Order of Play Australian Open 2008 Day14 January 27, 2008

Men Final and Mixed Doubles on Rod Laver Arena

12:00 PM Start (GMT+7
Mixed Doubles - Finals
Tiantian Sun (CHN)[5]/Nenad Zimonjic (SRB)[5] v Sania Mirza (IND)/Mahesh Bhupathi (IND)

Men's Singles - Finals
Novak Djokovic (SRB)[3] v Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (FRA)

Order of Play Australian Open 2008 Day13 January 26, 2008

Women's Singles - Finals
Maria Sharapova (RUS)[5] v Ana Ivanovic (SRB)[4]

Men's Doubles - Finals
Jonathan Erlich (ISR)[8]/Andy Ram (ISR)[8] v Arnaud Clement (FRA)[7]/Michael Llodra (FRA)[7]

Boys' Singles - Finals
Bernard Tomic (AUS)[5] v Tsung-Hua Yang (TPE)[10]

Order of Play Australian Open 2008 Day12 January 25, 2008

Order of play on Rod Laver Arena

Start 11:00 (GMT+7)
Women's Doubles - Finals
Alona Bondarenko (UKR)/Kateryna Bondarenko (UKR) v Victoria Azarenka (BLR)[12]/
Shahar Peer (ISR)[12]

Mixed Doubles - Semis
Tiantian Sun (CHN)[5]/Nenad Zimonjic (SRB)[5] v Zi Yan (CHN)[3]/Mark Knowles (BAH)[3]

Men's Singles - Semis
Roger Federer (SUI)[1] v Novak Djokovic (SRB)[3]

Note: For free watch by Sopcast need Sopcast Software

Order of Play Australian Open 2008 Day11 January 24, 2008

Order of play on Rod Laver Arena

Men's Doubles - Semis
Arnaud Clement (FRA)[7]/Michael Llodra (FRA)[7] v Jeff Coetzee (RSA)/Wesley Moodie (RSA)

Women's Singles - Semis
Maria Sharapova (RUS)[5] v Jelena Jankovic (SRB)[3]
Ana Ivanovic (SRB)[4] v Daniela Hantuchova (SVK)[9]

Men's Singles - Semis
Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (FRA) v Rafael Nadal (ESP)[2]

Mixed Doubles - Qtr. Finals
Cara Black (ZIM)[1]/Paul Hanley (AUS)[1] v Tiantian Sun (CHN)[5]/Nenad Zimonjic (SRB)[5]

Order of Play Australian Open 2008 Day10 January 23, 2008

Order of play on Rod Laver Arena

Women's Singles - Qtr. Finals
Daniela Hantuchova (SVK)[9] v Agnieszka Radwanska (POL)[29]
Venus Williams (USA)[8] v Ana Ivanovic (SRB)[4]

Men's Singles - Qtr. Finals
Novak Djokovic (SRB)[3] v David Ferrer (ESP)[5]
Roger Federer (SUI)[1] v James Blake (USA)[12]

Men's Doubles - Qtr. Finals
Bob Bryan (USA)[1]/Mike Bryan (USA)[1] v Mahesh Bhupathi (IND)[6]/Mark Knowles (BAH)[6]

Australian Open

The Australian Open is the first of the four Grand Slam tennis tournaments to be held each year. It is held each January at Melbourne Park. The tournament was held for the first time in 1905. Like the other three Grand Slam events, it was contested by top-ranked amateur players and known as the Australian Championships until the advent of open era in 1968.

Originally based at the grass courts at Kooyong in the city of Melbourne's inner south-east, the tournament was in danger of fading into irrelevance before being revived in 1988 with a shift to Melbourne Park (then called Flinders Park), a new (Rebound Ace) hardcourt venue next to the Melbourne Cricket Ground on the southern fringe of the central business district. Mats Wilander was the only player to win the tournament both on grass and on Rebound Ace.

From:Wikipedia

Tennis Channel Help

1.You will see like this if no install Sopcast.


2.After Install Sopcast you will see like this


3.Wait few seconds for auto buffer



Note:
1.For Download Software click here
2.If no picture, click play bottom again

3.Available with Internel Explorer for FireFox need plug-in
4.For Opera or other browser I never tried.

Order of Play Australian Open 2008 Day9 January 22, 2008

Order of play on main court(Rod Laver Arena)

Men's Doubles - Qtr. Finals
Arnaud Clement (FRA)[7]/Michael Llodra (FRA)[7] v Daniel Nestor (CAN)[2]/Nenad Zimonjic (SRB)[2]

Women's Singles - Qtr. Finals
Jelena Jankovic (SRB)[3] v Serena Williams (USA)[7]

Men's Singles - Qtr. Finals
Jarkko Nieminen (FIN)[24] v Rafael Nadal (ESP)[2]

Women's Singles - Qtr. Finals
Justine Henin (BEL)[1] v Maria Sharapova (RUS)[5]

Men's Singles - Qtr. Finals
Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (FRA) v Mikhail Youzhny (RUS)[14]

Manner of play (1)

The court

Tennis is played on a rectangular, flat surface, usually grass, clay, or a hardcourt of concrete and/or asphalt. The court is 78 feet (23.77 m) long, and its width is 27 feet (8.23 m) for singles matches and 36 ft (10.97 m) for doubles matches.^[20] Additional clear space around the court is required in order for players to reach overrun balls. A net is stretched across the full width of the court, parallel with the baselines, dividing it into two equal ends. The net is 3 feet 6 inches (1.07 m) high at the posts and 3 feet (914 mm) high in the center.^[20]

The lines that delineate the width of the court are called the baseline (furthest back) and the service line (middle of the court). The short mark in the center of each baseline is referred to as either the hash mark or the center mark. The outermost lines that make up the length are both called the doubles sideline. These are the boundaries used when doubles is being played. The area between the doubles sideline and the lines next to them is called the doubles alley, which is considered playable in doubles play. These lines next to the doubles sideline are the singles sidelines, and used as boundaries in singles play. The line that runs across the center of a player's side of the court is called the service line because the serve must be delivered into the area between the service line and the net on the receiving side. Despite its name, this is not where a player legally stands when making a serve. The line dividing the service line in two is called the center line or center service line. The boxes this center line creates are called the service boxes; depending on a player's position, he will have to hit the ball into one of these when serving. A ball is out only if none of it has hit the line upon its first bounce. All the lines are required to be 2 inches in width. The baseline can be up to 5 inches wide if so desired.

Types of courts

There are three main types of court surfaces. Depending on the materials used, each surface provides a difference in the speed and bounce of the ball, which in turn can affect the level of play of individual players. The three most common surfaces are:

• Clay - red clay (used at the French Open), green clay (an example of which is Har-Tru and used mainly in the U.S.) (in the Commonwealth countries "Hard court" means "Clay court")
• Hard - examples are concrete, Rebound Ace (formerly used at the Australian Open), coated asphalt (used at the U.S. Open)
• Grass - used at Wimbledon

Indoor courts are also used so play can continue year-round. Common indoor surfaces are hard, carpet, and clay. Some players are more successful on certain surfaces and are known as "specialists" for that particular court.

Clay courts are considered "slow" because the loose surface causes the ball to lose speed rapidly and bounce higher. This makes it more difficult for a player to hit an unreturnable shot (a "winner") because the opponent has more time to reach and return the ball. Line calls are easily reviewable on this type of court because the ball generally leaves a visible mark. Courts are swept between sets, to erase any marks from the previous set.

Hardcourts are generally considered to be faster than clay courts. There are many different types of hardcourts, and, dependent on the construction of the court, can be relatively slow or fast. A fast hardcourt is characterised by low bounces, where fast-serving and hard-hitting players hold an advantage.

Grass is a fast surface and was the surface used at three of the Grand Slam tournaments until the Australian Open and the U.S. Open changed to hardcourts. Grass courts cause low ball bounces, which keep rallies short and gives hard-serving and hard-hitting players an advantage. This type of court also features unpredictable ball bounces, depending on the health of the grass, how "beat-up" the grass may be from lots of matches played on a court, and how recently it has been mown. For that reason, a volley from close to the net is a particularly appropriate shot on a grass court.

Professional players wear very different shoes for the three surfaces. Grass-court shoes are designed to grip the surface and prevent sliding. On a clay court, by contrast, sliding is an accepted and beneficial part of footwork skill. There is also a less common surface that is called "carpet". These are mainly indoor courts and are rubbery and hard, like hardcourts.

From: Wikipedia

History of Tennis

Tennis as the modern sport can be dated to two separate roots. Between 1859 and 1865, Major Harry Gem and his friend Augurio Perera developed a game that combined elements of rackets and Spanish ball game pelota, which they played on Perera's croquet lawn in Birmingham, England. In 1872, along with two local doctors, they founded the world's first tennis club in Leamington Spa. The Courier of 23 July 1884 recorded one of the first tennis tournaments, held in the grounds of Shrubland Hall.

In December 1873, Major Walter Clopton Wingfield designed a similar game — which he called sphairistike (Greek σφάίρίστική, skill at playing at ball), and was soon known simply as "sticky" — for the amusement of his guests at a garden party on his estate of Nantclwyd, in Llanelidan, Wales. He based the game on the older sport of indoor tennis or real tennis. According to most tennis historians, modern tennis terminology also derives from this period, as Wingfield borrowed both the name and much of the French vocabulary of real tennis and applied them to his new game.

The first championships at Wimbledon, in London were played in 1877. On May 21, 1881, the United States National Lawn Tennis Association (now the United States Tennis Association) was formed to standardize the rules and organize competitions. The U.S. National Men's Singles Championship, now the U.S. Open, was first held in 1881 at Newport, Rhode Island. The U.S. National Women's Singles Championships were first held in 1887. Tennis was also popular in France, where the French Open dates to 1891. Thus, Wimbledon, the U.S. Open, the French Open, and the Australian Open (dating to 1905) became and have remained the most prestigious events in tennis. Together these four events are called the Grand Slam (a term borrowed from bridge). The comprehensive International Lawn Tennis Federation rules promulgated in 1924 have remained remarkably stable in the ensuing eighty years, the one major change being the addition of the tie-breaker system designed by James Van Alen. The Davis Cup, an annual competition between national teams, dates to 1900.

In 1926, promoter C.C. Pyle established the first professional tennis tour with a group of American and French tennis players playing exhibition matches to paying audiences. The most notable of these early professionals were the American Vinnie Richards and the Frenchwoman Suzanne Lenglen. Once a player turned pro he or she could not compete in the major (amateur) tournaments.

In 1968, commercial pressures and rumors of some amateurs taking money under the table led to the abandonment of this distinction, inaugurating the open era, in which all players could compete in all tournaments, and top players were able to make their living from tennis. With the beginning of the open era, the establishment of an international professional tennis circuit, and revenues from the sale of television rights, tennis has spread all over the world and has lost its upper-class English-speaking image.

In 1954, James Van Alen founded the International Tennis Hall of Fame, a non-profit museum in Newport, Rhode Island. The building contains a large collection of tennis memorabilia as well as a hall of fame honoring prominent members and tennis players from all over the world. Each year, a grass-court tournament is hosted on its grounds, as well as an induction ceremony honoring new Hall of Fame members.

From: Wikipedia

Whai is Tennis

Tennis is a game played between two players (singles) or between two teams of two players (doubles). Players use a stringed racquet to strike a hollow rubber ball covered with felt (most of the time yellow, but can be any color or even two-tone) over a net into the opponent's court.

Originating in Europe in the late 19th century as "lawn tennis", with its roots going back to the ancient game of real tennis, tennis spread first throughout the English-speaking world, particularly among the upper classes. Tennis is now once again an Olympic sport and is played at all levels of society, by all ages, and in many countries around the world.

Except for the adoption of the tie-breaker in the 1970s, its rules have remained remarkably unchanged since the 1890s. A recent addition to tennis has been the adoption of "instant replay" technology coupled with a point challenge system which allows a player to challenge the official call of a point.

Along with its millions of players, millions of people world-wide follow tennis as a spectator sport, especially the four Grand Slam tournaments: Australian Open, French Open, Wimbledon, and the U.S. Open. The growth of tennis in Eastern Europe and the Far East has been especially notable in recent years.

From: Wikipedia