Women Tennis Players, Being Asked To Fix More Than Just Pies

Who knew that professional tennis could be so seedy and full of cheaters? As if those prior incidents weren't bad enough, it seems that women tennis players have also been asked to throw matches.

Five or six players on the WTA Tour have been approached to throw tennis matches, tour chairman Larry Scott said Tuesday.

"I've said several initially, and I think five or six would be in the ballpark," Scott told The Associated Press. "I don't want to go into any more details because it's part of an investigation.

"But we were surprised by the amount of gambling on tennis in general, and the number of players approached."

Scott said that the WTA has determined that no matches have been affected by gambling. And he also has threatened any player involved with gambling on matches with a life ban.

I am surprised that tennis has seemingly been targeted very heavily by gamblers, and those looking to gain an edge when placing a wager. Though, I suppose it could be because tennis is an international sport, and it doesn't seem to be policed as closely as some sports. Though, I could be wrong in that assessment. Whatever the reason, it appears that officials are serious about keeping any form of cheating out of their sport.

Roger Federer Dominates The Shaving World

Roger Federer holds a number of tennis records. Today, he brought his dominance to the shaving world.

World number one Roger Federer won a four-way shave-off in Shanghai on Friday in an unusual warm-up for the Tennis Masters Cup.

Appearing at a publicity event for a vibrating razor, Federer demonstrated his skills with a blade to 1,000 youths at a Chinese coming of age ceremony.

Skills indeed. And who was Federer facing? Surely it had to be China's top shaving prospect, right?

Federer finished his appearance in downtown Shanghai by shaving alongside three baby-faced Chinese 20-year-olds, who appeared not to know one end of a razor from the other.

"You have to put water on your face," Federer advised his fellow shavers, who shook nervously under the glare of flashlights and television cameras. "Then add the shaving cream."

Ah, so it was really no different than a lot of the early tournament rounds he plays in. At least we found out that Federer would like Brad Pitt to play him if they ever make a movie about his life(riiight...).

Dressed in a charcoal suit, Federer chose "Fight Club" star Pitt over fellow Hollywood idols Johnny Depp, Matt Damon -- even Denzil Washington and Jet Lee -- to play him in a film.

"Brad Pitt did some tough movies and I'd like mine to be a tough movie too," said Federer, who will be bidding for a fourth title at the Masters Cup beginning on Sunday.

"Comedy would be fine too but I'm more a tough-guy movie kind of guy."

Yeah, a "tough movie" about a professional tennis superstar. Sounds like it would go over as well as "Rocky V" did.

What Do You Mean This Isn't Room Service?

Yesterday, I commented on how the sport of professional tennis had somehow become full of illicit activity and sabotage. Well, today's a new day, full of promise and more stories about possible cheating in tennis.

Czech tennis player Jan Hernych says he was approached in Russia last year and asked to lose first-round matches at ATP tournaments in Moscow and St. Petersburg.

"Someone called me from the (hotel's) reception to my room, asking whether I wanted to sell a match, if I wanted to lose," Hernych was quoted as saying in Friday's editions of the Czech Republic's biggest daily, Mlada Fronta Dnes.

"I rejected. I think that anyone who would accept it is absolutely mad," said Hernych, currently ranked 165th.

The matches allegedly involved were against Italy's Filippo Volandri at the Kremlin Cup, which Hernych won 6-1, 6-4, and against Russia's Evgeny Korolev at the St. Petersburg Open, which the Czech player won 6-7 (5), 6-4, 7-6 (7).

The fact that the people involved were trying to bribe the 165th ranked player is probably a good indication of how little influence they have, or are capable of buying, but it does make you wonder if they were able to get another player to throw their matches. And why did they want those specific matches thrown? Were Hernych's opponents from those matches already on someone's payroll, and were the individuals offering the bribe trying to help those players advance as far as possible in the tournaments in order to cash in on an even bigger payday? And eventhough Hernych wasn't offered a specific amount of money, that doesn't mean that other players haven't been.

Belgian player Gilles Elseneer said he was offered - and turned down - more than $100,000 to lose a first-round match against Potito Starace of Italy at Wimbledon in 2005.

Wow, more than $100,000? That's a pretty good chunk of change to bribe anyone with. Pretty soon people are just going to start dropping wads of cash on the baseline with a note attached.

Tennis, Now With More Intrigue and Trickery

It used to be that tennis was the sport of gentlemen(and women). Upstanding, law-abiding citizens enjoyed playing and watching matches, and never had to worry that behind the nets there was a seedy underworld just waiting to be exposed. Then they let the players grunt and moan, and the females skirts kept getting shorter and shorter(keep going) and that was the beginning of the end.

Now, there's talk of match fixing and fines for not playing hard enough, allegations of cocaine use and possible poisonings.

The International Tennis Federation is investigating allegations that Tommy Haas was poisoned before Germany's Davis Cup match against Russia.

Haas was forced out of his match against Mikhail Youzhny with a suspected stomach virus. Russia won both reverse singles matches on Sept. 23 to win the semifinal series 3-2 and reach the Davis Cup final.

"We take this very seriously," ITF spokeswoman Barbara Travers said Wednesday. "The investigation starts today."

German teammate Alexander Waske said he was told by a Russian who manages numerous athletes that it was poisoning, not a virus. Waske didn't say who the manager was.

"He said as an aside, that it was bitter that Tommy Haas was poisoned," said Waske, who answered the man by saying that it was a virus. "Thereupon he said, 'No, they poisoned him.'"

And what is that could have been poisoned?

"I was the only one ever to order dessert or a Latte macchiato after dinner," Haas said. "If all this is true, since no one else got sick, that must have been when it happened."

The dessert or Latte macchiato? That's just playing dirty! Though, I wonder if the dessert was by chance a black and white cookie.

There's No Loafing In Tennis

Tennis star Nikolay Davydenko is having a rather odd year. He's currently ranked #4 in the world, but three months ago he came under fire for alleging fixing a match against Martin Arguello. Now, he's been fined $2,000 for not "giving his best effort".

Nikolay Davydenko, already at the center of a betting investigation, was fined $2,000 for lack of effort a loss at the St. Petersburg Open.

The ATP said Friday the fourth-ranked Russian was fined for lack of "best effort" in his 1-6, 7-5, 6-1 loss Thursday to Marian Cilic.

The top-seeded Davydenko won the first set in 27 minutes, but drew a rebuke from chair umpire Jean-Philippe Dercq in the third set. Davydenko double-faulted four times in the second set and six times in the third.

Officials are still investigating irregular betting that took place prior to the Arguello match, and it seems that, for now anyway, Davydenko really is a prime suspect of match fixing.

Though, what happened to innocent until proven guilty?

The U.S. Open, Now With Less Gambling

I've heard that people will bet on anything, though I've never thought of tennis as being something that's heavily involved in any type of wagering. A $20,000 bet on shooting left-handed free throws? Probably happens all of the time. Wagering on fantasy football teams? Definitely! Placing bets on tennis? Uh, I guess so.

Well, U.S. Open officials are concerned enough that they hired a security firm and set up a "whistleblower hotline".

The U.S. Open hired a security firm run by a former New York City police commissioner, set up a whistle-blower hotline and is taking other steps to make sure it doesn't wind up with a gambling scandal.

In the wake of a recent betting investigation in tennis and a former NBA referee's admission he gambled on games he officiated, the U.S. Tennis Association decided "to see if there's something more that we can do," USTA senior director of communications Chris Widmaier said Thursday.

A whistleblower hotline? I have a feeling all of the lines are going to be jammed up with Richard Williams calling to complain about his daughters.

Though, if the hotline doesn't work there are signs to remind everyone about just how bad gambling is.

Also, signs describing the Open's gambling policy have been posted in locker rooms, player lounges, training rooms and elsewhere around the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center.

Under the heading, "REMINDER," the signs read: "The participation in or aiding and abetting, directly or indirectly, of any form of gambling or betting involving tennis is strictly prohibited. The USTA has a zero tolerance policy on gambling or betting involving tennis, and any violation of such policy will result in immediate disciplinary action."

Right now, Roger Goodell is having similar ones placed in NFL locker rooms, though they read "Gambling On The NFL Is Punishable By Death".

Bjorn Borg's Grass-Court Match Streak Ended By Wolf

Bjorn Borg was scheduled to play an exhibition match this week against 1987 Wimbledon champ Pat Cash, but had to withdraw due to a dog bite injury by a German shephard named Wolf. Apparently, the German shephard and Borg's golden retriever, Lipton, got into a fight, and Borg was bitten as he was trying to break them up.

Borg's streak had been active for the past 26 years. Until June of last year, Borg had held the consecutive win streak on grass-courts with 41 in a row. Roger Federer broke that when he beat Richard Gasquet in the first round of Wimbeldon in '06.

Borg released this statement regarding him being forced to withdraw:

“I’m so disappointed that I cannot play at Liverpool,” Borg said on the tournament Web site. “I’ve been really looking forward to this event and have been practicing hard for four months to get ready.”

No word on if he sent the German shephard to see Michael Vick.

Mark Philippoussis Is Holding Serve In The Court Of Love

Mark Philippoussis, a tennis star who was at one time ranked in the top 10 in the world, has ventured into the world of reality TV dating. Philippoussis has been cast as "America's most eligible bachelor" on NBC's summer program, "Age of Love".

The show is setup so that there are two "teams" of women grouped together by their age. One team is made up of "cougars", women in their 40's. The other is made up of "kittens", women in their 20's. Each woman will be vying for Philippoussis'(who's 30 years old) affection, and the audience will supposedly get to see whether age makes a difference when trying to find true love(yeah, that TV crew will have no affect whatsoever, right).

Apparently, Philippoussis was unaware of the age differences, and supposedly was caught a bit offguard by the rising age levels when he was first introduced to the "cougars". I guess we'll just have to wait until the first episode to see that compelling TV moment.

Obviously, this follows in the footsteps of ABC's decision to use NFL quarterback Jesse Palmer as its "prize" on "The Bachelor". Having a well-known athlete seemed to help that show's ratings(11 million viewers for the premiere), though Philippoussis might not be quite as famous as Jesse Palmer is, at least here in the U.S.(that's a great insight into the state of tennis in the U.S.)

Oh well, keeping him in the back of a limo, wearing a wifebeater, and letting the "contestants" grope him is probably all NBC needs to do to have a successful reality TV show. Either that, or let him show the women why his nickname is "Scud". It's unfortunate that Paris Hilton is locked up, or they could bring her in at the end for a twist.



Welcome back Mr. Philippoussis(typing it is a bitch, saying it is fun!), even if it's not on the tennis court. And try not to hurt that surgically repaired knee when you're teaching the women about grips, groundstrokes and jamming.