The WTA

Unions. Take it from someone built out of strike food (hamburger, macaroni, and jell-o everywhichway you can fix them) during her growing years while the United Auto Workers' struggled with "The Big Three" for survival:

Unions -- can't live without them and can't live with them. Solidarity is sacred, but never forget that unions serve themselves first and their members second. And, if you think they can be powerful on management, just see how powerful they can be on members.

The WTA apparantly has its members in line. Kim Clijsters on the WTA coaching rule:

I don't know if I'm allowed to say this but it's a rule I'm absolutely against. Part of being a tennis player is being able to solve things yourself.

Thank you, Kim. Yes, you are allowed to say that. In fact, as far as I know, you can still say that even in the EU, where freedom of speech is disappearing under "directives" from unelected bureaucrats in a super-national bureaucracy.

So THAT'S why the other players' statements are obviously canned. They read like they came out of a WTA press release.

Yes, it's appropriate for unions to mainatain unity by keeping members from undercutting each other so that they can be exploited with divide-and-conquer tactics by management. But it is inappropriate for unions to dictate what comes out of members' mouths or goes into their heads.

Players, it's your union. Control it, or it will control you.