The rich get richer, as we know. And the poor? I guess they just keep muddling through and pretending everything is OK. You’ll find no clearer demonstration of this truth than in the mid-year descent we’ve just made from the grass-capped peaks of Wimbledon to the dry ATP valleys of

My soccer career ended very early. I was about 12, and I was playing a two-on-two game in one of the unused, semi-public yards that gave the kids in my neighborhood a little room to run. I had a breakaway (at least that's what we call it in basketball). I

This week, in the first installment of our website's monthly book club, TENNIS.com's editor, Kamakshi Tandon, and I will be talking about Gordon Forbes' 1996 memoir "Too Soon to Panic." Hi Kamakshi, Let me start with a story that I’ve told here in the past, but which illustrates the strength

Tennis rolls on, into its fourth or fifth or sixth new mini-season of the year. Thankfully for some of us, the chatter that surrounds it continues to flow as well. The annual “bloodletting,” as Pete Bodo aptly called it, over the length of the schedule seems to be finished for

It really would be nice to have a full grass-court season, wouldn’t it? This weekend you could see the variety that it would bring to the tours. After two months of clay-lovers having their way, it was time for the turf warriors to take a turn, and a title or

Sorry for the day’s delay. I was at a birthday party for my dad deep in the hills of Pennsyltucky. You may have heard of the town—Williamsport, quaint birthplace of Little League (or as we say in Central PA, “Leddle Lig”). Did you know that the town’s quiet streets are

TennisWorthy, from the International Tennis Hall of Fame: Jackie Robinson's telegram to Lieutenant Arthur Ashe, read by Jeanne Moutoussamy-Ashe

LeBron James was still on all fours at Oracle Arena, in a full celebratory sob, but Twitter had forgotten all about the classic Game 7 that had just been played between the Cleveland Cavaliers and the Golden State Warriors. The discussion had already moved on to something more pressing: Does

Kvitova, Pironkova, Schiavone, Stosur: Are you wondering where these women came from? Are you wondering what’s happening in women’s tennis right now? You’re not alone. This was supposed to be the year when the old ruling class—in short, the Williamses, the Belgians, and Maria Sharapova—was going to be reconstituted and

Sports fans in Philadelphia lost a local hero last week. No, it wasn't what's-his-name, the Eagles' Flapping Gum. It was Bill Lyon, the least-known great sportswriter in America. Last Sunday, he wrote his final column after 32 years at the Philadelphia Inquirer. Lyon was a favorite of pretty much every

“I can’t remember the last time someone beat me in a set 6-0.”

The Vatican is the all-star team of tourism. You’ve got St. Peter’s, the Sistine Chapel, and those scary clown guards with axes. The place is a 20-minute walk from my hotel, but I was uncertain at first. Is it cool for a man, a decidedly non-Catholic man, to visit the

The best thing about the London Olympics, from a tennis-writer’s perspective, is that none of us should have to write any more articles about whether the sport belongs in the Games. After seeing the men’s singles medalists, Andy Murray, Roger Federer, and Juan Martin del Potro, all shed tears of

It's Valentine's Day, but the world’s second and third best players haven't been feeling a lot of love from the media world lately. First Rafael Nadal was portrayed as a syringe-wielding monster on a French cartoon show. Then Roger Federer was briefly quoted bashing his Swiss doubles partner Stan Wawrinka,

EASTBOURNE, England—I’ve formulated an ambitious plan for Tuesday at the AEGON International: I’m going to try to watch at least some of the matches played by the top three seeds in the WTA draw—Agnieszka Radwanska, Petra Kvitova, and Caroline Wozniacki. In the end, I watch as all three are dismissed

WIMBLEDON, England (AP)—A day after Rafael Nadal's stunning exit at Wimbledon, the only other men who have won the tournament since 2003 - six-time champion Roger Federer and defending champion Novak Djokovic - found themselves trailing far-less-accomplished opponents, too. Here we go again? Not quite. Federer sure came close to

Sorry about the prolonged silence, fowks (no emails please, I’m channeling Mici, who I believe has been cast into Sesame Street hell by Ruth, Daylily, Lydia and the other teachers/Elders who belong to the TW tribe). It’s just that all the travel, missed planning meetings, and side-trip assignments on behalf

One of the least surprising upsets in tennis history occurred in Halle last week, when top-seeded Rafael Nadal lost his opener to Dustin Brown, 6-4, 6-1. No disrespect to Brown, who played a fine match, but when the score rolled in, I couldn’t help but think back to some words

by Pete Bodo PARIS—Defending French Open champion Francesca Schiavone showed up at Stade Roland Garros today to play a quarterfinal match against Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova in a pure white top and a skirt with a puffy, almost frilly bottom. But for those conspicuous white compression shorts Schiavone wore under the skirt,

So here I sit, watching images of Steffi Graf, puncutated occasionally by some coverage of the Andre Agassi - Andrei Pavel match. This kid Agassi looks like a pretty good prospect, no? I say he's got a future! Actually, we're in the second set tiebreaker, and somebody in the crowd