Miscellany

The BNP Paribas Showdown for the Billie Jean King Cup, held in Madison Square Garden in 2009 and 2010, will be replaced in 2011 by a match between Pete Sampras and Andre Agassi. Prior to the match, there will be a one-set exhibition match played by John McEnroe and Ivan Lendl.

Venus and Serena Williams were each fined $4,000 for failure to appear at a post-doubles match press conference at Wimbledon. Serena said today she was not aware there was a press conference--that generally, the team is simply asked to deliver a statement to the press.

The Fed Cup final between the USA and Italy will be held November 6 and 7 at the San Diego Sport Arena.

Sabine Lisicki has returned to the court to practice after a long injury layoff.

World Team Tennis competition begins on July 5. Martina Hingis will be playing for the New York Buzz, whose first match will be played against the Philadelphia Freedoms.

Venus Williams wins BNP Paribas Showdown for Billie Jean King Cup

This is a rather late posting, but I have had no Internet connection, and I thought better now than not at all: On Monday night in Madison Square Garden, Venus Williams defeated Kim Clijsters 6-4, 3-6, 7-5 to win the second annual Billie Jean King Cup.

In one-set, no-ad scoring, Williams defeated Svetlana Kuznetsova in the semifinal, and Clijsters defeated Ana Ivanovic. Williams was awarded $400,000 for winning the exhibition tournament.

Miscellany

Alexa Glatch will not be competing for a wild card into the Australian Open main draw, after all. The latest contenders announced are Julia Cohen and Ester Goldfield. One more contender will be announced at a later date.

Jarmila Groth has been granted Australian citizenship.

Yanina Wickmayer will know within four months whether the appeal of her one-year suspension is successful. One hopes that "within four months" will be sooner than later.

Sun Tiantian recently married, and there is speculation that she will retire soon.

The second BNP Paribas Showdown, better known as the Billie Jean King Cup, will be played March 1 in Madison Square Garden. The competitors are Serena Williams, Venus Williams, Kim Clijsters, and Svetlana Kuznetsova. Serena was last year's winner.

Talk about spin...

Any political campaign you can name has nothing on the Billie Jean King Cup introduction of Venus Williams, in which Williams was praised for "speaking out" on behalf of Shahar Peer.

Did I miss something? I distinctly heard Williams say that she and all players needed to consult with sponsors and the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour before committing to any act regarding Peer's ban from Dubai. Yes, she said a few words about Peer when she received her trophy, and she would have been a complete fool if she hadn't. But saying those words while one is holding a huge check from the Dubai organizers is a somewhat cynical distortion of the concept of "speaking out."

Serena wins Billie Jean King Cup

Serena Williams emerged the champion in the evening's exhibition tournament in Madison Square Garden. I did not watch the entire thing--it was too much to expect me to watch Billie Jean King be honored for activism she is now claiming was not her intention, or to listen to her campaign for no-ad scoring. (Isn't it enough for King, et al, that doubles competition has been destroyed?) Add to that the presence of John McEnroe, and the event just didn't hold much appeal for me.

I did see most of the opening set, however, between Venus Williams and Jelena Jankovic. For a while, Jankovic actually looked like herself, but she played a disaster of a game at 4-all, and that was pretty much that. Too bad. But at least we got to see something of the real JJ.

I saw a little of the set between Serena Williams and Ana Ivanovic. From what I saw, Ivanovic failed to take advantage of some opportunities, and Williams made her pay.

The main event was the final between the Williams sisters. The first set had one game that went on for a very long time, and it finally went to Serena, who took the first set, 6-4. In the second set--or at least what I saw of it--Venus could not serve, and was making errors right and left. I think Venus must be a bit tired--at least mentally--after winning back-to-back titles in Dubai and Acapulco. Serena, however, looked great, and took the final, 6-4, 6-3.

It was also Tennis Night in America, with 750 tennis centers staying open to register children for lessons and league play.