A mailman in England was convicted of launching a graffiti campaign against British tennis star, Andy Murray and was in return fined and made to do community service.
A Scottish newspaper reported that 45 year-old Darren Swain was responsible for putting up dozens of posters at a Royal Mail sorting office in Coventry with offensive comments, two of which featured “racist slurs.” He called Murray a “useless Jock”, and the word Jock is a slang term for a Scot.
The culprit was eventually caught after officials installed hidden cameras and hired a team of handwriting experts to uncover who the perpetrator was.
He was sentenced to 200 hours of unpaid community service at the Coventry Magistrates Court and ordered to pay 3,000 pounds for being found guilty of three counts of criminal damage and two of racially aggravated criminal damage.
It is not clear however why Swain would target Andy Murray in his pejorative messages.
It is time again for the BNP Paribas Taste of Tennis. The tournament brings together the top tennis players in the world and the top chefs in a pro-am type format.
The star-studded charity event produced by AYS Sports Marketing will hold court Thursday, August 25th, 7-10pm at the W New York in midtown Manhattan. For more information check out their website: www.bnpparibastasteoftennis.com.
Former French Open champion Michael Chang has voiced his surprise at how he was depicted by Andre Agassi in his autobiography titled Open.
In the book, Agassi made some comments about Chang’s devotion to Christianity which sort of made Chang scratch his head a little bit. Chang was also flustered at the fact that Agassi let another tennis legend, Jim Courier know about the contents of the book before its release but never spoke to him about it at an exhibition with only a week left for publication of the book.
“I read the excerpts, and it’s hard for me not to shake my head a little bit,” Chang said. “I wonder if, to some degree, whether some of the stuff he wrote was more or less to sell the book… It was kind of odd. Andre was very harsh on me for my Christian faith, but at the same time, I believe he understands where I am as far as my faith. We actually used to have Bible studies together early on in our careers. He was upset that I would go and thank the Lord for my matches, which, back then, was probably not as commonplace as you see today. I would have thought that he would know me better than that; that me going out and expressing that has nothing to do with saying, ‘I’m better than you, or ‘God loves me more than he loves you.’ That’s not the case.”
Chang did say that Andre was pretty harsh on everyone, and it’s just the way he is; but he has had a pretty good relationship with him for the most part.
There were a whole host of tennis professionals that attended the recent wedding of Elena Dementieva. Maria Kirilenko, Igo Andreev, Yevgeny Kafelnikov, Vera Zvonareva, Dinara Safina, Svetlana Kuznetsova, Elena Vesnina and Vera Dushevina, among others.
“They were sitting with us, talking on the microphone, they were dancing together. It was unbelievable. Normally when you go to wedding, you are sitting and watching and it’s kind of boring.”
Kirilenko said that the newlyweds performed a duet, singing a love song to each other while dancing. “Elena told me they practiced a lot. I was surprised she sang well.”
Some of the most recognized names in tennis had their say about recent tragedies such as Amy Winehouse’s unexpected death and the cold-hearted and grisly Norway Attacks, on their Twitter accounts.
Here are some messages that show that tennis players also have their opinions about world events and that they really want to comfort the people that are affected by these terrible events.
“Can’t believe what’s happened in norway, absolutely tragic, what is that meant to achieve, gets me so down:-(”
-Andy Murray
“What is wrong with some people in this world? So tragic, so sad. Thoughts are with the people in Norway.”
-Anne Keothavong
“Just read a detailed report on the #Oslo bombing/shooting. It amazes me that some people can have that much hatred in them. Scary world.”
-Amer Delic
“Wow. Rest in peace Amy Winehouse. Very sad news. Such an amazingly talented lady.”
-Laura Robson
“Just heard the news about Amy Winehouse…sad,but not sure why im not surprised…”
-Sorana Cirstea
On July 13, the stage was set for the annual ESPY Awards in Los Angeles at the Nokia Theatre. It is the awards show that recognizes the best sports stories from the previous year. All the guests gave the event a glamorous feeling as always, and some great athletes won their place among the legendary ESPY winners of the past.
This year’s winners for the Best Male and Female Tennis Player were Rafael Nadal and Serena Williams. Nadal was also nominated in the Best Male Athlete category, but lost out to Dirk Nowitzki from the Dallas Mavericks (basketball).
Among the guests who were invited to the awards were Andy Roddick’s wife, Brooklyn Decker; Justin Bieber and girlfriend Selena Gomez, and Maria Sharapova.
P.S Maria Sharapova’s dress made her look a bit like a black swan and The Fighter won the Best Sports Movie award but nonetheless, congrats to all the nominees and winners at this year’s ESPYS!
Elena Dementieva is getting married on Saturday to long term boyfriend Maxim Afinogenov. Maxim is a professional ice hockey player who played around 10 years in the NHL and is now back playing in Russia.
Dementieva retired from tennis at the end of last year and at the time talked a lot about starting a family. Guess this is the first step.
I know K-Swiss isnt just a tennis clothing brand, but I thought this would fit in nicely with our site. Kenny Powers is the new mother fu**ing CEO of K-Swiss.
Novak Djokovic is one of the luckiest men in the world at the moment, not just because he is the number 1 tennis player in the world. Novak Djokovic is also so lucky because he has an amazing girlfriend. Jelena Ristic is Novak’s girlfriend and Im sure she keeps him very grounded.
The USTA has just announced they will be refurbishing the Austin Tennis Center. Two courts at the Austin Tennis Center will be converted into eight permanent 36 foot: 10 and under Tennis courts. Plus, there will be four more courts added that will be 60 foot.
“We couldn’t be more pleased with how the entire Austin community has embraced this Davis Cup quarterfinal,” said Jon Vegosen, USTA Chairman of the Board and President. “Our mission is to bring more tennis to more people in more ways than ever before, and our Davis Cup Legacy program is another example of how the USTA achieves this goal.”
The USTA will invest a total of $41,000 into this project.
