Tennis-X News, Notes, Quotes and Barbs

There never has been a doping offense for a performance-enhancing drug in WTA Tour history according to the AP. Two players were sanctioned for caffeine, one for cocaine, and none since 2002. Hmmm, coke is it for a small number of the fringe players on both sides, even in the wheelchair ranks...Greg Rusedski on the women's drug flap -- did you really think he would keep his mouth shut? "I don't even want to get involved. I've had enough of that. I'm not even going to go there." And then, of course, he does: "Well, what I think is it should never be made public, these sorts of things, until all the facts are out, until there's a tribunal, until everything goes through. I feel sorry for the three girls who have to put up with it. If the organizer for the event said, you know, we have an exhibition and said all the girls, you know, were in the same boat. But he excluded some and he included others. So I just wish he just would have kept his mouth shut and dealt with it properly. But, you know, that's sport and that's the way things go sometimes."...Hey Brad Gilbert, Greg Rusedski is looking for a new coach -- take the job and hire a camera crew to film it, that would be the reality show to end all shows..."Grinning" Greg on his new gear: "I think Donnay bought Dunlop/Slazenger, so they've changed me into the full Dunlop kit and racquets. Yeah, I enjoy the racquet and like the new line of clothing. So I'm quite excited about it...I seem to be returning better with (the racquet). So I don't know if it's the racquet or it's me (media laughter ensues). I like the racquet I'm playing with, it's very nice."..."Grinning" Greg, who is likely getting ready to follow Tim Henman in bailing from the Brit D-Cup team, on the future of British tennis: "There's three kids I look at that I think have a good chance. But the question mark will be is, do they have that hunger, that desire? I mean, you've got to look at someone like Lleyton Hewitt. I mean, there's a guy who has so much desire and wants every ball and every point. You know, you can teach that, but you can't teach that. It's the ones who are going to want it, the hunger of it. I mean Alex Bogdanovic has got a lot of talent, Andrew Banks has a big game, a lot of talent. (Andrew) Murray is a good player as well, but he has a stronger mind than the other two, I think. So those three guys have a good chance to do well. And they're going to have to step up and start making those breakthroughs, which they're trying to do at the moment, and hopefully they will."...Andy Roddick on the court speed of the Rebound Ace at the Aussie Open: "I'm fine with it. I'm never one to really notice too much. I guess that requires feel, and I don't really have that in surplus. You know, I like it. You know, Rebound Ace, it's supposed to be a little bit slower and bounce a little bit higher. Those are kind of the characteristics that you come to expect from it."...Juan Carlos Ferrero, who dropped a set in his opening-round match to a player not even on the tour radar, says he is a threat to do some damage: "Yeah. Physically, I'm very good. Form, you know, I have confidence in me that after this match I will play much better in the second round. Who knows if I win, if I lose. But I think I feel mentally very strong again, you know. So if I lose early this tournament, will be doesn't matter for me because a year is so long. I feel that I'm Juan Carlos again like in the past, you know, so I feel good." Funny how we didn't hear that babbling 'I was ready to go five sets, if I lose I lose' talk in 2003...Alicia Molik on her Aussie football preferences: "I'm a footy lover, I must admit. I love getting out and watching the game. But I have to admit I've been training over at Lexus Center. I'm about to go over there and have a massage now. Been fortunate enough to be invited over there. I'll probably, if any, watch mostly Collingwood games this season. I think I'd love to go and watch the boys play. I feel like I'm committing a crime now, changing teams. Growing up I followed the Eagles in the SNLF in South Australia. Obviously I was born there. I've been in Melbourne the last couple years. I'm never home, but I love getting out to any single supporting event." We're footy lovers too, but more on the fetish tip...According to the AP, "Wimbledon champion Maria Sharapova will help Moscow try to land the 2012 Olympics, saying if the city gets the games, "my dream and the dream of millions of Russians will come true. I can't wait to explain to people why Moscow should host the games," said Sharapova, according to a statement posted on the bid committee's Web site."...Hey Irakli "Freak Show" Labadze, time to get that fat-ass in shape -- a big serve and forehand, and a two-handed backhand straight out of the girl's-14s are only going to get you so far. And you're slow...The slumping Jan-Mike Gambill talking to TR.net on his current career spiral: "I have been working very hard to try and get my game back on track. Obviously, I was not playing that well, but I played a couple of good matches coming in here and I've been practicing very well. I feel like I'm starting to play decent tennis. I feel 100% I can get back to playing the way I used to so I'm not going to let this be a negative for me."...You've got to love the Tim Henman critiques that come out of London, even when "Our Tim" wins -- this from This is London: "Tim Henman overcome a worrying and all-too-familiar lapse in concentration to book his place in the second round of the Australian Open today. Henman cruised through the opening two sets of his first-round clash with Cyril Saulnier in under an hour, losing just three games in the process in Melbourne. The large British contingent in the Margaret Court Arena sat back in anticipation of an easy victory, but seasoned Henman watchers knew better and it was with an air of inevitability that the Frenchman was allowed back into the match."...The usually-verbose Brad Gilbert refused to elaborate on his firing by Andy Roddick to USA Today: "I was surprised. I'm over it now."...Reuters reports that Belgian sports minister Claude "Look at Us Everyone!" Eerdekens refuses to apologize for announcing Svetlana Kuznetsova had tested positive for a banned substance at an exhibition event in Belgium: "I will never offer an apology. This product (ephedrine, found in cold medicine and not banned in out-of-tour-competition play) is banned and it is up to her to explain why it is there. It (the announcement about Kuznetsova) was necessary to protect the other three," said Eerdekens, referring to Justine Henin-Hardenne, Nathalie Dechy and Elena Dementieva, who also participated in the exhibition. Probably not a lot of players lining up for future exhibitions in Belgium, eh?