Speechless

by Savannah

Roger Goodell, head of the NFL, is in hot water with the NFLPA. Rumors are swirling about the way he handled, or hasn't handled, let's call them indiscretions by NFL players. It took awhile for this to happen but it just may. There haven't been any real threats to his leadership despite all the shenanigans. Time will tell if he will be held responsible for his actions, or lack thereof.

Then we have the newly installed head of the Women's Tennis Association, Steve Simon . This is what he said yesterday.

"She does not want to end her career this way and I know she feels the mistake is on her," Simon told the newspaper. "She is not saying she didn’t do it. She’s responsible for what goes into her body and this has been a terrible, terrible mistake she made. But I remain convinced it was an honest mistake.”

Like many tennis insiders he then continued his double speak.

“It is effectively out of the WTA’s hands at this point because the process is independent and I think very healthy because the last thing we want in our sport is when the governing body is judge and jury,” Simon said. "We have seen the repercussions of what that can bring (in other sports) and they determine the appropriate discipline and we are 100 percent supportive of whatever that might be.”

I'm really sick of this. It's like they're saying "We know she's a drug cheat. We know she's been at it for ten years. And yes she ignored multiple warnings made through the usual channels but it was all a mistake."

This is the tack Maria Sharapova and her team have taken. I get the feeling that WADA doesn't give a rats ass about her Princess status in the minds of some in leadership capacity in tennis. The head of the WTA should be sitting down and talking with staff about the consequences of those ten years of using a drug that treats medical conditions she doesn't have. Forfeiture of January winnings? Banned from the sport? Stripping of titles? Nope. He's trying to influence the court of public opinion in to thinking Sharapova is the wronged party here. Not the players she played and won against while under the influence so to speak. Not the sport of tennis that she slandered with an ill written and conceived rant on Facebook. She can't be severely punished because she's Maria Sharapova, the face of women's tennis. It's all just a mistake.

Be aware that he did not say she declared the drug on the paperwork she submitted in Melbourne during the Australian Open. We're hearing less and less of that. If she had declared I think her lawyer would've been waving the papers around in front of cameras already.

Can you imagine the head of any national or international sport calling a positive drug test an "honest mistake"? He would be out of a job.

They keep saying "she does not want to end her career this way". As I've been saying let's wait and see what happens.

She's BACK!

Stacey Allaster...joining the U.S.T.A. in a newly created post...will oversee its pro tennis division.

via Christoper Clarey

Hasn't this woman done enough to tennis?
Why did the USTA feel the need to create a position for her? Why didn't Tennis Canada create the position?
Why is U.S. Open tournament director David Brewer will reporting to her?

Again, from Christopher Clarey's article.

(Gordon)Smith said Allaster’s responsibilities would include the United States Open, the Emirates Airlines U.S. Open Series, the Davis Cup and the Fed Cup. But he said she would also be involved at the lower levels, overseeing the pro-circuit events. One of the goals is to increase youth participation, using the pro events in the United States as inspiration.

It is a time of change at the U.S.T.A. and the United States Open, with major construction underway at the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center, including the completion of a new roof on Arthur Ashe Stadium. A new facility, the U.S.T.A. National Campus, is set to open this year on 63 acres at Lake Nona in Orlando, Fla., and will serve, among other purposes, as a national training center.

There is also no shortage of challenges, including keeping the Miami Open, the prestigious event that has had expansion plans blocked in the Florida courts, in the United States despite the high demand for staging Masters 1000 events internationally.

“We think it’s very important that we do everything possible to keep the Miami event in this country, and that will be very much a role that Stacey will play for us,” Smith said.

Wasn't Martin Blackman hired to be head of USTA Player Development? Wasn't Katrina Adams made Chairman of the Board, CEO and President of the United States Tennis Association?

Gordon Smith, Executive Director & Chief Operating Officer of the USTA, has added another layer of management. The way this reads is that the TD of the US Open must clear everything he does with Allaster. Adams, on paper, could also have to run everything she does past Allaster. Blackman and his team may have to submit their plans for funding, etc through Allaster who owes nothing to anyone except Smith.

The USTA had the now proverbial 99 problems. Allaster is not the solution to any of them.

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