[Glaken]

TENNIS-X NEWS, NOTES, QUOTES AND BARBS
Ivan Ljubicic is 5-7 in career finals, but has won four of his five crowns since October 2005, and this week broke into the Top 5 for the first time in his career...Stefan Koubek on facing Ivan Ljubicic again this weekend on his home court in Davis Cup play: "I'm looking forward to play against Ivan on Friday on clay. It's my surface and I want my revenge."...Tommy Haas is 8-9 in career finals but has won his last three. After reaching his career-high ATP Ranking of No. 2 in May 2002, Haas missed the entire 2003 season due to injury...Mark Knowles and Daniel Nestor saved five match points en route to the Delray Beach title for the week ending Sunday...Last week Jose Acasuso was the first player to win both the singles and doubles at an event since Roger Federer (Halle) and Fernando Gonzalez (Basel) in 2005...From the ATP Sunday on Rafael Nadal's exhibition win over Fabrice Santoro: "The world No. 2, who had been sidelined with a foot injury, handily defeated Fabrice Santoro in an exhibition match Saturday." A three-set tank-the-second exo-style win is handily?...Al Costa lost in the first round of the Andrezieux Challenger last week...Guillermo "G-Lo" Garcia-Lopez goes from beating Andre Agassi last week to this week playing the Dallas Challenger where Justin "Time" Gimelstob is the top seed...Amelie Mauresmo has donated the value of a Porsche Cayenne to the Institut Curie in Paris, France, a foundation dedicated to the research and treatment of cancer...With her Tokyo runner-up effort, Martina Hingis rose to No. 48 on the WTA Tour Rankings after only four tournaments since her comeback...TennisReporters.net has learned that the Outdoor Life Network (OLN) has signed a contract with the USTA which gives Comcast's sports network the rights to telecast U.S. Davis Cup home ties...Rennae Stubbs and Sam Stosur speaking to Tennis Week on the ATP doubles virus potentially spreading to the WTA Tour: "Essentially, the ATP turned the men's doubles system into a circus," Stubbs asserts. "It was just a sideshow. They didn't care about it anymore. By changing the scoring system, they were messing around with the integrity of the game. The WTA has certainly learned from what happened with the ATP tour. I don't think they would mess with the history of the game the way the men did and resort to that." Samantha Stosur contends, "The way I see it, tennis is tennis and rules are rules, and the game has been played the same way for so long. So, unless there is some overwhelming reason why there has to be a change in the rules, it should be left alone. What happened with the guys on the ATP tour, with all the changes, was a terrible thing. From what I can gather, the reasons did not seem right to change, and I don't think anything like that will happen on the WTA Tour." Keep hoping...How do you make doubles more popular, get some eyeballs on the foursome game? Duh. Offer incentives to senior tour players (in the case of the men) or senior exo players (such as Martina Navratilova, Anna Kournikova in the case of the women) to pop up at tour events. Notice all the pub John McEnroe is getting for playing San Jose next week? Know how much pub Marseille would get if, say Stefan Edberg or Pat Cash showed up to play doubles? Sure it's not a solve-all solution, but it would take little effort and generate a lot of publicity. That's a slam dunk...Lots of Tim Henman retirement talk after the back injuries that just won't go away...From the Sydney Morning Herald: "Lleyton Hewitt was offered the chance to go to Geneva with the Australian Davis Cup squad and take until the last minute to make himself available for the tie against Switzerland. Tennis Australia officials even booked a seat on the flight for him, but he knocked them back and now his stoush with the governing body is set to take another explosive twist. Organisers of the ATP tournament in San Jose, which starts just 24 hours after the Davis Cup tie, claim they have received confirmation via email that Hewitt will be taking part. Competing in California after withdrawing from cup duties -- citing an ankle injury -- will be an extremely provocative move from Hewitt and prove his stoush with Tennis Australia has reached its most serious level." Yeah, you getting it yet? Little Lleyton is sending you a message. That Aussie media, pretty sharp...Jose Acasuso will replace the injured Gaston Gaudio in Argentina's Davis Cup encounter with Sweden...Why did Jelena Dokic pull from the WTA stop in Pattaya after announcing her intentions in Melbourne?...Justine Henin-Hardenne is targeting Feb. 20 at Dubai for her comeback from the disastrous Australian Open retirement: "It was really tough to have finished like that. I have tendonitis in a shoulder and have never had such stomach pain as that. But if I hadn't taken the anti-inflammatories I would never have made it so far in the tournament. I am still not 100 percent, but I should get back to full fitness quite rapidly."