Nadal dominates a year of few surprises

LONDON (AP) -Just as tennis fans were busy debating whether Roger Federer is the greatest player ever, Rafael Nadal provided further evidence that the Swiss star might not even be the best of his generation.

Fifteen months after Federer became the sixth man in history to win all four Grand Slam titles, Nadal became the seventh in 2010 when he won the U.S. Open, his third major in a row after the French Open and Wimbledon.

During a dominant season, the 24-year-old Spaniard wrested back the No. 1 ranking from Federer, and racked up seven titles, including a record-breaking 18th Masters Series win. With an Olympic singles gold and two Davis Cup titles already in the bag, Nadal is fast running out of major prizes to win.

"It has been an incredible season," Nadal said. "One of my best ever, if not the best."

In an average season by his very high standards, Federer saw his streak of 23 Grand Slam semifinals ended by Robin Soderling at the French Open. He also fell in the quarterfinals to Tomas Berdych at Wimbledon, and then lost an epic semifinal match at the U.S. Open despite holding two match points against Novak Djokovic.

Federer still managed to pick up the other two significant titles of the year at the Australian Open and ATP World Tour Finals, the latter with a series of dominant performances that hinted he is not quite ready to fade into the background.

Since 2004, Federer and Nadal have won 24 of the 28 Grand Slam titles and with the pair cleaning up again, there was a sense of familiarity - perhaps even staleness - about 2010.

Just as in 2009, Djokovic and Andy Murray lined up third and fourth in the rankings. Juan Martin del Potro, the winner of the 2009 U.S. Open and the emerging star of that season, spent most of 2010 recovering from wrist surgery and ended it ranked No. 257.

Djokovic may not lose any sleep over not adding to his lone Grand Slam win after he led Serbia to its first ever Davis Cup victory, beating France in the final. He described it as "our biggest success as individuals, as a team, as a country." Italy, meanwhile, won the Fed Cup for the third time in five years, beating the United States in the final.

In the men's year-end rankings, there were no teenagers in the top 100 and the only players to finish in the top 20 for the first time were Jurgen Melzer (age 29), Mardy Fish (29), Sam Querrey (23) and John Isner (25).

That was far from Isner's most memorable contribution to the year. That unraveled over 11 hours, 5 minutes at Wimbledon as he and French opponent Nicolas Mahut played the longest match in history over three days, with the American eventually winning 70-68 in the fifth set.

"It stinks someone had to lose," Isner said of an extraordinary match which captured the public's imagination to such an extent that it even overshadowed Queen Elizabeth II's first visit to Wimbledon in 23 years.

Isner took significantly longer in beating Mahut than Serena Williams did in defeating all seven of her opponents on the way to a fourth Wimbledon title.

But Serena, who also won the Australian Open, did not end the year as No. 1. Nor did Kim Clijsters, the U.S. Open champion and winner of the year-end championship.

That honor went to Caroline Wozniacki, a 20-year-old Dane who didn't reach a Grand Slam final in 2010 but picked up a tour-leading six titles while her rivals fell away.

Serena has not played since stepping on some broken glass at a restaurant and tearing a tendon in her foot shortly after winning Wimbledon. Justine Henin's comeback after a 16-month retirement ended at the same tournament when she hurt her elbow.

Venus Williams managed just one more tournament after Wimbledon - the U.S. Open. Clijsters continues to pick and choose her tournaments around her family life. Jelena Jankovic won a total of four matches from August onward. Elena Dementieva, a two-time Grand Slam finalist and former No. 3, retired altogether.

The state of flux in women's tennis at least allowed Francesca Schiavone to provide the feel-good story of the year by winning her first Grand Slam title at the French Open at the age of 29 - at her 39th major.

"This means that everybody has the chance to be who really you want to be, and to do everything in your life," Schiavone said. "This is what happened to me."

Next year could produce some comebacks in women's tennis: Venus, Serena and Henin should return from injuries, while Maria Sharapova and Ana Ivanovic showed signs in 2010 that they might be regaining their lost confidence.

And while Wozniacki will be desperate to back up her top ranking with one of the sport's major titles, Nadal can hold all four Grand Slam titles at the same time by winning the Australian Open in January - an achievement that has so far eluded Federer.

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Dokic, Luczak win Australian Open wild cards

MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) -Jelena Dokic and Peter Luczak have been awarded wild card entries into next month's Australian Open, though both lost their finals in last week's wild card playoff.

Dokic was beaten by Olivia Rogowska in a three-set, rain-interrupted final but said she was confident of repeating her 2009 effort, when she reached the Open quarterfinals on a wild card.

She said the wild card playoff had been good practice and she was happy with her performance.

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Luczak, who lost his playoff final to Marinko Matosevic, said he now planned to play the Brisbane and Sydney International tournaments next month.

© 2010 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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Austria to play France in aircraft hangar

SCHWECHAT, Austria (AP) -Austria will play France on a clay court in an aircraft hangar in the first round of the 2011 Davis Cup.

A 10,000-square-meter hangar at Austria's main airport - 20 kilometers east of Vienna - which is being used for maintenance of a Boeing 747, will be transformed into a 6,000-capacity tennis stadium for the March 4-6 tie, the Austrian Tennis Federation announced on Wednesday.

"It will be really cool to play there," the 11th-ranked Jurgen Melzer said. "A lot of fans can get in so we hope to put on a good show."

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The federation struggled to find an appropriate location as no suitable sporting venue in Vienna region was available for that week.

"(Melzer's manager) Ronnie Leitgeb came up with the idea. ... It's a unique project," federation vice president Helmut Dorn said. "We are glad to fulfill the players' wish to get the match staged near Vienna."

Melzer didn't expect the constant noise of airplanes to cause any significant disturbance.

"At Flushing Meadows, planes fly over your head all the time," he said. "I hope our fans will be loud enough so we won't hear any planes."

According to Melzer, clay will be "definitely the best choice" for a surface to take on France.

"They have several good clay-court players but they have even more good hard-court players to choose from," Melzer said.

Austria has not passed the first round of the Davis Cup since 1995.

Nine-time champion France lost this month's final 3-2 to Serbia.

© 2010 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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Field for Australian Open announced

MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) -The top 100-ranked men in the world and top 98 women are scheduled to play at next month's Australian Open, giving the first Grand Slam of the year one of its best-ever fields.

Top-ranked Rafael Nadal will attempt to win his fourth straight major, while defending champion and No. 2 Roger Federer is chasing his fifth Australian Open title.

Women's No. 1 Caroline Wozniacki will attempt to win her first Grand Slam title, while two-time champion and 2010 winner Serena Williams is the notable omission from the top 100 due to a foot injury.

The Australian Open is scheduled for Jan. 17-30 at Melbourne Park.

The 104 direct acceptances into the men's draw include U.S. Open-winner Juan Martin Del Potro of Argentina and Dmitry Tursunov of Russia, both with injury-protected rankings.

The women's draw includes 107 direct acceptances, minus Elena Dementieva of Russia, who retired at the end of the season, and No. 37 Agnes Szavay of Hungary, who is injured.

"To have the top 104 players in the world in the men's main draw is incredible and shows the high esteem with which the Australian Open is held in world tennis," tournament director Craig Tiley said in a statement Saturday.

"The women's field also has every available top player in the world. The players vote with their feet and they are doing it again."

The men's field will be completed by 16 qualifiers and eight wild cards, while the women's field has 12 qualifiers and eight wild cards to be added.

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Nadal, Wozniacki win ITF World Champion awards

LONDON (AP) -Rafael Nadal and Caroline Wozniacki have been named ITF World Champions for 2010.

Nadal, who won the French Open, Wimbledon and the U.S. Open, won the award given by the International Tennis Federation for the second time.

Wozniacki, a Dane who won six tour titles this year to take the No. 1 ranking but failed to reach a Grand Slam final, won for the first time.

Nadal, who completed a career Grand Slam by winning in New York, says "after a difficult year in 2009, it was an amazing feeling to regain the No. 1 ranking and finally win the U.S. Open."

In doubles, Bob and Mike Bryan won the men's award while Gisela Dulko and Flavia Pennetta won the women's.

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Report: Martina Hingis marries French equestrian

PARIS (AP) -Tennis great Martina Hingis has married French equestrian Thibault Hutin during a private ceremony in Paris.

Several Swiss magazines reported that the wedding ceremony was held last Friday in the presence of the couple's close friends and family.

The 30-year-old Hingis told Schweizer Illustrierte's website that her marriage "may come as a surprise to many, but it had been planned in advance."

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Paris town hall, and officials at the posh Georges V hotel - where the wedding was reportedly celebrated - declined to comment.

Hingis won five Grand Slam singles titles before retiring in 2007, when she was suspended for two years for testing positive for cocaine at Wimbledon.

© 2010 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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Navratilova 'just couldn't breathe'

NAIROBI, Kenya - Martina Navratilova was released from the hospital Sunday, three days after her fluid-filled lungs forced her to abandon her attempt to climb Africa's highest mountain.

The 54-year-old tennis great was carried down Mount Kilimanjaro on a stretcher Thursday night and Friday morning. Navratilova said she knew by Wednesday she wouldn't be able to reach the summit of the 19,340-foot mountain in Tanzania.

"I didn't feel badly, I just couldn't breathe. I couldn't get a full breath of air," Navratilova said shortly her release from the Nairobi hospital, where she was treated for high-altitude pulmonary edema. "Nothing hurt, and for an athlete that's weird. Nothing hurt but I (couldn't) go on."

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Navratilova, who had a bout with breast cancer this year, reached nearly 14,800 feet when a doctor with 27-person climbing team told her she needed to descend. The winner of 18 Grand Slam singles titles said quitting is not in her vocabulary, but "when the doctor said you're going down, you're going down."

Navratilova kept a diary during her four-day climb. Her last entry read:

"'I've never been so utterly exhausted. Everything is taking monumental effort, going to the bathroom, getting dressed, setting up tent. I don't want to ever ...' I can't read it. I stopped writing because I was crying, because I was so disappointed at how I felt," Navratilova said.

She wrote the entry Thursday afternoon, a few hours before descending.

Two days before beginning the climb, Navratilova told The Associated Press she was in good enough shape to get to the top but she didn't know if "the altitude will get me. That's something you can't predict."

Once down from the mountain, Navratilova's appetite returned. She said she hadn't been hungry for four days, though at first she thought it may have been an intestinal issue after eating bad fish Sunday.

Navratilova was climbing Kilimanjaro to raise money and awareness for the Laureus Sport for Good Foundation. Kate Brewer, a Laureus representative who was on the climb, said the mountain guides told the group the weather - torrential rain, mist, cold - was the worst they had seen.

It started raining two hours after the climb began, and it was cold from the beginning, Navratilova said. By the third day it was snowing and sleeting. The binoculars Navratilova packed were never used because visibility at times was only a few yards. Only 18 of the 27 people in the group made it to the top.

"Nobody had fun. It was just survival, just pure survival," she said. "Trying to stay dry, trying to stay warm, trying to eat enough, drink enough, to survive the day. The conditions were just so unpleasant."

Navratilova said she's been in great health since mid-August and her cancer this year had nothing to do with her medical woes.

So far she has helped raise $80,000, and she noted that failing to reach the top may have generated more publicity than if she had made it to the summit.

"I always said the only failure is when you fail to try," she said. "I guess the other failure is not giving your best effort. I did both: I tried and gave my best effort."

© 2010 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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