Ah, it’s raining in Cincinnati this Saturday afternoon, interrupting the Mardy Fish vs. Andy Roddick semifinal at the Western & Southern Financial Group Masters. So it’s the perfect time to review some of Friday’s exciting quarterfinal action, which featured Roger Federer completing his first full match of the tournament and Rafael Nadal being upset by [...]

Roger Federer was in a jovial mood in his press conference on Saturday night, after almost letting his semifinal match vs. Novak Djokovic slip through his fingers. He was pushed to 7-5 in the third set after winning the first 6-1 and being up 4-1 in the third. Relief makes him slap happy, I guess. [...]

Yay! We’re in Toronto! After getting over a killer red eye, we made our way to the Rexall Centre on the York University campus to get our first taste of the Rogers Masters. We had a chance to catch Novak Djokovic’s presser (he took out Victor Hanescu in straights) and the tail end of Rafael [...]

We caught the tail end of Rafa’s 3rd round victory over South African Kevin Anderson Thursday night in Toronto, and sat in on his post-match presser. I thought this exchange was interesting, given the mythology that’s surrounds Rafa’s early years with his coach Uncle Toni: Q: When you were younger and you switched from hitting [...]

I had the chance to ask Andy Murray about his current coach-less situation after he won his second round match at the Farmers Classic in Los Angeles on Thursday night. I was particularly interested in the rumors going around that adidas Player Development Guru Darren Cahill was on his short list: I’m not sure. I [...]

I just got off an ESPN2 conference call this afternoon with commentators Mary Carillo and Brad Gilbert, who were both asked the inevitable “Federer or Nadal?” question in advance of next week’s Wimbledon. “The last couple years we’ve had two guys in both Federer and Nadal both pull off the hardest feat in tennis, going [...]

I asked ESPN2 commentator and former pro, Cliff Drysdale, via conference call today about the popular notion that Roger Federer and Serena Williams only care about the Majors and can somehow turn their games up a gear at the big ones. (An ESPN exec quipped: “Maybe they have the same approach as we do at [...]

I had the chance to speak very briefly with Ana Ivanovic today via a conference call to promote next week’s BNP Paribas Showdown for the Billie Jean King Cup. Ana, who played in the exhibition last year, is filling in this time for an injured Serena Williams. She called in from San Diego, where she’s [...]

Shahar Peer’s coach, Pablo Giacopelli, blogged last week from the Barclays Dubai Tennis Championships, keeping us updated on both Shahar’s on-court progress and the surreal security procedures she was subject to as the first Israeli professional sportswoman to compete in the U.A.E. His player’s Dubai debut was a success, with Peer playing her way through [...]

Venus Williams with Joel Fisher from Madison Square Garden and (left) and Jerry Solomon of StarGames (right). Photo courtesy of Angela Cranford/MSG Photos From the controversial Tennis World Cup proposal, to Maria Sharapova’s scrutinized all-exo preparation for the Australian Open, to the feel-good success of Roger Federer’s Hit for Haiti, the often peripheral world of [...]

Kim Clijsters called in from Belgium on Tuesday to take part in a media conference call promoting the BNP Paribas Showdown for the Billie Jean King Cup in Madison Square Garden. (Yes, that rolls off Kim’s tongue with ease.) The one-night exhibition on March 1 features the reigning US Open Champ, Venus and Serena Williams [...]

Former pro, Super Coach and ESPN 2 commentator Darren Cahill spoke with reporters via conference call on Tuesday (Darren was calling in from Wednesday, Down Under.) Much of the conversation revolved around the WTA (click here for more on that) but he still had plenty to say about Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and the rest [...]