Tuesday, September 1, 2009
BUSINESS NEWS
French Federation Fires Top Director
Although France can boast 12 male players in the main singles draw of the US Open and ten women, Patrice Dominguez has been fired from the post of technical director of the French Federation de Tennis with immediate effect.
The decision to end Dominguez’s second spell in the position was near unanimous. FFT president Jean Gachassin reported all but one of the 17 strong governing committee voted for change, seeing 59 year-old Dominguez as a remnant of the former regime of Christian Bimes.
Dominguez was known to be at odds with influential members of the French tennis hierarchy such as Davis Cup captain Guy Forget, Yannick Noah and Patrice Hagelauer who was forced out of the FFT to join the Lagardere set up which has exerted increasing influence in French tennis politics. However, he was known to be at loggerheads with chief executive of the FFT, Gilbert Ysern.
“It was difficult to work with Patrice Dominguez,” said Gachassin. “There have been problems with other officials and they have been going on for months. I tried to reconcile the problems but was not successful. I was therefore obliged to submit the question of his dismissal in federal office.”
Dominguez said he was "very surprised" at the decision after having his contract reconfirmed in April after Gachassin was elected as president. He maintained French tennis was in a very healthy position with Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, Gilles Simon and Gael Monfils all close to the top of the men’s game.
But a first round exit in this year’s Davis Cup and the possibility of relegation from the elite World Group in the play-off later this month against the Netherlands in Maastricht, along with a 5-0 thrashing by Italy in February’s Fed Cup worked against Dominguez.
Ysern booked a hotel conference centre to update all the French players and coaches of the situation and there was an unprecedented 100% attendance. Gachassin will next week meet the French government’s Secretary of State for Sports, Rama Yade to submit a list of five or six candidates for the job.
Hagelauer, former coach of Noah and briefly Performance Director of Britain’s Lawn Tennis Association before returning to France, is the favorite for the job.
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Roddick Claims Agassi Was an Early Inspiration
Andre Agassi’s Foundation is pretty well known, centered around offering education opportunities to underprivileged kids. A little less known is that Andy Roddick also has a foundation, which has raised over $8 million which also goes towards disadvantaged children. Coincidence? Not. Roddick was inspired a long time ago by what Agassi had set up.
"I think I was 17," he said. "I filled in last minute at a one night exhibition in Houston. I think I was 350 in the world or something. After the match he (Agassi) said, ‘Do you want to go, I'm going back to Boca,’ because I think Stef's mom was living there. ‘Do you want a lift?’ We didn't fly on Southwest. Nothing against Southwest, but... Anyway, this is a long story. But we were about a half hour in. I hadn't really said much, which as you know is rare for me. He said finally, Listen, kid. We have an hour and a half left. It's me and you. If you have any questions, let's knock 'em out.
"I said, ‘All right’. That was the last time he ever asked me to talk again. I asked everything, you know, from Grand Slams to (number) one. I said, ‘What was your biggest regret’, expecting to hear like, ‘I fell off a little bit; I didn't stay on top of my career’. I mean, we all lived in the rollercoaster of the mid to late '90s, whatever it was. He said, ‘I didn't start my foundation early enough’. Of all the things he had kind of gone through, that kind of hit home. He kind of preached that you don't really have to start with events where he has Elton John and Billy Joel and Usher, and pretty much anybody else he wants playing his events at the MGM Grand.
“(So) I asked Venus and Serena to come and we played an exhibition pretty much in a parking lot. We raised $40,000, and we thought it was the best thing ever. Now we have Elton and we're raising $2 million a night. It was all kind of part of the process. He was a huge inspiration as far as that goes."
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Brothers and Sisters at The US Open
Courtesy of TennisExpress
The best brother and sister combinations in the history of tennis – Dinara Safina and Marat Safin of Russia and Nancy and Cliff Richey of San Angelo, Texas - are all in attendance at the 2009 US Open. Safina begins play as the No. 1 seed in women’s singles Tuesday, the same day as Nancy Richey, a Hall of Famer and a US Open singles finalist 40 years ago in 1969, returns to the Open for the first time in 15 years.
Richey, who lost to Margaret Court in the 1969 women’s singles final, is attending the Open with her younger brother Cliff, a two-time Open semifinalist.
Marat Safin will begin his final career major tournament Wednesday when he plays his first-round match against Jurgen Melzer of Austria.
Safin and Safina are the only brother sister combo to rank No. 1 in the world rankings. The Richeys are the only brother-sister pair to rank No. 1 in the United States.
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Serena Discloses Why She Wrote Her Memoirs
If you want the inside track on Serena Williams then her book, On the Line, is in the bookshops. It’s been a while in the making.
"I actually wrote it a long time ago," she revealed after she began the defense of her US Open title with victory over Alexa Glatch. "Just did a couple final touches last year. Just probably added only two more chapters. It kind of just all came together, and it was really pretty much about the right time. I love writing, so it was a no brainer.
“It's not a complete autobiography about my whole life. It's definitely a memoir, however. It actually is a motivational piece. All the people that read it are kind of motivated through my struggles.
"I thought it was necessary, because I never really talked too much about my personal life. I think having so many wonderful fans and having, you know, being blessed that people follow me, just get to know a little bit more about the person. Hopefully they can be motivated to do better themselves and to, you know, just be better people, as well. You know, I felt honored that I even had a chance to write."
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Why Does Federer Keep on Playing?
He’s achieved pretty much all there is to achieve in the game, so what ambition does Roger Federer still have?
"Try to win again and again," he said after reaching the second round of the US Open.
"That's what it is. I like being the winner of any tournament in the world. That's why when I enter, I try to win it. If I don't, okay. I walk away. I know tennis is not everything, so it's not a problem.
“But if I enjoy playing tennis, why should I stop just because I've beaten the all time Grand Slam record? That's not what tennis is all about.
“I don't think, if you ask all the other 100 players in the draw, that their goal is to win 16 Grand Slams now. That's not the goal here. It's trying to enjoy, having a great career, and being the best maybe in your country. You can set different types of goals. Mine are at a very, very high level. That's just the difference."
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Jankovic Tells What is on Her Mind
Jelena Jankovic is looking forward to spending few weeks in New York, but it doesn’t mean that she will hit fast food restaurants.
She is sticking to her new diet.
“I'm proud to tell that I've been keeping up my promise about giving up Coke and junk food. I'm learning more and more that when you give these up, you stop craving them at all. I don't even want these things anymore, and I feel so much better. When I'm playing a match I feel like I have more energy and am fitter. I'm moving as well as I ever have. I'm moving like a gazelle.
The Big Apple is one of Jelena’s favorite fruits.
“I love New York. Other than my hometown of Belgrade, it's one of my two favorite cities, next to Rome. It's huge and there's so much to do. You have so many kinds of shopping, people and restaurants. It really is the city that never sleeps. It suits my personality: I'm hyperactive! I like doing a lot of things. Right now maybe not because I'm quite tired, but in a few days I'll be back to normal and I can enjoy it and have fun here.”
Her win in Cincinnati two weeks ago was a great boost.
“I played some really good tennis and beat some very good players. It had been a while since I did that. I had been working very hard and stayed really positive, and I knew my time was coming. My match against Elena Dementieva in the semifinals was so tough and it finished so late. I was down 6-2 in the tie-breaker in the third set but won, which was unbelievable for me. I was exhausted for the final with Safina and it was such a hot day, but I stayed strong and calm and I executed my shots. I did everything right that day.
“Beating the No.1 player in the world in a final was very important for me. My dad and coach and boyfriend were all there with me, too. It was a great week,” said Jelena full of confidence before US Open start.
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Dokic is Realistic About Her Future
Jelena Dokic is in New York, finally recovered from mononucleosis, but without big expectations.
"I had to be on complete bed rest for eight weeks. It was fairly acute. I couldn't do anything. I wasn't even able to walk for eight weeks because you can make it worse. Three weeks ago I started slowly, so just the fact that I'm here is great," Dokic said.
"Obviously I cannot expect much from myself, but I wanted to come here just to get that first match and I still have a lot to play for, for the rest of the year."
The Australian is hoping that playing in US Open, even only one round, can help her in the rest of her season.
"I have a lot of tournaments planned to play, hopefully - if I'm healthy - to try to gain some matches and some points that I will have to defend at the Australian Open obviously," the one-time world No.4 said. She is #83 now.
Jelena first started feeling unwell at Indian Wells, and eventually had to take a 10-week layoff after the first round at Wimbledon.
"I was very, very tired and fatigued at times. I got tested after Wimbledon and it was 'mono'. Sometimes you get better, but then you get worse. You can't practice fully day in, day out. For me, it was gradual. I got sick and I got gradually worse.”
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Roddick Loves his Tennis Career
It doesn’t matter where he is, Andy Roddick is loving his career. Even though it’s full of sometimes startling contrasts.
"We don't play on the same surface. We don't use the same balls. We don't play in the same place. It's all different all the time," he said.
"The thing that makes Wimbledon so cool is the tradition and the whites. I get into that when I'm there. I love it. I think it's great. I think the equivalent of that here is the night sessions and the craziness, the fact that it's a show and it's an event as well as a tennis tournament. It's tough sometimes. (But) It's all part of it.
“Kind of the crazies that stay till 1:00 in the morning, there's something fun about that. The more things that we have that make our events unique, I think the better our sport is for it."
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We Hear---
--that with his first round win at the US Open, Roger Federer became the first player to earn $50 million in career prize money.
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