TENNIS INDEX -- PAUL FEIN

Published : Apr 26, 2003 00:00 IST

Top 10 player who buys drinks for photographers and thanks reporters who show up at his press conferences:Roger Federer. — Pic. AP-
Top 10 player who buys drinks for photographers and thanks reporters who show up at his press conferences:Roger Federer. — Pic. AP-
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Top 10 player who buys drinks for photographers and thanks reporters who show up at his press conferences:Roger Federer. — Pic. AP-

Top 10 player who buys drinks for photographers and thanks reporters who show up at his press conferences:

Roger Federer.

Method that criminals use to escape from prisons in France:

They use explosives hidden in a tennis ball.

Reason that a 1958 Davis Cup match that American Barry MacKay played in Caracas, Venezuela, kept getting interrupted:

Gunfire.

Leading player who says she's always in a good mood:

Kim Clijsters.

Portion of new tennis players in the U.S. in 2002 that were black or Hispanic, according to a United States Tennis Association study:

1 in 3.

Who Martina Navratilova says is "the biggest hitter the game has ever seen":

Serena Williams.

Reason that Los Angeles Lakers starting forward Rick Fox says he's in the best physical shape of his life:

He took up tennis last year and plays regularly.

The tennis time that Monica Seles says "I love the most":

Hitting against a wall.

Player who was dubbed "the world's youngest tennis player" by a Minneapolis TV station which saw him hit the ball over the net from the baseline when he was only two years old:

World No. 55 Mardy Fish.

Number of coaches world No. 8 Marat Safin has had in the past three years:

7 (Rafael Mensua, Alexander Volkov, Mats Wilander, Amit Naor, Marc Rosset, Andrei Chesnokov and Denis Golovanov.)

Title of new CD featuring a catchy pop rock song performed by the independent band Binge:

Anna Kournikova.

Sports star who named his baby son Sampras "because I love tennis and Sampras is one of my sports idols":

Sri Lanka's cricketing sensation Aravinda de Silva.

Award that Serena and Venus Williams recently received that Serena considers "the apex":

The NAACP Image Award.

Number of times a baseline judge reported to the chair umpire that Serena Williams was being illegally coached by her father Richard, a front-row spectator, during her 2003 Nasdaq-100 Open final against Jennifer Capriati:

3.

Message on the side of the bus that Richard Willliams, the father-coach of Venus and Serena, drives:

"World's Greatest Dad."

When Butch Buchholz, chairman of the Nasdaq-100 Open, promises his tournament will have equal prize money for the women:

"Either next year or the following year."

Cost of a one-hour private lesson with Kathy Rinaldi, a former world top-20 player, at The Breakers resort in Palm Beach, Florida:

$225.

Sports superstar who recently bid $55,000 for a one-hour private lesson with Andre Agassi and Steffi Graf:

Randy Johnson, the 6'10" Arizona Diamondbacks' pitching ace.

Number of rackets Andre Agassi uses for each match:

6.

Fastest time that Jay Schweid, a leading racket stringer for tour players, ever strung a racket:

9 minutes (for Michael Chang during a U.S. Open match).

Eighteen-year-old that 1970s superstar Bjorn Borg says has the potential to be a great player:

Sweden's Robin Soderling.

Veteran player who Martina Navratilova says "could have done a lot better with her career":

Conchita Martinez, who beat Navratilova in the 1994 Wimbledon final.

Number of free air miles that the national Thai Airways gave Thailand tennis star Paradorn Srichaphan:

3 million.

What Gladys Heldman, the former publisher of World Tennis magazine, in 1989, wrote were the three biggest problems in men's tennis:

Appearance money, exhibitions, and tanking.

What happened to American qualifier Brian Vahaly, who majored in finance in college, after he upset Spaniards Juan Carlos Ferrero and Tommy Robredo at Indian Wells:

His professors e-mailed him and lectured him about saving money.

Number of games Eric Sturgess played on May 1, 1948 when he won the singles final and the doubles and mixed doubles semifinals and finals at the Hard Court Championships of Great Britain:

126.

Whom the fianc�e of Patty Schnyder is embroiled in a lawsuit with:

Schnyder's father.

Number of languages Moroccan star Younes El Aynaoui speaks:

6 (French, Arabic, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese and English).

What volatile Jeff Tarango intentionally dropped after he dropped a service game during a 1994 loss to Michael Chang in Tokyo:

His shorts.

How tyrannical Marinko Lucic once punished his daughter Mirjana after she lost to a lesser player:

He forced Mirjana to spend her 16th birthday locked in her room.

Music that Jennifer Capriati selected to accompany the players on to the centre court for her third-round match at the 2003 Nasdaq-100 Open:

Outkast's 1999 rap hit, "Bombs over Baghdad."

Alias that pious Michael Chang once used when he checked into the players' hotel at the Memphis tournament:

Christian Brothers.

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