(Well, they certainly look trust-worthy.)

Depending on which one you talk to, Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal are either embroiled in a battle for the year ending No. 1 (Federer) or just in London to have some fun (Nadal). Fibs or frankness? You decide.

Here’s Federer talking to reporters during the World Tour Finals Media Day on Wednesday (via the AFP):

“I am aware of it (the race to finish world number one) and I would be lying if I said I was just here to play well.”

“Definitely I am here to win the tournament and to try to stay number one in the world. It is obvious.”

“The competition is really stiff so it is not going to be easy for me or Rafa if he wants to get it.”

But Rafael Nadal says he’s actually not too interested in the whole “battle for the year end No. 1” thing. (via AFP)

“For me the main thing is to be here and enjoy this experience,” Nadal told reporters. “Playing the tournament in London will be amazing.”

“The rest, finishing number one doesn’t matter. My only goal is to try to play my best tennis here in London.”

“If I win the tournament it doesn’t matter if I am number ten. The ranking is important yes, but not the most important thing for me.”

“For the last five years I was two and one in the rankings, so I have had this experience for a long time.”

“If I am competitive to try to win then I am more than happy. If I win this tournament it doesn’t matter if I am one, two or three.”

Click here to see how the No. 1 ranking may shake out in London.

On a side note, Federer also told Reuters that he’s “looking forward” to playing Andy Murray this week – and improving his 3-6 record against the Scot to, say, 5-6:

“I hope so,” the 28-year-old replied when asked about the prospect of playing Murray in the round-robin and then again in the final. “If I beat him twice, that means I’m in the finals, he’s in the finals and everybody is happy. Right?”

Well maybe not everybody, Rog. But I like the way you think.

Action beings on Sunday at the O2 arena: Andy Murray plays Juan Martin del Potro and Roger Federer plays Fernando Verdasco.  Rafael Nadal begins his bid for year-ending No. 1 – or not, whatever – on Monday when he plays Robin Soderling. It’s Djokovic vs. Davydenko on Monday evening.

Click here for the ATP World Finals website. Click here for the U.S. TV schedule and here for tennis live streaming options.

AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes
The AP reports that Sam “Samurai” Querrey returned to the practice courts last week after a freak accident at September’s Thailand Open came close to ending his tennis career. The 6′6″ American fell through a glass table in the tournament’s locker room while sitting on it to tie his shoes. A shard of glass cut through 30% of two different muscles in his serving arm, nearly severing a nerve (check out the scar in the above photo). He required emergency surgery in Bangkok and wore a splint for two weeks afterwards. Though he has suffered pain and uncertainty, he says that his training is going well.

”My shoulder, it takes a while to warm it up and get that (service) motion going,” Querrey said. ”Other than that I feel no difference in any part of my game.”

Querrey says there was one upside to the injury, which cut his career-best season short: an encouraging email from Roger Federer.

”That was the greatest,” Querrey said, smiling. ”I was so happy. It made my day. It was almost worth it.’‘

Looks like we can add yet another ATP member to our roster of Fedophiles!

Source: New York Times and GTT reader Liz for forwarding the tip!

As the first round of news stories rolls in in anticipation of next week’s ATP World Tour Finals, I’m realizing that there’s a hidden bonus to staging the event in London: the British press! And as with any tournament that pits Great British Hope Andy Murray vs. the Great-White-Chocolate-Loving Roger Federer, the U.K. papers have started stirring the pot.

Here’s Federer quoted in Tuesday’s Independent (I believe these remarks were taken in Paris or Basel, not sure):

“I had a lot of trouble against those baseliners (like Nalbandian and Hewitt) early on just because they were too consistent. They could always get one more ball back. Maybe they didn’t have the best serve, but I wasn’t the best return player, so I couldn’t take advantage. My serve wasn’t solid enough yet, so I would always get tangled up in those horrible baseline rallies.

“Murray can still do that to some degree, but when I play too well or too offensively I can take time away from him now. And I’m too physical, whereas in the beginning I couldn’t do that. I couldn’t get around backhands like I can now. Now I can mix up my game too well for him to get under my skin.

“I know what I can do and I know what he can do. When we both play well it’s a close match, but I always feel it’s the attacker who holds the key to success, so it’s up to me whether I win or lose, not up to him. That’s why I don’t mind the match-up, to be honest.

“It’s like when [Pete] Sampras and [Andre] Agassi played. Agassi was more aggressive [than most counter-attackers], but still Sampras held the key because he was serving, pushing the limits, taking the risks. Which Murray doesn’t do so much – though that doesn’t take anything away from Murray. That’s just his game style.

“Everybody has his own game and you can’t change the way you play. It’s just something you’re born with. He comes to the net more, for instance, than other players. I think if you look closely, every player needs to have something aggressive in his game to play well. If you want to be a top player you need to have offensive skills.“

I know, I know. Sometimes Roger just can’t help himself. Since ascending to the throne as King of Tennis, there’s always at least one Impertinent Prince that gets Roger’s goat (GOAT?), whether it’s the “unimpressive” Novak Djokovic or the “one-dimensional” Rafael Nadal. Murray should take Roger’s trash talk for what it is: a compliment. (Backhanded, of course.)

Murray leads Federer 6-3 in their head-to-head. Roger trounced Murray the last time they played, in straight sets this summer in Cincy. Before that match, Murray had beaten Roger four consecutive times, including in last year’s round robin portion of the year-ending finals. That loss knocked Roger out of the tournament, though Murray had already qualified for the semis and was psychologically playing a dead rubber. (Roger’s other loss at last year’s WTF was to another counter-puncher, Gilles Simon. )

Thanks to Judy for the tip!

The United States Tennis Association (USTA) and Tennis Industry Association (TIA) announced today that U.S. tennis participation is the highest it’s been in 25 years, with over thirty-million Americans hitting the courts in 2009. This is a whopping 12% increase vs. 2008 and a 25% improvement since 2003 (the year Roger Federer won his first Wimbledon. . .coincidence?)

Here’s more from the official press-release:

The USTA and TIA announced today that tennis participation in the United States topped 30 million players for the first time in more than two decades. The annual phone survey of 6,000 Americans showed that tennis participation grew in all age groups under the age of 50 and within all ethnicities. With 30.1 million people hitting the courts, tennis participation has grown 12% over 2008 and climbed 25% since 2003. The survey is conducted annually by the Taylor Research Group on behalf of the Tennis Industry Association (TIA) and the USTA.

New players comprised 7.1 million of the total, and the majority of tennis players consider themselves “regular players” (14.8 million). Though 15 of the 17 USTA sections were affected by record rainfall in the spring, total play occasions surpassed 560 million for only the second time in more than 20 years. The greatest percentage growth in participation was in players 12-17 which grew from 15.7% of the total participants in 2008 to 20.5% of the participants in 2009.

The TIA/USTA survey results include:

Total participation broke the 30 million mark in 2009 (a 12% increase to 30.1 million, against 26.9 million in 2008).
New players reached 7.1 million (up 19.5% from 5.9 million in 2008).
Regular Players, those playing 4 to 20 times per year, increased 26% to 14.8 million players in 2009.
Participation in 2009 is up in every major ethnic group, but especially among African Americans (+19%) and Hispanics (+32%)
Age groups comprising the greatest percentage of players are:

• 12-17 years at 20.5% of the total (more than 6 million players)
• 18-24 years at18.4% of the total (more than 5.5 million players)
• 6-11 years at 16.25% of the total (4.9 million players)

Tennis is doing a better job at retention with continuing players up 6.3% to 16 million
Former players rejoining to the game is up for the third year in a row, with nearly 7 million coming back to tennis

The TIA/USTA results compare favorably to other recent research released from industry organizations over the past 12 months. In the 2009 Sports and Fitness Participation Report conducted by the Sporting Goods Manufacturers Association (SGMA), results showed tennis was the only traditional sport to enjoy growth in grassroots participation.

While it’s hard to put too much stock in a single survey, I’m thrilled to hear some good news about tennis in the States. I wonder what’s causing the uptick? Is it the USTA’s outreach efforts? Parents wanting their kids to be the next Serena and/or Maria? Roger’s hair? Nadal’s guns?

I credit Roger for reigniting my own passion for the game. Before he won Wimbledon in ‘03, I was an on-again/off-again fan. As a kid I idolized Pete Sampras, but my interest waned during the early 2000s (Lleyton Hewitt just didn’t do it for me, I guess.) Watching Roger have so much fun on the tennis court inspired me to buy a racquet and give the game (another) try.

Rafael Nadal is still within striking distance of the year end No. 1 ranking (an honor that’s confusingly named the “2009 ATP World Tour Champion”), depending on how both he and Roger Federer perform at the World Tour Finals next week in London. The ATP provides Rafa’s plan of attack for the potential Battle for the Year End No. 1s:

Here are the key scenarios in the battle for the 2009 ATP World Tour Champion title:

1. If Nadal is an undefeated champion at the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals (winning all-three round-robin matches, a semi-final and final) he will earn the maximum 1,500 points. If that happens, Federer would need to either win all three round-robin matches OR reach the final to beat out Nadal for the 2009 ATP World Tour Champion title.

2. If Nadal goes 2-1 in round-robin play and wins the title he will earn 1,300 points. If that happens, Federer would need to either win two round-robin matches OR win one round-robin match and reach the final to beat out Nadal for the 2009 ATP World Tour Champion title.

3. If Nadal goes 3-0 in round-robin play, wins his semi-final but loses the final he will earn 1,000 points. If that happens, Federer would need only to win one round-robin match to beat out Nadal for the 2009 ATP World Tour Champion title.

Working against Nadal’s chances are the respective Barclays ATP World Tour Finals records of both players. Federer boasts one of the greatest records at the season finale with a 27-5 match record, including four titles from five straight finals between 2003-07. Nadal, however, is yet to play his best tennis at the event. In two appearances in 2006-07 he went 2-1 in round-robin play but fell in the semi-finals.

Question for you rankings nerds out there – aren’t there ATP points given for Davis Cup play, too? Would that have an effect and/or is the Year Ending No. 1 awarded before the Davis Cup final?

Richard Gasquet appeared before the Court of Arbitration for Sport in Switzerland on Tuesday to defend his contaminated-by-a-cocaine-kiss excuse before a panel of lawyers. The World Anti Doping Agency and the International Tennis Federation are appealing an independent tribunal’s decision that allowed Gasquet to return to tennis after being side-lined for just 2 1/2 months for a doping offense. WADA and the ITF want him out of the sport for at least a year.

Gasquet was officially suspended from competition in early May, after testing positive for cocaine at the Miami Masters tournament at the end of March. He missed the French Open and Wimbledon while the ITF assembled an independent anti-doping tribunal. The tribunal bought Gasquet’s claim that he had unknowingly ingested the recreational drug while kissing a cocaine user known as “Pamela” in Miami, and cleared him to return to the sport in July.

But WADA and the ITF feel that Gasquet got off too easy and want him held to “the strictest standards of the WADA Code — which makes athletes responsible for any substance found in their body.”

“Everything went as expected and Richard Gasquet has, of course, had his chance to speak,” CAS secretary-general Matthieu Reeb said after the seven-hour hearing. “Now the arbitrators will begin their deliberations, which are going to take around three to four weeks until a final judgment will be communicated to the parties.” (via the AP)

Officials say they hope to make the decision well before January’s Australian Open.

I hope everything works out for Gasquet. At this point, a one year ban seems overly harsh for a recreational drug, no matter how he ingested it. But with Andre Agassi’s admission that he used a similar – I’d argue more believable – explanation to get out of his own failed drug test, it’s a bad time to be a tennis player on the defense.

Just ask Belgian players Yanina Wickmayer and Xavier Malisse. They may be appealing to the CAS themselves, after being handed one-year suspensions by a Belgian anti-doping group last week.

Gosh, with all this WADA talk and Serena’s US Open-related punishment upcoming, tennis is getting downright gloomy.

Gasquet’s sharp suit lifts the spirits a little bit:

Photo of Gasquet outside the CAS by FABRICE COFFRINI/AFP/Getty Images

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 is 25 years old, Slovenian and 6′7″ tall (so about Sharapova’s stiletto-height.)  Last year, he signed a three-year, 15 million dollar deal with the LA Lakers. Have fun, kids!

Here’s Sasha working the red carpet, Sharapova style:

Speaking of the young and super-rich – after collecting her $1.5 million dollar check in Doha this weekend, Serena Williams set the single-season record for prize money earned on the WTA tour: $6,545,586. Earlier this year, Serena surpassed Lindsey Davenport to become the first woman to earn more than $23 million in career prize money in any single sports league. (via Reuters) Serena may only have won three titles this year, but she knows how to pick ‘em. But Serena is not picking Fed Cup this weekend, abruptly withdrawing her participation last week just days after volunteering it. Here’s the reaction of team Captain, Mary Joe Fernandez via ESPN:

Fernandez, the ESPN analyst who was once a Fed Cup stalwart herself, sounded as if she had a little emotional whiplash Saturday after getting the news. “[Williams] e-mailed me,” Fernandez said. “She said she feels terrible and wishes she could be there, but she feels like she’d be a burden. I’m watching her play (in Doha) now.” “We were so excited that she was going to go, but what can you say? It’s the end of the year and everybody’s hurt. Billie Jean King always told me that you have to take the people who can go and who want to be there.”

Perhaps Serena’s exhausted by the Battle of the Books, as the hype surrounding Andre Agassi’s autobiography “Open,” continues to dominate the headlines. Shortly after winning in Doha she flew to London to promote her own book “My Life: Queen of the Court” at a book signing at Harrods. Agassi will be appearing on “60 Minutes” this Sunday, the evening before his book hits the shelves.

Andy Murray is the latest tennis star to offer his opinion on Agassi’s crystal-meth use and drug test cover-up, offering this supportive take (via the Guardian):

I don’t think any of the players expected it, but you’ve just got to move on,” he said in Valencia, where he is due to return to the ATP Tour tomorrow after six weeks off with a left-wrist problem.

“I loved Andre, met him numerous times. He was unbelievably nice to me. I practised with him quite a lot. I guess it’s something he has to deal with himself. He’s entitled to say whatever he wants and I wish him the best.”

“I judge him as a tennis player, he was great, a great player, one of the best of all time. From the experiences I have had with him, he’s been nice to me. No one wants drugs in sport but everyone makes mistakes.”

“I didn’t play in those times [when Agassi failed a test] so I don’t know what it was like. There are even cases now where guys get off, with failed tests and contaminations, mistakes, like with the [Richard] Gasquet case. Sometimes things like that happen. People get away with it sometimes but I just don’t think drugs in tennis is a big problem like it is in other sports.”

Fernando Verdasco, who has recently spent some quality time in Las Vegas with Agassi and Adidas trainer Gil Reyes, agrees with Murray:

“He was my idol, all my life when I was a kid, and he will still be my idol,” the Spaniard said. “Everyone can make mistakes. My thoughts about Andre will not change because of this. He is a great person, he is always trying to help me and that for me is more important.”

Tennis writer Peter Bodo thinks more players should be voicing their support of Agassi, and condemns cynics who think Agassi’s confession is a ploy to sell more books: “Condemn Agassi all you want, but he respected you enough to tell the truth about himself and his time in the game.”

But if you still want to condemn the ATP for the cover-up, click here to read a former ATP-exec’s inside story.

Super-coach Brad Gilbert, who worked with Agassi from 1994 – 2002, told the The New York Times he had no idea about Agassi’s drug problems or the failed 1997 test:

“Maybe it was me being naïve, but I had no clue,” Gilbert said in a telephone interview Friday from his home in San Rafael, Calif.

“I did a really good job of sticking to the tennis court,” Gilbert said. “If Andre asked for something outside it, I would give it. I just wouldn’t ask him about it or volunteer something I wouldn’t have knowledge about. Because we hung out a ton, but that doesn’t mean you ask things that are personal.”

“I probably would have been up a creek if I would have known,”

Someone who always seems to be up the injury creek is Tommy Haas, who has withdrawn from this week’s Davidoff Swiss Indoors tournament due to Swine Flu. He came down with the flu before withdrawing from the Stockholm tournament a couple weeks ago and is unlikely to participate in the Paris Masters (via the Telegraph):

“I did a test because I suspected I had the swine flu and the test was positive,” he said. “It was obviously a shock for me.”

“I am quite relaxed because I know that swine flu is a particularly strong form of flu, but when you are in a good physical condition like I am, then you can quickly beat it off,” he added.

“It was really bad for three days and I couldn’t leave my hotel room,” he revealed. “I felt really bad.”

This will be Haas’s third straight withdrawal/retirement, having started the streak at October’s Shanghai Masters, where he retired from his second round match due to a shoulder injury.

Haas may be out of contention for the World Tour Finals in London, but plenty of other guys are still fighting for the last two spots. Click here for the ATP’s “on the bubble” break-down. (Hang tough, Stepanek fans!)

Rafael Nadal, who is taking a break from tennis this week, will appear in an in-depth interview on CNN’s Talk Asia. Here’s some of what he has to say:

On how Roger Federer has inspired him:

“What makes me a better player isn’t seeing Roger being a perfect player. What makes me a better player is to watch Roger always improve because when he was number one in 2004…I saw him and he was an unbelievable player, but after a few times, he was better and he was improving during all his career. And that says to me is you must improve all the time.”

On his career’s longevity:

“A lot of people finish their career at 29 years old and he started at 20 or 21. But I started at 16 and already I have seven years in total. I am not finished. I expect to be here and hope to be here for a long time. That’s what I can say. . .I think if I am not having chances to win important tournaments, I’m gonna go. That’s my feeling. I have already seven years like this and I hope be here as long as I can, but having 14 or 16 career years seems a lot.”

Click here for more from Rafa.

French chicken – and I’m not talking coq au vin. The French Tennis Federation is threatening to pull the French Open out of its current location if the Paris city council continues to stall the tournament’s expansion plans (via ESPN):

“It seems that the mayor’s entourage has become more hostile to our project — which was not the case when we launched it,” (FFT director general Gilbert) Ysern said. “Add to that the residents’ opposition and we are now forced to look for other options, including that of leaving the premises.”

A site near Disneyland Paris is a rumored alternative. I say it’s a stupid idea – roof or no roof, the French Open belongs at Roland Garros!

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 reveals that he wore a wig on court. Image really was everything, it seems. Via the New York Daily News:

“Every morning I would get up and find another piece of my identity on the pillow, in the wash basin, down the plughole.” Agassi writes.

“I asked myself, ‘You want to wear a toupee? On the tennis court?’ I answered myself: ‘What else could I do?’ ”

Agassi says he was too embarrassed to admit to his premature baldness and went to great lengths to mask the shiny truth.

He claims he lost his first Grand Slam final, at the French Open in 1990, because he was worried the wig would fall off.

“With each leap, I imagine it falling into the sand,” he wrote.

“I imagine millions of spectators move closer to their TV sets, their eyes widening and, in dozens of dialects and languages, ask how Andre Agassi’s hair has fallen from his head.”

Well, at least he went for it. This was no insurance salesman from Fargo’s hair piece. It’s funny to watch this clip from Agassi’s 1990 Roland Garros final against Andres Gomez and think about his interior monologue, “Is it creeping up? I think I can feel it! Dang, missed that forehand!”

But could anything be tougher than going hairline to hairline vs. Boris Becker at the US Open?

Though it was Brooke Shields who encouraged Andre to go with the shaved head look, Andre looks happiest going au naturel with Steffi:

Marat Safin may be limping off the tour in a couple weeks (WAH!), but he still has the best BS meter in the game. Here are Safin’s thoughts on Andre Agassi’s recent admission (via his autobiography) that he lied his way out of a drug suspension (CBS Sports):

“One should know how to be silent, but if you are so smart you should have spoken up earlier,” Safin said of Agassi after reaching the quarterfinals at the St. Petersburg Open.

“You will never live to see such revelations from me.”

“How they will escape this situation — this is the ATP’s and Agassi’s problem.” Safin added.

Does this mean that Marat won’t be writing his own tell-all memoir? I was so looking forward to reading Notes from the ATP Underground or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Sveta.

At the very least, Safin should continue to show up at tournaments for photo ops and press conferences. He doesn’t even need to play tennis anymore. Think about it, Marat.

Andy Roddick, Roger Federer, the Williams sisters and others have responded to Andre Agassi’s “shocking” confession that he used crystal meth and lied to the ATP about it after a drug test came back positive.

UPDATE: Rafael Nadal was less moderate than others in his reaction to Agassi’s confession. He wonders why “now that he is retired, he comes out and says this,” adding, “it’s a way of senselessly damaging the sport.”

“If the ATP covered for Agassi at the time, then I think that’s dreadful,” Nadal, the world No 2, said in Madrid yesterday. “The only thing I can say is that if they covered at that moment for the player and punished others for doing the same kind of thing, then that would seem to me to be a lack of respect for all sportsmen.” (via BBC)

Roger Federer responded today at a press conference with his new sponsor, Lindt, calling Agassi’s confession “a shock”. Quotes via Blick.ch (translated):

“I am disappointed that something like this has happened. I hope that the outing was good for Agassi.”

“With his Foundation, he (Agassi) has generated over 100 million U.S. dollars. This is at the forefront.”

“In the future, such a thing won’t happen. The sport must remain healthy.”

Andy Roddick via Twitter:

“Andre is and always will be my idol. I will judge him on how he has treated me and how he has changed the world for (the) better.”

“To be fair, when Andre wrote the reported letter, he was well outside the top 100 and widely viewed as on the way out.”

Serena Williams gives a classic response in Doha (via Reuters):

“I don’t even know what crystal meth is so, you know, that’s what my reaction to it is. I haven’t read anything about Andre Agassi’s book. All I know is that I have a book coming out.“

And Venus: “His book will probably sell. It seems very interesting, to say the least.”

He may not be a tennis super-star, but I like this reaction from CBS columnist Ray Ratto:

“Hope it’s very therapeutic for him. Hope it causes someone else to walk away from meth, or coke, or Peruvian poisonous toad extract, or whatever else is out there now. We’re not here to kick a guy now that he’s back up, although in fairness we’ve always found honesty to be more refreshing when it doesn’t come at $31.99 a copy.“

Here’s the ATP’s official statement:

“Under the tennis anti-doping programme it is, and has always been, an independent panel that makes a decision on whether a doping violation has been found. The ATP has always followed this rule and no executive at the ATP has therefore had the authority or ability to decide the outcome of an anti-doping matter.“

And Francesco Ricci Bitti, the International Tennis Federation president:

“The ITF is surprised and disappointed by the remarks made by Andre Agassi in his biography admitting substance abuse in 1997. Such comments in no way reflect the fact that the Tennis Anti-Doping Programme is currently regarded as one of the most rigorous and comprehensive anti-doping programmes in sport. The events in question occurred before the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) was founded in 1999 and during the formative years of anti-doping in tennis when the programme was managed by individual governing bodies.”

What with the drug confessions, memories of an abusive father and stories of hustling around the courts as a kid, this book will definitely be on my nightstand after it comes out in November. Are you buying it?