1.
United Kingdom
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The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom or Britain, is a sovereign country in western Europe. Lying off the north-western coast of the European mainland, the United Kingdom includes the island of Great Britain, Northern Ireland is the only part of the United Kingdom that shares a land border with another sovereign state—the Republic of Ireland. The Irish Sea lies between Great Britain and Ireland, with an area of 242,500 square kilometres, the United Kingdom is the 78th-largest sovereign state in the world and the 11th-largest in Europe. It is also the 21st-most populous country, with an estimated 65.1 million inhabitants, together, this makes it the fourth-most densely populated country in the European Union. The United Kingdom is a monarchy with a parliamentary system of governance. The monarch is Queen Elizabeth II, who has reigned since 6 February 1952, other major urban areas in the United Kingdom include the regions of Birmingham, Leeds, Glasgow, Liverpool and Manchester. The United Kingdom consists of four countries—England, Scotland, Wales, the last three have devolved administrations, each with varying powers, based in their capitals, Edinburgh, Cardiff and Belfast, respectively. The relationships among the countries of the UK have changed over time, Wales was annexed by the Kingdom of England under the Laws in Wales Acts 1535 and 1542. A treaty between England and Scotland resulted in 1707 in a unified Kingdom of Great Britain, which merged in 1801 with the Kingdom of Ireland to form the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. Five-sixths of Ireland seceded from the UK in 1922, leaving the present formulation of the United Kingdom of Great Britain, there are fourteen British Overseas Territories. These are the remnants of the British Empire which, at its height in the 1920s, British influence can be observed in the language, culture and legal systems of many of its former colonies. The United Kingdom is a country and has the worlds fifth-largest economy by nominal GDP. The UK is considered to have an economy and is categorised as very high in the Human Development Index. It was the worlds first industrialised country and the worlds foremost power during the 19th, the UK remains a great power with considerable economic, cultural, military, scientific and political influence internationally. It is a nuclear weapons state and its military expenditure ranks fourth or fifth in the world. The UK has been a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council since its first session in 1946 and it has been a leading member state of the EU and its predecessor, the European Economic Community, since 1973. However, on 23 June 2016, a referendum on the UKs membership of the EU resulted in a decision to leave. The Acts of Union 1800 united the Kingdom of Great Britain, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have devolved self-government
2.
Great Britain Davis Cup team
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The Great Britain Davis Cup team is the mens national tennis team and has represented the United Kingdom internationally since 1900. Organised by the Lawn Tennis Association, it is one of the 50 members of International Tennis Federations European association, the United Kingdom teams performance has been inconsistent, it enjoyed its most successful periods in the 1910s and the 1930s, and has seen a resurgence in recent years. The team has won the world cup 10 times and been runner-ups on 8 occasions and it has longstanding rivalries with Australia and the United States. The national team took part in the inaugural Davis Cup in 1900 and they are the third most successful team in terms of championships won. Under the current management of Leon Smith, the team qualified to the World Group in 2013, won the title in 2015. Great Britains first match, and first ever national match in history, was a 0–3 loss to the United States in 1900. The tournament was not organised in 1901, and lost the following year, the national team would go on to dominate the competition, winning the next three tournaments. The postwar period saw moderate results, but British fortunes declined until the appointment of 31-year old Paul Hutchins as captain in 1976 and he would captain the team for 10 years, and lead the team in 31 ties. He would lead Great Britain to the final in 1978, defeating Australia 3–2 in the semifinal, despite losing in the final, the team won the BBC Sports Personality Team of the Year Award. Likewise, it was the first time the LTA promoted the event, according to The Guardian Britain has seen a decline in its Davis Cup fortunes ever since. The next two years saw mixed results, but in in 1981 the team reached the semifinals, losing to Australia and it would be their last semifinal until 2015. Warren Jacques, an Australian, was appointed captain in 1988 as Hutchins replacement and he was appointed due to his former role in coaching Kevin Curren, the 1985 Wimbledon finalist. However, the idea to appoint a person who was not of the nationality was so foreign that the LTA sought special dispensation from the International Tennis Federation. The teams results continued to slide under Jacques leadership, following the teams 0–5 defeat to France, Jacques was removed as captain and replaced by Tony Pickard. When asked about the defeat, Jacques claimed Were ten years from being competitive in the Davis Cup, in the ensuing years, under Pickards leadership, Great Britain would manage to keep its place in the World Group. In 1994, Pickard delivered an attack on the Lawn Tennis Associations training department. In response the LTA did not renew Pickards contract, the team lost the last four matches under Pickards stewardship, marking the worst performance in twenty years. David Lloyd took over as captain later that year and his captaincy started well, with Great Britain winning the Europe/Africa Zone II, and being promoted to the Europe/Africa Zone I
3.
Belgrade
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Belgrade is the capital and largest city of Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers and its name translates to White city. The urban area of the City of Belgrade has a population of 1.34 million, one of the most important prehistoric cultures of Europe, the Vinča culture, evolved within the Belgrade area in the 6th millennium BC. In antiquity, Thraco-Dacians inhabited the region, and after 279 BC Celts conquered the city and it was conquered by the Romans during the reign of Augustus, and awarded city rights in the mid-2nd century. In 1521, Belgrade was conquered by the Ottoman Empire and became the seat of the Sanjak of Smederevo and it frequently passed from Ottoman to Habsburg rule, which saw the destruction of most of the city during the Austro-Ottoman wars. Belgrade was again named the capital of Serbia in 1841, northern Belgrade remained the southernmost Habsburg post until 1918, when the city was reunited. As a strategic location, the city was battled over in 115 wars, Belgrade was the capital of Yugoslavia from its creation in 1918, to its final dissolution in 2006. Belgrade has an administrative status within Serbia and it is one of five statistical regions of Serbia. Its metropolitan territory is divided into 17 municipalities, each with its own local council, City of Belgrade covers 3. 6% of Serbias territory, and 22. 5% of the countrys population lives within its administrative limits. It is classified as a Beta- global city, chipped stone tools found at Zemun show that the area around Belgrade was inhabited by nomadic foragers in the Palaeolithic and Mesolithic eras. Some of these belong to the Mousterian industry, which are associated with Neanderthals rather than modern humans. Aurignacian and Gravettian tools have also discovered there, indicating occupation between 50,000 and 20,000 years ago. The first farming people to settle in the region are associated with the Neolithic Starčevo culture, there are several Starčevo sites in and around Belgrade, including the eponymous site of Starčevo. The Starčevo culture was succeeded by the Vinča culture, a more sophisticated farming culture that grew out of the earlier Starčevo settlements which is named for a site in the Belgrade region. Evidence of early knowledge about Belgrades geographical location comes from ancient myths, the rock overlooking the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers has been identified as one of the place in the story of Jason and the Argonauts. The Paleo-Balkan tribes of Thracians and Dacians ruled this area prior to the Roman conquest, Belgrade was inhabited by a Thraco-Dacian tribe Singi, after the Celtic invasion in 279 BC, the Scordisci took the city, naming it Singidūn. In 34–33 BC the Roman army led by Silanus reached Belgrade, jovian reestablished Christianity as the official religion of the Roman Empire, ending the brief revival of traditional Roman religions under his predecessor Julian the Apostate. In 395 AD, the passed to the Eastern Roman or Byzantine Empire
4.
Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia
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Covering an area of 255,804 km², the SFRY was bordered with Italy to the west, Hungary to the north, Bulgaria and Romania to the east and Albania and Greece to the south. In addition, it included two autonomous provinces within Serbia, Kosovo and Vojvodina, the SFRY traces back to 29 June 1943 when the Anti-Fascist Council for the National Liberation of Yugoslavia was formed during World War II. On 29 November 1945, the Federal Peoples Republic of Yugoslavia was proclaimed after the deposal of King Peter II thus ending the monarchy. Following the death of Tito on 4 May 1980, rising ethnic nationalism in the late 1980s led to dissidence among the multiple ethnicities within the constituent republics. This led to the federation collapsing along the borders, followed by the final downfall and breakup of the federation on 27 April 1992. The term former Yugoslavia is now commonly used retrospectively, the name Yugoslavia, an Anglicised transcription of Jugoslavija, is a composite word made-up of jug and slavija. The Serbo-Croatian, Slovene and Macedonian word jug means south, while slavija denotes a land of the Slavs, thus, a translation of Jugoslavija would be South-Slavia or Land of the South Slavs. The term is intended to denote the lands occupied by the six South Slavic nations, Serbs, Croats, Bosniaks, Montenegrins, Slovenes, the full official name of the federation varied significantly between 1945 and 1992. Yugoslavia was formed in 1918 under the name Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, the name deliberately left the republic-or-kingdom question open. In 1963, amid pervasive liberal constitutional reforms, the name Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia was introduced, the state is most commonly referred to by the latter name, which it held for the longest period of all. The most common abbreviation is SFRY, though SFR Yugoslavia was also used in an official capacity, particularly by the media. On 6 April 1941, Yugoslavia was invaded by the Axis powers led by Nazi Germany, by 17 April 1941, Yugoslav resistance was soon established in two forms, the Royal Yugoslav Army and the Yugoslav Partisans. The Partisan supreme commander was Josip Broz Tito, and under his command the movement soon began establishing liberated territories which attracted the attentions of the occupying forces. The coalition of parties, factions, and prominent individuals behind the movement was the Peoples Liberation Front. The Front formed a political body, the Anti-Fascist Council for the Peoples Liberation of Yugoslavia. The AVNOJ, which met for the first time in Partisan-liberated Bihać on 26 November 1942, during 1943, the Yugoslav Partisans began attracting serious attention from the Germans. In two major operations of Fall Weiss and Fall Schwartz, the Axis attempted to stamp-out the Yugoslav resistance once, on both occasions, despite heavy casualties, the Group succeeded in evading the trap and retreating to safety. The Partisans emerged stronger than before and now occupied a significant portion of Yugoslavia
5.
Grand Slam (tennis)
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The Grand Slam tournaments, also called majors, are the four most important annual tennis events. They offer the most ranking points, prize money, public and media attention, the greatest strength and size of field, and greater number of best of sets for men. The Grand Slam itinerary consists of the Australian Open in mid January, the French Open in May and June, Wimbledon in June and July, each tournament is played over a period of two weeks. The Australian and United States tournaments are played on courts, the French on clay. Wimbledon is the oldest, founded in 1877, followed by the US in 1881, the French in 1891, however, of these four, only Wimbledon was a major before 1924/25, the time when all four became designated Grand Slam tournaments. In doubles, one team may accomplish a Grand Slam playing together or one player may achieve it with different partners, the term Grand Slam without qualification refers to winning the four majors in a single calendar year. Winning the gold medal at the Summer Olympic Games in addition to the four majors in a one year is known as a Golden Grand Slam or more commonly the Golden Slam. Also, winning the Year-End Championship in the period is known as a Super Slam. Together, all four Majors in all three disciplines are called a set of Grand Slam titles. No male or female player has won all events in one calendar year. The term slam for winning all of the tricks in the whist family card games is attested early in the 17th century. Grand slam for all of the tricks, in contrast to small slam or little slam for all but one and this use was inherited by contract bridge, a modern development of whist defined in 1925 that became very popular in Britain and America by 1930. Grand slam has been used in golf since 1930, when Bobby Jones won the four major championships, before that time only three events, Wimbledon, the World Hard Court Championships and the World Covered Court Championships were considered the premier international tennis events by the ILTF. Tony Wilding of New Zealand won all three of those majors in one year –1913. It has been possible to complete a Grand Slam in most years, phil Dent has pointed out that skipping Grand Slam tournaments—especially the Australian Open—was not unusual then, before counting Grand Slam titles became the norm. Nevertheless, except for the 1969 and 1971 tournaments, many of the best players missed this championship until 1982, because of the remoteness, the inconvenient dates, the tournament was won by Arthur Ashe. The first definitive Grand Slam, of the current four majors, was accomplished when Don Budge won all four mens singles Majors in 1938, to date,17 players have completed a Grand Slam, though only six in the most prestigious singles titles. The four Junior disciplines, boys and girls singles and doubles, Players are only eligible from age 13 to 18, with 18-year-olds likely to hold a physical advantage
6.
Davis Cup
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The Davis Cup is the premier international team event in mens tennis. It is run by the International Tennis Federation and is contested annually between teams from competing countries in a knock-out format and it is described by the organisers as the World Cup of Tennis, and the winners are referred to as the World Champion team. The competition began in 1900 as a challenge between Great Britain and the United States, by 2016,135 nations entered teams into the competition. The most successful countries over the history of the tournament are the United States, the present champions are Argentina who beat Croatia to win the title for the first time in 2016. The womens equivalent of the Davis Cup is the Fed Cup, Australia, the Czech Republic, and the United States are the only countries to have held both Davis Cup and Fed Cup titles in the same year. The Hopman Cup, a competition for mixed teams, carries less prestige. The tournament was conceived in 1899 by four members of the Harvard University tennis team who wished to challenge the British to a tennis competition and they in turn commissioned a classically styled design from William B. Durgins of Concord, New Hampshire, crafted by the Englishman Rowland Rhodes, Davis went on to become a prominent politician in the United States in the 1920s, serving as US Secretary of War from 1925 to 1929 and as Governor-General of the Philippines from 1929 to 1932. The first match, between the United States and Britain, was held at the Longwood Cricket Club in Boston, the American team, of which Dwight Davis was a part, surprised the British by winning the first three matches. The following year the two countries did not compete, but the US won the match in 1902 and Britain won the four matches. By 1905 the tournament expanded to include Belgium, Austria, France, and Australasia, the tournament was initially titled the International Lawn Tennis Challenge although it soon became known as the Davis Cup, after Dwight Davis trophy. The Davis Cup competition was played as a challenge cup. All teams competed against one another for the right to face the previous champion in the final round. Beginning in 1923, the teams were split into two zones, the America Zone and the Europe Zone. The winners of the two met in the Inter-Zonal Zone to decide which national team would challenge the defending champion for the cup. In 1955 a third zone, the Eastern Zone, was added, because there were three zones, the winner of one of the three zones received a bye in the first round of the INZ challenger rounds. In 1966, the Europe Zone was split into two zones, Europe Zone A and Europe Zone B, so the winners of the four competed in the INZ challenger rounds. From 1950 to 1967, Australia dominated the competition, winning the Cup 15 times in 18 years
7.
Australian Open
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The Australian Open is a major tennis tournament held annually over the last fortnight of January in Melbourne, Australia. First held in 1905, the tournament is chronologically the first of the four Grand Slam tennis events of the year – the other three being the French Open, Wimbledon and the US Open. It features mens and womens singles, mens, womens and mixed doubles and juniors championships, as well as wheelchair, legends, the Australian Open typically has high attendances, rivalling and occasionally exceeding the US Open. The tournament holds the record for the highest attendance at a Grand Slam event, the Australian Open is managed by Tennis Australia, formerly the Lawn Tennis Association of Australia, and was first played at the Warehousemans Cricket Ground in Melbourne in November 1905. This facility is now known as the Albert Reserve Tennis Centre, the tournament was first known as the Australasian Championships and then became the Australian Championships in 1927 and the Australian Open in 1969. Since 1905, the Australian Open has been staged in five Australian and two New Zealand cities, Melbourne, Sydney, Adelaide, Brisbane, Perth, Christchurch and Hastings. Though started in 1905, the tournament was not designated as being a championship until 1924. The tournament committee changed the structure of the tournament to include seeding at that time, in 1972, it was decided to stage the tournament in Melbourne each year because it attracted the biggest patronage of any Australian city. The tournament was played at the Kooyong Lawn Tennis Club from 1972 until the move to the new Melbourne Park complex in 1988, the new facilities at Melbourne Park were envisaged to meet the demands of a tournament that had outgrown Kooyongs capacity. The move to Melbourne Park was an success, with a 90 percent increase in attendance in 1988 on the previous year at Kooyong. Because of Australias geographic remoteness, very few foreign players entered this tournament in the early 20th century, in the 1920s, the trip by ship from Europe to Australia took about 45 days. The first tennis players who came by boats were the US Davis Cup players in November 1946, even inside the country, many players could not travel easily. When the tournament was held in Perth, no one from Victoria or New South Wales crossed by train, in Christchurch in 1906, of a small field of 10 players, only two Australians attended and the tournament was won by a New Zealander. The first tournaments of the Australasian Championships suffered from the competition of the other Australasian tournaments, before 1905, all Australian states and New Zealand had their own championships, the first organised in 1880 in Melbourne and called the Championship of the Colony of Victoria. In those years, the best two players – Australian Norman Brookes and New Zealander Anthony Wilding – almost did not play this tournament, Brookes came once and won in 1911, and Wilding entered and won the competition twice. Their meetings in the Victorian Championships helped to determine the best Australasian players, even when the Australasian Championships were held in Hastings, New Zealand, in 1912, Wilding, though three times Wimbledon champion, did not come back to his home country. It was a problem for all players of the era. Brookes went to Europe only three times, where he reached the Wimbledon Challenge Round once and then won Wimbledon twice
8.
French Open
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The French Open, often referred to as Roland Garros, is a major tennis tournament held over two weeks between late May and early June at the Stade Roland Garros in Paris, France. Roland Garros is the only Grand Slam event held on clay, French spelling rules dictate that in the name of a place or event named after a person, the elements of the name are joined together with a hyphen. Therefore, the names of the stadium and the tournament are hyphenated as Roland-Garros, in 1891 the Championnat de France, which is commonly referred to in English as the French Championships, was begun. It was only open to players who were members of French clubs. The first winner was a Briton—H, the first womens singles tournament, with four entries, was held in 1897. The mixed doubles event was added in 1902 and the doubles in 1907. This French club members only tournament was played until 1924, using four different venues during that period, Île de Puteaux, in Puteaux, the Racing Club de France, played on clay. For one year,1909, it was played at the Société Athlétique de la Villa Primrose in Bordeaux, Tennis Club de Paris, at Auteuil, Paris, played on clay. Another tournament, the World Hard Court Championships, is considered the precursor to the French Open as it was open to international competitors. Winners of this tournament included world no, 1s such as Tony Wilding from New Zealand and Bill Tilden from the US. In 1924 there was no World Hard Court Championships due to tennis being played at the Paris Olympic Games, in 1925, the French Championships became open to all amateurs internationally and was designated a major championship by the ILTF. It was held at the Stade Français in Saint-Cloud in 1925 and 1927, in 1926 the Racing Club de France hosted the event in Paris, site of the previous French club members only Championship, also on clay. In 1928, the Roland Garros stadium was opened and the event has held there ever since. After the Mousquetaires or Philadelphia Four won the Davis Cup on American soil in 1927, the Stade de France had offered the tennis authorities three hectares of land with the condition that the new stadium must be named after the World War I pilot, Roland Garros. The new Stade de Roland Garros, and its Center Court hosted that Davis Cup challenge, during World War II the tournament was held from 1941 through 1945 on the same grounds but these editions are not recognized by the French governing body, Fédération Française de Tennis. From 1946 through 1947, the French Championships were held after Wimbledon, in 1968, the French Championships became the first Grand Slam tournament to go open, allowing both amateurs and professionals to compete. Since 1981, new prizes have been presented, the Prix Orange, the Prix Citron, in another novelty, since 2006 the tournament has begun on a Sunday, featuring 12 singles matches played on the three main courts. Additionally, on the eve of the opening, the traditional Benny Berthet exhibition day takes place
9.
The Championships, Wimbledon
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The Championships, Wimbledon, commonly known simply as Wimbledon, is the oldest tennis tournament in the world, and is widely considered the most prestigious. It has been held at the All England Club in Wimbledon, London, Wimbledon is one of the four Grand Slam tennis tournaments, the others being the Australian Open, the French Open and the US Open. Since the Australian Open shifted to hardcourt in 1988, Wimbledon is the only major still played on grass. The tournament takes place two weeks in late June and early July, culminating with the Ladies and Gentlemens Singles Final. Five major, junior, and invitational events are each year. Wimbledon traditions include a dress code for competitors and Royal patronage. The tournament is notable for the absence of sponsor advertising around the courts. In 2009, Wimbledons Centre Court was fitted with a roof to lessen the loss of playing time due to rain. The All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club is a club founded on 23 July 1868. Its first ground was off Worple Road, Wimbledon, in 1876, lawn tennis, a game devised by Major Walter Clopton Wingfield a year or so earlier and originally given the name Sphairistikè, was added to the activities of the club. In spring 1877, the club was renamed The All England Croquet and Lawn Tennis Club, a new code of laws, replacing the code administered by the Marylebone Cricket Club, was drawn up for the event. Todays rules are similar except for such as the height of the net and posts. The inaugural 1877 Wimbledon Championship started on 9 July 1877 and the Gentlemens Singles was the event held. It was won by Spencer Gore, an old Harrovian rackets player, about 200 spectators paid one shilling each to watch the final. The lawns at the ground were arranged so that the court was in the middle with the others arranged around it. The name was retained when the Club moved in 1922 to the present site in Church Road, however, in 1980 four new courts were brought into commission on the north side of the ground, which meant the Centre Court was once more correctly defined. The opening of the new No.1 Court in 1997 emphasised the description, by 1882, activity at the club was almost exclusively confined to lawn tennis and that year the word croquet was dropped from the title. However, for reasons it was restored in 1899
10.
US Open (tennis)
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The United States Open Tennis Championships is a hardcourt tennis tournament. The tournament is the version of one of the oldest tennis championships in the world. The US Open is held annually, starting on the last Monday in August, the main tournament consists of five event championships, mens and womens singles, mens and womens doubles, and mixed doubles, with additional tournaments for senior, junior, and wheelchair players. Since 1978, the tournament has played on acrylic hard courts at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in Flushing Meadows–Corona Park, Queens. The US Open is owned and organized by the United States Tennis Association, net proceeds from ticket sales, sponsorships, and television deals are used to promote the development of tennis in the United States. The US Open is the only Grand Slam that employs tiebreakers in every set of a match, the first edition was won by Richard Sears, who went on to win seven consecutive singles titles. In the first years of the U. S. National Championship only men competed and this was followed by the introduction of the U. S. Womens National Doubles Championship in 1899 and the U. S. The womens tournament used a system from 1888 through 1918. This view was opposed by another group of players which included eight former national singles champions, the contentious issue was brought to a vote at the annual USNLTA meeting on February 5,1915 and with 128 votes in favor and 119 against it was decided to relocate. From 1921 through 1923, the tournament was played at the Germantown Cricket Club in Philadelphia and it returned to Forest Hills in 1924 following the completion of the newly constructed 14,000 seat concrete Forest Hills Stadium. Though regarded unofficially by many as a major championship beforehand, the tournament was officially designated as one of the tournaments by the ILTF commencing in 1924. At the 1922 U. S. National Championships the draw for the first time included seeded players in order to avoid leading players drawing against each other in the early rounds. Open era The open era began in 1968 when all five events were merged into the US Open, the 1968 combined tournament was open to professionals for the first time. That year,96 men and 63 women entered the event, from 1970 to 1974 the US Open used a best-of-nine point, sudden death tiebreaker before moving to the ITF best-of-twelve point system. In 1973 the US Open became the first Grand Slam tournament to award equal prize money to men and women with that years singles champions John Newcombe, another US Open innovation came in 1975 when floodlights enabled night play for the first time. In 1978 the tournament moved from the West Side Tennis Club, Forest Hills, Queens to the larger USTA National Tennis Center in Flushing Meadows, Queens, three miles to the north. In the process, the tournament switched the court surface from clay, jimmy Connors is the only individual to have won US Open singles titles on all three surfaces, while Chris Evert is the only woman to win on two surfaces. The US Open is the only Grand Slam tournament that has played every year since its inception
11.
2008 Davis Cup
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The 2008 Davis Cup was the 97th edition of the most important tournament between national teams in mens tennis. Sixteen teams participated in the World Group and more than one hundred others took part in different regional groups, the first matches were played on February 8–10. The final took place on November 21–23 at Estadio Polideportivo Islas Malvinas, Mar del Plata, Argentina, with Spain beating Argentina 3-1 to clinch their 3rd Davis Cup title. Date, 19–21 September The eight losing teams in the World Group first round ties, eight seeded teams, based on the Davis Cup rankings as of 14 April, were drawn against eight unseeded teams. Austria, Israel, Romania, and Serbia will remain in the World Group in 2009, chile, Croatia, Netherlands and Switzerland are promoted to the World Group in 2009. Australia, Brazil, India and Slovakia will remain in Zonal Group I in 2009, belgium, Great Britain, Peru and South Korea are relegated to Zonal Group I in 2009. S
12.
Serbian language
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Serbian is the standardized variety of the Serbo-Croatian language mainly used by Serbs. It is the language of Serbia and one of the three official languages of Bosnia and Herzegovina. In addition, it is a minority language in Montenegro, Croatia, Macedonia, Romania, Hungary, Slovakia. Standard Serbian is based on the most widespread dialect of Serbo-Croatian, Shtokavian, which is also the basis of Standard Croatian, Bosnian, the other dialect spoken by Serbs is Torlakian in southeastern Serbia, which is transitional to Macedonian and Bulgarian. Serbian is practically the only European standard language with complete synchronic digraphia, the Serbian Cyrillic alphabet was devised in 1814 by Serbian linguist Vuk Karadžić, who created the alphabet on phonemic principles. The Latin alphabet was designed by Croatian linguist Ljudevit Gaj in 1830, Serbian is a standardized variety of Serbo-Croatian, a Slavic language, of the South Slavic subgroup. Other standardized forms of Serbo-Croatian are Bosnian, Croatian, and Montenegrin and it has lower intelligibility with the Eastern South Slavic languages Bulgarian and Macedonian, than with Slovene. The 2011 census show that 42. 88% still declare Serbian to be their native language, Standard Serbian language uses both Cyrillic and Latin script. Even in official government documents this constitutional requirement is rarely enforced, Serbian is a rare example of synchronic digraphia, a situation where all literate members of a society have two interchangeable writing systems available to them. Media and publishers typically select one alphabet or another, for example, the public broadcaster, Radio Television of Serbia, predominantly uses the Cyrillic script whereas the privately run broadcasters, like RTV Pink, predominantly use the Latin script. A survey from 2014 showed that 47% of the Serbian population favors the Latin alphabet whereas 36% favors the Cyrillic one and these are the tenses of the indicative mood. Apart from the mood, there is also the imperative mood. The conditional mood has two more tenses, the first conditional and the second conditional, Serbian has active and passive voice. As for the verb forms, Serbian has one infinitive. Most Serbian words are of native Slavic lexical stock, tracing back to the Proto-Slavic language, there are many loanwords from different languages, reflecting cultural interaction throughout history. Notable loanwords were borrowed from Greek, Latin, Italian, Turkish, Hungarian, Russian, Serbian literature emerged in the Middle Ages, and included such works as Miroslavljevo jevanđelje in 1192 and Dušanov zakonik in 1349. In the mid-15th century, Serbia was conquered by the Ottoman Empire, however, some of the greatest literary works in Serbian come from this time, in the form of oral literature, the most notable form being Serbian epic poetry. The epic poems were written down in the 19th century, and preserved in oral tradition up to the 1950s
13.
Serbia
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Serbia, officially the Republic of Serbia, is a sovereign state situated at the crossroads of Central and Southeast Europe, covering the southern part of the Pannonian Plain and the central Balkans. Relative to its territory, it is a diverse country distinguished by a transitional character, situated along cultural, geographic, climatic. Serbia numbers around 7 million residents, and its capital, Belgrade, following the Slavic migrations to the Balkans from the 6th century onwards, Serbs established several states in the early Middle Ages. The Serbian Kingdom obtained recognition by Rome and the Byzantine Empire in 1217, in the early 19th century, the Serbian Revolution established the nation-state as the regions first constitutional monarchy, which subsequently expanded its territory. During the breakup of Yugoslavia, Serbia formed a union with Montenegro which dissolved peacefully in 2006, in 2008 the parliament of the province of Kosovo unilaterally declared independence, with mixed responses from the international community. Serbia is a member of organizations such as the UN, CoE, OSCE, PfP, BSEC. An EU membership candidate since 2012, Serbia has been negotiating its EU accession since January 2014, the country is acceding to the WTO and is a militarily neutral state. Serbia is an income economy with dominant service sector, followed by the industrial sector. The country ranks high on the Social Progress Index as well as the Global Peace Index, relatively high on the Human Development Index, located at the crossroads between Central and Southern Europe, Serbia is found in the Balkan peninsula and the Pannonian Plain. Serbia lies between latitudes 41° and 47° N, and longitudes 18° and 23° E. The country covers a total of 88,361 km2, which places it at 113th place in the world, with Kosovo excluded, the area is 77,474 km2. Its total border length amounts to 2,027 km, all of Kosovos border with Albania, Macedonia and Montenegro are under control of the Kosovo border police. The Pannonian Plain covers the third of the country while the easternmost tip of Serbia extends into the Wallachian Plain. The terrain of the part of the country, with the region of Šumadija at its heart. Mountains dominate the third of Serbia. Dinaric Alps stretch in the west and the southwest, following the flow of the rivers Drina, the Carpathian Mountains and Balkan Mountains stretch in a north–south direction in eastern Serbia. Ancient mountains in the southeast corner of the country belong to the Rilo-Rhodope Mountain system, elevation ranges from the Midžor peak of the Balkan Mountains at 2,169 metres to the lowest point of just 17 metres near the Danube river at Prahovo. The largest lake is Đerdap Lake and the longest river passing through Serbia is the Danube, the climate of Serbia is under the influences of the landmass of Eurasia and the Atlantic Ocean and Mediterranean Sea
14.
Tennis
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Tennis is a racket sport that can be played individually against a single opponent or between two teams of two players each. Each player uses a racket that is strung with cord to strike a hollow rubber ball covered with felt over or around a net. The object of the game is to play the ball in such a way that the opponent is not able to play a valid return, the player who is unable to return the ball will not gain a point, while the opposite player will. Tennis is an Olympic sport and is played at all levels of society, the sport can be played by anyone who can hold a racket, including wheelchair users. The modern game of tennis originated in Birmingham, England, in the late 19th century as lawn tennis and it had close connections both to various field games such as croquet and bowls as well as to the older racket sport of real tennis. The rules of tennis have changed little since the 1890s, two exceptions are that from 1908 to 1961 the server had to keep one foot on the ground at all times, and the adoption of the tiebreak in the 1970s. Tennis is played by millions of players and is also a popular worldwide spectator sport. Historians believe that the ancient origin lay in 12th century northern France. Louis X of France was a player of jeu de paume, which evolved into real tennis. Louis was unhappy with playing tennis outdoors and accordingly had indoor, in due course this design spread across royal palaces all over Europe. Because of the accounts of his death, Louis X is historys first tennis player known by name. Another of the enthusiasts of the game was King Charles V of France. It wasnt until the 16th century that rackets came into use, and the game began to be called tennis, from the French term tenez, an interjection used as a call from the server to his opponent. It was popular in England and France, although the game was played indoors where the ball could be hit off the wall. Henry VIII of England was a big fan of this game, during the 18th century and early 19th century, as real tennis declined, new racket sports emerged in England. This in turn led to the codification of rules for many sports, including lawn tennis, most football codes, lawn bowls. In 1872, along with two doctors, they founded the worlds first tennis club in Leamington Spa. Evans, turfgrass agronomist, Sports historians all agree that deserves much of the credit for the development of modern tennis, according to Honor Godfrey, museum curator at Wimbledon, Wingfield popularized this game enormously
15.
ATP Challenger Tour
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The ATP Challenger Tour, known until the end of 2008 as the ATP Challenger Series, is a series of international mens professional tennis tournaments. The ATP Challenger Tour is administered by the Association of Tennis Professionals, players who succeed on the ATP Challenger Tour earn sufficient ranking points to become eligible for main draw or qualifying draw entry at ATP World Tour tournaments. Players on the Challenge Tour are either young players, those who fail to qualify for ATP events, the first challenger events were held in 1978, with eighteen events taking place. Two were held on the week beginning January 8, one in Auckland, events continued after a one-month hiatus with two begun September 24 and 25, one in Tinton Falls, New Jersey and in Lincoln, Nebraska respectively. The following week saw one event played, in Salt Lake City, a final event was played a month later in Kyoto. In comparison, the 2008 schedule saw 178 events played in more than 40 countries. Hospitality bumps the points distribution up one level and the points to the overall range from 80 points for a $40,000 tournament to 125 points for a $220,000 tournament with hospitality. In contrast, the ATP-level tournaments offer total prize money from $400,000 to over $6 million,250 points would get him a ranking just below 200th, while with 100 points he would get to around 425th, and 50 points would put him just below 600th. So rankings points earned in Challengers can help a player to move up in the rankings quickly, players have usually had success at the Futures tournaments of the ATP Tour before competing in Challengers. In February 2007, Tretorn became the ball of the Challenger Series
16.
ITF Men's Circuit
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The ITF Mens Circuit is a series of professional tennis tournaments held around the world that are organized by the International Tennis Federation. The ITF Mens Circuit represents the lowest rung of the professional tennis ladder. ITF tournaments are incorporated into the ATP rankings, enabling young professionals to progress on to the ATP Challenger Tour, nearly every professional player has spent some time on the ITF Mens Circuit. Originally, the ITF Mens Circuit consisted of satellite tournaments, each of which took place four weeks. Over time, the ratio of Futures tournaments to satellites increased until 2007, Futures tournaments allow for players to win career titles and improve their rankings. Futures are held in both singles and doubles, and last only one week, as of 2017, the prize fund for each tournament is either US$15,000 or US$25,000. Some tournaments also provide housing for participants, Futures usually have sizable qualifying draws, which allow unranked players to enter tournaments and earn ATP ranking points
17.
Montevideo
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Montevideo is the capital and largest city of Uruguay. According to the 2011 census, the city proper has a population of 1,319,108 in an area of 201 square kilometres. The southernmost capital city in the Americas, Montevideo is situated in the southern coast of the country, the city was established in 1724 by a Spanish soldier, Bruno Mauricio de Zabala, as a strategic move amidst the Spanish-Portuguese dispute over the platine region. It was also under brief British rule in 1807, Montevideo hosted all the matches during the first FIFA World Cup. Montevideo is the seat of the headquarters of Mercosur and ALADI, Latin America’s leading trade blocs. Montevideo has consistently rated as having the highest quality of life of any city in Latin America. As of 2010, Montevideo was the 19th largest city economy in the continent, in 2015, it has a GDP of $40.5 billion, and a per capita of $24,400. It is classified as a Beta World City, ranking seventh in Latin America, by 2014, is also regarded as the tenth most gay-friendly city in the world, first in Latin America. It is the hub of commerce and higher education in Uruguay as well as its chief port, the city is also the financial and cultural hub of a larger metropolitan area, with a population of around 2 million. There are several explanations about the word Montevideo, all agree that Monte refers to the Cerro de Montevideo, the hill situated across the Bay of Montevideo, but there is disagreement about the etymological origin of the video part. Monte vide eu is the most widespread belief but is rejected by the majority of experts, who consider it unlikely because it involves a mix of dialects. This is the oldest Spanish document that mentions the promontory with a similar to the one that designates the city. With the passing of time, these words were unified to Montevideo, no conclusive evidence has been found to confirm this academic hypothesis nor can it be asserted with certainty which were the other five mounts observable before the Cerro. Ovidio was the bishop of the Portuguese city of Braga, where he was always revered. Between 1680 and 1683, Portugal founded the city of Colonia do Sacramento in the region across the bay from Buenos Aires and this city met with no resistance from the Spanish until 1723, when they began to place fortifications on the elevations around Montevideo Bay. On 22 November 1723, Field Marshal Manuel de Freitas da Fonseca of Portugal built the Montevieu fort, a Spanish expedition was sent from Buenos Aires, organized by the Spanish governor of that city, Bruno Mauricio de Zabala. There was also one significant early Italian resident by the name of Jorge Burgues, a census of the citys inhabitants was performed in 1724 and then a plan was drawn delineating the city and designating it as San Felipe y Santiago de Montevideo, later shortened to Montevideo. The census counted fifty families of Galician and Canary Islands origin, more than 1000 indigenous, mostly Guaraní, in 1776, Spain made Montevideo its main naval base for the South Atlantic, with authority over the Argentine coast, Fernando Po, and the Falklands
18.
Richard Bloomfield
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Richard Bloomfield is an English professional male tennis player. He turned professional in 2002 and reached a world ranking of 176 in March 2007. Bloomers, as he is known to the world, is from the small Norfolk village of Alpington. Bloomfield won the 2001 British Junior Tennis Championships, defeating Alex Bogdanovic in the final and he also won the equivalent doubles title with Ken Skupski. He played his first senior tennis that year, losing to future French Open finalist Robin Söderling in the draw for the Bolton Challenger. He continued to play doubles and singles on the futures and challenger tours and his first full ATP tournament was the 2003 Wimbledon mens singles as a wild card, in which he lost in the first round to Anthony Dupuis. Arguably his most successful season to date came in 2006, when he reached the round at Wimbledon. Bloomfields unexpected victory was investigated by ATP officials concerned about betting patterns, Bloomfield also won two futures tournaments in 2006, reached the semi-final of Rennes Challenger, losing to Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, and a further three doubles semi-finals of the Challenger tour. Early 2007 saw him reach his first ever Challenger singles final and it was shortly after this that Bloomfield achieved his highest ranking to date of 176. Bloomfield also reached two further doubles Challenger finals and, partnering Jonathan Marray, made the round of the mens doubles at the 2007 Wimbledon Championships. In 2008 he recorded his highest doubles ranking, of 172, bloomfields ranking fell over 2008 and 2009, despite qualifying for the 2008 Artois Championships and the 2009 Open 13, his first successful qualifications for ATP tournaments. Here, Bloomfield achieved his first wins on the ATP Tour since Wimbledon in 2006 and this included a win over world number 56, Santiago Giraldo, before losing to Mardy Fish by a score of 7–6, 6–4. His season finished early, however, when he aggravated his injury during a tournament in France in September 2010. In 2011 Bloomfield continued to play in Futures tournaments, as well as qualifying for two tournaments on the Challenger tour, at the 2011 Championships, however, Bloomfield lost in the first round to Edouard Roger-Vasselin. Subsequently, Bloomfield returned to competing predominantly in the Futures tour, in 2014 he moved to competing on the AEGON British Tour, dropping out of the ATP rankings in 2015 before securing a place in the Wimbledon qualifying draw via the Wild-Card Play-Off competition. Richard Bloomfield at the Association of Tennis Professionals Richard Bloomfield at the International Tennis Federation Official website LTA Profile
19.
Nottingham
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Nottingham is a city and unitary authority area in Nottinghamshire, England, located 128 miles north of London, in the East Midlands. Nottingham has links to the legend of Robin Hood and to the lace-making, bicycle and it was granted its city charter in 1897 as part of Queen Victorias Diamond Jubilee celebrations. Nottingham is a tourist destination, in 2011, visitors spent over £1.5 billion - the thirteenth highest amount in Englands 111 statistical territories. In 2015, Nottingham had an population of 321,550 with the wider urban area. Its urban area is the largest in the east Midlands and the second largest in the Midlands, the population of the Nottingham/Derby metropolitan area is estimated to be 1,610,000. Its metropolitan economy is the seventh largest in the United Kingdom with a GDP of $50. 9bn, the city is also ranked as a sufficiency-level world city by the Globalization and World Cities Research Network. It is also a sporting centre, and in October 2015 was named Home of English Sport. The city also has rugby, ice hockey and cricket teams, and the Aegon Nottingham Open. This accolade came just over a year after Nottingham was named as the UKs first City of Football, on 11 December 2015, Nottingham was named a Unesco City of Literature, joining Norwich, Melbourne, Prague and Barcelona as one of only a handful in the world. The title reflects Nottinghams literary heritage, with Lord Byron, DH Lawrence and it has two universities, the University of Nottingham and Nottingham Trent University, which are attended by over 70,610 students. In modern Welsh it is known poetically as Y Ty Ogofog, when it fell under the rule of a Saxon chieftain named Snot it became known as Snotingaham, the homestead of Snots people. Some authors derive Nottingham from Snottenga, caves, and ham, Nottingham Castle was constructed in 1068 on a sandstone outcrop by the River Leen. Following the Norman Conquest the Saxon settlement developed into the English Borough of Nottingham and housed a Town Hall, a settlement also developed around the castle on the hill opposite and was the French borough supporting the Normans in the castle. Eventually, the space between was built on as the town grew and the Old Market Square became the focus of Nottingham several centuries later, defences, consisted initially of a ditch and bank in the early 12th century. The ditch was later widened, in the mid 13th century, a short length of the wall survives, and is visible at the northern end of Maid Marian Way, and is protected as a Scheduled Monument. On the return of Richard the Lionheart from the Crusades, the Castle was occupied by supporters of Prince John and it was besieged by Richard and, after a sharp conflict, was captured. In the legends of Robin Hood, Nottingham Castle is the scene of the showdown between the Sheriff and the hero outlaw. By the 15th century Nottingham had established itself as a centre of an export trade in religious sculpture made from Nottingham Alabaster
20.
Lleyton Hewitt
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Lleyton Glynn Hewitt AM is an Australian former world no.1 professional tennis player. In November 2001 Hewitt became the youngest male ever to be ranked no.1 in the world in singles, Hewitt reached the final of the 2004 US Open, where he was defeated by Roger Federer in straight sets. Between 1997 and 2016, he contested twenty consecutive Australian Open mens singles tournaments, Hewitt was born in Adelaide, South Australia. His father, Glynn, is a former Australian Rules Football player and his younger sister is Jaslyn Hewitt, a former tennis coach and bodybuilder and his brother-in-law is Rob Shehadie. Lleyton also played Australian Football until the age of 13, when he decided to pursue a tennis career, Hewitt commenced his professional career in 1998. Both Aaron Krickstein winning Tel Aviv in 1983 and Michael Chang winning San Francisco in 1988 were younger than Hewitt when they claimed their first ATP title, Hewitt then left Immanuel College to concentrate on his tennis career. He was an Australian Institute of Sport scholarship holder and he finished his professional tennis career on January 24,2016 after 20 straight Australian Open appearances. His last professional match was against David Ferrer in the second round of the 2016 Australian Open at the Rod Laver Arena on January 21,2016. As a junior Hewitt posted a 44–19 record in singles and reached as high as no.17 in the world in 1997, in 2000, Hewitt reached his first Grand Slam final at the Wimbledon mixed doubles partnering Belgian Kim Clijsters, his then girlfriend. They lost the match, to Americans Kimberly Po and Donald Johnson, at the end of the year, Hewitt became the first teenager in ATP history to qualify for the year-end Tennis Masters Cup. Hewitt started off the 2001 season well by winning the Medibank International in Sydney and this win made Hewitt the most recent player to win a Grand Slam singles and doubles title during his career. The Australian went on to win the Tokyo Open and again qualify for the year-end Tennis Masters Cup held in Sydney, during the tournament, Hewitt won all matches in his group. He then went on to defeat Sébastien Grosjean in the final to take the title, Hewitt won a total of six titles in 2001. The year 2002 was once again a year for Hewitt. He followed his 2001 US Open win by capturing the Wimbledon singles title and his victory reinforced the idea that, although the tournament had tended to be dominated by serve-and-volleyers, a baseliner could still triumph on grass. For his third year, He qualified for the year-end Tennis Masters Cup, held in Shanghai. Hewitts win helped him finish the year as world no.1 for a second straight year, in 2003, Hewitt defeated former world no.1 Gustavo Kuerten for the championship at Indian Wells. But at Wimbledon, as the champion, Hewitt lost in the first round to qualifier Ivo Karlović
21.
Todd Woodbridge
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Todd Andrew Woodbridge, OAM is a retired Australian tennis player. He was born in Sydney and raised in Kogarah Bay by his parents, Kevin and he has two older brothers, Gregory and Warren. He attended Lyneham High School, Canberra, then turned professional in 1988, Woodbridge is best known for his successful Doubles partnerships with Mark Woodforde and later Jonas Björkman. He is among the most successful players of all time, having won 16 Grand Slam mens doubles titles. Additionally, he was a gold medalist with Woodforde at the 1996 Summer Olympics to complete a career Golden Slam, in total he has won 83 ATP doubles titles. Woodbridge reached the World No.1 doubles ranking in July 1992, in 2002, he was inducted into the Australian Institute of Sport Best of the Best. In juniors, Woodbridge made the finals of the Jr Australian Open in 1987 and 1989 and he is best known as one of the top doubles players in the world for most of the 1990s and into the early 2000s. His primary doubles partnerships were first with fellow Australian Mark Woodforde, Woodbridge and Woodforde are often referred to as The Woodies in the tennis world. Woodbridge also had a high singles ranking of 19 after reaching the semifinals of Wimbledon in 1997. He did however have the distinction of being one of the few players to beat Sampras at Wimbledon, the Woodies won a record 61 ATP doubles titles as a team, including 11 Grand Slam events. After Woodforde retired from the tour in 2000, Woodbridge established a partnership with Björkman that resulted in five Grand Slam titles in four years, at the end of 2004, Björkman ended his partnership with Woodbridge. Woodbridge then took on Indias Mahesh Bhupathi as his new partner, coincidentally, Björkman and Mirnyi ended up partnering together. In the 2000 Sydney Olympics, he partnered with Woodforde to reach the final, in the fourth set tie-breaker against Canadians Sébastien Lareau and Daniel Nestor, he served a double fault to lose the match. He was a member of the Australian Davis Cup Team, playing the most ties of any player, according to the ATP website, he finished his career with US$10,095,245 in prize money. In 2006 and 2007, Woodbridge joined the Seven Networks commentary team for the Australian Open and he also became an ambassador for bowel cancer awareness group Lets Beat Bowel Cancer. In 2007, Woodbridge joined the 6th season of Dancing with the Stars, in 2008 and 2009, Woodbridge aligned himself closely to the sailing community through his commitments at Hamilton Island Race Week hosting tennis clinics and wine tasting events. Woodbridge served as the tournament director for the 2009 Australian Open legends event, in January 2010 on Australia day, The Woodies were inducted to the Australian Tennis Hall of Fame for their achievements in tennis. As a part of the ceremony, their bronzed statues were placed with other great Australian tennis players at the Melbourne Park
22.
Lawn Tennis Association
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The Lawn Tennis Association is the national governing body of tennis in Great Britain, the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man. The organisation was founded in 1888 and seven-time Wimbledon champion William Renshaw was elected as its first president, as the governing body, the LTA’s overall purpose is to grow and sustain the sport. The success of British tennis is tracked by five headline measures of success,1, number of members of registered places to play 2. Number of British tennis members 3, number of regularly competing juniors 4. Number of International A Matrix juniors 5, number of players in the top 100. These measures of success gives a snapshot of the impact of work the LTA does. The LTA’s focus is to develop participation growth to more people play tennis. The approach to growing participation is based on investment in four areas,1. Places – Investing in places to play at parks, clubs, schools, people – Supporting the people who make tennis happen, including coaches, volunteers and club officials 3. Programmes – Developing programmes including LTA Mini Tennis, Cardio Tennis and Tennis Xpress 4 and it opened in 2007 and is a focal point for Britains top players. It has 22 courts, player accommodation and a science centre. The NTC has 12 acrylic hard courts,6 clay courts, hard Courts, The NTCs 12 acrylic courts are a GreenSet Grand Prix Acrylic surface. The indoor courts have a sprung timber sub-frame, while the courts are laid directly on asphalt. This GreenSet surface is used at international tournaments including Davis Cup, Fed Cup, WTA. 4 Northern European Clay Courts and 2 FRENCH-COURT synthetic clay courts, grass Courts, The LTA consulted All England Lawn Tennis Club head groundsman Eddie Seaward to advise on the installation of its four outdoor grass courts. The quality and playing characteristics replicate those found at the Wimbledon Championships, along with its 22 tennis courts, the NTC is equipped with a state-of-the-art gymnasium, outdoor sprint track, hydrotherapy, plunge pools and relaxation egg. The NTC has overnight accommodation for up to 54 people, along with a player lounge, the NTC provides services in Performance analysis, fitness, psychology, physiotherapy and rehab, strength and conditioning, medical support and nutrition. The current structure is as follows, Level 1 Coaching Assistant - The Level 1 Coaching Assistant is an introduction to tennis coaching, Level 1’s are qualified to assist accredited coaches in groups of Mini Tennis
23.
Kyle Edmund
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Kyle Edmund is a British professional tennis player, and a Davis Cup champion. He is a top 50 player and the British No.3 behind Andy Murray and he has won two junior Grand Slam doubles titles, at the 2012 US Open and the 2013 French Open, both with Portuguese partner Frederico Ferreira Silva. Edmund was part of the Great Britain team that won the Junior Davis Cup for the first time in 2011. Edmund made his Davis Cup debut in the 2015 final, against Belgium, with Great Britain winning the Davis Cup, the Davis Cup team won the 2015 BBC Sports Personality Team of the Year Award. Edmund was born in South Africa, but moved to Britain when he was three and grew up in the village of Tickton near Beverley, East Yorkshire. Initially cricket and swimming were his main childhood pursuits, but he switched to tennis at 10 after lessons at the David Lloyd Racquet and he was educated at Pocklington School and Beverley Grammar School and by the age of 13 moved to Cannons in Hull to train with John Black. At 14, he moved with John Black to train at Win Tennis, when he was nearly 17, he based himself at the Lawn Tennis Association’s National Training Centre in Roehampton to be coached by Colin Beecher, returning to see his family at weekends. At home, Edmund trains at the Beverley and East Riding Lawn Tennis Club, Kyle Edmund is sometimes referred to as Kedders. Playing in the Great Britain Under 16 boys team, with Evan Hoyt and Luke Bambridge, Great Britain won the Junior Davis Cup tournament for the first time after beating Italy in the final in San Luis Potosí, Mexico. Coached by Greg Rusedski, the team of Edmund, Evan Hoyt, the following year he won his first junior Grand Slam title, at the boys doubles event of the US Open, partnered by Portuguese player Frederico Ferreira Silva. The two defeated Australian duo Nick Kyrgios and Jordan Thompson in the final, after losing the first set, Edmund reached a career high of No.8 in the combined ITF junior rankings in January 2012, reaching at least the quarterfinals of all four junior slams in singles. At the French Open, Edmund and Silva won their second Grand Slam title, defeating Chilean pair Christian Garín, Edmund began on the ITF Futures circuit in April 2010 at the Great Britain F5 in Bournemouth, losing the first qualifier match. It was a year before Edmund played another Futures, again at the Great Britain F5 in Bournemouth, this time as a wild card in the main draw. After playing 18 Futures events, in October Edmund won his first tournament in Birmingham, Alabama, following a wildcard entrance into the tournament, he defeated the world No.82 Kenny de Schepper, ranked 360 places above him, in straight sets. Kyle then lost two sets to world No.17 Gilles Simon, both completed in tie-breaks. At Wimbledon, his first senior appearance at a Grand Slam tournament, he entered five separate tournaments, in the mens singles, he lost in the first round to 24th seed Jerzy Janowicz in straight sets. In the mens doubles, he partnered Jamie Baker, losing in the first round to David Marrero, in the mixed doubles, he partnered fellow teenager Eugenie Bouchard, losing again in the first round to Frederik Nielsen and Sofia Arvidsson, again in straight sets. In December, Andy Murray invited Edmund, James Ward and Ross Hutchins to his camp in Miami
24.
Dan Evans (tennis)
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Daniel Dan Evans is an English professional tennis player, and a Davis Cup Champion. He is a top 50 player and British No.2, in Grand Slam events, Evans reached the fourth round of the 2017 Australian Open after beating seventh-seed Marin Čilić. Evans has made three third round Slam appearances, Evans only ATP Tour final was the 2017 Apia International Sydney losing to Gilles Müller. Evans reached the semifinals of the Zagreb ATP event in 2014 as a lucky loser, Evans made his Davis Cup debut for Great Britain against Poland in September 2009. Evans, twice won deciding fifth rubbers in matches from 2012 and 2013, against Slovakia and Russia respectively, the Davis Cup team was awarded the 2015 BBC Sports Personality Team of the Year Award. Evans is often referred to as Evo. Evans father, David, is an electrician, and his mother Bernadette, a nurse, and he has two older sisters. Evans first played squash with his father, aged seven, at the squash and tennis club. Once Evans had got to grips with his preferred racket it became apparent quickly that he had ability and he began training in earnest. By the time he was 13, Evans had moved to Loughborough to live with a host family while training at the LTA’s academy at Loughborough University. Of his time at Loughborough he said, “I was never the best at 14 and 15, in fact I was probably the worst. I was smaller than the others and a bit of a late developer, Evans was a member of the British team that won the World Junior Tennis competition in the Czech Republic aged 14. Evans was guided by LTA Academy coaches Mark Taylor and Leighton Alfred, in March, Evans won the junior title at Marcq-en-Baroeul, putting him at the top of the European under-16 rankings. The Lawn Tennis Association withdrew him from the Wimbledon junior tournament for being, in his own words, in April, Evans was invited to the Davis Cup tie against the Netherlands, as a hitting partner for Tim Henman and Jamie Murray. In June, Evans had his first win on the ATP tour in the Nottingham qualifier, losing in the second round. In July, Evans first victories on the Futures tour, after seven attempts, were at the Great Britain F11 in Felixstowe, Evans reached the quarterfinals of the US Open boys singles. Evans won a tournament in Paraguay, was a runner-up in the Czech Republic. He also had a year in a doubles partnership with David Rice, winning tournaments in Brazil, Uruguay. Evans was coached by Mark Hilton at the Nottingham Tennis Centre, Evans started the year at the Nottinghill junior tournament, by reaching the singles quarterfinals, and the doubles final partnering Dan Cox
25.
Surbiton Trophy
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The Aegon Surbiton Trophy is a tennis tournament for male and female professional players played on grass courts. The event was held annually in Surbiton, England, from 1997 through 2008 as part of the ATP Challenger Series, in 2009 it was replaced by the Aegon Trophy in Nottingham. In 2015, the event resumed on both the ATP Challenger Tour and ITF Womens Circuit, list of tennis tournaments Official website
26.
Queen's Club Championships
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The Queens Club Championships is an annual tournament for male tennis players, held on grass courts at the Queens Club in West Kensington, London. The event is part of the ATP World Tour 500 series on the Association of Tennis Professionals Tour and it is currently promoted as the Aegon Championships for sponsorship reasons. For many years previously it was known as the Stella Artois Championships, Queens is one of the most prestigious grass court tournaments, as well as one of the oldest Tennis tournaments in the world, and serves as a warm-up for Wimbledon. Andy Roddick and Lleyton Hewitt dominated the tournament in the early 21st century, Andy Murray won a record five titles between 2009 and 2016. Andy Roddick has called the courts at the Queens Club arguably the best in the world, originally known as the London Grass Court Championships, the tournament traces back to 1884 when a tennis tournament was held at the London Athletic Club at Stamford Bridge, Fulham. One year later the tournament was given the title of the London Championships, in 1890, the tournament moved to its current location, the Queens Club and consisted of a mens and womens singles event. In 1903 a mens event was added followed in 1905 by the mixed doubles competition. In 1915 the addition of a doubles event completed the programme. The two World Wars interrupted the tournament from 1915–1918 and 1940–1946, between 1970 and 1989 the Championships were part of the Grand Prix tennis circuit. The womens tournament was discontinued after the 1973 edition and from 1974 until 1976 no mens tournament was held, the event is currently an ATP World Tour 500 series tournament on the Association of Tennis Professionals Tour and was upgraded from a ATP World Tour 250 series in 2015. Andy Murray won the title for a record fifth time. Seven men have won four titles, Major Ritchie, Anthony Wilding, Roy Emerson, John McEnroe, Boris Becker, Lleyton Hewitt. The Queens Club Championships are held every year in June and they start one week after the clay-court French Open and conclude one week before the start of the grass court Wimbledon Championships, which are held just 4 miles away. The equivalent warm-up event for women is the Eastbourne International, although this is one week later. Up to 2014, the break between the French Open and Wimbledon was just two weeks, and the Queens Club Championships started the day after the French Opens mens final and this changed when Wimbledon moved back a week to expand the length of the grass court season. Grass courts are the least common playing surface for top-level events on the ATP World Tour, the 2009 schedule included only four grass court tournaments in the run-up to Wimbledon. They were the Queens Club Championships, Gerry Weber Open, Eastbourne International, an additional tournament is played on grass in Newport, Rhode Island, USA, in the week immediately after Wimbledon. Queens enjoys full coverage on the BBC in the UK, via BBC television, BBC Radio 5 Live and it was shown in High Definition for the first time in 2009
27.
Nottingham Open
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Nottingham Open, officially named for sponsorship reasons Aegon Open Nottingham, is a tennis tournament for men and women held in Nottingham, United Kingdom. The tournament is held in June as a preparation before the third Grand Slam event of the season, the event was previously known as John Player Tournament, John Player Open, Slazenger Nottingham Open, Red Letter Days Open, Samsung Open and 10tele. com Open. Nottingham City Council bosses announced their extreme disappointment at having Nottingham Open removed from the ATP Tour, the event had, according to the council, been partly responsible for stimulating interest in tennis in Nottingham. Roger Draper, the head of the Lawn Tennis Association responded by saying that the changes would introduce tennis to a new audience. It was announced later in 2008 that Nottingham would host a new event, the Aegon Nottingham Challenge, in lieu of The Surbiton Trophy. The new event was an ATP Challenger Series event, one lower than the main ATP Tour. Aegon Nottingham Open – ATP tournament profile Aegon Nottingham Open – WTA tournament profile Aegon Nottingham Open – LTA tournament profile Official website
28.
Dmitry Tursunov
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Dmitry Igorevich Tursunov is a professional Russian tennis player. He was 12 years old when he came to the United States to train, Tursunovs career-high singles ranking is world No. Tursunov is an offensive baseliner with excellent groundstrokes from both sides and prefers to play on faster surfaces, he jokes about his lack of ability and he is sponsored by Fila and Wilson. He helped the Russian Davis Cup team win the 2006 Davis Cup, Tursunov began playing tennis in Moscow at the age of five when his father made him play a few hours a day. He came to the United States to train with Vitaly Gorin, I practiced a few hours a day. My dad realized fairly early that I had a lot of potential, a lot of people criticize him for basically choosing that career for me. He understood that I didn’t have many options to make money and since he really liked tennis and it just happened that I was naturally good at it. Tursunov played his first match in June 1998 against Chris Groer in a Futures event in Los Angeles and won, in 1999, the Russian played in the Futures events in Philippines and United States and was able to reach two semifinals and a quarterfinal. In 2000, he broke a leg in January, which forced him to four months of the season. When he came back, he continued playing in Futures events in the United States and he reached his first Futures final in Haines City, Florida, but lost to Australian Jaymon Crabb. He then won his first Futures title the week, defeating another Australian Peter Luczak. He reached another final in Hattiesburg, Mississippi, losing to Scott Barron and won two more Futures events in Malibu, California over José de Armas and in Scottsdale, Arizona over Stefan Wauters. In 2001, Tursunov won the Futures event in Boca Raton over Jeff Morrison and he continued playing on the Challenger circuit, reaching three quarterfinals, but his form suffered after his impact in Memphis because of what doctors believed was a bulging disk in his back. He returned after two away, and then suffered a stress fracture in his leg. 14 Gustavo Kuertenin five sets, earning his first top 20 win before losing in the round to Xavier Malisse. At the end of 2003, he finished the year ranked in the top 100 for the first time in his career, Tursunov started the season of 2004 losing in the first rounds of 2004 Chennai Open and 2004 Australian Open, but won Waikoloa Challenger over Alejandro Falla. He then reached the quarterfinals of the 2004 Kroger St. Jude losing to Mardy Fish and he then played in his first Masters event but lost in the first rounds of 2004 Pacific Life Open and 2004 NASDAQ-100 Open. He then reached the quarterfinals of 2004 U. S. Mens Clay Court Championships losing to eventual champion Tommy Haas and he then lost in the first round in his next three ATP Tour in the 2004 Torneo Godó,2004 French Open, and 2004 Stella Artois Championships
29.
Max Mirnyi
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Maxim Max Mirnyi is a professional tennis player. Mirnyi became a doubles specialist following his singles career, in which he reached a career-high of World No. At the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, Mirnyi carried the flag of Belarus at the Opening Ceremony on 27 July 2012 and he won 2 mixed doubles grand slams in 1998 along with Serena Williams of United States. In 1998 US Open and 1998 Wimbledon mixed doubles final, he won the grand slams and reached the final of 1999 Australian Open, but lost. In the 2004 Davis Cup, he and Vladimir Voltchkov defeated Russia 3–2 and Argentina 5–0, reaching the semifinals, in 2006, he scored an upset as he took down James Blake 6–4, 3–6, 4–6, 6–1, 6–0, at Wimbledon. That same year, he and Jonas Björkman defeated the Bryan brothers in mens doubles at the French Open, in September 2008, he completed his studies at Belarus State University, where he earned a degree in international law. In 2011, he and Daniel Nestor defeated Juan Sebastián Cabal, in 2012, he and Daniel Nestor defeated the Bryan brothers, both at the Queens Club, UK, and again at the French Open. Max Mirnyi at the Association of Tennis Professionals Max Mirnyi at the International Tennis Federation Max Mirnyi at the Davis Cup Site for Max Mirnyi
30.
Rafael Nadal
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Rafael Rafa Nadal Parera is a Spanish professional tennis player. He is widely regarded as the greatest clay-court player in history and his evolution into an all-court threat has established him as one of the greatest players in tennis history, with some considering Nadal to be the greatest player of all time. Nadal has won 14 Grand Slam singles titles, the 2008 Olympic gold medal in singles,28 titles in ATP World Tour Masters 1000 events and he was also a member of the winning Spain Davis Cup team in 2004,2008,2009, and 2011. In 2010, he became the player in history and youngest of four in the Open Era to achieve the Career Grand Slam at age 24. He is the male player, after Andre Agassi, to complete the singles Career Golden Slam. In 2011, Nadal was named the Laureus World Sportsman of the Year, the left-hander is the sixth player in the Open Era to reach more than 100 finals on the ATP World Tour. Nadal and Mats Wilander are the two male players who have won at least two Grand Slam titles on three different surfaces—hard court, grass, and clay. Nadal holds the record for most consecutive titles at one event after winning his eighth straight Monte-Carlo Masters in 2012 and he is the only player in the open era to achieve such a feat. Nadal is the male player in tennis history to win one Grand Slam. He equalled Guillermo Vilass Open Era record of 49 clay-court titles by winning the Barcelona Open in 2016, Rafael Nadal was born in Manacor, Balearic Islands, Spain. His father, Sebastián Nadal, is a businessman who owns a company and a glass and window company, Vidres Mallorca. His mother is Ana María Parera, a housewife and he has a younger sister named María Isabel. His uncle, Miguel Ángel Nadal, is a professional footballer, who played for RCD Mallorca, FC Barcelona. Nadal supports football clubs Real Madrid and RCD Mallorca, recognizing that Nadal had a natural talent for tennis, another uncle, Toni Nadal, a former professional tennis player, introduced him to tennis when he was three years old. At age eight, Nadal won an under-12 regional tennis championship at a time when he was also a football player. This may be due to the fact he is ambidextrous, playing tennis with his left hand, when Nadal was 12, he won the Spanish and European tennis titles in his age group and was playing tennis and football all the time. Nadals father made him choose between football and tennis so that his work would not deteriorate entirely. Football had to stop straight away, when he was 14, the Spanish tennis federation requested that he leave Mallorca and move to Barcelona to continue his tennis training
31.
Newport, Rhode Island
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Newport is a seaside city on Aquidneck Island in Newport County, Rhode Island, United States. The City of Newport is located approximately 37 miles southeast of Providence,21 miles south of Fall River and it is known as a New England summer resort and famous for its mansions. It was a major 18th-century port city and also contains a number of surviving buildings from the colonial era of the United States. The city is the county seat of Newport County and it was known for being the city of some of the Summer White Houses during the administrations of Presidents Dwight D. Eisenhower and John F. Kennedy. The population was 24,027 as of 2013 and its eight founders and first officers were Nicholas Easton, William Coddington, John Clarke, John Coggeshall, William Brenton, Jeremy Clark, Thomas Hazard, and Henry Bull. They left Portsmouth, Rhode Island after a fallout with Anne Hutchinson. As part of the agreement, Coddington and his followers took control of the side of the island. They were soon joined by Nicholas Easton, who had recently expelled from Massachusetts Bay Colony for holding heretical beliefs. The settlement grew to be the largest of the four settlements of Rhode Island. Many of the first colonists in Newport became Baptists, and the second Baptist congregation in Rhode Island was formed in 1640 under the leadership of John Clarke, peace did not last long in Newport, as many did not like Coddingtons autocratic style. As a result, a counter-faction was formed by 1650, led by Nicholas Easton, Newport became the most important port in colonial Rhode Island, and a public school was established in 1640. In 1658, a group of Jews were allowed to settle in Newport who were fleeing the Inquisition in Spain, the Newport congregation is now referred to as Congregation Jeshuat Israel and is the second-oldest Jewish congregation in the United States. It meets in Touro Synagogue, the oldest standing synagogue in the United States, in 1663, the colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations received its Royal Charter, and Benedict Arnold was elected its first Governor at Newport. The commercial activity which raised Newport to its fame as a port was begun by a second wave of Portuguese Jews who settled there about the middle of the 18th century. They brought with them experience and connections, capital. Most prominent among those were Jacob Rodrigues Rivera who arrived in 1745, Rivera introduced into America the manufacture of sperm oil, which became one of the leading industries and made Newport rich. Newports inhabitants who were engaged in whaling developed 17 manufactories of oil and candles, Aaron Lopez fled to Newport from Lisbon in 1752 and is credited with making Newport an important center of trade. To him in a degree than to any one else was due the rapid commercial development which made Newport for a quarter of a century afterward the most formidable rival of New York
32.
Greg Rusedski
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Gregory Greg Rusedski is a British former tennis player who represented Canada until 1995. He was the British number 1 in 1997,1999 and 2006, in 1997, he was the US Open finalist, which led to him receiving the BBC Sports Personality of the Year Award and the ITV Sports Champion of the Year Award. Also, he scored 30 wins and 13 losses with the Great Britain Davis Cup team, Rusedski was born in Montreal, Quebec, Canada to an English mother and a father born in Germany of Polish and Ukrainian descent. He was a promising junior player in Canada in the 1980s and subsequently caused some anger in Canada when he decided to adopt British citizenship. Rusedski has been with his wife Lucy Connor since 1991, when they met while he was competing in a tournament where she was a ball girl. They married in a Roman Catholic ceremony at Douai Abbey in West Berkshire in December 1999 and they have two children, a daughter born in 2006 and a son born in 2009. Rusedski is an Arsenal football supporter, Rusedskis first career singles tournament title was at the Hall of Fame Championship in Newport, Rhode Island in 1993. Rusedski reached the final of the US Open in 1997. He also won the BBC Sports Personality of the Year Award, in 1998, Tim Henman eclipsed Rusedski as the UK number 1 tennis player. Rusedski, however, won the Grand Slam Cup in 1999, Rusedski was defeated in the second round of Wimbledon in 2005 by Joachim Johansson of Sweden, 6–7, 6–3, 4–6, 6–7. Following that disappointment, Rusedski had a successful July and he defended his title at the Hall of Fame Championship, defeating Vince Spadea in the final. This was the first time he had defended a title. He then reached the semifinals at both the RCA Championships in Indianapolis, losing to Taylor Dent, and the Canada Masters tournament in Montreal, towards the end of 2005, Rusedskis ranking had risen to the high thirties. A poor end to the year by Henman almost allowed Rusedski to overtake him as UK number 1 again. However, a defeat for Rusedski in the first round of the Challenger Event in Dnepropetrovsk, Ukraine, left him ranked 38th, Rusedski finally reclaimed the UK number 1 spot on 15 May 2006, overtaking Andy Murray by getting to the third round of the Rome Masters Event. But Rusedski lost the top UK rankings after an exit at Wimbledon. He announced his retirement immediately after the win during a interview with Sue Barker on BBC Television. Rusedski has stayed involved with tennis in his retirement, and currently works for the Lawn Tennis Association as a talent
33.
Jesse Levine
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Jesse Levine is an American-Canadian former professional tennis player. He achieved his career-high singles rank of world no.69 on October 1,2012, Levine represented the United States from 2007 to 2012, but represented Canada again after 2013. As a 13-year-old, in 2001 Levine won the U. S. Clay Court 14 Nationals singles championship, as a 17-year-old, he won the 2005 Wimbledon boys doubles championship with his doubles partner. Playing one year of no.1 singles as a freshman for the University of Florida in 2007, he lost only one match, finishing his career with a 24–1 record. In June 2009, while representing the United States on tour, he scored his most significant victory to date, the following month he defeated the second top-50 player of his career, world no.48 Philipp Petzschner. His most significant achievement in doubles, was making the finals in the 2009 U. S. Mens Clay Court Championships, Levine was the coach of Madison Keys from December 2015 to May 2016. Levine was born in Ottawa, Ontario, and grew up in Ottawas Centrepointe neighborhood and his father Nathan had played tennis for Penn State. Jesse attended Hillel Academy of Ottawa, off the court Levine, who is Jewish, keeps kosher at home, and he plays with a Star of David on his chain. He can read and write Hebrew, Levine, along with Dudi Sela, Shahar Peer, Sharon Fichman, and Camila Giorgi is one of a number of young Jewish tennis players who are highly ranked. I have a lot of contact with the Israeli players, like Ram, Erlich, Sela and they sometimes ask me when I will play for Israel in the Davis Cup, he said. He also appreciates the Jewish fans who cheer for him, at one tournament, they cheered and shouted out encouragement such as, Come on, man, your opponent hasnt even had his bar mitzvah yet. As a youth, Levine took tennis lessons at the Ottawa Athletic Club and he and his family moved to Florida in the US when he was 13 years old, because his younger brother Daniel suffers from ulcerative colitis and the year-round warm weather was much better for him. Levine currently resides in Boca Raton, Florida and he said in 2009 that he at that point considered himself 100% American, saying that if he were to play Davis Cup, it would be for the US. In 2001 he defeated Donald Young in the final of the U. S. Clay Court 14 Nationals and he was trailing 0–5 in the final set when he came back for the win. In 2003 he won the USTA boys 16s doubles championship with partner Jean Yves Aubone, and he finished the year ranked 11th in the USTA boys 16 division. In 2004 he won the Eddie Herr International Boys 18s doubles championship with Michael Shabaz, at the 2005 USTA Junior Nationals, where he lost in the singles semifinals and doubles finals, both 7–6 in the third set, he was judged to have the best service return. He won the 2005 Wimbledon boys doubles championship along with Michael Shabaz over Samuel Groth of Australia, if you believe in yourself anything can happen, said Levine. He also reached the quarterfinals of the Junior Wimbledon boys singles tournament that year, Levine was selected to go to the 2005 Maccabiah Games just after winning the doubles, but decided against it as he was too tired
34.
George Bastl
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George Edward Bastl is a former professional tennis player from Switzerland. Bastl was an All-American at the University of Southern California and he achieved a career-high singles ranking of World No.71 in May 2000 and reached one ATP Tour singles final at Tashkent in 1999. Bastl had only been in the draw of 2002 Wimbledon as a lucky loser. He subsequently lost in the round to eventual runner-up David Nalbandian. Bastl teamed up with Roger Federer in the doubles at the US Open in 2002. They got to the round before being knocked out by Wayne Black. He was the first player to be beaten by Andy Murray in the draw of a Grand Slam tournament, at Wimbledon in 2005, with Murray winning 6–4. Bastl and Chris Guccione beat Andy Ram and Jonathan Erlich in doubles 7–5, official website George Bastl at the Association of Tennis Professionals George Bastl at the International Tennis Federation George Bastl at the Davis Cup
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Great Britain
Wesley Moodie
Gaël Monfils
Michal Mertiňák
Danai Udomchoke
Simone Bolelli
Janko Tipsarević
Mischa Zverev
Zack Fleishman
Frédéric Niemeyer
Ivan Dodig
Arnau Brugués Davi
Matheson Klein