Tennis-X Notes: Hingis Comeback, Murray Making Adjustments
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TENNIS-X NEWS, NOTES, QUOTES AND BARBS
HINGIS COMEBACK!…SORTA! — Like a cancer gnawing at her soul, Martina Hingis watches comeback Belgians Kim Clijsters and Justine Henin eat up the women’s tennis spotlight. Hingis says she doesn’t miss all the travel of the WTA Tour, but announced the possible first step in a comeback by saying she will play a full World TeamTennis schedule in 2010. “If it was played in the backyard then I’d probably think about it twice,” said Hingis of playing a tour event [in Switzerland?], talking to the AP. Hingis’ two-year suspension for testing positive for coke has ended, and she will be drafted by a WTT team on Feb. 11.
ADHEREL
JUST LETTING THE FELLAS LOOSE — Andy Murray on why he was repeatedly touching his pants/hip during the final, asked by reporters if he had a hip injury: “It’s not really a problem. It’s not really my left hip. It’s quite hard to explain. I wear cycling shorts, and sometimes they’re quite tight. So you need to — you know, Roddick does it a lot, it’s kind of what Rafa does on his other side. I don’t really know what I’m trying to say, but basically my hip is fine. It was just the cycling shorts were tight.”
SITTING OUT — Rafael Nadal has been advised to sit out a month [or more] to settle the flaming tendinitis in his knee that forced him to retire during the Australian Open. Tests also showed a small tear at the back part of Nadal’s right knee, and shorts creeping up his ass.
PAES HITS THE BIG SCREEN — 2010 Aussie Open mixed doubles champ Leander Paes is to make his Bollywood debut, and is a month into shooting his first film, a psychological thriller after undergoing intensive coaching at a leading Mumbai acting school, DNA reported. The film, to be made in both Hindi and Bengali languages, will be in cinemas by the end of the year, and in the Blockbuster bargain bin by month’s end.
TENNIS NEEDS TO BE MORE BORING! — From Tennis.com’s Steve Tignor (the guy who predicted Rafael Nadal wasn’t good enough to reach No. 1) on how Nikolay Davydenko won’t win a Grand Slam until he becomes more focused on being boring in press conferences: “The day that Davydenko doesn’t use a word like “scared” to describe his opponents, the day he gives us a thousand-yard stare and says that he and his opponents “have a mutual respect for each other,” that he’s just gonna go out and give it 110 percent, you know he’s serious about creating a legacy as a Grand Slam champion rather than just making enough money so he never has to work again. It will be a sad day for the tennis press, but it might be a good day for Davydenko. He’ll have learned his lesson. It should be an easy one for a money-hungry Russian to understand: Being interesting is bad for business.” — Geez that is more dumb writing.
JENKINS ON A ROLL — From tennis writer Bruce Jenkins writing for SI on the Aussie Open final: “Murray was unfortunate to experience a couple of, shall we say, Roddick Moments. Unfair as that may be to Andy, people are always going to remember the shanked backhand volley that cost him the second set against Federer at last year’s Wimbledon.” — Ouch, not really, until you brought it up. Throwing some A-Rod hammering into the AO final wrap? Also from Jenkins: “…Dick Enberg, still a beloved tennis commentator at the age of 75…” — Really?!? The same Dick “Oh my!” Enberg that gets HAMMERED on every internet tennis message board? Must be a different Dick Enberg…Even more from Jenkins: “ESPN2 was the one to watch, but here’s hoping you caught some of Martina Navratilova’s unabridged, dead-on commentary on the Tennis Channel. One reader e-mailed me to say, “Her commentary seems so unguarded, it almost feels like she’s sitting in your house with you, drinking a beer.” — “Oh my!” God. The general consensus here is, Martina makes you want to drink a 24-pack of beer, then puncture your eardrums with a pen. One reader e-mailed us to say, ‘Can you tell the Tennis Channel to cut the sound feed?’ Who else rounds out your Top 5 commentators? Virginia Wade? Pam Shriver? Sean McDonough?…
MISC — The Aussie Open set a record for attendance in 2010…Roger Federer’s Haiti charity effort, which began with a “Hit for Haiti” hit-and-giggle with miked players before the start of the Aussie Open, has raised over $600K thus far…After winning their fourth Aussie Open doubles title, the Bryan brothers have eight Slam titles, three behind the record 11 of the Woodies (Todd Woodbridge and Mark Woodforde), and four overall titles behind the Woodies’ 61…Lleyton Hewitt underwent hip surgery following the Aussie Open, and has now has surgery on both hips. Too hip to be Lleyton…Victoria is investing $363 million to keep the Australian Open in Melbourne, including a new retractable roof, an additional 1,500 seats, and a new Eastern Plaza that will house 21 new courts…From Mike and Bob Bryan blogging during the Aussie Open: “During a local broadcast of our third-set-tiebreak win over Butorac/Ram on Tuesday night, Henri Leconte [the former French player] pretended to fall asleep. We’re a little disappointed, and it’s unfortunate when a commentator has to be negative when we are trying our guts out. It’s big-serving tennis, and the points can be short. We know it’s late at night, but it’s unfortunate because he’s there to make the fans interested in the game. It’s not about him — it’s about the tennis. [Commentator and Australian Davis Cup Captain] John Fitzgerald apologized to us, but Henri hasn’t said anything. It’s disrespectful to doubles, to our opponents and to us. It’s not that funny, especially when you come off the court happy and proud we got through a tough one, and to hear someone telling us that Henri is bashing you…it left a sour taste in our mouths. It was funny because he was asking us to come to his Haiti [fundraiser], joking with us and acting like he was our best friend, and since this, he hasn’t looked our way. Maybe he feels bad. We’ll do it for Haiti but…”…Liezel Huber blogging: “I wish Venus and Serena [Williams] would play [Fed Cup] sometimes. It would be helpful for us. They are great girls and great ambassadors and we want them to play. Just play!”…Ivan Lendl will play an event for the first time in 16 years when he competes in the inaugural Caesars Tennis Classic on April 10 in Atlantic City against Mats Wilander. Andy Roddick and Marat Safin will also participate in the cash grab. Lendl last played competitively at the 1994 US Open, retiring afterwards with a bad back…Justine Henin has taken a wildcard into Indian Wells…From Reuters: “Kim Clijsters’ lookalike sports the same tennis kit, golden hair and blue racquet as the U.S. Open champion but her backhand is somewhat stiffer. That’s because she is a doll — the first Barbie to commemorate a female athlete, unveiled at the world’s largest toy fair in the German city of Nuremberg on Wednesday.”…Mark Philippoussis lost in the first round of the Dallas Challenger to No. 159-ranked Michael Yani. Would rather see ‘Age of Love 2,’ or Flipper on that The Journeyman DVD extra talking about banging Anna Kournikova.
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