Factbox: Rafa Nadal's injuries
LONDON (Reuters) - Factbox on some of the injuries that have dogged Rafa Nadal's career after the Spaniard pulled out of the London Olympics on Thursday. Nadal misses what would have been his first French Open in 2004 after suffering a stress fracture in his left ankle. A foot injury prevents him from competing in the 2005 year-ending Tennis Masters Cup in Shanghai and the 2006 Australian Open. He withdraws from the 2008 Tennis Masters Cup, citing tendinitis of the knee. Suffering from tendinitis ... [ Read More: http://news.yahoo.com/factbox-rafa-nadals-injuries-135313019--ten.html ]

Wimbledon to move back a week from 2015
LONDON (Reuters) - Wimbledon organisers have bowed to players' wishes by announcing a later start date from 2015, extending the tennis grass-court season and increasing the gap with the French Open, they said in a statement on Thursday. The grand slam will be pushed back a week, giving players three weeks to adjust from the slower French Open clay courts. "The best interests of tennis will be served by allowing the players more time to recuperate and to adjust from the clay of Roland Garros to the ... [ Read More: http://news.yahoo.com/wimbledon-move-back-week-2015-055007302--ten.html ]

Nadal out of London Games with injury
MADRID (Reuters) - Olympic champion Rafa Nadal's withdrawal from the London Games because of injury deprived the tournament of one of its biggest attractions and left Spain reeling on Thursday. The gold-medal winner in Beijing four years ago has failed to recover from a knee problem, and so will also miss out on the honor of carrying his nation's flag at the opening ceremony. The Spanish tennis federation (RFET) said Feliciano Lopez would be his replacement in the singles, while Marc Lopez would ... [ Read More: http://news.yahoo.com/nadal-london-games-knee-injury-174333599--ten.html ]

Olympic spectators give new-look Wimbledon the thumbs up
LONDON (Reuters) - There was a party atmosphere as spectators arrived for the first day of Olympic tennis at Wimbledon on Saturday, with music blaring from loudspeakers as fans clad in their country's flags sipped drinks on the sun-drenched grassy hill by Court One. The All England Club has undergone a complete makeover since the Wimbledon Championships finished less than three weeks ago, with the courts now decked in bright purple and the normally dark green site dotted with pink signs and London ... [ Read More: http://news.yahoo.com/olympic-spectators-look-wimbledon-thumbs-120653094--ten.html ]

Games are rare new experience for Clijsters
LONDON (Reuters) - Fifteen years into her career and just months from retiring for a second time, Belgium's Kim Clijsters does not come across many new experiences in tennis but playing in the Olympics will be one of them. The former world number one, who missed Beijing in 2008 after retiring a year earlier to have her daughter, plays the opening match on Wimbledon's court two on Saturday against Italy's Roberta Vinci. "You kind of feel like you are going on a school trip, when we took the train ... [ Read More: http://news.yahoo.com/games-rare-experience-clijsters-124709574--ten.html ]

Nadal shocked as Wimbledon reels from upset
Rafael Nadal crashed to his worst Grand Slam defeat in seven years on Thursday when Czech journeyman Lukas Rosol, the world number 100, pulled off one of the greatest upsets in Wimbledon history.After a day when the sleepy All England Club had been rocked by allegations of cheating and sexism, it was the unknown Rosol who delivered the final, late night, earth-shattering blow.Rosol, whose only other five visits to Wimbledon had ended in first round losses in qualifying, stunned the 2008 and 2010 ... [ Read More: http://news.yahoo.com/nadal-suffers-shock-wimbledon-defeat-210611112--ten.html ]

Djokovic seeks anniversary present of semi-final place
LONDON (Reuters) - A year to the day after becoming world number one, Novak Djokovic hopes to award himself the anniversary present of a place in the Wimbledon semi-finals. Djokovic is two steps away from defending his Wimbledon title in Sunday's final. First, he must beat Florian Mayer, one of two German men left in the competition, in Wednesday's quarter-finals. Mayer knows he will be the underdog against the Serbian but he has a game plan: "I can play everything; I can serve and volley, I can ... [ Read More: http://news.yahoo.com/djokovic-seeks-anniversary-present-semi-final-place-053720830--ten.html ]

Williams dethrones Kvitova, Azarenka marches on
Serena Williams produced a champion's display to knock out title-holder Petra Kvitova on Tuesday as Victoria Azarenka, Agnieszka Radwanska and Angelique Kerber joined her in the Wimbledon semi-finals.Kvitova tipped Williams to win a fifth Wimbledon crown after the US sixth seed used her experience and cool nerve to dethrone the Czech with a 6-3, 7-5 victory.Williams faces Australian Open champion Azarenka in the semi-finals after the Belarusian second seed reached the last four for the second successive ... [ Read More: http://news.yahoo.com/kerber-downs-lisicki-wimbledon-183527722--ten.html ]

Radwanska keeps cool to reach semi-finals
LONDON (Reuters) - Agnieszka Radwanska held her nerve during three rain breaks and a mid-match court switch to outlast her former doubles partner Maria Kirilenko 7-5 4-6 7-5 and reach the Wimbledon semi-finals for the first time on Tuesday. The third seed had been the only top-10 woman not to reach the last four of a major but she corrected that anomaly by resisting a determined second-set fightback from Kirilenko in a stop-start match in which fortunes wildly fluctuated. The players appeared to ... [ Read More: http://news.yahoo.com/radwanska-keeps-cool-reach-semi-finals-212102897--ten.html ]

Kerber caps good day for Germany
LONDON (Reuters) - Angelique Kerber wore down compatriot Sabine Lisicki 6-3 6-7 7-5 to reach the Wimbledon semi-finals and cap an excellent day for German tennis on Tuesday. Philipp Kohlschreiber and Florian Mayer advanced to the men's quarter-finals, the first time in the professional era that four Germans had reached the last eight of the same grand slam. Kerber's consistency proved too much for the erratic Lisicki, who beat top seed Maria Sharapova in the last round but hit 57 winners and made ... [ Read More: http://news.yahoo.com/kerber-caps-good-day-germany-204053553--ten.html ]