Saturday, August 05, 2000
Tennis Notebook
Agassi wants to play doubles here
By Dave Schutte and Michael Perry
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Andre Agassi has let Tennis Master Series officials officials know he wants to play doubles this week.
Agassi, who lost in the first round in Toronto this past week, is expected to play with Nicolas Kiefer.
“He just wants to get matches in,” Flory said.
Another doubles team: French Open champion Gustavo Kuerten and American Davis Cup player Chris Woodruff.
DOUBLES DRAW: Jeff Wolf and Dan Kronauge, the Thomas E. Price Metropolitan Tennis Championship doubles winners, probably won't be invited to play in the doubles qualifier.
“Never say never, but it's very unlikely,” tournament director Bruce Flory said. “The deadline for entries is Sunday, and we won't know until then.”
Flory said some highly ranked players, such as Todd Martin, are entered in the doubles qualifier, and turning away top-rank ed players isn't likely.
THE OTHER WHITE MEAT: Fans attending the tournament may get the feeling they're walking on a downtown Cincinnati street.
Thanks to the efforts of Karen Berry, a local tennis enthusiast whose husband Ken is on the board, the Tennis Pig and Parrothead Pig were shipped to the ATP Tennis Center for display over the next 10 days.
“I called ArtWorks, (the organization) that takes care of the pigs, and they told me I was in luck, because the Tennis Pig was in the hospital to repair the racket,” Karen Berry said.
TOP DRAW: The lowest-rated player in the main draw who did not receive a wild card: Woodruff, No.64 on the Tour Entry System. The only players beyond that: Vince Spadea (74), Harel Levy (144), Mardy Fish (355) and Andy Roddick (638).
Spadea, Fish, Andy Roddick and Jonas Bjorkman received wild cards. Levy, a semifinalist in Toronto, received a sponsor's exemption.
QUALIFIER: Italy's Gianluca Pozzi, the 49th-ranked player in the world, was seeded No.1 in the 32-player qualifier that begins at 10 a.m. today.
To earn a spot in the main draw, players must win two matches.
Pozzi meets James Sekulov of Australia at about 1 p.m. on Court 3. The winner plays the winner of the Barry Cowan-Marcos Ondruska match.
Sixteen matches will be played, four on each court.
Vladimir Voltchkov of Belarus, the No.71 player, was seeded No.2, followed by Martin Damm (No.73) and George Bastl (No.77).
The eight championship qualifier matches will be played beginning at 10 a.m. Sunday.
BEST LINE: Fred Stolle, talking to a crowd after the draw ceremony Friday about Patrick Rafter withdrawing: “(Tournament chairman) Paul Flory lost another couple of hairs when that one came out.”
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