Ivanisevic Wins; Not-Serenas Dog Bites; Greed Killing Tennis?

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Chris Evert's divorce is final, but she must pay $7 million in cash and securities to her ex...Roger Federer and Amelie Mauresmo received the International Tennis Writers Association's Player of the Year awards on Tuesday. Federer won the honor for the third consecutive year."...Mark Philippoussis playing the exhibition at the Blackrock Masters: "I rang Darren {Cahill] and expressed strong feelings about wanting to work with him once Andre's [Agassi] career was over. Darren was very truthful with me -- he said he didn't know what he wanted to do, and that he couldn't guarantee anything because he has a family that he wants to spend time with, but he invited me to come to Vegas after the US Open and spend a couple of weeks training with him and Gil (Reyes). I was on the court every day with Darren, and in the gym with Gil. I have never done anything like the training I'm doing with Gil. Hands-down it's the best training I've ever done. I've spent a month with him and I've felt such a big difference. I just hope we can continue. It's been intense but it's been fun. It's humbling going into that gym and training with those guys. Gil has worked on my conditioning from head to-toe, strengthening everything. I have no doubt that my best tennis is still ahead of me." Philippoussis and Alicia Molik will compete next week in the Aussie Open wildcard playoffs...Wayne Arthurs is rumored to be retiring after the Aussie Open...From The Globe and Mail: "It remains to be seen whether Safin and Nalbandian, who will turn 25 on New Year's Day, can be as inspired at other events as they are during Davis Cup. At their very best, they can legitimately challenge the supreme Federer, who, incidentally, e-mailed the Davis Cup website, which was doing an audio broadcast of the final match, to say he was enjoying the commentary."...From the Times Now: "But what they did at the Asian Games things really didn't go to plan. India lost the tie to Chinese Taipei with Paes and Bhupathi going down in straight sets in the deciding doubles. Bhupathi not keeping serve through the game. That has caused Leander to question his partner's commitment to Team India. Speaking to TIMES NOW, Leander Paes said, "I just feel that Hesh should be honest with himself, his injuries and his tennis. I've tremendous respect for him; he's a fantastic tennis player and has done a lot for the country. But at the moment, he needs to be honest with himself, the way he's playing, the way his career's going and also with his responsibility to the team. As the end of the day, we really have to put the best team forward and what we turned out there today in the doubles court -- I take full responsibility also because not only am I the team captain but was also there on the court -- was really disappointing."...Paradorn Srichaphan injured his wrist playing the Asian Games...From the Baltimore Sun: "Best guy-watching in New York City is over at the Midtown Tennis Club, where Hugh Jackman and Ewan McGregor, in their tennis whites, practice. Hugh and Ewan are in New York filming The Tourist, a thriller in which they swing those rackets. Their coach is Stephen Bauer, who has tutored Jim Carrey and others celebs in the fine art of jumping the net."...From the Palm Beach Post: "An already contentious trial, charging Venus, Serena and Richard Williams with reneging on what was supposed to be a lucrative battle-of-the-sexes tennis match, could get even uglier. Attorneys representing two would-be promoters in a multimillion-dollar lawsuit against the famous tennis family said they may drag out some particularly dirty family laundry if the Williamses' attorneys try to paint their client as a liar."...From the AP on the Williams non-truth machine: "A pit bull registered to Serena Williams allegedly bit a security guard outside her home last week. Williams told police she didn't own the dog, but was watching it for a friend, a Palm Beach Gardens Police incident report said. The dog, a 5-year-old tan pit bull, is registered to Williams, Palm Beach County Animal Care and Control assistant director Dennis Yeskey told The Palm Beach Post. Williams' Web site shows two photographs of her tan pit bull named Bambi. A spokeswoman for Williams declined to comment." -- Oops...From the incomparable Neil Harman writing for The Times: "Ladies and gentlemen, we are killing our game." As conversation stoppers go, the one delivered by Ian Wight, the tournament director of the Stella Artois Championships, to a gathering of the great and good of the sport in London on Monday night was a whopper. Even Goran Ivanisevic put his mobile phone down and Henri Leconte stopped puffing on a fat cigar. "From agent to player, to tournament promoter, to ruling body, we are all guilty of putting self-interest ahead of the commercial future of tennis," Wight said. "Our greed and arrogance are slowly squeezing the lifeblood from the game. It is the economics of the madhouse that a player can receive more than three times the prize-money not for winning a tournament but just for turning up." The occasion was the Lawn Tennis Writers' Association annual dinner at the Hurlingham Club, in West London, at which Wight was honoured for 27 years of involvement with the tournament. For a man notoriously wary of letting down his guard, Wight's words were the more trenchant, especially because, by his admission, he is as guilty as the next tournament director of spending a few hundred thousand to persuade the high-rollers to play. Do we really believe that Rafael Nadal signed a deal to play the Stella Artois this year and next because he liked the look of Queen's Club in the brochure?" ATP President Etienne de Villier's response: "We are introducing measures we hope will allow us to understand the practice better. We will require tournaments and players to report how much is paid at each event so we have a clearer idea. We are also pushing through aggressive prize-money increases and want a system where players can play bigger tournaments, for bigger prize-money, more ranking points and a generous bonus pool for which they have to make a real commitment. I do find what Ian [Wight] said a little ironic. It is not as if anyone is holding a gun to his head. Yes, we have to manage our tournaments better, to improve the incentives and the player commitment and, doing that, you will bring the situation involving guarantees back into some kind of equilibrium. What I must emphasise, though, is that this is not a huge crisis."...From XtraMSN: "ASB Classic organisers are upset with the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) after India's Sania Mirza withdrew from next month's tournament in Auckland because of a scheduling conflict. Mirza will instead play for her country in the Hopman Cup teams events in Perth. The WTA Tour has an arrangement with the Hopman Cup which ASB Classic organisers were not informed of. "As tournament organisers we're extremely disappointed by the decision and have received an apology from the WTA for the miscommunication and the late notice," tournament director Richard Palmer said on Wednesday. "The fact this has happened highlights an area which the WTA needs to take a serious look at. Players taking part in exhibitions or non-tour events in the same week as WTA-sanctioned events is an issue which all tournaments are concerned about. Tournaments should take priority."