Ksenia Pervak will now play for Kazakhstan, the Russian press reports. The 21-year-old was born in Chelyabinsk, Russia and has residences in Moscow and Berlin. She is currently ranked No. 39 and won her first WTA title this season in Tashkent.

Kazakhstan has recruited a number of pro players from Russia to play for its Davis and Fed Cup teams, including Galina Voskoboeva and Yaroslava Shvedova. There are said to be financial incentives attached to the moves.

A replacement for departing ATP CEO Adam Helfant has been found. The ATP announced in an email that Brad Drewett, a former player and current ATP senior executive, will take over as Executive Chairman and President on January 1, 2012. Since 1999, Drewett has been the CEO of the organization’s International Group, which focuses on the Middle East, Asia and the Far East. From 1993-99, Drewett was an ATP Player Board Representative, and he was an elected member of the Player Council during his time on the pro tour. Drewitt has also been the tournament director of the season-ending championships since 2001.

“I am honoured to have this opportunity to lead the ATP, an organisation that I am proud to have been a part of since the beginning of my professional playing career,” Drewett said. “The ATP World Tour and men’s tennis are stronger than ever and it is my intention to continue to lead the organisation on this successful path, working hand in hand with our players and tournaments. I am very excited about the opportunities ahead.”

Roger Federer supported the decision, saying, “Brad is a very experienced executive and has been an effective leader within the ATP for many years. He understands the global nature of the business as well as the complexities of dealing with all of the Tour’s stakeholders. I am confident that Brad’s work ethic and leadership will help contribute to the continued success of the ATP World Tour.”

—Ed McGrogan

LONDON (AP)—Novak Djokovic is about to find out what it takes to follow up on a nearly unbeatable season.

The 24-year-old Serb won three of the four Grand Slams titles, lifted seven other trophies and wrested the No. 1 ranking from Rafael Nadal. His 70-6 record included a staggering 41-match winning streak to begin the season.

“It was incredible,” Djokovic said. “I made so many wins in a row that I really didn’t count any more. I was just trying to play one match at the time and trying to think how long the streak will go on, not when it will end.”

Djokovic eventually fell one short of matching John McEnroe’s record of 42 straight wins to begin the 1985 season. Despite that, the American great said the tougher competition and greater athleticism in today’s game made the Serb’s feat “more impressive.”

The run also included four wins over Nadal, all in finals. Two of them came on the Spaniard’s favorite clay surface.

Djokovic, who won the Australian Open early in the season, finally lost in June when Roger Federer prevailed in the French Open semifinals. But the Serb quickly picked himself up and swept the Wimbledon and U.S. Open titles.

In New York, Federer seemed certain to repeat his Roland Garros success. He held two match points on serve in the fifth set of their semifinal match, but Djokovic saved both—the first with a blistering forehand return winner that was one of the year’s most memorable moments.

It was also the perfect demonstration of the belief that Djokovic says was the key to his dramatic improvement in 2011 after a three-year gap since his first Grand Slam title in 2008.

“The truth is that this year, mentally I am more mature and a stronger player,” he said. “I believe on the court more in my qualities, more that I can win against Federer and Nadal and all the top players.”

While Djokovic’s confidence soared, Nadal’s seemed to drain away a little more with each loss.

His three titles for the season was his worst haul since 2004, and after months of complaining about the hectic calendar, Nadal left the season-ending ATP World Tour Finals stating that he had a “little bit less passion for the game.”

Spain’s Davis Cup win—their fifth since 2000—at least provided a silver lining to a difficult season, but Nadal said dropping the team competition from his schedule in 2012 would be part of his mission to turn around his fortunes.

“My goal is always the same, be a better player in 2012 than I was in 2011,” Nadal said.

When Djokovic’s phenomenal season finally took its toll on his body—four of his six losses for the year came after the U.S. Open—it wasn’t Nadal who took advantage but Federer and Andy Murray.

Murray, who spent the whole season in the top four but still ended it without a first Grand Slam, won three straight titles in Asia while Federer ended the season with a 17-match winning streak which culminated in a record sixth title at the year-end championships in London.

“To win Grand Slams would be nice,” Federer said of his aim for 2012. “I feel like it might be around the corner.”

The 16-time Grand Slam champion went through a season without a major for the first time since 2002. The failure of women’s No. 1 Caroline Wozniacki to capture one of the big four tournaments was another of the season’s talking points.

The 21-year-old Dane, whose boyfriend Rory McIlroy won his first golf major in 2011, finished the year as the top-ranked player thanks to six WTA Tour titles even though she didn’t even reach a single Grand Slam final.

It was Petra Kvitova who was named player of the year after a breakthrough season in which she won Wimbledon, led the Czech Republic to the Fed Cup title and triumphed at the season-ending WTA Tour Championships.

“This season has been simply a dream,” the 21-year-old Czech said.

Kim Clijsters won her fourth Grand Slam title at the Australian Open, while Li Na of China won her first at the French Open to become Asia’s first major singles champion.

Despite a slump in form after Roland Garros, the 29-year-old Li was listed by Forbes as the eighth highest-earning female athlete in the world in July. As China’s most successful sporting export, she is expected to top that list in 2012.

For Serena Williams, a 13-time Grand Slam champion and former No. 1, being on court at all was an achievement in itself after life-threatening blood clots on her lungs.

She returned after nearly a year away in June with what she called a “new perspective on life,” but the 30-year-old American showed she had lost none of her fierce competitive spirit when she clashed with the umpire during the U.S. Open final, calling her “a hater” and “unattractive inside.”

Sam Stosur of Australia won the match for her first Grand Slam win, but Williams claimed many of the headlines.

Williams shut down her season after that and her form will be under scrutiny when the Australian Open begins on Jan. 16. Sister Venus, meanwhile, played in only four tournaments and is recovering from the immune system disease Sjogren’s syndrome, which can cause fatigue and joint pain.

On the men’s side, Djokovic will defend the first of 10 titles in Australia believing that lightning can strike twice.

“This year’s success gives me reason to believe that I can do it again,” he said.

Each weekday from December 12-23, Steve Tignor counted down his matches of the year, with accompanying highlights and commentary.

No. 1: Check back on Friday, December 23
No. 2: Djokovic d. Federer, U.S. Open semifinal
No. 3: Djokovic d. Murray, Rome semifinal
No. 4: Nadal d. Del Potro, Davis Cup final
No. 5: Djokovic d. Nadal, Miami final
No. 6: Schiavone d. Kuznetsova, Australian Open fourth-round
No. 7: Djokovic d. Nadal, U.S. Open final
No. 8: V. Williams d. Date-Krumm, Wimbledon second-round
No. 9: Tsonga d. Federer, Wimbledon quarterfinal
No. 10: Radwanska d. Zvonareva, Istanbul round-robin

If Tennis Channel is able to fend off cable giant Comcast’s appeal of an Federal Communications Commission (FCC)  judge’s decision to force it to place it on a similar basic tier to Golf Channel and Versus, it could mean million of new subscribers for the network.

On Tuesday, Tennis Channel won its carriage complaint hearing against Comcast,  when FCC Chief Administrative Law Judge Richard  Sippel ordered Comcast to discontinue its practice of discriminating against Tennis Channel in favor of its wholly owned, competing sports networks Golf Channel and Versus (which will be renamed  NBC Sports Network at the start of 2012). The order requires Comcast to carry Tennis Channel at the same level of distribution that it provides to these networks, with a limited exception for analog systems.

The FCC’s order directs Comcast to “proceed as soon as practicable with remediation.”

However, Comcast says will appeal the decision both to the full FCC commission and to a U.S.  appeal courts if necessary,

But if Tennis Channel ends up winning the dispute, it would put the network in much better shape.

It currently has about 30 million subscribers, a number that includes 2.7 million with Comcast. The network’s total if it is placed on a basic tier on Comcast would grow to somewhere around 50 million, which would likely result in a major increase to its advertising revenue.

Tennis Channel CEO Ken Solomon is hoping that Comcast will immediately switch it to a more basic tier, but Comcast spokesperson Sena Fitzmaurice  told Multichannel News: “The ruling issued today is only an initial decision, and is subject to further review by the full Commission and then, if needed, the U.S. Court of Appeals. We believe it is wrong for Tennis Channel to use the government to impose higher costs and prices on private enterprise and consumers and we look forward to the review process.”

Fitzmaurice also mentioned that “many other companies with no ownership interest in Tennis Channel” having made similar decisions, possibly a reference to Cablevision and Verizon, both which dropped Tennis Channel during the 2011 U.S. Open in disputes as to which tiers it should be on.

A source told TENNIS.com that while negotiations with Verizon are continuing in a positive fashion and that it’s possible that a new deal could be struck sometime early in 2012, it is also possible that Verizon subscribers will not be able to see the network’s coverage of the 2012 Australian Open.

Cablevision, which has a substantial hold on the Northeastern corridor, is still playing hard ball with Tennis Channel and it’s highly unlikely that a deal will be struck between the two anytime soon.

The FCC judge’s decision could open the door for other channels to challenge Comcast and Bloomberg TV has already stated the decision could effect its complaint against Comcast, where it alleges that the cable giant is also discriminating against independent news channels. — Matt Cronin

PRAGUE (AP)—Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova has been chosen Czech athlete of the year in a poll of sports journalists.

The 21-year-old Kvitova has already been honored as the WTA’s player of the year for 2011 after winning six singles titles, including the season-ending tour championships, and rose from No. 34 to No. 2 in the rankings.

Jaroslav Kulhavy, who won the cross country race at the Mountain Bike World Championships at Champery, Switzerland, in September was second while world speedskating champion Martina Sablikova was third.

The Czech Fed Cup team that won the competition this year for the first time and also includes Kvitova was named team of the year.

by Pete Bodo

The results of 2011 suggest that we’re in a period of transition — on the WTA side, the four Grand Slam events produced four different champions, three of whom (Kim Clijsters, Li Na and Sam Stosur) are much closer to the end of their careers than the beginning. Stosur, at 27, is the youngest among them; Li, 29 is the oldest. This suggests that the future belongs to 21-year old Kvitova and others, perhaps including Victoria Azarenka, like her.

And on the men’s side, Novak Djokovic has re-shaped the landscape at the top, Andy Murray emerged as a serious contender at the majors, Rafael Nadal’s aura of invincibility is somewhat tarnished, and a host of youngsters including Milos Raonic, Ryan Harrison, and Bernard Tomic are developing well — and let’s not forget what Juan Martin del Potro may do to upset the ATP applecart.

As further evidence that change is in the air, five of the biggest names in tennis — all Grand Slam champions —  are facing severe challenges from father Time — and the rankings rat-race — as 2012 bears down on us. Let’s take a quick look at their prospects:

Venus Williams (current WTA No. 102) — You undoubtedly saw the news today: Venus has pulled out of an Australian Open warm-up tournament, the ASB Classic in New Zealand. A spokesperson for Venus was cagey in a recent conversation with our Matt Cronin, who asked what Venus’s decision to pull out of the ASB meant vis a vis the Australian Open itself. The rep would only say that she is “working toward that goal (to play at Melbourne).” That’s not a very encouraging sitrep.

Venus is 31 years old, and still recovering from Sjogren’s syndrome, an immune-system disease that can cause fatigue and joint pain — not symptoms easily navigated in the workplace by a 31-year old tennis player who’s been injury-prone in the late stages of her career. So I’d say the prospects of Venus even swinging a racquet in Australia, much less contending for the title through two often brutally hot weeks, are indeed dim.

On the other hand, Venus didn’t play any tune-up tournaments early last year, either. So perhaps she’s just laying low and keeping her cards close to her vest. Still. . . Venus on the cusp of direct entry with her present ranking, but unless she plays and earns a few points soon, she’ll probably have to qualify (although she’ll be a highly-prized wild card at any tournament) once the 160 rankings points she earned with her two wins in Melbourne last year drops off the computer, or a few of the women ranked below her make a move.

Serena Williams (No. 12) — Whenever the Williams sisters are lumped together, a number of their fans will protest and (rightly) point out how it’s inaccurate as well as somewhat demeaning to treat them as one unit; they’re very different in many ways despite their closeness. But while Serena looks to be in much better shape for 2012, the fact that she’s also going on 31 and failed to win a Grand Slam event in 2011 for the first time in five years ought to give even the most ardent Serena fans a slight sense of unease.

Granted, Serena had a near-death experience last winter, following on a nearly crippling foot injury — a combination of handicaps that kept Serena out of action for almost an entire year. That’s a lot of time to give up, and when Serena returned to compete at Wimbledon and the U.S. Open, she was unable to pull off the miracle that so many fans and pundits expected. That begs the question: Can Serena still do that neat magic trick, where she steps into the fray at any time she chooses and rips through the entire field to win a tournament? 

I’m not sure what the answer to that is, but I know that the competition has changed and a transition is underway. And I know that Serena is 30 years old. You can’t ever write her off, she’s shown that. In that regard, the Australian Open might be a telling tournament.

Francesca Schiavone (No. 11) — Schiavone was the surprise champion at the French Open last year (and runner-up to Li Na this year), and she finished as the year-end No. 7 in 2011. But like Venus, she’s 31 years old, and she plays a game that is both effetely and physically taxing (she takes great big cuts but has also profited handsomely from stealth attacks and general all-court play — tactics that are better pursued with fresh legs and a youthful recklessness). 

Schiavone started this year strong, with a quarterfinal in Australia (l. to Wozniacki). The high-water mark was the French Open, where she pushed Li before losing 6-4, 7-6 (0). But she didn’t survive a third round after that until New Haven (l. in semis to Wozniacki). She made the fourth round of the U.S. Open (l. to no. 17 Pavlyuchenkova), but she was just 1-3 the rest of the year, suggesting that she just plain ran out of gas. 

Andy Roddick (ATP No. 14) — He’ll turn 30 next August, and it’s mildly ironic that in this, his first year out of the year-end top 10 in a decade, he finished with the same annual ranking as in 2001 — a year before he crashed that elite company.

It would b be unfair to this superbly consistent player to predict a tailspin — Roddick is made out of better stuff than that. But judging by the events of 2011, he’ll have his work cut out if he wants to be in the mix near the top again.

Roddick was 1-1 in finals this year (W at Memphis, L at Brisbane), a significant decline in his quality results. But of greater concern, he was not nearly as competitive at Grand Slam events as in the past, when you could count on him to be a force at Wimbledon and the U.S. Open. He lost to Stan Wawrinka in the fourth round at the Australian Open, missed the French Open, was beaten at Wimbledon in the third round by Feliciano Lopez, and in the U.S. Open quarterfinals by Rafael Nadal. 

The disturbing thing, though, is that while he played very well in the warm-ups to those tournaments (final at Brisbane [l. to Soderling], semi at Queens [l. to eventual champ Murray], and semi at Winston-Salem [l. to Isner]), his resistance melted away at the majors, where each of his losses was in straight sets.  That suggests a mentally tired tennis player.

Lleyton Hewitt (No. 186) — I have to include this quintessential “Aussie battler” despite his abysmal ranking, that woeful 9-11 record for 2011, and prize-money earnings ($147,443) that in one of his good years he would have made in an afternoon’s work a dozen times during the year. The statistics suggest that Hewitt is finished, but in typical fashion he’s having none of it. Just read his own thoughts on the matter. Although he’s been plagued by injuries, Hewitt has always been fit and nobody, but nobody, has a greater appetite for competition.

You never, ever count out a guy like Hewitt. He’s into the Australian Open with a wild card; if he remains injury-free, I think he’s going to make a significant statement at least once again in his career. Why not next month?

Some matches are notable for their historical significance, while others are memorable mainly for their popcorn value. The third-best match of 2011, Novak Djokovic’s win in a third-set tiebreaker over Andy Murray in Rome, is the latter. It wasn’t a Slam semi, or even a Masters final, but it was shot-maker’s special and a psychological roller-coaster. And it did have its significance, in my view, in how the men’s season played out. This was a match that, despite the five-month winning streak that he had going, Djokovic could easily have lost and shrugged off and no one would have blamed him for it. He had won the title in Madrid the previous week, he had the French Open looming the following week, and he was down a break in the third set to a determined, in-form and even briefly upbeat Murray. But Djokovic won anyway. That was his season in a nutshell.

*****

—The last time we saw Djokovic on this list, in the Key Biscayne final, he was reminding us, in case we had forgotten while watching him this fall, of all the various things he could do when he was at his peak this season. By comparison, this is a more streamlined performance. You can see by the way he starts how loose he was at that time, how purposeful he was with his shots, and how he felt like he could do pretty much anything with them from one swing to the next. My favorite early rally here is one in which Djokovic slides into a forehand and decides to loop it deep, then, on the next ball, backpedals for another forehand and drills it flat and inside-in. He had an easy mastery of everything he tried; it was his version of full-flight tennis.

—Djokovic, like most of today’s players, is not a natural net-rusher. There are many times when he has Murray pushed off the baseline, yet he rarely takes the opportunity to sneak forward to finish a point, unless he has no other choice. Instead, on a few occasions, Djokovic substitutes his drop shot for a volley. That’s making life tough on yourself, but as you can see here, he had total confidence in his drop shot. He hits two others from the place where you’re never supposed to hit them, behind his own baseline. Murray still can’t track them down. There are tactical rules, and then there are players who don’t need them. How long will he have the confidence to break them and win?

—It appeared at first that this one would be over quickly. Djokovic had done the unimaginable and straight-setted Nadal in the Madrid final that Sunday, and he had leveled the seemingly dangerous Robin Soderling a couple of days earlier. Murray, who went down 6-1 in the first, appeared to be his next victim, until he began to use his backhand more aggressively in the second set.

This is a Murray conundrum: He needs his backhand to work like a forehand, and vice-versa. In other words, because his forehand is essentially a rally shot rather than a kill shot, the way it is for Federer, Nadal, and Djokovic, he needs his backhand to do more of the offensive work. With nothing to lose in the second set, he starts to do that. At one point, one of the commentators says that Murray is “taking the legs out of Djokovic,” and the Serb does tire through the second and third sets.

—Love the little sliding flip crosscourt backhand that Djokovic hits around the net. Great footwork, great racquet work. If I were a young player, I’d spend some time isolating on Djokovic during this clip, specifically his feet. His style is efficient, smooth, and predatory at once.

—Just as Djokovic and Nadal did in Miami, these two lay it all out in the third set, but neither can break free of the other. “Good tennis,” a commentator says after one Murray winner. “Magnificent tennis,” after another. He tops it off, after a Murray no-look half-volley winner, with the highest praise of all for that shot: “McEnroe-esque!”

—It almost seems, for a few seconds in the third set, that Murray is enjoying himself. He pumps his fist, and he may even have attempted to crack a (non-sarcastic) smile. It’s hardly a coincidence that he wins that game. This isn’t his natural way, and he ends the match by going back to his roots and smashing his racquet.

Murray has been criticized by everyone who has ever watched him for being too negative on court, but he usually answers by saying that he has to let off steam out there. He’ll never turn into Rafael Nadal, attitude-wise, but if he could just swing the balance a little toward the positive, it would be a major help. The problem with Murray is that he’s negative at the wrong moments. Maybe it’s a natural, fatalistic reaction; the guy has taken a lot of tough losses. This one was particularly tough, because when he broke for 4-3 and again for 5-4, it seemed that he had, for once, left the bad vibes behind. Then he double-faulted to be broken at 5-4. It's enough to make you scream at your box all over again.

—You can see this match as foreshadowing another Djokovic comeback, the one he made in the U.S. Open semifinal against Federer. Down 4-5 in the third here, Djokovic does what he often does with his back to the wall: he lets it rip. That nothing-to-lose attitude always makes a player dangerous, and Djokovic uses it to break Murray twice at the end of the third set.

—Djokovic finishes in style, with a winning drop shot. He pumps his fists, Murray cracks his racquet, and we can put the popcorn away. Less than 24 hours later, the Serb would go on to beat Nadal in straight sets, on clay, for the second straight time. Tennis weekends don’t get much better than that.

Martina Hingis, who is now a coach at the Paris-based Patrick Mouratoglou academy, tells L’Equipe that Czech Petra Kvitova is the player who most appeals to her the most as she is “very solid, left-handed … and is the only one I really like to watch. With others, it is monotonous. [Caroline Wozniacki] may moving better than the others, and she tries to go inside the court, but not often enough. The fact that she does not win Grand Slams is not only her problem, but also that of her coach.” Wozniacki  is coached by her father, Piotr, as well as the adidas Player Development staff, and she recently hired another coach, Ricardo Sanchez.

The 31-year-old Hingid added that she loves coaching and is trying to teach the young likes of Daria Gavrilova, Yulia Putintseva, Naomi Broadly and Sachia Vickery to keep moving forward.

Alex Corretja and the Spanish Tennis Federation are at odds over the length of a potential Davis Cup captain’s contract, reports El Mundo Deportivo. The federation was supposed to announce today a new captain to replace Albert Costa, but apparently former Roland Garros finalist Corretja and federation president Jose Luis Escanuela could not come to terms on a deal at a dinner meeting on Tuesday.

Corretja apparently wants a two-year deal because top players Rafael Nadal, David Ferrer and Feliciano Lopez — who lead Spain to the 2011 title — will not play Davis Cup in 2012, instead focusing on the Olympics. Corretja will have to go with a relatively inexperienced squad that could include Nicolas Almagro and Marcel Granollers, among others.

Escanuela is said to have pointed out that both Costa and former captain Emilio Sanchez-Vicario and Costa had one-year contracts that were renewed. The two sides are apparently still negotiating.