Birthdate April 27, 1986 (24 years old)
Birthplace Moscow, Russia
Residence Monte Carlo, Monaco
Height 5'12'' (182 cm)
Weight 154 lbs (70 kg)
Plays Right-handed
Turned Pro 2000 (12 yrs on tour)
Official Site www.dinarasafina.com “After Australia there was a moment I came to Moscow for the Fed Cup. I said to my mom, ‘I'm retiring,'" said No. 108 Safina, who beat Daniela Hantuchova at Indian Wells, the first time since September that she scored two straight wins. "I said, ‘I don't want any more of this.’ I really honestly said, because for me it was tough, because I knew that I'm gonna start the next week with a new coach. It was a moment that was going in my mind, like, ‘Will I be back?’ Well, [my mom Rausa] said, ‘Come on; be positive.’ I said, ‘It's not about positive or negative. I was not happy being on the court anymore.’ It was tough, because I love the sport. And once you're not enjoying it, you struggle. When you have some bad moments, like your head's falling down. But when you're believing, you're like, ‘Okay, it's not my day. I'm just gonna keep working hard.’” So I change it around to practice, and Davide, he was really positive every time, because there were moments in the practice I would go down. He's like, ‘Come on; keep it up; let's work hard.’ I mean, thank God it's paying off.”
Safina has consistently said over the years that she doesn’t talk tennis with her mother, a famous junior coach in Russia who taught her to play, but this time, she decided that her mother was the only person she could confide in.
"That moment I felt like she was the person who knows me,” said Safina, who will play Sam Stosur in the next round. "That I could really speak it out what I have deep inside, and that was the thing with her. I knew it would also hurt her, but I cannot keep it anymore inside. So I went to her. She was the closest one for me."—Matthew CroninSerena Williams tells USA Today that she’s unsure when she’ll return to the tour and has been depressed. She suffered a pulmonary embolism last month and had to have a hematoma removed from her stomach
"I definitely have not been happy," Williams said. "Especially when I had that second surgery (on my foot), I was definitely depressed. I cried all the time. I was miserable to be around…What's going to make me happy is going on the court and holding up trophies, singles and doubles."
No. 1 Williams is on blood thinners to eliminate the clotting in her lungs and will undergo a cat scan in about three weeks to see if the clots are dissipating. She has set no timetable for a return.
Kim Clijsters retires with a right shoulder injury up 6-3, 1-3 against Marion Bartoli in the fourth round of Indian Wells on Tuesday. Clijsters called for the trainer down 1-2 in the second set and had her shoulder worked on, but no avail.
With Clijsters' retirement, Caroline Wozniacki is guaranteed to hold on the No. 1 ranking until at least the end of the Miami tournament.
Four-times Grand Slam champion Clijsters has been taking medication for the injury and said that she was concerned about how it would hold up during the upcoming clay court season. She said she began to take pain medication during her run to the 2011 Australian Open title. The Belgian is going to try defend her title in Miami, which begins next week, but is unsure whether she'll be able to complete the tournament.
"After Miami we have Fed Cup, which I'm taking very seriously," Clijsters said. "And also obviously the clay court season, which i a very tough part of the season for the shoulders. And I'm gonna have to make sure that I'm, fully healed until I start playing on that surface.
Clijsters said the main reason behind her retirement was that she didn't want to risk a more severe injury. She also revealed that she suffered a bad neck injury at the Paris Indoors last month, which she believes in related to her shoulder problem.
"I have been feeling it in my practices when I'm just hitting with my coach. Mostly it's with the serve, but with the higher forehands," she said. "Couple times a day when she wrong-footed me and I went out for my backhand where I tried to [stretch] I could just feel it in the back. Is it something where I can take some painkillers for it and not feel it during a match? Yes, I think so. But then I don't want to risk tearing it. In my stage right now, I don't want to be in that position where I'm taking medication to cover the pain and not knowing if it's getting worse during my match."Ana Ivanovic has parted ways with trainer Marija Lojanica, who is a childhood friend. Ivanovic made the decision in the last couple of days at Indian Wells. Lojanica has been on site, but she didn’t appear in Ivanovic's box during her 6-4, 6-2 win over Serbian rival Jelena Jankovic on Tuesday.
“We are still friends, but it just was a little bit time for me to consider certain things because we had a little bit of different view of my stage and where I should be at," Ivanovic said. “I just felt like I needed to get a little bit stronger. I was feeling very weak on the court and I had quite a few injuries. I just want to take a little bit different approach, and gain some more muscles, because my game is so powerful. I felt weak, and that caused a lot of stress on my body.”
Ivanovic slimmed down in the off-season and did feel quicker, but after suffering an abdominal injury at the Hopman Cup—which derailed her Australian Open plans—she began to feel frustrated. Interestingly, just after the Australian Open, at a tournament in Pattaya City, Ivanovic ended her brief coaching experiment with Antonio Van Grichen, who was actually encouraging her to put on more muscle in order amplify her power game.
"At the end of last year I lost some weight and I felt really fast and strong on the court, but then I lost too much and I just felt like I couldn't produce anything out of the corners," she said. "I was feeling quite weak on the court and I couldn't recover. I could have one match, but then would be exhausted. That's something that I really had to take seriously, because it was also my well being. I just felt like I needed a little bit different approach. I needed to gain some of that strength back. Not dead weight, just some more muscle mass."
Ivanovic, who has traveled with a large team in the past, is now just down to her hitting partner, France’s Olivier Morel, as well as her manager. The 23-year-old says she is taking more control of her own career now."I hurt my foot last week in Davis Cup, and since then it's been pretty bad," he said. "Today it was not very good. I think I lost the match when I decided to go on court, because today I shouldn't have done that. Sitting here after the match, it feels like I couldn't give 100%. I think it's pretty stupid to play. Hopefully they won't find anything bad and then I will be able to play [Miami]. But I'm not sure."—Matthew Cronin
Maria Sharapova and Rafael Nadal, among other players, expressed sympathy and support for the victims of Friday's 9.0-magnitude earthquake in Japan and the resulting tsunami that has killed thousands, as well as caused an explosion at a nuclear power plant. At Indian Wells, Sharapova,who was born in the wake of the Chernobyl accident in Ukraine 25 years ago, was a wearing a shirt noting the April 26 anniversary date of the disaster. She runs a foundation that gives scholarships to youths from the area around Chernobyl.
"Crazy, right? Can you believe one disaster 25 years ago? Now another? In terms of what's going on over there, it's crazy and something that you can't even prepare for," she said. "It happens, and you see the coverage on it and the videos, and it's really incredible that something like that can even happen in the world. It opens your eyes, and obviously puts a lot of perspective in your life. [Japan] is a country where I have very great memories from. I started playing there when I was very young, and I always loved my experiences there. So to see it going on there to its culture and the people, it's really sad.”
Nadal added that he would like to something for Japan while at Indian Wells: "All of us are have connection with Japan, especially myself. I was there last year, and the people was always really nice with me, so I am open to do everything for Japan, and am very sorry and so sad, because what's happening is terrible. So hopefully the situation gets better soon. Seems like gonna be difficult. But if we can help, I don't know which way, but for sure we gonna try something." - MC
The latter stages of Indian Wells and Miami will be shown on ESPN and ABC. ESPN2 will air the Indian Wells men’s quarterfinals and women’s semifinals on Friday, and ABC will show the men’s semifinals (Saturday) and both finals (Sunday). The two networks will begin broadcasting from Miami on Wednesday, March 30. ESPN2 last televised the events in 2007. Tennis Channel shows most of the earlier rounds.—Matthew CroninYoung North American sensations Ryan Harrison and Milos Raonic will resume their junior rivalry in the third round of Indian Wells.
The 18-year-old Harrison of the U.S. reached the third round of a Masters Series tournament for the first time with a 6-3, 7-6 (4) win over Guillermo Garcia-Lopez, while Canada's Raonic won his 16th match of the year by overcoming Mardy Fish, 7-5, 6-4. The two have never faced off as pros, but did play three times in the juniors. Harrison won two out of their three contests, including a three-set victory in first round of the 2008 Roland Garros juniors.
With the victory over Fish, Raonic won his 16th match of the year and is sure to crack at least the Top 35 when the tournament is over. "He's a fighter, he's feeling good, he's gonna go for his shots, he's gonna play, and he's gonna do a lot of things," said Raonic, who suffered a lower back injury in his win over Fish. "I feel like I'm posting up a lot of Top 20 wins, Top 50 wins consistently, and I think that's something to be proud of and something that isn't by luck or by chance. It's just a sign of my level."
Wild card Harrison, who hadn't scored a win on the ATP level this year before the tournament, added, "He's playing great and he's made a lot of improvements in his game, especially on the ground. I remember him from juniors. He's a big guy. He's finally reeled in his groundstrokes. I do have full confidence in myself and I feel I can win."—Matthew CroninMen's wildcards for Miami have gone to James Blake, Milos Raonic, Ryan Harrison, Jack Sock and Bernard Tomic.
Blake is the only veteran in the group, his ranking falling after injuries caused him to miss most of the second half of last year.
Women's wildcards were awarded to Dinara Safina, Sorana Cirstea, Sabine Lisicki, Heather Watson, Coco Vandeweghe and Madison Keys.
world No. 1 Safina has won just one match in four tournaments so far during the year, though she managed to win the doubles in Kuala Lumpur last week. The Russian is struggling to find her form after being plagued with back troubles for the last 18 months.
Cirstea defeated Lisicki in three sets in Indian Wells qualifying this week.
Birthplace Moscow, Russia
Residence Monte Carlo, Monaco
Height 5'12'' (182 cm)
Weight 154 lbs (70 kg)
Plays Right-handed
Turned Pro 2000 (12 yrs on tour)
Official Site www.dinarasafina.com “After Australia there was a moment I came to Moscow for the Fed Cup. I said to my mom, ‘I'm retiring,'" said No. 108 Safina, who beat Daniela Hantuchova at Indian Wells, the first time since September that she scored two straight wins. "I said, ‘I don't want any more of this.’ I really honestly said, because for me it was tough, because I knew that I'm gonna start the next week with a new coach. It was a moment that was going in my mind, like, ‘Will I be back?’ Well, [my mom Rausa] said, ‘Come on; be positive.’ I said, ‘It's not about positive or negative. I was not happy being on the court anymore.’ It was tough, because I love the sport. And once you're not enjoying it, you struggle. When you have some bad moments, like your head's falling down. But when you're believing, you're like, ‘Okay, it's not my day. I'm just gonna keep working hard.’” So I change it around to practice, and Davide, he was really positive every time, because there were moments in the practice I would go down. He's like, ‘Come on; keep it up; let's work hard.’ I mean, thank God it's paying off.”
Safina has consistently said over the years that she doesn’t talk tennis with her mother, a famous junior coach in Russia who taught her to play, but this time, she decided that her mother was the only person she could confide in.
"That moment I felt like she was the person who knows me,” said Safina, who will play Sam Stosur in the next round. "That I could really speak it out what I have deep inside, and that was the thing with her. I knew it would also hurt her, but I cannot keep it anymore inside. So I went to her. She was the closest one for me."—Matthew CroninSerena Williams tells USA Today that she’s unsure when she’ll return to the tour and has been depressed. She suffered a pulmonary embolism last month and had to have a hematoma removed from her stomach
"I definitely have not been happy," Williams said. "Especially when I had that second surgery (on my foot), I was definitely depressed. I cried all the time. I was miserable to be around…What's going to make me happy is going on the court and holding up trophies, singles and doubles."
No. 1 Williams is on blood thinners to eliminate the clotting in her lungs and will undergo a cat scan in about three weeks to see if the clots are dissipating. She has set no timetable for a return.
Kim Clijsters retires with a right shoulder injury up 6-3, 1-3 against Marion Bartoli in the fourth round of Indian Wells on Tuesday. Clijsters called for the trainer down 1-2 in the second set and had her shoulder worked on, but no avail.
With Clijsters' retirement, Caroline Wozniacki is guaranteed to hold on the No. 1 ranking until at least the end of the Miami tournament.
Four-times Grand Slam champion Clijsters has been taking medication for the injury and said that she was concerned about how it would hold up during the upcoming clay court season. She said she began to take pain medication during her run to the 2011 Australian Open title. The Belgian is going to try defend her title in Miami, which begins next week, but is unsure whether she'll be able to complete the tournament.
"After Miami we have Fed Cup, which I'm taking very seriously," Clijsters said. "And also obviously the clay court season, which i a very tough part of the season for the shoulders. And I'm gonna have to make sure that I'm, fully healed until I start playing on that surface.
Clijsters said the main reason behind her retirement was that she didn't want to risk a more severe injury. She also revealed that she suffered a bad neck injury at the Paris Indoors last month, which she believes in related to her shoulder problem.
"I have been feeling it in my practices when I'm just hitting with my coach. Mostly it's with the serve, but with the higher forehands," she said. "Couple times a day when she wrong-footed me and I went out for my backhand where I tried to [stretch] I could just feel it in the back. Is it something where I can take some painkillers for it and not feel it during a match? Yes, I think so. But then I don't want to risk tearing it. In my stage right now, I don't want to be in that position where I'm taking medication to cover the pain and not knowing if it's getting worse during my match."Ana Ivanovic has parted ways with trainer Marija Lojanica, who is a childhood friend. Ivanovic made the decision in the last couple of days at Indian Wells. Lojanica has been on site, but she didn’t appear in Ivanovic's box during her 6-4, 6-2 win over Serbian rival Jelena Jankovic on Tuesday.
“We are still friends, but it just was a little bit time for me to consider certain things because we had a little bit of different view of my stage and where I should be at," Ivanovic said. “I just felt like I needed to get a little bit stronger. I was feeling very weak on the court and I had quite a few injuries. I just want to take a little bit different approach, and gain some more muscles, because my game is so powerful. I felt weak, and that caused a lot of stress on my body.”
Ivanovic slimmed down in the off-season and did feel quicker, but after suffering an abdominal injury at the Hopman Cup—which derailed her Australian Open plans—she began to feel frustrated. Interestingly, just after the Australian Open, at a tournament in Pattaya City, Ivanovic ended her brief coaching experiment with Antonio Van Grichen, who was actually encouraging her to put on more muscle in order amplify her power game.
"At the end of last year I lost some weight and I felt really fast and strong on the court, but then I lost too much and I just felt like I couldn't produce anything out of the corners," she said. "I was feeling quite weak on the court and I couldn't recover. I could have one match, but then would be exhausted. That's something that I really had to take seriously, because it was also my well being. I just felt like I needed a little bit different approach. I needed to gain some of that strength back. Not dead weight, just some more muscle mass."
Ivanovic, who has traveled with a large team in the past, is now just down to her hitting partner, France’s Olivier Morel, as well as her manager. The 23-year-old says she is taking more control of her own career now."I hurt my foot last week in Davis Cup, and since then it's been pretty bad," he said. "Today it was not very good. I think I lost the match when I decided to go on court, because today I shouldn't have done that. Sitting here after the match, it feels like I couldn't give 100%. I think it's pretty stupid to play. Hopefully they won't find anything bad and then I will be able to play [Miami]. But I'm not sure."—Matthew Cronin
Maria Sharapova and Rafael Nadal, among other players, expressed sympathy and support for the victims of Friday's 9.0-magnitude earthquake in Japan and the resulting tsunami that has killed thousands, as well as caused an explosion at a nuclear power plant. At Indian Wells, Sharapova,who was born in the wake of the Chernobyl accident in Ukraine 25 years ago, was a wearing a shirt noting the April 26 anniversary date of the disaster. She runs a foundation that gives scholarships to youths from the area around Chernobyl.
"Crazy, right? Can you believe one disaster 25 years ago? Now another? In terms of what's going on over there, it's crazy and something that you can't even prepare for," she said. "It happens, and you see the coverage on it and the videos, and it's really incredible that something like that can even happen in the world. It opens your eyes, and obviously puts a lot of perspective in your life. [Japan] is a country where I have very great memories from. I started playing there when I was very young, and I always loved my experiences there. So to see it going on there to its culture and the people, it's really sad.”
Nadal added that he would like to something for Japan while at Indian Wells: "All of us are have connection with Japan, especially myself. I was there last year, and the people was always really nice with me, so I am open to do everything for Japan, and am very sorry and so sad, because what's happening is terrible. So hopefully the situation gets better soon. Seems like gonna be difficult. But if we can help, I don't know which way, but for sure we gonna try something." - MC
The latter stages of Indian Wells and Miami will be shown on ESPN and ABC. ESPN2 will air the Indian Wells men’s quarterfinals and women’s semifinals on Friday, and ABC will show the men’s semifinals (Saturday) and both finals (Sunday). The two networks will begin broadcasting from Miami on Wednesday, March 30. ESPN2 last televised the events in 2007. Tennis Channel shows most of the earlier rounds.—Matthew CroninYoung North American sensations Ryan Harrison and Milos Raonic will resume their junior rivalry in the third round of Indian Wells.
The 18-year-old Harrison of the U.S. reached the third round of a Masters Series tournament for the first time with a 6-3, 7-6 (4) win over Guillermo Garcia-Lopez, while Canada's Raonic won his 16th match of the year by overcoming Mardy Fish, 7-5, 6-4. The two have never faced off as pros, but did play three times in the juniors. Harrison won two out of their three contests, including a three-set victory in first round of the 2008 Roland Garros juniors.
With the victory over Fish, Raonic won his 16th match of the year and is sure to crack at least the Top 35 when the tournament is over. "He's a fighter, he's feeling good, he's gonna go for his shots, he's gonna play, and he's gonna do a lot of things," said Raonic, who suffered a lower back injury in his win over Fish. "I feel like I'm posting up a lot of Top 20 wins, Top 50 wins consistently, and I think that's something to be proud of and something that isn't by luck or by chance. It's just a sign of my level."
Wild card Harrison, who hadn't scored a win on the ATP level this year before the tournament, added, "He's playing great and he's made a lot of improvements in his game, especially on the ground. I remember him from juniors. He's a big guy. He's finally reeled in his groundstrokes. I do have full confidence in myself and I feel I can win."—Matthew CroninMen's wildcards for Miami have gone to James Blake, Milos Raonic, Ryan Harrison, Jack Sock and Bernard Tomic.
Blake is the only veteran in the group, his ranking falling after injuries caused him to miss most of the second half of last year.
Women's wildcards were awarded to Dinara Safina, Sorana Cirstea, Sabine Lisicki, Heather Watson, Coco Vandeweghe and Madison Keys.
world No. 1 Safina has won just one match in four tournaments so far during the year, though she managed to win the doubles in Kuala Lumpur last week. The Russian is struggling to find her form after being plagued with back troubles for the last 18 months.
Cirstea defeated Lisicki in three sets in Indian Wells qualifying this week.
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