November 07, 2007

Shades of Litvinenko! : When Tommy Haas fell ill and had to concede his Davis Cup semifinal match to Mikhail Youzhny, he (and everyone else, including the team doctor) assumed it was a simple case of a stomach virus. Now, thanks to a remark from a Russian trainer to a member of the German team, Haas's illness is being investigated as a possible poisoning.

posted by lil_brown_bat to tennis at 04:27 PM - 7 comments

That's a fascinating turn of events. I wish they had said why they think he was poisoned. Did some test reveal poisoning? Did someone say something to open this investigation? I wonder . . . Tennis has been infiltrated by the mob. How else to explain the gambling and poisoning and such.

posted by bperk at 04:47 PM on November 07, 2007

I was the only one ever to order dessert or a Latte macchiato after dinner Serves him right, the glutton. Kidding aside, I agree with bperk that tennis may be in the early stages of what could be a major credibility crisis if there are multiple incidents of off-the-court shenanigans and illegalities aimed at affecting results on the court. For the time being, I'm willing to suspend judgment until something more substantive than the cryptic word of some trainer comes out as evidence that this truly was a poisoning.

posted by holden at 04:55 PM on November 07, 2007

If he was poisoned by the Russians, expect glowing reports in his future.

posted by yerfatma at 06:12 PM on November 07, 2007

Zinged by yerfatma!

posted by aerotive at 09:00 PM on November 07, 2007

"It was the salmon mousse." ".... Wait a minute. I didn't have the salmon mousse."

posted by WeedyMcSmokey at 11:02 PM on November 07, 2007

"You are all dead. I am death." "Well, that's cast rather a pall over the evening, hasn't it?"

posted by tommybiden at 11:37 PM on November 07, 2007

If the investigators find he's been sickened by curare-dipped grip tape, we'll know it was disgruntled ball boy Heath Thekthy, an erstwhile agent of the Petrograd Borgias.

posted by Hugh Janus at 01:54 AM on November 08, 2007

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