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MURRAY REMAINS POSITIVE
On Saturday, there was not a single moment wasted as Andy Murray came off the tennis court at the Aviation Club in Dubai, which is few minutes away from that airport and went straight to Los Angeles in grooming for the 1st American swing of the season.
FEDERER FACES ISNER
Swiss Master Roger Federer will face off against John Isner in the second singles match for Switzerland in the Davis Cup tie against the United States of America over the weekend.
The former world number one will face Isner after world number eight Mardy Fish finishes his first match against Swiss star Stanislas Wawrinka. Federer is the hands down favorite for the match against Isner and with the American trailing the record Grand Slam holder 2-0 in career match ups; it is almost a foregone conclusion that he will be swept aside on the clay court.
Murray Cancels Christmas
World number 4 Andy Murray is ready to give his all in the upcoming season and it seems that he has started off by giving Christmas a miss in order to prepare for the Australian Open that will kick off in a couple of weeks’ time.
Murray, however, did celebrate Christmas but that was three weeks before the actual day in an effort to keep his focus on the beginning of the season. Christmas for Murray meant that he ran a few miles in the beach near his Florida home, sweating it out with his trainer and coach.
ISNER READY FOR REMATCH
John Isner & Nicolas Mahut have revealed that they are already for a rematch. The pair played the longest match in tennis history in 2010, taking place over three days, which American Isner won 6-4 3-6 6-7 (7-9) 7-6 (7-3) 70-68.
This year's first-round tie is the fourth match on Court Three on Tuesday, and Isner is the hot favourite according to the free tennis bets website.
Defending women's champion Serena Williams is first on Centre Court against Aravane Rezai, followed by Roger Federer then Novak Djokovic.
SHARAPOVA MOVES TO THE NEXT ROUND
Maria Sharapova became the favourite to win the women's title of Roland Garros 2011 after moving to the fourth round. The seventh seeded Russian comfortably reached the last 16 with a 6-2 6-3 win over Taiwan qualifier Chan Yung-Jan.
Poland's Agnieszka Radwanska, 12th seed, eased past Belgium's Yanina Wickmayer 6-4 6-4 to set up a clash with Sharapova.
Fourth seed Victoria Azarenka swept aside Roberta Vinci 6-3 6-2.
The 21-year-old from Belarus wrapped up her win in 66 minutes and will next play Russia's Ekaterina Makarova who beat 16th seed Kaia Kanepi 6-4 7-5.
FEDERER EQUALS SAMPRAS RECORD
Roger Federer equalled the record set by Pete Sampras for the most number of career single victories. Federer drew level with the seven-time Wimbledon champion on 762 wins by beating Czech Radek Stepanek 6-3 6-3 in the Sony Ericsson Open in Miami.
Only six men have won more matches than Federer and Sampras with American Jimmy Connors leading the way on 1,242.
Meanwhile, Andy Murray's poor form continued as he and Novak Djokovic were beaten in the doubles in Miami.
The pair went down 5-7 6-3 10-8 to Sergiy Stakhovsky and Mikhail Youzhny in their last-32 clash.
NADAL TO MAKE COMEBACK
Rafael Nadal it also make his comeback into tennis in the Davies cup. It will be Nadal's first appearance since tearing a leg muscle while losing in the Australian Open quarter-finals to his compatriot David Ferrer.
Ferrer is also in Spain's line-up, with Fernando Verdasco and Feliciano Lopez, for the first-round match in March.
Captain Albert Costa said: "When Nadal joins our training camp, he'll be in perfect condition."
LI BEATS CLIJSTERS
Li Na beats Kim Clijsters to win the Sydney International title. Eighth seed Li was 0-5 down after only 18 minutes, but fought back to win in straight sets 7-6 (7-3) 6-3.
"I didn't believe I could get back from there but it all just changed in one or two points," said Li.
The win is a fourth career title for world number 11 Li and a boost ahead of next week's Australian Open, where she reached the semi-final last year.
SAMPRAS'S TROPHIES STOLEN
The trophies that Pete Sampras won in his distinguished career has been stolen. The American said the trophies were taken from a warehouse in Los Angeles, where they were being kept in storage.
"Losing this stuff is like having the history of my tennis life taken away," the retired star told the Los Angeles Times newspaper.
Mr Sampras said he wanted his children to see the trophies and appealed for help in getting them back.
FEDERER WINS
Roger Federer beat Rafael Nadal to win the final in London. The 29-year-old's attacking game carried the Swiss to a 6-3 3-6 6-1 win in one hour and 37 minutes at the O2 Arena.
Federer's victory ensured that an inconsistent year by his standards was bookended by wins at the Australian Open in January and now the ATP World Tour Finals in November.
Nadal had been hoping to land the only significant title to so far elude him but a three-hour semi-final against Andy Murray on Saturday looked to have taken the edge off his game, and Federer proved the stronger in the closing stages.
