McEwen takes TDU lead as Swift claims stage

The longest stage of the Tour Down Under has seen victory to Sky rider Ben Swift, ahead of Australians Robbie McEwen and Graeme Brown.

But McEwen's third placing in stage one means he is now in the Ochre jersey as overall race leader.

Swift said after the race he was not meant to be sprinting until 500 metres to go but when main team rider Greg Henderson was not there for the lead-out, he got the order to go.

The day's first sprint stage went to David Tanner, ahead of Yuriy Krivstov and Mitchell Docker.

Docker, Krivstov and Tanner went over first for the King of the Mountain (KOM) climb, and Luke Roberts picked up valuable points for fourth to lead the KOM standings overall.

The second sprint was taken out by Simon Zahner, ahead of Docker and Tanner.

A five-rider breakaway group had a small lead with about 50 kilometres to go, but four fell back into the peloton to leave Tim Roe alone at the front.

He was hauled in just a few kilometres from the end of the 146km stage from Tailem Bend to Mannum.

Sprint star Mark Cavendish, Australian Matthew Goss and several other cyclists were involved in crashes in the final minutes of the stage.

So was defending champion Andre Greipel but he got back on his bike.

Uni SA rider Bernard Sulzberger suffered a broken collarbone.

Thursday's stage three covers 129 kilometres from the Adelaide suburb of Unley to Stirling in the Adelaide Hills.

Source http://www.abc.net.au/local/stories/2011/01/19/3116681.htm

Federer can win 20 majors, says coach

Roger Federer's coach sees no reason why the Swiss maestro won't wind up with 20 grand slam titles before he calls it quits.

Acclaimed mentor Paul Annacone, who coached Pete Sampras to half of his 14 career majors, linked up with Federer last August and says the 16-times grand slam champion is showing no signs of slowing down.

"I don't see an end in sight," Annacone said on Wednesday.
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"One of the most amazing things about Roger is he so loves it still. It's not a grind to go play small tournaments."

"If you look at other athletes, 29 years old - he's not ready for a walker yet.

"He's not in a place where his skills are deteriorating yet. That's not an issue."

Federer's sweet 16 is already the grand slam benchmark in tennis, but Annacone believes his charge could well surpass the magical number of 18 golf majors that Jack Nicklaus amassed.

"Is 20 a realistic number? Why not," he said.

"I haven't thought all that much about it and I don't think Roger spends a lot of his waking hours dwelling on it.

"I think when you're as gifted as an athlete as he is, you can play at such a high level without expending an incredible amount of energy.

"I mean, he works hard at it but if you watch him play matches, it's pretty amazing to watch how he glides through things.

"When you combine all those things, he can win a lot. It's hard for me to put a number on it.

"He can win every tournament he plays. He's probably not going to, but if you look at how good he is, he can win every time he plays.

"There's not a lot of guys you could say that about. So if he can stay healthy and happy and eager and continue on the process that he's on, I don't know what the end number would be.

"But is 20 realistic? Sure, why not."

While Annacone spent from 1995-2001 and part of 2002 coaching Sampras and has only been working with Federer for five months, the American can already see similarities between arguably the two greatest players of the open era.

He said the pair's ability to "deal with adversity in a pretty mild mannered, no big deal type of way" couldn't be coached in a player.

"Whether it's physical or mental, they'll drain the sensationalism out of situations and just execute what they're trying to play.

"They accept what they can accept and control what they can control and the things that they can't, they just keep on about their business and they just play.

"I think in today's athletic world you don't see a lot of people that do that very much.

"They tend to lose focus on what they're doing and can get caught up on things on the side.

"In particular, Pete and Roger are both very good at keeping things very simple and keeping it very clear in their own mind of what they need to do."

Not surprisingly, Annacone was reluctant to say who he thought was the superior player of the two living legends.

"The tennis game changed so much within the 24 months after Pete stopped - in terms of speed of the court, style of play, conditions of balls, racquets, equipment strings," he said.

"So in actuality for me, it's like comparing apples and oranges. It's a totally different game now, it's amazing.

"The sad part is, I would have loved to have seen these guys play each other in their prime for like five or six years in a row.

"Great players - and I just go back with Pete and Andre (Agassi), who I saw play each other so much and they pushed each other to such incredible heights - and I would love to have seen Roger and Pete do that with each other."

Source http://www.smh.com.au/sport/tennis/federer-can-win-20-majors-says-coach-20110112-19nu9.html

Dokic finds positives among the rubble

By her own admission, Jelena Dokic had nothing left to give. This was just in one match, a brutal hiding from rising German star Andrea Petkovic, but what about the rest of the summer?

At 26 and with all signs pointing to her best days being anchored in the past, Dokic is still trying to maintain the rage on a professional circuit she has graced on and off since she was just 16.

A decade later, she is desperately trying to fossick for positives ahead of next week’s tournament in Sydney but after being unceremoniously hammered by Petkovic, who celebrated her 6-0 6-1 blitzkrieg victory with a signature on-court shimmy, the shards look too plentiful to put back in place.

It took just 46 minutes for Dokic to depart in the second round of the Brisbane International. Petkovic fired all her guns and rather than return with some artillery of her own, a sluggish Dokic took cover until the barrage ceased.

There were mitigating circumstances, she said, citing a stomach illness that has slowed her for the past few days and sapped her of speed, stamina and power.

Even so, anyone expecting to see Dokic recreate her inspiring Australian Open quarter final run of 2009 over the coming weeks would have left disillusioned. Two years ago, she would have us believe there was something left in the tank. Today, it looked bone dry.

“I think it’s very simple. I was flat. I had nothing to give from the beginning. That’s basically it. I wasn’t in the match at all. I’ve been sick for a couple of days. It’s taken its toll,” Dokic said.

“I went to a doctor and he thinks it’s a stomach virus I’ve had for a few days. I already had it in the first match. I struggled but I don’t like to make excuses. But if you’re playing a top 30, top 35 player, you’ve got to have everything to give.

“I think it was obvious from the first point I couldn’t hit the ball so well or move well and my power was down.”
It’s difficult to find any trinket of optimism in the rubble of such a one-sided demolition. The first set took 18 minutes to complete, barely enough time for the fans to file in the doors.

As professional athletes are obliged to do, Dokic was frantically trying to convince herself there had been some good in her visit to Brisbane and more was to come in Sydney and Melbourne.

To do that, she had to banish all thoughts of Cyclone Petkovic and rewind to her first match, a straight sets win over qualifier Anastasia Pivovarova. The only other scrap of good news was that her wrist, injured in the opening round, held up, even if her form didn’t.

“It’s the beginning of the year. I got a lot of confidence from that first match. I’m really happy about that. But there is a lot of work to do,” Dokic said.

“It’s tough. I really wanted to play well here. The crowd is always behind us and a lot of people come out to watch. I’ve got to just forget about the tennis and try to take positives out of this week. I think there’s quite a few of them.

“It’s not a big deal. I’ve got to move on from this and take all the best things I did well this week, work on the things that are my weaknesses and try to have a good week next week.

“Even though the score was the way it was, on certain points I hung in there. I still got to see some things, what level I’m up against. I take a lot of positives from the first match.”

Dokic has already made impressive inroads in returning from the tennis badlands, which saw her ranking blow out past 600 at the end of 2006 through a combination of injury, poor form, personal turmoil and disinterest.

Citing new motivation and a body free from serious ailments, Dokic was hoping to gain some momentum in Brisbane and try and ambush some of the fancies at the year’s first Grand Slam.

With illness undercutting her preparations, that would now appear to be a bridge too far.

The 23-year-old Petkovic , who made the quarter finals of the US Open last year, will now play Australian Jarmila Groth in the quarter finals. Groth shocked top seed Sam Stosur on Tuesday night.

Source http://www.smh.com.au/sport/tennis/dokic-finds-positives-among-the-rubble-20110105-19fri.html

Virgin Racing sign D'Ambrosio for 2011 season

The Virgin Racing Formula One team have signed up Belgian Jerome D?Ambrosio to drive for them next year partering Germany's Timo Glock. He will replace as the team's second driver, Brazilian Lucas Di Grassi.

A team statement said that D'Ambrosio had successfully concluded an evaluation role with the team, which saw him take part in the free practice sessions of the Singapore, Japanese, Korean and Brazilian Grands Prix.

When he lines up in the opening race of the 2011 season in Bahrain on March 13, he will be the first Belgian driver to compete in Formula One since Phillipe Adams 17 years ago.

Source http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5gs9FkItCWIUXTHy0gB3tMPBKaIeQ?docId=CNG.ef9a9f0039fc069765a1d48a270a6be2.381

Dogs appoint Garlick CEO

FORMER Western Bulldogs and Sydney Swans forward Simon Garlick will take over as club CEO replacing Campbell Rose.

The 35-year-old, who played 137 games for the Dogs between 1998 and 2004 and 44 for the Swans between 1994 and 1997, will move from his current position as club chief commercial officer.

Garlick impressed the selection panel with his understanding of the AFL industry, which he honed by being a member of the AFLPA executive and as a key member of the Western Bulldogs Forever Foundation in recent years.

"He brings a high level of commercial acumen to the role, he has proved to be an outstanding candidate with ideal credentials to lead the organisation," club president David Smorgon said.

"The selection subcommittee felt that Simon's successful track record, his deep appreciation of our organisation and the wider AFL industry as a whole, combined with his determination and commitment to succeed placed him as the standout candidate."

The Bulldogs had a wide variety of applicants interested in the role and were impressed with the calibre of the field that presented.

However, they chose to go with the internal appointment of Garlick, who spent his 11-year playing career studying to gain commercial experience.

"Simon and his team will build on the extremely solid foundation that has been created under the leadership of Cam Rose," Smorgon said.

After his retirement in 2004, Garlick spent five years in various management roles at LeasePlan Australia before joining the club's board of directors in 2007.

He was named as the football director before accepting the position of chief commercial officer in November 2009.

He will commence the role immediately, with Rose to formally cease his duties on December 17.

Rose announced his resignation last month.

Source http://www.afl.com.au/news/newsarticle/tabid/208/newsid/106012/default.aspx

Australia-bound: Ashes Twitter mix-up sees babysitter hit for six

She's Australia's - and England's - latest cricketing celebrity, but 22-year-old American Ashley Kerekes has never lifted a cricket bat. And now she's in line for a free trip to Australia.

Monday afternoon, Qantas offered her flights from New York to Australia to watch a Test between Australia and England.

"Qantas wants to see @theashes in Australia. We'll fly her from New York to Australia for the Ashes!," the airline tweeted Monday afternoon.

The young Massachusetts babysitter, originally from Maine, became an instant Twitter celebrity when she declared to the world: "I AM NOT A FREAKING CRICKET MATCH!!!".

Ms Kerekes wrote the tweet in response to cricket-related messages due to her Twitter username, @TheAshes.

Ms Kerekes told this website what happened next hit her for six.

"I was out Christmas shopping with my aunt and I got a Twitter [direct message] from a friend of mine telling me that some guy was trying to get information about me," she said.

"I'd turned off notifications on my phone right after my first outburst so I had no idea. After that I went looking around and found that I had hundreds, maybe thousands, of messages about The Ashes."

Ms Kerekes had about 300 followers at the start of the first Test at the Gabba. As of Monday afternoon, she had more than 5200.

And it was all thanks to a username that had more to do with her given name than a biennial cricketing contest between Australia and England.

"My boyfriend gave me the nickname years ago, maybe because of the cricket tournament. We don't remember. He's been calling me The Ashes forever," Ms Kerekes said.

"When we started Twitter accounts back in 2007, before Twitter was cool, it was just something we used back and forth so I used my nickname he gave me."

Ms Kerekes said despite the confusion she would never change her username and said becoming an overnight Twitter celebrity was "amazing".

"I've been into social media for a long time, but I was never this popular," Ms Kerekes said.

Ms Kerekes said even her mother was getting in on the action.

"She thinks it's amazing that her daughter is getting famous for making a bitchy comment," she said.

"But now she's known for being even bitchier on twitter! So now everyone knows where I got it from."

Ms Kerekes said the incident had sparked in her an interest in cricket and she was keen to learn more about the game however she was choosing to remain neutral on which side she was backing.

"I intend on reading up on rules and such as soon as I recover from the shock. Right now, I'm just having a blast reading everyone's tweets to me," she said.

And as for a #gettheashestotheashes movement on Twitter, directed mainly at airlines and broadcasters to fly her to Australia to witness Test first hand, Ms Kerekes said she was keen on the idea.

"I most certainly would not object to a free trip to Australia!" she said.

"I'm working with some people on some things."

A spokesman for VAustralia, one of the airlines targeted in the online campaign, said he was aware of the movement, but there was "nothing in it" at this stage.

Vodafone also seems keen to help Ms Kerekes get to Australia recently Tweeting – "We want to #gettheashestotheashes so if @theashes can get over here we'll pony up #theashes tickets & a phone so she can tweet."

According to Ms Kerekes, Vodafone has already been in contact with her and the prospect of visiting Australia for the first time was looking good.

In a bid to start fundraising for the trip Ms Kerekes has begun selling t-shirts online featuring the slogan 'I am not a freaking cricket match'.

While some Twitter users have criticised her for trying to make a quick buck, Ms Kerekes has defended her actions.

"I hope no one is offended by me making t-shirts. I probably (sic) make 2 cents a shirt. I'm not trying to get rich just have fun," she tweeted.

Source http://www.smh.com.au/digital-life/digital-life-news/australiabound-ashes-twitter-mixup-sees-babysitter-hit-for-six-20101129-18dkf.html?from=smh_sb

Serena Williams pulls out of Australian Open

THE Australian Open suffered a huge hit today with the withdrawal of five-time champion Serena Williams due to an ongoing foot problem.

The 29-year-old might be a player who divides fans' loyalties but she certainly brings them through the gate, no matter if they love her or hate her.

And the holder of 13 grand slam trophies is the defending champion after beating comeback queen Justine Henin in last January's decider.

Williams only played six tournaments in 2010 due to a left knee injury suffered earlier in the season, and then encountering serious problems with here right foot which required surgery.

“As I recently learned, pushing myself back into my intense training too early only caused me further injury and damage,” Williams said in a statement today.

“While I desperately want to be back on the court and competing in the first grand slam tournament of the year, it is imperative for my health that I continue to work with my doctors to ensure my foot heals properly.”

Australian Open tournament director Craig Tiley has been in close contact with Williams ever since the American had her second operation on the foot in October.

“I know how disappointing it will be for Serena that she's unable to come back and defend her title at Australian Open 2011. We all know how much she enjoys playing here, and how much she loves her Aussie fans,” Tiley said

“Serena is a great champion and we will miss her in January. We send her our very best wishes for a speedy recovery and look forward to welcoming her back to Australia soon.”

Source http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/sport/serena-williams-pulls-out-of-australian-open/story-e6frg7mf-1225961066636