I’ve been updating this blog more infrequently than I’d like over the past few months, in part because of a new job but also due to the distraction of a major renovation of our row house in Philadelphia.  I didn’t think this project — tearing down and rebuilding the brick three-story front of a 103-year-old row [...]

Jim Courier often does not get his due when American tennis players are discussed, but  he is the only one to win two French Opens (‘91, ‘92) since pros started playing Grand Slams 42 years ago.  And he is one of only three Americans in history to win the tournament twice (the others being Frank [...]

On mornings the past few weeks before work I’ve flipped on the Tennis Channel with breakfast, watching the ATP matches on red clay from Monte Carlo, Barcelona and this past week Rome, perhaps the best time of year for the tennis tour as long as you don’t mind that there aren’t any American competitors deep in [...]

Let me set the scene for you:  Weekly doubles match, indoors, Court 3, under a bubble covering four clay courts.  In the very first game I was struggling to hold serve when Anthony Pozzi, a good friend and lefty opponent possessing a devastating drop-overhead volley (yes, it doesn’t seem possible but it is — a dropper from [...]

I doubt most readers of this blog have been to an American dog track, where greyhounds run a frantic loop chasing an electronic rabbit that scoots along the rail.  In Sarasota, Fla., the announcer starts each race with a fevered, “Here comes lucky!” the dogs take off, and hundreds if not thousands of fans hold their [...]

I feel like I’ve been watching James Blake lose tough matches all of my life, from the  five-set defeat to Lleyton Hewitt in the 2001 U.S. Open to the brilliant fifth-set tiebreaker agaisnt Agassi in 2005 to his defeat to Fernando Gonzalez in Bejing that cost him an 2008 Olympic medal to early this morning in [...]

I’ll never forget watching Michael Russell against then No. 1 Gustavo Kuerten in the fourth round of the 2001 French Open.  Russell, a qualifer then ranked 122 in the world, won the first two sets and was up 5-2, and held a match point but couldn’t close it out.  He lost in five sets, and [...]

If you are one of the rare men’s tennis fans who care about those outside of the Big Four and believe that tennis is about more than selling Rolex watches, the weeks leading up to the first round of the U.S. Open hold serious intrigue.  For the first time in about seven years, the NCAA college [...]

Andy Roddick lost to Juan Martin Del Potro for the second time in six days, but still leaves Montreal with a strong showing, and promising play going toward the U.S. Open.  I was there when Roddick beat Verdasco on Thursday, and also saw Nadal’s return this week, as well as Andy Murray and Del Potro in action. [...]

The draw is up for the Lukoil Open, and the years and statistics are against me.  I play Samuel Sherrill from Southborough, Mass., a recent number one player for Roanoke College in Salem, Va., in the first round at 3 p.m. Friday.   So I’m giving away about twenty years, but will give it a shot.  He could always [...]