Photo of the beautiful Fed Cup trophy via Paul Zimmer at FedCup.com
USA vs. Italy are playing the Fed Cup Finals this weekend in Reggio Calabria on outdoor clay.
The Fed Cup will be broadcast in the States on Tennis Channel – all times Eastern:
Fed Cup Final 2009 USA vs. Italy Tennis TV Schedule
Saturday, November 7, 2009
5:00am [...]

The AFP reported today that both Yanina Wickmayer and Xavier Malisse have been suspended from tennis for a year (and fined 1000 euros) by the Flemish Doping Tribunal. Wickmayer, world No. 18 and a US Open semifinalist, was punished for failing to report her whereabouts to drug testers on three occasions. Malisse was punished for [...]

I guessed Basel was going to be a Roger Fest, and it hasn’t disappointed me so far! We had that great interview from SI the other day and now this – a phenomenal in-depth chat with Rene Stauffer and Fredy Wettstein of the Basel-based paper Basler Zeitung. It was first published on November 2 – [...]

Photo: JP/Ricky Yudhistira
The WTA’s final tournament of the year is this week in Bali at the Commonwealth Bank Tournament of Champions. The $600,000 tournament is a kind of consolation year ending championships, open to the top players who have won at least one International Series level event in 2009 and who didn’t make Doha. Sabine [...]

I just can’t get closure on a tournament until I see the player party video, can you? Here’s the party in Doha. I love Wozniacki’s “brainless ball basher” vs. “pusher” analysis of her match vs. Azarenka!

Also, I didn’t realize Jelena Jankovic was a budding fashion designer. I propose that Serena and J.J. design the evening [...]

The ATP’s latest “Uncovered” features Marian Vajda, Novak Djokovic’s coach and “second father.”

Perhaps the deep personal bond between the two explains why Marian is comfortable sharing coaching duties with Todd Martin, who joined Team Djokovic around the time of this year’s US Open.
Novak spoke recently about how the Vajda/Martin tag-team works (Quotes via The Independent):
“He [...]

Roger Federer announced his 2010 schedule via his website. He’s planning to play 18 tournaments and “hopefully” the season ending championships in London.
Roger Federer’s 2010 Schedule: (tournament starting dates noted)
December 31: Capitala World Tennis Championship, Abu Dhabi (exhibition)
January 4: Qatar Exxonmobil Open, Doha (ATP 250)
January 18: Australian Open, Melbourne
Feburary 22: Barclays Dubai Tennis Championships, [...]

A lot of interesting stories continue to develop in Tennis Land, so I thought I’d put them all down in one place:
Let’s start with some fun stuff. Reporter Matt Cronin via Twitter: “Sharapova recently began dating the Lakers’ Sasha Vujacic. Now if she can only help “The Machine” get his deadly jump shot back.”
Vujacic [...]

Roger Federer spoke recently to Swiss news magazine Schweizer Illustrierte about some of his favorite things: his twins Myla and Charlene, Mirka and his hair.  I love that the interviewer, Stephanie Ringel, is unable to hide her Fedophile tendencies. Her descriptions (in italics) sometime read like a tennis Harlequin romance.
Here she is, trying not [...]

That Roger Federer is just so full of himself!
After winning his first round match against Olivier Rochus today at the Davidoff Swiss Indoors in Basel, Roger Federer bragged to the hometown crowd about his deft hand-eye coordination – at changing diapers:
“I have an unbelievable technique,” he said to laughter – [...]

The Times U.K. is confirming Blick’s report that Roger Federer has hired a new physiotherapist, Frenchman Stéphane Vivier, to be part of his full time team:
Federer, the 28-year-old world No 1, has appointed Stéphane Vivier, one of seven ATP physiotherapists, to travel with him full time to make sure that he is in the finest [...]

True story – while playing tennis today, I overheard a woman on the court next to me say: “Forget the crystal meth, the toupee is the really shocking part!”
Agassi’s upcoming autobiography keeps getting juicier. Beyond the drug use, the abusive father and the admission that he hates tennis with a deep, dark passion, Agassi also [...]