February 6, 2009

Serena confirms Marbella (Spain) but why?

Serena Williams heads top women tennis players on their way to Marbella, Spain for the AndalucĂ­a Tennis Experience. The International event is set to take place on the red clay of the Club de Tenis Puente Romano from April 6-12. Conchita Martinez (1994 Wimbledon Champion and former World #2), the tournament director, has said that Jelena Jankovic and Amelie Mauresmo are expected to participate. Others who have confirmed their participation include: Anabel Medina and Virginia Ruano.
In my personal opinion, I doubt that Serena will actually appear for this tournament. Why? This tournament is sandwiched (1 week) between two tournaments where she is the defending champion: (the Mandatory) Sony Ericsson Open, which is one of her favorites (Miami, March 25th) and (the Premier) Family Circle Cup (Charleston, April 13th). Travel wise: Miami, Spain, and Charleston in three straight weeks of play? Oh and let's not forget the prize money, $220,000. We will see.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Yeah I Don't even want her to do all of this. It's too much and I don't want her running on empty before the French.

I think we can say that we know she'll play Miami, and I doubt she totally just drops Charleston, so Marbela may need to go away and she's going to be seriously jet-legged

Unknown said...

They probably just attached her name to the fledgling tournament to boost interest and ticket sales. Serena probably has no intention on showing up and playing. We all know Larry Scott loves to do stuff like this.

Anonymous said...

yeah andy is probably right. scott is notorious for this.

Anonymous said...

Not sure if this is true, but I heard she agreed to play Marbella to make up/avoid punishment for not playing the IW tournament that she and Venus have boycotted. This supposedly is the deal made with the WTA so that she won't be prevented from playing the Miami tournament (that would be the normal punishment for skipping the previous Tier 1 event - IW).