Tennis Stars Receive Laureus Nods

Venus Williams, Rafael Nadal, Ana Ivanovic and Novak Djokovic were nominated for the prestigious 2009 Laureus World Sports Awards.

Venus and Rafa were nominated as World Sportswoman and World Sportsman of the year. The Serbs were nominated in the category World Breakthrough of the Year for winning their first major titles.

The Laureus World Sports Awards are widely acknowledged as the premier honors for the international sporting calendar. Due to the global economic downturn, Laureus will not host a full-scale spring awards ceremony this year, choosing instead to honor the winners individually in a series of smaller events troughout May and June.

Tennis Week Magazine Folds

Tennis Week Magazine has folded after 35 years of publication, TennisReporters.net has learned. Founded in 1974 by Eugene L. Scott, a former US Davis Cup player who was once ranked within the world top 15, the magazine was acquired by IMG in December of 2006, seven months after Scott’s death. It has been through a series of publishers since then and apparently, was unable to generate much cash, a big no-no when it comes to IMG’s philosophy of profit or perish. There is now word yet on whether its web site will continue to publish.

Murray's Money

Like rabbit said elsewhere, first his health and now his money:

The Royal Bank of Scotland will halve its funding of British sport as a result of the global economic downturn.

BBC Sport has learned the bank will end its sponsorship of the Williams Formula One team at the end of 2010.

It will also review its deals with individuals such as tennis star Andy Murray and cricketer Sachin Tendulkar.

RBS, expected to announce a loss of up to £28bn on Thursday, is reviewing all sponsorship activity as part of its strategic review.

The bank, in which the government has a stake of almost 70%, has also cancelled trackside advertising for 2010, while hospitality costs in all its sponsorships have been reduced by around 90% in 2009.

Severed Ties

The ATP has terminated its agreement with Stanford Financial, effective immediately last Thursday.