24/02/2009 and Serena Williams was waiting at the Roosevelt Hotel in Hollywood (USA) to select a winner. Anyone whose first name was Serena could apply for the Gatorade G2 ad campaign with Serena Williams.

Williams has just won for the 10th time at the Grand Slam Singles competition, which was the title at the Australian open for 2009.

Serena Cuevas, Serena Williams And Nancy O'Dell

Miss Williams teamed up with the Gatorade G2 (a low calorie sports drink) for an upcoming ad featuring this drink. Serena’s choice was narrowed down to 5 participants in the semi finalists to be chosen to stand with her in the ad for G2.

Other members of the casting panel were made up of members of Shape Magazine and Gatorade G2 who together eyed Serena Cuevas, a 23 year old from San Diego, California. Nancy O’ Neil hosted the whole event which announced a winner for this ad campaign.

At age 17 Serena Cuevas was pre-warned by doctors that she could never dance again because of an accident which left her unable to follow her dreams. However Cuevas totally recovered and regained her dancing abilities to compete internationally for Salsa Competitions. She went on to own a dance company called Deseo also located in San Diego, California.

The campaign for the G2 ad will be presented in the spring to express the meaning of what an athlete means to them, in so many words to redefine the word athlete. For instance, “A body that can move is an athlete”.

There are 3 more athletes that will be featured by G2’s “Every Day Athlete” which are Kevin Garnett from the NBA; WNBA star Candace Parker, along with the Beach Volleyball Star who won a Gold Medal Kerri Walsh will also be included with “Everyday Athlete”.

The semi-finalist were “Winner 23 year old Serena Cuevas”, 27 year old Serena Lehman from Seattle, Washington, 34 year old Serena Orgel from Brooklyn, New York, 38 year old Serena Martinez of Ventura, California, and 47 year old Serena Marrero from Tilson New York.

The host of this spin-off for G2 Everyday Athlete, Nancy O’ Dell from Access Hollywood, and future dance competitor for Dancing with the Stars encouraged the glory of this wonderful event as the host for the semi-finalists.

The Finalist all traveled from different parts of America to share their personal challenges and defeats, also explaining how staying fit helped them achieve goals and how they grabbed inner strength by staying fit.

Serena Williams and Nancy O'Dell celebrate the win

To participate in the Ad campaign all participants were required to have the first name of the Tennis Star, “Serena”. This type of publicity has a huge influence on kids from all over the globe, because no matter who you are, you can be an achiever, a role model, in many different walks of life.

It does not matter what your job is but it’s all about eating well and taking exercise that will keep you fit and on track. Gatorade has a very strong and powerful message aimed at every one of all ages, and facets of life.

Vera Zvonareva has confirmed her top #5 position in the WTA by beating Sania Mirza in the finals of the WTA PTT Pattaya Open 2009.

Vera Zvonareva beats Sania Mirza in the final of the PTT Pattaya 2009 Picture by CHRISTOPHE ARCHAMBAULT/AFP/Getty Images

I’ve analyzed the match in the same way as I did the Federer – Nadal final of Australian Open 2009.

The stats in the table below start at 2-1 in the first set because I saw the match on TV and didn’t catch the first three games. But the main story of the match can be clearly seen from the stats which are explained below the table. (more…)

I’ve attended the WTA Pattaya Open tennis tournament for the first time and watched quite a few matches during the week.

Checking the draw for the WTA PTT Pattaya Open 2009

Here’s a short analysis of each player that I watched so you can compare it with what you see when you watch a match and perhaps expand your knowledge of tennis and ways to analyze a player.

Let’s start with the Thailand #1, Tamarine Tanasugarn… (WTA rankings are from 9. February 2009) (more…)

Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer played another epic final in the Australian Open 2009 and Nadal once again proved too tough for Federer.

Rafa won 7-5, 3-6, 7-6, 3-6, 6-2 and denied Roger’s 14th Grand Slam title which would tie Roger with Pete Sampras’s record.

Picture courtesy of Getty Images

While the official stats of the match do explain what happened in the match, they lack a few important stats. The first and the most important are the shots that force a mistake.

The official statistics shows only winners (shots where the opponent did not touch the ball or barely touched it) and unforced errors. (shots where the player was in a comfortable position and still made a mistake)

A shot that forces an error is a very good shot from the opponent that’s not really an outright winner but still forces the opponent into a mistake. (more…)