Some random thoughts as we head to the season ending championships, in Houston (men) and Los Angeles (women)?
Battles for number one highlight the home stretch
The Masters Cup and WTA Tour Championships will be notable since each event will crown the year-end number one.
U.S. Open champion Andy Roddick, who took the number one spot from Roland Garros titlist Juan Carlos Ferrero this week by reaching the Paris Masters Series semifinal, has the inside track on the men?s side. He will also be given a boost by the home crowd in Houston, as well as the choice of surface (outdoor hard). But Ferrero is well placed to overtake the American should Roddick stumble. Wimbledon champion Roger Federer also has a chance from the #3 spot, but it is a slim chance.
In Los Angeles, Kim Clijsters may well be top ranked, but she will have to outperform her compatriot Justine Henin in order to claim the year end #1 honours. Because Clijsters is defending her Tour Championships points from last year, Henin is better positioned to finish the year on top. Meanwhile, all eyes will be on the attendance figures in Los Angeles. The crowds last year were shockingly small, and without the Williams sisters in the field they might be even worse this year. The low American telev
ision ratings for the Henin-Clijsters U.S. Open final suggest that the American sporting public is not exactly enthralled by the Belgian rivalry?.
Betting and doping worry the sport
The past month was also marked by a betting-related controversy, following an investigative report in Britain?s Sunday Telegraph.
According to the article, suspicious wagering activity indicated that those with ?insider information? about illnesses and injuries may have been profiting from their connection with the tour to place bets on incapacitated or diminished players.
Or worse, that players might be intentionally throwing matches to gain a big betting payoff.
Several prominent players were mentioned in the Telegraph story as being implicated in suspect matches. One of them, rising young Spanish star Feliciano López, angrily denied the charges and threatened legal action against the newspaper, resulting in a formal apology that appeared in the Telegraph the following week. But the ATP admitted its concern about the wagering issue, and announced it had already launched an investigation. There has not been much recent news concerning the wagering
issue since the story was the ?flavour of the week? during the Madrid Masters Series last month.
Tennis officials were surely relieved that their sport was not connected to another recent scandal, the recent discovery of a new ?designer steroid?, THG. The only tennis personalities mentioned in news stories about THG, strangely enough, were retired stars Jim Courier and Ivan Lendl, because they were listed as clients of the laboratory that is accused of developing the drug. Since steroid use has been detected in tennis in the past, we hope the testing authorities are on top of things and now testing
players -- active players, that is -- for THG.
Indian Wells not in immediate danger
When we heard from our friends at Indian Wells that tickets for next year?s Pacific Life Open are now on sale, we knew it was time to think about 2004. American tennis fans were surely relieved to hear that the tournament?s owners denied reports that the elite event in the California desert is for sale. ?We are not actively out there trying to sell our tournament, nor are our partners,? said Steve Simon of PM Sports, the company that co-owns the tournament along with the ubiquitous sports management fir
m IMG. ?There is no intent by either partner right now to sell the tournament,? Simons told Reuters this week.
Although the cautious ?right now? might give some cause for concern?
The rumours of a possible sale had been fueled by the news that IMG sold another American tournament, the women?s event in Scottsdale, Arizona, to the cash-rich Qatar Tennis Federation.
This year the Indian Wells event will expand its men?s field to 96, the same as the women, making for a solid two weeks of men?s and women?s tennis. Tickets are available at www.pacificlifeopen.com.