WHAT? NO MORE SURF-‘N’-TURF?!?!?: Regarding the economic downturn and the effect it’s had on sports sponsorships, Ray Bednar, who oversees sponsorship spending for Bank of America, said, “In the
past, it may have been oak paneling, brass rails, steak and lobster. Now it might be more like chicken and steamed vegetables.”
SPLIT DECISION: The separation of Chris Evert and Greg Norman has drawn comment from Miami to Melbourne. Said Evert’s ex-husband, former Olympic skier Andy Mill, “I just feel really badly for these two families, thinking about the destruction in the wake of what they’ve done. It’s horrible, what they’ve done.” Norman’s ex-wife, Laura Andrassy, with whom the famed golfer completed a $100 million divorce settlement only last year, said, “I think we all knew. We didn’t have high hopes for it. But they had been telling everyone how much in love they were, so everybody thought it would last a little longer than this.” Andrassy added, “They say opposites attract. Here were two people very much alike — high profile and narcissistic people — and that would make a relationship difficult.”
STEFFI SPEAKS: Steffi Graf was back on the courts with husband Andre Agassi at the Esurance Tennis Classic in Mill Valley, Calif., where the Hall of Famer commented on the state of flux atop the WTA Tour. Graf told Inside Tennis, “It’s a really interesting time. You’ve got the Williams sisters with an incredible amount of talent, whenever they feel like playing up to their potential. Kim Clijsters has had an incredible comeback. There are some great players out there and some interesting stories.” Graf added that while her career was a rewarding one, it’s her post-retirement life that has been most fulfilling. “I’ve enjoyed my career. I gave it my all,” she said. “It gave me a chance to choose a future, what I wanted to do, a chance for me to raise the kids together with Andre. There’s nothing really that I miss. It’s more what it gave to me.” Surprisingly, Andre and Steffi – 30 Slams between them – dropped a fun-loving exo set against the husband-wife combo of Michael Chang/Amber Chang (one Slam, two NCAA singles titles) at the Harbor Point Tennis Club.
ON THE COURTS AGAIN: Lindsay Davenport was reportedly spotted on the courts of the Newport Beach Tennis Club and was said to be in good form. Which begs the question, is there another comeback in the works?
THE NUMBERS
$7.13 million: Estimated cost per month for Chris Evert and Greg Norman’s 15-month marriage based on the divorce settlements from their previous marriages to Andy Mill and Laura Andrassy.
5: Players to bag at least three ATP Tour titles in ’09 — Rafael Nadal (5), Andy Murray (5), Roger Federer (4), Juan Martin del Potro (3) and Nikolay Davydenko (3), who on Sunday topped Fernando Verdasco 6-4, 7-5 to win the Proton Malaysian Open
QUOTEBOOK
“What a difference six months makes. In April she was all bling, but yesterday there was no ring.” — Carly Crawford on the Evert-Norman split
“You have to put things in perspective. Andy [Murray] is the second best player on the planet. He’s behind only one man, Roger Federer, who is the greatest player in history. And people think he hasn’t made it yet?” – Tim Henman
“It’s pretty embarrassing. It looks pretty bad, doesn’t it? How can we be in Group II?” — Jamie Murray on Great Britain’s Davis Cup team
“She wanted to kill me, I guess.” — Russian teen Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova on Venus Williams, whom she has upset two weeks in a row
“Being denied the opportunity to play the doubles final would have been a punishment that meant something to Williams, as well as the fact that she would have lost her share of the winner’s prize money, $210,000.” — Tom Tebbutt on Serena Williams‘ USO meltdown
“I won’t miss the pressure.” — 34-year-old Ai Sugiyama, who played the last match of her career at the Toray Pan Pacific Open in her native Tokyo
