Open Court

SHOW #19

The New Musketeers

Our September show will lead with a review of the final Grand Slam of the year, the US Open. Pat Cash hosts the show from New York, the home of the Open.

In the 1920s and 30s, four French players, Jean Borotra, Rene Lacoste, Henri Cochet and Jacques Brugnon, dominated the game of tennis. Collectively there were known as "The Four Musketeers." Fast forward 80 years and the French are heralding "The New Musketeers": Gael Monfils, Jo-Wilfred Tsonga, Gilles Simon and Richard Gasquet, four young Frenchman who grew up playing each other as juniors and are now all ranked inside the world top 20 players. We speak to the new musketeers and ask whether they have the potential to match the exploits of their illustrious counterparts of yesteryear.

Stacey Allaster is the CEO of the WTA Tour and arguably the highest-profile female CEO of any global sporting organization. She has introduced a tremendous amount of positive change in her first two years in charge, delivering a number of global sponsorship deals and making significant strides in the developing markets of China and India. And yet it is an organization under attack: critics deride it for a lack of depth and star quality; the Williams sisters' absence has really hurt the tour; Kim Clijsters impending retirement will see another major name disappear; a succession of no-name World number ones who have yet to win a grand slam has made the Tour an easy target. This month, Open Court was given unique behind-the-scenes access for 48 hours at the Rogers Cup in Toronto to follow Stacey. We ask the tough questions and find out just what the future is for women's tennis and the WTA Tour.

We find out how some of the top players prepared for the Open by visiting the home of one of the wealthiest men in Wall Street who also happens to be a tennis geek. Coach Gordon Uelling III has invested in two cutting edge tennis machines. One is an egg shaped multi-million dollar "spinner" that takes you to 35,000 feet and back multiple times in under forty-five minute in an attempt to remove lactic acid from the body. The other is a theatre kitted out with cerebral and optical training that Mike Bryan and others use. Every year, Uelling invites the top players to his home - Novak Djokovic, Caroline Wozniacki and the Bryans visited last year - to test out his equipment and prepare themselves for the slam.