Tuesday, March 31, 2009
BUSINESS NEWS
Russian Tennis Honored at Tennis Europe Annual Meeting
Russian Tennis Federation’s Shamil Tarpishev received three European Tennis Trophies, for Professional and Junior Tennis as well as Overall performance, at the 35th Annual General Meeting of Tennis Europe held in Zurich, Switzerland from March 26th-29th.
Among the special guests at the meeting were ITF President Francesco Ricci Bitti and Executive Vice-President Juan Margets, both of whom addressed the assembly with presentations on ITF-related matters on Friday.
Karin van Bijsterveld, President of the KNLTB collected the eighth successive Wheelchair Tennis award for the Netherlands. Board member Günther Lang accepted Germany’s 18th Senior Tennis award.
Wolfgang Hofer and Jarl Whist were unanimously elected as Honorary Life Counsellors of the organization in recognition of their contributions to Tennis Europe, while Tennis Europe awards were also given to Heidi Eisterlehner, Anna Skorodumova, Dominique Gachoud and Azmi Kumova.
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Sharapova is Very Busy Making Money---Off the Court
Maria Sharapova may not have trodden on a competitive singles tennis court in almost eight months, but despite the worldwide economic downturn and world ranking this week of 30 (the lowest she has been placed in more than five years), the three times major champion remains the most in demand face in women’s tennis.
While she has been unable to stage a concerted return to the WTA Tour in recent weeks, a doubles appearance at Indian Wells proving the shoulder that required surgery last fall was still far from ready for her to consider singles play, three of her major sponsors unveiled new and expensive marketing campaigns focusing on the 21 year-old American-based Russian.
Now it is widely believed that a shampoo and hair conditioning manufacturer is about to join Tag Heuer, Tiffany and Co., Cole Haan, Canon and Sony Ericsson plus of course Nike and Prince racquets in Sharapova’s main portfolio with a reputed $2.5 million-a-year deal.
Despite being rendered competitively inactive, meaning a loss in terms of prize money and appearance fees, Sharapova’s annual earnings are still believed to well in excess of $25 million a year.
Before her latest projected return to the singles stage in Rome early May she is scheduled for intensive photo shoots in Los Angeles for, amongst others, Nike, Cole Haan, Canon and ESPN magazine.
IMG Max Eisenbud, Sharapova’s agent insisted: “Let’s say you want a global female athlete, It’s really just Maria.
“She is global because tennis is global, and add the fact that she is Russian, so she is not American but Americans think she is American. It makes her more appealing. Not to take anything away from Venus and Serena, they are great champions, but they don’t mean as much, say, in Korea as Maria does.”
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How Did Larry Scott Get Involved with Pac-10? Here’s How
The conduit for Larry Scott’s move away from tennis to become Commissioner for the NCAA’s Pac-10 Conference has been revealed as Jed Hughes, executive recruiter with Spencer Stuart who had been hired to find the ATP’s successor to Etienne de Villiers.
Hughes was present last year when Scott made his presentation to the ATP board of directors, stressing that the time was now right for the men’s and women’s professional tours to amalgamate under one leadership.
Clearly the presentation failed to hit the mark with the ATP as Scott did not even make the list of final candidates reviewed and former Nike Corporate Vice President, Global Sports Marketing Adam Helfant was given the job of CEO and Chairman.
Scott, like Helfant a former Harvard student, clearly made an impression however on Hughes who had also advising the Pac-10 Conference on a successor for the long-standing Commissioner Tom Hansen, who retires July 1.
Immediately after watching Scott presentation, Hughes approached the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour’s most accomplished chief executive and told him he would be perfect for the Pac-10 role. Initially Scott insisted he had no plans to leave tennis but persistence, the realization that a different job would mean far less worldwide travel and ability to spend more time with his family, plus of course a distinct raise in salary, proved persuasive.
Scott decided to miss the Australian Open for the first time in many years in January, Hughes approached him again and this time found his target far more interested. Scott accepted the position March 22, informed the players two days later and will leave tennis after the first week of Wimbledon.
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Alicia Molik to Captain Optus Australian Junior Fed Cup Team
Olympic bronze medalist Alicia Molik has been named as captain of the Australian Junior Fed Cup team for 2009.
The former world No.8 is looking forward to working with the Australian Junior Fed Cup team of Viktorija Rajicic, Alexandra Nancarrow and Molly Polak.
The team will head to Shepparton, Victoria, for the Junior Fed Cup Asia/Oceania Qualifying event which will be held on natural grass between April 15-20.
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Tennis Canada to Honor its Top Players
Tennis Canada announced Monday the recipients of the 2008 Excellence Awards. These awards recognize the country’s top tennis talent for their on-court achievements. The 2008 awards acknowledge the efforts and accomplishments of high performance athletes, seniors, officials, coaches, the Tennis Professionals Association (TPA) and Building Tennis Communities (BTCs) who best represented Canada on the tennis scene.
Daniel Nestor received top honors as Player of the Year for the sixth time and Male Doubles Player of the Year for the seventh consecutive year. Nestor won five championships in eight final appearances in 2008, finishing the year as the No.1 doubles team with Serbian partner Nenad Zimonjic. The pair owns the Canadian record for best doubles team at 10-1.
The award for Male Singles Player of the Year went to top-ranked singles player Frank Dancevic. He attained his biggest major victory by defeating world No.7 David Nalbandian in the first round at Wimbledon in straight sets.
Thornhill, Ontario’s Peter Polansky capped off a stellar year by earning the award for Most Improved Male Player of the Year. Polansky continued his ascension up the ATP Tour rankings moving more than 125 spots from the start of 2008 to a career-high No.214 by the end of the year.
Edward Nguyen won the Excellence Award for Outstanding Junior Male Athlete of the Year. The Ottawa native captured the singles trophy at Les Petits As in Tarbes, France, one of the most prestigious international titles for under-14 players on the junior circuit.
On the women’s side, Aleksandra Wozniak solidified her place as one of Canada’s top female tennis stars by achieving three awards. Wozniak netted the Excellence Awards for Female Player of the Year, Female Singles Player of the Year and Most Improved Female Player of the Year. Wozniak announced her arrival amongst the world’s elite in 2008 reaching a career-high No. 34 on the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour rankings, making her the fourth highest ranked Canadian singles player of all-time. She captured her first Tour title at Stanford in July becoming the first Canadian in 20 years to accomplish such a feat.
Marie-Eve Pelletier (Repentigny, Quebec) won the honor of Female Doubles Player of the Year. Pelletier was the doubles champion at the $50,000 Tevlin Challenger in Toronto with compatriot Stephanie Dubois (Laval, Quebec) and the $50,000 Saint-Gaudens Challenger with Su-Wei Hsieh of Taipei.
Eugenie Bouchard took home the award for Outstanding Junior Female. She captured the singles trophy at the Eddie Herr International followed by an appearance in the singles semifinals at the Dunlop U16 Orange Bowl. She took home two other singles titles at the Costa Rica Bowl, where she advanced as a qualifier, and the All Canadian ITF Junior Championships.
In wheelchair tennis, Lee Carter was honored as the Wheelchair Tennis Athlete of the Year. The Winnipeg native finished 2008 at No.17 in singles and No.39 in doubles. Saskatchewan’s Corey Blatchford was named Most Improved Wheelchair Tennis Athlete after a successful 2008 season. Blatchford saw his ITF singles ranking jump 49 spots in the span of twelve months to finish 2008 ranked inside the Top 50 at No. 46.
The Tennis Canada Excellence Awards will be presented at the Rogers Cup tennis events held in Montreal and Toronto this summer.
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Statistics Don’t Bother Father-to-Be Federer
Roger Federer will likely choose to ignore the unsettling statistic that fatherhood can impact a player's tennis on the ATP. Instead, the steady Swiss just plans to get on with his world-beating career when his child is born over the summer.
"We're both relaxed, we're both happy and excited, and I think that's why it's going to work out," Federer said as he spoke for pregnant girlfriend Mirka. "I haven't actually had fears that I was not going to be able to play tennis after having a child. That's never crossed my mind, to be honest."
But for lesser players, the onset of family life has some debilitating effects on their games. Since the ATP rankings began in 1973, nine fathers have lifted a Grand Slam title, with only Jimmy Connors (1983 US Open) and Pat Cash (Wimbledon 1987) taking the prize at the venues for Federer's best successes.
Croatian Ivan Ljubicic, 30, has done it tough since the birth if his son Leonardo last November, with his ranking down to 68th from a one-time No. 3. "Your life changes completely," he said. "Priorities are different. You're not the one in the family who's the most important. You kind of lose your wife for a while.
"But it's beautiful. It's a fantastic experience. When you walk out on that court and you see him, no matter what you do, it's a great day. Gives you that extra energy, and I'm sure Roger will be the same."
Father of two, Lleyton Hewitt is in a similar situation, now standing 92nd. But his problems are due more to summer hip surgery than the demands of family life.
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Confidence is Building for Monfils
Gael Monfils feels the love from expatriate French fans at the Miami Masters, with the world No. 10 happy for the home-from-home support.
His latest exploit came with a victory into the fourth round over the equally popular Marat Safin in a crowd-pleasing contest in which he saved a pair of match points. "When you have some support like that and even from the Americans and a lot of French on holiday, I feel comfortable on the court," said Monfils. "It definitely helped me in the end of the match."
With three Frenchmen in the ATP Top 15 and 13 in the Top 100, the country rivals neighbor Spain as a tennis powerhouse. "It's an individual sport, I'm happy for them," said Monfils of his rivals. "I'm happy for the country. But I look at myself."
And for the French, it's never too early to start pondering Roland Garros, still two months away. "For sure, it's a dream for French guy (to win the home title).
"We work on it, and we never know. In two weeks you never know if you can play your best tennis. But every year I still believe I can win it."
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Britain’s Evans Claims He is a New Man
Last summer British teenager Daniel Evans was banished from the Lawn Tennis Association in disgrace after being found guilty of night clubbing during the Wimbledon Championships. Now the 18 year-old is again being lauded as the heir apparent to Andy Murray after winning his first ATP Challenger title on the Channel Island of Jersey.
Murray himself took time out from his Sony Ericsson Open campaign to offer congratulations to Evans and nominate him as the British youngster most likely to succeed.
Evans, who first overcame ex-Davis Cup man Alex Bogdanovic in the semi-final and then beat world no.96 Ivo Minar of the Czech Republic 6-3, 6-2 in the final, is now set to become the sixth highest placed British player when the new rankings are released after the Miami final.
For much of last year he had to fund his own travel and other expenses until being accepted back in the LTA fold in the fall. “I'm not stupid. I know how good I could be. A lot of people know that. When I was younger I really wasn't very good at all but I've put in a lot of hard work, there is a right way and a wrong way to go about your career and hopefully I'm going about it the right way."
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Kelly Gets Daytona Beach Assignment
Tom Kelly, USPTA/PTR professional, has been named the new Manager of the Florida Tennis Center/Daytona Beach. Kelly will oversee the operation of the 24-clay court facility that is also the USTA/Florida Section headquarters.
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We Hear---
--that Ken Meyerson will leave BEST and become an agent for Lagardere of Paris and take Andy Roddick with him. No word yet if Lagardere will open an office in the US.
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