News flash: Pam Shriver discovers Yanina Wickmayer

From Peter Bodo's recent conference call:

Pam, on her under-the-radar player to watch: "I'm looking at the third Belgian, Yanina Wickmayer. She made the U.S. Open semifinals last year, and even though she's been through a lot since then (including the ongoing controversy over Wickmayer's violation of the drug-testing agency's "Whereabouts" rule), she's got a really big game. I want to see how much it's matured since the Open. This girl could be really good."

Pam Shriver, meet Yanina WIckmayer

Caroline Wozniacki's opponent in the U.S. Open semifinals will be Yanina Wickmayer, a young Belgian who may or may not have been insulted by Pam Shriver on ESPN tonight. Given Shriver's penchant for sarcasm and her admission a day or so ago that she didn't know who Wickmayer was, I'm of the opinion that the insult occurred. In interviewing Wozniacki, Shriver, rolling her eyes, said "Your next opponent is (pause) Yanina Wickmayer." The crowd booed her.

There is really no excuse for a commentator to not know who a semifinalist is, no matter strange she may think the draw is. And there is certainly no excuse for making a humiliating comment, even a subtle one, about Wickmayer's success at the Open. Wickmayer is ranked number 50 in the world, yet I didn't hear Shriver make a snide remark about world number 70 Melanie Oudin when she reached the quarterfinals.

I first saw Yanina Wickmayer in Fed Cup competition last year when she defeated both Bondarenko sisters. She's a good hitter with an especially good serve, and she knows how to vary it. She reached the Birmingham final this year, but lost to Kateryna Bondarenko, whom she defeated today in the U.S. Open quarterfinals. Like a lot of youthful big hitters, Wickmayer is inconsistent, and prone to making errors. She is also something of a hothead, which has gotten her into trouble.

On her way to the semifinals, Wickmayer defeated 16th seed Virginie Razzano, Peng Shuai, Sara Errani, Petra Kvitova, and Kateryna Bondarenko.

Ford speaks out about the Dubai situation

Bonnie D. Ford, writing for ESPN about Shahar Peer's visa denial, has taken to task everyone from cowardly officials of the United Arab Emirates to the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour leadership to the players themselves. Ford interviewed ESPN commentator and former tour star Pam Shriver about the situation. Says Shriver:

The tournament should automatically lose the right to exist. I know that carries unbelievable financial and political ramifications, and sometimes you have to be willing to live in a two-faced environment. But if this tournament is going to send out invitations and only ask who they want, if that's the way they want it to be, then they're an exhibition.

According to Ford, Sony Ericsson WTA Tour chairman and CEO Larry Scott said he has been concerned about the situation for more than a year. "I saw firsthand that there were some issues," Scott said. "I met with government officials and I told them I expected Shahar Peer would want to play the following year, and that whatever issues they had needed to be solved."

Says Ford:

If we question the United Arab Emirates' ethics, the WTA's decision to invest in Dubai in 2003 and the tour's judgment in allowing the event to go forward without Peer, we probably also should question why the 55 players on site didn't caucus when they found out she was on the other side of the barbed wire and try to imagine how it would feel if it happened to them on the basis of race, religion or passport.

Quote of the week

"She plays without being perfectly fit. Some players are afraid to go out there at anything less than their best."

Pam Shriver on Jelena Jankovic

Shriver and Lazenby to divorce

Commentator and former doubles champion Pam Shriver has filed for divorce from Australian actor George Lazenby after six years of marriage. Shriver and Lazenby have three children.

Lazenby--who is alleged to have been offered a seven-picture deal but turned it down--played the role of James Bond in On Her Majesty's Secret Service. He was also the European Marlboro Man. He was formerly married to Christina Gannett of the Gannett Newspaper Publishing family.

Shriver, who won 22 majors in doubles and an Olympic gold medal, is currently best known as a tennis commentator for ESPN. However, she also provides commentary for ABC, CBS, the BBC, and 7-Sport.

What I don't like about the challenge system

The challenge system, which is now used in all Grand Slams and also in the larger tournaments, is, by all accounts, popular with most players and fans. But NBC commentator Mary Carrillo has a complaint about it, and I agree with her: Carrillo does not like limiting each player to three challenges (with extra challenges in the tiebreak). As you know, each time a player is wrong in a challenge, she loses that challenge. So if she is wrong three times, she loses all of her challenges. If she is right three times, she still has three challenges left.

Carrillo argues that a player should get all the challenges she wants, and I make the same argument. Though it may add some element of excitement for fans to see players lose their challenges, such an arrangement does not support the professional process; i.e., that pro tennis players are both making a living and striving to do the best they can do. The Hawkeye system is a great innovation; therefore, use it. The presumption of the current system is that players would abuse it if allowed to, and that is another way of saying "These professionals are not really professional." If players are expected to show up for tournaments, press conferences and personal appearances, then they should also be expected to judiciously utilize a challenge system.

To make matters worse, the line callers' accuracy percentage is not very good. I was stunned to hear Pam Shriver (I know--I should never be stunned by anything that comes out of Shriver's mouth) say last year that the line callers did a great job--they were right 70% of the time! In fact, during last year's U.S. Open series, stats kept for a week showed that the line callers were right only 65% of the time.

65 and 70% are pretty poor percentages. Let players use Hawkeye.