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THE
SCOOP, WIMBLEDON DAY 6
Jelena
v. the Daily Mirror
By
Matthew Cronin
tennisreporters.net
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Susan
Mullane
Camerawork USA, Inc.
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Jelena
Dokic raged against the greasy machine that is
the British tabloid press today after the Daily Mirror printed an
inflammatory article, "Babsi v. The Beast," in which it
trashes Jelena's
controversial father, Damir (the Beast) and sings the praises of
the woman it
is paying $40,000 to look sexy, Austrian player Barbara Schett (Babsi).
The leggy Jelena took out Babsi 6-3, 7-5 and then went on vocal
tear.
"I stood me up a little bit," Jelena said of the article.
"It was really
nasty. It's not funny anymore. It was as bad as it could get."
How bad? This bad. The tabloid ran a model-esque photo of Schett
across from
a snarling picture of Damir. It ran a boxing style Tale of the Tape
where
Babsi is the angel and Damir is the devil.
SOME
HIGHLIGHTS:
Build: Schett – a
Willowy 5-foot-9. Damir - stocky
Lifestyle: Schett: Cleaning living, fresh air. Damir - smokes
a pipe and
likes a drink.
Most likely to say: Schett - "Pleased to meet you."
Damir - "You are a bunch of Nazis."
Temperament: Schett – Sweet
natured. Damir - Bolshy
Best moment: Schett – Beating
Venus at Roland Garros Damir: None
The
Mirror really angered Jelena by stating, "There are fears
that the
bearded father from hell will try to psyche out Babsi."
Jelena replied, "I have nothing against anybody. When an
article is written
like that it isn't doing anyone any good. If they have nothing
else to write,
It's really said. I was really disappointed they wrote that my
dad was going
to try to psyche Barbara. It's crazy. My dad doesn't deserve that.
Especially
since he's gotten back on tour."
Given
the fact that Damir was suspended for six months from the tour
up until
recently because of unsavory behavior at the Slams and elsewhere,
he is an
easy target. And considering that the Mirror paid Schett that
tidy sum (as a
blonde replacement for live Kournikova shots) to wear its logo
and give it
exclusives, there was no way the Mirror was going to pass up an
opportunity
to pit its Barbie Doll against Damir's poor reputation. But Jelena
doesn't
understand how the tabs work and is under the impression that
fans are read
them for serious reporting.
"It
wasn't news," Jelena said. "It was in the paper that
Barbara is
advertising. I also think my management company, Octagon, and
Ivan Brixi, the
guy I work with, did a very poor job. We're both from the same
management
company and on the day of the match, it didn't need to be there.
It was just
horrendous – I
did nothing to stir this up, neither did my dad. I don't
think that's acceptable."
As
an aside, what's truly humorous here is that the Mirror calls
Schett "the
sexiest tennis babe" because the venerable British tennis
magazine, Ace, gave
her that title. What the Mirror doesn't state when referencing
the Ace
distinction is that there was no fan vote in the Ace "poll" – it
was just a
bunch of guys sitting around the office looking at pictures. A
source tells
tennisreporters.net that Ace was intent on naming someone else
than Anna
Kournikova, which is why the balloting was closed.
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