1.5.2009 -

The 2009 tennis season kicked off today and with it some significant changes to the ATP. The Race ranking system has been scrapped. The new ranking system will reward success in the slams and bigger events while slightly de-emphasizing results in the smaller and challenger level events. This will make it much easier for the public and causal tennis fans to follow the sport. The ATP launched a new web site, which has better photos and video, but I’m having a little trouble adjusting to the new navigation…I can’t remember that last time all of the top guys played the first week of the year? The Doha field is first rate and last year's champion Andy Murray is fresh off of back to back wins over Fed and Nadal, he will continue his desert dominance and will be the man to beat this week…Big props to 27 year old Taylor Dent for winning his first tour match in three years! He’s got a tough assignment in his next match against Gasquet, who is my bounce back player for 2009. I think Gasquet will feed off of the success that the other young French players enjoyed in 2008. The race for the number two spot in the rankings will be determined by which guy (Federer or Djokovic) goes deepest in this weeks tournaments…If there is one thing that I would change to the start of the tennis season is a longer lead up period to the start of the Australian Open. I would like to see at least a month of tune up events before the first slam of the season.

12.2.2008 -

Huge props to the Nadal-less Spanish squad for pulling off the upset Davis Cup win over the heavily favored Argentinean team on their home turf. What a bizarre post Davis Cup week, with both captains resigning and rumor has it that Nalbandian and Del potro nearly came to blows and had to be separated by Calleri before fisticuffs broke out. The South American Davis Cup title drought continues…I’ve been really enjoying the classic matches on the Tennis Channel the last couple of weeks. I used to watch the majors and other tennis tournaments on TV when I was a junior player, but for some reason I don’t remember theses Pepsi Grand Slam Challenge exhibitions from the late 1970’s that Tennis Channel has been showing, nice throw back. It seems like they did this for three or four years and it was a great concept and I wish we could do something like that with today’s players.

11.17.2008 -

Big step up for Djokovic to capture the Masters Cup. This will give him plenty of confidence going into 2009. The final was a bit of a let down, especially after the epic final round robin match between Murray and Fed. Davydenko is a great player, but this guy is a total crowd killer. I’m sure that Murray would trade those two wins over Fed this fall for the US Open title. The Masters Cup will move to London next year, which will be very exciting for the Murray fans…2008 has been one of the best seasons  in men’s tennis in years. We started the year with the big three and with Murray now in the mix we are finishing with the big four. With the way things are going we could be taking about the big 8 by the end of next season.  A final memo to FOX Sports: don’t do tennis if you’re not going to show live matches.

11.11.2008 -

I still can’t believe Fox isn’t airing live tennis and showing the replays later in the day??? Good effort today from Del Potro against Tsonga. I still think that Del Potro is under-ranked and that his game is going to get a lot bigger. Tsonga may not have advanced at the Masters Cup but he can be proud of the way he started and finished his 2008 campaign. Djokovic is back in his old form for the first time in months and has locked up his spot in the semis…A couple of years ago Federer lost his opening match in Shanghai but still ended up winning the Masters Cup, can he pull the rabbit from the hat again this year? To do so he will have to beat Roddick, Murray, and Simon will have to lose a match. Against Murray Roddick served 78% but ended up with only three aces and was broken three times. The reason being is that Shanghai is a slower track than Paris and Madrid. This improves the quality of tennis by allowing for more variety which tends to lead to longer points. Murray is still my pick to win the Masters Cup.

11.10.2008 -

Venus gets my game ball for  her effort at the WTA year-end Championships. She had to win three, three sets matches to take the title. She has not put up the most consistent results year round but she does have a knack for winning the big ones. I’d just like to see her win a major beside Wimbledon. When you see Venus on her A-game it’s hard to believe that she’s not in the top two in the rankings and I think at her best she’s now better than Serena. Jankovic has been the opposite of Venus. The Serb is the WTA poster girl of consistency, and for the second year in a row she’s won more matches than any other woman player. JJ reached her first major final at the U.S. Open. But she did not win a Grand Slam event, and therefore her status at No. 1 is tarnished in my mind…I’m really bummed that Fox is not showing live tennis. Memo to FoxSports—if you’re not willing to show it live then don’t broadcast tennis. That’s my pet peeve of the day. Huge win for Simon today. Again he was down a set and a break to Fed and still pulled out the W. I think Murray handled Roddick and is the best indoor player in men’s tennis. It’s good to see that he’s not tired and playing with a single minded purpose. I’m picking Djokovic/Davydenko finish top in the Gold group and Murray/Simon to do the same in the Red Group and Murray will win the whole thing.

11.5.2008 -

Of all the top Russian players who would have thought that Zvonareva would be 2-0 after two days in Doha? She has been the forgotten Russian and gets my gameball for handling her emotions en route to upsetting Ivanovic today. Safina looks like she’s totally run out of gas. It reminds me of what Djokovic went through at the end of last year. I’m glad to see the Williams sisters off to a good start. They will play each other for the 18th time in their careers tomorrow and I hope they can build on the quality of their last two meetings…The men’s Masters groups are out and with Nadal MIA they look a little lopsided: Federer, Murray, Roddick, and Simon group looks tough. It’s too bad that the number one ranking has been decided in year end championships; it takes away a bit of the drama and luster of the events.

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