Sunday, February 8, 2009

Miscellany

Nadia Petrova has withdrawn from Pattaya City with a suspected stress fracture in her right foot. The good news is that she has recovered from viral meningitis.

The USA Team's victory in Fed Cup this weekend marked the first time the country had been down 1-2 in Fed Cup competition and emerged victorious.

Billie Jean King says she is going to try to persuade the Williams sisters to give up their ban of Indian Wells. King just happens to be an investor in the tournament, and--pardon me for being a bit cynical--but ever since she began her campaign to "correct" our perception that she was an activist for women's tennis, I have ceased to trust anything that comes out of her mouth. We are living in very non-feminist times (well, that would be almost all times, wouldn't it?), to be sure, but I didn't think I would ever see King back-pedaling on the issue. I don't think that Venus and Serena can be persuaded to play in Indian Wells, and if you've ever heard some of the "apologies," then you will understand why I support the sisters in their boycott.

Amelie Mauresmo plays Sara Errani in the first round of the Open GDF SUEZ next week. Errani defeated her this weekend in Fed Cup competition.

Former world number 14 Elena Bovina, who has had a terrible time of it in her attempt to return to the tour, will be playing in Pattaya City next week. Junior world number 1 Noppawan Lertcheewakarn has a wild card into the main draw.

Here is one of the dresses that Maria Sharapova might have worn in Melbourne. I like it, and hope we get to see her in it.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Well it was nice reading this blog Diane. Writing anything negative about Billie is blasphemy in our circle of tennis lovers. :-)
They'll probably assign you to golf coverage now -- if you're lucky.
;-)

- David

Diane said...

Oh, no--not that!

ken said...

I like BJK well enough and certainly believe the sports world is slightly less yucky because of her, but her approach to activism and her statements about various causes have always been tinged with that liberal, slightly apologetic tone. I'm not surprised by her recent clarification.
Perhaps some day, somebody will step up and say that feminist activism helps more than just women; that feminism is about ending all types of oppression and the manifestations of that oppression instead of apologizing for being a feminist.
And in regards to Maria's dress. I would have liked it better if it had faded to shades of blue ending in a deep navy. I'm not a fan of yellow and black--too bumblebee-esque.

Diane said...

I'm not a fan of bright yellow and black, either, but this is the palest yellow, and fades to gray to smoke to black. Different.