(See photos below)
Standing in the epicenter of the IMG Bollettieri Tennis Academy’s 56 tennis courts last week, one could look around and see the following all on adjacent courts:

Maria Sharapova working on her game while coach Michael Joyce gave advice from a chair on the side of the court

Jelena Jankovic going through drills with IMG [...]

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Teamed with Alexandria Najarian of Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, IMG Bollettieri Tennis Academy student Alexandra Baer outlasted 100-plus teams to win the U-14 girls’ doubles division of the USTA Hard Court National Championships.
Baer and Najarian received a first-round bye before winning six matches en route to the championship.
The win adds to another impressive title captured in [...]

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Reigning U.S. Open girls junior champion, Heather Watson, picked up some momentum before Open qualifiers by taking the title this past weekend at a Wrexham, England ITF event.
Watson defeated Sania Mirza, a former WTA top-30 player, 6-2, 6-4. Watson, a longtime IMG Bollettieri Tennis Academy student, never dropped a set in the tournament and has [...]

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Vera Zvonareva (RUS) vs. Tsvetana Pironkova (BUL)
Zvonareva battled back after dropping the first set to Kim Clijsters, beating the Belgian 3-6, 6-4, 6-2 to reach her first career Wimbledon semifinal. Zvonareva, who trains at the IMG Bollettieri Tennis Academy, is playing in her second career Grand Slam semi and has [...]

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Even for someone who has accomplished so much at a young age, the past week experienced by 11-year-old Maria Shishkina would rival any athlete’s for excitement and success.
Earlier this week, the most recent ESPN The Magazine hit the newsstands, featuring a story on Maria.
Check out the PDF:
061610-future-shock
Shishkina then traveled to Daytona Beach for the USTA [...]

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Andy Roddick (USA) vs. Michael Llodra (FRA)
Roddick eased past Rajeev Ram in the opening round, taking down his fellow American 6-3, 6-2, 6-2 and will certainly face a tougher test in the second. Roddick is in a nice section of the draw and with Cilic losing in the first round it [...]

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Venus Williams (USA) vs. Ekaterina Makarova (RUS)
It took Venus only 64 minutes to beat Rossana De Los Rios in the first round. The elder Williams is looking for her sixth career Wimbledon title and her third in the last four years. Is there anyone out there that can beat her? Maybe [...]

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For many of the top WTA players, their journey to elite status came not because of their serve, but in spite of it.
From Dinara Safina to Ana Ivanovic, many of the WTA’s top players have struggled to find consistency with their serve.
From a 2009 ESPN.com story:
“You need to write a book, what’s going on with [...]

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Wondering the reason for the recent jump in injuries among ATP and WTA players? ESPN did, so they came to the experts.
Tennis announcer and former player Mary Carillo recently interviewed Nick Bollettieri and Bollettieri Sports Therapy physical therapist Graeme Lauriston as part of a segment that ran during the French Open.
Carillo also did a segment [...]

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Roger Federer (SUI) vs. Alejandro Falla (COL)
Despite being the #2 player in the world now, Federer in the top-seed at Wimbledon and all eyes will be focused on him. After a disappointing French Open where he lost in the quarters to Soderling, he then reached the finals of the grass-courts of [...]

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