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THE tennisreporters.net NEWSLETTER: TUESDAY, MARCH
30, NO, 79
Olympics, recent success
pumps up Greek Daniilidou
Are Serena's shorts too short?
By Sandra Harwitt
Special to tennisreporters.net
Susan
Mullane/Camerawork USA |
| Daniilidou takes down Frenchwomen Tatiana
Golovin at the NASDAQ-100 Open. |
FROM THE NASDAQ-100 OPEN IN MIAMI –
Eleni Daniilidou has one distinction on the WTA Tour that none of
her competitors can claim – she's the lone Greek goddess of
tennis in the game. As the 2004 Olympic Games loom in the near future
this summer, Greece is garnering a great deal of attention and so
is Daniilidou. She's certainly making a splash at the NASDAQ-100
Open where she moved into the quarterfinals with a 7-6 (10-8), 6-1
fourth-round win over French wildcard recipient Tatiana Golovin.
The 21-year-old "Aphrodite" of tennis takes delight in
her Greek uniqueness, although she knows it's actually made her
road to the pros a difficult path. In truth, to fight her way to
the upper echelon of the game was not easy: Tennis is not tantamount
to bull jumping in Greece In case you're wondering, apparently the
Olympic sport of choice for both men and women back in Minoan Crete
in 1600 B.C. was bull jumping. But nowadays, Greek sports fans probably
are more into soccer.
"We had people to play, but actually, at 15, 16years old, everyone
stopped because the system about school doesn't really help,"
said the No. 35 Daniilidou, who ranked as high as No. 14 last spring.
"You cannot really travel. I was in the same situation –
15, 16 years old, I was thinking what to do, 'Should I continue
to study?' I wanted to study medicine. And it was very tough decision,
but, honestly, I love tennis and I really wanted to play tennis."
Once Daniilidou made the commitment to tennis, the next commitment
she had to make was to pretty much leave Greece behind as home base.
Nowadays, she spends more time in Germany where her coach, Judith
Sprenger, is located, than in her Aegean homeland.
"I'm not so often there," said Daniilidou, who posted
a second win of the year against Jennifer Capriati here with a 6-2,
6-4 third-round victory earlier in the tournament. "Since last
November, I was there one week only because I have a German coach
and I am practicing in Germany. I was traveling; I play a lot of
tournaments until now. I'm not so much in Greece."
Daniilidou is not above admitting that becoming a famous Greek tennis
player takes a great deal of effort and the willingness to move
elsewhere. Without hesitation, Daniilidou readily acknowledges that
there are no qualified coaches at home capable of working with a
professional player, and there are no indoor facilities for practice.
But she's hopeful that bringing the Olympics back to their roots
– the first recorded Olympic Games date back to Greece in
776 – might make tennis a more popular sport.
"It's the first step," said Daniilidou, who counts Pete
Sampras, the American great who was of Greek heritage, as her favorite
tennis player. "They have some small tournaments now, men's
and women's. I hope this is gonna help because it's a pity because
we have good weather, we have courts, but we don't have players."
As her peers start looking towards the upcoming Olympics, it's Daniilidou
that they seek out to inquire about the Athens facilities and their
concerns for security. As far as Athens is concerned, Daniilidou
is very proud of the efforts her country is making, saying, "I
was shocked when I came [back home]. Athens especially is getting
very beautiful. It's very good because it was a real mess before.
Now they rebuilt a lot of things and they built new stuff. It's
getting very beautiful."
As for the concerns about security, Daniilidou is keeping her fingers
crossed that the Olympics will go smoothly and be a positive experience
for everyone who ventures to Athens.
Susan Mullane/Camerawork USA |
| Serena's navel ring is evident
in this photo showing one of her other provocative outfits. |
"It's for sure now, everywhere is
dangerous," she said. "Honest, I'm starting to be scared
a little bit to travel with all this, what's happening. But, I mean,
I heard also that they are spending three times more money than
Sydney for the security part. It's a little dangerous situation
because it's a big event and everyone is all around the world are
going there. I think and I hope, first of all, everything will be
done and everybody will really enjoy the time there and it will
be really quiet there."
Are Serena's shorts too short?
Serena Williams unveiled her second
Nike outfit on Monday and this one certainly left a few people talking.
The flowing silk dress with the tight silver midriff was dubbed
the "corset dress" by Serena and created quite a stir
earlier last week. But today's short shorts and midriff look which
Serena nicknamed "my Wonder Woman suit," left more than
a few wondering if the supposed shorts part of the outfit was really
just underwear. The outfit was certainly tight fitting – and
that's all we're going to say.
Even Serena seemed to reveal she had reservations about the ensemble
before wearing it and deeming it very comfortable.
"I didn't want to wear the outfit. I was supposed to wear that
the first day, but I kept putting it off. I was like, 'Ahhh …
.' Then the [Nike] guys told me I should wear it. I like the dress.
I love wearing dresses out here. I think it's so feminine. I just
love wearing the dresses. So I was like, 'I want to wear my dress.'
They're like, 'Oh, well. Can you please wear the other outfit sometimes,
too.' I said, 'Okay.' "
One thing the outfit did do is provide a birds-eye view to her eye-popping,
dangling navel ring that she's had for eons; tennisreporters.net
knows because we reported about the ring a few year's back when
we went bikini shopping with the sisters.
"[It's] diamonds and platinum. Platinum and diamonds. Diamonds
are a girl's best friend. I like to pull on it when my mom's looking
because it grosses her out. And I scream when I pull it, 'Argghh.'
"
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