Tennis Tour Tidbits

Written by: Bob Larson Tennis on 19th June 2013

Tennis Tour Tidbits

epa03747492 Swiss tennis player Roger Federer returns the ball during the final match against Mikhail Youzhny from Russia at the ATP tournament in Halle/Westphalia, Germany, 16 June 2013. EPA/OLIVER KRATO |

Tennis Channel announced that Jim Courier has joined Tennis Channel to take on analyst’s duties at Wimbledon and the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, Calif. The multiyear agreement expands upon Courier’s role as full-time lead men’s US Open analyst, begun in 2012, and comes in time for Tennis Channel’s sixth year of coverage in London via the nightly Wimbledon Primetime, set for June 24-July 7.

Courier, a tennis Hall of Famer who currently captains the U.S. Davis Cup squad, will offer his insight as part of a Wimbledon Primetime team that includes Martina Navratilova, Bill Macatee and Mary Carillo. Lindsay Davenport and Justin Gimelstob also will return in 2013, joined this year by former player Rennae Stubbs and Jon Wertheim of Sports Illustrated.

Roger Federer’s Halle title is the 35th won by a player 30 or older since the last time a teenager won a crown: Marin Cilic at 2008 New Haven. . . 16 year-old Croatian Donna Vekic, who reached the final of Birmingham, said she ll definitely return in 2014. “Definitely, the sponsors, the staff make it such a good tournament.” Vekic also her eyes set on the Wimbledon title. “I think grass really suits my game. I like the speed of it and I like to dictate matches and I like to be in control in the points. Hopefully I can win Wimbledon. It’s on grass, it’s my favorite Slam and it’s in London. . . Former top-20 player Alisa Kleybanova, who has been battling cancer and is now on the comeback trail, asked for wild card into Wimbledon, but was turned down. She will play a USTA Futures this week in Buffalo and then play World TeamTennis. Her Russian compatriot, Elena Vesnina was less than thrilled: It’s a shame that Alisa Kleybanova didn’t get WC for Wimbledon. In my opinion she is the one who deserve it more than anyone, Vesnina tweeted. . . Chanda Rubin, who was a perennial top 20 player in the late 1990s and early 2000s, says that the new generation of US players need to toughen up. “It’s a big country, with so many assets. “So many things can undermine focus and concentration. You don’t see the same hardness, that ability to dig in. I think early notoriety is a problem. Players think they’re in a place where they’re really not. You’ve got to be honest. There’s no hiding. Courier, Sampras and Agassi had that competitive spirit. We’ve got to get some of that back.” . . . Six players withdrew from Wimbledon, including former top-10 player Mardy Fish, who will attempt to return in Atlanta at the start of the US hardcourt season Others who pulled out include Nikolay Davydenko, Brian Baker, Gilles Muller, Ying-Yang Duna and Yung-Jan Chan. Former doubles No. 1 Mark Knowles, who has been retired, accepted a Wimbledon wild card into doubles, where he will play with Lleyton Hewitt. . . American teenager Madison Keys recalls upsetting Serena Williams when she was 14 years old in World Team Tennis match. She obviously wasn’t going full out, it was first to five, no advantages, people cheering, your bench is on the side of the court, it was definitely not a competitive match. But I think that was probably one of the best five or six games I have ever put together. I think I hit 10 aces or something, I was serving really well. I think I was just so excited I was not even focusing and I was just going for everything. When it finished I was like, Whoa, I just beat Serena Williams. . . Novak Djokovic watched the new documentary Venus and Serena and came away impressed. He tweeted: “Did you watch Venus&Serena documentary? I just finished. Really inspiring story. They are true champions.” . . .

Bob Bryant, who resigned as tournament director of the BB&T Atlanta Open but is continuing in hate role until after the event ends on July 20, has already started his new job as president and CEO of the 500 Festival in Indianapolis.