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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

Tennis guru Robert Lansdorp has always been the guy in the background. He’s the guy who pulled many a junior player up out of the bowels of the ship and put them on the Lido deck. Fresh from his Sharapova dumping, surgery for cancer, a divorce, and subsequent forced relocation, he’s not having what you would call a “great year.”

We all know Patty Schnyder has some issues. She’s a nutjob on the court, a nutjob off the court and now without a doubt a nutjob in cyberspace.

After visiting her new “book” site “The White Mile” at www.the-white-mile.net Patty and fellow freak/husband have outdone themselves.

Despite all the happy-happy concerning the U.S. Davis Cup squad advancing to the semifinals, there are some disconcerting signs that men’s tennis in the U.S. is in the self-fulfilling doledrums.

The U.S. hasn’t won a Davis Cup title since 1995 for a reason — the Americans can’t field two singles players who can compete at a high level on clay — and these days you’re more than likely to run into a Spain or Argentina in the later rounds, or in the American’s case, the Russians who are well acquainted with what’s the worst surface for Andy Roddick and James Blake.

Holy Cow, you couldn’t pay me to come to this tourna…wait, I guess Tennis-X did. Sitting courtside at the “featured” night match between virtual unknown No. 15 seed Lucie Safarova and American journeywoman Jill Craybas, you have to ask — why? Was No. 1 seed Nadia Petrova not feature-match material earlier in the day? How […]

Thursday’s Andy Roddick v David Ferrer match got a little juice from the video replay challenge in the third set when Roddick challenged a call that was clearly out, but hoped against hope might be in to turn the tide in his three-set loss to the Spaniard. When the replay came up “out” and the […]

Is it just me, or has the addition of instant replay in tennis added personality (or a personality) to the players on the court?

Nothing to me says personality more than watching a player look over at the chair ump and make the replay request. Wow. Riviting. And then we get that reaction of “yeah” when they are right or when they slump their shoulders when they are wrong. What a big hit.

Impressive runs by both Tommy Haas and Justine Henin-Hardenne in capturing key titles over the weekend. Haas solidified his Top 10 status with an easy triumph over Robin Soderling while Henin overcame her Australian Open PR disaster and dispatched Maria Sharapova, who continues to struggle in finals. As inspiring as Haas and Henin were, the […]

Too bad for Rafael Nadal fans in India as the latest report is the Spanish “prodigy” will not be showing off his hideous clam diggers inChennai due to continued foot problems.