NBTA Alumnae Sharapova And Jankovic To Face Off At Aussie Open Semifinals

U.S.A., Jan 24, 2008 - (ABN Newswire) - BRADENTON, FL -- (MARKET WIRE) -- 01/23/08 -- Maria Sharapova and Jelena Jankovic, both former students of the Nick Bollettieri Tennis Academy (NBTA), will face off against each other in the semifinal round of the Australian Open on Thursday, January 24th at the Rod Laver Arena in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.

Sharapova, the tournament fifth seed and a former world-ranked #1, overcame the current world number one Justine Henin in the quarterfinals to advance to the semis. Henin has noted that Sharapova will likely be the "one to beat" in the final match of the tournament. A native of Russia, Sharapova began her training at the NBTA at the age of nine.

Additionally, fellow NBTA alumna Daniela Hantuchova, the world #9 from Slovakia, is currently posting her best singles performance at the Australian Open since making the quarterfinals in 2003. She will face off against Ana Ivanovic in the semis. Hantuchova first began training at the NBTA more than ten years ago.

There is a 75% chance that the women's champion of the 2008 Australian Open will be an alumna of the NBTA.

NBTA is unique to the world of tennis training. Nick himself has trained and coached nine #1 ranked professionals. It's a testament to the success of the IMGA training methodology that three of the four women in the 2008 Aussie Open semifinals are alumnae of the NBTA.

IMG Academies enrolls nearly nine hundred students from over sixty different countries, which is to say nothing of the thousands of juniors, adults, and professionals that train on a weekly basis during the year. Although the Academies started with the NBTA in 1978, they now offer golf, baseball, performance, basketball, and soccer; softball and swimming will open for Spring 2008.

For more information, please contact Priscilla Kuehnel at 941.752.2604 or by e-mail at Priscilla.Kuehnel@imgworld.com.

About IMG Academies

IMG Academies, a division of IMG, is the world's largest and most successful multi-sport, training and education camp/academy business. Spread out over 300 acres in Bradenton, Florida, the IMG Academies complex encompasses the Nick Bollettieri Tennis Academy, the David Leadbetter Golf Academy, The Baseball, Basketball, Soccer, Softball, and Swimming Academies, International Performance Institute, The Pendleton School, The Wellness Spa, Academy Realty, IMG Academies Golf and Country Club and Crested Butte Mountain Sports.

More information about IMG Academies is available at www.imgacademies.com.

About IMG

IMG is the world's premier sports, entertainment and media enterprise.

Operating in 30 countries, IMG's diverse businesses include: consulting services; event ownership and management; fashion events and models representation; licensing; golf course design; and client representation in golf, tennis, broadcasting, speakers, European football, rugby, cricket, motor sports, coaching, Olympic sports and action sports. IMG Academies are the world's largest and most advanced multi-sport training and educational facilities, delivering world-class sports training experiences to more than 12,000 junior, collegiate, adult, and professional athletes each year.

IMG's media and entertainment operations include content production subsidiaries Darlow Smithson Productions and Tiger Aspect Productions.

Globally, IMG produces and distributes more than 11,000 hours of sports, documentary, drama, comedy, entertainment, popular factual and children's content annually. IMG also represents the broadcast rights to many of the world's premier sporting events and has the world's largest sports archive with more than 250,000 hours of footage.

Forstmann Little & Co. purchased IMG in 2004.

More information about IMG is available at www.imgworld.com.

For more information, please contact: Priscilla Kuehnel 941.752.2604 Priscilla.Kuehnel@imgworld.com Copyright © Hugin AS 2008. All rights reserved.

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