London - Serena Williams could find herself a bit peckish in
the Wimbledon locker room as she finally took note of the strict
rules about not eating in that premises.
If that is the case, the American complains on her website, why
are bananas and energy bars on offer to competitors inside the locker
room as well?
'I'm an athlete and my diet is very important during a
tournament,' said the ten-time Grand Slam champion.
'Before a match, I eat in the locker room, it's a part of my
routine.' Williams said that when informed she could no longer nosh
in the zone, 'I was in shock.'
'I'm a member of the All England Club. As I am looking around the
locker room a bit upset I must admit, I notice someone placing
bananas and health bars into a basket for the other players and
myself.
'Why have food in a room if we aren't allowed to eat in the locker
room. This rule is unfair and new. There was no warning that this new
rule would be implemented and I don't agree with it.
'I totally dislike rules that do NOT make sense.'
The club said that Williams got the wrong end of the stick on a
regulation which has been in place for nearly a decade since the
opening of the new Millennium complex in 2000.
With Williams saying she hardly ever goes into the player
restaurant, ignorance of the rule may be understandable.
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NOTEBOOK: Retirement of Safin may save company racket budgets =
London (dpa) - Marat Safin left Wimbledon this week for the last
time as a player, with his career-long trail of smashed rackets not
many months from its natural conclusion.
The personable - yet mercurial - Russian who retires at the end of
the season takes the prize for destruction of tools, with his racket
company Head surely ready for some relief after a decade or more of
shipping in replacements.
Safin reckons he's gone through nearly 150,000 dollars in broken
rackets, crashed and smashed in the heat of the moment on court.
'Breaking all those rackets, it was worth it.
'I'd guess I've smashed 700 in my career, maybe more. That's not
so many. The rackets probably cost about 200 dollars each, so 700
rackets, not so much really.'
The 140,000 guess-timate comes in addition for nearly 100,000
dollars in disciplinary fines for the two-time Grand Slam winner and
former number one.
USA
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