“This rivalry is intense!” Roger Federer joked at Indian Wells on Friday night, after Pete Sampras and Andre Agassi engaged in some verbal (and in Pete’s case, non-verbal) crossfire during their Hit for Haiti charity doubles match. It was a valiant attempt to break the tension and a subtle reference to the more mellow relationship [...]

Some nice behind the scenes photos from Hit for Haiti. I’m guessing that these were all taken before the guys played their match on Friday. I’m basing this on Rafa’s t-shirt, which he changed once he was on court. Also, everyone seems to be getting along!
“I know my fabrics, Rafa, and this is not 100% [...]

I thought I was witnessing the most awkward part of Day Three at Indian Wells when Maria Sharapova went down 1-5 in the first set to Vera Dushevina on Stadium 2. The crowd was groaning and wincing as she hit serve after serve into the bottom of the net. But then I heard a collective [...]

It’s great to see this exciting Hit for Haiti exhibition come together for the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells. Pete Sampras and Roger Federer will play doubles against Andre Agassi and Rafael Nadal, all former champions in the desert. That’s a whopping 44 Major titles on the court at one time. They also added [...]

Pete Sampras took to the court at the SAP Open in San Jose last night to play an exhibition match vs. Fernando Verdasco. Verdasco beat Pete 6-3, 7-6 (2), and the 38-year-old admitted afterwards that he felt “a little old” compared to the strapping 26-year-old Spaniard. (Via Guardian) Perhaps next time Nando should play in [...]

Thanks to Judy for passing this story along to me!
Sports Illustrated reports that Pete Sampras is not happy with the “shots” that Andre Agassi took at him in his newish autobiography, Open. Sampras told reporters via a recent conference call that he’d like to meet “man to man” with his rival and hash things out. [...]

Some of the most entertaining passages in Andre Agassi’s new autobiography describe his intense dislike for Boris Becker. Andre calls his loss to Becker in the 1995 Wimbledon semifinals “the most devastating of my life” and is further enraged by the snarky comments Boris made to the press after the match (Becker described Agassi as [...]

Andre Agassi was on “60 Minutes” this Sunday, interviewed by Katie Couric to promote his new autobiography, “Open”. He and Couric cover the book’s big controversies: his nightmarish Tennis Dad, “Image is Everything”, Brooke Shields and his use of crystal meth and subsequent drug test cover-up.
I got my hands on the book this weekend.* (It [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]