Miscellaneous News: Updates from the World of Tennis
- Former World Number 1, Mats Wilander (who is also a popular commentator and senior tour player) issued his opinions of World Number 2
Roger Federer, saying, “He is obviously not as confident in winning tennis matches. It’s changed. In the locker room, they know they can beat him. In the locker room, the guys know they can beat
Rafael Nadal, too. But guys enjoy playing against Federer much more than Nadal. It’s easier to beat Federer than Nadal.”
- Australian tennis player, Mark Philippoussis recently received a bankruptcy mortage notice. It seems as if 34 year old Philippoussis, whose highest ranking is World Number 8, has been unable to keep up with payments for his million
dollar mansion in Australia.
- Slovakian player Dominik “the Dominator” Hrbaty, who made it to the 1999 French Open semi-finals, has announced his retirement from the sport at the age of 32. He cited his wife’s pregnancy and the impending birth in December as reasons.
- Former WTA World Number 1, Jelena Jankovic, has reported that she had a minor eye operation earlier this month. The player is currently ranked World Number 8, after her short stint as Number 1.
- Tennis Channel has renewed its TV rights contract with the ATP World Tour for the next 4 years into 2015, spanning 19 more events (including the 9 Masters 1000 events) and the end of year
Barclay’s ATP World Tour Finals.
- Former World Number 1 Carlos Moya retired this week as a consequence of a persistent foot injury. The 34 year old was emotional and overwhelmed by this departure, saying “It’s not how I dreamt of ending my career.” Although he says,
“it is true that I’m young for life, but for sport I am a little bit old”, he seems to be reluctant to accept this end, adding, “I don’t want to picture that moment when I play my last match.”
- Former World Number 1 Serena Williams dropped out of the 2011 Australian Open. She has not played a single tournament since 2010 Wimbledon, and this latest pull-out may cost her a place in the world’s top ten players. She has already
lost her top ranking to Caroline “Sunshine” Wozniacki this year. Fans, critics and fellow players are beginning to wonder whether the player will ever return to the
Women’s Tennis Association tour.
- Members of the environmental group Greenpeace protested outside the Palais Omnisport de Bercy to show their outrage at the involvement of BNP Paribas in the funding of a nuclear project in Brazil. The “militants” have been calling
on the bank to refuse funding for the project.
- Former World Number 2 Tommy Haas became a father this week, when his fiancée
Sara Foster gave birth to a baby daughter.
- The United States Tennis Association has sued
Olympus after the sponsor tried to back out of the contract for the year 2011. Courthouse News Service reports that Olympus claimed that USTA had breached contract by allowing Panasonic
to film the 2010 US Open in HD. The sponsor has also been in financial straits, and will save almost twelve million dollars if they back out now. They will probably not be seen at next year’s US Open.
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