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In an interview Peter Bodo did with me about my new novel on his TennisWorld blog on Feb. 4, his final question to me was, “Federer, or Nadal? And why.”
I answered:  “I’m not allegiant to either one. What I would really love to see is my fellow Georgia Bulldog John Isner beat one of them [...]

Roger Federer will play for his home country this weekend, but don’t chalk it up to nationalistic pride — he has to play in order to be eligible for the Olympics this summer.
When Switzerland played the U.S. in Birmingham, Ala., in 2009, the “Greatest of All Time” bailed on his country only two weeks before [...]

The GOAT discussion reached its most ludicrous point yesterday when John McEnroe’s endless search for an answer to the unanswerable and interminable question landed at Rafael Nadal’s feet after he beat Roger Federer for the 17th time, the sixth time in a Grand Slam final.  (Federer has beaten Nadal only eight times, and only twice [...]

The old rivals turned ugly when Agassi mocked Sampras’ alleged stinginess Friday night in the charity match.  Pete could have come back hard by miming a deep inhalation of crystal meth.  Pete wasn’t about to take a sleazy shot, but it would have taken the smile off Andre’s face.  Pete will always have the last [...]

From Pete Sampras’ win in the 1990 U.S. Open to Andre Agassi’s win in New York in 1999, American men won 21 of the 40 Grand Slams of the decade.  The following ten-year stretch started strong, with Sampras, Aggasi and Andy Roddick combining for six more through September 2003.  However, since Roddick’s U.S. Open win seven years ago, only Andy has come [...]

There’s a Flatlanders song in which Joe Ely sings: “I thought I had died and gone to heaven/in fact, I had lived and gone to hell.”  That might describe the five days that passed for fans of American men’s tennis from the point where Andy Roddick almost took a two-sets-to-none lead over Roger Federer in [...]

He is crying now, but Federer missed the Swiss anthem in Birmingham, Ala., in March when the Americans trounced the Swiss team without him. http://www.topspinblog.com/2009/02/federers-davis-cup-flop-a-precautionary-measure/

Roger Federer’s decision to skip this week’s Davis Cup match in Birmingham, Ala., between the Swiss and U.S. team is like Andy Roddick and James Blake preparing to play the circa ’90s Chicago Bulls only to learn that Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen are out.  Federer’s departure on what would have been essentially a two-man lineup leaves the Swiss with one quality [...]

It’s a long drop from the number one and two rankings in Switzerland men’s tennis to the number three spot.  The U.S. and Swiss teams have submitted rosters for the March 6-8 matches in Birmingham, and as expected instead of putting up the No. 2 player in the world, the Swiss will now lean heavily on No. 17 Stanislas [...]

Roger Federer has announced that he won’t play in the first round Davis Cup matches against the U.S. in Birmingham, but Davis Cup rules allow him to change his mind right up until one hour before the matches are played on Friday, March 6.  
When the U.S. played Russia in the Davis Cup final in 2007, the Americans [...]