EDITOR’S NOTE: The next issue of Daily Tennis News and the announcement of the Tennis News Person of the Year 2013 will be Thursday, January 2, to allow our staff to celebrate the arrival of the new year.
Donald Young picked up food poisoning in Doha. He is hoping to be able to eat something besides rice soon. Totally excited for the new Babolat racket. It's had a soft launch but we heard Lovey has one.
Jan - Michael Gambill is part of the Doha TV analyst and commentator. Ana Ivanovic sent out a gorgeous photo of herself on social media. Check it out. Her Happy New Year wishes.
Maria Sharapova has advice for 17-year-old Ashleigh Barty, whom she will play in the second round of the Brisbane International. She doesn't think it’s smart for young player to hero worship. “You really have to be focused on your job and game and not worry about anyone else's results. You create your own path. There's going to be times where it's difficult and you're going to have some letdowns, but a lot of things are in your hands. If you put in the work and the effort, and at the end of the day things don't work out, you did everything you could and you don't have regrets. You don't look sideways or forward or backwards.” . . . Aussie Matt Ebden on why he is progressing "Experience helps with being able to stay calm and enjoy what I'm doing out there." . . . SI talked to some players about their New Year’s resolutions. Here were two: John Isner: My New Year’s resolution is to never get frustrated at any situation in 2014. Donna Vekic: I will give up chocolate totally. 100%. Completely. Honestly. . . Wimbledon semifinalist Kirsten Flipkens was quite satisfied with her first match of the year, and not because she won. "The first match of the season is always quite difficult, but I had a good feeling on the court," she said. "For me, the most important thing was to have no pain in the knee, which was successful.” . . . Grigor Dimitrov says that his new coach, Roger Rasheed, pushed him hard during the off-season. "Definitely the past five, six weeks in the off‑season has been quite a tough, game days and practice days and all that,” he said. “But I'm happy that everything turned out to be very positive and actually very great experience as well. We've worked I think overall in every area. We never focus on one thing in particular. We have a higher goals for what we want to do and where we're heading.” The week of Dec. 30, 2013, marks Serena Williams 169th week atop the WTA Rankings. Given that she holds on to the No.1 ranking through the first three months of the season, Serena is projected to pass Monica Seles (5th on the all-time list, 178 weeks) the week of March 10, 2014.