Actual Miles Flown Since 1/1/00
It's a little late, but just wanted to let you know how things ended up
in Wimbledon. Paul and I went down in the second round to Haarhuis-Stolle
6-2, 6-2, 6-4. It was almost laughable at how well they were playing during
parts of the match. We actually started well by holding serve and having
chances to do some damage on Stolle's serve, but then they turned it on and
we were scrapping from there on in.
I came back later that same day and played Stolle-McNeil in the mixed
doubles with Erika DeLone and Stolle got me again 6-3, 6-4. We started
slowly, but got going in the second and were even up 2-0 at one stage. Rest
assured that Sandon Stolle is officially off my Christmas Card list and I've
informed him as such.
I also wanted to give you a little more info on the player council
position that I now hold. I was elected as an "At-Large" representative
which means that anyone can vote for you that is an ATP member. There are
four At-Large reps and Jared Palmer is the only other American. I did not
seek the position and didn't even know I was on the nomination list until it
was too late, but I have wanted to serve at some point as I think it's
important and it's a good experience. One reason I was reluctant to run in
the past (although I have run twice before and was defeated) was that I
served on the UW Athletic Board and I know how frustrating it is when the
people you represent don't have a lot of political power and basically are
just fighting for the scraps. Being a doubles only player on the tour and
representing the lower ranked doubles guys is about as scrappy as you can get.
I was elected on Saturday night; had my first meeting on Sunday morning;
received the Tournament Director's proposal to body slam the doubles on
Monday; and had a meeting with some of the Player Board members (they're the
player council's reps at highest level of our political structure and have
counterparts from the tournament director's side) on Tuesday. Basically, the
tournament directors want to get rid of guys that just play doubles as they
don't add anything to their bottom line and let the singles players play
doubles. There are some very powerful TDs backing this proposal and although
I doubt they thought that they'd get everything that they want, they do want
blood and it's going to be a battle in the coming months. So, if I sound a
little tired or short in my upcoming pieces, you have an idea of what's going
on. I've been spending a lot of time talking to as many people as I can to
get a plan of action and to try and figure out just how strong the sentiment
is against the doubles guys. It will be a big learning experience for me and
may just quell any political ambitions that I may have had; maybe that's a
good thing.
Otherwise, all is well and I'm now in Sweden at my favorite tournament of
the year. Not too many things can get me down as long as I'm on the beach in
Sweden.
~Jack
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