The latest off-court happenings in the world of tennis:
Must-See Cameo
This Thursday, Billie Jean King will be guest starring on the season finale of ABC’s telenovela “Ugly Betty.” As usual, King will be playing herself. But—spoiler alert!—this time she’ll be playing herself as a tennis instructor. According to Vanessa Williams, who stars as Betty’s evil nemesis, Wilhelmina, the scene was filmed at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in Flushing, Queens.
How Andre Met His Children’s Mother
Before Andre Agassi and Steffi Graf participated in Sunday’s exhibition matches to test the new Wimbledon roof, the married couple participated in a series of interviews for the BBC. The interviews were conducted at Agassi’s Prep School in Las Vegas, and in this clip, they talk about the beginning of their courtship.
Jeans Theory
Some time between her first-round loss to Klara Zakopalova in Marbella, Spain, and her second-round loss to Patty Schnyder in Rome, Serena Williams went on a shopping expedition for the perfect pair of jeans in Manhattan. And the New York Times covered the occasion. It’s not at all surprising that the world’s second-ranked player (that’s right, I said second-ranked player) walked out of Barneys empty-handed. I think the sizes at that overpriced designer goods emporium range from zero to triple zero.
Hedging His Bets
Last week, the online version of the Wall Street Journal ran a story about a young Russian gambler, Dmitry Avilov, who admits he has approached low-ranked WTA Tour players with match-fixing schemes. Avilov says that when it comes to making bets, he sticks to a fairly simple plan: “In the ATP almost everyone can serve, move and return. But there are lots of girls who can't serve, or can't move—and I always like to bet on good players against bad ones.” Don’t we all?
Paint Job
Martina Navratilova is still making art through her excellent ball-bouncing skills.
How the Mighty Fall
Before Roger beat Rafa this weekend, Sports Illustrated’s S.L. Price wrote an article for the May 18 issue about how Rafael Nadal dethroned Roger Federer. Oh, the tennis blog downthelinetennis.com has photos of Fed and a very-pregnant Mirka attending a Lenny Kravitz concert during the Madrid Open.
Scottish Idol
My all-time favorite band is Belle and Sebastian from Glasgow, Scotland. Now I finally have a reason to mention this lovely pop group. In an interview on the music blog The Pop Cop, frontman Stuart Murdoch says he considers Andy Murray one of his idols: “I think Andy Murray is pretty great. Who would have seen that coming? A Scottish tennis player in the top three. It will be a great psychological weight lifted from the country if and when he finally wins a major. I think that would have happened if Colin Montgomerie had ever won a major.” (Nice zinger there at the end, Stu.) Murdoch’s latest project, “God Help the Girl,” is slowly being unveiled here.
Getting Lucky
Here’s a clip from the Fox affiliate in Atlanta of a guy walking down the street and then being randomly stopped and told that he’s been picked to meet Anna Kournikova. I think the guy, Don K., looks a little like Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger. He certainly keeps his cool the way the US Airways pilot did when he used the Hudson River for a runway.
Not In Their Backyard
Don’t mess with the folks in Surrey, England. The U.K.’s tawdry and hard-to-resist Daily Mail reported last week that Anthea Turner, a former morning TV show host and reality series star, has been told to demolish her tennis court in Surrey because it “introduced a suburban element into the countryside.” Kind of harsh, if you ask me. It’s not like she was parking cars on the front lawn.
Designers Gone Wild!
Check out how the French design company 5.5 “reinterprets” tennis ball canisters, wooden racquets and a Roland Garros scoreboard in honor of the 2009 French Open. C’est trés chic!