Passing shots

Dinara Safina has hired Davide Sanguinetti to be her coach. Sanguinetti reached a career-high rank of 42 in the ATP.

Olympus has settled the lawsuit filed against the company by the USTA. Olympus will remain a sponsor of the U.S. Open, and will remain the title sponsor of the U.S. Open Series.

There are a number of travel packages available for the Family Circle Cup, which will be played April 2-10.

You can read about Australia's new Learn Earn Legend! program here; it's the lastest initiative of the great Evonne Goolagong Cawley.

Venus Williams is the service speed leader so far in 2011. She hit a 121.2 mph (195 kph) serve at the Australian Open. Right behind her, not surprisingly, is Lucie Hradecka, who hit a 120. 5 mph (194 kph) serve in Brisbane.

New Zealand and Malaysia both pulled out of Fed Cup competition because they didn't have enough good players to compete. Marina Erakovic and Sacha Jones, New ealand's top players, both have wrist injuries.

Miscellany

The USTA has filed a suit against Olympus, the sponsor of the U.S. Open Series. The contract between Olympus and the USTA, which runs through 2013, stipulates that the camera company can opt out of the last two years if wishes to, but Olympus officials decided to opt out in 2011, which is a year early. The USTA is calling this action a breach of contract, but Olympus maintains that the USTA already breached the contract by permitting Panasonic to infringe on Olympus's sponsorship rights. USTA officials have referred to this opinion as being "without merit."

Don't miss WTA Backspin's WTA Yearbook.

A number of tennis and sports websites are reporting that Kimiko Date Krumm will retire next year. When she lost in the Asian Games, she said that she was very tired and maybe would have to quit next year, then she almost immediately felt better and talked about her future tennis plans. Though she certainly could stop after next year, the statement that she absolutely "will retire" was taken out of context by the Asian press and has been carelessly reprinted.

Laura Robson, who split with her coach in September, is reported to be looking for a new one.

Here are some early, and really cute, photos of the Williams sisters.

Good news--San Diego is back

The Sony Ericsson WTA Tour has not stopped in San Diego for two years. Consequently, the women have had only four tournaments to play in the U.S. Open Series. But Mercury Insurance has signed on to sponsor the event, which is held at La Costa Resort in Carlsbad, California. The Mercury Insurance Open will begin in July 31. Already entered are Dinara Safina, Svetlana Kuznetsova, Daniela Hantuchova, and Ana Ivanovic.

Dementieva wins U.S. Open Series

Elena Dementieva has won the 2009 Olympus U.S. Open Series. Dementieva--a favorite going into the U.S. Open--won the Rogers Cup, and made it to the semifinals in both Stanford and Cincinnati. Coming in second was Flavia Pennetta, who tied with Jelena Jankovic in points, but whose participation level in the series was greater.

Dementieva, Pennetta and Jankovic now stand to win bonus prize money at the U.S. Open.

"The Greatest Train Wreck in Sports"

James Martin has a few things to say about the U.S. Open Series and the women's tour.

Signed and sealed: Safina wins Rogers Cup and U.S. Open Series

It was a shame that Dominka Cibulkova pretty much went to pieces in her Rogers Cup final against Dinara Safina. The generally tough customer could not serve, and could not even defend very well. It will be the last time she lets nerves get the best of her, I think. This time, it made it that much easier for Dinara Safina to win a big match handily (though she seems to prefer to win them in other ways!)--6-2, 6-1.

Much praise should go to Cibulkova, though, who reached the final by taking out Elena Dementieva, Nadia Petrova, Jelena Jankovic, and Marion Bartoli. Wow. She will now be the number 20 player in the world.

By winning in Montreal, Safina has won the U.S. Open Series; no one could possibly catch up to her, points-wise. If she should win the U.S. Open, she will get an extra $1 million in prize money, and she will win bonus money for each round she wins. Bonus money also goes to the second and third-place U.S. Open Series winners.

I am amazed to hear some people say that Safina's recent victories are a sign of decreased quality on the tour. "But she's been beaten by so many top players!" I hear. Hello! She is not the same player she was two years ago, not the same player she was a year ago, not the same player she was six months ago. Here's a concept: improvement. Safina has become much more fit, and--more important--she has completely changed in the head department. Dinara Safina always had talent, but now she plays like a winner. If fans expect a player to never get past a certain point in skill level and toughness, then what is the point of athletic (or any) competition?

Safina, always a personable player and fun to watch, has been a breath of fresh air in the 2008 season. Keep it up, Dinara.

Road trip!

It can't be easy, coming up with something fresh every year to promote the U.S. Open Series. In fact, the presenters have, for the most part, given up producing something fresh, and--for the last couple of years--have gone with the same theme: A group of WTA and ATP players are on a bus, or outside a bus, talking about the "greatest road trip in sports." One of the promotional spots always includes some outtakes--you can't go wrong using outtakes. And this year's outtake version is one of my very favorites since the series began five years ago.

The spot begins with a flub by Maria Sharapova, and that is amusing, but the reason I watch it as much as I can is to see Anna Chakvetadze. This is Chakvetadze's only appearance in any of the ads, and it is hardly a conventional outtake. She is standing in front of the bus, looking deadly serious, and in that wonderful gutteral voice that belongs in a Josef von Sternberg film, she tells us, "I am on the grreat...rroad...trips..." It cracks me up every time I see it.

U.S. Open Series begins today in Stanford

Today is the first day of the fifth anniversary of the U.S. Open Series, promoted as the "Greatest Road Trip in Sports." The series is a bit different this year for the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour, however, because of the demise of the Acura Classic in San Diego. Now that that tournament does not exist, the only Tier I event in the series is the Rogers Cup, which will be played this year in Montreal. (There has, by the way, been talk of reviving the Acura Classic, but so far, it is only talk.)

The U.S. Open Series was conceived as a way to put a spotlight on the North American tournaments that immediately precede the U.S. Open. In addition to giving these tournaments more publicity than they had received in the past, the series also provides bonuses to the women who finish in the top three. In 2005, Kim Clijsters won both the U.S. Open Series and the U.S. Open, and collected an extra $1,000,000 in her U.S. Open prize.

Here is a video preview of this year's U.S. Open Series for the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour players.

USTA drops Gimelstob ads from U.S. Open Series campaign

The United States Tennis Association has scrapped all of its U.S. Open Series ads that featured Justin Gimelstob, former ATP player, Tennis Channel commentator and well-known misogynist. The USTA issued a statement which included these remarks:

Justin Gimelstob's recent comments on a Washington, D.C., radio program were derogatory and demeaning to female tennis players and to women in general. The USTA has long championed integrity, inclusiveness, diversity, and equality, and cannot ignore such harmful remarks. More than any other sport, tennis has benefited from the pioneering role and achievements of so many women.

Sharapova wins U.S. Open Series

With 122 points, Maria Sharapova is the winner of this year's U.S. Open Series. If Jelena Jankovic had won the Rogers Cup today, she would have surpassed Sharapova, but she did not. And if Patty Schnyder would have won this week's Pilot Pen Tennis tournament in New Haven, she would have surpassed Sharapova. But Schnyder was taken out in the first round today, so Sharapova is the clear winner.

If Sharapova defends her U.S. Open title, she will get a $1 million bonus. If she is the finalist, she will get a $500,000 bonus. If she makes it no farther than the semifinals of the U.S. Open, she will get a $250,000 bonus, and so forth. If Jankovic wins the U.S. Open, she will get a $500,000 bonus. Here is the breakdown.

Thanks for nothing, ESPN

Last weekend, I was surprised and disappointed to find that only one of the Stanford semifinal matches was shown live on ESPN2. The other was shown late at night, and I already knew the outcome, though I did watch it. I just checked the ESPN schedule, and that is going to be the pattern throughout the U.S. Open Series.

The Tennis Channel, which my cable company cannot get, is showing a fully live schedule, as is CBS, with its tournaments.

ESPN2 has always shown the U.S. hardcourt season live, even before the U.S. Open Series was established in 2004. The Series is obviously paying ESPN a busload, shall we say, of money, and in exchange, we get one live match per day.

I laughed until I cried

And you will, too. Ever wonder what the outtakes from the U.S. Open Series promotional spots are like? Now you can see them.

U.S. Open series begins Monday for WTA Tour

It's called the greatest road trip in sports, and for the past three years, it has made the U.S. hard court season more interesting. The U.S. Open Series includes all of the big money (for the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour, that would be Tier I and Tier II) touranments that lead to the U.S. Open. For the women, the series begins Monday at the Bank of the West Classic in Stanford. Then the show rolls on to the Acura Classic in San Diego, the East West Bank Classic in Los Angeles, the Rogers Cup in Toronto, and Pilot Pen Tennis in New Haven.

The top three finishers the U.S. Open Series are eligible to win bonus money at the U.S. Open. In 2005, Kim Clijsters broke the bank by winning both the series and the U.S. Open. Her $2.2 million purse was the biggest in women's tennis history. In its first year, 2004, Lindsay Davenport swept the series, and looked as though she would win the U.S. Open. Unfortunately, she sustained a foot injury in her semifinal match and lost to eventual champion Svetlana Kuznetsova.

Since its inception, the U.S. Open Series has also shown some highly entertaining television spots. These spots began running this year during the Wimbledon tournament. So far, I haven't seen any I like as much as last year's, but the season is young.

Exacty how much "personality" does she want?

Responding to USA Today's questions about the impact of the three-year-old U.S. Open Series, "top player" (I'm not sure how USA Today came up with that) Ashley Harkleroad said:

I think tennis in the U.S. is not doing well because people would rather watch football, basketball or baseball. Making people more aware? Not really, I don't think so. Tennis is boring--no personalities anymore. (Andy) Roddick's got a personality, but that's about it. They need to do something different. Something needs to happen.

I agree that people would rather watch football, basketball or baseball. Americans like team sports, and especially testosterone-loaded team sports. But Harkleroad must live in a hole to believe there are no pro tennis personalities. Pro tennis is a veritable stage show of antics, wit, candor, charm, and glamour. Maria Sharapova, Rafa Nadal, Serena Williams, Martina Hingis, Marat Safin, Amelie Mauresmo, Sam Stosur, Marcos Baghdatis...come on. Is Francesca Schiavone screaming in Italian and making sexy signals to her boyfriend not enough personality? Is Dmitry Tursunov putting on a tennis skirt and imitating Sharapova not enough personality?

Perhaps Harkleroad believes that American viewers do not care about players who are not American. Where would she ever get a silly idea like that?....

But even if viewers restrict their interest to Americans, we have the Williams sisters, who have added as much personality to tennis as anyone has to any professional sport. And we have Bethanie Mattek, and that's as good as it gets.

The tables are turned, but the language remains suspect

The U.S. Open Series 2007 promotions have begun, and it is going be a task for the promoters to outdo last year's great "Road Trip!" spots. In one of the new spots, players say what they like about the series, and Russia's Elena Dementieva says "American boys!"

That would be cute, perhaps, except that Dementieva is going to be 26 in a few months, which--despite popular opinion about females under 60--makes her a woman. Young men are hardly ever called "boys" in our culture, only young women, so there are only two reasons, both probably unconsciously motivated, for giving Dementieva this script:

1. If we let her say she likes boys, the implication is that she is a girl, and since she is an attractive blonde with long legs, she, of course, has to be a "girl."

Or...

2. If she were to say "American men!" it would imply that she is a sexual being, rather than a sexual object.

My guess is that both cultural values were in play when the script was written, and, in a way, they are really the same: As long as Dementieva can be seen as a girl--not an adult--then she is non-threatening. By the same token, if one of the 25-year-old ATP Tour men said "American girls!" we all know that he could mean females from legal age up.