THE SCOOP: FRIDAY, AUGUST 6

Of Russian intramurals and lousy reporting

By Matthew Cronin, TennisReporters.net

Ron Cioffi/TR.net

Zvonareva has earned a spot on Russian's Fed Cup team.

There's been some very questionable headline writing and reporting the past few days on the women's tour.

First, it was reported that Russia might have Maria Sharapova on its Fed Cup squad for the November semis and final, which will be held in Moscow. Not according to Anastasia Myskina, who distinctly said last week that while she would welcome Sharapova on the 2005 team, this year's squad is already set and it wouldn't be fair to the other players who have played the 2004 ties to knock them out come glory time.

Of course, Myskina and Vera Zvonareva essentially cemented their spots anyway by taking down Sharapova in success weeks. On Thursday night, Vera didn't choke and edged Sharapova 4-6, 6-4, 6-4 at the Rogers Cup in Montreal. "It's disappointing but no hard feelings," said Sharapova, who's closer to Zvonareva than any of the other significant Russians. "I know you can't win everything and you're going to lose sometimes. I'll go home and train now and get ready for the US Open."

Vera then crushed the not-ready-for-prime-time Tatiana Golovin and now gets a shot at Amelie Mauresmo, who scored a 3-6, 6-2, 6-4 victory over Karolina Sprem. The rising Croat doubled-faulted twice to hand Mauresmo the final break. Jennifer Capriati lost a straight-setter to Elena Likhovtseva and appears nowhere near ready to seriously challenge for another Olympic gold. It looks like Myskina, who plays newlywed Maggie Maleeva on Friday night, is headed to another final and possibly No. 2 in the rankings by weekend's end.

AP GLICHES HEADLINE
The AP produced a few double-faults themselves today. First, someone came up with the headline that read "Serena and Venus Williams plan to compete at the Athens." While my buddy Howard Fendrich's report did quote US Olympic captain Zina Garrison saying that Serena told her she's going to play, there is no quote from Garrison or Venus indicating whether she's definitively playing. However, the thought here is Venus will go to great lengths to play, even if her sprained wrist isn't completely healed.

Here's another dozy from the AP out of Paris in a report about FFT President Christian Bimes being upset that the ITF picked Moscow over Nice for the Fed Cup final. "We will all be behind the French team when it defends its title in Moscow," Bimes said. Here's an extraordinary statement by the writer: "However, France faces stiff competition from Russia, Spain and Austria."

Really? Yes, Frances faces stiff competition from Russia, but Amelie Mauresmo and Co. have little to fear from the likes of Virginia Ruano Pascual or Babs Schett on any surface.

Then there was a poorly researched story on Lisa Raymond being left off the '00 Olympic team by the Philadelphia Daily News. Here's a portion: "[Billie Jean] King, the captain of the 2000 and 1996 women's Olympic tennis teams, said the Women's Tennis Association voted to base selection of the four-player team on singles rankings. King didn't think that was fair because it would keep Raymond off the team. 'I told Lindsay Davenport that would keep Lisa from going,' King said. 'Lindsay said that the Williams sisters win every time they play doubles.' "

Recall that this March in a TR.net report on the subject, Davenport refuted everything that King said, wondering why anyone would believe she would try to screw one of her best friends.

It's been a lousy past week for the sport off court. First, Riverside Press Enterprise tennis writer Jim Short collapsed in the press room of the Acura Classic, suffering a mild heart attack. Short is now doing better and expects a full recovery. He was pleased that he got to see his girl, Murrietta High grad Davenport, complete the California Triple.

STELLA SAMPRAS WEBSTER'S HUSBAND ARRESTED
UCLA women's coach Stella Sampras Webster must be having the worst month of her life. First, three of her top players left the team and then her husband, Randolph Steven Webster, was arrested on a charge that he illegally eavesdropped for two-and-a-half years on confidential weekly executive staff meetings at the FX cable channel that had earlier fired him. According to The LA Times, he faces one felony count of illegal wiretapping for using a toll-free number to dial, undetected, into meetings held by top executives at the Fox cable channel.

Ironically, Sampras' teams have consistently underachieved until this past season, when they reached the NCAA team final. But apparently, things weren't going well in the locker room. No. 2 Jackie Carleton and No. 3 Feriel Esseghir will not be returning because of personal disputes, while top doubles player Lauren Fisher turned pro. "They will be better off at a different program," Sampras told The Daily Bruin.

Carleton was angry. "We've had problems the whole two years I've been here. We were just in two different worlds. I'm really fiery and competitive on the court, and [Sampras Webster] is just calm and low key. I didn't feel like I did anything to have my scholarship revoked. Usually, you get your scholarship revoked for partying or doing drugs or something like that. We hadn't gotten into huge fights. She thought I should be more composed on the court. … "I don't feel like it's a very positive environment. We work hard, but we're not having fun. You're out there every day for four hours, you need to be out there and have fun and crack a smile sometimes." Carleton has already decided to transfer to Duke, where she will be able to play in the upcoming season.

Esseghir also told The Daily Bruin: "I do not like the whole situation. There were a lot of problems, a lot of focus on what was not working instead of what worked out. It's just kind of weird. We tried to fix things but we disagreed on a lot of things."

Let's not forget to note that Aussie Gavin Hopper – who once coached Mark Philippoussis, Monica Seles and Tommy Haas – was thrown in jail for three-and-a-half years for sexually abusing a 14-year-old female student at a Melbourne school 20 years ago.

Hopper owns a tennis academy on the Gold Coast with former Wimbledon champion and tiresome blabbermouth Pat Cash. A name change is surely forthcoming.

The word out of San Diego is that Alexandra Stevenson needs shoulder surgery and Alison Bradshaw has put her short career permanently to rest. BTW for some good reporting on the Olympic situation, go to The Globe and Mail's web site and read Tom Tebbutt.