HAVE WE SEEN THE LAST OF AMELIE?: Two-time Slam winner Amelie Mauresmo says she lost some motivation following her second-round loss at the U.S. Open, and will shut down her ’09 season effective immediately. The 30-year-old Frenchwoman also hinted at retirement, saying, “I still give myself some time before making a decision regarding the remainder of my career.”
SPEAKING OF SHUTTING IT DOWN…: Former No. 1 Ana Ivanovic withdrew from the China Open due to an upper respiratory infection. “I guess having to withdraw from Beijing is an appropriate ending to a very disappointing season,” said Ivanovic, who went 24-13 on the year and reached only one final (Indian Wells).
TRY SOME GOOD OLD FASHIONED CHICKEN SOUP: Forget the Actifed. Nope, no NyQuil either. Beginning in January 2010, pseudoephedrine will be added to the banned substance list by the World Doping Agency. Folks on the ATP and WTA Tours will have to find another way to fight off a cold.
GOT BOOKS?: Seattle Seahawks defensive end Lawrence Jackson says he prepped for the ’09 NFL season by reading, among other books, Tim Gallwey‘s “The Inner Game of Tennis.”
YOU JUST CAN’T FIND A MODEL WITH A DECENT FOREHAND THESE DAYS: Hermès designer Jean Paul Gaultier used a grass-turf floor in an industrial warehouse as a stage to show off his tennis-inspired spring collection in Paris. Wall Street Journal blogger Christina Binkley deemed the collection a success, but hinted that the models could use a tennis lesson or two. Wrote Binkley, “Now we know that it’s hard to find a fashion model who can play tennis. Part of the show’s gag was to have two models walk the runway, then pull out rackets and start hitting a ball back and forth at the head of the catwalk. Or that was the idea anyway. They dissolved into giggles at first, unable to hit the ball even once. As they warmed up, they began to hit the balls — even managing to konk a few guests on the head.”
THE TENNIS HOTBED OF…CLEVELAND?: It’s been more than a decade since a USTA tournament has passed through Cleveland, Ohio. But with the arrival of the Ladies Cleveland Open — a $10,000 USTA Pro Circuit event that comes to Shaker Heights beginning Oct. 12 — fans are in for a history lesson. Cleveland, it turns out, isn’t just the Browns, the Indians or the Cavs. It’s more than just home to the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. In fact, Cleveland was once a tennis hotbed. The Davis Cup has been played in the Cleveland area 10 times, including its first Midwest appearance in 1960, when Butch Buchholz, Barry MacKay, Tut Bartzen and Chuck McKinley shut out visiting Venezuela 5-0 at the Cleveland Skating Club.
YOU CAN BE MY NO. 2: U.S. Open quarterfinalist Melanie Oudin took second place in voting for U.S. Olympic Committee’s September Female Athlete of the Month. (The Georgian was edged by cyclist Kristin Armstrong.)
THE NUMBERS
5: Russians in the final eight at the WTA’s China Open — Nadia Petrova, Elena Dementieva, Vera Zvonareva, Svetlana Kuznetsova and Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova.
130 million: Chinese who are “interested” in tennis, according to the Chinese Tennis Association.
QUOTEBOOK
“If I’m walking, then I really want to go. I have to go.” — Serena Williams on the prospect of playing Fed Cup against Italy in November
