Tennis-X: News, Notes, Quotes and Barbs

Tim Henman's No. 4 ranking after the US Open ties his career-high...Mardy Fish says he is looking forward to entertaining the hurricane victims in Delray Beach this week, close to his old home in Vero Beach: "It's nice to play for people who don't have anything to look forward to down there," Fish told the Palm Beach Post. "It's nice to come down there and allow us to put ourselves out there. So people can come out and watch and hopefully take their minds off it."...Roger Federer was at the Hard Rock Cafe in New York for a photo op with his US Open hardware on Monday: "I don't want to be cocky, but I do feel that I play beautiful tennis, when my movement and my technique come together I feel totally in balance on court." Easy Roger...Among SI.com's Jon Wertheim's "50 US Open Musings" this week was "Bad news: Four months until the next major shindig." Really? We count roughly two months until the Masters Cup, that little event featuring the Top 8 players in the world. True it doesn't feature players outside the Top 20 like a lot of slam semifinals, but we find it entertaining...Total viewership of the 2004 US Open on USA Network was up 19 percent vs. 2003, and prime-time viewership on USA Network was up 20 percent over 2003, tennis finally on the upswing in the U.S.? Listen for the USTA and the US Open Series to be blowing their horn...With Daniel Nestor coming off the US Open doubles win, perennial Davis Cup doormat Canada announced their team that will be battling Romania in the Davis Cup World Group Qualifying Round for 2005 on Sept. 24-26. Nestor, Frank Dancevic, Frederic Niemeyer, and Simon Larose will be taking to their worst surface, clay, in Bucharest. "Daniel, Frederic, Frank and Simon have always played inspired tennis as a group but we will have to be at our very best to outlast a formidable Romanian squad on the road," said Davis Cup Captain Martin Laurendeau. Back to the D-Cup minor leagues for the Canucks...The WTA Tour announced that Amelie Mauresmo and Lindsay Davenport have qualified for the eight-woman year-end WTA Tour Championships. Were the cut-off for the championships this week, Maria Sharapova and Venus Williams would miss out on the party...The US Open men's final between Roger Federer and Lleyton Hewitt was the lowest-rated final ever in the U.S., down 29 percent from last year's Andy Roddick-Juan Carlos Ferrero final. The women's final was down 12 percent from last year's Justine Henin-Hardenne versus Kim Clijsters all-waffle final. That's a sad statement on U.S. tennis fandom with that quality men's final..The PlanetOut Network is pumping Amelie Mauresmo as the new No. 1 player in the world: "Mauresmo, 25, holds 13 WTA (Women's Tennis Association) singles titles. After revealing her sexual orientation during an interview with a French newspaper in 1999, she has endured comments about her strength and athletic style not being "feminine" enough. Helen Carroll of the Homophobia in Sports Project at the National Center for Lesbian Rights criticized the stereotyping behind such remarks. "That she is not 'feminine enough' speaks to societal attitudes of gender as much as sexual orientation," Carroll said. "Does 'feminine enough' mean a sports woman must be modeling the latest fashions for the media? She is the image of a vibrant mature woman excelling in her endeavors. That makes her a role model for all types of women!" "As long as she's comfortable with herself that's all that matters," said Tyler Hoffman, spokesman for the Gay and Lesbian Professional Athletes Association. "Maybe she can encourage other (lesbian athletes) to not hide."...Props to the ATP for taking Roger Federer on the media tour following the US Open win, with stops at ESPN for the Cold Pizza morning show, the CBS Early Show, Live with Regis and Kelly (where he played ping pong), lunch at the Hard Rock Cafe, guest appearance on John McEnroe's talk show, and another interview on the Charlie Rose Show...Mark Philippoussis is out of Australia's Davis Cup World Group playoff with Morocco next week because of a hip injury...Mardy Fish won a first round doubles match Monday at Delray Beach with coach and former player Kelly Jones...Spain's announced line-up for their Davis Cup semifinal against France remains unchanged in former French Open champs Carlos Moya and Juan Carlos Ferrero, and doubles team Tommy "The R." Robredo and Rafael "The Prodigy" Nadal.