Now That Is Class!

Roger Federer Rejecting Opportunity To Carry The Swiss Flag For The Third Time

As the top seed in the men’s Olympic tennis tournament and the defending gold medalist in doubles,Roger Federer would seem to be a logical choice to carry the flag for Switzerland during tomorrow’s opening ceremonies at the Olympic Games.

But Federer, who had carried the flag during opening ceremonies in 2004 and 2008, thought it was somebody else’s turn.

I never expected it, in the first place, when I started playing tennis that I would ever carry the flag into the Olympic Stadium for an Olympic Games,” Federer said at a packed news conference in London on Thursday. “So for me that was a surprise and a huge honor in my life to be able to represent Switzerland…. I felt like maybe I could enter the history books by doing it a third time.

“It would have been amazing. And there’s no denying that I would have loved to do it. I just felt it was important to give someone else a chance, particularly in Switzerland. We do believe other people should also have chances. That’s why I told Swiss Olympic [officials] I think they should choose someone else.

“They then chose my [doubles] partner Stan Wawrinka, and I think it’s a great, great honor for him. Because I could not have won Olympic gold without him.”

ITA Arlington Summer Tournament Champions

Junior Ore (L) men's singles champion from A&M.

Jackson Withrow (R) men's singles runner-up from A&M.

MEN'S DOUBLES CHAMPIONS

Jackson Withrow (L) and Jordan Szabo (R) from A&M

WOMEN'S SINGLES CHAMPION

Valentina Starkova from University of North Texas.

WOMEN'S DOUBLES CHAMPIONS

Crystal Leung (L) from Columbia University and

Nicole Long (R) from University of Oregon

Congratulations to these fine college students as they are the winners in the ARLINGTON ITA SUMMER CIRCUIT TOURNAMENT held this past weekend. The tennis playing was awesome but even more than that, the sportsmanship and behavior was top shelf.

Anyone Brave Enough To Chair These?

NEW YORK (AP) -- Andre Agassi, John McEnroe, Pete Sampras, Jimmy Connors and other Grand Slam champions will play a series of matches around the country in October and November.

Patrick Rafter, Jim Courier, Michael Chang, Mats Wilander andTodd Martin are also scheduled to compete in the four-player mini-tournaments. Each event will feature one-set semifinals and a one-set title match.

Formerly known as the Champions Series, the PowerShares Series will open Oct. 13 in Surprise, Ariz., and wrap up Nov. 30 in Anaheim, Calif. Other cities visited include Chicago, Detroit, Boston, Philadelphia, New York, Tampa, Fla., Atlanta, San Jose, Calif., Las Vegas and Denver.

The players will earn points over the course of the series, with the top three finishers splitting a $1 million purse.

A School Bus Full of Kids And A Lost And Speeding Driver

Sometimes we encounter humorous events at tennis tournaments so I thought I would share this one with you.

Seems that one of our officials was driving a school bus full of kids and missed seeing a School Zone sign. Of course this was the day that a police officer pulled him over for speeding through a school zone and promptly asked the driver/tennis official if he had seen the school zone sign. The repentant driver said that he had not and would never have sped through a school zone had he seen it.

The officer declined to issue a citation and instead opted for a stern warning...

The highlight of the conversation was when the driver/tennis official said to the officer, "Thanks, I had been looking for that school!"

At least he should get credit for being creative...

(For the moment, the official will remain anonymous due to his embarrassed condition.)

Chair Training Opportunities

One of the questions we are asked most frequently is "How can I get to do ITA matches without experience?" and basically the answer is--you can't. In order to do an ITA chair you will need experience and there are very limited opportunities for that training.

We have two great ITA training opportunities this month with ITA tournaments in both Plano and Arlington. If you would like to come, you will get a lot of roving and chair training and then will have opportunity to work ITA events in the spring.

Listed below is the schedule for this month. If you would like to come, email Randy McDonald at rmtennis@yahoo.com or call him at 214 796 7402.

2012 FALL CHAIR TRAINING SCHEDULE

July 13-15 ITA tournament (Collin College, Plano, Texas)

July 21-23 ITA tournament (UTA, Arlington, Texas)

The King And The Queen

Rather than get into a discussion about Roger's greatness and the women's lack of it, I'll just post this great looking picture.

And What Do You Think Would Have Happened If A White Man Had Said That?

MICHAEL JOHNSON

BBC Commentator

Michael Johnson (world class sprinter) said this week that he believe that slave descendants make superior athletes--and that such a controversial topic shouldn't be avoided but discussed openly. He also went on to say, "Difficult as it was to hear, slavery has benefited descendants like me--I believe there is a superior gene in us."

Well, we do know what happens when a white man says that... In 1988, Jimmy "The Greek" Snyder made a similar comment and was fired as a CBS sports commentator.

Johnson now works as a BBC commentator and only time will tell what happens this time...

So much for diversity.

Mitch Krueger Into Wimbledon Semi-Finals

MITCH KRUEGER

Mitch Krueger of Aledo, Texas, and the son of our very own Myron Krueger, won his quarter-finals match today at Wimbledon. He beat the French Open champion so it was really an impressive win!

Mitch plays the #3 seed in the semis tomorrow morning (5:00 a.m. Texas time).

We'll keep you updated on how he does but CONGRATULATIONS TO MITCH...

Director's Cup Standings

The Division I Learfield Director's Cup sports standings were released this past week with Stanford winning their 18th consecutive title. Standings in the Director's Cup reflect the breadth of success of an institution's athletic department.

Here are this year's standings:

1. Stanford

2. Florida

3. UCLA

4. Ohio State

5. Florida State

6. Texas

7. USC

8. North Carolina

9. Texas A&M

10. Michigan

14. Oklahoma

26. Baylor

42. Oklahoma State

52. TCU

71. Texas Tech

100. SMU