DHL » id the focus on the pitch has been mildly annoy

NEWPORT, R.I. -- Lindsay Davenport remembers picking up a tennis racket as a child and the feeling that came with the ease of a powerful return. After giving up on two other sports, she found something she liked. On Saturday, she reached her sports highest honour, with her induction into the International Tennis Hall of Fame. Davenport spent 98 weeks ranked No. 1. She won the 1998 U.S. Open, 1999 Wimbledon, 2000 Australian Open and 1996 Olympic gold medal to go with three major doubles titles. She finished the end of four years ranked No. 1. Chris Evert was among those at the ceremony. The tennis great described Davenports game as "so loud, so strong and aggressive." Davenport entered the hall with five-time Paralympic medallist Chantal Vandierendonck in the recent player category, coach Nick Bollettieri, executive Jane Brown Grimes, and broadcaster John Barrett in the contributor category. "Hitting the ball and making contact was always something that came very natural to me," Davenport said. "It was a blessing. It happened at a very young age. I didnt realize that it was that hard to do and I had a special talent, and it took a long time to put that altogether. "Thats what made it so fun to me, the sound, and what I could do with the shots, and see how hard I could hit them. Everything else about the game took work and was a struggle, but that was something and that was the reason why I fell in love with it." She was presented by friend and former ATP pro Justin Gimelstob, who played against her at a clinic. The 82-year old Bollettieri has coached 10 players to the No. 1 ranking, including Andre Agassi, Jim Courier, Monica Seles and Boris Becker. In 1978, he founded the Nick Bollettieri Tennis Academy, the first full-time tennis boarding school in the U.S. "The older you get, its not the (age), but what you have here," he said, touching his chest near his heart. Vandierendonck was a top Dutch player before she was injured in a car accident in 1983. Shes the first woman wheelchair player inducted. Brown Grimes is a former managing director of the Womens Professional Tennis Council (now known as the WTA Board), president of the U.S. Tennis Association, and president of the International Tennis Hall of Fame. Barrett was the "Voice of Wimbledon" on the BBC from 1971-2006. His wife, former top-ranked player Angela Mortimer Barrett, was inducted into the hall in 1993. Agassi and Steffi Graf are the only other married couple in the hall. Elie Okobo Suns Jersey . Just ask last seasons Supporters Shield winners, the New York Red Bulls, who were resoundingly defeated last weekend by a rampant Vancouver Whitecaps in a match which produced two contenders for MLS Goal of the Week from Sebastian Fernandez and Pedro Morales. Dragan Bender Suns Jersey . Dumont, a fifth round draft pick of the Canadiens in 2009, has four assists and 20 penalty minutes in 12 games with the Bulldogs this season. The 23-year-old split last season between Hamilton and Montreal, recording 16 goals and 15 assists in 55 regular season games with the Bulldogs. http://www.officialsunsfanstore.com/jama...rd-suns-jersey/. The team also announced Tuesday that the Braves will wear a commemorative patch on the right sleeve during the season. The patch, shaped like home plate, carries the number 715, Aarons autograph and a "40th Anniversary" banner. Phoenix Suns Jerseys . Dancevic won his singles match on Friday, defeating Go Soeda 6-4, 7-6 (2), 6-1, to even the best-of-five series at a game apiece. World No. 18 Kei Nishikori defeated Peter Polansky in the opening match, 6-4, 6-4, 6-4. Leandro Barbosa Suns Jersey .The seventh-seeded Raonic was scheduled to play U.S. Open finalist Kei Nishikori of Japan, but was replaced in the Group B pool by Spanish substitute David Ferrer.Raonic, who was 0-2 at the year-end event, said he suffered the injury late in the first set of Tuesdays 6-3, 7-6 loss to Murray.OTTAWA - FIFA secretary-general Jerome Valcke has rubbished a legal challenge over the use of artificial surfaces at next years Womens World Cup in Canada, saying anyone who says playing on turf is discriminatory is talking nonsense.The French executive took square aim at the rebel faction of players and their lawyers, who have been banging the drum for months over having to play their showcase tournament on artificial turf.The world governing body of soccer, which admittedly has had other fires to fight recently, had largely limited its turf response to articles on its website, including an Oct. 29 interview with a diplomatic Valcke. But on Friday, the secretary-general came out swinging.If anyone is saying that the use of the artificial pitch is a question of discrimination, its nonsense. Its completely crazy to say that, Valcke told a news conference on the eve of Saturdays tournament draw.It has nothing to do with discrimination. I cant imagine that no one would recognize what FIFA has done for the development of womens football over the last 15 years. We have asked all of our members associations to invest in womens football ... We have created new competitions and we are working on a potential new competition at the club level (a womens Club World Cup).We are every day trying to develop womens football around the world.A group of elite female players has filed a legal challenge with the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario, saying making women play on artificial turf is discriminatory because men play their showcase tournament on natural grass.The issue has dominated headlines, taking away some of the shine of a 52-game tournament that organizers ambitiously hope will draw 1.5 million spectators from June 6 to July 5.Hampton Dellinger, lead lawyer for the women challenging the turf, responded to Valckes comments by saying that the legal team that prepared the human rights complaint was completely lucid.The facts we put in our legal complaint make out a very compelling case of sex discrimination, he said in an interview from the U.S.Victor Montagliani, president of the Canadian Soccer Association and the tournament organizing committee, said the focus on the pitch has been mildly annoying.If I said I wasnt a little bit (frustrated), sure Id probably be lying, he said. But my frustrations not very high. Because to be honest with you, the conduct (of those challenging the turf) has been nothing short of what I call a little bit ridiculous. I can respect peoples opinions, I respect peoples comments. But also being a Canadian, I respect the process. And so they chose a (legal) arena to go into. And its still in that arena and I have to respect that. But they need to respect that as well. Captain Christine Sinclair, the lone player expected at the draw, and her fellow Canadian players have stayed clear of the turf brouhaha.I understand what theyre standing up for, she said of the players behind the legal challenge. Its not really an issue for me. Im preparing to play in a World Cup and thats what my focus is on. Ill let other players and other teams worry about issues outside the actual games.Valcke had promised an open dialogue at the draw. But, despite the fact only Sinclair is expeected Saturday, he rejected an offer to speak to the rebel players via conference call.ddddddddddddAsked about that, Valcke said he would talk with players in person but not on the phone — and he would not talk to lawyers.I am ready to discuss with all the players, with all the technical teams, with all the coaches. But face to face. And thats what Im ready to do .. Im ready to travel to wherever I have to travel to do that.Dellinger welcomed those words, saying they mark a step forward in making the Womens World Cup truly world-class.But the truth ultimately will be on the pitch, he added, referring to the type of playing surface.Four of the first five questions at the news conference were on the turf issues. But the following five touched other topics.Valcke confirmed that goal-line technology will be used at the womens tournament in Canada. And the prize money will be raised by US$5 million to $15 million, with the winner earning $2 million.Those were two issues raised by the lawyers for the rebel players, eager to point the finger at other differences between the mens and womens world championships.Germany, as winner of the mens World Cup this summer, earned $35 million. Total prize money for the mens event was $476 million.Valcke noted that the mens tournament, which made $4.5 billion this summer, finances all of FIFAs 20 world tournaments. And that the womens event was a relative new one — starting in 1991 — compared to the mens championship, which began in 1930.In a statement that may set the Canadians mens team on edge, Valcke congratulated Canada as perhaps the only one of FIFAs 209 member associations that is spending more money on womens soccer than men.The CSA would, no doubt, respond that its budget for the men and women shifts depending on what tournaments are nearest on the landscape.Still, the Canadian men are currently ranked 122nd in the world and have only ever been to one World Cup, in 1986. This marks the Canadian womens sixth trip to the World Cup in seven attempts.Saturdays draw at the Canadian Museum of History in Gatineau, Que., comes six months before the tournament kickoff. It will slot the 24 teams into six groups headed by host Canada (ranked eighth in the world by FIFA) and seeds Brazil (No. 6), France (No. 4), Germany (No. 2), Japan (No. 3) and the United States (No. 1).Canada will be in Pool A, playing its first two round-robin games in Edmonton and the third in Montreal. The rest will be determined at the draw.More draw details were released Friday, giving Canadas John Herdman and the other 23 coaches expected to attend Saturdays gala a sense of what to expect.There are four pots, with six teams in each.A worst-case scenario could see Canada drawn with Sweden (No. 5) or England (No. 7), Asian runner-up Australia (No. 10) and African champion Nigeria (seen as far better than its No. 35 ranking would suggest).A more friendly landscape would see Canada with Switzerland (No. 18), Thailand (No. 30) and Ivory Coast (No. 64).Herdman suggested the group of death starts with the European teams awaiting in Pot 4No easy games. But there are some harder ones. Hopefully we avoid them, said Herdman with a laugh.---Follow @NeilMDavidson on Twitter ' ' '