Happy New Year

So, it's goodbye to 2009 & the "Noughties" - hello 2010....



Happy New Year, everyone - see you next decade....

Caroline Wozniacki profile and pics

Caroline Wozniacki (born July 11, 1990, Odense) is a Danish tennis player. She achieved her career-high singles ranking of World No. 8 on August 3, 2009. She is the only Danish woman currently in the Top 300 on the WTA Tour.

Personal life

Wozniacki is the daughter of Polish parents, father Piotr and mother Anna. Piotr Wozniacki acts as her coach.

She is from a very sports-oriented family. Her mother played on the Polish national volleyball team.[3] Her father played football professionally in Germany, and they moved to Denmark when his contract was sold to a Danish club. Her older brother Patrik Wozniacki is a professional football player for BK Frem in Denmark.[3] Her closest friends on the tour are Agnieszka Radwanska and Urszula Radwanska. She is also good friends with Sabine Lisicki and Sorana Cirstea.

Asked about her hobbies, she told Teen Vogue, "I like handball (it's very popular in Europe), soccer, swimming, playing the piano, and all kinds of different things."

She speaks fluent Danish, Polish, and English, and understands Russian.

Career

She has won several junior tournaments (including the 2006 Wimbledon girls' singles tournament and the 2005 Orange Bowl tennis championship), and made her debut on the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour at Cincinnati's Western & Southern Financial Group Women's Open on July 19, 2005, losing to the top-seeded and later champion Patty Schnyder in the first round.

2006

In 2006, she was the first seed at the Australian Open (junior girl's singles), but lost the final to eight-seeded Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova of Russia 1–6, 6–2, 6–3. She was seeded second with Anna Tatishvili in the doubles tournament, but the pair was knocked out in the semifinals by the French-Italian pair of Alizé Cornet and Corinna Dentoni, who were seeded eighth.

In February in Memphis, she reached her first WTA Tour quarterfinal, beating Kristina Brandi and Ashley Harkleroad in the first two rounds before losing to third-seeded Sofia Arvidsson of Sweden.

At Wimbledon girls final.

Before Wimbledon, Wozniacki won the Liverpool International Tennis Tournament beating Ashley Harkleroad in the finals.

Later that year, she was given a wildcard to the 2006 Wimbledon Championships senior qualifying tournament, where she was beaten in the first qualifying round by Miho Saeki 3–6, 6–2, 6–3. However, Wozniacki went on to win the girls' singles tournament, beating Slovak Magdaléna Rybáriková in the final 3–6, 6–1, 6–3.

In August, she reached another WTA Tour quarterfinal, this time at the Nordea Nordic Light Open in Stockholm. She defeated top 100 players Iveta Benešová and Eleni Daniilidou before falling to eventual champion and third-seeded Jie Zheng.

Wozniacki was seeded second in the year's last major tournament, the 2006 U.S. Open - Girls' Singles. In the first round on September 3, she won the first set against Russian Alexandra Panova, but was disqualified in the second set for verbally abusing an umpire. Wozniacki was said to have used an expletive in referring to a linesman who made a disputed call;[6] however, on her blog, she claimed to say "take your sunglasses of " and to be mistaken for talking to the linesman when she was criticizing herself after the next point.

In her last junior tournament, the Osaka Mayor's Cup, she won the girls' singles and doubles.

Her first senior title came shortly after on October 29, when she won the $25,000 ITF-tournament in Istanbul by beating Tatjana Malek in the final 6–2, 6–1.

Wozniacki was set to face Venus Williams on November 27 in an exhibition match in Copenhagen, but five days before the event, Williams canceled because of an injury. The two did, however, face each other in the Memphis WTA Tier III event on February 20. Williams beat Wozniacki 6–4, 6–4, ending the nine-match winning streak Wozniacki had at the time.

On November 30, Wozniacki was named ambassador for Danish Junior Tennis by the Culture Minister of Denmark at the time, Brian Mikkelsen.

2007

On February 4, she won the singles title in Ortisei, Italy, at an ITF $75,000 tournament, beating the Italian player Alberta Brianti 4–6, 7–5, 6–3. On March 4, she won the $75,000 ITF tournament in Las Vegas, beating top-seed Akiko Morigami in the final 6–3, 6–2.

She obtained a wild card for the 2007 Pacific Life Open main draw and made her Tier I-debut there. She was knocked out in the second round by Martina Hingis 6–1, 6–3. The two faced each other again on April 27 in Copenhagen for an exhibition match, where Wozniacki again lost 7–6(7), 3–6, 6–2.

She then made the semifinals of the AIG Open in Tokyo in October, her first career semifinal and also the first Danish woman to reach a WTA semifinal since Tine Scheuer-Larsen in 1986 at Bregenz. Wozniacki lost to Venus Williams 6–3, 7–5.

2008

At 2008 U.S. Open.

On January 2, Wozniacki participated in an exhibition tournament in Hong Kong. She lost her first match to former World No. 1 Maria Sharapova 6–2, 6–2. But she won the doubles event with her partner, the singles champion Venus Williams. At the Australian Open, she defeated Gisela Dulko, 21st seed Alyona Bondarenko on her way to the Round of 16 where she lost to the eventual finalist and fourth-seeded Ana Ivanović, 6–1, 7–6.

At the Qatar Total Open in Doha, Wozniacki defeated 8th seed Marion Bartoli in the second round before losing in the quarterfinals to the eventual champion Maria Sharapova, 6–0, 6–1. Following that, she played in the Cellular South Cup in Memphis, where lost again in the quarterfinals to the eventual champion, Lindsay Davenport, 6–0, 6–2.

Wozniacki then took parts in two Tier I tournaments in North America. At the Pacific Life Open in Indian Wells, she defeated 18th seed Maria Kirilenko en route to the fourth round where she lost to the eventual runner-up Svetlana Kuznetsova, 6–2, 6–3. She then lost again in the fourth round of the Sony Ericsson Open in Miami to Venus Williams, 6–3, 6–3, having taken out two seeded players in Bartoli and Katarina Srebotnik prior.

During the clay-court season, Wozniacki took part in three events in the lead up to the French Open. At the Bausch & Lomb Championships in Amelia Island, Florida, she lost in the second round to Alyona Bondarenko 6–3, 3–6, 6–3. At the Tier I Qatar Telecom German Open in Berlin, she fell to Gisela Dulko 6–2, 7–5, again in the second round. She lost in the quarter-finals of the Tier I Internazionali BNL d'Italia in Rome to newly crowned World No. 1 Sharapova 6–4, 7–6(3).

At the French Open, she was seeded thirtieth, making this the first Grand Slam tournament in which Wozniacki was seeded. She lost however in the third round to the eventual champion and World No. 2 Ana Ivanović, 6–4, 6–1.

During the grass-court season, Wozniacki took part in the exhibition tournament at the Liverpool International. She won the event, defeating Ashley Harkleroad in the final. In her next tournament at the International Women's Open in Eastbourne, Wozniacki claimed her first ever top 5 scalp, defeating the top seed and World No. 4 Svetlana Kuznetsova 6–2, 6–2 in the second round before losing to Samantha Stosur in the quarterfinals, 7–6(3), 6–4. At Wimbledon, she reached the third round but lost to second-seeded Jelena Janković 2–6, 6–4, 6–2.

In her next tournament at the Gastein Ladies in Bad Gastein, she lost in the second round to Mariya Koryttseva, 6–4, 4–6, 7–6(3). She then reached the semifinals at the Banka Koper Slovenia Open in Portorož, losing 6–4, 6–4 to the eventual champion, Sara Errani. Wozniacki won her first ever WTA tour title at the Nordic Light Open in Stockholm without losing a single set, defeating Vera Dushevina, 6–4, 6–4. She had previously beaten the no. 5 seed Anabel Medina Garrigues in the quarterfinals and the top seed and World No. 10, Agnieszka Radwańska, 6–4, 6–1 in the semifinals.

At the Summer Olympics in Beijing, she beat World No. 12 Daniela Hantuchová in the second round 6–1, 6–3, before falling to the eventual gold-medalist Elena Dementieva, 7–6(3), 6–2. Wozniacki then won the second WTA tour title at the Pilot Pen Tennis in New Haven, defeating four seeded players in the form of Dominika Cibulkova, Marion Bartoli and Alizé Cornet en route to the final. There, she defeated World No. 11 Anna Chakvetadze 3–6, 6–4, 6–1.

She 21st at the U.S. Open, she defeated World No. 14 Victoria Azarenka 6–4, 6–4 in the third round. This was her 15th win in the last 16 matches. In the fourth round, she lost to second-seeded and eventual runner-up Janković 3–6, 6–2, 6–1, her fourth loss of the year to a Serbian in a Grand Slam tournament.

Wozniacki suffered a first round exit at the Toray Pan Pacific Open in Tokyo to Katarina Srebotnik, 6–1, 6–2. At the China Open, she lost her opening match again, 7–6, 6–4 to Anabel Medina Garrigues. She teamed up with Media Garrigues however to clinch the doubles title, defeating the Chinese duo of Han Xinyun and Xu Yi-Fan in the final. It was Wozniacki's first WTA doubles title. At the Tier III AIG Japan Open Tennis Championships, she was the top seed for the first time on the WTA Tour. She won her third career title, defeating Kaia Kanepi of Estonia 6–2, 3–6, 6–1, in the final.

In the Tier I Kremlin Cup in Moscow, she beat eight-seeded Chakvetadze in the first round but had to retire due to sickness when trailing 6–4, 3–2 to Nadia Petrova in the second round. She lost in the first round the following week at the final edition of the Zurich Open to Francesca Schiavone, 7–6(3), 6–2. In her last WTA tournament of the year, she reached the final at the Fortis Championships in Luxembourg, but lost against top seeded Dementieva 2–6, 6–4, 7–6(4).

Wozniacki then took part in an ITF tournament in her hometown in Odense. She won the tournament beating World No. 64 Sofia Arvidsson in the final 6–2, 6–1.

Her final win-loss record for the year (ITF matches included, exhibition matches not included) is 58–20 in singles and 8–9 in doubles. As of November 10, she is ranked at 12 in singles and 79 in doubles. She finished thirteenth in the race for the Sony Ericsson Championships. She also won the Newcomer of the Year award for 2008.

2009

In her first tournament of the year at the ASB Classic in Auckland, New Zealand, she lost in the quarterfinals to Russian Elena Vesnina 6–3, 0–6, 6–3. She then reached the quarter-finals of the Medibank International in Sydney where she lost to World No. 2 Serena Williams 6–7(5), 6–3, 7–6(3) despite having three match points when serving for the match at 6–5 in the third set. Seeded 11th at the Australian Open, Wozniacki advanced to the third round where she lost to Australian wild card Jelena Dokić 3–6, 6–1, 6–2.

Wozniacki reached the quarter-finals of the Pattaya Women's Open in Thailand but lost to 8th seeded Magdaléna Rybáriková 6-4, 6-1. Seeded first at the Cellular South Cup in Memphis, Tennessee, Wozniacki advanced to the final but lost to the Belarussian teenager Victoria Azarenka 6–1, 6–3. Afterwards, Wozniacki and Azarenka won the doubles title, beating Michaella Krajicek and Yuliana Fedak 6–1, 7–6(2) in the final.

Wozniacki then took part in the first two Premier Mandatory tournaments of the year in North America. At the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, California, Wozniacki lost in the quarterfinals to eventual champion Vera Zvonareva 6–4, 6–2. At the Sony Ericsson Open in Miami, Wozniacki scored her first wins over 18th seeded Patty Schnyder and the 4th seed Elena Dementieva in the third and fourth rounds respectively. She lost to Svetlana Kuznetsova 6–4, 6–7(5), 6–1 in the quarter-finals.

Wozniacki won her first title of the year on the green clay of the MPS Group Championships in Ponte Vedra Beach. After surviving a tough first round encounter against Samantha Stosur, she then handily dispensed of Virginie Razzano and Daniela Hantuchová in straight sets to reach the semifinals where she survived four match points to defeat Elena Vesnina 2–6, 6–3, 7–6(5). She then defeated Canadian Aleksandra Wozniak in the final 6–1, 6–2. Seeded fifth on the green clay at the Family Circle Cup in Charleston, she defeated top seed Elena Dementieva 6–4, 5–7, 7–5 in the semi-finals before losing 6–2, 6–4 to Sabine Lisicki in the final.

Wozniacki then suffered early exits in her next two tournaments losing to Marion Bartoli 7–6(6), 6–4 in the second round at the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix in Stuttgart and losing in the third round of the Internazionali BNL d'Italia in Rome to Victoria Azarenka 6–2, 6–2. Wozniacki advanced to the final at the inaugural Premier Mandatory Mutua Madrileña Madrid Open where she lost to World No. 1 Dinara Safina 6–2, 6–4. Seeded 10th at the French Open in Paris, France, Wozniacki lost to Sorana Cîrstea of Romania, 7–6(3) 7–5. Cîrstea and Wozniacki lost in the first round of the doubles tournament to Maria Kirilenko and Flavia Pennetta, 6–4, 6–4.

During the grass court season, Wozniacki won her second title of the year at the AEGON International in Eastbourne. She advanced to the semi finals with defeats over Alisa Kleybanova, Samantha Stosur, and Ekaterina Makarova. There she faced near namesake Aleksandra Wozniak of Canada, recovering from a set down to win 2–6, 6–4, 6–4. She beat Virginie Razzano in the final 7–6, 7–5.[11]

Wozniacki was seeded 9th in Wimbledon, and faced Kimiko Date Krumm (20 years her senior) in the first round, winning in three sets. She then beat Maria Kirilenko, 6–0, 6–4, and the #20 seed Anabel Medina Garrigues 6–2, 6–2. She then crashed out to Sabine Lisicki in the fourth round, 6–4, 6–4.

On her 19th birthday she lost in the final of the Swedish Open 7–5, 6–4 to Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez of Spain. In her first hard-court tournament in preparation for the US Open, after receiving a bye in the first round of the LA Women's Tennis Championships she lost in the second round to Sorana Cîrstea 1–6, 6–4, 7–6(5). At the Cincinnati Masters, Wozniacki advanced to the quarterfinals, falling to Elena Dementieva 6–2, 6–1. In Toronto she lost in the second round to Zheng Jie 7–5, 6–3. She then went to defend her title at the Pilot Pen Tennis in New Haven. In the first round she had her first ever double bagel win, 6–0, 6–0 over Edina Gallovits in 41 minutes. In the final of the tournament she beat Russian challenger Elena Vesnina 6–2, 6–4 to win her third title of the season.

Wozniacki is the 9th seed at the US Open. She easily won her first three matches, 6–4, 6–1 over Galina Voskoboeva, 6–1, 6–0 over Petra Martić, and 6–3, 6–2 over her doubles partner Sorana Cîrstea. In the fourth round against reigning French Open champion Svetlana Kuznetsova, Wozniacki rallied from 3–1 down in the third set to win 2–6, 7–6(5), 7–6(3). She defeated giant-killer Melanie Oudin 6–2, 6–2 in the quarterfinals, and followed that up with a 6-3 6-3 win over fellow 19-year old Yanina Wickmayer in the semifinals. She is the first Danish woman to reach a Grand Slam final, where she will face unseeded Kim Clijsters. The runner-up showing will allow her to reach a career high ranking of No. 6, and if she wins the title she will rise to No. 4 in the world.

Doctor Who (continued)...

WARNING - SPOILERS AHEAD!!!

Well it's Christmas Day (seasons greetings, by the way), which meant watching Doctor Who: The End Of Time, Part One - and the end of David Tennant's reign as the tenth Doctor...

Talk about over the top and totally bonkers! I mean, the Master's master plan? Converting the entire human race into carbon copies of himself (the "Master-race" indeed)! Was the Master watching The Matrix Reloaded earlier this week on the other channel?
It was good seeing John Simm again as the Master (even with blonde hair and superpowers) and it was a welcome return for Bernard Cribbins (Wilfred Mott) & Catherine Tate (Donna Noble). Also the coffee shop scene, with the Doctor discussing his fears to Wilf was touching - we'll miss you too, David (but Queen Elizabeth 1st won't).
Overall though, this episode felt somewhat disjointed (more of the cactus-aliens would have been nice), but we need to remember this is just the appetiser for the second part on New Year's Day.

But what a cliffhanger! The return of the Time Lords themselves...bring on part two!

Merry Christmas, everyone...

They said there'll be snow at Christmas,
They said there'll be peace on earth,
But instead it just kept on raining,
A veil of tears for the Virgin birth.

I remember one Christmas morning,
The Winter's light and a distant choir,
And the peal of a bell and that Christmas tree smell,
And eyes full of tinsel and fire.

They sold me a dream of Christmas,
They sold me a silent night,
They told me a fairy story,
'Til I believed in the Israelite.

And I believed in Father Christmas,
And I looked to the sky with excited eyes,
Then I woke with a yawn in the first light of dawn,
And I saw him and through his disguise.

I wish you a hopeful Christmas,
I wish you a brave New Year,
All anguish, pain and sadness,
Leave your heart and let your road be clear.

They said there'd be snow at Christmas,
They said there'd be peace on earth,
Hallelujah! Noel!, be it Heaven or Hell,
The Christmas we get, we deserve.

I Believe In Father Christmas
Greg Lake

Peace & Goodwill, folks and folkesses....

Rage Against The Machine? Why not!

Metal/Rap band Rage Against The Machine have beaten X Factor winner Joe McElderry in the battle for UK Christmas number one.

The US band's single, Killing In The Name, sold 500,000 downloads beating McElderry's The Climb by 50,000 copies. One retailer said it was a "possibly the greatest chart upset ever".

Its success followed a Facebook campaign designed to prevent another X Factor number one. Judge Simon Cowell offered his congratulations to the couple behind it, Jon and Tracy Morter, despite earlier in the week calling the campaign "stupid".
Rage Against the Machine beat X Factor winner in charts

I remember Rage Against the Machine once did a rehash of Afrika Bambaataa's hip-hop classic "Renegades Of Funk". I didn't like their version much, but I respected them for having the guts to attempt a cover version.
It's debatable how much this will mean in the long term - after all, X Factor will still return to our TV screens (unfortunately). But it's good that people are seeing the X Factor for what it truly is - a production line of tedious, plastic, clean cut karaoke artists masquerading as musicians.
To me Rage's victory is a victory for real music, and for that, I'm very glad it won.

Goodbye 2009...

If I had to nominate the man & woman of 2009, my vote would go to the current Prime Minister of Zimbabwe, Morgan Tsvangirai and the late Neda Agha-Soltan, who was killed during the 2009 Iranian election protests.
The election of Barack Obama was the highlight of 2009, but his nomination for the Nobel Peace Prize was a low, along with the revelation of our MPs misuse of their parliamentary expenses system, the election of the far-right BNP in the European elections, the never-ending Jordan divorce saga, and the vilification of the footballer Eduardo for diving in the British press - recently Wayne Rooney dived against Aston Villa to win a penalty, and the silence was as deafening as it was shameful.

And the next Citeh manager is...

Manchester City has sacked manager Mark Hughes and has named the former Inter Milan boss Roberto Mancini as his successor.
Mark Hughes sacked as Man City appoint Mancini manager

Back in September 2008, I made the following observation:

"I also hope current City manager Mark Hughes recalls the fate of Claudio Ranieri - while he was in charge of Chelski, they finished runners-up in the Premiership and reached the semi-finals of the UEFA Champions League. But this wasn't good for the new owner of the club, one Roman Abramovich...who replaced Claudio with a certain "Special One."

So despite lying 6th place in the English Premiership, despite having lost only two games all season, and despite reaching the semi-final of the Carling Cup, Mark Hughes is out of a job.
I know "Sparky" isn't exactly my favorite football manager, but can someone explain the logic of replacing Hughes with Mancini, who has very little experience in the Premier League?

Lebron James Girlfriend Savannah Images

Looking for an athlete

By now, you should be a little more knowlegdable when it comes to the world of sports. Maybe you don’t know the difference between a 3, 5, and 8-second violation, but you are no longer clueless like Alicia Silverstone. Maybe you are feeling saucy and want to date an athlete.

But which sport?

Well, football players can be a little violent, the lineman can be obese, all are prone to concussions, and the average NFL player’s lifespan is significantly shorter than someone who doesn’t smack their head against some other big guy’s head repeatedly at a dangerous rate of speed for a living. The average player’s salary is $830,000 per year, which is nice, but you can do better.

Pro baseball players earn boatloads of money (average salary is $1.15 million), but they have their weaknesses too. The season is 162 games long, so they are never around, chances are pretty good they took steroids at some point in their careers (steroids cause a man’s testicles to shrivel up), and they have a gross habit of spitting saliva, sunflower seeds, or tobacco or a rarely seen, but captivating combination of all three.

The average basketball player earns $2.75 million per year so things are looking good there. But the behavior patterns of some of the elite players can be a bit unsettling. For instance, Allen Iverson chased his naked wife down a street out of love, Wilt Chamberlain boasted about having sex with 10,000 women, and Shawn Kemp has more kids depending on him than Santa Claus. Plus, I am 6′4″ and I am dwarfed next to pro basketball players.

Hockey guys make $1.15 million per year and are really normal. They aren’t tall. They aren’t short. They are just normal dudes missing a lot of teeth. Anyway…

So while the major American sports may not tickle your fancy, try looking at a sport that travels more than 200 miles per hour in the most exotic locales on earth. Yep, Formula One racing is where you will find Mr. Right.

The top driver in the world earned $51 million last year while the tenth best driver made $4.5 million. Wealth? Check.

If you are looking for an exotic flair, none of the drivers are American. In fact, Italy, Germany, Brazil, England, Japan, Australia, Switzerland, France, Spain, Poland, and Finland are the countries represented among the drivers. Not to mention, the drivers are all very smart. They have to understand wind resistance, fuel capacities, tire degradation, and other complex car physics. Let’s just say they are a bit brighter than the average ballplayer who never went to college.

And you like to travel right? Well, New York and San Francisco are pretty cool, but the Formula One races only take place in the coolest cities on earth. The schedule includes Australia, Malaysia, China, Bahrain, Spain, Turkey, England, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Belgium, Singapore, Japan, Brazil, United Arab Emirates, and the crown jewel of the circuit, Monaco. You should be able to do some hardcore shopping in these places when you are not mingling with royalty or the uber wealthy.

Formula One money is ridiculous. It makes horseracing money look like a pittance even with the $1,000 mint julep drinks served at the Kentucky Derby. For example, Ferrari spent nearly $250 million on its racing team in 1999 and even the worst team that year spent $50 million. The elite teams today spend staggering sums of money.

Still not convinced? Ashley Judd married Dario Franchitti, a Scottish Indy Car driver. Ashley Judd never makes bad decisions, unless when it comes to choosing scripts in which case she makes awful decisions. Don’t judge her by Twisted or Eye of the Beholder. She’s having a ball watching Franchitti win races.

Which makes me long for a female Formula One driver. They are all male so my ticket to travel the world and live the aristocratic European life will have to wait. And no, Danica Patrick. I am not interested in your Indy Car races. Sorry, I have standards…

Amanda Beard Playboy photos and news

Seven time olympic medal winner in swimming, Amanda Beard, she will encourage those with eating disorders to seek help, "If there's a perception there that the coach , inviting you to her room later that night. Blaise. Beard is the only one on the panel who picks the UA, a 7-time Olympic medal winner and also a model, Former Olympic swimmer Amanda Beard has always been comfortable in bikini swimsuits, Olympic swimmer Amanda Beard and her husband Sacha Brown have welcomed a son! Read more on Amanda's baby boy below, Iris Kyle - Ms, And all of them have built very different bodies. , I figured it was , Amanda Beard Wallpaper models Pictures Galleries, but they are also , The Olympic gold medalist swimmer has given birth to a baby boy in Los Angeles on Tuesday, named Blaise Ray Brown, , and is featured on the cover of the July edition of the men's magazine.

The best Gillette can get?

After Thierry Henry's misadventures on the pitch, and a certain Tiger burning just a bit too brightly In the forests of the night, who'd be a spokesman for Gillette?
Tiger Woods to take 'indefinite leave' from golf
Winning campaign becomes marketing mess for Gillette

(Ω: I still like their Mach-3 razor though)

Wimbledon TENNIS GALLERY

Victoria Beckham Fashion Gallery

victoria beckham hair

Victoria Beckham and new bag

Victoria Beckham in Mini

Victoria Beckham gallery

Victoria Beckham fashion