Potpourri~~~
I'm preparing for a long, blog-free vacation, so I'm combining a bunch of links to stories and a few brief comments in one post tonight. Then I'm going to pack.
Although I can't find any official press release from Reekbok, apparently their deal with Scoville Jenkins is done. There isn't much new in this ESPN.com story by Darren Rovell except for maybe the unbelievable statement that Venus Williams is wearing Reebok for free, but it must mean contracts have been signed. Hard to believe that Rovell doesn't know Donald Young's age, so I'll assume that "17" is a typo.
The sale of the ATP tournament in Scottsdale has resulted in The Tennis Channel Open landing in Las Vegas. The story from Tennis Week gives all the details, but the interesting part for junior tennis fans is this: A qualifying tournament, a junior tournament that would award the winner a wild card into qualifying of The Tennis Channel Open, a $75,000 USTA Women's Challenger event and a possible senior tournament are all planned in the days leading up to the actual ATP tournament.
With not much happening in junior tennis in the U.S. that time of year, it sounds like a swell idea to me.
Andre Christopher, the managing editor of Tennis Week, contributes this interesting story about the reigning Princess of the Little Mo tournaments, eleven-year-old Blair Shankle. I know a few kids who compete in them, but I've never attended one. I'll put it on my "to-do" list soon.
The USTA has named Phillip Simmonds Pro Circuit Player of the Week and Attila Bucko Junior Player of the Week. Readers of zootennis might have seen those awards coming. I even had a photo of Simmonds (ok, it's a year old, but better than nothing).
1 comments:
Venus was dumped by Reebok in August 2004 (only collecting a little more than half of the record multi-year deal she signed a few years earlier) & couldn't get a deal with another sponsor. She continued wearing Reebok so that no one outside the industry would notice her lack of sponsorship & got away with it until a reporter called her on it during the 2005 Australian Open. She evaded the question with a "we're in negotiations comment," but it was evident that she was embarrassed to finally be exposed. (Note that she wore virtually identical ensembles from the 2004 Australian Open until the 2005 U.S. Open as Reebok quit designing/manufacturing VW attire--she bought out all the stock of the ensembles designed for the 2004 Australian Open & wore them over & over again (previously unheard of for the Williames).
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