Mauresmo, Venus, Bovina out of Montreal

leftys_rock · Mauresmo, Venus, Bovina out of Montreal

Venus Williams, Mauresmo, Bovina pull out of next week's tournament
August 9, 2006

MONTREAL (AP) -- Venus Williams and Wimbledon champion Amelie Mauresmo pulled out of next week's hard-court Rogers Cup tournament with injuries Wednesday.

Williams (wrist) and Mauresmo (shoulder) haven't played since Wimbledon last month.

"I am very disappointed to have to withdraw from the Rogers Cup because of a right shoulder strain that I sustained while preparing for the tournament," Mauresmo said in a statement released by event organizers.

"I am working hard to rehabilitate to get back on court as soon as possible."

Mauresmo won the Rogers Cup in 2002 and 2004.

It was the third consecutive tournament Williams has withdrawn from. She also bypassed California stops in Carlsbad and Carson.

Elena Bovina of Russia also withdrew from the U.S. Open tuneup with an injury Wednesday.

Daniela Hantuchova, Tatiana Golovin and Vera Zvonareva will take the three open spots in the main draw.

The U.S. Open starts Aug. 28.

Amelie, whats up? Venus, this is getting too regular. Play Pilot Pen please!! Bovina is practically retired now. Rolling Eyes

dav6789

This is a shae for Venus because she picked up her season well during the claycourt season. Since the French Open, she has done nothing. It looks like Mauresmo will have little preparation for the US Open aswell, she may play in New Haven where she was the runner-up last year. This is a big opportunity for Clijsters to return to number 1 if she can defend her Los Angeles and Canada titles.

btw, is Lindsay playing?

J-man

To bad Mauresmo would have been my pick for the tournment. Also it is a shame that Venus pulled out she was having an alright comeback. Runins the momentum for her

PSALT

beachjm

As of now the women's feld for the UsO looks very weak. Hate to say this 'cause I'm not a fan of her, but Serena could actually do well there (if she shows up). Right now there are only 2 contenders, maybe 3 with Kuznetsova. Women's tennis is hurting big time by players that don't give a crap about anything but themselves. Sure there are exceptions but too many of the "star" players don't remind me of Martina, Evert, King, etc. in terms of doing things for the betterment of the sport. $ has really corrupted tennis and I think the women's game has taken major steps backward since '03-'04. The USO is less than 3 wks. away and only a half dozen good players have even cared to play at all this summer. It's bad in the men's dept. as well, but not as bad as the women. Women's tennis better watch out. It's the premier women's sport in the world but their product has been lacking big-time going on 3 yrs. now.

leftys_rock

dav6789

That's a better choice for Lindsay. She should have a good practice next week and prepare for New Haven, where she has a very convincing record. She has only played in Toronto/Montreal twice, her best result was the QF in 2000.

PSALT

http://www.tennisnews.com/exclusive.php?pID=12844

not official yet but chalk up another loss for the Roger's Cup.

leftys_rock

Well, this is an event for the taking for Clijsters or Sharapova. Rolling Eyes

Beautiful, what at first looked like a GS field is diminishing.

pacomexican

wow venus

leftys_rock

Actually, this really reminds me of another Acura Classic. Just marvelous. Rolling Eyes

Another "what looks like a Tier II tournament but is actually Tier I" tournament. Rolling Eyes

dav6789

This whole US Open series is going by very quickly and all the tournaments have poor draws. It is getting too repetitive, I don't like the colour scheme of the courts being the same, it makes it boring and repetitive.

PSALT

http://slam.canoe.ca/Slam/Tennis/News/2006/08/11/1750328-cp.html

more dropouts

beachjm

I have to really speak my mind on something that's going on in tennis that really disturbs me and it seems no one, including the media lets the players (the guilty party) tell it like it is on this issue. The US Open Series was a very good idea but this is the 2nd yr. in a row that one of the tours has really bit the hand that feeds them. Last yr. a lot of the top men pulled out (although a lot were injured) and even though the USO men's tourney was awesome, it was overall a wk. summer hard court season with many tourneys below par field wise.
But the women have really gone a step lower. Thanks for trying to play Venus, JHH, etc. I don't believe all these players are that injured. And why I don't is for 2 reasons. You'll see so many of these same players playing in worthless tourney after tourney in the fall for $, $, $, and also to improve their ranking. They'll also play countless exhibitions in the months of Nov-Dec. So I'm sorry if I'm not buying this excuse that the players are so tired after Wimbledon. They should shut it down after the USO not for 75% of the summer hard court season. Plus, this is their job. You're supposed to be in good shape. Too many of the women are overweight or sometimes way too skinny and don't look like the've been in the gym that much. They'd get schooled by fitness freaks like Martina and Graf in their prime.
Let's be honest players like Lendl, Martina, Evert, Graf, Connors, etc. played in excess of 90 plus matches every year for in some cases 2 decades. I'm sick of hearing how players like JHH, Venus, Serena, and some of the top men are too tired, or it's too tough to play a full schedule. Hit the gym, do your off-court conditioning more so you don't get hurt so easily, and suck it up. Too many of the top players, especially on the women's side are coming off as pansies and that's why nobody cares about the damn sport here. I mean just playing 50 matches over an 10-11 month season is pathetic if you're a top player, when players like Lendl, Martina, and Graf regularly played 100 plus matches and made it to the weekend at every event they played. They never tanked matches and these lighter, more powerful racquets were beginning to change during their careers so they could've experienced numerous injuries as well. But they sucked it up, hit the gym, watched what they ate, and played on for the sport, the fans, and the responsibility to the game. They wanted to be all-time greats, and outside of Federer, a retiring Agassi, and a young guy like Nadal, I don't see anyone who really, really wants to be great. Thank you, Federer and Nadal for playing a full schedule and staying relatively healthy, 'cause if you didn't the men's game would be just as big a sham as the current version of the women's game.
I think they should seriously consider putting an end to the USO Series next yr. especially if the players don't give a damn. This is one time I'm placing the vast majority of the blame on the players and not the often inept leaders of the sport. Many of the top players have let down the sport and their fans, and even though most will forget about this when they show up in NY (or maybe some won't) I think they've really spit in the face of the pioneers like BJ King, Laver, Ashe, Martina, players that played for more than just how big their bank accounts could get. It just seems that tennis has no soul left or it's been getting worse decade after decade.

dav6789

I don't think Lendl did too much for the game itself (like promoting it), but he was a very good professional inside the 4 lines. I think tennis is alot more demanding on the body than before because people hit harder and the way they hit the ball (open stance groundstrokes). Players need to schedule their events much more carefully. The biggest problem now is the claycourt-grasscourt transition that happens so quickly, with 2 grand slams within 2 weeks of each other. Most players suffer after that and take a break during the hardcourt season. I think the standard of fitness has gond down a bit, but that's mainly because the game is much tougher on the body. There are much less grass tournaments around, the clay season is longer, and most people play from the baseline because it is near impossible to have a successful net game. No matter how fit you are, it will have an effect on your body. Navratilova's game wasen't too tough on her body and she played less events. Now, everyone tries to play as many events as possible because there is more emphasis on ranking points and prize money.

Also, when Navratilova and Graf played, they played fewer events. The Virginia Slims were better because they were scheduled well on the calendar. All the top players went to the same big events. Now there are multiple events each week (usually one big event and a small event) with the top players playing more to keep their ranking high.

Tennis fan

What's wrong with Lendl? Question

He was a great player!

dav6789

leftys_rock

Found the Sharapova w/drawal article:

Sharapova withdraws from Rogers Cup
August 12, 2006

MONTREAL (Ticker) - Shortly after being knocked out of one tournament, Maria Sharapova decided not to play in the next one.

Following a straight-sets loss to Elena Dementieva at the JPMorgan Chase Open on Saturday, Sharapova announced her withdrawal from the $1.34 million Rogers Cup, which begins Monday.

The 19-year-old Sharapova, who won last week's Acura Classic in San Diego, suffered a 7-5, 6-2 setback to Dementieva in Carson. After the match, she cited fatigue as the reason for pulling out of the Montreal event.

"I'm deeply saddened to have to withdraw from the Rogers Cup," Sharapova said in a statement. "Unfortunately, my body is very fatigued because of the extensive number of matches that I have played over a short period of time, and I don't feel that I can perform at the level required.

"The Rogers Cup is a fantastic event, with some of the best fans in the world and great sponsor. I look forward to playing the Rogers Cup next year and to recuperating my body as fast as possible."

While disappointed, tournament director Eugene Lapierre blames the WTA Tour, not Sharapova, for the loss of the Russian star.

"Something is clearly wrong with the system in its actual form," he said. "The star players are often put in a situation where they can't respect their engagements. We will try to correct the situation by working closely with the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour."

Just marvelous isn't it? Rolling Eyes

dav6789

This is absolutely pathetic. The Canadian Open is a huge tournament that has been around for many years. The draw will be rubbish. Clijsters may aswell accept the trophy now or pull out and the tournament should change to tier 4. This shows the current state of the WTA tour.

stevos14

Oh my gosh this is so insanely bad!!! Worst tier 1 draw ever, I've seen tier 4's with better draws. Its driving me nuts, the only week I get good coverage no big names come hardly. Sickening. The men tried their best to go to the Toronto tournament, we got lots of great players, but the women are lazy and sorry for themselves. I can understand sharapova because she played lots in a row, but Venus, Mauresmo, HH?? Come on!

leftys_rock

Just beautiful, Kim will win the USO Series by BREEZING through the Montreal field and will get her bonus prize money without having to play ANY of the top 4. Rolling Eyes

Tennis fan

It is not Kim's fault though that the others pulled out. She set a schedule for herself and she is sticking to it.

Tennis fan

Might as well change the topic on this thread to "Just about everyone pulls out of Montreal"

leftys_rock

dav6789

leftys_rock

I bet that if she had won LA, she would have played Montreal. I mean, riding on (at that time it would be) a 10 match win streak going into one of the big Tier I's in which her 2 largest obstacles have pulled out of. She would have had a good chance at winning the event. And she isn't really injured, she says she's tired, which I don't blame her for, but still, I think she would have played if she won. I mean, Kim played 4 straight events last year and won 3 of them. And then won the Open. Sharapova really needs to really work on her stamina if she plans to schedule 3 events in a row.

Tennis fan

That is a common problem with many players on the WTA tour. They do not have stamina. Someone said they need to hit the gym and I agree absolutely. They are either too thin and fragile or overweight.

The Williams sisters in 2003 were really strong, but not anymore. Have you seen how overwieght Serena is? Gosh, she is like carrying a baby in her rear end! Rolling Eyes