atching Federer slam haul a 'dream' says Nadal

Rafael Nadal played down his chances of matching Roger Federer's Grand Slam haul here Sunday, saying the likelihood of reaching his rival's record of 16 titles remained "a dream."
After adding four more Grand Slam titles in the past year the 25 year old Spanish world number one now has 10 to his name and will be targeting an 11th at Wimbledon over the next fortnight.
Victory at the All England Club would see Nadal move alongside Bjorn Borg and Rod Laver in the all time standings, one behind Roy Emerson on 12, three behind Pete Sampras (14) and five behind Federer. But Nadal dismissed suggestions that Federer's record was in his sights here Sunday, saying he was "very far" from the Swiss master's benchmark. "I am not close to the 16 of Roger," Nadal said. "Sixteen is a lot.
Reigning champion Nadal, who opens the defence of his title with a first round match against American Michael Russell on Centre Court here Monday enjoyed a stellar 2010, scooping the French, Wimbledon and US Open crowns. But although Nadal defended his French crown at Roland Garros earlier this month, he doubted whether he would be able to emulate his feats of last season.
"Last year was in my opinion very impossible to repeat three Grand Slams in a row," Nadal said. "I am very happy about what's going on this season. But I don't think I will repeat what I did last year for sure."
Virtually invincible on the red clay of Roland Garros, Nadal has slowly but surely parked his tanks on the lawns of Wimbledon in recent years, reaching four of the last five finals. The only year he missed was 2009, when a recurrence of a knee injury ruled him out of the tournament.

Defending champ Serena seeded No. 8 at Wimbledon

Defending champion Serena Williams was bumped up to No. 8 in the seedings  18 places above her world ranking - for Wimbledon on Wednesday, a position that will allow her to avoid playing the highest-ranked players until at least the quarterfinals.
Williams won her 13th Grand Slam title last year at the All England Club, but then stepped on broken glass, eventually leading to blood clots on her lungs, and was out of action for nearly a year. She returned to competitive tennis on Tuesday at Eastbourne, coming back from a set down to beat Tsvetana Pironkova 1-6, 6-3, 6-4. Wimbledon starts Monday.
The draw is scheduled for Friday. On the men's side, defending champion Rafael Nadal was seeded No. 1, followed by Novak Djokovic at No. 2, Roger Federer at No. 3 and Andy Murray at No. 4  in line with their rankings. Federer and Nadal have combined for the past eight titles at the All England Club.
For Federer, it's the first time he's been outside the top two seedings at Wimbledon since 2003, the year he won the first of five straight titles at the grass court Grand Slam. Since Serena's injury, she has dropped to No. 26 in the WTA rankings. If Wimbledon organizers had seeded her according to her ranking, the four-time Wimbledon champion could have come up against a top player in the third round.
Her sister Venus, a five-time Wimbledon champion, was seeded No. 24. She has dropped to 33rd in the rankings since missing most of this season with a hip injury. She also returned to action this week in Eastbourne.
"The seeding order follows the WTA ranking list, except where in the opinion of the committee, a change is necessary to produce a balanced draw," Wimbledon organizers said.
"The only changes this year are Serena Williams and Venus Williams moving to 8 and 24, respectively. This reflects the balance between their proven records and also their lack of competitive play in the past 12 months." The sisters have combined to win nine of the last 11 titles at the All England Club.
At the top of the women's seeding list is top ranked Caroline Wozniacki. She is followed by Australian Open champion Kim Clijsters at No. 2, Vera Zvonareva at No. 3 and French Open champion Li Na at No. 4.

Shock semi finalist Ward living dream at Queen's

British wildcard James Ward admits he is living the dream at Queen's after the world number 216 continued his remarkable run by reaching the semi finals with two dramatic wins on Friday.
Ward started the day with a prolonged wait to finish his third round match at the Wimbledon warm-up event and ended it looking forward to a semi-final against fifth seed Jo Wilfried Tsonga after beating defending champion Sam Querrey and then France's Adrian Mannarino.
The 24 year old son of a London taxi driver has spent most of his career playing at unglamourous venues in low-key Futures and Challenger tournaments.
But Ward has been finally been able to savour a moment in the spotlight this week and he hopes the fairytale isn't over yet.
"It's the best week of my career so far. Hopefully it doesn't stop here," he said. "I'm delighted at how it's gone so far. I'm looking forward to playing the next match against Tsonga.
"I've been playing futures tournaments and some challengers as well where there are not big crowds.
"This is why you're working, you're trying hard to get to these tournaments and get to these opportunities. This week I made the most of it.
"It does come into your mind what an opportunity this is. I'm not going to lie. It's always in your mind.
"But you have to try to put it to one side and concentrate on the tennis and do what I've been doing, and that gave me the chance to get to the semis."
After a 90 minute rain delay, he resumed his match with Querrey at one-set all following a suspension for bad light the previous evening.
Ward had been on top when play was called off, but he refused to surrender the momentum and broke late in the first set to clinch a 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 victory.
There was no time to celebrate that success as Ward, who beat fourth seed Stanislas Wawrinka in the second round, returned to court just hours later to face Mannarino. He looked set for an easy win as he took the first set and served for the match in the second. But his nerve briefly cracked as Mannarino broke back to force a tie break.
Ward had an incredible seven match points in the breaker but wasted them all as Mannarino set up a final set decider.

Tennis: Murray faces Tsonga in final

Britain’s Andy Murray will face Jo Wilfried Tsonga in the final at Queen’s after an imperious 6-3, 6-1 victory over four-time champion Andy Roddick in the semi finals on Saturday. He'll play Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in Sunday's final. The Frenchman ended unseeded Briton James Ward's run with a 6-3, 7-6 (7) victory in the other semifinal.Murray, seeded second, was in sublime form as he demolished one of the top grass-court players of the last decade and French fifth seed Tsonga joined him in the final with a 6-3, 7-6 (9/7) win against British wildcard James Ward. This was arguably the most complete performance of Murray’s career and the victory was especially sweet for the world number four as it went some way to avenging his 2009 Wimbledon semi-final defeat against Roddick. Murray had won six of his nine meetings with Roddick but the loss at Wimbledon still rankles with the Scot. The 24-year-old will have taken extra delight from the way he totally overwhelmed third seed Roddick here and he will now be heavy favourite to win this Wimbledon warm-up event for the second time.
As ever, Murray was looking to use the drop shot at every opportunity and he caught Roddick with two exquisite efforts to move 4-1 ahead. Murray’s serve was in good working order and, with his sliced backhand causing the American no end of problems, Roddick began to wear an increasingly exasperated expression as the first set ended with another Murray ace.Roddick’s formidable record on grass, he had won 32 of his previous 37 matches at Queen’s, as well as reaching three Wimbledon finals underlined Murray’s achievement in dominating so completely. The American was going for a record fifth Queen’s title, but there was no let up from Murray at the start of the second set and he broke again in the first game. A Roddick double fault gifted the break point and Murray was quick to seize the opportunity with a superb return that his opponent could only volley into the net. Murray was toying with Roddick now, drawing him in with low slices and then passing at will, and his place in the final was secured when he broke for a 4-1 lead and then converted his third match point.

Ebden earns shot at Nadal, Roddick seals tough win

Australian qualifier Matthew Ebden earned a shot at world number one Rafael Nadal thanks to his 7-5, 6-3 win over India's Somdev Devvarman at Queen's, while four time champion Andy Roddick defeated Feliciano Lopez 7-6 (7/2), 6-7 (5/7), 6-4 on Tuesday.Ebden, who was born in South Africa, has spent most of his short career playing on the unglamourous Futures Tour and is currently ranked 168th in the world.But the 23 year old will be mixing with tennis royalty in west London on Wednesday when he takes on Nadal in the Spaniard's first singles match since winning his sixth French Open crown in Paris on Sunday. Nadal arrived in London late on Monday just 24 hours after his final victory over Roger Federer to begin preparations for the defence of his Wimbledon title.And his first opponent will be the unheralded Ebden, who secured an impressive victory over Devvarman even though the Indian is 101 places above his opponent in the ATP rankings.Perth based Ebden has been in good form of late, reaching the latter stages at Nottingham and Cremona, and he edged a tight first set before pressing home his advantage with a break late in the second set to clinch the win.Elsewhere at the Wimbledon warm up event, Roddick started his bid for a record fifth title with a hard fought win against Spain's Lopez in the second round.

Serena Williams is returning to the tour after nearly a year

Serena Williams is returning to the tour after nearly a year off because of various health issues.Williams will accepted a wild card to compete on England's south coast in one of the traditional grass court warmup events for Wimbledon, which begins on June 20.Williams has not played an official match since winning her 13th Grand Slam title at the All England Club last July.A few days after that victory, Williams cut her foot on glass at a restaurant. She wound up having two operations because of that and later was treated for a blood clot in her lung.Williams told that she was so exited to be healthy to compete again.She past 12 months have been extremely tough and character building.And also say, she have so much to be grateful for. she is thankful to her family, friends, and fans for all of their support.Shortly after winning her fourth Wimbledon singles championship last summer, Williams hurt her foot while in Germany. She played in an exhibition match in Belgium against Kim Clijsters days later. But when she returned to the United States she had the first of two operations for her injury. The second surgery was in October, and she said she spent 10 weeks in a cast and 10 weeks in a walking boot.The 29 year old American was diagnosed in February with blood clots in her lung. After that, she said she needed treatment for a hematoma  a gathering of blood under the skin on her stomach.She returned to practice in April, an event she announced via Twitter, posting a picture of herself on court in a pink bodysuit.Williams' older sister Venus, a seven time Grand Slam singles champion, also is returning to action after an extended injury absence. Venus Williams has been sidelined since injuring her hip during the Australian Open in January, but her agent said last month she was on track to play at Eastbourne and Wimbledon.When healthy, the Williams sisters have dominated women's tennis for much of the past decade. In addition to their 20 total major singles titles, both have spent time at No. 1 in the WTA rankings.At Wimbledon, the sisters have combined to win nine of the past 11 championships. In that span, the sisters played each other in four of the finals at the All England Club.