I admire the man for his on court acheivements – winning a career grand slam and all – but why oh why release such a damaging autobiography which does little for his character or for the sport itself. If he hated the sport so much then why not walk away? Guess the money was too good, right? As for the drugs I couldn’t care less that he took meth but the admission that he lied when caught out – and even worse the authorities bought the excuse – does nothing for him or for tennis. Other guys got caught out and copped the mandatory three month suspension on the chin.

Will this have any effect on his Hall of Fame credentials? Unlikely, but there were plenty of commentators at the time of Martina Hingis’s positive cocaine test suggesting the drug result would count her out.

Former No.1 Martina Hingis won’t make a comeback to competitive tennis. The 29-year old Hingis, who retired after getting a two-year ban in 2007 for testing positive for cocaine, said in an interview with L’Equipe that she is happy with her new life.

Hingis said: “I’ve got a nice house, my four horses. On the tour, I had no life.”Hingis added that even without having tested positive, she would likely have retired.

“If I had won the four grand slam tournaments, maybe I would have continued. But I was on downslope. And I was suspended for two years, and that was it. I didn’t have the right to play any competition, even in an other Olympic sport. I didn’t have the right to feature in equestrian competition, even at an amateur level. I’m not sure I have completely recovered.”

Hingis quit tennis for the first time in 2002 because of foot and leg injuries. When she returned to the circuit in 2006, Hingis reached two grand slam quarterfinals, won two smaller tournaments and finished the year ranked No.7.

In the news . . .

CBS receiving criticism for lack of homosexual characters on scripted shows. And in the late-night realm, David Letterman sex-scandal/extortion plot getting even more attention.

The verdict is in: Americans don’t like being tracked online.

Federal employees barred from TWD, or texting while driving.

Contrary to statements by Michael Vick’s agent, he and Nike no longer have a sponsorship deal.

Up-and-comer in country music alleges that Carrie Underwood’s song sounds strikingly similar. But any chance the “original” track sounds a bit like “Call Me” by Blondie?

Ebay removes 10-year-old’s listing for “rare and annoying” grandmother.

IRS places tax lien of $257,345 on estate of R&B singer Brian McKnight.

Google takes Pirate Bay out of search results due to DMCA notice.

Testimony of John Travolta at extortion hearing claims that paramedic threatened him during son’s death.

Violation of 30-year old ban on lead-painted toys catches Target $600,000 penalty. Meanwhile, some are considering new Barbie line racist for drawing on too many “rap-inspired details.

Expiration of two-year ban for positive cocaine test allows Martina Hingis back into the International Tennis Federation.

Former MLB player, and admitted steroid user, Chuck Knoblauch charged with assaulting common-law wife.

Melanie Oudin did not cry on court after her quarterfinal loss to Caroline Wozniacki. That is a positive sign. It shows strength, it shows resolve, it reminds one of the steeliness of Chris Evert. It will  make her work harder. But that’s not the main reason I think not advancing to the semis and final was probably more good than bad.

I was struck by my feelings of vague unease during the ESPN hype machine hour preceding the match. The Four Letter has managed to kill so many pleasures we get from athletics, and in so many different ways. Way #1 is the hype machine. Tennis history and the hype machine have not always been kind to teen sensations. I started remembering Jennifer Capriati, Jelena Dokic, Anna Kournikova, Mariana Lucic and most recently, Nicole Vaisidova (now a robotic girlfriend to Rat Radek Stepanek). All teen sensations, all chewed up and spit out by the tennis hype machine.

Navigating the pressure of intense worldwide fame at a young age is a perilous endeavor. It requires superhuman powers of “no.” No to extra exhibitions, no to too many tournaments, no to sponsors, no to too many endorsements, no to over training. No to everyone who wants a piece of the player too soon. The no has got to come from parents – or from parents who listen to their child.

“I have no evidence,” I thought from the vantage point of my couch, “that Melanie’s parents are anything other than wonderful. She has good coaches and advisers around her.”  BUT … the Capriati family seemed picture perfect too. They were friends with Chris Evert, her brother John Evert was Jennifer’s agent. Initially she handled the fame and expectations beautifully. And yet Jennifer was completely and utterly mismanaged, overbooked, overhyped to the point that the money/fame blinded everybody to what the player was feeling. She was overwhelmed. She pushed back but nobody listened. And we all know what happened.

In truth, Denise and Stefano Capriati were not bad, greedy people, nor were they bad parents. But they got caught in that tennis teen prodigy maze and couldn’t find their way back out again. The media played an ugly role in Capriati’s downfall. When she was arrested for shoplifting, her mugshot was all over the news for years. Even after she had returned to tennis. Who can forget a tearful Capriati begging the US Open media to let that story die (remember, this was five years later), only to be met with that mugshot again and again.

One thing that Oudin’s family needs to understand is the brutal double standard in sports – male athletes have been arrested, tried and convicted of murder without having their mugshot on tv every time they were in the news. Hell, the Four Letter has been complicit in the Let’s Give Mike Vick Another Chance story, rushing in to put a tidy bow on his ugliness a mere two years after we learned he electrocuted dogs in the woods. The network wouldn’t dream of flashing that mugshot during news about Vick. But Capriati’s misdemeanor shoplifting charge stuck to her for years.  Capriati ended up as my favorite comeback story in tennis. Most of the other prodigies haven’t pulled that off. It’s infinitely harder to comeback when one literally has to flee a physically abusive father, like Lucic and Dokic, or when still teen Vaisidova falls under the spell of that total womanizing bastard Stepanek (see Hings and the cocaine).

The point is when you’re a woman, you have less room to make mistakes. Your personal life will be scrutinized and bandied about. There is still a boys club in sports journalism that is squeamish and protective of male athletes when it comes to salacious personal details.

And So It Begins

John Wertheim and Andrew Lawrence of SI.com wrote an article today about the ongoing divorce between John and Leslie Oudin. John Oudin accused Leslie of having an affair with coach Brian de Villiers. She denied it. An affidavit filed in the proceedings on August 10 alleged that Melanie and her twin sister suspected the affair and discussed it with their father. Additional details were also revealed.John, Leslie and de Villiers were all on hand to watch Melanie’s fourth round upset of Nadia Petrova.

Did I have a premonition last night? Perhaps. All is not always what it seems. What nags at me today is whether this story would have been written if a male pro’s parents were divorcing. What if it was Isner? I don’t know. I may be wrong about that.

Can you imagine what it would have been like if this story was in the press for the next four days and she wound up in the final against Serena? Get the spotlight off Oudin now, give her time to grow into it a little bit more before things get out of control. Her agent will still cash in and she will still be everywhere. But she will have another year to move up the rankings and practice balancing all the new demands on her time.

Striking a balance between agents and parents and coaches and players is difficult even under ordinary circumstances. When a player has a coming out party that resembles A Star is Born, it becomes damn near impossible to survive. There will be rough times no matter what. Say nothing else about Richard Williams, but he and his former wife, Oracene Price, did something right by Venus and Serena, because they have survived and thrived.

Martina Hingis wird an der Reality TV Sendung “Strictly Come Dancing”,  die BBC Version von “Dancing With the Stars”, teilnehmen. Die Medien spekulieren über das Motiv der Teilnahme von Martina und man hat sich darauf geeinigt, dass es wohl die Langeweile sein muss.

Ob sie unter dem Rock noch immer so knackig ist werden wir sehen.

]]> http://asadnoy.wordpress.com/2009/08/25/hingis-gj%c3%b8r-som-seles/ Tue, 25 Aug 2009 18:47:48 +0000 Åsmund http://asadnoy.wordpress.com/2009/08/25/hingis-gj%c3%b8r-som-seles/ http://oyunsetmac.wordpress.com/2009/08/24/tenis-sporu-ile-ilgilenen-herkese-merhaba/ Mon, 24 Aug 2009 13:33:58 +0000 oyunsetmac http://oyunsetmac.wordpress.com/2009/08/24/tenis-sporu-ile-ilgilenen-herkese-merhaba/

                 Bu yazı benim oyunsetmac adlı blogumun ilk yazısıdır. Bu blogu açmamdaki sebep; uzun zamandır hayranı olduğum tenis sporu hakkında düşüncelerimi paylaşmak istememdi. Bu düşüncelerimi paylaşma cesaretini bulmamda en önemli dayanağım Agassi,  Sampras, Hingis, Davenport, vb. tenis efsanelerinin maçlarını takip edebilmem  ve bugünün tenisçileriyle dönemin tenisini eleştirebilecek bilgi birikimine sahip olmam. oyunsetmac adlı blogumun sizinde katkılarınızla kaliteli bir blog olacağını düşünmekteyim.  Şimdiden blogumu ziyaret eden  ve vaktini harcayan herkese şimdiden teşekkür ederim.

I’ve dumped on women’s tennis enough for poor play, bad sportsmanship and on court sound effects that I thought it was high time I singled out some male pros for deviant/annoying behaviors, especially since today featured a match between two of the most hateds and a lovely piece of sexism courtesy of the AELTC. With one exception, these guys are still playing, otherwise we’d need a much longer list. 

Honorable Mention – Justin Gimelstob. You know why.

6. Robin Soderling - appears here because his fellow pros hate him, not me. There are worse people (see below). Especially despised by Prince Rafa. 

5. Lleyton Hewitt - the most hated player of the early part of this decade has mellowed a little at 29. Maybe we’re just inured to him since he hasn’t been sticking around tournaments for very long. But some of the old immaturity (suing the ATP) has faded away, just like his career before this week.

4. Radek Stapanek – I don’t know what his peers think,  but I happen to think he’s a cad of epic proportions. He lost in five sets today when Hewitt made a comeback from two sets to love down. His transgressions include dumping Martina Hingis (either in the wake of the cocaine scandal or because he caused it) and ruining the career of Nicole Vaisidova before she even turned 20. He’s also too ugly to have gotten either of them. 

3. Novak Djokovic - he’s on the list because the fans hate him, not me. In fact, I love him, although he’s reached a crucial moment in his career… it’s time to grow up Novak. Of course since King Roger and his fans wail and gnash their teeth because Novak did impressions of TMF and beat Rog at the Australian Open (“but he had MONO!”) he’ll be on the list for a good long time.

2. Fernando Gonzalez - Gonzo is well known for jerkdom. During the 08 Olympic semi versus James Blake, he refused to call a point against himself despite video evidence he lost it. At the 09 French, we were  treated to the unholy spectacle of him wiping out the mark with his ass.Nastase, Connors, McEnroe and Rios would be proud… even they didn’t think of that move.

1. Dinara Safina’s Brother - Upon losing his last Wimbledon match,  Marat Safin described it as “a relief.” Will you just go already? Retire and spare us from yet more bullshit as you continue to feel sorry for yourself for having more talent than 99 percent of people who have walked the face of the earth. You had as much talent as Roger Federer, the Man himself, and you blew it. Your continuing sibling non-support also earns high demerits.

There are a few Professional Tennis players who can be serious when they are on court, but see the lighter side of their profession when they are off the court. Most players are too serious, too concerned about putting their proverbial feet in their mouths, or as in many cases, they just don’t possess a sense of humour. A few players invite funny comments about themselves from other players or reporters, by their antics on court or by their comments during or after a match. With no bias and no sense of order, here’s a few amusing tennis anecdotes:-
“The best doubles pair in the world, is John McEnroe and any body else”, was a comment made by doubles partner Peter Fleming.
When Patrick McEnroe unexpectedly reached the semi finals of the Australian Open he said, “It’s just like you would expect, Edberg, Lendl, McEnroe and Becker!”
Jimmy Connors said about John McEnroe, “I don’t know that my behaviour has improved with age, they just found someone worse.”
Thomas Smid said after a humbling defeat by John, “John’s so good all you can do against him is shake hands and take a shower.”
A Daily News reporter remarked about John McEnroe, “John has hair like badly turned broccoli, and when he serves it’s as though he is serving around the corner of an imaginary building.”
Vitas Gerilaitis said about his name, “Everyone thinks my name is Jerry Laitis, and they call me Mr. Laitis. What can you do when your name sounds like a disease?”
One of the greatest Tennis rarities is a British tennis player with a can of silver polish!
“If Borg’s parents hadn’t liked the name, he might never have been Bjorn!”
“Ivan Lendl is a robot, a solitary mechanical man who lives with his dogs behind the towering walls of his estate in Connecticut. A man who so badly wants to have a more human image that he’s having surgery performed to remove the bolts from his neck.”
A comment about Djokovic’s serving habit was made by an opponent, “On days when his serve is not going well, he frays your nerves by bouncing the ball between 20 and 30 times before each serve.”
Martina Hingis who has always been known as a player with a sharp sense of humour, and a tongue to match, said about herself after she won the singles and the doubles at the Australian Open, “Next year when I return, I plan to play mixed doubles too.”
Of all the current crop of tennis players, I have a gut feeling that Jelena Jankovic has the most potential to be funny, there is something about her carefree attitude that suggests that she doesn’t take herself quite as seriously as the other women players. I have a picture of Ana Ivanovic with her tongue poking out that might be an insight to different side of her. I hope as 2009 rolls around and the players begin another arduous season that somewhere and somehow a few of them take a little time to relax and enjoy their uniqueness with a smile or a laugh.

Work tomorrow… oh well, holidays were fun!

Today’s top sports stories in Japan were as follows:

• Hanshin Tigers pick up reliever Atkinson from Red Sox… [Daily Yomiuri] Damn… guy could be good, and that further damages my Dragons!…
• Black Rams do in Dynaboars (Top League rugby )… [Daily Yomiuri] Black Rams looking like one of the better teams at the mo’…
• Mikata’s fairytale over (All-Japan High School Soccer Tournament)… [Daily Yomiuri] Well… no-one actually expected them to win…
• Komazawa University wins Ekiden… [Mainichi Shimbun] As expected…
• Shinjo divorces… [Mainichi Shimbun] He just cannot stay outta the news…
• Royals sign Nomo… [Japan Times] The Tornado’s last gasp?…
• Tribunal finds Hingis guilty of using cocaine… [Japan Times] There’s a pity. Certainly taints her career…

Martina Hingis recently announced her retirement from tennis after she tested postive for cocaine on a urine drug screen. 

In defense of the accusations… accusations based on positive scientific testing procedures, Martina Hingis clearly explains this whole mess.  “They say that cocaine increases self-confidence and creates a type of euphoria. I don’t know,” Hingis said. “I only know that if I were to try to hit the ball while in any state of euphoria, it simply wouldn’t work. I would think that it would be impossible for anyone to maintain the coordination required to play top class tennis while under the influence of drugs.”  I know what you’re thinking… There’s no arguing with such a valid point.   And I don’t think this performance decreasing factor of cocaine is limited solely to just tennis.  I mean, obviously, there is no way someone on coke could display the kind of grace of a Michael Irvin needed in a wide receiver to run routes and snag passes on the fly or have the hand/eye coordination it would take to be the type of batter Darryl Strawberry was.    And there’s simply no way to sum up the dangers of feeling euphoric, nor can one over-exaggerate its detrimental effects on mental focus.  According to some stats somewhere, 76% of all automobile accidents are caused by euphoria.  AAA suggests that if you’ve had a particularly enjoyable date, an all-around good day, or a financial windfall, try to remember what it felt like the first time you watched Old Yeller before getting behind the wheel.  Even Road Rage is safer than Cloud 9 Driving, as it has come to be known.  You may have a sense of well-being, but how well will you truly be when you drive under an 18 wheeler just because you have no worries.  Those things weigh a lot.  You should worry while on the road, not just haphazardly feel that all in being well. So, with this obvious evidence that there is no way Hingis could have been using cocaine, how can Hingis’s positive drug test be explained?  A simple mix-up may be to blame here, but I strongly suspect that the lab technician was experiencing some feelings of euphoria for some undisclosed reason and was unable to accurately perform his or her job.   Further dispelling these ridiculous accusations and ludicrous scientific evidence, Hingis, almost poetically, summed up her clearly drug-free playing style, stating, “My weapon on the tennis court is and always was one single thing: the game, the ingenuity on court,” Hingis said. “And for this style of tennis, there is only one performance enhancer — the love of the game.”  Oddly, enough, Hingis’s urine tested negative for love of the game.

If you didn’t do it – why retire? Check out the article here. 

It reminds me of the match I played tonight.  The opponent called the serve out.  I questioned – Long?  No wide, he   replied.  Shook my head b/c it was clearly not wide.  Long, maybe – not wide though.  Same game, I hit a winner down the line.  Out he shouts.  I questioned it.  And let him know I thought he made a bad call. 

 He’s serving next game.  Intentionally double faults two points, hits one clear to the backdrop.  Gets ready to serve again and says, So we good now.  NO!  No need to make good if you made the right call, right? 

Here’s where I need some advice – how do you question a call which you believe your opponent clearly gets wrong?  BTW – I did take the match 6-3,6-4.

And for Martina – why quit if you didn’t do it? No need to walk away from something that didn’t really happen, is there?

Quando eu falo….

Cocaína não traz nenhum benefício ao competidor. Mas é droga, e deve ser combatida mesmo que seja no anti-doping.

Agora a pergunta que não quer calar: é só ela?

A suíça Martina Hingis, ex-número 1 do mundo, revelou nesta quinta-feira que foi flagrada em um exame antidoping a que se submeteu durante o torneio de Wimbledon este ano. O teste deu positivo para cocaína. Na mesma coletiva, Hingis, de 27 anos, disse que não voltará a disputar o Circuito Mundial de tênis.

— O teste deu positivo, mas jamais tomei drogas e sinto-me 100% inocente. Estou me aposentando porque nunca tomei drogas e não quero lutar contra as autoridades antidopagem. Por causa de minha idade e meus problemas de saúde, decidi abandonar o tênis profissional — disse Hingis.

Com cinco títulos de Grand Slam no currículo, a suíça afirmou, no mês passado, que não jogaria mais esta temporada por causa de uma lesão no quadril. Nesta quinta, porém, em entrevista coletiva, fez a revelação sobre o exame que fez em Wimbledon.

Fonte: zerohora.com