Federer Does His Homework

Winning Wimbledon must be getting to be too easy for Roger Federer because he's thinking ahead.  He admitted to paying special attention to Andy Murray's matches.   "I have seen his matches here - and maybe have been following them a bit closer than others because I know I may play him in the Davis Cup, spying a little bit," said Federer. 

The Ever-Quotable Richard Williams

According to Richard Williams it isn't injuries, poor technique, or a raft of ouside interests that have caused the recent struggles of his daughters, but rather racism.  From the AP: Father of Venus and Serena sounds off

They've struggled, he says, because of criticism from fans and the media, who grew tired of watching them play in Grand Slam finals -- and think they've made tennis "boring."

When it was Steffi Graf or Chris Evert that won, or Monica Seles -- but when those two black girls came and beat up everyone, tennis was 'not exciting,' " he told The Associated Press on Thursday after watching Venus beat Maria Sharapova in the Wimbledon semifinals.

It Was the Coach's Fault

Mario Ancic and his coach Rohan Goetzke have parted ways, going with the old "Coach wanted to spend more time with his family" excuse.

And Joachim Johansson has split with his coach of six months, Fredrik Rosengren.  Johansson has been going backwards for about that long, so that one may be a good idea.

Rain Fun and Games

My kingdom for a roof! Just one stinkin' roof.  Four plus hours of rain delay that will soon be a quaint Wimbledon memory once they get the retractable roof Centre Court up, currently set for 2009 (optimistically).

But for now the whole Wimbledon crew - officials, players and fans alike - are remarkable adept at dealing with the raindrops.  Roger Federer pitched in by doing a full round of TV interviews so all the broadcasters could pass the time.  Billie Jean King pitched in by doing an interview from the stands that was broadcast over the PA system on Centre Court.  And Monica Seles pitched in by spontaneously joining the Billie Jean King interview. 

Edward Moss, who was actually hired to pull the tarp over the court, entertained the folks on Court 2 with his renditions of Gershwin's 'Summertime' and 'Danny Boy'.  (No word on whether he was any good or not)

And there was always shopping.  I just found out today that they actually sell the used tennis balls from Wimbledon to fans, and some people were lining up (sorry, queuing) for them.  Shouldn't they just give those away to kids?

Myself, I probably would have opted for watching Lleyton Hewitt and Todd Woodbridge practice together.  Word has it they were signing autographs afterwards.

Mauresmo...No, Davenport...No, Mauresmo...Davenport...?

I feel like either Lindsay Davenport or Amelie Mauresmo is about to fall off a cliff, but I don't know which one it will be.  What an awkward time to have to suspend a match.  But that's Wimbledon for you.  If you can't handle the odd schedules the rain forces on you, you don't deserve to win the thing.  I can't give either player rave reviews based on today's performance, but Mauresmo didn't totally choke like she usually does, and Davenport did manage to play her way into the match as it went on.

Just for absurdity's sake, I think I'll root for Mauresmo to drop serve and the match to end after just 4 points are played tomorrow.

Vintage Venus

Was that the same Venus Williams who looked so listless in losing to Sesil Karatantcheva at the French Open just a few short weeks ago?  It sure didn't look like it - more like she was channelling Venus of a few years ago in her glory days.  I have no idea where that performance came from, but I'm impressed. 

When Maria Sharapova lost to  Serena Williams at the Australian Open she had the match in her hands and blew it.  This time against Venus was different.  Venus was just too powerful and too solid.  No signs of the weak second serve or horribly spraying forehand that have afflicted her game so often recently. 

So it's back to the drawing board for Maria.  She looked shocked right after the match ended - as in "What brick wall did I just run into?"  But in her press conference she continued to show the uncommon maturity she generally displays (uncommon for an 18-year-old anyway).  She expressed a desire to get stronger, but other than that didn't seem devastated and just accepted that Venus had outplayed her.

So will it be two Americans in the final? 

WTA Tour Championship Moves to Madrid

The latest new location for the traveling tennis show called the WTA Tour Championships will be Madrid, Spain.  Tennis is certainly hot there at the moment (thank you Rafael Nadal and to a lesser extent this week Feliciano Lopez), but the Spanish women players have a much lower profile and won't be qualifying for the championships, so we'll have to see how this works out.  The tournament will be played there in 2006, but no decisions have been made yet about the following years.  So just in my memory that's New York, Munich, and Los Angeles that have hosted this thing.

The WTA Tour is spinning this as a chance to promote tennis around the world, not as a failure for the event to take hold in any of its recent new homes post-New York.  "As part of the Tour's strategy of showcasing the coveted season-ending event in key markets around the world, the Championships will take place next year at the Madrid Arena, a world-class venue that seats more than 10,000 spectators."  The full, ridiculously optimistic announcement is here. 

And the official reason for moving the tournament from Los Angeles?  Time zones.  "One of the key reasons for a move from Los Angeles to Europe was to broaden the media exposure," WTA chief executive officer Larry Scott said. "The time zones are difficult. Even the media on the East Coast of the U.S., as well as the whole of the European media, felt a bit shut out from the championships."

Sigh.  This is getting embarassing.

Sharapova

Good Maria Sharapova article in the New York Times this morning.  It reminded me that, in spite of the fact that Serena Williams' attention is usually everywhere but tennis and Maria Sharapova's primary focus is tennis, Maria is the highest earning female athlete.  Of course Serena is second so she's not doing too badly herself.

Veteran Conchita Martinez isn't too impressed by the current marketing trends in women's tennis though.  "What girls like Sharapova want to do is sell at any cost," Martínez said. "But I wouldn't do things that she does. I would not act that way. If they told me that I must play in a bikini top to sell, I wouldn't do it. I save my bikini wearing for the beach."

And we get confirmation that Robert Lansdorp is no longer working with Sharapova very actively, at least partly because he doesn't travel.  "I've seen her a total of a month since January," Lansdorp said. 

But he has sent along a student of his, former pro Michael Joyce, as Maria's hitting partner in his stead and speaks frequently with him by phone.  "I set up the deal for Maria; I wanted him to travel with her," said Lansdorp. "He took from me since he was 7, so he knows what is good. I like the way he plays, and the way he is."

And very soon we see if all of this is enough for a second Wimbledon title.

Hold Off on that Extra Day at the Grand Slams for a Moment

The Grand Slams forgot a basic rule of politics.  Never let the people know you don't care what they think - even if you don't.  Several female tennis players are not terribly pleased with the Grand Slams' plan to extend the tournaments for an extra day, mostly because nobody bothered to consult them.

From Reuters: Women hit out at grand slams' plans

The biggest names in women's tennis have launched a volley at grand slam organisers over plans to stretch their tournaments over 15 days instead of 14.

The extra day would be worth between $5 million and $10 million to each grand slam, an insider told Reuters, and players are angry the move is financially motivated rather than for their benefit.

Tennis in Vietnam

From Reuters: Better life in Vietnam lures more to courts

When asked to name Vietnam's best tennis player, local people playing the game introduced in the colonial era often ponder a while then say they cannot think of anyone.

Rising incomes in Vietnam, one of Southeast Asia's fastest growing economies, have drawn more people into the sport brought in by the French at the start of the 20th century and which rapidly became popular among the elite.