October 4, 2008 • 1:57 am 0
The women of the WTA are in a tight race to the year ending championships in Doha. Here’s how it’s playing out.
Yes, I took this graphic from tennis.com because I’m lazy and busy. I get this feeling that the YEC is going to be craptacular this year, seeing as we most likely won’t get both Williams sisters, Sharapova’s not playing, Ivanovic hasn’t shown up since Roland Garros and it’s in Doha. So I won’t be able to watch it at a reasonable hour. Ugh.
July 30, 2008 • 1:41 am 1
The WTA is planning on formally unveiling its Road Map 2010 plan at next month’s U.S. Open. For those of you who are not aware, Road Map is basically Larry Scott’s master plan of controlling players like Maria Sharapova and Serena and Venus Williams’ playing schedules. The tour is planning to exchange a 40% pay increase for a full field at mandatory events. And if you don’t play, you get slapped with a heavy fine, even if you’re injured. Maybe it’s just me, but, it seems like this isn’t going to fix any problems. If Sharapova or the Sisters don’t want to play, they’re not going to play. Money really isn’t an issue for them. Maria makes $26 million a year, a couple grand isn’t going to set her back all that much. As for the players who make less than $20 mil a year, it seems like they’d just play events injured to avoid these fines and being penalized in the rankings, which is just going to see the overall quality of tennis drop. Needless to say, this whole thing is pretty stupid.
Filed under: WTA, maria sharapova, serena williams, sports, Tennis, venus williams, WTA
July 8, 2008 • 7:57 pm 3
Janko Tipseravic offered this little gem about women’s tennis:
“99% of male tennis players can’t stand women’s tennis. There’s no other sport with such a big disparity concerning level of play and the money women make. A friend of mine says that a woman who wins a Slam should only earn enough money to pay for her airplane ticket home. Who knows what else I would say if it wasn’t for Ana and Jelena whom I may consider friends. But of course, I appreciate the effort they’re putting into tennis, because I know they practise as hard as I do. [...] The way women think on court cannot be compared to men. Their only strategy is ‘hit the ball where your opponent isn’t.’ Nothing more! No ‘Put more spin on the ball, this is an important point, play to her backhand’. No way! [...] It’s that such kind of tennis works today. Look at the Williams sisters, Sharapova or Ivanovic who hits the ball like a truck on steroids. I get a bit critical when I see how much the women earn and how their opening rounds go. That’s what irritates me the most, I feel like going to WTA HQ and *something* all of them. Look at Federer who is so dominant, he has to work so hard to beat a Staracce or an Almagro, he may even lose a set and then look at Sharapova or Ivanovic who lose 3 games in the first 4 rounds. It makes me sick”.
Uhh, Janko, your stupidity is showing.
Filed under: Tipseravic, janko tipseravic, sports, Tennis, WTA
June 19, 2008 • 1:37 am 0
Well, I found some. Actually, more like heroines, but that’s besides the point. The Sony Ericsson WTA has launched its largest ever ad campaign, entitled “Looking For a Hero?”. The video ads are here. The rest of the print ads are after the cut. Read the rest of this entry »
Filed under: WTA, maria sharapova, serena williams, sports, Tennis, WTA
May 3, 2008 • 6:32 pm 1
Maria Sharapova is no stranger to getting hit with fines from the WTA, but, this time she isn’t standing for it. The grievances begin for Sharapova after being fined $125,000 dollars for pulling out of Berlin after notifying tour officials that if she played Charleston she would not be playing Berlin. Now, the WTA is requiring her, and several other top players (Justine Henin, Ana Ivanovic, Jelena Jankovic,and Serena Williams, to name a few), to do a 5 hour commercial shoot in Rome right after a 12 hour flight from L.A. and on the eve of the Tier I held there. The fine for not participating is $700,000. Sharapova has since gone public with her dilemma. “The tour does not care what any of the players think, not just top players, The tour will say we have done all these amazing things that the players wanted, but trust me these things they wanted as well and financially benefited from, including this shoot. I want people to understand that I took this action because this is one in a long list of things that the tour has ignored the players. This is not about just one shoot. I just could not just sit back anymore.” Maria told TennisReporters.net. Maria also called out the WTA in her blog. Sharapova is now considering enlisting the help of other top players and boycotting the shoot or taking legal action against the WTA.
Filed under: Sharapova, fines, maria sharapova, Sharapova, sports, Tennis, WTA
