Ray Moore Steps Down

by Savannah

The BNPParibas Open (Indian Wells) released the following statement tonight:

MAR 21, 2016

"Earlier today I had the opportunity to speak with Raymond Moore," said BNP Paribas Open Owner, Larry Ellison. "Ray let me know that he has decided to step down from his roles as CEO and Tournament Director effective immediately. I fully understand his decision."

"Nearly half a century ago, Billie Jean King began her historic campaign for the equal treatment of women in tennis. What followed is an ongoing, multi-generational, progressive movement to treat women and men in sports equally. Thanks to the leadership of Billie Jean, Martina Navratilova, Venus Williams, Serena Williams and so many other great women athletes, an important measure of success has already been achieved. I'm proud to say that it is now a decade long tradition at our tournament at Indian Wells, and all the major tennis tournaments, to pay equal prize money to both the women and the men."

"I would like to personally thank all the great women athletes who fought so hard for so many years in the pursuit of equal prize money in professional tennis. And I'd like to congratulate them on their success. All of us here at the BNP Paribas Open promise to continue working with everyone to make tennis a better sport for everybody," concluded Ellison.

Larry Ellison had no choice but to accept Ray Moore's resignation. If this goes the way things usually go in tennis things will now calm down, tennis reporters will go back to their collective stupor, a new Tournament Director will be named, and life in the world of tennis, will go back to normal.

Let's be clear. Ray Moore, from South Africa, has done a lot of good. He fought apartheid, and stood on what for many was the right side of many causes. He rightly got in trouble for going beyond a statement of fact - the WTA as an organization is poorly run and that it's high level personnel do nothing to promote the game of women's tennis. If he had stopped there I don't think he would've had to step down today. The TD for Dubai is still in place and he said pretty much the same thing a few weeks ago.

What got him in trouble was being a 69 year old man who said things in a way that made him appear to imply WTA players should be performing a sex act on two top ATP players in gratitude for what those two men have done. He compounded his problems by talking about "lady players", an anachronistic and pejorative term for the women athletes who play professional tennis. He then went on to comment on the physical attractiveness of said athletes, something he would never say about the top ATP players when discussing them.

It shouldn't be a surprise to anyone who has been paying attention that misogyny runs deep in the top levels of tennis. All you have to do is listen to the male commentators when they're forced to work WTA matches. John McEnroe had no idea that Venus Williams, a fairly well known woman tennis player, had been diagnosed with Sjogren's Syndrome and that she'd been suffering from it's effects for over seven years. This was after it had been all over the web and in print media. His response when told about it and what it does was pretty much a shrug. When former male players are forced to work WTA matches they spend the entire time talking about men's tennis. This attitude extends to the cameramen who spend a lot of time giving us crotch shots or aiming their camera's down the front of a woman player's kit.

The WTA doesn't get off scot free either. The organization has aided and abetted this misogyny by promoting athletes who they feel men want to see. The criteria for being a WTA superstar is not what you do on court but how you look. Of European descent? Check. Tall? Check. Blonde? Check. It doesn't matter if you are flat as a board you will be presented as the sexiest woman on the planet and the way paved for you to make millions in endorsements. There are exceptions to this rule: Maria Kirilenko and Anna Chakvetadze comes to mind. So does Victoria Azarenka.

And, some will say, what about the hype around players like Sloane Stephens and Madison Keys? The desperation of the USTA shouldn't be confused with what passes for PR from the WTA. The situation with the WTA is different. It is supposed to promote women's tennis, not a particular player. This means making sure the world at large knows about it's players, is aware of their talent, and their athletic ability. It means making sure that your product is viewed by as many people as possible. Instead the WTA hired an outside firm to make deals with TennisTV, Eurosport and other major carriers of tennis content instead of controlling the marketing and image of women's tennis.

I've been writing about the failings of the WTA for years and I've sworn I'd stop writing about their nonsense several times but it seems I'm not able to do that. Every season there is some new incident that shows that the people running the WTA don't give a damn about women's tennis. And if they don't give a damn why should anyone else?

That is why the comments made by Novak Djokovic are right in line with the anti female attitude in tennis. Jo Wilfried Tsonga brought up women's hormones (menstrual cycles) as an issue affecting their play two or three years ago. Gilles Simon also spoke about women not deserving equal pay. They are only saying publicly what is said privately. If the WTA were a competent organization and didn't buy into the attitude by promoting "sexy" players the men couldn't be able to say what they do and get away with it.

Steve Tignor shared this anecdote from Billie Jean King's biography.

...Here’s what Billie Jean King wrote in her autobiography about her attempt to join forces with the men during their boycott of Wimbledon in 1973:

"At this time," she wrote, "I was leading the movement to create the Women’s Tennis Association just as Ashe and several other men had spearheaded the Association of Tennis Professionals the September before.

"Never mind that the so-called Association of Tennis Professionals would not admit female tennis professionals; I went to Arthur and the other leaders of the ATP, and I told them, ‘Look, we want to support you in this fight, so let’s work together and if you do boycott Wimbledon, we’re very likely to walk out with you.’

“Now get the picture: the men have a dispute, and we are offering, free and clear, no strings attached, to stick our necks out and support them ... So it was utterly in the men’s self-interest to accept our assistance. And did they? They wouldn’t even respond. I was never able so much as to get the ATP leaders to sit down and explore matters.”

Has anything changed? Will anything change with the resignation of Ray Moore? Sadly, the only thing I can say is no, nothing will change for the female tennis player until the WTA becomes what I think Ms King and the other founding members of the WTA wanted: an organization that works as hard as it's members do to show women's tennis as a viable, strong sport. Right now WTA members don't have that.

©Savannah's World 2016 All Rights Reserved

Time to Catch Up

by Savannah


Milos Raonic via PORNCHAIKITTIWONGSAKUL

I have been watching tennis. Well kind of. It's hard to switch time zones from one coast of the United States to another, a three hour difference. Changing fourteen hours is another thing altogether.


Zhang Shuai via WTATennis

There have been firsts during my little hiatus. There have been signs that some do have the ability to live up to what their Federations expect of them.


Ernests Gulbis via StPetersburg Open

Some even managed to drop their perceived don't give a damn attitude and hoist a trophy.


Gilles Simon via French Tennis Magazine

Some went into witsec to avoid aliens enraged that once again one of their children has been snatched.


Aga Radwanska via PAP/EPA/JEON HEON-KYUN

Common sense finally won out for one woman who decided that brunettes have more fun and that ombre hair works much better for her than a total blonde dye job. And she managed to lift a trophy.


Joao Sousa via AP/Vincent Thian

Do National firsts trump personal firsts? When they mesh its a beautiful thing no?


Petra Kvitova via AP

If all of tennis believes your personal life will cause your professional life to go on the skids the best way to shut people up is to win a title right? So what if you're still out of shape and your bustline will end up somewhere around your knees before you're thirty if you don't start using a decent sports bra? Oh, and you could stand to lose a few pounds so your gut doesn't hang over the top of your skirt? What was that? He likes it? Well then. Who are we to say? Maybe frump is the new in look but I didn't see it in the September Vogue. Then again Ms Wintour wouldn't let you anywhere near her magazine would she?

AHEM.

At any rate there was a lot of news taking place off court. I guess this is the time of year when Federations, what passes for the tennis press, players and anyone remotely associated with tennis decides to let mere mortals, aka regular fans, know some of what's going on behind the scenes.

An example of this was the announcement that Canadian Michael Downey will be the new chief executive of the British Lawn Tennis Association. Well he does speak English right? I won't go into how different British English is from all other forms of English but I digress.

A few days after Downey was publicly announced an interesting news article was published that said, well read this for yourself.

The Lawn Tennis Association (LTA) is set to announce a two-year funding freeze for grassroots projects just as clubs are bursting at the seams and desperate to capitalise on Andy Murray's Wimbledon triumph.

As LTA chief executive Roger Draper steps down from his £640,000-a-year post tomorrow at the end of a controversial five-year reign at the top of the game's governing body, documents circulated earlier this month warn that the highly contentious move is on its way.

Instead of awarding capital grants to clubs around the country, the LTA will announce that any club wanting to expand or improve its infrastructure will receive only an interest-free loan. Coaches and club chairmen said the move was incomprehensible at a time when interest in tennis was unprecedented.

Sources told The Independent on Sunday that the LTA is prioritising the elite game over grassroots tennis.

The source said: "There is only a certain amount of money at the LTA and something has to give, but it will be a shame if grassroots projects are being hit at a time when we all want to capitalise on the interest around the UK after Andy's fantastic year."

Emphasis mine. That emphasis on the elite game has worked soooo well for them hasn't it? Long time readers will remember the hype when Draper took over. He was going to stop the paying of large stipends and other kinds of support to players who have performed poorly at best on the world stage. I get the feeling nothing has changed.



Obviously feeling no pain Andy Murray, who is British Tennis, Tweeted this picture from his hospital bed after undergoing back surgery to relieve what's been described as a long term back injury. Keep in mind Murray had just played Davis Cup for England. I was going to say his country but he's a Scot by birth and seemingly by inclination. Is there any British man who can step into Murray's shoes in the near future? There's been some hype around Daniel Evans but we'll have to wait and see if he can handle the pressure.

Then there's the WTA. It deserves it's own series here but it gets tiresome writing the same thing over and over for me.

Anyway WTA CEO Stacey Allaster when asked whether women should play three-out-of-five sets at the Grand Slams, Allaster said her players were, “Ready, willing, and able—all you have to do is ask us.”

Really Stacey? Many of your players are dead on their feet if they have to go three sets. Five sets and you'll need paramedics courtside. Why fan the flames at this time especially when even your top players play in mostly empty stadiums (except in Istanbul)? You think people will pay to see who collapses in a heap first in the fourth set?

Meanwhile newly named Spanish Davis Cup Captain Carlos Moyá went after Ivan Lendl and his pupil, the above mentioned Andy Murray. Why? Maybe he was bored?

For me, Murray is neither Novak nor Rafa," Moya writes. "He can become one [of those types of players], but right now he is not. In terms of consistency, he is far away. Rafa has made 12 finals in 13 tournaments and has won 10. Djokovic has lost very few matches. Murray—not just this year—is a player who has trouble mentally enduring throughout the year.”

Moya also criticized Murray's coach, Ivan Lendl. Moya believes Lendl is having Murray focus too much on the majors and not enough on the other tournaments.

The original article is in Spanish . A translation is HERE

If we're going to have throw downs between the previous generation maybe Stacey Allaster can rent out her paramedic team. That'll help any cash flow issue no?

The controversy surrounding Marin Cilic continues. Tennis fans are shocked and appalled that Cilic cited an injury when he withdrew from Wimbledon. YAWN!!!
If Andre Agassi was given a pass by what passed for drug testing and discipline because he tested positive for crystal meth why do people think that Cilic is the first player to ever cite an injury as a reason to withdraw from a competition?

Anyway the ITF has " released the entire decision on Cilic. Read it and make up your own mind. I think Cilic has shown respect for the sport by opting not to play while his appeal is pending unlike others who continue to play.

Sigh. There's even more. Patty Schnyder has surfaced and is separated from her last Rainer. He's living with a new girlfriend on a horse farm somewhere while Patty is said to be teaching tennis somewhere. I've attached a horrid Google translation.

Jo-Wilfried Tsonga continues making somewhat controversial statements " regarding tennis, his this time but of course he threw another player under a bus.

How did Murray win his slams? Because he's surrounded by 14 people. I won't be travelling with that many, but perhaps I'll have a group where I train.

It's complicated for me. I'm not going to pretend otherwise. It's really a bit sad because I train like crazy. I'm an animal physically, but that's not how I'm going to beat the top 2-3. I've tried to see just how far I can go. But there's a point where my body says to me "You're a nice guy, but this isn't possible." I can't go 5 sets with those guys without it affecting my health. I'm not on the same planet as Nadal and Djoko. Their level never drops, so I have to beat them quickly.

I have to be explosive. I have to change the way I work. I have to be quicker, pack more punch, move forward, hurt them.

Some things never change. The link is in French which the machine translations don't screw up as much as they do other languages.


Illustration Igor Kravarik

You didn't think I'd leave this out did you?

I have to say tennis fans are loyal fans. Player abused meth? Still has tons of fans. Player mistakenly takes a controlled substance? Loyal fans. Player and her family attack soon to be ex husband, steals his passport and other items, and it's a plot by the estranged husband to get his hands on her money.

So far only one source has posted a denial by Hingis camp and it wasn't attributed to anyone.
Why did Martina and her family jump her ex? Who knows? It'll probably be revealed by sources overseas not anyone who covers tennis here. There were questions about why she was enshrined in the Tennis Hall of Fame and then went back out on the main tour as a doubles player but have you read any explanation about why that was okay? Me neither.

I did find out that Hingis is known for having a temper. There is the incident from back in the day between her and her then doubles partner Anna Kournikova.

In November 2000 they played an exhibition match in Santiago, Chile, which featured an on-court strop, followed by a locker-room bust-up over a disputed line call. Hingis had asked Kournikova to intervene regarding the decision but the Russian is reported to have concurred with the line judge. At the next changeover Hingis, then the women's No1, hissed: "Do you think you are the queen? Because I am the queen."

Cut to the locker room later and a screaming match that involved vases, flowers and trophies being flung. "It was so bad I thought they were going to beat each other up," said a frightened Jaime Fillol, the former Chilean player, who organised the event.

The details are " HERE

Who says tennis is dull?

YAWWWWNNNNNNN!

by Savannah



I'm starting this post with a shout out to one Jo-Wilfried Tsonga. Why? Yes I'm being bad. I'm sure you know by now that Monsieur Tsonga stretched the FedGod to five sets in their quarterfinal match before losing 6-7(4), 6-4, 6-7(4), 6-3, 3-6.

You see this is what Roger Federer fans were afraid of. In my opinion Tsonga could've won - in theory since I haven't stayed up to see any of the ATP night matches which means I haven't seen Federer play - but he doesn't believe that he can win but he can play hard enough to push Federer and that is what he did. He's not going to roll over and play dead but the head to head is now 9-3 in Federer's favor.

So the big deal of that loss by Tsonga is that Federer had to play five sets and then play again the next day. That is a big deal for a man of Federer's age. All the cosseting, all the favorable treatment given by the TD's in the end meant nothing when Federer faced Andy Murray who had a much easier time against a nervous Jeremy Chardy winning his day match in three sets 6-4, 6-1, 6-2. And Andy Murray despite being treated like the proverbial red haired step child by the tournament was physically ready for a long match. It's amusing to read about the meltdown Federer had cursing and carrying on while Murray (!) just played tennis.

Once again I'm having a "Bitch Stole My Look" moment. All together now " A soft draw does not a champion make". I know Federer fans think his draw was difficult but there was never any doubt in my mind that he had a clear road to the quarter finals. Tomic? Raonic? Davydenko? Paire? Yeah those players were going to give him a hard time. They've been conditioned to think they can't beat him. Tsonga was the first real threat he faced and right behind him came Murray. He wasn't going to survive both.

As for Murray it seems his work in the heat of South Florida has paid off.

Any long time readers know I don't care for Novak Djokovic as a player since the Gael Monfils incident at the US Open. Still I never doubted that he was going to make the Final. Sure some will say I should get over that incident and that he has made himself into a better person. Sorry. As Maya Angelou said "When someone shows you who they are believe them." Roger Federer dropped the mask a bit in last night's match and Djokovic dropped his long ago.

Who do I think is going to win? No idea. I'm not even going to try and stay up or record the match. I'm sure there will be plenty of the players fans doing that. I hope they get a good match.

And So It Begins...

by Savannah

The Final 8. The women who have made it to Istanbul Turkey to fight it out for top dog, the best woman tennis player of 2012.
As usual, they have been divided into two groups.

Red Group:

Victoria Azarenka
Serena Williams
Angelique Kerber
Li Na

White Group:

Maria Sharapova
Agnieszka Radwanska
Petra Kvitova
Sara Errani

I think it's safe to say the Red Group is where the battles will be. Of the four women in that group Li Na is the weakest. She's been listless all year and seems hard pressed to show that she can hold her concentration for an entire match.

Serena hasn't played since the US Open. This can cut two ways. She's had time to rest herself mentally and physically after a grueling summer. A totally rested and focused Serena is a scary proposition. Then again she could be a little rusty from lack of match play so it's also possible her matches could be closer than anticipated.

Victoria Azarenka has to keep her emotions in check. She's going to be in a war. No one is going to give her anything. Her H2H is even at 4 with Li and 1-10 vs Serena. She has a winning H2H, 2-0 against Kerber.

Angelique Kerber is going to have to up her game. She's been found lacking in a lot of her matches towards the end of the year and could crash out of contention early unless Li totally implodes. Their head to head is 5-1 in favor of Li.

As for the White Group there's going to be a two woman race there unless Petra Kvitova beats the demons in her head and Sara Errani manages to play fearlessly.

Maria Sharapova owns the head to head against Aga 7-2 and there's no reason to think that pownage will change. Pova should blow Errani off the court - they've only played once and Pova won.

The biggest wild card in the group is Petra Kvitova who, as I said earlier this year, doesn't care for the limelight and tends to lose her way mentally during a match.

As regular readers know this is not the blog to rely on if you can legally wager on tennis. My opinions are just that, opinions. Anything can happen during a round robin tournament. I'm hoping for competitive play from both groups.

Play starts tommorrow with the following line up:

Order of Play Tuesday, October 23, 2012

Stadium (from 17.00hrs)

1. Agnieszka Radwanska vs. Petra Kvitova
2. Serena Williams vs. Angelique Kerber
3. Maria Sharapova vs. Sara Errani

End Of Year Tournaments


Venus Williams won her first title in a while in Luxembourg despite problems with her back.


Juan Martin del Potro won in Vienna.


Andreas Seppi won Moscow for the ATP


Caroline Wozniacki won the WTA Moscow crown


Tomas Berdych won Stockholm

I saw absolutely none of the above tournaments. I'm not proud to say that but after the US Open it takes a lot to get me to watch tennis. Of all the wins the biggest, in my opinion, is Berdych defeating Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in Stockholm.

Caroline Wozniacki defeated Samantha Stosur in Moscow. I think it's safe to say that Stosur's US Open win was a fluke.

Venus is supposed to beat Monica Niculescu no matter what her physical condition.

Delpo played Qualifier Grega Žemlja in his final.

Seppi beat the erratic Thomaz Belluci in his final.

Silly season? I wouldn't say that since it's insulting to the men and women who fight and claw their way to finals when to top players have other things to think about at the end of the year.

The men are playing in Basel and Valencia this week, and Paris next week. I hope to get to see Juan Carlos Ferrero play his final tournament in Valencia.

The Asian Swing Part 2

by Savannah



I don't mind staying up late if it's to witness history.

I intended to watch only one set of the Tokyo final and thought that I might be able to watch the entire match when Japan's Nishikori Kei raced to a 3-0 lead in the first set.

Then came the visit from the trainer and suddenly it seemed that Kei had forgotten what he'd been doing at the start of the match. He managed to hang in and force a tiebreak to decide the set and won a tense breaker 7-6(5).

But in the second set the man who had been scampering all over the court and creating some of the most amazing angles in recent memory disappeared. Milos Raonic was able to assert himself and use his serve effectively and take the second set 6-3.

So there I was looking at the clock and saying to myself that I'd be kicking myself if Nishikori became the first Japanese man in 40 years to win Tokyo. I wanted the chance to see the historic moment for myself.

I was rewarded with seeing the Nishikori who started the match come back. He feasted on Raonic's second serve and kept Milos pinned back unless he wanted him to come in, at which point he would unleash one of the many amazing shots he got off during the match. You could make the argument that Raonic wasn't thinking as clearly as he had been when he defeated Andy Murray the day before but that really wasn't the case. Nishikori wasn't allowing him to do what he wanted and a frustrated, emotional Milos was caught with no Plan B. Nishikori won the third set 6-0, an amazing feat against a big server like Raonic.

It was a stunning performance and one that I'm sure will get Asian fans buzzing. It followed on the heels of China's Zhang Ze making the quarterfinals in Beijing. Zhang has been given a wild card into Shanghai and it will be very interesting to see how deep he goes into the draw. I wonder if more Asian men begin to do well on the tour if fan interest will increase. It was interesting to see the array of important men sitting courtside last night. The stands were also packed to the rafters. It was a great match for Asian tennis and a great , innovative match for tennis in general. It was nice to see a mental AND physical match for a change.



I went on a bathroom break this morning and had just enough time to Victoria Azarenka defeat Maria Sharapova 6-3, 6-1. When I turned on the match Sharapova was down 5-0 in the second set. I expected a much closer match. Since all I saw was the very end of the second set I can't comment on the match. The comm was saying that Sharapova's game wasn't working against Azarenka. With the score line that's the only assumption that can be made.

I wonder if the tennis media will be as upset about this loss by Pova as it was when she lost in spectacular fashion to Serena Williams this summer? No? I don't think so either. Although Azarenka isn't one of their faves she's not Serena.



I never had any intention of watching the men's final in Beijing because there was no doubt in my mind who would win. I only watch him play when I have no choice. I wasn't breaking night to watch him this morning even if he was playing Jo-Wilfried Tsonga. The final score was 7-6(4), 6-2.

This and That



This is a picture of Roger Federer surrounded by security in Shanghai. The tight security was necessary because some nut job made threats against tennis in general and Federer in particular. Here is the story from
USA Today

11:40PM EST October 4. 2012 - Security was tightened around Roger Federer after the world No. 1 received an online death threat prior to a tournament in Shanghai, according to various reports.

Tournament director Yang Yibin confirmed the threat to the Shanghai Youth Daily. An anonymous poster using the name "Blue Cat Polytheistic Religion Founder 07" posted the threat on the popular Chinese website, Baidu.com. "On October 6, I plan to assassinate Federer for the purpose of tennis extermination," the posting read.

The threat was accompanied by a doctored photo of a axe-wielding executioner standing next to a decapitated Federer. The posting was taken seriously enough for the tournament to increase security around Federer and other players, but Yang told the newspaper he hopes it "was an oral threat only."

I hope the idjut is captured soon.

Shanghai Masters

Obviously Federer is in Shanghai. There was no way he wasn't going to be there to defend his ranking no matter how "wounded, tired and exhausted" he is. As usual he has a cakewalk to at least the quarters. If you haven't seen the draw I've posted it below.

[1] Roger Federer/BYE

[WC] Ze Zhang vs Qualifier

Denis Istomin vs Carlos Berlocq

[13] Stanislas Wawrinka vs Albert Ramos

[10] Marin Cilic vs Qualifier

Martin Klizan vs Thomaz Bellucci

Fernando Verdasco vs Go Soeda

[7] Juan Monaco/Bye

[3] Andy Murray/Bye

Florian Mayer vs Bernard Tomic

Alexandr Dolgopolov vs Jeremy Chardy

[15] Gilles Simon vs Jurgen Melzer

[11] Richard Gasquet vs Qualifier

[WC] Lleyton Hewitt vs Radek Stepanek

Kevin Anderson vs Jarkko Nieminen

[8] John Isner/Bye

[5] Jo-Wilfried Tsonga/Bye

Benoit Paire vs Qualifier

Marcos Baghdatis vs Fabio Fognini

[12] Milos Raonic vs Qualifier

[14] Kei Nishikori vs [WC] Wu Di

Sam Querrey vs [WC] Zhe Li

Andreas Seppi vs Qualifier

[4] Tomas Berdych/Bye

[6] Janko Tipsarevic/Bye

Mikhail Youzhny vs Victor Troicki

Tommy Robredo vs Qualifier

[9] Nicolas Almagro vs Tommy Haas

[16] Philipp Kohlschreiber vs Ryan Harrison

Feliciano Lopez vs Alejandro Falla

Grigor Dimitrov vs Pablo Andujar

[2] Novak Djokovic/Bye

I'm sure Stan Wawrinka is tired of always being the foil. I know I'm tired of him playing that role. Keep in mind almost everyone in this draw has played the last two weeks. Some made the quarter finals, semis and finals. No mercy from this tournament though.

End Note



This is one of my favorite pictures. Rafael Nadal takes us inside his trophy room to show off his new kicks.
Have fun figuring out what trophies we can see on the shelf there.