The Fed Cup finals are finally here! A scrappy, Williams-sister-free Team USA is in the “toe” of the Italian boot this weekend, battling for Fed Cup glory on slow red clay. World No. 49 Melanie Oudin, who proved herself as a little-known underdog in the first round against Argentina this February, is now the team [...]

What’s coming out of the taps in Basel? Whether it’s Lindt chocolate or clean, crisp natural spring water, we have three Swiss players into the Basel quarterfinals on Friday. The last and only other time Basel saw three Swiss in the quarterfinals was eight years ago, when Federer, George Bastl and Michel Kratochvil made it [...]

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 Times U.K. reports that Andy Murray has signed a five-year sponsorship deal with German brand adidas, worth over $16,000,000 (£10 million).
Via the adidas press release:
adidas has a new addition to its tennis line-up in 2010 with Andy Murray joining the global sportswear brand.  The 22-year-old Briton will sport the iconic 3-Stripes from January onwards [...]

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 – [...]