Well, you know we’ve come to the slow portion of the year when one of the rotating lead headlines at the ATP’s official website is: Istomin Loses St. Pete Opener. Stop the presses!
That would be St. Petersburg, Russia, not St. Petersburg, Fla., which is—coincidentally enough—the home of the WTA. The ATP, as you know, is headquartered clear across the state of Florida in Ponta Vedra.
Far be it from me to stir up controversy, but is there a more telling comment on the decline of American power and influence in pro tennis? A typical tennis fan perusing the rankings and champions might wonder how on earth an organization so international, and top-heavy with non-Americans, ended up bunkered in sleepy, slow-moving northern Florida.
This casual reference to “St. Pete” is very typically American, especially in a sports context. I wonder if the Russians themselves have an affectionate nickname for the city. In any event, you could also tell that this most definitely is not the St. Petersburg, Fla., event when you look at the entry list: There’s a Ukrainian here (Sergei Stakhovsky), a Belarusan there (Sergey Betov), an Uzbek (Istomin), a Georgian (Teymuraz Gabashvili), a Lithuanian somewhere else (Richard Berankis).
We won’t even get into the more familiar “east Europeans” who may have grown up speaking Russian (the Czechs, Poles, and others in “St. Pete”). And there are also, of course, actual . . . Russians. Led by top seed Mikhail Youzhny. The growth of tennis in what is commonly called the former Soviet Union is remarkable. Although maybe the more remarkable thing about that empire is how far it reached, and how quickly it disintegrated.
Monfils Discovers Italy, but Refrains from Claiming it for France
Gael Monfils, off the tour for four long months, is back in action at the Metz tournament; he won his first-round singles match against Olivier Rochus the other day, and he’s also in the doubles quarterfinals already, with partner Vincent Millot.
Monfils told the French media that he missed tennis “terribly” and is very eager to play—but not so keen that he would put unnecessary pressure on himself to get back into the Top 10 (his present ranking: No. 44).
Monfils said he did a lot of traveling while resting and rehabbing his knee, shooting photos and videos like any other tourist. In fact, Monfils eschewed the familiar four-star hotels and slept under the stars, often camping as he and some buddies drove around “half of Europe,” just bumming around and experiencing places and people the way so many other 20-somethings regularly do.
Doing it that way, Monfils said, “Allowed me to discover many countries and to feel good mentally.”
Welcome back, Gael. Throw down that backpack and stay a while.
1.3 Billion Chinese Can’t be Wrong. . .
Tennis Australia officials know where their bread is buttered, even if those 1.3 billion citizens of China haven’t all discovered the “Grand Slam of Asia-Pacific,” formerly known by the considerably more pedestrian name, “Australian Open.” Enough of them have perked up and tuned in to stimulate the organization to hold an October “regional wild-card playoff” event in Nanjing, China. The male and female winners will automatically receive wild cards into the Australian Open.
Previously, the wild cards into the first Grand Slam event of the year were doled out by TA officials at their discretion (eight for men and eight for women). In recent years, four of those 16 wild cards were allocated by a reciprocal agreement to France and the U.S. (which also host Grand Slam events), and the Australian winners of a native playoff tournament automatically earn one each. With two now earmarked for the regional winners in China, TA will be left with eight total wild cards to distribute out equally among the men and women of its choosing.
"There has been a 400 percent increase in visitation to the Australian Open from the Asia-Pacific region over the past eight years," Tennis Australia's CEO Steve Wood said in a news release. He also revealed that more than half of the first major’s “global media value” (whatever that is) was generated from the Asia-Pacific region, and new broadcast deals will give the tournament access to another 65 million homes.
Wood and the TA could see this coming when Li Na made her historic trip to the Australian Open final in 2011. The telecast of the final was beamed to 135 million homes across the region.
We’re hoping that fitful Li will get it together in the fall and not actually find herself having to <em>play</em> for a wild card into the Aussie Open in Nanjing, although the broadcast potential if that were to happen kind of makes you go, <em>hmmmmm. . .</em>
