Weather | Sports | Forums | Comics | Classifieds | Calendar | Movies
© St. Petersburg Times, published May 8, 2002
In recent weeks, women's tennis has flooded the airwaves and cluttered sports sections with stories about lawsuits, public squabbles and even topless paparazzi photos.
The game has taken a backseat to the sideshow.
Stories about on-court activity are getting squeezed by what goes on off the court. Rarely does a day pass when Anna Kournikova, Jennifer Capriati or the Williams sisters don't make the news for something other than their play.
"The sad thing is that the women's game is great right now," said Jon Wertheim, who covers tennis for Sports Illustrated. "But Kim Clijsters beats Venus Williams last weekend and you don't get half as much about that as you do about Billie Jean King fighting with Jennifer Capriati (at the Federation Cup), and with Anna and Penthouse. The game is doing fine, but this whole soap opera has sort of taken on a life of its own."
Wertheim, who addressed the issue in a recent article, thinks the game could suffer in the long run.
"That's my concern," he said. "Right now, it's a nice run (women's tennis) is having, but you just hope people are appreciating the sport for the right reasons. You see fans holding up signs that say, 'I hate tennis, but I love Anna.' That's a little disconcerting. Right now, there are a cast of characters to die for, but when some of the drama goes away you wonder if those who come for the drama will stay for the tennis."
Because its story lines are not found on Hard Copy, the men's game does not get the face time in America people like Wertheim thinks it deserves. One factor is that most of the top players are from other countries. No. 9 Andre Agassi is the only American in the top 10.
"Men's tennis is kind of hurting in America," Wertheim said. "(Pete Sampras) and Andre are in their 30s and Andy Roddick is the great hope, but when you look at the top 10 you don't see a lot of American names. (Men's tennis) has nothing close to the kind of personalities and the drama that the women's game has, but the actual aesthetic product has never been better."
GORAN, GORAN, GONE: Wimbledon champion Goran Ivanisevic will be the first men's winner not to defend his title since Stan Smith in 1973. The left-hander, ranked No. 17, needs left shoulder surgery. Doctors recently determined that much of the cartilage and muscle tissue were badly affected by more than a decade of professional tennis. He has played only once in the past six weeks, a doubles match for Croatia in the Davis Cup.
"I wanted so much to play that opening match on Monday at Wimbledon on Center Court," Ivanisevic, 30, said in a statement Tuesday. "I am very disappointed, but I have no other choice."
Ivanisevic beat Patrick Rafter in last year's final to become the first wild card to win a Grand Slam singles title. He also is a three-time Wimbledon runner-up.
NET NEWS: Men's tennis is doing fine on the Web, where 6.38-million have logged on to www.ATPtennis.com this year, up 66.6 percent from the same period in 2001. "The Web sites are increasingly becoming the first stop for fans hungry for their daily tennis news," ATP chief executive officer Mark Miles said. ... No. 5 Serena Williams and No. 10 Amelie Mauresmo, playing in this week's German Open, will take part in a live chat between 10 a.m. and noon today. No exact time has been set because both have matches, so check www.wtatour.com for details.
ODDS AND ENDS: Mary Pierce, ranked No. 195, was given a wild card to play in the French Open, which she won in 2000. Pierce missed several tournaments with a stomach injury before returning last month. ... "I'm the same guy that won Wimbledon in 1985," Boris Becker, 34, said before a recent charity match in Sarasota. "Unfortunately my backhand isn't as good as it used to be and my foot speed is a little slower, but my serve is holding up."
LAST WORD: Regarding the King-Capriati riff, which led to Capriati's dismissal from the U.S. Federation Cup squad two weeks ago after the Saddlebrook resident violated team rules, Monica Seles told the New York Times: "It went on all week. We were all told the rules and had a chance to leave. Once you stay, whatever the captain says, you have to respect that. God, it's Billie Jean King. She's responsible for everything we have. If you don't have respect for her, I don't know who you'll have respect for."
-- Information from the Associated Press used in this report.