In 1987, the legendary first Prestige Pro racquet marked HEAD’s entry into a new generation of tennis racquets, based on a carbon fibre construction. This enabled players like Henri Leconte, Emilio Sanchez and Thomas Muster to play with an unprecedented level of power, control, and precision.
Now, the legend continues as HEAD launches the 2012 HEAD YouTek™ IG Prestige, which is coming to stores worldwide right in time for the Australian Open.

To honour the anniversary of this legendary racquet series, HEAD kicks off the year 2012 with a special celebration. Looking back at 25 years of history, outstanding players, epic tennis matches and trophies, and very special and personal Prestige moments, HEAD has launched a bespoke Facebook application and a series of YouTube videos, which allow tennis fans to dive into the Prestige history.

Each month, one of the past and current HEAD Prestige players reflects on a special ‘Prestige’ moment in his career. The Prestige legend featured in January is Thomas Muster.
Watch him talk about the career-threatening leg injury he suffered a few hours after his semifinal win over Yannick Noah at Key Biscayne, in 1989:

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Robin Soderling is the only player to have beaten Rafael Nadal at the French Open. He qualified today for the fourth round with a straight sets win over qualifier Leonardo Mayer 6-1 6-4 6-3.

Next up for him: Gilles Simon, and a possible rematch of last year’s final against Rafa Nadal in quarterfinals.

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Andy Murray and Rafael Nadal have passed their first real test with success: the Scot destroyed Jurgen Melzer 6-3 6-1 6-1 and Nadal won 6-2 6-4 6-3 over 2010 semifinalist Marin Cilic in just over two and a half hours. Next for them: Dolgopolov and Ferrer.
Despite his loss, Melzer will enter the top 10 for the first time in his career when the new rankings list comes out next Monday.
Ferrer ended Raonic‘s incredible run in 4 sets. Not since Goran Ivanisevic in 1989 had a qualifier made it to the quarterfinals of the Australian Open.

Upset of the day: Alexander Dolgopolov defeats Robin Soderling 1-6 6-3 6-1 4-6 6-2
I must say I didn’t see that coming. Soderling was for me one of the favorite for the title. Winner in Brisbane, he had not lost a single set since the beginning of the year. He lost to Dolgopolov in 5 sets.

Aussie of the day: Rennae Stubbs
The outspoken doubles specialist played her last Grand Slam match today. Stubbs won 60 doubles titles including four women’s Grand Slam titles (with Lisa Raymond and Cara Black) and two mixed doubles Grand Slam titles (with Jared Palmer and Todd Woodbridge).
She will again be part of the Australian Fed Cup team which faces Italy in the first round on 5 February.

Matches to follow on day 9:
[30] Andrea Petkovic (GER) v [9] Na Li (CHN)
[19] Stanislas Wawrinka (SUI) v [2] Roger Federer (SUI)
[1] Caroline Wozniacki (DEN) v [6] Francesca Schiavone (ITA)
[6] Tomas Berdych (CZE) v [3] Novak Djokovic (SRB)

After Safina and Ivanovic, an other former world number one was knocked out of the tournament: Jelena Jankovic was defeated by 54-ranked Shuai Peng.
Second seed Zvonareva was pushed to the limit by Serbia’s Bojana Jovanovski before recovering to win 1-6, 6-3, 6-1.
Kim Clijsters and Sam Stosur continue to impress and book their place in the third round.

On the men’s side, Nadal, Soderling and Murray progress easily to the last 32.

Seeds upsets:
Jelena Jankovic (7), Maria Kirilenko (18), Alisa Kleybanova (24), Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez (26), Michael Llodra (22), David Nalbandian (27), Thomaz Bellucci (30)

Aussie of the day:
The big Australian hope Bernard Tomic, defeated the much more experienced Feliciano Lopez in straight sets. The 2008 Australian Open junior champion is more known for his feud with Lleyton Hewitt than for his ATP results, but one say he has finally matured. He will next encounter world number one Rafael Nadal.

Match of the day: Marcos Baghdatis defeats Juan Martin Del Potro
Juan Martin Del Potro is back from injury but not yet at his top. He lost to 2006 finalist Marcos Baghdatis in four sets 6-1, 6-3, 4-6, 6-3. The Cypriot will play Jurgen Melzer on Saturday for a place in the fourth round.

Matches to follow on day 5:
Svetlana Kuznetsova(RUS)[23] vs Justine Henin(BEL)[11]
Stanislas Wawrinka(SUI)[19] vs Gael Monfils(FRA)[12]
Nicolas Almagro(ESP)[14] vs Ivan Ljubicic(CRO)[17]

ATP has unveiled his new advertising campaign to mark the beginning of the 2011 ATP World Tour season.
The campaign features a range of above and below-the-line executions including a 30-second television spot, player vignettes, print ads, posters, billboards, and web and mobile treatments. The new look will be incorporated across all ATP World Tour communications channels including ATPWorldTour.com, ATP World Tour Uncovered, and published materials such as the Media Guide and Year Book.

“GAME ON. Every shot. Every point. Every game counts”.

Honestly, any 15 year old geek could have done posters like that with Photoshop. Seriously, I wonder how much they paid for this “fantastic new campaign”….

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Site: O2 London
Dates: Sunday, November 21 – Sunday, November 28
Surface: Hard
Visit official website

Singles:

- Group A: Rafael Nadal (1), Novak Djokovic (3), Tomas Berdych (6), David Ferrer (7)
- Group B: Roger Federer (2), Robin Soderling (4), Andy Murray (5), Andy Roddick (8)

Doubles:

-Group A: Bob and Mike Bryan, Lukas Dlouhy and Leander Paes, Mariusz Fyrstenberg and Marcin Matkowski, and Jurgen Melzer and Philipp Petzschner.
-Group B: Daniel Nestor and Nenad Zimonjic, Lukasz Kubot and Oliver Marach, Mahesh Bhupathi and Max Mirnyi, and Wesley Moodie and Dick Norman.

You can watch the tournament online on tennistv.com.

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