8, 1981, Moscow, Russia) is a professional tennis player from Russia. She won the 2004 French Open singles title, becoming the first Russian female tennis player to win a Grand Slam main draw singles title. Subsequent to this victory she rose to number 3 on the WTA ranking, becoming the first Russian female tennis player to reach the top three in the history of the rankings. In September 2004 she reached a career high of No.2, but she has not played professional tennis since 2007, and has stated she does not know whether she will return or not. Injury has prevented her from advancing for the past several years.

Personal Life

In October 2002, Myskina had a series of photos taken for GQ magazine by the photographer Mark Seliger for a spread in the October 2002 edition of GQ, in which one approved photo of her fully clothed was published. 

After she won the French Open in 2004, some photographs from the shoot, in which she appeared topless, were published in the July/August 2004 issue of the Russian magazine Medved (Bear). In August 2004, she filed an $8 million USD lawsuit against the men's magazine GQ for allowing her topless photographs to appear in a Russian magazine Medved without her consent. 

On June 19, 2005, U.S. District Judge Michael Mukasey, later United States Attorney General, ruled that Anastasia Myskina could not stop the distribution of the topless photos, because she had signed a release. Myskina had claimed that she did not understand the photo release form and that she was not fluent in English at the time.

Myskina announced that she was pregnant with her first child, due in May 2008. She has previously dated Russian hockey player Konstantin Korneyev, but refuses to state the name of the father. On April 28, 2008 Myskina gave birth to her first child, a boy named Zhenya.

From : www.wikipedia.org

Juan Carlos Ferrero

Juan Carlos Ferrero Donat (born 12 February 1980) is a professional tennis player, and a former world no. 1 player, from Spain. He captured the men's singles title at the 2003 French Open, and in September of that year, he became the 21st player to hold the world no. 1 ranking. He was also the runner-up at the 2002 French Open and the 2003 US Open. His nickname is "Mosquito" due to his speed and his slight physical stature.

Personal life

Ferrero began playing tennis at age seven with his father, Eduardo, who often travels with son. He has two sisters, Ana and Laura and admires the play of former no. 1 and two-time Roland Garros champion Jim Courier. Ferrero's inspiration has been his mother, Rosario, who died from cancer when he was 17. He is one of only a handful of players in the tennis open era to have reached the quarterfinal stage at all four Grand Slam events. In July 2007, he bought an old cottage in Bocairente, 50 minutes south from Valencia and refurbished it into "Hotel Ferrero", which features 12 luxury suites. He is also a part owner of the Valencia Open 500 tournament. His fitness trainer is Miguel Maeso, and he is coached by Antonio Martinez (since 1989) and Salvador Navarro (since May 2008), who travels most of the time with him.

Playing Style & Equipment

Although Ferrero was known as one of the best clay-court players during his prime, he has distinguished himself as an all-court and all-round player through his solid performance on hard- and grass-court tournaments. He actually said during an interview that he prefers to play on hard courts. Tennis experts agreed that Ferrero's clay-court game translated well to the hard court due to his aggressive style of playing. He also has one of the greatest forehands in the game and immense speed on the court. He is sponsored by Joma for his attire and Prince Sports for his racquets.

From : www.wikipedia.org

Carlos Moyá

Carlos Moya Llompart (Catalan: Carles Moyà, Spanish: Carlos Moyá; born 27 August 1976) is a retired former world no. 1 tennis player from Spain. He was the French Open singles champion in 1998 and was the singles runner-up at the 1997 Australian Open. In 2004, he helped his country win the Davis Cup. He currently resides in Switzerland. Although he plays with his right hand, he is naturally left-handed, the opposite of fellow Majorcan Rafael Nadal.

Personal life

Moyá was born in Palma, Spain. He began playing tennis at six with his parents. He turned professional in 1995 and won his first tour title later that year in Buenos Aires. He previously dated Italian Flavia Pennetta. The two split in 2007. He is dating Spanish actress Carolina Cerezuela, with whom he has a daughter, Carla, born by C-section on 18 August 2010 at the USP Clínica Palmaplanas in Palma, Majorca.

From : www.wikipedia.org

Fernando Verdasco

Fernando Verdasco Carmona (born 15 November 1983 in Madrid, Spain) is a professional tennis player. He is currently ranked no. 22 in the world. Verdasco started playing tennis at four years of age and had a full-time coach when he was eight. As of 2009, Verdasco has been working in Las Vegas with Andre Agassi and his team, including Darren Cahill (Agassi's former coach) and Gil Reyes (Agassi's fitness coach). Verdasco has aided Spain in winning three Davis Cup titles, winning the deciding match in both 2008 and 2009, he was part of the winning team in 2011 as well. His best performance in a Grand Slam was making the semifinals of the 2009 Australian Open, where he lost to compatriot and eventual champion Rafael Nadal in five sets in what was the longest match in Australian Open history.

Playing style and equipment

Verdasco is an offensive baseliner who is comfortable on all surfaces, with fast hard courts being his best. Verdasco considers his best shot to be his forehand, a shot that commentator Brad Gilbert often refers to as his "Fearhand". His serve is characteristic of a left-handed player predominantly using slice to create a lot of spin, and is capable of speeds exceeding 230 km/h. 

He is known for rivaling compatriot Rafael Nadal with the amount of topspin he can put on a ball. which partly explains his improved results since 2009, but still struggles with his nerves when facing the best players in the world. He is endorsed by adidas (he wears the Edge Group and Barricade V ) and recently switched to Dunlop Sport for racquets, after having played with Tecnifibre for the majority of his career (and with Yonex for a very short time in 2010). He is currently using the Dunlop Biomimetic 300.

Personal life

Verdasco began playing tennis when he was four years old, practicing with his father on the two hard courts in the backyard of their family home. He stopped school years at the age of 11, soon after practising with his father who then took his son into the academy's hands. His parents, José and Olga, who are of Latin American descent, own a restaurant in Madrid. He has two younger sisters, Sara and Ana. Verdasco was diagnosed with ADHD when he was a child, but did not receive treatment in order to not have problems with doping.

From : www.wikipedia.org

Janko Tipsarević

Janko Tipsarević (born 22 June 1984) is a Serbian tennis player. His career-high ranking is No. 9, achieved on 14 November 2011. He is the 117th player in history to crack the top 10.

In his career, he has won two ATP tour championships, two Futures and nine tournaments in the ATP Challenger Series. Tipsarevic has also won the 2001 Australian Open Junior title.

Tipsarević has achieved one victory over a World No. 1 player, having defeated fellow compatriot Novak Djokovic. He also has eleven (11) victories against other players from the top 10, consisting of three wins against Tomáš Berdych, two against Andy Roddick, and one against Fernando González, Mikhail Youzhny, David Ferrer, James Blake, Gaël Monfils, and Andy Murray. He also has wins against former world no. 1 players, Carlos Moyá, Marat Safin, Lleyton Hewitt, and Juan Carlos Ferrero. Arguably his most notable match to date was his third-round match at the 2008 Australian Open, where he lost to Roger Federer 6–7, 7–6, 5–7, 6–1, 10–8. He has also defeated former top-ten players Andy Roddick and Fernando González at Grand Slam level, and was a quarter-finalist at the 2011 US Open.

Personal Life

Tipsarević was born in Belgrade, Serbia (then SFR Yugoslavia). His father, Pavle, is a professor, and his mother, Vesna, is a homemaker. He also has a younger brother, Veljko. He finished high school and in 2006 completed his degree in Sports Management at the University of Belgrade. Commentators and the press often mention his love of classic literature as something unusual for a high-level athlete. He has a quotation, tattooed in Japanese, from Dostoyevsky ("Beauty will save the world", from The Idiot) on his left arm. He also has a Japanese tattoo on his right arm, which represents the first two letters of the names of his father, his mother, his brother, and himself in katakana. According to US Open announcers Ted Robinson and John McEnroe, he also has a tattoo of a quote from Arthur Schopenhauer on his back. He has been in a relationship with Biljana Sesevic since 2007, and they married on July 4, 2010. In his free time he plays music as a DJ.

From : www.wikipedia.org

Gustavo Kuerten

Gustavo Kuerten ( born September 10, 1976) is a retired former World No. 1 tennis player from Brazil. He won the French Open three times between 1997 and 2001, and was the Tennis Masters Cup champion in 2000. After 12 years on the international tour, he retired from top-level tennis in May 2008.

Kuerten is also known as "Guga" , an affectionate nickname which is a common abbreviation of the name "Gustavo" in Portuguese-speaking countries. He is a polyglot who speaks fluent Portuguese, Spanish, English and French.

Early life

Kuerten was born in Florianópolis in southern Brazil. He comes from an ethnically German family. He began playing tennis when he was six, an early start to a life and career marked by family tragedy. His father, a former amateur tennis player, died of a heart attack in 1985 while umpiring a junior tennis match in Curitiba, when Kuerten was only eight years old. His older brother, Raphael, is currently his business manager. His youngest brother suffered prolonged oxygen deprivation and consequently irreparable brain damage during birth, and as a result suffered from mental retardation and severe physical disability until his death in 2007.

Kuerten was deeply affected by his brother's daily struggles, later donating the entire prize money from one tournament he has won every year of his professional career so far to a hometown NGO that provides assistance for people suffering from similar disabilities. He gave every trophy he won to his younger brother as a souvenir, including the three miniature replicas of the French Open men's singles trophy.

As a young player, Kuerten first learned from Carlos Alves. Alves would continue to coach Kuerten for the next 8 years. When he was 14 years old, Kuerten met Larri Passos who would be his coach for the following 15 years. Passos convinced Kuerten and his family that the youth was talented enough to make a living out of playing tennis. The two started traveling all over the world to participate in junior tournaments. Kuerten turned professional in 1995.

Professional career

As a junior player in South America, Guga always stood out winning many of the most important tournaments in the region. Curiously, many times he played in an age group above his. For example, when he was 16 instead of playing in the category 15–16 he many times played in the category 17–18.

After two years as a professional, Kuerten rose to the position of no. 2 player in Brazil, second only to Fernando Meligeni, and had his then highest point by helping the Brazil Davis Cup team defeat Austria in 1996 and reach the competition's first division, the World Group.

Following his unexpected victory in the 1997 French Open, Kuerten had a difficult year and a half, adjusting to his sudden fame and the pressure of being expected to win. 1998 was the worst year in his career that was not related to injuries (in that year, Kuerten played beneath his potential, despite not being hindered by physical problems). The pressure for him to become an "ambassador" for tennis in Brazil was made evident after his early defeat to a then unknown Marat Safin in the 1998 French Open: the entire body of Brazilian journalists that had been dispatched to Paris to cover the event immediately returned home, leaving the rest of the tournament unaccounted for in Brazil.

Like many South Americans his favorite court surface is clay. He has won three Grand Slam titles, all of them at the French Open, played on the clay courts of Roland Garros. He won these titles in 1997, 2000 and 2001. In every one of the three French Open victories he defeated Russia's Yevgeny Kafelnikov in the quarterfinal match and defeated exactly two Top 10 players on his way to the title. Kuerten became the No. 1 player in the world in 2000 using his unique serve and strong ground strokes.

Kuerten won at least one title a year between 1997 and 2004. The streak came to an end in 2005, when injuries and below-average performances kept him from winning tournaments. He was also a regular participant for Brazil in Davis Cup.

Kuerten embraces the baseline style of play, with heavily topspin ground strokes and a solid serve that enables him to wear down his opponent from the back of the court. His unique "grunt" when he strikes the ball is recognised by millions of fans around the world. He plays right-handed with a single-handed backhand using a western grip.

From : www.wikipedia.org

Novak Djokovic

Novak Djokovic (born 22 May 1987) is a Serbian professional tennis player who has been ranked world no. 1 by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) since 4 July 2011. He has won four Grand Slam singles titles: the 2008 and 2011 Australian Open, the 2011 Wimbledon Championships, and the 2011 US Open. By winning three Majors in 2011, Djokovic became the sixth male player in the open era to win three Majors in a calendar year. He is the first player representing Serbia to win a Major singles title and the youngest player in the open era to have reached the semifinals of all four Grand Slam events, separately and consecutively. Amongst other titles, he won the Tennis Masters Cup in 2008 and was also on the team which won the 2010 Davis Cup. He is considered the best male tennis player to come out of the former Yugoslavia and the Balkans. Djokovic is also a double winner of The Best Sportsperson of Serbia award and the award for The Best Sportsman by the Olympic Committee of Serbia. He has been awarded the Order of St. Sava, the highest decoration of the Serbian Orthodox Church. Djokovic is a UNICEF National Ambassador for Serbia. He is the only player to defeat Nadal in two consecutive Grand Slam finals (2011 Wimbledon and 2011 US Open).

Biography

Novak was born 22 May 1987, in Belgrade, Yugoslavia, to father Srđan (Срђан) and mother Dijana (Дијана). His two younger brothers, Marko and Đorđe (Ђорђе), are also tennis players with professional aspirations. Since the end of 2005, Novak has dated Jelena Ristić.

He started playing tennis at the age of four. In the summer 1993, the six-year-old was spotted by Yugoslav tennis legend Jelena Genčić at Mount Kopaonik where Djokovic's parents ran a fast-food parlour. Upon seeing the dedicated and talented youngster in action, she stated: "This is the greatest talent I have seen since Monica Seles." Genčić worked with young Djokovic over the following six years before realizing that, due to his rapid development, going abroad in search of increased level of competition was the best option for his future. To that end, she contacted Nikola Pilić, and in September 1999, the 12-year-old moved to the Pilić tennis academy in Oberschleißheim, Germany, spending four years there. At age 14, he began his international career, winning European championships in singles, doubles, and team competition.

He resides in Monte Carlo, Monaco and has been coached since 2006 by a former Slovak tennis player, Marián Vajda.

Djokovic is known for his often humorous off-court impersonations of his fellow players, many of whom are his friends. This became evident to the tennis world after his 2007 US Open quarterfinal win over Carlos Moyà, where he entertained the audience with impersonations of Rafael Nadal and Maria Sharapova. He also did an impression of American tennis great John McEnroe after his final preliminary game at the 2009 US Open, before playing a brief game with McEnroe, much to the delight of the audience. It is because of this jovial personality that he earned the nickname "Djoker", a portmanteau of his surname and the word joker. Novak Djokovic is a member of the "Champions for Peace" club, a group of famous elite athletes committed to serving peace in the world through sport, created by Peace and Sport, a Monaco-based international organization.

Similar to fellow pro Roger Federer, Djokovic is a self-described fan of languages, speaking four himself: his native Serbian, English, German, and Italian.

From : www.wikipedia.org

Mikhail Youzhny

Mikhail Mikhailovich Youzhny (born 25 June 1982, in Moscow, USSR (now Russia), is a professional Russian tennis player, noted for his consistency and all-court play style. He has been coached by Boris Sobkin for 17 years.

The highest singles world ranking of his career was number eight, achieved 28 January 2008 and again on 18 October 2010.

Early Life

Mikhail began playing tennis at six with his older brother, Andrei, a pro futures player in 1998–2000. At 13, he was a ballboy for the Russia – U.S. Davis Cup matches.

Playing style and equipment

Youzhny has a unique backhand, in which he mainly hits one-handed, but also has somewhat of a hybrid reminiscent to that of Björn Borg. Youzhny at times will follow through his backhand with both hands, but with only his right hand on his racket. Even so, many consider his backhand to be his best shot. From both sides, Youzhny hits the ball on the rise, achieving a flatter trajectory. He has a good court sense and often makes use of dropshots.

Youzhny has a reputation for engaging the crowd, subsequently taking inspiration from it to attempt high-risk winners, especially when facing matchpoints. After each big victory Youzhny gives a military style salute to the spectators. He does it by holding the tennis racquet above his head with his left hand and saluting with his right hand. The racquet imitates a hat, since according to Russian military tradition one must wear a hat to give proper salute.

Youzhny represents CSKA Moscow, and is also an avid supporter of FC CSKA.

Mikhail wears adidas clothing and Barricade 6.0 shoes and uses a Head Youtek IG Extreme Pro racquet.

From : www.wikipedia.org

Yevgeny Kafelnikov

Yevgeny Aleksandrovich Kafelnikov (Russian: Евгений Александрович Кафельников; born 18 February 1974) is a former World No. 1 tennis player from Russia. He won two Grand Slam singles titles (one French Open and one Australian Open), four Grand Slam doubles titles, and the men's singles gold medal at the Sydney Olympic Games. He also helped Russia win the Davis Cup in 2002. He is the last man to have won both the singles and men's doubles titles at the same Grand Slam tournament, which he did at the 1996 French Open.

Life After Tennis

Since retiring, Kafelnikov cashed three times at the 2005 World Series of Poker. He also played golf on the European PGA tour at the 2005 and 2008 Russian Open. He stated that he was there not to make up the numbers, before finishing last by 20 odd shots in 2005 (and second to last in 2008).

He now works as a commentator for Russian TV covering tennis. During the 2008 Miami Masters, Kafelnikov coached Marat Safin in the absence of Hernán Gumy.

He was participating in the ATP Champions Tour in 2009 and had some impressive results at the Chengdu Open in early November, where he beat Sergi Bruguera, Michael Chang and Pat Cash. As of May 29, 2011, he is ranked 7th on the Champions Tour.

From : www.wikipedia.org

Nikolay Davydenko

Nikolay Vladimirovich Davydenko (Russian: Николай Владимирович Давыденко; Ukrainian: Микола Володимирович Давиденко, Mykola Volodymyrovych Davydenko) is a Ukrainian-Russian tennis player. Davydenko's best result in a Grand Slam tournament has been reaching the semifinals, which he has done on four occasions: twice each at the French Open and the U.S. Open. His biggest achievement to date was winning the 2009 ATP World Tour Finals, and he has also won three ATP Masters Series. He is one of the few players who has a winning record against Rafael Nadal.

Personal Life

Years later, Davydenko explained his peripatetic youth, "I stayed four years in Russia. Eduard worked as a tennis coach for kids, and we practised together. He pushed me pretty hard. At 15 we left for Germany. A Russian who lived there convinced Eduard it would be better for me and help me to learn more about my game with better coaches. In Europe I could play more tournaments and earn more money than in Russia."

Davydenko was granted Russian citizenship in 1999 at the age of 18, and has represented Russia ever since. In 2007, he applied for Austrian citizenship (so as to obtain dual citizenship) and has also previously applied for German citizenship.

Tennis fans have nicknamed Davydenko "Kolya", the Russian nickname for Nikolay. He has also been called "Iron Man" because he plays in more tournaments per year than any other player, just like fellow Russian and former World No. 1 Yevgeny Kafelnikov. Another nickname is "The Machine" due to his aggressive, consistent style of play.

Davydenko's favourite players growing up were Ivan Lendl and Yannick Noah. During his spare time he enjoys cycling, fishing, soccer, and hockey. He is also a Guns N' Roses fan. He speaks Russian, German, and English.

Before the Davis Cup in 2006, Davydenko married his girlfriend Irina, who had been his traveling companion for three years. He currently resides in Volgograd, Russia.

From : www.wikipedia.org

Ana Ivanović

Ana Ivanović (born November 6, 1987, in Belgrade, SR Serbia, Yugoslavia) is a former world no. 1 Serbian tennis player. As of November 7, 2011, she is ranked 22th on the WTA rankings. She beat Dinara Safina to win the 2008 French Open and was the runner-up in singles at the 2007 French Open and the 2008 Australian Open. Competing as a professional since 2003, she has won 11 WTA Tour singles titles. When on form, Ana is known for her aggressive style of play.

Early Life

Ivanović's mother Dragana (Драгана), a lawyer, supports her daughter during most of her matches. Her father Miroslav (Мирослав), a self-employed businessman, attends as many events as he possibly can. Ana has a younger brother, Miloš (Милош), with whom she loves to play basketball.

Personal life

Aside from her tennis career, Ivanović also studies finance at a university in Belgrade and Spanish in her spare time. Her inspiration to begin playing was Monika Seleš, who at that time played for Yugoslavia.

On September 8, 2007, Ivanović became a UNICEF National Ambassador for Serbia, alongside Aleksandar Đorđević, Jelena Janković and Emir Kusturica. She takes a special interest in the fields of education and child protection. Ivanović visited a primary school in Serbia during her inauguration and said that she is "also looking forward to going into the classroom and meeting many kids."

From : www.wikipedia.org

Justine Henin

Justine Henin ( born 1 June 1982), formerly known as Justine Henin-Hardenne (2002–2007), is a retired professional Belgian tennis player and former World No. 1.

Henin won 43 WTA singles titles and seven Grand Slam singles titles, including four French Open titles, one Australian Open title, and two US Open titles. She has also won the year-ending Sony Ericsson Championships twice and the singles gold medal at the 2004 Summer Olympics.

Tennis experts cite her mental toughness, the completeness and variety of her game, her footspeed and footwork, and her one-handed backhand (which John McEnroe has described as the best single-handed backhand in the women's or men's game) as the principal reasons for her success.

Critics and all-time-great players have made testament to Henin's talent. Upon Henin's first retirement from the WTA in the early part of the 2008 season, Billie Jean King said that "pound for pound, Henin is the best tennis player of her generation." as well as that "Justine is the best women's athlete I've ever seen." Andre Agassi said of Henin, "Justine Henin is one of the most talented women ever to have played the game of tennis." In 2007, 18 time Grand Slam winner Martina Navratilova said that "She is head and shoulders above everyone else right now." John McEnroe concurred, saying that Henin is "The player I most like to watch." Henin made a return to the WTA in early 2010, losing the final of the Australian Open in only her 2nd tournament back.

On 26 January 2011, she announced that she had been forced to retire from professional tennis once again because of an elbow injury.

In June 2011, she was named one of the "30 Legends of Women's Tennis: Past, Present and Future" by Time.

Personal Life

Justine Henin was born in Liège. Her father is José Henin; her mother, Françoise Rosière, was a French and history teacher who died when Justine was 12 years old. She has two brothers (David and Thomas) and a sister (Sarah).

When Justine was two, her family moved to a house in Rochefort, situated next to the local tennis club, where she played tennis for the first time.

Henin's mother routinely took the young Henin across the border to France to watch the French Open. Henin saw the 1992 final involving her idol Steffi Graf and Monica Seles. Although Graf lost, the experience impressed Henin.

In 1995, shortly after her mother's death, Henin met her coach Carlos Rodriguez who guided her career both before her retirement in 2008 and during her 2010 comeback. Following a conflict between Justine and her father[clarification needed] over her tennis career and her relationship with Pierre-Yves Hardenne, Rodriguez soon became not only her trainer but in some ways a second father figure.

On 16 November 2002, Henin married Pierre-Yves in the Château de Lavaux-Sainte-Anne. On 4 January 2007, Henin withdrew from the upcoming tournaments in Australia, including the Australian Open, due to personal problems. and she also resumed her maiden name, Justine Henin, instead of Justine Henin-Hardenne.

From : www.wikipedia.org

Kim Clijsters

Kim Antonie Lode Clijsters ( born 8 June 1983) is a Belgian professional tennis player. As of 7 November 2011, Clijsters is ranked No. 13 in singles. Clijsters is a former World No. 1 in both singles and doubles.

Clijsters has won 41 WTA singles titles and 11 WTA doubles titles. She has won four Grand Slam singles titles: three at the US Open, in 2005, 2009 and 2010 and one at the Australian Open in 2011. She has also been runner-up in four Grand Slam singles tournaments, and won the WTA Tour Championships singles title in 2002, 2003 and 2010. In doubles, she won the French Open and Wimbledon titles in 2003. Clijsters announced her retirement with immediate effect on 6 May 2007, but almost two years later, on 26 March 2009, she publicly declared her intent to return to the WTA tour for the 2009 summer hard court season. In only her third tournament back, she won her second US Open title, becoming the first unseeded player and wildcard to win the tournament, and the first mother to win a major since Evonne Goolagong in 1980.

In June 2011, TIME magazine named her one of the "30 Legends of Women's Tennis: Past, Present and Future".

According to Forbes in August 2011, she became the fifth highest-paid female athlete over the past year.

Personal life

Clijsters was born on 8 June 1983, in Bilzen, Limburg, in the Flemish Region of Belgium. She is the daughter of Lei Clijsters, a former international footballer, and Els Vandecaetsbeek, a former national gymnastics champion. Lei Clijsters died of skin cancer on 4 January 2009. Clijsters says that she inherited footballer's legs from her father and a gymnast's flexibility from her mother. Kim's younger sister Elke finished 2002 as the ITF World Junior Doubles champion and retired in 2004 after back injuries.

In December 2003, Clijsters announced her engagement to Australian Lleyton Hewitt, but their relationship ended in October 2004. Clijsters is still affectionately nicknamed "Aussie Kim" by Australians. In October 2006, Clijsters announced her engagement to American basketball player Brian Lynch, who is based in Clijsters' hometown of Bree. In an interview with Sportweekend (a sports programme on Belgian Flemish television), Clijsters said that she was retiring to start a family. Clijsters and Lynch married privately on 13 July 2007, at 6 am at the Bree city hall. She was married by the mayor, with sister Elke, Lynch's brother Pat Lynch, and both sets of parents present.

Clijsters gave birth to a daughter on 27 February 2008, at 1:35 pm at the Vesalius hospital in Tongeren, Belgium

From : www.wikipedia.org

Dinara Safina

Dinara Mikhailovna Safina (Russian: Динара Михайловна Сафина, Tatar: Динара Мөбин кызы Сафина, Dinara Möbin kızı Safina), born April 27, 1986 in Moscow, is a Russian professional tennis player of Tatar background. Safina's career high ranking is World No. 1.

Safina was runner up in singles at the 2008 French Open, 2009 Australian Open, and the 2009 French Open, falling to Ana Ivanović, Serena Williams, and Svetlana Kuznetsova, respectively. She has had success at Grand Slam events in women's doubles by winning the 2007 US Open with Nathalie Dechy. She also won the Olympic silver medal in women's singles at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing.

She is the younger sister of former World No. 1 men's player Marat Safin. She and her brother are the first brother-sister tandem in tennis history to both achieve No.1 rankings.

Biography

Playing style : Safina's game is built on her powerful groundstrokes which are hit heavy and deep. Her forehand is the side where she hits more winners. Her backhand hits accurately and can open up the court. She also produces a high number of unforced errors. For her height, her serve has been considered lacking in power and precision. It is inconsistent, thus delivering a high number of double faults. This is often attributed to an unusually high, and therefore inconsistent ball toss. Safina's best surface is clay, while grass courts are her weakest surface. Through the years, she has struggled with the mental aspect of tennis. Her groundstrokes often turn erratic when she struggles with her mental game.

Early life : Safina was born in Moscow, Russia to ethnic Tatar parents. Her mother, Rauza Islanova, was her trainer when she was younger; while her father is director of the Spartak tennis club in Moscow. Her brother Marat is a former world No. 1 on the ATP Tour. Speaking of growing up in such a successful tennis family, Safina stated: "Being the little sister in such a big tennis family is not an easy situation. Maybe that's why it took me longer to develop. My father is very competitive, but my parents didn't put pressure on me. I wanted to find my identity. I wanted to be something by myself, like being a big player by myself. 

So at the beginning I was putting too much pressure on myself. But then gradually I found myself, and I learned how to do better with that situation." At age 8, Safina and her family moved to Valencia, Spain, and as a result Safina speaks fluent Spanish as well as Russian and English.

Previously, Safina was coached by Glen Schaap, former coach of Anna Chakvetadze and Nadia Petrova, and Željko Krajan, who worked with her during her rise to No. 1 in 2009. From May 2010, she begun working with Gastón Etlis. Their partnership ended after several months and since February 2011 she has been working with Davide Sanguinetti.

Safina's idols growing up were Steffi Graf, Martina Hingis and Lindsay Davenport. More recently, she has stated that she idolises Rafael Nadal. Safina states that she has few friends on the Tour, saying: "I'm not really looking for some friends because I have my team. I travel with my coach and my fitness coach. So, with both of them, I have enough. I don't need anyone else."

From : www.wikipedia.org