In the holiday rush, I neglected to post an item that has professional as well as sentimental value to me—the International Tennis Writers Association's annual Player-of-the-Year and Ambassador-for-Tennis awards.
The former is self-explanatory; the latter award is for players who “go out of their way to advance the sport at a global level.”
In a rare double-double that will surprise absolutely nobody, the male and female winners swept both awards: Roger Federer and Kim Clijsters. That’s not just unusual; it speaks volumes about the character of the two winners. And this wasn’t one of those cases where they just pull a name out of a hat and shove an award into some baffled, ungrateful player’s hands. The winners are deserving ones.
The sentimental part has nothing to do with the Mighty Fed or Not So Lil' Kim, although they’re nice kids. It’s about the ITWA and the great work they do in helping ensure that readers worldwide get the best possible tennis coverage.
Among other things, ITWA helps your basic, backstabbing, know-it-all, sharp-elbowed press pariahs (like me) get access to players and tournament officials, which (at least in theory) translates into tennis fans getting a better, more informed, more personal sense of the game and its events and personalities.
Among those who have really stepped up in this effort are the ITWA’s august empress, co-president Eleanor Preston (you can read her frequently in, among other outlets, The Guardian)) and my buddy and sometimes roomie, Smokin’ Matt Cronin.
Matt is Eleanor’s co-president (think of them as, oh, the Bill and Hillary of the tennis press establishment). You can read Matt at his own website. A lot of his juiciest stuff is for subscribers only, but the leftovers are tasty, too. You can also read Matt at the FoxSports website. In fact, his recent holiday piece may provoke you to well up with tears—or vomit up your lunch—as you read about Wesley Moody taking a long walk with his family, Jelena Jankovic getting a puppy, and other holiday sharings.
My favorite story in Matt's piece is the gem from Todd Martin. It reminded me how much I miss seeing that big lug at tournaments . . .
Here’s a picture of Matt for you groupies (stand down, ladies, he’s a happily married man and a good Catholic!). He doesn’t usually look this scary, but then neither does Not So Lil' Kim.
Anyway, congrats—and thanks—to all!