First, tennis players will not let anyone get bored. In early June they will finish competing for victory at the French Open (Roland Garros). And at the end of the month they will move from clay to grass courts and begin the contest for the title of winner of the England Open Championship (better known as Wimbledon). In the pause between these two mega-tournaments, traditional warm-up tournaments will take place.
Secondly, footballers will not let a sports fan mope. Although national championships have ceased, football life will continue in June. In the first half of the month, matches of the qualifying tournament for the 2006 World Cup will be held around the globe. The national team of Ukraine faces matches against Kazakhstan (June 4 in Kiev) and Greece (June 8 in Piraeus, a port suburb of Athens). And after the 2006 World Cup qualifying matches, the Confederations Cup, held once every two years, will start in Germany, with representatives from all continents participating. Around the same time, the World Championship among football players who are no older than 20 this year will take place in the Netherlands. The Ukrainian national team also participates in this forum.
ENGLAND
On the eve of the England Open Tennis Championship (Wimbledon), starting June 20 in London, preliminary tennis tournaments on grass will take place in several cities across the country.
In Birmingham, June 6-12, women will compete for a $200,000 prize fund (last year the main prize went to Russian Maria Sharapova). At the same time, men in London will be competing for €659,000 (the winner gets €80,500). Interestingly, over the last five years, only two players have won this tournament called the Stella Artois Championship - Australian Lleyton Hewitt (three times) and American Andy Roddick (twice).
The following week (June 13-20), men will compete in Nottingham and women in Eastbourne. The men's prize fund will be €302,000, and the women's $585,000. Last year's winners were Thai Paradorn Srichaphan and Russian Svetlana Kuznetsova.
And finally, on June 20, Wimbledon itself begins - one of the oldest tennis tournaments. The prize fund in the women's tour is not yet known, but for men the figures have already been announced - 4,708,630 pounds sterling. The winner in the men's tour is entitled to 630,000 pounds. The main heroes in recent years were Swiss Roger Federer (2003-2004), Australian Lleyton Hewitt (2002), Croatian Goran Ivanisevic (2001), American Pete Sampras (1993-1995 and 1997-2000), and Dutchman Richard Krajicek (1996). The reigning women's champion is Russian Maria Sharapova - a potential world number one.
GERMANY
In Halle, Germany, on June 6, a men's tennis tournament with a prize fund of €659,000 will start. The winner will receive €96,000 (last year the main prize went to Swiss Roger Federer).
In the summer of 2006, the football World Cup will take place in Germany. To test the country's readiness for such a major event, in June 2005 the traditional tournament with the participation of the best national teams from different continents - the Confederations Cup - will take place on German soil. Participants will include hosts - the German national team, European champions - the Greek national team, world champions - the Brazilian national team, African champions - the Tunisian national team, Oceania champions - the Australian national team, Asian champions - the Japanese national team, North American champions - the Mexican national team, and South American champions - the Argentine national team.
The preliminary stage matches (two groups of four teams) will take place in Cologne, Leipzig, Monchengladbach, Hanover, Frankfurt, and Nuremberg from June 15 to 22. Then the top two teams will meet in the semifinals on June 25 in Nuremberg and June 26 in Hanover. The third-place match will take place on June 29 in Leipzig, and the final will be held in Frankfurt on the same day.
NETHERLANDS
The World Championship among youth national teams (players under 20), held once every two years, will this time take place in the Netherlands from June 10 to July 2. Our main interest in this tournament is caused by the presence among the participants of the Ukrainian national team, which is in the same group as the teams of Turkey, China, and Panama. The charges of Oleksiy Mykhaylychenko will play against Panama on June 11 in Utrecht, against China on June 14 in the same Utrecht, and against Turkey on June 17 in Doetinchem.
In general, the group stage matches will be held from June 10 to 18. Australia, Benin, Japan, and the Netherlands were drawn into the first group (matches will be played in Kerkrade and Tilburg). The Ukrainians play in the second, in the third - Chile, Honduras, Morocco, and Spain (matches in Doetinchem and Utrecht), in the fourth - Argentina, USA, Germany, and Egypt (matches in Enschede and Emmen). Finally, the draw put Canada, Colombia, Italy, and Syria into the fifth group (matches in Tilburg and Kerkrade), and Brazil, Korea, Nigeria, and Switzerland into the sixth (matches in Emmen and Enschede).
The top two teams from each group advance to the Round of 16, along with four of the six teams that finish third. Matches in this round are scheduled for June 21-22 in Enschede, Tilburg, Doetinchem, and Emmen. The quarterfinals will be held June 24-25 in Utrecht, Tilburg, Kerkrade, and Enschede, and the semifinals on June 28 in Utrecht and Kerkrade. The third-place match and the final are scheduled for July 2 and will take place in the same city - Utrecht, whose stadium truly deserves special attention.
In June (13-20), the traditional tennis tournament Ordina Open will take place on Dutch soil. In the men's tour, the prize fund will be €302,000, and in the women's - 170,000. Last year's tournament winners were Frenchman Michael Llodra and Frenchwoman Mary Pierce.
CANADA
After the latest round of the Formula 1 World Championship, which concluded this past weekend - the Monaco Grand Prix (Kimi Räikkönen took the win, Nick Heidfeld and Mark Webber also made the podium, Fernando Alonso retained the overall lead, and Räikkönen moved up to second) - the world's top drivers will move to North America for a while. In Montreal, Canada, at the Gilles Villeneuve Circuit, free practice, qualifying sessions and the Canadian Grand Prix itself will take place on June 10-12.
RUSSIA
A relatively young sport (not an Olympic one, admittedly) - bowling - is gradually gaining new followers. It is pleasing that today many bowling alleys in Moscow can rival well-established foreign clubs in terms of equipment. It is hardly surprising that continental championships are already being held, one of which - the European Men's Championship - will take place in Moscow. This is a serious matter that requires a careful approach, and so the European Championship will stretch over almost two weeks (starting on June 2 and finishing on the 14th).
The Russian Football Championship is one of the few in Europe that operates on a spring-autumn schedule. And so it does not stop in the summer. In June, by the way, three rounds are scheduled. Thus, on the 11th, a very interesting match is expected in St. Petersburg between Zenit and Moscow's Spartak. And the next day in Moscow, the local club of the same name will host Samara's Krylya Sovetov.
On June 15, the postponed round 22 match, previously scheduled for autumn, will take place between Moscow's Lokomotiv and Zenit. On the 18th, the next scheduled matches will be played, among which the most interesting should be the game between Moscow's Torpedo and Spartak. On June 19, in St. Petersburg, Zenit will host Moskva.
On June 22, the next set of postponed matches will be played, among which the Moscow match between Lokomotiv and Krylya Sovetov is worth highlighting. On June 25-26, the matches of round 13 will take place. The most interesting games are between Moskva and Torpedo (on the 25th) and between Ramenskoye's Saturn and Lokomotiv (on the 26th).
USA
Following the Canadian round of the World Championship, a week later, Formula 1 will visit the United States. The United States Grand Prix will be held at the Indianapolis circuit on June 17-19. This round will be the final one in the first half of the 2005 World Championship, and after the race in Indianapolis, Formula 1 fans can look forward to rounds in France, England, Germany, Hungary, Turkey, Italy, Belgium, Brazil, Japan, and China.
FRANCE
At the end of May, the French Open tennis tournament kicked off in Paris - one of the most popular and prestigious tournaments in the world. The prize money in the men's singles is €6,370,980, of which the winner will receive €880,000 (a first-round loser will get €13,100). Last year's Roland Garros champions were Gastón Gaudio of Argentina in the men's draw and Russia's Anastasia Myskina in the women's.
This year, the current top three Ukrainian women made it into the main draw of the women's singles - Yuliana Fedak (world No. 79), Tetyana Perebyinis (No. 80), and Alona Bondarenko (No. 93). Fedak's opponent in the first round is Russian Elena Likhovtseva, Bondarenko will face Bulgarian Sesil Karatantcheva, and Perebyinis will play Swiss Emmanuelle Gagliardi. Two more Ukrainian tennis players took part in the qualifying round - Olga Lazarchuk and Yulia Beygelzimer. But Lazarchuk did not get past the first round of qualifying, while Beygelzimer was stopped in the second. In the men's singles, the only Ukrainian representative was Sergiy Stakhovsky, who is leaning toward changing his citizenship (to Czech). But Stakhovsky also failed to advance past the first round of qualifying.