Steve Darcis Belgium professional tennis player


Age: 27 (13.03.1984)
Birthplace: Liege, Belgium
Residence: Saive, Belgium
Height: 5'10" (178 cm)
Weight: 161 lbs (73 kg)
Plays: Right-handed
Turned Pro: 2003
Coach: Reginald Willems

Steve Darcis tennis player
Steve Darcis Belgium tennis player
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Steve Darcis French open
Steve Darcis

NHL The National Hockey League

The National Hockey League (NHL; French: Ligue nationale de hockey—LNH) is an unincorporated not-for-profit association which operates a major professional ice hockey league of 30 franchised member clubs, of which 6 are located in Canada and 24 in the United States.[1] Headquartered in New York City, the NHL is widely considered to be the premier professional ice hockey league in the world, and one of the major professional sports leagues of the United States and Canada. The Stanley Cup, the oldest professional sports trophy in North America, is awarded annually to the league playoff champion at the end of each season.

The league was organized on November 22, 1917 in Montreal, Canada, during World War I after the suspension of operations of its predecessor organization, the National Hockey Association (NHA), which had been founded in 1909. It started with four teams and, through a series of expansions, contractions, and relocations, the league is now composed of 30 active franchises. After a labour dispute that led to the cancellation of the entire 2004–05 season, the league resumed play under a new collective bargaining agreement that included a salary cap. In 2009, the NHL enjoyed record highs in terms of sponsorships, crowds and television audiences.

The NHL draws many highly skilled players from all over the world and currently has players from about 20 different countries. Although Canadians have historically constituted the majority of the players in the NHL, over the past four plus decades the percentages of American and European trained players have increased both because of the NHL's continued expansion from six to thirty clubs since 1967, and the increased availability of highly skilled European players, especially from former Eastern Bloc countries.
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Ksenia Pervak professional Russian tennis playe


Residence: Moscow, Russia / Berlin, Germany
DOB: May 27, 1991
Birthplace: Chelyabinsk, Russia
Height: 5' 7" (1.70 m)
Weight: 132 lbs. (60 kg)
Plays: Left-handed (two-handed backhand)
Status: current tennis player

Biography

Coached by Viktor Pavlov ... Father is Yuriy, mother is Oksana (both in business); has one younger brother and one younger sister ... Family moved to Berlin in 2006 (coach is based in Moscow) ... Baseliner whose favorite surfaces are clay and hard ... Tennis idols growing up were Anastasia Myskina and Steffi Graf ... Best memory was winning 2009 Australian Open junior title ... If hadn't been a tennis player, possibly would have been a singer ... Enjoys hanging out with friends, going shopping ... Goal is to reach Top 10.

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Ksenia Pervak hot
Ksenia Pervak Russian Tennis Player
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ksenia-pervak-and-laura-robson
ksenia pervak and laura robson

Heather Watson in 'Happy Land' as she ends British drought in Paris


Heather Watson had only just blown out the candles on the cake for her second birthday when a British woman last won a match at the French Open. Seventeen years on, the world No 117 ended her country's long wait for a female winner when she beat France's Stephanie Foretz Gacon 7-6, 6-1 here last night.

Watson, who last week became the first British woman for 28 years to reach the main draw at Roland Garros via the qualifying competition, showed all the fighting qualities that have so often been lacking in her compatriots in the past. In the second round she will play Estonia's Kaia Kanepi, the world No 16 and a quarter-finalist here in 2008 and last year at Wimbledon.

Clare Wood was the last British woman to win a match in the main draw at this tournament, beating Gigi Fernandez in 1994. It was perhaps appropriate that the British drought should be ended by a player born closer to France than most. Watson hails from Guernsey, though she has been based at Nick Bollettieri's academy in Florida since the age of 12.

Watson, who celebrated her 19th birthday last week, won the US Open junior title two years ago and has since been making steady progress on the senior tour. This victory should take her ahead of schedule into the world's top 100, which had originally been her target for the end of the summer.
Currently British No 3, she could also be her country's highest ranked player soon. Elena Baltacha, the world No 83, plays her first-round match here today against the American Sloane Stephens, while Anne Keothavong, the No 108, lost to Russia's Vesna Dolonts yesterday.

"I'm so happy," Watson said after her win. "I came off court and was asked what time I wanted to go to my press conference. I had no idea what she was saying because I was so in Happy Land."

Although Foretz Gacon has gone beyond the second round of a Grand Slam tournament only once, the 30-year-old Parisian, ranked No 133 in the world, has plenty of experience. This was her 13th successive appearance in the main draw here. Watson had only ever played one match at a Grand Slam event, losing in the first round at Wimbledon last summer.

The match was played on a gloriously sunny evening on Court Six, which stands a few metres from Court Philippe-Chatrier, the main show court. It is not the easiest of courts on which to play. The busy Boulevard d'Auteuil runs beyond one end, while there is a steady flow of human traffic around two other sides of the court, which is just off the main thoroughfare. The sound of wheelie bins being dragged along a path behind the back of the court hardly helps players to concentrate.
Foretz Gacon broke in the opening game and twice served for the first set. Watson, who could not match her opponent's firepower but covered every inch of the court, saved three set points at 6-5 and two more in the tie-break. From 6-4 down the Briton won four points in succession, clinching the set with a lovely cross-court winner.

Watson raced into a 5-0 lead in the second set, but then dropped her serve with three double faults when serving for the match. The Briton failed to take her first three match points, but on the third Forezt Gacon hit a forehand long.

Asked how she had kept her nerve, Watson said: "I just thought I had to keep hitting the ball. If I started to push and be tentative and not believe in my shots, there was no chance I was going to win. These girls at this level just don't give it to you. I just stayed calm and said to myself that I would keep fighting for every single point."

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