UNDERPLAYED, UNDERAPPRECIATED: Rick Reilly called Venus and Serena Williams‘ rags-to-riches achievements “the single most underplayed story in American sports in
the past 25 years.”
GO FIGURE: Paradorn Srichaphan has opened an Italian restaurant in Thailand, and is now marketing an herbal concoction for men made from ingredients like ginseng and oysters. “It’s not something like Viagra,” says Srichaphan. “But I’m sure it will give you a very happy life.”…Martina Hingis will follow in Monica Seles‘ footsteps by appearing on Strictly Come Dancing, the BBC’s version of Dancing With the Stars. Says Hingis, “I want people to see a different side of me from the player running around the tennis court.”
THE NUMBERS
$1: Ticket promotion that led to a record Pilot Pen attendance of 9,043 at the Connecticut Tennis Center
QUOTEBOOK
“I’m a deadbeat. And a loser…I’m thinking about asking someone to punch me in the face for losing.” — Serena Williams via Twitter following her 7-6(2), 6-1 loss to Elena Dementieva at the Rogers Cup
“The Williams sisters are bigger than sports. Their achievements rank with any set of sisters in American history, along with the Stillwells — Revolutionary War heroines — and the Andrews Sisters, the biggest American singing act in the 1940s. The only difference is the Williamses are in their second decade of greatness, going on a third.” — Rick Reilly
“You need to write a book, what’s going on with my serve…It’s disaster. I don’t bend my legs. I’m not jumping forward. I’m kicking it too much instead of hitting it more…I kick it so much that the ball doesn’t fly anywhere and it goes in the middle of the net. I drop my head. I don’t hold the left arm…I know this, and I’m still so stupid that I continue doing it.” — World No. 1 Dinara Safina
“I’ve become faster. I’ve become leaner. I’ve become stronger.” — Dane Caroline Wozniacki, who has mixed boxing into her training regimen
“It was kind of a life-altering experience for me.” — Taylor Dent on returning to the court after spinal surgery
“They play doubles as if they were a single organism.” — Burkhard Bilger on the Bryan Bros.
