Goran’s Faults Show Up After Wimbledon Win

I was disappointed to learn of Wimbledon winner Goran Ivanisevic’s derogatory comments regarding women and gays [“Winning Ugly,” July 11].

I also cried with him as he won the championship. But now I don’t see him as a champion. He’s just a loser who won a tennis match.

Jim Phillips

Pasadena

*

Some of those 200,000 people in Split, Croatia, on Tuesday were probably minority Serbs. They were lucky Ivanisevic didn’t do what he wished for in a 1993 New York Times interview: “They showed me how to shoot, just for fun. They let me shoot a machine gun. It was tough to control, but, oh, it was a nice feeling--all the bullets coming out. I was thinking it would be nice to have some Serbs in front of me.”

Tennis champions should not be allowed to behave like soccer hooligans.

Bob Petrovich

Toronto

*

Diane Pucin’s concerns and overzealous commentary regarding statements made by Goran Ivanisevic after his Wimbledon victory demonstrate everything wrong with today’s journalism.

You don’t have to be a fan of Ivanisevic, tennis, or sports for that matter, to realize that journalism today is fast becoming synonymous with sensationalism.

Do I agree with the derogatory comments made by Ivanisevic? Of course not. But I’m also wise enough to know that his comments were a feeble attempt at humor, a misguided way to add color to the story. In other words, they were harmless. And that, Diane, is the reason no one chose to report it.

Anyone who has ever been in a sports locker room--or alone and angry on a busy freeway--knows that unsuitable, yet harmless, things get said. Sometimes for a laugh, sometimes out of frustration, sometimes just to elicit a reaction. But, almost always, the statements are harmless and do not accurately reflect the person making them. Everyone seems to understand this, except the media. Why? Because it kills the story.

Steve Kaye

Mission Viejo

*

Goran Ivanisevic, on his way to the Wimbledon championship, defeated British hopes Greg Rusedski and Tim Henman. I presume the All England Club member who recommended giving Goran the wild-card entry has been drummed out.

Gary A. Robb

Los Angeles

*

Now that Venus Williams has won her second consecutive Wimbledon title, I guess her father will decide to let Serena win next year.

Jack Wolf

Westwood