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mixed doubles

How The Andy Murray – Emma Raducanu Mixed Doubles Controversy Could Have Been Avoided

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By Randy Walker

@TennisPublisher

There was much “bru-ha-ha” over Andy Murray and Emma Raducanu withdrawing from the Wimbledon mixed doubles competition in 2024. Raducanu withdrew from the pairing due to some pain in her wrist, which she wanted to rest in advance of her fourth round singles match with qualifier Lulu Sun, which she ended up losing with some physical distress. The pairing would have been a “box office” smash for fans and TV viewers as the two most popular and successful current British players would compete at The Championships in Murray’s final appearance at the All England Club.

Mixed doubles gets virtually no attention at Grand Slam events and is certainly the discipline that receives the least amount of exposure. It only really gets attention when the biggest stars in the game play or, in this case, pull out due to scheduling and needing rest because they go deep in the singles competition. Pullouts seem to be a lot more common in mixed doubles than anywhere else. Have a look at the 2021 Wimbledon mixed doubles draw that saw five seeded team withdraw and then another six walkovers taking place, including the blockbuster team of Venus Williams and Nick Kyrgios.

Why would Grand Slams care about star players playing Grand Slams? It certainly creates buzz and also provides value to ticket holders who have additional opportunities to watch big-name players? When the matches do get on television, it will probably result in higher TV ratings.

So how do Grand Slams get more star player to play mixed doubles and prevent disappointing withdrawals like Murray and Raducanu?

Start it later.

I think a solution to this issue would be to stage the mixed doubles competition strictly in the second week of Wimbledon and at all Grand Slam tournaments. The draw is only 32 teams so if you play a round a day, it can be finished over five days. If you start the mixed doubles on Monday of the second week, you have two days of buffer in case of rain or scheduling issues with a player who may still be in singles or doubles, although it is rare that a singles player would still be left. In fact, that is increasingly rare. (By the way, did you know that Kevin Curren and Anne Smith played four mixed doubles matches on the final day of the event in 1982 en route to the title because of rain and scheduling issues?)

The sign-in for the mixed doubles can close at 11 am on the middle Sunday of Wimbledon (or other Grand Slams) and the draw and the schedule can be made right after that, with play starting the next day. This would allow for players who lose in the third round of Wimbledon to still enter the mixed doubles tournament or, conversely, players who are through to the fourth round of the tournament can choose not to play because of their expected or unexpected success in the main draw of singles. This would save them the indignity of pulling out of the mixed event. The draw for the mixed doubles was made on the first Thursday of the tournament, which is when the second round of the singles tournament hadn’t yet concluded.

This revised mixed doubles schedule would have 16 first round matches in the 32-team draw, which you could play with four matches each being played over four courts, for example, on that second Monday of the two-week event. The eight round of 16 matches would be played on Tuesday, two matches each on four courts. On Wednesday, the four quarterfinals would be played on two courts and the semifinals on Thursday on one or two courts and the final could be played, after a day off, as part of the Centre Court program on the day of the women’s final. Certainly, during the second week of the tournament there can also be challenges scheduling around the juniors, wheelchair and senior competitions but certainly doable.

Mixed doubles at Grand Slams is not what it used to be when future Hall of Famers would be in many finals and some players even going for “Triple Crowns” of winning the singles, doubles and mixed in the same year (that may never happen again.) Many top players now only play singles and don’t even play doubles, let alone mixed doubles, due to the increased physicality of the sport from the early days in tennis when the top players would often play singles, doubles and mixed doubles.

At Wimbledon in 2024, six of the top 10 ATP ranked doubles players were in the mixed doubles field as well as 13 of top 20, and 20 of top 30. Only four men in the mixed doubles field have ATP singles rankings led by No. 68 Max Purcell and also including No. 206, No. 248, No. 1,528) For the women, five of the top 10 WTA ranked doubles players were in the mixed doubles field as well as 11 of the top 20 and 17 of the top 30. Eighteen players in the field have WTA singles rankings, led by No. 27 Dayana Yastremska.

However, the mixed doubles has sometimes treated fans with some interesting and fan-friendly pairings, such as Murray with Serena Williams at Wimbledon in 2019, Steffi Graf with John McEnroe in 1999 and Martina Navratilova for many years with many top male partners, including Emilio Sanchez, Paul Annacone, Heinz Gunthardt, Leander Paes and others. Current power couple Stefanos Tsitsipas and Paula Badosa have also discussed a mixed doubles pairing. Unfortunately, many times some of these superstar mixed doubles pairings have ended with one player or the other pulling out of the competition because they have advanced far in the singles draw and they want/need to rest. This famously happened with Graf and McEnroe paired in Wimbledon mixed in 1999, but withdrew in the semifinals against Anna Kournikova and Jonas Bjorkman as Graf had reached the singles final and needed to rest. (McEnroe was famously not happy with the decision.) Despite many opportunities over the last year, Tsitsipas and Badosa have yet to pair in Grand Slam mixed doubles, scheduling around their singles matches have been the biggest issues, including this year at the French Open here https://www.reuters.com/sports/tennis/tsitsidosa-withdraw-french-open-mixed-doubles-2024-06-03

The same argument as far as starting the men’s and women’s doubles tournament later has been made by me as you can read here: https://www.worldtennismagazine.com/archives/21267 and watch here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3fGp1JzwEsM&t=82s

88-Year Reign of Olympic Mixed Doubles Champion and Titanic Survivor About To End

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Mixed doubles has returned to the Olympic tennis program in 2012, ending the 88-year Olympic mixed doubles gold medal “reign” of two-time U.S. singles champion Dick Williams, a survivor of the sinking of the Titanic 100 years ago.

Williams won Olympic gold in the mixed doubles competition at the 1924 Olympics in Paris with Hazel Wightman, defeating fellow Americans Vincent Richards and Marion Jessup in the final. Tennis was subsequently taken off the Olympic program until 1988 with mixed doubles returning as a medal competition at the 2012 Games.

The survival of Williams from the Titanic disaster 100 years ago – and his triumph two years later at the U.S. Championships – is narrated in the book TITANIC: THE TENNIS STORY by Lindsay Gibbs.

Gibbs told the OLYMPIC NEWS SERVICE that Williams was very close to pulling out of the mixed doubles competition in 1924 due to injury.

“During his run to the gold medal he actually tore a ligament in his ankle,” Gibbs said to the OLYMPIC NEWS SERVICE. “He wanted to withdraw from the competition, but his teammate Wightman refused. She told him that if he covered the net she would run everything down on the baseline. Clearly, the strategy was effective and he always attributed the win to her.”

TITANIC: THE TENNIS STORY ($12.95, New Chapter Press, available here: http://www.mailermailer.com/rd?http://www.amazon.com/dp/0942257626?tag=tennisgrancom-20&camp=14573&creative=327641&linkCode=as1&creativeASIN=0942257626&adid=1VDNE7FP6P2ERTBCKQ49&&ref-refURL=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.tennisgrandstand.com%2F) narrates the tale of Williams and his fellow American tennis player Karl Behr, who both survived the most famous and talked about sea disaster in 1912. The two met on the rescue ship Carpathia and went on to become teammates on the U.S. Davis Cup team and, incredibly, faced each other in the quarterfinals of the 1914 U.S. Championships (the modern-day US Open.)

Titantic: The Tennis Story by Lindsay Gibbs
Titantic: The Tennis Story by Lindsay Gibbs

Williams nearly had his legs amputated after surviving hours in the frigid water, hanging on to a collapsed lifeboat after jumping from the sinking ship. Behr first asked his girlfriend Helen Newsom to marry him on the Titanic and survived by luck – allowed into the second lifeboat before passengers realized the gravity of the event.

“He wasn’t on the operating table or anything, but it (amputation) was certainly the suggested treatment,” Gibbs said to the OLYMPIC NEWS SERVICE. “When he first got onto the Carpathia he was fed breakfast and had a sip of brandy then found a spot in the kitchen of the Carpathia between the stove and wall to take a nap.

“When he woke up he was in immense pain with his legs and he hobbled to find a doctor. All the official doctors on the Carpathia were busy, but he came across a passenger who practiced medicine.

“He was advised, in a rather cheery manner he recalled, to have his legs amputated. He asked if there were any other options and the man suggested that he could attempt to walk through the pain. So he did – and it worked.”

Williams, whose father was killed on the Titanic, became a star at Harvard, a two-time U.S. singles champion (1914, 1916) and a Wimbledon doubles champion in 1920 in addition to winning his Olympic mixed doubles gold in 1924. He was a long-time resident of Philadelphia and passed away in 1968. Behr, from New York, was a standout player at Yale and a Wimbledon doubles finalist in 1907. He passed away in 1949.

The book is the first novel for Gibbs, originally from Greensboro, North Carolina, now a resident of New York. She has also written a screenplay based on her book.

TITANIC: THE TENNIS STORY is also available for download on Amazon.com’s KINDLE here: http://www.mailermailer.com/rd?http://www.amazon.com/Titanic-The-Tennis-Story-ebook/dp/B0087GZGTO/ref=tmm_kin_title_0?ie=UTF8&qid=1343825273&sr=1-1

Founded in 1987, New Chapter Press (www.NewChapterMedia.com) is also the publisher of “Roger Federer: Quest for Perfection” by Rene Stauffer (www.RogerFedererBook.com), “The Bud Collins History of Tennis” by Bud Collins, “The Education of a Tennis Player” by Rod Laver with Bud Collins, “The Wimbledon Final That Never Was” by Sidney Wood, “Acing Depression: A Tennis Champion’s Toughest Match” by Cliff Richey and Hilaire Richey Kallendorf (www.CliffRicheyBook.com), “The Greatest Tennis Matches of All Time” by Steve Flink, “Jan Kodes: A Journey To Glory From Behind The Iron Curtain” by Jan Kodes with Peter Kolar, “Tennis Made Easy” by Kelly Gunterman, “On This Day In Tennis History” by Randy Walker (www.TennisHistoryBook.com), “A Player’s Guide To USTA League Tennis” by Tony Serksnis, “Boycott: Stolen Dreams of the 1980 Moscow Olympic Games” by Tom Caraccioli and Jerry Caraccioli (www.Boycott1980.com), “The Lennon Prophecy” by Joe Niezgoda (www.TheLennonProphecy.com), “Bone Appetit, Gourmet Cooking For Your Dog” by Susan Anson, “How To Sell Your Screenplay” by Carl Sautter, “The Rules of Neighborhood Poker According To Hoyle” by Stewart Wolpin, “People’s Choice Guide Cancun” by Eric Rabinowitz, “Lessons from the Wild” by Shayamal Vallabhjee among others.

The Fascinating Story Behind Martina Navratilova’s Defection to the USA

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Martina Navratilova celebrates her 54th birthday on October 18, 2010 and had much to be grateful for and proud of in her illustrious life so far.

One of the most courageous events in her glorious career came at the age of 18, when she defected to the United States from communist Czechoslovakia, sacrificing her family and homelife to pursue her dream of becoming the greatest woman tennis player of all-time.

Hall of Famer Jan Kodes, a mentor and former mixed doubles partner of Martina’s, along with Czech author Petr Kolar, describe the tremendous circumstances that lead up to her famous defection at the 1975 US Open in the new book JAN KODES: A JOURNEY TO GLORY FROM BEHIND THE IRON CURTAIN.

The hard-cover coffee-table book, available here for $39 http://www.amazon.com/Jan-Kodes-Journey-Behind-Curtain/dp/0942257685/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1287408541&sr=1-1 discusses the life and career of Kodes, the 1975 Wimbledon champion, as well as the development of Czech tennis through the years. The story behind Navratilova’s defection is excerpted here:

Wimbledon 1975. The mixed-doubles semifinal match on Centre Court between Kodes-Navratilova and Riessen-Court came to a close. The Czech team lost to the future Wimbledon champions 7:5, 0:6, 2:6.

It was a pity; we had several breakpoints on Riessen’s serve at the beginning of the third set. I just did not succeed in hitting an effective return – and that decided the outcome. It was a double pity since we would have had a good chance in the finals against Stone-Stove after Roche-King defaulted in the third round.

As they departed from the court it did not even cross Jan Kodes’ mind that it would be the last mixed doubles match with Martina.

I returned home and worked out at Sparta when Mirek Navratil approached me after a few days: “Martina is facing problems; they want to “discipline” her for having stayed in a hotel in Paris with other foreign players, and for making friends with American players. It bothers them, they constantly harass her, and they create problems around her.”

I did not pay much attention to it for I had heard much gossip and rumors during my career. However, a few days passed and they forbade Martina to travel to the United States. That angered me and I approached the CUPE chairman Antonin Himl: “Mr. Chairman, I found out that…. supposedly, Navratilova is not permitted to travel to the United States? How much truth is in that?” He started our quite calmly: “You know, I have some news here from the Tennis Federation that Navratilova is getting too Americanized and doesn’t stick to the group of our players”

Mr. Chairman, these are good for nothing statements!

I played Wimbledon with her this year; I can’t go to the US Open without her! How would I explain it there? Do I say that she has a flu and that is why she is not present? Or do I say that you did not let her go? Explain to me what sense does it make to prohibit her from entering the US Open?” He just gaped at me so I continued. “If you don’t permit her to go now she’ll defect at the next opportunity when you send her out! If you hold her back you are guilty of killing a great talent, perhaps the greatest in the world!”

He left and at that moment, I must admit, there were two things I did not surmise. First, that Antonin Himl was familiar with the letter that Antonin Bolardt had delivered to the personnel office of the Central Committee of Czechoslovak Union of Physical Education. In it he declared that “in the course of recent Wimbledon Championships he arrived at a conviction that Martina Navratilova was getting ready to emigrate and most likely would not return from her family trip around Europe.” Second, it did not even cross my mind that she would emigrate! Though, I believe, they had threatened her at home.

In 1975, Martina Navratilova entered the world tennis scene with confidence. She reached two big fi nals in Paris and Rome losing to Chris Evert and she represented the country with great success in the Federation Cup, which the Czech players won for the first time. Under the leadership of Vera Sukova, the team of Navratilova, Tomanova, and Kozeluhova gradually defeated Ireland, the Netherlands, West Germany, and France. It was Martina Navratilova and Renata Tomanova who played all the matches. In the finals against Australia they did not give away even a set to the favored Goolagong and Gourlay!

Martina Navratilova

Inevitably, Martina became a target of attention and in Wimbledon reached the quarterfinals, losing to Margaret Court. She was now among the world’s top players. It was there where problems started to sprout, problems that eventually caused her flight from Czechoslovakia.

She started to entertain the idea of emigration in the autumn of 1974. She strove to become the world’s top player, she desired to live in the United States of America, and she wanted to become a US citizen. But, she hesitated too long. Each time she thought “this is the right moment to do it” she recoiled from it. The prick of conscience told her “your home is in Czechoslovakia: Revnice, Berounka, Praha…” She realized the enormous consequence of fleeing.

The comrades in the leadership of Czechoslovak athletics made the decision for her. Imposed hardships, false rumor-spreading inspired largely by Antonin Bolardt, one of the communists in then leadership of Czechoslovak tennis, impinged on her. It frightened her that she might no longer get the exit permit to the West. After the Federation Cup victory her fate was sealed. “We’ll clip Martina’s wings” proclaimed Antonin Bolardt.

Harmful gossip accelerated, intensified, and transformed into threats. “Either you follow what we dictate, or we’ll destroy you.” Vera Sukova, the national coach and a captain of the Federation Cup team realized that the situation was turning critical and with a frank chat she attempted to help Martina. She took Martina aside and explained to her how to behave in order to be left alone: “Martina, you have got to slow down or you will get yourself as well as me into trouble. Be smart, play along with us!”

Even her parents advised her to cool down. But, Martina was eighteen, she was at the brink of her world fame as a tennis player, yet, in her own motherland that she has represented so well, they were trying to squeeze her neck.

In spite of the strained atmosphere she was allowed to enter the Virginia Slims Circuit. Following her victory in Boston, she was going to fly home but, she decided to extend her stay in the United States by one more tournament on Amelia Island without informing any officials at home about it. This gave rise to a reason to “clip her wings!”

Before her final-round match, she received a telegram from the Czech Tennis Federation requesting her to return at once. She would not risk defaulting from a finals match of a world tournament. In a very nervous performance she succumbed to Chris Evert and took the next plane over the Atlantic only to be called to account in Prague. They accused her of being conceited and ordered her to associate only with the Czechs or players from other socialist countries when playing abroad.

Based on this condition she was permitted to enter Roland Garros. In Paris she shared a hotel room with Chris Evert! And on top of it she played doubles with Chris. This went round and round. Upon her return troubles continued. Before Wimbledon, after Wimbledon… She requested a permit to enter the 1975 US Open. Thanks to Jan Kodes’ and Stanislav Chvatal’s initiative there was a meeting with Antonin Himl. The debate was long; Martina could not understand why there was so much fuss when she did not intend to emigrate.

And, at that moment, that statement was true. All she wanted was to play tennis and she felt she had the right to decide where, when and with whom. Kodes and Chvatal succeeded in persuading Himl in granting the permission, though with a condition that she would return immediately thereafter. As she was departing she felt that outside forces had the power to control her ever so much more. She realized that she could not live happily in such a system that would not permit her to make her own decisions. Her final resolution ripened during her stroll with her Dad along the river Berounka on the eve of her departure to the United States. She recognized that staying under the watchful eye of the Czechoslovak athletic authorities would bring the end to her ambitions.

In 1990 Stanislav Chvatal, a Chairman of Czechoslovak Tennis Federation from 1969 to 1976, wrote: “The state of Martina’s affairs frightened me; again and again I contemplated the situation from 1949, when everything good in Czech tennis was lost in a scope of a few days and the resulting emigration of Drobny and Cernik literally erased our tennis.”

By his authority he vouched for Martina before her planned trip to the United States. “Prior to her departure I invited her to my office. We had an odd conversation. We both knew where we stood in our understanding of the circumstance. I repeated several times that she had the power to decide about her fate in her own hands now. She gave me her photograph with a dedication; it was touching. When she was gone I did not know what to think about that lapsed moment; on the other hand I sensed I knew it very well.”  Stanislav Chvatal was recalled from his post of a chairman of our Tennis Federation in 1976 and Miloslav Janovec was voted in his stead…

I did not vouch for her but I stood up for her. It was impossible to vouch for Martina or anybody else that they would not defect. But I tried to explain to Antonin Himl and others that they would not gain anything by prohibiting her to play a tournament. I tried to persuade them to allow Martina to fly to the United States…

When I heard the radio news that she announced her defection the first thing that entered my mind was to call her and discuss the issue. When I arrived at the tennis courts the next day I was told: “Don’t call her, she is gone. She does not want to talk to anybody. They grabbed her and took her god-knows-where. Perhaps to Chicago and then to Los Angeles.”

At that moment I remembered my recent conversation with Jaroslav Drobny in the Bournemouth stadium. Deep down inside I realized: I am twenty-nine and my case is different. She is only eighteen; she has her life ahead of her. I did not blame her but I did not say it out loud. I do not know how I would have answered if anybody asked me then whether I indorsed her emigration. Martina simply wanted to rule her own life. But nobody asked me so I stayed quiet. I was busy with the upcoming Davis Cup at Stvanice against Australia so, perhaps, they were afraid to ask me for that reason; they did not want to rattle things further.

Vera Sukova tried to contact Martina still in New York with the intent of changing her mind. It did not work. There was a US Open Newsletter at Forest Hills that made comments about events around the courts; they also published an article that stated: “On Sunday, an eighteen-year old Martina Navratilova announced in the middle of the championship: “I have applied for a political asylum!” Various officials from her home country accused her of being too Americanized and requested her to spend more time at home than abroad. “I realized that I would not be able to become the best player in the world if I am not allowed to play the important tournaments. That was crushing my tennis ambitions.” At the age of eighteen she is considered one of the top five players in the world. She has earned $135,000. Her emigration from Czechoslovakia does not have a political reason. “I am only concerned with my tennis career” she said. Since she comes from a communist country processing her request has been a routine job for the immigration officials. They made a statement that her visa would be extended without a problem.”

Obtaining a “Green Card” and thus legalizing her residency in the USA was a question of mere few weeks. Before the Green Card was granted Martina managed to play several tournaments in Atlanta, Charlotte, and Denver. There she came face to face with Vera Sukova, who was sent there officially from Prague to try once more to persuade Martina to return. She was accompanied by a Czechoslovak Embassy official who tried doggedly to convince Martina to come home. He promised that if she returned she would not be persecuted and that he himself would make sure that she would be treated better. All that only refreshed her memory of communist antics and that further confirmed her certainty that if she returned, more trouble would result. Her Dad’s words from their stroll along the Berounka before her departure flashed through her head: “Do not come back no matter what! They may make us beg you to return but you must not listen to us. Do not return home!”

Vera Sukova realized that nothing would change Martina’s decision. She suffered for it; she was fond of Martina. She suffered also for the reasons that authorities at home would pester her while she wanted to continue to hold a strong women’s team together. They shook hands after two hours of discussion and they parted peacefully.

Publicly, Martina Navratilova ceased to exist in Czechoslovakia. About two weeks after her announcement in New York the Czechoslovak Tennis Federation made a proclamation: “Martina Navratilova suffered a defeat in the face of our proletarian public. Czechoslovakia offered her all the means for her development but she gave preference to a doubtful career of a professional and a fat bank account.”

WITH WIMBLEDON OVER, TURN YOUR ATTENTION TO WORLD TEAM TENNIS

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By Blair Henley

The roof has closed on Wimbledon for another year and now the waiting game begins. Tennis fans will have to survive almost two months before the buzzing energy and late-night excitement of the U.S. Open takes over. But here’s something that might ease your tennis withdrawal.

World Team Tennis (WTT), the fan-friendly brainchild of founder Billie Jean King, begins its 35th season Monday, culminating with the WTT Finals in Kansas City on July 25th.

Ten teams comprised of two men, two women and a coach make up the Eastern and Western WTT Conferences. Matches consist of five no-ad sets with one set each of men’s singles, women’s singles, men’s doubles, women’s doubles and mixed doubles.

World Team Tennis
World Team Tennis

In a sport where players’ individual performances dictate wins and losses, the co-ed team structure offers a unique experience for both players and fans. And one look at the multi-colored courts will tell you that this isn’t your grandmother’s tennis match.

Traditional tennis etiquette is thrown out the window for the duration of the competition and fans are encouraged to make as much noise as possible between points. You’ll have to yell loudly though if you want to be heard over the blaring music played during point breaks and changeovers.

I experienced the one-of-a-kind WTT atmosphere firsthand last summer when I filled in for Springfield Lasers player, Vania King, the newly-crowned Wimbledon women’s doubles champion. A former college player, I benefitted from being one of, well, one player in the Missouri town who had played at a relatively high level – “had played” being the keywords there.

It had been three years since my last tournament and I had just two days to practice with my doubles partner Chani Scheepers (currently ranked No. 88). Returning her rocket-like groundstrokes left me so sore that I was seriously doubting my mobility by match time. But that was the least of my worries.

As the fans began to file into the small, up-close-and-personal stadium, I felt like my heart had dislodged and was sitting comfortably in my gut. Women’s doubles was the fourth “event” to take the court, so I had plenty of time to ponder whether Chani was capable of singlehandedly winning our doubles match.

Thankfully my fears were unfounded. As our coach sat on the bench directing the fans to clap along with the music, the momentum shifted and we overcame a 4-2 deficit to take the event in a tiebreaker.

We celebrated with our teammates (whose expectations for my performance were likely similar to my own), and listened to the local crowd of around 1,500 cheer wildly. Chani followed up our doubles with a stellar singles performance, sealing our victory.

Then I signed autographs like I had been doing it all my life.

I have no doubt that the team format is just as much fun for the players as it is for the people in the stands. Tennis is a notoriously solitary sport, but having a group to practice and travel with for a few weeks a year is no doubt a nice respite from the grind of the professional tennis tour.

It’s easy to forget that there are over 1,000 players on both the men’s and women’s circuits fighting for their chance to break into the world’s top 50. WTT gives those rising stars some exposure and satisfies fans’ desire for big-time tennis celebrities by periodically including “marquis players” in team lineups.

Venus and Serena Williams, Andy Roddick, Lindsay Davenport, John McEnroe and Maria Sharapova are just some of the players who will be making appearances this season. Martina Hingis will be playing for New York Buzz in what some are speculating to be the beginning of yet another comeback.

Billie Jean King’s vision for drawing in new tennis fans by introducing a team format that allows close contact with players has made the game accessible to adults and children who may realize for the first time that a tennis match can be just as entertaining as a baseball or football game, and far less expensive.

You can check the World Team Tennis website (wtt.com) for more information on team locations and tickets. Go and see how tennis has been transformed from a demure country club sport to a true blue sporting event. Oh, and bring your noisemakers.

HINGIS TO COME BACK AGAIN?

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By McCarton Ackerman

After two retirements and a two year ban for testing positive for cocaine, tennis legend Martina Hingis still isn’t ready to walk away for good.

The Associated Press reported that World Team Tennis founder Billie Jean King said Hingis is “testing the waters” this summer for a doubles-only comeback to the WTA Tour.

Hingis is scheduled to compete in World Team Tennis this July, playing 14 matches for the New York Buzz. In addition to playing exhibition singles matches against Olga Savchuk and Michaela Krajicek at the Nottingham Masters event this week, Hingis is also scheduled to pair up with Anna Kournikova in the legends doubles event at Wimbledon.

Hingis, 29, is a winner of nine Grand Slam women’s doubles titles and one mixed doubles title, and completed a calendar slam in 1998, winning all four majors. She also held the No. 1 doubles ranking for a period of 35 weeks. Her last title came at Doha in 2007 with Maria Kirilenko.

DAVENPORT TO COMPETE AT WIMBLEDON

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By McCarton Ackerman

Former world No. 1 Lindsay Davenport will make her return to competitive tennis at this year’s Wimbledon Championships. Davenport, 34, will compete with doubles world No. 1 Bob Bryan in the mixed doubles event. Bryan confirmed the news on his Twitter account.

Davenport is also scheduled to play Stanford and San Diego with American Liezel Huber, and has not ruled out the possibility of competing in this year’s US Open.

BATTLE OF THE SEXES PREQUEL: HOW WOULD McENROE vs. SERENA FLY TODAY?

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By Randy Walker

When most people think about the “Battle of the Sexes” in tennis, they think of when Billie Jean King defeated Bobby Riggs in their famed 1973 match at the Houston Astrodome, one of the biggest spectacles in tennis, sports and for women’s equality. However, the forgotten “prequel” to King vs. Riggs occurred 37 years ago today when Riggs demolished world No. 1 Margaret Court in Romana, Calif., in a match known as the “Mother’s Day Masscare.” The following is the excerpt from my book “ON THIS DAY IN TENNIS HISTORY” ($19.95, New Chapter Press, www.TennisHistoryBook.com) that summarizes the happenings of May 13, 1973.

John McEnroe
John McEnroe

1973 – In the prequel to the famous “Battle of the Sexes” match between Bobby Riggs and Billie Jean King, the 55-year-old Riggs crushes No. 1 ranked woman Margaret Court 6-2, 6-1 in 57-minutes in their $10,000 winner-take-all challenge match in Romana, Calif. After the match, that becomes known as the “Mother’s Day Massacre,” Riggs, the self-described male chauvinist pig, issues the challenge to take on King, saying “I want her. She’s the Women’s Libber leader! She can name the place, the court and the time, just as long as the price is right.” Riggs, who famously wins the singles, men’s doubles and mixed doubles titles at Wimbledon in 1939, calls his win over Court, “the greatest hustle of all time.” Writes Neil Amdur of the New York Times, “The victory was the latest and perhaps most amazing chapter in the colorful career of one of the games most underrated players and one of the sports most successful hustlers.” King eventually accepts Riggs’ challenge and in September they play in the famous “Battle of the Sexes” match at the Houston Astrodome.

Is tennis ready for another battle of the sexes? How would John McEnroe vs. Serena Williams fair today? How about playing it at Yankee Stadium or CitiField in New York or at Cowboys Stadium in Dallas?

Since King-Riggs in 1973 – which drew a world record tennis crowd of 30,472 fans – promoters have tried to recreate this spectacle. In 1985, after Vitas Gerulaitis claimed that the No. 100-ranked man would beat world No. 1-ranked woman Martina Navratilova, he and Riggs teamed to play against Navratilova and Pam Shriver, then the world No. 1 doubles team, in Atlantic City. Once again, the women beat the men. In 1992, Jimmy Connors took on Navratilova at Caesar’s Palace in Las Vegas, where Connors was only given one serve and Navratilova was given half of the doubles alleys to hit into. Connors won that match 7-5, 6-2.

A Wimbledon Champion Remembers His First Turkey

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The following is an excerpt from the November, 1981 issue of WORLD TENNIS magazine where 1931 Wimbledon Champion Sidney Wood discusses how tennis scored him a Thanksgiving Day turkey. Wood, a member of the International Tennis Hall of Fame, was also a member of the U.S. Davis Cup team in 1931 and 1934 and was a singles finalist at the U.S. Championships in 1935. He passed away at the age of 97 on January 10 of this year.

Sidney Wood
Sidney Wood

Compared to the “Greatest Moments” of others that have regaled us, my own is somewhat fleeting and brief in the telling. The score is forgotten; of the four people playing, I can summon to mind the names of only two-and-one-halt—including me—and I don’t even remember if the sun was shining. However short-lived and relatively inconsequential it is, my moment has had a lasting effect on me.

It was not Wimbledon, nor any other major tournament, not even the National Father and Son—perhaps a greater strain on family harmony than husband and wife bridge. No, it was the Golden Gate Public Park Thanksgiving Handicap Mixed Doubles Championship, played in San Francisco, California when 1 was one year short of teenage and could check the height of the net by putting my nose on the tape.

Our considerable handicap (we had several points a set as I recall) notwith­standing, it was inconceivable that I and my partner, Pauline (that’s the half-a-name I recall), a substantially structured 18-year-old damsel of about twice my heft, could prevail over the frighteningly famous Bobby Sellers, winner of the National Junior Singles that season, and his high-ranked lady partner whose name escapes me. But win we did, and with it the prize of two enormous turkeys. For reasons never clearly understood, certain memories are forever etched on one’s mind’s eye. Perhaps this one took root because I’d never won so much as a blue ribbon.

On the ferry and train ride home to Berkeley (that was before Bechtel built the bay-spanning Golden Gate Bridge—even before Alcatraz!), the huge, nude bird, plus my three rackets and tennis bag, must have given me trouble, but 1 would have been too euphoric to notice.

On reaching home, I rang the door-bell to assure an audience for my grand entrance, and when my normally self-contained mother opened the door, and saw me with my first-ever prize extended, she swept me up, then burst into tears. Of course, another turkey was well along in the oven, but no matter, out it came, and in went my winnings, and for days the Woods feasted on drumsticks and the warm glow of hope that their oft-bedridden, miniscule Sidney had a fighting chance to make the tennis world take notice.