Leadership DeKalb hired Maria Balais as its new executive director She replaces Caroline Moise, who was interim executive director since July 2012. Before joining Leadership DeKalb, Balais managed her own consulting firm. Prior, she managed the ING Corporate Foundation and led community relations at Troutman Sanders LLP. “The board selected Maria based on her proven relationship-building and organizational talent,” said Leadership DeKalb Chair Bo Spalding, in a statement. “With her passion…
Reported by bizjournals 6 hours ago.
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Balais named executive director at Leadership DeKalb
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Watson and Robson face tough routes to success at Australian Open | Kevin Mitchell
Serena Williams and Maria Sharapova are potential opponents for the pair, but there are some awesome obstacles in their way
While Maria Sharapova, the impossibly rich glamour girl of tennis, was down town peddling the marginal concept of eating a sugary sweet as somehow desirable for her young fans, Laura Robson and Heather Watson knuckled down to the more prosaic task of preparing for the Australian Open in quite killing heat.
They are Britain's sole representatives on the women's side of the draw. Whether either has been tempted to suck on a SugarPova, as Maria's new line is cringe-makingly called, is hard to say, but they will surely envy the Russian's marketing smarts. "We don't really have a big budget at all for marketing and advertisement," Sharapova said. "So it's pretty incredible that the awareness that it has so far is where it is."
Thus is the game reduced to saccharine absurdity. As temperatures soared towards the century fahrenheit, though, there was work to be down back on court. Watson is on Sharapova's semi-final radar here, but there are some awesome obstacles in her way, the most obvious of them the fourth seed Agnieszka Radwanska, whom she might meet in the third round, and who was quite devastating in a double-bagel dismissal of the combative Dominika Cibulkova in the final of the Sydney International . Beyond that lies the 13th seed Ana Ivanovic, either Li Na, Sam Stosur or Julia Georges then the stately queen of sugar.
Robson's route is even trickier: the American hope Melanie Oudin (whom she beat in the first round of the qualifying tournament here last year), the up-and-down former Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova, perhaps the exciting if unreliable American Sloane Stephens, the 12th seed Nadia Petrova and then, well, just the most intimidating woman in the history of tennis, Serena Williams. Easy.
Anxiety still mixes with hope in British tennis. On a day when James Ward and Jamie Baker battled through the second round of qualifying in the men's qualifying tournament in demanding three-setters, Watson, Britain's No1 woman, and Robson, snapping at her heels, had time to reflect on the task ahead.
They share a weird camaraderie, enemies in an essentially selfish sport, yet supportive friends in the vanguard of what is increasingly regarded as a genuine revival in women's tennis in Britain. Efforts to unearth rancour between them have consistently failed.
Until either of them wins a major, however, the judgment that Watson and Robson (who sound increasingly as if they ought to be solving crimes together) will be put on hold, but there can be no faulting their effort, or recent results.
As the first British pair to be ranked together inside the world's top 50 in a quarter of a century, they have snapped a drought stretching back to the days of Jo Durie and Sara Gomer when music was awful and the tennis only intermittently encouraging. Watson's win before Christmas also delivered her the first WTA Tour title for Britain since 1987, so the evidence seemed to be slowly mounting.
Neither has been in the form they had hoped lately, but both know the virtue of patience. They will not be joined by either Anne Keothavong or Johanna Konta (the British No4 losing to China's Zhou Yimiao, 7-5, 2-6, 8-6, when she framed a forehand on second match point after three hours). The firm of Watson and Robson, however, are in reasonable shape to at least make some early noise at Melbourne Park – certainly better than the bounced veterans, American Jill Craybas, Thailand's Tamarine Tanasugarn, Spain's María José Martínez Sánchez and France's Virginie Razzano.
All of those are 10-year veterans, and this south-eastern tip of Australia was no place for weary legs. The withering heat was anticipated, given the real danger to life that still lurks no more than 60 miles from the Victorian capital in the shape of heavily fanned flames working through tinder-dry scrub and bush.
As to who is the better prospect, Robson or Watson, the debate rages. Both have their committed advocates — and wildly contrasting method. Robson, palely rooted to the ground against Sharapova after threatening a major shock at Wimbledon two years ago, has awoken to the benefits of mobility and better all-round fitness, and blitzed Kim Clijsters and Li at Flushing Meadows. It is too early to say if that upgrade to her tennis will make a long-term difference, but her improved footwork across the baseline is a revelation. Allied to her undoubted power, her quickened feet make her one of the game's most dangerous hitters.
Watson comes from a different direction: a naturally smooth mover still searching for the sort of forceful power that pins opponents deep before the kill. Sometimes, she has the look of a young Justine Henin about her, athletic and, because of her physical limitations in a power era, inventive.
It has been said more than once that if you could combine Watson's athleticism with Robson's power, you would have one hell of a player. But that is to ignore their ability and willingness to improve the weaker parts of their game.
Given she has more to work with, in terms of muscle and room for improvement, Robson might seem the better bet to eventually make it. But Watson's sprite-like tennis, not unlike that of Radwanska, cannot be ignored. Reported by guardian.co.uk 5 hours ago.
While Maria Sharapova, the impossibly rich glamour girl of tennis, was down town peddling the marginal concept of eating a sugary sweet as somehow desirable for her young fans, Laura Robson and Heather Watson knuckled down to the more prosaic task of preparing for the Australian Open in quite killing heat.
They are Britain's sole representatives on the women's side of the draw. Whether either has been tempted to suck on a SugarPova, as Maria's new line is cringe-makingly called, is hard to say, but they will surely envy the Russian's marketing smarts. "We don't really have a big budget at all for marketing and advertisement," Sharapova said. "So it's pretty incredible that the awareness that it has so far is where it is."
Thus is the game reduced to saccharine absurdity. As temperatures soared towards the century fahrenheit, though, there was work to be down back on court. Watson is on Sharapova's semi-final radar here, but there are some awesome obstacles in her way, the most obvious of them the fourth seed Agnieszka Radwanska, whom she might meet in the third round, and who was quite devastating in a double-bagel dismissal of the combative Dominika Cibulkova in the final of the Sydney International . Beyond that lies the 13th seed Ana Ivanovic, either Li Na, Sam Stosur or Julia Georges then the stately queen of sugar.
Robson's route is even trickier: the American hope Melanie Oudin (whom she beat in the first round of the qualifying tournament here last year), the up-and-down former Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova, perhaps the exciting if unreliable American Sloane Stephens, the 12th seed Nadia Petrova and then, well, just the most intimidating woman in the history of tennis, Serena Williams. Easy.
Anxiety still mixes with hope in British tennis. On a day when James Ward and Jamie Baker battled through the second round of qualifying in the men's qualifying tournament in demanding three-setters, Watson, Britain's No1 woman, and Robson, snapping at her heels, had time to reflect on the task ahead.
They share a weird camaraderie, enemies in an essentially selfish sport, yet supportive friends in the vanguard of what is increasingly regarded as a genuine revival in women's tennis in Britain. Efforts to unearth rancour between them have consistently failed.
Until either of them wins a major, however, the judgment that Watson and Robson (who sound increasingly as if they ought to be solving crimes together) will be put on hold, but there can be no faulting their effort, or recent results.
As the first British pair to be ranked together inside the world's top 50 in a quarter of a century, they have snapped a drought stretching back to the days of Jo Durie and Sara Gomer when music was awful and the tennis only intermittently encouraging. Watson's win before Christmas also delivered her the first WTA Tour title for Britain since 1987, so the evidence seemed to be slowly mounting.
Neither has been in the form they had hoped lately, but both know the virtue of patience. They will not be joined by either Anne Keothavong or Johanna Konta (the British No4 losing to China's Zhou Yimiao, 7-5, 2-6, 8-6, when she framed a forehand on second match point after three hours). The firm of Watson and Robson, however, are in reasonable shape to at least make some early noise at Melbourne Park – certainly better than the bounced veterans, American Jill Craybas, Thailand's Tamarine Tanasugarn, Spain's María José Martínez Sánchez and France's Virginie Razzano.
All of those are 10-year veterans, and this south-eastern tip of Australia was no place for weary legs. The withering heat was anticipated, given the real danger to life that still lurks no more than 60 miles from the Victorian capital in the shape of heavily fanned flames working through tinder-dry scrub and bush.
As to who is the better prospect, Robson or Watson, the debate rages. Both have their committed advocates — and wildly contrasting method. Robson, palely rooted to the ground against Sharapova after threatening a major shock at Wimbledon two years ago, has awoken to the benefits of mobility and better all-round fitness, and blitzed Kim Clijsters and Li at Flushing Meadows. It is too early to say if that upgrade to her tennis will make a long-term difference, but her improved footwork across the baseline is a revelation. Allied to her undoubted power, her quickened feet make her one of the game's most dangerous hitters.
Watson comes from a different direction: a naturally smooth mover still searching for the sort of forceful power that pins opponents deep before the kill. Sometimes, she has the look of a young Justine Henin about her, athletic and, because of her physical limitations in a power era, inventive.
It has been said more than once that if you could combine Watson's athleticism with Robson's power, you would have one hell of a player. But that is to ignore their ability and willingness to improve the weaker parts of their game.
Given she has more to work with, in terms of muscle and room for improvement, Robson might seem the better bet to eventually make it. But Watson's sprite-like tennis, not unlike that of Radwanska, cannot be ignored. Reported by guardian.co.uk 5 hours ago.
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Undocumented Immigrant Activist's Mother, Brother Detained
WASHINGTON -- The mother and brother of a prominent undocumented immigrant activist were detained late Thursday by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, prompting protests and outrage from the immigrant rights community in Phoenix and beyond that called the detention potential retaliation for her activism.
ICE agents detained Maria and Heriberto Andiola, the mother and brother of advocacy group DRM Capitol founder Erika Andiola. The agency released Heriberto on Friday morning after Erika and others gathered outside the Department of Homeland Security offices in Phoenix to demand their release. Maria Andiola will be released soon, ICE confirmed to The Huffington Post Friday.
"We need to do something, we need to stop separating families," Erika Andiola, an Arizona State University graduate, said in a tearful video posted after her mother and brother were detained. "This is real. This is so real. This is not just happening to me, this is happening to families everywhere."
The immigrant rights community quickly sprang to action after the Andiolas' detention. Members planned a protest Friday morning outside the DHS office in Phoenix and posted a number and script![ext]()
for those who wanted to call ICE to ask for them to be released.
ICE's move was somewhat surprising given the relative safety of many high-profile undocumented immigrants. As Dreamers in particularly have "come out" en masse as undocumented, many have been spared by ICE. Jose Antonio Vargas, a journalist who announced in 2011 that he is in the country without authorization, and Andiola herself, are prime examples. Some Dreamers -- as they call themselves based on the Dream Act -- are eligible for deferred action to prevent deportation for two years, and Angiola was granted that reprieve last year.
But that doesn't mean deportations have stopped, or that outspoken undocumented immigrants and their families are exempt from deportation. The Obama administration broke its record for deportations this year, removing 409,849 immigrants![ext]()
from the country.
At the same time, agencies have increased the proportion of immigrants deported who have been convicted of crimes as part of new prosecutorial discretion policies. ICE will likely use prosecutorial discretion in this case, agency press secretary Barbara Gonzalez told HuffPost in a statement.
"Although one individual had been previously removed from the country, an initial review of these cases revealed that certain factors outlined in ICE’s prosecutorial discretion policy appear to be present and merit an exercise of discretion," she said. "A fuller review of the cases is currently on-going. ICE exercises prosecutorial discretion on a case-by-case basis, considering the totality of the circumstances in an individual case.”
Immigrant rights advocates released a flurry of statements in response to ICE's actions on the Andiolas.
"If this can happen to the family of Erika Andiola, a national leader of the immigrant rights movement and a member of the Presente family, it can happen to any immigrant family in the United States," Arturo Carmona, executive Director of Presente.org, said in a statement. "What is the Obama Administration saying with this action? We condemn I.C.E. for abusing its authority to 'pay back' our friend and outspoken immigrant leader, Erika Andiola, for her immigrant rights activism by arresting and detaining her mother, Maria, and her brother, Heriberto."
*Watch Andiola reacting to the detention of her mother and brother:* Reported by Huffington Post 5 hours ago.
ICE agents detained Maria and Heriberto Andiola, the mother and brother of advocacy group DRM Capitol founder Erika Andiola. The agency released Heriberto on Friday morning after Erika and others gathered outside the Department of Homeland Security offices in Phoenix to demand their release. Maria Andiola will be released soon, ICE confirmed to The Huffington Post Friday.
"We need to do something, we need to stop separating families," Erika Andiola, an Arizona State University graduate, said in a tearful video posted after her mother and brother were detained. "This is real. This is so real. This is not just happening to me, this is happening to families everywhere."
The immigrant rights community quickly sprang to action after the Andiolas' detention. Members planned a protest Friday morning outside the DHS office in Phoenix and posted a number and script
for those who wanted to call ICE to ask for them to be released.ICE's move was somewhat surprising given the relative safety of many high-profile undocumented immigrants. As Dreamers in particularly have "come out" en masse as undocumented, many have been spared by ICE. Jose Antonio Vargas, a journalist who announced in 2011 that he is in the country without authorization, and Andiola herself, are prime examples. Some Dreamers -- as they call themselves based on the Dream Act -- are eligible for deferred action to prevent deportation for two years, and Angiola was granted that reprieve last year.
But that doesn't mean deportations have stopped, or that outspoken undocumented immigrants and their families are exempt from deportation. The Obama administration broke its record for deportations this year, removing 409,849 immigrants
from the country.At the same time, agencies have increased the proportion of immigrants deported who have been convicted of crimes as part of new prosecutorial discretion policies. ICE will likely use prosecutorial discretion in this case, agency press secretary Barbara Gonzalez told HuffPost in a statement.
"Although one individual had been previously removed from the country, an initial review of these cases revealed that certain factors outlined in ICE’s prosecutorial discretion policy appear to be present and merit an exercise of discretion," she said. "A fuller review of the cases is currently on-going. ICE exercises prosecutorial discretion on a case-by-case basis, considering the totality of the circumstances in an individual case.”
Immigrant rights advocates released a flurry of statements in response to ICE's actions on the Andiolas.
"If this can happen to the family of Erika Andiola, a national leader of the immigrant rights movement and a member of the Presente family, it can happen to any immigrant family in the United States," Arturo Carmona, executive Director of Presente.org, said in a statement. "What is the Obama Administration saying with this action? We condemn I.C.E. for abusing its authority to 'pay back' our friend and outspoken immigrant leader, Erika Andiola, for her immigrant rights activism by arresting and detaining her mother, Maria, and her brother, Heriberto."
*Watch Andiola reacting to the detention of her mother and brother:* Reported by Huffington Post 5 hours ago.
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CNN Pushes Anti-Gun Appreciation Day Petition
CNN kindly invited Larry Ward to be on air this morning to discuss the upcoming "Gun Appreciation Day![ext]()
," which he founded. CNN not-so-kindly invited Maria Roach to appear side-by-side with Ward and remind viewers that there is an anti-Gun Appreciation Day petition that everyone needs to sign.
The degradation began when CNN host Carol Costello led into Ward's segment by informing viewers that people are upset that Gun Appreciation Day is being held so close to Martin Luther King Jr. Day. She said the timing of the event "is making gun control activists furious."
She said this before Ward's mic was on and even before he was in the camera's eye, otherwise he would have known his upcoming event is already a success (if liberals are mad, we're doing something right).
When Costello asked Ward to explain how he came up with Gun Appreciation Day, Ward said: "Gun Appreciation Day came about because on the first day of the 113th Congress 9 gun control measures were introduced." He said he'd calculated that Adam Lanza broke 41 laws and/or ordinances to do what he did in Sandy Hook, yet the gun Lanza used was being criminalized instead of Lanza. So he thought a day of support for the 2nd Amendment and guns themselves was in order.
How did Costello respond to Ward's well reasoned answer? By pointing out that "Gun control advocates say the day is a slap in the face to Americans," of course.
Enter Maria Roach, anti-gunner and Founder of Americans United for Change, the group that started the petition against Gun Appreciation Day.
Roach provided viewers with disconnected and forgettable tidbits of information like: "Larry Ward is focused on theater"--"there is a selfish, self serving attempt in Gun Appreciation Day"--gun organizations "are using [Gun Appreciation Day] to fund raise"--and the always powerful "Gun Appreciation Day is a power play."
As the segment closed, Roach was given the last word and she used it to tell viewers about the anti-Gun Appreciation Day petition which has been signed by a whopping "25,000 people."
Note to Roach: Far more than 25,000 people will flood into gun shows this weekend alone.
Here's the bottom line: Gun Appreciation Day is Jan. 19. Gun owners and 2nd Amendment supporters can take part in it by going to your local gun store, gun range, or other shooting facility, and making your voice heard.
Ward wants it to be a gun rights version of Chik-Fil-A appreciation day, and he's got the momentum. Reported by Breitbart 2 hours ago.
," which he founded. CNN not-so-kindly invited Maria Roach to appear side-by-side with Ward and remind viewers that there is an anti-Gun Appreciation Day petition that everyone needs to sign. The degradation began when CNN host Carol Costello led into Ward's segment by informing viewers that people are upset that Gun Appreciation Day is being held so close to Martin Luther King Jr. Day. She said the timing of the event "is making gun control activists furious."
She said this before Ward's mic was on and even before he was in the camera's eye, otherwise he would have known his upcoming event is already a success (if liberals are mad, we're doing something right).
When Costello asked Ward to explain how he came up with Gun Appreciation Day, Ward said: "Gun Appreciation Day came about because on the first day of the 113th Congress 9 gun control measures were introduced." He said he'd calculated that Adam Lanza broke 41 laws and/or ordinances to do what he did in Sandy Hook, yet the gun Lanza used was being criminalized instead of Lanza. So he thought a day of support for the 2nd Amendment and guns themselves was in order.
How did Costello respond to Ward's well reasoned answer? By pointing out that "Gun control advocates say the day is a slap in the face to Americans," of course.
Enter Maria Roach, anti-gunner and Founder of Americans United for Change, the group that started the petition against Gun Appreciation Day.
Roach provided viewers with disconnected and forgettable tidbits of information like: "Larry Ward is focused on theater"--"there is a selfish, self serving attempt in Gun Appreciation Day"--gun organizations "are using [Gun Appreciation Day] to fund raise"--and the always powerful "Gun Appreciation Day is a power play."
As the segment closed, Roach was given the last word and she used it to tell viewers about the anti-Gun Appreciation Day petition which has been signed by a whopping "25,000 people."
Note to Roach: Far more than 25,000 people will flood into gun shows this weekend alone.
Here's the bottom line: Gun Appreciation Day is Jan. 19. Gun owners and 2nd Amendment supporters can take part in it by going to your local gun store, gun range, or other shooting facility, and making your voice heard.
Ward wants it to be a gun rights version of Chik-Fil-A appreciation day, and he's got the momentum. Reported by Breitbart 2 hours ago.
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Selena Gomez Puts Justin Bieber Romance Woes Aside For Vogue Event
Photo credit:
Melinda Maria
*Selena Gomez*![ext]()
looked stunning at the Alberta Ferretti and Vogue Dinner in LA wearing Melinda Maria jewelry![ext]()
and put her recent *Justin Bieber*![ext]()
romance woes![ext]()
aside.
Reported by OK! Magazine 2 minutes ago.
Melinda Maria
*Selena Gomez*
looked stunning at the Alberta Ferretti and Vogue Dinner in LA wearing Melinda Maria jewelry and put her recent *Justin Bieber*romance woes aside.
Reported by OK! Magazine 2 minutes ago.
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School Board Candidate Explains the Now-moot Petition Challenge He and Fellow Candidate Faced
Patch Elmhurst, IL --
Elmhurst Patch has not yet obtained the letter submitted by Darlene Heslop Friday stating that she is dropping the petition challenge![ext]()
against incument District 205 School Board candidate Jim Collins and newcomer Emily Bastedo. Heslop, herself, has declined comment about her objection, other than to say she will pay for all legal costs incurred in this challenge, as well as her challenge to Alderman Pat Wagner![ext]()
in his re-election campaign for the 7th Ward. The challenge against Wagner was dismissed Monday![ext]()
.
But Collins shared some of the details of the now-moot challenge Friday afternoon.
"I think it's important that this get out in public so people understand the issues (Heslop) was raising," Collins said.
He said Heslop's main objection was related to an Illinois statute that actually only applies to partisan elections. Unkown to Collins, he and Bastedo both used the same person to help them gather petitions for their races. The state statute is clear that petition gatherers can only work for one candidate in a partisan race.
"That would not be allowed if she were the Democrat and I were the Republican in the race, but we're two people running for School Board in a nonpartisan election, and that's completely legal and completely allowed," Collins said. "In a nonpartisan race like school board, especially when it's vote for three, somebody can go out and gather signatures for as many candidates as they'd like."
Collins added that he has not met Bastedo and didn't know they were using the same person to gather signatures. Even if all the signatures obtained by the third party were disqualified, he still would have had enough to remain on the ballot, he said.
"(Heslop) was not asking that I be removed from the ballot," he said.
He said Heslop also questioned nine of Bastedo's signatures, claiming they were not registered voters.
"But Emily Bastedo obtained an affidavit from the county Election Board certifying that all nine of those signatures were registered voters at the addresses they claimed," he said. "So there were no signature violations on either one of our sets of petitions."
Collins said he hasn't talked to Heslop in nearly four years, since he last ran for School Board in 2009.
"She was very supportive of me when I ran for School Board," he said. "I don't interpret Darlene's actions as 'anti-me.' I can't imagine she's 'anti-Emily.' Someone suggested she was working for (one of the other candidates). Frankly, I can't imagine that is the issue. Only Darlene can tell you what's on her mind."
Heslop declined comment on the challenge, itself. With regard to the cost, she said she had always planned to reimburse both the city and the School District but had planned to do it privately.
"Please assure everyone that I had intended all along to pay for whatever expenses were incurred," she said by email. "I just didn't want to make a big deal of it all."
The costs are not fully known at this point.
"I have to wait for the legal departments of both the city and the School District to receive the statements from their attorneys," Heslop said.
Collins said the School District spent "quite a bit of time" on the challenge.
"Once a protest like this is filed, the law is very specific on what must be done," he said. "The district certainly didn't want to violate the law."
He said everyone involved had to be served papers from the DuPage Sheriff's Office, and lawyers had scripted some of the dialog for Electoral Board Chairman Maria Hirsch to read at the hearing, among other things.
"It had to be very exacting the way the hearing was conducted," Collins said.
He said he sensed no ill will on the part of Heslop toward any of the candidates, but he is concerned that such challenges deter qualified candidates from running for School Board. He said for this election, initially only two candidates filed to run for the three open positions.
"We frankly panicked a little bit," he said. "We scrambled to find qualified candidates that would put their name in."
He said it's difficult to talk people into running for School Board.
"A School Board member puts in hundreds of hours a year. There's no pay, there's no pension, there's just criticism," he said. "These people are doing this as volunteers. To think that a School Board candidate gets that packet, does the best they can to get the signatures required and then every one of them would have to have a lawyer go through it for fear that they would be knocked off the ballot—nobody's going to run for School Board in our town.
"I have to say I consider it a pretty important job. We need absolutely the best possible people in that position, and this is just a deterrent."
He said it's unfortunate that board members Maria Hirsch and Susan DeRonne have chosen not to run again, "but we need to fill their shoes with people with the same dedication," he said.
"I think all the candidates running are committed, qualified people. Elmhurst is very lucky in this election. Every single candidate is very qualified."
Also running for School Board seats in the April 9 Consolidated Election are Alan Brinkmeier and Margaret Harrell.
--------------------
Let Patch save you time. Get more local stories like these delivered right to your inbox or smartphone with our free newsletter. Fast signup here![ext]()
.
-------------------- Reported by Patch 19 hours ago.
Elmhurst Patch has not yet obtained the letter submitted by Darlene Heslop Friday stating that she is dropping the petition challenge
against incument District 205 School Board candidate Jim Collins and newcomer Emily Bastedo. Heslop, herself, has declined comment about her objection, other than to say she will pay for all legal costs incurred in this challenge, as well as her challenge to Alderman Pat Wagner in his re-election campaign for the 7th Ward. The challenge against Wagner was dismissed Monday.But Collins shared some of the details of the now-moot challenge Friday afternoon.
"I think it's important that this get out in public so people understand the issues (Heslop) was raising," Collins said.
He said Heslop's main objection was related to an Illinois statute that actually only applies to partisan elections. Unkown to Collins, he and Bastedo both used the same person to help them gather petitions for their races. The state statute is clear that petition gatherers can only work for one candidate in a partisan race.
"That would not be allowed if she were the Democrat and I were the Republican in the race, but we're two people running for School Board in a nonpartisan election, and that's completely legal and completely allowed," Collins said. "In a nonpartisan race like school board, especially when it's vote for three, somebody can go out and gather signatures for as many candidates as they'd like."
Collins added that he has not met Bastedo and didn't know they were using the same person to gather signatures. Even if all the signatures obtained by the third party were disqualified, he still would have had enough to remain on the ballot, he said.
"(Heslop) was not asking that I be removed from the ballot," he said.
He said Heslop also questioned nine of Bastedo's signatures, claiming they were not registered voters.
"But Emily Bastedo obtained an affidavit from the county Election Board certifying that all nine of those signatures were registered voters at the addresses they claimed," he said. "So there were no signature violations on either one of our sets of petitions."
Collins said he hasn't talked to Heslop in nearly four years, since he last ran for School Board in 2009.
"She was very supportive of me when I ran for School Board," he said. "I don't interpret Darlene's actions as 'anti-me.' I can't imagine she's 'anti-Emily.' Someone suggested she was working for (one of the other candidates). Frankly, I can't imagine that is the issue. Only Darlene can tell you what's on her mind."
Heslop declined comment on the challenge, itself. With regard to the cost, she said she had always planned to reimburse both the city and the School District but had planned to do it privately.
"Please assure everyone that I had intended all along to pay for whatever expenses were incurred," she said by email. "I just didn't want to make a big deal of it all."
The costs are not fully known at this point.
"I have to wait for the legal departments of both the city and the School District to receive the statements from their attorneys," Heslop said.
Collins said the School District spent "quite a bit of time" on the challenge.
"Once a protest like this is filed, the law is very specific on what must be done," he said. "The district certainly didn't want to violate the law."
He said everyone involved had to be served papers from the DuPage Sheriff's Office, and lawyers had scripted some of the dialog for Electoral Board Chairman Maria Hirsch to read at the hearing, among other things.
"It had to be very exacting the way the hearing was conducted," Collins said.
He said he sensed no ill will on the part of Heslop toward any of the candidates, but he is concerned that such challenges deter qualified candidates from running for School Board. He said for this election, initially only two candidates filed to run for the three open positions.
"We frankly panicked a little bit," he said. "We scrambled to find qualified candidates that would put their name in."
He said it's difficult to talk people into running for School Board.
"A School Board member puts in hundreds of hours a year. There's no pay, there's no pension, there's just criticism," he said. "These people are doing this as volunteers. To think that a School Board candidate gets that packet, does the best they can to get the signatures required and then every one of them would have to have a lawyer go through it for fear that they would be knocked off the ballot—nobody's going to run for School Board in our town.
"I have to say I consider it a pretty important job. We need absolutely the best possible people in that position, and this is just a deterrent."
He said it's unfortunate that board members Maria Hirsch and Susan DeRonne have chosen not to run again, "but we need to fill their shoes with people with the same dedication," he said.
"I think all the candidates running are committed, qualified people. Elmhurst is very lucky in this election. Every single candidate is very qualified."
Also running for School Board seats in the April 9 Consolidated Election are Alan Brinkmeier and Margaret Harrell.
--------------------
Let Patch save you time. Get more local stories like these delivered right to your inbox or smartphone with our free newsletter. Fast signup here
.-------------------- Reported by Patch 19 hours ago.
↧
'The Girl Who Fell to Earth'
'The Girl Who Fell to Earth'
The Girl Who Fell to EarthA MemoirBy Sophia Al-Maria(Harper Perennial; 271 pages; $14.99 paperback)While being mixed race has been the subject of artists and theorists for decades, it remains a complicated topic in America. When Barack Obama joins the annals of history, he will be remembered as the first African American president despite being raised almost solely by his white mother and white grandparents. In America, her growing diary and David Bowie obsessions worry her mother, who is still a practicing Muslim, so much that she sends her daughter back to Doha to learn some proper values. [...] fascinating chapters on sex segregation and desire in Arab countries or How to Flirt in Doha: On international phone connections in the 1980s, she writes, "[If] she said anything it was lost in the switchback byways of AT&T's pinched veins." [...] there are times when the reader desires to know more, particularly about her parents' relationship and especially Gale, who leaves Qatar furious with her husband for having taken a second wife, but then remains (apparently) married and connected to him - just from thousands of miles away. When, after 9/11, her mother becomes increasingly patriotic about the United States, and her father starts encouraging her to pray and wear a hijab, Al-Maria takes it in stride. Reported by SFGate 21 hours ago.
The Girl Who Fell to EarthA MemoirBy Sophia Al-Maria(Harper Perennial; 271 pages; $14.99 paperback)While being mixed race has been the subject of artists and theorists for decades, it remains a complicated topic in America. When Barack Obama joins the annals of history, he will be remembered as the first African American president despite being raised almost solely by his white mother and white grandparents. In America, her growing diary and David Bowie obsessions worry her mother, who is still a practicing Muslim, so much that she sends her daughter back to Doha to learn some proper values. [...] fascinating chapters on sex segregation and desire in Arab countries or How to Flirt in Doha: On international phone connections in the 1980s, she writes, "[If] she said anything it was lost in the switchback byways of AT&T's pinched veins." [...] there are times when the reader desires to know more, particularly about her parents' relationship and especially Gale, who leaves Qatar furious with her husband for having taken a second wife, but then remains (apparently) married and connected to him - just from thousands of miles away. When, after 9/11, her mother becomes increasingly patriotic about the United States, and her father starts encouraging her to pray and wear a hijab, Al-Maria takes it in stride. Reported by SFGate 21 hours ago.
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Live music booking now
Angel Haze | Rita Ora | Alt-J | Maria Minerva | NME Awards Tour
Fresh from getting the best of Azealia Banks in a still-developing slanging match, *Angel Haze*![ext]()
will be showcasing her brand of rapid-fire rap on a four-date tour (19-25 Feb, tour begins Concorde 2, Brighton, The Scala, N1) …
*Rita Ora*![ext]()
looks to keep up the momentum she gained in 2012 as she hits the road on a UK tour, which won't include the postponed Usher support dates (28 Jan-13 Feb, tour begins Manchester Academy) …
Last year's Mercury music prize-winners *Alt-J*![ext]()
are making the most of their success and surfing An Awesome Wave of popularity all over the country (5-17 May, tour begins O2 Academy, Birmingham) …
Fans of chillwave and avant garde electronica will be pleased to hear *Maria Minerva*![ext]()
is off in February on a European tour, which includes a date in trendy Dalston (Shacklewell Arms, E8, 7 Feb) …
Finally, the *NME Awards Tour*![ext]()
has three of the most-hyped bands of last year on the bill in the guise of Peace, Palma Violets and Django Django, and one of the most-hyped artists of 2008, Miles Kane (7-23 Feb, tour begins O2 Academy, Newcastle upon Tyne).
Reported by guardian.co.uk 17 hours ago.
Fresh from getting the best of Azealia Banks in a still-developing slanging match, *Angel Haze*
will be showcasing her brand of rapid-fire rap on a four-date tour (19-25 Feb, tour begins Concorde 2, Brighton, The Scala, N1) …*Rita Ora*
looks to keep up the momentum she gained in 2012 as she hits the road on a UK tour, which won't include the postponed Usher support dates (28 Jan-13 Feb, tour begins Manchester Academy) …Last year's Mercury music prize-winners *Alt-J*
are making the most of their success and surfing An Awesome Wave of popularity all over the country (5-17 May, tour begins O2 Academy, Birmingham) …Fans of chillwave and avant garde electronica will be pleased to hear *Maria Minerva*
is off in February on a European tour, which includes a date in trendy Dalston (Shacklewell Arms, E8, 7 Feb) …Finally, the *NME Awards Tour*
has three of the most-hyped bands of last year on the bill in the guise of Peace, Palma Violets and Django Django, and one of the most-hyped artists of 2008, Miles Kane (7-23 Feb, tour begins O2 Academy, Newcastle upon Tyne).
Reported by guardian.co.uk 17 hours ago.
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Haven for the homeless
It's 20 years since the Albrechts first invited a homeless person to stay. Since then, more than 300 have found a safe haven with the couple and their four children – they even moved to a bigger house to take in more and now they're adding on extra space
Maria Albrecht has only hazy memories of the first homeless person she and her husband, Scott, invited into their home to stay. But he was almost certainly an alcoholic, in his 50s or 60s, and he wouldn't have had a shower in a long time. He slept on a camp bed in the couple's sitting room: the family, with two small children at the time, were living in a two-bedroom semi.
That was about 20 years ago: since then, the Albrechts have welcomed approximately 300 homeless people into their home – some straight off the streets, others referred by the British Red Cross![ext]()
. "I know people think it sounds impossible, to just take in homeless people," says Maria, "but the motivating factor for me is this: if I was sleeping on a park bench, I would hope someone would do this for me. So I do it for others.
"I know we can't help everyone who's homeless – but every night that even one person is in our home, that's one night when one less person is shivering on the street."
Today, the Albrechts live in a picturesque, red-brick farmhouse outside Watford: it's surrounded by fields and there's a large fishing lake in the back garden. It looks and feels like the very embodiment of a comfortable, middle-class existence in the London commuter belt, but inside there's a bohemian air and, ranged around the house, as well as Scott, 50, and Maria, 51, and their sons, Justin, 18, and Francis, 15, there are several homeless women and two volunteer helpers.
It's not an enormous house – the boys have their own rooms, and Scott and Maria have theirs, but the women share dormitory-like accommodation on the ground floor. And the house is certainly not palatial – on the day I visited it was raining and buckets had been placed to catch the drips coming through the roof.
"These days we only take homeless women and their children," says Scott, 50. "Most are asylum seekers – many were trafficked here and have escaped, or they were brought here as domestic workers and treated like slaves, and managed to get away."
Such women have no right to accommodation. The authorities are obliged to house children, but not their mothers. "What that means is that the children would be taken away from them, and they'd be left on the streets," says Scott. "They seemed to us like they were in the most desperate situation of all, so a few years ago we decided we'd devote ourselves to helping them. Maria's mother had just died and we'd inherited some money. We decided to sink it into renting this farmhouse so we'd have plenty of space."
At present, there are six women in residence, but numbers change on a daily basis; there's also a room for a woman with children, and the Albrechts recently took out a lease on another house nearby where up to 10 more women and children can stay.
The ethos of the farm is that everyone is part of the family – there's a rota for cleaning and cooking, and the women take their turn. At mealtimes there are usually 10 or 12 people round the kitchen table – for dishes that often owe their heritage to the cook's homeland in Africa or Asia. "It can make for interesting meals," says Francis. "And there are often plenty of people here – at Christmas we might have as many as 50 people. So it's often busy: but I guess we don't remember anything else, and we like it this way."
The Albrechts' two older children – who were very young when the first homeless guests joined the family at their the two-bed semi – are Shoshanah, 28, and Christian, 24, who now live in Brighton and the United States respectively. But Francis and Justin are still very much at home – and yes, agrees Francis, it is an unusual set-up. "When I tell friends about my home life, they're often surprised," he says. "I tell them we share our house with asylum seekers, and lots of people at school don't even know what an asylum seeker is.
"My friends' houses are very different – but I've never wished I lived anywhere else. There's always something interesting going on here – and some of the women, and the volunteers who work here, become real friends. I remember one woman from Indonesia – she had had an abusive husband and fled to the UK and ended up living here for a while. She's moved on, but we keep in touch. It's sad when people go, especially if they have been here a long time."
The farm costs about £50,000 a year to run: Scott, who was raised in a Jewish family in Chicago but later converted to Christianity, and Maria, who was raised a Catholic in Australia, are members of the Catholic Worker Movement, a radical US group that identifies itself with helping people at the margins of society. Some of their funding comes from Catholic religious orders who support what they do. Other donations are made by individuals – but what makes a big difference to the accounts is that most of their food is either donated or salvaged from supermarket skips.
"I go dumpster diving – that means basically taking the food that shops have thrown out because they're past their sell-by dates," says Scott. "It can be deeply degrading – I remember once being in a skip and someone shouting at us from a window above to get out of there. I thought, I'm glad my father can't see me now – he'd be so embarrassed."
Francis says he isn't remotely ashamed of what his dad has to do to feed his family and the extra mouths they have taken on. "What shocks me more is that supermarkets throw away food like this, when it's perfectly OK to eat and when there are people who don't have enough food in our country. That's the real scandal, not that my dad is taking it out of the skips," he says.
But what about safety? Have the Albrechts ever been concerned that someone might be dangerous? "We have worried at times," says Scott. "You're constantly balancing what we see as our duty to these homeless people with our duty to our children.
"I remember once, when Shoshanah and Christian were little, we had a homeless man staying in the sitting room and when I went in to say goodnight, he had a huge knife in his hand. It was a bit disconcerting, but I sat with him for a while and I could see that he wasn't going to attack anyone – he was used to living in difficult conditions, and the knife made him feel safe. So we allowed him to stay and all was well."
Since moving to the farm, says Maria, there have been only four women out of about 170 who have been asked to leave due to concerns about their behaviour. "Scott and I work very much on instinct and we've had a lot of experience now of living with people we don't know, and of gauging their mental state," she says.
"The thing is that people don't suddenly grab a carving knife and go berserk. There's always a build-up – there are warning signs – and we're very alert to those so we can get people the help they need."
She admits that one of the big adjustments she's had to make has been letting go of her domestic pride. "When Scott and I were first married I was very houseproud," she says. "In those days we lived in Illinois, Scott was earning good money, and we had a nice house and all that went with it. I loved things being just so but the fact is, it wasn't enough. There was a kind of emptiness at the centre of it – and changing the way we live has given our lives real meaning."
• For more information about the Albrechts and their work, see thecatholicworkerfarm.org![ext]()
Reported by guardian.co.uk 15 hours ago.
Maria Albrecht has only hazy memories of the first homeless person she and her husband, Scott, invited into their home to stay. But he was almost certainly an alcoholic, in his 50s or 60s, and he wouldn't have had a shower in a long time. He slept on a camp bed in the couple's sitting room: the family, with two small children at the time, were living in a two-bedroom semi.
That was about 20 years ago: since then, the Albrechts have welcomed approximately 300 homeless people into their home – some straight off the streets, others referred by the British Red Cross
. "I know people think it sounds impossible, to just take in homeless people," says Maria, "but the motivating factor for me is this: if I was sleeping on a park bench, I would hope someone would do this for me. So I do it for others."I know we can't help everyone who's homeless – but every night that even one person is in our home, that's one night when one less person is shivering on the street."
Today, the Albrechts live in a picturesque, red-brick farmhouse outside Watford: it's surrounded by fields and there's a large fishing lake in the back garden. It looks and feels like the very embodiment of a comfortable, middle-class existence in the London commuter belt, but inside there's a bohemian air and, ranged around the house, as well as Scott, 50, and Maria, 51, and their sons, Justin, 18, and Francis, 15, there are several homeless women and two volunteer helpers.
It's not an enormous house – the boys have their own rooms, and Scott and Maria have theirs, but the women share dormitory-like accommodation on the ground floor. And the house is certainly not palatial – on the day I visited it was raining and buckets had been placed to catch the drips coming through the roof.
"These days we only take homeless women and their children," says Scott, 50. "Most are asylum seekers – many were trafficked here and have escaped, or they were brought here as domestic workers and treated like slaves, and managed to get away."
Such women have no right to accommodation. The authorities are obliged to house children, but not their mothers. "What that means is that the children would be taken away from them, and they'd be left on the streets," says Scott. "They seemed to us like they were in the most desperate situation of all, so a few years ago we decided we'd devote ourselves to helping them. Maria's mother had just died and we'd inherited some money. We decided to sink it into renting this farmhouse so we'd have plenty of space."
At present, there are six women in residence, but numbers change on a daily basis; there's also a room for a woman with children, and the Albrechts recently took out a lease on another house nearby where up to 10 more women and children can stay.
The ethos of the farm is that everyone is part of the family – there's a rota for cleaning and cooking, and the women take their turn. At mealtimes there are usually 10 or 12 people round the kitchen table – for dishes that often owe their heritage to the cook's homeland in Africa or Asia. "It can make for interesting meals," says Francis. "And there are often plenty of people here – at Christmas we might have as many as 50 people. So it's often busy: but I guess we don't remember anything else, and we like it this way."
The Albrechts' two older children – who were very young when the first homeless guests joined the family at their the two-bed semi – are Shoshanah, 28, and Christian, 24, who now live in Brighton and the United States respectively. But Francis and Justin are still very much at home – and yes, agrees Francis, it is an unusual set-up. "When I tell friends about my home life, they're often surprised," he says. "I tell them we share our house with asylum seekers, and lots of people at school don't even know what an asylum seeker is.
"My friends' houses are very different – but I've never wished I lived anywhere else. There's always something interesting going on here – and some of the women, and the volunteers who work here, become real friends. I remember one woman from Indonesia – she had had an abusive husband and fled to the UK and ended up living here for a while. She's moved on, but we keep in touch. It's sad when people go, especially if they have been here a long time."
The farm costs about £50,000 a year to run: Scott, who was raised in a Jewish family in Chicago but later converted to Christianity, and Maria, who was raised a Catholic in Australia, are members of the Catholic Worker Movement, a radical US group that identifies itself with helping people at the margins of society. Some of their funding comes from Catholic religious orders who support what they do. Other donations are made by individuals – but what makes a big difference to the accounts is that most of their food is either donated or salvaged from supermarket skips.
"I go dumpster diving – that means basically taking the food that shops have thrown out because they're past their sell-by dates," says Scott. "It can be deeply degrading – I remember once being in a skip and someone shouting at us from a window above to get out of there. I thought, I'm glad my father can't see me now – he'd be so embarrassed."
Francis says he isn't remotely ashamed of what his dad has to do to feed his family and the extra mouths they have taken on. "What shocks me more is that supermarkets throw away food like this, when it's perfectly OK to eat and when there are people who don't have enough food in our country. That's the real scandal, not that my dad is taking it out of the skips," he says.
But what about safety? Have the Albrechts ever been concerned that someone might be dangerous? "We have worried at times," says Scott. "You're constantly balancing what we see as our duty to these homeless people with our duty to our children.
"I remember once, when Shoshanah and Christian were little, we had a homeless man staying in the sitting room and when I went in to say goodnight, he had a huge knife in his hand. It was a bit disconcerting, but I sat with him for a while and I could see that he wasn't going to attack anyone – he was used to living in difficult conditions, and the knife made him feel safe. So we allowed him to stay and all was well."
Since moving to the farm, says Maria, there have been only four women out of about 170 who have been asked to leave due to concerns about their behaviour. "Scott and I work very much on instinct and we've had a lot of experience now of living with people we don't know, and of gauging their mental state," she says.
"The thing is that people don't suddenly grab a carving knife and go berserk. There's always a build-up – there are warning signs – and we're very alert to those so we can get people the help they need."
She admits that one of the big adjustments she's had to make has been letting go of her domestic pride. "When Scott and I were first married I was very houseproud," she says. "In those days we lived in Illinois, Scott was earning good money, and we had a nice house and all that went with it. I loved things being just so but the fact is, it wasn't enough. There was a kind of emptiness at the centre of it – and changing the way we live has given our lives real meaning."
• For more information about the Albrechts and their work, see thecatholicworkerfarm.org
Reported by guardian.co.uk 15 hours ago.
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Maria's way Down Under!
*Short of tournament sharpness in the build-up to the Australian Open because of injury, Maria Sharapova has found a novel way of playing herself into form -- roughing up the local boys. *
The Russian World No 2 has been getting into the groove by beating up on Australia's top young players, having pulled out of Brisbane with a neck injury last week.
Sharapova has found some willing opponents in a couple of Australians, including Luke Saville, last year's junior champion at Melbourne Park.
"I played a couple of the junior boys here -- actually a good couple of Australian kids," Sharapova told reporters on Saturday.
"I think one of them got a wild card in the main draw."
That was Saville, who gave French Open champion Sharapova a real run for her money as she looked to blow away the cobwebs in time for her run at a second Australian Open title.
"We didn't actually finish," the four-time Grand Slam champion said. "The set took too long."
The other hitting partner was 16-year-old Thanasi Kokkinakis, a player tipped as having a bright future and who impressed when stepping in for the injured John Isner at the Hopman Cup last week.
Unfortunately for Kokkinakis, Sharapova's fiercely competitive streak ensured that she would not allow him the pleasure of a victory. "One of them was really on top of me and then I got really mad," said the 25-year-old, who tried to protect his identity.
"I think he had eight set points and I ended up winning the set. I'm not going to tell who it is," she laughed. "Too embarrassed. I don't think he slept well after that one! It was just nice to be able to have different types of game styles as well."
Sharapova woke up with pain in her neck and collarbone area on December 23 and immediately pulled out of a planned exhibition in South Korea. Having spent almost a year off the women's tour in 2008-09 after surgery on a career-threatening shoulder injury, Sharapova admitted she was wary of any pain in that part of her body.
But the 2008 Australian Open champion said she hoped her experience would see her through if her game hits full throttle in time. Reported by Deccan Herald 5 hours ago.
The Russian World No 2 has been getting into the groove by beating up on Australia's top young players, having pulled out of Brisbane with a neck injury last week.
Sharapova has found some willing opponents in a couple of Australians, including Luke Saville, last year's junior champion at Melbourne Park.
"I played a couple of the junior boys here -- actually a good couple of Australian kids," Sharapova told reporters on Saturday.
"I think one of them got a wild card in the main draw."
That was Saville, who gave French Open champion Sharapova a real run for her money as she looked to blow away the cobwebs in time for her run at a second Australian Open title.
"We didn't actually finish," the four-time Grand Slam champion said. "The set took too long."
The other hitting partner was 16-year-old Thanasi Kokkinakis, a player tipped as having a bright future and who impressed when stepping in for the injured John Isner at the Hopman Cup last week.
Unfortunately for Kokkinakis, Sharapova's fiercely competitive streak ensured that she would not allow him the pleasure of a victory. "One of them was really on top of me and then I got really mad," said the 25-year-old, who tried to protect his identity.
"I think he had eight set points and I ended up winning the set. I'm not going to tell who it is," she laughed. "Too embarrassed. I don't think he slept well after that one! It was just nice to be able to have different types of game styles as well."
Sharapova woke up with pain in her neck and collarbone area on December 23 and immediately pulled out of a planned exhibition in South Korea. Having spent almost a year off the women's tour in 2008-09 after surgery on a career-threatening shoulder injury, Sharapova admitted she was wary of any pain in that part of her body.
But the 2008 Australian Open champion said she hoped her experience would see her through if her game hits full throttle in time. Reported by Deccan Herald 5 hours ago.
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Maria seeks different type of sweet success
Players celebrate Grand Slam victories in different ways. Some choose to go on an all-night bender, while others prefer to spend a quiet evening sharing their triumph with loved ones, or even take a short holiday. Maria Sharapova likes to do business.
Reported by Independent 23 hours ago.
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Catch of the Week: Goliath Grouper Weighs in at 130 Pounds
Patch Bradenton, FL --*Anglers:* Chuck Bismark from Bradenton and Capt Anthony Leverett assisting. Fishing with the Lakewood Ranch fishing club.
*Fish: *Goliath Grouper.
*Bait:* Sardines on 80 lb test line.
*Where:* Offshore of Anna Maria Island in waters of about 125 feet.
*MORE:* The Lakewood Ranch fishing club also caught red grouper up to 20 lbs and released some big gags and mangrove snapper.
*Guide:* Capt Larry McGuire of Show Me The Fish Charters, operating out of Bradenton Beach Marina, can be reached at 941-720-6475. The family was on vacation at the Tortuga Inn on Beautiful Anna Maria Island.
Reported by Patch 4 hours ago.
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Ryder Cup hero Jose Maria Olazabal insists that he will never captain Europe again
Speculation that Colin Montgomerie could return as Ryder Cup captain on Tuesday has not changed Jose Maria Olazabal's position.
Reported by MailOnline 8 hours ago.
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Laura Robson puts on the glitz on eve of Australian Open
Great British hope models Stella McCartney clothing as she warms up for a tough draw at the Australian Open
Women's tennis does glitz. It shimmers and shimmies, it sells beauty that has little to do with the loveliness of a drop shot but everything to do with the money-drop – and Laura Robson seems to have picked up on the concept as deftly as the sport's queen of glamour, Maria Sharapova, who has spent much of her time leading up to the start of the Australian Open pumping up her latest sponsored commodity, a sugary sweet for love-struck teens called SugarPova.
Robson's product is less threatening to the arteries, a line of clothing by Stella McCartney. On Sunday, when she might have been sharing her thoughts on the championship or knocking off an extra session in the gym, she was out in Melbourne with Caroline Wozniacki and Maria Kirilenko on what we were told was "the world's first mirror court", invented by Adidas to promote its new line in clothing, designed by McCartney.
If it was good enough for Fred Perry, some might say, it is good enough for Robson, Sharapova et al, but the great man of British tennis's ancient past came to the clothing industry and his eponymous shirt some time after devoting his early life to the game that ultimately ensured his fame and fortune.
Is Robson endangering her run here by such a frivolous distraction? We will know soon enough. First up for her on Tuesday is another talented poppet, the American Melanie Oudin. Thereafter there is a horrendous list of obstacles: the former French Open champion Francesca Schiavone, the other fine young American Sloane Stephens (seeded 29th) and the 12th seed, Nadia Petrova.
If she gets past that group, the seedings suggest Serena Williams in the quarter-finals and defending champion, Victoria Azarenka, in the semi-finals. She would not have it any other way. Robson's self-belief is solid, her commonsense unshakable – reason enough to conclude she is not totally wasting her time pushing clothing for the daughter of a Beatle.
She has every reason to feel good about herself after a stunning second half to the 2012 season, a few moments sun-bathed in goodwill with her silver medal alongside Andy Murray in the Olympics. There followed even more significant success, as she sent Kim Clijsters into retirement at the US Open and beat the classy Li Na. When she reached her first WTA final, in Guangzhou, hopes for her rose rapidly, although to her credit she continued to devote her spare hours to preparation for the new season.
Her footwork, once leaden, is pleasingly light and her anticipation is improving steadily. The hub of her game is her serve, though, and that continues to rocket into ungettable space when it is clicking properly. She has a decent shout of beating Oudin, less so against Schiavone or Petrova. But Williams? That would be an extraordinary win.
When she and Heather Watson were announced in a Lawn Tennis Association press release as members of Judy Murray's Federation Cup team, it was affirmation of their steady progress. It also grounds them, returns them to their roots.
"Heather and Laura have pushed themselves up into the top 50 in the WTA rankings this year and they will have a wonderfully experienced back-up in Anne Keothavong and Elena Baltacha, who have 22 Fed Cups between them. We have a great squad and we will be aiming to put ourselves in World Group contention once again."
Oudin is an interesting opponent. She is just a few years older than Robson at 21 yet still carries the aura of saviour of her sport, a perception heightened when she won the mixed doubles at the US Open two years ago with Jack Sock. Unlike Robson she has been thrown into the tennis sausage machine from an early age and says she often envies the more ordinary lives of her twin sister, Katherine, and a younger sister, Christina. Technically she is the picture of modern orthodoxy, although she is inventive under pressure.
In a way she is made for Robson, a power-hitter who works best behind a big serve. The Briton, who is sometimes troubled by players who can move her about the court, will welcome a contest with someone prepared to go for her shots. There is not a lot between them and whoever goes through will have earned it in the tightest of matches. Reported by guardian.co.uk 6 hours ago.
Women's tennis does glitz. It shimmers and shimmies, it sells beauty that has little to do with the loveliness of a drop shot but everything to do with the money-drop – and Laura Robson seems to have picked up on the concept as deftly as the sport's queen of glamour, Maria Sharapova, who has spent much of her time leading up to the start of the Australian Open pumping up her latest sponsored commodity, a sugary sweet for love-struck teens called SugarPova.
Robson's product is less threatening to the arteries, a line of clothing by Stella McCartney. On Sunday, when she might have been sharing her thoughts on the championship or knocking off an extra session in the gym, she was out in Melbourne with Caroline Wozniacki and Maria Kirilenko on what we were told was "the world's first mirror court", invented by Adidas to promote its new line in clothing, designed by McCartney.
If it was good enough for Fred Perry, some might say, it is good enough for Robson, Sharapova et al, but the great man of British tennis's ancient past came to the clothing industry and his eponymous shirt some time after devoting his early life to the game that ultimately ensured his fame and fortune.
Is Robson endangering her run here by such a frivolous distraction? We will know soon enough. First up for her on Tuesday is another talented poppet, the American Melanie Oudin. Thereafter there is a horrendous list of obstacles: the former French Open champion Francesca Schiavone, the other fine young American Sloane Stephens (seeded 29th) and the 12th seed, Nadia Petrova.
If she gets past that group, the seedings suggest Serena Williams in the quarter-finals and defending champion, Victoria Azarenka, in the semi-finals. She would not have it any other way. Robson's self-belief is solid, her commonsense unshakable – reason enough to conclude she is not totally wasting her time pushing clothing for the daughter of a Beatle.
She has every reason to feel good about herself after a stunning second half to the 2012 season, a few moments sun-bathed in goodwill with her silver medal alongside Andy Murray in the Olympics. There followed even more significant success, as she sent Kim Clijsters into retirement at the US Open and beat the classy Li Na. When she reached her first WTA final, in Guangzhou, hopes for her rose rapidly, although to her credit she continued to devote her spare hours to preparation for the new season.
Her footwork, once leaden, is pleasingly light and her anticipation is improving steadily. The hub of her game is her serve, though, and that continues to rocket into ungettable space when it is clicking properly. She has a decent shout of beating Oudin, less so against Schiavone or Petrova. But Williams? That would be an extraordinary win.
When she and Heather Watson were announced in a Lawn Tennis Association press release as members of Judy Murray's Federation Cup team, it was affirmation of their steady progress. It also grounds them, returns them to their roots.
"Heather and Laura have pushed themselves up into the top 50 in the WTA rankings this year and they will have a wonderfully experienced back-up in Anne Keothavong and Elena Baltacha, who have 22 Fed Cups between them. We have a great squad and we will be aiming to put ourselves in World Group contention once again."
Oudin is an interesting opponent. She is just a few years older than Robson at 21 yet still carries the aura of saviour of her sport, a perception heightened when she won the mixed doubles at the US Open two years ago with Jack Sock. Unlike Robson she has been thrown into the tennis sausage machine from an early age and says she often envies the more ordinary lives of her twin sister, Katherine, and a younger sister, Christina. Technically she is the picture of modern orthodoxy, although she is inventive under pressure.
In a way she is made for Robson, a power-hitter who works best behind a big serve. The Briton, who is sometimes troubled by players who can move her about the court, will welcome a contest with someone prepared to go for her shots. There is not a lot between them and whoever goes through will have earned it in the tightest of matches. Reported by guardian.co.uk 6 hours ago.
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Mastermind: How to Think Like Sherlock Holmes by Maria Konnikova – digested read
John Crace reduces a new self-help book aiming to transform your brain capacity to super-sleuth size to a manageable 600 words
When I was a little girl, my father tried to tell me that Sherlock Holmes was not a real person. "But Daddy," I would sob, "if he's just a novelist's creation, then how could he possibly have known how many steps there were leading up to 221b Baker Street?"
Only a truly mindful person could remember a detail like that. And you too can learn to think like Holmes if you train your brain properly. But it won't be easy, as you will have to acquire a natural sceptism and inquisitiveness towards the world. Most of us have a tendency to make instant, crass judgments like that fool Watson.
Holmes's detractors often point out the supposed ignorance of Copernican theory he displays in A Study in Scarlet; but a close study of The Adventure of the Greek Interpreter proves beyond doubt that he had a keen understanding of the "obliquity of the ecliptic". What this shows is that Holmes could, when required, access everything he could possibly need to know from his brain attic. Try to think of a brain attic as a physical structure, a bit like having a concrete library attached to the top of your head with data in it. Now think of the difference between mine and yours. Mine is very large and yours is very small. Which is why you bought this book.
When stocking the brain attic, it is vital to make sure you do not fill it with clutter. Watson notices that "Miss Morstan is a singularly attractive woman" in The Sign of Four, while Holmes observes, "Really? I did not notice." Why is this? It is because Holmes has no Motivation to Remember (MTR) as he is completely out of his head on morphine.
In 1978, two psychologists did a fascinating experiment to show it was possible to get a statement of the bleeding obvious peer-reviewed in an academic journal, which would then be cited in every popular psychology book thereafter. Consider these two sentences. "Bastard, bastard, bastard, nice guy, bastard.""Nice guy, nice guy, nice guy, bastard, nice guy." If you were one of those who thought the person mentioned in the first sentence was likely to be more of a bastard than the guy in the second, then you are in good company – with the halfwit Watson. Only someone with an enormous brain attic could deduce the opposite because, as Holmes often told me, "Once you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth."
Do you remember when John Hector McFarlane arrives at Baker Street in The Adventure of the Norwood Builder? For Watson and Inspector Lestrade, his guilt is self-evident. Yet not to Holmes. Why is this? Because Holmes has the insight to know that if McFarlane had really killed Jonas Oldacre, then the story has ground to a halt on page one. Holmes can make those crucial mental leaps. Instead of going to Norwood, he goes to Blackheath. We all need to go to Blackheath sometimes.
We also have to recognise that we have limits. Even Holmes was not always infallible, but to those who observe that Sir Arthur Conan Doyle believed in fairies, I would say only this: just because you haven't seen one doesn't mean they don't exist.
You probably haven't heard of Ray Dalio. Ray is the CEO of one of America's largest hedge funds and one of the busiest people in the universe. And yet he takes time out to meditate before he goes to work. Why? Because it enables him to ruthlessly exploit the weaknesses in the banking system even better. Imagine now that you are Holmes and you are observing me, Maria, for the first time. What might you deduce? On second thoughts, let's not go there. Rather, let us consider the three-pipe problem. How do we recognise it? The answer is more simple than you may think. By smoking three pipes.
*Digested read, digested: *There are fairies at the bottom of my brain attic. Reported by guardian.co.uk 4 hours ago.
When I was a little girl, my father tried to tell me that Sherlock Holmes was not a real person. "But Daddy," I would sob, "if he's just a novelist's creation, then how could he possibly have known how many steps there were leading up to 221b Baker Street?"
Only a truly mindful person could remember a detail like that. And you too can learn to think like Holmes if you train your brain properly. But it won't be easy, as you will have to acquire a natural sceptism and inquisitiveness towards the world. Most of us have a tendency to make instant, crass judgments like that fool Watson.
Holmes's detractors often point out the supposed ignorance of Copernican theory he displays in A Study in Scarlet; but a close study of The Adventure of the Greek Interpreter proves beyond doubt that he had a keen understanding of the "obliquity of the ecliptic". What this shows is that Holmes could, when required, access everything he could possibly need to know from his brain attic. Try to think of a brain attic as a physical structure, a bit like having a concrete library attached to the top of your head with data in it. Now think of the difference between mine and yours. Mine is very large and yours is very small. Which is why you bought this book.
When stocking the brain attic, it is vital to make sure you do not fill it with clutter. Watson notices that "Miss Morstan is a singularly attractive woman" in The Sign of Four, while Holmes observes, "Really? I did not notice." Why is this? It is because Holmes has no Motivation to Remember (MTR) as he is completely out of his head on morphine.
In 1978, two psychologists did a fascinating experiment to show it was possible to get a statement of the bleeding obvious peer-reviewed in an academic journal, which would then be cited in every popular psychology book thereafter. Consider these two sentences. "Bastard, bastard, bastard, nice guy, bastard.""Nice guy, nice guy, nice guy, bastard, nice guy." If you were one of those who thought the person mentioned in the first sentence was likely to be more of a bastard than the guy in the second, then you are in good company – with the halfwit Watson. Only someone with an enormous brain attic could deduce the opposite because, as Holmes often told me, "Once you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth."
Do you remember when John Hector McFarlane arrives at Baker Street in The Adventure of the Norwood Builder? For Watson and Inspector Lestrade, his guilt is self-evident. Yet not to Holmes. Why is this? Because Holmes has the insight to know that if McFarlane had really killed Jonas Oldacre, then the story has ground to a halt on page one. Holmes can make those crucial mental leaps. Instead of going to Norwood, he goes to Blackheath. We all need to go to Blackheath sometimes.
We also have to recognise that we have limits. Even Holmes was not always infallible, but to those who observe that Sir Arthur Conan Doyle believed in fairies, I would say only this: just because you haven't seen one doesn't mean they don't exist.
You probably haven't heard of Ray Dalio. Ray is the CEO of one of America's largest hedge funds and one of the busiest people in the universe. And yet he takes time out to meditate before he goes to work. Why? Because it enables him to ruthlessly exploit the weaknesses in the banking system even better. Imagine now that you are Holmes and you are observing me, Maria, for the first time. What might you deduce? On second thoughts, let's not go there. Rather, let us consider the three-pipe problem. How do we recognise it? The answer is more simple than you may think. By smoking three pipes.
*Digested read, digested: *There are fairies at the bottom of my brain attic. Reported by guardian.co.uk 4 hours ago.
↧
Five Things to Watch at Australian Open; Serena Gives Struggling US Hope
The first major of the season, the Australian Open, just started (tonight at 6:30PM ET on ESPN2) and Breitbart Sports has the top 5 things you should look for in the Open.
*#1 – Novak Djokovic* All eyes will be on the defending champion. He ended 2012 on top, barely squeaking by Roger Federer for the world #1 ranking. Will he be able to win three straight Australian Open titles? No man has done it, but Djokovic could very well be the first.
*#2 – American tennis without Andy Roddick* No John Isner at the Open is a crushing blow to the United States. The US used to be a dominant force in tennis, but after Pete Sampras and Andre Aggasi retired we’ve never recovered. Our one hope was Andy Roddick, but he never really lived up to the hype. He retired after the 2012 US Open and now Isner is out of the Australian Open. Will any of the Americans at the Open surprise us? We sure hope so.
*#3 – Will the top 10 men take advantage with no Rafa?* Nadal has not competed since Wimbledon and we thought he would make a return at the Australian Open. He had to pull out due to a stomach flu and this would be a great opportunity for players in the top 10 to make their mark. These include Tomas Berdych, Juan Martin Del Potro, Janko Tipsarevic, and David Ferrer. Berdych and Del Potro cause problems for Federer. Ferrer came out of his shell in 2012 and won his first title. It should not come to a surprise to anyone if any of these men unseat the top 3.
*#4 – Roger Federer’s first round* Federer is not the player he used to be and he showed it at the US Open and the minor tournaments following it. He will face Frenchman Benoit Paire in the opening round and will most likely face Nikolay Davydenko. It is not expected for either to upset Federer, but they could force the matches to four sets and tire out Federer, which will affect the way he plays against the higher seed players.
*#5 – Serena Williams* She’s back and defending champion Victoria Azarenka should be worried. Last year Williams lost in the fourth round of the Australian Open and the first round of the French Open. People started to think she was on the downhill, but the second part of 2012 proved otherwise. She won Wimbledon and the US Open along with the gold medal at the Olympics. While the US may lack men in tennis we still have Serena Williams to bring us glory. Hopefully she finishes higher in the 2013 Australian Open.
As the table at the end of this story shows, US Tennis has been through an incredible transformation. From 1989 to 1997, the US grabbed 18 men’s titles from four different champions, while the only women’s title in the nine years was from Martina Navratilova after she changed her citizenship. In the next six years, the US Women suddenly surpassed the men with 16 titles in just six years, including a sweep of the 2001 and 2002 Grand Slam events by three different US Women. That stretch ended with great hopes that Andy Roddick would carry the torch for Pete Sampras and Andre Agassi.
However, Roddick has now retired at the end of a stretch during which neither he or any other American won a title. In fact, the Williams sisters are the only Americans who have won any title in the last nine years, with Serena Williams looking for her 11th title in 10 years in Australia, and Venus Williams adding two. Here are the five things to watch followed by a breakdown of US winners and all winners since 1989.
Year US Men US Women US Champions by Grand Slam
1989 1 Chang FR
1990 1 1 Sampras US, Navratilova WM
1991 1 Courier FR
1992 3 Courier FR & AU, Agassi WM
1993 3 Courier AU, Sampras US & WM
1994 3 Sampras AU & WM, Agassi US
1995 3 Sampras US & WM, Agassi AU
1996 1 Sampras US
1997 2 Sampras AU & WM
9 years 18 1
1998 1 1 Davenport US, Sampras WM
1999 3 2 Agassi FR, US, Sampras WM, Davenport WM, SWilliams US
2000 2 3 Agassi, AU, Davenport AU, Sampras WM, VWilliams US, WM
2001 1 4 Agassi AU, Carpiati AU & FR, V Williams US & WM
2002 1 4 Carpiati AU, Sampras US, S Williams FR, US, WM
2003 2 2 Agassi AU, Roddick US, S Williams AU & WM
6 years 10 16
2004 None
2005 2 S Williams AU, V Williams WM
2006 None
2007 2 S Williams AU, V Williams WM
2008 2 S Williams US & WM
2009 2 S Williams AU & WM
2010 2 S Williams AU & WM
2011 None
2012 2 S Williams US & WM
9 years 12
And here are all of the Champions since 1989
Year Country Champ Slam Event Gender
1989 Czech Ivan Lendl Australian Men
1989 USA Michael Chang French Men
1989 GER Boris Becker US Open Men
1989 GER Boris Becker Wimbledon Men
1989 GER Steffi Graf Australian Open Women
1989 Spain Arantxa Sánchez Vicario French Women
1989 GER Steffi Graf US Open Women
1989 GER Steffi Graf Wimbledon Women
1989 1 US Men, 0 US Women
1990 Czech Ivan Lendl Australian Men
1990 ECU Andrés Gómez French Men
1990 USA Pete Sampras US Open Men
1990 SWE Stefan Edberg Wimbledon Men
1990 GER Steffi Graf Australian Open Women
1990 YUG Monica Seles French Women
1990 Argentina Gabriela Sabatini US Open Women
1990 USA Martina Navratilova Wimbledon Women
1990 1 US Men, 1 US Women
1991 GER Boris Becker Australian Men
1991 USA Jim Courier French Men
1991 SWE Stefan Edberg US Open Men
1991 GER Michael Stich Wimbledon Men
1991 YUG Monica Seles Australian Open Women
1991 YUG Monica Seles French Women
1991 YUG Monica Seles US Open Women
1991 GER Steffi Graf Wimbledon Women
1991 1 US Men, 0 US Women
1992 USA Jim Courier Australian Men
1992 USA Jim Courier French Men
1992 SWE Stefan Edberg US Open Men
1992 USA Andre Agassi Wimbledon Men
1992 YUG Monica Seles Australian Open Women
1992 YUG Monica Seles French Women
1992 YUG Monica Seles US Open Women
1992 GER Steffi Graf Wimbledon Women
1992 3 US Men, 0 US Women
1993 USA Jim Courier Australian Men
1993 Spain Sergi Bruguera French Men
1993 USA Pete Sampras US Open Men
1993 USA Pete Sampras Wimbledon Men
1993 YUG Monica Seles Australian Open Women
1993 GER Steffi Graf French Women
1993 GER Steffi Graf US Open Women
1993 GER Steffi Graf Wimbledon Women
1993 3 US Men, 0 US Women
1994 USA Pete Sampras Australian Men
1994 Spain Sergi Bruguera French Men
1994 USA Andre Agassi US Open Men
1994 USA Pete Sampras Wimbledon Men
1994 GER Steffi Graf Australian Open Women
1994 Spain Arantxa Sánchez Vicario French Women
1994 Spain Arantxa Sánchez Vicario US Open Women
1994 Spain Conchita Martínez Wimbledon Women
1994 3 US Men, 0 US Women
1995 USA Andre Agassi Australian Men
1995 AUT Thomas Muster French Men
1995 USA Pete Sampras US Open Men
1995 USA Pete Sampras Wimbledon Men
1995 FRA Mary Pierce Australian Open Women
1995 GER Steffi Graf French Women
1995 GER Steffi Graf US Open Women
1995 GER Steffi Graf Wimbledon Women
1995 3 US Men, 0 US Women
1996 GER Boris Becker Australian Men
1996 RUS Yevgeny Kafelnikov French Men
1996 USA Pete Sampras US Open Men
1996 NLD Richard Krajicek Wimbledon Men
1996 YUG Monica Seles Australian Open Women
1996 GER Steffi Graf French Women
1996 GER Steffi Graf US Open Women
1996 GER Steffi Graf Wimbledon Women
1996 1 US Men, 0 US Women
1997 USA Pete Sampras Australian Men
1997 BRA Gustavo Kuerten French Men
1997 Australia Patrick Rafter US Open Men
1997 USA Pete Sampras Wimbledon Men
1997 Switz Martina Hingis Australian Open Women
1997 CRO IvaIva Majoli French Women
1997 SUI Martina Hingis US Open Women
1997 SUI Martina Hingis Wimbledon Women
1997 2 US Men, 0 US Women
1998 Czech Petr Korda Australian Men
1998 Spain Carlos Moyá French Men
1998 Australia Patrick Rafter US Open Men
1998 USA Pete Sampras Wimbledon Men
1998 Switz Martina Hingis Australian Open Women
1998 Spain Arantxa Sánchez Vicario French Women
1998 USA Lindsay Davenport US Open Women
1998 CZE Jana Novotná Wimbledon Women
1998 1 US Men, 1 US Women
1999 RUS Yevgeny Kafelnikov Australian Men
1999 USA Andre Agassi French Men
1999 USA Andre Agassi US Open Men
1999 USA Pete Sampras Wimbledon Men
1999 Switz Martina Hingis Australian Open Women
1999 GER Steffi Graf French Women
1999 USA Serena Williams US Open Women
1999 USA Lindsay Davenport Wimbledon Women
1999 3 US Men, 2 US Women
2000 USA Andre Agassi Australian Men
2000 BRA Gustavo Kuerten French Men
2000 RUS Marat Safin US Open Men
2000 USA Pete Sampras Wimbledon Men
2000 USA Lindsay Davenport Australian Open Women
2000 FRA Mary Pierce French Women
2000 USA Venus Williams US Open Women
2000 USA Venus Williams Wimbledon Women
2000 2 US Men, 3 US Women
2001 USA Andre Agassi Australian Men
2001 BRA Gustavo Kuerten French Men
2001 Australia Lleyton Hewitt US Open Men
2001 CRO Goran Ivanišević Wimbledon Men
2001 USA Jennifer Capriati Australian Open Women
2001 USA Jennifer Capriati French Women
2001 USA Venus Williams US Open Women
2001 USA Venus Williams Wimbledon Women
2001 1 US Men, 4 US Women
2002 SWE Thomas Johansson Australian Men
2002 Spain Albert Costa French Men
2002 USA Pete Sampras US Open Men
2002 Australia Lleyton Hewitt Wimbledon Men
2002 USA Jennifer Capriati Australian Open Women
2002 USA Serena Williams French Women
2002 USA Serena Williams US Open Women
2002 USA Serena Williams Wimbledon Women
2002 1 US Men, 4 US Women
2003 USA Andre Agassi Australian Men
2003 Spain Juan Carlos Ferrero French Men
2003 USA Andy Roddick US Open Men
2003 Switz Roger Federer Wimbledon Men
2003 USA Serena Williams Australian Open Women
2003 BEL Justine Henin French Women
2003 BEL Justine Henin US Open Women
2003 USA Serena Williams Wimbledon Women
2003 2 US Men, 2 US Women
2004 Switz Roger Federer Australian Men
2004 Argentina Gastón Gaudio French Men
2004 Switz Roger Federer US Open Men
2004 Switz Roger Federer Wimbledon Men
2004 BELG Justine Henin Australian Open Women
2004 RUS Anastasia Myskina French Women
2004 RUS Svetlana Kuznetsova US Open Women
2004 RUS Maria Sharapova Wimbledon Women
2004 0 US Men, 0 US Women
2005 RUS Marat Safin Australian Men
2005 Spain Rafael Nadal French Men
2005 Switz Roger Federer US Open Men
2005 Switz Roger Federer Wimbledon Men
2005 USA Serena Williams Australian Open Women
2005 BEL Justine Henin French Women
2005 BEL Kim Clijsters US Open Women
2005 USA Venus Williams Wimbledon Women
2005 0 US Men, 2 US Women
2006 Switz Roger Federer Australian Men
2006 Spain Rafael Nadal French Men
2006 Switz Roger Federer US Open Men
2006 Switz Roger Federer Wimbledon Men
2006 FRA Amélie Mauresmo Australian Open Women
2006 BEL Justine Henin French Women
2006 RUS Maria Sharapova US Open Women
2006 FRA Amélie Mauresmo Wimbledon Women
2006 0 US Men, 0 US Women
2007 Switz Roger Federer Australian Men
2007 Spain Rafael Nadal French Men
2007 Switz Roger Federer US Open Men
2007 Switz Roger Federer Wimbledon Men
2007 USA Serena Williams Australian Open Women
2007 BEL Justine Henin French Women
2007 BEL Justine Henin US Open Women
2007 USA Venus Williams Wimbledon Women
2007 0 US Men, 2 US Women
2008 SRB Novak Djokovic Australian Men
2008 Spain Rafael Nadal French Men
2008 Switz Roger Federer US Open Men
2008 Spain Rafael Nadal Wimbledon Men
2008 RUS Maria Sharapova Australian Open Women
2008 SRB Ana Ivanovic French Women
2008 USA Serena Williams US Open Women
2008 USA Serena Williams Wimbledon Women
2008 0 US Men, 2 US Women
2009 Spain Rafael Nadal Australian Men
2009 Switz Roger Federer French Men
2009 Argentina Juan Martín del Potro US Open Men
2009 Switz Roger Federer Wimbledon Men
2009 USA Serena Williams Australian Open Women
2009 RUS Svetlana Kuznetsova French Women
2009 BEL Kim Clijsters US Open Women
2009 USA Serena Williams Wimbledon Women
2009 0 US Men, 2 US Women
2010 Switz Roger Federer Australian Men
2010 Spain Rafael Nadal French Men
2010 Spain Rafael Nadal US Open Men
2010 Spain Rafael Nadal Wimbledon Men
2010 USA Serena Williams Australian Open Women
2010 ITA Francesca Schiavone French Women
2010 BEL Kim Clijsters US Open Women
2010 USA Serena Williams Wimbledon Women
2010 0 US Men, 2 US Women
2011 SRB Novak Djokovic Australian Men
2011 Spain Rafael Nadal French Men
2011 SRB Novak Djokovic US Open Men
2011 SRB Novak Djokovic Wimbledon Men
2011 BELG Kim Clijsters Australian Open Women
2011 CHN Li Na French Women
2011 Australia Samantha Stosur US Open Women
2011 CZE Petra Kvitová Wimbledon Women
2011 0 US Men, 0 US Women
2012 SRB Novak Djokovic Australian Men
2012 Spain Rafael Nadal French Men
2012 UK Andy Murray US Open Men
2012 Switz Roger Federer Wimbledon Men
2012 BELAR Victoria Azarenka Australian Open Women
2012 RUS Maria Sharapova French Women
2012 USA Serena Williams US Open Women
2012 USA Serena Williams Wimbledon Women
2012 0 US Men, 2 US Women Reported by Breitbart 1 day ago.
*#1 – Novak Djokovic* All eyes will be on the defending champion. He ended 2012 on top, barely squeaking by Roger Federer for the world #1 ranking. Will he be able to win three straight Australian Open titles? No man has done it, but Djokovic could very well be the first.
*#2 – American tennis without Andy Roddick* No John Isner at the Open is a crushing blow to the United States. The US used to be a dominant force in tennis, but after Pete Sampras and Andre Aggasi retired we’ve never recovered. Our one hope was Andy Roddick, but he never really lived up to the hype. He retired after the 2012 US Open and now Isner is out of the Australian Open. Will any of the Americans at the Open surprise us? We sure hope so.
*#3 – Will the top 10 men take advantage with no Rafa?* Nadal has not competed since Wimbledon and we thought he would make a return at the Australian Open. He had to pull out due to a stomach flu and this would be a great opportunity for players in the top 10 to make their mark. These include Tomas Berdych, Juan Martin Del Potro, Janko Tipsarevic, and David Ferrer. Berdych and Del Potro cause problems for Federer. Ferrer came out of his shell in 2012 and won his first title. It should not come to a surprise to anyone if any of these men unseat the top 3.
*#4 – Roger Federer’s first round* Federer is not the player he used to be and he showed it at the US Open and the minor tournaments following it. He will face Frenchman Benoit Paire in the opening round and will most likely face Nikolay Davydenko. It is not expected for either to upset Federer, but they could force the matches to four sets and tire out Federer, which will affect the way he plays against the higher seed players.
*#5 – Serena Williams* She’s back and defending champion Victoria Azarenka should be worried. Last year Williams lost in the fourth round of the Australian Open and the first round of the French Open. People started to think she was on the downhill, but the second part of 2012 proved otherwise. She won Wimbledon and the US Open along with the gold medal at the Olympics. While the US may lack men in tennis we still have Serena Williams to bring us glory. Hopefully she finishes higher in the 2013 Australian Open.
As the table at the end of this story shows, US Tennis has been through an incredible transformation. From 1989 to 1997, the US grabbed 18 men’s titles from four different champions, while the only women’s title in the nine years was from Martina Navratilova after she changed her citizenship. In the next six years, the US Women suddenly surpassed the men with 16 titles in just six years, including a sweep of the 2001 and 2002 Grand Slam events by three different US Women. That stretch ended with great hopes that Andy Roddick would carry the torch for Pete Sampras and Andre Agassi.
However, Roddick has now retired at the end of a stretch during which neither he or any other American won a title. In fact, the Williams sisters are the only Americans who have won any title in the last nine years, with Serena Williams looking for her 11th title in 10 years in Australia, and Venus Williams adding two. Here are the five things to watch followed by a breakdown of US winners and all winners since 1989.
Year US Men US Women US Champions by Grand Slam
1989 1 Chang FR
1990 1 1 Sampras US, Navratilova WM
1991 1 Courier FR
1992 3 Courier FR & AU, Agassi WM
1993 3 Courier AU, Sampras US & WM
1994 3 Sampras AU & WM, Agassi US
1995 3 Sampras US & WM, Agassi AU
1996 1 Sampras US
1997 2 Sampras AU & WM
9 years 18 1
1998 1 1 Davenport US, Sampras WM
1999 3 2 Agassi FR, US, Sampras WM, Davenport WM, SWilliams US
2000 2 3 Agassi, AU, Davenport AU, Sampras WM, VWilliams US, WM
2001 1 4 Agassi AU, Carpiati AU & FR, V Williams US & WM
2002 1 4 Carpiati AU, Sampras US, S Williams FR, US, WM
2003 2 2 Agassi AU, Roddick US, S Williams AU & WM
6 years 10 16
2004 None
2005 2 S Williams AU, V Williams WM
2006 None
2007 2 S Williams AU, V Williams WM
2008 2 S Williams US & WM
2009 2 S Williams AU & WM
2010 2 S Williams AU & WM
2011 None
2012 2 S Williams US & WM
9 years 12
And here are all of the Champions since 1989
Year Country Champ Slam Event Gender
1989 Czech Ivan Lendl Australian Men
1989 USA Michael Chang French Men
1989 GER Boris Becker US Open Men
1989 GER Boris Becker Wimbledon Men
1989 GER Steffi Graf Australian Open Women
1989 Spain Arantxa Sánchez Vicario French Women
1989 GER Steffi Graf US Open Women
1989 GER Steffi Graf Wimbledon Women
1989 1 US Men, 0 US Women
1990 Czech Ivan Lendl Australian Men
1990 ECU Andrés Gómez French Men
1990 USA Pete Sampras US Open Men
1990 SWE Stefan Edberg Wimbledon Men
1990 GER Steffi Graf Australian Open Women
1990 YUG Monica Seles French Women
1990 Argentina Gabriela Sabatini US Open Women
1990 USA Martina Navratilova Wimbledon Women
1990 1 US Men, 1 US Women
1991 GER Boris Becker Australian Men
1991 USA Jim Courier French Men
1991 SWE Stefan Edberg US Open Men
1991 GER Michael Stich Wimbledon Men
1991 YUG Monica Seles Australian Open Women
1991 YUG Monica Seles French Women
1991 YUG Monica Seles US Open Women
1991 GER Steffi Graf Wimbledon Women
1991 1 US Men, 0 US Women
1992 USA Jim Courier Australian Men
1992 USA Jim Courier French Men
1992 SWE Stefan Edberg US Open Men
1992 USA Andre Agassi Wimbledon Men
1992 YUG Monica Seles Australian Open Women
1992 YUG Monica Seles French Women
1992 YUG Monica Seles US Open Women
1992 GER Steffi Graf Wimbledon Women
1992 3 US Men, 0 US Women
1993 USA Jim Courier Australian Men
1993 Spain Sergi Bruguera French Men
1993 USA Pete Sampras US Open Men
1993 USA Pete Sampras Wimbledon Men
1993 YUG Monica Seles Australian Open Women
1993 GER Steffi Graf French Women
1993 GER Steffi Graf US Open Women
1993 GER Steffi Graf Wimbledon Women
1993 3 US Men, 0 US Women
1994 USA Pete Sampras Australian Men
1994 Spain Sergi Bruguera French Men
1994 USA Andre Agassi US Open Men
1994 USA Pete Sampras Wimbledon Men
1994 GER Steffi Graf Australian Open Women
1994 Spain Arantxa Sánchez Vicario French Women
1994 Spain Arantxa Sánchez Vicario US Open Women
1994 Spain Conchita Martínez Wimbledon Women
1994 3 US Men, 0 US Women
1995 USA Andre Agassi Australian Men
1995 AUT Thomas Muster French Men
1995 USA Pete Sampras US Open Men
1995 USA Pete Sampras Wimbledon Men
1995 FRA Mary Pierce Australian Open Women
1995 GER Steffi Graf French Women
1995 GER Steffi Graf US Open Women
1995 GER Steffi Graf Wimbledon Women
1995 3 US Men, 0 US Women
1996 GER Boris Becker Australian Men
1996 RUS Yevgeny Kafelnikov French Men
1996 USA Pete Sampras US Open Men
1996 NLD Richard Krajicek Wimbledon Men
1996 YUG Monica Seles Australian Open Women
1996 GER Steffi Graf French Women
1996 GER Steffi Graf US Open Women
1996 GER Steffi Graf Wimbledon Women
1996 1 US Men, 0 US Women
1997 USA Pete Sampras Australian Men
1997 BRA Gustavo Kuerten French Men
1997 Australia Patrick Rafter US Open Men
1997 USA Pete Sampras Wimbledon Men
1997 Switz Martina Hingis Australian Open Women
1997 CRO IvaIva Majoli French Women
1997 SUI Martina Hingis US Open Women
1997 SUI Martina Hingis Wimbledon Women
1997 2 US Men, 0 US Women
1998 Czech Petr Korda Australian Men
1998 Spain Carlos Moyá French Men
1998 Australia Patrick Rafter US Open Men
1998 USA Pete Sampras Wimbledon Men
1998 Switz Martina Hingis Australian Open Women
1998 Spain Arantxa Sánchez Vicario French Women
1998 USA Lindsay Davenport US Open Women
1998 CZE Jana Novotná Wimbledon Women
1998 1 US Men, 1 US Women
1999 RUS Yevgeny Kafelnikov Australian Men
1999 USA Andre Agassi French Men
1999 USA Andre Agassi US Open Men
1999 USA Pete Sampras Wimbledon Men
1999 Switz Martina Hingis Australian Open Women
1999 GER Steffi Graf French Women
1999 USA Serena Williams US Open Women
1999 USA Lindsay Davenport Wimbledon Women
1999 3 US Men, 2 US Women
2000 USA Andre Agassi Australian Men
2000 BRA Gustavo Kuerten French Men
2000 RUS Marat Safin US Open Men
2000 USA Pete Sampras Wimbledon Men
2000 USA Lindsay Davenport Australian Open Women
2000 FRA Mary Pierce French Women
2000 USA Venus Williams US Open Women
2000 USA Venus Williams Wimbledon Women
2000 2 US Men, 3 US Women
2001 USA Andre Agassi Australian Men
2001 BRA Gustavo Kuerten French Men
2001 Australia Lleyton Hewitt US Open Men
2001 CRO Goran Ivanišević Wimbledon Men
2001 USA Jennifer Capriati Australian Open Women
2001 USA Jennifer Capriati French Women
2001 USA Venus Williams US Open Women
2001 USA Venus Williams Wimbledon Women
2001 1 US Men, 4 US Women
2002 SWE Thomas Johansson Australian Men
2002 Spain Albert Costa French Men
2002 USA Pete Sampras US Open Men
2002 Australia Lleyton Hewitt Wimbledon Men
2002 USA Jennifer Capriati Australian Open Women
2002 USA Serena Williams French Women
2002 USA Serena Williams US Open Women
2002 USA Serena Williams Wimbledon Women
2002 1 US Men, 4 US Women
2003 USA Andre Agassi Australian Men
2003 Spain Juan Carlos Ferrero French Men
2003 USA Andy Roddick US Open Men
2003 Switz Roger Federer Wimbledon Men
2003 USA Serena Williams Australian Open Women
2003 BEL Justine Henin French Women
2003 BEL Justine Henin US Open Women
2003 USA Serena Williams Wimbledon Women
2003 2 US Men, 2 US Women
2004 Switz Roger Federer Australian Men
2004 Argentina Gastón Gaudio French Men
2004 Switz Roger Federer US Open Men
2004 Switz Roger Federer Wimbledon Men
2004 BELG Justine Henin Australian Open Women
2004 RUS Anastasia Myskina French Women
2004 RUS Svetlana Kuznetsova US Open Women
2004 RUS Maria Sharapova Wimbledon Women
2004 0 US Men, 0 US Women
2005 RUS Marat Safin Australian Men
2005 Spain Rafael Nadal French Men
2005 Switz Roger Federer US Open Men
2005 Switz Roger Federer Wimbledon Men
2005 USA Serena Williams Australian Open Women
2005 BEL Justine Henin French Women
2005 BEL Kim Clijsters US Open Women
2005 USA Venus Williams Wimbledon Women
2005 0 US Men, 2 US Women
2006 Switz Roger Federer Australian Men
2006 Spain Rafael Nadal French Men
2006 Switz Roger Federer US Open Men
2006 Switz Roger Federer Wimbledon Men
2006 FRA Amélie Mauresmo Australian Open Women
2006 BEL Justine Henin French Women
2006 RUS Maria Sharapova US Open Women
2006 FRA Amélie Mauresmo Wimbledon Women
2006 0 US Men, 0 US Women
2007 Switz Roger Federer Australian Men
2007 Spain Rafael Nadal French Men
2007 Switz Roger Federer US Open Men
2007 Switz Roger Federer Wimbledon Men
2007 USA Serena Williams Australian Open Women
2007 BEL Justine Henin French Women
2007 BEL Justine Henin US Open Women
2007 USA Venus Williams Wimbledon Women
2007 0 US Men, 2 US Women
2008 SRB Novak Djokovic Australian Men
2008 Spain Rafael Nadal French Men
2008 Switz Roger Federer US Open Men
2008 Spain Rafael Nadal Wimbledon Men
2008 RUS Maria Sharapova Australian Open Women
2008 SRB Ana Ivanovic French Women
2008 USA Serena Williams US Open Women
2008 USA Serena Williams Wimbledon Women
2008 0 US Men, 2 US Women
2009 Spain Rafael Nadal Australian Men
2009 Switz Roger Federer French Men
2009 Argentina Juan Martín del Potro US Open Men
2009 Switz Roger Federer Wimbledon Men
2009 USA Serena Williams Australian Open Women
2009 RUS Svetlana Kuznetsova French Women
2009 BEL Kim Clijsters US Open Women
2009 USA Serena Williams Wimbledon Women
2009 0 US Men, 2 US Women
2010 Switz Roger Federer Australian Men
2010 Spain Rafael Nadal French Men
2010 Spain Rafael Nadal US Open Men
2010 Spain Rafael Nadal Wimbledon Men
2010 USA Serena Williams Australian Open Women
2010 ITA Francesca Schiavone French Women
2010 BEL Kim Clijsters US Open Women
2010 USA Serena Williams Wimbledon Women
2010 0 US Men, 2 US Women
2011 SRB Novak Djokovic Australian Men
2011 Spain Rafael Nadal French Men
2011 SRB Novak Djokovic US Open Men
2011 SRB Novak Djokovic Wimbledon Men
2011 BELG Kim Clijsters Australian Open Women
2011 CHN Li Na French Women
2011 Australia Samantha Stosur US Open Women
2011 CZE Petra Kvitová Wimbledon Women
2011 0 US Men, 0 US Women
2012 SRB Novak Djokovic Australian Men
2012 Spain Rafael Nadal French Men
2012 UK Andy Murray US Open Men
2012 Switz Roger Federer Wimbledon Men
2012 BELAR Victoria Azarenka Australian Open Women
2012 RUS Maria Sharapova French Women
2012 USA Serena Williams US Open Women
2012 USA Serena Williams Wimbledon Women
2012 0 US Men, 2 US Women Reported by Breitbart 1 day ago.
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Australian Open 2013: Maria Sharapova wins first round
Maria Sharapova dispelled any uncertainty over her fitness with a ruthless demolition of Olga Puchkova. In her first competitive match of 2013 she showed no signs of rustiness.
Reported by MailOnline 1 day ago.
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Maria Sharapova, Venus Williams cruise at Australian Open
Maria Sharapova started the Australian Open with a 6-0, 6-0 victory over Olga Puchkova in the first match on centre court Monday, showing no signs of problems with the right collarbone injury which forced her out of a lead-up tournament two weeks ago.
Reported by CBC.ca 1 day ago.
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David Song Maria Pitache Download: Maria Pitache Song Video DAVID
David Song Maria Pitache Download: Maria Pitache Song Video DAVIDBejoy Nambiar’s forthcoming film David starring Neil Nitin Mukesh and the Southern superstar Vikram is one of the most promising films of 2013. And now with Remo Fernandes’s unique rendition Marai Pita Che...
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Reported by NowPublic 1 day ago.
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Reported by NowPublic 1 day ago.
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Australian Open: Maria Sharapova an easy winner in her first match of 2013
No. 2 seed Maria Sharapova defeats Olga Puchkova 6-0, 6-0 in the first round; Venus Williams wins in her one-hour match
Reported by San Jose Mercury News 1 day ago.
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