Jimmy Connors charged with Misdemeanor

Jimmy Connors has been charged with a misdemeanor involving an altercation that took place last week before a basketball game between UC Santa Barbara and North Carolina.

Connors was charged Wednesday with disrupting campus activities and refusing to leave a university facility.

An unidentified man tried to pick a fight with Connors and his son before Friday night’s game and police asked him to leave. Jimmy was arrested after he said he wanted to wait for his son to finish watching the game.

Connors is “extremely disappointed and embarrassed” about the incident, his business manager says.

Jimmy Connors Arrested!

BREAKING NEWS

Eight-time Grand Slam champ Jimmy Connors was arrested and taken into custody Friday outside the UC Santa Barbara campus after refusing to comply with an order to leave an area following a confrontation.

Complete story here.

Buzz on the Courts - Week Ending 11-16-08

- Novak Djokovic crushed Nikolay Daveydenko 6-1,
7-5 to take Masters Cup singles title.

- Daniel Nestor and Nenad Zimonjic defeat the
Bryan Brothers to capture the Masters Cup doubles title and claim the year end #1 ranking.

- Jonas Bjorkman calls it quits after 17 years on tour. Story here.

- Serbia to host ATP event in 2009. Read more.

Kings of Tennis Tournament

UPDATE: Event has been cancelled!

I know, wrong picture but it's the best I could do.

The “Kings of Tennis” tournament from Nov 14 to 16 is going to be huge and it is definitely on, promises organizer co-chairman Arianna Teoh. “Speculations about the event being cancelled are untrue," she said.

Top players like Bjorn Borg, Mats Wilander, Stefan Edberg and Ilie Nastase will represent Europe, while Pete Sampras, John McEnroe, Marcelo Rios and Roy Emerson will represent the United States.

The event will also be telecast live to 45 countries and consist of singles and doubles matches.

Count me in. I'll be in front of my TV watching.

Nadal Pulls Out

Rafael Nadal pulled out of the season-ending Masters Cup in Shanghai, citing fatigue and the need to prepare for the Davis Cup final. The world’s top-ranked player made the announcement on his Web site, describing his withdrawal as “one of the most difficult decisions in my career.”

Here's what he said:
“It has been a long and difficult year where I managed to obtain great results, both on a professional and on a personal level,” he said. “I have mentioned on various occasions that the tennis calendar has been extremely hard with practically all weeks playing and where it forces players to compete week in, week out, making it impossible for a top level player to be 100 percent” for each event.

Big Willie Seals the Deal

I didn't think either one of these guys would end up in the finals, nor did I think the final four would be Tsonga, Davydenko, Blake and Murray - granted injuries occured. Still, it was actually nice to see someone other than the top 4 win a title.

Jo Willie Tsonga defeated David Nalbanian 6-3, 4-6, 6-4 in the BNP Paribas Masters final. Willie started out on fire, breaking Nalbandian in the first game of set #1 and stayed strong to take the first set.

Jo Willie petered out a bit in the 2nd set, committing 3 times as many errors as Nalbandian and Nalbandian was able to break at 4-5 to take it.

Onto the 3rd we go. Tsonga broke early go up. Nalbandian put up a great fight but was never able to get back in the match. By winning his first Master's shield, Tsonga also earns the final spot in the Tennis Master's Cup in Shaghai. He joins Nadal, Federer, Djokovic, Murray, Davydenko, Roddick and Del Potro.