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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 [...]

Of the eight Americans in action Tuesday in Australia, the biggest disappointment was Sam Querrey’s loss to Rainer Schuettler, the aging German who keeps winning big matches.  Wild card Ryan Harrison, 17, also fell, losing in four sets to Janko Tipsarevic.  Other Americans to fall were Rajeev Ram and Robby Ginepri.
On the up side, John [...]

If you are on the East Coast in the U.S., don’t forget to flip on the TV to check out any late night battles going on in Melbourne.  This morning I caught the end of the fourth set and most of the fifth between Mikhail Youzhny and Richard Gasquet, both were cramping, struggling through points, [...]

Michael Russell won a set but fell in four to Juan Martin Del Potro.  Mardy Fish, but Andy Roddick and Wayne Odesnik moved onto the second round.  In Tuesday’s schedule, starting Monday night at 7, the remaining eight Americans see action.  The most interesting match is wild card 17-year-old Ryan Harrison versus Serb Janko Tipsarevic.  They are scheduled fourth on [...]

I’m watching Karlovic – Stepanek, which is a rematch of the strangest tennis statistic ever.  
If you have only ESPN2, you are listening to Dick Enberg and Mary Carrillo.  (I don’t care how many Ls or Rs there are in her name).  I have DirectTV and five matches to choose from.

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 [...]

I woke to my alarm at insane setting of 3:30 a.m. today, but it was well worth it.  The Nadal-Federer match in the Australian Open was resplendent tennis for the first four sets, with rallies of seemingly impossible angled groundstrokes.  Nadal’s strength and speed is machinelike, so strong that he forced even Federer to get tight, ultimately stumbling in the fifth set when [...]

From the ATP World Tour web site: Americans Mike and Bob Bryan captured their third Australian Open crown and seventh Grand Slam championship title as they rallied from a one-set deficit to defeat third seeds Mahesh Bhupathi and Mark Knowles 2-6, 7-5, 6-0 on Saturday evening in Melbourne.
A good sign for the American twins looking ahead [...]

Congratulations are in order for Serena Williams for her Australian Open win, but also for becoming the highest-earning woman athlete in history.  She passed retired golfer Annika Sorenstam as the all-time career prize money leader in women’s sports, the WTA Tour announced on Friday. With Saturday’s win, Williams has earned more than $23 million in her career.