1.
2015 Wimbledon Championships
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The 2015 Wimbledon Championships was a Grand Slam tennis tournament which took place at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club in Wimbledon, London, United Kingdom, from 29 June to 12 July 2015. They were organised by the All England Lawn Tennis Club and the International Tennis Federation, novak Djokovic of Serbia won his third Wimbledon title in mens singles, defending his championship from 2014. Petra Kvitová of the Czech Republic was the champion in womens singles. Serena Williams won her sixth Wimbledon and 21st major title, defeating first-time finalist Garbiñe Muguruza in the final and she also achieved her second non-calendar year Grand Slam after winning the 2014 US Open,2015 Australian Open and 2015 French Open. The 2015 Wimbledon Championships was the 129th edition of the tournament and was held at All England Lawn Tennis, the tournament was an event run by the International Tennis Federation and is part of the 2015 ATP World Tour and the 2015 WTA Tour calendars under the Grand Slam category. The tournament consisted of mens and womens singles and doubles draws as well as a mixed doubles event. The tournament was played on courts and took place over a series of 19 courts, including the four main showcourts, Centre Court, No.1 Court, No.2 Court. Below is a series of tables for each of the showing the ranking points on offer for each event. The Wimbledon total prize money for 2015 has been increased by 7% to £26. 75m, the winners of the mens and womens singles titles will earn £1. 88m, up £120,000 from the previous year. The figures for doubles events are per pair,2015 Wimbledon Championships – Mens Singles 2015 Wimbledon Championships – Womens Singles Seedings were announced on Wednesday,24 June 2015. Add 100% points earned for all grass court tournaments in the past 12 months, add 75% points earned for best grass court tournament in the 12 months before that. Rank and points before in the table are as of 29 June 2015. Because the tournament takes place one week later than in 2014, seeds are based on the WTA rankings as of 22 June 2015. Rank and points before in the table are as of 29 June 2015. Because the tournament takes place one week later than in 2014,1 Rankings are as of 29 June 2015. The following players received wild cards into the main draw senior events, roger Federer, 7–6, 6–7, 6–4, 6–3 Prior to the finals, the two had faced off 39 times, with Federer having won the most matches 20-19. At the time of the finals Djokovic was ranked No.1 and this encounter was their third meeting in a Grand Slam final, when the last two previous were split between the two at the 2007 US Open and 2014 Wimbledon Championships. Federer got the first break of serve in the match, during the first set, yet Djokovic quickly broke back leveling the match, the second set was a closely fought affair, but was decided to Federers edge in the tiebreak
2.
Israel
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Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in the Middle East, on the southeastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea and the northern shore of the Red Sea. The country contains geographically diverse features within its small area. Israels economy and technology center is Tel Aviv, while its seat of government and proclaimed capital is Jerusalem, in 1947, the United Nations adopted a Partition Plan for Mandatory Palestine recommending the creation of independent Arab and Jewish states and an internationalized Jerusalem. The plan was accepted by the Jewish Agency for Palestine, next year, the Jewish Agency declared the establishment of a Jewish state in Eretz Israel, to be known as the State of Israel. Israel has since fought several wars with neighboring Arab states, in the course of which it has occupied territories including the West Bank, Golan Heights and it extended its laws to the Golan Heights and East Jerusalem, but not the West Bank. Israels occupation of the Palestinian territories is the worlds longest military occupation in modern times, efforts to resolve the Israeli–Palestinian conflict have not resulted in peace. However, peace treaties between Israel and both Egypt and Jordan have successfully been signed, the population of Israel, as defined by the Israel Central Bureau of Statistics, was estimated in 2017 to be 8,671,100 people. It is the worlds only Jewish-majority state, with 74. 8% being designated as Jewish, the countrys second largest group of citizens are Arabs, at 20. 8%. The great majority of Israeli Arabs are Sunni Muslims, including significant numbers of semi-settled Negev Bedouins, other minorities include Arameans, Armenians, Assyrians, Black Hebrew Israelites, Circassians, Maronites and Samaritans. Israel also hosts a significant population of foreign workers and asylum seekers from Africa and Asia, including illegal migrants from Sudan, Eritrea. In its Basic Laws, Israel defines itself as a Jewish, Israel is a representative democracy with a parliamentary system, proportional representation and universal suffrage. The prime minister is head of government and the Knesset is the legislature, Israel is a developed country and an OECD member, with the 35th-largest economy in the world by nominal gross domestic product as of 2016. The country benefits from a skilled workforce and is among the most educated countries in the world with one of the highest percentage of its citizens holding a tertiary education degree. The country has the highest standard of living in the Middle East and the third highest in Asia, in the early weeks of independence, the government chose the term Israeli to denote a citizen of Israel, with the formal announcement made by Minister of Foreign Affairs Moshe Sharett. The names Land of Israel and Children of Israel have historically used to refer to the biblical Kingdom of Israel. The name Israel in these phrases refers to the patriarch Jacob who, jacobs twelve sons became the ancestors of the Israelites, also known as the Twelve Tribes of Israel or Children of Israel. The earliest known artifact to mention the word Israel as a collective is the Merneptah Stele of ancient Egypt. The area is known as the Holy Land, being holy for all Abrahamic religions including Judaism, Christianity, Islam
3.
Modi'in-Maccabim-Re'ut
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Modiin-Maccabim-Reut is an Israeli city located in central Israel, about 35 kilometres southeast of Tel Aviv and 30 kilometres west of Jerusalem, and is connected to those two cities via Highway 443. In 2015 the population was 88,749, the name Modiin derives from the village Modiim of the high priest Mattathias and his five sons, which was located in the same area as the modern city. The name Maccabim is Hebrew for the Maccabees and is a nickname given to Mattathias. In Ancient Israel, a town named Modiin existed in the area the modern city is located in. It was the place of origin of the Jewish Hasmonean dynasty that ruled Judea in the 1st and 2nd centuries BCE, Ancient Jewish artifacts believed to date to the Hasmonean and First Temple periods have been found in the area. Modern Modiin is located near the site of the ancient Modiin described in the Talmud, possibilities are Suba, Umm el-Umdan near Route 20 to Canada Park and Latrun, al-Midya, and Khirbet el-Burj. The towns were united into Maccabim-Reut in 1990, the cornerstone of Modiin was laid in 1993. It was built as a planned city with high standards of urban planning. Environmental issues and future growth were taken into consideration from the design stages. Large greenspaces were incorporated into the layout and comprise 50% of the area within the city limits. The city was opened for residency in 1996, in 2003, the Israeli Interior Ministry unified the Modiin and Maccabim-Reut into a single city. Modiin has become a magnet for Jerusalem residents displeased with the capitals growing Haredi character, thousands of residents of Rosh HaAyin, Lod, and Ramla have also relocated to Modiin. In 2008, it was decided to cap the growth of Modiin to allow for the development of Lod, the city was planned by the well-known architect Moshe Safdie. Modiin has attracted a community of Olim from English speaking countries. The original city of Modiin is laid out around a central hub, each side of the artery is a one-way street, and in between is a wide green space, with linear parks, playgrounds, schools, and some small commercial centers. Short lateral stubs fed by continuous-flow intersection turn lanes allow drivers to traverse the green spaces and these stubs also serve as the entranceways for the schools and mini-malls, preventing parking traffic from blocking the high-speed, left lanes of the arteries. The right shoulders of most arteries do, however, allow parking, except in the pullouts for bus stops, next to fire hydrants, the city center is a large traffic circle punctuated by traffic lights. The traffic circle straddles a major northeast-southwest artery, HaHashmonaim Blvd and this keeps most of the commercial traffic out of the city proper, so that the two arteries between the city and its industrial zone carry primarily commuters rather than trucks
4.
Jerusalem
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Jerusalem is a city located on a plateau in the Judaean Mountains between the Mediterranean and the Dead Sea. It is considered a city in the three major Abrahamic religions of Judaism, Christianity and Islam. During its long history, Jerusalem has been destroyed at least twice, besieged 23 times, attacked 52 times, the part of Jerusalem called the City of David was settled in the 4th millennium BCE. In 1538, walls were built around Jerusalem under Suleiman the Magnificent, today those walls define the Old City, which has been traditionally divided into four quarters—known since the early 19th century as the Armenian, Christian, Jewish, and Muslim Quarters. The Old City became a World Heritage Site in 1981, and is on the List of World Heritage in Danger, Modern Jerusalem has grown far beyond the Old Citys boundaries. These foundational events, straddling the dawn of the 1st millennium BCE, the sobriquet of holy city was probably attached to Jerusalem in post-exilic times. The holiness of Jerusalem in Christianity, conserved in the Septuagint which Christians adopted as their own authority, was reinforced by the New Testament account of Jesuss crucifixion there, in Sunni Islam, Jerusalem is the third-holiest city, after Mecca and Medina. As a result, despite having an area of only 0, outside the Old City stands the Garden Tomb. Today, the status of Jerusalem remains one of the issues in the Israeli–Palestinian conflict. During the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, West Jerusalem was among the captured and later annexed by Israel while East Jerusalem, including the Old City, was captured. Israel captured East Jerusalem from Jordan during the 1967 Six-Day War and subsequently annexed it into Jerusalem, one of Israels Basic Laws, the 1980 Jerusalem Law, refers to Jerusalem as the countrys undivided capital. All branches of the Israeli government are located in Jerusalem, including the Knesset, the residences of the Prime Minister and President, the international community does not recognize Jerusalem as Israels capital, and the city hosts no foreign embassies. Jerusalem is also home to some non-governmental Israeli institutions of importance, such as the Hebrew University. In 2011, Jerusalem had a population of 801,000, of which Jews comprised 497,000, Muslims 281,000, a city called Rušalim in the Execration texts of the Middle Kingdom of Egypt is widely, but not universally, identified as Jerusalem. Jerusalem is called Urušalim in the Amarna letters of Abdi-Heba, the name Jerusalem is variously etymologized to mean foundation of the god Shalem, the god Shalem was thus the original tutelary deity of the Bronze Age city. The form Yerushalem or Yerushalayim first appears in the Bible, in the Book of Joshua, according to a Midrash, the name is a combination of Yhwh Yireh and the town Shalem. The earliest extra-biblical Hebrew writing of the word Jerusalem is dated to the sixth or seventh century BCE and was discovered in Khirbet Beit Lei near Beit Guvrin in 1961. The inscription states, I am Yahweh thy God, I will accept the cities of Judah and I will redeem Jerusalem, or as other scholars suggest, the mountains of Judah belong to him, to the God of Jerusalem
5.
United States dollar
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The United States dollar is the official currency of the United States and its insular territories per the United States Constitution. It is divided into 100 smaller cent units, the circulating paper money consists of Federal Reserve Notes that are denominated in United States dollars. The U. S. dollar was originally commodity money of silver as enacted by the Coinage Act of 1792 which determined the dollar to be 371 4/16 grain pure or 416 grain standard silver, the currency most used in international transactions, it is the worlds primary reserve currency. Several countries use it as their currency, and in many others it is the de facto currency. Besides the United States, it is used as the sole currency in two British Overseas Territories in the Caribbean, the British Virgin Islands and Turks and Caicos Islands. A few countries use the Federal Reserve Notes for paper money, while the country mints its own coins, or also accepts U. S. coins that can be used as payment in U. S. dollars. After Nixon shock of 1971, USD became fiat currency, Article I, Section 8 of the U. S. Constitution provides that the Congress has the power To coin money, laws implementing this power are currently codified at 31 U. S. C. Section 5112 prescribes the forms in which the United States dollars should be issued and these coins are both designated in Section 5112 as legal tender in payment of debts. The Sacagawea dollar is one example of the copper alloy dollar, the pure silver dollar is known as the American Silver Eagle. Section 5112 also provides for the minting and issuance of other coins and these other coins are more fully described in Coins of the United States dollar. The Constitution provides that a regular Statement and Account of the Receipts and that provision of the Constitution is made specific by Section 331 of Title 31 of the United States Code. The sums of money reported in the Statements are currently being expressed in U. S. dollars, the U. S. dollar may therefore be described as the unit of account of the United States. The word dollar is one of the words in the first paragraph of Section 9 of Article I of the Constitution, there, dollars is a reference to the Spanish milled dollar, a coin that had a monetary value of 8 Spanish units of currency, or reales. In 1792 the U. S. Congress passed a Coinage Act, Section 20 of the act provided, That the money of account of the United States shall be expressed in dollars, or units. And that all accounts in the offices and all proceedings in the courts of the United States shall be kept and had in conformity to this regulation. In other words, this act designated the United States dollar as the unit of currency of the United States, unlike the Spanish milled dollar the U. S. dollar is based upon a decimal system of values. Both one-dollar coins and notes are produced today, although the form is significantly more common
6.
Women's Tennis Association
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The Womens Tennis Association, founded in 1973 by Billie Jean King, is the principal organizing body of womens professional tennis. It governs the WTA Tour which is the professional tennis tour for women. Its counterpart organization in the professional game is the Association of Tennis Professionals. Rosie Casals won this first event, the WTAs corporate headquarters is in St. Petersburg, Florida, with its European headquarters in London and its Asia-Pacific headquarters in Beijing. The Open Era, in professional players are allowed to compete alongside amateurs. The first open tournament was the British Hard Court Championships in Bournemouth, at the first Open Wimbledon the prize fund difference was 2.5,1 in favour of men. Billie Jean King won £750 for taking the title while Rod Laver won £2,000, the total purses of both competitions were £14,800 for men and £5,680 for women. Confusion also reigned as no one knew how many open tournaments there were supposed to be, the tournaments that did not want to provide prize money eventually faded out of the calendar, including the U. S. Eastern Grass Court circuit with stops at Merion Cricket Club and Essex county club, There were two professional tennis circuits in existence at the start of the Open Era, World Championship Tennis, which was for men only, and the National Tennis League. Ann Jones, Rosie Casals, Françoise Dürr, and Billie Jean King joined NTL, King was paid $40,000 a year, Jones was paid $25,000, and Casals and Durr were paid $20,000 each. The group played established tournaments such as the US Open and Wimbledon, but the group also organised their own tournaments, playing in the south of France for two months. By the 1970s the pay differential had increased, King said Promoters were making more money. Male tennis players were making more money, everybody was making more money except the women. In 1969, ratios of 5,1 in terms of pay between men and women were common at smaller tournaments, by 1970 these figures had increased to up to 12,1. In 1970 Margaret Court won the Grand Slam and received only a $15,000 bonus, the low point in womens pay inequality came before the US Open in 1970. The Pacific Southwest Championships directed by Jack Kramer, had announced a 12,1 ratio in the prize money difference between males and females would win. The tournament would not take place until after the US Open, several female players contacted Gladys Heldman, publisher of World Tennis Magazine, and stated that they wanted to boycott the event. While she advised against it, she created the 1970 Houston Womens Invitation for nine women players
7.
International Tennis Federation
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The International Tennis Federation is the governing body of world tennis, wheelchair tennis, and beach tennis. It was founded in 1913 as the International Lawn Tennis Federation by twelve national associations, the ITF partners with the Womens Tennis Association and the Association of Tennis Professionals to govern professional tennis. The ITF sanctions the Grand Slam tennis tournaments as well as circuits which span age ranges as well as disciplines, in addition to these circuits, the ITF also maintains rankings for juniors, seniors, wheelchair, and beach tennis. Duane Williams, an American who lived in Switzerland, is recognized as the initiator. Three other countries could not attend but had requested to become a member, voting rights were divided based on the perceived importance of the individual countries with Great Britains Lawn Tennis Association receiving the maximum six votes. France received permission to stage the World Hard Court Championships until 1916, the USLTA joined in 1923 on the basis of two compromises, the title World Championships would be abolished and wording would be for ever in the English language. In 1924, the ILTF became the officially recognised organisation with authority to control lawn tennis throughout the world, in 1939 the ILTF had 59 member nations. Its funds were moved to London, England during World War II and it was based at Wimbledon until 1987, when it moved to Barons Court, next door to Queens Club. It then moved again in 1998 to the Bank of England Sports Ground, Roehampton, in 1977 the word Lawn was dropped from the name of the organization, in recognition of the fact that most tennis events were no longer played on grass. Its official annual is The ITF Year, describing the activities of the ITF over last 12 months and this replaced World of Tennis, which was the ITF official annual from 1981 through 2001. In addition it publishes an official magazine ITFWorld three times a year, as of 2016, there are 211 national associations affiliated with the ITF, of which 148 are voting members and 63 are associate members. For example, France garners 12 votes, Canada has 9, Egypt has 5, Pakistan has 3, regional associations were created in July 1975 as six supra-national associations with the aim to decrease the gap between the ILTF and the national associations. Candidates are nominated by the associations, and may serve up to twelve years. The ITF is the governing body for the sport of tennis. By its own constitution, the ITF guarantees that the official Rules of Tennis shall be for ever in the English language, a committee within the ITF periodically makes rule amendment recommendations to the Board of Directors. The Rules of Tennis encompass the manner of play and scoring, in-game coaching, the Rules cover tennis, wheelchair tennis, and beach tennis. Through the Tennis Anti-Doping Program, the ITF implements the World Anti-Doping Code for tennis, National associations must implement the code within its national jurisdiction, report violations up to the ITF and WADA, and report annually about all testing conducted. The Tennis Anti-Doping Program began in 1993, and applies to all players who play in ITF-sanctioned competitions, as well as tournaments on the ATP Tour and WTA Tour
8.
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
9.
2007 Australian Open
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The 2007 Australian Open was a Grand Slam tennis tournament held in Melbourne, Australia from 15 January until 28 January 2007. The total prize pool was set at exactly A$20 million, with the winners of both the mens and womens singles competition each receiving A$1,281,000, over 500 players competed in 2007. The main draw for singles and doubles was released on Friday 12 January 2007, in Mixed Doubles, the scoring system was changed. Should both teams in a match become one set a piece, a tie break will take part in the final set where the first team to score ten points wins the match. If the score for the tie break becomes 9–9, a difference by two is required to win the game. This was the first time that the tournament used the Hawk-Eye system in an official line-calling capacity, players were given the opportunity to challenge a human line call if they believed it to be incorrect, by having Hawk-Eye confirm or overrule the original call. The system was installed on one court being used for the tournament. At the beginning of a set, the players were given the opportunity to incorrectly challenge a maximum of two line calls during the set. Players received an incorrect challenge during a tiebreak. The players regained both challenges at the beginning of set and also after every 12 games in the final deciding set. Unused challenges did not carry over when this happened, an additional aspect to the new system was that a video replay screen was installed inside the arena for the first time, to display the results of the challenges. The screen also allowed the spectators to view instant replays that could only be seen by the television audience. The brawl reportedly developed after fans taunted each other with nationalist slogans, the two opposing groups were ejected out separate exits and escorted away from the venue in opposite directions by police. No arrests were made, and no charges were laid against any of the participants, greece, Serbia. and We must support our Orthodox brothers. A Croatian supporter suffered minor injuries in the brawl after being hit with a Serbian flagpole. People wearing Croatian or Serbian national colours were refused entry. Police in Victoria said that sort of behaviour was never seen in the tournament before. Heat in excess of 40 degrees Celsius on Day 2 caused the Extreme Heat Policy to be implemented, most daytime matches were delayed, and matches continued on outside courts till 3. 30am the following morning
10.
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
11.
2006 French Open
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The 2006 French Open was a tennis tournament that took place on the outdoor clay courts at the Stade Roland Garros in Paris, France from May 28 to June 11,2006. It was the 105th staging of the French Open, and the second of the four Grand Slam tennis events of 2006 and this edition made history as it became the first Grand Slam tournament to start on a Sunday. It was the 2nd time since 1985 that all top 4 seeds reached the semi-finals in the singles of a Grand Slam tournament. This did not happen again until the same tournament 5 years later, both defending champions, Rafael Nadal and Justine Henin-Hardenne, retained their titles. Rafael Nadal defeated Roger Federer, 1–6, 6–1, 6–4, 7–6 It was Nadals 2nd career Grand Slam title, Justine Henin-Hardenne defeated Svetlana Kuznetsova, 6–4, 6–4 It was Henin-Hardennes 3rd title of the year, and her 26th overall. It was her 5th career Grand Slam title, and her 3rd French Open title
12.
2007 French Open
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The 2007 French Open was held in Paris, France from 27 May through to 10 June 2007. Rafael Nadal became the first man to win the tournament 3 times consecutively since Björn Borg, 1978–81, Justine Henin also equaled Monica Seles record of three consecutive wins. This was the third year that Rafael Nadal and Justine Henin won the French Open singles titles. Most of the matches were canceled due to rain. Serena Williams and Justine Henin both won on the womens side, marat Safin won his match, and was the 2007 French Opens first victor. Other winners include Dinara Safina, Tamira Paszek, Potito Starace, most of the day was again canceled due to rain. However, Venus Williams, Michaëlla Krajicek and Nikolay Davydenko were amongst that days winners, the third day saw almost the entire mens draw completed, with only seven of 64 matches yet to play. The top half of the singles draw also completed their action. The Americans struggled, only two of the eleven Americans in action are still in the tournament, one of nine men, the only American woman to advance was Shenay Perry, who survived a loss of the first set against Olivia Sanchez. The other American man still in the tournament was Robby Ginepri and he split sets with Diego Hartfield before play was suspended. Spanish players enjoyed the opposite fortune, with six of eight men, ernests Gulbis, who became the first Latvian man in the main draw of a Grand Slam, saw off Britains only representative, Tim Henman. The longest match of the singles draw was Philipp Kohlschreibers clash with Lukáš Dlouhý where the fifth set was eventually taken by Kohlschreiber. Eight male seeds left the tournament, Andy Roddick lost 6–3, Fernando González lost 2–6, 2–6, 4–6 to former top ten player Radek Štěpánek. James Blake lost 6–4, 4–6, 5–7, 5–7 to Ivo Karlović, dominik Hrbatý lost 2–6, 7–5, 7–6, 4–6, 3–6 to Czech qualifier Bohdan Ulihrach. Robin Söderling retired after being a set and 1–4 down in the set to Albert Montañés. Agustín Calleri lost in four sets to lucky loser Mariano Zabaleta 4–6, 7–6, julien Benneteau lost in four to Carlos Berlocq. Florian Mayer lost to Paul-Henri Mathieu in straight sets, also, the injured Russian eleventh seed Nadia Petrova went out 5–7, 7–5, 0–6 to Květa Peschke. Nicole Vaidišová and Jelena Janković defeated their opponents in straight sets, tenth seed Tomáš Berdych failed to turn his overnight two-set deficit against Guillermo García-López, and became the ninth mens seed to bow out in the first round
13.
2010 French Open
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The 2010 French Open was a tennis tournament played on outdoor clay courts. It was the 109th edition of the French Open, and the second Grand Slam event of the year and it took place at the Stade Roland Garros in Paris, France, from 23 May through 6 June 2010. Roger Federer and Svetlana Kuznetsova were the defending champions, Federer lost to Robin Söderling in the quarterfinals, while Kuznetsova lost to Maria Kirilenko in the third round. The 2010 French Open also featured the return of four-time champion Justine Henin, who retired immediately before the 2008 French Open, Mens Singles Womens Singles In the Mens singles many of seeded players made it through led by 2009 finalist Robin Söderling, Mikhail Youzhny and Marin Čilić. While Jo-Wilfried Tsonga was pushed to the limit by German Daniel Brands as he came through 7–5 in the fifth. Tsonga was joined by compatriots Édouard Roger-Vasselin, Josselin Ouanna and Julien Benneteau who upset 23rd seed Ernests Gulbis 6–4, 6–2, in the Womens side 6th seed and defending champion Svetlana Kuznetsova cruised through the first round with a 6–3, 6–1 victory of Sorana Cîrstea. She was joined by 2nd seed Venus Williams, Madrid champion Aravane Rezaï, Nadia Petrova, Flavia Pennetta, Maria Kirilenko, rome champion María José Martínez Sánchez was also upset by Akgul Amanmuradova. He was joined by Indian Wells champion Ivan Ljubičić, Miami finalist Tomáš Berdych, Stanislas Wawrinka, John Isner, while World no.3 Novak Djokovic, last years semifinalist Fernando González, Gaël Monfils and Victor Hănescu all won in 4. While world no.4 Andy Murray took on Richard Gasquet and won 4–6, 6–7, 6–4, 6–2, 29th seed Spaniard Nicolás Almagro also needed five sets to defeat Robin Haase. The upsets of the day saw Spanish clay courters Feliciano López, in the Womens draw 6 of the top 8 seeds were in action and all won. The field was led by World no.1 Serena Williams who beat Stefanie Vögele 7–6 and she was joined by Caroline Wozniacki, Jelena Janković, Elena Dementieva, Samantha Stosur and Agnieszka Radwańska. Other seeds Li Na, Kateryna Bondarenko, Alisa Kleybanova and Lucie Šafářová who defeated Jelena Dokić all won in straight sets, while Francesca Schiavone and Alona Bondarenko come back from a set down to get to the second round. Seeds out, Mens Singles, Feliciano López, Tommy Robredo Schedule of Play Day 3 of action was led by 4-time champion, Nadal was joined by fellow Spaniards 7th seed Fernando Verdasco, 16th seed Juan Carlos Ferrero, 9th seed David Ferrer and Pere Riba. Other seeds who went through were German Philipp Kohlschreiber, Austrian Jürgen Melzer and former world no.1 Lleyton Hewitt. While 6th seed Andy Roddick who was playing his first match in clay of the season needed 5 sets to get past Jarkko Nieminen 6–2, 4–6, 4–6, 7–6, upsets were not avoided as two seeds fell in 4. As 18th seed Sam Querrey lost to comaptriot Robby Ginepri and 26th seed clay courter Juan Mónaco was upset by Grega Žemlja. In the Womens Singles almost all seeds got through in straight sets led by Justine Henin who beat Tsvetana Pironkova 6–4, 6–3 and she was joined by unseeded compatriots Kirsten Flipkens and Yanina Wickmayer, as well as Russians Maria Sharapova, Vera Zvonareva and Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova. Other seeds Daniela Hantuchová, Shahar Peer, Zheng Jie and Frenchwoman Marion Bartoli all won, the second major upset of the tournaments came at the cost of 2 time finalist Dinara Safina who was upset by 39-year-old Kimiko Date-Krumm 3–6, 6–4, 7–5
14.
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
15.
2008 Wimbledon Championships
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The 2008 Wimbledon Championships was a tennis tournament played on grass courts. It was the 122nd edition of the Wimbledon Championships, and the third Grand Slam event of the year and it took place at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club in Wimbledon, London, England, United Kingdom, from 23 June to 6 July 2008. Spanish player Rafael Nadal won the first Wimbledon title of his career, Nadal defeated five-time defending champion Roger Federer in the final in what many regard as the greatest tennis match of all time. In the womens singles, Venus Williams claimed her fifth title, the performances of Britons Andy Murray in the mens singles and Laura Robson in the girls singles were able to arouse significant interest from the home crowd. Following the completion of the 2007 Championships, the new fixed roof was put in place, the retractable section of the new roof was completed for the 2009 Championships. Roger Federer, 6–4, 6–4, 6–7, 6–7, 9–7 It was Rafael Nadals 6th title of the year and it was his 2nd Grand Slam title of the year, his 5th overall, and his first Wimbledon title. Serena Williams, 7–5, 6–4 It was Venus Williamss 1st title of the year and it was her 7th Grand Slam title overall, her 5th win at the event, and her 2nd consecutive one. Daniel Nestor / Nenad Zimonjić def. Jonas Björkman / Kevin Ullyett, 7–6, 6–7, Lisa Raymond / Samantha Stosur, 6–2, 6–2 Bob Bryan / Samantha Stosur def. Mike Bryan / Katarina Srebotnik, 7–5, 6–4 Grigor Dimitrov def, henri Kontinen, 7–5, 6–3 Laura Robson def. Noppawan Lertcheewakarn, 6–3, 3–6, 6–1 Cheng-peng Hsieh / Tsung-hua Yang def, matt Reid / Bernard Tomic, 6–4, 2–6, 12–10 Polona Hercog / Jessica Moore def. Isabella Holland / Sally Peers, 6–3, 1–6, 6–2 Donald Johnson / Jared Palmer def, jacco Eltingh / Paul Haarhuis, walkover Ken Flach / Robert Seguso def. Jeremy Bates / Anders Järryd, 7–6, 6–7, 10–7 Jana Novotná / Kathy Rinaldi def, martina Navratilova / Helena Suková, 5–7, 6–3, 10–5 Robin Ammerlaan / Ronald Vink def. An official said, If you look at a tournament, you see one match for £23,000, one for £27,000, one for £36,000. It doesn’t take a genius to work out something is going on in the last one. Betting on Wimbledon matches was popular in 2007, with over £420m wagered on bets, to help deal with any potential gambling problems, the All England Club restricted access to players changing rooms this year, allowing only the player and their coach permission. It was hoped that this would make communication between gamblers and players more difficult, the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club, the sport club that plays host to the Championships, came under fire from animal activists for using marksmen to shoot down dive-bombing pigeons. The marksmen were hired by the All England Club and, armed with rifles, shot several birds. When the media broke the story on Monday, a spokesman for the All England Club defended the approach, saying that, The hawks are our first line of deterrent
16.
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
17.
2007 US Open (tennis)
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The 2007 US Open was held from 27 August to 9 September 2007, at USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center at Flushing Meadows, New York City. Roger Federer successfully defended his title, becoming the first man in the era to win four consecutive US Open titles. Maria Sharapova was unsuccessful in defending her 2006 title, being upset in the round by 18-year-old Agnieszka Radwańska of Poland. Justine Henin, the runner-up to Sharapova in 2006, won her second US Open title and it was the second Grand Slam she won in the year without losing a set, having also won the 2007 French Open earlier in the year. It was also her last grand slam title, player of the day can be found here http, //www. usopen. org/en_US/news/playerday/index. html Day 1, Donald Young for winning his first Grand Slam match over Chris Guccione. Day 2, Arnaud Clément for defeating someone over a foot taller than him, Day 3, Robby Ginepri for showing older form in his match against Olivier Rochus, winning a set in only 20 minutes. Day 4, Andy Murray for winning a five set match against Jonas Björkman, Day 5, Ana Ivanovic for playing superb tennis in her matches and not dropping a set. Day 6, Agnieszka Radwańska for causing the upset of the tournament in defeating defending womens singles champion Maria Sharapova, Day 7, David Ferrer for staying strong to defeat David Nalbandian. Day 8, Shahar Peer for becoming the first Israeli player to make the quarterfinals of the US Open, Day 9, Carlos Moyà for, despite his age, reaching the US Open quarterfinals in a match where he displayed his veteran style of play. Day 10, Anna Chakvetadze for reaching the first Grand Slam semifinal of her career, Day 11, Victoria Azarenka for winning the mixed doubles title. Day 12, Svetlana Kuznetsova for reaching her second US Open final, Day 13, Novak Djokovic for reaching his and Serbias first Grand Slam final. Day 14, Roger Federer for winning his 12th career Grand Slam, Rafael Nadal, seeded and ranked second, was tested by Alun Jones, who broke him in the first set before Nadal came back to break back and take the set 7-5. Jones, however, won the second set 6-3, and Nadal, more at ease, Donald Young won his first Grand Slam match against Chris Guccione in four sets. Fernando Verdasco rallied in coming from two sets down to defeat Paul-Henri Mathieu, the 22nd seed, Verdasco was ahead 5-1 in the third set and 5-3 in the final set. He won a game and thus match in the fifth set. Daniela Hantuchová lost 6-4, 3-6, 6-1 to Julia Vakulenko, teymuraz Gabashvili defeated #7 Fernando González in round 1 in 5 sets, having let sets 3 and 4 slip away, before rebounding 6-4 in the 5th. Ahsha Rolle continued her run at the 2007 US Open after coming from a set, James Blake defeated Fabrice Santoro 6-4, 3-6, 6-2, 4-6, 6-4 to achieve his first ever victory in a match that went to 5 sets, having gone 0-9 previously. He saved 3 break points at 4-4 in the final set, Novak Djokovic defeated Radek Štěpánek in five sets, where neither player won a set with a score of 6 games—Djokovic won the match 6-7, 7-6, 5-7, 7-5, 7-6
18.
Tennis at the Summer Olympics
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After two appearances as a demonstration sport in 1968 and 1984, it returned as a full medal sport at the 1988 Summer Olympics and has been played at every edition of the Games since then. In 1896,1900,1904,1988, and 1992, in all other years, a playoff match for the bronze medal was staged. A player who wins an Olympic gold medal and all four Grand Slam events is said to have won a Golden Slam, the playing surface of the court varies between Olympic Games. It has been on court for every game since 1984 except for the 1992 Olympics. The changing playing surface gives certain players different advantages and disadvantages not seen in most other Olympic sports, = demonstration event List of Olympic venues in tennis Tennis at the Mediterranean Games Tennis at the Pan American Games List of Olympic medalists in tennis Olympic Tennis Event website
19.
2008 Australian Open
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The 2008 Australian Open was a tennis tournament played on outdoor hard courts. It was the 96th edition of the Australian Open, and the first Grand Slam event of the year and it took place at the Melbourne Park in Melbourne, Australia, from 14 through 27 January 2008. After twenty years of playing on Rebound Ace, the courts were changed to Plexicushion, the new surface is thinner, and therefore has lower heat retention. This decision was made in a bid to reduce the stick of the court, however, the new surface faced criticism for being too similar to DecoTurf, the surface used at the U. S. Open. Player reaction to the change of surface was generally ambivalent, for the mixed doubles, in every game, the first team to score four points, wins the game. In other words, should a deuce happen in a game, Rebound Ace was also chastised by Lleyton Hewitt for having an inconsistent bounce, in terms of height and pace, and claimed that these factors varied depending on the weather. The heat retention of the surface had also been a point of contention between players, in announcing the change, Tiley said Plexicushion would have a lower rubber content than Rebound Ace, was firmer under foot and retained less heat through its thinner top layer. Tiley later said that the change of colour, from green to blue, would also benefit players and officials, although this change was quite arbitrary. S. Bull also said that the inconsistencies in pace were down to the organizers imperative, bull, however, conceded that a change was needed, and said that the suggestion of a Rebound Ace court with a rubber mat thickness of around 5 mm was made. The Plexicushion surface received a mixed reception from players. Lleyton Hewitt, Justine Henin and Serena Williams were all keen to endorse the new courts, Henin called it a good surface but said she did not find it markedly distinguishable from Rebound Ace, saying the biggest difference was the change of colour. Williams claimed that the court was not as bouncy and was causing less physical strain on her feet, one source of criticism from players was the slower than expected pace, although many of these comments came prior to the events commencement. Players were exposed to the new courts through other tournaments, played in advance of the Open, Roger Federer described it as slow, with Novak Djokovic, Jelena Janković and James Blake all corroborating this opinion, albeit from experience in preliminary tournaments. Pundit and former World No.1 Pat Rafter said it was possible that the courts would speed up in time, on 21 December 2007, organizers of the event announced that the tournament would be watched under the scrutiny of anti-corruption officials. A partnership was formed with Victoria Police, tennis Australia chief executive Steve Wood commented that, Match-fixing and illegal gambling are a threat to the integrity of sport. Were putting our policies, procedures and programme in place to protect it and this announcement came six days prior to the start of the Open, on 8 January 2008. The match, in progress at the Margaret Court Arena, was suspended for ten minutes as the police attempted stop the offensive chanting, approximately forty supporters, heavily outnumbered by Chilean fans, were warned of their disorderly conduct prior to the police deploying pepper spray. The police regiment was heavily outnumbered, with a BBC Radio employee commenting that, tournament officials said that 3 people had been sprayed and 5 evicted, a small proportion of the Greek fans left the arena, upset at how events were transpiring and fearing for their safety
20.
2008 French Open
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The 2008 French Open was a tennis tournament played on outdoor clay courts. It was the 107th edition of the French Open, and the second Grand Slam event of the year and it took place at the Stade Roland Garros in Paris, France, from May 25 through June 8,2008. Justine Henin did not defend her trophy due to her retirement from the sport on May 14, Ana Ivanovic, the runner-up to Henin in 2007, won the Womens Singles. On the mens side, Rafael Nadal won the Mens Singles, other competitions included men and womens doubles, junior singles and doubles as well as wheelchair and veteran competitions. Despite undergoing a poor run in the 2008 season, Henin was still considered to be a favourite for the French Open crown. 1, and become the top seed for the tournament, henins last match was against Dinara Safina, who went on to have a successful French Open, reaching the final, where she was beaten by Ana Ivanovic. Henin returned at the end of the tournament, and presented new champion Ana Ivanovic with the trophy. This tournament saw the worst performance by any of the Williams sisters at a Grand Slam tournament since the 2006 Australian Open and her third round exit was her worst performance at the tournament since 1999, when she also fell in the third round. Williams had said prior to the French Open that she had enjoyed her best preparation since winning the event in 2002, entering the tournament, she had won 23 matches and lost just two for the season. The 2008 French Open saw the last appearance on the ATP Tour of former World No.1 Gustavo Guga Kuerten. The 31-year-old Brazilian champion, had awarded a wild card to play his final tournament in Roland-Garros. Kuerten played his first round, and final match on Court Philippe Chatrier against eighteenth-seeded Paul-Henri Mathieu. Kuerten conceded the victory in straight sets after a less than two hours on the court. A ceremony followed, where Kuerten was awarded a trophy encasing the multiple layers of the French Opens clay courts, Kuerten played his last match in the mens doubles with Sébastien Grosjean. The pair was defeated three sets by Florin Mergea & Horia Tecău on the score of 5–7, 6–3, 6–1. The Prix Citron was obtained by Fabrice Santoro, who preceded Novak Djoković, Maria Sharapova, Serena Williams, the Prix Bourgeon was given by the press to Alizé Cornet, ahead of Janko Tipsarević and Ernests Gulbis. Gustavo Kuerten, already the recipient of three Prix Orange in 1998,2002, and 2004, was presented a special prize for fair-play, in honor of his career. The Sunday start saw several seeds in the field go out, with Nicole Vaidišová losing to compatriot Iveta Benešová
21.
2010 US Open (tennis)
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The tournament was initially going to finish with Mens Singles final on September 12, but was postponed due to rain on the last day and just before the mens tournament final. In the previous two years the tournament was postponed because of weather. Juan Martín del Potro and Kim Clijsters were the defending champions, del Potro, due to a wrist injury, opted not to defend his title. Clijsters successfully defended her title with a score of 6–2, 6–1 in the final against Vera Zvonareva, Maria Sharapova recorded her 100th Grand Slam match victory with a 6–0, 6–0 defeat of wildcard Beatrice Capra in the third round. Kim Clijsters became the first woman since Venus Williams in 2000–1 to successfully defend her US Open title, the final lasted just under one hour with Clijsters winning 6–2, 6–1. Rafael Nadal defeated Novak Djokovic 6–4, 5–7, 6–4, 6–2 in the mens final, three-time champion and World No.1 Serena Williams officially announced her withdrawal from the US Open on 20 August due to foot surgery. 1 missed a Grand Slam tournament and the first time in the WTAs 35-year rankings history that the World No.1 missed the US Open. Other notable withdrawals included two-time champion Justine Henin, as well as defending champion Juan Martín del Potro, Tommy Haas, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, Ivo Karlović. Venus Williams, Maria Sharapova, Ana Ivanovic, Kim Clijsters and John Isner had all been in doubt after suffering injuries during lead-up tournaments. In a second match played in 40-degree heat, Belarusian 10th seed Victoria Azarenka collapsed whilst trailing Gisela Dulko 1–5 in the first set. Her second round retirement represented her worst ever performance at Flushing Meadows and it was also the second time she was forced to retire from a match at a Major, when she retired in near identical circumstances against Serena Williams at the 2009 Australian Open. The mens tournament was known for the excellent performances of Spanish players. Of the sixteen Spaniards that started in the 128-man draw, six of them reached the round, Rafael Nadal, Fernando Verdasco, Tommy Robredo, David Ferrer, Feliciano López. There were two fourth round matches, guaranteeing two Spaniards in the quarter-finals, Nadal vs. López and Ferrer vs. Verdasco. Mens Singles Womens Singles Day 1, Andy Roddick - Roddick advanced to the round of the US Open with a 6–3. Day 2, Beatrice Capra - The young wild card entrant defeated Karolina Šprem 6–1, 6–3, Day 3, Ryan Harrison - The 18-year-old qualifier ousted 15th-seeded Ivan Ljubičić in a hard-fought match, 6–3, 6–7, 6–3, 6–4. Day 4, Kei Nishikori - The qualifier, and only Japanese player in the draw, upset 11th-seeded Marin Čilić in a grueling five-hour match, 5–7, 7–6, 3–6, 7–6. Day 5, Sergiy Stakhovsky - The Pilot Pen champion fought past a rain delay, a crowd
22.
Hebrew language
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Hebrew is a language native to Israel, spoken by over 9 million people worldwide, of whom over 5 million are in Israel. Historically, it is regarded as the language of the Israelites and their ancestors, the earliest examples of written Paleo-Hebrew date from the 10th century BCE. Hebrew belongs to the West Semitic branch of the Afroasiatic language family, Hebrew is the only living Canaanite language left, and the only truly successful example of a revived dead language. Hebrew had ceased to be a spoken language somewhere between 200 and 400 CE, declining since the aftermath of the Bar Kokhba revolt. Aramaic and to a lesser extent Greek were already in use as international languages, especially among elites and it survived into the medieval period as the language of Jewish liturgy, rabbinic literature, intra-Jewish commerce, and poetry. Then, in the 19th century, it was revived as a spoken and literary language, and, according to Ethnologue, had become, as of 1998, the language of 5 million people worldwide. After Israel, the United States has the second largest Hebrew-speaking population, with 220,000 fluent speakers, Modern Hebrew is one of the two official languages of the State of Israel, while premodern Hebrew is used for prayer or study in Jewish communities around the world today. Ancient Hebrew is also the tongue of the Samaritans, while modern Hebrew or Arabic is their vernacular. For this reason, Hebrew has been referred to by Jews as Leshon Hakodesh, the modern word Hebrew is derived from the word Ivri, one of several names for the Israelite people. It is traditionally understood to be a based on the name of Abrahams ancestor, Eber. This name is based upon the root ʕ-b-r meaning to cross over. Interpretations of the term ʕibrim link it to this verb, cross over, in the Bible, the Hebrew language is called Yәhudit because Judah was the surviving kingdom at the time of the quotation. In Isaiah 19,18 it is called the Language of Canaan, Hebrew belongs to the Canaanite group of languages. In turn, the Canaanite languages are a branch of the Northwest Semitic family of languages, according to Avraham ben-Yosef, Hebrew flourished as a spoken language in the Kingdoms of Israel and Judah during about 1200 to 586 BCE. Scholars debate the degree to which Hebrew was a vernacular in ancient times following the Babylonian exile. In July 2008 Israeli archaeologist Yossi Garfinkel discovered a ceramic shard at Khirbet Qeiyafa which he claimed may be the earliest Hebrew writing yet discovered, dating around 3000 years ago. The Gezer calendar also dates back to the 10th century BCE at the beginning of the Monarchic Period, classified as Archaic Biblical Hebrew, the calendar presents a list of seasons and related agricultural activities. The Gezer calendar is written in an old Semitic script, akin to the Phoenician one that through the Greeks, the Gezer calendar is written without any vowels, and it does not use consonants to imply vowels even in the places where later Hebrew spelling requires it
23.
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
24.
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
25.
Victoria Azarenka
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Victória Fyódorovna Azárenka is a Belarusian professional tennis player. She is a former world No.1 and is currently world No.48 as of 21 March 2017 and she has won two Australian Open singles titles, becoming the only Belarusian player, male or female, to win a Grand Slam singles title. On July 31,1989, Azarenka was born in Minsk, Byelorussian SSR, Soviet Union to Alla and she has an elder brother Max. Azarenkas tennis idol is German former player Steffi Graf, in an interview, Azarenka stated, Grafs Calendar Golden Slam in 1988 is my biggest motivation. At age 15, Azarenka moved to Scottsdale, Arizona, United States, from Minsk, Belarus, in this she was aided by National Hockey League goalie Nikolai Khabibulin and his wife, who is a friend of Azarenkas mother. In 2012 she moved to Monaco and in August 2013 she bought a new house in Los Angeles, Azarenka is fluent in Belarusian, Russian, and English and has some handling of French and Ukrainian. In 2011 she briefly considered a break from the sport of tennis to focus on education, however, after a conversation with her grandmother and it is the inspiration from her grandmother that is regarded as the key for her continued developments in the sport. Azarenka has spoken openly about her experience of depression during her absence from professional tennis in 2014. Azarenka and her boyfriend, Billy McKeague have one son, Leo, Azarenka debuted on the ITF junior tour in November 2003 in Israel, winning one doubles title with countrywoman Olga Govortsova. At Wimbledon, Azarenka reached the semifinals of the competition, only to be defeated by eventual runner-up Ana Ivanovic. She continued to participate in ITF tournaments in 2004, and at the end of the season she had a rank of 508 on WTA singles tour, Azarenka had a successful year in 2005, winning two junior Grand Slams, the Australian and US championships. She ended the season as the junior world No.1 and was named the 2005 World Champion by the ITF, in addition, she reached her first semifinal on the main tour in Guangzhou, China. She went from the draw of the tournament to the main draw. At the 2006 Wimbledon Championships Azarenka lost in 1st round to 2005 Junior Wimbledon and 2006 Junior French Open Champion and Wildcard Agnieszka Radwańska. 2006 US Open, she had her first win over Myskina in the first round, in her next tournament, Azarenka reached her second pro-level semifinal in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, losing to Sun Tiantian. She finished the year reaching the final of an ITF event in Pittsburgh,96, Azarenka began the year by playing two tournaments in Australia. She lost in the round of qualifying at the Moorilla Hobart International. At the Australian Open, Azarenka reached the round of a Grand Slam singles tournament for the second consecutive time
26.
Fed Cup
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Fed Cup is the premier international team competition in womens tennis, launched in 1963 to celebrate the 50th Anniversary of the International Tennis Federation. The competition was known as the Federation Cup until 1995, the Fed Cup is the worlds largest annual womens international team sports competition, in terms of the number of nations that compete. The mens equivalent of the Fed Cup is the Davis Cup, Australia, Czech Republic and the United States are the only countries that have held both the Fed Cup and Davis Cup at the same time. Dating back to 1919, Hazel Hotchkiss Wightman came up with the idea for a team tennis competition. Although rejected, she went ahead and presented a trophy at the 1923 annual contest between the United States and Great Britain, named the Wightman Cup, nell Hopman, wife of the legendary Australian Davis Cup Captain Harry Hopman, later took up Mrs. Wightmans original idea. 40 years after Wightmans idea of a womens Davis Cup, it become a reality, in 1963, the ITF launched the Federation Cup to celebrate its 35th anniversary. Open to all nations the competition became a resounding success, the inaugural event attracted 16 countries. The competition was supported by the top players right from the start, held at the Queens Club, in London, the first contest was between Australia and the United States. Grand Slam champions Darlene Hard, Billie Jean King, Margaret Smith, the United States would emerged the champion nation in the opening year, however it was to be Australia in the early years, winning seven of the next eleven championships. Around 1980 the United States was able to some significant mark on the competition setting in future years a very high standard for others to compete against. The first Federation Cup had attracted 16 entry teams, despite no prize money, when sponsorship became available, the number of teams expanded dramatically, first by the Colgate Group in 1976, and, from 1981 to 1994 by the Japanese communications and computer giant NEC. The additional costs of each event could be offset with the host nations viewing their involvement as providing an opportunity to boost their national game. Regional qualifying competitions emerged in time for the 1992 and, in 1995, the home-and-away format trialled by the Davis Cup, was adopted for the Fed Cup so that women, could play for their country in their own country. Three regional groups compete and there are promotions and demotions based on results, while many nations enter the Fed Cup each year, only 16 countries qualify for the elite World Group and World Group II each year. They reach World Group and World Group II as follows, World Group - the four nations that win their World Group first round tie remain in the World Group for the following year. First round losers contest the World Group Play-offs against the four winning nations from World Group II to determine relegation/promotion for the years competition. World Group II - the four nations that win their World Group II ties will compete in the World Group I Play-Offs to determine relegation/promotion for the following year, as described above. Similarly the four nations that lose their World Group II ties will face winning nations from Group I Zonal competitions, in the World Group II Play-offs, once in the World Group or World Group II, four nations will be seeded in each
27.
South Africa
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South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa, is the southernmost country in Africa. South Africa is the 25th-largest country in the world by land area and it is the southernmost country on the mainland of the Old World or the Eastern Hemisphere. About 80 percent of South Africans are of Sub-Saharan African ancestry, divided among a variety of ethnic groups speaking different Bantu languages, the remaining population consists of Africas largest communities of European, Asian, and multiracial ancestry. South Africa is a multiethnic society encompassing a variety of cultures, languages. Its pluralistic makeup is reflected in the recognition of 11 official languages. The country is one of the few in Africa never to have had a coup détat, however, the vast majority of black South Africans were not enfranchised until 1994. During the 20th century, the black majority sought to recover its rights from the dominant white minority, with this struggle playing a role in the countrys recent history. The National Party imposed apartheid in 1948, institutionalising previous racial segregation, since 1994, all ethnic and linguistic groups have held political representation in the countrys democracy, which comprises a parliamentary republic and nine provinces. South Africa is often referred to as the Rainbow Nation to describe the multicultural diversity. The World Bank classifies South Africa as an economy. Its economy is the second-largest in Africa, and the 34th-largest in the world, in terms of purchasing power parity, South Africa has the seventh-highest per capita income in Africa. However, poverty and inequality remain widespread, with about a quarter of the population unemployed, nevertheless, South Africa has been identified as a middle power in international affairs, and maintains significant regional influence. The name South Africa is derived from the geographic location at the southern tip of Africa. Upon formation the country was named the Union of South Africa in English, since 1961 the long form name in English has been the Republic of South Africa. In Dutch the country was named Republiek van Zuid-Afrika, replaced in 1983 by the Afrikaans Republiek van Suid-Afrika, since 1994 the Republic has had an official name in each of its 11 official languages. Mzansi, derived from the Xhosa noun umzantsi meaning south, is a name for South Africa. South Africa contains some of the oldest archaeological and human fossil sites in the world, extensive fossil remains have been recovered from a series of caves in Gauteng Province. The area is a UNESCO World Heritage site and has termed the Cradle of Humankind
28.
1948 Palestine war
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However, Jordanian operations were limited to specific and clearly defined objectives. Egypt, Syria and Iraq by contrast, attempted an invasion of the territory of the newly created State of Israel with the intention of expunging it. Transjordan took control of the remainder of the Palestinian mandate, which it annexed, with Jordan occupying the West Bank and Egypt occupying Gaza, no state was created for the Palestinian Arabs. Dramatic demographic changes accompanied the war in the country, around 700,000 Palestinian Arabs fled or were expelled from the area that became Israel, and they became Palestinian refugees. Due to the war, around 10,000 Jews fled or were expelled from their homes in Palestine and these Jewish refugees were absorbed into Israel in the One Million Plan. Israelis usually mark the anniversary of their independence on the 5th of Iyar of the Hebrew Calendar, the Yishuv managed to clandestinely amass arms and military equipment abroad for transfer to Palestine once the British blockade was lifted. In Western Europe, Haganah agents amassed fifty 65mm French mountain guns, twelve 120mm mortars, ten H-35 light tanks, the airborne arms smuggling missions from Czechoslovakia were codenamed Operation Balak. The airborne smuggling missions were carried out by mostly American aviators – Jews and non-Jews – led by ex-U. S, air Transport Command flight engineer Al Schwimmer. Schwimmer’s operation also included recruiting and training fighter pilots such as Lou Lenart and this was an attempt to resolve the Arab-Jewish conflict by partitioning Palestine into Independent Arab and Jewish States and the Special International Regime for the City of Jerusalem. Each state would comprise three sections, the Arab state would also have an enclave at Jaffa in order to have a port on the Mediterranean. With about 32% of the population, the Jews were allocated 56% of the territory and it contained 499,000 Jews and 438,000 Arabs and a majority of it was in the Negev desert. The Palestinian Arabs were allocated 42% of the land, which had a population of 818,000 Palestinian Arabs and 10,000 Jews, the Jewish leadership accepted the partition plan as the indispensable minimum, glad to gain international recognition but sorry that they did not receive more. The Arabs rejected the partition, not because it was supposedly unfair and they upheld that the rule of Palestine should revert to its inhabitants, in accordance with the provisions of the Charter of the United Nations. According to Article 73b of the Charter, the UN should develop self-government of the peoples in a territory under its administration. In the immediate aftermath of the UNs approval of the partition plan, soon after, violence broke out and became more prevalent. Murders, reprisals, and counter-reprisals came fast upon each other, the sanguinary impasse persisted as no force intervened to put a stop to the escalating violence. During this period the Jewish and Arab communities of British Mandate clashed, while the British organized their withdrawal and intervened only on an occasional basis. In the first two months of the Civil War, around 1,000 people were killed and 2,000 people injured, and by the end of March, the figure had risen to 2,000 dead and 4,000 wounded
29.
Maccabim
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Modiin-Maccabim-Reut is an Israeli city located in central Israel, about 35 kilometres southeast of Tel Aviv and 30 kilometres west of Jerusalem, and is connected to those two cities via Highway 443. In 2015 the population was 88,749, the name Modiin derives from the village Modiim of the high priest Mattathias and his five sons, which was located in the same area as the modern city. The name Maccabim is Hebrew for the Maccabees and is a nickname given to Mattathias. In Ancient Israel, a town named Modiin existed in the area the modern city is located in. It was the place of origin of the Jewish Hasmonean dynasty that ruled Judea in the 1st and 2nd centuries BCE, Ancient Jewish artifacts believed to date to the Hasmonean and First Temple periods have been found in the area. Modern Modiin is located near the site of the ancient Modiin described in the Talmud, possibilities are Suba, Umm el-Umdan near Route 20 to Canada Park and Latrun, al-Midya, and Khirbet el-Burj. The towns were united into Maccabim-Reut in 1990, the cornerstone of Modiin was laid in 1993. It was built as a planned city with high standards of urban planning. Environmental issues and future growth were taken into consideration from the design stages. Large greenspaces were incorporated into the layout and comprise 50% of the area within the city limits. The city was opened for residency in 1996, in 2003, the Israeli Interior Ministry unified the Modiin and Maccabim-Reut into a single city. Modiin has become a magnet for Jerusalem residents displeased with the capitals growing Haredi character, thousands of residents of Rosh HaAyin, Lod, and Ramla have also relocated to Modiin. In 2008, it was decided to cap the growth of Modiin to allow for the development of Lod, the city was planned by the well-known architect Moshe Safdie. Modiin has attracted a community of Olim from English speaking countries. The original city of Modiin is laid out around a central hub, each side of the artery is a one-way street, and in between is a wide green space, with linear parks, playgrounds, schools, and some small commercial centers. Short lateral stubs fed by continuous-flow intersection turn lanes allow drivers to traverse the green spaces and these stubs also serve as the entranceways for the schools and mini-malls, preventing parking traffic from blocking the high-speed, left lanes of the arteries. The right shoulders of most arteries do, however, allow parking, except in the pullouts for bus stops, next to fire hydrants, the city center is a large traffic circle punctuated by traffic lights. The traffic circle straddles a major northeast-southwest artery, HaHashmonaim Blvd and this keeps most of the commercial traffic out of the city proper, so that the two arteries between the city and its industrial zone carry primarily commuters rather than trucks
30.
Israel Defense Forces
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The Israel Defense Forces, commonly known in Israel by the Hebrew acronym Tzahal, are the military forces of the State of Israel. They consist of the forces, air force, and navy. It is the military wing of the Israeli security forces. The IDF is headed by its Chief of General Staff, the Ramatkal, subordinate to the Defense Minister of Israel, Lieutenant general Gadi Eizenkot has served as Chief of Staff since 2015. The number of wars and border conflicts in which the IDF has been involved in its history makes it one of the most battle-trained armed forces in the world. The Israel Defense Forces differs from most armed forces in the world in many ways, differences include the mandatory conscription of women and its structure, which emphasizes close relations between the army, navy, and air force. Since its founding, the IDF has been designed to match Israels unique security situation. The IDF is one of Israeli societys most prominent institutions, influencing the economy, culture. In 1965, the Israel Defense Forces was awarded the Israel Prize for its contribution to education, the Uzi submachine gun was invented in Israel and used by the IDF until December 2003, ending a service that began in 1954. The Israeli cabinet ratified the name Israel Defense Forces, Tzva HaHagana LeYisrael, literally army for the defense of Israel, the other main contender was Tzva Yisrael. The name was chosen because it conveyed the idea that the role was defense, and because it incorporated the name Haganah. Among the primary opponents of the name were Minister Haim-Moshe Shapira, the IDF traces its roots to Jewish paramilitary organizations in the New Yishuv, starting with the Second Aliyah. The first such organization was Bar-Giora, founded in September 1907 and it was converted to Hashomer in April 1909, which operated until the British Mandate of Palestine came into being in 1920. Hashomer was an elitist organization with narrow scope, and was created to protect against criminal gangs seeking to steal property. During World War I, the forerunners of the Haganah/IDF were the Zion Mule Corps, after the Arab riots against Jews in April 1920, the Yishuvs leadership saw the need to create a nationwide underground defense organization, and the Haganah was founded in June of the same year. The Haganah became a defense force after the 1936–1939 Arab revolt in Palestine with an organized structure. During World War II the successor to the Jewish Legion of World War I was the Jewish Brigade, the IDF was founded following the establishment of the State of Israel, after Defense Minister and Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion issued an order on 26 May 1948. The order called for the establishment of the Israel Defense Forces, although Ben-Gurion had no legal authority to issue such an order, the order was made legal by the cabinet on 31 May
31.
Nike, Inc.
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The company is headquartered near Beaverton, Oregon, in the Portland metropolitan area. It is one of the worlds largest suppliers of athletic shoes and apparel, as of 2012, it employed more than 44,000 people worldwide. In 2014 the brand alone was valued at $19 billion, making it the most valuable brand among sports businesses. The company was founded on January 25,1964, as Blue Ribbon Sports, by Bill Bowerman and Phil Knight, the company takes its name from Nike, the Greek goddess of victory. Nike also owned Bauer Hockey between 1995 and 2008, and previously owned Cole Haan and Umbro, in addition to manufacturing sportswear and equipment, the company operates retail stores under the Niketown name. Nike sponsors many high-profile athletes and sports teams around the world, with the highly recognized trademarks of Just Do It, Nike, originally known as Blue Ribbon Sports, was founded by University of Oregon track athlete Phil Knight and his coach Bill Bowerman in January 1964. The company initially operated as a distributor for Japanese shoe maker Onitsuka Tiger, says Davis, I told Tom Brokaw that I was the first. I dont care all the billionaires say. Bill Bowerman made the first pair of shoes for me, in fact, I didnt like the way they felt on my feet. There was no support and they were too tight, but I saw Bowerman make them from the waffle iron, and they were mine. In 1964, in its first year in business, BRS sold 1,300 pairs of Japanese running shoes grossing $8,000, by 1965 the fledgling company had acquired a full-time employee, and sales had reached $20,000. In 1967, due to increasing sales, BRS expanded retail and distribution operations on the East Coast, in Wellesley. By 1971, the relationship between BRS and Onitsuka Tiger was nearing an end, BRS prepared to launch its own line of footwear, which would bear the Swoosh newly designed by Carolyn Davidson. The Swoosh was first used by Nike on June 18,1971, patent and Trademark Office on January 22,1974. In 1976, the company hired John Brown and Partners, based in Seattle, the following year, the agency created the first brand ad for Nike, called There is no finish line, in which no Nike product was shown. By 1980, Nike had attained a 50% market share in the U. S. athletic shoe market, together, Nike and Wieden+Kennedy have created many print and television advertisements, and Wieden+Kennedy remains Nikes primary ad agency. Walt Stack was featured in Nikes first Just Do It advertisement, wieden credits the inspiration for the slogan to Lets do it, the last words spoken by Gary Gilmore before he was executed. Throughout the 1980s, Nike expanded its line to encompass many sports
32.
Bat Yam
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Bat Yam is a city located on Israels Mediterranean Sea coast, on the central coastal strip, just south of Tel Aviv. Part of the Gush Dan metropolitan area in Tel Aviv District, Bat Yam was established in 1926 as Bayit VeGan. During the 1929 Palestine riots, the town was attacked by Palestinian fighters from Jaffa and was evacuated by British Authorities, in 1936, it was granted local council status. In 1937 it was renamed Bat Yam, by 1945,2,000 Jews were living in Bat Yam. According to the Jewish National Fund, in 1947 it had a population of 4,000. Following the United Nations vote in favour of a plan on November 29,1947. On May 13,1948, Jaffa surrendered to Jewish forces, in the years following Israels creation, Bat Yam grew dramatically due to mass immigration and gained city status in 1958. A small Hasidic enclave of Bobover Hasidim, known as Kiryat Bobov, was established in 1959, the city later gained a sizeable community of Jews from Turkey. Bat Yam again experienced a period of growth in the early 1980s to the late 1990s with the mass immigration of Jews from the former Soviet Union. There is also a small Arab community in Bat Yam, both Muslim and Christian, many of whom relocated from Jaffa, the vast majority of Vietnamese-Israelis or Vietnamese people of Israeli origin, live in Bat Yam. In the early 2000s, following financial scandals under the leadership of Yehoshua Sagi, in 2003 a new mayor, Shlomo Lahiani, was elected and the city began to rejuvenate. Large investments were made in education, culture and the appearance of the city, in the 2008 municipal elections, Shlomo Lahiani was re-elected mayor of Bat Yam with 86% of the vote. In 2014, Lahiani pleaded guilty to three counts of breach of public trust after being charged with bribery and income tax fraud, in 2008 the Bat-Yam International Biennale of Landscape Urbanism, which is devoted to re-examining urban spaces through art and architecture, was held in Bat Yam. In 2010 the second Biennale, Timing took place, which featured site-specific installations from designers, the city has two shopping malls, Kanyon Bat Yam, which opened in 1993, and Kanyon Bat Yamon. The location of Bat Yam on the Mediterranean makes it popular with beach-goers, Bat Yam has a 3.2 km long promenade along the ocean lined with pubs and restaurants. The city has six beaches, one of which is protected by a breakwater, the Museum of Bat Yam exhibits contemporary art. Other museums include the Ben Ari Museum and Ryback Museum that houses the work of Issachar Ber Ryback, there is also a museum in the memory of the Yiddish writer Sholem Asch, who lived his last years in Bat Yam, and a small Holocaust museum. Bat Yam-Yoseftal Railway Station and Bat Yam-Komemiyut Railway Station opened in 2011 as part of the new Tel Aviv – Rishon LeZion West line, Bat Yam will also be the terminus for the red line of the Tel Aviv Light Rail
33.
Haifa
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Haifa, is the third-largest city in the State of Israel, with a population of 278,903 in 2015. The city of Haifa forms part of the Haifa metropolitan area and it is also home to the Baháí World Centre, a UNESCO World Heritage Site and a destination for Bahai pilgrims. Built on the slopes of Mount Carmel, the settlement has a history spanning more than 3,000 years, the earliest known settlement in the vicinity was Tell Abu Hawam, a small port city established in the Late Bronze Age. In the 3rd century CE, Haifa was known as a dye-making center, over the centuries, the city has changed hands, being conquered and ruled by the Phoenicians, Persians, Hasmoneans, Romans, Byzantines, Arabs, Crusaders, Ottomans, British, and the Israelis. Since the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948, the Haifa Municipality has governed the city, as of 2016, the city is a major seaport located on Israels Mediterranean coastline in the Bay of Haifa covering 63.7 square kilometres. It lies about 90 kilometres north of Tel Aviv and is the regional center of northern Israel. According to researcher J. Kis-Lev Haifa is considered a haven for coexistence between Jews and Arabs. Two respected academic institutions, the University of Haifa and the Technion, are located in Haifa, in addition to the largest k-12 school in Israel, the city plays an important role in Israels economy. It is home to Matam, one of the oldest and largest high-tech parks in the country, Haifa also owns the underground rapid transit system located in Israel. Haifa Bay is a center of industry, petroleum refining. Haifa formerly functioned as the terminus of an oil pipeline from Iraq via Jordan. With locals using it to refer to a tell at the foot of the Carmel Mountains that contains its remains. The name Efa first appears during Roman rule, some time after the end of the 1st century, Haifa is also mentioned more than 100 times in the Talmud, a work central to Judaism. Hefa or Hepha in Eusebius of Caesareas 4th-century work, Onomasticon, is said to be another name for Sycaminus, references to this city end with the Byzantine period. Following the Arab conquest in the 7th century, Haifa was used to refer to a site established on Tel Shikmona upon what were already the ruins of Sycaminon. Haifa is mentioned by the mid-11th-century Persian chronicler Nasir Khusraw, the Crusaders, who captured Haifa briefly in the 12th century, call it Caiphas, and believe its name related to Cephas, the Aramaic name of Simon Peter. Other spellings in English have included Caipha, Kaipha, Caiffa, Kaiffa and Khaifa.5 miles to the east. The new village, the nucleus of modern Haifa, was first called al-imara al-jadida by some, but others residing there called it Haifa al-Jadida at first, the ultimate origin of the name Haifa remains unclear
34.
Thailand
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Thailand, officially the Kingdom of Thailand, formerly known as Siam, is a country at the centre of the Indochinese peninsula in Southeast Asia. With a total area of approximately 513,000 km2, Thailand is the worlds 51st-largest country and it is the 20th-most-populous country in the world, with around 66 million people. The capital and largest city is Bangkok, Thailand is a constitutional monarchy and has switched between parliamentary democracy and military junta for decades, the latest coup being in May 2014 by the National Council for Peace and Order. Its capital and most populous city is Bangkok and its maritime boundaries include Vietnam in the Gulf of Thailand to the southeast, and Indonesia and India on the Andaman Sea to the southwest. The Thai economy is the worlds 20th largest by GDP at PPP and it became a newly industrialised country and a major exporter in the 1990s. Manufacturing, agriculture, and tourism are leading sectors of the economy and it is considered a middle power in the region and around the world. The country has always been called Mueang Thai by its citizens, by outsiders prior to 1949, it was usually known by the exonym Siam. The word Siam has been identified with the Sanskrit Śyāma, the names Shan and A-hom seem to be variants of the same word. The word Śyâma is possibly not its origin, but a learned, another theory is the name derives from Chinese, Ayutthaya emerged as a dominant centre in the late fourteenth century. The Chinese called this region Xian, which the Portuguese converted into Siam, the signature of King Mongkut reads SPPM Mongkut King of the Siamese, giving the name Siam official status until 24 June 1939 when it was changed to Thailand. Thailand was renamed Siam from 1945 to 11 May 1949, after which it reverted to Thailand. According to George Cœdès, the word Thai means free man in the Thai language, ratcha Anachak Thai means kingdom of Thailand or kingdom of Thai. Etymologically, its components are, ratcha, -ana- -chak, the Thai National Anthem, written by Luang Saranupraphan during the extremely patriotic 1930s, refers to the Thai nation as, prathet Thai. The first line of the anthem is, prathet thai ruam lueat nuea chat chuea thai, Thailand is the unity of Thai flesh. There is evidence of habitation in Thailand that has been dated at 40,000 years before the present. Similar to other regions in Southeast Asia, Thailand was heavily influenced by the culture and religions of India, Thailand in its earliest days was under the rule of the Khmer Empire, which had strong Hindu roots, and the influence among Thais remains even today. Voretzsch believes that Buddhism must have been flowing into Siam from India in the time of the Indian Emperor Ashoka of the Maurya Empire, later Thailand was influenced by the south Indian Pallava dynasty and north Indian Gupta Empire. The Menam Basin was originally populated by the Mons, and the location of Dvaravati in the 7th century, the History of the Yuan mentions an embassy from the kingdom of Sukhothai in 1282
35.
Anna Smashnova
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Anna Smashnova is an Israeli former professional tennis player. She retired from tennis after Wimbledon 2007. Smashnova, who has noted as having a great last name for a tennis player. She was in 13 finals, and won 12 of them, in addition, she won a junior Grand Slam championship. She speaks three languages, Russian, English, and Hebrew, born to a Russian Jewish family, Smashnova began playing when she was six. She became the number 1 junior in the Soviet Union at the age of 10 and she won the girls Soviet Union youth championship in 1989 at the age of 14. Her family moved to Israel in 1990, after Freddy Krivine, one of the founders of the Israel Tennis Centers, Smashnova then trained at the Israel Tennis Centers. In 1991, she won the singles title at the French Open. Smashnova was named Tennis Magazine/Rolex Watch Female Rookie of the Year in 1994, at the 1994 French Open she upset world number 5 Jana Novotná, 6–4, 6–2. At the US Open in 1994 she upset world number 14 Lori McNeil in straight sets and she reached the fourth round of the French Open in 1995 and 1998. At the 1996 Australian Open she upset world number 15 Natasha Zvereva in three sets and she won her first top-level WTA tour singles title in 1999 at Tashkent. She won her career title on July 24,2000. Smashnova defeated Anna Kournikova in straight sets in her semifinal match, Smashnova had a breakthrough in 2002, winning four titles and beating 11 players ranked in the top-20, including Jelena Dokić, Justine Henin, and Kim Clijsters. On January 5,2002, Smashnova defeated Tatiana Panova in the ASB Classic at Auckland, on January 12, Smashnova she defeated top-seeded Tamarine Tanasugarn at the Canberra Classic. In March 2002 she upset world number 13 Meghann Shaughnessy of the US at Indian Wells, in April she defeated world number 7 Justine Henin of Belgium in Miami, and world number 9 Jelena Dokić in Charleston. In May at the WTA German Open she upset world number three Kim Clijsters of Belgium, and world number 14 Daniela Hantuchová of Slovakia, both in three sets, on June 16,2002, Smashnova defeated defending champion Iroda Tulyaganova at the Wien Energie Grand Prix. In August she beat world number 13 Elena Dementieva of Russia in San Diego, on September 15,2002, she beat Anna Kournikova in the finals of the Shanghai Open. According to The New York Times, Smashnova was precise and controlled throughout the match, Kournikova didnt score a point until the third game of the first set when Smashnova hit a shot wide
36.
Canberra
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Canberra is the capital city of Australia. With a population of 381,488, it is Australias largest inland city, the city is located at the northern end of the Australian Capital Territory,280 km south-west of Sydney, and 660 km north-east of Melbourne. A resident of Canberra is known as a Canberran, the site of Canberra was selected for the location of the nations capital in 1908 as a compromise between rivals Sydney and Melbourne, Australias two largest cities. It is unusual among Australian cities, being a planned city outside of any state, similar to Washington, D. C. in the United States. Following an international contest for the design, a blueprint by American architects Walter Burley Griffin and Marion Mahony Griffin was selected. The Griffins plan featured geometric motifs such as circles, hexagons and triangles, the citys design was influenced by the garden city movement and incorporates significant areas of natural vegetation that have earned Canberra the title of the bush capital. Although the Australian Capital Territory is now self-governing, the Commonwealth Government retains some influence through the National Capital Authority, the Australian Armys officer corps is trained at the Royal Military College, Duntroon and the Australian Defence Force Academy is also located in the capital. The ACT is independent of any state to prevent any one state from gaining an advantage by hosting the seat of Commonwealth power, the ACT has voting representation in the Commonwealth Parliament, and has its own independent Legislative Assembly and government, similar to the states. Compared to the averages, the unemployment rate is lower. Property prices are high, in part due to comparatively restrictive development regulations. An 1830s map of the region by Major Mitchell indeed does mark the Sullivans Creek floodplain between two mountains as Nganbra. Nganbra or Nganbira could readily have been anglicised to the name Canberry, survey plans of the district dated 1837 refer to the area as the Canberry Plain. Although popularly pronounced /ˈkænbərə/ or /ˈkænbɛrə/, the pronunciation at its official naming in 1913 was /ˈkæn. brə/. Before white settlement, the area in which Canberra would eventually be constructed was seasonally inhabited by Indigenous Australians, archaeological evidence of settlement in the region includes inhabited rock shelters, rock paintings and engravings, burial places, camps and quarry sites, and stone tools and arrangements. Artefacts suggests early human activity occurred at some point in the area 21,000 years previously, European exploration and settlement started in the Canberra area as early as the 1820s. There were four expeditions between 1820 and 1824, white settlement of the area probably dates from 1823, when a homestead or station was built on what is now the Acton peninsula by stockmen employed by Joshua John Moore. He formally applied to purchase the site on 16 December 1826, on 30 April 1827, Moore was told by letter that he could retain possession of 1,000 acres at Canberry. The European population in the Canberra area continued to grow throughout the 19th century
37.
Anabel Medina Garrigues
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Ana Isabel Anabel Medina Garrigues is a Spanish professional tennis player. Like many of her Spanish compatriots, she is a clay court specialist who grinds to win most of her rallies, however, unlike most of her fellow Spaniards, she prefers to play on hard courts. She won the WTA tournament in Strasbourg, France, beating Katarina Srebotnik in the final in May 2008 and her other singles titles came in Palermo in 2006,2005,2004 and 2001, Canberra in 2006, Strasbourg in 2005 and Fès in 2009. Together with Virginia Ruano Pascual, she wins the French Open, Anabel began 2011 by losing in the first rounds of 2011 ASB Classic,2011 Australian Open, and 2011 Copa Sony Ericsson Colsanitas and the qualifying draw of 2011 Medibank International Sydney. In the 2011 BNP Paribas Open she defeated Tamira Paszek before losing to Maria Sharapova, Garrigues then qualified for the 2011 Commonwealth Bank Tournament of Champions and reached the final, but she was defeated by defending champion Ana Ivanovic in two sets. Anabel reached the quarterfinal of Sony Swedish Open, Båstad, at PTT Pattaya Open, Anabel lost in the first round to Alison Riske without winning a single game. She announced that the 2014 French Open would be her last tournament before retiring from singles tennis, Anabel lost in the second in the second round of qualifying to Tereza Smitková in two sets, ending her singles career. Anabel Medina Garrigues at the Womens Tennis Association Anabel Medina Garrigues at the International Tennis Federation Anabel Medina Garrigues at the Fed Cup
38.
Anastasia Myskina
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Anastasiya Andreyevna Myskina is a Russian former professional tennis player. She won the 2004 French Open singles title, becoming the first Russian female tennis player to win a Grand Slam singles title. Subsequent to this victory, she rose to no.3 in the WTA rankings, in September 2004, she reached a career-high ranking of world No.2. Although she has not officially retired, Myskina has been inactive on the WTA Tour since May 2007, Myskina was born in Moscow and turned professional in 2000, the year in which she broke into the WTA top 500. She won her first WTA title in Palermo in only her second appearance in the draw of a WTA tournament. She made her debut in a Grand Slam tournament at the US Open, in 2000, Myskina scored first career top-20 victory over no.17 Barbara Schett en route to the Sopot semifinal. She debuted at Roland Garros and Wimbledon and she played in the Sydney Olympics and reached her first Tier I quarterfinal in Zürich, where she lost to world no.1 Martina Hingis. Myskina was plagued by injury that forced her to miss the Australian Open, as a result, she fell out of the top 100. She then had an indoor performance, reaching the quarterfinals in Leipzig. She scored her first Top 10 win over defending champion Jelena Dokić in Rome, Myskina reached back-to-back grass court finals in Birmingham and Eastbourne, and rose to number 15 in the rankings. She won her first Tier II2002 Brasil Open – Womens Singles title in Bahia and she finished the 2002 season in the top 15 for the first time in her career. Myskina obtained an invite from the Hong Kong Tennis Patrons Association to play The Hong Kong Ladies Challenge 2003, after claiming the title in Doha and defeating friend Elena Likhovtseva in the first all-Russian final in WTA history, she cracked the Top 10. She became the first Russian woman to win the Kremlin Cup), Myskina qualified for the Tour Championships. She earned more than $US1 million in money, and finished the year in the Top 10 for the first time in her career. 2004 was Myskinas best season to date, Myskina successfully defended her Doha title, afterwards becoming the second Russian woman to break into the Top 5, the first was Natasha Zvereva, who rose to number 5 in the World in May 1989. Prior to her French Open victory, she had never made it past the 2nd round at Roland Garros, following her win in Paris, she rose to No.3 in the rankings. She lost in the 2004 Athens Olympics semifinal to Justine Henin and she rose to a career-high number 2 in the rankings. Myskina recovered from the loss to win the Kremlin Cup for the second straight year
39.
Elena Dementieva
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Elena Viacheslavovna Dementieva is a retired Russian tennis player. Dementieva won the gold medal at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, having previously won the silver medal at the 2000 Olympics in Sydney. She won 16 WTA singles titles, reached the finals of the 2004 French Open and 2004 US Open, Dementieva achieved a career-high ranking of World No. 3, which was accomplished on 6 April 2009 and she announced her retirement on 29 October 2010, after her final match at the 2010 WTA Tour Championships. Dementieva ended her career ranked World No.9 and between 2003 and 2010 she only ended one year, in 2007, outside the top 10, Dementieva was born in Moscow to Viatcheslav, an electrical engineer, and Vera, a teacher—both recreational tennis players. She then moved to the Central Red Army Club with Sergei Pashkov and she was later coached by her mother Vera and her older brother Vsevolod. She has homes in Monaco, Moscow and Boca Raton, Florida, Dementieva enjoys snowboarding, reading, baseball and traveling. On 16 July 2011, Dementieva married hockey player Maxim Afinogenov in Moscow, the couple welcomed their first child, Veronika, in April 2014. Dementieva played and won her first international tournament, Les Petits As, in 1997, she entered the WTA top 500. She turned professional in 1998 and entered the top 100 in 1999, in 1999, Dementieva represented Russia in the Fed Cup final against the United States, scoring Russias only point when she upset Venus Williams 1–6, 6–3, 7–6, recovering from a 4–1 third set deficit. She played her first Grand Slam main draws, qualifying for the Australian Open, French Open and Wimbledon and she reached the second round at the Australian Open and French Open, made a first round exit at Wimbledon and reached the third round of the US Open. In 2000, she entered the top 20 by winning more than 40 singles matches for the second straight year and she became the first woman from Russia to reach the US Open semifinals in singles, where she lost to Lindsay Davenport. At the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, Australia, Dementieva won the medal, losing to Venus Williams in the gold medal match 6–2. In 2000, Dementieva was named the WTA tours Most Improved Player,2001 was the second straight year in which Dementieva finished in the WTAs top 20. During the year, she became the top-ranked Russian player, a previously held by Anna Kournikova since December 1997. Dementieva, however, suffered an injury in Australia. To keep playing matches, she altered her serve, adding slice, after her shoulder healed, her service motion stayed the same. She had double faulted as many as 19 times in a match and hit 50 mph first, in 2002, Dementieva and her partner Janette Husárová of Slovakia reached the final of the US Open and won the year-ending WTA Tour Championships
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