WTA Pre-Wimbledon Party Behind the Scenes & Pink Carpet

Azarenka, Federer lead WTA and ATP rankings

Victoria Azarenka got her world No1 position back from Maria Sharapova, according to the new rankings provided by WTA. Due to his victory at Wimbledon, Roger Federer is now the 1-ranked player in the ATP Tour. The Swiss was world No1 for the last time in June 30, 2010, just a few days before the beginning of that year's Wimbledon Championships (which Nadal won). 

Here's the new rankings:

ATP

1. Federer
2. Djokovic
3. Nadal
4. Murray
5. Ferrer
6. Tsonga
7. Berdych
8. Tipsarevic
9. Del Potro
10. Almagro

For the complete list click here.

WTA

1. Azarenka
2. Radwanska
3. Sharapova
4. Serena Williams
5. Stosur
6. Kvitova
7. Kerber
8. Wozniacki
9. Errani
10. Bartoli

For the complete list click here.

Roger Federer equals Pete Sampras for the most weeks as world No1. Since Fed is guaranteed the number 1 spot for 2 weeks, he will break the American's record of 286 weeks leading the ATP's rankings.

Number of weeks as world No1

Roger Federer and Pete Sampras 286
Ivan Lendl 270
Jimmy Connors 268
John McEnroe 170
Bjorn Borg 109
Rafael Nadal 102
Andre Agassi 101
Lleyton Hewitt 80
Stefan Edberg 72
Jim Courier 58
...
Novak Djokovic 53

Head-to-Head Serena Williams vs Agnieszka Radwanska

Less than 5 hours to the Ladies final, here's some stats that can help predict the winner. :)

Source: WTA

Sharapova is new world number 1

Credit: FFT/Roland Garros

Maria Sharapova defeated Petra Kvitová in the semis at Roland Garros and will become 1-ranked WTA player on Monday. The Russian leapfrogs Victoria Azarenka, who lost her 4th round match at the French Open. 
She is arguably one of the most confident and greatest battlers in the women's game. "Masha" occupied the world number one spot for the last time in 2007. After her shoulder surgery in 2008, she dropped to 126th position in the ranking in May 2009. But she was able to recover and improve some of her shots, like her forehand and her clay-surface movement.
Sharapova will play her first final in Paris against the Italian Sara Errani on Saturday.

Full of Surprises episode: Radwanska explores Rome

We love the city tours presented by WTA players. This episode of "Full of Surprises Travel Show", presented by Dubai Duty Free, is dedicated to Rome. Agnieszka Radwanska takes us on a tour to Roman landmarks, like the Colosseum. Enjoy!

Roland Garros: Excitement grows as players practice in Paris

Roland Garros 2012 is just around the corner, and the word in Paris is practice, practice, practice. The motivation and excitement around the second Grand Slam of the year is so high, making us believe that players DO know the meaning of the Nike ad, which says: "Think training's hard? Try losing."

Yep, nobody wants to lose and the competition is tight! Maria Sharapova and Victoria Azarenka are battling for the top positions in the WTA ranking. Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal have a competition of their own for the Tennis nº 2 ATP position, even if their goal actually is to leapfrog Novak Djokovic. On the other hand, the Serbian is competing with himself for the "Novak Slam". He could become the first man since Rod Laver in 1969 to win four consecutive slams in a row, if he takes the title at Roland Garros. 

The stakes are high but everyone is having fun, as you can see from the photos and videos shot in the lovely city of Paris (Credits: All by FFT/Roland Garros, except for Federer's photo with the poster, which is from his FB page).

Original 9 get back together to celebrate women's tennis

The Original 9 is a group of tennis players known as the godmothers of women's tennis. The nine female professional tennis players formed a new tennis tour, the Virginia Slims Circuit, in 1970, that was the basis for the later WTA Tour. The players rebelled against the United States Lawn Tennis Association due to an extreme inequality between the amount of prize money paid to male tennis players and to female tennis players.

For just the second time since they took their historic stand against the establishment in 1970, all nine members of the Original 9 came together in Charleston in April 2012. While a couple of reunions had taken place over the past four decades, not since 1986 had they all been in the same room, says the WTA on its Facebook page. It was a unforgettable weekend celebration with a gala dinner, a photoshoot, a Q&A panel and an on-court celebration at the Family Circle Cup! (source: WTA and Wikipedia)

ATP and WTA Rankings: Djokovic steady as World nº1; Serena back to Top 10

Photo: Getty Images

April 2  - ATP World Tour rankings on Monday (March
19's positions in brackets): 

 

1. (1) Novak Djokovic (Serbia) 12670 points
2. (2) Rafa Nadal (Spain) 9935
3. (3) Roger Federer (Switzerland) 9035
4. (4) Andy Murray (Britain) 8040
5. (5) David Ferrer (Spain) 4700
6. (6) Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (France) 4670
7. (7) Tomas Berdych (Czech Republic) 3725
8. (9) Janko Tipsarevic (Serbia) 2820
9. (8) Mardy Fish (U.S.) 2730
10. (11) Juan Martin Del Potro (Argentina) 2660
11. (10) John Isner (U.S.) 2630
12. (12) Nicolas Almagro (Spain) 2250
13. (13) Gilles Simon (France) 2050
14. (14) Gael Monfils (France) 2015
15. (15) Feliciano Lopez (Spain) 1855
16. (21) Juan Monaco (Argentina) 1810
17. (16) Kei Nishikori (Japan) 1750
18. (17) Richard Gasquet (France) 1640
19. (20) Fernando Verdasco (Spain) 1565
20. (19) Florian Mayer (Germany) 1540 

April 2 - WTA rankings on Monday (March 19's
positions in brackets):

1. (1) Victoria Azarenka (Belarus) 8980 points
2. (2) Maria Sharapova (Russia) 7930
3. (3) Petra Kvitova (Czech Republic) 7095
4. (4) Agnieszka Radwanska (Poland) 6710
5. (5) Samantha Stosur (Australia) 5825
6. (6) Caroline Wozniacki (Denmark) 5720
7. (7) Marion Bartoli (France) 5020
8. (8) Li Na (China) 4880
9. (9) Vera Zvonareva (Russia) 3895
10. (11) Serena Williams (United States) 3830
11. (10) Andrea Petkovic (Germany) 3410
12. (12) Francesca Schiavone (Italy) 3380
13. (13) Sabine Lisicki (Germany) 3201
14. (16) Ana Ivanovic (Serbia) 2785
15. (17) Julia Goerges (Germany) 2785
16. (14) Angelique Kerber (Germany) 2775
17. (15) Jelena Jankovic (Serbia) 2570
18. (18) Dominika Cibulkova (Slovakia) 2545
19. (20) Roberta Vinci (Italy) 2470
20. (19) Daniela Hantuchova (Slovakia) 2450