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SATURDAY, OCTOBER 25
Hingis hitting at Saddlebrook
Serena's grade on 'Street Time;'
Williamses, Jen, Lindsay in WTA Championships fashion show; Courier,
Chang want off BALCO list
By Matthew Cronin
tennisreporters.net
The word from Florida is that former no.
1 Martina Hingis has been hitting at Saddlebrook Resort in Florida,
where she still owns a home. Hingis hit this week with American
up-and comer Angela Haynes. However, this is no indication that
the Swiss will return to the tour, as she is not engaged in full-scale
training.
Serena's grade on 'Street Time'
For those of you who didn't catch
Serena Williams's first acting appearance in a dramatic roll on
the Showtime series "Street Time," you missed quite
a debut. Serena has a long way to go before she can deliver a
line or facial expression like Halle Berry does, but she earns
a respectable B-minus for her acting, which was solid although
not spectacular.
Serena had the lead guest star role of Meeka Hayes, a convicted
drug dealer who has just been released from four years in prison,
where she was wrongly convicted. Williams' character is a former
track star that went to prison for a manipulative ex-boyfriend
and now must decide whether to rejoin her old gang or attempt
to enter college.
A white parole officer, played by Scott Cohen, tries to keep Williams'
character from slipping back into a life of crime, which is quite
a task, considering that Serena finds out that her ex-boyfriend
set her up and because former women gang members tell her that
if she kills him, she will take over as the gang leader.
Serena does a number of things well in her role playing and all
of those come during moments where she can call upon expressions
she makes in everyday life on the tour: when she is wise-cracking,
downcast, crying, calling upon her mental strength and strategizing
as to what her next move she be. She was at her worst when interacting
with her ex-boyfriend and the other gang members. Due to their
complete lack of chemistry, one never believed she actually had
a relationship with her ex-boyfriend (who amazingly calls her
"Shorty"), nor that she was close friends with the other
women gang members, who treated her like in a Henin-esque fashion.
Of course, the best part of the badly written and somewhat tedious
show was when Serena decks another gang banger with a hard right
cross.
ATP |
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Mardy Fish and Olympic
ice dancing gold medallist Marina Anissina had a blast
at the Kids' Day in Lyon, France. |
All this begs the question, why is
there a show about probation officers? Is it really that exciting
of a profession that contains so many "cool" people
that America needs a TV show about their lives? What's next,
a riveting drama about prison cafeteria supervisors? Or worse,
a tennis writer?
Williams also filmed a part this summer in the upcoming movie
"Beauty Shop" starring Queen Latifah, which is a spin
off of the film "Barbershop."
Courier, Chang want off BALCO list
The much-scandalized "nutritional
supplement" company BACLO (the Bay Area Laboratory Co-Operative)
listed three tennis players on its web site as high profile
athletes that it has worked with: former Grand Slam champs Ivan
Lendl, Michael Chang and Jim Courier.
Dozens of other big-time athletes were listed on the site, including
baseball stars Barry Bonds and Jason Giambi, sprint champion
Kelli White and shot putter Kevin Toth. Those four have been
subpoenaed to testify. The company was raided by the Internal
Revenue Service and drug agents in September and is the target
of the grand jury probe.
BALCO produces the enormously successful zinc-magnesium product
ZMA. According to the AP, BALCO founder Victor Conte has been
accused by the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency of supplying athletes
with a designer steroid – tetrahydrogestrinone, or THG.
Conte has expressed his innocence. Conte has said that athletes
told him that 40 Olympic and pro athletes have been subpoenaed.
Being subpoenaed does not imply wrongdoing.
"[Michael Chang] really has nothing to do with the focus
of the investigation," his agent, Tom Ross said.
Courier told tennisreporters.net, "I was
surprised to find out I was listed on the BALCO web site. I
have asked them to stop using my name. I have nothing to hide
or fear with this issue but am disappointed to have my name
on the web site without my knowledge or permission."
The day after Courier replied to a tr.net query,
BALCO took the list off its web site.
Lendl could not be reached for comment.
Williamses, Jen, Lindsay in WTA Championships
fashion show
Even though Serena won't play for the
rest of the year, she will take part in a fashion show on Nov.
3 at Santa Monica, Calif.'s Fairmont Hotel prior to The WTA
Championships. Joining Serena will be her sister, Venus, Jennifer
Capriati and Lindsay Davenport, who is also out for the rest
of the year.
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