What an embarrassment:
AUSSIE tennis bad boy Brydan Klein will undergo a racial sensitivity course after accepting a six-month ban from the ATP for a racial slur.
Klein, a former junior Australian Open champion, was slapped with the hefty suspension and fined $US10,000 for calling South African Raven Klaasen a “f—ing kaffir” during a qualifying match in England on June 13.
The 19-year-old West Australian has been suspended from the ATP World Tour and Challenger events for six months, although two months of that will be served in probation should he successfully complete the racial sensitivity course.
…
“I sincerely regret my error in judgment in using the language I did and I am deeply sorry for the offence caused,” Klein said in a statement.
“I am accepting of the ATP’s ruling and am now looking to put the whole incident behind me.
“I will undergo a racial sensitivity course and am determined to learn from this mistake.
“I plan to do everything I can to grow as a person and later as a tennis player by improving myself both off and on the court over the next four months.
“My aim is now to return to tournament play at the end of 2009 and focus on a strong Australian summer on the court.”
Source: Herald Sun
And when will the Tennis Gods smile on Jelena Dokic? Hasn’t the poor girl had her share of bad luck (and bad parents)? Crush her spirits why don’t you?
A mystery ailment that has plagued Jelena Dokic since the end of the French Open has been diagnosed as mononucleosis.
The Australian had blood tests after her Wimbledon loss and the results came back earlier this week. Doctors have told her to do nothing but rest for at least a fortnight.
“I am disappointed to have to pull out of a couple of events but I am also relieved to finally know what was wrong,” Dokic said today.
“It has been so frustrating since the French. My natural work ethic is to get on court and train hard with intensity. I just haven’t been able to do that, and until now, I didn’t know why.
“This only makes me more determined to get everything right and work even harder as soon as I can get back on court, which will hopefully be in time for a good solid hard court lead up to the US Open,” she said.
Source: Tennis Australia
Mono strikes again! Fed, Ancic, Rendy Lu and now Dokic?
Peeps, when Mario hands you a bottle of water, best to decline politely.
Filed under: ATP, WTA | Tagged: Brydan Klein, Jelena Dokic
and Isner.
Isner had mono too? Didn’t know that!
god i hate klein he thinks he’s tops and yer we suck…haha
We have no one. Tomic may turn out to be the biggest flop, Klein already has.
What is it about mononucleosis and tennis players? Poor Jelena!
But in saying that, Stosur is doing pretty well and lleyton did well at wimbledon..
True. Unfortunately we don’t have a lot of good youngsters that we can look at and go “she/he’s going to be in the top 20 one day”. Lleyton’s not getting any younger.
I hadn’t even heard of Klein before this – but I’m guessing big things were expected of him after that Aussie Open win.
I’m generally not that impressed with a lot of the behaviour from many juniors. There seems to be too many of them that don’t appear to be committed enough, and are just chasing the dream lifestyle.
Sign of the times.
Not saying that’s the case with Klein, as I said I don’t know much about him. He’s still pretty young and can hopefully put this behind him like he said he would. Hopefully he’ll benefit from the racial sensitivity course too – I’d be interested to know how they go about their reeducating.
Like with a lot of the British players during the grass season, Klein gets a wildcard into all the tournaments during the Australian Open series by virtue of his AO juniors win. I’ve seen him play – huge serve, no defense. I think all players could benefit from a little racial sensitivity course. Not to say that players are racists, but since they travel the world so much, sometimes it’s nice to remind everyone to be culturally sensitive as they do represent the sport.