rafal nadal

Rafael "Rafa" Nadal Parera (Spanish pronunciation: [rafaˈel naˈðal]) (born 3 June 1986) is a former World No. 1 Spanish professional tennis player, currently ranked #2. Nadal has won six Grand Slam singles titles, and the 2008 Olympic gold medal in singles.

Nadal was ranked World Number #1 from 18 August 2008 to 5 July 2009. In 2009, he became the first player to simultaneously hold Grand Slam titles on clay, grass, and hardcourt. His success on clay has earned him the nickname The King of Clay.[1][2][3]

Nadal was ranked World No. 2, behind Roger Federer for a record 160 weeks before earning the top spot.[4]. He has subsequently lost this position again to Federer following the Swiss player's triumph at the Madrid Masters (where Federer beat him in the final), French Open and Wimbledon. In 2008, he was given the Prince of Asturias Award for Sports, in recognition of his achievements in tennis.[5]

CHENAI SUPER KINGS

Coach: Stephen Fleming
 
Captain: M S Dhoni
 
Colours: Yellow and Blue
 
Founded: 2008  
Home Ground: MA Chidambaram Stadium (Chepauk)
 
Capacity: 50,000  

Chennai Super Kings is the Chennai based franchise of the Indian Premier League. The team is led by Mahendra Singh Dhoni, currently the captain of the Indian cricket team, and coached by Stephen Fleming. The M. A. Chidambaram Stadium (often referred to as Chepauk) is the Super Kings' home ground.Popular drummer Sivamani is the brand ambassador.
Contents


The name Chennai Super Kings draws on the history of rulers emerging from this region. It should also be noted that the Indian Cricket League named their Chennai franchise Chennai Superstars a year prior to the formation of the Super Kings.

The logo is inspired by popular folk-lore which holds that the lion is the king of the jungle. The minimalist style is meant to convey a sense of youth and vibrancy. The team colours are yellow and blue. Yellow for the fiery spirit that burns in the team's belly. Blue represents infinity, as one of the oldest yet progressive regions of the world.

Franchise history
The Chennai Super Kings are a part of the eight club Indian Premier League. The franchise is currently owned by India Cements, who paid US$91 million to acquire the rights to the franchise for 10 years in 2008. N. Srinivasan, Vice-Chairman and Managing Director of India Cements Ltd., is the defacto owner of the Chennai Super Kings, by means of his position within the company. He is also the Secretary of the BCCI.
Krishnamachari Srikkanth, former captain of the Indian Cricket Team, is the brand ambassador for the franchise at present, and former Indian opener V. B. Chandrasekhar is the Chief Selector. To nourish more support from local fans, Joseph Vijay, a popular tamil actor, was made their brand ambassador for the year 2008.
[edit] 2008 Season
 

A Chennai vs Kolkata match in progress at the M.A. Chidambaram Cricket Stadium
The Super Kings had a solid start to their 2008 IPL Season, winning their first 4 matches. However, their top order and bowling attack took a hit after Matthew Hayden, Michael Hussey and Jacob Oram left the team for international duty. The team's performance reflected this, as they proceeded to lose their next 3 matches. The batting, although inconsistent, eventually adjusted to the losses of Hayden and Hussey with contributions from Dhoni, Suresh Raina and Albie Morkel. The gap in the team’s bowling left by Oram’s departure was eventually filled by the arrival of Makhaya Ntini and Morkel (both of whom were playing the Pro20 domestic tournament in South Africa during the start of the tournament) and the emergence of Manpreet Gony. A win in the final league match against the Deccan Chargers ensured their progress into the semi-finals.
The team defeated the Kings XI Punjab in the semifinal by 9 wickets. They lost the final to Rajasthan Royals by three wickets off the last ball.
 2009 Season
Apart from Andrew Flintoff, the new players who have been signed up for the 2009 season are Thilan Thushara from Srilanka, George Bailey from Tasmania, Australia and Murali Vijay, the Tamil Nadu batsman who played for India in a single Test in Nagpur against Australia in 2008. Sudeep Tyagi, who missed the 2008 season due to injury, makes a comeback this year. In addition, Shadab Jakati of Goa was also added to the team, a left field selection by V.B. Chandrasekhar the team's Director of Cricketing Operations. Michael Hussey, one of the stars of the 2008 season, has opted out of the 2009 season.
The Superkings lost their first match to the Mumbai Indians by 19 runs, but won the second match against the Royal Challengers Bangalore by 92 runs, with the man of the match being Muralitharan and Matthew Hayden scoring 65 off 35 balls.They have entered the Semifinals after their win against Mumbai Indians by 7 wickets.
Andrew Flintoff picked up a knee injury and was withdrawn from the tournament and returned to England early in the tournament.
But their IPL title hopes have been grounded by resurgent Royal Challengers, Bangalore in their semi-final clash, so they did not qualify for the IPL final.
Players
Chennai Super Kings did not have an icon player. This allowed the Super Kings to bid successfully on Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Muralitharan, two of the six A listed players. At the time of the bidding, Dhoni's US$1.5 Million was the highest bid for any player and still remains the highest bid for any Indian player.
In February 2009, the Chennai Super Kings purchased Andrew Flintoff for USD1,550,000, $600,000 above his base price, making him, along with Kevin Pietersen the highest paid IPL player.
 Current Squad
Chennai Super Kings Roster 

Batsmen
• 01 Murali Vijay 
• 03 Suresh Raina 
• 06 Abhinav Mukund 
• 10 George Bailey 
• 28 Matthew Hayden 
• 33 Subramaniam Badrinath 
• 42 Arun Karthik 
• 48 Michael Hussey 
• -- Sakthi Vel 
Bowlers
• 08 Muttiah Muralitharan 
• 16 Makhaya Ntini 
• 17 Sudeep Tyagi 
• 21 Palani Amarnath 
• 55 Lakshmipathy Balaji 
• 76 Manpreet Gony 
 Wicket Keepers
• 07 Mahendra Singh Dhoni (captain) 
• 09 Parthiv Patel 
All Rounders
• 11 Andrew Flintoff 
• 12 Vidyut Sivaramakrishnan 
• 13 Joginder Sharma 
• 14 Ravichandran Ashwin 
• 24 Jacob Oram 
• 27 Shadab Jakati 
• 81 Albie Morkel 
• 97 Thilan Thushara 
• -- Napoleon Einstein 
• -- Viraj Kadbe 
• -- Selvam Suresh Kumar 
 Coaches 
• Coach: Stephen Fleming 
• Physical Trainer: Gregory King 
• Physiotherapist : Tommy Simsek 
• Masseur : Roney Parry 
• Manager : Russel Radhakrishnann. 

→ More rosters
 
[edit] Administration
• Owner - India Cements Ltd. 
• Ambassadors - Krishnamachari Srikkanth 
• Chief Selector - V. B. Chandrasekhar 
• Music Directors - Mani Sharma 
• AD Agency - Salt Creatives 
Fixtures and Results
 2008 season
No  
Date  
Opponent  
Venue  
Result  

1 19 April Kings XI Punjab
Mohali
Won by 33 runs, MoM – Michael Hussey – 116* (54)

2 23 April Mumbai Indians
Chennai
Won by 6 runs, MoM – Matthew Hayden – 81 (46)
3 26 April Kolkata Knight Riders
Chennai
Won by 9 wickets, MoM – Jacob Oram – 3/32 (4 overs)
4 28 April Royal Challengers Bangalore
Bangalore
Won by 13 runs, MoM – Mahendra Singh Dhoni – 65 (30)
5 2 May Delhi Daredevils
Chennai
Lost by 8 wickets
6 4 May Rajasthan Royals
Jaipur
Lost by 8 wickets
7 6 May Deccan Chargers
Chennai
Lost by 7 wickets
8 8 May Delhi Daredevils
Delhi
Won by 4 Wickets, MoM – Mahendra Singh Dhoni – 33 (33)
9 10 May Kings XI Punjab
Chennai
Won by 18 runs, MoM – Lakshmipathy Balaji – 5/24 (4 overs)
10 14 May Mumbai Indians
Mumbai
Lost by 9 wickets
11 18 May Kolkata Knight Riders
Kolkata
Won by 3 runs (D/L method), MoM – Makhaya Ntini – 4/21 (4 overs)
12 21 May Royal Challengers Bangalore
Chennai
Lost by 14 runs
13 24 May Rajasthan Royals
Chennai
Lost by 10 runs, MoM – Albie Morkel – 2/35 (4 overs) and 71 (40)
14 27 May Deccan Chargers
Hyderabad
Won by 7 wickets,MoM – Suresh Raina – 54* (43)
15 31 May Kings XI Punjab (Semi Final #2) Mumbai
Won by 9 wickets, MoM – Makhaya Ntini – 2/23 (4 overs)
16 1 June Rajasthan Royals (Final) Navi Mumbai
Lost by 3 wickets
Chennai Superkings were the runners up in the inaugural edition of the IPL
 2009 season
No  
Date  
Opponent  
Venue  
Result  

1 18 April Mumbai Indians
Cape Town
Lost by 19 runs
2 20 April Royal Challengers Bangalore
Port Elizabeth
Won by 92 runs, MoM - Muralitharan - 3/11 (4 overs)
3 23 April Delhi Daredevils
Durban
Lost by 9 runs
4 25 April Kolkata Knight Riders
Cape Town
Match abandoned due to intermittent rain
5 27 April Deccan Chargers
Durban
Lost by 6 wickets
6 30 April Rajasthan Royals
Pretoria
Won by 38 runs, MoM - Suresh Raina - 98 (55), 1/11 (2 overs), 2 catches
7 2 May Delhi Daredevils
Johannesburg
Won by 18 runs, MoM - Shadab Jakati - 4/24 (4 overs)
8 4 May Deccan Chargers
East London
Won by 78 runs, MoM - M.S.Dhoni 58* (37)
9 7 May Kings XI Punjab
Pretoria
Won by 12 runs, MoM - Mathew Hayden 89 (58)

10 9 May Rajasthan Royals
Kimberley
Won by 7 wickets, MoM- Subramaniam Badrinath 59* (41)

11 14 May Royal Challengers Bangalore
Durban
Lost by 2 wickets
12 16 May Mumbai Indians
Port Elizabeth
Won by 7 wickets, MoM- Matthew Hayden 60* (57)

13 18 May Kolkata Knight Riders
Pretoria
Lost by 7 wickets
14 20 May Kings XI Punjab
Durban
Won by 27 runs, MoM - Muralitharan - 2/8 (4 overs)
15 23 May Royal Challengers Bangalore
Johannesburg
Lost by 6 wickets 
Chennai Superkings were the semi-finalists in the IPL edition 2009

INDIAN PRIEMER LEAGUE

The Indian Premier League (also known as the "DLF Indian Premier League" and often abbreviated as IPL), is a Twenty20 cricket competition created by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) and chaired by the Chairman & Commissioner IPL, BCCI Vice President Lalit Modi. The first season of the Indian Premier League commenced on 18 April 2008, and ended on 1 June 2008 with the victory of the Rajasthan Royals against Chennai Super Kings in the final at the DY Patil Stadium, Navi Mumbai.
As the second season of the IPL coincided with multi-phase 2009 Indian general elections, the Indian Central Government refused to provide the Indian paramilitary forces to provide security, saying the forces would be streched too thinly if they were to safeguard both the IPL and the elections. As a result, the BCCI decided to host the second season of the league outside India.[3] All 59 matches of the second season, abbreviated as IPL 2, took place in South Africa. Ironically, South Africa were also scheduled to have elections duing the IPL, however, the South African government provided adequate security for both the South African General Elections and the IPL.

.

Franchise

Mumbai Indians
Mukesh Ambani (Reliance Industries)
$ 111.9 m
Royal Challengers Bangalore
Vijay Mallya (UB Group)
$ 111.6 m
Deccan Chargers
Deccan Chronicle(Venkat Ram Reddy)
$ 107.0 m
Chennai Super Kings
India Cements (N.Srinivasan)
$ 91.90 m
Delhi Daredevils
GMR Holdings (Grandhi Mallikarjuna Rao)
$ 84.0 m
Kings XI Punjab
Ness Wadia (Bombay Dyeing), Priety Zinta, Mohit Burman (Dabur) and Karan Paul (Apeejay Surendera Group)
$ 76.0 m
Kolkata Knight Riders
Red Chillies Entertainment (Shahrukh Khan, Gauri Khan, Juhi Chawla and J Mehta)
$ 75.1 m
Rajasthan Royals
Emerging Media (Lachlan Murdoch, A.R Jha and Suresh Chellaram), Shilpa Shetty, Raj Kundra $ 67.0 m

vodafone

Vodafone is a British mobile network operator with its headquarters in Newbury, Berkshire, England, UK. It is the largest mobile telecommunications network company in the world by turnover and has a market value of about £75 billion (August 2008). Vodafone currently has operations in 25 countries and partner networks in a further 42 countries.[1]

The name Vodafone comes from Voice data fone, chosen by the company to "reflect the provision of voice and data services over mobile phones."[2]

As of 2009 Vodafone had an estimated 303 million customers in 25 markets across 5 continents.[3] On this measure, it is the second largest mobile telecom group in the world behind China Mobile.

In the United States, Vodafone owns 45% of Verizon Wireless, the largest wireless telecommunications network in the United States, based on number of subscribers.

puma

Puma AG Rudolf Dassler Sport (Puma) (FWB: PUMG) is a large German multinational company that produces high-end athletic shoes, lifestyle footwear and other sportswear.

The company is known for its association football shoes and has sponsored footballers, including Pelé, Eusébio, Johan Cruijff, Enzo Francescoli, Diego Maradona, Lothar Matthäus, Kenny Dalglish, Didier Deschamps and Gianluigi Buffon. Puma is also the sponsor of the Jamaica track athlete Usain Bolt who won three gold medals by breaking the men's 100m, 200m and 4x100m world records in the 2008 Beijing Olympics. In the United States, the company is probably best-known for the suede basketball shoe it introduced in 1968, which eventually bore the name of New York Knicks basketball star Walt "Clyde" Frazier, and for its endorsement partnership with Joe Namath.

The company also offers lines shoes and sports clothing, designed by Lamine Kouyate, Amy Garbers, and others. Since 1996 Puma has intensified its activities in the United States. Puma owns 25 percent of American brand sports clothing maker Logo Athletic, which is licensed by American professional basketball and Association football leagues. Since 2007 Puma AG is part of the PPR French luxury group.

nike

Nike, Inc. (pronounced /ˈnaɪki/) (NYSE: NKE) is a major publicly traded sportswear and equipment supplier based in the United States. The company is headquartered in Beaverton, Oregon, which is part of the Portland metropolitan area. It is the world's leading supplier of athletic shoes and apparel[2] and a major manufacturer of sports equipment with revenue in excess of $18.6 billion USD in its fiscal year 2008 (ending May 31, 2008). As of 2008, it employed more than 30,000 people worldwide. Nike and Precision Castparts are the only Fortune 500 companies headquartered in the state of Oregon, according to The Oregonian.

The company was founded on January 25, 1964 as Blue Ribbon Sports by Bill Bowerman and Philip Knight, and officially became Nike, Inc. in 1978. The company takes its name from Nike (Greek Νίκη pronounced [níːkɛː]), the Greek goddess of victory. Nike markets its products under its own brand as well as Nike Golf, Nike Pro, Nike+, Air Jordan, Nike Skateboarding and subsidiaries including Cole Haan, Hurley International, Umbro and Converse. Nike also owned Bauer Hockey (later renamed Nike Bauer) between 1995 and 2008.[3] In addition to manufacturing sportswear and equipment, the company operates retail stores under the Niketown name. Nike sponsors many high profile athletes and sports teams around the world, with the highly recognized trademarks of "Just do it" and the Swoosh logo.

reebok

Reebok International Limited, a subsidiary of German sportswear giant Adidas, is a producer of athletic footwear, apparel, and accessories. The name comes from the Afrikaans spelling of rhebok, a type of African antelope or gazelle. The company, founded in Bolton, England in 1895, was originally called J.W. Foster and Sons but was renamed Reebok in 1958. The company's founders, Joe and Jeff Foster, found the name in a dictionary won in a race by Joe Foster as a boy; the dictionary was a South African edition, hence the spelling.

reebok

Reebok International Limited, a subsidiary of German sportswear giant Adidas, is a producer of athletic footwear, apparel, and accessories. The name comes from the Afrikaans spelling of rhebok, a type of African antelope or gazelle. The company, founded in Bolton, England in 1895, was originally called J.W. Foster and Sons but was renamed Reebok in 1958. The company's founders, Joe and Jeff Foster, found the name in a dictionary won in a race by Joe Foster as a boy; the dictionary was a South African edition, hence the spelling.

addidas

Adidas AG (pronounced /əˈdiːdəs/ in English, FWB: ADS) is a German-based sports apparel manufacturer and part of the Adidas Group, which consists of Reebok sportswear company, TaylorMade-adidas golf company, and Rockport. Besides sports footwear, the company also produces other products such as bags, shirts, watches, eyewear and other sports and clothing related goods. The company is the largest sportswear manufacturer in Europe and the second biggest sportswear manufacturer in the world, to its U.S. rival Nike.[3]

The company's clothing and shoe designs typically feature three parallel bars, and the same motif is incorporated into Adidas's current official logo. The company revenue for 2008 was listed at €10.799 billion and the 2007 figure was listed at €10.299 billion, or about US$15.6 billion.

REAL MADRIDS RECORDS

Statistics and records


Raúl is Real Madrid's all-time top goalscorer.
Real Madrid are among the best teams in La Liga, therefore players like Manuel Sanchís Hontiyuelo holds the record for Real Madrid appearances, having played 712 first-team matches between 1983 and 2001.[43] Forward Raúl comes second, having played 700 times. The record for a goalkeeper is held by Iker Casillas, with 440 appearances. With 127 caps (47 while at the club), Luís Figo of Portugal is Real's most capped international player.[44]
Raúl is Real's all-time top goalscorer, with 316 goals in 700 games (1994–present).[45] Four other players have also scored over 200 goals for Real: Alfredo di Stéfano (1953–64), Carlos Santillana (1971–88), Ferenc Puskás (1958–66) and Hugo Sánchez (1985–92). Hugo Sánchez holds the record for the most league goals scored in one season (38 in 1989–90). Di Stéfano's 49 goals in 58 matches was for decades the all-time highest tally in the European Cup, until it was surpassed by Raúl in 2005. The fastest goal in the history of the club (15 seconds) was scored by Brazilian Ronaldo on 3 December 2003 during a league match with Atlético Madrid.[46]
Officially, Real Madrid's highest home attendance is 83,329 for a Copa del Rey match in 2006. The current legal capacity of Santiago Bernabéu is 80,354.[47] The club's average attendance in 2007–08 season was 76,234, the highest in European Leagues.[48] Real have also set records in Spanish football, most notably the most domestic titles (31 as of 2007–08) and the most seasons won in a row (5, during 1960–65 and 1985–90).[49] With 121 matches (from 17 February 1957 to 7 March 1965), the club holds the record for longest unbeaten run at home in La Liga.[50]
The Whites also hold the record for winning the UEFA Champions League nine times and for the most semi-final appearances (21).[51] Raúl González is the all-time UEFA Champions League top scorer, with 64 goals. The team has the record number of consecutive participation in the European Cup with 15, from 1955–56 to 1969–70.
In June 2009, the club broke its own record for the highest transfer fee ever paid in the history of football by agreeing to pay Manchester United €96 million ($131.5 million, £80 million) for the services of Cristiano Ronaldo.[52] The fee of €76 million (over $100 million, £45.8 million) for Zinedine Zidane's transfer from Juventus to Real Madrid in 2001 was the previous highest transfer fee ever paid. In June 2009, Real Madrid also agreed to buy Kaká from A.C. Milan for a fee that broke the previous record in pounds sterling. The club's record sale came on 1 September 2008, when they sold Robinho to Manchester City for €42 million (£32.5 million).[53]

SACHI BIRTHDAY BASH

SACHIN TENDULKAR CELEBRATED IS 36 BIRTHDay wwith his ipl teamates and indian teamates

SACHIN TENDULKAR

Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar Sachin_Tendulkar.ogg pronunciation (help·info) (Marathi: सचिन रमेश तेंडुलकर) (born April 24, 1973 in Mumbai) is an Indian cricketer widely regarded as one of the greatest batsmen in the history of cricket.[5][6][7] In 2002, Wisden ranked him the second greatest Test batsman of all time, next to Donald Bradman, and the second greatest one day international (ODI) batsman of all time, next to Viv Richards.[8] In September 2007, the Australian leg spinner Shane Warne rated Tendulkar as the greatest player he has played with or against.[9] Tendulkar was the only player of the current generation to be included in Bradman's Eleven.[nb 1] He is sometimes referred to as Little Master or Master Blaster.[11][12]

Tendulkar is the highest run scorer in both Test matches and ODIs, and also the batsman with the most centuries in either form of the game. The first player to score fifty centuries in all international cricket combined, he now has more than eighty international centuries.

On October 17, 2008, when he surpassed Brian Lara's record for the most runs scored in Test Cricket, he also became the first batsman to score 12,000 runs in that form of the game,[13] having also been the third batsman and first Indian to pass 11,000 runs in Test cricket.[14] He was also the first player to score 10,000 runs in one-day internationals, and also the first player to cross every subsequent 1000-run mark that has been crossed in ODI cricket history. In the fourth Test of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy against Australia, Tendulkar surpassed Australia's Allan Border to become the player to cross the 50-run mark the most number of times in Test cricket history, and also the second ever player to score 10 Test centuries against Australia, after only Sir Jack Hobbs of England more than 70 years back.[15] Tendulkar has been honored with the Padma Vibhushan award, India's second highest civilian award, and the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna award, India's highest sporting honor.

AUSTRALIA OPEN

The Australian Open is the first of the four Grand Slam tennis tournaments held each year. The tournament is held each January at Melbourne Park. The tournament was held for the first time in 1905 and was contested on grass from then up to 1987. Since 1988, the tournament has been held on hard courts at Melbourne Park. Mats Wilander is the only male player to have won the tournament on both grass and hard courts.

Like all other Grand Slam tournaments, there are men's and women's singles competitions; men's, women's, and mixed doubles; and junior's and master's competitions.

The two main courts used in the tournament are Rod Laver Arena and Hisense Arena and feature retractable roofs, which can be shut in case of rain or extreme heat. The Australian Open and Wimbledon are the only Slams with indoor play.

Held in the middle of the Australian summer, the Australian Open is famous for its notoriously hot days. An extreme-heat policy is put into play when temperatures (and humidity) reach dangerous levels.

The Australian Open typically has very high attendance, with the 2009 Australian Open achieving the highest ever single-day day/night attendance record for any Grand Slam tournament of 66,018.[2] The event is worth around £38 million to the Australian economy.[3]

In 2008, the Rebound Ace surface, which had been in place for the past 20 years at Melbourne Park, was replaced by a cushioned, medium-paced,[4] acrylic surface known as Plexicushion Prestige. The main benefits of the new surface are better consistency and less retention of heat (because of a thinner top layer). This change was accompanied by changes in the surfaces of all lead-up tournaments to the Australian Open. The change was controversial, primarily because of the new surface's similarity[citation needed] to DecoTurf, the surface already being used by the US Open.

The singles winners in 2009 were Rafael Nadal and Serena Williams. In men's doubles, the winners were Bob Bryan and Mike Bryan, and in women's doubles, the winners were Serena and Venus Williams - the very first time in history that both doubles titles had been won by siblings.

U S OPEN GRAND SLAM

The US Open, formally the United States Open tennis championships, is a tennis tournament is the modern incarnation of one of the oldest tennis championships in the world, with the U.S. National Championship (for men's singles) first contested in 1881. Since 1987, the US Open has been chronologically the fourth and final Grand Slam tennis tournament each year. It is held annually in August and September over a two-week period (the weeks before and after Labor Day weekend). The main tournament consists of five different event championships: men's and women's singles, men's and women's doubles, and mixed doubles, with additional tournaments for senior, junior, and wheelchair players. Since 1978, the tournament has been played on acrylic hard courts at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center at Flushing Meadows-Corona Park in Queens, New York City.

The US Open differs from the other three Grand Slam tournaments in that there are final-set tiebreaks. In the other three tournaments, the fifth set for men and the third set for women continue until someone wins by two games.

FRENCH OPEN GRAND SLAM

French Open
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This article is about the tennis tournament. For the French aviator for whom it is named, see Roland Garros (aviator).
For the golf tournament, see Open de France.
Tournoi de Roland-Garros
(French Open)
Official web
Location Paris (XVIe)
France
Venue Stade Français (1891 - 1927) Stade Roland Garros (1928 - )
Surface Grass (1891 - 1911, 1925 - 1927) Clay (1912 - 1924, 1928 - ) (Outdoors)
Men's draw 128S / 128Q / 64D (2009)
Women's draw 128S / 96Q / 64D (2009)
Prize money € 16,150,460 (2009) [1]
Grand Slam

* Flag of Australia Australian Open
* Flag of France French Open
* Flag of the United Kingdom Wimbledon
* Flag of the United States US Open

Tennis portal

The French Open (French: Les Internationaux de France de Roland Garros or Tournoi de Roland-Garros) is a major tennis tournament held over two weeks between late May and early June in Paris, France, at the Stade Roland Garros. It is the second of the Grand Slam tournaments on the annual tennis calendar and the premier clay court tennis tournament in the world. Roland Garros is the only Grand Slam still held on clay and ends the spring clay court season.

It is one of the most prestigious events in tennis,[2] and it has the widest worldwide broadcasting and audience of all regular events in this sport.[3][4] Because of the slow playing surface and the five-set men's singles matches without a tiebreak in the final set, the event is widely considered to be the most physically demanding tennis tournament in the world.[5][6]

The singles champions for 2009 are the Swiss Male Roger Federer and the Russian Female Svetlana Kuznetsova.

WIMBLEDON GRAND SLAM

he Championships, Wimbledon, or simply Wimbledon, is the oldest tennis tournament in the world and is generally considered the most prestigious.[2][3][4][5] It has been held at the All England Club in the London suburb of Wimbledon since 1877. It is one of the four Grand Slam tennis tournaments, and the only one still played on the game's original surface, grass, which gave the game of lawn tennis its name.

The tournament takes place over two weeks in late June and early July, culminating with the ladies' and gentlemen's singles final, scheduled respectively for the second Saturday and Sunday. Each year, five major events are contested, as well as four junior events and four invitational events.

The hard court Australian Open and clay court French Open precede Wimbledon in the calendar year. The hard court US Open follows. For men, the grass court Queen's Club Championships, also in London, and the Gerry Weber Open in Halle, Germany are popular warm up tournaments for Wimbledon. For women, there are warm-up tournaments in Birmingham and Eastbourne.

Wimbledon traditions include the eating of strawberries and cream, royal patronage, and a strict dress code for competitors. In 2009, Wimbledon's Centre Court was fitted with a retractable roof to insure against the possibility of rain delays interrupting Centre Court matches during the tournament.