Thursday, October 29, 2009

WORLD NEWS

Various Tennis Organizations Getting Involved Over Agassi’s Drug Disclosure

Pressure is mounting on the ATP World Tour to give their side of the story following the revelations in Andre Agassi’s soon to be published autobiography ‘Open’ that 12 years ago he tested positive for taking the he highly-addictive drug crystal methamphetamine but was exonerated after lying.
Agassi was and still is one of the most recognizable figures not just in tennis but the world of sport and the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) has demanded that the ATP, that was in charge of policing the drugs program back in 1997, make public their recollections of the case.
After hearing he had tested positive Agassi wrote to the ATP he ingested drugs accidentally by drinking from his assistant’s “spiked soda.” In fact, he admits in the book he had deliberately taken the substance at his Las Vegas home to “get high.”
WADA president John Fahey admits no retrospective punishment can be taken against the former world no.1 and winner of eight major titles on two counts; there is an eight-year statute of limitations in WADA regulations and Agassi retired competitively from the sport three years ago. However Fahey added: “We at WADA would expect the ATP, which administered its own anti-doping program at that time, to shed light on this allegation.”
Mark Young, the ATP World Tour’s long-serving General Counsel and now COO North America, refused to make any comment yesterday. However a statement from the ATP World Tour read: ‘Under the tennis anti-doping program it is, and always has been, an independent panel that makes a decision on whether a doping violation has been found. No executive at the ATP has therefore had the authority or ability to decide the outcome of an anti-doping matter.”
Mark Miles, the ATP’s CEO back in 1997 also preferred not to get drawn into the matter. Miles, now chairman of the host committee for the 2012 NFL Super Bowl in Indianapolis, did comment: “There has never been a time when an ATP executive decided the outcome of any doping case. Each one of those that took place in my period of office at the ATP was heard by a properly appointed independent panel.”
International Tennis Federation president, Francesco Ricci Bitti, said: ‘The ITF is surprised and disappointed by the remarks made by Andre Agassi.” The ITF are currently appealing against a decision to also exonerate French player Richard Gasquet who also tested positive at Miami earlier this year after maintaining he accidentally ingested cocaine by kissing a woman in a nightclub. Ricci Bitti continued: “It occurred before WADA was founded in 1999 and during the formative years of anti-doping in tennis when the program was managed by individual governing bodies.’
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Serena Williams to be Number One for 2009

Dinara Safina’s decision to pull out of the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour Championships after just two games and 13 minutes of effort means the Russian who has spent 26 weeks of 2009 as the world no.1 ranked player will not finish the year top of the rankings.
Serena Williams had not even walked onto court to face her sister Venus when she was confirmed as the year ending no.1, even though she has only played 58 matches in 2009 compared to Safina’s total of 71.
But long term, Safina’s chances of playing the Australian Open in 11 weeks time seem in jeopardy after her doctors informed her she needs to rest completely for more than half that time before even contemplating any physical exercise.
The 23 year-old Muscovite is suffering from inflammation around the lower vertebrae 4 and 5 in her back and has been playing in pain since winning the Slovenian tournament in Portoroz in July. Since then she has reached the final of Cincinnati, but otherwise her results have been disappointing with winning just one match in both Carson and Beijing, a third round exit against 72^nd ranked Czech Petra Kvitova at the US Open and none in Toronto and Tokyo.
“I've been playing on the pain for about three months, on anti-inflammatory, on everything,” she said. “It was a reason I was advised to take a break after the US Open. I thought I was chasing the no.1 ranking but fighting with my body. For the tournaments in Tokyo and Beijing my body was quiet and I was still hoping but then my body just gave up.”
Safina was given a cortisone injection into her lower back before beginning her scheduled three round robin matches in Dubai, but she was unable to offer any resistance against Jelena Jankovic who had lost her opening match a day earlier.
“The beginning of next year is under question,” said Safina who reached the final of this year’s Australian Open and accrued a considerable amount of ranking points in the process.  “I don’t know if I will be able to play in Australia, because when we speak with the doctors, it doesn't sound so nice. So it's possible that I might even not be 100% fit for the Australian.  Maybe I'll have to skip it. “
Safina is insistent that back surgery is not a necessity but she needs to rehabilitate properly and concluded: “I have to work on my muscles, on my core stability,” she said.  “As I'm tall, I need to be strong, that I can hold myself.  This is going to be a very long procedure.” 
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Wozniacki and Azarenka Hope They Both Advance in WTA Championships

They are two of the young stars of the tour, and Caroline Wozniacki and Victoria Azarenka played a great match at the Sony Ericsson Championships. Azarenka dominated the first set and went on to hold match point before Wozniacki edged out the victory. After such a tough battle with the match swinging one way and then the other, the atmosphere in the locker room must have been pretty tense afterwards, surely. Not so. The pair are good friends, so after a short cooling down period they were chatting away about their prospects for the week.
“It's tough to talk after such a tough match. Of course, we need just some space just to cool down, both of us,” said Wozniacki. “But, I mean, we both have won one match in our group, and we were just talking about it would be great if somehow it would be possible both to qualify. That would be the dream scenario for both of us. I mean, we still have - I have two matches, she has one match left in the group. So, I mean, yeah, there's still a long way.”

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Professional Tennis Management Program At Ferris State Offers Course in TennisConnect

The Professional Tennis Management program at Ferris State University in Big Rapids, Mich., now has a required course in tournament/activity administration that includes using the TennisConnect business tool.
The 16-week course, which is taught by PTM Director Derek Ameel, is designed to give students a well-rounded view of event programming and of TennisConnect’s capabilities in running a tennis business.
The course was created by Ameel with help from Charlie Ruddy, the developer of TennisConnect. Each student will create their own TennisConnect website and will complete a “go-live” process for their final exam.
The Ferris State Racquet & Fitness Center, which has 16 courts and is run by the students in the program, uses the TennisConnect system. Freshman and sophomore students work at the front desk at least four hours per week each and are trained in TennisConnect for the Court Scheduler, Contact Manager, eCalendar and more.
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Texas Tennis Hall of Fame Inducts Five into 2009 Class

The Texas Tennis Hall of Fame inducted its 2009 class on October 10 in Waco, Texas, with Texas Executive Director, Ken McAllister acting as Master of Ceremonies.
The inductees were:
Richey Reneberg, who reached #20 in the World in singles in 1991 and #1 in doubles in 1993, played Davis Cup for the US for 5 years and the Olympics in 1996. He grew up in Houston and was an All-American at SMU.
Jeff Moore of Austin, who coached the women's team at the University of Texas to 23 straight NCAA appearances and two national NCAA titles.
Harriett Hulbert of Houston, beloved Executive Director of the Houston Tennis Association for 21 years, and one of the most influential women in the Texas Tennis family.
Lee Hamilton of Dallas, who served as COO of the USTA for five years and President of the Houston Tennis Association, the Dallas Tennis Association, and the USTA Texas Section prior to that.
Keith Diepraam of Houston, who was world ranked with a win over Arthur Ashe prior to the advent of Open tennis. He played Davis Cup for South Africa 34 times and was ranked #1 in the world in Men's 45 singles.

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We Hear---
--that Roger Federer has just signed an endorsement contract with Swiss chocolate giant Lindt.
--that Caroline Wozniacki will compete at the Sydney International, immediately before the Australian Open. She joins a field that includes Serena Williams, Victoria Azarenka and Elena Dementieva.
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THIS WEEK
MEN
Lyon
St. Petersburg
Vienna
WOMEN
Doha
***
NEXT WEEK
MEN
Basel
Valencia
WOMEN
Bali
Fed Cup Finals USA at Italy
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