A man in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida has been arrested for stalking Serena Williams.
Sandra Harwitt writes about the notable career of Esther Vergeer.
The WTA website is featuring an interview with Kristina Barrois, who joined the tour when she was 25 years old.
Eurosport's "Tramlines" column informs us that "nobody is really watching" women's tennis, so combined events are good for the WTA.
Steffi Graf will participate in the Chris Evert/Raymond James Pro Celebrity Tennis Class, which will be played November 11-13. This will be Graf's first appearance at the event, which is a fund-raiser for at-risk families in Florida.
9 comments:
Hi Diane:
"Tramlines" is that a forum on the ES site ?
Eurosport's excellent all-season live tennis coverage has been my WTA "fix" for a number of years. Watching Georges v Safina right now (get on with it ladies !) with JJ v Safarova up next. I dread the day if ES should pull the plug on televising WTA events. Low attendances at some of the big events must be a worry though.
The new Tennis TV contract does not permit you to choose between WTA and ATP, but forces you to buy both. I never bought the combined package because I just thought that was too much of a viewing temptation, but when my contract comes up for renewal, I'll have no choice. More expensive, too, to buy the whole package, but you get a lot for the price.
Thanks for letting us know about the great article on Esther Vergeer, Diane. Someday I hope to see her in action.
Mel
I wrote a blog post recently about the fact that combined events are not good for the WTA. The WTA needs to stop relying on men's tennis to sell their product. I think if the WTA markets the Tour differently and perhaps has more tv packages in the same way the ATP does, then it will put seats in the stadiums. The problem is that most fans do not know the players in the same way that the ATP markets its players. The ATP has a programme called ATP World Tour and it focuses on every single player not just the top stars. What does the WTA have? A youtube programme called Hot Shots, which does not focus on the players as professional athletes but rather urges them to sell themselves as models etc. Ridiculous. No wonder fans are not turning out. If women's tennis was so boring and in such a bad way, how come when certain big names play there are seats in the stadium? People recognise names and the WTA needs to start show casing all their players. Everyone is shocked at Georges, but long time fans of the Tour know her and knew her potential.
I'd like to see her, too, Mel.
I agree with you completely, Karen. The Eurosport writer seemed to think that this combined events create a kind of "do what you can to get noticed" situation. I understand that, but it still presumes that women are the "other" in sports. Marketing female players as athletes, and relentlessly insisting that the sports media pay attention to them is the solution.
Pinch me...what century are we in???
No fan of the combined events either, but I fear it's become irreversible trend. Even at these events Eurosport's coverage is exclusively WTA, we are spoilt rotten with 4 live women's matches every day for much of the year. And long may that continue, keep the guys coverage over on Murdoch's Empire - Sky Sports.
I agree WTA has always done a poor job marketing it's top 20 players. Look at the first week, prime-time Ashe night match at the USO. A showbiz 50-minute Williams or Sharapova 6-1 6-1 beatdown will always get preference over a potentially more competitive match between two "lesser" names.
As for the UK, the football beast continues to devour all in the media. Tennis coverage drags in a distant seventh, the odd paragraph devoted to Murray if he is playing, the women barely deserving a mention. A couple of British women top 20'rs would raise the profile the game desperately needs here. I don't see that happening anytime soon.
Frankly it all boils down to marketing. The ATP as well as its players are doing a great job of marketing the Tour. When people like Federer are asked questions in press conferences about the sport, they give wonderful responses which are usually long and thought provoking. In the women's game, they are asked ridiculous questions about where they want to eat and where do they shop. Who gives a you know what.
Apart from the tirade by Venus Williams against some hack reporter at Wimbledon when she defended Dinara Safina, there has not been much in the way of the women high-profiling their sport. We have some who giggle throughout their press conferences, some who fidget endlessly, some who stare off into space and some who make up all kinds of ridiculous stories to tell the media. Even when Federer and Nadal were not as high-profile as they are now, you never got them behaving and/or being portrayed in the way the women are, and that annoys me. Djokovic used to make a mockery of himself and now he knows better.
Why can the women not see that their behaviour and those of the media are bringing their sport into disrepute? Aarggh
I think the answer to your question lies in the expectations of the WTA, and--in the much bigger picture--the culture itself. I understand that the WTA wants to promote personalities, but the biggest of those personalities sometimes get left out. I would never miss a q&a with Safina or Schiavone, but they are not, you know, the "type."
You have to be a really, really top player on the women's tour in order to get attention if you aren't one of those "chosen" to be marketed. They can't ignore Serena, of course. And Venus is sort of in a class of her own in that she assumed unofficial leadership of the tour, very much like Lindsay Davenport did.
Less people watch women's tennis since they don't take it as seriously as the men's game.
The WTA is at least partially at fault for that lower opinion of women's tennis. They claim to respect their players, but I think they are more concerned with publicity of any type (WTA really stands for "We'll Try Anything").
As Mary Carillo pointed out, it's the WTA that tries on-court "daddy coaching little girl".
It's the WTA that didn't deal with on-court shrieking back in the Seles day. I don't recall having a similar problem with on-court yelling from the men. Some overbearing coaches could have just as easily encouraged their male players to develop that type of hindrance.
The accredited blogger situation is out of control. Put yourself in the shoes of the female tennis professional. Would you really give the extra effort to develop your press relation skills if you are sitting across the all-access table from a journalist that calls you a tranny, or a "cow on ice"?
Treating your players with respect is a long term investment. Federer took years to mature into such a good statesman for the game. To my knowledge, he's been treated with respect all along the way (even when he behaved poorly at the start).
If the WTA really treated their players with respect, they could have both the "glamour marketing" they now go for, but also more involvement from the veterans.
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