Woodies, Fernandez, Zvereva enter Tennis HOF

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07/10/2010 - Newport, RI (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Doubles greats Todd Woodbridge, Mark Woodforde, Gigi Fernandez and Natasha Zvereva headlined this year's class enshrined at the International Tennis Hall of Fame on Saturday.

The Australians Woodbridge and Woodforde, nicknamed "The Woodies," piled up a record 61 doubles titles on the ATP, including a whopping 11 major championships, which is second only to fellow Aussies John Newcombe and Tony Roche's record of 12. Woodbridge and Woodforde also enjoyed stays inside the Top-20 in singles.

The Woodies were the first tandem to corral five straight Wimbledon titles and are the only team in the Open Era to win at least one major title in six straight years.

In Olympic competition, the Woodies captured gold in 1996 and silver in 2000.

The 39-year-old Woodbridge holds the ATP record with 83 doubles titles in the Open Era and played on Davis Cup championship teams for Australia in 1999 and 2003.

The 44-year-old Woodforde captured 67 doubles titles and held down the No. 1 ranking for doubles for 84 weeks during his career. He played for a Davis Cup winner in 1999, along with Woodbridge.

The 46-year-old Puerto Rican native Fernandez and Belarusian Zvereva amassed 38 doubles titles together, including 14 Grand Slam wins. From 1992-93, they tallied six straight major titles at one point.

Beatriz "Gigi" Fernandez, a mother of twins, colleted 68 doubles titles on tour, including 17 majors, while the 39-year-old Zvereva piled up 18 major doubles championships. Fernandez captured Olympic doubles gold medals in 1992 and 1996 and was a two-time Fed Cup champion for the United States (1990, 1996).

Zvereva won 20 Grand Slam doubles titles overall, including a pair of mixed ones, and also reached the Top-10 as a singles star, including a career-high No. 5 spot in 1989.

Others inducted to the Tennis Hall on Saturday were men's and mixed doubles specialist Owen Davidson, of Australia, in the Master Player category; wheelchair tennis pioneer Brad Parks, of the United States, in the Contributor category; and the late Derek Hardwick, who entered via the Contributor category as the former chairman of the British Lawn Tennis Association.

The class of 2010 now gives the Tennis Hall of Fame 218 legends, representing 19 nations.

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NCAA Football Betting : USC's reward: Top spot in Top 25

NEW YORK (AP) -By staying away from the cupcakes, Southern California earned itself a slim new ranking.

No. 1 always seems to fit USC.

Southern California jumped two spots to No. 1 in The Associated Press Top 25 on Tuesday, rewarded by voters for opening the season with a dominant performance on the road against a BCS conference opponent.

Georgia and Ohio State, the preseason Nos. 1 and 2, respectively, started their seasons with glorified scrimmages at home against FCS (formerly I-AA) teams. USC, however, traveled across country to face Virginia and could not have been more impressive in a 52-7 victory.

Georgia fell to No. 2 and Ohio State to No 3.

"We realize that rankings so early in a season are certainly fluid. But rankings do help establish a pecking order for things later in the season," USC coach Pete Carroll said in a statement. "As for moving into the No. 1 spot, it's nice to know that people think highly of our team."

Since reaching No. 1 on Dec. 7, 2003, the final-regular season AP poll of that season, USC has been No. 1 in 39 polls, by far the most of any team during that time.

"Some have said the voters are taking our schedule into consideration," Carroll said. "Our philosophy has always been to schedule outstanding opponents. We need to play challenging games like we just did, traveling across the country to open the season at Virginia. Games like that bring out our best and make us stronger as a team."

The latest voting was close. USC received 21 first-place votes and 1,539 points from the 65-member media panel. Georgia had 20 first-place votes and 1,506 points. Ohio State got 15 first-place votes and 1,497 points.

"I'd say we've evolved as pollsters," said Stewart Mandel of SI.com, who moved USC up to No. 1. "In the past, voters just kind of automatically moved teams up and kept teams where they were if they won."

Georgia beat Georgia Southern 45-21 on Saturday and Ohio State opened with a 43-0 win over Youngstown State.

"There's a bit of a growing backlash for the amount of teams that open with I-AA cupcakes," said Mandel, whose book "Bowls, Polls and Tattered Souls" chronicles college football's controversies. "To see a team [USC] go on the road and play a New Year's Day bowl team from last season, and not only play them but destroy them, how could you not reward that team?"

USC also jumped past Georgia to No. 1 in the USA Today coaches' poll, which has the same top five as the AP poll.

"It's definitely a privilege to be No. 1. But it's not heartbreaking to me if we drop," Georgia offensive lineman Josh Davis said. "It doesn't matter right now what we're ranked. What matters is our next game and right now, that's Central Michigan. The only time the polls matter is in December. That's when the polls matter."

While the Bulldogs opened easy, their schedule ultimately should be as difficult as any team's. Georgia's big nonconference test is at No. 15 Arizona State on Sept. 20. The Bulldogs also face six Southeastern Conference rivals that've been ranked in the first two polls.

As for Ohio State, the Buckeyes play at USC on Sept. 13 before getting into the Big Ten schedule.

But of the teams in this week's top 10, USC and Texas are the only ones that don't play an FCS opponent, and the Trojans are the only team that doesn't play a team from a non-BCS conference.

Get the latest 2009 BCS Championship odds at MySportsbook.com.

The last team to drop from No. 1 after a victory was USC last season. LSU jumped from No. 2 to No. 1 when it beat Tulane 34-9, the same week the Trojans edged Washington 27-24 on the road.

The last preseason No. 1 team to lose the top spot after winning its opening game was Florida in 2001. The Gators beat Marshall 49-14, but preseason No. 2 Miami opened with a 33-7 victory over Penn State and the Hurricanes jumped to No. 1 with Florida slipping to second.

The next four teams in the new Top 25 stayed the same: No. 4 Oklahoma (two first-place votes), No. 5 Florida (five first-place votes), No. 6 Missouri (one first-place vote), No. 7 LSU (one first-place vote) and No. 8 West Virginia.

No. 9 Auburn and No. 10 Texas each moved up a spot, taking advantage of Clemson's big drop. Clemson, ninth in the preseason, fell out after losing 34-10 to Alabama on Saturday.

Also falling out after losses were Virginia Tech, Pittsburgh and Tennessee.

Moving into the rankings were No. 21 Fresno State, No. 22 Utah, No. 23 UCLA and No. 24 South Carolina.

Alabama moved up 11 spots after its big victory over Clemson.

The second 10 started with No. 11 Wisconsin, followed by Texas Tech, Alabama and Kansas. BYU and Arizona State were tied for 15th. Rivals BYU and Utah are both ranked for the first time since 1996.

South Florida was No. 17, ahead of Oregon, Penn State and Wake Forest at No. 20.

The final five were all the teams to move into the ranking, except for Illinois, which dropped four spots and tied South Carolina for No. 24.

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