ROLE MODEL: Daniela Hantuchova (pix, right) has said the she won't follow in Anna Kournikova's footsteps and put fame before game. Yet recently, when both players were in Dublin, Ireland, for an exhibition, Hantuchova followed Kournikova's footsteps — literally. The two strutted their stuff on the runway in the Trilogy Fashion Show alongside the likes of supermodel Tyra Banks. It was all for a good cause: proceeds went to the Chernobyl Children Project.
BETTER DAYS? For years, the pros have gripped that the season is too long and the Australian Open is held at the worst possible time, in mid-January, when the summer heat is oppressive and sometimes dangerous. In January, the International Tennis Federation said they were considering several changes, chief among them pushing the Australian Open to March. "It's logical that we're too early and the end of the season is too late," Geoff Pollard, President of Tennis Australia, told a Melbourne radio station. "This has been on the agenda for a while, but there's no clear and obvious solution. We wouldn't move unless we were sure that the players would support an Australian circuit." The ITF is in talks with the tours to facilitate the move, which won't happen before 2007, according to organisers of the Australian Open. Also on the table: Increasing the time between Roland Garros and Wimbledon, which are separated by just two weeks, and trimming the number of events in the fall after the U.S. Open.
SHORT SETS: Andy Roddick is dating pop singer/actress Mandy Moore... Boris Becker has become the publisher of Germany's Tennis Magazin... Lindsay Davenport has a new coach, future brother-in-law Rick Leach... Anna Samashnova married her coach, Claudio Pistolesi. She will now go by Anna Pistolesi... After a little more than a year on the job, WTA CEO Kevin Wulff has resigned his post and taken a management position at Adidas... At the USTA, Rick Ferman resigned recently as executive director and Paul Annacone left his position as managing director of High Performance program and returned to coaching Pete Sampras. Annacone's position was filled by Paul Roetert and Eliot Teltscher was appointed director of tennis operations for High Performance... The women's event held in Manhattan Beach California, for the last 21 years is moving to an 8,000 seat stadium in Carson, California, August 4-10 The new stadium is under construction... The 2003 edition of the Encyclopedia Britannica includes a biography of Venus and Serena Williams. They join four other female pros with their own entries: Steffi Graf, Chris Evert, Martina Navratilova and Billie Jean King.
BATTER UP: Andy Roddick's got game — and not just in tennis. Before the Australian Open, A-Rod grabbed a bat and face off against one of the world's best cricket bowlers (or pitchers), Shane Warne of Australia, at the Sydney Cricket Ground during the fourth day of the competition between Australia and England. Warne said he "was impressed with Andy's hand-eye coordination and the amount of times he made contact with my deliveries."
Comments
SHARE