The Watercooler

Good mornin'. I just filed a post for ESPN wrapping up the WTA year, in which the main story was the inability of an impressive cast of characters to wrest the no. 1 ranking way from Serena Williams. It ought to be live by noon.

In another bit of WTA business, I had an email the other day from Ana Ivanovic's agent, Gavin Versi. He noticed that in a recent blog entry, I suggested that his popular and mild-mannered client had failed to mention or adequately explain how her ascent to no. 1 to 2008 had contributed to her struggles at the end of that year and beyond. I implied that she was in a state of denial about that process.

Gavin wanted to me to know that this wasn't true, so he sent along this extract from a recent interview with Ana in Vogue magazine. I quote it in full:

Well, I'm sorry I missed that. I'd like to plead "guilty with an explanation": My subscription to Vogue expired and I didn't even notice it until a friend asked if I'd seen the annual fall  "handbags and accessories" issue.

Seriously, though, thanks Gavin. My bad.

This is the place to talk tennis for the day; I'll be back later with that Agassi post.

-- Pete