It has been reported by La Marca that Rafael Nadal wont be playing the Davis Cup quarterfinal against the USA in Austin July 8-10. It seems as though Nadal expects to make the Wimbledon final and then doesnt want to jump on a plane the next day to travel to Texas. Dont blame him really!
Pauline Betz Addie who was entered into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 1965, has won 5 Grand Slam singles titles as well as being the top ranked woman player from the United States in the 1940′s, has died on May 31st, 2011. She had suffered from Parkinson’s disease and died in her sleep at an assisted living facility in Potomac, Maryland.
Some will remember her for touring the country as a pro with Gussie Moran and top male players of the day such as Bobby Riggs and Jack Kramer. After her career, she played the game she loved into her 80′s and was also a teaching professional in the Washington D.C. area.
She is survived by five children, one brother, five grandchildren and a great-grandson.
You will be greatly missed Pauline, and thank you for your contribution to the game. RIP.
The Tennis Channel has announced that they will be streaming the French Open in the USA live and on-demand. If you are after more information check out their website.
If your a customer with AT&T U-Verse, Comcast or DirectTV you will be able to get VIP access to Philippe Chatrier Court for free on May 28-30.
There is some great Wimbledon coverage this year by ESPN in the USA. Cliff Drysdale and Dick Enberg lead the ESPN tennis team, working with Darren Cahill, Mary Carillo, Mary Joe Fernandez, Brad Gilbert, Luke Jensen, Patrick McEnroe and Pam Shriver. Hannah Storm will host while Tom Rinaldi will be on hand for essays and features.
ESPN Television Schedule
Mon, June 21
6:30 a.m. – 4:30 p.m. – Early Round Day 1 – ESPN2
Tues, June 22
7 – 9:30 a.m. – Early Round Day 2 – ESPN2
9:30 a.m. – Noon – Early Round Day 2 – ESPNU
Noon – 2 p.m. – Early Round Day 2 – ESPN2
2 – 5 p.m. – Early Round Day 2 – ESPNU
Wed, June 23
7 – 9:30 a.m. – Early Round Day 3 – ESPN2
9:30 a.m. – Noon – Early Round Day 3 – ESPNU
Noon – 2 p.m. – Early Round Day 3 – ESPN2
2 – 4:30 p.m. – Early Round Day 3 – ESPNU
4:30 – 7 p.m. – Early Round Day 3 – ESPN2
Thur, June 24
7 – 9:30 a.m. – Early Round Day 4 – ESPN2
9:30 a.m. – Noon – Early Round Day 4 – ESPNU
Noon – 2 p.m. – Early Round Day 4 – ESPN2
2 – 4:30 p.m. – Early Round Day 4 – ESPNU
4:30 – 7 p.m. – Early Round Day 4 – ESPN2
Fri, June 25
7 – 9:30 a.m. – Early Round Day 5 – ESPN2
9:30 a.m. – Noon - Early Round Day 5 – ESPNU
Noon – 2 p.m. – Early Round Day 5 – ESPN2
2 – 5 p.m. – Early Round Day 5 – ESPNU
Sat, June 26
7 a.m. – Noon – Early Round Day 6 – ESPN2
5 – 7 p.m. – Early Round Day 6 – ESPN2 (Taped)
Sun, June 27
5:30 – 8:30 a.m. – Week One Highlights – ESPN2 (Taped)
Mon, June 28
6:30 – 10 a.m. – Round of 16 – ESPN2
1 – 6 p.m. – Round of 16 – ESPN2
German great Tommy Haas has been living in the USA for several years now, and in January he thought it was about time he gained U.S. citizenship. Tommy always maintained that he would keep playing for his native Germany. However, I don’t really think Tommy understood that once gaining U.S citizenship that would mean he would have to give away his Germany citizenship. The USA have a policy of not offering dual citizenship’s, its all or nothing.
If you take a look at his ATP Tour player profile you will now notice he plays tennis for the USA.
Haas is out of action until closer to the U.S. Open after having hip surgery, so there has not been any official comment on the reasoning behind this move.
The Detroit News is reporting that Murphy Jensen owes about $1 million in federal and state taxes. Murphy Jensen filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy protection last December. From 1995–’98, he owed $156,007 in Georgia, and from 2000–’03 and 2005–’07, he owed $121,464 in California. Meanwhile, he didn’t pay $759,294 in federal income taxes from 1999–’07.
Back in the USA the University of Southern California and Tennessee will face off in the NCAA Men’s tennis final.
USC, the defending champion and No. 5 seed, beat top-seeded Virginia 4-2 in the semifinals on Monday and will face No. 2 seed Tennessee for the championship on Tuesday. Tennessee beat host Georgia 4-1.
Meanwhile, Florida will face Stanford in the women’s final on Tuesday. Florida beat North Carolina 4-0. Stanford beat Notre Dame 4-1.
American qualifier Michael Yani’s French Open debut lasted one match. It felt like about two or three.
Yani lost to Lukas Lacko of Slovakia 4-6, 7-6 (5), 7-6 (4), 6-7 (5), 12-10 in a marathon that began Sunday and finished Monday, covering 4 hours, 56 minutes of playing time. The 71 games equal the most in a singles match at the tournament since tiebreakers were instituted in 1973.
“Ridiculous,” Yani said, cracking open a can of caffeine-rich soda. “I’ve never gotten to a fifth set before, so, I mean, that was pretty cool, I’m not going to lie—to go that deep into a fifth.”
He sighed, before adding: “I wish I could have closed it out.”
The 29-year-old player based in Durham, N.C., fell to 0-7 in tour-level matches for his career. He had his chances this time, with three match points in the fifth set: two Sunday at 6-5, then one Monday at 10-9. Lacko also wasted his own opportunities along the way, with four match points way back in the fourth set.
“I knew I would have (more) chances,” Lacko said. “It was a question of time.”
Well, quite a long time.
Three other men’s singles matches at Roland Garros also lasted 71 games. The overall record is the 83 games played in a match in 1957.
When a contest lasts that long, Yani explained, “You don’t really know what’s going on out there. You’re just sort of going through the motions, and let instinct take over.”
Play was suspended Sunday night because of darkness, with the score 8-8 in the fifth set.
“I thought it was going to be difficult, and I thought I was going to be a little nervous, have a hard time going to sleep and waking up,” Yani said. “But I was so tired last night, I just passed out. I hit the bed, and—boom!— gone. And I woke up, and I was so tired and so sore.”
When they resumed Monday afternoon, the score progressed to 10-10, when Lacko (pronounced LECH-ko) broke Yani’s serve for the only time the entire match.
Yani actually had managed to break Lacko’s serve in the very first game— and then never again. Lacko saved the last 13 break points he faced.
“I definitely thought about that along the way,” Yani said. “I kept looking at the scoreboard … and I’m sitting there, going, ‘How are we both not getting broken at all?’ He served unbelievably well on the break points. I felt like every time I had one, he popped in a good first serve. So, credit to him.”
Neither the 151st-ranked Yani nor the 81st-ranked Lacko had played in the French Open’s main draw. Lacko’s reward for working the tennis equivalent of overtime? He will play 11th-seeded Mikhail Youzhny of Russia in the second round.
“I will be ready, for sure,” Lacko said, between bites of a chocolate bar.
There is a big concern in the U.S about where their next Grand Slam champion will come from (same in Australia).
With the input of tennis stars and officials like Andy Roddick, Nick Bollettieri, Patrick McEnroe and other players, CNN’s Open Court explores the question of the what’s keeping the US men from winning titles and what’s to come.
“The biggest thing for me I think is that we have so many sports in this country,” said Roddick whose 2003 US Open title remains the last Slam won by an American man. “I think our best athletes probably get spread out across ten of 12 different sports.
“There are so many different options so I feel it might water down the talent pool for a given sport.”
Mario Ancic has ruled himself out of Wimbledon and the Davis Cup tie against the USA. Ancic has still not completely healed from his mononucleosis which he first got two years ago and he has opted to take a break from tennis.
“Don’t ask me when I’ll return, because I don’t even know the answer myself. Health is most important. I have to listen to my body. The fact that I cancelled my favourite tournament (Wimbledon) and an important match with Americans, tells it all about the seriousness of the situation.”. said Mario Ancic.
American tennis players have approached the clay court season with a lot of fear and U.S. Davis Cup captain Patrick McEnroe believes that the surface is the key to unearthing the next American champion.
“If you develop players more on clay … they will become better all-court players, even … better fast-court players,” McEnroe said during a conference call on Tuesday. “The way the game has changed with the technology, the rackets, the strings, the athleticism and the speed you have to learn how to build the point and play with spin, play with angle, take the ball early. You basically have to do it all.
“We’re not teaching our players to be clay-courters. We’re not going to change into a clay-court nation anytime soon. But we certainly feel it is a huge part of the developmental process for kids to become all-around players,” he said.
While McEnroe would like to see younger players embrace more of the clay-court game, he acknowledges it comes at the expense of the attacking, aggressive style favored by Americans on the lightning-quick hard courts.
“Most of our great American players are attacking players; we don’t want to take that away as our mentality,” said McEnroe. “We want to keep that. But at the same time we want our kids to know how to build points better, use all the court better and how to be fitter.
“If you play on clay you will automatically get fitter because you play more balls and you have to create more shots rather than going for broke all the time,” he said.
The USTA has invested close to $15 million a year in regional training centers and coaching initiatives to help find and develop players to arrest that slide.
“The rest of world has caught up,” said McEnroe. “We believe we’ve been lacking in having a systematic approach to how we teach our kids overall, a coaching philosophy. We’re reaching out to as many coaches with the philosophy we have when it comes to understand how to play tennis as opposed to how to hit the ball.
“I don’t believe that you can necessarily create a champion but you can create an environment where you’re setting yourself up to find champions easier,” he said. “We’re trying to find players we think can become legitimate professionals and we believe that in the long run the more players you have there the better chance you are going to have finding the next Pete Sampras.”
AIG will not be renewing their U.S. Davis Cup sponsorship. The American International Group Inc. said they wont be renewing their contract which expires at year’s end.
With AIG serving as the U.S. Tennis Association’s only year-round national sponsor for Davis Cup, the relationship has been worth millions of dollars since it began in 1999.
The sponsorship included promotional rights attached to the U.S. team, including an AIG patch on players’ warmup suits and TV advertising time.
The Tennis Channel has announced that they will be streaming the French Open in the USA live and on-demand. If you are after more information check out their 
American tennis players have approached the clay court season with a lot of fear and U.S. Davis Cup captain Patrick McEnroe believes that the surface is the key to unearthing the next American champion.
