ISNER FALLS VALIANTLY TO DJOKOVIC AS U.S. LOSES IN DAVIS CUP PLAY

By Randy Walker
John Isner fought valiantly Sunday, playing in his debut Davis Cup series against the No. 2 player in the world, on foreign soil, on an uncomfortable clay court, with over 10,000 Serbian fans cheering against him.
But it was not enough.
The six-foot-nine inch Isner came up just short against Novak Djokovic, falling 7-5, 3-6, [...]

RODDICK REMAINS NON-COMMITTAL ON DAVIS CUP

Andy Roddick, this generation’s greatest American Davis Cup player, was non-committal about his future of representing his country in future series and ruled himself out of playing later this year.
During the Tennis Channel’s coverage of Serbia’s victory over the United States in Belgrade Sunday, Roddick phoned in on the air to good friend and Tennis [...]

TODD MARTIN’S CONFLICTING DAVIS CUP WEEKEND

By Charles Bricker
Could this be one of those who-do-I-root-for Davis Cup weekends for Todd Martin, whose coaching client, Novak Djokovic, will be trying to beat up on Martin’s fellow Americans, John Isner and Sam Querrey, this weekend?
“You know, I don’t think it will feel too strange. I guess it’s going to be sort of like [...]

WHY IS DAVIS CUP WITHOUT FIVE OF THE TOP 10 AND EIGHT OF THE TOP 20?

By Charles Bricker
As if the Australian consortium proposing to redesign Davis Cup with a kind of bi-annual tennis World Cup needed any more ammunition, Davis Cup begins its 10-month odyssey this weekend without five of the world’s top 10 and eight of the top 20.
Most of the top players who won’t participate in the opening round are [...]

ALLASTER TALKS ON WTA IN DELRAY

By Charles Bricker
Here’s Stacey Allaster, CEO of the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour, on the possibility of the women’s tour returning to Delray Beach, Fl., to play a tournament in conjunction with the ATP’s International Tennis Championships being played in Delray this week.
“As you know, we have several tournaments in the Delray time period. However, if [...]

IS KAZAKHSTAN PLAYING “RENT-A-RUSSIAN”?

By Charles Bricker
DELRAY BEACH, Fla. – That was an amusing nervous laugh from Evgeny Korolev when I asked him how much the Kazakhstanis were paying him to play rent-a-Russian on the ATP tour.
He wasn’t angry about the question. In fact, he’s more than happy to talk about it and rip into the Russian Tennis Federation [...]

ARE ISNER AND QUERREY READY FOR DAVIS CUP ON CLAY?

By Charlie Bricker
With a combined 15-5 record (as of Friday) and with Andy Roddick and James Blake ruling themselves out of Davis Cup, John Isner and Sam Querrey richly deserved the call they got this week to represent the U.S. against Serbia, March 5-7. But on clay? Are they ready for that?
Can these two big [...]

FEDERER’S FIRST FINAL – 10 YEARS AGO

It was 10 years ago, on February 13, 2000, that Roger Federer played his first ATP Tour singles final.
Federer faced a familiar face in the first final, countryman Marc Rosset, and, after a strong start, lost a nail-bitter 2-6, 6-3, 7-6 (5) in the final of the Marseille Open in France. The match between the [...]

THE TENNIS MATCH THAT ENDED WITHOUT A CHAIR UMPIRE AND LINESMEN

Ivan Lendl announced this week that he will return to play competitive tennis when he will face Mats Wilander in an April 10 exhibition match in Atlantic City, N.J. in an event that will also feature Andy Roddick and Marat Safin. It was 25 years ago today, on February 5, 1985, that Lendl and Andy [...]

REMEMBERING THE LAST TIME ROGER FEDERER LOST TO LLEYTON HEWITT

Roger Federer and Lleyton Hewitt will face off in an anticipated round of 16 match Monday at the Australian Open, after Federer defeated Albert Montanes 6-3, 6-4, 6-4 and Hewitt defeated Marcos Baghdatis 6-0, 4-2, ret. (shoulder injury). The rivalry between the future Hall of Famers dates back to 1996 when the two 15-year-olds played [...]

MONDAYS WITH BOB GREENE: STARS FOR HAITI

STARS
Elena Dementieva beat Serena Williams 6-3 6-2 to win the Medibank International women’s singles at Sydney, Australia
Marcos Baghdatis beat Richard Gasquet 6-4 7-6 (2) in Sydney, Australia, to win the Medibank International men’s singles
John Isner beat Arnaud Clement 6-3 5-7 7-6 (2) to win the Heineken Open in Auckland, New Zealand
Alona Bondarenko beat Shahar Peer [...]

ROGER FEDERER: HUMANITARIAN

Roger Federer is often called the greatest tennis player of all-time, but one other appropriate label is humanitarian. Federer is doing what he can to raise funds to help victims of the earthquake that devastated Haiti on Tuesday.
On Saturday, Federer posted on his Facebook fan page; “Tomorrow at 2pm, with other top players, we are [...]

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