Off The Net Sports

South Africa USA Brazil Confed Cup Soccer, originally uploaded by Kuris1.
USA’s Clint Dempsey, center, reacts with fellow team member Benny Feilhaber, left, after scoring their opening goal, as Brazil’s Luisao, right, is seen, during their Confederations Cup final soccer match at Ellis Park Stadium in Johannesburg, South Africa, Sunday, June 28, 2009. (AP Photo/Paul Thomas)

Just off the heels of a shocking silver at the FIFA Confederations Cup, USA Soccer takes aim at a gold while hosting the 2009 CONCACAF Gold Cup from July 3rd to 26th. USA opens their tournament on July 4th against Grenada.

Elena Dementieva at Wimbledon 2009, originally uploaded by EvianInsiders.
WIMBLEDON, ENGLAND – JULY 02: Elena Dementieva of Russia takes a break during the women’s singles semi final match against Serena Williams of USA on Day Ten of the Wimbledon Lawn Tennis Championships at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club on July 2, 2009 in London, England. (Photo by Getty Images/Getty Images for Evian)

Serena Williams defeats Russia’s Elena Dementieva in the women’s singles semi-final at Wimbledon 6-7 7-5 8-6. The longest women’s semi-final at Wimbledon in the era of Open tennis, by most accounts the finest women’s match at the 2009 Championships so far.

SWATCH FIVB World Championships – Top statistical leaders are April Ross (left, serving speed) and Jen Kessy (hitting percentage) of the United States. Photo courtesy of FIVB

Press Release:

For the first time in the history of the world championships of Beach Volleyball and just the second time in the history of the SWATCH FIVB World Tour, official statistics are being kept for all matches for both genders (208 total) in the 2009 SWATCH FIVB World Championships being presented by ConocoPhillips through this Sunday in Stavanger, Norway.

[...]

For all pool play matches and single-elimination matches, statistics being kept include Service Aces, Service Errors, Attacks, Kills, Hitting Percentage (calculated by kills minus errors divided by total attacks), Digs, Blocks and the fastest serves on the SWATCH Centre Court.

see full press release…

There’s an impressive wealth of information available. Check them out at Beach Volleyball Database.

Steffi Graf, originally uploaded by davech_tennis.

Roger Federer and Steffi Graf currently lead the polls for the greatest Wimbledon champion of all time in the men’s and women’s divisions respectively.

The HSBC Champions of Wimbledon poll was launched earlier this month and will end at midnight July 3rd, so there’s still more time to get your votes in.

Video Spotlight: Get to Know April Ross

Tidbits about April Ross:

• Ross is the first U.S. woman to start her career with three FIVB victories.
• Ross became the first U.S. woman to win FIVB Rookie of the Year in 2007, one season after winning the AVP’s Rookie of the Year award.
• In 2008 Ross logged the highest ace-per-game average in AVP history with 1.24 per game, while also recording the FIVB’s second fastest serve in 2008 (85.7 km/hr in Berlin).

Video and tidbits courtesy of AVP