TRASH TALK: At the WTA stop in Carson, California, in August, Maria Sharapova pumped her fist at the start of the third set in her second-round match against Nadia Petrova. Petrova responded with an obscene gesture, according to Sharapova's dad, Yuri, who proceeded to taunt Petrova from the stands for the rest of the set. After the match, which Sharapova won, Petrova's coach, Glen Schaap, accosted Yuri and pushed him into a trash can. Security guards broke up the scuffle.
SUDDEN ENTRANCE:At the Pan American Games in the Dominican Republic, 20-year-old American Alex Bogomolov Jr. had a wacky day. He awoke the morning of Aug. 5 reeling from a long match the day before and decided to get IV fluids to combat fatigue. No problem, because he was scheduled for the day's second match. But the first match didn't last even an hour, and Bogomolov had to high-tail it to the bus. The driver whizzed through traffic and got Bogomolov to the tennis centre just as he was being called to the court, avoiding default. He changed into his tennis clothes — and realized he had left his shoes at the hotel. He had to borrow the shoes of USTA public relations official, which were a size too small. Still, Bogomolov won the match 7-6 (5), 6-4 over Pablo Gonzales of Colombia (and eventually took home a bronze medal in doubles with Jeff Morrison).
TENNIS DAD JAILED:In Dax, France, police arrested Christophe Fauviau, 43, the father of a 16-year-old junior tennis player, Maxime, on suspicion of drugging his son's opponents with an anti-anxiety pill and causing the death of one of them. Fauviau was taken into custody after one of Maxime's opponents died in a car crash and an autopsy found that the player had Temesta, which induces drowsiness, in his system. Another player told authorities that he saw Fauviau tampering with his water bottle before a match against Maxime.
SHORT SETS: Serena Williams will play a reformed gang member on parole in the Oct. 1 episode of the Show time crime drama Street Time.
Just as the August issue of Maxim hit newsstands with Anna Kournikova on the cover, her agent, Phil de Picciotto, said her career may be over because of a chronic back injury. At press time, she was 1-5 for the year. Stuck on you, the feature film from Peter and Bobby Farrelly (There's Something About Mary) that hits theaters in December, is about conjoined twins (played by Matt Damon and Greg Kinnear) who excel at sports. "The twins play tennis, but only one makes the team. The other has to tag along," Peter told Sports Illustrated. At the Mercedes-Benz Cup in Los Angeles in August, actress Tara Reid (My Boss's Daughter) sat next to Nick Philippuossis in the player's box to cheer on his son, Mark Philippoussis. Reid and Mark have been linked romantically, though they say they're just friends.
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