Nicole Vaidisova's
camp denies an engagement, while AChak is recovering from the
theft of her property.
Anne-Marie Stark
The tennis world has been reeling over the past week
due to two bizarre tales – Anna Chakvetadze being tied up and robbed
in Moscow, and the alleged and denied Nicole Vaidisova-Radek Stepanek
engagement.
So it was nice to see a slew of positive news coming from the USTA which
announced that in 2007, the sport grew on every level.
Here are some key stats:
• In the US, participation has grown faster than any other
major sport since 2000 with more than 25 million Americans now playing
tennis.
• The '07 US Open's total attendance of 715,587 far surpassed the
previous all-time high of 659,538 set in 2005. Total attendance of all
pro events in North America topped 2.8 million.
• US Open Series television viewership topped 46 million for the first
time, more than doubling in the four years since the Series launch.
Quickly back the Vaidisova story, where a Florida paper reported that
she and Martina Hingis’ former fiancée, Radek Stepanek, applied
for a marriage license at the clerk’s office. It’s not as
if you can make up an official legal document so there must be something
to the story. Plus, no one is denying that the 30-year-old Stepanek and
18-year-old Vaidisova are dating, but Vaidisova’s camp is strenuosly
denying that they are engaged, so we will have to leave it at that for
the moment.
All credit to Chakvetadze for be super committed to living in her country,
even when an number of her fellow players spend the off-season out of
Russia. But it appears that many high profile Russian athletes (and
yes, she’s high profile there) have been targets of thieves, so
she and her family are taking a big risk by owning a nice place, rich
with goods (and apparently cash) that criminals desire. Hence the incident,
where five to six robbers entered the Chakvetadze home, pistol whipped
Anna’s
father, Djambuli, tied up Anna and her mom Natalia and walked away with
five million rubles (about $200,000) of loot. Anna was lucky she didn’t
get hurt, and the thieves were lucky they came with weapons because if
they hadn’t,
I’d lay some major rubles that the small but strong Anna and
her dad win that battle. That’s why every major city needs gun
control, to disarm the cowards.
It will be interesting to see what effect this incident has on Chakvetadze’s
tennis next year. Before the incident, she was celebrating being named
Russia’s s female tennis player of the year and thinking about a
relaxing vacation. Now she has to carry the mental burden of fear around
with her when she begins to train for the Aussie Open. That’s a
tough load for a very promising, smart but still immature player to shoulder.
ESPN
Mary Joe Fernandez
Mary Joe moves up in Fed Cup hierarchy What was reported her during Davis Cup became official
this week when Mary Joe Fernandez was named a US Fed Cup coach along
side Captain Zina Garrison. Fernandez will make the transition to captain
in 2009. The two played a ton of doubles together, so should get along
just fine.
The good news for the US is that Lindsay Davenport has committed to a
year of play, although it’s hard to see playing singles on clay
in an away match against a great nation like Russia, which is the US’
probable semifinal foe.
Davenport will tee it up for the home squad February 2- 3 at the La Jolla
Beach and Tennis Club against a less than mediocre German squad. She
and number of lesser singles players could thump Germany, especially
if Garrison and Fernandez name Lisa Raymond and newcomer Liesel Huber
(now a US citizen and part of the world’s top team with Cara Black)
to play doubles. You would have to think that Meghann Shaughnessy, Meilen
Tu or Ashley Harkleroad could score one win over Marina Muller or Angelique
Kerber. That way, Garrison and Fernandez won’t have to push one
of the Williams sisters to play the first round, especially Venus, who
has been the US’
most accomplished Fed Cup player since 2003. Venus has played four of
the last five years and has put up a 17-4 lifetime record, but must
be still kicking herself after she and Raymond lost the decider to Nadia
Petrova/Elena Vesnina in last year’s semis.
But neither Venus nor Serena has indicated that they want to play the
Germany tie, but should one of them lose early at the Australian Open,
it is possible.
“On the tennis thing, we're going to wish for health and for one
player with the last name Williams to play,” Davenport replied to
Bonnie Ford’s question about what her holiday wish would be. “I'm
not going to be greedy, I'm just going to say at least one.”
Serena has never been committed to Fed Cup. She’s played all of
three ties since 1999 and never faced a significant singles player in
her three matches. This year, the team really needs her as she’s
the US’ best clay-court player and there is no way the US is
going to upend Russia on dirt unless she makes the April trip and
puts herself out there in singles. If she, Venus, Davenport and Huber
made that trip, they could win, because as good as Russia has been
over the last few years, at this point, you’d have to take Venus
and Serena in singles over Chakvetadze and Elena Dementieva or Nadia
Petrova, even on red clay.
“That will be the biggest challenge by far,” Fernandez said.
“Russia has such great depth. They have so many good players in
singles, and they team up pretty well in doubles. I think it's very possible
to defeat them, and obviously if the Williams sisters and Lindsay are
there, even on clay, I think the US has a phenomenal chance. But for
sure it'll be a challenge and it's one that we'll be ready for.”
Davenport has committed to playing three of the four Slams in 2008 (she’s
almost sure to skip Roland Garros), but might play Amelia Island and
Charleston. It would be tough to ask the new mom to put her clay-court
shoes back on again in what is sure to be a hard-fought tie.
“There's no question that will present a huge test if we're kind
of awarded that opportunity,” she said. “We definitely would
need our absolute best team. Hopefully I'll be sitting there on the bench
cheering most of the time, might see a little doubles action. Obviously
a couple of weeks of practicing on it and I'll get better, but there's
no question that the Russians are very good on clay, but we definitely
would want to have Venus and Serena with us there, as well.”
But Russia has to get there first and they have a rough away tie against
Israel coming up. Shahar Peer could give them hell at home, but if Maria
Sharapova makes the trip for Russia, the nation of red is just too talented
and too deep … It looks like France’s Marion Bartoli will
have to fight her way onto the Olympic team after she said that she
won’t
play the upcoming tie against China (neither will Amelie Mauresmo) and
says she won’t go back on the team unless her father, Walter,
is named a coach. "I explained my choice to the national coach,
Patrice Dominguez,” Bartoli told Tribune de Geneve. "I repeated
that I can't see playing Fed Cup if my father isn't completely integrated
into the technical staff. It's a sine qua non of my entry
into the French team. I haven't changed my opinion." Dominguez won’t
pick her for the Olympic squad unless Bartoli committs to Fed Cup.
It’s time to wave goodbye to 31-year-old Mark Philippoussis
who re-injured his troublesome right knee and will have to
undergo surgery again. It was great to see the Flipper legitimately
attempt a comeback during Tennis Australia’s AO wildcard tournament, but
he hasn’t been right for some time. Next thing he knows, the reality-show
bachelor will be a “cougar.” … Jelena Dokic is
hurt again, too, but at least she managed to play more matches during
the AO wildcard tournament before injuring her thigh when trailing 16-year-old
Olivia Rogowska 6-3, 3-1. Dokic will know need a discretionary wildcard
for Australian Open, but you would have to think she’s going to
get one. She’s only 24 and if she can regain a decent portion
of her Top-5 form, could be a fine Fed Cup player. But she defines
mercurial. … For those of you who can’t get enough of Cliffy
(ESPN tennis commentator Cliff Drysdale), the dates have been announced
for his 2008 tennis retreats at the Ritz-Carlton in Cancun and in Key
Biscayne, Fla. The Cancun event is Feb. 20-24, and Key Biscayne retreats
will be Oct. 8-12 and Oct. 15-19. There will be a couples retreat Feb.
27-March 2 in Cancun. In Cancun, one night will include a tequila tasting.
Anyone who drinks more than Cliffy receives a bonus prize. For more
information, contact Tom Brownhill of Cliff Drysdale Tennis at 800-733-7987,
305-858-3375 or t.brownhill@cliffdrysdale.com.
