Crane announced that he had agreed to a letter of intent to buy the Hooks. | Forum

After enduring what he describes as one of his worst years on the circuit, Rohan Bopanna is hopeful of bouncing back next season in the company of a new partner in Uruguays Pablo Cuevas. Chargers T-shirts . Bopanna finished 2016 without a single tournament win and his individual doubles ranking has plummeted to 28. Having split with Romanian Florin Mergea, his partner for a large part of the last two years, Bopanna is now counting on improved results with Cuevas, who has a singles ranking of 22 and has won a mens doubles Grand Slam previously - the 2008 French Open with Luis Horna.I could have surely done much better, Bopanna told ESPN in Bangalore, where he is on a short break. I am disappointed in the fact that I couldnt win a tournament this year though I made some finals. Changing partners constantly after Wimbledon doesnt really help. It was challenging, but something for me to learn from and keep moving forward.Florin (Mergea) sent me an email right after US Open that he would like to find a different partner, which I completely agree with. As an individual player if someone wants to make that change and look for something different, they have every right to do so. Hence I had to find a new partner and hence Pablo (Cuevas) came into the picture. He has a similar game to Florin, who served and stayed back. I am used to this kind of partnership, so I thought I would stick to a similar type of partnership and see if it helps me.Bopanna has also decided to make changes to his methods and approach in his quest to overcome the downward spiral in his recent performances. After playing on the ad-court (left side of the court) in recent years, he will switch over to operating from the deuce court (right side) next year. He has had success in previous partnerships with Mahesh Bhupathi and Daniel Nestor by operating from the deuce court and is gambling on a similar outcome by returning to the formula.The 36-year-old has also made changes to his training regime by experimenting at the fitness fight club over the last few days. Bopanna says one of his main goals for the remainder of his career is to win a mens doubles Grand Slam title, though he concedes it will be an uphill task on an increasingly competitive circuit.If you look at the Grand Slams for the past 3-4 years there hasnt been a team that has won consistently, he says. That clearly shows the field is getting stronger, many more singles players are playing doubles. So you have to work with that, hence me getting a singles player as partner might just help me.But despite all the tennis he has played this year, Bopanna does miss not being a part of the ATP World Tour Finals, where he has reached the mens doubles final twice, in 2012 and 2015.My main focus is to play the Masters series and doing well in the Grand Slams. The ATP tour Finals is going on this week and I will be wrong to say I am not missing it. Last year was a great experience as was 2012. So when I am watching on TV, I feel a little let down by myself, not being a part of it. So that is my goal for next year, to get back into the top eight teams.Rio pain One of Bopannas biggest disappointments this year was missing out on a medal at the Rio Olympics. Having lost in the first round of the mens doubles with Leander Paes, Bopanna and Sania Mirza reached the semifinals of the mixed doubles before going down to Rajeev Ram and Venus Williams after taking the first set. A day later, they were beaten in the bronze medal play-off by the Czech pair of Lucie Hradecka and Radek Stepanek. Bopanna admits that the memories of those two matches in Rio continue to haunt him.I think it is a high point and a very low point, he says. Sometimes its better to lose the first round than to come so close. When someone brings up the topic, I do feel really hurt. It would have made a big difference for the country to win a medal. As athletes we go out there to try and win a medal for India, so coming fourth was very hard to take.Looking at the overall picture we had a better chance in the semifinals match against Venus and Rajeev. In the bronze match it was very hard, sometimes you are reliving the moments from the earlier match. It was on the same court and less than 24 hours later. We gave it our best shot. Credit to Venus, who really stepped it up, and gave confidence to Rajeev to play his game also.After their run in Rio and previous success at events such as the Hopman cup and the International Premier Tennis League (IPTL), there have been murmurs of Bopanna and Mirza forging a partnership for the four Grand Slam tournaments next year. Bopanna, who played with different partners at each of the slams last year, says that while he would relish the opportunity to join forces with Mirza, he understands why the world number one would not want to split up her pairing with Croatias Ivan Dodig.They are a good team, they reached the final of the French Open, he says. You cant break up a team just like that. Everybody wants to play with someone who is playing really good tennis and Sania is playing her best tennis right now. If there is an opportunity to play mixed doubles together surely it will be a great chance. Mixed doubles is there are only four slams. Combined ranking is important too. My ranking is much lower, Ivan is higher, so obviously they will be seeded higher if they play together rather than if I team up with her.Although he will be 40 at the time, Bopanna hasnt given up hopes of playing at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics provided he can stay fit and healthy. In the immediate future though, he is keen to get some down time in before the third season of the IPTL begins at the end of the month. Having missed the Davis Cup World Group play off tie against Spain in Delhi with an injury in September, Bopanna is keen to get back in the mix when the Indian team assembles for their next tie in February against New Zealand in Pune.If I am fit, I will be 100% available, he insists. I am looking forward to the tie, it is on hard courts. I read they want to have three singles players in the squad, which leaves place for only one doubles specialist. So we will have to wait and see. Chargers Jerseys Store . Brett Kulak and Jackson Houck of the Vancouver Giants were each charged with assault causing bodily harm on Aug. 18, according to the B.C. court services. Chargers Jerseys Sale . This should be celebrated because it will not always be this way. With the amount of money given to players by their clubs these days, it is a wonder that so many of those teams allow the sport to continue to take away many of their assets so they can play for a different team in the middle of their season. http://www.cheaplosangeleschargersjerseys.com/ . -- Ryan Blaney provided more evidence that Penske Racings No.HOUSTON -- Reid Ryan choked back tears as he was introduced as president of his beloved Astros, the team he grew up watching in the days when his Hall of Fame father, Nolan Ryan, starred as a pitcher for Houston. "My ties with the Astros go all the way back to 1980 when my dad came over," Reid Ryan said. "Today really is a dream come true because you grow up an Astros fan if youre in Houston. Everybodys got their hometown team, and the Astros were mine. This is just a very special day." Astros owner Jim Crane certainly appreciates having the Ryan name associated with his team again, but was quick to point out that Reid Ryan is much more than simply the son of a famous ball player. "Its great to have your kid in the business, but now he can prove himself as Reid Ryan," Crane said. "His dads is a famed player, a very, very famous guy, but Reids the kind of guy that stands on his own, and I think youll see him stand alone in this position and do a great job." Since 1998, Ryan, the eldest son of Nolan Ryan, has been the CEO of Ryan-Sanders Baseball, which owns the Triple-A Round Rock Express and Double-A Corpus Christi Hooks. The 41-year-old Reid Ryan helped create the Express, an affiliate of the Texas Rangers and the Hooks, an Astros affiliate. Don Sanders, who co-owns Ryan-Sanders Baseball with Nolan Ryan, raved about Reid Ryan. He pointed out the work he did in luring fans to see his teams, which have often been ranked at the top of the minor leagues in attendance. Reid Ryan also came up with the idea for the Rangers to play two exhibition games at the Alamodome in San Antonio in March that drew more than 75,000 fans. "If I were going to buy a baseball team and I could have anybody in the country to run it, hed be the guy," Sanders said. "Hes just awfully good. I dont know that in this arena that anybody is any better." Reid Ryan takes over a job where he will be tasked with helping increase attendance and win back disillusioned fans to a team that has finished with 100 losses in each of the last two seasons and has the worst record in the majors again this year. He acknowledged that Houstons problems are complex and that theres no way he could know how he will work to get things back on track on his first day. But he did share a couple of keys that he will focus on.& "We have to put the fans first in everything we do and then weve got make sure were taking care of the players, because its all about the players," Reid Ryan said. Wholesale Chargers Jerseys. . "If you dont have the players, youre really not going to have anything." While the team has been baseballs worst for the last couple years, Reid Ryan has been impressed with how the infusion of quality prospects from Houstons many recent trades has improved the organizations farm system. "We had a stretch where we finished last five years in a row in Corpus Christi, and it was tough and we didnt have a lot of prospects," Reid Ryan said. "Then (general manager) Jeff (Luhnow) started making some of the hard decisions he made ... now theres a lot of talent, a lot more than Ive seen in my time with the Astros." His father played for the Astros from 1980-88 and spent four years beginning in 2004 as a special assistant to the general manager in Houston before joining the front office of the Texas Rangers. His famous dad and former Astros great Craig Biggio were on hand Friday for the announcement. Though Nolan Ryan now works for Houstons in-state rival about 200 miles up the road, he still has a keen interest in the team he once played for. "He grew up an Astros fan. Im still an Astros fan. I follow them on a day-to-day basis," Nolan Ryan said. "Im very connected to the team and very connected to what goes on here in Houston with the baseball climate. So thats a part of us and will always be a part of us." Nolan Ryan said he hasnt shared any advice with his son about his new job, but he is very excited to see his son working for his former team. "Youre very proud when you see one of your children get an opportunity of this nature," Nolan Ryan said. "Im very proud of the fact that our kids grew up in baseball and have a relationship with baseball and enjoy it and want to be associated with it. So that makes you feel good." The younger Ryan takes over the position that was left vacant when George Postolos resigned on Monday. Also on Friday, Crane announced that he had agreed to a letter of intent to buy the Hooks. The sale is pending MLB and Ryan-Sanders shareholders approval. The Astros plan to assume control of operations of the Hooks at the end of the 2013 season. Cheap NFL JerseysCheap NFL Jerseys China Cheap Jerseys From ChinaCheap NFL Jerseys Authentic Wholesale Jerseys China Cheap NFL Jerseys China NFL Cheap Jerseys' ' '