Leander and Dave Warming up

Seventh seeds Leander Paes and Radek Stepanek rallied to defeat second-seeded Max Mirnyi and Daniel Nestor 3-6, 6-1, 10-8 to win the Sony Ericsson Open on Saturday, their second team trophy of the season.

After dropping the first set, the Australian Open champions broke Mirnyi and Nestor twice in the second set to force a Match Tie-break. The Indian-Czech tandem trailed 1-4 before winning six straight points to surge ahead. Stepanek closed out the victory with an unreturnable volley to clinch the win in 82 minutes.

“We fought through it, and we got on top of them in the second set all the way,” said Stepanek. “We [were] the more aggressive, and, I would say, creative team in the [Match] Tie-break, as well. That’s why we won.”

Paes and Stepanek

Paes collected his third straight crown at Crandon Park, having triumphed with Lukas Dlouhy in 2010 and Mahesh Bhupathi in 2011. The 38 year old also became the 24th player in ATP World Tour history to win 50 doubles titles.

“[It's] really, really special. 50 tournaments takes a little doing. 600 matches takes a little bit of doing,” said Paes. “Having done a three peat here in Miami is awesome. Next year, I hope to start another one.”

Mirnyi and Nestor finished runner-up for the second straight year, and were bidding to lift their third trophy in 2012, after successes in Brisbane (d. Melzer/Petzschner) and Memphis (d. Dodig/Melo).

A perplexing flubbed tap-in putt on the 18th hole from I.K. Kim jumbled the emotions of players and fans alike Sunday at the Kraft Nabisco Championship at Mission Hills Country Club in Rancho Mirage.

Sun Young Yoo holding the Kraft Nabisco Championship Throphy

Instead of having a triumphant day, Kim’s miss on the 72nd hole of play put her into a playoff with fellow South Korean Sun Young Yoo. And it was the 25-year-old Yoo, who came from behind most of the day, who knocked in an 18-foot birdie putt on the first playoff hole, the par-five 18th, to win her first major.

Kim had seemed to break away from everyone with back-to-back birdies on the 16th and 17th holes but then she rimmed out a one-footer that would have given her the win.

It was a moment of extreme discouragement for the 23-year-old who now lives now in Rancho Santa Fe, and on the first playoff hole Kim’s eyes were glazed.

Even world No. 1 Yani Tseng, who had a birdie putt on 18 curl just a smidgen too much or she would have made the playoff, said she ached for Kim. “I feel so bad for her,” Tseng said.

Kim and Yoo each shot a final-round 69 and had four-day totals of nine-under 279.

After Kim missed her tap-in, she threw her hands up and then covered her ears as she walked off the 18th hole. The miss put her into a tie with Yoo while Tseng still was playing on the 18th.

The gallery was chanting “Ya-ni, Ya-ni” as Tseng marched to the green and gave herself a chance with the birdie putt.

The groan was large when she missed, but not as large as when the perplexed Kim jerked her tap-in away from the cup.

In the final 20 minutes of regulation, four players were tied for the lead at nine-under par and none of them was Tseng.

Karin Sjodin, a perpetual smiler from Sweden who has never won on the LPGA Tour and who had started the day tied for the lead with Tseng, was the first to drop back. She missed a five-foot par putt on the 16th hole.

Within the next five minutes, Hee Kyung Seo also bogeyed, and when the 5-foot-3 Kim posted the first of her consecutive birdies, the leaderboard suddenly seemed to gain clarity as she took a one-shot lead over Yoo.

That clarity was suddenly muddled when Kim missed the “gimme.”

Yoo said that after she parred her final hole to be nine under and with Kim standing over that tap-in, she had only one thought. “I thought I.K. was going to make it,” she said. “I thought I had no chance.”

But when her chance came, Yoo made the most of it.r-old from The Woodlands, Texas, said. Then she was off to sign autographs and take some practice swings. She would not need those practice swings when Soo kept putting up birdies.

Leander Paes celebrated his 600th doubles match win Saturday at the BNP Paribas Open when he partnered Radek Stepanek to a 6-3, 6-3 victory over Spaniards David Ferrer and Albert Ramos in the first round.

ATPWorldTour.com caught up with the the 38-year-old Indian, a winner of 49 tour-level titles, who reflected on the milestone, playing with 87 different partners and the most meaningful win of his career.

You got your 600th victory yesterday. How does it feel to attain another incredible milestone, particularly here at an ATP World Tour Masters 1000 event?
For me at this stage, I’m playing for the history books and setting new records, so for me to get my 600th win is really special. I’ve got to really thank my whole team over the last 20 years, they’ve made such a difference with me. My yoga master/masseur has been with me 22 years, Sanjay Singh; my fitness trainer Dave Herman has been with me 21 years; and Ricky Leach has been one of my best friends for 19 years and I sure wouldn’t have reached 600 wins without all of them, so I’m really thankful to all of them to get me to this spot.

You were finally able to complete your career men’s doubles Grand Slam at the Australian Open. Was that extra special to clinch that against the top-ranked doubles team that really dominated in Melbourne the past five years?
It was really special, I got to do it with a really good friend of mine, Radek Stepanek. Radek is not only one of the greatest tennis players of all time, but he’s a really dear friend of mine. The way we did it, Radek was ranked at 112 in the world in doubles at the time we entered in, and I told him it’d take him three months to get into the Top 20. Little did I realise what was going to happen. We beat the No. 3 seeds, the No. 2 seeds and the No. 1 seeds en route to winning a Grand Slam. We were unseeded at the time.

Those kinds of things are what I play for. That’s what wakes me up in the morning, pushes me through some hard days, pushes me through some travel. Being on the tour is just a great lifestyle, it’s a very clean lifestyle, it’s a very healthy lifestyle, but at the same time it’s a very lonely lifestyle. To be able to have a great team like that and try and reach those milestones, try to win those big matches, is what it’s all about.

You probably have the best court sense of anyone on tour. Would you consider that your greatest asset in contributing to your career-long success?
I would just consider that you’re being too kind. (laughs)

What do you think has enabled you to do so well, find longevity and continue to stay in the top?
My team. My passion for life, my passion for the game. It’s about finding the right partners. I’ve played with so many different partners now. Wikipedia actually posted on the net that I had 87 different men’s doubles partners alone, or 78, I can’t remember which one now. I think after about seven or eight you start losing track, let alone 78 or 87. But I think just having to adapt my personality to different partners and make them work most of the time is kind of the game for me. It’s fun, it keeps it challenging.

With your victory in Melbourne, you’re almost assured a place in the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals. How satisfying is it to be the frontrunner this early in the season?
As satisfying as you just said it. It’s amazing how in the first month of the year you already know your goals are done. And now just try and reset the goals and keep trying to achieve more. For me, I play for the Grand Slams, I play for the Olympics, I play for the big events like Masters [1000s].

Last year I didn’t win a Grand Slam and this year I’ve come in and won the first one, so now I’m really kind of working hard to keep improving every day and to keep actually driving it home and keep winning as many Grand Slams as I can, and keep pushing that bar up. It’s like a pole vault, where you do a certain height, you want to push it up another inch. You do that, and you push it up another six inches, you do that and you do it another inch. I just feel like a pole vaulter, trying to raise that bar.

Speaking of goals, the Bryans, Nestor and Zimonjic have been the only ones to claim the No. 1 ranking the past four years. You have a great opportunity during the clay court season and the middle two Grand Slams to really pick up some points. Where is getting back to No. 1 on your radar? Is that something you can pull out?
Can I pull it off? Sure. Am I interested in pulling it off? I’m not so sure. I don’t play a full calendar anymore. I don’t play 25 weeks, 29 weeks like most of the guys. I generally do 16-17 weeks. So for me, at this stage of the game where I’ve been No. 1 for so many years already, plus at the same time I’m doing so many multi-tasking things. I’m acting in movies, I’m doing graphic novels, I’m doing my business at home, designing real estate. I’m also trying to be a tennis player while I go, so I’m not so sure that’s one of the big goals as far as I’m concerned. If come around the US Open time, I feel we’re kind of pushing that limit, then definitely I’ll go for it, but winning Grand Slams is what it’s all about. I figure if you win Grand Slams you’re going to get to No. 1 anyway.

Talking about your career aspirations, you mentioned acting on the big screen. If you had the opportunity to co-star with any actor, who would it be and what would be the movie genre?
I got so many actors in mind right now. One of my all-time favourites was Denzel Washington. Another one was Clint Eastwood. Another one was Keanu Reeves; he’s phenomenal. You can see the genre I’m going after, a lot of action, a lot of serious kind of drama movies. I love that kind of stuff. More action driven, more martial arts driven. More undercover spy agent driven. Those actors are so versatile. All three of them. Another one of my favourites is Leonardo DiCaprio. At the moment he’s my all-time favourite because he’s just so versatile and does so many different types of roles that it’s fun.

On the women’s side, there are so many great actresses out there and I’m just talking about Hollywood right now. I’m trying to make my mark in Bollywood back home. There are a few great actors back home, like Shahrukh Khan is amazing. Amitabh Bachchan is amazing. Aamir Khan does great versatility work. These are the kind of actors I have a lot of respect for and try to learn from.

And finally, out of your first 600 wins, which one stands out and why?
This Australian Open would have to be one of the most special, not only because it’s the most recent and freshest in my memory, but it’s also the way we did it. To beat the No. 1, No. 2 and No. 3 seeds en route to winning the whole thing and it was the only Grand Slam I hadn’t won to complete a career Grand Slam playing with my 87th partner. All those things really kind of summed it up and made it special.

I know how difficult it is mentally to play two finals on the same day,” said Paes. “The way he [Tipsarevic] prepared for both the finals, it was impeccable. He epitomises what an athlete should be.”

Tipsarevic admitted, “I had a very hard pre-season. I have that every year. Fitness in general is one of my strength. I love playing with someone who loves to ask me something but also to give something.”

The Indian-Serbian team share $21,800 in prize money and 250 ATP Doubles Team Rankings points, while Erlich and Ram earn a cheque for $11,480 and 75 points.

Paes and Tipsarevic took a 3-0 lead, with two breaks of serve. They won 18 of their 28 service points in the 35-minute first set.

The teams exchanged breaks of serve at the beginning of the second set. Ram lost his serve to 30 at 4-4, which handed Paes an opportunity to close out victory in 74 minutes.

Source: ATPWorldTour

First baseman Tyler Benzel and pitcher Gus Schlosser were named to the 2011 Rawlings Gold Glove South Region Team announced May 25.

Benzel, a senior, led the Moccasins with a .387 average and has seven home runs to go with 43 RBI. In the field Benzel had a .990 fielding percentage, committing only 4 errors. In 24 conference games Benzel had a .995 fielding percentage, while hitting .398 and driving in 19.

Schlosser, a senior, was Moccasins top starting pitcher going 7-1 with a 2.90 ERA and 82 strikeouts. He had a perfect fielding percentage of 1.000, going 96.1 innings without an error. He went 5-0 in conference play with 53 strikeouts.

Also named to the Gold Glove team were second baseman Mike Diorio and catcher Dane Derstine from Lynn, shortstop Brandon Brewer and outfielder Greg Pron from West Florida, third baseman Eric Grabe from Tampa, outfielder Gavan McCauley from Southern Arkansas, and outfielder Matt Johnson from Arkansas Tech.

Sanjeev Javia is Founder/Partner of Javia Wellness Consultants – a health and wellness firm that focuses on innovative research, formulation and design of nutritional, exercise, and wellness initiatives.  A researcher by nature, he focuses his attention on the true science of nutrition and exercise. 

Sanjeev (Jeevers) is currently the Director of Health and Wellness for the Musculoskeletal Health and Wellness Institute at the Greenville Hospital System.  He specializes in bringing together the areas of medicine, physical therapy, nutrition, and performance.  Sanjeev is creator and developer of the Steadman Hawkins Nutrition Science Center, a center with world-renowned orthopedic surgeons (Dr. Richard Steadman and Dr. Richard Hawkins) and a team of nutritionist and dieticians to provide medically supervised programs and specific plans to individuals. 
 
He is a partner in a revolutionary exercise company, SpeedFlex™. SpeedFlex is currently being used to enhance the performance of elite athletes and is also being used for individuals with traumatic brain injury, Parkinson’s disease, childhood obesity.

Sanjeev serves on the following non-profit boards, Judi’s House, From The Heart, and the M&M Foundation.  He also serves on the for-profit board of The Running Guru.

Jeevers lives in Greenville, SC and Denver, CO. 

Lynn

He has worked with a variety of sports including athletes in the NFL, NBA, WTA , PGA, LPGA, professional wakeboarding, water skiing, soccer, lacrosse and almost all extreme sports.

Lynn is also an instructor for advanced massage techniques as well as energy medicine and Body Talk. He is a sought after lecturer and holds training sessions all over the world. In 2009, he completed writing and began teaching Structural Integration for Body Talkers which is known as one of the most effective rehabilitation, movement and postural alignment techniques in the world.

Specializing in sports injuries, chronic disease and emotional performance disorders, Lynn uses and is certified in over twenty different techniques and philosophies. These include: Body Talk, Structural Integration, Neuromuscular Therapy, Myofascial Release, Cranio-Sacral Therapy, Electro-acupuncture, Trigger Point therapy, Reiki and many more.

“I like to have a lot of tools in the tool box when I am working with a client. There are many treatment philosophies out there, and everyone is right. But finding out what the priorities for that particular client are is where it’s at.”

The Legendary Leander Paes with Sports Performance Coach Dave Herman show how to develop elasticity and explosiveness performing tennis specific band training with SuperFlex resistance bands.

Sun Young – 2012 Kraft Nabisco Champion

Leander Paes, Mahesh Bhupathi WIN Sony Ericsson 2011

Leander Paes defends at the 2011 Sony Ericsson Doubles Championship with partner Mahesh Bhupathi and take over the #1 doubles world ranking.  Formally the #1 ranked team in 1999, the Indian duo unite together in 2011 to reclaim the top spot!  Congratulations Leander and Mahesh!

With the tennis Championship secure, Athletes Training athletes claim 3 consecutive back to back to back weekend WINS starting with Gary Woodland on PGA Tour and then Sandra Gal on the LPGA tour.