Tennis Tour Tidbits

Written by: Bob Larson Tennis on 6th December 2013

Venus and Serena Williams exhibition tennis match in Buenos Aires

Tennis Tour Tidbits

epa03972072 US tennis player Venus Williams returns a ball to her sister Serena during a exhibition tennis match at the Lawn Tennis Club in Buenos Aires, Argentina, 30 November 2013. EPA/Ivan FernÃ¡ndez |

Private coach Brad Gilbert is working at USTA Player Development headquarters in Boca Raton with Ryan Harrison and Denis Kudla. . . The legendary coach Bob Brett has been testing out HEAD’s new custom made racquets. . . Benoit Paire was forced to pull out of next weeks’ exo in France, the Open de Caen, with a knee injury. Richard Gasquet, Nicolas Mahut and Paul Henri Mathieu are all scheduled to play. . . Venus Williams won’t say whether she will ever compete at the BNP Paribas Open at Indian Wells again, but it’s doubtful given that she her sister Serena have not played there since 2001 when they claim they were victims of racism. “I believe it’s a great tournament,” Venus told the Desert Sun. “It’s a beautiful tournament, one of the biggest. Unfortunately I haven’t played in the last few years, but of course I had a lot of great memories there in the past. It was really my breakout tournament in 1997. I will always have those memories.” . . . US Fed Cup captain Mary Joe Fernandez assesses what Sloane Stephens — the youngest member of the top 12 who has committed to the competition — has to do to improve in 2014. “I think Sloane still gets a little bit confused about how she should play, constructing her points,” she said. I think she relies on her speed and doesn’t play as aggressively as she could. She does it very well when she does. So it’s just a matter of the big points, big moments, playing to her strengths. She has options. Sometimes that hurts you. You tend to fall back on what’s safe and secure, and to her that’s getting a lot of balls back and playing more defensively. I think now she’s more aware of when she wins why she wins. I think that’s something we’ll see more of in 2014, more consistency.” Fernandez also revealed that another one of her players, world No. 28 Jamie Hampton, was in a boot for 4-6 weeks after the US Open following a heel injury and just started to practice again. . . . US Davis Cup captain Jim Courier as to why his squad picked clay for its tie against Britain in San Diego next February: “If you look at their results versus our team’s comfort zone, their results tend to come more on the firm surfaces, and our results come on firm surfaces and on the clay. You have to assume that Andy Murray is going to be very, very difficult to play no matter what surface you play him on. So you look to the other elements there, the doubles, the second singles. On paper we have a big advantage in those slots. We’re certainly going to be underdogs against Murray no matter where we play him. But clay is a surface that all four of our guys wanted to play this tie on, so that’s why we’re doing it.”

We Hear —

–That Former British Davis Cup player Andrew Castle, now lead commentator on the BBC TV team at Wimbledon and a regular tennis partner of British Prime Minister David Cameron, is to undergo a hip replacement operation next week.

–That Forbes magazine calls Roger Federer at $71.5 million and Maria Sharapova at $29 million the highest paid men’s and women’s tennis players.

Topics: 10sballs.com, Benoit Paire, Bnp Paribas, Bob Brett, Brad Gilbert, Davis Cup, Denis Kudla, Fed Cup, Indian Open, Jaime Hampton, Jim Courier, Maria Sharapova, Mary Joe Fernandez, Nicolas Mahut, Richard Gasquet, Roger Federer, Ryan Harrison, Serena Williams, Tennis, Tennis News, Usta, Venus Williams