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Tennis-X Notes: Murray Works of Blog Spelling of Legends Names
Posted on June 29, 2006
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TENNIS-X NEWS, NOTES, QUOTES AND BARB
With Thursday play nearly completed, Wimbledon is back on schedule...Roger Federer handed Tim Henman his 11th career bagel, and first at Wimbledon. Federer also upped his grass win streak to 43 and earned his 100th career Grand Slam win...Equal prize money advocates Venus, Maria, Justine and Amelie all rolled in with wins under an hour yesterday...Janko Tipsarevic was 0-9 on break point chances. If he had converted just a couple of those he'd have beaten Andy Roddick, who had a surprisingly shaky outing Wednesday...Amelie Mauresmo scored her third career double bagel Wednesday at Wimbledon...Roger Federer again wore his Prada/Nike jacket on entrance and exit off Centre Court Wednesday...ESPN's Mike Ryan, who oversees the network's tennis coverage, speaking with USA Today: "Frankly, I'm a little concerned about the emergence of Eastern Europeans because it's harder for them to become stars in the U.S. The next generation (of Americans) isn't there yet."...From Jim Courier blogging on his Champions Series website: "Andre [Agassi] is an emotional being and it will be interesting to see him walk off of Ashe Stadium after his last match. I suspect there will be tears in a lot of people's eyes, including his and certainly mine. For my generation of players AA was the first to light the pro torch and now he is finally extinguishing it, years after we have all moved on, as he competes for the last time for a Grand Slam title. Sure, he will likely play some exo's down the road and maybe even join us on the Outback Series for some friendlier competition but he will not gun for the crown at Wimbledon or the other majors after the '06 Open. I have said in the past that when Andre leaves the Tour that for me it will feel like when your last friend finally graduates from college and you have to face the fact that you're not a kid anymore. Well, it's official. I have to grow up now..."...From the ATP: "ATPtennis.com, the official Web site of men's professional tennis, has launched a new and improved "Doubles Revolution." The redesigned Web section dedicated exclusively to ATP Doubles can be found at www.ATPtennis.com/doubles. The new-look Doubles Revolution, first introduced on ATPtennis.com in January as the Doubles Alley, further incorporates the ATP Doubles Revolution's campaign imagery and themes. The doubles section continues to provide up-to-date news and information while incorporating new features in photo galleries and redesigned team profile pages. Additionally, each doubles story that runs on ATPtennis.com now sports the distinct Doubles Revolution trademark." -- Should have kept it Doubles Alley, or even Back-Alley. Is anyone excited by this, or agree that it is working? Is it getting you excited about Martin Damm and Leander Paes? Does it make you want to buy their trading cards?...From the X-Discussion board's consafos: "(Wimbledon radio's) Joe Stahl sounds like a real deep thinker. So its "hesitation" that loses matches for [James] Blake? Ah, well, that's an easy enough fix. Just go for it Blake! Hit a winner every time! Yeah, cause he never actually misses any shots. They're all winners or unreturnable, except when he hesitates. Right. What's even funnier is the reason that Blake has been having more successful is because he stopped going for so much so often. Is this guy getting paid to be retarded? Because he should send his resume to ESPN."...From Brian Viner of The Independent: "The former Wimbledon champion Michael Stich, in a newspaper column earlier this week, suggested that as a classic serve-volleyer he would have beaten Roger Federer had he played him in 1991, the year he overcame both Boris Becker and Stefan Edberg on the way to winning the title. For what it's worth, I agree with him. It would have been a close-run thing, but I think he would have just about edged it, given that Federer was only nine years old at the time. Otherwise, Stich is surely kidding himself."...Andy Murray writing in his blog: "I walked down the stairs before I went on to the centre court and [Nicolas] Massu stopped to go to the toilet. I like to think he was a bit nervous! As I was standing there I read the inspirational quote "If you can meet with triumph and disaster and treat those two imposters the same". Sounds great but I didn't really understand it. Had a little look at the list of past champions -- [Bjorn] Borg, [John] MacEnroe (sic), [Roger] Federer, [Pete] Sampras, [Andre] Agassi -- and I was like I would love to be up there one day. Maybe I need to understand the quote first..."...From UPI: "Officials at Wimbledon in Britain are looking into irregular betting on a low-level match where a player ranked 259th beat one ranked 89th. Betfair, and online gambling company, said the patterns of betting placed on Richard Bloomfield to beat Carlos Berlocq Tuesday were unusual, The Mirror reports. Bloomfield, the No. 7-ranked British player, beat Argentina's Berlocq in an off-court match that wasn't televised. He said he didn't bet on himself and said he wasn't part of any gambling scheme. The Lawn Tennis Association didn't answer reporters' questions and the head of the International Tennis Federation Grand Slam Committee said they wouldn't comment beyond admitting Betfair passed on secret gambling information to it."...Jerry Magee writing for the San Diego Union-Tribune: "Samantha Stevenson says she is writing a novel. That would be the tennis community you just saw cringing. What Samantha, mother of Alexandra Stevenson, has in mind is a roman a clef that would be to tennis what "The Devil Wears Prada" is to women's fashions. Think of "The Devil Wears Nike." "It's something I know," Samantha says of what is savory and what is not in tennis. She says her novel, with her daughter helping with the writing, is due out in time for Wimbledon 2007. Samantha is not a devil. Consider her a pushy dame if you would. Many do. She is a mother who does everything she can to further her daughter's career, which has not been flourishing since she suffered the shoulder injury that for more than two years has severely handicapped her."...British Prime Minister Tony Blair has come out backing equal prize money for women at Wimbledon...Greg Garber writing for ESPN.com: "[Venus] Williams has always followed an eclectic fashion accessory path, but on Wednesday she was upstaged -- in a bad, bad way -- by [Bethanie] Mattek's retro-Suzanne Somers biker look. In the past, Mattek has worn a leopard-print dress, a 50 Cent-influenced hat and was once fined for coming onto the court at the U.S. Open wearing a cowboy hat. Clearly unaware of her dubious place in the fashion food chain, Mattek sported a pierced left eyebrow, big dangly earrings, a bandanna and, worst of all, some high-top white socks that cost her 10 pounds at Harrods. "I was going for kind of the soccer theme," she said. "All the players in the locker room are like, 'Oh, my God, Beth, what are you wearing today?' I'm not sure how it went over. I just pretty much went on my gut, just...what I felt like wearing today. Hopefully, it was good."
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