Daily Bagel: Bryan bros offer players side of season length dispute
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The Daily Bagel is your dose of the interesting reporting, writing and quipping from around the Internet.
• Novak Djokovic has a little too much time on his hands in Melbourne, don't you think?
• In this piece in The Age, Mike and Bob Bryan try to explain why the players are organizing and trying to make some changes to the Tour. It's a balanced explanation, but I'm not entirely sure talking about Mike's big house and pool is really going to generate sympathy among the public. "By the end of the year, everyone's exhausted," they explain. "We've been on Tour now for 13 years, and we've had three-week off-seasons for that whole time. Mike has a big house, a pool and a volleyball court that he doesn't get to use - he just gets the bills, so he doesn't think he's getting much bang for his buck there." You had me until me until that last bit guys.
• The Desert Sun got an exclusive with Billie Jean King, who says that while she disagrees with Margaret Court's views on homosexuality and gay marriage, she thinks the calls to rename Margaret Court Arena have gone too far. “No, no, no, get rid of her for that? Because you don’t agree with her? Are you kidding? Just because you don’t agree with someone? Please. She deserves it. She’s a great player.”
• An update on the WTA's efforts to curb grunting. Leave it to the always dramatic Jelena Jankovic, to put it this way: "After the match, you go home and you sleep and you still hear that grunting in your mind." Then again, Jankovic did train on Bollitieri's Academy. She probably really did hear the grunting when she slept.
• A great long piece on Lisa Raymond. "She's like the .290 hitter who plays 20 seasons," says Jon Wertheim, who was quoted in the article. "She's the Chase Utley in a world of Manny Ramirezes."
• Serena Williams' Australian Open kit is a tribute to Black History Month.
