Who is Igor Andreev?
He's the Russian tennis player who was the last man to defeat Rafael Nadal on clay. That was in April 2005 and since then, Nadal has gone on to become the number two player of the world and winner of the last two French Opens.
But even more impressively, Nadal has accumulated a historic men's streak of winning 72 consecutive matches on clay (Chris Evert holds the women's record with 125 straight wins). On Sunday, Nadal overpowered Guillermo Canas 6-3, 6-4 to win the Barcelona Open for a record-equalling third time and tp preserve his streak as he prepares to compete for a third straight French title. He next plays the man's tournament in Rome which begins in a week.
"It's great to win again at home," said Nada, according to the Associated Pressl. "This streak is not a normal thing, and I know it will end some day. But I'm only thinking about playing each match well. I'm very happy after winning here three times at my club," said Nadal. "Willy (Canas) is one of the best players in the world on clay, and he's having a fantastic start to the season."
Canas joked: "Congratulations to Rafa for this season.. and the previous one, and the one before that."
BARCELONA (Reuters) - Rafael Nadal, the world's dominant player on clay, and Guillermo Canas, the comeback king of the men's tour, will meet on Sunday in a mouth-watering final at the Barcelona Open. Nadal, who beat David Ferrer 7-5 6-1 in his semi-final, has won a record 71 consecutive matches on clay stretching back to April 2005 when he lost to Russian Igor Andreev in Valencia.
BARCELONA, Spain (AP) - Rafael Nadal extended his unbeaten run on clay to 70 matches Friday and advanced to the semifinals of the Open Seat Godo by beating Potito Starace of Italy 6-2, 7-5. 
The classy Roger Federer is on the cover of the new issue of Men's Vogue. His pal and fellow world number one Tiger Woods was previously on the magazine's cover...I believe on its first issue last year. These guys are always copying each other! 
Federer retains an aura of boyishness, and in the corner of a bar in one of Dubai's decadently opulent, apparently gold-plated hotels, he giggles a bit as he recalls how he approached Borg. "I called this guy who knew him and said, 'Tell Björn I will be on court tomorrow at 10.' I wanted to say something specific so it would be easy for him to say no. I didn't want to embarrass him." 
Another part of the article reads: I'm reminded how on my first meeting with him, that sunny breakfast, he was studying the newspaper reports of his Wimbledon victory the day before. That, he admits, is one ritual he can't shake. After every win, he waits up and gets a paper as soon as it comes out—at three or four in the morning—to read about whatever miracles he performed the previous afternoon. He can't get to sleep otherwise. 
Armstrong says the impact of athletes is undeniable: "The reality is that athletes have a lot of power. We have the ability as entertainers to make an impact on the world ... We want to encourage our fellow athletes to think philanthropically ... and if they don't quite know where to go we can partner them up with someone that needs their help." 
I'm happy to see Andrea Jeager included in this. She was once ranked as high as number two in the world and was a finalist at Wimbledon and the French Open but had her career cut short by chronic injuries in 1984. She has spent her career winnings and raised many millions more for a camp for kids with cancer that she has run for nearly two decades.
Rafael Nadal of Spain eyes the ball against Thomas Johansson of Sweden during their Barcelona Open tennis match in Barcelona, Spain. Nadal won 6-1, 6-4. The top seed is bidding to become only the second man to win the title in three successive years. Reuters reports that Nadal does not feel any extra pressure on the court because of the historic streak. "When I step on the court, I don't think about records," he said. "I just think about the match itself and the opponent because they deserve respect. I have said many times that I will lose some time. I don't know if it will be here, or Rome, or Hamburg or Roland Garros, but I don't put a date on it. I think the record will be around for a long time, so there is no more pressure." 
I don't know the last time she won a tournament on clay but I'm sure it's been at least three years. But that doesn't mean she doesn't think she can win the French Open which begins next month. She beat her sister Venus for the 2002 title but has not made it to the finals since.
Serena, 25, also claimed her fourth Sony Ericsson Open title last month in Miami where she overcame an opening set 0-6 blowout by top-ranked Justine Henin. Now she has her eyes on Paris.
Rafael Nadal of Spain returns the ball to Kristof Vliegen of Belgium during their Barcelona Open tennis match, In Barcelona Spain on Wednesday. Nadal won 6-1, 6-2. 
Andre Agassi waved goodbye to his tennis career last September at the U.S. Open.
The academy was created by Agassi's nonprofit foundation and is located in one of Las Vegas' roughest neighborhoods. 
Today's 10th-graders have been students of the Agassi Academy since the first day it opened its doors. In 2009, they will be the first graduating class. 
Music icon Sir Elton John will join tennis superstar Andy Roddick at the third annual Andy Roddick Foundation Charity Gala on October 14th, 2007 at the Hilton Austin, according to AndyRoddick.com.
Spain's top player and world number two Rafael Nadal, left, and Bartolome Salva Vidal competed against David Ferrer and Fernando Vicente on Tuesday. The pair won their Barcelona Open tennis doubles match 6-3, 6-4. (AP Photos: /Manu Fernandez)
Both men's and women's singles champions will receive $1.40 millionwith the men's champion's check increased by 6.9 percent while the women's up by 12 percent after Wimbledon decided in February to offer equal prize money, according to a Reuters report. 
WOMEN'S TOUR:
Southern California's Mike and Bob Bryan really are the masters of all surfaces. They have won major titles on hardcourt, indoor courts, grasscourts and on Sunday added another claycourt title to their resumes beating Julien Benneteau and Richard Gasquet in the Masters Series at the Monte Carlo Country Club on Sunday.
(L-R) Vania King carries the US national flag as teammates Lisa Raymond, Venus, and Serena Williams celebrate their victory over Belgium, 22 April 2007, in their Fed Cup World Group 2007 second round quarter-finals stage in Delray Beach, Florida. King stepped in for an injured Serena Williams on Sunday and won. Belgium was without its top-ranked players: Justine Henin and Kim Clisters. King is also a terrific singer! She sang tne national anthem at Fed Cup and last summer, did so at the women's tournament at the Home Depot Center in Carson.
The two-time defending French Open champion Nadal is 14-0 in clay-court finals and won the title at Monte Carlo for the third straight year.
Some history took place at the Monte Carlo Masters on Friday with world number one Roger Federer winning the 500th of his brilliant career while second-ranked Rafael Nadal won his 65th consecutive match on clay.
But talk of the streak has me thinking about Chris Evert who was, quite simply, the best claycourt player in the history of tennis. Beginning in August 1973, she won a record 125 consecutive matches on the surface until Tracy Austin stopped her 7-6 in the third in the semifinals of the Italian Open on May 12, 1979.
Evert retired from the professional tour in 1989. During her career, she won 157 singles titles (second-most in history) and won at least one Grand Slam singles title each year for 13 consecutive years from 1974 through 1986. She won 18 Grand Slam singles titles during her career and reached the finals in 34 and the semifinals in 52 of the 56 Grand Slams events she entered. Her overall record in Grand Slam events was 297-38 for a winning percentage of .887. 
(AP) -- Roger Federer eased past Lee Hyung-taik 6-4, 6-3 Thursday in the third round of the Monte Carlo Masters. Federer, who has reached the quarterfinals at Monte Carlo three straight times, set up match point with a serve-and-volley winner and then earned the victory when Lee hit a powerful backhand long. 
Serena Williams said the groin injury that forced her to retire from a match last week has healed and she'll be able to play for the U.S. Fed Cup team this weekend against Belgium, the Associated Press reports.
He's a different player on the dirt.
Roger Federer of Switzerland and Rafael Nadal of Spain address a 'round table' press conference Monday during Day One of the Masters Series at The Monte Carlo Country Club. (Photos by Michael Steele/Getty Images)
Graf and Agassi were holding hands -- her left to his right -- while rallying with a couple of youngsters when Agassi's follow-through struck his wife in the face. 
Lisa Leslie: "She's the only female athlete that I actually saw on television and I think that just the fact that she's opened the door for us and really been a catalyst of Title IX and helping us to have scholarships and the opportunities. I would have never been able to get to USC. Billie Jean King has so much of an impact not just on me but any child born in 1972 [the year of Title IX] and beyond."
Tracy Austin: "I believe that naming the National Tennis Center after Billie Jean King was really, really important not only for women tennis players, but for women in sports," Tracy added. "All women in sports have to realize what she's done, stood up for what is right and stood up for equal rights. But it's not just equal rights for women. She wants equal rights for everybody, for all races, for young and old, she wants everybody to be thought of as equal."
What an incredible evening put on by the Women's Sports Foundation and it was very exciting to be around all these sports legends. It was a privledge I will never forget. Since I was seated in the back, I was able to stand and dance to Elton John's 10-song set with my new friend Kennette Coffman. We boogied to "Bennie and the Jets," "Tiny Dances," "Rocket Man," "Philadelphia Freedom" and others. Since Elton wrote "Philadelphia Freedom" for Billie Jean, his close friend of more than three decades, it was particularly touching when during the song, they briefly showed a split-screen of him singing and Billie Jean watching from the audience.
"She's an amazing woman," Elton said of BJK. "She has the same energy and ambition that she had when she first came to England [to play Wimbledon in 1962] as Billie Jean Moffit. I really admire that in a person....She's one of the most motivational people I've ever met, one of the truest and loyalist people I've ever met."
As Elton sang, assorted sports legends would congregate in back of us. Cheryl Miller, Nancy Lieberman and Ann Meyers-Drysdale were huddling and giggling a few feet away from me after they presented an award, swimmer Diana Nyad and Olympic gymnast Dominique Dawes stopped by to gab with my seatmate Tuti B. Scott, a member of the foundation's staff. During "Don't Let the Sun Go Down On Me," 1994 Wimbldeon Champion Conchita Martinez walked by and I gave her a thumbs up.
I was seated at the table next to Dorothy Herrill-Doyle (pictured, right) who played on the baseball league that inspired the movie "A League of Their Own." Dorothy played for the Rockford Peaches from 1944-50 and 1952. She said to me, "What a wonderful occasion" and talked about how honored she felt to be a part of the event's parade of champions who took the stage. 
The evening was star-studded. Geena Davis, star of "A League of Their Own" charmed the crowd and paid tribute to King because "she bucked centuries of accepted practice" in her fight for equality in sports and society. Other presenters included John Amaechi, Jimmy Connors, Elisabeth Shue, Marilee Matlin, Deion Sanders, Rodney Peete, Davenport, Cheryl Miller and Nancy Leiberman.
"This is the most fantastic evening," Stone told the audience before the auction. "To see all these women athletes come out is just so thrilling...Billie Jean is an inspiration and has changed the way that we can live with the courage and inspiration by which she has lived."
When I chatted with Jimmy Connors the other night at The Billies, the first thing I did was plug this new blog! Then I asked this great champion and the current coach of Andy Roddick if he felt that professional tennis was getting snubbed by mainstream daily newspapers these days.
Connors presented an award at The Billies with a pregnant Lindsay Davenport and when the teleprompter failed, he took it with good humor saying "I never trusted those things anyway." He also talked to Lindsay's expanding tummy and urged the unborn child to take up a two-handed backhand.
Connors' regard for King was evident last summer when he joined old nemesis John McEnroe and former fiancee Chris Evert as part of the ceremony marking the naming of the U.S. National Tennis Center after Billie Jean King. Connors remarks were heartfelt and moving.
I told Jimmy it was fun to see him and Chrissie together again at the U.S. Open. 
It was a real treat to meet Tracy Austin the other night at The Billies, the Women's Sports Foundation awards gala. (the picture posted is Tracy at last year's event. This year she looked even prettier!). Tennis fans know that the epic rivalry between Chris Evert and Martina Navratilova would have been more of a three-way battle if Tracy Austin's playing career not been cut short by injuries. Tracy beat both Martina [semis] and Chrissie [final] to take the 1979 U.S. Open and two years later, beat Martina in the final (7-6 in the third!) to win the U.S, Open a second time. Austin, ranked number one for a time in 1980, often beat the twin-titans of the game and did not fear them. She had a mental toughness that rivaled Evert's and was the one who snapped Chrissie's 125-match clay court winning streak in Rome in 1979.
Austin, the mother of three sons. has kept plenty busy in the broadcast booth since then. She does the U.S. Open for the USA network, Wimbledon for BBC and the Australian Open for Channel 7 in Australia. She also works for MSNBC during the French Open and Wimbledon.
Tracy got a huge applause when she walked out on stage during the Hall of Champions portion fo the evening along with fellow American tennis players Lindsay Davenport and Pam Shriver.
It was a very pregnant and glowing Lindsay Davenport who appeared at The Billies on Wednesday night, taking the stage first during a grand parade of champions then later with Jimmy Connors as an award presenter. But before the show, Lyndsay, the former number one and three-time grand slam winner, stopped by to chat for a few minutes about her pregnancy, Serena's comeback, and, of course, Billie Jean King.
The first thing she talked to me about was how excited she is that the United States Tennis Assn. is finally getting behind the Team Tennis concept that she has been passionately promoting for decades.
I could not resist asking Billie Jean about the thunderous reception she got a few months ago at New York's fashion week when she upstaged everyone, including First Lady Laura Bush, when she came out in a red pantsuit and sneakers to the sounds of Michael Jackson's hit "Billie Jean." She got the biggest applause of anyone at the event.
With Lyndsey Davenport officially retired, Monica Seles and Jennifer Capriati unofficially retired and Billie Jean King just too old to play, things were looking pretty dire for the U.S. when it comes to international competition. But there's a couple of big names who on Wednesday announced that they are committed to playing later this month. Venus and Serena Williams will play for the United States' team in this month's first round Fed Cup tie against Belgium. It should be a real battle if Belgium is represented by its top two players: Justine Henin and Kim Clisters.
The king of Clay is back on the dirt.
So much for a Williams sisters showdown in the quarterfinals of the Family Circle Cup this week. Serena Williams retired from her match against Chan Yung-Jan on Tuesday with a groin pull. Taipei, was up 5-3 in the first set when Williams withdrew, apologizing to the crowd before she left stadium court.