Sayonara North America hardcourts. Hello, European clay. For the Americans, it’s a time of anguish, when even such simple matters as making a phone call or ordering dinner exacerbate the tensions of playing on a less than familiar surface.

The U.S. holds the distinction as having the most fat kids in the world, but India is catching up, so doubles whiz Leander Paes in leaping into action — as a super hero.

HE READS BOOKS TOO: Mardy Fish after beating Roger Federer last week in Indian Wells: “Actually when I won that first set I remembered something from James’ (Blake’s) book. It was a quote from [Fish’s former coach] Todd Martin who told him, ‘If you can win one set, you can win two.’ So I stuck […]

Watch out Roger Federer. Novak Djokovic is coming to get you.

After an early-round loss at the Pacific Life Open in Indian Wells, Andy Roddick met with the press and briefly spoke about the U.S. Davis Cup team’s upcoming quarterfinal meeting with France in April.

American tennis is on display next week at the mouthful ‘Regions Morgan Keegan Championships and Cellular South Cup’ in Memphis, where Andy Roddick, James Blake, and Sam Querrey are among the seeded players, with land mines galore within the draw.

Part One of this story addressed what happened with the women’s game in 2007 — and what I see is a powerful lesson to be learned by recreational adults, juniors, parents, and coaches.

The Davis Cup final between the US and Russia gets under way later today in Portland, Oregon.

“I’m a little bit tight for my brother just because he’s being doing it for a while and hasn’t won it yet and the pressure’s on,” said McEnroe

I’d love to see him bust through here and win — take one of these titles away from Federer or Nadal. He’s got a tough run obviously.