THE SCOOP: WIMBLEDON, DAY 12

Gilbert calls Slam champs racket request "BS"
Rao to play for India; Amritrajs too? Doubles: twice the news;
ATP boycott threat labeled as threat to sport

By Matthew Cronin
tennisreporters.net

Fred Mullane/ Camerawork USA, Inc.

FROM WIMBLEDON – A 33-member group headed by former Slam champs Martina Navratilova, Boris Becker, John McEnroe, Stan Smith and Pat Cash sent an open letter to International Tennis Federation president Francesco Ricci Bitti asking that the width of racket heads used by the pros be reduced by 3.5 inches.

Their contention: New technology discourages serve-and-volleying and has made the sport unbalanced and one-dimensional (with a "preponderance of baseliners using western grip forehands, most of them with two-handed backhands, and hitting with fierce topspin").

This didn't sit well with either Andy Roddick or Brad Gilbert.

"It's bullshit," said Gilbert. "Martina plays with a 747, McEnroe was one of the first guys to go up a centimeter. Becker also went to the new technology pretty quickly. It's not good to have a bunch of old guys sitting around and complaining when we have so many other more important issues affecting the game."

Roddick added, "I just feel if a letter's sent, it should be sent by current players. I don't know if the ITF is going to take it too seriously – a letter full of past players, no disrespect to those guys. They're great champions.''

Rao to play for India; Amritrajs too?
On Friday morning, it was shaping up to be one of the best Grand Slams ever for the US juniors. Then, out went Carly Gullickson, Ally Baker, Brian Baker (no relation) and Brendan Evans. No, we're not forgetting about No. 1 seed Sunitha Rao (who also lost), but tennisreporters.net has been told she has decided to play under an Indian passport. She's trying to play Fed Cup for India and qualify for the Olympics.

The Amritraj boys – Prakash (Vijay's son) and Stephen (Anand's son) –have been playing Challengers in India are considering playing Davis Cup for their parents' nation, even though they both were born in the US and grew up in LA. Prakash led the University of Southern California to the NCAA crown last year and Stephen attends and plays for the University of Virginia.

Doubles: twice the news
tr.net friend Leif Shiras and LA's Derrick Rostagno have reached the semis of the Wimbledon 35s Invitational. Rostagno is a yearand-a-half away from obtaining his law degree at Loyola Marymount.

Siggi Bucher

The world's most underexposed and most creative doubles team – Argentina's Paola Suarez and Spain's Virginia Ruano Pasqual – will go for another Slam crown when they face No. 2 seeded Kim Clijsters/Ai Sugiyama. It will be a return-of-serve feast of the first order. … The men's doubles final should also be delightful, with Max Mirnyi/Mahesh Bhupathi going up against Jonas Bjorkman/Todd Woodbridge. Todd is closing in on Tom Okker's record of 78 doubles titles. … Martina Navratilova is two steps away form her record tying 20th Wimbledon title in the mixed, where she's partnering with brilliant returner Leander Paes. The pair inched past Mike Bryan/Lisa Raymond on Friday. … What a difference a couple weeks makes for Bryan. At Roland Garros, he won his first Slam men's crown with brother Bob and the mixed with Raymond. At Wimbledon, he and Mike were upset in the quarters and he and Raymond couldn't stay on top of the wildly popular "Granny" and Paes. Some 10,000 fans or so stayed until 8 p.m. to see Martina I soar.

ATP boycott threat labeled as threat to sport
The Grand Slam committee isn't moving too quickly to throw mounds of cash at the ATP in the face of the players' contention that they are willing to boycott a Slam next year. The ITF folks and many of the agents don't believe that the ATP's claim that 80 guys have signed to play an alternate tournament holds much water and some of the agents are telling the players that they will be in violation of their endorsement contracts if they do. Lleyton Hewitt and Andy Roddick are the two most prominent guys who haven't signed with the ATP.

The ITF wants the ATP to withdraw its boycott threat before they start seriously renegotiating prize money. After meeting with ATP at Wimbledon Friday, the Grand Slam Committee (GSC) said, "During these meetings, the executive leadership of ATP was asked to withdraw the so-called Participation Agreement, which threatens to create alternative events against the Grand Slams. The publicity surrounding these activities has caused damage to the image of the sport and its players.

"The GSC is disappointed in ATP leadership's current unwillingness to void the Participation Agreement, the continued existence of which will have a negative impact on further discussions. However, the GSC remains determined to have constructive and inclusive dialogue with all constituents on important issues within the sport. Accordingly, the GSC has committed to Working Groups on Calendar/Format and Marketing/Promotion with representatives from the Grand Slams, ITF, ATP and WTA Tour."

The ATP – which is losing the war of hearts and minds in the industry – responded cryptically, "The ATP leadership including its player representatives are pleased that the Grand Slam Committee has agreed to address the major issues facing the game of tennis through a process we suggested to the Grand Slam Committee last April. We are also pleased that the WTA Tour and the ITF will join these important discussions.

"These issues will now be addressed by the two agreed upon working groups: Calendar/Format and Marketing/Promotions, which we identified as our top priorities last January at our meetings in Melbourne, Australia. Today it was also agreed that the ATP player representatives will continue to discuss financial issues individually with each Grand Slam tournament. We are looking forward to a very constructive and productive dialogue among the parties between now and including the US Open."