route to the final of a grass-court event

There are many titles that could have been bestowed on Jessica Ennis-Hill during her magnificent athletics career. The Face of 2012? Of course. The nicest athlete in Britain? Almost certainly. The most beloved? Very possibly. The toughest? Well, if you had ever watched her train at her Sheffield base, you wouldnt have had to ask twice.Yet as British sport bade farewell on Thursday to its diminutive heroine with the big heart and the even bigger smile, it was also legitimate to wonder whether our Jess was, pound for pound, the finest, most complete all-round athlete this country has seen in the new millennium.We are talking of a woman who was not just the worlds best multi-eventer but, within Britain itself, brilliant enough to be at various points the nations top high jumper, its finest long jumper, its most outstanding, world-class hurdler and one of its fastest sprinters.Standing at 5-foot-5, she could leap 30cm above her own height -- a feat only ever achieved by a handful of jumpers -- and, though only a fraction above nine stone, she turned herself into one of the countrys top 10 shot putters. At her peak, she was forced through stress fractures to effectively relearn the long jump from scratch, having to take off from her left foot instead of her right, and yet still won the Olympic title within three years.Hers was an odyssey of courage, skill and unreal determination. No one trains harder than multi-eventers and no multi-eventer prepared harder than her.I once had the privilege to spend a day watching her train at the English Institute of Sport in her home town. It was truly wince-inducing.Intense sprints, skipping, sandpit drills, 12 long jumps, 12 puts, throwing technique sessions, circuit training, conditioning. Not as bad as the hill runs and weight sessions of the previous day but a brutal morning. She then sat at lunch just dreading the afternoons killer 800m training and, after those killer 200 metres reps, I actually did hear the unthinkable from her -- dear old Jess in agony, swearing her head off.Watching this workload, I remember later thinking that, after she had taken a break following her Olympic triumph to become a mum, it would be miraculous for her to reprise the same intense daily physical and mental slog that shed need to beat the world again. Thirteen months after giving birth to son Reggie, though, she was world heptathlon champion again. Yes, the mother of all comebacks.When such a natural talent was enhanced by such extraordinary determination, only one thing more was required to create the ideal athlete; a rare spirit when in the heat of competition.Toni Minichiello, the ebullient coach who could always seem to cajole the best out of this self-confessed worrier, once scolded me for suggesting she was Daley-esque, that she had something of the peerless Daley Thompsons ability to produce her best under the most severe moments of pressure. No, Jessica-esque -- Daleyd learn a thing or two, he laughed.Certainly, Thompson could have taken a lesson or two in charm and how to win friends and influence people from Ennis-Hill. Its not easy having to live up to some fanciful role model notion but she never seemed to have to try; shes just a natural and it was for good reason that she was earlier this year voted ahead of Andy Murray as the sports personality that Britain was most proud of.In an era when athletics had become enveloped by doubt and cynicism, people still always felt that here as someone they could still believe in. Mick Thompson, the coach who first spotted the talent of an energetic 10-year-old schoolgirl when overseeing a summer camp in Sheffield, once told me shes never changed in all the time hes known her. Whats not to like about Jess? Still as good as gold, always friendly and open, he said.Too true. She kept that demeanour even when the pressure was at its absolute height. Like Cathy Freeman in Sydney 2000 and Michael Johnson in Atlanta 1996, she shouldered with wonderful aplomb the ultimate double -- being both the face and the hero of a home Olympic Games.What could have been more challenging than having to burst out of that London 2012 poster and into legend on that Super Saturday with anything less than gold being seen as some sort of failure? As an example of amazing grace under pressure, British sport has seen little like it.So, yes, she was as good as gold yet the funny thing was how she always sounded as if she never quite understood how brilliant she was.With her Olympic heptathlon gold and silver, her two world titles (actually, it should really have been three because she wasnt up-graded from silver in 2011 even after Russian winner Tatyana Chernova was subsequently discredited as a doping cheat), her world indoor pentathlon title and her European crown, there have been times when Ennis-Hill would have had a right to call herself the worlds best athlete. Yet, she just laughed that she couldnt bring herself to think like that because it all sounded a bit too surreal.Lets be clear, though. The woman who had a right to once feel a bit irritated by being faintly patronised as tadpole by one British rival ended up showing everyone that she was a veritable giant in the nations sporting firmament.More than that, Ennis-Hill was living proof that nice guys do finish first. She could have plumped for one final hurrah at next years world championships, back at the scene of her 2012 triumph, but she knew instinctively it was time to go.Like practically everything she did, our Jess, who radiated sunshine while she raided all those golds, got it right even at the very end of her quite glittering career. Cheap NHL Jerseys China .Y. -- Sabres forward Drew Stafford has witnessed plenty of turmoil during his eight seasons in Buffalo. NHL Jerseys China . LOUIS -- The New Orleans Saints looked like a team playing out the string. http://www.jerseysnhlfromchina.us/ . Tomas Berdych and Radek Stepanek defeated Nenad Zimonjic and Ilija Bozoljac 6-2, 6-4, 7-6 (4) on the indoor hard-court at Belgrade Arena. The victory improved the Czech pairs impressive cup doubles record to 14-1. Wholesale NHL Jerseys . Tracey comes to the Blue Bombers after spending over a decade with Queens University. Most recently he was the schools assistant football coach. Wholesale Jerseys . Andreas Johnson had a goal and two assists while Jacob de la Rose also scored for Sweden (2-0-0). Esa Lindell and Rasmus Ristolainen replied for Finland (1-1-0) Lindell opened the scoring for Finland just 41 seconds into the game, but the hosts quickly regained their composure and tied the score less than four minutes later on Wennbergs first of the game. When the US Open begins next week, familiar, proven names will headline the daily schedules. But theres a good chance an outsider is going to safely navigate the crucible of the draw and grab instant attention.And to add to the intrigue, there are a host of up-and-coming competitors ready to break out. Will one shine in the New York spotlight? Here are our top five 20-and-under players to watch:1. Alexander ZverevTheres no avoiding the promise of this 19-year-old from Hamburg, Germany, and thats not just because he is 6-foot-6 with a booming game. Zverev can play on all surfaces: He reached his first ATP final at a clay-court tournament in Nice and later defeated Roger Federer?en route to the final of a grass-court event in Halle. After making the third round of the past two majors -- he was stopped by Dominic Thiem at Roland Garros and Tomas Berdych at Wimbledon -- you suspect it wont be long before Zverev makes more of an impression at the Grand Slams. After all, heres someone described by Rafael Nadal as a clear possible future world No. 1, who is amazingly talented and has all the shots. Zverev has yet to win a main-draw match at the US Open.2. Daria KasatkinaWill the 19-year-old Russian make the second week of a Grand Slam for the first time? She has reached the third round of this seasons first three majors, as well as the last 32 at the 2015 US Open, so its surely only a matter of time before she goes deeper into the draw. Kasatskina couldnt have come any closer to cracking the final 16 at Wimbledon. Venus Williams needed all her guile and power to fend off Kasatskina in their third-round match, with the former champion eventually taking the decisive third set 10-8. Still, its not as if Kasatkina missed out on beating Williams for the first time, as she had already done so in Auckland at the start of the season.3. Taylor FritzNo one has ever accused the Californian -- the youngest man inside the top 100 -- of meandering his way through life. At the age of 18, when his friends are preparing to go to college, Fritz is alreaady married (he proposed during this years French Open and the wedding took place just after Wimbledon) and has established himself as a top-level player.dddddddddddd Already this season, Fritz played in his first ATP final following a run on the hard courts of Memphis, where he was stopped by Kei Nishikori. And theres something this ambitious young man will want to accomplish early on at the US Open: winning a match in the main draw of a Grand Slam for the first time.4. Belinda BencicA quarterfinalist at Flushing Meadows in 2014, Bencic is still only 19 years old. As she once mused when trying to explain why Switzerland keeps producing such classy players: There must be something in the chocolate. And yet, after a summer of injuries, its difficult to be sure how she might perform on the cement of New York. After missing the French Open because of a bad back, she retired from a second-round match at Wimbledon after hurting her wrist. She also lost so many training days while healing that she decided it would be best to give the Olympics a pass and instead focus all her efforts on New York.5. Yoshihito NishiokaAt 5-foot-7, the 20-year-old Japanese player is almost a foot shorter than Juan Martin del Potro. Hes also three inches smaller than countryman Nishikori, the 2014 US Open finalist, who at 5-10 himself is considered to be on the short side for a professional tennis player. Still, that lack of stature hasnt stopped Nishioka from breaking into the top 100 or reaching his first ATP semifinal in Atlanta. This summers hard-court swing has seen a new, more stable version of Nishioka. While he was once, in his own words, very emotional, throwing rackets and getting frustrated, he has been much calmer on the court over the past few weeks. This will mark the third consecutive summer he has played at the US Open, but this is the first time he has gained direct acceptance after qualifying in 2014 and 2015. ' ' '