The Scoop, OCTOBER 5

Editorial changes at Tennis magazine
Plus: Vera, Scud, Massu and Dokic

By Matthew Cronin, TennisReporters.net

Changes are afoot at Tennis magazine. Sources tell TennisReporters.net that Editor Mark Woodruff is moving to Florida and will become an editor at large, opening up the head-person’s slot at the US’s largest but sleepiest tennis magazine.

Miller Publishing (which owns the magazine) will go on a nationwide search for a new editor. It’s doubtful that Miller will promote any of its in-house staff to the post: Managing Editor Stephen Tignor, Senior Editors Peter Bodo or James Martin, or Tennis.com director Liza Horan.

The magazine certainly improved its look under Woodruff, but outside of its excellent instructional pieces, the content leaves a lot to be desired. The magazine hasn’t scooped anyone since The New York Times sold it to Miller back in 1997. Its "Between the Lines" section is essentially a rewrite of the wires and tennis web sites. Its features are often colorless and off the mark, and op-ed pieces are hit or miss. That what happens when you don’t have staffers who regularly travel the tour and an editor who preferred playing tennis to actually reporting about it. Woodruff was complete unknown in the pressroom, to the players and to most industry officials. Staffers are said to be excited about the change, which is unlikely to include adding any spice to publisher Chris Evert's articles. She's capable folks, just let her rip.

Since we’re focusing on tennis mags, my main employer – the California-based Inside Tennis magazine – now has a web site, InsideTennis.com. The site is designed by my TR.net partner, Ron Cioffi. More content is forthcoming. … Tennisweek.com did a nice job of patting itself on the back this week, saying it broke the story on the sale of IMG (which it did). But in the full disclosure dept., why not also write that it was dead wrong in printing that Alan Schwatrz would be reelected the USTA president. The Sun-Sentinel’s Charlie Bricker was wrong about that, too.

Moving over to broadcast media, The Tennis Channel will show a ton of coverage of the European fall indoor season in October and November, including the ATP Masters Series events in Madrid and Paris, as well as this week’s WTA Tour tournaments in Filderstadt, next week’s Kremlin Cup in Moscow; the Tier I Swisscom Challenge in Zurich, and Generali Ladies Linz. We’ve been dying to see the Santa Monica-based TTC’s "No Strings" and "Center Court" shows, produced by a NorCal-related crew that includes head man and Oaktown native Larry Myers, the South Bay’s Aarthi Rajaraman, former Cal standout player Brandon Moglen and Oakland resident Joel Drucker. We’re especially excited because word has it that the beer-keg league line of questioning will eventually dissipate. Lead questions will no longer be along the lines of, "Aren’t you happy that you are a great player and a great person, too?" Just kidding, sort of. … Let’s not slight the "Tennis Insiders," produced by Laura Hockridge. Now if the TTC can just finalize a deal with cable giant Comcast, most of us in California and the rest of the nation will be able to watch their coverage. They could strike a deal before the year is out. For now, if you're dying to see the TTC, get the overpriced Voom.

Cioffi gets The Tennis Channel in suburban Atlanta and says the content is improving. But the digital cable reception is often hit-and-miss, much like his tennis game.

Siggi Bucher

Mark Philippoussis will geta wild card into the Australian Open if he need it.

vera and massu's tough losses,
SCud and dokic's fades
Vera Zvonareva’s 6-3, 7-5 first-round loss to Elena Likhovtseva at Filderstadt on Tuesday is bad news for the Russian teen’s hopes of qualifying for the Championships. Mary Pierce continues to play well, knocking off the slumping Paola Suarez 6-2, 6-3. In Lyon, the suddenly rising Robin Soderling upended No. 5 Tommy Robredo 6-1, 6-4. The Spaniard has no chance to reach Houston playing that way. Mario Ancic hurt his shoulder again in a loss to Max Mirnyi. The Croat is chronically injured and may never reach his potential. In a match of Davis Cup non-factors, Vince Spadea beat Robby Ginepri 6-4, 6-3. The stunner of the day goes to Agustin Calleri, who upended top seed Nicolas Massu 6-3, 6-4.

Over in Tokyo, Japan’s big gun, No. 3 Shinobu Asagoe, was easily taken down by Tammy Tanasugarn. Out of nowhere, qualifier Youlia Fedossova of France stunned Meghann Shaughnessy 7-5, 7-6 (5). Bulgarian baby Sesil Karatantcheva continues to make her way up the charts, wasting No. 8 Arantxa Parra Santonja 6-2, 6-4. … Over on the men’s side, wild card Gouichi Motomura gave the home country fans something to cheer about when he took our old reliable Glenn Weiner 6-4, 6-3. Motomura will now face top-seed Lleyton Hewitt. Another qualifier, Taipei's Yei Wang defeated American Jeff Morrison 6-3, 7-6 (1), grabbing his first ATP win.

Can Mark Philippoussis possibly get any worse? The wayward Scud suffered his 13 first round loss in the first round of Tokyo and is now in danger of missing the cutoff for the ’05 Aussie Open. He’s currently ranked 104 and will fall even further next week. But no matter, Aussie Open chief Paul McNamee will give him a wild card anyway. "It's not a problem if he needs one, with what he's done for the tournament and the sport," McNamee told the Sydney Morning Herald. "Remember, at 19 years of age he beat [Pete] Sampras in one of the first huge night matches we ever had. Mark has paid his dues. Let's just hope he can turn it around. It's very important Australian tennis does everything it can to help Mark. He's a superstar on and off the court, isn't he?" Hmmmm.

The Aussie Open will celebrate it’s centennial next year and have decided to hold the men's final at 7:30 p.m. Organizers believes that Andre Agassi will play but have yet to receive a commitment from former countrywoman Jelena Dokic, who is in the midst of the worst slump of her career. She former Top 5 hasn’t won a match since April and has suffered first round losses at all the Slams this year. She’s currently ranked No. 44.

Why has it become the CW that attendance at the WTA Championships in LA has been a disaster? Since those who have been writing that as of late have never been at the event, it’s hard to take their opinions seriously. Here’s the reality: in its second year at the Staples Center in ‘03, the Championships drew 44, 889 fans overall, up 3,629 fans over 2002, despite the fact that local players Serena and Venus Williams and Lindsay Davenport were out with injuries and that they held four fewer sessions. That’s called improvement.