We’re mere hours from the start of the 2011 Australian Open. The preview is coming late, and this is the first time in four years that I’m not linked into cable television for the tournament. (For all my gripes about television, the main one is the cost — yet somehow it ended up that my [...]

We’re mere hours from the start of the 2011 Australian Open. The preview is coming late, and this is the first time in four years that I’m not linked into cable television for the tournament. (For all my gripes about television, the main one is the cost — yet somehow it ended up that my [...]

    What makes us enjoy what we enjoy; how do our spectating proclivities develop, and why do we take interest in some events and not in others? It’s one of those things that I keep rolling over again and again in my brain as I find myself overwhelmed at times with the sheer number of events that [...]

Before we got to the showcase showdown between Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic on another rainy New York day, there was the matter of finishing off the women’s doubles title match. Already having split the first two sets, the #6 pairing of Vania King and Yaroslava Shvedova were now staring at imminent defeat once the [...]

We close up the Grand Slam calendar today after a weekend in Flushing Meadows that settled the championships in all divisions at the 2010 U.S. Open. It’s been an amazing fortnight on the courts of the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center, from the showcase arenas to the outer courts, full of upsets and [...]

The final Wednesday at Flushing Meadows saw the men’s and women’s singles and doubles draws pared back enough to play out the day at just Arthur Ashe Stadium and Louis Armstrong Stadium, closing down the Grandstand for another season. Before we get to that action, though, the junior courts offered up some interesting outcomes amongst [...]

We’re getting deeper into the tournament now, as the women began third-round play today and the men settled out their field for the third round. The doubles tournaments are all coming up on their Round 0f 16, things settling out quickly with the smaller fields (64 teams in the men’s and women’s draws, 32 for [...]

In the wake of that blundering performance by Andy Roddick on Wednesday night, the U.S. Open reawakened on Thursday with renewed purpose as those players still alive in the touranment got back to the business of playing tennis. I spoke my nickel’s worth earlier today in my weekly column about the aftermath of Roddick’s behavior [...]