TENNIS.com - Backcourt - Backcourt Buzz: Tennis in the White House

By Sarah Thurmond

News, gossip and other items of interest from the world of tennis:

Advantage: Mr. President
Let’s start this Backcourt off with the President of the United States. As you may have heard, he and the First Family are vacationing on Martha’s Vineyard. On the first day, he and wife Michelle played tennis. Perhaps their enthusiasm for the game will carry over to all Americans and tennis will become as popular as it was in the 1970s. (However, if he tries to sell tennis to the American people the way he’s been selling his health care plan, the sport might be in trouble.)

Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
Billie Jean King received the Congressional Medal of Freedom from the President earlier this month.

President Obama is not the first president to enjoy the game, as I discovered while trying unsuccessfully to find video of the Obamas in their tennis whites. The New York Times has an archived story about Teddy Roosevelt playing a doubles match against England’s Lord Bishop on the White House court in 1907. According to the report, the result was “shrouded in mystery” because it “would sound like gloating” if the President had won. Here’s an excerpt of the match recap: “In speed of play and in endurance the President was easily the match of his distinguished antagonist, and in placing the ball he was far ahead. In errors they were about equal. The President displayed a tendency at times to drive the ball beyond the end lines, but the Bishop lost his points mainly by putting the ball out at the side.” In style of writing, this is tops.

New Doubles Partner
Someone else was on a sunny retreat this week: Martina Navratilova. Now a commentator for Tennis Channel, the 52-year-old was seen vacationing with her girlfriend, Julia Lemigova, a 36-year-old former Russian beauty queen. According to the Daily Mail, the women were wearing rings on their left hands, which means, y’know, that they must be engaged. But there’s a lot more to this new woman in Navratilova’s life. Apparently, Lemigova was once involved with a male French banker who was found murdered. Then Lemigova’s infant son died in mysterious circumstances. Then there’s that beauty queen business. As the story goes, “Lemigova, the daughter of a Red Army colonel, was the last Miss Soviet Union before it collapsed and represented the nation in the Miss Universe pageant in 1991.” Sounds like every time this woman is around, something bad happens (well, the Soviet Union collapsing wasn’t necessarily all that bad but it came to an end nonetheless). I just hope Martina’s careful.

Summer Magazine Reading
Last week’s New Yorker had a big feature on the Bryan Brothers. If you missed it, you can still check out a podcast interview with the piece’s writer, Burkhard Bulger. He talks about the pro game, his love of the sport, oversized racquets, the twins and more. At one point in the interview, Bulger watches a clip of the brothers warming up. The clip is playing in the background and Bulger is describing what’s going on. I imagine this is what it was like to hear a tennis match on the radio in 1907.

Srichaphan Bottles, Ahem, Stamina
His tennis career is a bit up in the air, but Thai player Paradorn Srichaphan is busier than ever. He recently opened a restaurant and appeared on a sports television show in Thailand. Now, he’s helping men with their, er, equipment. Srichapan recently launched a company that sells herbal products called Magic Thaiherbs. “Unlike Viagra, my product is more like a tonic which is good for men's bodies. When men are happy and healthy, they make married life better,” he says. In 2007, Srichaphan married a former Miss Universe, so I guess this guy knows a thing or two about making women happy.

The Best Tweets of the Week…
Andy Murray posted two tweets on August 24. They were as follows:

“First day off in a while so u can imagine I was very pleased to get woken up by drug testers at 7 15 in my hotel room!”

“Can't imagine a more relaxing way to start the day than having someone watching u go to the toilet!! Went bowling, batting and golf range”

Follow Andy yourself at twitter.com/andy_murray.

Sarah Thurmond is an associate editor at TENNIS. Follow her on Twitter.