WTA – Savannahs World

Let’s Face It: Women Are Too Dumb To Play Tennis

By Savannah

Billie Jean? Chrissy? Original Martina and New Jack Martina? Gabriela? Kim? Arantxa? Girls you were doing it all wrong. Venus? Serena? Y’all did it wrong too. Instead of focusing on figuring out what your opponent was doing and using a weapon from your existing arsenal or trying out something new just to see if it works you, all of you, should’ve just stood in the middle of the court, pouted, and imperiously signaled for your coach to come down and tell you what to do. I mean why take all of the responsibility for winning a match on yourself. Hell, why even practice so hard on shots or get in shape to be able to play long matches? The solution was always there right in front of your faces and you refused to use it. I mean even today, when top players summon their coaches down to listen to them whine and cry some of you don’t even use on court coaching foolishly insisting that you’re smart enough to figure shit out for yourself.

(I left out Justine because, well, Carlos Rodriguez).

With its announcement that now coaches can simply coach from the stands (although how those players who just want someone to whine or cry or scream at will be able to function I don’t know) the WTA has declared that the women who play professional tennis are now simply too dumb to do what was done by women tennis players in the recent past. The WTA Player’s council has been totally silent, and the trial period will begin in February. Wanna bet the trial will be in effect for Indian Wells and Miami? I mean how can the poor things play those events without continuous coaching and hand holding. Maybe they’ll replace sideline seats with fainting couches for WTA players. Those things are a bit heavy unless they craft some out of rattan so the players who get the vapors can recover in comfort.

Meanwhile the ATP players will continue to heap scorn on the concept of equal pay for women and gleefully point at the fainting couches along the sidelines. Can you blame them? The days of figuring it out for yourself are apparently over. The time of the celebrity coach is here. Victor Krason impatiently waiting to be summoned by his daughter set the standard all celebrity coaches must follow. Now they’ll all be chomping at the bit to run down and console their charges. The new standard bearer, Ivan Bencic who sits patiently while his daughter berates him is another one who deserves mention.

Maybe a few players should storm a presser with a sign “We’re not stupid”? I don’t know. The reaction of most fans has been negative but Steve Simon et al don’t care. Their disdain for the women athletes they supposedly exist to do the best for shows with every diminution of individuality and erasure of the ability, or need for a player to have to think for herself.

I wonder who will be accepting the winning trophies?

The Sharapova Debacle

By Savannah

And here we are.

What is tennis to do?

There can and will be no do overs.

If they had done what should’ve been done as soon as Maria Sharapova tested positive for a banned substance and admitted that she’d used it for ten years – the amount of time drug tests are kept by the way – she should not only have been hit with a shot ban, she should’ve been stripped of her titles including her precious Slams – five of them – and treated like a pariah, just like any other sports doper would’ve been.

And what about her return? After a year and a half away she was greeted by tennis world as if she’d come back from an injury. Indignant demands were made for her to be given Wild Cards into the majors and top tournaments. Commentators in the United States pretended that the ban hadn’t even happened (they’re still at it by the way)and fans were supposed to pretend her confession of doping for ten years was just a dream, that despite doping for ten years she was going to come back and prove all the “haters’ wrong.

Except those that were labelled “haters” have been proven right.

Let’s look at (very) recent history.

She was supposed to play in Hawaii but pulled out due to “unforeseen circumstances.”

Then there was this quote from new coach Ricardo Piatti.

Piatti:”Next year, I will help Maria… We’ve been working a lot over the last few months and Maria has now healed her injuries. She’s fine and she’s ready to attack again. We focused mainly on the technique to rejoin the puzzle, including through video analysis.”

(There is another player mentioned in the original Tweet but there is no need to mention him here)

https://twitter.com/SpacePova/status/1193795077300269058?s=20

Then there was the comment she made when some asked if she should be given a WC into the main draw at Melbourne that was posted by the WTA Insider on Twitter:

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This was her attitude after losing in Brisbane, a WTA Premier level Australian Open warm up event where she was gifted a Wild Card and lost to Jennifer Brady, a US qualifier, in the first round.

In the end this, I think, is what sticks in the craw of those who supported Sharapova. “She didn’t need to dope,” they said. “It’s nothing more than aspirin,” they said. “You’ll see. She will return to her glory days,” they said, ignoring the fact that those glory days happened while she was doping. Didn’t her “doctor” tell her to take more on days of important matches?

Other players who have suffered similar suspensions have quietly come back to the tour and tried to work their way up to their previous ranking level. Apparently that was not an option here.

In the end, today, none of that noise/PR matters. After Tuesday’s loss in Melbourne she’s now ranked around #375 in the world. How will those big endorsements hold up now?

A thought should also be spared for the fans who believed the hype, who refused to accept that their idol, the woman they admired the most in tennis, was only a champion because of a medication she was taking, a medication that she hid from all on her team including her physio while she asked WADA if taking a Vitamin C supplement was okay.

They’ve been let down, and while they will still argue the substance wasn’t illegal until it was banned (which is an odd argument because she continued to take it after the ban went into effect) in the end they were not only let down but purposely deceived. For what?

And what about the Hall of Fame?

Normally anyone who has won five Slams is guaranteed entry. Since it’s now pretty much a given that she won those Slams while taking a banned substance will her apologists still push for her to be included when she’s eligible? Think of the optics. A player who won multiple Slams while doping, is lauded as one of the greatest ever in the sport. This is why I said from the beginning that she should be stripped of all her titles. Tennis has now put itself into the position that if some have their way, a drug offender, a doper, could possibly be installed in the Hall of Fame. Hell of an “own goal”.

Tennis didn’t have to be in this position. It could’ve, and should’ve, done the right thing from the beginning. Of course she can miraculously stage a come back and my opinion will be made moot. Anything is possible. Right now though it seems as the chances of that are slim and none.

Is the WTA Unmarketable?

by Savannah

The ATP Cup announced itself with a splashy new web site, attention grabbing graphics, details of where each round will be played, and how many points will be won. Lost in all of this is the WTA. Once again the sport that boasts the highest paid female athletes in the world is going begging, asking the ATP to be added to its controversial new plan for men’s tennis beginning January 2020.

I am going to repeat myself. Again. for the 99th time. The WTA doesn’t know anything about marketing. It knows nothing about technology. When it does make decisions they tend to be disastrous.

Let’s go down the list, starting with disastrous decisions.

Back in the day the ATP started out with a product it called “Masters TV”. It featured coverage of all of their Masters Series Events no matter where in the world they were held. It was a success, and instead of Masters TV it became ATP TV giving coverage to all of men’s tennis except for the Slams.

The WTA rightly wanted in. The platform was stable, the number of fans willing to pay for access to the service on then nascent streaming devices showed steady, solid growth, and it was a way to expose tennis fans who might not ever watch a women’s match to the brand of tennis played by some of the best female athletes in the world. Why would anyone in his/her right mind blow up such a sweet deal? The ATP had already done all of the heavy lifting by buying the best technology it could find and paying the best people to run it. All the WTA had to do was hitch a ride and enjoy the benefits of wider exposure.

Instead, when the ATP part of Tennis TV – the name the joint platform went by – made improvemtns that of course would cost money the WTA did a Viola Davis, picking up its bag, rolling its eyes and leaving. “We’re going to create our own service – WTA TV. It’s going to be just as good if not better than TennisTV. ”

We all know how that turned out. You get what you pay for. Everyone knows that age old adage. The other reality the WTA faced was finding out cheap is expensive.

Let’s be brutally frank. Not only did WTA TV debut months after it was supposed to making it more difficult to see women’s tennis until it did but when it finally debuted it was of such inferior quality even those willing to give WTA management the benefit of the doubt were left speechless, unable to defend or understand the WTA walking away from what was working without a plan in place to present fans your product.

Technology savvy? A visit to the WTA website will show you how little the folks in charge know, or care to know, about creating a digital one stop shopping location for fans and would be fans.

It’s easy to say something will fail. It’s harder to pinpoint when and where that failure will occur. I’m thinking about former WTA CEO Stacey Allaster’s decision to chase the emerging markets in Asia. The move was sold as cutting edge, as getting ahead of the curve, as creating a market that would see billions of fans flocking to see the women of the WTA play tennis. Anyone who couldn’t see this as the most logical move for women’s tennis simply lacked vision.

And here we are. The sponsorships for the events was not corporation based but government based. The WTA couldn’t get that kind of a deal in Europe or the States. I’m not sure South America was ever in play. With national government backing Allaster argued funding would be stable and the tournaments would make money.

There was just one problem. The huge Asian market didn’t take naturally to tennis. There was no history of tennis other than as an elite, colonialist pass time. The rage was and still is table tennis. So after all the work it took to set up events that would hopefully attract top players and hordes of fans outside of Japan, which has had a strong tennis culture for years, the new stadiums the women play in are empty except for staff and maybe their families.

And as for the stability Allaster saw in aligning the WTA with governments political unrest in Hong Kong has just forced the cancellation of the tournament that was to take place there, and put the YEC in Shenzen – a twenty minute trip to Hong Kong – in jeopardy as well.

What now? Who knows? Allaster couldn’t have foreseen the unrest now taking place in Hong Kong but there were lots of fans asking that the YEC be brought back to Europe once the previous contract expired. The time difference wouldn’t be as severe and there was a likelihood that the already established fan base would turn out in droves. The draw of Shenzen was that it was so close to Hong Kong and its shopping. The WTA signed a ten year agreement. I have no idea what will happen going forward.

Back to the ATP Cup. After the WTA blew the ATP off in the WTA TV disaster I can understand why the ATP isn’t looking to partner with the WTA again in any shape, form or fashion. What do they say – once burned twice shy? I’d leave Steve Simon to his own devices too. Create your own new January tournament structure I’d tell him. We tried working with you and it didn’t work.

Women’s tennis is not unmarketable. What it needs is people with vision, people who understands how to market women other than as cute blonde girls in skimpy outfit and long pony tails. People who understand and appreciate the hard work the women put in so that they can play at a professional level. People who understand what a modern day sport needs to do to create a website both new and old fans enjoy visiting. To get the best you have to pay for the best. Your nephew fresh out of college who needs a good reference on his CV can’t do what a seasoned, professional marketing person can do.

I’m old enough to know never say never. That said, I do hope women’s tennis is rescued by people who not only love it but are willing to work hard to make it a success not by always being the one storming out of the party and then wanting back in but the one who storms out and creates their own unique thing equal to the best out there. It can be done.

Chasing Unicorns

by Savannah

Am i disappointed? Yes I am.

Am I discouraged? No

I don’t like it that Serena Williams is chasing a fantasy created by women’s tennis all to deny her the honor of being the woman who has won the most Grand Slam titles in the open era.

There was no mention of Margaret Court until Serena overtook and passed Steffi Graf.

There was no mention of Margaret Court during the Chris Evert era or any other era that featured dominant women players.

Court’s name appeared out of nowhere once the title of Greatest Ever of the Open Era was in the hands of a woman tennis has long wished would go away so they could crown someone – anyone else as the next big star. It doesn’t matter what race you are either. It was tried with Eugenie Bouchard. It was tried with Sloane Stephens. They’re trying it now with a fifteen year old girl. As long as you can be used as a tool to bludgeon the only true superstar of women’s tennis (other than her sister) it doesn’t matter who or what you are.

Were ratings high? Of course they were. There are legions of people who only know the name Williams when it comes to tennis. It was a Saturday afternoon and many of these casual viewers were home. That is never mentioned when ratings go through the roof when either Serena or Venus Williams are playing.

When all is said and done Serena lost yesterday. I’m sure she’s angry with herself so there’s no need to go into woulda, coulda, shoulda about how she played and the possible reasons she played the way she did. Now is the time to remain positive and know that somehow Serena Jameka Williams Ohanian will find a way to achieve her goal even if it is in the end chasing after a lie.

Shhh! Double Standards At Work

by Savannah

Thank Goodness for Tennis Twitter.

If it didn’t exist some of what happened Friday night/Saturday morning wouldn’t have gotten out to those of us who don’t have media access. What am I talking about? I’m talking about Stan Wawrinka, a media favorite, throwing his racquet at a lines person then turning to the chair and asking if he was going to be given a violation. The first report I read said that he hadn’t been given a code violation. I asked about it but of course I don’t rate so I never got a clear answer.

Then there was the spectacle of Daniil Medvedev losing his shit for reasons that involve the chair umpire. In a very short period of time he did the following:

Flipped off the chair umpire
Threw his racquet at the chair umpire
Snatched a towel from and berated one of the long serving ball people

At the start of the tournament the USTA said that chair umpires and other officials were going to strictly enforce the rules and that no infraction would go by the wayside. They should have said that no infractions committed by some people will be ignored.

If you were waiting for tennis media to cover this as anything other than “boys will be boys” you’ll be waiting a long time. Medvedev’s behavior was waved off by who other than John McEnroe. Some fans laughingly compared his antics to what used to happen in the WWF back in the day. It was left to fans to post video of what happened. To my knowledge no one has given an official reason as to why it’s a code violation for a player not to see his/her coach coaching motions but it’s okay to flip off the chair if he doesn’t see it happen live.

Then again, Sorana Cirstea physically assaulted a chair umpire earlier this year and has suffered no consequences so why should I be surprised? The so called journalists who cover tennis act as if that didn’t happen so why should there be surprise that last nights events are being ignored?

If you want to see video or screen captures of what happened with Medvedev check out @whitelinefervor and @RafalutionXVIII.

I didn’t forget the ATP #1 threatening “to find” a fan after the fan said he thought he was pulling out of the tournament. The question was legitimate since posts had been made on Twitter not only by fans but by broadcasters implying just that. A top player threatening a fan? Oh wait it didn’t happen on court in the heat of battle so it’s nothing to get excited about.

And while the happy talk goes on about a 15 year old girl remember that Anna Kournikova, also a 15 year old phenom, retired at 21 with severe back issues.

While you’re at it also give a good side eye to all of those people raving about Taylor Townsend. The same people were snickering about her behind her back five minutes ago.

While doing all of that, remember that if it wasn’t for tennis fans on Tennis Twitter half of the stuff that’s public about the sport would still be a deep dark secret.

2019 US Open – Thoughts On Round 1

by Savannah

It’s been a while hasn’t it? I meant to post something after the Golden Swing. I meant to post something after the Spring Hard Court season. The European clay season came and went along with its Slam, Roland Garros. There was the grass court season. There’s been a lot of stuff going on behind the scenes in both tours. Be that as it may the inspiration to write again came after the completion of first round play at the US Open.

I’ve been commenting a lot on Twitter but that doesn’t really take the place of a blog post does it?

One of the reasons I haven’t done a blog post in some time is because I felt I would be repeating myself. A lot of the things I posted about back when this blog was on Blogspot are still true today. Instead of beating dead horses I continued to watched tennis and post on Twitter. That threading feature is great by the way.

Enough of that. Here are some things on my mind.

Next Gen ATP players have no clue how to play five set matches. It makes sense now that there have been so many calls for making all matches, including majors, three set affairs. The young men can’t hold themselves together mentally let alone physically for five sets. Instead of forcing them to get up to the proper level tennis response is to try and make it easier for them. Someone making it easier for them is what they’ve become used to. Instead of an extra hour in the gym when they’re playing some video game. Those guys at the top all they know is tennis. We need lives away from tennis but we want the big shiny trophies and adulation.

A few years ago I wrote about Juniors being treated as superstars before they’ve won anything. When reality hits, that the main tour requires hours of work in the gym, more hours watching tapes, managing your diet, many opt for the success of the Challenger or ITF circuit. Win enough and you can make six figures without all that other work that takes up so much time. Qualify for a major four times a year and with the amount of money paid for a first or second round win you’ll do okay.

This is not every up and comer. It’s not every junior. But every day we see tantrums on court we didn’t see before. They stop short of rolling on the ground kicking and screaming but they come close. Emotional maturity is lacking. Mental maturity is lacking. Too much is being asked of these young people too soon.

The men have to learn how to pace themselves for a five set match. They have to learn how to adapt to the shifts and changes, the ebb and flow of a match. Throwing a tantrum when it becomes obvious that a match is going to require more mental and physical output is just childish. Just like you have to learn to play a tie break you have to learn how to play a five setter. I have a feeling that when the icons retire we’re going to see three set majors and that would be a tragedy for the sport.

The WTA has a Player’s Council. I mean I knew Venus Williams was a spokesperson and all, that she is much admired in tennis circles but it seems the work she did – equal pay at Majors for example, while appreciated by the younger generation wasn’t enough. She was kicked off of the council along with Victoria Azarenka. These two were replaced by – wait for it – Sloane Stephens and Madison Keys. I’ll give you a moment to take that in. Sloane Stephens who has never had a thought for anyone or anything that doesn’t directly affect her vision of herself and her role in life, and Madison Keys who other than saying she doesn’t identify as Black has never said anything of importance regarding how she makes her money that I’m aware of. These two will now be the players facing ownership about the future of women’s tennis. With both being US players I have a feeling that Steve Simon will have his way and that women’s tennis as we know it will be on the road to being sports entertainment, a catastrophe for women’s sports, and not just tennis.

As for all the turmoil surrounding the ATP and its player association the fact that Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal are back on the council after years away is all you need to know.

One of the things I said a while back was that women’s tennis was becoming bland, that all of the up and comers looked the same and played in the same sort of bland boring way. I can add now that many are thin but are not fit. There are exceptions. I noticed the definition in Simona Halep‘s shoulders and arms and was glad to see it. The same with Maria Sakkari and Aryna Sabalenka. Angelique Kerber has also worked hard to get the upper body strength needed to play long rallies not to mention long matches. These women are athletes. There’s nothing wrong with looking like what they are.

I’m very excited by what I’ve seen and heard of Hailey Baptiste out of the DC area. I got my first chance to watch her play during the Washington DC tournament, a US Open warm up event. She’s 17 years old and looks to be maturing into a formidable player. She’s playing Mixed Doubles in New York and I assume she’ll be in the Junior Tournament. I like that a lot. It looks as if they’re easing her into the main tour not throwing her in head first. The only other player I’ve seen take that route recently is Felix Auger-Aliassime from Canada. I like the way his career has been managed so far. To my knowledge no rules have been broken and no special niche has been carved out for him. Credit goes to both their parents and the people who have been managing their careers. I hope both of them will be around for a long time.

I wonder how the argument will be made. What argument you ask? The one that will arise when a doper, who has shown that without her special meds she’s a mediocre at best player, becomes eligible for the Hall of Fame.

If the right thing had been done when she admitted she’d been doping for ten years, including the years when she won Slams, tennis wouldn’t be facing this potential problem. I said then and I will continue to say those titles should’ve been taken away and awarded to the women she “defeated”.

Oh but that couldn’t be done could it. Why? Because then a certain woman would be one victory, not two, away from being the all time best wouldn’t it? We all know the number that woman is chasing is bullshit, that the goal posts were moved, but it is what it is. I for one can’t wait to see people twist themselves in knots when the time comes.

End Notes

Just one. There are certain people I look for at majors. Not players but the “little people”, the ball people, line judges, the people who have to be there or things don’t go right.

There is one older photographer I haven’t seen in a bit but I just saw a ball person my daughter and I have been seeing for about ten years now. She’s not a kid anymore but she’s there. She’s working the Nick Kyrgios/Steve Johnson match. That brought a big smile to my face.

Naomi Osaka – WTA World #1

by Savannah

dx1ciemu8aacwcc Photo via@AustralianOpen

On Monday twenty one year old Naomi Osaka will become the number one player of the Women’s Tennis Association. This time last year she was ranked #72 in the world. There is so much to note about Ms Osaka, things that need to be made known to the tennis public before the tennis “media” has a chance to set her image in stone for the casual fan or the fan becoming interested in women’s tennis because of Ms. Osaka.

Ms Osaka is of Haitian and Japanese descent. She was raised in the United States and at one time was working with the USTA. The USTA did not see her as worthy of their full backing but the Japanese Tennis Federation thought otherwise. Since Ms Osaka was born in Japan she was eligible to play for them. Osaka’s father, Leonard François, hasn’t looked back. It’s kind of amusing to wonder how the people who made that decision view it now. A couple of years ago, before Naomi hired Aleksandar “Sascha” Bajin as her full time coach, Mary Jo Fernandez was already wondering if Osaka and her family could be convinced to come back to the US tennis establishment. It was already clear to them that they’d made a huge mistake in relegating Ms Osaka to the also ran category. After tonights victory and Osaka’s ascension to Number One must be galling. The fact that Naomi now holds two Grand Slam titles, won back to back at that, must have them pulling out their hair by the roots.

It’s not only that Naomi won, it’s how she won and who she won against. Petra Kvitova has come back from a hellish experience to challenge for the number one ranking of the WTA. Instead of her career being over after the assault she’s come storming back and for many her attaining the number one ranking would’ve been the feel good story of the year.

The match itself was played at a very high level. The ball striking was superb and both women were creating out of this world angles while hitting screamers. But it wasn’t all about the screamers. There was strategy. There was creativity by both women. And there was an emotional falling apart by Naomi after blowing a chance to win the match in two sets. Naomi took a bathroom break leaving the court in tears. The next time she cried it was with relief and joy.

And just in case you won’t be able to some if not all of the match Rod Laver Arena was full. For a women’s tennis match. The official Twitter account of the Australian Open said total attendance for the Women’s Final was 25,482. The previous record was 20,036 set in 2013 when Victoria Azarenka defended her title against Li Na.

What happens next? We may not see the results of Naomi ascending to the top for another 10-15 years. Girls in Caribbean countries as well those in Asian ones may begin to ask themselves “why not me?” and begin to pick up racquets. Sponsors may be more willing to assist these young women. Where will the next Leonard François come from? François followed in the steps of Richard Williams and Oracene Price when planning for his daughter’s tennis future (Naomi’s older sister Mari went to Stanford and played tennis there).

There is still some resistance to Naomi from those who survived the wars that were fought on tennis message boards when Venus Williams and Serena Williams arrived on the scene and every match they played was a battle to prove not only that they could play but that they belonged. Mr. François couldn’t have done what he did without the Williams family daring to be different. Without his time spent as Serena Williams hitting partner Bajin wouldn’t know what it takes to be a champion and how to nurture that quality in a shy, quirky, barely out of her teens young woman.

So let’s not feel that by cheering for this young woman we’re disrespecting the woman who is finally being recognized as not only the greatest female player but as one of the all time greats of the sport male or female, something her father predicted so many years ago. She has only a few more steps to take in reaching her goal. Naomi is just starting on the road. We can celebrate both and wish them well as they stride forward.

dx2x7h6x0aece0t Picture via @AustralianOpen

What’s That on the Windshield?!

by Savannah

It’s almost mid January. There’s a cold snap in the area of the north east United States where I live and it’s summer in Melbourne, Australia. I haven’t written about tennis since the 2018 US Open. It’s not that I haven’t been following tennis it’s just that when your day to day life is lived in existential dread why pile more angst onto the pile of stuff on the bed? The official end of the tennis calendar year has come and gone and the new calendar has started. The people who run tennis want all of us who love the sport to focus on the Australian Open and I will but right now I’m going to start sorting through the pile of stuff and get to what “they” don’t want you to focus on.

Let’s start with the newly unveiled ATP Cup that will be taking the place of Hopman Cup. I admit I never used to pay attention to the Hopman Cup because in my mind it was an exhibition and all exhibitions are hit and giggle events no? If what I saw this year was what usually goes on at Hopman Cup I’ve been mistaken about what it was and missed out on some great tennis. The powers that be have decided that the ATP Cup is a much more exciting venture and will bring more fans to the sport. I read the announcement by TD Craig Tiley – there will be more on him later – and read it again. I mean it’s called the ATP Cup. What will the WTA players be doing while this fabulous new event is taking place? Tiley said in passing that they would figure something out with the WTA. Figure something out.

Steve Simon has proven himself worse than the person who preceded him Stacey Allaster. She played her favorites – Genie’s Army anyone? – but nothing much got past her on the business side. Yeah I know the whole Asian thing is looking like a bust but I don’t think the ATP Cup would’ve gone right by her. Lindsay Davenport on Tennis Channel the other day went on a mini rant about how reactive and not proactive the WTA has become. I know that there is a WTA Player’s Council but have they spoken up? Then again why should the players have to carry their own water when there are men and women making pretty decent salaries swanning around the world (I love British expressions. They somehow get right to the heart of things) taking pictures and giving each other awards while the women’s tour sinks into oblivion. The WTA has two marketable stars, neither of whom is a doper, and they treat them like stepchildren with red hair. When they retire who is going to bring the fans to the yard so to speak? (Sorry Kelis). Are people lining up to see the current top ten with one or two exceptions? Is there any player people will line up for the way fans line up for someone like Stefanos Tsitsipas or Denis Shapovalov?

One of the reasons I haven’t written about tennis is because I feel like I’ve been saying the same thing for over ten years. The WTA does not know how to market women’s tennis. I could spend an hour or more talking about why there are no Shapovalov’s or Tsitsipas’ in the WTA but when it all comes down to it it’s poor marketing and homogenization of the sport and the lack of coherent plans to market players people may want to see like Aryna Sabalenka or Maria Sakkari. Who outside of tennis fanatics even knows who they are? Who outside of tennis fanatics knows who Simona Halep is? Someone called Halep a media darling the other day. Really? Not in my neck of the woods. The latest issue of Tennis magazine doesn’t have her as part of its photo montage cover. Instead of promoting these young women they’re spending all their time promoting a doper who should’ve had her Slam wins taken away from her as some advocated for. It’s painfully obvious that without her special medicine she wouldn’t have been able to win them.

When professional basketball became a majority African American sport there were whispers that it’s days were numbered. Instead it became a world wide phenomenon that has players from all over the world clamoring to play. The people behind the marketing of the NBA showed how to turn a potentially bad situation into one that is making money hand over fist. It did not become a league of Harlem Globetrotters, sports entertainment. It became a one of the pre eminent sports leagues in the world right up there with pro soccer and the NFL. Right now it seems that once the older generation of women tennis players retires the WTA will turn into a sports entertainment outfit, an afterthought. I don’t think that’s what the pioneers had in mind when the WTA was created.

A Malign Influence

Justin Gimelstob has been a malignancy on tennis for many years now. From the time he suggested that his brother should sexually assault -rape – Anna Kournikova to now when he faces serious assault charges and will be in court on January 31 after the Australian Open professional tennis has looked the other way. It’s only now coming to light that he’s been a one man crime spree for many of the years he’s spent climbing the ranks from a mediocre, forgettable player to a power behind the scenes. If it weren’t for Simon Briggs of the British newspaper the Telegraph tennis fans would have no way of knowing the role Gimelstob is about to play in controlling who runs the ATP. Briggs article lays out exactly why this dangerous individual should’ve been expunged from professional tennis years ago. Here is a LINK to Briggs update. If you live in the States the so called tennis journalists have been almost completely silent. If they have spoken out they’ve said “let’s wait and see”. These same people have no qualms about trying to destroy the career of the most dominant player in tennis, male or female, though.

While Lindsay Davenport deserves praise for calling out her own Association fans should not forget she defended Gimelstob when he made the comments about Ms Kournikova.

This And That

What does it mean when a man who runs his nation’s tennis association, is tournament director of it’s Slam, is so closely tied to a player and his agent that it’s hard to separate his actions from the wants and needs of said player and that player’s agent? Once again tennis “journalists” are standing on the sidelines while fans are exposing the situation and asking the questions that need to be asked. Yes I’m talking about Craig Tiley. I don’t think he’s the only one but he’s the one who hasn’t bothered to try and cover his tracks. It doesn’t matter that the fans exposing this situation represent a particular fandom. It matters that nothing they have said has been denied or proven wrong. If we had better journalists working the tennis beat fans wouldn’t have to do their own digging.

Remember quality points? Several years ago now it mattered not that you won but who you defeated. Beating someone ranked #150 in the world didn’t count as much as beating someone ranked #5. I know people will dispute this but the rules changed when Venus Williams and Serena Williams began beating everyone regardless of rank and rocketed up the rankings. The then powers that be decided that a point system based on number of tournaments played and how many matches you won minus quality points would benefit players. The dropping of quality points resulted in the slew of slamless number one players on the women’s tour. I have advocated in this space for some time that quality points need to be reinstated and was pleasantly surprised to see a fan make the same observation a few days ago. Then again if women’s tennis is practically invisible I guess reinstating quality points isn’t the top priority now.

The Australian Open – 2019 Edition

The draws have been released. Warm up events have been played and Sunday night here in the US tennis fans will be glued to televisions, PC’s, and mobile devices watching the sport we love.

The draws are pretty much as expected. Yes Venus and Serena are in the same part of the draw. Yes there are joke sections of the draw. It’s crazy that the bottom of the top half and the top of the bottom half are where the knife fights will take place for the men and that the bottom half of the women’s draw is pretty soft but hey, it’s Grand Slam tennis and given the circumstances none of the above should surprise anyone.

I for one will be paying close attention to the daily schedules and see if any sense of fairness exists after all that’s been said about scheduling here. I doubt it but it’s nice to dream.

My windshield is pretty messed up at the moment though and the windshield wipers aren’t getting all the crap off.

Idle Chit Chat

By Savannah

I’ve been writing this blog for quite some time. I was encouraged to do so by Craig Hickman who thought I had a unique perspective on the sport.

The blog started out as a sarcastic (snarky) view of the world of tennis but has evolved into something else. I like to think that a critical when necessary, and a celebration when deserved is what a reader will find here. I used to post weekly, but I don’t anymore mainly because the things I brought up when I posted on “BlogSpot” are still going on and while what I say here may be new to some the topics are not new for me. I’m not the best writer on the planet, far from it, but it’s no fun going over topics you’ve been writing about for years.

I’ve been doing this long enough to remember how opposed many “journalists” were to the rise of bloggers covering the sport. They felt that we bloggers were an uncouth lot who showed no respect to players and would drag the level of tennis journalism down. Attitudes like this, influenced Roland Garros’s decision to stop posting post-match interviews on its site.

And yet here we are. Unlike every other major sport tennis, the WTA and the ATP, have not only restricted access to information they’ve stopped posting vital information on their respective websites. Try finding any current information about players on the WTA site. The ATP site, which at one point was vastly superior, has now become almost as bad as the WTA site. It is possible to find the stats of ATP, but good luck. Sadly, if you want WTA stats you have to visit fan sites. Basic info like head to heads or recaps of matches send the average fan to a search engine where more than likely he or she will end up on a fan site.

For example, I was looking for draw information on the Los Cabos tournament. Checking the ATP web site, I got the impression nothing had been released by the tournament. On a hunch I did a search. Of course, there was information out. Where did I find it? On a site that is run by a fan. It’s the same thing if you want to know who will be playing a tournament. For some reason tennis thinks its entry lists and draws are state secrets. The Slams do a better job? Did you try and get any information on the Australian Open and Roland Garros sites this year? Both websites were works in progress with updates being made while the tournaments were taking place. So far only Wimbledon, in many ways the stodgiest of the Slams presented itself on its website as a tournament. There were entry lists. There were draws. There was tournament information that went beyond where and how to buy tickets. They did have to adjust, but the corrections were done quickly as soon as fans began to vent about the problems.

To make a comparison that almost every sports fan will get: the World Cup of Football (soccer in the US) was taking place at the same time Wimbledon was. I usually compare tennis web sites to the websites of sports I’m familiar with like basketball, football, and baseball. It doesn’t matter. The thing is whatever you wanted to know about not only the team from a particular country but the players from those countries was there for the fan who follows everything to every four year fans like me. The NBA, NFL and MLB would be embarrassed to put their names on websites as inferior as the tennis tour web sites. The fans of those sports wouldn’t have it.

Tennis is a great sport with players and fans who want to spread the word about it and get away from the perception of it as a bastion of elitism. It seems that the people who run tennis don’t have the same opinion.

Thank goodness tennis fans have stepped up to the plate (a baseball analogy) and are filling in the gaps left by those whose business it should be to make the sport accessible to all. It shouldn’t be so hard to be a tennis fan.

Conspiracy Theories

Yes, they exist in tennis. It seems that TUE’s (Therapeutic Use Exemptions) are the latest things to be considered controversial. Why? Who knows? Who knows why a player would allow pictures of herself to be published showing a male friend (allegedly) tossing her salad? If you don’t know what that is Google is your friend.

I mean don’t we all wake up in the morning and decide we’re going to be plagued by blood clots and the health issues they cause? And of course, we all plan to go out and step on a piece of glass that goes clear through your foot. Doesn’t everyone? The issue seems to be that the TUE’s were retroactive. I mean if you knew you were going to suffer life threatening medical issues wouldn’t you apply for a course of treatment for something that hasn’t happened to you yet?

Idiots. A TUE has to be granted to an athlete retroactively. The athlete has to be injured or suffer a medical emergency before a treatment plan is decided on, a plan that may include painkillers or other drugs that make the healing process easier.

It’s no secret, and it’s very obvious who is behind this nonsense. It’s not a stretch to compare what’s going on to the “scandal” of those emails. No doctor will prescribe a heavy-duty drug for a disease, or medical condition you don’t have. The people who run WADA were not born last night. It’s not doping if a real accredited doctor prescribes a course of treatment to address proven medical issues. It is doping when you claim that your third cousin twice removed suffers from diabetes, so you should take a heart drug because hey, you never know. Any so-called journalist who promotes this nonsense deserves to be ignored by fans.

This and That

The US Open series is officially under way. Monday July 30 will feature play from San Jose, California. I’ve always liked the US Open Series even though it means having to listen to the nonsense spouted by US tennis commentators, many of whom do not watch any tennis until they step into the broadcast booth or watch a match from a broadcast studio near their homes.

There are strong fields in Washington DC (which is not part of the US Open Series) and in San Jose. With the Roger’s Cup taking place next week expect inexplicable losses.

By the way if you want to see any of San Jose you have to subscribe to WTA TV or check to see if you can watch ESPN3.

I took my own advice and have been watching the tournaments that are being contested this week. There are a lot of complaints about lower ranked players turning up in Finals just before the tour moves to the US. and Canada. Everyone has to start somewhere, and I’ve been seeing some interesting prospects. It’s really not fair to put these men and women down. Five years from now some US comm will be asking who Player X or Player Y is and ask about their road to the top twenty. Or the top ten. Or the top five. And no, I’m not going to talk about the level of tennis we’ll be seeing in another five years. I talked about that five years ago.

The Rear View Mirror: 2018 Roland Garros

by Savannah

The winners have been crowned and tennis is moving on to it’s next season played on a natural surface. Of course there is quite a bit of red clay play after Wimbledon but the powers that be want you to ignore all of that and focus on the US hard court season. The fact that many players opt to stay in Durope and preserve their bodies angers many but it is what it is.

Before leaving Paris lets look back at some of what happened and what it says about the relative state of both tours.

Simona Halep Women’s Champion

via WTA/Roland Garros aAkFlzj

There was no guarantee that Ms Halep would reach the final. The last time we saw her play on Chatrier she was losing to a member of the WTA Brat Pack, Aljona Ostapenko.

Her head was down and she cut a forlorn and lonely figure on the huge court. Would that all change in 2018? Would Halep, who had come so close, once again hold on to the top ranking in the WTA but be hounded as “slamless”?

There were no big announcements from her camp. Additions to her tam were done in a low key way without the position of her head coach ever being challenged. Everything was quiet when she entered Paris as far as the public was concerned. If you looked at her yes she was fitter than I’ve ever seen her. Yes there seemed an air of determination in how she carried herself but none of that erased what for me was her worst moment last year.

And yet she won it all. There are some who will argue that the French Open is “quirky”, that many win it who never lift a trophy again. I don’t think that will be the case with Halep. The way she wore her opponent down in the Final (more on that in a bit) was impressive. She couldn’t have played worse than she did in that first set and she was on her way to losing the second set when she saw an opportunity and took it. She didn’t need on court coaching. I’m not naive enough to think there was no coaching going on but head coach Darren Cahill did not have to rush down from the stands to tell her to cut the shit and play. It’s going to be interesting to see how she carries herself at Wimbledon. She doesn’t need the crutch. Maybe she’ll be the first of the new generation to put it aside and use her brain.

There was no Ostapenko across the net this year. Ostapenko had done nothing of note after her big win last year and went out quietly in the first round. Instead United States player Sloane Stephens found herself in the Roland Garros Women’s Final. To her credit she played flawless tennis for a set and two games into the second set. It was then that her lack of fitness caught up with her. Of course she denied it later but anyone who watched the match knows exactly when her legs went away. Right after that she began to suck air for all she was worth but Halep, seeing what her physical condition was, began to run her ragged. To Stephens credit she put up a good fight but she had nothing left.

During the NBC broadcast Mary Carillo went on a riff about how Sloane doesn’t practice hard in order to leave it all for her matches. I’ve seen a Stephens practice live and in person and I laughed to myself hearing her compare Stephens practices to those of Pete Sampras. I thought it was a nice way of saying that Sloane is lazy. Not once did her physical condition get mentioned by any of the US comms. I said last year that the worst thing that could’ve happened to Stephens was winning the US Open as out of shape as she was. What can be done on a hard court can’t be done on a European red clay court. You have to be physically and mentally at the top of your game. The terre battue takes it all out of you and if you haven’t worked until your legs are jelly and your arms are about to fall off, if you haven’t changed your diet so that the portions served at a five star restaurant look like a feast to you you can’t win playing modern tennis at Roland Garros. There was not an ounce of fat to be seen anywhere on Simona Halep’s body. Stephens is lugging around at least ten pounds too many. Comparing her regimen to Sampras’ is not a complement. Sampras wouldn’t stand a chance against today’s top players unless he decided to play the post US Open Asian hard court and European indoor swings when everyone is beat up and resting up for the WTF in London.

I was glad to see Simona win. To be honest I was disappointed to see Stephens in the Final. Then again maybe this will be her wake up call. Kamau Murray has his work cut out for him.

Rafel Nadal Parera Men’s Champion

via ATP/Roland Garros Rafael Nadal, Roland Garros 2018, Photocall, Photo : Corinne Dubreuil / FFT

Dominic Thiem must be wondering what more he could’ve done. He was extraordinarily fit. He’d played almost every week of the clay season preparing himself for the rigors of Roland Garros. He was mentally ready as well. And yet for a large portion of the match he was reduced to standing with his hands on his hips wondering how the hell he’d done everything right and his opponent still won the point. What must’ve gone through his mind when Rafa’s serving hand cramped horribly (nerves) and he barely missed a beat, accepting the time violation and working through his pain until the muscles of his hand relaxed. Instead of being able to maybe steal a set Thiem accepted the runner up trophy with grace.

Don’t let the official picture above fool you. Rafa was a bundle of nerves most of this tournament. For long time Rafa fans Toni not only being there but sitting with his coaches was acknowledgement that Rafa needed that calming influence. US tennis media has often criticized Toni Nadal for being too tough on his nephew saying that he should be allowed to relax and have some fun. The Nadal family ignored that noise and went about their business. When Rafa was coming apart at the seams it was Toni he got to come in and calm the waters.

I’m a jinx so I rarely watch or talk about Rafa’s matches but I’m making an exception in this case because the man I saw playing today is a far cry from the teenager I started watching so many years ago. As he matured so did his game. He is a top player because he’s not wedded to one style of play. Injury led to better care of body, and mind. If he was still playing today the way he played in 2005 something would be wrong. It’s a lesson a lot of players have to learn and why I’m so against young players having success early in their careers. Children become adults and that maturation process should be reflected in how they conduct their lives whether they are pro athletes or not. The maturity, the subtlety, the ability to take the best of your opponent and turn it to your advantage that I saw yesterday was awe inspiring. I felt Thiem’s frustration. Against anyone else he’d have won that match.

The US tennis establishment is still stuck on Sampras and Andre Agassi. We know what secrets were hidden about Agassi so they focus on Sampras because he isn’t perceived to have been “dirty”. If, as Carillo hinted, Sampras was lazy he wouldn’t be doing much in the ATP of today. The fact that he hated the clay created a mind set in US tennis that has still not been overcome.

But that’s a discussion for another day. Rafa wanted to win that match in three sets and despite his opponent’s excellent play he imposed his will on the match and won. He’s been imposing his will for a long time now. It’s how he did it not that he did it that has changed. It is wonderful to see how this boy has become a man.

End Notes

There is a lot of excitement around fourteen year old Cori Gauff and there should be. She is playing with a maturity not usually seen in a player her age and if she stays healthy and grows her game she could turn out to be the young star the WTA needs. She’s working with the folks at Mouratoglou Academy and it shows. She was comfortable on the clay, can already slide, and most importantly has rudimentary knowledge of how to construct points. She’s also not finished growing yet – she still has her baby face – and it looks as if she will be at least as tall as Venus Williams. She also wants it badly and that’s not a problem. My issue is that she’s fourteen. I want to see what she’s doing when she’s in her adult body at eighteen and again at about twenty two. I sincerely hope that they don’t rush her no matter what she wants.

Speaking of height there is a sub rosa debate going on in men’s tennis about big men. It seems as if there are big men and small men with few in between, especially in the United States. When I saw Denis Shapovalov in person both on and off court at last years US Open I was surprised that he is not that big. According to Wiki he is six feet tall (1.83 meters) but he looks to be at least an inch or two shorter. Chung Hyeon is listed at six feet two inches (1.88 meters) and I think that’s about right having seen him play up close on an outer court at the US Open. Lucas Pouille is listed at six feet one inch (1.85 meters). Alexander Zverev is tall at six feet six inches (1.98 meters). All of these men can move well. They’re not gazelles but they move well enough. There are other big men like Zverev whose movement can best be described as glacial.

I don’t know what the end results will be. The US is looking to push players like Taylor Fritz and Riley Opelka betting that the cycle will turn and serve dominated tennis will come back. Their competition is going to be smaller and faster. It’ll be interesting to see how this plays out.

As for the WTA up and coming it’s sad but most of them have no on court personality. Add to that the fact that they all play alike and you’ve got a bit of a recipe for disaster marketing wise. When you say the names Venus Williams, Serena Williams, Caroline Wozniacki, Victoria Azarenka, Aga Radwanska, a personality type leaps to mind. They play different styles and present themselves differently on and off court. Mention some of the up and comers and I dare you to have an impression other than “blonde” come to mind. Even Simona doesn’t have a riveting on court personality. Sadly those that do are mostly brats. Yes there’s Madison Keys, Garbiñe Muguruza, Caroline Garcia and Sloane Stephens but are they poised to be the superstar mega earners their predecessors are? Time will tell. Arrogance is a personality trait but you can be arrogant as all get out and not be able to sell your sport.

The Complete Winners List

Men’s Singles

Rafael Nadal

Women’s Singles

Simona Halep

Men’s Doubles

Pierre-Hugues Herbert / Nicolas Mahut

Women’s Doubles

Barbora Krejčíková / Kateřina Siniaková

Mixed Doubles

Latisha Chan / Ivan Dodig

Boys’ Singles

Tseng Chun-hsin

Girls’ Singles

Cori Gauff

Boys’ Doubles

Ondřej Štyler / Naoki Tajima

Girls’ Doubles

Caty McNally / Poland Iga Świątek

Legends Under 45 Doubles

Spain Àlex Corretja / Spain Juan Carlos Ferrero

Women’s Legends Doubles

France Nathalie Dechy / France Amélie Mauresmo

Legends Over 45 Doubles

France Mansour Bahrami / France Fabrice Santoro

Wheelchair Men’s Singles

Japan Shingo Kunieda

Wheelchair Women’s Singles

Japan Yui Kamiji

Wheelchair Men’s Doubles

France Stéphane Houdet / France Nicolas Peifer

Wheelchair Women’s Doubles

Netherlands Diede de Groot / Netherlands Aniek van Koot