On The Line User Feedback Page                                     OnTheLine reserves the right to edit feedback content for clarity and length. We created a separate page for all the Sampras feedbacks.  2000-07-24  Chris Chuang  Favourite  male player  female player  male ever  female ever    Agassi  Graf  Agassi  Graf Dear Ed Z., "I do not know how one goes about educating the public about sports bras but my initial reaction to the bra line slogan, "Only the balls bounce," was a snicker." Perhaps you should try researching the facts before snickering at something. Because then you'd have found out on your own that you're snickering at your own lack of knowledge. You have the slogan wrong. It is NOT "Only the balls bounce." Rather, it is "Only the BALL SHOULD BOUNCE." By the way, there's nothing funny about safety in sports, be it for men or women. Your stupid remark only serves to highlight your total ignorance on the subject. Maybe the day you get hit in the nuts with a ball will be the day you finally realize that it's not something to laugh at.  2000-03-06  LT  Favourite  male player  female player  male ever  female ever           Re-WTA Player of the year nominees. I remember almost falling off my chair seeing the nominees. i do not think anyone would ever dispute Lindsay's place among the nominees. But the omission of Hingis was a real shocker or was it? If that's how the nominees came about, that performance and results have no basis but instead winning which tournament or Grand Slam, or who was the winner that mattered more, I would suggest that WTA change the name of the award. At least the Oscars do not embarrass themselves by naming the awards the Actor / Actress of the Year and then give it to someone else. And to think that both Oscars and Grammys at least have the deserving nominees. Reading Hingis's results from Ed's column made me even more surprise that Hingis was not even nominated. If her omission was based on her bratty behavior during the first half of the year, surely all those criticism from all corners of the press and tennis world plus the public deriding that she received after the French Open should be sufficient to 'punish' a still 18 year old then. And then her subsequent return to the tour in the 2nd half of the year entering 7 finals out of the 8 events she played in would have counted for something. Since it was the media who voted, does this go to show how unprofessional and biased they can get? Does this also mean that ITF's choice of Hingis as their 1999 Women's Singles and Doubles player of the year was a wrong one or is it the one that truthfully awards such titles based on performance and results? Who's got tomato on its face? WTA, ITF or those so called media who casted their not so partial votes??  1999-08-12  Christina Richard  Favourite  male player  female player  male ever  female ever    Gustavo Kuerten  Martina Hingis  Bjorn Borg  Monica Seles (young) Thank you so much for the articles from Ed Toombs and Christopher Gerbey. They were witty and informative. Reading them gave me the feeling of the tournament experience. I enjoyed the description of the devoted doubles fan, the rain delay and the demeanor of the players. This is the sort of thing one never finds in the mainstream newspapers or sports magazines. Thank you so much!!! I found this site through an E-mail from the folks that run the Natasha Zvereva website, and I'm glad I did!  1999-06-24  Gail Atkins  Favourite  male player  female player  male ever  female ever    Stephen Edberg  steffi graf  Kenny Rosewall  steffi graf I was surprised at the tone of Chris" editorial. It spoke volumes about the kind of person he is. He obviously has a thought disorder problem in speaking on Steffi Graf. How true or untrue his alligations may be did not seem the issue to me. The! issue lay in his inability to let go of the 'bone' like a dog. Where was his sense of discretion? His sense of good faith. To give a person every chance to be proven innocent is part of our life's work as human beings. Yes, we live in an imperfect wo d and likely always will. But let's stay on the path to better judgement in all matters. Steffi is back. In the '99 French Open she just happened to be the first woman in history to have beaten the number 1,2,&3, seeds in a Grand Slam event. That she n the tournament so graciously bodes well for her character. Only her 22 Grand Slam!  1999-06-06  Bob Payne  Favourite  male player  female player  male ever  female ever    Agassi  Graff  Laver  Everett The original 200G was an interesting frame. I was amazed at the tension range of this racquet. some of my customers used the Wilson 6.1. Others the Volkl Comp. series. I would like to see a test comparison between the new 200G and Slazenger's Pro Braided frame. This is a frame! Bob Payne Olean, New york  1999-03-23  ron  Favourite  male player  female player  male ever  female ever    Pete Sampras  Steffi Graf  Jimmy Connors  Chris Evert I am a hardcore tennis fan and I too bemoan the lack of decent TV coverage. Of course the real reason that tennis on television gets such lousy coverage is that nobody watches it!!! It is very rare for me to talk to a sports fan that has any intererest in tennis at all. Most of the guys I play with don't even watch tennis. The bottom line is that the USTA, ATP, WTA, and ITF lost their chance to make tennis big when it was a popular fad in the United States. I could argue that what Sampras has done is far more impressive than what Michael Jordan accomplished. Nobody will agree with me only because basketball marketed their sport while tennis organizations bickered with each other. It will be very tough to convince an entire generation of U.S. kids that tennis is worthwhile to watch. I expect television to cover much less tennis in the future because, simply put, there is no market for it.  1999-02-21  elizabeth glass  Favourite  male player  female player  male ever  female ever    patrick rafter  martina hingis  stefan edberg  martina navratilova your article on Sampras is right on. I have seen him many times in person at the Lipton and have always been disappointed in his performance. He has never given his all in the early rounds which I assume he thinks he will win easily and conse! quently I have seen him lose or nearly lose to far less talented players. His matches have often been soooo boring because of this. I have never understood why some writers call him a gentleman. He is lazy, spoiled, childish and haughty.....  1999-02-21  elizabeth glass  Favourite  male player  female player  male ever  female ever    patrick rafter  martina hingis  stefan edberg  martina navratilova i agree with you about the horrendous espn Australian Open coverage.......but how can we do something about it??????there must be a way.....don't we tennis fans have any consumer clout?  1999-02-11  Antti Maunula  Favourite  male player  female player  male ever  female ever    Tim Henman  Steffi Graf  John Mc Enroe  Martina Navratilova Hi Megan, very interesting to read your diary and find about all things concerning WTA-tennis. Hope you go ahead up in stats and get more and more good wins. Quite extraordinary to share your experiencies with us tennis fans, lots of thanks from you about that. Here in Finland we don't have any good players, guess the best one ist Ville Liukko around 170 in ATP, that's not much, and among women we have nobody to look forward to getting among 100 in WTA. Pity. Nonetheless I am great tennis fan myself and watch a lot of good tennis from Tv. All the best for 1999 and may your ranking get higher during the year, hopes one fan from up north!  1999-02-07  LT  Favourite  male player  female player  male ever  female ever    jonas bjorkman  steffi graf  stefan edberg  steffi graf With regards to your article on ESPN coverage, it must have been downright irritating and frustrating to have such insensitive and senseless programming. Coming from Asia whereby tennis is not exactly the No. 1 sport (soccer is everything), nevertheless, there are huge followings of the game in many countries. Naturally for a game to grow, media coverage is very important. Obviously that does not apply to the programmers of ESPN. While people in America still get at the very least some coverage, ESPN Asia has never ever covered the Australian Open. They do not include Asia in their broadcast. There aren't even daily highlights for us to see. All we get are 2 minute updates on Sportcenter International daily. Even that happens only if there is a space or broadcast for the day. What we get instead are hours and hours and hours of college basketball coverage. I have nothing against basketball but to show 4 'Live' matches in a day followed by a repeat of all 4 matches on the same day is really trying one's patience. I really would like to ask ESPN one day if they have anything against women's tennis. There is NO coverage of the women's game at all except for the occasional Fed Cup matches and that only if USA is playing in the later rounds. So believe me when I say that I know what suffering tennis fans go through when coverage sucks. Then again, I doubt many go through what we in Asia have to sit through each year. With regards....LT  1999-02-04  David Dees  Favourite  male player  female player  male ever  female ever           Ken, Amen, brother, on Sampras article. My wife and I have hated his presence for years. Before, Lendel was the bore of the game. But Sampras brings horrors to the game. You could have added his advantages in point system and crooked rankings by grand slam planners to his list. We will never watch him live or taped and cheer for him to lose whenever. Even boring Tod Martin is more of a winning personality. Get rid of Sampras, change the scoring and tennis will again take off. Waiting for Pete to disappear. Keep up your articles, David P.S. Please send your article to his web page.  1999-02-04  Lester Reeves  Favourite  male player  female player  male ever  female ever    Pete Sampras or Carlos Moya  Martina Hingis  John McEnroe  Gabriela Sabatini I think many of the points brought forth in this article are correct. The argument that was begun took a back seat to all that frustrated angst, however. What is to become of Pete Sampras? He has now skipped a major...the only tournaments that h! e truly cares about. When is his scheduled reappearance on the tour? Many tennis fans believe that this is the beginning of the end for the 27 year old. Will he come back at all and, if he does, what are the chances he will have the same desire or hung to win another major  1999-02-01  Sophie  Favourite  male player  female player  male ever  female ever    Marcelo Rios  Martina Hingis     Alors...je crois que c'est à mon tour de défendre Pete et Steffi.......Non!! (Jamais je n'aurai une idée pareille voyons!) Juste faire un petit coucou à Mr Ed Toombs pour lui remercier de m'avoir invité au contest et donné l'occasion de gagner le classement général. En plus, c'est un réel plaisir de lire ses updates, toujours agrémentés d'une touche d'humour personnelle et d'anecdotes judicieuces. Mais je me dis tout de même que, pour une fois que j'ai de la chance dans un jeu de concours, vous auriez pu prévoir un prix un peu plus...matériel, plus concret quoi! (...oh je ne sais pas moi...un voyage à Santiago avec Marcelo comme guide par exemple..) Enfin bon , je me contenterai de l'honneur. Bonne continuation! Salut. PS: j'ai renoncé à essayer de l'écrire en anglais. Désolée, cela me coûte trop d'énergie! Mais le français est sûrement un peu plus intelligible que le Chinois phonétique... Sophie, merci de vos gentils mots, et félicitations pour votre impressionante victoire. Ed  1999-01-26  Katy Farrar  Favourite  male player  female player  male ever  female ever    Pete Sampras  Steffi Graf  Boris Becker  Steffi Graf My Goodness! It is quite obvious that there is quite a vendetta regarding Ms. Graf. Stop for a minute and think about the fact that Steffi Graf is by far, statistically the greatest female tennis player that has ever entered the women's tour. You are comparing her to lightweights. Making excuses as if you are the rule maker. Saying that Monica Seles is different because she was taken down for being #1. Steffi had no part of this and does not deserve another moments lost sleep. Who are you, the person who decides which person is fit to be on top. My goodness this is worse than the crappy politics going on in Washington. Check the comments of tennis greats and you will find that all of them agree that Steffi Graf has performed in a classy manner considering all of the unfortunate health problems she has suffered. Using phrases like "just a bum knee" and whatever else you used is tacky and classless. Why don't you focus on the good things that Steffi has contributed in tennis instead of jealousy. Oh, Katy, you're not keeping up with developments! Our current vendetta is supposed to be against Pete Sampras. You call players lightweights. That's not on. That's namecalling. What was that you said about class? You ask who we are to decide who is fit to be on top. Er, who is the WTA to decide which player is supposedly fit to be on top and therefore gets to have a protected ranking 20 or 30 places higher than the normal rules state? The thing that I find remarkable, and quite impressive, is that Steffi Graf basically waited till the special ranking ran out, and then made her great run at the end of 1998. No special ranking needed! Is that not the ultimate proof that the WTA should have just stuck with the rules? Peter  1999-01-20  Sarah Rodcay  Favourite  male player  female player  male ever  female ever           Meghann, What's up! Long time no talk. I have to hear about everything you are doing from your mom! I am so excited that I can get online and see what you are up to! I can't believe how far you come! I am so proud of you! Good luck in your next tournament!! I'll be watching for you Love, Sarah Rodcay  1999-01-20  Ed T.  Favourite  male player  female player  male ever  female ever    Mauricio Hadad  Wynne Prakusya  Baron Gottfried von Cramm  Evonne Goolagong Meghann, I was so sorry to see the result of your first round match. I know you will regroup and that better things lie ahead for you. Thank you for sharing your experiences with us, it's been fascinating and I'm sure you have lots of new fans following your career. Best wishes. Second that! Peter  1999-01-19  BagTag  Favourite  male player  female player  male ever  female ever    Todd Martin  Monica Seles     Hi Meghann Thanks for sharing with all of us. I have enjoyed reading your diary. Good Luck in your 1st round match. Maybe you will meet up with Steffi in the 2cd round and we may actually get to watch some of your match.  1999-01-16  Chris  Favourite  male player  female player  male ever  female ever    Henman  Zvereva  Ashe  Zvereva Thank you so much for the time you are spending!! It is great to see you work so hard for a goal and strive for the best. I hope you do well at OZ!! Good Luck...and keep up the good work!  1999-01-16  tom rice  Favourite  male player  female player  male ever  female ever    agassi  marina hingis  bobby riggs  chris evert for the first time i have a feel for the work and devotion that pros have for the game. and, the importance of the mental game. riggs was a master of the mental game.  1999:01:14  François Donny  Favourite  male player  female player  male ever  female ever    Korda  Seles  Becker  Seles Hi Meghann, it is still very interesting to read your diary, to have a different kind of information about how tennis players live... Best regards for the upcoming tournaments Dear Francois, I'm glad you're enjoying my diary. Thanks for your support. Meghann  1999:01:13  jeff  Favourite  male player  female player  male ever  female ever    Jimmy Connors  Chris Evert  Jimmy Connors  Chris Evert Thanks to Meghann Shaughnessy for sharing her wonderful diary with us. It makes me appreciate how tough a life these young women lead. My only hope is despite all the trials, losses and wins, Meghann will have the time to enjoy herself and take t! he time to smell the roses so to speak. I wish her all the best in her upcoming tournaments, and hopefully I'll get to see her play one of these days. Jeff Dear Jeff, Thanks a lot for your feedback. You are right, the most important thing is to enjoy yourself. Sometimes I lose perspective of things but the older and more experienced I become the more I'm starting to enjoy every day. Thank you, Meghann  1999:01:11  Paul  Favourite  male player  female player  male ever  female ever    Pat Rafter    Pat Rafter   Meg, please do not be so hard on yourself! I've seen many top players unable to convert on game points, getting percentages in the single figure range. Those things happen. Also, Panova did go on a little run, making it through to the main field, so it's not like you lost to some useless player. As for wanting to get away from it all, not being around tennis for a while, there's nothing wrong with that. You do want to pick up that cheque, though :-) Dear Paul, Thank you very much for your positive feedback. I really appreciate your kindness in taking the time to cheer me up. I hope you continue to follow my diary!! Sincerely, Meghann  1999:01:08  Michelle  Favourite  male player  female player  male ever  female ever    Jan-Michael Gambill  NZ  ?  NZ I think it's really cool that you are sharing your experiences on and off the tennis court with us. Thanks for taking the time to do this for us, the fans, and choosing On The Line magazine as your "publishers." Good luck and best wishes for a great! 1999 year. :-)  1999:01:07  Chris  Favourite  male player  female player  male ever  female ever    Tim Henman  Natasha Zvereva  Arthur Ashe  Natasha Zvereva Sorry to hear about your loss Meghann. I was pulling for you back here in the States. Silvia is a very tough competitor, and she was trying to redo her excellent results that she had there last year. I wish you the best of luck in the future and at! AO!!! GO USA!!!!  1999:01:07  Joe  Favourite  male player  female player  male ever  female ever    Pat Rafter  Jana Novotna  Bjorn Borg   To Meghann Shuaghnessy: Just wanted to say I think your diary entries are very well written. I'm a writer by profession and could never keep a daily journal. Good luck in Sidney! Dear Joe, Thank you for your support. I can't play in the mixed doubles because I don't have a ranking yet. You need to have played in three tournaments and I only have two. One of my goals this year is to get a decent doubles ranking. It will always be on the back burner for me but I think it can help improve my singles game. I probably will be going to Toronto this year! Thanks again, Meghann  1999:01:07  Mom  Favourite  male player  female player  male ever  female ever      Meghann Shaughnessy     Meghann, I love reading your diary. The details about your daily activities make it very interesting. It sounds like this first tournament is very comfortable for you and that you are able to find some beautiful spots to "escape" to, to gain composure. I think you constantly and thank you for the diary because it answers so many questions! I love you! MOM  1999:01:07  Bill shaughnessy  Favourite  male player  female player  male ever  female ever    Chang  Graf  Conners  Evert Meghann, what a great way to follow your progress when your so far away. your constantly improving your game. good luck in your next match, it's a huge one for you. who's ever idea this diary was, tell them i am passing this on for many others to ! review and follow. meghann,your the best and this will be your year. Cheers, Dad Thanks, I thought it was a good idea too. Peter Click here to see feedback from 1998. Return to the On The Line home page.