determined to go one better this year
the shellshocked safina was whipped in less than an hour by serena
williams in the decider at melbourne park not only losing the title but missing
out on becoming world number one
she eventually captured the number one ranking in april but it was williams who
ended the year with the accolade safina having to settle for second best
after every loss you get smarter safina said referring to last year
australian disappointment
unfortunately couldn make it last year but still have few years ahead
of me and hope ll get smarter as get older
the most important thing is to just to go out there and play she added
that it not thinking about this is the final and winning losing just
this is another match
how she fares this year will depend on her fitness after suffering lower back
injury at the wta championships last october
it kept her out for the remainder of the season and she withdrew from her first
tournament this year the brisbane international last week saying she
needed more treatment
but the year old sister of marat safin played in the sydney international
this week to help raise her fitness levels
she insists she is fine and is determined to break her grand slam duck ridding
herself of the choker tag she was lumped with after making three slam finals
and losing them all
percent ready to play she said
if play my best let see what can happen
happy to be back on court pain free it really like release because
then it was really disaster
after my injury want to be healthy this is the most important thing and the
rest will come
safina was one of the hottest players on the wta tour in until the injury
intervened
she also made the french open final but self destruvted against compatriot
svetlana kuznetsova leaving her in tears
but there were also plenty of highs with wta tournament victories in rome
madrid and portoroz in slovenia and three runner up spots in sydney stuttgart
and cincinnati
she began feeling inconvenienced by back pain on her way to her third title of
in portoroz in july but was determined to keep playing to stay on course
to end the year as world number one
safina pumped herself with anti inflammatories and had cortisone injections but
eventually in her own words my body just gave up
now back down under for another crack at an elusive first grand slam title she
is getting into the groove but admits it is never easy in australia
the jetlag and the heat for me this is the toughest thing about coming to
australia
tennis time for murray to deliver
melbourne jan afp
scotsman andy murray believes he is tennis player whose time has come and
statistics say he may be right
history suggests that if the world number four is to break britain grand slam
drought in men tennis stretching back to fred perry us open triumph
his time is now
murray will line up in his th grand slam next week at the australian open and
although he has talked up his belief that first big title beckons he need
only look at his contemporaries records to see how important it is that he
actually seizes the day
of the seven men singles grand slam winners still plying their trade only
roger federer took as long to break through
it seems hard to believe but it took the swiss champion tournaments to claim
his first major title at wimbledon in
spaniard rafael nadal was the quickest to triumph winning the french open at
just his sixth slam appearance
american andy roddick took novak djokovic and juan carlos ferrero each
and lleyton hewitt and recent us open winner juan martin del potro apiece
but if murray needs proof that good things do occasionally come to those who
wait he can look to fiery croat goran ivanisevic who didn claim his maiden
major crown until his th try
think ready to win it murray said of the australian open after playing
at the season opening mixed teams hopman cup in perth last week
just need to play well if do that then there no reason why can
in fact murray repeatedly said he was on target to win the australian open
during the hopman cup and certainly looked in peak form in most of his singles
matches
however his surprise loss to the th ranked spaniard tommy robredo in the
mixed teams final when he was in control only to suffer an inexplicable form
lapse again raised concerns about his ability to sustain his best form
the year old was rated genuine contender in all of last year grand slams
only to bow out between the fourth rounds and semi finals in each
but murray who has honed his net game dropped davis cup duties and has got
fitter than ever before in his bid for glory in and says the plexicushion
surface in melbourne best suits his game
he believes playing on that surface at the hopman cup and in the local heat
gave him much better preparation for the australian open than his titles in
doha the previous two years
feel like serving well moving well and playing the ball better than
have done for long time at the back of the court and volleyed well this
week he said
really really happy with the way was playing and sure with another
week of training and practising ll be playing better and if do that there is
good chance can win
murray has talked the talk heading towards melbourne now he needs to walk the
walk
tennis serena eyeing another landmark in melbourne
melbourne jan afp
defending champion serena williams goes in search of her th grand slam title
at the australian open next week to put herself alongside billie jean king as
one of the all time greats
the four time winner at melbourne park is clear favourite to lift the trophy
again after stellar but faces tougher task this time round with many
top players making significant improvements over the past year
but williams the winner here in has the motivation
knowing one more victory will draw her level with the legendary billie jean king
with grand slam titles
only few select women including steffi graf martina navratilova and chris
evert have won more major championships although williams still has some way to
go to be in the same league as margaret court who collected
williams entering her th year as professional and with more career
prizemoney than any other female athlete has been there and done that but still
craves the big events
she added two more major titles last year to her collection australia and
wimbledon as well as clinching the season ending world championships in doha
but with kim clijsters and justine henin back in the mix and svetlana
kuznetsova caroline wozniacki and elena dementieva all improving williams
knows she needs to work harder to dominate again
for me it all about doing the best that can obviously love playing
well in all the grand slams and hate to lose regardless of where it is she
said at her warm up tournament in sydney this week
my main goals are always to stay healthy and that huge goal for any
athlete
while williams was the dominant player last year ending as world number one
there was major blot on her copybook when she launched foul mouthed tirade
at lineswoman during her us open semi final loss to clijsters
she has since apologised and refused to discuss the issue this week insisting
she had moved on
it all about now she said feel it over it was what it was think
ve spoken enough about it
it nearly cost the florida based player chance to defend her title here and
she knows she must be on her best behaviour or risk the consequences
while she escaped with us dollar fine the international tennis
federation has made clear she is on probation
it means that if she commits major conduct violation at any grand slam event
in or she could be suspended from the us open and her fine could also
increase to dollars
williams won here last year by beating russian heavyweights kuznetsova
dementieva and then trouncing dinara safina in the final on her way to the
title
many people didn rate her chances but one thing that williams has in her
favour is self belief which has never wavered despite her weight and fitness
being the butt of jokes over the years
she remains keen fashion designer and has her own clothing line with her on
court attire as closely scrutinised as how she demolishes her opponents
williams is also expected to again partner sister venus to defend their doubles
title
tennis serena eyeing another landmark in melbourne
melbourne jan afp
defending champion serena williams goes in search of her th grand slam title
at the australian open next week to put herself alongside billie jean king as
one of the all time greats
the four time winner at melbourne park is clear favourite to lift the trophy
again after stellar but faces tougher task this time round with many
top players making significant improvements over the past year
but williams the winner here in has the motivation
knowing one more victory will draw her level with the legendary billie jean king
with grand slam titles
only few select women including steffi graf martina navratilova and chris
evert have won more major championships although williams still has some way to
go to be in the same league as margaret court who collected
williams entering her th year as professional and with more career
prizemoney than any other female athlete has been there and done that but still
craves the big events
she added two more major titles last year to her collection australia and
wimbledon as well as clinching the season ending world championships in doha
but with kim clijsters and justine henin back in the mix and svetlana
kuznetsova caroline wozniacki and elena dementieva all improving williams
knows she needs to work harder to dominate again
for me it all about doing the best that can obviously love playing
well in all the grand slams and hate to lose regardless of where it is she
said at her warm up tournament in sydney this week
my main goals are always to stay healthy and that huge goal for any
athlete
while williams was the dominant player last year ending as world number one
there was major blot on her copybook when she launched foul mouthed tirade
at lineswoman during her us open semi final loss to clijsters
she has since apologised and refused to discuss the issue this week insisting
she had moved on
it all about now she said feel it over it was what it was think
ve spoken enough about it
it nearly cost the florida based player chance to defend her title here and
she knows she must be on her best behaviour or risk the consequences
while she escaped with us dollar fine the international tennis
federation has made clear she is on probation
it means that if she commits major conduct violation at any grand slam event
in or she could be suspended from the us open and her fine could also
increase to dollars
williams won here last year by beating russian heavyweights kuznetsova
dementieva and then trouncing dinara safina in the final on her way to the
title
many people didn rate her chances but one thing that williams has in her
favour is self belief which has never wavered despite her weight and fitness
being the butt of jokes over the years
she remains keen fashion designer and has her own clothing line with her on
court attire as closely scrutinised as how she demolishes her opponents
williams is also expected to again partner sister venus to defend their doubles
title
japanese stocks up percent at break
tokyo jan afp
japanese share prices rose percent in morning trade on thursday tracking
gains on wall street where there was renewed optimism about the outlook for
corporate earnings
shares in troubled carrier japan airlines jal pulled out of their tailspin
after several days of heavy losses as short term speculators snapped up the
stock in the hope of making quick profit dealers said
the tokyo stock exchange benchmark nikkei index climbed points to
the broader topix index of all first section shares added
points or percent to
jal shares rose three yen to yen following plunge of almost percent
over the previous two days sparked by signs that the debt ridden carrier is
close to filing for bankruptcy protection and delisting its stock
some people are buying jal shares at six or seven yen hoping the price will
go up said kazuhiro takahashi equity information chief at daiwa securities
capital markets
this kind of trading will likely continue for some days to come because the
stock is unlikely to be delisted this week
tennis underdone nadal looks for return to good times
melbourne jan afp
what difference the last months have been in the tennis life of rafael
nadal
at the last australian open rafa was hailed as one of the greats after his
acclaimed five set triumph over roger federer in the final
he was the world number one ahead of the swiss great and became the first
spaniard to win the australian title and his sixth major title in only his th
grand slam tournament
his gripping victory in over four hours improved
his record over federer to now and the sky looked the limit for the
all conquering young star
yet months on and nadal still only has relinquished the world number one
ranking to federer and is seeking his first atp world tour title in eight months
after going down to nikolay davydenko in this month qatar final
the last of his five titles in came on the barcelona clay in april
injuries have stalled his meteoric career and nadal admits he goes into the new
season in little bit worse shape than he did last year
after seven years on the circuit nadal faces an early fork in the road ahead
and next week australian open will provide guide as to his current standing
in men tennis
we will see in few months nadal said recently everyone is free to talk
can say nothing against them didn win against the best players
but that tennis you can be all the time percent am ready to try
and win tournaments but you never know what will happen you have to work every
day every week and wait your moment
nadal physically demanding back court playing style may also be catching up
with him and injuries last year have raised fears over his long term future
he was forced to withdraw from last year wimbledon where he was defending
champion with tendinitis in both knees after his match winning streak at the
french open was ended by swede robin soderling in the fourth round
nadal was sidelined for nine weeks and after resuming suffered an abdominal
injury and played with it at the us open where he reached the semi finals
the popular spaniard says he may not be at his physical best in time for
melbourne and the coming battles with the men elite
believe that this year ll arrive little bit more on the short side than
at the start of last season he said adding his preparation has been short
but good
yet for someone with commanding playing record against the times grand slam
champion federer cannot be easily discarded and all eyes will be on him in the
informative opening rounds of the australian open
while usurping federer for the year end number one ranking in nadal has
finished second in the other four seasons underlining his outstanding
competitive qualities
nadal holds winning records against all his chief rivals federer novak
djokovic andy murray and juan martin del potro except for russian davydenko
tennis australian open advisory
melbourne jan afp
the australian open the first grand slam of the season starts in melbourne on
monday with rafael nadal and serena williams defending their titles
afp is moving series of previews and profiles we will shortly file the
following
tennis open aus nadal
melbourne
what difference the last months have been in the tennis life of rafael
nadal at the last australian open rafa was hailed as one of the greats after
his acclaimed five set triumph over roger federer in the final
words by robert smith
tennis open aus serena
melbourne
defending champion serena williams goes in search of her th grand slam title
at the australian open next week to put herself alongside billie jean king as
one of the all time greats
words by martin parry
tennis open aus murray
melbourne
scotsman andy murray believes he is tennis player whose time has come and
statistics says he may be right
words by scott coghlan
tennis open aus safina
melbourne
the thrashing dinara safina received in last year australian open final could
have shattered her confidence but the russian has bounced back and is
determined to go one better this year
words by martin parry
tennis open aus clijsters
melbourne
it could well be case of the fairytale continuing for kim clijsters at next
week australian open with the belgian already showing she is capable of
matching it with the best
words by andrew dent
tennis open aus delpotro
melbourne
juan martin del potro will have the respect of his rivals in next week
australian open his signature us open triumph last year has ensured that
words by robert smith
already moved
tennis open aus men
tennis open aus women
tennis open aus asia
tennis open aus winners
moving friday
tennis open aus federer
tennis open aus djokovic
tennis open aus roddick
tennis open aus henin
tennis open aus venus
tennis open aus sharapova
obama looks to pump up democratic allies
washington jan afp
president barack obama was to pay rare visit to the us congress thursday to
give his democrats an election year pep talk as lawmakers worked their way
towards an elusive health care overhaul
obama was to address house democrats at their annual issues conference one day
after marathon talks with top lawmakers failed to yield breakthrough deal
resolving the intra party disputes that have held up the historic bill
the president visit came as polls showed the us public was skeptical of his
push to remake health care his top domestic priority with large segment of
the us public disappointed that the sweeping legislation does not go far enough
obama was also due to highlight democratic efforts to bring down double digit
unemployment major vulnerability as the party heads into november mid term
elections that historically see the sitting president party lose seats
democrats have pushed for new jobs bill to steady the sputtering us economy
and blunt republican charges that the job killing president has made the
recession he inherited from former president george bush worse
republicans have also shown renewed confidence that they can peel off just
enough democrats to defeat the health care plan which cleared the senate and
house of representatives by the narrowest of margins late last year
on wednesday top democratic leaders huddled with obama at the white house for
hours to try to map way to meld those rival plans into compromise they could
pass before obama annual state of the union speech just weeks away
but the senior lawmakers including house speaker nancy pelosi and senate
majority leader harry reid ended their discussions without announcing
breakthrough that would hand democrats major political victory
today we made significant progress in bridging the remaining gaps between the
two health insurance reform bills joint statement from the three said
going into the talks disputes ranged from how to pay for the expansion of
coverage to tens of millions more americans and whether to create national or
state by state exchanges where consumers could assess competing health
coverage plans before buying
some major labor unions staunch democratic allies with critical role to
play ahead of the november mid term elections have warned against the senate
bill call for an excise tax on generous health care packages provision that
would likely affect their members
democrats have virtually no margin for error their plan squeaked through the
senate with exactly the votes needed and cleared the house with votes
just two more than the bare minimum needed
obama promised saturday that americans will see the effects of health reform
this year saying congress is on the verge of approving compromise bill to
overhaul the nation health care system
the house and senate measures aim to extend coverage to more than million out
of the million americans that lack it end abusive health insurance company
practices and curb soaring costs that take giant bites out of family and
government budgets
the united states is the world richest nation but the only industrialized
democracy that does not provide health care coverage to all of its citizens
as nation the united states spends more than double what britain france and
germany do per person on health care
but it lags behind other countries in life expectancy and infant mortality
according to the organization for economic cooperation and development oecd
haiti quake is devastating blow to un
united nations jan afp
the huge earthquake that hit impoverished haiti also dealt crippling blow to
the local un mission which lost dozens of staff including apparently its
civilian head un officials said wednesday
un chief ban ki moon said tuesday magnitude quake which raised fears that
as many as people may have been killed was tragedy for haiti and
for the united nations
haitian prime minister jean max bellerive told cnn that the death toll in
haiti worst quake in more than years could be well over
although he added hope that is not true
this is going to be one of the highest in terms of loss of life in recent
years as far as we can tell us secretary of state hillary clinton however
said as she announced she was cutting short her trip to asia to head straight
back to washington
she gave no figure but compared the haiti quake to the indian ocean tsunami that
killed more than people five years ago
the un mission in haiti minustah was hit particularly hard with its main
headquarters building in port au prince flattened and dozens of staff missing
including its civilian head hedi annabi of tunisia and his deputy
haitian president rene preval insisted that annabi who was in the building
along with dozens of his staff when the quake struck tuesday was killed
but like other un officials un chief ban ki moon said he could not confirm
preval claim
the respected tunisian official who served as deputy head of un peacekeeping
operations from to was having talks with visiting chinese
delegation in the five story concrete building known as the christopher hotel
un chief ban ki moon said
citing preliminary figures ban said late wednesday that total of un
personnel were confirmed dead in the haitian capital three police officers from
jordan one from argentina one from chad and brazilian peacekeepers
eight chinese members of the peacekeeping mission were also buried in building
collapses according to china state council it did not say whether they were
believed to be alive or dead
susana malcorra head of the un department of field support earlier put the
total number of un personnel still unaccounted in the range of
on more positive note michele montas former spokeswoman for the un chief
who was visiting her family in haiti when the powerful earthquake struck port
au prince was accounted for according to farhan haq un spokesman
the secretary general is very relieved to hear that montas former award
winning haitian journalist who retired in early december after distinguished
un career is safe haq said
the tragedy is the worst disaster to hit the world body since the august
suicide attack on un offices in baghdad in which people including un
special envoy sergio vieira de mello were killed
in december two suicide blasts targeting un offices in algiers killed at
least people including un staffers three of them foreign nationals
ban sent edmond mulet top un peacekeeping official and annabi predecessor
to haiti to take charge of the decapitated minustah in an interim capacity
and the un boss added that he himself was prepared to visit haiti as soon as
practically possible
ban said the un system was mobilizing an emergency response team to coordinate
relief aid that was expected to arrive in port au prince soon
we are extremely concerned about the humanitarian impact in the city of
million people where the national palace the main prison hotels hospitals
and schools sustained extensive damage said john holmes the head of the un
office for the coordination of humanitarian affairs ocha
basic services such as water electricity have collapsed almost entirely ban
said
holmes said chinese search and rescue team had arrived in port au prince
where the airport was operating despite damage sustained by the control tower
two us teams were believed to have landed as well he added
un officials said they would launch major flash appeal for funds in the next
two to three days and had already released ten million dollars in emergency aid
minustah which comprises troops and police has been deployed since
mid to help stabilize the impoverished caribbean island nation of nine
million people
us lawmakers see no ill treatment of hmong
washington jan afp
us lawmakers back from trip to laos said they saw no signs of ill treatment of
ethnic hmong recently expelled from thailand but rights advocates voiced fear
they would face persecution later
thailand last month defied us un and eu appeals and forcibly repatriated some
hmong into laos the hmong hill people fought alongside us forces in
the vietnam war bringing the wrath of the communist lao government
three us congressmen active on asian affairs anh joseph cao eni
faleomavaega and mike honda visited laos as part of four nation trip over
the holiday recess and asked to see the camps for repatriated hmong
we heard all these rumors that they would be executing or harassing the
repatriated hmong honda told afp in an interview we didn get that sense
honda member of president barack obama democratic party from california
said that the pha lak camp appeared to be at maximum capacity with more than
people inside
but he said the accommodation seemed relatively new with corrugated roofs and
proximity to wells built through british and french assistance
it was airy clean and orderly honda said
cao who has fear of helicopters did not go the camp but said he had
similar impression based on his colleagues accounts and meetings in the capital
vientiane
think people are being well treated there cao told reporters on
conference call many of the human rights violations that were being reported
we did not observe there
cao republican from louisiana said the congressmen had luncheon with
foreign minister thongloun sisoulit who assured us that the hmong will not be
maltreated
but hmong advocates scoffed at the accounts accusing laotian authorities of
putting on show for the congressmen
australian newspaper the age reported reaching another camp in laos where
hundreds of asylum seekers mainly women and children stood barefoot in the
dirt behind three meters of razor wire as loudspeakers exhorted them to move
away
vaughn vang executive director of the lao human rights council pressure
group in the midwestern us state of wisconsin where many hmong live noted that
the pha lak camp seen by the congressmen was set up before the recent
repatriations
vang voiced concern that repatriated hmong particularly men with prominent
roles would face persecution away from the spotlight
the laotians are very good playing this kind of game don think the
congressmen would see anything at pha lak vang said
there are new camps that no one can go to that the way the communists punish
people without anyone knowing he said
philip smith executive director of the center for public policy analysis which
focuses on laos said some repatriated hmong have disappeared
we know from previous groups that lot of hmong have been killed and tortured
and imprisoned smith said
it is outrageous and insulting to the hmong community in the us to go so far as
to accuse them of making up stories about human rights abuses he said of the
congressmen remarks
thailand which has been building relations with laos said the hmong were
illegal economic migrants and that it received assurances from its northeast
neighbor that they would be well treated
the move triggered outrage overseas the united nations high commissioner for
refugees said that thailand had broken international law by sending back
separate group of hmong recognized with un refugee status
armstrong pledges dollars for haiti quake
sydney jan afp
cycling superstar lance armstrong pledged us dollars for victims of the
haiti earthquake on thursday and urged the public to come forward with further
donations
armstrong visiting australia for next week tour down under said the
magnitude earthquake which left more than feared dead was
devastating for the impoverished caribbean country
over the years with political turmoil poverty and now the earthquake it
devastating he told reporters
on behalf of livestrong armstrong cancer charity we ll be donating
dollars to several organisations that are doing lot of work down there one of
which is the clinton foundation
