By Justin Cohen
- Melanie Oudin has signed an endorsement deal with Virgin Mobile that will reportedly pay her between $500,000 and $2 million over four years. Virgin Mobile announced that they will donate $1 million to homeless youth organizations if Oudin wins the 2010 US Open in New York.
- Sony Ericsson has reached a contract extension with the WTA Tour through 2012 but will no longer be the title sponsor of the women’s professional tour, as well as the year-end championships. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. Sony Ericsson’s current six-year, $88 million deal as the global title sponsor of the WTA Tour is set to expire at the end of 2010.
- SAP, a German business software company, has renewed its title sponsorship with the ATP tournament in San Jose, Calif., for the next three years. Last month, Fernando Verdasco defeated Andy Roddick in three sets to capture the title in San Jose.
- Champions Porsche has extended its sponsorship deal for another five years with the ATP World Tour Delray Beach International Tennis Championships.
- Pete Sampras recently listed his Los Angeles mansion on the market for $25 million, while Andy Roddick is selling his Austin, Texas, home for $4 million. Jennifer Capriati’s house in Wesley Chapel, Fla., is on the market for $2.1 million.
- Martina Navratilova, Steffi Graf, Justine Henin and Lindsay Davenport will take part in the second “Hit for Haiti” on March 12 at the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells. The match will follow the already set men’s exhibition match for Haiti featuring Roger Federer and Pete Sampras taking on Rafael Nadal and Andre Agassi in a doubles match.
- The World Economic Forum has named Roger Federer as one of its “Young Global Leaders for 2010.” Out of a list of 5,000 eligible candidates, only 197 were selected.
- Tennis Channel Chairman and CEO Ken Solomon was sworn in as a member of President Barack Obama’s Committee of Arts and the Humanities in the U.S. Supreme Court. “It is extremely humbling to be named to this esteemed committee, but the highest honor will come in what we’re able to accomplish,” said Solomon, who has more than 25 years of television and multimedia experience. “Not only can we drive our nation’s economic growth via the arts and humanities, but through cultural diplomacy we seek to strengthen our relationship within the global family of nations as well. I welcome this service, the work ahead and the chance to advance the democratization of the arts through education.”
- According to The London Telegraph, the Lawn Tennis Association might pursue Tim Henman as the next captain of Great Britain’s Davis Cup squad. Current captain John Lloyd acknowledged that his job might be in jeopardy following Great Britain’s loss to Lithuania last weekend.
- According to the DPA, Serbian Davis Cup captain Bogdan Obradovic has requested that Serbia’s tie against host Croatia be played in Zagreb because the team is concerned it will attract a more rowdy and nationalistic crowd. Currently, Split is the front-runner city to host the Davis Cup quarterfinal match. Croatian newspaper Jutamji List has reportedly said the comment Obradovic said is “the start of psychological warfare already four months before.” World No. 2 and Serbian player Novak Djokovic insisted that, “I heard that my camp is complaining about Split as the host, but I think that the war years are far behind us and that we should not overreact.” Split was heavily bombed by Serbia during the Balkan Wars fought
- Tennis Channel plans to carry 90 hours of television coverage of this week’s BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, following a couple years of scattered coverage by Fox Sports Net.
- Martina Hingis recently told the Neue Luzemer Zeitung that she has gotten engaged to Zurich lawyer Andreas Bieri. “It’s true, Andreas made a marriage proposal to me,” said Hingis. “I was totally surprised. Naturally, I accepted.”
- 2009 US Open champion Juan Martin del Potro, who has been sidelined with a wrist injury, has resumed training and hopes to return at the Sony Ericsson Open in Miami. Russian WTA Tour star Elena Vesnina also plans to return in Miami having been sidelined recently due to a leg injury.
- Sania Mirza will be sidelined for at least six weeks so she can rest her injured right wrist. Since leaping into the Top 30 in 2008, Mirza has been plagued with many injuries since and is now ranked No. 83. “I got some MRIs done yesterday,” said Mirza. “I have been struggling with this injury since the Fed Cup. But I played on with it a little bit, just to try out if I could. But right now I need six weeks off and then we will take a re-evaluation of the situation.”
- Pop star Shakira’s music video, Gypsy, featuring Rafael Nadal as last week’s top Billboard music video.
