THE CRY THAT ECHOED FROM L.A. ACROSS THE URALS: Asked if she heard a wailing baby during her match against Victoria Azarenka at the Home Depot Center, Maria Sharapova shot back, “Heard it? My grandmother in Russia could hear it.”
SEALED WITH A KISS?: The ITF will file an appeal in the Court of Arbitration for Sport on the ruling that cleared Richard Gasquet of charges that he used cocaine. Gasquet had claimed that he was the victim of a contaminated kiss at a nightclub.
THE JOY OF THE KILL: 2008 year-end No. 1 Jelena Jankovic says she’s trying to smile a little more these days. Said the Serb: “You need to have fun. You need to enjoy it. You don’t need to take it so seriously, like so many of us do. We want to kill each other out there.” The ever-confident JJ added, “I’m positive. I’m believing in myself, and I’ll go out there and try to play good tennis every day, and try to keep improving, to be the best that I can be — which is quite darned good, no?”
THE NUMBERS
500: Matches won by Andy Roddick after the Texan defeated fellow countrymen Sam Querrey 7-6(4), 6-4 on Thursday at the Legg Mason Classic in D.C. A-Rod became only the fourth active player (the 36th in the Open Era) to be admitted to the 500 club, joining Roger Federer (657), Carlos Moya (573) and Lleyton Hewitt (511).
2: Hours of practice time a rusty Rafael Nadal put in on the stadium court at the Rogers Cup in Montreal on Thursday, taking one step closer to a return to the ATP Tour after a two-month absence.
QUOTEBOOK
“We never let anyone grow up in sports, do we? Whether it’s crucifying Tiger Woods when he was 20 for telling a crude joke or assuming Allen Iverson was always going to be a young knucklehead, we don’t hand out youth handicaps to our athletic heroes the way we do for everyone else in life — including ourselves. ” — Mike Wise
“When I saw the Swiss area code come up on my phone, my heart stopped.” —Rogers Cup tournament director Eugene Lapierre after receiving a call from new dad Roger Federer, who confirmed that he’ll return to action in Montreal
“I didn’t watch the replay. I don’t think I’m ready for it.” — Elena Dementieva reflecting on her demoralizing 6-7(4), 7-5, 8-6 loss to Serena Williams in the Wimbledon semis, in which she squandered a match point
“I lost my explosiveness on the court.” — Jelena Jankovic on her fall from No. 1
