USTA Names New Head of Player Development

by Savannah

A few things jumped out at me reading the article by Tom Perrotta of the Wall Street Journal on the appointment of Martin Blackman as head of Player Development for the USTA.

First of course is his background in USTA politics and his past as Senior Director of Talent Identification for that organization.

Second is the endorsement by Nick Bollettieri who raves about Blackman bringing "stability".

Mr. Blackman is moving his family to the new USTA training facility in Lake Nona, Florida, something that was high on the must do list of the USTA.

Then there is this:

Blackman said he would try to strengthen partnerships with private coaches and ask current and former American champions for advice. He mentioned Agassi, Courier, Sampras, Lindsay Davenport, Venus and Serena Williams, Andy Roddick, and Blake.

“I’m really going to listen to what they have to say about what has worked,” Blackman said.

American tennis champions have traditionally trained with private coaches. But as the country’s performance in pro tennis, particularly men’s tennis, plummeted in the late 2000s, the USTA decided to spend more on development and hired McEnroe in 2008.

And this:

In the years since, McEnroe endured criticism over the program’s structure, player turnover, and sometimes strained relationships with private coaches, players, and parents, who felt that the USTA would only support players enrolled in the program, rather than those who sought partial help but wanted to keep private coaches.

In 2013, McEnroe adopted a new strategy: fewer full-time students and more time devoted to outside players and coaches who could visit and train.

Though American men’s tennis continues to struggle, the U.S. has a promising crop of junior boys, including 13 ranked in the top 100 of the International Tennis Federation’s 18-and-under rankings and three in the top 10. Women’s tennis is strong, with the Williams sisters and young pros like Madison Keys, 20, and Sloane Stephens, 22.

I'm wondering what insight Pete Sampras and Andre Agassi can give though. As far as can be determined Sampras was as clean cut as he appeared. We all know Agassi used illegal drugs while playing and was never called out or sanctioned for his behavior. Today Sampras would be called a servebot and Agassi would be famous as a scalp in the WADA Anti Drug plan. Jim Courier, because of Davis Cup, is more familiar with the men's game and the strategies behind it than either of those former players.

Both Andy Roddick and James Blake played until relatively recently but towards the end, with the men's game becoming more strategic and based on skills US players don't have their play could best be described as anachronistic. With the hiring of Mr. Blackman I don't see the level of US tennis changing much if at all.

In the end however it seems to be that the most important thing for US men's tennis is the Benjamins. The US system seems to demand that players have their own coaches who are free to take money from the USTA, use its facilities, and duck all the blame for the current state of men's tennis.

There is going to be a drop in the level of tennis after 2016 and it still seems to me that the USTA and it's coaches are preparing for that drop. Their fervent hope would appear to be that the "hit hard and harder" approach, "Serve Bot Tennis" if you will, will be on the ascendancy again and US men will be able to compete on an international level once more.
That to me is what is most important to the tennis establishment in the United States. They care the most about the men's game and don't really care about women's tennis although it's nice that they're including Lindsay Davenport in the discussion. It should be noted that current women's number one Serena Williams is not being coached by an American and has changed her approach to the game. Her new hitting partner, Robbye Poole is American though.

It seems to me that Mr. Blackman is the establishment choice. They know him. He's not going to upset the apple cart. The money will keep flowing to private coaches and all will be right with the world. Will this improve the state of tennis in the United States? It depends a lot on what players like Francis Tiafoe achieve going forward. I don't think you'll see results from players like him for another five years or so. Meanwhile the Europeans keep coming and rising up the rankings with the ability to construct points, superior court knowledge and mental abilities and overall better games even in their late teens. We already know about Chung Hyeon, Borna Ćorić, Elias Ymer and Alexander Zverev. They're making waves while US prospects like Ryan Harrison are just getting past the stage where superior play from an opponent results in tantrums.

Somehow I get the feeling that as long as Mr. Blackman keeps the old ways in place he'll be fine. After all, it is always "all about the Benjamins baby".

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Waiting For The Other Shoe To Drop

by Savannah

So this happened.

Matt Cronin ‏@TennisReporters

Breaking: Madison Keys is now being coached by Lindsay Davenport who will work during off season but @LDavenport76 wont be full time in 2015

Update from Tom Perrotta on twitter:

Madison Keys now employs Lindsay Davenport & Wim Fissette (Clijsters/Halep). Shared coaching. Wim in Europe, Lindsay in U.S., both at Slams.

Update 2:

Ben Rothenberg ‏@BenRothenberg

Change of plans for Madison Keys: she will be coached by Lindsay Davenport and Lindsay's husband Jon Leach, not by Lindsay + Wim Fissette.

@TennisReporters

Davenport had foot surgery so Jon hitting with Keys, likes him lot, decides 2 stay with Jon. Will eventually higher members 4 small tournies.

@TennisReporters

Davenport had foot surgery so Jon hitting with Keys, likes him lot, decides 2 stay with Jon. Will eventually higher members 4 small tournies.

Lindsay Davenport ‏@LDavenport76

@TennisReporters @BenRothenberg well my hubby still has a day job, so we say helping his wife out and keeping me & @Madison_Keys in line

I hope that one about she likes hitting with Lindsay's husband so now he's her part time coach isn't true. That is not how you choose a coach, not when you're poised for the big time like Madison is.

I don't think I mentioned in yesterday's post that Eugenie Bouchard signed with IMG for modeling and tennis and will be working with Serena Williams agent Jill Smoller (the blonde woman you see in Serena's courtside box all the time) and Brad Slater.
That news broke after I started my year end post.

There are a lot of people who think these developments mean Wim Fissette will end up coaching Bouchard and I tend to agree with them. I don't think anyone wants to coach Sloane let alone someone who is used to coaching at the highest levels of the sport.

That said I think Bouchard has the same problem Sloane does. She's a "stah" and knows what is best for her. In other words she doesn't listen. Bouchard has so much wrong with her game she needs a firm hand. If Fissette ends up coaching her full time she's going to have to get over herself.

Still I have to wonder if US players are being pressured to work with US based coaches. It's just something I thought of in passing.

This is still a developing story. When they announce who will be coaching Bouchard I'll post here.

Richard Gasquet and The Davis Cup

Sacre Bleu!!! The French have discovered they have a problem with their male players. Yesterday @markalannixon posted translations of an interview where it was revealed that Yannick Noah, who has been busy doing a lot of non tennis things has offered his services. Whether he's done this before I don't know. What he said pissed off Arnaud Clément though.

Then there were the comments made by Richard Gasquet.

"If Yannick wants to help in one way or another, he just needs to call the players. We all need people like him. He has a lot to add. I was with him from time to time in 2007. He goes to a lot of concerts and I see him still occasionally. It's nice. I know Gaël talked to him this year."

Did his comments bother you?

"Not at all. I adore Yannick. I understand what he was trying to say even if the way said it was a bit delicate. He can help obviously. But we don't know how much he wants to invest or return to tennis. He can't criticise our preparation. We were at 100%. And Arnaud is still a good captain. I have no worries about him. We, the players, re-elected him just before the final, and that shows everything's fine."

Some involved with tennis like Mouratoglou have offered their services to help French tennis ...

"It would be nice if Mouratoglou coached some French players. It would be easier to take what he said. He lasted two months with Chardy. Let him prove himself by forming players. Serena isn't very complicated ..."

So Noah, who said that the French have difficulties, is okay but Patrick isn't. That last comment about Serena is probably something he'll wish he had back.

Here is the link to @markalannixon's translation. Translation of Gasquet interview from L'Equipe

It's the holiday season and everyone is stressed so I leave you with something to make you smile.
John Isner has hired Justin Gimelstob as his coach.
See I told you I'd make you laugh.

This and That

by Savannah


Spain will travel to the Czech Republic to play for the Davis Cup.

Somehow I don't think that the final will be played on European red clay. I'm thinking the Czech's might use a hockey rink.

In Other News...

Mahesh Bhupathi and Rohan Bopanna will pay for their actions leading up to the Olympics.

NEW DELHI (AP) -- The All India Tennis Association says it will not consider veterans Mahesh Bhupathi and Rohan Bopanna for Davis Cup for two years after both refused to partner with Leander Paes in doubles at the London Olympics.

The association said in a statement Sunday it had "decided not to consider" Bhupathi and Bopanna for selection until June 30, 2014. Bhupathi has been a Davis Cup player since 1995 and Bopanna for 10 years.

Both players were dropped from the squad for a relegation playoff matchup against New Zealand in which a second-string India team completed a 5-0 victory in Chandigarh on Sunday.

The AITA said it would move forward with the young team of Yuki Bhambri, Vishnu Vardhan, Divij Sharan and Sanam Singh.

LINK

'Wounded' Federer wants break from tennis

Roger Federer has admitted to suffering from exhaustion following his return to the top of the world rankings, saying he is "wounded” and "needs some time off".

Federer, 31, had a fantastic return to form this season, winning the Wimbledon title for a seventh time to retake the world number one slot.

However, he has since suffered defeats in the Olympic final and the quarters at the US Open, and the Swiss master believes his body is paying the price for a run which has seen him play 69 matches so far in 2012.

"I need a holiday badly," Federer said after leading the Swiss to a Davis Cup play-off win over the Netherlands.
"I'm wounded, tired, and exhausted and need some time off right now and see where I go from here.

"Nothing has been decided for the rest of year, even though there is a plan in place, that plan might change. I need to go back to drawing board to see what's important."

Sounds as if there's a chance that Mr. Federer won't be defending all those points he has to defend from last years indoor season. Time will tell.

SOURCE

It's back to work for Rafael Nadal. He posted this picture to his Facebook page.




Young Taylor Townsend Tweeted thanks to Lindsay Davenport, Martina Navratilova and Serena Williams for their stands against her bullying by the USTA on Sunday.



Olympic Gold Medalist and US Open Champion Andy Murray was given a heroes welcome in his hometown of Dunblane, Scotland. I'm sure he'll be Knighted at the first opportunity. It'll be fun seeing a Knight of the Realm cursing up a storm on court won't it?

"It Speaks of Horrible Ignorance"

By Tom Perrotta

The Wall Street Journal reported in Friday’s newspaper that Taylor Townsend, a Chicago native and the No. 1 junior girl tennis player in the world, was benched from tournament play this summer by her coaches at the U.S. Tennis Association because of her fitness. Townsend lost in the quarterfinals of the junior singles tournament Friday afternoon but advanced to the doubles final with her partner, Gabby Andrews.

On Friday, the Journal spoke with Lindsay Davenport and Martina Navratilova, two former No. 1 players and Grand Slam champions who struggled with their weight as teenagers and as pros. Davenport and Navratilova were sharply critical of the USTA’s decision.

“You cannot punish someone for their body type,” Davenport said.

“I’m livid about it. Livid,” Navratilova said. She added: “It speaks of horrible ignorance.”

The Wall Street Journal: You struggled with weight as a junior and a pro. What was it like for you growing up?

Lindsay Davenport: My dad is 6-foot-8. He blew out his knee in 1973, and after bad surgery, an infection ravaged his knee. He hasn’t been able to bend his knee since then. He was probably 150 pounds overweight my whole life. So all through the 80s, when I was a little girl, my dad was huge. My mom was not. But I had this dad with big genes, and we were never thin.

My first year playing the [12-and-under] nationals in Florida [at age 11], another mom reported me for being too old. And I was standing right there, and my mom was like, “I’ve got news for you, she can play next year, too.” And this woman was like, “Oh my gosh!” I had these big, chubby, baby cheeks and people thought that because I was tall and big, I was older.

Martina Navratilova: I put on 20 pounds in two weeks when I first came on the tour. I was 16, I played in Fort Lauderdale and then Dallas. By Dallas, I had to buy myself new shorts because I couldn’t fit into my shorts. I was playing three hours a day of tennis, or more. It was a change of metabolism and a change of diet. I wasn’t eating junk food, either. I was just eating too much. I was eating pancakes and steaks and hamburgers, I discovered corn flakes. It was just a different diet completely. I struggled with my weight for four years after that. I didn’t lose it until I was 20. And really, it just came off by itself. I was training hard and it started coming off in 1976.

How did your coaches approach your development, and how much of that had to do with fitness?

Davenport: There was a female who was in charge of the [USTA] women’s program in the 90s, Lynne Rolley. Lynne stood by me, was like a mother figure to me. I think she saw it as not only developing these great players, but developing us as people, and teaching us, when you walk into a room, look into someone’s eyes. It wasn’t just about trying to get players on Arthur Ashe. No one ever said to me, you’re fat, you’re heavy. Part of it is trying to figure it out on your own and trying to get the player to realize it. You’re dealing with a really difficult age for girls, and you’re talking about a life-changing, detrimental step. You cannot punish someone for their body type.

Navratilova: No matter what, the kid is 16. It’s baby fat, it’s going to come off. She would have to starve to the point of where she can’t play to lose weight, so then she can’t compete. And she’s the No. 1 junior. It is absolutely insane what they did, so irresponsible. If anything, play more. Don’t go into the gym. Just watch [what you eat], but in a positive and constructive and long-term way. But to throw this on her at 16? I’m trying to be nice here, but they totally blew it on this one.

Were there any fitness requirements you had to meet?

Davenport: When I was growing up, we had these USTA camps and a national team, and we would all go to these camps together. And you had to run a mile and a half in a certain time. I could never sleep the night before, I swear to God. I’m not a runner. I could hit the ball really well, and I liked to play tennis, but it was all getting too serious for me. I’ll never forget the anxiety I would feel the night before a run. And the time, whatever it was, it’s such a doable number now, but I’d be crying and stressed about it. And they would threaten that you couldn’t stay on the team. It didn’t happen, so I don’t know if I made the time, or they just kind of overlooked it.

When were your worst struggles with weight?

Davenport: I won the nationals at 15 [in the 18-and-under division]. My heaviest was more at 18, 19, when my parents were getting divorced. But I was never slim. I had an obese father, and we had a great childhood, but a good diet was not part of it, even though I was an athlete. I was not svelte at 15, and I was not fit at 15. If they had told me I could not play, I mean, that could have ruined my career.

There were definitely people within the USTA who didn’t think I had a chance to make it. I was very fortunate that I had Lynne, who was like, “This girl is doing great, she’s a nice girl, why wouldn’t we help her?” You just can’t turn your back on someone when they’re doing well and they’re a great kid. They’ve helped people with the worst attitudes, and that is way worse to me than someone’s body type.

Navratilova: What really pisses me off about this is, OK, weight is obvious, but what about attitude? Can we talk about other kids who they have been supporting for years whose attitude sucks and they still support them? I’m livid about it. Livid.

Is there a “too early” for off-court training like a pro would do?

Navratilova: Absolutely. Absolutely. I say play other sports, because that helps you become a better athlete, and most of all it makes you happy. I didn’t do core training when I was 16, I was climbing trees. I was swimming in the river, I was playing hockey, I played soccer, I road my bicycle a lot and then I played tennis. I did weight training like two weeks a year.

Davenport: I think the time is in your late teens. If you look at Martina Hingis, that great year she had in 1997, she was a twig, but it was just her tennis. Everyone has started doing things earlier, but that pressure is just exploding, and the long-term consequences of what potentially just happened I think are far worse than the benefit.

How much does fitness matter in tennis, say from your days on tour compared to now?

Davenport: It seems to have gone to where it’s a bit more than in the 90s, but it’s still about hitting the ball well. It’s still, in women’s tennis, about the chance to overpower someone. Certainly it’s a more important component when you get older, but it’s not that important when you’re 15, 16 years old. And I think that we’ve seen cases, Martina [Navratilova], myself, where people get over that, and we’ve seen the opposite where eating disorders occur.

[Taylor] is a baby to me. I couldn’t imagine, if someone did that to one of my kids, that would be the end of it. It’s horrible to put that kind of pressure on someone. I can’t imagine at 16 what my parents would have done.

What does a kid like Taylor, at her age, need most?

Davenport: I might take it the opposite way. They need love and support and good role models, and good role models aren’t people who punish and don’t allow things to happen. What really helped for me to lose weight was to try to have fun in the beginning, and just learning things like, you don’t want to eat bread at dinner. You just need to nurture them and I think that’s how it gets better.

If the goal is developing top pros, is that too narrow, or missing the bigger picture?

Davenport: Their whole goal should be to try to develop this player into the best player they can be, and the best person and try to teach them tools to go through life, and hopefully that includes playing in Arthur Ashe Stadium. If this is the player you’re choosing to help, you think they’re going to be good, it’s up to you to make them get there, to bring out their best as a coach.

Bringing out their best isn’t making them feel bad about themselves and having a horrible self-image. You get it out of them by getting them happy, by getting them excited to play, not by tearing them down.

Navratilova: It speaks of horrible ignorance.

The Celestial Body vs The Saint

by Savannah

Venus Williams will face Kim Clijsters in the Sony Ericsson Open Women's Final on Saturday.

Venus defeated a totally discombobulated Marion Bartoli in straight sets. Marion never let herself relax into the match and Venus, serving well, ran with the match.

Clijsters had a more difficult road. It was not pretty. Clijsters had 63 unforced errors while Henin had 44. Henin had 19 winners compared to Clijsters 37.

During Venus match commentator Lindsay Davenport cited statistics that show Venus is 6-5 against Kim. She's also 7-2 against Henin.
Both women have energetic fan bases. It should be a wild one in Key Biscayne tomorrow.

Oh What A Night!

by Savannah

I don't publicize it but Friday nights are pour moi. If possible I avoid the Internet and sit and watch television. I did that for the first part of the evening catching up on shows I missed during the week that were sitting on the DVR and preparing for a tennis overdose tomorrow by avoiding the above mentioned internet and except for a foray onto the Foodnetwork to find an oven setting I did well.

But such is my life that I got a text asking when my fave ATP player was going to play so I went to the BNP Paribas Open/Indian Wells official site to check out the Order of Play.

You see once I start looking at tennis stuff my brain short circuits and I end up on tennis fanboards. That is how I found out about the Dust Up in the Desert (I don't have that rhyming gene a la Muhammad Ali. Sorry.) The boards were all lit up about some trash talk between Andre Agassi and Pete Sampras. There was talk of a fired up Agassi with blood shot eyes going after Sampras the way he did in his book. Deciding I needed to find out just how serious this was I went on Twitter and the tennisheads were all over the situation too. Insinuations were being made there that Andre appeared to be "on something".

I found this hard to believe. I mean what tennis player is going to take the court in a high profile exhibition match aimed at raising money for the people suffering in Haiti intoxicated or high? Andre has done a lot to tarnish his image in the last few months and something like that would just be beyond the pale.

Fortunately Tennis Channel's war with Cablevision ended right after the US Open last year so when someone let me know they were repeating the event I put on my television. This was the regular television not the HD one that's in the living room. I had read that on HD the condition of Andre's eyes was very clear so I decided that when the men's segment came on I'd watch it on the HD television.

It must be said that Martina Navratilova talked all through the women's portion but while annoying it didn't get personal. Unfortunately my ear isn't tuned to her accent when she's speaking fast so I didn't catch a lot of what she said. I can say I'm sure that no insults were spoken by her.

Unfortunately I could easily understand what Andre was saying. It started when he said younger viewers probably wonder who the two bald guys are playing with Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal. Even though Sampras managed to reply by saying he still had some hair left you could see that he was annoyed to say the least. Losing your hair is traumatic for anyone, male or female, as Andre of all people should know. You will read that it started when Pete imitated Andre's pigeon toed walk. Sampras did that after the hair comment. Now it was Andre's turn not to be amused.
Before you could settle down Andre started in on Pete being a cheapskate and bad tipper. First he turned his pockets out and imitated a person pretending to look for money in said pockets and finding none. A few minutes later he said he'd hate to be a parking valet when Pete drove up.
Sampras aimed a serve right at Andre barely missing him. The crowd had been laughing and taking the comments lightly. Now an uneasy silence reigned and both Federer and Nadal were quite uncomfortable. Federer tried to make some jokes of his own but by that point things had gone too far downhill to salvage the good feelings that were part of the first few points.

Both Tracy Austin and Patrick McEnroe were stunned into silence. Justin Gimelstob tried his best to calm the waters but instead seemed to be making matters worse. At the end there was an embrace at the net but no one was fooled. Emotions were still running high.

By the end of the match Agassi had run out of gas and his team lost 8-6 to Federer/Sampras. But the score will always be secondary to what happened between the two biggest stars of American tennis. It's perverse tennis history and something that will be talked about for a long time. Was Andre "on something" as many implied? I don't know. I know that I saw that his eyes were big and round, pupils hugely dilated, the whites of his eyes were bloodshot and that he suddenly ran out of gas leaving Rafa to play two men on his own. HDTV is a bitch. It shows everything.

What should have been a joyous occasion before a packed house turned out to be a downer. The people of Haiti, and the people who put the exhibition together, deserved better.

The good news is that a check for one million dollars was given to the Red Cross. That is what this was supposed to be about.

Not So Idle Chit Chat

by Savannah



A lot has come out since I last posted about the Agassi situation. It seems that a lot people spoke out in 2003/2004 about the drug situation in men's tennis. You have to give it to tennis fans. They know how to find the dirt.

7 Players Exonerated in 2004

ATP trainers provided electrolyte supplements

Seven top male tennis players who tested positive for nandrolone were exonerated by the ATP on "clearly unsustainable grounds", the World Anti-Doping Agency said on Friday.

WADA said in a statement that more positives had come to light despite the ruling body of men's tennis (ATP) withdrawing contaminated electrolyte supplements which it believed were the source of the banned anabolic steroid.

Testing of the suspect electrolytes failed to show up traces of nandrolone-related products, WADA said.

The ATP announced last July that players might have taken banned substances in supplements handed out by ATP trainers. It asked WADA to set up an investigation of the seven positive dope tests involving players between August 2002 and May 2003.

In its report WADA was scornful of the ATP's inconsistent disciplinary process covering the seven cases.

The allegation that an ATP-supplied electrolyte might be responsible for the positive test was made by just one of the players, the fifth charged, WADA said.

An ATP investigation "found through questioning ... that most of the 43 players with positive or elevated tests claimed (in retrospect) that they had used the electrolyte replacement product provided by trainers," WADA said.

WADA said the independent tribunals which exonerated the players made an "extraordinary series of findings" founded on two principles - shifting the onus of proof to the ATP to show it was not the source of the positive tests, and precluding the ATP from sanctioning players based on positive tests because it might have been responsible for those positives.

Briton Greg Rusedski was cleared of doping offences in March after an ATP-appointed tribunal found the ATP could have been responsible for his positive nandrolone test.

Rusedski admitted in January he had tested positive in a test taken in July 2003. The WADA review did not cover his case.

It should be noted that Guillermo Canas was banned for the same thing Rusedski was given a pass on.

Circling the Wagons - It Wasn't Me

Charles Bricker posts this in defense of the ATP.

If you're upset about the way the ATP handled the Andre Agassi drug case back in 1997, don't even try to hang this one on former CEO Mark Miles.

I just got off the phone with Mark and he explained that all decisions about drug violations is the 100 percent province of an independent, ITF-appointed panel of certified experts who have no direct connection whatever with the ATP, and that neither Miles nor any other ranking ATP executive has the power to override or amend that panel's decision. In any way.

That is a fact and it was reinforced today by a statement from the ATP, which reads:

“It has always been ATP policy not to comment on anti-doping test results unless and until an anti-doping violation has occurred. Under the tennis anti-doping program it is, and has always been, an independent panel that makes a decision on whether a doping violation has been found. The ATP has always followed this rule and no executive at the ATP has therefore had the authority or ability to decide the outcome of an anti-doping matter.”
Miles, who left the ATP in 2005 after 15 years as its No. 1 official, was as candid as he felt he could be, but he is honoring retroactive commitments not to comment on specific drug cases that came up during his tenure at the men's tour.

"I can't comment on any case. I can't even confirm that there was a case involving Andre. And I'm not going to comment on Andre's book. But I can amplify. I've seen the ATP statement and the statement is true. The ATP program was set up to ensure that any decision on any case was decided by a panel, a tribunal. And there were no exceptions to that.

"I don't know if Andre says anything in his book that is incongruous with that," he said, and then made what I thought was a very interesting remark. "Panels have made decisions that have left some people scratching their heads," said Miles.

Agassi in 2003...

World number two Andre Agassi has rejected claims by Australia's Andrew Ilie that illegal drug use is rife in professional tennis.
(...)
Ilie's claims cut little ice with Agassi, a strong supporter of drug testing.

"The one thing that I'd like to stick to is what we do know," said Agassi after his victory over South Korean Lee Hyung-Taik.

"What we know is, while there's been a minimal amount of players caught over the last 10 years, we are probably the leading sport in reference to how often we test, how professional our tests are and how strict our penalties are.

"The talk of who might be or might not be taking drugs is irresponsible," said Agassi.

The Gag Rule

Bill Simon and the Agassi book.

I had no choice. Word was out. Andre Agassi had a new autobiography that was about to hit and it promised to be a barnburner. After all, if any athlete could write a riveting, what’s-it-all-about volume, it was Andre.

But just to get an advance copy, I had to (for the first time in 29 years) sign a non-divulgence (”squeal and you die”) contract; a seven-clause gag rule saying I would not reveal the contents of the curiously titled book, “Open,” until early November. I agreed, and on Aug. 17, Andre’s four-pound 437-page baby arrived.

For weeks I devoured every detail. Then I waited and waited some more.

Certainly, the book’s explosive details would be leaked in the media. After all, deep within the book, Andre offers up the most explosive confession in sports history, candidly detailing his first experience with crystal meth.

Note: There are also Spanish language sources that provide more information. When I have the translations I'll post them.

In Other News...

L'Equipe reports that Richard Gasquet has withdrawn from Bercy to focus on his upcoming hearing before the CAS on November 10.

Serena Williams will be the year end WTA Number 1. Dinara Safina's withdrawal from Doha guarantees Serena will be ranked Number 1 until the end of December.

It is never easy to watch someone unravel in front of the world. Once again I'm writing about the system and how it affects players. If anyone needs a time out it's Dinara. I can only imagine the pressure put on this young woman by the powers that be. She looked absolutely terrified to take the court the last time I saw her. There are a lot of people calling on her to fire her coach. Dinara said in the past that he is the coach she needs, the one who understands her temperament. I'm just saying.

I finally have Tennis Channel. And I can finally hear Lindsay Davenport commentate. She raked the players over the coals for playing so much this year before someone reminded her that Roadkill is the reason players like Safina made the Asian swing regardless of their physical condition. When the players have no control over their schedules bad things happen. She is honest and straight forward in her commentary. Good times.

Idle Chit Chat

by Savannah

Former tour pro Maximilian Abel of Germany was sentenced to three years in jail for credit card fraud totaling 120,000 euros. While he was sentenced for fraud he committed against two friends it is alleged that he also stole from fellow tennis players. Abel was already on suspension from the ITF until January 2010 for testing positive for cocaine at Metz in 2007. Abel claimed he needed the money to pay for travel and living expenses associated with being a tour pro but it's believed he used the money to fuel his cocaine habit.

Filippo Volandri's three-month anti-doping ban for the asthma medication salbutamol has been overturned by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) per the Italian Tennis Federation. Volandri tested postive at Indian Wells last year and was given the suspension because it was determined that he was not trying to enhance his performance. Volandri said an asthma attack the night before caused him to test above the levels agreed upon for his therapeutic exemption. He will lose his prize money and points from Indian Wells last year but results from five other competitions last fall will be restored. Volandri's ranking will be in the 120's and he plans to play a challenger event next week in Monza.

The USTA will no longer use the bus commercials to promote the US Open series. I really liked those commercials especially the out takes. No announcement has been made about the new theme.

Alicia Molik joins Pat Rafter as a Junior Australian Davis Cup captain.

This and That

Why is it when Serena Williams speaks the truth it's controversial? Serena, when asked about the possibility of Dinara Safina taking over the number one ranking she presently holds she said the following:

"But, I mean, at this point doesn't matter how many Grand Slams you win, [you] can't be number one," said Williams. "Even if you get to the finals of Wimbledon and win the US Open and Australia, that's not what the No. 1 player gets. It is what it is. It's like, whatever. You have to like, I don't know, win all the smaller tournaments to be No. 1.

"You know what, whether I end up No. 1 at the end of this week or not, I think people obviously see me as No. 1."

I need someone to explain to me what is controversial about what she said? Has Jelena Jankovic won a Slam? Has Dinara? Serena said nothing more than fans did at the end of last year. Once again you have to ask is it the message or the messenger?
I think the deeper question is how the Slams are weighted in the WTA. Some fans are already talking about how to rectify the problem so that someone who achieved what Serena did last year doesn't end the year as Number 1. Whoever takes the reins from Larry Scott will have a lot on his or her plate.

Speaking of Scott there were a lot of reports around saying he was frustrated that the ATP does not want to merge with the WTA. Really Larry? I mean really? Why should they? Don't get me wrong the ATP does have it's own set of issues but Slamless number ones and setting up a two tiered tour aren't among them.

Samantha Stosur
On my watch list but not as a favorite Victoria Azarenka
simply destroyed Samantha Stosur 6-1, 6-0 in Miami last night and it really wasn't that close. Stosur, who has been playing well, was reduced to a prop during the match.
Victoria, or Vika as her fans call her, next faces Svetlana Kuznetsova who won over Caroline Wozniacki despite trying to give the match to her. Caroline is one of my favorites but she is not ready for prime time yet. When someone is trying to hand you a match you take it. Due to the heat there was a ten minute break between sets two and three. Caroline took the momentum into the locker room and it was never seen on her racquet again. As for Sveta she's running into the buzz saw named Azarenka next. She either plays her "A" game or heads to Europe. By the way Sveta is playing without a coach for the first time in her career. She and Olga Morozova had what Sveta said was a friendly parting of the ways.

Like her or not Victoria Azarenka is on a mission. No one would've beaten her last night except for the current number one and even then it may have taken her three sets to do it.

Li Na is quietly going about her business isn't she?

Taylor Dent faced Roger Federer yesterday and if you were new to tennis and read the pre match hype you can be forgiven for thinking Dent was going to stand toe to toe with Roger and give him the fight of his life. If you are not new to tennis you read the hype and said "Taylor Dent? Really?"
Dent's is a remarkable story about a comeback from serious medical issues but he is not ready to take on any of the top four at this time. First he needs to lose about thirty pounds. Second he needs to make serve and volley part of his game not his entire game. I know the bring back wooden racquets crowd would love to see a true serve and volley player take the top ten by storm but it ain't gonna happen. Andy Roddick's step into the brave new world of what I call modern tennis should put all the pipe dreams to bed. Dent has a wild card into Houston next week. Let's see what happens there.

End Note

I've talked a lot about bad commentating over the last few weeks but it's time to mention the good guys and gals.
Lindsay Davenport continues to shine. She talks about the match in front of her, the tactics, techniques and how they're being implemented by the players. Every sentence doesn't begin with "I". I hope she continues to work in the booth and bring her knowledge to the airwaves.

I've been a fan of Robbie Koenig, Jason Goodall and Doug Adler for a long time. Koenig and Goodall have their fanboy moments but that doesn't stop them from calling the match as it takes place. They too bring a knowledge of the game to the booth and while Adler is in no way a flame thrower he is the most adventurous of the three and gives his personal opinion from time to time. Most famously this month he gave a blistering critique of Novak Djokovic that had many of Djokovic's fans up in arms. It was tight but it was right. He hasn't done anything like that since but he won't back off a player in fear of offending a player's fan base. Adler, the lone American of the three isn't an apologist for the state of tennis in the United States. So refreshing.

Boris Becker was in the stands last night with his fiancee and one of his sons.

The Western Winds

by Savannah

The wind arrived during the match between Andy Roddick and Rafael Nadal. It so enjoyed the Coachella Valley and and the Indian Wells Tennis Garden it hung around dropping temperatures to the seventies and wreaking havoc with those tennis balls flying through the air. It had a ball, pun intended. The women of the WTA would have preferred the zephyrs take their games someplace else.

I missed the live play between Ana Ivanovic and Vera Zvonareva (more on that later) and watched the replay late last night. I felt that Vera had a better than average chance of beating Ana since she had been playing the better tennis coming into the match and seemed to have banished her demons. She did have one racquet bashing moment, one that equalled Fernando Gonzalez efforts earlier in the tournament, but after that Vera settled down and began hitting winners. Ana meanwhile seemed totally upset with what was happening to her outfit in the wind and appeared to be totally discombobulated.

As you know I saw Ana at the BJK Cup in Madison Square Garden earlier in the month and that while everyone is going on about her serving woes I felt that her game was lacking, that she'd lost something in her mental approach to the game. That was obvious yesterday.

Some fans have said the match was the worst ever because of the wind. I think the wind exposed the hit hard and harder approach many of the women have now. Most of the women hit a hard, flat ball. This approach made it more difficult for Vera and Ana to play well during their match. A ball with more "work" on it could carve it's way through the at times 50 mph gusts.

After Vera's racquet bashing there was no doubt who was going to win the match. Ana could not keep her focus and ended up being outplayed by the woman she was once up 2-0 on during the first set. WTA matches these days are usually won by the player who keeps the ball between the lines and has less UFE's than her opponent. The wind just added to the problems.

It was the best match the women who made the final could play given their approach to their games and the windy conditions. That is not an excuse. WTA play has been subpar for some time now. The wind just blew away any illusions fans of women's have about what is going on in the sport.

The Unseen Final


If the final of a WTA Premier Mandatory event is held and there is little or no live coverage on broadcast or internet television has it really happened?

Fans of women's tennis found themselves tuning into tennisradio.com to hear live commentary on the women's final yesterday at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden. Why? Because in some parts of the country regular television broadcast both the men's and women's final on delay. In my area coverage started at 8p. The internet option? This is when it got interesting.

TennisTV was inoperable. It wasn't available. Now you know there was a feed somewhere and that someone online had to be streaming it right? Wrong. The usual sources were all on lockdown thanks to the ever vigilant WTA gnomes who made sure the sites knew that if they were streaming the match they would be slapped with cease and desist orders. The only source that worked was a Russian satellite subscription service. Thank the gods for those people.

So what happened? I have no idea. My email to the tech support folks at TennisTV has gone unanswered. I didn't even get one of their "it's your fault" responses. There were fears that the ATP feed would suffer the same fate. Not. The ATP feed came on just fine and played with few if any problems.

I'm not a techie but one would think that since Masters Series TV, the precursor to TennisTV, worked fine for so many years the WTA would use the same technical set up as the men's tour does. Apparently the geniuses at the WTA didn't think so.

What happened in parts of the United States was a blackout of the women's final. I have no idea whose interest that served. It certainly didn't get Vera Zvonareva the exposure deserved. It didn't give Ana Ivanovic a chance to be seen by her fans.

Where do we go from here? TennisTv coverage of the ATP begins Saturday, March 28. WTA coverage begins Monday March 30. Deja vu all over again.

End Notes

Lindsay Davenport belongs in the broadcast booth. Her approach is no frills. Want fangirl hype of the latest hot thing on the WTA tour? You won't get if from Lindsay. When coverage started she would discuss Player X serve and Player Z's return. At one point after a terrible point she said that it wasn't as if Player Z was returning a ball hit by Venus Williams or Serena Williams. She said it more than once. I think they told her to stop mentioning they who must not be named.

During yesterday's women's final she said up front that conditions favored Vera. They also showed a clip of eventual men's champion Rafael Nadal warming up on center court in the brutal wind before the start of the women's final. Lindsay said he was frustrated with his serve but she said that she was sure that by the time he took to the court he'd be fine with his game.

She deserves better than Gimelslob, friend or no friend. Pair her with Darren Cahill and lock PMac in the locker room where he'll be free to gush to his hearts content. She'd even work well with Cliff Drysdale.

Speaking of the Slob did anyone see him manhandle actress Kate Walsh in the broadcast booth? And did anyone hear Sam Gore's polite snark about the way the men's final was going when it became obvious the "efficient" Andy Murray was not going to win?

Gore is a good broadcaster and while he sounds eerily like PMac he avoids the fanboy raving and just talks about the tennis. I'd like to hear more of him on the airwaves.

Seen and Heard Around

by Savannah

Amazing how light shone on a situation corrects it. I've been advised that the security situation regarding the practice court where both Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal had to run a gauntlet has been corrected.

I'm sorry for the delay in posting comments. This tennis match had me up until after five in the morning and by the time I wound down it was after six. One must get her beauty sleep.

That five in the morning East Coast USA match had me wound up for a number of reasons. One was that my TennisTV connection crapped out at 3-5 Nadal in the second set. I tried to reboot. I tried logging in and out. Nada. I emailed tech support. They said it was running and never responded to my subsequent email giving more details. To their credit someone there responded the next day saying that I may have been having a "cache" problem. I had cleaned out my cache. I had also had frequent audio problems while watching both WTA and ATP matches. Forget about the buffering. I never had these problems when there was just Masters Series TV. I miss it.


The other reason was that during my search for alternate means of viewing a feed I'm paying for I came across a thread that stated Nalbandian had won the match. Needless to say I was downhearted and stopped my search. Thank goodness I scrolled down and found out that the match was still going on and that the thread should be deleted which it was. I ended up watching a teeny tiny screen and missing almost all of the drama of the second set rejoining the telecast in time to see the end of the tiebreaker.

The New York Times Weighs In

The Gray Lady as the NY Times is called has one of the best sports sections in the country. This is not acknowledged most of the time since the NYC tabloids get all the publicity but their writers deliver a consistent product all the time.
After the Nadal/Nalbandian match this article appeared on its sports pages.
Nadal Shows Why He’s No. 1, and Safina Shows Why She Isn’t
It features an excellent analysis of the Safina/Azarenka match and ends with the following:

The tournament, one of only two, aside from the four Grand Slam events, that runs two weeks and features both men and women, is splitting into two tournaments of diverging interest.

The women’s competition is filled with young and little-known teenagers like Agnieszka Radwanska of Poland and Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova of Russia, who meet in the quarterfinals Thursday, and Azarenka. The only players left in the tournament with any appreciable history are the fourth-seeded Russian Vera Zvonareva, who gets Azarenka in one semifinal, and the defending champion and No. 5 seed Ana Ivanovic of Serbia, who faces Sybille Bammer.

Meantime, the men’s quarterfinals boast the top four seeds, Nadal, Federer, Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray, as well as No. 6 Juan Martín del Potro, No. 7 Andy Roddick and No. 10 Fernando Verdasco of Spain.

There's not much to say after that is there? If you can read the article.

When Hawk Eye Isn't...

I was mostly auditing the mens match between Ivan Ljubicic (above) and Andy Murray yesterday. Ivan seems to have returned his attention to the tennis court full time leaving ATP politics aside for awhile and was having a good run here. I was also trying to tune out Justin Gimelstob. More on him later.
The chair umpire was new to me since I hadn't seen him before this tournament. An argument broke out and I looked up to see Ljubo, the chair and the lines person in a discussion about a ball that apparently landed outside the singles lines and hadn't been played by Ivan. For some reason known only to him Andy Murray decided to have the lines call checked. When Hawk Eye showed the ball hitting the line both the chair ump and Ljubo went ballistic. The chair umpire said that he had to go by Hawkeye even if he knew it was wrong. Meanwhile the geeks in the truck quickly figured out what had happened. Hawkeye registered the second bounce of the ball which was indeed on the line and not the first one which was out by 3-4 inches, a country mile in tennis. If the production geeks figured that out in no time why couldn't the Hawk Eye geeks? Why didn't the chair umpire show intestinal fortitude and over rule the call? Why didn't Ljubo ask for a senior tournament official to review what had happened?
I've often wondered if the images we see are the right ones but I figured that was just me seeing conspiracies under every rock again. Yesterday proved that mistakes can, and probably have happened. The last thing we need is for human error to affect the technology that was supposed to end human error. Ljubo has said that he doesn't think it affected the outcome of the match. Really? I thought you'd left the politics behind Ivan.

Miscellany

There's a reason so many print articles are posting the incorrect official age for Maria Sharapova. It seems the WTA Media guide gave her birthday as February 1985 instead of April 1987. The Media Guide has been corrected.

Speaking of Maria she is now said to be ready to make a comeback at Rome. The self described "cow on ice" clay player is going to make her return on the physically demanding surface. Some fans think this is a good idea since she will not feel the weight of expectations. I'm thinking about all the clay on those fuzzy little balls and how it would affect her shoulder.

Camilla Belle and Jose Verdasco (lower right)
Camilla Belle was sitting in Fernando Verdasco's family box last night. Really Camilla? I thought she was now the platonic friend of one of those non singing brothers the tweens are all gaga about.

The Trouble with Justin

During last nights telecast of Fernando Verdasco vs Roger Federer Lindsay Davenport made the observation that Fernando has really bulked up. His chest and legs are noticeably larger. Gimelstob always quick on his feet said "I'll take your word on that Lindsay," in a tone that implied "only a woman would notice something like that". I don't think I heard another word out of her the rest of the night. A few minutes later Sam Gore, the other announcer on FSN/MSG+ said "just to back up Lindsay's comment..." and went on to say that Verdasco is noticably bigger than he was. Just remember that Lindsay is Gimelstob's friend and stood by him during the recent fiasco surrounding his call for his brother to sexually assault Anna Kournikova.

Earlier in the day Gimelstob interviewed Andy Murray after his win over Ivan Ljubicic. During the match he had been praising Andy to high heaven and the reason for that praise came during the post match interview. Gimelstob advised his listening audience that he and Murray had gone out to dinner. Fine. Then he asked Murray "Did you like that?" Murray had the class to look uneasy about the subject coming up at all and said something totally unintelligible in reply.

We're grown ups. We know that various talking heads have relationships with the players. Mirka playing with Mary Jo Fernandez children is a prime example of that. A couple of years ago Mary Carillo said on air that she had had lunch with doubles specialist Lisa Raymond. But Mary was in the booth and Mary Jo has never traded on her personal relationship with Mirka and Roger on air. Gimelstob apparently has no qualms whatsoever about trading on his off court relationships.
And yet this man still sits on the ATP board representing American tennis. Surely there are other people available to fill that role in a professional manner. The same can be said about his on air work which is mediocre at it's best and clueless at it's worse.

End Note

Sometimes a great picture is just a great picture.

Players To Watch In 2008

by Craig Hickman

The off-season is simply not long enough. It seems like just yesterday I penned my 2007 review and it's already time to look ahead to the 2008 season.

Someone recently asked me if I do any overall predictions for the year. Not exactly. I guess you could say I do anti-predictions such as the no brainer that no one will win the Golden Slam on either tour in 2008. But that's about as far as I'll go. There are simply too many unknowns and variables to try with any solid reasoning to predict the winners of, say, the US Open. Roger Federer, of course, would be good money, but he's got to lose it sooner or later, no? And one would think that with the Olympics in the mix, he'd much rather take an Olympic Gold than his fifth US Open title, if he had to choose between the two, and with them being so close together, that's exactly what he might have to do. Which is all a long, drawn-out way of saying that my preview of next calendar's tennis will focus solely on a select list of players to watch. Without further ado:

ATP

Ernests Gulbis made noise at the US Open last summer with his straight-set demolition of Tommy Robredo in the third round. His smooth game, excellent court craft and pinpoint strokes off both sides would appear to make him someone who could compete on every surface. He's young, though, and his head isn't always screwed on. Let's see if he can continue to make waves after putting Latvia on the tennis map.

Jo-Wilfried Tsonga was my pick for Outstanding Newcomer on the ATP in 2007. Sure, he's in his early 20s already, but his young career has been halted by injuries. If he can remain healthy in 2008, I think he'll make a deep run at Wmbledon and/or the US Open.

Richard Gasquet seems to believe, finally, that he belongs in the top of men's tennis, thanks in large part to his epic come-from-behind win against Andy Roddick in the Wimbledon quarterfinals last year. But can his fragile constitution see him through to his first Slam semifinal in 2008? Stay tuned.

David Ferrer had one of the hottest streaks to end 2007. Simply put: can he keep it up? With the plexicushion playing even slower than Rebound Ace, he needs to carry his momentum straight into Melbourne and let the world know he's not satisfied with his new status in the Top 5.

Novak Djokovic could experience the most pressure of any Top 10 player next year. He has to defend a truckload of points, and since he still believes his own hype, the pressure to deliver on it will rise like the mercury Down Under. As it is, he's skipping his title defense in Adelaide to play Hopman Cup, and while the Next Generation International isn't a big enough event to lose him a ton of points, he won't have a tour title heading into Melbourne. On the other hand, he ought to be better rested to contend on the cushy stuff.

David Nalbandian didn't exactly come out of nowhere to end 2007 with his first two regular Masters Series shields, beating the top dogs to take them both. He's always played well in Australia, so if he continues his form, I expect his entire 2008 campaign include contending at all four Slams and maybe, just maybe, even winning his first.

Donald Young is the youngest player in the Top 100 and his all-court game has improved by leaps and bounds over the last 12 months. If he can believe in himself, as his coach and mother tell him he's gotta do, he can have a breakthrough year.

John Isner has been already dismissed as overhyped because of his lackluster performances on the challenger circuit. Lest we forget, however, he won several matches over the summer 7-6 in the third and won a tiebreak set against Raja at the US Open. Perhaps the challenger circuit just isn't high-stakes enough for America's answer to Ivo Karlovic. And he's six years younger. I say we give him a chance before writing him off as too much hype.

Nicolas Kiefer came back strong from injury to remind us why he was once ranked as high as No. 4 in the world. Another player who produces Down Under, the first quarter of 2008 will be crucial. If he stays healthy, I expect him to cause a surprise or two at Wimbledon.

Juan Monaco took Most Improved Gonads for 2007. A great athlete with a warrior attitude, the Argentine could start the year strong in Melbourne and follow that up with a deep run at Roland Garros.

WTA

Li Na was poised for a solid campaign to enter the Top 10 when she had to leave the tour with a rib injury. But she'll be back in January with a new lease on life. Always my favorite Chinese up-and-comer, probably because I find her story so fascinating, Li may take awhile to get back into the second week of a Slam, but her storyline will be worth watching.

Agnes Szavay has a fluid game, the heart of a champion, and a bad back. Which will prevail in 2008?

Tamira Paszek needs a better serve. If she found one during the off-season, she could win her first WTA title and make another second-week appearance in a Slam.

Amelie Mauresmo came back too soon from abdominal surgery last year. Has she fully recovered? Will she return to the winner's circle or regress to choker extraordinaire? Will she finally shake her demons in front of her home crowd?

Serena Williams couldn't get her body to stop betraying her will for the last three quarters of 2007. If she can run, she can beat all comers. Will she be able to run ragged her opponents in 2008 or will her flesh be weak?

Linday Davenport has committed to playing a full schedule through the US Open. Who knows, she may even play in Paris again. Wouldn't it be lovely to see a another mother win a Slam?

Monica Seles claims she'll play at the Sony Ericsson Open in Key Biscayne. Nuff said.

Anna Chakvetadze is either going to solidify her Top 10 status or crash and burn. How insightful, no? But for real, though. If she can avoid Maria Sharapova at big events, she should do well. Of course this assumes that she can put the trauma of being tied up in a home robbery behind her and get off to a solid start in Melbourne where she's a defending quarterfinalist.

Marion Bartoli is controversial, talented, and targeted. She would certainly prefer more tournaments on grass. After finishing the year in the Top 10 for the first time in her career, she'll have to recover from a year-end double bagel at the hands of the woman she shocked in the Wimbledon semifinals. I don't think she's going to fall off as much as many others, but that might just be because I like her.

Ahsha Rolle appearing on this list will probably make you raise an eyebrow. Or two. Simply put: I like the variety in the American's game, the fire in her eyes, the way she handled her business at the US Open this past summer. Nobody expected her to beat Tatiana Golovin in the first round. Perhaps 2008 will bring a few more surprises for this player under the radar.

A Mid Week Stress Break

by Savannah

Anyone who considers him or herself a tennishead has to be stressed out by the goings on in Shanghai so far this week. In my never ending search for relevant tennis news and fan posts several things happened today.

Andy Murray issued a statement that sounded strangely like he was telling the LTA which has invested millions of pounds in his tennis development to kiss his ass. Judge for yourselves.

Despite being injured for almost four months this year, I am pleased with my 2007 results and am very grateful for the help that the LTA have given me by providing Brad Gilbert as a coach but the time has come to move on to the next stage of my career. I am ranked 11 in the world and can now afford to pay my own way and so will now hire a team of experts, each to fulfil a specified role in the development of my tennis and fitness.

Good luck with your Wimbledon draw next year Andy.

Andy Murray Statement

• Patrick McEnroe has declared that Lleyton Hewitt's career is over. It seems Patty Mac was commentating during the TMC and Cliffy Drysdale brought up Australia and the new surface that's being put in place there. He went on to say that it will play however Lleyton wants it to play. PMac made comments to the effect that Lleyton is washed up.Lleyton is really looking forward to seeing you in Melbourne Patrick. Good luck with that.
  

• Mosey on over to Mens Tennis Forums and check out the pictures "Kiro" is posting from Shanghai. Nice work.

• A nice new tennis board where the focus is tennis has been founded by tennisheads who tried to post news about tennis on a television board's sports section. The board is called Tennis Heaven. No flaming just nice tennis discussion. Nice site "Dorkgirl".
  

• Venus Williams makes a personal appearance at the Manhattan Mall in NYC on Thursday November 15 at 11:30a to promote her new clothing line. Talk About Tennis mainstay GVGirl will be there and will file a full report on that board.

• As part of her comeback Lindsay "Mamaport" Davenport will be playing Memphis in 2008. I'm sure son Jagger will be in the house. So will Venus Williams who played the event last year. Nice ladies.

• Can someone please explain what the hell is going on with tennis pictures posted on Yahoo? It's like playing Russian Roulette when you click on picture lately. The new interns should know how to post a picture by now dontcha think?

Pictures of the Week
Well they're from last week but as you know I'll make any excuse to post pictures retreads or not. The ladies had a mandatory party to attend in Madrid. "Mandatory" and "party" do not go together but the ladies all showed up. No labels needed at this point no? And we can all rank and rate can't we?








TOYS TO AVOID THIS HOLIDAY SEASON
With the holidays approaching it's time for us tennis fans to think about the perfect gift. "Miffed Max" over at WTAw has posted a list of things you may want to avoid.Then again, maybe not.

Anastasia Myskina Action figure

Toy appeared to be sturdy and ready to play with, yet no matter how careful our playtesters were the foot kept breaking off.

Super Serb Wind-up toys

Wind-up figures of Jelena Jankovic and Ana Ivanovic were well-made and nicely packaged. However, the set suffered from a curious problem—when you wind up the Ivanavic figure it doesn’t move at all, while the Jankovic figure rushes hyperactively around the room until the mainspring explodes, leading to some very Myskina-like language from our young playtesters.

Marion Bartoli Easy Cake Oven

When the product was initially tested over the summer, it turned out tasty mini-cakes using the included mixes. This fall, however, we tried it again and the unit burst into flames, then disappeared in a cloud of smoke.


Dani Hantuchova Player Piano

Piano plays like a normal toy piano, then suddenly switches to a grand piano sound, then breaks down completely only to reassemble itself. Inconsistent performance is frustrating for playtesters.

Martina Hingis Play Hot Dog Stand

Complete replica of a US Open style hot dog stand is perfect down to the last detail, with hot dog rotisserie, bun warmer and chip rack. Only troublesome feature is the Coke machine, which pumps out white powder instead of tasty cola.

Sveta Raps!!!

CD of Sveta covering hits by Dr. Dre, Snoop Dog, Eminem and other popular hip hop artists. Do you really need to know why this is on our not recommended list?

The Long Road Back Board Game

Players can choose from Jelena Dokic, Alex Stephenson, Jennifer Capriati or Monica Seles. However, due to a printing error, the board does not have an actual finish line and players are doomed to circle forever just outside the WTA section of the board.

Elena Dementieva Power Workout Set

Includes tiny weights and workout video. Weights appear to be normal, but every playtester who used this workout set ended up with mysteriously broken ribs. Plus, the included video, in which Elena constantly admonishes kids to “get mommy’s permission because mommy always knows best” before attempting any activity--including turning off the tape- is just kind of creepy.

Talking Justine

Pull the string and Justine shouts “Allez!” Pull it again and Justine shouts “Allez.” About three minutes of “Allez” and you’ll allez-oop it out the nearest window.

Serena’s Junior Racket

Appears to be a normal tennis racket. But it only works in Australia. Not recommended, unless you happen to live Down Under in which case it rates our highest score.

"Linnie" suggests this winner.

Not for the wine enthusiast:
Chateau Mauresmo 2007. Flat, with murky undertones; definitely inferior to the '06 vintage. Avoid at all costs. [Warning: could cause appendix to burst]. Wine Spectator rating: 00

And please don't forget to visit Craig's blog for up to the minute TMC coverage! Link is below.

The WTA Top Ten for 2007

by Savannah

It's the end of the official season and everyone is doing ranking and rating so why wouldn't I? Top ten lists are a pain because they're subjective. How did I pick my top ten?

Who accomplished the most in terms of her career this year? Who ended up in the top ten to the surprise of almost everyone? Who got a high ranking despite play that was jaw droppingly bad at times? Can you have the worst year ever and still remain in the top ten? Did you play yourself into the top only to realize how rarefied the air is up there and falter? Who is hungry enough to walk over the bodies of those in front of her in her Christian Louboutin stilettos?
And who should tennisheads be looking out for in 2008?
Let's agree to disagree and talk about the Women of Tennis and how they fared in 2007.


Serena Williams

I'm placing her at the top because she came back from so far down this year. She won the Australian beating Maria Sharapova convincingly and then followed up with a good spring season in the States.
In my opinion she should not have played the US Open. But she did, fighting through the same injuries that brought her low in Madrid. People always say that Serena is not dedicated to tennis. Too many outside interests. Blah, blah, blah. Her gritty determination this year earns her the top spot.

Venus Williams

She won Wimbledon despite everything but the kitchen sink being thrown at her. Then again I just may have missed the sink. Instead of coming back to the States and resting on her laurels she played a full schedule which included World Team Tennis and the Fed Cup where she almost single handedly beat a great Russian team. After the US Open she played a full Asian swing despite the injury issues that were cited as the reason she pulled out of the YEC in Madrid.
No way she should have been in the mix at all this year but she was.

Justine Henin

I place her third because she was already at the top of the heap and managed to stay there earning herself another Player of the Year award. Justine has, despite her size, been hitting the ball as hard or harder than the Big Babes of tennis. She has also shown stamina and endurance that bigger and seemingly stronger women don't exhibit. During the Final in Madrid it was Maria who was visibly tired in the end. Justine looked like she could play another two sets.
She plays a limited schedule (she has already announced that she may not play the Olympics in 2008) and makes the most of it.

Marion Bartoli

She's been around like forever. Her father is considered a "mad scientist" among tennisheads for his unorthodox training techniques. He was the one who encouraged his daughter to put on weight but she seems to be shedding some of those pounds in an effort to be more fit.
Her big win this year was of course at Wimbledon where she played the Final against Venus Williams who was not going to be denied this year. I think she's had some issues adjusting to the pressure of being among the top women players in the world. I look for a fitter, and more mentally tough Marion next year.

Anna Chakvetadze

This woman with the long long hair and the face of an angel has shown that she has the will and drive, and the game, to take her to the heights of her sport. Of all the top women to me she is the most "gangster", the one who doesn't try to hide her naked ambition behind a nice demeanor. I'm sure her handlers will tell her to tone it down so we may see a more demure Anna next year.
Oh, and she played some fantastic tennis this year. She makes it look like she's not doing anything and then you're on the wrong end of the score against her. It took me awhile to see what she was doing. I see it now and look for her to make a big move next year.

Jelena Jankovic

We love to tease Jelena don't we? She's played so much tennis this year it's a wonder she knows where she is at any given time. The problem is that by the time the US Open rolls around she is already on a down turn. She even had a melt down in Bali during a match against a resurgent Lindsay Davenport. But she deserves to be in the top ten both in official ranking and on fan lists. Let's see if she makes the mental adjustment to being at the top of the game and plays a much saner schedule next year.

Ana Ivanovic

The Katherine Hepburn of tennis played her way to the top of her sport. I don't rank her higher because when the pressure was on during a match she seemed to wilt in the heat. Her big claim to fame this year was that Maria Sharapova seemed not to want to play her and did all she could to avoid doing so. It all turned out to be moot but this young woman, like Anna Chakvetadze, has the will and the drive and the game to stay at the top.

Maria Sharapova

Despite a shoulder injury that seemed to come and go depending on what was going on in a particular match she held on to a top ten ranking by the tips of her fingers and played extremely well at the YEC. All things being equal she would have won that Final but that is why matches are played on the court and not in the blogosphere.
By every other measure though she had a horrible year not winning a major, going out in the third round of the US Open and managing one solitary win against a tired opponent in California. Next year will be crucial for her.

Nicole Vaidisova

Illness laid her low this year but she's still on my list because despite her illness she had a decent second half of the year and is poised to challenge the Big Babes next year. I still see her as having a better game than either Ana or Anna but she needs to keep her emotions under control. She is the youngest on my list and I think that next year barring illness or injury she'll be among the elite of her sport.

Svetlana Kuznetsova

I saw a match this year where Sveta played fantastic tennis. She was hitting on all cylinders and blew her opponent off the court. The next day she looked as if she'd never seen a tennis court before and left me wondering which player is the real Sveta. It's sad when she is ranked second in the world after Justine and no one expected her to make the semi finals at the YEC. She is still young, 22, and it's possible that like Martina Navratilova did back in the day, she'll get herself under control and play to her potential.

Honorable Mention:

Agnes Szavay

I do hope that Agnes is able to play a full schedule next year. Serious back problems shortened her 2007. This girl has some serious talent and can give the older stars fits. She's needed on the tour

Aggie Radwanska

She beat Maria Sharapova like she stole something at the US Open surprising everyone. She is also very young and didn't have a great second half of the year. The potential is there. I hope she's up to the challenge.

Tatiana Golovin

All the talent in the world but injuries shortened her season. She's shown herself capable of playing at a high level. I do hope she's able to play a full schedule next year.

Shuai Peng

After Li Na went down with injury this young woman stepped up to the plate for China and had very decent results the second half of the year. She is a dark horse for next year.

Chan Yung-jan(Latisha) and Chuang Chia-Jung

This doubles pair has put themselves firmly in the mix and can only go up in ranking.

Heard Around 9/23/2007

by Savannah

The Thailand Open

This was going to be a very light hearted look at the past week in tennis. Instead I find myself a little annoyed about the antics of the ATP and the tournament officials in Thailand. The Main Draw was released early this morning for those of us in the United States. It shows Novak Djokovic as the top seed as opposed to Rafael Nadal who had been seeded first. Rafa, it appears to the average fan, withdrew at the last minute. Here is one fan's reaction posted on
Vamos Brigade

Well, glad that finally it's cleared that Rafa will not show up...

But I'm so pissed about the fact that the organizer waits til the last minute then announce his withdrawal. I mean, Moya has already flew from Spain instead of Rafa...so, it's not possible that they wouldn't know that Rafa would not be at the tournament. They should announce it since yesterday when they are sure that it's gonna be Moya, not Rafa. It's not like Moya coming out of the gate then said..' hi guys, I'm Moya... I'm coming instead of Rafa' it doesn't work that way!! I think Rafa might have told or gave a hint to the organizers that he wouldn't be able to come...but they are just greedy, so they didn't notify the fans.

Now... what appears on the news is that --Rafa last-minute withdrawal 'again'--... sth like that... bad tone... bad for his reputation. I believe there'll be a lot of tennis fans who didn't follow the news, or know Rafa well enough... who will now have negative feeling about Rafa because of this. Poor boy!!!

And another

Rafa comes here pls!!! I've been waiting for 4 years!!!!

It's been no secret that Rafa was not going to play Bangkok. It's also no secret that Novak Djokovic is probably not coming either since he said after his Davis Cup match that his next event is Vienna, the same information that's been up on his official website for sometime now. I think the webmistress at Vamos Brigade, "Mamasue" said it best:

...it is very sad for you fans as well as for Rafa to look bad. The ATP is ultimately to blame for lying to fans. They seem to think they can get away with it and even further strengthened their position to continue to lie by no longer allowing stevegtennis.com to post up-to-date withdrawals from tournament entry lists. Tennis really does need a commissioner or someone to look out for the best interests of fans and players and not just the money hungry.

These are the same tactics used by the WTA and so bravely denounced by Lindsay Davenport a couple of years ago. Way to go guys. Did anyone stop to think that tennisheads in South East Asia would have come anyway? Why the bait and switch tactics? It's makes it seem that the other players, among them Andy Roddick (at least at the time I'm writing this) are chopped liver and not worth seeing. At the present time your product is much stronger than the WTA's ET. There is no need for this penny ante bullsh**.

Viral Illnesses and the ATP

Richard Gasquet of the famous red shoes had one at the US Open. It rendered him unable to play up and comer Donald Young. Today it struck Lleyton Hewitt making him unable to play his reverse singles match against Novak Djokovic. Maybe that is the reason Novak won't play Bangkok? Updates as they occur.

First There is a Mountain then there is no mountain, then there is...

Those lyrics written by Donovan back in the day came to mind when I read that Marat Safin, instead of riding the bench at the semi final Davis Cup playoff would be off climbing mountains in Nepal. Imagine my surprise (not) when Marat made it to base camp and decided he had other things to do. He showed up on the bench today. A guest columnist is going to do a review of the Germany vs Russia Davis cup tie for me so I'll just keep singing that song to myself.


Karma is a Bitch

The Serbian Diva Jelena Jankovic, after all the drama caused yesterday after a ball she hit over the net in frustration hit her opponent Lindsay Davenport managed a mental meltdown of massive proportions today. With the match on her racquet at 5-1 in the second set over new tour sensation Agnes Szavay Jelena went on to lose the match 6-7, 7-5, 6-2. To my knowledge there were no bad calls, nothing extraneous to distract Jelena. Maybe the reality and responsibility of being the Number Three woman in the world is getting to her. I don't know. I do know that if you can't handle the heat standing outside the kitchen how do you expect to handle it standing inside of it?
Handle your business Jelena. There are a lot of your fans who want to see you play your way to the top spot by winning, not by being a point whore.


Lindsay Davenport
Three months after giving birth to her first child Lindsay Davenport is back on the tour, and winning. She won Bali, her first event back, and made the semi finals in Beijing where she admitted that all the tennis caught up with her.
If anyone thought motherhood would mellow her out they apparently have another thing coming. Just like Lindsay of old would have done she let Jelena Jankovic have it for accidentally hitting her with an errant shot. It seems Jelena has a history of doing this when "frustrated". She hit Serena once and came close to hitting Marion Bartoli. If this keep up she shouldn't be surprised when an opponent, equally "frustrated" lets her have it one day. And yes, I am talking about tennis not baseball where "head hunting" is an art form.

Idle Chit Chat

There is some.

Reports in the Russian press say Anna Kournikova is expecting her first child with long time beau Enrique Iglesias. If true let's hope Anna reacquaints herself with a healthy diet and that both mother and baby stay healthy.

Tommy Robredo is reportedly dating Ana Ivanovic. No she hasn't shown up in his friends box and there are no pictures of them drunkenly singing karaoke.

Which brings me to the latest publicists wet dream. Yes I'm talking about the rumored coupling of Maria Sharapova and Novak Djokovic. What happened to Andy Maria? You never had any drunken pictures taken with him to my knowledge. Was it not serious between you two? I hope you and Novak make it. From where I sit you two are a match made in, well, someone's idea of heaven.

Picture of the Week

I've never been a Tim Henman fan but I will miss him on the main tour. He's been around for seemingly as long as I've been a tennis fan. It just seemed that he came along at the wrong time. His style of play is not for this time period. I'm sure after he takes some time off we'll see him on the Black Rock Tour.
Enjoy the rest of your life Tim!