More Drug Testing News

From most recent to not-so-recent:

• Karol Beck has reportedly tested positive for an unidentified banned substance after the Slovakian Davis Cup semifinal.

  "Karol Beck informed us he attended a hearing at the International Tennis Federation 10 days ago, and we are expecting a verdict within the next couple of days," said Igor Moska, general secretary of the Slovak Tennis Association.

• Younes El Aynaoui has reportedly tested positive for marijuana. No decision have been made.
• Alex Bogolomov, Jr. was suspended for a short time late last year, after testing positive for a drug as a result of a prescription asthma medication that was not listed on file.
• Mariano Puerta is awaiting the decision on his appeal against the 8 year ban he received.

  The 27-year-old tested positive for the banned stimulant etilefrine following last year's French Open final having previously served a nine-month ban after he failed a test for clenbuterol in February 2003.
  
  CAS are scheduled to give a verdict during the next four months.
  

• Sesil Karatancheva is appealing her 2 year ban. It appears that her defense is still that she was pregnant at the time of the tests, which has not been corroborated by the samples tested.

  The two-year ban was imposed by the International Tennis Federation after the Bulgarian twice tested positive for the steroid nandrolone last year.
  
  She failed the first test after she had lost to Russia's Elena Likhovtseva in the fourth round of the French Open at Roland Garros last year.
  
  A month later, Karatantcheva tested positive again for nandrolone in an out-of-competition test in Tokyo.
  
  Both tests were treated as a first offence for sanctioning purposes by an ITF tribunal which met last month [December] in London.

I think it is taking waaaay to long to inform the public about these test results, and I am curious as to why the French sports magazine seems to have the inside edge on getting the drug test news leaks. :)

Agassi Wins First 2006 Match; Wang Liqun Still Sucks

Delray Beach results so far:

Singles - First Round
(1)(WC)A Agassi (USA) d R Mello (BRA) 64 64
(WC)M Fish (USA) vs S Greul (GER)
J Gimelstob (USA) d D Udomchoke (THA) 64 64
(Q)T Widom (USA) vs (5)W Moodie (RSA)
(8)V Spadea (USA) vs Y Wang (TPE)
G Garcia-Lopez (ESP) d B Phau (GER) 61 64
(6)F Mayer (GER) d M Berrer (GER) 46 60 63
O Marach (AUT) d C Saulnier (FRA) 20 Ret.

Doubles - First Round
Pavel/Sabau d (WC)Clayton/Kendrick 64 62

Although unrelated, I was recently reminded how the Shanghai Tennis Masters Cup tournament directors and certain players freaked out over Agassi withdrawing after his first match loss. He was criticized for doing so:

"I don't appreciate what Agassi is doing. He made the announcement without telling anyone," said organising committee deputy director Wang Liqun. In 2000, when Agassi came for the Heineken Open, he took an early exit in the first round. "Two years later in the Masters Cup, after two defeats, he cited a hip injury and took off. This year it happened again."

Now, I certainly can understand that people would be disappointed to lose Agassi - but let's be realistic here. These statements (and others like them) are completely moronic. The implication is that Agassi doesn't care about the tournament, Agassi doesn't care about the fans, and the injury wasn't that serious, etc. Apparently, the injury was serious enough to keep Agassi out of the Australian Open! I also find it hard to criticize Agassi for not caring about the fans - while he couldn't spend time signing autographs like Nadal, I'm sure he did make the best decision for himself and I can't think of a single example where Agassi has been less than accomodating toward fans and the media - so I am a little bit baffled when Federer feels the need to speak up about the topic of players withdrawing:

"I think criticism is allowed at this point," said the world number one.

"I understand the big disappointment from the government, from the tournament and from the fans."

I sure hope that when/if Federer is playing the ATP tour at 35, he has some jackass like himself around.

Agassi's reaction:

"I certainly didn't appreciate how irresponsible (Wang) was," Agassi said. "It was very discouraging for me. I'm frustrated by the whole thing."

If only I had a Colbert Report-style "notice board". Wang Liqun, you are on notice!

Whine of the Week: Maria Sharapova

Maria Sharapova, thanks to her poorly thought out comments in her post-semifinal loss press conference, is getting picked on by the press. The comments that started the stories:

“Take your note pads, take your pencils, take your grunt-o-meters down, the fashion police, put everything away and just watch the match from the fans’ perspective. I know I’m going to be seeing headlines: ‘Maria can’t get past the semis’ and ‘Maria can’t finish it off in the third’ but take all that away and just look at the tennis that we both played.”

So this week, she was chosen as the Whine of the Week on MSNBC/NBCSports.com. Maybe she didn't expect this at the time, but everyone else saw it coming as soon as she vented any frustration. I think part of this is because she is played up as being so mentally tough. For her to start nit-picking about people not liking her tennis dress or her shrieking ("grunt" is too kind) immediately after a loss just makes her seem mentally weak (at least off the court). I also think she is an easy target because she hasn't delivered on any big wins since Wimbledon, has started saying that the tour schedule is too strenuous and doesn't really let the press into her head. Her statements above also seem to reflect her own insecurity and unhappiness with her tennis since that Wimbledon - as I didn't see much negative press about her play at all.

Our Whiner of the Week, Maria Sharapova, has yet to learn this simple truth. She won the first Grand Slam final she ever got to at the age of 17. That was in 2004. She hasn’t won a grand slam since, but last year she did manage to lose three semifinals.

It’s only natural that fans and media alike would begin to wonder whether all the money, fame and modeling contracts Sharapova picked up with the Wimbledon win have distracted her from her game. Given that she hasn’t been able to put away big matches, it’s also legitimate to ask whether she’s choked.

Most Hated Athlete (Tennis): Lleyton Hewitt

Coming in at #10 on GQ's most hated athletes list is our good buddy, Lleyton Hewitt.

To our minds, Lleyton Hewitt’s obsession with Rocky is reason enough to put the Aussie tennis star on the list (the dude fires himself up on the court by shouting, “C’mon, Rock!”), but it’s his race-baiting during the 2001 U.S. Open that really seals the deal. Serving in the third set against American James Blake, Hewitt was called for multiple foot faults by a black linesman. Incensed, he approached the chair umpire and, pointing first to the offending linesman and then to Blake, said, “Look at him and you tell me what the similarity is.” “It was a terrible act,” says tennis sage Bud Collins. “Everybody knew what he meant.”

“The thing is, he’s a big foot faulter,” adds former pro and current analyst Mary Carillo. “So the idea that all of a sudden, in the heat of a match, he’s getting called for it out of racial bias was ridiculous.

“He makes guys crazy,” Carillo adds. “They try hard to ignore him, but he’s always barking on the other side of the net.” In his 2005 Australian Open match against Argentine Juan Ignacio Chela, Hewitt so enraged Chela with his frenzied celebration of an unforced error that Chela fired a serve directly at him, then spat at him during a changeover.

“We all know how Lleyton is,” said another Argentine player, Guillermo Coria. “He can be the best player in the world, win every tournament, but I would not want to be like him.” Hewitt, Coria added, is disliked “by every other player on the international circuit.”

Hewitt isn’t even popular in his native Australia. He has been booed in his hometown, and after the incident with Chela, one Australian paper proclaimed, “Many regretted [the spit] did not find its target.”

Never mind how he constantly whines and thinks everyone is his enemy...

Toray Tournament Photo

TORAY PPO tennis 2006-1
Originally uploaded by HAMACHI!.

The Toray tounament in Tokyo is starting up - check out the location! Also, it looks pretty crowded, so I am guessing this is a popular event (maybe more so with Maria Sharapova?)This is the biggest WTA event in Asia.

Agassi, Haas Play Delray Beach (1/30 - 2/5)

Andre Agassi and Tommy Haas are both entered into the ATP Delray Beach tournament (Florida, US). Agassi sought a wildcard for this event after withdrawing from the Australian Open.

Other seeded players include Robby Ginepri, Xavier Malisse (previous winner), Wesley Moodie, Florian Meyer, Gilles Muller and Vince Spadea.

Andy Roddick reportedly wanted to play also, but the tournament director stated the following:

"Andy had informed us that he was considering playing in our qualifying tournament, as direct entries were closed and our wild cards had been distributed weeks in advance. However, he did not commit and after careful consideration following training today, Andy told us that he would not participate in the qualifying tournament. He instead will remain in South Florida and resume training for the upcoming Davis Cup tie. We were obviously looking forward to Andy's participation, we wish him good luck next week and we hope he will play next year."

WTA: Toray Pan Pacific Open Begins 1/31

Maria Sharapova will be defending her 2005 title here (and gets a bye in the first round). Visit the Official Website for more info.

Also playing: Samantha Stosur, Daniela Hantuchova, Martina Hingis, Maria Kirilenko, Elena Dementieva, Nicole Vaidisova, Anastasia Myskina, and Natalie Dechy, among others.

Davenport, S. Williams pull out of Tokyo Tournament

Jan 31 - Feb 5 is the Toray Pan Pacific Open Tennis Tournament (Tokyo, Japan). Both Davenport and Williams have withdrawn - Davenport for the AO ankle injury, and Serena for "more practice time":

"I feel like I need more practice time on the court in order to compete at the highest level," she said.

Sounds like a comeback attempt to me.

Ranking News

Interesting new rankings:

• WTA: Serena Williams is now at #39.
• WTA: Amelie Mauresmo is #2.
• WTA: Kim Clijsters is #1.
• WTA: Lindsay Davenport is #3.
• WTA: Venus Williams remains at #10.
• WTA: Martina Hingis jumped to #117 (from 232).
• ATP: Rafeal Nadal remains #2.
• ATP: Lleyton Hewitt is now #11.
• ATP: Marcos Baghdatis is #27.
• ATP: Marat Safin dropped to #50 due to his knee injury.

Lleyton "Whiner, not Winner" Hewitt Out of ATP Top Ten

Lleyton Hewitt will be ranked #11 starting this week. It is still believed that he won't be playing the upcoming Davis Cup match, due to his ankle injury. Thank you, Rebound Ace!

Federer Wins AO; Baghdatis Engaged?

Bud Collins is predicting Federer will win all four this year. I think that his biggest struggle will be in the French, as usual, assuming he stays healthy. This might be the toughest year to win all four yet, as I feel that the younger crowd of male players are finally starting to catch up to Federer's game. It would be great to see some new faces making breakthroughs this year.

The Australian gossip press is speculating that Baghdatis may be engaged to his 17-year-old model girlfriend from France. So far, I have not seen any other verification of these rumors.

Fans, meanwhile, are wondering if Baghdatis may have become engaged to his girlfriend, Camille Neviere. At the final she was sporting a diamond and sapphire ring.

Henin-Hardenne Loss News

Lots of different takes on Henin-Hardenne's retirement during the women's final.

Justine's agony clouds ecstasy

ANTI-INFLAMMATORY tablets for a sore shoulder robbed Justine Henin-Hardenne of any chance to win a second Australian Open singles crown in a controversial final yesterday.

Henin's defeat hard to stomach

Yet, 24 hours earlier, there was no hint that anything was amiss: "In the last two years, I never felt as good as now … when physically you're feeling well, when you're feeling healthy a 100 per cent, then mentally you're feeling stronger." Was this a bluff on Friday or did her stomach churn suddenly after a dose of anti-inflammatories on Friday? Generally, players default for two reasons. Either they are incapable of playing any further, or they make a judgement that by remaining on court, they run the risk of a more serious injury or ailment.

Justine's post-match interview

Bryans win AO mens doubles championship

Whoa, this was a great match between Bryan/Bryan and Paes/Damm - maybe more so in light of the crapfest the preceded it. I'll be the first to admit that I have not watched a lot of doubles tennis - but this was a lot of fun. Amazing shots, lots of intensity - even a head fake! A head fake! Luke Jensen was also very entertaining in his commentary - ESPN2 should make sure to bring him back (and to show more matches).

This is the first time in 3 AO finals that the Bryan brothers have won, and comes on the heels of their US Open win.

Does Baghdatis have a chance?

No, I don't think so - but I sure will be pulling for him anyway. Part of that is because I am tired of Federer, and part of that is because Baghdatis has an absolutely infectious attitude. Sure, Federer is a good guy - not too egotistical, fairly polite and honest...in other words...dull. Just plain boring. Baghdatis has the passion that many of the top players just don't have. Unlike players like Andy Roddick, he can come back from being down. Unlike Hewitt, he embraces his fans wholeheartedly, and seems to draw energy off of them. Best of all, he plays like he loves playing tennis. This can be chalked up to having a great and surprising run through the AO, and the burden of big expectations to weigh his performance down - but tennis needs more people like this.

We all know that no matter what happens, Baghdatis is a winner for at least this AO. I'd love to see him take this out of Federer's hands. If that doesn't happen, I hope to see him play a great match - the fans want it.

Baghdatis May Avoid Military Service

Marcos Baghdatis may find that one of the benefits of doing so well at the AO will allow him to play more tennis - he may be able to delay or avoid required military service altogether.

Mauresmo Wins at the AO Final

Amelie Mauresmo has won her first Grand Slam, as Justine Henin-Hardenne has retired (6-1,2-0), apparently with some sort of stomach issue.

I'm sure it won't make a huge difference to Amelie on how this ended, but I think there will still be some news about how she still hasn't had the full win experience, especially since the fans feel cheated out of a good match.

I find it really odd that this appears to be a repeat of Mauresmo's semi-final match. Henin-Hardenne just seemed mentally done, and didn't seem to put any more effort into this than Clijsters did.

Hewitt and Clijsters Share Injuries

Hewitt is also out due to injury, and will apaprently not be playing in the Davis Cup match vs. Switzerland in mid-February.

The BBC reports:

Hewitt has an ankle injury incurred during his second-round loss at the Australian Open and he has pulled out of Australia's team for the Feb. 10-12 matches on indoor clay at Geneva, Switzerland.

"Despite rest and rehabilitation over the past week, Lleyton's ankle has not sufficiently recovered for him to be able to take the court in preparation for the tie," said Hewitt's manager, Rob Aivatoglou. "Doctors have advised Lleyton that he risks further damaging the joint should he attempt to play in the short term."

This is good news, since the Swiss definitely don't have time to get a new surface for the courts there.

Kim Clijsters Takes 2

Two months of recovery time is what Kim Clijsters expects to need to recover from the ankle injury that caused her to retire during the AO semifinal match v. Mauresmo, as reported by the BBC.

"The scan showed a torn anterior ligament which means I'll be absent for at least eight weeks," she said.

"Normally it should take eight weeks for the tissue to heal before I can hope to return fully. It will be once again a complex recovery," she added.

"I can already rule out tournaments in the coming weeks."

Almost makes me feel bad for what I previously wrote...hmm...no, no, it doesn't.

Getting Kiefered

The Age has commented on the latest new move on the pro circuit court, including a nice photo:

In the 12th game of the final set of a titanic tussle lasting four hours, 48 minutes, Kiefer played an angled drop shot, and as Grosjean stretched for it the volcanic German tossed his racquet across the Frenchman's field of view.

Grosjean fluffed his stroke and as Kiefer feigned innocence, the Frenchman asked umpire Carlos Bernades to rule there had been a hindrance. When Bernades was unwilling to do this, Grosjean called for grand slam supervisor Mike Morrissey, who sided with the umpire. Grosjean then shouted at Morrissey, "Go away! Go over there!", gesturing with racquet in the direction of the tunnel.

The rules of the game state: "If a player is hindered in playing the point by a deliberate act of the opponent(s), the player shall win the point." On those grounds, Grosjean should have been awarded the point.

Replays of the incident are inconclusive on whether Grosjean saw the racquet before he failed to make his shot, and this, plus uncertainty from Bernades on whether Kiefer meant to throw his racquet, could have made the umpire reluctant to award the point to Grosjean.

Photo by Vince Caligiuri

Shocking News: ESPN Tennis Coverage Sucks

Why? No doubles coverage. As I write this, the women's doubles final is in progress, and ESPN2 is showing some celebrity "tournament". The reason? "Technical difficulties"... As in, technically, we at ESPN don't care about doubles tennis.

Sharapova Supports Electronic Line Calling

During the 3rd set of the Henin-Hardenne/Sharapova semifinal, there were two apparently bad calls that went against Sharapova. Because of the timing of these calls, Sharapova would have likely had a huge advantage in the match, as she would have been up 4-2 instead of down 2-4. Her interview comment on these calls:

I think it's definitely something that will help the players and it will make our game more exciting, yeah. I mean, especially in those situations, especially in these kind of matches.

I'm not blaming anyone. I'm not blaming the umpires. But, I mean, they're human, they make mistakes and so do we. But, yes, if there's a logical way of improving, you know, the choices they make, then, yeah, why not?

Once again, I am tired of the bad calls. While it is part of the game, I'd rather have error eliminated. Those calls were no Kiefer Meltdown, but enough to likely alter the outcome of the game.

Clijsters the Quitter

Poor Kim - in her semifinal match with Mauresmo, she bails in the third set (down a break) because she rolled over her ankle. After heavy taping from the trainer, she played for approximately 5 seconds before walking up to the net and giving Amelie Mauresmo a very awkward hug and retiring.

I'm not a Kim-hater in all this, but it was pretty obvious that she was much more mentally injured than physically in this match. She wasn't playing well, and the "hit anything and hope for the best" strategy she used with Hingis wasn't working.

To say the least, this was disappointing. I'm not about to heap praise on her for playing through the injuries and problems with her hip and back. While it is perfectly within her rights to retire, she showed everyone that she didn't have the game to go to the finals, mentally or physically. Combining this with her statements about quitting tennis at 2007, I think Kim has finally started to get rid of the "nice girl" image that plagues tournament commentary - and revealed herself to be a quitter.

Photo by Getty Images.

Sharapova and Roddick Visit Melbourne Pet Store

ESPN Hollywood has reported that Maria Sharapova and Andy Roddick visited a Melbourne, Australia pet store the day after Roddick's loss to Marcos Baghdatis. I can only assume she was seeking advice on which muzzle to select in order to satisfy the public's desire to have her shut the hell up.

Mauresmo makes the semifinals

The testosterone-oozing Mauresmo makes it through in a total snoozefest. Despite the top seeds for the women making it through to the quarters, the tennis itself has really sucked overall.

Kiefer brings his sweaty shorts to the semis

Commentator Mary Carillo must be rocking herself into a stupor in a corner, because Kiefer has beaten Grosjean to go to the men's AO semifinal. For some reason, his sweaty shorts just really chap her ass (figuratively). Let's hope he doesn't throw on a Hrbaty shirt and scare us all. *rock* *rock* *rock*

Photo by Jonathan Fickies/usopen.org

Australian Open Horrible Call #1,850,567...

Kiefer v. Grosjean, 5th set

Kiefer throwing his racquet during a point was absolutely ridiculous. He appears in the replay to deliberately throw his racquet across the net while Grosjean was making a play on the ball - which is super lame, and shows a lot about the desperation of this guy. Grosjean's argument, since it was decided he lost the point, that the racquet was a distraction seems perfectly valid - yet BS like this continues to go on at Grand Slams. I cannot figure out what the chair umpires are doing out there - I am totally in favor of stripping these imbeciles of their power as soon as possible. Too many good matches get ruined by consistently bad calls.

I'm with Brad Gilbert on this one. Terrible call!

Photo by Getty Images.

Shut the hell up!

From www.tennis-x.com, the quote of the day:

John Newcombe telling Fox Sports that Maria Sharapova needs to shut the hell up with the shriek-grunting: "I think it's illegal. If I was playing against someone who was doing it all the time, I would ask for the referee and say the player has to stop. They're deliberately obstructing me from hearing the ball come off the strings. It's actually what I consider legalized cheating because one of your great senses that you have on the tennis court is your ability to hear the ball come off your opponent's strings."

I say forget reasoning, she just needs to shut it, period.

Photo by Getty Images.

Haas Has Balls

For some reason, a few people have their panties in a bunch over the recent comments about Federer from Tommy Haas at the Australian Open. From the transcript:

Everybody is, you know, talking about him being maybe the greatest ever. He still has to do a couple of things, I think, in my mind to be that, you know. If you ask Jim Courier, I mean, that guy has his tongue up his ass I think, you know, the whole time when you actually listen to him commentating or listen to him talk about Roger Federer. Sometimes makes me sick almost.
I love Jim Courier, but it's unbelievable. Maybe in six years I'm going to shake Jim's hand and say, "Listen, you're right." Maybe this guy wins 15 Grand Slams. Who knows. This guy right now is pretty much the man to beat. If somebody can do it this week, great.

Apparently, some people find this disrespectful. While I'll readily admit that I do not belong to the Jim Courier generation, I think that this is exactly what tennis needs. It seems like everyone from tennis organizations to television commentators are constantly bemoaning the fact that tennis doesn't have hordes of young fans - as if it is surprising that young fans would be turned off by the "respect your elders" attitude. It is comments like this that make the players seem much more interesting.

Plus, I am sick of hearing about the Federer legend.

Update: Courier later felt the need to respond.

Photos from Tennis Fans

A good (but small) group that has posted their photos from various tennis events:
http://www.flickr.com/groups/lovetennis/