spiceboy
Aug 15th, 2005, 07:52 PM
Divas appear only on posters
Tennis no shows surprise no one
DAVE FESCHUK (http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Render&c=Page&cid=968867503640&ce=Columnist&colid=1059689060047)
In one of the many gift shops at the Rexall Centre, home to the Rogers Cup, they're selling a book: Venus and Serena ... 10 Rules For Living, Loving and Winning.
Not that the spine's been cracked by this self-help enthusiast, who remains on page-a-day pace to finish Vince Carter: Choose Your Course before the library fines get unaffordable, but one assumes the 10 commandments from Mount Williams include a version of their familial competitive creed. That is: Never, unless you really, really feel like it, show up to the same non-Grand Slam tournament as your sister.
The Williamses, to wit, have rarely competed in the same event outside the tennis's four major championships. But that little fact — that there was a better chance of Tie Domi throwing a Botox party for his pals in the media than of Serena and Venus commandeering adjoining Yorkville suites for this week's hostilities — didn't stop organizers from featuring both sisters in the advertising campaign.
The ads, which show images of as many as six players — the famous siblings plus Maria Sharapova, Justine Henin-Hardenne, Amelie Mauresmo and Kim Clijsters — came with the tag line: "Live and unscripted. Tennis doesn't get any better than this."
But the tennis got significantly worse yesterday, when it was announced that Sharapova, the world No. 2 and the tour's most popular player, was withdrawing because of an injury to a "chest muscle," this after Friday's announcement that Venus Williams was withdrawing — surely not because Serena plans to attend — but because she has the "flu."
Now a full third of the tournament's official poster girls won't be here, and exactly no one is surprised.
The stars of women's tennis show up for work in the fashion that Allen Iverson shows up for practice — that is, unreliably and only after painstaking hours in a hairstylist's care.
The chances of both Williams sisters landing (and playing) in Toronto were slim to none. The chances of all six players featured in the ads showing up were nearly nil.
I'm no ethicist, but isn't advertising something you can't possibly deliver deceptive and more than a little wrong?
Yesterday tournament director Stacey Allaster — who has perhaps the worst job in sports, her success as an executive depending so much on the whims of teenage (and teenage-minded) prima donnas — was forced to spin tall tales about the vagaries of injuries and the majesty of the remaining field (which is also missing world No. 1 Lindsay Davenport, who is also injured).
But only the naïve didn't raise eyebrows. You could buy Venus Williams' excuse this week if she hadn't made a mockery of the tour's so-called commitment system last week, when she jetted to a Tier IV event in Sweden while a higher-calibre tournament in Los Angeles bemoaned her absence. That, of course, was the equivalent of a major league baseball player demoting himself to Double A just to relax.
Worse, Venus appears to have contracted a particularly nasty bug in the bush leagues, one which forced her to withdraw from the Swedish tournament on Aug. 6 and, though she wouldn't have had to begin play in Toronto until Wednesday, doesn't figure to abate in an 11-day recovery window. We've heard of the 24-hour flu. But the 264-hour strain? Send your get-well-soon emails to venus@restingupfortheusopen.com.
It's no secret that the Rogers Cup is particularly vulnerable because it comes exactly two weeks before the U.S. Open. Allaster et al have, in the past, attempted to move up in the schedule, but to no avail.
"I'm sure a lot of the girls, if they have a few little aches and pains, they don't want to take a risk for the U.S. Open," Clijsters, the world No. 10 who is expected to play this week, has said.
What's distressing is that Sharapova, the sport's marquee player, has already earned a name as a questionable no-show. Two weeks ago she withdrew from a Tier I event in San Diego with a mild back strain.
Larry Scott, the WTA Tour chief executive, was perturbed enough to interrupt a vacation and promise tournament organizers that Sharapova will attend next year.
But how can he make that promise knowing that Sharapova's presence, is a system in which the six-figure fines for not honouring commitments are a pittance to a woman who made a reported $18.2 million (U.S.) last year, depends solely on Sharapova's whim, er, health?
How can a tournament sell tickets on the sexy assumption of Sharapova's impending appearance when she's far from a lock to show up?
Another tournament just did, and yesterday there was no mention of impending refunds for those not amused.
http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_Type1&c=Article&cid=1124056210761&call_pageid=968867503640&col=970081593064&t=TS_Home
Tennis no shows surprise no one
DAVE FESCHUK (http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Render&c=Page&cid=968867503640&ce=Columnist&colid=1059689060047)
In one of the many gift shops at the Rexall Centre, home to the Rogers Cup, they're selling a book: Venus and Serena ... 10 Rules For Living, Loving and Winning.
Not that the spine's been cracked by this self-help enthusiast, who remains on page-a-day pace to finish Vince Carter: Choose Your Course before the library fines get unaffordable, but one assumes the 10 commandments from Mount Williams include a version of their familial competitive creed. That is: Never, unless you really, really feel like it, show up to the same non-Grand Slam tournament as your sister.
The Williamses, to wit, have rarely competed in the same event outside the tennis's four major championships. But that little fact — that there was a better chance of Tie Domi throwing a Botox party for his pals in the media than of Serena and Venus commandeering adjoining Yorkville suites for this week's hostilities — didn't stop organizers from featuring both sisters in the advertising campaign.
The ads, which show images of as many as six players — the famous siblings plus Maria Sharapova, Justine Henin-Hardenne, Amelie Mauresmo and Kim Clijsters — came with the tag line: "Live and unscripted. Tennis doesn't get any better than this."
But the tennis got significantly worse yesterday, when it was announced that Sharapova, the world No. 2 and the tour's most popular player, was withdrawing because of an injury to a "chest muscle," this after Friday's announcement that Venus Williams was withdrawing — surely not because Serena plans to attend — but because she has the "flu."
Now a full third of the tournament's official poster girls won't be here, and exactly no one is surprised.
The stars of women's tennis show up for work in the fashion that Allen Iverson shows up for practice — that is, unreliably and only after painstaking hours in a hairstylist's care.
The chances of both Williams sisters landing (and playing) in Toronto were slim to none. The chances of all six players featured in the ads showing up were nearly nil.
I'm no ethicist, but isn't advertising something you can't possibly deliver deceptive and more than a little wrong?
Yesterday tournament director Stacey Allaster — who has perhaps the worst job in sports, her success as an executive depending so much on the whims of teenage (and teenage-minded) prima donnas — was forced to spin tall tales about the vagaries of injuries and the majesty of the remaining field (which is also missing world No. 1 Lindsay Davenport, who is also injured).
But only the naïve didn't raise eyebrows. You could buy Venus Williams' excuse this week if she hadn't made a mockery of the tour's so-called commitment system last week, when she jetted to a Tier IV event in Sweden while a higher-calibre tournament in Los Angeles bemoaned her absence. That, of course, was the equivalent of a major league baseball player demoting himself to Double A just to relax.
Worse, Venus appears to have contracted a particularly nasty bug in the bush leagues, one which forced her to withdraw from the Swedish tournament on Aug. 6 and, though she wouldn't have had to begin play in Toronto until Wednesday, doesn't figure to abate in an 11-day recovery window. We've heard of the 24-hour flu. But the 264-hour strain? Send your get-well-soon emails to venus@restingupfortheusopen.com.
It's no secret that the Rogers Cup is particularly vulnerable because it comes exactly two weeks before the U.S. Open. Allaster et al have, in the past, attempted to move up in the schedule, but to no avail.
"I'm sure a lot of the girls, if they have a few little aches and pains, they don't want to take a risk for the U.S. Open," Clijsters, the world No. 10 who is expected to play this week, has said.
What's distressing is that Sharapova, the sport's marquee player, has already earned a name as a questionable no-show. Two weeks ago she withdrew from a Tier I event in San Diego with a mild back strain.
Larry Scott, the WTA Tour chief executive, was perturbed enough to interrupt a vacation and promise tournament organizers that Sharapova will attend next year.
But how can he make that promise knowing that Sharapova's presence, is a system in which the six-figure fines for not honouring commitments are a pittance to a woman who made a reported $18.2 million (U.S.) last year, depends solely on Sharapova's whim, er, health?
How can a tournament sell tickets on the sexy assumption of Sharapova's impending appearance when she's far from a lock to show up?
Another tournament just did, and yesterday there was no mention of impending refunds for those not amused.
http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_Type1&c=Article&cid=1124056210761&call_pageid=968867503640&col=970081593064&t=TS_Home