American tennis players seem to completely forget how to play tennis once the tour shifts to Europe and the surface gets softer.

New American stars Sam Querrey and John Isner meet for the Memphis title.

I’m asking who among the next generation of American players will take home a Grand Slam title.

Andy Murray has the tools to win a Grand Slam event, but he does face a tough question: “Should I stick with a generally effective strategy of counterpunching or change strategies by developing and using bigger shots?” Internal doubts arising from this quandary might be worse than just selecting one option and committing to it.

Just for fun, I am trying something different. As the 2009 hard court season heads toward the finish line, I came up with some hypothetical matches between former U.S. Open champions.

Watching the #9 and #27 players in the world from close range at 7-6, 6-7 was awesome.

The number of players a fan can see at close range on the practice courts and side courts is always great on the first few days of an event.

In the highlight match of the evening, Andy Roddick became the 36th player in the Open Era to reach 500 career match victories.

As I was watching the mano y mano between Spaniard countrymen Juan Carlos Ferrero and Tommy Robredo in the grandstand yesterday, I overheard someone nearby say, “The stadium’s got the names, but out here, we got the games!”

Speaking of tickets. For grins, I stopped by the Lacoste store on M St. to check out how the Roddick ticket give-away was going. There was a healthy and well organized line, with a few people also walking out with shopping bags to boot. Well done all around.

There is a buzz on the grounds as it is time to get down to crowning a champion.

A bad day for the U.S. in Miami on Saturday as all five American men in action lose.

Sean Randall breaks down the Miami Sony Ericsson Open draw and ponders the question, can Rafa do it again?

One of my latest articles was titled “The Case for only One Serve.” I believe the pros should adopt only one serve to make the points longer. Today so many of the points are just a serve and a return.

Delray Beach ITC
The independently-owned ATP event ramps up the promotions with the VolleyGirls, fans sitting in a Porsche on the court and more, and the brains behind the PR.
BY RICHARD VACH