Thursday, September 3, 2009
BUSINESS NEWS
USTA to Pay Tribute to Gonzalez
The USTA announced that actor Benjamin Bratt will host a tribute to former U.S. Championships winner Pancho Gonzalez on-court in Arthur Ashe Stadium during the Night Session on Saturday, September 5. The tribute will celebrate Gonzalez on the 60th anniversary of his second consecutive victory at the U.S. Championships.
Gonzalez, who taught himself how to play tennis at the age of 12, was considered one of the most talented tennis players of all time and was a fan favorite on the professional tour throughout the 1950s and 60s. Early in his career, which spanned four decades, he won back-to-back titles at the U.S. Championships in Forest Hills, N.Y. at the ages of 20 and 21. He also won two matches to help the U.S. defeat Australia to capture the 1949 Davis Cup title. His passion and intensity led to an illustrious career as the world No. 1 for an unequaled eight years.
As a 40-year-old in 1968, he reached the semifinals at Roland Garros and the quarterfinals of the inaugural US Open. The following year, Gonzalez played Charlie Pasarell at Wimbledon in a five-hour match that spanned two days and led to the advent of the tie-break. Gonzalez also became the oldest player to ever win a professional tournament when he won the Des Moines Open just shy of his 44th birthday. Gonzalez was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame while still an active player in 1968.
Hispanic dignitaries attending include:
Benjamin Bratt, actor
Charlie Pasarell, former tennis champion
Pancho Segura (“Little Pancho”), former tennis champion
Jimmy Smits, actor
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Great Britain is Wary of Poland’s Davis Cup Actions
British Davis Cup captain John Lloyd is keep a close eye on the inner movements of Polish tennis politics while keeping the competition’s rule book close at hand before his team’s upcoming tie that could result in an inglorious tumble into the third tier.
Poland have named their team for the tie to be staged in Liverpool starting September 18 and it does not include the nation’s highest ranked singles player Lukasz Kubot. Curiously, the 27 year-old, ranked 124th in the world at singles and 15th at doubles, is due to be playing a Challenger event in Warsaw that week.
“Everyone we ask tells us he’s not playing; that would certainly suit us because they don’t have great strength in depth at singles,” said Lloyd. “But we are not taking anything for granted because I’m told the rules would permit him to be brought into the team as a late addition if he loses early in the tournament.”
Kubot has not played in the Davis Cup for more than two years after registering a 19-5 record including a 75% success rate at singles. Lloyd believes the major reason for his exile is financial with the Polish Tennis Federation refusing to pay what he demands.
“This is a big tie for both the Poles and us and I can’t believe they would not want to put out their strongest team,” said Lloyd. “I have watched Kubot every chance I have because I’m still convinced he is going to be part of their team. But he would have to lose legitimately in the Challenger event for the International Tennis Federation to allow him into their team.”
Lloyd is non-committal about his line-up and has named a five man squad that will be trimmed down next week. However world no.2 Murray is insisting Britain play their strongest possible force and include 19 year old debutant Dan Evans.
Evans, 19, has only contested ten events of various stature since losing in Wimbledon’s first round to Nikolay Davydenko in June. But lone British tennis star has set views who he wants to see beside him in Liverpool.
“I want Dan Evans to play the second singles,” said Murray. "We need to start looking to the future. He is a good player and is talented. I don't know him that well but he needs to grow up mentally which I needed to do at that age as well. Davis Cup is the perfect way of doing that. You will see after one or two matches whether he likes that atmosphere or not and I think he will. I cannot wait to play with him and get used to the future and get a team spirit.”
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Federer Won’t Commit to Kooyong at this Time
While all eyes are on the US Open, one of the warm up events for the Australian Open has announced its lineup. The Kooyong Classic exhibition event, which draws several top names to Melbourne to the detriment of the Sydney International, will take place January 13-16, and all but one of the eight-man field has been revealed.
The tournament will feature Novak Djokovic, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, Fernando Verdasco, Fernando Gonzalez, Robin Soderling, Tommy Haas and Marcos Baghdatis. The name that has not yet been confirmed is that of Roger Federer, who has asked that a place be kept open for him as, with his new family commitments, he wants to make a later decision on when to travel to Australia. Federer’s management has indicated, however, that the chance of him making his usual appearance at the historic club is better than 50-50.
"His life is changing and evolving and he really wants a little bit of time to see how life with his new family goes on the circuit, and I understand that," said tournament director Colin Stubs. "There's no question that he's going to the Australian Open. There's a question of when he's going to get down here, and he won't let me know until very late in the piece. But when you get asked by the No. 1 and maybe the greatest player of all time to hold a spot in the event, it's pretty hard to say no."
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Safin Says Goodbye to the US Open
Marat Safin has played his last US Open, the scene of arguably his greatest achievement when he won the first of his two Grand Slam titles with a stunning victory over Pete Sampras in the 2000 final. In a sometimes turbulent and controversial career, what will he miss after he plays his final match in November at the Paris Masters? He doesn’t know yet.
"I think I need to get away from tennis for some time to realize what I will miss, what I'm missing about it. Right now, just difficult to decide what exactly I will miss," he said after losing to Jurgen Melzer. "Because it's great traveling. It's pretty great life. But also it's in one way, in second way, in a different way, you have to practice. You have to go to the courts. You have to, like for example, here first few days it's like a zoo. It's like a million people running around, brothers, sisters, mothers, fathers, grandmothers, so many people. That's pretty much annoying.
"But at the same time you know you're going to New York and it's beautiful town. You're staying in good hotels. The people, they treat you well. You get the car service, which I think is great. You go to the great restaurants. You can spend (and I) don't have to think how much I can spend on my dinner. So it gives you a good life. I mean, I worked my way. There wasn't a rich father or rich family that paid for everything that I have right now, so I worked my way. I'm really proud of myself that I really made it, and I made it myself and I'm supporting my family. I help my sister, and everything I achieve is thanks basically to the occasion, to the sport.
"It was a mission impossible basically. Just give it a shot, try your best, and just to find your way in life. Whatever happens, happens. I won the lottery. Basically I picked the lottery I would say because of the way things, they fit together. It's amazing. It's really amazing. I really can't describe it. It has no logic, it has no it's just everything fit perfectly together, and here I am. I'm really pleased the way the life treat me, and the same is pretty it was nice treatment. Tennis was really very nice to me."
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Early US Open Loss Causes Ivanovic to Reflect
First Grand Slam opening round defeat in her career left Ana Ivanovic not only on the edge on tears, but also in very honest reflections.
“I’ve been thinking about everything too much and trying to address lots of issues with my game. At the moment I feel like I have a plan in place and I know what I have to do in each area of my game. But I think it’s a little imbalanced: my fitness is at one level, my mind at another and my game is at another level. I think all these things have to marry to get into the right direction and to fit”, she said after first round US Open defeat against Kateryna Bondarenko Former #1 admitted that her hard work seems to be fruitless. There was no break for Ana this summer.
“That’s something that I spoke about today actually. Before my match I spoke to my coach; I just said that I feel like I constantly kept going and going. It’s really hard, because even though I had some time off, I was still doing a little bit of fitness or rehab or something. So my mind was still in tennis.”
Right now there are only two more scheduled tournaments on Ana’s 2009 WTA Tour Calendar, Tokyo and Beijing, in couple of weeks.
“At this moment I can use these weeks that I have before my next tournament to work on some areas and rest and have a fresh mind. I have no doubt I have potential now to get back to the top.”
She gathered strength even for a joke.
“I’m sure I will have sleepless nights about 2009 Grand Slam results. I am 21, but I feel like 25. And probably in a few days I will look like that with bags under my eyes”
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The Safina at Number One Ranking Discussion Continues
Ever since Dinara Safina made the No.1 ranking there have been a sizeable number of people that have claimed she is not worthy of that position. The fact that she has not won a major is the reason given, but how much of it as a result of her low profile? She lacks the looks of a Sharapova, and doesn’t have the history of the Williams sisters, she simply lacks charisma. She doesn’t act like a star, a celebrity, she just gets on with her job. Almost all the time she does it extremely well, better than most, and her brother says it is time to leave her alone and applaud what she has achieved.
"Everybody is hard on her, why she's No. 1," said Marat Safin. "You have this contest issue, is she a real No. 1 or not? You open the page, she made eight double faults, 43 unforced errors. She struggled, almost lost to 18 years old. Who cares? I mean, she's No. 1 in the world. I have to protect my sister. The poor girl, she's trying her best. She's doing really well. She gets the attention, but not the kind of attention that a person deserves, especially when you're No. 1 in the world. Everybody is giving her hard time about, Are you really No. 1 in the world? Yes, yes, she's really No. 1 in the world. Go check on the ranking. She didn't do the ranking.
"I'm just personally, I'm really like, I have to protect her. I feel like she deserves a little bit more than what she's getting right now. I think she's playing you can't imagine how crazy she is about sport. I don't think there is one person in the world who is more professional than her. Everybody is like hitting on her and giving her a hard time about this, how many, what happened to this serve, what happened this, what happened with that? Leave her alone. Give her a little bit less questions. So it's just all to you guys (the media). Make her happy. That's it."
The Russian has also received support from Amelie Mauresmo, who insists that Safina deserves the top spot.
"It's a matter of being consistent at some point. She's more consistent than Serena throughout a period of one year," she said. "I saw that Dinara made the statement saying, ‘Guys, I'm not making the ranking system. I'm sorry’. She almost has to apologize that she's No. 1 now. Give her a break. When you see her, she's winning tournaments and playing Grand Slam finals. Okay, she has yet to win a Grand Slam, but she seems to me as a pretty solid No.1 still."
Safina has even received support from an unexpected quarter, Venus Williams, despite Safina keeping Serena from No.1.
"Well, my thought's that if you play consistent, you can be very highly ranked," said Williams. "I guess it's all about playing consistent these days. She's played very consistently, and kudos to her and credit to her for being able to hold onto that No. 1 ranking and playing so well."
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Santoro Plays His Final US Open
Like Marat Safin, Fabrice Santoro is playing his last US Open. Like Safin, he will retire in November at the Paris Masters. After a career spanning 21 years, what have been the good sides and the bad?
"I think I was very lucky to live this way, because it's a great experience to go around the world six to eight months a year to meet new people, new culture, playing in three weeks when you play I mean, when you play one week France, one week in Bangkok, one week in New York, and one week in Moscow in the same month, it's something people can't sometimes they can't see it in one life because you see so many different things in the same month. So I'm very lucky to have a job for that point," he said.
"The bad point is you get that I am very far from home. That's pretty tough for me, especially since I'm dad, because my daughter is going to school. I'm very far from her quite a lot, and my point, too much. She went to school for the first day yesterday, and I was not there. I was playing the US Open, and I was not able to be close to her. You miss some things of your private life, but your professional life is very, very intense. It's wonderful."
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Gasquet is Happy to be Permitted to Play the US Open
It wasn’t a great draw for him, playing Rafael Nadal, but these days Richard Gasquet is happy to play anyone after his suspension for failing a drug test. The Frenchman was astonished when it happened.
"It was impossible for me, but it happened. It was something incredible happen in my life. I have maybe more chances to win Australian Open, Roland Garros, Wimbledon, and US Open than to be tested with cocaine," he said. "If in the beginning of the year someone will tell you you will win the four Grand Slam and you will be tested for cocaine, for sure I will tell I will win the four Grand Slams. Incredible, but that's happen.
"Now I'm happy because I'm playing. That's the most important for me. I don't want to talk about it. I want to play tennis, to enjoy it. Because the last three months were really hard for me, so I just want to enjoy my situation. I can play. I can practice. I was really sad when I couldn't play. It was the hardest part of my life, for sure."
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We Hear---
--that the IOC is honoring University of Georgia’s Manny Diaz as its Coach of the Year.
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