Home Depot Center News

She says she's '100 percent' back from shoulder injury and ready to compete against World No. 1 Safina, and 10 others in World Top 15

CARSON, CA (Thursday, July 23, 2009) - Maria Sharapova's favorite time of the year is now. The 22-year-old Manhattan Beach resident is coming back from a 10-month absence from the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour after shoulder surgery and ready to take on the world's best in Carson during the 2009 LA Women's Tennis Championships presented by Herbalife, played Aug. 3-9 on the hard courts of The Home Depot Center on the campus of California State University, Dominguez Hills.

\"It's so nice to be back home. I love this time of year because I feel like all the tournaments are fairly close,\" said Sharapova on Wednesday night in a pre-match press conference before her World Team Tennis match playing for the Newport Beach Breakers. \"California is my second home. My coach (Michael Joyce) lives here. I have many friends and supporters here. I feel like I can get everyone tickets and everyone can watch me play 30 minutes away rather than having to travel all the way to Europe or somewhere like that. It makes it a lot easier for them.\"

One of Southern California's most prestigious tennis traditions, the $700,000 LA Women's Tennis Championships enables tennis fans to enjoy a world-class Sony Ericsson WTA Tour 56-player singles draw that will include 2008 LA Women's Tennis Championships winner Dinara Safina, the No. 1 player in the world. Other in the field include: Russia's Svetlana Kuznetsova (No. 5), Vera Zvonareva (No. 7) and Nadia Petrova (No. 10), Belarus' Victoria Azarenka (No. 8), Denmark's Caroline Wozniacki (No. 9), Serbia's Ana Ivanovic (No. 11), the event's 2007 champion, Slovakia's Dominika Cibulkova (No. 12), Italy's Flavia Pennetta (No. 13), Poland's Agnieszka Radwanska (No. 14) and France's Marion Bartoli (No. 15). The tournament also features a 16-team doubles draw.

A 19-time WTA Tour singles champion, Sharapova is one of the most visible female athletes in the world and despite all the time she missed on the court over the past 12 months she still managed to earn $22 million in endorsements between June of last year and June of this year, according to Forbes Magazine.

The former world No. 1 player and three-time Grand Slam winner missed the Beijing Olympics, the U.S. Open, and was not being able to defend her Australian Open title in February because of the injury.

The Internet's most searched-for-athlete on Yahoo! in 2008 stayed busy doing modeling shoots and commercials, and kept in playing shape for her much-anticipated return to tennis, which finally came at the Warsaw Open as a wild card in mid-May. She said after Warsaw that patience is the key to her successful return. \"Hopefully, I'll be ready for the U.S. Open. This is not an overnight process. It's gonna take time, to get everything together. As much time as it needs, I'm ready for it.\"

Did Sharapova ever lose faith that should she would be able to make it all the way back? \"I never lost faith because I knew the things I had already accomplished were way beyond what I ever dreamed of in my life,\" she said. \"So to already have that in my pocket and look forward to getting back and playing, doing what I love was a challenge.

\"But I had a great team around me that kept me really positive. By no means was it easy, an easy flow. Definitely, I had ups and downs. I had days where I had to push myself more than I've ever had to, mentally than physically. It all pays off. Obviously just getting to be able to play tennis again is an achievement in itself. Now it's about preparing myself, forgetting about what I went through, just preparing my game, getting back into the form where I was, and even better.\"

Tournament Tickets & Daily Promotions

Individual tickets are on sale now, starting at just $25. The tournament is also offering a special \"Buy One, Get One Free All-Week Pass,\" which includes tickets to all 13 sessions of play. Throughout the week, fans can enjoy daily promotions and events, including:

• Monday: Happy Hour Monday specials, plus a VIP \"Meet the Players\" Party with purchase of all-session pass
• Tuesday: $2 Taco Tuesday specials and \"Women in Sports Night\" featuring players from the Los Angeles Sparks (WNBA) and Los Angeles Sol (WPS), plus a career fair
• Wednesday: Help your non-profit benefit from money raised through tournament ticket sales and silent auction with \"Tennis Cares Night\"
• Thursday: USTA Member Appreciation Night discounts
• Friday: Mini-Fan and Keychain giveaway
• Saturday: Semifinals and Fireworks Celebration under the stars
• Sunday: Finals and Dunlop hat giveaway

More details on the tournament's week of promotions are listed at www.latennischamps.com. To take advantage of the benefits, ticket discounts, promotions and specials in the best seat locations for all sessions, call 1-877-AEG-TICKETS (1-877-234-8425) or visit www.latennischamps.com. Event Suites are also available at a special rate by calling 1-877-604-8777. Tickets are also available for purchase at The Home Depot Center Box Office (open Monday-Friday, 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. and on event days) and all Ticketmaster outlets, including www.Ticketmaster.com.

About the Tournament

The LA Women's Tennis Championships presented by Herbalife, in its 39th year, is one of the most historic events in women's tennis and is being held for the sixth consecutive year at The Home Depot Center. The Sony Ericsson WTA Tour Premier event offers prize money of $700,000 to the 56-player singles and 16-team doubles draws. The distinguished tournament champions list includes Dinara Safina, Kim Clijsters, Serena Williams, Lindsay Davenport, Monica Seles, Steffi Graf, Chris Evert, Martina Navratilova and Billie Jean King, all of whom have also been ranked No. 1 on the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour during their careers.

The LA Women's Tennis Championships presented by Herbalife is part of the prestigious Olympus US Open Series, which links nine summer hard-court tournaments to the famed U.S. Open. This year's tournament marks the sixth year players competing in the U.S. Open Series tournaments will be vying for bonus prize money at the U.S. Open. Players competing in the \"summer season\" of tennis at the participating Sony Ericsson WTA Tour tournaments will receive Olympus U.S. Open Series points, which will ultimately earn the series winner the opportunity to double her U.S. Open prize purse.

The tournament is currently seeking volunteers to assist with transportation, daily giveaways at the tournament and tennis clinics beginning July 29 and throughout the week of the tournament. For more information on these opportunities, please visit www.latennischamps.com and visit the \"Volunteer\" page.

About The Home Depot Center

The Home Depot Center is southern California's home of world-class competition and training facilities for amateur, Olympic, collegiate and professional athletes. The $150 million privately financed facility was developed and is operated by AEG on a 125-acre site on the campus of California State University, Dominguez (CSUDH) Hills in Carson, California. The Home Depot Center features a 13,000-seat tennis stadium, a 27,000-seat stadium for soccer, rugby, lacrosse and other athletic competitions and outdoor concerts, a 10,000-seat facility for track & field, The Home Depot Center Velodrome (a 2,450-seat indoor velodrome for cycling) and other facilities for softball, baseball, beach volleyball, basketball and other sports. The Home Depot Center is home to three professional sports teams - Major League Soccer's 2005 MLS and U.S. Open Cup Champion Los Angeles Galaxy; Club Deportivo (CD) Chivas USA; and Women's Professional Soccer's (WPS) Los Angeles Sol. Named an Official U.S. Olympic Training Site, The Home Depot Center is also home of the United States Tennis Association (USTA) USA Tennis High Performance Training Center as well as the national team training headquarters for the U.S. Soccer Federation (USSF). The David Beckham Academy for youth soccer, Andre Agassi's Safe Passage All-Stars at-risk youth tennis program and the nationally recognized Athletes' Performance training center for elite and professional athletes are all based at The Home Depot Center. The Home Depot Center has additionally been designated official training sites for USA Cycling, USA Track & Field and the USTA.