Sunday, June 8, 2014

Sweeping the court

Andy Murray has hired Amelie Mauresmo to be his coach for the grass season. After Wimbledon, Murray and Mauresmo will talk about whether she will continue as a long-term coach. Mauresmo, the French Fed Cup captain, won both Wimbledon and the Australian Open. She was ranked number 1 in the world, and in 2004, she won an Olympic silver medal. Mauresmo is one of the co-directors of the Paris indoor tournament, and was on the list of possible French Davis Cup captains the last time the position was open.

I mentioned, not long ago, that former "Real Housewives of New York City" cast member Jill Zarin will participate in the mixed doubles part of the U.S. Open National Playoffs. Joining her will be cast member LuAnn de Lesseps, whose partner will be Elliott Pettit, a teaching pro at the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center. (I know, I know--money can't buy you game!)

Here are two icons of Paris for your viewing entertainment. Doesn't Maria look fabulous?

Caroline Wozniacki will return to the New Haven tournament this year. Wozniacki has a 26-2 record at the event. Also entered are Simona Halep, Genie Bouchard, Sara Errani, and Petra Kvitova.

Here's a peek at Serena Williams' Wimbledon dress.

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

Can't believe all the nonsense that is flying around about Andy Murray hiring Amelie Mauresmo! How many women are there with male coaches??? And seems like only yesterday she was being hassled for being gay and playing like a man, now she's too female....AARGH! And I'm embarrassed to be Australian with Marinko 'the troglodyte' Matosevic on board. Get over it, boys, and get on with playing tennis.

Diane said...

I know. They can't think of enough ways to attack both Andy and Amelie. The decision has really brought out world-class misogyny and gay-hating (which, in my opinion, are inseparable, anyway). I'm doing my best to avoid reading it :(

Sabey said...

I am so happy that Murray hired Mauresmo. I might even cheer for him now!

Sarah said...

I like Andy Murray more and more seeing how he's handled this whole ridiculous saga and Diane I agree, hasn't it just brought out misogyny like you wouldn't believe! I thought it would create a bit of a stir but am stunned by what has blown up because of it. Errr what century are we living in people? As for Matosevic I'm also completely embarrassed to be from the same country. Please don't hold it against us, most Australians are a little more evolved. :-) Then again this is coming from a guy who's biggest success to date has been the second round of a grand slam so I don't think Andy Murray and Amelie Mauresmo are even aware of his existence!

Diane said...

The "unspoken" sexism and misogyny have been pretty freely expressed in the past year or so. Tsonga, Gulbis, Ferrer (my biggest disappointment--I was a fan), and now this. None, unfortunately, surprising. The bigots get a twofer with this development because they can pile it on Amelie for being gay, also--and they are.

One of the problems is that misogyny is totally ignored, while sexism isn't taken seriously at all. Recently, a tennis writer I really respect referred readers to some examples of "hilarious" sexism, meaning the commenters had said some outrageous things. But I had to ask myself: Would he have dared refer readers to some examples of "hilarious" racism?

Similarly, the press treated the Tsonga and Gulbis incidents as "provocative" or even amusing. Ha-ha. Because attitudes and speech intended to offend and belittle women just isn't considered a big deal.

The press stirs it up, too. On Eurosport right now is a completely useless article whose existence is offensive, and whose headline indicates that Murray is hampered by the physical logistics of having a female coach (and of course, there's no mention of how logistically bad it must be for a woman to have a male coach). The actual content of the article is Murray saying that he isn't hampered.

Caroline (original anonymous) said...

I agree, Andy has gone up a lot in my estimation, particularly in comparison to others such as Tsonga and Gulbis etc. Andy's is the kind of attitude you would hope for from a man in this century. And Amelie is handling everything with dignity as usual.

Diane said...

I have always liked Andy. This just makes me like him more :)

Sarah said...

Me too Diane! I really hope they have great success as a team.