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

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

This is not a column about the color of tennis courts despite clay courts looking like the terrain of Mars and most hard courts at professional tennis events no longer being green. While covering the 2008 Indianapolis Tennis Championships, members of what looked to be a local scouting troop wearing hats saying “Environmental Team” were […]

Rafael Nadal is blogging for the Melbourne Herald-Sun newspaper, taking questions on topics from motivations to whether he has sex during a tournament. “Every player should know the best way to be ready to play next day. So it is up to the player,” Nadal writes…

Here’s a potential bell-ringer for your next executive meeting — tennis fans are changing the way they view the sport (on the internet) because YOU GUYS AREN’T SUCCESSFULLY GETTING TENNIS ON TV. We have a Tennis Channel, but it is mostly reruns and canned shows.

The accolades continue to pour in after the majestic Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer Wimbledon final Sunday. TV ratings were up across the board from the match, and now, if you haven’t heard both players are featured on the cover on the latest issue of Sports Illustrated.

Thanks NBC, and thanks Wimbledon. Thanks for again banding together to try and ruin the sport. If that’s your combined intent, your combined goal, you are really doing a helluva a great job!

I allow myself to briefly occupy the mythical Commissioner of Tennis Chair that John McEnroe publicly campaigns for now and again. Johnny Mac campaigned long and hard to be the U.S. Davis Cup captain only to quit after one year, but when should reality ever hurt speculation and offering advice? Here are my 5 (best?) […]

“This completes a five-year process of reinventing the television and digital landscape for the sport of tennis in North America,” said Arlen Kantarian, CEO Pro Tennis, USTA. “Tennis will now be prominently featured for eight straight weeks on ESPN — the premiere destination in sports; Tennis Channel — our sport’s namesake network; and CBS — our longtime network partner. This new partnership will provide more tennis, to more people, in more ways than ever before.”

If the powers-that-be are trying to raise the popularity of tennis in the U.S., they’re not getting a lot of help from the ATP.

Happy Moanday X-fans. Time to talk Federer’s defeat, TTC’s coverage, the team approach to tennis, Serena’s new reality adventure, and the USTA’s newest accessory item. Federer’s Loss: With the combined trifecta ejection of Federer, plus Marat Safin and Lleyton Hewitt yesterday, the Men’s draw got a little bit less interesting for some, but a whole […]

Televised tennis has become a little bit more like a real match of tennis with today’s announcement that ESPN and The Tennis Channel (TTC) are joining forces for coverage of Roland Garros and the Australian Open. If you’re fortunate enough to get TTC, there are some real gems to this deal. For one, you’ll be […]

If you weren’t sleeping or TiVo-ing during the past two weeks, you might have noticed something extraordinary about the coverage of the 2006 U.S. Open. No, it wasn’t the little bald man who went buh-bye, nor that the venue was renamed into the acronym that everyone now loves: USTABJKNTC. What I’m referring to here is […]

Why does ESPN hate tennis fans so much? They have now apparently hired Justin Gimelstob to do sideline reporting for the Rogers Cup in Montreal for the weekend.

Dear ESPN,

I’m writing to tell you that I think it’s time that we start seeing other people.

I can forgive alot. I can forgive the fact that you will feature darts on your homepage before tennis; unless it’s a Grand Slam, in which case you give me a little below-the-fold action. I can even forgive the fact that if I want to find tennis on your website that I need to look in the “more” menu. More is for bass fishing. More is for rodeo. I thought we were closer than more. I thought we really had something more than more.