Is it indoors or out?
No. 1 Davenport complains over retractable Open roof
Posted: Saturday January 23, 1999 01:29 AM
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Don't blow it: Lindsay Davenport doesn't like the way the retractable roof affects the wind Clive Brunskill/Allsport |
MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) -- Closing the mechanized roof over center court at the Australian Open changed the conditions under which the tournament was played and is unfair, world No. 1 Lindsay Davenport said.
"I don't think it is really fair," said Davenport, after having her third round match at Melbourne Park interrupted between sets by rain. "It's an outdoor tournament and I'm under the thought process that all players have to play under equal conditions."
Davenport, going for back-to-back Grand Slam wins, beat Slovakia's Karina Habsudova 6-0 in the first set before a 30 minute delay while the roof was closed due to rain. When the match resumed Davenport won the 2nd set 6-4.
"It's hard in the middle of a match to all of a sudden go from an outdoor match to an indoor match," she said. "Although the roof is pretty high there's a little bit of a difference because there a little bit of wind in there. So that was a little weird."
She said the delay wasn't enough to make a serious dent in her game, but that she though other for players it could make a significant difference.
"Let's say for instance for tonight's men's match, I mean, that could make a big difference to Krajicek with the roof closed. I don't know, I am just guessing."
As it turned out, if the roof was an advantage, it wasn't enough. Ninth seed Richard Krajicek lost to Wayne Ferreira in a five-set slugfest 6-7 (1-7), 6-7 (5-7), 6-4, 6-2, 6-3 with the roof closed.
Drugs appeal
An appeal by Australian Open defending champion Petr Korda to stop the International Tennis Federation from applying a retrospective 12-month ban for a positive drug test could be heard in London as early as Thursday.
The Czech player tested positive for the anabolic steroid Nandrolone during last year's Wimbledon championships but escaped a one-year ban for a Class 1 drug offense when an ITF appeal committee ruled there were "exceptional circumstances."
The world No. 20 was docked his Wimbledon prize money and ranking points but was not stopped from playing.
The ITF lodged an appeal with sport's highest court, the International Olympic Committee's Court of Arbitration in Switzerland, against its own committee's decision.
Lawyers for Korda lodged a counter appeal asking the High Court in London to restrain the ITF from challenging its own decision in the Swiss court and requesting that it withdraw the appeal.
Out! Anna Kournikova has logged 91 double faults in four matches AP |
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In a hearing at the High Court this week Justice Edward Evans-Lombe ordered the two parties to arrange a one-day hearing as soon as possible after Jan. 28.
The ITF claims its committee misapplied it exceptional circumstances rule.
Kourni-choker
Anna Kournikova, who has earned a reputation for arguably the worst serve in top class tennis by serving 91 double faults in four matches, has a classic case of "choking," according to sport psychologist John Crampton.
Crampton, psychologist with the New South Wales Institute of Sport, said it was not a lack of skill, but an uncontrollable reaction of her body to the pressure of top-level competition.
"There is no way Kournikova could have got to her level in tennis and gained that ranking with a bad serve," Crampton said of the world No. 13. "She choked and she was probably unaware of what was happening."
Pressure to perform in sport can lead to tension levels increasing in the upper body, particularly in the arm muscles the biceps and triceps. It's a common problem in elite sport, he said.
"With that much tension you can do some pretty weird and wonderful things," he said. "Like she is doing."
The way to deal with it was not by trying to relax, but by building more pressure into training sessions and learning to cope with it, Crampton said.
Russian Kournikova, 17, batted down 91 double faults in four matches, incuding the first two rounds of the Australian Open. In her third round match, she served 14 double faults in three sets, with an improving record of 10 in the first, three in the 2nd and one in the third.
On the line
Spain's 65th-ranked Maria Antonia Sanchez Lorenzo surprised her parents with a phone call home when her mother thought she would still be on the court playing world No.3 Jana Novotna.
Sanchez Lorenzo upset Novotna 6-3, 6-0 in 51 minutes in what the third seed said was "a nightmare" match, then sped to a phone to tell the folks at home the good news.
"Why are you calling? Did you retire from the match?" Sanchez-Lorenzo's mother Maria Antonia asked.
"No, I won Mom," the excited Sanchez Lorenzo exclaimed.
Copyright 2003 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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