Agassi Makes Vegas Event Appearance, Federer Gets Stamped

Posted on February 27, 2007

TENNIS-X NEWS, NOTES, QUOTES AND BARBS
From the good people at Edelman: "Canon has inked a new deal as Host sponsor and official camera and photo printer of the Pacific Life Open which is set for March 5-17 at Indian Wells in Palm Springs, CA. They are also a US Open sponsor and have a relationship with Maria Sharapova who has endorsed the PowerShot line for more than two years. They were also a NASDAQ-100 Open sponsor last year (now Sony Ericsson is title) and plan to shoot their third Sharapova commercial sometime in April in Miami."...Justine Henin finished as the year-end No. 1 last year, but in 2007 she says the No. 1 ranking goal is on the back burner after her painful divorce proceedings at the beginning of the year: "I have to take it step by step. It has been a difficult period in my life for sure but I will try to come back strongly with my tennis. I just need to accept that it will take a little time. I have never used tennis as a way of forgetting something else. I have just tried to face reality. And now I have to try to build myself again like I did many times in my life...You always have a lot of people who are very curious and they want to know why and who -- and who cares? That's my life...It's a little bit like my secret garden. All of you, I'm sure, have ups and downs in your life and why should I be different just because I'm a famous tennis player? I'm a person before being a player."

Amelie Mauresmo on the tour strengthening penalties for players withdrawing from tournaments: "In most cases you have to rely on the good faith of players, and I don't see any fines being slapped on players for last-minute pullouts from tournaments. Maybe there should be some sort of points penalty to discourage players from pulling out. But then, you never know, it may be a genuine injury...Think of the toll one single year can take on a player with as many as 30 tournaments, the Grand Slams, and if needed the Fed Cup along with the choice to play in home tournaments. And if you keep on doing semifinals and finals each and every week, then things can get quite demanding. I am certainly not for strong sanctions against the players. I could get an injury and would have to pull out from a tournament just two days before. It's a tough decision and the WTA has some hard work to do."...ATP President Etienne de Villiers says the number of elite "Masters Series" events will be trimmed down to eight beginning in 2009, with players penalties for missing the tour's top events: "We had 384 withdrawals last year. On the basis of 2,000 player's jobs, that's a fifth. It's like going to a U2 concert and one of the band members doesn't bother to show up. That's the kind of thinking we have to impress upon the players...I would say that most injury pullouts are legitimate. But we are now offering them as a (no-penalty) option. We want to close that door."...From the ATP: "Las Vegas native Andre Agassi, rugged up in coat and beanie, braved the chilly conditions on Day 1 of the Tennis Channel Open to catch some of the action. Agassi watched the Querrey-Bogdanovic match with his former coach Brad Gilbert, who now coaches Bogdanovic (in addition to coaching Scotland's Andy Murray). In a show of support for his hometown tournament, Agassi insisted on buying his own $30 ticket to access center court, refusing offers of a freebie."...The ATP is hiring a slew of positions, including a Corporate Communications Director and a VP Brand Marketing in the London office; Brand Marketing Managers for North America, Asia/Pacific Rim, and Central/Eastern Europe regions; a Senior VP Digital Services, a Web Developer and a Technical Manager/Web Developer in the Ponte Vedra Beach, FL, office, Tour Managers for Eastern Europe (Germany or Russia) and for the PVB office; and an Americas Tournament and Marketing Services position...From the ATP: "Swiss Post is honoring ATP world No. 1 Roger Federer with a special stamp, which will be available from April 10, 2007. The Federer stamp is as unique as the sportsman himself, since living persons do not normally feature on stamps."...Gustavo Kuerten after winning into the round robin portion of the draw this week in Las Vegas: "I have at least two more matches and I'm playing doubles, so I have three. It's two years since I played four matches in a week."...From the Las Vegas Review-Journal on American riser San Querrey: "Maybe more impressive, the 6-foot-6 Querrey is routinely asked to spend 30 minutes at clinics for children at tour stops and has been known to spend three hours. He always arrives early and leaves late. But you would expect that, no? "I didn't go to a tennis academy like a lot of kids," Querrey said. "Even in high school, I never practiced more than an hour-and-a-half. A lot of kids -- I don't know if it's being burned out or what -- just get tired of it. They grow up hanging around only other tennis kids and everything they do revolves around tennis. That was never me. My parents supported me in anything I did. They were perfect in that way. There will come a time when I probably need to be more fired up on the court and pissed when I lose. If I'm never a Top 50 player, I'll be disappointed. And if I get there, I'll want to be Top 20 and hopefully one day Top 10 and competing for Grand Slams. But I'll probably always have a low-key temperament. That's just me."...Jamie Murray will likely make his Davis Cup debut besides brother Andy on the doubles court when Britain faces the Netherlands in Europe/African Zone-Group I Davis Cup play in April, with the winner advancing to the World Group Playoffs round...Robby Ginepri pulled from Las Vegas this week citing personal reasons...Look for Andy Murray to crash the Top 10 by the end of the claycourt season, with no big points to defend until the grasscourt season...The doubles team of Eric Butorac and Jamie Murray, winners of consecutive titles in San Jose and Memphis, this week missed the cut by one for the Las Vegas field...Tournament Director Mark Baron says the ATP Delray Beach event will be three weeks later on next year's calendar...Tournament organizers for the Indian Wells event say the men and women are not paid the same because the women's tour won't guarantee the same quality of field as the men. 

Also see:
Tennis Dominates Laureus Nominations
http://www.tennis-x.com/xblog/2007-02-27/145.php