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Tennis Star Lindsay Davenport has a Baby Boy

She gave birth in California last weekend.

NEWPORT BEACH, CA, USA – It was a joyous day in Newport Beach for one of the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour’s all-time greatest players on Sunday as Lindsay Davenport, who announced her pregnancy in December and subsequently left the Tour, gave birth to her first child, Jagger Jonathan Leach.

Davenport had an incredible professional career, being one of just 15 women since the inception of computer rankings over 30 years ago to own the No.1 ranking, and reaching a number of Grand Slam finals, claiming the 1998 US Open, 1999 Wimbledon and 2000 Australian Open singles titles. She married investment banker and former Southern Cal player Jonathan Leach in Hawaii on April 25, 2003, and at the end of last year announced she would be leaving the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour to have the child.

Congratulations to Lindsay and her husband. What kind of name is Jagger for a baby boy? According to this website, it is a rare baby name.

 

Pete Sampras Wins Senior Tour Debut, Tweaks BoSox Fans

Pete Sampras joined tennis’ senior tour and took up where he left off, winning the title.

For Pete Sampras, it was a day to live dangerously.

First, the future Hall of Famer faced a triple match point against Todd Martin in the final of the Champion’s Cup event at Boston University on Sunday. Then, between beating Martin and grabbing the first-prize check of $50,000, Sampras shared some bad news with the Red Sox fans in the crowd. “I don’t know if you guys heard, but I believe the New York Yankees just signed Roger Clemens,” Sampras said during the trophy ceremony as the crowd of 3,560 erupted in boos. “I’m serious.”

Pete Sampras Wins Senior Tour Debut Photo On the day that the 35-year-old Sampras made a successful return on the seniors tour, another old-timer announced that he would be making a comeback that was much less welcome in Boston. Clemens, 44, said during the seventh-inning stretch at Yankee Stadium that he chose New York over the Red Sox for his latest comeback. The fans at Agganis Arena probably missed the news while watching Sampras play Martin. So Sampras, a Dodgers fan, took the opportunity to tweak them.

“I’m just having fun,” Sampras said after the match. “You know what, it’s not that fun in this town. It’s like a religion. I’ve never seen anything like it. They’re passionate [in Los Angeles], but I’ve never seen anything like it is here.”

Sampras hadn’t played competitive tennis since winning the 2002 U.S. Open for his record 14th Grand Slam title. Retired at 31, he didn’t pick up a racket or watch tennis on television for almost three years before deciding to play a limited schedule of exhibitions and Champion’s Cup events.

His presence was a coup for the seniors tour and reminder for his opponents — Petr Korda, Tim Mayotte, John McEnroe and Martin — of why he dominated the regular tour when they were in their prime. “Adding Sampras has certainly added some extra buzz,” said Jim Courier, a competitor and organizer of the tour. “There’s no question that when you bring in 14 major titles in one body, it’s going to get tougher.”

In a nod to the players knees, the matches are best-of-two sets, with a 10-point tiebreaker in case they split the sets. Sampras won the first set 6-3 and it was 5-5 in the second when Martin broke Sampras’ serve, then held serve to tie it.

“I was thoroughly unprepared for a lot of what he had to offer,” said Martin, the winner of last year’s Boston event. “The only recourse I had was to turn it into a tennis match rather than a skills test, because his skills are better than mine.”

Somehow, 35 seems a little young to be on a senior’s tour. But tennis is a young man’s game at the elite level. Indeed, I remember when it was considered remarkable that Jimmy Connors won a Wimbledon title at 30. He then won a U.S. Open title three years later.

 

Federer v. Nadal, Grass v. Clay

On one side Roger Federer world number one and unbeaten in 48 matches on grass courts, on the other Rafael Nadal world number two and unbeaten in 72 mathces on clay courts. So how do you find who is the best? Have them play each other on clay and grass at the same time.

Clay & Grass Tennis Court

Nadal won 7-5 4-6 7-6 (12/10). I have to say, that’s pretty cool.

 

Wimbledon to pay men and women equally

Now there will be equal pay in at least one sport for men and women.

WIMBLEDON, England – After years of holding out against equal prize money, Wimbledon bowed to public pressure Thursday and agreed to pay women players as much as the men at the world’s most prestigious tennis tournament.

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The All England Club announced at a news conference that it had decided to fall into line with other Grand Slam events and offer equal pay through all rounds at this year’s tournament.

“Tennis is one of the few sports in which women and men compete in the same event at the same time,” club chairman Tim Phillips said. “We believe our decision to offer equal prize money provides a boost for the game as a whole and recognizes the enormous contribution that women players make to the game and to Wimbledon.

“In short, good for tennis, good for women players and good for Wimbledon.”

Last year, men’s champion Roger Federer received $1.170 million and women’s winner Amelie Mauresmo got $1.117 million.

The U.S. Open and Australian Open have paid equal prize money for years. The French Open paid the men’s and women’s champions the same for the first time last year, although the overall prize fund remained bigger for the men.

The head of the French Tennis Federation, Jean-Francois Vilotte, suggested that the French Open could follow Wimbledon’s example, though no decision is expected before the federation’s next meeting March 16.

I’m not expecting any change in regards to pro golf. The USGA which holds both the Men’s and Women’s Golf Opens, paid Geoff Ogilvy over one million for his 2006 win where as Annika Sorenstam won just $560,000. Professional golf has a way to come yet.

Cross posted to Poliblog’s Deportes and The Florida Masochist

 

Jury finds Richard Williams liable but no damages to be paid

From the Palm Beach Post-

Although a jury found that Richard Williams did in fact breach a contract he signed promising his famous daughters, Venus and Serena Williams, would participate in a tennis match, they did not order him to pay the would-be promoters a dime.

Richard Williams was not in the courtroom when the jury returned with its decision. Venus and Serena Williams, however, were visibly elated, hugging each other and an older sister, Isha Williams, who came in from out of town for the final days of the multi-million dollar breach of contract trial.

The jury’s decision brings an end to the nearly five-week trial, punctuated by such acrimony and histrionics that several times, Palm Beach County Circuit Judge Jeffrey Winikoff has had to chastise the litigants and their attorneys.

Attorney F. Malcolm Cunningham Jr., who represented the Williams sisters, raised his hands over his head and yelled, “Yes! Yes! Yes!” in a small office inside the courthouse where he met privately with the family after the verdict.

At issue was a contract that Richard Williams signed promising his daughters would participate in a match that was to pit Venus and Serena Williams against two unnamed retired male tennis stars, possibly John McEnroe and Jimmy Connors.

The family had insisted the document was meaningless because Richard Williams had no authority to commit Venus and Serena Williams to anything, much less participate in a match that the promoters claimed would net $45 million.

However, attorneys representing shunned promoters Carol Clarke and Keith Rhodes, who say they stood to make as much as $9 million, produced several documents to dispute the family’s claims.

Throughout the trial, the Williams sisters insisted they sign their own contracts. But on Tuesday, spurned business adviser Leland Hardy took the stand armed with documents that punched holes in their claims that Richard Williams didn’t speak for them. Hardy offered four documents that Richard Williams apparently signed on his daughters’ behalf. He also offered a letter in which Richard Williams outlined the correct way to do business with the family.

The jury found the contract was indeed valid, but awarded no damages to Clarke and Rhodes.

Much ado about nothing in the end. My own take is the Williams are quite fortunate not to be paying these promoter damage. Despite their denials, the tax returns of the sisters listing their father as a manager seemed pretty damning.

See Previously- Tax filings say tennis stars paid Dad as their Manager

 

Lindsay Davenport Pregnant

From AP-

LAGUNA BEACH, Calif. – Three-time major champion Lindsay Davenport is pregnant and will miss at least the start of the 2007 tennis season.

Davenport and her husband, Jonathan Leach, are expecting their first child in early summer, according to a news release issued Wednesday by her agent, Tony Godsick.

There was no indication in the release whether or not the 30-year-old Davenport plans to play professionally again.

She won the U.S. Open singles title in 1998, Wimbledon in 1999 and the Australian Open in 2000, along with an Olympic gold medal in 1996. The American has won a total of 51 titles in singles, 36 in doubles, and finished four seasons ranked No. 1: 1998, 2001, 2004 and 2005.

Davenport ends 2006 ranked 25th.

Congratulations to Lindsay and her husband. I don’t ever recall a major ladies professional tennis player that was also a mother too when active but I don’t follow the sport that much. In pro golf, there are some 20-30 players who are mothers also. Hall of famer Juli Inkster is the best playing Mom of any active players.

Update- There are 28 Moms on the LPGA tour. Including two who are expecting their first child. Congrats to Catorina and Karen.

 

Tax filings say tennis stars paid Dad as their Manager

From today’s Palm Beach Post

Lawyers suing tennis superstars Venus and Serena Williams have uncovered details in their father’s income tax filings that they say demonstrate “extensive inconsistencies” in the Williamses’ testimony about their financial relationship with their father.

The records show Serena and Venus Williams paid their father, Richard Williams, nearly $2 million in “management fees” from 1998 to 2000. The famous sisters have said in previous sworn statements that he was only a coach and mentor who did not manage them professionally.

The attorneys, who represent two tennis promoters suing the sisters for allegedly backing out of an exhibition tournament, shocked the Williamses’ defense team when they dug up the tax records in Richard Williams’ own divorce file in Palm Beach County court. Caught off guard, Richard Williams’ attorney tried unsuccessfully this week to have the tax filings sealed from public viewing.

The records offer a glimpse into the financial dealings of the man who raised the most successful siblings in tennis history, both of whom are Palm Beach Gardens residents. His attorney blasted the placement of the records into the case file as a violation of his privacy and an empty legal ploy, dismissing the “management fees” as a mischaracterization by the Williamses’ accountant.

But the promoters’ attorneys say the records undermine the Williamses’ claim that they did not breach a contract by backing out of the 2001 tournament because their father was not their manager and thus did not have authority to commit to the event.

Venus and Serena Williams have testified that their father was only a coach and mentor. Their actual manager, they said, was the sports marketing giant IMG.

And Richard Williams has testified that his daughters have paid him only for tennis instructions since the early 1990s.

Two promoters, Carol Clarke and Keith Rhodes, are suing the Williams sisters and their father because they say the sisters backed out of a contract to participate in an exhibition tournament called “Battle of the Sexes II — The Wow Event,” which was to be a reprise of the legendary 1973 match between women’s tennis great Billy Jean King and male player Bobby Riggs.

Richard Williams signed a letter in March 2001 committing them to play later that year. However, the sisters’ attorneys say because their father was not their manager he did not have the authority to make the deal.

What is dumber, lying to the IRS or lying in court? I can imagine Venus and Serena’s taxes are quite complicated, but that doesn’t excuse them from their testimony. Richard on the other hand looks like he committed perjury.

I do tax preperation work for a living. It never fails to amaze me how some famous people get tripped up by mistakes on their taxes or their faliure to disclose their income. They make enough money to hire professional help but seem not to want to use it properly. I would advise the Williamses to quietly settle this lawsuit. Their legal and tax problems may be just starting.

 

Andre Agassi to Retire after Wimbledon and U.S. Open

Andre Agassi has announced, on the eve of Wimbledon, that he will retire after this year’s U.S. Open.

Andre Agassi will retire after this year’s U.S. Open, leaving tennis after two decades during which he collected a career Grand Slam and morphed from “Image Is Everything” brashness to elder statesman.

The 36-year-old American announced his plans Saturday during a news conference at the All England Club, where Wimbledon starts Monday and he is seeded 25th. “It’s been a lot of sacrifices the last few months, trying to get myself right to come back here and enjoy this tournament for the last time,” said Agassi, who has played only one match during the past three months because of back trouble. “It’s been a long road this year for me, and for a lot of reasons. It’s great to be here. This Wimbledon will be my last, and the U.S. Open will be my last tournament.”

He intends to play in four hard-court events in the United States between Wimbledon and the Open, in what will amount to a farewell tour for one of the most popular and successful tennis players in history. “There’s still a lot of fight left in me from here through the Open,” he said.

Agassi has won eight major singles titles — one each at Wimbledon and the French Open, two at the U.S. Open and four at the Australian Open — and is one of only five men to have collected at least one championship at each of the Grand Slam tournaments. All this from someone who was, infamously, more about style than substance at the start of his career, drawing attention for his denim shorts, Day-Glo headband, long hair and earring. And it was all encapsulated by his “Image Is Everything” ad campaign for a camera company. There also was plenty of interest in his two-year marriage to actress Brooke Shields and his friendship with Barbra Streisand.

At one point, he went through a series of injuries and a dry spell so dismal that he dropped out of the top 100 in the rankings and resorted to playing on the minor league Challenger tour. Then came his remarkable renaissance, built in part with the most rigorous of training regimens. In 1998, he made the biggest one-year jump into the top 10 in the history of the ATP Tour by moving up 122 spots to No. 6. The next year, he won the French Open to complete his career Slam.

[...]

Ranked No. 1 as recently as 2003, the oldest man to hold the top spot, he made a stirring run to the U.S. Open final last year, the seventh time he was the runner-up at a Grand Slam. “After the U.S. Open last year, I had a lot of reasons to be motivated to shoot for another successful year, but for many reasons that hasn’t been the case, and I wanted to do everything I could just to get back here,” said Agassi, who missed Wimbledon the past two years because of injuries. “And this is where it started for me, my dreams.”

His first major championship came in 1992 at the All England Club, far from his favorite tournament early in his career. After a 1987 first-round loss, he didn’t return until 1991. At the time, one of his justifications was his belief that his outlandish persona and bright outfits were a poor fit for this most traditional of tournaments. Another was that he deemed grass courts better suited to grazing than groundstrokes.

But he changed his mind, beat Goran Ivanisevic in the 1992 Wimbledon final, and credits that victory with changing the course of his career. “It’s like it was yesterday, 14 years ago. I imagine it’s that way when your child goes off to college. You say, ‘What the heck happened in all these years?’ It feels like yesterday for me, as vivid, as alive as ever.”

Which is why he chose this setting to deliver the news of his farewell. “There’s been a lot of challenges,” Agassi said, “but it’s been 20, 21 years of incredible, incredible memories.”

Indeed. He was, for far two long, essentially the Anna Kournikova of the men’s tour. He was a teen prodigy and making it big on the endorsement circuit but just didn’t seem to have the fire in his belly to do what it took to prepare to actually win significant tournaments. Somewhere along the line, his fair fell out and his resolve magically rekindled. Despite a late start, he turned in one hell of a career.

 

U.S. Open to Use Instant Replay

U.S. Open, WTA, ATP to use replay (AP)

When the call is close, the pro tennis tours want to take another look. The ATP and WTA Tours have decided to use instant replay starting with the Nasdaq-100 Open in Key Biscayne, Fla., in two weeks, officials said Monday. This year’s U.S. Open will be the first Grand Slam event to review disputed calls electronically. Discussions are under way regarding the use of replay at other tournaments, including the summer hardcourt series leading up to the Open.

“In my 20 years in professional tennis, this is one of the most exciting things to happen for players, fans and television viewers,” eight-time Grand Slam champion Andre Agassi said in a statement. “This new technology will add a whole new dimension to the game.”

Because of the cost — more than $100,000 at Key Biscayne — instant replay will be used only on the stadium court there, and on the two show courts at the U.S. Open. Players will be permitted two challenges per set, and a third if there’s a tiebreaker. Calls upheld will count against a player’s allotment. Video screens visible to players, umpire and fans will allow everyone to see the replay result at the same time. The process is expected to take less than 10 seconds, and officials believe replays may speed up matches because there will be fewer arguments.

“With the speed and power of today’s game, the time has come for tennis to benefit from new technology,” said Arlen Kantarian, chief executive for the U.S. Tennis Association. “It’s an opportunity for us to help officials and players, while hopefully creating a bit more excitement and intrigue.”

For such a tradition-sport, replay is radical — the most dramatic rules change since the tiebreaker was adopted in 1970. “If anyone’s been listening to my commentary the past year, then they know I’m in favor of using replay,” John McEnroe said. “I think it will make tennis more interesting.”

Butch Buchholz, a former top player and the tournament director at Key Biscayne, said he likes instant replay and expects it to be popular with players. But the sort of tirades that helped make McEnroe and Jimmy Connors famous may become a thing of the past, he said. “It’s a little bit like baseball,” Buchholz said. “A guy slides into second base and the umpire calls him out, and he says, ‘I’m safe,’ and he grabs the dirt and throws it on the umpire’s shoe — you’re not going to see that.”

Tennis will use eight cameras for replay. Players are permitted to contest a point-ending call, but they may challenge a ruling in the midst of a rally only if they stop play. Umpires may order a replay on their own if the linesman’s view of call is blocked and the chair is unable to make the ruling.

It’s hard to argue against replay in a sport that has long used an electronic eye on the lines to call balls in or out.

While understandable from a cost perspective, though, it is rather unsporting to use replay only in featured matches. The nature of sport is to have the same rules apply to all participants in an event equally. That won’t happen here.

 
 


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