The Final Stretch

After 10 months of grueling play in tournaments around the world, the top eight finishers on the WTA and ATP tours will face off over the next two weeks to decide the year-end champions. The women start first with the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour Championships this month—Amelie Mauresmo, Maria Sharapova, and Justine Henin will battle for the No. 1 ranking as well as take on the other five contenders vying for the title of year-end champion. After a season frequently marred by injuries and missing players, all top eight women are present and accounted for at the final event of the year.

Read TENNIS.com’s preview and stay up to date with our TV guide and live scores.

Next week, it’s the men’s turn in Shanghai. Roger Federer says he’s feeling fit and ready after giving himself two weeks off going into the ATP Masters Cup. He’ll be the clear favorite heading into the eight-man field.

Rafael Nadal will be looking to re-establish his challenge to Federer’s dominance—the Spaniard hasn’t made it past the quarterfinals of an event since Wimbledon and will want to make a strong statement going into the 2007 season.

The new world No. 3 is the relatively-unknown Nikolay Davydenko, who comes into Shanghai having won the Masters Series Paris title and the Kremlin Cup in Moscow during the fall. The busy Russian has a full schedule ahead of him, too. The week after Shanghai, he heads to Moscow to contest the Davis Cup final against Argentina—and he’s also going to squeeze in his own wedding in between.

Andy Roddick and James Blake will also be in the field at Shanghai—Blake just slipped into the last spot when his rivals faltered in Paris.

But the year doesn’t end there—the Davis Cup final between Russia and Australia will be the show-stopper in 2006, with Marat Safin joining Davydenko in leading the Russian charge at home in Moscow. The Argentines will be spearheaded by David Nalbandian.

After that, a short respite, and then it’s off to the land Down Under for the Australian Open . . .

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The Stars and Stripes

It wasn’t a banner year for American tennis, with Andy Roddick the lone U.S. player to make it to a Grand Slam final and Lindsay Davenport currently the lone U.S. woman in the Top 20.

TENNIS’ November/December issue features a special report on the state of the American game. After you’ve finished your copy of the magazine, go online and check out a roundtable discussion with Jim Courier, Pam Shriver, and Eliot Teltscher on what lies in store for the game in the United States. Then take a look at the American women’s scene, including profiles of young up-and-comers.

There’s also reaction to TENNIS’ story from noted coach Robert Lansdorp and one of those up-and-coming American teenagers, Vania King.

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