Davenport and Morariu to reunite in Doha

But not on the doubles court. The two friends and former doubles partners will be in the broadcast booth for the Sony Ericsson Championships. Morariu will be paired with lead commentator Barry McKay, and they will be assisted by Davenport. Pre- and post-match interviews will be conducted by Tracy Austin. 

Enough, Corina, enough...

There was a time when Vera Zvonareva used to burst into tears while she was on the court. Her emotional instability was so serious, it knocked her right out of the top ten. But that was a long time ago, and we have not witnessed any type of unstable behavior from Zvonareva for a few years. Yet Tennis Channel's Corina Morariu cannot shut up about Zvonareva' s emotional fragility. Will she hold it together or will we see her come apart? Can she handle such a big moment?

Corina...please set your watch to the present and talk about something that is relevant.

Morariu's issues are showing

When a commentator makes an inane comment once, I assume it is just to fill in time, but Corina Morariu's remarks about how wealthy the top players are have become chronic. The last several time I have watched matches on Tennis Channel, Morariu has been on hand to say something snide about a player's "needing more cash" or having a big bank account or shopping for expensive items.

No one is more disturbed than I that athletes make truckloads of money. But that is not the fault of the athletes; rather, it is the fault of a system that values physical prowess and entertainment more than other things. Perhaps Morariu is feeling blue that she raked in only $1,733, 916 in winnings in her career. Of course, that figure does not include money made from sponsorships. I do not know how much money she made that way, but--as number 1 doubles player in the world--I suspect she made some.

Corina Morariu and I certainly have different ideas about what "exciting" means

Throughout her Sony Ericsson WTA Tour Year-End Championships coverage for The Tennis Channel, former doubles world number one Corina Morariu has praised the elimination of the ad point in doubles as "exciting." Her rationale is that once the score is a deuce, there is only one chance to win the game. I get it, but the word I would pick is "fast." Or maybe "boring." Exciting is having multiple deuces, multiple game points and multiple break points. Winning a game after saving at least one break point is thrilling, as is winning a game after saving at least one game point.

No-ad scoring and the advent of the super-tiebreak are only two of the horrors planned for dumbing down doubles. There is also a proposal to call for a tiebreak at 4-all. Martina Navratilova, of all people, has called for the end of the ad point in singles. I recently saw ATA doubles players Knowles and Nestor call for it, too. While it is true that shortening doubles matches does attact more singles specialists to play doubles at tournaments, what is the point if the doubles matches are going to be boring?

No-ad scoring in doubles makes the match go faster, but rather than being exciting, it actually sucks the excitement right out of the game.

It's official--Morariu retires

Photo courtesy of After Atalanta

Corina Morariu has indeed retired. Here's more.

Corina Morariu--unconfirmed statement on her retirement

Several days ago, I read in Jon Wertheim's column that Corina Morariu was retiring at the U.S. Open. I heard nothing about it on television and saw nothing else about it, so I wondered if Wertheim were mistaken. I still have seen nothing else about it, but if it's true, then it is shameful that she wasn't given a proper send-off at the Open.

Morariu is not only American (those are the only retirements the U.S. sports press and television commentators care about)--she is a former world number 1 doubles player. She also had to undergo chemotherapy for acute promyelocytic leukemia, and made a successful comeback to the tour. Morariu--who was once a top-30 singles player--played doubles with many partners, but her best-known partnership is probably the one with her friend Lindsay Davenport. They won Wimbledon in 1999, and Morariu was also a finalist in two other Grand Slam tournaments.