SAY IT AIN’T SO: The All England Club has banned vuvuzelas (those renowned World Cup noisemakers) from Wimbledon. Said Ian Ritchie, “Rattles, klaxons and vuvuzelas all fall into that category.
Our message is do not bring them in the first place.”…For the first time in its 133-year history, there will be no English players in the Wimbledon men’s draw.
THE NEXT NICK BOLLETTIERI?: John McEnroe will open the John McEnroe Tennis Academy at the new, $18 million Sportime at Randall’s Island Tennis Center in New York.
SERENA-COMMON SPLITSVILLE: Rapper/actor Common told a Chicago TV station that his relationship with Serena Williams is over. “I’m single,” he said. “I’m a single man, definitely. I still have a high respect for tennis, but I’m definitely a single man. But everything is good with tennis.”
THE GREATEST SHORTCOMING: Tom Tebbutt called the brief two-week stretch between Roland Garros and Wimbledon “the greatest shortcoming of the much-ridiculed annual tennis calendar.”
WHETHER WTA CEO OR PAC-10 COMMISH, LARRY SCOTT STILL A GROW-OR-GO LEADER: Love him or hate him, Larry Scott has a knack of shaking things up. As CEO of the WTA, he attracted millions in new sponsorship money (including a groundbreaking $88 million deal with Sony Ericsson) and a 250 percent increase in total revenue. He signed a deal with Eurosport to broadcast WTA events in 54 countries. During his six-year run, he shortened the calendar, ushered in on-court coaching and helped bring in equal prize money at Wimbledon. And Scott has always kept an eye on expansion. He brokered the record-breaking deal that brought the year-end championships to Doha and opened the WTA’s first Asia-Pacific office in Beijing, among other moves. So when the Harvard grad took on his new role as Pac-10 Commissioner, one wondered if the Pac-10 would soon become the Pac-16 (or bigger). In June, Scott shook up college sports when he put a full-court-press woo on Texas, Texas A&M, Texas Tech, Oklahoma and Oklahoma State in a big-TV-money bid to expand the conference. The effort seemed to have a domino effect in other conferences (like the Big 12) and there was soon talk about other storied programs jumping ship. But in the end, there was some cold feet and only Colorado and Utah joined the Pac-10. So, at least for now, Scott’s vision of a megaconference is on hold. “In my experience in professional sports and college sports, nothing’s ever done until it’s done,” Scott said.
HOW ‘BOUT THEM COWBOYS (NOT)?:The proposed Cowboys Tennis Classic, which was to feature Serena Williams, Maria Sharapova, Andy Roddick and John Isner on July 10 in Texas, has been called off.
DOUBLE TAKE: Serena Williams was spotted on the All England Club grounds sporting a provocative T-shirt that read: “Are you looking at my titles?”
THE NUMBERS
12: Age of Marin Cilic when fellow Croat Goran Ivanisevic beat Pat Rafter on People’s Monday at Wimbledon in 2001. Said Cilic, “I remember watching it on TV. I was at a summer tennis camp with 15 or 20 other kids. We made sure we finished our practice session in time so we could watch the final.”
70: Mardy Fish‘s new ranking after jumping 20 spots with a runner-up finish at Queen’s.
QUOTEBOOK
“I love all the things about Wimbledon that make it unique. I look forward to walking around the grounds in the practice week the week before. There’s nobody around and you can just take everything in around the grounds. It’s one of my favorite moments of the whole year.” — Andy Roddick
“Roger and Rafa aren’t quite as prepared for all the other tournaments as they are the Slams. They really peak for those tournaments.” — Peter Fleming
“At this point, I’m not considering a comeback — not for the singles.” — 29-year-old Martina Hingis, who will play a legends doubles match with Anna Kournikova at the All England Club
