WTA officials should add a tab to their website that explains patronymics in Eastern European languages. It might help fans understand why so many top players last names end with “ova” or some such variation.

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.

Talk about starting off with a bang. The Australian Open is living up to its reputation of spitting out more than a few classic high-quality matches again, and we’ve only just finished opening week. The organisers have done a fine job of replacing Rebound Ace with a court surface that still suits all kinds of […]

Before we’ve even headed into the new year, the ATP and WTA Tour have already begun the 2008 tennis season.

Sure enough, Russia and Germany could get involved in a close encounter in Moscow, but who cares about teams headlined by Nikolay Davydenko and Tommy Haas, when you have Novak Djokovic and Lleyton Hewitt grind it out on a moon-landscaped clay court, in front of nearly 20,000 out-of-their-mind Serbs, which just happens to be the biggest Davis Cup crowd ever, outside of a final.

One week into the year’s final Grand Slam event, let’s do a quick round up of what we have seen so far.
The Home Team
Serena Williams and sister Venus both won a Grand Slam this year, but other than that, it hasn’t been an exceptionally great year for American tennis. Now that the tours are back […]

Whenever the US Open rolls around, my mind starts to reflect on the season that has been, and I think to myself, ‘wow, is it September already?’ Of course there are still three months of tennis to be played after the Open, but in a way, the season comes to a close after the champions […]

Doesn’t it all look so familiar. A big Masters Series tournament in Cincinnati where all the top players compete, but where half of them suffer from playing the week before, and a top tier WTA event without most of the tour’s stars. Federer wins the men’s event, while Henin prevails as the top lady. Is […]

Paul-Henri Mathieu is enjoying his career best ranking of 23, so it was clear that Rafael Nadal was in for a real test when he faced the Frenchman in the third round of the Rogers Masters in Montreal. That the recent Gstaad winner would have the match for the taking early in the second set […]

The US Open Series is entering its fourth week, but for many tennis fans, they haven’t truly started up until this point. Is there anything organisers could have done to prevent this mindset? Not really, because the casual tennis fan only cares about events Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal are playing in, and they only […]