WIMBLEDON, England (AP) | Justin Gimelstob will make a donation to the Women’s Sports Foundation following his derogatory comments about Anna Kournikova.
Gimelstob was reprimanded by the Tennis Channel, where he is a commentator at Wimbledon, shortly after his sexually charged remarks were made on a radio show last week.
Tennis Channel issued a statement and apology on its Web site Wednesday and requested the “substantial” donation to the foundation, which was created by Billie Jean King in 1974.
Gimelstob apologized for the comments about Kournikova and other female players. He remained on the air for Tennis Channel, which noted the remarks were not made on its network.
“We extend our sincere apologies to those who may have been offended by his comments,” the statement said. “There is simply no place in our Tennis Channel family for language that is derogatory or dismissive of women.
“This is especially true with regard to tennis which, perhaps more so than any other sport, stands so integrated and squarely upon the contributions of women, many of whom have broken significant ground for equality and helped to tear down traditional societal barriers between the sexes.”
Gimelstob, who never won a singles title on the ATP Tour, retired last year and is on the ATP board.
He and Kournikova are to play World TeamTennis next month. Gimelstob will play for the new Washington Kastles team and Kournikova for the St. Louis Aces. The teams meet July 23.
In fashion
Venus Williams doesn’t think too much attention being paid to fashion in women’s tennis.
“I think women in general, we like fashion. It’s a huge industry,” the four-time Wimbledon champion said after her 6-1, 7-5 win Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez. “It’s always getting more competitive with the designs and the styles, and right now the trend is to do something different.”
Maria Sharapova, the 2004 champion, fielded no less than 13 questions about her tuxedo-inspired blouse and shorts combination following her first-round win. She was upset in the second round.
That’s no distraction, according to Venus, who has her own range of sports clothing.
“EleVen is my baby. It’s not even a year old,” she said. “We have a funny little shirt - it’s like ’EleVen since ’07,’ so it’s pretty exciting.”
Nothing to see here
Top-ranked doubles pair Bob and Mike Bryan have one cardinal rule: Never look ahead in the draw.
The brothers are so superstitious about not knowing which team they might play later in the tournament that they recoiled when a reporter put the Wimbledon draw on a table in front of them during an interview Saturday.
“Is that the men’s doubles draw?” Mike Bryan asked after the duo won 6-7 (10), 6-4, 6-4, 6-2 in the third round over 13th-seeded Frantisek Cermak of the Czech Republic and Jordan Kerr of Australia.
“Turn it over. Burn it. We don’t look at it.”
They don’t know it, but the Bryans will play the winner of the match between Spaniards Marcel Granollers and Santiago Ventura and Petr Pala of the Czech Republic and Igor Zelenay of Slovakia.
The Bryans have made the last three Wimbledon finals and their 2006 win is among their five Grand Slam titles.
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