The Most Popular Sports in eRepublik: Part 2 - Tennis and Table Tennis

Day 1,300, 23:35 • Published in China Croatia • by Janko Fran


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As my last article titled The Most Popular Sports in eRepublik was the longest article in eRepublik (see #4 Marathon) and the end wouldn't fit because it hit the article length limit, I continue where I stopped the last time. In this issue we continue with Tennis and Table Tennis. I still owe you eRep interpretation of Tennis and I also added some top international players, including two more Croatian top tennis players for your inspiration in their careers, as their stories are interesting because it's not all champagne and roses in life.

The Most Popular Sports in eRepublik: Part 2

#9 Tennis (continued)

Rafael Nadal



Rafael "Rafa" Nadal Parera (Catalan pronunciation: [rəˈfɛɫ nəˈðaɫ pəˈɾeɾə]; Spanish pronunciation: [rafaˈel naˈðal paˈɾeɾa]; born 3 June 1986) is a Spanish professional tennis player currently ranked No. 1 by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP). He is widely regarded as one of the greatest players of all time; his success on clay has earned him the nickname "The King of Clay", and has prompted many experts to regard him as the greatest clay court player of all time.

Nadal has won ten Grand Slam singles titles,including 6 French Open titles, the 2008 Olympic gold medal in singles, a record 19 ATP World Tour Masters 1000 tournaments, and also was part of the Spain Davis Cup team that won the finals in 2004, 2008 and 2009. He completed the career Grand Slam by winning the 2010 US Open, being the seventh player in history, and the youngest in the open era, to achieve it. He is the second male player to complete the Career Golden Slam (winner of the four grand slams and the Olympic Gold medal) after only Andre Agassi.

Nadal had a 32-match winning streak in 2008, starting at the 2008 Masters Series Hamburg to the 2008 Western & Southern Financial Group Masters and Women's Open, which included titles at Hamburg, the French Open (where he did not drop a set), Queen's Club, his first ever title at Wimbledon, and the Rogers Cup. In 2011, by winning the Monte Carlo Masters, he became the only player to have won seven editions of a tournament in a row at the ATP level. Nadal was ranked world No. 2, behind Roger Federer, for a record 160 consecutive weeks before earning the top spot, which he held from 18 August 2008 to 5 July 2009. He regained the world No.1 ranking on 7 June 2010, after winning his fifth French Open title. Wikipedia::Rafael Nadal

Novak Đoković



Novak Đoković (Serbian: Новак Ђоковић, Novak Đoković pronounced [nɔ̝ʋak ʥɔːkɔ̝ʋiʨ]; born 22 May 1987) is a Serbian professional tennis player ranked World No. 2 by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP).

He has won two Grand Slam singles titles, the 2008 and 2011 Australian Open championships, becoming the first player representing Serbia to win a Grand Slam singles title and the youngest player in the open era to have reached the semi-finals of all four Grand Slam events, separately and consecutively. He is also one of only four players (David Nalbandian, Andy Murray, and Rafael Nadal being the other 3) to beat Roger Federer 3 times in one calendar year. He is also one of three players (Nalbandian and Nikolay Davydenko being the other 2) to beat Federer and Nadal in the same tournament twice, accomplishing that feat when he won the 2011 Indian Wells Masters 1000 event. He is also the youngest player in the Open Era to defeat the top three players in succession and he achieved this when he defeated world number 3 Andy Roddick, world number 2 Nadal, and World number 1 Federer in the 2007 Rogers Cup. He is one of only two players to have defeated Federer at the semifinal stage or later on more than one occasion in Grand Slam tournaments, and also at consecutive tournaments (the other being Nadal).

Ðoković was the runner-up at the 2007 and 2010 US Open tournaments (to Federer and Nadal, respectively), and a bronze medalist representing Serbia at the 2008 Olympic Games. In addition, Ðoković won the Tennis Masters Cup in 2008 and has won nine Masters Series tournaments. In 2010, he led Serbia to win the Davis Cup. Ðoković finished the ATP Tour as World No. 3 for four consecutive years between 2007 and 2010.

From the 2010 Davis Cup finals to the 2011 French Open, Ðoković had a 43-match win streak, third only to Guillermo Vilas (46 matches in 1977) and Ivan Lendl (44 matches in 1981/1982). This includes titles at the Australian Open, Dubai, Indian Wells Masters, Miami Masters, Serbia Open, Madrid Masters, and the Rome Masters. He won 41 straight matches from the start of 2011 until the French Open semi-finals (where he was beaten by Roger Federer), second only to John McEnroe's record (he started 42–0 in 1984).
Djokovic is considered as one of the greatest tennis players of all time, despite not having won many Grand Slam titles (mainly due to the dominance of Federer and Nadal in recent years). Djokovic's emergence as a serious challenger to both Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal has led to the coining of a new sporting term: the trivalry. He is also considered the best male tennis player to come out of Serbia and the former Yugoslavia. Ðoković is also a double winner of the award The Best Sportperson of Serbia and award for The Best Sportsman by Olympic Committee of Serbia. He has been awarded with the Order of St. Sava, the highest decoration of the Serbian Orthodox Church.

Ivan Ljubičić

ATP World Tour Uncovered - Ivan Ljubicic
ATP World Tour Uncovered - Ivan Ljubicic




Ivan Ljubičić (Croatian pronunciation: [ˈiʋan ˈʎubitʃitɕ]; born March 19, 1979) is a Croatian tennis player born in Bosnia and Herzegovina, then Yugoslavia. His career-high ATP ranking was No. 3, and his current ranking is No. 37.

Tall and powerfully built, he is noted for his strong serve and has achieved his best results in indoor tournaments played on carpet or hardcourt. Mostly a baseliner, he will approach the net selectively (Ljubičić is a good volleyer and plays doubles occasionally). On his backhand, he can use a slice or a drop-shot to great effect to draw a player or put him out of position. Relying heavily on his serve, he holds well but is a comparatively weak returner, producing many sets ending in tie-breaks. Ljubičić is using the Head Youtek Extreme Pro Racquet, after using the Babolat Pure Drive for most of his professional career.

Ljubičić previously served as the ATP Player Council president, and has strongly voiced his opinion on many issues, such as the possible downgrading of current Masters Series tournaments in Monte Carlo and Hamburg.

Ljubičić and Mario Ančić are only the 2nd doubles team ever to defeat Bob and Mike Bryan in Davis Cup history, the other team being France's Arnaud Clément and Michaël Llodra. Ljubičić helped Croatia win the 2005 Davis Cup, where they triumphed over the Slovakian Davis Cup team in the final. Wikipedia::IVan Ljubičić



Ana Ivanović



Ana Ivanović (born November 6, 1987, in Belgrade, SR Serbia, Yugoslavia) is a former World No. 1 Serbian tennis player. As of 6 June 2011, she is ranked World No. 19 on the WTA rankings. She beat Dinara Safina to win the 2008 French Open and was the runner-up in singles at the 2007 French Open and the 2008 Australian Open.


Jelena Janković in China Open tennis tournament at the National Tennis Center in Beijing (4 October 2010)

Jelena Janković


Jelena Janković in Beijing Olympic Games 2008

Jelena Janković (Serbian Cyrillic: Јелена Јанковић, pronounced [ˈjɛlɛna ˈjaːnkɔvitɕ]; born February 28, 1985 in Belgrade) is a former World No. 1 professional tennis player from Serbia. She reached the final of the 2008 US Open and won the 2007 Wimbledon mixed doubles title. Janković is ranked World No. 15, being coached by the former ATP top 15 player, Andrei Pavel.

Li Na


Li Na from China celebrates after defeating Venus Williams of the Unied States during the women's singles quarterfinal of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games tennis event at the Beijing Olympic Green Tennis Court in Beijing, China, Aug. 14, 2008. Li Na won the match 2-0.

Li Na (Chinese: 李娜; pinyin: Lǐ Nà; born February 26, 1982) is a Chinese professional tennis player. Li has won 5 WTA and 19 ITF singles titles. She is currently ranked World No. 4 by WTA.[2]
Li won the 2011 French Open singles title, becoming the first player from Asia to win a Grand Slam in singles. She had been the first Asian player to appear in a Grand Slam singles final with her performance at the 2011 Australian Open. Wikipedia:😕i Na

Mirjana Lučić



Mirjana Lučić (born March 9, 1982, in Dortmund, West Germany) is a Croatian professional tennis player. She enjoyed a promising career on the WTA Tour in the late 1990s, during which she set several "youngest-ever" records, won one Grand Slam women's doubles title at the Australian Open in 1998 when she was only 15 years old, partnering Martina Hingis, and reached the semifinals of Wimbledon in 1999. Following a series of personal problems from 2000 onwards, she faded from the scene. After toiling through the challenger circuit through much of the next decade, Lučić reemerged as a top 100 player following the 2010 season.

Lučić began playing tennis at age four by hiding in the car when her older sister went to tennis classes and then sneaking into the lessons herself. As a junior player, she won the girls' singles title at the US Open in 1996, and the girls' singles and doubles crowns at the Australian Open in 1997, becoming only the third player in the Open Era to win two junior Grand Slam singles titles by the age of 14 (the others being Martina Hingis and Jennifer Capriati).

Lučić turned professional in April 1997 at the age of 15. One week after turning pro, she won the very first WTA Tour event she played in at Bol. She then reached the final of her second career event in Strasbourg, where she lost to Steffi Graf.

In 1998, playing in her very first tour doubles event, Lučić became the youngest player in history to win a title at the Australian Open at age 15 years, 10 months and 21 days, when she and Hingis won the women's doubles title. The win made Lučić the first player to win both the very first singles and doubles events they had ever played in on the WTA Tour. And she went on to win the second doubles event of her career when she partnered Hingis to win the Pan Pacific Open in Tokyo. Later that year, Lučić defended her singles title at Bol, becoming the youngest player ever to defend a tour title at age 16 years, 1 month and 24 days. She also finished runner-up in the 1998 mixed doubles event at Wimbledon, partnering Mahesh Bhupathi.

In 1999, Lučić achieved her career-best Grand Slam singles performance when she reached the semi-finals at Wimbledon, before losing in three sets to Graf 6–7 (4), 6–4, 6–3. In the 3rd round, she stunned World No. 4 and 9 time Grand Slam champion, Monica Seles 7–6, 7–6. She also beat 1998 Wimbledon finalist Nathalie Tauziat in the quarter finals after Tauziat served for the match twice in the third set.



After 1999, Lučić's suffered a series of personal and financial problems and she failed to make any further significant impact on the tour. She then proceeded to take an extended hiatus from competition; her career-high world rankings were World No. 32 in singles and World No. 19 in doubles (both achieved in 199😎. Since then, she has returned to the WTA tour and won her first qualifying match in the 2007 Region championships. Her last appearance on the tour before that was in 2003.

Mirjana Lučić gave an interview in New York Daily News in April 2006 explaining why she stopped playing and describing her life with an abusive father, vowing that would not stop her and she will continue to fight to the end. She had been training with a new coach, Ivan Beros, and said she was fit and ready to continue tennis.

Mirjana Lučić Interview
Mirjana Lučić Interview

As a "wild card" in the qualifying draw of the Cellular South Cup in Memphis in February, Lučić won one match (def. Melanie Oudin, 1–6 6–3 6–3) before losing in the second round (to Natalie Grandin, 6–4 3–6 6–2). She was also awarded a wild card to the 2007 Pacific Life Open in Indian Wells (CA) in March, where she again won her first match [def. Lindsey Nelson, 6–4 7–6(5)] before losing in the second round (to Anna Chakvetadze, 6–2 7–5).[2]
She also received a wild card to the Tiro A Volo tournament in Rome, where she lost in the first round (to Karin Knapp, 6–4 6–3). That being her third tournament within the previous 12 months, she received her first WTA ranking since her return to the professional tour. She re-entered the rankings at 524.

Even though she lost the first round to Knapp in the Rome challenger, she received a wild card for the 1.3 million dollar tournament in Rome and beat the 65th-ranked player in the world, Elena Vesnina. She then went on to lose to Catalina Castaño in the 2nd round. Her ranking jumped to 444 with the result.

In September 2008 Mirjana started working with her new Coach Alberto Gutierrez, planning a comeback. In the 2009 season, she was given a wildcard into the ASB Classic in Auckland, New Zealand. In her first WTA main draw match since Indian Wells 2007, she lost to Anne Keothavong in the first round 6–4 6–2.

Lučić continued to toil on the ITF challenger circuit for several years prior to mounting somewhat of a comeback in the 2010 season. During that year, Lučić won her first title in 12 years at a $25K ITF event in Jackson, Florida April 11. Shortly after, Lučić qualified for the WTA event in Birmingham, going on to win her first main draw match since Indian Wells 2007, this time over Colombian Mariana Duque Mariño, 6–1 6–2. She continued her good form as she defeated fellow Croatian player Karolina Šprem 6–3 5–7 7–6 in the second round. She was beaten by top 20 player Aravane Rezaï of France in the third round by a score of 7–5 6–3. Lučić then competed in the Wimbledon Qualifying tournament at Roehampton. She won her first two rounds and beat Michaëlla Krajicek in the third round to qualify for the main draw of Wimbledon, her first Grand Slam since the 2002 US Open. After a good showing, Lučić fell to 14th seed Victoria Azarenka in the first round 3–6, 3–6 on Centre Court.


A handshake after match - Mirjana Lucic congratulates Capriati on a job well done (Roland Gaross 2001)

After Wimbledon Lučić moved onto the European summer clay court events. She failed to qualify for Bastad but the following week came through three rounds of qualifying at the 2010 Palermo event, and won her first round match, defeating Pauline Parmentier 7–5, 0–6, 7–6 (7), recovering from a 0–4 third set deficit and saving 3 match points. She then fell to third seed Sara Errani in the second round recovering a 2–4 deficit to force a tie-break before falling 0–6 6–7(4–7). Her ranking rose to 151, the highest of her comeback so far.

Following Palermo Lučić returned to the US for the summer hard court season. Her first event is the $700,000 Premier event in Stanford, the Bank of the West Classic. Seeded fifth in the qualifying draw Lučić defeated both Heidi El Tabakh and Tamaryn Hendler in straight sets before repeating her Wimbledon victory over Michaëlla Krajicek with a 6–1 7–6(8–6) win to qualify for the main draw where she will face Russian Maria Kirilenko.

In the 2010 US Open, after winning three qualifying matches to enter the main draw, she beat Alicia Molik, 7–6(5), 6–1 to set up a second round clash with seed # 4 Jelena Janković. Lucić lost in three sets 4–6, 6–3, 2–6. Even with this defeat, this was her best performance in a Grand Slam in nearly a decade.

Lučić started out the 2011 season poorly with a string of early losses on both the WTA and ITF circuits early in the year. Her fortunes began to change during the clay court season where Lucic reached her first WTA Tour quarterfinal in over 10 years at the Strasbourg event, losing to Anabel Medina Garrigues. Wikipedia::Mirjana Lučić

Currently Mirjana Lučič is ranked 94 on WTA ranking list.


Tennis Now News 08/31/2010
Tennis Now News 08/31/2010
Lauren Lynch reports the latest from the US Open. Na Li fell today while Jelena Jankovic and Svetlana Kuznetsova barely pulled through. Caroline Wozniacki or Kuznetsova could take the world no. 1 spot away from Serena Williams if they take the US Open Title. Marcos Baghdatis was upset by tennis old man, Arnaud Clement. Roger Federer proves that the tweener from 2009 was not a fluke with his tweener from his first match back at the US Open. Mirjana Lučić is back and is ready to play tennis after her last appearance was in the 1999 Wimbledon final.


eRep Tennis Match

Sometimes eRep battles look just like a tennis match: Fib on ONE side, Romper on the other side of the net, or you can insert any other famous players on each side. Even the region where it takes place is the same where the ATP tour is (Croatia Open, Umag, Istria and Kvarner):



Croatia Open ATP Umag eWorld Tour
Romper - Fib 0 : 0 (6 : 6) 40 - LOVE



Long matches with very tense atmosphere and very close results; 6:6 in mini battles games. Winning aces by taking the opponents down in one shot. Ace! Ace! Ace!

Goran Ivanišević on Candid Camera: Tarik Filipović and Ode to Goran
Skrivena kamera 1997.: Goran Ivanišević

More on Goran Ivanišević and why people love him in my last article: The Most Popular Sports in eRepublik.

Battle is similar to a tennis tournament. Winning a battle hero (BH) medal is just like winning a tennis match (or game), and winning a campaign hero (CH) is just like winning an ATP (WTA) tournament. In case of important battles winning a CH medal is like winning a grand slam tour.


Battle Hero Medal (Won and the image provided by Ghostbiker)

There are even ranking lists like the ATP or WTA ranking lists in eRepublik; here is a list of players with highest experience points in the game:


eRepublik Ranking List - Player Experience

And here is the list of players with highest number of battle hero medals won in last three months according to erepublik-market.com ranking list:


erepublik-market.com ranking list of players with highest number of battle hero medals won in the last three months.




#10 Table Tennis

Table tennis, also known as ping-pong, is a sport in which two or four players hit a lightweight, hollow ball back and forth using table tennis rackets. The game takes place on a hard table divided by a net. Except for the initial serve, players must allow a ball played toward them only one bounce on their side of the table and must return it so that it bounces on the opposite side. Points are scored when a player fails to return the ball within the rules. Play is fast and demands quick reactions. A skilled player can impart several varieties of spin to the ball, altering its trajectory and limiting an opponent's options to great advantage.

Table tennis is controlled by the worldwide organization International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF), founded in 1926. ITTF currently includes 215 member associations. The table tennis official rules are specified in the ITTF handbook. Since 1988, table tennis has been an Olympic sport, with several event categories. In particular, from 1988 until 2004, these were: men's singles, women's singles, men's doubles and women's doubles. Since 2008 the doubles have been replaced by the team events. Wikipedia::Table Tennis

Here are the results of Table Tennis for Men in Beijing, 2008:


#1 Gold Ma Lin, China

Ma Lin (simplified Chinese: 马琳; traditional Chinese: 馬琳; pinyin: Mǎ Lín; born February 19, 1980 in Shenyang, Liaoning, China) is a male table tennis player. He is the world's number four ranked player as of June, 2011 in the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF).

He learned to play table tennis at the age of five and became a member of the provincial team in 1990. In 1994, he joined the Chinese national team. At the 2008 Summer Olympics, Ma won gold in both the singles and team competitions, becoming the third Chinese male player to achieve this feat.
Ma Lin holds a professional era record of 5 major titles (4 World Cups, 1 Olympic Gold).


#2 Silver Hao Wang, China


#3 Bronze Wang Liqin, China


#4 Jorgen Persson, Sweden

#5-8

#5-8 Oh Sangeun, South Korea


#5-8 Zoran Primorac, Croatia


#5-8 Lai Chak Ko, Hong Kong


#5-8 RuiWu Tan, Croatia


Tan Ruiwu (30 June 1983) is Croatian table tennis player of Chinese descent.
Already in his early years in China he plays with significant success. As a 15-year old he won Youth Games in Moscow by defeating Ryu Seung Min, later Olympics winner in finals. With his club he won champion of China title. He was also junior champion of Asia.

In 2004 he came in Croatia to play for TTC Večernji list. Later he took Croatian Citizenship and he won 2 silver medals from European Cup in Belgrade, in team competition and in pairs, together with Polish player Blaszcyk.

Zoran Primorac



Zoran Primorac (born May 10, 1969 in Zadar) is an accomplished male table tennis player from Croatia. He is considered to be among the best European players in the last 25 years (along with Vladimir Samsonov from Belarus, Timo Boll from Germany, Jan-Ove Waldner and Jörgen Persson from Sweden and Jean-Philippe Gatien from France). Wikipedia::Zoran Primorac

This year (2011) Zoran Primorac has qualified for his 7th Olympic games and entered the circle of 7 men in the world who have achieved this.


This table shows the number of athletes who have appeared exactly at n Olympic Games between 1896 and 2010, as n varies from 5 to 9. For example, 6 men have appeared at exactly seven Olympics. Appearances at the 1906 Intercalated Games are not included. Winter and Summer Olympics are counted as 'different' Olympics even if they occurred in the same year. While these numbers are believed to be correct, it is possible that one or two athletes have been missed, particularly with five-time Olympians.

Wikipedia:😕ist of athletes with the most appearances at Olympic Games



In the TV comedy The Office, the character Dwight Schrute names Zoran Primorac as one of his heroes, but pronounces his name incorrectly.

eRep Table Tennis - Ping-pong Wars

Ping-pong wars in eRepublik is a popular name for long lasting wars without clear winner, with initiatives that change sides and no significant advances in the war.

A good example of a ping-pong war is a ping pong war between Croatia and Serbia:

January 2011, Day 1156

The last Serbian attack on South Dalmatia was successfully backed off and now Croatia has an initiative. The total score in the ping-pong war between Croatia and Serbia is 25:21 in sets for Croatia and can be seen here. Today started Croatian attack in West Srpska Republic.

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