Serena Drops, Federer Drops Knowledge; X-Notes
TENNIS-X NEWS, NOTES, QUOTES AND BARBS
Serena Williams dropped to No. 175 on the WTA tour rankings after her early Wimbledon loss…Bernard Tomic climbed to No. 71 after Wimbledon, making him the top Aussie over Lleyton Hewitt.
ADHEREL
So the U.S. Wimbledon weekend broadcast rights are going from NBC to ESPN? Who cares? As long as it’s not Food Network or Versus…Lindsay Davenport was going to play World TeamTennis while pregnant, but had to pull out of the season when told by her doctor not to play…Novak Djokovic partied like it was 1899 after winning Wimbledon — doing traditional Serbian folk dances in Belgrade square to traditional Serbian songs amidst fireworks and flares — albeit with 100,000 fans showing up, and throw in rock bands and strange signs by Serbian tennis fans taunting Rafael Nadal for his loss. One sign reportedly said, ‘What’s wrong Rafa, can’t win with a stress fracture in your foot, you pussy?’ — Actually we made that one up. “The time has come to bare all my emotions to you and all I can say is that you are the best in the world because only Serbian fans can throw a party like this,” Djokovic did say. “We have a soul that is second to none and with the team event coming up, I can promise you we will do everything in our power to win it all again.”…Best headline: “Federer Says Djokovic Deserves No. 1 Ranking”. In other news, ‘Federer Says Sky is Blue’…From NorthJersey.com columnist Nancy Rubenstein: “Not only has pro tennis failed to advance American players, it seems to have an odd insensitivity to play dates, with the men’s final in New York being set for 9-11-11 — on the precise ten year anniversary of the fateful fall of New York’s Twin Towers — a devastating date in our history. Who makes these decisions?..Tennis players stand their ground alone with no half-time breaks of 15-30 minutes. They can be on a very hot court as long as five hours. There’s no sheltered dugout, no locker room retreat. Maybe I’ve answered my own question about why there is a diminishing number of American pro tennis players.” — Thanks for the once-a-year tennis column Nancy, and yes, tennis players do have a shaded area on changeovers, and a locker room they can retreat to…Novak Djokovic was 48-1 after winning Wimbledon, approaching John McEnroe’s 52-1 start from 1984…Lleyton Hewitt will only play doubles against China this weekend in Davis Cup play as Bernard Tomic and rookie Marinko Matosevic handle the singles duties for Australia…Former Davis Cup captain David Lloyd says Andy Murray needs to shave and tidy-up when he makes on-court appearances, to which the British No. 1 replied: “I don’t think it makes any difference, guys like [Bjorn] Borg didn’t shave for weeks and months until they lost…He’s entitled to whatever his opinion is, but I think he should stick to what he does best and that’s building leisure clubs. It doesn’t make a difference, it’s whoever works the hardest, whoever plays the best wins the matches and that’s all that’s important.”…Former world No. 1 American (pre-Open Era) Dennis Ralston had one of his legs amputated below the knee last year, due to infection complications after a surgery…Canada is screwed in their Davis Cup zonal tie with Ecuador as both Milos Raonic and Frank Dancevic are out with injuries…Andy Murray opens in Davis Cup this weekend against Luxembourg’s Laurent Bram, a now-teaching pro who retired from the tour four years ago and does not have an ATP ranking.
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