Half full or half empty?

Plagued Bausch and Lomb produced a memorable final

Random jottings: It was shaping up as a grim week for Bob Arrix, the Amelia promoter and one of tennis' all-time good guys. The seeds at the Bausch and Lomb event were dropping like flies, Anna Kournikova failed to win her first-round match yet again, entire sessions were rained out and even the dimensions of the courts were off. Yet he couldn't have asked for a better final: his top two seeds, Venus Williams and the winsome Justine Henin, playing a riveting match that ended 7-6 in the third set. After all is said and done, that's what the fans will remember. ... Leading 5-4 in the second set, Henin was unable to serve out the match, hardly the first time in her brief career that she has been plagued by the yips. Her self-assessment afterwards was one of brutal honesty: "I got nervous trying to finish the match. I have to work on that.'' ... Hometown fave Younes El Aynaoui beat Slick Willie Canas in the final to win Casablanca ... Harel Levy made his return after six months following hip surgery. Speaking of hip surgery, when did it get so, well, hip? In the past year, Guga, Magnus Norman, Levy and, most recently, Sargis (The Mad Armenian) Sargisian went under the knife ... Though she's still a long way off from her Grand Slam form of two years ago, it was nice to see Mary Pierce back in action ... Weird week for American Jill Craybas . She beat fellow former Gator Lisa Raymond in Amelia, perhaps the best win of her career. Then she gets served the Lenders double bagel, courtesy of Paola Suarez ... Richard Krajicek's much awaited comeback has been pushed back another few weeks ... The top eight American men are all expected to play Houston next week.

Onward...

I just read the news that the Anne Kremer-Jennifer Hopkins match at Amelia Island was played on a court where the service boxes were the wrong size, yet the WTA says the result stands! An inside source tells me that Hopkins questioned the chair umpire about the dimensions before that match began, but he didn't check it. That doesn't seem fair. What's your take?
-- Scott H., Kansas City, Mo.

I heard the same story about Hopkins complaining to no avail. (Shockingly, the WTA Tour's Haldemans and Ehrlichmans weren't commenting.) First, I don't want to go off on a rant here, but can we just talk about how ridiculous a blunder this was? The lines were off by THREE FEET. One doesn't exactly have to be a pro to sense that something might be awry. Geez, the service line is only 21 feet deep; you'd think a 15 percent difference wouldn't go unnoticed. This would be like basketball teams playing a game on an eight-and-half-foot goal. We thought something was weird when Stockton kept throwing down those 360-dunks.

Anyway, since these absurd dimensions affected both players and conferred no advantage to either, I suppose the best decision was to let the result stand. Replaying the entire match seems like a lot to ask. Adding to the surrealism, Kremer advanced to the semis before falling to Venus.

Why can't Davis Cup results be included in ATP points/ranking system? The tournament is getting more valuable each year and this will attract all the top players. Could you please shed some light on this?
--Kutty Menon, Falls Church, Va.

No question that the "rankings incentive" (which has indeed been bandied about in the past) would add prestige to the Davis Cup. But what does the ATP get out of this? All that would happen is that players would enter one (or two or three or four) fewer tour events. Also, it would penalize players from countries with deep teams. Is it fair that an unselected top player like Jan-Michael Gambill would receive no points for Davis Cup -- stuck as he is behind Pete Sampras and Andy Roddick -- while a lesser light from a smaller country (say, Bahamian Mark Knowles ) racks 'em up?

So Richard Williams said Venus should retire again? Shouldn't this man just shut up and let his daughters decide their future? Whenever it seems he is out of the picture he makes some comment to draw attention to himself.
--Claudia Valencia, Modesto, Calif.

I can't believe this was a story, much less one that crossed the wires. Slow news day, I guess. Then again, the Richard Whack-O-Meter has barely registered a blip lately, so it was only a matter of time until we got a rumination. Without specific references to "Web-casting" this was, almost verbatim, the same detritus he was spewing two years ago.

I was listening to The Jim Rome Show on the radio when you were one of the guests talking about NBA posses. I hear that Rome played some college tennis and is a fan of the sport. Having said that, I didn't hear you give one take on tennis -- what's up with that? I'm well aware of your "other" duties at Sports Illustrated, but shouldn't the public be exposed to what you really do at the magazine?
--Mike Harper, Cleveland

Romey played college tennis? Can someone confirm? I would have been happy to discuss tennis; it just never came up in the conversation. I get a variation of this question a lot: "Why didn't Sports Illustrated cover Key Biscayne? Why is tennis seldom on the cover of the magazine? Why does NBC air the French Open on tape delay -- albeit after they've already posted the results on the Web site? Why does tennis get the short shrift on the SportsCenter rundown?" Valid questions, all. But instead of bitching to me, write to the respective media outlet and tell them you want more tennis coverage. If enough of you make some noise, our sport might get some better treatment.

Have you come across the very idiosyncratic character at ATP events who wears a name tag that states he is an "ATP Psychologist"? At Indian Wells he mostly sat at the end of the court, holding up flags of the native country of each player at the changeover. Is he a real asset or just a guy who gets free tickets to great tennis events? I overheard other fans who said they have seen him in Florida and Europe.
--Rich Aardill, Reno, Nev.

Remind me to write a story on this guy at some point. I have no doubt that you're referring to Lou Noritz, a retired Brooklyn postal worker who is like the Forrest Gump of the ATP. Against all conventional wisdom, he shows up everywhere. I had the good fortune of sitting next to him during a match at Indian Wells last year; I asked him whether he was really the "ATP Psychologist" given that one wouldn't expect a tour employee to wave an American flag during a match and yell, "C'mon James [Blake], keep working that backhand!" at the expense of his opponent. (He also has a habit of changing his seat at each changeover, so he is always at the same end of the player he's supporting.) He explained to me the ATP actually stood for American Tennis Psychologist. ("You think I want to get sued?") And, oh yeah, he's the only member of this esteemed organization. How "Dr. Lou" as the players call him, affords to travel the world watching tennis -- I sat near him in Australia as he cheered lustily for Tommy Haas, brandishing a German flag during changeover -- is something of a mystery. But the players seem genuinely to appreciate his support and get a kick out of his eccentricity. They leave him passes and badges at every tour stop.

There were plenty of takers for the tennis "academic challenge." Maybe I didn't make this sufficiently clear, but your five athletes were supposed to be on the same team. Here are a smattering of the responses:

I will take you up on your offer of two U.S. Open tickets and offer the following team:

1) John Amaechi, Utah Jazz: University of Penn graduate and owner of a degree in psychology who plans on earning a Ph.D in child psychology when he is done playing.
2) Trajan Langdon, Cleveland Cavaliers: Math major at Duke with a GPA over 3.0, future med school student.
3) Kobe Bryant, Los Angeles Lakers: Fluent in English and Italian.
4) Doug Glanville, Philadelphia Phillies: University of Pennsylvania graduate with a degree in science and systems engineering.
5) Derrick Brooks, Tampa Bay Buccaneers: Finished his bachelor's degree in 3 1/2 years and earned a master's from Florida State University.

By the way, I'd like my tickets for an Agassi match!
-- Chris Dion, Nassau, Bahamas

Agassi, schmagassi. Amaechi is an absolutely delightful guy and legit pick here, though he went to Penn State and not Penn. Langdon's GPA at Duke does nothing for me. With the grade inflation in Durham, Langdon's academic performance is worthy of John Blutarski . Kobe's fluent in Italian and English? Big deal. Most non-American tennis players speak a minimum of three foreign tongues

I'll take on your "all-smarts" tennis team with a basketball roster of Dikembe Mutombo, Shareef Abdur-Rahim, Shane Battier, Ray Allen and John Stockton or a football team of Donovan McNabb, Matt Birk, Jonathan Ogden, Ronde Barber and Tiki Barber (you can put the Barber brothers head-to-head against the Williams sisters). On the other hand, if you were to pick an "All-Star team" of men and women in the top 100, I think tennis would dominate.
--Ben Cooke, Washington, D.C.

Not bad.

I don't care if it's worth U.S. Open tickets or a dime (because I have nothing to give), I'm taking you up on the bet, though, isn't it unfair? You take five players from a given sport and ask people to take players from a given team? Regardless, I'm taking players from baseball.

5a. Mike Remlinger, Atlanta Braves: Graduated from Dartmouth in 1988. He may not be a starter, but when the Braves need a set-up man, he's the pitcher Bobby Cox turns to.
Just in case 5a. doesn't count:
5b. Kerry Lightenberg, Atlanta Braves: Has a degree is in chemical engineering from the University of Minnesota.
4. Kevin Brown, Los Angeles Dodgers: I don't know if he graduated or not, but he completed three years at Georgia Tech as a chemical engineering major. I'll take that.
3. Craig Counsell, Arizona Diamondbacks: Ge graduated from Notre Dame with a degree in accounting.
2. Brad Ausmus, Houston Astros: Graduated from Dartmouth in 1992 with a B.A. in government.
1. Doug Glanville, Philadelphia Phillies: Graduated from Penn in 1992 with a degree in engineering.
-- Anthony Verna, Langhorne, Pa.

Unfair? I'm giving you five of the top eight players in the world! If I opened this to the entire sport, I'd throw in nerdettes (just kidding) like Erika DeLone (Harvard), Debbie Graham (graduated with honors from Stanford in three years) and Anne Kremer (astromical GPA at Stanford; though oddly oblivious to playing an entire match on a short court). Still, of all the loyal readers who indulged this hypothetical, your Academic All-Stars come closest. Write me back in late August Anthony, and, though grudgingly, I'll scrounge up some Open ducats for you.

Finally, this being tax day and all, how appropriate that we conclude with some explanations to last week's question about tax consequences for tennis players. Thanks to all who submitted responses.

From a tax attorney "type" (and major tennis nut), it's not quite that simple. As a general rule, U.S. citizens are taxed on their worldwide income. To the extent that players pay income tax to another country (Australia, in your example), they are entitled to claim a foreign tax credit in the U.S. However, the player only gets to claim a credit up to the amount of U.S. tax that would otherwise be payable on the amount earned. In other words, if the amount of foreign tax is less than would have been payable in the U.S., the player claims a credit for the foreign tax paid and pays the excess to the IRS. If the amount of foreign tax is greater than would have been payable in the U.S., the player pays the entire amount to the foreign jurisdiction and gets a credit in the U.S. for only the amount that would have been payable in the U.S. Are you now sufficiently confused? Serves you right for asking.
-- Paul, Larchmont, N.Y.

Regarding your reader's question about double taxation: If Jennifer Capriati wins prize money in a foreign country, that country may or may not tax the income (depending on that country's law). If the foreign country does have an income tax, that country would withhold the tax from her check. As a U.S. citizen, she would be required to report the income on her U.S. tax return but would receive credit for any taxes paid to the foreign country. So -- no double taxation. But, if the foreign country's tax rate was less than the U.S. rate, she would have to pay U.S. tax on the difference. If the foreign country doesn't have an income tax, she would pay U.S. income tax on the winnings. (U.S. citizens are taxed on their "worldwide income".) Many states would also tax the foreign income if she were a resident of that state. Jen lives in Wesley Chapel though and Florida doesn't have an income tax. My bill is in the mail (I know, I know, so is your check).
-- Ken Hankerson, Maui, Hawaii

Have a good week the both of you who actually read down this far!

Sports Illustrated senior writer Jon Wertheim, author of Venus Envy: A Sensational Season Inside the Women's Tennis Tour, covers the tennis beat for the magazine and is a regular contributor to CNNSI.com. Click here to send him a question or comment.

 

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