andrewbroad <no_reply@y...> wrote:
> but what made the stabbing of Monica particularly /tragic/ was the
> vast number of people that it affected (myself included), and the
> way it changed the course of tennis-history as Parche intended.

When I logged on to the internet this morning in the hotel in
Holland, I saw that one of the guests was reading a newspaper
that had a big picture of Ann Frank. Even though Ann was known
to very few when she was murdered by the Germans, she too
touched the lives of millions.

I think it was particularly tragic that Ann died only about a
month or so before the war ended. I do not think Monica's
stabbing was quite as tragic as Ann Frank's death. (And if
Anne Frank had lived, none of us would evever had heard of her;
indeed she might have been one of the elderly Dutch women
watching patriotic TV programmes in the hotel last night.)

> Parche only spent one night in prison (by his own choice), and
> received a two-year suspended sentence

There can be no justice without the death penalty for
such people.

> - the same that the German law would give Boris Becker for
> tax-evasion a few years later.

He should have had 5-10 years hard labour in prison. However
he comes from a country that taxes people too heavily, and
as a consequence tax evasion is endemic there. One German
count [Graf] I used to know used the 'black' money from
the family business to support his hobby of travelling
round the world shooting. ['Black' money was how he
described money that was not declared as income.]

> check, and saw players as famous as Daniela Hantuchová and Jelena
> Dokic wandering freely around the grounds with no security-guards

o.m.g. does that mean that you too were wandering about without
a security guard to protect you from being stabbed?

Should everybody be accompanied by security guards?

> At Eastbourne 2003, I was pleased that they at least made me open
> my bag at the gates................ I'd be willing to be strip-
> searched for the sake of players' security, but they could at least
> have everyone walk through a metal detector, and allow only bags
> that are completely transparent.

Rubbish. You would not.

As for transparent bags, well they would not be very convenient
for people who take their laptops.

> And there was that incident at this February's Paris tournament,
> when a French fan managed to sneak into Serena Williams's press-
> conference, without security-clearance, and asked for a kiss!

I think the best way of handling that would have been for her
to have given him a kiss.

> The WTA really do need to be more vigilant about checking
> passes

That would be unpopular. Players do favours and give people
passes and guest tickets. This is necessary. People on the
way up need favours and they need people to do them small
acts of kindness. Guest passes are a way of saying thank you.

Also a player's pass entitles the wearer to meals at the
players' restaurant at tournaments like Wimbledon. When a
player goes home (or to their next tournament), they sometimes
pass on their pass to someone else. It is rather funny
sometimes when you see a player pass being worn by an 8 year
old girl or a heavily pregnant 30 year old, who is clearly
not the player in question.

> I am particularly concerned about the security of Maria Sharapova,
> whose imminent ascension to the number one ranking is going to have
> a gargantuan effect on the profile of tennis itself. Maria walked
> right past me on a narrow path at Birmingham 2004, without any
> security

o.m.g Andrew, what if she had stabbed you!!!!!!!! There was
no-one to protect you from her.

> It would indeed be a fantastic security-precaution just to play in
> an empty hall at a secret venue

Well that already happens. Try going to most of the tournaments
organised by the LTA.

And never mind the electricity from crowds - talk to the
aspiring players about what they want. The answer is fame
and money - lots and lots and lots of money. That money
happens because ordinary people pay. Your pointless security
precautions would ensure that that money dried up within a few
years.

And would it work? Of course not. It would be just like
that idiot John Major's law on guns - which has massively
INCREASED gun crime in Britain. The last tennis player to be
murdered was killed by another player's dad.

And let us not imagine that it is just dads who behave badly.
I was there when the immensely well paid coach of one player
publicly accused Maria Sharapova of cheating during a match.