Wednesday, February 6
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AMERICAN PRESS
Criticized Star Won’t Play in India - New York Times
Demonstrating her maturity, as well grit, Harkleroad, 22, played the big points better on her way to an entertaining 6-4, 7-5 victory.“No, I wasn't expecting to do that,” said Harkleroad of her spotless 2-0 record and clinching role. “I think a lot of people expected Lindsay to come in here and blow everybody off the court.”
So when a fan brought an oversized U.S. flag down to the players after the match, it was Harkleroad who jogged around the court waving Old Glory, her teammates trailing far behind. “I wanted everybody to come with me,” Harkleroad said, “but they left me.”
...Lisicki, who won her first WTA main-draw matches last month at the Australian Open, admitted she must use better discretion about when to fire away and when to keep the ball in play. “I'm young, so I still have to learn when to play what shots,” she said. “In ITF tournaments (tennis' minor leagues) I could just go for my shots and the girls wouldn't get them.”
Lepchenko, who grew up in Uzbekistan, is in the process of gaining citizenship to the United States. She now makes her home in Allentown, Pa."I think it will take a few more years to (officially) become a U.S. citizen," she said. "I'm really looking forward to it because I don't have really any other country to go to. I'm excited."
Lepchenko's father came up with the idea for her to apply for U.S. citizenship. "We just had a hard time living in Uzbekistan," she said. "It was so difficult for us financially. To go anywhere and play in tournaments, it was such a long way. He just saw an opportunity to come over here and stay.
"The whole atmosphere in the United States really helped me improve my game."
...Schultz-McCarthy was supposed to play Fed Cup for the Netherlands this weekend, but opted not to compete."I skipped Fed Cup to be here in Midland," Schultz-McCarthy said. "Our Fed Cup would have been in Hungary. I would have had to fly from Hungary to Midland. I would have had jetlag."
Tennis legend Jim Courier and Surprise officials will announce a multi-million dollar sponsorship deal tomorrow for the Outback Champion Tennis Series to be played in November....Under the terms of the contract, Surprise will cover operating costs related to the event, projected at $750,000 annually. That includes a temporary stadium that seats 5,000, appearance fees, prize money, player travel, accommodations and all other costs related to the event.
INTERNATIONAL PRESS
It could be interpreted as emerging out of a fit of pique, but she should be allowed the freedom to choose to play in an atmosphere in which public controversy and court cases will not impede her career as a tennis player.
Globosport, led by her mixed doubles partner Mahesh Bhupathi, is at loggerheads with the Karnataka State Lawn Tennis Association (KSLTA) after being shown the door from the prestigious WTA Tour event... “I think as an emerging player, Sania needs expert advice. All I can say is that she is not getting quality advice,” KSLTA secretary Sundar Raju told The Telegraph. Globosport and KSLTA have been at loggerheads for two years now on who should conduct the Bangalore Open. “In the first edition, Globosport organised the event on behalf of KSLTA. We found them wanting in many areas. They failed to deliver. So we decided to manage it on our own,” Raju said... “I don’t really think Mahesh has given her good advice. As an emerging player she needs to listen to the right people,” he said.When contacted, Globosport’s representative said Raju was entitled to his opinion (on the wrong advice issue) but Sania had very valid reasons for opting out of playing in India. “Sania opted out because of the controversies and not because it was not a Mahesh Bhupathi tournament,” the spokesperson said.
Wires
Israel's most senior sports administrator criticised tennis player Shahar Peer of 'unsporting conduct' for encouraging the crowd to put off opponents during last weekend's Fed Cup tie against Russia....Gilady told Reuters he had sent a letter of apology for the crowd's behaviour to Russian Fed Cup captain Shamil Tarpishchev, who is also an IOC member.
The Israel Tennis Association said in a statement that it did not accept Gilady's criticism of Peer, although it asked spectators to behave in an acceptable manner.
..."The crowd that came last weekend and those who will be here next weekend I think will be quite different. Next week the real tennis crowd will come," Erlich told reporters on Tuesday.
The Austrians are hoping the slow play will neutralize American stars Andy Roddick and James Blake."That will be a big advantage to us," Jurgen Melzer said Tuesday. "We also picked slow balls so we will see many rallies. Andy Roddick and James Blake don't like that, they want to put balls away as soon as possible."
The best-of-five series starts with singles matches Friday at Ferry-Dusika Stadium. A loud crowd of about 6,500 fans await the Americans this weekend.
Paes was a little hesitant to react to Sania's Monday's bombshell that she is pulling out of next month's Women's Tennis Tour (WTA) Tier II event, but chose his words carefully to say that no celebrity in the world can evade controversies."I don't want to comment on this. I am least bothered about it, but at the end of the day who doesn't have controversies? It's not only with tennis players, cricketers, film stars all have controversies in their lives," Paes told reporters at the end of Indian Davis Cup team's practice session at the National Sports Club of India (NSCI) here.
"We all had to face adversities in our careers. It's about how you handle them, it's about how you project yourself and it's about how dignified and honest you are. Sania has to be very careful about all these," he said.
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A pattern has been emerging over the past few years, and it suggests that Rafa isn't as well designed to compete in an 11-month season as in a six- month one. Throw in Rafa's increasingly frequent struggle with injury and the case becomes even more persuasive. The long year presents special problems for a player whose game is nothing if not "effortful" and whose zest for combat denies him the use of cruise control....TMF is a problem-solver; Rafa is a problem-attacker.
That suggestion may ring true for those of you who are familiar with all those studies about how little boys tend to try to break through walls while little girls are more likely to navigate around them. Nadal's greatest strength, as well has his most outstanding weakness, is his boyishness. This is a lingering condition that all but defines him to many of us. It is why so many people love him, and why disliking him has always seemed to me a little like disliking a kid brother.
ESPN, which has televised Indian Wells, Miami and Tennis Masters Cup for several years, did not renew its rights for those tournaments this year... "We're doing these two events and the Shanghai event," FSN Vice President of Programming David Sussin told Tennis Week. "These are three very important tournaments in the tennis calendar and we're really very excited to televise them. The ATP came to us and it fit in really well between our college basketball coverage so we're looking forward to it and we're both excited to try this and see how it works."FSN has not yet decided on its commentary team for the three tournaments. FSN is planning on televising 34 hours of Indian Wells coverage (30 hours live and 4 hours on tape delay though the live coverage can vary depending upon which regional FSN network you receive), including the men's and women's finals on Sunday, March 23. FSN is scheduled to televise the women's final from 3-5 p.m. Eastern and the men's final from 5-7 p.m. Eastern on March 23.
The network change represents a distinct departure for all three tournaments, which were mainstays on ESPN or ESPN2 for years.
A year ago, the Sony Ericsson Open in Miami boasted more than 97 hours of domestic coverage — the most in tournament history — on ESPN2, Tennis Channel and CBS, which televised the men's and women's finals live from Key Biscayne's Crandon Park. While there was speculation Tennis Channel could make a late bid to share the rights as of now FSN will televise Indian Wells and Miami with CBS continuing to televise the Miami finals.
Horna clearly sees the economic prosperity from which he benefits as a good omen for the tie against Spain. Certainly, Peru’s chances in Lima this week have been enhanced by the fact that Spain’s top three players in the rankings are all unavailable. Two weeks ago, when Rafael Nadal and David Ferrer were due to be the main stars of the Spanish squad, Peru’s chances of defeating the 2000 and 2004 champions seemed really slim. Even then though, Horna always thought that winning was not impossible: “I think that we can win, otherwise I wouldn’t play,” he said.Now, with Nadal and Juan Carlos Ferrero deciding not to travel, and David Ferrer suffering from an Achilles tendon problem, things look a little different, even if Spain will still be headed by Tommy Robredo, the world No 18. “Now, they have less potential, but are still big favourites,” said Yzaga, whose team relies on Horna at 120 in the rankings, Iván Miranda (292) as second singles player, and the inexperienced Matías Silva (653) and Mauricio Echazú (1128).
...Does Peru still need a miracle to win? Maybe not that much. But with some business commentators saying the country is right now living through an ‘economical miracle’, why couldn’t tennis also play its part?
BRITISH PRESS
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