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

Not So Idle Chit Chat

by Savannah

It's been a long time since I've done an Idle Chit Chat post. What does that mean?
Well there will be a lot of, well chit chat but unlike blind items on gossip sites the miscreants will be named. Not that all of them are miscreants. Some are simply playing the hand they've been dealt. But all of them are dealing with the results of actions they've taken. Where do we start?

Let's start with one M. Gilles Simon. Gilles is now on the Players Council and sat down for an interview to discuss the long simmering argument about better pay for those men who are not in the Top 100. It's interesting to find out that while Challenger level players have representation on the Council their position is akin to that of a nation with auditor status at the United Nations. At least that's how it comes across in this interview translated by Mark Nixon whose blog translates pressers and interviews given in languages other than English. Simon looks at the situation in strictly business terms. Here are some excerpts from the L'Equipe interview by Vincent Cognet.

Does the pro tour have different tiers?

“I’d say it has three tiers: there are those who make a lot, those who make enough to live on, and those who are still investing. It doesn’t shock me that there are three tiers. The question is: at which tier do we want to point fingers? Everyone agrees that the ATP number 1000 shouldn’t make a living.”

Why not?

Because it’s not professional. Every player will give you a different number: one will say the top 200 deserve to earn a living, another the top 300. The only certainty is that there’ll always be a three-tiered tour.

Unless it’s changed in a way that everyone can make a living!

There are more than 2000 guys on the ATP tour. That would be difficult. Of course, I’m in favour of the maximum number of players being able to make a living. But what I find more shocking is that there’s too big a gap between players at the same category of tournament.

Which means?

The best in the world travel with their coach [sometimes two], their stringer, their doctor, sometimes their hitting partner. On the other hand, you have number 80 in the world who gets there without being able to afford a coach. Those two types of players face each other in the first round of a Grand Slam. To me that shouldn’t be possible. That’s what I was teasing Roger [Federer] with: “Under these conditions, isn’t it a little easier to win?” It’s even worse on the women’s circuit. By not offering enough money, they don’t have a chance to train and improve. So, obviously, the best, who are already stronger, will stay the strongest! They changed that by getting more prize money for the first rounds of a Grand Slam. To clarify, that pays for your coach.

What have you done for the “second tier”, meaning the qualie players?

We haven’t forgotten those who are ranked between 100 and 300. Everyone says that we should increase the Challenger prize money. OK, but how do you do that? In ten years, from 2007 to 2017, their funding has already doubled. The paradox is that we can demand that the Grand Slams double their prize money (which is already huge), but can’t do anything about a Challenger.

Why?

Because a Grand Slam generates enormous revenue and a Challenger generates none. Because the players ranked between 100 and 300 generate none. So, logically, the same thing applies to them that applies to a world number 80: how to train and improve. We’ve increased the qualie prize money for Slams 120% in four years. In four years, you’ll make the same for the last round of qualifications as you did for the first round of the draw.
(...)

Why doesn’t the system change at the Futures level?

Guys competing there aren’t considered professionals. They’re considered to be players who are investing in their futures. Most importantly, we, the ATP, can’t do anything – it’s run by the ITF. We have zero hold, zero power with Futures. I love my sport, I want there to be competition, I fight for that, but I see how difficult it is.

(...)

OK, lets ask the question in a different way: are the top 100 players ready to give up some of their prize money to subsidise the lesser tours?

I may be wrong, but I’d say no. I know this will cause some screaming, but the players reckon that the Masters 1000’s make too much money compared to what they give us. The Slams were reproached for the same reason, though to a lesser extent. Everyone is interested in how much money the players make. No one talks about who’s pocketing the money at the end. Because no-one knows who that is. So, if you have to find money, the players will tell you that’s who should give to the Challengers.

There’s always a worry there …

I sometimes have a problem with players who ask for more money than they generate. Is it in our tour’s interests, seen as a whole, that those guys make more money? I’m pointing out that I use the same reasoning for the women’s tour and for doubles. It’s more of a general reflection than simply a question of money for the rich and the poor.

(...)

So you’re not the Players’ Council, you’re the Top 100 Council. And you only look at the problems that concern you.

-We’re the council for the Top 100 because we’re the council for the tour. Because, today, the tour is the ATP 250’s, the ATP 500’s and the Masters 1000. In fact, there is a Challengers section. I went there. We talked for two hours about that. Me, I say: instead of talking about prize money which, in any case, isn’t generated, let’s talk more about the expenses.That might move things along a bit.

...A pro structure costs a fortune. It cost me 250,000 Euros last year.

I've always thought of Challenger players like Triple A players in Major Leage Baseball here in the States. Players move back and forth between the Majors and Minors due to injury, burn out or what have you. I guess I was wrong. Was the Players Council always like this? Was it always only concerned about the Top 100 or was it at one time concerned with all players? I don't know. If it's only concern is the Top 100 maybe the name should be changed? Again I don't know. The issues Simon raises are legitimate but the solutions he's endorsing seem a bit cold hearted to me.

The Co Opting of a Legend

Someone has to explain the purpose of this piece to me. It was obviously dictated by Max Eisenbud. I guess they wanted it to appear that Billie Jean King wrote this herself? Uh huh. I was born at night but not last night.

One member of Tennis Twitter said the piece was PR'y. Hell it's a press release with a legend of the game's name attached. Why would she allow herself to be used in this manner? I could speculate but all of it would be ugly and imply a need for money by Ms King. I have a lot of respect for Ms King and what she's done almost single handedly for women's tennis so I will leave it at that.

The Strange Case of Petra Kvitova

So Petra Kvitova showed up in Australia fitter than she's ever been and promptly declared she was too tired to play when she left the country after a solo win at one of the warmup events. Too tired? She's 24 years old. According to an article in the Czech press she used the word "empty" to describe how she felt after her one win down under. She also admits to having seen a psychologist, I would assume a sports psychologist, to deal with her feelings or lack of feeling about playing the sport that has made her rich. Her coach confirmed that she will pick and choose where and when and how often she plays going forward, and that fitness isn't really part of her overall plan.

If you remember when Petra first came on the scene and won Wimbledon I was among some who said she seemed very uncomfortable with the business side of tennis. Her lack of fitness was talked about as much as her power game. It looked as if a new dominating star had arrived and that if she would get fit she'd challenge for the top ranking of women's tennis.

It now seems that Petra isn't interested in reaching the top level of tennis. Her coach has indicated fitness will not be a big part of her match prep going forward.

I'm summarizing because all of the links are in Czech. Czech fans are calling her a lazy bum. I don't think it's wise to go against what seems to be their consensus.

This and That

US fans were excited about Taylor Townsend working with Zina Garrison and a team out of Chicago. Taylor seemed to be improving her court sense and combined with her movement that is good despite not being in the best of shape it looked as if she might live up to some of the potential she exhibited as a Junior.

During Miami I heard a commentator mention in passing that Zina Garrison was working somewhere that was not Chicago now and I wondered what that meant for her work with Taylor. It turns out that Taylor will now be working with Donald Young, Sr. I'm struggling to find something positive to say about this new arrangement. She's had how many coaches now? And none of them have addressed her biggest problems and I'm not just talking about her weight. Like most young US players she's got all the shots but she doesn't have a coherent strategy when she steps on court. Her attitude seems to be I can hit through my opponent and get to most of what they send my way. All well and good. But what about a player who relies on off speed stuff? Who sees what you've got and counters it?

This is not just a Taylor Townsend problem it's a US tennis problem and I'm not getting into that again. Not this post anyway.

Amélie Mauresmo Is Pregnant


Photo Via Art Seitz

With a low key announcement via Facebook and Twitter Amelie Mauresmo announced that she will become a mother sometime in August this year. Most responses I saw were positive and the negatives were so full of ignorant speculation I was rendered almost speechless. I'll get to that in a few minutes.

For the serious fan a lot of things fell into place, especially Andy Murray, Amélie's charge, adding an assistant coach to his team. If Amélie is carrying the child she is about five months pregnant and in about three months travel will be difficult for her. Murray's new assistant coach will be up on how he does things and the transition will be seamless.

As for the idiocy. It's one thing to suspect that most of the "fans" posting on the two huge sites for the ATP and WTA are twelve. It's another thing to have questions like "How could this happen if she's gay?" and speculation that the whole reason Murray chose her was to donate sperm for her child. Let's not get into the fanfics that have already been proposed. The sadder thing is that when the adults call these children out for the nonsense they're spouting they say they're just trolling and that is supposed to explain everything.

There is nothing more beautiful than a child who is wanted and loved. I say congratulations to Amélie and her partner and hope a safe birth and a healthy child are in their future.

As for those "fan" sites the moderators have to decide between inflated hit counts and a readable, enjoyable place for the young and old to discuss tennis. Just my very humble opinion.

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?

Gilles Simon and Equal Tournament Play

by Savannah

Gilles Simon is now a member of the ATP player council. As a member his comments get more play than they did before.

He's set off a firestorm with his most recent comments on the equal pay situation for the WTA at majors. What did he say?

WIMBLEDON, England — Gilles Simon, a Frenchman seeded 13th and freshly elected to the ATP Player Council, told French reporters on Monday that he was opposed to women receiving equal prize money as men.

“I think that men’s tennis is really ahead of women’s tennis at this stage,” he told the radio station France Info after winning his first-round match. “Once more, the men spent surely twice as much time on court as the women at the French Open. We often talk about salary equality. I don’t think it’s something that works in sport. I think we are the only sport that has parity with the women in terms of prize money. Meanwhile, men’s tennis remains more attractive than women’s tennis at this moment.”

In 2007, Wimbledon became the last of the four Grand Slam tournaments to award equal prize money to the women. The United States Open was the first in 1973.

But the men’s and women’s tours operate independently, and there are still disparities in the prize money that women earn at their own top-tier tour events compared with the men’s top-tier events.

In an interview with the French sports newspaper L’Equipe that appeared on Monday, Simon also said that he was upset that the men’s tour had agreed to make the tournament in Rome a joint event with the women without consulting him and some other men’s players directly.

“The year before, the women, for their final, they had 20 spectators,” he said. “And so, in that case, you save them, but when you want a practice court, there aren’t any left.”

Simon, looking ahead to his term on the ATP Players Council, made other suggestions during the L’Equipe interview that had nothing to do with women’s tennis. He wants to reduce the number of Masters 1000 tournaments that the leading men are required to play from eight out of nine to six out of nine. He also wants to cut the participatory requirements for Masters 500 tournaments.

(...)

“Am I going to incur the wrath of feminist organizations? I don’t care,” said Simon, pointing to the fact that women contest matches over best-of-three sets at the Grand Slam tournaments while the men play best-of-five set matches.

SOURCE

Might this rant have to do with the ATP considering raising prize money? Does this have to do with the inferior quality of the WTA product right now? Have I not been saying for a couple of years now that the WTA went for image over substance, promoting the Blonde standard over quality play? Outside of Serena Williams and Maria Sharapova who puts butts in seats? Victoria Azarenka?

Marion Bartoli came to the defense of women's tennis saying there are only five or six big draws in men's tennis. That's at least three more than the top draws of women's tennis.

There will be a lot of weeping and gnasing of teeth but nothing, and I mean nothing, Simon said isn't true. Is he a male chauvinist? Maybe. But his job is to reflect the attitudes of his constituency, the ATP players.

As for the Master's 1000 and 500 requirements I defer to the players on that. I'm sure the TD's will oppose any change but I suspect that is an argument that will be played out over the next two years.

Lazing On a Sunny Afternoon...

by Savannah

"And I love to live so pleasantly,
Live this life of luxury, lazing on a sunny afternoon
In the summertime..."

Ray Davies of the Kinks wrote those lyrics eons ago in today's time measurement to describe ennui in the face of semi tragic goings on.
The time after Wimbledon for me is one of rest, of mentally getting away from tennis and rejoining the real world. You know, that one where tennis isn't the be all and end all of existence?

Needless to say I'm never totally successful. After a brief interruption the European summer clay court swing continues while the United States prepares for its Lollapalooza, the US Open Series.
Since the big boys and girls stay in Europe until forced to come to the States - the women by Stanford and San Diego/Carlsbad, the men by the Rogers Cup, the US Open series becomes a showcase for American players like Mardy Fish who won Atlanta last week.

The doubles at Atlanta were won by the team of Alex Bogomolov Jr. and Matt Ebden, an American/Aussie team.

Meanwhile in Europe the players were slipping and sliding on red clay to their hearts content.

Gilles Simon won the singles crown in Hamburg.

The team of Marach and Peya won the doubles crown.
The WTA was playing on hard courts in the newly minted tournament at Baku in Azerbaijan.

Vera Zvonareva who was coming back from injury is the initial champion at Baku.

The team of Koryttseva and Poutchek took the doubles honors.

Creative Tennis Journalism

I mean absolutely no disrespect to last weeks winners when I say that it was a slow week for tennis news. That still doesn't excuse certain "journalists" making shit up to try and generate some excitement.

I started seeing posts on Twitter and elsewhere saying that Maria Sharapova wanted a piece of Serena Williams. The two will potentially face each other at Stanford, a WTA Premier event, and you can't call yourself a tennis fan if you're not at least mildly interested in seeing that match. You don't have to be a fan of either player to want to see how Serena, who has played some WTT matches on her way back to the main tour, will play and how Maria, who did well at Wimbledon, will rise to the challenge. Maria throwing shade at Serena is news though and while I wasn't aware of Sharapova ever doing this before I said to myself that a little hype for the women's tour isn't a bad thing.

But I had my doubts so I went looking for the transcript of the interview where Sharapova took off the gloves and laid into Serena.
This is what I found via ASAP Sports.

Q. Now, you've come back from injury a couple years ago, and Serena is now making her attempt at a comeback. What do you see in her game right now? If you were to give her any advice about how to play this summer, what would you say?
MARIA SHARAPOVA: Yeah, I don't think I'm the one to give advice to her. (Laughter.) She's an incredible champion and she's been through injuries before and has gotten herself back. Been a few more injuries than I have in my career, so I think she has it already figured out.

Q. Talking about Serena reminded me, if she comes into the Open unseeded, is that fair for the other players? If you drew her in the first round, how tough would that be?
MARIA SHARAPOVA: Yeah, I guess I went through that. I got some tough draws in the beginning of not being seeded and ranked very high. It's just something you have to go through. It's almost the luck of the draw as well.

Q. Is it unfair to the seeded player, for example, that if you're seed fourth or fifth and she unseeded and you got her in the first round...
MARIA SHARAPOVA: Yeah.

Q. It would be tough for you, wouldn't it?
MARIA SHARAPOVA: Yeah, but I've always had a philosophy: If you can't beat them in the first round, why do you think you can beat them later on.

Q. But a lot of the top player kind of like to play your way into the tournament, I guess. I guess that will be the luck of the draw.
MARIA SHARAPOVA: Yeah. Yeah.

Q. Ideally though, you wouldn't want to see her name across from yours in the first round, would you?
MARIA SHARAPOVA: To be honest, I love playing against her. We've had very, very tough matches against each other. You know, I don't have a great record against her, and I would love to change that. There is no doubt I would love to play her this summer at some point.

Maybe it's me. All I hear Maria saying is that it's technically unfair for Serena to be unseeded and playing top players early rather than later. I hear her saying that she would like to improve her record against Serena and is not at all going to try and duck out on whatever the draw gods mete out this summer. If that's throwing shade tennis writers need to get out more. I bet more smack is talked on "Toddlers & Tiaras".

Then again I guess it's easier to make shit up than talk about why the man ranked #1 in the ATP is posing for pictures like this. I guess you could argue that the weight should fall on Janko Tipsarevic for pouring fuel on the fire by implying that Rafael Nadal would pay big bucks for someone to do this to Novak Djokovic. The man who until recently represented both Rafa and Djokovic demanded that the picture be removed from Tipsarevic's Facebook page and it was but not before it had gone viral in the tennis world.

Is this what we have to look forward to after the class acts that preceded the new man at the top? No matter how Roger Federer felt publicly he never did anything like this. I don't know who is representing Djokovic now but if something like this was allowed to get out he or she is asleep at the wheel.
Djokovic's fans are saying people are overreacting, that this is just two guys playing around. Playing around with guns is not "playing around" for many people, me included.

The picture has also ignited a virtual war between fans of Rafa and fans of Djokovic. Rafa fans are highly upset about him being dragged into something that is strictly between the two Serbians. To my knowledge Rafa has had no public response. Ironically neither have the tennis journalists who will go to any lengths to make sure new media practitioners have limited or no access to their turf. They'd rather make up a feud out of whole cloth than deal with why the top ranked player in the world is publicly seen playing with guns.

End Note

The WTA players at Stanford took time to pose for this picture. Great move ladies.

The Winners

by Savannah

The final between David Ferrer and David Nalbandian at Auckland was one of the most anticipated on the Road to the Australian Open. Ferrer is known as a pit bull on the court and Nalbandian, looking Nalbandian fit, had been playing very well of late. Instead of a knock down drag out brawl on the court Ferrer routined Nalbandian in straight sets 6-3, 6-2. Nalbandian still goes into Melbourne as one of the dark horses and is expected to go deep.

Althought it's "only an exhibition" Kooyong has long been a feather in a players cap and is one of the favorite stops on the way to Melbourne. This years final was between Lleyton Hewitt and Gael Monfils. In the end it was Hewitt who defeated Monfils. Monfils had both knees taped. Does Hewitt have it in him to get to the second week at Melbourne? Like Andy Roddick in the United States Hewitt is carrying Australian men's tennis on his shoulders. To say the Aussies would be ecstatic if he has a good showing is putting it mildly.

The other reason for cautious optimism among the Australian tennis establishment is the maturation of Jarmila Groth. I saw most of her match with American Bethanie Mattek-Sands who now, thanks to Alicia Molik, has a bulls eye on her back. Mattek-Sands could not handle the wind at Hobart though and it was Groth who held up the trophy in the end. Groth looked like a world beater but Bethanie was hardly in the match. Both women are expected to do well in Melbourne.

Guy Forget was second and third guessed about his choice of player for the fifth and deciding rubber in Serbia during the Davis Cup final in December. He's going to have to answer more questions after last nights final at Sydney. Gilles Simon defeated an emotional Viktor Troicki 7-5, 7-6(4) coming back in both sets. Simon was down a break in the first set, down a double break (0-3) in the second and was broken at 5-5 and still won in straight sets.
The news from this final was not only the win by Simon.

On the way to defeat Troicki broke his racquet, kicked the net and abused a lineswoman for calling a foot fault on him. He's seen above mocking the woman by offering to shake her hand. I apologize but I couldn't wait up for this match. The stream was taking a long time to load and I threw in the towel. The amazing thing about Troicki's little tantrum is that he wasn't given a penalty for any of it. Steve Ulrich called the match and I guess he was into a "boys will be boys" frame of mind. It remains to be seen if any fines will be levied against Troicki.

Doubles Results

The team of Marcel Granollers and Tommy Robredo defeated the team of Johan Brunstom and Stephen Huss at Auckland 6-4, 7-6(6).

At Sydney Lukas Dlouhy and Paul Hanley defeated Bob Bryan and Mike Bryan 6-7(6), 6-3, 10-5.

On the women's side the team of Sara Errani and Roberta Vinci defeated Kateryna Bondarenko and Laura Dekmijere 6-3, 7-5 at Hobart.

Congratulations to all the winners.

Miscellany

In a change some are saying is long overdue Maria Sharapova announced that Michael Joyce is no longer part of her team. She will play Melbourne under the guidance of Thomas Hogstedt. Joyce had been Maria's coach for 6 1/2 years but after Auckland it was decided that they needed a "break" from each other. Players rarely shake up their teams leading into a Slam and this split, sorry, break, comes on the eve of the beginning of play in Melbourne.
If nothing else it shows that Sharapova wants to be a contender in week two.

Weekend Winners

by Savannah

The men rejoined the fray last week as the Asian swing gets underway. There are some faces in the winners circle we rarely ever see even in semi finals.

Gilles Simon hoisted the alien baby trophy Sunday after he won Metz. I wonder what deal the FFT struck with the aliens so that they can keep handing out this trophy.

Meanwhile the doubles winners Dustin Brown and Rogier Wassen took home trophies their wives/mothers/girlfriends/significant others can use as for flowers.

Meanwhile it was Alla Kudryatseva who donned the traditional winners head dress in Tashkent. I love the traditional wear the winners put on here.

Doubles winners Tatiana Poutchek and Alexandra Panova were draped in traditional robes for the awards ceremony.

Juan Ignacio Chela won the singles title in Bucharest, Romania. He is flanked by Ion Tiriac and Ilie Nastase on the left.

Chela had a great weekend. He also won the doubles crown playing with Lukasz Kubot.

Alisa Kleybanova proudly hoists the winners trophy in Seoul.

Julia Goerges and Polona Hercog won the doubles crown in Seoul.

Congratulations to all the winners!

Miscellany
Some early results from Tokyo.

Soon to be forty Wild Card Kimiko Date-Krumm defeated the #12 seed and defending champion Maria Sharapova in three sets 7-5, 3-6, 6-3.

Dinara Safina lost to the above mentioned Julia Goerges 1-6, 7-5, 2-6.

In totally expected news Serena Williams, sporting a large scar on her foot, has not returned to the main tour. This means the top spot in the WTA rankings is up for grabs.

Idle Chit Chat

by Savannah
Neil Harman posted this on October 5 2009

Speaking in his home country this weekend, Federer said: “People like it still that I am the No 1 or the No 1 again so I have to make a hard decision, the one or the other [either the tour or the Davis Cup] because both together is not working, I feel it myself, it is consuming. If I hadn’t played the Davis Cup I maybe would have gone to Asia, so you see how much energy the Davis Cup takes [out of you]”.

Marat Safin is reported to have said the following about the length of the ATP calandar and those who are now complaining.

"In 2004 we had this discussion in Olympic Games with Roddick about it and they were blaming me that I'm playing too much," said former world number one Safin And I was saying that the season is too long. We should make it shorter. And the guys, they jumped on me, like I was the one who was wrong. So look at all of them -- everybody is falling apart. Everybody is getting injured left and right, and everybody is complaining the season is long. It takes six years to realize that something is wrong? They just have to deal with that, not when they are 21 and ambitious and want to make money. They have to think a little bit with their brains and to make the career a little bit longer."

Tatiana Golovin has hinted that her chances of returning to tennis are slim to none. She is suffering from spondylitis of the back. The L'Equipe article is here.

The Chinese have made no secret about wanting to host a Slam. They'd like to expand the number of Slams from four to five or wrestle the Australian Open from Melbourne and hold an Asian Open in either Beijing or Shanghai. That's why it's amazing to see the lack of butts in the seats especially in Shanghai. I have never seen so many empty seats at an ATP event where all of the top men are playing. It was better today but not by much. If it wasn't for the fangirls and cute kids that are all over the place center court would be dead. I saw some of Ivan Ljubicic's match this morning and that stadium was empty. What gives? I'd think it would be to the Chinese advantage to have as many "seat fillers" as possible.

Czech player Ivo Minar has been suspended eight months for a doping offense. The suspension ends on March 10, 2010. Minar will not protest the sentence.

Andre Agassi on the future of men's tennis.

Agassi said the 22-year-old Murray is the man most likely to be the dominant figure over the next few years. The world No. 3 is still seeking his first Grand Slam title.

“From a talent standpoint, Murray is a person who should win multiple Slams,” Agassi said.

“When I look at his game compared to the other players, he has what it takes to win and to win against anybody on any surface.”

So who was the genius who decided that the Kremlin Cup, one of the WTA's most prestigious end of year events, would be held the week before the YEC at Doha making sure that none of the top Russian women would play? Some of the players mentioned this at the beginning of the year but it's now, when the players list is posted on the official site, that you see how this event has been downgraded. Meanwhile there are two International Series events playing in Linz, Austria and Osaka Japan. I finally saw some pics of the women today so I know this is not a figment of my imagination. I'm still trying to get my head around why the YEC at Doha isn't closing out the year. I'm slow like that.

Stan Wawrinka and Gael Monfils retired with injury today in Shanghai. Fernando Verdasco, who has put off needed foot surgery to play Davis Cup for Spain, lost his match.

Weekend Winners

by Savannah

Maria Sharapova was handed the Championship trophy of the Pan Pacific Open by Jelena Jankovic who retired during their final with a wrist injury.

Gilles Simon proudly hoists the winners trophy he earned by winning the Thailand Open over Victor Troicki.

Nikolay Davydenko (right) holds the winners trophy for the first Malaysian Open Tournament that was held in Kuala Lumpur. Fernando Verdasco was the runner up.

Rajeev Ram and Eric Butorac won the doubles crown in Bangkok

Alisa Kleybanova and Francesca Schiavone are the PPO doubles champions for 2009

Mariusz Fyrstenberg (L) and Marcin Matkowski (R) took home the doubles championship at the Malaysian Open

Tennis Talk

by Savannah

The US Open Series

The summer hard court season is now officially underway. Labeled the US Open Series, the WTA and ATP sponsor a series of tournaments leading up to the final Grand Slam of the tennis season, the US Open which is held in New York City's borough of Queens.

I've always liked the US Open Series. There is plenty of television coverage and you get to see players you don't normally see. Why do I say that you see players you don't normally see? The reason will become clear.

The first tournament in the series is played at Indianapolis, Indiana. The defending champion, Gilles Simon, is playing at Hamburg instead of defending his crown in the MIdwest of the United States. You remember Hamburg? It was a Masters Series clay tournament that got busted down to an ATP 500 series event by the tennis powers that be and was rescheduled. Simon is the top seed in Hamburg. Indianapolis featured Andy Roddick, newly returned to top five status, as the top seed. Roddick would be an excellent draw for American tennis fans especially after his showing at Wimbledon but it was not to be. Andy withdrew due to a hip injury he suffered during his Wimbledon run leaving the folks running the tournament with Dmitry Tursunov, ranked number twenty seven in the world, as the top seed. Tursunov has a large fan base because of his humorous and entertaining blogs so all is not lost. Fans who bought tickets are going to come and I suspect they'll see good tennis.

The situation with Simon highlights the problems the US Open Series faces. Just as the American players whine that going to Europe to play the clay court events leading up to Roland Garros takes them away from home too long the Europeans say the same thing this time of year. Why subject their bodies to the pounding meted out by hard court play now when they can come in August and play a a few events leading up to the hard court Grand Slam? Don't forget that the Europeans do come from Australia to play the Spring hard court series in the States. That swing, like the Summer swing, features back to back Masters Events and that is a lot of physical and mental wear and tear for the players.

As for the women their events start the week of July 27 with the Bank of the West Classic in Stanford. Stanford usually draws a strong field. The defending champion is Canadian Aleksandra Wozniak who had a good run in Europe. Following the trend set by the men the woman ranked number one in the world, Dinara Safina is playing in Europe this week at Potoroz, a WTA International level event. She will show up in the States for the LA Women's Tennis Championships which begin August 3. Safina is the defending champion at Los Angeles.

The women then play Cincinnati followed by the Rogers Cup in Toronto. Nadia Petrova is the defending champion at Cincinnati and Dinara is the defending champion in Canada.

There are those who say that it makes no sense to have clay court play after Wimbledon and that the grass court season should be extended. Hamburg, they argue, should be a grass court event not a clay court event. The European players deliver a collective "whatever" and play in Europe as long as they can. The big dogs will stay in Europe until they come to Montreal for the Rogers Cup Masters. The Cincinnati Masters event takes place the following week. Calls for the schedule to be changed have fallen on deaf ears with Tennis Canada sticking firmly to it's guns. The argument could be made that the entire rescheduling of the ATP calendar was done to secure that the Canadian events maintained their place in that calendar. Forget that the women hate to come to Canada for whatever reason and that playing back to back majors for both tours is hard work. For a country with no players in the upper echelons of tennis the Canadians seem to have a lot of power in tennis politics.

For a list of all the tournaments and the television schedule please go to the US Open Series website.

World Team Tennis

It seems that lately World Team Tennis matches are becoming more like WWE events. I haven't heard of Vince McMahon sitting courtside as of yet but the event between the Kastles and the Sportimes the other night seemed to be right up his alley. In this case a picture is worth a thousand words so without further ado here's video of what happened.



Initial reports said that John McEnroe was playing peacemaker. Doesn't look like that to me. Should Leander Paes have apologized? Yes. Was Robert Kendrick wrong for what he did? Remember that the US is a baseball nation and that retaliatory tit for tat action is expected. All I know is that when Hunter Hearst Helmsley appears across the net from Shawn Michaels remember that you read about it here.

Idle Chit Chat

Fallout continues from Pete Sampras' comments about the GOAT situation. Some of the grand poobahs of tennis media have even backtracked and seem to think Sampras' opinions have some validity. The Worshipful are not having it though.

Those Williams Women are still everywhere. Their improved hair and makeup not to mention attire speaks volumes about what stylists can do for women of means. The rest of us have to do the best we can. Here are pictures of those Williams Women at a movie premier last week. So glad Venus lost the bathrobe.


Uh, Okay...

London, July 12 : Tennis ace Andy Murray's life story is all set to be turned into a Hollywood movie.t least three major studios are in the run to grab the rights to the star's life story for millions of pounds.

The rush for the rights began when studio bosses found out that the 22-year-old tennis player survived the Dunblane massacre.

Andy was just eight when Thomas Hamilton shot dead 16 pupils and a teacher at Dunblane Primary School on March 13, 1996, before killing himself in the gym.

Andy, who reached the Wimbledon semi-final last month, rarely speaks of the nightmare that unfolded before his eyes that day.

However, the Glasgow-born battler, who is now the world's No. 3, might just reveal the story in return for millions of pounds.

A senior executive at Fox said his studio would "easily match" Andy's career earnings of 4.7million pounds to acquire the film rights to his life story.

"This guy is an absolute inspiration," the Daily Star quoted him as saying.

It is believed that Universal and Steven Spielberg's DreamWorks are also hoping to sign him up.

Source

Recent sighting of David Nalbandian

Mario Ancic and friend
The Champions


Jeremy Chardy Champion 2009 Stuttgart. It's his first title.

Robin Soderling Champion Bastad 2009


Sybille Bammer defeated Francesca Schiavone at Prague.


Flavia Pennetta 2009 Champion Palermo

Doubles play is taking place at the men's events. I'll update the blog this evening with pictures and results.

The Bondarenko sisters Alona and Kateryna won the doubles at Prague.