By Richard Pagliaro
Tennis week, http://www.sportsmediainc.net/tennisweek/
12/07/2001
McEnroe Ponders Future Of Senior Tour
The mistletoe may have been missing from the Royal Albert Hall last night, but that didn't stop John McEnroe from inviting a fan to come down on court and share a pre-Christmas kiss.
"Come down here and kiss my ass," an irate McEnroe suggested to the critical fan during his Honda Challenge match against Briton Jeremy Bates in London yesterday. The fan declined the invitation and McEnroe was in no mood to pursue the matter further. After squandering a 5-1 lead in the first-set tiebreak, McEnroe battled back to win the match 6-7 (6-8), 6-4, 10-4.
At the age of 42, McEnroe hasn't lost his passion for the game. But following his 6-4, 7-6 loss to Petr Korda today, the top-ranked player on the senior circuit spoke like a man ready to kiss the senior tour good-bye. Despite the defeat, McEnroe advanced tomorrow's semifinals of the round-robin tournament where he takes on French Davis Cup captain Guy Forget. Defending champion Pat Cash plays Korda in the other semifinal with the winners advancing to Sunday's final.
The man who has emerged as a voice of tennis in his work as a television commentator voiced his displeasure with the direction of the tour, his disillusionment with Boris Becker's inconsistent commitment and Swede Stefan Edberg's reluctance to join the tour.
"I kind of felt this was the final rung of my career to wait for Korda, Becker and (Stefan) Edberg to be around," McEnroe said. "To play them on the senior tour — to pass it on to the next players, this is the sort of scene that I was waiting for. But Becker is clearly someone who is incapable of consistency and Edberg is hiding in Sweden — I don't know what he's up to."
When tour founder and top draw Jimmy Connors stopped competing regularly on the senior circuit two years ago, McEnroe stepped up to carry the tour as its primary player. But the highly-competitive and combustible star of the circuit seems to have grown weary of a tour that has become a one-man show and yearns to play meaningful matches against competitive contemporaries Becker and Edberg.
"The last four or five years I have pretty much dominated the senior circuit and I would rather go out feeling I am no longer able to do that on a regular basis," McEnroe said. "From conversations I have had with Edberg, my understanding is that he is still practicing, still hitting the ball.Now my point is if you are still doing that then why not get paid for doing it out here at the Albert Hall? If (Ivan) Lendl wants to play celebrity golf tournaments instead of tennis that is up to him."
As the senior tour's top-ranked player and most popular draw, McEnroe has carried the fortunes of the senior circuit on his shoulder with the comfort of a champion carrying his racquet bag onto the court. But life can be lonely at the top and McEnroe is considering cutting short his senior career if top players don't join the tour to challenge him for senior supremacy.
"I think that when you have the opportunity to play on the ATP tour and then play on this tour then you feel better if you leave it (operating) for the next group of players to come along and take over," McEnroe said. "I have had the opportunity to do this for five years. I give myself two years more at the outside — maybe just one — and I would be sorry if it just ended there."
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Thursday 06 December 2001
Stefan Edberg, two-time Wimbledon champion and former world number one tennis player, will be playing in Southampton tomorrow.
Edberg will be teaming up at the Hampshire Tennis & Health Club, West End, with Andreas Vinciguerra, also from Sweden and ranked 39 in the champions race.
The match has been arranged in association with US racquet manufacturer Wilson and Edberg will be using Wilson's new revolutionary racquet technology called Triad.
Members of the club will be able to hit with the legendary player and participate in a clinic to learn some match-winning tips.
The Hampshire Club's head professional, Rob Norris, said: "It's a dream come true to meet one of the greatest players of modern times who will give our juniors the kind of inspiration that influenced my early career."
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Hi Everyone!
- The Stockholm Open is going on right now and you know what that means.
It's time to catch up with one of the tournament's committee members, Stefan
Edberg. Here's
the link to a Swedish article
Unfortunately, I don't know Swedish so a translation will be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.
(We do have translations, read on.) - Also, here's some interesting snippets from this past week tennis news:
"Swedish veteran Magnus Gustafsson ended his 15-year career, losing to "lucky loser" Jan Vacek 6-3, 3-6, 6-3 in his 674th match. Vacek, who lost his last qualifying match, got into the main draw when U.S. Open champion Lleyton Hewitt withdrew on Tuesday.
"There is probably no better place to finish your career than the Royal Tennis Hall," said Gustafsson, who won 415 career matches, 14 Grand Prix or ATP titles and played on one champion Davis Cup team.
He also made 12 Grand Prix or ATP finals, including two Stockholm Open title matches, losing to Ivan Lendl in 1989 and Thomas Enqvist 10 years later.
Gustafsson, 34, received a standing ovation from the crowd and about 20 girls gave him red roses before being escorted around the court in the same rocking chair former world No. 1 Stefan Edberg used when he retired here in 1996." --- Associated Press
"Younger compatriot Hewitt, no stranger to controversy, has dived into another sticky situation, playing cat and mouse for several days with Stockholm open officials before finally passing along the word that he wouldn't show as top seed -- citing back injury -- despite a contract signed last November and what was certainly a healthy appearance fee.
The 'missing' Hewitt disappeared from view after his Saturday loss in Stuttgart to Tommy Haas, but turned up in Luxembourg where girlfriend Kim Clijsters is top seed this week at a small women's event.
Stockholm officials had agreed to sent a private jet Tuesday to collect Hewitt and coach Darren Cahill when they got the call from the player's agent Tom Ross in San Francisco telling them not to bother. 'Players need to realize that they are part of a chain,' said tournament official Stefan Edberg, the six-time Grand Slam winner. 'They've got to think 'maybe the event really needs me.'
'I think it stinks,' said Edberg. 'Injuries are always a sensitive subject, but there should be a limit to letting things like this happen.' ATP supervisor Thomas Karlberg said Hewitt would be fined $40,000, the standard penalty for late pull-out from a tournament."
--- Tennis.com
Hello everyone. Jennifer has as so many times before found an article in a Swedish paper, keep on looking Jennifer! I think this was a great article. Just to tease you all a little bit, I have a ticket to the final tomorrow at Stockholm Open.
Here follows my translation, have a nice time!
- Edberg doesn’t miss the tour
He is one of the greatest ever seen on the tennis court. Now Stefan Edberg speaks about life after tennis and when he got a warning.
Almost everyone knows about the tennis player Edberg but what does he do today?
- Well, I’m working with the Stockholm Open tournament committee and have a foundation for Swedish junior tennis. Then I work with Vaxjo Tennis Centre (close where he was born and lives after moving back from London) and am a part of Catella Capital, a company that invests the rich member’s money. It sounds like a tight schedule!
- Right now it feels like it’s a little bit too much to do.
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Interview from Göteborgs Posten, 27.10.2001, by Tobias Österberg
translated from Swedish by Markus (Germany)
Stockholm. He’s one of the greatest throughout the years on the tennis court. From Stockholm Open Stefan Edberg tells about life after tennis, the occasion where he was cautioned and what’s wrong with Swedish youngster tennis.
Q: Almost everyone knows tennis player Edberg, do we get to know what you are doing now?
A: Yes, I’m member of the Stockholm Open tournament committee, I’ve got a foundation which works for Swedish youngster tennis. Furthermore I work with Växjö’s tennis centre and I’m member of Catella Capital, a company that deals with asset and fund management.
Q: This sounds like a full follow up chart?
A: At present it feels like one has a bit too much to do and I should need to reduce.
It has been about five years now since you gave up tennis. Do you miss life on tour?
Q: I’ve really no big longing back. I was very satisfied, I had been playing as a professional for 14 years and obtained much from it.
Q: Is there a worry about what will happen with tennis players when they quit?
A:: Yes, I think so. When you live tennis life this is a small and close world, you worry most about your forehand or backhand and how it will work next week. This is no real life. You have to be able to get used to new conditions if you are no longer in the centre of interest, no longer get the carpet unrolled and have every service where everyone does everything for you.
How much do you train at the moment?
A: It’s tennis twice a week and squash once or twice.
Q: It is rumored that you give Magnus Larsson a real match in training at home in Växjö?
A: Magnus isn’t the world’s best in training, but it’s usually quite close – in training you should increase. But I’m surprised about how well I keep up from a physical point of view.
Q: John McEnroe said that he wants to see you on the Senior Tour so he can get little resistance.
A: The Senior Tour is a fantastic success but I don’t have the need for it. In such a case you want to do the best of situation with training and preparations, then you are back in everything again.
Q: The matches on the Senior Tour are, of course, much show and sometimes arranged. Would you really want to take part in that game?
A: That would be completely new to start with show business on the court, this isn’t me. Should I play there I would go out and try to do my job and win in the best possible manner.
Q: The annual prize of the tennis tour for the fairest player is called after you. Did you ever get cautioned on the court?
A: Yes, once in Düsseldorf, the point was over and the boy lobbed back the ball. I got angry and smashed it onto the ground and the ball rebounded into the spectators. Nobody would get cautioned for that today. Then it was one time in Los Angeles, I missed an easy volley and wanted to strike the ball into the net but it went over it instead and landed between the linesmen but not that way that they were hit. The referee didn’t caution me during the match, however I got an envelope afterwards, it was a fine over 350 dollars – but that was also the only fine I had to pay during my career.
Q: What about the Swedish tennis?
A: It has had a fantastic period, but to let it revive to that I just say “forget it”. In present-day situation it is harder. Other countries have caught up and have completely different resources. In Sweden we have worked from a certain pattern which makes everyone play equal. I have been to Davis-Cup-schools for Swedish tennis youngsters where not even one kid had a single hand backhand, they stand and beat and that’s like they come from an assembly line.
Q: What should one do?
A: I think that a little new kind of thinking is required and more variation, to concentrate on training with trainers.
Q: During your active career you said that the increase of prize money had to be stopped, now Masters final is drawing near with almost 40 million (ann.: Swedish kronas, almost 4 million US-dollars) prize money.
A:Yes, one is astonished about how much money there is in the world of sport. I’m wondering if we didn’t see the golden days within sport. The IT-bubble just shattered and I think it’s a question of time until this happens to the sport. If it becomes no stop then at least a drop.
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Pressreleaser (press release, in Swedish)
Elite Hotels of Sweden fortsätter att stötta svensk tennis 2001-08-16
Elite Hotels of Sweden har ingått ett långsiktigt hyresavtal med Växjö kommun rörande fastigheten till Elite Stadshotellet i Växjö.
Elite Hotels of Sweden har för avsikt att investera 15 - 20 miljoner kronor de närmsta åren, detta för att hotellet skall kunna behålla sin plats som det ledande hotellet i Växjö.
I samband med detta har Elite Hotels beslutat sig att stödja Stefan Edbergs och Carl-Axel Hageskogs projekt Växjö Tennis Center.
Elite Hotels of Sweden går in som en av fyra huvudsponsorer i projektet.
Syftet med våra tennissatsningar är att vi vill göra det möjligt för lovande spelare att utvecklas för att Sverige även i framtiden skall kunna vara en ledande tennisnation säger Bicky Chakraborty, VD och ägare till Elite Hotels of Sweden.
Elite Hotels of Sweden är en av Sveriges största privatägda hotellkedjor. Förutom att Elite Stadshotellet i Växjö ingår finns ytterligare 16 hotell på 13 orter i kedjan. Elite Hotels of Sweden ägs till 100 % av Bicky Chakraborty.
Vi är oerhört stolta och glada över att ha knutit ytterligare en stark partner till projektet Växjö Tennis Center säger Stefan Edberg, en av initiativtagarna till tennissatsningen i Växjö.
Elite Hotels of Sweden står bland annat för kvalité och tradition vilket också är ledstjärnor för verksamheten i Växjö Tennis Center.
Presskonferens kommer att äga rum torsdagen den 16 augusti 2001 kl 1200 på Elite Stadshotellet i Växjö.
Kontaktpersoner: Bicky Chakraborty 08 - 566 215 50
Peter Storckenfeldt 08 - 566 217 17
7.19.2001 00:05
U.S. Open showcasing oldies-but-goodies match
The U.S. Tennis Association is luring a pair of golden oldies with a pot of gold to enhance what it's hyping as Super Saturday at the U.S. Open.
John McEnroe , winner of four Opens between 1979 and 1984, and Boris Becker , the 1989 champion, will play the Heineken Challenge immediately following the women's final Saturday night, Sept. 8.
McEnroe, 42, and Becker, 33, have agreed to a best-of-three format with the third set a 10-point tiebreaker. The winner will collect $100,000.
...
McEnroe hopes the Heineken Challenge will lead to a greater senior presence at the U.S. Open, "perhaps a singles event of some kind for the seniors."
McEnroe is the leading player and hypemaster for a senior tennis circuit that gets no recognition compared with the space, air time and money that golfers on the Senior PGA Tour receive.
Becker, who retired two years ago after Wimbledon, has decided to get in shape and play exhibitions as well as the senior circuit. He said he has been training two hours a day plus working in the gym for about six weeks.
"I'm glad Boris is coming out," McEnroe said, adding that he hopes the German can entice other stars of the 1980s and early 1990s to play. He mentioned Stefan Edberg , winner of the U.S. Open in 1991 and '92. Michael Stich and Mats Wilander are also part of that generation.
Said McEnroe: "In tennis, what makes it exciting is people you look forward to playing, a rival. To do it by yourself, that's not something I'm interested in doing, just having opponents, providing entertainment. I want there to competition, too."
A rejuvenated Becker may offer just the competition McEnroe craves.