Tennis-X News, Notes, Quotes and Barbs

TENNIS-X NEWS, NOTES, QUOTES AND BARBS
Wayne Ferreira has retired, a day after Todd Martin, could Younes El Aynaoui, Gustavo Kuerten, and Alex Corretja have also played their last matches at the US Open?...Mark "The Dud Scud" Philippoussis now has a bad hip, and he doesn't know why or where it happened: "It was 2-all or 3-all in the fourth and all of a sudden my left side, my left glut, just seized up and locked up on me. It was a spasm or something and I was hopping on one leg. I couldn't move or push off on my serve...I've never had anything like this. I was feeling great out there. It came out of nowhere...It's pretty much the worst year of my tennis career so far. I feel like I just want to start all over again."...From a press release for the China Open in Beijing, which follows the US Open: "He's wild, wacky and wonderfully talented -- Marat Safin is guaranteed to keep everyone entertained when he plays in next month's China Open in Beijing." Yeah, for a day or two, then it's take the guarantee money and run...Hey WTA (and ATP) employees, get ready to evacuate the Florida H.Q.s, another hurricane is coming down the pike, this one three times the size of Hurricane Charley and predicted to be a maxed-out Category 5 by the time it makes landfall south of Jacksonville. Oh, and it's bigger than the entire state...You gotta love Al Trautwig behind the desk for USA Network, making everything they do sound so very important, like after Michael Barkan assaulted the murmuring Marcos "Bombs Over" Baghdatis in the hall before his match with Roger Federer: "Now those are some final thoughts!" said Trautwig after the exchange...Wayne Ferreira on his retirement announcement: "I will represent South Africa at the Davis Cup at the end of the month, then that will be it. I still feel that I can play as well as anyone else in the field, it's tough to leave knowing that I am still at that level. But I feel that I have to leave sometime and it's about time for me to go and leave when I feel that I am still at the top of my game. That's the better way to go...I've had a bad shoulder for the last 10 months. Every time I wake up, a different thing hurts. I just thought maybe it was more important to be able to walk when I'm 50."...Lleyton Hewitt is all happy and surprisingly cooperative these days after moving back up the rankings and winning the US Open Series: "When I was ranked No. 1, my serve definitely wasn't as consistent as it is know. I've been able to win some cheaper points off of my serve and get a high percentage of points off it lately. It's been important to my arsenal...I think the US Open Series was a good idea. I think that it is going to help in getting more coverage of those smaller tournaments and help tennis get more air time." Sure it's a good idea, since you won it and it put an extra truckload of cash in your pocket...World No. 1 Justine Henin-Hardenne on Serena's dominatrix outfits: "That's my last problem right now."...ESPN's Greg Garber just pumping out the straight news stories this week on ESPN.com, where is the flavor? Where is the "Ugly American"?...The fictional Canadian teen series about tennis prodigies, "15/Love," debuts on Sunday in the Great White North.

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