And you thought Swiss people weren’t all that competitive. After all, they remain neutral in a lot of different recent wars. But Roger Federer from Switzerland has decided that he wants to go retake the top spot in the world rankings this upcoming season. It’s going to be fun and we’ll see whether he can do it. Having watched him against #1 Nadal, I don’t know how likely it is. Fed was looking rather tired and not really in the game as he should have. It will be a good time to watch, as they are very fun to watch compete. They are both very good and have very different styles of playing. I definitely look forward to seeing it!

With the new year here, it’s time to look back at one of the most exhilarating and indelible moments in recent (if not entire) tennis history. The stage was Wimbledon and the players were Federer and Nadal (then numbers 1 and 2 respectively). Though Federer was on familiar turf, defending his Wimbledon crown for the fifth straight year, Nadal was still riding high on the uttlerly debasing 6-1, 6-0, 6-3 defeat he handed Federer only four weeks prior. No pundit could predict the winner, and no one in general could’ve have predicted the epic battle. Nadal jumped out to an early lead, winning the first two sets and came close to winnig the third, thereby shutting Federer out. However, Federer battled back and won the next two sets, forcing the final set for the match. When all the smoke cleared and camera flashes cleared, it was Nadal holding the trophy over his head, after taking the last set 9-7, making simply impossible shots in doing so.

Rafael Nadal has signed a 6 million euro agreement with the Tourism Industry of Spain. He is to be used to promote travel to Mallorca, a Spanish island known for its tourism. Usually many German tourists go there, as well as people from Britain, Spain itself and other countries. At the current time, there are many fewer tourists headed down that particular way because of the big economic slowdown. There isn’t a whole lot of tourism anyway this time of year, but it is particularly low right now. Nadal has already filmed a commercial or two and it will be interesting to see what else there is coming as well.

There’s a pretty good article on tennis.com today that features a mini report on many of the tennis world’s unseen stars of tomorrow. There’s not nearly enough attention paid to those ranked 50 or below, but this article takes notices of this seemingly invisible players. Not to say that Nadal and Federer and the Williams sisters don’t deserve their high level of media attention, but these other players are still better than 98% of the world and deserve some recognition.

The Chennai Open, which will begin next month, will feature a great crop of players. They are mainly veterans. The biggest name in the bunch is Mr Davydenko, who made it to the Masters Cup Final and is #5 in the world right now. Carlos Moya and Rainer Schuettler will also be playing. The field will be rather older than the usual but it will be good competition. Here’s another bit of trivia about the Chennai Open: the official car will be a Volvo. Good running, well manufactured Swedish car.

Remember a little over a week ago when we reported Lindsay Davenport was making her tennis comeback and entered into the Australian Open. Nix that. She’s out, again. For the same reason that she had to take a break last time, Davenport is once again pregnant. In June 2007, she gave birth to her first son Jagger, forcing her to put tennis on the shelf for a bit. Read the whole article on tennis.com.

Jade Hopper is the subject of an Australian newspaper at the moment. The young woman was one of the biggest new tennis prospects when she started on the international stage in 2001 at the age of 12. At that time, she says, she couldn’t imagine doing anything else besides playing tennis.  Now that she’s a big older, though, she has some newer ideas about what she might want to do with her life. There are plenty of people that she could look up to. There are lots of other things. So it’s not completely clear what she wants to become now, but it sounds from this article like she wants to study law of some kind. Anyway, the article goes into more detail about this player so go ahead and take a look!

Her last major victory was the Australian Open in 2000. Her last tournament appearance was the U.S. Open in August. Now Lindsay Davenport has announced her entry into the Australian Open, debunking any rumors surrounding an impending retirement. Though she has not played steady due to birth of her son and taking large leaves of absence, Davenport is fully committed to playing in the Open and wants to prove to herself and others that she can hang with the best.

The world’s number 2 is out of the Hopman Cup in Australia.  Serena Williams injured her hamstring recently and is therefore unable to play in the cup. Williams has been playing really well over the last years, often playing against her sister Venus in Tournament Champions. But she decided to take a break to allow her leg muscle to heal up so that she can compete even better in the upcoming cups in the future. She does hope to compete in the Australian Open in January.

Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer will begin their 2009 season in Qatar.  Nadal was sidelined at the end of this season with knee injuries. He hopes to retain the #1 ranking in the world, after having won several Grand Slam Tournaments and winning gold at the Beijing olympics. Federer has had a rough year, having won only one Grand Slam, the US Open, and only 4 other tournaments. He will have to work pretty hard to get back to #1, but he seems ready to do it and he and Nadal will certainly be going up against each other several times this coming year. In 2008, Federer lost to Nadal several times, and just had a tough time. It looks to be an exciting season though, and we’re ready to see some great tennis.