In his latest mailbag, jon_wertheim looks at some of the lingering storylines from Paris and the ATP's recent plan to strengthen its biggest events
While wondering when the Saudis will fix their gaze on tennis.Do you think Wimbledon will adjust the seeding for Serena, as they almost always do do with the men? When they reluctantly seeded Serena after she returned from maternity leave I thought it was an arbitrary placement. Putting a 7x champ behind Sharapova was nuts.• We got a lot of late mail Tuesday when the news broke that Serena —after virtually a one-year absence from playing—is planning on taking a wild card to Wimbledon.
But let’s be realistic: she’s crowding 41….older than Iga PLUS Coco. She is coming off an injury and a long lay-off. The idea of her winning seven consecutive matches is hard to imagine. So the players have gone after more prize money from the four tentpole events. With success. Everything else about Justin Gimelstob aside , he was an effective advocate for the players at the Majors in his role on the ATP player council. In 2012, the U.S. Open prize money was $25.5 million. By 2019 it was $57 million. The Majors did not do this voluntarily. They did it because pressure was brought to bear.