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by Craig Thomas What a mistake! Frenchman Arnaud Clement was not the only one who was relieved when he came back from two sets and match point down in his semi-final against his countryman Sebastian Grosjean. Not only was there no biography of Grosjean, the 16th seed, in the official Australian Open program (despite there being 30 of other male players), the only photo of him accompanied the bio of Dominik Hrbarty! Well done Tennis Australia! For many fans, one of the highlights of Andre Agassi's matches at the Tennis Centre seems to be the presence in the crowd of his current girlfriend, and of course former tennis champ, Steffi Graf. During the first couple of matches Andre played last year Steffi had no sooner taken her seat than she was approached by fans seeking her autograph. However by the second week of last year, and for all of this year, Steffi has been protected by up to eleven security guards lining the row either side of her seat and at the top of the stairs where she enters and leaves. And where does she sit? Preferring to be in seated in the shade, Steffi, along with Andre's coach Brad Gilbert and his bodyguard Gil Reyes, take up five seats in the middle of the media section, with Steffi in the middle, a spare seat between her and each of the other two. Such are the perks of being a 22 time Grand Slam singles winner! And given that some local scribes are now referring to the Tennis Centre as Kournikova Park, we could not leave without one final story about Anna. Apparently, a few days back, Patrick Rafter stood at the head of the queue of people waiting for a courtesy car, which are provided to pick up the players and convey them to and from their hotel. As the car pulled up, however, Anna appeared from nowhere and slipped past Rafter and into the back seat. But before the blonde star could be whisked away a somewhat annoyed Rafter opened the door and politely pointed her in the direction of the end of the queue. And to the amusement of those who witnessing the incident, an embarrassed Anna had no choice but to comply! |