Paul McNamee misses shot at Tennis Australia presidencyAS an advertisement for a key facet of the platform that gave Sydney lawyer Steve Healy the Tennis Australia presidency yesterday, the timing could scarcely have been better.
Only hours after Sam Stosur achieved another career breakthrough in claiming a clay court title by thrashing Vera Zvonareva in South Carolina, the board of TA voted for Healy over former doubles champion Paul McNamee in a meeting at Melbourne's Hilton Hotel.
It is a double blow for McNamee, whose initial tilt last year was narrowly denied by long-serving incumbent Geoff Pollard - who will continue in the role until October.
The former Australian Open boss also learnt last Friday that the ABC had ended its broadcasting relationship with his long-running Hopman Cup mixed tournament in Perth.
Healy, a commercial, property and planning expert with Gadens - one of Australia's leading legal firms - campaigned, in part, on a pledge to build a national clay court facility and to ensure the surface was available to the nation's best juniors at centres across the country.
Voting members also opted for Healy, who played tennis at college in the US before touring through Europe, playing satellite events in the early 1980s, as the best man to heal the bitter divide in the sport nationally.
It is his experience as a battling professional in France as well as the established view that clay is the best surface to teach and develop juniors that underlines why Healy believes it is critical Australia makes a significant investment in the surface.
"I think, as a national body, that we have to bite the bullet, regardless of the cost. It is not going to provide a return in terms of a financial windfall, but I think it is absolutely essential that we build one," he told The Australian when announcing his candidacy last month.
While TA under Healy will seek a red clay suitable to the local environment, rather than the green surface Stosur succeeded on yesterday when thumping Zvonareva 6-0 6-3 to win the $750,000 Family Circle Cup, she is one who can testify to its importance.
The 25-year-old, who will return to the top 10 with the win, has overcome the big-match nerves she occasionally suffered from in claiming two tournaments in the past eight months.
Stosur had never played on a clay court until she ventured to Europe at 15, but not surprisingly, the French Open semi-finalist now considers it her best surface.
"I think I have proved that to myself and everyone with my results over the past couple of years," she said.
"It just took me a little while to really understand how to play on the clay and get used to it, but now I am I really enjoying it. I think clay, for whatever reason, is right up there as my favourite surface."
But Stosur, while certain that Australia's junior players need more exposure to the surface, believes it is only part of the solution to helping the country produce more top-flight players.
"There is definitely a place for it, but you can't get too hung up in saying that if we put clay in, it is going to be the answer to everything," she told Melbourne radio.
It is a message Healy agrees with. He said: "It is not a magic cure by any means, but it is an important part of a player development program."
More important will be his ability to heal the rift between some of Australia's past greats and the current administration.
Healy said he planned to investigate the merit of TA employees also holding Australian Open roles - current player development boss Craig Tiley was also the grand slam event's tournament director. And Healy acknowledged the need to bring the warring parties together.
While he backed the progress of TA's player development department under Tiley, who is in his fifth year in the role, Healy said there was certainly a role for those outside the corridors of Melbourne Park, "like Tony Roche and Jason Stoltenberg".
Copyright 2010 News Limited
Top tennis stars drop out of Family Circle Cup
DANIEL ISLAND, SC - Big name tennis stars drop out days before the Family Circle Cup on Daniel Island begins.
Serena Williams, Maria Sharapova, and Sabine Lisicki representatives told event organizers it was due to injuries. For months their star power has drawn people to purchase tickets to the week-long Family Circle Cup.
"I think it's a shame, but it's one of the realities of the sport. There are a lot of injuries. It's an intense sport," said Bill Costenbader.
FCC organizers say Williams has a knee injury. Lisicki has an ankle injury. And Sharapova has an elbow injury. The FCC started recruiting these top stars and up to 100 other players in the tournament in August.
Because Serena Williams dropped out last year too, some people were concerned that the FCC uses her star power to sell tickets, but officials say that's not true.
"We get calls at the last minute from agents and the players who are saying we tried we tried, but we're just not feeling healthy. It's something that unfortunately happens at the last minute. For us it's disappointing, our fans, our vendors," said FCC General Manager Bob Moran.
Local businesses, like Queen Anne's Revenge restaurant says star power or not the tournament brings a big business boost.
"I don't believe it will hurt business for anyone. Family Circle Cup has a great, packed stadium. They do great tennis matches, and we still have a packed restaurant every night," said Queen Anne's Revenge chef Thomas Williamson.
People planning to attend say it's not that big of a let down.
"Real tennis fans will still be here to watch good tennis," said Bill Costenbader.
"Love to watch the young people that are the rising stars," said Jane Costenbader.
The FCC says right now ticket sales are on track to meet last year's sales of 90,000 tickets.
Still slated to play in the tournament are three top ten players in the world Caroline Wozniacki, Jelena Jankovic, and Victoria Azarenka.
Total prize purse for the champion is $700,000.
(c)2010 WCSC
Butler's Hayward hears from a tennis hero
INDIANAPOLIS -- Like most of the Butler Bulldogs, star forward Gordon Hayward has been congratulated into a daze this week. So many handshakes, back slaps, texts and phone calls -- so hard to keep them all straight.
But one stands out for Hayward: the call from tennis star Andy Roddick.
Hayward was a tennis player growing up, and his twin sister, Heather, plays tennis at Butler. So checking voice mail and finding a message from one of the premier players in the world was a memorable experience.
Asked whether he called Roddick back, Hayward sounded intimidated by the very thought of it.
"I just sent him a text message back," he said.
(c)2010 ESPN Internet Ventures
Guillermo Canas retires from professional tennis
Former Argentine superstar Guillermo Canas recently released a statement in which he expressed his desire to retire from professional tennis, citing a persistent wrist injury as the primary reason behind the decision. Canas, who has already undergone four operations as a part of the treatment of the same injury, seemed pretty determined to avoid another surgery and said he would rather hang up his racquet for good.
Canas, who pocketed the biggest win of his career in 2002 when he defeated American Andy Roddick in the finals of the Toronto Masters series event, said he was proud to be able to achieve so much in the sport.
About his rivalry with tennis legend Roger Federer, the Argentine said - "I beat the most talented player in the world. For me it was unbelievable. And then to do it again 10 days later was like a dream for me."
Due to the doping allegations, Canas was forced to sit out of competition for two years between 2005 and 2007 as a rsult of the two year ban, along with a whopping US$ 276,070 fine.
Upon his return, Canas registered back-to-back wins over Swiss maestro Roger Federer in Indian Wells and Miami, but failed to go all the way in both the masters series events.
Canas has won a total of 7 ATP World Tour singles including a quarterfinal finish at the French Open thrice (2002, 2005, 2007), his best result in Grand Slams. The Argentine rose to the career best ranking of No.8 in June 2005, followed by his suspension from the professional circuit.
Copyright (c) 2010 TennisEarth.com
Simon reaches final of BMW tennis event
The BMW Tennis Championship has been known to jump-start players' careers every March, and this year, it appears to be Gilles Simon's turn.
Simon a Frenchman and former world No. 6 who has slipped to No. 21, reached Sunday's final in Sunrise by cruising past Santiago Giraldo of Colombia 6-1, 6-2 in a Saturday semifinal that lasted less than an hour.
Simon will play Florian Mayer of Germany, who beat Leonardo Mayer (no relation) of Argentina 7-6 (7-2), 4-6, 6-3.
Simon, 25, goes into the championship with fresh legs because his quarterfinal also was easy. His opponent, Jan Hajek, retired after the first set.
Simon has been struggling since the end of last season. A knee injury forced him to withdraw from the Australian Open in January, and he lost in the first round at Dubai, , the United Arab Emirates, Marseille, France, and Indian Wells, Calif. Mayer has skyrocketed from No. 409 to No. 53 in the past 18 months.
The doubles final is at 1 p.m. and features Lukes Dlouhy and Leander Paes vs. Martin Damm and Filio Polasek. The singles final follows, no earlier than 3 p.m. The tournament is at the Sunrise Tennis Club, 9605 W. Oakland Park Blvd. (Sunrise). Tickets are $20. For information, call 954-572-2286 or 877-877-7677, or go to BMWTennisChampionship.com.
Copyright 2010 Miami Herald Media Co
Top Seed Kuznetsova Loses Opening Match in Indian Wells TennisTop-seeded Svetlana Kuznetsova of Russia was defeated in her opening match at the BNP Paribas Open tennis tournament, losing 6-4, 4-6, 6-1 to Spain's Carla Suarez Navarro.
Kuznetsova had seven double faults and no aces, and dropped her serve six times in the second-round match today in Indian Wells, California.
Rafael Nadal of Spain, the men's No. 2 seed, won his opening match of the tournament 6-4, 6-4 against Germany's Rainer Schuettler.
The men's top seed, Roger Federer of Switzerland, who has not played since winning the title of the Australian Open on Jan. 31, has his first match of the Indian Wells tournament tomorrow against Victor Hanescu of Romania.
"I started off the season really well in Australia and I hope I can keep on the good run, I think I played some of my best tennis of my life a few weeks ago," Federer said in an interview on the tournament's Web site. "I hope I haven't lost it all yet, after having had quite a long break."
(c) 2010 BLOOMBERG L.P.
Pilic is a man for all nations
People with long memories might have caught sight of him on the Tennis Channel coverage of the Serbia-U.S. tie from Belgrade -- a tall, angular figure with straight brown hair and a lopsided grin.
His name is Nikki Pilic, and he will go down in tennis history as a man with a totally unique Davis Cup record. It started when he refused to play Davis Cup for Yugoslavia in 1973 because of professional commitments to the WCT Tour -- resulting in a suspension which became a cause celèbre when the players used it to take a stand against authoritarian amateur rule. The Pilic Affair turned into the Wimbledon boycott by 90 top pros and the governance of the game was changed forever.
Pilic then moved to Munich and became, first, coach and then captain of the German Davis Cup team, winning the Cup three times in the Boris Becker era. Later, after the break up of Yugoslavia, he answered the call of his native country when it emerged as Croatia and captained that team -- becoming the first man to have captained two countries and played for a third.
Pilic was in the captain's chair in Carson, California in 2005 when Ivan Ljubicic beat Andre Agassi to create a shock first-round upset against the United States. It kicked off a campaign that saw Croatia eventually win the Cup against Slovakia that year -- giving Pilic his fourth Davis Cup triumph.
Amazingly, little more than two years later, Pilic assumed the role of Supremo of the Serbian Davis Cup squad -- a position that may turn out to be very awkward for him in the quarterfinals when the Serbs play Croatia in an atmosphere that is going to be doused in patriotic fervor. Even Pilic, who has never been lacking in the self-confidence department, will not take the role of Serbian captain, but his influence is obviously having a beneficial effect on the fourth nation with which he has been affiliated.
Crossing national boundaries is, of course, quite common in pro sports and one should not forget that Todd Martin was also in the Serbian camp for this tie in his capacity as coach to Novak Djokovic. Historically there have been many instances, not least Bill Tilden's role as advisor to the German Davis Cup team in the late 1930's -- a story told in fascinating detail by Marshall Jon Fisher in his remarkable book "A Terrible Splendor."
But even that might turn out to be less contentious than the position in which Pilic now finds himself. It is, after all, less than two decades since Serbia and Croatia were at war. But if this is an instance of sports ability to pour balm onto old wounds then who better to apply it than Nikki Pilic -- a man for all nations.
(c) 2010 FOX News Network, LLC
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