TENNIS-X NEWS, NOTES, QUOTES AND BARBS
The Bryan brothers are 9-0 career on the road for the U.S. Davis Cup team…
ADHEREL
James Blake is 1-6 career in live Davis Cup matches on clay. Why was he (and Mardy Fish) chosen for this past weekend’s tie over Sam Querrey, who took a set off Rafael Nadal on clay in their last meeting?…
SARCASTIC SERENA SAYS ‘I’M NO. 1’ — After capturing the Wimbledon title, Serena Williams entered her post-match press conference wearing a white T-shirt with a slogan across her chest in bold pink letters reading “Are you looking at my titles?” before going on to rake the WTA Tour for still ranking Dinara Safina No. 1 after Wimbledon: “I think if you hold three Grand Slam titles maybe you should be No. 1 — but not on the WTA Tour, obviously. My motivation is to win another Grand Slam and stay No. 2…That’s just shocking. But it is what it is. I’d definitely rather be No. 2 and hold three Grand Slams in the past year than be No. 1 and not have any.” Serena then added sarcastically, “Dinara did a great job to get to No. 1. She won Rome and Madrid.”…
KLEIN SUSPENDED FOR RACIST RANT — Former Australian Open junior champion Brydan Klein has been banned for six months from ATP tour and challenger events for racially abusing an opponent. The 19-year-old Australian was initially fined and suspended by Tennis Australia after he called black South African Raven Klaasan a “kaffir” at the ATP event in Eastbourne last month. “Under the ATP code of conduct, Klein was found to have committed the player major offence, aggravated behavior,” read an ATP statement. “The incident was deemed to have been ‘behavior that is flagrant and particularly injurious to the success of a tournament or is singularly egregious.'” At the time Klein reportedly also spat at his opponent’s coach and another South African player.
Fabrice Santoro has played 20 of the 24 players to rank No. 1, excluding Ilie Nastase, John Newcombe, Bjorn Borg and John McEnroe…
Kim Clijsters has added the October WTA Luxembourg event to her comeback circuit, the tournament where she is 26-1 lifetime, with a loss in 2000 to Anna Kournikova…
Why did Justin Gimelstob get a doubles wildcard into Newport? Will Leif Shiras get one next?…
FRANCE’S MONTCOURT FOUND DEAD — French player Mathieu Montcourt was found dead by his girlfriend in the stairwell of his Paris apartment at age 24. The French media is reporting “natural causes.” He died late Monday night or early Tuesday morning. In May Montcourt received a five-week ban and was fined $12,000 for betting on other tennis matches, a ban that took effect this week.
SERENA DOESN’T DESERVE No. 1 — From tennis writer Chris Goldsmith of Sportingo: “Serena Williams is unhappy about still being No.2, even though she is the holder of three of the four majors at the moment. What Serena fails to realise is the the rankings are based on a 52-week system. Points drop off from last year as points are added from this year’s tournaments. Grand Slams are heavily weighted to have the most points available for victory. For example, a winner of a Grand Slam is awarded 2,000 points while winners of the next biggest tournaments are awarded 1,000 points. To me, that is a big enough weighting. Whilst Serena has points for three wins and one quarter-final appearance in her ranking, Dinara has points for two final and two semi-final appearances, still very consistent in my opinion. If you look back at this year’s clay-court season Serena failed to win one match until the French Open, losing in the first round in Madrid, Marbella and Rome. Hardly a great performance.”…
Former No. 1 Ana Ivanovic is out for a few weeks with a micro-tear in her left thigh…
2009 NCAA Men’s Division I Champion Devin Britton turned pro…
CURIOUS ANNA — Stuff.co.nz is reporting it’s a “curious mystery” that Anna Kournikova is still attracting a lot of attention via World TeamTennis despite the fact she is long retired from the WTA Tour. Newsflash Kiwis, in the States people attract curious amounts of attention simply by being hot. Best Kournikova quote: “I never thrived on attention. I never was in it for attention.” Sporting a huge new diamond ring on her left hand, presumably from long-time beau, singer Enrique Iglesias, Kournikova says she is planning a trip to visit U.S. troops in Iraq.
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