Baron Court

BARON COURT

The Off-Court, behind-the-scenes bulletin

TENNIS BRIEFS

Sex Equality This is one for the record. It involves a woman named Nancy Griffin, 41, who prefers to play tennis against men. And she often beats them in a men's league sponsored by the city of Raleigh in North Carolina. But some men don't like playing her and three years ago, league members voted to rescind a rule that penalized them for refusing to compete against her or anyone else. The change has kept her from taking on some of the league's top players but she is now suing the City for discrimination and wants the penalty rule reinstated plus $10,000 compensation. The excuses used by men to avoid playing her range from "he had a jealous wife, and he couldn't play females," to complaints that she makes them run too much. The best though came from a gentleman called Randy Browning, who wrote: "As a husband, father and deacon in my church, I don't believe it's a good thing for me to be seen out playing a female other than my wife in casual matches without her around. As a believer I hope you can understand this." As a believer of what, dare I ask. Sex Sells Talking about women getting hot under the collar, poor Michael Stich was virtually assaulted when he commented during Wimbledon commentary, that the role of women players is all about ‘selling sex’ as it is winning matches. I understand he was referring to the grunting of many players which too many people, is distasteful for various reasons. He did find support in Serena Williams who believes she is a sex siren. “Sex sells” she exclaimed. “Its great for Angelina Jolie and its true across the board.” I think I’ll keep out of this one. Stalker Roddick Andy Roddick’s comely new bride, swimsuit model Brooklyn Decker, says her husband admits stalking her prior to their romance. As the story goes, he spotted her in the Sports Illustrated swimsuit special and instructed his agent to set up a meeting and, in response to the stalking allegation, he says: “It’s only stalking if the other person doesn’t like it.” I presume she did.	Remembering the first one Serena Williams has deposed golfing legend Annika Sorenstam as the biggest prize-money winner in women’s sport. She moved ahead of the Swede when she reached the singles and doubles finals at the Australian Open when her earnings reached $22,725,475 as against the retired Sorenstam’s $22,573,192. At the time Williams said: “I remember my first cheque of $240 at Quebec City in 1995 and while I knew I could have a great career in tennis, I could not have imagined or dreamed of all of this.” Can one spot a bit of humility? Dead Drug Dealer Sues The real story of the Australian Open, was the renaissance of Jelena Dokic’s career. The former Wimbledon quarter finalist, whose career virtually collapsed thanks to her irrational Serbian father Damir, played her way back into form as a wildcard entry to reach the last eight in Melbourne. But it would seem that she is still dogged by problems for she was accused of owing £30,000 to the family of a dead drug dealer! John Giannarelli was convicted in 2007 of importing drugs and allegedly bankrolled Dokic while he ‘managed’ her during the low point of her career. He died from cancer last year while serving a three year suspended sentence having also paid out a £28,000 fine. The family have claimed the money as necessary to cover his medical expenses saying he did a lot for her and now it was her turn to reciprocate. Switching Sports Beset by injury for almost two years, Thai tennis ace Paradorn Srichaphan is eyeing a switch to motorsport to assuage his competitive edge. The former world number nine has been busy promoting the sport in his home country and admits he is considering ditching his racket to race fast cars and motorcycles. "I've been really bored and it would be huge challenge to move from one sport to the next," Paradorn said. "I'm involved in a racing team and my sponsors are interested in having me racing for them, but only when I retire from tennis but I still plan to return to the tour." The 29-year-old has been off the court since December 2006 with a recurrent wrist injury. "When I watch the other [tennis] players I wish it was me; I miss the thrill of the competition.”	Stupidity Corrected Back in 2005, Austrian Gottfried Heinrich was barred from a flight for refusing to put his tennis racket in the plane’s hold. The reason given was that it was a security risk and that it appeared on a secret list listing potential terrorist weapons. The matter has been taken up with the EU’s Court of Justice who have in turn, told airlines that the list must be made public to erase the ‘fundamental absurdity’ of passengers having no way of knowing what was prohibited. And guess what, when the list was revealed, tennis rackets were not featured. Tennis players can now relax. Coconut Fights Back As sporting injury’s go, Dinara Safina’s recent explanation as to why she had plasters on her left hand during the LA event, was certainly out of the ordinary – she had lost a fight with a coconut! "I would say I lost a bet with a coconut," the Russian said. "I was trying to open a coconut and actually didn't open it very good because the knife slipped and it went straight into my hand. It was pretty deep. I was lucky that I was able to play in Los Angeles because until the day before the tournament I didn't hit any backhands. There was no chance I could hit any backhand. I was lucky I didn't touch any ligament. They didn't put the stitches in because the doctor was not on site. Now it's OK." The offending coconut went "straight into the garbage", Safina said, adding that her coach had not been too impressed when she told him what happened. Picture Fraud John McEnroe has been caught in an art fraud. The discovery came when Lawrence Salander, another art dealer, was charged with running a multi-million dollar paintings scam and one of the 26 victims so far discovered, included the former tennis star. McEnroe, now also a TV pundit, has lost $2 million which he invested in a share of two paintings, Arshile Gorky’s Pirate I and II. Another victim was the Bank of America who accepted pictures he didn’t own, as collateral for a loan. 31^st August, 2009

TENNIS BRIEFS

Sex Equality This is one for the record. It involves a woman named Nancy Griffin, 41, who prefers to play tennis against men. And she often beats them in a men's league sponsored by the city of Raleigh in North Carolina. But some men don't like playing her and three years ago, league members voted to rescind a rule that penalized them for refusing to compete against her or anyone else. The change has kept her from taking on some of the league's top players but she is now suing the City for discrimination and wants the penalty rule reinstated plus $10,000 compensation. The excuses used by men to avoid playing her range from "he had a jealous wife, and he couldn't play females," to complaints that she makes them run too much. The best though came from a gentleman called Randy Browning, who wrote: "As a husband, father and deacon in my church, I don't believe it's a good thing for me to be seen out playing a female other than my wife in casual matches without her around. As a believer I hope you can understand this." As a believer of what, dare I ask. Sex Sells Talking about women getting hot under the collar, poor Michael Stich was virtually assaulted when he commented during Wimbledon commentary, that the role of women players is all about ‘selling sex’ as it is winning matches. I understand he was referring to the grunting of many players which too many people, is distasteful for various reasons. He did find support in Serena Williams who believes she is a sex siren. “Sex sells” she exclaimed. “Its great for Angelina Jolie and its true across the board.” I think I’ll keep out of this one. Stalker Roddick Andy Roddick’s comely new bride, swimsuit model Brooklyn Decker, says her husband admits stalking her prior to their romance. As the story goes, he spotted her in the Sports Illustrated swimsuit special and instructed his agent to set up a meeting and, in response to the stalking allegation, he says: “It’s only stalking if the other person doesn’t like it.” I presume she did.	Remembering the first one Serena Williams has deposed golfing legend Annika Sorenstam as the biggest prize-money winner in women’s sport. She moved ahead of the Swede when she reached the singles and doubles finals at the Australian Open when her earnings reached $22,725,475 as against the retired Sorenstam’s $22,573,192. At the time Williams said: “I remember my first cheque of $240 at Quebec City in 1995 and while I knew I could have a great career in tennis, I could not have imagined or dreamed of all of this.” Can one spot a bit of humility? Dead Drug Dealer Sues The real story of the Australian Open, was the renaissance of Jelena Dokic’s career. The former Wimbledon quarter finalist, whose career virtually collapsed thanks to her irrational Serbian father Damir, played her way back into form as a wildcard entry to reach the last eight in Melbourne. But it would seem that she is still dogged by problems for she was accused of owing £30,000 to the family of a dead drug dealer! John Giannarelli was convicted in 2007 of importing drugs and allegedly bankrolled Dokic while he ‘managed’ her during the low point of her career. He died from cancer last year while serving a three year suspended sentence having also paid out a £28,000 fine. The family have claimed the money as necessary to cover his medical expenses saying he did a lot for her and now it was her turn to reciprocate. Switching Sports Beset by injury for almost two years, Thai tennis ace Paradorn Srichaphan is eyeing a switch to motorsport to assuage his competitive edge. The former world number nine has been busy promoting the sport in his home country and admits he is considering ditching his racket to race fast cars and motorcycles. "I've been really bored and it would be huge challenge to move from one sport to the next," Paradorn said. "I'm involved in a racing team and my sponsors are interested in having me racing for them, but only when I retire from tennis but I still plan to return to the tour." The 29-year-old has been off the court since December 2006 with a recurrent wrist injury. "When I watch the other [tennis] players I wish it was me; I miss the thrill of the competition.”	Stupidity Corrected Back in 2005, Austrian Gottfried Heinrich was barred from a flight for refusing to put his tennis racket in the plane’s hold. The reason given was that it was a security risk and that it appeared on a secret list listing potential terrorist weapons. The matter has been taken up with the EU’s Court of Justice who have in turn, told airlines that the list must be made public to erase the ‘fundamental absurdity’ of passengers having no way of knowing what was prohibited. And guess what, when the list was revealed, tennis rackets were not featured. Tennis players can now relax. Coconut Fights Back As sporting injury’s go, Dinara Safina’s recent explanation as to why she had plasters on her left hand during the LA event, was certainly out of the ordinary – she had lost a fight with a coconut! "I would say I lost a bet with a coconut," the Russian said. "I was trying to open a coconut and actually didn't open it very good because the knife slipped and it went straight into my hand. It was pretty deep. I was lucky that I was able to play in Los Angeles because until the day before the tournament I didn't hit any backhands. There was no chance I could hit any backhand. I was lucky I didn't touch any ligament. They didn't put the stitches in because the doctor was not on site. Now it's OK." The offending coconut went "straight into the garbage", Safina said, adding that her coach had not been too impressed when she told him what happened. Picture Fraud John McEnroe has been caught in an art fraud. The discovery came when Lawrence Salander, another art dealer, was charged with running a multi-million dollar paintings scam and one of the 26 victims so far discovered, included the former tennis star. McEnroe, now also a TV pundit, has lost $2 million which he invested in a share of two paintings, Arshile Gorky’s Pirate I and II. Another victim was the Bank of America who accepted pictures he didn’t own, as collateral for a loan. 31^st August, 2009