Friday, August 28, 2009

BUSINESS NEWS

Tweets Could be Dangerous for Tour Players’ Future

The Tennis Integrity United, set up as a joint venture between the International Tennis Federation, the ATP World Tour and the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour to stamp out the threat of corruption in the sport, has warned players their numerous tweets on the social website Twitter are potentially dangerous and they will be monitored during the upcoming US Open.
Jeff Rees, a former Metropolitan Police detective who has worked extensively against corruption in other sports such as horse racing and last year was appointed Director of the Tennis Integrity Unit, has sent an email informing US Open contestants that their Twitter output could be violating the sport's anti-corruption rules on "the passing of inside information".
Under the heading, 'Important player notice – Twitter warning', the email maintained 'tweets' including" sensitive information" which relates to their own matches, or to other players and their matches, such as injuries and other ailments, were potentially corruptive.
Rees reminded players that inside information is defined in the anti-corruption rules as 'information about the likely participation or likely performance of a player in an event or concerning the weather, court conditions, status, outcome, or any other aspect of an event which is known by a covered person and is not information in the public domain'.
In the rules, players, their coaches, agents and their family, and all tournament staff, are regarded as covered persons.
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Tennis Channel Having Difficult Times in New York City Area

Tennis Channel is currently consulting its lawyers after the row with Cablevision intensified with the Long Island-based telecommunications, media and entertainment company, insisting they will unilaterally carry the network on its digital sports tier in time for Monday’s start of the US Open.
Cablevision plan to put the Tennis Channel’s coverage of the year’s concluding Grand Slam event on a tier that will cost viewers an extra $5.95 a month. Ken Solomon, the Tennis Channel’s chief executive pointed out that viewers are not forced to pay extra for the majors in any other sport. He said: “This is highly suspect and makes little sense. I don’t know if this will stand up legally.”
The relationship between Tennis Channel and Cablevision has been tense for several years but negotiations broke down apparently irreconcilably over this issue earlier this month.
Cablevision maintain they are within their rights after signing on to a seven-year-old contract between the network and the National Cable Television Cooperative, which negotiates deals with programmers for member cable operators.
The National Cable Television Cooperative said that Cablevision had joined the organization “recently,” but Patrick Wilson, a senior vice president of Tennis Channel, said that he was told by an NCTC member that Cablevision had joined Wednesday. “That says to me that it joined the NCTC in an effort uniquely designed to try to access their way into a deal for the Tennis Channel that was cut in 2002 for small providers,” he said.
A spokesman for Cablevision, Jim Maiella, said the company had a “valid affiliation agreement” to carry the Tennis Channel, “and we expect the Tennis Channel to authorize its signal, which is literally a matter of flipping a switch, so our customers in New York can watch its coverage of the US Open.”
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Hingis’ Dancing Has Created a Furor in Great Britain

Martina Hingis’ inclusion in the upcoming season of Britain’s most popular television show Strictly Come Dancing has produced an angry reaction from a campaign group who insist it is morally wrong for the former world no.1 who was banned from tennis after testing positive for cocaine to receive a reported £50,000 ($80,000) of public money.
The BBC, which screens the weekend show which repeatedly takes top ratings, has always been completely commercial free and funded entirely from the proceeds of television licenses which cost each household £144 (about $240) a year.
Hingis has always maintained she is innocent of any drug-use despite banned for two years by the International Tennis Federation in 2008 after testing positive for the drug during Wimbledon ‘07.
John Beyer, of campaign group Mediawatch-UK, questioned the BBC's decision, saying: “This is a family show that is targeted at a family audience. The danger is that this decision would tend to minimize the seriousness of her drug-taking, which resulted in a ban on her playing.
“The BBC could have put in many other personalities who I'm sure would love to take part in the show and they could have chosen someone without that record. The question is whether it sets a good or bad example.”
In response to the criticism, the BBC maintained: “As Martina herself said at the launch, her past is behind her and she is looking forward to a new challenge on the show.”
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New York’s Taste of Tennis

Andy Roddick, Billie Jean King, Celebrity Chef Bethany Frankel and the “Top Chef” all stars served a major Pre- US Open celebration at the tenth annual BNP Paribas Taste of Tennis. The star powered event held at the W Hotel was held to benefit the Food Bank for New York City.
The event gave patrons a chance to mingle with tennis stars, star chefs and sample award-winning dishes. Among the tennis players in attendance in addition to Roddick and King were Vera Zvonareva. Jo-Wilfred Tsonga, David Ferrer, Samuel & Jamila Groth, Sabine Lisicki, Fernando Gonzalez, Nicholas Kiefer, and former players Brad Gilbert and Chanda Rubin.

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Fila VIP Launch Event for James Blake’s new Fila Line

Fila celebrated the launch of the Thomas Reynolds line by James Blake with an autograph signing session and a VIP party on New York’s City’s posh Fifth Avenue.
The celebration sponsored by Fila, Lord & Taylor and Tennis Magazine was held on the roof top of Lord & Taylor store. Before the VIP celebration, Blake took the time to sign autographs for fans in the section of the store which houses his collection. Among the guests at VIP party was Fila Player Kim Clijsters.

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New Haven is Creative in its Many Promotional Activities

Food and beverages play a big part at the Pilot Pen event held in New Haven this week. Players have served behind the bar in the concession area, with the money they take going to charity. And the ATP World Tour website reported that Russia’s Igor Andreev was happy to try some of what was on offer at the New Haven Food and Wine Festival held on site. Twenty New Haven restaurants served up high quality food, with Andreev meeting with different chefs before jumping behind the counter of Thali, a local Indian restaurant, and taking on the role of chef to prepare food for hungry patrons.
"It’s nice to be able to have some of the restaurants in New Haven come to the tournament and showcase the food that they have on offer. Most of the time we end up eating lunch and dinner on-site, so it’s nice to be able to have the opportunity to eat some really nice food," Andreev said.
Not only do the restaurants come to the players instead of the players going to the restaurants, but when the players do venture out to eat in the evening they can enjoy what is surely a unique offer.
"The tournament has a passport program that allows us to eat for free around the town and I have eaten at some of them," said Andreev. "It’s a fun idea and I think a lot of the guys are happy that they are able to eat away from the site for free and enjoy the good food in New Haven."
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Is There a Roland Garros Jinx?

Usually, winning a major serves as a catapult to far more success. Maria Sharapova at Wimbledon is a prime example. Bizarrely, sometimes, if that major is Roland Garros, it can have the opposite effect. Iva Majoli is the perfect example of that.
Somewhere in the middle is Ana Ivanovic, who has struggled since winning in Paris more than a year ago. That took her briefly to world No.1, but she has since slipped out of the top 10 and she has rarely put together more than a couple of wins at any tournament since. In the second part of last year she was hindered by injury, but this year her problems have continued and there is absolutely no sign of things changing. She failed to win more than one match at any of the three US Open Series events she played, losing to 59th-ranked Melinda Czink at one tournament and 46th-ranked Lucie Safarova at another. In fact, in the 12 Tour events she has played this year, she has failed to put together more than two wins at nine of them. Her solution is to ignore the bad and just keep trying, as she told Fitness magazine.
"If you want to succeed, you have to have a very short memory. You have to forget all the bad practice and lost matches and believe in yourself and your abilities," she said. "My biggest asset is my fighting spirit. I may not win every match, but I will never surrender if I’m losing. Monica Seles was my role-model and I remember how she battled for every single point. While I was growing up, Monica was really playing top tennis. A very important aspect of success is to push through training sessions when you don’t feel like practicing, because what you do today makes you stronger tomorrow."
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McEnroe to Play at City Parks Event

John McEnroe’s rock band will give the annual City Parks Foundation’s annual CityParks Tennis Benefit at Flushing Meadows a rousing start. The native New Yorker serves as co-chairperson with Billie Jean King and is committed to the cause which for the last 20 years has raised funds for CityParks Tennis, a free youth instructional program that serves over 7,500 children in parks throughout the city.
During the event City Parks Foundation will honor Benjamin Doller, who has supported this program from the beginning.  Mr. Doller will also conduct the live auction where guests can bid on a tennis lesson by Patrick McEnroe, a trip to Wimbledon next year, and two tickets to January’s Super Bowl in Miami.

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We Hear---
--that Mark Philippoussis is to be invited to contest this year’s London Masters, the traditional climax to the ATP’s Tour of Champions even though he has not played a single event on the senior circuit. The Australian has played several events on the rival Outback Champions Series run by former world no.1 Jim Courier.
--Andy Roddick is at the center of financial negotiations for his endorsement between current clothing sponsor Lacoste and his racket and shoe sponsor Babolat which is going to introduce apparel into the USA market.
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THIS WEEK
MEN
New Haven
WOMEN
New Haven
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NEXT WEEK
MEN
US Open
WOMEN
US Open
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Bob Larson’s Stock Report
Thursday Stock Prices

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Last

Change

Adidas

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-.28

Amer Sports

4.85

0.00

Head

0.20

0.00

K-Swiss

10.00

+.03

Nike

56.83

+1.38

Bob Larson Tennis Stock Index $95.64
* The index is based on the total value of one share of each stock we report daily.
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