 |
| |
|
 |
 |
 |
|
|
|
||||||||||||||
|
Notebook Davenport unhappy at Fed Cup snubPosted: Monday June 30, 2003 7:01 PMWIMBLEDON, England (AP) -- Lindsay Davenport isn't too happy she was left off the U.S. Fed Cup team that will play Italy next month. Her mother is having surgery the Monday before the July 19-20 quarterfinals in Washington, so Davenport wouldn't show up until Tuesday -- a day later than the rest of the squad. And U.S. captain Billie Jean King wasn't having that. "Billie runs a tight ship. She's been tough on all of us," Davenport said after reaching the Wimbledon quarterfinals by beating Shinobu Asagoe 6-4, 6-1. "She told me to forget it. ... After playing 10 years, I'm not too happy, either," Davenport said. In a statement released by the U.S. Tennis Association, King said the USTA looked forward to having Davenport play when she's "available." "Lindsay has been a tremendous contributor to the U.S. Fed Cup team, participating 10 years consecutively, a dedication matched by a handful of players throughout the history of Fed Cup competition," King said. Venus Williams, Monica Seles, Meghann Shaughnessy and Lisa Raymond will be on the team. Like Davenport, top-ranked Serena Williams would have been a day late because of a commitment related to her acting career. "I can't change the dates," said Williams, who helped beat the Czech Republic in the first round. "It's hard to get jobs in the acting field. I kind of have to go do it." Last year, Jennifer Capriati was kicked off the team the night before a match against Austria when King told her she couldn't practice with her father -- her coach. King wants all players to train together, rather than with personal coaches. Because it was too late to substitute Capriati, the U.S team forfeited the first match against Austria and wound up losing in the first round of the Fed Cup for only the second time. "I think Billie Jean's rules are too stringent in general," Capriati said. "I don't want to comment any more because I have already and it's just a waste of time to talk about it for me." AMERICAN EDGE: Five Russian women were in the fourth round for the first time in Grand Slam history. But just one made the quarterfinals. On Monday, three of the four Americans in the last 16 played Russians -- and all won. "It just shows the Americans are still on top of the Russians," Davenport said with a laugh. She was the only American not to play a Russian on Monday. Top-seeded Serena Williams beat Elena Dementieva 6-2, 6-2; sister Venus Williams beat Vera Zvonareva 6-1, 6-3 and Jennifer Capriati defeated Anastasia Myskina 6-2, 6-3. But one Russian made it to the quarters -- with Svetlana Kuznetsova beating 16-year-old wildcard Maria Sharapova 6-1, 2-6, 7-5. FINALLY!: Silvia Farina Elia has finally reached the quarterfinals of a Grand Slam -- on her 44th attempt. Farina Elia, the No.27 seed, beat Argentine Paola Suarez 7-5, 7-6 (3) Monday. "It is a special moment because it's Wimbledon, I didn't expect to be here, to reach a quarterfinal here," Farina Elia said. The 31-year-old Italian started playing Grand Slams in 1991 and reached the fourth round at the French in 2001 and 2002 and at last year's U.S Open. HENMANIA CONTINUES: Tim Henman is getting the Brits excited again. His fourth round match Monday against last year's finalist David Nalbandian was shown prime time on British television -- displacing the BBC's evening news and delaying popular soap opera "EastEnders." Spurred on by cheers from the Centre Court crowd and those watching on the big screen on nearby "Henman Hill," the Englishman reached his seventh quarterfinal in eight years with a 6-2, 6-7 (4), 6-4, 6-3 victory against Argentina's David Nalbandian. "The third set was always crucial and I won it mentally," Henman said. "It was a struggle but I wasn't going to give in and the last four games of the match the noise and the atmosphere was incredible." Henman now plays the winner of the match between Sebastien Grosjean and Juan Carlos Ferrero. That game was stopped because of bad light Monday with Grosjean leading by two sets to one. Henman is bidding to be the first British male to win Wimbledon since Fred Perry in 1936. It took one minute over three hours to win late Monday with darkness looming. "I was going to call the trainer for depression," Henman said smiling. "But I don't know whether he could give me anything. It just gets tougher and tougher."
|
|
||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||
