Miscellany

Fans of the great Chris Evert (and those who want to know why so many of us are fans) will enjoy watching the 16-year-old Evert display nerves of steel in the midst of staving off six match points in the third round of the 1971 U.S. Open. This was Evert's U.S. Open debut, and here, she is playing Mary Ann Eisel, who is also impressive.

This time, Billie Jean King talks about being gay on the tour, but she just had to find a way to tell us--one more time, in case we didn't hear it the first ten times--that she really wasn't trying to help women when she became a sudden feminist hero. Really, she wasn't...

During the Dubai final, a Tennis TV commentator described Venus Williams as "sort of an octopus--you can't get around her reach."

Dubai organizers say that for Andy Ram, security will be no problem.

Tracy Austin has been appointed to the position of player development consultant for the USTA, and will report to Patrick McEnroe, who is the general manager of player development. Austin will help coach the players who are training in Carson, California, including: Sloane Stephens, Nicole Gibbs, Asia Muhammad, and Coco Vandewegh. (Thanks to Zoo Tennis for this link.)

I saw a transcript of an interview with Daniela Hantuchova, in which she makes it clear that--if Roger Federer were to ask her to be his mixed doubles partner, she would accept. Just to get this straight: Hantuchova has to sit and wait for Federer to ask her. After all, it's not like she holds a career Grand Slam in mixed doubles...