While the ATP heads have been thinking of ways to screw with tennis, the top players have decided to (again) screw the Paris event. As of this writing Monday afternoon, five of the top six players have already pulled from the Tennis Masters Series event in Paris.

Taking a pass from Paris are Ivan Ljubicic, Andy Roddick, David Nalbandian, Rafael Nadal and today Roger Federer. The pulls mean Paris, which offers 2.6 million dollars, with two fewer Top 6 players than the $690,000 Vienna event earlier this month.

Welcome to the last week of regular-season play on the ATP and WTA tours. Doesn’t it seem like yesterday was January and you were anticipating the return of Martina Hingis after her three-year hiatus? Or are you thinking ‘Thank (fill in your god or preferred deity)! Let’s get Tommy Robredo eliminated and get on with […]

Tim Henman finally shows an interest in coming back to the British Davis Cup fold, and Andy Murray says no thanks? Andy Murray says maybe it’s time to let the younger guys have a shot? Who’s that, Andy? Alex Bogdanovic, currently ranked outside the Top 100? Or next-in-line Richard Bloomfield, ranked outside the Top 200? […]

The ATP announced that they are going through with their plans to experiment with the round robin format at thirteen different tournaments over the course of 2007. It’s probably too soon for anyone to determine whether this is the greatest idea since velcro, or the worst idea since the glass hammer, but it’s definitely sparked […]

In a post few weeks ago, I basically took offense to those that hammered Pete Sampras’s rightful place in history. Part of my argument was that the game back then was just as strong when Pete played as it is now.

Well, after thinking a bit more on it, reading some comments, I’ve changed my stance. And I actually think history will ultimately look upon the current, 2002-2006 ATP years as one of the weaker periods, if not the weakest, in terms of overall competition and strength in the modern era.

There are two more weeks of tournaments before the year-end WTA Tour Championships, but the eight-woman field is essentially set. The first six positions have been clinched by Justine Henin-Hardenne, Maria Sharapova, Amelie Mauresmo, Svetlana Kuznetsova, Nadia Petrova, and Elena Dementieva. That looks like half the year-end field will be Russian, for thoe concerned that […]

These are fast changing times for British tennis. Andy Murray shot into the world’s Top 20 this year with new coach Brad Gilbert. There is a new British Davis Cup Captain, John Lloyd; and they just officially hired Peter Lundgren to coach the team after working with them during the fall. At the center of it all is a new Chief Executive of the Lawn Tennis Association (LTA), Roger Draper, who has big aspirations.

Now for something completely different. I know based on my last post many of you think of me as a total idiot. Fair enough. I won’t argue that point, at least not right now.

Instead, I got my schedule of matches for tomorrow, and my ATP notes and my ATP guide, so I figured while I got some time why not make some picks on tomorrow’s Pista Central matches in Madrid. So without further adieu…

Some mid-week quick hits: NEEDY RODDICK: After his US Open success failed to translate to Europe, Andy Roddick showed up this week in Madrid with part-time coach Jimmy Connors in tow. The Roddick-Connors camp previously said Jimbo wouldn’t join Andy again in 2006 unless he qualified for the Masters Cup, but you have to assume […]

There are a number of “storylines,” as the TV people like to say, this week at the Zurich Open. Foremost is the fact the WTA Tour has a week where one of its top-level Tier I events is showcased without a couple Top 20-less (or Top 50-less) Tier III or Tier IV events being contested […]

It’s a slow day at the office, so I’ve been cruising around the message boards, and reading the comments, and naturally the big debates rages on with Federer vs. Sampras in the greatest of all-time match-up, or the GOAT as they say. I stated my case for a few weeks back, and if you don’t want to read it I basically said that Roger still has some work to do. But he’ll get there and become the GOAT.

Without a loss after five events in this his debut season on the senior tour, Marcelo Rios has already sewn up the No. 1 senior ranking for 2006, making good on a promise earlier in the year to add the top senior mark to the No. 1 ranking he also reached while on the ATP […]

Howdy, X-Fans! I just got back today from a truly glorious 3-day weekend at a trailer park in beautiful sunny Appalachia. There’s nothing like a crisp October day when the mountains are ablaze with foliage, the sky is blue and cloudless, and the air is so still that it takes a falling maple leaf a […]

At its best, the women’s game can lay claim to a field of 8 players, each of whom are entirely capable of winning the Year-end Championships: Amelie Mauresmo, Justine Henin-Hardenne, Kim Clijsters, Maria Sharapova, Svetlana Kuznetsova, newly un-retired Martina Hingis, Nadia Petrova, and Elena Dementieva. One would think that this kind of variation would lend […]

A few quick hits: Sharapova to Steal No. 1? Amelie Mauresmo is No. 1 on the WTA Tour Rankings. Justine Henin-Hardenne has had a better year that Mauresmo, and is currently No. 1 in the 2006-points-only standings. Who will come out on top at the end of the year? Maria Sharapova? Henin announced on her […]