Tennis Tour Tidbits

Written by: Bob Larson Tennis on 12th November 2013

Tennis Tour Tidbits

epa03946009 Serbia's Novak Djokovic lifts the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals tennis championship trophy after beating Spain's Rafael Nadal in the final of the men's singles of the Barclays ATP World Tour tennis tournament at the O2 Arena in London, Britain, 11 November 2013. EPA/ANDY RAIN |

Andy Murray says that having his mother Judy sit courtside can be distracting. “I watched the last game of Wimbledon a couple days after Wimbledon and my mum’s reactions after the points aren’t particularly helpful. In that game, I’d lose a match point and she would sort of standup rigid, sort of saying, “It’s ok, it’s ok” but I’m looking at her thinking, “I can tell in your face, you’re thinking it’s not ok.”. . . Cheryl Cooky, Associate Professor at Purdue University’s Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Studies told Forbes that Petra Kvitova’s commercial potential isn’t great. “She’s not physically appealing to many in the same way as Sharapova and Kournikova. At the same time she doesn’t have the sustained success like Sharapova and Serena. Petra’s options right now [to land sponsorships] aren’t great. She can doll herself up or she can beat Serena seven times in a row next year.” Martina Navratilova, who is Kvitova’s role model added: “The obvious thing Petra can do is doll herself up: high heels, makeup, premieres. But that’s not who she is.” . . . Kimiko Date-Krumm, who is now 43. but still playing on tour, said this of talking with Steffi Graf. “When I see Steffi, of course, she say to me, ‘You should stop now and make the baby (laughter).” . . . Rafael Nadal has hope for his rival Roger Federer, who is coming off his worst season since 2001 as he only won a single title. But Nadal says that once the Swiss got over his back problems he made real progress and should be fine in 2014. He played a good tournament in Basel, playing a good final, winning good matches. He was able to win very good matches in Paris. He was in semifinals here, losing against probably the player who is playing better today Novak ‑ losing three sets in both tournaments in a row, having set and a break up for him in Paris, winning against del Potro who is a player that is playing great, winning twice in a row against him. So I think he should be happier about the way he finished the season compared how he was three months ago. I am sure that he will have the chance to start the next season with full conditions and he will be one of the candidates to win in Australia.” . . . Stan Wawrinka on the future of Swiss tennis: “I think it’s amazing to have two top‑10 players for sure. Roger [Federer} was there since so long, so it was more about me. But I think it’s great for Swiss tennis, for Switzerland. But right now we’re missing the next generation. I don’t know when they gonna come, but I hope that we will have some great player in the future.

We Hear —

–That Sloane Stephens is currently evaluating her coaching situation and has not decided whether she will work with the USTA David Nainkin next year, even though she reached the second week of four Grand Slams this year under his tutelage an is the youngest player in the top 15.

We Also Hear—

—That In the past eight days 261,247 tennis fans walked through the doors of the London 02 Arena to watch the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals.

Topics: 10sballs, Andy Murray, Kimiko Date-Krumm, Martina Navratilova, Petra Kvitova, Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer, Sports, Stanislas Wawrinka, Steffi Graf, Tennis, Tennis News, Wimbledon