In this week’s “Champs & Chumps” we race around the tennis world handing out our usual doses of praise and and criticism.

Champs

Dinara Safina made her WTA Tour debut this week in Estoril. Safina joins a seemingly ever-growing crop of young and up-and-coming Russians currently on the Tour. However, Safina will certainly be garnering more attention since she is the younger sister of Marat Safin. The soon-to-be 16-year old scored an upset in the opening round over the #3 seed, Martina Sucha. Safina, a successful player on the juniors circuit, seems ready for the main tour and has advanced to the Estoril quarterfinals as of this writing. Marat, also playing in Estoril this week, has high praise for his sister and hopes one day to compete in mixed doubles with her in the coming years.

Best wishes to David Wheaton who officially announced the end to his 13-year career on the ATP Tour. The now 32-year old American has not had much presence on the Tour for years (I had to go back to the 1999 ATP Media Guide to even find a mention of him) and was eclipsed by his countrymen even during the height of his career in the early 1990s. The patriotic bandanna-wearing Wheaton attained a career high ranking of #2 back in July 1991 shortly after reaching the Wimbledon semifinals. Wheaton also won the year-end championships that year. Wheaton plans to play some World Team Tennis this summer but now spends much of his time in Minnesota where he is involved in inspirational speaking and writing.

Congratulations to Tim Henman who will join the growing list of fathers on the ATP Tour. Married in December 199, Henman and wife Lucy are expecting their first child this October. Henman made the announcement on his official website (www.timhenman.org) and good wishes are already pouring in from around the globe and particularly from Great Britain. Having just lost their beloved Queen Mum, the Brits appeared thrilled with the good news from one of their favorite sons.

Chumps

Disappointing but not unexpected news about the next week’s Tennis Masters Series in Monte Carlo as Americans Andre Agassi and Pete Sampras have withdrawn from the tournament. Agassi cited “lack of preparation” while Sampras did not give a reason for his withdrawal (after all these years, perhaps an allergy to clay may be a valid excuse). These withdrawals are just the latest blow in the ATP’s attempt to get top draws at the TMS events. I guess one has to give credit for Agassi for being honest in “excuse” but I just wish I could use that regularly in my real-world responsibilities and have it fly.

Tennis is often a game where players argue line calls over mere centimeters, so it was quite surprising that a match was completed and allowed to officially stand this past week when it was discovered a court was improperly lined at the Bausch & Lomb Championships. Amazingly, the service court for a first round match between Anne Kremer and Jennifer Hopkins was 3 feet short of the required 21 feet! Both players, who compiled a total of 29 double faults in the three set match, appealed to the umpire during the match but were told to continue playing. It took the WTA six hours to determine that Kremer’s victory would stand, citing that “an umpire’s decision on matters such as court measurements shall be final.”

Finally, we end with one of our all-time favorite “chumps” – Richard Williams . Just when both Venus and Serena Williams appear be showing some semblance of a commitment to the Tour, Richard Williams is once again spewing quotes that both his daughters should retire from the game. Richard feels Venus should focus on business interests and her budding career as a fashion designer while Serena’s 12-1 start to the year is apparently due to putting “too much emphasis on her game of tennis.” Richard went on further to add “if she (Serena) keeps that up, she can turn out to be one of the dumbest athletes in the world.”