!58103373 Howdy, everyone. Taking a bit of a break from red-meat posting today; it's been a pretty good run starting at the end of last week and I need to recharge the batteries. Still, it was quite a news day, what with Martina Navratilova revealing that she has "non-invasive" breast cancer and Wayne Odesnik issuing a statement that failed to answer the most basic of all questions - what on earth was he doing traveling to Australian to compete as a tennis pro while carrying eight vials of HGH (Human Growth Hormone)?
Doggone, that would seem to be enough to turn an Olie Rochus into a Boris Becker!
Odesnik was busted by customs agents as he entered Australia at the beginning of the year (didn't Sylvester Stallone also get busted Down Under, for carrying steroids?). He admitted to having the banned substances, and he paid a fine. Over the past few days, outraged fans howled over the fact that Odesnik was allowed to compete in the ATP Houston event this week, but when you come right down to it, he was caught carrying the stuff, not using it. He didn't fail an ATP drug test (now that opens a whole other can of worms, right?), so it's hard to see how he could have been suspended as soon as the news of his troubles surfaced. I just hope that the investigation that is presently underway comes to a swift and fair conclusion - and that we get some additional, illuminating explanations for how WADA and the ATP approach and monitor the threat of HGH abuse.
Also, I received an email the other day letting me know that you can already pre-order the book I helped Patrick McEnroe write, Hardcourt Confidential. HCC won't be available until early June, so it's still premature to talk much about it here, and over the past few months I've had to keep a tight lip about some of the more interesting things Patrick revealed and decided to make public as an author.
One of the main reasons we undertook this project was because we noticed that all the significant tennis books written by former players were autobiographies; nobody had set out to write a peripatetic book whose main character is the game. While we don't publish any tales of crystal meth abuse or midnight trophy smashing outbursts (It's not like Pat had an arsenal of pewter comparable to Andre's), we aimed to produce a book full of compelling, amusing stories culled from Pat's 25 years in pro tennis, his nuanced, hard-nosed, and sometimes surprising observations about the game and how it's changed in his time, and even some stuff on what it was like growing up with John McEnroe in the top bunk (and the neighboring broadcast booth).
I think we've created a good book that will appeal to hardcore tennis fans, and I know Patrick and our publisher, Hyperion, are going to make a great effort to promote the book. That's exciting. Tennis literature has never really flourished, despite the sophistication and passion of the game's large, international fan base. That may be changing now, and partly because of the enormous success of Open. I hope HCC helps build and advance this tradition.
PS - What do you think of our cover? The net actually wraps all around the dust jacket, which is kind of slick.
-- Pete