Zootennis


Schedule a training visit to the prestigious Junior Tennis Champions Center in College Park, MD by clicking on the banner above

Tuesday, February 28, 2006

Petrova blasts Russian tennis authorities - Yahoo! Sport

Petrova blasts Russian tennis authorities - Yahoo! Sport ~~~

The active verbs and the hyperbolic adjectives are flying in this article about Nadia Petrova. After I read the opening two sentences--

"World No. 8 Nadia Petrova launched a scathing attack on her home tennis federation, saying their contribution to the success enjoyed by the Russians mounted to 'mere words.'

'The Russian tennis authorities can't claim any credit for the success many of the players are having on the professional circuit these days,' Petrova claimed.

--I was hoping for some juicy personal attacks and specfic instances of malfeasance, but what follows is pretty tame. Athletes don't get the money for training expenses that they used to (seems like the tradeoff on that, which is keeping all the money you earn, isn't too bad) and it's really the girls' parents that are ultimately responsible for their success (that's the reality in every country in the world, not just Russia).

She goes on to bemoan the lack of camaraderie among the Russians on tour, but if she craves team spirit, perhaps tennis isn't the most appropriate sport. How about basketball or soccer? On second thought, she's not likely to have made nearly four million dollars before the age of 24 playing either of those team sports.

0 comments: