Sisters Serena and Venus Williams are not playing in Indian Wells, although fans would love to see them there! So, why aren’t they? If you follow tennis at all, then most likely you know. It’s a decision they have made together and they are standing by each other on this one, even if there are consequences.
The details of what happened are definitely a bit sketchy. No one seems to have the real story.

On Wednesday, February 25th, Andy Ram became the first Israeli tennis player to play in the United Arab Emirates. He was escorted onto the court by two bodyguards. Unfortunately, he lost the doubles match.
Even despite all of the controversy, he appeared relaxed and focused on the match with his fellow tennis partner Kevin Ullyett of Zimbabwe.
In a statement, Ram said, "It was obviously something big, history here, what’s been done, the first Israeli coming to play sport in Dubai”.
Ram took to the court just a week after Israeli women’s player Shahar Peer was denied a visa. I was …read more

The WTA has fined Dubai Championships organizers a record-breaking $300,000 on Friday after they denied Israeli player Shahar Peer a visa.
They did compensate Peer and have ensured that her and other Israeli players will not be shut out of any future tournaments in the federation. Their reasoning behind this whole ordeal was the fear that because of the anger against Israel’s recent military offensive in the Gaza Strip, riots would happen during her match.
Part of the $300,000 will go to Peer and her doubles partner Anna-Lena Groenefeld of Germany. This is to make up for the $2 million dollar …read more

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Yesterday, I shared with you the statement made by the Tennis Channel regarding the Israeli player, Shahar Peer, who was barred from playing in the Dubai Championships.
The tournament organizer made a statement regarding the decision saying “Peer’s ‘presence would have antagonized our fans’ because of the attacks in Gaza, which left about 1,300 Palestinians dead, at least half of them civilians, according to Gaza health officials.”
Another Israeli player is stuck in France hoping to make it in the Sunday draw. Andy Ram is in Marseilles, France, and awaiting word if he will be allowed into Dubai. …read more

German tennis player Boris Becker was recently broken up with via text message. Sandy Meyer-Woelden, Becker’s 25 year-old fiance, reportedly broke off her wedding with Becker.
Becker said, "I suddenly got an SMS from Sandy… saying that this was it, that this was over. To make sure how serious she was she sent me five others saying the same thing. I was completely surprised"
He also said that the break-up ‘trampled his soul’. Ouch! How painful and over a text message. What the heck was she thinking?! Sometimes technology is not a good thing. Remember the days when men and women …read more

Tennis star Jimmy Connors was arrested last night, November 21st, outside a campus arena where UC Santa Barbara and North Carolina were playing a game.
Connors was taken into custody after he refused to leave an area near the entrance of the Thunderdome. There was a confrontation of some sort, and he was asked to leave and decided he didn’t want to.
Police took him into custody at the beginning of the game and as of early this morning, he has not been booked yet.
Connors was a champion tennis star in the 1970’s and most recently stepped down as Andy …read more

The votes have been cast and the three top-ranked men in the world are now members of the ATP Player Council. Roger Federer was elected to a two-year term Saturday and Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic were elected to terms that began Sunday.
Problems have been broiling around the ATP’s decisions as of late, specifically the chairman Etienne De Villiers. The players are unhappy and the ATP is getting heavy-handed: a perfect formula for disaster.
There’s probably going to be people against having the top three players on the council, but I think – on many levels – it’s going to …read more

I talked about Robert Dee a month and a half ago and, according to news sources, Dee was the world’s worst professional tennis player with 54 consecutive losses. Dee is now suing three British newspapers (the Daily Mail, the London Evening Standard and the Independent) for libel: falsified information printed in a publication.
While Dee had lost 54 consecutive International Tennis Federation matches, he had won 20 other professional matches in the three-year period. Apparently Dee had contacted all three companies and asked for printed apologies but no dice so Dee is doing what world citizens have done over and …read more

You can’t please all the people all the time, and a lot of times, it seems like you can’t please hardly anyone any of the time. And right now, it’s the Spaniards who aren’t happy.
Spanish tennis officials chose Madrid as the site for the Davis Cup semifinal with the United States. Players – including Rafael Nadal – had said Madrid was one of the worst locations to choose since the Americans would be benefitted by the high altitude.
Madrid is Europe’s highest capital at 600 meters and will be better for Andy Roddick’s fast serves than the coastal cities. So naturally, …read more

The latest in a growing number of brushes with the law is Paul Hanley, Australia’s top-ranked doubles player. Hanley was released on bail in London after being detained with accusations of date-raping a woman outside of his home near Wimbledon.
The incident supposedly occured in early March and with Hanley’s recent bail posted, the British tabloids have jumped all over the news. Hanley lost in the Rome Masters earlier this week and is expected to play Hamburg.
What is the deal with this rash of tennis players embroiled in illegal/criminal doings lately? Not to say Hanley is guilty – a thing like …read more