About
WHAT: The Topspin Blog offers readers news, essays and commentary about American men’s professional tennis, including detailed coverage of the U.S. Davis Cup matches, the U.S. Open, as well as other tennis features.
WHY: Because American men’s tennis, particularly Davis Cup, is marginally covered by mainstream media and in the blogosphere.
WHEN: This blog will be updated regularly as tennis news merits. New posts will be added frequently during Grand Slams and Davis Cup matches. I occasionally write about my own game.
WHO: My name is Joe Samuel Starnes, although I go by Sam to friends and family. I am a novelist and journalist originally from Georgia, now living in Philadelphia.
The Topspin Blog grew out of an earlier blog at daviscupfinal2007.blogspot.com that I wrote in December when the U.S. beat Russia to win its first Davis Cup in twelve years.
If interested, you can check out my author web site at www.joesamuelstarnes.com or for links to my varied journalism work, including articles in The New York Times and The Washington Post, at joesamuelstarnes.blogspot.com. I wrote an essay for Tennis magazine’s August 2008 issue about a search for Bill Tilden’s grave, and have another piece forthcoming in the magazine. My novel Fall Line will be published by NewSouth Books in October 2011. I also recently have completed a novel about a tennis player from Georgia entitled Red Dirt that is represented by literary agent Scott Miller, vice president of Trident Media Group.
I have been playing tennis since I was four-years-old. I peaked 28 years ago when I was 15 playing junior tennis in Georgia. I now play on a 4.5 team in a USTA league for Green Valley Tennis Club in Haddon Township, N.J.
FOR MORE INFORMATION: Read the April 11 press release announcement.
Thanks to Chuck Gooch at Jackson Trail Media for designing and setting up this site.
Thank you for reading. Please feel free to e-mail through the contact page, or to comment on various postings. I welcome your feedback.
Joe Samuel Starnes
Nov 4th, 2008 at 5:58 pm
So right about US needing to make a big show out of the 009 Davis cup matches with Switzerland. As a Chicagoan, I don’t know how Chicago does not make a push for this as part of their attempt to land the Olympics.
The new Sears Center in the suburbs would be a good fit for this, although not a huge place it would get filled.
May 27th, 2010 at 6:32 pm
Joe: Thanks for doing the TopSpin Blog. Very interesting. I stumbled upon it while looking for info on the Lukoil open. My brother and I are planning to play doubles in the tournament this year. Like you, we are up in age (43 and 38) but have played tennis since we were young. My brother was an exceptional D3 player at Claremont in CA (won the D3 National doubles title his junior year) and I played a more “modest” game at Susquehanna University in the 1980s where we had a competitive team for the area. I’ve recently come back into tennis and have again found my passion for the game. I play in an early morning mens group 3 or 4 times a week with players who are probably 3.5 – 4.5 level. I actually look forward to getting up at 5am, driving 30 minutes to play for an hour or so. Was glad to see there are others, like me, who play these tournaments. I don’t really have visions of standing on the podium accepting my $500 check but it would be fun to win a round or two…. Guess it’s all about who you hit in round 1. Anyway, thanks again for writing and maybe we’ll see you at this year’s “Open”.
Best Regards,
David Cooley – Northern NJ