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Is injured Anna soon to retire?

Rubin back in Fed Cup fold after King relaxes rules; Hall of Fame chatter

By Matthew Cronin
tennisreporters.net

A bad year for Anna Kournikova fans just got worse when tennisreporters.net learned that the Russian starlet won't return to the tour until New Haven in August at the earliest, and it sounds like she could be out of the US Open all together.

Saddled with a chronic sprain of the lumbar spine, a condition which is considered inoperable, the 22-year-old has decided not even to try and play the upcoming California tournaments or Toronto.

Kournikova will play three World TeamTennis matches for the Kansas City Explorers this week, but only because she won't compete in singles, limiting herself to doubles and mixed doubles. World TeamTennis' format consists of one-set matches with no-ad scoring.

Her agent, Octagon's Phil Depicciotto wouldn't call the injury career threatening, but said that no end is in sight.

"Anna is unable to play a consistent tour schedule with her back the way it is now and unless there is marked improvement, her schedule will remain uncertain," Depicciotto told tr.net.

Since injuring her back at the '03 Australian Open in January, Kournikova has only played a handful of tournaments. She last competed at a women's Challenger in Charlottesville in mid-May. The Russian attempted to play a grass court tournament in Birmingham before Wimbledon, but re-injured her back in practice. Kournikova's doctors advised her to take four to six weeks off.

Kournikova informed the two California tournaments that were holding wild cards for her – Palo Alto and San Diego – that she will not play in them. Palo Alto begins next week.

If her back feels okay after her World TeamTennis workout, Kournikova may start training again and possibly ask for a wild card into New Haven, which starts the week before the US Open.

"If nothing else, the last six months have shown that she has a real willingness to play, because she keeps trying to get back on court even when its been physically and emotionally trying," Depicciotto said. "But even if she feels better, she's not in good enough shape to play regular tour events yet."

If the injury doesn't heal properly, Kournikova could go the way of Martina Hingis, who called it quits this year because her feet wouldn't allow her to run with the same speed. Even though she has never won a title in her nearly eight years on tour, Kournikova was a top-10 player and No. 1 doubles player in 1999, it's hard to imagine her accepting a role as limping, bottom-50 singles player and/or doubles specialist.

Rubin back in Fed Cup fold after King relaxes rules

Give U.S. Fed Cup Captain Billie Jean King props for becoming flexible with her players again. The Washington Post's Rachel Nichols reported that in replacing the injured Venus Williams and Monica Seles with Chanda Rubin and Alexandra Stevenson, King decided to ease her private coaching rules and allow private coaches at practices, specifically Rubin's coach, who had objected to the rules, which is one of the reasons why Rubin first turned down spot.

The U.S. will face Italy in the July 19-20 at the William H.G. FitzGerald Tennis Center in Washington, D.C.

Now Rubin is in the spot that she's always coveted: being the US' No. 1 player. Meghann Shaughnessy will likely play No. 2, unless King plugs in Lisa Raymond. The Italians consist of Silvia Farina-Elia, Francesca Schiavone, Rita Grande and Tathiana Garbin. Rubin will certainly need to bring her "A" game to Washington.

By the way, why young Italian hotshot Flavia Pennetta – who pushed Justine Henin-Hardenne at Wimby – isn't on this team befuddles us.

Hall of Fame chatter

Boris Becker on the sport: "Tennis was always my hobby. It was my passion and to call it my job was something I couldn't have dreamed as a little boy."

Ion Tiriac, Becker's former coach and manager, on meeting with then 11-year-old Becker: "Probably I was at the wrong time in the right place. A friend took me all the way to the last court at Monte Carlo to show me a young little German junior who might become something one day because he was different. … The trip was worth it, because I saw something that I never saw in my life before. The little junior was playing tennis, hitting a tennis ball from any position more than I ever saw any time or any thing or any body in my life. … And strangely enough, the ball went in the court. From the beginning, I said, 'You have a problem. You look a little bit more like a sumo wrestler in the legs than a tennis player.' "

Billie Jean King on Francoise Durr: "She's the only professional player that beat her serve to net. … She had unbelievable accuracy. And everybody in the stands could not understand why they couldn't beat her themselves."

Former ITF president Brian Tobin, who went in as a contributor: "I believe there are only five or six in the contributor category which are still living. So, I'm pleased that my peers found enough votes to have me inducted, and particularly, while I'm still alive. … Tennis has done a lot more for me and my wife Carmen than we could ever do for it."

Nancy Richey: "I feel fortunate to have experienced both eras. I enjoyed being an amateur because we played only for the love of the game. I enjoyed the excitement of being one of the rebels who was not willing to accept the second class role for women in sports. And I have continued to enjoy watching the evolution of the game, to the point that now women can make a really good living playing the wonderful game of tennis."

Last Updated 5/15/02. To contact us, please email to: webmaster@tennisone.com

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