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.
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Below are the key changes the WTA have outlined for the 2009 season. I’m amazingly disappointed to see that they are now going to allow on court coaching, this has to be the biggest mistake a sports organisation has ever made!
Longer Off-Season
- 30% increase in off-season (from 7 to 9 weeks, with season to end in October)
Streamlined Calendar Structure
- 20 Premier events featuring top players (reduced from 26 Tier I/II events previously), including:
+ 4 Premier, mandatory, $4.5 million equal prize money combined events anchoring calendar in Indian Wells, at Sony Ericsson Open in Miami, Mutua Madrilena Madrid and China Open in Beijing
+ 15 other Premier events, including $2 million tournaments in Dubai, Rome, Cincinnati, Toronto and Tokyo, and other top events in Paris, Charleston, Stuttgart, Stanford, Los Angeles, Sydney, Berlin, Eastbourne, New Haven and Moscow
+ Season-ending Sony Ericsson Championships in Doha, featuring equal prize money of $4.45 million
- 30 International tournaments, culminating in season-ending Commonwealth Bank International Tournament of Champions
Healthier Calendar
- Longer off-season, and more in-season breaks for players (e.g., post-Wimbledon)
- Player commitment reduced by 23%, from 13 to 10 tournaments for top players
- Limitation on top player ability to play tournaments outside of 20 Premier events
Record Prize Money
- 39% increase in Tour prize money from 2006 – 2009
Equal Prize Money
- Equal prize money at 4 Grand Slams, 4 Premier cornerstone events (Indian Wells, Sony Ericsson Open in Miami, Mutua Madrilena Madrid, China Open in Beijing), Barclay Dubai Tennis Championships in Dubai, and year-end Sony Ericsson Championships
Record Investment
- $710 million in new stadium facility investments, including world-class new stadiums in China and Madrid
- $84 million in year-end Sony Ericsson Championships deals in Doha 2008-2010 and Istanbul 2011-2013
More Combined/Back-to-Back Events
- 31% of events will be combined men/women
- 46% of events will be either combined or back-to-back in 2009
Revenue Sharing
- Tennis’ first ever revenue sharing to see players share in tournament revenue growth, and link player commitment to increases in prize money
China
- Major Tour presence and expansion into China market, with China Open as one of the four cornerstones of the Roadmap calendar, and a new Asia-Pacific Tour HQ in Beijing
New Ranking System
- Best 16 results and more directly linked to the Tour’s top events by awarding of “zero pointers” for any missed Premier commitment tournament, Grand Slam or the Sony Ericsson Championships
Stronger Penalties/Suspensions
- Suspension system for Top-10 players who miss Premier commitment tournaments and increased withdrawal fines
The 2009 Tour calendar features 54 tournaments (inclusive of the four Grand Slams) across 31 countries and record prize money of over $86 million.
The international breadth of tournaments includes 25 events in Europe, 15 events in the Americas and 14 events in the Asia-Pacific region. Seventeen combined events include Indian Wells, Miami, Madrid, Beijing, Sydney, Moscow, Eastbourne, New Haven, Brisbane, s’Hertogenbosch, Estoril, Memphis and Acapulco, along with the four Grand Slams.
Eight back-to-back men/women events include Dubai, Tokyo, Rome, Cincinnati, Canada, Auckland, Bastad and Warsaw. 2009 will also see new tournaments in Madrid, Brisbane, Monterrey, Ponte Vedra Beach, Bastad, Warsaw and Osaka. Additionally, in 2011 Rome, Cincinnati and Canada will all be combined men/women events.
On Court Coaching
The 2009 Roadmap calendar will also feature on-court coaching at all events, following approval by the Tour Board at its US Open meeting of this fan entertainment innovation.
The decision to implement on-court coaching follows extensive testing of the concept and strong support from broadcasters, sponsors and tournaments and majority support from the Tour’s Players’ Council.
Under the new rule, players can request their coach once per set, either on a changeover or at the end of a set. In addition, a player may request her coach if her opponent has requested a medical timeout or change of attire/toilet break. All coaches called on court during televised matches will be required to wear a microphone to capture the coaching conversation for TV viewers.
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Here we are in the second week of the US Open and getting down to the big money rounds. There has been so much happening at the US Open im not even too sure where to start. However, here is the wrap up from the tournament.
In the men’s draw they are down to the last two quarterfinal matches in which we will see Roger Federer take on unseeded Gilles Muller from Luxembourg. While in the other quarterfinal left it will see Americas last hope for the men’s title Andy Roddick, take on Novak Djokovic. The two players who have already won their quarterfinal matches and will meeting the first semifinal will be top see Raphael Nadal and he will play young Brit Andy Murray. Murray has produced some great performances in the tournament so far and he has never been this deep into a Grand Slam, so will be interesting to see how he fares against Rafa.
While on the Women’s side of the draw they have made their way to the semifinals. The first semi will see Dinara Safina head off against Serena Williams (who only just beat her sister in the previous round). While Elena Dementieva will play Jelana Jankovic in the other semi. While I’m not surprised to have seen Ana Ivanovic lose in the second round, it is just poor to think that it took her a really long time to get to the top and when she has been there she just hasn’t performed at all in the Grand Slams. I can’t see Ivanovic staying in the top 5 for too long if she continues to play the way she is playing, maybe too much promotional work is getting to her.
Overall there has been a lot happening on and off court at the US Open, which is normally the case cause it is heading towards the end of season. The more I see the US Open, I really just think they are losing touch with the other 3 Grand Slams. Australian Open is the players favourite, French Open is the one the Europeans want to win, Wimbledon is the big one, US Open just has the most money!
The US Open is now up and running and there have already been some interesting results on Day 1.
Raphael Nadal has started off with a solid straight sets win over Bjorn Phau (GER) 7-6 6-3 7-6. Even though the set scores were really close Nadal always seems to find a way to win the tiebreaks.
In other matches James Blake (9) struggled in his first round match with fellow American Donald Young. Blake ended up winning 6-4 in the 5th set. This was a great result however for Young, who is still new to ATP tour matches since he stopped playing juniors. Young has a lot of expectation on his shoulders from the USTA, and it will be great to see how he progresses in the coming years. I think he could cause a few surprises in the years to come.
Juan Martin Del Porto survived a really tough first round match over Guillermo Canas. Del Porto was the 17th seed, but was expected to really have a fight on his hands, and in the end he came out triumphant.
Other winners were Andy Murray, Gael Monfils, Stanislas Wawrinka and David Nalbandian.
On the womens side there were straight forward wins for Jelena Jankovic, Lindsay Davenport, Elena Dementieva, and Svetlana Kuznetsova. The only surprise was that glamour girl of the women’s tour Maria Kirilenko couldn’t live up to her 22nd seeding and was put out in three close sets. I really hope Kirilenko doesnt end up being another Ana Kornikova!
