Mesh Tennis

Is tennis next?

Some call the grunt the harmony of exertion: Monica Seles made her grunt famous as she blasted tennis balls across the court. Tennis superstars and sisters Venus and Serena Williams are also known for their grunts.

And at health clubs across the country, hardcore weightlifters can be heard grunting and groaning through their workouts.

Usually, such guttural outbursts elicit nothing more than beleaguered looks from fellow exercisers.

But the Planet Fitness in Wappingers Falls, N.Y., has a strict policy in place: No grunting allowed. The gym says grunting is annoying, and an alarm sounds if anyone breaks the rules. ABC News

In all seriousness though, the legal action that will likely result could end up being a reference point for any kind of “noise interference” at gyms and in sports…

Lots of players have been saying they want this - like Maria Sharapova - and it looks liek the changes are coming within the next few years. It sounds liek this new round-robin format is near the top of the list on changes to make assuming the testing of it goes well across all of tennis. I really don’t like it so much, but I’ll give it a shot.

A major overhaul of women’s tennis will be completed by 2009, the WTA Tour said on Tuesday.
A final decision on a new tournament schedule aimed at shortening the season and getting the top players facing each other more regularly should be agreed by March 2007.
The announcement follows a decision taken by the Tour Board at the recent Championships in Madrid to launch a tournament selection process as part of its Roadmap 2010. Guardian

The photos I have seen may make for a passing resemblance (Sharapova’s less attractive cousin, maybe?) but I guess every sport needs to find its resident (female) hottie.

She is blonde, beautiful, six feet tall, weighs 63 kilos and packs in a killer punch. Klara Svensson of Sweden has charmed her way into the hearts of boxing fans in Delhi at the Women’s World Boxing Championship. Like Sharapova, with whom she shares a stunning resemblance, she is one of the best in her business.

“She’s playing tennis and I’m boxing. But she’s talented; I look up to her,” says Svensson on being compared to Sharapova.

See Klara Svensson.

Well, I am finally back from Italy (non-tennis vacation) so I can start catching up on the close of this year’s tennis season. I really didn’t think Sharapova could possibly lose out on nabbing the #1 spot this year, but Henin sure fought to take the chance from her.

Anyway, more to come once I get caught up with work, school, etc…