Remember the WTA Mentorship program? In case you forgot, it was a sorority-type program meant for the rookies to get valuable advice from veteran players. But, with their growing history of catty conduct, I'm starting to think there should be a ban on French mentors. Yesterday at Roland Garros, Aravane Rezai and Marion Bartoli battled it out over, well, something.
And it wasn't the first time either player has been involved in a spat. Bartoli and another Frenchwoman, this time Virginie Razzano, bickered so bitterly about one another last summer that Bartoli couldn't bear the idea of shaking hands with Razzano at net.
Speaking of handshakes, how about last year's Roland Garros third-round match between Rezai and Michelle Larcher de Brito? There had been dispute over the volume of de Brito's grunts during the match, which led to this exchange at the net:
And it just keeps coming! After defeating Jelena Jankovic in Madrid a couple of weeks ago, Rezai threw in a few jabs against the Serb, including, "I was obviously too good for her and she disliked that, and I hated her attitude at the net, she barely touched my hand during the handshake and I did not like what she said during the post-match interviews." For good measure, she threw in, "As a person she's horrible, I mean her attitude, but as a player, she's okay. She has great shots, but I think she should not behave like a diva on the court."
Anyone else think it's time for Bravo to make a Real Players of the WTATour series?
—David Rosenberg