Friday, September 11, 2009
BUSINESS NEWS
Hall of Fame Announces Nominees for 2010
Tennis Hall of Fame & Museum, headquartered in Newport, R.I., announced the names of the 12 ballot nominees for possible Hall of Fame induction in July 2010. Headlining the 2010 ballot are Recent Player nominees: the team of two-time Olympic Gold Medalist and 17 Grand Slam Title Holder Beatriz "Gigi" Fernandez and 18 Grand Slam Title Holder Natasha Zvereva; Doubles Legends Todd Woodbridge and Mark Woodforde; and world ranked No. 1 doubles player for 110 weeks Anders Jarryd.
Named on the ballot in the Master Player category are: personal Grand Slam winner Owen Davidson, doubles superstars Peter Fleming and Bob Lutz. Named on the ballot in the Contributor category are four nominees: wheelchair tennis pioneer Brad Parks; one of tennis' most influential coaching figures Nick Bollettieri; creator of open tennis as chairman of the Lawn Tennis Association Derek Hardwick; and Japan's Eiichi Kawatei, for his exceptional leadership and dedication in the development and promotion of tennis in Asia.
Voting for the 2010 ballot will take place over the next several months leading to the announcement of the official 2010 induction class in January, 2010. The Class of 2010 Induction Ceremony is scheduled for Saturday, July 10 at the International Tennis Hall of Fame in Newport, Rhode Island.
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France is in Unfamiliar Davis Cup Territory
France is mortified that their treasured Davis Cup place in the elite World Group should even be under threat for the first time since the opening year of the century and now they must go into the Maastricht play-off against the Netherlands without their second highest ranked singles player Gilles Simon.
The world no.9 was forced to retire from his US Open third round match against Juan Carlos Ferrero with a knee injury and has informed Captain Guy Forget of his unavailability. So Jerome Chardy, the 22 year-old who won the Junior Wimbledon title and finished runner up at the US Open four years ago has been added to the four man French squad that also includes Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, Gael Monfils and doubles specialist Michael Llodra.
Chardy, who registered a career high ranking of 32 six weeks ago after winning the Mercedes Cup in Stuttgart, lost in the first round of the US Open to impending team-mate Monfils. He has never previously played in Davis Cup.
Simon lost his singles rubbers when he made his French Davis Cup debut against the Czech Republic in Ostrava six months ago. He was beaten in four sets by Tomas Berdych and then went down in three, two of them tie-breaks, against Radek Stepanek.
Captain Forget has added Julien Benneteau to the French squad as a traveling reserve, a position originally earmarked for Chardy.
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Brown is Caught in the Middle of International Tennis Politics
Poland’s top flight doubles partnership of Mariusz Fyrstenberg and Marcin Matkowski is dismayed it’s coach Nick Brown has bowed to Lawn Tennis Association pressure and agreed not to attend next week’s Euro/African Zone Group two play-off against Great Britain in Liverpool.
Brown, who is independently employed part time as both a part of the LTA’s talent identification scheme in Britain and technical consultant to the Polish Federation, has publicly stated he thinks it is in the best interests of all concerned that he does not attend the tie at Liverpool’s Echo Arena.
The 48 year-old who played four ties for Britain between 1989 and 1991 but quit playing competitively at the age of 24 to move into coaching and subsequently captained the British Fed Cup team said: “I have had several conversations since the draw was made and to avoid a conflict of interest, I am not actively participating of the tie with the Polish team. I have never been banned from attending the tie by the LTA and I am not aggravated as was suggested.”
Brown had been working with the Poles for three years and Matkowski is not happy. He said: “It is unofficial, but I heard that pressure was put on Nick not to be there and I don’t think he is coming. I’m surprised their federation had a problem with it but guess if they are saying this, they are not taking the tie for granted.
“Nick is our coach, he was with us at the Olympic Games in Beijing, he was at the Davis Cup against Belgium this year, he is, I believe, coming to our training camp next week and I wanted to see him there as our coach for the tie against Britain.”
Meanwhile Britain has been forced to call up Scotsman Colin Fleming into their five man squad as a replacement for Josh Goodall who is suffering from a virus. Fleming made his debut as a doubles player in the March defeat by the Ukraine in Glasgow and Captain John Lloyd said: “Colin has had some impressive results both in singles and doubles this season and will be a valuable addition to our campaign in Liverpool.
“Josh has been ill for about three weeks now and although he has tried, he has been unable to shake a persistent virus. Unfortunately we just ran out of time to prepare him for the tie. He needs to focus on getting well and having a good end to this season so that he can be ready to rejoin our Davis Cup by BNP Paribas campaign next year.”
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Verdasco is Wary of His Chances to Play London
A day after his US Open defeat against Novak Djokovic, Fernando Verdasco has another worry. His place in Barclay ATP World Tour Finals in London is slipping away. The Spaniard is currently #10, but he will have a minor operation soon, and he will miss the Davis Cup semifinal and the Kuala Lumpur tournament.
“It is very important for me to be ready for big tournaments in Beijing, Shanghai, Valencia and Paris Bercy,” explains Verdasco where he hopes to get enough points for a debut in the season ending shoot-out in London. There are only four spots available, since Federer, Murray, Nadal and Djokovic already secured presence. “Beijing and Paris are of essential importance, because those two are Series 1000 and bring the biggest number of points.”
He is still in a sad mood after his Djokovic defeat. “If I had grabbed two sets lead, the match would have been totally different. The more match lasted, my game was worse because of injury. I missed opportunities in first and third set and I paid it dearly.”
Verdasco thinks that name of the champion will not be changed this year. “It looks again that Federer is the best. I believe that he will play final against Nadal, though Djokovic is gaining confidence and Del Potro plays the best I have ever seen him.”
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Tour Coaches Launch Coaches Association
A group of ATP World Tour and WTA Tour coaches are launching a new organization to help support fellow coaches and tour trainers by offering them a full range of benefits and services, including access to various forms of insurance, financial services, job training and mentoring. The organization is known as the Tour Level Tennis Coaches Association, and it will benefit and be solely comprised of ATP and WTA Tour coaches and trainers. The TLTCA will work in concert with the ATP, WTA and ITF to promote the game across the globe.
Roger Rasheed (coach of ATP World Tour player Gael Monfils) and Vlado Platenik (coach of the WTA Tour’s Dominika Cibulkova) are spearheading the process of forming the TLTCA’s initial advisory board of directors. With the assistance of tennis industry professionals, they have developed a set of association by-laws and are currently enlisting other coaches to join the organization. Plans call for a member vote in early January in Australia for the first official board of directors.
The TLTCA’s mission is to give its members access to affordable health insurance, financial services and contractual help. The Association will act as an advocate for coaches’ needs and actively market them individually and as group.
“The TLTCA’s plan to offer preferred access to benefits could make a huge difference to coaches,” said Petr Korda (coach of Radek Stepanek), a supporter of the initiative. “Because coaches come from so many different countries and backgrounds, they face a wide range of issues. For instance health insurance is often a problem for coaches based in the U.S., and that’s something the TLTCA will offer. The Association will greatly improve its members’ quality of life.”
“To ensure its success, the TLTCA is ready to work alongside the ATP, WTA, and ITF,” said Roger Rasheed. “We recognize the power each of those organizations has, and we want the TLTCA to complement those organizations’ initiatives to help grow tennis and advance the game in the right direction.”
“It’s important that coaches be more organized and more professional when it comes to marketing and representing ourselves,” said Vlado Platenik. “The TLTCA will help this cause through strategic marketing initiatives. Also, one of the TLTCA’s top priorities will be a constant flow of internal communication, and we will always make our business transparent for members to see. It’s very important that every member of the TLTCA feel they have an active stake in all decisions.”
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Urban the Tennis Fan Finishes His Concert Like the Tennis Stars
Over the past weekend, actress Nicole Kidman and her husband, the popular Australian country-western singer, Keith Urban, were in attendance at the US Open.
Urban has been touring the country with his band for the past eight months, playing to sell-out crowds. Wednesday night, he was performing in Salt Lake City. When he returned to the stage for his encore, he didn¹t have his guitar, he had a tennis racquet and three signed tennis balls that he sailed into the astonished, but thrilled audience, just as he had seen match winners do at the Open.
He quickly explained that he had just been at the US Open and he just couldn¹t get enough tennis.
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We Hear---
--that upwards of 50 coaches have expressed interest in joining the new tour coaches association.
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