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 tennis [...]

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 [...]

For the first time in years, women’s tennis is in the media forefront Down Under. Darren Cahill and Pam Shriver were peppered with WTA-focused questions in an ESPN2-sponsored conference call on Tuesday, and Len DeLuca, the station’s senior V.P. of programming and acquisitions, is counting on the ladies to pull their ratings weight:
“Tennis is set [...]

The ESPN network, which is showing 100 hours of live US Open tennis on ESPN2 (and 400 online at ESPN360.com), hosted a conference call recently with two familiar voices from the commentary booth: Cliff Drysdale and Pam Shriver. Both had some interesting things to say on the biggest, fattest and meatiest stories going into the [...]

John McEnroe said the use of injury timeouts is “absolutely an epidemic” on the tour, speaking Wednesday via an ESPN2 conference call.
The latest outbreak of timeout-itis occurred last weekend in Montreal, when Juan Martin del Potro called the trainer twice and took a bathroom break during his championship match against Andy Murray. The Argentine had [...]

Ana Ivanovic lost to Sam Stosur, 6-3, 6-2, on Thursday at the LA Women’s Tennis Championships. After the match, the always-thoughtful Ivanovic was disappointed, but still feeling positive about her first tournament back since Wimbledon:
“I really went through a lot in the last couple of months,” said Ivanovic, who could be referring to a number [...]

Dinara Safina beat Daniela Hantuchova 6-2, 6-4 on Wednesday in the second round of the LA Women’s Tennis Championships.
“It was my first match here in America. It was a solid match” Dinara said of her 2009 US Open Series debut.
Solid is a good way to describe Safina’s play all year, and this consistency has been [...]

Yesterday I had a chance to sit down with Vera Zvonareva, the No. 7 ranked player in the world and the No. 2 seed at the LA Women’s Tennis Championships. Vera is coming back from an on again/off again injury layoff, that started in April when she badly injured her ankle chasing down a ball [...]

“Reality stinks sometimes,” said Maria Sharapova after beating Jarmila Groth 6-0, 6-4 in the first round of the LA Women’s Tennis Championships on Monday.
Of course, reality is relative when you’re talking about the life of a glamorous tennis superstar and self-proclaimed global “brand.”
“As a 22 year old, you’re almost finding yourself on the old wagon.“ [...]