Random Tennis News
Two big events going on this week, Toronto (a Masters) for the Men, and Los Angeles for the Women, so I will have more to report on these results later in the week, for now here is an assortment of random links and tennis news:
- There has been no settlement reached beteween the Hamburg Masters Event and the ATP. Details can be read here. Obviously, Hamburg will not be happy unless the ATP keeps it as a Masters Event. There is no middle ground here, it will be very interesting to see how this plays out.
- Steffi Graf & Andre Agassi will no longer be major shareholders in a proposed luxury resort at Tamarack Mountain, in Idaho. They cited litigation and market reasons, however I think they want to focus more on the future tennis careers of children Jaden Gil & Jaz Elle.
- Argentine Juan Martin del Potro has officially arrived on the ATP scene. Sunday, he defeated hometown favorite Jurgen Melzter in Austria to win his second ATP singles title in as many weeks (after taking down Gasquet in the finals of Stuttgart the previous week. In doing so, he has seen his ranking go from 65th-25th.
- Latest mailbag from Wertheim, and Ad In/Ad Out feature.
- Both Venus Williams and Lindsay Davenport pulled out of LA this week, which I am sure sponsors loved to hear. There needs to be a stiffer penalty for pre-tournament withdrawls. Davenport has now pulled out of her last four events (some she tried playing, then defaulted). This affects tennis on the whole…sponsors see that and are not willing to pay as much for sponsorship the next year, fans see it and won’t show up the next year, and it doesn’t help the perception of tennis players being somewhat “soft” compared to other athletes.
- Nice piece on a promising, young Portugese female.
- Finally, what would a week in the tennis world be without some good ole fashioned gambling news.