Recent Stories of Interest from “Around the Pro Tennis Globe” (December 5)

• Roger Federer ($35 million) was listed as No. 5 on the recently released Forbes’ Top 30 under 30 list. He also made the annual Switzerland’s richest people list for the very first time. It listed his wealth between $83-$167 million.
  
  
• Tournament organizers of the Brisbane event said that French tennis star Gael Monfils missed the deadline to enter their event and all the wild cards have already been given out.
  
  
• Spanish Davis Cup hero Fernando Verdasco was photographed walking to a tennis court in Mallorca with girlfriend Ana Ivanovic, a Top-10 ranked player on the WTA Tour.
  
  
• Starting on February 1, 2009, Adidas will be re-launching tennis racquets throughout the tennis community. The Barricade, Response and Feather racquets will share similar characteristics to Adidas’ trademark three-stripe logo. The three-stripes will be located on the side of the frame. The Barricade will cost $185, while the Response can be purchased for $145, while the Feather runs at $165.
  
  
• Current World No. 1 doubles player Nenad Zimonjic and wife Mina became parents of twins on Thursday. The couple named their son, Leon and daughter, Luna.
  
  
• TennisWeek.com reports that Hall of Famer Rod Laver will be honored at the Australia Week 2009 Black Tie Gala presented by Penfolds in Hollywood on Sunday, January 18, 2009, at the Renaissance Hotel.
  
  
• Speaking to reporters ahead of the Royal Albert Hall seniors tournament, legendary player Pete Sampras discussed Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal, saying:
  Roger Federer – “I think Roger's going to break [my] record over the next couple of years...There's a lot left in him. I think he's gotten to a stage where it's about the majors. We text each other quite a bit. He tells me how he's doing and asks what I'm up to. We had a week together in Asia and we clicked. Our personalities are similar. He's pretty sarcastic and pretty dry.”
  Rafael Nadal – “Rafa's got as good a chance to win double digits as anyone...He could win some more French [Opens], he could win a couple more Wimbledon’s. He could have 10-12 majors when he's done, if not more. It'll be interesting to see what happens with Nadal next year. It takes so much work for him to keep it going, to stay healthy, to stay on top. That's one thing Roger has over him. I think it takes a lot less energy for Roger to stay on top than it does Rafa."
  
  
• Five of the Top 20 players are entered in the ATP Sydney International that will be played in early January. World No. 6 Jo-Wilfried Tsonga will be seeded No. 1. World No. 7 Gilles Simon, No. 11 David Nalbandian, Igor Andreev, Tomas Berdych and Tommy Robredo are other notable ATP players entered in the field.
  
  
• Roger Federer has announced his 2009 tournament schedule. He will start his season off on January 5th in Doha, followed by the Australian Open, Dubai, Davis Cup, Indian Wells, Miami, Rome, Madrid, French Open, Halle, Wimbledon, Montreal, Cincinnati, US Open, Tokyo, Shanghai, Basel, Paris Indoors and the London World Tour Finals.
  
  
• Starting on Friday December 12th at Freedom Hall in Louisville, Kentucky, Andy Roddick will join John Isner and WTA Tour stars Serena Williams and Caroline Wozniacki in a tennis charity event known as the “Rock-n-Racquets.” The event, which will also be played in the same format in Columbia, South Carolina and Knoxville, Tennessee, has Roddick facing Isner in a singles match before teaming up with Williams to face Isner and Wozniacki in a doubles match.