Nicolas Kiefer
Nicolas Kiefer (; born 5 July 1977) is a German former professional tennis player. He reached the semifinals of the 2006 Australian Open and won a silver medal in men's doubles with partner Rainer Schüttler at the 2004 Athens Olympics. Kiefer's career-high singles ranking was world No. 4, achieved in January 2000. Tennis career 1995–2005 Kiefer was taken notice of as an outstanding junior. He won the Junior Australian Open, the US Open, and was a finalist and semifinalist at Wimbledon and the French Open finishing as the No. 2 junior behind Mariano Zabaleta when he was 18 in 1995. On 10 January 2000, he reached his second quarterfinal at the Australian Open and afterwards was ranked world No. 4, his highest position. Kiefer was known to have some tennis superstitions. He was sometimes seen tapping his racquet on the corners of the court after a point,"Strange Habits of Highly Successful Tennis Players" by Christopher Clarey, 21 June 2008 in ''The New York Times''. and, ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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2008 Sony Ericsson Open
The 2008 Miami Masters (also known as the ''Sony Ericsson Open'' for sponsorship reasons) was a tennis tournament played on Tennis court#Hard courts, outdoor hard courts. It was the 24th edition of the Miami Masters, and was part of the ATP Masters Series of the 2008 ATP Tour, and of the WTA Tier I Events, Tier I Series of the 2008 WTA Tour. Both the men's and the women's events took place at the Tennis Center at Crandon Park in Key Biscayne, Florida, United States, from March 26 through April 6, 2008. The men's field was headlined by List of ATP number 1 ranked players, World No. 1 and 2007 Tennis Masters Cup, Masters Cup champion Roger Federer, 2008 Chennai Open, Chennai finalist Andy Roddick, and 2008 Australian Open, Australian Open champion, 2008 Indian Wells Masters, Indian Wells Masters winner and 2007 Miami Masters, defending champion Novak Djokovic. Other top players in the field were 2007 Kremlin Cup, 2007 Moscow titlist Nikolay Davydenko, 2007 Tennis Masters Cup, Master ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Tennis At The Summer Olympics
Tennis was part of the Summer Olympic Games program from the inaugural 1896 Summer Olympics, but was dropped after the 1924 Summer Olympics due to disputes between the International Lawn Tennis Federation and the International Olympic Committee over how to define amateur players. After two appearances as a demonstration sport in 1968 and 1984 (with a U-21 age limit), it returned as a full medal sport at the 1988 Summer Olympics open for all players regardless of their age and status and has been played at every summer Games since then. Medals In 1896, 1900, 1904, 1988, 1992, semifinal losers shared bronze medals. In all other years, a playoff match for the bronze medal was staged. The Olympic tournaments have increased in perceived importance since their reintroduction, with some players, critics and sports pundits considering winning gold at the Olympics just as prestigious as winning a major title and some considering it even more prestigious. Gold medal records Serena Will ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Fabrice Santoro
Fabrice Vetea Santoro (; born 9 December 1972) is a French former professional tennis player. Successful in both singles and doubles, he had an unusually long professional career, with many of his accomplishments coming towards the end of his career, and he is popular among spectators and other players alike for his winning demeanor and shot-making abilities; he is also one of a rare breed of player who plays two-handed on both the forehand and backhand sides. Owing to his longevity on the tour and consistent ranking, Santoro holds several Association of Tennis Professionals, ATP records: the most career wins over top ten opponents for a player who never reached the top ten (40). He was the first player to appear in Open Era tennis records – Men's singles#Grand Slam tournaments, 70 Grand Slam men's singles events, and has the second-most losses in singles play behind López (444). In singles, Santoro won six titles, but reached the quarterfinals at a Grand Slam only once. His ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Filippo Volandri
Filippo Volandri (; born 5 September 1981) is an Italian tennis coach and former professional player. Volandri reached a career-high singles ranking of world no. 25 in July 2007. He turned professional in 1997 and earned almost $4 million in prize money. Retired in 2017, the following year he became coach and since 2021 he has been the captain of the Italian team, which he led to the win of two consecutive Davis Cups in 2023 and 2024. Earlier career 2006: Second title Volandri won the second title of his career in September 2006, beating Nicolás Lapentti in the final of the Sicily International. 2007: Success at the Rome Masters and French Open At the Rome Masters in 2007 Volandri, having entered as a wild card, recorded the biggest win of his career by beating the then world no. 1 Roger Federer in straight sets 6–2, 6–4. [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Tomáš Berdych
Tomáš Berdych (; born 17 September 1985) is a Czech former professional tennis player. He was ranked world No. 4 in men's singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP), achieved in May 2015. Berdych won 13 ATP Tour singles titles, including the 2005 Paris Masters. His most notable achievement was reaching the final of the 2010 Wimbledon Championships, achieved by consecutively upsetting top seed and six-time champion Roger Federer in the quarterfinals, and No. 3 Novak Djokovic in the semifinals. Berdych reached the semifinals of all four majors. Berdych was one of the few players who could consistently challenge the Big Four, and is one of three players (alongside Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Stan Wawrinka) to defeat all the Big Four in major events. He is the second player (after David Nalbandian) to defeat Roger Federer multiple times at majors before the semifinal stage. As well as his Paris Masters win, Berdych reached the finals of the Miami Masters in 2010, ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Gerry Weber Open
The Halle Open (known as the Terra Wortmann Open for sponsorship reasons) is a men's tennis tournament held in Halle, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. Held since 1993, the event is played on four outdoor grass courts and is a part of the ATP Tour 500 series on the ATP Tour schedule. Between 1993 and 2018 it was sponsored by Gerry Weber. It was sponsored by Noventi from 2019 to 2021. In December 2021, a change of primary sponsor and name was announced. In 2022, the name of the ATP tournament was changed from the Noventi Open to the Terra Wortmann Open, as the company Wortmann AG secured the naming rights. The Halle Open is held at the same time as the Queens Club Championships, and the two are seen as the primary warm-up tournaments for the Wimbledon Grand Slam tournament, also on grass courts, which begins towards the end of June. The event was upgraded in 2015 from a 250 series to a 500 series tournament. The Centre Court (the OWL Arena) has 12,300 seats and a retrac ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Roger Federer
Roger Federer ( , ; born 8 August 1981) is a Swiss former professional tennis player. He was ranked as the List of ATP number 1 ranked singles tennis players, world No. 1 in men's singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) for 310 weeks (List of ATP number 1 ranked singles tennis players#Weeks at No. 1, second-most of all time), including a record 237 consecutive weeks, and finished as the List of ATP number 1 ranked singles tennis players#Year-end No. 1 players, year-end No. 1 five times. Federer won 103 singles titles on the ATP Tour, the second most since the start of the Open Era in 1968, including 20 Grand Slam (tennis)#Tournaments, major men's singles titles (among which a record eight men's singles Wimbledon Championships, Wimbledon titles, and an Open Era joint-record five men's singles US Open (tennis), US Open titles) and six ATP Finals, year-end championships. For nearly two decades, Federer was a leading figure in men's tennis alongside Rafael Nadal a ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Carlos Bernardes
Listed are current and past tennis chair umpires who hold or have held a gold badge International Tennis Federation (ITF) rating. Gold badge umpires typically officiate Grand Slam, ATP Tour and WTA Tour matches. The list includes only those who hold or have held a gold badge as a chair umpire, and not those who hold or have held a similar badge in refereeing or chief umpiring. The year, where included, indicates when the umpire obtained his or her respective gold badge status. There are three levels of training sanctioned by the International Tennis Federation. After officiating at non-pro events, a chair umpire may enter the "Level 1" program in order to gain a green badge. This is taught in French and/or Spanish and is specifically aimed at officiating in South and Central America and Africa. "Level 2" schools are only taught in English and are for umpires who have already shown proficiency at ITF Pro Circuit events, Davis Cup and Fed Cup ties, and ATP and WTA sanctioned event ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Sébastien Grosjean
Sébastien René Grosjean (; born 29 May 1978) is a French tennis coach and a former professional player. Grosjean reached the semifinals at the 2001 Australian and French Opens, and at Wimbledon in 2003 and 2004. He finished eight consecutive seasons ranked in the top 30 (1999–2006), peaking at world No. 4 in October 2002. He is currently the director of the Open de Roanne. Career Juniors As a junior, Grosjean posted a 90-20 singles record and a 58-12 doubles record, winning the 1996 French Open boys' doubles. He reached Junior World No. 1 in both singles and doubles in December 1996, the first player to accomplish the feat since Jason Stoltenberg in 1987. Pro tour Grosjean joined the professional tour in 1996. In 2003 and 2004, he reached the final of the Queen's London Tournament. In the same two years, he also reached the semifinals of Wimbledon. He finished 2001 as the No. 1 player from his country and for the first time in the top 10 becoming the first Frenchm ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Superstition
A superstition is any belief or practice considered by non-practitioners to be irrational or supernatural, attributed to fate or magic (supernatural), magic, perceived supernatural influence, or fear of that which is unknown. It is commonly applied to beliefs and practices surrounding luck, amulets, astrology, fortune telling, Spirit (animating force), spirits, and certain paranormal wikt: entity, entities, particularly the belief that future events can be foretold by specific unrelated prior events. The word ''superstition'' is also used to refer to a religion not practiced by the majority of a given society regardless of whether the prevailing religion contains alleged superstitions or to all religions by the antireligion, antireligious. Contemporary use Definitions of the term vary, but they commonly describe superstitions as irrational beliefs at odds with scientific knowledge of the world. Stuart Vyse proposes that a superstition's "presumed mechanism of action is inc ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Mariano Zabaleta
Mariano Zabaleta (born 28 February 1978) is a retired professional male tennis player from Argentina. He had an unusual but effective service motion. His best shot was his forehand and his favourite surface was clay. Zabaleta's career highlights include reaching the quarter-finals of the 2001 US Open and the final of the 1999 Hamburg Masters. He achieved a career-high singles ranking of World No. 21. Tennis career Juniors Zabaleta was an outstanding junior in 1995 and finished the year as No. 1 with a junior career singles record of 84–7 (also reaching as high as No. 10 in doubles), with his only loss in 1995 being to Peter Wessels in the quarter-finals of the US Open. Zabaleta won three of the major junior events in 1995. The Italian Open juniors without losing a set against Martin Lee in the final 6–4, 6–2 and followed that up with French Open juniors which was also achieved without dropping a set and he defeated compatriot Mariano Puerta 6–2, 6–3 as he had done ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Rainer Schüttler
Rainer Schüttler (; born 25 April 1976) is a German former professional tennis player. Schüttler was the runner-up at the 2003 Australian Open and a semifinalist at the 2008 Wimbledon Championships. He won an Olympic silver medal in doubles at the 2004 Athens Olympics, and achieved a career-high ranking of world No. 5 in April 2004. Early life He began playing tennis at the age of nine. He resides in Switzerland. Career 2003–2009 In 2003, Schüttler became the first German since Boris Becker in 1989 to advance to the fourth round at all Grand Slam tournaments. He became the first German to reach a Grand Slam final, at the Australian Open, since Michael Stich was the runner-up at Roland Garros in 1996. En route to the final, which he lost in straight sets to Andre Agassi, he defeated Andy Roddick who would end the season as world No 1. In 2004, Schüttler reached his first career ATP Masters Series final in Monte Carlo by beating Gustavo Kuerten in the first round, ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |